Guest Post by Tim Gallen: The Writer’s Life

19
Mar

I’m so excited to share the writing of my new friend, Tim Gallen. (Is that cool, Tim? Can I call you friend?) He’s a hilarious original thinker who is going to be super famous one day. Start reading him now so you can say ‘I knew him when…’ and be famous yourself by proximity.

The Writer’s Life

by tim gallen

Tim Gallen is a writer, truth-seeker, and legend in his own mind. He loves good stories, good words, and good beer. He shares his random thoughts on life at his blog, the daily gallen. Follow him on Twitter or friend him on Facebook. He won’t mind.

String nouns and verbs together; sprinkle an adjective or two and include a choice adverb.

Regardless the alphabet in which we work, this is the writer’s life. It is one of letters, words, sentences, and clauses. Turns of phrase that take hours to craft and years to master.

The writer’s life is one of communal disappointment, split infinitives, and metaphors that stretch too far.

The world often misjudges the dedication, the energy, the life that goes into writing our words.

To the non-writer, words are simply that: nouns and verbs, adjectives and adverbs. Simple tools used to craft messages and communicate commands and demands.

Words are easy, but writing them can be bloody.

To the writer, they are more than just words. They are more than mere tools.

They are a piece of us, an extension of our lives. A writer’s words are pieces of his soul, bled out for the world to read.

The writer’s life is one of solitary bloodletting.

As any number of writers have been attributed as saying, “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed.”

To write means to bleed on the page, and blood can come in a drip or a deluge.

Writers bleed alone, howling in pain or cackling in madness. Sometimes both. When we’ve bled ourselves dry, we share our life’s blood with the world, ignoring the sting of our open wounds.

Some may nod in respect, others may weep with joy.

Still others may pour salt in the still-healing wounds and say our work is nothing more than a hack job, blissfully unaware of the glimmer of truth within their harsh assessment.

The writer’s life is one of a constantly racing mind, full of thoughts and ideas, both dark and light, uplifting and down-bringing.

A writer’s head never ceases to churn, to move, to flow like the ocean in a hurricane. Ideas, words, puns, phrases, and a billion voices fill this mind that is not quite grounded in reality, never quite present in the here and now.

The writer’s role is to charge head-on into this torrent of imagination, power, and thought to uncover the truth of it all, hidden among the brambles.

The writer’s life is one of the senses: to taste, touch, hear, smell, and see. To charge into the tempest of life and stand in the eye of the storm to declare truth. For the world is full of truth we refuse to acknowledge and recognize with our senses.

Writer’s life (Photo credit: A’Shioji)

The world needs writers to remove the veil from our eyes. We may thrash and scream, we may fall to our knees and weep. But we will no longer be able to deny the truths of our world.

A life of nouns and verbs, blood and solitude, tempest and truth.

This is the writer’s life.

March Pitch Madness

16
Mar

SPOILER ALERT AND UPDATE:

Email notifications were sent out Monday, March 18th, 2013, to let people know they’d made it to the next round. Even though I checked my spam folder about four times (every hour), I didn’t receive an email. Congratulations to all who moved forward and best of luck as you pursue your dreams.

This week I did something super scary. I submitted a query to a Twitter event called Pitch Madness.

I hardly know what it is, but I saw it happen earlier in the year and missed my opportunity. I tend to think that it can’t hurt to get feedback on your material, particularly if it comes from a knowledgeable source. I kept track of the site and when Pitch Madness came around again, I was waiting for it.

The rules are pretty simple. They pick a bunch of agents to look over the pitches people send in, and the agents can pick the queries they want to pursue. There are strict instructions about how to format entries and what to include. I’m going to include my submission/query for you to read below. Does this scare the living buhjeebers out of me? Absolutely. 100%. Ya you betcha.

Why am I going on about this?

Because many of the readers here (I say ‘many’ as if there are hordes of people lining up to read this blog! Funny!) are interested in writing in one way or another, and if my fumbling around can help someone else, I’m glad for it. If anyone else has participated in Pitch Madness, I’d love to hear about your experience!

[One last stalling tactic note: The beginning of my manuscript is a prologue. I’m worried about it being an information-dump, but it reflects the reality of the situation the character is in. Oh, and here’s the link to the website: http://brenleedrake.blogspot.com/2013/03/announcing-pitch-madness-submission.html ]

Name: Nita Holiday

Title: FROSH

Genre: Women’s Fiction

Word Count: 119,000

Pitch (must be only 35 words):

HANNAH ANDERSON, a freshman at LAKEVIEW COLLEGE in Minnesota, lives the dichotomy of thrilling newfound independence and weighty, life-directing decisions. Trying to learn forgiveness on top of her class-load may be way too many credits.

EXCERPT (Must be 250 words. If 250 ends in middle of a sentence you may finish that sentence.):

When I first met her during Freshman move-in, I pegged her as one of the popular cheerleader types, definitely from a wealthy family. She wore a flippy floral skirt with flip-flops that were just white enough to leave your eyesight intact, but you knew they hadn’t walked many miles. Not like my ratty flip-flops, which had started to pull apart around the edges. She had wavy white-blond hair, a strong jawline with a subtle dimple in her chin and the longest eyelashes I had ever seen. Were those fake? She began to answer, and I could hardly believe the velocity of her mouth, that she could actually form words at that speed. She slowed for breath occasionally, but most of her words blended together. My brain had to work to keep up.

“I’m Kenzie,” she said. “It’sshortforMackenzie. MylastnameisRandolph. Mackenzie’swhat myparents callme andyoucancallmethatifyouwant, but backathome everyonestucktoKenzie. Ithinkit’seasier, shorterthanthefullMackenzie. ButI’llletyoudecide. Anyway, what’syourname?”

She bounced over and plopped down on my twin bed, her fluttery skirt circling her as though she’d orchestrated it. Too perfect. I blinked.

“Um..hi. I’m Hannah. Anderson. Yes, like the kids clothes but no relation. I’m not the heiress of a clothing empire.” I wanted to ask ‘Are you an heiress?’ but stopped myself.

“Got it. Hannah. Anyconnection to AndersonHall overthere?” She beckoned to one of the other two dorms that contained all incoming freshmen.

“Nope, not that either,” I answered.

“Oh. Okay.”

I couldn’t help but think she seemed slightly disappointed.

“Haveyoumetyourroommateandstuff?” She looked around my room, like she wanted to make sure there wasn’t someone else who might need her introduction.

Personal Chutes and Ladders

15
Mar

Thrift stores are a treasure trove, especially for those things families outgrow like books, toys, sports equipment, and games.

Fun for Everyone

I walked out of a local thrift store with Boggle Jr., Clue Jr., Sorry, and Chutes and Ladders, in addition to a new green splinter-less butterfly net, a hot commodity at my house.

You probably grew up playing Chutes and Ladders but this week was my first time. My whole crew sat around and played it together; I think my kids are at the perfect ages since they are five, seven and nine years old.A quick refresher on Chutes and Ladders; you spin the…spinner (is there another word for it?) and move your piece on the game board. The great twist to this game is the addition of chutes or slides, and ladders. If you land on a chute, it takes you back a bunch of spaces. If you land on a ladder, you get launched forward a bunch of spots.

They could have stopped there, but the game creators took it one more step. They incorporated drawings to indicate cause and effect. If you mow the lawn, you are rewarded with a trip to the circus. Pull the cat’s tail, slide down the chute to the picture of you with all sorts of Band Aids and the cat licking its paws. Do this, and that will happen.

I don’t think that every moment in a child’s day needs to have a moral lesson, but this game makes it SO easy. The next time we play I plan to use specific, real-life examples from my kids’ lives to illustrate the cause and effect lessons.

Wouldn’t it be great if it was as obvious for us adults?

Many times it seems like there aren’t the immediate consequences of childhood, positive and negative.

Pad the books, and you will probably get away with it for a while before anyone notices.

Stay late and help out your fellow workers, and it can take a superior a long time to pay any attention to your extra efforts.

The cause and effect is delayed.

I really believe the strength of character required to do the right thing makes it worth it because of the internal reward. However, it is important to weigh our motives, because even something that can sound like a good idea, if not done with the right motive, can be less than noble.

Allow me to give an example:

My sister and brother in law and my parents hit a rough patch about a year ago. They’ve been working to make things better, but there have been moments of tension. At one point my sister and my mother were both talking to me about the situation, from their respective points of view. This was a tricky position for me, as I usually tried to maintain the peace as much as I could.

That’s the background. So then when I learned there was a potentially volatile issue that was probably going to come to a head in the next month, I felt compelled to bring it up with my lovely sister. My excuse? That I wanted her to be aware of the opposing point of view (that of my parents) so she wouldn’t be caught off guard when they were upset.

The real reason?

I wanted to talk to my sister about it so that when it blew up, I could say I had tried to do my part, had fulfilled my role as peacekeeper, to head off the impending storm. Upon further reflection, however, I came to a different conclusion.

Basically I was trying to cover my butt.

Luckily, there was no storm and things remain amiable. But sometimes the things we do that are good, are only good insofar as they don’t cause harm but the motive behind the action is sketchy. I don’t really enjoy examining my motives, but as I get a little older and my behavior is less obviously “bad” I find that the purpose behind my actions is important to consider.

Enough of all the heavy. Here’s a hilarious (and mostly clean) version of a super fun song, to round out this post. Enjoy! http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/macklemore-and-ryan-lewis-thrift-shop/n33498/

12
Mar

I feel a little lame doing this, mostly because I’m not sure of the blog etiquette – can I reblog a post from another blog I write? Well I’m doing it, folks! And you are the topic of the blog, so I hope you enjoy it. as always, my sincere thanks for reading!

https://tclarson.com/810/

Finding Community as a Writer

11
Mar

This workstation fueled by coffee

Have you ever had one of those moments when you discover something that you didn’t even know you were missing?

Maybe it was when you took a class and it changed the entire direction of your academic goals.

It could be when you met a very special someone.

Or it could be walking into your first local chapter meeting of American Christian Fiction Writers.

Okay, that last one was just me.

It was great enough to participate in the Christian Writers Guild meetings, which encompasses all types of writers and publishing. But the local chapter of ACFW, dubbed MN N.I.C.E., was more specific, smaller and directed at learning skills to write more effective fiction.

I’ve been trying to allow myself to dream big and work to make connections in writing circles. I have much to learn, and I’m not too proud to admit that there are many times when I don’t even know the question to ask. I don’t mind learning from others, in fact I welcome it. It can be intimidating to walk into a room filled with a bunch of people you don’t know. When you come to a group that is united by a common cause or purpose, it really decreases the new-member fear factor.

In my experience, people at these meetings are welcoming and happy to visit, even if they don’t know you personally…yet. And the questions they ask to start a conversation will make you feel like someone is taking seriously your writing endeavors, which in itself can be enough reason to go to a meeting! Sure, you may be one of the youngest people there, and there seem to be little to tie you to the people in that room, but when you realize your goals and aims are rooted in writing, there is a commonality that bridges many gaps in background, life station, personality or interests.

Three other places I’ve been able to connect online:

Twitter on Tuesday evenings by using the #writestuff hashtag
Twitter on Friday nights by using the #writeclub hashtag
Facebook as a part of the Writers Unite group.

I highly recommend engaging with other writers this way. In addition, almost every state has its own group of local writers, people who are out there doing it. It may not be convenient to you, but they are out there. And it is a matter of how much you want it. How much do you want to further your own writing skills and potentially give back to your local writing community? Even if you don’t drive to a meeting once a month, with a little internet access, you can connect with others and save on gas. 🙂

If you have ideas for other ways to ‘find your tribe’ as a writer, I’d love to hear from you. And as a reader of this blog, you are part of my writing tribe, my writing community, and I thank you for being a part of this journey. Seriously. Thank you.

(Here’s the link for American Christian Fiction Writers: http://www.acfw.com/ )

You Are Not Ordinary

8
Mar

Back in elementary school, kids frequently got pulled out of class for various reasons. There were always people coming and going: bathroom breaks, trips to the nurses office, delivering the attendance and lunch count to the office, help with reading. But more noteworthy were the times when a couple select children would leave the room at the same time to go to a special class for gifted kids. They never said much about it, and I was too self-absorbed to be curious about it (those projects weren’t going to magically cut themselves out of construction paper).

These were the kids who were known as brainy or creative. They weren’t shunned because of it, they were respected, even admired. There was the tall, Amazonian girl with the flowing red hair, the preppy blond boy with ruddy complexion and quick wit, the shy girl with the notebook of beautiful sketches. They were mysterious, dynamic and exclusive; not just anyone could be a part of their special club. You couldn’t simply perform a dare and prove your worthiness; it required an assessment administered by professionals. I wanted to be gifted. I wanted to a part of their club. And when it didn’t happen, I felt it. I felt less special because I wasn’t as special as they were.

Dash, in the movie The Incredibles, is in elementary school and has a hard time restraining his special superpower: speed. His mom, Helen (the mild-mannered alter-ego persona to her Elastigirl), lectures him in the car, goes on about how he must conceal his secret powers. He wants to be special. Helen tells him that everyone is special. Dash replies, “Which means that nobody is.”

If everybody’s special, does that mean that nobody is special?

What’s so wrong with being ordinary?

There is a belief subtly creeping into Christian circles that if you are obedient and genuinely follow God, He will bless you. You’ll be successful, you’ll be wise and avoid major pitfalls in life, you’ll be affluent. Nevermind that the Bible teaches, “In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33 and don’t freak out just yet, I don’t usually throw Bible quotes around.) The belief that we will be outwardly successful is a twist on the already insidious Prosperity Gospel that leads to disillusionment and doubt.

I’ve seen too many true followers of Jesus have heart-wrenching struggles and calamities to buy into Prosperity Theology or the Health and Wealth Gospel. It implies that if you just believed more, you wouldn’t get passed over for that promotion. If you just prayed more diligently, your child wouldn’t get that disease, your house wouldn’t catch on fire, or that cute boy would like you.

It doesn’t happen like that.

Construction paper colors (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We aren’t special because of the external things that have gone well for us. We aren’t ordinary because we live regular lives. We are all special (and we are) because we are made in the image of God, called by Him to wholeness and a true identity in Christ. We are most fully released to be most true selves when we internalize our status as thoroughly adored by the Creator who knows us better than we know ourselves.

That’s one reason why I love the title of this blog: www.aroyaldaughter.com She understands her true identity. Ultimately, she is a royal daughter. She is (at risk of sounding corny) a princess.

Being a Royal means that you might live differently, more confidently, willing to take risks, more engaged in the world around you. You might have more compassion or be in tune with places that need support and then feel equipped to do something about it. You might be more appreciative of all the good around you that you had nothing (or very little) to do with and yet it is yours to benefit from and enjoy. You might choose to speak in a way that befits one with a royal lineage.

So since you are made in the image of God, whether you actively follow Him or not, how might that make you more awake today? What thoughts could you think, what things could you do if you believed that you were in fact, royalty?

Chicken Party: New Chickens Added to the Coop

5
Mar

Three hens being let out of their Eglu. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

After most of our chickens were killed by a neighbor dog over the course of six months, we considered giving up the backyard flock. After all, if they couldn’t keep their dog in their yard, wouldn’t we just be inviting trouble to introduce more meals for him?

The problem is: we love having fresh eggs. We know where they’ve come from, what the chickens have eaten and how they’ve been treated. We know they are healthy and not living in close quarters where illness can easily spread, necessitating medications to prevent said illness. And it keeps our kids connected to their food source rather than thinking eggs magically appear in cardboard containers in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.

So my husband secured some new chickens, fully-grown layers that needed a new home.

Thirsty Chickens

Because we only had one lone hen left, it was easy to introduce new chickens to the coop. Chickens really do have a pecking order, and they establish it by man-handling each other until one is established as the Boss Lady Chicken (not a scientific term). We were getting four chickens from the same coop, so they already had come to an understanding with one another. There was some flapping and feather nipping at first, but it looks like peace has been established and the lone chicken has been sworn into the group.

The one other noteworthy item is that when you are teaching chickens where home is, it is important to keep them in the coop for a little while, somewhere between three to five days, so they can get used to their new surroundings. Then when you let them out, as we plan to and have done when the weather/season cooperates, they won’t stray too far from their food and water. If you are the one to feed them, it can be very fun to be the Pied Piper of chickens, and lead them back to the coop all in a chicken-y row because they think you’re going to give them food, very entertaining.

Check back here for more details about the marauding escapades of our neighbor dog and how this all works out with the chickens.

Inaugural Video Blog

27
Feb

I’ve been feeling like I need to post a video blog for quite some time. Here are a couple links you can click to read what I’ve been reading (if you’re interested):

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/quick-tip-add-video/

http://www.rachellegardner.com/2013/02/look-good-on-your-webcam-2/

http://www.aroyaldaughter.com/2013/01/25/coffee-date-girl-behind-the-blog/

With all that in mind, here’s my very first attempt at a video blog. Go easy on me!http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/02/26/quick-tip-add-video/

Videos Scare Me: My First Vlog (sharadarden.com)

Where’d It Go? Keeping Up with the Blog-Swap

25
Feb

Writing (Photo credit: Pascal Maramis)

This is getting confusing! Here’s a summary of what’s going on:

1. I created this blog dedicated solely to all things writing.

2. It was great to connect with other people interested in writing and creativity.

3. It occurred to me that a blog about writing written by someone who is walking through the process as a novice might be pretentious.

4. Since I already had another blog as well, I decided to make one multi-purpose blog, hoping to connect with others who might be women or parents with children who might also have an interest in writing/creative activities.

5. New posts have been concentrated on the new blog.

There, I think that covers everything. So let’s make a deal. If there’s any spectacular news on the writing front, any fantastic breakthroughs that would be beneficial for all aspiring writers, I’ll post them here. But in the meantime, you will find a lot of fun activity going on at http://loveandlaundryblog.wordpress.com

P.S. The only news on my creative endeavors is rejection. Which makes me an official member of the society of aspiring writers, doesn’t it? Yes. Yes it does.

Finding a Way Through Discouragement

22
Feb

A virtual friend of mine (virtual meaning online, not someone who is almost my friend) mentioned this week that he was feeling discouraged. My initial desire was to cheer him up, but then I got scared that his discouragement might be contagious, that if I tried to say anything to shed some positivity on him that the blue shadow of his mood might transfer to me. I also worried that because I don’t know his specific situation, my attempts at encouragement might be misplaced and come across as trite.

So I said nothing.

This week I found out that I did not make it into the top 30 finalists of a writing contest I entered. There were over 450 entries and I didn’t expect to win; however, I really thought this would be the year I’d at least make it to the top 30. I know that my writing isn’t a fit for every publisher/publication out there but it’s hard to remember that when you scan the list and your name isn’t there.

As I’ve tried to put my writing out into the public world more, rejection is a recurring theme. In order to choose one piece, another must be rejected. I get that. And while I’m usually a pretty upbeat person, I will admit that I’ve been knocked down by rejections more than I thought I would. It has affected me more than I would have predicted at the beginning.

Rejection feels personal, even when it’s not.

When facing discouragement, from whatever source, what can you do to get through it? How can you get up from feeling down?

Just as we all have widely different personalities, what works for one person might not be effective for someone else. It is also surprising how the source of the discouragement and the intensity of it can elicit different responses. For example, I’m not usually a huge crier, but when my novel was returned to me with extensive notes pointing out all the bad things about it, you better believe I cried.

Crying works wonders. It’s like a sauna for your eyeballs, sweating out through tears all your body’s impurities and sadness, but without all that heat and inability to breathe.

A long, fast walk outside can do the same thing.

Moaning works too.

Praying about it is useful, but during those times my prayers usually tend to be one-sided whine-fests. I’m convinced that God wants to hear about it anyway, though, even if it’s not eloquent or lofty.

Chocolate chip cookie dough is also effective.

The thing that works the best, at least for me, is talking to a trusted friend, somebody who “gets it” and understands the significance of your discouragement, or doesn’t mind sitting in it with you. To hear that you are understood and not alone can be the most powerful way out of discouragement.

Have you been discouraged? What caused it? How long did it last? How did you turn things around? I hope that you find encouragement at this blog, if only from knowing you’re not alone. Hang in there, and in the words of that old gospel song, joy’s gonna come in the morning.

TC Larson

Stories and Mischief