Wednesday, June 18, 2008

1000 words a day belated

Wednesday 2:31am 18June08

So I came home and wrote about 250 words and realized that I needed to lie down after a trying day at work. I'm now making up yesterday's thousand words before I start on todays. It's how it has to be.

Not much to say here because it's 2am and as soon as I'm done my total, I'm climbing back into my warm bed.

Check out, cjdarlington.blogspot.com. CJ has a great series on Advice for Novelists!

EY

Monday, June 16, 2008

1000 words a day

Monday 5:35pm 16June08

Today I begin again. I'm getting back to writing 1000 words a day. It's the only thing that really works for me. I write a thousand words each day and I get back into that groove where the great descriptions happen and the words flow and the stories come together.

It's just so darn easy to get bogged down with life and cleaning the house and checking out the cute guy and oh, it's sunny out maybe i should call a friend! It's ridiculous. So it has to be about every single day. Pull out the looseleaf paper and write until I hit the thousand words. And we'll see where it gets me by the end of the year.

And in the meantime, I write one of my favorite Ray Bradbury quotes, "The Muse must have shape. You will write a thousand words a day for ten to twenty years in order to try to give it shape, to learn enough about grammar and story construction so that these become part of the Subconscious, without restraining or distorting the Muse." pg 45 of Zen in the Art of Writing, Releasing the Creative Genius Withing You.

Such a great book. He can't contain his passion for writing. If you're going to take anyone's writing advice, I think it should be from someone who can't contain his passion for writing.

EY

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Writing By Kaizen

Sunday 8June08 3:47pm

An article that inspired the name of this blog is by Jennifer Lawler. The full article by Seeking Perfection: What it is... and isn't. is on her webpage.

Since I don't do any martial arts, I like the thought of applying the concept to life as a whole and writing in particular.

My favorite quotes from Jennifer's article are:

" ... In the martial arts, you train because you are a warrior. That’s what warriors do. And they do it because they’re warriors. That’s the only reason they have to have."

Notes in my writing notebook based on Jennifer's article:
- begin to train/write/sing because it feels good to train/write/sing. That's all
- master the techniques. Do it well for the sake of doing it well.
- choose to master writing because it is the one thing I could happily spend my life trying to perfect. Knowing I never would, but happy to try.


"The idea of training just to train, of doing something for its own sake, is called kaizen in Japanese martial arts. It’s related to – although independent of – the concept of bushido, which is the ideal of the warrior, the way the warrior lives. Making kaizen and bushido a part of my life has been an ongoing experiment – and experience. Like most of us, I constantly struggle to balance all the demands on my time and the expectations – spoken and unspoken – that people (including me) have for me. But I am aided by my belief that the way of mastery will guide me in the direction I need to go, and I never stray from the path for very long or very far."

Notes in my writing notebook based on Jennifer's article:
- to truly succeed, train/write/ sing even if there are no rewards for training/ writing/ singing, even if you're worse today than you were yesterday.
- when you pursue mastery in the spirit of kaizen, you think of each day as a clean slate, each moment as an opportunity to try again.
- what matters is whether you're trying to be a better writer today than you were yesterday.


"In fact, living by kaizen creates a life filled with pleasure, validation that comes from within (and doesn’t depend on outside sources subject to whims), a life that feels more fulfilling and rewarding.

Moving towards perfection means deciding to care for your body as well as you can today, and then tomorrow and then the next day. It is about the process, not the end result. Each day, the attempt should feel good. You got enough rest for once; you meditated after work and that helped you feel relaxed; you had fresh-squeezed orange juice for breakfast and that felt nourishing. You’re taking care of yourself. It doesn’t matter if you ever fit into that size four. That is not the point.

Moving towards perfection requires

Focusing
Living mindfully
Slowing down"

Starting all over again!

Sunday 8June08 3:40pm

First I had a writing blog on angelfire.com, then my Mac started crashing on it. So I started a writing blog on wordpress.com and just today my Mac started crashing on it. Today I go with Blogspot since I've had my other blog on there and it's never crashed my Mac.
So here I begin again. I don't know how well things will go since it's Mercury Retrograde but since I figure i am revisiting and renewing my blog interest that I should be okay.

Whatever! I'm here and I've got a new attitude!

Shelley with an EY!