1. Being with my other writer friends; we share or talk about our writing and I always want to go home and write after wards. Writers can be loners- we need to talk with and be around other creative writers.
2. Watching a movie with interesting characters or a theme that inspires a new storyline for me.
3. Looking at Decorating magazines-this has always been the case for me. One of my favorite things to do as a kid was to look through my mom’s decorating books and pretend that those rooms/homes belonged to someone and then I would go off into my imagination about what those people were doing and how they lived. Still today, I can glance through a decorating magazine, find a room and suddenly see characters!
4. Music- music is such a strong emotion invoker for me. When I listen to music, I see scenes for my characters and it can also stir things up visually.
5. Watching the background in movies- I spend more time looking at what is in the background in movies than I do on the characters sometimes. It goes back to looking at a room and feeling a story. I take note of the walls and what’s on them as well as the setting. Great backgrounds stir new art and story ideas for me!
6. Dreams- In my dreams, there might be a snippet of dialogue or an odd person or an odd place that stays with me after I wake up-those are always fodder for getting the juices flowing!
7. Reading works by great authors- this really helps when I feel what I am writing is dry or lacking something. I pick up a book by Barbara Kingsolver or Jane Austin or other really good writers and even after reading a few paragraphs, I’ll get an idea of what to do next with mine.
8. Imitating sentences- this is something I learned in the last workshop I attended by L. McKenna Donovan. We learned to find sentences by other good writers and to break them down and imitate them. Its not an easy thing to do, but doing this always gives me a new perspective and many times will help me move past a block.
9. Taking a bubble bath or swimming- hey, its a fact, water has negative ions and negative ions help us with our creativity! Time in water for me is transformational!  I start asking my characters whats up or I meditate and bam!-the answers are there as I relax in a mound of juicy bubbles!
10. Walking through an Art Gallery. This is pretty much a no-brainer, but I love looking at artwork in galleries if I need inspiration.
11. Watching reality shows where creativity is the theme  Shows like Project Runway and Top Chef inspire me!
12. Traveling- Going to new places always stirs my imagination. Writers and artists can write off all travel for that reason, correct?
13. Dealing with powerful emotions-this is going to be a topic for another post, but when I go through something that has powerful emotions- after I have recovered- I can use those feelings to evoke scenes or experiences for characters or even for color ideas for artwork.

Here are 13 things I’ve discovered since then.

1. Don’t try  to write alone and w/o support from other writers. You need to know the madness is OK.
2. Take a writing workshop -it’s amazing how much better and more consistent you’ll become.
3. I don’t read romance novels. I said I wasn’t writing a romance. I’m writing a romance.
4. Your characters and their world take over yours.
5. Other writing friends are invaluable.
6. When you proclaim you are a writer, you are a writer.
7. A writer sits and does the work, day in and day out.
8. On some days that works totally sucks. But that’s ok. This is one job where sucky work is ok and expected.
9. With this job, if you decide to sit and watch movies all day, its ok -its research.
10. But you can only do that once in a while, the rest of the time, you have to sit and do the work.
11. My characters tell me where the story is going and they have made me cry.
12. Yesterday, because they were talking to me, I put the phone in the garbage can. This happens a lot.
13. Family members eventually learn to recognize that look in your eyes that lets them know you are off in  your characters world and they finally stop mentioning the Psyche ward.

]]> http://ashjoielee.com/thursday-thirteen-13-things-i-discovered-when-i-started-a-novel/feed/ 3 http://ashjoielee.com/3-of-spades-oh-so-me/ http://ashjoielee.com/3-of-spades-oh-so-me/#comments Sun, 05 Apr 2009 16:45:40 +0000 Ash http://ashjoielee.com/?p=191 The 6 of Clubs is my birth card (did you know you can find out your birth card in a regular deck-so cool!)
Yet, I would say that the 3 of spades describes a big part of my life.

The 3 of spades is creative inspiration – it is such a strong creative energy, that unless the person is focused on a venue for that energy, they can become scattered and indecisive.
I am one of those who has too many ideas and I don’t like staying with one for a long time. I could never work for the same company my whole life or work on a factory line. I can’t stand routine or ruts. I’m not one who enjoys strict structure and rules. I like dabbling here and there, trying out a multitude of ideas that flood my head as I try to fall asleep. Barbara Sher even wrote a book for folks like me:Refuse to Choose!: Use All of Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to Create the Life and Career of Your Dreams

The 3 of spades MUST express themselves. It is about varied interests and being talented on more that one front ( I seriously envy those who have one great talent and they are working in a field using that talent) and those who are this card are good at a lot of different jobs. The issue happens when the person is unsure of their goals in life; all that creative energy turns to worry. Constant, debilitating worry.

What this card teaches is that with enormous creative energy one must also utilize patience and persistence; one must also have a clear cut goal.

I knew exactly what the card was saying to me when I drew it. In an earlier post, I realized I needed a new list of goals. Well, as exciting as that is, I went into hysterics over it…..because I like to dabble in so many things. And I tend to feel that I need to let go of what I am currently working on and try something new.
What the card was saying to me was: If you want to achieve success, adopt a slow but sure approach. Listen to your intuition and inner vision.
Allow the creative energies to be the source of inspiration, not a distraction.

What I have learned is that we can know we are on the right path (with a job, a relationship, a project) when what we need to make it work appears for us. A mentor, help, advice, materials, education and of course positive feelings about all of it. Then it is a matter of sticking to it and using the creative energy to feed it. The trick is in realizing that a lot of creative energy can also feel like discontentment: a feeling that we should go off in another direction instead. It can be hard to discern a lot of energy from restlessness and confusion over what to do.

In talking with other writers about writing a novel, we all are experiencing that realization that it takes time-dedicated, focused time. Its an odd gig. It can take years to complete. Unlike a painting that we can watch come together and even if it takes a few weeks or a few months, the end result is there in front of us, we can see it, touch it. A novel in progress is partly in our heads, some on paper, some on the hard drive. Months can be spent on research, weeks doing something else while it brews in our subconscious. Folks can’t see the work we are doing.
But, the creative energy is flowing through us; it can feel antsy, disheveled, and it can make us worry. Are we on the right track? Is this project going to be worth it in the end? Why am I really doing this? Is it as good as I originally thought it would be?

The thought for today is: Be easy on yourself. With a lot of creative energy comes opportunities and ideas, which can lead to indecision and stress. if unsure of what direction to go in, go do something physical, move, go out into nature…then tune in to your inner voice and trust yourself.

Are you one who can stick with something for a really long time and see the outcome? Or, do you like to go off in a hundred different directions? Do you have a way to keep yourself on track?

In the meantime, I have been working on other projects.

In my personal life, I’ve been riding an emotional roller coaster due to a family event that has stirred old emotions, old patterns and has brought up some deep anger. Childhood stuff. Has been dealt with. (do we ever really fully get over that stuff??)

Well, now I can see that I dealt with as much as I could up to this point. This new event has me seeing that some more stuff lies deep down and I am now ready to deal with it. As a matter of fact, next week, I am going to participate in a soul retrieval ritual. The signs are there that whatever else had broken off from me due to certain traumas, I think I am now ready to re-attach.

Today, I drew the 3 of Hearts from the regular playing deck. When I draw from this deck, it is specifically for work and I set the intention of the draw as that. What is going on in relationship to my work? To my creativity?
At first I was puzzled by the card – it is about creative self expression. It is also about emotional indecisiveness.
Trying to see how it fit with the writer/artist life, I was looking at scattered energies creating indecision. But, as my daughter and I were eating pancakes, I told her about the card draw and how I was pondering what it meant. Her response was: “That’s exactly what you have been going through.”
“True, but the card is not my personal draw, it is for work, I need to see it in relationship to creativity.” I replied.

We talked about how we both have so many projects going on and how we do get scattered to the point of not being able to sit down and get something done.

But, then it hit me.

I wanted to know how my character would feel…I mean…really feel and react to what she was being thrown into. Now I know.
Seeing what I have been feeling and how I have been reacting-emotionally indecisive- I can take that and apply it to my character.

Our characters can’t spend days hemming and hawing and drowning in emotions – they have to make decisions and get going, otherwise the story goes no where. Sometimes, I think it would be nice if our personal lives were like the books we read-we get thrust into some nasty ordeal, but we do something; we move forward; we make a choice; take a step and get going.

And isn’t that the point of storytelling? It helps us learn to deal with things. We watch the characters deal with pain, sadness, anger, grief or impossible ordeals and we watch them take action.

If I went through what my character did and I had to make the choices that she has to make, heck, I’d still be back in her bed, tossing and crying and curled up in a little ball pondering: what should I do???

I’m glad I’ve had this experience in my own life come along at this time to allow me to know how my character would feel. I can now write about the emotional and physical sensations and what trauma does to you. I wanted to know and I got my answer.

I’m also glad that because I am writing and I have to make my character take action- I also have insight into moving forward.

Those rascally little card draws…how dare it mix my personal stuff into my work….;)

I have not posted much about my writing here; I’ve learned that living the writers life is, well, very bohemian. Not many get it and many can’t grasp what you are saying when you are talking about it, that is unless they themselves are a writer. So, I’m careful with whom I talk to about it and I don’t always feel comfortable posting about the daily stuff of the writers life.
That said, the chapter I read today was called “Who Gave You Permission?”
The topic was about how at some point in our lives, there comes along an older, wiser more experienced writer who sees our work and gives us the “nod”. The nod of permission.
That doesn’t mean that if we desire to write that we have to wait for the nod. If we desire to write, we write. No one has the right to tell us we can’t or shouldn’t. It is a craft; it is something that takes time to learn. Just like any other pursuit, even if you do have some natural talent, you need to learn the rules and practice the skills.
But, after I read that chapter, it hit me-I finally met that person and got that nod-and wow, did it change my life!
Before now, I didn’t have encouragement or support. I wrote for myself, secretly, being hurt too many times by people who were either jealous that I was writing or who said ignorant things about writing.
Many years went by in which I had given up the notion of taking writing seriously, but it was always there, that desire. And when I stepped out of the way, the Universe went about its job of setting things up, so that I did get that encouragement and support.
This post is a huge THANK YOU to McKenna Donovan for her nod. For believing in me and for changing my life.
Not only has she been supportive and a fabulous mentor, but she has become my friend and I feel so very lucky and grateful!
My life now is one in which there are many with whom I can share that wild and mad life called the writers life. We are each giving birth to our precious babies or we have newborns that we are caring for. We each tenderly look after one another’s baby, in whatever stage it may be in.

I am reminded of the scene in the movie Babe, where the farmer simply nods and says, “Well done pig.”
Simple words, but they mean so much.

To Write Well’s next offering — February 7  through February 28 -Saturdays from 9:30 am to 12:30 p.m.  at UNC Asheville’s Rhoades-Robinson Hall– provides writers with close-in, hand-on experience with the structure of language, focusing on how to create impact through emphasis, rhythm and cadence, pacing, and suspense. This workshop is a unique opportunity for Asheville area writers — both fiction and non-fiction! — to gain valuable insights into the impact of their writing choices.

General Syllabus

for

Advanced Writing Workshop:

Impact of Style I: Structure

sponsored by To Write Well

OBJECTIVE:

The objective of this four-week workshop is to teach writers how to write at a higher level by intensively examining, then practicing, four basic elements of writing with impact.

Week 1: Understanding the Role of Structure in Style / The First Four Possibilities

Week 2: Writing Sentences That Resonate / The Next Seven Possibilities

Week 3: Hearing The Sound on the Page: Music / The Next Eight Possibilities

Week 4: Tying It All Together / The Last Ten Possibilities

GOAL:

The goal of this workshop is to train writers to understand and consciously use sentence and paragraph structure

• to create impact upon readers,

• to create rhythm and cadence for pace, and

• to set up coherence between the structure of the writing and the ideas being expressed.

Each week begins with a Saturday lecture and discussion (three hours). Students then return home to work independently throughout the week, working through the daily exercises with feedback from the instructor.

• The Role of Structure examines the purpose behind sentence structure, i.e., how the ear hears, and how the eyes see, language. By understanding how language interacts with readers, writers can purposefully select specific structures to create impact, achieving a voice unique to their writing.

• Writing Sentences That Resonate examines the ways in which structure creates emphasis, rhythm, expectation, and suspense.

• Hearing The Sound on The Page extends the writer’s understanding of structure and resonance through practice.

• Tying It All Together examines coherence from the perspective of unifying the writer’s ideas with the writer’s voice, so the written word is memorable for the reader.

Reference materials are provided.

The course text, The Art of Styling Sentences, by Ann Longknife, PhD, and K.D. Sullivan, is required, and the student must have the text by the first session.

For more info and to register: email Ashley at  writewell2009@gmail.com

I admit, I have this thing for beautiful book covers and Journals! A I talked about in Paisley Goddess, I am taking up Journaling again. There are so many new techniques out and now, you can let your inhibitions go and use art, images, glue, paint or whatever else you wish to use!

So, my focus has been on creating beautiful Journal designs. You can find a selection of Journals in my Enchanted Girl shop.

The Journals there are:

Wire-O bound, 160 pages, unlined and measures 5″ x 8″, a handy on-the-go size to fit in your backpack. Go creative and let the muse flow.

Back cover made of thin black flexible textured plastic, measures 16/1000″ thick
Front cover made of 12pt glossy paper, coated for scratch resistance
Filled with 60lb bookweight (24 lb bond) blank paper – NO LINES

The journaling prompts at Paisley Goddess will begin January 14th under the category of “Goddess Journeys”
Come join me…journaling is a great way to start dialogging with your Inner/Higher self.
It allows us to start noticing recurring themes and symbols in our lives – becoming aware of ourselves is the first step in changing.
Writing down our intentions and dreams is a big part of watching them manifest.
As women, we can track our physical/biological state and watch what is going on around and within ourselves when/if we are having unwanted symptoms…our bodies let us know when we are ignoring something important…but we can easily miss the clues if we aren’t paying attention.
Journaling can help us discover new talents and ambitions.
And, we have that space to rant, rave and scream to “let go” of something that we might obsess over. (cuz what we focus on, we GET!)

There are many fabulous reasons to grab a journal that inspires you and get to writing…because we are creating a great 2008!