Tuesday, August 23, 2022
Chapter One – Making Your Way to Schenectady
Chapter one of The Writer’s Idea Book starts off saying that for most writers, coming up with ideas is not the hard part. Showing up is the hard part. Writing consistently, writing until it’s finished, that’s the hard part.
“It’s good to have an end to a journey, but it is the journey that matters in the end.”
– Ursula K. Leguin
“If you want to write, you must begin by beginning, continue by continuing, finish by finishing.”
– Jack Heffron: The Writer’s Idea Book, Page 7
Writing Prompt:
Writer Thomas McGuane goes to his study at a certain time every day and stays there for a scheduled length of time. He sits at his desk. “I don’t have to write,” he explains, “but I can’t do anything else.” Try this approach for a week, scheduling a specific period of time, during which you must sit at your desk or wherever you write. You don’t have to write, but you can’t do anything else.
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 4:00pm – 6:00pm
Tuesday from 3:30pm – 8:00pm and Saturday from 1:00pm – 5:00pm
That is my writing schedule I came up with this week. As it is Tuesday, 6:17pm and I am writing… I’d say I’m doing pretty well so far.
I signed up for a writing class with Beth Kempton this summer. She is a non-fiction author of mostly self-help books, but don’t let that fool you. She’s a poet. I’m not huge into poetry, but I signed up for the class because it was free. And I’m glad I did. Because she is a poet, Beth has a perspective in life and in her writing that I don’t have. Learning from her has been inspiring, and I hope it adds color and lyric to my own writing.
Here’s a couple of Haiku that I wrote based on this class.
Buzzing cicadas
White butterfly flutters by
To be so carefree
The air is still, stiff
Sweat slowly drips down my neck
Why sit in torment
Writing Prompt:
Acknowledge that writing is hard. Write it down. Then write about how you’re going to make writing happen. How will you find the balance in yourself to combine willpower with relaxation, stubbornness with joy? Write about how you’ve struck this balance in the past, with writing, a sport, a musical instrument – anything you’ve done.
Writing is hard! Well, the act of writing (unless you’re a 6-year-old) is easy enough. It’s like piano playing. The piano is probably the easiest instrument to play. You press a key, a note sounds. You could learn a simple song in seconds. But to play well… to read piano music and play with both hands (at the same time!) and to be considered good… well, that is very difficult. Same with writing. Anyone can write a sentence, but to write a grammatically correct, non-cliché, well written sentence, is tough. And even tougher, a book that people besides just your mom will read.
I have written a book. And here’s my little advertising for that.
Aside from wanting you to read my book, I’m telling you this as an answer to the prompt. It was hard, but I did it. It’s probably not completely finished. If it gets traditionally published, I’m sure I’ll have to edit it again for the five-thousandth time. But I did it. How did I do it? By showing up. I had the idea for a while, but once I carved out time to research and write and edit and edit and edit (then to find a typo after it was self-published!) and a year or so later, I had a finished 110,000-word manuscript.
Another time I combine willpower with relaxation, stubbornness with joy, is at homeschooling my kiddos. Specifically, teaching them to read. That has by far been my favorite thing I’ve ever done. It was hard. It took a ton of patience, but I have three readers. My 8-year-old was reading to her little sister (only 4, not yet a reader) while she was sick this morning, and my Mama heart swelled. I’m proud that she is a good reader, but I’m melting with love because she chose to read to her sister.
Writing Prompt:
Collect some motivational statements about writing or about creativity or about perseverance. Choose ones that speak directly to your needs or beliefs and post them where you write. You can find a number of these statements in this book. Use them to keep yourself writing.
Here are the pictures of my inspirational quotes:
I had to move them tonight. They were posted in the schoolroom which used to double as an office, but my kids don’t like to leave me alone to write in there. It’s too much their space for me to use it as my space. So, I moved a desk into my bedroom and hope to write in there most afternoons. (I will still be interrupted, that’s why I spend my long blocks of writing time at the library, alone.) Also, seeing David Tennant telling me I should be writing from above my schoolroom desk was not helpful but made me feel guilty. I’d be teaching my kids, glance up and see him tell me I should be writing, then feel bad that I couldn’t just drop everything and write then. Sorry, David, I can’t write right now! And I don’t want to feel bad about not writing when we’re doing school.
Now that the posters are in my bedroom office, they do their job. I’m heading into bed early, wanting to veg and binge Netflix, but I see the posters and think – Dang it! I didn’t write today. So, I move over to my desk and write a few paragraphs. Usually the act of writing (or just showing up) leads to more writing. And before I know it, an hour and a thousand words have gone by.
Please share your inspirational quotes in the comments. We could all use some more inspiration. And tell me… do they work for you? Are they helping you consistently write?
Writing needs to be a habit for good writing to occur. I like Stephen Kings quote, “To be a writer, you have to read a lot and write a lot.” That part about writing a lot… well, most of the writing you do, I do, is bad. But that’s okay. A first draft doesn’t have to be good, it just needs to be. And the more you write, the better your writing will get. “Only through regular writing will you generate a lot of ideas, but joy and fun are important…” JH WRB page 9
So don’t wait to write until you’re good. Writing bad will lead to writing well.
The last part of chapter one talks about obstacles. My obstacles to writing include; my four kids, homeschooling the girls, getting the boys to and from school, getting my oldest to and from work, no quiet at all in my house, my dog, my cats (though I love them, the cats like to march across my keyboard as I’m typing!), not to mention my own mental obstacles, tiredness, hopelessness, no motivation…
Writing Prompt:
Reframe your view of the obstacles in your life that impede your writing. Make a list of these obstacles, then next to each one, write about how you overcame the obstacle and how it might be used as a tool for creativity.
My number one obstacle and my number one inspiration happen to be the same thing, my kiddos. I have written a children’s story for each of them (three are available on Kindle) and the continue to be my joy and my pain. I could write about them for pages and pages, but I won’t. Well, I won’t do that here.
As far as overcoming my mental obstacles, the only thing I found to do is just keep writing. Like Dory and swimming, just keep writing. Rejection letter? Keep writing. Too tired? Start writing, and usually I’ll be better for it. Not motivated? Write anyway. Write about my day, the color of the sky, anything and everything, and soon, the words start flowing.
And to close out today, one more quote from the Writer’s Idea Book;
“Happiness is not a destination. It is a companion we can choose to accompany us on our journey.”
– Jack Heffron: The Writer’s Idea Book, Page 11