Stupid Writer Tricks or Stuff That’s Working For Me
Posted: March 28, 2010 Filed under: Aha!, Writers Write | Tags: perception, time wasters, writers, writing Leave a comment »- Single space the manuscript. I learned this at David Hewson’s blog. I thought it would make me crazy or at least blind, but I’m able to see repetitive words. David says, “If you write double spaced on-screen the number of words you will see will be greatly reduced. That means it’s harder to spot when you repeat yourself, harder to follow what’s gone before. Change your line spacing from double to single or 1.5 and you get greater control over your work. Control is one of the biggest challenges there is.” And speaking of repetitive words . . .
- I’ve written about Wordle before, but recently I revisited the website, pasting in with the current manuscript. I use like, back, know, and just too often. When an insignificant word looms large in the word cloud, it’s time to cut.
- I was reading Betsy Lerner’s book, The Forest for the Trees when I had an Aha! moment. If I can’t quit web surfing and start writing, it’s because I’m feeling isolated. The solution is to go to Las Palapas or to the bookstore or Starbucks. Parked in a booth or at the counter on a stool, I swill coffee and write to the sound human voices until the scene is finished.
- Like the summer I spent painting houses after college, a mind numbingly boring exercise reminds me to get back to writing. Lately, I have two tasks: peeling wallpaper off the master bath wall–score, spray, peel, repeat; and pulling weeds out of my flower bed–place a hula hoop on the ground and pull all the weeds in the circle. After a few minutes, I’m ready to write.
- Eat a live frog every morning. Seriously. Watch this.
No News Is Good News: Part 2
Posted: September 25, 2008 Filed under: A Zany Life, Writers Write | Tags: news, politics, time wasters 1 Comment »Day Four
Tonight, Bacon watched the NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt. I had to look up his last name. I could remember Lester, but Holt escaped me. This is strange because I grew up playing with the children of the western movie star, Tim Holt (The Treasure of the Sierra Madre). And, I’m friends with a writer who’s pen name is Desiree Holt (romantic erotica). Anyway, Bacon watched Lester, so to get out of the house, I watered the tomato plants. Here are photos of the fall garden. So far, so good. I wrote three pages today.
Sure Fire Tomatoes
Yellow Squash
Day Five
Today, I cheated. I logged on to NYT.com and read Maureen Dowd. I couldn’t resist Aaron Sorkin channeling West Wing’s Jed Bartlet (who was not giving advice to Barack Obama). Did it make me feel better? No. It didn’t feel as good as sneaking chocolate almond ice cream in the middle of a diet. Instead, I thought, Snark? Is that all? I know there’s more to life than this.
Day Six
NBC’s Brian Williams is on television in the other room. I cheated a little yesterday, but I’m back on the wagon. The bad thing about the news is that someone other than the viewer is deciding what’s important. I realize it’s impossible to present everything, but how often do I turn on the tube and can’t find a single thing about Asia or Africa?
Today, while waiting at a red light, I watched a woman training a seeing-eye dog. She was teaching the dog to show her where to push the button for the crossing signal. It was fascinating to watch how quickly the dog learned the command, and how he was able to take the person’s hand to the button. In the course of one traffic signal, the lesson was learned. The dog got a treat.
I’m not as well prepared as the dog. I’m still looking for the off button on the remote.
Day Seven
After a week of newslessness, I’m less informed, but more hopeful. I confess. I know nothing about the Wall Street bailouts, but I’ve set new writing goals, and I’m working toward them. Denying myself a media fix hasn’t made me give up my obsession, but it has reminded me to focus on people, places, and things where I can have an impact.
No News Is Good News: Part 1
Posted: September 21, 2008 Filed under: A Zany Life, Goals, Writers Write | Tags: news, politics, time wasters, writing 2 Comments »Day One
I took the news folder completely off my computer’s bookmark bar last night. Wow! That was foresight. I’m sure I’d have clicked over this morning. Here’s something I didn’t think about: the NYT summary is delivered to my email. First thing this morning, it downloaded. I closed my eyes and hit delete.
One of the things I promised myself was I’d work on the WIP for at least 15 minutes before 10:00 a.m. I did it. In fact, I had more than 10 new pages before noon. I celebrated with a shopping trip to The Gap where I purchased new Yoga pants. It rained this morning, and I froze to death walking in the park in jean shorts. It’s fall in San Antonio–at least for today.
Day Two
It was easier to avoid the major news outlets this morning, but since checking my blog is not illegal, I’m tempted to peak at the media blogs on the wordpress.com dashboard. Specifically, Mudflats is hard to avoid. It’s the Alaskan Anti-Sarah blog. I haven’t clicked over, but I’m curious as to why she cancelled her appearances for the day. Gotta keep writing. I can’t stop to contemplate.
I’m prolific on the WIP. I had no idea how I was going to connect the events I’m writing about, but I managed five pages this morning. Bacon was correct. Canceling the entire block I was spending on CNN and Talking Points Memo has opened doors to a new world.
I took the girls to their first Chinese lesson of the school year. While Cherry and Coco sat at Lao Shi’s kitchen table reciting their numbers and colors in Chinese, I sat on the couch, reading a book and petting Lucky, the Jack Russell Terrier. The first thing I saw was the San Antonio Express-News. I admit it. I grabbed the front page, ready to devour the latest from the Associated Press. Then, I read the date on the masthead, Tuesday, September 16, 2008. I read it already! I ditched the newspaper to read my book.
Day Three
I spent most of the day at a writer’s workshop. It’s amazing to me, now that I think about it, how no one talks about news in polite company. Speaking about politics is almost a taboo. I’m positive my friends think I’m awful when I talk about the economy.
At 6:00 p.m. I felt chills up and down my arms. Jackie Ortiz’s voice wafted through my house. Jackie is the local NBC affiliate’s weekend anchor. Almost as soon as I recognized her voice, Bacon’s trigger-finger flipped the channel. He was back to watching three college football games at the same time.
To Be Continued
