The Place For My Writers Notes

original posting: Fri, 4 Feb 1994 08:18:19 JST

(I split the subject because Tsirbas really isn't talking about my exercises, but about how to write - I think)

Tsirbas wrote

- Exercises cannot, however, replace the act of actually sitting down
- and writing a complete piece from start to finish with the goal of
- meeting the criteria of some outline or idea one has had.

Well, no, but... I have to admit, I've been in too many places where someone said "Just write" (talk, program, paint, ...) without providing some clues to the pieces. my ski instructor didn't take me to the top of the expert slope and say "Now Ski." There were some preliminaries. Why do chess players practice gambits, positions, closings, and so on?

Or maybe a better illustration is over in the artistic painting field - the instructor rarely sits you down, hands you brush, oils, etc. and says "Now Paint!" First you get to practice and study composition, perspective, colors, etc. In many schools, you'll spend quite a while simply copying "old masters" - imitate this. now do it again. okay, here's another one.

I will admit, some teachers may start by saying "do it" - then start giving out studies, exercises, and so forth based on what they see as your weak spots or abilities needing sharpening. That's testing by doing, and is pretty useful...

Let me suggest that writing suffers from this notion that we can do it "naturally." Admittedly, everyone studies some in school - but does the year of shop that I took in school make me a great cabinet maker? Or the several art classes I had - which came very close to convincing me that I hated the stuff and was totally unable to do it?

Let me suggest where I see the exercises fit. (not just mine, there are books and magazines and so forth stuffed with them)

It's just like painting or any other creative pursuit. There are parts of the process which can be separated out and studied - practiced - independently (these are exercises). While it may seem tedious, even boring or pointless, these provide the basic tools that then are used in the final act. If you want to paint, you may get perspective, color studies, endless copying of old masters, and a whole host of other exercises. Some teachers may start by saying "paint" - and then assign exercises based on what they see you missing. Others just start with a set of basics and move everyone through them.

So - yeah, the exercises don't replace the basic WRITE - FINISH - MARKET cycle. But just like any set of exercises, the skills you learn may very well help you when you try the real game...

Exercises, in most fields, are intended to construct, reinforce, and sharpen desirable habits, models, or patterns of thought, which then carry over into practice. In some cases, the exercise may be extended into something useful in itself, but the main point is to condition the process so that it happens "naturally."

I'm kind of intrigued with your description of Ray Bradbury's process - where did you learn this?

Personally, from his Zen in the Art of Writing and the frequently reprinted one with the silly long name ... usually shortened to "The Thing at the Head of the Stairs" ... I have the impression that he started with at least 10 years of imitating the "old masters." At least one thousand words a day, just imitating - that's exercise! Then he sold a story or two - and went back to imitating for another ten years or so. Then he started his list of words and phrases, and started "intuitive" writing.

I think I could almost depend on my "natural" writing after churning out some 8,000,000 words of imitation... that's roughly 50 to 80 novels he wrote in "exercises" to get to the point of writing short stories "naturally."

Further, the one week crank it and drop it in the mail idea is pretty common to the writers from the "Great Pulp" era. It's where Asimov got blamed for saying first drafts only (as he explains it, he "rewrote" heavily beforehand, but to save paper, only typed it once), Heinlein got a similar reputation, Jack Williamson, the list goes on. Mostly, I think it was economics - the big market was short stories, the pay stunk, you couldn't do much else.

Several mystery writers also had similar notions - and some of them were cranking out whole novels (short, perhaps, but penny dreadfuls...) I know I've seen one of them commenting on a period when s/he wrote one complete novel each week.

Even then - read carefully between the lines, and you see some of these writers spending time "behind the curtains" - lists of words, draft notes, brainstorming, and so forth. I think they did tend to focus on one story, and really work on that one "at the top" during the week - but the other stories were perking...

BTW - as I've related before, I've seen Harlan Ellison (I think) in a publicized stunt write a "brand-new" story during a convention. Tapped away at the typewriter, posted the pages as he finished them, and sold the story. BUT he also had a huge ratty lab notebook (engineer style) that he kept sneaking peeks at... I can believe the "final writing" was new at the convention, but I would dearly love to know what kind of "prewriting" was in that notebook.

[in the following, I grow a bit unrestrained in my wording. Please believe, Tsirbas, that I am not attacking you - I am simply reacting to a notion that I think has caused more trouble for me than I ever would have believed. You are getting the backblast from fighting this evil python for over 20 years... sorry!]

- Creative exercises are of no use to a writer unless he or she, upon
- sitting down to write, is able to let go of all restraint, of all
- preconceptions and all possible criticsms. If upon sitting down, and
- having a brilliant, twisted idea you think, "What will my mother's
- reaction be when she sees this in print?" then you have already set
- limitations on your creativity. No amount of exercises will make you a
- better writer unless you are true to your own personal genius.

time out! number one, while I agree that part of the process of creativity consists of lowering, challenging, and otherwise working around restraints, preconceptions, and fear of criticism, guess what - that's almost exactly the point of the exercises I'm posting! That process CAN be exercised and trained - that's a big part of what DeBono (anyone recognize the CoRT exercises?) has spent some 40 years or so showing people. It ain't just "you got it" or "you ain't" - there are clearly defined ways of helping you slip those bounds.

(in fact, if you're interested, there's a theoretical background that explains why these bounds are so tight, and how the lateral thinking techniques work around them - read The Mechanism of Mind.)

I've personally used these techniques in training people, and my experience is that they work. Try them, and judge for yourself.

number two - there's the "natural writer" notion again - somewhere buried under all that gunk, there is a creative genius waiting to be freed. Simply lay aside all the bonds that life has put upon you, and it will emerge and shatter the world. Drugs, drinking, god I gotta live in the village... maybe acid will free the true genius...

Bull! that's saying the little kid playing with paints against the wall is automatically better than the artist who has spent years learning to do the basics, to the point where the technique "vanishes" and the art appears.

Better yet - consider the old Zen adage, that when you know nothing, trees are trees, and mountains are mountains. When you begin to learn, trees are not trees, and mountains are not mountains. And when you reach the essence of Zen - trees are trees again, and mountains mountains.

Translate that into writing - when you know nothing, stories are stories. Then you start to learn, and nothing seems quite right. And when you really get it down - stories are stories again.

I think most of us are in the "nothing seems quite right" phase - and practicing the basics until they are habitual is one way of getting past that...

sorry - I don't buy the "natural genius" model. that's the approach that takes 100 programmers, sits them down, says "program" - then trashes 99 of them, since they aren't "naturals." guess what - I can take 100, and in 98 of them, make them not just humdrum, but magic gurus that companies are happy to steal. I've done it. And I refuse to play the game of saying if you can't do it natural, you can't do it.

(two go off and play with each other - every time! some things take precedence, I suppose...)

this is a critical point to me. please don't trashcan people - we don't have enough to go around, honest. and that's what the "natural" writer method does.

Every "natural" I've studied, met, spent time with (programmers, writers, potters, painters, and others) has spent quite a bit of blood and sweat, time and energy, learning the basics so well that they can do it "naturally." It's almost offensive to call them "natural" - they are so far from "natural" that mistaking their trained abilities for some kind of natural in-born talent belittles the efforts they have taken to get there. Saying it is "unconscious" now simply means they've worked at it a lot!

Okay? I happen to agree - practice, practice, practice. Some people do it copying old masters, some insist on beating their own way in the wilderness, some prefer nicely packaged little "technique" exercises, some want or need a grand theory to tie it all together, but everyone needs to keep working until they reach the point of "natural" writing... which is highly unnatural!

If you mean you have to practice until writing becomes habitual - I'll agree!

Did I misunderstand you completely? I really hate this idea, and I'm afraid I may have read it into what you wrote, in which case I owe you an apology for dumping this on you...

[again, sorry about the harsh words. I just really hate this notion of "natural genius" with all of its implications for those who "don't have it." No one has it!]

tink

Original posting: Fri, 29 Jan 1993 16:41:41 JST

Peter, jbutcher, and Karen Lowe (at least),

First for Peter and jbutcher...

- To be honest, I was hoping for that as well as information about
- potential occupational opportunites, the writing market, etc. Is this
- kind of thing normally discussed on here?
-
- I'm interested in the writing market and how to go about getting something
- published, or what the best approach to take is with publishers/magazines/
- newspapers...I don't think I've seen anything on this list yet that addresses

Jane said...
- All you need to do is ask, and I guarantee SOMEONE will
- respond (whether it's what you want to hear or not).

I guess I qualify as SOMEONE, so let me bend your eyes for awhile:-)

I'm fairly sure the serious folks have gotten back to you. I hope so, because I certainly am interested in these questions, and am (possibly) more out of touch with the markets than you are.

You may know all this, but I can suggest you visit your library or bookstore (cripes, you have easy access to both of those with LOTS of English language books *envy*) and look carefully at Writer's Digest books - there's a big hardcover each year (Writer's Market), plus recently a stack of paperbacks for specialties. Despite drawbacks that someone will likely point out, that's probably the best general reference. They also put out a monthly magazine "Writer's Digest", and there's "The Writer" and at least one more whose name I cannot recall which you can usually find in Walden's or B. Dalton's magazine racks.

If the serious folks have something they send by email in answer to questions like this and are on bitnet, could you send me a copy, too?

This next part isn't really answers, more a series of questions I've wrestled with in regard to my writing. I hope they might help you think about "the market".

Now, I'm going to start with a funny question - are you just interested in being published, or do you want money too? I think it makes a significant difference in the markets you're looking at as to how you answer that.

Let me add one more odd question - do you insist on your article (story, poem, etc.) being published exactly the way you wrote it or can the editor change the title, rewrite the lead-in paragraph, and otherwise fit your work to their needs? How you answer that question also affects your markets.

Let me give you an example - (blatant self-plug follows) - if you look at the January 1993 issue of IEEE Software in the book reviews, you'll find a piece with my name on it. I get "paid" with two copies and the book I review (actually, with computer book prices what they are, that's not bad pay:-). But - the editor wrote the lead-in using something I had in mine, and she's never used any of my titles. She also hacked it again, even after I'd seen the approval copy. Not that I'm objecting - we've done this before, and she knows I'm not a stickler about it. In fact, her headlines are much better than my proposals, and she's trying to juggle text, ads, and noisier writers into a product against a deadline, so I don't argue when she makes last-minute changes. In fact, she's told me that's one reason she likes to use my pieces - because I do understand the kind of work she's doing, and let her do it.

The editor also enjoyed that piece because I used an extended metaphor - I said the author reviewed the field of email, and then I talked about him showing us the flowers, cow patties, and other things. Not your ordinary boring technical review, and in the cover I carefully made sure she understood that if she didn't like it, I would redo the piece.

You might say - that's non-fiction, just a book review, that's different. You should read "Grumbles From the Grave" by Robert Heinlein. This is the collected history of an "established writer" trying to get fiction published - a fascinating insight.

And yet another question to help point your self-searching - do you insist on writing fiction or non-fiction? Do you have a specific genre or specialization that you just have to be published in, or is your drive more generous with you? Again, the answer affects how you look at and attack the market.

Oh, one other very off-beat question - do you insist on having your name on your writing? Suppose the editor puts your name on some things, but leaves it off some? Or suppose the editor puts someone else's name on pieces you've written? These are critical questions, especially if you get into some of the newspaper markets.

If you don't mind doing non-fiction (you shouldn't, it's a good field and helps pay the way for many other pursuits), here are some entryways I know that used to be fairly generous - book reviews in many professional magazines (it helps if you work in that field - and then they give you books to read!), small newspapers (weeklies, etc.), your local political office/church/other social group... During grad school, I also wrote a stack of press releases which the PR people happily distributed for me. No name, no pay, and the newspapers tended to rewrite or cut like crazy, but sometimes I could tell where my words had gone. Note that these are largely zero or negative in terms of pay, but they give you practice and help build your clip book. They are also almost entirely non-fiction.

OK, Karen. I've been following the other pieces, but I wanted to comment on this...

- I'm interested in the "Rinky-Dink" Society. Personally, I usually get a
- decent response from my poetry, but am unable to compete with current
- popular forms of poetry. You may have noticed my "Victorian Poetry". I've
- decided to go the Emily Dickinson route, write tons of stuff, publish a few
- and tell the "official" critics to take a flying leap, their grandchildren
- will love my stuff. ;-) Karen Lowe.

whoa! wait a minute. "unable to compete with current forms of poetry"? Karen, I'm the bloody fool around here, you certainly beat my doggerel hands down. You even know what Randy's caesurus are, apparently.

I suppose you mean you don't think you'll make Redbook, or whatever the main mass market pub's are now? I doubt very much if my stuff (poetry, story, or non-fiction) will ever hit that kind of market, but is it important?

I'm afraid I take a little different approach to writing. I don't think there are "winners" per se, in the sense that there is one champ, with everyone else ranked below them. As in certain martial arts and other fields, the question is whether you executed your art as well as you could or not, no matter how other people look at it. Do you really think that the vast majority of marathon racers compete to win? Or do they run against themselves, whether alone or in the midst of others?

Here, do me a favor, would you? Write yourself a poem on the theme of the runner (swimmer, writer, whatever you like) whose only purpose is their own pleasure, and the feelings they have when one day someone stops them and says "You came in first". The unconscious, surprised winner, shall we say? Then, if you like, I'd enjoy reading it.

Karen, I think poets perhaps more than any other branch of writing need to forget about the normal measures for societal accomplishment. You know the plot, at least for artists - starve in a garret, beg, borrow, and steal to let themselves produce their own art in their own way. The rare comedy goes that they are discovered in the nick of time and become rich and famous. The far more common tragedy is that discovery comes too late. And the even more common reality is that (a) they manage to support themselves relatively well, usually doing something else and (b) they make the time and do what they like and (c) they make their own "discovery".

Heck - take several of your poems, and make some copies of them. Go down to your supermarket and find the manager. Point out to him (or her) that bulk natural food cereals don't have a box for the customers to read in the morning, so you'd like to help him offer them a treat - poetry to eat by. Talk him (or her) into putting up a little box, and the explanation of what this is, right beside the bulk cereal. This first set of poems is free for the store. And you have now "been published." But be patient, it gets better.

Watch - those poems will be picked up. And when the stack is nearly gone, you can talk to the store owner about paying you for the next ones (let them suggest a payment, if possible. keep the charge low, but make sure you get paid.) Figure out whether you want to do the copying yourself (to control paper quality) or let them do it. If you want to, talk them into reproducing it themselves but pay you a larger fee (since they can now make as many copies as they want, they may consider it a bargain).

You think I'm kidding, don't you? I just recently (here in Japan) saw something about a guy who's printing his short stories on T-shirts. Apparently they are selling, too.

Maybe that's not the kind of publication and market you're looking for, but please don't tell me you can't compete. You can. Get out there and go for it!

Jane also said

- Please don't be. The majority of us (let me know if I'm wrong) are,
- as yet, unpublished, so have no proof that we are better or worse
- than you (and even then, it's not really proof!) - regardless of what
- certain egotists might think. Do be prepared for some criticism
- and/or some praise, however.
-
- ENJOY!!!!!

I'm not sure if Jane will let me talk (I've got a 20 year old clipbook of newspaper articles and there are other odd bits and pieces around that have my name on them - but they're almost all non-fiction, Jane, and I sure never got paid much:-) To tell you the truth, though, I'm usually looking at my next piece - and so far, that's unpublished.

I can also state categorically from the pieces I've seen printed (and done) that publication has relatively little to do with value - a lot to do with timing, blank empty pages around paid-for ads that the editor has to fill, and other oddities. Let you in on a secret, though. If you don't write it, and don't send it out, the odds of being published are very, very low. If you follow the reverse strategy (write, submit, and keep submitting), the odds increase dramatically! Which reminds me, now I've got to get back to writing.

Heinlein's "recipe" (abridged from memory, 'cause I can't find the book)

1. write
2. finish what you write
3. don't rewrite unless an editor tells you to
4. put it on the market
5. keep it on the market until it sells

(sorry, this isn't very well organized. I got excited, and wanted to get it out this week. I managed to find hideyholes for all my files here, too.)

hope this helps,
mike

original posting: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 13:29:33 -0500

As a prelude, allow me to note that deciding what you want to achieve here on WRITERS often goes a long ways towards deciding whether you enjoy the relatively unstructured format or not.  Let's face it, the listowner is a volunteer who doesn't have enough time to do a lot on the list, there really isn't a designated "instructor surrogate" (or even a reasonable facsimile of a guru.  Several unreasonable carbon copies, but those aren't the same thing at all :-)  Matter of fact, mostly we got some people who are learning, just like you and me, and some of us are willing to help out around the edges, which makes the list rumble and mutter and sputter along.  Sometimes the sputter gets pretty damp, but we waddle through.

So, tell me, what are your plans?

From Writing As a Lifelong Skill by Sanford Kaye and

(with some emendations by moi!)

"A good way to ensure your progress in writing is to commit yourself to a realistic set of goals.  Through regular evaluation..., you can adjust these goals to make the most of [your participation]."

"... this conscious decision about what you really want to accomplish and how much you think you can get done... is a contract with yourself to make the best use of your time.  You can continually revise and sharpen your plan."

"Keep in mind that goal setting is only a technique to track and support your continuing development.  You will need plenty of patience and a sense of humor about expectations that are subjected to the stresses and strains of real life.  People who set out to accomplish a goal (especially those who feel they have to make up for something), and tend to forget that an unrealistic plan becomes still another obstacle to learning.  Much of writing is experimentation: finding out what works and what does not work.  No matter how wonderful the textbook... how conscientious your instructor, or how constructive your fellow students, you need a trying-it-out spirit to strengthen your skills."

"Moreover, this search, sometimes fun and often frustrating, is inherent in the medium of words.  Once you feel at home with the idea that you will learn something new each time you write, you can begin to enjoy the satisfaction of doing the best writing you can."

Sanford's worksheet (p. 51) to help you think about your goals...

1. My demonstrated strengths as a writer:
2. My most important weakness as a writer:
3. Things that other people have told me about my writing:
4. My reasons for wanting to improve my writing:
5. My specific priorities for improving my writing:
6. Attitudes I hold that will help me improve my writing:
7. Attitudes toward writing that may get in the way:
8. Writing I have read that I like:
9. Writing I have read that I don't like:
10. Resources that can help me reach my goals:

Therefore, I hope to achieve the following:




(Wow!  Do you really want to... huh, I never would have guessed.  That much ink?

Are you pondering what I'm pondering, Pinky?
I think so, but how are we going to get a crate of fishnet stockings into the White House?
gnarf...:-)

Original Posting: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 12:40:28 -0500

Let's take a look at some thoughts from Writing As a Lifelong Skill by Sanford Kaye, ISBN 0-534-22218-8

Up to Now: Your Writing History

(Page 13) "Actually, what we mean by 'writing' is not so easily pinned down....  Does writing require an audience?... What accounts for the personal drive to record life in visible, lasting marks on a page, whether or not anyone else ever sees them?  To settle on your own definition you will probably need to sort out the different functions of writing as you have experienced them in your own work and in your reading."

So, for a first stab at the historical venue that is you, what is your definition of writing?  What does it mean to you?  What does it do for you?

Go ahead, think about it!

(Fair warning -- I'm going to send a series of these little exercises, all based on this book.  Let me know if you enjoy them, okay?)

"There are no whole truths; all truths are half-truths. It is trying to treat them as whole truths that plays the devil." Alfred North Whitehead

original posting: Tue, 11 Sep 2001 23:40:51 -0400

On a television program early this morning, they were talking with students in Cherry Hill, NJ, about the high school problems.

A statement made by one student rang oddly in my mind.


This was the justification for ostracizing and harassment of a local "freak" -- a student who dressed differently, likes Marilyn Manson (who is that?), and otherwise doesn't fit in.

Somehow, this notion that difference in some way justifies fear, anger, hatred... it doesn't ring true to me.  Certainly, we've all heard the tales of pink monkeys, but are we indeed trapped by such reactions, or are we able to look beyond our prejudices and reactions?

Anyway, a suggested exercise:

a.  Pick two of the following 12 emotions.  You may use two dice if you like.


Now, pick a gaggle of characters, and one odd-ball(or ballette, as you decide).

Scene one -- introduce your characters, and establish that the gaggle feels one of your two emotions towards the odd-ball.

Scene two through n -- spend some time exploring those relations, the reactions of the odd-ball, the rising xxxxx of the gaggle, the bystanders joining in and raising the stakes.

Scene n+1 -- revelation.  Somehow, someway, let one or more of the gaggle get a good hard look at what they are doing, and at what walking in the shoes of the odd ball means.  This should result in the shift from the first emotion to the second one.

et diminuendo -- now, let us look at your second emotion, driven by the revelation.

Go ahead, spin that tale, warp those words, let the pink monkey dance on the table tops and humanity triumph!

(What, you don't like this one?  How about another tale, or a poem, based around the "natural fear" of difference?  Perhaps something about endogamy and exogamy?)

original posting: Fri, 14 Dec 2001 07:38:14 -0500


Here's an exercise that will help you write the best piece of your career.  Ready?

Okay, here's the bones of this exercise (you'll put the meat on while doing it).

First, sit back, relax, and imagine that some time has passed.  You've just gotten the early release of a future anthology or collection containing your best piece (perhaps it's the anniversary release of your works?:-)  In other words, you've become the writer you want to be, and your work has become a part of the public consciousness, and one of your best works has been selected for this.

Now, you flip to your piece, and just before it, there's an introduction written by your favorite author, critic, reviewer of your work, someone who understands your writing and your approach and knows how to tell people what they are about to enjoy, how to lead them into your work so that they get the most possible from it.

Who is that writer?  Who put together that introduction? 

If your work is a novel, the introduction may be several pages long, a short story or poem may have a somewhat shorter introduction.  But what are the key points to that introduction?  What does it point out about your writing?

Stop here, and write down the main points of the introduction.  If you want to, give us the lead sentence, or perhaps the final ringing summary that leads into your work.

Look it over.  Did they miss anything critical about your work?  When you write the letter thanking them for the introduction, what are you going to say?

Go ahead and bask in enjoying that introduction for a few minutes.  Think about how well-deserved it is, how it leads your readers to your work, where this work fits into the rest of your writing.

Then, if you're ready, do the second part of this exercise.  Sit down and write the piece (the poem, short story, essay, novel, or whatever) that they are going to introduce!

original posting: Tue, 25 Jun 2002 22:32:37 -0400

(Sigh.  Looking for gold here, and there, and ne'er seeing those rainbows springing up from the mists, with the gold out there...so let's put up a pointer, frame the unseen, and otherwise look ahead to what may be!)

Okay!  Let's take a wild swing, and say that the golden era of WRITERS is yet to come.

You, my fine hearties, are going to swing that pick, tote that bail, and build the wonderful, magical wizard of o...oops, that's another story, best told in technicolor (with the horse of a different color prancing the way!)

So, let's assume (for sometimes we must place our thoughts ahead of our aspirations, else we expire?  Go ahead, breathe)...

1.  What would mark the golden era of writers for you?  What would be happening, what would the postings resemble, tell us a few of the subject lines and themes being traded on that day?

2.  What are you going to do to make that happen?  What mix of postings are you sending on that fine sunshiny morning?  What responses do you make when someone trips over your clay feet?  How do you act (or perhaps hold the reaction?) as you trip along those golden cobblestones, up to the tower of writing?

Go ahead.  Dream the future for us, show us what lies ahead in that era of goodwill and fine workshoppery, and then spin us a path to tread that gets us there.

(and his name was Rumpelstiltskin!  And he sneezed when he saw the hay?)

original posting: Tue, 27 Aug 2002 21:35:11 -0400

We've all heard about the big six (journey, game, war, machine, organism, society).  These are popular metaphors used by Americans (at least) for many purposes.

But, let's ask, what is writing to you?  What is the metaphor (or simile, if you prefer a little more distance in the equation) that keeps you writing, that makes you smile, that leaves you feeling as if "yes, that's it, that's what writing really is!"?

Writing is a bowl of blueberries?

A red, red wheelbarrow under the sun?

A never-ending fountain of...

Go ahead, what's your metaphor for writing?  Expand on it, pun with it, and let us know.

What is writing?

Original posting: Fri, 07 Mar 2003 23:37:20 -0500

I'm sure most of you know the story.  Basically, the man searching for a hired man walks onto a building site.  He approaches one workman, and asks what he's doing.  The workman looks up with a snarl, "I'm laying bricks, what's it look like?"  He shakes his head and walks on.

He approaches a second worker, and asks what he is doing.  This workman looks up, shakes the chalk line straight, and says, "I'm building a wall."  The man thanks him and walks on.

He approaches a third worker, and asks again.  This workman looks up with a smile, glances up at the clouds, and says, "I'm building a cathedral."  The man reaches down and shakes his hand, hiring him on the spot.

Variations of this story float around, but they all focus on the "mental game" being more important than the physical actions.

So, here's your tasks for today.

1.  Take the theme of this story, and re-cloth it for another venue.  For example, what would be the matching tasks and goal for the dress industry?  Sewing, making a dress, creating romance?  Pick an industry, lay out the tasks, and write it up.  (Bonus points for finding a magazine in that industry and selling them the story!)

2.  Reflect a bit on yourself.  When you write, are you pounding keys? Writing a book?  Or creating a cathedral?  What is your cathedral?

Write!