Finding stories

“Things happen when you leave the house.” Kelly Corrigan, via The Happiness Project blog

I know that. I have said that, even a version of that here in this blog. I have relearned this many times during my life.

...where the deer and antelope play

Once while working seasonally for the Forest Service I was working on a report—in the office. A biologist, who usually occupied a seat near me, came bounding in the office with the news, “I saw a mountain lion today!” Everyone in the office turned to get more of the story, where, when, how.

I would love to see a mountain lion—from a safe distance. I hear about people seeing them all of the time. The thing is these people were out doing things, hiking, hunting, driving, running. The majority of these people, no… that’s not right, ALL of these people were out in woods for another reason, but because they were out where the mountain lions were, they saw a mountain lion and had a story to tell.

And that’s what I keep relearning. Not just that I need to get into the woods to see wildlife, that’s part of it, but also that in order to freshen my mind and open myself to new potential stories I need to step away from the computer. I can look online for neat stories until my hands cramp but I really need to get out there in the real world. That was one of my goals for last year and I didn’t do so well. So I need to try again.


Who knows what will happen?

A new year and a new word

okay, it's an escalator but you get the idea

Last year I took up the practice of adopting a word for the year. You can read about how I first got into this process in the post on January 25, 2011. My first word was “focus.” It turned out to be a great word in my personal and writing life as I focused on what was most important to me and how to advance my writing career. In writing, I continually reminded myself to stay focused on the subject. Of course, I won’t forget to focus as I move on to my new word.

Towards the end of the year I started playing with different words that could be helpful or fun for me to mull over for a year. Choosing a word has actually turned out to be a fun project, a little gift of a word companion to guide me through the year. As I mentioned last year, I pick out two words. The other word will remain private, it is my meditative word—a word for me to contemplate throughout the year. By late December I had picked out my words and had even written them down, but they didn’t feel quite right.

Last night I finished the process of filling in the dates of birthdays and special events in my new day planner. I copied in a quote I had read in Hope C. Clark’s Funds for Writers:

“The elevator to success is out of order. You’ll have to take the stairs… one step at time.”
~ Joe Girard

“Step”—that was one of the words bouncing in my head. That’s how I envision my progress: each contact, each writing assignment, has been on a step. That’s how I see my goals too. This year I will get one step higher. That word, “step,” just fits for this year. So there it is my word for the year. I like it.

No One Can Stop You

I was very interested in watching Watson on Jeopardy! this week. I was rooting for the humans but am excited about the possibilities for computer interactions in the future. I am not worried about them, I think they will be helpful.

Later, I read Ken Jennings article on Slate. What I remember about the article is how he approached competing with the machine. The machine was cold and calculating, while contestants’ minds might cloud over with thoughts of their competitors. He talked of competing too aggressively the first days and coming out a loser. And then relaxing and competing, not with the machine, but with the other human. You should read his article, it’s very interesting and I’m probably getting parts wrong, but it all comes down to playing mind tricks.

I have a list of life lessons that I keep. One I heard from a bunch of former NBA basketball players. Eerp, I can’t remember all of their names so I won’t say any of them but they are commentators on TNT, two regulars, one a guest. I am a big fan of basketball. Anyway, they were talking about how a certain big-time NBA player admitted that some other players were good at guarding him. The TNT commentators, again all former players, were going on-and-on about how a player should NEVER say or admit something like that, that it is like telling everybody a secret. At most the player should say, “they make me work harder.” And that great players would say, “no one can stop me.” Head games, right? The lesson I took from this was, “no one can stop you!”

What does this have to do with writing? I sometimes find myself second-guessing my writing and often it’s in relation to other writers. I get trapped thinking, “how would they write?” And really it should be just me finding my voice and keeping it, front and center. Mind tricks and head games come in handy at times.

Who is my childhood hero? Jane Goodall

I am a big fan of Twitter, I think I realized I am a bit of an info-junkie. Not sure what to do with it all, but I like it. I am also amazed by who I can follow, just about anybody; including my childhood hero, Jane Goodall. Or at least her institute.

When I was just five or six years-old my parents started getting me the kid’s supplement for the National Geographic magazine. I would read that cover to cover. From that thin magazine I learned about Goodall’s work. If someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I would answer, “An ethologist.” And if they asked what that was, I would have said, “Someone who studies animals in the wild.” Beyond that my goals were a little fuzzier: I didn’t want to study primates, but I wanted to study in Africa, maybe study giraffes or zebras. My oldest sister later gave me a book written by Goodall and I devoured it. Her story, life and research amazed me. That’s what I wanted to do, study animals, live in the wild, make a difference for the wildlife. I spent hours daydreaming about living in Africa, scoping out animals from a hillside watching their movements.

Life has its twists and turns. I was a wildlife biologist, but not an ethologist. And that’s okay. I made it to Africa, but not to live. And that’s okay too. My passion for our world and the life on it remains and I try to share that passion through my writing.

And there is Jane Goodall, fighting her good fight and still my role model. @JaneGoodallInst

Whew- Just a dream

Last night I had some very active dreams. The first was about some rabbits being left in a cage. They needed to be rescued… But that has nothing to do with writing.

I have an image of a soft train- the size kids can ride in. Somehow this train is padded, maybe with fabric, maybe with straw. I am not even sure it’s a train- it might just be a bunch of flat, toy wagons tied together. The first one that rolls by is fairly clean and off-white. In my mind, I say that it is a draft. Progressively each section or wagon has more stuff on it and looks a little messier- I keep saying to myself that these are subsequent drafts. But they have straw sticking everywhere, mud and blood, piles of trash… The last wagon is an absolute disaster. To prove it, it has a Red Cross flag sticking out of it. More blood, bones even, trash… I woke up as it was approaching me. What does it mean?

A little anxiety being worked out? Perhaps.

The dream works as a metaphor for the writing process as I try so hard to clean out trash from each draft. But I definitely want to make the train go the other way from disaster to clean. And certainly, often, my first drafts are disasters. Still, a dream is a dream and I don’t want to over think it.

Fortunately, the rabbits were rescued as were the sheep, goats and dogs.

Watson alert

I am a fan of Jeopardy! I am also a fan of words and how they can be fun, have nuance, mean two things at once… So… I am very intrigued about how IBM’s Watson computer will do against human competitors. Watson will compete next week on Jeopardy!

Freelance Writing Multitasking

At a writing conference a few years back, I attended a session for starting and maintaining a freelance writing business. One of the freelancers on the panel said that when she was first starting out she had to learn that she couldn’t just stop at the one assignment. Meaning she couldn’t get an assignment and put all of her energies into that one assignment and forget all of the other duties of a freelancer (unless that assignment was huge). I get that, but I need to work on it.

Here is how it typically works for me- get an assignment big (not huge) or small and focus entirely on that project. Research, review, outline and write that one project. Work on other, non-writing tasks, but all of my writing is focused on this one project. For a writing career, this means failure.

I had read a tweet or a blurb somewhere of a successful writer who wrote, around 9 a.m.: “If I haven’t had a rejection yet today, then I am not doing my job.” Okay, then. All of the gears need to be clicking: finishing the articles, looking to the next market, researching the markets, writing the queries, reading the headlines, completing paperwork, getting my name out there. I am sure I left a bunch off, I am just learning. I know two things that will get me through this: 1. I enjoy what I do and 2. I don’t give up easily.