Friday Morning FYI – 4/29/2016

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 – 4/22/2016

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

I was working on my WIP earlier in the week and hit a snag. My MC was to confront someone with whom she has a heavy history, but a problem I hadn’t anticipated manifested. See, she was all set to speak very plainly, reflecting on their previous conflict to address the crisis at hand, but others were present who didn’t know who she is. That impacted what she could say and how, and blew-up the dynamic and result I’d planned – a result needed to move the story forward. Now, stuff like this happens all the time when writing, but this was the most impactful issue I’ve encountered (I’m a rabid outliner and that’s where I usually find this stuff, before the writing starts). I could have removed the other folks, but the scene was in an interrogation room in an FBI office, so they were observing from behind a two-way mirror. I could have moved the scene, but the guy with whom my MC needed to talk was in custody. I could have had him not-in custody, but that would have sent a shockwave of changes one hundred and fifty pages back through the book. None of those options were viable, so I decided to go with it, giving my MC a hurdle to overcome. Yay conflict! That’s the focus of this week’s FYI:

Someone much smarter than me once said, “Life imitates art.” In the same way a story you’re crafting can go in directions you didn’t anticipate, life often won’t go according to plan. You can either fight against it, trying to force something into an unnatural shape, or go with it, seeing what happens.

 

Thanks for reading,

{RDj}

Friday Morning FYI – 4/15/2016

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

I didn’t learn anything this week. Well, nothing deep to put here, anyway. I know that sounds absurd to the, ‘Learn something new every day,’ crowd (of which I’m an adjunct member), but I’m OK with it (and absurdity in general, but that’s another story). That’s this week’s FYI:

Those of us interested in growth can put a lot of pressure on ourselves, which can occasionally result in feeling down or unaccomplished (I’m looking at you, writers-who-missed-their-word-count). It makes sense. Humans by nature are seekers, and seekers need to discover. But sometimes the best thing you can do is cut out the noise and just be. Lessons will always be there to be had, you can self-examine tomorrow as well as you could today, and that chapter will get written.

 

Thanks for reading,

{RDj}

Friday Morning FYI – 4/8/2016

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

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}