down the writer's path

Writing Tools: Pen vs Keyboard

In this computer society it's easy to move from the pen to the keyboard and give little thought to the consequence. But what are we sacrificing? Julia Cameron has spent a lifetime extolling the virtues of the direct connection between writing by hand and tapping into the creative force that exists in all of us. Her books, including the classic The Artist's Way, urge everyone to spend twenty minutes a day first thing in the morning taking pen to paper. No keyboarding allowed.

But how does that translate into the everyday life of the writer? As a former Artist Way facilitator for six years and a journal writing instructor, I have seen the value and impact of the pen at work. But as a writer I understand the need for the keyboard. I wrote my first novel entirely by hand in a large Mead notebook that I picked up at the local drugstore. Then I had to enter all that material into the computer. Sure, I edited as I went along but then and there I decided to teach myself to create at the keyboard. Doing so has given me a great skill that I rely on daily.

I know: Not everyone can create at the keyboard. Not everyone can type fast enough to keep up with their natural word flow. For some the act of typing gets in the way of their creative mind. It's only practical and necessary to spend time with pen and paper. Despite the digital revolution, many writers continue to write their first drafts by hand. These writers often feel they have a special connection to the imagination and that there is a direct link between their mind and their hand. They also enjoy the freedom from the keyboard. Best-selling NYT author Susan Wiggs is one who continues to write her first drafts by hand.

Of course there are many who are unable to write by hand. They have physical disabilities and are incapable of even holding a pen or holding it steady enough to write word after word after word. But for everyone else there is a choice. What is yours and why?

Writers direct a stream of emotions

The mystery of creative success lies in the writer's ability to capture and preserve the quality of a given moment in time. The success of a novel or story depends on its intensity, on its ability to re-create an ambience and a sense of emotional contact that make the reader and writer one. Empathy and identification, these qualities that involve the reader with fictional protagonists, rely on the chimeric web of words the writer spins, a web that will, strand by strand, engage the mind and the heart so that pages will be turned and fictional men and women and vanished times will achieve lives of their own. There is no given technique for the creation of mood and emotional identification. Each story rises from its own whirlpool of feeling and memory; it's the writer's job to sort the currents and direct them to the steady stream from which each separate story flows.

--Gloria Goldreich, The Writer, April 1979

Tech note: A recent issue of The Writer's Magazine republished this quote. When I found the quote I emailed it my Posterous account for later consumption. Now I'm using Typepad's Quick Post to transfer the quote directly to my blog. I'll be posting about Posterous and how I use it soon. -- vikk's posterous - Home .

Name Your Dream Contest - Vote for my dream, please!

Name Your Dream is an interesting contest. I went ahead and entered my dream. Click through to read about my dream assignment. I hope you like it and will register to vote for me. The contest began a couple of weeks ago and ends early April. The person leading the pack has nearly 700 votes so I have a long way to go in a short amount of time. Any help is appreciated. If you can, please share the link to my dream assignment with your friends, coworkers, heck, anyone. :) HERE's an IDEA: Why not enter yourself. I'll be happy to vote for you. (You can only vote once for a particular dream but can vote for more than one person.)

I write fiction. I don’t need no stinkin’ social network.

Most writers are solitary souls: they inhabit their own universe apart from the rest of the world. The clutter of life is a distraction. All this new social media network stuff is nothing but quicksand guaranteed to suck your attention away from the important work: the book. So why bother to plug in? For sure, fiction writers don't need Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and all the finely tuned and gently nuanced applications built to support these behemoths. Storytellers have been telling their tales for centuries without them. But is that the real question?

Except for a brief excursion now and then I stayed away from the new social networking world. I could see marketing application readily enough. I wasn't there. But then my fictional universe became populated with all these kids who were fully plugged in to the 21^st century. Their daily lives reflected the impact of this social networking and even governed how they interacted. I watched as their actions became a direct result of their use of Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, and Live Journal. What's a writer to do?

Does it become a matter of research only? Should you skim the surface, assume you know what's going on, and skate on your fictional characters' assumed knowledge? Or do you take a deeper look at what's happening and actually experience it? For me the answer led to my having accounts with Twitter and Facebook and then branching out into some other applications. It meant reading more about this phenomenon of collapsed walls between people and allowing myself to fully experience its impact on how I socialize, work, and act. To monitor how I respond during the day and watch to see if it remained a simple tool or took on a deeper, more enhanced connection.

Today this galloping online networking is embraced by millions of people. The swift and intimate connection with strangers is accepted and even sought. But what does that mean at a deeper level? What does it say about us as we slide into a world where there are no borders, no walls, and no constraints? How do we respond? Are we even able to keep up with this constantly evolving world? And what does it mean for our characters and our plots? How does all this sculpt our characters in ways that we, as fiction writers, never had to tackle before?

As fiction writers we might sit behind our safe monitor and screen the world, safe in the knowledge that we inhabit an imaginary universe that never collides with reality. But can we afford this luxury? If we want readers to connect with our characters and to believe in the imaginary construct of our fictional world, shouldn't we at least experience what is going on?

You tell me. Have you peered past the distraction and noise of Facebook and Twitter to consider how it really shapes you, your world, and that of your characters? Leave a comment or enter the new world. You'll find me—and this blog—on Facebook. Or just bite the apple and Twit me.

What’s up with all this Twit and Luv stuff?

In the “just so ya know” department, I’ve stumbled across a couple of neat little applications that add some social media flavor to this blog. If you’re a social media maven, you’ll appreciate the addition of TwitThis and I’ll appreciate your ability to use it. If you’re a blogger, then using the CommentLuv application should make you an even happier camper. Ultimately what’s it all about is reader appreciation coupled with my efforts to make it easier to get the word out about my blog and what I write.

TwitThis makes it easier for anyone using Twitter to share Down the Writer’s Path blog and/or a specific blog post. It’s as simple as clicking on the button. Obviously for me the more easily I can help readers get the word out the better.

CommentLuv is a neat application for any reader who blogs or has a website. Since I’ve enabled CommentLuv on this blog, any reader who is signed up with CommentLuv can have a notice about their site or one of their blog posts appear automatically at the end of their comment. Why would I want to do that? Well, I’m hoping it will encourage more reader participation in the comments section. I like the idea of a notice about my last blog post appearing whenever I leave comments on other sites so I figure other bloggers and writers will appreciate the same. Here’s a copy of my comment CommentLuv signature from yesterday:

vikksimmons’s last blog post..A writer’s tools: Carrots, contests and chocolates 

At the end of each post in the footer, you'll also find the green "Share this" button that allows you to take advantage of about 20 social media sites including FACEBOOK. The net gain of both of these is increased traffic. Increased traffic equals a potentially larger readership. And a readership, any readership, is what it’s all about when you write because the process isn’t complete until the writing has been read and, hopefully, digested.  

And now for your St. Patrick’s Day Irish blessing: 

Wishing you a rainbow
For sunlight after showers—
Miles and miles of Irish smiles
For golden happy hours—
Shamrocks at your doorway
For luck and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never ends
Each day your whole life through!

Links: TwitThis, CommentLuv

 

A writer’s tools: Carrots, contests and chocolates

The ability to self-motivate is a skill most writers need to cultivate. Staring out a window or glaring at a blinking cursor can hypnotize a writer right into a blank page coma. And while sharpening twenty pencils might help some well-known writers, how many of us are able to realize a rite from a distraction? So what’s a writer to do? Well, a few well-placed carrots or a series of self-imposed deadlines can activate a dead butt-in-the-chair a lot faster than the promise of a chunk of chocolate at the end of a writing session. Okay, maybe not if it’s dark chocolate but you get my drift. Like many writers I spent a number of years using contest deadlines as a means to getting words on the page. Nothing fuels a white heat draft more than an approaching contest deadline—except maybe a publishing house contract. Suddenly the words pour out across the page and characters who’d absolutely refused to come out before now dance and prance all the while spouting monologues and sharpening dialogue. 

What else can be used? The gathering of two or three writers over manuscripts and coffee is a well-worn carrot. But, really, who goes to gather critiques when the opportunity to vent and rant and rave over coffee, lunch, or even drinks beckon? I don’t think I’ve ever made it to a writing meet-up yet that didn’t involve at least a half hour of kvetching. But after the buzz the pages come out and few folks want to be empty-handed. Trips and retreats are useful especially for those major goals. This year I’ve linked a couple of self-imposed draft deadlines to self-styled writing retreats where I’m meeting with two of my writing buddies. Since our agreed intention is to discuss our drafts, said drafts have to have been written and sent off before we gather. Not only have we linked accountability, but, because of the airfare we have a monetary investment to up the ante even more. The reward of an afternoon at a day spa on the last day is bubbling as a potential pay-off for work drafts delivered and work done. We all have times when the river of words dries up and pages refuse to come. Tell me, what do you do?

For writers: Just Do It (remembered)

Marketing gurus such as Seth Godin and Bob Poole spend a lot of time reminding us that there is no rule, no trick, no magic bullet more important than Nike’s famous dictum: Just do it. For writers activities like thinking, analyzing, reading, talking, and stalking make up a large part of their process. The problem is when that part of the pie supersedes the part that is comprised of the actual writing process that involves putting the pencil to paper or fingers to keyboard. It’s important to develop and nourish and keep that tactile connection to the work so that the link to the imagined realm is maintained. If you’ve been lost in thought, captured in someone else’s words, or caught talking your story out, stop. Take some time today to reconnect: Write.  

Links: Bob Poole, Seth Godin

Edgar Allan Poe, a father to many of today's writers

Edgar Allan Poe would have turned 200 years old in January had he been blessed with exceeding longevity. The event has proved a boon for anything Poe. Publishing houses have lit the candles in hopes of a Poe revival. Well, they didn’t need to strike a match for me to come to the table. I remember as a teenager being sprawled across a giant armchair reading and turning pages while my heart rate increased as if to somehow sync with the heart beating in The TellTale Heart. I tried to make Poe the subject for my thesis in an American Literature but too many other students had claimed in so I had to settle for Emerson. Today my appreciation for Poe translates to having a major fictional character in my novel be a fan of Poe’s work and rereading Poe has become one of my more enjoyable tasks associated with this project.

In honor of Poe’s bicentennial Mystery Writers of America has put together a collection of tales combined with essays of top mystery writers and edited by Michael Connelly titled In the Shadow of the Master: Classic Tales by Edgar Allen Poe. Clearly I stand in the shadow of much brighter lights who tip their hats to the master. Those who owe a debt to Poe include Stephen King, Jeffery Deaver, Tess Gerritsen, Sue Grafton, and many others. Writers and readers have long been fascinated with the “darker side of humanity,” and Poe’s ability to mine the dark deep that lives in the heart of man continues its call across the centuries. If you, like me, enjoy reading Poe and reading stories where Poe is incorporated into the work, take a moment and let us know.

--Links: Mystery Writer's of America, Poe's biography

Most critiques are the plague of writers and create a lot of internal and external tension. I don't know that anyone is completely unbiased whether they’re giving or receiving a critique. What you want is for someone to be able to acknowledge their biases and look past them. For most the word “critique” is loaded and channels an immediate negative response. A critique comes with criticism but it doesn’t have to be viewed as negative. A good critique should show you where you’re doing things right and where you need to do more work. A good critiquer has experience delivering the good with the bad and lessens the sting whenever possible.   

Like most, I have my own biases. The trick is to acknowledge them and put them aside so I can focus on the work at hand. If I’m reading, say, a contemporary glitz book I let the writer know those are not my favorite stories to read. That doesn’t mean I can’t examine a work and question story elements that seem improbable, characters whose motivations appear out of sync, and writing that is confused, illogical and clearly needs work. Storytelling is storytelling no matter the genre. Yes, there are peculiarities to each genre but good writing and great storytelling transcend all.   

A good critique or edit requires a lot out of the person on the receiving end but the creative drain that is occurring in the one who is peering under the surface of a work in progress can be time-consuming and difficult, too. Some writers have great sentence skills and craft wonderful pages that can be deceptive to both the reader and the writer. If you can’t get past the shine on the page, you might miss the weak, even decayed structure underneath that barely holds the story together. Often these writers have a hard time taking critiques because they are so gifted or so learned in their craft but their storytelling skills need work. Less experienced critiquers might give them a pass and just respond to the surface. Maybe they have an inkling of something being wrong but they just can’t pin point the problem. An experienced writer will look for those signals and begin the excavation of their work on their own. They will double-check everything to be sure their idea is fully expressed on the page.

Critiques come at a writer from two angles: storytelling and writing. The early stages demand a look at the storytelling. A good line edit isn’t going to hold you long if your story is flabby, weak, ineffective, disorganized, confused, or unbelievable. Line edits are like polishing the apple once it’s been ripened and picked. By then the structure has been built and its strength tested and gone over and over to make sure it will withstand future tests. Both are needed and both have their particular time when they take precedence in the timeline of a work’s creation. Many writers polish a structure that is on the verge of collapse. Then, because of all their effort spiffying up the surface, they become resistant to critiques that imply major structural changes. Who wants to throw out complete chapters or beautifully wrought sentences that have taken up so much of the writer’s precious time and energy? It takes a courageous writer to be willing to thrash a project’s structure and rebuild after they’ve invested so much in achieving perfection.

Most writers eagerly seek out criticism. New writers, in particular, have a tendency to want too much, too fast. And truth tell, what they really want to hear is that their story is stellar, their writing wonderful, and they’re far on the road to perfection; but in fact their work is far from it. Writers form an attachment to their stories early on.  Getting a critique during the first blush of a relationship can be damaging to both the writer and the work. Most new writers, and even some more experienced ones, are too quick to write and polish. In their rush to get everything down they leap to the assumption that they’ve gathered everything there is to find. In fact they’ve usually only excavated the top layer; they have not gone deep.

Learning how to receive critiques is as much a skill as giving them. It takes time and practice for both. It takes listening to a lot of critiques and monitoring your reactions to hear the bell within that tells you the critique has made a hit. You have to be able to ignore the rush of emotions and the sudden urge to defend that rises when a negative is raised. Learn to focus on the principle that is being discussed. The reader doesn’t like your main protagonist: they’re weird, they’re stupid, and they’re not believable. It’s not that your main protagonist isn’t everything you envision, it’s that you have not brought that person living in your head to life on the page. That can result in a line by line look at every sentence tied to your character to see where you have slipped up. You have not provided what is needed in order for that person to capture the true essence of the character.

 Your job is to craft each and every word in a way that makes whatever is in your head bloom in the reader’s mind. That is not easy and it takes more than the rush to capture the story in lines of words. Writers allow themselves—myself included—to become so wedded to their words that the smallest criticism can ignite a passionate defense. The criticism may include a suggestion to fix the problem. Often the writer is really caught up in reacting to the proposed solution and forgets that the identified problem really does exist. Forget the offered solution. Focus on discovering what works to fix the problem. A critique is a response to the words on the page and not to your vision. Problems indicate that you have simply not done your job.

Over the years I’ve learned what works best for me. I don't get input from others until I've completed a first draft. Until then I'm not 100% sure of my vision so it makes it difficult to judge any critiques of my work whether they're positive or negative. I've also learned that when I’m in that sweet state of discovery any kind of input but especially the negative kind can throw me into a tailspin and stall me out. So I wait.

Where do you find good critiquers? If possible, seek out experienced writers or teachers who understand story and know the writing craft. I took a creative writing class at the local college and the teacher offered my first dose of criticism. There are good and bad ways to offer critiques. Story critiques, brainstorming, and line edits are all different. It takes practice to give them and it takes practice to receive them. A lot depends on where you are and what you want. If your structure is weak, a line edit won't give you the most value. You may need to rewrite and even re-vision your story. A content critique is best from people who have a sense of story whether it's been developed through reading or through classes. A line edit requires someone who knows and understands the craft of writing.

What you want is someone with a fresh eye who can read your work and give you their impressions. You want to know where they're engaged, where they're bored, where they're confused. What you do NOT want is your family or friends hopping on the bandwagon and offering you praise, damning or otherwise. It seems to strike more deeply, I think, and most don't know how to offer criticism that really helps. And trust me, they will not be as excited as you about your project.

My first critique group arose out of the second class in creative writing that I attended at the local college. Three of us met weekly for six years and we learned the craft together. Each had different strengths so it worked. Find someone in a class or at a writer’s group who shares your enthusiasm for a particular genre. Ideally if two or more of you are working in the same genre, that can be a great way to have a support group with the same goals and intentions and would be an inexpensive way to start.

If you’re in the first throes of an idea, I wouldn’t get in too much of a hurry to have someone read and line edit your work. Many writers love to brainstorm with others at this stage. That’s different. If, after having completed many, many revisions, you resist the idea of having any input, you might want to revisit that notion. Having fresh eyes earlier in the process saves most writers a lot of time and all writers find time to be a precious commodity. Respect your vision and your process. Be willing to be in for the long haul--and realize that writing is a craft that takes practice and commitment.    

--Many thanks to Amy who inspired today’s post. To see Amy’s question, go to DWP’s Facebook page and check out the Box tab for the discussion thread: What do you want to read, know, or have me share? While you're there, why not become a friend (fan) of the blog....

Are you addicted to office supplies? Do you tremble at the mere thought of entering the hallowed doors at the temples of Staples, Office Depot, and Office Max? If you are, you are among the many who daily make words their business and their play. Why do these places hold such a fascination? Why are we so drawn to their contents? I think it’s because they are today’s Taj Mahal. They are temples where a writer goes to openly court the muse.

What is not to love about these stores? Every aisle is full of plunder. I stand in awe of Post-it bins and racks. My muse is tickled to touch the stickys whose numbers and shapes continually increase. We lament the demise of the useful small squared ones. When we sticky shop we’re like the three bears: this one is too large, this one too narrow, but this one—this one—is just right.

The small minutias that attract the muse and wake up my dream world include the clear boxes of colored and shaped paper clips. The reaction of some writers when they receive a few pages of manuscript papers held together by a dark red outline of a star is amazing. They covet them. My pages are returned with the old hum-drum silver clips. Tack pins, post-it flags, highlighters, and oh yes, those wonderful retractable Sharpie pens daily engage me. They are the toys I use to draw my muse out to play. They offer a tactile lure that never ceases to engage her.

My muse loves to mind map. Together we cover the walls and any empty space we can find with the poster-sized sticky notes and erasable pages. We have been known to completely rearrange hotel rooms. Notebooks are dedicated to mind maps of scenes, potential chapters, early character maps and even shapes of complete novels. Naturally we succumb to the lure of colored pencils, gel pens, highlighters, small packages of pencils, and those pens of a particular nature and feel that attract our use. A corridor of potential maps springs to mind every time my fingers feel the shape and texture of the tools.

But a muse of today is not locked in the past. Oh no. She is a contemporary muse who laughs with glee when she turns into the electronic aisle. Digital recorders, handheld mini-cams, colored printers, mini-digital photo albums, iPods, and now the new small computer netbooks like the Acer Aspire One. Electronic toys are capable of holding her attention for hours upon hours and she fills my mind with an unending stream of thoughts and ideas. It is a joy to spend an afternoon with my muse engaged in office supply delights.

Now I ask you, what engages your muse?

--

Note: Special thanks to Editor Unleashed for inspiring this post.

The Writer's Toolbox: Critiques, love 'em or hate 'em, they're valuable

Most critiques are the plague of writers and create a lot of internal and external tension. I don't know that anyone is completely unbiased whether they’re giving or receiving a critique. What you want is for someone to be able to acknowledge their biases and look past them. For most the word “critique” is loaded and channels an immediate negative response. A critique comes with criticism but it doesn’t have to be viewed as negative. A good critique should show you where you’re doing things right and where you need to do more work. A good critiquer has experience delivering the good with the bad and lessens the sting whenever possible.   

Like most, I have my own biases. The trick is to acknowledge them and put them aside so I can focus on the work at hand. If I’m reading, say, a contemporary glitz book I let the writer know those are not my favorite stories to read. That doesn’t mean I can’t examine a work and question story elements that seem improbable, characters whose motivations appear out of sync, and writing that is confused, illogical and clearly needs work. Storytelling is storytelling no matter the genre. Yes, there are peculiarities to each genre but good writing and great storytelling transcend all.   

A good critique or edit requires a lot out of the person on the receiving end but the creative drain that is occurring in the one who is peering under the surface of a work in progress can be time-consuming and difficult, too. Some writers have great sentence skills and craft wonderful pages that can be deceptive to both the reader and the writer. If you can’t get past the shine on the page, you might miss the weak, even decayed structure underneath that barely holds the story together. Often these writers have a hard time taking critiques because they are so gifted or so learned in their craft but their storytelling skills need work. Less experienced critiquers might give them a pass and just respond to the surface. Maybe they have an inkling of something being wrong but they just can’t pin point the problem. An experienced writer will look for those signals and begin the excavation of their work on their own. They will double-check everything to be sure their idea is fully expressed on the page.

Critiques come at a writer from two angles: storytelling and writing. The early stages demand a look at the storytelling. A good line edit isn’t going to hold you long if your story is flabby, weak, ineffective, disorganized, confused, or unbelievable. Line edits are like polishing the apple once it’s been ripened and picked. By then the structure has been built and its strength tested and gone over and over to make sure it will withstand future tests. Both are needed and both have their particular time when they take precedence in the timeline of a work’s creation. Many writers polish a structure that is on the verge of collapse. Then, because of all their effort spiffying up the surface, they become resistant to critiques that imply major structural changes. Who wants to throw out complete chapters or beautifully wrought sentences that have taken up so much of the writer’s precious time and energy? It takes a courageous writer to be willing to thrash a project’s structure and rebuild after they’ve invested so much in achieving perfection.

Most writers eagerly seek out criticism. New writers, in particular, have a tendency to want too much, too fast. And truth tell, what they really want to hear is that their story is stellar, their writing wonderful, and they’re far on the road to perfection; but in fact their work is far from it. Writers form an attachment to their stories early on.  Getting a critique during the first blush of a relationship can be damaging to both the writer and the work. Most new writers, and even some more experienced ones, are too quick to write and polish. In their rush to get everything down they leap to the assumption that they’ve gathered everything there is to find. In fact they’ve usually only excavated the top layer; they have not gone deep.

Learning how to receive critiques is as much a skill as giving them. It takes time and practice for both. It takes listening to a lot of critiques and monitoring your reactions to hear the bell within that tells you the critique has made a hit. You have to be able to ignore the rush of emotions and the sudden urge to defend that rises when a negative is raised. Learn to focus on the principle that is being discussed. The reader doesn’t like your main protagonist: they’re weird, they’re stupid, and they’re not believable. It’s not that your main protagonist isn’t everything you envision, it’s that you have not brought that person living in your head to life on the page. That can result in a line by line look at every sentence tied to your character to see where you have slipped up. You have not provided what is needed in order for that person to capture the true essence of the character.

 Your job is to craft each and every word in a way that makes whatever is in your head bloom in the reader’s mind. That is not easy and it takes more than the rush to capture the story in lines of words. Writers allow themselves—myself included—to become so wedded to their words that the smallest criticism can ignite a passionate defense. The criticism may include a suggestion to fix the problem. Often the writer is really caught up in reacting to the proposed solution and forgets that the identified problem really does exist. Forget the offered solution. Focus on discovering what works to fix the problem. A critique is a response to the words on the page and not to your vision. Problems indicate that you have simply not done your job.

Over the years I’ve learned what works best for me. I don't get input from others until I've completed a first draft. Until then I'm not 100% sure of my vision so it makes it difficult to judge any critiques of my work whether they're positive or negative. I've also learned that when I’m in that sweet state of discovery any kind of input but especially the negative kind can throw me into a tailspin and stall me out. So I wait.

Where do you find good critiquers? If possible, seek out experienced writers or teachers who understand story and know the writing craft. I took a creative writing class at the local college and the teacher offered my first dose of criticism. There are good and bad ways to offer critiques. Story critiques, brainstorming, and line edits are all different. It takes practice to give them and it takes practice to receive them. A lot depends on where you are and what you want. If your structure is weak, a line edit won't give you the most value. You may need to rewrite and even re-vision your story. A content critique is best from people who have a sense of story whether it's been developed through reading or through classes. A line edit requires someone who knows and understands the craft of writing.

What you want is someone with a fresh eye who can read your work and give you their impressions. You want to know where they're engaged, where they're bored, where they're confused. What you do NOT want is your family or friends hopping on the bandwagon and offering you praise, damning or otherwise. It seems to strike more deeply, I think, and most don't know how to offer criticism that really helps. And trust me, they will not be as excited as you about your project.

My first critique group arose out of the second class in creative writing that I attended at the local college. Three of us met weekly for six years and we learned the craft together. Each had different strengths so it worked. Find someone in a class or at a writer’s group who shares your enthusiasm for a particular genre. Ideally if two or more of you are working in the same genre, that can be a great way to have a support group with the same goals and intentions and would be an inexpensive way to start.

If you’re in the first throes of an idea, I wouldn’t get in too much of a hurry to have someone read and line edit your work. Many writers love to brainstorm with others at this stage. That’s different. If, after having completed many, many revisions, you resist the idea of having any input, you might want to revisit that notion. Having fresh eyes earlier in the process saves most writers a lot of time and all writers find time to be a precious commodity. Respect your vision and your process. Be willing to be in for the long haul--and realize that writing is a craft that takes practice and commitment.    

--Many thanks to Amy who inspired today’s post. To see Amy’s question, go to DWP’s Facebook page and check out the Box tab for the discussion thread: What do you want to read, know, or have me share? While you're there, why not become a friend (fan) of the blog....

Tempting the muse

Are you addicted to office supplies? Do you tremble at the mere thought of entering the hallowed doors at the temples of Staples, Office Depot, and Office Max? If you are, you are among the many who daily make words their business and their play. Why do these places hold such a fascination? Why are we so drawn to their contents? I think it’s because they are today’s Taj Mahal. They are temples where a writer goes to openly court the muse.

What is not to love about these stores? Every aisle is full of plunder. I stand in awe of Post-it bins and racks. My muse is tickled to touch the stickys whose numbers and shapes continually increase. We lament the demise of the useful small squared ones. When we sticky shop we’re like the three bears: this one is too large, this one too narrow, but this one—this one—is just right.

The small minutias that attract the muse and wake up my dream world include the clear boxes of colored and shaped paper clips. The reaction of some writers when they receive a few pages of manuscript papers held together by a dark red outline of a star is amazing. They covet them. My pages are returned with the old hum-drum silver clips. Tack pins, post-it flags, highlighters, and oh yes, those wonderful retractable Sharpie pens daily engage me. They are the toys I use to draw my muse out to play. They offer a tactile lure that never ceases to engage her.

My muse loves to mind map. Together we cover the walls and any empty space we can find with the poster-sized sticky notes and erasable pages. We have been known to completely rearrange hotel rooms. Notebooks are dedicated to mind maps of scenes, potential chapters, early character maps and even shapes of complete novels. Naturally we succumb to the lure of colored pencils, gel pens, highlighters, small packages of pencils, and those pens of a particular nature and feel that attract our use. A corridor of potential maps springs to mind every time my fingers feel the shape and texture of the tools.

But a muse of today is not locked in the past. Oh no. She is a contemporary muse who laughs with glee when she turns into the electronic aisle. Digital recorders, handheld mini-cams, colored printers, mini-digital photo albums, iPods, and now the new small computer netbooks like the Acer Aspire One. Electronic toys are capable of holding her attention for hours upon hours and she fills my mind with an unending stream of thoughts and ideas. It is a joy to spend an afternoon with my muse engaged in office supply delights.

Now I ask you, what engages your muse?

--

Note: Special thanks to Editor Unleashed for inspiring this post.