Changes

I’m here today to say goodbye. This is my last blog post with Gem State Writers. I’ve enjoyed being part of this group, and I’ve enjoyed being a part of Boise’s writing community. However, after some serious self-evaluation, I’ve decided it’s time to make some changes.

Several years ago, a friend and I had a discussion about her life goals. She was just graduating from college and was in the process of making some key career choices. We talked about the goals she had for her life which included her new fiance and family. Yet the career choice she was planning to make conflicted with her goals. I pointed this out to her. It was a brilliant friend moment.

I find myself in a similar position now. This year I married a wonderful man. I continue to work as a financial analyst and CPA. And I continue to write manuscripts of an evening and on week-ends. This worked well when I was single. Now that I’ve actually found and married my hero, I realize I’m not spending much time with him. And as I type away on my laptop night after night, week-end after week-end, I keep hearing the brilliant friend advice I so freely dished out all those years ago.

Being a hero, my husband has never once complained (heros are always supportive). But I’ve been thinking about it – a lot. I’ve also been thinking about how little time I’ve spent with my aging parents. My nieces that are growing up too fast. Friends I hardly ever see.

I try to imagine myself at ninety-five-years-old. At that age, what choices will I be happy with? Which will I wish I’d done differently?

Suddenly, it’s a no-brainer. While I enjoy writing, it’s not the priority in my life. However, it has been part of my life for so long that deciding to set it aside was difficult at first. Now I’m excited about it.

I’m very much looking forward to having a more balanced life. I’m looking forward to spending quality time with my husband, having lunch with my nieces, and reading for the sheer joy of it–instead of for the purpose of studying another writer’s style. I’ve read two great books just this week.

I’m also looking forward to working in my new garden. Here’s a photo of our backyard at the moment. My hero, wanting to give his heroine everything she wants, is in the process of digging up the back yard and putting in raised, organic garden beds. Living a more sustainable lifestyle, using less fossil fuel, and simplifying our lives is something we had in common when we met, and we seem to make more progress now that we’re together.

Mary Vine, who currently blogs every second Sunday, will move to this Thursday slot. And I’ll still see you in the comment section.

Best wishes to all of you with your writing. Thank you for reading my blog posts for the past seven months. And thank you, Gem State Writers for letting me be a part of this fantastic group.

I’ll watch for your names in book stores everywhere.

Carley

 

Bad Vibes

I was standing in line at the local food co-op a few weeks ago when I heard the man behind me say, “I always get bad vibes when I come in here.”

Bad Vibes. At the co-op? This is a store that fills its shelves with good nutrition. A store that is conscientious about the impact its merchandise has on the planet. A place of good health. Bad Vibes? Who was this clown?

I tried to envision what he might look like and was getting a redneck vibe. Then I casually glanced over my shoulder. Sure enough. He was standing next to his wife, looking completely uncomfortable, holding two items that had to have been the two least nutritious things in the entire store.

The store wasn’t giving off bad vibes. He was just out of his element.

We’re all uncomfortable when we step outside the normal cocoon of the lives we’ve built, and it’s all the reason most of us need never to do it. Ever.

But trying new things is part of keeping life fun and, as every writing coach I’ve ever known would say, “fresh.” They all enunciate the word with an emphasize on the esh, as if the word itself could generate a spring breeze. Freshshshshsh.

I do think it’s particularly important for writers to be willing to step outside their comfort zone now and then – to open our minds to something different. Something we might want to depict on paper. Something to pull our readers into. It also reminds us what it’s like to feel excitement and apprehension when doing something new. It introduces us to new people, new foods, new music, new environments, new situations; all of which we can use in our writing.

As a kid we were always trying new things—sports, art, music. But as adults we don’t. Perhaps because we’re so busy.

I’ve made an effort to try new things even as an adult, and have had strangers approach me to let me how cool they think it is that I’m willing to try something new. I suspect this translates to: “Isn’t it cool you’re not afraid to look stupid.”

And I’ve looked plenty stupid at times. That stint as an ice skater was probably highly entertaining from the sidelines, and I don’t think my cat appreciated the violin lessons. The quilting went better and there are over a dozen quilts out in the world as evidence.

I love learning new things and “experiencing” new situations when I read too, but I don’t want to read about it from someone with no experience. Someone who’s just guessing. I want the author to have been there and done that so they can describe it in such depth and detail that it feels like I’m right there with the narrator.

What about you. When’s the last time you tried something new? If it has been awhile, how about setting a goal for 2012 that includes trying something completely out of character. Something that’ll push you outside your comfort zone. You’ll know you’re there when you get BAD VIBES.

 

Our Favorite Books on Writing

Today, at Gem State Writers, we’re going to share with you some of our favorite books on our favorite subject, writing. After you’ve read it, we hope you’ll share your favorites by making an entry in the comment box.

Carley

Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott

Clarissa

Screenwriting Tricks for Authors by Alexandra Sokoloff

Janis

The Hero’s Journey by Christopher Vogler

Johanna

The Writing Life by Annie Dillard

Liz

My favorite treatise on the subject of writing isn’t a book. Although Dr. Brooks Landon, Professor of English and Collegiate Fellow at the University of Iowa, has written a number of books. I’ve learned a great deal listening to a course he teaches entitled Building Great Sentences: Exploring the Writer’s Craft through The Teaching Company’s Great Courses series.

Lynn

Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain

Mary

Write Faster, Write Better by David Fryxell

[It] has been my bible for helping me apply writing time management to my schedule. Every time I pick it up, I am inspired to write more.

Meredith

I don’t have one on writing. As awful as it sounds I don’t read them. I’ve taken workshops and classes but I have this odd fear that if I read a book about writing I will then do everything that author says and lose my own voice.

Neysa

On Writing by Stephen King

I have never read any of King’s fictional books, but I am a big fan of this book. He clearly knows what it takes to make writing fiction work, and his comments meld with my writing philosophy in every way. If every writer would just follow his advice, there would be a lot less bad writing out there.

Peggy

The Writer’s Journey by Christopher Vogler, and Who Dares Wins, by Bob Mayer

These are two book I would never be without. Vogler lays everything out in a very nice linear fashion. Easy to follow, and apply. Mayer’s book made more of an impact on me personally. Probably because it takes a very military point of view, and I do love a man in uniform.

Don’t forget to tell us your favorite.

 

Contest Vexation

I judged my first writing contest this year. If you’re a writer, it’s a must-have experience because it’ll help put the process into perspective.

I judged five submissions, taking care to fairly evaluate each entry based on the criteria listed on the score sheet. There was one writer who stood out above the others. She (or possibly he) had a mastery over words and told an interesting tale. I was impressed.

As I calculated the scores for each of the entries, I expected to see a significant spread between this writer and the others, but I didn’t.

I reviewed each score I’d given. In my day job, it’s what we refer to as a reasonableness check. It didn’t make sense that this person’s score was not considerably higher. But after reviewing the score sheet questions and the scores of all five entries, I concluded there was nothing to change.

So, why didn’t this writer score significantly higher when the writing was so much stronger? It was the score sheet. It asked very specific questions, each rewarding either basic writing mechanics or a formulaic story structure. Since most of the writers met these requirements, all the scores were similar, and this particularly good writer did not shine above the others.

Consider the impact when entries in the same category are assigned different judges.

Different people judge differently. While it’s hard to criticize people when you know they’ve put their heart into their entry, I try to give an honest critique with lots of details. Without it, the writer cannot improve and be ready for their big break when opportunity knocks.

But, I had to ask myself, do all judges do this? Or do some find it more difficult than others to give lower scores? I’m convinced the answer is, more often than not, yes. With this the case, a mediocre writer could outscore more talented writers simply by the judges assigned. It’s similar to evaluations in the workforce. One boss might give you a rating of exceeds expectations for the exact same work that another would give you meets expectations. The quality of the work is the same. The difference is the people doing the evaluations.

I turned the entries I’d judged into the contest coordinator and checked the contest website regularly until the finalists were announced. I’d hoped to see the title of the entry that stood out from the others listed as a finalist. It wasn’t.

Months later, this continues to bother me. Knowing the limitations of the score sheet and the complications of multiple judges, I have some serious doubts about the contest. Were the writers listed as finalists truly better than the writer that so impressed me–OR–did they just have a different judge?

 

What I Learned From Two and a Half Men & Sophie Kinsella

Conflict on every page. It’s advice I’ve heard repeatedly, and it is no easy task. Just grasping this concept was a struggle for me. I couldn’t envision anything short of Raiders of the Lost Ark or a Rambo movie. How could I apply THAT to the romantic comedy I was writing.

My heroine had caught her husband with another woman. That was good for about seven pages of conflict. Then there was an altercation during a robbery–another ten. Two big arguments between hero and heroine over a piece of property–five pages each. These were good, but what about the other three hundred pages?

A couple things helped me finally get it.

First, I read Sophie Kinsella’s Undomestic Goddess, with pen in hand. After completing each page, I made notes in the margin about what it was on that particular page that constituted conflict. When I finished I went over my notes. Here’s what I learned:

• There was indeed some sort of conflict on every single page of that book.
• The conflict was different than the action-adventure movies I’d envisioned.
• The intensity of the conflict had peaks and valleys, ranging from rip-roaring fights to sexual tension to a general dissatisfaction.

Recognizing the different forms of conflict in Kinsella’s book helped me realize I had all sorts of it in my story that I hadn’t considered. I didn’t need to put my characters in constant and imminent danger. Not only was a fluctuation in intensity acceptable, it was necessary not to overwhelm the reader.

Have you ever read a book that includes one wild, life-threatening scene after the next? I read one recently (or rather tried to) and it was exhausting. I only made it a hundred pages in before abandoning that read. It made me too tense. I couldn’t take it.

The second thing I did to study conflict was to evaluate a sitcom. Two and a Half Men was a perfect choice. EVERY single scene included conflict between two or more of the characters. It’s all conflict, all the time.

I love the Charlie Harper character, and I’ll seriously miss him, but I think Sheen was wrong when he took credit for that show’s success. THOSE WRITERS ARE BRILLIANT!

The lesson I learned from that show is that the characters I create need to be diverse. Creating characters that are vastly different sets-up a story that is rife for conflict. It makes the tension come easier, thus making my job as a writer easier.

Thanks to Two and a Half Men and Sophie Kinsella I finally get it. I finally understand how to write effective conflict.