Manufacturing Time

Some time ago, the awesomeness that is Stephen Parrish, posted a personal story and asked for his readers’ stories in return. I read his post and it moved me, and instead of posting, I sent him an email… the funny thing was, as I was sending him an essay length personal story for no reason other than it struck me, Stephen was sending me a simple, “Doing okay over there?” out of the blue.

Because he’s one of the good ones. One of those writer friends who knows when the rest of the world is beating your ass and takes the time to tell you to get over it and write already.

He wrote me back to tell me to publish that essay. To put it out there. I don’t take things Stephen says about writing lightly. I’ve never seen him compliment anything that didn’t have extreme merit, so on that note it did what Stephen always does – made me feel like writing.

My status update today on facebook was, “wishes I could figure out how to manufacture more time in a day”. And lately I’ve been downright whiney about my lack of time which has culminated in an absence of writing which sometimes feels like a lack of air. The stories are still there, the characters still knock on my eyeballs and kick around the cobwebbed corridors in my noggin… but they’re getting softer, harder to hear, farther away from lack of listening. Pretty soon they’ll find windows to break in someone else’s head… okay, maybe not, but I think it’s like a muscle. Writing isn’t all muse and fluff and magical inspiration. It’s sit in the fucking chair, get your shit together, and do the work. When you can’t find the time to do that, you have to make it.

Yes, I can manufacture time. Twenty minutes later to bed, a half an hour earlier in the morning… less facebook, more Microsoft word. I’ve done this before. Gone without sleep to write. Gone without tv or social time or whatever… And I logged back into facebook today, and saw that quote up on my page and thought, “Well, hell, you whiney bitch, what’s wrong with right now?”

So it starts with a blog post. While dinner’s on the stove… I’m not allowing myself sleep until I hit a decent word count. Time to stop lamenting the woes of my little corner of the world and get on with it… that’s the one thing about being creative by nature... you have to find the wherewithal to push yourself. No one else will do it; no one else cares if you make it. It’s up to you to manufacture your time.

Where do you find the time? Is it a routine or whenever the fancy strikes? And do you wait for the elusive muse, or hog tie her ass and make her stick around til the word count is in?

Adding to the Bank of Weirdness

Erica Orloff recently put up a post about the odd experiences writers can use as research for their characters and stories. She posted five random facts about herself that might come in handy in a story – the idea being that each of the writers that participate will give a bit of an overview on their own personal experience and knowledge, opening themselves up so that other writers can tap them for information and insight on things they might be working on or might like to work on.

As we know, no knowledge is completely useless to a writer. The comments at Erica’s ran long with wonderful and many varied vantage points. I was amazed at how many writers felt they didn’t have much to say, but really we all have our own bank of knowledge, large and small, that becomes unique to all of those who haven’t lived in the same places or had the same adventures... even if they seem to be non important adventures... hell, I might want to write about a character who’s a seamstress, but if I don’t sew, how will I make that lifelike?

So, I’m posting my own five things here. Feel free to ask me about any and all of them or tap me for research material on a subject – I’m always game to talk... I’d love to see some more of these pop up across our little bloggy circle...

1. My first love was neither reading nor writing... Okay, I always liked reading more than average, but my first real love was art. Some of you may know that already, but I actually planned to pursue art professionally from the time I could hold a crayon up until my senior year of High School. That’s when I fell in love with writing. I still draw and occasionally paint. I’ve had formal training in most mediums, except oil painting and sculpture – I do love oil painting it’s on my list of classes I’d love to take when I get some time, but I’ve never studied it formally... I do have a pretty extensive knowledge working with other mediums, though, and of course the experience of art courses... ask me sometime about art stores, seriously, they are my favorite places on earth – there is something about the smell of charcoal and brand new kneaded erasers... I swear, it’s heaven... I still love to play with new supplies and love the smaller stores where all the clerks are art students and just as excited to play with the merchandise as you are...

The sketch at the top of this post (which hopefully came out well – still haven’t mastered Photoshop, which is another thing on my list)... anyway, the sketch is a pencil drawing I did of my daughter from a photo... personally, I like working from life better than photos, there’s more depth to the work that way... anyway, this one was from a photo of her when she was five.

2. I am a font of information on all things Catholic. Now, I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m neither a priest nor a theologian, so you should really check with the experts for absolute clarity. I did go through Catholic grade school and an all girls Catholic High School. I also sent my kids to a Catholic grade school for six years and served on their school board for three... so I have a pretty good knowledge of how the Catholic schools run from the inside out... I’m also pretty well versed in our Sacraments and traditions and I have a pretty good grasp of the Church’s teachings as well... So if you’ve got Catholic questions, I’d be glad to field them the best I can...

3. This next one will completely contradict the last one... we’ll just say I’m an enigma wrapped in a riddle, covered in blasphemy... or something... Anyhoo – I read Tarot Cards. There! I said it! Actually, some of you that knew me from the old blogging community already knew that. But yeah, I started learning tarot when I was a teenager and we used to hang out at this new age store where the owner read cards for us. She taught me how to read and let me sit in on readings to learn, when the customers didn’t mind. I sometimes use the cards to help me flesh out characters – someday I should do a post on that, because it’s really a great exercise.

I also have a pretty good knowledge of candle magic and color magic and some Witta, Wicca, and Stregheria knowledge – I don’t practice these, I’ve just learned a bit here and there (still Catholic, just an open minded one). Oddly enough, I find that most of these philosophies actually match up really well – but that’s a lengthy discussion...

4. I’m a baseball nut and obviously a Cubs fan... so if you ever want to know what it feels like to get your heart broken repeatedly and keep coming back for more... yeah, I’m your resource... seriously, though, I understand the game pretty well, most especially where my team is concerned but I pay fairly good attention to the sport in general during regular season play. I also hit at least a few games a year, so if you need to know what Wrigley’s like for a scene, well, that I could probably recite like poetry.

5. I have a Thyroid condition which requires that I take synthetic thyroid medication daily... so far I don’t need surgery, but it’s a permanent condition and I’ll have it for life – my mother also has it, though she had to have her Thyroid removed when she was about my age. Thyroid is a pretty common malady and one that’s often misdiagnosed or goes untreated... so if you need a good descriptive of how it feels or what the symptoms are, just ask... I’m hypo, which means mine is slowed down and therefore I get tired without the medication (there are other symptoms too) some people are hyper, which means the opposite, as you can imagine. This also means they have to biopsy my thyroid on occasion to make certain there’s nothing else wrong... which means sticking a really large needle in my neck... not fun, but would probably make for a really nasty scene in your book.

Okay, guys, I’m not going to tag anyone to do this, but if you have time and wanted to volunteer, I’d love to see your five things. If you post them, make sure to drop me a link or go over to Erica’s to drop her one, so other writers can benefit from your own font of useless knowledge.