Tag: Inspiration

Good days and bad days

I had a super productive day today.

I managed to write double my daily word quota (I wrote 1,067 words today), figure out a problem I had with one of my characters (what is his motivation in a certain scene), complete my basic touch typing training, run my Friday errands, and go for an actual run.

Earlier this week things weren’t so great. I was stuck with one of my characters (what is his motivation in a certain scene?), and I had a very demanding week at work, which translated to me really, really struggling to complete my word quota on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Some days are better, some days are worse — it all evens out in the long run. I just need to remember during the rough patches that I am are running a marathon, not a sprint, and I will be alright.

Ira Glass on Storytelling

Speaking of podcasts, Ira Glass, the talented host/reporter/producer/storyteller of This American Life, did an interview a while back on storytelling.

He talks about the basics of storytelling, what makes a good story a good story, and how you can ruin a good story with bad telling. He also expounds on how he got started in radio storytelling, what are some of the challenges a beginner has to overcome, how to get better at storytelling, how to find your voice, and how to cut yourself some slack when you are starting out.

Well worth your time, the interview can be found here:

An audio only version can be found here:

Ira Glass on Storytelling, Radio and Politics (part 1)

Ira Glass On Anxiety, Fame, and the Early Days of This American Life (part 2)

Podcasts for Writers

I stumbled upon a list of “8 Great Podcasts for Writers” today, and even though the title was clearly click bait, I read it.

Apart from the wonderful “Grammar Girl”, which I highly recommend, I found little on this list that spoke to me. Composed of mostly of podcasts of men talking about horror fiction, I felt decidedly fooled by the misleading article title. These were neither “great” podcasts, nor podcasts for writers.

So although I dislike list blog posts, I thought that I’d create an alternative list. I listen to several hours of podcasts a week, and all of these podcasts worth your time and attention, especially if you are a writer.

“This American Life” – often dubbed the 800 pound gorilla of podcasting, this hour long weekly show is the one podcast you should listen to if you have time for only one podcast. This podcast will teach you more about storytelling in one hour than a dozen creative writing books can. If you are a writer, take time to notice the pacing, the choices the reporters make in selecting their recordings, and what the music in the background is doing. There is a lot of time, effort, talent and experience that goes into each and every episode of TAL and just by listening to it and paying attention you can learn a lot about what it means to be a superb storyteller. Also, Ira Glass.

“Serial” – if you haven’t heard of the TAL spinoff with Sarah Koenig, you were probably spending the last year or so in a writer’s retreat in the Mohave desert. Imagine a podcast episode of “This American Life” expanded into a serial, and this is the podcast that you’ll get. The story is fascinating, but the way Sarah tells it is what is most worth noticing. She is the best “first person narrator” that you could meet, and listening to her struggle to understand the story she found herself a part of is highly illuminating. If you ever plan on writing a story with a first person narrator (reliable or not — you’ll hear in “Serial” that reality is not that clear cut), this podcast is a must.

“99% Invisible” – another podcast that showcases great storytelling, 99% Invisible with Roman Mars is worth listening to for the way it creates mood and tone. Just listen to “There is a Light that Never Goes Out” or to “Three Records from Sundown” to get what I mean.

“Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin” – Alec Baldwin has intelligent conversations with creators of all kinds — actors, authors, journalists, musicians and more. If you have a bit of spare time, delve into this podcast’s archive. You can learn a lot about creative people’s mindset, work process and failures from these candid and relaxed conversations. Baldwin’s conversation with journalist Gay Talese is a pretty good place to start from.

Writing Resource Thursday

This week has been pretty rough at work, so I missed two (!) writing days and one blogging day. Hopefully I’ll be able to make up for at least one day during this weekend.

While I play catchup with my word count, here are some intereting things to peruse:

Seth Godin wrote a blog post with 19 tips for authors that is unique, insightful, and thought provoking. If there’s one thing I am going to take from it it’s this piece of advice (number 2 in the list):

The best time to start promoting your book is three years before it comes out. Three years to build a reputation, build a permission asset, build a blog, build a following, build credibility and build the connections you’ll need later.

Why your characters are boring is an interesting (with a bit too many unnecessary pictures) post from Ben Schmitt on the importance of giving a character something they want or desire, and making sure that each scene expresses a movement towards fulfilling or attempting to fulfill that yearning.

For a scene to truly be a scene, each character in the scene has to want something. There has to be conflict, an obstacle inhibiting the character from getting what they want, and before the scene ends, one of the characters has to be different as a result of that scene.

Finally, another blog post from Ben Schmitt, this time on Now Novel, with 11 pretty solid tips on how to write even when you don’t want to. While I don’t agree with all of them (number 4 for instance. The best time to write is when you have time to write), the majority of them have worked for me in the past.

Have a great weekend, and keep on writing!

On the Importance of Being Bored

Lately I’ve been letting myself get bored again.

On the bus on the way to work I leave my phone in my bag, and just while the time daydreaming, sneaking glances at my fellow commuters, or staring outside the window.

In waiting rooms and when queuing in line, I leave my phone in my pocket, and just let my mind wander.

If I’m alone in a restaurant and waiting for the menu or the food, I just look around or while the time in thought.

It is extremely difficult, as like many people today I’m very much addicted to my smartphone. We now have an always on entertainment system that ensures that we will never be bored again if we don’t want to. And it is up to us to muster the tremendous willpower to put it aside and allow boredom to seep back in.

I am forcing myself to do that because it is while I have nothing “important” on my mind that stories begin to seed, form and grow there. It is then that I notice curious things around me that can become story ideas, or figure out how to end that scene that I was stuck on. It is then that I also discover glaring plot holes, or something that I may want to use as a red herring or a little tidbit to flesh out one of my characters.

Try letting yourself be bored every once in a while. You never know what interesting idea will creep in to keep you company.

Fat and Lazy

A little while back I saw this vlog entry by Casey Neistat:

Now Casey has a great, great vlog, and I highly recommend it, if you’ve got some free time (i.e. Not time you should be spending writing). He oftentimes gives inspirational bits about the importance of working harder on the things that you care about, and about how you can do a whole lot with very little if you only have the courage to create.

In this video he maps out his day, and basically urges his viewers not to become fat and lazy. The videography is great, as usual, and the piece is very inspiring. Do the work, push yourself to the limit every day, cut down on your leisure time, invest time and effort in what is important to you. All of these things have been said before, but Casey puts them in a wonderfully vivid and fresh way.

But as someone who is working very hard everyday for a good while now not to be “fat and lazy,” I have a few issues with it.

Casey does have leisure time, and so should you. Unlike what he says in this video, if you’ve ever watched one of his vlog entries you know that he does have leisure time — he just doesn’t count it as leisure (go ahead and watch a few entries if you don’t believe me). Yes, you should cut down the time you spend on video games, TV, social networks, etc. No, you should not cut them down to zero. I recently talked to a friend of mine who used to love playing the piano and taking landscape photographs. His life is now all work and family, with barely enough time for friends, let alone his hobbies. “Don’t you miss them?” I asked. “Of course I do,” he answered wistfully, “but I don’t have time for them in my life anymore”. Don’t do that to yourself. Leave some time for yourself, to recharge and have fun.

If Casey slept four hours a day regularly, he’d probably be dead. We need a minimum of six hours of sleep to, you know, live, and we could all use more sleep than we allow ourselves. We live in incredibly sleep deprived times, and we all need to work hard to get more and better sleep, not less. This is your short and long term health we are talking about here. Don’t cut corners (or sleep hours) on this one.

So yes, work harder. But no, don’t kill yourself doing it.

Lizard Brain

I didn’t feel like writing yesterday. I was out and about all day, and it was extremely hot and humid, so when I came home the last thing I wanted to do was sit down and write. I procrastinated, I started telling myself that it was OK to skip a day, since I wasn’t feeling that great, and that I could make up for that day tomorrow.

I know that voice very well now. It’s the same little lizard brain voice that tells me that I shouldn’t go running today because it is too hot/too cold/too wet/too humid/I’m tired/I’m feeling so-so. It’s hard to resist that voice, since it’s easier to watch TV or waste time on the internet than it is to write or run.

When it comes to running, I get out the door by just lacing my shoes, and reminding myself that I’ve yet to regret going out on a run.

I’ve never regretted going out on a run.

So yesterday I plunked my sorry ass by the computer and started typing. When the words came out slowly and painfully, I took out a pen and paper and did a quick draft of the scene that I’m working on. And then I typed it.

When the scene came out as mediocre (since I was writing for the sake of writing, not for the sake of writing well), I went back and rewrote it. “Sorry little lizard brain. If you are going to act up, this is only going to take longer,” I told myself.

I finished my session target (a little over 500 words) yesterday, and while it took my twice as long as usual, I sure as hell don’t regret doing it.

One Good Thing I Read This Week: Fight by Shawn Blanc

This post is a month old but I only just stumbled upon it: Fight, by Shawn Blanc.

Shawn talks about deciding what is important to you, and how you should make sure that you really are making that thing a priority. If you’ve read Merlin Mann’s 43Folders, listened to the early episodes of his Back to Work podcast, or have been following Seth Godin then a lot of what he’s saying won’t be new to you. But there is something powerful about the succinct way he puts some of these same old ideas into words:

What then if you lived like nobody else?

  • Don’t spend hours each day watching television or scrolling through social networks.
  • Don’t let your work life dominate over family time, personal values, or happiness.
  • Don’t ignore the importance of investing over the long-run and planning for the future.
  • Live as far below your means as is reasonable, and don’t derive your happiness or self-worth by the fanciness of the things you own.
  • Don’t let laziness or busywork keep you from building something meaningful.
  • Don’t assume you need a better tool in order to do better work.

It’s funny. Simply doing the opposite of what most people do can actually open up many opportunities for you to do meaningful work.

It’s not a long piece, I recommend giving it a read. And then getting back to writing.