Steeping, Fishing, Trimming or, Three Writing Tips

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

Comments

[Jill]

Thanks for sharing your tips! I wanted to read them very much -- these are fresh ideas to me. Thanks again!