Karinwritesdangerously

Delicious autumn!
My very soul is wedded to it,
and I were a bird I would fly
about the earth seeking the
successive autumns.

George Eliot

Autumn

The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry’s cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I’ll put a trinket on.

Emily Dickinson

In the Library

The library always smells like this:
an ancient stew of vinegar and wood.
It’s autumn again,
and I can do anything.

Dorothea Grossman

“Yet somehow I did get my act together and, although I can’t explain how or why, slowly and imperceptibly a sort of magic began to happen. Change took a little time and I must admit, at first I struggled to stay on board. My grief would surface and tears would blind me as I tried to write, yet the words kept flowing and it didn’t matter that I repeated myself as I filled those waiting, listening empty pages.”
Maggie Jeffery, on her journaling practice — CreateWriteNow.com

“Those waiting, listening empty pages” — what a lovely phrase and how apt! Many great writers, from Virginia Woolf to John Steinbeck, kept journals to play with ideas, keep track of their writing progress, and puzzle out thorny plot or character issues. 

While many writers use journaling fuel specific writing projects, today more and more people are embracing this powerful writing tool as a form of self-discovery and self-care. Whether they are coping with grief, confronting major life changes, struggling to manage stress, or reconnecting with long-hidden emotions, both adults and children are finding that putting their thoughts and feelings on paper can be both restorative and illuminating. Growing research supports this. Regularly expressing thoughts in writing allows people to:

Identify unproductive behavioral patterns and areas where they are “stuck” so that they can take action to address them.

Focus scattered thoughts so they can begin to discover what they really value and want — and how to accomplish their goals.

Release fears, resentments, regrets, and old wounds so they can begin to move forward and shape a more positive, fulfilling life.

Find strength and renewed sense of purpose in the face of grief and overpowering loss. 

For many aspiring authors and journaling enthusiasts, using the “Morning Pages” approach described in Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way has helped tap their creativity and brush away mental cobwebs. Online resources also provide specific tools and prompts to give those new to journaling a helping hand. Check out the wonderful site CreateWritenow.com for inspiration as we all write on!

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“Never, never, never give up.”
Winston Churchill

Some time soon all of us are going face some tough challenge in our writing life. We’re going to be feeling frustrated, fearful, and faint-hearted. We’re going to feel like throwing in the towel or taking the easy way out or holding back instead of stepping on the gas.

But here’s something else I know: To get to the next level and achieve our goals, we’re going to need to push ourselves past the self-imposed limitations that are holding us back. 

Can we do this? Sure we can. But will we do it? That’s our choice: We can fight through the pain or we can stay in our comfort zones. If we fight, the possibilities are endless. If we stay in our comfort zones, we’ll keep getting what we’ve always gotten. 

No pain, no gain: That pretty much sums up the situation. None of this is easy: Discomfort is…well, uncomfortable. The only way I’ve found to handle it is to accept it and then just dive in. When I do this I find that the pain and the discomfort fade away. 

So, where’s your pain point right now? Are you facing a major revision and feeling overwhelmed? Are you stalled and confused about a piece of writing you’ve been struggling with? Are you feeling like you need to tackle a sensitive issue but afraid that it’s too dangerous, too close to home? Or, like me, are you hitting the submission stage?

Wherever we find ourselves, let’s remember what my friend and mentor Dr. Rob Gilbert says on his Success Hotline (973.743.4690):”The pain of discipline weighs ounces; the pain of regret weighs tons.” Let’s fight through the challenge we face and all write on!

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Remember

Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go, yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more, day by day,
You tell me of our future that you planned:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.

Christina Rossetti

“Persistence beats brains any day. Nothing is more important than persistence. The best idea in the world is useless unless someone pursues it.” Ed Smith

When you hit a rough patch in your writing life, how do you handle it? Right now, I’m going through one myself. I’m moving from revision mode to submission mode and finding the transition a bit rocky.

One way I weather this shift is simple but powerful: I stick to my daily start-up strategy—a simple set of rituals that primes me for the day. For example, I always begin my day by reading passages in a handful of inspiring books. One is a devotional with daily quotes I like to savor and reflect on. Then I have a little exercise routine that gets my adrenalin pumping. These start-up activities don’t take long, but they give me a mental and emotional boost and help me launch into my day.

Here’s why having a simple start-up strategy can help you as well:

It anchors you: Consistency can be calming—especially when you are moving out of your comfort zone and into a new phase of writing.

It offers a safe haven: Whatever else is happening in your writing life, you can find solace and pleasure in soothing rituals you can rely on.

They inspire gratitude: A set of rituals remind us to take pleasure in the day ahead and to be grateful to be pursuing work we love.

They help us stay focused: The simple act of completing daily activities can start the day off well and arm us for whatever comes our way.

How about you? Are there any daily routines or rituals that you find soothing and uplifting? I’d love to hear about them. Write on!

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Helpful writing advice from a an Oprah selected author:

Pick a better verb: Most people use twenty verbs to describe everything from a run in their stocking to the explosion of an atomic bomb. You know the ones: Was, did, had, made, went, looked… One-size-fits-all looks like crap on anyone. Sew yourself a custom made suit. Pick a better verb. Challenge all those verbs to really lift some weight for you.

Kill the Cliché: Anything you’ve ever heard or read before is a cliché. They can be combinations of words: Cold sweat. Fire-engine red, or phrases: on the same page, level playing field, or metaphors: big as a house. Sometimes things themselves are cliches: fuzzy dice, pink flamingo lawn ornaments, long blonde hair.Just keep asking yourself, “Honestly, have I ever seen this before?” Even if Shakespeare wrote it, or Virginia Woolf, it’s a cliché. You’re a writer and you have to invent it from scratch, all by yourself. That’s why writing is a lot of work, and demands unflinching honesty.

Variety is the key: Most people write the same sentence over and over again. The same number of words–say, 8-10, or 10-12. The same sentence structure. Try to become stretchy–if you generally write 8 words, throw a 20 word sentence in there, and a few three-word shorties. If you’re generally a 20 word writer, make sure you throw in some threes, fivers and sevens, just to keep the reader from going crosseyed.

Explore sentences using dependent clauses: A dependent clause (sentence fragment set off by commas) helps you explore your story by moving you deeper into the sentence. It allows you to stop and think harder about what you’ve already written. Often the story you’re looking for is inside the sentence. The dependent clause helps you uncover it.

Learn to write dialogue: 
This involves more than I can discuss here, but do it. Read the writers of great prose dialogue–people like Robert Stone and Joan Didion. Compression, saying as little as possible, making everything carry much more than is actually said. Conflict. Dialogue as part of an ongoing world, not just voices in a dark room. Never say the obvious. Skip the meet and greet.

Wonderful advice to ponder and play with as we all write on!

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Miracles
by Walt Whitman

Why, who makes much of a miracle?
As to me I know of nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the
edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with anyone I love, or sleep in bed at night
with anyone I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the wonderfulness of the sundown, or of stars shining
so quiet and bright,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring;
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct in its place.

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread
with the same,
Every foot of the interior swarms with the same.
To me the sea is a continual miracle,
The fishes that swim — the rocks — the motion of the waves —
the ships with men in them.
What stranger miracles are there?

May we all see with the eyes of wonder, every day, every moment.

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Graham Greene was born today, October 2, in 1904. Still regarded a master of craft, here’s some of the expert advice he shared on writing one of his earliest books and his later revision approach:

“My long studies of Percy Lubbock’s The Craft of Fiction had taught me the importance of ‘the point of view,’ but not how to convey physical excitement. Now I can see quite clearly where I went wrong. Excitement is simple: excitement is a situation, a single event. It mustn’t be wrapped up in thoughts, similes, metaphors. A simile is a form of reflection, but excitement is of the moment when there is no time to reflect. Action can only be expressed by a subject, a verb, and an object, perhaps a rhythm — little else. Even an adjective slows the pace or tranquilizers the nerve.

“I should have returned to [Robert Louis] Stevenson to learn my lesson: ‘It came all of a sudden when it did, with a rush of feet and a roar, and then a shout from Alan, and the sound of blows and someone crying as if hurt. I looked over my shoulder, and saw Mr. Shaun in the doorway crossing blades with Alan.’

“No similes or metaphors there, not even an adjective. But I was too concerned with ‘the point of view’ to be aware of the simpler problems, to know that the sort of novel I was trying to write, unlike a poem, was not made with words, but with movement, action, character.

“Now when I write I put down on the page a mere skeleton of a novel — nearly all my revisions are in the nature of additions, of second thoughts to make the bare bones live — but in those days to revise was to prune and prune and prune. I was much tempted, perhaps because of my admiration for the Metaphysical poets, to exaggerated similes and my wife became adept at shooting them down. There was one, I remember, comparing something or someone in the quiet landscape of Sussex to a leopard crouching in a tree, which gave a name to the whole species. Leopards would be marked daily on the manuscript, but it took a great many years for me to get the beasts under control, and they growl at me sometimes yet.”

Wow, just consider the Robert Louis Stevenson passage Graham quotes:

… a rush of feet and a roar

… a shout from Alan

… the sound of blows

… someone crying as if hurt

No adjectives or similes, just words that express pure action : rush, roar, shout, blows, crying. What a great lesson on creating drama. Write on!

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“The secret to becoming a writer is to write, write, and keep on writing.”
Ken MacLeod

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? And yet a thousand dragons seem to rear their heads to keep us from doing what we need to do: write, write, and keep on writing.Yet, when we do find the time and will to write steadily and serenely, how much we gain! Think about all the benefits that consistent practice offers us:

We boost our confidence: When we make writing a priority, something shifts inside and outside. We begin to believe in ourselves as writers — not so much in our skill, but in our will to create. This builds a sense of the possible. 

We strengthen our commitment muscle: When we keep writing through ups and downs on the page and outside on the stage of life, we begin to feel better about ourselves. The more we write, the better we feel, and the better we feel, the more we write. A virtuous circle keeps us in the loop.

We learn and improve: The more we write, the better our chances of honing our craft and building our skills. As we keep writing, we keep exploring, discovering, uncovering. We venture into new territory, we play with new forms of expression, we let go of old tropes that aren’t working.

We fall in love again: As we write and learn and grow, our enthusiasm blossoms. We get excited about newfound skills, newly hatched projects, new directions we can veer off into. All this can reignite our passion and remind us of why we started writing in the first place.

Just a small step in the direction of writing steadily can reap big benefits in confidence and skill. So let’s make wordsmithing part of our life in ever-more exciting and inventive ways as we all write on!

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“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

“You will never be able to escape from your heart.
So it’s better to listen to what it has to say.”
The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

Here’s a tale worth telling: In 1988, Paulo Coelho, a little-known Brazilian author, published The Alchemist, a short novel that traces a young shepherd’s search for his treasure. The spiritual fable was penned in just two weeks and Paulo believed it was destined for greatness. His publisher disagreed and dropped the book. 

In response to this crushing setback, Paulo left Brazil and spent 40 days in the Mojave Desert. He returned determined to continue his struggle to get into print. He was “so convinced that it was a great book that [he] started knocking on doors.” As he told Oprah on a recent “Super Soul Sunday, “There is a sentence in the book that says, , ‘When you want something, the whole universe conspires to help you,’” he says. “I said, ‘I wrote this. I have to live by these words.’”

So he single-handedly turned his flop into a global bestseller by deciding to literally knock on publishing doors until he found someone who’d help him “The first door that I knocked, the guy opened. A very important publishing house in Brazil. And I said, ‘I have a book that was published and did not sell. But I trust this book is going to sell,’” Coelho recalls saying. “The guy said, ‘OK, I’m going to publish it.’ Three years later when the book already sold half a million copies in Brazil, I asked him, ‘Why did you accept a book that was already published and it was a flop?’” Coelho says. “And he said, ‘I don’t know.’ 

Fast forward: Some 25 years later, The Alchemist has sold 65 million copies and stayed on The New York Times bestseller list for more than 315 weeks. It’s been translated into 80 languages and holds the Guinness World Record for the most translated book by a living author.

To this day, the publisher still can’t explain what possessed him to take a chance on the little-known author and his failed book. But Paulo believes he knows the answer: It was the universe conspiring to help him because he believed in his work. So let’s take a tip from Paulo and just believe. And keep on believing and knocking on doors until our dreams come true. And write on!

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