Write on Wednesday ... Feelin Groovy'

Becca asks ... How about you? Do you find yourself moving too fast through life? What’s your favorite way to moodle and make the mornin’ last? How does slowing down affect your creativity?

Too fast ... what on earth is that?

Lately I've been searching and asking those I know where do I apply for more hours in the day? Seriously there's not enough for me what with the twelve lane highway zooming through my head coming up with more projects, ideas, places to go and people to see.

I don't move too fast. I tend to amble, at sometimes a steady, sometimes a manic pace, depending on the mood or weather, perpetually with the time is not on my side problem.

My developed morning bad habit is tea and toast in front of this darn screen, reading, answering emails which inevitably puts me off kilter, adds more congestion to highway so the already 'organised' day ahead and the 'moodling' invariably transforms to 'muddling'.

Slowing down has never effected my creativity ... if only. It's not the slowing down that's the problem, when I slow I sleep, as I said ... the dreaded lack of time is the one and only problem.

The answers have all been heard, tried and discarded ... routine, roster, timeframe, schedule ... words I use, offer as advice, but have not one iota's chance of putting them to work in my feelin' groovy day!

So ... why swap bliss for the norm?

Nah, I'll saunter at my pace, prioritising if necessary, always feelin' groovy!

Write on Wednesday ... The Power of Place.

This week Bec asks about 'The Power of Place.'


How about you? How does place figure in your writing? Do you feel comfortable in the place you live, or do you feel at odds with your atmosphere? Do you convey that in your writing? What stories does your location have to tell?

For me, in writing, place is integral. If I there's no place then nothing happens. Place names make writing feasable, interesting, not only the name but the history, traditions and time frame in relation to the place you're writing about can take your reader there, either in their imagination or back to a place where they once might have been.

Judith Barrington in "Writing the Memoir" writes "how the names of people, places, stores, rivers, and so on are a particular kind of concrete detail that can play a vital role in making your writing interestring and believable and quotes from James Hamilton Patterson's "The Great Deep : The Sea and Its Thresholds", where there is a chapter entitled "Nothing is More Tedious than a Landscape without Names."

I'm comfortable in the place I live, I have to be, what's the point in angsting about being in a lavish environment with panoramic ocean views, the smell of the salt air wafting in and sending metal window frames rusty? Why waste precious time and energy on what, right now, isn't possible ... but that's me, ever practical.

Current place likes and dislikes aren't conveyed in my writing yet, one day, when I relate this episode place will emerge. People, mood, atmosphere, emotions, era, conditions, as well as the mores, values and traditions relating to place are inevitably conveyed when writing of the past. Research and memory prod thoughts. A found a bus timetable will jolt me back to school days. Reminding me of the fun, frolic and mischief of riding to and from school, of the days when we didn't make it ... wagged it, played hookey, jigged it ... ahhh those were the days!

Location is the basis for my stories ... if I or my ancestors hadn't been in that place who knows what might never have happened!

What about the times when you feel you've been in that place before? ... that's another story ...

Write on Wednesday - MEME

The ever imaginative Bec has, in keeping with kids return to school, suggested a meme. Great idea, I love these. As a lover of lists, questions and answers, thanks Bec I'm on the job ...


1. Do you write fiction or non-fiction? Or both?
Non fiction ... I'm able to write fiction if the need arises.

2. Do you keep a journal or a writing notebook?
Yes to both, a journal as well as an writing ideas notebook.

3. If you write fiction, do you know your characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts before you start writing or is that something else you discover only after you start writing? Do you find books on plotting useful or harmful?
Having written fiction I knew the basics but this often changed as the story developed. Most books on writing are useful.

4. Are you a procrastinator or does the itch to write keep at you until you sit down and work?
I'm both.

5. Do you write in short bursts of creative energy, or can you sit down and write for hours at a time?
Once I start it's usually impossible to stop. When I do stop I sleep like a baby!

6. Are you a morning or afternoon writer?
Afternoon or night.

7. Do you write with music/the noise of children/in a cafe or other public setting, or do you need complete silence to concentrate?
I prefer quiet and usually the TV is on in the background.

8. Computer or longhand? (or typewriter?)
Computer.

9. Do you know the ending before you type Chapter One? Or do you let the story evolve as you write?
I always have a basic idea - but anything can happen! Especially when things you thought you'd forgotten pop up or research takes you down another road.

10. Does what’s selling in the market influence how and what you write?
Presently no influence.

11. Editing/Revision - love it or hate it?
Love it ... knowing when to stop is the hardest.

Write on Wednesday August 13 ... Writers Groups

This week Becca asks ...
How about you? Have you ever belonged to a writer’s group? Did it work? Why (or why not?) What would be your criteria for the perfect writer’s group?


Oh Becca ... yes, yes, yes, how wonderful you are - are you a mind reader? A writing group, to me, is a blessing. Writers are oft heard bemoaning "a writers life is a lonely one" so for those of us seeking the opportunity to bounce ideas, check grammar, tense, point of view, names, or to have someone listen is a joy!


Finding a good group, as you so bravely discovered, is a challenge. I've belonged to three groups, one a fiasco, two brilliant. The key was the convenor. The dud group became a weekly social, as soon as writing talk began one troublemaker managed to steer the conversation their way, on the inane pretext of a personal association with the writing being discussed. Eventually the group disbanded.


The second, was well run, till someone invited the previous mentioned disrupter along. The convenor was unaware of their MO ... the rest of us conspired to have an agenda, a time frame. A stop watch and small bell were purchased, placed on the table, frequently used ... we flourished, the frustration of the interjector soared, telling us individually ... the reason for the format was them ... my reply was "well quit it!"


We were stymied to understand as to why, when they knew the behaviour was unacceptable to not curb it ... no, no, ... now the behaviour shifted, now it became 'woe is me' ... we stuck to our guns, ran by the agenda, we progressed, achieved so much ... the socialiser stopped attending ... Yay! It worked like a dream, we all excelled, got confident, got published, we invariably ran overtime, we scrapped the agenda, stopped ringing the bell ... life-long friendships remain despite re-location. Writing flourished, life-long friendships remain.


An advertisment in a local paper, by a psychologist / writer, sent me to join ... the outdoor setting with harbour views, stone buildingd, jacaranada trees made us think we were in a writers paradise. There were rules, this leader was experienced, but ... we almost drifted apart due to a disruptive influence. This wise leader told the trouble maker, the group was finishing, like a coven we snuck off to the leader's home ... four of us wrote, excelled, grew and got published ... this group disbanded when our trusty leader found true love and moved house. None of the remainder of us had a suitable venue ... drat!


Yes Becca, I've belonged and yearn to do it again ... until such time as I'm able in person, right here is fabulous. Yes groups do work. A good leader is a must, an agenda, a time frame plus an understanding that whatever is said doesn't leave the room, isn't taken to heart, isn't ever spiteful or hurtful and most importantly we're not a counselling group. Ten minutes prior to start is usually sufficient around the table for a quick personal update. A fifteen minute tea break is time to chat about whatever.


A great writers group is a structured group. The groups I've belonged to have never been same genre groups. We were all different, as we wrote in our individual styles, so we wrote on different topics. What a thrill it was to learn writing similarites and differences.


I adore feedback, the company of like minded people, my mind's like a sponge ready and willing to soak up and learn from every experience. Anne Lamott says it exactly like it is ... so, is there anyone in Sydney, Australia looking to start a writers group ... can I join, I'll bring cup cakes for tea?

Write on Wednesday ... Three P's or PMA = OPM.

Becca at Write in Wednesday asks :
So, how about you? What do the three P’s of writing…practice, pleasure, profit…mean in your writing life?

To me the Three P's are integral to the craft of writing, once drudgery sets in then any practice, pleasure or profit, financially or emtionally is out the door. Schlepping towards any task, scuffing your feet, trying to shake that looming black cloud with not an iota of ka ching to be heard is the pits ... I'm Over It has arrived. Give up while you're ahead is my advice, go walk, run, do a load of laundry ... anything is preferrable than attemtping to inspire the muse at such a time. I'd add another P to Becca's list ... positive, positivity, possimistic ... how ever you say it this one is essential.

Positive mental attitude or PMA is the key for me. I once heard a sales manager hype the sales people by saying "positive mental attitude equals other people'e money." Think about it, true isn't it?

PMA equals OPM.

No matter how you relate the saying PMA works. Don't take it too literally, not greedily, for now think of it as the key to leading you to writing pleasure and profit.

Without PMA (c,mon stop thinking PMS) ... you're destined to fail. After completeing your project what's the point of thinking ... Mmmm well I've done it, but I don't know whether I've done enough practice, whether I got enough pleasure from completing the task, or whether I'll make any profit ... then throw the bloody lot into the bin, go walk into the water and don't stop till ... well you surely know what I mean!

Of course we're all not going to score a Pulitzer I'm not being ridiculously far fetched here. But we're all certainly capable of writing to the very best of our personal ability, frequently above and beyond what we ever expected ... don't you think you're already writing with a smidge of PMA?

Write on Wednesday ... OK it's Friday ... again!

Becca @ Write on Wednesday asks::
So, how about you? How does writing fit into your daily life? What’s your ideal time to write, and why? Do you “write on schedule” or “when the spirit moves you”?

Well I'm consistent aren't I? Here it is Friday evening again ... it's all part of my in built procrastination.

As I've said before ... well you've read all that ... the absotively same applies!

See you next week!

Write on Wednesday .... ooops it's Friday

So, how about you? Do you ever feel the need to jump start your writing? What drains the energy from your “writing mind”? What do you do when your creative battery dies?

Becca asks the above questions for this weeks Write on Wednesday ... here it is Friday, my creative mind's been flitting round all over the place. My creative mind isn't compartmentalised ... it's always on ... always planning, always creating ... only off when sleeping ... well sometimes!

The only drain of my energy from my "writing mind" is another project ... therefore I don't consider I need to jump start. Instead I need to have a chat to someone about giving me a few extra hours in the day ... this one is too darn short.

If my creative battery dies well I proclaim you'll all be very tipsy or drunk (you know who you are) at the very large wake that'll be happening when I go to the big creating heaven in the sky.

I've not been dormant this week, there's plenty happening, stuff - even real life often get's in the way of writing. That doesn't mean it's not happening in my head, in my notebook, whilst pounding this keyboard, cleaning those antique buttons, cutting out the next handbags to create, challenging Miss Blossom to befriend her cousin Tallulah Belle who's coming to stay next weekend, organising workshops, ducking into the library, expanding my attached to this chair girth whilst trawling the net ... or could it be ... while I'm attending a doctors appointment, the physiotherapist, the psychologist, the pharmacy, the supermarket, garage sales and op shoppes ... which poses the question am I a writer or a dabbler ... I'm here aren't I?

Write on Wednesday ...

Becca asks about our Editor ::
How about you? Are you ever assailed with self doubt about your writing ability, or about the reasons for writing at all? Do you “follow yourself around nagging and suggesting and complaining”? What are some of the negative things your Editor tells you? What could your Editor say to be more encouraging? How do you encourage yourself to keep practicing the craft of writing?

OK silly me took this the wrong way. I assumed Becca was referring to people who had the services of a real, living, Editor ... I took it as bringing an exclusivity to WoW ... what a twat I was.

Of course Becca was referring to the editor inside, the one that tortures us, questions meaning, motive, point of view, grammar and intent ... amongst a zillion other off putting queries ... got it!

My editor wrangles with me over everything I pound out. My editor is fair, doesn't berate me, makes me see my errors. You see I'm blessed! Seriously ... someone watches over me, guiding me, reminding me and disuading me from going too far, being too emotional, not being objective and most of all being too wordy.

Anyone who's not been assailed with self doubt is having a lend of themself. Reasons for writing would surely be different, personal and unique. Nagging, suggesting and complaining don't apply around here, similarly negativity isn't permitted.

My editor is encouraging, it's me that's the hard task master, I'm forever being told "stop being so hard on yourself" ... I'm renowned for being my own worst enemy. Committment is my encourager. If I say I'm going to do it then I follow through ... unless I get hit by a car!

Writing for me is cathartic, writing get's the crap out of my head and makes room for more thoughts, ideas and projects to incubate. Writing isn't a chore it's a love. My downfall is I have the motivation but lack the intention, that's why groups like this and / or set projects and / or deadlines are perfect.

Give me a deadline, a dare, a task and I'll follow through ... of course I'll be burning the midnight oil, slogging away at the eleventh hour. Thankfully my editor hasn't realised that if I'm left to my own devices I'll meander along the twelve lane highway in my head then all and more get started but nothing gets finished. Let's keep this our secret ... lets allow the frustrated procrastinator to reign for a while longer ... OK?

Write on Wednesday.

Up late, lurking the net, I've stumbled upon an beautifully presented writers site and suddenly my pen is poised, my muse is stirring, I'd like to join.

What's the attraction I ponder, the newness, the presentation, the honesty of the inspiring moderator ... I expect it's all of the above? The combination of a positive, genuine feeling plus good old fashioned "if it feels good do it" intuition beckons me from the screen ... tempting me to join.

On writing Becca asks "How about you? Have you found your line yet? Do you think you have one? How do you go about expressing it?"

Yes Becca ... I discovered my line long ago; life experience, the believeable combined with the unbelieveable, expressed with truth and wit oozes on hand written pages from a bulging, dusty, rusty, filing cabinet.

Times right to fling open those creaky drawers ... to commit, times right to take Becca's lead, start anew, start writing at another place ... for now I'm conjuring up a name for a blog where pounding the keyboard, will bring tall tales but true, of tradition, learned behaviour, honest fun, wierd wit, a smidge of crassness, some cynicism, possibly the need for a tissue might occur, then you'll know as I do, how blessed I am.

Please visit Becca's Writing on Wednesday here