forgiveness

When the Fire Goes Out (and What to Do When This Happens)

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I haven’t touched my novel-in-progress since the second week of July.

Yeah. There’s no way of sugarcoating the truth. The good news is, I haven’t stopped writing altogether. But the first draft of the manuscript I’ve been working on for the past year? The desire to open the Word file isn’t there right now. In fact, I think it had been gone for a while, but it took me several weeks to realize it.

Maybe this has happened to you. At some point during a writing project, despite the passion you felt early on, the fire goes out. You might not know the reason why right away. You might not even recognize what the feeling is at first, so you keep pushing on. But once you do… well, depending on your personality, you might have a hard time accepting it.

Today, I’m here to tell you something important: It’s OK. You’re not alone in this, and maybe something in this post might help you get through it and figure out what to do next.

Continue reading →

#1000 Speak: On Self-Compassion

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1000speak

Today is February 20, 2015, the day when 1000 Voices For Compassion makes its mark. Bloggers all over the globe have committed to posting articles today to celebrate compassion in all its forms and recognize the importance of such acts in our lives and the lives of others. If you’re interested in reading more articles by our movement, I encourage you to visit 1000 Voices of Compassion’s Facebook group or search the hashtag #1000speak on Twitter.

I prefaced my #1000speak lead-in article, “Acts of Compassion in Literature,” by saying I’d been debating two possible ideas before deciding to pursue both. Originally, “Acts of Compassion in Literature” was going to be today’s post. However, as I worked on this second piece, the topic struck a deeper, more resonant chord than I’d expected. Then again, the idea of self-compassion had already been on my mind recently. So, I decided to switch the order of the two articles, and in hindsight I think I made the right decision. Continue reading →

Acts of Compassion in Literature – A Special #1000Speak Edition of “Theme: A Story’s Soul”

/ saraletourneau / 27 Comments

1000speak

On February 20, 2015, 1000 Voices For Compassion will take to the blogosphere and share their thoughts and stories about compassion in all its forms (love, kindness, understanding, empathy, mercy, etc.). Many of these “Voices” are also posting articles on the subject in advance of the big day. Since I’d been debating between two ideas I like equally, I decided, “Why not pursue both, and make one the lead-in article?” 🙂

As an avid reader and a novelist-in-progress, some of the most powerful lessons I’ve learned have come from literature. So, for my lead-in to #1000Speak, I’m doing a literary “exploration” of compassion that aligns with my DIY MFA column “Theme: A Story’s Soul.” Below are some acts of compassion from books I’ve read over the years. As you read the examples, think about what you can learn from each character, as well as the impact their decisions or actions may have on other characters, their world, and the story’s audience. Maybe you’ll want to add some of these books to your wishlist if you haven’t read them yet. Either way, I hope you’ll find this sampling of literary compassion as inspiring as I do.

NOTE: Some of the following examples contain spoilers (either major and minor) that are necessary for discussing the topic at hand. Continue reading →

Chronicling The Craft: 60,000 Words

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Themes in Novels: What The Story Is Really About

Chapters Completed: 14

Chapters In Progress: 7

Chapters Left to Start: 13

“Chronicling The Craft” is an article series where I share my experience with writing my current work-in-progress (WIP), which is a fantasy novel. Every 5,000 words, I let readers know what I’ve accomplished since the previous article and share advice, discoveries, techniques, etc. Besides the word count in each article title, a “chapter ticker” at the top also tracks my progress as I use the skip-around / “writercopter” method to write the novel. Today’s installment celebrates the book reaching 60,000 words in length.

What a stealthy little milestone this turned out to be. I was recently on vacation with my immediate family, so I was literally sneaking in time to work on the WIP when I could, even tuning out of social media for one week to focus on family / relatives, writing, and relaxation. Altogether those shorter sessions ended up as productive as some of the longest I’ve ever done. No anxiety over the lack of time or getting very little done because of said lack of time. Instead, I stayed focused and inspired, typing as many words as I could. And now, here we are again!

My goals for the past several writing sessions have been to finish any in-progress chapters and to NOT start any new chapters. (I’m still using the “writercopter” method, and it’s working brilliantly for this WIP so far!) Let’s see what’s happened since the Chronicle for 55,000 words posted in May: Continue reading →