Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Summertime Writing: Inspiration, Humor, and Camaraderie


It's hard to find writerly inspiration with all the distractions of swimming, hiking, biking, water skiing, vacationing, or just lazing in the sunshine. Try to persevere and remember. . .

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."  Thomas A. Edison


          "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better." Samuel Beckett




And my personal favorite to give me solace through the submission process.


"Opportunity does not knock,
 it presents itself 
when you beat down the door."
Kyle Chandler











All the writing rules getting you down? Take heart and enjoy this humorous passage from Anne R. Allen's December 22nd, 2013 Blog Post. Anne writes. . ."Here is a little verse I stole from Dorothy Parker wrote about those rules, based on Dorothy Parker's hilarious poem, "The Lady's Reward"."


Rules for the Beginning Novelist
…with apologies to Dorothy Parker

Newbie author, never pen
Background story till page ten.
Use no flashbacks—no, nor prologue.
Never start your book with di’logue.
Set the hero’s hair on fire.
Keep the situation dire.
Write in genres tried and true
From a single point of view.
Tell your tale in linear time.
Avoid a plot that strains the mind.
No dead kids, bad priests, abuse
Or politics in your debuts.
Copy last year's biggest hit.
No one wants to read new @#%*
Make it light but never funny.
(Humor’s too subjective, honey.)

And if that gets you published kid,
You’ll be the first it ever did.


Because summer is the perfect time to read on good book, at the beach, by the lake, on the river...
I'm enjoying John Green's works: An Abundance of Katherines, Alaska, and The Fault in the Stars (recently released as a movie)

                             For some shared writerly camaraderie with this hugely successful author, 


                                           here are a couple of John Green quotes on writing.



"I know that books seem like the ultimate thing that’s made by one person, but that’s not true. Every reading of a book is a collaboration between the reader and the writer who are making the story up together."

"Read a lot. Read broadly. . .Tell stories to your friends, and pay attention to when they get bored. . . Write a lot."

So try to carve out some writing time in your summer schedule or barring that listen to John Green and read a lot. Preferably by a beach, a lake or river. Enjoy your summer.

As always feel free to comment.