A Welcome Stranger in the Woods

What will inspire you in 2012? Notice...I say 'will.' Are you thinking ahead, standing still or living in the moment like me? I like to live my life in minutes and hours, but sometimes even I have to plan ahead, pack a bag, take a leap and prepare for what's to come.

I've been told writing is like driving in a snowstorm. Sometimes you can only see as far as your headlights will allow. But more often, we can see inklings beyond the headlight's rays, and that is what we are called to do.

If I were to hold up the mirror to myself as a writer, I'd have to say, I've been forging ahead and standing still at the same time. Writing requires a deep well of unrelenting thought. Characters have to be wrestled to the floor, shook out and torn apart almost until they bleed. Sounds graphic and torturous, right? Well...the process itself is. I am haunted and enthused, delighted and annoyed and most often plagued by that awful gnawing doubt that keeps me paralyzed in procrastination, stuck in the quicksand of thought.

Right now, I'm forging ahead. I'm inspired because I've forced myself to revisit and remap my characters' goals, motivations and desires. Instead of writing into a snowstorm, tangible images and ideas have begun to emerge again. And unlike this beautiful stranger in the woods, the patterns and ideas are no longer a big surprise to me. So, just for today, I'm grabbing on...and letting that little bit of inspiration carry me!

Inspiration

   Ah, the wisdom of Snoopy. Thank you, Charles Schultz!             "Learn from Yesterday. Live for Today. Look to Tomorrow."

My life is a confluence of writing and story these days, and boy am I loving it. I'm finding inspiration in the darkened mornings in that dim light of my computer screen. I've connected with many others out there who are, like me, working the craft...and doing the day-job to keep the lights on at home too! Jill Corcoran's blog is loaded with all kinds of information related to marketing, writing, and life in general (http://jillcorcoran.blogspot.com/). Grace Lin's comments on the "Blue Rose Girls" blog (http://bluerosegirls.blogspot.com/) have also evoked a great deal of thoughts and ideas for me too. What I love most, though, is the fact that so many in the field of writing avail themselves to each other in such a giving way. Honestly, where else in the world do you see that? Could it be that our work is so satisfying, we don't feel the urge to pull the maneuvers we see in the all-too-political world of 8-4/9-5 out there? I love writing. I love writers. Edgy writers, corny writers, silly writers, sarcastic writers too. I'm blown away by the many out there, who, like me, live by that blue light, eagerly awaiting the arrival of that invisible critter...the morning muse that shows up with my morning coffee each day. This morning, I swear, there was a faint smell of coffee on his breath too. 

Meanwhile...back in the classroom~where the other hat lives:

Today I went off to work...to my classroom where we're immersed in a study of story. I told my kids their homework tonight will be very simple. These sixth graders are home scouring their shelves, looking for all the favorites that enchanted them or lulled them to sleep long ago. We've read Harold, the Mouse and his Cookie, Where those Wild Things Are, Brave Irene...and many more. They clamor for more...but I've got to get THEM writing. Tomorrow, we'll compare story arcs, plots and problems and then we'll comb through all my picture books. Following that, they'll start on all the favored novels that stack my shelves. All the while looking at the patterns they find there. They, like me, are searchers. We're looking to find what works, what doesn't and how we, as authors, can reach an audience. The process...the people, the writing, all of it flows together, and right now...it's all good! Writing and thoughts about writing encircle my life and make me eager to get up and look to tomorrow for more! Let's hope that Mr. Muse brushes his teeth before he joins me, though! ;)