Writing Process Blog Tour

So, I’ve been tapped.

For those not knowing about this — I admit, I’ve been focused…. Okay, so Trying to focus on getting the current book I’m working on actually done.  You know, quasi finished.

So I’ve not been keeping up with blogs and all - sorry.

There’s a lot of things I’ve not been keeping up with, but we’ll not go into that part.

Anyway, when a friend asked if I would do this blog tour thing for a friend of his….. Well, this is a person that is hard to say no to.   

Then I got up the next morning and realized what I’d agreed to. [Talk about shades of the late writer Emyl Jenkins who could do this in spades.]   

Like everyone these days, especially writers trying to actually write and, well, live at the same time, I have a lot going on in my life.  So there was probably a lot of mental arm flinging involved.  Literal arms were too busy typing up notes on all stuff I’m supposed to be working on.  Except for the actual book I’m supposed to be actually working on… hmmm….

Then as I was thinking of three writers I was supposed to tag to take this on, I looked around my circle of writers.  Many of them had already been tapped for this, but the really great thing about being a part of a great writing community - James River Writers, in case you aren’t a part of it yet - is that I have contact with a whole bunch of writers.

So I got to thinking about some of the writers I know, and since this is not exact questions we ever talk about, I got to thinking about some of the ones that I would really like to know the answers to these questions.

And so here I am.

The person who tagged me is :    Libby.  

Be sure to check out her answers to the questions over at her blog.  www.subourbonmom.wordpress.com

And you Know that’s what we like to do, right?   Check out what other writers say about how they write, and what works for them, so we can see if we can find better ways to handle it all.

Like I said, great thing about being part of James River Writers, you get to meet a lot of writers. 

So, now, on to the questions everyone answers:

Answer the 4 questions below about your writing process. (I didn't choose these questions!) 

1)     What am I working on? 

I am currently trying to finish a YA (young adult) novel about a girl named Kelpie struggling with the aftermath of Celtic legend’s clash with strong southern women, and facing the past secrets that those southern women carry around in their lilting accents.

I read eclectically, and usually am reading more than one book at a time.  Apparently that’s how my mind wants to write too, since I’m constantly fending off characters and conversations from other books that are sitting in my file folders in various stages of ‘dress’ and ‘undress.’

So the other book I’ve been trying not to work on at the same time is a commercial fiction novel, that I’ve titled “Running with Fire” about a woman dealing with her health and her marriage reaching the end, having to make a trip back home to settle her past after the death of her parent, and being shocked at what she finds.

2)     How does my work differ from others of its genre?   

The biggest way I can think of is that it is written in my unique voice.   We all have a unique voice as writers, although I’ve heard of some teachers and other writers wanting to change and ‘helpfully’ mold other’s into images of their voice.  I have worked hard and waited until I felt comfortable in my own voice to begin to put my writing out beyond my own computer.

Like this great Neil Gaiman quote says - 

Start telling the stories that only you can tell, because there’ll always be better writers than you and there’ll always be smarter writers than you. There will always be people who are much better at doing this or doing that — but you are the only you. ― Neil Gaiman

3)     Why do I write what I do? 

Short answer:  self-preservation and sanity.

My stories just pop up in all kinds of weird ways and places.  Characters show up and want to natter on and on about their stories.  Often it feels like I’ve been dropped into a viewer port into someone else’s life.  Although, I’ve also had them show up and not want to talk, just hanging and lurking around all mysterious like.  They just seem to want me to somehow write it out    They don’t give me a category or genre or anything.        I don’t really like those characters.

So really to me, the question is Why I write at all.  And I have heard a few writers say it better, like author Kyle Mills at the 2007 James River Writers Conference, and I don’t have the words exact but basically it’s that you Have to write for some reason it’s hard for even you to fathom.  If you could do something else and not write, it’s much easier.

Something along the lines of this quote -

Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout with some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand. — George Orwell

Enough said on this?

4)     How does my writing process work? 

I have a process?    

Yes, of course I have a process.   I really should.   I know I should.    Of course, phhhffft, shoot yeah, I have a process.  Of course.

Uhm.   Well.      Right now I have a process that involves a lot of mental arm flinging, and physical word flinging every chance I get.

Does that count?

Really, I seem to have thoughts about stories and characters almost always rolling around in my head.  So I always try to keep some kind of documenting instrument around to use - phone, computer, pen, some scrap of paper, to jot them down before they get trampled under by the other thoughts and story ideas rampaging around.

Scrivener Software has Really helped me a Lot!   It helps my ‘process’ tremendously!

It helps me keep my thoughts and stories and ideas at least somewhat organized.

I can jot down any thoughts and ideas that come to me and put in the files and folders where they belong.  Or where they seem to belong at the time.

I don’t write in a linear fashion to start with, and I’m a very visual writer.  The thoughts and ideas are like in snippets of film segments that I have to try to describe and bring into form with the best words I can.  With Scrivener I’m able to put all this in a place where I can go into to work on the detail, and I can look at them as a whole and move them around if they came to me out of sequence.

Yeah, still working on making the characters do that nicely.

I work on writing as I can.  When I’m not able to sit and type things into Scrivener, and when I am in lull times of being out doing other things, I am thinking and plotting and coming up with more details and facets on the story and characters I am working on.

Okay, so that’s my process I guess.     Needs more tweaking?

Well, while I’m dong that, and trying to get back to work writing with Kelpie and her problems, be sure to check out the answers of the writers that will be posting next week on April 14^th.

J. T. Glover has published short fiction in Fungi, Handsome Devil: Stories of Sin and Seduction, and Underground Voices, among other venues, and he has a co-written story, "Pale Apostle," forthcoming this summer in The Children of Old Leech. He is currently shopping one novel to agents and drafting another. In 2014 he joined the Board of Directors of James River Writers. Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, he lives in Richmond, Virginia with his wife and a not inconsiderable number of fur-bearing friends. By day he is an academic research librarian specializing in the humanities. You can find him online at http://www.jtglover.com, where he blogs about reading, writing, publishing, libraries, and everything in between.

Bill Blume discovered his love for the written word while in high school and has been writing ever since. His debut novel Gidion's Hunt (originally titled Tales of a 10th Grade Vampire Hunter) was published this past August by Fable Press. His short stories have been in many fantasy anthologies and various ezines. Just like the father figure in his first novel, Bill works as a 911 dispatcher for Henrico County Police and has done so for more than a decade. He also served as the 2013 chair for James River Writers in Richmond, which produces one of the nation’s best annual conferences for educating and connecting writers. You can learn more about Bill and his stories by visiting his website: www,billblume.net.

Check out his answers on his blog:  http://billblume.wordpress.com/

Cynthia Price has been telling stories her whole life. She started off as a newspaper reporter and then turned her focus to media and public relations and strategic communications. She writes a blog called Cynthia's Communique: http://cynthiapricecommunique.com/ about communications and leadership.

She is active in communications groups and enjoys mentoring young people as they launch their careers. She's also an avid traveler/explorer of the world and is currently on a quest to visit all 50 states.

Why I’ve been a Part of ….. for Years.

 I’ve been a part of, and a long time volunteer with, James River Writers for years.  

Many years.

This is why we’ve chosen to be a part of James River Writers for so long.

this great video taken at the wonderful 2013 James River Writers Conference shows why

-   JRW 2013 Conf Video

We’d welcome you to be a part too!!!

Come find a place where you belong.   

James River Writers

There’s always room for you.

Drowning in Social Media Or Really, the Freaking Thing Stole all my Words

So.       Does Absence Really make the heart grow fonder?

You must be Really fond of me by now.

Yeah.

I do have a whole lot of reasons for being ‘gone’ from here.   I really was gone from here with family emergencies and things that life throws at you that there’s no choice but take care of.

But life goes on, doesn’t it.

So.  Anyway.    I will try to do this better.     Especially given the Social Media class we recently spur-of-moment attended. — More on that later.

But I am, like most writers I know, trying desperately to get the book I am working on Finished.

Well, as I keep telling some other writer friends, give up on waiting until you get it perfect, it’s never going to happen.  You are constantly growing as a writer - at least I sure hope you are!

So get it as good as you can today.   As good as you can, at this moment, make it.

Everyone is stretched in so many different directions these days.    As a writer trying to write, And do social media things, puts even more tasking on us and our time.

Maybe even on our words?

Does anyone else feel like that?    

That you’ve used up all your words either in writing on your manuscript or on your social media stuff.

I was going to name this post something simple - I admit it - bland.  

Social Media and Writers

But somehow the title just came out.

Drowning in Social Media Or Really, the  Freaking Thing Stole all my Words

Maybe it’s just all the other life stresses but felt like there were only so many words crammed in my head and, well, once I had used them, nothing was left over for anything else.  I had to choose.

Which makes me think of a great tweet I saw -

 @janetzipper: What you choose to do everyday will either move you forward or keep you where you are. #motivate #success

So today I moved forward a little.  I think.    But then I haven’t written anything on my book today either.

How ‘bout you?

Any tips on how you balance it all?    How you manage to move forward?

Does Anyone Else

Have music and lyrics popping up in your head? As a writer I mean, not a musician. And not like songs you’ve heard on the radio or anything.

I’m not a musician. Don’t even play the ‘radio’ all that much, so I don’t really listen to music much. I have been thinking maybe I should change that since Maggie Stiefvater uses music to help her write. And seeing her success maybe there’s something to be said for that right? I was wondering if maybe it would help my writing. If nothing else maybe help my characters stop running amok and doing their own thing. Sort of a musical chairs writing game or something. Maybe. Okay, so yeah, I’m getting a bit desperate to get these characters on their own and out of the house already so I can make room for all the others that have intentions on moving in. There’s only so much space in one’s brain to hold characters after all, and some are getting downright snitty at having to wait.

So thinking about writing to music isn’t exactly a new thing I’ve thought of, I’ve just not spent the time finding music I didn’t get annoyed with after awhile. Sometimes a really short while.

And it isn’t the first time I’ve had a tune and lyrics show up in my head and demand to be written down.

But it is rather annoying being treated by songs the same way as by characters.

I mean, why me? I could sort of understand the lyrics part since I have always jotted down poems and such, but the music part? I’ve not exactly ever been all that musical. So I’m not sure why they are showing up in my head more and more. Is it leakage from someone else’s brain? Like music/song waves in the atmosphere or something, and I just happen to be picking them up?

Darn if I know.

But hey. I can hear the music in my head, although that’s not going to help you very much, even if you do want it. But if you happen to be missing lyrics I might be able to help you. Call me.

Ode to the Storyteller within

Stories tell us
where we’ve been
Who we are
And sometimes where we are going

Your life is a story, always evolving and changing
How are you going to tell it?

How are you going to sell it
And still have value for yourself
[sgchris/2005]

Questions, questions, questions

As a writer it seems I always have questions, and always want to really ask most of them. Hopefully not being too annoying about it, but I have boundless curiosity and really want to know, well, a lot of things. But as I saw recently it’s not just about questions, it’s about asking the right questions. Not just to get answers for my own benefit but to get people to answer questions for themselves. Most people don’t want to be told anything, not really. Even just trying to caution or warn can get very tricky, since from what I’ve seen it seems most people really have their minds made up anyway. But if you can ask them questions, the right questions, they can figure things out for themselves. Which is as it should be, since they probably aren’t really listening to you anyway, they are only hearing what they want to hear. But from a young age we are taught to answer questions, whether aloud or just to ourselves. So if we ask the right questions hopefully they’ll be answered. If only for ourselves.

So, what questions should I be asking you?

Bemused at writing

I am a bemused writer.

Often just bemused because I am a writer.

And now a bemused blogger too [thanks, or no thanks, to my writing group].

How has this all come about? And from a person that really doesn’t like to write! That has been known to declare emphatically that I hate it!

I’ve come around, at least somewhat, and no longer use that word to describe my feelings about writing. I still will probably never use the word love to describe it, as I’ve heard from other writers. But I’ve come to realize that hate really is too strong a statement, or so complex an issue I’ve not really written even to myself. Since I’ve always written in some form, usually little poems or thoughts I call snippets [which I might include some day]. It’s always just been a part of what I do, scribbling on whatever surface is handy at the time to get the thought down, having learned from Hard experience if I don’t get the brilliance down right when it comes it often never shines so brightly again. I’ve discovered just as those that haunt the physical finds of yesteryear that most times all the polishing in the world will never restore it to what it was originally.

Perhaps I have come to more of an acceptance of the pain and frustration that is a part of writing. A part of the pain and frustration of writing that is the racking of brains, and sometimes the dictionaries and whoever/whatever is handy, for the perfect words to perfectly convey what those yammering characters are trying to get me to write down for them. Or just adequately get out, depending on the ever growing skills I hope I am accumulating as a writer. And trying to master the skill of the imagination truce with all the varied and loud, insistent characters always roaming and clopping through my imagination at all times. Or maybe they have just all worn me down enough to do their bidding, at least on the page. And caused me to begin to accept my fate in life as a writer.

Oh I know people have wondered about my reluctance as a writer. Bemused people for a bemused writer. Perhaps things will all become clear for all of us someday. Or at least clearer.

[So, what are you bemused by? And what are you waiting to see clearer? Are they one and the same?