Anything Good: Writing Inspiration

Last month I took a trip to Denmark with my wife and oldest son. Less than a week after we returned we bought a new puppy. Those two events have combined to form a direct assault against my writing time. And not just against my time—against my will to write. Denmark was exhausting, super fun and a fantastic experience, but exhausting. Our new puppy as sweet as she is demands my time; time that if I don’t give now I won’t be able to make it up later. So, instead of hands on the keyboard, for more than a month now, I’ve been spinning my wheels simply mulling my novel around inside my head. And it’s killing me, just not enough to get me to do something about it.

Even though I haven’t felt like writing I’ve forced myself to read during short bursts of free time. I’m almost finished with Wolf Mark. I enjoyed all The Night of the Owls comic books (Scott Snyder is one of my new idols), and I’m catching up on Avengers vs X-Men (AvX). In addition, I’ve been watching some TV while matching wits with our ten-week-old cocker spaniel pup; my favorite show right now is The Legend of Korra (I still need to go back and watch the Avatar series, that’s still on my todo list).

It’s times like this when inspiration comes in unpredictable ways and from unpredictable sources. While skimming my twitter feed last week I stumbled on four blogs that really inspired me—there were many, many others but these four each gave me something I desperately needed to get my writing motor going again.

Number 1: Writing Wednesday: Two Reviews for The Princess and the Hound

Mette Ivie Harrison jumpstarted my desire to write in this post. I know it’s a tumblr but it looks like a blog post to me. (note to self: Do I need a tumblr? Do some research.) I constantly struggle with comparing myself to other writers, not only in quality but in my ability to produce. I feel like I write so slowly. Mette’s words captured what I think is a great way to combat the doubts and fears I’ve been having about my own writing:

“In order to get the actual work done, the best thing to think of is of myself as a worker. Just like I can get on a bike and put down x number of miles at a certain pace, I can sit down and write the words that tell my story. They may tell the story well or badly. But my job is to get them down first of all. Then my second job is to figure out which ones are the right ones and which ones aren’t and try to figure out better ones if I can. If I can’t, I do my best.

“In the end, that’s all I can do. My best. I can’t write like someone else. I can’t write with pressure on me about how great or horrible it is. It’s just putting words to the page. Bricks and mortar. Stirring eggs up for an omelet. Putting one foot in front of another. There’s no magic in the actual creating of the words, not really. …”

What Mette says makes absolute sense, all I can be is myself, my best. So I have to struggle, work, revise, and above all else finish. Fast or slow what matters most is that I finish. Hey, someone should write a fable about that.

Number 2: On Television and Writing

Kiersten White wrote this post after suffering from a fever for a couple of days. I guess you could call what I’ve been experiencing with my writing somewhat like a fever, a sort of mental fever. Anyway, even though I haven’t watched all the TV shows she talks about, some because I want to but haven’t got around to them, and others because my personal tastes are different, I think her analysis is very insightful. And I like her voice. I attended one of Kiersten’s sessions at LDS Storymakers last month and really enjoyed her practical tips there too.

Sometimes learning about good and bad writing by watching TV is all I can do. It’s not as good as writing, but it’s better than doing nothing. By the way, before reading her post I already had plans to watch the Avatar series, but Kiersten’s post bumped that task up in priority.

Number 3: 25 Things Writers Should Stop Doing

Chuck Wendig wrote this one. And I just noticed it’s kind of old, at least in Internet time. It was posted Jan 3, 2012. I can’t remember who tweeted it last week, but whoever did thank you, the timing was perfect for me. All twenty five of these suggestions are excellent. I’m taking Chuck’s advice to yell them at myself—my blog post will serve as a permanent reminder of this moment. Several hit me right when and where I needed them to. Like #1 Stop Running Away and #2 Stop Stopping, these two hooked me from the very beginning. Then he reeled me in with #5 Stop Hurrying and #6 Stop Waiting. Finally he served me up on a platter with #7 Stop Thinking It Should Be Easier, #14 Stop Playing It Safe, and #23 Stop Leaving Yourself Off The Page. He wrote a paragraph of detail for each one, but most of them don’t need a lot of extra explanation. I only wish I’d seen this back in January and taped a copy to my laptop.

Chuck’s language is forceful and direct, you’ve been warned, but it’s exactly what I needed. It’s always good to know I’m not the only one who’s ever felt this way. Chuck has loads of writing advice, some a lot more recent than the post I cited above. I need to dive into more of what he has to offer—one more task added to my list.

Number 4: Turning Point (or the Tunnel at the End of the Darkness)

This one is a guest post by Susan Adrian on the blog distraction no. 99. Susan tells her story about quitting writing and then finding writing again in a new light. She said:

“I’d rediscovered my joy. In writing, in telling a story, in creating characters that live and breathe and make their own decisions and mistakes, but find their way. I was a writer. I’d tried to stop, but I couldn’t. It’s who I am.”

And she was inspired by a TV show—something I can relate to. She finishes her post about the new book she’s writing with this:

“I hope someday you’ll get to read it too. But even if you don’t, I’ll still be here. Writing.”

What a great ending. I feel exactly the same way.

My writing life is filled with ups and downs. Thankfully there are plenty of people out there struggling, sharing, writing and reaching out a helping hand to point me back in an upward direction each time I hit one of the inevitable lows.

Here’s a summary of the lessons I relearned this week:

• Do the work, get the words down first and foremost. And remember I can’t write like someone else. It’s ok to simply be me.
• TV can be inspiring. Pay attention to what you like, what works. And also pay attention to what doesn’t work in order to avoid the same mistakes.
• I want to stop playing it safe. (This statement is weak isn’t it? It’s laden with excuses for failure before I even get started. I know. I’m going to work on this one, to figure out the safest risk to take ;-). Sorry it’s the best I can do right now.)
• I hope someday you’ll get to read my novel too. But even if you don’t I’ll still be here. Writing.

I can think of no greater compliment for my own writing than for a single person to say you affected me, you helped me, you inspired me. These writers inspired me! I cannot thank them enough.

It feels good to be back in the chair hands on keyboard.

What inspires you? What do you do when you don’t feel like writing?

Balance: Motorcycles and Writing

Turn the key, press the starter and the engine rumbles to life; on a cold morning, like today, I might need to use the choke. The engine idles for a minute, beating away till it warms up. My left hand squeezes the clutch. My left foot taps the gear lever down, snapping it into first. I slowly release the clutch with my left hand while revving up the throttle with my right. I pick up my right foot as the wheels start to turn, resting it on the foot peg. I rev it some more and accelerate into the road, settling into equilibrium on two wheels. A few feet down the road I relax the throttle, squeeze the clutch, and pop the gear lever up into second. More throttle and the engine rumbles effortlessly up to speed, a little more than I should through our quiet neighborhood sometimes, but I can’t help it.

The wind in my face, the smell of cut grass or hay, the engine roaring, the warmth of the sun catching up at a stop, the awesome power for the most part untapped held in reserve, accelerating up, hanging on, leaning into the curves, combined with the flawless execution of the controls required to make all this happen is a liberating experience. When it all comes together, senses alive and alert, everything is in balance.

But each spring, when I ride again for the first time after a long winter break, it’s easy to recognize when something’s not in balance. Maybe I pop the clutch too fast and the engine kills. Maybe I sit crooked in the seat, making the handle bars feel twisted to one side. Maybe I stop too quickly, or place my feet in the wrong position and the bike leans too far to the side almost toppling over. Or maybe I forget to turn off the turn signal. No matter what, if something’s out of balance it just doesn’t feel right.

Getting everything right to operate a motorcycle may sound intimidating to some. But with some practice it can easily be mastered by anyone willing to put in a little effort. I think writing is similar. There are many rules, and even more guidelines that make everything about writing seem intimidating. But with practice and effort I’ve heard it can be mastered. Balance in writing is difficult to describe, but easily felt when it’s not there.

My quest for balance in writing continues this week at the LDStorymakers Writers Conference. I’ve been frantically working on my fifteen pages for Boot Camp, a hands-on critique workshop. I’m stressing over what to say in my ten minute pitch session to an actual literary agent. And I’m looking forward to two days chock-full of classes and workshops covering craft basics, advanced craft, genre, and marketing/career development taught by world class authors. In addition I hope to meet new writer friends as well.

Even though I use these kinds of milestones to work towards I realize this is a journey not a destination. I never seem to be able to spend enough time to make things as good as I expect them to be, but at least I’m making progress. And if I don’t go into Storymakers feeling rock solid prepared, I plan to go with confidence. Not because of what I’ve done so far, but because of what I hope to become—better tomorrow than I was today.

I’m constantly reading helpful blogs that hit me when I need them the most. Here are a couple I read this week: Race in YA Lit: Wake Up & Smell the Coffee-Colored Skin, White Authors! and the very appropriate How to talk to strangers at professional events.

One more thing worth mentioning I just finished reading Scene and Structure by Jack Bickham. I learned a lot from this book. And I’m currently reading Story Engineering: Mastering the 6 Core Competencies of Successful Writing by Larry Brooks.

Anything Good: Entertainment (movies, TV, sports, reading)

You are what you eat—literally. And in a similar fashion what entertainment you choose to indulge in can tell a lot about you as well. Here’s a sampling of what I’ve been consuming lately.

Movies

I don’t go to movies a lot. The number one reason is that movies quite often disappoint me. I watch trailers and get excited only to find out the best parts were shown in the trailer. Or, I read and liked the book, so I’m interested in the movie but it turns out that someone interpreted it differently; I mean they decided to change the story significantly. I hate that. Or the absolute worst is when a movie feels like it’s packed full of fabulous effects and enticing action sequences but there is no plot, no story. All of this makes me skeptical of movies in general.

So far this year I’ve seen two movies: John Carter and Red Tails. I had completely different experiences with each of them.

John Carter

I saw John Carter last week. I’ve been excited to see it for a while now, mostly based on the trailers ;-). Hi I’m Scott and I fall for this kind of thing often. Curse you Hollywood! Besides the impressively cool trailer, sci-fi and fantasy are my favorite genres. How can you go wrong mixing them together? And one more thing, this movie was my choice, not my wife’s.

Overall I liked it. It was worth the price of admission including the 3d tax. The pictures on the screen were beautiful. The 3d detail was impressive. I found myself staring at the Tharks’ skin textures more than once. The story was good, even though it was a bit predictable. I liked how John Carter learned to use his special abilities on Mars. And I thought the inclusion of Edgar Rice Burroughs as a character in the movie was a nice touch.

There were a couple of times, however, when I was scratching my head about how easily John got out of difficult predicaments. And John Carter’s backstory, how his wife and child were brutally murdered while he was away at war could have been handled better. But of course that would have taken time away from the pretty pictures. Anyway I didn’t buy that as motivation for his selfishness, although it’s clear that’s what they were trying to sell me. This trope has been used before, most recently in Cowboys vs Aliens, Jake Lonergan and in the TV show Hell on Wheels Cullen Bohannon, both of which deal with it in more believable ways.

In summary I had high expectations for John Carter. And while I did like it, I really wanted to like it more. It just didn’t live up to my expectations.

Red Tails

I’m sure I saw a trailer for Red Tails, but I honestly don’t remember it. When my wife suggested we see it I had to go to flixster to figure out what it was about. Two things got me into the theater that night back in January. One, there wasn’t anything else playing I wanted to see. And two, my wife chose it and I was hoping to win points for going along with her. I had nothing against it; it’s just that when I think of a fun time at the movies, war films don’t jump to the top of my list. I was thinking it was going to be closer to a history lesson than entertainment.

When I’m wrong sometimes I’ll admit it. This is one of those times—I was WRONG. Please mark this down so I get credit. Red Tails was packed full of engaging action, relatable characters, a compelling story and yes, even some history too.

Red Tails made me want to fly in one of those shiny P-51 Mustangs, or at least to build a model of one. I was pumped up with emotion along with the characters in the scene where they prayed on the runway right before they went on their big mission. I liked the characters before, but after that I couldn’t help but root for them.

I related most to Joe “Lightning” Little. My natural instinct is to fight injustice head on without really thinking it through—usually in much smaller ways. I should be more like Martin “Easy” Julian though and think about the best way to achieve my goals. Sometimes that means enduring is more important than fighting, especially when fighting commonly makes us ineffective by taking us out of the game.

When I’m in a leadership position I am like Easy. I often second guess myself and/or beat myself up and feel like quitting when I make a wrong decision. There was a great scene when Easy tried to give up his command but the admiral wouldn’t let him. Easy learned to accept himself as the leader, even though he sometimes made bad decisions. Leader or not moving on in life, despite the fact that I make wrong decisions sometimes, is an important lesson to learn.

I liked the WWII part of the movie more than I thought I would. But why the military leaders couldn’t convince all the pilots that protecting the bombers was more important than shooting down enemy planes is a disappointing message about their own abilities to lead. If I were a WWII pilot I think I might be tempted by the impulse to rack up hits. But, if it were explained that our side was losing bombing crews, and potentially losing the war because of it, I hope I would have done the right thing and not just what I wanted to do. That made the other pilots seem petty and selfish in comparison.

I kept thinking about Red Tails, long after I saw it. I had low expectations to begin with and it blew them away in the end. I walked away from Red Tails feeling good inside.

The rest of this movie year holds great potential. The ones I’m looking forward to most are: Hunger Games, The Hobbit, Dark Knight Rises, Avengers, Amazing Spider-Man and Brave. I hope I’ll have something good to say about a few of these too.

TV

I probably watch more TV than I should. I justify it by calling it creative research for my writing. Anyway, you know a show is good when you can’t wait for the next episode. So then it’s a bonus to actually find the time to sit down and watch them. Lately a few stand out over the rest: Walking Dead, Being Human, Justified, Hell on Wheels, Grimm and Once Upon a Time.

Walking Dead makes me cringe and then I come back for more. They’re not afraid to kill off major characters and I want to know how the ones who remain alive are going to survive.

Being Human is about a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost who simply want to live “normal” lives. Unfortunately for them their monster-ish selves always seem to get in the way. I’m not a vampire, a werewolf, nor a ghost but I can relate to their desires for the “ordinary.” I quite often feel like a monster when I don’t measure up to my own lofty expectations, when I make mistakes.

On Justified Raylan Givens is a rogue U.S. Marshal who does what he thinks is the right thing even when he knows it will get him in trouble. His flaws are obvious and it’s a miracle he’s not dead yet given his propensity for walking headlong into fire. But he’s a guy I enjoy rooting for; and sometimes I wish I could get away with cutting to the chase the way Raylan does.

Hell on Wheels is a western. The setting is the American West post-Civil War, the railroad expansion in particular. The images on the screen, from the scenery to the clothing, are incredibly beautiful. The story is good too. It’s between seasons right now. But I’ll be right there when they start back up towards the end of 2012.

Grimm and Once Upon a Time are similar in that they explore fairy tales. But each does it in a very different way. Each comes with its own plusses and minuses. But I’m still watching both of them.

That sounds like a lot. I know. But we wouldn’t be able to keep up without TiVo. My wife and I typically watch one of the recorded episodes after we put our kids to bed. It’s something we enjoy doing together. It helps us wind down after an action packed day of work and plenty of kid stuff.

Sports

We’re in the middle of March Madness and I still haven’t fully committed to basketball this year. The NBA lockout really soured me. Luckily I’m still riding high remembering how my favorite football team, the San Francisco 49ers turned things around this year. And even though they could have made it to the Super Bowl I’m proud to be a fan. I’ve been a fan since the beginning of the season that ended with Joe Montana and Dwight Clark hooking up for “The Catch” to nudge the 9ers past the Cowboys and into the Super Bowl.

All I can say is Jim Harbaugh is the man. It was impressive to watch him turn essentially the same team as last year around in such a convincing manor. I’ll admit, the last few years have been more down than up. It’s been tough to see my team go through it. But this past season made it all worth it. It gives me hope for the future. That’s what I love about sports. Seasons come and seasons go, but the beginning of a new season is filled with tremendous amounts of hope—next season might be the one.

Something New?

Have you heard about Coliloquy? On their website they describe themselves as “a digital publisher of active fiction, specializing in reader engagement and serial storytelling.”

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how traditional publishing might change using technology to create something new and interesting. That’s how the programmer in me thinks. I’m not sure if Coliloquy is going as far as I thought possible, but I’m excited they’re willing to do something to push forward into the future.

I haven’t been able to sample any of their dynamic content just yet because, as of now, it is only available on Kindle devices other than the Kindle Fire. I have an iPad and my wife has a Kindle Fire. So for now I’m sitting on the sidelines waiting for their next step, which is rumored to include not only the Kindle Fire but iOS options as well. Please hurry up Coliloquy.

I am definitely keeping my eyes on them to see what they can do. Have any of you read titles from Coliloquy? If so, please let me know what you think of them.

Reading

I recently started two interesting books. One is Wolf Mark by Joseph Bruchac and the other is Here, There Be Dragons by James A. Owen. Every night I can’t wait to pick one of them up and read further.

In comics I’m looking forward to Avengers vs X-Men (AvX) coming out in a few weeks. I’ve liked the X-Men for a long time. The Avengers are less familiar so I’m learning about them by reading New Avengers, Secret Avengers, Avengers: X-Sanction and Avenging Spider-Man.

Summary

I’m not exactly sure what all this means, other than it looks like I spend a boatload of time consuming all different kinds of media. So when do I find time to write? Well actually, writing is my top priority. It pushes all this other stuff aside. But all this “other stuff” is necessary to reinvigorate my creative juices. And some of this other stuff is how I stay in contact with my family, especially my wife. We do most of it together.

One thing that stands out about what I choose to watch is that I like strong characters who try to do the right thing even though they end up making lots of mistakes along the way. And I just might like watching characters do things I wish I had the opportunity and/or courage to do. As I have written all this down it’s interesting to find out that I seem to gravitate towards characters who have some admirable qualities, and who are striving to be better no matter what position they find themselves in. Me too.

Oh, and one more thing. I learned that I should trust my wife’s movie choices more often.

Anything Good: Back to Comics

I mentioned in my last post that I started reading comic books again. This has been an interesting journey. It started several years ago when we took my third son to Islands of Adventure in Florida for his 10-year-old trip. We loved Marvel Super Hero Island and just couldn’t pass up a visit to the comic book store there. We met a friendly member of the staff who made a few suggestions. I ended up buying a couple of Spider-Man trade paperbacks*. I read and enjoyed them but that was it.

Occasionally, in the subsequent years, I thought I’d like to read more. But I always felt weird, maybe even a little intimidated, about going to places where I could purchase more. So this past summer, when my daughter chose to go to Islands of Adventure for her 10-year-old trip, I was excited about the possibility of getting some more comics. Unfortunately, when we visited the exact same comic store, browsed for a while, even tried making conspicuous glances at the staff, I eventually left, disappointed. I just couldn’t bring myself to ask for help and the staff didn’t feel like offering, so the impasse left me empty handed. I’ll never be selected as ambassador to alien nations—I hate making first contact.

Since that disappointment I did a little searching on the Internet. Turns out there are lots to choose from—thanks for that one Internet. If you’re new to comic books, or been away for a while, it may feel like it requires a PhD in comic book history in order to know where to start—it did for me.

Undaunted, okay mostly daunted but determined to get past it, I worked up the courage to walk into a local comic/game store. Funny thing is the stereotypes matched pretty well. I played it cool looking for the comics section. Hey, I’m in my mid-forties and I want some comics. What you lookin’ at kid? Is what I might have said if confronted at that point. Luckily for everyone that didn’t happen. I was about to make a hasty retreat when I spotted them—CLEAR AT THE BACK OF THE STORE. Nothing worthwhile is easy. I think the locals smelled my fear as I walked back.

While trying to take in the hundreds of options visible on the wall—that was just the new stuff by the way—I met the most helpful shop clerk I think I’ve ever met; shout out to the DK crew. He started with the low pressure “Do you need any help?” angle.

I gave him my usual, “I’m just looking around. Thanks.”

But he didn’t walk away like 99% of the shop clerks I’ve encountered. He asked about my interests, slyly gaging my knowledge level without exposing me as a neophyte. By the time we were done I grabbed a few comics from the DC reboot (The New 52), plus found a good X-Men starting point and picked up The Walking Dead “Volume 1: Days Gone Bye.” Aren’t I so much cooler now—I’m an insider. At least I know a few key words so I’ll be able to bluff my way through a conversation next time.

A couple of months have gone by since then, now I have new problems. Picking up the next installment of each of The New 52 I’m reading has been a lot like hunting for beanie babies with my wife fifteen years ago; we had to search out stores receiving new shipments and get there early in the morning, 6:00 am or earlier, and fight off hordes of beanie baby cut throats. The hunt for new comics isn’t quite as dramatic. But if I don’t make it to the comic store early each Wednesday when new comics are released there’s a good chance I won’t be able to procure the new ones. And if I miss the new releases it’s tough to predict when I’ll be able to pick them up. My wife found a couple of shops in SLC, she’s good at stuff like this, where it’s been easier to pick up new releases. These shops seem to have a deeper inventory. The down side is that I have to drive forty minutes to get there. But it’s been a nice back up plan. Now I don’t fret too much if I miss a new issue here or there. And when I have enough of those missing issues stacked up I look for a reason to make a longer trip to SLC.

I also had the problem of how to store my comics in a way that was easily accessible. My collection was growing, almost as fast as tribbles, which means if I didn’t do something I would have been overrun, or worse my precious new possessions would be lost in a sea of new comics. And nobody wants that. IKEA to the rescue. I found a cheap new book shelf and a few magazine holders. Now I not only have my current comics organized, I have room to grow.

Once I started reading a few comics I remembered other characters or stories I’d seen on TV or read about. So my interests are expanding. Which is one of the funnest** parts about reading comics, there’s always something new. I jumped onto Avenging Spiderman from the beginning. So far it’s ok, but I love it that Marvel includes a free digital copy with the purchase of the comic book—I’d read it for that reason alone. Reading digital comics on my iPad is great, they look incredible. I wish every publisher gave away a digital copy with the hard copy. Why not?

In summary what’s good about comics?

They are playful and light. When I start taking myself too seriously, or just get bogged down while writing, comics are a good way to take a break and still keep reading and thinking about storytelling.  The stories are fun and the images*** definitely add to the enjoyment.

Comics are serial stories so they never really end. They make me look forward to Wednesdays—new comics day. I end up reading comics when I would have otherwise watched TV.

My thirteen-year-old son likes to read them too. Anything I can find to share with my son so we have something in common, something to talk about, is a good thing.

They make me wish I could draw. I wonder if there is a storytelling medium somewhere in between comic books and the regular picture-less novel? This is something I plan to give more thought to.

I’m enjoying most of what I’m reading. Some more than others, but overall it’s been enjoyable and inspirational.

Regarding my fears and admitted shyness above: In case you’re wondering, “No.” I don’t ever ask strangers for directions either. And yes I do eventually end up where I want to go. I’m nothing if not persistent. A quality I hope will serve me well on my writing journey.

*Trade paperbacks are a collection of stories originally published in comic books, reprinted in book format, for those of you like me, who are unfamiliar with the term trade paperback. Usually buying trade paperbacks is cheaper than buying the series one at a time. The tradeoff is you have to wait a while after the last comic book in the series to be included is out before they print the trade paperbacks.

**According to MS Word I may have made up the word funnest, but it just seemed to fit, so I left it in.

***One thing to watch out for, especially when sharing comics with kids, is the comic book artist’s representation of the female body. A lot of times it’s exaggerated to emphasize the female form. It’s always best to read the comics first before sharing them with kids. That also gives you the added bonus of being able to discuss it with them too.

Finding Anything Good

I lost my voice, have you noticed? I expect I haven’t quite earned the right for anyone to notice my voice just yet. I’ve been too sporadic for that. For the record though I’m back—rejuvenated. And after a sufficient amount of procrastination behind me I have grand plans to pick up the ball I dropped four months ago, that is to blog more consistently—at least once a month.

I got caught up in the publishing wave, swept away if you will, by the flowing tide of new and interesting reading produced by this ever accelerating age of information. I use the term “new” here loosely, it means new to me. This includes material produced at any time which I was formerly unacquainted with. It includes traditionally published material as well as amazingly helpful blogs, plus all the latest social buzz on Twitter, Facebook and the likes. All that combined, the mountain of characters, words, paragraphs and pages is approaching Everest in sheer magnitude, and in awesomeness.

The thing is there are so many fantastic options to choose from I can't possibly hope to read them all let alone just keep up with the new releases. I’m more likely to summit Everest, which, let’s be honest, ain’t ever gonna happen. Sometimes I feel guilty—like I didn't do my homework—when I find great new stuff that’s more than a year old. And it’s hard not to compare myself to others and end up lacking, especially when I listen to them talk or write from the depth of their knowledge. This is the dilemma I was faced with: information overload. And if I couldn’t keep up why should I expect anyone else to read what I write—I mean seriously who am I? My creative desire to add more to the mountain was crushed under the weight of what’s already out there. My voice was silenced.

Or was it? Looking back I don’t think it was. What happened is that other things were louder and drowned out my voice. How do I know that? Because my desire to write persists. What was lacking was a clear direction, something to write about. As I’ve been mulling over that topic—read into that procrastinating—I’ve been reading and watching some interesting TV shows. I even started reading comic books again. And even though I can’t consume it all—heck I have a pile of cool stuff that will most likely last me till summer—I can easily find something worthwhile, something good.

The thought of finding something good, anything really, amidst the plethora of what is and has been produced is my new focus for the coming year. Each month I will write about something that sticks out to me, anything good. The best part about this plan is that it requires me to look on the bright side, to see cups that are half full. I’m excited to take this challenge.

To start things off I have three good things worth writing about:

Number 1: On November 10, 2011 if you missed the book bomb started by Larry Correia for Rob Wells’ book Variant you missed something truly inspiring. People around the internet banded together to see how high they could push Variant on Amazon’s best sellers list. Variant went from #6068 to #57 in one day, it climbed to #7 in its genre. See Larry Correia’s blog for more details.

I bought a copy of Variant on Nov. 10 and as soon as I received it my wife took it. She read it in less than a week—she loved it. I’m currently reading it and it’s great.

More than the book though I was impressed by how a single person could unite so many people via Twitter, Facebook and blogs. There is amazing power here that can be harnessed for good. Larry’s book bomb is a perfect example of this power.

Number 2: One of the comics I recently started reading is The Walking Dead. I’m not a big zombie fan but I was immediately sucked in. In the introduction to “Volume 1 Days Gone Bye” Robert Kirkham lays out his goal: “With THE WALKING DEAD I want to explore how people deal with extreme situations and how these events CHANGE them.” That sets the tone perfectly for the story. It’s about how people deal with difficult situations in their lives first, and zombies second. It’s that people element that is compelling. The zombie part is good for a little scare here and there.

After I read "Days Gone Bye" I realized that AMC produced a series based on the comics. And much to my dismay it’s already in season 2. How did I miss season 1? Fortunately I caught the entire first half of season 2, which is on a break until February 12, 2012. During the midseason finale (season 2 episode 7 “Pretty Much Dead Already”) there was an amazingly dramatic moment that is so compelling it has been stuck in my mind for weeks. So many things happened at the same time: I was angry, surprised, happy, and sad all at the same time. That scene alone is worth watching all of season 2 so far. In my writing I hope to be able to create such a compelling scene someday.

If you haven’t seen The Walking Dead AMC has a full series marathon scheduled for New Year’s Eve 2011, this Saturday. It includes all of season 1 and season 2 up to this point—this is how I plan to catch up on season 1. I recommend using TiVo and watching them in smaller doses. I like to dilute my zombie watching with something less tense in between episodes, two episodes back to back is about as much as I can stomach in one sitting.

Number 3: I took my daughter to The Muppets at a local movie theater a couple nights ago. She mentioned just after Thanksgiving she wanted to see it. My response at that time was eh, I don’t think so—shame on me. Luckily I read Howard Tayler’s review, and noticed a lot of tweets about how much people liked it, so I decided to give it a chance. I’m so glad I did. There are lots of good movies—good in varying degrees: pretty pictures, fun scenes, good stories, and sometimes stories that impact you and stick with you, and even change you or help you on your journey through life. This movie was funny and nostalgic but it also left me feeling better than I felt when I sat down to watch it. My favorite quote from The Muppets is “It’s easy to believe in other people. Sooner or later you gotta believe in yourself.” What a great message that hit me right at my core. It really is so much easier to believe in others than it is to believe in yourself. Since I decided I was going to write a novel these kinds of messages have been popping up at the most fortuitous moments. Maybe the messages are always there and it’s up to me to notice them. Or maybe I’m just looking for something to spur me on. I could probably find negative messages too—resistance—if I focused on looking for them. But even if both positive and negative messages are out there why not focus on the positive ones? I need all the help I can get. The negative messages—the resistance—is no help at all.

That’s it for my preview of Anything Good that comes along, now and into the next year.

So, from here on out I refuse to feel guilty about my past omissions and will partake of the veritable smorgasbord of reading/viewing material as best I can. Hopefully I'll choose from the most delectable options because I'll be over-stuffed long before the content runs out. And maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to add my own dish to the buffet, contributing something someone else will find enjoyable. But if not the journey will add savor and spice to my literary and media life experiences just as well.

#amwriting

I started writing. Finally! It feels so good to say that. I found several sources that helped me along the way and I want to share.

Last year I took a writing class through my local adult education program. Annette Lyon, the instructor, was excellent. She taught the basics of writing. But she taught more than just foundational skills; she gave sound advice from her own personal experiences on being published. And she gave us encouragement and the confidence to give it a go.

I made the decision to write young adult (YA) fantasy – the biggest reason is my kids. We started reading some of their books together and I was hooked. I still read adult science fiction and fantasy, but I’m continually drawn back to YA.

At “Life, the Universe, and Everything” (LTUE), a local writing symposium, I attended a session where a publisher said she was looking for novels with multi-cultural characters or main characters from different cultures. That sounded interesting to me so I started researching. My main POV character is a First Nation Cree (Native American) from Canada. And I have several other characters from around the globe including: Tanzania, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Denmark, England, and the US.

Once I found my characters and developed a little of their personal history I was so excited to start the novel. I officially started writing the first draft last year in June. Finding time to write was hard, but the more I wrote the easier it was, and the more excited I was. Even so, my output wasn’t great. I had maybe 10K words by the end of October. Then came National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) – what a great thing. I know the pure goal of NaNoWriMo is to write an entire novel in a single month, but I twisted it a little to meet my own needs. I just wanted make progress on my novel. The great part about NaNoWriMo is the constant reminder to write something, anything. The inspirational messages focusing on quantity over quality were exactly what I needed at the time. I finished the month of November having written an additional 18K words. That is far short of the 50K goal, but for me, producing almost two times my starting word count in a single month was a significant step forward. At the same time it was kind of grueling. So, since then I’ve tried to maintain a more moderate pace. But, without the constant reminders – and encouragement – my production hasn’t been as consistent as I had hoped. My current word count is around 38K, which overall I’m happy about. But I am disappointed I was stuck on one particular scene for a few weeks – I should have written more.

This past weekend, though, was rejuvenating. I received a jumpstart. I literally feel like someone attached jumper cables to my attitude and said here you go, have some of my energy. The source of that energy was another writing seminar, “So You Want to Write a Book,” conducted by Luann Staheli. I heard about it on twitter from Annette Lyon. I saw Luann at LTUE on a couple of the panels. But meeting her in this class was so much more personal. The seminar participants included me and one other aspiring writer – so pretty much one on one instruction. Luann covered a wide range of topics from genre definitions to plot structure. Along the way she told encouraging stories from her own life and from the lives of other writers—she knows a lot of writers. She made me absolutely jealous listening to stories about her own writing group.

While the instructional part of the class was great, my biggest takeaway was Luann’s encouragement. There were several opportunities during the class where Luann asked about my current project, and used my answers in examples of how to do something – like generate a plot. Each of us took time to outline our plot starting with the initial incident and ending with the resolution. I struggled at first, this is an area where I needed some help. By the end I had some new ideas and some needed focus that I’m confident will make my novel better.

I have to confess something at this point. When I say I struggled when we worked on our plot outlines here’s what I really meant. I’ve never felt so fragile in my life than when I was trying to express my ideas in that class. It’s not that I didn’t have something to say. I’ve been thinking about it, working on it, and discussing it with my family, and even a few select friends, for over a year now. But sharing it with someone new, the entire class no less, was, and still is, a scary experience for me. Look, I consider myself a fairly confident person. I’m a computer programmer with 20 years of experience, 19 in my current job. I’ve played sports, coached my kids in sports, plus planned and carried out activities with scouts including winter camping for so many years I stopped counting. But sharing my story ideas, and as an extension of that, writing something that other people will hopefully read, is scary. This is tough to admit. I know as a male I’m supposed to bottle up my feelings rather than share them this way, especially in such a way as to emasculate myself in public. I blame this uncharacteristic expression on the fact that I recently watched “You’ve got mail.” We actually talked about “You’ve got mail” in Luann’s class, then that night it was on TV. I even stayed up late to watch the ending. Ok, I feel better now. Hey, maybe the fact that writing is scary to me is why I want to do it so bad – I have to prove to myself I can do it. I think I just had a psychological breakthrough.

Ok, getting back to my jumpstart. Another insightful thing Luann asked us to do was to write our top ten list of things we’d do if we had no obstacles stopping us. That was illuminating. The thing I learned was I can do all of them now. But like most things in life, it will take effort and a plan to balance those things in with the rest of my “busy” life. One of the things I want to do is to blog more consistently – this blog is my first attempt to make good on that one.

And now I’m almost as excited to write as I was when I started last summer.

To sum things up what I've learned about writing over the past year is to never give up, write about what you are passionate about, and surround yourself with encouragement – especially people who will encourage you. If you feel scared reach out and connect with others who are in the same situation – there are a lot of us. Annette and Luann are awesome at that – but I bet that wherever you are you can find people like them who are passionate about writing and willing to share.

My goal is to finish the novel I’m working on as soon as I can – I’m shooting for 90K words – then see what happens. I want to blog at least once a month; in order to practice writing, and to give me small writing breaks from the “big” novel. And I’m hoping to find a writing group; I feel like that will help me make more consistent progress, and that it will help increase the quality of my work.

I have to try.

Starting to Write

I’ve had false starts before, many of them. So…, why now, why this time?

Reading as a kid
I’ve loved reading for as long as I can remember. More often than not, when other kids were playing outside, I was reading. Some of my most vivid childhood memories are of browsing through libraries or riding my bike down to Main Street in Logan, Utah to visit the Book Table bookstore – I could always find something I wanted there. Book orders were an exciting time at school, at least for me – I’m sure my mother secretly wished the school would stop handing them out. Adding to my collection of books and organizing it was almost as fun as reading. I read all kinds of books but my favorites were mysteries; Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators, the Hardy Boys, Agatha Christie, and The Westing Game are some of the most memorable. Finding clues and solving cases was endless fun.

My reading lean years
I never made a conscious decision to stop reading. I can’t put my finger on the exact point when it happened; maybe there wasn’t just one point. Cars, girls, sports, jobs, movies and TV began to occupy my former reading time. Compounding that, going to college, starting a family, and embarking on a career as a computer engineer dominated my time. Spending significant portions of my day in front of a computer monitor or reading about computer science the last thing I wanted to do in my spare time was read. I started fly fishing to escape – but that’s a whole other story.

Back in the saddle
I credit movies for reviving my reading appetite. I fell hook, line, and sinker for the advanced previews of the Lord of the Rings – it seemed like nearly a year in advance on the first one. I bought the trilogy plus the Hobbit and devoured them before the movies debuted. The Chronicles of Narnia were next – I enjoyed all of them. My taste gravitated towards fantasy.

Reading these classics reawakened my childhood dream of writing a book. However, being away from reading for so long, I felt compelled to research a variety of authors in hopes of discovering my own story to tell. I started perusing recommendations on Amazon – I love Amazon by the way. I picked up titles from Anne McCaffrey, Ursula K Le Guin, G.R.R. Martin, Cornelia Funke, Christopher Paolini and Naomi Novik. During this time I read the Harry Potter series – who didn’t? Also, based on editor’s picks on Amazon, I read Stolen Child by Keith Donohue and the Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger – thoroughly enjoying each of them.

As my children grew older they started reading too. My fourth son introduced me to Fablehaven, the Ranger’s Apprentice, and Percy Jackson, all of them excellent and worth reading.

Ready to try writing
That brings us into the calendar year 2010. Now, I’m not saying I’ve read enough to be a writer – I’m not sure if I can ever do that --but I’ve read enough to know what I like. I’ve cherished those works that make me feel alive, that make me want to read more. I want to do that for someone else. My hope is that I can evoke an emotional connection with my readers – if I’m ever lucky enough to have some.

Nudges
I’ve received nudges along the way too. In January my wife signed me up for a writing class through the Spanish Fork city adult arts education program. It was an excellent class taught by Annette Lyon. Annette has published several books, she really knows her stuff. I gained confidence, not that I am a good writer, but that I can become a good writer. And the only way to become a good writer is to write.

Big nudge
My biggest nudge so far happened in February. I knew that writing would be hard work, and take a huge amount of effort. Given my status in life, I’d been wondering if writing was a worthwhile endeavor. So, one morning I happened to be reading from A Disciple’s Life (the biography of Neal A Maxwell) and Standing for Something by Gordon B. Hinckley. In A Disciple’s Life I read:

“Yes there would be problems ... yes there would be challenges ... yes there would be unevenness and disappointments ...

He knew all those things, yet ... he did not wait until everything was perfectly in order before acting... If one tried to solve in advance all the problems which might occur later, he might never start! The capacity to trust the Lord for continuous revelation as to what would later need to be done was clearly a part of the makeup of this very special man.” (A Disciple's Life page 467)

In Standing for Something I read:

“[God] allows ... disappointment to occur on the threshold of every human endeavor. It occurs when the boy who has been enchanted in the nursery by Stories from the Odyssey buckles down to really learning Greek. It occurs when lovers have got married and begin the real task of learning to live together. In every department of life it marks the transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing.” (Standing for Something page 134)

I refuse to believe that reading both of these passages on the same day was a mere coincidence. I’d been reading A Disciple’s Life off and on for several years. I’m not saying I’m destined for greatness, in fact, in all likelihood I’ll never be published. But the direction I should go right now seems crystal clear.

Hope + dream + work
I’ve had false starts before, many of them. So…, why now, why this time? I’m not sure I’ll ever be good. But I have dreams I hope I can turn into reality. I want to write a book. I know it will be hard work, but I’m eager to make the “transition from dreaming aspiration to laborious doing.” I have to try. And the first step is to start.