Write On Wednesday

Write on Wednesday is revived…a new prompt awaits.

Cafe Writing: Seven Things

In a mood of faith and hope my work goes on. A ream of fresh paper lies on my desk waiting for the next book. I am a writer and I take up my pen to write..
~Pearl S. Buck

In improvisation, one of our exercises is a game called “Seven Things,” in which we go around in a circle giving each other the challenge, “Give me seven things that [whatever].” We are not going to go around in a circle here, but if you’re drawn to lists, this prompt is for you.

Give me seven things that inhabit or occupy your writing space. Interpret “writing space” any way you please. You’re not required to explain the items in your list, but it’s more fun for readers if you do.

• My desks – the small oak writer’s desk my parents bought me when I went back to college in 1982  ~for the third and final time!  And also the new lap desk my husband ordered for me from Levenger’s a few months ago.  Both indispensible…
• My new engraved fountain pen, a Christmas gift from my husband, also from Levenger’s;
• My cozy chair and ottoman, where I can now not only read but write comfortably (thanks to the aforementioned lap desk)…
• My writing sweater, a black jersey cardigan my friend Pat had made for me.  The cuffs fold back to reveal stamped phrases (“live your dream,” “make a wish”), the pockets are patchwork, one with coffee cups, the other with brightly colored fish (I’m a Pisces), and one more with music staves flowing across.  In the pockets were more treasures…a tiny tablet, reminiscent of something Charlotte Bronte might have used, a cotton lace handerkerchief, and a tiny coin with the word “hope” etched into it;
• Books, piled on the floor, on the desk, on the small bedside table;
• An etching, done by one of my great-great aunts, of a path leading uphill in the moonlight, to a small cottage where smoke curls invitingly from the chimney;
• Two fluffy white dogs, always curled up at my feet, snoring softly as I type.

What are some of the things that adorn your writing space? 

Go to Cafe Writing  for more fresh writing ideas.

By the way, Write On Wednesday  is making a fresh start too.

Write On Wednesday -Staying the Course

Yeah, I know it’s Sunday (soon to be Monday, actually). But it’s been that kind of week.  Starting out with an extra hour last Sunday was blissful, but I could have used at least 25 hours every day this week, and then maybe, just maybe, I might be on track.

This week’s Write On Wednesday topic focused on this thought:

The outcome of the election is a good reminder of the way dreams come true.  But geting there involves not only the courage to embark on the project, but the strength to stay the course when the going gets rough. How are you doing with staying the course toward the fulfillment of your writing dreams?

In my work life, I’ve become quite good at completing big projects.  My office job requires multi-tasking on numerous levels, and I’ve learned to keep a daily list of the things that need to get done, and calendar deadlines for future project due dates.

At work, I know I must stay the course – other people and our business depend on me.

In my musical life, I developed a method to see me through the long weeks leading up to concert time.  Early on in my “performing” career, I learned that I needed to feel extremely well prepared to forestall those performance anxiety attacks that lead to jittery failures on stage.  So I made sure I practiced a lot, practiced so much that my body could do the work required even if my mind went into nervous overdrive.  I worked hard so that I felt confident, and so that my “muscle memory” could take over onstage if my nerve should momentarily fail me.

In my writing life, things are a bit different.  I find it easier to “slip off course” because (1) there are no deadlines looming; and (2) no one is depending on me to deliver a finished project.  So my writing dreams get put on the back burner in deference to other responsibilities which take priority.

The conclusions here are quite obvious, aren’t they?  In order to “stay the course” and complete tasks to my satisfaction, I need the impetus of deadlines and personal accountability to others.  So how do I find those in my writing life?

Blogging provides a certain amount of accountability – many times I’ve been tempted to throw in the towel on this writing habit, but my blogs and the people I’ve come to consider my friends in this arena hold me accountable.  This week’s Write On Wednesday was a good example. In the crush of election excitement, work deadlines, and preparing for a trip out of town, Wednesday was gone before I knew it.  So skip it, I told myself…who cares?

Well, Bobbi, and Oh, and Corri…people who emailed me or posted about missing this weekly place to talk about writing and explore the way creativity works in their lives.

So perhaps staying the course is grounded in the perceived value of the task-not just to the individual involved, but to the community at large.

So thanks for keeping me on task and helping me continue along the road to achieving those writing dreams.

Write On Wednesday -It’s All in the Details

After serious upheaval in ones life, it’s rather to surprising to realize that the course of daily living has returned to normal, the small things one does automatically each day have continued to be done, and in the doing have kept you steady and balanced.  

This morning I awoke before the clock, and (with no small effort, I might add) extricated myself from between the two small furry bodies that had snuggled close to me sometime during the night.  I pulled on the thermal t-shirt I had been wearing last night when I walked the dogs, the nearest thing I could find to keep the chill from my shoulders since I haven’t yet pulled my winter robe from the storage box in the basement closet.

Nine steps into the kitchen – the same nine steps I’ve trod every morning now for practically all of my adult life - and a flick of the light switch suddenly illuminates the room.  I take note of the fact that the kitchen is now dark when I wake, when just a few weeks ago the sun had risen before me and was already lighting my way into the morning.

I open the dishwasher, a movement which is slightly foreign to my repertoire because we had a new dishwasher installed a few weeks ago and my fingers are still primed to release the lever on the old one, rather than simply press into the center as is required by this new model.  Opening the door, I remove the coffee carafe from the bottom shelf, then the filter basket from the top.  I insert the basket into it’s nest within the coffeemaker, and pinch a filter from the package within the cupboard, settling the thin brown paper firmly into place.

The sound of cold water pouring from the faucet jars me slightly, this first sound of the day today slightly angry it seems. It rattles into the glass carafe, and I transfer it with an even louder splash into the reservoir of the coffee maker.  In one deft movement, my left hand inserts the carafe into it’s berth, while the right hand raises to the shelf above me and grasps the coffee container, a brightly painted ceramic Italian canister, with a miniature coffee cup perched on top of the lid.

Slipping the rubber band from the gold foil package tucked inside, I unroll the careful seal (Jim made coffee yesterday, and he always seals the package with an engineer’s precision).  And then the best part, the smooth, invigorating aroma of the coffee, a scent heady enough that I feel my eyes open a little wider already even before one iota of the precious caffeine has slipped into my bloodstream.

I carefully measure out six (level, not heaping) scoopfuls, tipping each one into the filter basket.  With one finger touch, the lid drops down over the filter basket, and my right had inches the machine out of the way toward the back of the counter, while the left hand presses the “on” button.

And now I wait. 

I unload the dishwasher to pass those agonizing minutes until the coffee has brewed, or sometimes lean against the counter standing guard with my book in hand, listening to the steady stream of water now turned miraculously to coffee by the divine powers of Mr. Coffee himself.

As the cascade becomes a slow trickle and then the last precious drips, I reach for a cup, an important choice, for there are only three which will do for morning coffee.  Today I choose a small, white china mug, purchased from a dollar store in Orlando in 1999 when Jim and I rented a furnished apartment for a month and I discovered I couldn’t drink from the heavy stoneware mugs that came with the place.

I pour. 

Taking up the cup, I first hold it to my face, inhaling the warmth and the richness of smell, almost able to taste this comforting cup before I’ve even put it to my lips.  And with the first sip, the culmination of the coffee making ritual, I feel all of my senses stir to life.

So begins the day.

A routine almost sacred in it’s persistence which provides the transition from sleep to waking, allows me to cross the bridge from nightime to day and returns me to the world of the living from that mysterious, somnolent world of sleep.  All told it takes less than five minutes -but aren’t the days filled with segments of routine and ritual exactly like this?  Things we do thoughtlessly that profoundly effect our mood.

It’s all in the details.

Written for this week’s Extra Credit Write On Wednesday. 

Write On Wednesday: Writing Style Meme

I was a strange little girl – I loved homework.  I still recall the bitter disappointment on my first day of kindergarten when the teacher did not give us books to take home or a homework assignment to complete.  This week’s Write On Wednesday is to placate my inner child, who’s been awakened by all the back to school advertising and the plethora of school supplies in every store.

It’s an assignment!  Answer the following questions about your writing habits/style.

Goodie!

Wait, I have to get some clean paper… and sharpen my pencil…hang on, maybe I’ll use this notebook instead, the one with the pretty purple cover…

O-kaaay…I’ll get to work now.

1. Do you write fiction or non-fiction?  Or both?  I actually do write both, although I’ve always considered myself more of a non-fiction writer.  I have fun dabbling in fiction, especially at NaNoWriMo time!
2. Do you keep a journal or a writing notebook?  I write morning pages quite religioiusly, and use ordinary spiral notebooks you buy in the Walgreen’s.  I kept a separate notebook for the last novella I wrote, with divided sections for research, ideas for plot and character development.
3.  If you write fiction, do you know your characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts before you start writing or is that something else you discover only after you start writing? Do you find books on plotting useful or harmful?  In the two novellas I’ve written, I had a pretty good idea of the characters goals and motivations.  As I wrote, some rather surprising things turned up, and they were so interesting I decided to use them.
4.  Are you a procrastinator or does the itch to write keep at you until you sit down and work?  Sigh.  Mostly a procrastinator.  But when I do make it to the page, I can go on for hours.
5. Do you write in short bursts of creative energy, or can you sit down and write for hours at a time? .  See above.  However, if I’m pressed for time, sometimes I get a lot done because I know I don’t have the luxury of doodling around.
6. Are you a morning or afternoon writer? Definitely morning.  Or late night.  Not much in between, which is usually reserved for the detritus of everyday life.
7. Do you write with music/the noise of children/in a cafe or other public setting, or do you need complete silence to concentrate?  I really need SILENCE.  Have to have it.
8. Computer or longhand? (or typewriter?) Mostly good old Microsoft word.  If I write longhand, I get going so fast the writing becomes illegible.
9. Do you know the ending before you type Chapter One?  Or do you let the story evolve as you write?  I ususally think I know the ending – but it seems like it often surprises me!
10. Does what’s selling in the market influence how and what you write?  Not really.  I think I write the kind of things I like to read, in my fiction and non-fiction - stories about real women facing real life situations and emotions. 
11. Editing/Revision – love it or hate it?   Hate it.  Scared to death of it.  Desperately need help with it.  Sigh.

If you’d like to be part of the class, go on over to Write On Wednesday and join in

Write On Wednesday

This week Write On Wendesday asks (read the entire prompt here):

Are you ever assailed with self doubt about your writing ability, or about the reasons for writing at all?  Do you “follow yourself around nagging and suggesting and complaining”? What are some of the negative things your Editor tells you?  What could your Editor say to be more encouraging?   How do you encourage yourself to keep practicing the craft of writing?

If you’ve been reading this blog of mine for long, you’ll know I’m always feeling behind the eight ball with regard to time – having enough of it to go ’round and complete all the things on my “to do” list.  Work responsibilities, music rehearsals and performances, elder care…fitting in time with husband, friends…getting the household chores done…ad infinitum.

So why am I spending so much time writing?  Or thinking about writing? Or doing research for writing?  Or writing about writing?  nags the complaining voice that dogs my steps.  Look at all the time you’re wasting.  It’s not as if you were getting paid for it!

Ah ha!  There’s the most persistent of the nagging thoughts, especially these days when money is at such a premium in my house.  How can I justify spending so much time in an activity that provides no monetary recompense?  Huh?  How can I?

As much as my Puritan forefathers would deny it, I believe in the value of activites which are self fulfilling and creative, activities that enrich the spirit and the mind- whether or not they enrich the pocket book.  Certainly writing does that for me.  Since I’ve been writing regularly, I feel my thoughts expanding and my confidence growing. I see myself looking at the world throught a different lens, more aware of its natural beauty, while increasing my interest in the relationships between people and the space they occupy.  I’m excited by these changes.  They multiply upon themselves, these rewards of writing, and I’ve come to consider my writing practice a good investment in self development.   

I must remind myself of that, and often, especially when that nagging voice starts whining in my ear.  But when I sit down to write, when I allow words to tumble out of my head and onto the page, the sensations of relief, excitement, and satisfaction, encourage my heart (and pen!) to keep writing.

 

Write on Wednesday-Why In the World Do You Come to the Page?

Frustration has been the name of the game this week.   Our computers at work are wonky, we have a new staff member in the office meaning there’s all kinds of unusual verbal and social interaction, and then one of our senior staff members decided it would be fun for all of us to have instant messenger so we could IM each other within our huge (7 peeople on a good day) office.  I’m ashamed to say I spent at an hour creating my avatar…you see, I was trying to find this one icon of a fluffy white dog (see what I mean about wasting time?)

So I got home about 6:00, after fighting my way through rush hour traffic, and what’s the first thing I feel compelled to do?

Write.

Wouldn’t you think that after a frustrating day, a day when every accomplishment, every task was completed with much virtual hair pulling and screaming, wouldn’t you think that after a day like that I’d crave nothing more than a big glass of wine, a huge box of chocolates, and my easy chair?

Why in the world would I come to the page after a day like that?

“We should write because writing is a powerful form of prayer and meditation, connecting us both to our own insight and to a higher and deeper level of inner guidance,” says Julia Cameron, in The Right to Write.  “Writing is good for the soul.”

While I don’t necessarily think of writing as cathartic, I do believe it helps me make sense of my world and myself.  There are times when a striking truth about my life suddenly appears before me on the screen, complete and utterly honest, coming straight from my spirit through my fingers and onto the page.  For a writer, there is a great connection between the heart, the mind, and the pen.  The act of setting words on the page seems to open a door directly into my writer’s soul, letting me in on the secrets that are stored there.

Perhaps that why writing is such a restorative act.  “Writing has so much to give, so much to teach, so many surprises,” Anne Lamott writes in Bird by Bird.  “The actual act of writing turns out to be the best part.  It’s like discovering that while you thought you needed the tea ceremony for the caffeine, what you really needed was the tea ceremony.  The act of writing turns out to be its own reward.”

Indeed, there was a sense of relief, of reassurance, to come home, kick off my shoes, and curl up in my easy chair with my virtual pen and paper – my little laptop perched precariously on the chair’s overstuffed arm.  I admit, there was wine involved too, but the comfort and relaxation which flooded my body had more to do with the words flowing from my fingertips than from the alcohol flowing past my lips. 

Writing replenishes my spirit, it rejuvenates my mind, it relaxes my emotions.

And that’s why I come to the page.

How about you?  What brings you to the page, and why?

Write on Wednesday  is back!  This column once appeared regularly here at the Byline as a weekly look at the craft of writing in general and my own in particular.  Write on Wednesday  will appear each week throughout the summer, and this time you’re invited to participate by creating your own blog post using the topic of the week’s post as your prompt.  

You know the drill…leave a comment here with a link to your post.  I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

 

Write on Wednesday-I Am Writer…Hear Me Roar!

My friend Michele at Writing the Cyber Highway honored me with this award, and I’m so pleased and grateful!

Of course, since Michele is all about encouraging aspiring writers, the award comes with an assignement. I’m supposed to share three writing tips that will make your writing powerful.

1) Keep a journal or a notebook of some kind and write in it every day. Writing “morning pages” each day are the way I jump start my writing. Sitting down every morning and writing whatever comes into my head is something like the warms up we do in choir, or the stretches a runner does before a marathon. Some days it’s nothing but drivel, but other days, some really good ideas come out on the page.

2) Read fiction, poetry, biography, essay’s. Find authors who inspire you, and study their descriptive techniques and the way they construct sentences, and create dialogue.

3) Write what you know, write what comes from your heart, from your experiences and feelings. That’s the only way your writing will be meaningful to the people who read it.

So, how about you? What do you think it takes to make your writing roar?

Write on Wednesday-Goody Bag

In the spirit of filling your Halloween bag with goodies, here are some of the writing related books, sites, and activities I’ve been devouring:

~Cafe Writing opened for business TODAY, so make sure you stop in. Cafe manager MissMeliss offers a menu of six creative options to suit any and all of your writing/artistic talents. The prompts are good for one month, so you may partake of any or all of them, posting your individual “entrees” on your own blog. I’m torn between trying option two, three, four or five…so many savory choices!

~I stumbled on Writer Advice while looking for their interview with Gayle Brandeis. Not only advice is featured here- there are writing contests, interviews with writers and artists, and products. Lots of goodies to explore.

~My new friend, Michele, chronicles her experiences as a freelance writer at Writing the Cyber Highway. Michele inspires me with her positive attitude, as well as her writing advice.

~In my own personal “writer development training course,” (which I chronicle in my other blog) I’m currently working my way through “Courage & Craft: Writing Your Life Into Story,” by Barbara Abercrombie. This book offers super exercises and advice for writing personal essays in a no-nonsense, approachable fashion. Barbara also co-hosts Writing Time, one of my favorite places to go on the internet for writing tips and inspiration.

~I admit it – I’m a writing book junkie, and lying in wait on my bookshelf are these tasty goodies…Fruitflesh, by Gayle Brandeis, Writing Begins With the Breath, by Laraine Herring, and Making a Literary Life, by Carolyn See.

You now have lot of things to keep you busy and inspire you to Write On Wednesday.

So, what are you waiting for??


How about you? Have you found any inspiring writing sites, or read any good writing books lately?

Write on Wednesday-Addendum

Visit Writing Time to “cyber audit” a class called “Courage and Craft: Writing Your Life Into Story.”

Author, teacher, and blogger, Barbara Abercrombie teaches this course at the UCLA Extension Writers Program, and she’s sharing some of her class lectures and writing exercises with those of us who read her blog. The class is based on her newly published book by the same title, and promises to offer some exciting suggestions and inspiration.

So get yourself a new spiral notebook and a pen, and head over to class. Don’t be late!