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Writing Rituals

"The inner heckler laughs even at sages" - Jeff Davis (from The Journey From the Center to the Page)

Everyone loves a success story.  It invigorates us to see others do well.  We all love to see someone fight against the odds and come out victorious.  It's a universal theme.  We identify with the struggle.

Think for a moment of what goes into the success of a writer.  We think a person becomes an "overnight success" in Hollywood only to discover that said person had years of training under his/her belt or worked behind the scenes for decades before venturing out on his/her own with an original project.

Things take time to mature.  Wines, cheeses, and writers all benefit from the effects of time.  I do believe we get better as we get older because, hopefully, we've kept learning, kept digging deeper at the essence of things.  We get better simply because we keep doing it.

Invent and structure your day around to enrich and empower your good writing habits.  My writing rituals necessarily must include walking two dogs three times a day and lots of coffee.  But every morning I'm at the keyboard around 10am.  I put in as much time as I can before the other demands of the day press on me.  I make time for at least one hour of exercise a day.  It's that simple,  Just show up.  But, that doesn't guarantee that you'll have a finished novel, play or short story.  It just means you're engaged in the process.  You've committed to the life of a writer which involves a lot of uncertainty.

Recently, I've been looking over some short stories I wrote years ago and am mining for gold, looking for something perhaps forgotten that can be further developed.  These old paper copies also need to be re-typed up nicely on my word processor so it gives me a chance to polish stories I haven't looked at since I wrote them in 2003.  For me, this is a way to keep my writing flow going while the new ideas perculate in the background.  It also keeps me organized.

This blog sprung from a few journal entries that focused on writing and prompted me to collect my thoughts on the subject and my approach to it, along with helpful exercises in one place and share my discoveries with others.  I've been thrilled to see so many people use it.

Make every part of your day part of your writing practice.  While I may not do 100% of my writing at the keyboard.  Sometimes an idea comes to me at odd times throughout the day.  Part of being a writer is always having a pen and notepad handy to capture ideas as they come to you.  This becomes second nature and it's very necessary.  A notepad becomes part of your personality.  Capture a friend's witty comment during a brunch date.  Incorporate writing into every part of your day.  Practice describing the room you're in.  Practice describing people's posture, speech patterns, modes of dress.  It's all connected to your writing.

This week's suggested website: Constant Content - (http://www.constant-content.com/) List your work for sale and name your own price on this website.  

This week's writing prompt: Give yourself five uninterrupted minutes of quiet time. Think about your favorite fairy tale (Cinderella, The Ugly Duckling, The Three Little Pigs, etc.) try rewriting the story with a new ending.  Introduce a new character or switch the point of view.  Imagine what Little Red Riding Hood's story would sound like if you were hearing it from the wolf.  Would the three bears have a completely different take on that little bitch Goldilocks?  Have fun, do your best work and have a great writing week.

Writers Write!

"It is not love that is blind, but jealousy." - Lawrence Durell

I'll never be Ernest Hemingway or F. Scott Fitzgerald.  I'll never come close to approaching the richness and sincerity of a John Steinbeck.  And, while I can torture myself by striving for perfection and trying to be the best, the one thing (and perhaps the only thing) I can do is be the best "me" possible.  Time after time I find myself criticizing my works in progress even though I should know better.  I beat myself up for not having a first draft that's as good as a master's finished piece.  Silly, huh?  But we writers do it to ourselves over and over.

A doctor doesn't go through all the rigorous academic training of med school, followed by an intense residency, have a practice of his or her own only to say, "I'm not a real doctor."  Yet, we writers do that all the time.  We study, we read, we hit the blank page over and over yet we negate the fact that we are writers when we don't get published or when our published works don't meet the commercial success of a Stephen King or Anne Rice.  It seems that writers at all levels of their career suffer from similar feelings of self doubt.

The best advice I ever heard was, "Writers, write."  It's that simple.

The days that you sit down to write, you're a writer.  The days you let slip away are gone forever.  You won't be able to get those words and thoughts back.  But, when you're actively engaged in a story problem, when you're focused and involved in creating an intriguing plot or an in-depth character biography then you're a writer.  Set aside some time every day no matter how brief to get your ideas on paper.  All of life's other obligations will stand in the way but your job as a writer is to make time to write.  Every word gets you closer to your finished manuscript.

Whenever I take on a new story, one of the first things I like to do is acquaint myself with the territory.  I like to get a view of the landscape.  What's it like to walk in my character's shoes?  What do they see, feel, hear, smell on their way to work, school, the dentist?  I'll usually do a fair amount of research on a place, especially if I've never been there and want the story to ring true.  Better yet, a trip could be just the thing to really add spice to your prose.  Creating an authentic setting helps to establish a sense of trust with the reader.  I find reading books on nature give me a valuable insight into the topography and wildlife characteristic of a region.  These vital details infuse the imaginary world you create with vividness.

This week's suggested website: Writer's FM - (http://www.writersfm.com/writersfm/) The only radio station created for writers by writers. Writer's FM broadcasts 24 hours a day and features music, live interviews, podcasts and more.


This week's writing prompt: Give yourself five uninterrupted minutes of quiet time.  Capture all the detail you can about the present moment.  Fill a page with the sights, sounds and experiences that are going on around you right now.  There's more available than you may at first realize.  Give your very best and have a great writing week.

Back to Work

"A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds." - Francis Bacon

In many ways Labor Day is like the start of a new year.  I’m surprised we don’t celebrate the new year in the fall.  Think about it.  Labor Day marks the beginning of a new school semester.  It's the unofficial end of summer.  It’s also a time when people typically return from their vacations and settle back into their work routines.

I like to use this time to organize and prepare for the work ahead.  Like a gardener that expects a plentiful harvest, writers need to create an environment where their creative efforts can germinate and mature.  This is a perfect time to get rid of the clutter in your writing area.  Make room for the wonderful new ideas that are coming.  I keep a handy list next to my desk of my big projects for the year.  These would be the big picture things.  I want to get back into school, I want a new job, a new car, to finish my novel, a bigger house, etc.  But also, I keep a smaller list that simply reminds me of my day-to-day objectives (1,000 words a day, an hour of exercise, read 1 book a month, etc.)  A lot of the time the things that we do daily don't seem like much.  I recently thought if I learned ten new words a week by the end of a year I'd increase my vocabulary by more than 5,000 words.   A small step that would lead to a huge payoff, guaranteed.  Like in a garden, paying attention to the small daily things we could do to improve (our writing, our lives, our relationships, our finances, etc.) is the key to the fruitful life we crave.  Nothing happens overnight.  Sow the seeds of positivity in your garden and expect a healthy bounty of good works to follow.  

Some people have books they love and return to time and time again for inspiration and clarity.  I'm one of those people that believe technology is actually a good thing for the publishing industry.  Instant access to so many books, magazines and other forms of writing I've got to believe have had a positive effect on our national literacy rate.  I could be wrong.  Maybe it was just Oprah that got us back to reading.  In any event, I've always loved the classics.  I feel there are certain works that every aspiring writer should read as a common basis for understanding the craft.   Some of my favorites include F. Scott Fitzgerald, T.S. Eliot, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, Anais Nin, Khalil Gibran, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Stephen King, Paulo Coehlo, Isabelle Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, to name just a few.  Every writer I know is an avid reader and I can't stress enough how important it is to read both within and outside the genre in which you want to write.  A good adventure story, full of action in faraway places was always my guilty pleasure.

Decide what you'd like to accomplish in your writing for the next coming year.  Take daily steps to create that reality for yourself.  No one was ever born a Nobel Laureate or Pulitzer Prize winner.

This week's suggested website: Funds for Writers - (www.fundsforwriters.com) This online resource for writers offers information on grants, writing contests, awards, markets, available jobs and much more.


This week's writing prompt: Give yourself five uninterrupted minutes of quiet time.  Create a to-do list for any character you're currently working on.  Give him/her a life outside your story.  What are the things (however trivial) that your character must attend to on a day-to-day basis?  Laundry, shopping for groceries?  Fill a page with about a dozen projects or tasks that your character feels pressed to accomplish.  Notice how they want their life prioritized.  It may be different from what you initially envisioned for them.  Give it your best shot and have a great writing week.  

What's Your Story About?

“Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.” -- William Jennings Bryan

What is your story about?  When asked this daunting question, I usually respond one of two ways.  One way is to give a brief description of character and plot.  For example, my story is about Elsie, a girl who’s going blind from a degenerative eye disease, who dreams of being a ballerina but discovers her true talents lie elsewhere.  This short little stab is basically a description of character, the character’s dramatic need and a glimpse of what the obstacles of Act Two and the ending might be.  In other words it’s a synopsis of what happens during the course of your story.

Another way to answer the question is to discuss the narrative in terms of theme.  Unlike a breakdown of what the plot is, this way of talking about the story focuses on the author’s intent.  For example, I could say the story of the blind girl wanting to be a ballerina is a modern tale of delusion and self-realization.

In other words, a story’s theme tells us what moved the author to write the story in the first place. The Three Little Pigs can be said to be about preparedness and perseverance in the face of great danger.    The themes in fairy tales and other children’s stories, as well as in morality plays, tend to be prominent. 

When pitching a story to a potential collaborator, producer or network executive, it's important to talk about both aspects of your project.  Be clear about your plot and characters but also understand the deeper impact your story has.  Explore the thematic aspects of your story and how they contribute to making the “action” more profound.

A well thought out theme will help put your story in societal perspective.  Consider how Harriet Beecher Stowe’s "Uncle Tom’s Cabin" contributed to the societal debate over slavery when it was first published.  A well-constructed theme helps the reader/viewer understand how your character’s behavior may be indicative of the society at large.  The Scarlet Letter is as much a character driven story as it is a portrait of a puritanical society struggling with the issue of adultery.  Theme allows the reader/viewer to compare their morality against that of your imagined characters. 

A well-executed story has its theme invisibly woven into the plot.  Be careful of being heavy handed.

This week’s website: Freelance Writing Gigs – (www.freelancewritinggigs.com) The site bills itself as the Internet's #1 Freelance Writing Community. Special features include job listings for bloggers and writers, a cover letter clinic, interviews and articles about freelance writing.

This week’s writing prompt:  Give yourself five uninterrupted minutes of quiet time.   In a previous exercise we created a resume for one of your characters.  Now, I’d like you to expand on that idea.  Write a letter of recommendation for one of your characters.  Your character may be looking for a new job, renting a new condo or entering an advance academic program.  In either case, you can write from the point of you as the author (yourself) or from the point of view of another character in your story.  Have a great writing week.  

Laying Track

"The real leader has no need to lead - he is content to point the way." -- Henry Miller  

How many times have you someone say "keep putting one foot in front of the other." It sounds like a well worn yet good piece of wisdom.  And, what a marvelous game plan it really is for getting someplace.  Guess what?  Everything in life is that simple.  Keep putting one foot in front of the other.  The outcome is assured.  You'll get there eventually.  Getting somewhere eventually is better than never getting there at all.

While preparation, vision and planning count for a great deal of success quotient, planning doesn't get you there.  Moving gets you there.  Yes, there's a time and a place to plan and envision a successful outcome but actively moving forward toward a goal amounts to more than planning.  100 words a day is better than 0 words a day.  Don't keep yourself from your writing desk because you don't have a solid block of time to commit to writing.  Write for as long as you can.  

While every individual step may seem inconsequential, their cumulative effect is profound and certain.  Keep showing up at the blank page until it's as natural as brushing your teeth.  Some days will seem like a chore just to arrive at the page and attempt to focus.  You'll feel empty and uninspired.  The process may seem lackluster and even a wasteful use of your time.  If all you have is 20% then make the commitment to show up at the page and bring 20% to it.  You may find that once you get started you actually had 25%  The point is - do something.  Anything.  Keep covering ground.

The best selling author and writing guru, Julia Cameron calls this process, "laying track."  It's simply showing up and putting something down on the page.  There will be many days where there isn't anything magical going on.  It might even seem downright boring.  (Remember boredom is just masked resistance).  Just as a seed needs to establish roots before it can shoot out of the ground sometimes our writing needs to incubate, unseen in order to bloom at a later time.

Jhumpa Lahiri's first novel, Interpreter of Maladies, won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2000.  A gifted writer with a unique voice whose passion for story and character is fresh and exciting.  She brings out the universal humanity in her characters and engages the reader with rich detail and witty circumstances.

This week's suggested website:  - MediaBistro.com (www.mediabistro.com) This site is a good place to find freelance jobs online. Other features include forums, courses and industry news.


This week's writing prompt: Give yourself five uninterrupted minutes of quiet time.   Revisit a character biography you've been working on.  Imagine that this character is looking for a job and meets the difficulties of today's economy head on.  Prepare your character's resume and give it some realistic level of polish.  For extra fun submit it to one of the online job boards and see what happens.  

Cheap hotels and Hibernation

"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." -- Jimi Hendrix

I've had the amazing good fortune to take advantage of some much needed time to myself.  At the end of June, I began a road trip from my home in Houston to a summer cabin I own in Catskill Park (upstate New York) near the historic town of Bethel where Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Janis Joplin made history in August of 1969.  It also happened on my fifth birthday.  I should have been one of those naked children featured in the documentary swimming naked in the lake.

To be able to see the country this way, much like Steinbeck did in the early 1960s was a wonderful experience filled with many unexpected surprises.  The landscape left me awestruck.  America is truly an amazing country.  I hibernated in the cabin for all of July and through mid-August working on a script and keeping up with this blog and my journal.  My only companions were my dogs.  And, to tell the truth, I could have used a break from them too.

Something truly amazing happens when you hibernate this way.  First of all, I gained weight.  Duh... food became a source of delight and indulgence, but I gained something else much more valuable as well.  I gained some much needed insight.  The silence gave my characters a chance to speak to me.   No television, no internet, no cell phone.  I got a chance to both focus on and strengthen my imagination.  Much like a muscle, the imagination needs to develop and the best way to do that is to use it every day.

I also got the chance to see how nature follows a specific flow and every living being responds to this flow.  The birds know just when and what to sing, the bees know just when and where to collect pollen, the fruits and vegetables know just where to turn their leaves to get full advantage of the sun.  Maybe writers have a rhythm as well.  Mornings and late evenings seem to be my most productive times.

I also seem to have a fondness for airports, hotels and waiting rooms.  I've come to understand that when ideas jump into my head (often times in these situations) its an opportunity to capture them the old fashioned way - on paper, yes a note pad.

I usually wait until I've read a book before I have anything to say about it but in this case, I think I need to make an exception.  Author, Jonathan Lehem was a classmate of mine at the Fiorella LaGuardia High School of Music and Art (Class of 1982).  I can't say that I remember him although we do  have friends in common.  It recently came to my attention that Jonathan's book, "Motherless Brooklyn," won the National Book Critics Circle Award.  He's gone on to write more critically acclaimed novels as well (Chronic City and Gun with Occasional Music .  I'm looking forward to reading Motherless Brooklyn.  It's jumped to the top of my reading list.


This week's suggested website: MIT OpenCourseWare - (http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/courses/courses/index.htm#WritingandHumanisticStudies) The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) offers a number of free writing courses through its OpenCourseWare program. Course topics include fiction writing, short story writing, expository writing, essay writing, technical writing and poetry.


This week's writing prompt: Give yourself five uninterrupted minutes of quiet time.   Imagine that one of your characters has just won the presidential election.  It's inauguration day.  Write a compelling, motivational speech to the American people outlining the administration's vision of the four years ahead.