Ah the power of a good night’s sleep.
The first indication that it would be a good day? I had a dream. That in itself proves that I slept, long and deep.
I actually dreamed about sleeping, what does that tell you?
In my dream, I was due to go to work at a new location at 11 am, and I was reading at the computer beforehand. Next thing I know, I’m waking up, and its 2 pm, so clearly I’m already 3 hours late. I kept looking at the clock as I got ready, in total disbelief that I could have been so tired that I fell asleep sitting up at a desk for that long.
When I arrived at my new job, I fully expected to get a lecture or worse. But my new boss just said, “Don’t worry about it, you’ll make it up sometime. We work hard enough, we don’t need to stress out about the clock.”
Wow! That was so nice! I was pleased about my new job as I went to the coatroom to put my things away. That’s when I realized I’d forgotten to dry my hair, and it was still wrapped up in a TurbieTwist towel. For a minute I was embarrassed, but then thought, “Now they’ve seen me at my worst, it can only get better.”
Wouldn’t that be a great place to work?
Whenever I’m getting in a rut, I tend to dream about going back to work. Yesterday, I was fed up with my current position as a stay-at-home-mom. Summers can be brutal and boring at times. I’m not really as fascinated with knock-knock jokes as my 4 and 6 year old are.
So I was thinking this morning about this awesome job, where I could show up late in my TurbieTwist, and no one cared.
Ya know, my current job does come with some pretty great benefits!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
In The Beginning
Question. What is the most important thing you will ever write?
Answer. The beginning.
I’ve been writing for a while. Or years. Or recently. Depending on how you want to define it. But this year, I decided to get serious about it. I write nearly every day. I keep of writing log of the work I’m doing on my current novel in progress. I’ve committed to a chapter a week, which may seem ambitious to some, and pathetic to others.
As part of my commitment to work seriously on writing, I’ve been reading books and blogs for advice on writing. One thing that’s come through loud and clear from all of them is how important the beginning is. The first chapter must draw readers in, have a hook; your first 50 pages must be unstoppable.
I can’t stop thinking about this advice, because I think my beginning kind of sucks. Oh I know how important they are. I studied journalism in college with an old school professor, O’Reilly Rickard, who drilled us in leads. I spent a semester in Journalism 101 writing leads every day, and not to brag, but I was pretty damn good at it.
I never pursued the field of journalism, mostly because I couldn’t fake the level of passionate idealism that seemed to be a requirement. But I still cringe at some of the horrific leads that pass for journalism these days.
But back to beginnings. You can’t write the lead, until you know the story. And with a novel, that’s a little different. Because even if you have an outline, or think you know all your plot twist and details and endings, there are still inspirations that strike as you write, still details and nuance to work out. So you don’t truly know the story until you’ve finished it.
I know this, I know I have to just keep moving on, and stop obsessing over my beginning, but then I read about a first page contest, and I started agonizing over my first 250 words. Which I might change completely, after I’m done, but still, I spent an hour analyzing each and every one of those words.
Then yesterday, I read something about a Twitter pitch. Basically one sentence, 140 characters to sum up the heart of your book. Advice about how to do it--good advice, here. I beat my head on the laptop for a while trying to come up with that. I haven’t succeeded yet, probably because I have yet to write the heart of my book.
So time to get back to writing the book, and not worrying so much about the beginning. I’m sure next week, I’ll read a blog about how the first word in your book must be riveting.
Hmmm, I wonder, what is the most compelling word in the English language?
It probably starts with Q.
Answer. The beginning.
I’ve been writing for a while. Or years. Or recently. Depending on how you want to define it. But this year, I decided to get serious about it. I write nearly every day. I keep of writing log of the work I’m doing on my current novel in progress. I’ve committed to a chapter a week, which may seem ambitious to some, and pathetic to others.
As part of my commitment to work seriously on writing, I’ve been reading books and blogs for advice on writing. One thing that’s come through loud and clear from all of them is how important the beginning is. The first chapter must draw readers in, have a hook; your first 50 pages must be unstoppable.
I can’t stop thinking about this advice, because I think my beginning kind of sucks. Oh I know how important they are. I studied journalism in college with an old school professor, O’Reilly Rickard, who drilled us in leads. I spent a semester in Journalism 101 writing leads every day, and not to brag, but I was pretty damn good at it.
I never pursued the field of journalism, mostly because I couldn’t fake the level of passionate idealism that seemed to be a requirement. But I still cringe at some of the horrific leads that pass for journalism these days.
But back to beginnings. You can’t write the lead, until you know the story. And with a novel, that’s a little different. Because even if you have an outline, or think you know all your plot twist and details and endings, there are still inspirations that strike as you write, still details and nuance to work out. So you don’t truly know the story until you’ve finished it.
I know this, I know I have to just keep moving on, and stop obsessing over my beginning, but then I read about a first page contest, and I started agonizing over my first 250 words. Which I might change completely, after I’m done, but still, I spent an hour analyzing each and every one of those words.
Then yesterday, I read something about a Twitter pitch. Basically one sentence, 140 characters to sum up the heart of your book. Advice about how to do it--good advice, here. I beat my head on the laptop for a while trying to come up with that. I haven’t succeeded yet, probably because I have yet to write the heart of my book.
So time to get back to writing the book, and not worrying so much about the beginning. I’m sure next week, I’ll read a blog about how the first word in your book must be riveting.
Hmmm, I wonder, what is the most compelling word in the English language?
It probably starts with Q.
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