A Little Help Here .... My Favorite Go To Things

 (Kaiser - Flickr)

...WHEN I GET ON THAT WRITING CLIFF 
AND CAN'T GET OFF!

Whew! Sorry for the delay.  I've been putting in long hours incorporating final edits on my novel and working on television spec scripts, not to mention the day-to-day grind.   

I'm happy to say, I don't have writer's block, but time spent on a writing plateau can also send you babbling and screaming for help.  You've got to have a plan.  I've got five of them.

When I get stuck on that Writing and Editing Cliff and Can't Get Off ... I pray, read, watch, sip and move. 

1. I Pray and Read the Holy Bible 

A mainstay in all areas of my life, it frees me when I'm stuck on a plateau or creatively blocked.  I reach this plateau when my creative juices have spun a great story, but doesn't move in a balance of peaks and valleys needed to produce a riveting final product.  

Here are some of my favorite "shake the plateau" scriptures:

"Now glory be to God who by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of--infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts or hopes."  Ephesians 3:20.

"Don't worry about anything, instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers.  If you do this you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human man can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus."  Phillipians 4:6-7

2.  I Read "Self Editing for Fiction Writing" By Rennie Brown and Dave King, Harper Perennial.   When a story slows down, repetition and proportion are usually a few of the culprits.  This book reminds me that repetition is not a fiction and scriptwriter's friend.

Of course, there's  an exception to this rule called advertising copywriting.  Repetition in direct mail letters and ads help induce consumers to buy.




But since we're talking about fiction writing, I reach for my go-to book "Self Editing for Fiction Writers," when these culprits push me up that cliff.

Here's what it says:

"Often writers are too close to what they accomplished in their writing to see that they have accomplished it twice or more.   ... Don't underestimate your reader's intelligence or your ability as a writer."

"It's the influence of movies and television--readers are used to quick jump-cuts from scene to scene rather than long transitional shots.  Fiction writers are much more free to use ellipses, to leave more of the mundane, bridging action up to their readers' imaginations."

That sounds good to me.  

I also step out of my fiction for a while and lose myself in a favorite movie or the latest book from a favorite author.  I  love romantic comedies, family sagas  and thrillers.

(Confessions of a Shopaholic - Style Bakery)

3.  I Watch a Movie
I'll watch fave movies like:  "Confessions of a Shopaholic"  "Because I Said So," "Why Did I Get Married?" "Flash Forward," and the list goes on.  

There's nothing better than to see how a story flows and feel the effect it has on you on the silver screen.  Then it's back to the laptop I go.

No ... not just yet.  I need to do some real life drama watching I call a visit to Starbucks or any urban chic cafe chain will do.

 4.  I Sip a large Strawberries & 
Creme Frappuccino at Starbucks.

I take my Starbucks gift card that a wonderful angel recently gave me and start my people watching.  Just watching and listening to patrons jump start ideas on making characters more three-dimensional and dialogue richer.

 (Strawberries & Creme Frappuccino - Starbucks)

At this point, I'm feeling pretty good.  I've got the rope and I'm climbing down, enjoying the scenery along the way.  I step on a small landing carved into the mountain where I meet ... uh-oh ...  Procrastination Patty.  She encourages me to sit with her and enjoy the view from up high. But I can't stay there, al though it's comfy.

I need to see passionate artists working under extreme pressure and time constraints to make their dream happen. I need to watch a Food Network Challenge show.

 (Food Network Challenge - Last Cake Standing - Elisa Strauss)

(Mr. Krabs - Winner of Food Challenge's Sponge Bob Birthday Cakes- Fancy Cakes By Lauren.)

5. I Watch a Food Network Challenge Show.
Yes, you read it right.  My favorites are the cake challenges.  I love to see how talented cake designers and pastry chefs get off their sugar mountains when they run into trouble.  

What's amazing, they're not creating these sweet masterpieces in the privacy of their homes, they're watched by a panel of scary judges, a compassionate studio audience (you know they're chatting away) and millions of viewers.  That's enough to make you bawl for your mommy.

At times, a cake piece falls off just when a team plunks it on the judge's table.  They've got  fifteen minutes to fix it. No, they don't go backstage.  They have to do it in front of the cameras and staring eyes.  I guess for $10,000, I'd do it on skates wearing a super hero costume with my mother-in-law as the judge.

Our food challenge contestants show fearless creativity, courage, strength and the ability to think fast on their feet.  These are the  qualities that also sustain a writer with a little help from a go-to friend or two.

And last but not least,
 

(Dancing with the Stars)

5. I Dance it Out on the Rebounder.
Dancing With the Stars has nothing on me when I get going on my mini trampoline.  When I'm done, I'm ready for my laptop.

And this time, I make it to the ground, waving goodbye to Procrastination Patty and Plateau Paulette. 

 

So You Want an Eco-Chic Wedding?  Find Out How at:
iCafe Woman Moderne

Made You Look!

Happy April Fooled You Day!

"So don't be anxious about tomorrow.  God will take care of your tomorrow too.  Live one day at a time." Matthew 6:34

My sister loved April Fool's day.  She had auburn hair like the cartoon diva above.  I have one question, how did Ms. Cartoon Diva find my old curlers?  We had every color in the rainbow.  

Every year, Diane's tricks got better and funnier.  One April Fool's Day when I was in 5th or 6th grade, she set our alarm clock an hour and a half earlier, then pushed it back to my wake up time without me being the wiser.  

This was my face when I stomped back home from the school bus stop, thinking I had missed the bus, until I saw my sister laughing hysterically at the front door.  Mom was just glad I got dressed and ready for school on time without a whine and a dance.  
Ah ... good times.


I don't know why, but the movies 50 First Dates and Ground Hog Day remind me of a perpetual April Fool's Day.  Okay, maybe I do know.  It's like, you woke up one morning and the world said, "you're it ... April Fool."  Can you imagine waking up to the same day ... the same activities.  I don't know about you, but I'm always glad to see a new day.  It gives me another chance to get it right, or at least make it better.

I loved those two movies, the layering, the subplots and again, the foreshadowing was wonderful.   In 50 First Dates, the main character, Lucy Roth, an artist living in Hawaii with her Dad and brother--has a car accident that destroyed her short term memory.  On her way home from picking a pineapple for her Dad's pineapple upside down birthday cake, she swerves into a tree avoiding an animal.
 
Her life becomes a rewind.  She only remembers the day of the accident minus the actual accident.  She knows her life up to that point.  With the previous day erased, she wakes up every morning to her Dad's birthday and performs the same activities. 

She goes to her favorite breakfast spot, builds a waffle house on her plate and meets Veterinarian Henry Roth aka Adam Sandler, her rewind amour.   Each day she meets him for the first time and falls in love by nightfall.   

Her rewind life is no picnic for her dad and brother either, who re-create it everyday.  When she finally goes to sleep, Dad and Brother get busy dumping the pineapple cake, paint over in white the same mural she creates in the garage, they replace the newspaper with a preserved duplicate, and stash the taped football game.

Womanizer Henry has his own April Fooled payback happening.  After spinning so many lies to get women to forget him, the one woman he wants to remember him can't.  Is that what you call just desserts served cold?  By the end of the movie, this dilemma blesses them both.

(Ground Hog Day)

In the movie Ground Hog Day, an egotistical Pittsburgh Weatherman, Phil Connors, played by Bill Murray, is mad at the world for having to cover Ground Hog Day for the fourth year in a row.  If anyone should get stuck in rewind, it's him.  He relives Ground Hog Day over and over again, but at the end becomes a more appreciative person.  Like 50 First Dates, the movie's hilarious.

If I had to be trapped on a day, I would want it to be in Hawaii, preferably South Maui, Kihei to be exact.  

(Makena Beach)

My April 1 Rewind Day would start before sunrise with prayer and scripture reading, then off to work on a script assignment or manuscript deadline on the lanai of my A-frame home on a hill with beach and mountain vistas.  

At sunrise, I'd get my daughters ready for school, fix them and hubby banana pancakes (plain for him and none for me), sip my decaf Kona and then walk them to school ten minutes away. 

(Shutterberry - Flickr.com)

On my way back, I'd stop at Star Market for a large Lion's coffee, and off to the Cinnamon Roll Fair-Hawaii on South Kihei Road for a cinnamon bun.  After my calories-laden breakfast, it's off to the Kihei Aquatic Center where I teach two Zumba Water classes.  

Lunchtime you'll find me stopping at Foodland for a plate lunch, a mango ice cream cone at Baskin Robbin's and back to my office mat on the beach where I'm churning out more pages for that television script assignment.  

After work is done, I'd pick up the kids, finish homework and take a jaunt in the waves at sunset with the family.  Back home, hubby and I would prepare an outdoor barbeque dinner of Poke, grilled Mahi Mahi, Kai Beef Ribs, Taro Sweet Potatoes, Jasmine Rice and Collard Greens. (I had to slip in my southern roots) 

An hour later, I'd make strawberry, pineapple, kiwi smoothies that would mark the end of a very peaceful day that I'll do all over again.  Aloha!

Happy April Fooled You Day!  
Love Chocolate and Fashion in that order?
Check out this from Squidoo.com.
 

Stop by iCafe Woman Moderne with your favorite beverage.