Quick Grab Bag
While most people strive for work-life balance, I strive to find the exact number of projects I can juggle without dropping all of them. Haven’t exactly perfected this skill, but I’ll never stop trying. With the addition of yet another newsletter (The Pushback, if you haven’t subscribed), the return to regular work, and three book projects, I am dangerously close to dropping one of the bowling pins on my head. It doesn’t leave much time for leisure sports.
I do have one recommendation for good stuff. Ladies & Gentlemen . . .50 Years of SNL Music is SO GOOD. Go watch it on Peacock. The trailer give you a good flavor of the movie, and yes, it runs at that pace, with that level of editing, for two full hours.
This month I have started, but not finished, Get the Picture by Bianca Bosker, Want by Gillian Anderson, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clark, and Writing Fiction, by Janet Burroway. I think that the politics of this month have been too much for me to concentrate on good stuff. I hereby forgive myself and move on.
At my writing conference a few weeks ago, I learned a lot of valuable stuff, like everything about the book should be on the first page. The protagonist, the internal conflict, the exterior conflict, the time and place, the themes - all of it. We read at least two dozen first pages, and the rule is true. Good writers get it all on the page right away. I tested it out when I got home by re-reading the first chapter of On The Road by Kerouac. It’s all there. I’d pigeonholed Kerouac in my mind as an author suited only to 17-21 year olds, but it holds up. The writing is great.
Another thing I learned is that there are several words that a writer has to excise from their manuscript. Characters should not wink, nod, smile, shrug, roll their eyes, turn or sigh. Today, I did a search in one of my manuscripts and my characters are nodding like fools all over the place. Usually they are turning when they nod. I bet Dean Moriarty never winked, shrugged, or rolled his eyes. *sigh* I have so much work to do.
Another tip was take Yes and No out of all the dialogue. It’s like magic how much sharper the interactions are without all the yessing and no-ing, nodding, smiling, and adverbs.
I wish the rest of writing was all easy tips and tricks. Mostly it involves keeping your butt in a chair trying to think of sensory moments to communicate feelings without using the word “feel.” It’s a lot of work. It’s much easier to start a new newsletter!
Speaking of which, I promise you that The Pushback is a good news publication. It’s not puppies and kittens; it’s a chronicle of the challenges to the Trump administration. Today, the whole post is about the protests that happened in all 50 states! (Well, except Alaska, but you’ll have to read about it in The Pushback).
