Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Finding the Marbles

Oh, what is it about this time of year, where my brain takes off and scatters itself all over the place? The juggling act, which I wasn't so good at to begin with, comes crashing down around me and I can't seem to catch a single ball falls from the air. We're desperate for summer in this house. E. can't take another moment of school (thank goodness for her Mammy and Poppy - they're whisking her away on a several-day-long camping trip up in "God's Country"; it's a trip of which I'm very much jealous). I can't quite let go of work and separate myself. We're all hungry for some time together and to have one less thing to do. And goodness, do we need to unplug.

It wasn't that long ago that I was touting how well we were doing sans screens. And we really were. And suddenly working full-time sapped my ability to handle my children's needs in full force and screens became a much needed buffer between my tired body and brain and their immediate needs. (On another note, this led to the mommy-guilt rabbit hole that spiraled in a whole other, rather dark, direction.) Now we're far too glued to screens, too plugged in, and someone needs to pull the cord.

That's my goal for the summer, to unplug and free ourselves. I want to purge everything from our house, all the things we don't need and don't use (or shouldn't) and just bring the basics back to myself and my children. I'm starting to feel frazzled and I know the kids are, too. When every morning is starting out in tears, something has to give.

I think I'm going to spend this summer gathering up all those bits of my brain that have scattered themselves, like marbles escaped from their jar. I want to reconnect to my life, my children and husband, while we all disconnect from the external distractions in our lives.

Monday, May 11, 2015

So Board


I often feel like I'm a Type A person stuck in a Type B's...something. I love a good plan, but I'm not always so great at sticking with it (ahem, blogging...). I recently came across this sort of fabulous new way to plan my fiction writing, though. Obviously, a new method to do something doesn't, by any stretch of the imagination, mean I'm going to stick with it, but small portion of me that is Type A revels in this practice. 

Behold, the Plot Board:


So, this is totally not my own creation. I mean, the board itself totally is mine, along with the $12 investment, between the tri-fold poster board itself, sticky notes, and retractable sharpy (my love affair with office supplies is eternal), but the concept is not mine. I found this little gem of an idea here and fell in love with the concept. I like things I can manipulate, and the idea of moving stickies around and rearranging scenes as necessary and being able to visually keep track of plots and subplots appeals to me. I am not usually a kinesthetic or visual learner, but I think tapping into those skills help me see the big picture. I'm a details girl and pulling back to see the full picture is a tough, but this definitely helps. So far so good, so I'll say if you're writing and you have a hard time seeing the forest for the trees, this is worth a try.

Currently I'm moving back and forth between writing scenes, small, intimate things, which I love to write, creating characters and the world they inhabit, and hammering out major plot points. It's like a jigsaw puzzle, and rather than attacking it in a way that would make sense, maybe working on one particular part or piecing together the edges, I have all these little islands of connected pieces that will hopefully flesh themselves out eventually. I'm hoping the plot board will keep me on some sort of path, even if I periodically meander off - to watch Real Housewives.

Saturday, May 9, 2015

The First Beach Day






After what felt like the longest winter of my life (and certainly of my littles' lives), we ditched our usual school night routines and found ourselves at the lake last Thursday night. The water was frigid but the air had that lovely heavy heat to it that I know I won't love in July, but it was perfect for early May.  

 

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Unblocked Writer



I'm back, but with no agenda, no plans, no little granular thoughts. Simply, I'm here to fill space that I have so desperately wanted to fill. I want to spread out all over this white, blank space and saturate it. Words want to tumble from my brain like so many raindrops from the water-heavy sky and soak into the bone dry earth.

Let me spin sentences like a spider does her web. Let me pluck words like flowers from a field. Let me weave together pieces of thoughts like a bracelet of embroidery floss - colorful and meaningless, durable all the same. Let me deliver you more analogies and metaphors like a waiter at an endless feast who does not stop even when you cry how over-full you are.

Sometimes I just need to let out all these words that haven't made their way out in the midst of writing assignments and work emails. I don't think the principal wants to hear me spin fabulous tails and I think my students are already a little bit bored with me.

My writer's brain is getting a little feisty, irritated, even. It hears me talk about writing all the time, it's interest being piqued even at the mention of five paragraph essays, and wonders why so much talk and so little doing. So, here I am, taking my poor little writer's brain out for a walk. It was once a galloping St. Bernard, huge and harry and full of joy, but now it's been reduced to a small, yappy pup, terrier size, making up for it's lack of size by it's inexhaustible bark. I can see it stretching it's stubby legs here over the screen, leaping over the overburdened metaphors like hurdles, and not quite clearing them (perhaps because there are too many).

Forgive my me zeal on this page, forgive me my absence and my periodic returns. I needed a spot to rest, but now I must return.