Novel or Bust

Obstacles? Or challenges?

2012-01-03T10:08:00.000-08:00

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!

"Resistance," writes Victoria Lyn Schmidt in her Book in a Month, "is the way your subconscious tries to protect you from taking risks."

Is that what I'm doing?

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.

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?

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.

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?

(c)2012 Cathy Thomas Brownfield ~ All rights reserved.

When life nudges into the plan

2011-11-17T20:36:00.000-08:00

It 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.

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.

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?

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.

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!

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.

Pacing the floor is no longer permitted. What am I waiting for? Just do it!!!

(c)2011 Cathy Thomas Brownfield -- All Rights Reserved.

NANO 2011

2011-10-30T12:25:00.000-07:00

It 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.

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.

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.

I'm not usually much of a follower, but maybe there is a time to lead and a time to follow.

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!!!

(c) 2011 Cathy Thomas Brownfield--All Rights Reserved.

Making Habits

2011-02-28T07:08:00.000-08:00

Novel blogging.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Let me know how this works for you.

Don't give up!

2011-02-22T11:01:00.000-08:00

A writing colleague at an online writing group posted that after 14 acceptances of articles he had written, he had received two rejections and was giving up.

Hmm.

I told him all writers experience rejection. (Actually, several of us did.) It’s sometimes (often?) a matter of getting hooked up with the right market, the right editor. In doing our homework we should check the writer’s guidelines to see what they are looking for and how we can adapt our work to fit their market.

My husband is fond of saying, “Writing comes easy to you.”

Well, yes. Yes, it does. The words tumble from somewhere inside of me, flow through the pen in my hand to fill the blanks on the writing pad in front of me. BUT (and there is a but) the hard work is making those words into what a potential editor wants to read.

Sometimes I get very discouraged as I try to focus on one WIP (“work in progress,” for newbies who don’t know what that term means) because something causes me to have a sort of epiphany about another WIP that must be written right then or be forgotten forever. It is usually a crucial scene.

Sometimes I think I will never complete a novel. Other times I think there will be several novels released in rapid succession as I complete them close together.

One of my projects is a novella. It will be for a specific market, designated as eBook and will be 10,000 to 15,000 words. I believe it’s a new market by a long-time publisher. Several years ago I was selling 8,000 word romance stories to True Romance magazine. (Editor Pat Vitullo, where are you?) If I could write 8K word stories for True Romance, I can write 10K to 15K novellas for this eBook market that just happens to be within my reading and writing interests. It feels like the perfect fit! So, I am encouraged, motivated and enthusiastic. AND writing. :D

I’m pretty sure Stephen King, in his book On Writing, mentioned the spike in his office on which he impaled all of his rejections…maybe enough to paper a room? That point is irrelevant. The point is, all writers receive rejection letters. But we shouldn’t take it too hard. Get the piece back in the mail. Maybe re-read it and see if there are any changes you’d like to make, but don’t hold onto it too long. Send it out anyway, and get to work on the next story, whether it is a novel, novella or short story or a non-fiction article or book.

Someone, a local businessman, once told me, the person who fails is the one who gave up too soon.

DON’T GIVE UP!!! Even if nobody else believes in you, YOU need to believe in YOU! Persistence and determination are the key.

Now, what are you writing today?

Doubts aside

2011-02-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

There are times (like yesterday) when I ask myself what EVER gave me the idea that I can write anything anyone wants to read; times when I am tired of working, over and over, on the same group of words. At those times I want to get up and walk away. But something drives me to keep my behind glued to my chair. And in retaliation my brain messages that maybe I should put this story aside and work on something else. It’s just another ploy to impede my writing progress. Next trick, become so bored my eyelids get heavy and want to close. Then I read a part of the story:

Thick, brown hair tumbled around Seth Smith’s shoulders. He wasn’t old, but he’d lived hard for too long. Nervous energy kept him moving. He couldn’t sit still even for a few minutes. He appeared not to focus on anything, but Kate knew he was taking in everything around them. He thrust his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. Then he pulled them back out and crossed his arms, his legs bearing his evenly distributed weight. Although he appeared to be looking at her, she knew he was looking past her.

“Seth?”

“Not a good idea for us to talk here.” He shifted to one leg.

“You suggested it.” They stood on the dock watching coal barges move up and down the river. The spring festival had a good crowd. “Want to walk?”

He set off. Kate had to double-step to keep up with his stride.

“You trust Snead?” he asked.

The question startled her. She hadn’t thought ever to question the director. “Is there some reason why I shouldn’t?”

Seth shrugged. “What about Ambrose Aisling?”

“Why?”

They walked on, eyes ahead, ears sharp. Either Seth was paranoid or there were eyes on them.

“Carlos Menz.”

There were reasons for listing this who’s who. She’d been pondering the same.

“Talk to me, Seth.”

He stopped and looked dead-on at her. “I’m not sure I can trust you.”

“You know me, Seth. Have you ever known me to betray the team?”

He shook his head.

“Women are disappearing. Someone has to make it stop. That’s my job.”

“Honey, I have to check my car for bombs before I touch it. I have a post office box so mail can’t get to my house unless I take it there. My wife and I got a divorce so she and the kids are safe. I don’t even know where they are.”

What could she say? She’d told Snead it was time for her to get out of the business. She wanted children, and the clock on that was running out. Focus. This man was strong. Stacked conspiracies were his forte. She didn’t want to end up like him…

It may not be Robert Ludlum, but it has potential. How can I quit, walk away, and never dabble in words again. “Dabble?” That’s a problem. I don’t want to “dabble.” I want to delve into it, a serious endeavor.
All the years I was raising my children I kept telling myself I would get my turn when the children were grown.
It’s my turn.
Why would I want to waste it?

Focus and learn to say, "No."

2011-01-31T20:15:00.000-08:00

I did it. I wrote a novel for my thesis. It was not the finished product, but it had a beginning, a middle and an end that I could get excited about. When I submitted it, the publisher said it was an important story that needs to be told, but it needs a lot of work first. It’s two years later. Why haven’t I written, finished, submitted and been published?

A host of family obligations happened to slow me down. I’ve had some false starts. I need to do a few things:

• Make writing a priority so everyone around me will do that, too.

Jessamyn West said, “People just don’t think of writing seriously. If I had been going off to teach all day, it would be different. They wouldn’t interrupt your work if you were employed at a grocery store. That’s considered serious business. It’s because you work at home. People think they can interrupt writing.”

• Learn to mean, “No.”

A writer can be filled with good intentions, armed with a plan of daily goals, like writing for two hours a day or setting a daily word count. But when the phone rings and a family member needs you to babysit, transport them to a doctor’s appointment, or your spouse wants you to spend time with him/her, what happens?

• Don’t procrastinate.

There are easier things than writing. And negative self-talk slows us down. Playing games on the computer, chatting on the Internet with friends around the world, playing at Facebook are all distractions. It’s great to stay in touch with people you know, but a lot of writing time is wasted because we have convinced ourselves that we should wait til tomorrow or we really can’t write that novel.

• Focus on the current work-in-progress (WIP).

Why are you having trouble staying focused? Have you planned the novel? Who are the characters? What is the journey that becomes the plot? Whose story are you telling? Who is narrating the story?

I can see now why an outline is valuable to the novelist. It acts as a map from the beginning, through the middle to the end. It helps to maintain continuity and sequence through the story. Writing at the same time everyday doesn’t just help us keep track of our stories. It helps us establish our writing habits, strengthens resolve to say, “No,” and leads us to achieving goals.

A writer can write a novel, but it takes a storyteller to develop characters. As a writer friend advised me, “Just write a good story.”

Craig Lock (at http://www.write101.com/) advises the main novel writing pitfalls are:
1. Focus: too many subplots, characters, issues.
2. Plot weak with boring, trivial details.
3. Weak character development.
4. Telling instead of showing.

I know what I have to do. How about you?

Accountability

2011-01-21T20:31:00.001-08:00

Friends at an online writers group have similar problems to mine: procrastination is easier than writing, focusing on writing is a challenge with family and other obligations, and distractions like housework that eat away at writing time. Someone said she would be glad to moderate a goals group on list and the rest, as they say, is history. We have just completed Week Two. Let me report my success.

Week One felt like a bust. I had so many things on my to-do list. But how realistic was my list? I found that I was doing something I discovered was helpful to me years ago: make a daily list and prioritize the items on the list because there was no way everything was going to get done. Because I was listing, I had more awareness of how I was spending my time. And I didn't come close to achieving everything I wanted to that first week.

Week Two was more realistic. Every time I have thought I needed to check email or play a game at Facebook I thought of my friends at the goals group and what impression I was going to make if I didn't have something positive to report. I am becoming more accountable. And that is making a difference for me.

Yesterday (Thursday) I sat down with my netbook and summarized the 24 chapters of my novel. First, let me say I was surprised to discover that most of the story has been written. To have 70,000 words was encouraging, but I was thinking there was an ending still to write. The story isn't finished, but I have a beginning, a middle and an end to my story. Now I am writing the synopsis and will use it to keep me on track as I edit and revise. I can actually see the end in sight, which I couldn't before.

Accountability. That factor can be a driving force for a writer who is so afraid of failing, she is afraid to succeed.

Writing time

2011-01-13T16:09:00.001-08:00

What began as a novel challenge among some of my writing friends resulted in this, my writing blog. So, it's pretty obvious that this blog should be about, surprise, Novel Writing. Today, I guess it's unclear if this column should be here at my writing blog, or over at my critical blog, Patchwork & Petticoats. I'll let you decide.

My husband periodically says, "You've been working on that novel for 25 years. When are you going to finish it?"

I'm not sure how he can ask a question like that when he comes face to face with a shelf and a half of folders containing writing and research every day when he gets out of bed. He knows about the full filing cabinet at my desk, the boxes of writing projects in my office, under his pool table and in the top of the garage. And he can ask when I'm going to finish the novel I started 25 years ago???

Here's where this whole thing crosses over to Patchwork & Petticoats...My family has been very patriarchal up to my children's generations. Mom always said, "You can do anything you put your mind to," but actions spoke louder than words and held me back.

I think a major clue was the first time Mom muttered, "I sure hope there's a heaven because if there isn't I sure have wasted my life." Now back to the writing blog.

Mom's words about wasting her life are my mainstay for continuing to write when I can snatch fragments of time for penning words.

Yes, I have finished rough drafts.

Yes, I am rewriting stories.

Yes, I am struggling to make writing a priority.

Now, back to Patchwork & Petticoats: It's not easy to prioritize my own interests when I am drawn to whichever grandchild needs or desires my undivided attention. The grandchildren are the future of my family. They need to know what I can give them to hold onto when they can't find something else to get them through the hard times.

Back to the writing blog: Fifteen minutes a day for novel writing isn't enough. If I don't take my writing time, if I don't make it a priority, nobody else will, either.

Persistence

2010-12-29T19:46:00.000-08:00

A local businessman once told me, "The person who fails is the one who gives up too soon."

A friend says, "You need to finish something you already have started before you start something new! I don't know why you're wasting time doing another NaNo novel."

Sometimes I say to myself, "Am I NEVER going to publish a novel?"

I have even said, "It's time to build a bonfire in the backyard and just burn everything I've ever written."

The work of a writer is just like the work of anyone else. It takes time and lots of practice to improve it. So that's what I've been doing. And each time I write a novel for NaNo, I accomplish a better quality novel, hone my skills and, now, I am ready to finish something. It's time.

Dis-COURAGE-ment

2010-08-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

I read, just today, that writers and artists are most creative at night. Is THAT what I've been doing wrong? Unfortunately, if I sleep during the day, well, I don't sleep during the day. I won't say that I can't. Once in a while I succumb to the persuasion of a siesta. But the normal pattern of my life has been as an early morning person. I love to be up at sunrise, even before sunrise, to listen to the world wake up: birds singing as the last fingers of night pull away the darkness, the breeze picking up to tickle the leaves of the oak and maple trees in my yard, and talking to God as I drink my first cup of tea.

Should my family members be described as distractions? I drop everything for them. Isn't that what a good mother/grandmother does?

But what about my writing? Would I be more productive if I slept dayside and lived and worked through the night when the world is still except for the semis that speed down off of Canton Hill and race past my house through town on their way to the hazardous waste incinerator in East Liverpool and other destinations unknown to me or too numerous to mention?

I am working on Ramblings. At this point I see it as a series of stories...seven generations of women in one family. Dr. Swarts said I had too many sub-plots for one story so it required too much work on the reader's part to keep up with everything. And that helped me. I know better what to do...well, on the one hand. I'm looking for a good book on rewriting/revision. And I think I will send what I have revised to Dr. Swartz for some input. Or not. I have to get past the discouragement (dis-COURAGE-ment. Where is my COURAGE???)

Writing time

2010-02-19T19:46:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure how to get organized enough to do the writing I need to be doing. Someone advised me to go to a hotel (ALONE) and relax for a while. I'm considering that suggestion. My best relaxation is playing with words, writing. But with a house filled with people, pets and housework to be done, I am having trouble playing with words. Every time I get to a good place and have the motivation, and I'm working away, an interruption arises and I lose my thoughts.

My son-in-law built a two-story shed on their property. It's the perfect size for my office. Library upstairs, writing space downstairs. Run electricity to it and I can have heat and Internet within 300 feet of the router...Yeah. I like the sound of that! But...would my equipment be safe from theft outside of my house? Maybe it's NOT a good idea. Well, I could carry the laptop from house to office to house. The objective is to get my office OUT of the house, AWAY from interruptions and become more PRODUCTIVE.

Seems to me the first thing I need to do is designate my writing time at the same time every day and allow NO interruptions during that writing time. How else am I going to write that body of work that will earn the Nobel for Literature?

(c) 2010 Cathy Thomas Brownfield

Write what you like to read

2010-01-19T07:23:00.000-08:00

Ah! There is the "problem." My reading preferences are as diverse as I am! I tend to write diversely.

I can consume a suspense novel in a day. I like a good Stephen King or Dean Koontz terror suspense which takes longer than a day. (SK's The Stand, unabridged, took a year. I read a while, set it aside for long periods before reading a little more and setting it aside again. I think I struggled through reading it because he struggled through writing it. He talks about it in his book On Writing.) I enjoy literary fiction: The Dollmaker by Harriette Arnow, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marchez, Possessions A.S. Byatt, and African-American literature like Mama Day by Gloria Naylor. (I am English/Irish/Welsh/German descent. That doesn't really matter because it's not about my ethnic roots. It's about writing a good story!)

While diversity gives me the best of all worlds, mastering one genre likely will get one published sooner. (I don't know that for sure since I haven't published book length yet.)

I'm leaning toward suspense romance with an SK-like twist. He begins a common, everyday life story and at the most unexpected moment slips in the twist that takes us on that horrifying, that other-worldly, ride we have come to expect from him.

He said (SK, I mean) he reads all the time. All kinds of things. I recently read Arthur Clarke's space odysseys: 2001, 2010, 2061 and 3001. I couldn't help noticing Clarke's influence on other writers whose work I read...like SK and JD Robb's In Death series. (A highly instructive surprise.)

If I should complete my current novel in progress, revise it, submit it and sell it, I expect to read a critic somewhere who says, "It could be taken from the day's news headlines." Indeed, the seed for this story began with a news headline and is taking on a life of its own, to address issues like "woman's place in a man's world," with concepts like Tammany Hall. (What, you ask, is Tammany Hall? When I asked things like "what does that mean" my mother always sent me to look it up "so you'll remember it longer." Hehehehehe!)

Should my novel be contemporary, futuristic or historic? I've started writing it as contemporary. And now a thought occurs to me. Someone wrote to an online writer list, "I find myself writing the same story over and over again."

Ah! I can write the contemporary version. Then the futuristic. Then the historical, or any order I want, each to address the point: "woman's place in a man's world."

And you can disagree with what I write, if you wish, because "good" literature gets you to think. And THAT is the goal for my writing because it will give my works longevity for that very reason: It makes you think.

(c) 2010 Cathy Thomas Brownfield
All rights reserved -- Contact author for permission for use

What works?

2010-01-14T05:45:00.000-08:00

Is it because I went back to college and completed a bachelor's degree in English with the Writing Minor? Or would I have reached this point anyway? What am I talking about, huh?

I am writing one manuscript after another in rough draft.

I am staying focused as I write one story after another, but the temptation is great to set aside the current work and begin another.

I am reading the Inheritance Trilogy by Christopher Paolini...which actually has been upgraded to a four-part series. I hope it gets wrapped up in the fourth book, but if it doesn't, I will continue to read it because my grandson, Aaron, is reading it. We're reading it together, sorta. :)

I am reading the space odysseys by Arthur Clarke, 1.) because I wanted to read something by Sir Arthur Clarke. 2.) My great-great-grandmother's maiden name was spelled "C-L-A-R-K-E" and she was from England, disowned by her family because she didn't marry the right man, according to one family legend. "They" are all gone now, but "they" used to tell me there were well-known writers in the family but never gave me any names. I am a writer.

The odysseys aren't a series, Clarke advises in the afterwards I've read. But I'm reading them as if they were, one right after another. I am ready to begin 3001: The Final Odyssey.

I have a story I started long ago. I won't mention the title. That can't be copyrighted and I am vain enough to think I shouldn't reveal it at this time. It is a fantasy story. I put it away because I wasn't sure where I was going to go with it. But in reading the two above selections I have stumbled upon an idea for it. But I have to finish what I'm working on first or I will bounce around forever and never get anything finished.

My favorite place at the "department" store is pencils, pens and paper. I found bound journals size 8-1/2 x 11 inches or so. Occasionally I pick up another one. I have several and picked up the one, the cover of which is designed with hummingbirds. I was keeping notes from various projects in it. I decided to write a novel in it, longhand. The first draft is nearly done. I carry it with me everywhere I go. All of the pages are together, in order, and I have no choice but to write from beginning to end. I suppose any notebook should do, but currently I like these journals. I am meeting goals. I am writing daily. It is working for me.

Now, to make the leap to revisions and publication.

New starts

2010-01-05T08:32:00.001-08:00

My muse is giving me trouble. And I'm not happy about it. I am supposed to be spending this year writing fiction. But I feel like I am all over the map most days. There are so many tasks on my daily to-do list. I mean, how long can I ignore my housework?

My honors thesis project director advised me to put Ramblings away for a year. But every time I start something new, it seems to be a restart of Ramblings. So, I guess I'll rewrite Ramblings. I am rewriting it longhand, carrying my bound journal with me just about everywhere I go. Every spare minute I can find, I yank it out and write some more. I'm using the same characters, but I'm focusing more on the relationship between the heroine and her husband than I did in Ramblings. Maybe it's NOT the same story.

I have to be writing something. I have to be writing somewhere. And posted on the window at our local McDonald's is a sign that says, "FREE -- WiFi". Well, it's about time! Maybe I can take my netbook and head to McDonald's when I can't write at home. Since I have to be writing. :D

When I really feel dry, though, I go to something I wrote a while--sometimes a LONG while ago--and work on it. That gets me jump started. For now, I have to set aside the novel writing and get to the Family Recovery writing. I'm falling behind.

(c) 2010 Cathy Thomas Brownfield
All rights reserved -- Contact author for reprint permission

NaNo Success

2009-12-03T18:46:00.000-08:00

In 2006 I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time. And I won. I seem to remember spending hours upon hours working on that manuscript. When it was done, I had met the 50K word count. And put that novel aside to work on "some day." I suppose there were some salvageable nuggets in it but I've never picked it up again.

NaNoWriMo 2007 came and went. I didn't have time for that because I was taking 18 hours of college credits to earn a BA in English with the Writing Minor. NaNoWriMo 2008, I signed up for it but there wasn't time to write that novel. I had one and a half semesters to write a thesis novel. That took priority. I had to orally defend it April 7.

In late September 2009 a fellow writer spoke of a plan she discovered, Book in a Month by Victoria Lynn Schmidt, Ph.D. I found it. I bought it. Chris and I planned to work together. We would do BIAM together in October in preparation for NaNoWriMo in November.

BIAM can be discouraging until you find the secrets of the whole thing. There we were getting lost in some of the activities that we couldn't figure out how to work through. It was easy to set the book aside and ignore it. But I wanted to know the plan before NaNo. What did I have to do to make this work?

1.) Be persistent. When I felt like quitting I had to keep pushing.

2.) Set the book aside and just write. I would do the activities I understood and let the rest go. The important thing was to keep writing.

3.) Figure out where the story was going--beginning to middle to end.

4.) Work into the plan other writerly tools I've collected along my writerly journey.

I probably could number other things, too, but there are some things I want to insert here. I don't want to forget them.

As I was trying to figure out how Schmidt meant the outline to come about I did a few things. First, she suggested using index cards to write the 10 major scenes of the story. Ok. I did that. Then I remembered something I learned a LONG time ago, the "W" format. I grabbed a piece of printer paper and used a ruler to draw a huge W on it. The top three points of the W are Act I, Act II and Act III. The two bottom points are the two major turning points of the story.

THEN, I took the 10 index cards on which I had recorded the 10 major scenes of the story and penciled them in on the proper places on the W. You will have to figure that out for yourself. I suspect it will be different for each author, each story.

THEN, I continued to write. When I felt I was going on a tangent, I went back to my formatting tool and found my bearings. I used a major quote from each of my 10 major scenes that helped me focus on what I wanted to say in that scene. I could keep all my notes together. I could see everything at the drop of a hat...or tangent, and know where I was and how to keep it all in sequence.

I don't know if this will work for you, but I used it when I wrote my NaNoWriMo novel and it worked. As many hours as it took to write that first NaNo novel, I have to say, this time around it came a lot easier. There were days that I didn't write because Real-In-My-Face-Life was beating down my door. And I still made 50K. And I ended up with a novel that I am excited about going back to revise and edit and hone it into something I can submit.

Oh! The other thing...I started NaNo with one novel and ended up changing my mind three days into the challenge to write a completely different novel. And I still made it. I suspect that each novel I start to write will come more easily than the one before. I've always said I want to write 100 novels before I die. If Nora Roberts can do it, Cathy Brownfield can do it. I'm just not sure how marketable that name is...Cathy Brownfield, I mean.

(c) 2009 Cathy Thomas Brownfield

Put it away for a year???

2009-08-20T19:10:00.000-07:00

OK. I graduated from college May 15, 2009. Late-blooming seems to be my forte.

OK. I wrote a novel and enjoyed a successful oral defense. I sent it to a publisher and paid $20 for a reader to critique it. And I got it back, rejected, but with a critique highlighted with the statement, "This is an important story that needs to be told."

Several weeks ago I met my project director, Patti, and my other writing mentor/friend, Maureen for lunch.

"Put it away for a while. Start working on something new," Patti advised.

"A year?" Could I have heard her right?

"Even Stephen King says he puts his work aside for a year before he looks at it again."

OK. It's the waning days of August, four months after the oral defense...five months since I turned in my project to my committee.

"What about the other one?" Patti asked. "The other one I read part of."

She referred to the novel, the first four chapters of which I included in my creative writing portfolio.

Maybe she's right. So, OK. I have pulled out that manuscript--never did finish it, but that doesn't matter. I can finish it now. I am starting at the beginning. And I'll be writing about this process as I go through it.

Oh, yes, I also am writing some short stories to submit to competitions and markets. Seems that I have a lot to say right now, particularly about aging, and even more particularly, a parent's Alzheimer's.

(c) 2009 Cathy Thomas Brownfield

Blocked

2009-06-30T06:21:00.000-07:00

Blocked. Why am I doing this to myself? Or is it the universe at work? Is it negative self-talk, even at this stage of the game when I have graduated from college with honors and know better what I am doing? Or do I? I finished what I started--a Bachelor's of Arts) though I have yet to receive my diploma in the mail. (Not awarded in the leather cover handed out at the ceremony.) But much of my work was independent study. But going back, taking two years to get my feet solidly on the ground after years of floating through financial chaos, things I couldn't do anything about, well, it was worth it for that alone!

A writer friend or two has said the first novel is often autobiographical to a degree. I pulled it out, started to revise it, and felt...I don't know. Like I need to get a better grasp of things. The reader said it is an important story to be told, needs a lot of work. Perhaps the problem is interruptions. Or that I feel like I'm not paying enough attention to Mom. I am her primare caregiver. I never was any good at finding balance between my responsibilities for my family and obligations to myself. I have always pushed me and my stuff to the back burner to tend to "Someday."

Um...I'm running out of Somedays.

I pulled out the manuscript for the novel I was writing before I went back to school. The first four chapters were included in my creative writing portfolio. It IS good. IT needs to be written, too, but since Ramblings is the one I am shopping around, that's the one I should be working on. So, OK. Ramblings it is. And mental block, you must depart. I don't have time for you right now.

The reader said relationships needed more clarity. I remember that my thesis committee asked for the family genealogy to help clarify relationships. I've seen such family trees in complex novels I've read. Ah. So my novel also is complex. Well, that isn't really a surprise. Women's lives, generations of women's lives have been complex. Every time another human being or critter is added to her life, her life becomes less simple, more complex, yet she is expected to keep track of everything, keep everything on track.

Have I put too many characters in this story? Has each one justified its presence in the tale I am telling? Are there enough characters to tell this tale? Six generations of women, each formed by the times they lived in.

Alice Mary, b. 1872, age 19 when she had her first child:
Gabriella Rose, b. 1899, age 32 when she had her fourth child:
Mariah, b. 1931, age 22 when she had her first child:
Amaris, b. 1953, age 21 when she had her first child:
Unnamed, unmentioned, needs name, mention, b. 1974, age 32 when her second child was born
Anna, b. 2007

Alice Mary was born during the Victorian Era, not too many years after the Civil War concluded.
Gabriella Rose was born during the Victorian Era.
Mariah was born during the Great Depression.
Amaris was born as the Korean Conflict ended and post WW2 economics took off into one of the wealthiest periods in American history.
The unnamed daughter lived through the Economic Malaise of the late 1970s and 1980s which began well before she was born--the economic boom that was, perhaps, a facade for what was really going on.
Anna was born during the New Economic Crisis/Recession/Depression/Malaise. All mean the same thing: economic downturn...depression.

Need to know more about the barons, men like Andrew Carnegie, J.P. Morgan and the Rockefellers and their influences on society.

Amaris is central character.

The reader didn't understand why Amaris was so contemplative for so much of the story, but could suddenly make the decision to be gone, and actually execute leaving. I am curious to know how old the reader is that she wouldn't understand this. A younger woman might not. My daughter, Beth, is reading Ramblings for me so I can see what her thoughts, feelings and questions are. She said she can read it right away.

Points I want Ramblings to make:

* women haven't always had rights.
* women teach each other and pass their knowledge to the younger generations as they come along.
* relationships--connectedness--are important for well being.
* communication is vital; what happens when men get selfish
* emotional vacancy harms everyone: have to give, can't just take.
* the more things change, the more they stay the same.
* when the heat gets hot enough, it will blow the lid off.
* religion and faith: interpretations

So, the reader said she wants more from Amaris, her kids, and their life. She wants more story line, conflict; more economic tragedy--go deeper; more depth to husband's suicide threats. OK.

Quick update

2009-06-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

I just want to make a quick remark. I have a LOT of work to do. You're about to read why.

I submitted a novel manuscript right after graduation. The publisher advised me that they would get back to me within a month. It's two weeks later. I got a post. The two remarks that are most important are the first statement and the last statement.

"I think this is a great first effort and an important story to tell, but it needs much more work. I wanted more from the character fully fleshed out, her kids, their life. The overall story flow seemed too long to get through; I wanted more of the story line, conflict, but got way more of the inside of the main character's head which sometimes shut out the other possibilities to explore."

And...

"Brownfield has a voice, but it's tucked away in the cliches."

I did post back to the publisher that the cliches were intentional and directly related to the title. But I am delighted with this response to my work. I've been itching to get back to it with revisions, but I waited until I heard back. The extra sets of eyes reading from an objective viewpoint was just what I needed. I paid $20 reading fee for this manuscript. At the time I thought that was a lot, but I believe the money was well spent. And I'm pulling out the manuscript and starting to work on it so I can build the strengths and rework the weaknesses into strengths. I am so encouraged by this correspondence today.

YES!!!

(c)2009 Cathy Thomas Brownfield

Getting a new start

2009-06-21T21:10:00.000-07:00

The minute I mailed out my manuscript for the first of three novels in a trilogy I began to work on the second novel. Actually, I decided at the end of Ramblings that I was going to do a trilogy. It wasn’t enough to send Amaris off on an adventure of self-discovery at the end of one story. So I already was thinking about the second book in the series. I’ve dabbled with ideas involved with the second novel, the continuation of the story. How will I format it? Will it be the same format as the first book? What will be the focus of it and how is it related to the first one? What characters will return in the second book? Who will be added in this one?

I have a LOT of questions about the continuation of Amaris’ story. I can’t discuss any of the three novels in detail because they are not published and because if I put a lot of my passion into blogs and email posts, there won’t be anything left for the manuscript. I also know that theft of works is common on the Internet even if there is a notice at the end, “©2009 Cathy Brownfield ~ All rights reserved.” I know it’s true. Some of my own work has been pirated online. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the links when I get them. It’s that someone somewhere did NOT ask for permission to use my work. That’s the very least they should be doing. Copyright infringement is a serious issue. Writers have the right to know where their work appears on the Internet. Or anywhere else, for that matter.

So, what am I doing with this second in the series of three that I CAN tell you about?

OK. First I thought about what the first book is about: Between the Rock and the Hard Place. It comes across very clearly and strongly. What is the focus of the second book? The Hard Place. And the third book will focus on the Rock. What does all that mean? You’ll have to wait to read the books. ;) Sorry, but that’s just the way it is. I need a clear idea of what I will be writing about. I know what the series is about, I’ve broken it all down into three books. I’ve written a few passages that have helped me to get started with the writing. It comes naturally that questions arise as I let the whole story percolate in my brain. I write down notes to remind me of certain things, things I don’t want to forget. As I’m synopsizing my novel, I am developing characters and plotting their courses. I want just enough drama to carry the story forward, to make it realistic, believable.
I write in a notebook designated specifically for the novel I’m working on. I keep a journal of my days, not every day because my everyday life is boring, but on days that something particularly interesting or related happens. Anything is game for a writer, isn’t it? But I do fictionize characters to protect the innocent. I don’t want to write verbatim what happens in a real life incident. I want to write a good story which requires building tension in ways that my creative mind concocts. That’s why it’s called fiction. It’s not that it isn’t real. It’s that it isn’t necessarily something that actually happened, but similar to something that actually happened, and to which other people can relate. It’s not that it isn’t truth. Writers are philosophers, seekers of truth and wisdom. I needed to make that clear because someone said, “Let me get this straight. Non-fiction is real and fiction is not.” Uh, no. That’s not right. But maybe it’s just semantics? Someone said that to me once, too.

So, I have a tentative title that relates to the whole story: Sounds of Silence. Since nobody can copyright a title, it doesn’t really matter if anyone knows that. I have the main character, the heroine. I have some supporting characters. I know I must develop some other important characters related to the heroine. I have to sit down and visit with my characters so I know them, because I can’t write about what I don’t know. I must be intimate with my characters.

How long a time period will my novel need to complete the tale? I’m thinking 12 months, more or less. So I’ve built a document containing the 12 months. I am summarizing what will happen in each of those 12 months. Just a general, broad summary while I’m building the characterization. I know where it’s going to take place. And I know that Alzheimer’s is going to play a role in the story. Much of my current work does. It’s a devastating illness that hurts deeply. I know that. My mother has Alzheimer’s. I’m learning about it first hand. A lot of people don’t have any idea what AD is like. They haven’t faced it yet. I want other people to understand AD. I want to keep it in the public eye so research will continue and a cure found. Is it my mother’s story that I’m writing? No. It is a work of fiction very loosely based on things I have learned through this experience. A writer has to write about the things (s)he knows. (Sound familiar yet?)

Someone asked me about writing prompts. I will try to remember to include one each time I write a new blog. This week: Think of a happening in your life, one that deeply affected you, that stirs your passions. Why did it affect you as it did? Don’t take a lot of time to think about it. Sit down and write it out fully. Don’t think about changing words. Just set a timer for 10 minutes and write for all you’re worth, without thinking, of that event. If you aren’t finished, keep writing for as long as the words come to you. Don’t think about it. Just write, beginning, middle and end. Stop writing when you have described the entire event. Then put it in a drawer. Don’t read it again until the next day. When you read it the next day, does it project the very same images you described when you wrote it? Why? Why not? Now you can work to improve it. That’s the editing process. How does it impact you? How can you make it better, stronger? Are you using passive or active verbs? Are you over-using adverbs? (Hint: adverbs are words that end in –ly.) Why did you select the words you used?

Don’t overwork the piece. Tuck it away and read it again in another day or two, and repeat the process until you are satisfied with it. Why are you satisfied with it? What point does it make and are you successful in making the point? Write from the heart. Write from your passion. Write from your pain, your delight. Feel the feelings from their deepest depths.

Write well.

©2009 Cathy Thomas Brownfield

Beginning, middle and end of story

2009-06-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

I submitted my novel three weeks ago. Last week I got an email from the publisher. He read the letter, the synopsis, the marketing plan and a chapter and passed it on to the first reader. I should hear back from them within a month.

It wasn’t an acceptance, but it also wasn’t a rejection. It was encouragement. I’ll take it! And get my nose to the grindstone on the sequel. It’s percolating in my brain, and bits and pieces of the story are making themselves known. My Sounds of Silence (the working title) notebook, once filled with empty pages is filling with plotting, character development, ideas, outlines, details I don’t want to forget about, things I need to research.

Book I (Ramblings), the one I submitted is “between the rock and the hard place.” Book II (Sounds of Silence)is “the hard place.” Book III (untitled) is “the rock.” What does that suggest to you? I guess you’ll have to wait for the book to come out. It’s too early to say more than that.

I’ve decided Sounds of Silence will take a longer time period than Ramblings, which takes Amaris Golden Jewett through one month of her life, December. During that time she sifts through her memories trying to be that phoenix that rises from ashes. Sounds may be broken down into parts of a year. A lot will be happening in that story.

What I’m feeling as I work on this sequel is my mind expanding as I read, discuss, think some more, develop an interesting and appealing story line that says what I think is important to say and still holds my reader’s attention.

How many times did I start a novel, get to a certain point and set it aside because I didn’t know where to go with it? Dig deeper inside when you get to that point. And what does she mean by that, you may ask. I mean, look at your underlying message. What is the message you want to convey? What is so important for you to pass on that you are consumed with building a novel to say it?

Someone asked me once, well, I’ve been asked more than just once, “What is your novel about?”

I said I didn’t know exactly how to explain it to her.

“How are you going to write it if you don’t know what it’s about?”

I imagined a turtle pulling its little noggin inside its protective shell. That represented me to a “T”. From then on I usually say something like, “It’s too soon to talk about it.”

Ramblings works because it comes from deep inside me—the feelings, thoughts, experiences, observations—a LOT of observation—of the people who populate my world, even if they are in my world only a few influential, productive moments.

I recognize now that I must take my conception of something—whatever it is I want to write about—and prove it out. So, let me apply that to the idea that a story needs a beginning, a middle and an ending.

My conception/Beginning => Conflict development/Middle => Proving my theory/Ending

Now, take this itty bit of information and the plot a novel in an hour link I posted last time and see what you can come up with.

By the way, I’m interested in knowing about your “sounds of silence.” What are they? When and why do they occur? What do you gain/lose from them? And are you male or female? Please leave your comments by clicking the comment link. If you don’t want your comments to be publicized, let me know that, too.

Thanks! Now, get to work writers!

©2009 Cathy Thomas Brownfield

Get to it!

2009-06-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

It’s nearly three weeks since I sent out my novel to a publisher. If I remember correctly he said it would be about two months before I would hear anything. I wasn’t sure about the mailing of it. I sent it with delivery confirmation because it was so important to me that it arrive and the postal service has been less than efficient. (Proof? Well, I haven’t received the delivery confirmation that I paid for.) Well, I have ways to find out what I want to know. Mwaaaa-haaaa-haaaaa-haaaaaa-haaaaa. (That’s a sinister laugh, by the way.)

As soon as I sent that first novel out I began work on the sequel. I see the story of Amaris as a trilogy. I also started a romance novel. Listen, romance novels take a huge percentage of book sales. Why shouldn’t I use my skills and abilities to make money? Why shouldn’t I take my cut of that pie? If I have the ability to write them, I should use that ability. Haven’t I always said I am a diverse writer? And haven’t I always striven to write long-lived stories that my readers can relate to? There are some romance novels that I hold onto because the messages within the stories were so deep and meaningful that they are worthy of being on my bookshelf for years and for other readers who come along. I will add that I am selective about the books I keep on my shelves. The others I swap at paperbackswap.com to get the books that I am looking for.

Is it easier to “do” a novel once you’ve written the first one? Well, I have a deeper understanding now about plotting. I did find a source “plotting a novel in an hour.” Sketch a Novel in an Hour by Christina F. York and J. Steven York, www.YorkWriters.com. Based on Outline a Novel in a Hour, an exercise by Alicia Rasley, http://www.sff.net/people/alicia/. It might be helpful to you. But since I know where my story is beginning and where I want it to end, I used the same plotting tools for the sequel as I used for the first novel. I feel comfortable with it and figure by the time I get the third book of the trilogy complete, I will have a pretty good handle on plotting. That should make it easier for me to complete the other novels I have started over the years. And wasn’t that one of the reasons why I went back to college to begin with? I especially want to finish the novel, part of which is in my writing portfolio for my Bachelor of Arts in English with writing minor degree. My reader, Dr. Karen Boyle, advised that she’d really like to know the rest of that story. That’s all I needed to hear. Yeah. :D

Back to writing, now. The obligatory work is finished and my characters await my attention…oh, after I go to the campus and sign up as a guest for the fiction workshop that will be held over the summer. Yeah. One of the perks of graduating with my BA is that I can take 12 hours of courses as a guest. And I’m thinking of working on a BA in History over the next year since I won’t begin my master’s studies in creative writing until fall 2010.

What are you writing today?

(c) 2009 Cathy Brownfield ~ All rights reserved.

Been There, Done That

2009-05-27T06:07:00.000-07:00

Writing comes hard when you are bogged down. This can come from anything. The more weight you carry, the more weighed down you can become. The more weighed down you become, the more numb you may be. If you can't feel, you can't write. Your words won't flow the way they need to.

Writers write from what they know. Writers, like actors on a stage, reach deep into their emotions and expose human emotion, human reactions to the triggers of life experience. That is why we love our favorite authors: they understand what we feel, what we think, because they have been there, too.

As I wrote my honors thesis, a novel, I used journal entries as writing prompts to keep me focused on what I was trying to say. The journal entries are a blend of fiction and non-fiction to give credibility to the story.

The final formatting of the novel may change, but I found it easier to control my project by using daily writing prompts to stay focused and control the continuity of ideas from start to finish. As I work on the sequel, I am using the same tools.

This sounds like where plotting comes into play. I didn't sit down and plot the story. Or did I? Each journal entry for each selected day defined the seed from which that part's heart and action grew. It told who was the central character and why it was important at that particular moment.

I have journaled, off and on, for years, when I have something worth saying. There are many things I only wish I had set to paper because many of those things are long ago forgotten. Still, with the right spark, a flame is produced and stories are written.

From the bits and pieces of the past, events and people, that held important and valuable, grow the characters and happenings within works of fiction. Each person, each character, reacts differently to events that happen. How amazing it is to see new life varies from the same seed to arrive at the same or a similar conclusion.

What are you writing today?

Almost there

2009-05-01T07:14:00.000-07:00

If you stop and think about that, "almost there," it applies to many aspects of our lives. As selfish as it sounds, this blog is about me and my thoughts, feelings and dreams, without being too sappy, if you know what I mean. I am "almost there," ready to graduate from Kent State University two weeks from today. I am "almost there," to submit my first novel to a publisher. I am "almost there," in having enough confidence to believe in my dreams and my Self. And as I complete one goal, there are others to take its place and I am, again, "almost there," in achieving something else. There's something good about being "almost there." It gives me something to shoot for so I always have a reason.

A reason? Well, yeah. A reason to get up and greet each new day. A reason to breathe. A reason to continue putting one foot in front of another. A reason to take on new challenges. A reason to love, laugh, cry, stand your ground, fight for what you believe in. A reason...

For some reason, this is a very emotional time for me. It's not just any ONE thing. It's a whole lot of little and big things and a snowball down a mountain. How do you write anything of value when you are stressed out, it seems to the max, though if you look around there is someone worse off than you are. Why are you stressed out? Well, my elderly parents have had health issues--Dad recently passed away from his. There are two high stressors. I am married and for the time being staying with my mother, away from my husband who would like for me to be at home. Another stressor. My last children moved out the same day so neither of them would be the last to leave Mom alone. Two stressors. Long term financial challenges based on the economy. Stressor. Carrying 14 to 18 credit hours per semester for two years. (Actually the count was 17, 18, 14, 18.)

If I was starting again two years ago, I would have taken fewer hours, maybe no more than 12 a semester. I've learned a lot, but I would have absorbed more if I hadn't been carrying such a heavy load. But I guess it's not so much what I learned in class as what I will do with my awareness of that knowledge and carry it forward with me to develop my ideas, my beliefs, my work.

Ah, it is raining in Ohio today. But there is sunshine in my heart because I am "almost there." Graduation in two weeks. Submitting my novel to a publisher. And I've already begun the sequel to Ramblings. It is titled Sounds of Silence.

My senior honors thesis

2009-04-23T17:51:00.000-07:00

The honors thesis is complete. It was orally defended on April 7, 2009, successfully. I will add that when I presented a discussion about it in my Appalachian Literature class on Wednesday my advisor announced that my novella was noted, “Outstanding.” I hope that an editor will think so, as well, when I submit it for publication. Part of the thesis process is a presentation about what I accomplished, what I learned about it and through it, and how I have grown.
Last year one of my reading assignments was So Long a Letter by the late Mariama Ba. The 90-page work describes the life and society of a woman in Senegal, Africa. This is a black culture, but it is a woman’s story. As I read it I collected bits and pieces from it that spoke to my heart. I knew I would be writing a novel as my honors thesis at Kent State University. After completing the reading and analysis of So Long a Letter I knew that I would write similarly from my own Appalachian culture.

Amaris is an Appalachian woman. She has always been securely attached to her family, willing to sacrifice for any one of the people she loves. She would even sacrifice her own dreams and goals, her own heart’s desires, to see that her family had what they needed, that their dreams came true. Raised in a family where the women are women of faith, she reaches a point where she questions many things: marriage, God and his “called” representatives, men, society, and the rules she lives by— whose rules are they anyway? She sifts through her memories trying to discover (or rediscover) the woman she is and how she came to be that woman.
That’s a pretty general description of my novella. Is it enough temptation too great to resist? We will see.
Let me share with you the process I developed for writing this project.
1. Getting my ducks in a row.
2. Researching my novel.
3. Beginning to write.
4. Over the hump.
5. The defense.
6. Tying up the loose ends.
Getting my ducks in a row.
I created the idea for my novel and put it on paper in a sort of synopsis to present to the Honors College for approval. I met with an agent of the Honors College to discuss my project and agree on the division of hours required to complete the project. I would need to research and write my honors thesis project. Generally speaking, at the junior level work begins on a project. In my case, I was a senior and had to research and write my project in two semesters. Actually, I had less than two semesters to write it. I had to have the manuscript of my novel to my director by mid-March so my reader and committee would have time to read it and request revisions or changes, and allowing me time to make those revisions and changes.
Researching my novel.
I met with Victoria Boccochiccio at the Kent State University Honors College in February 2008. She authorized ten credit hours for my project, five for the Fall ’08 semester and five for the Spring ’09 semester. However, the development began immediately whenever I had a few minutes to spare from my studies. Then, over the summer, I spent many hours reading the list of Appalachian novels to get a feel for the Appalachian genre and my writing references to hone my fiction writing techniques and develop my own style and writing voice.
Beginning to write.
Writing did not come easy. I was registered for 18 credit hours in the Fall ’08 semester, including three hours of Intermediate Spanish, four hours of Modeling Algebra, three hours of Shakespeare, and three hours of African-American Literature. The algebra class began with 10 students and ended with three. It was a difficult class and the instructor didn’t bend at all. I withdrew from the class and opted to take the Intro to Formal Logic class in Spring ’09 semester.
Logic and the creative mind??? Well, I am passing the class.
With the stress and terror of the math class removed, dropping me to 14 credit hours made life and writing easier, but I was also writing weekly articles for Family Recovery Center and running my household as well as keeping an eye on my elderly parents. I was feeling out of my element. Was I in over my head? Could I pull this off? Was I really a writer or was I talking the talk but not walking the walk? Who did I think I was anyway?
Negative self-talk. I had to quit that.
“Patti, it’s not working. I think I’m not going to be able to do this. I need to come up with a new idea.”
“Just keep writing,” she advised. “Just get it down. The fun begins when you start the revisions.”
So I continued to write. But time passed rapidly. I needed to get control of the story. How could I set up the story to most effectively write it? Journaling is a part of my writing repertoire. I used journal entries to serve as writing prompts to keep me focused when I was writing the novella. And it all came together!
Over the hump.
The committee was named, the clock ran out, and, ready or not, I sent the novel to my advisor who put it into the hands of my reader and my committee members, Dr. Karen Boyle, Dr. Roxanne Burns and Ms. Leslie Leahy. My director, Dr. Patti Capel Swartz, set the date for the oral defense. It felt good to have the novel out of my hands before spring break. I wouldn’t have had time to do anything with the novel. My father passed away unexpectedly as we headed into spring break. My mother, who has Alzheimer’s, could not stay alone. All of the adjusting provided a cooling off period so I was ready to prepare my defense in the days just prior to the oral defense.
The defense.
I was a wreck. What if someone asked a question I couldn’t answer? What if I completely blanked out? Everyone told me just to relax and talk about my brain child because nobody knew as much about it as I did. This was an opportunity to brag about my work.
My biggest problem is stress. Stress affects the memory. Panic always attaches to my stress and I am terrified that I will appear to be stupid, an idiot.
My director sat beside me and skillfully took us through the process of questions and answers, clarifications and explanations. And when we were finished I stepped out of the room to await their final conclusions in regard to my novella, my senior honors project.
I was calm. The worst was behind me, and it wasn’t bad at all. When I was invited back into the room I was congratulated on the successful defense. They liked it very much and urged me to submit it as soon as possible.
Tying up the loose ends.
The last part of my project is to write the acknowledgements, print and bind the novella, provide copies to my director, my reader and committee and myself and the copy for the university. Presentation of my experience has been met. And I will be submitting to a publisher shortly.
I have completed a novel! I went back to school to achieve this. And I did it!

Wednesday, 25 March 2009

2009-03-25T07:01:00.000-07:00

So many tales to tell. Where do you start?

I started long ago, writing pieces-parts of the things that occur to me, inspired by the events that take place around me. I needed to write them down somewhere so I could get on to other things. There are at least thirty-five notebooks on my shelf filled with notes for various stories I want to write...someday. But will I get back to them when new events inspire new characters and new stories every day?

As I shared yesterday, my thesis novel was turned in early last week. It is in the hands of my project director, my reader, and my thesis committee. I will orally defend it on April 7. In the meantime, I have begun working on the sequel. I think I might title it Sounds of Silence. It sorta picks up where Ramblings leaves off. Sorta. Because I've never run away from home. While I have experienced some of the things my character, Amaris, experienced, as have millions of women, she experienced more, and had the courage to do what she needed to do: "Physician, heal thyself."

What about all of the other stories I have waiting for my return? I will work on the stories I included in my writing portfolio and the partial of one of my novels. My reader asked if my thesis novel would be the one she read in my writing portfolio, and seemed disappointed when I said no.

"I like the way you get into her head. I want to read more," she said. And that was all the encouragement I needed to decide I'm going to complete that novel as soon as I can get to it. I'm thinking after graduation on May 15.

I have elected to postpone starting my master's in fine arts-creative writing for a year. During that period my plan is to proceed with the WIPs that are waiting for me. No, I can't work on all thirty-five or more. But I can work on the thesis novel and the writing portfolio novel and have them completed and submitted. You have to submit to get published, ya know.

You are the only one who can decide what you are going to do with your writing, where you want to go with it. Then you have to commit to your goals. It's easy to get distracted, to begin to tell yourself you were crazy to ever think you could do something like write a story or a novel. Don't. Don't go there. When that happens--and it will--shake it off. Sit down and begin to write to prove that negative self-talk is wrong. You can do it. You can. Honestly. That's what I did with Ramblings. There's something to be said for accountability to someone.

I would email Patti, "I don't know where I'm going with this. I think I should start something new." But I knew that was not an option. I had only so much time to write a novel for the thesis.

"Just write," she'd answer. "Don't stop to think about it. Just write. You'll get there."

So I would continue to write. I decided on the format I wanted to use so I would be able to complete the manuscript, things like the period of time I wanted to write about and how to best present it. That simplified things for me. When you read Ramblings you will better understand what I mean. I do anticipate that it will be published. My director has urged me to submit it. And I will.

Remember that there will be naysayers, people who criticize what you are doing, asking why anyone would want to read something like that. Ignore them. They don't know what they are talking about. Move forward. And another thing to remember is that anyone who is not a writer can't understand the writer. Writers are a different breed understood only by their own kind. Find yourself a good writer group--in realtime and online. MomWriters.com is a great one for writerly information. If you are looking for encouragement from some friendly writers, I recommend Jay'sWritersWorld (JWW for short). Both are yahoo groups.

What are you writing today?

Fini

2009-03-24T18:30:00.000-07:00

The novel, my honors thesis, is completed and in the hands of my project director, my reader, and my committee. I will be orally defending it on April 7. My director wants me to submit it when we are finished. I will have a chance to revise as per my committee's suggestions. I was blown away when my director said, "This is a superb novel, a powerful story." What more does a writer want to hear about the work (s)he does? And I have begun the sequel to Ramblings.

At this time writing and studying is challenging. My father passed away unexpectedly last week. He was supposed to stick around until I graduate May 15 and for my nephew--his grandson--to graduate from high school at the end of May. He was so excited that I was going to finish what I started so many years ago. I am the first of his branch of the family tree to graduate from college. So I have to work through this difficult time. He knew that I would follow through and finish. And it thrilled him to hear that I will begin working on my master's degree in creative writing in a year.

There are reasons why we pursue dreams...for ourselves, for our families. My #2 daughter told her 13-year-old son that they are going to my graduation ceremony. He is thrilled. She wants him to see this because he needs to know about dreams and making them happen; he is going to college. That is a given.

What does this have to do with writing? Maybe not a lot. Except that writing is my dream, the dream that has fed me for a very long time. And now I am headed in the right direction. I am almost there. The gold ring is within sight. YES!!!

When they say "just write it!" do what they say!

2009-02-19T12:06:00.000-08:00

How many times have I been told or read, "Just write it"? My professor told me to just write the novel down. Start at the beginning and write to the end. Don't think about it, just do it. The fun part, she said, is when the first draft is done and the author gets to play with the words.

It's not as easy as it sounds! But, I started at the beginning and I'm making progress. There are places that I have not finished yet. There are places that I have written but not revised. There are places where the words are VERY sketchy but I think I caught enough of the essence to be able to make sense of it when I get there again.

Do you remember reading what Stephen King said about writing? Writers don't just write. They read, too. And he carries a book with him everywhere he goes. Well, that's what he said. He also said he writes every day of the year including Christmas and admitted later that it was just a lie because the reporter asked the question and he had to answer it somehow. So, I started to carry a book with me everywhere I go. I also read the books I carry with me. They have impact on me, particularly the ones that are under the genre I am pursuing at this point: Appalachian writers.

Let me get you started on your Appalachian reading. This is by no means a complete list! But it is an introduction.

Recommended Appalachian literature:

The Dollmaker by Harriette Arnow
Storming Heaven by Denise Giardina
The Unquiet Earth by Denise Giardina
Oral History by Lee Smith
Eclipse by Jeanne Bryner
The Coal Tattoo by Silas House
Kettle Bottom by Diane Gilliam Fisher

Now, remember how "they" said to study the masters and develop your own style? When I'm reading these other outstanding authors, they inspire me. Memories and thoughts that I'd forgotten long ago suddenly reappear, photographs the mind took back then, but they are as vibrant at the moment they pop back up as they were the day they happened. I can see the reflection of my father and me in the storefront window that long ago day with the sun shining down on us and a smile on both of our faces as he carried me with him. I recall the summer I slept at my grandmother's house because she was so sure George had come back to haunt her...well, the clock that had been on the wall for years suddenly kept jumping off the wall! There are the events surrounding my growing up years...Dad breaking his hip and having trouble with it forever after. Mom being deaf but a miracle came through a fantastic doctor who was able to perform surgery and give her back her hearing. The boy bully in high school who just wouldn't leave me alone. Mom was sure it was because he liked me. I was sure I hated him right to his rotten guts! Oh, excuse me. That doesn't sound very good coming from a mature adult woman, does it? Well, at the time...:) There were the early 1970s when life was good, and the horrors of ripple effect that we learned first hand during the Economic Malaise of the 1980s after the steel mills closed in the Ohio Valley.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Coal was a boom. Then it was a bust. Steel was a boom that went bust. Now the auto industry, once a boom, is a bust. And I wonder, what will be next?

The more I read, the more I remember from my life. The impacts of disasters and good and bad events that affected the nation of my birth. I live in the heart of that nation. The first state and county cut from the Louisana Purchase in the late 1790s, the second town to be founded (Marietta claims it was first by virtue of the ease of landing from the river.) Lisbon, Columbiana County, Ohio, founded 1803. A major player in American History. And my goal, my interests, my gold ring will be the successful writing about my home place because I am an Appalachian Writer!

So, read about your genre. Read about the authors who write your genre. Read the history behind it. Write everything you remember. Find the words to express those things as accurately as you can. If a word doesn't seem quite right, look for the right one because it will matter. Write from your heart.

I was growing discouraged with my manuscript for my thesis. I finally emailed it to my director and said I was ready to abandon it. Well, she emailed me today and said--her exact words-- "This is a wonderful piece of work." Wow. OK. I'm back on my feet again. And I will finish this novel in time for my reader and committee to read it. I will orally defend it. I will finalize it and submit it. And it will be published, if I have anything to say about it.

What are you writing? What's in your heart that is dying to get out on paper. Go ahead. Spill that ink across the page in chicken scratchings that you can play with on your journey to perfect your own writing style.

Negative critics

2009-01-02T14:27:00.000-08:00

I have been writing since high school. I was a newspaper reporter, photographer, editor and publisher over a 14-year period. I started college (an education major) at age 28. I returned to college at age 54 to complete my bachelor's degree. I have sold some sweet romances to a magazine and the editor asked where I was going with my writing--"We need to talk." My female professors tell me that my writing skills are excellent. The male prof, Dr. E. gave me an A- for Senior Seminar (English major requirement) because "it's your first semester back to college after a long period of time." This same prof, teaching Shakespeare, gave me a B+ because my writing is "incohesive." So I let him know that my evaluation for his Shakespeare class was a B+. I was especially concerned about the 15 class hours we did not receive instruction because only two or three of us showed up for class and he canceled, sent us home. He didn't want to put a heavy "burden" on those of us who did show up. But I thought this was a lecture class so the burden was actually on him. If students care so little about showing up for every class, why would he feel the need to make the lecture twice? And wouldn't the burden be on him, not the students? Except when he came in and said, "I'm tired. I don't feel like teaching tonight so I'm going to let you students talk tonight."

This prof criticized my starting an occasional sentence with "And..." I guess he hasn't looked at the 2006 Pulitzer Prize-winning The Road by Cormac McCarthy. This book is not broken down into chapters. It's one scene after another from beginning to end. And there are a lot of sentences that are actually sentence fragments. I'll bet this prof of mine would have discouraged McCarthy even submitting the manuscript to a publisher, this book that was actually honored by Oprah's Book Club. I didn't want to put it down! The sentence fragments didn't bother me, or the absence of apostrophes in words like can't or won't. The story is that good.

In all of my years of writing, Dr. E. is the first person to tell me my writing is "incohesive." I interpret that to mean he is saying that I am a "bad" writer.

Why am I sharing this in my blog? Because, as I told Dr. E., if he is the only person in 20-plus years to say I am a bad writer, I have to believe he is wrong and that I am a very good writer, which will be proven when I complete my senior/honors project (completing a novel), defend it through its review process, achieve my graduation and submit the novel to a publisher. Did Dr. E. think an older woman like me had no business attending college? I don't know and I don't care. I know I have to believe in myself to succeed. How I talk to myself, negative or positive, is what will determine my failure or success. Positive self-talk => Success.

So, ignore your naysayers. Don't think negative thoughts. If you know you are a good writer, believe it, trust it, do it. And ignore those who would discourage you, convince you that you have nothing important to say, "incohesive" writing skills.

As for my male prof who says my writing is "incohesive," I can only say that arrogance is the tragic flaw that has taken many to their own destruction. Nothing will please me more than to prove that he didn't know what he was talking about when he said my writing is "incohesive." I invite you to do the same with your negative, nonsupportive critics. You'll have them. So will I. That doesn't mean they know better than you and I do. It doesn't mean they are smarter or wiser than we are. They are human and subject to error. And we never know what is going on inside others. We can only know what they allow us to know. Maybe, just maybe, they are envious of our skills and are employing Machiavellian skills to prevent someone else succeeding where they know they cannot.

Happy writing! Get to it! Why are you sitting there procrastinating?

Just out of curiosity, how "incohesive" do I sound to you?

Home is Where the Heart is

2008-12-11T05:52:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how hard I have worked for my Shakespeare class and I still don't have the A. The prof is demanding professional level critical essays about the Great Chain of Being and the roles of women in human society. Yes, he allows us to rewrite as much as we want to raise our grades. And he takes days to read our e-mail papers. I submitted the final revision of the last paper on Tuesday. Today is Thursday. He hasn't responded, I don't know my final grade and all grades have to be in by tomorrow, I believe. I guess I'm not going to worry about it. Or the $3,500 scholarship from the Ohio Board of Regents for graduating seniors with a 3.7 or higher GPA, to be applied to grad school.

For a while now I've been saying to my advisor, "Am I smart enough for this?" She's been saying, "Yes, you are." Then I realized my error. "I am smart enough, but am I knowledgeable enough?" THAT after all is why I went back to get my degree. I have been meeting and exceeding requirements for my classes. I've been learning A LOT. But have I learned enough? My instrauctors raise the bar for me so I have to work harder. Ohio, and counties like ours, Columbiana, having the lowest education rates in the state, is working to raise the numbers of college-educated citizens. When our students graduate from college, they don't come back here to live. If they graduate here, they move away to greener pastures. So, I know that completing my education is important to my region. My instructors know I'm going to, in all probability, stay right here. It's where my children and grandchildren live. And it's where my fictional characters live and dream and work. This is home. Home is where the heart is, and writers write what they know, what is in their heart.

My sense of community has been with me for a very long time. I've dropped out of sight public-wise because of my heavy school load and responsibilities as regards my family. But my goals remain steadfast. My stories, fiction though they be, reflect my community, and hopefully, will draw tourists to our county, and perhaps draw new business interests here, given that the region has been working on improving infrastructure for a while now.

OK. I should stop editorializing here. This is a novel-writing blog.

I said to my Shakespeare professor, "I am a creative writer, a writer of fiction. My goal is NOT to write critical essays." In essence his response was, "That's why you're having a little trouble with critical essay writing. They are different beasts." These aren't his exact words, but my interpretation.

I grumbled to my advisor, who also is my instructor in yet another literature class. I'd been beating up on myself pretty badly because of the word "incohesive" that the other prof attached to my writing. ME??? INCOHESIVE??? My advisor advised me not to let the critical writing affect my creative writing because I am an excellent creative writer. Well, that made all the difference to me. So, if I end up with a lower grade than I expect, well, I've learned a lot that mmakes me a better thinker, more critically-minded in interpreting what I observe and put down in words, and can only mean the quality of my fiction is better.

When you hear someone say, "Writers read a lot," they aren't 'just' reading the genre they want to write. They read Shakespeare who is a master at presenting the human condition and creating 'catharsis' for his audience. Compare Romeo and Juliet to West Side Story, and if I remember right, Hamlet to As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner. The complete works of Shakespeare weighs about forty pounds. (Well, it seems like it.) But there is a wealth of knowledge and seeds for more stories from creative minds. Shakespeare's ideas came from his observations of his world and his society. My ideas come from my world, my society. Ah, the other thing is the importance of placing the story in a different time period to keep you out of trouble. Will did that because his patrons included the British monarchs Elizabeth I and James VI, whom he did not want to offend. Didn't Elizabeth remark that she was Richard II? Haven't critics suggested that Perdita from The Winter's Tale bears a strong resemblance to the young Elizabeth whom her father, Henry VIII, bastardized when he accused her mother, Anne Boleyn, of adultery and had her beheaded?

The only Shakespeare I ever read was Julius Caesar when I was a freshman in high school. But with this introduction to his works, I will study his work, read and reread his plays and think about the human condition from a modern perspective. I will read non-fiction as well as fiction, the genres I want to write and other genres, too. And I will not allow critical essay writing to influence my creative writing, for the creative writing is where my heart is. Home.

Shakespeare a feminist?

2008-11-30T05:27:00.000-08:00

It seemed like the professor was saying that William Shakespeare didn't like women. He supported that idea with things like, Shakespeare left to his wife only one thing--the second best bed. Everything else he left to one of their daughters and her husband. And he wasn't kind to the women in his plays. But perhaps that's not exactly so. Look at the times in which he lived, the ways that women were treated: They could be educated at home but they couldn't go to school or university. They could work as domestics, but they couldn't be in the professions. They could be artists or writers as long as their work was within women-appropriate subjects like religion. (I guess artists and writers were not considered honorable professions. That's not really a new concept to me.) Perhaps he was protecting his wife from the "Man the Hunters" who would be looking at the wealth rather than the woman and gain control of the Shakespeare fortune. And if he really didn't like women when he was young in his career, his perspectives must have changed as he aged because eventually he "infused women with life," another English professor told me. (I wish I could claim ownership of that because I like it very much..."infused women with life.") He wrote them strong, wise.

When our class viewed the movie Hamlet with Kiera Knightly (sorry, the spelling looks wrong) playing the role of Ophelia, I felt so sorry for the pitiful young woman. But by the time I finished my 10-page essay yesterday I came to write, "Hamlet's Ophelia is the dutiful daughter. There is no mention of her mother. She was raised by her father and brother who told her when to do what. She obeyed, as she was supposed to do in proper society. But both parent and sibling undermined any of her attempts at decision-making, self-determination...Ophelia manages to defy them, for in death she has gained her autonomy, her agency to speak, 'No, I am not a piece of property. I am a human being, an individual in my own right'...There's nothing anyone can do about the choices she finally makes. Ophelia appears weak, but..." it appears she was strong enough to break the bonds of patriarchy, bringing me to remember what so many African-American slaves said, "Better dead than in bondage."

I should explain "Man the Hunter." There is an essay at press.princeton.edu/books/stanford/chapter_7.pdf which discusses "Meat's Patriarchy." Essentially, "meat" is a metaphor. "Meat" is social currency. "Meat" is used to represent anything of value that someone wants to control for their own benefits, that which gives them power, authority...agency. Read it. It is interesting reading. Then read some of Shakespeare's work. I recommend King Lear, Hamlet and The Winter's Tale. Pay particular attention to the "daughter" and "niece" archetypes. Ah, the daughter archetype appears to be Ophelia, the Mouse Trap, who is dutiful and does what she is told because her brother and father know what is better for her than she does. Given opportunity, she will attract the attention of a wealthy man which will provide political advantage for the males in her family. The niece archetype decides for herself what she will do and be. That would be, in my opinion, Perdita in The Winter's Tale. She is a princess, unbeknownst to her. She believes she is the daughter of a poor shepherd. With no wealth to attract a man she is not a Mouse Trap. She can make her own decisions because there is little impact on anyone else. The prince who has fallen in love with her knows he cannot tell his father of her because he will find her unacceptable because she is daughter of a poor shepherd.

OK. As you are reading the plays, take some notes. Jot down concepts that you want to learn more about...patriarchy, empowerment, archetypes, mythology, classical Greco-Roman writers like Aristotle and Sophocles, Machiavellianism. Don't look "just" at Machiavelli. Look for his binary opposite. (Come on, I can't give you ALL of the answers, now can I? Hehehe.) Look at the Elizabethan and Jacobean reigns. Then think about your stories, your current work in progress.

Studying Shakespeare has been one of the biggest challenges of my return to college. I've worked hard to understand and give some semblance of having some intelligence throughout the study, and I've learned how to read Shakespeare. I'm not so afraid of him now. :)

(c) 2008 Cathy L.T. Brownfield

Whew! That's some kind of way to start a Sunday!

Freezing

2008-11-22T10:24:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's freezing here in NE Ohio today, but the sun is shining. And there isn't a lot of snow on the ground. Other places aren't so fortunate, and I'm glad we live just a tad below the snowbelt. :)

There's a different kind of freezing I want to talk about for a few minutes. What do you do when you freeze up and aren't sure where to go with your novel? I signed on for the NaNoWriMo, but I'm way behind. However, I learned a couple of nights ago that I can write 2,000 words in 42 minutes. And I still think I can reach 50K by Nov. 30 if I write something every day. I'm writing, but not every day...or maybe I am because I carry a notebook with me everywhere I go, even if I have to find a smaller one to tuck into my handbag. (I tend to carry larger handbags.) What else have I been doing?

I once took a large piece of posterboard and outlined a novel on it. I showed it to my writing buddy, Maureen, who looked it over politely then said, "Very nice. Now. Put it away and just write a good story." Um...I had spent a lot of time on that posterboard. Shouldn't she have been impressed? So, OK. I brought it home, lost it, and began to write. And I felt like I needed to go back to school to learn about novel writing because I felt SO lost! And I went back to school.

Why is it that, in some classes, I don't get the drift until we're half way through a semester? And now I'm wishing that I could do the Shakespeare class over again? For me, at the beginning, I was so overwhelmed by Shakespeare. It seemed like there was so much in his plays that I had to absorb. What was I supposed to be looking for? Absorbing? Ignoring? How could I work this study into do-able parts? (Something I learned a few years ago was when I break down a massive project into do-able parts I am more likely to complete things because I'm NOT overwhelmed.)

Ask and you shall receive.

First, there are terms we need to understand. These are some of the things we need to look for when we read a play by William Shakespeare:

* Peripetia--change of fortune, reversal of circumstances.
* Anagnorisis--critical moment of discovery.
* Hamartia--tragic flaw.
* Hubris--pride/arrogance that brings downfall.
* Deus ex machina--a contrived device to stall action; the gods intercede in human conditions.

I was so stressed out trying to figure out this class that I couldn't remember those definitions to save my soul! That's how I knew I was so stressed out. I began a mantra: Calm. I will be calm. I will do what I can do and not stress over it. I will be calm. I can do this. I needed more tools for my Shakespeare toolbox. I went to the Internet. I thought I had written down the URL, but I can't find it, unfortunately, because I'd really like to give credit to the educational resource. It's out there somewhere.

Draw a diagram, a triangle without the line from point A to point E. Label A Act I and E, Act V. Half way up the left side of the pyramid label a dot Act II and on the opposite side of the pyramid label a dot Act IV. At the pinnacle labe a dot Act III. To take the labeling a little bit further, Act I is the introduction of characters and initial conflice, Act II is rising action, Act III is climax, Act IV is falling action and Act 5 is resolution, or denouement.

Voila. You've just had your introduction to the five-act play.

Now, when I pick up any book to read, whether for my studies or for leisure reading, I begin to look for the same qualities I find in Shakespeare's works. What is the tragic flaw of the characters, particularly the villain? How do the philosophies of Niccolo Machiavelli and Sir Thomas More come through the piece? What is it that makes a literary work long-lived? Are the characters "larger than life" or are they "full of life"?

Here I will mention Gloria Naylor's novels, Linden Hills and Mama Day. What is it about her characters that cuase us to fall in love with the characters and their stories? What is it about her work that makes us forget about issues of "color"? Because Naylor is a woman of color, but her stories talk to me, remind me of my ancestors, as Toni Morrison urges us to understand in her essay "Rootedness: The Ancestor as Foundation." We are rooted in our ancestors and we should remember that to give meaning to our writing.

I must also mention the stories of Denise Giardina who writes of families in Appalachia who have been coalmining families for generations, as much enslaved by company stores and housing as slaves on the plantations and farther back in history the serfs of medieval feudalism who were owned by the land and never allowed to leave the land, with no conception of "Who am I?" ever entering their minds until the Industrial Revolution that brought along with it capitalism and the Renaissance thinking that gave them the courage to finally question and rebel against the aristocracy. In effect, good fiction is about the human condition and how we relate/can relate to the words that speak of what we all have in common: human condition.

Now, how does a writer know what to leave in, what to take out, and how to embellish a story to make it publishable? In other words, how do you "just write a good story?"

Why?

2008-10-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

"When the poet Jean Toomer walked through the South in the early twenties, he discovered a curious thing: black women whose spirituality was so intense, so deep, so unconscious, that they were themselves unaware of the richness they held. They stumbled blindly through their lives: creatures so abused and mutilated in body, so dimmed and confused by pain, that they considered themselves unworthy even of hope. In the selfless abstractions their bodies became to the men who used them, they became more than 'sexual objects,' more even than mere women: they became "Saints." Instead of being perceived as whole persons, their bodies became shrines: what was thought to be their minds became temples suitable for worship. These crazy Saints stared out at the world, wildly, like lunatics--or quietly, like suicides; and the 'God' that was in their gaze was as mute as a great stone." ~ Alice Walker, In Search of Our Mother's Gardens

Why have I started this entry with this particular quote? I am a white woman. And when I say, "But I know of this because I've been there, done that," I am told that a white woman cannot understand the plight of the black woman. I am told that no matter what I have experienced in my lifetime, it is nowhere near what women of color have experienced. If this is so, then why do these words of Alice Walker hold such meaning for me? Enough meaning to affect the story I am writing?

There is this competitive thing among all human creatures. Everyone wants to be top dog. But there are only so many top dog slots. And I recall a thing or two that my mother used to say when I was a kid. "The one who talks the loudest gets the furthest." Who said, "Walk softly and carry a big stick"? "There's always someone else worse off than you, if you think about it long enough." Who said, "You think too much"? "(S)He who laughs last laughs longest and loudest." Who said, "It ain't over til the fat lady sings"?

Disability. If you have a disability and inform the university of it, they will see that you get what you need to have equal opportunity to the same education as everyone else. But, who wants to broadcast their disabilities? If you can't hear, mostly it must be because you're getting old(er). If you're older everyone looks at you and smiles as if to say, "It's admirable that, at your age, you are going to school. But, what are you going to do with it?" "I don't mean to say you're old, but..." If you are too small, too overweight, too anything, you are bullied by other people who are more perfect...well, closer to the ideal human being. If you are over age 37 you can't get a job with the U.S. government because you are "too old." If you are a threat to someone, you are blackballed. If your skin isn't the right color...if you are female...if you are impoverished...

The women in my family who preceded me were deeply spiritual, relying heavily on their faith to endure the hardships that came to them. My great-grandmother spoke about her mother who had "married beneath her station," so her father disowned her. And didn't I read just a few days ago that English aristocrats who didn't want someone to be in their vicinity would pay passage for the offender(s) to the U.S. Louisa and her husband, John, within a month of their marriage, found themselves on the ship, The Atlantic, in New York harbor. They came into the U.S. through Castle Garden, NY, which predates Ellis Island. They made their way to Pittsburgh, Pa. where he secured a job as a bookkeeper. Three years later Louisa was so homesick they packed up their two daughters and their belongings and returned to England. But something unpleasant happened, and the couple, another three years later, returned to Pittsburgh. Great-grandmother said her mama died of a broken heart, even if the death certificate says "enteritis."

When their father was struck by a train and killed in 1891, the children were taken in by various families. Great-grandmother was the second eldest. She was smart and did well in school. So well that the family who took her in were intimidated enough to stop her going to school. She worked cleaning house and working in the fields until she married. Her husband, at least in their older years, was an alcoholic from whom she was rescued by her daughter and son-in-law, my grandparents. My grandfather died at age 48 in 1945. My step-grandfather battered my grandmother. My mother married my father. There were issues--marital and health--between and for each of them. There have been issues--marital, financial--for DH and me. And these things have affected our children, as well.

Everyone lives during hardship at some time in their lives. I'm not sure sidestepping hardship is a good thing because it's the hardships that you endure, from which you rise from the ashes like the phoenix, and come out stronger, wiser and a better person. At least, that's what I have found. Everyone has at least one bully in their lifetimes. Well, that's what I have found in my experiences. Please understand, I am not making a blanket statement, a one-size-fits-all statement that applies to every situation. I can speak only from where I am.

Nobody has burned a cross in my front yard ever. But how many times did I walk around the bend in the road from school and find four or five bullies pinning my little brother to the ground and beating his head against the macadam street? And when I started high school, that jock from the in-crowd...if he saw me 50 times a day went out of his way to humiliate me in front of everyone in the hall--and the hall always seemed to be packed--50 times a day. And I found myself taking alternative routes so he wouldn't see me and start running me down. And the teachers didn't stop that bullying. How many times did someone at church remark that my family "wasn't regular" because we weren't at church every time the doors opened and piety means being at church every time those doors open. Oh. That would be machiavellian thought because Machiavelli wrote that nobody knows who we are on the inside. We are known by how we are on the outside. Which conflicts with something else my mother said, "Don't judge a book by its cover."

I am not saying that women of color haven't been treated horribly. I'm saying that because I'm white does not mean I don't understand hurt, discrimination and cruelty. And I guess my writing is going to reflect that.

William Shakespeare, like all writers, wrote about what he knew. We can't help but do that. It's how we manipulate our experiences to a style that doesn't tattle on the people in our lives, but does have appeal to the masses because they can relate to those things writers write about. So it is little wonder why fledgling writers wet behind the ears are advised, "Write what you know."

Now, get busy. Write what YOU know. Somewhere. In a notebook, journal or diary. In a blog. In a piece of fiction that you will submit. Write what you know.

Eight weeks and counting

2008-10-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

Has anyone visited my blog? I can't blame them if they are not. When was my last entry? It isn't really AD/HD, though it may appear that I can't stay focused on one thing long enough to finish the tasks. It's something called "Overload." And I have no one to blame but myself. School. Family. Home. Parents. Children. Grandchildren. Job. Studying. Writing.

What are my priorities, you ask? I just listed them, though not by order of importance. Actually, that order can change at the drop of a hat! Or at the changes in the household, as when all the children are independent most of the time but still manage to have needs at vital moments in the rest of the Big Picture.

But this is a writing blog. So, OK. Let me write a bit about what I'm trying to accomplish and why. First, I am publicist for a counseling agency, and have been for nearly nine years. Can it really be over nine years since I left the newspaper??? At the very least, I have a weekly article to write. I also am an English major trying to wrap up my senior year and graduate by May. That means an African-American literature class and an upper level Shakespeare class and five hours a week of novel writing...in addition to the Spanish class. Seems like there should be plenty of time for writing that novel, doesn't it?

Well, then, why am I procrastinating? Because I feel overwhelmed by the amount of work the prof expects for the Shakespeare class. Someone NOT taking the class looked at the essay writing assignment and said, "This sounds like a thesis!" Well, that's what I thought, but who am I? So, I will use four of Shakespeare's plays to discuss "power," Machiavellianism and the kings about whom Shakespeare wrote. I did pull out something called "History's Timeline" and I got a book entitled "Origins of English History." The paper will get done...and studying for the quiz we will take Thursday night...over, I am not sure what.

Then there's the African-American lit class. I had not thought about there being such a genre until last semester's U.S. Literature, 1865-1945 class. Langston Hughes wrote about lynching. This was a man who lived in my lifetime, and lynching was still happening in 1974--the year my first child was born! In the late 20th century!!! How could this possibly be in the modern world? But just today I saw a book online about slavery today and what we can do to stop it. Exploitation of people in foreign countries or exploitation of Americans? Because aren't we being, at the very least, discriminated against in the employment market? And someone made a very good point last night: In World War II the factories were turned into plants to manufacture war needs. But there are no factories here to do this now. Where is our war manufacturing work at? Some foreign country that works for pennies against our dollars? Is our own government for the people by the people shipping that work overseas because it's cheaper there? What are we supposed to do? What are we supposed to live on? Or is this a way to get Americans to take low-paying jobs...Maybe I give the government leadership too much credit for manipulation.

Goodness! Sounds like a rebel has taken over my laptop. In light of everything that is happening around the world, I am concerned for the wellbeing of my world, my community, my family. And I keep telling myself that the sun will still rise again tomorrow as it has done for eons. Life will still keep keeping on, even if the economy is belly-up and, well, let's face it. In my world recession is spelled D-E-P-R-E-S-S-I-O-N. Let's fess up to it instead of building a house of cards. The first step is admitting the problem. It gets easier with each step after that, right?

OK. Let me walk away from that. African-American Literature has a way of making a body sit up and take notice. It forces everyone, regardless of color or any other difference, to stop and look at their own belief systems, their own values systems. I can say to myself, "Self, you know it doesn't matter what color a person's skin is. You know Mama would still beat on you if you were disrespectful to anyone of any color." I can say to myself, "Color doesn't define intelligence." But in all honesty, I can remember a time when Affirmative Action came along. Equal Opportunity Employment. And I thought then, what if that meant my husband--who might be more qualified for the job--wouldn't get it because there were obligations to hire minorities who might or might not be qualified. But the feds insisted they had to be hired anyway. They deserve the jobs, but my family has the same right. If it IS a right.

OK. I'm slipping away from my focus again, it appears. Except that writers write about the things they observe in their lifetime. Shakespeare did that. He didn't care whether he was accurate about history or not, said our prof. He wrote about the issues in his lifetime, but he put those stories into times long past. Shakespeare wrote during the reigns of Elizabeth I of England and her successor, James I of England (James VI of Scotland). And Elizabeth was qoted as saying that she was Richard III. Or was it II?

So I have this novel to write over this semester and next. And I'm lost. I am completely lost! How could I have let go the thread of the novel I was so sure I knew I was going to write? Is it because it is not my passion? When I said, "I liked So Long a Letter by Mariama Ba. It spoke to me and I will write MY story in a similar manner," what was I thinking? Why did I feel that way? Who were the characters that came to mind?

Should I be honest at this point? I am not writing true to the characters. I'm trying to force it to be what is "right" and "acceptable." But the characters want their story told the way it is.

I remember a long-ago friend. When we first met I thought she was obnoxious and loud. In fact, I was kind to her but I didn't really want to have a friendship with her. But I got to know her and found her to be a compassionate, considerate human being, a wonderful sense of humor. I enjoyed the hours we spent together talking, laughing. She and her son were at our house frequently.

But then some truths came to light. And THAT is the story that begs to be told. But how will people interpret it? Will it be acceptable? How can I MAKE it acceptable? Or CAN I? The story has to be written as it is, as the characters dictate because it is THEIR story, THEIR lives, not mine.

Does this make sense to anyone but me?

Shakespeare

2008-08-30T17:36:00.000-07:00

I think I'm going to like the Shakespeare class. It's practically a study of my family roots: Britain, Ireland, Wales and Germany. OK. Heinz 57. But the point is, the history of England has everything to do with Shakespeare's writings and where my family roots are, what made my ancestors become what they became, do what they did.

I apologize. That has nothing much to do with me writing a novel, does it? Well, OK. I went to the first class session. The class meets once a week for 2-1/2 hours. We watched a video about Henry VIII and the Tudors. We went online and looked up a few terms: deus ex machina, peripetia, anagnorisis and hamartia. Hm. Interesting terms. I won't give them away. My mom had a saying, "When you have to do it yourself you remember it longer." So, go look up the terms and come back.

THEN, we looked up Aristotle's The Poetics. The three unities of tragedy, according to Aristotle, teacher of Alexander the Great, were 1.) action: no digression; no subplot; one unified action; 2.) time: 24-hour period; 3.) place: one location. OK. We got that. "Shakespeare broke all the rules," Dr. Erritouni advised us.

He asked us if we'd read any Shakespeare. Well, I am an English major and I hated to admit that I haven't read much of Shakespeare. In high school we studied Julius Caesar. About 15 years ago I watched the production of The Taming of the Shrew at Kent State Salem and reviewed it. That's about it. Though, it's not that I never tried.

In about sixth grade the Weekly Reader (children's newspaper from my era) featured a story about Macbeth. I went directly to the library, do not pass go, do not collect $200, just directly to the library! And I asked Ginny where to find it. "You are too young to read Macbeth." "But my dad said it's OK for me to read it." "Sorry," Ginny said, "but no. You are too young and we can't lend it to you." So I moved on to other things. And Shakespeare wasn't one of them.

So, then, on Friday night, I broke out my Complete Works of William Shakespeare and began to read Richard III. And I actually understood what I was reading. And I actually could envision the scene taking place, the emotions. And I was amazed!

The study of Shakespeare involves study of the history of the times, so I don't know the point of the reading just yet. But you can follow my lead and come Friday--if I'm really motivated, Thursday night--I will share what I learn.

Writing involves reading, studying, learning things we never were aware of before. And taking what we've learned and putting it into practice in our writing. For instance, in the African-American Literature class we are reading The Souls of Black Folk at this time. It was written by W.E.B. Du Bois. Is it just me or could the things I've read so far have been said by women--white, of color, or any other variety of women? Could the same things be said for what is happening to the Middle Class today? Can understanding these things make my skills stronger as I write my thesis: a novel?

Searching

2008-08-28T06:39:00.000-07:00

I am writing a novel. Everyone has their own process of information gathering and plotting, I guess. I e-mailed my project director, "I'm losing my focus. I'm afraid I can't write this story." She wrote back, "Just get down the first draft. The fun will start when you begin to revise. It'll be OK." It's very nice to have someone to nudge me: Just get down the first draft...It'll be OK."

So I am writing the first draft. Initially I determined that my novel would be about 90 pages, as was Mariama Ba's So Long a Letter. Now I think it will be longer. And I'm trying to get down a first draft although I know that some, perhaps much, of what I am writing will be edited out...chopped from the final draft. I am pulling from my memories. If you read my blog yesterday, you know I watched that Toni Morrison interview about Beloved and noted all of those things...like writing from what I remember.

I read a lot. Writers are supposed to read a lot. And I observe a lot. Writers are supposed to observe a lot. I think I make people uncomfortable when they realize I am observing them. Maybe they think I'm rude, or something far worse. None of us REALLY knows our neighbors well, do we? But I'm using the bits and pieces I find in readings and observations, to weave the tapestry of my tale. And it is fun, as well as hard work. And if THIS part is fun, I can hardly wait to finish the first draft so I can get to the even more fun part of revision.

I make it sound like I haven't done that part before. Maybe it's something a writer thinks about every time (s)he begins writing a new story.

Have I given enough of a peek into what I'm doing to help other writers on their journey? Morrison said to give a little and let the reader bring her/his own emotions with them. Maybe I've said enough for today. It's time for me to get back to work...er, fun...er, writing.

On Writing: Toni Morrison

2008-08-27T05:35:00.000-07:00

A lot of students expect to show up for class on the first day of each new college class, collect their syllabi and cut out early. That didn't happen in ANY of my classes on Monday. Modeling Algebra...full class time and a headache. Intermediate Spanish...full class time and the surprise that I remembered so much after four months away from it. African-American Literature...Dr. Swartz loves teaching too much to let us go much before the end of class time.

We took care of the formalities and got right into the topic with a dated video featuring an interview with author and educator Toni Morrison. She discussed her novel Beloved, how she got the ideas for it, how she wrote it. And just as I do in a lecture, my hand was busy scribbling notes to myself:

self-sabotage
self-murder
narrow and deep
a little, not a lot
remember
oral history
characters as large as life
physical
spiritual
culture, where is it?
history, where is it?
slavery: a product sold
musical, written simply
reader invited in with their own emotions
rich, effective
leave space
quilt language so the fire can be seen
write the way one remembers
resurgence of spirit
what is really infinite
intimacy between us and our ancestors
always accessible presence
exorcism: things must be made, fixed, memorialized, released, thought, felt

Those all are Morrison's words and thoughts about writing. I took them, put them down on paper so I can go back, again and again, to test my own writing against them. And I will carry around Beloved until I get it read. And in this class we will be reading another of her books, The Bluest Eye. Just as I latched on to Doris Lessing's work when she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in February 2008. Morrison is college educated. Lessing never attended college in her life. Both are writers of high esteem. Both share their knowledge of the skills of writing. Could I find better mentors anywhere?

So this is what "they" meant when they said I should study the works of authors I enjoy reading and learn from them.

(c) 2008 Cathy Brownfield

Writers are...

2008-08-21T07:26:00.000-07:00

This week I’ve been giving thought to Chapter One of The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. I started out doing the morning pages each day, complete with blurts and affirmations. I’ve gotten way behind on my other writing because I’ve spent so much time with those writings. One person said he didn’t need to waste time on writing prompts, which I don’t regard these writings as writing prompts. But I do have other things to do. Like writing. My blog. My short stories. My novels. And I do need to take time to read. Good/great authors don’t just write. They also read. Everything they can get their hands on, just as Irene McKinney, West Virginia’s Poet Laureate said. And Stephen King has said repeatedly that he carries a book with him everywhere he goes. He doesn’t worry about offending people socially since a writer lives a mostly solitary life anyway.

OK. So some people don’t like Stephen King and think he writes too long. I guess everyone isn’t challenged by long books, thick books. I always have been. I can devour short books in no time when I don’t have anything else to do. Which brings me to another comment I have heard, but I can’t remember who said it. “Every writer needs a housewife.” Who has time for scrubbing woodwork and walls, scouring sinks, tubs and toilets, mopping floors and such when there is so much writing to be done?!

On the other hand, at this stage of my game I’m thinking, “What is REALLY important in life?” I mean, we are born, we live and we die. When we are born, we are so busy learning how to become independent. It generally takes us about 18 years or so. I think I was pretty independent by the time I was 12. We learn what our elders consider “important.” Then we may spend 25 years trying to live by those things only to discover, as Snow Patrol sings, “forget what we’re told, before we get too old.” Life is just what we make it. What WE decide is important, what matters.

I get in trouble occasionally because at church the evangelist tries so hard to force us into obedience. I am unwilling to blindly follow what any human being tells me. Firstly, my mother taught my siblings and me that we are to do our own thinking, make our own decisions. We are to be responsible and dependable. Honorable and true. And I can’t help believing that God expects us to question anything that could lead to our downfall. My interpretation: Don’t blindly follow anyone. Look at Jonestown. Waco. And any other cults where people just blindly accepted what they were told and did what they were told…like feeding poison-laced grape Kool-Aid to their children and dying en masse. Those people didn’t test the humans who were leading them. I am unwilling to do succumb to something like that. And I guess that makes me a rebel. Fine. I am a rebel. And a woman of faith. That is good enough for me.

What does any of this have to do with writing? Writers are readers. Writers are philosophers. Writers are thinkers. Writers are observers. And writers write what they think. There can be some risk involved with that.

Welcome to my world.

Writing prompt?

2008-08-19T08:37:00.000-07:00

The discussion at my writing list about the book The Artist's Way took an unexpected turn. Aaron said he read the book a while ago, but didn't need to waste time with writing prompts. As I read his post I began to analyze the purpose of The Artist's Way. Is it really about writing prompts? And, it wasn't long ago that I said I didn't have time I wanted to waste blogging when I could be doing real writing.

So, OK. My take on Chapter One of The Artist's Way. I don't think of it as writing prompts. I'm not "practice" writing. I'm not "warm-up" writing. When I'm writing my morning pages and blurts 'n affirmations, I am getting my issues for the day out of the way. I'm thinking on paper and getting my mind ready to work...clearing out my mind so I'm ready to be productive.

Writing prompts are different. You are given an idea to write about and you write what you think of in regard to the prompt

Now, the last thing I need is writing prompts. I have a gazillion ideas to write about. My biggest problem is time--or lack of it--to write all of those stories! So, what am I getting out of this?

1. Clear away distracting thoughts that slow me down.

2. Eliminating negative self-talk that says I can't do this writing thing successfully, mostly from things DH has said like I'll never make anything as a writer. And what I say to myself, "I've never been good enough, what makes me think I'm worth anything now?"

3. To get writing out of the way that I have to do so I can get to the other things that I want to work on. The more I do, the better I feel because I'm producing more!

Can writing prompts do all of that? I am thinking, "No." I've used writing prompts. When they are finished, they are finished. Meaningless. They do not inspire me to write more. My inspiration comes from positive thinking. But it's only been a couple of days since I started working with this course. Let me see what it's like in a month or 12 weeks.

Writing and The Artist's Way

2008-08-18T08:26:00.000-07:00

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron was mentioned at one of my writing lists on Sunday. Ah! I own that one. I just saw it…right…there!

Early last spring—or it may have been mid-winter—someone told my daughter Lilo about it. Thinking it might be a good read for both of us, I bought it. But both of us were busy with school so neither of us had gotten around to it yet. Why didn’t someone mention it three months ago? It’s a 12-week course! I started it this week and classes at Kent State resume on Monday. I am registered for 18 credit hours! Shakespeare, African-American Literature, Intermediate Spanish I, Modeling Algebra and five hours on my senior project/honors thesis (writing a novel in my final two semesters in undergrad studies. What’s one more “class” of independent study?)

Cameron advises that this concept is not just for artists. It’s for writers, lawyers, doctors, anyone else who feels stifled, held back from achieving in the areas of their artistic abilities. But here’s something she said that hit me where I live:

“Intended fiction writers often go into newspapering or advertising.” (27)

Mea culpa. I was mother to two young daughters and spent much of some nice weather sitting outside with pen and notebook scribbling a bodice burner the likes of Rosemary Rogers’ style. It was REALLY moving along. The kids were content playing outside in the sand and riding bikes and playing house, and I was content playing with words. I should not have been surprised that I could write that story. I was born to write fiction!

I shouldn’t have been surprised when the economy crashed and I had to go to work. Actually, I wasn’t surprised. I still remember the day I thought, “Things will never be the same again.” It was about 1980. So, I knew instinctively what was coming. So, I went to college but was forced to drop out before I finished. I ended up working in the newspaper business. And one day as I was laying out newspaper pages at my editor’s work station, I thought, “I am 46 years old. I can’t continue to do this. I have to make a choice: work for newspapers until I retire or write my fiction. I can’t do both.”

I couldn’t bear to give up my fiction writing. My husband couldn’t bear to give up my paycheck. I quit my job. Missed newspaper work. Started my own newspaper—which required more hours than before. And so, I suspended pressing of my paper, not because it failed. It didn’t. People loved it! But I couldn’t work 60-plus hours a week when I had children to raise and they figured majorly into why I had quit my job.

So, though this seems a tangent, actually it is not. I have started writing my “morning pages,” sorting through thoughts and feelings and concerns from all of the years I have been breathing. I have my first day’s “blurts” and “affirmations” completed. I allow myself to write because that was part of my plan when I quit my job, whether my husband can grasp the concept or not. And writing was a part of God’s plan for me or He would never have given me the talents I possess.

Destressing so I can write

2008-08-17T13:09:00.000-07:00

Getting started writing something isn’t usually a problem for me. Is my stress because I have to write a novel and I’m terrified I won’t be able to do it? What am I doing?

I have my handy dandy notebook with separate tabs for different purposes:

Work calendar to record daily progress: total word count, total pages.

Possible titles for the finished work that may occur to me as I’m writing.

Chronology: list of chapters and main idea for each.

Characters and Events: list of names and things I don’t want to forget and may make reference to at another place in the book.

Theme, Situation: To help me and progression to remain focused.

Plotting: what is going to happen from beginning, through the middle and to the end of the story.

Characters: Notes about the characters to which I can refer as I’m writing so I don’t waste time going back to look up the details I need.

Outline: a flexible plan for what I want to do so I can stay on track, brainstorm more conflict/tension that builds character strengths and a better organized story.

References: what I’ve found in my research and where I found it.

First draft: I print out daily what I have written. There are things I know I will cut out, but at least I will have a beginning point from which to build.

At the very front of my notebook is the genealogy of the characters I will be writing about. Between all of these things I have gained some insight into what I want to do, where I expect to go with my story. I have broken the novel down into parts because maybe the key, at this point in the game, is the breaking down into doable parts that I will join together through the revision process.

So, the writing block with which I started today has given way to production.

Conflict in writing

2008-08-16T20:26:00.000-07:00

“Read with a tension-sensitive eye,” writes Donald Maass in his book, Writing the Breakout Novel. You will find the words and explanation in the accompanying workbook by the same title. Maass says you can’t have too much tension, a.k.a. conflict.

Romance author Shirley Jump advises her online writing group when things get slow, throw another elephant into the room. She refers to conflict.

Think about what captures you when you read. Can you see the tension in the scenes? Detect it in the dialogue? Is it the specific words the author uses? Does the writer say it or show it? How? How tightly woven are the threads of the tapestry to make a neat, orderly story that carries the reader along for the adventure?

Think about a tense moment in your life. Can you put it into words? Do the words you use describe the conflict (i.e. tension) you felt? No? Rewrite it. Let yourself experience the moment. Immerse yourself in the situation. Put yourself smack dab in the middle of the scene. What do you feel? Do you sense danger in the air or something else? What about the body language of the characters? The scents in the air? The environment/surroundings? The emotions? The passions within each character?

At the moment I am struggling with my characters because too much autobiographical stuff is getting into the story. I have created plenty of tension, but do I know my characters as well as I need to know them to write this story? Is it their story or is it my story?

Writers have shared that there is a certain amount of autobiography in everything we write. I will say that means that writers have to write about what they know, so a certain amount of our lives will be in each of our works because we are writing what we know. So, it’s back to the drawing board—er, excuse me, the pen and paper—and to work.

What's in a good novel?

2008-08-15T10:13:00.001-07:00

My writing friend, Maureen, looked at the chart I had made. I'd spent a lot of time creating a tree and time line to record my characters, their story lines and their connections to one another. I did it because I was so terrified that I wouldn't remember all the details that I had to weave together to a finished tapestry when I concluded the writing of the novel.

"That's very nice," Maureen said. "Now put it away and just write a good story."

Well. Um. That was quite an anti-climax, and she must have realized that she'd burst my momentary creative bubble. On arriving at home, she had posted an email to me to encourage me to just write a good story.

Last year a writing friend from Texas, Bo Drury, took a challenge at one of our writing lists, Jay's Writer's World. She wrote the first draft of a novel, 50,000 words, during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) in November 2007. In March she asked if there was anyone willing to read the novel and critique it. I was buried up to my eyeballs in classes at Kent State University but I said, "If you don't mind that I can't get to it until the semester is over, send it on to me. I'll read it."

She sent it to me. I started to read and edit immediately, but I didn't get very far. It wasn't because the story wasn't good. It was because of the demands on me. Now, with the new semester only about 10 days away, I sat down yesterday to finish it.

"Was this the first draft of your novel, Bo?" I asked.

"Yes," she answered.

I love the novel and who can help but love the main characters, Harry and Doris. I won't go into the story because it's a work in progress, and it does need more work, but Bo Drury has a writing voice that I am so impressed with. If she can write this well in a rough first draft, I can hardly wait to see what it's like when she finishes her revisions! And I've encouraged her to do so. What a read! Her descriptions take you right to the place. Her characters are believeable and this reader really cares about them and what happens.

At the same time I've been reading Bo's WIP (work in progress) I've been reading something I got in my gift bag at the Malice Domestic conference that was held in Alexandria, Va., at the end of April, Chili con Corpses by J.B. Stanley. Have you read it? Do you like Mexican cuisine? Do you like an entertaining read? A good story? Stanley has managed to do what Maureen advised me, "Just write a good story."

Chili con Corpses takes place in an Appalachian town in Virginia. (I didn't know Ohio and Virginia both claim the cardinal as their state birds.) The Supper Club, aka The Flab Five, is on duty to solve the mystery of the dead twin. All the while there are romantic moments as well. Librarian James Henry, a divorced man, doesn't see his relationship with Lucy going anywhere. But there's someone else who is interested if he can ever get over Lucy, who happens to be preparing to test for becoming a sheriff's deputy.

James lives with his widowed father. Don't think that men can't play matchmaker. Arriving on the scene is local chef instructor Milla who impacts not just their culinary skills, but becomes involved in their lives, as well.

But who would want to kill a beautiful, young woman with a successful veterinary career? And why? The Flab Five leave no stone unturned in finding the truth. Sgt. McClellan wants everyone from the murder scene to be brought together in one place to figure out exactly what happened to Parker Willis.

If you can feel good after reading a murder mystery, this is one you can enjoy. Stanley even includes some Mexican recipes throughout the novel. So, do I put this book on my bookshelf or do I put it with my cookbooks?

(c) 2008 Cathy Brownfield

Outlining develops novel idea

2008-01-09T06:15:00.000-08:00

Outlining is recommended for a successful "big novel." (Albert Zuckerman, Writing the Block Buster Novel.) Outlining helps to organize the story so you can make it the very best it can be. It appears to me that a good outline makes the writing part SO much easier!

My DH has a tendency to say, "Writing is easy for you." To which I usually answer, "Yes, the writing is easy. The hard part is molding it into something an editor will want to buy." I'm thinking the outlining can make that hard part easier because:

1. I can develop characterization. Zuckerman writes that you can't just know your characters. You have to LOVE them. You have to know them through and through, their backhistory, their inner thoughts, why they do what they do, what can be expected of them, how they can surprise everyone. You need to know your characters thoroughly.

2. I can develop the plot and know where the story line is going. This allows me to write with the greatest freedom so I can fully develop the scenes I am writing and bring out the best and worst of my characters. I can see how that would create more tension in the story line and draw the reader more into the action of the plot.

3. I can tell a better, stronger story when I have a map to go by. That says it all. I want a strong story with strong characters. Even if it is far-fetched, I want it to be believable if not realistic. And I want my readers to think, "I have to watch for her next book." With a plan on the table in front of me, I can delve deeper into the interiors of my characters and write them stronger, better, more intensely.

I reread the chapter about the outline process last night. Today I will be rewriting my outline. My novel is about three women, three generations in a family whose lives are woven together into a tapestry. Not an unusual situation for a novel. But I can see from the first outline and from rereading Zuckerman's comments that I need more conflict. I need to clarify the principal characters and their conflicts. And I need to tie them together with more detail. I need to let my imagination run free as I brainstorm concepts for scenes that will let me do what Maureen advised long ago, "Just write a good story."

Onward and Upward

2008-01-08T14:24:00.000-08:00

Writer friend Jay Hudson sent a book to me: Writing the Block Buster Novel by Albert Zuckerman, forward by Ken Follett (c)1994; published by Writer's Digest Books. He told me, "It's yours. Mark it up however much you want to." And I am!

When my advisor at school told me to make a list of reading resources I will be using for my senior thesis project I listed this book on Jay's recommendation. And now I've read most of it and I'm working by its recommendations. Zuckerman writes, "...there are authors who commence a novel without first working up an outline. Outlines, they say, cramp their creativity, inhibit their characters from roaming free and becoming interesting, and take the joy out of writing because this planning process denies them the possibility of making wonderful discoveries that come to them." And this spoke volumes to me.

Do you know how many novels I've started to write without an outline? An outline seemed to be an impossible accomplishment. But I have written to various points in each novel and came to the conclusion that I couldn't complete it because I had no idea where I was going with it. Whatever seeds I had started with, I lost sight of them. So this outline thing, I think there's something to it! And I am pleased about that because for my senior thesis I will be writing a novel!

Zuckerman uses Follett's novel, The Man From St. Petersburgh, as example of what he's talking about. Follett wrote NINE outlines before he began writing the story. Four of them are in this book. And while it seems to be a laborious process of reading, when I told myself, "Self, you want to write 'big novels' so just sit yourself down and read this because you need to know," I read it, and it wasn't nearly the mountain I had made it to be. I just read it straight through. And when I finished, I wrote the first draft of my outline, easily comparing it to Follett's first (and inadequate) outline. So, now I'm reading it again, and preparing to start working on the second draft of my outline because I want this to be everything it has the potential to be.

How many drafts of the outline will I do? However many it takes to plot out the story I want to tell. I will define the "high stakes" that a "big novel" needs to have. My main character(s) will be larger-than-life. I will have "a strong dramatic question," a "high concept," and "intense emotional involvement between several POV characters." Already this outline thing has narrowed down the plot to three short sentences that summarize the strong situation in this story.

Have you written your outline yet? Or maybe you just want to get your hands on a copy of Zuckerman's book to read, study, and learn some things that can help you.

New Beginnings-2008

2008-01-02T06:40:00.000-08:00

It's a new year. I started off in fine style. I got the flu shot in October. I shudder to think how ill I would have been yesterday if I hadn't had the flu shot. And I wonder how long it will take to cough up all of that yucky gunk from my lungs. Gross. Sorry.

I have SO many things to do, from cleaning and scrubbing down the house from top to bottom to all of the reading and writing I will be doing when classes resume Jan. 14 at Kent State University. I got my grades for fall semester. I was pleased. My advisor said the fall semester was the most difficult. But spring semester will find me taking 18 hours of classes which includes Writing Portfolio and an honors independent study class that will include all of my work for Family Recovery Center from Jan. 14 through May 4, three short stories taken from my novel (senior thesis), my poetry, articles for Bella Online's Senior Living site, and anything else that I have written during my return to college. Dr. Swartz wants the portfolio to be more on the creative writing side. So, that's what I will be doing.

My novel. I was going to do one of my romance novels. But I've since decided the one I want to finish for my senior thesis is Remembrance. This story is about three generations of women in a family. Nothing new about that slant, you say? Well, it's being written from my perspective and that gives it a different edge. The good thing about this is that I have someone to whom I have to be accountable as I work my way through the planning, plotting, writing and editing process. I'm trying to get a jump start over the winter break, but there are other items on my agenda, like spending time with the people I love and care about. I guess that means being better organized. I wonder, am I too flexible?

Novel or bust...I choose novel. And this time, I think I'm gonna make it.

UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-08-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

Are deadlines made to be broken?

I'm not gonna make it. I blew my self-imposed deadline to finish a manuscript. I couldn't do it. And I won't make Wednesday's deadline for submission of that unfinished manuscript. I'm not happy about it, but I have to be realistic. So, I'll set some new deadlines. I'll also be setting up a work schedule so I spend the time I need on what needs to be done. Lists. Lists can be good only if you follow them. Making lists can be a great procrastinating tool. So can email, games, and reading.

What a week!

2007-08-10T06:42:00.000-07:00

I took my daughter to her college to get the financial aid and fall schedule pinned down. I said, "If I decline my financial aid, what will effect will it have on my daughter's financial aid?" "Let's take a look at your file," the young woman said, a brief moment later insisting that I talk to the financial aid officer who advised that all of my fiancial aid was not listed on my report. When he had it all listed there was enough money there for me to go back to school...if I use a student loan. I didn't want to do that. But I am going to go that distance because it's necessary for me to finish my bachelor's degree so that I can begin my master's in creative writing.

I talked with my advisor. She spent a couple of hours with me to figure out how I can get this accomplished in a year. She also advised that I should consider applying to the Honors College, which I have the application all filled out and ready to send through the mail. I should do that right now, in fact. Done. The 300-word essay is actually closer to 400. But every one of those words was important to define why I want to be accepted to the Honors College.

Today I am supposed to be revising my novel for submission by Aug. 20. Instead I am working on revision/rewrite of a complete first draft of a novel that I penned in the spring. When I arrive at an impasse I tend to pick up something else to work on for awhile so I don't lose a lot of time. I don't know how efficient that is, but I'd rather be working on something than making excuses NOT to work on something. What does Stephen King say about that?

Plotting and planning

2007-07-25T17:44:00.000-07:00

Too much interruption. I have 25 days to finish that novel and have it ready to mail on Monday, Aug. 20. It's a self-imposed deadline. I want this done. I want it gone on the 20th...or the 18th if I can manage that. It MUST be done. No more excuses. Some marathon writing episodes. It's got to be done.

As I am working on the revisions I also am working on a new manuscript. Each one comes easier than the one before it. How cool is that? Each one is a learning experience.

I read the Harry Potter book. I've been reading Licey's Story for ages. Sorry, Stephen, but you're starting to lose me. But I am keeping it all in the family. I bought Tabitha King's Candles Burning...actually a collaboration with the late Michael McDowell...Says it's a people page-turner. Then there is The Tristan etrayal by Robert Ludlum. I haven't read any of his books in years. One of the guys in the shop at NRM learned that DH's wife loved to read. He would send books home with DH for me to read. When I finished them, I sent them back. That's when I developed my interest in Robert Ludlum's work. But I'm looking for a woman writer to read. This is the first Tabitha book I've purchased. I do have a couple of Joyce Carol Oates. And years ago someone said my writing reminded them of Alice Walker.

Now that the Potter series is complete, I'm working on the Lemony Snicket Series of Unfortunate Events. The series is 13 books long. I have the first four. They read pretty quickly and I've urged a friend of mine with a wonderful writer's voice to get his hands on them and see what he can do. I'm very confident in him, "Jay." Are you listening? Another set I want to read is a trilogy by Christopher Paolini. The first book is Eragon. I don't have that one. The second is Eldest. The third has not been published yet.

Writers write. Writers read.

Revisions

2007-07-09T05:27:00.000-07:00

I'm revising. Carolyn read the first three chapters and advised that she thinks, too, that I'm getting real close. In fact, she urged me to submit the novel. DH asked, "Did you do it??" Well, the first one has to be complete for anyone to read it. They need to know that the author can, in fact, write the beginning, the middle and the end of a novel.

I used to print out every draft but that's such a waste of ink and paper. So I began to write my novels longhand and as I typed them into the computer I made additions and corrections. And kept writing. I stopped printing out.

So, I'm revising. As I finish editing a chapter I print it out. When I stop work each day I note the page number and chapter so I can go directly to that page when I begin work the next day. I'm seeing progress. And I'm not going back to the beginning all the time to "start fresh."

And I imposed a deadline for myself. I can mail this out on Aug. 19 if I stay on schedule. Today I'm going to make a visual to tape up near my desk so I'll keep going, keep my nose to the grindstone and make this novel happen.

The other tool I'm using is a writing buddy. When I mentioned at JWW (Jay's Writer's World) what I'm doing, Bo jumped up to the plate and said, "I'll do it, too!" So we're writing buddies. If you are trying to accomplish your writing projects and having difficulty, and if you've never had a writing buddy, it's well worth trying. A writing buddy is there to encourage you, be a sounding board and help you to meet your goals...and you help your writing buddy to meet her/his goals, too.

Now, get all of your needs together before you start...bottled water, pens/pencils/markers/highlighters, box of tissue, snacks, candy, gum...whatever you need to have nearby so you won't make excuses to get up and walk away too frequently...and get started. The day's getting away! It's 8:40 a.m. already!!!

Research

2007-07-02T08:58:00.000-07:00

Can one do too much research for a novel? I've enlisted the help of a friend to find information for me on a couple of my WIPs (Works In Progress). There's a ton of stuff and I appreciate the time he's put into finding this information for me. It is saving me a bunch of time. I'm thinking, though, that different lengths of research are needed for different genres of writing.

Non-fiction: the more facts the better.

Romance: The bottom line of the whole story is the relationship between the hero and heroine. So the facts are less important than the relationship. That being so, I think that I don't have to go into great detail about the heroine's job like I would for a mainstream or literary novel where the job and the romance are pertinent to the story line.

On the other hand, Titanic, the movie that made out very well financially, was considered a "romance" story. Hm...yes, it was more romance...

Back to work...

Well, after I share this bit of news. Carolyn Garriott, author of Shadow of the Cross, met with a movie producer in California while she was promoting her book at booksignings in June. Carolyn was hoping to be a consultant on the making of the film. But she is writing the screenplay. I'm thrilled for Carolyn!!

Now, back to work.

Research

2007-06-26T19:30:00.000-07:00

I am Senior Living editor at Bella Online. I met a veterans' service representative through my work there. He is a sergeant retired. I asked him about ICE and if they would be the right government organization to find the information I need for the career of the heroin in my novel. He came through like gang busters!!! I have plenty to read tonight.

I spent much of today trying to write an article for FRC. Then, just less than half an hour ago I realized that the article already is written and sent. I don't have to worry about writing an article tonight! Yes! So I can focus on the research reading and novel editing. Yes!

I have imposed a July 16 deadline for completing this novel. Carl asked if I would still want to read any information he can obtain from his contacts. Will I really have the book done by July 16? I want to, but the days are ticking off and I'm not getting close enough to finished.

Eight unique things about me

2007-06-18T05:34:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,
I have been tagged by Nancy Louise McCormick-Kovacich and now I'm tagging YOU. What you have to do, is come up with 8 unique things about yourself, blog about them, then tag 8 more people.
Simple enough, right? Check out another friend's blog at:
http://joyceanthony.tripod.com/blog to see how it's done. If you do or don't want to participate, please leave a message in my comments letting me know, okay?
Cathy Brownfield
cbrownfiel@sbcglobal.net

Eight unique things about me

1.) I proved that you don't need a college degree to enjoy a caareer as reporter, photographer, editor and/or publisher in newspapers. My major was elementary education and I had to drop out of college at one hour from senior standing because I was put on complete bedrest with a multiple pregnancy. I never had a journalism class. I learned on the job at a weekly newspaper and worked my way to lifestyles editor at a daily newspaper.

2.) One of my best childhood friends struggled through the school year when our teacher, Mrs. Pike, had a heart attack. We had a series of substitute teachers that year. My mom has said many times that my playing school with Linda is what got her through that year and passed into the next grade.

3.) I was never a child. I was always a grown-up little person. I didn't spend much of my preschool years playing with children my age. I was always with adults.

4.) I am the eldest child and have two brothers. Billy is two years younger than me. He went with us the day Mom took me to my first day of kindergarten. I cried because I had to stay. Billy creid because he had to leave.

5.) I hated kindergarten. I didn't want to learn to play. I already knew how to do that. I knew small words, my numbers, how to write my name. I was teaching myself to read. I wanted meat, not baby food.

6.) Girls softball didn't exist in our area when I was growing up, so I couldn't play in a league. A girl play boys baseball??? But many days we had enough kids to choose team captains who picked their teams and we played baseball at the corner of North Beaver and West Spruce streets. A ball hit over the church building was a home run. And the one that went through the window was, too. (The elders still wouldn't stop us playing because they knew when we were playing baseball we didn't have time to get in trouble.) I LOVED playing baseball! There's nothing that feels like a solid connect when you bring that bat around and send that ball flying!

7.) My maternal grandmother lived four doors down from us. My brother Billy and I went to her house and climbed the outside stairs to her house. She wasn't home. A neighbor called my paternal grandmother to advise her that my mother wasn't paying any attention to us. Grandma sent my uncle to get the two of us. Mom couldn't find us. Grandma called her and told her where we were and that she wasn't giving us back. Mom told her that if she didn't give us back Mom would have her and my uncle charged with kidnapping and she'd never see us again. Grandma returned us.

8.) My great-great grandmother, Louisa Jane Clarke Skipp, insisted her daughter Alice (my great grandmother/, was related to Queen Victoria. Other family stories say she wasn't related but was either in Victoria's Court or a servant. Alice was very genteel. I'm thinking that she would know what her mother's station was. On the other side of my mother's family, her paternal grandmother was a Campbell. Alexander Campbell was in the region when that generation was living. Are we related? I don't know yet.

Along a country road

2007-05-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

I made a choice. I could take the highly traveled route home from the grocery store, the one that involves traffic lights, lots of houses, businesses, pavement and sidewalks, or the right at the light, along a country road. There were houses, but there also were lawns and fields and trees, and very little pavement.

The sunlight through the leaves on the trees dappled the street, and the scents of spring wildflowers filled the air through the sunroof. I was immediately gratified by the relaxed pace, the ease of passage, the "stop to smell the roses." Mmmmm. By the time I got home I wanted to say to my husband, "Let's drive to the lake." I changed my mind, though, because I know what he would say. "No." Or, "No, gasoline costs too much." Or, "No, I have to go to work in awhile."

I've been trying to make our yard into an oasis that creates the same relaxing qualities as the back way I took home that day. The oak tree is twice as tall as our house, so towers between us and the brutal summer sun. There often is a breeze through our backyard, making it one of the coolest places in our town that I know of on those muggy, sweaty, summer days. I've planted some gladiolas. The hostas are huge, the periwinkle spreading, and the day lilies growing taller by the minute. There are more to plant...I need to do that soonest. It's nearly June!

Likewise, I've been writing stories and novels, and other things. When I stop to look at the beauty of the world that surrounds me, I find my creativity kick-started. When I can relax and read, other of my own ideas start springing forth. When I get a little involved in my community--like the Chamber of Commerce meeting I attended this noon, I gain a little more insight into our world.

So, I'm going to toss some laundry in the washer and sit with my notebook...after I plant the rest of my gladiolas and the 4,800 wildflower seeds. By summer's end I want to see production, both planting seeds of flowers and planting seeds of thought.

(C)2007 Cathy Brownfield

Learning through writing

2007-05-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

It's amazing the things you can learn when you are writing. My favorite writing group is a little band of writers at Jay's Writer's World. We talk a lot, play a little at the place we have lovingly dubbed "The Playhouse." And lately we've been throwing out some writing challenges. We're getting some insight into our own writing through these brief exercises. Nobody participates in all of them, I suppose, but when one strikes our fancies we jump right in and experience small epiphanies about ourselves...well, I do anyway. I guess I can't speak for everyone. But the exercises do offer a jump start to creative thinking and writing.

For instance, I wrote something and thought, "That would be a great challenge."

"Always a new idea brewing in the back."250 words to describe the image that came to your mind when you read that."

The responses were great. Give it a try. Then, open up the file for the Big Story that you've been working on and see if the jump start kicks you into gear.

Read what agents are looking for

2007-05-14T10:18:00.000-07:00

Growth in work.
The first novel is rarely published.
Showing that you aren't wasting time trying to breathe life into a novel that's never going to be good enough.

OK. So, I can see the growth in my work as I write these novels. Just need to be writing more. With every novel I start, I see the strengths better and winnow out the weaknesses so the stories are better and more close to publishable.

A lot of stress has been relieved since DH told me I don't have to kill myself to try to bring in income. Wow. Don't know where it came from, but I'm sure glad he said it! I'm writing more and I'm even getting some housekeeping done. Whoo-hoo! How cool is that?

But the weight thing...I was trying to just eat sensibly. Trying to get consistent about drinking 80-100 ounces of water each day. Trying to get some exercise every day. If I just sit at the computer I can easily drink 5 20-ounce bottles of water daily. But, I can't just sit at the computer all day! I have a gazillion things to do since DD3 gave me the key to her car and said, "It's at your disposal for the next 15 months."

Things are happening for me. Last month DH and I ordered Chinese carry-out. The fortune cookie said, "Major life change is coming for you." Or something to that effect. Whoa! I can see the difference already. Amazing!

Today's checklist:
Laundry -- Check
FRC article -- Almost check
9 article assignment due Friday
Lunch -- Almost check
Senior Living @ BellaOnline article and newsletter -- Check
Novel writing -- Almost ready to start

Chapter Thirteen

2007-05-01T13:11:00.000-07:00

Yep. That's where I'm at. Chapter Thirteen. Now, if I can just get it typed in to the computer from the longhand form. It's not really a problem because I got to thinking. I wrote a 60K novel in October and a 50K novel in November. I know I can write the first draft of a story from beginning to conclusion. I've done it twice. So, I'll do it with this one...working title: Enough.

DH and I were driving home the other evening. I noticed how nice it was, kind of intimate, that the two of us were in the car ALONE. I'm not complaining about two 20-year-old children still living at home. I'm not complaining at all. I'm just noticing how nice it is to be just the two of us, in the car, driving down the highway. Cool. This is the way it was before children.

I mentioned something, a complaint he used to have.

"How long has it been since I said that?" he asked.

He was right. It's OK for me not to have a paycheck now. It's OK for me to do what I have to do. And I felt a little more freedom. And maybe a little closer to him than I've felt in a long time because, well, we were trying to get our family through some very difficult financial times. And now...the time I was always striving for, dreaming of, looks like it might be here. DH and I alone in the car, driving down the highway...It felt good.

The more freedom I feel from the things that have tied me down for SO long, the more creative my mind and the more energy I have. I can write this novel and the 97 other ones that I want to write before I die. It all starts now.

Ohhhhhh, runnin' down the highway...ohhhhhhh, runnin' down the highway...I hear the tune with that great traveling music kinda beat.

Celebrations & Memorials

2007-04-24T12:31:00.000-07:00

It's nearly May. There are a lot of things going on in the month of May. Birthdays are plentiful. But there are writings in the wind. Being the Senior Living editor at BellaOnline.com, I've been looking for great ideas to "jazz up" the site. I've interviewed a couple of authors. One went live at Senior Living this month. One is scheduled for next month. And I happened to be contacted by someone who works with U.S. military veterans.

Carl posted to me to remove him from the Senior Living list because he's interested in newsletters that help veterans. I jumped on the opportunity, "Well, how can Senior Living help? Would you answer some questions and let me write about what YOU do?" He posted back, "Sure will, and I have someone else I'd like to pull into this and answer your questions."

So, in May I will be writing a number of things. May isn't "just" Memorial Day celebrations to remember those who sacrificed for the rest of us so we could have the rights to our opinions. It's also Older Americans Month and Family Violence Prevention Awareness Month. And probably a gazillion others, too.

My FRC work is done, except to send it on. I'll do that this evening when I know for sure that the rep from Adult Services isn't going to call me today. Eloise was hoping for a quote from those folks. My BellaOnline article and newsletter for this week have been put up and distributed. I'm going to read this material I've just printed out from the Giveahand.com site that Carl referred me to so I can compile a list of questions for him and for the website owner so I can get those posted tonight. I want to work on my senior novel that I plan to make into an e-book to be sold at Bella. AND I want to work on the other novel I've been scribbling for weeks.

Additionally, I finished reading The Giver by Lois Lowry this morning. Futuristic, it is about family, memories and life, very apropo to our times when there is strong agreement from everywhere across the country that the American family needs to be rescued. So, I want to finish reading A Door Near Here by Heather Quarles. It is another story about four children who live with their alcoholic mother. The youngest, a 3rd grader, had a homework assignment: Write a letter to your favorite author. Her letter was to C.S. Lewis, author of The Chronicles of Narnia. She wrote that she realized he lived in England, but could he tell her where in Washington, D.C. was the door to Narnia because she really needs to get there to rescue someone who is very ill.

In there somewhere I have to wash some more laundry, make supper and clean up the kitchen. I also have to take advantage of the beautiful afternoon to get in my 30-40 minute brisk walk. How else am I going to lose weight?

Storm of a different nature ~ Interview with Joyce A. Anthony

2007-04-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

Joyce Anthony and I met through an online writer support group, MomWriters. She and I were writing novels at the same time last year. Joyce has finished hers and published it in March. For me, I'm still writing. And I'll get there. In the meantime, please join me in welcoming Joyce to my blog to talk about her new release, Storm by Joyce A. Anthony.

CB: What message does Storm send to the reader? What is the theme of the book?

JA: We are so quick to judge, both ourselves and others. Yet those we judge are not always as we see them. There is a greater depth we must explore. Everyone has a story, and we must take the time to know that story.

CB: What is the one thing that would/should draw someone to read Storm?

JA: Readers will find within the pages of Storm at least one person they know. It is a story they will find recognition worldwide. The themes, the characters, are universal. Anyone who seeks to understand basic human conditions will find answers within the pages of Storm.

CB: I believe this is a Christian fantasy. What about it would make it appealing to other belief systems?

JA: I write from a Christian perspective, but the spiritual messages portrayed within the pages of Storm are universal--love, pain, understanding, acceptance, and faith. Storm does not preach nor try to convert. It is for anyone who seeks to love and understand his fellow human beings and himself.

CB: Who has influenced your writing style the most? Why?

JA: I think my two favorite authors have found a way into this book. Rod Serling always challenged his readers to see that "reality" as we know it is often not as it appears. Richard Bach challenges a reader to go within himself and examine all he knows or thinks he knows. I believe Storm contains a bit of both these elements.

CB: What inspired this story?

JA: The story developed over tiime, from a brief glimpse of a man years ago, to a dream and a question by another writer. All of the characters deal with things I have seen throughout the years, all togehter, the elements joined and created this book.

CB: You are donating a portion of your royalties to a child abuse prevention website. Does the novel have much to do with that topic?

JA: One character, Jane, is an abused child. Her story is important, but not any more so than all the others. I chose StopItNow because they are a group I feel is doing a necessary task, and approaching the matter in a unique way. I would love to have included a charity from each of these issues, but, having to choose one, I chose the one that is closest to my heart and has been since before Storm was born.

CB: Is there a question you hoped would be asked and wasn't?

JA: I think you covered quite a bit, Cathy. These were great questions. What I'd like to do is invite your readers to visit my website to learn more about Storm. Thank you for having me here today.

You can read more about Joyce and her book, Storm, at http://joyceanthony.tripod.com.

Just write a good story

2007-04-17T18:14:00.000-07:00

I had to wait for prescriptions to be filled. It would be a little while. AI strolled through Rite Aid, and ended up in the same place that I always end up: the writing supply aisle. I found a top spiral notebook about the size of a steno pad, but the paper is like a legal pad. It cost over $3 and I didn't want to spend that much on a notebook! But I really liked it. It was the perfect size to carry around with me.

I resisted...walked away. It was the perfect size for the firwst draft of a novel. I had to have it. I paid the price. I went to wait at the pharmacy and began to write.

I had decided to begin yet another novel, not because I wanted another novel, but to put into practice some of the things I had learned through discussions at my online writer groups. The beauty of this particular novel is that I carry it with me and write longhand every spare minute. When the action slows I do as author Carolyn Garriott suggested. Stop...and think about where the story needs to go next. Garriott, author of Shadow of the Cross, set out to "just tell a good story.

My good friend, travel writer and fiction writer, Maureen Creager, has always been an encourager. I went to great lengths to chart out one of my novels in an effort to try and get control of it. I couldn't wait to show her. She said it was impressive. But when I got home, there was an e-mail waiting for me. Maureen advised, "Very nice. Now, put the chart away and just write a good story."

So I carry this yellow, top spiral notebook everywhere I go. I'm letting Isabella, Daniel and Micah tell the story. When the action slows I do what romance author Shirley Jump does: Throw another elephant into the middle of the room.

I like to write longhand so I bought a lap desk. I carry it with me all over the place. My goal is a novel in 2007. If I'm going to write 100 novels before I die, I have to get busy making tracks.

NOVEL OR BUST!!!

Meet other authors

2007-04-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

In the past month I've had opportunity to interview two published authors. And I've learned something I always knew but maybe didn't quite put into concrete thought. It goes back to a mom-ism that I remember from my youth: "You're judged by the people you run around with."

Well, I'm looking at it from a theme perspective. If I want to write well, get published, I need to commune with other writers who know more than I do. The flip side of that is that I owe it to those who follow in my footsteps to do the same for them. That's just the right thing to do...Propagate it...pass it on, as a friend...perhaps a soul mate...once told me. The pay back is not that I will see the end result, but that I was responsible and passed on what was passed to me.

I spoke to Anita Bloom Ornoff several weeks ago and wrote a book review that can be found at www.bellaonline.com/articles/art40029.asp and an interview, www.bellaonline.com/articles/art50069.asp. Anita published an autobiography, Beyond Dancing, at age 83...and believe me, she is now a feisty and young 85, ready to begin work on the next book, her life before she became paraplegic.

Recently I received a request to review Carolyn Garriott's first release, Shadow of the Cross, which I will post at www.bellaonline.com/seniorliving on May 1. We just seemed to click the minute I posted to her about a review copy of her book. At age 70, Carolyn (also feisty and young) didn't just publish a book. She established a publishing house because her publisher was not working with her as she wanted.

I enjoy getting to know women like Nita and Carolyn because they don't let being a "woman" get in the way of achieving what they want to do. It's not about gender. It's about persistence. It's about self-fulfilling prophecy. It's about knowing who they are and what they want and forming their plan of how to get there, how to make things happen for them.

Having a supportive husband makes a difference, too. Hal Ornoff has been his wife's supporter and encourager. You need to read the interview to understand their relationship. And to understand Nita, you need to read her book. The goal of her book was for young people to read it and understand that they shouldn't give up easily on the things that they want. Hard work and persistence pay off.

Carolyn survived two bad marriages. Well, she thought the first marriage was a happy one until her husband came home and advised that a young women's libber had advised him that their marriage was not a happy one. He divorced Carolyn, married the younger woman who abandoned him later. All Carolyn ever wanted was to be a homemaker and mother. Life pushed her to other things. Somehow, though, she and her high school heart throb found each other at age 65 and life has been filled with joy ever since. Check in at Senior Living at Bella Online on May 1 to get the story and the encouragement you might, as a writer or a wife, be looking for. And for the review of Shadow of the Cross.

Now, it's time for me to be working. What are you writing today? Go! Go!

Sunny Sunday?

2007-03-25T06:12:00.000-07:00

I read that Stephen King writes every day of the year. Even holidays. Hm. How does he keep his balance? Of course, when I read that I decided I should be writing every day, too, just to keep up with my characters. And I believe I'm a full-fledged workaholic. DH agrees. My mother agrees. And my dad, another workaholic says, "I know what you're saying."

Perhaps the issue is more of balance rather than writing 365 days a year. I just don't know how to work everything in and get every necessary task completed each day. Balance...body, mind and soul...yoga. I should start doing yoga again. Since I have just made a major life altering decision to lose weight...60 pounds...I have to have a plan to lose by. In addition to the 60 pounds of body weight I want to lose, I also want to lose the negative self-talk that says I can't complete my novels and sell them. I want to lose the toxic people in my life who run me down, don't believe in me, and tell me I'm a failure by not supporting and encouraging me the way I support and encourage them. Maybe I don't want to lose the people...I just want to lose their negative attitudes that I perceive.

So, this is the first day of a new week. A new day. And I can try again from this new beginning.

Oh, the other thing I've been pondering. I hate it when I have to admit I've started yet another novel. Sounds like I can't finish anything. Then I hear an author say, "I wrote five, six, ten, twelve novels before the first one that sold." I can relate to that. I have a dozen novel manuscripts here in various stages of completion. But I get to a point where I don't know where they are going. Then I set them aside and start something new.

I think it's a learning process. Each time I start a story, I manage to write closer to the end of it. I had never tried the NaNoWriMo because I didn't think I could commit to writing 50K words. So, in 2006 I decided I wanted to try it. But I tested it first. I wrote 60K words in October. Whoo-hoo! I COULD do it! So when Nov. 1 rolled around, I was ready to commit to 50K for NaNo. AND I DID IT!

I have spent the time since January working on a novel I started several years ago. I've been ignoring it for two or three days. And I started another story. But this one is different. I can see the beginning, the middle and the end of the story. I know where it started, I know where it has to go and I know where it's going to end! FanTAStic! I am learning through the process.

I read an autobiography to review it, Beyond Dancing by Anita Bloom Ornoff. It will go live at my bellaonline site, Senior Living, on Monday. (www.bellaonline.com/articles/art50029.asp) Nita published her book in late 2003 when she was 83 years young. She's getting ready to start writing her next book...her life before the WAAC. (I guess you'll have to read the review and/or the article about her (www.bellaonline.com/articles/art50069.asp) to find out what that is.

Now I am reading another book to review, and I'm going to interview the author, as well. This one is "Shadow of the Cross" by Carolyn Garriott. Stay tuned. I'll post the links to those articles, too. Carolyn's book was released in 2006. This is her first book, I believe, and she is 70 years young.

I guess there's hope for me since I'm what Nita termed, "still a baby" at age 53...er...Purple 3. Hm. I guess I'm getting used to the big 5-0 decade.

Another week's end

2007-03-23T09:06:00.000-07:00

The weeks are flying fast. One more week in March. One more week in the first quarter of 2007. Whew! Things need to slow down a bit.

When I was working at Salem News, Bob said, "We've got it all wrong. We should be adults at the beginning and work our way to being kids because young people don't know how to properly use the time they have!"

Well, it's paraphrased a bit. That was at least 10 years ago.

It's been a week and a half. Actually, it's been a 2007! With no changes in sight. I guess when one has a larger family there is always something going on. As mom of four daughters, now all grown up, two with children of their own, there is always going to be something going on. So I have to figure out my priorities at this particular stage of my life.

Writing has to be high up there. I have to write. I want to be published. I want to write 100 novels before I die. But with all the interruptions, I'm not so sure how realistic that's going to be for me.

I said to Dad, "I'm a workaholic." I made a point of looking at him because he has been a workaholic for decades. "I don't want to be a workaholic!"

Mom said, "You are a workaholic. You always set set your expectations too high, you can't reach them, then you beat up on yourself because you don't reach them."

She had a point. A valid point. A VERY valid point. She was absolutely correct. Right on the money.

"Moi?"

There's an ad in the paper. A newspaper wants a reporter. I must have been psychic this morning. I picked up the paper and thought, "I should see if they're looking for a reporter and apply." There, when I opened the paper to the classifieds, was their ad. I didn't even have to read it. I recognized the box, the standard ad all the newspapers run when they're looking for reporters.

But there's another issue. I am planning on returning to college in the fall to complete my bachelor's degree. I am one hour from senior standing. I can graduate in a year to a year and a half. Which do I do? I have to have a car to be able to get back and forth to school. I need a job to have the money to buy the car. I can't work full time, go to school full time and have time for my family all at the same time. ssssssssssiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

And what about writing?!

Use the time I have. Take every opportunity I have and can realistically apply. OK. Time to take a shower, dress and get to Beth's to babysit my darling granddaughter who will be 3 months old on Tuesday.

Today's writing challenge

2007-03-21T05:57:00.000-07:00

I have an appointment at FRC at 10:30. Take a few pictures. Talk to a few teens. Write an article to send to the newspapers. I can do that.

I have to finish the book review and interview article with Anita Bloom Ornoff and send them off for accuracy, then put them on the web. I can do that.

I have a little research to do for some teen pregnancy prevention work I'll be doing for FRC in April and May. I can do that.

I have to visit my parents today because I haven't been there for several days. I can do that.

And I have to work on Saved by Grace today. I'm working on chapter 23 of 20. Yeah. It's a little longer than I had anticipated, but I'm flexible. I can do this.

And I should throw something in the slow cooker (it's a Hamilton Beach, not a Crock Pot and I love it! It's brand-spanking new!) so I won't have to stop what I'm doing and go to the kitchen to cook. Well, that's my theory, anyway.

I also have to check all of my blogs and my BellaOnline site to make sure I'm not missing anything.

And my house...there is no little genie taking up my slack. So I'll have to find a few minutes for some housework somewhere. But the day is still young. It's only 9 a.m.

Writing anything

2007-03-20T16:55:00.000-07:00

I've been writing today, but not on the novel. Sunday I worked on BellaOnline articles. Yesterday I worked on getting my blogs updated and ready for a blog tour for Joyce Anthony's new release, Storm. I will be posting an interview with her right here at Novel or Bust on April 21.

I got started by offering to write a review of Anita Bloom Ornoff's book Beyond Dancing. Anita is 85 years young and lives with her husband of 46 years, Hal, in Central Florida. She was permanently paralyzed at age 19. I'm working on the review and the interview which will be posted at BellaOnline and the review at Bella and Amazon and all of it right here at Novel or Bust. Nita's book is a memoir, though, not a novel.

So, I will resume working on my novel tonight for awhile, as I did Sunday evening. A little writing is better than no writing at all.

And there are several other articles I need to write for Family Recovery Center. And there is WomanSongs that needs to be updated...so sadly neglected for SO long.

New beginnings...again

2007-03-19T08:24:00.000-07:00

Novel or bust...I set up this blog as my writer's blog when I joined a writing challenge that would--in theory--help me get my novel written. I was never quite sure whether the challenge was going by plan or just hit and miss by the facilitator. She was there, and then she wasn't. I know from experience that life with a family interferes in a woman's plans, so I'm not being critical, bless that woman's heart!

When the challenge ended, I didn't have the novel finished. I have a dozen of them in various states of completion. I took one of them, though, and decided I'm not working on another piece of fiction until this one is complete. I'm working on Chapter 23 of 20. Yeah. Well, having a plan is good. Being flexible is--ha!--gooder. Hehehe. My word count is right around 67,000 of 85,000.

DH says I don't have a sense of humor and I over-react to everything he says. Well, we never see ourselves as others see us. I delivered my list of reasons why I don't have a sense of humor, but if he's willing to work on his attitude, I'll work on mine, too, but we won't have any double standards.

But I'm still not talking to him about my work. One day, when one of our daughters was right there in the room with us, he said he gave up on my writing anything a long time ago. Our daughter couldn't believe he said that to me. The kids probably would have thought I made it up if she hadn't been there to hear it. So, I don't talk about my writing with him. I don't talk about my dreams with him. We just don't talk much because the only thing we have in common is our children. A lot of couples reach this point in their relationship with two choices: 1.) Jump ship. 2.) Work on the relationship.

And it all affects a writer and the writer's writing. Relationship status affects what a writer writes. It does.

(c)2007 Cathy Brownfield

November Daze

2006-11-14T21:43:00.000-08:00

I wrote 60,000 words, the first draft of a novel, in October, three weeks to be exact. I wanted to write a complete rough draft in October so I'd know that I could do a minimum of 50,000 words for the NaNoWriMo 2006 event. But this month has been a bear! So many things to do, so little time to do them.

And now, I'm too tired to write anything in this blog tonight.

Rainy days and daisy ways

2006-09-28T06:10:00.000-07:00

The title means absolutely nothing. It just sounded good to this writer this morning. I woke up to rain. Actually, I could hear it under the tires of the vehicles passing our house. And when I looked at the bold red numerals on the alarm clock, 7:27 a.m., I was so sure it was much earlier. The sky was so gray. I thought I'd sleep awhile longer since it's such a gloomy morning. But the book on the night table caught my eye. No, I should be reading.

Reading is an important activity for a writer. I've read that countless times. Reading isn't important just to know what the competition is doing, but how the competition is writing. Reading is a study of each writer's process and progress, a continual growth thing. Getting better with each story one writes; figuring out how to write from the beginning to the middle to the end.

I'm just about at mid-point of this particular novel that I'm writing. If I can write one chapter a day, in 30 days I'll have a rough draft finished. It sounds ambitious. But it's something I can do. It's realistic for me. And now it's time for me to get to it. I have a full schedule today. I don't have time for procrastination this morning. Procrastination...a common ailment--or is it just a state of mind--for writers. :D

Sunny side of the street

2006-09-26T17:19:00.000-07:00

Today was a beautiful day in our fair state. The sun shone, the sky was blue, a stark contrast to the autumn leaves of red, yellow and orange. It reminded me of a photograph I took about seven years ago. Seven...that is a symbol of completeness. Interesting thought. Here I am seven years after leaving my full time newspaper editor's position. Seven years of learning, stretching and growing. Seven years of finishing some things I started--like raising children. Seven years of learning my craft of writing...a long haul for DH who thinks I'm never going to get my work published. Of course, he still thinks there is "just" one novel, even when he comes into my office and sees the shelves lined with folders, the piles of notebooks and papers, all works in progress for one project or another.

Am I complete? Hm. Another interesting question. I had an enlightenment yesterday, an epiphany, as I was working on my novel. Some truths made themselves known to me and I have to admit, I was taken by surprise. I don't know why I didn't see these things before. I mean, they were right there in front of me all the time! But I didn't see them, I guess, until the proper time. Interesting.

So, I am ready to begin writing chapters 13, 14, and 15 of a 33-chapter novel. I decided the number of chapters this morning. How many chapters, I asked myself, will it take to tell this story: beginning (introducing problems), middle (defining problems), and end (resolving problems). Well, how many lines are there on this piece of paper at the back of my notebook? 33. Well, that means chapters 1-11 for the beginning, chapters 12-22 for the middle and chapters 23-33 for the end. I began to make plotting notes to myself so I can keep control of my story as the rough draft is written from beginning, through the middle, to the end. It sounds simple, but again, until the time is right, it just doesn't make sense or fall into place. Could I have learned it faster, sooner, in my younger years? Or was I on my way when I decided to take that first newspaper job? Did I hamper my own growth as a writer by working that 24/7/365 job?

I guess that's a moot point and doesn't really matter since I can't go back and change a thing. But I can begin from here because I know more about my craft. I may have more to learn, but I will take what I know at this moment and move forward.

My mom and I sat on the patio all afternoon with our crochet hooks. We talked and giggled and laughed out loud, enjoying the sunshine, the blue skies, the companionship, the tea, the crocheting. I can't remember when I last did that. But I know we make time for the people and things that mean something to us. Mom. Dad. Sonny. My children. My grandchildren. My marriage. My faith. My writing. All are meaningful to me, but are not always in the same order.

I am only now at my midlife mark. I have another half of a life to live and learn and love and write.

Inspiration

2006-09-21T13:01:00.000-07:00

I posted to one of my favorite writing groups today. What is your inspiration, given that Steinbeck--or was it Hemingway?--said that a writer can't be married to his/her inspiration?The writer's mate is the one who keeps the writer's feet on the ground. The passion of a writer's life keeps them writing, creating.

I've been thinking about that some, of late. Does a soulmate have to be the person you love and to whom you are married? Or can you have soulmates who share common interests with you? I don't know.

Does my mate keep my feet on the ground? Oh, yes. Is he my soulmate? As far as my children are concerned, yes. As far as my writing is concerned? Oh, no. He isn't interested in my writing at all. His interests end where the incoming checks are concerned, and he's not seen a lot of that.

My passion? Now, that's something I won't divulge. I have one. And when I think of that passion, my creative juices start flowing and I write well.

What is "passion"? Mr. Webster, if you please?

PASSION: n. 1. orig., a) suffering or agony, as of a martyr b) an account of this. 2 a) any of the Gospel narratives of Jesus' Passion and and of accompanying events. b) an artistic work, as an oratorio or a play, based on these narratives 3. a) any one of the emotions, as hate, grief, love, fear, joy, etc. b) [pl] all such emotions collectively; 4. extreme, compelling emotion; intense emotional drive or excitement; specif., a.) great anger, rage; fury b.) enthusiasm or fondness [a passion for music] c) strong love or affection d) sexual drive or desire; lust 5. the object of any strong desire or fondness 6 [Obs] the condition of being acted upon, esp. by outside influences...

SYN: passion usually implies a strong emotion that has an overpowering or compelling effect.

Is a writer's passion something with guilt attached because the writer's passion is being spent somewhere beyond the people (s)he loves? Can a mate be jealous of the writer's passion? Is that why so many famous writers marry and divorce? Is that why those of us who are writers who set aside our writing for the people we love are less famous? Because we prioritize differently, family first?

What is regret? Not realizing our full potential, our dreams, because we spent a lifetime living for those we love instead of living our lives for ourselves. Is that selfishness? I didn't postulate that there is no room for compassion. Or perhaps my problem is that I've only just been able to break the apron strings that held my children to me and I no longer feel guilty about writing or spending time with the passions of my mind that urge on my desires to write and write and write. And the final question: am I making any sense?

Jump start

2006-09-04T11:19:00.000-07:00

It was one of those moments when I had to make a decision. It seems like lately (the last six months at least) I've been a big disappointment to folks. Commitment became failure because I couldn't honor the promises (commitments) I had made. One of the lessons I learned as a child was that when you make a promise, you keep it, no matter what you have to do. You never break your promises, your word.

Well, when circumstances say, "You don't have the money to do that," "You don't have the transportation to get there," "You have another priority that weighs heavier on you," well, you just...disappoint people.

So I was at another of those junctures. My friend needed to travel to Maine to do some research for her book. She couldn't go alone. I said, OK, we could go. Then reality hit. I wasn't going to have the money to go. I told her, I can't do it. I won't have the money. Then we talked. She really wanted to go. I knew I was letting her down bigtime. "OK. How much money do you think I'll need? I'll try to come up with it." Even as I was saying the words, I knew it was going to be some kind of challenge to make it all work.

Could I afford the trip? No. Was DH upset about me going on this trip? Yes. Did we talk it over and work it out, DH and I? Yes. Can I afford the trip? No. But I made a promise. My friend is always there for me. Can I do less for her? We WILL be making a trip to Maine before winter. We have to. SHE has to be there.

Maybe being away from my desk, my home, my family, for a week will be beneficial for my creativity. I received a rejection from a magazine I am trying to crack. It's not an easy one to get into. But they pay well, $1,800 for 1,000 words. There was an editor's handwritten message for me. Now, editors don't usually write handwritten messages unless the author has made some sort of impression. So, my goal while I'm gone is to 1.) Write a 1,000 word story to submit when I return and 2.) Write 5,000 words each day on this novel I'm toting around. Can I do it?

Well, we shall see, won't we?

Direction

2006-08-22T08:14:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I'm like a kid in a candy store. There are so many things to do, to try, to go, to write. And I get slowed down because I stop to dawdle awhile and when I look at the clock I know I need to get moving. But exploring the world around me is...sigh...what I do, perhaps too much.

My friend, Linda Della Donna, still grieves for her late husband. I worried about her for awhile. Anyone who has done e-mail for awhile knows that without the cues of eye contact, facial expression, body language, voice inflections, any of us will misinterpret anything that is said. I needn't have worried about Linda. She was going through the steps of the grieving process...an individualized journey, no two the same because no two humans are the same.

Linda has a blog, Mourning Joy, that she writes for widows. It reflects a writing talent that warms the heart, joins us at the heart. She is focused. She has found her niche. She knows her topic. She has a target audience.

I asked her if I can link to her blog. She hasn't answered yet. My request got me to thinking...What is it that I should be focusing on? Where is my niche? What is my topic? Who is my target audience? I'm a writer. What should I be writing?

I am working on yet another project...a local business idea that I might want to start. I plan to spend the afternoon working on one of my novels, WG. (Titles are not copyrightable so I won't mention the entire title for this one that has turned into a trilogy.) If I work diligently, I think I can have all three written by Jan. 1, 2007. But if I stay true to form or get real lucky, I might have them finished by June 2007.

I've made a decision. I'm overcoming my email addiction. If I don't use my time writing e-mail I might actually reach my writing goals. So, I'm going to go work on those questions and find my answers. How about you? I'm going to write what I need to write. How about you? I'm going to get focused, find my niche, my topic, my audience. I'm going to write, write, write...

James A. Michener

2006-08-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

Tuesday night I sat down in the living room. On the bookshelf immediately behind me was James A. Michener's Writer's Handbook. I've had that book for a LONG time. I took it down and inside the cover was one of my favorite writing tablets...college ruled, no margins. I can't even FIND that kind of writing paper any more. It was there, though, ready for note-taking.

So today I began to work on my novel again, with Michener's advice still fresh in my mind. There's something new to learn every time you read something. It seems to take a new spin each time, like when you read the Bible. Whatever state of mind you're in, you notice something new that you didn't see before.

Michener died nine years ago in October at age 90. But his work is the kind of work that will live for generations, I think.

I'm feeling...I can't define how I'm feeling. I applied for a job 10 days or so ago. The ad is no longer in the newspaper, and I haven't received any telephone calls asking me to come in for an interview. I'm thinking that I don't have to worry about getting any calls. I'm thinking I'm probably supposed to be doing something else. Like writing.

But friends on a writers' list are talking about traditional vs. POD publishing. Both are discouraging to me today. I mean, how likely is it that I'm going to send in the first manuscript and the editor is gonna say, "Eurika! We gotta sign this marvelous talent!" Well, I guess it COULD happen, but is it likely? Does that sound like I don't believe in my writing abilities? No. It's me trying to be realistic.

Well, if I can't dance, I guess I'd better just keep writing. My current WIP is 30,000 words.

Take responsibility

2006-08-02T09:55:00.000-07:00

Mom said to me, "You can't have the same expectations for everyone else that you have for yourself." Good advice.

Mom said to me, "Everyone isn't as capable as you are, so don't try to measure them by your abilities." Makes sense.

Mom said to me, "You never know who is watching you to see what's OK for you to do so they will do the same things." Wow. That piled on a goodly amount of responsibility to my young shoulders. Being the type of person I am (does birth order have anything to do with it?) I took those words VERY seriously. Yep. I'm the first born and feel like I'm responsible for everyone.

Mom said to me, "You can't carry the whole world on your shoulders." Um, that sounded like a contradiction to all of the above to a firstborn child who was growing up in a challenging world during the 50s and 60s.

Then when I grew up and had some years on me I asked some questions.

Mom said to me, "Why do you ask so many questions? Can't you just accept that some things are?

There has always been a driving need to know things, I guess. I stopped asking so many questions. I became more introverted, more observant, collecting data from Experience, which Mom said was the best teacher. Rather than ask questions, I dug and dug, and watched and listened and read and learned the answers.

Mom said to me, "When you do it yourself you remember it longer."

Mom also said to me, "If you want it done right, do it yourself because nobody else is going to do it the way you want it done."

As adults, Mom and I have talked numerous times about some of the Mom-isms I remember and how I interpreted them, often not in the ways that she meant them.

"I didn't know that's how you took that! That wasn't what I meant! You never know how a child will interpret something that you say."

But I must be a responsible individual because these days my mother says to me, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

My mother says to me, "You are the best daughter anyone could ask for."

My mother says to me, "I love you very much."

But maybe I take TOO much responsibility, jumping into the frey when someone I care about is in over their heads. I've been interpreting that as 'teamwork.' What about my own responsibilities? Do I shirk them to one side while I take care of someone else's business? But do they do the same for me? Are my priorities correct? Can you be TOO responsible?

Perhaps it's time for me to focus on my own responsibilities--like writing and my house--and let everyone else around me do the same. Where does one draw the line? Oh, this isn't art class? Artists don't draw straight lines? There are curves in art and curves in life? How does one get and stay focused? How does this apply to writing? Conflict. Observation. Emotion. Focus...

Submit

2006-07-28T16:04:00.000-07:00

Mom said, "I don't know why you haven't been widely published by now."
"Well," I answered, "they tell me you have to submit to sell."
"Oh."
So, yesterday I mailed a short story to a nationally circulated woman's magazine. The writer guidelines say four months for reply. Of course, my hope is that they will open it, read it and say, "Hey, this is great. Can we send you a contract for the sale of this piece? And we'll send you a check straight a way!"
When I returned from the post office I reached into my pile for another project. Something longer. A novel of about 24,000 words. About 1/3 done. Seems like a good idea. Well, I need to work on some short pieces, too, to get more manuscripts circulating out there. I nearly asked DH how many hours a day he thinks I should be writing. Then I stopped and thought, "What?"
I do have a tendency to spend way too much time with my computer, hidden away in my office. But I love writing. I can hardly think of anything else sometimes. Is writing obsessive?

short stories?

2006-07-26T15:59:00.000-07:00

Why is it that every short story I write sounds like it really should be a long story?

I've been writing flash fiction. Someone told me (Dej) that I had a good flash fiction piece awhile back. I looked for some flash fiction markets and guess what? I found them. They are out there. $20 or $60 or $100, seems like a good start to me. I'm working my way to having 50 manuscripts circulating at all times so I can watch for the checks to start rolling in and keep coming.

So, what are you writing today?

Melancholy

2006-07-25T10:21:00.000-07:00

UUUGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!! Let me get it out of my system for a minute.

My first impulse is to just forgetaboutit. My second is to sit and bawl my eyes out. But my ultimate is to be realistic. Why do I want to forget it or sit and cry? Especially when I know that the sun is still going to rise again tomorrow. There are always going to be problems. And one way or another things will all work out, and everything will come out with the wash.

SIGH!

Ah, the writer's life. If there weren't crises and problems and crazy people and all those idiots out in the world that don't have brain one, what would a writer have to pen about? So, I won't complain. Not today. Well, I'll try not to complain much.

What am I writing? My Sunday article is finished. Just waiting for approval. When I talked to Mary Ann today she said, "I want to tell you, before we get started. There is a 76-year-old woman who comes to see me. She's the sweetest thing. She said you saved her life with the articles that you wrote about depression. She didn't realize she had a problem until she read my articles. She has said a number of times, Cathy Brownfield saved my life. So what you're doing is working. It's helping people."

I was stunned speechless. It chokes me up to think about it. I hate to sound cliche but it truly did humble me. Something I did helped someone else. I've been pretty hard on myself of late. And it all proves that "just one person" can do something that will make a difference somewhere along the line.

So, I guess I'll keep writing...and building my platform. Do you know about platforming? Did I write about that in an earlier entry or was that somewhere else. I talk about writing rather a lot with writing friends.

Platforming is getting your name out there, however you can--articles, essays, public speaking, community service...Get people interested in you and they'll read what you write and when you publish a book they will buy it. "Build it and they will come."

So what on earth have I been waiting for? Well, I've been waiting for all the crises and problems to go away. That's not going to happen. I've been waiting for perfect moments to write. There are no perfect moments. There is only THIS moment. And if you are a writer and you are reading this thinking, "She's talking about ME!", well, what are you doing there sitting reading this? Get busy writing! I'll make it easier for ya. Let's BOTH get busy writing.

Cathy

Life path fraught with obstacles--or challenges

2006-07-22T09:32:00.001-07:00

Man plans, and God laughs.
My mom insists that God has a sense of humor. I surely hope so. It seems like there's ALWAYS something to deal with. I hope I'm passing the test!

Writing...OK. I have to generate faster income with my fiction. So, I sat down to read Kathryn Lay's book, "The Organized Writer is a Selling Writer." She said she has no less than 50 manuscripts circulating at any time. So, I gathered a slew of writer guidelines from magazines that publish fiction. I printed out (from the Works Spreadsheet) a calendar for each of the months July through December. I noted my regular writing work for FRC on Mondays. I decided which market I wanted to write for first and noted the deadline for the piece...and got to work on the submission. I didn't work on anything else until that one was finished.

I have noted various markets, my self-imposed deadline, and when I finish a piece I give it a red note on the date it is finished.

I was cruising along nicely when Life entered the picture. My parents needed me. My children needed me. OK. My pattern was broken, and all needs were legitimate. And I feel like I'm always going to write, but my family is always going to take priority. Does that mean I can't write for a living?!

I sat on the swing on the patio the other day. And it occurred to me that it might be time to finish the novel I've ignored for the better part of seven years. Seems like I know the conclusion of the story now. But first, short fiction that will bring me some income to pay for the trip I'm taking to Maine in the autumn of the year.

There's no time like the present.

Hatching a plan

2006-07-11T06:26:00.000-07:00

I get very frustrated some days. I want to write my novels. But I need to generate income. This morning I remembered a writing plan my friend, the late Bea Sheftel, came up with. Unfortunately her 'plan' is in my deceased PC. But the essence of the plan is still in my brain. Or is it just my own thinking that's motivating me this morning?

I know my writing 'voice.' So I'm looking for markets that use 'my voice/style.' And I'm thinking, "How much money do I need to bring in each month?" This monthly market pays $100-$400 for fiction. And this one pays $1,200 or more for each romance short story or mystery short story. That's not a shabby start. IF I can crack the markets.

So what am I waiting for? I'm not exactly waiting. I think it's mind set. Is my mind set for success or failure? Is it called writer's block? Sounds an awfully lot like Stephen King's character, Mike, in Bag of Bones. Have you read that one? When I sit down with pen and paper do I think, "I can do this," or do I think, "This is stupid and nobody is gonna want to read it?" Self-fulfilling prophecy. I think there's something to it.

A LOT of work

2006-07-05T21:01:00.000-07:00

It's nearly midnight. I have had my behind in my chair at my desk in front of my computer for more than half of the day today...I mean more than half of a 24-hour period. At one point I stopped to think about how I was at the computer, then in the chair beside the window with paper and pencil to work out writing issues, back at the computer, over to the loveseat with paper and pencil again, to work out more writing issues. I even went so far as to put a note on the door, "Do not interrupt creative process except in case of an emergency." I shut the door and closed myself in this room.

Why am I doing this to myself? It's called a deadline. I have to have my revisions done by tomorrow for my friend and editor so the story can be submitted by Friday.

How many times did I think, "I can walk away from this for the day. It's past 5 p.m." Or, "Molly is never going to know if I don't work on this." Only Molly would know because I would never make the deadline. And then she would think I am not serious about writing.

So, I kept my nose to the grindstone all day. Now the house is still. The dogs have been out. Everyone else in the house has gone to bed and shut off their lights. And here I am, still at the computer, almost finished with those revisions. And grateful to have someone to make me be accountable. Yes!

Thinking it through

2006-07-03T08:48:00.000-07:00

I've had some difficulty thinking stories through before I write them. It always seems to work better when I apply seat to chair, fingers to keyboard or pen to paper and write. Write it all the way through. Then go back and make sense of what I've written.

So, I wrote this 12,000-word story thinking it'd be a simple thing to do. Take me a few days, no longer than a week. I mean, it's not like I haven't written stories before AND SOLD THEM. But here I am, three months later, still wrestling with this story like Jacob wrestling with God from dusk to dawn.

Molly asked, "How can we help?"

"I can't think of a thing," I wrote back, "unless you want to read this story for me and see if it makes sense to someone besides me."

"Send it to me!" she answered. So, I did.

The part about her initial comments to me that got my attention was: "profound tale of faith."

Whoa! Hold on! Back up! Someone else was seeing just exactly what I was writing! How exciting! And when she said, "Hold the gratitude. Before we're done with it you may want to punch me in the nose!" well, I was on Cloud Nine, almost. :) I am SO excited to have a knowledgeable writing friend who will give me some guidance, be my sounding board, help me toward my goals. Punch her in the nose? Oh, no. Uh-uh. Not when I'm getting a learning experience of a lifetime. I have alligator skin in the criticism respects.

This morning I've studied my Bible a bit.

"The Lord God took man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.

"The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

Faith is grace. And everyone needs both.

Cause and effect...I took my cup of tea, notebook and pen to sit beside the window. It overlooks our backyard and the old, oak tree there. I listed causes and effects for this world, this humanity that I'm a part of. It is a fitting tool of procrastination for the day. Or is it procrastination? Now I will sit down with Sam's story and determine the causes and effects of his story so that it will be depicted accurately and clearly.

Virginia Woolf, in A Room of One's Own, said that women should write as women, free from the worries of the day. I have the room of my own. Just moved to a new one twice the size of the one I've been in for the past five years. It's comfortable here, and now that the children are grown, I am less interrupted when I write these days.

But still, I need to think through the stories to get them in perspective, filled with the right emotions and dialogues and settings and motivations. My biggest fear is that when I've done editing it, I'll have purified it too much. God bless Molly!

(c)2006 Cathy Brownfield

Believe it or not...

2006-06-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

OK. I started writing this 12,000-word short story. The specs say to send it, especially if you think they'll never buy it because ya might be surprised.

So, I sat down to write a 12,000-word story. I've written and sold 8,000-word stories. What's 4,000 more words? I picked two names out of the air just to give me a starting point, and I began to write. When the pace slowed, I threw another elephant in the room. And I added some more characters here and there. All of those characters had to have names so I decided to surf to one of those websites that has baby names and their meanings.

Did I say I snatched names out of the air?! I checked the meanings of the names for the characters that I had. And the meanings of their names all fit with the characters! I kid you not! Mind you, I checked the meanings AFTER I had the first draft nearly finished!

This story has gripped me. I have written others that I didn't finish. I walked away from them. But I can't walk away from this one. It won't let me go! Research. I need to research.

Avian flu. Check. Uh-huh.
Pandemic. Check. OK.
Dreams. Check. I didn't know that!

So I wrote some more. But there was something missing. Research. I need to do MORE research.

Black Death. Check. I knew that stuff, but it's good to refresh.
Physical and spiritual death. Check. I knew that, but I'm puzzled about some of it.

Dreams...are they in the wrong sequence? Yes. But moving them around...UGH!! What a challenge! Am I leaning too heavily on dreams? Should they be blended into series of dreams rather than separate dreams?

More research. I need more research! Meanings of terms that I've got to understand to make this story work.

A closer look at the theme of my story.

Research. We're born, we die. When we die we go to Paradise or Tartarus until Judgment Day when we are directed either to Heaven (if we're good), Hell (if we're not.) The sermon was at church. But it sounded an awful lot like mythology to me. More research.

The Bible...Old Testament, to study about the main character's namesake. The Annals of the World to help me comprehend the times the namesake lived in.

Why can't I just write a good story?

My mother suggests that God is trying to direct it. He intends me to write it.

Update coming soon to a blog near you. (Well, it'll have to be this one.)

I've been sorted

2006-06-23T15:49:00.000-07:00

OK. Let's see if I can get this to work. I always knew I was a goody-two-shoes.

be sorted @ nimbo.net

Can't walk away from this one

2006-06-23T11:15:00.000-07:00

I can't walk away from this one. I can't put away my tools (or are they toys?) and let the folder get lost among all the others. I started this one to be a 12,000-word submission to a particular market that advises that writers should send to them the stories they've written that they don't really think fit any market. (Paraphrased.) I thought I could write 12,000 words in no time and submit it and make a minimum of $700.

Oh, I wrote the 12,000 words in no time. But I saw some things in the story and thought, "This is much bigger than I thought!" I've been working with it, reshaping it, moving things around to get them in the proper order, with a self-imposed deadline of today to finish it and submit it before 5 p.m. Yet here I am, still not prepared to submit it today. Maybe by Monday.

"I can't believe this!" I grumbled to DH. "I've never written a story that drove me just about crazy the way this one is doing!" Of course, DH thinks I'm never going to make big-time publishing. But when I do, he's going to say, "I knew you could do it." That's just DH.

So, I'm writing longhand in my new office and still have Internet/computer in my old office. At least I don't have to run up and down stairs, although that would probably be healthier for me since running up and down stairs is considered a great cardiovascular workout. Maybe I'm getting more accomplished because I can't at a moment jump on the Internet and use it for a distraction. It's easier for me to say, "No, I can't do that right now because I have to walk across the hall and to the other room.

I have committed to a weekend writing marathon. By Monday I will have this story completed and I will submit it. And I will pick up one of those other folders and I will stay with it until the story is complete, fini, and submitted. And I will do that with each one of my folders, piling them one on top of another until I have them finished and can stand them up on their spines to fill an entire bookshelf or an entire file box. Then I will pull out my idea file and write new stories to add to the old.

A friend told me I'll be the next Nora Roberts, only lately I think he believes that I'm only playing with my writing and won't achieve such lofty goals. We'll see, I guess.

A Room of Her Own

2006-06-07T10:40:00.000-07:00

I got a post from a friend. It was about a foundation. About how they give away grants of up to $50,000 over a two year period to help a woman writer to write her genius unhampered by financial restraints. Well, that certainly spoke to me. I've printed out the application. I'm working on the essays and setting aside a dollar or two between now and the deadline so I can make the $35 entry fee.

The experience of reading, researching and writing these essays is a lesson in studying my craft, determining what I have to say, how to establish my voice, which words I need to say and which do I need to omit to lead my readers to do their own thinking, their own philosophy, their own interpretation. Are these the qualities that will establish my writing and give it longevity? After all, my ultimate writing goal is to write long-lived stories, not the here/read today and forgotten tomorrow when some other piece of fluff comes along to take its place.

I've read again the book, and taken notes on the points that struck me as I was re-reading it. Points that I will incorporate into my essays that will reflect: genius needs freedom; without money there is no freedom; and, money must come as a windfall or legacy. Essentially, that life is comprised of making decisions, taking action, living with the consequences of those actions that lead to other decisions and actions that lead to consequences. We make choices what is priority in our lives and we have to live with that until we can effect the changes that allow us to reach for our individual gold rings.

I am excited today...about writing. I'm excited by the book I have just read. I'm excited by the anonymous card from a Secret Friend who also writes. I'm excited by the anticipation of writing from the heart, writing my thoughts, being myself and grasping onto my freedom so hard fought for and hard won. But am I free? Is anyone? I am free to write what I think, what I feel, what I believe. I am free to write what I want to write. To pursue those goals, those challenges, that I want to achieve. To overcome the big fish in our little pond who would prevent me achieving my destiny if it was dependent on them, but is not.

So many thoughts...so many feelings...so many beliefs...so many characters...so many tales to tell, and only one lifetime in which to do all of these things!

Always new beginnings

2006-06-01T11:56:00.000-07:00

OK. It's months later since my last post to this blog. My fear of blogging is that I'll use everything I feel so deeply in blogging and have nothing left for creative writing...that I can sell...and make money. Oh, that I could be another Nora Roberts. Oh, I don't want to write a lot of steamy, sexy scenes, but I do want to publish stories that will have meaning to readers, that will be long-lived! But I keep getting stalled.

The children are all grown up now. It's not like I don't have time now. Well, but there are SO many things demanding my attention...aging parents with health issues, a husband who requires a little attention here and there, grandchildren...There's the publicist gig that helps me to pay my bills, the historical gig that makes me a little cash on occasion. There are the crochet projects, the books to read, the studying I need to do, the research that is important to my stories, writing my stories...I don't think one lifetime is long enough to accomplish all of the things I want to accomplish!

But I am focusing on one story at a time. Every time I get an idea for another story, I jot down the specs and file it away, hoping that I'll find a place and time when I can work on that story's development. Well, hope springs eternal.

What I'm finding is that when I focus on one project at a time, I make more progress. It's like that in anything I do. Deadlines help productivity/production. I don't need someone else to set my deadlines for me. I set them for my self as much as I can. The afghan had to be finished by Wednesday because my friend was going to deliver it for me on Thursday to save me shipping costs to California. The bookmarks have to be made by Friday night for the Saturday ladies breakfast at Karen's. I was trying to finish the short story and submit it so I would be able to pay for Word software. I wanted to have it submitted and hopefully sold before May 31 when the two-month trail ended. (The trial assured me I could still access my files after the trial. I hope I understood that right.)

There seems to be a certain path for writers, set at our individual paces. We all pass the same way in our growth to successful writing. We just don't get there at the same time or reach the plateaus that become steps in our foundation. I am encouraged by that. And the further along I go on my individual writing path, the more intent I am on achieving my goals, of getting more focused, of getting from here (point A) to there (point B).

Begin at the beginning

2006-01-02T09:37:00.000-08:00

Writing a book is like living. You need to start at the beginning, write through the middle, til you get to the end.

Oh, I thought I had it all figured out. Maybe it's a process every writer goes through. Every writer just doesn't take as long to do it as I'm taking! I wrote scenes as they came to me. I wrote a lot of words that way. But then it came time to weave the loose ends together and tighten up the writing and the story line. Frustration set in. Maybe it was the interruptions from my family life that made the work harder. I just know I finally had to put away that manuscript and go to work on something else.

I'm doing this one differently. I started at the beginning. Strong beginning with a very good hook. Draw the reader in and don't let go of him/her. Six thousand words later I finished chapter one. I made some notes to myself...three generations of women in one family. This is their story. And how will I set it up? Somewhat like Andrew M. Greeley did in St. Valentine's Night. I haven't read a lot of Greeley's work, but I did enjoy St. Valentine's Night. It proved that you can--sometimes you must--go back home. If troubles started there, ya have to go back to resolve them because they're always gonna be there until you finally face them down.

Begin at the beginning. Make each chapter be everything I want and need it to be as I write it. When I finish the last sentence in the last chapter, I want the manuscript to be finished and only have a read-through to do to make sure the formatting is correct, there are no typos and it's ready to submit to a publisher...or to print myself. POD is sounding pretty enticing at this time. I'll be gathering information as I write so I can make an intelligent decision about publication when the novel is completed.

The Real Writing Challenge

2006-01-01T15:32:00.000-08:00

I didn't finish my novel for the novel challenge. I didn't even participate in the actual challenge much. I read the subject lines of posts that others made and that helped me to remain motivated to keep writing. There are more than 60,000 words in the manuscript now. But I've set it aside for awhile because it's been driving me crazy!

I didn't want to put it aside. I slavishly worked at it thinking that I had to finish it before I moved on to something else. And that project would have to be finished before I started on something else. And on, and on, and on...

While I'm not working on that novel, I've started something new. It's a Christmas story. It's about family and working through problems and challenges together. It's about individual independence and familial interdependence. We should handle our own problems, but we should be supported by family and friends who love us and will share their wisdoms with us when we really need them most.

Chapter One has nearly 6,000 words, all written yesterday, New Year's Eve Day, Dec. 31, 2005.

Instead of writing scenes as they come to me, I've started at the beginning. I will write this one from beginning to end, thoroughly writing and revising each chapter before I move on to the next one. Perhaps I'll have better luck this time 'round.

The only thing that's constant is change

2005-11-12T09:36:00.000-08:00

Geesh! I've GOT to get some things organized so I'm posting regularly. By the time I walk away from my work at the end of the day I'm falling into bed and never giving the blog a thought!

Here's the deal with my novel:

I am not NANOing, though I know that many of my writer colleagues and friends are. I'm having trouble keeping up with the activities at the MWNovel Challenge! I'm not participating much in the activities, however, being on that list helps keep me motivated to write. I'm being more accountable to myself.

Then there is a writer friend, Jay. He set a Thanksgiving deadline for my novel. He is so sure that I can do this that I don't want to disappoint him, so I am writing this novel. This week has been a bust, however, with one thing and another: Election Day was Tuesday. Family stuff, too. A meth lab training session was held Wednesday for the agency for which I am publicist. I attended that and spent the second half of the day writing articles about the training for the newspapers because it is so important that the public be informed/educated about methamphetamine labs which are growing in number every day and are a serious problem. Columbiana County Prosecutor Robert Herron advised, "Metamphetamine is a plague that's coming."

Friday I went to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh to view the Bog People Exhibit. Wow. It fit in perfectly for a story I wrote that took third place in a writing contest and which I'm converting to a Christian fantasy novel. If the bog people exhibition comes to your area, it's worth the $5 extra for admission. If my Christian fantasy novel ever comes to your area, buy it. :-)

Today I have cleaning to do. We're finally having the floor replaced in the downstairs bathroom. YES! Tomorrow is Sunday. Monday I have to go with my dad to see his new lung specialist. And Tuesday I have an appointment an hour from here. If I'm going to do any writing before Wednesday, I guess it'll have to be on the run or late at night when DH is working or sleeping.

That's going to make finishing my novel by Thanksgiving tight. Only a week...

How could I have forgotten?

2005-10-26T07:29:00.000-07:00

How could I have forgotten this blog?! Must be all the excitement of progressing on writing my novel. It's not the first novel I've started to write, but I finally decided that I have to finish one before I can work on another. There are nearly a dozen waiting in the wings for me to turn my attention to them.

Self-discipline is a necessary component for a writer. It's very easy to be distracted by children who need something...laundry washed, something to fill that empty place, and husbands who are intimidated by a woman's independence, intelligence and skills with a computer. I mean, really. What does he think I'm doing with this computer anyway?

So, I've set some limits for myself. One novel at a time. The self-imposed completion date is Thanksgiving. Actually, a writer friend, Jay Hudson, set the deadline for me. "I think you can have it done by Thanksgiving," he said. So, Thanksgiving it is.

I've created my own town and county for this story. All of the others will be set in the same place, a series. I made the decision because I read someplace that series sell better to publishers who are looking to keep customers coming back. So I want this first novel to be VERY good, so good that a publisher will want my entire series. It will be a six-book series at this point, I think.

JD Robb (Nora Roberts) move over and make room for the up and coming! Me!

Another writing friend, Janet Elaine Smith, commented on my fiction writing and was I encouraged by her remark! I write occasional little things at jayswritersplace at yahoogroups. She thinks I'm a fiction writer! So I am working harder at meeting that Thanksgiving deadline. It won't be in an editor's hands by Thanksgiving, but it will be by the end of November!

Having a support team is very helpful to a fledgling writer.

I didn't sign up for NaNo, though a lot of writer friends did. I don't know that I could spend the entire month of November writing all the time. My family probably wouldn't stand for that for very long and I would get lost in the shuffle. So like the story of the tortoise and the hare, I'll just mosey along steady and hopefully get the same results as the rabbits that are hopping all over November to get their first drafts done.

Guess I'd better get writing!

Character building and plotting

2005-09-08T07:05:00.000-07:00

Janet Elaine Smith is a writer with 14 novels to her credit. I asked her about plotting tools that have worked best for her. She advised that people have told her that her stories are character, rather than plot, driven. She carries with her, everywhere she goes, index cards on which she notes items related to her characters...physical characteristics, personality traits...She may see someone doing something that one of her characters might do--at a restaurant, shopping, church, wherever she goes. She never leaves home without her index cards.

This isn't the first time I've heard about the index cards technique. I tried it once before, but I didn't think I was doing it right, so I let it go to the wayside. But yesterday I took out the index cards and started writing. And when I had finished, I posted to Janet and asked, "Is this what you meant? Because I think I tend to make things more difficult than they need to be."

She wrote back an edited version of my index cards, highlighting the things I needed to eliminate. "You are making this more difficult than it needs to be," she wrote. "I don't focus on the issues. I let the characters tell their story. They know where it's going."

So, OK. Just write the story.

Last year in the novel challenge I took a poster board and drew a graph that started at the beginning, expanded through the middle, and, as the threads of the tapestry were woven together, wound back down again. It was a lengthy task. I took it to show my friend Maureen, a writer in Canfield, Ohio. She took one look at it and said, "That's very nice." I was pretty proud of all that work I had done when I left her house that day.

Maureen e-mailed me. "That was a very nice poster. Now put it away and just write a good story."

Now, here are two writers telling me the same thing. So, I'm writing a good story. I don't have a pile of index cards. I have my 'notes' inside me.

Sometimes, Janet said, she puts herself in the shoes of her characters so she can write the feelings. That reminded me of when I was still in public school. I read a LOT of books. I would choose the character I was most interested in and BE that character throughout the book. So it just follows that I put myself in the shoes of my characters no matter which of my stories I'm writing.

But I have placed a mental block in the midst of my progress. I get to a point where I can't write any more and I can't apply my seat to the chair any longer. I feel the tension in my muscles. I want to write more, but there's this something that prevents me doing what I want to do. And I walk away to come back again another day.

In my e-mail signature I have the line: "Making 2005 mine." Today is Sept. 8. If I've counted right there are 112 days left in 2005. I better be making some tracks.

New Beginnings Addendum

2005-09-01T20:42:00.000-07:00

Interpreting the instructions for the assignment after I posted to my new blog, I decided to rewrite, in 50 words or less, the barebones version of the plot:

Overwhelmed by the responsibilities of home AND career, she just wants to find leve l ground after betrayal by the man she had deeply loved and trusted. A handyman with a secret past wants to help ease her burdens. (38 words in two sentences.)

Next: The Six-Point Plot
The Goals of both the hero and the villain.
The Crisis--what triggers events
The Obstacles
The Disaster--hero appears destined to fail
The Solution
The Resolution

The heroine's goal: to take care of her responsibilities.

The hero's goal: to find a way to make amends for his failures in war action and to win the heart of the heroine.

The villain's goal: Who is the villain? Does the villain have to be a person?

I guess I need to ponder these things for awhile. Be back tomorrow.

New Beginnings

2005-09-01T12:56:00.000-07:00

It's a day for new beginnings. It's the first day of September 2005. It's the start of the MW Novel Challenge. I'm committed to marathon writing this month, as well as returning to the discussion for Donald Maass' book and workbook, Writing the Breakout Novel.

It's also a new start for me as all of my children have grown to adulthood now. No children returned to public school this year for the first time in my life in 31 years of motherhood. One child is now enrolled at Kent State University, a college freshman. Where did the years go? Well, I was advised that I would come to appreciate my newfound independence. It's time to get started on it...with all of the above-listed new beginnings.

I will be working on my romance novel, Debt of Gratitude (title will probably change later). The first assignment is to summarize the plot in 50 words or less:

Responsibility defines Rachel's life...managing the household: mother deceased, father gravely ill, developmentally disabled sister at home; managing editor of a local daily newspaper on the career front. Devin is a handyman with a secret past who wants to help ease Rachel's burdens.

For the market I want to submit this novel to, the emphasis must be on Rachel. It's her story. The hero must be strong, intelligent, and supportive. But the emphasis is on the heroine...her story.

As of noon I have revised the first four chapters of the novel. I've worked on it long enough that the natural chapter breaks are happening.