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Friday Morning FYI – 5/6/2016

May 6, 2016May 6, 2016 Ron Delaney JrLeave a comment

Welcome to your Friday Morning FYI – my chance to share observations/wisdom/rants in short, easily consumed form.

Last week, I wrote about a barista who asked if I was a writer. After that brief conversation, I returned to my coffee and WIP. About an hour and several hundred new words later, I heard the following, in that same barista’s voice, from the direction of the espresso machine:

“I hadn’t played live in a while, but it’s like coming home after a long vacation. Everything looks a little different even though it’s not, and it takes you a little while to get back into everything. Once you do, it’s like you never left.”

You’re d@mn right I wrote that down, and yes, I plan to use it. That’s this week’s FYI:

Writers should always have their ears open to the profound/insightful/asinine things said around them. Why? Because there are voices other than our own, spoken from experiences beyond ours, by people more complex than any we might invent. To not take from those voices (including other writers) would be like ignoring an unclaimed pile of gold because you were on your way to pan for your own.

Aaron Sorkin summarizes it for us:

Um… or was it TS Eliot?

Oh balls. Did Eliot steal that quote from Oscar Wilde?

See what I did there?

I’m not talking about full-on plagiarism, of course. Word for word, sentence for sentence, paragraph for paragraph copy -> paste is wrong on every level. But when you hear something that clicks, you’d be a fool to not jot it down.

And yes, I fully expect someone to steal those words, just as I stole them. Good on those who do 🙂

Thanks for reading,

{RDj}

Friday Morning FYI – 4/29/2016

April 29, 2016 Ron Delaney JrLeave a comment

Welcome to your Friday Morning FYI – my chance to share observations/wisdom/rants in short, easily consumed form.

“Are you a writer?” I was asked last Sunday, just before ordering my typical Americano. It came from one of the two guys behind the counter: the one making the coffees, not the one taking customer orders.

“Yes,” I said. “Does it show?”

The barista, who later introduced himself as Josh, smiled and shrugged. “Some people come in and open their laptops, and then type a little and talk to their friends and go on their phones and keep ordering things. And I’m like, how much are you getting done, you know? But you come in and order and then you just lock in and type and type. It’s cool.”

He wasn’t wrong. When I get in a groove, nothing around me matters and the words just cascade onto the page. In a good session, two thousand words over four or five hours is not unusual. *puts on his ‘support local businesses’ hat* That’s a two drink session, minimum, by the way (and probably a pastry, even though I’m not supposed to eat those), which often ends not because I’m out of words but because my hands are shaking from the caffeine and sugar.

Anyway, the whole exchange was fun and shed some light on something I hadn’t considered about writing in public (and anything we do, really). That’s this week’s FYI:

We all present ourselves to the world in both conscious and subconscious ways every day. The conscious is what you choose to wear, your haircut, the kind of bag you carry, etc. The subconscious, though, is far more important; the things you do naturally, like body language, work ethic, and purpose can inspire those around you. Doing your thing sends out waves others see and feel, whether we realize/intend that or not. What are you projecting? Is it how you want to be seen?

Thanks for reading,

{RDj}

Friday Morning FYI – 4/8/2016

April 8, 2016 Ron Delaney JrLeave a comment

Welcome to your Friday Morning FYI – my chance to share observations/wisdom/rants in short, easily consumed form.

I’m not the sensitive type, but I notice things to which others may be sensitive. Everyday, in an attempt to entertain commuters, the PATH runs a ‘Guess the word’ (among other things) on the in-train monitors. Today’s word was eeoxpdl – explode.

Yes, explode. On a train.

Obviously the person who’d put that up didn’t think anything of it, but in recognizing the unintended impression it could make, I reflected on something I wrote yesterday. No, it didn’t contain an explosion, but it did contain Chupacabras (stick with me, here). I’d outlined a monster story for an upcoming anthology submission, where the main monsters are threatened by encroaching Chupacabras. Without delving into every scenario my mind considered (read – panicked over), I arrived at the question:

Had I written something someone might consider racist?

If you know the origin locale for Chpacabras (if not, click the link above, silly), and consider the current political climate, you can see where that thought came from. There was no racial motive involved; I’d selected Chupacabras because they’re cool and scary. That they are from non-European folklore is a bonus, or so I thought before seeing that stupid eeoxpdl.

In the end I came to the conclusion I was being a paranoid nut (like that’s new for a writer). That brings us to this week’s FYI:

Writers should just write. Forget everything else and finish your story, then listen to your beta readers, agent, and editor after. Simple.

Thanks for reading,

{RDj}

PS – After my initial hand-to-forehead reaction to that word scramble, I realized it might not be a person who selected it. Software may have been responsible, pulling a random term from the dictionary using some algorithm based on length, popular letters, google searches (sad), etc. *shrug*

Friday Morning FYI – 3/18/2016

March 18, 2016 Ron Delaney JrLeave a comment

Welcome to your Friday Morning FYI – my chance to share observations/wisdom/rants in short, easily consumed form.

This week’s FYI is simply an unbiased recommendation:

If you haven’t already done so, go listen to the Hamilton soundtrack. Don’t get tickets for the show because you have more important things on which to spend a thousand bucks, but definitely give it a listen. Writers especially, as there’s a ton of important things you can learn about making your characters real. If you’re an Amazon Prime member it’s free, so you don’t have an excuse.

Thanks for reading,

{RDj}

Friday Morning FYI – 3/11/2016

March 11, 2016March 10, 2016 Ron Delaney JrLeave a comment

Welcome to your Friday Morning FYI – my chance to share observations/wisdom/rants in short, easily consumed form.

I recently told a trusted friend I was working on my first adult novel. As any readers of this site know, everything I’ve previously written has been middle grade. Anyway, she was excited to hear I was stepping up my age range, eager to see what I could turnout if I let loose and gave my darker voice over to a larger, more complex narrative. That brings us to this week’s FYI:

Any of us can do anything we put our mind too, but we’re often better suited to one version/aspect of something than another. The problem is we often don’t know what that is, and ‘decide’ rather than ‘discover’ our talent. The artist who paints and paints and paints, only to find out much later, thanks to someone’s prompt or request, they’re a phenomenal sketcher, and then becomes a world-class tattoo artist, for example. Or someone who writes short stories, thinking a novel is beyond them, and a few years later becomes a bestselling novelist.

Experiment until you find your comfort zone, and then experiment more. You’ll probably surprise yourself.

Thanks for reading,

{RDj}