Not so much in this fast-paced, technology-driven world. With constant tweets, likes, pokes, hearts, and the wide variety of other instant pits of time wasting social gathering media, it can be hard to see the forest for the trees. What are those trees you ask? Followers, followers my dear friends. All of those would be readers just waiting to be plucked from cyberspace, looking, or craving for that next tale that just has this unique voice that speaks to them. So– now we have our trees, but what are we building? Our brand. Our platform. I don’t know about all of you, but this for me is the hardest part of wanting to be a writer. I can’t seem to find my niche, my place in the fantasy world. Where do I fit? Does it matter if I really fit? (Probably not.) But if I can’t find a fit, will I be able to build a following and actually get people excited to read my stuff? I know what you’re thinking, and NO, I don’t obsess over this. But it’s something that we should all probably think about as we head into the Facey-whats-its, and the twitters, and the instapixs. Yes, their names will probably change in six months because let’s face it– six months in cyberspace is like the blink of an eye really. But I guess what all that boils down to is if you build it– will they really come? How are all of you fairing in the building of your own little empires that could?
What do you do when you're not writing? Some of you may, or may not know this about me, but I'm a veterinary technician. I spend over 164 hours a month, every month, tending to the needs of other people's animals. Don't get me wrong, I love my job, and have been told I'm very good at it, but this job takes its toll. Every day I see people, and sometimes their pets at their worst. Because of my job, I find writing a necessity. I've been in this field for ten years, and every passing year I feel the drain even more. I would probably look for a different line of work if I weren't so attached to my boss. We do a lot of work with local, and out of state rescues. It can be hard sometimes. When I'm not writing or working, I try to spend time with my family or distract myself with books, and the newest movies. It's not my interest in all things Sci-Fi that drives me, but the need to escape, the older I get the more I realize this. I'm very much a solitary person, I have no children or a spouse, So, I spend a good amount of time with my younger sister and my nephew and nieces. If I can't write, or spend time with the family, I target shoot or paint. What do you all do in your spare/free time?
Right now, sitting above my desk, on my wall at eye level, resides a neon green sticky note. It's a textual remind that life, and my writing is not perfect. It reads: Perfectionism is an unattainable goal! I've done this for two reasons. One, to make myself realize that all I can do with my writing is make it the best that I can. Thereby in the process making myself strain to make my writing as good as I can before setting off free in the world. And the second reason is to make myself actually share my work more. In the past, I've been a word/work hoarder. Sharing as little as possible because it "wasn't ready yet." Or, because I was scared for whatever reason. I say enough is enough! No more fear, no more doubt, only the words and the sharing of them, and the honing of my craft. Does that mean I'm going to dribble forth onto the page and call life good? No. It just means that I'm going to try to stop obsessing as much, or worrying that something isn't good enough. So that sticky will remain, a constant reminder for me and hopefully a goal for myself to one day not need it as a reminder.
Every once in a while, I get the opportunity to participate in something that helps me immeasurably. Last Saturday, I got to attend a meeting of the Panhandle Professional Writers (PPW for short). The PPW has been around in my area for ages and is one of the oldest writer's groups active in the US. Kinda of a neat feat in my opinion, but I digress. PPW often sponsors seminars for writers, retreats, contests, and various other writer-ly endeavors. This Saturday was no exception. Bethany Claire came in to speak about indie authors, and what it takes to make a dream like ours a reality. To say that I was inspired by the talk, and planning out my future goals as a writer, is a vast understatement. I left the lecture feeling like writing full time is something that I can do, and that I could ultimately make a career out of. I don't mean the whole J.K. Rowling kind of success, but making my writing something I can actually do as a career. That's the best feeling I've had writing related in a long, long, long time. Sometimes you just have to share that happy, I can do this feeling, ya know?
Sometimes we writers just need to kick self-doubt in the ass, and yell an exagerated huzzah! It's the little things that bring us all validation. For me it's not normally praise, because let's face it, I'm pretty stingy at sharing my work. I don't worry people won't like it. I worry it's not ready, not perfect enough, not the best I can make it. We all have those moments. Last night, I participated in my rl writing group. Sadly, I only get to meet with them once a month due to my work schedule. This limits me as a writer. We're allowed to bring no more than five pages to each critique section. It's taken months for me to get anywhere with my novels. So yesterday, after I finished rough editing my latest short story, I decided to take the first five pages of it (it's only at max 20 pages). I also took a complete version just in case I ran out of copies. One of the members of the group, an elderly veteran who we'll call Frank kept trying to get my attention. Now, the thing about Frank is that he is an extremely fast reader. I'm no slouch, but Frank puts me to shame. The only downside to Frank is that he never write's his critique down. So, I went through my reading, and critiquing of the four other pieces we had last night, and when I finished Frank was still trying to wave me down. I leaned as close as I could (halfway across the table) and gave Frank my attention without hopefully disturbing the rest of the group. He asked if I had finished the story. I nodded and passed over the remaining fifteen pages. Unfortunately, before Frank could finish, the rest of the group completed their critiques. So, we all beginning giving the oral section, going over three points we find that stand out most for each piece. The group leader turns to Frank after giving her comment and much to the group's chagrin, he's nose deep in reading! He hadn't heard a thing. He blushed, apologized, and gave his critique, and so went the next three pieces we critiqued. During the last critique on the last piece before mine, I happened to look over at Frank. I watched him flip my piece back to rights with the biggest grin on his face I've seen in a good while. I've never seen Frank read anything from the group and have that kind of reaction. What's more, I've never seen someone read something of mine and have such a vivid reaction. It moved me in a way that's hard to put words to. I'm not sharing this to brag, but because it did move me so much. For those of us who don't regularly get to attend groups or haven't had a situation like that, it's hard to fathom how people might react to what we write. For me, I had never considered it actually. I've always just set out to tell the best story I can. So yes, that's my share for the day, and yes most of the critiques on the piece were very helpful, and gave me lots of warm writer fuzzies!
Since I started seriously trying to write, I say seriously because in 2011 I decided I wanted to try to better my writing, I've had many novel attempts through nano and the like. Of all the writing I've done, most of it has not been via short stories. I'm taking a step back from all the novel attempts and getting myself acquainted with the short story. I've worked for the last few days on a piece I'm calling BreWd. I have to say of everything I've tried to write the last few years, this has been the easiest. My original idea for this piece came to me three or four nights ago, and since then I've written more, but more importantly consistently more than I ever have. So it makes me wonder what's different this time? What did I change about how I normally write. or think about my stories? Well, for starters, no self-doubt. No is this story idea good enough to take and do something with. None of that will this work, only how can I make things worse for this character? Then, writing. Nearly continuous writing. I kicked myself for even stopping long enough to take a lunch break from work yesterday. Yes I wrote the lion share of what I have so far at work yesterday, which is not something I normally would do. But it did tell me something important. I write better/more during the day when I'm not at home. I also found a song that for some reason fits this piece. So I put my ear buds in, and have listened to the same freaking song for several days straight. I think at this point, I don't even hear the lyrics any more, just the melody. That's also a first for me. I've also changed where I write. Even now as I type this out I'm not at home. I'm sitting in a coffee shop int he next town over drinking a strawberry smoothie. Why? Because it's not home. And so far since doing that, I've gotten another 1500 words out. Yay! So what's the point of this blog post? Well, I guess it's in the title. Pay attention to your writing process. Some people call this a muse, what ever works for you. But what ever you do, pay attention to the parts of it that work for you. Pay attention, and feed those parts. Sometimes that can mean the difference between not writing for three months, and banging out a piece like your hell-bent to get something out of you. It's a great feeling when that last part happens, a sort of validation in and of itself. So do it, then do it again and again. If you are anything like me (which you probably are not thank god) that's the only way you will ever get what you want out of trying to be a serious writer.
I've talked a good bit here about dealing with real life versus your writing life, and how stress has sometimes disabled me. Recently, the things that put the most stress on me have gone into over drive. I'm going to give myself a little pat on the shoulder here, and say that no I didn't crawl into my little hole and whine about it. I've handled it quite well I think. But that's not the point of this blog. What is you ask? Well, in dealing with those things that add stress, I decided that some things in my life have to change, drastically change. I took a step back separating myself from working in a place that isn't mine, and made an effort to move in a direction down the path that I want to be on. Namely with my writing. I contacted an editor a friend had recommended who mentors newbie authors. She's a great lady, with multiple publishing cred to her name. I'm constantly surprised how many people like her we have here in this rural back water place I call home. Anyway, she recommended I branch out of my current writing group a bit, and make an effort to enter contests, and the like. I've been hesitant to do the latter, as self-doubt tends to bite me pretty hard. I know we all go through phases where we doubt ourselves as writers, but mine seem like deep wells where not only am I fighting my own doubts, but my family's expectations of doing something practical with my life. But practical get's you a boat load of stress, and no happier in the long run. I don't want to do the practical thing any more. Anyway, I'm staring down that invisible barrier within myself, and thinking for the first time in my life... I want this. I can do this... and only I can stand in my way. So I plan to put more effort into my writing, to put more of myself out there to grow my craft into something bigger, better than it is now. Sometimes, maybe more often than we'd like... we just have to remind ourselves to close our eyes, take a breath, then take that step forward.
I've never had a project block me to the point that I haven't been able to make progress of some kind. Generally, if I'm blocked it's because something is bugging me, usually a plot point, or characters. In the case of my current wip, Tanglewood, I've possibly finally pinned down my mental brick wall to two issues. The first being my inner voice not wanting to kill off a character everyone loves, don't get me wrong... he has to die, and will, but I've finally realized it was my inner voice telling me it was too soon. Not to jump the gun so to speak. The second problem was equally obvious, even though lately I've been way to oblivious to it. I've been stuck because the characters my mc has just traveled thirty miles with are finally coming into the actual main stage of the story. Why would that have my mental wheels spinning? Because I spent so much time building the characters, and the backing for my world, that I forgot to actually build my town! I know where the town is, and roughly what most of the buildings will be like, but I didn't actually map it out, and get into the little details. For a story like I'm writing, the details matter. The details will help sell it as an actual world, a place with real people and real problems. So I need to build the town, and the community that lives there. How could I have not seen it sooner? Sometimes I get so focused on trying to tell the story, that I forget to build the things into the story that will actually make the story believable. I think I've done it with other projects, and ultimately it does my writing no justice, and makes my characters flat and less reliable or believable. So, now here I set getting into world building again, hoping this will appease the mental brick wall that has been in my way for so many weeks. I hope everyone is having as much luck breaking down their own mental barriers! -Corbyn
I've been writing a lot lately in this blog about getting, or staying in the writing frame of mind. For me that's obviously really important right now, but today I want to talk a little bit about real life writing groups. Specifically some of the reasons why you should join, and should stick with a group, even if it's not your cup of tea, or you feel like you've out grown the group, or maybe don't mesh well with a few of the people in said group. Back in 2011 I decided I really wanted to write, more to the point I decided I wanted to get better at the craft in order to write good complete stories. For me this had been a long, long road. Late in the same year I ran into a client at work who was head of a local newspaper in the next town over. She really is a lovely lady, and as she saw me working on a piece at work in some down time, she asked if I'd like to read a novel she'd been working on for critique. I was amazed anyone would ask, so I agreed. Based on the critique I gave her I was asked to join the local writer's group, and have been a member ever since. For better or worse, local writer's groups can be a miracle for the aspiring or new writer, but they are not limited to newbies. You'd be surprised how many small town communities actually do have writer's groups. I was amazed to learn that fifty miles from me, one of the oldest US writer's groups is still alive and kicking. So I would recommend that anyone who is interested in writing groups reach out to local community colleges, and libraries in your area to see if any locally are available. There is no substitute, even online in a great community such as this, for meeting with like minded people in an face to face setting. You maybe thinking, I'm a writer, I like to watch people but don't feel like interacting with other people. Or my favorite excuse: Other writer's will kill my creativity and try to change my voice. Writer's groups don't really work that way. They're only as valuable or altering to you as you the writer are willing to let them be. All any critique ever really amounts to is a suggestion from a reader/writer to the author. That's it. There are no laws that say once you get feedback you have to follow it. But please make no mistake, if you really want to seriously change your writing for the better you SHOULD be in a writing group. As any of you who routinely read my stuff know, my grammar is NOT the best. I'm the first person to point this out, and I know it is a weak point for me as a writer, but imagine how bad it was when I started? Imagine how lack luster my descriptions were, in fact you don't have to imagine, many of my first feeble attempts at short stories are in fact still in the archive. I'm not saying that as a shameless plug for my work, simply pointing out how far my work has come thanks in large part to both the community here, and my rl writing group. But sometimes we do out grow our groups. I rarely can keep myself in the writer's mind set long enough to get much work done. I'm one of the biggest writing slackers I think I know. But if you talk to my rl writing group, who only gets to see me once a month, you'd think I was as prolific as a big name author. I'm not. I go days, weeks, even sometimes months with out writing more than a page or two. But I do make sure to take at least three pages with me to every meeting. Why? Because at the heart of any good writing group, it's about the work. Your writing can't improve if your not critiquing other peoples work, and having your's critiqued as well. So even when it's down to the wire, I make sure I have stuff to take in. The group as a whole only benefits from reviewing what someone is willing to share. It's a safe place to air work before it's ready and to polish the craft. At the end of the day that's what most of us want and need. To work on our craft. So in closing, if your not already a member of a real life writing group, or don't have a group online you consistently share work with, you maybe missing out. If you'd like recommendations for good beta readers on the site who give great critique I'm more than happy to help, just message me. I do also do critiques when asked or when posting in the forum section, it's only fair to critique others before posting your own work. Anyway, I think that's enough of a rant for now. -Corbyn
It's been a while, and oh how I have missed you all. *ahem* That being said, on to the blog. I find that in order to be consistently creative, I need a certain kind of head space. My head has to be in it, not just my heart. Lately, that's been easier said than done. I've not been able to push myself to find that right frame of mind to keep my creativity thriving. As is often the case when I find myself that way, I get a little down in the dumps. All the old doubts creep in and start screaming at me again. You know the ones. They often say things like, "You can't do this, who the hell do you think you are?" Or other more colorful uses of the English language. It's hard to keep those thoughts or feelings at bay. It's harder still to keep my head in the right frame of mind with real life butting in. There seems to be a common theme of my recent blog posts here. Real life interfering with creative life. For me the two just don't mesh well together right now. But I'm bound and determined to change that. Anyway, enough for now, but I will ask, How do you foster your head space, muse, what ever you call it?
Nano left me with a depleted stock of words. I felt like my creativity was zapped, and I had nothing left to spare. That's a scary thought considering I only made it through writing half of my novel (yes I did "win" Nano and wrote well over 50k) but I felt drained. So it's been a while since I've written anything anywhere. But, luckily I'm back! Though for those of you thinking, oh god no! Please feel free to hit the back button now. Today, I'm tackling traditions, and one in particular. The gift exchange that my local writer's group does every year. It's one of the few Holiday get together's I actually look forward too. (Yeah, ok... I do just enjoy watching everyone fight over the box I wrap... but still!) I've found Christmas to be too commercial. It's lost all the fun and wonder it had for me as a kid. With the exception of the gift exchange. Basically everyone in my writer's group brings a gift that's under $5.00. Every year I scrounge my house and put together what I've lovingly come to call, Writer's Survival kits. Every year the kit is different with variations in items and nick-nacks. Then I wrap it, as pristine as possible, and find the perfect bow, all of which hides mountains of tape to make the boxes difficult to get into. Once at the gathering, we all draw numbers. Once a gift is chosen then opened, the next number in line has the option to "steal" the gift. Which can only happen twice before the gift becomes permanent, and a new one has to be fought over. This two times rule started once I joined the group, much to my glee. Every year, I get to sit back and watch people demolition my boxes (or drool) as I've been known to stick things like beef jerky, or chocolate along with other writer must have's in them. I have to say I'm looking forward to the carnage tonight.. So, What's your favorite writing related tradition?
I've had a rough Nano this year. I've had a hard time concentrating and getting any words on the page, despite having a full thriving outline. Mostly this is because I can't concentrate. I can't let my real life go enough to get into my make believe one. The...words...are...gone. Even writing this rant is difficult. The real life stresses I'm normally able to handle without difficulty are overwhelming. My work is stressful under the best of circumstances, my family is adding to the huge stress ball at my back, and even my supposed significant other is driving that little tack in deeper day by day. Writing is my normal outlet. Without it, I feel the cracks in my armor widening and the bad parts of my personality I try desperately to keep a lid on are oozing out. I'm not like the hulk or anything. I don't go all green with anger and rage out. I just have a generally pessimistic outlook on the world and my little section of it. Being a writer probably doesn't help that. I try not to let myself fall into the pitfalls of ooh, my writing is so terrible, but I understand that happens to all of us. If we want it to or not. So in conclusion, I'm finding it hard to keep my focus, push for my goals, and keep the real world at bay long enough to accomplish what I want to. So my question is this: In the battle between your real life, and your writing life, whose winning?
Writing Tanglewood has marked a lot of firsts for me. It's the first time, I've had multiple POV's from more than two character's in a story. It's the first time I've written in first person for more than one character. It's the first time I've had a plot to go on. Not just a novel idea, but a full on fully thought out plot. It's the first time I've been able to do a lot of world building and not gotten bogged down. It's also the first time I've had a character that's so memorable, that everyone likes them, and I kind of do to. Which brings me to the topic of this blog. Killing your darlings. I believe it was Stephen King, in his book On Writing, who said don't keep your darlings, kill them. Or something to that effect. I've never been able to do that in my fiction before. I've tried to before, but that particular character at the time was a trickster and managed to get out of all the fun creative ways I tried to off him. It made me really hate him for it... But I still have people ask me about that character to this day. In the case of Tanglewood, I have a very memorable character, who will be dying. I know this character is going to be memorable because it's one of the few that I don't have to think about. He's just there. Like an old friend you haven't seen in a long time. I just see him, clear as day. Because I feel this way about that character, I know he has to die. But I find myself dreading killing him off. I need his death to mean something, not just for the story, but to be as epic and out there as he is. Because of that, my nano word count has suffered a bit. I'm off by about 200 or so words a day, and so I'm a little behind. Why didn't I just skip that step and get on with another chapter? Because I knew if I did that, I wouldn't kill him off. I'd try to get him through to the end, and that's not what this story needs. So, tonight when I get home, he must die, and the story must go on. I'm just going to have to buckle down, and make myself do it. So yes fellow writers, Stephen King is probably right. Kill your darlings, but make it count. -Write on! -Corbyn
I'm getting ready to do a series of Nano sprints, and for the last two days I've had trouble motivating. I'm not sure why I'm dragging so badly on this novel. Last year I kind of hit the ground running hard, and just never looked back. I also had far less work into the pre-nano stages for that crap tasking piece of writing. I'm probably just getting in my own way. That' being said I decided to blog first before hitting the Nano keys. Today's blog post? Creating mood in yourself to foster your writing, and setting the tone for the piece your working on. Last year I kept a novel journal, and I've done that for Tanglewood making it a standard practice. Before I begin writing on certain chapters, I first sit down at the keyboard, or with a notebook and jot down thoughts about my real life, and then move into the novel. I list goals, or work out more details for my chapters that I'll be writing. It does help. The other practice I adopted for Nano last year, was to look up pictures of various things. For example my MC last year found herself wandering through a canyon to meet a gypsy like band of witches that roamed through the canyon. So I looked up pictures the closest canyon (the second largest in the US) and gypsy tents, trees. I clicked on hundreds of images saving the ones that spoke to me. I took those images of jaguars and roving camps, and posted them under a private setting on my facebook page, hidden away from family, friends, and work buddies. Why facebook? Because facebook is a writer's worst enemy. It's a time trap waiting to happen. This way I had a reminder of how I should've been spending my time. The last thing I did last year, which I am currently doing right now. I picked a few songs that resonated in me the things I wanted for specific chapters, or that I felt just fit the work I was actually trying to get out. I played the initially when I worked on my novel journal and right after I re-read the day before's work. So that I sort of trained myself to the music. When I heard those songs, I knew it was time to work. Right now I'm listening to Ciara's rendition of paint it black from The Last Witchunter's soundtrack. So, anyway, that's what I'm doing to combat writer problem #37. Happy Nanowrimo, and I hope this helps!
It's been a rough week all around, but nothing has been worse than anticipating new toys. Two weeks ago, I bit the bullet and decided to replace my archaic laptop. I did so with Nano in mind. I have lots of tech toys from a tablet to a smart phone, but for me nothing beats a good old fashioned laptop. That's probably due in large part to the fact that I've been working on a larger keyboard/screen for so long that I've not been able to get out of the habit, and frankly I just missed lugging around my old friend. Which brings me to the title of this blog, low tech vs high tech. Most writers can go either way. Some loath the idea of dragging around equipment, and opt to feed their muse the old fashioned (to some) way. These scribes hoard away every napkin, receipt, or doodled on scrap piece of paper they can find when the time comes and that all elusive moment strikes. You know the one. It wakes you up at three in the morning, an idea for a story, or piece of dialogue thundering through your mind like a herd of wild horses. These writers flow poetic, even if they can't read their own writing, and only transfer it to tech media after the words have been polished to a high shine. And there is absolutely, positively nothing wrong with that. The second camp, lug their bulky circuit boards, or sleek waft thin machines to coffee houses all over the planet. They thrive in the land of free wifi, and java. Again, there is nothing wrong with this camp either. In fact there is something to be said for ease of use, and multiple save options. Yes, that's right.. Corbyn Dallas multipass. I myself have opted to pitch my tent somewhere in the middle of both camps. I've found that it was easier for me at a writer's retreat to jot down plot notes and rough character this and that, rather than booting up ol' betsy. To be fair though, betsy weighed more than three this gen laptops put together, and has been with me nearly fifteen years, in the tech world, that's ancient folks. But I also realized that bouncing between work, home, and the multitude of other place in between, that I would not be able to meet my Nano goals this year with out some help. I need to be able to work on the go seamlessly, with as little distraction as possible. For me that means no wifi (bad writer you get a wrist slap for spending to much time on Facebook and forums) and good music coupled with headphones. You should see the looks I get living in a back hole in the water place where it is NOT the norm to sit in restaurants/coffee shops and type on your lunch break. Anyway, regardless of which camp you fall into, find a spot that works for you. Your writing tools aren't much different than your writing style. Ultimately, you've got to try a lot of different things, and decide which is the right fit for you. Happy Nanowrimo (yes I know it's early but why fight it?)!