Two Things That Should be in NO WRITER'S Skill-Set

I've been absent from this site for a while - Life intervened, and so did Writing (with a capital "W").  I have just sent to a group of five first-readers the first-draft manuscript of my next book, "The Map of Faith," and am waiting to hear back from them.

Waiting, i.e. "patience," is not in my skill-set.

I kind of stink at it.

This isn't anything new to those who know me, especially my  children.  But, I find ways to cope.  Today, in realization that either I had to do something about it or be in danger of rivaling Neilsen families for logged television hours, I took action.  One of the things that has always stimulated me is to get my lazy self into a new setting.   I do this a number of different ways.  I have moved more often than anyone I know.  (I've lived in my current town for 16 years, and, in that time, have lived in twelve different places.)  I will go somewhere I've never been before - which,

in recent years, has included DC, Cancun, Dublin, London, Windhoek, Ongwediva, New Mexico, and other places I can't think of right now. Or, I will change something smaller - re-arrange my house (I can hear my kids groaning), go to writer's retreats, or just hit the road without knowing where I'm headed.   All of these things work.  Usually.


Today, after a couple of weeks of "slump" after finishing that first draft (the second book in a trilogy) I got in the car, yellow pad and computer in my shoulder bag, and drove to the first coffee shop I could find, ordered a mocha, and sat down, thinking I would write a blog post.  I wrote nine pages of backstory for book #3 in the series, after nearly three weeks of not being able to write anything.

Change is good.

I know not everyone agrees with that.  Writing "tips and tricks" lists always have the suggestion that you make it a rule to have a routine, and stick to that routine, to keep yourself writing regularly.

Rules are also not in my skill set.

I believe that they are probably not in the skill-set of most creative people.  Or shouldn't be. There should be only one rule:   no rules.   And perhaps "change is good."  (OK, so two rules).

As I sat in the coffee shop this morning, pounding out nine pages of backstory for book #3, framing the story, feeling the characters rise and stretch from the nap I'd forced on them, I knew that each day when I go to write, I'm going somewhere different.  Today, a coffee shop;  tomorrow, perhaps the neighborhood bar (which opens for breakfast and has good coffee).  Or maybe the library, or a McDonalds.  I'll go wherever I land each day, and leave when my fingers are itching with story.  So, perhaps at 2:00 in the morning I'll end up at the cafe tables inside my local 24-hour supermarket, writing through the night.
Tips and tricks lists, (and books, and lectures, and classes) for writers are wonderful.  They've helped me many a time to finish a piece or get over a block or find a character's voice.  But, really, all you need if you you can write is to listen to yourself.  Whatever it is that feels like it's holding you back, get rid of it, or at least get away from it.  If your 'writing routine' isn't working, change it.  Change the place, or the time of day, or the media you use.  (Sometimes just switching from the keyboard to pencil and paper has saved me).  The basic advice (call it a rule if you must) is simple:   pay attention.  

From Zen masters to counselors, to bosses, your third grade teacher to your grad school adviser, it is something they have all - always - been trying to get us to do.  PAY ATTENTION!!!

And give yourself a break.  If the way others are telling you to write, if the way you have been writing, is not working, dump it, ditch it, can it, CHANGE IT.   And don't stop changing it till it works.  For you.