Magical Dialogue...

I hit a wall with my writing. Stopped when I tried to write the second part of Dubious Grief. The section called "Left Behind." The problem was creating scenes. I had isolated myself from others. I'd moved into my own office at work. No check-in chats with my officemate. I didn't talk with others about my grief. How could I write scenes? I didn't want to write "in my own head" scenes. I needed to figure out a way to get others into my scenes. I wrote "Balloon Talk" (see Dubious Grief page) to explore a way to create dialogue and write a scene depicting my time of isolation.

Waves...

I spent the week frustrated, unable to write much. This week during the memoir writing class we talked about metaphors. Dubious Grief - waves as the primary metaphor. With loss, come the sneaker waves, unseen until I'm simply crushed, not knowing why. Then, moving into grief, I'm aware of the waves but can't get out of the way. I'm paralyzed, only able to hang on tightly . I'm again crushed by the waves. And then, I begin to grow. Aware that the waves are coming, I let go and ride the waves. Now I begin again to write. I know the waves will carry me along.

Write, revise, edit...

This week I brought another piece of writing for critiquing by my memoir writing class. I always learn so much for these critiques of my writing. I reviewed the writing I'd done over the past several weeks and applied the critique comments to what I'd written. Very very helpful. I compiled the 14 revised pieces and will send these out this week to a few folks who've agreed to read my work. The fourteen pieces completed Part I of Dubious Grief. I now turn to writing Part II pieces. Just have to keep writing, revising, and editing. My goal is to self publish early 2013.

Self publishing...

This month the Mid Valley Willamette Writers meeting hosted Tina Boscha who talked about her journey from traditional publishing to self publishing her work. I agree with her that one big advantage to self publishing is that authors get to keep control over their writing. Until recently, very recently in fact, self publishing was stigmatized. Self published books often had poor cover art, less than superior writing, and authors who pursued this publishing path were labeled "losers!" Not so today. With less than a $1,000 investment Tina, an award winning writer, published her first novel. There is no waiting for rejections from agents, publishers that tie up your work for years. Self publishing means you, the author, take charge of the entire process. Host a web site, gather reviews, hire someone to create your cover design and someone to create a custom web theme, buy formatting softwear. You can publish both in paper and e-book. Love the idea of having this option.