Today’s post is going to
be sort of a cheat, because I’ll be writing about something that’s easy to ponder:
writing. Every once and while when I sit
down to compose a post, I wonder how I could possibly find one more single helpful/interesting/provocative thing to say about
stepmom/ex-wife relationships. (Hopefully,
you’re not wondering the exact, same thing.) Usually, I can plow through the mental sludge until I arrive upon a
glimmer of a subject that eventually sucks me in. The following, off-topic, but fun to-do task had
recently fallen off my plate, so now I’m putting it back on.

I recently got tagged with
a ROAR for Powerful Words award by the Doughtie
Houses Exchange, one of my favorite blogs that also has to do with
stepmom-ex-wife relationships. You’re
supposed to:

1. list three writing
tips,

2. then pass the award on
to three more bloggers.

1. The first thing I do
when I’m approaching a new post is… mull. I start "steeping" hours or even days before I write. I like to have an existing sense of energy
and movement about a topic I’m considering. This rolling around of mental marbles is more likely to happen when I’m
doing something repetitive or "empty", like cleaning the kitchen, rowing
(seems like you have nothing else to do but think,
going from one point on the water to another), or perhaps when I’m lying in bed
at night, waiting to fall asleep.

I try to drill down to
what I really think and feel; sense
where I feel lost or blank or confused; make mental notes about new
insights. Every once and a while, I’ll
jot down a phrase or word that excites me — some new direction to explore or
flesh out. I like the feeling of
curiosity I have, the sense of openness; the compulsion to move into fresh
thoughts. It’s like I’m really using my brain.

This may or may not be
true.

Feels good anyway.

2. When I sit down to
actually write, I like to clear off most of the horizontal spaces on my
desk. There’s a small stack of papers
and notebooks that constantly travels from my desk, to a 200 year-old leather sling
church chair from Spain,
to the top of my bed, then back to the desk. I tune in and see if I feel like music
or no music?, and if so, put it on. Sometimes
Paradise Radio hits the spot.

Lately, I’ve been
experimenting with a trial version of this critical thinking software called Rationale, made by an Australian
company. I’ll create a mind-map of notes
on paper or using Rationale, clustered by thematic categories. If I use the software, I can easily export the whole shebang into
Word. Either way, that’s when the real
work begins.

I have to fish around in
my mind for a starting sentence, some main point that gets to the crux of the
matter. When I get that, it’s like a lid
comes off a jar and I’m off and running. Something else that helps that process along is keeping an online
thesaurus open – I stumble around, using certain key words as jumping-off
points into other meanings or motifs.

As I write, I try to stay
on top of whether I’m saying what I really want to say, or if I’m just getting
lost and trying to load up words on a page. I try to stay true to my own voice, not skirt away from things that
might be difficult or uncomfortable to write about. I try to imagine an amorphous reader out
there, soaking up my words, reflecting back on their own experiences, hopefully
looking at a few things with new eyes.

3. Once I have a sense of
completion, I consider the essay mostly baked. But I still have to go back through and track the piece for rhythm,
simple mistakes; wordy, woody parts that don’t contribute or aren’t clear. When I put myself in editor-mode, I move away
from the emotions of the piece and become much more clinical and ruthless.

If something really
doesn’t work, no matter how much I love mentally trilling over a well-turned
phrase, it’s outta there. This can
sometimes feel like throwing gemstones off a motorcycle in the desert – stuff’s
just disappearing into nothingness and sob!
you’re never going to see it again.

But the well always seems
to refill itself.  

Knock on wood.

Ultimately, there’s no
other feeling in the world like being happy about what I’ve written. As someone once said, it’s one thing to want
to write, but it’s another thing altogether to have written!

I’m tagging three other
blogs for the following reasons:

I love weevilstepmother‘s sarcasm and
intriguing British colloquialisms.

I love Kari Anne Roy’s
crazy sense of humor at Haiku of the
Day.

I love how Kate Payne’s
brain works (plus it rhymes) at Pretty
Things.

© 2008 Jennifer
Newcomb Marine All Rights Reserved