Month: November 2013

Where I write

When I started writing I had this romantic vision of drinking coffee and writing on my laptop in a bustling coffee shop. Then I heard a podcast that said to avoid coffee shops and public places at all cost, they were too distracting.  So then I dreamed of idyllic settings. All of these visions included a view, natural fragrance, and solitude. What I didn’t imagine was how distracting nature is.

My first trip to a little cabin in the woods was a colossal failure. My friend who loaned me the cabin was so excited by the prospect of someone working on their great manuscript in his house-even if my great manuscript was a high fantasy travel yarn. There were beautiful views and I found myself gazing out at them frequently…instead of writing.

Then of course, there is the distraction of those I love. My dog and husband get so sad when I leave them behind, that despite the best intention to seclude myself, I always bring them along. It was on this woodsy cabin retreat that I realized the only thing that mattered about the environment was that it was away from those I cared about. It didn’t matter if they were in another room or coming and going while ‘giving me my space.’ I was too attuned to their actions to let my brain stay in a writing haze, and I never want to be one of those people who snap at them for wanting to see me or talk to me.

So, I took some time off work and went to the library to use a quiet room. I was disappointed by the 2hr limit as I took a week off to write like a maniac. 2 hours a day wasn’t going to cut it. So I would write more when I got home, but just being in that space where the dishes and laundry live, was too distracting. I found that those 2 hours of library time were more productive than an eight hour period of my normal writing life. I needed to get that 2 hour window into my regular routine.

I started waking up earlier so I could write before work, but then the loved ones woke up early too, with the best intentions of giving me quiet time.

So, this week, I went back to the initial dream of the coffee shop. I went somewhere I don’t know the barista, don’t care about the patrons, and let my mind blissfully block out coffee orders and conversations. I don’t want to be away from those I care about, so I set a 2hr limit. I’ll be trying it all week.

A reality that seems more suited to scifi

I love it when I hear something that makes me think anything is possible. Today, I read an article recommended by Casey Chan on Sploid about fruit flies (G tridens) that evolved to have pictures of ants on their wings.

A creature like that is something I would put into a scifi story. Learning truths like this inspires me to think even crazier. I wish I had a back that looked like a mountain lion when I was hiking.

Picture by Ken Schwarz

Chocolate will make me a better writer

I recently watched some of the CLO Symposium’s content that is available online. One of the videos that got me thinking was Charles Duhigg‘s talk on the Power of Habit. I haven’t read his book yet, but it’s on my list.

He described some research that showed how people who ate a small piece of chocolate after working out made exercise a habit. Now, all I can think about is having a small piece of chocolate after I finish writing –  or anything else I want to keep up.

Some people think choc0late addiction is a real thing, and who am I to say, but if it does, I think this can work to my advantage. I purchased a bag of peanut butter cups – I’m ready to meet this goal!

Orycon Day 3 Follow up

I attended two great talks on Sunday. The first one was on Urban Fantasy, and with a panel of Patricia Briggs, Rhiannon Held, Devon Monk, Anne Bishop, and Jennifer Brozek, it was bound to be worth the time. A common theme in this and many of the panels, was if you write well, you can can get away with anything-even unicorns.

I then went to Dale Ivan Smith’s reading. This was a completely random stop, and it was cool to be there because he opened with an explanation of how his story, co-written with K.C. Ball, came to exist. It was started at a Ken Scholes workshop at Cascade Writers. I was at that workshop this summer, and remembered the creation of that story! It was exciting to see how a little nugget of thought can turn into something currently under consideration by Analog.

The last panel I attended resulted in some great discussion and advice. Cate Campbell and Irene Radford took time after the session to give me tips about web presence-quite generous.

I was impressed with the kind and generous nature of many people I met at the conference. This was the first scifi convention I’ve attended, and the Portland scifi community is a welcoming place to be. I’m quite lucky to live here.

Day 1 of Orycon

I’m about to head out to Orycon for Day 3. So far its been great. The highlights were really the people I got to meet and the Evolutions of a Writing Career workshop that Ken Scholes and J.A. Pitts gave. There was a lot of time for candid Q & A. It was also great to have a break from the panel style events.

I was disappointed to miss day 2. I had intended to start the day with a reading from Blake Hutchins. I missed all the open critique sessions and a lot of other readings I wanted to attend as well. I’ll be trying to make up for it today.

In the spirit of randomness, I’m going to avoid following my schedule for the day and see where I end up.

A fool flatters…

A fool flatters himself, a wise man flatters the fool.
– Robert Bulwer-Lytton

I’m currently reading Christopher Moore’s book, Fool, and have had the word stuck in my mind. I had decided to perform a random act of kindness and say thank you to someone I despise. I think the ripples from this will take a while to show. Still it was an interesting sensation walking there and making myself say something nice. Something I don’t experience often, maybe I can use the feeling in a book some day. It probably felt like flattery more than a genuine thank you, but I’m okay with that.

1st act of randomness – it worked!

This seems so small and silly, but its the first time I tried, and I’m excited.

I was walking to our business restrooms and thought – I’ve never been to the floor above ours. It felt so strange, but I took the stairs up to that floor. I always took if for granted that the floor existed, but I’d never been above ours in over seven years! This floor was completely different and I had never even heard of the businesses. There were pretty  well decorated offices – something I’ve never seen in this building. I almost felt like I was trespassing. The best part – I saw a notice from building management outlining a policy that they communicate differently to us. Now, I can go back to them and tell them we want things the way they do it on the higher floor. It’s going to save our work unit tons of time! Not the fun creative inspiration I was hoping to have for my personal work, but a revelation just the same.

Photo by James Bowe

Randomness

I’m on a quest to be more creative, have more spontaneous ideas and lightning bolt moments. As I’ve focused on my writing this last year, I’ve been craving a way to put myself in a writing trance. I want to at will go to the place where I can close my eyes and punch out a story in a night without analyzing the intersection of character plot and story plot and whatnot. My best stories are the ones written while I’m lying on the floor with my head on the ground after a bottle of wine, half asleep, with the words spilling out and no way to stop them-but how do I get there without bottles of wine and late night  insomnia?

I’m currently inspired by Robert Olen Butler’s From Where you Dream and Frans Johansson’s talk at the CLO conference. I’m also remembering how Drawing From the Right Side of the Brain changed the way I see the world, and I really want to read Anthony Alvarado’s D.I.Y. Magic, but its currently sold out.

In an attempt to find something easy and quick to spur my creative juices. I’ve decided to have more random encounters.

Every day I’m going to try to do something I wouldn’t normally do and make that decision on instinct and ’cause I feel like it’ rather than logic. It may be as simple as where I go to lunch, who I talk to, or the route I take home. Not sure what would be more difficult randomness, but I’m sure I’ll get there eventually.