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Feb 11

3 Comments

Intro from Lisa D.

I’d like to introduce myself as another new voice in this artistic community. I’ve enjoyed reading the Creative Construction blog for some time now, and I feel an affinity with this group, as I am also a fellow writer struggling to find time for all my many priorities.

As with all of you, this multi-tasking theme is nothing new for me, but it is always a challenge. I have spent much of my life juggling a career as a university administrator, grad school, creative endeavors, etc. I have recently taken a break from my career in higher education to focus more on my family and writing pursuits. I have two young daughters, ages 4-1/2 and 1-1/2, and I also love to travel and stay active with my adventure-seeking lifestyle. In addition, I am also a publicly elected trustee for the village in which I live, and I have a bad habit of volunteering for way too many projects.

As for my current writing pursuits, I do some freelance journalism, and I am in the middle of writing a book on the history of Trout Valley, IL. I recently started a blog, the Damian Daily, and my passion is writing fiction.

I am already acquainted with a few of you, and I look forward to getting to know all of you and participating in our mutual goal of Creative Construction.

Lisa D.

Feb 11

2 Comments

Kerry: New Voice

Hello all. I am an artist, writer, mom, wife, and creative person hoping to contribute something meaningful (i.e. my personal stories and hurdles) about living a life of creativity while being a wife and mom to four kids. At this point I have two teenage daughters and one thirteen month old baby girl, and am pregnant (31 weeks) with my first little boy. It is an exciting and tiring time, and any moments I can find to paint or be creative are little miracles. I have lost my studio space…the spare room became the nursery, but I have hope that the unfinished room in our basement will magically finish itself. Before one of the older girls lays claim to it, I hope to deposit my volumes of scattered art supplies into this treasured empty space, with the intention of getting serious about creating art again. We’ll see how that works out. Anyway, I’m glad to be here, contributing…another voice in the artistic and creative world. I refuse to give up that part of me and will continue to fight (or to pine away) for the time I need to express myself.

Feb 10

3 Comments

Jenn: Tsunami – They’ve Got Nothing to do with Tides

The rough draft of Chapter 9 – Tsunami is done. I had an out of town visitor Fri/Sat, which chipped away at time I would have spent working, but it was nice to have a break. I just wrote to my friend Sue, “I think I keep myself on this rigid schedule because otherwise inertia would set in and I’d throw in the towel. Right now it’s a coin toss as to which is going to win.” My goal was to get the first nine chapters, the solid earth disasters, finished, then switch gears and polish them, add figures, tables, and photos, and get them to my editor. So this week and next, I’ll begin these arduous tasks as I switch caps from writer to critical editor.

Now the fear is creeping in.

What if my editor reads my sample chapter and says, “I’m sorry, this just isn’t what we’re looking for?” My dad is drawing figures, my students are working fast and furious. My mom has done SO much babysitting. I’ve, as they say, made my intentions VERY public. I’ve asked high-profile colleagues to write the foreword and introduction, and they’ve agreed. Am I up to this? Am I crazy for thinking I’m competent enough to do this? I’m not saying this at ALL to solicit “you can do it’s.” That is lovely and reassuring and all, but in the end, it’s the editor’s choice as to whether or not I can “do it.”

I’m PETRIFIED to turn the sample chapter in. What if it’s rejected? They have no money into me yet, so they could easily walk away. I’ve never published a book before. Ahhh! I guess i just fling myself in and see.

Anyway, mission accomplished so far, so that’s something?

Feb 8

5 Comments

Christa: Committed

I did it: committed to one project. I’ll be working on one of my novellas for the next six weeks.

How did this come about? Well, it’s a little convoluted. This year, with Rain Dog and I considering not only the possibility of moving, but also of him partnering with me in an expanded freelance business, I decided that I needed to clear my mind and heart. I wanted to be open to opportunity. I wanted to participate in Lent.

Yes, I’m Catholic. I’m not terribly religious, but I do believe in God, and I do believe he has a purpose for my life. No prayer I have ever prayed has gone unanswered – even if it was not the answer I would have liked at the time – and no matter where I thought my life was headed, it has always ended up better than I could have imagined.

But these past few months, I’ve been stuck in a rut. Stressed out because of money and my job and my kids and where I live, I’d been overeating and unsure of where to focus my energies. I made New Year’s resolutions, but broke them. I was quickly turning into a mess. And when we started to talk about moving, it added just another layer of stress.

Lent is early this year, but I’m grateful for that – I have an opportunity now to clean myself up. And the first few days have been fantastic. I’ve been doing daily devotionals (which I never do), avoiding my trigger foods in favor of good high-protein foods, and seeking better balance between work and kids.

And you know, somehow, it’s been working. I even feel totally calm about the moving process. I need to figure out a business plan for Rain Dog and me, and we need to get the house in order, but I’m confident that I’ll be able to do it. Step by step. I think this really will be the year we move, and I want to be sure I’m getting it right. Not perfect, but right.

As for that novella, I didn’t exactly pick it on my own. It picked me. I suddenly felt like it was the project I should be focusing on, and I’ve been working steadily on it. My hope is to finish it, or be close to finishing, sometime in the next six weeks – before or just after Easter. Then I guess we’ll see what comes of it.

Feb 5

7 Comments

Jenny: Character Interviews

I’m just wondering who does them and if you find it helps pull your characters together, or are your characters kept inside your head until they appear in your story? How detailed do you get with each one? Does it help you keep the facts straight as you go along so Uncle Bob doesn’t turn into Uncle Ben halfway into a chapter?

I just did one last night and I was surprised at some of the things my character felt, said, and things he/she did in the past. It got me wondering how common it is for others to do the character interview.

Feb 5

1 Comment

Monday, Monday (sing it out loud)

OK, so it’s actually Tuesday, but just pretend I’m posting this yesterday.

bluemonday.jpgIntroducing Creative Construction’s new blog tool: The Monday Page (also available from the tabs at the top of this page). Post your specific goal(s) every week, as well as where you are going to claim the time to achieve that objective. The next week, post an update and spell out the coming week. No self-flagellation here, just a process that may help you focus on what is realistically possible and then keep that goal alive during the week (rather than buried at the bottom of the list).

The Monday Page is just for goal notes, rather than the accompanying narrative. Save the discussion for the page you’re currently on. The comment structure may not work for us in the long run, but let’s try this format and see how it goes.

Safety in numbers–please add your own goals to mine at The Monday Page!

Feb 4

4 Comments

Brittany: Writing the Climax

It occured to me yesterday that the chapter I’m working on is the climax of my novel, which isn’t the most earth shattering realization ever, but it has put me into full blown panic mode. In all my years writing, I don’t think I’ve ever written a climax before. Now that’s a scary realization. When I think about it, I’ve written a lot about stagnation and the inability to move forward. It probably says a lot about how I felt in my 20s. But now that I’m in my 30s, I’m ready to embrace change–figuratively and literally.

I’ve learned a lot of things writing my perpetual novel. Among them, that I avoid writing about conflict and tension, I rely heavily on dialogue to move the plot forward at the expense of exposition, and my secondary characters probably need a book of their own because they’ve hijacked the plot. I’ve made a conscientious effort to improve on all these points.

And now the climax. I feel like I need to match the energy and intensity of the chapter, but instead I feel drained. When you write, do you ever feel like the conductor of an orchestra? Physically directing the art with your very essence? For me, writing is an endurance sport. I am completely depleted after a productive writing session. But right now, I feel exhausted without having run the marathon.

Part of this may be the pregnancy. Lately, after lunch, I practically slip into a coma. And I could understand it if I felt physically tired, but I don’t. It’s my brain that feels sluggish. So I turn to those of you with energy to burn. How do you all build up your energy reserves? And how do you prepare yourself for writing the big scenes?

Feb 4

6 Comments

Christa: A flooded engine

After a full week of directing all my creative energy toward work for other people, I finally reached a point where I feel comfortable starting to work on fiction again (you know, without feeling like I’m wasting time).

Too bad it’s such a struggle to get started.

I have on my plate:

  • a novel, sequel to the one I’m currently shopping.
  • a project that started as a short story, but which, once I finished it, asserted itself as a longer project. Hopefully a novella only.
  • a novella.
  • half a dozen short stories, two of which are maddeningly close to completion, if I could only figure out what to do with them.

All whirl around my brain like a solar system in print, making it impossible to pick just one. In short, if life is the fuel my creativity needs to run, then this past week (month?) has flooded my engine.

Anyone got a spark?

Feb 4

6 Comments

Bethany: Dilemma, Dilemma

Remember that small little non-fiction project I’ve had in my closet for about 3 years?  I dug it out from under the virtual bed and have revamped it.  Proposal… done.  Sample chapters (this is the exciting part)… done.  And now I am knee deep into writing my query for agents.

Yikes!

Why am I nervous?  Well, see, I always wanted to go out with my fiction first. And I did.  But my book didn’t sell.  And I lost an agent in the process.  So now I am back at square one.  With a non-fiction book… essays.  Personal memoir-ish essays. And I can go out to query tomorrow.

So tell me, virtual friends, do I go with a new plan?

Feb 3

5 Comments

Jenn: How does one write an INTERESTING and NOVEL textbook?

I’ve just spent 36 nearly consecutive hours writing two long and technical chapters on volcanoes. I’m almost happy with them, though I’d like to add another “rough” to my earlier statement that I’m writing rough rough drafts. There’s so much more to do, but I really think this schedule thing works for me where I write on each topic the day(s) after I lecture. The irony was that as I wrote about convulsing underground magma chambers spewing out volumes of lava and ash while I cared for my mostly sleeping daughter who was afflicted with a nasty stomach virus. I typed frantically through the night, aided by six cups of coffee, hoping to finish before I caught the bug. A film in class on Tues and thus a respite from this project. Tsunamis on Friday, I’ll spend the weekend writing up that chapter (should be simple and straightforward) and then I’ll go back and start polishing these first nine chapters with a goal to get them all to my editor by 3/10.

My reward, the thing that keeps me going, is this blog and reading what you all have written – the rat pellet treat reward of writing is logging on. I hope all of you are finding this site as motivating as I am, though I feel like an oddball because I’m not taking creativity to the heights that all of you are. I mean, how creative can you be in an introductory science textbook? How many ways can you present lava chemistry?

I’d LOVE to hear if anyone has any ideas on this. I have four would-be competitors, and my doctoral advisor has told me I can make this work only if I have a new, novel approach. I would like to lean towards yellow journalism and sensationalism, but my peers and reviewers are staid old white males who have dogmatic and conservative ideas on the way things should be. I have ideas on writing an interest box in each chapter on Hollywood films (Twister, Deep Impact, The Day After Tomorrow) that deal with each subject and tease out fact from fiction, but I dont’ know a thing about getting copyrights to movie posters or images, and I’m guessing I don’t *want* to know what’s involved.

The textbook is entitled Natural Disasters and Catastrophes. I once reviewed a Physical Geology textbook (holy market saturation, batman) and the author purported to present the material in a new, applied approach. I blasted him by saying essentially, “Guess what? You didn’t.” Payback time? I also want to, as much as possible, make the students feel like they are living through each catastrophe. Instead of reading, “Ms. Maria Ruiz awoke at 8:32 AM on May 12, 1981 and smelled sulphur,” I want to write, “You’re laying in your bed, and shortly before your alarm is due to go off, you start having this dream you are being choked. You wake up and realize the air is filled with a noxious odor…” I don’t know how that is going to work? Any ideas would be MUCH MUCH appreciated.

Feb 2

8 Comments

Jenny: Eureka! I have a story

I was soaking in the bath this evening, as usual. No glass of wine or candles this time; instead just bubbles, a pen and an old unused notebook I’d found on a bookshelf. I was lying back letting conditioner seep into my hair when suddenly she waltzed in~ my muse. “Where the hell have you been?” was my first thought but that quickly changed to something more along the lines of “Oh thank God you’re here. I thought you were dead!”

My muse is a 20-something year old business woman with brown hair pulled up into a too-tight bun and she is always dressed in office attire~ a white blouse with a tight gray skirt and heels. Who knows why? Probably for the same crazy reason she always sits cross-legged on the edge of whatever it nearby; That often used to be my desk, but this time it was the edge of the bathroom sink. Anyway, she was here and I was out of that tub like a rocket, rinsed & dried, into my robe, and at the kitchen table pounding out my first outline since 2002. My pen didn’t stop moving for over an hour. I know my main character, the secondary characters, the whole beginning and how it ends.

I’m stunned. I could use a glass of wine now but I don’t have any in the house.

*Why do I feel like crying?*

Jan 31

8 Comments

Jenny: First Words

Hello everyone! I’m Jenny, 39, married to Ken since 1988, mom of three sons (18,15, & 7) and one daughter (18 months).

I started writing in the early 90’s after taking Writing for Children, a 2 year course offered through the Institute of Children’s Literature. Patricia Calvert was my instructor and it wasn’t long after completing the program that several of my articles were published in a local magazine. The last time I wrote an article was 2002, when THE FEAR set in.

My greatest hope is to write again, complete projects I started several years ago, and find who I really am as a writer. THE FEAR has paralyzed me all these years… even writing this post fills me with anxiety, knowing others may see the flaws within both my limited typing skills and my thought processes. I try hard to be perfect and in the many areas I fall short I make an effort to at least give the impression that I am. This self-induced stagnation is unbearable. On one hand I’m wasting the creative gift I was given and on the other I doubt/deny the very existance of that gift.

I need to let go, learn to take risks, and accept that it is okay to be human. I need to accept that not everyone will find value in my work and not everyone will be pleased with what I’ve written. I need to accept that I am an adult and the words I write and actions taken by my characters are separate from who I am. If my characters do or say something entirely immoral, that doesn’t mean I am. I can’t write fearing someone else (my parents, my spouse, my children, my God) will be unhappy with me. I’m hoping someone will be able to encourage me in the mentioned areas and help me finally overcome THE FEAR.

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