Writers in the Storm

Writing. Life. We all wind down--or unwind--during the summer.

To stay fresh as writers, we need to plug in and recharge.

It's possible to recharge while you're busy doing other things, just like you recharge your cell phone while you're driving. You can also recharge while you relax, much like a trickle charger for your car battery.

This summer is shaping up to be very busy for me, so these days, my writing battery is getting restored while I'm doing other things, including writing and editing.

Did I mention I decided two months ago to self-publish one of my books? Well, I'm going through all the steps to prepare for that experience. Those of you who've taken the plunge, you know it's a time sump.

Back to ideas for powering up your writing. Let's start with getting a lift while completing writing-related tasks.

1. Get your juices flowing by beginning the story that's been floating around inside your skull. Don't worry about plotting, outlining, or character arc maps. Just write some fun scenes. You'll have fresh ideas, and you'll discover if you enjoy your story enough to write it.
2. Edit something you wrote at least six months ago. You'll see how your writing has grown. You'll practice your craft. And you'll feel a sense of accomplishment, which adds a turbo-boost to your writing battery.
3. 
   

Read a book on writing. It can be a very technical, how-to book, like Blake Snyder's Save the Cat, or it can be a inspirational book about writing a la Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird or Stephen King's On Writing. You'll learn something about craft or something about why you write. Won't that put a new spark on your pages?

Attend a writer's group or conference. Being in the presence of other writers renews the soul. The energy of a group of like-minded people can raise your own energy level and get you from the writing blahs to writing again. You'll meet new people, attend workshops that appeal to you, and perhaps, if you're lucky, you'll meet a new lifelong writing friend who will support you on your journey.

Here are some covert ideas for revamping your writing agenda:

1. Read that book that you bought a while back and just didn't have time to enjoy. Yes, you have time to read. In fact, if you write, you must read. But it doesn't have to be drudgery. After you've enjoyed the book, figure out what pulled you in, how the author kept you turning the pages, why you loved the characters. That's called research!
2. Spend a day in your character's shoes. When you're running errands, consider how they would accomplish the tasks. What would be their mindsets? How would they look? What would they care the most about? This is research for deep POV. When you're waiting for the appointment that's running late, think about what your characters would do if they had to wait thirty minutes for someone. (Ask Laura Drake about riding with me when I was being my fighter pilot character while driving on the freeway!)
3. Get out of town, or go to a new place in town. When you are in a new place, you are looking at your surroundings. What a perfect time to think about the importance of setting, how setting can build tension or mood. How much setting do you need before it gets "old"?
4. Have a leisurely lunch. By yourself. People watch. Note how they treat the servers, ask questions about the menu, give very specific orders, return food that is delivered to the table. You'll enjoy a good meal while you acquire ideas for scenes. I bet you'll go home and write a fun scene based on what you saw!
5. Call a friend you haven't spoken to for at least a month. Besides renewing the relationship, you'll be amazed at life's turns, how surprises change our direction, our daily routines. Think about how one change can affect your character's daily life. It doesn't have to be a huge dramatic change. It could be as simple as caring for a friend's puppy while she's on vacation.
6. Listen to music. The kind of music that makes you want to dance. Or sing. Or cry. We all have songs that we connect with, songs that we touch back to what we were doing when we listened. Music gets us in touch with our emotions. Spend an afternoon building your playlist.
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Go to a bookstore. Look at the covers. Note what attracts you to the book. Read back cover blurbs. Which ones make you want to read more? Do they have something in common? Seeing all those remarkable books at a real bookstore can be inspiring. Who doesn't visualize your book on the shelf next to those best-sellers? (You could combine this with #4 above.)

The most important thing to remember is that when the summer heat wears you down, you can choose another way, rather than being "too tired" to write. You don't have to feel worn out, lackluster, out of steam. You have options. Fun options that can get you back writing. And isn't writing what makes us all happy?

Do you have a tip that reboots your writing psyche? Have you tried one of the ones listed above? Want to throw out a question for us?

ABOUT FAE

Fae Rowen discovered the romance genre after years as a science fiction freak.   Writing futuristics and medieval paranormals, she jokes  that she can live anywhere but the present.  As a mathematician, she knows life’s a lot more fun when you get to define your world and its rules.

Punished, oh-no, that’s published as a co-author of a math textbook, she yearns to hear personal stories about finding love from those who read her books, rather than the horrors of calculus lessons gone wrong.  She is grateful for good friends who remind her to do the practical things in life like grocery shop, show up at the airport for a flight and pay bills.

A “hard” scientist who avoided writing classes like the plague, she now shares her brain with characters who demand that their stories be told.  Amazing, gifted critique partners keep her on the straight and narrow. Feedback from readers keeps her fingers on the keyboard.

When she’s not hanging out at Writers in the Storm, you can visit Fae at http://faerowen.com  or www.facebook.com/fae.rowen.

Anne Clermont

Do you remember the first time you rode a bike? How about the first time you flew in an airplane? You definitely remember your first kiss. Was it everything you expected? Did you practice kissing on the back of your hand before then? I sure did. My best friend told me I had to, otherwise I’d be considered a bad kisser. When the first kiss happened, I never expected to have that weak-kneed feeling—nor did I expect to be so focused on the boy’s tongue entering my mouth that I forgot what I should be doing in return. It was over before I knew it.

There’s something mind-opening about doing something for the first time. You might have an idea of what to expect, but it’s vague, like the memory of a dream from the night before, flitting in and out of your consciousness. Maybe your expectations are really wild. Or you might not expect anything.

In my yoga class last week, our teacher switched up our usual routine several times. Instead of doing Upward Dog after a Chaturanga, she made us go back to Plank. When I expected to go from Warrior II to Reverse Warrior, she made us pause, turn, and squat into Goddess pose. She tripped many of us up, and though some laughed, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who felt frustrated, wondering why she was messing with us.

Then it clicked. There’s something beautiful about letting go of your preconceptions. Even if you’re experienced at something, let your beginner’s mind take over. Don’t expect a certain outcome. Detach yourself from what you think will happen. Listen to the immediate, not ingrained cues. Be in the moment. Just accept.

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.”
—Shunryo Suzuki

The concept of beginner’s mind has become extremely important to my writing. I wrote the first novel under cover of darkness, in secrecy, hidden from the world. I had no idea whether anyone would ever read the crazy pile of words I’d been typing. I wrote because it calmed me. I wrote because of the driving need within me to tell a story. I wrote because it felt like an emotional cleanse. I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t know much about the craft of writing. I didn’t know about three act structures, or character development, or literary agents or the world of publishing. I had a computer, an idea for a story, and an intuition of where it should go. I focused on the writing. That was it.

That first novel is almost ready for release into the world and I am having the hardest time sitting down and writing the second novel. I want to write the second novel. I want to write many novels over the course of my life. And it’s not that I don’t have an idea for a story, because I do. I have characters that are talking to me. I see the setting, and the horses (yes, there are horses in the second one, too) and I have an almost physical, tortured need to write. But I’m afraid. I’m afraid of how much work it’s going to take. I’m afraid that now that I’ve studied the craft, gone to conferences, read more than a couple dozen books on writing, and taken many classes. I should know what I’m doing. I know so much more about the craft of writing and the world of publishing that I want this next book to be perfect (okay, really good would suffice). I know the difference between showing and telling. I know each scene needs an arc and a hook. I know I need conflict on every page. I know my dialogue needs to sing. I know where my plot points and reaction beats should be. I know all of this — and it seems so big, so damn overwhelming, that the magic of writing has disappeared, hidden somewhere in that ‘expert’ mind.

Has all the knowledge I’ve tried to gain taken over my creative, intuitive mind? What about stepping back and writing for that one reader I imagined would love my first book? What about opening up again to the unknown possibilities?

It’s vital that we, as writers, step back and allow for the spontaneous, creative possibilities that happen when writing.  It’s vital not just for us, but also for the imaginative spark it elicits in others as they read our words.

And you know what? All that you’ve learned, and everything you’ve experienced, will naturally flow into your writing. (Besides, we’re going to be revising the sucker for several months anyway.)

A beginner’s mind is innocent of preconceptions, judgments, prejudices, and expectations. Having learned so much, I know that I must somehow return to beginner’s mind and allow the writing itself lead me somewhere new. Somewhere exciting. It is, in the end, all about the journey.

What about you? How do you move forward with writing your second (or third) novel? How do you clear your mind and begin on a new journey, knowing all that you now know?

About Anne

Anne Clermont is a Canadian living in the U.S., born in Kraków and raised outside of Toronto. She spent fifteen years in California before relocating to the beautiful Pacific Northwest. She holds a BS in animal biology, and an MBA. Her background ranges from studying animal behavior to carrying out pancreatic cancer research at one of the world’s largest and most innovative biotech companies. Inspired to write Learning to Fall (releasing August 2) in part by her own experience of running a show jumping business, she now devotes her time to writing and working as a developmental editor. She lives on an island in the middle of Puget Sound with her husband and two children.

Find Anne online at:

Ella Joy Olsen

Libraries are magical places. At least they always have been for me. As a child I wanted lots of stuff – an unending supply of Bubblicious, a puppy, checkerboard Vans, eyes that didn’t need glasses – and I managed to collect only a few, except when we went to the library. I was a lover of books, and everything in the library I could have. For free. If it caught my eye, into the library bag it would go. The smooth pages and colorful bindings were a rainbow of promise.

Throughout much of my life, my view of the library was only this: It was a peaceful place, beloved and wonderfully generous. But it became so much more when I crossed over from patron, to part of a library’s inner workings. In 2008, I became a member of the Board of Directors for the Salt Lake City Public Library, a 5-Star–rated system consisting of a 250,000 square-foot downtown library and seven busy branches scattered about the city, and I began to understand the bigger picture: the importance of libraries to civilization, to democracy, to the future. It’s just a library, you might be thinking. It’s just a roomful of books on shelves. But no. There’s so much more, here’s why:

Free access to a library is the first step toward literacy. So why is literacy so important? And why is access so important? Because the world is full of information, and the ability to read that information is critical for equality (the most basic of all democratic ideals). Unequal access to information, meaning only a select few control the words, creates inequality. Think the middle ages (or parts of the Middle-East).

But reading isn’t simply about enjoying a good escapist novel (though sometimes that’s just what the doctor orders). It’s about the practicality of navigating things like health insurance forms, employment applications, contracts. It’s about sensing a scam…or finding an opportunity.

And yet, reading and literacy are not only critical for the practical applications mentioned above. A story (fictional or not) is also the nexus of imagination. As a reader, you imagine a setting and you speculate at what comes next. Imagination is the root of innovation and innovation is at the core of technology and progress.

In  British fiction author, Neil Gaiman’s fantastic lecture delivered to the Reading Agency in London (see link below), he talked about attending a Science Fiction conference in China in 2007. Science fiction had been disapproved of by the government for decades and Mr. Gaiman wondered why they had recently embraced the genre. He was told by a top official that the Chinese were brilliant at making things as long as others brought them the plans. But they didn’t innovate or invent. So the Chinese government sent a delegation to top technological firms: Apple, Microsoft and Google and asked the inventors what inspired them. They wanted to get to the root of innovation. The correlation? All read science fiction when they were young.

But there’s more. Reading inspires empathy. In a story you feel things or visit places you otherwise wouldn’t. And you learn from the past – what worked, what didn’t, what seemed fair. Many would argue these things can be obtained from watching (television, YouTube, a film), but here’s where I would argue that reading wins. When viewing content you are force-fed another person’s vision. That vision may be award-winning, but it’s not of your own making. In taking the symbols of the English language – twenty-six letters with a smattering of punctuation – and creating a world in your own mind…that is the part that changes a person. Plus, reading forces a slower pace, contemplation between the action sequences, a moment to take a character’s experience and incorporate it into one’s own context.

And what about the physical space of a library? Sure, you can Google all sorts of information that, in the past, was exclusively held in the stacks. And that’s great for equal access. It’s awesome, in fact. But we humans are social creatures. According to the latest State of America’s Libraries report from the American Library Association, libraries are becoming Third Spaces – a social area apart from home or work. Libraries are, “No longer just places for books, libraries of all types are viewed as anchors, centers for academic life and research, and cherished spaces.”

The library building, itself, is a community builder, a neutral place that doesn’t push a product, where people can innovate together. It’s also a safe place – warm when it’s cold outside, cool when you might collapse from heat. There are people who need a quiet space to study or who don’t have access to a computer, and guess where they can find both? A library. It’s a spot where all people are welcome, regardless of age, socio-economic status, or race. It’s the great equalizer. It is the server to the underserved.

As a writer and a reader, I value the written word. I’m enamored with books and the stories they contain. But as human being, I love libraries.

How often do you visit your local library and what are your favorite library sponsored events? Do you have a treasured childhood memory of time spent in a library?

** (http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/15/neil-gaiman-future-libraries-reading-daydreaming). This is an edited version of Neil Gaiman's lecture for the Reading Agency, delivered at the Barbican in London.

About Ella

Ella Joy Olsen was born, raised, and currently resides in Salt Lake City, Utah – a charming town tucked against the massive Rocky Mountains. Most at home in the world of the written word, Ella spent nearly a decade on the Board of Directors for the Salt Lake City Public Library System (and four decades browsing the stacks). She is the mom of three kids ranging from pre-teen to edge-of-the-nest teen, the mama of two dogs, and the wife of one patient husband.

Though she’s crazy about words, Ella is also practical, so she graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Finance. After years spent typing boring stuff, Ella eagerly gave up her corner cubicle and started writing fiction. She has also lived in Seattle, Washington & Savannah, Georgia.

She is a member of Tall Poppy Writers and Women’s Fiction Writers Association. You can find her at www.ellajoyolsen.com, Twitter @ellajoyolsen, or Facebook at www.facebook.com/ella.joy.olsen.author/

ROOT, PETAL, THORN (September 2016/Kensington) is her debut novel. And coming in September 2017 - WHERE THE SWEET BIRD SINGS.