Tag: Thoughts

Why I Love Historical Romance

Photo of luxurious fabric to be made into a cape.Last week in my accountability group’s HOW I WRITE series, we talked about 3 Things I Love About My WIP. This week we’re talking about why we write in a particular genre and what attracted us to it. Also, we were asked if we like to read any genres we don’t or can’t write? Why? And would we like to try a different genre? I’ve already answered the “Why Romance” question, but I’m not sure I’ve ever covered Why Write Historical Romance, and Regency Romance in specific.

What attracted me to Historical Romance?

I grew up reading a variety of historical romances pilfered from my mom’s stash: Kathleen Woodiwiss, Kat Martin, Rosemary Rogers, Shirlee Busbee, Virginia Henley, Johanna Lindsey, and many, many, more. I’ll freely admit I was looking for escapism and a bit of the bodice ripping excitement promised by the covers. It was a slightly different kind from what I was finding in Science Fiction and Fantasy in that this was real world stuff, not wholly made up! Westerns/Colonial American, Medievals, Regencies… all were fair game. I never read the contemporary romances then. Probably because they all had boring object covers instead of those wildly passionate clinches.

So why settle into the Regency Era?

The romantic notions like titles and balls, the escapist fantasy, the slower/different pace of life, the layers and intrigue in the rules of society. The descriptions of men’s fashions, especially the mysteries revealed when a man removes his cravat. While I love me some eye-candy, there’s something to be said for leaving things to your imagination too.

They’d also just done away with the powdered wigs, patches, and panniers of the Georgian Era. Nasty stuff. Not practical and not attractive. Medievals were too much fantasy compared to the historical reality of fleas, sandy grit in the bread, women being literal property. In the Regency that last hadn’t changed legally, but the authors were showing their heroines more as partners than dependents. Victorian Era was too hypocritical for me in many of its attitudes around sex. I never really got into Edwardian Era books because anytime they drive up in a car or the phone rings, my immersion is shattered. Yes, I love Downton Abbey, but yup, the phone and the cars were jarring at first there too. I suspect my problem is more with books where the setting isn’t firmly established in the beginning and those things sneak up on me.

What else do I read besides Historical Romance?

What don’t I? The most represented genres on our shelves (well, the ones *I* read anyway) include Science Fiction, Fantasy, Young Adult, some Contemporary Romance, some Romantic suspense, historical time travel, a handful of chick lit mysteries, and a selection of urban fantasy. Again, it’s usually the escapist aspect that draws me to these genres, something removed from my ordinary world.

If not Historical Romance, what else would I try to write?

Maybe contemporary romance, Urban Fantasy or some fantasy, but it’d probably be flavored in some way by the historical aspect and it’d likely still have lots of romantic elements. But for now, I’m focused on finishing the current crop of characters in my head who all reside firmly in Regency London.

And if you’d like to read more about what’s got the rest of the group excited about their genres, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris*
* Angeleque Ford * Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney *

Your Turn: What’s YOUR favorite genre of book to read and why?

3 Things I LOVE About My WIP

Last week in my accountability group’s HOW I WRITE series, we talked about 5 Steps from Dreams to Completed Goals. This week’s topic is “Share at least 3 things you like, love, enjoy, make you excited to work on your current project.” So for anyone out there who doesn’t know what a WIP is, it’s a “Work In Progress”.

I’ve got two projects I’ve been ping-ponging back and forth on. Both are Regency-set Historical Romances and include some of the same characters (the heroes are best friends). I just love the feeling of immersion you get when an author builds a universe for you and you get to bump into old friends or enemies every so often. Anyway, I’m thinking mostly about BENEATH HIS TOUCH (BHT) more than REVEALED this days, but I suspect that’s about to switch as I have a lot more word count going on BHT and the story feels more complete. It needs polish and some slight remodeling, whereas Revealed needs some serious foundation work in order to stand on its own at this point.

A photo of a model, who is filling the role of The Duke of Wyndham.
BHT's hero: James Wyndham,
the Duke of Bolster
A photo of Narayan Fergal O'Connor, who is standing in for the role of Viscount Barrington.
REVEALED's hero: Hugh Leighton,
the Viscount Barrington

1. The Heroes

Who wouldn’t be excited about these guys? Getting them to do whatever I want? Dressing them up in cravats? Bonus! Seriously though, it’s a lot of fun to work with the starchy Duke and the puckish Viscount. They’re an interesting pair to play off each other. Similar in certain aspects, but different as night and day in others. How’s a girl to choose between them?

2. The Escapism

Just getting out of my own head and into someone else’s can be a good thing. Yes, all things with moderation and all that. But being able to let go of the here and now and slip back 200 years to an era of elegance and romance, it’s relaxing and fun. Yeah, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Besides, I get to do research on men in cravats so rewatching James Purefoy dressing as Beau Brummel totally counts.

3. The Romance

Ah, the romance! Looking at all the ways people can overcome the odds and find happiness with another person. Someone who is their best friend, someone who completes them. The HEA (Happily Ever After) is as predictable as the cops arresting the killer in a mystery, but exploring HOW that’s accomplished with their unique obstacles is the best part of each couple’s journey.

YOUR TURN: What are some things that have you excited about your current project? (Any type project is fine, it doesn’t have to be writing related at all!)

And if you’d like to read more about what’s got the rest of the group excited about their projects, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris*
* Angeleque Ford * Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney *

5 Steps from Dreams to Completed Goals

Photograph of Iceplant with fuschia flowers.Last week in my accountability group’s HOW I WRITE series, we posted 5 Things That Made Us Smile that week. This week’s topic is “Share tips on how you successfully set and completed goals.”

I had a very specific set of writing goals in mind for last year and this year, with the RWA National convention in Anaheim for 2012. I’ve felt like I wasn’t getting any farther on my own and I needed some extra guidance and cheerleaders along the way. So that’s what 2011 was all about. Moving forward with taking baby steps so I didn’t freak myself out.

A few of my 2011 goals were intended to up my writing game (not in terms of craft, but in networking and path to publication):

1. Complete my manuscript (BHT for those following along).
2. Join Romance Writers of America (nat’l, RWASD, & Beau Monde chapter)
3. Submit my manuscript to at least ONE agent.
4. Apply for RWA PRO status.

1. Separate Dreams From Goals.

Dreams are good. They’re the moon and the stars. The most important thing to remember is that they have to be YOUR dreams and goals. If you’re doing them for someone else or they don’t exactly line up with your values, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Take the time to think about who you are, what you want, and why you want it. Don’t rush figuring those things out.

Dream: I want to be published author and see my book on the shelf.
Goal: This year, I want to complete the first draft of a 90k Regency Set Historical Romance novel that’s suitable for Avon Books.

Dream: I want to take amazing photographs on purpose.
Goal: This year, I will publicly do a 366 (It’s leap year!) Photo Challenge with a couple of friends to improve composition and learn to use my camera without relying on the AUTO setting.

Dream: We want a comfortable retirement.
Goal: We need to accumulate X amount of money by a certain date in order to get a return on the principle that’s equal to our current income.

With the dreams, there are many paths I could take to get there, most of them involving a whole lotta luck.  The goasl, if they’re good ones, are going to be much more precise and can be broken down into tasks. A dream is what you want, but a goal is what you need to do to move toward your dreams.

2. WRITE S.M.A.R.T. Goals.

Have someone who knows you and what you’re trying to accomplish go over them and sanity check them. Skimping on this step just sets you up for failure. You can rationalize anything if you aren’t crystal clear about what you want to accomplish and you’ll find all sorts of loopholes, especially if you don’t write them down. Another thing that writing them down and putting them through this checklist can do is find and resolve conflicting goals. I don’t have exact dates for these goals above, but on my master copy, they had precise dates of which they were to be accomplished. I don’t think I went over by more than a week on any of them.

Are the goals [S]pecific? How are you going to accomplish it, if you don’t know exactly what you want to do?
Are they [M]easurable? How are you going to know if you’ve done enough to complete it?
Are they [A]ttainable? How are you going to achieve this goal? What steps do you need to take?
Are they [R]ealistic? This is where having a partner in crime or accountability helps most. We often bite off more than we can chew and they’ll call us on it.
Are they [T]imely and/or time limited? Do you need to do it now? How long do you have to do it for? Do you have a deadline? Even a self-imposed one is better than leaving it open ended. Make sure you know of any other steps that must be completed first.

3. Group Similar Goals.

Make sure you have all the steps necessary and the order in which they need to be done to achieve what you want.

I knew I wanted to be in the PRO groups for RWA in 2012. This means on the PRO mailing loops, attending the PRO breakfasts for my local chapter before meetings, and going to the PRO Retreat in Anaheim. I couldn’t just do those goals in any old order. Ok, the first two I could, but 1 definitely had to come before 3 and 2 before 4. A nice neat little stack of dominoes, if you will. They just tend to fall in slow motion.

You should also be thinking in terms of SHORT TERM GOALS and LONG TERM GOALS. You may also have some medium range goals in there as well. It’s often helpful to pick a date 5 or 10 years in the future and dream big, but true. Then, start dividing that time frame up… What do you have to accomplish to reach the that big goal in half that time? In a quarter of that time? In the next two years? In the next year? In six months from now?

4. Keep Moving Forward.

Keep your goals list handy. Check it frequently. When you’ve completed one task/goal on your list, move on to the next one. Celebrate your victory, but don’t lose your forward momentum. Love that motto from Meet the Robinsons.

One thing with keeping tasks/goals in a logical order for completion is that you don’t have to backtrack. Even if you aren’t planning to accomplish the next step in the current month, quarter, year, 5 years or decade, you should still know what you’re going to need to do to get where you want to be. You need to be prepare if your world suddenly shifts beneath you and you’re left without a plan? Or worse, you have a plan, but it’s irrelevant. By having a forward-looking plan that stretches out farther than you think is necessary, you give yourself something to work towards and you just might find you have to readjust. Likewise, the ground can shift and suddenly you’re back to square one with certain goals. Pick yourself up, dust off the plan and get moving. You’ve already decided you want to be somewhere better. Every journey begins with that first step. Take it.

5. But, Don’t Look Down!

Why do we set goals for ourselves anyway? We want to grow, to improve, to enjoy life more. If you shoot for the moon and miss, you’ll still be among the stars. Trite, but usually true. One way to set your goals up for positive change and increase your chances of success is to frame them in positive terms. “Losing weight” always seems to fail… why? It’s not will power, genetics or even that extra slice of cake. Ok, it probably IS the cake, but that’s a different argument. The problem is that it’s a NEGATIVE goal. Look at the wording… LOSE that’s not a positive word. If you want to lose weight you need to think of it terms of what you’ll be gaining and then find the steps to accomplish that.

If you are trying to set goals that push beyond your comfort zone, you need to sneak up on them. Make progress at a rate you’re comfortable with. If I can push myself to do something once, the next time is easier because it lacks the apprehension and built up fear the next time. This is why I made a goals of submitting to at least ONE agent. I gave myself permission to set the bar VERY low and not build expectations into the goal.

One of the PRO Liasons in my local chapter said to me today: “Just like, when you’re climbing up high, don’t look down. Keep looking forward so you don’t get overwhelmed by how far up you are.” I’m really trying not to think how fast things are moving, so I can keep up. Lots of metaphors would fit here — gotta keep those plates spinning!

YOUR TURN: What tried ‘n true tips would you recommend for setting and achieving goals?

And if you’d like to read more about goal setting tips from the rest of my group this week, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris*
* Angeleque Ford * Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney *

Transitions: 2011 to 2012

Last time, our How I Write series, we talked about which books we’d include in a time capsule for 2011. This time, we’re looking at the other side of the calendar and all the introspection and planning that comes with the beginning of a new year. The questions posed were “What did you accomplish in 2011? What one thing about last year would you change? And What are your goals for 2012?” This isn’t a new topic for my accountability group, we start assessing the current year and how we want to change and revise and plan for the coming year with SMART goals back in November.

2011 Accomplishments

I joined RWA at the national and local levels and also joined the regency era specialty chapter, the Beau Monde. I also finished BHT and submitted it to a literary agent. I haven’t heard back but it was enough to get my PRO status for RWA.

A photo of our new house.
We're homeowners again!

We bought a new house at the beginning of the year and have made significant progress on settling in and making it ours.

I made an effort to listen to music on a regular basis and got in at least 60 hours each month. I also got a new digital camera for my birthday and have been playing with it with good results. I also made an effort to reconnect with two of my friends and had brunch with them once a month.

As a family, we managed to do something together for each major holiday/vacation, saw our daughter promote from 8th grade and enter high school and celebrated DH’s 40th birthday. There were trips to D.C./Philly/NYC, L.A. and Jacksonville for educational enrichment, fun and family.

this was about half of what I’d hoped to accomplish but when it’s all listed out it sounds like a lot, considering all the usual health and chaotic interruptions.

What Needs to Change?

Less drifting along and more focus. Like water, I’m prone to take the path of least resistance. My accountability group and several members in my local RWA Chapter are amazing at prodding me along and give me the courage to move forward. I don’t have any good excuses for not chasing what I want.

2012 Goals

So, my big, hairy, audacious goals for 2012… I have more goals than what I’m laying out here, but most of them would bore you to tears. You probably won’t care if we get our bookshelves organized, if I treat myself to a spa day every 3 months, or if I make my annual donation to Juvenile Diabetes Research. Balance is important, but I feel my writing has suffered from having my attention pulled elsewhere or just drifting because I didn’t have clear paths to follow. 2012 is a year to change that.

Without further dithering on, here’s what I’m willing to stand up here and say, THIS is what I WILL accomplish this year:

  1. Attend the Nations RWA Conference in Anaheim in July. This is a HUGE for me. I’m not good with crowds or new situations. Eep.
  2. Have 2 mss out to agents & contests by the end of the year. Gotta justify my PRO pin and you can’t get a yes by never asking!
  3. Migrate my online identity to my name instead of my blog name or a nickname. Again, this is very hard for me, but needs done if I want to be taken seriously.
  4. Stop lurking and participate with other writers and with local people who energize us. One of the ways I’ll be pushing myself to interact with other writers is doing interviews here on the blog. Expect the majority to be Regency Romance, but I have a couple Victorian writers in mind that I think you’ll love too.
  5. Participate in a 365 Photo Project for 2012. Look for weekly summaries soon!

You should feel to pester me about any and all of the above if you haven’t sensed any movement from my cave in a while! Seriously.

YOUR TURN: How are you challenging yourself this year?

If you’d like to see what my friends accomplished in 2011 and have planned for 2012, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Kimberly Farris *
* Danie Ford * Emma G. Delaney * Angeleque Ford *

How to Write While Dealing With Holiday Madness

Photo of a Christmas Tree with eclectic ornaments.
A typical Koster Christmas tree.

This week, my accountability group is writing about “Holiday Plans and Are You Writing?” Last week, we blogged about the topic of “Where do you stand?” in terms of our writer’s journeys. The entries are part of our How I Write series.

Ya know, I’ve always wondered about Chris Baty’s sanity for picking November for NaNoWriMo. Then I think, “Student, not mother!” and nod to myself and keep going. My plans on the NaNo front went well for the first week and then I hit a wall. Having kids home sick from school on a revolving basis this week didn’t help either. I’ve been trying not to catch whatever they’ve had, but my focus and motivation has been completely shot in the whole process.

I enjoy the holiday season, but I’m always looking forward to the restful and relaxing aspects of it more than the hustle and bustle. I was sickened by seeing Christmas decorations up in the stores before Halloween weekend. The idea of Black Friday sends me to the corner to curl up in a whimpering ball. Cyber Monday is more my speed, but I try to spread it out through the month of November and the first week or two of December.

While I was growing up, the Holidays always meant food, family and travel. Thanksgiving has always meant a lot on my dad’s side of the family which traces its roots to the Mayflower and beyond. Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy stuffing, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole with the pineapple and marshmallows, fresh yeast rolls, Apple Harvest Cake and pumpkin pie have always had our table groaning. But last November 1st, DH and I gave up grains, legumes, potatoes and most white sugar. Thanksgiving felt kinda funky. Not as funky as the year we went to his uncle’s in NYC and didn’t have turkey, but a huge pork roast. My Puritan roots were shocked, but I survived. Christmas dinner is usually a replay of Thanksgiving as well.

The biggest take away here is that our routine shifted and we survived. I HATE change and new things. But I’m learning lots of new tricks as I work on trying to build up my discipline and continue to improve my craft while balancing it with the bustling life around me. I think I’ve learned that I can’t throw all my hopes and dreams into the single biggest writing month of the year (NaNoWriMo), not and still maintain any resemblance to balance and sanity.

So about those promised tips in the title… They may sound sarcastic in places, they may be a little tongue-in-cheek in others, but they are all things that I’ve found that help me and to me are worth trading money for time and sanity in some cases. Your mileage may vary, but do what you can to keep your creative tanks full.

How I Write While Dealing With Holiday Madness:

  1. Consider an Online Christmas — All your ordering can be done between writing breaks and many offer gift wrapping options. And really, who has time to wrap? We seriously considered saying it was an Amazon themed Christmas one year and the boxes would have been deemed as acceptable. Saves your gas and time and sanity! Ok, maybe not the most carbon conscious option, but it still has appeal. Just don’t hand your kids scotch-taped boxes and tell them to wrap their own presents. I HATED not knowing what was in those boxes until Christmas Day. (*waves* Hi, Mother!)
  2. Add Writing Time to your Wish List — You won’t get it if you don’t ask for it. And if you ask nicely in advance, I’ve found people are more likely to respect your time and space. I also find that just taking it by getting up earlier than everyone else works wonders. They get to feel superior because they slept in so late, and you get a quiet house to yourself — until they get up. At which point, feel free to direct this hapless soul that has wandered into your creative space to dump the ingredients for dinner in the crockpot to let you finish this section.
  3. Decide What Matters Most — Only YOU can answer this one. Plan according to your priorities and don’t feel guilty about it. If you have a family, next summer consider talking about what people enjoy doing most during the winter holidays and adjust your traditions to drop ones that no one likes or try new ones that appeal to your family’s values and tastes. If something doesn’t work for you, make a note of it so you don’t repeat it next year.
  4. Make Ahead Meals — Dump chicken is a staple in my freezer. Buy a bargain tray of boneless skinless chicken breasts or thicker pork chops. Buy a couple bottles of BBQ, Italian Dressing, Ranch Dressing and some quart-sized ziploc freezer bags. For my family of 4, I put 4 breasts or equivalent servings of chops in a ziploc. Then add approximately 3/4 cup of the BBQ, Italian or Ranch Dressing (I also add some minced garlic and some black pepper to this one). Zip and freeze flat. You can bake one of those suckers from frozen at 350˚F for 50-60 minutes and get two solid 25 minute writing sprints in while it cooks. It marinates as it freezes and also more if you let it thaw first, but honestly, who remembers to do that in time?!
  5. Make Sacrifices to the Crockery Gods — I can’t tell you how many times throwing something into the crockpot in the morning has saved my bacon! Look for simple recipes with 5 ingredients or less, dump chicken and pork loins work well for this too. Most of dinner cooks while you’re doing your thing. Husbands and teens CAN be taught to dump the ingredients in. They may claim to have forgotten how the next time, but this is where all that practice at being a persistent writer comes pays off!
  6. Pamper Yourself — De-stress by relaxing. Curl up and read a book. Go see a movie. Go get a mani-pedi if that’s your thing. You’re running around doing everything for everyone else right now, right? Hopefully, they won’t forget you deserve to be pampered and treated like royalty, but… yeah. Trust me on this one. You’ll feel better for giving yourself a treat like this in the middle of the chaos.
  7. Holiday Parties, Concerts, & Get Togethers — Don’t let them get you down. They’re a great opportunity for people watching! If you see or overhear something you’re afraid you’ll forget, slip into the bathroom and pull out your trusty notebook or smart phone or whatever and note it down for later! Same thing goes for that Aha! moment that strikes you in the middle of the concert… don’t lose it!
  8. Say ‘NO!’ When Appropriate — You know your deadlines and obligations. Don’t short-change your own goals just because every family on the block has invited you over for some eggnog and carols. You know the connections you can’t miss, but you’re not lying if you say you have other plans and what you mean is you want to write. Give yourself the gift of time for yourself.
  9. Houseguests — Whether you have them or are one… be sure to schedule downtime for everyone. Some may need more than others.
  10. Remember Why You Celebrate— To me, this is the most important one… if my writing slips, it slips. If my holiday prep slips, it slips. I’d much rather spend time with the people I love having a good time than run around like a chicken with its head cut off, scrambling to get everything done and feel miserable about it.

YOUR TURN: With the holidays’ coming up, what are you holiday plans? What are your favorite holiday food traditions? And how are you plan to balance your creative endeavors with your real life obligations? Or are you taking a break?

And if you’d like to read about how the rest of my group approaches their research, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Angeleque Ford * Danie Ford *
* Emma G. Delaney * Kimberly Farris *

When I’m Not Writing…

Leaf with Heavy DewThis week my accountability group is blogging about our hobbies and what we do when we’re not writing. Last week’s post on Writer’s Block is also part of our How I Write series.

Some days I don’t think I have time for hobbies. But then I remember just how much I spend reading. Mostly Science Fiction, Fantasy, YA, Historical Romance and some contemporary and paranormal romance as well. We need more bookshelves but don’t have room for them.

I have a bunch of other hobbies that I enjoy puttering around with, but am not very serious about: cooking, gardening, sewing. None of those ever felt like something I was passionate about enough to pursue in any real sense.

I like to cook and bake, but it’s more of a way to share with family and friends. I’d judge myself a competent if sometimes uninspired cook. Gardening, I’ve posted a lot of pictures lately about it, but the plants either live or not. I’m enjoying the process, but I’m not tied to it.

I learned to sew in 7th grade for a home-ec class. Picked a fairly difficult pattern and beat it before it defeated me. When my daughter was a toddler, I made many of her dresses. I even made a pair of overalls for my son with an adorable cow print. The most ambitious project I took on was my daughter’s colonial costume for 5th grade. I know where the flaws are and I beat myself up about them, but it came out pretty well. But again, competent but not passionate.

I’ve always been a gamer. I’m a sucker for a puzzle that needs solving. I managed to work two years as a professional game designer and ran an online text adventure game based on world history and mythology for over ten years. In some ways, I was TOO passionate about that one. Again, I was competent, but I could see more than I was able to implement or direct. So now, I just play and complain to DH who’s still doing it for a living. Hey, he gets a free sounding board!

The other hobby that I keep coming back to and seems to run in my family is photography. My great-grandfather was an art collector. My grandfather was a professional photographer in the ’30s and always seemed to have a camera at hand. My father seemed to collect cameras and my mom still has a kazillion and three boxes of slides in her hall closet. One of my cousins has also been bitten by the shutter bug and I’m astounded by the stuff he comes up with.

I asked for and got a SLR camera as a high school graduation present. Before then, I’d had dinky little box cameras, and even a disc camera. But I wanted a REAL camera. That thing was HEAVY. I drug it all over the place. I even got additional lenses for it. I spent hours setting up “art shots”. I took pictures of the people around me. I loved taking pictures of cityscapes and landscapes.

But when I graduated from college and got married, for some reason, I decided it was too heavy and cumbersome and what we needed was one of those little idiot proof cameras. Yep. Pretty much killed my desire to take pictures. Oh, we’ve got the requisite pictures of the kids when they were little, but not much else. At least from my point of view. DH takes a camera with him when he travels and he’s got some gorgeous ones to show for it.

AnDew Covered Bushyway, I decided this past year, what I wanted for my birthday was a digital SLR camera. It’s so LIGHT! ok. It’s still kinda bulky, but it’s got a lot of bells and whistles I missed with the point and shoots. So I’ve been playing with that just about every week since I got it. Most of the photos I’ve used in the posts lately have been mine. I find that some work, some don’t, but I WANT to learn how to use it better.

I gave in and upgraded my flickr account to PRO because I’d overrun the 200 photo limit for the photostream.

Alexia Reed, Kimberly Farris and I are trying to talk each other into doing a 365 project next year, which because it’s leap year, it’ll actually be 366. I think they’re more convinced than I am, but I think it’ll be a good way to learn my camera and do a bit of local tourism at the same time. There’s got to be a reason I keep coming back to this.

Your Turn: What hobbies do you enjoy?

And if you’d like to read about what the rest of my group does when they’re not writing, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Angeleque Ford * Danie Ford *
* Emma G. Delaney * Kimberly Farris *

Writer’s Block: Real or Myth?

Writer's Block: Segement of Berlin Wall at the Newseum in D.C.
Segement of Berlin Wall at the Newseum in D.C.
This week my accountability group is blogging about writer’s block and how we deal with it. Last week’s post on what has writing taught us and what we have learned over the years is also part of our How I Write series.

“Is writer’s block real or a myth and how do you deal with it?”

I believe writer’s block is a real phenomenon. Ok, probably not as literal as the wall in the picture above, but it can feel that way some days.

However, I don’t think writer’s block is necessarily a bad thing that you must sit and bang your head against. It’s merely a signal. Your muse, or your well of creativity, hasn’t abandoned you, it’s just undernourished. Ok, so if you don’t subscribe to the whole muse thing, think of it this way…

Your subconscious and your conscious mind are in total agreement here. You don’t know what’s going to happen next. And until you step back, stop banging your head against the problem, nothing’s going to be resolved in a pretty fashion that you’re going to be happy with in the long run.

So, what can we do once we’ve recognized this signal?

  • Read: What should you read? ANYthing and EVERYthing that interests you. Read for fun. Read to soak up the skills of the author. Read aloud if you want. Just luxuriate in the words. Let them wash over you. Even reading something that sucks can inspire you to do better. Reading up on the craft of writing helps me think about how I’m putting the words together and gives new ideas to try.
  • Relax: Take some time for yourself. Pamper yourself. Listen to some music. Take a nap. Reconnect with friends.
  • Play: Do something you enjoy, just for yourself and for the heck of it. Get down on the floor and play with the kids (borrow someone else’s if you need to and they’ll thank you!) Spend some time pursuing a different hobby.
  • Exist: This one is harder to explain. It’s similar to meditation, in that your focus is on something repetitive and preferably wordless. Exercise, playing an instrument, knitting, doing the dishes, gardening, walking, showering or soaking in the tub can all fit the bill. Be yourself as much as you can be, and step beyond that. Sounds corny, but works for many and gets the words flowing.

The main thing that all those things have in common is they are ways to refill your creative well and give your subconscious time to work through the question of “What next?”. Writing or any other creative endeavor can be a drain on us. We really need to take time to find balance (one of the things my accountability group focuses on) to give us the time to step back and plan (even if only subconsciously) instead of always running full tilt at the keyboard.

I find I work best when I can routinely cycle between cramming stuff into my brain and then later dumping stuff back out on the page. Others may not find that works for them, or they need a much shorter and less distinctive cycle to feed their muses.

Another thing you can try is a little different in that it’s not a refilling, but more of a rebooting or flushing action.

  • Write: You can use a journal to dump out all the crap your subconscious is wrestling with and save it for later. Experiment with a new technique. Something new. Something mundane. Writing exercises or writing prompts may help spark your creativity too.

Your Turn: Share how you maintain balance and refill your creative well in the comments below.

And if you’d like to read about what the rest of my group thinks about writer’s block and how they deal with it, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Angeleque Ford * Danie Ford *
* Emma G. Delaney * Kimberly Farris *

What Can Writing Teach Us?

Close up of the pieces of hand-set type used in the Gutenberg's Puzzle artwork in the Newseum in Washington, D.C.This week my accountability group is blogging about what has writing taught us and what we have learned over the years. Last week’s post on what inspired our current WIPs is also part of our How I Write series.

I chose today’s photo with a nefarious purpose in mind. See, I don’t really want to talk about what I’ve personally learned through my writing. I’d much rather hear about your discoveries! However, just in choosing that picture, I’ve told you something about myself and how much books and the printed word mean to me.

At Washington College, or more accurately while my husband was still there after I’d graduated, I served an apprenticeship as a “printer’s devil” in The Literary House Print Shop and became good friends with the Master Printer T. Michael Kaylor. My wedding invitations were printed in that shop on an antique letterpress (the one in the 2nd photo if you follow that last link) using type I’d handset myself. It wasn’t quiet — I still can’t listen to Paul Simon’s Rhythm of the Saints album, Sweet Honey In The Rock, or Van Morrison without being swept back into that room that smells of paper, ink, pipe smoke and wisdom — and with the rhythm of feeding the press, it was easy to drift off and get lost in your own thoughts. I learned a lot about myself in that room.

The funny thing was, I wasn’t an English major or even a Drama major like everyone else who hung out at the Lit House. No, I double majored in Business Administration and Economics. Need your checkbook balanced? Don’t ask me. But I’ve always hung out with the “literary” types. Pretentious? Not me, but several of them would have been labeled that way with little hesitation by their peers. Did I start hanging out with the creative types in college? Nope. I was on the tech crew for a couple of shows for the drama club in high school, but mostly I was a band geek. The stories I could tell you… This one time… at band camp? Yeah… So not going there. My mom reads this blog.

So, I can hear you asking, “What? You didn’t always want to be a writer or novelist since you picked up your dad’s flair pens and drew all over yourself? What? Not even an artist?”

Nope. That so wasn’t me for the longest time. Don’t get me wrong, I come from a long artistic line. One great grandfather was an art collector, one grandmother went to art school, one grandfather was a professional photographer. My mom was an English major. My husband has an MFA in Poetry. I was surrounded by artists. I’ve always considered myself to be logic and order to my husband’s chaos and creativity. He’ll come up with the cool ideas and the details are left to me to make them work. Oh, right, you guys saw my desk. Yes, I bring my own brand of chaos with me, granted. So what did I want to be when I grew up? An accountant.

Stop laughing right now! I hated the busy work that was my required Accounting class for my business major. It was about that time that I was falling in love with the puzzles that the supply and demand graphs were challenging me with in my Economics classes. Exploring those puzzles and the theories behind the markets was what intrigued me. Not crunching numbers. Ew. Hated that. Boring. And then in grad school, you had to be a math major to do the equations for the econ classes. Ugh. Count me out. I can only assume the need for logical explanations and to solve puzzles comes from my dad, the computer programmer.

Ever since 7th grade, I’ve been a voracious reader. My mom once despaired of ever getting me to read a book, but once I found genre fiction — science fiction and fantasy to begin with and then I found her stacks and stacks of romance novels… well that was all she wrote. I took the campaign “Get caught reading” to heart. I don’t think my kids have hardly seen me without a book nearby. My Girl Scout campname from my daughter’s troop was “Bookworm”. The movers hate the 139 book boxes we have when we move, and I can’t blame them all on my husband. Books are a big part of my life. At some point in college, I also decided I could do better than what I was reading that summer. Yup. That manuscipt is buried so deep on my harddrive, it’ll never see the light of day. But I learned I had something, people wanted me to keep going. I took a side trip into game design and MUDs for a decade or so, but eighteen years after I’d shelved that first failed attempt, I opened another Word file and started typing again. I needed a creative outlet.

So, what writing has taught me is that creativity is in my genes and some of it, like working with images and print layout, I can do a decent job with riding on instincts alone, but actually sitting down and writing my own novel is hard work. Satisfying, exciting and always changing each day, but difficult. I’ve learned to let go and trust myself more with each project. I’ve been told I over-think things, but I think that’s just my logical and orderly genes sticking their nose in. Maybe I should lock them up in that iron-bound box with my internal editor, they’re probably related. I’ve also realized that I was hanging out in the right places with the right kinds of people the whole time, even if I didn’t know it. And, yes, writing and being around those creative people has taught me more about what I don’t want to be when I grow up than anything else. But I also know, the more you practice at your art (no matter which one you’re working in), the better you’ll become in the long run.

Your Turn: What have your creative endeavors (successful or not so) taught you?

And if you’d like to read about what the rest of my group has learned from writing, you can find their blogs here:

* Alexia Reed * Angeleque Ford * Danie Ford *
* Emma G. Delaney * Kimberly Farris *

Growing Things

We moved to a new house this spring. We inherited citrus and almond trees. We planted a berry patch and a grape arbor. We have space for a garden. Life hasn’t been boring. There’s always something that needs done.

Some of our plants have done better than others. Finding that right mix of fertilizer, water, soil mixture and sunshine has been more luck than conscious planning on our part. That zucchini is going to take over the world. The honeydew melon and the summer squash are sadly relegated to minions this year.

I could get all pithy and try to relate growing a story or even a writer’s career to my garden, but I think I refrain from taking the obvious route and instead go work on pruning, fertilizing and nurturing my work instead. I hope you’ll also thank me for the zucchini when it starts coming out our ears. =)

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!

Happy New Year, 2011!First off I’d like to wish you and yours a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

2010 Recap

I accomplished 28 of my 48 stated goals for 2010. Now while 58% doesn’t sound that great, when I consider everything that went on in 2010 including losing three months to essentially homeschooling the boy and dealing with his sinus infection, it doesn’t look quite so bad.

So, what were the big things I accomplished?

I completed a 331 page rough draft of Beneath His Touch. We did something for each school vacation and birthday in the house, besides just sit holed up in our cave. My Christmas Shopping Done by 12/12 and my wrapping was done by 12/19.

But I think the biggest accomplishment this year was that I publicly owned up to the fact that I was writing fiction and in which genre to not just family and friends, but some complete strangers on Facebook and no one laughed. At least not where I could hear it.

Oh, and we’re in the middle of buying a house. We started looking like 2 weeks before Thanksgiving and we’ll close the end of January and move the first couple weeks of February. That’s one item checked off the 5 Year Plan!

2011 Goals

I managed to only make 42 goals for 2011, but I think they’re SMARTer this year. Many of them are building new habits on a weekly or monthly basis, but there are a few big projects in there as well. Not least of all, making sure we don’t have any unpacked boxes from the move at the end of the year. Just knowing that we have ones that haven’t been unpacked here after seven was a bit discouraging. Yup, procrastination at its finest!

So, what were the big things I hope to accomplish in 2011?

  1. Stay grain-free/low-carb. DH and I are following a Paleo style diet and I feel so much better. The weightloss is icing on the cake, to mix metaphors horribly. By the end of the year, I hope to have a collection of at least 52 TNT recipes.
  2. Writing wise: I want to have Beneath His Touch ready to submit to agents by the end of July. I’d also like to have the complete next draft of Revealed done that fills in all the holes from the previous draft. I’ll also be taking the plunge and joining RWA along with the local chapter and an online one, The Beau Monde, which specializes in the Regency.
  3. Blog wise: I’ve made a commitment to blog at least once a week. Topics may vary widely, but I do have a list to work from. I think I was far too ambitious last year and having my attention pulled from my writing to the boy’s school work didn’t help. Also, I’m going to try out the idea of doing Sweet Temptation as free, serial read for Excerpt Mondays.
  4. Continue celebrating birthdays in the family (extended as well as just in the house) and taking advantage of those school vacations and wrap up my christmas shopping and wrapping around the same time. It was so much less stressful this year! I just need to start a little earlier next year.

Like I said, those are the big ones, and they include several of the smaller ones on my list. So, I’m hoping that 2011 will be just as busy as 2010 was, but more focused and purposeful.

What big plans do you have for 2011?