I have to share this quote with you. "You have to have done that hard psychological work before you sit down to write." —MARY KARR This is one of those 'awe-ha' moments. Ever since I can remember I had never understood why God would allow, in His loving giving Self, the terrible abuses and neglect that happened to me throughout my childhood. As I entered high school, my sophomore year we attended a church a couple of times. It wasn't till the following summer I was able to get a ride to … [Read more...]
Day 70: The Right Age to Write
Do you ever wonder sometimes if you are too old to write? I know several people involved with ACFW that they knew since a very young age that they either wanted to write or that they were meant to write. To put it bluntly: It was the last thing I ever wanted to do. I struggled all through elementary school to the point I was held back in second grade. My grades always consisted of getting C's and H's. You might be asking what in the world is an H letter grade? It simple. It means Having … [Read more...]
Day 69: Your Naked Prose
When we write it's intensely personal. You get giddy over the story ideas because they will cause more conflict you know your reader will love that they keep reading your story. I know this is how I've been the last month. Between writing what I'm doing now on my year-long journey, my first ever attempt at fiction, and most importantly Mari's book. These are what bring me pure joy to do. But the bottom line to all of this is you leave yourself exposed as you have put part of yourself into … [Read more...]
Day 68: Making Use of Fear
In life there are so many things we can be fearful of. Some seem irrational like small spaces, loud noises like fireworks shows, or even the little itty-bitty spiders that to some say, "it's more afraid of you than you of it." I think my granny (noises) and my mom (spiders) would beg to differ. When it comes to writing, fear can grind us to a halt. We are afraid of what some might say about our writing. Or we won't ever find an agent or publisher so why try. Or sometimes the strongest fears … [Read more...]
Day 67: Seinfeld’s Calendar
You might be thinking, "What in the world does Seinfeld's calendar have to do with writing?" It's simple. He too is a writer. A writer of comedy. He knows how to make people laugh. He was so good he even got his own TV show that went on for years. Personally, I was never a fan of his, but millions of people are. No, I may not have been a big fan of his show, but it remained on for years. Here's the thing. Did he become popular over night or do you think he worked at it several years while he … [Read more...]
Day 66: The Pitfalls of Grammar
When we first think about something to write, whether it's a new book idea, a short story or even a paper for school, we need to be able to be free to write without worrying about where a comma goes or if you have a run on sentence. Just write. Freely let your hand write out those thoughts on paper or into the computer. This is where our creative juices flow. Freely from our minds to the paper below us. I love that time. None of it may make sense when I'm done, but in that moment it sure did … [Read more...]
Day 65: Why You Don’t Show Your Work to Your Spouse
I have to tell you that as of right now I sit here walking on my treadmill getting ready to go read today's phrase, I had to laugh as I can only imagine what will be said. I guess we'll find out in a second. Here I go... Well, here it is. I thought it best to quote what she said: "Why You Don’t Show Your Work to Your Spouse. When Norris Church Mailer showed her husband, Norman Mailer, the first one hundred pages of a novel she was working on, he said, 'It’s not as bad as I thought it would … [Read more...]
Day 64: Writing Is Not Pretty
Are you a little confused by today's title? To be honest, so was I. So I got to thinking. When we are writing a book, or a play, or a blog post, or whatever type of writing that needs to be done. Our first drafts are anything but pretty. There are grammar mistakes galore (even though in our head it was perfect :( ) we have all the spelling errors that either our auto-correct didn't change our word automatically or we really messed up the spelling (gotta love spell check, a writer's best friend). … [Read more...]
Day 63: Feast or Famine: Part 2
Have you ever sat down to your computer or your binder paper and suddenly you have nothing to write. In fact, this goes on for several days. Nothing is coming to you. This is what we writers hate to have happen: Writer's Block. Or the famine. For whatever reason, all of our ideas have dried up like a lake that goes through a severe drought and dries all up. We want to write. We've scheduled our time out and yet here we sit. This has happened with Mari's website for me. If you take a look … [Read more...]
Day 62: Feast or Famine: Part 1
This is a two-day posting. For today's topic it's about the "feast" in writing. Have you ever sat down to write something and story after is sitting there ready to write. In fact, you have so many of them you're overwhelmed with were to start. This is like the feast. As writers we have to discern what we need to write about. A great place to start would be to pray asking for God's help in knowing what should be written about first. So discernment is the key. We need to listen closely what our … [Read more...]
