Monday, Monday

The Mamas and the Papas...

I once wrote that if the days of the week were body parts, Monday would be the asshole. Am I right? Of course, I am. Monday, as a day of the week, is fraught with negativity...because of the two days we just spent goofing off or relaxing, right? Everybody hates Mondays.

But, let's turn that around. Make that negative a positive. Monday is a fresh beginning. As a writer, you have a clean slate. Forget those unfulfilled promises you made yourself last week...

Make yourself a new promise...no, better yet...set yourself a new goal. Because you probably set an unreasonable goal (promise) last week, why not be a little more reasonable this week? Let's set a goal we know we can reach for each day and then exceed it. Consider what's on your schedule this week. Can you write four pages a day? My friend, Pat, used to set her goal at four pages a day and she stuck to it, regardless of what happened. Oh, there were days when she had to drag herself to the keyboard, but she did it. The funniest thing was, she'd do those pages even if she had something else to do. And, if she had something else she just really had to do--she'd write a lot of dialogue. Of course, if you "cheat" by writing dialogue every day just to get those four pages done, you haven't helped yourself, have you?

Maybe you have children and feel you can't devote the time to complete four pages a day. Decide what amount of time you can commit and then do it. If it's two pages, then, by all means, make it two. If, by chance, the little darlings are just angels this week, maybe you can squeeze in three pages. So, instead of fourteen pages this week, you get twenty-one. Oh, that means you write on Saturday and Sunday...Jeez...

Stephen King said in an early interview that he wrote every day except his birthday and Christmas Day. In his book, Stephen King on Writing, he said that he'd lied in that interview. I'm paraphrasing, of course, but he said, "I actually write every. I only said that because people already think I'm a real geek. What would they think if they knew I wrote every day?"

Several years ago at a writer's meeting, I polled about 100 writers. Of that 100 people, approximately twenty were published. When I asked the question about their writing habits, all twenty of those writers said they wrote every day. Are you beginning to see a trend?

But, how, you may ask, can I commit that much time if I have little ones? Another friend of mine, Rita, found herself and her three children abandoned by her husband. No child support...nothing. She had sold a few pieces to national magazines. She could do that and stay home with her children, so she committed herself to writing articles for the slicks. Her children were still a problem. They interrupted at will, never realizing they were interrupting something important. So, one day, she and the kids were at the bakery. (This was in the days of fabric baker's hats.) The kids were fascinated with the hats. The baker ended up giving her one. Rita told the kids that, when she was wearing that hat, they shouldn't interrupt. Miraculously, it worked. I saw Rita years later at a convention. Her youngest was in college. I laughed and said, "I'll bet you're glad you don't have to wear that baker's hate anymore." She just shook her head and said, "Nope. I still wear it. For some reason, I can't write unless I'm wearing it."

Writing habits (yes, it's an addictive habit) need to be created and adhered to. If you work (outside of writing) then set aside a time that is your writing time. Suffer not lightly the fool who blunders into your writers den to inquire about the availability of cookies or beer.

So, take my challenge. Set yourself a goal and stick to it. If your goal is five pages, write five pages every day. If you know, you won't be able to do five tomorrow, then write more the other days of the week to make up for those lost pages. That will work, but don't make a habit of skipping a day. Train your mind and body to write during your writing time.

One more story of a writer friend and then I'm off to write. My good friend and mentor, Bill Evans, (Dr. William A. Evans, professor at Georgia State University several years ago) wrote every day. Bill was a full-time professor, so he was at school most of the day. In addition, he was a farmer. He had cows, chickens and various crops. When he got home from school, he had the entire operation of the farm to attend before he could settle in to write his pages. Bill's goal was to write two sonnets a day. He was working on his epic (true epic, all the epic conventions found in The Odyssey, The Aeneid and The Illiad.) called, The Mayaad, published in Jan. 1983. He usually managed to sit at his desk around midnight to write those two sonnets, but he did it. Every single night. I received a call that he was dying and had asked for me. I rushed home from the conference and immediately went to the hospital. His family welcomed me graciously, and I stayed there with them. Bill was in intensive care. His sweet wife allowed me to go in and visit with him. One of the nurses made a comment that I found fascinating. Though he was unconscious, at midnight, he became more active. His body moved, his eyes moved. I just smiled and said, "Bill's muse is with him. He's writing sonnets." Every night at midnight...

Today is the day you should start. Don't put it off until tomorrow. Grab your baker's hat or whatever it takes and stake out your writing time. Guard it jealously. Remember, writing is as necessary, perhaps even more necessary, than food. God...I can't believe I just said that!

Make a contract with yourself...and with me.

Most writers who sell write every day. It is a job. It is a joy. It is a compulsion. Do it!

Ciao, for now, my friends.
Nancy, who is off to write five pages...

Sunday Morning, Comin' Down

Kris Kristofferson wrote the song, "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" many years ago. I guess it primarily deals with coming down from a drunken Saturday night, but if you take that phrase and apply it to yourself as a writer, what do you get?

For me, Sunday is a day I can just veg out...do nothing. But, I never do. (Actually, not even on Sunday.) The week is done, I've worked hard...and tomorrow, the work week begins again.

I am sooooo not a morning person, yet I get up early and start to work right away. Well, okay...I read my e-mail first. Whether it's bidding a project or projects for David, I have to be doing something. My grandmother always said, "Idle hands are the devil's workshop." Well, the devil will just have to find another place to work. I'm always doing something. Even if I'm watching tv, I usually have something to work on, whether it's knitting or editing a manuscript.

Editing a manuscript. Hmm...I seem to do a lot of that lately. I try to have something ready to edit if plans change suddenly...Like an emergency trip to a dentist. I just grab my manscript and go. I keep a bag ready (I really am a bag lady), snag it as I dash for the car and I'm set. Two hours in the dentist's waiting room and I can edit a lot of pages.

Being prepared...Every writer should be prepared for those moments when he or she has idle time. Just this week-end, I spoke at the Carolina Writer's Conference. While I was waiting for my time slot, I had thirty idle minutes. I can't stand it! I hate it! I wasn't prepared for that. In my mad dash to "streamline my process" and "reduce the number of bags" I travel with, (and spare my back) I'd left my work bag in the car. In that bag, I carry a baby name book (Lareina Rule, Name Your Baby), a wirebound notebook, a variety of pens and pencils, chocolate and whatever I'm working on at the moment.

Oh, God! What could I do? A normal person would probably have walked down the two flights of stairs out to the parking lot and retrieved the damned bag. But, nooooooo...not me. Not in heels anyway. I sat there, bristling at my lack of foresight...but not for long! In the goody bag provided for speakers by the very kind people who organized the conference, I found three sheets of paper. One was a map. The second was a list of area restaurants. And, the third....damn if I can remember. But, the back sides were blank! A veritible gold mine!

So, I took about three minutes to calm and center myself and then started to work. You see, I had this character come to mind, nearly a full-blown character...no, really, during DragonCon. She's very dark, darker than any protagonist I ever wrote about. I started thinking about her and voila--ideas started to flow. I could hardly jot them down fast enough to keep up with my thoughts. Before I knew it, I had three good pages (very small writing) that explained a lot to me about her and about why she's so dark. I discovered a lot of things about her that just never occurred to me before.

All this has been percolating for several months, I suppose...and now, my devious little subconscious mind is revealing all. I got so excited about the notes I was scribbling that I might have been a little surly to the people who came to my workshop. Well, not really surly. But, they were definitely intruding on a very creative time for me.

Fortunately, I had a long drive home to think over all those notes and to fill in a few blanks. I really made use of that time. I hardly remember any of the actual drive. I got home around midnight, full of ideas. I jotted down a few more notes and went to bed.

And, now...It's Sunday morning comin' down. Coming down off a creative high that no alcoholic beverage, no drug can compare with. I'm sitting here in my recliner, computer on my lap and ready to commit to digital memory the exciting ideas from yesterday. These are moments that are precious to a writer.

Of course, the Kristofferson song went on to describe the smells of Sunday mornin' including the enticing smell of someone frying chicken...Okay...Fried chicken and then to work. Have a great day...

Write, write, write...

April Fool's Day

Well, here you are. It's April Fool's Day. Did someone trick you?



Maybe this is the first trick for you today. I'm starting my blog on April Fool's Day. Somehow, that seems appropriate. Okay, it's not really a trick. This is a blog. It's mine. It's April Fool's Day...All facts. No tricks.



I hear folks talking about clever tricks they've played on each other. I always laugh. I suppose that's the sadist in me. No, there really isn't a sadist in me...But I do enjoy a good practical joke--on somebody else.



Today I'm starting a blog about writing and about writers. I've been in the industry for nearly thirty years. Gosh...can it really be that long? Life speeds by, doesn't it? Time flies when you're having fun.



So what does April Fool's Day have to do with being a writer? An excellent question. I'd wager the farm (I have two tomato plants, one basil and one rosemary) that if asked, most seasoned writers would say that the world is fraught with practical jokes played on writers. Not just by each other, but by editors, agents, readers...hell, the world as a whole...And, it's not intentional. I hope.



It's just that nobody but another writer knows the uncertainty of being a writer. Even multi-published writers are always waiting for somebody to pull the rug out from under us. You're only as good as your last book. I can't tell you the number of times I've heard readers say they're never buying another book by a certain author. It really hurts me to hear that. Trying to defend a writer against what a reader perceives to be a bad book is no easy task. A student in my writing class last night, for instance, said that very thing. She even wrote to the author and basically said, "I loved your first book (s), what the hell happened on the next one?" That would come under the classification of "Letters A Writer Never Wants to Receive."



In defense of said author (and all the rests of the authors in the world who've received similar mail) loving, liking or even disliking a book is entirely subjective. There's not much we can do to make every single reader love our books. There will always be a plotline or character that not everybody falls in love with.

But, on the other hand, there is a certain line of defense in the publishing world that prevents (or should) a bad book from being published. So what happened? Is there an explanation? Like most other issues in the world, there's no one answer.



Sooooooo, before you make that kind of blanket statement, think for a moment. The writer thought enough of the idea and characters to write the book. The agent (if there is one) liked it enough to send it on to the publisher. The editor liked it enough to present it to the editorial committee. Marketing thought enough of it to give it a thumbs up. The publisher thought enough of it to write a check payable to the author...So, here's that line of defense I was talking about. These people are professionals. It's their jobs to recognize the difference between good books and bad books.



But, the simple fact is that occasionally, a bad one gets through. Maybe that's the April Fool's Day practical joke...and it's on you...and me...the readers.