KRELLFISH

The Boxing Writer

I box to be a better writer.

For most, writing is very emotional. Sometimes I have so much feeling, that it prohibits good writing. 

When we were young, we were taught to punch a pillow when we got angry. I thought that sounded stupid. Now I wish I'd tried it.

Kicking and punching the heavy bag brings out emotions I didn't know I had. After burning 600 calories in 30 minutes, you feel depleted on every level, everything is stripped away.

When I'm down to the bare bones, it's time to write. I still have the emotions fresh on my mind, but because I have dealt with them, my craftsmanship can come through. I use my experiences to carefully construct meaningful dialogue with a powerful takeaway. 

Boxing allows me to get out of myself, which puts my focus where it should be.

On you, the reader.

Teachable aside: if you want to laugh your you-know-what off and need humorous material for your column, drop by the gym and you'll see a spaz trying not to bite someone's ear off. 

I never said it was pretty.

Agenda of an Artist

Photo courtesy @iStockphoto

 

Every time I start writing a book, I dread telling people about it. Inevitably, someone asks, "where are you going with this story?" And I usually don't have a good answer. 

I squirm and flail, mumbling something about a direction the story might go, or offering an apology for not knowing or being clear. Then they think I don't want to spoil the book for them. But that's not the case either. I simply don't know. 

When I start a novel, I don't have an agenda. I have a dirty black canvas, where anything could happen.  A medium to explore and discover. I chip away at the darkness, fashioning a moving, breathing story until just enough light is let in.

Other artists understand this. They don't ask what your agenda is, instead they wonder what you are currently exploring. 

Artists may not have an agenda or know where they're going, but we know how we're getting there.

 

Write Reasons

photo courtesy of iStockphoto

In writing, as in anything worth doing, it's important that we know why we're doing it. 

I write, so no one feels abandoned. Going a little deeper, I write about the struggles of living, never wanting to minimize, but to give a powerful voice to it.

Deciding and naming why you write, gives you a roadmap, direction and purpose.

Writing reasons:

To be relevant

To be excellent

To address temptation

To encourage

To teach

To remind

To share wisdom

To bless 

To answer a calling

Why do you write?

Negativity-Free Zone

Photo credit iStockphoto

Had dinner with an old friend last night and she said she's giving up negativity for Lent. She is encouraging her entire extended family to quit complaining. I love the idea and hope they all see lasting results.

Then today I came across this post from Trevor Lund. He will send you 40 daily emails to help you and yours quit the negativity addiction throughout the Lenten season.

It's easy to develop and hard to recognize you've got a problem.  You know, a complaint here and there about how much you hate people in the media, politics and Hollywood. A bash about the local grocery clerk. A disgusting eye roll toward the homeless person riding their bike alongside the road. A cruel word to the opposing team in the name of competition. Berating the serviceperson who isn't working hard or quickly enough in your opinion.

Before you know it, your "opinion" which you become known for, is one of utter negativity toward the world in general. People can always count on you to find the bad and make it uglier. 

And then, if you're an artist, it seeps into your creations. Colors every piece with shades of gray and lots of black. You sing the same old sad song, write the same poem, tell your dark story one more time.

In short, negativity kills creativity.

Creativity breeds life and I want to fully live.

What about you? Do you have a negative complaint behavior you need to quit?

Editing in Vegas

“There’s just no quiet in Vegas.” – Barry Manilow

I noticed Copyblogger uses this same quote today, but their post is the opposite of mine, it's about Internet noise.

Steve and I get up to Vegas at least 4 times a year. Ironically, the City of Sin is a haven for us. 

Vegas isn't the first destination the average person thinks of when they need some serious R & R. 

Our trips our refreshing though. We sleep late, eat incredible food, relax at the pool and go to two or three shows.

Not this time though. We are leaving this weekend; booked a great one bedroom suite high above the strip and will be.....editing.  Yep, a working vacation to edit the novel I wrote in November. 

Somewhere in the city billed as having "no quiet," we will be in lovely, complete silence. Where the only sounds are the clicking of a computer keyboard and the occasional popping of a cork.

I can't wait.

Where do you like to write and/or edit?

Need U Now Eye in the Sky

Oh boy kids, what we've got here is what you might call a situation. An assistant to the group Alan Parsons Project is claiming Lady Antebellum ripped off Eye in the Sky with their smash crossover hit, Need You Now. 

Watch the video below and be amazed-

 

And to all my fellow WriMos out there, be careful of what you write and publish. The world doesn't need "The Twilight of Harry Potter".

Or do we?

When Fear Wants to Spoon

Remember when fear used to be different? Back in the day it was a gangly teenager, all knees and elbows. We tucked ourselves around the sharp angles and edges, bent ourselves to conform to childlike worries.

As we grew, so did fear. It became a young adult, and we wondered where it would show up next. And with energy like that, we could conjure it up at any given time. Sometimes it was better to sleep with fear than to sleep alone.

And then fear became a mature adult. An obese, dark monster, who nightly pulls up a chair and waits. We smell and feel it's hot breath before we've even opened our eyes. When we do, fear doesn't wait for an invitation. It curls around us, taking up all the air and consuming us from the outside in.

When fear wants to spoon, I pray. I write as if my life depended on it, I spend time with my loves and I focus on the moment. 

Living in the moment reaps a heart of thankfulness for all I do have; taking the focus off of what I'm afraid I won't.

On Words & Whiskers #NaNoWriMo

I'm heading strong into week two of NaNoWriMo. I've never worked this hard, and yet never had so much fun writing. Fiction is a creative blast. I'm at 10,252 words, about 1500 behind. But I intend to catch up today, especially when I stop procrastinating by writing and reading blogs.

My son is participating in his own contest of sorts. While I'm attempting to write 50,000 words in 30 days, he is partaking in No Shave November. Trying to grow 50,000 whiskers in 30 days. I think he's up to about 11,660, so he's right on track. He needs to grow 1,667 whiskers per day. 

Yesterday, he caught our youngest son staring at him from the passenger seat, as he backed the car out of the Church parking lot.

"Stop staring at me, I see you looking at my beard."

"It's gross. You really need to shave," Landon said. Turns out he wasn't aware that Keegan is in the "proper care and feeding" of a beard phase.

To Keegan, I say "Way to go son! You make a momma proud. When the whiskers won't come, never give up."

And to myself I say I better wrap this up.

True tip for my fellow WriMo's: French Cafe' on Pandora is the best writing music ever. Period.

Check below for more inspiration. 

 

 

Like a NASCAR Winner

 
As we drove over the hill, I thought we would lift off, I was flying for a second. Singing with my son to some old school 90's country, Alan Jackson has never sounded better.

And then I saw him. With the radar gun pointed right at me.

I looked down and was stunned to see that I was driving over 90 mph.

"Keegan, I'm going so fast that I could go to jail," I said to my 17- year- old driving son. "Get out the registration."

The Officer pulled out right away, and yet he stayed back at least 8 car lengths, with his lights flashing.

Maybe he's not really after me.

So I didn't pull over. Big mistake.

After a half mile, I pulled over just to see if he would pass. No such luck. He says he clocked me going 88 in a 65.

He went through the usual formalities; asking where we were going, who was playing baseball, what kind of league it was, if I had any weapons and then to step out of the car. 

As I walked around to the side, he said, '"You do know I could arrest you right now don't you?"

"Yes," I said as my knees knocked together so hard he had to have heard it.

"Is there a reason you didn't pull over sooner? You really confused me," he said. "Is it because I was so far back?"

"That is exactly why," I answered. I confused him?

"What do you do back in Scottsdale?"

"I'm a writer."

"Wow, have you been published? What do you write?"

"Yes, and I write about abandonment, marriage and parenting."

Did you know there is a high incidence of mother primates who abandon their young? It's fascinating and I don't think I've ever pulled over a writer before," he grinned.

No smile came to my face, I didn't feel like we were friends.

He confirmed that when he wrote me a hefty ticket for criminal speeding, told me to slow down and wished me great luck with my writing.

During the festivities, our middle son was watching a DVD in the back seat. Ever since he was little, he has said "Go Big or Go Large." That was my first ticket ever, so I'm thinking he's pretty proud that I went extra large.

Skip ahead a few days and today is the first day of NaNoWriMo. 50,000 words in 30 days. I'm planning for lift- off around week three. Nobody's stopping me this time for speeding and crossing the finish like a NASCAR winner.

All my fellow wrimos: you too, need to go big or go large. You're most likely already home!

For NaNo support and inspiration, check out the blogs below:

 

I'm A NaNo Blogger

Once again I'll be trying to win the NaNoWriMo contest come November 1. My last attempt and victory was in 2008, I wrote a non-fiction novel in the style of Capote's In Cold Blood.

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month. Writers all over the world will try to compose 50,000 words in 30 days, beginning November 1. That's about 1666 words per day, but I don't like the 666 thang, so I'll be going for 1700.

Currently I'm working on story arcs and then I'll proceed to the outline. This is permissible by the way, you just can't start the actual writing until November 1. 

The word count doesn't stop for Thanksgiving, grandma's gravy and/or black Friday. 

1700 words every day.

Have you got what it takes?

I'm part of a blog chain to provide NaNo inspiration.

Check it out HERE now, maybe it will encourage you to jump!