Another Wednesday, Another Batch of Prompts!

Today I had an unusual experience - for only the second or third time in almost six years, no one showed up at my writing group! Considering the rainy, wintery weather, I can't say it was surprising. Here are today's prompts; a dream, an embarassing mistake, an outhouse... take your pick. Find one that strikes your fancy, and give it a ten-minute test run. Happy writing!

--Every night George’s dreams were filled with….

--Tell us about your most embarrassing social faux pas. Change the names of the innocent, if necessary (even the not-so-innocent, if that helps).
--Jason was shocked to find himself standing in front of so many people. The applause was thunderous! He reached into his pocket for his acceptance speech notes, only to find his pocket empty. Jason’s mind was totally blank when he took the podium….
--The house was such a fixer-upper that it still had an outhouse….
--Do you remember when airline travel was fun? What do you miss most about that era?

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Photo Courtesy of: Viktors Kozers at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/815958

"To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub." --Shakespeare, Hamlet

Tax Season & Gobs of Prompts

If you've been wondering what happened to me over the past couple of weeks, I have two words for you: tax season. Those of you who are self-employed know just what I'm talking about. I even turned down lunch with my neighbor this weekend so I could focus my word-oriented brain on numbers. I don't think the damage will be lasting; I'm sure the insomnia will fade soon. :)

Here are some prompts from last week and this week. Remember, write fast and write without editing yourself. Take ten minutes to write on one of these:

--Have you ever won an award?
--Linda only drank lemonade….
--He hated wearing glasses because….
--Why is thriftiness such a forgotten value?
--My favorite science studies were about….
--When the earthquake hit….
--If you were unable to write, what other creative endeavor would you be most likely to pursue?
--The monster lurking in Shane’s closet….
--“We’re meeting at the bowling alley?” LuAnn asked. “But what about….”
--You are trapped in an elevator with someone famous. Who are you trapped with, and what do you talk about as you await rescue?
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Photo courtesy of Linda Long at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/589848

Barbed Wire & Other Writing Prompts

Did you know that barbed wire was once called The Devil's Rope? Perhaps that will help you attack the first prompt; if not, don't fence yourself in - move on to a different prompt. Take ten minutes to write without interruption on:

--Combine the following items in a story or poem: barbed wire, an empty beer bottle, and a smoke alarm.

--Claudia didn’t like snakes….
--The house was empty, except for….
--What are your first memories of using a dictionary?
--“You can bring a hundred red roses,” Diana said. “Nothing can make up for….”

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Photo courtesy of Jamie Woods at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/809111

Pardon Me, But Your Blog Is Showing

If you’re a writer, especially one who has embraced blogs, I have a warning for you. Despite your worst fears to the contrary, people are reading your articles, stories, and poems. People you will never meet will read your writing and form an opinion about your work, and possibly about you. Occasionally, you’ll hear from some of them, and this is both good and bad news. Take, for instance, an e-mail I received recently.

The writer (whom I won’t identify for fear that the Google Gods will once again bring my name to the Writer’s attention) sent me an e-mail about a post I had written on one of the Writer’s books. Yes, “Writer” with a capital “W” – someone published in a big way. Someone with an agent and reviews in large, national newspapers. Someone who gives interviews.

I marvel any time someone finds one of my blogs and takes the time to write. To me, it’s this incredible bonus because I enjoy writing so much, whether or not anyone reads my work. Honesty is a key ingredient in my writing, and I’m opinionated. I do my best to be tactful, but sometimes I’ve hit the “publish” button and felt my heart pound. A few months ago I wrote about a media panel here in Las Vegas, and I had a funny feeling when my post went up. I had given my very honest opinion about all the panelists, and I didn’t like all of them. Who will read this, anyway? I reasoned. Surely, even if they found my blog, the official Las Vegas media would regard me as nothing more than a speck on the windshield of the Internet, right? Just another irksome “citizen journalist.” Then I got an e-mail from one of the panelists – thankfully, he had given the presentation I liked – and I had to face the unpleasant thought that if one panelist had found my blog, then chances were good the rest of them had also.

Not until I got the e-mail from the Writer did I stop to re-examine my assumptions about who might be reading my work. The funny thing about the post that attracted the Writer’s attention is that I had labored long and hard over it, but not because I had concerns over what I’d written about the Writer. My concerns were over a segment about a local man, and I spent a day making sure that my words were fair and appropriate. The Writer’s e-mail was a surprise. Thankfully, it was a friendly counter-point to what I had written, one that gave me a chance to respond.

After the e-mail, I realized that making assumptions about who was reading my blog was foolish. Anyone might be reading my words – people from the other side of the world, famous people, angry people. Yikes. Talk about something that makes your heart pound! I had unwittingly envisioned walls and barriers that do not exist.

What about you? Have you heard from a surprising reader? Do you make assumptions about who reads your work?
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Photo courtesy of Georgios Wollbrecht at http://www.sxc.hu/profile/Wazari

The Clippings Box

Maybe I love to read newspapers because my love of writing began with journalism. Maybe it’s because I still think newspapers are the best source of information, or because papers like The New York Times are an excellent source of good writing. Perhaps the real reason is that a newspaper is rich with writing fertilizer. Tragedy, irony, absurdity, comedy – a newspaper has it all, every day.

I’ve got an old cardboard box in my office that holds my clippings collection. The papers multiply so rapidly that sorting through them yields forgotten treasures – everything from an article about the school crossing guard shortage in Las Vegas to a story about labyrinths. Here are some of the other things I found in my clippings box:

Drunken Lemurs
Score one for the First Amendment. Here’s the headline: “Judge sides with man fired over Dilbert comic.’” Seems that the Catfish Bend Casino in Iowa didn’t care for David Steward’s sense of humor. Steward posted a Dilbert comic in which the dialog states, in part: “Why does it seem as if most of the decisions in my workplace are made by drunken lemurs?” The judge characterized Steward’s action as an error in judgment as opposed to intentional. Drunken lemurs everywhere are outraged.

Mystical Book Experiences
Read Michelle Slatalla’s account of her attempts to find synchronicity in anonymous book exchanges (via bookcrossing.com) in this NYT Article: “Love That Book? Then Set It Free.”

One More Reason To Persevere
Did you know that Elie Wiesel’s classic Night was rejected by 15 publishers? Read Rachel Donadio's NYT story: “The Story of ‘Night’”

A Battle of Statistics
An NYT article by John Markoff said Steve Jobs (of Apple) feels Amazon’s new book reading device, Kindle, is DOA because 40% of Americans read one book (or fewer) every year. I took heart from an AP article by Anick Jesdaniun that says 62% of 18-30 year-old Americans use the library. Further proof that statistics couldn’t be more flexible if they practiced yoga.

Personal History
On November 23, 2007, USA Today (along with most papers) reported on the anniversary of President John F. Kennedy’s assignation. In USA Today, the article was just a side-bar blurb. The brief story took me back to the 70s, to a car ride with my Uncle Newman and Aunt Thelma from the airport in Dallas-Fort Worth to their farm, just outside Ballinger, Texas. Uncle Newman pointed out the infamous book repository to me as we drove past it. I was maybe ten, and although I had heard of the assignation, at that time I had no idea what a powder keg of history it was. I was more interested in hearing about Bonnie Parker, of Bonnie and Clyde gangster fame, who was born in Rowena, a town in Runnels County not far from Ballinger. I suspect Uncle Newman knew that I’d appreciate his observation about the book repository later; he was a historian and writer. Now I understand that personal history intertwined with public events enriches both narratives.

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Photo courtesy of Oláh Zoltán at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/816067. Presumably, all these lemurs are completely sober.

The Door Bell At Dawn & Other Writing Prompts

Think back to a time when someone unexpectedly appeared on your doorstep at an odd hour. Did your visitor bring good news or bad? Perhaps that memory can help you with the first writing prompt. If door bells leave you cold, pick another prompt for inspiration. Remember, this is a ten-minute free-writing exercise, so write quickly and limit your self-correction.

--The doorbell rang just before dawn….

--Write a story in which one of the characters has lost at least one of his/her five senses.
--Ryan paid for the three-karat ring before he discovered….
--An explosion shattered the night….
--Spicy food….

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Photo courtesy of Lisandra Barros Mendonça at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/287711

The Endless Edit

"When do you know you're done?" is one of the most common questions I get about writing books. I always tell people that you don't know when you're done. You decide. Does that mean you should send out half-baked work? Of course not. But here's what I've found: rarely will you be 100% happy with your work, not today, not when you see it in print. Without fail, I find things I would change in my published work.

But what happens before publication, when you're stuck in what feels like an Endless Edit? I'm not talking about the perfectionistic editing that is only an avoidance strategy. I'm talking about necessary work. Over the weekend, I printed out the first three chapters of my book. I just finished the proposal package. When I read Chapter One, I realized a few unpleasant things. First, it needed significant work. Second, my proposal package was now more thorough and well-written than the book. Third, I was going to have to tell my husband that my book required more work before it met the world. He didn't look particularly happy to hear that.

I'm not happy to be in the limbo of the Endless Edit, but I am grateful for the opportunity it presents. Someday, when I pick up my published book, I'm sure I will find things I would like to change. With the persistence and hard work an Endless Edit requires, however, I believe my chances of being published are much higher. This is the phase that separates many writers from their final dreams. It's easy to run out of patience during editing. To avoid the feelings that the Endless Edit brings, writers may declare their work is finished when it isn't. I refuse to let the Endless Edit defeat me. Patience and perseverance are what is required. Well, and a little bit of stubbornness, but we'll talk about that another day.

Make the Time to Write

From H. Jackson Brown, author of Life’s Little Instruction Book: “Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”

When I had a day job and writing was strictly my passion instead of my work, I fantasized about what life would be like as a full-time writer. We all know this scene, right? The afternoons at the coffee shop, the blissful hours of contemplation and reading. Uninterrupted hours of time would replace the constant struggle to find enough time after work, dinner, homework, housework, a husband, a kid, and life in general. Then I made the leap into freelance writing and found that it was like moving to your favorite vacation city. I no longer had time to do all the fun stuff I had visualized in my happy little writing fantasy. Suddenly, I was writing all day, but it wasn’t the paradise I had envisioned. I didn’t always have control of what topics I wrote on, or even when I worked (deadlines do not care about holidays or weekends). I enjoyed everything I was doing, but my days were often filled with research, interviews, and clients. I faced an odd situation: I was a full-time writer, but I still felt I didn’t have enough time to write.

My to-do list remains long, but I do my best to keep things in perspective with this quote. It inspires me to turn off the TV, and helps me think about my priorities. It’s hard to sit down at the computer at 9:00, just when Larry King is coming on and my mind is shifting into low gear. It’s all too easy to fall asleep on the sofa, laptop on but unused, CNN turned down to allow dozing. Is this a waste of time, or a necessary break at the end of the day? I ask myself that question constantly. I’m not unraveling the space and time continuum, or creating timeless masterpieces of artwork, or tending to the sick and poor. I’m just a writer. But everything, on whatever scale, requires time and attention. We have to make the time to write; if we wait to find the time, we’ll always be searching.

Crime and Other Writing Prompts

--The crime (or criminal) I remember most vividly is….
--For one moment, Dale thought he would reach the summit. When he lost his hold on the rock and started to fall….
--“Everyone is happy at Kathy’s Kindercare,” said Kathy, who both owned and operated the day care. “So your daughter obviously….”
--My favorite time of day….
--Comment on this Van Gough quote: “Your life would be very empty if you had nothing to regret.”
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Photo courtesy of scol22 at stock.xchng; http://www.sxc.hu/photo/772803

Photography and Writing

Those of us who like to write are often also involved in other creative pursuits - painting, dancing, acting, and so on. I love photography. It's an art form in its own right, and it's also a wonderful way to take visual notes. Take my photos from Friday, for instance, at the Clark County Heritage Museum. What stories do these pictures tell?

Striving for Clarity

Last spring, my family spent a night in Flagstaff, Arizona. One of the places we visited was the Lowell Observatory, where Pluto was discovered. The evening we were there, overcast skies prevented any stargazing. It was May, but it was snowing. We were still able to see the Clark Telescope, the first telescope installed in 1896. Inside the unheated, domed building, we saw the huge, historic telescope and learned how men at the turn of the century developed systems to easily re-position the six-ton instrument. A few lucky kids got to come down and see how easy it was to move the telescope, and my son was one of them. The lighting was low and I was shivering, but the photo I got of him is remarkable.

The dim lighting looks other-wordly, and Cameron’s clothing is blurred with the motion of his steps down three wooden stairs. The docent’s back is to us, but Cameron’s upturned face has a ghostly clarity, caught in a moment of true awe. To the left, the historic telescope is in focus just enough for you to recognize its antiquity. I love looking at this photo every day, but it didn’t start out this way.

When I first printed the picture, the lighting was purple (a bad printer cartridge). Everything but Cameron’s face was blurry. Because nothing stood out clearly, it had a blunted feel to it. Through the miracle of photo editing software, I corrected all those things. I sharpened the interesting points around Cameron’s face, changed the color, and installed a fresh printer cartridge. A frame is all I need now.

The process of writing is similar. Within the rough idea, one thought is in focus. It’s up to us to clarify the details. When we edit, we’re sharpening the view to focus on our most interesting points. We give texture with the background, but it shouldn’t be distracting. One focused idea takes center stage, where it blossoms.

Fortunately, no one has created software to automate this process for writers. Can you imagine? One click to replace passive verbs with active ones, another to red-flag flat characters. Yikes! Considering what nutty suggestions Word’s grammar check gives, can you imagine? I’ll stick to my old-fashioned methods here at my desk. Maybe this is why photography is my hobby. I love that a few easy clicks gave me a wonderful picture of my handsome little boy experiencing the thrill of discovery; clear writing is much harder.

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Photo information: My photo of the telescope Clyde Tombaugh used to discover Pluto, on display at Lowell.

Joe’s Resolution and Other Writing Prompts

I’m sure you’re familiar with the success statistics on New Year’s Resolutions. If you have a gym membership, you can actually watch the resolutions dissolving. On January 1, you’re waiting to use the equipment. By the end of the month, you can have your treadmill all to yourself. Who knows what Joe, in my first prompt, has resolved to do? It’s your job to find out.

Take ten minutes to write without interruption on one of these prompts. Turn off your inner critic, forget about a dictionary, and just write!

--Joe could see that keeping his New Year’s Resolution was going to be tough. Not ten minutes into 2008….
--When was the last time you saw a show on the Las Vegas Strip?
--During 2008, I want to write about….
--Greg decided to hunt ghosts as a hobby because….
--She looked down and saw the droplets of blood on the floor….

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Photo courtesy of Laura Nubuck at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/788291

The Flashing Yellow Caution Sign of Writer's Block

Writer’s block is a popular topic. Visit any writing-relating web site and you’ll find something on the subject. Googling the term returns close to two million hits. Clearly, the inability to make our words behave properly is a common affliction. Sharon Lippincott at The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing recently wrote about it in her post, “Write On.” As I wrote in a comment on Sharon’s blog, I’ve learned that writer’s block is like a flashing yellow caution sign for me: writing danger ahead.

Writer’s block arrived in my life when I was on the second or third draft of my book, The Department, my account of 20 years behind the scenes with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Until that point, working on my book was consistently the most fun I had every day. If you’ve been swept away by the rush of a writing high, you know what a wonderful feeling it gives you. When my muse left town, I was in the middle of chapter seven. No more rush, no more joy, no more words. My muse left no forwarding address.

In my prior career in law enforcement, there’s only one answer to the question of an undone task: work harder, work faster, work longer. Cowgirl up. And this was how I attacked my first serious case of writer’s block. I no longer wanted to run to the computer in the evenings, but I sat down anyway and did my best to squeeze out a couple hundred words. This became an unpleasant exercise that involved lots of hair pulling, cursing, and backspacing. Eventually, I abandoned my full frontal assault and re-read my book from page one to try and unravel why my muse had left. I read somewhere that writing about your writing – or in my case, writing about not writing – can help you overcome obstacles in your work. I began journaling about the book and the mysterious block. By doing this, I began to understand why my writing had skidded to a stop. I realized that the events I described in chapter seven held serious underpinnings for the rest of my book, and that I had more emotional connections to that particular period of time than I’d realized. I also saw that the pacing of the book needed to pick up at that point to correspond to the spiraling, runaway train feeling that my career acquired. By slowing down and re-examining my direction, I realized I had to make changes.

After that, I thought I was done with writer’s block. When it returned as I was slogging through the proposal package, I was too embarrassed to tell anyone. Who gets writer’s block on a proposal package? Wasn’t that like getting writer’s block on a memo? When I sat down to work on it, I felt that I was drowning under the immensity of the proposal’s components. A synopsis, an overview, a chapter by chapter outline… the first three chapters as perfect as I could get them… it was almost as icky as doing my taxes, only it was taking much longer. As the months passed and I barely chipped away at the thing, I decided I had a good excuse to shelve it. I had too many pieces due right away to devote much time to the book, anyway, so I just accepted that I was stuck. I began to wonder if I would be one more person with a book manuscript moldering in a banker’s box stuffed in the back of a closet.

Months passed. Over the summer I sent my manuscript around to some friends and family, hoping to reinvigorate the project, and I got back a unanimous response: “We love it! But it needs more.” That was when I realized how valuable the writer’s block had been. I had learned a few things after the proposal muse went MIA, like how to ask people questions about their comments. More importantly, I understood what people meant when they gestured widely and said, “You know, more, just more of what you have here.” I’d read innumerable manuscripts from other writers who needed “more,” that extra texture that paints the three-dimensional world in your head. It’s a nebulous, hard-to-pin-down quality, but I knew what my friends were talking about. When the proposal first ground to a halt, I only had a glimmer of understanding about More. Writer’s block, it appeared, had once again prevented me from charging ahead before my book was ready.

Today, the proposal package is back on the front burner. I’m working on More and marveling at how perceptive my subconscious is. The flashing yellow lights of writer's block have sent me in a new direction, one I'm hoping is free of slow-downs. But if I see those flashing lights again, I know what I have to do: Hit the brakes. Pull over for a while. Find a new road.

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Photo courtesy of Margan Zajdowicz at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/669004

Happy New Year!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season, and that 2008 sees every writer I know overflowing with creativity, free time, and spare dollars for treats at the coffee shop. This week I'm getting back into the swing of things after being off over the holidays -- a vacation I initially took rather unwillingly, I have to admit. This holiday season I had to learn first-hand (again) the wisdom of Stephen King's famous quote: "Put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support system for art. It's the other way around."

Happy 2008!

The Intercom

The intercom system was a great idea when we bought our home, but now that I am huddled in my office, frantically typing away when I should be downstairs for dinner, I wish that it would malfunction. Deadlines are always a powerful motivator, and right now my deadline depends upon how long my son and husband will tolerate me hiding from them. "Momis Writis Too Muchis," is what my son claims is my Latin name. I've already been paged over the intercom, so to speak, to come down for dinner. Right now the smell of something yummy is cooking. I can hear every sound outside my well-insulated door, and I've turned off the Internet radio so I can hear any approaching footsteps. They may have given up trying to dislodge me with intercom reminders that DINNER IS COOKING. At this moment, it appears I may actually pound out a paragraph before The Men appear at my door to demand my presence downstairs. For them (because of them?), I've learned to tolerate interruption (much to their dismay).

Hospitals and Other Writing Prompts

Over the past few days, I’ve been at the hospital a few times. Said hospital, Valley Hospital here in Las Vegas, harbors a tremendous number of memories for me. I initially thought it odd that so many of my personal stories have this institutional building as a backdrop; but then I realized that how silly that was. Hospitals are teeming with stories, not just mine but a whole building full – patients, families, doctors, nurses, sorrow, sickness, joy, and birth. That’s what put me in mind for prompt #1. If you’re not feeling all Grey’s Anatomy, move stat to the next writing prompt.

Take ten minutes to write without interruption about…

--The last time I was at a hospital….
--Daisy liked to play piano….
--“You wouldn’t dare,” said Phyllis, although she wasn’t really sure that Glenda wouldn’t….
--I had stitches when I was a child because….

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Photo courtesy of Daniel Wilkinson at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/575738

A Little Writing News

Unless you’ve been stranded in some media-less wilderness (please send directions if this is the case), you’ve heard about the writers strike in Hollywood. Now that people are facing their sixth week of television re-runs, they’re starting to panic. Good heavens, what will Americans do while they’re eating dinner? Might this mean – and I know it’s frightening – that people may actually talk to each other? Or perhaps (and this is an even wilder idea) read a book? Oh, the horrors.

One more reason to be glad you live in the United States:
“Burma's Military Junta Bans 19 Writers, Performers.”

I’ve often said that adults shouldn’t be frightened of grammar, but neither should they avoid proofreading. It concerns me that the people at the Department of Education don’t seem to know this: “For Want of a Proofreader, or at Least a Good One, a Reading Exam Is Lost.”

The non-profit StoryCorps has been busy collecting stories for the largest oral history project in U.S. History: “’Listening’ a page-turner packed with historic revelations.”

Kindle Lust

I’ve never been interested in e-reading devices. Just give me good old-fashioned paper, I always said. Then I saw Jeff Bezos on Charlie Rose, talking about the new Kindle. It was the same day that the device was released, and I’ve been in a state of deep gadget lust ever since.

Maybe I was hooked by Bezos’ enthusiasm for the Kindle, which he said wouldn’t have been possible five years ago. “What is more meaningful than trying to improve the book?” said Bezos, and at that moment if I could have spent $400 in good conscience, my credit card and I would have been on Amazon’s web site.

Perhaps it’s a good thing that I have budgetary constraints, because otherwise I’m afraid that the bookstores and the office supply would see a whole lot more of me. I stopped looking at the Levenger catalog because of the sheer number of irresistible and even useful bookish/writerly knick-knacks – tempting but non-essential goodies.

But how to resist a portable library that connects and downloads thousands of books, magazines, and newspapers? Amazon’s goal is to have every book on earth available for download. Kindle is getting great reviews – it’s the new iPod of books – and the thing is selling like those proverbial hot cakes.

Guess I’d better start saving my pennies.

Sam's Job & Other Writing Prompts

If you watch Inside the Actors Studio, you know that one of the questions host James Lipton asks his guests at the end of the show is: What profession would you not like to do? Perhaps your answer can help you with writing prompt #1. (You can read all of Lipton's questions at Wikipedia.)

--The only job Sam could find was….
--The Christmas tradition I could do without is….
--Janet huddled in the back of the restaurant….
--“Get me a neon sign,” said Lenny, “because I want everyone to know….”
--Combine a tomato, a lizard, and a little girl in a story.
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Photo information: I picked this photo because of my answer to the Lipton/Pivot question - cashier. I actually did attempt cashiering a few times, and I was terrible. Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/680711.

Self-Doubt

And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath

When I checked the authenticity on this quote, I found over 1,000 web sites – almost every one of them aimed at writers – featuring it. How rich with both truth and sad irony; if you don’t know, Plath committed suicide.

Persistence is the most important characteristic a writer can cultivate. It leads to practice and trial and error. But to keep at your work – to keep sitting down, persistently – you have to believe in yourself. And that’s how self-doubt can puncture your creativity. If you don’t believe in what you’re writing, then who will?

Quitting Again

Over the weekend, as I contemplated yet again whether or not I should give up writing as a career - or perhaps just stop writing, period - I looked for signs that might lead me in the right direction. My brain was mired in an emotional quagmire. I tossed out the usual desperate pleas to God: please help me, how can I do this, please give some Sign, and (of course) why me.

On Saturday I cleaned my office because my over-worked brain could not support the construction of sentences. In my pile of agendas and handouts for my writing group. I found an old page of quotes from The Sun, a fabulous magazine that has an eerie way of speaking to my personal condition. I read:

“As I look back on what I have written, I can see that the very persons who have taken away my time are those who have given me something to say.” –Katherine Paterson.

“Every creator painfully experiences the chasm between his inner vision and its ultimate expression.” – Issac Bashevis Singer.

Farther down in my pile of papers, I found a copy of a 1940 Writer article by Faith Baldwin, “Advice to the Book Lorn.” “Writing is self discipline. It means sitting down and working even when you don’t feel like it, and has nothing to do with inspiration. … There are obstacles and disappointments. You’ll find that out. Everyone does. There is no standing still. This is a highly competitive profession. Even the best writers have to revise and rewrite, have to sacrifice, meet disappointment, and even rejection. No one stays in one place.”

While I was certainly uplifted at the end of my office cleaning, I was far from over my inner crisis. All that was nice, but should I simply apply at Starbucks, where I hear they have health insurance? My mood was ugly. I felt like a rabid rattlesnake. My husband and I agreed that it was best if I was alone.

The next day, I picked up the latest copy of The Sun and turned to the last page, “Sunbeams,” their page of quotations. As I read down the page of quotes about reality, illusion, and awareness, I came to this quote from Eckhart Tolle:

“The most common ego identifications have to do with possessions, the work you do, social status and recognition, knowledge and education, physical appearance, special abilities, relationships, personal and family history, belief systems, and often political, nationalistic, racial, religious, and other collective identifications. None of these is you.”

After a few equally (eerily) relevant quotes, I came to:
“Enter each day with the expectation that the happenings of the day may contain a clandestine message addressed to you personally. Expect omens, epiphanies, casual blessings, and teachers who unknowingly speak to your condition.” – Sam Keen.

I laughed out loud at that one. And while my hodge-podge collection of fortune cookie wisdom probably reflects nothing more than my longing to wring encouragement and direction out of thin air, at least it kept me writing.

__________________

Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/452750

Matthew’s Disappointment & Other Writing Prompts

Pick a prompt and take ten minutes to tell the story.

--Betty knew she had disappointed Matthew because….
--Write a story in which someone’s good intentions go awry.
--“I would have told you sooner,” said Sam, “but I was worried….”
--“What kind of idiot are you?” snarled Tracy. “Surely everyone knows….”
--Delores saw the tracks in the fresh snow, so she followed them until….

Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/401795

A Grateful Writer

I’m a big believer in gratitude, so Thanksgiving is a wonderful day for me! A few of things I’m giving thanks for today:

…That I acquired a love of reading early in life, and that it looks like I’ve passed this on to my son.

…My writing group. The Northwest Writing Group that I facilitate at the City of Las Vegas’ Northwest Senior Center has been a vital support to me for the past five years. Without them, I don’t think I’d be writing today.

…My writer mom, Barbara Hudson. Only another writer would understand why, on Thanksgiving Day, I’m working on my blog (which caused me to tell my husband, when Mom called, “Tell her I’ll call her back in 30 minutes!”). Thanks for everything, Mom. I love you!

…Family and friends who read my work and are so incredibly supportive. Some writers struggle to find acceptance, but these people recognize and respect me as a writer.

…My wonderful husband, David, whose love, guidance, and support can’t be easily summed up here. He makes my life as a writer possible. He’s my first reader and my biggest cheerleader. David has always believed in me, even when I didn’t believe in myself. I love this man truly, deeply, madly.

I wish you and your family and friends a day filled with joy, good food and companions, and as many things to be thankful for as you can stand.

Stories You Might Have Missed

New York Times, November 15, 2007: “You Say Fake Ads, They Say Satire: Writers turn to Craigslist to find an audience,” by Andrew Adam Newman. Proof that writers will conscript any available medium to express themselves. Think of us as graffiti artists, only with better manners.

Norman Mailer passes away – BBC News Obituary, November 10, 2007: Honesty attracts readers, even when you’re saying things people don’t like.

Associated Press reporter Mike Robinson writes about the case one cop was determined to solve: Cop-turned-author tells story of notorious triple child murder.

Elmore Leonard shared writing tips in USA Today on November 15.

The NYT article, “Alexander, Mom and the Very Messy Stay,” by Rachel Donadio is about author Judith Viorst. Writers with children may be familiar with Viorst’s book, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. With her latest book, Ms. Viorst proves again that your family is a rich (if reluctant) source of material.

Mrs. Beebee

When I was ready to start seventh grade, I saw that a Journalism class was offered. It was limited to eighth and ninth graders, unless you had approval from the Mrs. Beebee, the Journalism teacher. Before the first day of class, I arranged to meet with her. I brought a handful of my writing and both my parents. I got in.

Sometime during the next three years, Mrs. Beebee gave me a book, The Student Journalist and Free-Lance Writing by Emalene Sherman, copyright 1967. I still have that book. I have mixed feelings about it; what would have happened had Mrs. Beebee not given me that book? Would I have been able to escape the gravity-like pull of the writer’s life? Nah, probably not. But it’s easier to blame Mrs. Beebee for my fate behind the keyboard.

Last week at my writing group we briefly touched on the topic of writing mentors. I didn’t think about Mrs. Beebee right away because I was so busy pondering the fact that I don’t have anyone I would consider a writing mentor right now. I have plenty of writing friends, and I know a host of inspirational writers, but no one who fits the label of “mentor.” I never much cared for the idea of mentorship, actually. It always felt somehow condescending or subordinate to me, being the individualistic person that I am. But in Bruce Holland Rodgers’ book, Word Work, he points out that we should broaden our definition of mentor. He counts Raymond Chandler as a mentor, and not because he ever met the famous author. “He has advised me by example – good and bad – ever since I read Frank MacShane’s The Life of Raymond Chandler,” writes Rogers. “Biographies and biographical movies about writers and other artists can teach us a lot about this path we’re trying to walk, its hazards and its rewards.”

One vital thing a mentor does is help us recognize ourselves as writers. Acceptance by someone you respect is the first step in self-validation, and without that we doubt ourselves. Self-doubt sinks a writer. It makes her question her message, her voice, and her delivery. It’s why a little bit of an ego is a good thing in a writer – in any artist, for that matter. A mentor can help solidify that internal core of your writer’s identity.

Mrs. Beebee is long gone, but her book and her legacy remain. All these years later, when I’m asked what I do, I get to say, “I’m a writer.” I think she’d be proud.

Making Friends With My Mailbox

I imagine I’m not the only who has suffered from issues with her mailbox. I know Mailbox Anxiety Syndrome afflicts writers in greater numbers than non-writers, but anyone can develop an aversion to what the mailbox holds. For writers, MAS may begin with rejection slips. In my case, MAS resulted from bills, notices from the IRS, and incomprehensible insurance mumbo jumbo (that always resulted in more bills). Rejection notices didn’t help. In the final stages, I suffered from the associated syndromes of Junk Mail Terrors and Obsessive Shredding Disorder. I was a certified MAS with JMT and OSD. (Right now, a pharmaceutical company is probably working on a drug to treat these disorders. Look for the inevitable commercial.)

As silly as it sounds, I began avoiding my mailbox. Since it conveniently sits in my next-door neighbor’s front yard, right next to the walking path I use every day, this should tell you just how strong my powers of avoidance are. There it was every day, that hulking grey box that held those ugly little pieces of mail. When I could no longer put off picking up my mail, my stomach would twist into knots as I approached the Evil Mailbox. My heart would start pounding before I got the key in the lock. I dreaded its contents. That’s how the JMT began – because I let the junk mail accumulate like… well, like junk mail. Even rabbits can’t reproduce that fast. For many obvious reasons, I had to do something to correct my MAS.

To non-writers, my solution may sound wacko, but I expect writers will appreciate my solution to MAS. I made friends with my mailbox. I began by imagining it as my mail butler, or the doorman I’ll (probably) never have. My mental image of Mr. Mailbox, as I so unimaginatively refer to him, is a cross between a Walt Disney-style walking and talking inanimate object (think Beauty and the Beast) and his actual government-issued appearance. He has a slight British accent. Lately, I’ve been giving him pats after I pick up the mail. Okay, so maybe other writers will also think I’m wacko, but it works for me. I’ve overcome my MAS, and my JMT is under control. Now, the OSD… well, that’s a topic for another day.
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Photo information: The innocent Mr. Mailbox.

The Purple Envelope: Today's Writing Prompts

Take ten minutes to let your imagination run wild: pick a prompt and write without stopping, backspacing, or correcting yourself. At the end of ten minutes, you may be more interested in what's in that purple envelope than you might think.


--Judy was surprised to see a purple envelope in her mailbox. She was even more surprised to find that the envelope contained….

--The pictures in Jean’s office reminded her that….
--Mark was afraid to leave the house because….
--Carla sighed before she began, “My biggest regret….
--Combine dragonflies, a block wall, and boulders in a story.

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Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/781407

Taking A News Break

I usually read three newspapers – USA Today, the Las Vegas Review Journal/Sun, and the New York Times. I don’t watch television news much, except for Larry King and Anderson Cooper. Well, and Jon Stewart and Bill Maher, who so brilliantly combine social commentary with humor (at least when their writers aren’t on strike). Sometimes I feel like a news junkie.

I have many perfectly good reasons to submerge myself into news every day. Being a writer is at the top of the list. I’m supposed to be informed, or so I reason, especially since the majority of my work reflects current events in some way. I used to think that keeping up with the news was an essential part of my writerly duties, until I realized that sometimes it was just a distraction.

For about a month this summer, my newspapers were going straight to the recycle bin several days a week. I had a list of projects that had nothing to do with current events. My son was out of school for summer break. Time constraints forced me to choose between turning in projects on time or reading the paper – and the deadlines won, of course. Do you know what I found at the end of the month? Nothing had changed. Wars were still raging around the world. The environment was still hurling natural disasters at us. People were still committing crimes. In short, the world had not stopped existing just because I had stopped spending two hours reading about it every day.

Are you a news junkie? Have you taken a break recently?

Personal Fiction

Yesterday I was eating lunch with a couple of acquaintances. During the meal, one of my companions said that he writes short stories. He emphasized that his writing was strictly of a personal nature, not something he wanted to have published, and we all agreed on writing’s therapeutic value. His comments brought to mind something I’ve found interesting about male writers in general. Women are the gender more likely to write (or read), but when women write for themselves it’s often a first-person, journaling-style chronicle. Think: “Dear Diary,” but all grown up. Perhaps this is simply a reflection of gender differences in our society – women are more comfortable pouring out their thoughts and experiences, while men tend to develop stoic attitudes.

I’ve found that men tend to write fiction and poetry for their personal writing, often saying that they have no desire to write about their personal experiences. If their personal experiences do make it into a story, the events are heavily disguised and fictionalized. In my writing group, two of the three men are writing fiction and/or poetry. Jim, the one man who has written a memoir, took great care to change names and to use third person. Vince, who writes short fiction and poetry, says he finds stories about his life to be boring. Barry, who generally does poetry, does write about his observations and experiences – to a degree – but within the context of poetry’s lyrical, imagery-rich language.

We ladle just as much emotion and personal involvement into fiction as we do into a first person rant. Fiction can actually reveal deeper truths than a first-person foray into actual events. Sometimes the imagined version, the exaggeration, or the altering of an event holds more clues about its importance in our lives than the bare facts.

Do you write fiction or poetry as a form of personal writing? How has it provided you with a release?
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Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/854737

Imagination

How do you define imagination?

Is it strictly the ability to create stories out of nothing – in other words, to construct fiction? According to dictionary.com, imagination is “the faculty of imagining, or of forming mental images or concepts of what is not actually present to the senses.”

A wonderful writer I know recently told me she just didn’t feel she was imaginative. I asked her if she thought imagination was restricted to fiction, and she nodded her head. Now, this is a writer with a true gift for the rhythm of language. Her words paint vivid pictures and carry powerful emotion. I was aghast that she felt unimaginative.

Imagination is more than being able to pluck a good story line out of thin air. Imagination is in the words you choose and the topic you select, even the format or genre you pick. If you and I go to a park and observe people for an hour, we’ll write a different summary of our experience. Our imaginations will take us in different directions, depending upon who we are and what we see. Even if we agree on a specific person to watch at the park, we’ll describe her with different words. Imagination grows out of our individuality, our specific experience and interpretation of life.

Don’t box imagination into a box marked “fiction.” Accept imagination into all your work, into your metaphors and personifications, into your descriptions. Recognize the role of imagination in expressing your vision. Broaden your definition to realize the full potential of imagination – bringing to life that which is “not actually present to the senses” – and realize that there are many different ways to infuse imagination into your writing.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create. – Albert Einstein
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Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/901021

Today's Writing Prompts

You know the drill: pick a prompt and write for ten minutes. Write without interruption, correction, or editing. Forget you have a dictionary. Ditto on a thesaurus. After your ten minutes, who knows? Little projects sometimes lead to big ones. Happy Writing!

--Sean watched the river rising and thought….

--Alex didn’t want to go home, so he kept driving until….
--The smoke alarms were going off at Mary’s house….
--Have you ever found money on the street?
--Thanksgiving is just around the corner, which make me think of….

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Photo Information: This picture was taken in Zion National Park.

The Publishing Question

Should you be trying to publish your work? A friend of mine recently wrote to me about her hesitancy to send out her work. “It’s the being picked apart by trying to write for something/someone to get published that I’m not so keen on yet,” she wrote. She’s far from alone. In my writing group, I’d say more members are writing without the goal of eventual publication than are writing with a byline in mind.

Your desire to wade into the waters of publishing should be determined by one thing: Do you want other people to read your work? If the answer is yes, then you have to figure out how many people you’d like to reach, if getting paid is important to you, how much you will compromise your artistic visions, and a host of other things. Getting published is not the same as writing – it’s more of a business venture – but the myth that they’re the same thing persists. Here are the some other myths I’ve found that people associate with writing and publishing:

Writing a book is a quick way to make money. Those of you who have written books are laughing at that sentence. Nothing about books and money belongs in the same sentence with quick and writing. Yes, I know there are plenty of stories out there about first time authors who get six-figure deals, and yes, you could be one of those people. You could also win the lottery and find a Sasquatch in your living room, but your chances are slim. Don’t let the odds discourage you, but do understand that this isn’t a get-rich-quick opportunity.

Getting published will make people respect you. Fat chance. The people who don’t respect you for being a writer will not respect you unless you’re on Oprah, and maybe not even then.

Getting published is really hard. Getting published is easy. Getting published in a national magazine for a big check is hard, although not impossible. Getting a book published is a completely different experience.

You have to be published to be a real writer. This one irks me the most. I meet people all the time who are writing family histories, poetry, short stories – you name it – and publication is the last thing on their minds. They’re writing because they enjoy putting the words on paper, and they are every bit as much a writer as someone getting paid the big bucks. Writing makes you a writer.

Only people who know someone get published. Knowing someone in any business makes success more likely, but it seems that for writers, persistence combined with some degree of talent and business acumen is the best combination.

My work doesn’t matter if it isn’t published. Take this moldy old belief and run it through your shredder. The pieces of paper that mean the most to us are not the ones we buy at Barnes and Noble. It’s the letters, the notes, the handwritten thank-yous that we save. I have a good friend who has a tattered, yellowed copy of his grandfather’s account of a cougar attack in the turn-of-the-century logging camp where he worked. A buddy typed it up on what I’m sure was an old Underwood typewriter and folded the story into a booklet. It’s close to a hundred years old. When my friend showed it to me, I felt privileged to hold it. I can think of several friends with similar written artifacts, and none of them care that these works were never published.

Publication is a worthy goal, but it should never be the only goal.

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Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/752864

Picture This: Writing Prompts

Using one or more of these pictures for inspiration, write without interruption for ten minutes.

A Dose of My Own Medicine

I spent most of today at the Vegas Valley Book Festival (read about the whole day at my Vegas Girl blog), but only one of the sessions held any information for writers. Travel writer Tom Miller talked about his travels and about creating a sense of place, of delving into history, people, and culture. I’ve spent the past year dong a lot of travel writing, so I enjoyed hearing that I’m on the right track, so to speak.

As an interactive exercise, Miller told us all to write one or two paragraphs on a travel destination. I chose Pipe Spring, Arizona, which I recently wrote about for a local magazine. I’m usually on the other side of these types of exercises, so it was a new experience to be the one frantically writing.

The group was slow to share, and I didn’t want to read mine at all, but my husband and my conscience kept nudging me. How could I torture the writers in my weekly group with this same kind of impromptu writing exercise and not participate? So I stumbled through my scrawled paragraph, which was illegible even to me, and not very good to boot. I figured I gave the others confidence. Miller said my use of the present tense was “risky,” which I agree with. Curiously, I didn’t even consider tense when I wrote it. I saw the scene so clearly in my mind that I fell into it unintentionally. Here’s exactly what I wrote and read:

The sandstone hills behind Winsor Castle are deceptively steep. Rising behind the fort, the rocky hillside feels like an addition to the fort. These were the hills that women and children hid in when the federal marshals came looking for them during the raids on the polygamists. This is what I think about as I trudge up the switchbacks on the trail to the top – my son and I, fleeing into this rough territory. When I reach the top of the hills, I can see the Grand Canyon’s beginnings in the far distance. This patch of land in northern Arizona is harsh, but not inhospitable – it has water.

Yuck.

But the yuckiness of my paragraph taught me something important. Now I know just how it feels to hear someone say, “Everyone, take out a pen and paper and write about….”

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Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/732913

The Second Floor File Room

Years ago, when I first worked for the police department in the Records section, sometimes I had to go to the second floor file room. This pad-locked room was located right next to the elevator and around the corner from the City Jail. During daytime hours the room was only mildly creepy. I worked the graveyard shift, however, which meant that when I visited the second floor file room, it was often 2 a.m. We rode the same elevator that people coming to and from the Jail used. The elevator, apart from sporting a prominent bullet-related dent in one metal door, was prone to breaking down and trapping its passengers, sometimes for hours. As you might imagine, all of us had times when we waited for the next elevator rather than ride with whomever was waiting. The file room itself, which probably started life as a huge utility closet, was lit by banks of flickering florescent lights hanging from the ceiling. Everything was concrete. One side of the room was filled with rows of old files, which looked just like this picture, and the other side held old homicide files in metal cabinets. Exposed pipes and locked electrical boxes decorated the walls. The room smelled of old paper and mildew.

As I was wading through a grammar book recently, I felt that I’d been sent to my own SFFR. Beyond the basics – verbs, nouns, where to put a period, etc. – I don’t venture into the depths of grammatical definitions, and I was an “A” student in English. It’s been so long since I opened some of those old mental files that sometimes I wonder if they're still there. For instance, the word “subjunctive” makes my eye twitch. Here’s a selection of scary English terms: gerund, participle, split infinitive, comma splice, misplaced modifier. (When I read Wikipedia’s definition of participle, I felt like I was reading Greek.) Have any of those terms led you to your own SFFR?

One of the quickest ways adult writers can become discouraged is through English Anxiety. Just the thought of going to the SFFR petrifies them. They’re not even sure they know where the elevator is anymore. The only thing that could make it worse would be if they actually had to ride in an elevator with a smelly criminal. Relax, people. So what if you don’t know what a gerund is. You can learn, or at least learn how to use it properly. I can’t name all the parts in my car’s engine, but I can drive my car. Especially when you’re writing your first or second draft, don’t make grammar worries your top focus. Get your story on paper and worry about the grammar stuff later. As long as you get it onto the page, you can fix it. I don’t know anyone who can edit a blank page.

Invest some time and energy into buying a good grammar guide, if you’re that concerned. Use online resources. Go find one of those grammarian types who sleeps with the most recent edition of The Chicago Manual of Style under her pillow and ask her for help. Grammar shouldn’t be scary.
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Photo courtesy of Grzegorz Kozakiewicz at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/103848

Halloween Writing Prompts

Write for ten minutes on one of these....

--Elizabeth thought the trick-or-treaters were done for the night. She was surprised to hear a knock at the door after she turned out the porch light. When she opened the door, she saw….
--What’s your opinion of horror movies?
--Jeffrey cried when he saw the smashed pumpkin….
--Doug lost control of the car….
--My favorite candy….

Remember, no stopping for the full ten minutes!
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Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/

Vegas Valley Book Festival

Vegas book lovers and writers will want to check out the Vegas Valley Book Festival, held in conjunction with November's First Friday. Free sessions on Friday include:

"Down and Out in Las Vegas: The Struggle to Survive in Sin City” Mathew O’Brien and Kurt Borchard; Moderator Geoff Schumacher.

“Traveling Through the Americas” -- Tom Miller One of America’s most accomplished travel authors will share his experiences traveling the hemisphere.

“Old Vegas, New Vegas: Everything Old is New Again,” -- Norm Clarke and Heidi Knapp Rinella; Moderator, Mike Weatherford.

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Photo information: my photo of a mural at the Fremont Street Experience.

A Truly Unique Writer

I remember hearing the NPR interview with Robert Shields, a man committed to writing down the details of his life – at five minute intervals. During good years, he penned some three million words; a “bad” year saw only a million. The New York Times reports that Mr. Shields passed away on October 15. He was 89. Here’s a link to his NYT obituary:

“Robert Shields, Wordy Diarist, Dies at 89”

The obituary author, Douglas Martin, wrote, "What seems certain is that Mr. Shields believed that nothing truly happened to him unless he wrote it down." I think we can all relate to that.

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Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/photo/350001

The Mushroom Bomb

Ever notice that writers tend to favor walking as an exercise? Perhaps this is because of the solitary nature of walking. You’re not responsible for anything additional, like a bicycle. You have the advantage of quiet if you’re observing something. And you can sit down and contemplate the landscape, the people, and the weather.

I do my best to take daily walks on the Greenbelt, as the walking path in back of my house is known. Just a few days ago, I was striding along, jamming to my iPod, when I saw something jutting out of the grass. At first, I kept walking, but then I thought I should check to make sure it wasn’t something with a fuse. It looked strange enough to be a bomb. Upon closer inspection, the mass of armored-looking stuff turned out to be mushrooms. In the desert, a mound of mushrooms was growing under a skinny ash tree.

“Start with the day that’s different,” writers are told. Observation gives us clues on what that day might contain.

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Picture: The mushroom bomb on day two, when there was enough light for a picture.

Taking It Personally

On the Writer’s Advice List, “Don’t take things personally” appears right under “Write every day.” Like every item on the Writer’s Advice List, which is what I call that nebulous collection of guidelines and wisdom that writers try to follow, detachment is a deeper idea than you realize at first. My initial inability to take comments without personalizing them almost derailed me as a writer. After I discovered how freeing it is to refuse to apply critiques and rejections to my worth as a person, life got a lot better for me, and not just as a writer.

Although I’d been a writer for virtually my entire life, I was still mired in what could be described as “The Swamp of Me-ism” when I decided to write full time. Intellectually, I understood that I should avoid taking things personally, but at that point I still saw everything that went wrong in my story, from its yucky first draft to its rejection slip, as the result of my personal failings. It was all about Me, just not in a good way. Enter Client A.

Client A needed a brochure written. He wanted to appear smooth, suave, and sophisticated. Unfortunately, he failed to communicate that to me. I thought he wanted homespun, honest, and hardworking. When I got his corrections on the first draft, I was stunned – not because I’d misread the image he wanted, but because he’d given the brochure to his secretary to “correct.” I was incensed. How dare he delegate my work to a secretary?! And one so obviously language-challenged, at that. Every one of her corrections inserted a grammatical error. I had many options at this point, and today I can think of several I would choose, but at the time I was just angry. Really, really angry. And insulted. I didn’t even realize I was taking things personally. I thought my rage was justified.

I grimace every time I think about the phone conversation I had with Client A. It was ugly. “You made me sound like I was picking hayseeds out of my teeth,” he finally said, after doing his best to dodge my flaming questions about what on earth I was supposed to do with his secretary’s grammatically-challenged corrections. I don’t know what happened to the final copy I did for him, but I do know that Client A entirely changed his business direction soon afterwards. As you might imagine, he didn’t hire me again. It took me another couple of years to overcome my defensiveness and to realize what a huge mistake I’d made.

When we tell someone not to take things personally, we’re reducing a tremendous amount of wisdom and maturity into a single sentence. Since Client A, I’ve learned that taking comments and corrections as a personal attack is one of the quickest ways to kill your creativity. From a business standpoint it’s also pretty deadly, but that’s minimal compared to the muse-squashing effects of aiming criticism meant for your words at yourself instead. Writers who convince themselves that they’re idiots because of unflattering comments about their work are less likely to sit back down at the computer. Writing is all about perseverance, so ignore your ill-informed detractors and study the hell out of any useful comments you get.

I’ve found that it’s helpful to remember that non-writers are usually unable to offer anything beyond “I liked it” or “I didn’t like it,” and they come up with odd stuff when they try. When you hear weird comments on your work that make no sense to you, chances are that the person making those comments has no clue how to give you useful feedback. To avoid hurting your feelings, people will attempt all manner of strange verbal contortions. Do your best to read between the lines. Ask questions to elicit better information, if you’d really like to get a better understanding of what they mean. Keep an open mind and exercise your active listening skills.

And learn the art of ignoring. Those of you with children should be familiar with this tactic. If Aunt Ruth hates your personal essay on the Thanksgiving Turkey she burned because she enjoys her reputation as the family’s own Martha Stewart, well, learn to shrug it off. Not everyone will like your work. Consider the agenda of your critic before getting too caught up in what she’s saying.

I just worked with a lovely woman on a history project. We were on the phone after the first draft and I was asking her questions, dissecting what worked and what didn’t work, when she suddenly paused and said, “Gosh, I hope you’re not taking any of this personally.”

Actually, I was taking notes when she said that, mentally planning my attack on the next draft. She was a great collaborator, able to articulate what she wanted. I reassured her, “Oh no, don’t worry about that. I don’t take things personally. I can’t.” Years after Client A, I now understand what that really means.

If you’ve let yourself be angry, defensive, or bitter about criticism of your work, let it go. Keep writing and remember that YOU are more than your words. Let your words be what’s rejected, not you.

Writing Prompts

This week's other prompts, for your writing pleasure:

• A cloud of Monarch butterflies….
• The sound of thunder made Jack….
• Have you been to a wedding at a Las Vegas wedding chapel? Tell us about it.
• Thelma snatched the Valentino gown off the thrift store clothing rack….

Remember, the goal here is to write for ten to fifteen minutes without stopping or self-correcting. Ready, set, go!

The Flames of Creativity

This week’s warm-up prompt for my writing group was inspired by current events.

Have you ever had a fire in your home or vehicle?

At first, a collective moan went up. Sometimes a prompt falls flat, so I suggested, “Think of fire as a starting point for anything. Go with fiction. Or use one of the other prompts.” But being diligent and determined writers (I daresay some of us may even be stubborn), everyone plunged in. When we shared the results from the prompt, we found something interesting.

The more fire stories we shared, the more we remembered. Those people who initially said they had not experienced a fire in their home or vehicle suddenly remembered flaming pot roasts and tea kettles left unattended. To use an overworked but apt cliché, the fire stories spread like wildfire.

When I started thinking about fires, I initially remembered my friend Cindy. She set a package of light bulbs on a hot burner, accidentally causing a small fire that we squelched with baking soda. Cindy’s next fire was in her Firebird. (Yes, I know it’s a pun, but what can I say. That’s the car she had, complete with the bird on the hood.) She was driving down Maryland Parkway when the smoke began rolling out. I think she may have even spotted flames. Her brakes failed, and she careened through a vacant desert lot, smoke belching from her hood, her steering working only partially. When the fire department arrived, she had come to a stop. She had also wet herself. “Were you trying to help put out the fire?” joked the firemen. Cindy broke out bawling, if I remember correctly. Or maybe I just remember what I would have done if my car caught fire and took me on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride.

Then more fire memories emerged. I remembered my dad pulling a flaming broiler from my oven, shrugging, and shoving the fire-engulfed drawer back in. Baking soda again saved the day. My mind flew to the years one of my nephews developed a fascination with fire, as so many boys do, and managed to scare the bejesus out of everyone in the family. “Arsonist” is a frightening label to consider. Or the dim recollection of the childhood Christmas when a house down the street burned to the ground. The single lady living there fell asleep with a lit cigarette, and never woke up.

How about you? What are your fire memories?
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Photo Notes: Once again, as you can see, Blogger has decided that it doesn't want to fully display any pictures I upload. According to their truly auful "help" site, this has something to do with my column width. Personally, I'd think they might want to fix that, but instead you're on your own. To see the whole picture, visit http://www.sxc.hu/photo/890483

Dollars Over Sense

Last week at my writing group, I caught some subtle comments (shall I say hints?) about the blog.

“Well, I had to call so-and-so because I didn’t have the prompts,” was one I heard, and I’m sure there was an unsaid second half, something along the lines of “because she hasn’t updated the !$%# blog!”

Both my blogs have been neglected over the past couple of months. It’s certainly not a case of me running out of things to say. Heavens no! The reason I was MIA is one common to writers striving to write for a living. Sometimes the projects that warm your heart leave your checkbook cold. I enjoy writing my blogs, especially since they give me the freedom to write about whatever I want. For some bizarre, Murphy’s Law reason, whatever I get paid to write about is usually diametrically opposed to my interests and passions. Which is one way a writer can get into trouble.

You’ve probably heard the old adage about not leaving your day job – a piece of advice given to all artists, musicians, and other creative types. After I tossed that pearl of wisdom onto the trash heap of my former job, I discovered that I had taken this advice all wrong. When I read “don’t quit your day job,” what I really thought they were saying was, “Of course you haven’t got enough talent to succeed in such a cut-throat, over-crowded, underpaid profession! And how will you get health insurance?! Stick to what you know or you’ll go broke and embarrass yourself.” In the six years since making the leap into full-time writing, I’ve found that one of the quickest way to smother your creativity is by using your talents solely for a paycheck. A day job allows you to pay the bills without spending all your writing time working on projects that leave you brain dead and frustrated.

Early this month, two-thirds of my writing business dried up. It’s a pretty common thing for businesses in Las Vegas to be struggling right now. “Slow” is only the tip of the economic iceberg here in the Foreclosure Capital of America. When I got the news that two of the magazines I was writing for were about to fail, my first thought was that I would finally get to finish my book proposal, one of those “unpaid” things that had fallen to the bottom of my project list. For this entire month, I’ve been working off-line, away from the temptations of the Internet. Bliss. Pure Bliss.

Then the e-mail arrived yesterday - an e-mail with an assignment. Shouldn’t we all be happy to see our editor’s name in our in-box? Shouldn’t we?

Now the challenge becomes how to balance the demands of dollars against my creative desires. Do you think it’s too late to get a day job?

A Plethora of Prompts

Okay, I admit it. I’ve neglected the blog over the past month. A whole host of writing projects and assignments landed on my desk at about the same time my husband went to a night shift… and the result has been barely controlled chaos. However, as so often happens with writing work, all that work left as quickly as it came. The stories and projects were researched and written, the deadlines were met, and now I’m back here to post a big old fat collection of prompts. So pour yourself a cup or glass of your favorite beverage, pick a prompt, and write for ten minutes without stopping. Don’t even think about picking up a dictionary.

Ahhh, it feels so good to be back!


--Holidays like Labor Day meant nothing to Carrie. She worked every day at the….
--Here’s the headline – you write the story: “Missile launcher given in trade for sneakers.”
--Do remember the route you walked (or biked, or were driven) to school?
--Giselle aimed the gun at Lewis. “I just want you to know that I’m not shooting you because of Lulu. I’m shooting you because….”
--When I really feel like living dangerously, I….
--Paul fell ten feet….
--Cathleen didn’t believe in ghosts, yet she could clearly see….
--Combine a paper weight, an angel statuette, and a clock in a story.
--Eddy had seen everything in his pawn shop from wedding rings to hand guns, but he had never seen anything like this before. The woman standing in front of him wanted to pawn….
--Martin knew he shouldn’t read Janie’s diary, but he couldn’t resist. The shock of the first sentence made his heart thud. He couldn’t believe she had written….
--Tell us a story about a piece of jewelry you lost.
--Have you ever visited an observatory?
--The red rose….
--The sleeping dog….
--He remembered her perfume….
--Being responsible means….
--The knife blade….

Happy writing!