Shifting focus

I hope Mr. Escher was right, because right now I've got a big, chaotic pileup of things that I've had on "hold" for weeks on end, and now it's time to deal with them. So far, producing order hasn't been all that lovely a task.

Why the pileup? Because something had to give. For these last many weeks, my primary focus had to be consistently, obsessively, compulsively, on One Important Thing.

I spent the weeks between Fourth of July and Labor Day this year embarked on a massive push to fix all the myriad little oopses, flaws, continuity issues, and plot holes large and small that had beset my science fiction novel What's Bred in the Bone as it went through multiple drafts.

It was daunting, challenging, and ultimately quite exhilarating to see it all come together at last. It helped that I had that wonderfully clarifying imperative, a deadline.

Actually, I try to focus on what matters, as a matter of principle, as much as possible. The exercise of seeking out the most important things and focusing on those can be quite rewarding, and it can make your life amazing.

But practical reality will take its pound of flesh eventually. Every once in a while you simply have to stop and do the dishes. Or feed the kids. Or get up and move your body around. Or pay bills. Everybody's got something.

My family, it must be said, is amazingly supportive. They've stayed busy with their own things and gone off in their own orbits, certainly. But they also covered for me A LOT.

Now it's payback time.

Shifting my focus is proving to be a bit like turning a battleship, in no small part because I really got used to writing all the time with no other responsibilities, and a large part of me just doesn't wanna "adult" today. What I really want is to go back to Rana Station.

Soon, I'll get my chance. But not yet, dang it!

IMAGES: Many thanks to Brainy Quote for several of the quote images used in today's post: M. C. Escher's hopeful quote about bringing order to chaos; Alexander Graham Bell's thoughts on focus, and Abraham Lincoln's advice on the hazards of evading one's responsibilities. I also appreciate the 101 Inspirational Quotes for Designers post from Web Designer Depot, where I found the "Focus on what matters" graphic. I love you all!

The next battle

The Artdog Image of Interest

If you're tired of Na-No-Wri-Mo posts, I'm sorry--gonna inflict at least one more on you. Because once you get to a certain point in your writing, it's time to--GASP!--show it to someone else!! It's pretty scary, because even after all that work, it's inevitable that it's not perfect.

Gotta be done. Find someone you trust and hand it over. It's What Has to Happen Next, on the writer's journey. Good luck!

IMAGE: Once again, I'm grateful to the wonderful Debbie Ridpath Ohi and her web comic "Will Write For Chocolate," for this rueful look at the truth of a writer's life.

Making a good finish of it

November--and Na-No-Wri-Mo (National Novel Writing Month) is almost over. A lot of people will be trying their best to close in on 50,000 words by midnight tomorrow. To cheer them on, today's post is a collection of wisdom about FINISHING.

A 50,000-word manuscript that has a beginning, middle, and end technically qualifies as a novel, in some genres. For my particular genre, science fiction, the contemporary normal finished length is 90,000-120,000 words, so 50,000 words will get you maybe about halfway there.

But no matter how you slice it, 50,000 words in one month is a prodigious chunk! It's a noble goal, a major effort, and a valuable milestone. So here's to finishing your fifty-thou, even if you aren't "really finished"!

One more thing. Once you've finished your 50,000 words--or however many you manage this month--take time to celebrate! Yay! You did it!

ANY amount of words add up to more than you had written before, and every special effort deserves recognition. Just be sure to get back into the chair on December 1, and begin again.

IMAGES: Many thanks to Jeff Goins for the quote images for Bradbury and Lamott, to Happy Monkey for the cartoon about finishing your novel, and to 8 Tracks for the mountaintop celebration photo. 

Working on a first draft?

Why would anyone try to write a novel? It's an appropriate question for Na-No-Wri-Mo (National Novel Writing Month). Personally, I'm in great sympathy with Toni's reason:

In my experience, writing the first draft of any project, especially a novel, is an exercise in faith. Faith that you'll work out the problems, that you have something interesting to say, that you'll find good, better, and even-better-than-that ways to say it. Everything is possible at the beginning--especially in my chosen field of science fiction.

But then you start to create your world. Rules begin to appear. Now if you want to break those rules, you have to change the world. Sometimes it's worth it. But if you do, it's okay. It's the first draft.

If that's a little too free-form for you, this thought may capture your creative process better:

However you manage to create your first draft--and whatever it looks like at the end, I have just one more thought for you:

IMAGES: Many thanks to Laugh.Love.Live, for the Toni Morrison quote; to Chasing the Turtle and Alice Walker for the quote about flying; to Writingeekery and Shannon Hale, for the "shoveling sand" quote; and to P.S. Bartlett, Authors Publish, and the late Terry Pratchett, for the "telling yourself the story" quote. Finally, many thanks to Novel Kicks, for the unattributed "best and worst" quote. So True!