Writing - in a Nutshell

by Mare Ball @ ADVENTURES IN THE BALLPARK

I created some badges this week that wrap up the writing life in four quotes. 

1. 

Is this TRUE, or what?!?!

2.  

 Been there.  OUCH.

3.

Absolutely!!  Rah, rah rah!!

4.  And finally...

Love that Denzel!

For me, that's it in a nutshell.  What about you?

Writing Routines

by Katy White

Like most of you, I'm thinking seriously about the New Year and what I want to accomplish.  My goals are ambitious, but that's the point, right?  

-Get the two books I wrote in 2013 query ready,
-Query one or both of them,
-Land an agent, and
-Write two more books.

Okay, looking at this, I kind of want to pee my pants a bit.  But I also really, really want to do it all.  

Who doesn't?

To prepare for my über, ridiculously successful 2014 that I'm totally going to accomplish (totally), I've been reading the routines of famous writers.  Their routines were interesting, as were some of the superstitions (seriously, Jack Kerouac, the moon was not out to get you), but none of them told me anything new.  The consensus won't blow your mind.  

Writers write.

Whether it's "snap-writing," where you fit writing into the tiny chunks of time you find yourself with throughout the day--five minutes here, eleven minutes there--or hiring a babysitter once a week, or carving out a chunk of time before the kids are up or after everyone is asleep.  Writers write. 

One quote from E. B. White has become my theme for the new year:

Testify, brother.

In addition, I came across a blog post by Shannon Hale who said the following about writing and being a stay-at-home mom (she has four children under the age of nine, including twins!):

"If you'd be just as happy knitting and mothering or scrapbooking and mothering as writing and mothering, then by all means, do those instead.

But if you can't, then you know who you are and what you need to do."

I know what I need to do.  I know what all of us who call ourselves Mommy Writers (Mormon or otherwise) need to do.  Not because it's a hobby or something we do to pass the time when we're out of bonbons and have finished reading the latest issue of Harper's Bazaar.  But because we love it.  Because we can't stand the suspense, wondering what the characters in our minds will do and how the stories racing around our brains will end.  Because we'd rather have dusty blinds and a pile of laundry up to our ears than not do what our soul yearns for.

Put words to paper.

Write.

Good luck to all of you in the New Year!

Some Motivation For You

If you are a NaNo writer this year, I hope you are deep in the trenches of NaNoWriMo, slogging through your 1,667 words per day and loving it (I have no idea if I am or not, because I am writing this way ahead of time, getting all my other obligations out of the way so I can NaNo properly... we'll see how it works out). 


If you are not a NaNo writer, I am so very sorry that we keep bombarding you with NaNo-related posts (actually - I have no idea if we are doing this or not, because I'm writing this way ahead of time, blah, blah, blah). 

But wherever you are in the writing process, whether you are NaNoing or not, I'm sure you could do with a little motivation, yes? Here goes: 

And lastly:

PS - You can pin all these images on pinterest :) 

First Drafts

by Katy White

As I've mentioned before, turning off my internal editor for a first draft is a challenge.  My first drafts tend to take months (okay, sometimes years) longer than they should, not because I don't know exactly where the novel is going, but because I belabor every word and paragraph along the way.  I'm a perfectionist.  It's obnoxious.  And while it's getting better, the fact is that it's not easy for me to get past.  

But, as Jeanna and Gina have mentioned, National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is upon us, and I plan to do it this year, darn it!*  So to psych myself up (or is it pump myself up?  Shut up, Internal Editor!), I've been looking up advice and words of wisdom from authors about first drafts.  Because I love quotes and used them frequently in the business world to motivate-slash-inspire-slash-make-me-look-smart, I thought I'd share with you some quotes I came across in the chance that they'll motivate-slash-inspire you and your writing journey.  

“Every first draft is perfect because all the first draft has to do is exist. It's perfect in its existence. The only way it could be imperfect would be to NOT exist.” 


―Jane Smiley

“I wrote a book. It sucked. I wrote nine more books. They sucked, too. Meanwhile, I read every single thing I could find on publishing and writing, went to conferences, joined professional organizations, hooked up with fellow writers in critique groups, and didn’t give up. Then I wrote one more book.” 


―Beth Revis 

Writing the last page of the first draft is the most enjoyable moment in writing. It’s one of the most enjoyable moments in life, period.

—Nicholas Sparks

I would advise any beginning writer to write the first drafts as if no one else will ever read them—without a thought about publication—and only in the last draft to consider how the work will look from the outside.

—Anne Tyler

I generally write a first draft that’s pretty lean. Just get the story down.

—Nora Roberts

I don’t fiddle or edit or change while I’m going through the first draft.

—Nora Roberts

I have never written anything in one draft, not even a grocery list, although I have heard from friends that this is actually possible.

—Connie Willis

I’m constantly revising. Once the book is written and typed, I go through the entire draft again.

—Chaim Potok

Let me back up a little and tell you why I prefer writing to real life: You can rewrite.  A novel, for example, can be cleaned up, altered, trimmed, improved. Life, on the other hand, is one big messy rough draft.

—Harlan Coben

I love all of these great quotes!  Just what I need to get me in the writing mood.  But, I would be remiss if I left out my new favorite quote about first drafts from the great Ernest Hemingway (edited for salty language):  

“The first draft of anything is (crap).”

May we all be blessed with a first draft that we love, however, um, messy.  

Happy writing, friends!

*My NaNo profile is http://nanowrimo.org/participants/katy-white - feel free to buddy me!

Driving in the Dark

It's like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
~ E.L. Doctorow

I think sometimes we get too caught up in the big picture when we are writing.  When you have to drive from coast to coast, it helps to have a map and a general idea of where you need to go and when.  But our true focus should always be on the road right in front of us.  If we get lost, take a wrong road, or find ourselves at a detour, we can always reroute and redirect.

While it can help to have perspective of our writing as a whole, when it comes time to write, we need to focus on what's right in front of us.  Just a thought for the day!

Granola Inspiration

Just a quick thought to share with you today.  Inspiration can strike in the strangest of places.  The other day, I was opening a box of pumpkin flax granola (yes it's as good as it sounds) and something on the inner tab caught my eye.  When I took a closer look, I realized it was the following quote:

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant."

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

Perhaps I'm getting too caught up in the daily word count race, and let myself get too discouraged by not meeting certain goals when I planned.  Instead I need to focus on what I'm building - even if it is a slow, and sometimes painful process.  Day by day, I'm planting seeds.  And I have to plant, before I can harvest.  It is the natural order of things.

I don't know why the idea struck me with such force at that moment.  It's certainly not new or original, but it was what I needed at that moment.  And from a box of granola, of all places!

Quitting

At some point in every writer's career, they ask themselves what they think they are doing. Why would they think someone else would want to read their work? What agent/editor is ever going to love this work even close to as much as the writer does?


How will they ever get published?

I've recently stumbled on some amazing responses to these questions. I'm going to list a couple of these below and hopefully they will help you as much as they have helped me.

~ Stephen King said: the first million words are practice.
That sounds daunting, but it's really not. All you have to do is keep writing.

~ Dr. Seuss said: Everything stinks until it's finished.

~ Will Rogers said: Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

~ Tony McGee Causey did a wonderful post on quitting on her blog. I recommend everyone go read it.


and to end on a happy note, Groucho Marx.

“Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things.”

“Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend. Inside a dog it's too dark to read.”

May we all resolve today not to quit until writing becomes something we don't love to do.

Quotable Quotes

There is one quote that sits at the top of my blog, It's by Flannery O'Conner. You may have already read it. It's the best expression of why I write. It says, "I write because I don't know what I think until I read what I say." That is so true for me. I can make sense of the world when I'm writing. I like to write letters to people to tell them how I'm feeling. I write in my journal to figure out why I'm feeling a certain way. I write fiction as an outlet for an excess of feeling or thought that has to be used up or it will drive me crazy and keep me up at night. :)

Good Quotes either express just how I feel, or enlighten me with a description of something that I didn't realize I felt until that very moment. Here are a few of my favorite quotes. I read them when I need a reminder of why I write, or how I should write.

So I would love to hear one of your favorite quotes if you would like to share.


Quotes

Write from the soul, not from some notion of what you think the marketplace wants. The market is fickle; the soul is eternal.
-Jeffrey A. Carver

How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.
-Henry David Thoreau

First, find out what your hero wants, then just follow him!
- Ray Bradbury

I am irritated by my own writing. I am like a violinist whose ear is true, but whose fingers refuse to reproduce precisely the sound he hears within.
- Gustave Flaubert

Observe, don't imitate.
- John M. Ford

A writer never has a vacation. For a writer life consists of either writing or thinking about writing.
- Eugene Ionesco