Andrea Judy's Blog, page 8
May 21, 2013
Getting Back On The Writing Horse…
While I am still finishing up school, I now have a bit more time to write. It’s strange getting back on the writing every day train, not to mention getting back on the blogging regularly schedule. (Sorry for missing Saturday by the way…)
However, I am now on the 21st day of my writing streak. I’ve written at least 750 words every day since the first day of May. It’s been a struggle, and part of the motivation has been that I am sharing my work with others and I feel obligated to produce for them. It’s an invigorating thought that someone is counting on me to write something for them.
As the month progresses I am surprising myself with how little time I have to devote to it to get it done. If I sit down and just focus, I can be done in 15 to 30 minutes. The work is rough, it needs editing, but the words are on the page, and that’s what matters.
I’ve found that I tend to work best at night, though morning works in a pinch, and the things that slows me down more than anything else is the Internet. Popping on to just check one thing, to look up something, or to send an email, and suddenly an hours passed and there’s nothing to show for it aside from a few new levels beaten on Candy Crush.
So I’ve removed games from my phones, and social media profiles, and I’ve started to monitor the amount of time I spend on them. When I started writing again at the beginning of this month, I had to close out of my email, and shut down the wifi connection on my laptop. Now, I’m able to monitor myself and keep myself focused on my task. If I start to stray, I shut down the Internet again.
What I’ve learned this month is that I can write any time. I wrote when I had family in from out of town, I wrote when I had friends over, I wrote on the day I graduated, and I wrote every day since starting a full time job for the first time in two years. This has restored my confidence and shaken me out of my excuses.
I have no excuse to not be writing every day.
It’s a bit strange, feeling like you’re starting over, but now that classes are over, I can start back writing again, and it’s a wonderful feeling to be excited and motivated again.
May 14, 2013
I’m back!!
It has been a busy month, and I am happy to be back to the blog. I have graduated from grad school… which really means that I have finished all of my classes, and now just have to write my thesis over the summer.
By July I should be done 100% and out of school! Whooooo!
Graduation!
I also have just started an amazing full-time job that I am beyond thrilled about it. I’ll be able to work with social media, writing, and working with a really great and talented group of people at my alma mater.
So, blog is resuming its usual posting schedule of Tuesday and Saturday!
It’s good to be back, and if there are any topics you’d like to see on the blog, please let me know.
April 2, 2013
Hiatus!
So I am putting this blog on hiatus so I can focus on finishing my last month of classes!
I will be back in May!
For now, enjoy this gif of my spirit animal pug.
March 18, 2013
You don’t need a degree to write
Some words of wisdom for today’s post.
You don’t need to go to school to learn how to write. Don’t feel like you need that BA, or BFA, or MA, or MFA, or PhD to know how to write. That’s not to say that you don’t learn anything in these programs, and that the degrees are useless, but that no writer should feel obligated to have a degree. I’ve met several writers who are incredible storytellers, novelists, and writers who don’t have a degree in anything writing based, or don’t have a degree period. And I’ve met people who worry about their own skills because they don’t have a degree.
You don’t need a degree to write. That piece of paper, and that time in school will not magically transform you into a writer. Some programs can really help some people learn how to write, while for others, it just burns them out, or turns them from writing completely. For me, I’m in the second camp. The longer I stay in school, the less I want to write, and the more burned out and frustrated I get (which is ironic since I am now getting my Master’s in English).
A degree doesn’t make the writer. The only way to be a writer is to write. It doesn’t matter if you have a degree in biology, history, engineering, or no degree at all. What matters is a love for words, a passion, and obsession for words and for telling a story. That’s what makes a writer. A degree in English is no guarantee that you’ll be published, that you’ll be able to put out work.
An English program can teach you discipline, writing to a deadline, taking and giving critiques, and give you some great connections with other writers. However, some programs can be very rigid in what kind of writing is allowed, some can be very dismissive and ugly towards genre writing. A lot of it depends on what program you join and what it has to offer. I really suggest looking into programs seriously. Email professors and ask what their opinions on what you want to write. Look for programs that encourage writing in that type of writing, or be prepared to be frustrated.
In my personal experience, very few academic based programs encourage any type of genre fiction (there are exceptions to this like the MFA programs at Seton Hill), so if that is what you want to write then proceed with caution. But if you want to eventually be a professor in a college or university of writing or English in general than you will need to work towards an MA or MFA at the least, and make sure the degree is terminal (that determines if it qualifies you to teach or not). The way the market is going, if you really want to teach, you may do best to go all the way to a PhD at this point, but proceed with caution. The humanities have been hit hard by the economic recession, adjunct professor jobs pay (if you’re lucky) barely liveable wages, and getting into a tenure track position can be very difficult.
But never feel obligated to need that degree to be taken seriously as a writer. Read, live, and write, that’s all it takes to be a writer, and no piece of paper or years of classes can change that.
March 12, 2013
Writing Fears
Writing is full of terrifying prospects. While it seems such a simple and safe practice, there are bits of writing that are frightening. Those fears range from person to person and project to project. Some projects might scare you in other ways than you’ve been frightened before. Here are just a few of the ways writing has terrorized me.
1. The blank page
Many people are petrified of the very start of a new project, that looming blank page is oftentimes very frightening to conquer. How do you get past it?
Some people change the way the screen looks. Make the background of the document a different color, set a timer and just write, copy and paste something that motivates you and teen extent to work. There are a lot of options, but they all come back to one thing: to get past the blank page, you have to write something on it.
2. Inferiority
I struggle with this one a lot. Everything I write, I worry that it’s not good enough, that so-and-so’s work is so much better. How can I even consider myself a writer when all I can write is this trash? This fear can freeze you right in your seat. Working through it is not an easy task, but I try to remind myself that there will always be someone better than you at everything…look at it as a goal to improve yourself instead of an obstacle.
3. Rejection
Writers have to be a bit masochistic. You have to be able to handle being constantly rejected, having your work cut to pieces by editors, and being able to pick the pieces back up. For me, working through this is rejection is proof that you are working on your writing, that you are putting your work out there. (You can read more about my thoughts of rejection here).
4. The ending
Most writers I know worry about the beginning of the story, but finding the proper place for an ending is what terrifies me. How do I know where and when to stop a story? This can often lead to a long, drawn-out story that meanders and lacks direction. I have found that trying to create a very basic outline keeps this fear from overtaking me.
5. Writer’s Block
When your fingers freeze over the keys and words won’t just come. I don’t really think writer’s block exists, not in the often cited way most people refer to it at least. I find that usually if I ‘can’t write, there’s something else at the cause that needs to be addressed, whether it’s laziness, depression, or fear, addressing the real reason behind the block can help to deal with it much more effectively.
These are just some of the fears that I’ve seen with my own writing. What kinds of fear do you conquer in your writing life?
March 8, 2013
Proper ConNooga Review!
Now that I have shaken out of the post-convention haze, let me give a proper review and tell you about the awesome people I met.
This was my third year at ConNooga, but my first year here as a guest so it was very exciting. I had my own little half of a table and that was great and very exciting! (I even sold books, yay!)
Me, Stephen Zimmer, and Andrew Toy.
I got to hang out with some amazing writers who I will try to list here… Sorry if I forget anyone!! (Thanks to Bobby for the photo!)
Please go check out all of these people, buy their books and enjoy. They’re all great writers, great people, and just plain awesome.
March 5, 2013
Connooga Review
Almost anyone who asks me about conventions always hears me start with Connooga as one of my favorite conventions. Part of that is personal bias for sure. Connooga is the first convention I went to with the idea of ‘I’m going to be a writer!’
I went to almost every panel on the lit track (totally creeped on most of the authors there), listened, learned, and made an amazing batch of new friends. This is probably the convention I feel most at home at. Every time I come to Connooga, I feel like it’s a big family reunion. This year was no different. There were some new faces, and some that sadly weren’t able to join us, but all in all it was an amazing reunion.
The lit track, as always, was superb, the topics were varied and interesting, and the audience has really grown over the years. If you are a writer (or just a fan of any sort) than this convention should absolutely be on your must go list.
Thank you to every single person that I met there this weekend, and I hope that you had an amazing time too!
February 19, 2013
Computer failures!
Hey everyone! No blog posts this week. My laptop is having some serious issues with starting. Hopefully it will be resolved soon and posts will resume.
February 12, 2013
No Two Things Are Not On Fire
It always seems that when one thing goes wrong, everything goes wrong. You can’t just have one failure, but have a series of failures that all fall into your lap all at once. So, when the world is falling into chaos, how can you work on writing when life is going crazy?
What’s worked for me is to write as early in the day as possible. Write right when you get up, that way you can get to it before the to-do list of the day overflows. Try to get up even just ten minutes early and get your writing done. It’s amazing how much it can help by getting those words in early in the day.
Another thing to do is to take small moments to write. You have ten minutes free before your next meeting? Write. Carry a pencil and pad (or write on your phone, tablet, etc.) in the small batches of free time you have. You can get a lot done if you stop trying to carve out large chunks o time and utilize the little breaks. This can be challenging, but with time and effort you can adjust to it. If I sit and just write for 15 minutes I can get almost 800 words written, that’s a good chunk done without trying to find an hour in the midst of chaos.
Sometimes, there will be moments when writing falls by the side in order for you to keep moving. It’s alright when that happens. The problem comes when you have to suddenly return to writing after going through a crazy time.
Try to get on a schedule. Write at 7pm every day for a week. Don’t worry so much about the number of words but give yourself 15 minutes, then 20….then 30….and so on. Build yourself back into writing every day.
Just remember that things will calm back down, life will get back under control, and the ship will sail on. Don’t panic, stay focused, and keep writing!
February 5, 2013
Tick Tock: Building Tension in Horror
One of my favorite things about horror is the building of tension. Everything winds tighter, and tighter until it snaps. The rush at the moment of release is what makes horror for me, not the blood and guts, but the winding clock.
My absolutely favorite kind of horror isn’t the one that just hacks and slashes everyone to bits, and makes you jump with pure shock of the unexpected. No, my favorite type of the horror is the kind that grabs your ankle and than slowly brings a chill up your spine. You know something is going to happen, that something is coming, but you don’t know what or where, and then…BAM the tension snaps.
But how do you build that up in writing? How do you write a scene that builds up tension? Every scene, every story, every author has their own way, but there are a few that work well across the board.
Use short sentences.
Short sentences in a row can create tension for the reader. Rather than winding through a scene, keep it choppy. Now, that’s not saying to throw a ton of simple sentences together (else you may end up looking more like ‘See Spot run.’ than ‘See Spot Zombie.’)but keep the focus tight. Every detail should lend itself to the feeling that something is wrong.
Don’t overdo it on the details.
It’s exciting to finally get to the moment of horror in your work. You’ve spent a lot of time getting here, so why not celebrate with a party of adjectives!
This is what google suggested for ‘adjective party.’
Sometimes, what the reader doesn’t see is worse than anything you can describe.
Trust your reader (and your gut).
Don’t feel like you have to spell everything out in excoriating detail, make your reader have to work a bit to get at what’s going on. Some of my favorite moments in books are when I’m re-reading a book, and suddenly see a clue that tells me what’s coming on… but that I likely wouldn’t have pieced together on my first read. Have fun, and trust in your reader.
Those are some very basic, general rules of writing that could likely be applied to any genre, but that I think apply particularly well to horror. What other suggestions or ideas do you have about horror?
