I've been writing for long enough now that I've spanned several computers. Five, I think. I went searching the other day for an old play that was lots of fun - "The Frontier Wish". I found it! A few computers ago. Sure, I've backed everything up in various methods. Floppy disks, colorful hard disks, CD's, 64 megabyte flash drives, and even 'the cloud'. (Although I'm still not sure about that one...) But today, I decided it was time to spend some time in consolidation. I went to my favorite office supply store (and had to leave the car running so the battery wouldn't die on me). I ran inside and quickly perused the flash drive aisle. Amazing! Shocking! Science Fiction! Huge amounts of gigabytes on tiny little decorative ornaments. For cheap! There were skateboards, turtles, monkeys, TV characters, flowers, food items, and tiny little colorful rectangular prisms. I finally, (after about 45 seconds - remember the car running outside) decided on a small, blue, slightly concave box. The cap on the USB end is bigger than the drive itself. 8 GB. $6.99. I hurried through the checkout and on my way. All of my writing, from years and years and drafts and drafts, will fit in that tiny little box. With room for at least twenty more year's worth. Now, if I can just keep from losing the itty-bitty thing... Are you looking for an excellent writing/revision resource? I would suggest Martha Alderson's 'Plot Whisperer'. One of my talented critique partners, Janet Fox, gave me a copy for Christmas last year. In preparation for our retreat this summer, I finally read it. What I found was a great pool of information that worked whether you are a planner, or a pantser. Alderson gave instructions and specific methods that work for any type of writer. Overall, the book analyzes the structure of story in a concrete, visual, understandable way. Her four energetic markers, or turning points of every story, were just what I needed to learn and recognize. While at our retreat, we also watched a video presentation of Alderson's 'Plot Whisperer' techniques. She walked through and picked apart a book we had all read, to point out her structure secrets in action. It was very informative, and led us to several excellent discussions in our group. I highly recommend this book to any writer seeking to hone their craft. I've also learned that recently, an accompanying workbook has come available. I'm ordering one! When we lived in Utah, where the summers are long and hot, I grew a huge garden with everything imaginable in it. Fresh garden tomatoes are one of the best foods in the world. I learned how to can, and freeze, dehydrate, and put up all the excess to eat during the winter. It was work I enjoyed very much. Then we moved to Montana. At first we tried to grow a big garden, but it didn't take very long to figure out that things are different here. After a few years of failure, I gave up for a while. Not long ago, we decided to give it another shot. My husband put in a great rain water collection system for watering, and built me a big raised garden bed. We planted seeds, of crops we knew would grow here. I also put in two tomato plants (wishful thinking). The radishes were delicious. The beets have grown well, and I've already done one batch of sweet pickled beets. Yum! Lettuce, good, carrots, good. Beans? We chose to do pole beans, something we've never done before. They wouldn't budge past 5 inches high. I'd mostly given up on them for the year, vowing to amend the soil and try again next year. This morning I discovered about a third of the row, on the west end, has started to climb and grow. Go figure! I have no idea why that section of plants has suddenly realized its purpose after months of stagnation, but I'm not complaining. My daughter and I drove posts, and ran twine, and now I'll sit back and cheer on the vines. I recently spent a week with my writers group at our annual retreat. It was wonderful! We rented a cabin about an hour from home, in a beautiful, peaceful location. There were beds for all, and bathrooms, and plenty of space for each of us to sprawl out and create.
When I write at home, I'm on a schedule. I might have an hour or two, but then I have the events of the day to contend with. And sometimes even during that time, I have laundry to switch, or phone calls I just have to make, or the random "Mom! Where are you?". I can get a lot done, but those little distractions are expected, at least at a subconscious level. So when I was at my writers retreat, surrounded by space, and peace, and tasty food I didn't have to prepare much of, my mind was truly free. I got so much done, and had a blast doing it! I'm currently working on a rewrite, that I wasn't super thrilled about at first, but I have a character that just won't leave me alone. So I decided it was time to let him have his say once more. In the setting of the retreat, the story just flowed. I'm not sure that would have happened any other way. We also mixed in Martha Alderson's 'Plot Whisperer' book and video, which was excellent instruction. We all felt we'd learned specific techniques to apply to our stories. One evening we critiqued one of our member's recently finished drafts (which I'd read in one sitting !!) Add some 'Downton Abbey' reruns, a dinner out at a nice restaurant, walks down the lane, and we had a wonderful plan. I love my writers group! We synergize like nothing I've seen, and have a lot of fun while we're at it. I highly recommend planning a writers group retreat for your group. |
AuthorWriting for children is a passion - along with reading kid's books, writing plays for kids, and teaching kids how to write! Archives
October 2020
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