A Poem... "Ask"

Ask
by Lia Mack

Can you love yourself, despite yourself
and echo in the night?

Can you take a trip and capture it
and keep it 'till first light?

Will you know no fear and sing it clear,
a rumination to last?

Or wither still, coward filled
and sink away, pass?

Can you love, love, love - sweet love - knowing
there's permanence in the past?

And hallowed be - the future's might,
and walk on toward star last?

Reading While Writing...The Time Traveler's Wife

When I read, I read for enjoyment and the craft of writing. In my "Reading While Writing" blog posts, I list and discuss the lessons I feel each book contained for me. Feel free to follow along and add your own lessons learned :)

I never thought I'd say this...but I think I'd rather watch the movie than finish reading the book. I suffered past page 209 and I'm bored. I just can't stomach it anymore.

Writing craft lesson learned?
Too much of a 'new' thing is a bad thing.

At first, the new, interesting writing style of The Time Traveler's Wife was just that, interesting. Fresh. Something that I thought was well used for the first chapter. The jumbled dialogue being case in point. The fine, minute details running past like a stock market ticker, a second. But chapter after chapter after chapter. I just wanted it to streamline out into a more normal flow of character interaction and action.

And the minutia? Oh, dear lord. I might be the only person who feels this way, but that's okay with me. I'd rather watch the movie - which probably edits out about 60% of what's in the book - so I can just see the story and enjoy it. The book, to me, is not very enjoyable. Yes, it's a new, innovative idea. But that's about where I draw the line.

Lesson to take away?
If you want to dabble in something new - a new form of dialouge or flow or what have you - do it. Pave the way! But don't over do it. Don't fill every living page with it. Give a reader a break! Shed over to something familiar once in a while. Do it for movement, for action. Please don't do it on every page. It's not new and exciting anymore if you do it like that. It gets boring. Fast.

I'm bored. I'm done. I'm not at all interested in finishing it. How sad is that. Thankfully it's a library book.

TGIF!! ... What's in your cold/flu season arsenal?

It's Friday!!! Yeah!!! And I have the flu....yeah...ah, not so much.

My eyeballs hurt.

Actually, that's pretty funny seeing it written like that.

So, it's that time of year again. When we get to see if our wonderful immune systems can fend off the 100+ kinds of flu flying around. I would have gotten the flu vax if I thought it'd work. It only protects you against 3 of those 100+ strands.

Three.

To me, that doesn't seem worth the risk. And honestly, it's just the flu.

But it does bring up an item for discussion that I had thought I was going to timely bring up in October - what do you do for cold/flu season? Little did I know I was about a month too late for that conversation! ha

So, tell one, tell all - what do you do to help beat the odds during cold/flu season?

I typically chow down on chicken soup at the slightest provocation of illness and wash hands like it's nobody's business. That, and vit C, Kefir, Kombucha, and staying away from sick people!

But I forgot one. Moms know this scenario well: make sure the kids are all stocked up and clean and healthy, but forget about themselves. Yep, guilty and sick as charged...

It's just the start of the season. Just like having to pull out the winter clothes, it's time to start pulling out our defenses!

Join in with all your wise woman ideas, tips, and suggestions ;)

Leave your hints, tips, recipes, avoidance measures - everything you do to keep you and your family healthy during the upcoming seasons - in the comments below.

OR, on facebook ;)

And stay healthy!

PLEASE NOTE - this is not a blog/forum/comment box location for debates about vaccines. I understand not everyone agrees with my take on the flu vax as stated above. I get that. If you want to debate, please do so elsewhere. Thanks!!

Reading While Writing... Prodigal Summer

When I read, I read for the craft of writing. In my "Reading While Writing" blog posts, I like to talk about what each book and author taught me about the craft. Feel free to follow along and add your own lessons learned :)

My Aunt offered up her copy of Prodigal Summer to someone in the family. After reading the first few pages, this person passed it back. Said it wasn't her thing. Not being the snoopy sort, but seeing books being passed around, I jumped into the conversation and said I was in need of a read. I wanted to try it out. Please, can I have the book. Please, please, please....! ;)

Moth Love. Old Chestnuts. Predators...
I'm so glad I butted in and begged for the book ;) Reading it was like taking a life long walk in the woods... And I've been hankering for a leaf shaded hike. Now I just want to live in the woods and track my passions...

In the pages of Prodigal Summer speaks a deep admiration, understanding and love for all things natural, including the natural cycle of life - sex, creation, life, death - it's how everything comes around and goes around on this wonderful green lovin' Earth ;)

So I loved the book. Wish it didn't end. Want to remain friends with the characters forever...

But what did I learn of the craft while reading it? That a non-formulaic story line can be entertaining and successful and a breath of fresh air! Good writing, good characters, great story, unparalleled in so many respects...

You'll have to read it (if you haven't already) and tell me what you think!

Best Quote of the Day...

"If you’re going to be a writer you have to write and the excuses have to go." ~ Carolyn R. Parsons, author of The Secrets of Rare Moon Tickle

Writing and Dogs...

Ah, two hours.

I've been given a gift - two hours of free, to myself writing time. Oh, the pages I will edit, the query letter I will perfect! Two hours where no child, no husband, no phone call, no electrical outage will keep me from my task....

Two hours...

And two dogs...

Two dogs that beg my attention - and snacks - every two minutes.

Two dogs with two sad eyes each that plead sorrowfully to go out on a walk, to have the ball tossed to them, to be allowed to sit on my lap and be pet.

Two dogs that play on my bleeding heart to waste my two hours of solitary writing time to make them the happiest two dogs in the world...

Two dogs...two dogs...

Oh, boy...

Critique Groups...When to Say Good-Bye

I'm free!

I just quit my critique group and I feel so free and alive and able to write and think and be creative again! I started feeling smothered about 6 months ago, but I trekked on, thinking I'd be a quitter if I left. Other people love critique groups, so I should stay, right? I'm learning a lot about good and bad writing, enjoying getting together with other writers, so I should stay, right?

But after the last round of critiques, I knew I had to cut the rope. I no longer heard my characters in my head. I couldn't think of one new story idea, when before I'd usually come up with one or two a day, just out of no where. My creativity was dying. For the past 3 months, I haven't been able to think of anything. No new ideas, no new characters, nothing!

So I decided to just do it. FOR ME. I knew it was the right thing for ME to do and for MY writing. I just felt like my writing style and voice were being distracted, changed... Although I learned how to edit thoroughly and how to just get to the point, say what I wanted to say in my writing, I no longer heard/felt my writing. I knew I'd miss the writing friendships I made, but I also knew it was time to move on.

Do I regret quitting?

The moment I drove away from my final meeting, a new story idea popped into my head. And I felt I could breathe again, write for myself again. I felt free.

I don't want to step on anyone's toes, of course. I know some people live by their critique groups. And I applaud every writer for doing for themselves and for their writing what works for them. I do. I did learn some great lessons while in the group - what good and bad writing looks like and how to read for the craft better. 

But I also had to do for myself what works for me. I need to only hear my own voice in my head (and that of my characters). Otherwise I can't do it. I can't take my story where I want it to go. 

Every writer is different. And everyone writes differently.

Taking my time, waiting my turn to be critiqued, waiting to edit based on others input... it all started to feel like 'a hobby', casually going through the motions, taking my sweet ol'time... Personally, I know I'll never get anything done that way. 

I can't go slow. 

That isn't my speed. And I found that when I went slow everything stopped. Internally, externally. I couldn't write anymore. The way I finished my first draft was to write, every day, like a job, taking no breaks, no turns, no excuses.

Yet, every path is part of the process. I tried it out, liked it for a while, then found it wasn't working for me anymore. So, even though I walked away, said good-bye, I know I'm not a quitter. I chose to take charge and get back to treating my writing like a career. To get back to writing for me. Writing every day. Write, write, write.

So, time to get back to work. No more hiatus.

!

The Nook, The Book, & The Hook

My husband and I just celebrated our anniversary. 11 years of blissful love...

Before the big day, my husband said I was going to like the gift he got for me. Many questions later, all I got out of him was that I had 14 days to decide if I liked it or not... and it's electronic...

When I opened my gift a few days later, after mentioning in passing conversation that I never wanted one of those reader thingies, that I love the feel of a real book in hand, I opened my gift - a Nook.

In all sincerity, I tried to act surprised, happy, and interested. He reminded me I had 14 days and if I didn't like it, we could return it. No hurt feelings. He's a guy. Enough said.

I went through the tutorial, almost, but I lost interest. He loves electronics and went about setting it up for me. And I did try to borrow some of his exuberance, yet walking around the house afterwards, seeing all my books strewn about on table tops, night stands, coffee tables, steps, in bathrooms, next to the pool, on the banister, I couldn't help but know in my heart of hearts that I was never going to fall in love with the Nook. It just didn't feel real.

My books, even the wide assortment I borrow from the library and have to give back after I've fallen in love with them, are like friends to me. I enjoy seeing books all around me, piled up, laying about.

And when I see any given one of them - like Real Cajun sitting on the table next to my laptop right now - I am instantly brought back into the past conversations we've had. And with each book, each friend, I have different conversations going on...

Real Cajun by Donald Link
Secrets to Happiness by Sarah Dunn
Effective Writing by Bruce Ross-Larson
Deeper by Megan Heart

These are the titles of my most current friends, and if you look into any of these books, you can see just how varied our conversations are! ;)

Point being, I love a real book. Love to lay them out, pile them high, anywhere along my path, so that in passing I'll see them again, maybe pick one up for a quick moment alone, maybe just daydream a bit about the story inside.

With the Nook, I just couldn't see myself able to do any of that. I'm a visual person. I need to have my books around me, in view. Or I feel I might loose out on that ongoing conversation, forget to pick up a good old friend that I haven't seen in a while because it's conveniently tucked away in some well organized list that I have to go find after turningg something on, recharging something.

It's just not real for me.

And that's what I said to the guy behind the counter when we went to return the Nook a few days later. Bored with it, I hadn't even registered it yet.

"But how do you know you're not going to like it if you don't even try?"

How do you explain to someone that I had already done so, in my head. I'm a writer. I can come up pretty quick whether or not a story line is going to work out. For me, I knew this one wouldn't.

"Most people who said they wouldn't like a reader LOVED it once they actually downloaded some books."

How do you explain to a sales person that you love FREE books from the library.

"But there are millions of free books that you can download into your NOOK!" This was said in a very my gosh, woman, aren't you stupid tone.

How do you explain that you don't CARE about those free books because you just want to happen upon a book at the library, book store, friends house, that looks good.

This was the hook that had caught my darling husband. He thought, frugal mama that I am, would love free books. And I do. I just don't want to have to do so on an electronic device that I have to charge, turn on, find my list, be bombarded with a list of a million books that I can read knowing full well I don't have enough time in my life to do so.

I just like what I like. I like real books.

"Wow. That's a shame." This, said not only by the Nook sales man behind the counter, but also three other Barnes & Nobles workers nearby, listening in on our conversation.

Steadfast in my opinion - I'm in my thirties, I've brought two children into this world sans medical intervention, I've been married for 11 years, I've seen the worst and best life can hand you, and I'm still ticking - I'm allowed to have one. No matter that it doesn't help add to your sales commission or that I'm the only person on earth who thinks this way. I don't doubt myself. I like real books!

And, I've studied advertising psychology. I'm impervious to sales hooks.

So I returned the Nook, purchased a real book, and went home happy. I know plenty of people that are in love with their reader, and I'm happy for them. Everyone deserves to be happy.

How about you?

Do you love the book? The Nook? Both? Or are you still on the fence?

What hooks you?

Maybe sometime in the future I'll try the Nook again, see if it's really the best thing going.
But for now, I see one of my books out of the corner of my eye - one of my friends - calling to me, its book cover my favorite shade of turquoise blue... And maybe after that, I'll look for a good Cajun recipe for dinner tonight inside one of my new friends.

:)

I Must Write, Come Hell or High Water...

Or, in my case, come 10 consecutive days of 98 degree-90 percent humidity weather too hot for the kids to play outside, and for some odd reason now that it's summer vacation, the kids CAN wake up before 7AM and be UP and do on a daily basis. Up at 6, sometimes 5am. During the summer...hello!

But...STILL, I must write. Only question is, when??? My writing time - the time when I get to write UNinterrupted (I've been interrupted 3 times so far during this one sentence now) - is between the hours and 5 and 7AM. Most days I wake up at 5AM to write. Other days I write at night, after I've taken care of everything and everyone all day. Except I've never been much of a night owl. Especially now. For some reason my insomnia stopped (that's how I wrote the book in the first place!) and now I'm exceptionally tired by 10pm. It's very odd. I've never slept well before in my life, never been able to fall asleep. Now, it seems all I can do IS sleep...maybe I'm just catching up...

For some other strange reason, I love to wake up early in the morning to write. It doesn't work every day, particularly after a night of the kids tag-teaming me, one waking up right after the other, only for another to wake up once I get the other back to bed, all night long... On those days I fail miserably to get moving in the AM.

Life, health, drama...time!!! Darn it, I need to finish my book. But when, where, how?!

This is how...

Maybe if I write it down, here, for all the world to see (myself included) I will keep to the strict schedule of writing/editing daily. I've been able to do it before (insomnia days of the past). If you need to, write it down for yourself too.

COME HELL OR HIGH WATER, I must finish this book this summer.

I, Lia Mack, will wake up at 5am to write. I will not allow anyone to interrupt me until 7am. There are books, cereal, toys galore in this house. They (my kids) are old enough to entertain themselves and I MUST finish this book. Period. Plus, no one needs to be awake so early in the morning. Therefore they can either go back to bed or read quietly on the couch. I am not available between the hours of 5 and 7am. I repeat, I am not available until after 7am.

(For a give-all person like myself, I've never been selfish with my time, so I know this is going to be hard. But I have to do it. I have to. If I keep saying it to myself, I might just do it...No, I take that back. I WILL do it. I have to.)

IF, for some reason (which I have yet to understand) I am woken up over and over again all night long and I am not able to rise and shine at 0500 hours, I will set aside two consecutive hours somewhere in my day, probably at 2200 hours or later. Too bad that I'm tired. I, Lia Mack, need to finish this book. Period.

Ok, so there it is, my scheduled in writing time goal thingy. Written for all, myself included, to see. If need be, I will pop in a movie once a week so the kids will be preoccupied and I can write during the day. Wow, writing with my wits about me, during the day...can it be done?

I have someone who wants to see a finished product in October. Therefore I need to complete my final edits by at least August so I can go over it, shall I need to, one last time again, to polish and shine.

I know how to edit. I just can't seem to rub together any amount of consecutive time without being pulled out of my alternate writing universe by little people screaming, crying, throwing a fit because he touched my book, she moved my Lego, trips to the library, trips the park, trips the grocery store, laundry, my sister won't play chess right, my brother took off my dolls clothes again, I got to go potty and can't undo my belt, I'm hungry, he bumped me, she punched me, the dog peed on the carpet, the dog brought a dead squirrel in the house again, grandma needs a ride to the airport, dinner is burning, there are five fire trucks outside and my mother-in-law is coming over in five minutes...yep, I have time to write, as I'm sure you do to ;)

BUT, come hell or high water, we'll get it done. We will. We will...

Write First, Worry Later...

There has been tons of talk lately in my little writing world about the woes of publishing. About how hard it is to get an agent to even talk to you, let alone find one that will think about reading your work. And I agree. There is much to worry about when it comes to getting your work published.

Yet...Why worry until you have to?

I mean, look at all the fun you are missing! Have you written your book yet? If not, write! If so, is it really ready, or do you still need to do edits? If so, edit, baby, edit. Why stop yourself short to worry your life's passion away?

Write, damn you, write! This is what I say to myself every now and then... ;)

There is this great Native American saying that goes like this... Don't worry until you have to worry. Do you know how freeing that is? To live, write, free from worry. I do it everyday and I love it.

And really, why bother with worrying anyway? It's such a waste of time. Think about it, yes. Do some research when you want to take a look-see, ok. But that's it. Nothing more than that. Don't get yourself all worked up until you have to. Period. Never know. You might get lucky your first go around. So why worry now?

If I hadn't stopped getting trapped by the worry bug, I would have never started to write. And if I never started to write, I wouldn't have a book to show for it now. Thankfully I did stop, and I did write, and I do have a book done!

So, if you're stuck in the worry mode, stop! Stop worrying away your days. Start writing. The only way to write a book is to...write a book! No magic wands here.

Don't worry until you have to. And who's to say that there will be any need for worry in the end anyway? For now, just write. Write first, worry later. Live free and write. Let this be your lesson for the day.

:)

Celebrating the Breeze!

I'd like to dedicate this blog post to one of my writer buddies, Carolyn Parsons. Not only has Carolyn (aka: Breeze) published her fist book (ya!)...today is also her Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Breeze!!! :)

If you haven't already, check out her book, Wind Rhymes: Poetry from the Breeze. It's a wonderful compilation of inspirational and practical poetry. Every time I read one of her poems, I feel empowered and lifted, ready to be the change I want to see in the world ;)

Carolyn also turned me onto a free writing course online that I just started. F2K: Fiction Writing for the New Millennium. I'll tell you more about the class once I finish my first assignment (they are small writing assignments given on Wed, due the following Wed, then you submit and critique others and they critique you.) To me, that sounded like fun!

If you're a writer and have yet to find some writing buddies to hang out with - on or off line - get some!!! We're an interesting lot, which means we need to get together with like minded folk once in a while to feel, well, normal ;)

I am very honored to have Carolyn as one of my writer buddies and call her my friend. It's great fun being able to talk openly about characters talking in our head, killing darlings, and building pent houses... Who else could I do that with? ;)

So, here's to the Breeze. Have a great Birthday! And congratulations on your new book :)

Where Do You Write? Creating a Writing Sanctuary...

It doesn't have to be big. It doesn't even have to be a room. And, contrary to popular belief (or want) it doesn't even have to segregate you from the rest of the world. Of course we'd all love to have that perfect little hideaway, secluded from noise and distraction.

"There, and only there, will I write my masterpiece..."

But where you write best sometimes doesn't come with it's own key.

I know I used to have one such place. Although it was situated in the belly of the house, my 'office' had a desk, carpeting, a window, and...drum roll please...a door. With a LOCK!!! No heat...but it was mine... whenever I could carve away even the tiniest amount of time alone to write.

One hour, one day, one minute....one minute....one minute...half a minute....

Except, more times than not, the moment I sat down with my hot cup of tea and vanilla-lavender candle a glow, someone needed me. Or someone popped in the door crying and screaming about this and that...

"He touched my toy!" the three year old cried.

"She hit me!" the five year old cried.

"My wife left me!" the thirty-five year old cried. "Oh, wait. There you are! I've been looking all over for you!" kiss, hug love... "The kids need you, honey."

Suffice to say, my room away from it all wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I hardly ever had more than ten continuous minutes to rub together. And when it takes me thirty minutes to 'get there', aka: into the story, ten ten minute increments of solitude a day isn't enough to eek out an outline, let alone an entire novel.

Surrendering, I took to the dining room table with my laptop. Or if the kids were downstairs, down to the table next to the play area. Outside on the patio table after a good amount of playing and gardening with the kids. Laptop open, manuscript ready, there I sat. Totally open. Totally available. Totally in the middle of things. My novel, my life as I only dreamed it, doomed...

But you know what?

By being out in the open...everyone leaves me alone more! I don't know if they only felt like they had to seek me out before when I was locked away by myself. Maybe it made them feel uncomfortable to have mommy out of the loop, unavailable for boo boo kisses and such. I don't know...kids, husbands...you know how they are ;) Now, when I sit down to write right where they are, they don't come looking for me.

Yes, I still get interrupted. Yes, I still have to stop mid-sentence to help locate a MIA toy or make a snack. For some reason, since I'm writing in the middle of the mix, when I do get asked to stop short and switch gears, I don't loose it, (aka: get taken out of my story) as much. My thinking process isn't stopped as much being out in the open, in the middle of things, as it did when I was totally immersed in solitude.

Maybe that's just it.

Perhaps creating a writing sanctuary doesn't have to involve candles, closed doors, and a window with a view. It just has to be 'where you write', whether it be the kitchen table or with no table at all.

Where do you write? How do you deal with the distractions and interruptions? Do you wait until everyone's gone to bed? Or carve out an hour or two on the weekend?

Ever since I left my room to write at the dining room table - an hour here, twenty minutes there, where I can hear and see everything going on around me - I feel as though I've not only written more consistently, but I've written better, as I can write everyday if I want. I don't need to wait for the perfect moment when everyone in the family has been taken care of and everything in the house is done. I can just say, "Hey, they don't need me for the next half hour. I think I'm going to write a little bit."

And I do.

;)

Numbers...Do They Mean Anything?

Tomorrow I have an appointment with a specialist that I've been waiting since October to see. It's a very important appointment, one that has me biting my nails and wondering if I'm ready. But what is really bothering me, though, are the numbers.

311

Why? Try this one on for size...

My appointment is on 3/11 at 11am.
Address of the doctor's office is 311.
Phone number's last four digits? 3113.

Tell me that's not interesting...odd...scary...

So, anyone? What does that mean? Does it mean I made the appointment with the right doc? That there will be nothing found? That I might win a lottery I don't even want to be playing???

Here's to hoping the Universe is saying something good with these numbers...I'll let you know how it goes...

...