Procrastination

by Sharon May

 

Here I am drafting a blog on procrastination the Sunday morning of submission day. What are the odds? I committed to writing this a month ago but didn’t start a draft in all that time. Instead, I mulled the topic, considering what to say and how to start. A few days ago, I jotted down ideas I wanted to include, though today I declared them useless.

 

I am a procrastinator of the finest ilk. It is my roadblock to productivity, and I am far from being in recovery. My writing routine is so ingrained that I’m almost convinced it’s my “style.” I mean, it has served me fairly well since high school, having won awards for my work. Notice: I’m just rationalizing.

 

We all have our own methods of avoidance. No fretting on my part, and I may not appear to be procrastinating because I immediately ponder, read, and research the topic as necessary. It’s almost obsessive thinking, as I talk over my ideas over with family and friends, whomever I can corral, and I listen to their thoughts on the subject as well, bouncing them all around in my head until it’s time to sit down at the laptop. No matter the project – long or short, major or minor – I wait until the last minute to write, and even determine how last minute the writing will be by setting a deadline for drafting. Telling me to start early is not really useful as I’m stuck in the beginning.

 

I’ve been writing other works, but not so much that it prevented me from completing this task. So, I’ve taken approximately 28 days to write 500 words. I could have knocked it out on any one of those days. Instead, I surfed the Internet for articles on writers’ procrastinating, watched several men’s and women’s basketball games, and who knows what else I’ve done in that time period beyond the typical activities of living. Then I took a five-day vacation out of town, during which I did no writing.

 

When my deadline arrived, I started my usual avoidance routine -- slept late rather than obey the alarm I had set, had a leisurely breakfast, took care of the cats, and chatted with a couple of friends who are also early risers. At the computer, I fought the urge to clean my workspace, though I couldn’t resist checking my email. Finally, I opened a blank document and begged the muses for words. Fortunately, the muse does finally come and words appear on the page.

 

Procrastination can be a matter of priorities. It’s how we choose to live in the moment, and procrastinators live without considering the consequences. My choices make me less productive than I could be, though I can convince myself that I’m always working. I keep trying to set goals and deadlines to move me to more seat time, but habits are stubborn.

 

How do you measure procrastination?

Confiscating Others’ Experiences

By Sharon May

During last year’s Halloween frenzy, Peggy repeated her story about being required to collect money for UNICEF while politely refusing her neighbors’ sugary treats as commanded by her parents and teachers. Not the Halloween her seven-year-old mind had envisioned, particularly given that she had received candy in previous years.

I’ve heard the story often in our 17 years together, but this time I felt her resentment and connected it to mother-daughter stories she had also told me over the years. When I say Peggy is resentful about being robbed of her Halloween fun, I don’t mean that she remembers being resentful, but that she experiences the same deep emotion she did at seven. With that realization, I began envisioning a short story about deprivation.

I began working on my it, and realized I had drafted a similar plot some 30 years ago that was now languishing in a file drawer after meeting an early death due to my inexperience with life and a lack of craft. I dusted off a draft and read it. The basic premise is that a college professor takes her fiancé home to meet the family she had willingly learned to live without. Her conflict with her mother and their confrontation over old resentments drive the story. Sounds a lot like what I had in mind with Peggy’s story.

So, maybe I didn’t have a new idea, but a resurfacing of an idea I was too young to write about. I guess the idea was being seasoned till the right moment, when I can understand how a 66-year-old slight can endure and shape a person. Had I tried to write it previously, I would have had a confrontation with a 30-year-old woman and 50-year-old mom. I envision the exchanges will be more complex if the women are older. There is something more humorous, as well as sad, if both mom and daughter have to hash out old memories that have been smoldering for years.

No matter how the story turns out, I will always think of it as Peggy’s story as it will have bits and pieces of Peggy in it. The daughter in the story she is a college-educated woman who taught at a small rural, liberal arts college as Peggy did. They are also both from small towns they desperately wanted to, and did happily, escape to make a better life for themselves. Both had troubled relationships with their mothers, though for different reasons and outcomes. Peggy never had a chance to discuss with her mother her experiences or feelings about them, as her mother died young when Peggy was in graduate school.

But there will be lots in the story not based on Peggy because characters come to life on the page and tend to do and say what they want, surprising the author as much as the audience.

A VALEDICTION

By Sharon May

Kentucky author, Ed McClanahan died November 27, 2021. Known for his bawdy sense of humor, he was a character in his own right. After meeting Ken Kesey at Stanford, he became a “Merry Prankster,” which was depicted in Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. He was considered one of the Commonwealth’s best writers, but I knew him better as my first and only creative writing professor, in 1978, my junior year of college. It was dumb luck that I met Ed.

During that first class, I knew he was different from us common folk. He stood at least six feet tall, and his curly shock of blondish/brown hair made him seem even taller. His bushy mustache could not hide his perpetual grin, as if planning his next joke. I can still hear his explosive voice, ricocheting around the small seminar room and blasting its way into the hall. He claimed his volume was the result of dropping a lot of acid.

Usually he read stories aloud, primarily Flannery O’Connor and occasionally Raymond Carver, saying that reading informs writing, and I learned how to listen for the rhythm of the words on the page.

I’m not the first person to have praised him for his ability to create community and inspire other writers. The first words Ed spoke to me beyond roll call were very motivating – “Your writing reminds me of Larry McMurtry. Have you read The Last Picture Show?” In the 1970s, we could hang out with professors at one of the many bars that surrounded campus without a ruckus. Ed had a favorite, and would invite students to continue our discussions about writing over a beer and a bite to eat.

Fellow Kentucky writer and “Merry Prankster,” Gurney Norman came to class for a visit. Much to my surprise, Ed asked him to read aloud my first attempt at a short story. I received high praise for my attempt as well as discussion of strengths and weaknesses, mainly pointing out that I needed to “slow down and let the story tell itself.”

Ed also shared his own writing in class, starting with the short story, “Ennis the Penis,” published in Playboy. He also read parts of his work-in-progress, which would become the novel The Natural Man, a coming of age story of a high school basketball player where the game reigns supreme. That novel took 20 years from inception to publication, driving home for me that sometimes good writing takes more time and effort than we can imagine and that we shouldn’t give up on the stories we are driven to tell.

He didn’t put much stock in evaluations by students, saying we wouldn’t know for years how the course impacted us. I knew then the class provided me with fabulous learning opportunities, but it was quite a while before I realized how he inspired me to keep writing and helped me accept my Kentucky voice.

WRITING GENDER

By Sharon May

There must be numerous badly developed characters written by the opposite gender, considering there are lots of posts online of examples and spoofs of them. Both are comical. What I hope are beginning writers ask in writing forums how they can/should write characters of the opposite sex. All mean well, as they only ask so they can avoid stereotyping. But it makes me wonder what they think characterization is all about.

A few weeks ago when discussing this topic, a writer friend told me she liked Steven King’s works, noting the novel Gerald’s Game showed he could “write women well.” We didn’t discuss particulars, but the comment bugged me just a little. Why wouldn’t he? I really expect writers to be able to write any type of character as we are supposed to be observant. Of course, it is difficult to understand the opposite gender if we don’t spend time with them so we can listen and learn. If that’s not possible, we can learn through reading.

I think I write both male and female characters well. I don’t believe it’s because I’m a lesbian, though that does provide interesting opportunities to learn from both genders. I have no secret knowledge of either. Rather, my ability comes from my belief that we are all humans first. In fact, gender is not even the second defining trait of my characters. They are not interchangeable, but I wouldn’t have to change everything about a character to transform one from male to female.

Honestly, men and women worry about the same issues, have the same troubles, and pretty much want the same things. Yes, our languages may be different, and we may view the world differently because of biology and differing cultural expectations. We should be able to recognize gender in a character, especially if the writer understands society’s expectations in a particular time and place and the characters’ responses to them. (Unless of course, we are bending genders in our work.)

Recently, I heard that the actor currently playing James Bond in the soon-to-be-released version believes there should not be a female Bond because (and I paraphrase) “it would water down the character.” Is he really saying Bond would be less if a woman? I would have thought a female would become Bond. I supposed the actor thinks that Lady Bond would be having a shootout with the bad guys and gals, but have stop to take cookies out of the oven. Actually, I might find it more amazing if she carried out Bond’s feats while cooking, cleaning, and rearing children.

Let’s definitely not fall prey to stereotypes when writing characters who differ from us for any reason, not only gender. We should use common sense about character development. The gender may be different, but the writer’s task is the same: explore the character and their purpose for existing in your work, and then let him or her speak their truths.

REVISION: A NECESSARY EVIL

By Sharon May

“I’ve just finished my novel. Do I need to revise it?” asks one more person on an online writing forum. I know where the inquiry is coming from. You’ve written for weeks, months, or years to produce a first draft, sweating over each carefully chosen word, which could be confused with revising. You’re dead dog tired, and a little bored with the project. You think you’ve given everything you have in your mind and soul. What more can be done?

Actually, more than we can imagine after we first complete a draft. Revising is as necessary as drafting in its requirement to step back from the manuscript and out of ourselves so we can re-visit our work objectively. Revision is decorating the room we just built because without paint and furniture, it won’t be a finished nor enjoyable space.

It is not editing, which should be a final pass for grammar, mechanics, and punctuation at the sentence level. Revising entails some work with sentences, but good writers reconsider plot and sub-plots, character development, organization, structure, themes, voice, coherence, cohesiveness, continuity, etc. The list is endless, meaning that revising is a lot of work and could take as long, if not longer, than drafting took. Who wouldn’t prefer to skip this step?

Proud of our brilliant moments, we really don’t want to take a hard look at our less than brilliant writing. We carry around enough doubt and want to avoid more. Instead of doubting ourselves, we should be proud that we recognized our weaker words and ideas, and yes, even mistakes. Not everyone can objectify their own writing and grasp it from the reader’s perspective.

I don’t consider myself good at revision. A few years ago, I finished my first draft of a novel in progress, and was at a loss. I knew I wasn’t done writing but I just didn’t know what to do. So, I found a professional editor who had worked for a company I’d be proud to have publish my work and hired her to do a developmental edit. It was not cheap, but the help has been priceless like the MasterCard ad says.

The editor asked questions and made comments that piqued my creativity. My reactions to her reading made it possible for me to see what the work in progress could become, which is the point of revision.

With that experience as well as joining Cola II Writers Workshop, I am learning how to see my writing from outside myself, without all the emotional attachment to the words. They really are just words. They may create a wonderful and beautiful mosaic, but they can be tinkered with and improved.

Don’t sell your work short. Revise to discover the best of what you have to offer the reader.

INSPIRATION

By Sharon May

We all have those moments when a jolt of inspiration infuses our writing. A conversation had or overheard, a book read, a sunset seen, anything can inspire us and bring us closer to the spirit of the subjects we tackle. By spirit, I mean that essence of what we are trying to re-create in our writing, those qualities that make the subject different and noteworthy.

Eastern Kentucky mountain landscapes and the inhabitants usually give me that jolt. But trips to see family in 2020 were depressing, not inspirational. I felt the lifelines to my birthplace fading away, and just maybe the Appalachian ways of life were dying too.

The hollow where I visited grandparents and other family and friends no longer exists, having been bulldozed for a new road that will reduce drive time radically between McDowell and Pikeville area. For most of my life, family gatherings included upwards of 30 people. Last year with the pandemic and recent deaths and illnesses, we couldn’t get a foursome for Pinochle.

Last month, I was home to celebrate my dad’s birthday and decorate graves for Memorial Day (in the hills, we celebrate everyone who has died, not just those in military service). Traveling from my parents’ house on US 23 to the two cemeteries up Left Beaver, we moved from “civilization” (what I call the world of fast-food and Walmart) to the reality of Appalachia. Four-laned highways dwindled to one-and-a-half lanes that require someone pull off the road if you meet another car, which in turn become one lane that curls its way up mountains without the benefit of shoulders nor guard rails.

Deep in the mountains where crumbling shacks, some of which are inhabited, sit precariously on mountain sides or in flood plains, I find inspiration. There is beauty, even in those shacks, in the lush greens of summer, constant reminders of the poverty and hopelessness that prevail.

Appalachian people are simultaneously complex and stereotypical, providing me with wonderful characters. We are a quare folk, as we say when we refer to our strange ways and honor code. Imagine waking up from a nap, only to find a middle-aged stranger dressed in all black from cowboy boots to leather cowboy hat sitting in your parents’ dining room, chatting about smoking pot as if he’s known the family all his life. Turns out, he is the new companion of my widowed aunt, and from a family, my dad knows well, having worked his several of his relatives. “Who you kin to?” and “Where are you from?” establish our links to our pasts.

Appalachia has changed, like all of America, as a result of media and transportation, but it is still a unique part of America, a culture with a story to tell. Even as my family shrinks, the hills still stand, and I am inspired.

MEMOIRS ARE HOT

By Sharon May

Memoirs are hot as evidenced in the number being published. How to write one is an even hotter topic in writing communities as evidenced by the number of seminars, classes, and conference sessions offered to help us all cash in. I’m sure all of the presenters have excellent advice to offer, and for some of us, interaction with other writers motivates us to continue writing as well as improve what we have written.

But too often presenters or instructors, and their audiences, want to talk in “rules” or “steps” as if writing a memoir can be a simple task if we just do what is suggested. Now, a would-be memoir writer can buy a template online. The promises of fill-in-the-blank memoirs reminds me of textbooks designed for developmental or remedial composition students in which students would find lines labeled with each part of the essay designating the exact order of the ideas. The students loved them, but they don’t lead to creativity or individuality.

The rules are selected arbitrarily depending on what worked for the presenter. Yes, another writer might find something useful in the rules, but I’d bet an Alaskan goldmine that those rules will not work for every aspect of your writing task.

One rule I heard recently was in a memoir authors should not start with or discuss their birth as one would in an autobiography. This may be useful in many memoirs, but if the circumstances of one’s birth is crucial to understanding the author’s life or struggles, then important aspects of birth should be included.

Reflection on one’s life is essential in a memoir so it’s simply not autobiography. Some “how to” guides suggest that a certain percentage of the text should focus on reflections as if the book is like a pie to be divided up amongst the parts. I agree that reflection is crucial to give meaning to the events, but I don’t think the measurement of how much is included is nearly as important as the quality of the ideas and helping readers connect the experiences to their own lives.

Placement of reflection is often discussed in that many suggest that readers expect a thesis-like statement early in a section or chapter to reveal the point. It seems that the reflection could work well at the end of the section since many of us don’t discover the point until we have explored and written about the events. Yes, in revision, we can create a thesis statement to be included early, but I don’t think it’s always necessary to do that. Readers can follow the path of discovery along with the author as it builds to the end.

I do think guidance from others who have written memoirs is a vital way to learn, but sometimes the best memoirs break the rules and are formed organically in the author’s writing task.

WHY WRITE?

By Sharon May

I see writers on Facebook ask why we decided to write. Most answers are meant to be humorous. Serious responses tend to be cryptic statements about muses and speaking one’s truth. So what makes us get on the creative rollercoaster we call writing?

Many writers are motivated by money as some are trying to supplement their incomes, others want to make a living, and others expect a fortune from publishing and marketing their writing.

I guess most can successfully pad their bank accounts. I made several thousand for several years after publishing with four other authors a Freshman composition textbook. For those who need to make a living or a fortune, I commend you since there are much easier and reliable ways to make money. I think we determined that “our hourly wage” for the textbook was less than a dollar.

Fame or at least a stroke of the ego in having their work published motivates some of us. I admit there is a thrill and a sense of accomplishment when seeing our name on a book cover. How much fame writers have is severely limited by a society that doesn’t truly value Art. That printed book or internet post may exist long after we are dead, and posthumous recognition can still come. Don’t know if dead authors can know that kind of fame.

External rewards, like fame and fortune, might be earned, but most of us must write for more intrinsic reasons. Do we awaken one day and say “I’m going to be a writer”? Maybe, but more than likely, we toss the idea around as we read books that spark a drive to create a book of our own. We desire to see if we can sustain that drive to finish something bigger than we are.

The love of playing with words motivates many of us. Amy Tan claims she can spend hours working with a single word or sentence to make the best choice she can. One the other hand, we love when the words come easily, like manna from heaven, as we sit for hours without awareness of the world around us. The feeling of satisfaction comes from our struggles and our triumphs in trying to create meaning out of the words we choose.

Writing can be a calling, either from one’s own soul or from an external creator or muse. This calling can be tough to fulfill as we try to find the time in our lives to write while we finish educations, hold down jobs, care for family. But once we make time for writing, the act and process can bring joy.

I am motivated by all these reasons, but let’s not forget that writing is fun. Yes, that task that haunts us, that consumes our time and energy, is fun. We play while escaping or revealing the world we inhabit. Fun is the immediate gratification. Enjoy it because the other goals may not appear for years, if at all.

MAKING the STORY COME ALIVE

By Sharon May

A friend of mine, who has read much of my novel in progress, loves the main character Lafe Yates. Once, he told me he saw a man whom he imagined looked like Lafe. My friend said, “He dressed just as I imagined he would. If only I could have heard him speak, I know he would have talked just like you wrote his words.” Ironically, I don’t describe Lafe in detail. But I have given readers enough to have a clear image of him.

Description is crucial but needs to be woven into the story, not plunked down wherever the writer remembers to add it. In my early writing, I would find myself describing for a while, particularly at the beginnings of chapters, only to realize paragraphs or even pages later I had left character development and plot behind, so I would stop describing. Thus there was no clear structure nor flow in the writing.

Realists believed everything and everyone should be described in minute detail if reality is to be recreated in words. Thus, 1,000 page novels. Most readers don’t need or want that much detail. At times when reading another author, I find myself skim-reading hunks of description that seem to go nowhere nor add to the story. Detail overload can be confusing and a mite boring, particularly for the 21^st century reader.

When describing, try for a balance in how much you guide readers to see the world your way and how much they are expected to rely on their imagination.

If you give lots of attention to an object or character, then the reader will place an equal amount of value on that aspect of the story. Readers can finish a work and wonder, “What happened with that teacup the author spent a page describing in chapter two?” If it has nothing to do with the story or theme, don’t give it much attention, no matter how brilliant your words.

Description also helps control the passing of time in a story. If you want the pace to be slow, more description can help create that sensation. Think Moby-Dick as Ishmael lures the reader onto the ship and out to sea, then dives deep into describing everything there is to know about whales and whaling. Hundreds of pages later, the story ends with a rush of plot. Melville’s pacing can make readers feel as if they have been on the ship for months looking for Ahab’s white whale. That is if the reader actually reads all of those words. Most don’t.

To 21^st century reader, every word matters. They usually expect concise but vivid details in a fast-paced read as they live in a world of sound-bites and media overload. Doesn’t mean you can’t describe all the teacups in your opus. Some readers love the challenge of lengthy books. I, for one, have read every word of Moby-Dick more times than I can remember. Just exposing my love of everything Melville.

FRUSTRATION with WRITING

By Sharon May

I have had a tough time writing a blog. In fact, I wrote half of one and trashed it. Figure if I was bored writing it, you’d be bored reading. Instead, I decided to just spew forth my mixed feelings about writing and delve into why I am struggling to keep my butt in the seat.

I love to write. You know, the actual time and energy spent putting words on paper throughout the process, or even just thinking about the characters, plot twists and turns, nice turns of phrase, and spiffy dialogue. I find both great peace and renewal when I can concentrate on playing with language.

Since I am getting closer to finishing my novel, I decided to learn more about what I needed to do to get published. Unfortunately, what I learned was I hate the “business of writing,” which means everything I have to do to publish and sell my works.

Of course, I want to be published, sold, and enjoyed by readers. I don’t want to do what it takes to make that happen. Every time I find myself thinking of “fan base,” “Internet identity,” and “query letter,” my shoulders tense and I squirm in my chair.

It’s the same reason I didn’t get an MBA. Not the least bit interested in reading about business. I learned accounting at my father’s knee, and spent almost 20 years working in the field. I enjoyed it and stopped only because I knew my true calling was teaching composition.

While learning about publishing, I lost my motivation to write, especially for my long works in progress. I have written some shorter pieces so it’s not like all my drive is shot. But time is a-wasting, as people say in the hills of Kentucky.

But it’s not like I can ignore as aspects of the business of writing. Some work needs to be done in the late stages of writing a longer work to be positioned to publish and sell the work. That’s the
quandary. How do I do just enough of the business end without interfering with my writing?

Obviously, I need a staff to help with or even do those tasks, preferably who works pro bono or who will gamble on my future. Of course, I’ve considered having Peggy do more than be an early-draft reader, but she’s so busy I hate to ask more of her. However, her “politicking” should require less of her time. A millennial friend of mine needs to learn how to do what I need done on the Internet, and we are in negotiations.

Intellectually, I know what to do overcome my frustration. I have to write and ignore the future or there won’t be anything to publish. The advice to live in the moment can’t be overstated.

Write on!

WRITING the NEXT LINE

By Sharon May 

Imagine me with one joint recovering from surgery and another one prepping for surgery. My right arm braced in Velcro and Neoprene from fingers to pert nigh the elbow after breaking my arm just above the wrist. Left foot in a funky pair of shoes made of more Velcro and Neoprene, rendered even more attractive by a yellow caution sock given as a thanks by the hospital. “Might come in handy,” my frugal wife said as we packed. I am a poster child for orthopedics. 

While laid up, I, like a Nathaniel Hawthorne character, mulled over my life to determine what I had done wrong to require so many surgeries. Then I considered the lessons from these experiences. I decided the gods are determined I become left handed and master speech recognition software. My introduction to Dragon occurred a couple of years ago when I first had my dominant wrist fused. I learned the basics and managed to put a few pages out, but abandoned it as soon as I healed. It will be useful in emergencies, I thought, not imagining having further damage to my hand. 

When really bored or avoiding writing, I will pick up my copy of “Dragon for Dummies” to explore what I don’t know. Facing the computer, all that reading proves useless as learning anything related to computers requires hands-on experiences for me. So I muddle through. 

Speaking to the computer is not the same as typing. The brain, at least my brain, functions differently with the two tasks. 

I think faster when typing. Part of the problem is that the program and I don’t yet communicate well. My wife has complained for years I mumble, and now I have a computer agreeing with her. At this point, about 80% of my words are transcribed correctly on paper. Dialect drives the Dragon to produce words nowhere near what I said.   

Now I’m so paranoid that I’m not enunciating correctly, I concentrate on the screen more than about what comes next. So, I correct at least a fifth of the page in the process. Who knows how many thoughts I’ve lost during that time? 

Oddly, after hours of putting words on paper by speaking, I don’t feel like I’ve written anything. There’s no energy nor renewal that I usually get while typing my words. Used to be the fingers were tired, cramped up, and needing a break. Now I’m just thirsty. 

Usually, I can play with language and sentence patterns. Now, my mind becomes sluggish. I end up frustrated, which further interferes with writing. Time may solve this, or I may have to become a one-handed typist. I hope the brain is soon free again to explore words and create worlds as if on a space ship speeding through time and space. 

 

BREAKING WRITER’S BLOCK

By Sharon May

Writer’s block is one’s inability to move to the next phase of the process. The writer is stuck. Is it a mental or emotional problem? Really doesn’t matter unless we believe deep analysis will fix it. By the way, it may help but it won’t cure us. Actions help us break though the block. 

Remember that job you hated? Did you ever get blocked while at work and unable to perform the next action regardless of what was going on in your mind? Probably not. We turn on auto-pilot and do our best. 

Auto-pilot and acting as a writer break a block. If you have a writing routine, you need to follow it, and if not, create one, at least temporarily. Routines are important because they train us to respond in a certain way. In this case, we start to write despite ourselves. 

Whether I produce words or not on a given day, I follow my routine. Hygiene, breakfast, set goals over a glass of unsweetened tea, go to the office, sit at the computer, and type. Something. It really doesn’t matter what during the first few attempts to break through to good writing. Just keep writing. If you can’t write at that moment, maybe it’s time to organize your pens. Any mindless task will help prepare for writing. 

Most writers try to avoid writing when they are blocked. That’s like trying to learn how to play the drums without ever touching the drums. Others wait on the muse to provide them with magical writing that doesn’t require revision, editing, or the hard work required for good writing. We all need and have a writer’s toolbox to rely on when the muse isn’t cooperating. The tools writers use include everything from reading to writing exercises to brainstorming with other writers. 

The longer writer’s block goes the more writers doubt their talent. This is when we need to separate skill from talent, and focus on practicing skills as you draft. Apply your talent in revision and editing. 

When stuck, writers want it to be a linear process. At times we have to think in other geometric forms – circles and spirals are good. Draft a character study. Plot out the end though you are miles away from it. Such plans are not set in stone. They are goals. Sometimes they get replaced by better plans along the way to the end. 

A key to overcoming a block is accepting what words do come. Maybe it’s an idea for a new story, not the novel you have been working on for years. Don’t fear, taking a respite from a project is good, giving the mind time to incubate and resolve issues. You will be re-energized to come back to the earlier project. 

The worst idea for curing writer’s block is to stop writing. Sometimes you have to spew garbage to purge the system. A block can lead to renewal if you don’t let it destroy you.  

 

 

I HAVE an IDEA for a STORY!

By Sharon May 

We hear (or say) that all the time. Just what we’ve been looking for. We savor the moment, and then realize someone else already used it. How can we put a twist on a common plot line and make a story like no other? Don’t want to waste ideas. Some writers say we can run out of ideas.

 Where do they come from? Some writers swear their muse takes care of that task. Others keep scraps of ideas stuck in books and corners of desks. Just in case the muse is on vacation, I like believing there are sources for us to mine.

The perceived world around us is one source. We hear bits of conversations and want the whole story. We see someone whose image sticks with us, and becomes a character. We smell Grandma’s house though it’s long gone. We touch a lover and remember others. We take a bite of an exquisite dessert and taste the individual ingredients.

 The imagination is the mind at work. We dream, create things that may or may not exist in the exterior world. We mull over and examine a thought or image from every angle. We toy with this and that until we can articulate an idea.

 The most amazing source is the soul, where ideas haunt us until they are through with us. The soul’s ideas that must be written and is often a story only we can tell. You know the one – it’s that novel that you spent most of your life writing.

Getting an idea is only the beginning. Ideas have to be expanded into plots, characters, settings, dialogue, conflicts, themes. The story has to be built the same way a house comes out of a design.

What happens when the idea grows away from us and we lose control? I wrote a 4-page story last year on an idea I got from a real-life incident of a package which contained a child’s gift being stolen out of a car and then given to the thief’s son for his birthday. I thought it finished but the idea wouldn’t be quiet.

I began revising it, filling in the gaps and discovering lots about the characters and their relationship. Suddenly the boy’s mom appeared. I had thought her long gone if not dead. At first, she led me to believe she would die from a drug overdose. She had plans of her own. Sixteen pages later, I’m still revising by letting the characters and plot evolve without my interference. The thief still gives the boy the stolen gift as in the original, but that’s the only similarity.

Sometimes when we are stymied, it may well be that we are trying to control the story and characters too much. We may have to give up micro-managing, and let the idea expand into the story it wants to tell.

 

 

THE RUSH to PUBLISH

By Sharon May

To learn about using social media as a writer, I started following some writing groups on Facebook and Instagram. On one group, I noticed many questions from group members that make me wonder about their critical thinking and decision-making skills. I try not to be judgmental, but some of the questions make me shake my head.

“Where or how do I start?” This is usually accompanied by “I’ve always wanted to be a writer.” Reminds me of my students who think writing is a magical, yet formulaic task. There is no one, simple answer for such questions. “It depends…” is the only way to start an honest answer. And beginners don’t find that response satisfying, preferring a standard, fill-in-the-blanks recipe.

 

Respondents to beginner questions really don’t have much of a grasp on the nuances of writing either. Just this morning, one writer said he had completed a plot outline, but wasn’t sure what to do next. Most respondents advised him to start at the beginning. Maybe that will work, maybe not. Depends once again.

 

Most of these exchanges reveal that many writers haven’t yet honed the craft. Being from Appalachia, I grew up around storytellers and I am talented one, but I have to learn to be a writer. We all come to the profession with some talents and ambition, but the majority of us have to work hard to get a good product ready for publication. For some of us, that takes years. I’ve seen many comments bragging about how few days it took to write a book as if writing were simply a race to publication.   

One Facebook commenter said she had finished her novel, and asked if she “had to edit.” Really? For the love of writing, you should edit unless you plan to publish a draft, which brings me to my next point. There is too much trash being published because for many, the lure of money and the thrill of being published are more important than the quality of the writing.

Many writers don’t spend the time doing the hard work. Instead, they want the words to leap magically from brain to screen. Sometimes the words may come like that, but rarely for an entire book. And, what if it did come that quickly? I would think you’d still need to edit. I know the “magic stuff” I wrote during my earlier attempts to become a writer is quite horrible. 

To finish a work, writers must read and research (By research, I don’t mean asking Facebook pals.), write and write some more, then revise and edit repeatedly. Even after all that work, there is usually more to be done if we want to be respected authors. 

If you plan to publish, you need to devote time and energy to the craft and make every effort to produce the best writing you can. You owe the reader that much. 

 

 

THINKING about WRITING

By Sharon May


I imagine professional writers sitting for long hours each day, pounding out words. Actually, most writers have other obligations and have to squeeze writing in when they can. I have reduced my commitments quite a bit, especially during the COVID-19 period. But I still word-process for only three or four hours a day. However, my mind really never stops writing.

As Eugene Ionesco says, “A writer never has a vacation. For a writer, life consists of either writing or thinking about writing.” The phrase “thinking about writing” isn’t simply the mental beating yourself up to get started writing, which is what we hear from beginning or struggling writers. It is important not to let that be the only type of thinking you do. Instead, the mind should still be intensely focused on how to produce a well-written product, even far from the computer.

Once you start writing or working on an idea, then the mind becomes a little obsessed. Characters follow you when you leave the computer behind for a while. Conflicts play out in your head as you watch the six o’clock news. When you lie down to sleep, thinking about writing seems to take over completely. Characters make noise sometimes to the point of keeping you awake.

Other times, you may write while dreaming and wake up with an answer to a problem. I have a friend who writes poetry in his sleep. He will wake up with lines for a poem, and simply jot them down on a notepad by his bed. Occasionally, the dreamy writing is so good that he heads to the office immediately.

I don’t write in my sleep, but I do think best in a prone position in a recliner, on the bed, or on the couch. When I’m working out voices for a narrator or working on the scenes needed to drive the plot, I don’t write out all possibilities, I first think deeply about them first. At times, I have had to figure out what to write next so often or for so long, that Peggy worries I’m sleeping too much. The cats, however, prefer me to lie down, but hate it when I suddenly jump up to start word processing once I have solved my writing problem.

When thinking about writing, the biggest problem is how to retain ideas. As many of you know, sometimes the best ideas come in the shower and when driving. Be sure to keep an audio recorder or notebook with you. A friend bought me a waterproof notebook. If you have nothing to record your ideas, try repeating the key words until you are able to write them down. The more you practice just “thinking,” the more apt you are to remember the ideas and wording for longer periods of time.

For me, this the most productive aspect of my writing process, and it leads to better writing. I hope you “think” productively too.

MORE on DIALECT

By Sharon May

Recently, I’ve had two occasions to discover more about dialect. First, I “zoomed in” on the SCWA Summer Series, which addressed dialogue, and naturally, the conversation turned to dialect. Second, I received a critique of a chapter of my novel. The reviewer suggested I limit the use of dialect. On both occasions, I realized many people think dialect is best found, or only found, in dialogue and in alternate spellings. That is a too simplified and limited interpretation of dialect.

I have learned over the past 60 years that readers and listeners of English apparently believe there is no dialect being used if the tale is told in Standard American English. Not being flippant, but that is a dialect, and actually, the privileged dialect, and thus, preferred by editors, publishers, and maybe even readers because that is what they are most used to.  

After trying to read William Faulkner or James Joyce, most people may hate works that are written in other dialects. These authors take on the task of writing phonetic spellings, which complicates the readers’ task even more.

My narrators, who are also characters, have unique (I hope) voices, each using a form of eastern Kentucky Appalachian English. Note that someone from the mountains of Maine will have a different dialect than someone from my hometown, though both are geographically Appalachian. A speaker in Maine is apt to speak quickly, and often use run-ons, while Kentucky hillbillies tend to mumble at about medium to slow speed, and like my narrator Lafe drop words and thus, have more fragments.

Dialect is more than just some odd pronunciations and spellings. I tend not to use phonetic spellings, which the reviewer suggested as an alternative, since they can mark the narrators/speakers as lower class and/or uneducated, which are both stereotypes of hillbillies.

Dialect is also about word choice, colloquialisms, and sentence structure, which mirror the way a character or narrator thinks and engages with other characters and the audience. Lafe has a tendency to drop first-person pronouns at the beginning of sentences. The reviewer suggested no one really talks like that and thus somewhat distracting.

I know several people who speak, write, and I assume, think the way Lafe does. While I may reduce how often he drops words, I do plan to use this pattern for his voice. It is the way he thinks and speaks. Sounds weird, but he’s been that way since the first time he spoke to me.

The use of dialect isn’t simply to establish characters’ speech, but to immerse us in new worlds. My goal for the novel is to depict eastern Kentucky as it was in the 1980s. To do so, I want to create authentic voices to emphasize the diversity and complexity of the region. That requires the use of dialect to its fullest extent.

Read Morrison’s The Bluest Eye and McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove for examples of effective use of dialect.  

THE FINE LINE

By Sharon May

Feedback is the goal for attending a writer’s workshop. We want to know what is effective and not effective in our drafts. After a couple of sessions in a workshop, the writer can begin to predict what aspects of craft most matter to their particular readers. One reader may look at structure of the plot, another word choice, and another character development, etc.

Does that knowledge then lead the author to write to the idiosyncrasies of the group? I will admit that a few times, I’ve thought that X will not like this, or Z would go crazy if I didn’t change that. Is that a detriment or a benefit to the work? Could go either way.

We don’t have to change anything readers suggest or complain about. We are in control of the work. How do we determine which suggestions we use? Are we partial to the critiques of certain readers? Or, do we use the “let’s see how many agree” method of selection?

Generally, I follow the advice of readers because they usually are “spot-on.” Not to say there haven’t been a few times I have tried something to see how it fits, and then decided the suggestion didn’t work with my writing goals.

If we do alter our work based on the critic, is it really the writer’s work or a collaboration? I don’t mean criticism on grammar and mechanics, nor simply changing a word or phrase here and there. I mean changes that alter structure, character, plot, setting, etc.

Recently, a writer friend asked I ever considered having Henry Olsen tell the story of his brother’s Frank’s death in the novel I am revising. That question stoked my imagination, and the more I thought about it the more I liked it, particularly when I realized that change would allow me to introduce a sub-plot I had been considering. I decided to draft the idea though I was already half-way through this revision. Now, whose novel is it? Mine or ours?

We read each other’s work willingly and with pure intentions of just helping. Changing, yes, but not owning. Probably the critic/reader just triggered something inside the writer’s unconscious or subconscious which caused her to look at the work in a new way? I know I struggled with other narrators telling the story of Frank’s death in the barroom fight. I wasn’t satisfied until I let Henry narrate.

Some writers avoid workshopping because they are afraid of losing control – of the work, and thus, their own identity. Does communicating with a beta reader make me a sellout to art? I don’t think so. The craft and art of writing lies in my skills. A suggestion can be taken or left on the table. But if something strikes my fancy, I am certainly not going to ignore it because it didn’t originate with me. I will make it mine as I integrate it into the work I’m creating.

WRITING in a PANDEMIC

By Sharon May

Some people are hurriedly drafting works about living in a pandemic. You may be one of them. Occasionally, the thought crosses my mind. Then, I remind myself a few weeks experience isn’t enough to write about. Best to keep a journal and consider writing about it when it’s over, assuming we survive it, and when I have had time to reflect on the “so what” of the experience.

Regardless of what you like to write, I do hope you’re writing something. It obviously can be difficult to do so in times of personal and world turmoil. In 1991, I was supposed to be drafting a thesis for graduate school, and the Iraqi war began. You may remember it: a “live” broadcast on the news, the first time for a war and, so far, the last. My classmates and I couldn’t stop watching, ignoring the fact that we should have been writing. Fortunately, the live battles didn’t last more than a few days, and we returned to our work.

Despite knowing better, I am, at times, more interested in COVID-19 than I am with the hard work of revising a novel. I try to limit how much news I watch, which helps me not to become obsessed. Doesn’t mean I am devoting my spare time to writing.

A fellow writer, and coincidently a classmate who watched the war with me, says the pandemic could be a gift to writers: a mandate to stay at home, lock oneself in a room, and produce reams of work. A wonderful gift if you have the ability to distance yourself from reality and lose yourself in your writing.

But how many of us have that luxury? Some of us are too distracted by the pandemic, too worried about their health. Then there are those tracking down toilet paper, home schooling, cooking meals for the first time in years, sharing space with family that used to be theirs exclusively. Children and animals may want more time and attention, and after all, who can resist that? Then, there are those who are working more hours than ever as “essential employees.”

Even stuck safely at home during a pandemic, we truly do find ourselves with the same daily demands that we must, or can, choose over our writing. We struggle to juggle schedules, to find a quiet time to write regardless of what is going on around us. That is the life of writers. A pandemic just magnifies the demands on artists.

But now is the time to write and create. Consumers are turning to the arts as entertainment while safe at home. And, you could probably use the distraction.

If the muse has left the room, as I’ve said before in other blogs, the key is to write something down on paper (or keyboard as the case may be). Doesn’t matter what you write at all. Eventually, the muse will join you.

EXPLOSIVE WRITING

By Sharon May

I have enjoyed reading quotations since I was a child, reading them just like I read the World Book Encyclopedia. Bored in elementary school, I figured I better educate myself through reading as much as I could. I was drawn by the succinct nature of quotations, fascinated by the authors’ ability to establish a philosophy or world view in just a few words. When I was looking for ideas for this week’s blog, I turned to quotations on writing for inspiration. Wasn’t long before I found one whose complexity and imagery intrigued me.

In Zen and the Art of Writing, Ray Bradbury describes his writing process in this way: “Every morning I jump out of bed and step on a landmine. The landmine is me. After the explosion, I spend the rest of the day putting the pieces together.”

The author “jumps out of bed” each day, seemingly approaching his work with excitement and anticipation. Most of us realize that feeling as we plan what we want to accomplish and know that day is going to be productive. We are all optimistic – as we approach the writing task.

Bradbury quickly throws us for a loop as he steps “on a landmine,” and experiences the violence of writing in that realities are created and exploited, words are brought to life, then revised and often abandoned. Ironically, writing isn’t the landmine, the writer is. It’s like we have to destroy ourselves during the writing task to be good writers.  

The question arises: Is the violence of stepping on landmines positive or negative? If the explosion and the act of “putting the pieces together” leads to productivity and a better written product, then it’s obviously positive. However, that explosion may trigger doubts, frustration, hesitation, and “blocks.” Bradbury might be implying that the writer can get in his way of writing. He could also be implying that that reshaping of the writer’s mind can lead to creativity.

Whatever Bradbury means, the quote reminds me of how I feel during the revision process. Whenever I write, I have a tendency to revise during drafting. I will think of words for a sentence, and halfway through typing it, I decide a word doesn’t work or the sentence needs to be restructured. No matter how much I try to just write, I can’t help but revise during the drafting process.

Once I have a draft, then “real” revision occurs, and it is often a violent revision, cutting words and scenes, changing dialogue and modifying characters, adding new chunks of material. Sometimes, I have a draft of 20 pages, and once I’m done revising, I only have 10 pages of good writing. This necessary step is like “putting the pieces together.”

In the end, I find Bradbury’s words, particularly the violent metaphor, disturbing and freeing. He and I find the work of writing, both in our heads and on paper, difficult and destructive, but ultimately satisfying. Like Bradbury, I keep stepping on the “landmine.”  

 

A WRITING EMERGENCY

By Sharon May

Don’t mean to be morbid, but, inevitably, I will die, and I worry I won’t attain my writing goals. Health and age are bummers. What can be done about that? Write as quick as hell, I figure.

Whenever I write with intensity, I have an emergency, often medical. I have been writing with constant pain in my right wrist for four years. After three surgeries, it may be gone. Success? Not so fast, my gremlins remind me.

Almost recovered from December’s surgery, I hurt my right hand. Don’t have a clue how, but I severely bruised the hand, which has a metal plate from knuckle to arm, so as to prevent the wrist from bending. Did it in my sleep by turning over on the hand or sleeping on it, the ER doctor thinks. Bruising is temporary, but I lost a week’s worth of writing.

I also ruptured a tendon in my right ring finger. Not a clue what I was doing in my sleep. Air typing maybe? The tendon can be fixed with surgery. Not doing that since I have the ability to push down on the keyboard. Can’t lift the finger up completely, but how necessary is that? The finger hurts when typing. Fortunately, not yet enough to stop me.

The injury has me thinking of a time to come when I could be incapable of typing. I considered that a possibility with the second surgery. I bought a version of Dragon Speak, which I used during my recovery. After that, I drifted away from it. Time to wake up the dragon.

If you have ever used this program, you know there is a learning curve for both user and program. I had to set up the program for my hillbilly accent. Note: that wasn’t a choice in the program, and I selected southern English. Not quite the same. Also, had to learn commands to punctuate, set up a page, format numbers, and so on. Had to speak slowly to match the computer’s speed, which is a bit of a problem as I apparently think and speak faster than it interprets. There was always a rather long lapse between my speaking and the words appearing on the screen.

The program has to learn as well. Recognizing accents and enunciations is important, and sometimes the program doesn’t get it. One time, I said “initiation,” but “consideration” appeared. Not even close. Then there is the lexicon of Appalachia with lots of archaic words and unique idioms rarely in the program’s dictionary. For example, I had to add “quare.” I understand all of this will get quicker with experience but it does take time from writing. Remember, time is the big worry.

As you know, time flies by. Seems to move faster every year. In retrospect, I would have treated my writing with more urgency. Can’t change that. But I can devote my time to writing now, as well as find assistive technology to keep me on track.