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Feb 23

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Why I write

For years, I wrote poetry, legal briefs, and Christmas letters, but never prose (except that one short story in college that was so bad I vowed never to write prose again). But circumstances and people change. I remember exactly what propelled me into writing stories.

In 2003, I had a serious flare-up of an existing thyroid condition. I spent six months in bed and another six months regaining my strength. Often, before drifting off to sleep, I prayed I would wake in the morning. During this time, my life changed in many ways—I became more appreciative of family and friends, of sunlight, of the ability to walk, of grass and birds, of anything that made me laugh.

I also realized I was not 100% happy. I’d been ignoring my creative side for too long. I’d made a lot of progress in my life—overcoming childhood trauma and a failed first marriage. I’d been an excellent mother and provider for my son—home schooling, meeting all his needs–including piano lessons and helping him fulfill his gift of touching people’s souls with music, but somewhere in the process I had neglected my own soul’s needs. For me, writing was like breathing. And I’d been holding my breath too long. Read more

Feb 22

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Ask these 11 questions to find your memoir’s meaning

One of the first steps in writing a memoir is to understand what you’re writing about and why. It’s easy to start writing and end up with a collection of events and situations. And at first that’s fine because writing a memoir, or anything for that matter, is an act of discovery. So it can make sense to write about events to get a sense of what resonates with you and discover your most significant experiences.

That said, sketching out some notes and asking yourself a few questions might just help you refine your focus and give you the passion and energy to move forward.

Ask yourself these questions to discover your themes and meaning:

1. What am I passionate about?

2. What do I want to take a stand on?

3. Fill in these blanks: I want to write about ______ because ________. Read more

Feb 21

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Go deeper in your writing by changing your vision (literally!)

I’m always looking for ways to stimulate my creativity or go deeper in my writing. In a previous post, I wrote about using timed writes as a way to do this. I’ve also written about the effects of writing to music or a specific beat.

Today, I toyed with another way to go deeper–changing my vision. Literally. Normally, I wear glasses for distance and reading (yes, I admit to bifocals–without lines, of course). When I write on my laptop, I wear my glasses so I can see the screen. But when I write by hand, I find that I often take them off. I like how my vision becomes slightly blurry…as if I’m writing by Braille (well, not really but my vision is so bad, I may as well be). Read more

Feb 20

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Quirks make your characters feel real to readers

Even if you don’t actually use them all in your story, it’s good to know your character’s quirks because they help you describe your characters and show behaviors and details that make them feel real to readers.

Observing quirks and thinking about what they say about a person offers insight into your characters’ personalities. Here are a few quirks about food and eating that I’ve observed in my family and friends.

I’ll start with myself and say I have to eat with a regular fork, not a salad fork. As it turns out, a few years ago, I happened to mention it to my sister and she said her son felt the same way. Part of our DNA?

When it comes to macaroni and cheese, my niece can eat it only with a fork, not a spoon. Read more

Feb 17

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Three types of writing groups, part 3

I’ve belonged to several writing groups over the years–some focused on critiquing and some focused on writing. But there’s another type of writing group:

The Packet-Focused Writing Group:  I graduated from a low residency MFA program a few years ago where we sent packets of annotations and creative work to our advisors every three weeks. Though the schedule was often grueling, sometimes I miss having to send those packets off and getting feedback on my work.

My blog partner and I recently decided to send each other writing packets–to motivate us, keep us moving in the direction of our goals, and to make us accountable to somebody other than the face in the mirror. You could try this with another writer you respect or even with a group of writers.

Our rules: We’re highly flexible, but our general plan is to email a packet to each other by Sunday night of each week. The packets can contain anything we want feedback on–a poem, a group of poems, a chapter, an outline, story ideas, a query letter, a resume, etc. We also send a short cover letter (email) with any questions we have or what we want the other to focus on. Read more

Feb 16

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Use this technique to create a poem from your subconscious writing fragments

In my last post, I wrote about a writing practice that I was using to try to generate material for poems, essays, and even memoir. If you joined me in my quest to write from the subconscious, you may be accumulating some wild pages of words by now. So I’m going to give you the next step in the practice.

When you have about 10 or 12 pages, pull them out of the drawer and read them. Highlight, underline, or circle anything that looks interesting, tugs at your chest, pings your brain, or just seems downright weird. You’ll find some material that is boring, odd, and exciting. You’ll likely not even remember writing it. Read more

Feb 15

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Three types of writing groups, part 2

In my last post, I wrote about the benefits of joining a critique-style writing group. Another popular type of writing group is one that is focused on the writing.

Writing-Focused Group:  I’ve been involved in a few writing-focused groups, where we typically write to a 20- to 30-minute timer and then read our words aloud afterwards. Sometimes, I use prompts. Sometimes, I just write whatever needs to get out of my head. A Seattle-area group is run by authors Jack Remick and Robert Ray who are advocates of the Natalie Goldberg style of free-writing. There’s something about writing with a group of people that’s magical–to sit side by side doing the work helps me stay in the flow of my words.  Read more

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