We simultaneously loathe and love what we create. Regardless of our mastery of our craft, we know we will never achieve written perfection. Simply knowing of the existence of a more evocative line, a more graceful segue, a more compelling motivation, a stronger phrase keeps us humble. However, something about creating entire worlds from mere words feeds our creative soul, filling us with a parental pride no non-writer will ever experience.
Only delusional nitwits start writing because they expect to it to make them rich.
Oh, sure, one might harbor the secret desire to write something so amazing, so brilliant that the world beats a path to one's door, flinging fistfuls of money along the way. Love of money, however, makes a poor muse.
"Will this castle do, Mistress?" "GOOD DOG!"
A writer starts writing because he or she MUST. Any other reason ("I'm going to be rich!" "I'm going to be famous!" "I'm going to get a movie deal, and move to Hollywood, where I shall meet Matt Bomer and discover that he is secretly straight, and he shall fall desperately in love with me, and I shall live on the beach in a converted castle with an army of perfectly trained Welsh Corgi minions that do my bidding...") is destined for disappointment.
We writers tend to be a supportive bunch. I have never known a Real
Writer to deliberately squash another writer's dreams. (I'm sure it
happens -- being a writer doesn't make one a saint any more than having a
child makes one responsible -- but I believe such aberrations are
rare.) To the contrary, on numerous occasions, I have known writers to
generously use their time, expertise, education, and connections to help
a fellow writer on the road to publication.
Sadly, too often writers forget the flights of whimsy, inspiration, and creativity that caused them to start writing. They allow the callous remarks of non-writer naysayers (@DowagerAgent anyone?) to affect their optimism, their faith, and their productivity. They lose sight of the fact that one does not write to please the world; one writes to complete one's self.
If you want to marinate in a depressing sea, Google "Why I Quit Writing" or "Why I Stopped Writing" sometime, and follow the tendrils of misery that emanate from that Wood Between the Worlds. Just make sure you hide the razor blades and the Drambuie first. (Strangely, no one seems to notice the irony of writing about why you are no longer writing...)
Lately, I've had several conversations with talented writers who say things like:
"What if the book I've written isn't as good as I think it is?" "What if I've used up all of my creativity and never get another good idea?"
"What if I've wasted a year and a half of my life?"
"What if it doesn't sell?"
"What if I don't really have what it takes?"
They're all allowing themselves to flirt with the idea of quitting. As if becoming a writer was a conscious, logical decision they made that they can walk away from at any time.
It's not.
Being a writer is more of a calling than a career.
If you're a writer, you know the thrill of creating characters more interesting, more rounded, and more real to you than most people you know.
If you're a writer, you know that a part of you remains behind in your story when you must leave it in order to live your "real life."
If you're a writer, you know that if one is to consider it a waste of time to write, one might as well consider it a waste of air to breathe.
Granted, you might take a break from writing for a while -- especially if you've allowed yourself to fall into the trap of equating success with financial gain or fame.
But, if you're a writer, the Muse will not stand to be ignored for long. The day will come when she will smack you upside the head with an Idea so exciting that it will cause your heart to beat more strongly as the creative juices surge through you again. And you will realize that where there is breath, there is life. Pick up your pen! Run to your keyboard! Quitting is not an option...
Nothing to be learned here today... No updates. No news. Nothing of any real use. Just a rant. You've been warned.
A friend of mine recently had a run-in with her bank. The establishment, due to the inexperience and / or incompetence of one of its tellers, accessed her account and drained some rather vital funds from it long before those funds were supposed to be anywhere but safe in their little vault with her name on it, earning her interest. Of course this resulted in nasty overdrawn notices and no end of headaches.
So she called and began unraveling the tangled web of credits and debits trying to figure out What Happened?! She worked her way up the ladder, speaking to first one supervisor, and then another. Finally she landed Miss Congeniality.
Miss C. informed her that perhaps she just didn't know the first thing about Finance, and maybe she should just accept the bank's all-knowing, omnipotent word for how things work.
My friend declined to follow that road. Miss C. then told her that she was being unprofessional. Which caused my friend to point out that she was the client. She was not a professional, and she had no desire to be one.
They got into a rather tangled bit of rhetoric, which resulted in the woman calling my friend's intelligence into question. Finally, after the woman had uttered yet another self-important, convoluted phrase of business-speak, my friend asked her, "Am I going to have to parse your sentences?"
To which the woman replied, "Mind your language!"
!!!
The mind reels. My friend asked her, "What word do you object to? Parse?"
We've had a field day with this. Things she could have / should have said:
No need to get parsimonious...
Blow it out your parse!
Now you're getting parsonal...
Hang on a few parsecs...
Parse this!
Honestly -- what has the world come to when we end up verbally sparring with someone who has us by the financial neck, but who doesn't have a basic grasp of the language she's using to berate us?
I'm thinking the woman just needed a good parsing. And I don't care who hears me say it.
First, watch this. It's not only freaking hilarious, but it's also one of the best examples of "How to Be a Success" I've ever seen:
Key Takeaways:
1.) Expect to win. Every time. Even when the cards don't come up in your favor, look for the winning angle.
2.) Some times you will lose. Do so with good humor and without diminishing another's victory.
3.) Stay positive and stay in the game.Even when it seems you're drowning in failure, keep your wits about you. Accept that some setbacks are worse than others.
4.) Enjoy the entire experience. Be as willing to laugh at the valleys as at the mountain tops.
5.) Win gracefully. Relish the ride. Savor the high. And do so in such a way that those who haven't won don't feel like losers.
(Granted, there are several other keys to Cruise's success hidden within this video. One of them is probably "Have an Assistant Who Ascertains that the Cards Are Ultimately Stacked in Your Favor." But that doesn't negate the merits of what I learned from watching him.)
My New Year's Wish For You: May every setback be temporary, with no more import than a thimbleful of water thrown on the star of your dreams.
I grew up under my mother's strict "No Bragging" rule. I was expected to do my best -- to excel, even -- but always with the understanding that crowing about any achievements or awards was a social infraction tantamount to audibly belching the alphabet during a sermon. It was simply Not Done.
To this day, I try to steer clear of shameless self promotion.
I don't follow people on Twitter if all they do is tweet links to their appearances, books, and / or reviews. The gene that makes others want their own reality show is completely missing from my DNA.
But sometimes (once a year or so), it's nice to have a venue that encourages one to publicly celebrate one's successes.
To that end, I hereby unveil The Bragging Drum!
Not only will you have the opportunity to tell the world about your stellar superbity, but you'll actually get to feel good about doing so because you'll be helping deserving kids get some awesome books for the holidays.
Here's how it works:
* In the comments, tell me (and my awesome, supportive readers) what cool thing you -- or someone you know -- did this year that's worth a brag or two. Did you finish your novel? Have a baby? Get married? Get your first byline? Graduate? Tell me, and I'll celebrate with you.
* I'll donate $1 to literacy champion First Book for every comment. (Every $2.50 donated to First Book provides one brand-new, high-quality book for a child from a low-income family. Better yet - from now through the end of 2012, Disney has agreed to match every one of those books with two additional books!)
"Let me hear you say yeah! Yeah! Hallelujah! Amen!"
* Want to feel even better and send even more bucks and books to
kids who need 'em? It's easy, and it won't cost you a cent. Just follow. From now till year's end, I'll also
donate $1 to First Book for every new follower of this blog (currently being followed by 162 of the coolest readers in the universe).
I'll go first, to show you and my mom that it can be done without selling your soul. Remember the Out of the Box One-Act Playfest playwrighting competition I told you about? Well, I won -- Audience Choice Award two nights running and the juried judges' Grand Prize. So... yay, me!
I won a few bucks. Now help me spend it on kids who could really use some Christmas cheer. Brag below. Go on: bang that drum!
I'm honored to be tagged in the wild, woolly, and wonderful meme that is #TheNextBigThing!
The Next Big Thing is a blog hop that not only encourages authors to discuss their current projects, but also lets them tag other authors to tell about their projects. (In the immortal words of Heather Locklear while hawking shampoo in the 80's: "And so on... And so on... And so on...")
I am indebted to the delightfully snarky Alyson Peterson, purveyor of acerbic commentary on the vagaries that afflict one as a woman, a writer, a parent, and a spouse at her Dirty Green Jello blog, for tagging me.
I rarely participate in blog hops, but shall make an exception this time. ~ahem~ Drum roll...
Here, then, are THE RULES for The Next Big Thing Blog Hop if you’re tagged:
1. Use this format for your post.
2. Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress).
3. Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them. Ten Interview Questions for The Next Big Thing
1.) What is the working title of your book?
The Lion's Club. (Though I also kind of like Jobe's Pride. Jury's still out on the final title.)
2.) Where did the idea for the book come from?
It began with a screenplay assignment, of sorts, for a week long master screenwriting class with Jim Mercurio that I attended in 2008. I wanted to write a low budget script with few actors contained within a single set that told a story worthy of asking for two hours of an audience's time. The original germ of the story -- about two friends who kidnap a Hollywood star "for his own good" and hold him captive in a cage that once held a lion -- has morphed and mutated, but remains essentially unchanged.
Stalking the story: Heeeeere kitty, kitty, kitty!
The finished script became a story obsession at the same time I was researching the phenomenon of overnight celebrity for a different project, so I put that project on hold and turned the script into a novella exploring both the double-edged sword of super stardom and the perils that accompany doing the wrong thing for the right reasons--
But the characters and the set-up still wouldn't leave me alone (I think it's because I have a tendency to crush on my male leads. This one is no exception.), so I thought I'd delve deeper into their world and see what more there was to tell. That's when the angels sang and the planets aligned. I realized that the story perfectly lent itself to a pet idea I'd long wanted to do: a rather twisted re-imagining of the classic tale of Job from the POV of one of his erstwhile "friends."
3.) What genre does your book fall under?
Women's fiction / literary fiction. Ish.
4.) Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Nope. Not going to go there. Not because I don't have definite casting preferences. It's because I am an unceasing optimist, holding out hope that not only will the book be picked up, but that it will be successful enough to warrant a movie. I've already had a director friend show interest. He knows my casting wish-list. But I'm not going to jinx it by putting it into print.
That said, here are the characters:
JOBE: Hollywood's biggest rising star with serious personal problems that threaten his professional life. Mid-to-late 20's. Hotter than Hades. Dark hair. Piercing eyes. You get the picture. Mmm-rowr.
ELLIE: Mid-to-late 40's. Supermom. No-nonsense. Tough as nails. Runs a respected dog rescue facility. Hiding a long-dead secret. Fiercely loyal and protective of everything entrusted to her care.
ZOE: Mid-20's. Ellie's friend and accomplice. Still rocked, but recovering, from a recent tragedy. Knows Ellie is hiding something, but trusts her implicitly.
MIMI: Uber agent. Jobe's stepmother. Evil incarnate. Dangerous when crossed -- and Jobe has crossed her. Big time.
Those who know me well (or even in passing) can probably take a good, educated guess at my dream cast. To you I say: Get out of my head! I like it here all by myself, thank you very much...
5.) What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
When animal rescuer Ellie Tieman discovers Hollywood hearthrob Jobe Ramsey unconscious in a dumpster, she falls prey to a blackmailer's twisted scheme: she must keep the hottest man alive under lock and key for six weeks, which will ruin his career, or have the truth be told about her secret sin and spend the rest of her life behind bars.
6.) Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
Trick question, I fear, for there are more possibilities for publication than just those two.
I'm pushing for traditional publication all the way, whether I sell the project myself or find an agent who believes in it enough to sell it for me. Further bulletins on that front as events warrant. At the moment, things are looking very promising, but it's too soon to tell. Sshhhh... I don't want to jinx it.
7.) How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
First draft of the script took two months.
First draft of the 27,000 word novella took 72 hours, which is completely insane, I realize, but I was participating in the Three-Day Novel Competition while recovering from a nasty bout of Swine Flu, so insanity ruled.
First draft of the 80,000 word novel took a little over a year because other writing commitments made me put my spec writing on hiatus.
8.) What other books would you compare to this story within your genre?
Ah, if I knew, I would gladly tell you. I know what other writers have tones similar to mine, but I have never met a book like this one. It's dark and funny and twisted and wry, with hefty doses of both dogs and drama. It's got more in common with the movie "Serious Moonlight" than with any book I know.
9.) Who or what inspired you to write this book?
Like I said: my characters refused to let me be done with them. When I finished the novella, they were so real to me that I would find myself looking for excuses to spend more time with them. (Remember the aforementioned crush on my MC? ::sigh:: Yeah.)
I especially wanted to explore the "how far would you go to protect a loved one?" question from the perspective of a strong woman in a stable, long term marriage. IMHO, there are far too few committed, competent female characters in literature.
Plus, I've always found the classical story of Job -- a good man who has everything taken away from him on a whim, making him a tortured pawn in a game he doesn't understand -- difficult. I welcomed the chance to dig into it and unpack it from several different angles.
10.) What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
"The Lion's Club" is a feel-good story of addiction, abduction,
and murder, with healthy doses of canines, cookies, and one God-awful cockatoo that makes me laugh, but which would only convince my mother,
were she ever to read it, that she had failed as a parent. It should speak to anyone who has ever been guilty of going above and beyond the call of duty (if not the law) for a friend.
Include the link of who tagged you (done; see above) and this explanation for the people you have tagged.
Hookay!Here goes:
Gale Martin, opera lover extraordinaire, who writes pee-your-pants funny women's fiction and blogs at Scrivengale. (UPDATE: I hear that Gale has already taken part in this meme. My bad. Oh well -- check out her blog anyway. She's good people.)
Crime writer Marguerite Ashton, celebrating the recent release of her first book, "Burned Bridges" (which I had the privilege of editing) and hard at work on her second. Marguerite blogs at Criminal Lines.
Kalla Monahan, lover of the bizarre, strange, and outright weird. Kalla is a publicist for Siren's Call Publications and Pink Pepper Press. SCP and PPP publish horror, paranormal, erotica, & romance -- all stuff that I don't write, which is kind of sucky, 'cause Kalla is great at her job. Kalla writes the Bizarre Kaleidoscope blog. Yi Shun Lai, fiction editor of the LA Review, triathlete, riveting writer, and all around excellent person. I met her while doing some work for a client's non-profit and she's absolutely aces. Check out The Good Dirt blog and see what I mean.
Quilting doyenne Kelly Smith, who had the audacity to become my friend and then leave the state of Michigan to go far, far away to the wilds of Colorado. She's working on at least two novels (that I know of), one of which I'm dying for the chance to read in its entirety. ~hint...hint~ She blogs about quilting, Colorado, writing, and other stuff at Redheaded Quilter.
I encourage you to check out these amazingly talented writers and all-around awesome people. 'Cause, seriously -- they're the Next Big Thing!
Superman, defender of truth, justice, and the American way, is returning to the big screen. Without his briefs.
“I tried like crazy to keep the red briefs on him," claims director Zack Snyder in an interview with the New York Post. "Everyone else said,
‘You can’t have the briefs on him.’ I looked at probably 1,500 versions
of the costumes with the briefs on.”
Eventually, he capitulated. The undies got stripped off. Because, you know, the role demanded it.
I suppose Snyder thinks "everyone" wins.
I beg to differ. I, for one, am sorry for our loss.
It’s
not enough that our heroes fly. No. We are people of science. Of technology. We
insist on knowing what makes the hero tick. We know there must be a trick.
Because we don’t trust ourselves, we suspect subterfuge in our heroes. We unmask them, probe their privacy, force them to doubt and disrobe, all the while reinventing them to make them darker, edgier, more like us. We have
become the audience equivalent of the TSA.
Photo by bigal101 via MorgueFile.com
We insist on
seeing ~ahem~ the whole package.
Other civilizations gave us Easter Island, Stonehenge, and
the Sphinx – creations shrouded in mystery.
We’re the ones who put a human on the moon. Then we crammed more computing
capability into a phone than into the equipment to make the lunar landing and promptly used
those super phones for...
Sexting.
Ours is a legacy of removing the mystery from what once was revered.
And so we strip our Superman. We’ve become a consumer of our icons, insisting upon greater
and grander sacrifice while removing every shred of dignity.
Eight ten-minute plays, selected from submissions to the first Out of the Box Playwrighting Competition held earlier this year, will be performed in a reader's theatre format.
The contest was open to playwrights in Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois. It emphasized creating plays suitable for community theatre actors and audiences. (Translation: smaller casts, manageable props, few explosions, no elephants. That sort of thing.)
Judges will evaluate and score the plays during the performances, naming the top three plays at the end of the second evening. An Audience Choice award will be presented to one play each evening.
Last Friday, Berrien Artist Guild President Judy Sokolowski, actor Chase Samuelson, and I were featured on WSJM's "In the Spotlight" with Brenda Layne, talking about the playfest and our roles in it. I suspect I was invited because everyone else they asked, including Director Greg Ladewski and Artistic Director Lisa Kelleher was away for Thanksgiving. No matter. It's always fun to be in a radio studio.
I am honored that one of my plays is in the running. I'm really looking forward to seeing something I've done performed live before an audience and seeing the reaction it gets.
The plays that will be performed each evening are:
Community theatre: few explosions. No elephants.
Cleaning Up by Pearl Ahnen Divorced
Playwright by Maureen Perideaux Detection by Greg Ladewski The
Interview by Ami Hendrickson Beep by Bob Lawrence Laundry Day by Debra
Davis Conversation by Sandra Thompson, and What Dog by Lynn Spear.
Hare & Tortoise (and a Pair of
Ducks), an additional play by Greg Ladewski, will also be performed, though it is not entered in the competition.
Good luck to all contestants!
Doors open at 7:00 p.m. both nights, with performances beginning at 7:30. General admission tickets are $10 each; seniors and students get in for $8. If you're in the Southwest Michigan area and enjoy the energy and camaraderie of community theatre, come on out and see the premieres of these eight original short works.
* While writing this, I had hoped to include a link to each playwright's website and a short blurb about each play. Every attempt was made to do so, but with -- as you can see -- minimal success. If you are one of the playwrights listed and you have an online presence, let me know in the comments and I'll remedy the situation with an appropriate linkin this post. A.H.
