Be Careful How You Word Your Prayers

So, I have had a horrible dry stretch in my writing.  I have attempted at least three times a week to open the files for either project I am working on and I sit for at least a half hour staring at a blank computer screen and I can think of nothing to write.   I haven't even been able to write blog posts that I think are very good.  I have written a few that I thought were passable,  but not like the old days. 

I mentioned it to a friend how frustrating it feels to be a writer with nothing in my head to write and she told me a story.  

There is a psychologist who works with people in Los Angeles. At times he works with creative types like screenwriters and authors.  When one of his patients has writer's block he says they should try this:

Every day when you wake up you say a prayer asking God to allow you to write the worst sentence you have ever written, and then set about the task of writing.  Somehow giving yourself permission to write lousy prose breaks through the mental block you are experiencing.  

So, I did just that, for weeks I prayed that God would allow me to write the worst sentence I had ever written.  Then I sat there at my computer and still nothing came.  Then one day I was sitting at my computer trying to write a blog post about gratitude and it happened.  I wrote three of the worst sentences I had ever written in my entire life.    They were trite, uninteresting and  made less than no sense.  

I sat at my computer, and looked at them and almost cried with relief.  God had answered my prayer.  

I learned two very important lessons that day:  1) God answers prayers in God's time, so be persistent in prayer.  and 2) be really specific about what you want from God.  Why couldn't I have asked in my prayer for God to allow me to write like I used to write; meaningful prose from deep in my soul?   Prose that was so beautiful that sometimes I would read it and wonder at the fact that it had actually come from me.  

Thank you God for answering my prayer, but next time could you give me what I need and not what I ask for?

Pax

It Starts

Tomorrow is the first day of National Novel Writer's Month.  This is the first year since I found out about this fun idea that I actually have the time and the inclination to participate.  I have my outline for the novel I have been trying to write since the middle of Gradual School and I am going to start tomorrow and get it written.

You can follow my progress on the widget on my sidebar, which shows my word-count for each day of the challenge.  I am going to try to write each and every day and really get this thing going.

Hopefully someday you will be reading my novel on your Kindle, or in a real book form.

Hey, It could happen.

Pax

Adverse Conditions

I am finding it very difficult to sustain any kind of mental acuity when the weather becomes inclement. (read that as WET!) I had fully intended to spend today catching up on writing, but it began to rain outside at about the same time as I sat down at my computer to write, and somehow the thoughts in my head just couldn't find a viable pathway to my fingertips and onto the page on my computer screen.

I tried every type of coercion I could think of, even stooping to mental bribery (if I completed the thousand words I would reward myself with chocolate, or even better a trip out for a pedicure). Nothing worked. All those wonderful ideas are still up there in my head clogged up by the wet air coming in the windows.

So, I have done maybe five or six Facebook quizzes, and checked all of my email accounts, and helped a daughter register for fall classes, and am sitting watching a movie on television I am really not sure I want to see because it saves me from thinking about the fact that I am not doing what I had intended to do today.

What distracts you from the things you planned, even when you have every intention of getting things done? How do you get refocused when the distraction is so visceral that it makes the doing of the thing feel almost impossible?

In my case, I am going to give myself permission to call it a day on the writing front and I am going to focus on getting some small jobs done around the house before I have to leave for my final RCIA session this evening. Maybe I will try using a digital recorder to tape the ideas, to get them out of my head at least so I don't lose them altogether, but any idea of getting them typed is just not gonna happen today.

Pax

When Your Writing Takes on a Life of Its Own

I have a deep dark secret; well not so dark, actually. A few years ago I started writing a book. It was going pretty well, I had an outline and character studies for the main characters and about six chapters written when Gradual School got so intense and I set it aside.

Earlier this month I had decided that I want to focus on writing more this summer, now that I don't have such an intense program of study for my internship ahead, so I began to write the characters again. Only something interesting happened. The characters began to move in directions that was very interesting, but changed the story line dramatically. In fact an entire story arc just dissolved right in front of my eyes as I worked on a portion of the story this week.

Was I nuts I wondered? All the hard work I had put into the sections I had already written, and all the characters that would now be cut from the story were just decimated. What I had though was an even better, more believable story.

Then something even more amazing happened. When I told a friend of mine in my internship program about it she said that a similar experience to the one I was describing had in fact happened to her. She thought my new story line was really great, and I should definitely keep it.

In fact she even offered to help me out by being my reviewer, so that as I write the sections that deal with emotional issues that I have never personally experienced and she has lived through, she will help me to make sure that they ring true. I am so blessed that she is willing to do this for me because what I am writing about is deeply personal and emotional. I want it to resonate, but also I don't want it to hurt my friend to have to revisit a time in her life that was so emotionally draining and painful.

Now, as I go through what I have written and see what I can salvage, and begin to rebuild, and then write new content things will flow much more smoothly, because this new storyline is fresh and will be fun to write. My goal is to try to write a thousand words a day all summer and see if I can get a working draft by fall.

We shall see where these characters take me next, they have already proven that they are in charge of the story and I am simply the scribe.

Pax

It's In the Blood, I Suppose

The angelbaby is a HUGE fan of the show Bones and has been for most of the three plus seasons it has been on the air (with parental supervision, because there are some episodes that have decidedly adult content). She is a trivia expert when it comes to the characters on the show and can tell you their back stories better than probably some of the writers. She is really fascinated by the procedural aspect of this show in a way that she never found shows like CSI or NCIS as interesting.

This week in her Writing Class at school they are supposed to write a first person story about any subject they want. She is writing a fan fiction story in which she uncovers a skeleton while on a trip with her dad and gets to meet Temperance Brennan and Seeley Booth (The main characters of the show) and actually go to the Jeffersonian (the lab where Dr. Brennan works).

I suppose her active imagination comes naturally enough. There are writers all over my side of the family. Two of her siblings write fan fiction stuff on Internet sites, so she is familiar with the genre from them. It shouldn't come as any surprise that she would write something like this for class. I am really looking forward to reading it.

I just hope I don't end up the dead body in the story (it could happen, who knows how her mind works, she is an almost teen-ager after all).

Maybe we should send it into Hart Hanson when she completes it, just in case he is looking for another idea for next year's plot lines.

Pax

GO What I'm Writing Wednesday

I started working on a novel last summer about a woman who receives locutions from the Blessed Mother and the impact they have on her family, and others who are drawn to her because of them. This is the introduction from my still unfinished novel:

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It was a beautiful soothing voice that interrupted her morning prayers that morning in early (MONTH). She was compelled to listen:

“My darling daughter, do not be afraid. I come to you this morning because your country is in great peril; the world is in great peril. Someone is needed to bring a message of hope to this world and My Son has chosen you to be His messenger.

“You are a mother who has born great pain; because of your scars you show great compassion for others. This gift will be greatly needed in the future that is to come. Much will be asked of you in the next few years, but I will be with you to guide you and together we will show your country, and the world how to avert this great peril through prayer and fasting.

“I will come to you again in a fortnight. In the meantime continue to pray my beloved rosary as you do and seek confession of your sins and the strength of daily Communion. These are practices that please My Son. He loves you and I love you as the Father loves you. May the Peace of God Father Son and Holy Spirit rest upon you. “

Felicity Germain lay in bed blinking back tears of joy her rosary pressed to her cheek, then suddenly she sat bolt upright. Did she just imagine the voice she had heard? If it had been her imagination why could she remember every word so very clearly? Was she going off her rocker? She scratched her slightly graying hair and swung her feet to the floor. She could here the sounds of Art and the kids preparing breakfast, as they always did while she finished her morning prayers.

She reached for her journal and wrote down exactly what the voice had said, word for word, just in case. When she had finished she replaced her rosary and journal on the headboard and stood up to begin her day. As she stood up she noticed that the room was filled with the overwhelming and unmistakable scent of roses.

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I may be biased, but I thought it did a pretty good job of setting up the situation and making the reader want to know more. Heck I want to know more about this woman, and what kind of peril the country is in. I want to know what kind of pain caused her to have so much compassion for others. I love writing. It lets you explore so many things.

Pax