Write Anyway

So yesterday, I suggested writing on the topic of spring, and this time I took my own advice and pondered the season by making a list of topics and then coming back to it later to write a sentence or a paragraph on each topic. And while most of what I scrawled is crap, I did find a tiny bit of inspiration among all the scribbles and misspelled words: the crocus.

The first flower of spring on the prairie is the crocus. I know this because when I was a little girl (back in the Paleozoic era) my mother would take me into the hills in what was once the “edge of town” (now a fully developed ‘neighborhood’) and we’d follow a half-frozen stream looking for the fragile purple petals of the first harbinger of spring.

For me, crocus flowers always represented hope. They poked through the crusted layers of snow, braving the still winter-cold air – before the robins would land on the windowsill, even before the Canadian geese would honk overhead – straining frosted leaves for pale sunlight, pushing the seasons into each other.

And just like that, I have another piece of the puzzle I need to put together the novel-ish story I have been drafting since October. Even among the scribbles, the misspellings, the snow banks, I can find something to move me to write anyway. I hope you can, too.

move me, writing, hope, crocus, spring, drafts

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Monday? Already? My how time flies when a holiday full of candy, ham, and pastel everything sucks up the weekend! My kids had Friday off school, but because of a ferocious blizzard about a month ago, Easter Monday – traditionally also a day off – finds them back in class regardless. Poor things.

Up here in the northland, we are expecting snowstorms again, and the temperatures are more like February than April. Unusual, even at this latitude. It would seem spring is having a tough time getting out of bed this year, so to help it along, I’m going to warm up this morning by writing about spring. I’ll probably start by making a list of everything I like about the season and then jump into some short paragraphs about each item on the list. It has been a while since I’ve warmed up this way, so I’ll try to put up an excerpt later – just so you can ridicule my handwriting.

At this point in the process, however, it isn’t what is actually written down, but that something is getting on the page. Right? Right? Write. Write anyway.

BitS, free writing, writing, Spring, Mondays

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“Friday – already? Wow! Where did the week go?”

Am I the only one who checks the calendar, double checks it with their watch, shakes their head and mumbles incoherently about all that still needs to be accomplished this week?

Just me? Huh. Well.

We did cover a lot of ground again this week, however: outlines and organization, to verb or not to verb, inspiration in the everyday, and book rating systems. I think we have earned ourselves a little relaxation time this holiday weekend. Don’t you?

Just me? Huh. Well. Write anyway, and I’ll be back in the saddle next week.

TGIF, week in review, relax, write anyway

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Last week, I linked to an article in a local-ish newspaper. Apparently, I was not the only reader concerned about the request to remove certain books from the shelves of a school library. Response to the article is not overwhelming, but it is there.

The issue I was trying to get at – rather unsuccessfully, I admit – was to investigate how to address requests to remove “inappropriate books,” if requests are addressed at all. Should there be a rating system for books like there is for movies, music, and video games? I know what happened when Tipper Gore and company campaigned for a rating system on heavy metal music. Dee Snyder and every other metal band musician, producer and promoter saw the rating system as a way to rebel even further – and record sales of “inappropriate for children under X age” music skyrocketed like never before.

If there were a rating system implemented on books, would the same thing happen to books as happened to music sales? Would people buy the books because of or in spite of the rating? In addition, would writers choose to write in a way that required a certain rating and thereby increase sales?

What do you think?

anything goes, writing, book banning, book rating, music rating, Tipper Gore, Dee Snyder

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Finding inspiration in the mundane, the everyday can be downright difficult. However, what may, on first glance, look like “yawn” is full of meaning, emotion, humor and importance.

Take for example Tillie Olsen’s most anthologized short story “I Stand Here Ironing.” It starts out chore-like – as anyone who has spent any time with an iron can tell you – but it really is a metaphor for “ironing” out her relationship with her daughter, her feelings about being a mother and how there is never enough – love, money, understanding. I can relate to Tillie’s telling this story on many levels, even though it really is – on the surface – a very simple story.

So look beyond the surface of the mundane, the everyday, the chore-like and find something implied or something not seen – or at least not seen from that angle – and write about it. Just write anyway.

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hump day, inspiration, writing, everyday, Tillie Olsen, I Stand Here Ironing

Remember when we did this? When I asked you (and me) to write using words that were “verbified”? Remember? Well – this is nothing new. Just look at this post over at kottke.org.

Now take a look at this excerpt:

“Demon of a crow out there before daylight, cawing and croaking, rummaging in the palm tree that is not a palm tree but for some reason misnamed so. Queer bird, all by herself, neither chick nor child, with her omening and her conundrumming.”

Oooh, that’s good and it is only the second paragraph of Edna O’Brien’s “The Light of Evening.” I like the book already. Have you read it? Did you like it? If you haven’t read it, will you now that I’ve teased you with verbified words?

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move me, writing, examples, Edna O’Brien, The Light of Evening

Free writing and random association writing are good for idea generation, but what do you do when it comes time to really write something cohesive, organized and – um – well – understandable to readers other than yourself? Outlines, of course. For this weeks “back in the saddle” Monday, let’s walk through a mini-lesson on outlines. Ok? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

An outline can be a road map for your writing, helping you make sure you don’t wander away from your main idea or don’t forget anything important, like a beginning…a middle…and an end for essays or short stories. On the other hand, if you are writing something a tad longer, like a thesis or a novel, an outline can help you to remember certain examples or events that you want to make sure get in the work.

(Now if you are Quinton Tarantino, you will want to scramble the order of events a la Pulp Fiction, just to make it interesting. If you are the Wachowski Brothers, comic book cells will rule the day.)

Personally, I use very traditionally structured outlines for writing press releases, newsletter articles, reports and the occasional customer letter. When writing fiction, however, I use different kinds of outlines so I can keep track of plot lines, characters and such. Usually the fiction outlines are re-worked so many times that I “track changes” on the document just to keep the thought process visible. I am easily distracted.

Do you use outlines to structure your writing, organize your thoughts? Or do you fly by the seat of your pants and hope for the best? (I admit, I have done both – there is nothing wrong with either method. I’m just nosy.)

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BitS, outlines, structure, organization, writing, Tarantino, Wachowski