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This week: You Need to be a Creative Contortionist Edited by: Fyn  
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"Forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable. Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not. Habit will help you finish and polish your stories. Inspiration won't. Habit is persistence in practice." ~Octavia Butler
"If you haven't surprised yourself, you haven't written." ~Eudora Welty
"If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it." ~Toni Morrison
"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." ~Anton Chekhov
"The difference between the right word and the almost right word... is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." ~Mark Twain
"When I was writing Searches and Seizure, I was living in London, and I needed to describe a hotel room. I've been in lots of hotel rooms, of course, but I didn't want to depend on my memory. And so I went to the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington and rented a room, simply to study the furniture there, to feel the glossy top of the wood that is almost not wood, to get the smell of the shower, the textures in the bath, to look at the rhetoric on the cards on top of the television set. This is stuff that I could not invent, and it was important to me to have it down very, very accurately. So I took notes. Somebody watching me would have thought I was a madman." ~Stanley Elkin
"A story isn't about a moment in time, a story is about the moment in time." ~W.D. Wetherell
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Ever have one of those days (or weeks) as a writer when stuff gets muddled, when circumstances interfere with the perfect plan, when nothing goes right and you feel like the whole world is conspiring against you? That is the time for the mental backflip. You can't do what you wanted to do, so you must twist inside-out and come up with 'something else.' Approach things: spɹɐʍ ʞɔɐq puɐ uʍop-ǝpısdn
For example. This newsletter was initially to be an interview that I'd prepared for thoroughly--I'd read books by the author, I'd read articles about her, I'd listened to her music and I'd prepared all my questions. Between concert gigs, real life, Halloween and a plethora of other obstacles, it didn't happen. It will, but just not for today. Okay. Regroup. Now this happened on Sunday, so I figured I had another day to come up with a brilliant idea for my newsletter.
In-between getting ready for the hoards of Trick or Treaters, carving pumpkins, having a bunch of family over at assorted times, raking the yard (for the third time) and hosting an impromptu gathering of frustrated hunters, I was also getting ready mentally for Nano. So, in the middle of everything else, I decided to 'find' my antique school-masters desk and get it organized. Still smelling vaguely lemony, it is now a polished variety of surfaces, nooks, cubby-holes and drawers will all the materials I will need to write my little heart out for the next month all at hand. Great idea for my newsletter, I thought to myself this morning.
So I waxed on about the little things we writers like to have handy, our muses and inspirations at hand and how different people write in differing environments at different times. Then I attempted to open a new window for a writingML tab. Except I clicked on the wrong item in the list, and without thinking, closed the window out. Except that it was not a new window and, mid click, at the moment there is no going back, no retrieval, realized I'd just closed out my entire newsletter. That sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. That moment of 'expletive deleted' panic. That moment when you have to let the powers that be that you will not meet the deadline.
Sure, just rewrite it. NOT. The phone rings. It is my boss, he who pays my salary. He is emailing a new manuscript that must be edited ASAP. Only a hundred thousand words or so. ASAP. I spent last week cranking out manuscripts so I'd have this week to devote to getting Nano off to a flying start. Right. He needs it WHEN? OMG. Time for a back handspring with a double twist . . . right off a cliff!
My brain went completely blank. New newsletter...time is short....try to re-create it...not happening. Various deadlines creep up the sides of my desk to sit on my monitor glaring at me with sly looks and drooling saliva which dribbles onto my newly organized desk. My eyes, staring blankly, take in the size of the file I need to edit. Then meander over the materials, research and outline just waiting for me to dig in and write. The freshly sharpened pencils flash in the pencil can, they that won't actually be used, but are a necessary part of my 'getting ready,' poke at me and say 'Get going with SOMEthing.'
So one part of my brain is redefining the structure of the next few days, another part looks longingly at the Nano pile, when the phone rings. "Sure, I can babysit the grandkids today....No, nothing important....The baby just got his shots and is very fussy?...Love you, too, hon. See you soon."
Flexible. Pretzel time! Now I know why we creative writers are so good at what we do. We can multi-task, write, babysit, and edit all at the same time. We just have to be creative about it! So, youngest grandson is 'helping Grand write' and chewing on some sort of biscuit that seems far messier than I really want to deal with, the newsletter (which really does have a message to it) is being written, and those of us Nano-ing will get the required words written and the bosses will all be as happy as bosses ever allow themselves to be and . . (watch out for the careening cartwheels!) all will be accomplished! |
This one is because I fervently believe that communication is key!
Because we all need a little inspiration!
Ah, and this one simply because I love it!
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Because I heard the music when I read the words...
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For when I need some inspiration, this always get me going....
| | BLAVATSKY'S BUS (E)
Inspired by Carl Sagan, a personal journey that had stimulated the core of my psyche
#1676003 by DRSmith  |
A great contest which deserves more entries every month!
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This pick because this author has a unique way of cutting to the heart and cutting to the chase.
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Tadpole1  wrote:
Thank you for my ticket into yesteryear when as yourself, I traipsed amongst royalty and magic folk with the fruit of my womb, layering our fingers with turkey grease and consuming Adam's crimson downfall.
Since then the mighty Traveling Stick warped us forward before the days of revolution and my muse's famous retort "Give them Cake." Yes, it was with powdered wig piled high upon my head, donning a golden frock upon a whale bone structure, that my king and champion, clad in his gilded vest, led me to join our fellow time travelers. Unlike our heroes of long ago, we managed to return to the present, our heads intact.
Donning duds of present day, I say "au revoir" until the Traveling Stick brings us once again to dine in good company.
Thanking The Tad and others who enjoyed traipsing around with me at the faire...I appreciate your comments!!! |
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For Authors: November 03, 2010 Issue [#4057]
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