I’ve got all day to write…. Um, now what?

IMG_0099This is a magical time of year. I’m done with my day job for the summer, the kids are still in school for the next few weeks, and my calendar is more white space than blocks of color. Ah, free time. I should be a writing fool.

But last fall when I cleared my calendar for a month to finish the novel, I discovered that more time on my hands didn’t translate into more chapters on my hard drive. What happens to me when the calendar sits open for too long is that I fill it with coffee dates, that appointment with the dentist. I clean for the first time in, well…you don’t want to know. I spin, spin, spin until the clock winds down.

More time to write can be just as daunting as no time to write.

So, what to do this time when I’m gifted several days in a row with few, if any, of life’s obligations? Learn from experience and follow the advice of other writers who’ve also learned from experience.

IMG_0645Start with Steve Holt’s article in the most recent issue of Writers Digest. In “Take Your Writing Away,” Holt talks about physically getting away by planning your own writing retreat, which I have done before. But, his tips on making the most of your sacred writing time out of town work just as well when I need to stay close to home. Every inch of his article is worth reading, underlining, and quoting. Today, though, I’ll hit on three of his points that stand out to me most.

“Choose the location carefully.”

“…with as few distractions as possible,” he says. For me, that means leaving the house. I’ve talked before about my challenges with writing at home. While I can tackle some projects in tiny increments in between sideways glances at the dust building up in the corner of the dining room or the laundry growing cold on the couch, I am much more productive with one hour off-site at a busy coffee shop. Give me two hours and I can crank out a significant paragraph or two on the novel (I measure my progress in inches down the page) and do some revisions on a short essay. So, figure out where you write best, block out your calendar, and stake your claim at a table there for as often as you can during the days you have free.

“Be healthful.”

You know what else happens to me when I find time to write? I eat. At that happy, little coffee shop, I feel I must buy a big fat muffin or that huge chocolate chip cookie. It’s like a reflex. In taking up space, I think I should fill up my coffee cup at least twice. Even with creamer–wait, especially with creamer–I’m riding the low end of the “healthy” continuum. Be healthful. I’m still working on this, so if you see me standing at the counter about to place my order, push me in the direction of the fresh fruit or that cup of herbal tea.

“Reflect on your routine.”

Here Holt talks about writing after the fact on “how your schedule is flowing, how the accommodations are working out, notes about each writing session….” For me, this kind of writing happens before I open a draft: what day it is, where I am, how much time I have in front of me. These reflections are more like a release. I not only scratch out any frustrations I just walked away from but also any anxieties I have about delving into chapter 9 or 10 or that 400 word essay I really want to re-submit. But, I think Holt’s point and how I look at it are the same: clear your mind. Examine what works, what doesn’t, and what gets in the way of this writing session or the next.

If Holt’s article were online, I’d say bookmark it. As it is, you will need to get a copy of this month’s Writers Digest to read the article in full–worth every penny, as he also shares a daily schedule that balances writing with other activities, keeping the mind creatively engaged but not overwhelmed.

How do you schedule your free time?

Slowing Down. Paying Attention. Taking Note

_DSC7685I post here every Wednesday. Mostly about writing and life and sometimes about the way one bleeds into the other.

I post religiously. If only to keep my mind on the stories and my hands to the page.

Some weeks though, like this week, it seems silly to blog. Catching news clips on the earthquake in Nepal, reading articles about the unrest in Baltimore…to blog about everyday life and writing feels almost irreverent.

But in the midst of turmoil, there is a place for conversation on everyday living.

Last Saturday, I invited Lisa Rivero to visit with the writers at Harwood Place and speak about a project she’s been working on: transcribing the journals of her great aunt Harriet Whitcher into what she calls, The Hattie Diaries.

Hattie Whitcher 1881-1958
Hattie Whitcher 1881-1958

Hattie Whitcher is not a relative Lisa ever met in person but one she has come to know and appreciate through the journals Hattie left behind: ledgers and spiral-bound notebooks filled with daily entries that span over 37 years. That’s a stack of 70 books, handwritten in ink (and with very few mistakes)!

In her diaries (addressed to no one in particular), Hattie writes about daily life on the Great Plains from 1920-1957. At first it might seem trivial. How important are daily observations of farm life or reports on the South Dakota winds during times of the Depression or the War?

Here’s how. In her diaries, notes about a shift in the air mark a change in more than just weather. The desription of how a calf takes its first meal strikes the page with tenderness and maybe even grief. A July celebration in the middle of the Depression goes against all expectations and fills the day with joy and hope.

You might miss some of these undertones with first glance at Hattie’s journals; but as Lisa digs deeper into their pages, she sees more. With skill and creativity, she transcribes these handwritten entries into digital form, turning them into poems, videos, and flash narratives. She breathes new life into one woman’s past.

Go read some of Lisa’s work. Really. These pieces aren’t long, but they are powerful. And by presenting Hattie Whitcher’s writings in a new platform, Lisa offers readers a gift: lessons in slowing down, paying attention, and taking note.

Reminders that life is in the details, however simple.

This is how you write on retreat.

IMG_0405A few weeks ago, I slipped away to a vacation home overlooking Lake Michigan for a self-made writing retreat. Almost three full days with a writing friend on one side and a knitting friend on the other, the fridge packed with snacks, and full view of the sunrise each morning meant No reason not to write, unless you consider the senseless chatter going on in my head.

Instead of rambling on about how much time I spent staring at the screen and such, let me ask you this: Have you seen the movie Adaptation? That scene where Nicolas Cage sits down to start writing his screen play? Whether life imitates art or vice versa, what his mind rattles on about while staring at his typewriter…well, change that receding hairline into a tight ponytail and that flannel into a green hoodie. Switch out the IBM with a Mac, and you have me:

IMG_0788To begin.
To begin.
How to start.

I’m hungry.
I should get coffee.
Coffee would help me think.
But I should write something first, then reward myself with coffee.

Coffee and a muffin.
Okay, so I need to establish the themes.
Maybe banana nut. That’s a good muffin.

 

I did good work over the long weekend, but only after I garbaged up on too many of those dark chocolate pomegranate thingies (I forgot the muffins) and overdosed on coffee coffee coffee. Of course, it was after all that eating and drinking that a gypsy showed up on scene. In the book, mind you, not in the living room. Though late-night writing under the glare of a phosphorescent computer screen while highly caffeinated may cause hallucinations. Anyway, it was all in the name of creativity.

How do you write? Is it over a banana nut? Because I’m partial to blueberry.

******

Wurlitzer-830x400Unrelated to retreat but tied to story, my short fiction, “The Wurlitzer,” has been set to music and is up for your listening ears on Grand Piano Passion.

Many thanks to pianist, Nancy M. Williams and editor, Joanna Eng!