Creative energy

Today's Mood: Relaxed. Today's Music: U2--The Joshua Tree. Today's Writing: IFFY. Today's Quote:

The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon.~ Robert Cromier

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I was hot today. The writing was flowing and I was working the words and then... I had to quit because it was time to go to work. No wonder I've been stuck on this dang chapter forever...well two weeks anyway. Oh, I wish I had more time!

Of course, when I do have time, what do I do? Work out in the yard. Watch the birds. Eat Popsicles. Read Francine Prose's book How to read like a writer. Great book by the way. Makes me want to go back and read the classics. Not that I have time.

I can't WAIT until Glen Lake!

Are there certain things that make you want to write? I read the book City of Ashes. Started it in the evening and read until 1:00 in the morning. The kids were in bed and my husband was gone and all I was doing was sitting and reading. But the story was so intense and I was so into it that I was sweating! Literally! I even ended out unbuttoning my shirt. The next morning I got up and read during my writing time. I finished the book later that afternoon. But even though I had little sleep, I was fired up. And the really awesome part is that it made me want to write! Ideas crowded into my head and the I'd think of new plot twists, scraps of dialogue, and descriptions of thing. The City of Ashes characters would keep cropping into my thoughts, but they weren't interfering.

Sometimes when I read a great book, it stalls my writing. It saps my energy and I end out thinking, I am never going to be able to write like this. I wish I could write a book that makes someone forgot to sleep, eat, take care of kids..... So why is it that some books feed my own creativity, and some make me feel like such a novice that I despair of ever being able to write a book good enough to obsess readers? Is it just mindset to begin with?

Have any of you ever had experiences like that? Do some books make you feel like you will never be that good a writer? Do some books pump you up and make you want to write? What do you think makes it go one way instead of the other? 'Cause personally, I like the energy created in the later!

Moving forward

Today's Mood: Comfortable. Today's Music: U2--The Joshua Tree. Today's Writing: Chapter seven of IFFY. Today's Quote:

"I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired at nine o'clock every morning." -Peter de Vries, quoted in The Writer, June 1994

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I read a good book yesterday--The Looking Glass Wars. It is the true story of Alyss in Wonderland, and it celebrates the power of imagination--both for good and for bad. Besides being an entertaining book, it made me excited to get working on my own story. I've had a hard time maintaining a scheduled writing time this summer, and too many days off makes it hard for me to get into the story when I do finally sit down to write. Of course, all that will change in a few weeks when school starts again--and with it a scheduled writing time. But for those of you facing the same difficulty, I read a great blog post on how to overcome writer's block on Diana Peterfund's blog. Check it out here, and if you have tried any of these or other methods and found them useful, let us know.

Hope you have all been writing.

Reading Writers--or writing readers. Whatever.

Today's Mood: Relaxed. Today's Music: The Call. Today's Writing: Chapter 6 of IFFY. Today's Quote:

Writing gives you the illusion of control, and then you realize it's just an illusion, that people are going to bring their own stuff into it.

David Sedaris, interview in Louisville Courier-Journal, June 5, 2005

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How awesome is it to have someone read your manuscript? And having someone WANT to read your manuscript is even cooler than that! I'm one of those people who gets to a certain point with revision and just wants to be done. Sick of it. Not sure what else to change. Sometimes I even feel like I'm making it worse instead of better. But when someone else is reading it, it gives me fresh enthusiasm. I want to know what parts he/she likes or dislikes. And of course, if I don't hear anything, then I think--oh man! It's so bad that he/she doesn't even want to tell me how bad it is! Thankfully, I usually find out I haven't heard from said person because he/she has been busy with his/her own life. Imagine that! My manuscript wasn't the top priority! Go ahead and laugh. (I do--albeit somewhat sheepishly) But I bet you do the same thing when someone has your precious writing.

I think I'm getting better at reading as a writer. If it's a really good story, I'm still sucked in. But then I will often go back and look it over afterward to figure out what made it so good. I think small writing group has helped me be able to verbalize (and for me, that means think!) what it is about a piece of writing that works and that doesn't work.

In middle and high school, when I ask the students why they like or dislike a book, often they can't tell me. They can usually figure it out if I ask them questions: Did the characters seem realistic? How about the ending? Did you like how the main character solved the problem? But they almost seemed surprised.

The more I write (and hang out with writers) the better I become at recognizing (and appreciating even if I can't always emulate) good writing. The down side is that sometimes I realize the authors I enjoy must have rushed (or been rushed) into publishing before the story was tightened and polished. (The last Harry Potter I read out loud to my daughter was that way. Really would have read better if it had been tightened. Of course, reading out loud is a great way to catch that!)

Do you read? Do you think being a writer has changed the way you read? Does that help you write? Do you wish I'd quit asking questions?* And what are you writing? (Or if you are Robyn, what is your word count now?)

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*And if you want me to quit asking stupid questions, then email your email address and I'll add you as an author so YOU can post anything you want instead of listening to my b.s.--or philosophy as some call it.