What Life Teaches You About Writing

I think Jillayne and I have been thinking along the same lines. If you wonder why, check out here post from Thursday HERE.

As I turned my writing focus to more spiritual fulfillment and included God in my writing practices, I was reminded to observe my children in particular for ways to improve my writing voice. They provide me with tons of great information in general, those kids, but when I use what I see, hear and feel in my writing it makes for a stronger story.

For instance, because I nearly lost one of my sons to an undiagnosed disorder when he was a baby, I know a lot about the feelings a mother experiences in that situation.

And, last Thursday, my oldest son taught me what a mother feels when her teenager is thrown from a horse and then stepped on by said horse.

These examples are pretty obvious ones. I'm sure most of you can imagine the general feelings a person experiences in these situations. But the more subtle nuances of the moments, the things that can enrich a tense moment in a book, are things you can only know if you life through these things.

And I don't want to focus on just the bad stuff, though that does make good fodder for writing books. The sweetest moments of life can bring about the happiest endings, or the most tear-jerking moments of a book.

So, what is life teaching you?

Made it--barely

by Heather Justesen

I started my morning at 1:09 AM when my pager went off for a medical call for the ambulance. By the time I got back to sleep it was four, so I slept late then ran through my morning routine so I could head out of town much later than I had planned. Today I met my sisters (the three who live in Utah) for a girl's night, er, overnight activity. We rented a hotel room and have talked and giggled through the evening, sat in the hot tub (no pictures, I know, you're probably relieved about that), and took multiple video clips to email to my sister in Mexico and my mom who aren't able to join us.

We're staying in a hotel just outside Park City, hopefully not keeping any of our neighbors up while we giggle and laugh and tease, trying to get each other to knock over the Jenga tower while we sit around the table, hopped up on sugar from ice cream and candy.

I love getting together with my sisters. Usually we only make it for an evening a few times a year, but we love these nights together talking about anything and everything. I feel sad for people who don't get along with their siblings--they're such a huge blessing in my life, even though they live hours away (hours by plane, in the case of my older sister).

I was hoping to be able to reveal my book cover today, but apparently it'll have to wait. In the meantime, I'll leave you with this curious photo we took as we were driving around trying to pick somewhere to eat dinner. (Yes, after an hour of driving, we picked the restaurant across the street from our hotel).
Yes, those are shoes in the tree, hundreds of them. I don't know the story behind this shoe tree, but there's an ode to it in the Park City Magazine here. There's also a silly little video of the same trees here.

There's got to be an interesting story behind this... or at least a few fun tidbits. If anyone knows when the shoe tree started or why, I'd love to know.

Pushing Creativity in Other Directions

by Heather Justesen

I love writing, and reading, and reading, and writing. Editing--not so much (although if you are one of those insane people who prefer editing over writing the first draft I have a question for you: want to collaborate?). Sometimes though, I find I just have to put away the laptop, set down the books and do something completely unrelated to writing. This has taken many forms over the years. I've done a little quilt making,

played around with garden art,

scrapbooked, embroidered, paint by number (Seriously, this is the only kind of painting I can do. Without detailed guidelines and instructions it just looks like a bunch of blobs.), and more recently I've gotten into cake decorating.

None of these projects are exactly writing related, but they fuel my creativity anyway, get me thinking in different directions. I've been known to come up with fun story ideas or quirky scenes while I work with my hands, letting my mind do something out of the ordinary.

Just like with anything else, too much of a good thing can tire me out and a change of activity can be very important in getting my writing juices flowing again. (Notice none of these options include training for or running marathons? I'm more than happy to leave that to Jaime. A nice, leisurely walk--I'm there! Running two blocks--I like my joints just the way they are, thanks!) After I've taken a break I'm ready to get back into my writing, tweak a subplot, or allow that character to do what they wanted instead of what I had planned. Sometimes their plans are better than mine.

Who knows, I might stumble across an interesting plot twist while I'm surfing the internet looking for cake ideas.

What's Jane Doing?

by Nichole Giles

This weekend I watched the movie, “Becoming Jane,” which is based on the life of author, Jane Austen. In a particular scene, Jane is inspired by something that’s said and excuses herself mid-conversation to go write down the words. As she sits and pulls out her lead and paper, the woman—a ‘Lady’ of wealth—and man—the wealthy woman’s nephew—with whom Jane had been conversing have a small exchange that goes something like this:

Lady: “What’s she doing?”

Nephew: “Writing.”

Lady: “Can anything be done about it?”

Nephew grins and shrugs.

While watching this show, I had to laugh at the situation because it is such a spot on scenario in my own life. It truly can’t be helped, and my answer to the ‘Lady’ is, no, nothing can be done about it.

As authors and writers, we often tend to take in fine points of conversations and surroundings that others easily dismiss. These are the words and details that usually end up in our stories or other writing.

Is it because we’re hyper-aware? Or because we pay closer attention to the details of life? Maybe both. Or maybe our brains are constantly on overdrive as we do our best to go through life thinking around and through the voices in our head. Because for some of us, those voices are always there, and often loudest when we’re trying to close down and have a quiet moment. They hound us as we sleep at night, as we sit in church meetings, drive in our cars, sit on our back porch enjoying the family, during vacations, and sometimes as we attempt to meditate.

So when you ask yourself (or when someone else asks you) “Can anything be done about it?” here’s a possible solution: don’t ignore inspiration. Pull out your handy-dandy notebook (which you should always have nearby) and use it as a filter. By writing down the random lines, thoughts, and impressions as often as they come, we can better pay attention to other things going on around us.

Inspiration can be a terrible inconvenience—and it may take some training, but we can teach ourselves to keep those precious moments of clarity while still continuing through our daily lives with work, family, friends, and other obligations. We don’t have to give up one for the other. Instead, we simply learn how best to capture those moments while we continue to be present in the here and now.

And when you stop mid-conversation to snag a pen and write a few lines on your hand, your relatives and friends will eventually stop asking, “What’s she doing?”

They’ll automatically know you’re writing and that it’s okay. You’ll write down one or two lines, and jump right back into visiting.

Such is the life and reputation of a writer. And personally, I think it’s grand.