School Lunches: Anne Lamott

Back to Bird by Bird: Some instructions on Writing and Life

In this chapter, Anne Lamott has come up a fool-proof method of blasting through writer's block. "School Lunches."

School lunches?

Well, yes. Everyone had one of those school lunches. I used to bring a paperbag to school and hide it in my desk. When I was five, everyone brought a paperback (or a lunch box) to school. You knew you were cool if you had a lunch box. I wasn't cool.

Inside my bag, my mother carefully packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Sometimes the jelly would be grape, but more often it would be apricot because we lived in a apricot grove. The landowners gave us as many apricots as we wanted. We had dried, jellied, and fresh apricots. Sometimes my mother would give me a dime for a small carton of milk. Other times I would just drink water.

By the time I reached ten years old, most children were eating lunch at the cafeteria. They would get in line, pick up a tray, and receive one spoonful of food on their tray. Sometimes it was fish and chips (for Friday), or sometimes it was a small piece of chicken with mashed potatoes and a vegetable. I remember a hot dog with saurkraut once. But, while my classmates had school lunch, I still carried a paperbag.

One day, my teacher cornered me. She asked if we were too poor to come up with the dollar or so a week for school lunch. At the time there were four of us in school. I said yes... With four kids, it could get expensive fast.

Anyway, to my eternal embarrassment we were given a dispensation. I never told my classmates that my lunch was free. I couldn't live with it.

So here is an example how talking about a simple lunch at school can get me rambling on and on. Maybe some of this stuff I can edit into something good. Maybe not.

What was your school lunches like? Do you have other techniques to get writing? What is your favorite school memory? How would you use these memories in your writing?

Perfectionism: Anne Lamott

Back to Bird by Bird: Some instructions on Writing and Life

Perfectionism: When I was growing up, I lived with a perfectionist. I would finish the dishes and wash the tables down, then sweep the floor. My mother would come in and tell me that I had not finished the job.

"What?" I would say.

She would put on a pair of white gloves and do a white glove inspection. She would run her hand over the top of the fridge, the window sills, and any small flat surface. She even bent down and wiped her hand over the edges of the floor under the cabinets. The only time I saw that type of inspection was when I was in boot camp and school. The officer of the day who was supposed to inspect our rooms would show up with a white glove. They did this inspection weekly. My mother did this inspection every time I cleaned (daily).

I enjoyed Lamott's description of perfectionism. She writes that perfectionism is a writer's brain cramp. When a person writes as a perfectionist, s/he writes very carefully. Much of the joy, pain, and other emotion is wiped out in the first draft. In fact, if you are a perfectionist, you can't write a first draft.

A messy first draft is the way we find ourselves and our characters. So be that child with fingerpaints. You can clean the mess up later. The gems will come. It will be wonderful.

Are you a perfectionist? Are you ready to throw away the editor and play? There is a time and place for the editor, but you don't need someone in your head snickering at you. Geez it is too much.

Shitty First Draft: Anne Lamott

Back to Bird by Bird: Some instructions on Writing and Life

There is a misunderstanding that writers can write a novel, story, or poem the first time. This myth has discouraged so many potential writers. The truth is most writers write a terrible first draft.

It is after the third, fourth, fifth, or so forth that a story shines. There are a few writers that write good first draft, but normally they edit and work a scene at a time. They polish a scene before they get to the rest of the story.

I am not one of them.

I do my shitty first draft. I put it away for awhile, then I put more elements into the story. Frankly, I wouldn't let my husband read the first draft. As Lamott said, she was afraid that someone would see her first draft. After she wrote it, she would print it out and take out that "red" pen. She would find her beginning and ending sentence in the middle of the draft. She would cut, edit, and polish. Her review would be finished. Then it would be all over until she did it the next week.

So when you sit down to write, type or print that first draft. Write. Write. Write. Let your inner child out. After s/he has finished putting the graffiti down on the walls, then you can edit and put this piece into readable form.

Does the blank page stop you from writing? Are you afraid to write because you believe the first draft is the last draft? Just take a breath and start tapping on the keyboard.

One Short Assignment: Anne Lamott

Once again, I picked up bird by bird today to read the next chapter, one short assigment. I have decided to edit my Nanowrimo novel--Erika T. Red. However, when ever I put the pages down on my table (I have a table, not a desk), I start to panic.

The novel is already several pages long. How will I ever finish this novel. Will anyone want to read it? I feel the hounds of hell breathing heavily on my neck, or since I am in Nevada near Tahoe, maybe I should say the bears of hell biting my neck. Whatever.

I quit. Just like that. I quit.

Lamott, in her book, suggests cutting up this busines of writing into short assignments. Maybe today, I will write and edit the setting. Just one paragraph. And then I will take the next paragraph. I shouldn't look ahead. Just work on the one thing. Page by page.

One piece of dialog. One piece of setting. One dog. One bear.

And, when I get distracted by all the things I want to do... or all the things I am obligated to do, I should take a deep breath and continue--one sentence at a time.

Do you ever panic when you are writing or editing your work? What strategies to you use to keep writing? Do you believe in writer's block? How do you write--full piece or short assignments?

Beyond Fitness

Being fit, exercising every day, and eating the right foods, does not guarantee a long life. Before my illness with a vasculitis disease, I walked three to five miles every other day. I was careful of my salt intake. I took a multi-vitamin and I ate a balanced diet. I was lean and I was healthy.

My life was filled with responsibility, education, and independence. I had learned many years before that being in good physical shape did not guarantee life. At the Navy training base in Pensacola, Florida, a thirty-two year old runner died from a heart attack as he was running his usual ten miles a day. He forgot that he needed to be acclimatized before he did heavy exercise in the Florida sun. Healthy is the default setting not the guarantee.

When I reached the age of forty-one, I thought that I caught a stomach flu. But it didn't go away. I vomitted every four hours for two weeks. When I went to the ER, the ER doctors suggested that I had a mental problem. But, what was really happening was I was losing my kidneys. They hadn't a clue.

The rest of this article is here.

Getting Started: Anne Lamott

As a prelude to a writing warm-up, I have a some writing books that I pick from the pile. Right now my favorite is "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott. As a writer herself, Lamott understands writer traps.

Here are a few:

1. The Procrastinating Bush: This is the place were we (yea, I do it) get caught in daily chores such as the wash, dishes, cleaning--anything but writing.



2. The Editor's Pit: This is the place that we stand before a demon that tells us we can never write anything good enough for the public to read. We will never ever have readers.



3. The Researcher's Cave: We spend hours and hours looking for that perfect fact. We begin to believe that it is the research that will make our writing good. Instead we research instead of writing... again.

I have been caught into all of these traps. Right now, I am procrastinating by posting this little gem, instead of revising my draft. Oh well, I believe that I am clearing out the shrubbery.

Do you have any favorite traps that keep you from writing? Are you looking at a blank page or washing the dishes? Are you ready to write?

Myths in Writings

On Friday, Lynn at Romancing Paradise, wrote the following about myth in fiction writing:

The lovely Jane Porter once gave a workshop where she talked about how we write to a myth, perhaps something that resonated with us as children. It could be Cinderella (ragamuffin woman becomes gorgeous woman who meets prince, leaves him, and he tears up the kingdom to find her again), or Snow White (virginal heroine, evil stepmother), etc. My myth is Beauty and the Beast.

Lynn continued to say that her myth "Beauty and the Beast" was extremely suited to writing about military commandos or international tycoons tamed by love.

Reading this post, it occured to me that I also write to a myth: Hansel and Gretel (lost children or adults in bad situations, who not only help themselves but save others), which is suited to horror or paranomal dark fantasy.

Just the other day I complained to my husband that I would really like to write humor, but whenever I develop a story there can be humor elements, but it always turns into some type of scary situation usually with avenging ghosts or demons.

My husband was calm in his reply: "You write what you write."

UPDATE: 15 April 2008: Lynn suggested that my myth was Little Red Riding Hood. Oh gosh, what a big bad wolf you are... ;-)

Anyway, I write about female characters who survive against great odds.

What is your theme or myth? When you try to write against your theme, how do you do? Do you have more than one myth? Are there other elements to your core theme?

Half Naked in the Doctor's Office

As you probably realize from reading some of my posts, I have an auto-immune disease called Wegener's Granulomatosis. What you probably don't realize is that I take chemo-drugs and prednisone to keep my immune system in check. My basic doctors are a primary care physician and a rheumatologist. I can see up to two other doctors per year for other problems, including growths on my skin.

So two years ago, I was at the dermatologist in a pair of bra and panties covered with a paper sheet. The doctor was lifting the paper sheet checking my back, stomach, arms, and legs for unsightly growths, any of which could turn into cancer.

The rest of this story is here.