How Sharing Stories Can Help You Connect

As an artist, I always tend to be my harshest critic, my biggest bully. No story is good enough. No turn of phrase impactful enough. No word just right. It has taken me quite a few years to feel confident enough to share work. I recently joined the fold on Wattpad--a story sharing site hosting a spectrum of tales from tween fan faction to highly renowned authors like Paulo Coelho.

Wattpad is fun. It is first and foremost a community of story lovers; readers and writers alike. You can post short or long stories, serials that you update weekly, or novel-length work. There are groups to join and loads of inspiring and fun stories to discover. You can "vote" on any work simply by clicking the star icon on the page to show you liked it. You can also comment on any section of work and converse with the authors. All in all, it is a great platform to connect with an audience.

I invite you all to join in.  Read my work. Post your own work. Or simply connect with others who love stories as much as you do. Hope to see you there!

Why I Write

It was proposed in my writers group that we begin some fun extracurricular activities to help motivate our work. The question was asked, “Why do you write?” It took me aback momentarily.  What a silly question, I thought, but was stimulated into deep contemplation. The short answer is that I write because I must. There is an undeniable yearning inside me to tell stories and so I do. Of course, it was not quite so easy to fully embrace my calling. 

My journey to this place where I, after all of these laboring years, finally feel comfortable calling myself a writer and desiring to make money solely by creating works of fiction has been tremendously long, winding, and often confusing. Kind of like the previous sentence. 

My fondest early childhood memories include reading in bed with my mother. I lay swallowed up under the adult sized blankets with a stack of Dr. Seuss books as my mom embraced an Agatha Christie mystery. Those fond memories also include my father telling me absurdist bedtime stories where the characters were creatures that did nothing except be exceptionally silly. Better yet, late Sunday mornings when I was (finally!) allowed to wake my dad up, I would crawl into bed with him while he spun tales of animals who would never coexist on earth having an adventure. Imagine a giraffe and a penguin going to the candy store together—those were the best of times. 

I will provide some context by saying that he was and still is a blue-collar warehouse worker and my mother a housewife. I didn’t grow up in a house of artists or writers or film makers but I was reared in an environment where imagination was celebrated and encouraged. 

My language arts skills were nurtured further in public schools where I was years ahead of my peers in reading and writing. I even had the honor of reading a copy of The Tortoise and the Hare on stage at my kindergarten graduation. In third grade, I had a poem about a snowman submitted by my teacher and printed in the local newspaper (the clipping still lives between the thin plastic sheet and sticky back of a photo album in my parents’ house). In later years, we were assigned to write stories that would be shared with the younger grades. These works of fiction were even illustrated by us, laminated, and spiral bound. 

In fifth grade, I wrote about two neighboring dandelions that fall in love and in sixth grade about a skateboarding ten-year-old boy who plummets down a sewer and ends up in the land of the Leprechauns where he is charged by the Leprechaun King to find his lost daughter. (Steal these ideas if you like—Just remember they were written by a ten and eleven year old girl, you horrible person, you.)

In eighth grade I wrote an autobiography as a final project for English class. In the section where we project what our future will be like I wrote that I wanted to be an English teacher or a writer.

Then came high school. Oh that glorious period of endless mischief, reckless abandon, and insane freedoms. Those four years transformed me. By graduation I had my heart and mind set on becoming a criminal profiler just like Clarice Starling in Silence of the Lambs (which I read numerous times the summer between senior year of high school and freshman year of college). After one semester of criminal justice, I reckoned that lifelong exposure to death and the criminal psyche would be too damaging to my spirit and so fell back upon my original passion, stories. 

I changed my major to English and my minor to Creative Writing since it was not offered as a major.  This plan also flopped. I didn’t want to spend the bulk of my time critically analyzing old pieces of writing as English majors do. I want to spend my time writing new pieces of fiction. So, I came to the conclusion that I should quit school and rethink life. This, coincidentally, is an extremely easy decision to make at age 22.

I chose to go back to school after a year or so of working part time with no aim or goals to fuel me. I knew I needed some direction or I would be destined to slave away at retail stores for minimum wage the rest of my life. What could I do that would be an affordable education and rewarding?  I landed on interior design, which I postulated would satisfy both my left and right brains with its mix of creativity and logical order. Boy was I wrong. Studying interior design was essentially studying architecture, which for me left very little room for the kind of freewheeling open-ended creativity that I yearned. Buildings exist in the real world, after all, and have to be structurally sound. 

After a period of soul searching I quit Interior Design and moved on to art school to study what I really wanted to study: Fiction Writing. Yes, there really is a BA (or BFA if you’re so inclined) in Fiction Writing available and I have the student loan bills to prove it. The two years I spent constantly creating fiction were some of the most rewarding years of my life. I left them behind feeling impassioned toward my calling. I also left them with a desire to seek out a stable form of income for myself and so the career-building phase of my life began. 

I quit what I considered my “while-at-college-job,” moved across country for what I thought would be better work and came back to the same “while-at-college-job” within a year of receiving my BA. It was a crazy ride that pushed me farther into financial troubles but it was well worth the effort if only for the intense personal and spiritual growth I acquired while on the journey. I regret nothing.

The latest phase of my life has been my coming to grips with the fact that there is no stable form of income to be found if I’m going to do what I love. I need to create a job for myself, not work for someone else. What I intend to create is a career selling fictional tales that I have conceived and written. 

The last 18 months have been all about finding a balance between working a day job, writing a novel, and having a personal life. It is not easy. I’m still learning but getting better with every month that passes. I’m also unlearning bad habits like procrastination and being overly critical of my first drafts.  I feel more fulfilled now than I ever have. I will keep my pen on the page and my fingers on the keyboard until I look back and find a body of work of which I am proud.

“Seek and you shall find.” Never a truer statement was said. I sought out a path that never existed because I didn’t trust my instincts or my heart would lead me right. I think that is something we all have to go through, a testament to the power of personal growth. And maybe some of us don’t.  Maybe some people are born knowing who and what they are and work every moment toward those ends. It matters not what path you take get there as long as you arrive.

Why do you write?  Post answers in the comment section. I'm interested in the motivations of other writers (and people in general) and would love to hear about your journey.

5 Keys To An Effective Writers Group

I helped to form a writers group a few months ago. I and two other writers gather biweekly to discuss our work and cheer on our progress. We even created a group on an online writing community site to keep in touch between meetings and lay the hammer down on each other if needed. This has become a powerful and invaluable motivator for me to reach my writing goals. Here are five insights into what I find makes a group work:

1—Keep it small:  You want to be able to read work from every member and give reasonable feedback to each person. This will become complicated with too many members. Reading the work of others will inform and improve your own writing. Remember to read as a writer. You want to notice the craft as well as the story. You might find a key technique to unlocking a scene you have struggled with. You may find a point of view you haven’t attempted that would fit perfectly for a story or chapter you are stumbling over. 

 2—Have a variety of topics:  In my group, each member has some formal training in fiction writing but none of us has published in a prominent way. We all strive toward publication in the near future. It does not matter if every member is writing the same genre or to the same audience. In fact, it’s often helpful to read something dissimilar to what you’re working on. If you all worked on a story about talking animals for 2^nd to 5^th graders, the group can become competitive and therefore useless.

3—Keep clear guidelines:  We strive to send out at least 1000 words for each session. This number gives a focus and everyone is clear on expectations. This is a small enough amount to easily complete over a two-week period yet large enough to make good forward progress. We also have a simple policy of no excuses and no disclaimers. Everyone has a busy life these days. We work multiple jobs, have families, and other obligations that get in the way of our goals. Make sure the group guidelines are fair to all the members. You should want every member to succeed!

4—Focus on the writing:  Everyone works at their own level. We don’t care if you’re producing a novel, short story, creative nonfiction, graphic novel or children’s book as long as you’re writing and submitting something for the group to read. I often hear horror stories about people leaving groups because the critiques turned into bashing sessions.  This is unnecessary. Critiques should apply to the craft and your gut reactions to the story. This keeps personal feelings out of the mix. What passages did you find effective? What confused you or caused you to stumble? What stuck with you after reading? Some aspects of craft to keep in mind are movement, sense of place, dialogue, sensory and character descriptions, voice, tone, point of view and vantage point.

5—Have fun:  The odds are you will quit a writers group that bores or shames you. You’re likely taking things far too seriously if you’re not having fun. A writer’s group should be a safe place to experiment with story ideas and craft. You should never feel that your work is under par or under valued. Keep the tone light but constructive. Meet somewhere lively like a coffee shop or restaurant where you can talk, giggle, and not disturb other people. If you’re having fun, you are likely to stick with it and with each week, closer to achieving your writing goals.

Why You Should Ignore The Goblin

I stumbled across this evocative image today: a typewriter craftily morphed into a hungry looking mechanical creature that appears ready to gnaw the fingers right off of unsuspecting hands. It comes courtesy of an amazing sculptor from Oakland, CA by the name of Jeremy Mayer  (More of his amazing creations can be found here).

The moment I saw this angry fellow I had two reactions. The first was to laugh at the cleverly constructed character. The second was to cringe at how often I envision my laptop is staring up at me with that same expression. These days writing feels like more of a chore than it should. 

The annoyed little creature I see in my mind begs the question “what am I doing wrong?”  Should I start writing at a different point in the story?  Is there more research needed before I can move forward?  Or should I simply scrap this project in favor of different material?

Perhaps some wisdom lies in the Hogwarts' Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson from third year teacher Professor Lupin. Just like the riddikulus charm used to defeat the boggart, I will imagine my writing goblin wearing a funny hat and laugh it into submission. If that doesn't work, the least I can do is ignore it.

The Truth About Discipline

I love writing.  I truly do.  The process of creation and discovery feeds my soul.  Imagination rules my existence.  What I have a problem with, however, is discipline in my craft.  It is often a challenge for me to fit in quality writing time. 

I was always a good student in school.  I received top grades in college.  However, I did tend to procrastinate a lot on my writing assignments.  I know how to work and make the most of my time when I’m at the keyboard.  My issue isn’t that the time doesn’t exist or that I don’t desire to work.  I do fear the white page.  I do fear that the work will be horrible.  These are common writer’s issues that I’ve already learned to deal with.  So really, I’m not exactly sure what the reason is for my apprehension. 
 
I have a job four to five days per week in order pay my bills and rent, eat food and get to and from my job.  That leaves me with 48-72 hours per week that can be dedicated to my work, minus chores and of course sleep (one of my favorite activities; dreams deeply inspire and inform my work).
 
So, what is the deal?  I chalk some of it up to inexperience.  I have never worked seriously on a novel length project before (unless you count the 100+ page manuscript I worked on before studying fiction writing.  It is horribly written but conceptually golden).  It takes a lot of courage to jump into a project and make mistakes.  I have to constantly remind myself of my “shitty first drafts” mantra.  Am I simply a coward finding her courage?  Doubtful.  Otherwise, I wouldn’t be walking down this path in the first place.  Perhaps all I need is some time and consistency.  So far I have been consistent, however slow the pace may be. 

If any other writers out there have advice on how they push themselves to get their work done, I’d love to hear it. I’m always willing to learn and try new techniques.

How to Create A Productive Writing Space

Having recently moved into a new apartment, I've spent a fair amount of time creating a productive writing space. Every writer has their own process and their own quirks. Some people can only write outside their home, can only hand write with sharp number 2 pencils, or need a pot of coffee and their special blue ballpoint pen. The following is what works to get and keep me in "the zone."

The Physical Space

I like a small writing space. I want all things to be within arms reach or a swivel of my chair. Which is indeed point number one: have a COMFORTABLE CHAIR. If you're truly working, you're spending a lot of hours with butt-in-chair. You want a model that supports your posture and keeps you as comfortable as possible for the duration.

I like to keep all REFERENCE MATERIAL close by. This includes notes, reference books, and magazines--basically anything I may need to check or recheck during writing time. I have a small shelf with books on writing and references in my office as well as a crate full of back issues of The Writer and Writer's Journal. An old article can sometimes be the key to solving a current writing block.

ORGANIZATION takes top priority. I like my space to be clean and free of visual distractions. No clutter is allowed nor anything unrelated to the task at hand. CORK BOARDS AND WHITEBOARDS play a big role in my process as well. I pin up notes I've jotted on random scraps of paper, things I want to remember to include in work, thoughts and inspirations, plotting. I scribble points of interest and to do lists on white boards--in fact I'm writing from white board notes at this very moment.

The Mental Space

My mental space is just as important to me as my physical space when writing. I have a wandering mind and imagination that I need to keep in check in order to do my best work and stay on task. I do what I can to minimize DISTRACTIONS. I keep myself logged off of the Internet as much as possible--too many temptations and time wasters lay hidden there waiting to sabotage my efforts.

I set a creative MOOD by lighting incense or candles, playing whatever music moves me at the moment, and setting the lighting as bright as possible.

I surround myself with plenty of INSPIRATION. I have a framed picture from the new Battlestar Galactica series above my desk. During a roadblock I glance up at it and try to channel Ronald Moore's ability to weave a story, create high levels of suspense and mystery, and create a substantial story world. I have quotes posted around my desk as well as my mantra of "Shitty First Drafts" written in all caps sharpie! I have pictures hanging on the wall from The Matrix as a reminder to be innovative and one from Harry Potter to remind myself that all things are possible. As sappy as it sounds, these items truly do instill me with passion and faith.

The last part of taming mental space comes from PEOPLE. There are those in your life that either intentionally or unintentionally bring you down. So many, due to their own prejudices, see writing as folly. They will call you during your writing time, get angry when you decline invitations, or just plain tell you you're nuts for attempting to publish. There are also those that will be supportive, give you the space you need to succeed, and cheer you on your road to success. Make sure you know the difference and act accordingly.

I'd love to hear what requirements and rituals other writers have.  Please share in the comments section.