Tag: Writing

November Diary

~ Meg ~ 52 Comments

National Novel Writing Month… I wonder if you’re as sick of it as I am. I did not “win” NaNo Nonsense. “Win” – what is that all about? You don’t really win anything. You haven’t beaten other competitors to the finish line or written the best manuscript. It’s totally meaningless. Oh, I sound bitter!

So it wasn’t all bad. I undertook this challenge as a way to get this novel going again. I had started working on it –plotting, writing character bios, collecting bits of dialogue– back in February and hadn’t touched it since. My feeling is that a series can only go so long between installments before the readers lose interest. And though I’ve swerved far from the original writing path I embarked upon, I feel the need to take this series and these characters to the finish line. After this, I have plans for a final Bucks County novel, for a total of six – a double trilogy- that will conclude the stories of all the main characters.

Anyway, back to NaNo Nonsense…

My final word count tallied at 48,679. So close … 1,321 words to go. The funny thing is that I had plenty of time to write during the day, the 1,321 should have been a piece of cake. I finished writing last evening around 9:45 having written about 250 words all day – one paragraph. I found myself feeling defiant. Screw you NaNoWriMo – you can’t tell me what to do, how fast to write, not to edit as I go, just to put it all down and fix it later. Now I really sound bitter…

That was the hardest thing for me -not editing as I go. I don’t like revisiting the story to fix problems I created back in chapter two when I’m on chapter twenty-four. My habit is to re-read the preceding chapter before going on to the next. I follow my timeline spreadsheet to keep track of events and correct any minor errors along the way. Writing at the pace of nearly 1700 words a day in a continuous story doesn’t allow much time for that.

**A side note** Writing 1700 words a day is not that difficult. IF its a piece of short fiction or a non-fiction blog post. But when you have to keep track of what you’d written previously -who said what to whom, what happened when, did I reveal this plot point yet- 1700 words is massive.

Ah, anyway it’s done. I will keep plugging away at the story now that I’m in the zone. As many of you have been reading along, I’ve decided to keep publishing the story until the novel is complete. I’ll pull the excerpts from the blog when the book is ready to publish. And hope that you’ll kindly review the book when it goes up on Amazon. More on that when the time comes.

Welcome December and a respite from my labor.

Header Image: The Grey Tree; Piet Mondrian

 

Just burn…

~ Meg ~ 77 Comments

Apropos of National Novel Writing Month, I thought I’d repost this favorite of mine.

Why do I write in the light
When the dark is so intoxicating?
Just to keep up appearances…
Do I continue to smile though I’m dying?
How do I find my voice
Amidst a cacophony of screaming?
I don’t want your self-help diatribe
I don’t want your power of positive thinking

I can’t hear myself think
Let alone pen a work of distinction
I need a strong, stiff drink
But that’s only self-medication
And what’s it all mean anyway?
When nothing’s going to give satisfaction
Just a book full of ink spots
That sits on a shelf gathering desolation

How do I come to grips
With my own profound unhappiness?
I’m nothing but thunderstorms and anger
Keep your sunshine and sweetness
I have no more words of encouragement
It’s cruelty, competition, unfairness
The theme for the day is belligerent
It’s outworking displays its aggressiveness

So save your kindly comments
And your gestures of reverent concern
For into the fires of failure
I let the manuscripts burn
Lick the curling hundreds of pages
Kindle the books, at each turn
Throw gas on the conflagration
And I’m gone, never more to return…

Drinking Adventurously – Writer’s Edition

~ Meg ~ 42 Comments

Week 47 in the Year of Drinking Adventurously. Sweet potato beer. (FAIL)

I didn’t find this locally –although truth be told, I didn’t look too hard. I saw sweet potato beer and thought: pumpkin beer, which falls under the category of ‘enough with the pumpkin already’ in my world. The chapter of our guide started with ‘Japan’ and meandered to ‘gluten free’ and my eyes crossed and I gave up. (No offense Jeff, this is still an awesome book. Buy it y’all.)51fffcpqPZL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_

And besides, I’ve been stressed enough this month trying to pen a novel in 30 days. So instead, because I’m consumed with writing, I thought we’d explore that age old bit of wisdom wrongly attributed to Ernest Hemingway: Write drunk, edit sober. (That’s right, Fictional Kevin, Ernie never said that.) I’ve also tried this approach: write sober, get drunk, edit with a hangover. Or write with a hangover, edit whilst drunk again. Of course, I’m kidding… Sort of. It actually works brilliantly with poetry. My poetry anyway.

Apparently (according to Google -that infallible source of all things everything) the quote is more likely from novelist, Peter De Vries. In his book, “Reuben, Reuben” published in 1964, the main character is based on a famous drunkard -the poet, Dylan Thomas. On page 242 the character says this: “Sometimes I write drunk and revise sober, and sometimes I write sober and revise drunk. But you have to have both elements in creation — the Apollonian and the Dionysian, or spontaneity and restraint, emotion and discipline.”

Well, whoever said it, its the second bit that’s brilliant -the part about having both elements of creation in your writing – emotion and discipline…  The trick is finding the balance. Lowering the inhibitions or finding that altered state, may prompt you to put down on paper (or screen) words that you may have have thought twice about in a more restrained condition. Some of my most inspired writing comes to me at 3:00 am when my eyes slam open with an idea fully formed during the fog of sleep. I have to creep from bed, find my notebook and scribble it all down before it’s lost to the next round of sleep, or daylight whichever comes first. 

There is a fine line between intoxication and inspiration. What I mean is, a little liquid prime to the creative pump is a good idea, but flooding the engine just stalls it out. So don’t write drunk and  edit sober. Write inspired and edit minimally.

Sorry for the fail Lula!