Meditation and Book Dreaming



Image by Dapino Colada

Ali Cross over at the writer’s dojo wrote a post on The Beauty Of Book Dreaming.  It’s basically an exercise to help writers reconnect with the story they’re writing.  This type of exercise is more like a meditation – also called book dreaming. 

My WIP has been a total seat of the pants - when inspiration  hits - type of a project.  Recently, I decided to revisit my work and attempt to outline the story before proceeding any further.  At first I had planned on working on my outline this weekend but since I’m not a plotter, I was dreading the drudgery ahead of me.

That is until I read Ali’s post.  Instead what I will do this weekend is dream – book dream for as long as I remain undisturbed.  I haven’t decided how I’ll go about it yet.  For starters I’m quite tempted to lounge in the tub with hot water, light some candles, have music playing in the background - possibly symphonic metal or maybe even classical.  There might be refreshments and something to nosh on within reach.  After all, I’ll be working and need to keep my energy up.  Maybe I should put up a "Do Not Disturb" sign (hand written with a sharpie and scotch taped to the bathroom door).

Next, I’ll focus on my project, breathing deeply and slowly while letting myself fall into the meditation as the “dreaming” begins. My intent will be to drop into the MC, becoming her, seeing through her eyes until there isn’t any distinction between her and I.  What will I see?  How will I feel?  Am I scared?  Confused?  Where will I go next?  And what will I do?

Meditation doesn't come easy for me so I’m hoping that this exercise proves fruitful and leads me to the next part of the MC’s journey.  Wish me luck.

Should I Include A Prologue?

What is past is prologue. -- William Shakespeare

The first chapter of my WIP isn’t the first chapter at all.  It turned out to be a prologue instead.  The first 2,153 words account for events that happened 42 years before the protagonist enters the scene in chapter one.  Most of the advice given to unpublished writers is to omit the prologue if we want to avoid the slush pile.  The mere mention of the slush pile evokes shivers in most writers, me included.

From what I understand, prologues have gone “out of style”, and to write one now-a-days is just as bad as using clichés.  One of the reasons is that the information given in the prologue can just as easily be incorporated into the story.  Another reason is that writers who use them only do so as a form of padding to add word count, and when removed do not affect the story at all.

The genre I’m working with is Fantasy and it’s important to explain what happened in the past, so that it’s clear to the reader why the protagonist experiences certain events in her timeline.  Although still viewed critically by agents, rules over prologues are a bit more relaxed in the Fantasy and Science Fiction genres.  Agents and publishers understand that with all the world building taking place, which of course differs so greatly from our reality, readers would get lost without proper explanation. 

Even so, I’ve been rethinking my prologue and trying to find ways of cutting it out, by having another character explain the back story in dialogue.  But it’s not so easy to do without the information dump being an obvious information dump.  The prologue does provide a lot of background info that is definitely important to the story but it’s not all of it.  I already planned on having a character provide the extra info and if I were to cut out the prologue that would be too much info dumping.

I’m still working on my first draft so I have some time to decide whether to cut out the prologue or not.  But I’m really attached to it, so I hope it survives the re-write.

The Harpy

Vain Harpy by Sandara

Wrapped in bows of false sincerity

Wearing a cloak of silky deceit

Feigning helplessness and gentle ways

She lured him with her guile

Spinning a web of artifice

Dark eyes beckoned and flickered

Ensnared in her clutches

She held him to her bosom

And lavished him with kisses

His sworn oath already given

The deception was revealed

Yet he believed his love would heal

The self-hatred of his beloved tormentor

Displeased with her skin, her color, her girth

Unsure of her beauty and her self-worth

Delusions clouded her thinking as well

Overly suspicious the malicious shrew

Unleashed her claws and animosity grew

Distortions and fabrications pushed and pulled

Contradictions and false affection confused him

He yearned and loathed conflicted

Alienated and devastated he goes on

Resigned to his cruel companion

Underhandedness and duplicity the only exchange

Vindictive and evil her skin shines clear

The harpy thrives and he lives in fear

Versatile Blogger Award

I received The Versatile Blogger Award from Magaly over at Pagan Culture.  Magaly is a pretty versatile blogger herself and her blog is pretty nifty too!  Do people even say “nifty” now-a-days?    Anyway, she has a cool blog with lots of witchy stories and sometimes there’s even a princess, so check her out at: http://pagan-culture.blogspot.com/

As an award winner I must list seven things about myself and pass the award to fifteen other blogs.

Seven Things About Me

1.       Black is my comfort color.  Most of my wardrobe is black and any color I have will be in the darker hue of the color spectrum: e.g.: blood red, dark purples, dark chocolates.  Totally dislike pastels, the color yellow and most floral prints.

2.       I was in the Goth scene some years ago and I’m still Goth at heart.  Often people say “Goth is about death” but Goth embraces every aspect of life (especially its soulful and darker nature) including death, which helped me stop fearing death and cemeteries.  Prior to that I couldn’t step into a cemetery.  Now I see the peacefulness of the park-like settings and the beauty of the stones, statues and mausoleums instead of feeling irrational fear.

3.       I’m not a seamstress but I put together my Halloween costumes.  Sure, you can see the stitches from the moon but whatever project I’ve set myself to do, I make it work.  Perfect or not I’m proud of my work.

4.       Every time I read an amazing book, I think that my writing can’t compare to such great work and begin to doubt myself as a writer.  Then I get depressed and a few days later I give myself a pep talk and lift my spirits up again.

5.       I don’t drive.  It’s on my list of things to do that I never get around to doing.  I don’t even have a permit and the thought of car insurance makes me squirm because new drivers have really high payments.  Eventually, I’ll have to drive so it remains on the list – like at the bottom of the list.

6.       I’m not musically talented but I love to sing.  My daughter has an ear for music – she taught herself to play the piano.  So my singing is very painful to her, especially when I sing opera.

7.       Many years ago when I took maternity leave, my boss had a temporary assistant take over my duties during my absence.  Unfortunately, before I could return from maternity leave, the girl left on maternity leave.  My boss got rid of my desk chair.  His reasoning:  We both sat on the chair, we both got pregnant and we both went on maternity leave.  Therefore, he deduced that pregnancy is contagious.

Below are the 15 blogs who I’ve passed the award to.

1. WiccanD's Blog
2. Adventures of the Striped Stockings
3. Rinni's Playground
4. Books and Things
5. PaganDad
6. Pixie Hill - A Journal Of Proof
7. By The Broomstick
8. An English Witchery
9. Alien Romances
10. the spirit that moves me
11. 40 and Loving It
12. Simply Positive
13. Grumpy Bulldog's Blog
14. Empty White Pages
15. Wicked Faerie Queen

Archery

I belong to an archery club and we met up yesterday at the range.  It had been a while since we had an event and it was good to see them again.  This a great club because everyone is friendly and their energy is wonderful to be around.  I shoot a left handed recurve bow with a 25 pound draw weight.  However, my goal was always to shoot a long bow (think Robin Hood).  Long bows tend to come in heavier draw weights and when I started out, I was pulling at 20 pounds.  So I had to work my way up by developing my strength.

 

My friend Paola has been shooting an English long bow for a while and when I expressed my wishes to her, she let me try out her 30 pound long bow.  I was able to successfully pull the full draw weight and shoot.  I’m not a marksman and am glad when I hit any part of the target, but the fact that I was shooting a long bow had me on cloud nine.

I’m so excited and can’t wait to purchase my own.  One of the wonderful aspects of being a member of this club is its members, like Paola.  From the first day I joined, she has been friendly and welcoming and has shared her equipment with me.  She’s a great person and I’m glad that I met her along with all the other members of our club.  They’re the best!

Saving my pennies for an English long bow has been added to my to-do list, and hopefully by the summer I’ll be tagging along with one of my own.

Severed Quiddity

The tumultuous downpour of fallen dreams
 Disintegrated fragments reduced and degraded
 It’s abandoned relics a tribute to despair
  
Trapped and shackled – the barrier unseen
 The vortex ensues; its maelstrom unrestrained
His Will terminally shredded and diminished
In a cataclysm of adversity

Regurgitated remnants of a vulnerable psyche
 Choke in the putrid fumes of futility
 Despondent and withering from the scourge

Spirit lies mauled in the barren pit
 Where the hollowness of a phantom wind
 Echoes the distant cry
 Of death’s song

Status Update On My New Year's Resolution

It’s now February and the first month of my New Year’s resolution was slow going.  There were days in which I wondered if I should’ve  made a resolution at all, especially since they’ve never been successful in the past.  But I’m going to go forward for another month and then reassess.

My time management hasn’t improved either.  On my last post, I decided to write more on Wednesday nights – that worked once but has been an overall failure.  At the time, I didn’t realize that Wednesday nights wouldn’t work for me.  So my writing has been worse than sporadic - it’s been non-existent.  I have worked on my novel – basically researching elements that I want to include in my world building, but there has to be some way that I can squeeze more writing in.  For now, I’ll just write here and there squeezing any block of time that I can, since scheduling a structured writing session isn’t working.

Meditation hasn’t happened yet either, but it’s still part of the plan and I will eventually get to it.  If I don't start this month then perhaps it'll happen in March.  I’ve made some drastic changes to my diet to improve overall health.  Besides eating more fruits and vegetables, I’m also avoiding gluten and milk products.  I’m lactose intolerant so that explains avoiding yummy things like milkshakes and cheesecake.  What has been proving very difficult for me is abstaining from breads, pastas, cakes, etc.; because anything made with flour has gluten in it.

As for eliminating clutter – I don’t know where to begin.  No, that’s not true.  I do know where I want to begin but somehow I can’t bring myself to do it.  I don’t know why.  Every time I decide this will be the time to start, a bout of lethargy assails me and I focus on something else – like curling down on my bed with a book and reading, napping, or snacking.  My email inbox is overflowing and I wonder if I can sit down to read it all.  It’s been weeks since I visited any of the blogs I follow. 

How do other writers do it; find the time to write, organize their lives and their families while producing book after book?  Maybe I just need to relax for a while so that my batteries get recharged.  Or maybe I’m going about it the wrong way.  For me being a writer is writing; it’s someone who writes.  In order to consider myself a writer I must write.  If I’m not writing (whether I’m thinking about writing or not) it doesn’t merit, in my current opinion, enough credit to call myself a writer. 

Time Management

Part of my New Year’s resolution is to write more.  I have several WIPs at various levels of completion that require my attention without disruptions, interruptions and distractions.  Of course I have the attention span of a two year old and although I don’t have ADD, I can act like it sometimes – look shiny!  With all of that in mind, I figured that what I need to do is work on time management. 

 

This is how my evenings usually go: 

·         I get home between 8:00 and 8:30 pm every night after travelling 1 ½ hours from work.  The first thing I do after checking my snail mail is start working on dinner – that can take about an hour.

·         9:30 – 10:00 pm I’m eating dinner.

·         10:00 – 10:15 pm I tidy up a bit – how much clean up depends on how tired I am.

·         10:15 – 11:15 Check e-mail.  Lately, I’ve been exhausted and under the weather so I haven’t kept up with my e-mails, newsletter subscriptions, blog subscriptions, etcetera so they’re piling up in my inbox.

·         11:15 – 11:45 pm I take shower.

·         11:45 – 12:00 am Figure out what I’ll be wearing the next day because I’m not a morning person and I’m usually a brainless zombie in the mornings.

·         12:00 – 12:30 am Visit some of the blogs I follow (didn’t realize I follow so many!)

·         12:30 am Research whatever topic has grabbed my interest lately. Another of my resolutions is to eat more raw fruits & vegetables – generally eat healthier (e.g.: Organic & Non-GMO verified foods, Vegetarian foods, Raw foods, etc.).

·         1:00 am Yawning, I go to bed.

Unlike others, I can’t write in the mornings.  I’m NOT a morning person and my brain is still snoozing before 12:00 pm.  The only way I can get any writing in, is if I skip a lot of the normal routine things like making dinner, cleaning the house (not that I do that much cleaning anyway), going to sleep at a somewhat normal hour.  I write on the weekends but this isn’t enough to complete any projects.  What can I do to get some writing in without resorting to drinking too much coffee and picking up smoking as a habit? 

The only thing I can think of to do at the moment is this:  I’ll stop checking e-mail every day.  Instead I’ll check it every other day.  I’ll end up with more in my inbox which will take me longer to go through but it’s got to be done so I can write more. I will designate a day during the week to write so there will be no cooking dinner. That saves about an hour and 45 minutes which I can use for writing!  In addition to that, I won’t check e-mail on that day which will save another hour.  So the tally is now two hours and 45 minutes at my disposal.  Wednesday nights might be perfect to do this because it’s the middle of the week; I’ll pick up some takeout food that night on my way home.  From now on, I will refer to Wednesday as “Write Day” instead of “Hump Day”. 

I will continue to write on Saturdays.  Fridays are iffy when it comes to writing because I like to catch up on programs that I watch online, surf a few vlogs that I follow on YouTube and/or read.  Sundays are “cleaning” day in my house but I will try to sneak in some writing as well.  That’s all I have for now but I will incorporate these changes into my schedule as of next week.