While I'm busy revising (and watching my son's team row,) I offer up this list of maybe-you-missed-'em posts. Each of them is a meaty read, except the last, which is something that amused me. Fine, fine writing all around....
From Crooked House: Thaisa Frank On writing to Strangers
From Chasing Ray: Why I Wrote My Thesis
From Educating Alice: Dad's Deployment
From BB-Blog: Old school stickies set
Not so much tips, as observations....
1) My house gets cleaner when I revise. I feel the need to straighten my outside world as I work on the interior one of the manuscript. I used to view cleaning as procrastination, but now I see it as a) thinking/processing time and b) the only way certain cleaning tasks will ever get done. My baseboards aren't gleaming, but they sure are happy that I noticed that they exist.
2) Negative thinking has its place---for about a week. I can growl, feel sick, whine, and think the worst of myself. Then I have no time for it. None.
3) The Dog Whisperer is a great show for writers. Cesar says to visualize what you what to happen and then make it so. (Sounds flaky until you see him do it, time after time after time.) He's also great at psychology and character motivation. It's never the dog; it's always the owner. Training a dog changes the trainer; revising a novel changes the writer. Why else would I be doing this?
The take it or leave it wisdom continues. Remember, I'm blogging this mainly for me, to remind my own self of what's worked in the past. If any of it pleases you, feel free to walk away with it. (I hope you brought your own bag.)
1) Do your revisions in a different physical place. For me, I often draft (and blog) while sitting on my comfy couch. For revision, I go to my office and sit at my desk. It helps get my brain in gear, and makes me treat my manuscript as if it belonged to someone else. Sitting at desk = Ruthless! Fearless! Organized!
2) Wear something fun. I have the Frog/Toad bracelet I bought earlier this year, and you'd better believe I'm wearing it. But it could be crazy socks, a kickin' T-shirt, or a beanie. Whatever makes you smile.
3) Don't be afraid to move. This means your body----walk, pace, lie down and think, sit on the floor, jump up and down. And it means big chunks of your manuscript. Nothing is irreplaceable. Nothing must be. You are in charge of the story, so don't let what you wrote before rule you.
4) Trust the instinctual part of your brain. If it winces at your choice of words, it's right. If it starts skimming over the boring parts, it's right. If it wiggles uncomfortably when you try to slide a plot point past it, it's right. Yes, use your intellect, make plot diagrams, charts, whatever---but ignore your instincts at your very great peril.
And now my instincts are telling me to put on my bracelet and get to my desk.
This will be quick, because there's a Summer Blog Blast Tour going on, and both you and I need time to read all the fabulous interviews out there today (and the rest of the week.) But I did want to briefly post this:
I've begun revisions to New Recruit. To all of my blog readers' credit, no one seemed stunned when I mentioned last week that my revision letter was fifteen pages long. Dang. You guys are hard to impress. Kids at schools always gasp in horror when I show them the seven page letter I received for Letters From Rapunzel. I was hoping that fifteen pages would make me seem like a SuperBad Writer to them. No one could need that much redemption! No one could survive such a long, hard fall! When I stand before them with New Recruit in my hands---in the fall of 2009, I hope---I want them to see me as She Who Made Mistakes and Lived. I want them to know that writing is revision and redemption and completely and totally for those who can't get it right the first time.
In the spirit of that, I'm going to take blog notes as I go along. I'm calling these Revision Tips, but really, I have no idea if they will work for anyone but me. They're more like notes to myself: hey, dummy! You learned this once, now don't forget it next time!
Revision Tip:
Expect to discover new connections between characters. I don't think I could manage a level of intertwining like LOST, but without fail, when two characters share a past, or a future goal, or a present space, they automatically become more interesting, both to each other, and to the reader. At least let them reach for the licorice at the same time. Or discover they know the words to the same song. Everyone has seven degrees* of separation from everyone else, at least according to Kevin Bacon, so why shouldn't your characters?
*OOPS. Shouldn't that be six degrees?
Run
The neckline is faux-torn,
which is embarrassing.
The stitched Nike logo
puckers the tissue-weight
white fabric. It hasn't held
up well. I laugh---each time---
at myself for buying it.
I put it on.
I hook my running
shoes by the dingy heel cuffs,
swinging them off the shoe rack.
I clip my bite-sized iPod Shuffle
to my flimsy shirt.
I pony-tail my hair.
I stick my mouth sideways
into the pelting tap water,
slurping what I should have
consumed instead of three
cups of coffee. I leave
the house.
I lock the door. I put my key into
the pocket that lies flat
against my back.
I pull down my shades.
I have already walked
the dog. It is hot. There is
a breeze. Men are building
a new house right in front
of me. I have nowhere
to go.
I'm only running,
running, running,
up this slow, endless hill
in the middle of the day
because there is music
in my ears, my legs
do what I say, and
I am savagely
grateful.
----Sara Lewis Holmes (all rights reserved)
Listen to me read this poem.
Poetry Friday is hosted today by Two Writing Teachers.
My sister made me a beautiful box for my birthday.
I wanted to show her how much I enjoyed it, so I took photos of the box, including some of me playing with the mirror on the bottom of it, and turned it into a mini-movie. (The writing at the beginning is on the inside walls of the box, and it's from letters I've sent to her over the years.)
In case you can't play the movie, here are a few more still images:
Kelly tagged me for a meme. I don't do memes much, but this one seemed easy, so I bit.
What were you doing five years ago?
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