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The Mysteries of Creativity and Meditation

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Lately, I’ve added meditation back into my writing routine.

Wait. Before you click to the next thing, hear me out. Meditation doesn’t have to be strange or alternative or hippie. It’s just a tool, a way to discipline your mind.

Writing fiction is a mysterious process. We all know this. We might not be comfortable with it, but we know it.

I mean, really…where do ideas come from? People ask me this all the time. Why did I decide to write a book about England, about a woman who has to unravel her mother’s secrets, about the connection between a British family and and Indian family?

Readers want to hear that you have a plan, so I’ll come up with some explanation. My partner is British, and there’s this strange family secret I’ll never unravel, and I like the BBC shows about old manor houses and castles being saved.

But where did these particular people come from? Why that secret? Why did the grandmother show up in this way, not that way?

I dunno. [Read more…]

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Playing on Trust

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The Lutheran church where I’m organist uses an electronic instrument in a choir loft above the sanctuary.  The organ’s three huge speaker banks are hung off the loft rail so they project out over the congregation.  Which is fine, except that when the congregation is going all out (Lutherans tend to be full-throated singers), I can’t hear myself play.  Essentially, I’m playing on trust. I thought about this as I read the comments on some of the Editor’s Clinic pieces.  So many readers would … [Read more...]

4 Ways to Make Notes in Scrivener

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Do you write sticky notes for revision ideas? Or maybe you add words in caps or use TK to mark spots that need fixed or require additional research. No matter what type of note you want to leave for yourself, Scrivener has an option that makes it easy to mark up your text and find your comments easily when you’re ready to deal with them. Annotations and comments allow you to leave notes at the exact spot that needs attention. Document and project notes give you a broader scope. And, you … [Read more...]

When It’s Hard to Maintain Your Focus

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Anybody else having a focus problem these days? Silly question. Of course you are. News. It doesn’t even matter where you stand, which side you’re on, or Russia what you believe. The news has captured health care just about everyone’s interest, and for most of us, the climate change ability to concentrate on what we’re writing requires Herculean effort. Because subpoena when the future of our country is at stake, and news is sometimes breaking FBI at the rate of a story every five minutes, … [Read more...]

Just Tie the Darn Knot

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My nine-year-old son is so much like me, it hurts. He's sensitive and earnest; he dislikes conformity, even when it's in his best interests; he can be literal-minded and pedantic; and when he's anxious, he tends to adopt a "my way or the highway" mentality that's the very epitome of unhelpful. He's also curious, creative, intelligent, strong-willed, and has a social justice streak a mile wide. There are pros and cons to this similarity. We understand each other without needing to put in any … [Read more...]