Cate Russell-Cole's Blog, page 45

Getting to the Heart of Your Story: A Guest Post by Rossandra White

At 49 I felt compelled to write a book. Not something I’d always wanted to do. I figured maybe it was just time to finally record all those stories about my ancestors who had been in South Africa since the 1800s, as well as my own stories about growing up in a small Zambian copper mining town; plus a two-year stint on a sisal plantation in Zimbabwe. This was before the two countries were independent, when colonial power held sway, when the bush was full of animals. And then there were all those road trips my family took to the Congo, Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania. The time an elephant chased our car for over five miles, forcing my dad to reverse down an excuse for a dirt road before the elephant gave up. The time we spent in the shadow of Mount Kilimanjaro with a crazy Belgian who kept wild animals for film-makers’ use; as well as that episode in Kenya when the Mau Maus attacked the cattle ranch where we were staying with a family my dad had befriended along the way. I had a lot to write about. What I didn’t know was that I intuitively chose writing “to take fuller possession of the reality of my life,” to paraphrase Ted Hughes.

Mau Mau

So I started writing, most days after work and on weekends. I agree with Kurt Vonnegut who said writing made him “feel like an armless and legless man with a crayon in his mouth.” Three years later I ended up with a 500 page memoir of flashbacks. The poor volunteer reviewer from the National Writer’s Association I joined penciled these little round faces with downturned mouths in the margins, complete with dialogue: “Oh nooo, not another flashback.” The other reviews I received convinced me just how much I had to learn about writing. Starting over, I bought and read a library of how-to books and took classes; I learnt about structure, plot, conflict, pacing, and theme. I joined critique groups and re-wrote.

This time I started with an incident when I was poisoned by rebels as a six-year old in Zimbabwe and turned my messy tome into a young adult novel and sequel, with two teenage protagonists, a black boy and a white girl. The story had political and spiritual overtones, lots of action, but the white girl and her family were essentially me and my family. The black protagonist represented Africa and her people.

An interested agent told me that the story was a good one, except that it lacked a unifying purpose; I hadn’t found the heart of the story. I didn’t know what that meant. I didn’t know how to pull it all together, how to find that elusive heart. I kept writing. Only now I began to realize that I hadn’t connected in any meaningful way to my characters. I had plumbed the depths of the story’s message and meaning, I had plot points and a climax; I had my people say words that revealed character and furthered the plot, but I didn’t know how they felt about all the conflicts they were going through, how they felt about each other – not in any meaningful way. That was because I had avoided my own feelings from the past. It was too painful. But in order to find the heart of my story I had to do so.

I immersed myself in the past and all those feelings I had suppressed. The white girl became more vulnerable, a little less reactive and rebellious; her mother more loving and sympathetic than my own distant mother had ever been; the father more fallible than I’d always believed my own father to be. Overall every character grew, including Africa, a country with which I’ve always had a love-hate relationship. In the end, what I managed to produce was a fully realized coming-of-age story. Both for the protagonists, but especially for me. Through the power of words, I had set down roots in time and explored my own personal myths, uncovered their purpose and grounded myself in a way I might not have been able to do otherwise.

You can follow Rossandra’s blog: “A former bushbaby’s take on writing, appreciating life and everything in between” at http://rossandrawhite.com

Rossandra lives in a Hobbit house, along with her two Staffordshire bull terriers, Fergie and Jake, where she writes about them, her life in Laguna Beach and her African past.

This blog post is Copyright Rossandra White 2013. All rights are reserved Internationally. You may not reproduce it in any form, in part of whole, without the author’s prior written permission. That includes usage in forms such as print, audio and digital imaging including pdf, jpg, png etc. A fee may be requested for re-use if it is for a commercial venture.

Filed under: Guest Post Tagged: Africa, author, blog, characterisation, creativity, discovery, failure, fiction, goals, growth, inspiration, Mau Mau, passion, plot, problem solving, story, writer, writing

Writing Rocket Fuel: Regular Writing Prompts

If you are in need of ideas or writing prompts, hook up with The Write Prompts blog. The blog is run by Maureen Wood who also runs Book-in-a-Week.com, PlusShe.com, PlusShe.ca, and her personal site M-E-Wood.com. When she is not working on her own sites she is one of BellaOnline’s Editors.

You can subscribe by RSS reader or email. Please do respect Maureen’s copyright on her work. http://www.thewriteprompts.com/how-to-use-this-blog/

The prompts available every day are categorized as:

Journal Mondays
Continue On Saturdays
Quote Sundays
Dirty Dozen Fridays
One Word Thursdays
Poetry Wednesdays
Image Tuesdays

The Write Prompt also send you to other prompt web sites. You can’t run out of material.

Filed under: Rocket Fuel Tagged: Writing Rocket Fuel

Maeve Binchy on Writing

“I could have papered the house with rejection slips!”

I had never heard Maeve speak before I saw these clips. I really enjoyed listening to her. This post is to encourage you and in memory of one of the world’s great writers, whose persistence paid off in spades! More are available on Youtube.

What Makes a Page Turner?

Tips for Aspiring Writers

Writing for a Changing World

Filed under: "Dose of Inspiration" Video Tagged: change, inspiration, Maeve Binchy, page turner, persistence, rejection, writer, writing

Written Acts of Kindness: Megan DaGata

Early in 2012 I wrote an article on writers with depression. In researching that article I got chatting with Meg, I don’t actually remember how, but she was kind enough to throw around ideas with me and allow me to quote her on the blog post.

Megan has had battles with depression. She has a family which she is devoted to; and a take on the whole topic which is incredibly helpful for people going through similar experiences. Her blog, “Small Wonders and Other Thoughts,” is full of encouragement and wisdom. Megan, thank you for taking the time to help me out; and thank you for being a helpful voice for anyone who is struggling with parenthood and the stresses of modern life.

You can find Megan on Twitter.

Please take this badge below and use it as you wish. The rules for passing this Award on are very simple:

You are welcome to give it out as many times as you like, but it is only to be given to a maximum of one person per blog post. If you wish to give multiple rewards, please space the blog posts by at least a week so the sincerity is maintained.
Introduce the person; say how they encourage, help or inspire you; then link to their work and/or social media profiles. There may be a specific post you wish to link to which helped you. It’s up to you.
Please publicise your award post to Twitter or Google Plus using the hashtag #writtenkindness so that others can find and follow the award winners. You are also welcome to add your Award recipient/s to the Hall of Fame which is on this link.




Filed under: Awards Tagged: Written Acts of Kindness Award

Confessions of a Memoir Writer by Kathy Pooler

For the past three years, I have been writing my memoir. It’s actually been more like going to graduate school – learning the craft, practicing, toughening my skin for critique and rejection. Not all a walk in the park.

So why on earth do I do it? Because I have a story only I can tell, a burning desire to tell it and, quite frankly, I can’t help myself.

So I have a few confessions to make:

Confession #1:  I spend more time exploring how I present other people than how I present myself.

I angst over ways to AVOID disparaging anyone else, even though the truth may indicate otherwise while still telling the story I need to tell.

A common perception of memoir writers is that we are “narcissistic”… me, me, me. But the truth is, I spend inordinate amounts of time writing, rewriting, analyzing and fretting over how my words will impact another.

Yes, my memoir is about ME but it’s more about the mistakes I’ve made, the lessons I’ve learned over time and the time I lived in. It’s an invitation into my world that hopefully will help you connect with your own world. A story with a message.

Confession #2:  When I’m not writing, I’m thinking about writing.

You might think I’m not working when I’m staring out the window but that’s when my creative juices are cranking up. That’s why you’ll see me scribbling on napkins in a restaurant or digging through my purse to retrieve a piece to paper to write down my thoughts. So when I take a walk in the garden, I’m actually “on the clock.”

Confession #3:  I can’t help myself. I have to write every day.

If I don’t write every day, I’m up half the night with thoughts, ideas, words swirling in my head, it will not stop until I get up out of bed and put them in their rightful place on the page.

Confession #4:  My left brain is as busy as my right brain.

I enjoy mixing it up with outlines, storyboards on one end or freewriting in a journal, and drawing a mandela while listening to soothing music on the other end.

I enjoy learning the rules and knowing what the standard of practice is, but I also enjoy breaking them in my own unique way.

Confession #5:  I see stories everywhere. 

The most mundane circumstances can be rich with story. Just stand in line at a grocery store and observe the dynamics of the people. On a recent vacation to Missouri to visit friends, I ended up doing a blog post about my trip because, everywhere I looked, I saw a story that needed to be told. I was like a roving reporter, notebook in hand jotting down notes and taking pictures. I had a great time. Here’s my post.

Mea Culpa. I am writing a memoir. I can’t help myself. It’s just the way it is. My penance is I’ll just have to learn to live with myself until my memoir is completed and I start on the next one.

Memoir writers, can you relate?

Kathleen Pooler’s Bio:

Kathleen Pooler is a writer and a retired Family Nurse Practitioner who is working on a memoir about how the power of hope through her faith in God has helped her to transform, heal and transcend life’s obstacles and disappointments: divorce, single parenting, loving and letting go of an alcoholic son, cancer and heart failure to live a life of joy and contentment. She believes that hope matters and that we are all strengthened and enlightened when we share our stories.

She blogs weekly at her Memoir Writer’s Journey blog: http://krpooler.com and can be found on Twitter @kathypooler and on LinkedIn, Google+, Goodreads and Facebook: Kathleen Pooler

One of her stories “ The Stone on the Shore” is published in the anthology: “The Woman I’ve Become: 37 Women Share Their Journeys From Toxic Relationships to Self-Empowerment” by Pat LaPointe.

This blog post is Copyright Kathleen Pooler 2013. All rights are reserved Internationally. You may not reproduce it in any form, in part of whole, without the author’s prior written permission. That includes usage in forms such as print, audio and digital imaging including pdf, jpg, png etc. A fee may be requested for re-use if it is for a commercial venture.

Filed under: Guest Post, Life Story / Memoir Tagged: autobiography, creativity, discovery, goals, ideas, journal, Kathleen Pooler, memoir, motivation, thinking, writer, writing

Writing Rocket Fuel: Imagination

“Imagination rules the world.” Napoleon Bonaparte

“Life must be lived as play.” Plato

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells.  Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope.  Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.” Theodore Geisel

Filed under: Rocket Fuel Tagged: Writing Rocket Fuel

Best Named Blog

I'm looking through a lot of blogs these days, taking in a lot of names, cute and clever, silly and sober, but I've just found one that takes the cake. It's called The Book Wheel, and wait until you hear why. Blows my mind.

 

As it happens, people have been using book wheels for over 400 years to hold and rotate heavy books, so that they can study multiple volumes simultaneously.

I need one of these! As you know, the main purpose of CommuniCATE is to pass on great resources. The blog mentioned is a 'must look' resource for both authors and reads. Check it out at http://www.thebookwheelblog.com and stop by Uttley's blog as well. Cheers!

Written Acts of Kindness: Lee Merrill

When I was first getting the hang of Twitter and was totally lost, I was lucky enough to find a special birdie who encouraged me and became a treasured friend.

As a writer I cannot communicate in less than 140 characters. That I actually found a lasting friend through that number of letters is nothing short of a miracle! It is Lee’s welcoming and supportive presence that shone through the restrictions I was rebelling against.

Not only am I often encouraged by Lee, many others are. She gives gifts, prayer and a great deal of positive support through both her social networks and her blog on a daily basis. That is a lot of work for someone with a family and a demanding job, yet she still has time for others.

This is from 2011. I kept it on my computer as a screen shot when I was having a bad day. Thanks Lee.

So thank you for being there for me Lee… I am sure that many others would also like to say thank you for being a ready ear and a virtual hug.

You can follow Lee through her Twitter feed and blog. She is also on Facebook.

Please take this badge below and use it as you wish. The rules for passing this Award on are very simple:

You are welcome to give it out as many times as you like, but it is only to be given to a maximum of one person per blog post. If you wish to give multiple rewards, please space the blog posts by at least a week so the sincerity is maintained.
Introduce the person; say how they encourage, help or inspire you; then link to their work and/or social media profiles. There may be a specific post you wish to link to which helped you. It’s up to you.
Please publicise your award post to Twitter or Google Plus using the hashtag #writtenkindness so that others can find and follow the award winners. You are also welcome to add your Award recipient/s to the Hall of Fame which is on this link.


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Filed under: Awards Tagged: Written Acts of Kindness Award

Tough Life Stories Put In Perspective

For months my husband has been putting together his family tree and we’ve become frequent watchers of the “Who Do You Think You Are” television series. It’s never been an area I was all that interested in, but I put together a tree for a friend and the bug got me! This simple tree quickly turned from the intended pretty garden shrub, into a giant sequoia, with us trolling around graveyards in summer heat, cleaning up the graves of complete strangers and wondering if we should spend hundreds of dollars on a new headstone for them. No we didn’t, but we will keep going back and making their last residence look loved.

Now I watch the program nodding along with every heartbroken soul who has found something terrible in their ancestry. I shudder at the word “Workhouse” and get upset over the number of stillborn and infant deaths I keep finding. They never seem to end. I always wondered how anyone could get so emotional about relatives that date back several generations, who they never knew about. Now I understand it. These graves, dates and documents are about people.

As a writer, if there is one thing I relate to, it’s people. As we write we use the common elements everyone has to communicate story: knowing what emotions such as love, fear, grief and hope feel like. Thus the stories underneath the cracked concrete and marble graves reach out to me, and I get drawn in.

Watching these programs and looking at trees, it is very easy to see the negative: death, cause of death, shortened life span due to poverty, widows, dead children, gravestones, gravestones, gravestones… I am getting so sick of gravestones! It finally occurred to me that I was looking at family history from a one-sided point of view.

There were a whole heap of other dates and documents: weddings, births, Christenings. There would also be twenty-first, fortieth and sixtieth birthdays, Christmases, Easters and many other family celebrations. If you dig through your family photos now, that is what they are full of. Your children learning to walk, funny moments, family holidays, the Christmas feast. Around the 1800s photographs were studio-only for many people, so these moments were never preserved. Thus, when researching people’s pasts, we forget that even the hard lives had joys.

So celebrate the joys when you think of anyone’s past. At some point, they smiled, laughed and looked forward with hope. Don’t let genealogy become a depressing undertaking (pun intended.) When you place yourself in a tree, put in more than a portrait: put in a few happy family pictures too.

I am also finding, a headstone can be written with much love and that is what I focus on. That is a positive I never expected to find in a cemetery.

Resources for International and Australian Researchers:

Ancestry: http://www.ancestry.com – there is a log-in for many countries.
Family Search (International) Free: https://familysearch.org
Find My Past: https://www.findmypast.com.au
UK National Archives: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/looking-for-person%5Cdefault.htm
National Archives of Australia: http://www.naa.gov.au
Death Notices in Australia, the free Ryerson Index: http://www.ryersonindex.org
The massive Sydney Australia Cemetery, Rookwood. Free Search: http://www.rookwoodcemetery.com.au   May I also say that having spoken to Rookwood staff to clarify points, get more information and order photos, they are incredibly kind people who are very willing to help. Rookwood is the biggest cemetery in the Southern hemisphere and has amazing cultural and historical significance.
Genebase is a DNA testing business which will trace your DNA markers and where your family lineage came from back to the actual dawn of civilisation. I’m waiting for my results… http://www.dnaancestryproject.com/ It will take a little research once the markers come in, but I will love discovering a new area. Apparently your DNA marks it’self every thousand years or so (randomly) and in tests carried out so far, those marks trace where in the world your people were.

This blog post by Cate Russell-Cole is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You are free to share and adapt it.

Filed under: Life Story / Memoir, Writing Tagged: Ancestry.com, autobiography, biography, family, family history, Genealogy, Genealogy Resources, memoir, writer, writing

Writing Rocket Fuel: Best Foot Forward

“Quality is not an act, it is a habit.” Aristotle

“Build your reputation by helping others build theirs.” Unknown

“What you do today can improve all your tomorrows.”  Ralph Marston

Filed under: Rocket Fuel Tagged: Writing Rocket Fuel