Category: Life

Back From the Camino – Ready to Write!

You know when you know? Yes you do. You know what I’m talking about. We’re writers. We percolate. A writer can sit still for a week and be working as hard as anyone out there. Because we write from that vast landscape of the mind. We see moving pictures float past us at a hundred thousand miles a minute. We are always working. Like sloths, though, you sometimes can’t see the progress right away. But we move.

I know it’s time to write. The kettle is about to whistle. The pressure is building to a crescendo and the release valve needs to be…well, released.

I just got back from walking the Camino de Santiago (THE WAY OF ST. JAMES) in Spain. With a small leap of faith, I walked out onto the vast rooftop of the cathedral and and I sighed. I’m not sure, but the sigh may have been heard around the world. Like a butterfly flapping its wings in Japan to create a tsunami in Mexico, my sigh gently pushed its way out to the ocean and carried itself on a wave to lap against the shore on the Atlantic coast of Canada.

Yeah. I’m a romantic. It’s true.

As I stood up on the rooftop of that cathedral, I was certain that I was at the top of the world. And I was also certain that the top of the world was wherever you wanted it to be. It’s not a place on the map that needs to live by the laws of physics and altitudes and logic. The top of the world is a feeling. And I found it on my journey.

I walked through villages, cities, forests, fields, vineyards, mountains, rain and snow. I jumped barefoot into mud puddles and streams. I balanced, like a child, on ancient walls and sidewalk curbs. I walked with strangers and people who would become anything but strangers. I walked with Germans and Asians and French and Dutch and Americans and Canadians and Hungarians and Africans and Mexicans and Colombians and Irishmen and Peruvians and Scotsmen and Englishmen. I walked with the world. And I walked with no one. And I walked with ghosts and goats and cows and bulls and dogs and horses.

At the end of my journey–like Dorothy–I woke up. And in the magical city of Oz…er…Santiago, I found all the people I had shared my dream with. In a city I had never been in, I walked around and saw a thousand faces I already knew. Jean-Claude from France–the man I couldn’t look at without bursting into tears. He was there, too. Smiling and embracing every pilgrim he met along his own journey. And Jean-Claude held court with many people of many nations. He will be carried to many corners of our globe. Jean-Claude will never be forgotten. And he is just one of the peregrinos I encountered.

jeanclaude
Jean-Claude, holding court and telling beautiful stories. Tears were shed.

I discovered that the top of the world–like Kansas–was there all along. Perception is the only thing that needs to change in order for one to be there. You can walk hundreds of kilometers to get to a sacred land of emeralds and gold and gild-edged beauty. Sure…you can do that. And you can have the time of your life doing it, too. But in order to get home…in order to get to your bliss…you need only click your heels together. You need only open your eyes to it.

I have a story in my belly. Like the magical mystical ladies of Casa Verde, who could pour shots like nobody’s business, I am ready to shout. I will write about the Camino. I know I will. One can’t not.

 

AS USUAL, YOU CAN FIND MY BOOKS ON AMAZON. (-:  Just click this link to get there.

 

While the Mundane Takes Place – Write, Write, Write!

Unless you’re some all-powerful deity, you have a little mundane in your life. It’s true. Even the movers and shakers of Hollywood and the Tower of Song get to partake from the Table of Mundanity. Nobody is exempt. It’s kind of like dying–nobody gets out alive. You don’t have to be a poet to know that simple truth. Life is dying. And dying is living.

It’s the middle road between birth and death that matters. And not just the glitzy stuff. There’s more to life than podiums and celebrations. So much of our living time is filled with simple moments of non-fabulousness. As a writer, I try to pay particularly close attention to these moments. I always found that it is in the simple less spectacular events where story hides. Like a crouching lion, the details lurk under the surface of our mundane downtime. It is when I’m bored or idle or daydreaming that I ask myself, “What can be found in this time?” “What universal truth, wisdom, parallel, insight, emotion can be found within this moment?”

When a writer connects with that part of us that is universal–that humanness that we all share–that is when the fireworks go off. You don’t necessarily reread a passage in a story where the most exciting seat-of-your-pants action happens. But if you find that one special sentence that crawls down inside you…that sentence you recognize and know could have come from your very heart…that’s the sentence you’re going to read and reread. You’re gonna fully relate. You’re gonna say an emphatic, “YEAH!” or “YES!” It could be a mundane part in the story where the main character slices into an apple with a paring knife. It could be the way light comes into a room and rallies dust motes to dance. These mundane moments captured for one great big universal AHHHH! That’s what I love about writing. About reading. We share the simple moments that go into a life…the moments that connect EVENT to EVENT. Just those mundane moments that are filled with the hidden knowledge and wonder of universal commonality.

Don’t overlook a thing when you’re putting a story together. To capture the heart of the reader, you will need to capture the essence of humanity. It’s not found in the glamorous and intriguing fabulousness of the EVENTS. It’s found in the things we do every day. The minutiae. That will capture your reader and allow them to step inside your story bus…just to see where it is you’re going to take them!

Missing Deadlines – When Life Gets in the Way, Get Into Life…

Sometimes deadlines are made to be broken. Okay, not really. But if you notice you’re breaking them, it’s time to stop collecting them. That’s just what I’m about to do.

I have been extremely fortunate with my Muskoka Novel Marathon experiences. I’ve participated four times, and I’ve won Best Novel Award four times (2007-Sebastian’s Poet, 2008-The Reasons, 2010-Half Dead & Fully Broken, 2011-That’s Me in the Corner). The winning manuscripts get sent to the desk of a publisher for both consideration & feedback. This is a huge opportunity. I’ve had great feedback on my manuscripts over the years.

My problem this year is that deadlines and commitments are converging. I’m trying not to look a gift-horse in the mouth, but his outrageously large teeth seem to be right at eye level at the moment. I now have 20 days to pound my winning manuscript into top form before it moves on to Red Deer Press for feedback/consideration. I’m still sitting at between 1/2 and 3/4 of a novel. You heard correctly…this is the first year I didn’t completely finish my first draft at the actual marathon. And I’ve had 3 months to complete it since the marathon took place. I was so absolutely sure my manuscript wouldn’t win this time around that I hardly worked on it between marathon time (July) and wrap-party time (in September, when the winners are announced).

I was going to find time to marathon the last 1/2 of the novel on my own. But two of the last three weekends before the November 1st deadline are already spoken for, and the 3rd weekend is three days before the deadline. I do believe my goose is cooked either way I look at it. I might be able to marathon the rest of the manuscript on the weekend of the 28th, but it gives me no time to take advantage of the marathon appointed editor to give it a final polish before it goes on to the publisher. The pressure is killing me.

But, boy did I ever digress. I was going to talk about deadlines and getting rid of them when life gets too full.

I missed a deadline a couple of weeks ago. It was like a stabby shot to the heart. And not only did I miss it once, but I was given a grace period second deadline and I missed it too! I HATE missing deadlines. It was for a Wordweaver (WCDR Newsletter) article on writing dialogue. The thing is, not only did I have SO much going on at the time…but I also struggled with the content of the article. It was one of those things–I know how to do it, but I can’t figure out how to explain it to someone else! Have you ever milked a cow? It looks really easy. And when someone is sitting there showing you how to do it, it looks so simple you get all cocky before it’s your turn to do it. Then you sit on that freakish three-legged stool (which in itself is a test. I think the Buddha himself created the three-legged stool…just to see if people were paying attention.) to give it a go and BAMMO! It’s not as easy as it looks. You pull and pull and pull…but that bloody udder won’t give you a drop. And the cow resents the hell out of your stupidity, too. She mocks you with a few growls and moans (or, if you prefer, MOOS). And, yes, I swear I even recall hearing a cow laugh. But then, with practice and discipline you figure it out…you realize there’s a real finesse to getting that milk to come. And then you sit there on your three-legged stool and you don’t fall over and you don’t tip the pail and you actually get a good portion of milk to come out. You’re a milker! BUT…then you try to tell someone else how to do it and you return to being your helpless self. Because you tell them, “Like this…see” and they fall off the stool and tell you, “this cow’s empty” because they can’t get the milk to come. It’s a vicious circle. DO is so much easier than TEACH.

Wow… okay. So much for staying on task. DEADLINES. I’m giving everything up for a little bit. I will see if I can’t get the marathon novel into submission readiness by November 1st, but after that I’m going to make no commitments. I seem to be living life lately…too busy for this huge train of a hobby that has somehow become such an integral part of my life. I can’t make writing commitments if I’m not meeting deadlines. I am anal about things like that.

Besides, life is so interesting and fulfilling at the moment. There are times when you just have to jump in and have fun. Put the writing away for a spell (is it true that only old people use the word spell in that context?).

My daughter is getting married on Saturday (Oct 15th) and the following Saturday I am going on a short trip of discovery to Ohio. I am SO looking forward to this wedding…I’ve seen the dress. She’s going to be the perfect bride. And we are getting an amazing son-in-law. It’s all good. I don’t want distractions. I don’t want deadlines bickering in the back of my mind for attention. So I’m just going to ignore the not-gonna-make-the-deadline-guilt that I’ve been feeling lately. I have to. Because sometimes, when life gets in the way, you have to take the leap…and get into life!

Check out my debut novel SUMMER ON FIRE