Hello,
I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to you all and keep writing through the holidays, I will.
See you all next week God willing,
Lori
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Friday, November 17, 2006
Hello,
I read recently in The Writer at writermag.com, an article titled “A ‘crazy-quilt’ approach to fiction” by Sharon Oard Warner. It was the first paragraph of the story that caught my attention, it told of going against the so called wisdom of writing a first draft non-stop and instead doing what Ms. Oard Warner called “premature revision” which sounds vaguely unpleasant yet it’s not, it’s her term for revising, rewriting, getting one section complete, done, as perfect as you feel you possibly can then moving onto the next part of the story and doing the same. Ms. Oard Warner goes on to write about how though while still writing the bigger picture out you can give birth to smaller, stand-alone stories from “scraps” off that larger picture or story.
I was taken though with what I’ll call “another way of writing” to Ms. Oard Warner’s “premature revision” and mostly because I’m writing a novel just that way and not because it’s an experiment or easier but because it’s the way the novel called “The Geography of Love” is developing. I started the work of course with an idea but pieces of the story didn’t come to me right away, I would be reading a book for research and a line would conjure up an entire scene, but one at the end of the book and I’ll write it out, put it aside then go back to writing the beginning of the novel; or I’ll write a short middle section or a long end section, hodge podge, back and forth depending on the inspiration I receive for whatever scene; it’s not the start-at-the-beginning-of-the-draft-and-keep-at-it-until-the-end; my novel is coming together piece meal yet in my mind its coming together as well as if I flamed through it as a first draft.
All of this sounds good, but the bottom line for me as well as for you I’m sure is just getting the work, the novel done, completed, by any means necessary; it’s the goal and if I had to stand on my head to finish my novel in the way that satisfies me—or as satisfied as I can get with my writing—then I’ll do it. So no matter how you write your novel or other writing projects, the point is that you’re writing it, finishing it and are as happy as you can be at that fact.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.
Until next time, God willing,
Lori
I read recently in The Writer at writermag.com, an article titled “A ‘crazy-quilt’ approach to fiction” by Sharon Oard Warner. It was the first paragraph of the story that caught my attention, it told of going against the so called wisdom of writing a first draft non-stop and instead doing what Ms. Oard Warner called “premature revision” which sounds vaguely unpleasant yet it’s not, it’s her term for revising, rewriting, getting one section complete, done, as perfect as you feel you possibly can then moving onto the next part of the story and doing the same. Ms. Oard Warner goes on to write about how though while still writing the bigger picture out you can give birth to smaller, stand-alone stories from “scraps” off that larger picture or story.
I was taken though with what I’ll call “another way of writing” to Ms. Oard Warner’s “premature revision” and mostly because I’m writing a novel just that way and not because it’s an experiment or easier but because it’s the way the novel called “The Geography of Love” is developing. I started the work of course with an idea but pieces of the story didn’t come to me right away, I would be reading a book for research and a line would conjure up an entire scene, but one at the end of the book and I’ll write it out, put it aside then go back to writing the beginning of the novel; or I’ll write a short middle section or a long end section, hodge podge, back and forth depending on the inspiration I receive for whatever scene; it’s not the start-at-the-beginning-of-the-draft-and-keep-at-it-until-the-end; my novel is coming together piece meal yet in my mind its coming together as well as if I flamed through it as a first draft.
All of this sounds good, but the bottom line for me as well as for you I’m sure is just getting the work, the novel done, completed, by any means necessary; it’s the goal and if I had to stand on my head to finish my novel in the way that satisfies me—or as satisfied as I can get with my writing—then I’ll do it. So no matter how you write your novel or other writing projects, the point is that you’re writing it, finishing it and are as happy as you can be at that fact.
If you have any comments or suggestions, please e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail. com. I’ll love to hear from you.
Until next time, God willing,
Lori
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Hello,
Surprised to hear from me on a Thursday instead of my usual Friday, well, I won’t be around tomorrow; well not by death; well at least not that I know of, but I won’t be able to write the blog out tomorrow and wanted to make sure it was done. It’s the writer in me of course, write everyday, write what you need to and steadily.
Though I won’t be writing my blog tomorrow I will be writing; I will be having a “fantasy writing day.” I know you know what I mean; it’s the kind writing day you imagine for yourself as a successful writer. A fantasy of course, well maybe more of a dream because you know you want to get there,for now though you work your day job, attend to your other responsibilities and write toward that kind of success.This is what my “fantasy writing day” will be like.
I’ll rise around six-thirty and have a cup of coffee at my kitchen table while I read a writing magazine or book on writing. An hour later I’ll get my sons ready for their day, breakfasted, dressed and off to school. After dropping them off I’ll go to the gym for an hour or maybe an hour and a half because I have to spend time in the sauna and a nice shower.
Afterwards, home to start another pot of coffee, eat a light breakfast and then go to my “writing room”. In my mind it would be a great office with a plush red divine for resting but in reality it’s my dining room table. At the table I’ll get out my writing notebooks and write until one o’clock, grab a quick lunch, maybe read a few pages in a novel by one of my favorite writers for further inspiration and strength or watch one of my favorite half-hour programs like I Love Lucy, the ones before the Ricardo’s move to Connecticut. Or All in the Family, the one’s before Mike and Gloria move to California.
After lunch and a show I’ll go back to writing until three thirty when I go pick up my sons. The rest of the day would be filled with family and end after the kids are in bed and I write for another hour; the perfect writing day. It’s amazing to me that there are writers out there who have “fantasy writing days” everyday and my goal is to join that club and I know it’s yours too and the only way to get there is to write; write well, keep submitting until you find the right people who love your work as much as you do and don’t get discouraged more than two minutes a day; but the only real way to make that dream reality is to of course: write.
If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at:matwrite1@aol.com, I’ll love to hear from you.
Until next time—next Friday God willing,
Lori
Surprised to hear from me on a Thursday instead of my usual Friday, well, I won’t be around tomorrow; well not by death; well at least not that I know of, but I won’t be able to write the blog out tomorrow and wanted to make sure it was done. It’s the writer in me of course, write everyday, write what you need to and steadily.
Though I won’t be writing my blog tomorrow I will be writing; I will be having a “fantasy writing day.” I know you know what I mean; it’s the kind writing day you imagine for yourself as a successful writer. A fantasy of course, well maybe more of a dream because you know you want to get there,for now though you work your day job, attend to your other responsibilities and write toward that kind of success.This is what my “fantasy writing day” will be like.
I’ll rise around six-thirty and have a cup of coffee at my kitchen table while I read a writing magazine or book on writing. An hour later I’ll get my sons ready for their day, breakfasted, dressed and off to school. After dropping them off I’ll go to the gym for an hour or maybe an hour and a half because I have to spend time in the sauna and a nice shower.
Afterwards, home to start another pot of coffee, eat a light breakfast and then go to my “writing room”. In my mind it would be a great office with a plush red divine for resting but in reality it’s my dining room table. At the table I’ll get out my writing notebooks and write until one o’clock, grab a quick lunch, maybe read a few pages in a novel by one of my favorite writers for further inspiration and strength or watch one of my favorite half-hour programs like I Love Lucy, the ones before the Ricardo’s move to Connecticut. Or All in the Family, the one’s before Mike and Gloria move to California.
After lunch and a show I’ll go back to writing until three thirty when I go pick up my sons. The rest of the day would be filled with family and end after the kids are in bed and I write for another hour; the perfect writing day. It’s amazing to me that there are writers out there who have “fantasy writing days” everyday and my goal is to join that club and I know it’s yours too and the only way to get there is to write; write well, keep submitting until you find the right people who love your work as much as you do and don’t get discouraged more than two minutes a day; but the only real way to make that dream reality is to of course: write.
If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at:matwrite1@aol.com, I’ll love to hear from you.
Until next time—next Friday God willing,
Lori
Friday, November 03, 2006
Hello,
Do you ever have those occasions when you don’t want to write, can’t write because you’re too tired, too sad, on brain freeze? Or when you believe you can’t write? That what you write is awful and you’re wasting your time and no one can possibly love what you wrote besides yourself. We feel this way some times we can’t help it.
The key though is that your mind may say those things and believe them at the time but down deep, down in the heart of you, you know its not true because there is that flame for writing ever present, you feel it like its second heart and it keeps burning no matter how you’re feeling or thinking; its our passion for writing. A flame that never goes out no matter what. I once read a comment by science fiction writer Ray Bradbury I’ll paraphrase here, he said, “Sometimes you worry about bills you can’t pay or other things that are on you mind, but eventually you get over those things but the writing never really stops.”
The writing never stops though you may not put things down right away on paper your mind and heart are always looking for a story, ruminating over a story idea even though we all have lives—some of us very busy lives—outside of putting pen to paper, writing is our calling, the thing we do even when we shouldn’t, when we instead should be mowing the grass or doing that report for work we still will do anything to put those lives aside for a moment, an hour, a day to write because there is nothing else in the world we want to do more because its our passion.
If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at:matwrite1@aol.com, I’ll love to hear from you.
Until next time God willing,
Lori
Do you ever have those occasions when you don’t want to write, can’t write because you’re too tired, too sad, on brain freeze? Or when you believe you can’t write? That what you write is awful and you’re wasting your time and no one can possibly love what you wrote besides yourself. We feel this way some times we can’t help it.
The key though is that your mind may say those things and believe them at the time but down deep, down in the heart of you, you know its not true because there is that flame for writing ever present, you feel it like its second heart and it keeps burning no matter how you’re feeling or thinking; its our passion for writing. A flame that never goes out no matter what. I once read a comment by science fiction writer Ray Bradbury I’ll paraphrase here, he said, “Sometimes you worry about bills you can’t pay or other things that are on you mind, but eventually you get over those things but the writing never really stops.”
The writing never stops though you may not put things down right away on paper your mind and heart are always looking for a story, ruminating over a story idea even though we all have lives—some of us very busy lives—outside of putting pen to paper, writing is our calling, the thing we do even when we shouldn’t, when we instead should be mowing the grass or doing that report for work we still will do anything to put those lives aside for a moment, an hour, a day to write because there is nothing else in the world we want to do more because its our passion.
If you have any questions or comments feel free to contact me at:matwrite1@aol.com, I’ll love to hear from you.
Until next time God willing,
Lori
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