Love is complicated.
It’s been a crazy week at work. We are transitioning to a new accounting system so my time has been devoted to learning new charge codes, cost centers and grant management systems. It hasn’t left much time to write so my story for this week is unfinished. But don’t despair. We have a long weekend (YES!) coming and a fresh new story soundtrack will be posted next week.
Happy Labor Day everyone.
I think I have a handle on things. As I’ve mentioned before, finding time to write with a full-time job and family can be hard. Most of my writing time has been regulated to an hour at night, 30 minutes at work and the weekends. That made for slow progress. In the past, I would get up an hour earlier so I would have uninterrupted writing time. That’s not working this time. Now I have a new plan. I have changed my work hours to a four-day work week which gives me a full day off. Since the kids are back in school I have the house to myself. We’ll see how much I can get done in a day.
On a related note, I am having a good time writing short stories. I subscribe to the Lifewriting Tips by Steven Barnes. One of those tips revolved around the notion of training or exercising your writing muscles. They only way to get good at something is to practice. Short stories are an excellent vehicle to “practice” story telling. Taken from Steven’s Free Online Writing Classes about short stories: “This is Basic story telling, a “Sprint”, with no time to rest. In many ways the essence of the story form. Educational as hell, and also quite confrontive. Many people avoid it, but the short story remains the method of choice for developing professional-level skills.”
My goal is to have a “Story Soundtrack” story at least once a week. As far as the novel goes, I am on chapter fifteen of edits. The longest journey begins with just one step, right?
Peace,
Michelle
What’s Playing on the iPod right now: “Smile” – Kirk Franklin
What I am reading now: “Mogul” – Terrance Dean
Although I’ve been married for seventeen years, I am aware of the single lady situation. It seems to be an epidemic that must be explored and explained. The statistics are staggering. 70% of Black women are single. Not counting the number of those women that choose to be single, it seems as if there are a lot of eligible women out there looking for a man. Specifically, a Black man.
An article I read in the Wall Street Journal echos the advice I have given my sister and other single friends. Open yourself up to men of all races.
From the article:
Nearly 70% of black women are unmarried, and the racial gap in marriage spans the socioeconomic spectrum, from the urban poor to well-off suburban professionals. Three in 10 college-educated black women haven’t married by age 40; their white peers are less than half as likely to have remained unwed.
Black women confront the worst relationship market of any group because of economic and cultural forces that are not of
their own making; and they have needlessly worsened their situation by limiting themselves to black men.
While I don’t agree 100% with everything in this article, I think the take away should be to not limit your options. Women can be and are single for several reason. I don’t think anyone can presume to have the answer to why this woman is married and this one is not. There is no secret to getting and keeping a man regardless of the many books on the subject. (Side eye to Steve Harvey and Hill Harper) Men just aren’t that complicated. If you have yourself together physically, emotionally and spiritually then you will attract the same in a mate. He just may not be in the package you expect.
But that’s just my opinion. What say you?
What I’m reading: “Hunting in Harlem” – Mat Johnson
What I’m listening to: “Victory” – Yolanda Adams
Last year I finally finished my novel, “Moment of Truth”. It has taken me over a year to complete but to see the words “The End” typed on the page made it worth it. The story was told and I could begin to work on a new story. Unleash a new cast of characters that live in my head. (I am having fun doing the “Story Soundtrack” series.)
But my editing has been slow to non-existent. What is going on? Why can’t I harness the same level of excitement for this part of the project? I’ve been questioning the characters motivation, questioning the point of view, questioning if I had the nerves or the guts to see this through to the end. My problem is that I see this big project, this major dream that I have and I want to do everything so I end up doing nothing. As the saying goes, what’s the best way to eat an elephant? One bite at a time.
I am going to see this through to the end. I am going to publish my book one way or the other. It only starts with putting words on the damn page.
What I’m listening to: “Otis” Kayne West & Jay-Z
What I’m reading: “Hunting in Harlem” – Mat Johnson
Peace.
I didn’t have time to draft my own post so I refer you to one of my new favorite blogs. Lisa Kilian is one funny lady and I’ve learned a lot since I started following her. Read what she had to say about forcing your niche.
Enjoy!
What’s Playing on the iPod right now: “Words I Never Said” – Lupe Fiasco
What I am reading now: “Look Again” – Lisa Scottoline
Since I’ve started this writing journey, the one piece of advice I get the most it “write what you know”. What does that mean actually? Is it referring to occupations? If the writer is an attorney like John Grisham or Pamela Samuels-Young then your character is also an attorney. Or could it be as simple as a situation that your character faces?
In my novel, “Moment of Truth”, Adrienne has a three-year old son with sickle-cell anemia. His disease requires doctor’s visits and one scary emergency room stay. Now everyone has been to the doctor’s office and the hospital and I thought I did a decent job of describing the scene and emotions. That is until real life intervened.
One night my nephew was rushed to the emergency room. He spent two weeks in ICU and even more time in a regular room. During my frequent visits to the hospital, I found myself taking mental snapshots of sights and sounds. I catalogued smells and noted the presence of machine and watched hospital personnel. This was the type of thing I needed to enhance my own story. My own personal experience could be used by my character. But I must admit I felt guilty about it. While I was focused on my nephew’s recovery and being a source of comfort to my sister, I was thinking about my book.
My former editor allowed me to unburden myself. When I told her my dilemma she said, “You are a writer! All of your experiences are fodder for your craft. You should use all of your feelings and experiences to fuel your manuscripts.” Her words resonated with my artist self and confirmed something I knew all along. In order to create these well-rounded characters and make believable worlds, the artist has to use everything within them.
Write what you know is an adage to explore the world and embrace it to breathe life into a story.
Peace,
Michelle
What’s Playing on the iPod right now: “It Kills Me” – Melanie Fiona
What I am reading now: “Obsessed” – Devon Scott
Ever since I started writing seriously I have complained about my day job getting in the way. I longed for more the day I would be able to devote full-time hours to living in my head. And then I started communicating with actual writers and learned a hard truth. I shouldn’t be so eager to quit the day job.
It’s no secret that getting published is not an easy feat but getting a big advance is like hitting the lottery. Most mid level authors don’t earn enough on their advances to support themselves let along afford health insurance. My research shows that I shouldn’t be so quick to throw away my job.
So, I decided to change the way I look at my 9 to 5. Here are the benefits to being a full-time employee:
Now I take comfort in the security of the day job. Although it may not be my life’s calling, the job does allow me the opportunity to pursue my dream.
Peace,
Michelle
What’s Playing on the iPod right now: “Lay Your Head on my Pillow” – Tony!Toni!Tone!
What I am reading now: “Fallen” – Karin Slaughter
I am in a writing slump. Back in May I blogged about how I was revising my novel to change the point of view from first person to third person. I felt the change would enhance the story and connect better with the reader. And I was working diligently to make those changes happen. What happened to make me lose focus you ask? My editor disappeared.
I thought I had found the perfect editor for me. It’s not often you feel a connection with someone as an artist but Camille and I hit it off from the start. She “got” me and I was ecstatic to find a person to discuss my work. She was there for me right up until the time she wasn’t. Silence was followed by a brief claim of illness. Several more weeks go by and my calls and emails went unanswered.
It wasn’t hard for me to get to the conclusion that maybe I had been duped. It couldn’t have been a coincidence that Camille was suddenly unavailable after payment changed hands. I terminated our agreement and a refund was initiated from her but it failed to make it through Paypal.
My first reaction was anger. I went all the way to “I will not be ignored, Dan.” (Shout out to “Fatal Attraction”) I became obsessed with tracking Camille down. When I found myself knee-deep in cyber stalking, I realized that I had to dial it back. My focus on Camille and over analyzing each conservation and email was not only unhealthy but it kept me from my work. Who was I really hurting with my need for answers? She stole my money. I couldn’t let her steal my focus as well.
I am letting go. Yes, Camille may have gotten over on me but I trust that God will deal with her in His own time. My job is to take the lesson. There are no friends in this business. I will deal with people on a professional basis. Remain friendly but keep my guard up and my money in my pocket. Warn other writers not to do business with Camille Gray aka Pansy Wright of WritingRoom Writing Services.
What’s the biggest lesson that I learned throughout this ordeal? Never let anyone detour you from your dream. I’ve got to keep writing. For me, it is as natural as breathing and just as essential for survival.
Peace,
Michelle
>What’s Playing on the iPod right now: “In the Closet” – Micheal Jackson
What I am reading now: “Silver Sparrow” – Tayari Jones
So, I finally got around to watching the season finale of Grey’s Anatomy. Overall good understated season ending. (You can’t very well top a man shooting up the hospital.) I’m not going to go in depth about the various story lines but one thing that stuck out to me is the issue of grey. As in, there is right, wrong and the murky grey area in between. I thought about my own morale code and I find that I live in the land of grey. I totally got Meredith’s logic in tampering with the clinical trial to get the Chief’s wife the drug. I failed to see the wisdom in her husband, Derek,deciding that she doesn’t know right from wrong and leaving her. Wait……..What? Where they do that at?
I get it. Yes, it is wrong to kill. Very black and white. Killing is wrong so you don’t do it. But if your life if threatened or the lives of your loved ones, killing is self defense and therefore, okay. Very grey.
I would surmise that most things in life are grey. Those people that choose to live in the black and white (right or wrong) hold themselves and others to an impossible standard.