After the First Draft It’s all work.

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There are times we have to ignore our research that says, “you need to learn more about the topic” and keep writing.

My current story has taken me into quantum theory, multiverse and to places I’ve heard of but never read about.

These things are a little bit beyond my pay grade, but I’m learning about them…slowly.

I want the story to be good and believable, but sometimes you have to wing it and come back after the first draft to get things done the they need to be.

Like I said before, the first draft is fast and frenetic and stopping to clarify a few things will throw you off and break the stream of writing that you’ve got going.

Writing is hard, but the first draft is all discovery; your characters, your setting, the environment, mood and all the little stuff.

When you have the first draft done, come back after a few weeks, or months and read it again to see what needs fixed, but the only way to get to that point is busting the first draft out in the first place.

The first draft is the magical place of writing, everything else is the work.

2014: Rebirth of Your Writing

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A few weeks ago I talked about, “The minutes you have left”, with the new year, there come resolutions; something I don’t believe in.

I do believe in a fresh start, which is what New Year’s is supposed to be about, not this whole thing about changing who you are. Be who you are, love the person you are, but make a fresh start with your writing.

If you’ve been struggling to get words out, write something for yourself and see where it takes you. Quite likely you’ll enjoy the ride more and may want to camp there for a while.

Once you’ve started your new journey, you’ll discover you’ve found something you like; writing for yourself does that quite well.

The year comes with great hope for our projects.

We hope for that breakthrough project. We hoped for it last year, but last year wasn’t this year and we’re going to kick that book’s ass.

With a new year comes new vigor, motivation and hope.

Our hope is to do better than last year.

Make a plan to have that book done within in the first four months. Set aside a time to write, Live your life and enjoy the journey, it’s your journey after all and no one can take it for you, so enjoy your writing the way you did as a child when you told that first story to your friends.

Because it’s a new year, find the time, make the time and write like your minutes are running out, because they are.

 

Writing the First Draft: Fast and Frenetic

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Our first draft is always furious and frenetic. It comes out like storm gathering on a plateau and when it’s ready, it pours out of us like a massive supercell destroying what we thought we were capable of and making us think twice about why we write, but in a good way.

We’re sometimes not prepared for the strength pouring from our fingers and it can frazzle our minds and make us drink more coffee or maybe something stronger.

The best part of writing is the first draft, the pace seems impossible to sustain, the breadth of the story amazes us and the characters and their lives remind us why we love to write.

Pacing of the story isn’t our worry in a first draft or spelling, grammar or whether we get the characters names correct, it’s all about the discovery.

Each story happens this way and we keep writing because we love how much our beautiful stories fascinate us.

From the opening sentence to The End, we’re mesmerized by the story.

Finding ourselves wrapped up in the writing, ignoring everything but discovering who these characters are and why they’ve been in our head is the best part of the first draft.

We never have a greater time than the frenetic courtship of the first draft.

Are you chasing the White Rabbit?

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I don’t like the idea that I’m not in control of my life. ~ Neo

In life we’re the controller of our destiny; regardless of your feelings on fate.

Each one of us decides to wake up, go to work or school and go through our day, oblivious to what goes on around us.

Last week I talked about the time we have left, the minutes ticking away our lives.

It’s what we’re doing with the minutes we have left that matter. The used minutes are like hanging up the phone, you just talked to the person, but there’s no longer the conversation, it’s just dead air.

Your used minutes are like the phone call, used minutes. They’re in the past, they don’t matter.

The minutes you have left are the future phone calls or text message you have yet to send.

The idea of fate tells us that what we’re doing is meant to be, but if you believe that why are there so many people not doing what they’re capable of?

The fear that fate is real stops people from doing other things. It stops the potential of so many artists because they think, “I’m living the life I should be.”

But what if you do as Neo does, jump down the rabbit hole and see where it goes?

Your motivation should be doing what you want,  not what you believe fate has thrown at you. Fate is the same thing as fear.

IF you believe you’re living the life you should be, then you’ve found your calling, but if there’s that slightest bit of hesitation that you could live better, do something meaningful, then you should tumble down the rabbit hole.

The hesitation in your thoughts marks a change in what you believe you should be doing. It is that little voice saying, “No, you’ve tried this, and it’s not working.”

That voice is one you should listen to; it’s your creative side trying to get out.

It’s the same voice my 9 year old hears when he makes something new with his Legos or my 4 year when she creates a new story for her toys.

It just takes some tapping into before we know it’s there.

Are you chasing the White Rabbit? Answer in the comments.

What are you doing with the Minutes you have left?

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This is your life and it’s ending one minute at a time. – Narrator from Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

I’ve seen Fight Club over a dozen times, read the book twice and still I never thought, really thought about the above quote.

This changed recently, mostly because my focus has switched from doing nothing, to writing a lot more. I’ve changed my daily schedule, rearranged things to get more writing time.

As I was figuring out my new schedule this quote came up on Social Media.

After reading it a few times I realized what the quote meant to me, because quotes are meant to be analyzed for personal use, yeah…okay.

If our lives are ending one minute at a time, what are we doing with the minutes we have left?

If there were a clock in your mind of how long you have left, would you try harder, do something worth being remembered for or would you just keep doing what you’re doing?

Life does have an expiration date, each of us are dying. Eventually we’ll be gone, leaving whatever we’ve done in this life for humanity to digest.

Why don’t we do something that makes our life worth talking about. Make the minutes left on the clock, only that?

If we’re going to live our life the way we want, why do we let others run our lives. Tell us what we can do and even tell us what we can eat, read, watch or the places we can visit.

There’s a clock ticking away the minutes of our lives and most of us are resigned to go through life not caring whether we’re doing something with our lives.

Our clock is ticking, some of the minutes go by fast, others more slowly, but living those minutes we have left to the fullest of our abilities is what we should be doing.

Living for the sake of enjoying our lives is why we should be doing it.

There’s nothing more important than being who we want to be, doing what we want  and following our own path.

Our clock is ticking. Our life is ending one minute at a time and we have to discover what we want from it.

Discovery will make us stronger, weaker and oftentimes will make us crazy, but finding what we’re meant to do with our lives will give us purpose, a goal to live for and help us through the rough times.

We control how our lives end, but it will end. The clock will strike midnight, the ball will be over and we move on. It’s what we do with the minutes we have left that matters.

What are you doing with minutes you have left? Answer in the comments.