Tag: creativity

GREAT WRITERS DON’T PLAN!

Posted on by sidraowens

In seventh grade, I was introduced to my first real writing class where I began learning the rules to writing prose and poetry. We had to break up into groups and have our drafts read by others in the class, and they would give you their ideas if they could focus long enough on the task at hand. I liken myself to a mountain goat standing sideways on a jagged cliff. I am quite happy standing alone, and I do not generally require the validation of a group, especially if they don’t really give a damn anyway. With that in mind, I was quietly resistant to this process. Quietly, because I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I have never enjoyed peer editing, and the absolute worst writing tool to ever be introduced to me was an outline.

 

Countless times I have had teachers tell me to do an outline for my essay, or do an outline for my story. They might as well have told me to speak another language. I mean . . . I knew what they wanted, but when I sat down with pencil and college rule paper with the intention of doing one . . . I would just go blank. And whatever I did manage to write down . . . look, if an outline was meant to be the bare bones of the material, then my outline was the bare bones of the bare bones.

 

So, instead, I would just write. I would sit down with my pencil and paper and just get started. Every time, I go with my instincts and simply just write: the ideas and creativity flow like that artificial yellow stuff they spread on popcorn at the movie theaters. (Really man, don’t eat that stuff. I’m fairly sure it ain’t butter.)

 

Now, here I sit, many moons later, and my conclusion thus far is . . .

 

GREAT WRITERS DON’T PLAN!

 

Rather simple, huh? But I believe this to be the gospel. When you have an idea, a strong idea, just sit down to your keyboard and the word processing software of your choice and get started. For me, the creativity just flows. As I take the time to slowly reveal the personalities of the characters, their motivations shine through and take on a life of their own. It’s like I’m a conduit, and the only reason why the story isn’t told faster is because I’m not typing fast enough.

 

Sometimes, it gets bothersome . . .

 

My characters are like, “What the fuck are you doing?”

 

“What?” I ask.

 

“We’ve got things to do. Quit with all this work shit and start typing!” they demand.

 

“I have to work so that I can have a roof to write under!” I bellow back to them.

 

“Alright then. We’ll bitch louder and louder ’til you get it done.”

 

In other words, a great story will not be stopped. Doing an outline equates to overthinking the thing. And then once you have this pristine little outline, what are you supposed to do then? Stick to it, I guess. But that doesn’t mesh with me because sticking to a rigidly detailed outline is not creative and being able to put fingers to keys and create a vast world with dynamic characters out of nothing is the epitome of creativity.

 

Plans fail! Just write. As it bubbles to the surface, get it all down. You never know what wonders may be waiting to burst past the gates if they’re not bound by a leash. You don’t try to catch lava in a cup, do you? Hell no! Volcanoes erupt unrestrained without malice or mercy, destroying everything in its path, but from that destruction, beauty will one day emerge.

Work In Progress

Posted on by sidraowens

So, for those of you who do follow me, I have not been posting much.  Just here and there.  And there are multiples reasons for that.  First of all, life just happens, and you get caught up in work and home and attending to the needs of those you hold most dear, as well as yourself.  But all that aside, I am currently in the middle the self-publishing process for my very first novel.

I had to go back through it and re-edit, of course, but now I have been working out the details of the book layout and I am super, super excited.  Granted, a lot of this process has been sitting and thinking.

I had to come up with a back cover, which wasn’t too incredibly difficult, and then I had to do a headline for the back cover, which was difficult, especially since I had no idea what that was.  Then there was designing the front cover, finding the right image, and the right color, but the hardest part was the author bio.  Author biographies are always difficult, at least for me, because you have to consider what you want to say about yourself.  Your first thought is…  There’s nothing to say.  Admittedly, this is my first book.  I haven’t won any awards, no writing contests, nothing to pad my literary resume and make someone say, “Hmm, she seems promising.”  I just have stories to tell; characters that are just bursting at the seams to express themselves.  So after days of pondering what I should put in the author bio, discussing it with my made, and swimming through the drowning pool of self-doubt, I decided to use my author bio to brief touch on the source of my inspiration, rather than a bullet point list of accolades (which don’t exist anyway).

I checked so many websites trying to explain what an author bio should be, or what a back cover should be, and honestly, they are all appealing to the wants of a traditional publishing house.  Since I am not going the traditional avenue, I thought, “Screw it.  I’m gonna do what bests fits me and this manuscript.”

As I indicated above, I am super excited.  I think my excitement grows as each step in the process goes by.  I will be making updates until the finished product is available.

I will be doing this repeatedly for a long time, but I want to extend my profound thanks to all of those who have supported me, both in words and in deeds, by donating to my gofundme.  I never would have been able to do any of this without you.

 

-If you have enjoyed my commentary or my short stories, then please check out my youtube channel, The Wicked Orchard; where you can listen to me read my short stories

-And don’t forget to check out Comparative Reasoning here on wordpress for written commentary on a whole hosts of topics.

-If you’d rather listen than read, definitely check out Comparative Reasoning on youtube, where you’ll hear of earful of social, economic and political commentary.

Patience. I Shall Return.

Posted on by sidraowens

I have not made a new post in more than a week.  I miss posting on a regular basis, but it seems that my mind has been deeply occupied with the impending finish of my current manuscript.  I am at the end.  I am sure of that.  But constructing it so that it succinctly pulls together threads that I have been weaving over these many months, is proving to be an immense task.  It only let’s me know that the story needs to percolate more in mind.

I think this lack of creativity is due in part that I am sick.  I have had a significant cold since before thanksgiving and it is taking its time, running its course.  Once it subsides, and if my daughter could give her father and I a reprieve and maybe not bring home any more viruses from school, I think I will be back in full swing creatively and posting regularly again.  Please be patient with me.

Bringing Stories To The World

Posted on by sidraowens

“I want to live!”

“I want to live!”

Overly dramatic??  Maybe.  But as each day passes that exclamation rings louder and louder in my head.  See, I’m a writer.  I have never been published unfortunately; but my goal of becoming published, whether traditionally or untraditionally has not faltered.

Everyday this exclamation cycles through my mind.  No, it is not the early signs of mental break.  They are my characters.  I have four fully completed manuscripts; all full of characters who are ready to replay their story over and over again for whoever is willing to crack the binding, or load a web page and read it.

I long for the day when everyone will have the opportunity to love my characters, as much as I do; or to hate them for that matter.  So until that day arrives I will continue to strive to publish what I have completed and to continue to improve my craft so that I can create more universes for us all to lose ourselves in.

I have an active Gofundme Campaign so that I can self-publish my first novel.  Any donations or assistance would be welcome and appreciated.  For those of you who are wondering, “I’m not sure if I want give my money to this.  What if her writing is awful?”  That would be a fair query, and no one should dive into to anything without doing the research.  I have all of my short stories posted on my website under Completed Short Fiction.  Please take a look and see if you enjoy what I have to offer. Now, if you are one of the millions of us, who doesn’t have a lot time to read, I am also reading my own short stories and posting the audio up on youtube on The Wicked Orchard .  This way you can load the entire playlist for Quittin’ Time, my first short story, and listen while you’re driving to work, doing the dishes or on your way to sleep.  If my style of writing doesn’t appeal to you, I completely understand, but if you do enjoy it, consider donating, or at least share with anyone you think might be interested.  More than raising money, I want people to enjoy my stories. I want to invoke all of the emotions that have laced in every word.  I want to make people feel and hopefully make them think, too.

 

Daily Grind. Daily Hustle.

Posted on by sidraowens

I am willing to wager that there is probably a coffee shop, somewhere near you, if you live in the U.S. called the Daily Grind.  I think it’s clever, too, but this post has nothing to do with coffee.

The Daily Grind, in my own definition, of course, is the daily routine that people have to endure in order to make ends meet.  For those of us, who are thankfully employed and/or able to work every day, this means precisely that, you must get up in some form or facet and go to a job every day.  Whether you have to get up and go down the hall to log on to a computer at 8am, or whether you have to drive two hours to get to an office building or whether you have to walk 20 minutes to wait 30 minutes to catch a bus to the nearest super department store, it all equates to the same; you gotta go somewhere you don’t wanna be to make money that you can’t live without.

I’m sure more than just one of us, has looked up one day and thought to themselves, “This isn’t what I signed up for.”  And everyone who has that thought is right.  It isn’t what we signed up for.  When we were in school, from grades K through 12, you always heard the question, “What do you wanna be when you grow up?”  That question then morphs into, “What do you wanna do when you graduate from college?”  No one ever, ever said, “What hole do you wanna climb into for eight hours a day for the next fifty years?”  And do you know why?  Because that question inspires futility, not hope.  But we all got roped into the daily grind at the tender age of five years old, when we are forced to leave the warm embrace of our families and tackle elementary school education, alone.  Sounds frightening?  For some, it is.

Now.  Let’s talk about the Daily Hustle.  Hustle has many connotations, but let me explain what I’m talking about.  The Daily Hustle, as opposed to the Daily Grind, equally is something that you gotta do, but not because you’re trying to make ends meet.  It’s because your soul gives you no choice.  Your daily hustle is done out of joy, out of love.  It is often a thankless endeavor that will not immediately offer results.  It will not render you a pay check every two weeks, but it does feed your soul, because you are working towards something bigger than yourself.  Granted, the hope is, that eventually, you’ll be able to make money at what you’re doing, but you also understand that when it comes to the daily hustle, slow and steady usually wins the race.  Daily Hustles are usually built on reasonable dreams, constructed around natural born talents, whether it’s singing, dancing, writing, drawing, cooking, talking,  whatever it is that you are good at.  It’s about taking what you can do outside of a nine to five and making it work for you.  Pursuing the Daily Hustle is difficult and it’s scary.  When it comes to the Daily Hustle you’ll encounter more opposition and more haters than you ever will in your life.  The reason for this, is because you have to shake off fear, pride and conformity in order to progress.  And we all know that fear is easy, pride is easy, conformity is easy; but pursuing your passions outside of the normal routine laid down by our staunchly capitalistic society, is hard.  It’s amazingly hard and often times you have to fight not only the critiques of others but your own self-doubts to progress.

I understand that my words against the Daily Grind have been harsh, but they have been only because the world wants everyone to function in this stifling construct.  But it is also needed in order for things to work on a day to day basis and there are some who enjoy their daily grind.  If you have a job you go to every day and you love it, I am happy for you.  Hell, it’s even possible to have a job you love and a hustle that you love to pursue.  It doesn’t have to be one or the other.  And there are also those who have no desire to toil at a hustle.  They like the dependability and regularity of their grind.  It keeps their lives in order and the bellies fed, and there is nothing wrong with that.

I just want everyone to remember that they have options.  Options far beyond what they teach you in grade school and you don’t have to have a BS, MA, MD or Ph.D behind your name to do it.  Those degrees are great, but sometimes all you need is drive, fortitude, desire and a whole lotta hustle.

 

Cultivating One’s Talent

Posted on by sidraowens

Despite his many other flaws, Mozart was composing when he was three years old.  Most of us are not fortunate enough to have an identifiable talent at that age.  Honestly, there are many who are not fortunate to identify a talent in themselves, at all during their lifetime.  I find myself to be counted among the fortunate few to have discovered my talent for writing.  I have always kind of thought that I was good at it, and I’ve had others make comments to that effect even as far back as high school.  But back then I didn’t listen and pursued other academic endeavors, but my heart and mind have always loved storytelling, whether listening to a story, watching a movie, reading a book or writing myself.

The problem has always been completing a work.  I could start them and even get so far as a potential climax in the action, but after that, I would falter.  For a long time, I didn’t understand why.  It took me many years to figure out what I was missing.  I discovered it through role playing.  My boyfriend introduced me to tabletop role playing, which was foreign to me, but I fell in love with it, just like I fell in love with him.  And we continued to role play for all of the years of our relationship and continue to do so.  But what I learned from this activity is the profound ability to create.  I learned to create multi-faceted characters, with joy and sorrows, familial connections, drives and motivations.  I learned to create worlds and landscapes, vast and alien to what we see every day.  I have created species, cultures and histories that are as ingrained in me, as my own life history.

With this wealth of experience, it seemed to come to me in a flash; an idea for a story, with a main character.  That character began to live and breathe.  I could see her actions, wants and desires play out in my head, along with other characters, building, growing, developing…  And before I knew it, I had a complete manuscript; my very first novel printed in my hands.  The feeling of accomplishment is more than I could describe.  Since then, I have finished three more novels with a fifth nearing completion.

Like many other authors, I have decided to forgo the process of repeated submissions to agents and publishers, which equates to groveling and prostration in a form letter, and attempt to self-publish.  Of course, self-publishing has its own challenges.  In order to progress, I began a Gofundme campaign to finance the publishing of my first novel.  The generosity of my family and friends has gotten me just over half way to my goal.  But I still have a ways to go.  Gaining the money to publish is another leg of the journey towards sharing my work with the world, which is more important to me than delusions of fame and fortune.  I want other people to love and enjoy my characters and stories as much as I do.  So I request of all those who have taken the time to read this brief passage, to take a moment and look over my Gofundme campaign, which will be linked at the end of this post.  Even if you do not donate, I appreciate you reading this or even taking the time to view the campaign.  In addition to my blog, I also have a website where my short stories and my poetry are showcases, for those who are interested in my fictional writing style.  And to those who have already checked out my writings, thanks a lot for your interest and kind words.

https://gofundme.com/2uxm8p5w

Take It Easy

Posted on by sidraowens

It’s usually easier for me to fight this off than it is for some; but…  There is a fair amount of guilt and feelings of failure associated with being a writer.  For all of you writers out there, this is not a news flash.  When you have a nine to five job, if you want to keep it, you have to get up and be there every day, and you already know what is expected of you; you already know all of the goals you have to meet on a daily basis.

But writing is a self- driven passion.  There is no task master constantly whipping you to perform.  There is no one to report to, but yourself.  So often times if you don’t write every day, guilt can start to weasel in.  You feel bad for not creating.  You feel bad for you leaving your characters in the lurch; twiddling their thumbs, awaiting the author’s return so that they can be sentient and alive once again.

This is the time when we need to take a breath and be honest with ourselves as writers.  Whatever it is that drives creativity will not always flow unimpeded.  Those who are able to devote themselves completely to their craft without distraction are a lucky few, while the rest of us have to go to a nine to five job, we have to do the laundry, raise our families and even tend to ourselves; which can easily fall by the way side, if we aren’t careful.

Just like anything of merit, it takes times for characters and stories to grow and develop.  It also may be a matter of the writer fixing what ails them, whether it is lack of sleep (Which I often suffer from); doubts in one’s abilities; being pulled in multiple directions or even actual medical problems, like illness or depression.

The key is to cut yourself some slack.  Being excessively hard on yourself isn’t going to make your imagination any more accessible, as a matter of fact, it will most likely drop another road block in your creative process.  Instead of fretting, be systematic.  As a writer, naturally, you are able to look within to decipher things about yourself; to delve into past and present emotions, in order to bring your characters to life; use that same introspection to self-diagnose what is keeping your creativity at bay, and treating or remedying that as much as possible.  Sometimes, it may be a matter of getting some sleep, or sometimes it may take more, but at least getting to the root of the problem will put you on the path to a resolution.

Life is never simple.  And neither is writing, so don’t expect it to be.  Take it easy.  Don’t let your ample imagination get away from you.  The passion and desire will return, we just need to work on ourselves as eagerly as we work on our characters.

 

Deep, Nourishing Sleep

Posted on by sidraowens

I try to write every day.  I deeply enjoy it.  When I have written something, I feel ecstatic, whether I have furthered a chapter in my novel or made a new blog post.

But for the past week, the creative juices have been flowing with little fluidity.  I find myself typing one line and then staring at it for a prolonged period of time, waiting for the rest to come, naturally, easily, like it usually does.  But it doesn’t.  My characters start talking, but nothing they say has any merit and seems a little out of character, for lack of a better phrase.

So, is it writer’s block?  I can definitively say no.  The thoughts and actions are available, but they are mired in this cloudy haze of muck, that leaves me staring at a nearly blank screen.  Well, if it’s not writer’s block then what is it?  Sleepiness.  Just plain sleepiness.  My mind is fatigued because my sleep debt has built up high enough to sap my creative impulses.

Now, many of you may say, “Sleepiness?  Is that all?”  Just drink some coffee.  Go to Starbuck’s and get a half calf double latte Frappuccino in a pear tree.  Pop a Five-Hour Energy.  Sleepiness isn’t a problem, but it is.  Classically, socially, the accepted amount of sleep for a healthy adult is eight hours.  But that’s bullshit.  The amount of sleep someone needs to be completely contented and functioning varies from person to person.  For me, a good twelve hours and I’m ready to take on the day.  But eight to nine hours per day and my sleep debt is little to none.

Sleep debt, you ask?  Yes, sleep debt.  If you need ten hours of sleep to be good for the day and you only get six, you are building up your sleep debt.  I have been building mine up since Wednesday night; sleeping a maximum of five and half to six hours of sleep; even a nap during the day doesn’t help.  If I want to get creatively back on track, I am going to start sleeping eight hours or more from this night forward.  Sounds easy, but the biggest thing to get in the way to sleep is being awake.  There is so much that everyone needs or wants to do; that usually people start sacrificing sleep in order to get things done.

The importance of sleep is probably lost on all of us; as we set is aside for work, family or play, but for our children, we go through great lengths to insure that our children are getting lengthy, recuperative sleep; we need to insure the same thing for ourselves.  The truth is that there can be profound biological effects on the body from sleep deprivation; from emotional instability to high blood pressure to hallucinations.  We have so many things working against us; preservatives in food, pollution, climate change; why should we add to the mounting heap of environmental factors lurking to make us part of the food chain.  Let’s take care of ourselves; turn off the TV, turn off the phone, put down the controller and go to bed.  Get a good night of deep, nourishing sleep.  There are those who can’t sleep no matter what they do.  For those of us who can and don’t, we need to take advantage of our fortune, since fortunes can and do run out.

The Planet of Misfit Toys

Posted on by sidraowens

Do any of you remember the Island of Misfit Toys from the old school Christmas TV show, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer?  For those of you who do, I want you to take a moment and think about the fact that this children’s show is an allegory for our society as a whole.  Let me explain.

After fleeing his home, Rudolph and the elf that wanted to be a dentist landed on the island of misfit toys.  An island full of toys that were broken, not properly made or just not pretty to look at.  They were exiled to an island all alone, never to become a child’s first love.  Later, Santa promises to rescue the toys, but I just discovered that in the original TV show, he reneges on his promise to return and abandons the toys.

Let’s go one step further.  Santa doesn’t value Rudolph until he is able to help him with his glowing nose.  Rudolph’s parents were even embarrassed by his supposed “defect”.  What would have happened to Rudolph had the snow storm never come and his nose was never needed?  I’m guessing he would have lived a life of obscurity, full of painful social exile.

All he wanted to do was join in with their reindeer games.  Here is my question: Who made the reindeer games so damn important?  In real life, not in the North Pole, the same thing happens every day.  People of all ages, not just teenagers, will jump through hoop after hoop trying to fit in with a group of people, who will not accept them and are not worth the effort.

Misfits.  Outcasts.  Oddballs.  Any of these words are used to label individuals, who live outside “accepted” norms or who go against the grain.  All of these words are highly negative and grossly incorrect.  Being different and aspiring towards something that is outside of the social norm is what has propelled us so far technologically and artistically.  But still, people are ostracized for being too fat, too thin, wearing glasses, being too light, or too dark, or just for liking something that others do not understand.  Failing to fit in, when you’re being yourself and causing no harm to anyone is far more common than actually fitting in.  But people are made to feel so bad, so foreign, and so abnormal; that they think they are the only ones in the world, left out of the inner circle; when the truth is that there are far more of us outside of the inner circle than there are inside of it.

 

Those of us excluded from the reindeer games are generally open and loving people, as long as we have not been too damaged and made bitter by exclusion.  We have character and beauty fathoms deeper than can be expressed in mere words or glimpsed by our outer coverings.  So, the next time you feel excluded or like you don’t measure up, remember than the only one holding the measuring stick is you; and that you are one of the unique and extraordinary.  And even if the small inner circle is rejecting of us all, they’re okay too; they just have to find the courage to be who they are inside themselves, not inside the circle.