Today, I also posted some thoughts on Through the Tollbooth. Check it out here!

Have a great writing day!

This led me to a debate I often have with students.

Should I go back?

Or should I write to the end and then address those scenes?

I know my tendencies. (I have many journals filled with them.) When I revise too soon, I tend to get swallowed up in scenes. I get tunnel vision. I start to obsess about voice and words, and the whole time, I’m probably making more darlings than anything else.

My gut said: write to the end. Those ideas are on paper. You can address them later.

But my heart said: what if they change the ending?

I decided to ignore my own process and go back to the beginning. (I rationalized: Really, lots of people do that!!!) I went in and looked at one of the early chapters I knew needed attention. I did what I often do: revised A LOT. This week, I think I made that scene GORGEOUS, but I also lost my momentum. (I really want to finish this draft.)

So today, I’m going to do what I should have done: I’m going back to where I left off. I’m leaving the rest of my notes for later. I’m going to get to THE END before high school graduation!

Wish me luck!

Remember: in the writing process, the more a story cooks, the better. (Doris Lessing)

And there is inspiration. The conversation. More than anything else I do as a writer, the conversation always gives me what I need to know.

This weekend, I got a healthy dose of all of this. I got the right advice at the right time.

This weekend, I had this feeling twice. The first, was in Franny Billingsley’s lecture. The second, was with my first advisor from VCFA, Kathi Appelt.

When I sat down (front row, center, still the good student), she looked at me and asked, “What are you doing here? You’ve heard this before.”

She was right. I had. Defiantly, I smiled. “So?”

Anyone who has heard Kathi knows that I had no need to worry I wouldn’t hear something new. I’ve learned a lot from Kathi lectures on character. It’s why I wanted to work with her. I knew there was magic in her words. I knew I needed to hear this lecture. It didn’t matter that I often teach these ideas to others. I needed to hear her say it to finally be able to apply it in my novel–the one I’m working on now.

No surprise, as she lectured, I felt like she was thinking about my novel. The pieces of the story that had felt slightly askew began to make sense. When I got home, I organized my notes. I wrote a new beginning that addresses the hole in her heart and fills the hole that was my opening.

(Thanks, Kathi!)

Have a great writing day! Invite inspiration. If you haven’t been to a class or conference in a while, open up some old notes. You might find that the right advice is right there, waiting to be taken.

Right????

Jump off that cliff today. Write the scene you aren’t quite ready for. Be willing to see your character as part of yourself. Give a little. You will get a lot.

So about that magic ring….

This weekend, I tried storyboarding the section of the book.

And today….

I think I finally figured out what I had to include…and what I had to delete.

Then I set my watch to thirty minutes…and….

I wrote it.

For me, giving myself a time limit often helps me get back to intuitive writing. It challenges me to get something down….and under the pressure of a time limit, I stop thinking. And start DOING.

(I should do this more often.)

Do you have little tricks that help you through a tough scene? Games you play with yourself to make yourself write?

Yesterday, I wondered what a hard rain sounded like. This morning, I got my answer. It sounds like running water. And construction. It fogs up the window. The lightning (even when the storm feels right on top of us) does not shake the house, but it does rattle our sense of safety. (At 3 in the morning, we were all up.) It also humbles. As we sat on the porch, we all commented on our own vulnerability.

Water is powerful.

Sensory details like weather can add weight to a scene. It’s not usually the first thing I think about….but when a scene is flat or not holding its own, I often look to my senses. The environment around me. This morning, the alleys were flooded. People leapt over small rivers of rushing water. Umbrellas were turned inside out.

Is there anything more exciting than posting the cover of your next novel?

No. There is not.

Not too long ago, I uploaded my half written WIP into Scrivener. I divided it into chapters. I was immediately excited about my new toy. I now have an almost completed story board, and I’m very happy to report: I know where this book is going. I have a plan. A vision. I know what I want to say.

For me, this is how I get my “final” first draft.

As a writer, however, what tends to slip me up is tunnel vision. I know I’m not alone on this. Call it perfectionist syndrome. Call it fear. Often, just when I should be exploring and discovering, I catch myself editing…working on voice….creating DARLINGS.

That’s what happened this week.

(Perhaps I should stop giving that “great beginnings” lecture!!!!)

Anyway, at first, I wondered if Scrivener was facilitating my problem.

By dividing the chapters up, Scrivener seems to play into my tunnel vision/fear of failure/Chapter One obsession. (That said, after all this work, I think my first chapter is pretty close to awesome!!!!) But I also realize I spent a good deal of time this week moving backwards, when I wanted to be writing forward.

Today, I write this determined to write forward. (That’s my “lean in.”) I recognize: the problem is mine. But I would also like to hear from other Scrivener users who may share my issue: do you draft in word? Then upload? Is this just a matter of discipline? (probably)

(If you tend to focus on perfecting before drafting, you may–like me–need to get out a writing jar!!!!)

Talk to me!!!!

The path to publication is never a straight line….never that so beautiful Freitag plot line. It is a journey filled with peaks and valleys….successes and failure. Today was one of those “moving forward by taking it back” writing days. In other words: I deleted. A LOT. I made space. I got rid of what (I had thought) was working…but wasn’t.

If we aren’t willing to fail, we will never get there. If we get up after we fall, failure isn’t all that bad.