tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-161600032024-03-13T20:27:05.544-07:00Novel or BustI've been working at this a long time, between the antics of my family. Now I must get serious about it. Get focused. Get busy writing...steadfast, persistent, determinedCBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.comBlogger114125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-13919585191029124832016-12-01T16:47:00.000-08:002016-12-01T16:47:21.291-08:00Fresh StartsIt's nearly 2017. Yep. In 30 days it will be New Year's Eve, an event celebrated around the world. For many 2016 has been a difficult and challenging year that they want to see left behind, forgotten. For some it has been a year of enlightenment and growth.<br />
<br />
I have been working on a particular novel off and on for a number of years. I just didn't seem to be able to get control of it, or to figure out how I wanted to present the story, or how to set it up. Should it be one huge novel? (Have you ever read The Far Pavilions? Hmmmm. Maybe I should read it again. That was a long-ago read for me.) Or should it be a series of stories covering the lives of several generations in the family. (A saga.) Then 2016 NaNoWriMo came along and I knew what to do with it.<br />
<br />
One day as I walked down the stairs ahead of my husband I said, "I don't know how to get everything done. I can't finish anything because I'm so busy jumping from one thing to another to another." In the simple way he is known for he said, "Why don't you try doing one thing at a time."<br />
<br />
Well, for a man that makes a lot of sense, right? But we women, we have to do so many things at one time that we are constantly shifting gears and just doing what we can before we have to jump to the next thing. But like my husband's suggestion about doing one thing at a time, NaNoWriMo asked for a commitment of 50,000 words of a novel. No, 50,000 words doesn't necessarily a novel make. But it managed to get me focused on one part of the complete tale. I titled it FOURTEEN. And it will be part of a series. But it starts with a young woman who has reached the age when the workings of the world become clearer, not the "everyone is equal and accepted" stage of childhood. The realities of her world become harsh and come thick and fast as she seeks to find the person she was born to be.<br />
<br />
As I worked on NaNo (and I did not write everyday. I may have written 15 of the 30 days because of other commitments and Thanksgiving.) I kept a notebook in which I put my notes. As author Carter Sickels said at the workshop in July, the only things that goes into that notebook are the things that pertain to the novel you are working on. If I had a question, that's where I wrote it down. If I had references that will have relevance in future stories in the series, that's where I wrote them down because it's all part of the saga. It's just going to be broken down into digestible parts.<br />
<br />
So, if you're struggling with your novel, maybe you have too much going on and you need to take another look. If you had 30 days and 50,000 words for that story, what would be the most important points of that story? What would you focus on? Give it a shot.<br />
<br />
(c) 2016 Cathy Thomas Brownfield<br />
All rights reserved.<br />
<br />CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-37371421147896193992015-01-28T10:17:00.001-08:002015-01-28T10:17:20.328-08:00New year, new start<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">So, I had this "motto" I used for two years. I was supposed to start my master's in creative writing but $42K in student loans at my age just wasn't my cup of tea. So, I resolved to do what I have to do on my own. (Did you know there is a DIYMFA?) And the motto? "For a new me in 2014." </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Well, I did learn a lot of things in 2014. But as the year wound down and I did not have a novel finished I told myself it was a year more about learning more about myself. I don't want to tell too much. That gives away the mystery of me and eases the tension that might keep you coming back to read my blog. LOL! The best thing I learned: I can now focus on my goals. I've cleared away the guilt my family causes when I fail to meet their demands aka needs. I've come to the realization that adult children know how to find me when/if they need me. And just because The Man (cradle robber that he is) retired doesn't mean I did. He will just have to adjust.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I write regularly for a local agency, articles that appear in the newspaper. My client asked me to list the topics I have written about over the last three years. (I've written for them for 15 years.) Well, did my eyes fly open! There are 50 articles per year, minimum, a variety of topics, representing my writing skills and talent. My client was impressed when I submitted the list to her. As I compiled that list I had to open up the old laptop that hadn't been used in a couple of years. It's very ssssssssllllllllooooooowwwwww. But I started to look at some of my fiction. Really? I WROTE THAT??? ME??? And I'm holding myself back WHY??? </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">I get a regular email from author Kristen Lamb (https://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2015/01/28/how-to-create-multi-dimensional-characters-everybody-lies). If you click on that link it will take you to today's (1/28/2015) blog entry. And the words couldn't have come at a better time. Not only that, but I clinked the link for an earlier entry that was on the same topic. And those words are also helpful to me as I revise this WIP and make sure that my characters are doing what they need to do. After all, if this is going to be the first novel to represent my authorial abilities, I want to make a good and lasting first impression.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">Maybe Lamb's blog will help you, too. It never hurts to hear from those who have mastered their craft. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;">And it's a new year, a new day, and I'm making 2015 mine. Remember my name ... </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif;"> </span></span>CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-87389748552197484492014-04-09T15:58:00.000-07:002014-04-09T15:58:44.415-07:00Back Burners<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It’s happened again. I pushed my
writing WORK to the back burner for drama within the family. Why do I do this?
I guess the first step is recognizing the problem so I can proceed to the next
step, changing the behavior.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As “D” told me, my husband is an
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decisions and live with their consequences, and I should focus on my life, my
goals and my challenges after raising my family and caring for my parents while
they were living.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>That’s a pretty stiff order for
someone who was raised to be so conscientious.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>“I think your mom worked a
little too hard to make you responsible,” D said. And D is right, even though D
never met my parents. D is very wise.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’ve always heard that Catholics
master guilt and carry it always. I have to tell you, I am not Catholic, wasn’t
raised Catholic, but Catholics didn’t corner the market on guilt. Is it because
Mom would say, “I see guilt written all over your face” whether I was guilty or
innocent?</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, here I am at a juncture
where I am setting boundaries and detaching myself from business that is no
longer mine. I have taught my children what I know. I have assured them I will
always be around when they need me. But I have some irons of my own in the fire
and I’d like to work on those things, even if it now means I will be a Grandma
Moses in literature. I don’t have time for any more back burners. As they say, “I’m
burning daylight.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Look at Clint Eastwood. He’s the
same age my mother would be if she was living. He is still active in his
career, presenting important stories about life. Have you figured out yet that
his spaghetti westerns also were political statements? Peel away the layers of
the onion until you get to the core of it and you will see that everything is
political in some way. Each artist presents his or her interpretation through
their own skills and talents.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, today I am setting
boundaries to prevent interruptions to my skill building and use of my gifts
and talents given to me by God who created me. Whether the people in my life
understand or not.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Today I am detaching from others’
responsibilities and tending to my own.</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>How about you?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
©2014 Cathy
Thomas Brownfield ~ All Rights Reserved.</div>
CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-71358667401238792592014-04-01T13:32:00.000-07:002014-04-01T13:32:17.727-07:00Write, write, write...and write some moreA friend has talked about writing a historical novel for as long as I've known him. He said he doesn't want to start writing it until he knows exactly what he wants it to be, as if the first draft will be the final draft. I have said many times, "Just start writing scenes, the ones you know. You can figure out what to do with them later." But he wouldn't. Or maybe he couldn't. Maybe he was afraid. Are writers really afraid???<br />
<br />
Am I afraid to write my novels? Or is it something else? What could that something else be? Well, I'm thinking it COULD be that I don't know the whole story when I start writing. So I get to a certain place in the writing of a novel and, in a panic, I think, "Oh, no! I don't know where this story is supposed to go!"<br />
<br />
This was a real issue for me for a long time. Then I read Stephen King's book, <i>On Writing</i>, where he talks about <i>The Stand.</i> He had written a lot of it when he got to the point that he just didn't know what to do with it, where it was going. He said he nearly trashed the whole thing. Then one day it hit him where it needed to go and he finished writing it.<br />
<br />
I will tell you that I read the unabridged version of <i>The Stand</i>. I knew exactly where he started foundering and wandering in circles trying to pick up the thread to continue with the story. I had a really hard time reading that book! It took me a few weeks here, a few weeks there, to actually completely read it. Over a period of a year! I would read a while, then set it aside and go read some other things. Then go back and read some more. I have NEVER read a book that way before or since. But it surely gave me some insight into writing my own stories.<br />
<br />
So, maybe J is correct and he needs to know the whole story before he starts to write. But sometimes the story comes through the writing. You have to start somewhere, even if the place you start ends up not being the starting point of your story.<br />
<br />
What are you writing today?<br />
<br />
(c) 2014 Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ All Rights Reserved.<br />
<br />CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-87774831639598070462014-03-04T14:42:00.001-08:002014-03-04T14:42:53.534-08:00More fear of revisions<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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completed. He doesn’t see that he has done everything in his power to make sure
my every minute had a claim on it so I would be forced to back away from my
work. </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My English prof said, “Authors don’t
work on just one project at a time.”</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I thought, “That’s true enough. But if
they want to be published I think they must need to focus on just one at a
time.”</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A while back I told you I had
discovered a way to write a rough draft with a beginning, a middle and an end.
Every time I go shopping I look for inexpensive (OK, cheap) journals with
pretty covers. If they have 120 sheets of paper that means 240 pages of
handwritten story! And I’m getting that pretty down pat, in my opinion.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now I am at the next hurdle:
editing/revising/rewriting. Why am I so afraid of this?</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">More than 20 years ago I wrote a
children’s picture book for our twin daughters. My mother read it. She thought
it could use a little tweaking. This sounds familiar. Did I already talk about
this? Long story short, what if I can’t edit, revise, rewrite? What if I’m not
smart enough to do it?</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">This morning I devoted 2-1/2 hours to
working on a new story in a new journal. When the time went off I set it for 20
minutes more to wrap up the day with my characters in that story. I plan to do
the same tomorrow and each day after that until it is finished.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After lunch I worked on the article for
my paying gig. The executive director that I report to at the agency emailed me
yesterday to say she was thinking as she finished reading the most recent
article in the newspaper. She noticed on her Rolodex that she hired me March
16, 2000. At 50 articles per year she estimated more than 650 articles and
other publicity could be credited to me. The articles have directed a lot of
people to seek assistance to find their way to a healthy lifestyle. She said
she hopes this will continue.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I told her about once a year I think, “I
don’t want to do this anymore and I need to tell Eloise.” Then I am past the
moment and good to go for another year. I don’t make a great deal of money
doing this job but I don’t want to let go of it, either.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Supper is behind me now. I’m going to
set the timer for 2-1/2 hours and work on revisions/rewriting/editing Belle and
Sam’s story. The first step is the hardest, right? Stephen King could make this
a lot easier for me if he would offer to spend six or eight weeks tutoring me
through this process, but I don’t think I will spend too much time waiting
since he doesn’t even know I’m a writer!</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">It’s not likely that I will get done everything
on my to-do list for today, things like planting tomato seeds, pepper seeds and
soaking heavenly blue morning glory seeds. Nor will the dusting and vacuuming
carry me past a successful white glove test. But today still will end
productive. </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">© 2014 Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ All
Rights Reserved. This blog may not be reproduced in any way without the
permission of the author.</span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-83309439703901462352014-02-18T15:44:00.000-08:002014-02-18T15:44:37.472-08:00Revisions make me nervous<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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What’s a writer to do?</div>
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<br /></div>
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Fellow writer, Janet Elaine Smith, after publishing more
than 20 books, still carries index cards around in her handbag. When she’s out
and about and observes someone or something interesting, she jots it down on an
index card to use in one of her stories. It might be an action one of her
characters might do, or something he or she might wear, or even the character
herself or himself. After all of these years, Janet still does the cards. It’s
something I tried but I felt like it was slowing me down.</div>
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<br /></div>
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It’s not that I don’t have plenty of story ideas. It’s that
I haven’t finished a complete novel. Well, I HAVE completed several drafts, but
the thought of editing, of rewriting, revising, is a scary one.</div>
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Twenty or so years ago I wrote a children’s picture book
based on my twin daughters. I loved it. My mother read it. She said it needed a
little work. When she read the revision she said I had overdone the editing and
the story had lost its charm. I wish I would have submitted the original
version. I should have submitted the story.</div>
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Did THAT cause my fear of revision? Or is there a terror for
every unpublished writer? (I won’t say new writer because I’ve been writing for
a VERY long time.)</div>
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<br /></div>
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Janet urged me to take one of my stories and just finish it,
whatever it takes for me to do it. So…I am trying to do that. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I</b> HAVE to make it a priority so the
people in my life will see how important this is and how vital they are to my
achieving my goals.</div>
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<br /></div>
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(c) 2014 Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ All Rights Reserved </div>
CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-22242617760320931482014-01-28T13:01:00.000-08:002014-01-29T08:19:08.792-08:00What's holding me back?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>Here I am, January 2014, and
everyone thinks I’m piddling around playing at writing. I recall a former
supervisor who once told me my work never was stellar. It was a snide remark
designed to hurt me. (I later decided she was envious of me. At the very least
we had a personality conflict. We didn’t like each other very much. Mom always
did say everyone wasn’t going to like me. Oh, well. I always have been a little
independent.)</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>
</b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Then yesterday a young man in
our community said he didn’t want to be insulting but he wasn’t aware of any of
my work being published. It was a post online so I interpreted him to be
questioning my claim to being a writer. My own spouse says the same kinds of
things. I look at the piles and shelves and drawers and boxes of papers and
files of articles, research, stories, flash drives and floppy disks and can’t
fathom how he can see all of it and ask, “How long is it going to take you to
start that book you started 30 years ago?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He really has no idea.</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>
</b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Ah. Maybe the thing is, he’s
trying to push me to write and sell so I can carry us financially while he…does
what? He never has been much of a supporter of what I do. It’s hard to be a
believer when you don’t understand a profession…and writing is a profession you
aren’t going to understand unless you are one.</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>
</b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The point I’m trying to make is
that there are reasons (excuses?) that hold us back from achieving those dreams
and goals. </b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>
</b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I was cleaning a bit in my
office/study the other day, I found a story I had written a while back and
asked someone to critique it for me. It was an important story, he said, but
didn’t have enough action. (Or did it lack tension?) It needed work, he said. (<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ah! Light bulb above my noggin.</i>)</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>
</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>When I submitted my thesis novel
to a publisher he came back with “This is an important story that needs to be
told.” Two men had made the same statement, a very important statement. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">This is an important story.</i></b></span> </div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>
</b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>So, what should I do with it?</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>
</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I wrote a children’s picture
book when our twin daughters (now 26) were small. Mom liked it. I edited it.
Mom said I had been too heavy-handed because I had taken the heart and soul out
of it. I never touched it again.</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>
</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>In November I found a rough draft
technique that allowed me to write a complete rough draft. I used a journal and
hand wrote the story from start to finish. I could see how many pages I had
written, how far I was proceeding and when it was time to start to move toward
the resolution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I did it again with
another story in December. If I hurry, I will have a third one for January. I
have written “books.” The next hurdle is revising and editing. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">You have to start revising and editing
sometime</i>, that little voice inside my head says. </b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>
</b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Patti Capel-Swartz says editing
is the fun part.</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>
</b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Someone else – I can’t recall
who it was – said it’s the worst part. I guess it doesn’t matter which it is or
whether it is. If I’m going to publish a book, I have to do it, fun or not.</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b>
</b></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>2014 is MY year. I’ve been
preparing for 2014 for two years. MY YEAR. So I’m going to put the polar vortex
to good use, drink hot tea and café au lait and write … write … write … And
edit … edit … edit ... The words have to come from the heart and the hearts of
my characters. What I say must be believable through the course of the story.
And I need to follow Maureen’s advice, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Just
write a good story.</i></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">(c) 2014 Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ All Rights Reserved. </i></b></span></div>
CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-57720650095837335862013-11-29T07:54:00.001-08:002014-01-29T08:18:45.866-08:00The BorrowersGood morning! I hope life is treating you kindly. It's Black Friday 2013 and I'm sitting at my desk thinking. I finished the rough draft of a novel at 12:43 p.m. Monday, Nov. 25. How did I perform this miraculous feat? I bought a pretty journal with lined pages and wrote until every line was filled. Well except for about 10 lines on the last page. As I hand wrote this rough draft (why do I keep thinking "red"?) I also made notes of things that were related to the ideas I was using in my story so I can use this rough draft journal as an outline for my novel.<br />
<br />
The novel is about a "mature" woman who has resisted change for a long time. She doesn't know why she has stayed in her situation for so long...Loyalty? Fear? Love? She deserves nothing better than she has right now? She is on a journey to discover the answers to her life's purpose.<br />
<br />
So, I've begun to reread the rough draft journal written mostly in blue ink with notes to refer to in red. And I am making notes as I go...thinking about related things, scenes to write, and whatever else comes to mind in the process of my discussions with my muse. Does this mean I should be rewriting as I go? Well, I didn't have another journal at hand to rewrite in so I am using a one subject spiral notebook. Again, I am writing with one color ink (blue or black) and making notes in red.<br />
<br />
The most huge challenge is very common, let the reader understand. It is hard to apply the behind to the seat of the chair and write. It is not easy, though, to dig deep inside of ourselves to look at the ways of the world and consider our perceptions of these ways...how the ways of the world have affected us or may affect us in the future. But it must be done. Why?<br />
<br />
I have read that writer/philosophers don't write to educate others. That's a by-product of the real reasons for our work: informing/educating ourselves. We learn, we have to write it and share it to get it out of the way so we can move onto the next experience of learning and writing and sharing and getting it out of the way so we can move onto the next...<br />
<br />
William Shakespeare didn't originate all of those tales. He "borrowed" from those who went before. We all do this, for there is no new story to tell. They have all been told before. But we find new ways of telling the story. Example: How many times has The Hobbit been remade in film versions? It's the same story time after time, but the creators apparently have a more impacting version, better technology.<br />
<br />
Go and write. Write well. Practice makes perfect. Practice, practice, practice.<br />
<br />
(c) 2013 Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ All Rights Reserved <br />
<br />CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-92012175416797953282013-06-11T13:54:00.000-07:002013-06-11T13:54:37.631-07:00Reading and truth-seeking<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I am reading the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind,
punctuated with other books like Toads, and the Women Who Kiss Them and Empire
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taking myself out of my “safe” place to a more worldly place outside my comfort
zone—resisting the urges to take the path of least resistance, raising the bar
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Writers write about what they know.</div>
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Writers take pieces and parts of life and fit them together
to prove a truth about what they have learned. We learn through observation and
scientific method (aka good old trial and error.)</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stephen King wrote in On Writing that reading is essential
to writing. He carries a book with him everywhere he goes, he says, explaining
that, although it may be interpreted as rude and offensive, what we write will
offend someone somewhere along the way anyway. But, then, he also said he
sometimes just says things because he’s expected to answer the questions that
are put to him.</div>
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Writing is thinking on paper. Exposure to new things is
important to developing new thoughts and enhancing the writer’s toolbox.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What are you thinking about today? Are you ready to put pen
to paper?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
©2013 Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ All Rights Reserved.</div>
CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-67406479870015177802013-05-27T13:11:00.000-07:002013-05-27T13:11:00.542-07:00Reading...and writing<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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How is your writing coming?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I made the 9-hour or so trip to see my youngest daughter and
stayed with her for 15 days. Did I do much writing? No, but I did some reading.
Stephen King, in On Writing, advises that reading is as important to writing as
writing is. Look how much he has written! I guess he would have a pretty good
idea about that.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I’m in the middle of Terry Goodkind’s Sword of Truth series…The
Pillars of Creation. It’s actually book seven of 12, I think. He tells a good
story. And I keep trying to figure out things like:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Is he telling the story of Ancient Greece?</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Is the Keep actually the Bible? The U.S.
Constitution?</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Is this about paganism and the development of
the patriarchal religions?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Or is it just a good story?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>Is this what William Shakespeare did? Wrote his
version of events in history?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>How can I make these ideas work for me?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span>What happens if you read about an historical
moment and using “what if” questions, set that story in a different time and
place? Using poetic license what can happen on the page?</div>
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<br /></div>
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We can only try and see how it works. Let me know what
happens with your experiment. Your comments are invited and welcome.</div>
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<br /></div>
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© 2013 Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</div>
CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-59997169363974560452013-05-16T09:10:00.001-07:002013-05-16T09:13:08.913-07:00Pass it on<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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My daughter (#3 of 4) has begun to plot a novel. It’s not
her first. But with every story we start, we learn a little more about the
process of writing. That’s what I’ve found, anyway, so I learn by trial and
error. It is helpful when someone ahead of us on the writing path can help us
along with their wisdom and knowledge that comes from their writerly journey.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So, I gave my daughter the benefit of what I know for
certain: Write the entire rough draft before you think about editing. It’s
tempting to edit as you go, but since I learned that the human brain is not
wired to multi-task efficiently, I am now writing the complete first draft so I
have a beginning, a middle and an end. I know a lot will change when I revise
it. My first concern is a start-to-finish first/rough draft.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I like to immerse myself in the genre I want to write in to
get a feel for what the publishers are looking for, what the readers enjoy most
and what I most want to write. </div>
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<br /></div>
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So, there is the beginning point. Just write. </div>
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<br /></div>
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My current WIP (work in progress): the first draft is
written. I am beginning revisions, referencing the notes to myself as I wrote
the draft, questions that came to me as I wrote that draft. I’m building up my
characters (development) as I create a stronger story line. I’m letting my
characters speak and using my knowledge and skill to write the story, just as I
used to write the stories of the people I interviewed in my print journalism
days. I was the conduit that got their spoken words translated into newsprint
and ink. I find the best way I can to present their stories.</div>
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Go ahead. Give it a go!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
©2013 ~ Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</div>
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<br /></div>
CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-81958644932816172972013-05-08T09:50:00.000-07:002013-05-08T09:53:52.725-07:00Writing today...<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(C) 2013 Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ All Rights Reserved </span></div>
CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-14352893662988762412013-04-28T09:59:00.000-07:002013-04-28T09:59:28.805-07:00How many novels have I started?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How many
novels have I started? I have a spiral notebook for each one, 150-200 of them, perhaps,
at various stages of completeness. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">It’s very easy to start a novel. Sit down
with pen in hand, think of something that shows a lot of action, that could be
happening right this minute somewhere in the Universe. Begin to write down what
is happening. Why is it happening? To whom is it happening? When is it
happening? Where is it happening? (I think that covers all of the Ws: Who,
what, when, where and why that journalists focus on for their stories…not sure
if they are writing fiction or non-fiction sometimes.)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But you will
get to a point where you start to ask yourself, “Where is this going?” Seems to
me that might be a good place to put aside the story you have been penning and
start fleshing it out. Do some character building. Who is the main character
and why is this person so important to the story. (The person you THINK is the
main character may not end up being the main character.) Why is it so important
to tell this story? You know the beginning of the story…well, as it stands
right now. But that may change. And what is the end of the story? Do you know
that? Maybe you should think about that because when you know the beginning and
the end you will be able to figure out what has to happen to get from Point A
(beginning) to Point B (conclusion.)</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Yeah, I
sound like I know what I’m talking about, don’t I? But I don’t think Stephen
King has to worry about me invading his space just yet. </span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In <i>Writing
Fiction</i>, Janet Burroway writes, “Stories do not begin with ideas or themes or
outlines, so much as with images and obsessions, and they continue to be built
by exploring those images and obsessions.” She advises the writer, “Know thyself.”
She quotes Dorothy Allen, “I believe the secret of writing is that fiction
never exceeds the reach of the writer’s courage.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Then Burroway resumes speaking, “Fiction is
written not so much to inform as to find out, and if you force yourself into a
mode of informing when you haven’t yet found out, you’re likely to end up
pontificating or lying some other way.”</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you haven’t surprised yourself,
you haven’t written</span></i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">.
~ Eudora Welty</span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A short story is a writer’s way of
thinking through experience…Journalism aims at accuracy, but fiction’s aim is
truth. The writer distorts reality in the interest of a larger truth</span></i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">. ~ John L’Heureux</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Have I
helped anyone with this bit of knowledge today? Well, I can only hope. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">(c) 2013 Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ <b>ALL RIGHTS RESERVED </b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-52274622004999682862013-04-19T17:00:00.000-07:002013-04-19T17:00:00.014-07:00Maybe...I'm not a writer...?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>My mom never allowed us to “quit.”
No matter what you start you finish it. “It” builds character.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As much as I like writing for a
local agency, every year about this time I think I should resign but reason
directs me to hold onto the gig. It puts gasoline in the tank of my car.
Sometimes it puts food on the table. It’s not a day job. But it gives me a
little spending money.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I’ve been writing a long time.
Some days it’s all that I do, perhaps too many of my hours and days. I’m
sitting here asking myself a whole lot of questions…like, “What EVER gave me
the idea that I am a writer with some important things to say?” Maybe The Man
is right. Maybe I should give up on my writing, too. How many times has he said
he gave up on my writing a long time ago?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The work on <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Ramblings</i>, my thesis novel, is slow and difficult. Literary in
nature, I feel like it’s a ball and chain that holds me down. Heavy. It’s
heavy. Wasn’t <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Dollmaker</i> heavy,
too? But such a good story!</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Yesterday I decided I needed to
work on something fun. I started a novel for submission to Harlequin. I have
written four chapters. But…why do I feel like all of my stories are worthless
drivel?<br />
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I emailed my friend, Jay. “Maybe
I’m not a writer,” I say. “Maybe I should just go get a job with a paycheck and
work until I die.” That’s what The Man wants me to do.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Jay wrote back, “OK, now! Let’s
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stories and started novels…” These were things good to hear, but some other words
stand out…”I believe in you.”</div>
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<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>But…maybe I am the one who has
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writing life. How can creativity bust out all over when personal issues are in
the way? How do other writers handle this?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Must be time to go somewhere…away…not,
here where everything is right under my nose and I can’t do a gazillion things
and write, too.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Some days I think, “Maybe I’m
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God knows enough people have rolled their eyes or found it difficult to look at
me when I announce my goals, “Pulitzer” and “Nobel in Literature.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What if these are just dreams that I hold
onto even though I know I can’t really achieve them? Is that what Doris Lessing
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high school. But she wrote a body of works that earned her the Nobel in
Literature in 2007. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
© 2013 Cathy
Thomas Brownfield ~ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></div>
CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-44758733294558716752013-04-08T19:54:00.000-07:002013-04-08T19:54:01.973-07:00Why haven't I finished that novel?<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My husband periodically
asks the question, “How long have you been writing that novel?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I find it difficult to
comprehend that he thinks I’ve spent all of these years writing ONE novel! But
people who aren’t writers have difficulty understanding writers. Sometimes I’m
not sure writers understand other writers and how they work—or even themselves
because they are too close to look at things objectively.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I should count how many
notebooks I have because I have at least one notebook for each novel (more than
100, I’m sure). And probably a couple thousand file folders (at least) on
shelves, in a filing cabinet and in boxes for short stories or research for
other novels not started. I’m great at starting novels. And not too shabby at
creating titles. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Which of my novels
really stands out?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A young
girl and her grandmother face the old woman’s advancing age and dementia.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A hot, steamy romance between two
people when westward expansion crossed the Allegheny Mountains into Ohio
Country.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">A special agent can’t forget the
bullying her brother and she suffered when they were growing up. She vowed to
defend and protect women and their children who have been exploited by men and
society.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Ramblings…the lives of women from their
perspectives rather than men’s interpretations of the women’s worth.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Comic Sans MS";"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.)<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The romance between two people who have
never held each other close, never kissed—or even held hands. But the bond
between them is impossible to sever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>They are soulmates from the edge of Eternity and back again.</span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My eldest daughter
wants me to finish the story about the girl and her grandmother. So I went to
the top of the garage looking for the box that held that manuscript. OK. I sent
said daughter up to get it for me. I have it in my office.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">#2 is the one I would
have finished had I not started college to become an educator more years ago
that I want to admit to you.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">#3 is the story about
bullying. Bullying doesn’t come from outside the family only.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">#4 was my college
thesis.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">#5 is a love triangle…or
can it have four sides?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And these aren’t the
only novels I have begun. Why aren’t they finished?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Procrastination?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fear?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Don’t know where to
take the story to conclude it?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Well. For a long time I
got interrupted every 10 minutes or so and the habit formed. If I was going to
be pulled from the train of my thoughts there wasn’t much point in starting the
journey, was there? But when the last child moved out I began to change my
habit, not without some resistance. Now, when I start to stand up and walk away
from my desk I tell my Self, “Self, plant your behind in that chair and don’t
you DARE walk away until you’ve accomplished something with this WIP.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">My friend, Jay, said I
am afraid to write because I’m afraid I will fail…or succeed. I’ve been
published before. Not to the degree I desire, but I have been published. I’m
not afraid to write, witnessed by the piles of files and boxes of notebooks and
journals in just this one room! Not counting all the others in other rooms.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Don’t know how to
conclude the story. Before a novel is started in the writing phase, it has to
be thought out. How many times has Maureen said, “Most of the writing is done
in your head. It percolates there while you’re doing other things”?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">But, but, but…I just
read that the human brain cannot multi-task efficiently.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Patti says, “Writers
don’t work on just one story or project at a time.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cindy said I shouldn’t
charge more than a dime for a copy of my weekly newspaper 13 years ago and Evan
told her why she was wrong.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">And somewhere inside my
head I’m aware that doors have been slammed in my face because I didn’t measure
up to what others expected from me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">So I have to make a
choice: Will I give up and give in because the powers that be in this small
spot on the globe bully me to prevent me achieving what they can never hope to
achieve? Or will I surmount the impossible odds that challenge me?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Comic Sans MS"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Watch for my name! The
day IS coming!</span></div>
CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-86929421843431944552013-04-03T10:41:00.000-07:002013-04-03T10:41:51.402-07:00Visualizing a dream<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I like Linda Dupie's idea. She makes an actual book cover and puts it around a book, placing it where she can see it while she's writing her story. WHY do I like it?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you want to make something happen, you need to visualize it, think of it and SEE it. How can you make "it" real if you don't know what "it" looks like? When you can see it, when it takes shape, you know what you need to do to get from Point A to Point B. Well, I hope that is so.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Isn't that a marvelous concept?</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A long while ago a friend admired the chart I spent a LOT of time with indicating the characters and their relationships, plotting and so on. Then she said, "That's very nice. Now put it away and just write a good story."</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Um...</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At eye level I have a poster I created:</span><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">tell</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">a</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">good </span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="color: orange;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">story</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But I'm thinking if I create a book cover and wrap it around a real book and keep it near my work area, that might be a fantastic visual tool to help me stay focused instead of sitting down at my work area, looking at the daily planner I didn't fill in with my goals for the day and then ask myself, "Self, what are we going to write today?"</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What good are the tools if we don't use them?</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(c) 2013 Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ All Rights Reserved. Permission to use is required. Also, a link to this blog is required when used. Thank you for the courtesy.</span></div>
CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-73730094070435453592013-03-18T07:23:00.003-07:002013-03-18T07:27:11.940-07:00Easier Said Than Done<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;">My friend, Jay Hudson, is persistent:
“Don't start anything new. Finish one you already have started.”
He's talking about novels. I do have a lot started, but nothing
finished. It's so easy to say, “Just finish one.” But there is
this huge blind spot in my way. I don't know how to get around it.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Then I think, “You get around it by
sitting at that desk and doing what has to be done: Writing.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;">But what if it's no good? The writing.
What if it's no good? What if it sounds stupid and immature...or
worse?</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;">THAT'S what revisions are for...maybe.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Jay and I were talking about romance
writing. He said he could do it. I said maybe he should do it and
show me how it's done. He laughed. But he's in a similar place. He
wants his story to be perfect the first time he sets it down on
paper. And it's unlikely that it will be perfect. Oh, parts of it may
be, but not the whole thing. That's where the cutting of paragraphs
and sentences and words comes in. Or moving things around. </span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;">The draft
is getting <b>A</b> story down on paper. The actual work is done in
revisions. That's where we flesh out the story, build the characters,
develop the protagonist and antagonist. That is where the whole story
comes together. Sounds so easy, doesn't it? I'm sure non-writers
think so, “Because you're a writer.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;">Writing is hard work for the brain,
every bit as exhausting (mentally) as physical labor. And
even though it does not show a paycheck when you are doing it, it IS
time consuming work that family just doesn't appreciate. They say, “I
know you can do this!” but their actions say, “You aren't
bringing in any money so you have all kinds of time to do the things
that need taken care of around the house.” Or worse, “I gave up
on your writing a long time ago. You're never going to go anywhere
with that.”</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;">And sometimes you might begin to
believe that “they” might be right and in a state of
discouragement you set your writing aside as useless. Maybe they are
right. Maybe you will never be anything more than what you are at
this moment. “A writer. I am a writer. Now at this moment, long
into the past and forever into the future.” And what do writers do?
They write.</span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: cyan;">What are we waiting for?</span></div>
CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-75511933280675492032013-03-12T09:18:00.001-07:002013-03-12T09:36:12.144-07:00Writing groups<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">OK. I know I'm a good writer. But when I read one of my pieces aloud to my writers group, I think, "Oh! What was I thinking? What must these other good writers think of me now? Should I be embarrassed?"</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Did I mention a writers group? I did. Last fall I was invited to audit a fiction writing class at the local campus. I had taken fiction writing workshop more than 25 years ago. At the conclusion of the class I asked if there was any interest in starting a writers group. YES! </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Well, how cool is that? (Oh, sorry. I recently read that "cool" is a word all persons over age 50 should NEVER use. On the other hand, a writer friend recently told me he perceives my soul to be an adolescent--which he said isn't bad thing.)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The writers group is young but we are helping each other. Now I am learning how my words are perceived--accurate or not accurate) so I can come back home and "fix" the misunderstood parts and strengthen the weak points, eliminate the things that get in the way instead of carrying the story forward.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So, if you're stuck in the writing doldrums, round up some writerly friends and help each other. No one is an island unless they let themselves be. Support is important.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #cccccc;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">(c) 2013 Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. </span></span>CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-16385362444364121142012-05-21T17:54:00.000-07:002012-05-21T17:54:59.542-07:00Who would've thought after all these years...<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Have
I got a story for you? Why, yes, yes, I do.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>I
found a high school classmate at Facebook. Diane Taylor and I (Cathy Thomas
back then), shared a locker our freshman and sophomore years. Diane enjoyed
reading historical novels, as I recall. I read any work of fiction I could get
my hands on, many from the list of recommended literature for the college
preparatory classes—which I wasn’t assigned to. (I don’t know why I wasn’t.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Anyway,
when we graduated from high school, I lost contact with many of my classmates,
including Diane. A few weeks ago I found her on a friend’s FB page. I followed the
link, requested her as a friend and discovered she lives in Sarasota, Florida,
is a retired elementary school principal and is widowed. She also has just
published her first work of fiction and is doing interviews and booksignings.
She has a booksigning in Kent, Ohio on June 2. I’d like to go, plunk down my
money, get an autographed copy of her book to add to my collection of
autographed books and talk shop with her.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Oh,
yeah. I haven’t told her of my writing interests that are so similar to hers:
women’s literature, romance and spirituality. How about THAT for the DAHS Class
of 1971? You can read about Diane at <a href="http://dianeadamstaylor.com/">http://dianeadamstaylor.com/</a>.
</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Congrats,
Diane Adams Taylor! <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m thrilled for you
and can’t wait for my turn!</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<br /></div>CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-22045009342440979662012-03-06T17:12:00.000-08:002012-03-06T17:46:43.965-08:00I won't back downWhen do you have enough education? I've never perceived myself as a "perpetual" student. Well, I'm always learning something new. But actually getting in the car, driving to the campus and attending classes with all those "younger" folks?<br />
<br />
I hate being a late-bloomer. It’s not that I’m slow. It’s that there are so many roses along the way! (You know…stop and smell the roses?)<br />
<br />
When I was 26 I had a midlife crisis. At 27 I told myself I could continue as we were or I could make a difference. At 28 I was accepted to Kent State University. My desire was to write fiction, but everyone told me I needed a Plan B to get me through life until Plan A happened.<br />
<br />
It wasn’t easy studying for 12 credit hours of classes (for every hour of class you need two hours of study time;) taking care of two young daughters (6 and 3-1/2) and our home, and be a wife, daughter, sister… As I arrived at one hour short of senior standing as an elementary education major, I withdrew from classes for a multiple pregnancy requiring complete bed rest.<br />
<br />
Over the years I contemplated returning to Kent State to finish that bachelor degree. But I had stumbled into journalism and was making a paycheck doing what I’d wanted all along: writing. I covered meetings, observed people…Village Council, Board of Education, Board of Public Affairs…events like Martin Sheen’s arrest for an act of civil disobedience when he climbed over a fence at the Port Authority in East Liverpool, Ohio in protest of the hazardous waste incinerator that was forced in over public protest and still sits at the East End of the city on the Ohio River. I wrote feature stories—my favorites. I honed my writing skills. And at the end of the day when I went back home I wrote some more, my “stuff.”<br />
<br />
In 2007, because my elderly parents wanted me to go back and finish what I had started so long ago—and knowing that my children and grandchildren needed to know I meant it when I said you finish what you start—I resumed my studies, this time as an English Major. Dr. Swartz tacked on the Writing Minor. Really? Yes, she answered. Then she pushed me on in to the Honors College. Seriously? I asked. Why? “Because you belong there.”<br />
<br />
I did three years work in two. I graduated with departmental honors and distinction in English. I successfully wrote and defended an honors thesis: writing a novel. Dad died six weeks before I walked up to that podium to claim my BA. But Mom was there, even though she never remembered the day. (That would be the Alzheimer’s.) <br />
<br />
Dr. Swartz wasn’t going to let me stop there. She urged me to go to grad school: Master’s in Fine Arts—Creative Writing. I didn’t begin it because my mother, with Alzheimer’s and unable to take care of herself, needed me. She passed away in 2011. And I began to plan my return to the university scene.<br />
<br />
Hey! Nobel in Literature! I’ve got my eyes on you. I’ve been approved for admission at the School of Graduate Studies and Research of Youngstown State University. I’m not going to back down, not going to quit, until I have you in my hands! The world is my oyster!<br />
<br />
In the meantime, I’m working on that body of works required for a Nobel in Literature. And I’m about to prove that good things DO come from my little town. <br />
<br />
(c)2012 Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ All Rights ReservedCBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-25685218605844296352012-02-15T12:21:00.000-08:002012-02-15T12:21:04.965-08:00Red Letter DaysIt's turning into a red letter day. A broken romance in the family. A change in the way my publicist wages are paid so there is no direct deposit today. A disagreement with my spouse that caused him to storm out of the room threatening to pack his belongings and leave. And me yelling after him, "Do what you feel you have to do!" All within less than a 2-hour time span. Gee. I wonder what other good things are headed my way today? What happened to the biorhythms all of a sudden?<br />
<br />
Sounds like a soap opera, doesn't it? Right now I want to scream. It wouldn't do any good. Why can't things operate smoothly around here? It might be better to put all of that pent-up emotion into one of my stories. <br />
<br />
Last week a friend of mine (she also was my English prof and thesis project director), sent me a short story she wrote for a class. It was humorous and she thought I needed a good chuckle. I read the story. I did chuckle. And it reminded me of some things from my life. Then, on Saturday morning, I wrote a short story. A sweet romance of about 1,505 words for a market that pays $20 for romance up to 1,500 words. (Would you say I'm pushing my boundaries a bit?) I sent it to my friend who said, "I hope you're going to submit this." The next email from her was a link to a contest that awards $1,000 to the first place winner, among other things. So, I am submitting that short story to that market. <br />
<br />
Since Saturday I have been writing short stories based on writer experiences in life. Awesome! I HOPE I'm on a roll because it sure would be a good thing right now.CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-56092024175020682052012-01-03T10:08:00.000-08:002012-01-03T11:49:18.569-08:00Obstacles? Or challenges?Things just seem to get in the way of progress, making the way foggy, unclear. When I fall into that rut, it's just easier to walk away, look at it again tomorrow...maybe. THAT is procrastination!<br />
<br />
"Resistance," writes Victoria Lyn Schmidt in her <i><i>Book in a Month</i></i>, "is the way your subconscious tries to protect you from taking risks."<br />
<br />
Is that what I'm doing?<br />
<br />
Some years ago there were mounting obstacles on the home front. Obstacles have a way of bogging you down, sapping your strength, overwhelming you, and removing all the wind from your sails, casting you into "the doldrums." You land in a stagnant place, confused, crippled, dead in the water, accomplishing nothing.<br />
<br />
Yet, when I visited with a particular person (I could start out grumbling, miserable and unhappy, perhaps angry) but when I walked away from him, my energy level was restored, my spirits were boosted, and those obstacles were gone, transformed into challenges. And who isn't up for good challenges?<br />
<br />
When I become distracted I start negative self-talk and nothing gets accomplished, except for me to run myself down because I spent an entire afternoon playing at writing instead of getting down to business. And I didn't get down to business because every time I started to do that I was interrupted by something "important" to someone else. (My first priority always has been family.) When nothing gets accomplished the threads of the story are lost, and discouragement leads to some other less mind-demanding activity with a more imminently achievable completion time.<br />
<br />
But what about that desire to write your stories? Your brain children? The work you really need to do in order to feel the confidence and worth of your works from your soul's depths? Is there anything more important than that at the moment you are working and interruption tempts you?<br />
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(c)2012 Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ All rights reserved.<br />
<br />CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-8987275160037048022011-11-17T20:36:00.000-08:002011-11-17T21:30:06.260-08:00When life nudges into the planIt is appreciated when someone tells me they believe I know what I'm doing and I'm going to succeed. Somewhere deep inside of me I know I can do what I want to do if I am willing to work hard to get there. But inside my head I see the doubt in the eyes of people I know. I hear them say, "You will get there someday," but I imagine that they don't really believe it. They are living by the credo that mother's teach their young: If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. <br /><br />I know a little about writing. I was a newspaper reporter/editor for how many years? But I haven't published a novel yet, so I don't think other writers take me seriously. And so, that little seed of doubt is enough to hold me back from achieving my dreams. To hear someone close to me, whom I trusted, say, "I gave up on your writing long ago. You aren't ever going to do anything with it" shakes my self-confidence.<br /><br />Do you know--have you ever heard--that you have to believe in yourself when you think there is nobody else to believe in you? So, why am I holding myself back? Why am I not believing in me? Why do I think I don't know enough? Life has taught me so many lessons, and I remember that long ago day when I asked God to teach me what I needed to know about my gifts so I could use them for him. It's more years later than I want to admit. Isn't it about time? Then there was that thing I read a few weeks ago...it takes 10,000 hours of doing something in order to master that something. Haven't I gotten close to 10K hours yet?<br /><br />Well, as I've told my husband many times, writing is not the only thing I've been doing all of this time. And many times my writing took a backseat on my list of priorities. Family has always been first for me. Children, husband, parents, home...And at the end of the day I would drop, exhausted, into bed and immediately drop off to sleep. There was no time for my dreams then. But I held to the faith that one day it would be my turn.<br /><br />Is it my turn yet? My children are grown. My parents are gone. My husband drifts in and out of my days, doing his thing, grumbling that I haven't done anything with that degree I had to go back to school and get. (Actually, he's careful what he grumbles about because he knows I'm not going to forget and he's going to hear about it whenever the time is right for that conversation.) But I've been busy! But maybe it's time to set my busyness (business??)and move on to the dreams I've been procrastinating over. I'm not getting any younger!<br /><br />So, here it is, Nov. 18, NaNoWriMo is at Day 18 and my word count is at 9,704 at 12:20 a.m. If I marathon write this weekend--Friday midnight to Sunday midnight--will I be able to pick up 20K more words? That sounds like a lot, but if my writer friend, Carma, can write in excess of 80K already this month, surely I can come up with 20K in a weekend! Well, first I have to revise my outline. A major change took place in the story line that I was NOT anticipating. And I'm just starting Chapter 5 of 22 or so.<br /><br />Pacing the floor is no longer permitted. What am I waiting for? Just do it!!!<br /><br />(c)2011 Cathy Thomas Brownfield -- All Rights Reserved.CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-86416908351148990282011-10-30T12:25:00.000-07:002011-10-30T12:25:44.962-07:00NANO 2011It is Sunday, Oct. 30, my dad's birthday. He would be 85 if he was living. Fourteen of us gathered at the cemetery, where we lovingly refer to Mom and Dad's headstone as "Dad's Pad." This is Mom's first year at the annual Silly String Fight. Three years ago the grandchildren hosted a birthday party for their grandfather because they feared he would not be with us to celebrate the next one. They were correct. Five months later he was gone. At that SSF, Dad had SUCH a good time! We have pictures! So, we decided that it would become an annual event in his honor. Mom passed away in late August, so she was there for this one. And now, with the celebration of our parents' lives behind us, it is time to focus on NaNoWriMo 2011.<br />
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I usually write by the seat of my pants, not really planning a story, just starting in writing and seeing where it takes me by the end of 50K words or 30 days, whichever comes first. But this year I am going to write a story I've been thinking about for several years. It came to me one day as I was driving to classes at Kent State-East Liverpool Campus. I was thinking about the kinds of films Clint Eastwood has written, directed, starred in, etc., over the last 10 years or so, and what kind of story I could write that might gain his attention for another movie. Since he's the same age as my mother, and I think I heard that he wasn't going to do any more movies, I guess that doesn't matter. But if the book would ever become a movie, I would want Mr. Eastwood to have the lead male role. I know he would do it justice.<br />
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So, I sat down yesterday and decided I needed to plot it out a bit. I have a synopsis/outline for 22 chapters, the story from beginning to end. But I didn't have character names so I started to play with that. A friend (Karen) said the names would come. I don't know that I like the names, and maybe they will change, but I did come up with them. I started to do character studies, but I haven't gotten very far with that. I think I read that Stephen King just starts writing and sees where it goes. Well, with the number of books he has published, I guess by now he can do that successfully. Well, I will see how it works for me as I attempt to follow his lead in this respect.<br />
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I'm not usually much of a follower, but maybe there is a time to lead and a time to follow. <br />
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If you are participating in NaNoWriMo this year, good luck. If you haven't made up your mind, you still have time. You can do what works for you. You don't have to write 50K. You can set your own goals. You won't know what you can do until you try. NaNo comes only once a year. Go for it!!!<br />
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(c) 2011 Cathy Thomas Brownfield--All Rights Reserved.CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16160003.post-79365191141498777332011-02-28T07:08:00.000-08:002011-02-28T07:15:28.020-08:00Making HabitsNovel blogging.<br /><br />The beauty of novel blogging--even if you are the only one who reads it, is that it forces you to think about novel writing. The more regular you are about updating your blog, the more you consider the study of novel-writing, learning to develop your stories to novel length, and actually working on your WIP.<br /><br />Even if you have only a few minutes a day to devote to your study of novel writing, to actually put words to paper, do it. Make it a part of your daily routine. When it becomes a daily habit, stretch a bit further. Instead of 10 or 15 minutes,write for half an hour.<br /><br />What I have found is that when I become involved with my writing, I forget everything around me. When I look at the clock, I can scarcely believe how much time has passed.<br /><br />But too many interruptions and distractions occur that break concentration, even if you have an office in your home. It seems that when you work from home people don't think you're working. And perhaps you begin to think they are right. You feel guilty about taking the time for yourself when someone else needs assistance. Maybe you were raised that thinking of yourself and your needs is selfishness and a cardinal sin.<br /><br />Set your writing time. Mark it in your day planner in ink--essentially, in stone--and keep that appointment as you would keep an appointment with your doctor, your accountant or any other professional.<br /><br />If writing at home doesn't work out, go to the local library, a cafe, or even McDonald's,perhaps the park. And don't stop or leave until you have written everything you wanted to get written at this sitting. Make it a habit.<br /><br />The more you write and meet your goals and make your daily habits, the better you will feel about yourself because your productivity goes up, you hone your writing and editing skills and get closer to the goals.<br /><br />Let me know how this works for you.CBrownfieldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08781988302305059298noreply@blogger.com2