It is right now one of the beautiful summer days that make you feel sunny inside yourself. The sun is shining and there is no forecast of rain so it is bright and happy outside. The breeze is just light enough to take off any hint of heat. The temperature is not too hot, as it was a week ago, but cool enough to sit at a café and watch the people walk by and do a bit of writing. Of course, I am actually at my desk at work and taking a much needed break for lunch instead.
Many people have certain things they do to make summer very enjoyable. Some people go camping on the beach, some people escape the heat and head to a cabin in the mountains, others may like to go for long bike rides in the evenings or even a leisurely stroll as the day is still sunny when you get home from work, not like the darkness of winter. In Virginia and where I used to live, Wisconsin, many people enjoy fishing. Now, I have never been a big lover of fishing. I can count on one hand the number of times I have actually gone fishing and I can honestly say of those times not one of them was "ice" fishing. Brrrrrrrr!
Recently, I was having a rough weekend and my son was extra chipper so I decided we should go for a drive through the country which is my favorite thing to do when I am having a rough day. I need my trees or even mountains to re-energize me when those times hit. I love to blast my music and roll my windows all the way down, obviously this is more of a summer thing to do, and then just enjoy the long country roads and the fields of green with large trees and flowers and smells. Even the insects seem larger and louder and happier and you don't mind them as much as a visit from them into your home normally. Although, now we are visiting their home and they probably feel about as happy as we are when they visit.
Anyway, my son and I stopped at a local market to get a drink and stretch our legs. Off to the side of the market was a little lake. At the far edge of the lake was a Dad fishing with his son who was about eight years old. I watched as they caught a fish and then threw it back. As I started to walk away though the Dad caught one that must have passed some test because both the Dad and boy got excited and did not throw this fish back. I, being a fishing novice, do not know the parameters and rules attached to throwing a fish back versus keeping it but I am sure some of it may be related to size. I do know though that a few days later as I was editing Chapter Twenty for a final time I realized with editing there are times you want to keep something but it does not carry enough importance to the story so it has to be thrown back.
Editing can be a lot like fishing. You throw out a line, hope to catch a big one but sometimes have to throw it back. Then, instead of walking away, you throw out another line and try again until you have a finished product. I had waited a few weeks to edit chapter twenty so I had plenty of items I was throwing back but I was able to finish the edits and move on to chapter twenty one where I then went on to chapter twenty two and twenty three and now I have three chapters to edit. Yikes, I may have to take a week off just to focus on the editing...maybe instead I will just go fishing.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
The Writing Train Chugs Again!
I take the commuter train to work almost everyday. It makes a long commute somewhat easier since I am not driving. I often spend that time reading, sleeping, doing crossword puzzles or I take that opportunity to do my writing. Sometimes it is hard to find the time throughout the day between working or doing errands or spending time with my son or just being lazy. I love the train commute for writing. Plus, if you look busy then usually people do not talk to you and you can have a little time in your invisible bubble. That doesn't always happen, Friday I did end up sitting next to a talker, but usually you are pretty safe.
I bring up my commute because this morning I was watching as everyone got on the train. Mornings are usually fun for people watching anyway because many people have not yet fully woken up or are struggling pre-caffeine. I noticed this morning though, as I have in the past, that people are like herds of cattle. They all migrate to the same seat each day. One person is always in the lead and waits right at the door for them to open. One person always stands in the back, letting everyone pass them, and of course grumbling under his breath that people are always in a rush and pushy and are rude. There is that person that has to run each morning to catch the train as if it doesn't depart the same time each morning and just makes it on board as the doors are closing. There is the older woman who sits up front and talks all morning to everyone around her about the latest gossip but holds her purse so tight to her chest as if she were afraid her own secrets would get revealed. There are the younger men and women who do not take their eyes off their phones as they feel they must send that email out before 7 AM but in reality I imagine they are really playing a hot game of solitaire and just want to look important.
I watched all of this activity this morning and realized it is the same images I see as I get on the train most mornings and then I watched as each person went to the same seat they do every day as if they were assigned to them. The type A personalities walk through the train to get to that one seat just because it is their normal seat. The laid back person who proclaims their need for spontaneity and change...they still sit in the same seat each morning. Even I will admit to sitting in the same seat each morning, seeing the same views, watching the same people perform the same tasks and actions. But, this morning, I actually noticed it all. I watched people as if I had not seen them before and saw more than just a woman typing out a furious email on her blackberry but rather someone who works hard in order to get ahead. I watched the computer tech guy in his jeans and sandals try to stand off to the side and not be part of the large crowd. I made sure to keep out of the way of the little middle aged man who oozed anxiety as he tried to be the first one on board the train. I saw the older, disproportionate woman with the skinny, short legs and the ever expanding waistline stretch to get on board and then greet everyone around her with a big smile that made you forget her odd appearance and only her nice, grandmotherly face. I remarked at the woman behind her to yelled out her hellos to everyone on board and settled in with the older woman's club to catch up on the latest gossip as she took out her knitting needles and yarn.
Then, I walked through the car and found the sit next to the window on the right and slid on the vinyl seats, put the arm rest down, took my ticket out to display, set my computer bag on the floor and then leaned back and gave a sigh as I settled back into the seat...my morning seat. It does not have my name on it but it might as well.
As I took out my paper after I made all these morning realizations, which is pretty good before coffee, I looked at my writing and recognized that I did not want my writing to feel the same that the reader loses some of the details in the mundane and mediocre. We grow as a writer if you keep writing everyday but also if you challenge yourself. The trick is how to do that. I have not had much chance to write over the past couple months so as I looked down at my writing I felt as if I was rediscovering my characters and their lives and remembering old friends. I was recalling the setting as if it were an old home that I was revisiting after being away for a long trip. I was pulled back into the lives and the actions that were written before my little break. Yet, I knew this was my chance to also look at my story with fresh eyes instead of trying to go back and write as I did before the break. Instead of thinking I need to reread everything so that I can get it right, instead of trying to make the writing fit the same story, instead of getting mired down by what has already been written, I knew this was a chance to bring a fresh awareness. Like a train that continues slowly and gathers speed, my story had been chugging along until I took a small break and now that I start writing again I do not want to go backwards but keep the story and the momentum moving forward and one way is to look at it with freshness of new possibilities and not backward with what has already happened.
So, I start writing on the blank page in front of me excited to create new ideas and actions for my story. I knew that I wanted my story to make the reader feel comfortable but also to wake them up. I want my writing to flow smooth and evenly but have waves of the unexpected to keep the readers engaged in the story and wanting more. I am excited once again to be writing but also to bring a new life into the story. So once again the same story, same characters and same action is chugging along but with a renewed feeling and insight. I look up and I see the same woman coming towards me to sit in the seat next to me as she does every morning and I just give a smile and then get back to chugging along with my novel.
I bring up my commute because this morning I was watching as everyone got on the train. Mornings are usually fun for people watching anyway because many people have not yet fully woken up or are struggling pre-caffeine. I noticed this morning though, as I have in the past, that people are like herds of cattle. They all migrate to the same seat each day. One person is always in the lead and waits right at the door for them to open. One person always stands in the back, letting everyone pass them, and of course grumbling under his breath that people are always in a rush and pushy and are rude. There is that person that has to run each morning to catch the train as if it doesn't depart the same time each morning and just makes it on board as the doors are closing. There is the older woman who sits up front and talks all morning to everyone around her about the latest gossip but holds her purse so tight to her chest as if she were afraid her own secrets would get revealed. There are the younger men and women who do not take their eyes off their phones as they feel they must send that email out before 7 AM but in reality I imagine they are really playing a hot game of solitaire and just want to look important.
I watched all of this activity this morning and realized it is the same images I see as I get on the train most mornings and then I watched as each person went to the same seat they do every day as if they were assigned to them. The type A personalities walk through the train to get to that one seat just because it is their normal seat. The laid back person who proclaims their need for spontaneity and change...they still sit in the same seat each morning. Even I will admit to sitting in the same seat each morning, seeing the same views, watching the same people perform the same tasks and actions. But, this morning, I actually noticed it all. I watched people as if I had not seen them before and saw more than just a woman typing out a furious email on her blackberry but rather someone who works hard in order to get ahead. I watched the computer tech guy in his jeans and sandals try to stand off to the side and not be part of the large crowd. I made sure to keep out of the way of the little middle aged man who oozed anxiety as he tried to be the first one on board the train. I saw the older, disproportionate woman with the skinny, short legs and the ever expanding waistline stretch to get on board and then greet everyone around her with a big smile that made you forget her odd appearance and only her nice, grandmotherly face. I remarked at the woman behind her to yelled out her hellos to everyone on board and settled in with the older woman's club to catch up on the latest gossip as she took out her knitting needles and yarn.
Then, I walked through the car and found the sit next to the window on the right and slid on the vinyl seats, put the arm rest down, took my ticket out to display, set my computer bag on the floor and then leaned back and gave a sigh as I settled back into the seat...my morning seat. It does not have my name on it but it might as well.
As I took out my paper after I made all these morning realizations, which is pretty good before coffee, I looked at my writing and recognized that I did not want my writing to feel the same that the reader loses some of the details in the mundane and mediocre. We grow as a writer if you keep writing everyday but also if you challenge yourself. The trick is how to do that. I have not had much chance to write over the past couple months so as I looked down at my writing I felt as if I was rediscovering my characters and their lives and remembering old friends. I was recalling the setting as if it were an old home that I was revisiting after being away for a long trip. I was pulled back into the lives and the actions that were written before my little break. Yet, I knew this was my chance to also look at my story with fresh eyes instead of trying to go back and write as I did before the break. Instead of thinking I need to reread everything so that I can get it right, instead of trying to make the writing fit the same story, instead of getting mired down by what has already been written, I knew this was a chance to bring a fresh awareness. Like a train that continues slowly and gathers speed, my story had been chugging along until I took a small break and now that I start writing again I do not want to go backwards but keep the story and the momentum moving forward and one way is to look at it with freshness of new possibilities and not backward with what has already happened.
So, I start writing on the blank page in front of me excited to create new ideas and actions for my story. I knew that I wanted my story to make the reader feel comfortable but also to wake them up. I want my writing to flow smooth and evenly but have waves of the unexpected to keep the readers engaged in the story and wanting more. I am excited once again to be writing but also to bring a new life into the story. So once again the same story, same characters and same action is chugging along but with a renewed feeling and insight. I look up and I see the same woman coming towards me to sit in the seat next to me as she does every morning and I just give a smile and then get back to chugging along with my novel.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)