Breaking the block

It happens more often than I'd like that I wake up on a Thursday morning and realize that I once again forgot to come up with a blog post. Well, I may have some bad tomato karma (up yours, fusilium crown and root rot), but apparently the gods of blogging are smiling on me, because today I found this post on how successful writers deal with writer's block.

I've read some of the advice in the article before - taking a walk often works for minor writer's block for me - but I hadn't thought of this one piece of advice from a  New Yorker writer:

"A thing I do, if writing isn’t going well, is to write out something I really love, like one of Keats’ odes or a bit of a poem by Elizabeth Bishop or even a few sentences from Woolf or the Gospel of John. It’s nice to remember what can be done with words always but especially when it seems like you can’t seem to do anything with them."

I've gone through writer's block. It was during a rather dark period of my life overall, and I don't really like to think about it all that much. In my case, the solution was to just start writing something silly – a story that I liked, but I had no interest in ever publishing. And I never did publish it, and I never finished it. It was some silly thing with like twelve main characters. And by the time I finished writing the outline and the character profiles, I got bored with both that story and over the idea that I couldn't write, and was able to move on to other things.

More recently, I've learned that the first step to confronting any fear, is to bring it out and treat it to the bright light of day. It's kind of amazing how frail and weak those long-held fears can seem once we gain the courage to actual air them out.

My writing fears want me to know that I've never written anything good in my life, that no one will ever like what I write, and that I'm not going to have a good time working on my writing tonight.

And really, when I look at those words on their own, my writer's block is kind of a whiny jerk, and not interesting or powerful at all. That's not to say that I won't forget this next time I become insecure, because long-learned fears aren't so easily rooted out.

#492652795 / gettyimages.com

What ridiculous things does your writer's block try to tell you?

Getting Unstuck

I’ve been kind of stuck lately. In a writerly rut. Not really writer’s block, per se. You see, writer’s block implies that you’re actually doing some kind of writing. I’ve been … dry. It’s in part due to major life/family events, but some also just due to inertia. I haven’t been writing, so it’s hard to write. Hard to start from a non-moving position.

So I thought I’d share with you some of the tricks and tips and workarounds I’m using to jump-start, restart, reignite my writing. Hope you enjoy them!

Book recommendation: Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine.

While this book is geared toward a student writer, I really love the writing exercises she includes in most chapters. Plus she encourages the writer to save what they write. Everything. Even the cruddy first drafts and the times when the writer was just playing around. As it turns out, looking back through some of my notes about writing, story ideas jotted down on a thousand different sticky notes in every room of the house, and re-reading old stories is another method of getting back into the writing saddle.

The Snowflake Method – I have had many projects start well but fizzle later (usually at around the 2/3 point) and have concluded that lack of planning (being a total seat-of-the-pants writer) was hurting me. So I’ve vowed to do more planning. The snowflake method has always been a favorite of mine for doing the big-picture story planning, gradually getting deeper and deeper into the story as the snowflake evolves from a simple triangle into a fractaled wonder.

This list from the good folks at Galleycat was an excellent source of resources for me this week. I’ve tried trello (still tinkering), and of course the snowflake method appears again. And that excel gods-eye view? Absolutely earth-shattering for me. I need a fully formed idea before it will be useful, but I plan to use this method for outlining scenes for my November nanowrimo project this year. Highly recommend, particularly for any screenwriters out there.

The Blake Snyder Beat Sheet was recommended by a writer friend aware of my predicament. Blake Snyder wrote a writing book called Save the Cat that is well-regarded in writing circles. I haven’t spent much time with it yet, but I plan to use it as my next trick on the story idea I’m gestating at the moment. Yes, I finally have a reasonable story idea! These things have worked!

Another cheat-sheet style is the 7 point story structure,found here on Chandler Baker’s website. Can you tell I’ve been looking for the magic bullet? The reality is nothing short of putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard actually works to get me out of my slump, but playing with all these various organizational tools and story structure outlines has been invaluable to getting me reenergized and ready to write. Now it’s time to generate some fiction, who’s with me? Here’s a writing prompt if you want to play:

(using elements from Characters for an Epic Tale by TomGauld.)

The metal man faced the apparition, his faithful hound at his side, and said…

(un)Writer

I haven't written a full story in almost a year. I don't know if it's blogging, or trying to sell the house, or if it's just I don't know how to be a mom of three and a writer yet, (Or maybe it's just I watch too much Netflix.), but whatever it is, I haven't really written a new story for a while.

I don't know I can really even call myself a "Writer" anymore, or if I'm more of a "Have Written". I have four novels under my belt... so that should count shouldn't it?

If you too are suffering from a case of the "past tense writer" syndrome, I've come up with a few tips to try to get your writer on.

1. Write as a way of rebelling.

 You know how delicious food is bad for you, but you don't care because you're a rebel? Or is that just me. Imagine if that naughty Nutella had less calories than a carrot stick. Wouldn't that be awesome? If you're like me, you'd be in heaven for a few delicious weeks. Delicious Nutella covered weeks.  But then, slowly the taste of Nutella would get old, too familiar, and that secret thrill you get from sneaking a spoonful here or there would be gone. When there's no reason to feel guilty, then all that's left is the flavor. And every flavor, even Nutella, could get old if you eat it with every meal.




My husband didn't always get the whole I want to be a writer thing, and so for a while there, I wouldn't tell him I was writing.  Instead I tried to sneak it in between not doing laundry, and ignoring my children. But then one day he read one of my stories, and decided I wasn't wasting my time by trying to be a writer. For a while it was like Nutella was good for me. I was in writer heaven. While I wrote everyday, my husband praised me and did the laundry.  Hot, right? Slowly, however, writing drifted from a fun, and rebellious, past time, to a part time job/ task on my "to do list."

So, in effort to get my writing mojo back, I've decided to put a little rebel back into my writing. I'll start by breaking the rules I believe in. I'll swear. I'll start by having a character wake up. I might even write an entire story within a white box. The point is to have fun. The point is to ogly boogly snark rattle just because I can.

( Rebel.)

 2. Write as a way of telling the truth. 

And not just a truth, your truth.  If you can't come up with fictional stories to tell, then write true stories.

For example, growing up I lived next to two girls very close to my age. I'll call these girls Kate and Megan, because that's their names. :) It was kind of idyllic for a while, living next to my best friends, but then, when I was about seven, we started to battle. Kate would be my best friend one day. The next, Megan would be my best friend, and we'd hate Kate.  But the worst days were the ones were Kate and Megan would be best friends and they'd hate me.

 I remember one day in particular. I was over at Megan's house while my mom was getting errands done. Kate and Megan were already playing in the basement, and they had decided that today would be a "I hate Sheena day". They mocked my clothes, asked if  my mom bought them at the DI, ( a thrift store for those who don't know) I remember I said something like "No, my mom bought them from Kmart."
"Oh, I get my clothes from target." Megan said.
"Yeah, me too." Kate said.
Megan probably smiled at Kate and then spoke again, "Well, at least I look good in my clothes. But you don't because you're fat."
"Yeah, you're fat." Kate said.
I sucked in my stomach. " I am not."
 "Yeah huh, " Megan said as she lifted up her shirt to show off her belly button.  She was sucking her gut in too. "See, I'm smaller than you."  Megan hit Kate's shoulder and whispered, "Suck in your stomach."
 We stood there, three seven year-old girls, sucking our stomachs in until we ran out of air. I started to cry and they called me a cry baby, so I ran upstairs.
"I want to go home," I told Megan's mom, but my mom wasn't back yet from her errands, so Megan's mom sent me back downstairs. But I couldn't go back down there, so I sat there on the steps, about six steps from the bottom, and six steps from the top. I was stuck, and worse,  I really had to go to the bathroom.

I couldn't move. Megan's mom was really stern. She was cleaning up for some big party, and was very short tempered with me, and I couldn't go downstairs and be mocked again. And so, a few minutes later, that's were I sat while ashamed, broken, worthless Sheena peed her pants and watched the river of urine flow down the six carpeted stairs like a slinky of shame.

Now, that story is embarrassing, but it also took up enough space in my head that over twenty years later I can still picture the wet stairs, and still hear Megan whisper to Kate to suck in her stomach.

I think, sometimes, you need to get the stories out of your head so you can make room for new ones. New, less embarrassing ones. Telling your stories as you remember it can be therapeutic  Just reading this story now, with my grown up experiences and understanding, and I can see how big and how small that day was. I can see how Kate's parent's were getting divorced about that time, and how she wanted to just belong somewhere. I can see the kind of pressure, and environment that would cause a seven year old girl to have to prove that she was skinnier than all of her friends. I can smile when I realize that perfection seeking mother had to clean up my urine.  But most of all, I can see how that moment doesn't define me anymore. By telling that story, it becomes silent in my head now, and from that silence, new stories can erupt.

Tip number three. Just friggen start. 

Not every sentence needs to be gold. Not every character needs to make sense. Not every story needs to be the one that will give you your big break. Embarrass yourself. Waste your own dang time.

Because it's your time, your stories, and your opportunity to rebel, fail, succeed, or shine.

So shine.
~Sheena

* Please don't judge these girls for their seven year-old selves. Also don't judge me by my seven year-old self. I said meaner things back to them, and just because they were mean one day, doesn't mean they are mean now. Both of these girls grew up to be amazing women.

Also I don't pee my pants now...except when I sneeze.

Sparks of Creativity

I usually write my blog posts on Thursday so I can let them sit awhile before I publish them on Friday. But yesterday was crazy. All my kids are home for summer vacation now, and yesterday we went strawberry picking. In my old house, we lived pretty close to a strawberry field, and so we would pick up a quart or two whenever we wanted some, and go once or twice to buy enough to make homemade strawberry jam (once you've tasted it, you can never go back to store bought). But we don't live anywhere near a strawberry field that lets you pick your own now, so when we went yesterday I knew it might be my only opportunity. 40 quarts of strawberries later, I thought we might have enough. J

A LOT of strawberries 

It was hot and humid yesterday, and we spent the entire day hulling strawberries and turning them into jam. Did I mention that this year's strawberries seem to be smaller than usual? Every now and then my heart would flutter with panic at the thought of writing a blog post. Usually I've got a topic in mind a few days before I write, but not this week. If you could have heard what was going on in my brain, it probably would have sounded something like this:

I really need to think of a blog post topic. OK brain, think of one. Good heavens, I can't even think of one. Usually I have a handful of ideas by now, and I can't even think of ONE. Come on! Blog post topic, blog post topic...

It turns out that's not the best way to think of ideas. Who knew?

Creativity is not something that you can batter into submission, whether your deadline is a blog post or a looming deadline set by your editor.

8 Ideas To Spark Creativity:

Just get started: 

Yesterday, before the strawberry picking, I got out of bed determined to exercise. I really didn't want to, but I forced myself out of bed, got dressed and turned on the DVD. When I heard Jillian Michael's voice say, "Let's begin with arm circles" I felt a surge of relief. I'd finished the hard part--getting myself there. Creativity works the same way. Brainstorm ideas. Pull up that document you need to edit. Start writing, and don't let yourself stop even if you're only typing "I don't know what to write yet" over and over. The magic can't happen until you begin.

Start a routine: 

When parents are training their children to fall asleep on their own, experts recommend a 5 step routine to get them in the right frame of mind. A bath. Pajamas. A snack. Teeth brushing. A few stories. A prayer. A drink of water. Some songs. Cuddling. Whatever works for your family. The same pattern can work with getting yourself in a creative frame of mind. Meditate. Listen to music. Get a drink of water. Read a chapter of a book (ONLY if you have the self discipline to put the book down after one chapter!). Look at pictures. Stretch. Go on walk. The possibilities are endless.

Get moving: 

Ah, snow! Doesn't it look lovely?

"Vigorous physical exercise helps your creative process by forcing you out of left brain dominant thinking. In addition, exercise improves blood flow, while increasing oxygen to the brain. The brain therefore functions more effectively and efficiently when one exercises regularly. " (from naturallysavvy.com)

My best moments for creativity occur when I am hiking or snow shoeing. The mindless nature of putting one foot in front of the other, the physical exertion and being taken out of my daily routine all combine to open my mind up in a way nothing else can.

Do something new:
Several of the blog posts I looked at suggested that you should live abroad. This may be extreme. But doing the same thing day in and day out can numb your creativity. If you can't fit living abroad into your life right now, even little chances to break out of your normal routine can pay big dividends. Read a book in a genre you wouldn't normally choose. Take a different route to work--or a different form of transportation.  Listen to new music. Write with pencil and paper. Take a class.

Be repetitive: 
Mindless tasks allow our brain to wander to far-flung places. Some of my most brilliant flashes of insight come while I'm doing the dishes. Other people swear their genius comes while they are in the shower. But in order for that to happen, you've also got to:

Unplug:
Sheena wrote: "Being bored is a gift...Every single one of my novels/story ideas have come from me entertaining myself when nothing else is happening. Boredom is food for creativity."

Lately, I've been filling my mind constantly. I listen to audiobooks or music while I'm doing dishes. I watch TV while I'm folding the laundry.  I've become almost frightened of my mind's own chatter. It's only now, as I'm writing this, that I see the correlation between that and my own recent lack of creativity.

Perhaps if we'd spent yesterday hulling strawberries in silence instead of turning on Avatar: The Last Airbender episodes, this blog post topic wouldn't have been so hard to come up with. (Or maybe it would have been even more difficult, since my children would have deserted en masse and left me to do it alone.)

 Sleep on it: 
It's almost miraculous the way sleep works. I've seen my children have panic attacks over a difficult piano piece or math problem, and yet the next day they can do it with ease. Panic is a particularly awful state in which to get something accomplished, but perhaps even more importantly, our subconscious minds keep working on problems while we sleep.

"Sleep helps generate new ideas in several ways. During sleep, the brain consolidates memories. That act of consolidation actually reorganizes thoughts, much like organizing bookson a shelf. The new arrangement can help extract knowledge and generate newassociations. And that half-awake period right before you fall asleep or whenyou wake up may also help you focus on a problem." (npr.org)

Relax and play:
Perhaps this is just a variation of the "do something new" idea, but it's important enough that it is getting its own entry. Henrik Edburg said, "Go out and do somethingwith your friends or family and just relax and have a lot of fun. Doing thisfor a day or an evening can recharge not only your creativity but also yourmotivation and general sense of well-being for days or weeks to come. " (postitivityblog.com)

Don't forget: laughter boosts creativity. Find ways to make yourself laugh every single day.

In Case of Emergency

Stuck.
            Stuck, stuck stuck.

It's that part of your story. You know, the part where you know what needs to happen. You know what leads up to that part, and what comes after that part, but for whatever reason the scene, or paragraph, or even sentence, when it's down on paper, has all the tension and allure of a teenager's smelly sock.

What do you do? Well, if you're me you stare at it incessantly, moan, bury your head in a pillow, and announce to the world that you'll never - never, you hear me - make it as a writer. Then your blow your nose and maybe dig into that stash of clearance Easter candy you swore would last till summer break (at least). But more than anything, you get on with things.

So, the most important piece of advice about getting unstuck that I've learned as a fledgling writer? Does it come from a literary genius? From some secret cabal of writers? Did I pull a genie out of a bottle to give me the ultimate answer?

http://disneyoftheweek.tumblr.com

Well, yeah, the last one, sort of. The most important advice I've found to get past that part of a story comes from Disney's Alladin. It's a shame I couldn't find a clip on Youtube, so you'll just have to pretend along with me. Remember when Alladin is snookered by Jafar into going into the Cave of Wonders and gets stranded there? It looks pretty bad for him and poor Abu. He's about as stuck as you can get. But then the genie comes, and after the song and dance number and some witty dialogue, he plops Alladin on the magic carpet and gives this fabulous advice:

"In case of emergency, the exits are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here anywhere! Keep your hand and arms inside the carpet! We're outta here!"

How does this relate to writing? Well...

Here: There's not just one way a story has to be. Your exit to get past that part may be to write the scene the way it wants to come out instead of how you think it should. Some things might need to be tweaked later, but the whole of it might be better in the end.

Here: Talk it over. A spouse, a trusted friend, a writer's group. I was sorta hurt when a few people (including my hubby) said they didn't buy a scene of my WIP. But, after a good stint of pouting, I rewrote it and it's better than it ever could have been on my own.

Here: Sleep on it. Or daydream on it. Give your subconscious leeway to stew, simmer or deep fry your problem. Sooner or later the solution will boil over into your consciousness.

Here: Rearrange the furniture. Okay, don't tell my kids I said that - I'm forever moving stuff around and it bugs them to death. Sometimes great writing is in the wrong place. Cut and paste is your friend - no pain, no long term damage. How would that scene, paragraph or sentence work out somewhere else?

Here: Take out the trash. Maybe that part really isn't supposed to be in your story at all. Be open to the possibility of dumping it altogether, no matter how much you love it.

Here: Write poetry to that part. (see here and here). Yes, I'm serious. A limerick, haiku, a ballad. Get those creative juices flowing in a different direction and see if the phrases you use can't also inspire the work itself.

Here: Move on. Like a boyfriend who won't commit, sometimes you just have to let go. As the days pass, you might find a new and better guy, er, scene. Or, you might also reconnect with that old flame and see it in a brand new light (maybe it's ready to change a little, too).

Here: Lastly, relax. You can do this.

We're outta here!

~ Susan

Procrastination = bad

So! Nothing like staring at a page ten minutes before I’m supposed to be in bed, and an hour before midnight, with no idea of what to post. I tried to write something about how I come up with ideas, but it ended up falling really flat, and I wanted to do a better job with it.

What do I call this? Blogger’s block? Posting block?  I spent all day dealing with slush or reading boring science reports block? I’ve been on the computer for way too long block?

None of those really roll off the tongue.

I feel bad doing yet another post about nothing, since all I did last week was rant about my computer (which is still broken, but not nearly as badly. This week’s post is brought to you by the generosity of Lawyer Friend, who is letting me borrow her old laptop.  This bumps Lawyer Friend up to the #2 thing I would save in a fire, after my cat*.)

I really apologize… but I got nuthin right now.  So, here are some writing links:

 http://www.sfwa.org/2009/08/fantasy-worldbuilding-questions/

One of SFWA's many fantastic articles.  This is a good source of inspiration when you're trying to develop a new world, and need a kickstart of what to figure out.

http://www.strangehorizons.com/guidelines/fiction-common.shtml

One of my favorite pages: Strange Horizon's list of stories they see to often.  I see these a lot in the slush pile too.  Especially the one about heaven as a bureaucracy. A very good thing to read if you're publishing short  stories.

http://www.simegen.com/school/beginners/WORKCharacterDrivenPlot.html

A short but very helpful post with a very simple rule for telling if you story is plot or character-driven (at least from the outset).

And some funny pictures:

Pun of the week:

For my fellow scientists:

And specially for Sarah:

And a promise to do better next week.

*I’m at best the #3 thing Lawyer Friend would save in a fire, because she has two cats.

Journaling Ideas for Mental Health

I do not keep a journal. I do not record the details of my life or of my emotional state with any regularity. I do not have a daily writing ritual or a treasured notebook in which everything is meticulously recorded.

I have nothing against journaling, except in the specific case of my own emotional health. We depressive types are often lovely people—really!—but many of us share a certain thought pattern: rumination. Because I am most likely to seek the company of pen and paper when I'm least suited to being with actual people, my attempts at journaling used to end up like this:

I'm the worst housekeeper ever. The kitchen's so gross it will take me an hour, and then I’ll be even more tired and I won’t get any writing done. What is the point? WHAT IS THE POINT? There is no point. It’s all utterly pointless. Do the dishes, then more dishes get dirty, then do more dishes, again and again forever as I hurtle towards a meaningless death. Everything sucks.

See what I mean? The journal is not a healthy outlet for rumination. Expressed mathematically:

But still... I need to write like I need food and air and very occasional interaction with human beings. So what's a writer to do? Here are my tips for avoiding the tornado:

Low-to-Zero Expectations:

If I buy a notebook, I do it with full acceptance of the following:

• It may get used off and on for years or be filled in a month.
• I’ll have at least two other notebooks in rotation at the same time because I write in whatever I have handy.
• It will be an unsorted mish-mash of fiction, stream-of-consciousness drivel, grocery lists, and important dates and phone numbers. I will never remember to transfer those important dates to a calendar.
• Eventually, I will let the kids doodle all over it at a restaurant.
• At some point, I will spill water or coffee, rendering most of the pages unreadable.
• 99.9% of any notebook is too boring to re-read.

Take out the trash

Sometimes I need a brain dump before I can settle in to my "real" writing. I set a time limit or a page limit, and I just let go. I don’t dwell on one idea or try to give myself a pep talk. I write about what I need to do, what I don't want to do, what I dreamed about, why I hate my novel, etc. I don't go too deep and I don't try to analyze. When I reach my limit, I stop and move on to the work of the day. The key difference between this and ruminating is that I don't see the negative stuff as anything but taking out the trash. That mindset is critical; you can't believe everything you write.

Wax Poetic

While simply writing down bad feelings isn't very helpful, transforming them into poetry can be. Include line breaks, choose each image and each word carefully, and you might find yourself more involved in crafting a poem than in whatever emotional crisis started your journey into free verse. There's a creative objectivity that goes along with art, and it often gives me the distance I need to get though a bad time.

Her worth was the dusty trail’s

desire.

She puts lotion in her hands,

always dry now,

and in the geometry of her skin

sees the cracked desert clay

no water for her thirst.

Get Kinky

There's freedom in writing stream-of-consciousness, letting yourself get as random and weird as your mind will allow without regard for logic or meaning. The following is utter nonsense, but writing it rescued me from a pint of Häagen-Dazs.

Diet Coke + Mentos = Awesome

Devil peals out of my car's subconscious keychain and I'm laughing out loud the nocturne, gentle and slow. Why is that cat clawing at nothing, air, a vacuum, a blue blinding hell-born light?  My mind is bottled up and fizzy and minty-fresh, vaguely European. I'm a Mentos, a science experiment, imploding in the sand. My toes call me and plead to feel the sun.

Try it, really. Your brain will thank you.

Moment by Moment

(Not my actual husband)

Feelings are like leeches—slimy and sticky at the same time. You can't pin them down, but the act of trying tends to make them hold on tighter. So don't write feelings. Write moments. Was there a penny on the floor? Heads or tails? Were you twirling a stolen hotel pen in your fingers? Was there sunlight or lamplight or the flickering of a fluorescent bulb? A moment during a conversation with my husband, between lines of dialogue:

I held the last glass from the dishwasher; it dripped water from its concave base onto my hand. John stood against the counter, slurping the last drops of Kellogg-sweetened milk from a blue ceramic bowl. His sandy hair stuck out in eighty different directions, and his left arm had a bright pink pattern of sleep creases. The children whispered about their cereal being poop, which meant they were eating poop and that made them poopyheads. I pretended I couldn’t hear them over Elmo’s World.

Letting Go

When you're working on a story, sometimes it flows and sometimes it's really work. That's just the writing life. Don't let a journal become an obstacle. If it isn't working for you, put it away. Go make some memories. Let life happen, and if the best times never make an appearance in your stack of notebooks, that's okay. There's more to the writing life than writing.