11.11.13

1500 today, dragging each word kicking and screaming from the mental rock as if they were diamonds. The story is starting to take on a life of its own, which can be frightening and liberating. Not sure which, yet.

This morning, I read an essay by Dani Shapiro called Habit. I felt a number of mental tumblers click into place for me. At its most basic, here's the takeaway: writing is your job and you need to treat it as such. You show up even when you don't feel like it because it pays the mortgage.

But her essay was more than that for me. 

I'm often asked how I write, how I can do it day after day, how this whole creativity thing works. Well, it has definite similarities to any job: you get up, you check your to do list, you do your work, take a lunch, work some more. Except writers do this in their pajamas, get paid for staring into space for hours on end, and can never turn the office off, since it resides in our brain.

Still, it's good for writers to think of their art in terms of an actual job. If you go to an office, you wouldn't take time off during the day to vacuum, do laundry, make extended phone calls to besties, text, read, watch TV, etc. So why are you doing that to your writer day?

I'm as guilty of this as anyone, trust me. Add in Facebook, and Twitter (today I couldn't seem to get off of it, which, to be honest, was rather a fun change of pace) and all the other distractions (minion necklace, anyone?) and I see how sometimes, some days, I don't treat my job with the care and respect it deserves.

I'm going to start looking at modified bankers hours for writing, and work from that perspective for a while. I've been approaching my day for a very long time as -- so long as I get X (1000) words done a day, I'm fine. I'm wondering if perhaps I should try a more disciplined path -- work from x - x o'clock and see what happens. I started this earlier in the month, planning to knock off at 3:30 in order to handle other things. It's going well, but I'm ready to take it a step further. We'll see how that goes. 

Happy Veteran's Day to all those amazing men and women who sacrifice themselves to keep us safe and free!

Sweet dreams! 

11.8.13

Well. After yesterday's day of brilliance, today was the day of diddly-squat. I tried to work but nothing would come, tried to read but couldn't stay focused, and ended up watching Vampire Diaries and playing with the bouncy mouse and saying prayers to the muse to not forsake me. 

Yeah. It goes like this sometimes, especially in the beginning, even more especially when you're about to hit a milestone. The slightest thing can derail the soap bubble thoughts that make up the nascent work. All you can do is take notes, let your mind go where it may, meditate and have faith that tomorrow, things will be better.

The kittens have colds, which concerned me enough to take them to see the vet, so that burned a few hours. Sick kittens are, I assume, similar to sick kids -- in turns snuggly, bored and intensely playful. These two being the snuggle bunnies that they are, there was quite a few sweet kitten achoos in my neck.  But the vet said they look good, prescribed some lysine to help bolster their immune systems, and we're back home, preparing for our first bath tomorrow. Egads!

Sweet dreams, and may tomorrow be more productive than today!

11.7.13

Whoo-hoo, 4K today!  That's a good jumpstart on catching up on NaNoWriMo. Now I'm only 7K behind. Tomorrow I'll go at it again - a group of us who are doing NaNo together did a writing sprint day, shooting for 10K words today. It is more fun when you have accountability and cheerleading, for sure.

I've done 10K days several times before, and it is an absolute blast. Once you've written 10K in a day, you feel a bit like a slacker when you only lay down 1K. I feel a bit like a slacker today too, truth be told, because I really wanted to slam dunk this one. But I wasn't able to prepare quite how I liked, and I am taking rather hefty muscle relaxants for the old trick back, and there are MINIONS underfoot (and on lap, shoulder, chest, chair, pillow, windowsill -- wash, rinse repeat) so I guess I'll cut myself some slack. 

And I have an outline for this book - or the bones of one. Here's the problem with outlining. You have a general idea of where the story goes: the high points, the main plot, the villains. But that only covers the top line. There's still a huge amount of work in between the stated variables that needs to build, one scene at a time, one character at a time. I never know everything about my characters until I start writing them, allowing them to come to life as I get to know them, sort of like the reader does, if I've done my job properly.

Which is why I hate outlining, because I have to force the story in certain directions instead of just letting it do its thing.  So 10K days are good for filling in the gaps, so to speak, by turning off the internal editor and just going for it. You can't edit a blank page, right?

The minions are learning how to jump, which has been very amusing. Jordan has a new nickname - Air Jordan, because she can spring into the air three, four feet high, and jump up on beds and chairs with ease. Jameson is smaller than her sister, and has a harder time, so she had several false starts trying to get into my lap today. But she got it, in the end. I've allowed them out into the upstairs, so hopefully by the weekend it will be time to let them conquer the whole house.  

Sweet kitten-breath dreams!

11.6.13

I'm sad to see my parents head home, we had a great time hanging out and playing with the kittens.

The kittens miss my parents too. My dad is such a natural with babies - you can tell this man raised three kids simply by the way he picks them up by the scruff and tucks them into the crook of his arm. They recognize the voice of authority and settle right down. 

Jameson has really taken a shine to Randy, too. She loves stretching out in his arms. Jordan is coming out of her shell more and more, it's so fun to see them really blossom. 

 Back is still all kinds of screwed up - Daddy pointed out I'm walking like the letter S. Makes me think of Sesame Street - JT Ellison brought to you today by the Letter S! If it's not better tomorrow I may have to get it looked at. Ugh.

Going for 10K tomorrow with my chicks, we'll see how that goes. 

Sweet dreams! 

11.5.13

The writing process is an interesting beast. While everyone has been powering along in this first week of NaNoWriMo, I've been doing a lot of thinking, and plotting, and a lot of movie watching. Movies are a great way to both refill the well and learn pacing and three act structures. Two divergent thoughts:

Yesterday we saw ENDER'S GAME, based on the eponymous novel by Orson Scott Card. I read ENDER'S GAME this summer on vacation, and absolutely loved it. I thought the movie did a decent job of following the book, though it was the ultimate example of tell, not show. 

As novelists, show, not tell is drummed into our heads from the first day. Telling is lazy, showing is talent. But as always, there's two sides to most writing rules, and showing and telling is one of them. Sometimes, the curtains are blue. They don't need to be described to the N-th degree. Talent is knowing when to tell and when to show.

But in this particular movie, if you didn't already know the story, it was difficult to connect with the main character, Ender Wiggin. In the book, we see him earn the respect of the children he eventually leads. In the movie, we're just told, and not told well, in a variation of the Greek chorus that is disjointed at best.  

Moral of the story: Don't be lazy, but don't overdo it, either. 

The second movie was WHITE HOUSE DOWN. It utilized some of the sheer ridiculousness that makes a good thriller. Part of what we're doing is creating a world and situation that in reality could strain credulity, but in fiction, is plausible, IF handled correctly. But there is one thing that is never, ever plausible -- the bad guys who are deadly accurate with their weapons, use a single head shot to kill fifty people, but manage to spend two hours missing the hero with both submachine guns and mounted machine guns. Come on, people.  

Moral of the story: Don't make your readers hunger to check their email when they're reading your unbelievable action scenes. 

The minions had their first vet appointment today, and have been running around like crazed demons all afternoon. I can't begin to tell you how cute they are.  

Sweet dreams!