Change your point of view

Writer's block. Real or imagined, it can tie down the best of us. There are various techniques to break the block, but one of them is as simple as changing the point of view in your scene. The number one rule, of course, is who has the most to lose in the scene? Write it from that character's point of view. But sometimes, you're still blocked. Then what?
Try a different POV. As in 1st person if you're writing in 3rd. Or 3rd if you're writing in 1st. It could be enough to free your imagination and break through your block.

Where do you want to be?

Where do you want to be five years from now?  No, this isn't a job interview.  It's a career question.  Where do you want your writing career to be five years from now?  Three years?  One?  Next month?  On one of the big lists?  Looking at your astronomically large bank statement?  Or simply getting great feedback from your critique partner/group?  Big or small, grand or humble, dreams can be reached by a) making a plan and b) taking incremental steps forward.  Man did not step on the moon the day after President Kennedy issued the challenge to be there by the end of the decade (the 60's.)  It took over eight years, and many, many small steps.  The first men in space didn't even circle the globe.  With each mission, more data was collected and the goals grew larger.

What was your first writing goal?  To finish a book?  A scene?  A sentence?  Mine was to write the end of the book.  I woke from a dream and had a the ending scene in my head.  I didn't know these people, I had no idea what their beginning was, but I vowed to get them to the climatic end.  (I learned about big, black moments later.)

After awhile, I realized I needed help, so I took a gigantic, courageous step and found a writing group.  Then a critique group.  I finished a book.  And another.  A contest was entered.  A query letter was written.  A writing conference was put on the calendar.  Individual goals, but each was a step on the path to publication.

Were they part of a plan?  Nothing I'd consciously put on paper.  Do you want to leave your career to chance, or do you want concrete, constructive input?  Get out a piece of paper, open a new Word file, uncap that dry-erase marker.  Go ahead, I'll wait.  (insert Jeopardy theme song)  Ready?  At the top, write your goal.  Make it a big goal.  Now write the thing that has to happen just before the goal becomes a reality.  Write the action before that.  And the one before that.  Keep working backward until you are at where you are now.  Guess what?  You wrote a plan.   Add some target dates for each mini-goal and you have a workable plan.

Now go out and make it a reality.  I will. 

Did you vote?

Did you vote today?  From start to finish, including voting time, my wait was an hour.  It was beautiful weather outside of the polling place, and I used the time wisely.  No, not reading, but filling out character charts for my current WIP.  The activity filled in a few holes in their personalities and exposed others.

It's always good to have a plan B, whether your wait is planned (voting) or not (traffic backups).  

Whatever the outcome of today's election, take pride in exercising your rights.  Don't take it for granted.  At the risk of sounding schmalzy, God Bless America!

I gots to get me some BBC

Aaargh!  Unfair.  There ought to be a way to get original BBC programming here in the States.  Not BBC America.  Plain old BBC.

I'm talking about the series "Spooks" now in its seventh season.  The cast is awash in man candy:

Rupert Penry-Jones, aka Captain Wentworth in Persuasion (the kiss at the end - oh, wow)

Or - Richard Armitage, aka John Thornton in North and South ("Turn back.  Turn back to me."  heartwrenching scene)

Or - Matthew Macfadyen, aka Mr. Darcy in Pride & Prejudice

Did I mention the guest list?

Hugh Laurie

Ian McDiarmid

Anthony Head

To name a few

Did I mention it's a spy show?

So unfair.

And totally unavailable as a download.

Le sigh.

Who are these people?

I've spent almost a hundred pages with Ian and Sophie, they're in the middle of angry sex, and I don't know who they are.  To remedy that, I took out some old notes on the best story I've ever written (you will weep at the fragility of their relationship) and have applied them to the two strangers in my WIP. 

* What is his/her external goal?

* What is his/her external motivation?

* What is his/her external conflict

(yep, GMC)

* What is his/her internal goal?

* What is his/her internal motivation?

* What is his/her internal conflict?

* What would he/she never do?

* What is he/she afraid of?

* What is he/she really afraid of?

* What is his/her bone deep "the world will end if anyone knows" fear?

* What is his/her strength?

* What is his/her flaw?

* What was the worse decision he/she ever made?

* How does he/she see himself/herself?

This has helped enormously.  I knew Sophie was a "fixer", but her "world will end" fear?  She doesn't want anyone to know she doesn't know what she's doing.

And her internal motivation?  If I can fix everyone else's problems, then I don't have any.

I still have a few holes to plug, and some plotting (gasp!) to do, but now that I know how their traits affect each other - it sets up more conflict.  And that's a good thing.

Writing is easy

The story is already written, it's my job to find it.

With my new story (started Aug. 1, 86 pages complete) I'm uncovering it layer by layer.  Like all things layered (cabbages, lettuce) not every leaf is perfect.  Sometimes, there are holes.  Sometimes, a nasty surprise.  Sometimes, perfection.

I usually write clean first drafts.  But, as they say, each story is different, and this one is messy.  My heroine is reactive, my hero doesn't have enough motivation.  Until this weekend, which I spent with most of my writing group at a wonderful retreat, I didn't see these flaws.  Or the non-mention of eye & hair color of my two main protagonists.  Or. . .well, you get the idea.  So now I'm regrouping, beefing up the weak areas and thinking whole picture instead of what the next scene will be.  It will be better, stronger and tighter.  I even found the perfect place for the first sex scene, which has been a problem in the past.

And I was reminded of an old story, which, after a cursory read-through last night, reminded me of how good it is.  It's time for it to make the rounds again.  It's time for a good, old pirate/virgin mother story to be heard.

Writing is easy.

Getting out of Dodge and the Real skinny on raw diet

Getting out of Dodge.  City, that is.  That's where we are today, my friends, in the heartland of feedlots and meat packing plants.  Not a great place for two gals who just spent three days avoiding the taste of slaughtered animals.

From what I gathered, and bear in mind I attended less than 5% of the six hundred workshops given (somewhat) raw food is the tip of the iceberg.  It is a portal to a healthier lifestyle.  There are many thoughts on the raw diet, from supplements to dehydration to raw only to colon cleanses.   The main idea is that anything cooked destroys the natural enzymes and nutrition of the food.  Which makes great sense.  The further from the soil the food is eaten, the more it is stripped of its nutrients.

Example stories I heard but cannot confirm:

One vegetarian meal a week saves 1160 miles of driving

Beef is considered protein, but nutritionally has only 15% protein, 85% fat

Seeds and nuts are considered fat, but have only 15% fat

Blue-green algae is one of the most nutritious foods around (I cannot tolerate it by itself by it's great in a protein bar)

Going raw is difficult for some people because of they use food as an emotional crutch.  If they can't find comfort in the refrigerator, they're forced to look inward, and to many that is scary beyond belief.  So going raw is not just the food choices, but coming to terms with old demons and vanquishing them.

As for curing common and uncommon ills, check out just one website for inspiration:

 www.mycrazysexylife.com

Off the soapbox.  I'm going to start incorporating some of this stuff when I get home, and have even now, on the road.  I can't promise I'll never eat cooked again (rice!  bread!) but life is a journey.