This morning I sent some personal tidbits to Chris Mandeville, the wonderful president of the Pikes Peak Writers. I am about to start my gig as editor of the NewsMagazine, following a really tough act in Ms. Pat Kennelly. Chris' dog, Ruh, does a regular article on different members of the group and it's my turn. So I sent Chris any weird little thing I could think of.
One of the items that sprang to mind was that I've been teaching myself how to play the banjo for about ten years. And I still won't play anywhere I think someone else might hear me. When I've been practicing (which isn't often these days), I'm actually pretty good. And I enjoy it. So why not stick with it?
A lot of flippant answers present themselves, but the honest answer is that I just don't have the passion necessary to set aside time every day. It's fun. It makes me feel good when it's working. But it's not that important to me.
Writing, on the other hand, can be frustrating and hard and a huge slog. It can also be wonderful. But in either case I can't walk away from it. I can't imagine my life without writing. Whether it goes anywhere or not. It is a passion. Even though it's scary, I do let other people see my writing. Not because it's any better than my banjo playing but because I need the feedback in order to improve.
Maybe one day I'll have the time to work on both. And then when I go to the coffee shop to write, I may be able to pick up some spare change playing a tune or two.
Friday, July 27, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Let Down
I've been in a bad mood for almost two weeks now. Had a little respite this weekend while reading The Deathly Hallows. But now it's back.
There are some physical reasons for the mood. It's hot. I don't like the hot. A migraine has been threatening for a few days. Never fun. And there are psychological reasons. Work is more stressful than usual now so that's an impact. My sister lives with me. I was going to put an "and" after that and expound a bit, but I think that says it all.
Usually to help turn around my mood, I read. There's a stack of books on the nightstand. Another in the spare room. Another in the family room. So far, so good. But what do you read after a book that was just so much fun? Fluff won't cut it. Neither will anything too heavy. Not after :::::SPOILER ALERT:::::all the deaths, especially Fred and Hedwig. And little Colin.. (Highlight with cursor to read).
So what next? I'm thinking maybe Preludes and Nocturnes, the collection of the first 8 Sandman comic books. Or some short stories. Or maybe the Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf. The latter would also fill Ali's challenge to read poetry.
Or maybe I'll just read it again. There have been a couple books that I've read and then turned around and read them again immediately. One was The World According to Garp. Another was The Prince of Tides. And in each case, now that I think of it, I was going through some bad stuff and the worlds Irving and Conroy created were ones I didn't want to leave.
Maybe I need to linger a while longer in Rowling's world.
There are some physical reasons for the mood. It's hot. I don't like the hot. A migraine has been threatening for a few days. Never fun. And there are psychological reasons. Work is more stressful than usual now so that's an impact. My sister lives with me. I was going to put an "and" after that and expound a bit, but I think that says it all.
Usually to help turn around my mood, I read. There's a stack of books on the nightstand. Another in the spare room. Another in the family room. So far, so good. But what do you read after a book that was just so much fun? Fluff won't cut it. Neither will anything too heavy. Not after :::::SPOILER ALERT:::::all the deaths, especially Fred and Hedwig. And little Colin.. (Highlight with cursor to read).
So what next? I'm thinking maybe Preludes and Nocturnes, the collection of the first 8 Sandman comic books. Or some short stories. Or maybe the Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf. The latter would also fill Ali's challenge to read poetry.
Or maybe I'll just read it again. There have been a couple books that I've read and then turned around and read them again immediately. One was The World According to Garp. Another was The Prince of Tides. And in each case, now that I think of it, I was going through some bad stuff and the worlds Irving and Conroy created were ones I didn't want to leave.
Maybe I need to linger a while longer in Rowling's world.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Productivity
I guess I'll jump on the productivity bandwagon after Ali and Jenny. One of the writers we know was kvetching the other day because he'd only written 22 pages in a week. Poor baby! Not long after that he posted that he'd managed 74 pages the following week.
When I'm in the groove, I can pretty consistently turn out 5-10 pages a day. On the weekend I have been known to grind out 20+ a day. There was the month of November when I sustained that pace and was pretty happy with those pages. Not much cut or changed in the 'final' version that went to the group. But that is highly unusual.
What usually happens is what I'm going through right now. I manage a page or a paragraph after what feels like very heavy lifting. And I'm not sure I like what I produce. But there's a lot going on in the background. I'm working out character descriptions. Figuring out what makes them tick. What is the world they live in and how does that world impact them? I need to know this even if none of it makes it onto the page explicitly. Isn't that productivity too?
So, as I said in my comment on Jenny's new blog (which is great, by the way), is 20 pages of dreck productive? Maybe, if you needed to get through the dreck to get to the good stuff. But maybe not, if the 20 pages stretch into 30, 75, 150 and the story isn't going anywhere.
I see people set word count goals all the time. I do it myself. "I'll write 20k words this month" or "5 pages a day" or whatever it is. I think maybe a better goal is to "work on my writing" every day. That can mean doing research (see D.B.'s blog for her take on overdoing this one), fleshing out a character, letting a scene ripen, reading somebody else's work for elucidation and inspiration and actually putting fingers to keyboard.
When I'm in the groove, I can pretty consistently turn out 5-10 pages a day. On the weekend I have been known to grind out 20+ a day. There was the month of November when I sustained that pace and was pretty happy with those pages. Not much cut or changed in the 'final' version that went to the group. But that is highly unusual.
What usually happens is what I'm going through right now. I manage a page or a paragraph after what feels like very heavy lifting. And I'm not sure I like what I produce. But there's a lot going on in the background. I'm working out character descriptions. Figuring out what makes them tick. What is the world they live in and how does that world impact them? I need to know this even if none of it makes it onto the page explicitly. Isn't that productivity too?
So, as I said in my comment on Jenny's new blog (which is great, by the way), is 20 pages of dreck productive? Maybe, if you needed to get through the dreck to get to the good stuff. But maybe not, if the 20 pages stretch into 30, 75, 150 and the story isn't going anywhere.
I see people set word count goals all the time. I do it myself. "I'll write 20k words this month" or "5 pages a day" or whatever it is. I think maybe a better goal is to "work on my writing" every day. That can mean doing research (see D.B.'s blog for her take on overdoing this one), fleshing out a character, letting a scene ripen, reading somebody else's work for elucidation and inspiration and actually putting fingers to keyboard.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Wow
I am very tired, but happy, after my sleep-deprived Harry Potter weekend. The book did not disappoint. It is, however, very difficult to say anything about it without giving something away. The surprises, and sometimes downright shocks, are scattered throughout the book. The first time I teared up was in Chapter Two and actually cried several times before the tear-soaked last couple chapters.
As seems to happen in several of the books, a certain scene goes on far too long. I'm not sure if this is a result of the books being originally aimed at a younger reader, but I felt myself thinking, "Got it, Jo. Move along." But once she does get moving again, the story really moves.
There was a certain satisfaction in seeing pretty much every important thing, person, place, whatever from each of the books at least acknowledged in some way in the last one. Tied it all together nicely, without there being too pat a finish. She leaves just enough questions to keep the fans speculating well into the future.
So 3.98 wands out of 4.
As seems to happen in several of the books, a certain scene goes on far too long. I'm not sure if this is a result of the books being originally aimed at a younger reader, but I felt myself thinking, "Got it, Jo. Move along." But once she does get moving again, the story really moves.
There was a certain satisfaction in seeing pretty much every important thing, person, place, whatever from each of the books at least acknowledged in some way in the last one. Tied it all together nicely, without there being too pat a finish. She leaves just enough questions to keep the fans speculating well into the future.
So 3.98 wands out of 4.
Friday, July 20, 2007
How'd She Do That?
I finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince last night. Just in time to pick up my copy of The Deathly Hallows. Jenny and I have a date to get together and discuss on Sunday.
In rereading the series, I was struck over and over by the sheer enormity of it. That Rowling knew when she started that she wanted to do seven books. That she dropped hints about things happening in books five and six back in books one and two. And usually with what seems like a throw-away line. That she's allowed her characters to grow and change, not just because they're growing up but because of the things they've been through.
D.B. and I were talking about the inherent joys and constrictions of starting a series. She has two in the works. The common opinion is that your characters can't really change in the course of a series. The readers don't want these people they love to change. But Rowling belies that 'wisdom'. Maybe D.B. doesn't have to worry so much about allowing events, and the years, change 'the guys' in HM or DnD in DnD.
Fair warning: this won't be my last post about Harry Potter or Jo Rowling. I doubt the one I'll write after reading book seven will be the last. Don't worry, I won't post any spoilers. But my admiration and respect for this particular writer won't go away just because the series is over.
In rereading the series, I was struck over and over by the sheer enormity of it. That Rowling knew when she started that she wanted to do seven books. That she dropped hints about things happening in books five and six back in books one and two. And usually with what seems like a throw-away line. That she's allowed her characters to grow and change, not just because they're growing up but because of the things they've been through.
D.B. and I were talking about the inherent joys and constrictions of starting a series. She has two in the works. The common opinion is that your characters can't really change in the course of a series. The readers don't want these people they love to change. But Rowling belies that 'wisdom'. Maybe D.B. doesn't have to worry so much about allowing events, and the years, change 'the guys' in HM or DnD in DnD.
Fair warning: this won't be my last post about Harry Potter or Jo Rowling. I doubt the one I'll write after reading book seven will be the last. Don't worry, I won't post any spoilers. But my admiration and respect for this particular writer won't go away just because the series is over.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Comfort Zones
I just realized that I haven't posted since Monday. Still no Yahoo! Still making do with shout-outs on comments and using work email (which I hate to do). Frustration mounts.
I haven't written anything on TNN, although it is rolling around in the back of my brain. Which is a big part of writing and I don't downplay the importance of the gestation period. But I want to be putting words on paper, so to speak.
As much as I hate to admit it, I believe I need to take Ali's challenge to heart. Not just the idea of analyzing and writing poetry, but her challenge today to 'step out of the comfort zone'. I have done it in the past--a fantasy story about a mermaid comes to mind--and it has energized my writing. I could argue that TNN is outside my zone because it's set in the present with a teenage male protagonist. Never written anything like that before. But it's still mainstream fiction. Essentially women's fiction because it's about what happens to his sister, but through his eyes. On the surface, it sounds very different from MMG, but it's very much in the same ballpark. Or shelf space.
Realistically, I probably won't get much done through the weekend. I'm finishing the sixth Harry Potter book tonight. Tomorrow night is a gathering of at least part of The Group. Then I'll pick up the final Potter book on the way home and spend Saturday reading. Sunday, I meet Jenny to discuss. But next week seems wide open for some experimentation and making myself uncomfortable. Sounds a little masochistic.
I haven't written anything on TNN, although it is rolling around in the back of my brain. Which is a big part of writing and I don't downplay the importance of the gestation period. But I want to be putting words on paper, so to speak.
As much as I hate to admit it, I believe I need to take Ali's challenge to heart. Not just the idea of analyzing and writing poetry, but her challenge today to 'step out of the comfort zone'. I have done it in the past--a fantasy story about a mermaid comes to mind--and it has energized my writing. I could argue that TNN is outside my zone because it's set in the present with a teenage male protagonist. Never written anything like that before. But it's still mainstream fiction. Essentially women's fiction because it's about what happens to his sister, but through his eyes. On the surface, it sounds very different from MMG, but it's very much in the same ballpark. Or shelf space.
Realistically, I probably won't get much done through the weekend. I'm finishing the sixth Harry Potter book tonight. Tomorrow night is a gathering of at least part of The Group. Then I'll pick up the final Potter book on the way home and spend Saturday reading. Sunday, I meet Jenny to discuss. But next week seems wide open for some experimentation and making myself uncomfortable. Sounds a little masochistic.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Yahoo-less
I can't believe how dependent I've become on email. For some reason my Yahoo! account got all buggered up over the weekend, and I can't log on. I'm going through withdrawal. For any friends who've tried to contact me since about 4:00 on Friday afternoon: I'm not ignoring you. I'd love to answer. But I can't.
Jenny or Ali, if you could send a quick note to our common lists explaining that I may be incommunicado for a while, that would be great.
I guess I could blame Yahoo! for my not writing because I keep checking to see if I can log on. And checking my work email to see if tech support has answered.
Oh, bother!
Jenny or Ali, if you could send a quick note to our common lists explaining that I may be incommunicado for a while, that would be great.
I guess I could blame Yahoo! for my not writing because I keep checking to see if I can log on. And checking my work email to see if tech support has answered.
Oh, bother!
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