Monday, July 9, 2018

Learning as you go

Today Carol Williams posted some great questions about "The Vehicle of Character" in her writing blog. I'm basically finished with Joy to My Love but sometimes I'd like to rewrite the whole thing! Not really. There are some good parts. I actually like my characters though the plot is not fast moving. So I hope the sequel and the other two books I'm working on will benefit from those questions. 

I'm going to concentrate particularly on this:


  • Make your character relatable. “I get that!” “How do you know how I feel?” “I’ve been there.” When we connect with a main character, we’re interested in sticking around. Write a list of 50 things about your main character. Now do that for each of your other major players. Think outside the box. Think backstory. Think, “Who is she, really?

My problem is that I want to write those 50 things and backstory! It's particularly hard when you're writing historical and you have to give explanations of the culture both from a different country and from the past! I have too many conversations giving background and I need to find another way of adding this stuff without an information dump. 

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

House Clutter and Draft Revisions



The last couple of months have been busy and for that reason, the house (and even the yard) have taken back seats. And so, it's time to have a declutter and tackle the weeds too. But I also need to do a final revision on Joy to My Love before I send it to a professional editor. It just seems to be dragging on and on. It's beginning to feel like clutter!


This is the definition of clutter from Brooks Palmer, a professional organizer. I don't know where I found this (shame on me for not citing my source immediately!) but I like the philosophy.


Clutter : things that exist in your outer life to distract you from the inner things that you're avoiding. If you avoid something, it grows.... The great thing is, the reverse is also true: when you honestly look at something, it shrinks. When you see the situation for what it is, bypassing the emotional layers that coloured it and made it into a clutter monster, it becomes simple. That's how peaceful clutter busting is. You're honestly looking at each layer of distraction, questioning the thing, letting it go, and realizing what's underneath. Looking directly at something has the power of a magnifying glass in the sun. The sun is you; the glass, your attention ~ Brooks Palmer


As I'm so involved with revising my first novel right now, this seems to be a metaphor for revising: the distracting scenes or words, questioning meaning or relevance, deleting those words I want to hang on to, and connecting to the core of the story. AND connected to house clutter, there are all those printed pages with various comments by different critiquers and files of various drafts on my computer. For some reason, I don't seem to be able to let go of those until I've completely finished.

Monday, January 22, 2018

Images of Creation

The Gospel Doctrine teacher asked the ward to send an image of creations that "blew you away." I sent a link to photos of nebula that are absolutely stunning. Here's the link to 50 Deep Space Nebula And I thought of Psalm 8 that goes along with it.


PSALM 8 (KJV)

1 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.
9 O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!
So what does this have to do with writing? Awe of creations great and small inspires sublime words. 
Right now for book group, we're reading A Gentleman in Moscow, a beautifully written literary novel that would drive the majority of readers at Utah Valley Writers crazy as it's extremely slow and meandering. But the language! It's no good my being jealous--I'm writing a different genre--but I'd like to have a few sublime sentences in my novel nonetheless. 

Saturday, January 20, 2018

Vision Board 2018

So, here's what I finally ended up with for my vision board. I have it on my laptop and will print it out to put on the fridge. It's interesting that on my laptop it's usually hidden because I have other things opened on my screen. So I need to close programs every day so I'll see this first thing when I open the computer. And just that practice will give a sense of "completion" to my day. I always have "stuff to do" niggling at the back of my mind. "Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." (Matt 6:34) Mindfulness seems to be a popular mantra these days. But Jesus already told us this: "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." I'm sure He's not saying, don't plan, but fretting about tomorrow today, makes today less productive, less enjoyable.

What the different pictures/words mean: I have a lot of ordinances, especially sealings to do that have been sitting around for a couple of years or more. Writing looms large including revision and publishing, and, of course, the focus on Effie and Calum's story, hence the picture of Pittenweem. The picture of myself as a 12-year old with a suggestion for a different kind of New Year's resolution by the church. Why my 12-year old self? I look eager, happy. I was a form leader/prefect for my class and doing well in school. The other photo shows me about 20 when I was at my optimal weight. I don't expect to get down to that size at my age now, but to lose at least 10 lbs to a more healthy weight by the end of the year. And, I do need to get out into nature more frequently, even if it's just spending time in my garden, even in winter, and taking the dogs for a walk around the block! When putting this together, it was hard to get the vertical lines completely straight, but for some reason that's also inspiring in an odd way: "tell it slant" as Emily Dickinson has said.

I'm in the process of adding new links, especially to writing blogs. (I'm keeping the Science link because there may be information that could be the basis of a new story, even a historical story though I don't read it as frequently as the writing links.) I intend to use these blogs as I get ready to publish with Amazon. And, the other thing---and this is a big step for me---I'm going to share this blog more than in the past. I've given only a few people links to it but now I'm getting bolder to share thoughts, ideas, musings.

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Re-Vision

I'm in the process of putting together a Vision Board instead of a list of resolutions. I've been working on it on and off for the past couple of weeks, not really knowing what direction to take. I do need to cover family, friends, family history, and, of course, writing. I often feel overwhelmed with things--though why I should since retirement from work has released me to do things at my own pace--which is why a vision board appeals to me instead of feeling guilty about not keeping those good resolutions.

Today I read the email from the English Department for English majors--something I rarely do---and a short admonition from Lance Larsen, now Chair of the Department, resonated with me. He shared a poem by a Norwegian poet, Olav Haugue, that came to him as he impulsively picked up a book from his shelf, not having read it through. I don't know if this is plagiarism, but I'm going to share the poem and his thoughts because it's what I needed to hear/feel now today. I've included the poem in my vision board because it relates to writing, revisions . . . re-visions . . . not just for today but for the whole year.

Don’t Come to Me with the Entire Truth

Don’t come to me with the entire truth.
Don’t bring the ocean if I feel thirsty,
Nor heaven if I ask for light;
But bring a hint, some dew, a particle,
As birds carry drops away from a lake,
And the wind a grain of salt.


(translated by Robert Bly)

We might consider this a revision, or at least an updating, of Dickinson’s savvy advice: “Tell all the truth but tell it 
slant— Success in Circuit lies.”  She ends her own thimble-sized poem with these plain but oracular words: “The Truth must dazzle gradually / Or every man be blind.”
 

Lance went on to show how this idea relates to students' studies. We often want some great truth or knowledge to find us. But sometimes, it's the little things that shake us to the core. He went on to say: "Nibble, experiment, explore. And let this new alertness leaven all aspects of your life. Who knows, perhaps that thing you most need is already within your grasp, as it was with me." This idea seems to relate to a phrase about ordinary things. I can't seem to come up with it at the moment . . . on the tip of my tongue . . . on the edge of my mind. I can almost "see" it written down on the page. Ecstacy of ordinary things? No. I can't quite conjure it up. I'm sure it was a poet who said it, though my mind's eye sees in in a piece of prose. But in trying to find the quotation, I came across this poem which is lovely. I just need to read more poetry which distills experience to its essence.

The Patience of Ordinary Things
by
Pat Schneider

It is a kind of love, is it not?
How the cup holds the tea,
How the chair stands sturdy and foursquare.
How the floor receives the bottoms of shoes
Or toes. How soles of feet know
Where they're supposed to be.
I've been thinking about the patience
Of ordinary things, how clothes
Wait respectfully in closets
And soap dries quietly in the dish.
And towels drink the wet
From the skin of the back.
And the lovely repetition of stairs,
And what is more generous than a window?

From Another River: New and Selected Poems (Amhert Writers and Artists Press, 2005)