On Writing

By Susan

It's one of the age-old topics amongst writers: how do we get the writing done while balancing our lives? And even after we've found the time to write, what combination of luck, talent, and hard work does it take for a writer to succeed? From excuses, to pacing, to revision and the practice of writing itself, here are a few notes to myself while I struggle with those questions. 

On Writer's Block

There’s no such thing as writer’s block. That was invented by people in California who couldn’t write.

Terry Pratchett

If I believed in writer's block, right now would be the time I'd claim it.

There are times in my writing journey where I consider myself a student, and times when I'm the teacher. Sometimes, I want to be neither: I just want to be the writer—and right now, I'm a suffering writer. Perhaps you feel that way at times as well. I'm at a crossroads, and all I want is to simply write my way to the end of this draft of my novel. Yet my life is getting in the way—meaning my excuses are piling up.
The actuality isn't that I'm plagued by writer's block, but that I've been struggling to control my writing mind. The remedy for that? For me, I need the time to think. Yoga and exercise help. Solitude is essential. Retreats, residencies, and workshops refill my well. When I can't have those luxuries, I need to carve out my own time to refocus my energies. Now is one of those times.

Ernest Hemingway's attic typewriter in Oak Park, Illinois

The interesting part of writing as a student is that I tend to follow a pattern I've named "lag and sprint." My pacing has been thrown by an external time clock instead of internal motivation. It seems I'm either sprinting toward a deadline or lagging in the afterglow of meeting yet another one. Before I started my MFA, my writing life took on a more rhythmic pace. My advice to MFA students? Properly pace yourself. Find the right rhythm for you and stick with it.

On Writing as a Student

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

Ernest Hemingway

As a student, I'm reading novels extensively and dissecting the form of short stories and poetry. I'm writing essays, literary criticism, and new chapters. An MFA in Creative Writing is serious business (although it's well-known that some programs are more rigorous than others) and I've taken each month's work to heart. After all, if I don't take my writing seriously, who else will?

On the Magic of Writing

People on the outside think there’s something magical about writing, that you go up in the attic at midnight and cast the bones and come down in the morning with a story, but it isn’t like that. You sit in back of the typewriter and you work, and that’s all there is to it.

Harlan Ellison

I like the idea that writing is magical, and perhaps I idealized the process myself when I first starting taking my fiction seriously. Yet this statement by Harlan Ellison sums it up properly. The key to completing projects is to do the work. Easier said than done when we convince ourselves that our writing is a luxury, or a pastime, or a hobby. The key to making our writing a priority is to simply carve out the time to do so, and to do so without guilt.

Avoiding the Words

By Susan

We all know that anyone who writes is a writer, yet we also know that there are many ways writers avoid sitting down and putting words on the page. Here's a quick list of my favorite distractions and some easy solutions on this lovely Friday morning:

1)   Work. "I need to work, so I can't focus on writing now." This is true—we do need to work. How about today when you take your lunch break you opt to eat outside? Bring a notebook with you and write for twenty minutes. If you can't muster up a few paragraphs, make some observations about your surroundings and write them down. They can be great prompts for later.

2)   Facebook. "I'm just going to see the new baby pictures for my next door neighbor's daughter's third grader teacher's new grandbaby that was born in Alaska that I will never meet in real life. It will only take one minute." We all know this is not true. You will spend two hours on Facebook engaging in arguments and clicking "like" and chatting with a long lost friend. Please. Log off. 

3)   Important Things. "I've got to go the post office and the grocery and drop the dog at the vet. Did you not see my to-do list?" Yes. We all have Important Things. They all get done. But that doesn't mean you can't bring your computer with you. I've been known to edit or revise while sitting in the school parking lot, waiting to pick up a daughter at the end of her school day. Make your writing one of the Important Things, and it will get done.

I drew a bird. 

4)   Draw. "Oh, look. I could draw that bird." Or maybe that's just me?

5)   Read. "I'll just finish this one chapter." That's a lie, but that's okay. I'll always say if I'm not writing, reading is the next best thing.

6)   Clean. "It's Friday/springtime/dusty in here. I can't just sit and write with all of this clutter!" Write one sentence before you pick up that mop. Maybe the sentence will turn into a paragraph, maybe not. But one good sentence is better than none. Make deals with yourself, and stick to them.

7)   Exercise. "But it's beautiful outside! I've been cooped up all winter! I need to run!" I can't fight you on that one…in fact, I'm a huge proponent of exercise as a great breeding ground for new ideas. Just make sure that you translate that thinking time to the page when you return. Focus your monkey mind and allow your creativity to flow while you sweat. Then write it all down.

8)   Tend to Everyone Else. "I simply can't take the time for myself right now. Everyone else needs me." Well. Yes. At times, this is true. But have you ever heard a male writer say this? Not often. We women tend to quickly put the needs of others—children, aging parents, neighbors, even people we don't like—ahead of our own needs. And this also applies to viewing our writing time as a bonus rather than as a necessity. Write as though you have to. After all, don't you?

9)   Wallow. "It's all crap anyway. There's no point." Oh wait, maybe this is just me. The only solution for wallowing is to write anyway. 

10) Research. "I can't write this scene until I understand how a Byzantine soldier would navigate the streets of Constantinople in the year 1242." No. Just no. Research is a fabulous tool, and a necessary one. But don't allow it to usurp your writing time. Set a timer. Research for thirty minutes. And then write.

The most important advice? Stick to it. Hold yourself accountable. And so for me, on this lovely warm spring day, I'm off to write on my patio, thankful for the words, opportunity, and time to do what I love. I suggest you do the same. Happy Friday!

The Forest for the Trees

By Kim

I started writing The Oak Lovers (then called Knight of the Brush) around the time of my youngest daughter’s birth. As you can see by this recent picture, that was quite some time ago. This snail’s pace is rather alarming considering that my past two novels were finished and ready to submit within a year. I can be prolific. Really.

Writers’ block isn’t the problem and the delay certainly doesn’t stem from lack of enthusiasm for the story. My biggest obstacle may be just the opposite. I know far more about Carl and Madonna Ahrens than I could fit into 100,000 or even 200,000 words. I floundered for years because I wanted to tell the whole story.

Over the last few years I’ve learned to see the forest for the trees. While still sometimes painful, I can recognize and slaughter my “little darlings” to make room for elements of the story that make my novel about more than a neglected artist and his muse. Many Canadians have never heard of Carl Ahrens, but I would be hard pressed to find one unfamiliar with William Lyon Mackenzie King or the Group of Seven. Carl was a friend of the former and an enemy of the latter. Better to play that up and leave out the time he made maple syrup with his kids, no matter how sweet the story. Most Americans know about the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Carl and Madonna saw the damage from it first-hand. That’s surely more exciting than the summer Carl spent as a game warden in the Kawartha Lakes region. (No, I don’t expect you to know where that is.) Arts and Crafts aficionados are a passionate bunch, and will likely be thrilled that Carl and Madonna’s courtship takes place at Roycroft and that Elbert Hubbard makes several appearances. Even there I sacrificed Carl’s friendship with Alex Fournier and W.W. Denslow, fearing that few people would know who they are.

It’s been challenging to take a highly personal story and be objective enough to find the marketable nuggets, to take those nuggets and transform a life story into a believable and compelling plot. Forbidden love, betrayal, tragedy, adventure – these are things that keep people reading. I’m in the homestretch now and I hope by the time I finish, I’ll have delivered all that and more.

I’ve often wondered how other authors who write about real people decide what to put in and what to leave out. (If you’re one of them, please chime in!) If you know of authors who have successfully transformed a life story into a page turner, please show them some love and tell us about it.