My Great Dream

Great Dream Progress Report:

My Capoeira teacher says, “Capoeira is a secret wrapped in a riddle”.  I feel the same about the process of writing a novel; it’s a mystery of concepts, characters, scenes and words entangled in a story equation that is continually evolving and overlapping; elusive yet unfolding within my reach.  My task is to grasp and understand enough of this equation without getting lost in its parts, without slipping into the category of people who always wanted to write a novel but never did.  However, it’s imperative I stay patient, keep disciplined and distill this story down to its very essence.  I’m in the second phase of this filtration process, editing the chapters I wrote during Nanowrimo.

My Warrior Princess Promise is that when my literary baby is delivered into this world every word will matter, the chapters will flow seamlessly together one after the other and at the end the story will yield some sort of reaction.  It doesn’t matter if this reaction is positive or negative, what’s important is that I had the courage to yeild the novel and moved the reader to feel something other than indifference.  The Dr. Sues qoute featured above a daily reminder to write bravely and express freely.

The clues I have gathered so far in this novel writing riddle are listed below; this is the rubric by which I am judging my progress.

Editing and Work-Shopping:

I am getting stuck reworking scenes that might not even make it into the final draft. I have workshopped 3 chapters thus far.

Reminder: Edit with a big tooth comb, this is the first round of many rewrites..

Daily 10 minute Free writes:

This is like a writer’s cardio; 10 minutes of writing with a pen without stopping to judge or edit.  Daily free writes build healthy, uninhibited writing muscles.  Too much writing on a computer stifles me.  I like to feel the tip of my pen glide across the paper, to see ink spread into words and hear the scratching of thoughts committed to page.

Mantra: Writers write, let the pen be your guide.

Reading List:

If I want to write fiction then I need to read fiction. And, if I want to deliver a magnificent literary baby, I need to study the masters that went before me. Currently reading East of Eden, recommended because it explores the concept of how far an apple can fall from the tree.

Up Next: Date’s Inferno.

Meditation/Yoga:

Yoga teaches how to harness the monkey mind and turn it into a focused mind.

Sat Nam: Truth is my idenity.

Artist Date:

There is a great book on creativity called The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity by Julia Cameron.  In it she asks the artist to go on an artist date for one hour a week.  It doesn’t matter what you do or where you go, the important thing is that you go alone and you challenge yourself to seek new sources of inspiration.

Side note: I love dating myself, I always get to do what I want to do:).

Musings:

This blog is a lifeline.  I THANK each and every one of you for reading and GIVING me a daily creative outlet; collectively you make me feel empowered to render my story.  I will continue to post 2-3 times a week. 

Promise: Quality over Quantity

Slow and Steady,

A Warrior Princess