Don't Wait For Inspiration. . .Wake Up The Muse

Writing is a creative, active and developing process. Definitely not static. What do you do when The Muse is on strike?

Some writers say they're having a "dry spell" or "writer's block." I'm fortunate in that I've never experienced this state of inertia in my writing. Other areas of my life, yes...but I can always write my way out of it.

About a year ago, two of my friends and I were at a place where we needed fresh fuel for the creative furnace. We made a list of story prompts and gave it a couple of hours to gel. Then we got back together online to share our efforts. The amazing thing is that two of us chose the same prompt but came up with entirely different scenarios. My fellow writer, Carol DeVaney and I went on to develop our respective stories into full grown manuscripts. The important thing is that we were both open to the challenge and willing to be enthused. I call this my "Yes! Attitude". I am willing to be drawn in, to take on new challenges, to take risks. I'm willing to jump in the lagoon without knowing all the facts. Is the water too cold? Is it too deep? Who cares. Just get wet.

What inspires me is something I call the What If Factor. What if a small-town preacher's daughter became enamored of a bad-boy biker just riding through? Lots of conflict. Lots of tension. Lots of heartache. Okay, what if you took it a step farther and gave it a twist? What if the hero was the small-town preacher with a very predictable day-to-day life? What if the heroine was a down-on-her luck drifter; maybe she has a bike; maybe she has a Bible in her backpack, but maybe it's a bundle of incriminating documents that she stole from her last employer, a Russian mob boss, who is actively searching for her? Still with me? Now let's give them more to lose: What if he is a widower and he has a young child (much more at stake). What if she's got to get to the coast in a week so she can catch up with the person who is going to smuggle her out of the country to safety? But she's drawn to this man who wants to protect her and save her soul? And he can't explain why he's willing to risk everything to help this woman on the run? I mean, WHAT IF???

I know this was a pretty hilarious and far-fetched example, but my message is, just let yourself go. Let your brain take you to strange and beautiful/dark/dangerous places and explore every interesting crevice...and write about it.

Tidings of Comfort and Joy

I got through NaNo this year by the skin of my already skinny teeth. In 2007 and 2008 I had zoomed through the National Novel Writing Month challenge of writing 50k words during the month of November without too much stress. This year, with a very complex and demanding job, I was less than confident that I would be able to meet the challenge.

As usual, I planned ahead and did so in a big way. I announced on FaceBook my own challenge and thus, I was committed. My FB challenge was to write a minimum of 100 words a day for 100 days. I started in September and planned this challenge to take me through the end of the year. I was pleasantly surprised when other writers joined me and when many others cheered us on.

I was a cheerleader for those who seriously got their NaNo words in high gear but lagged far behind. Some days, after working 1o hours and driving a considerable distance home, it was all I could do to squeeze out the 100 words. I posted this tiny progress each day and did write more during my 3-day weekend but doubted that I would make it across the NaNo finish line. Imagine my surprise when a friend poked me the day after Thanksgiving to inquire as to my word count and I discovered that I'd written 44k. I made an all out effort and finished November with just over 51k. Amazed myself.

The moral of this tale is that by adopting the habit of daily writing, one can become more productive overall. Join me at http://www.facebook.com/junefaver to jump in and commit to writing. Have a great holiday season.

100 Words for 100 Days-The Challenge

For over 500 days, I committed to writing every day. During that time, I cranked out 7 complete novels. Not perfect, by any means...but finished first drafts. Words flowed without end. And then I stopped writing daily. I changed direction when I began editing the first drafts. I stopped the flow and focused on a different process. Polishing the manuscripts took precedence over writing new words. On September 22nd, in an attempt to unstaunch the flow, I issued a challenge to all who would take it on. The challenge is simply to write 100 words a day for 100 straight days. That will end up about Christmas time and possibly go through the end of the year. If you want to revise your writing habits, jump on board. After all, Nora Roberts empowered all writers to write a crappy first draft. You can post on my FaceBook page to brag or whine. Wish you the very best. Write on!!!