Cynthia Harrison's Blog, page 70

Let Writing Rescue You

Last night, carrying a large laundry basket downstairs, I tripped over my cat and fell face first into the air. The basket flew from my hands as I tried to grab the handrail but got air instead. I thought about how to minimize landing impact right before my chin and mouth hit a bar stool just to the right of the stairs. That was enough to slow my body's descent and I landed seconds later on my right knee with my right hand spread out to take the brunt of the fall.

I collapsed onto my side, wimpering in fear. Nothing hurt. Nothing felt broken. Maybe I was okay. Meanwhile my cat was nowhere in sight. Neither was my husband. Surely he'd heard me fall? I started to cry, laying there. I'm not sure why. Adrenalin, fear, hope of being rescued. My sobs were increasing; I decided to try to stand. Carefully I pulled my body from the floor and stood with my back to a wall while I tried out various fingers, toes, elbows. Everything worked as it should. Except the crying thing. By now I was sobbing uncontrollably, and badly in need of a Kleenex.

I went upstairs to let Al know that even though I was crying so hard, my body heaving with each deep hiccup of breath, I was fine. I just needed tissue. But even after I found the tissue, even after I looked in the mirror and found only mild redness on my chin and lip, only a skinned knee, I continued to cry. "I don't know why I can't stop crying," I said. "I'm fine. Really. I'm fine." When I had looked in the mirror, I'd seen the twisted grimace of heavy sobbing.  Not pretty. Oprah calls it the ugly cry.

Finally, I quieted. But I was puzzled. Why cry after the fact? When I knew I was fine? Maybe adrenaline release forced me to burst into those spasms of deep gutted sobs. But they were over, so I went to look for my cat. He was fine. I finished putting away the laundry, but a dark disquiet still rattled me. I could have broken my neck, bashed in my face, really hurt myself. I didn't, and I was grateful but unable to settle down.

I spied my journal open on my writing room table and sat down to see if my right hand, which is what hurt the  most, would work. Yes! I could write. And so, like millions of other times in my life when something scares me or hurts me or upsets me, I wrote away the worry. I let writing rescue me.

Little Writings

My writing room is almost ready to move back into, but a few major things need to be completed first. My desk is in there. I could write in there. But it feels to strange with half-built bookcases on the floor. So I wait. And I write in my family room.

I'm not working on my novel. It's too big and feels like it needs to be tucked away from the chaos. But I am writing–an essay for a Chicken Soup story. I wasn't really thinking about it but the words started coming anyway, so I'm writing them down in a  notebook. I do love the shorter form essay sometimes. A nice change.

If you live in Michigan, you can practice your short forms for cash prizes from my writing group, DWW, short for Detroit Working Writers. There are five categories of writings–something for everyone. I'd have to double check, but I think we pay out about the same as the Chicken Soup people. Our first prizes (there are five of them!) are $100. We also have second and third place cash prizes. So be it short story, poem, essay, or just about any other genre, if you life in Michigan, you can enter.

Why not take your shot? I am!

Blame it on the Moon

So today we have a new moon, signaling new beginnings. The moon is in Aries, which makes it extra powerful for Aries (like me). So that must be why my writing room is almost empty and just about ready to paint. It must be why I'm buying new bookshelves and considering a new chair, too. It's why I'm reconfiguring the furniture.

I may need a new computer soon, too. This one keeps going blue screen (this is a bad thing-it means something is wrong internally). After an hour of looking through all of my files AND all of Al's, I have found manuals for things we no longer own, like a microwave, dishwasher, and television. But I have not found the manual for this laptop which Al claims is still under warranty.

I usually feel like a pretty organized person. But not today. So maybe I am heading for a time of life with the new unorganized me? Or at least the less tense and angry and frustrated me. Because I can't find the file and I am not freaking out. I'm not calling Al and ranting. I'm not venting, well maybe this is venting a little bit right here. And okay, a small vent of FB.

But I will not tweet about it, phone a friend about it, or allude to it in any way to whoever I email today. Yes, I still email. I know most people don't so much these days. So what does all this have to do with writing? Well, I'm not working on my WIP because I'm so busy looking for lost manuals, prepping my writing room to paint, and meditating on the beauty and luck of my life.

New moons are good in general for everyone to start a new project, new job, new relationship. If you find yourself doing something like that, blame it on the moon:)

All About Critique Groups

Critique groups and writing groups are not the same. You may find your critique group in your writing group, but the main difference between the two is that critique groups focus on the actual manuscripts its members are writing. They give feedback and praise and suggestions for improvement. And they are vital to unpublished writers who have no agent or editor.

I've been in so many critique groups through the years, and while every single one of them helped me become a better writer, most of them ended in tears. The first group I belonged consisted of a dozen or so rotating folks. We did mostly poetry. Nobody ever liked my poems. Not ever. The focus with that group was always what is wrong, not what is right, what is good, what I want to see more of in your work.

Critique groups need a balance of helpful criticism diplomatically delivered after some enthusiastic praise.

After the poetry group, which I stayed in way too long for my poor ego, I formed a group of other writing teachers/writers. That group worked on prose while drinking copious amounts of alcohol. Things evolved, people dropped out, new people came in, but when the core group changed, something was lost and I couldn't find it again. The biggest problem with this group was how many people failed to bring something to critique.

I have been in many groups where it turns out I am the only person who wrote a new chapter or new story. That just sucks for me.

I found my next group at a writer's conference and we formed a tight bond through the Internet. We were all working on novels and we would read early drafts of complete novels. That group was ideal. Then one of us got published, another of us quit writing, and I, well, there I was, alone again.

This small group was also for awhile part of a bigger online group. So I was able to fall back on them. That group took chapters in rotation and I received 25 or so mostly excellent critiques of first chapters from them on 2 or 3 of my novels. But I felt an unease there so I stopped doing that one.

Then I joined DWW and after a year or so I was able to cobble together another group. I am the only original member of that group. One person quit to focus on writing her master's thesis, another moved to Florida, another stopped writing her novel. Meanwhile I got email from former students who were still writing and I invited a few of them to join me. So that's where I am now.

We meet once a month and will look at up to 30 pages. We met Saturday. It was grand. I would be happy to read full drafts of anything they write. And that's the secret bonus of critique groups. Someone in your group will read your entire novel, especially if  you offer to read theirs, too.

I get many requests from folks (mostly former students, but sometimes people who read my blog) asking me to read their work. I used to do this more often, but now I  read only for a few people, one who has become a dear friend via the Internet and another because I was interested in the topic and could skim it.

I feel bad turning people down, but, like reviewing, if I do too much of it, I won't have time for my own writing. If you need readers for your novel before you publish it, there are two ways to go. First, you can hire a professional editor. Second, you can ask your critique group. And that is just one of the reasons why critique groups are vital to writers.

If you are not in one, and you are unpublished, you really should look around and find a critique group, because pretty soon, if you're persistent and lucky, you will finish that novel. And you'll want some eyes on it before you upload it to Kindle.

 

Look!!

Hey Michigan writers! Here's your chance to attend a great conference with professionally published, award-winning authors leading 16 workshops! gift bags! keynote! breakfast and lunch! book sales and signings and more!

And did I mention the writing competition? You don't have to attend the conference to enter or to win, but wouldn't it be fun? And if you do the math, you'll see it's even better to join DWW as members get discounts on event tickets and contest fees. Really good discounts. Covers the cost of a years' membership and then some.

Plus I'M the chairperson:)

 

Writing is Acting

I had to write a really tough, emotionally draining chapter last week. This week, I need to do some research and turn it into more pages that will be just as difficult. When I wrote my first practice novels, I avoided conflict. There could be a misunderstanding or a problem, but I immediately fixed it. I still do that sometimes. I did it this time on the difficult chapter. It took me a few hours after I'd stopped writing to realize I'd done it again and it wasn't going to work. Then I thought about how to fix it. I'm still thinking about it.

In life, I dislike conflict, confrontation, even debate. I've taught Shakespeare for years, and yet when a friend told me she does not believe Shakespeare wrote the plays (she read a book about it that convinced her) I did not argue. Even though I've read dozens of books on the topic, listened to Shakespeare scholar lectures, and have myself lectured frequently on why the anti-Stratfordians are wrong, and why the Bard really did write those plays. And yet…when my friend said that, as passionate as I am on the topic, I didn't challenge her. So, see, I really really dislike conflict. YES is my favorite word. Most of the time it turns out okay.

Which is why, when it comes to my characters, who are my creations and who are under my control, I want everything to go well for them. Despite the fact that a book without conflict is a boring book, I keep trying to solve their problems the minute they arrive. Some chapters, scenes, sentences are harder to write than others. I like to skip those. I would if I could. But I can't so I've learned the hard way how to write the tough stuff.

I think a difficult scene through before I write it. Then I write it in longhand. For some reason writing in longhand curled up on my cozy chair helps me spill the tough stuff. It's almost like I'm pouring out my crisis in diary form. It's not my crisis, but I have to, for those pages, pretend that it is. It's the only way. For me, writing is acting. That's where I go and that's where I stay until I'm out of words for the day.

You know that cliche about how writing is easy, just open a vein and spill the blood? For me it's not that. It's walking the walk inside my character. Step by step.

Aries on Fire!

Yes, I'm Aries, a fire sign. And this recent full moon has been working for me. Completed not one but two project I've been working on off and on for months. So much going on with my writing, first the Kindle project with Sister Issues, then (endlessly it seemed) editing The Paris Notebook, as well as planning a kick ass writer's conference. More on that very soon.

With all that going on at the same time, I still worked when I could find time on a new manuscript I'd written in a NaNo fever, polishing the pages and finessing the plot whenever I could steal a few minutes from everything else.

In the midst of all this I joined Twitter and Goodreads. I like to call messing around on these sites "marketing" but it really isn't. It's just getting to know folks. I wish I was better at Goodreads, but Twitter thrills whereas Goodreads kind of confounds me.  I'm not sure what's going on there yet.

So busy with all the above, I thought I'd never get a proposal together to send to an actual print editor. She has seen my work and offered to look at more, so what the heck. This morning I cleaned up a few little edits, put the whole thing in an envelope and took it to the post office. I am not stressing about rejection because I have a back up plan. Kindle again.

This is a good time to be a writer. Everything is wide open and opportunity awaits those who choose to walk through the open doors. Don't expect to get rich and famous but do expect to see your work in print or on an eReader and for people to actually read it and like it and tell you so.

Creative Full Moon

I love full moons. Not only are they pretty but they signal completion: something has come to an end. And I love completing things. Luck is on my side as a full moon works 4 days before or after, too, so I must get my butt in gear and finish that proposal already.

This full moon also has an aspect that plays well with creative types. In astro-speak it is known as the grand trine. Think of triangles of stars, all in direct mathematical alignment with each other, giving each other attributes that fire creative energy. That's our golden triangle this month.

And these trines are rare. The last occurred in 2004. Susan Miller calls grand trines "bouquets from the universe." Of course every sign is different and the planets will reflect those differences. If this much information intrigues you, I suggest you check out Susan Miller *and your own sign of the zodiac for specifically how this grand trine affects you.

*Susan gives her readings of the stars free every month so expect some annoying advertising before you get to the good stuff. I notice this month an entire ad page pops up first. Just click out of it to see her beautiful site.

Writing Vacation

Of course this could only happen to me. I go on vacation with my husband and just a few days in my publisher sends an email saying I have three days to check over the final copy of my novel (The Paris Notebook)  before it goes into production. I have a 3G phone so it works in my dad's internet-less condo. I write back asking for more time and she says don't worry, if my final galleys were good, its probably fine.

I still worry. It's in my nature. And the tiny corrections I made on the final galley are on a sheet of paper in my desk drawer back in Michigan and I have no way to check them.

We got in late last night and first thing this morning I opened the document, checked it over and all was well. I could have gone to the public library in Florida. I could have read the book on my phone. But I wisely took the publishers advice and chose not to worry. Or at least to put it off until today. And now all is well in my world.

Also, I was kidding myself if I thought I'd get any writing done on vacation. I did read through my snynopsis and revised it a little bit. But that was all. I decided to take a REAL vacation. A vacation from cleaning, cooking, laundry AND writing.

The younger, more neurotic me would have rushed to the library and re-read every word of an already revised book. Or at least she would have typed up the still handwritten synopsis and cover letter. I did none of these things. And it was wonderful.

 

 

 

See Ya!

Another Michigan winter, another road trip to Florida. My dad lives there. Our friends have winter places there. Snow does not go there. But, my laptop does. And since Dad and Al love to golf and Dad has no internet connection, I will be alone at least a few days with my beloved pink  laptop working on my synopsis.

The plan was to have the proposal in the mail Friday. Didn't happen. I find that whenever I make a plan, especially a writing plan, some snag occurs to thwart my best intentions. Other plans have gone awry as well. We planned to hop off I-75 on a mini-adventure to Akron, Ohio. But I am sad to report that Chrissie Hynde's vegetarian restaurant there has closed.

Have you noticed how after you joined FB you didn't blog as much? And then after you joined Twitter, FB kind of went away for awhile? And then came Goodreads and all manner of hell broke loose. I'm trying to manage the various social media but for the trip I will probably mostly be posting photos on FB. Of course if we're not FB pals already, I'll be delighted to friend you at my Cynthia Hines Harrison page. Fair warning: I take kind of fuzzy pictures.