ArchiveFebruary 2019

I’ve been watching the Neil Gaiman Masterclass lately and he had the simplest, but oh so good, piece of advice. He suggested taking a common cliché and just turn it a little bit to make it different.

In his short story “October Tale”, he wrote about a genie and the woman who rubs the lamp. Rather than following the common beliefs about genies and the three wishes, he asks the big what if, as in what if the person who got the wishes doesn’t need them. It’s such a cute story and adds a completely original twist to a fairly commonplace story.

For me this advice was huge. I’ve been struggling with my book’s second draft because I felt like I was following too many tropes. By turning things just a little bit here and there my entire story is blossoming in a fresh and exciting direction.

Like most people, the day comes when you have to go to the dentist and get a cleaning and all that. Well, unlike most people, I have the most British teeth this side of the pond (aka Los Angeles) so every time I go to the dentist it’s a crap shoot as to what terrible procedure I’ll have to endure. Well today was no different. Cleaning, x-rays, fluoride, check, replace two old crowns with rotting teeth underneath, yep that sounds about right.

Which brings me to today’s personal lesson about writing and going with the flow. I frequently try to plan my writing out, from outlining to character and location sheets along with lists of equipment and specifics my characters would use. In the writing world this is sometimes called a “plotter” though I like to call it “OCD Planner”. The flip side is called a “pantser” as in flying by the seat of your pants. I don’t do well with just going with the flow, but every time I do the results produce random and, quite frankly, my most creative work.

The point being that as I was sprawled across the dental lounge chair it made me think, “This wasn’t how I had planned for my day to go at all! It’s kind of like I’m pantsing the dentist.” Of course I followed this with a laugh which the dentist didn’t understand, but the point was made. Maybe I should try to be more of a pantser with my writing, because it literally isn’t pulling teeth.  Thank you. I’ll be here all night and happy writing!

As the Super Bowl rolls into our lives today I keep seeing stories of bitter Saints fans complaining about how their team was robbed because of a bad call. In my quick opinion, yes it was a bad call, but your defense still failed to stop the Rams on the next possession and that Brees interception didn’t happen because of a bad call.

Either way this whole thing has me thinking about taking accountability for one’s actions instead of focusing on someone else’s. Personally I do this far too much in my writing or more specifically, my lack of it.

I woke up too late, I got sidetracked on an errand, I watched TV, I browsed the web…the excuses pile up higher than my dirty laundry which will of course become another excuse.

It’s time as a writer and as a person to stop blaming the world and to start looking in the mirror. It’s not Game of Thrones’s fault I didn’t hit my page count today, it’s 100% me. And until I can wake up every day and remember that, life will just end up being a series of bad calls and I’ll never achieve my goals.

I’m a big fan of both, but only one gives me anxiety, which would be our dear friend writing. And so when I’m stressing out and wanting to quit I remind myself of how related they truly are.

When you are cooking a dish you think about what you want to make (idea), then you go to the cupboard or store and get the ingredients (characters, settings, basic plot), after that you follow a recipe (outline, beat sheet) and when it’s done you cook/eat it (publish). Sometimes it’s good, other times it’s inedible, but no matter what you know you’re going to be eating again in a few hours so you have to move on.

I’m sure I read this somewhere along the way and I wish I could credit the originator of this theory. Either way, it’s a very comforting analogy and one that gets me through a lot of tough spots. I love to cook, I do it almost every night for dinner and it calms me down after a long day of writing. Which makes it all the more ironic I suppose that I find the two tasks so similar. Cooking rarely stresses me out, so I look forward to the day when I can treat the two tasks equally.

Happy writing and happy eating 😉

I finally finished the first draft of my new book, The Children of the Screaming Church. Unfortunately, this draft is closer to being a major rewrite than a final version, but such is life. My characters are sounds, my dialogue is pretty good, but my plot is still not feeling right. What was that quote from the Big Lebowski, “Sometimes you eat the bar/bear and sometimes, well, he eats you.” So onwards and upwards to draft number two!