Tag Archives: Encouraging

Tell the Universe What You Want

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LokiSaysIShouldBeWritingWriters are by far the hardest-on-themselves group of people I’ve had the privilege of knowing, myself included.  We expect so much out of ourselves, especially in regards to our work.  Not only do we struggle to create (and are we ever truly happy?), we also criticize ourselves for not writing enough, we suffer from a plethora of fears; rejection, the blank page, another rewrite, completion, even success, and then we must endure at least a hundred plus other steps in order to succeed as professional writers.  There are dozens of avenues to explore, and we try them all in the hopes of finding the right one.  And people wonder why we’re “special”…or have the audacity to think it’s easy and that everyone can do it, or that all we do is daydream…these and other ideas like them fall into the realm of “writer’s pet peeves”.

So back to the topic at hand, the recent opportunity I was thinking about and mentioned on Monday – volunteering at the Los Angeles Film Festival by Film Independent.  They also put on the Independent Spirit Awards, so I thought it might be a great way to meet people and network, but when you’re a volunteer, you’re not really allowed to do that.  And then a few things popped up and made it a near impossibility to work the event at all, so I’m striking it off the list and moving forward…but to where?  I was discovering quickly that this year was going to pass me by without any real progress.  That was a devastating realization.

I believe that when you voice your desires aloud, that’s when things start happening.  Obviously we still have to work at it, but making the bold declaration, writing down our goals, and putting them out into the universe help to solidify them in our mind.  They aren’t just these dreams we have, but fully realized goals we can move forward to achieve.  What I needed was a new plan.  Great.  Something else to divert my attention from writing.

So the following night when I was talking to my sister’s boss and she asked what she could do to help me with my career, I told her.  I put it out there.  She and her husband both work with and know lots of people that could help me (including some of the biggest names that would pretty much make me pee my pants if I found myself in the same room with them), but in my mind I had drawn a line.  They are my sister’s bosses and therefore should almost be off limits, that is, unless they offer.  Growing up, we were instilled with this idea of doing things on our own, not relying on others, and making our own way (which I clearly can not do as a screenwriter).  Call it pride or stubbornness or stupidity (which is what my sister’s boss called it), but I got a very quick lesson in asking those who are capable and willing for help.  Bottom line is I’m meeting with them in the next few weeks in order to advance my career.

So I will now voice my desires; my next goal – have my portfolio ready when I meet with those who have offered me help.  Oh, gracious universe, please be kind and let the words flow from my mind to my fingertips without much stumbling.  Please allow my mind to grasp all the elements I need in order to finalize my rewrite…*fingers crossed.  A little forewarning, I may be a little absent as a result, because I have quite a bit of work ahead of me.

So go on, tell the universe what it is you want.  Good Luck!

*And by now you should know, if I can, I will include a picture of either Tom Hiddleston or Benedict Cumberbatch.  So you’ll always have that to look forward to. 😉

Quotes of the Week

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There is no one way toward a destination, and sometimes we have to try different avenues to get us to our goal.  I’ve decided to try something different.  I’ll keep you posted. 😉

You can’t always wait for the perfect time. Sometimes, you have to dare to do it because life is too short to wonder what could have been.

If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.

Have a great week everyone!

The Value Of A Writing Community

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EmoticonsShakingHandsI always thought it would be good to have writer friends, but as writing is a (mostly) solitary pursuit, and as we tend to be introverts, finding other writers, especially those whose opinions I could trust, seemed like a fruitless and futile pursuit.  This is not meant to be a slight, by any means, but a testament to my own shortcomings of maintaining relationships (even with those I already consider my friends).  So trying to find new ones with specific traits, well, felt like it might be a challenge.

I have many acquaintances – those people you meet through work who become your Facebook friends even long after you’ve changed jobs, who you’ve never seen again, probably never will, and might not even recognize years later…you know the ones, we all have ’em.

But, building a circle, that’s a different type of beast to tame.  When I was living in Arizona, I was fortunate enough to meet a unique person, a fellow geek, who included me and my sister in his circle.  It was one of those inspired moments, when you realize you’ve met a kindred spirit.  Unfortunately, we moved away.  His wife and I maintain our friendship via Facebook through our mutual love of all things Whedon, Cumberbatch, and other geek related passions.  So that’s good for me when I want to geek out, which is all the time, but they aren’t writers.

Making “real” friends gets a bit more difficult with age.  For those of you too young to have learned this yet, you will.  It’s a sad truth.  By the time we’re a certain age, we have the friends we’re probably going to have the rest of our lives, and making new ones, regardless of similar tastes and interests is time consuming, and takes effort.  By this stage in our lives, we don’t like to waste time and effort.  So I was finding it difficult wanting to pursue new relationships regardless of its value.

When we moved to Los Angeles, where we really knew no one, I made a whole new group of acquaintances, none of whom were writers, which I sort of found surprising, as this is the land of “aspirings”, so I was at a loss.  Where were they hiding?  As I continued forward with my writing, and very often struggling, I realized I didn’t have many life lines.  Only other writers can understand the daily struggles, the process, the moments of enlightenment, and offer one another insight or a life jacket.  So I had to make writer friends.

As part of my New Year’s Resolutions, I joined a few writer’s groups via Meetup, and after some time, finally did make a couple of writer friends; one of which helped me yesterday brainstorm some ideas for the rewrite.  Then, the biggest light bulb went on.  As I’ve continued my blog, and begun to learn the value of such a world, I’ve realized that I have an entire community of writers at my fingertips.  As we reach out, comment, and build relationships here, we are building our own circle.

So I would like to offer my blog as a part of the circle I’d like to create.  Fellow writers, let’s help one another succeed.  If you have questions, would like to offer advice, please feel free to do so here.

Wishing you all the best!

xx, Rach

Make Your Own (Writing) Rules

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AntiqueKeyThe other day I posted a link to a site called Literary Rejections with a list of author’s 10 Rules of Writing (Henry Miller and A.L. Kennedy were probably my favorites).  I decided to create my own, as I said I would, and after some editing rounded out the number to 20.  I’m putting this out into the world in the hopes that it will not only help me, but other writers.

I’m on the email lists of various writing sites and I get so inundated with information that some days I feel like hitting the spam button and never looking at their “helpful advice” again.  There are so many people telling you what you should and shouldn’t do and sometimes they’re contradictory…so what is one to do?

Make your own rules!

Now obviously, there are some rules of writing that can’t be changed.  Screenwriting has a very specific structure, I can’t change that, but my writing style, etc. is left up to me.  We all know the conditions we like to write in and when, but like my To Do List posted on the wall, sometimes it helps to see those guidelines visually.  We might accomplish more when there’s a physical reminder staring at us.  So here are mine –

  1. Language does not always have to wear a tie and lace-up shoes. The object of fiction isn’t grammatical correctness but to make the reader welcome and then tell a story.
  2. Whether it’s a vignette of a single page or an epic trilogy, the work is always accomplished one word at a time.
  3. Hold the reader’s attention.
  4. Write whatever way you like. Fiction is made of words on a page; reality is made of something else. It doesn’t matter how “real” your story is, or how “made up”: what matters is its necessity.
  5. Work on one thing at a time until finished.
  6. Work according to the program and not according to mood. Stop at the appointed time!
  7.  When you can’t create you can work.
  8. Keep human! See people, go places, drink if you feel like it.
  9. Don’t be a draught-horse! Work with pleasure only.
  10. Forget the books (screenplays) you want to write. Think only of the book (screenplay) you are writing.
  11. Write first and always. Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these come afterwards.
  12. Write a book (movie you’d like to see) you’d like to read. Don’t write for a perceived audience or market. It may well have vanished by the time your book’s (screenplay’s) ready.
  13. Be ready for anything. Each new story has different demands and may throw up reasons to break these and all other rules.
  14. The reader is a friend, not an adversary, not a spectator.
  15. You see more sitting still than chasing after.
  16. You don’t know the limits of your own abilities. If you keep pushing beyond yourself, you will enrich your own life.
  17. Defend your work. Individuals will often think they know best about your work. When you genuinely believe their decisions would damage your work – walk away.
  18. Defend yourself. Find out what keeps you happy, motivated and creative.
  19. Remember you love writing. It wouldn’t be worth it if you didn’t. If the love fades, do what you need to and get it back.
  20.  Use the right word, not its second cousin.

I encourage you all to make your own list, and as always Best of Luck!

A Message for All Creatives

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So last night I realized my perspective was off.  While looking for feedback on my last post about finding ideas, a fellow writer suggested I watch this TED Talk from author Elizabeth Gilbert, who wrote Eat, Pray, Love.  It’s an interesting take on the creative process, and a lesson we should probably all take to heart, at least in some regard.  *I won’t spoil any of it by delving into it further, for the moment, but really, give it a watch.  It’s less than 20 mins.

My thoughts yesterday were only that I needed to find more ideas, that I didn’t have enough in my “stockpile”, or the more accurate term I like, due to its deep, dark imagery, “vault”.  Then last night while at my writer’s group, I listened to the twenty other writers in the room discuss their projects, and realized how different we all are from each other.  Everyone in that room was working on something different; novels, screenplays, short stories, poems, the genres differed, the perspectives were biased from personal experience, and the writing styles were all different.  One of my novelist friends cringed when she heard a few of us talking about screenwriting and moved away to find a conversation more suited to her.  We support each other’s work, but don’t talk about it much when we’re together, in part, because of the differences.  So I laughed as she turned away because it reiterated to me that although we share a common passion, writing, we are not in the same boat.

NeverForgetWhyYouStartedI was looking at the work of others and comparing myself to them.  This is where I went wrong.  My life is not the same as a writer at the turn of the last century.  I’m not spending my time in an opium den, allowing lucid hallucinations to dictate my work.  My life isn’t even similar to the majority of the people I was in the room with last night, so why would I ever consider to compare my work with theirs?  Foolish notion…and hence, the perspective change.  As a screenwriter, hearing that someone has written twenty-five scripts should not make me rise to the challenge, because in all honesty, how many of those stories were worth telling?  I don’t want to be a writer that just spews out scripts for the sake of quantity.  I write a story because I have a passion for it, not just to bolster my numbers.

We each do what we can with what we’re given, or hopefully try to.  We all hope to achieve some part of the greatness that others have, but comparing ourselves to them is not only counterproductive, but unnecessary.  We each have our own stories to tell, we each have lived a different life, and it is this variety that makes us unique and incomparable.

I wish you all the best!

How To Survive The Writing Highs & Lows

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TypewriterFontWriterWriters are a misunderstood bunch.  To the outside world, one might think our lives are spent wistfully daydreaming the day away.  That we spend our time living in imaginary worlds, not staring blindly at a blinking cursor on a white screen for long stretches of time while we try to find the exact right words for every single word we want to put down, or the time spent learning and honing our craft, or the mental (and sometimes physical) obstacles we need to hurdle to finish a piece, in addition to all the other things we’ve learned we need to do in order to write professionally along the way.  Writing can sometimes be an exhausting pursuit.

After last week’s admission of current shortcomings, I discovered that I sometimes follow a pattern.  What’s nice about this “light bulb” moment is that I can now use it to my advantage.  Being aware of the non-productive periods can help me lessen them in the future.  All of life is a learning curve.  Sometimes we are made to repeat certain instances until we come to an understanding, learn the lesson, and stop repeating them.  I’ve written about the marathon-style sprints I’ve been on and I’ve written about the dry spells.  There is no more or less passion during either of these times, but there is an ease in which the flow occurs.  This is something that “other” people will not understand.

So, as I decided to stop the madness and get back to work, I had a bit of a serendipitous moment when I found this article entitled, How the Ups and Downs of Writing Can Improve Your Craft.  Again, from The Write Life (who are quickly becoming my go-to site).  The third bullet point in the lows is exactly where I’ve been – finding out what has brought me down and fixing it…the only way I know how – Get back to writing.  I’ve reassessed some of my goals and am making some imaginary deadlines to get me focused again.

I’m not sure where I read it, but I have it on my board, a mantra of sorts that I’ve had to get back into the habit of repeating:

Discipline, Focus, Positive Energy

It is one of my goals to remain positive.  It may sound strange, but I’ve seen a few things that suggest that positivity is a choice.  It’s easy to fall prey to depressing thoughts, or feelings of inadequacy, and I would prefer not to, not anymore.  This recent low has reminded me of that.  So I suppose there’s good in that.

I wish you all the best in your writing endeavors and lots of positive thoughts!

Good luck!

A Little Writing Help

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TypewriterFontWriter

I’m feeling sort of negative today.  A few things have compounded leaving me a little sour.  So rather than give into those feelings or give them any power, I’ve decided to be helpful.  My blog is supposed to be about writing, romance, and fantasy, in addition to the journey of becoming an established writer, so maybe this week I’ll pursue some of those other avenues in the hopes that it will lighten my mood.  Maybe I’ve been too serious, too focused on one goal…maybe I should cut loose, at least a little. :\

I came across this interesting article that deciphers the various questions you might be asked in a creative meeting whether with film executives or publishers, such as “Why this character?”, “Why this story?”, “Why now?”.  If you’re struggling with a particular story, asking yourself some of these questions might help you resolve those issues, or might reiterate to yourself why you were inspired to write this story in the first place.  Also, within each question topic are further tips to explore.  I’ll give ’em a look, and pass on the details.  If you beat me to it, please share.

Then there’s The Write Life.  You may have noticed I reference them, occasionally.  I follow them on Facebook and find a lot of useful tips and offerings.  They recently posted an article about 20 Inspiring Pinterest Boards.  As you are all probably aware by now, I love Pinterest.  I’ve been doing the whole cork board thing for years, and really wish I would’ve come up with this idea.  (That would’ve been one way to supplement my lifestyle.)  I’m currently going through the boards suggested to see which would be helpful.  This idea alone has inspired me to search out more useful tips to share on my boards, so look for those new additions soon.

I hope you’re all having a productive week and I wish you all the best!

2 Writing Opportunities

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So I’ve come across two writing opportunities that I’d like to share:

1.  NBC is casting a net to find new comedy writers.  Here’s the link.

2. Disney ABC Creative Talent Development is looking for scenes for their talent showcase.  You can find more info on their Facebook page, and because I couldn’t find a proper link, here’s a screenshot of the details.

ABCshowcaseI’ll keep my eyes and ears open for any other opportunities!

Good luck!

A Little Screenwriting Help

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TypewriterFontWriterSometimes I have to question my sanity.  As writers, it’s something we probably do more often than we should.  I recently watched the documentary, “Tales from the Script”, which is available on Netflix, and I highly recommend it to any aspiring screenwriter.  Which is why I was again forced to reevaluate my sanity.  There was one comment that has stuck with me, it was something to the effect that “if you can do anything else, do it”.  That’s when it was reiterated to me that I can’t.  I love screenwriting.  It’s my calling.  And I hope all of you have found yours.

If you can quit, then quit. If you can’t quit, you’re a writer. – R.A. Salvatore

I’ve tried my hand at poetry, and just for kicks and giggles, maybe I’ll post some one day.  They’re terrible.  Which is probably why I’ve never tried to write any more beyond my angsty teenage years.  I wrote a few short stories, and I’d be willing to try again, I’m just not sure when.  I wrote a one-act play that I really liked, but I feel that was a one-hit wonder moment.  I’ve never written song lyrics, but I’m actually going to give that a try this year.  I have this interesting opening line that I’d like to explore.  I actually finished a novel (based on one of my screenplays) and have another, that one that I started in my youth that was too advanced for my adolescent mind, that still needs to be finished, but now am thinking could be a screenplay…I’m satisfied knowing I’ve at least tried other avenues, and have found the medium that works best for me.

I’m pretty sure it all started with my love of film.  I see my stories like a movie in my head.  I used to get buried in the details of description when I was trying to be a novelist, the only form of writing I thought there was, and screenwriting allows me to get my story out quickly.  So for those of you who are following a similar path, I’ve attached this article on how to improve your screenwriting descriptions, and if you can ignore the off-putting color of the page, there’s some wonderful advice.  I made lots of notes.

I’m keeping this one short and sweet.  I’m not going to rant or ramble, as I have to get back to the many things I have lingering…

WritersEcard

Have a great week!