Gay Ingram's Blog, page 4
February 1, 2011
Becoming a Writer Takes Involvement
Anyone can have a desire to write, and most people do at one time or another in their lives. But it takes more than the desire to become a writer. There must come some point in your life that you recognize your writing as an integral part of your life. Being a writer requires constancy, a concentrated effort to get grounded in the craft; always seeking knowledge and experiences that improve your writing.
A writer must commit themselves to “seeing things whole.” Instead of life being just a series of external events, a writer chooses to view his/her life “seeing,” not merely as spectators but as participants, accepting all eventualities as a part of their function as writers.
We look at life with “fresh eyes;” experiencing what’s in our environment with all our senses. Storing up incidents, people, happenings, chance occurrences as fuel for our future writing.
Anybody can have an idea. And, almost any idea can be the foundation for a good story. Anybody can sit down and write about that idea for a day. But the profession of writing requires constancy. Mastery in writing requires a daily commitment, a grounding in craft, experience, and knowledge of the field. Just like any other profession.
A writer must commit themselves to “seeing things whole.” Instead of life being just a series of external events, a writer chooses to view his/her life “seeing,” not merely as spectators but as participants, accepting all eventualities as a part of their function as writers.
We look at life with “fresh eyes;” experiencing what’s in our environment with all our senses. Storing up incidents, people, happenings, chance occurrences as fuel for our future writing.
Anybody can have an idea. And, almost any idea can be the foundation for a good story. Anybody can sit down and write about that idea for a day. But the profession of writing requires constancy. Mastery in writing requires a daily commitment, a grounding in craft, experience, and knowledge of the field. Just like any other profession.
January 19, 2011
A WRITER’S ATTITUDE CHECKLIST
How does one know they are a writer? Beginning writers are filled with self-doubts. You’ve jotted down some thoughts in the past that just seemed to come together in a poetic manner. Or journal writing has been an integral part of your life since your Aunt Marjorie gave you a diary for your ninth birthday. Maybe because a particular topic interests you intensely, you’ve immersed yourself in it and now are eager to share your knowledge with other by writing about it. So, what determines whether a person is a writer or not? The solitary fact that you have this inner urge to put pen to paper and write qualifies you as a writer.
A writer is someone who writes. It doesn’t take having something published to be a writer. All it takes is the desire to write. No outside force can validate you as a writer. If you have a desire to write, only taking yourself seriously as a writer is needed. Here are some habits to develop that will help you feel more like the writer you are.
1.A writer writes on a regular basis. Examine your life and find a time, hopefully during your best energy time. Make an appointment with yourself to write every day at this time. Write it into your calendar – each day at such-and-such time I will devote to my writing, even if it’s only fifteen minutes. Let nothing take precedence or interfere with the appointment you’ve made with yourself to write.
2.During that set aside time, devote your energies to writing or thinking about your writing. Even if you don’t have a designated project to work on or an idea to develop, use this time to concentrate on your writing. Don’t use the time to pay bills or catch up on correspondence unless it is writing related. You can use the time to create a list about things you want to write about. Freewriting or clustering are excellent techniques for priming the writing pump.
3.Have a designated place to write. Always go to this place, be it a separate room or just a flat space tucked into a corner of the bedroom, at the appointed time to write. You may begin with just writing materials and a file folder or two. Add a shelf for the basic resource books you’ll be acquiring or tuck them under your writing surface if there’s no wall space. Do what you can to make this space look and feel like a writer’s space.
4.Everything you write has worth. Remember, you are your own worse critic. No artist or musician has perfect mastery of his or her craft immediately. It takes practice to perfect their skills. The same is true for a writer. Even bad writing can be a learning experience. Nothing you write is a waste of time. Practice writing is practicing your craft.
5.The state of being a writer means you are a writer all the time. Train yourself to think like a writer. Look at the world you live in everyday as a crop to be harvested for your writing. Carry a pen and notepad with you at all times. Don’t trust your memory to remember. If an idea or thought isn’t written down as soon as possible, it will be lost. Even one word written down will help revive the complete thought when you have time to get back to your notations.
Developing these good writing habits will go a long way in building your self-image of yourself as a writer. Getting the next best-selling “Great American Novel” published isn’t a requirement for considering yourself a writer; fulfilling that act of putting words on paper is what makes you a writer. Lift up your head and be proud to say: “I am a writer.”
A writer is someone who writes. It doesn’t take having something published to be a writer. All it takes is the desire to write. No outside force can validate you as a writer. If you have a desire to write, only taking yourself seriously as a writer is needed. Here are some habits to develop that will help you feel more like the writer you are.
1.A writer writes on a regular basis. Examine your life and find a time, hopefully during your best energy time. Make an appointment with yourself to write every day at this time. Write it into your calendar – each day at such-and-such time I will devote to my writing, even if it’s only fifteen minutes. Let nothing take precedence or interfere with the appointment you’ve made with yourself to write.
2.During that set aside time, devote your energies to writing or thinking about your writing. Even if you don’t have a designated project to work on or an idea to develop, use this time to concentrate on your writing. Don’t use the time to pay bills or catch up on correspondence unless it is writing related. You can use the time to create a list about things you want to write about. Freewriting or clustering are excellent techniques for priming the writing pump.
3.Have a designated place to write. Always go to this place, be it a separate room or just a flat space tucked into a corner of the bedroom, at the appointed time to write. You may begin with just writing materials and a file folder or two. Add a shelf for the basic resource books you’ll be acquiring or tuck them under your writing surface if there’s no wall space. Do what you can to make this space look and feel like a writer’s space.
4.Everything you write has worth. Remember, you are your own worse critic. No artist or musician has perfect mastery of his or her craft immediately. It takes practice to perfect their skills. The same is true for a writer. Even bad writing can be a learning experience. Nothing you write is a waste of time. Practice writing is practicing your craft.
5.The state of being a writer means you are a writer all the time. Train yourself to think like a writer. Look at the world you live in everyday as a crop to be harvested for your writing. Carry a pen and notepad with you at all times. Don’t trust your memory to remember. If an idea or thought isn’t written down as soon as possible, it will be lost. Even one word written down will help revive the complete thought when you have time to get back to your notations.
Developing these good writing habits will go a long way in building your self-image of yourself as a writer. Getting the next best-selling “Great American Novel” published isn’t a requirement for considering yourself a writer; fulfilling that act of putting words on paper is what makes you a writer. Lift up your head and be proud to say: “I am a writer.”
December 6, 2010
Why I Write
As a novelist, I’ve derived much satisfaction from using my words to create a world and peopling it with characters that think and feel, act and react. As these characters emerge on the page, I become involved in their problems, await with eager expectation their responses to situations that arise.
When I write nonfiction, my purpose is to convey in a clear, concise manner some information that has enriched my life. I seek to address a need others have and provide them with a viable resolution.
I’ve had the experience of seeing my words in print, both in novel form and as articles in national magazines and have ambivalent feelings regarding publication, mainly that a substantial portion of my writing time must be spent attempting a repeat experience.
Yet, there is a special writing I try to practice that is just for me. It has evolved into a combination journal/diary/planning book. I’ve found it a great way to gather the threads of my life and reassess daily happenings.
Following Julia Cameron’s suggestion of ‘morning pages,’ each day I write at least three pages, setting aside a special time complete with little traditions. I always write at the desk in my bedroom. I always light a scented candle. I keep a supply of cheap ball-point pens in a nearby drawer to prevent a halt in the writing should the pen I'm using run dry. I like to use a five-section spiral notebook and if I’m flowing even fill in the blank space of the divider pages. What I put on the page as I do my “three pages” every morning is never meant for publication.
Writing...the act of writing itself...is an activity that satisfies something deep within. I’ve come to realize that through the act of putting words on paper, I can make sense of my world. Writing clarifies my thinking and enables me to communicate in a very direct manner those feelings and convictions I feel deeply.
When I write nonfiction, my purpose is to convey in a clear, concise manner some information that has enriched my life. I seek to address a need others have and provide them with a viable resolution.
I’ve had the experience of seeing my words in print, both in novel form and as articles in national magazines and have ambivalent feelings regarding publication, mainly that a substantial portion of my writing time must be spent attempting a repeat experience.
Yet, there is a special writing I try to practice that is just for me. It has evolved into a combination journal/diary/planning book. I’ve found it a great way to gather the threads of my life and reassess daily happenings.
Following Julia Cameron’s suggestion of ‘morning pages,’ each day I write at least three pages, setting aside a special time complete with little traditions. I always write at the desk in my bedroom. I always light a scented candle. I keep a supply of cheap ball-point pens in a nearby drawer to prevent a halt in the writing should the pen I'm using run dry. I like to use a five-section spiral notebook and if I’m flowing even fill in the blank space of the divider pages. What I put on the page as I do my “three pages” every morning is never meant for publication.
Writing...the act of writing itself...is an activity that satisfies something deep within. I’ve come to realize that through the act of putting words on paper, I can make sense of my world. Writing clarifies my thinking and enables me to communicate in a very direct manner those feelings and convictions I feel deeply.
November 22, 2010
Getting Down To Writing
Here in East Texas, we've been enjoying a final spell of Indian Summer weather before winter really sets in. Makes a person want to spend all their time out of doors, soaking up sunshine and watching leaves drift to the ground. Of course, all those falling leaves portend hours of raking sometime in the not too distant future.
But lounging in an Adirondack chair, steaming cup of coffee in hand, does not get the writing assignments completed. So, reluctantly I drag myself to my little office building and shuffle through writing possibilities, trying to stir up those writing juices.
I am not a spontaneous writer...one of those people who can't wait to face a blank page; someone whose brain is brimming over with ideas and story-lines that tumble in their head, each one scrambling to be first on the page.
I work best with a designated objective in mind. Sometimes it's a contest whose guidelines seem to jive with my style of writing. At other times, I find myself with a contract to produce a series of specific pieces of writing and I struggle as I reshape my words to conform to their requirements. Or I may need to present a concept of the craft in a manner acceptable to my favorite editor.
In fact, I have a shelf-full of motivational books for writers. You know, books like What If? or 30 Exercises For Lazy Writers. Oh, I always have good intentions but I just can't seem to stay enthused spending my writing time putting down words as if I were spilling my thoughts.
Every once in a while, I'll take one or another off the shelf, carry it to my writing desk and open a page. But I end up flipping page after page, looking for a topic that grabs me and inspires me to put something down on the paper.
Now that I think about it, my writing habits reflects who I am. I'm that person sitting in the group, not saying anything but vitally interested in hearing what others have to say. I'm a listener more than a talker. And how I choose to spend my writing time is a reflection of that. Only when I feel I have something that can't go unsaid will I apply myself and put it down on paper.
I may not be a prolific or financially successful writer, but I do feel what I have written has had something worthy to say.
But lounging in an Adirondack chair, steaming cup of coffee in hand, does not get the writing assignments completed. So, reluctantly I drag myself to my little office building and shuffle through writing possibilities, trying to stir up those writing juices.
I am not a spontaneous writer...one of those people who can't wait to face a blank page; someone whose brain is brimming over with ideas and story-lines that tumble in their head, each one scrambling to be first on the page.
I work best with a designated objective in mind. Sometimes it's a contest whose guidelines seem to jive with my style of writing. At other times, I find myself with a contract to produce a series of specific pieces of writing and I struggle as I reshape my words to conform to their requirements. Or I may need to present a concept of the craft in a manner acceptable to my favorite editor.
In fact, I have a shelf-full of motivational books for writers. You know, books like What If? or 30 Exercises For Lazy Writers. Oh, I always have good intentions but I just can't seem to stay enthused spending my writing time putting down words as if I were spilling my thoughts.
Every once in a while, I'll take one or another off the shelf, carry it to my writing desk and open a page. But I end up flipping page after page, looking for a topic that grabs me and inspires me to put something down on the paper.
Now that I think about it, my writing habits reflects who I am. I'm that person sitting in the group, not saying anything but vitally interested in hearing what others have to say. I'm a listener more than a talker. And how I choose to spend my writing time is a reflection of that. Only when I feel I have something that can't go unsaid will I apply myself and put it down on paper.
I may not be a prolific or financially successful writer, but I do feel what I have written has had something worthy to say.
November 15, 2010
Fighting the Writing
Yesterday I took an unfinished manuscript out of the box where I'd packed it away. That collection of notepads of scribbled pages, printed-out sheets of research notes and bits and pieces of ephemera just wouldn't leave me alone. It's a novel I began almost five years ago, filled with enthusiasm at the time. I got somewhat over one hundred printed pages into it and got stuck.
Well not actually stuck. Looking back, now I realize it was a remark by a critique partner that threw up the roadblock. I took the comment to heart and began comparing my work with others, resulting in total despair of it ever being something worth publishing. Try as I might from that point on, I could not generate any passion for the work. Off and on, I'd rescue it from its lodging place at the back of a shelf, struggle to get back into the flow of things, with no success.
One day as I was reading David Morrell's excellent Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing, I came across a statement where he mentioned: "there were times when a project wasn't going anywhere perhaps it didn't need to. If you had revised everything that needed revising and fixed everything that needed fixing, and it still wasn't working, perhaps the best solution was to set it aside and begin work on something different."
Yippee! This successful author was giving me permission to turn my back on a project that had caused me untold anguish for a couple years. Not yet ready to actually put it in a trash basket, I found a box big enough to hold all the notebooks and papers, stuffed everything inside and slide the box into the dark space beneath a worktable (my only available storage space.)
That worked for about a week. But the darn characters persisted in dancing around in my head, bothering me at the oddest moments. I guess they weren't too happy about their seclusion from the light.
So, I'm bringing them back to the computer. Hopefully, with a whole different attitude. It's apparent these character are going to continue to struggle to live. I have to assume this is a story that insist on being told. And that is what I will do. I will plug on, writing out the lives of these two women. But with no expectations of anything more.
Blanche and Katrina will live, experience the strong friendship that survives all that life throws their way. Eventually I will have another packet of printed pages to file away with other unpublished stories...stories that just demanded to be written.
Well not actually stuck. Looking back, now I realize it was a remark by a critique partner that threw up the roadblock. I took the comment to heart and began comparing my work with others, resulting in total despair of it ever being something worth publishing. Try as I might from that point on, I could not generate any passion for the work. Off and on, I'd rescue it from its lodging place at the back of a shelf, struggle to get back into the flow of things, with no success.
One day as I was reading David Morrell's excellent Lessons From a Lifetime of Writing, I came across a statement where he mentioned: "there were times when a project wasn't going anywhere perhaps it didn't need to. If you had revised everything that needed revising and fixed everything that needed fixing, and it still wasn't working, perhaps the best solution was to set it aside and begin work on something different."
Yippee! This successful author was giving me permission to turn my back on a project that had caused me untold anguish for a couple years. Not yet ready to actually put it in a trash basket, I found a box big enough to hold all the notebooks and papers, stuffed everything inside and slide the box into the dark space beneath a worktable (my only available storage space.)
That worked for about a week. But the darn characters persisted in dancing around in my head, bothering me at the oddest moments. I guess they weren't too happy about their seclusion from the light.
So, I'm bringing them back to the computer. Hopefully, with a whole different attitude. It's apparent these character are going to continue to struggle to live. I have to assume this is a story that insist on being told. And that is what I will do. I will plug on, writing out the lives of these two women. But with no expectations of anything more.
Blanche and Katrina will live, experience the strong friendship that survives all that life throws their way. Eventually I will have another packet of printed pages to file away with other unpublished stories...stories that just demanded to be written.
November 3, 2010
Keeping Up the Juggling Act
Keeping Up the Juggling Act
In the beginning of my writing career, the goal I strove toward was to achieve publication. Over time, that began to be realized. First came magazine articles, a story accepted for publication in an anthology and eventually...a real, live book in hand. Wow! I still recall the wonder and thrill of it.
My enthusiasm and inner urge to write kept growing stronger but with the publication of a novel something interesting began to happen. Since I wasn't fortunate enough to get my manuscript accepted by a major traditional publishing house, (and even when that happens these days, the author is expected to generate all the buzz), I found myself having to devote more and more of my time to marketing and publicity. Anybody else share that experience?
And with each additional book, the need to devote my energies into getting word out and reaching readers seemed to increase. Book-signings take time to arrange; once on the calendar, there's all the notices to send out to an ever-increasing list of contacts with hopes someone will show up and make the effort worthwhile by purchasing a copy of your latest work.
At times I resent this need to assume a false identity of publicist and marketeer. All I want to do is write, take pen and paper in hand and create an imaginary world peopled with interesting characters.
Anybody else feel the same?
In the beginning of my writing career, the goal I strove toward was to achieve publication. Over time, that began to be realized. First came magazine articles, a story accepted for publication in an anthology and eventually...a real, live book in hand. Wow! I still recall the wonder and thrill of it.
My enthusiasm and inner urge to write kept growing stronger but with the publication of a novel something interesting began to happen. Since I wasn't fortunate enough to get my manuscript accepted by a major traditional publishing house, (and even when that happens these days, the author is expected to generate all the buzz), I found myself having to devote more and more of my time to marketing and publicity. Anybody else share that experience?
And with each additional book, the need to devote my energies into getting word out and reaching readers seemed to increase. Book-signings take time to arrange; once on the calendar, there's all the notices to send out to an ever-increasing list of contacts with hopes someone will show up and make the effort worthwhile by purchasing a copy of your latest work.
At times I resent this need to assume a false identity of publicist and marketeer. All I want to do is write, take pen and paper in hand and create an imaginary world peopled with interesting characters.
Anybody else feel the same?
October 28, 2010
ME? A WRITER?
Yes, I dare to call myself a writer. Funk & Wagnall's Standard Dictionary defines the word write: to trace or inscribe words on a surface; communicate in writing. I have always preferred writing over other forms of communication. I am not a telephone chatterer. When I make a call, it's “get-the-business-taken-care-of-and-goodbye”. In conversations, I'm the listener. The fact-gathering functions of my subconscious moves in slow mode. There are gaps and pauses as I grasp for needed names or facts. Sometimes it’s hours or the next day before my brain serves up the perfect response to that clever comment. But give me a piece of paper and a free-flowing pen and watch me fill the page. I have notebooks chock-block full of lengthy monologues. When marriage separated me from family and friends, I kept those long distant contacts alive with letters rather than phone calls. Friends and relatives receive long, chatty missiles. If I'm relaying some news, I'll give you the whole story.
But, when does one-who-writes become 'a writer'? I suspect each person's experience is a unique journey.
Over the years, I've written and/or edited a variety of newsletters for different clubs I’ve belonged to. For years, I kept notes of my gardening efforts. Not detailed enough to be called journals, but sporadic entries - new plants I tried growing, the weather we were experiencing, what plants had died or which had survived that unexpected freeze in April. Eventually these became a self-published book, Pages From An Herb Journal.
In other words, I had been “a writer” for years without considering myself qualified to wear the title. My writing was a means of sharing information, simply a dissemination of knowledge. I considered a writer someone who created stories or strung words together with rhyme and rhythm.
Coming to believe myself a writer didn't happen overnight. First it took the recognition of that reality by others. I remember my embarrassment when someone asked me to autograph a copy of my first self-published booklet Down The Herbal Path. My dismay intensified when she added, "When you get to be a famous writer, this will be a collector's item." That sounded so presumptuous at the time (and still does). But it did plant a seed of confidence.
Believing myself to be a writer took someone saying they liked my style; I didn't even realize I had a style until then.
Then, while participating in a creative writing course, the teacher said, "A writer is someone who writes." Such a simple truth! But, as I read books written by other writers, my self-concept of myself as a writer strengthened. These recognized writers shared their doubts and failures, their hopes and victories; their efforts led the way, spurred me on, broke the ground before me. These writers helped me to see, really see, that a writer is one who writes.
It took a leap of faith to believe anyone would be willing to pay me for use of my words. It took the special encouragement of a local writers group I eventually joined. I served for five years as the editor of The Roughdraft, a monthly newsletter for the membership of East Texas Writers Association, a great learning experience. Encouragement that made me bold enough to mail out a collection of words for someone else's consideration.
The thrill of seeing my words in a national magazine came soon afterward. I was fortunate. This early public recognition helped me live through the following months, and sometimes years, when there was no response, positive or otherwise. Having had the joy of being published, my self-image remains intact even when all I get back are rejection notices.
Over time, I've begun to realize there is more to writing than that mad rush to put your thoughts into words. Now that I consider myself a writer, I take the act of inscribing words on a surface more seriously. I feel the responsibility inherent in having my thoughts and understandings judged by an invisible public. I've become more knowledgeable about the proper form and structure my words should take. Knowing others must comprehend the idea and make sense of what I’m attempting to communicate causes me to be more careful in my choice of words and the order in which they are arranged. I have to admit writing has become harder work since I began calling myself a writer. I will continue to write. I will continue to learn my craft. I am a writer.
But, when does one-who-writes become 'a writer'? I suspect each person's experience is a unique journey.
Over the years, I've written and/or edited a variety of newsletters for different clubs I’ve belonged to. For years, I kept notes of my gardening efforts. Not detailed enough to be called journals, but sporadic entries - new plants I tried growing, the weather we were experiencing, what plants had died or which had survived that unexpected freeze in April. Eventually these became a self-published book, Pages From An Herb Journal.
In other words, I had been “a writer” for years without considering myself qualified to wear the title. My writing was a means of sharing information, simply a dissemination of knowledge. I considered a writer someone who created stories or strung words together with rhyme and rhythm.
Coming to believe myself a writer didn't happen overnight. First it took the recognition of that reality by others. I remember my embarrassment when someone asked me to autograph a copy of my first self-published booklet Down The Herbal Path. My dismay intensified when she added, "When you get to be a famous writer, this will be a collector's item." That sounded so presumptuous at the time (and still does). But it did plant a seed of confidence.
Believing myself to be a writer took someone saying they liked my style; I didn't even realize I had a style until then.
Then, while participating in a creative writing course, the teacher said, "A writer is someone who writes." Such a simple truth! But, as I read books written by other writers, my self-concept of myself as a writer strengthened. These recognized writers shared their doubts and failures, their hopes and victories; their efforts led the way, spurred me on, broke the ground before me. These writers helped me to see, really see, that a writer is one who writes.
It took a leap of faith to believe anyone would be willing to pay me for use of my words. It took the special encouragement of a local writers group I eventually joined. I served for five years as the editor of The Roughdraft, a monthly newsletter for the membership of East Texas Writers Association, a great learning experience. Encouragement that made me bold enough to mail out a collection of words for someone else's consideration.
The thrill of seeing my words in a national magazine came soon afterward. I was fortunate. This early public recognition helped me live through the following months, and sometimes years, when there was no response, positive or otherwise. Having had the joy of being published, my self-image remains intact even when all I get back are rejection notices.
Over time, I've begun to realize there is more to writing than that mad rush to put your thoughts into words. Now that I consider myself a writer, I take the act of inscribing words on a surface more seriously. I feel the responsibility inherent in having my thoughts and understandings judged by an invisible public. I've become more knowledgeable about the proper form and structure my words should take. Knowing others must comprehend the idea and make sense of what I’m attempting to communicate causes me to be more careful in my choice of words and the order in which they are arranged. I have to admit writing has become harder work since I began calling myself a writer. I will continue to write. I will continue to learn my craft. I am a writer.
