A Season For Writing

by Kari Diane Pike

I don't remember the exact date that Theresa Sneed introduced me to the Arizona Night Writer's Association. I was expecting, or had just had, my eighth child - who is now nineteen years old and recently married. ANWA has grown and changed right along with my family. Now we call it "American Night Writers Association." I still get funny looks from people when I talk about ANWA - and I love watching their smiles as the light goes on in their eyes when I clarify the difference between "Knight/Night Riders" and "Night Writers." This is usually accomplished with fun hand gestures and sound effects: you know...clickety, clickety, clack (pantomiming typing fingers)...and not "vroom, vroom" (pantomiming hands twisting gears on the handle bars of a motorcycle)..insert big smiley face here!

Anyway, as a long-time member and ANWA blogger, I have been watching these changes with great interest and not a little awe. Church callings, family commitments and the pursuit of a degree curtailed a lot of my direct involvement, but my sweet husband always made sure I didn't let my membership lapse. (It's awesome to have a supportive spouse!) At one time, I had the goal to purchase every book written by an ANWA member. I still have that dream...but sadly/happily your successes have exceeded my budget (more smiley faces).

I've been evaluating my personal growth as a writer over the past nineteen years and setting new writing goals. My season has finally come, but I find myself hesitant to step into it. Why? I have to admit...mostly fear - lots and lots of fear. But little by little, I am addressing those fears. Tuesday evening's chapter meeting proved to be a life changing moment for me. Janet gave an outstanding presentation on taking small steps to reach our writing "goal posts." All through her lesson, I kept thinking about the scriptures in 1 Nephi 16:29, Doctrine and Covenants (D&C) 64:33, and Alma 37:6 that teach the concept of how great things are brought about by small and simple things. During scripture study the next morning, I came to D&C 123:16-17: "...let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power: and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed" ...and my universe shifted.

www.lds.org/media-library/images/gospel-art/

My Book of Mormon reading that morning included 1 Nephi 18. In the very first verse, Nephi describes how his family began helping him build the ship that would carry them across the sea. It was a daunting task and at first many of his less faithful family members had derided and scorned Nephi for suggesting such a thing. He tells us, "And the Lord did show me from time to time after what manner I should work the timbers of the ship...And I, Nephi, did go into the mount oft, and I did pray oft unto the Lord; wherefore the Lord showed unto me great things" (1 Nephi 18:1,3).

Cue, epiphany!

The Lord didn't give Nephi the entire set of instructions for the ship all at once, but a little at a time, as Nephi went "into the mount" (symbolic of temple attendance) and prayed often. The Lord showed Nephi great things as he went about the work he was given. The end result was a magnificent ship that carried their families and all their provisions across the great sea to the promised land. Nephi and his family had never built a ship or navigated the sea before that time. But Nephi knew it was what the Lord wanted them to do. He had faith that the Lord would take them to the land He had promised.

Reading through the rest of the chapter, I came to verse 24. Nephi tells about how, after reaching the promised land, they tilled the earth and planted the seeds they had prepared and carried with them across the sea. And those seeds grew. That is when my mind exploded.

I have been gathering seeds of thought for many years. I've attended workshops, chapter meetings, conferences, and retreats. I've recorded experiences and moments of inspiration when the Spirit has witnessed many truths to my heart. It is time for me to plant those words in a book so that they can grow and be useful to others, even if that just means my own children and grandchildren. I can't share my seeds of thought until I put them on paper. People can't feast on something that doesn't exist. I need to stop being afraid and just plant the seeds. I don't have to plant them all at once, either. The Spirit will direct each stroke of the keyboard as I continue to study and pray about the things I need to write.

www.lds.org/media-library/plants/miscellaneous?lang=eng

The first draft is like a crop of seedlings. There will be a lot of weeds that come up with the good plants. I will have to pull them out and set them aside as mulch for future plantings. Some of them I will have to just plain burn. As the stories grow, they will need pruning and trimming. Revisions are just about as fun as hoeing and pruning in the hot sun. They are also just as necessary. My sweat and tears will water my crop of words and eventually there will be a harvest. Even harvesting takes great strength and effort as I put the fruits of my labors in front of others. Some will rejoice with me. Others will scoff, but most importantly, I will be able to present my work to the Lord and show Him what I have done with the talents He loaned to me. Hopefully, I will be counted a worthy servant.

Now what? I have so many ideas racing in my head. I think it's rather poignant that as I am dragged into the metaphorical autumn years of my life, I am living in a part of Arizona where an ideal time for planting starts in September. This gives me great hope.

The best writing exercise I've had in a long time was our Summer Writing Challenge. Practicing writing every day has paid off in ways I never imagined. So, I'm off to work out my body, in order to stimulate my mind. I have salsa to make (tomatoes were only .49/lb and I couldn't resist), bread to bake and songs to sing. And then I shall write some more. Life is magnificent.

hugs~

Research Out the Wazoo

by H. Linn Murphy

One of my biggest pet peeves with period movies (and many books) is often how little research is done to make that movie (or book) correctly. Especially with period movies. A few of the worst are First Knight, A Knight's Tale, Timeline, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, and King Arthur (with Kiera Knightly). It seems that directors often feel their audience is ignorant. Sure some people don't realize that women didn't hop into pants at the least provocation, but for those of us who do know, movies in the fantasy genre can range from ridiculous to downright annoying.

Whoever is in charge of deciding the look of the movie doesn't bother to notice that plate armor is a late period innovation and King Arthur is thought to be more of a Bronze Age warlord than a Renaissance King. They mix completely ridiculous items of clothing, putting women in pants or modern French haut coture instead of a bliaut or a surcote or whatever is the actual style of that time. Just like we don't wear 80's styles anymore, their styles actually changed from time to time and from country to country. Not everyone wandered around in a henin. And what's the idea with lighting a London-sized modern sewer with torches? They didn't have sewers in medieval London. Or Camelot for that matter. They mostly threw slops into the street. And wouldn't a sewer explode? Why even check for continuity? Night arrows? What? Matching blue clothing for everyone in the city? Didn't happen. The closest they came was livery. But not everyone wore it. Certainly not the beggars in the streets or the shopkeepers. And a Saracen side kick? Wouldn't happen. Pink nylon tights? Please.

The thing is, it's not that difficult to actually research the way people dressed and armored and ate and acted, especially with the Internet and vast libraries to hand. In my opinion, with so much information available at the click of a key, it's really unforgivable to write or make substandard material. We have all kinds of pictures of Books of Hours and other extant works to look at and read, which are the original artwork. We also have fairly wonderful copies. I have lists of sites from many museums on which one can look at anything from the Book of Kells to the Doomsday Boke to Henry the XIII's parade armor. We have genealogical works and lists of the items in the Tower collections. We can go directly to that Tower and look at the contents ourselves if we have the money, or we can look at it on-line.

What did the Norsemen really wear? Not all of them wore those silly helmets with the cow horns on them. And certainly not the women in their kitchens. Were those Norsemen even actually called Vikings? (As it happens, no. One went Viking. It was a verb.) Did all Scots wear kilts all the time? No. Were Picts always naked? No. Do the research.

If you're writing a Regency Era book, there are not only books on the subject of all things Georgian, but there are, again, extant artworks, letters, and documents.

Clearly as the year gets later there is more material from which to choose. After the camera was invented and used extensively (here I'm not talking about the camera obscura used by artists in the late Renaissance) there were photographs, which were a pretty good source of documentation. Now we've gone out the other side, as a photograph can be easily manipulated.

The problem with doing everything on the Internet is that anyone can add an article to Wikipedia with little proof that it is authentic, so you'll need to research carefully and never rely only on one source. You and I owe it to our readers to make their experience as authentic as possible, even if it's a fiction book. Give them an accurate frame of reference.

And for goodness sake, leave the "night arrows" at home.

Time, Space, and Inspiration

by Lucinda Whitney


One of the blogs I follow is Joanna Penn's The Creative Penn.

I really like the insights, tips, pretty much everything else. A few months ago she had a blog post about finding the time, space, and inspiration to write (you can read it here, it's pretty great). In it, she discusses how writers need the same kind of intention and dedication that athletes possess when they're training their bodies and minds to achieve their goals. Just like strength, endurance, and conditioning can help someone train their body for the rigors of a sports competition, the same kind of attitude is required of a writer who wants to succeed.

I think time and space are pretty self-explanatory— a dedicated space and an appointed time greatly help with the mental concentration. Unfortunately for me, I don't have a single space I call my own. I share a room that is office/library/TV/toy room. Plus, I work from a desktop. At times, I'm the only one in the room, and at other times, I have to share. Sometimes, it's not ideal, but if I want to write, this is what I have to work with, and I can't make excuses. I've also found out that a good pair of ear buds and a white noise app work really great in masking distractions.

Fortunately, though, I'm the stay-up-late writer. I'm European, which means staying up late is second-nature to me, and my optimal time is from 9 pm to 2 am. Do I do this every day? No, I don't. Some days I'm only able to stay up to midnight, and when I do stay up later, I'm usually dragging myself in the morning. But like Joanna mentioned, routine is a thing that your brain learns. In the past few weeks when I've been trying to finish my WiP novella, it's like the writing is just waiting on the sidelines for the kids to be in bed and the house to be quiet. Then, everything comes together. My mind has learned that this is the optimal time and the words just flow. Yesterday, I even wrote 2,183 words in one sitting. For a slow writer, it was a good day.

What are some ways you use to help you concentrate on your writing?

August was Poetry Month?

By Stacy Johnson

I joined a postcard poetry party for the month of August. I'd like to say thank you to Lara, my new ANWA sister who organized the group. I wasn't able to write much during the craziness of June and July and I needed something simple and easy to get me back in the habit when the kids went back to school and I tried to find my groove. I'm glad August was that month to write a simple poem small enough to fit on a postcard. It was really all my frazzled brain could handle and I did write every day even if I didn't get my postcards sent out in a timely matter (that's a whole different challenge).

I had a stressful month personally and it was interesting to read what I wrote on specific days and re-live how I was feeling. Some of my poems were light hearted and some were dark. Each one allowed me a way to vent and get things off my chest in a creative way, in a way that helped me understand some of my frustration, anger and loneliness as well as be reminded of the many joys I have in my life.

What I re-learned this month was that when I choose to make a goal to write everyday, I am constantly thinking about writing whether it is an article for the newspaper, an entry to my blog, a journal entry or a poem. My brain kept thinking about things that I wanted to say and now I feel like I'm back into writing mode so that September will be much more productive.

An Acrostic Poem

Because I need to relax and

Enjoy,

Escape. I relish

The peaceful harmonies.

Hearing the bow dance on the violin strings

Or the cello's low melodic tones, drowns the

Vexations of my responsibilities allowing me to

Experience a little peace and makes me a

Nicer person.

Thank you for the month long therapy session Lara. You were an answer to prayers that I didn't know I was going to ask for.