Find the Write Mind

I recently began reading John Fowles’ The French Lieutenants Woman. From page one I have been struck by his versatility with language, being enveloped by the world he is creating. This is the type of novel that inspires to get back to the keyboard to create stories of my own.

That said, I really wanted to tell you about his book, The Magus. I read it last summer while on vacation in Rehoboth Beach, DE and was completely taken in by it! Here are some quotes from other fans of the book:

“Filled with shocks and chilling surprises, The Magus is a masterwork of contemporary literature.”

“This book gets under your conscious mind and toys with your perceptions, and in the end, ensures that you no longer take anything quite for granted anymore.”

“A mind game from start to finish.”

“The suspense level is high, the emotional distress level is intense-this is a wrenching book. The meek and easily offended would be wise to seek refuge elsewhere.”

All said, pick up a copy and see for yourself!

- Kirk

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Okay, forever and a day since I’ve posted here and I’m sure my faithful followers are lost at sea, despairing at ever finding their way through the choppy waters of their minds to let ink flow on paper (or bits to disk).

But I have been writing. Not so much on the fiction end though. It’s very strange.

I recently moved from a sales position with my company to overseeing sales, marketing and operations. So now I’m finishing writing sales copy for my first marketing campaign. So instead of making up stories I’m telling stories associated with my company’s products and services.

So today I’m here to say - writing is writing. Any time were using the written language to communicate we’re honing our skills.

What I’m currently learning is:

• Persuasive writing. This carries over into the fact that writing has to catch the reader’s attention, whatever the situation.
• Story telling is important. Stories are one of the best ways to capture attention.
• Editing. There is no room for unnecessary words.

I do wish I had more time on my hands for fiction writing but my internship (for a Masters in Counseling Psychology) is about halfway done, which means three days a week are fourteen hour days. Just the way it is. But the finish line is on the horizon (December) and I’m sure by 2009 I’ll be back on schedule.

So for the rest of you, keep at it!

- Kirk

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I’ve been having another attack of the ‘just quit writing’ bug.

At the moment I’m working my normal forty hour job plus I’ve added twenty hours of a graduate school internship. That means three days per week (Tues, Thurs, Fri) I’m totally fourteen hour days. Monday nights I have an hour and a half online class. Saturdays I have a six-hour shift for the internship.

I also have other interests and commitments…my marriage being one of the biggies!

So how do I keep up with the writing?

Well, I think the best thing about writing is that it can be done with an segment of time. Whether it’s fifteen minutes bits here and there or four hour lengths I can put something down on the page if I just keep that as a priority.

My main goal is to keep from getting discouraged.

Here is my three step action plan for the moment:

1. Commit thirty minutes each morning to write.
2. Post once a week here.
3. Reread The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield

Hopefully that’ll keep me writing!

- Kirk

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There are times when life just gets in the way. It could be a major illness, a sudden move, or making too many commitments. Whatever the case, one day you realize it’s been days since you put words to paper…and that’s when the discouragement kicks into overdrive.

When I fall off my schedule, there’s always the thought that maybe I should stay off schedule and find another way to use my time. The answer I’ve found is extremely simple.

I just pick up where I left off.

I’ve recently had one of those pauses in writing, mainly due to being swamped with class assignments. But tomorrow is the last day of this course and everything will be turned in. So Sunday I’ll get back into my routine, allotting time each morning to my writing.

It’ll just be a matter of sitting down with the thought, ‘Now, where was I…?’

- Kirk

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I’ve been using this little tip when I get stuck.

Often I have characters and a situation but I get lost in the middle, wondering where I’m going. The plot threads unravel and the infinite number of possibilities is overwhelming.

So I’ve found it useful to jump ahead to the desired outcome. I tend to have beginning and end pieces in my head when I write so it’s great to set out where I know the characters are going to finish. Then I can work backward, asking myself, “Ok, they’ve just managed to blow up the base and save the day. How did they blow up the base? How did they get to the base?”

Just those two bits alone can propel me back onto the story’s path and push me past the resistance. Maybe it can help you too.

- Kirk

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I get distracted. Way too easily. Sometimes it just takes a little…hey, I didn’t know I had that book on my shelf!

That’s exactly what I mean. There are two primary forms of distraction for me.

The first are externals. Sleep, work, school, fun, or hobbies can cut into the bit of time I’ve set aside. It’s important to keep my priorities in mind and maintain focus.

Focus is also needed when the second distraction hits - another writing topic. Actually being consistent seems to stoke the creative muse, but my muse can definitely have multiple-personality disorder. I’m humming along nicely and all of a sudden it’s “Hey, what about this book idea!? That movie plot you had last year about quantum physics gerbils was great! There’s that snippet of a blues song you scribbled on a 3 x 5 card - finish that instead!”

The response is easy. Just stick to my goal, chipping away a bit every morning. Focus on the writing and edit out the distractions.

- Kirk

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Certainly way too long since my last post, but I do have two reasons.

The not-so-good reason is that I’m in grad school and am in the middle of an online class. So now I work full time, read for class, post on discussion boards, work on assignments, maintain the other commitments I already have, etc. So when am I going to have time to jot down a blog entry?

Anytime, really. I still have time each week to scribble a little something about the writing life. As I often have to remind myself, no excuses.

The best reason I have for not posting…(drumroll)…I’ve been writing! This year I’ve been fairly successful in being committed to writing every morning before anything else (not counting getting a cup of coffee). In doing so I’ve let the blog slip a bit. But again, I do have the time so I’m going to squeeze it all in.

That said, here’s my tip to pass along: Recommit often. I’m going to try to pause before each week to review my schedule and recommit to my writing. Ah, the power of choice!

- Kirk

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Yes, I concede, the title is a bit misleading. I am not saying that my writing is wonderful, leaping from fingers to keyboard with ease, dazzling its way onto the screen, ready for a swarm of agents to fight over such a prized piece of perfection.

I am saying that sometimes I cannot write anything at all because I fear it’ll be terrible. And writing that sucks is better than no writing at all.

I am not exactly sure of the source of my dread nor how to overcome it fully but I will make a few guesses and pose some actions.

My upbringing was definitely a training in predictability, like a programmer’s ‘if-then’ statement. Go to school, stay out of trouble, believe in God and I will have a well-paying job I like, a good marriage and a belief in God. Writing in no way whatsoever fits into this paradigm. There has not yet been a day when the result of the time I put into writing for a day was what I had planned in my mind when I first sat down. It’s more like jumping off a cliff and planning to grasp a branch on the way down, or what looks like a branch from up here. Some days it’s just the fall.

Delayed gratification is not at the top of my favorites list. I like now - getting things now, having my results now, being in the now. So for days on end I pile together strings of words, phrases which seem to barely pass as the English language, unable to receive the reward of praise, publication or pay. And being a beginner in the field, those results may be years off…if ever.

It’s embarrassing to admit that my mental critic succeeds in berating me all to often. The two conditions mentioned above provide the perfect groundwork for the attack, the malicious suggestion that I should ‘give up’ and move back to goals that have predictable, very short paths to them.

What do I do now?

I need to put in the time on a regular basis. For example, this morning’s span was spent, for the most part, staring at my computer screen and turning certain story components over and over in my mind, only producing half a page before it was time to head to work. Even so, the thought pattern and conclusion I came to regarding one character’s role is extremely valuable. So for me the time is important, regardless of word count.

I also need community. I need voices that encourage me to write. I need fellow artists who share their own creative journey. I need to hear other stories of struggle, failure and success. I need those people and their presence to overwhelm the critic within. So I am currently in the process of inviting select people into my process (this is one of those ways) and also investigating other avenues to connect with other writers.

My hope is that I will write and that my writing will suck. And that will be okay, because we all know there’s still editing to do.

~ Kirk

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I hate making New Year’s resolutions.

I don’t do it anymore. There are two reasons that I ceased that practice. One is simply that January is an arbitrary marker of time and I’ve found that my birthday, when I have another full year’s worth of days under my belt, is a better occasion for personal reflection. The other is that I was never able to stick to my resolutions.

Every year I would go through a list of character defects I’d want to overcome, projects that I would like to finish, people with whom I’d like to connect…and screenplays or novels I’d like to write. And every year, somewhere around March if I was lucky, the realization would hit that I was off course, missing the mark, and I would throw my hands up in surrender and slide back into the well worn behavioral tracks previously known.

This is still a pattern I experience, even when using my birthday as a start date. When I was reflecting on writing this post, I realized I could share two insights on why I fail. Use them as you will.

1. Unrealistic Goals: Often my resolutions emerge as grand, life-changing plans which are way beyond anything I should expect. It may be more reasonable to not expect goal completion within the next year, which means I need to break it down so that I don’t have to wait for five years before seeing results. Also, there are goals that have aspects over which I have no control. For example, if I finish a screenplay, setting a goal of “selling” it may be impossible, as I have little control over the person on the other end of that process who makes that choice. A better goal may revolve around number of submissions per month and my work on the next project. I need to create goals that I can achieve within the time frame I give myself.

2. Vague Goals: How often have I thrown out “write a novel” as a resolution? Embarrassing! Even though that may be a great goal and a possible goal, the fact that I have no plan for achieving that goal sinks me every time. The answer here is to sit down and figure out the steps involved that would bring the goal to completion. For a novel it may mean having a daily word count or page goal. It may be just allotting a set amount of time on certain days of the week for writing. The process of defining a plan may actually change the goal. If my plan is to write one hour every morning five days a week, it may be better to set my plan as my goal since I don’t know how much work I will actually finish by the end of the year.

There is one very important realization I need to keep in mind. It’s not very valuable to put all kinds of importance and weight on a particular day of the year, whether it’s New Year’s or my birthday. What is important is that each day I choose to use my time to align with the priorities in my life.

As the Twelve Step programs say, “One day at a time”. That way, when I blow it (as I surely will), I don’t have to throw in the towel. I have the next day to pick up where I left off.

Happy New Year everyone!

~ Kirk

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‘Tis the season and all that…

I was thinking about the flurry of gift-giving that goes on at this time of year and also of the spiritual themes of receiving gifts. In that vein, I thought I’d list a few gifts for which I am grateful.

- Novelists, screenwriters, television writers…any and all writers who have entertained and enlightened me throughout my life.

- Those same mediums (books, film, television) that carry on the tradition of telling stories.

- The ability to create from nothing, to form characters and plot lines, to transfer these into a written language in order to convey them to others.

- People who strive in the creative realms.

- A life that provides experiences and inspiration that is worth sharing.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

~ Kirk

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