How do you do it? part 2

I realized after I wrote about my writing process that I left a lot of steps out that other people might find helpful.

1) Write regularly. This can mean once a day or once a week. Give yourself a deadline even if no one else is giving you one. It'll force you to get SOMETHING down on paper.

2) When you have no ideas, don't say, "I have writer's block," and give up.

a) Write down everything you've done today. If you have a strong emotional reaction to something or want to go on a wacky tangent, do it.

b) Pick up one of the lists you've written (I mentioned this in the last blog). Write about one of the topics you listed.

 c) write a list of three reasons you simply cannot write today.

3) Also, read your "completed" work out loud even if it's just to yourself. You will probably catch a lot of grammatical errors or typos that way. This is even more effective if you've printed out. If you've been looking at the same document so much that it dances in front of your face, wait a couple days, change the font, THEN print out and re-read aloud.

4) Don't worry about whether a rough draft is good or not. Just get it out. You can always fix it (or hide it) later.

Out of Town

I've long found myself annoyed with the expression that if an American Jew resides in New York, they live "in town," but if they reside outside of New York (or maybe New Jersey), they live "out of town." This is true even if they live in Chicago, Cleveland, or Baltimore--all of which have influential yeshivos--or if like me they live in L.A., home of the second-biggest Jewish population in the country.

It's enough to make you want to scream. Even secular Jews are not immune to it...think of the stereotypical American Jew straight out of an episode of Seinfeld or a Woody Allen movie.

As a result of this lop-sidedness, I have tried to compensate. Any piece of fiction I've written that has a clear setting has taken place in either L.A. or Baltimore (my hometown)...unless it's on another planet, which has happened twice, so far.

My eldest son, Aryeh always gets very excited reading about HIS hometown, and when I write a story set in L.A., he lets me know he approves loud and clear. Unfortunately, his disapproval can be just as vociferous. You see, my attitude has rubbed off on my son. Yesterday, he told me that he hated the library book I'd so carefully selected just for him. Why? "Because the author lives in Los Angeles, but he sets the story in New York."

Lucky for us, he plans on being a writer (and rocket scientist, and automotive engineer, and world traveler....) himself. Expect lots of stories from him in about 15 years. They'll all be set in L.A.

How do you do it?

People often ask me this question: How do you find time to write? Other moms work outside the home, sometimes full-time, yet my extremely-part-time and mostly at home writing puzzles them. Life as a FT mom is so wild and wacky, my head buzzes with ideas that could make great kids' books. Doesn't yours? This is how to get the ideas out and coherently on paper:

First of all, I have a giant notebook. Inside, I write lots of lists. Some titles you'll find in my notebook: funny things kids do; annoying things kids do; what kids fight about; excuses they give; sweet things kids do. Don't just email your girlfriend or tell Mom or Hubby about the craziness you endured during the day--write it down, even just in shorthand.

Also, after a workshop by Sarah Shapiro, I've learned to listen and practice writing dialogue. She says to do it daily, but I'm not that good about it. Just copy down a short conversation every week or so, and you'll get practice.

Read LOTS...then respond in a book club, blog, or by writing a review online. If the book gave you an idea, extend it as far as you can.

No T.V. means more time and more productive time is available in this house.

After you write, revise. Test out on friends by sending your story to them or by joining a writing group. Then revise more according to what they suggest, then re-read to them. Is it improved?

Figure out who publishes similar pieces to yours, get the submission guidelines, then send the manuscript in! You'll never know if you might have succeeded if you never try.

And remember, rejection letters are good for your middos.

Teshuva and Layne Staley

I think my husband thinks I've lost my mind. This Orthodox Jewish housewife (okay, writer...but only extremely part-time writer) has lately been listening to--of all things--huge quantities of Alice in Chains. To those who don't know what I'm talking about, Alice in Chains is a band the originated in the '90s as part of the grunge movement that came out of Seattle. Think heavy metal with superior harmonized vocals and thought-provoking, spiritual lyrics that only rarely involve profanity.

Here's an example of a slower song (I promise, no bad words) with relatively tame video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8hT3oDDf6c

Jerry Cantrell and Layne Staley were the heart of the band at its inception. Staley's lyrics largely reflect his regret that he largely wasted his life on drug addiction. At the end of his 34 years on this earth, he admitted in interviews that he didn't get any pleasure from doing drugs. First he did drugs to escape reality, then he did them to avoid withdrawl. He pretty much died of every horrible complication you can have of drug addiction possible. Then his corpse sat in his apartment undiscovered for two weeks. (Talk about a cautionary tale.) Layne Staley's ninth "yahrzeit" so to speak, will be in a few days.

So why am I listening to so much Alice in Chains?

Our Sages teach that one of the ways the yetzer hara (inclination to do evil) speaks to us is through telling us it's too late...we're too lowly to do teshuva (the process of regret, confession, then a return to correct behavior), too steeped in sin. It tries to convince us we've got no hope at digging ourselves out, that our true identity is our yetzer hara, instead of our soul. This is exactly the fear conveyed by many of Alice in Chains' poetic songs.

Down in a hole

feeling so small

down in a hole

losing my soul

I'd like to fly

But my wings are bent

so can I?

The songs written by Layne Staley are a modern-day (l'havdil) selichos.

The tragedy of Layne Staley isn't simply that he did drugs. It's that he never seized the opportunity to do teshuva in time. As much as he was a victim of drug abuse, he was a victim of his own yetzer hara. This is a stark reminder that the yetzer hara is considered identical to the Angel of Death.

At this time of year, with Passover approaching, we can recall that the Jewish people were at a deep level of impurity during the period of their slavery. Finally, the children of Israel cried out to HaShem (G-d) and He brought us out of bondage. There are numerous accounts in the Tanakh (Jewish Bible) and Jewish history of those who turned away from lives steeped in sin, including Rachav (left behind life in a brothel to rescue Jews and marry a prophet) and Shimon ben Lakish (aka Reish Lakish - left behind life as a bandit and gladiator to study and teach Torah). Let their stories remind us that it is never too late to get back on the correct path.

We are told by in Mishlei (the Book of Proverbs), "...sheva yipol tzaddik v'kam." ("Seven times shall
the righteous fall and then rise.") The difference between those of us who are righteous and those of us who aren't isn't whether we've sinned or not, but whether we've picked up ourselves to try better next time.

I wish Layne Staley had picked himself up and flown.

Brain Plasticity

I just finished The Brain that Changes Itself, by Dr. Norman Doidge. It had been a Chanukah present for my husband from my mother. He kept forgetting about it until finally I picked it up one day when I was suffering a head cold and had nothing else to read. It's certainly not dry science and very readable.

Doidge describes the research of many colleagues who have discovered the following: the brain is able to grow and change throughout one's life. This can be passive change or intentional. The whole book is fascinating and inspirational, full of hope and optimism.

The last chapter talks about how culture changes the brain's actual structure, and I couldn't help but ponder the ways an Orthodox Jewish lifestyle could affect the brain:

Developing impulse control and self-control (turning away from non-Kosher food or loshon hara, for example),

How to endure delayed gratification (as with waiting to do mitzvos at the right time, eating only after a bracha, waiting to eat dairy after eating meat),

Meditation through daily prayer.

It's not just that middos development refines the personality in a psychological or spiritual sense...according to Doidge's framework, it may actually change the physical structure of the brain. That's pretty powerful stuff, if you ask me.