Process is as Important as Product.

I reached 10,000 words today. They may be terrible words. Each one might have to be rewritten more than once. Still, when I think that I'm an eighth of the way through my goal, and we’ve only  been at this for about ten days, it makes me hopeful about what can be accomplished when you are consistent.

 

As I mentioned last night at the Beyond Baroque group, I'd like to see how I can morph this into a method I can use for projects I'm taking more seriously than this one. Or, do I have to pretend, in my own heart and mind, not to take the current story seriously if I don't want to be too paralyzed to write it. Let's face it. No one needs another book. Even though a few people have asked me when I'm going to have another one out, legions of people are not waiting for my next masterpiece to hit the bookstores. This is not being negative. It is right-sized thinking. We write because we want to and because we think we have something to say. Whether we are tortured artists or not probably has little impact on the work. We are what is inside us. We have inspired moments, but good work will likely best be accomplished my mastering the skill.

Mastering anything takes practice. If I wanted to master a martial art, I wouldn’t show up just twice a week for an hour and think I'd be a master by the end of the year. If I wanted to learn to cook or to draw, I would have to practice. If I want to get fit, I can't just watch other people on treadmills. Believe me, I know this from experience.

Writing is an action. You might think about writing in the shower or while doing the dishes or exercising, but thinking about writing is not writing. You may dream of penning a bestseller and having fans want to bed you, but, unfortunately, that is not writing.

This exercise we are doing is practice like any other. One of my favorite books is Zen and the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel, 1953, it is a great disquisition on how "practice" works. Herrigel learns about life and mastery through archery. You have chosen writing. Practice will enrich you no matter what results from it.

 

Where Have Books Taken You and What Have You Brought Back?

Though sometimes it may feel that way, writing is NOT like climbing Mount Everest in the dark. You can die climbing Mount Everest. You can get caught in an avalanche. You can come back down to find a whole city decimated by an earthquake.

There is real tragedy in the world. Today, I am not going to moan about having to write, I am going to be grateful for being able to write. It is, after all, in most societies (and ours is no exception) an indulgence. That’s ironic because stories help us understand our world and are, therefore, essential. They also allow us to escape reality when we don’t like it. At their best stories are art, and perhaps things of beauty. I believe art raises us up, even if only from somewhere subterranean to the sidewalk. Sometimes, it brings us higher—much higher.

 

So, write. Write your hearts out. Write as if you’ll die if you don’t. Or, write because you are a person on this planet, and you believe you have something to contribute. And if you have no reason to write and can’t come up with one, write anyway. If you don’t make writing your enemy, it can be a  very reliable friend.

Sorry this is so sappily encouraging and not even funny, but the earthquake in Nepal made me take a hard look at my blessings today.

 

Let's read novels about people in places who don’t have as much privilege as we do. I recommend THE WOMAN WHO LOST HER SOUL by Bob Shacochis, published by Atlantic Monthly Press. It is long (over 700 pages in hardcover). It is convoluted, but it is sometimes transcendent and will likely never leave you. Please recommend more books in the comments section. Let’s hear what books uplift you and change you, which books don’t allow you to look at a country the same way ever again. The stories don’t have to be about foreign countries. I was never the same after reading BROWN GIRL, BROWNSTONES by Paule Marshall or Amy Tan's THE JOY LUCK CLUB. 

 

Where have books taken you and what have you brought back?

The CRITICIZER: Friend or Foe?

I believe this is day seven, and I just wanted to report in on how it is going and encourage anyone who is doing this with me.

I have reached 6,390 words, all on my iPad with its handy-dandy Zagg keyboard. Have I felt like doing this? Do I ever feel like doing anything? Today, if you asked me, I'd say I rarely feel like doing anything, and I only manage by stint of taking unusually tiny bites out of everything, except food.

They way I am making sure to keep up with this is by making my 250 or 500 words be my dessert after editing other people's work. I write whatever the hell I please, and I try not to think about it too much. The self-doubt and self-criticism are likely to squeeze the breath out of me if I let it. I have sent the CRITICIZER on vacation. I don't know where she went, and I don't care, but I hope she is having a terrible time because that's what she deserves. I hope that every time she goes into a restaurant, the food is bad. I hope that if she goes into the ocean, she gets bit by a man-of-war. If she goes hiking in the desert, I hope there are plenty of poisonous snakes. Maybe she won't come back. Oh right. I need her to come back to help me write the second draft. But in the meantime, I hope her trip takes her down a peg, and she returns with a right-sized idea of her own importance.

So, the question today is: what would you like to do to your CRITICIZER?  No fate is too terrible but remember, eventually you'll need the bitch or bastard to help you on the next draft.

WHAT TURNS YOU ON ... ABOUT A CHARACTER?

Okay, I admit it. I missed a day. Yesterday. I worked nine hours on a client's project and after that went to lead the writer's group at Beyond Baroque. That was as much as I could accomplish in one day. In fact, it was more than I could accomplish. I was wiped out and stayed up half the night watching Columbo. Peter Falk was so cute when he was young, despite the rumpled funky suit and raincoat. Raincoat every day. In Los Angeles. Why do we like Columbo? I think it is because he defies expectations. He fools everyone by pretending he's incompetent. It usually isn't too long before the culprit figures out that he or she is being scammed. Still, we love to watch the supposedly underfunded buffoon put one over on the rich murderers.

I read somewhere that there are two ways to do a mystery show. One is like Columbo. You know who did it right from the beginning. The fun part is watching him figure it out. The other kind of mystery is the one where you don't know who did it, and you have to figure it out along with the detective. The question I'm asking today is why do I like Columbo so much when I know from the beginning who the culprit is? This is what I posit as an answer: I think I read and watch things more for character than for story - particularly television. I do love a story, but I think when it comes to TV, it's the characters I return for. The other trick to Columbo is that the writers give him worthy adversaries. It's brain vs. brain, and since Columbo plays such a convincing underdog, we want to see him win. Another tricky thing about Columbo is that every once in a while we end up liking the murderer. It's a great example of a protagonist and antagonist who are well matched, and maybe that's why I like it so much.

So, the question for today is why a story structure like Columbo works and if you don't like it or don't think it works, do feel free to say so. I won't be hurt if you disrespect my beloved Columbo.

And again, I admit that I missed my pages on April 20, 2015, but because we each have a day off a week, I'm getting right back on the horse.

Celebrate Books (Day 4)

Today I went to The LA Times Festival of Books. The panelist who invited me was kind enough to give me a green wristband that allowed me to pretend to be a VIP, so I had the run of the place.

As a community, we can be proud that Los Angeles can attract such a rich collection of authors -- and crazies. I enjoyed the crazies as much as the authors. You can't buy a crystal that's going to center you from an author, and authors don’t read your palm -- usually. An author isn't likely to run over your foot with a motorized wheelchair.

So many writers in one place are inspiring. Some of the authors were even making a living with words. I went to one "conversation" (the term used for a panel at the Festival) on publishing where one of the panelists told us that only three hundred writers in the whole country make a living at it. This to a group of aspiring writers. The panelist probably hadn't heard the adage, "Know Thy Audience." It's always best not to make the members of your audience want hang themselves from the nearest tree as soon as they leave the auditorium.

If the crowds at USC mean that the written word is alive and well, then it must be. Maybe next year three hundred and one writers will manage to make a living -- maybe even three hundred and two.

I got my words in after I got home, and I'm encouraging you to do the same. Hit the 3,000 mark today.

Day four and still going strong.

 

 

The Time of your Life (Day 3)

 

It may seem obvious, but writing is something that's done in time. What you don't write today might never get written. Writing is done in the moment, a "now" that will never come again. I find this concept both hard conceive of and difficult to describe.

Here's an example: I once started writing a book in which the main character was modeled after my first love. I wrote draft after draft, pondered and played with it. From initial concept to completed draft went on for years. Then, in the middle of one rewrite, the man upon whom the novel was based, died. He was young and he died. The impetus that got me to start the story was gone. The me who worked on the book before my friend's death and the me who worked on the book afterward was a different person. The feelings that sparked the book had changed. Likely, they were no longer even relevant.

One of the reasons I wanted to do the 250 words, twice a day, is because I no longer want to lose strings of potentially valuable moments. I've heard that the Muse doesn't come unless you're there to greet her. I want to be available to her more often. Wouldn't it be sad if the Muse came with a gift of the most beautiful story ever written and you weren't there to receive it.

 

Having Fun with Flaws (Day 2)

My decision not to take this all too seriously has been a good one. I am writing the most ridiculous stuff and getting a kick out of it. I am letting my imagination run wild. I know that there's a lot of unconscious detritus in my head. How do I know? From my dreams. Things happen in my dreams that I could never think up. Mix up late-night television with an upcoming Bruce Jenner interview and what to you get? An actor who played a priest in MURDER SHE WROTE appearing in my dream as a bisexual transvestite who wants to have an affair with me. Vivid. There must be a lot in the old noggin about which I am unaware, and I will only know what it is by letting myself riff.

I've been reading THE ANATOMY OF STORY by John Truby -- had lunch with my old friend and John’s wife Leslie Lehr yesterday at Back on the Beach - and she recommended chapter 3 for novelists.

Truby talks about weaknesses.

I challenge you to point out some heroic flaws  or weaknesses in literature:

EMMA - Emma is a snob and a control freak.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE Lizzie Bennett is sure she’s right and just a little more witty than everyone else.

JANE EYRE - What’s Jane Eyre’s flaw? She seems spotless and too good to be true.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS - Pip’s flaw is that he is ashamed of his past and wants to hide it – again, snobbery rears its head.

LOLITA - Humbert Humbert is a pedophile – seems flawed enough, but there’s more….

THE GREAT GATSBY - Gatsby has a flaw, but what about Nick Carroway?

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD - Does Atticus Finch have a flaw?

A ROOM WITH A VIEW -  Lucy is afraid to be natural and admit what and who she truly wants.

LADY CHATTERLY’S LOVER - What about all the flaws that come from a person being outside their time or place. Lady Chatterly

Is it a weakness to want passion in  Anna Karenina?

Here are two film examples from Truby:

In Sunset Boulevard – Joe Gillis’s weakness is that he has a fondness for money and the finer things in life. He is willing to sacrifice artistic and moral integrity for comfort.

In Tootsie – Michael is and arrogant and selfish.

Both of these characters  are likable – to me anyway – and perhaps it is because I want to follow a journey toward redemption. Each man does want to be better than he is even if he doesn’t know it at first. Spoiler alert: Gillis ends up dead. (Well, it’s not really a spoiler alert – you find out right at the beginning). Gillis is redeemed when he chooses to break away from comfort in favor of integrity. (Tragedy)

Michael, in Tootsie, is a womanizer, but he learns to literally stand in a woman’s shoes and his attitude toward women changes. He learns to have a fulfilling relationship.

(Comedy)

In these two cases, you could say that the story is embedded in the flaw. If a character has to move from one stance to another, it may make the starting point for the writer more of a trampoline than a plank.

Flaws. 

Flaws.

Flaws.

Flaws.

Give me flaws.