This week I thought it would be fun to answer some questions that fellow writers sent me. I offer these writing issues with my personal opinions for possible solutions.

Let’s begin with a big one I get asked repeatedly:

I want to write but I just can’t find a way to begin. I’m blocked. I feel the words but can’t get them down on paper. Now I’m not sure I’ll ever write. ~Susan, Calif.

Hi Susan. First, I don’t believe in writer’s block (never did). I think I can help you with my trick. When I feel overwhelmed with lots of ideas, I do a brain dump. I have a variety of notebooks for just this sort of issue. First, I have a notebook for “ideas.” These are the random things I think about but aren’t sure what to do with them yet. Then I have a notebook for every book/project I’m working on. I keep those ideas together and that’s to be sure I don’t lose any story gems I think about but can’t write about just yet. Next, I have a notebook for research. You know those things you learn but it isn’t trivia and it isn’t a story (yet) but you think you might need it? I call this my Random Facts book. Very handy.  With these notebooks, I ensure that my ideas are captured and my brain is emptied of the clutter. This allows me to have a sharper focus on what I need or want to do and I’m not fighting my own ideas. 

Then you just begin. Don’t worry if it isn’t the actual beginning of a story or novel. Just start writing. Aren’t sure where the story is going to go? Don’t rub that wound, just let the writing out. Go ahead and do that crazy dialogue you’ve been fuming over. Write that creative description of that house. Take the car ride and tell us what you see. Just start. The rest will come. Hope this helps.

I have to do research for my story but I don’t know how to stop. I love it and my writing stops when I start searching. Then It’s hard to start again. ~Ted, MD

Good question, Ted. I love research too. I confess I’ve spent days lost in my search for cool stuff. When I was writing THE GYPSY THORN, I learned so much history, reading about Vienna, trade routes, churches and royalty that I felt I could write a college paper with ease. I printed off gobs of goodies and that is my secret. First, as I told Susan (above), you jot your notes down or you print the stuff off the computer (be sure to keep your bibliography and NEVER plagiarize from others). I like to be able to re-read my research later. To be sure I don’t get lost I either set a timer and stick to it or set aside a day just for that one thing. Then I don’t feel guilty or feel as though I’ve neglected my main work. When I find what I need I stop (most of the time). If I have found other goodies, I bookmark or make the notes in my notebook for the next designated research time. I recommend no more than three days a week if you have a great deal to do or an hour a day if that is more to your needs. Remember when you have your info to go back to that place and start writing about it. This would be in your first draft so don’t worry if it isn’t all “perfect.” Time to fix it later. You’ll do great. Happy hunting.

Since when do we take nouns and make them verbs? Don’t we have real words that we can use? ~Mary, GA

Hi Mary. I’m going to confess your question made me laugh. I often complain about language and how it’s used by others. In this case, I think I see what you mean. For example, author becomes “authoring,” right? And the one that bugs me is “adult” becomes “adulating.” It is curious how words become fads and then go mainstream so fast. But sometimes there just aren’t any words that accurately describe a thing. Take “groovy.”  The word was a jazz term in the 1920’s and mean the player was “in the groove” of the music which came when vinyl records were produced. When the music was “swinging” or “in the pocket” it was in the groove (as in the lay of the record). So in the 60’s, the word matched the feel of a new generation of music and once again, it described the sensation but for a new style of music. It was still the same word but with a new generation of applied feeling. So it is with authoring. I suppose you can say “I’m working on my author duties,” or “I’m making my plans for selling books” but in the spirt of being to the point and succinct, authoring will do. I’ve done the same with words. I’ve used this technique in poetry with great success, Check out my poems The Paper Cut Murder or The Hangnail Prison.  My word “dump-trucked” drew lots of laughter but my book PAPER BONES won awards. I think you should try your hand at creating new words for what you need to say. And I will agree – we say “authoring” and “adulting” waaaay too much. I’m going to make a note for myself. Thanks!

There’s too much to learn and I just want to write. ~Chrystal, TN

Oh I feel this one! I have said the same thing, Chrystal. Writers, as with any profession, are constantly learning their craft. Writing isn’t something you learn once and then go write. Formatting always changes, style changes, even how to write effective dialogue improves and sharpens. Strong writers are plugged into trade magazines, editors, blogs, conferences, groups, and books for the never-ending plethora of writing advice. There are moments, I know, when you feel as though you haven’t learned anything and get frustrated. Happens to everyone. Just keep writing. Practice what you’re learning by doing some writing exercises every day. Like every athlete works out, so you can work out your writing muscles to help make what you are learning become what you are writing. Never stop learning. Stay up-to-date. But never stop writing. You’ll get a rhythm and eventually, the exhaustive reading/learning becomes a part of you. Stay focused.

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Thanks for writing! If I didn’t answer your question here, you probably got an email from me. I like hearing from you, so keep those thoughts coming! Feel free to use the Contact Me form to reach out.

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UPDATES: ** Work progresses on the new book, LOVE AND BLOOD. I took some time off to be sure I was going in the direction I planned and I’ve been working steadily since mid-February. 

**I’m also doing work on some “vignettes” — short “moments” that take place inside stories that don’t make it into books or character insights that are simply fun and not valuable in the main stories. These partial mini-stories help to understand characters and put some events into context. I would like to have these out this year, too.

**Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram. Every Monday I showcase a new pen. I see a book coming on my pens after a year of them (they end late summer, so it will be late this year or early next year for the picture book).

**FACEBOOK LIVE! The monthly chat will Mar 24. Don’t miss out on the fun. I’m giving away some goodies.

As always, thanks for coming by.
I remain, Yours Between the Lines,
Sherry

Technology is stealing our lives and taking over! Remember Skynet? The company that was a net-conscious group-mind of artificial intelligence from the Terminator franchise? Well, turns out Skynet’s machines really are taming us. 

Ok, I’m a bit overly dramatic but I’m on a rant today, so look out. A few recent experiences have forced me to give technology a bit of a pie eye and I hope I can convince you to give it a more considered look, too.

First, did you catch the news about today’s children being unable to hold pencils? Yes, their hands do not easily conform to a pencil because 1. they spend too much time using their thunbs on their Gameboys/cellphones/netbooks etc. 2. they are no longer taught to write with pen or pencil, specifically cursive penmanship.

This news had my jaw hitting the table. First, with all the recent emphasis on calligraphy, I figured that writing was something our young folks cared about. Yes, this is true, if you are over the age of 17 or so. If you are in grade school, no. THE GOOD NEWS is that cursive writing is being taught again. It is a slow return but it IS a return. But seriously, can’t hold a pen or pencil?

Which brings me to my second item. Forks. I went to a restaurant recently and watched an entire family – nice looking, obviously doing well – shoveling their food with a spoon. Who eats steak with a spoon? Was it because they can’t properly HOLD A FORK? Maybe that’s related to the spoons. Whatever it was, it was beyond bizzare and I might have written it off until I saw it again with a couple of fifth and sixth graders who opted to eat with their fingers because the SPORK was too confusing and difficult to manage. Oh my Emily Post.

My third peeve with technology is how we are forgetting to think for ourselves. I have clocks in my home that require a person to be able to tell time. I don’t mean to have time TOLD to you. When a clock says 10:12 that is being told the time. I have clocks with dots for numbers and/or Roman numerals and I can not tell you how many 20, 30 and 40 something’s have looked at the clock and then asked me what time it was only to confess they can’t actually tell time. They’ve gotten used to being told what time it is. None of my watches will do for them nor my wall clock or grandfather clock. It is shameful to me that these adults need digital representations to give them information.

That’s like shoes. SHOES. I know too many people who need shoes that 1. have straps and Velcro or 2. need zippers  because they don’t know how to tie laces. CAN’T TIE THEIR SHOES. Yes’m I know about fashion and fads but a good pair of Keds or Sketchers never goes out of style! Good grief.

Can’t tie your shoes, or write your name, or tell time….let’s add to the list can’t do math without a calculator. I hate math. But even my nearly 64 years can add up three double digit numbers in my head or write them down on paper (oops, use of pencil), and then add the columns up (you know, carry the 1 and add that in…) to get a result. I love a good calculator when I need a whole line of numbers or adding up five digit long columns but that doesn’t mean I can’t do simple math in my head or multiply in my head without using formulas or fingers and toes. (Do you hear me signing?)

And what about using a dictionary or any reference book? I like Google as much as the next guy but half (or more) of what you read online isn’t fact checked and we all know Wikipedia is great but humans update it with what they think (and not necessarily what is truth). A good history book (old is better since it probably hasn’t been scrubbed and santifized), or even old encylopedias are very useful. That is if you can still recite your alphabet.

We live in a digtal, highly technological world that is being more dependent on cars that drive themselves (Can you park at all or will that go away too?). Do you read a recipe and cook any of your own food or is everything a drive thru or microwave quickie? 

I guess the straw that broke the camel’s back came when my I found out my friend’s second grade daughter couldn’t read yet. ANYTHING. Don’t you read at home, I asked with great surprise. Oh sure, I play them audiobooks all the time. There are great stories about history and even bedtime stories, she said without even feeling the sadness in her words.

I was stunned into complete silence. 

What are we teaching our kids and grandkids when they think pickles grow in jars and bologna is slang term? When cotton comes from a store and bananas grow in the ground and hydroponic is the only understanding of farming they know? When did we forget to teach children about real farming vs growing cabbages in a virtual world where trees suddenly pop up because you have points? What happens when you ask them to read something aloud and all they can do is stumble over words they are used to hearing vocalized, not by parents, but through earbuds, headphones and strange voices. Where letters and numbers are not necessary when the computer TELLS you what to choose from?

I like technology. Thanks to reseach and lab sciences we have breakthroughs in cancer, alzheimers, parkinsons, autism and so much more. Thanks to space travel we know more our about planet and we see what we can do to help fight against global warming (unless you think that is a fake news or a video game). Technology has made advances in safety, in space travel, in recycling, in clean air and water. Advancements have happened because of technology.

BUT! 

What happens when we skip the nuclear war and go right to EMPs and wipe out electronics? Can you start a fire? Or will you be like the fifth grader who didn’t know what a match looked like because Daddy used a click on lighter and a gas grill? He never saw charcoal in action much less ever learned how to start a fire unless he had gasoline and a blow torch. (Yes, that was hyperbole).

Seriously, we need to remember our basic skills and not lose them in the wake of technological advances. I can still make my own food from scratch, I know how to wind a watch and read a clock, I can write a letter (remember those?) and type with only using my thumbs for the space bar on the typewriter.

Technology is good. But not when it makes us stupid. Consider that when you ask your Alexa what time it is (yes i have Alexa too, and I like her!).

The answer is to remember to be smarter than the machines and don’t surrender to Skynet or the Matrix as the easy way out of life. We have tools we can use to fend for ourselves. Let’s remember to use what we have first and not forget the basics. Let technology tackle the truly technical stuff, the way we first envisioned it. Then no matter how fancy and techno awesome we make our lives, in the dark we can still find the lightswitch, change the channel, read a book by flashlight or make a hamburger without visual aids. We are thinking creatures.

If you doubt the reasoning just ask yourself what will you do if the next cyberattack takes down the internet or electricity? Won’t happen? It’s already happened. Twice.

We can still marvel at our advancing world, while continuing to think – and do – for ourselves. Self-reliance and independence is more than simply making enough money to pay the bills or buy an Alexa or a self-driving car. It’s managing to live in the light and the dark but by conscious choice.

Thanks for listening,
Yours Between the Lines,

Sherry

(Ps. I borrowed Skynet from the movies – I did not think that up myself and no offense is intended)

The XXIII Winter Olympiad LIVE

16 days.  Sixteen days of competition with drama confined (mostly) to snow and ice. Where being frozen out wasn’t a political snub, where losing wasn’t shamed and lamented because a silver or bronze medal was still a monumental win. Where achievement thrived in finishing last as much as in besting the field.

16 days of glory. Of “I’ll get it next year.” Of saying and waving goodbye to aged and wounded favorites and hello to fresh, nubile Cinderella-esque players with unlimited potential for the future.

16 days. Triumph, loss, success, failure, regret, and surprise, all jumbled together with teamwork, determination, patriotism, and purpose.

16 days where, if only for a little while, and if only in theory, being united in purpose was true for a select group of hopeful adults, sharing a common purpose despite the sport.

For these sixteen days, I stopped writing and reading, I stopped watching regular TV, I didn’t go out to eat or to the movies. Instead, for 16 incredible days, I immersed myself in the LIVE events of the Olympic winter games. Wholehearted and enthusiastic.

I’m exhausted. And I feel ridiculous writing those words now. For 16 days I watched almost every live event, forgiving myself for neglecting my “normal” life in order to have the vicarious experiences of thrills and spills from athletes around the world. For a time, I felt every loss, cheered every win, be it my team or another. And *I’m* exhausted? That’s funny compared to the physical expenditure I’ve witnessed over 16 days. But then, my focus is skewed.

After all, I am a writer. And for the first time in my 63 years I had the opportunity to witness live moments as I never could before these games. With husband retired, we could sleep as needed, steal naps when necessary, all to achieve the joyful nirvana that comes with being in the moment. Why? Because tape delays are after-the-fact. Delays give you artificial experiences. There is nothing like feeling your stomach clinch because you want someone to win, you hope they don’t fall, you want them to break a record and you have no idea what the outcome will be. Nothing like gasping when a snowboarder tumbles and praying all is well. Nothing like seeing a skater do six – SIX – quadruple jumps. Live. Real. In the moment. Next to being there, this was being there. I was a part of it all. LIVE.

To experience the joys and sorrows as they played out. To FEEL and KNOW as the athletes did.

 (Courtesy Tampa Bay Times)

No, I won’t understand it all but I listened to stories for 16 days. I watched struggles play out in the slopes, on the ice, in the bobsled, on skates and in the faces of families. I worried and hoped along with mothers and sisters, and I cheered and jumped up and down (literaly) when goofy good air times happened in the half pipe. I leaned to the left during the bobsledding. I sat up straight during ice skating jumps. I held my breath during ski jumping and screamed when the girls’ hockey team won gold just as I did when the men won their first curling gold medal. I also clapped for the second place teams who shed tears for their loss. I understood because I saw it as it happened.

(Courtesy of ABC News)

I cheered for bobsled teams who were never going to win against the giants. Yet I applauded because they came, they TRIED, and everyone cheered them for trying. I did too. I held my breath during accidents and followed athletes I didn’t know and might never see again. I was with them. I was on their team. I was a cheerleader and a believer. I hurt for losses and I danced for gold and I cried when my flag raised high and the National Anthem played. I sang along, too.

16 days. In the end, as the lights are go out and the programming end, I experienced something magical that only happens every four years. And I forgave myself for ignoring my normal life in order to know more about incredible people achieving incredible feats.

Courtesy of the NY DAILY NEWS

Including the Mexican skier (above) who finished last in the cross country race. He didn’t win. He didn’t help his country. We don’t usually remember last place, right? But wait, that’s not true. I watched the first place gold medal winner come to the finish line (on the left) to greet the last man. You see, the Mexican athlete did win. He finished the race. His achievement was completing a grueling race and he never quit. He earned respect and he was carried like a winner because HE WAS ONE, most especially to the gold medalist.

And for 16 days that was the point of the whole thing. Personal best. Personal achievement. 

Finishing what you start. No medals required. After 16 days I understood the point of it all.

As a writer, these 16 days were a present in emotions and experience. The faces and events filled me as nothing else possibly could. Next to being there in person, watching live was fulfilling and enriching. The athletes’ stories are the future of my own tales and I experienced a plethora of emotions live that you just can’t get from the news or the day after on Facebook.

Nearly 3000 athletes, 92 nations, 23 medals. An Olympic motto Citius, Altius, Fortius, in other words, Faster, Higher, Stronger. To be more, to go beyond, to breach limits. From Greece to Korea and all nations in between, we gathered united in one purpose under five rings:

to be our personal best.

16 days. I wouldn’t have missed a moment for anything. I am better because of those incredible days both as a writer and as a person.

Finally the night exploded with fireworks, alighting a stadium filled with Olympians. The light put sparks in the eye and ignited fresh fires in the hearts. The future beckoned and athletes promised to return.

So do I.

Yours Between the Lines,
Sherry