The writing diet

Heather asked us this week about our favorite type of writing, after Carolyn asked what we'd write even if we weren't paid.
I'm going to approach thing slightly differently, because I would (and DO) write whatever takes me because its food for my soul. I can't NOT write. It hurts my head if I don't.
But my writing 'diet' has differences to other people.

I write full time for my university course. I am in Uni for 10 hours a week, and all ten hours plus the eight hours per class of private study that I do is my major commitment. On top of that I do a couple of hours, per book, every two days, and I have five books on the go. In that hour, I add between 500 and 15000 words - depending on how complicated the scene that I'm writing is and how involved I get.
I also blog - five blogs, five posts per week, per blog, plus I update my personal blog irregularly.

I like my writing diet - I might not always get three 'meals a day' but I love the writing - and reading I do in association with the work that I'm up to that specific day. And its a varied diet - as varied as the things I've been working on - one day I'm writing 20 articles on blogging - the next I'm world building - creating worlds and weaving personalities.
To answer the question though...
My favorite type of writing is the one that lets me put the right words on a page. Whether that's poetry, prose, copywriting or programming. And don't get me wrong - being paid for it is NICE. I like being able to hand money to my partner and contribute to the house, but affecting people, and sharing the things that I'm trying to help people understand is more important - giving back what I've had support in learning is priceless.
On the subject of that though, I now have a contract - my first novel in my (sort of) pen name (Kai Viola ) is coming out in 2009. I'll explain why its a 'sort of pen name' and more about it later next week, and can share the blurb and finalised descriptions 'etc' if anyone is interested.

The breath of the divine...

I joke that my muse carries an Uzi.

It used to be, that I would get a tight feeling at the top of my spine (which has since turned into chronic back pain--why is everything about pain with me lately?) when I was really inspired. I imagined that it was a lovely mid-life lady with flowing, soft, blond hair that fell in ringlets, wearing a classic Grecian robe--you know the kind, with the crissy-crossy gold straps. She was lovely, beneficent, a being of light. But over that peaceful interior, she wore a bandoleer of ammunition and carried an Uzi. Suffice it to say, she is both a lady who knows what she wants and knows how to induce me to do it.

Then, one day after a six month writing jag, she stopped coming to work, abandoned her husband and sons, ran off to Tahiti and married one of my main characters. She still blames me over-working her for the failure of her marriage. ME over-working HER? Schah! Now in her 40's my muse has a new family. Go figure.

She sometimes comes to visit, usually in the winter between November and February. Why she'd trade a Tahiti winter for a Virginia winter is beyond me, but that's her preferred time for a jaunt. But most of the time, she just sends me postcards. Then, I can write. That's the kind of writing I love... when I get a postcard--or even better, a visit from my muse--and everything flows out of my fingers like God himself had breathed on them.

This week, I got a postcard from my muse. I turned out what I felt was an absolutely fabulous synopsis for my new novel The Barunian Incident for this synopsis seminar I'm taking. My three pre-readers loved it. One whose experience and opinion I trust said it was very, very good.

Both critiquers from the synopsis seminar hated it.

One attacked every single plot point, though we weren't supposed to comment on the other person's story. It seems he was looking for hard SF and thought mine was a "romance in space." You could tell that he looked down on romance... which should not have been a problem since my novel isn't a romance in the sense that the goal of the protagonist is not to find love. She has another goal, she happens to find love along the way. And you know what, IT'S NOT HARD SF!!! It's not MEANT to be hard SF! No wonder he didn't like it. It's soft SF, character driven, not plot driven. So because I didn't give this idiot the STORY he wanted, he was unable to give me any feedback on whether the synopsis mechanics actually worked for MY story--not the one he wanted it to be in his head. Perhaps this means that the mechanics are perfect, but I doubt it. It's the worst kind of "critique" one that ignores what he's supposed to be doing to harp on how the piece isn't the kind of story he wants it to be.

The other didn't understand the simplest thing. Like my query (sent with the critique) said that one main character will get beheaded if he doesn't become king because of "brotherly-lust for power." Now, if you're NOT a moron, you know that "brothers" = "someone else might become king." HOW CAN YOU NOT GET THAT? She didn't get anything. Nothing. Not one single plot point. Nada. I mean, NO ONE IS THAT STUPID. She wanted explanation, reasoning, description. And anyone who knows jack shit about writing a synopsis knows that a synopsis is not the place for those things. It's for getting the main parts of the plot down in the most attractive way possible.

The sad thing is that I was also assigned to crit her synopsis. I had read it yesterday afternoon--before I read her crit of mine, mind you--and was not all that impressed. And that made me sad, because I am a big fan of her writing. She's a great writer with a brilliant future. The synop was the kind of serviceable-but-not-great synopsis that just sucks the life out of a novel. I know. I've written poor synops before and I've read good ones.


She didn't much like my crit either, because her note of thanks basically refuted everything I said, said that she'd accomplished exactly what she set out to do. IN short, I was completely wrong. Well! You're WELCOME!

Her reasoning: "Every published author's synopsis I've ever read was kind of dry." Made me just want to scream. I knew it was useless to argue with her. She got one idea in her head, "synopses HAVE to be dry and suck the life out of your novel" because she'd read bad synopses by authors who happened to get published. She's never read a great synopsis, so she thinks that was how they SHOULD be and excused herself from writing having to write something that was more than pedestrian and run-of-the-mill. Gosh, that is SO much easier! Just write a yawner full of extraneous detail and wishy-washy characterization. Wish I'd thought of that. And she hated my synop because it was short on (extraneous, IMO) detail and long on style ("a synopsis is not the place to show off your writing.")

Anyway, I still get one more crit from this seminar. And I have to decide what to do with the synopsis. Clearly, there are some plot points that don't scan from the text. I have to figure out what those are and clarify them in as few words as possible. I need to figure out how to downplay the romantic aspect and up-play the fact that this happens on a planet other than Earth and is actually SF, which it is. And I need to figure out what is good from two really not helpful critiques and using them to make my synopsis better... all while tromping down on my raging ego, which is, to say the least, bruised.

And that last is the hard part. As difficult as writing the synop itself is, figuring out what's worth keeping from a crit where the writer doesn't understand what a good synopsis is and another where the critter has an ax to grind about the story (which is not supposed to be the focus of his crit) and doesn't say anything about what makes him NOT "believe it" is really hard. You have to not only read between the lines, you have to read minds! And I have to do it without the substantial ego--the confidence I've built from ten years of success (and failure)--to protect me. I hope my ego doesn't to to Tahiti too.

This is the part of writing I hate.

My Favorite Crack-a-lakin Writin': I now command you...

I have a 'real life' job in sales. Yes, me, I'm a salesperson. I sell stuff to people and I kind of sort of like it... most of the time. I'm also a Team Leader. I help other salespeople learn to sell and I guide them through our company's various departments and resources...

And while I do this... it feeds that little inner beastie of mine. That little controlling beastie that loves to TELL PEOPLE WHAT TO DO. (and where to go and how to get there, but that's another post for another time.)

At work there isn't much writing to do. Or rather, there wasn't until I created some writing ...

Now technically, I get paid to do my job. But my job doesn't really include writing. I could spend all day, all week, all month selling and have to do very little writing outside of communicating with customers.

But not me. Because I like to write and I like to tell people what to do. On a higher level, I like to organize my world through writing.

So I wrote the 'bible' of our department.

I wrote a training schedule.

I wrote a training guide.

I write sales letters every week.

I wrote the job description for my employees.

I wrote my own job description when they were creating the job I was promoted in to.

I write update and directives and instructions. If someone needs to know how to do something, I write the ten step guide to that task... my department has gone from almost no documentation to having everything documented.

I volunteer to proofread our company purchasing guide.

I create marketing material and pitch it to my boss.

The great thing is... all of this writing will still fit on my writer resume. It's all writing that I could go and get paid to do, but I do it at work as a 'side job'.

The benefits are many. Like the email my boss cc'd me on today where he sort of bragged that I was a "professional writer". Or the confidence I feel when I start to proofread something because I'm used to doing it. Or the ease with which I can rattle off a sales letter that my employees love to send out.

So even though they don't pay me to do it... I love it.

My Kind of Writing

I have written many articles for local newspapers and online. The best kind of writing that I truly love is when readers apply my articles to their lives. I love it when I know readers have benefited from my articles.

How do I know when readers have benefited from my articles? By feedback--written and verbal. It makes me feel like I contributing positively towards humanity.

My favorite kind of writing, and another thing I love

First let me say that I enjoy many different kinds of writing - putting my best effort into an advertorial can be as much fun as fiddling around with a limerick for kicks, and getting into "the zone" with an article or an essay is just as satisfying as making things up for a story or the first part of a novel. (Don't know what the second part of a novel is like yet, though!)

But my favorite, favorite, could-do-it-all-day-and-not-get-tired-of-it type of writing is....

EMAIL.

Yes, I love email. And forum posts. I like LOL-ing and ROFL-ing and ;-) and :-D and giving short tidbits of advice or humorous observations, and commisseration and encouragement and everything else that can go into email or forum posts.

I think it's rather an art form... it truly is difficult to convey a certain tone through word-choice, even with emoticons.

Okay, so maybe it's not "real" writing, but I've written some of my best stuff in email and on forums. Every now and then, I'll have this fantastic mini-essay or service piece all ready to go when I realize I should save it, because it would work in an article. The only problem with that is that I don't get the instant gratification of having someone read it in the next two minutes and respond to it.

And here's another thing I love, that isn't technically writing but is part of being a writer: More and more, I love interviews! Preferably long, slightly rambling and partly off-topic interviews. The things you can learn by listening to people, and asking questions about them and what they're passionate about!

A really good interview jazzes me in a way that gets me bouncing around for the rest of the day. For example: I just interviewed two managers at a construction materials company. You would think, "oh great, we're going to talk about gravel," but no - they are committed to providing a great environment for their employees, and offer benefits like tuition reimbursement to help them advance in the company. I also found out that Western Colorado is not faring the same as the rest of the U.S. While everyone else is talking about slowdowns and rebates, they're in an oil and gas boom.

That's good to know, isn't it? That's interesting. I get off the phone and for twenty minutes I'm telling my husband all about it. He doesn't know what that has to do with anything, but I'm just excited. It has to do with something. I'm sure of it. It could probably even be the basis for an article.

Okay, so I've just revealed two things about myself: I like having conversations, whether by text or by phone, and I get excited over learning useless information. Except that it's not useless. To someone, a reader, it would be important. Maybe someone who works in construction and needs a job. I don't know. But there you go. The kind of writing I love is anything that's going to be helpful to someone, and provides me with almost instant feedback.

:)

Theme - Writing You Love To Write!

This week's theme comes from the indominable Carolyn!

"What kind of writing do you love the most, that you would do if no one paid you to do it?”

Feel free to respond in the comments or post a link to your own blog!