Saying goodbye...

Just returned from the east coast where I visited my 91 year-old mother. I wanted to see her because her health has declined over the past six-months since my last visit. When it was time for me to return home and I was saying goodbye to her she suddenly asked, "Will you come for my funeral?" I promised her I would, and she seemed pleased to know I'd be at her funeral. I think this was her way of saying "goodbye" - to have closure if she didn't see me again. I've started a short story about "goodbyes" - and the importance of saying goodbye when we don't expect to ever see someone again. Should be an interesting writing experience.

Short Story writing...

I love writing short stories - one a week. I don't need much motivation to write 1, 2, 3 thousand or more words in a week. The short story format gives me time to write, edit, get feedback, and rewrite/edit again. Now that class is over, what I lack is a critique group to provide feedback on my stories. My goal over the next month is to find a critique group. In the meantime I plan to write, write, write...

See new posts on Dubious Grief and Writing Riffs pages.

Short story class ending...

This week will mark the final short story writing class for fall term. I love that I've found my story medium - short stories are perfect for my writing. I have taken ideas - sometimes just a title - developed over the summer and turned these into short stories. Not only do I love writing these brief pieces, but I also love the freedom of moving from one "idea" to another, shifting theme, voice, and content. Short story writing fits well with my ever-changing creative drive. I look forward to writing many more tidbits from my life experiences.

New post on dubious grief page.

More short stories

I have written a short story each week for the past 8 weeks. I love the short story format - the limit on word count, pace, flow and single plot. It is the perfect format to explore potential story lines I've generated over the months. Most of all, short stories are doable for me. My longer pieces get bogged down, I lose the plot line, and I get bored. Short stories are perfect for the writer in me.

Story Plot...

This week, story plot was the topic in my short story writing class. I'm a "seat of the pants" writer, so I rarely know the story plot until after I've finished several drafts of a story. When I reach the point where I've got several good scenes and I begin thinking about reorganizing the story, this is when I think about the story plot. Perhaps as I develop my craft, I will think about plot sooner, but for now this approach works for me.

Writing for fun

Lots of fun writing this week. So far I've managed to write a short story every week since beginning the short story class. Using the character development questionnaire I wrote a story about a family gathering for the 97th birthday celebration of Nettie. In the piece Nettie's life is revealed and in a plot twist, a family secret is revealed. This week I'll try my hand writing a story with the setting as a major element from two POV characters. The writing riff posted this week gives a clue to what story may unfold.

See new material on both Writing Riff and Dubious Grief pages.

Zen writing...

Read Ray Bradbury's "Zen in the Art of Writing" this week. Validation for my "seat of the pants" approach to writing. Trusting in my intuition to guide my writing. No censorship from the brain allowed, only words streaming out from my fingertips. Freedom to relax and let my fingers do the talking. Time enough to worry about cleaning up my words later. For now, writing the tale is my goal.

A short story a week

The challenge offered in my short story writing class is writing a story each week. This week the muse for the story is an article from the paper from which we create a character using a "character questionnaire." I chose to use an obituary posted in the local newspaper. After completing the questionnaire, I wrote a story about the person's life - fictional of course. What a great way to use a prompt - the character questionnaire - and then to let my imagination take off. See the writing riff page entry for a brief glimpse of my developing story.

Short story class week 2

This week I've written pieces for several writing projects. I managed to complete a short story! 1900 words, about loss and grief (who'd guessed grief as a theme!). I await critiques from my classmates and the instructor next week. I think the piece is slightly better than crap. Now I must begin my second short story - need to write a riff to get me started.

Short Story writing

Attended my first fall term writing class this week. Short stories - we will write a short story each week, critique other student's stories, and get feedback on our stories from the instructor. It will be a challenge to write a story each week. I have a few ideas based on scenes I've written over the summer. We did an exercise in class - a riff? - 20 minutes writing about a childhood experience. I will try to create my first short story from the writing exercise.

Writing short stories...

This term I am taking a short story writing class. I have written a number of pieces set in the mid nineteen sixties to mid nineteen seventies. I envision a collection of pieces about various aspects of the social movements that arose during the counter couture era. As a sociologist, I was deeply interested in social movement and the impact of these on cultural change. Lately I've tried to identify what remains today of these movements to change the culture. Short story fiction may be a way for me to write about the beginnings, and perhaps explore there impact, if any, on society today.

Autumn class

This week I start a short story writing class at the community college. I've taken memoir and novel writing classes but want to experiment with shorter pieces. I want to understand how short stories differ from longer pieces. I have generated several ideas for stories over the summer and now need to understand the structure and pace of short stories. Great way to get motivated in my writing again.

New writing projects

I'm always amazed that when I just write from my heart, my brian follows. Riffs help free my mind and allow my heart to take the lead. This summer I've written pieces without knowing where these will lead me. New characters spring to life, new settings emerge, and I simply don't try to understand or organize these pieces. Maybe these are beginnings of short stories or maybe these are pieces of a novel. It doesn't matter - I'm happy to just keep writing.

Writing my grief...

I struggle writing about my grief in a way that is not too intense for the reader. I strive to balance the raw emotion of my experience with a narrative that distances me from that emotion. The story has three parts: the time between the diagnosis and his death; the year following his death; and the year of trying to create a life without him. I write about the good times in our relationship, the not so good times, and the insights I've gained as I've traveled along the journey of grief.

See new post on Dubious Grief page.

Writing from the heart...

I have been chasing my authentic writing voice all summer. This week I had an ah-ha experience. I found my voice - authentic, emotional, and fluid. Working on Dubious Grief is a priority so I re-read my journal entries from 2008-2010. And surprise - there it was, my voice. Now I work on creating a structure for the book with the journal entries as the heart. Three parts of my journey emerged: Death Watch, Left Behind, and Creating a Life. These reflect the unfolding of my grief journey and the structure for the book.

See new post on Dubious Grief page.

Keep writing...

I'm reading short stories. I want to learn the pacing for the story arc. I'm thinking about some of the pieces I've written this summer as possible stand alone short stories. As with all forms of writing, short story writing is a craft, and I need to learn how to write in this form. An unexpected outcome of this is I'm beginning to find more and more humor emerge in my writing - I'm having fun creating these shorter pieces.

See new posts on Dubious Grief and Writing Riffs pages.

Writing energy...

This week I've worked on two of my writing projects. Lots of research for one and organizing material on the other. Looking through materials for one project I found something written by a friend, many years ago when we were students together. The words inspired me so I looked up my friend from long ago. She created a safe place where I wrote nonacademic pieces. It was the beginning of my desire to write as I do today. Her words continue to inspire my writing. "I have to continue no matter what I say, to keep the words coming is the purpose. They will not be right anyway. What is right is to write..." Thank you MJ for your words.

See new posts on writing riffs and dubious grief pages.

Nonfiction writing

This week I've turned to developing a proposal for my nonfiction book - Dubious Grief. I picked up a book - Death's Door - written by the literary critic Sandra Gilbert. I'm most interest in what she wrote in Part 1 of the book - since it contains personal writing about the death of her husband. Several ideas she presents have affirmed my own thoughts: 1. when we lose our spouse, we often feel we just want to be dead also - this is not suicidal, we just simply want to be with our loved one; 2. in order to come to terms with the death, we need to acknowledge the irreversibility of our loss before we can move on.

Social Movements research...

I'm working on ideas and scenes for a new writing project. I'm thinking about a series of short stories set in the sixties and seventies - a look at the counterculture that emerged for a brief fifteen years. I love researching this time period - many social movements arose during this era. How did these various social movements affect the longer struggle for social change? What survives today from these youth centered movements? Can social movements really produce permanent change in social culture? Just some of the things I contemplate...

Memories...

I'm writing scenes about life in the sixties and seventies. Lot's of memories fill my head. I'm amazed at how much detail of long ago experiences become vivid as I write and think about this time in my life. Old friends appear in exquisite detail, music beats time in my heart, sights and sounds from the past become incorporated in my writing.

See new writing on Dubious Grief and Writing Riffs pages.

Stream of consciousness...

Writing riffs as a technique for starting the new novel - this idea just came to me this past week. I decided to give it a try. I wrote a scene - approximately 1,000 words - and a stream of consciousness backstory. I'm interested in reading more of what Jack Keroac wrote using a stream of consciousness method. I think using the writing riff technique will help me find and clarify my voice.

New posts on Dubious Grief and Writing Riffs pages.

Research - social movements

This week I started research for a new novel I'm contemplating. As a Sociologist I'm interested in how social movements in the U.S. during the "counter culture" era have effected contemporary culture. Lots of fun ideas for a novel emerge within the converging movements for equality, peace, and environmental change. This era (1960-1985) had an everlasting impact on my life but the question I explore in the novel concerns whether cultural change has endured. So much fun to begin a new writing project.

Summer writing...

I write daily - with the freedom to write anything. Some days I write pieces of essays for my Dubious Grief project. Other days I write a scene or two for my novel. For the past week I write ideas for a new novel - thinking about ways to integrate several themes into a coherent plot. This is exciting and creative writing - no "have too..." writing, just letting my muse take me wherever my mind roams.

New material on writing riffs and dubious grief pages.

Insights...

Just returned from a visit to the east coast with my sisters & mom. Travel is soooo exhausting! I managed to write during my layovers in Chicago and San Francisco airports. Met a wonderful gentleman from Vermont in Chicago who asked if I was a writer. He noticed me - pen and pad - writing. How nice it was to talk about my writing with a stranger.

See new additions to Dubious Grief and Writing Riff pages.

Summer writing...

Class ends this Tuesday and my writing critique group ended last week. Both groups helped me structure writing time. My challenge through the summer is finding a way to balance my activities so I have writing time. With no external deadlines I must take responsibility and create internal deadlines for my writing.

Essay: On Crazy Grief

One goal I have is to write essays about my grieving journey. I decided to write about "Crazy Grief" something few sources acknowledge. It's a legacy of the stigma attached to being labeled crazy in our society. Crazy Grief is a response to losing someone we love; the pain of loss literally makes us crazy. Two years after Glen died I still struggle with waves of grief crashing down on me. Am I crazy? I don't think I am, yet isn't denial a sign of craziness? A good topic to explore in a personal essay -

Platform

Last week the class assignment was to draft a query letter. This week I write a two page synopsis. It's the first time I write a summary of the entire story. Both exercises help me identify my platform - who will read my book. The story is about betrayal - the protagonist's trail of betrayals and other's betrayals of her. How does someone heal from a lifetime of betrayal? This is the theme explored throughout the story.

Revisions...

I continue my revision process. One scene at a time is worked on. I read everything I can about the revision process - incorporating what seems to fit with my writing. When I need a break from the revising, I turn to my memoir essays. This gives my creative energy a chance for expression.

Susan Jean Elaine

I've started a new writing project, a memoir of sorts. I write memories about growing up in the 1950's during a time when childhood was about the many adventures we created. Such contrast with the childhood experiences of today. It is fun to write about these moments with my two sisters. We three sisters will write our memories and share them when we are together.

Write, write, write...

I entered my short essay about Glen’s death in a contest. I just wanted to put it out there. Just writing the essay was cathartic! Finding my life through writing is wonderful. Sadness comes and goes, but I suppose that’s always going to be part of being left behind.

Critique Group

Recently I joined a writer's critique group. This is an invaluable experience for my growth as a writer. My past experience writing has involved much collaboration with colleagues and since I've retired, I have missed the collaborative process. I have struggled against the idea of the lone writer, sitting at a desk isolated from others. My critique group has filled this void. We share not only feedback about each person's writing, but we also share resources. I am extremely grateful for this wonderful group of writers in my life.

Technology Marches On...

I am taking a class called the Business of Writing. Creating a blog and linking it with my other social networking sites is the goal. This will help me develop my platform as a writer. My goal is to network with other writers. Lots of technology – when all I want to do is write, write, write!

Why Blog?

I am taking a class "The Business of Writing" and our first assignment is to create a blog. I tried to use another blog site but found it too techie for me. I became frustrated and found I spent too much time trying to figure out how to create my site. After four frustrating weeks I have decided to create this blog. I am still trying to figure out a few gadgets but do not feel nearly as frustrated as I did trying to design the other blog. I hope followers of my other blog - dubiousgrief - will follow this blog as well.