Why Blog?

Why do people blog? All kinds of people blog these days - geeks, stay-at-home-moms, artists, critics, agents, writers, especially writers - and why?

Is it mostly for themselves? A way to kill time? A way to work out their emotional baggage? To put into words the ideas jumbling up their brains? To promote those ideas?

I've been thinking about this lately. I have several blogs, most of them abandoned along the way, on a variety of topics under a variety of names. I've tried different host companies: started with LiveJournal (quit them when the ads appeared), went to WordPress, which I still use for a couple, and now on Blogspot.

Why so many blogs? Why some that started strong and then faded? Why some that started out with an idea and a name but never evolved from there? Am I such a complex person? Or just too scattered? Trying to do too many things in my limited time?

Why this new writing blog? What do I hope to accomplish here? So far I've just been working out some of my questions and concerns about my own writing. Nothing important, really, to anyone else. Maybe tangentially helpful to those few who've stumbled upon me here.

Why the recent push for writers to have blogs? This article in Salon was rather depressing for someone who'd rather be home in sweatpants, reading, than going on the road, or the Internet, to self promote. But it's the way of the New World of Publishing.

I try to keep up with blogs I like, but it's time consuming. Amanda Hocking wrote how "... the hours spent in self-promotion are hours spent not writing." On the flip side of that, the hours spent reading other people's self-promotion are hours spent not writing, too. 


I'm sorry if I'm not the best at following all the blogs on my "to read" list and making comments and playing along with blogging games. Sometimes I read blog postings I like but just have nothing to add, so I don't comment. Do I wish people would comment on mine? Well, yeah, so I have to make the effort too. 


Do I feel as if I'm just talking to myself here? Most of the time. Do page views matter? I'm not sure. Do page views, the stats that show how many people have clicked on my blog,  translate into anything useful or important? Perhaps it will when I have books or stories I want people to buy. When I have something to promote. 


For now, I'm just writing out my thoughts. And that's ok with me. 

On Pruning, and Editing

A few days ago I spent a couple of hours pruning the deadwood out of a Japanese laceleaf maple tree. It's a beautiful tree, but hasn't been well groomed for at least the four years we've lived here. Not sure about its previous history.

I wasn't familiar with these trees until I moved to the Pacific Northwest a few years ago. They're quite marvelous, little fantasy trees with soft, fine foliage that turns a brilliant dark red in the fall before they drop their leaves for the winter. And twisting, winding, gnarly branches that define their shape.

When not pruned, they have a tendency to look like Cousin It from the Addams Family. (If that's before your time, sorry!) The beauty of their structure is lost behind all of the fluff. Here's what it's looked like in a previous summer, the mauve one behind the lime green:

And here's what it looks like almost naked, in the late fall:

When trimmed, you can see the architecture, the truth of the tree itself. The tree reveals itself to you, becomes accessible, understandable, the character of the tree ...

Oops - what did I just say there? Character. That brings me back into the realm of writing.

While I was pruning this tree, I thought about how I also needed to prune my work in progress, my mystery  novel that has just gotten way too bushy. It started out as just a seed of my imagination, a tiny little kernel that had promise but no substance. I watered it with my daydreaming, and gave it sunshine when I pondered it walking to work, and gradually it began to sprout. The leaves appeared, and then more, and some branches started poking out to the sides at odd angles, and twisting back on themselves, and now I need to do some good editing on it.

And as with pruning my maple, different parts need different levels of edit. In some areas, there's just some deadwood that can be trimmed away easily, without much thought at all. Clip it off and toss aside. And some small branches that haven't gotten too out of sync can be gently trimmed, guiding them back into the structure. But some places, well, they're bigger and need more consideration in the pruning. It's tempting to just cut them way back, to the trunk even, to the place where they started to have a life of their own. But maybe that's not the best way. After all, those big branches, or subplots, have a lot of little twigs, or character or action sequences, of their own. Just hacking them off will destroy all of those twigs as well. 

In some ways it's easier to prune a tree than to edit a novel. It's visible, right there in front of me. I can see the shape, the twisting branches are clearly visible, and it's easy to tell how the twigs are attached to the branches. I can physically touch them, my fingers following them from tip to trunk, feeling how any pruning would affect the whole tree.

On the other hand, editing a novel is easier, because the whole structure can be saved as a "first draft" file and reinstated if I decide the edits were too extensive. Just copy/paste and bingo! Those clipped twigs and sawn off branches are magically restored.

But then the issue becomes when to stop. When to stop second-guessing the edits and just let the novel be itself. With pruning, you get one chance. You make a decision, lop off the chosen piece and it's done. Over. No waffling. No super-glueing it back together.

Thinking, and pruning, and editing.

Jump Right In or Tiptoe Into the Water?

I'm writing a mystery novel and have read so much advice along the lines of, "Get to the action right away! The body needs to be there asap, maybe even on the first page! Don't waste time 'setting the scene' - we want blood now!"

Sigh. That's not how my novel starts. And I know it's the first draft and all, and I might trash the first several thousand words, in second draft, but still ... setting is important to me. I like to know where the characters are in the world, Earth or whatever world they're inhabiting. I can't help it -- I like geography. I think where people live affects their lives.

And I like knowing about the characters. I want to know a bit about their psychology, what their unique thought patterns are.

So my WIP starts with a bit of characterization and a bit of place setting. Yes, I talk about the trees, and the ocean, and some quirks of the local people, as seen through the eyes of my main character, who is new to the area. I show it as she experiences it. Maybe too much, but as I said, it's first draft and can be edited down later.

Anyway -- I was glad to read the opposite viewpoint from another mystery writer, on the blog The Kill Zone . Here's a couple of paragraphs from writer John Gilstrap:

The point of all this is for the author 
to take her time developing the characters. 
Make me care for them before you put them in harm’s way. 
If we know what the normal normal is, we can start the 
scene where the author originally started it, and from 
Amy’s point of view, the change to the new normal 
will be genuinely frightening.

I fear sometimes that we here in The Killzone 
violate my overarching rule for creative writing: 
there are no rules. We tell people to get right 
to the action. Sometimes, that’s not what the 
story really needs. Maybe we should tell people 
to get right to the interesting stuff.

I guess then the question becomes what he considers "the interesting stuff" because that's subjective. I think the stuff about the setting interesting while others may not care at all. So then it's a matter of moderation, perhaps. Put in enough to keep me happy, but not enough to bore the pants off someone else. 

Really, it's so hard to know which pieces of advice to take under consideration and which to just disregard with "Pffffttt!" I'm hoping, that when I get the first draft done and am rewriting for second draft, that I'll have a clear mind and a good red pencil, and use it as necessary. And then I hope for good beta readers who will be equally strong in helping to shape the manuscript into the best it can be. 

And then I hope to find an agent who likes a bit of setting and a bit of characterization. 

Is Writing a Priority?

What are the priorities in your life? Is it a job, your family, friends, hobbies, watching television - what? Where does writing fall into that list?

For many writers, writing is secondary to something else. For me, I have a job, with unusual hours, that helps pay the bills. I also have a family which includes humans and animals, and they all need attention. And a house which also needs attention from time to time, although housework isn't high on my list. And we have a yard which, though pretty low maintenance, could be better groomed and designed.

I've made it a priority to attend a weekly writing critique group. It keeps me somewhat accountable with my WIP, wanting to have pages to bring in to read. Plus critiquing others' writing helps improve my own. And it gives me a much-needed social experience with people who understand the writing process.

But I still haven't gotten into the "write every day" mindset that a lot of others have. It seems as if that's a mantra of many successful writers. Come hell or high water, they're writing.

I traveled to the other side of the country recently for an unexpected family event and took my laptop, but didn't get much, if any, writing done. Too many distractions. Sorrow. Planning. Family to take care of and spend time with. Or those were my excuses, anyway. Valid, I think. But maybe someone else would have found time to scratch out some lines on paper, or write some at night at the hotel, while spouse was watching tv.

Some days I have bits of downtime at my job when I could be outlining, or editing, or trying to solve plot problems. I carry a folder around with me that has my basic WIP info in, with characterizations, plot bullet points and the last few pages. I could progress, move ahead ... but I usually don't.

Why? What will it take for me to push my writing ahead, make it a priority?

I'm working through the mushy middle now of a cozy mystery. I've finally figured out Who Dun It but that's caused more problems. :-) So now I need to address those, make it all fit together.

I have a deadline in mind. I want to be finished with the first draft by mid June, so I'll have it ready to query in early August. There's a writer's conference with Open Pitch nights, with agents that listen to three-minute pitches and give suggestions on querying. Last year I went just to watch. This year I want to pitch.

I'd better get my game on.

A Trick to Fool My Inner Editor

I'm prepping for NaNoWriMo and came across a great little idea to stifle my inner editor. See this blog to get the complete picture, but the premise is this: When I'm writing a first draft and that little inner editor pops up to say, "Hey, that sounds really stupid and I know that's not what you meant. Why don't you go back over that sentence, or maybe those last two or three, heck the whole paragraph! And the one before it! Just give them another look and polish them up a bit before you move on," whenever that happens, instead of actually following Ms Inner Editor's instructions, I'll just acknowledge her with a # mark and then go on.

Just a little, "Yeah, ok Ms IE, you're right, that needs work" # nod and then keep writing. Because the important thing of NaNoWriMo is to keep writing. Keep writing. Plenty of time to edit later. For those 30 days hath November, the writing is the thing.

Then, when the work is finished and I can go back through it to make it shine, a simple Find Word function will bring up all those # marks that show the spots I recognized as needing improvement. Of course, the whole document will need a good editing, not just those specific spots, but knowing, while I'm in the midst of the writing madness, that I'll be able to find those exact locations again will ease Ms IE and allow me to progress.

Many thanks to blogger Andy Shackcloth for that brilliant bit of trickery. I think it will really do the trick for me.

Choosing a Project

I always have a dozen or more ideas floating around in my mind, fighting for space, enticing me with their possibilities. This one, no, that one, no, maybe that one is what I should work on.

So I've been choosing one and starting it, then abandoning it in favor of another. For NaNoWriMo 2010 I'm committed to finishing a novel. It's just over 2 weeks away, and my writing time will be limited during the month due to other commitments (such as the dreaded job), so I'm trying to get my ducks in a row somewhat before the party starts.

I have a basic idea, but am torn between writing it as a YA or Adult novel. Same basic characters, with a few changes, same basic premise, with a few changes. I can see it going either way. I've never written YA and maybe now is not the time to start. If I truly want to finish this project, I need to be more sure of what I'm doing.

And the other ideas floating around will have to wait until December. Then the fighting for mind space can continue.

Seat-of-the-Pants or Outline?

Oh, the eternal question, asked over and over on writing forums: "Do you outline your novel ahead of time or just make it up as you go?"

I've always been of the make-it-up-as-you-go mind, also known as being a "pantser," but with the current WIP I decided to do an outline. Too many times I've gotten a good start and just not been able to keep with it. Somewhere I get stuck, get bored, don't know where to go and abandon the project. So I decided to try the outline method.

And promptly got stuck on that.

I read some blogs about how to do it, bought the book "The Marshall Plan for Novel Writing" and printed up the worksheets, but I'm stymied by it. Probably because I'm starting it in bits and pieces rather than taking a day and really getting into the groove. This week, when I have some time off, I'm going to set aside time to figure it out.

Some critics say templates like this turn out drab, unremarkable stories. Maybe so. We'll see how it goes.

Another method I've been dabbling with is in between a full outline and pantsing. A member of the writer's group I attend posted about her style in her blog here. That seemed to be a good approach for getting some work done in spare minutes, here and there. As I think up different scenarios I jot them down and then add them to the long list of bullet points. Right now I'm putting them in chronological order, which I will then use to fill in the Marshall plan worksheets.

Although this morning, when my job duties were all caught up and I had some spare minutes, I was looking at the bulleted list and wondering if it would be easier to do index cards, as many writers do. Then it would be easy to shuffle them around into the right place.

And then I wondered if all this wondering is just another way to think about writing, rather than doing any actual writing. And I remembered that quote by, who was it, Dorothy Parker? "I hate writing. I love having written."

I don't want to be in that situation. I want to love writing again, as I used to love it. I don't want it to be a chore; I want it to be a delight. I hope to find that joy again in November, during NaNoWriMo, when I'll give myself permission to just write. Just write. Just write.

Taking the NaNoWriMo Plunge

So I've signed up for NaNoWriMo. If you're not familiar with it, head over to their website and learn all about National Novel Writing Month. The premise is to write a 50k word novel from scratch during the month of November. Little concern for character development, plot construction or making sense, just get it down on paper, for fun, practice and a chance to break through any writer's block you may have constructed. 


I first heard about it a few years ago but this will be my first go round. I have an idea in the back of my head that I think I'll use, although I have a month to think about it. Or maybe I'll pull out an abandoned WIP and start over with that idea. Can't use any previously written sentences - has to be all virgin wording - but an outline and plot notes are ok. 


I spend a lot of time worrying over my current WIP, which is proceeding very slowly due to this state of mind, so NaNoWriMo will be good for me. As their website says, "Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down." 


Sounds like just what I need.