In case you somehow missed the gobbbbs of buttons around bloggyland, there is a party going on over at 5 Minutes for Mom.
This is my “invite” post, to introduce myself and encourage you to take a look around.
Category Archives: Writing
What I’ve Learned in a Year of Blogging (pt. 1)
Some highlights (March to September, 2006):
- I can say I’m a good mom
- The attitude we choose now will have consequences
- Children growing can be simply sweet— it doesn’t have to be bittersweet
- Learning to discipline my mind— even when “dumping” it would be easier or more natural. (This was shortly after the birth of my 3rd child)
- Feeling the sweetness of gratitude.
- One of several quotes from a good book.
- Realigning proper perspective
- Conecting Poetry to life (and death)
- My thoughts on the necessity of children (different than you might think.)
- A rebuttal to the poetic ideal of children
Happy…*Something* to Me…
One year ago today I posted my First blog entry. (Very interesting now to see what’s changed.)
It was on Xanga, on an account I had finally opened in order to be able to comment on the well-established blog of a childhood friend. I’ve never been able to not-jump-in a conversation…
When I wrote my first profile I was self-conscious beyond words (Like I need one more reason/excuse to think of myself! Who’s even going to read it?). The first Xanga profile I wrote contained a line like, This is an experiment. Let’s see if it goes anywhere.
Now, with a total of 308 posts (159 posts here and 149 at Family News), it’s clear this is no longer in the “experimental” stage.
Even allowing for the doubling of some pre-June posts (June being the time I switched to a two-blog format) that number still looks impressive to me.
The dating format has been a surprisingly motivating way to keep me writing frequently, and the self-consciousness has been replaced with self-awareness which is much more useful for a hobby/endeavor like this.
Among other blessings (many come simply from writing frequently) I’ve been able to record both more of the every-day and stressful times (both were missed when I simply journaled), because I’ve trained myself to write regularly.
And in everything recorded I see repeatedly the unflagging faithfulness of our mighty God.
“If it were not for His mercy…”
Revision, Stage-one: Re-reading
I’m feeling a direct parallel of interest re-reading as I did in writing this. I remember this section as one of the times I wanted to quit writing, and as a reader I am totally not sticking with it. I’m only on page 35, and I’m not picking it up during my reading times anymore.
When I was writing this was the signal to jump to a new section, so I’m almost to a total shift (and I know it will pick up quite a bit since I got a great word-count the next few nights). Knowing I only have a few pages left here is a good thing, but frustrating too, in a way, since I don’t feel justified in skipping to a more interesting part.
Bringing the axe to the first draft is not going to be emotional at all– well, maybe cathartic ;-). There’s some good stuff I need to be careful to trim around, but (in this section at least) it’s buried pretty deep in the gristle.
A brief excerpt (as I’m trying to toughen my skin): Continue reading
How short can a summary get?
I’m “supposed” to be able to nail it in 35-40 words. Closest I’ve gotten is the 44-word version:
A girl transforms the beast her step-sister meant to kill her, but when he appears to break trust, she flees for her life. Pitted against supernatural forces, she must now decide whether to trust someone she can see or someone she thought she knew.
I’m looking for feedback here. Does it sound cheesy-girlie or possibly interesting? I’m honestly not going for the romance-thing, does it sound like it’s falling in, inevitably? Yeah, I’m hyper-sensitive about that– I probably just need to get over it.
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This is my latest attempt to way-summarize my NaNo. I printed out my current version to read/edit and it’s at 95-pages, single-spaced. There is obviously a whole lot going on that I can’t even touch in my description, but I still need to find some sort of focusing “nugget.”
(If you feel more comfortable e-mailing feedback than writing, that’s fine too.)
~~~
Added 2-5-07
Here is a link to a longer (more detailed/understandable?) summary. Too long for a book-back, I’ll guess. About 200 words.
Defining Goals
I think the thing the struck me most about the INFJ-personality description (the result I got back when I wrote this post), was the part about continually re-evaluating how you do things
They (INFJs) put a lot of energy into identifying the best system for getting things done, and constantly define and re-define the priorities in their lives.
I can’t say how reassuring it was to read that. There is a population where this is just the “normal.” Constantly I would overswear that now I have found the way I want to do things, and can *quit* wasting time reevaluating how things should be done.
“Not being the only one” has only sometimes been reassuring when going through various trials (like waiting and grief). More helpful to me are the precise words of those others, articulating what I’m feeling, so my (frequently tired) mind can can grasp a clear image and rest, without the time and effort of doing it myself.
All that said, I felt strangely justified in reevaluating yet again. Most of my goals have to do with my home life, which I don’t go into detail about here, but for the sake of completeness here’s the broad picture:
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Short-term: Create more structure to the children’s and my day.
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Medium-term: Get Novel presentable
- Have rough draft of Lindorm story completed by July. (earlier w/ an extra revision included would be nice/ideal)
- Have at least one revision by Editor’s Day, September 22
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Long-term: Work in daily habits to make natural and make life easier
Having a deadline (for the novel) is helpful for me. Makes things more concrete, and that’s always seemed helpful for me. These goals also put the novel in context with the rest of my goals, which keeps me from compartmentalizing too much.
Throwing Spaghetti at the Wall
Sent off my first picture-book’s query and manuscript today (multiple submission).
I’m reading a novel again.
It’s when I get pulled into a story that makes me forget myself—or, more accurately, just as or after I am yanked out— that I want most to write, and write well. I want to make that kind of magic.
~~~
Lately, I’ve been hesitant to start (or continue) an unread novel, almost for the same reason I can’t take any kind of sleep aid (“Before taking our product, make sure you have 8-hours to devote to sleep.”), but I finally did.
I’m in love again!
I let my NaNo sit all of December. I made my word count (50,000+) all right, but the exercise burnt me out a little and the whole story’s still not on paper. (For perspective, I’d like to add that most books today are 75,000-100,000, with some fantasy stretching to 200,000 words, according to people who seem to know more than me).
So here it’s January now, and my month off is over. I was just not in a hurry to open the Lindorm folder again. Don’t know why.
So I finally started by doing my favorite thing which was writing a new beginning/opener (beginnings are my favorite thing to write for some reason), and I got about three pages over the course of the (up and down) evening. Very exciting for me.
Then I went back and skimmed some of the stuff that I wrote in November. I was trying to remember how I’d pulled off the “romance” bits of the fairy tale, especially since I’ve not really been a romance reader. I laughed so hard. Probably embarrassed laughter. I could only barely imagine someone I know reading this.
Not because it was “That bad” (It was pretty good for a first draft, actually) I just loved having control over everything people said and did– and it cracked me up. Mostly the talking part. My characters probably talk way too much, but that would be because I find what they say entertaining.
And for now, at least, this experiment is for my own entertainment. It is fulfilling that function quite well.
Three pages at the beginning, allowing me to hint at what I knew what coming because I’d already written it– that was very cool. I’m loving this again.
The hard part now is to stick to filling in (and making interesting) the places I skipped during November, rather than re-reading and tweaking what I’ve already written. This story-stuff is such fun!
I Just Figured it Out.
I was over reading on Mommy Life, and saw where she wrote this:
I give thanks every day for blogging, as I believe it has truly empowered mothers in a way that has little to do with what we used to think was empowerment. It has taken us out of the isolation that was the biggest downside of our calling and given us a sense of community…
I love it when I figure out why I’m doing something, and don’t feel silly about the why.
Bob Mayer (in the excellent book, The Novel Writer’s Toolkit), observes that most decisions are made at an emotional level, and it is after we’ve already made up our minds that we go back and look for support for the position we’ve chosen.
His context was the accepting or rejection of manuscripts, but I feel it is more broadly applicable. (The abortion controversy is one example.)
I can readily agree that the blogging idea and practice is a very natural (and frequently effective) response to the isolated feelings sometimes experienced as a “full-time mom.” Blogs offer an outlet for our own active minds,
Plus a healthy dose of humor so we see our jobs in the best possible light… and hopefully – in the blogs you choose – a bunch of ideas for making the most of your motherhood.
I’m thankful for the outlet and the chance to see into other women’s minds. It has been very encouraging to me.