photography by Janna Hill

Don’t Quit (Misery Loves Company & Asshats)

/ Janna Hill / Leave a comment

NaNoWriMo has barley started and you’re giving up? If you quit at the starting line how the heck are you going to reach the finish line?

Okay. I understand the pressure and the frustration and the fear and the time crunch you have to contend with [really, I do] but don’t quit. Take a deep breath. Let your shoulders drop (it is okay if the world has to float on it’s own for a minute or two) and remind yourself why you took the challenge to begin with.

The above was my partial response to an aspiring author I sometimes guide (guide sounds less hoity-toity than mentor). She continually strives to improve her skill and decided to challenge herself this year with NaNoWriMo. I was so excited for her.

When she said she was throwing in the towel one week into the 30 day challenge my heart sank.

I had to remind myself of two things: #1 this is HER journey. #2 despondency is common among authors, young and old, aspiring and established alike.

The exchange ended with us both feeling more optimistic. For now.

Another handful of emails followed (not participants in WriMo) mostly venting about criticisms which they said too often feels like bullying.

I read some of the criticisms. Honestly, I considered most of the comments as constructive – a little blunt and crude but valid observations. Constructive criticism is valuable.

There were a few however that did have a malicious feel about them. Asshats!

It is not always easy doing what you love… what you feel driven to do… following your passion. Self-doubt is relentless and Asshats… don’t get me started?!!

Insecurity fluctuates; it lessens with experience as the skin thickens but don’t expect Asshats to turn into compassionate humanoids.  Why? Because misery loves company.

Misery loves company

I cannot count the number of times I have heard/felt, “I’m too old”, “I’m afraid”, “I am not good enough” or “I’ve been ridiculed/rejected”. Self-doubt

Nor can I count the times I have heard of/read/experienced pointless insults that serve no purpose other than to humiliate a person. Asshats

So it seems Asshats and uncertainty will always be a part of life; a thing we all have to contend with. “But how?” some ask. Don’t quit.

You can’t lie down and quit. I guess you could but then you would be in a coma. Being comatose is not the answer.

You can’t throat-punch or cuss everyone who hates on you. Well, you can but the fines start racking up and…

Before I confess digress I think I’ll just send you to a more inspiring, graceful article.

Oops, a quick tip: Embrace your feelings (pain, anger, fear, etc.) and use them in your writing. Assign your feelings of defeat and grief to a character and then show the character how to overcome. It can be very healing.

Write on!!

Now check out the post by Joan Hall over at Story Empire and be sure to read the comments.

If you are not already following Story Empire  you should.

Why?

Because they offer countless resources for writers (especially new writers) and they are a great group of people. They don’t allow Asshats and trolls to hang out there.

Let them be Mad

/ Janna Hill / 2 Comments

Mad as in angry, insane, enthusiastic or in a swift manner.

I was driving 90 mph down the highway with my camera beside me and I snapped…

Mad Dash (1024x590)

I was in a mad dash and mad in every sense of the word. (Some of that lunacy is revealed in the poetic memoir Getting Me Back.)

The above photo is not one I would usually keep in my collection; it is dark, out of focus and lopsided yet I like it. Why? Because it reminds me of the world as I saw it at that moment in time.

I will probably be the only one to ever appreciate this inferior blurred image but maybe it will spark something in a stubborn character you are trying to bring to life.

Maybe the character is hiding something from you; afraid to reveal their passion, their fury or the fact that they are bat-shit crazy.

Tell them it’s okay. Everyone… every living creature [even saints] have moments of madness at some point in their life. Heck, even Jesus got mad. Wasn’t he ticked-off/pissed/irate when he turned the tables over and cleared the temple? Damn right he was!

And what about the insanity so many of the great artists/creators in history suffered from? Think about that, eh?

Allow your characters the freedom of expression.  Let them be mad.

Don’t Forget to Set the Table (Writing Prompt)

/ Janna Hill / 2 Comments

What are your characters eating? Drinking?

Set the table and invite us into your story with tempting descriptions.

Is the food/drink new to the character or is it the usual?

What is the usual?

Is it wine? Is it red wine or white wine? Do they prefer Merlot or champagne?

Maybe one of them prefers liquor? Water? Soda?

Is it smooth, bitter, dry or sweet?

Add your own beef, chicken or lamb – heck serve it to a vegetarian. How did they respond?

Light a candle [or not] and cook up something imaginative from the elements in the photo.

Groovy huh? Write on!

Write What You would Love to Read

/ Janna Hill / 5 Comments

I was just thinking…

For NaNoWriMo writers to average 50,000 words in 30 days they will need to write 1666.666 words per day. I can already hear some character gasp, “Six, six, six. It must be the work of the devil!”

Bwahahaha. I suppose it could be if you are into that sort of thing.

Hey, write what you would love to read.

Ten words a day or ten thousand, focus first on your story. That is my 2¢ worth but what do I know? I’m just sitting over here in the cheering section, waving my pom-poms and goading the contestants.

I am not much into writing under pressure these days but I do like to mentor and I encourage others to take the NaNoWriMo challenge, especially new writers. Do it even if this is the first thing you have ever written.

Don’t worry about failing the challenge; there is not a NaNoWriMo jail. (Pst. You can be a NaNoWriMo-er without registering. 😉 It’s like exercising at home.) And remember I am over here cheering you on. I’ll even try to post a picture/prompt/ mental exercise throughout the month of November.

Sail on NaNoWriMo-ers!

What do you see?

That is not just a sailboat with a blimp above it. Describe. Describe. Describe. I.e. the color of the clouds/sky; the lake/ocean/water; the shape of the blimp; the shadows/silhouettes. What type of boat is it? Where is it going? Why? What data is the blimp collecting–who does it belong to?What is the spatial relation between the boat/the blimp/the land? What is just out of view in the treeline? How fast is the sailboat/blimp traveling? Describe… Readers want details and they are so fun to write.

Summer Adieu

/ Janna Hill / Leave a comment

Summer Adieu

It’s out of the flip-flops, and back in the Reeboks and long pants dug out of the dust

So long to the tank tops, bikinis and cut offs and lawn chairs left lying to rust

 

Adieu to the sand dune, the pelican and plain loon

My loves, we’ll see you `fore long

Leaves drop as trees swoon, long past the crop moon

With the scent of a sweet autumn song

 

Let’s all take a big swill to ward off the night chill

Winter’s a season away

Crank up the camp fire; avoid the ole quagmire

With children perched high on the hay

Poem from Getting Me Back

More about the Autumn Equinox at National Geographic

#TBT (How I met Maggie and Almost Killed Clara)

/ Janna Hill / Leave a comment

That was over 4 years ago.

But I think it’s worth telling again 😉

I was wading in the surf on Matagorda beach one warm, sunny day exchanging dialogue with Clara.walking surf

I had known Clara for about ten years and I have to admit, conversing with her was like pulling teeth. I don’t want to say she was dull, but she was too quiet and a tad introverted. Don’t get me wrong, she is a lovely girl. She is smart and pretty and sweet and kind, but she was just too darn nice for the most part. Too calm, too reasonable, too… dull! There, I said it!

Anyway, as I was wading in the surf, dragging my feet (literally to scatter the sting rays) I was thinking how I might kill her. I know that must sound horrible, we had been comrades for so long, but she wearied me. Her unspoiled, hoity-toity, prim and proper, everything by the book personality made me want to send her sailing face down with the outgoing tide. I think she knew it (she has a sixth sense thing, you know) and I figured she wasn’t going to fight me. It wasn’t in her nature. I thought maybe she wanted to die?

I had mulled it over and finally come to terms with the decision when a perky little blonde came running down the beach waving and shouting,

“Hey y’all wait for me.”

Oh my lord, I thought, while trying to ignore the thin, tanned Mississippian’s approach.

splash back.JPGI quickly shoved Clara toward the incoming wave but her feet were planted too firmly — she didn’t budge, and to my surprise she pushed back!

“Do you know her?” I asked.

Clara shook her head slowly and replied, “No but you do. You met her on a trip to Biloxi once.”

I was speechless.

“Hey, I’m Maggie,” the lady smiled as she looked past me and held out her hand, “you must be Clara.”

I suppose it’s true that opposites attract. I watched Maggie come alive and in doing so she saved Clara.

*This is a story about a story. Clara and Maggie are safe and sound (for the most part) inside a fictional series.

Read about their meeting in Book 1