Epiphany and Encouragement

Today while I was trudging to my first class through -14 degree Fahrenheit weather, I had an epiphany. Finding time to write in your busy daily schedule is a lot like trying to walk up an icy slope when you can’t feel your legs . . . or your feet . . . or really any of your lower extremities. For every step you take forward in clearing your schedule, it feels like you slide back two feet as more obligations slip in to take up time and space. Every time you feel like you’ve found sure footing grounded in a good idea or a brief flash of inspiration, it turns out it’s actually black ice and you go tumbling face first towards the ground and have to start back at square one again. Writing in your spare time is also like walking up an icy slope because everyone else is laughing at you, saying you’ll never make it, it’s too hard, you’ll just crash and fall and make a fool of yourself. But we keep climbing that slippery slope anyways. And you know what? Sometimes we can actually make it.

Today I don’t have any pithy remarks or wise advice to dispense. Today I just want to send out a little signal of encouragement to the aspiring writers of the world. Even though sometimes your task may seem impossible, the mountain of dirty diapers may seem to tower ever higher, and you may begin to believe you will spend the rest of your life doing the same types of drudgery day in and day out, think again. You have a choice: and that is to try, against all odds, and go ahead and write your story. If you never try you will never fail, but you will never succeed either, will you?

Biographicality

I spent the last blog talking about some various other avenues you could pursue besides novel-writing, but I neglected one avenue that didn’t occur to me until today when I had the chance to sit down with my 88-year-old grandfather and have a nice long talk. How many times have you wished you could know a little bit more about your ancestors? When you hear those stories about pioneers crossing the plains or the first settlers of the “New World,” don’t you wonder for a moment what a day in their lives must have been like? Well, there’s nothing you can do about those long-gone relatives. Perhaps their stories have been lost forever. But there is something you can do today—write the biography of your older relatives. Not only will it be a keepsake of incalculable value to you, but just think of your posterity. What could these stories mean to them? In the half hour talk I had with my grandfather, he related to me at least half a dozen stories of a time I can barely fathom. To give you an idea of what sorts of stories and lessons we can glean from the older generation, read the following summary of a story which my grandpa related to me:

Bill Hulet was drafted into the army at the age of 21. He was called to begin his training exactly three weeks after he married Betty Danks (my grandmother.) In his training, his superiors discovered his knack for learning languages and he was assigned to become an interrogator of German POWs. He landed in Europe a month after D-Day and his battalion followed behind the first wave of troops that swept through Germany. One night, a German soldier was brought before him who couldn’t have been more than 19-years-old. Bill began questioning him and soon discovered that the young man was a Mormon—Bill was a Mormon as well. And suddenly there, in the midst of all the commotion of the POW camp, those two soldiers of opposing sides found a moment of peace. Bill comforted the young German, counseled him to follow orders, and promised that after the war he would be allowed to return home. Bill never saw that German soldier again, but he had the feeling that there was a German mother somewhere who had been praying that her son would not lose his faith during his time at war. That night, her prayer was answered.

Thinking Creatively to Creatively Write

I know I’ve spent nearly all my time addressing the novelists of cyberspace on my blog so far, so this time I thought I’d step outside the box and talk to those of you who want to write creatively but don’t have the time or inclination to write the next great American novel.

So what else is there? The opportunities for writing are only limited by your own creativity. I have a friend who contacted the Idaho Game and Wildlife Service to see if he could write an article for them on the species of fish inhabiting Payette Lake. They liked his article so much that they contracted him to write another article about migratory bird patterns in Northern Idaho. Obviously he didn’t know anything about this topic, so what did he do? He researched, he made some phone calls, and he did a little sight-seeing. He learned a whole lot about an interesting new topic, and the best part of all: he got paid for doing something he loved to do.

Poetry is another avenue you could explore. Local magazines and newspapers sometimes have creative writing sections to which people can submit their writing for the pure joy of seeing their name in print.

Are you very involved in your child’s elementary school? Offer to help write articles for the monthly newsletter. Perhaps that doesn’t sound like the most exciting job in the world, but the more you write, the more experience you get and the stronger resume you create. Networking with educators could also bring you to the attention of the “higher ups.” With a little imagination, who knows what impact your small-article writing may have?

The Chicago Manual of Style

If you’re going to be doing very much of your own editing, it would probably be a good idea to invest in a copy of The Chicago Manual of Style. In 2003 they came out with the 15th edition and it can be found at most bookstores. Just to warn you, editing knowledge doesn’t come cheap. The copy I bought cost $55 new, so it might behoove you to check on EBay or Craig’s List for a used one before you shell out that much cash.

So what’s so great about this manual that it costs so much? For your information, it contains 955 pages of guidelines on everything from using correct grammar to an enumeration of the functions of an epithet to a detailed list of an author’s vs. a manuscript editor’s responsibilities during the editing and publishing process.

Still not convinced this could be a handy book to have around? Here’s an excerpt from the section on the “Author’s Responsibilities:”

After a book manuscript has been accepted for publication, publishers usually require the electronic files for the work . . . in its latest version, often in disk form, along with two sets of hard copy (one may be a photocopy), which must correspond exactly to the electronic files submitted (Chicago Manual 59).

The rest of that section is full of other helpful hints for those who are serious about getting published and the rest of the book includes one of the most comprehensive guides to grammar usage available. I wouldn’t suggest it as a piece of light reading—and I mean that literally, the book weighs at least 3 lbs—but it is absolutely chalk full of invaluable advice for those of us who are attempting to write in our spare time.

The Forgotten Step

Many times, people forget that once you have a completed manuscript in front of you, your work is only half done. Editing and proofreading are two of the most important steps you must take if you truly want to be published some day. When editing, it’s more important than ever that you put yourself in the right mood because you must be able to critique yourself. Remember to be honest—that part where Jasmine and Gregorio are standing on the balcony and you go into great detail about the positioning of their hands and the intricate embroidery of their coats may sound poetic and descriptive, but is it really necessary for moving the story as a whole forward? And remember that day when you didn’t really feel like writing but you felt like you should type something up and you just glossed over their whole ten day journey to Paris? Well, it might be a good idea to go back and flesh that out a bit.

To be fair, I’ve included below an example of a “Before” and “After” selection of my own writing. Notice all the changes I made after one proofreading. There is still a lot more I could do to it, which is why multiple proofreadings are often necessary.

Before:
Mitch stared blankly out the window at the dirty street where a homeless woman scantily clothed in rags and with nothing on her feet was shuffling forward slowly, her back hunched. Almost as if she felt his eyes, she suddenly looked up at his window. She saw the pale, blonde American standing there and smiled a toothless smile. The young man turned away.

After:
Mitch stared vacantly out the window at the dusty alleyway, his eyes listlessly following the progress of an old, barefoot woman scantily clothed in rags as she shuffled forward slowly, her back hunched. Her pot belly swayed like a full sack of flour, bulging obscenely from beneath her tattered wrap. Almost as if she felt his gaze, she jerked her head up suddenly and stared at his window. She saw the young, pale American standing there and her dark eyes nearly disappeared into the mass of black wrinkles that wreathed her face as she smiled a wicked, toothless smile. With tears streaming silently out of his bloodshot eyes, Mitch drew in a deep breath, and turned away.

The Writing Mood

There is more to writing than being good at coming up with ideas. It's easy to think that once you have been hit with that lightning bolt of inspiration that everything else will just flow smoothly from there. If you've ever reached this point in the writing process, however, you'll know this is not true. Usually around this point your child will barge into the office insisting you come see the finger painting project she's just completed using ketchup on the kitchen counter or that fidgety baby who's been taking a nap for an hour is starting to whimper in his crib. Writing is not a spontaneous activity. Words will not appear magically in your brain, drain down to your fingertips and flow out through the keyboard. You have to be in the right mental as well as physical mood in order to write.

So how do you capture that elusive mood in the midst of your busy day? First of all, if you're sitting at the computer and all you keep thinking about is the dishes piled in the sink or the carpet that's starting to look furry from not being vacuumed in three weeks, you'll probably end up writing a textbook on the drudgery of household cleaning. Get all of that done before you sit down to write so you can have a clear mind and a clean conscience. True, it's hard to get everything done all at the same time, but are there things that could be put off one more day that don't have to be done all at once? Don't overload yourself.

The next important thing to do is to keep yourself in good physical condition. It's virtually impossible to feel inspired when your nose and eyes are streaming and you have to scurry to the bathroom every few minutes to heave into the toilet. The best thing to do when you feel like this is to rest and get better and wait to write when you're healthy. And stay away from foods high in sugar--it might seem like a good idea to eat that protein bar or energy drink to "tide you over" until later, but you'll just end up crashing part way through your writing and your body won't get the nutrients you need. Feed your body and your mind will reciprocate.

Idea Creation Part 3

If you’re still having a hard time coming up with ideas on what to write, here’s one final method. If nothing else, it’s a fun exercise that tests your creativity to the limit and challenges you to think outside the box. Below I’m going to include a list of questions. You could come up with some of your own or use mine. Print these questions out and cut them up into strips. Fold them up and place them in a jar, bowl, top hat, or other container. When you have an extra ten minutes and feel the creative muses calling, pull a question out of the jar and commit to writing nonstop for 5-10 minutes. See what you come up with—is it the beginning of a brand new story?

Do you recall any special event which took place on your block or in your neighborhood when while you were growing up? (deaths, fires, accidents, illness/quarantines, etc.)

What is your greatest joy? Your greatest sorrow?

Describe the perfect autumn day. What would you do?

Describe a sound from your childhood. What was it? When did you hear it?

What does it bring to mind?

Do you like to go to the theater? The opera? The symphony?

Tell about your life as the children left home. What did you do with your

extra time?

What do you remember about yourself as a teenager?

Tell about your father—personality, characteristics, coloring, talents, temper, his role, etc.

Are there any notable people from your hometown?

Tell the words of a song from your childhood. What memories does it bring?

Do you like rainstorms? Why or why not?