Heather Wright's Blog, page 19

July Writing Prompts

1. Yesterday was July 1st, Canada Day, and here that means celebrating all things Canadian. In our family, that means a barbeque and a bocce ball tournament, and birthday cake for my mom who had the sense to immigrate to a country who had a national holiday on her birthday. In a couple of days our neighbours to the south (and also west to make sure that Alaska and Hawaii are included) will celebrate July 4th and their independence from the British crown (whose current representative is on our money.) When is your national holiday? How do you celebrate? What makes you proud of your country or the country that you call home now? How do the characters in your story feel about their country or the one that they’ve adopted through choice or necessity?

2. Use one, some, or all of the following words to spark a story or poem: sand, cry, gust, hope, flame, rocks.

3. Try one of these opening sentences:

The buzzards squabbled for supremacy.
Eleanor studied her hands for a moment, choosing the right words to say next.
“Jim. Put the knife down.”
I took a deep breath. If I was going to tell a lie, it might as well be a big one.”
Lily hunched her shoulders against his words

4. See where these lines of dialogue take you.

“When did you see him last?”
“Yesterday.”
“And he was still alive?”

***************************

“When will it be ready?”
“Tomorrow.”
“I was hoping for today.”
“We all were.”
“Well we all’s life doesn’t depend on it. Mine does.”

************************

“Have you seen Roger?”
“No. I haven’t.”
“He should have been back ages ago.”
“You’re right.”
“You’re supposed say, ‘Don ’t worry. He’ll be fine.’”

5. Freewrite around one, some, or all of these words to create a story or poem: umbrella, blade, grip, water, post, forest, sign

 

Filed under: writing

Sleepless, Clueless, Museless

Okay, I’m sure ‘museless’ isn’t a word, but if you’re a writer you know what I mean. I’m becoming an expert at staring into space and writing at a speed of about 2 sentences an hour. That doesn’t count the shopping list that I wrote much more quickly–and I forgot when I went to the store.

Hypnos, the god of sleep, has been conspicuous by his absence for several days, and therefore, my ’cluelessness,’ which in my case entails having hotdogs for lunch and then leaving the package on the counter for the afternoon instead of putting it in the fridge. Did you know that washing machines actually need to have a button pushed before they start working? Or that the dryer door will keep popping open (after you walk away) until you finally notice that the pyjama bottoms lying on top of it are being shut in the door and it’s really not closed? It took forever to get those towels dry.

Days of the week have been a challenge, too. Hence the not-so-patient explanation from my son at my surprise that he arrived home on time yesterday. “Today is Wednesday, Mom. I said I’d be late home on Thursday.” And he did. Several times. Duh.

And I’ve lost my watch–and at least 2 phones–the cordless kind that work on our landline.

So early to bed tonight so I can renew my acquaintance with my laptop tomorrow and get more accomplished than warm thighs. And, hopefully, with the fog cleared, I’ll track down the missing phones and my watch (though the one I bought from Shoppers Drug Mart for $5 is working fine.)

If you have days like this, please let me know. I’d like to believe I’m not alone.

Keep your fingers crossed. I’m going to post this and attempt to cook dinner!

PS - No matter how often I proofread these blogs, they always go out with a clunking great typo in them that I miss until they’re published. For those who subscribe, my apologies in advance.

Filed under: writing Tagged: brain fog, clueless, hypnos, lack of sleep, muse, writing

The Lure of Research

I have discovered an extremely effective delaying tactic–research.  As long as I’m reading about the work my character will be doing and the setting he’ll be doing it in, it’s still writing time. Right? I’m making progress on my story. Right?

Wrong.

I love opening my resource book and scribbling notes from it in my journal, or scribbling in the margin if the book is mine. I print articles and file them in cheerful folders for highlighting and more margin scribbling later. And I learn so much, too!

Did you know that a medieval scribe might have to sharpen his or her quills sixty times during a day’s work? (Yes there were female scribes and illuminators, too.) Did you know that pages in today’s books are rectangular because the parchment that was used in most of the pre-Gutenberg books was cut that way because of the shape of the animal’s skin from which the pages were made?

All very useful information, but it’s not helping my story get written. Why the procrastination? Simple answer: because I know how hard the writing will be. I know that what’s ahead will be a slow and often dissatisfying process, and yeah, I find launching a new project scary, too. What a wuss!

I like to think of myself as a writer, so enough whining, refelection, justification, procrastination, whatever you want to call it. Time to ‘writer-up’ and get to work. I have an appointment with my treadmill desk this afternoon. I’ll keep you posted on the progress.

Do you procrastinate? What lures you away from the blank page? What helps you get the writing done?

Filed under: writing Tagged: delaying tactics, procrastinate, procrastination, research, scribes, writing

Writing Prompts for June

1.  Use one, some or all of the following words to spark a story or poem: bloom, wall, flow, cup, eye, time

2.  Use one of these opening sentences to start a story:

Okay. Remind me again why I wanted to be a June bride.
A black wall of cloud raced in from the west. Dead leaves scattered in the wind. Once again, the perfect setting for his arrival.
I refused to let them see me cry.
When I thought about the cabin, I only remembered the corners—the ones where I’d crouched in fear.*
I never dreamt it would be still standing after all these decades, but then, if my great aunt’s diary was right, this simple weathered cabin was magic.*
I hated classical music, so fortunately for me the concert was cut short half way through the William Tell Overture—sadly so was the conductor’s life.

3.  June 21st marks the official beginning of summer. Use some of these summery titles and excerpts to frame a story, personal memory, or poem:

A Summer Place, Summer in the City, Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows, The Summer Breeze, The Summer of ’42, Summer Wine, Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?, The Longest Day, Summer Holiday, Summer of ‘69.

4.  See where these lines of dialogue take you:

“Come here and look at this!”

Kelly obediently peered over Mike’s shoulder at the computer screen. “What am I supposed to be looking at?”

“Linc’s Twitter account’s been hacked.”

“Yeah, so? Happens to lots of people. The message usually says that someone is saying bad things about you and gives you a link you’re supposed to be stupid enough to click on. No one falls for it anymore. Linc knows what to do.”

“This message is different.” Mike pointed at the screen. “Look.”

Kelly read the message to herself and then again out loud. “They’re going to kill me. Help.”

Or these:

“Excuse me did you drop this?”

“No that’s not mine.”

“I think it is.”

*I posted these writing starters at author Laura Best’s blog http://lauraabest.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/something-in-the-middle-of-nowhere/#comments in response to a photo. I thought they would be fun to share here.

Filed under: writing Tagged: June writing, writing, writing prompts, writing starters

Thinking of a Treadmill Desk?

After reading Brain Rules by  John Medina, I’ve been thinking about ways to add some movement to my sedentary life, and I think I have found the answer. Inspired by Kristi Holl’s blog, I resurrected the idea of a treadmill desk the other day. I had rigged one up before on my treadmill, but walking at the recommended speed of 1 mph made me seasick. I also think that looking down at my laptop was part of the problem.

Now, I seem to have got it right. A while ago we bought a TV/DVD player to watch while we exercised. I’m sorry to report that this incentive has not drastically increased the use of the treadmill; however, it’s perfect for hooking up as a monitor to my laptop. Now when I walk my eyes are focused straight ahead rather than down. I also took Kristi’s advice and upped the speed to 2 mph.

It took no more than 15 minutes for me to get the hang of things and 30 minutes passed by quickly the first day. The second day, I walked an hour with a break after 30 minutes. There were also times I just worked without the treadmill running–just standing instead of sitting. All good, I figure. So far I’ve found it works well for writing, surfing the web, Facebook, email, etc. I haven’t mastered the fine art of editing yet, as getting the cursor exactly where I want it between words or letters takes a little work at the moment. I’m hoping that that task will become easier as I get used to the process.

As for construction costs, they were zero. We had a suitably sized plank already in the basement to go across the arms of the treadmill, and on it I put an old folded cardboard cutting board that my mom and I used for cutting out fabric when we were sewing. It’s about 6 feet long and 4 feet wide when it’s unfolded. The wooden plank’s surface wasn’t suitable for the mouse and the edges are a bit rough, so the cardboard acts as a cushion and a working mouse surface. I’ll get around to tidying up the plank eventually and adding some velcro like Kristi did, but for now it’s working just fine. The only financial investment that I’m going to make is to buy an extra monitor connector so that I don’t have to disconnect the one I use at my desk to bring it downstairs all the time. For other options for setting up a treadmill desk, check author Art Slade’s blog. He’s been using a treadmill desk since 2009.

If you are already a treadmill desk user, please drop me a line, especially if you have any tips for construction that you can share with others who might want to try the same thing. If you decide to give it a try, please keep me posted. I’d love to know how it works for you.

Filed under: writing Tagged: Art Slade, Brain Rules, desk, Kristi Holl, treadmill, treadmill desk, working while walking

Just Showing Up

 

From Manuscript to Print: The Evolution of the Medieval Book – Cornell University

A friend of mine has spent several months now sticking to her daily writing goal of ‘just showing up.’ Inspired by Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED Talk, she doesn’t set a daily word count or number of hours spent at the keyboard or journal that, once accomplished, means that she’s met her goal. Her goal is just to turn up ready to write and do the best she can. And it’s working. Stories are being written, ideas are flowing, and on the days when the stories aren’t written and the ideas don’t flow, she knows she’s done her part and showed up.Well, suddenly finding myself with time to write and actually having absolutely no ideas, I decided to do the same thing. I decided to “show up” in my own way. Several years ago I wrote a couple of children’s stories set in England around 1190. They were going to part of a mystery series, but I’d never been happy with how I’d constructed the mysteries. I liked the characters a lot, but the stories were clunky, so I decided to show up by doing my homework. I uploaded James N. Frey’s How to Write a Damn Good Mystery to my Kobo reader, freed a journal from my stash and started reading, taking notes and doing the exercises. This was becoming my (almost) daily writing routine, and being a born student, I was enjoying the work. Then—

I went to the last of three medieval history and art presentations at the local Joseph Schneider Haus Museum, and I found out why I was “showing up.” The final presentation was about medieval bookmaking and was presented by miniature painter and limner, Debbie Thompson-Wilson. By the time I’d driven home, I had started building the frame of my story. Lessons from the Frey book connected to the pieces I was assembling in my imagination, and the characters that I thought I already knew spoke with stronger voices.

Now I know there is a long way to go before what I have in my head and in my journal actually becomes a final product—but I wouldn’t be on a journey at all if I hadn’t followed my friend’s advice and just “showed up.”

Where and when do your stories come to you? Do you find that they appear more often when you have nothing to write or do they arrive when you’re engrossed in other projects? How to you prime the imagination well?

Filed under: writing Tagged: Elizabeth Gilbert, homework, How to Write a Damn Good Mystery, inspiration, James N. Frey, just showing up, writing

Random Acts of Kindness for Writers Week

Okay, I admit that I’m slow, and that the week ends today, and I just found out about it,

but

I still want to send out my thanks to the amazing writers that belong to the Waterloo Region and Guelph branches of the Professional Writers Association of Canada. I have never attended a meeting without feeling inspired and informed. Freelancing is a lonely business, and the support I have received from fellow sufferers members has been wonderful over the years.

I began as a neophyte and with their help I have learned to hone my web copy, conduct professional interviews, refine my photography skills, write better query letters, find markets for my feature ideas, and so, so much more. They eagerly look for ways to make their work better and for ways to find new clients, and unselfishly share everything they have learned.

I should also add a shout out to the PWAC members whom I have met infrequently and to those that I have never met all across Canada who contribute their expertise so generously to the listserves that are sponsored by the organization. Thank you for never letting a  question go unanswered.

Thanks fellow PWAC writers. May the contracts pour in and the editors be kind and may I be able to help you all someday as you have helped me.

Filed under: writing Tagged: Professional Writers Association of Canada, PWAC, RAOK for writers, writing

How Do You Write?

Last week, I got an assignment from Kayak: Canada’s History Magazine for Kids to write a story for their September issue. I’ve been given a topic and a deadline: May 25th. It’s not a lot of time, and I need to get the outline or a draft to the editor by 18th. Now I’ve written a few of these stories before, and I’ve noticed that I follow a similar pattern with all of them.

I’m the kind of person who starts by stewing about a project, then I do the research, stew some more, and do a lot of staring out of windows. Eventually, the characters start talking, or sentences starts running through my brain like strips of ticker tape. But I still don’t start writing. The story is still in snippets at that point–just bits like jigsaw puzzle pieces lying on a table.

Now I don’t know about you, but when I work on a puzzle, I always make the border first. It turns out that I can’t write my story until it has a frame either. I need to know the beginning, middle and end of it before I can move on to the first paragraph. Thankfully, when it’s finally time to get to the keyboard, out the story pours. Oh it’s full of holes, of course, and there are lots of places where I type xxx rather than stop typing and look something up, but I get the bones down in one go. The first draft is always far over the required word count, but I love the editing process, so I don’t worry too much about that part.

What is worrisome is that sometimes the staring-out-of-windows part can take a very long time. So long, in fact, that the due date can be way too close for comfort and I start to get a little panicky. I wrote a 7000-word Sherlock Holmes story for JLS Storybook Project and was very worried about hitting my target date on that one; however, so far, I’ve never missed a deadline. Though I have had some scary moments!

I’ve just begun the stewing, researching, stewing, staring-out-of-windows stage for a novel. And once again I’m working on building the frame—but I’m taking my time. I’ve often just started writing a novel without building the framework as thoroughly as I should have at the beginning. I’m going to try a different approach with this one. Feels good so far.

How do you write? Do you just jump in and let things evolve as you go along, or do you plan, or do you do a bit of both?

Filed under: writing Tagged: deadlines, how do you write, planning, researching, writing, writing a novel

May Writing Prompts

Here are some writing prompts for May. Hope your creativity “springs” into action!

1. Use one of the following sentences to begin a story:

White lace curtains fluttered in the warm breeze.
The air was thick with wood smoke.
I thought Play-Doh was for kids until I saw the body.
Now I know what they really mean by “caught in the act.”
Erik loved the dark.
Red warning lights flashed on the console.

2. Use one, some or all of the following words in a story or poem: shirt, pen, thunder, cry, case

3. April showers bring May flowers. What flowers could you name your characters after? What kind of people do you associate with names such as Peony, Rose, Thorn, Lily? Here are some characters from stories you might know that are named after flowers: Molly Bloom, Flora Poste, Violet Beaudelaire, Scarlet Pimpernel, Fleur Forsyth, Fleur Delacour, Daisy Buchanan, Lily Owens, Violetta Valéry, Zinnia Larkin, and don’t forget Scarlet O’Hara’s original name was Pansy!

4. I wish I may I wish I might have the wish I wish tonight. What wish would your character wish for upon a star or ask a genie to grant? What would be the consequences of that dream coming true? What would you wish for? Why? How would your life change if your wish came true?

5. Flowers don’t just inspire people’s names, but they inspire place names, too. What stories could you create in towns like these: Flower’s Cove, Newfoundland; Strawberry, Arkansas; Weedpatch, California; Beanblossom, Indiana; Rosebud, Alberta; Carrot River, Saskatchewan; Olive Branch, Michigan; Fallen Leaf, California; Lady Slipper, Prince Edward Island; Tiger Lily, Saskatchewan.

Have fun!

Filed under: writing Tagged: April showers, creativity, flowers, May flowers, writing, writing prompts, writing starters

Goodbye Words!

I love editing. I’ve just deleted 2625 words from a current project and couldn’t be happier. I didn’t follow Stephen King’s rule in his book On Writing: “2nd Draft = 1st Draft – 10%”, mostly because this isn’t my first draft. I’m happy with losing the 4% that I did cut.

This is a manuscript that I haven’t looked at in a while. It’s amazing how time gave me a different perspective on the words I left behind on earlier edits because I was a little too fond of my own cleverness. Over the last few days, I’ve been much more ruthless. This time I followed the advice of Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch: “Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it – whole-heartedly – and delete it before sending your manuscripts to press. Murder your darlings.”

I was hardly responsible for “exceptionally fine writing” but I certainly was responsible for a mess of poetic but highly dumpable similes and images that were very pretty but cried out for deletion. They didn’t move the story along or develop my characters; they were just my fancy wordplay interrupting the story.

So,  2625 “darling” words are gone. I’ve learned that, just because writing is hard work, the effort of writing alone doesn’t mean that the words get to claim their territory forever. Is the book better for my edits? I think so. Will it sell? Who knows, but it’s out for a viewing on Monday, and the rest is out of my hands.

Do you think a lot about your manuscript after it’s sent and check your email hourly, or do you move on to the next project? My choice is to move on. The decision will be made by one person on one day and my writing life is about more than that. If I’m lucky enough to get some feedback, I’ll be thrilled. If it’s a “thanks, but no thanks.” I’ve already moved on and am, I hope, enjoying the company of new characters in a new story and once again writing my doomed “darlings.”

Do you have your own “darlings” that you know you will be cutting even as you write them?

What do you do after you’ve sent a manuscript to a publisher?

Filed under: writing Tagged: "Murder your darlings", editing, sending out a manuscript, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch, Stephen King, writing