Will I go back to Normal after this year's A to Zed?

As Bruce Cockburn once sang "the trouble with normal is it always gets worse".  After a month of daily blogs will I go back to 'normal' or am I changed? I hope I'm changed by everything I undertake - writing, meditating, making pasta, the whole megillah. Do you know what the whole megillah even is? Let me tell you if you don't already know - 

Definition of MEGILLAH slang:  a long involved story or account megillah Origin of MEGILLAH Yiddish megile, from Hebrew mĕgillāh scroll, volume (used especially of the Book of Esther, read aloud at the Purim celebration)

Don't you love finding out what phrases you might have heard or used mean? For years (until about seven years ago) I thought the word 'megillah' referred to something Scottish.  You know like 'MacGillah' - some crazy tribe that told long-winded stories. Well, not so far off as it happens.

Back to the present: am I changed? Yes, thank Buddha, I am changed. I'm changed because I strengthened my resolve by once again finishing something I started and not griping about it. There are actually people who sign up for this and then gripe and whine and bitch and moan. Why? Beats me. It isn't exactly hard and really if you don't do it who will know? No one, I'm thinking. But you know...people move in mysterious ways. They roll in ways I didn't even know a person could roll and well...I don't care. If folks want to sign up for something and then not do it - well fine. It is a drag to go to about fifty sites in a row to find out they signed up and didn't even do ONE post out of the whole alphabet but hey! Maybe their cat died or they lost their job, and all sense of meaning. Maybe they really are much more important than you or I and have lots of responsibilities that we cannot even dream about. I really don't care.

And there are lots of sites I'm inherently uninterested in - I don't care much about cute cats, vampires, religious rants, vehicles, American politics, etc... But I found lots that I didn't even know I cared about until I visited. It happens, for instance, that I care deeply about certain people who go to certain places and write about them - why? Because I already liked them and because they wrote interesting posts about their life in a very different place - hello Karen from Coming Down the Mountain! I also went to a site that was full of crazy math stories. Who knew I'd love that? But I did - hello   Tamara Narayan, Author -my new pal! I visited lots in Africa with the charming and dear Shirley at Shirley Corder. She described her part of the world in wonderful words and pictures and visited lots here. I met a fellow Newfoundlander (well she's on the island and I'm on the mainland but hey you can't imagine how close that feels!) named Christine at Mombie and I'm just getting to know her - we have lots in common that I don't even think she knows including a murder mystery business. I reconnected with the amazing Susan Scott at her blog The Garden of Eden. Susan wrote about dreams for the A to Zed and wow she is a lovely writer!
Everyday I visited our fearless leader -Lee - at Tossing it Out and read about all sorts of ways to blog (I'm a 'slacker blogger' but I can live with that) and l also hung out at my dear pal, Margot Kinberg from Confessions of a Mystery Novelist.  She didn't do the A to Zed but she is one of the most consistent posters and commenters ever. Her and my friend Elisabeth Spann Craig over at Mystery Writing is Murder! The two of them would be the polar opposite of slacker bloggers like me but we manage to enjoy ezch other. And my friend, my entire crit group in one crazy package, the delectable deario The Watery Tart  ( at Confessions of a Watery Tart) thrilled us with her wild flights of alliterative allegories!

And that my friend is my idea of a perfect party - some old friends, some new friends and a lot of chat!

Z is for Zenith

And so my friends, we have come to the end of yet another A to Zed. It has been a merry ride through the revision process - from the alpha to the omega and beyond. My last words for you is to please remember that revising is a two organ job. It takes both the brain and the heart to do a proper job. We have reached the summit of our climb and we can look back down the path which we have climbed and sigh a good sigh. ze·nith  (zēnĭth) n.1. The point on the celestial sphere that is directly above the observer. 2. The upper region of the sky.ze·nith  (zēnĭth)  n. 1. The point on the celestial sphere that is directly above the observer. 2. The upper region of the sky. 3. The highest point above the observer's horizon attained by a celestial body. 4. The point of culmination; the peak: the zenith of her career. See Synonyms at summit. [Middle English senith, from Old French cenith, from Medieval Latin, from Arabic samt (ar-ra's), path (over the head), from Latin sēmita, path; see mei-1 in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] Just to go through the whole megillah (see tomorrow's post for this definition) let me repeat: When revising you gain Altitude by descending to see the Boys in the Basement, they are so Cool with their myriad of Details, helping you to Edit with Fortitude (and Grammar!). Help with your Idiosyncrasies can also be Juicy as you Kick-ass with the Lamé wearing Monkey Mind overly concerned with Numbers. Open to your Purpose, Query your Revision and Synopsis by Talking Out Loud. You will find it Uplifting as your Vigour and Words X-ray and shows the Yin & Yang of you at your Zenith! Please drop by tomorrow to see what I have to say about this year's experience.

Y is for Yin and Yang

As I stare out the window at work writing this (my break people!) I see the top edge of the motorboat peeking out above the snow banks. I've never seen it before. I started working here in October but not in this office until March - so my view has always been snow and more snow. Occasionally a pack of dogs will trot by and there is a wee squirrel I've been seeing quite a bit of - but no - mostly snow and tree tops - a bit of a mountain far off. But I know something! I know that soon - in the next couple of weeks or maybe even sooner - I will see Little Lake through the trees. If I stand up I can see it now - all frozen and white. It will be lovely to look out and see that body of water shining away.

And that is what I want to talk about today in your revision process. We've gone through so many stages and you may have noticed that it has been very little nuts and bolts - just small tips and reminders for the most part. But what we sometimes forget when we are beavering away is that there will be a day when the obstacles will have melted away and you will see your ms shining - whole and beautiful. Although, unlike my view, you and I will have to do something to get there. Metaphors must by their very nature break down at some point - otherwise they wouldn't stand for the thing - they'd be the thing!

In Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (also, yin-yang or yin yang) describes how apparently opposite or contrary forces are actually complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other as they interrelate to one another.

Your manuscript from this point of view is already finished. It lies complete and shiny under the ice and snow. It is our delusion that it isn't there until we hit that final -30- (do people still do this or is it just me?) 
Believe that and work away to free it. 

And there is Little Lake from another view point!

X is for x-ray

X is for using your x-ray vision

Oh! Remember Superman and how he wouldn't use his x-ray vision for most of the things we would? Well now I want you to use yours. I know you have it  -  at least with your own manuscripts. I want you to remember to look below your words. Our words are like a skin on the body of the work. Like our own skin - our outer organ - it is often mistaken for the whole thing.

What? If my novel isn't words what is it?

It is what the words are protecting and transporting. And that my friend is emotion, insight, and intention. It has to be there or your words won't ring authentic. If we write at all we write to move others - to get them to understand what we understand, to feel what we feel, to see what we see.

When we think of our loved ones, our babies, our lovers, our friends, our family - do we think 'my oh my they have such lovely exteriors that I don't care if they are empty inside!' ? No - or not at least when we are over 14 years old (or reluctant adults holding on to a view of the world that isn't of interest to most of us).

If I feel my interest starting to flag, my eyes drooping, when I'm reading or listening to someone tell a story, I know there is a lie in there. It has ceased to be authentic. That is my x-ray vision at work. If I'm with a client (I'm a psychotherapist) I will jerk myself awake and say to the client 'hey what are you telling me? Something isn't right."  Nine times out of ten I am right. We locate the truth (usually hidden behind fear) and get it out. You must use your x-ray vision on your manuscript. When you feel bored or duped - stop and fix or at least mark it for a later fix (but if not now- when?)

So fire up your super powers of observation and x-ray your ms.  Here is Bella for no reason!

W is for Words

Words! We are wordsmiths.Words are our stock-in-trade. Or are they? I believe, much though I revere words, that they are more like trucks than trees. What? I mean they aren't - of themselves - anything but transporters of emotion, thoughts, ideas. They are like paint to a painter, like clay to a sculptor, like notes to a composer. Without heart and mind they simply lie there like so many fallen leaves. Inert. Pick them up, rearrange them, squeeze them, coax them - they become a sonnet or a memoir or a long letter to an old friend. Or a weekly report to your boss. When we revise we must look so closely at our word choice. That is where our voice resides. If we want to present our ideas in the most engaging way part of that will be from the words we choose. We must not be lazy in this regard!

For our first mad drafts we may have just thrown any word in but now we have to go back and make sure each one is robust and working for our ideas, our thoughts, our emotions. No slacker trucks with broken chassis and flat tires! We must replace all the slapdash with the well-built. Our shacks must become mansions, or at least strong sturdy cabins that will protect that inside of them.

Enough words for today...here is a picture I drew for Sketchbook Skool.

V is for Vigour

Vigour you say! Yes. And vim too. In fact there are two tugboats in Halifax Harbour called Point Vim and Point Vigour - how I love those fat little vessels! And here they are 

vigor  n. ( note: this is the American spelling -from the American Heritage Dictionary - I use the Canadian or British)

1. Physical or mental strength, energy, or force: Our vigor was depleted by the hot weather.2. The capacity for natural growth and survival, as of plants or animals.
3. Strong feeling; enthusiasm or intensity: argued his point with great vigor.

How do we revise for vigour? We tighten and brighten our manuscript. We remove the flabby words and phrases and put in the muscular. We make each word haul its weight and more and that each chapter, paragraph, sentence and word adds to the story. Think about any work you really love and you will see what I mean.It's not that works can't be fulsome and  have a languid pace in places but each part of it must go towards the effect you are after.  You might consider tuning a guitar (well - you might!).  The maxim for that is the same as for revising - not too tight, not too loose. Too tight and the sound is high and strained - too loose and the sound is dull and off key. Look for vigour in your work by reading out loud and when you feel you can't stand something check the pace, the authenticity and the vigour and you will find the right path!

Vigour is the opposite of  tired. Have you gotten tired and put hackneyed cliches in where sparkling gems (talk about hackneyed!) should be? Let's try that again -

Vigour is tired's opposite. Search your ms for hackneyed cliches and eliminate! Find phrases that have the sparkle and shine of a two year old's princess tiara. 

Go forth - wake up yourself and wake up your manuscript.

U is for uplifting

What might this be? Well, if something is uplifting - it raises us up to regard it. Generally, in my world, we look to create art, events, spaces that have a sense of upliftedness about them. If I'm having people over for dinner I make sure the entry way is clean and shiny - that I've put some extra care into the food and its presentation, that people will be comfortable and generally happy in our home. That doesn't mean we won't have challenging and stimulating conversations - we will. We will argue politics and religion and almost anything with verve and passion. But we won't let things slide into decrepitude - into surly diatribes or mean-mouthed rants.

How does that relate to revision? I think it means that in the revision process we do remember that we are offering this manuscript up and that we want to make it hospitable. That means that we neither talk down to our reader or try and mystify them with convoluted 'artsy' ways. We want our readers to look around and think - wow, this is interesting! I think I'll like the level of conversation here.

My fella and I like to watch comedians and we are quite fussy. It takes us moments to go 'uh no. He hates women (a surprising number of male comedians seem to fall in this category) or this guy or gal isn't funny - just mean. I think what we surmise is that they aren't uplifting. The ones we really like make us feel better for watching them - not worse. That isn't to say they have to have a Pollyanna view of the world - au contraire!  But if it is nothing but shallow cleverness or mean rants ...well we don't want it.

When you take a hawk's eye view of your manuscript make sure that if it is clever it also has substance. Make sure that your reader won't feel undervalued or mocked. Challenge your reader but don't bait them. Let them know what you want them to know without either hitting them over the head with it or making it like some convoluted treasure hunt of meaning.


Here's a drawing I did of an osprey - now that's uplifting!

T is for talking out loud

I'm always surprised at how many writers I encounter that do not read their work aloud. What? Why ever not? Go back to the beginning of story telling - put the telling back in - and I don't mean the explaining - I remember the feeling you had when you were a child and someone said 'let me tell you a story'. Magic, eh? So talk your book - read it out loud and hear what it sounds like. Do the conversations ring true? Can you catch the repeated words? Perhaps I'm an auditory learner but I cannot imagine knowing my story without hearing it spoken.  If you have loved ones that can stand it read out loud to them. Another set of ears is even better than another set of eyes in my opinion. When you are reading it aloud you will be so conscious of other ears that you will have a true and vivid account of where the story drags and where it soars. Trust me. You will.

Dickens read all his books aloud - all of them! And some of them, most of them, were really long. He read it as an ordinary part of writing. He gave readings of the books he wrote in installments and used the response to further what worked and stop what didn't. I'm not suggesting you do this but it is hard to argue with someone of Dicken's stature!


Another photo from the bridge taken two days ago - this one looking back towards what is called 'Up Along' (meaning the area in the village that grew up along the river and the older part is called 'Down Along').

S is for synopsis

I touched on this a few days ago with query but I'm going to go into more detail today. Making a synopsis is a crucial step in the revision process. Do not put it off until you think everything is shiny. Your synopsis isn't just for your query package - it is for you. The act of writing it (and believe me I do know how terribly tough it is for most of us) will shine a huge light on the holes and problems in your manuscript. Don't let the writing of it be something you dread - think of it as an exploration of the manuscript that you want to do as well as possible before you send it off to strangers (cold business strangers I might add).

There are tonnes of blogs that have written great advice about how to write a synopsis - you can locate most of them on The Writers Knowledge Base here. Enter synopsis in the search engine and watch them pop up. I have used a number of different ways to do it including The Hero's Journey as a model, the three act structure and I don't know how many others. All I know for sure is that it is easy when my structure makes good sense and hard as hell when it doesn't - which is exactly why you want to start this exercise early!

Remember that for the synopsis you do not hold back on the basic plot line. In other words you never write something like "read this novel to find out if Sheila meets the Prince or face plants into her lasagna". Nope. You have to tell it and not to flog a dead horse much but that is what will make you see if you've fully figured out the details.

Capeche?

Here is a photo I took yesterday on the bridge on the way to work - nice big chunks of ice go floating underneath as Little and Grand Lake break-up. On the other side towards the bay it is still pretty froze up but spring is a coming!

R is for Revision

When I started this little trip through the revision process I tried to separate the process of editing from revising but then I realized for me it didn't matter. For today's post I decided I would look at the etymology of both words - after all why do an abcedaria and not do that!

1610s, "act of revising," from French révision, from Late Latin revisionem (nominative revisio) "a seeing again,"

edit (v.) 

1791, "to publish," perhaps a back-formation from editor, or from French éditer (itself a back-formation from édition) or from Latin editus, past participle of edere "give out, put out, publish" (see edition). Meaning "to supervise for publication" is from 1793. Meaning "make revisions to a manuscript, etc.," is from 1885. Related: Edited;editing. As a noun, by 1960, "an act of editing." 

So...as I suspected it really means the same thing. I like the word 'revision' more than 'edit' however. Why? Because it means 'a seeing again' and it includes the word vision which I think a writer can look at in two ways. The first way is to look with your eyes or fresh eyes (someone else's ore yours after a break) at your manuscript - really see again. The second is to re -Vision. When we write our first quick drafts we are telling ourselves the story. It is raw and choppy and messy and lovely. When we revise we are refining the story for others. We know what it is now and we want to make sure it is as clear on the page as it is in our mind. We need to touch into our early vision for it. For my YA manuscript 'Bright Angel' I want the reader to understand the relationship between a confused rebel teen girl and an old woman. When I wrote the story initially I thought it was about the mother - then I realized it was about the daughter and a distant relative of the mother. I have to look at the whole story with that in mind.   I also need to pay attention to different elements than I did when I was getting the story down - themes that appear - symbols - running metaphors and so forth. Does everything in my manuscript add to the over-all vision that I now hold of it? It's like a garden perhaps - the prairie grasses might be lovely but do they suit a garden that has an English cottage feel?

So - what do you think of revising from a revisionary point of view? And here is a photo of my dear Daddio who in his role as a public relations officer with the RCAF did a lot of editing! He used to edit pieces in his mind to go to sleep....

Q is for Query

Maybe it seems like it is too Quick to think about your Query when you are revising your ms but I would Quibble with you! Your Query can help you with your revision for it is when you are writing your very good query letter and the synopsis that goes with it that you may find you've been slightly quixotic with your plot. At least that's what has happened to me by times. So use your Query to question your revision. If you think you are done and you imagine slipping it into a mailbox you might Quickly do an about turn and rightly so.

Writing your synopsis when done in tandem with your revision can be a great aid. There are many ways to write a synopsis and I found if I followed almost any of them before I got too far in my revision I could see what needed to be done.

Give it a try. What have you got to lose?

Here are two vegetarian lasagnas I made last weekend. We et up the small one and will have shared the large one with friends by the time you read this. Yummy.

P is for Purpose

The Purpose driven life is one in which all things, when applied to your purpose, align. When we have purpose we have power. 

“Those who have a 'why' to live, can bear with almost any 'how'.” 

― Viktor E. Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning

This is one of my favorite quotes. Viktor E. Frankl - was a writer who wrote Man's Search for Meaning - here is a wiki on that book.

Man's Search for Meaning is a 1946 book by Viktor Frankl chronicling his experiences as an Auschwitz concentration camp inmate during World War II, and describing his psychotherapeutic method, which involved identifying a purpose in life to feel positively about, and then immersively imagining that outcome. According to Frankl, the way a prisoner imagined the future affected his longevity. The book intends to answer the question "How was everyday life in a concentration camp reflected in the mind of the average prisoner?" Part One constitutes Frankl's analysis of his experiences in the concentration camps, while Part Two introduces his ideas of meaning and his theory called logotherapy. 

So how does that work with our revisions? I do think when we are attempting something with such a broad scope - like writing a novel or book length memoir or non-fiction - we need to constantly go back to our purpose. Your purpose needn't be highfalutin   - it can be to entertain but there is usually something deeply personal and meaningful in why we write at all and in what we choose to write. It might be to show your third grade teacher that in fact you aren't a dummy! It might be to share something - a way of life - a part of the world - a personality - that most people don't really know about.

I have different purposes to why I write different stories or in different genres. I like writing mysteries (though I have ignored my finished and half-finished mysteries lately) because I like the puzzle of creating them (sort of like quilts) and because I think they are a good way to feature a part of the world most people know squat about. I have written my literary novels because I'm interested in the psychological effects of certain events on people. I want to understand how family works and how doesn't.  I write poems for a way to show how I see the world and its meaning to me.

All of them and everything else falls under another purpose - my overall purpose in life is to wake up and help others wake up. I happen to think we spend too much time in our past and future and I know when I write I'm actually in the present - I hope others get that too but it is actually secondary.

When I'm revising and the hot rush of getting words down is over I really need to remember why I want to finish and perfect each manuscript. I need to touch down on my purpose to energize getting through the million details of such a large work.

How about you?


Here's a photo of the Canadian Babes - my close buds. They will be just arriving in Cuba right about now and I'm not with them. Gah! Next year I hope. And no we don't always wear plaid shirts a la Bob and Doug but it was a special Canadjun moment, eh?

o is for open your heart

Open I say! Yes, you need your mind when you are revising (not your monkey mind but your clear thinking, non-attached mind) but you also need your heart. I feel that if there has been a subtler under theme to my abcedaria on revision it is this - revising isn't a cold-calculating art! We need to be open and loving to our ms so we can attend to the problems we are working with. If we are too removed, too above it all we won't be able to have the necessary energy to see it through. I'm having a tough time right now because my manuscript has been away from me for too long. I need to open my heart to it and contact the fellow who is reading it and ask him 'what gives?'  If I'm too cool (and yes, I do remember that being cool was one of my posts) but if I'm TOO cool it could come across as indifference. It could turn to indifference and then where would I be? More importantly where would my ms be? Ignored.

So! Open your hearts and embrace the whole messy thing. Sure you're going to clean it up - organize it so others can enjoy what you see in it - but first you need to fully embrace it. Go on! Love it.

Here is a photo I took last summer in Gros Morne National Park -Newfoundland. Isn't it so gorgeous?!

N is for Numbers

Numbers! Can you hear yourself groan? Can you hear me? Remember I don't like numbers much but that isn't truly true. I don't like keeping track of most numbers. What do I owe the phone company? How many calories in a cheese Danish? But there are some numbers that are very helpful to be mindful of when revising. I should say that I find helpful. And what are they dear Jan?

How many pages, words, hours a day do I commit to in order to get through this revision?
When I get my ms back (and gosh I hope it is sooooon) I will have a general look see and then decide what the job is going to take. Are there red marks all through or major paragraphs of text from my adviser? Once I've ball-parked how much time I will need to spend, and ball-parked what time I have available and what external to the revising deadlines I might have (the mister and I are going on a little cruise up the coast to visit Northern communities this summer - think that might be one) then I'll know what numbers I need to crunch. It might look like this - I will spend one hour a day or 20 pages which ever comes first. My manuscript is 300 pages long so that will take me 15 days or so. Hmmm... I'm going to be on a bit of a work crunch in June with training so I better make sure I do

How many times do I repeat myself in the ms. (who cares how often I do in real life - well, I guess the mister cares!)
This means that I insert a program on a sampling of my writing that will do a word cluster for me - you know ...hmmm...what are they called? A word cloud and when it shows me a picture with the largest word being JUST - I'll go hunting those numbers. I know that doesn't seem like a number but in this case the program is doing it for you and making it all nice and graphic.

And today's pic is of Bella on top of the bank of snow next to our driveway. If you think she is awfully high up you'd be right. Any daffodils peeking their heads up would have to be 20 feet tall! Gah!

M is for monkey mind

Having a monkey mind is what we Buddhists might call believing our thoughts. Not a good idea for the most part. When we are revising we must quiet the monkey who will be chattering to us endlessly about how crappy our manuscript is and how we should just forget it.

How do we quiet out monkey mind? Well, first of all don't get engaged with it. Don't argue with monkeys - it just doesn't work. Say you hear your monkey mind says something like "this stupid novel is no good and who needs another book anyhow and your mother was right, you should have been a librarian. You certainly shouldn't bother with such nonsense as writing or any creative thing. Just a waste of time." (Whew! I'm way too good at bringing up a monkey mind train of thoughts) You might try arguing back "Well now I'm not sure - I think the world could use a good novel about love in Northern Climates and blah blah blah." If you do your monkey mind will go "pftttttt!" at you. Instead try something firm and decisive "Yes, you might be right but I'm in charge and we're working on this revision."  And then smile at the poor little thing and get back to work. You won't believe how quick that monkey will fold her tents and slip away.

Some other ways to quiet our monkey mind are to keep it busy doing other things. When it starts in on you it is because that part of you is scared so distract it. I might say (or think, because sometimes I'm in public) "You know Monkey Mind - I have a problem for you to solve - I need to know how to get my protagonist out of Wisconsin in one piece - I'm going to work on my next chapter and I'd like you to ponder that while I do." This works and I'm not sure how nor do I care. All I care is that it works.

Also - our Monkey Mind can be diverted by making sure we get plenty of exercise, good food and lots of premium sleep so keep your body in optimum shape when you are marathoning your way through a revision. It is crucial! (every time I think or hear the word 'crucial' I think of this British show in the fifties that had a doctor who had a Scottish nurse named Janet that used to say "But Doctor - it's crucial" with her thick accent. Does anyone have the vaguest notion of what I'm on about?)

L is for lamé - it simply has to be...

Here is a post from 2011 that I've plunked into almost every A to Zed and had written before I even knew about the A to Zed challenge. I kinda have to now. Even if no one notices... 

Lamé - the abcedaria of a writer

lamé  - oh, and you thought knitting was a stretch - well I'm pulling from my ancient files for this one. Long time readers of this blog will know immediately of what I speak but I won't keep the rest of you in suspense for long.

Here are ten things I know for sure about writing:


1. If you are the kind of person who doesn't like to be told what to do - your protagonists will resist your efforts to make them behave. It's weird - almost like they came from you and weren't born free of your influence. Wait a minute...

2. Life in all its wild chaotic nowness will rise up and lay a beating on you if you try to ignore it for your manuscript. And knowing it won't be half the problem solved.

3. A woman will come to you in your dreams wearing a fantastic outfit of that weird sparkling fabric from the sixties. Silver or gold lamé. That's it. She will insist on you feeling the fabric. She wants to be in your novel. Don't let her in. She'll drive you crazy and so will that itchy stuff.

4. You might not like Neil Young - I really don't think I'd like to spend a whole bunch of time with him - but he is a narrative genius. I want to know what happens to him when he's wandering lonely on the highway. I do. And he understands pace and mood and style.

5. In the middle of the night when the woman in the fabulous lamé comes calling you will wake up and lie there wondering if anyone truly truly knows what plot, story and structure are. And you'll be sure, because it is the middle of the night, that anyone does but you do not.

6. After you finish fretting about plot, story and structure you'll move on to wondering if you haven't been lying to yourself about everything to do with your writing. You'll also wonder what the slinky shiny material is called. You won't remember that it is lamé until the next day and even then you might need to spend an inordinate amount of time on google trying to find it. Time you could be spending on your plot, story and structure for instance.

7. Even though you know all experiences are treasure for your work-in-progress you will be perplexed as to how you can use your new understanding of various strange and out-of-date fibres in a plot where clothing of any sort has barely been mentioned and then it was describing First Nation's dance regalia. Perhaps you need to bring in another character, you'll think! It might solve all your plot, story and structure issues. Well it might! Just like having a baby with your philandering gambling alcoholic husband might help your marriage. Well it might!

8. When your head hits your pillow after a good day in those long dug out ditches that guys fought in WWII - what are they called? Oh, yes, trenches, after a long day in the revisioning trenches you will fall asleep like a baby and the answer to your plot, story, structure problem will come to you intact in a dream. The woman in the lamé outfit (her fifth one!) will explain it to you perfectly. You will feel so relieved. Until you wake up and you realize that she told you the key was that god backwards spells dog. Oh yes. It will happen.

9. You will rise none the less and you will work in your optimum time of day for success. You will eat good healthy brain food and you will stop only to do your pilates or your yoga (where are those tapes - damn it) or take your dog for a much needed walk because hey, he didn't ask you to be a writer now did he?You will find your groove because you've read King and Koch and Lamott and you know it is showing up that counts and the heck with the muse. It's work for heaven's sake not a calling. And you will churn out the work, the shitty first draft or the clarity revision or the final draft or whatever mixture of those three plus the diversions you've taken allow you to call it. Because you are a writer. And you will sleep the sleep of the just.

10. You will awake after sleeping the sleep of the just and look at your previous day's work even though Elizabeth S-C told you NOT TO and it will be brilliant! No it won't. But there will be threads of brilliance in amongst the dog puke and it will simply have to do. 

And that is what I know for sure.

k is for kick-ass

Oh for heaven's sake! What's a grownup (way grownup) woman like me using that term for? Because as soon as I thought of the letter K that's the word I thought of. Usually I reserve it for shoes of a particular kind or maybe a person I've met who really...well embodies the notion of kick-assery. They do not tolerate nonsense and have a rather sparky zingy approach to life.

I like that and I think I need more of it in the revision process. I think I have it in spades when I'm doing my first drafts but then I lose it - lose confidence in my own writerly self and the work I'm creating - and just slink down and shrug and say 'ah shucks' when anybody asks 'how's it going?'.  So I'm going to recommend that after we have our little romantic Juicy time we get into our kick-ass clothes (could be high-heels and a leather skirt ...just saying...) and pitter-patter fly atter! Yes. You are on a mission to whip that ms into shape and you should do it with joy, passion and a soupcon of kick-assedness.

So let's hear it for a certain bawdy approach to revision - an earthy practical get-on-with-it married to your purpose of writing in the first place. I feel my muse hovering about - she'll probably get here in time for L is for Lamé or M is for Muse.

Do you have an inner kick-ass kid?

Today I've been cooking up a storm - I have a busy work week ahead of me and so made a few lasagnas, some roasted vegies, stock and have just started a chicken cacciatore. ( did you know that cacciatore is Italian for hunter?) Well, I'm not hunting this chicken...