Pet peeves of the pen…predictability...

Oh - the predictable pen, how I dislike thee!

Let me assure you, I am not suggesting that a book must be a mystery wrapped in a bewildering enigma. Starting a novel and knowing that it has a happy ending, for instance, probably creates more predictability. However, every scene, choice, and relationship along the way need not be. If I always know what will happen next, I lose interest in turning another page. Maybe it is because I prefer to be surprised, or at least desire books to need effort in solving the plot steps of the story! If I am led to believe that a plot is going in one direction, but deviates instead to another...I like it all the more. The "Whoa! I did NOT see that one coming," effect is appealing. (Unless it is unbelievable (another pet peeve I will be hitting on sooner than later), then I just feel like I have wasted the previous hours in the pages of nonsense!)

I believe the preference to being surprised is because life is full of them. When is life ever predictable? I highly doubt that you cleared your schedule in preparation for a week of bed rest the last time you got the flu. Or, reflecting on a previous post about writing kid antics, I would never have left my eldest create quietly in her bedroom after that day's nap had I known what would await me upon opening the door! So, when you write - please be creative and avoid the cliche and predictable choices for your characters, scenes, and plot! :)

Don't be like Mr. Blue, who kept putting his head in toilets - be it in a real one or the doll house's commode!

Pet peeves of the pen - the one dimensional villain...

As for today's pet peeve - the one dimensional villain rant, beginning now…

I am talking about the villains who are created to fully and wholly despise.  For clarification, I am not referring to the "bad" characters or even the horrible ones, those who perform the most heinous of deeds. I am talking about the villains who are completely devoid of anything other than evil - they are created to hate. At every bend in the road, they choose to proceed in ways that infuriate the reader/viewer. There is no reasoning behind their negative choices, no past events leading to their decisions or actions, and absolutely nothing that gives viewers/readers any reason to empathize with them. At. All. Perhaps a character isn't redeemable in the story, but all I am asking is to give us something to unveil their humanity, making them difficult to completely hate!

The flip side of this pet peeve is something that I truly admire in a writer - the ability to take a villain and humanize them to the point that I am conflicted about who I want to "win" in the story's scenario. When the hero prevails and I sympathize with the villain's loss, I know the author has created a very three dimensional character!

I have to admit - I don't create many "villains" in my stories. Most of this has to do with the protagonist being their own antagonist (character against self, for all of you who may not have had these terms reviewed via their middle schoolers in the recent years!). All the same, when I do write them, I try my best to sketch humanity behind their darkened eyes.

"Mr. Blue" - one of our mischievous Christmas nutcrackers - is considered to be the "villain" of the bunch, but with antics like getting stuck in the same tape he was using to secure his buddies to the wall…we can't help but feel a bit sorry for him when…

He ends up in Christmas jail!

Happy first of December!

Pet peeves of the pen (and stories, in general)…the never ending cycle of miscommunication

I have many pet peeves when it comes to stories. Whether found in screenplays or texts, certain elements of character, scene, plot, and such get under my skin, like scabies of the mind! To begin my somewhat lengthy list of pet peeves of the pen, I will start with the plot frustration of miscommunication!

Miscommunication (or lack of communication at all) leading to tragic misunderstanding is a personal irking of reality that truly aggravates me. Perhaps it is because a simple strand of questions or explanation can stitch up slow bleeders in relationships.  That personal pet peeve seeps a skeptical eye at about everything that  I read or watch.

Obviously there will be miscommunication and misunderstanding in every relationship - whether body language or verbal, it happens. It is when characters don't even try to resolve the lack of communication that bothers me most. (Even worse is when an entire plot revolves around a series of misunderstandings!) Instead of each character making rational decisions or asking needed questions, they are stuck in an elongated beginners' chess game of responses, each one acting off what the other does first. "When I saw Charlie having dinner with that woman, I just knew he was cheating on me! So, I decided to break it off with him." "I don't know why Jane called it quits. I guess I will just return this engagement ring I have in my pocket." "I saw Charlie at the jewelry store with an engagement ring! He is already going to propose to that woman?!" ...aaaaaand it keeps going - one misunderstanding leading to another utill I am so frustrated that I really don't care if Charlie and Jane every figure things out or are back together! Equally infuriating is when, suddenly, both decide to openly talk and the whole story is wrapped up with kisses and fireworks. Sigh. As I said - pet peeve! :)

What communication looks like - Sisters in the Sequoias style!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Unfortunately, I will have to substitute 2014's Thanksgiving picture of our family in place of new 2016 photograph. Instead of sitting around the table with eleven others, I am tucked into my bedroom recliner, blogging with you all! I will enjoy my turkey platter when my dear husband and kiddos return later this evening, but, for now, I am enjoying the peace and quiet that an empty home can provide.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, even as a child, when the gifts and extra week off of school used to be the big bonuses for kids to claim Christmas! Each year, my family would drive north to Ohio, from Tennessee or North Carolina, depending on where we were living that year. My extended family lived up in Ohio - aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents. On Thanksgiving day, we would drive over to my Dad's parents' house to have the meal with whatever family could come. My little brother and I would play with cousins, inevitably getting into something we probably shouldn't have, and eating more sweets in that one day than we would have since the previous year!

All that being said - I associate Thanksgiving with being amongst family, the more the better. Yesterday, I was going to blog about pet peeves of the pen (which I still will do another day), but I just couldn't get past being sick for the holiday. Unable to swallow without pain, choking on tonsil stones and snot making their way down my throat, and sounding like a bass instead of soprano just was killing my Thanksgiving week buzz! Today, I woke up feeling even worse in the throat, but happier. Maybe it is the contagion of joy that is the day of Thanksgiving…although, the Florida sun and warmth through the shades certainly doesn't hurt! Trying to take that positive thinking to even further steps is the realization that it is impossible to over-eat when I can't swallow too much food to begin with, right?
I will stop being so stubborn and go to the dr. tomorrow, breaking my avid vows to stay off the streets on Black Friday!

Although this was the long way of saying something simple - Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Writing about the antics of children before penning a page...

Children - I have three of them…and the stories I could tell might serve as a type of birth control for all of you who have yet to start families! For anyone who already has children, some of the following might border on familiar.

It is said that boys make bigger and more disgusting messes than girls, but in our family, it isn't my son that has caused the most chaotic upheaval, but my daughters that do! For instance, my eldest, the artist. When she was a little less than two years of age, one of her masterpieces stunk…literally. After waking early from a morning nap, she was suspiciously quiet, but happy - so I continued cleaning my bathroom, instead of going in to check on her. Bad move! She had climbed out of her crib and decided to add to the artwork already in the room. Using the dark clumps her digestive track had created after waking, she proceeded to scoop out pieces and use them as brown finger paints - coloring pictures on the walls, furniture, and some toys. Imagine my amazement when I opened her door! First, I was greeted by the lovely aroma accompanying such creative artistry. Then, her happy face and "'ook, momma! I 'ainted deese!" If she hadn't have been so cute and proud of herself, I may have had a major meltdown right then and there.

My son did stay true to his gender, but not in such a gag-inducing way. After coming home from a playdate, I put on one of the kids favorite shows and ran upstairs to change my clothes. Apparently, a toddler can do an incredible amount of damage in a 7-10 minute window of time. When I stepped into the kitchen, my feet felt it - the wet. I looked to my left, where only my daughter still sat on the couch, eyes glued to the animated entertainment that I so wrongly assumed would keep them both occupied. Looking to the right, I saw him, a bowl in his hands, frozen like a statue in front of the fridge. At his feet was the kids' toilet chair insert, already overflowing with water. "What are you doing?!" "Ummmmm. Don't ask me dat!" "Why is the floor all wet?" (Mind you, I was at least 6 feet away from him.) "Cause I made it," he said, proudly. "Why in the world would you want to make the floor wet?!" "Cause I going swimming!!" Sigh. "See, I get water here, den I put water dare, den I make a pool!" Yes, he got water out of the fridge via a bowl, then dumped it into the toilet insert, and, once full, onto the floor. I later found out that desk was also wet and puzzle pieces were floating in the drawers! At least the mess was made entirely from water…unless there was something in the toilet bowl insert before he started…oh dear!

SO - what does any of this have to do with writing, you might ask. These antics and literally hundreds more are all written into a book that I keep of "kid-isms." There are some, like the above, that I am most likely to never forget, but others fall through the cracks of my memories, never to be remembered unless I write them down on paper. What I discovered, though, is that I found myself inspired to continue writing after penning them. Let's call it a brain stretching exercise before the big game of novel writing. If you are having a hard time getting started one day, give it a try. Write or type out something that happened that day. Set the stage, give it details, and tell the tale as if someone is reading it from one of your stories. You never know how simple (or catastrophic) events might boost your day's writing!

Merely conjecture...

My Great Aunt passed away a couple of days ago. Irony or not, I was working on a death scene for my second book…and it got me thinking more about writing these types of things and how they are merely conjecture. How do we describe something like dying with any accuracy when our present lives lack such an experience?

Yes, I am aware of people claiming they have died and been brought back to life by the marvels and miracles of science and faith. Barring their testimonies, the experience of death and writing about it is truly left to our imaginations - conjecture. Does sight become hazy and fade to darkness? Is it like a blink, one second light and the next blackness? What might a character feel, taste, see, and smell in those moments between life and death?

The vast and differing emotions accompanying losing someone are something that I have experienced, too much. Death is no stranger to me, as many friends in my life have died. However, most of these were from cancer - a slow, drawn out termination of life. (An aside to this, although I am most familiar with cancer related things, I have yet to write anything concerning it or dying from it. Perhaps it is just too sensitive and intimate of a topic to expose transparency?) Other friends and family have had quicker ends with little to no closure for themselves or those they leave behind. All that being said, writing from the perspective of someone who has labored on in the land of the living is something easily tapped into when penning a page. But the one who is gone? I can research near deaths, doctors' knowledge of various terminations, etc., but really, when writing about death, it is merely conjecture.

Having that second pair of eyes and ears...

There is something about another pair of eyes and ears that keeps my writing in check. 
Is a character fleshed out completely or is there some ambiguity that needs scrubbing? Is the story flowing well or is it difficult to follow and understand? Are there inconsistencies that should be addressed? All are needed validations that the world floating around in my head is what is being read...and that it makes sense. Let's face it. We see, hear, smell, feel, and taste every detail of the scene in the recesses of our mind, but there is a good chance that some of that didn't make it onto the page…and what if one of those omitted details is what loses our readers? 

So - to avoid all this, having someone else is crucial to the writing process! This person shouldn't be someone that pats you on the back and showers you with the accolades of praise you undoubtedly want to hear. "Wow, that was awesome!" isn't exactly constructive. ;) They need to be someone who is willing to be honest and give you the raw criticisms you require in order to churn out a polished story. A close friend or family member aren't usually suitable matches for this, unless they write and feel the same. If we are honest, our work is very much a part of us and negative comments are more likely to be taken personally when it comes to close friends and family. Also, equally important, this person should be as excited about what you are writing as you are. There is a contagious motivation to keep pushing through the rougher spots when someone is waiting to read what happens next, willing to give you constructive feedback, and is excited to discover what you will do with it and where the story will go. :)

I had an invaluable "reader" when writing my first book. Unlike the advice I have just given, I used a close friend. (This truth makes me want to erase the previous paragraph; however, this person is the only exception that has actually worked out well for me. Believe me when I say it is a rare exception, though. This person is also a writer, though - so, considering I did place that clause, I suppose I will leave in the previous paragraph!)  I am not sure that I would have finished writing it without this person, whose contagious motivation pushed me through many a tough spot,  and am incredibly grateful for all their thoughts, incite, and honesty. (I refrain from giving a name here because they have requested to remain anonymous.) 

So, find that other pair of eyes and ears. Even if the only relationship you have with them is the writer/reader one, this resource is invaluable! There are websites and author groups available to help pair you with another writer of your genre and on-line forums to discuss work, as well. However, you do it - do it! You most definitely do not want the first critically eyed person that reads your work to be the agent you are trying to find!

(*Image copied from Julie Fain Art, all rights reserved to her.)

Getting to know my characters...

Getting to know your characters?! I tried to explain this concept to someone who is avid reader, but dislikes writing. If you are the author, the one sketching onto paper the images and personalities of the people driving the plot, how do the characters reveal themselves to you? Didn't you create them?! Well…yes and no.

Yet another stumbling block (wow, did I have a lot of those!) to my previous writings was thinking that I had to know everything about a character - from the personality traits, faults, weaknesses, strengths, passions, and dreams to each physical detail - before penning the first words onto a page. Anything that defined them, I thought I had to know before I could start - how else would I accurately portray them, right? I was very wrong, in more than one way!

First of all, it was one of many reasons that I would lose interest in writing a story. If I already knew everything about them, then I was just doing the tedious task of putting to paper what was completed in my head - more like typing a book I had already written, just doing it in a different font. Secondly, even though I should know myself best, I don't truly know what I will do and how I will respond to a specific scenario of life. I might think that I do, but I don't. I also don't know, with definite absolution, what a character will do when a scene is actually written. If responding in one way goes against everything they are, then I have, essentially, written myself into a corner! For example, this may be a minor detail, but I once assumed a character to be very neat and organized in every aspect of her life. At one point in the book, however, I realized that she kept her work clean and structured, but kept her home in neglected chaos!

All that being said, I do find having the general shape of a character necessary, but the details of their essence is revealed more as I write. As the story takes shape, I discover whether or not a character will stay composed after learning about the death of a loved one or scream in denial. Discovering these things as I write definitely makes things more interesting for me, as well!

One essential that I do seem to need is the appearance of a character. However shallow that might seem - I want to know the color of their eyes and hair, their skin tone, their build, whether they slouch or sit up straight, etc... while still unsure whether they will blush or pale to a suggestive comment - it is the truth. Having that image to conjure, for my mind to drift to while writing a scene, does aid in bringing the added dimension of depth and detail to the words and actions I put to the page.

Every writer is different, though. I would imagine that many might need to have a much stronger structure for their characters before getting into the grit of their stories…and, being in real life I appreciate structure so much, I am surprised that this never worked for me. But…it just didn't! Go with what works for you. Remember, your characters and their actions are what drives your story into (or out of) existence!

Getting past the back cover...

I will have to admit - I just don't get a chance to frequent book stores like I used to do (or still want to do). Sadly, vendors aren't open during my middle-of-the-night free hours. Ahhh, the days of getting lost in the aisles for hours. For the sake of this blog, let's all "go there" together...

You are perusing the shelves of your favorite bookstore, looking for something new to read. Passing the piles of "best sellers" and into the land of the now obscure, you search. Maybe its the color that catches your eye or a title that lures you closer? Pulling the book from its shelf, you flip it over and read the back. Unfortunately, there are only reviews of how wonderful the book is, but little to nothing about the story inside. The first inside flap is only about the author. Still willing to give it a chance, you decide to turn to the first chapter and read, at least, the first paragraph before returning it to its resting place.

If you are anything like me, this is the deal maker or breaker - what I read on that first page will either make me flip further or put it back. Dull or slow beginnings just aren't palatable. If I am immediately pulled into the novel, I will probably opt to buy it. (If I sink to the floor to read more, forgoing all concerns for cleanliness, I will definitely be buying it!)

The preference of getting sucked into a story is most likely why I love to read and write prologues. Stealing a scene that is, most likely, set somewhere in the middle or even end of the book, I place them at the beginning. I have to ask myself, would I be captivated by the first paragraph of the first chapter (or prologue) of my own story or would I put it back on a shelf to collect dust?
For example:

           Owen Everett was a handsome man. Evie had thought so from their first accidental meeting at the college bakery. They married the week after graduation, too excited to wait any longer to begin their life together. His parents raised the objections of their age and the one-year relationship, but Owen and Evie were confident of their chosen path. 

Bla bla bla bla. Sorry, shelving this one…

OR
      
       Tears blurred the forest's trees and bushes as she ran through them with all the speed her weary legs could offer. Thorns scraped flesh from her limbs and went as unnoticed as the evening's dropping temperature. Only when her feet would move her no further and the thundering in her chest threatened explosion did she stop. Shaking, she gasped for air and screamed into the deserted woods. "No!"

Hm…this one may have some potential. Who is "she" and what or who is she running from in the woods?

You already know which book I might be buying, but which story-starting paragraph would cause you to consider carrying it up to the cashier?

Fall...

September and October, sometimes even into November...

The fall, when school is exciting and pencils are still sharpened, their erasers in tact.

The summer's heat submits to autumn's cooler weather, taking pesky mosquitoes to their graves. Sweaters find their way to the front of my closet, like reemerging memories. 
 

The leaves begin to change – a new canvas of colors, various hues to catch the eye. Red. Orange. Yellow. Cooler winds pluck leaves from high perches. They fall, crisp glitter in the air, and we see them more clearly as the decorate the ground.

Amaranths debut pink blooms. Birds arrive around our lake again, entertaining us with their songs and excited activity. The stresses of the holidays are not yet upon me, it is the calm before the storm. 

 

Autumn is my favorite season and most inspires me to write. Maybe it is the ebbing heat that makes the mind more crisp or merely the colorful changing surroundings - the sights, smells, and sounds of fall. Sitting outside in our lanai (Florida's pretentious term for screened in back porches), my senses are aroused by the season, motivating my fingers to capture the experience of fall.

(A special thank you to my sister-in-law, Holly, for her amazing photography.)

Using music, for getting in the mood...

Music! I have loved it since I was born. (Seriously, my uncle's piano music is apparently the first thing I heard when I entered this world!) If I wanted to use this entire blog for my musical history, performance and otherwise, it would be a long one - but this post is not for that - it is about getting in the mood for writing…with music.

Life is either noisy or quiet - and I don't mean that to be a deep thought. As a mother, if my kids are noisy, I am distracted, but when they are too quiet, something is obviously wrong! Maybe the sound of silence in your home is relaxing, but in mine, someone is either flooding the upstairs bathroom, experimenting with ketchup squeeze bottles, coloring the floorboards pink, or doing something else that will require a minimum of 30 minutes to clean-up! Once they are in bed, logically I know none of the above should be happening, but, even so I found myself having a problem getting into the writing mood. It was just too quiet!

My solution was to create playlists of music for my iPhone and laptop.  Guilty admission - I have more fun making character/scene playlists than I do actually using them. Yep! And I am downright OCD about them, as well. I make playlists for action scenes, sad love, romantic love, happy scenes, angry scenes, intense scenes…then there are the playlists for individual characters that mirror their personalities. Actually, all this seemingly ridiculous amount of effort in creating music to listen to while writing truly does pay off - it is like the power button of my creative mind's remote control - the "on switch" that gets me writing a scene and into the mood.

And here it is now - the kids are in bed, hubby's working, and the writing window begins. I put in my ear pods and select the "action scenes" music (much of which is instrumental and soundtracks for movies to avoid additional chaos of loud lyrics). My laptop is flipped open and I begin to write. I enter the scene with the appropriate musical nudge away from school books, laundry piles, and finger smudged windows... and into the woods, where lightning flickers in the ominous clouds above and the crackling thunder announces the coming storm...a chase scene.

Intensity...

The kids are all finally out - the kind of sleep that guarantees at least an hour of quiet. Armed with my second over-sized mug of coffee, my glazed eyes stare at the blank wall.
Over the music pumping into my ear pods, I hear his muffled words. "You have that look, Beth."
Somewhat irritated, I am jerked back into an unwelcomed reality. "Huh?"
He looks at the glowing light of my laptop. "Oh, writing?"
Avoiding slipping any snarky responses, I want to be back in the scene… so, I merely nod.
"Must be intense," he states with a smile before leaving.
He has no idea.

Intensity...
It is an accurate description of where I go when writing some scenes. More than a feeling, it is a place.
Closing my eyes, I return to it - somewhere in Europe, the 1940s. The swells of the music flooding my ears trap me there, in the farmhouse, at dusk. Him, sweat drenched and unsteadily aiming a gun...and her, in the corner, bluish black marks emerging on her left cheekbone, stifling sobs. It is more than seeing and hearing, it's the touch - the texture of the dirty wood floor she sits on...the cold metal he holds too tightly in his hand. It's smell - a mixture of burning meat and wild orchids that drifts in the open door. And I am there, the invisible observer, watching it all unfold, my fingers documenting the drama on the unseen letters of my keyboard.
I am emotionally and physically entangled in another century and location, captured, in a captivity of my own choosing. True, it is intense, but I don't want to leave that room until they both do...and I wont.

Penning a scene, whether intense as the one above or benign as two little girls giggling with their cookies, requires the writer to be there. We are the CSI of the book - having to observe and record everything we see, smell, hear, feel…every minute detail that we may or may not use in the final product. Close your eyes and be there - look around, take a deep breath, listen…and write it all down. How else are we to bring a reader there to truly experience what we are trying to portray?

The history major in me...

I was an English major in college...for a while...before changing to history. After exhausting the creative writing portions of the requirements list, I found myself far less interested in English as a major. Reading what some obscure writer wrote in the 1800s, then trying to dissect it with a bunch of bull crap just got old...quickly. I changed my major to history because I liked to research and write - Yep, you guessed it - I am a research geek. Forty page thesis papers actually excite me…research geek, completely a research geek! What can I say- writing about the time frame and culture, as well as the life, of Shakespeare was more interesting to me than the words he penned. I did get my English minor, which was at least, something to show for having to read Chaucer in olde English. :O

I do love history (which might me a duel geek - history and research geek?)! One of the things I wanted to be while growing up (other than a ballerina, singer, teacher, marine biologist, writer, architect and the list goes on) was an archaeologist. Uncovering history in far off, exotic lands was a nice fantasy. The sand up my butt and it grinding in my teeth, though - complete killers of that dream. Still, I could explore history, some of which the greater population is completely clueless about. Being a writer and having those strong English skills did give me an advantage, however. I suppose it is a bragging right, of sorts, to almost always have the highest grade on any given paper. (Please ignore the fact that my red pen could slaughter this blog and all its incorrect grammar and sentence structure. The irony is not lost on me.) I am also competitive...but that is a different topic all together.

So, it only took me two full paragraphs to get to my point.?! The History major in me...
I love to read historical fiction and most everything I write has at least a small dose of the past laced into the lines. I started a historical fiction book that has a few completed chapters and a strong outline (someone else could take all my notes and write it at this point), but the historical accuracy is killing the completion. I despise novels that are so far off the reality of the time frame, that truth is completely discarded to fit a story. Of course, taking liberties with conversations and such are required when working around actual historical people, but not when it comes to culture and era. Much of my book it is set in World War II, in both the Pacific and European fronts, as well as here in the States. I found myself researching more than writing, though. If I am going to have an American Army troupe liberating a German concentration camp, it better be one that the American Army liberated and not British or Russian troupes. Or if a Serbian man serving in the Yugoslavian Royal Army is captured - I need to make sure he is in a POW camp that Yugoslavian Royal Army members were being held and I certainly can't have him fighting in 1944 - they were long defeated and captured by that point. Those are the broad strokes. The details of what foods were being rationed in a specific area of Europe or whether or not French farmers in a written area were moved from their land or allowed to stay - these are all things that I would have to stop and research. I can't have a poor tradesman character sipping on coffee in an area where it would require a lot of money, connections, or black market purchases to actually buy it. Maybe that is just me being too OCD with the details or the complete research geek in me, but it is what slows me down. So, with my desire to create fiction pushing me into procrastination, I have set the actual writing of that one aside, at least until I can pour what I truly want to into that book. Let's just face it - until all my kids can feed themselves without making a colossal mess in the kitchen or setting it on fire, this isn't entirely practical, but I am still researching.  (An aside, a friend took 15 years of research before finally penning and publishing one of her novels. So, I feel a little less self critical of myself as I continue to research for the book, without actually writing it yet.) There are too many characters based on people I know/have known not to give it the effort it deserves.

I knew that the only way around being dragged down with researching details when beginning the novel I am writing now was to set it in an "unknown place" in Europe (albeit, a true history geek will figure out that it would have to be somewhere in Eastern France). Although all the eras are set in the same unnamed location, they touch into the 1500s, 1700s, 1940s, and present. Removing all references to specific countries when it concerned my character's exact whereabouts, freed me from that. Of course, mannerisms and speech of those eras, generally technology, clothing, etc. have been well researched, but the specifics of whether or not bourbon or ale were sold in any exact location in whatever era? Not so much.  So…before it is time to start math class with my kiddos, I will hit publish! Until next time...

Coffee and chronological order...

Coffee!!

Let's just start there - with this writer's beverage of choice! I don't know about you, but I could really use one of these little havens in my pantry! Coffee!! It is my "focus juice," the ADHD medication that doesn't raise my blood pressure to the point of needing a higher dose of those BP drugs. :O Hanging in my closet is a shirt that reads: "Instant writer, just add coffee." It really should read - "Instant writer, just add coffee and full time nanny/housecleaner." Seriously. I believe the first blog covered why "just adding coffee" just isn't enough for this momma! However inspiring it is to don that cute shirt, it just isn't true.

Coffee. I think I need another cup of it to remember why I opted to start today's writing blog with that topic instead of the one I am really getting to…writing in chronological order! Oh! It is said that the personality of the writer can be seen in at least one of the characters they write - and this is very true when it comes to the love of coffee. The main character in my first book drinks coffee. A lot!

Now to the topic at hand - chronological order and why I just can't seem to write in that way!

Limiting myself by writing in chronological order - that was my both my chain and stumbling block. 

I started many novels, some of which I penned 50 - 100 or more pages before setting them aside. With an outline of where I was going, I would begin to write. Then, I would get to a section that I wasn't in the mood for and would would try and force through it. Sadly, I would eventually either give up or put the story aside so long that I forgot why I was ever interested in writing it in the first place!

When I began my first completed novel, I began as I had many times before. This time, I had more drive and more details. It wasn't merely a grouping of ideas and general plot I had knocked around enough to want to try and write, but a story that I needed to write. An entire story, full of colorful characters and purposeful meaning. After penning the first chapter, and then the second, I realized that they wouldn't be the first two of the book. Instead, they fell somewhere into the middle. Most likely, I was aware of that fact, but ignored it, still believing things needed to be in order. But it was the mood that I was in, the passion of that moment that possessed me, and caused me to disregard the fact that the section I was writing wasn't the beginning. I realized that I had been going about it all wrong - trying to write in chronological order was limiting me and any possible progress I had ever made in writing.

My advice in completing a book, whether with intentions of publishing or reaching a goal, write the part that matches your mood. If you are sad, write the sad part. When excited, pen that chapter. Of course, with desires of completion, there are connector parts that must be pushed through, regardless to mood. However, in my case, so much was done by that point that I was much more motivated to do the needed pushing! Consider where I wrote so much of my first book - in the carpool lane, with loud kids in the back seat. I can honestly say that no intimate scenes were penned in that car or witty dialogue, for that matter. But a couple of cranky toddlers arguing over a toy - that is perfect for an irritated mother scene, is it not?!

Even in the carpool lanes...

I was going to title this first blog "The ever-intimidating first blog…" but then decided I would skip the introductions - after all, if you want to know more about me, you can always look at the obviously titled, "About me," gadget on the right side of this blog - right? So, instead, I decided I would share the quirky places where I wrote much of my first novel.

Once upon a time...
In the Fairy Tale Kingdom of Ideal Writing - a girl sits with her hot cup of coffee and computer laptop at a large table in a quiet room. In case she is visited by the tactile need to write something down, a new legal pad and sharpened pencil lay beside her. The beauty of the serene scenery outside her large windows inspires her begin. Ah, what writing bliss, right?

Ha!
Let's start again…The girl might have coffee, but it is most likely lukewarm. The laptop's screen is covered with the greasy fingerprints of children who can't help but touch everything. The table is completely cluttered with school papers, bills, and empty wrappers. As for quiet - the only semi- quiet room in the house is the bathroom - and by quiet, I mean no one is inside making noise. Let's face it - the basket filled high with laundry and bathroom sink are hardly serene scenery!

So, as a mother of three - how was I supposed to achieve this ideal writing environment without any designated creative space? Bottom line, I wouldn't, quite frankly! One of my previous writing snares was believing that I needed a certain environment to getting into the writing zone - one much more like the fairy tale and a lot less like the reality!

When I wrote my first book, the plot was so solid that I really could break free of the "writing in sequential order" prison that had hindered me before then. (I will ramble more about that in another post.) So, whatever the mood I was in or part I wanted to dig into, I could write that part. Great! However, the when and where often escaped me.

At that time, my life consisted of being a taxi service for at least 3 hours a day. Some of this time included sitting in an idling car, squished into a long line of vehicles, waiting in the carpool lanes. Earlier in that school year, I found myself thinking about two of the characters and a specific scene. I had a pen in my purse, but no paper.  Sigh.  Looking around, I took a quick car inventory - diaper, wipes, extra pacifiers, some toy trucks…I could be creative and write on a diaper, but that would just invoke Murphy's Law and a stinky butt to stop and clean to avoid the asphyxiating odor on the way home. Nope. My husband often shoved receipts into the little box between the two front seats. Before that day, it had always irritated me that they never ended up in the receipt bin, where they were supposed to be. Instead, they cluttered my way to the gum or loose change that I would be seeking. However, on that day, I was grateful for his negligence! Receipts! I pulled out the crumpled wad, found one without printing on the back, and began to scribble out lines. I found that I could ignore whatever noises the younger two would be making in the back seat of the car and slip into the world of my characters.

Although a writing friend and I have joked about how much of my book was written on the backs of receipts in the carpool lane, there is some truth to that - receipts and scraps of paper. I still have the whole messy pile of them in a drawer, my sentimental mementos. Despite the chaos in the background, that carpool lane became my writing zone!  Now, I homeschool the three kids, but waiting for them at extra curricular activities still gives me some of that coveted time to scribble thoughts and scenes onto paper. It seems that I can write about anywhere now - waiting in the dr. office, while the kids are eating their lunch, in between flipping dinner burgers, and…yes, even in the carpool lanes.