Spring Breakage
Posted: March 15, 2009 Filed under: A Zany Life, Writers Write | Tags: camping, writers, writing Leave a comment »Sunday: Bacon took the girls fishing at a by-the-pound-catch-your-very-own-catfish place. They came home with 7 pounds of the most expensive fish ever purchased. While they were gone, I wrote a page.
Monday: I went shopping for a grill. I bought one, only to discover the heating element missing. Four stores and several empty boxes later, I found a complete package. Running to the check-out counter, I took it home to grill the fish.
Tuesday: I tried to write while the girls watched Peter Pan. After the umpteenth “I won’t grow up. I won’t grow up,” I went to Starbucks where I wrote four pages in subzero temperatures. Starbucks requires all coffee houses to maintain the same thermostat setting, nationwide. What might work for Phoenix’s 7% humidity, does not work for San Antonio’s 70%.
Air Conditioning + Humidity = Snow
Wednesday: The rain came. This is significant because:
- It hasn’t rained here in an annum.
- Beverly Hills Chihuahua was playing on our DVD player.
I went to Borders, where I wrote three pages. The bottom floor was covered with piles of stuff, not books, labeled with huge SALE signs. The store resembled K-Mart, but the coffee was good, and the employees were nice. They didn’t mind me hanging out all afternoon writing the next bestseller poised to save the publishing world from impending financial doom. I can dream can’t I?
Thursday: I was back at Siberian Starbucks. I wrote three pages. Bacon and the girls watched Remember the Titans.
Friday: The furnace went out. I waited all day for the HVAC man to show up. He did at 4:45 p.m., declaring it dead. I scavenged a space heater from the camper. Bacon pumped up an air mattress, and the girls had a sleepover on the floor of our bedroom. To think, we nixed a camp-out because of bad weather. We camped at home.
Total pages for the week: 11. The new heater will be installed on Tuesday.
The Cult of Done Manifesto
Posted: March 11, 2009 Filed under: Aha!, Goals, Writers Write | Tags: writers, writing Leave a comment »I didn’t make this up, but I think it is very cool. I hung the poster on the white board next to my desk. Go see the original post here.
Addendum: After clicking around on the Possibly related posts that appear below, it is important to note that they are computer generated. I am in no way affiliated with them, nor do I have any control over what appears. Apparently, the word cult conjures consummate weirdness.
Sunday: Crisp@Random
Posted: March 8, 2009 Filed under: Aha!, Writers Write | Tags: Jennifer Crusie, Susan Wiggs, Suzanne Vega, writers, writing Leave a comment »- Here’s the thing about doing anything for the first time. I find all kinds of things that don’t work. I stumble around in the land of Chaos looking for what is Repeatable.
- I’m rewriting. Rewrite is different than Revise. To revise means to change a word here or there. Maybe, I’ll move a comma or cut a scene. Rewriting means sitting with a marked-up tattered manuscript and retyping it into a completely new file. Every word, every space is examined. I know I have the whole story next to me, but I’m a perfectionist. I have to try every idea and pick the best one. I’m on page 66. I can do three to five pages a day before I’m a maniac.
- When will the manuscript be finished? When it is, I’ll know.
- How do I know if it’s funny? If I can make Bacon laugh, it works. Getting ANY reaction from him is good.
Link Soup
- Author, Susan Wiggs is running an interview series on writing that’s been very helpful. Check out The View From Here . The interviewer is Deb Bouziden, and the posts begin on March 1, 2009 with Rolling Up My Sleeves.
- Author, Jennifer Crusie posted another wonderful collage for a current work. Take a look here. I’m amazed by the visuals she creates.
- Suzanne Vega inspired me with her NYT post about song writing and the value of arts education. Read it here.