Scrivener… after NANO thoughts (part one)

Posted on by Farangian

Last time I talked about Scrivener  I said I would get back to it after NANOWRIMO. So, that’s where we’re going today dear reader. Actually, we’ll be talking about Scrivener this week and next week, there’s enough to say just based on my first draft experience.

This still won’t be an entire, comprehensive review of Scrivener (I spent the last month writing a first draft not just learning a software package…), but I definitely learned some things during NANOWRIMO that have shown me a thing or two and will affect my writing process from here on out.

First… A general statement: If you make the jump to Scrivener from other programs like MS Word there will definitely some habits that need reshaping. The nature of the software is such that it works differently. But, if you’re going to work on writing a book, it’s worth the effort to make the change. Once you’ve learned to use Scrivener, some parts of the writing process become much easier. And… some specialized tricks and features available if you have both Scrivener and MS Word.

Next… The things I wasn’t fond of (but can live with…):

Formatting (While Writing):

The standard format that Scrivener works in is RTF and the screen view you see while you’re writing is basic and doesn’t reflect the layout that will exist on the printed page. This is something that takes getting used to., at this point in the game (working on the first draft and early edits) layout doesn’t matter as much for a book or story. There is enough editing and other moving around that needs to happen that you’re not seeing a finished product yet anyway.  Scrivener’s way of dealing with formatting has big payoffs later, but if you’re used to functioning in MS Word, or are a very visual person, this can be off putting.

Printing (a piece at a time):

Over the years, I’ve developed a habit of printing out the day’s written work and adding it to a physical copy of the book. Well, that gets more complicated with Scrivener. In Scrivener you need to compile before you print, so there’s another step. If you compile to print, there’s no dialog box to choose which pages to print.

Don’t get me wrong, you can tell it to print only certain sections of the writing but you have to make those selections before you compile to print. And, as a result, you don’t get the same pagination you would when printing a section of a Word document.

There are workarounds, for instance you could compile to a pdf and then print part of the pdf. But if you want to print the latest part of a work in progress on a regular basis, you might end up with a bunch of PDFs that have to be deleted or stored…

But, in the “print today’s work” method pagination can get off anyway if you insert a section between parts you’ve already written. So, you’re not giving up a lot. And, like I said, things will change between first draft and ready to publish, so the “print your daily work” method has pagination problems anyway.

Chapter titles and finding stuff

Within a scrivener project you have folders and text documents. For a fiction manuscript, when you compile the document the folder names become chapter names and the documents within the folders become chapter content. This can cause headaches when you have sub folders you forget about. You should also remember you need not type chapter titles into the documents within the folders.

Once you see how it works, it seems to work well. But, I still have to figure out headings and subheadings within a chapter (not so much for my mid-grade novel, but I’ll want them for other projects…)

Summing up the negatives

The issues I’ve mentioned are more about getting used to a different program and work flow. There are ways around them and ways to cope with them. Though it takes effort I think working in Scrivener is worth the investment.

Next week, we’ll look at what I really liked about Scrivener while working on the first draft process. If you’ve got any thoughts so far, leave a comment.  And, come back next week for part two!

NANO’s here…

Posted on by Farangian

Well, dear reader… NANOWRIMO starts next Friday.

As usual, I’m putting aside other projects to push my way through a new manuscript. So… I’ll be giving the blogs a rest until December. I’ve got the manager stuff handled. I’ve made sure the other characters and stories on my plate are safely locked away until I finish. (Umm… Zeek, check that door again… Geez… Let’s rounded ‘em up, again… This time make sure they don’t have lock picks ok…)

This year I’m working on a mid-grade/YA story (Planning for mid-grade but could skew a little older) about Ruby, the younger sister of a character in my 2017 project. Hopefully, this one will be a little simpler to do and get into print faster (Not really the sister’s fault she and her fiancé ran into people who got a little Downton Abbey into my fantasy story…).

Since I’m running with some younger characters and heading for a younger audience, this time I’m aiming for 50-60 thousand words. Which is a step down from the 75-85 thousand word manuscripts of the last two years. But, I’m also hoping less unexpected themes and subplots pop out at me…

I’m confident in getting the NANO win (it’ll be the 5th running win…). And I’m hoping to learn a few things.

I’m also inviting you to join us in the fun and madness of NANOWRIMO (if you haven’t signed up already (in which case see you in the trenches)).

And, either way, I’ll see you next post (in December…).

Soundtracks for writing?

Posted on by Farangian

Environment is important for writing. There are a lot of plusses and minuses to writing in different locations. There are also a lot of elements in those environments that can be hard to control. But, there’s one environmental element we can control, and even bring with us as we travel. It’s also been claimed to have the power to transport us to other places. It’s as simple as listening.

Music can tell stories. Music can trigger memories. Music can tap into raw emotions. Music is a tool that shouldn’t be overlooked in the preparation and process of writing.

There are also complications and problems. But many of those can be controlled by choices you make.

(Some of) the problems with music

Some of us like to write in public. And, it’s problematic to listen to our ‘writing music’ in public places. We don’t want to be offensive, but we also want our music. Can you (safely) wear headphone or ear buds where you’re writing? What about finding somewhere that has ambient sound/music that works for you?

A bigger problem, whether you’re in public or private, comes in the form of sensitivity to lyrics. I don’t mean the “I’m gonna shoot a cop then rape your grandma” lyrics (though there are problems with that kind of lyrics…). The problem we’re talking about is that for some of us, and in some processes, lyrics in music can be distracting.

This one is easier to cope with when you can choose the music you’re listening to (so… in your writing spot at home or using those ear phones/buds…). Choose music with lyrics that work for you, or just instrumental music.

It’s true that sometimes the lyrics you’re listening to get in the way. Sometimes that happens. For me it happens more in new writing. I like lyrics during the editing process. The answer (as usual dear reader) is to experiment a little, learn what works for you, and use it.

And music can work for you dear reader.

Music, emotion, and taking you there

Music (the sound portion) operates on a different level of thinking/feeling than the spoken word. It can convey emotion to us in ways the written or spoken word can’t. This effect can be amplified when you add the right lyrics. Because of this ability, music can be helpful for getting into the right headspace for a scene in a story, or for building up our courage for writing that difficult or scary part of your non-fiction (both my wife and I have finished graduate degrees we know about difficult and scary parts in writing fiction and non-fiction…).

Music can also be linked to a time and place. That’s both good and powerful.

It wouldn’t be too hard for me to get to some of the physical locations we call the old west (a lot of them are within a day’s drive). But, getting back to the time of the old west is harder. Music can help with that. I can find modern (recorded) performances of old western music to help put my mind in the frame of that time and place.

I can also pull out my Japanese, Pilipino, and Thai music to get me over to Asia.

Or, I can throw on some Bach or Telemann (You know… Just in case I need to get back to Leipzig in the 1840s and my TARDIS is in the shop…).

We have the technology to feed ourselves a steady stream of music that helps us be in the mental space to write and even to feel a link to times, places, and experiences near and far. We can use that music to inspire us and make writing easier. (It even helps some of us concentrate better!)

For me, developing a ‘soundtrack’ for a writing project is as useful, or more useful, than ‘teacher approved’ techniques like outlining. Thinking about and planning my soundtrack gets me thinking about what the themes of the story are, what the feeling of the story is. In its own weird way, planning my soundtrack is outlining the story on an emotional level… It can also count as part of my research if I’m doing a period piece.

What are your thoughts about soundtracks for writing dear reader?

Leave a comment if you like. And, I’ll see you next post.

Scrivener… Almost first thoughts

Posted on by Farangian

Early this year I rehabbed a laptop. I wanted a word processing program on it and didn’t want to pay for another MS Office license. So, I bought Scrivener, and then used my other laptop and desktop instead of the one I just fixed. Then, I learned a few things about Scrivener, and I kept using Word because I had too much to do to learn a new program.

But, in the last month I’ve wanted to work differently. Some organization features I’d heard about with Scrivener weighed on my mind. So, two weeks ago I pulled out the manual. And, I have to say I’m impressed.

What scrivener isn’t

There are some things it’s obvious Scrivener is not.

It’s not another Word/Open Office/Word Perfect style word processer. You can write in it, but it’s not a straight forward create a document word processor. And, that’s good. It’s a larger, more flexible, system that can interact with Word and several other products. It helps the writer organize and create, not just type.

Scrivener isn’t a linear tool. You could use it linearly, but it’s more of a pain than going linear with a standard word processor. If you’re just going to use Scrivener linearly you miss a lot of its power (and might as well go back to your wax tablet and stylus).

Scrivener isn’t something you can ‘just use’. You need to think about your project and how to use the program. Again, that’s ok! Actually, that fits with the principal we have around here that you should think about what you’re writing!

What Scrivener is (so far…)

I’ll be coming back to this. I can tell that already; this is just the start of the journey. Reading the manual and thinking about the way I write, I can see Scrivener has a lot of possibilities.

  • I can include all my notes and inspiration stuff in the project without having to include it in the draft.
  • I can do script stuff, book stuff, and HTML in the same program without having to worry about formatting issues.
  • I can compile (format) and print/export parts of the project in a variety of ways without having to mess with the main projects formatting (I can do E-book, print, and web formats with a few mouse clicks without having to screw up my main document).
  • I can easily create pieces, move them around and know what they are without having to read or navigate the whole thing.

Those last two really intrigue me for both blog posts and books. I can put a whole series of posts into one project and have them all in one concentrated, easy to find, spot when I’m adding to the series. I can add and quote parts with a couple of clicks. If I (and my readers) like a subject enough, I’ve got everything concentrated into one place and can move seamlessly from the blog series to writing the book.

I think scrivener will help me on new editions and rewrites of previous stuff. I can import the word files (and other types, especially RTF files) and then break them up and organize them better and a lot more easily than I could in old school word processors.

So far, having climbed through the manual and doing some initial experiments, I think there is a lot of power in Scrivener. I definitely think it’s a tool for serious writers to consider.

I’ll come back to this one after NANO (I’ll know more by then).

In the meantime, dear reader, do you have any thoughts, rants, or questions about Scrivener?

Leave a comment if you do. And, I’ll see you next post.

Plantser’s gambit…

Posted on by Farangian

Well dear reader, as of Monday this week I’ve announced my NANOWRIMO project for this year.

I’ve talked about NANO before (like a couple minutes ago in my other blog…). I’ve shared some thoughts about why I do NANO . And, I’m doing it again (both talking about NANO and taking part).

This time around I’m building on what I’ve learned over the past four years and once again using NANO as a sandbox to experiment with something new. I can do YA fiction. I can do fantasy. I’ve even successfully written cross gender. Now I’m shooting for a mid-grade fantasy featuring a female protagonist.

Trying this during NANO I know it’s a first draft. I know there’s a lot of work to be done on the back end. So, I’m not afraid to experiment. This is only the first draft, the sandbox model, not the final product. So, I can tell the internal editor to back off and get some real writing done.

NANOWRIMO is also my version of a vacation…

I’ll be talking about NANO again before November first, as a “plantser” there’s prep to do, even though I’m not doing a full “planner’s” outline… I would also love to see you join us (if you haven’t announced your project already (If you have… Great! I’ll see you there!). If you’ve been wanting to write a book (even if it isn’t a novel), or if you want to write another one… Check out the website and join us!

Think about it dear reader. And, I’ll see you next post.

POV and understanding

Posted on by Farangian

This week I finished the “1/2” portion of my 1 ½ pass editing pass for the Johnson Farm reedit and The Calm Inside the Storm. One of the biggest results is some serious thought about point of view.

Some scenes only get one point of view. Sometimes there’s only one character around to have a point of view. Sometimes only one character is trustworthy enough to give his/her point of view (and then unreliable narrators happen…), sometimes we’re trying to keep it simple and only use one POV throughout the work. But sometimes we can benefit from multiple points of view on a scene or situation, even if those points of view don’t all make it into the final work.

Multiple points of view can make for a complicated scene and a complicated story. But:

  • Sometimes multiple points of view are informative. The reader can learn more about the situation and the characters. If your hero describes the scene one way and the villain another, you can learn something about the story from the differences, the things not said and the things that conflict. As a writer, you can “show not tell” by allowing your reader to extrapolate from multiple accounts.
  • Sometimes one character might “have the angle” and can see something another character can’t. if this is true for only one character and the information is relevant, then you want that character’s point of view on the page. If it happens for two characters, you should consider ways to get both points of view onto the page.
  • Sometimes you learn something from writing from a different character’s point of view. I have a case of this in my current work. Both John and Jamie have accounts of a particular scene and those accounts will be in their respective stories. But, Jamie’s mom is also in the room and I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around decisions she’s making. Solution: rewrite the scene from the mother’s POV. It probably won’t make it into the book, but the finished scenes will be better because I know what the Q%$@#!!! is going on in mom’s head while the teens are being teens.
  • Sometimes those points of view that don’t make it into the main work can be used in other ways. I just mentioned rewriting a scene from Jamie’s mother’s perspective. How hard will it be to turn that scene into a promotional short story to help advertise the book? (I don’t know because I haven’t written it yet, but it’s a possibility)

Alternate points of view can be a resource sink. But, sometimes the reader and the author learn something worthwhile. Writing from multiple perspectives can help you and your readers understand things that would otherwise be missed or require a bunch of story-slowing exposition. Multiple perspective take more work (sometimes…), but if they make the story better, they’re worth considering.

These are my thoughts dear reader. What do you think? Are multiple points of view good? Bad? Over complicated? Enjoyable? Leave a comment if you’re so inclined, and… I’ll see you next post.

“Pure science” the biggest lie in science fiction

Posted on by Farangian

On the one hand, there’s an upswing in reported health issues associated with vaping, and news reporters feigning shock.

On the other hand, my wife asked me to read and discuss a book: Science Fiction Prototyping: Designing the Future with Science Fiction by David Johnson.

Somewhere between the two I hit upon a realization: “pure science” is the greatest fiction in science fiction.

Just for clarity and understanding (you can argue in the comments if you want to…), I define science fiction as fiction that examines the effects of science and technology on people’s lives.

Enders Game is science fiction; it looks at the lives of people fighting a high-tech war against aliens, that doesn’t happen without the tech. It’s a significant factor in the story. The Empire Strikes Back isn’t science fiction; you could do the same thing with horses, boats and pre-gunpowder weapons and have the same story. (Face it… The AT-ATs are discount elephants…)

Wargames can’t happen without the computers. The Terminator (the original one) can, you could omit the ‘sci fi’ trappings and tell the same main story with a couple stoners from Newark.

Note: I still like The Empire Strikes Back and The Terminator… They just don’t depend on the science and tech the way the others do… (And, like I said… If I’m wrong, leave a constructive comment)

Within science fiction (the kind where science matters to the story) we occasionally find a huge flaw called “pure science”. Somewhere, someone (I blame Star Trek) came up with the idea that scientists will “do” science for the pure and sacred sake of science, without all those silly little human traits, factors, and motives. It’s a great Utopian idea. But, like the rest of Utopia is doesn’t exist.

How could “pure science” exist? In some ways it would be nice. We could have unbiased information to work from. But, science doesn’t happen in a vacuum. There has to be some living being to “do” the science. And, since we don’t have super intelligent aliens to do it for us, that means humans are involved.

Coming from a psychology background and writing character driven fiction, in my world the characters have reasons for what they do. The “pure science” scientist is hiding from something. The scientist wanting to cure cancer “for the good of mankind” has seen a loved one die from cancer and never wants to see it again (so he/she sees it over and over while trying to cure cancer…)

Science takes time, effort, and money. People don’t invest any of those if there’s no return on investment. Companies (and companies pay for a lot of the research in real life…) don’t pay for science for science’ sake, they want something out of it.

People seek after scientific advances for a purpose.

If you argue they’re doing it for curiosity… I say, great but where’d they get the money and equipment?

If you say they’re doing it for a purpose (to win a war, cure a disease, rescue their beloved)… I’ll buy that.

If you suggest they’re doing it to see someone naked… Yeah… I’ve got to buy that one too (you’re reading this on the internet… click on enough links and you’ll find your way to porn whether you want to or not…)

The one argument I won’t buy is that scientist are conducting research and making discoveries for no benefit to themselves or someone they care about. The benefits may only be psychological/spiritual but the exist; that’s just basic human nature.

Humans and human desires are the driving forces behind human science and technology. Anyone claiming their science is ‘pure’ and untainted by human desires and motives is hiding his/her motives, or unaware of them (making her/him kind of clueless…). Understanding the human drives behind the science makes our science fiction better and more accurate (even if the underlying reasons never make it onto the finished page or into the final cut of our movie…)

It might be interesting to see ‘pure’ science, but I doubt I ever will. In reality the humans keep getting in the way.

Well, those are my thoughts dear reader. What do you think?

Think on it. Leave a comment if you’re so inclined. And, I’ll see you next post.

The 1 ½ pass pass rides again!

Posted on by Farangian

Well dear reader, this week I started on a dangerous task. I’m applying new techniques to old work. Recently I submitted my novel Unintended Consequences to a larger publisher. Part of my pitch was that Johnson Farm, my first novel, would be pulled, re-tuned, and updated. The idea is the entire double series will come out under one label.

Johnson farm was a first novel. It came out before I discovered the 1 ½ pass editing technique . It’s a little dated. And, I’ve learned a thing or two since I wrote it. Now, I’m re-editing and rewriting with new techniques and understanding. It will make the book better, but there are real challenges.

What challenges?

Well… I knew there would be updates for some real-world events and changes, and a few things that better tie in with Unintended Consequences and its sequel The Calm Inside the Storm.

I did not expect that I will be doing major rework on my ‘funeral’ chapter. I thought it was the most solid one in the book, and it was one of the first finished. But, I’m finding I may just have been afraid to cut into my ‘sacred cow’.

I definitely didn’t think I would rewrite the post log. When I did my initial work on Johnson Farm’s sequel Going Home the Hard Way I didn’t think the ending of Johnson Farm was a problem. I also didn’t know I would do a ‘side series’ that covered the time span in more detail.

I found those challenges reading the first 40 pages. Since then… I’m planning to split a major chapter and revise each half to better reflect themes in the book and create better tone for each piece. And, I still have the conjunction of Johnson Farm and The Calm Inside the Storm ahead of me (Monday will be fun! In a pass the caffeine and hide the sidearms kind of way…).

Next week I’ll start re-editing the old stuff while first editing the new stuff in parallel. This is where the 1 ½ pass technique will really help. It’s the point where things become really complicated.

Better techniques, better results

Johnson Farm existed before the 1 ½ pass technique entered my life. Editing the first edition would have been faster with the new technique (a lot faster…). Each pass would have taken longer, but I wouldn’t have had to do as many passes. I would have been able to work on big picture issues that crossed the whole book much sooner, because I would find them, think about them, and create better solutions all in one pass rather than taking two or three go-rounds to get them through my thick head. I could have skipped some intermediate steps that didn’t work because I could see the entire project better.

And the benefits keep rolling… Now that I will be editing the old, simple, one perspective most of the way story alongside a second text, the 1 ½ pass method helps because I need to do more meta thinking between the books and within each book. It’s hard to do that when you only work on one book at a time.

The coordination between books will make editing better and faster. It also boosts my confidence for the next step… When I resume work on Going Home the Hard Way while I’m doing the initial writing of the final book of the Unintended Consequences trilogy.

Learning new things, developing new techniques, helps us to do more, create better products, and do things we couldn’t have done before. It can be scary to open old wounds . But, sometimes coming back with new techniques helps us turn mediocre old stuff into something great.

Editing takes work and patience. Good writing takes effort and learning (not just knowledge but learning…)

It’s difficult dear reader. But, I’m doing it. And, so can you!

That’s it for this one. Good luck in your writing, and… I’ll see you next post.

The short (and the long) of it…

Posted on by Farangian

Years ago a writer I really respect told me I should start with short stories before I go to long fiction, that there was nothing I could learn in long fiction that couldn’t be learned in a short story. Well, over the years I’ve found that there are a few things about long fiction that are hard to learn in a short story, and a few things about short stories you can’t learn in long fiction…

Long fiction is something I love, there are lots of things you can do with it. But, a 50,000-word story doesn’t teach you how to get to the point, or how to have a complete story arc in two pages. A 50,000-word story is about as helpful in learning to write efficiently, and short, as running marathons is for learning how to sprint.

On the other hand, a two-page short piece will never teach you how to tell the long story. You can’t practice what to do on page 158 if you end on page two; that’s like thinking you’re ready for the marathon because you sprinted twice. Sure, you can think of chapters as individual stories or story arcs (and in some ways you should). But, in novel the stuff that happened in chapter two matters in Chapter 14. The magic reset button isn’t something to press between chapters (if you press it at all!).

Even larger short stories, even the big 20-30 pagers, don’t have room for the cast of characters a novel needs. You just don’t have space for all of those characters in the shorter story. But your long story might have several of them in different places doing different things and expect all those lines to link up somewhere around page 250 (or 350, or 475, or…).

Long and short stories have different requirements and are useful for different things. You may not fully understand the differences until you’ve finished a few (or at least one) of each. That said, there are some valid reasons for starting with short stories (or doing short stories if you’re struggling with that first big story…).

There are many things in common between the story types. You (usually) need characters, settings, a plot, and the other ‘usual’ pieces of a story (you just have more space to play with them in the larger story (and (usually) more characters and locations to worry about)). Working on short stories allows you to practice working on these before you try to assemble the 50,000-piece set.

Short stories also have the advantage of being shorter to write (again usually). It’s just less work to write 2,500 words than it is to write 50,000. This means it’s easier to finish the whole writing process in a relatively short time. You will probably go through the whole process in less time than it would take to write a 50,000-word first draft. And, that overview of the whole process is helpful in finishing that big story (trust me, you can get lost in there if you don’t know where you’re going).

Short stories also make a great ‘experimental space’. In Statistics we learn about a t-test, a simple two group test that allows you to determine if there is a difference between groups. Short stories are like t-tests. They don’t handle the big complicated things very well, but as a ‘quick and dirty’ test for a writing technique or a character interaction they work pretty well. Short stories can be helpful in developing the characters, places and things you need for your big story. In model building/construction terms short stories can be a way of ‘dry fitting’ parts before you get into the more complicated work.

I think my teacher of years ago was wrong, there are things you can learn in long fiction that you can’t in a short story. But, that doesn’t mean that we should abandon the short story. Our short stories are useful for practicing a lot of things we need in our bigger stories. They give us a relatively cheap and easy place to experiment. They can serve as parts and models in the big picture. They give us ‘taster’ pieces we can hand out, put in our blogs, and enter contests with, without having to do the work necessary on that one big piece.

And, not every idea needs 50,000 words! There are some stories that just don’t need, and shouldn’t have, that much of our time.

Ultimately, I think we should write both long and short fiction. And, it’s probably worth starting with short stuff (maybe build a 1/700 scale kit before trying to build a full-scale, working aircraft carrier….).

That’s my thoughts. What do you say? If you disagree (or agree!) with me, leave a comment.

Either way, I’ll see you next post.

The words will come

Posted on by Farangian

Shortly before I wrote this:

  • I hadn’t had a decent writing session all week
  • My schedule had been thrown off all week (first week of school, doctors’ appointments, my wife needed my help…)
  • My blood sugar was about 50 points high
  • I had a headache
  • The music in the restaurant didn’t work for me
  • There were kids screaming
  • The wierdo across the way was straight up glaring at me…

 

In other words… not a lot of writing was getting done. I mean not a word of writing, not until I took charge of myself.

I did what I could. I drank some (diet) soda. I took some deep breaths. I prayed. I got my mind together.

And then, the words flowed.

  • My schedule was still off
  • My blood sugar was still too high
  • I still had a headache (but the caffeine and stress reduction helped)

But, a different song came on. The kids found their way back to the play area. And, the wierdo found someone else to be mad at when I refused to take the bait.

The words flowed. Within minutes I wrote more than I had all week. And, I had ideas for what to write next.

Writing and writing…

There’s writing and then there’s writing…

  • There’s writing you do because you have to
  • There’s writing you do because you should
  • There’s writing you do because you want to
  • There’s writing you do because you can’t stop yourself (when you find this one, you’re a real writer and on your way to being a serious author…)
  • There’s writing that’s two or more of the above combined.

The secret to getting any writing done is to put yourself in the mental space to write. You need to put yourself into a good physical space too. You need to have your supplies. You need to do your research. But, being in the mental space to write, getting past your fears, concerns and hang-ups and into a mental place where the words will flow is something you have to learn if you want to write.

Putting yourself in the mental space to write is a management thing. It’s a self-mastery thing. You need to develop skills to deal with outside people and things, and the determination and self-control to put you into the place to write.

Sometimes we all need to break out the (hopefully metaphorical) battering ram and break down the barriers that are keeping the words from flowing. The problem may be one big thing or lots of little things working in concert. Your problems might not be my problems (or maybe they are!). But, one way or another we have to deal with them if we want to write.

That’s what this series is about dear reader. It’s a conversation (I’d love to hear from you!) about making the words flow. It’s about putting body and mind in a place to write.

There are lots of things we can talk about and not nearly enough time to cover them all in one post. So, let’s start with something simple.

Priming the pump

One of the more annoying kinds of writer’s block is fear of the blank page. This one occasionally hits even those of us with lots of words under our belts. And, it’s one you can cope with.

If you’re writing long hand (like I do) pick up your pen (pencil, crayon, whatever…) and move your hand to the top right corner of the page and write the number ONE (1) in the corner (and circle it if you want…).

If you’re writing electronically type a 1 on the first line, then hit return (or just turn on page numbers…)

Good news, your page isn’t blank anymore!

There’s still more to do. It’s time to put words on the page.

If you’re having trouble writing about what you think you’re supposed to be writing about, give yourself permission to ‘stream of consciousness’ write.

Write what’s on your mind. If you trust the process, your writing will probably “find center” and (after editing) you’ll have a written something that you can use.

Even if your something isn’t a sellable piece, you have proven to yourself that you can create a stream of words from your mind to the page. You may have written something that will help you learn and understand. You may even have created something that other people will want to read, after you clean it up a bit.

Sometimes you really need to write on a specific topic. In those cases ‘stream of consciousness’ may not be the right technique. Here we need to delve into our self-mastery toolbox and move the stream. But that, dear reader, is another post.

We all have hard days. We all have times where it feels like the words aren’t coming. But, if we do our part, they will.

That’s it for this one dear reader. Good luck with your words, and… I’ll see you next post!