Second Article in the “Sitting” Series:
Ready, Sit, Go

You know the term ghostwriter as a skill, a career, a service, don’t you? But do you know the term ghostwriter(s) as the experience of feeling your voice drowned out by internal voices, memories, and imagined fears? How can you discern whether your ego is shouting or you are hearing your ghostly Muse? That’s what I want to help you with today.

It happens like this: you get an idea or it’s your daily writing practice. You sit down (alone, you think) and all of a sudden your enthusiasm and energy vanishes. In its place is a cacophony of thoughts that interrupt your own. It’s as though uninvited ghosts squeeze into the chair with you. What attracts them to your writing chair? How many are fighting for airtime?

“Hear me. Your idea sucks.”

“Hear me. What are you thinking? You don’t know enough to write this.”

“Hear me. The laundry needs doing. Why are you wasting your time sitting down to write?”

But, sometimes a “hear me” ghost whispers a sentence that your gut responds to and you want to hear more. That’s a good thing. After all, a gal from Mississippi and guy from Montreal gave us True Blood – about vampires, and The Life of Pi – about a shipwrecked boy alone in a boat with a Bengal tiger. Don’t you wish you were there the day that idea was whispered to them?

I doubt my ghostly muse would ever give me such an idea as theirs. But, who knows? When the ghost of the Creative Muse gets fired up with imagination, all sorts of ideas play out in our writing. Haven’t you heard writers say, “I don’t know where the words came from?”

“Hear me. I’ve got a wild idea for you.”

“Hear me. Just write without thought.”

“Hear me. Move over a bit. We’re in this together.”

The next time uninvited, negative ghosts show up in your chair with you, give them a loud, “Boo!” and shoo them away. They know who they are. Ahh…doesn’t that feel more comfortable?

If you’re having some difficulty shooing your ghosts, take advantage of my offer for a free consult by simply entering your information in the red box to book your Brainstorming Writing Coaching Session with me!

First Article in the “Sitting” Series:
Ready, Sit, Go

The Buddha had a simple test for measuring wisdom. He said, you’re wise if you can get yourself to do things you don’t like doing but know will result in happiness, and if you can refrain from things you like doing but know will result in pain and harm.

We plan to write, we talk about writing, and we walk around the chair where we need to sit to write. That’s what I do. What do you do when it’s time to write that story, report, article? Does it matter if it is something you have to do or want to do?

I used the word “integrity” in this article because I want you to look honestly at the results of your intentions and actions around writing. How attached are you to doing the same things or taking the same actions even when nothing gets written? Consider this: do you overestimate the pleasure you will get by doing something other than writing? Do you underestimate the pain you will feel if you do not write?

I am your biggest fan. I know there is a tactical solution to keep the “sitting” part of writing alive and well. You can reimagine your intentions to write. You can learn to be honest and sensitive to your actions and consequences. You can allow yourself to imagine yourself writing as a route to greater power over your life and feeling happier about yourself. In other words, sitting/writing happens when pleasure of writing outweighs feeling bad about not writing.

How will you know? Check your mirror. Just as you would check a mirror to see if there is any dirt on your face or green stuff stuck in your teeth, your feelings, actions, and desires show, too. If you give up on yourself or don’t allow yourself to imagine the writer in you getting to live, what will that look like on your face?

Third Article in the Series:
Ready, Sit, Go

This is the third article of a 9-part program, Ready Sit Go. You can read the first two articles about getting ready to write in the past ezines.

The arc of writing is a description of a structure that contains movement, one segment at a time until the whole arc is visible. As you think about getting ready to write, imagine an arc and see if you can fill in the segments with your storyline to complete a whole structure.

Here is an idea of how an arc could be written:

1. The first segment of the arc would be the setup scene, something ordinary happening to people.
2. Another segment could describe an inciting incident, something that will lead to complications for your characters.
3. The next segments are turning points in the escalating conflict(s). Characters may have their own conflicts that eventually turn into a collision of conflicts between characters.
4. Following the conflicts is the climax of the story. The fallout leads to the beginning of a resolution.
5. The last segments work out the resolutions of the story for your characters. Perhaps you will also want to write an epilogue, as well.

Too much time spent in one segment bogs your story down and readers want to hurry up and get to “the good part.”

See if you can imagine your story as a play with scenes. How long would you be interested in watching scene 1? Draw your readers in and then move on to the next segment/scene until you have completed the arc of your story.

Applause!

Second Article in the Series:
Ready, Sit, Go

Getting ready to write is a big deal! It’s like getting ready to go on vacation. You remember what that’s like. You don’t want to start out without all your stuff, a map to where you are going and an idea of what you want to do when you get there, right?

Getting ready to write is similar. Let’s not just sit down and scribble away and then try to make sense out of it. Get ready. Today, I want to share some tips that will get your juices going.

Tip 1. I want you to think of someone (alive or not, real or not) who you would just really, really love to read your book/story/poem. Don’t read on until you think of someone. Now, imagine that person receiving your work in a gift box, wrapped up, tissue paper around the book/story/poem. You can see the front cover. It’s got your name on it and inside the book cover, it reads, “To _____________,” signed by You. Imagine that person is SO excited to get this gift. He/she may not know you at all, but this is the book/story/poem they’ve been looking for. Imagine this person clutching your work close to the heart with a smile on his/her face.

Tip 2. Another exercise to do is to play the “If Only” game.

• If only I were rich, I’d be published.
• If only I didn’t have kids to take care of, I’d write more.
• If only I weren’t so busy, I’d write a book for Oprah’s Book Club.
• If only I were married to someone else, it would be easier to write every day.
• If only…start filling in the blanks for yourself.
• If only ____________________________________.
• If only ____________________________________.

The real name of this game is the “Blame Game.” As long as we blame others, we remain stuck, feeling hopeless and helpless. But, you can change that. If writing is something that’s important to you, spend your time writing instead of blaming. Find 15-minutes two days a week. A baby step. Hint: you’re allowed to write more than 15 minutes.

It takes courage to write. We get caught up in feeling scared that we’re not enough and play the “If Only” game. Becoming aware of what you think is holding you back is a first step. Take some time to plan what you want to do without blaming others. Create positive actions that you’ll need to take to start writing soon.

Remember, someone special is waiting to read your work.

First Article in the Series:
Ready, Sit, Go

Last week, I attended a workshop sponsored by the Gulf Coast Writer’s Association. John Floyd, a prolific short story writer, was the guest speaker. He’s not only a good writer, but he is an inspiring writer. During the conversation, someone asked him if he had a writing schedule. His answer was, “I’m always writing. I wrote a story in my head on the drive down here.” Oh, really?, I thought. Then, so did I. But, I had not thought of thinking of a story as writing.

I was stuck in defining writing as pen in hand or typing out the story. I was so enthused that I had been writing without calling it that, that an idea came to me to help others get on board with their desire to write. I’m calling my program, “Ready, Sit, Go.”

Today, I’ll share three ways to get Ready.

1.  Don’t write. Do something you enjoy doing first. Take a drive, go for a walk or relax the way you like. Put off the idea of writing, but if an idea hits you, jot a note about it. File it. You can do that, can’t you? Good, you’re getting ready to write.

2. Clear a space to write. Put lists, projects, clutter away from view so they don’t distract you when you get to the writing part. Right now, we’re getting ready to write, not writing (yet). But, again, if an outline comes to mind, jot it down. 

3.  Some writers can write anywhere, anytime. The rest of us need to develop a routine, such as putting on a favorite piece of music, making the bed, pouring a cup of tea (or something stronger). Think about what you would like to wear when you write. Do you need new pens? Folders? Or, will everything be written on your computer?

Maybe you will only do one of the steps to get ready, or maybe all. Let us hear about what motivates you to get ready to write, below.

If you’ve studied home decorating or fashion design, “matchey-matchey” is a no-no. Designers tell us it’s boring and not attractive. But, add a pop of color and add a twist of texture, and the experts say it is beautiful. The surprise or eye-catching detail creates interest and pleasure. So it is with writing. Have a character act out-of-character; add layers of details where only one turns out to be the clue that lends intrigue to the story. The more unique your characters, setting, and story line is the more we enjoy reading it.

So, when is matchey-matchey beautiful? When your polished story is ready for send-off. Who do you invite to read your work? Now is the time for you to turn into a sleuth and seek out the people who would enjoy and love your work. Agents and publishers are really good at advertising what genres they like to read and publish (and those they don’t).

Put yourself in their place. If you like to read cookbooks and a writer sends you a mystery novel, how would you feel? And, what would you do with the novel? Multiply that and you see why you would feel more interested and intrigued by receiving a new cookbook with a twist if you were the editor. Now, we’re cooking, pardon the pun.

Have you noticed how many types of cookbooks are published? Vegan, fish, dessert, casseroles, low-carb, etc. Remember, matchey-matchey. If you are the editor and you are looking for congealed salad recipes, you’re not going to be interested in any cookbook sent to you. No matter how good the venison roast recipe looks, it’s not what you’re looking for and you feel more frustrated when people send you something other than congealed salad recipes.

Knowing genre is important but you have to go further. For example, Mystery is a genre, but do we mean espionage mystery, a classic whodunit, a technothriller or a mystery written for juveniles?

Then, is it a magazine with a certain word count required or a novel? Are their deadline dates? The submission guidelines spell out how to submit, what to submit, and when to submit. Follow them. In this case, matchey-matchey equals success, which is beautiful, wouldn’t you agree!

For more Mystery genre categories, subscribe to The Muse’s Kiss Ezine to read the Tips and Resources section.

Writing is a solitary act that has the potential to involve millions of people. We know that. But, something else happens around holidays. The holiday season is not a one-size-fits-all experience of joy, happiness and love. For many people, especially writers, it is a time of loneliness, stress, dread and depression. There’s the heartache of missing loved ones who are far away or the first anniversary after losing someone dear. There’s the pull to join the party and the pull to write the last chapter.

It’s common for people to feel lonely, even if they’re in a room full of people, at any time of the year. Holidays can be a time of additional stress. We want to eat, we don’t want to eat; we want to sleep, we don’t want to sleep. We want to write; we don’t want to write. It’s a tough time for body and mind.

So, what can you do? There are many choices. You can sit and stew over your predicament. You can try to ignore your feelings or numb them with food and drink. You could turn to friends who offer refuge and encourage you to keep doing the things you’ve always done. But, I hope you will seek out someone to help you weather the storm, endure the experience of loneliness and learn what loneliness really is: a human experience. Take a seat and study this feeling, hold it as a treasure. Write about this emotion and how your body experiences it and all the variations it brings to your day. For it is by working through difficult emotions and times that our ability to feel compassion deepens and you will know when to say “I understand,” to another and describe them authentically in your writing.

While these tips are on the lighter side, they do help coping with the stress of the holidays:

• Take time to do something that will count as “taking care of yourself.”
• Contemplate how many people, beside yourself, are feeling lonely, too.
• Let go of expectations of others. They will always let you down. They are not you and they won’t say the things you think they should say or be the way you want them to be.
• Let go of expectations of yourself, too.
• Take advantage of the opportunities to exchange friendly greetings with people you see and think of someone you haven’t spoken to in a while and give them a call.
• Cultivate gratitude. Focus on what you have or have the potential to have.
• Give to others.

Don’t you just love quotes? The ones that inspire you, make you laugh or give a pause to think? I’ve compiled a short list for you here. If there are days when the writing page is blank, choose one of these to copy to the top of your page. Respond to it. There, you’re off and writing!

At the end of the list, please add your favorite quotes in the comment section. Here they are: 

“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is…the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.”
—Mark Twain

“We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master.”
—Ernest Hemingway

“The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book.”
—Samuel Johnson

“Writers live twice.”
—Natalie Goldberg

“When writing a novel a writer should create living people; people, not characters. A character is a caricature.”
—Ernest Hemingway

“A book is simply the container of an idea—like a bottle; what is inside the book is what matters.”
—Angela Carter

“Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now.”
—Annie Dillard

“When I say work I only mean writing. Everything else is just odd jobs.”
—Margaret Laurence

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
—Elmore Leonard

“You do not have to explain every single drop of water contained in a rain barrel. You have to explain one drop—H₂O. The reader will get it.”
—George Singleton

“Anyone who is going to be a writer knows enough at 15 to write several novels.”
—May Sarton

“I think all writing is a disease. You can’t stop it.”
—William Carlos Williams

“The most beautiful things are those that madness prompts and reason writes.”
—Andre Gide

“It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.”
—Ernest Hemingway

“Writers are always selling somebody out.”
—Joan Didion

“Writing is not necessarily something to be ashamed of, but do it in private and wash your hands afterwards.”
—Robert A. Heinlein

“Keep a small can of WD-40 on your desk—away from any open flames—to remind yourself that if you don’t write daily, you will get rusty.”
—George Singleton

“There is only one plot—things are not what they seem.”
—Jim Thompson

“Anyone who is going to be a writer knows enough at 15 to write several novels.”
—May Sarton

“I think all writing is a disease. You can’t stop it.”
—William Carlos Williams

“Long patience and application saturated with your heart’s blood—you will either write or you will not—and the only way to find out whether you will or not is to try.”
—Jim Tully, October 1923

We’ve all heard about, and perhaps experienced, the critic’s voice humming in the background as we try to write. Some people just give up. They begin to believe the thoughts they have about themselves. In some circles these are called limiting beliefs. We all have them, don’t we?

• “I can’t afford that.”
• “I dont know enough to…”
• “What will people think about me?” 

Imagine what it would be like if no one was watching and the critical voices weren’t yapping away with their litany of limiting beliefs? Can you imagine how good it would feel to write without feeling any pressure to please anyone?

You know, maybe there was a reason the ancient scribes holed up in caves and monasteries writing or copying books. No one was watching. I don’t want you to think you have to travel to sacred lands to write a novel, after all; plenty of people have found other places to hole up and write, such as in a coffee shop. I’d like to challenge you to doing things differently and get of your comfort zone (or uncomfortable zone, if this is the case).

Challenge number one: Commit to taking one step at a time to separate writing/work and personal time. Take your to-do list and schedule blocks of time for specific tasks. For example, choose a day to dedicate two three-hour blocks of time to content creation and another block for editing. Another day can be dedicated to email and spending family time.

It is likely you will find it hard to find the “off button” and stop thinking about things that didn’t get done or need to get completed tomorrow. Here is one solution that will help and you’ll feel less stressed. There are many books about mindfulness that basically instruct us to be present on a daily basis in all situations. If you’re writing, really write and enjoy the process. If you’re eating, really taste your food, if you’re washing dishes; enjoy the sudsy water and clink/clank of the dishes. In other words, when you are writing and imagining what people will think when they read your book, you are not with the writing. You are imagining. Come back to what you are doing.

Mind challenge number two: Grab a blank piece of paper and a pen (or a new screen on your computer). You’re going to give yourself permission to do a brain dump. This is good to do at the end of any activity that gives you a lot of good ideas, like exercising or driving in the car. And, it’s a task that you should do before an activity when you need a clear mind. Try this: About five minutes before you need to do something else, stop and get your paper (or computer screen) and write down everything going through your mind. Fast, no editing. In five minutes, you’re finished.

You can also create a ritual that signals transition time for yourself. Perhaps a glad of iced tea or water will signal “end of the day.” Of course, we know your brain never shuts down. And you’ll continue to get those good ideas during dinner, but you’ll be much better at being present where you are.

Writing is a right and a calling that you can’t forget. If your Muse wakes you when you should be asleep, write down what comes to mind. It’s precious.

The day before Thanksgiving, you open the door and discover a real turkey on your doorstep.

Write this scene in the comments section, below – describe how it got there, why is it at your house and what will you do with it now?