Kill the editor

This year, I'm doing NaNoWriMo again. Yesterday, I had a great meeting with my writing friend Kathy of Well Placed Words.

My main struggle in the first three days of NaNo--I know too much. By that I mean I know too much about writing. I was editing every word, sentence, paragraph. Which made writing terribly difficult.

So, here's a few suggestions to kill the editor:

1. Repeat often: it's a first draft, rewrites are for the second draft.
2. I can always remove it later.
3. If I don't write it down, I won't know what it says.
4. Sometimes I have to write the bad stuff before the good stuff.
5. Often I don't know what's good when I'm writing it.
6. I can't edit a blank page.
7. NaNo is to get me writing, not stop me writing.

Okay, readers, how do you kill the editor?

Happy Halloween--NaNo coming up! EEEK!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This post is going to be quick--I'm alive, I'm alive. And I'm doing NaNoWriMo! Why? Because this year has been crazy and my new book is aching to burst forth ala Alien.

On one of the NaNo threads, someone asked me about healthy edibles during long hours of engorging pages with words. My favorites: plain yogurt with cinnamon, yum, and peanut butter (only a tablespoon or two, max!) with cinnamon--the cinnamon lowers blood pressure (easier to think) and the peanut butter and yogurt are packed with healthy stuff to keep you healthy--add half an apple and you've got great fiber as well to keep you going. Add a couple of cups of green tea with a bit of lemon and you'll live forever--or at least be undead enough to finish NaNo!

Good reading, a new publisher market and a short story of mine

Thanks to Carol and Ann.

Carol Kilgore of Under the Tiki Hut tagged me, ahem, a bit ago. So did Ann of Long Journey Home. Thanks to both of you--although life got away from me and I never did my bit.

Speaking of Carol, she has a great, fun story in the anthology Map of Murder called "Buñuelos for the Beach." Good work, Carol (and the rest of the anthology is good too).

This is a market call from my friend Jane Freund (her last name means friend!) http://www.janefreund.com/freundship-press.html:

I am looking to get as many high caliber writers and authors to publish e-articles and e-books (non-fiction and fiction) as a part of my November 1 kickoff of the newly redesigned Freundship Press website and mission. If you are interested, contact me at jane@freundshippress.com.

The writer gets a percentage of each sale--and Jane is looking for all sorts of things, give it a try!

And last, I've had a couple of requests for a short story of mine to read, here's a link:
http://www.untiedshoelacesofthemind.com/Issue3/sweet.php

Next post may be from my vacation in Manzanita!

Flowing into glorious lives

My Friend Kathy of Well Placed Words dog Mattie, the catahoula hound and my rat terrier puppy Puck, BFF!

The illustration illustrates what I believe we, as writers, should do. Embrace the joy of being what we are. Or, as Kathy said with her own well placed words, "It's supposed to be fun."

Yeah, it is. For most people, writing is not an 8 to 5 job. Not a requirement. So if it's not fun, why do it? I think we all get caught up in writing for the markets, rewriting, editing, selling, re-editing, promoting, blah, blah, blah. Of course, that's part of the creative process too--BUT it's so easy to forget the simple joy of simply creating. And, of course, when I fell so far behind in my entire life, the guilt was great and a glorious excuse and energy suck to not do any thing--even write on my blog! Am I the only one who struggles with these problems?

I suspect not, as was also brought home to me at the Pixie Chicks meeting on Saturday. It's a group of writers of all ages and stages of writing headed by Jane Freund of Freundship Press. All ages and stages, and yet we all struggle with the same blocks to our creativity. (Note: you can join the Pixie Chicks Writers Group on Facebook and participate, even if you don't live in Idaho--although it might be hard to get to the meetings.)

The best is to get into the joyful flow of creating--so how do we do that more often? Readers?

"I'm not dead yet. I'm feeling much better and..."

...I think I could blog a bit.

Yes, I mangled Monty Python--I doubt they mind. In fact, I think they like being mangled. Or at least twisted.

This is a post to mention I'm crawling back into what passes for my normal creative life, with an addition of film, which is no longer film but now digital. What did I learn most these last few weeks? EVERYTHING TAKES LONGER TO DO THAN I THINK IT WILL.

Repeat, repeat, repeat. Time is supposed to be malleable (ala Einstein) so how come I can't stretch every minute, every hour, every day enough? Because everything takes longer than I think!

Do you have this problem?

Honoring the Dead by Living

My mom and me, Christmas 1966.

(First, a technical note: my internet provider is having major problems. There have been times this past week when I was unable to get on the internet. Add to that my film editing project and I'm behind on...too much!)

This month has been a strong sober reminder to me to live my life every day. First, a 24-year-old co-worker of my boyfriend's, a Type A diabetic, died of complications of his disease. Then, a long term (almost 40 years) friend died from a brain tumor at 81. Then a friend I'd lost touch with died at 57 in a car accident--mutual friends let me know via Facebook.

Finally, yesterday would have been my mom's 90th birthday. She's been gone for almost 20 years. To me, they all died too soon.

What have I been reminded? That we'll never have enough time for life. Life can end at any moment. Yes, it's a cliche to carpe diem, because it's true, if we don't seize the day, we come to the end of our lives with nothing.

I'm going to try to celebrate every moment I can, even the most painful ones, for without the grief, where's the contrasting joy?

Change is all we ever have

Puck, getting grown.

The only constant is change. Sayings are a cliche for a reason. This saying has certainly been ball peen hammered into my head these past few weeks (ow, ow, ow). First, Puck the puppy being a puppy is changing every day, sometimes every hour. It's like meeting a different dog each day! He's three times the size he was when we first got him! Quite a bit more dog, although almost potty trained and that helps. A lot.

Second, I'm currently shopping a novel, plus a few short stories, so I'm following...um...embroiled in the whole e-book revolution. Revolution?! Before people start screaming, oh wait, too late. It has surprised me no end at the hysteria and vitriol flowing through the Internet about e-books, e-publishers and e-magazines. Yes, it is the end of publishing life as we now know it, but it's not the end of printed books. Remember, horses still exist, radio does, movie houses are bigger and better and still show movies. All it is, is different. Changing. And what will be the change? Too soon to tell--which is crazy making for all us authors.

Third, my film life exploded unexpectedly a couple of months ago and now is taking up much more time and energy. That may change after this project...but maybe not. I'll know when it happens. Meanwhile, I'm playing catch up with my writing.

And trying to stay in creative flow--not easy when I'm so busy that I'm afraid the lights will go out because I forgot to pay the bill! Everyone's comments helped a lot last time...this time I'm asking how you, dear reader, flow with changing current while still being focused and creative and effective?

All suggestions gratefully accepted--or your own struggles.