Supporting Fellow Artists

Artists sometimes only have each other to lean on, and that's why I believe we should all support each other whether we use paper, computers, or words. My niece, Ruthie, is in yet another play, this one titled Alice In Wonderland Junior.

If you've never been to Buck Creek Theatre in Indy you should. Every play I've seen there has been top notch.

Especially the ones with Ruthie in them. :-)

A very merry unbirthday
To me
To who?
To me
Oh, you

A very merry unbirthday
To you
Who, me?
To you
Oh, me

Let's all congratulate us with another cup of tea
A very merry unbirthday to you

Now statistics prove that you've one birthday
Imagine just one birthday every year
Ah, but there are 364 unbirthdays
Precisely why we're gathered here to cheer

A very merry unbirthday
To me?
To you
A very merry unbirthday
For me?
For you
Now blow the candle out, my dear
And make your wish come true
A very merry unbirthday to you

Writer: Robert B. Sherman Lyrics: Robert B. Sherman

Editing and Underwear

I can only hope this post did not come up on some weird internet search. But I believe in the comparison.

I hate spending money on underwear. I know some women love it, but for me anything frilly, fancy, and sexy means scratchy, impractical, and uncomfortable. Basically, I want my undies to be functional and disappear from sight and my mind when I put them on. In conclusion, my idea of good underwear means if they are doing a good job I shouldn’t know they are there.

Same with editing. I’m in the midst of editing my newest book, Chimera. I won’t say how much I detest editing again. Oops. :-)

Editing, if done expertly, should never make itself known. Doing a good job means no one knows you spent hours doing it. It’s sad contemplating all of that toil is never noticed unless you miss something, much the same as a trying on a million bras only to discover it shows through your garment, but that’s the way it is.

And that goes for over editing as well. Yes, I believe one shouldn’t use too many words such as “was,” but sometimes, as Freud would say, a was is just a was. Even though it’s subtle, “was walking,” is slightly different than “walked,” especially when using first person.

Ditto for fancy verbs, again, especially using first person narration. Since you are writing as if inside a person’s head think very carefully before using too many interesting words. Would a normal person say “I galumphed over to the closet?” Probably not, and that verb would be distracting to the reader.

Just like underwear, functional practicality wins over lacy and racy. Usually. The mark of a good writer is knowing when to pull a surprise out of the drawer. Heh heh.

My Baby

My husband and I attended a party last night; most there were younger than us, what we like to call Prime Baby Years. Three of the women were pregnant, the others had small toddlers running about. They were all very cute (the kids and the pregnant women), but for the most part that’s what the conversation revolved around. My brother calls this phenomenon see-the-baby-hold-the-baby-touch-the-baby-the-baby-the-baby-the-baby. :-)

My husband and I are happily child free, although we do very much enjoy inhabiting the aunt and uncle role, and I occasionally befriend an external child. We do like kids. And we understand that when you have them they are, especially at first, your entire life. They should be! Raising the next generation to become productive and loving humans is the most important job in the world.

But there are other pursuits, and other worthy endeavors. I’ve just finished a novel. The gestation, if you can stand the metaphor, was hard. There is still much work to do in rearing it to adulthood. And I’m as proud as proud can be, although I have no pictures of it.

I was bursting last night, hoping someone would ask me how I was. I admit it; I wanted to brag. But no…all conversation was about earthbound, or yet to be earthbound, children.

Unless you are an artist, or think of your work as creative, you don’t name what you produce as the children of your soul. Additionally, some people will believe your offspring isn't special. This is particularly true for a writer. Often people volunteer that “they always wanted to write a book”, or “they have a book in them if only they had the time.” (These same people often think they can sing. Try it. Ask them.)

By the end of the party I was OK. I don’t have to have people asking about my baby. It’s a secret love. And fortunately, a love I can share with my husband and sister, both of whom are writers.

Good enough for me.

Done!!

And after I gave myself permission to take a break and did actually relax, I finished my new book, Chimera, in two days. Funny.

Now the real work begins.

Taking A Break

I was talking to a friend the other day about breaks, specifically, I didn’t think she was getting enough time to herself. But I love my family, she said. You still need time alone alone, say I. Everyone needs a break…even from things (or people) they love.

Physician, heal thyself.

I’ve been flagellating myself lately for not moving as quickly as I think I ought on my new book, Chimera. I’m plodding along, but not at the frenetic pace of my last two novels. As I’ve said before, this one is harder because of researching an unknown (to me) setting, but there’s more to it than that.

Lately I haven’t felt like it.

So I berated myself for not hitting it harder. I examined myself for morose moods ala my last two happiness posts. I even wondered if I needed to pick up some side work if I wasn’t churning out words. Then I had an epiphany when I told my friend she needed a break; I wasn’t sad, I wasn’t lazy, I didn’t need more stuff to do…I just needed time off.

I think about writing all the time: my current book, future books, editing books, marketing books. I get up with these thoughts and I go to bed with them. Wherever I am, whatever I’m doing, characters pop into my brain with a nagging hi there, and, what have you done for me lately? This isn’t bad, but like my friend and her family, even though I love writing we could use some time apart.

It’s summer. The weather is lovely. I’ve spent some nice days on my porch doing…nothing. I read and drank wine and listened to the birds. I’ve visited with friends and shopped with my mom. I’ve worked on several paintings and created a new style. I’ve glued rhinestones on my dance clothing. I’ve watched movies on the couch with my husband.

When I worked in corporate America I took breaks. They’re called vacations. And I never felt bad about that. As a writer, vacations and breaks look different than two weeks on the beach, because I’m finally living my dream career and don’t need that long to recover.

However, writing is a job. I believe I wrote a post about that. :-) Some writers say they write daily. That’s cool, but it’s not me.

Now where did I put those sunglasses?

Happy 4th

May you find inspiration, literary or otherwise, in the fairy-like sparkles and glittering showers of this day. Happy Fourth of July!

Doin’ The Happy Part Two

I received an interesting question based on my last post about happiness. The reader asked, but what if you try and try and never have a best seller? In other words, what if I do all of those things I listed but my writing plans don’t work out?

Perhaps I should add one more category for happiness: resiliency.

Dr. David Burns wrote a fabulous book called Feeling Good. It’s meant to help people with depression, but I think it’s good for anyone. I read it often. Even Kelly Sunshine needs a tune up now and then. :-) Anyway, he quoted studies that state people pretty much stay at the same emotional equilibrium (either born with or developed) no matter what happens.

That said, he acknowledged when bad things happen people are sad. Period. But after awhile people right themselves to their own particular level of happy…or not happy. He even studied people with terminal diseases and after the initial shock and grief, they reverted back to where they had been before the diagnosis.

As Lincoln said, everyone’s about as happy as they make up their mind to be. And Lincoln had many sad events happen to and around him.

So what do you do to get back on track? Here’s what works for me.

One. Acknowledge bad things will happen. No one lives a charmed life except Samantha, and even she had a cranky husband most of the time.

Two. It doesn’t help much to compare yourself to others. You can always find someone worse off and someone better.

Three. Talk it over with a friend or family member or get help if you can’t shake it off. I don’t think there’s anyone who couldn’t use a good shrink at least once in their life.

Four. Either except or move on. Complaining about how you wish it was does no good. Well, a good whine now and then can be therapeutic, but not if it turns into the never ending story.

As I writer, here’s what that means for my happiness resiliency.

•I must accept bad things will happen, e.g. rejections, writer’s block, a stupid editing mistake that goes into print before I can stop it.

•I understand that comparing my progress to Stephanie Meyer will only decrease my happiness.

•If I have a really bad time I will talk it over with my husband or my sister; they both love me AND they are writers. I will keep moaning to a minimum and be happy with what I’ve done.

•And if I come to a place where I’m tired of beating my head against the wall, I will do something different.

But I don’t think I’ll have to. See? Doin' The Happy.

The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings. -Robert Louis Stevenson