Quotes and Cookies: Jump off Cliffs

"We have to continually be jumping off cliffs and developing our wings on the way down."

~Kurt Vonnegut

I think I love this quote because the concept of jumping off cliffs fascinates me.

Or maybe it's the leap of faith it takes to believe that if you take such a huge risk, you'll develop those wings on the way down.

Or maybe it's the wing-developing itself. That we have it in us to develop those wings... we just have to be willing to do the work.

Or maybe it's because I feel like I've been jumping off cliffs lately, and it's a comforting thought to know that I can get wings, because I REALLY don't want to splat across the rocks at the bottom.

Or maybe it's because there are these other cliffs that I'm standing at the top of, looking down at the ground so very, very far away, and I'm still a little scared to jump.

Or, you know, maybe it's just because the concept of jumping off cliffs fascinates me.

And do these cookies! Mmmm. I think I may have to forget cliff-diving for a bit and go make some of these.

Photo Credit

Happy cliff-diving!

Quotes and Cookies: Courage to Begin

I wrote a post a couple of days ago about how you knew when you had the guts to be a writer. I was surprised how many people were unsure if they did have the guts! Because do you know what? I THINK YOU DO. Even if you haven't realized it yet, you do. How do I know? Because you ARE doing it! You're showing you have the guts to do this with every single thing you do.

"If you could get up the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed."

~David Viscott

See? You've already mustered that courage! All you have to do now is follow through. Piece of cake, right? Or... you know... piece of cookie. Hey! Speaking of cookies-- let's have one! We can celebrate having all that courage and all.

realmomkitchen.com

Happy 11/11/11, everyone! Have a FABULOUS weekend!




P.S. If you don't already own DIVERGENT (and you totally should), scroll down just a bit and enter in the giveaway!

The Way We Are: You can handle it

Okay, so there was that moment when you first got the SPARK to be a writer.

And then there was that moment when you decided what you were going to DO with that spark. Where you were going to work to have it take you. You might have decided that you only want your posterity to read what you write. Or maybe you decided you want as big of an audience as you could get through Indie publishing. Or through a regional press. Or through a traditional publisher. Maybe you want everyone in the world to read what you write!

And let's face it. If you are going to have people read your stuff, it takes guts. So... my question this week is:

When did you realize that you had the guts to handle being a writer?

For me, it was realizing I could handle the critiques that came with being a writer. It happened about 3 1/2 years ago. I took a college creative writing class from a teacher who, quite frankly, scared me. I had only been writing for a few months, and was still about six months from meeting my writing group. My teacher announced that we were going to do in-class critiques, and we were going to start with me. My very first critique. I showed up with copies of my story for everyone the next class, the teacher passed them out, and then the class went silent as everyone read.

I sat at the back of the classroom, watching everyone read what I wrote. I didn't have butterflies in my stomach-- I had them flapping around my heart. The excitement built and built in my chest until I tingled everywhere from the thrill of people reading my stuff. Something I created. By the time they finished reading and drew that last breath before giving me their critiques, there was no nervousness-- only intense anticipation that I hungered for like nothing else. I knew then that I wouldn't ever cringe from a critique-- I'd crave it. I left that class knowing that I could take any critique I got thrown at me.

So there's mine. Now let's hear yours!

What was the moment that told you that you could handle it? (Or the moment that let you know you could at least handle a part of it.) Was it when you first made a blog and put your thoughts out there for strangers to read? When you figured out how to reorganize your life to fit writing in? When you stared at books in a bookstore and knew that you'd handle whatever came your way whenever to get yours there, too? When you realized you could reach "the end" in the novel you started? When you realized you had more than one book idea in you?

We want to hear about it!

Quotes and Cookies: The Hardest Way

Before we get to the quotes or the cookies, I have to share something. I don't normally do links to contests, but I HAD to on this one. My friend K. Marie Criddle is moving to Japan. JAPAN, people! As a parting gift, she's giving away some really great stuff. But lemme tell you: the way to really win big is by following her blog! I read her blog for a year or two before we became friends, and I can tell you that not only is she one of the most awesome people in the entire writing world, but her blog seriously rocks beyond the telling of it. If I had to choose only one writing blog to read, it'd be hers. Yeah, it's that good. She is hilarious and she HAND DRAWS HER POSTS.

I'm serious about checking it out. Just click on this link. It'll open it in a new tab, so you can click on it now, and still finish reading this post. C'MERE: K. Marie Criddle's blog You'll thank me.

Now, on to the quotes and cookies!

I thought I'd end bravery week, such as it was, with a quote to validate all the bravery writers have to exhibit.

“Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators.”

~Olin Miller

So go forth! Be brave! Write! Eat a cookie! And do it with the knowledge that what you are doing is impressively hard.

Thus endeth bravery week.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html

Happy Friday, everyone!
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Just Jump

Have I mentioned before that my brothers were crazy daredevils?

So on Friday nights when my parents went on dates, we'd party down. Because that's what you're supposed to do when you're parents are gone, right? We lived in a split-level house. (If you're unfamiliar with a split-level, you walk in the front door and are immediately faced with a half-flight of stairs leading up, and a half-flight of stairs leading down.) One of our favorite things to do was to gather every couch cushion and pillow from the whole house (with eight of us, it amassed to a decent amount), and pile them at the bottom of the lower flight of stairs.

We didn't have a railing between the upper flight of stairs and the lower--- instead, we had a half-height wall. And lemme tell you, that wall was way easier to climb on top of than any railing would've been. (I think my parents might've planned on our eventual antics when they designed the house. That's as good as permission, isn't it?)

So, with an easy to climb half-wall, we had no choice. We had to climb on it. And we had to jump ten feet down to the huge pile of pillows.

Just because we grew up in a family of daredevils didn't make that first jump each week easy, though. Every single time it was scary. It was SO HIGH. And it was hard to tell if we had fluffed and stacked and prepared the pillows well enough. And there was the possibility of not landing on our feet and getting hurt. (And actually, there was the possibility that if we sat crouched on the wall long enough, contemplating the jump, someone would "help" us make the decision to jump.) And there was the heart-clenching fear when we free-fell to the bottom.

And yes, there was the exhilaration of it all.

Because do you know what? Our ordinary life was just ordinary. Sure, things happened all the time like they do to everyone, but our Friday night jumps were something WE controlled. A craziness to our life that we chose (except in instances where we were "helped" to choose).

Jumping off that wall is kind of like jumping into a huge story line. Jumping into that larger-than-life, huge conflict / consequences story is scary every single time. You prepare by practicing and reading all about plotting, but you never know if you prepared enough until you jump in. Sometimes you may not want the huge story line, but your characters themselves will "help" you make the decision to jump. After all, they like to be in control of the jump! There will be heart-clenching fear. And there's a possibility that you'll not land on your feet. You might get hurt.

But do you know what? Without that hugeness to your plot, your story is just ordinary.

And along with the huge story line comes the exhilaration of it all. For you and your readers.

And that's what it's really all about.

I'll admit. Of all the things that require bravery that I mentioned on Monday, this one might be my hardest. I have to amp up my conflict with each round of revisions, because it is never huge enough at the beginning. Do you ever have that problem? If you don't, how do you push beyond the limits to come up with a huge storyline from the beginning?
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Sacrifice, or SACRIFICE?

In my mind, there are two different kinds of sacrifice. (Well, three if you count the kind where you sacrifice an animal to a diety, but come on. I think we're pretty safe to say that's not the kind of sacrifice we're talking about in relation to writing, right? ...Right?! Oh, and, dictionary.com lists twelve different definitions for "sacrifice," but in the Dictionary According to Peggy, there are only two.)

First, the definition I don't love so much:
Sacrifice: To dispose of something, regardless of value.

Now, the definition I really love:
SACRIFICE: To surrender something of value for something of even greater value.

P.S. I don't recommend pressing "Illegal Software."

So I guess it all comes down to this: We, as writers, sacrifice a lot. But when we sit down to write, it's seriously easy to get... distracted. Especially if we're at a really tough spot! When things are hard, it's so easy to think of something online we need to "check." Or we think that if we just spent a little time [fill in the blank], we could be more focused.

If we let ourselves get distracted, though, then we're only giving up something of value. We're doing the not-love-so-much definition. If we're going to be brave enough to sacrifice so much, we want the really-love definition! We want to get something of greater value from our sacrifice!

And yes, my friends. That takes planning.

And preparation.
And some focus.
And okay, not being lazy.
But definitely a plan.
A how-to-not-get-distracted plan.

Hmmm... Anyone have a great plan?
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I've Got a Theory: Sacrificing Requires Bravery

Continuing on that bravery theme from yesterday... I have a theory about it. Here goes:

We have to be brave enough to sacrifice to reach our goals.

Wait... what? I'm pretty sure it doesn't take a whole lot of bravery to skip watching Bones or to not play a game of Bejeweled!

Except that's not really all there is to it. Yes, as writers we sacrifice a LOT of things. But we're not just sacrificing tv and games and time spent not thinking about our next scene and sleep. With every minute we spend on writing and learning about writing, we sacrifice the same amount of time we could spend on learning and practicing something else. There's some other talent out there that we are choosing NOT to develop by choosing to develop our writing talent.

That's pretty huge! It takes sheer bravery to say that we believe in our talent and raw determination enough to spend all the countless hours we spend on this. To say that it will someday pay off. To say  that every bit of the journey made it all worthwhile, regardless of outcome.

By choosing one door, we are in reality NOT choosing the other door. Maybe not forever. But there are only so many hours in a day. (DARN IT!) Until we either figure out how to stop time, or live without sleep, choosing which talents to develop is the reality.

I don't know about you, but I'm kinda okay with that. I like the door I've chosen. This writing thing is HARD. But it's also SO WORTH IT.
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The Bravery of a Writer

Let's face it. It takes guts to be a writer. A serious kind of bravery in a multitude of areas. It's like there's a lot of stones we need to step on to get to where we are going, and even if there are a lot you are perfectly comfortable with stepping on, the massive scope of things means that NO ONE will be comfortable on all the steps. Heck, you might have to summon bravery you never knew you could on every single one of the steps.

Deciding to write a book is NOT one of the scary steps. Just like basket weaving or riding a bike or bowling-- you can decide you want to learn to do something with very little risk. After all, people try new things ALL THE TIME. No one expects anything from you. It's easy. And fun. The scary stuff that takes real bravery comes later.

The first scary moment might be when you decide you want to be published, because along with that decision you have to accept all that comes with it. And there is a LOT that comes with it.

Eventually, you have to tell others that you are a writer. They might think that's the coolest thing ever and wished they had the guts to do what you're doing. Or they might scoff, think you're crazy, stupid, or a dreamer.

Sometimes the hardest part is having the bravery to jump into a really huge storyline. One that feels so much huger than you, you aren't sure you can tackle it.

Or the scariest part can be when you realize all you are going to have to sacrifice to meet your goals.

Or handing your work over to critique partners that might hate your work. They might tear it apart.

Jumping into the blogging world, where strangers read what you write can be require tons of bravery. At least with critique partners, you chose who to have read it. With blogging, you lose all that control!

Then there's getting published. Even if it's not your goal, possibly every writer dreams of writing the book that goes to auction and earns a massive advance, right? Along with that advance comes so much pressure to step things up and market and promote. And the more eyes that are on your book, the more naysayers there will be.

Then, after you get a book deal, there's conferences! And school visits! And all sorts of public speaking opportunities. Maybe getting up in front of a crowd is the thing that scares you the most.

And then, if all that weren't enough, there comes the pressure to make your next book EVEN BETTER than any you've written before.

It's a dang good thing we're a brave lot, isn't it? I mean, the stuff we do could bring mere mortals to their knees! Okay, I'll admit. Quite often it brings us to our knees. Sometimes it even knocks us all the way to the ground.

But then we get back up again and jump on that stone until we can stay there without falling off.

Because we're brave like that.

Out of either morbid curiosity or the need to commiserate, I'm curious. Which stepping stone is the one that requires the most bravery on your part? 
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