Writers in the Storm

By Jenny Hansen

Based on the title of this post, you might think I’m going to talk about plotting or character arcs or 3-Act structure… That’s a big fat “Nope!” to all three. There’s a lesson that comes before all those things and it has taken me a long time to get it through my head.

Here it is: When it comes to writing, “Done” is better than “Good.”

Now, some of you might disagree with me, so let me share a conversation I had with one of my tweeps, Natalie Hartford, who’s just getting started on the writing road. Like me, she enrolled in Round 4 of ROW80 – the writing challenge that knows you have a life – and her goals were a flurry of planning, studying, reading…and not WRITING.

The other day, we had this chat on Facebook:

Me: Oh, one last thing…OF COURSE you’re going to write a great book. But you’re stalling with all this prep. Just start writing all willy-nilly and see what comes out. Pretty please? I KNOW you have an awesome book inside of you. But we all have to write like 3,000 lines of crap before our book comes out.

Natalie: I know eh?!?! What’s with the stalling?!?!? It’s getting a wee bit frustrating. So you say “just start writing” – but what?!?!?

Me: Start writing a conversation between your character and someone. Or start writing an interview with your character that includes YOUR voice interviewing and THEIR voice answering.

Natalie: LOVE THAT!!! That’s perfect!! I will….thank you for the push Jenny – I need it!!

I was up till nearly 1 am last night brainstorming. (I am driving MYSELF batty with all this brainstorming…) I will definitely just start playing around with my character…interview, background…I decided last night that maybe that’s the missing piece to the plot issues.

Me: No one has a masterpiece on the first run. The key is to start writing. Remember, done is better than good. You can make your “done” into “very good” MUCH easier than you can make a little bit of good stuff into a finished novel.

We went on a bit longer, but I’ll just sum things up and say this conversation was really about fear. Like all writers, Natalie was floundering out of the gate because she felt like she had to get some “BIG IDEA” to run with.

There’s only like six story ideas on the planet so we all need to chill and just write. And never, ever forget that “done is better than good.”

My favorite quote from Nora Roberts, Goddess of the Bestseller list is:

I can fix a bad page but I can’t fix a blank one.

Here are some other recommendations I gave Natalie for getting started:

• Quit dinking around and just write some scenes.
• Describe your character’s office/bedroom/kitchen and figure out what they do there.
• Ask simple questions in the interview, like: Does your character have a dog? What kind? What is the dog’s name? Does the dog do any tricks?
• Enjoy yourself.

If you’re looking for more brainstorming ideas, you might also enjoy this post.

If you don’t believe me that it’s all about putting one word after another on the page, listen to the late great Stephen Cannell, creator of The Rockford Files, Baretta, The A-Team, and a myriad of other shows (plus you might recognize him from the poker table in Castle).If you look at his IMDb Bio, you’ll be amazed at how much this dyslexic man accomplished:

Do you agree that “done” is better than “good?” Which one is a bigger writing challenge for you?

About Jenny Hansen

Jenny fills her nights with humor: writing memoir, women’s fiction, chick lit, short stories (and chasing after the newly walking Baby Girl). By day, she provides training and social media marketing for an accounting firm. After 15 years as a corporate software trainer, she’s digging this sit down and write thing.

When she’s not at her blog, More Cowbell, Jenny can be found on Twitter at jhansenwrites and here at Writers In The Storm. Every Saturday, she writes the Risky Baby Business posts at More Cowbell, a series that focuses on babies, new parents and high-risk pregnancy.

Merry Christmas from Writers In The Storm!

We are delighted to welcome back Louisa Bacio to talk to you about stealing time for your writing, especially during this season where it feels like everything is pulling you in a million directions. Take it away, Louisa...

**********

Shhh! Come here. I want to share something with you. Are we alone? No one lurking, and listening?

I’ve got a secret pleasure. One that many people don’t understand. In fact, my family – who are the closest to me, and you know LIVE with me – don’t really get it.

I need to write.

Do you feel me?

And when time gets tight, the kids are off school for winter break and the holidays creep in, well, then I don’t often get that much-needed writing time.

And you know what happens when I don't write? I get cranky. It’s like my fingers itch for a keyboard. I wake in the middle of the night, dreaming about stories.

So my question is, why don’t people get it? I mean, my husband can watch college football for ten hours on a Saturday. My daughters can play with their favorite toy-of-the-day for hours on end, but if Momma wants to write? No way! It’s like I’ve got a dirty habit that needs to be done in the closet.

With so much going on, here’s how I sneak in time:

1) Gift shopping – Sneaky, I know. But I’ve been known to tell my kids that I need time to shop for presents, and I’m actually writing. Same thing goes for wrapping.

2) Notebook in the kitchen – Say what? Seriously, if you’ve got writing in your head, can you scratch out a few lines between trays of cookies?

3) AMC Family Holiday Movies – Do you really need to see Charlie Brown’s Christmas again? While Home Alone distracts the kids, get in your word count.

4) Bath time – It all depends upon the age of your child. For my almost 5-year-old daughter, if I desperately need some quiet time, I can stick her in the tub with some mermaid dolls.

5) Late nights – Yep – less sleep. Here’s some info on one of my latest releases (most of it was written very late at night when the family was asleep):

Thanks for listening, and hopefully … you don’t think any less of me. Oh, and I know that it’s like only DAYS before Christmas, but if you take a moment to commiserate and leave a comment, along with your email address (it won't show, except to the gals at WITS), I’ll pick one winner for one of the full-length books on my backlist.

What do you do to steal time for your writing? We promise not to tell!

Visit Louisa on Facebook or Twitter. Or at one of the sites below:
http://louisabacio.blogspot.com
http://louisabacio.com

Note from WITS:
Trust us, you want to read Louisa's latest: The Vampire, The Witch & The Werewolf: Chains of Silver 

Adopted at birth, Silver Ashe discovers her blood-brother Trevor Pack is a werewolf, with a vampire and witch for lovers. All her teachings about the evils of the paranormal Others come into question. She runs to a family friend, Nick, for help.

Nick Stake takes his hobby as a vampire hunter personally. He strives to rid the world of evil bloodsuckers. When his best friend’s “kid” sister comes to him for advice, Nick discovers Silver’s more than grown up. He battles his growing desire for Silver and blindly holds true to his convictions.

Once Silver reaches her sexual maturity, she’ll inherit her full genetic heritage and turn into a werewolf. When death comes calling, Silver and Nick must face their darkest fears in order to break free from the chains that bind.

Available now via Ravenous Romance, Amazon and All Romance eBooks.

by Laura Drake

Some of my best ideas come to me while I’m riding my bicycle.  I had an epiphany during a gorgeous Southern California ride yesterday.  Several pieces fell in place at once; a major “Aha” moment.

I love it when that happens!

Piece 1:

For anyone who is not familiar with Maslow, here’s the Reader’s Digest version:

In the 1930’s Abraham Maslow put forward his “Hierarchy of Needs” concept to explain behavior. His theory was that you strive to move toward the top of the list you see to the left. You can’t move up the ladder until the lower need is met, as anyone who’s been on the lowest rung can attest to (been there, Ain’t going back.)

Piece 2:

My husband and I were watching one of those obnoxious “Weight Loss Breakthrough” ads on TV the other day. He didn’t understand why people couldn’t lose weight and keep it off (he has more drive than most – he lost 50 lbs 5 years ago.) I’m a Weight Watchers member, and the talk this week was about creating goals to achieve weight loss.

Okay, stay with me here, because my theory works for anything you want to achieve, not just weight loss.

Goal-setting advice tells you to break a large goal into small steps and you’ll finally get to your ultimate goal/need.  That’s great.  On paper.

But what if your goal is majorly BIG -- like writing a novel?

You picture your ultimate goal – let’s say it’s standing on stage, holding up a RITA. The spotlights are flashing off your sequined ball gown.  All your friends are there, cheering you on. You get the picture.

Okay, you set smaller goals, but ultimately your focus is on that stage, and your acceptance speech.  Next to that, the smaller goals just aren’t doing it for you.  Yeah, you’re making progress, but all those little steps only remind you of how far you have to go. Makes your feet hurt, just looking at them.

I think this is why we fail.  After awhile, you just burn out.  The effort just doesn’t seem worth it, so you move on to the next thing you want.  But there are two problems with that:

• First, the goal you’ve abandoned is the one you wanted most, or it wouldn’t have been first, right?
• Secondly, in spite of excuses you make, deep down, you know you’ve failed, and it hurts.  You feel guilty, which lowers your self-esteem and makes the next goal harder to achieve, because you don’t really trust yourself to do it. After all, you let yourself down before, right?

You’re moving down Maslow’s pyramid!

So what do you do?

Back to my bike analogy. One of my goals is to get stronger on the bike.  I’m on a ride, working hard, pushing through sweat and pain.

Suddenly, I’m distracted by a mockingbird’s song.  I notice that the temperature is perfect.  The rolling hills have changed since I was last on this route; tawny grass stretches away forever.

I’m so absorbed by the joy of being alive and being out in nature that I don’t even realize I’ve toiled up a major hill – it didn’t hurt at all!

That’s the Hershey Kiss part.  Is it the high you’ll get, accepting your RITA?  Not even close.

But it’s a Hershey Kiss – a moment’s sweetness on the tongue.  Okay, I’m mixing metaphors, but– it’s about focus.  You need to take the time to revel in the small goals.  Wallow in them.

Just ask an actor with an Oscar on their mantel -- they’ll tell you the evening was great, but what mattered to them was the journey, getting there.

Like Lennon said, “Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans”.

The Hershey Kisses are the joy of life!  Savor them; I wish you many.

What gives you YOUR Hershey's kisses? Are there people or activities that help you keep going on this writing journey, especially on those days when you really want to quit?