This goes so well with my last post. Ah, Ernest H.
“Forget your personal tragedy. We are all bitched from the start and you especially have to be hurt like hell before you can write seriously. But when you get the damned hurt, use it-don't cheat with it.”
― Ernest Hemingway
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Utilizing Your Emotions For Writing
I am determined to make something fruitful bloom out of the chaos that has been planted in my life as of late. I did not sow this misery, but I'm gonna make dang sure I reap from it. How?
By writing it all down.
I will spare details. This isn't a soap opera blog, although it would make for a juicy one, riddled with all sorts of nastiness and backstabbing and he said/she said crap, but maybe the world will get to read it one day in book form.
That's right people. I'm certain this will be a bestseller! May just be wishful thinking, but that's the best kind, right?
Anyways, to the point- have you ever been weighed down with so many emotions that you can't handle it. Depression, anger, grief, despair...don't they tend to jumble your mind so badly that you simply just want to shut down and go into hiding? I've definitely contemplated it. But then I had a better idea. Why not write what I'm feeling, jumbled or no? Besides, it's my joy, word-smithing an idea into physical form; it's cathartic, making nothing, or in this case, bedlam, into something. So, since I've been seeing every hour past midnight(part of this is due to pregnancy insomnia too), I opened up my Mac, aka 'Money Maker,' and started translating all these emotions into words. I was surprised that when thirty minutes passed, I had nearly three thousand words. May not seem like much, right? Most people keep a journal and do the same thing. But an idea struck me as soon as I read what I had written: 'Could I make this into a fictional story? Wouldn't it strike home for so many people? I'm not the first to go through something like this! And isn't that the best kind of tale, one that people can relate to and get lost in because they empathize with the narrator on a variety of levels?'
I rubbed my hands together in splendid delight as I answered every question with a 'yes'.
When I was writing 'Seven Days Normal,' I was at a very happy place in my life, and the story came easily. Even though there are many depressing and dramatic twists and turns in it, 'Seven Days' is still a sweet story with a joyous ending. It truly does reflect my emotions at the time. Then I started 'Taffy,' which I work on ten minutes here and there. It hasn't come easy. I've gotten writers block many times, and I now know why. I just couldn't relate to the main character. There was nothing of me in her. I couldn't understand her emotions as well as I could Casy's or Bo's.
Well, that has definitely changed. Now that I know a little of what she's experiencing(can't tell, don't want to spoil before it's even published), I'm sure she'll flow onto paper a little easier. I can now relate.
So I've learned a lesson. I have to know what my character is experiencing to write better. I'm sure that's not the case for all authors, but it is for me. I've taken these tumultuous emotions hell bent on sending me to the crazy house, and morphed them into something good-a story. Maybe that can be said for other things in life, not just writing, but since it's my love, that's the avenue I've taken. Do you do that as a writer too? Can you take your joy and make a story come to life? Can the heartache or depression, or whatever less than desirable emotion you are feeling at the moment, be turned into a multi-dimensional character? I say if writing is your passion, then do it. Even if it means stopping one story and working on another one. Don't lose what's in your head and heart at any given moment, cause it may never come back in the same way. Utilize it for your good, and maybe one day the world will get to read your thoughts in the form of a book.
Happy Writing.
By writing it all down.
I will spare details. This isn't a soap opera blog, although it would make for a juicy one, riddled with all sorts of nastiness and backstabbing and he said/she said crap, but maybe the world will get to read it one day in book form.
That's right people. I'm certain this will be a bestseller! May just be wishful thinking, but that's the best kind, right?
Anyways, to the point- have you ever been weighed down with so many emotions that you can't handle it. Depression, anger, grief, despair...don't they tend to jumble your mind so badly that you simply just want to shut down and go into hiding? I've definitely contemplated it. But then I had a better idea. Why not write what I'm feeling, jumbled or no? Besides, it's my joy, word-smithing an idea into physical form; it's cathartic, making nothing, or in this case, bedlam, into something. So, since I've been seeing every hour past midnight(part of this is due to pregnancy insomnia too), I opened up my Mac, aka 'Money Maker,' and started translating all these emotions into words. I was surprised that when thirty minutes passed, I had nearly three thousand words. May not seem like much, right? Most people keep a journal and do the same thing. But an idea struck me as soon as I read what I had written: 'Could I make this into a fictional story? Wouldn't it strike home for so many people? I'm not the first to go through something like this! And isn't that the best kind of tale, one that people can relate to and get lost in because they empathize with the narrator on a variety of levels?'
I rubbed my hands together in splendid delight as I answered every question with a 'yes'.
When I was writing 'Seven Days Normal,' I was at a very happy place in my life, and the story came easily. Even though there are many depressing and dramatic twists and turns in it, 'Seven Days' is still a sweet story with a joyous ending. It truly does reflect my emotions at the time. Then I started 'Taffy,' which I work on ten minutes here and there. It hasn't come easy. I've gotten writers block many times, and I now know why. I just couldn't relate to the main character. There was nothing of me in her. I couldn't understand her emotions as well as I could Casy's or Bo's.
Well, that has definitely changed. Now that I know a little of what she's experiencing(can't tell, don't want to spoil before it's even published), I'm sure she'll flow onto paper a little easier. I can now relate.
So I've learned a lesson. I have to know what my character is experiencing to write better. I'm sure that's not the case for all authors, but it is for me. I've taken these tumultuous emotions hell bent on sending me to the crazy house, and morphed them into something good-a story. Maybe that can be said for other things in life, not just writing, but since it's my love, that's the avenue I've taken. Do you do that as a writer too? Can you take your joy and make a story come to life? Can the heartache or depression, or whatever less than desirable emotion you are feeling at the moment, be turned into a multi-dimensional character? I say if writing is your passion, then do it. Even if it means stopping one story and working on another one. Don't lose what's in your head and heart at any given moment, cause it may never come back in the same way. Utilize it for your good, and maybe one day the world will get to read your thoughts in the form of a book.
Happy Writing.
Monday, March 4, 2013
The Waiting Game
Every day since early December 2012, I've been sitting on pins and needles, my mind a chaotic whirl of 'what if's' and 'when's' and 'what now's?' The cuckoo clock on the wall has ceased to be my time keeper, and is now just an annoying reminder that I still have no idea what is happening for any given minute, hour, and day. It's little chirps now sound like the rancorous cry of a grackle, making my ears ring unpleasantly, and only adding to the intensity of the moment. I am in waiting, playing that age-old game that Father Time must get a sadistic little kick out of. It's a state of limbo unlike any I've known before.
Okay, a little dramatic I know, but I haven't written in a while and my fingers are twitching to express some sort of emotion, and with the week I've had, drama won out. So what have I been waiting on? What has flung me into the empty limbo of time as if I've been sucked into a black hole?
BOOK SALES, that's what.
I have absolutely no clue how my book is doing. Any other first time authors out there experiencing the same agony? If so, I'd love to hear from you and how you're coping!
Yes, I can get on Amazon.com and check the rankings. I can do the same with Barnesandnoble.com, but I'm sorry people, these numbers really tell me nothing. And to be honest, I don't like seeing all those digits, especially when they reach up into the millions. It does not comfort, to say the least.
Pre-order sales should be composited soon by my publisher, and I will get a report that will at least give me some idea of the road that 'Seven Days Normal' is taking. The next report showing all over sales will be in June, then my first paycheck comes in August.
That's eight months of waiting, my friends. Eight months of chewing on my nails, hoping my book is getting out there to the world. Eight months of squirming in anticipation. And it's not really the paycheck I want(yes, it will be nice), it's just the knowledge that my marketing skills, measly as they are at the moment, have paid off at least a little, and that the story I created has touched enough people to travel by word of mouth.
So, the question begged is this: what do you do in the meantime(considering you have time, that is)?
Write, of course!
I have a 14 month old and another one due within the next few weeks, so I only write about ten minutes here and there, between changing diapers, picking up toys, cleaning, cooking, and all that other domestic stuff. But at least I'm writing.
Because no matter if 'Seven Days Normal' bombs out and never gets to be that best seller I wish it to be, I will continue to write as if it was the best story ever told and sells better than the Good Book itself.
In other words, don't let not knowing hinder you from doing what you love to do. Have I thought about just stopping until I know sales, at least for the sake of saving my precious time? You bet I have. I am only human, and am no stranger to discouragement. Common sense says stop until you know how well the market receives you, but the heart says, "Don't give up! At least you got published! At least it's for sale! At least some people like it, even if they are only family!'
So while you're playing that waiting game, even if you feel like it's kicking your tail all over the place, don't stop writing, don't stop honing your skills, and don't give up hope that the world will know your story.
Happy waiting. Happy writing.
Okay, a little dramatic I know, but I haven't written in a while and my fingers are twitching to express some sort of emotion, and with the week I've had, drama won out. So what have I been waiting on? What has flung me into the empty limbo of time as if I've been sucked into a black hole?
BOOK SALES, that's what.
I have absolutely no clue how my book is doing. Any other first time authors out there experiencing the same agony? If so, I'd love to hear from you and how you're coping!
Yes, I can get on Amazon.com and check the rankings. I can do the same with Barnesandnoble.com, but I'm sorry people, these numbers really tell me nothing. And to be honest, I don't like seeing all those digits, especially when they reach up into the millions. It does not comfort, to say the least.
Pre-order sales should be composited soon by my publisher, and I will get a report that will at least give me some idea of the road that 'Seven Days Normal' is taking. The next report showing all over sales will be in June, then my first paycheck comes in August.
That's eight months of waiting, my friends. Eight months of chewing on my nails, hoping my book is getting out there to the world. Eight months of squirming in anticipation. And it's not really the paycheck I want(yes, it will be nice), it's just the knowledge that my marketing skills, measly as they are at the moment, have paid off at least a little, and that the story I created has touched enough people to travel by word of mouth.
So, the question begged is this: what do you do in the meantime(considering you have time, that is)?
Write, of course!
I have a 14 month old and another one due within the next few weeks, so I only write about ten minutes here and there, between changing diapers, picking up toys, cleaning, cooking, and all that other domestic stuff. But at least I'm writing.
Because no matter if 'Seven Days Normal' bombs out and never gets to be that best seller I wish it to be, I will continue to write as if it was the best story ever told and sells better than the Good Book itself.
In other words, don't let not knowing hinder you from doing what you love to do. Have I thought about just stopping until I know sales, at least for the sake of saving my precious time? You bet I have. I am only human, and am no stranger to discouragement. Common sense says stop until you know how well the market receives you, but the heart says, "Don't give up! At least you got published! At least it's for sale! At least some people like it, even if they are only family!'
So while you're playing that waiting game, even if you feel like it's kicking your tail all over the place, don't stop writing, don't stop honing your skills, and don't give up hope that the world will know your story.
Happy waiting. Happy writing.
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