NaNoWhatMo?
Published November 3rd, 2011 | 
Here it is November. The stores already have the Christmas trees and Christmas Cards out on display. That means it’s time for National Novel Writing Month (yeah, I realize there’s this other holiday called Thanksgiving, but NaNoWriMo is a pretty big holiday for aspiring writers). I had intended to tackle NaNoWriMo again this year. I bailed on it last year after only a few days. I didn’t want to do it this year unless I could actually complete a book in the 30 days. I though I might be able to do it. The other morning, I was all ready to go. I had a dictionary, a thesaurus, my reading eyeglasses, earphones and a folder full of music. I even cleaned and dusted my keyboard.
Three days later, I still haven’t written a word. This isn’t writer’s block exactly. More likely, my problem is laziness. It’s not so much that I can’t write and it is that I don’t really want to write enough to convince myself to do it. I know if I could just get myself to write five pages, I could write fifty pages. And if I can write fifty pages I can write 200 pages.
Aside from my own lack of desire to write, I am having trouble coming up with a story that interests me enough to engage me in a book-length project and sustain me until the end. One of the key features of the one novel I did complete during NaNoWriMo two years ago was that it was a character driven tale with a lot of dialogue as opposed to a complicated plot-driven novel. I’m trying to come up with a plot that is entertaining enough but also simple enough to complete in 30 days. I’ll give it another week, if I can’t fill some pages by then, I’ll through in the towel.
Purging the Past
Published October 3rd, 2011 | Do you keep a journal? I used to. From the age about 10 until I was about 22, I kept a regular journal. I briefly picked up the habit again at 29 and at 39. In general, I think it’s a good idea to journal regularly. I also think it’s a good idea to shred, burn or otherwise trash these writings every so often. It’s healthy to do so. Yes, by all means, publish your journals if any portion of these writings are publishable, but purge those unexpurgated entries every ten years or so. It’s as cathartic as the writing of those journals. It’s equal parts fascinating and embarrassing to read about your past. It’s also liberating to metaphorically destroy that past. It’s like shedding one’s skin. Dominie Browning writes on this very subject in a piece entitled “Burning the Diaries” in the NY Times:
I JUST burned 40 years’ worth of diaries. I didn’t plan to — or rather, I had always planned to, once I knew I was dying, or so old that I would soon lack the energy to gather wood. But I woke one morning and knew it was time to let it all go…
I started keeping journals when I was 14. I was compulsive about it. I scribbled daily and as I went through college, I filled hundreds of pages with dense, colorful ink, going right to the edge, ignoring the light threads of red margin markers, denying paragraphs their breaks, my nib flattening under the pressure of the stream of soul pouring forth. A psychiatrist once told me that I was obviously trying to psychoanalyze myself, which, professionally speaking, is considered impossible. But there certainly was and has always been a form of therapy in keeping journals. It is a way of self-soothing, as an adult, a way of rubbing the satin corner of your blankie against your finger when youre anxious about separation, or too worked up to fall asleep.
… I wrote about the bad boyfriends, the mean girls, the lying and cheating knaves I loved. I wrote about the wrenching pain of postpartum depression, the confusion and fear of becoming a mother, when I didnt have a clue how to do that gracefully, kindly, compassionately; I mulled over the unalloyed sadness of a dying marriage and the pure misery of mourning the passing of a hope that, before it fled, sowed the seeds of two beautiful boys. Certainly not the sort of detritus I wanted those boys to sift through if I died before I woke….
* This post is brought to you courtesy of cary cleaning services.
Evocative Writing
Published October 2nd, 2011 | Good writing is evocative. It evokes an emotional response by referencing certain images. For instance, describing a woman putting on lingerie is likely to evoke sexual feelings in male readers because men are visual and we associate lace panties and garter belts with sex. Food is another image that can ignite our senses and tap into our emotions and memories. Evocative writing is visual and sensual.
