Look in the Mirror by Betsy Ashton

Some days we need to look in the mirror and see what we want to see, not what is really there. We are all writers here, so we understand the ups and downs of the writing and publishing world.

We type until our finger tips are raw, pouring the perfect sentences into our computers, only the find the next morning we've written crap. What happened to our pearls of wisdom? Did they turn into turds overnight? Did an alchemist sneak into our hard drives and wave magic garbage dust over everything?

What do we do then? I don't know about you, but I curse, then rise from my writing ball, and assume the Wonder Woman pose. I really do. I learned about that at Roanoke Regional Writers Conference a couple of years ago when the wonderfully dynamic Sarah Beth Jones had all the women in the audience stand up, put our hands on our hips, and be sassy. Then she had the men rise and take the Rocky pose. You know the one. Top of the stairs, arms raised in triumph. I originally thought it was a bunch of hooey, but I know it works.

When I have just written a pile of useless words, I do strike The Pose. It's become my "F*** the World" statement seen only by my husband in the safety of my home office. I then remember that the Delete key is my best friend.

On second thought, maybe I should write more frequently in public and strike The Pose. Wonder what people would think. Probably that I'm delusional and just a hair's-breadth away from being institutionalized.

When the words flow, the sentences take shape, and the characters become three-dimensional, I know Sarah Beth was right. I can be anything I want as long as I'm willing to maintain a positive attitude and stay on course practicing my craft every day.

Look at that little kitten who sees a lion staring back at him. I want to see the lion. Strong. Brave. Confident. I don't want to see wrinkles, warts, stretch marks. Okay, I don't mind the silver hair, because it's my signature brand, but the rest of the growing old junk can just go away. Shoo. Scat. Get the gone. Out, out, damn spot.

I don't buy the nonsense that we have to face reality all day every day. I became a writer so I wouldn't have to face reality all day every day. If I want to see a lion, I will. If I want to be Wonder Woman, I will.

Do you have a super hero? Who is it? Why did you select that one?

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Betsy Ashton is the author of Mad Max, Unintended Consequences, and Uncharted Territory, A Mad Max Mystery, now available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. 

I'm really excited that the trade paper edition of Uncharted Territory was released this week. Please follow me on my website, on Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads.

Transience and Perseverance

A dear friend of mine posted a terrific entry on his Snowflakes in a Blizzard blog. He wrote about art not being meant to last. His metaphor was a sand artist who creates glorious pictures only to have them washed away at high tide. (You can find the blog post here:  http://bit.ly/1EQ4vz6) Darrell's metaphor got me thinking about life in general.

Many of my friends have lost parents or uncles in the past two weeks. Those of us who have reached "a certain age" find our friends or their parents failing. Younger friends who have not reached the "certain age" lose members of their parents' generation. Life, it seems, is fleeting. That's why the Japanese use the cherry blossom as a favorite poetic metaphor for life's impermanence.

So too is it with writing. We work hard to put our best words on paper (or in the computer) only to find that better words come along. We edit. We send out meager efforts to friends who come back with comments for "improvement." So far, I've been lucky. No one has said I should seek alternate employment, but I learn every time I sit at my keyboard.

I've recently been beta-testing an online master class taught by a New York Times bestselling author, Many times over bestselling author. He writes genre fiction. He writes books we want to escape in and emerge hours later satisfied we've enjoyed a good read. I was halfway through the course when he came to two lessons on outlining. I wanted to skip them. I'm a panster. I write by the seat of my pants and let the words flow. I then hit the edit mode and go through many iterations.

This writer says he spends a month or two writing and rewriting the outline. Not the type we learned in school. Not I. A. 1. a. but a working description of what happens in every scene. EVERY scene. Who's in it. Why it's important. What the conflict is. By the time he is finished with the outline, he can sit back and let the sentences flow.

I really wanted to pooh pooh is approach, until I smacked myself on my forehead. I'm stuck in a work that I've been writing diligently for over a year. Really stuck. I now know I have no idea what the conflict is in several scenes. I'm taking a week or two to create that outline he suggested. Time line. Characters. Motive. Action. Conflict. Importance. I have a table that lays this all out. I have 50+ chapters to put into the table. I think by the time I'm done, the transient words that don't work will give way through perseverance to a cohesive story that at least I will want to read.

I stood after his lesson, took my Wonder Woman pose and said, "Yes I can." Moreover, yes I will

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Betsy Ashton is the author of Mad Max, Unintended Consequences, and Uncharted Territory, A Mad Max Mystery, which is now available in e-book at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.