The Power of Snow

I'm at the midpoint of the busiest two weeks of my spring. But the snowstorm allowed me an amazing opportunity to slow down... I just finished my homework (due Tuesday night and Wednesday afternoon), read the submissions for my critique group (Wednesday night), and watched several episodes of LOST season five. My husband even did a good job finishing the house cleaning.

I'm going to Philadelphia tomorrow, so I feel like I can relax and enjoy myself.

But... it may actually look like I can write tonight, but I'm not sure I can. I have about three hours until bedtime. Can I conjure a writing mood after not writing creatively for a week? (And I wrote 5,000 words in the last 36 or so hours on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.)

Today was GLVWG. Our presenter couldn't get out of Manhattan, so we talked about cliché. So here's my thought for you:
If you write a cliché, that's fine, but before you leave it in your manuscript, really think about what you're trying to say and why the cliché fits. Then evaluate whether the cliché is really the best way to express it.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Dr. Seuss, Shel Silverstein.

Some of my all-time favorite authors.

Okay, Tonio is my favorite. Hands down. No matter what you write or read, if you haven't enjoyed his prose, I encourage you to do so. The Little Prince is his masterpiece, but he wrote a variety of other books.

The Little Prince offers so much beauty and idealism and summary of how to live. It's prophetic and insightful and even satirical... It's hard for me to articulate thoughts.

But Tonio also wrote about his experiences in France during the interwar era and the second World War, so history buffs can enjoy him.

He also wrote novels about his experience as a pilot in the early days of aviation, so if you like plans, or want a tale of boys, machines and adventure, he's your man.

All of his work reads true to emotion, to life, and it's a good reminder of what we need to express as writers and the versatility that may be required to tell our stories. He's a multi-faceted, multi-talented man.

We all need to strive for that much depth in our lives. Not just as writers, but as people. Do we?

From wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint-Exup%C3%A9ry

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry^[1] (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃twan də sɛ̃tɛɡzypeˈʀi]) (29 June 1900—31 July 1944) was a French writer and aviator. He is best remembered for his novella The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince), and for his books about aviation adventures, including Night Flight and Wind, Sand and Stars.

He was a successful commercial pilot before World War II, joining the Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) on the outbreak of war, flying reconnaissance missions until the armistice with Germany. Following a spell of writing in the United States, he joined the Free French Forces. He disappeared on a reconnaissance flight over the Mediterranean in July 1944.

While not precisely autobiographical, much of Saint-Exupéry's work is inspired by his experiences as a pilot. One exception is The Little Prince, a poetic self-illustrated tale in which a pilot stranded in the desert meets a young prince from a tiny asteroid. The Little Prince is a philosophical story, including societal criticism and remarking on the strangeness of the adult world.

• L'Aviateur (1926)
• Courrier Sud (1929) (translated into English as Southern Mail)
• Vol de Nuit (1931) (Night Flight)
• Terre des Hommes (1939) (Wind, Sand and Stars) - Grand Prix du roman de l'Académie française
• Pilote de Guerre (1942) (Flight to Arras)
• Le Petit Prince (1943) (The Little Prince)
• Lettre à un Otage (1944) (Letter to a Hostage)
• Citadelle (1948) (The Wisdom of the Sands), posthumous, ISBN 9780226733722
• Lettres de jeunesse (1953), posthumous
• Carnets (1953), posthumous
• Lettres à sa mère (1955), posthumous
• Écrits de guerre (1982) (Wartime Writings 1939-1944), posthumous
• Manon, danseuse (2007), posthumous
• Lettres à l'inconnue (2008), posthumous

Familiar Advice

My written French is sloppy. My favorite native French French professor at Moravian (who served as a rough template for Étienne, at least in terms of physical mannerisms) has a habit of not returning papers. I have heard over and over that my errors are small and that as my French continues to develop I'll work beyond them.

It's frustrating. I know I misuse pronouns and prepositions, but I can't tell you how, or how I need to fix them.

So, in January, I gave my ungraded papers to a native French French professor at Lafayette and asked he could help articulate my errors.

Last week, we sat in his office and read my paper on the modern French economy that was my take-home final exam. He did line edits and we talked about the words. 90 minutes of French grammar. I loved it.

As I sat there, most of the advice felt very familiar, so I thought I'd share it with you. It's the same "stuff" we deal with as writers...

• He very apologetically told me my errors stemmed from French I. I have forgotten key bits of my foundation, taught twenty years ago. A language has a clearly-defined form, and often, at the time we learned it, we were not interested. When we realize we have ideas to express, we have to revisit those rules. We like to believe that grammar doesn't matter, that a writer has poetic license, that we'll write in our speaking voice. To master the craft, we must know our basic grammar. Without doubt or hesitation.
• He asked me if I was interested in economics. The answer was a resounding 'no.' (And I cringed with memories of last semester's economics class.) I was writing about something that challenged me. As he pointed out, while he could decipher all my ideas and they were good ideas, he talked about the importance of knowing the language specific to the areas I wanted to talk about, the fields I might look to for a career. Then, I could learn the vocabulary that is unique to that field. English is the same. As writers, we have to learn a plethora of vocabulary for our stories. The occupations of our characters must ring true. So we need to learn their vocabulary.
  
• He suggested reading written material that I would like to emulate. If I want to be a journalist in France, I have to read the newspaper (which, unlike here, they do not write articles in the past tense. They write in the historical past tense, a tense I avoid). If I want to be a poet, I should read Beaudelaire. Doing this would help me develop the proper vocabulary mentioned in the previous item AND develop my French syntax and style. Writers constantly are reminded to read the authors they like and to read widely in the genre they write.
  
• He reminded me not to make my life difficult. When I'm reading those things I'm interested in, I need to note, either mentally or in a notebook, the words and phrases that I like, that sound French, that would improve my writing. Especially if I'm writing a reaction to a specific book, I should mimic the words and structure of that book, making the author's phrases my own. For the English writer, this would mean noting unusual words and how they are used. Similar to the earlier bit of advice, but this does include the idea of copying. Don't plagiarize, but use their words for practice, play with them.
• Use native speakers. A native speaker will engage you and appreciate your efforts to learn the language in ways a non-native speaker can't. Of course, if you're in France, this means you're submitting yourself to unknown levels of abuse. For the English writer, this means finding people who have a mastery in areas you know you lack. Learning something as personal as language involves hurt, our feelings get bruised. That's okay.
• Stop thinking in English, like an American. In the case of French, this means surrounding one's self with the language. Movies, music, books, news broadcasts, conversations... But for the writer, it means learning to think like an artist, which means surrounding one's self with similar things. As Jean-François put it: No matter how many drafts and edits you do, your thought process will always show.
  

Ah, feet... Inspiration from life

"Her foot glided across the bed to his, her toes climbing, her ankle nuzzling into the depression beside his. "

That's my sentence. That might be all the writing I do today and if it is, I'm okay with that. I'm sick. I have laryngitis. My part-time job is exploding in my face. My kid needs a bath. The laundry needs attention. I have homework. And I have to play college kid with a series of appointments today-- like with a college writing associate to discuss the first draft of my seminar paper.

Because after 15 years in journalism I need help with a 3,000 word essay... I can edit and strengthen my paper on my own but one must play by the rules... Just like with an upcoming group project. These things never teach how to work with others... and they do play out like real life, with certain people meeting expectations and others tagging along, but really... an artificial context to assign group grades... because in the end individuals are always judged individually. [end rant]

Our own lives inspire us, n'est-ce pas? Our writing also inspires our lives. I know when I get done writing a spicy chapter, my husband reaps rewards. I swear that's the whole reason he feeds me that "You're happiest when you writing" line. I think we could easily substitute "orn" for the "app" in that word.

So, my characters aren't having any form of sex. And I was thinking about ways the depth and purity of their emotion could come through, without trite conversation, and without a physical connection. I have established that Étienne prefers to fall asleep with his hand on her hip (usually), but that doesn't carry the weight for the mutual love between them. That could also merely be habit.

The scene follows a conversation in the middle of the night about other topics. It follows a kiss that fell flat in some regards. It's Étienne's POV and he settles into bed as he normally does, he places his hand on her, she strokes it, and then...

"Her foot glided across the bed to his, her toes climbing, her ankle nuzzling into the depression beside his. "

And they go to sleep. I think it establishes the familiarity and the affection I'm seeking.

A new angle

At last year's The Write Stuff conference, I took a workshop with Karen Blomain in which we submitted a first chapter from a work-in-progress and then we literally cut it (with scissors) and rearranged it to explore other possibilities for where the story starts and other examinations of our own structure.

As a newspaper person, literary re-arranging didn't bother me and I found the act of tearing paragraphs apart (literally with my hands and ripping) quite therapeutic.

Now, I find myself struggling with a chapter and it irritates me and I find myself falling back on some of Blomain's techniques. Where does my story start? Or in this case, where does my chapter start? What do I need to convey?

More importantly, how else can I start it? Most of all I'm lacking momentum. I feel like once I find the beginning that works, the story unfolds naturally, especially since this is no longer a first draft.

I tried weaving some memories in with the character's (Étienne) present-day worries, using some of that imagery to symbolize the problems. It felt cliché. I'm tempted now to give him a nightmare, similar to his wife's nightmare a few chapters ago. Similar but different. Her nightmare was literally her subconscious tapping into the magic around her. His nightmare would use those same memories I used earlier to show his feelings... but they could have a quick exchange later about how "the house" is making it impossible for them to sleep.

I hate the idea, but I'm tempted to try it because everything else does not feel right.

As writers, we often push ourselves where we don't want to go.

An unorthodox goal

Saturday was my second PLRW meeting, the Pocono Lehigh Romance Writers, our local affiliate of the national Romance Writers of America.

I may have mentioned earlier, but at every meeting, members state a goal. The goal gets published in the newsletter and the next month, you must tell the group whether or not you met the goal and you get a smiley face or a frown face in the newsletter based on your performance.

I thought my goal was ambitious: successfully revise chapters 5-8 and get my schoolwork done. I did that, with close to two weeks to spare, but have spent almost three weeks on chapter nine now and it's not getting any better.

So, with the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest, the Great Expectactions writing contests and my own expectations... I set an unorthodox goal and I made it official.

To adjust my attitude and write for fun.

Because I have met every ambitious goal I set for myself recently. And it's not helping.

Farewell Alexander McQueen

I, like many right now, am still stunned and saddened by the suicide of Alexander McQueen, a 40-year-old fashion great.

"Why are you writing about it here?" you may ask.

My book features the apparent suicide of a fashion icon. Watching the media react to this allows me to watch, celebrating voyeurism, as I see how the real fashion industry reacts.