The Confabulator Cafe

Tag: writing

  • Rise Above the Tears

    Grandpa Joe

    Sometimes, tears can be our greatest inspiration. They force us to react, and rise above ourselves.

    Almost a year ago, I really kicked up my writing output. I wrote a lot. I read a lot. I started to find myself as an artist. Then, in December, my Grandpa Joe lay in hospice, dying of cancer.

    This affected me in many ways. Perhaps the most direct is the blog I wrote while struggling with my feelings about his impending death: A Train Ride to an Unknown Stop

    I wrote it in the middle of the night, right after finding out. I bought a domain name so that my blog would be easier to find, and then I posted it. My post had nearly six hundred views in December.

    (more…)

  • Break-up/Make-up Cycle

    I’m not sure what it says about my dedication to writing, but I give up quite often. At least once a year. Usually after National Novel Writing Month in November.

    When I write really intensively for long periods of time, I tend to burn myself out. I need time to recuperate and recover afterward. Sometimes that time is longer than I think it should be, so I get frustrated, and begin to doubt myself and my ability so much that I feel like it’s the end of my writing career.

    But it’s not. I’ve found that I can’t force myself to write during one of my breaks. If I do, the break ends up being even longer. So I find it healthy for my writing to quit for awhile sometimes.

    Not all of being a writer is about writing. We have to absorb a lot of the world in order to write, so I go into Input mode where I read and watch shows and spend time with friends and family and go on adventures to recharge my batteries and compile material.

    Then there is the more analytical side of being a writer. The editing. The submission process. My creative side of the writer psyche is ill-equipped to deal with those things because they take a detachment and a rational mind. The creative side has to take a vacation when those things are going on.

    So even when I quit writing, I am still working on being a writer. And even when I think I might never write again, I always come back. It’s too much a part of me not to. It’s in me. The only time I really feel like myself is when I write regularly. I miss it when it’s gone.

    It’s like a bad relationship, I suppose. We’ve broken up and gotten back together so many times. My life is incomplete without it, but sometimes I just can’t live with it. Sometimes I need a break.

    But my writing group never lets me actually give up. Their support and encouragement always brings me back around. And the fact that I understand this cycle now helps, as well. I am slowly starting to accept that I am a writer, even if sometimes I’m not actually writing. I’m pretty sure writing is my soul-mate, so we will always get back together in the end.

  • It’s the Hard Knock Life

    Being a writer is the hard knock life.

    There is this image that writers get out of bed at around noon, get to the computer by one, work a couple of hours, and then take a nap. There might be writers that do this, but I don’t know any.

    Being a writer involves long hours, even if you make your living doing it. It involves self-promotion, networking, reading, writing, research, re-reading, rewriting, correspondence, rewriting again, contractual obligations, and God knows what else.

    In addition, a lot of writers, even professionals have day jobs. If you are a writer with a day job, you don’t get a free pass on all that stuff. Instead, you do it when you get home. After forty-plus hours at work, in the time when other people are relaxing or playing with their children, you are expected to be a writer.

    All told, you can expect to spend around eight hours on a polished three thousand word short story. If you manage to sell it to a professional market, you will get five cents a word.  That is $150.00, or $18.75 an hour. That doesn’t sound bad. You’ll see that money in six months if you are lucky. That is the best-case scenario. (more…)

  • Quitters Anonymous (Week Ending August 11)

    Writing can be a frustrating profession. Whether doing it for love or money, whether trying to get published or not, sometimes writers get exasperated and wonder if it’s all worth it. Rejection letters don’t help. Neither do poor sales for those who get published.

    So this week, we asked the writers at the Confabulator Cafe whether or not they have ever thought of chucking it all. We’re not trying to be discouraging to the burgeoning writers who visit our site. We just think the question is a relative part of a writer’s life and needed to be discussed.

    What about you? Have you ever considered walking away from the writer’s life? What kept you from doing so? Have you quit? If so, what made you come back? Let us know in the comments below.

    Until next week,

    The Cafe Management

  • Take My Hand — We’re Going Elsewhere

    A Young Girl Reading by Jean-Honore Fragonard c.1776

    It would be easy for me to tell you that I write because I have to — that it’s in my blood and my heart, and I can’t help myself. That wouldn’t be true, exactly. I make up stories because I don’t know how not to. When I was a little girl, I told myself stories to fall asleep, and today I make up outrageous scenarios for people I see walking their dogs or sitting across a crowded restaurant.

    But I don’t write those down. Making stuff up is not writing.

    I would love to tell you I write for the money, but it’s too soon for that. Ask me again in a few years. Still, even if I were rich, it wouldn’t be why I started writing. Anybody who starts writing because they think it’s a good way to get rich quick is facing a huge letdown. That’s not it either.

    I write because I read. (more…)

  • Some hobbies just don’t translate…

    Some hobbies translate better to writing than others. For instance, my grandmother attempted to teach me to knit at various stages of my life with varying success. When I went off to college, it finally stuck. When I was writing my last novel, I thought it would be useful to have my character be able to knit—at least so far as darning socks is concerned.

    Let me tell you something about knitting, it is mind numbing. I usually work on it while I’m doing something else—like watching TV or listening to a book on tape, because otherwise I would lose all interest in the project.

    If the actual process is that mind-numbing and dull, imagine reading an entire paragraph where the only thing of note that takes place is that the protagonist darns a pair of socks. It was awful. Don’t do it.

    So I suppose a good rule of thumb for hobbies is that if it is boring in real life, it won’t translate well to paper.

    Other than writing itself, I don’t really see any of my hobbies cropping up in my stories. Perhaps if I wrote urban fantasy instead of doing world building, I would see more of an inclusion, but somehow sitting in front of a TV playing video games all day doesn’t really fit in to a sword and sorcery style novel… and I’m not about to attempt to pick up swordsmanship… that’s a good way to end up with broken or missing fingers… and then how am I supposed to write?

  • The Unfaithful Hobbyist

    My number one hobby is writing. The rest are really all just to inform my writing, if I’m frank.

    I have commitment issues when it comes to other hobbies. I pick up a bunch of hobbies long enough to learn about them but never master them, then move on to the next thing. I love to learn about everything, but I’m never dedicated enough to become an expert in anything.

    This does help me as a writer, believe it or not. I can include these hobbies in my story with just enough detail to be convincing, but be able to get away with not being proficient. Usually I use writing as an excuse to learn different hobbies more than I use my hobbies to inform my writing.

    (more…)

  • Are You Experienced? (Week Ending June 9)

    The old adage for writers states that we should write what we know. But how many of us actually put that to use? This week, the Confabulator Cafe is asking its writers to talk about experience and how it informs or influences their writing.

    Some writers live for new experiences. Others write what we can’t experience. Whether they are writing about their day jobs or slipping tidbits about their favorite hobbies into the mix, most writers have no shortage of experience to draw from.

    We hope you enjoy this week’s posts. Leave us some comments, and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

    See you next week,

    The Cafe Management

  • What Are You Currently Working On?

    One of the benefits of being involved in a writing group is that it keeps us accountable to our peers. Alone, we often succumb to the doldrums of a writing slump, assuring ourselves “I’ll get to it later.” As a group, the big question is always “what are you working on?” At all of our monthly meetings, we go around the circle and ask this question of each member. Most of it is honest curiosity – what will our amazing cohorts think up next? – but it has the added bonus of motivation. Nobody likes to say “nothing” when it’s his or her turn.

    So for this week’s Ephemera, you get to hear the Confabulator answers to the question “what are you currently working on?”

    Muriel Green

    I am in the middle of re-writing my National Novel Writing Month project from 2005. It is a young adult post-apocalyptic novel about two teenage girls who are professional salespeople at a permanent flea market. Revisiting a project after it’s “cooled off” for a few years is my favorite!

     Paul Swearingen

    The correct answer to “What am I working on?” would be “Trying to get a downed tree removed when no one involved – Westar, Wright Tree Service, another tree service, and the owner of the rental property I’m managing can give me the same answer or even answer my phone calls.” However, I am three chapters into a YA mystery set somewhere not far from Lawrence which may involve the underground railroad, Civil War raiders, paranormal elements, a reluctant love entanglement, and maybe even time travel

    Sara Lundberg

    Camp NaNoWriMo! Well, I haven’t started yet, but as of June 1st, I’ll be writing like mad to try to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I’ve been brainstorming ideas and making outlines for it, though. My novel may or may not be about my secret desires to do harm to a particular management figure in my life. Resemblance to people living or dead is probably coincidence. Probably.

    Jack Campbell, Jr.

    I am going to try to write a novel in June for Camp NaNoWriMo. It’s a dystopian noir detective story. The working title is Heaven’s Edge and takes place in a domed platform risen above a smog-choked future city.

    Kevin Wohler

    I’m currently working on a short story for an upcoming anthology. The story is a guide to being a better villain, and it’s called “Ultimatums.” It’s due at the end of the month, so it’s crunch time. 🙂

    Ashley M. Poland

    I’m working on two things right now, actually. I’ve been getting my plot and outline in order for Camp NaNo in June; it’s a project I meant to start two months ago, so it’s just a matter of deal with what I already have. I’m also working on finishing the first draft of a fanfiction challenge — it’s been my breathing room project between editing.

    Nancy Cayton Myers

    I am currently revising my NaNo 2011 novel, Dreamland.  I took a retreat in early May and was able to rewrite most of the first act–over 6000 new words to replace the first draft ugliness!  I’m also working on a couple of poems and have some short story ideas brewing.  Unfortunately, the end-of-the-school-year has taken its toll with work and family activities, so writing has been hit and miss the last couple of months.  Hoping summer will be slower at home so I can keep moving on the writing.

    R.L. Naquin

    I should be getting developmental edits for Pooka in My Pantry any minute. That’ll give me about a week to get started on them before June 1st.  Don’t laugh, but I’ve signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo to help me crank out the first 50K words for book three in the series, Fairies in My Fireplace. Okay, go ahead and laugh. That’s right. I’ll be revising book two with my editor while writing book three. June will be epic. Cover me, I’m going in. Send chocolate. And energy drinks. And a psychiatric professional.

    Jason Arnett

    I’m halfway through the edits on my novel from November and hope to have that finished soon. I’m also poring over several short stories with an eye toward submission and self-publishing. There are some other things, too, like waiting for notes on the sequel to Evolver and planning the sequel to another book that hasn’t been announced yet so there are a LOT of irons in the fire right now.

  • At Least My Friends Don’t Sit On My Face

    Prioritizing is a pain in the ass.

    There simply aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. Something’s going to get pushed back until tomorrow… which comes with its own to-do list.

    Some things are easy to put first on the agenda. Obviously I’m not going to go into work naked because there just wasn’t enough time to get dressed after my shower—my office is COLD. (more…)