Living the Writer’s Life

     Since coming to Florida, I’ve found a new flowering of life I never knew I could experience. For the first time ever, I found that the escape to the virtual worlds of Disney, once a fleeting, every other year thing, and it has put much in my life in perspective. Basically, that if my problems are so big that I can ride though (fake) space in a mountain, how, truly, big are my problems? If I can pretend, for just a moment that I really am in a Krustyland Carnival, then, why, oh why, am I dwelling on the aggravations of the week?
     My problems still exist, but I can put them into a much smaller box than ever before. I can’t talk for my husOtter, but for myself, this has been a boon. A true boon. Because, for the first time, ever, I feel like I’m living the kinda of life I’m meant to lead. My problems are greatly reduced for the first time ever. 
     Oh. Wait. Lemme rephrase that.
     I still suffer the usual pain and aggravations of my job. I still have the same stresses. I still feel the same burdens that make me want to eat forty pounds of ice cream when I get home from work.
     But I can clear my mind, even briefly, for the first time; I’d like to think, in twenty years.
     And it means I can start living. That means doing the things I need to be to become a better individual.
Now, I’ve always known I was a writer. Fuck the publishing bit, but really, I like to write. And I don’t mean just the occasional journal. I mean, like, make up stories and try them out. Because of that, many a summer, I’d try to pen shit.
     With really bad results. During the school year? Forget it. I would put aside two hours on Sunday to writing and I would end up doing planning. Now? I put aside two hours on Sunday to do planning and, at the end of it, I’m done. No more staying till 8pm on a school night at the school. Now, I come home and go to the gym. 
     And, well, write.
     This article is really born out of two events and I’ve been making notes over two years about some of the things I’m about to say. One thing is for sure, I’ve been able to participate in National Novel Writing Month for the first time in many years this November past. It was truly a joy to finally get a novel squeezed out. The novel, well, we’ll talk here in a moment, was actually a very educational experience, regardless of the results.
      Then there is this summer. For the first time ever, I treated myself to the fact that this is a job, this writing stuff. That’s why you see so many posts on my blog. I’m trying to communicate more. But, also, everyday I’m trying to pen a tale or two, for two pages. And, finally, I’m trying to do something creative that wasn’t the same as the day before. That means writing on one big story arc for a novel.
      The experience has been very, very telling. I am, truly, living the Writer’s Life. And because of that, I’ve discovered a few things in my ramblings. Here are some observations that I think are vital to notice:

1. WRITING CLEARS MY HEAD AND MY SOUL…When you are creative daily, and I thinks this goes for anyone who has an outlet, be it painting, gardening or writing; you free-up space in your brain. When I’m not writing daily, my head fills up with nonsense. Schedules elbow their way in; stuff I want to write about hits me while heading to work. If I am not writing, I am not totally in the moment. Put it another way, when I am writing, it becomes quite meditative. I’m able to control my brain just a bit more. Getting the stuff out on paper means that I can’t dwell on it at work or when I’m with friends. That means, well, I’m more in the moment than ever before.
2. THERE’S SOMETHING EERIE ABOUT INVENTING ‘PEOPLE’….Story creating is very, very weird. It is like reliving memories for other people. I know these characters I’m creating are not real. But the more I review them and discuss them to myself and on paper, they start to become an experience with a person I have never ever met. It’s a bit disconcerting. I caught myself saying to my husband, “well, so-and-so would never do that.” We had been discussing a plot point in my more recent novel and, when I heard myself say that, I was like…whoa…how would I know that? These people, these characters aren’t real. But, yet, I see their entire arc of life, like a child I never had. It’s a very alarming.
3. YOU CANNOT STEP AWAY FROM THE TRAIN WRECK, NOT EVEN FOR A DAY…These characters have a reason to live and I can’t let them go. Now that I’m focusing on characters, I need to write about them every day or gaps develop. See, I read some texts from authors about their writing lives. Several of them communicate something I’ve never done before when story-creating. They talk about writing strong background analyses of every major character. I tend to agree, character is story. By creating strong and full characters, the novel basically is writing itself. I’m already seeing a pattern in three characters that link them together and are shifting the tale I was hoping to create. When I take a day off, I lose that thread.
4. I HAVE TO KEEP READING, LIKE SOME KIND OF DRUG ADDICT…Reading feeds writing; but it is not an expression of art. Many people love to read; I know for myself that I always try to balance the two. Reading gives me examples of what I enjoy and don’t like about a given text. I have to keep reading, but reading fills my head back up with ideas that need to get back out on paper. I have to keep this in mind.
5. ON A MORE PERSONAL NOTE, I’M REALIZING I MIGHT BE BETTER SUITED FOR SCREENPLAYS…I’ve written about ten children’s plays, all without thank you, at my previous job and, well, no one noticed. Now, jump to me reviewing my most latest novel, and I notice a trend. I am really good at driving a plot. Think of it like an action movie, scene to scene, there’s an economy of the story arc that keeps things moving to a conclusion. However, I’ve noticed the characters are flat and really, they’re there to keep things moving from exciting set piece to the next. Perhaps it is born out of those plays I wrote where story is key to dramatics. Movies tend to be like this. Novels? The best ones, I’ve discovered, are about character. Will I change formats? Not really, no. I’m learning on improving my novel writing.
6. I NEED ASS-GLUE…There’s something to be said about just sitting and writing. I procrastinate like crazy. Like crazy. But, all I need to do is sit and, well, write. So when I sit, I will author. Now there is an axiom to this. I have to write that first paragraph. Once that first paragraph has been started, I’m on a roll. But it is,truly, a matter of just sitting down and getting the writing started.
7. THERE’S ALWAYS ROOM FOR WARMING-UP…I’m sure, if you’re reading this, you know of the advice given to many writers is to write, and then, delete that first paragraph. You have to warm up before your focus hits. I’ve noticed another way to focus my writing. My writing greatly improves when I write one-two pages prior to doing what I want to work on. For example, I start with some kind of writing exercise-something mundane, like, “Think of Worst Monday,” try it into something fictional for two pages. Throw care to the wind. And there you go, I’m ready to write.

But the fact is, most of all, is that I’m writing. I had wanted to write the Great American Novel for some time now. I’m hoping we’re getting closer. On another note, people in Florida are very, very different about writing. When I lived in Colorado, I would tell my contemporaries (teachers, folks) and was looked at like I was a fool. There was never any interest. I had two friends, outside of work, would occasionally look at my work. But in work? Nothing.

I came down here, and even my boss asks, “how is the writing going?”

This is encouraging.

Peace,

Roo