It is that time of year again...tax season. Time to think of numbers and finances and planning for the future. Most of my time is taken with words and letters and not numbers but I did go and prepare all my tax forms for filing this past weekend.
My taxes are actually very easy since I live like a single mother who is still a twenty year old. I rent, don't own and I don't itemize anything but just take whatever is said as standard. Of course, the grown up in me has had one job and instead of three or four throughout the year and I have a son who does make a create addition to my taxes and any refund. Yet, I may have forgot to mention that I still have to go to my mother's house just to do my taxes. I say it is a good excuse for Joe to see his grandma but really it is so that I can mooch off of her tax program and get any questions answered, you know, like a teenager filing taxes.
Of course it involves a lot less panic when you see you owe the state $3,000 if you actually entered your state data correctly. Don't worry though, I got that all corrected. While I was at home though it was mentioned that I had not posted a blog recently. This was not the first mention of a lack of a posting unfortunately or the first person to say anything. I have had a few mentions. I love writing and try to do it everyday and I have been progressing in my book so that I am now on Chapter Fourteen. If I could I would write, write, write for eight hours a day. There is just one thing that gets in the way...WORK! Okay, well really work and life itself often intrude on those grand dreams. My job is almost always busy throughout the year but there are times it gets busier than normal and now is one of those times. So though I did writing in my journal and on my novel my blog has been ignored up until now.
There are several things I try to do to be able to keep writing even when I am busy. I sneak away for a few minutes to sit in the sun and watch the people and jot down a few things. I go to bed just a little earlier than normal and spend the extra minutes writing or I simply just hide away to do some writing. This past Friday I took a retro day to do just that. It is a day to return to myself a little bit. Some people call them personal days but for me it was a retro day. I have been so busy and stressed lately that I needed a day to find myself again.
In many respects finding the meaning of ourselves can be done in our writing. When you re-read portions of your writing there will be certain qualities given to a character that seem similar just as there may even be certain events being recalled that meant something to the writer and are now attributed to a character. We as writers put a lot of ourselves in our writing, which is why when a writer decides to take on the task of writing a novel it becomes a very personal task. We dream the characters and their lives and feel as if they are real because to us they are, they are a part of who we really are inside.
Of course there are also those characters who are vastly different than we are or who are more like a neighbor, friend or co-worker because of their extravagance. So as I sat and did my taxes I realized that sometimes we are words and letters and sometimes we are numbers. The story and plot is about the motion and action and feelings and ideas that are being given to you in words and images. There are no boundaries because it is the words that are being painted into our imaginations. So how do we get to the numbers you may wonder? Numbers are very concrete. When you were in first grade you probably learned that 1+1=2. I can almost guarantee you today that 1+1 still equals two and that your own child is learning it that way. We may derive different ideas or see different things when we re-read a story but the structure and boundaries often remain the same.
Are you confused yet? Well, let me try to explain. I once dated a guy who was an engineer who said that the world is all 1s and 0s and that a colorful person like myself tries to change it but that the only truth is the 1 and the 0. I then surprised him when I finally agreed but saw the artistic element of the 1 and the 0. All numbers are just artistic expressions for the one and the zero. The number 4 is just a combination of ones placed in a different way and 8 is two zeros living on top of each other. He was impressed by the idea but books have the same combination of creative and structure. There still needs to be meaning behind the creative idea and that is where structure and numbers come into play. We have page numbers and chapter numbers to give our stories a boundary. The book still has a beginning and an ending and when we describe anything it has definite shape and form put into words. Shape and form are the math and the actual picture is the art.
Of course, it could just be that I was doing my taxes and couldn't understand the numbers and so my mind wandered into the creative....It is number season time once again.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Even Ink Pens Like The Warmer Weather
I have been writing away and am almost done with chapter thirteen. I have been busily writing and my pen and paper are happy but my hand was a little tired and cramping up on the train the other day. I guess it is a no pain, no gain type of scenario or even a suffering for my art situation, although hand cramps are not necessarily suffering too badly. I haven't removed an ear or not eaten for days so it is pretty minor suffering, at least so far.
I have started reaching the point where research is necessary to finish the chapter. Research can be a lot of fun in my opinion but it can also slow down the fast writing process a bit. It is also exciting because I will be heading to another part of the story and the action that I have been anxiously awaiting to get to. It also means I am almost in the middle of my book . I am very ready to do the research and then head into the past and overseas, at least in my imagination.
I have watched a few movies set in the past lately. I did not really do this intentionally but simply for pleasure but I realized as I was watching them that I was also paying attention to the language and cadence of the speech of the characters. It is quite fascinating to observe the differences. Of course that made me start to think about all my observations that I have not noted here in this blog about writing and my novel.
I really started to think of the differences this past week when I slipped out for a little break from work to do a bit of writing and saw my "dancer boy" again that afternoon. I have not introduced "dancer boy" to you yet. He is not really a boy but a man. He is an African American male probably in his thirties, who is always in sweat suits and no coat, even on frigid days. His sweat suits are also very bright in color and design and you wouldn't be able to miss him normally. Yet, it isn't his attire that draws your attention. People pass him and look back at him and laugh or smile. Others stand on the corners and miss their walk signs as they watch him. This is not because of his clothing choice. It is because he also has earphones in his ears and he is lost in his own world. In our world he is dancing and singing out loud. His dancing is a bit energetic and like watching an excited fan gesture and jump in excitement at a baseball game but if you watch him he is in his own little world and lost to the people observing him.
I know though if he did finally notice he would see that people smile, and of course laugh, at him. It made me realize how much we may miss in what we observe and how it can affect, or in his case, not affect us until later. Below are some of my writing observations that are not overall outstanding but have invaded my life:
1. People often look over at you when you are writing in a notebook or journal. They have an insatiable desire to know what you are writing. They will sit down next to you on the train or on the bench at the museum and finally gather the courage to ask you what you are doing. Then are amazed and will either cheer you on for taking on the task of writing a novel or simply stare and say "Really" in a manner that suggests you are more crazy than sane to do that.
2. Many, many people dream of being writers and after asking about your own writing will give you the plot and scenario of a book idea that they always wanted to write but just haven't...yet. Yet, is a big word with people. I think many individuals who work full time have the grand scheme to write when they retire. I also suspect many won't actually do it. I also think that the people who want to be writers often have quite a romantic view about writing and the idea that one book would set them up for life. As any one-hit-wonder singer from the 80's will tell you it doesn't really work like that, nor should it. I doubt Bobby McFerrin continued to "Don't Worry Be Happy" when he realized that was the only popular song he would have or Nena's "99 Balloons" should have released maybe a few more songs than balloons.
3. Many of those same people who dream of writing a book have a very magical idea about writing and usually don't do it or only do a portion of it and stop because they then discovered that writing a book is work. It takes time and work to write a book. It is also often solitary work and it doesn't get done at night by fairies who also make your shoes and cook you breakfast in the morning. There is no blue bird that sits on your shoulder talking to you as you write or helping you with ideas.
4. Many writers live in their head. This is an obvious observation really about most creative people. I feel it just needs to be stated because for someone to create whole worlds out of pen and ink is quite amazing to me. To feel as if the characters and places were real is outstanding. To understand people that can do that is also frustrating and difficult for many. I have learned that one a lot over my life.
5. Many of you may not realize this observation but ink pens do not write very well when you are sitting outside in the cold. My son can explain the science of it to you. He tried to explain it to me and lost me after the first sciency sentence. My eyes glazed over and I looked like an apt listener but let's just say I am so glad he wasn't giving me a quiz later. This is a weird observation but over the winter has come to mean a lot to me when I am writing outside and can barely read what I have written.
Those are five observations I have had over the past few months. I have had others but I will share those another time and let you absorb all that I have shared with you thus far. Plus, chapter thirteen is calling again and as I have "observed" that is a call I can not easily ignore for very long.
I have started reaching the point where research is necessary to finish the chapter. Research can be a lot of fun in my opinion but it can also slow down the fast writing process a bit. It is also exciting because I will be heading to another part of the story and the action that I have been anxiously awaiting to get to. It also means I am almost in the middle of my book . I am very ready to do the research and then head into the past and overseas, at least in my imagination.
I have watched a few movies set in the past lately. I did not really do this intentionally but simply for pleasure but I realized as I was watching them that I was also paying attention to the language and cadence of the speech of the characters. It is quite fascinating to observe the differences. Of course that made me start to think about all my observations that I have not noted here in this blog about writing and my novel.
I really started to think of the differences this past week when I slipped out for a little break from work to do a bit of writing and saw my "dancer boy" again that afternoon. I have not introduced "dancer boy" to you yet. He is not really a boy but a man. He is an African American male probably in his thirties, who is always in sweat suits and no coat, even on frigid days. His sweat suits are also very bright in color and design and you wouldn't be able to miss him normally. Yet, it isn't his attire that draws your attention. People pass him and look back at him and laugh or smile. Others stand on the corners and miss their walk signs as they watch him. This is not because of his clothing choice. It is because he also has earphones in his ears and he is lost in his own world. In our world he is dancing and singing out loud. His dancing is a bit energetic and like watching an excited fan gesture and jump in excitement at a baseball game but if you watch him he is in his own little world and lost to the people observing him.
I know though if he did finally notice he would see that people smile, and of course laugh, at him. It made me realize how much we may miss in what we observe and how it can affect, or in his case, not affect us until later. Below are some of my writing observations that are not overall outstanding but have invaded my life:
1. People often look over at you when you are writing in a notebook or journal. They have an insatiable desire to know what you are writing. They will sit down next to you on the train or on the bench at the museum and finally gather the courage to ask you what you are doing. Then are amazed and will either cheer you on for taking on the task of writing a novel or simply stare and say "Really" in a manner that suggests you are more crazy than sane to do that.
2. Many, many people dream of being writers and after asking about your own writing will give you the plot and scenario of a book idea that they always wanted to write but just haven't...yet. Yet, is a big word with people. I think many individuals who work full time have the grand scheme to write when they retire. I also suspect many won't actually do it. I also think that the people who want to be writers often have quite a romantic view about writing and the idea that one book would set them up for life. As any one-hit-wonder singer from the 80's will tell you it doesn't really work like that, nor should it. I doubt Bobby McFerrin continued to "Don't Worry Be Happy" when he realized that was the only popular song he would have or Nena's "99 Balloons" should have released maybe a few more songs than balloons.
3. Many of those same people who dream of writing a book have a very magical idea about writing and usually don't do it or only do a portion of it and stop because they then discovered that writing a book is work. It takes time and work to write a book. It is also often solitary work and it doesn't get done at night by fairies who also make your shoes and cook you breakfast in the morning. There is no blue bird that sits on your shoulder talking to you as you write or helping you with ideas.
4. Many writers live in their head. This is an obvious observation really about most creative people. I feel it just needs to be stated because for someone to create whole worlds out of pen and ink is quite amazing to me. To feel as if the characters and places were real is outstanding. To understand people that can do that is also frustrating and difficult for many. I have learned that one a lot over my life.
5. Many of you may not realize this observation but ink pens do not write very well when you are sitting outside in the cold. My son can explain the science of it to you. He tried to explain it to me and lost me after the first sciency sentence. My eyes glazed over and I looked like an apt listener but let's just say I am so glad he wasn't giving me a quiz later. This is a weird observation but over the winter has come to mean a lot to me when I am writing outside and can barely read what I have written.
Those are five observations I have had over the past few months. I have had others but I will share those another time and let you absorb all that I have shared with you thus far. Plus, chapter thirteen is calling again and as I have "observed" that is a call I can not easily ignore for very long.
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