Mar 13, 2019 |
by Molly Jo Realy @MollyJoRealy
My (im-)Perfect Focus
(Or, How I Learned to See a Better World With Blinders On)
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NOLA NOTE: Before we get into today’s post, I want to thank so many of you for your encouragement and support. I received the second round of edits recently and immediately quit writing and reached out to one of my mentors to pull me in from the ledge. Okay, okay. I’m exaggerating. A little. Hey, I’m a fiction writer. What do you expect? Well, it’s not that bad. It’s like exercise and changing your food habits. Your outward appearance may reflect a slight change, but it’s the inside change that counts. That’s where we’re at with NOLA. I’m still aiming for a pub date within two months. But I’d rather do it right than do it fast. I’d love to have y’all join my private Facebook group for more information, memes, and all-around fun. You can join on Facebook by clicking here: NOLA Swarm.
Stick around and see what happens . . .
Please view the latest newsletter and update your subscription preferences here: A Bigfoot Killer, a New Orleans Monster, and Cutting it Out.
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My friend Edie is an amazing photographer. Seriously. Y’all should follow Edie Melson on Instagram. She photographs images the rest of us walk past. Her eye is always seeking that which is beautiful. When she draws her camera up, I know to stand still and not get in her focus. She ignores the greater surroundings in order to capture one perfect view. Her posts are nothing less than extraordinary, but if you ask her, she’ll tell you she was captivated by the moment. She’ll say it’s not her, but the object, that makes it beautiful.
Life’s a little like that, isn’t it? We scurry around, waiting for someone to notice us. Trying to be a part of everything. But have you noticed, the most stunning photography captures a still moment? One click. One frame. One instant. A pause and a focus. Sure, in this day of digital, we get a lot of before’s and after’s. But still . . . that one shot.
It’s no secret I’m like a dog chasing a squirrel chasing a nut that rolled from the tree that grew in a forest . . .
O.M.G. Could it just stop, already?!
I love multitasking. It just doesn’t always love me back.
Frankly, My Dear . . . : My (im-)Perfect Focus
I recently attended ~ wait for it ~ another writers conference. Big surprise, amiright? Thing is, there’s always something to learn whether you’re a novice or accomplished, author/agent/editor/publisher, traditional or indie. [INDIE WRITER (n) ~ Translate for Mom: (a) Someone who has or intends to self-publish, (b) Someone who’s free-flowing spirit refuses to conform to traditional publishing guidelines, (c) Someone who embraces all aspects of writing and publishing in a confident, whirlwind fashion as is known to her friends as the Bohemian Hurricane . . . Hey, wait. That’s me!]
We were implored to ask God to give us individual word of how to move forward with our writing/editing/publishing/agenting careers. The first day, I had an inkling (see what I did there?), but it either wasn’t very clear or I wasn’t paying enough attention. Ooh. Coffee. What? I’m here. Continue on. I’ll pretend I heard everything.
Then God flung Himself at me with one word.
SELF.
Wait. Again with the what? Isn’t that counter-intuitive to what we’re taught as Christians? Aren’t we supposed to be self-less? Self-sacrificing? Self-denying?
I heard His explanation.
An empty cup cannot overflow.
You mean, it’s okay for me to focus on, well, just me?
Yes. It’s okay to say no, to stop multi-tasking, to self-publish, and to invest in myself. Creativity is a muscle to be strengthened, not atrophied. Any gift we give of ourselves is the same. We can’t pour so much of ourselves into others that we have nothing left. That is not the selfless love God has in mind.
Frankly, My Dear . . . : An empty cup cannot overflow.
Whatever gifts of love you have to offer the world, make sure you take time to enjoy them yourself. Focus. Refresh. Then you can overflow and share with others.
What gifts do you share with an overflowing cup? Leave a comment!
With some fresh grounds and bottomless cup,
Happy focusing.
~Molly Jo
Frankly, My Dear . . . Savor the Journey!
Frankly, My Dear . . . : Bohemian Hurricane
Molly Jo is a Southern Belle known to her friends as the Bohemian Hurricane. She is the author/curator of The Unemployment Cookbook and several eBooks available on Amazon. Her work-in-progress, NOLA, is a full-length location mystery novel set in New Orleans, and the first in her City Series.
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May 3, 2015 |
I have a two-inch peacock and he’s only visible through my story window. I’m not crazy. I’m a writer.
This month, I’m reading Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. If you’re serious about being a writer, or just like a well-told narrative, this is that book. I’m nearly a quarter through, and loving every page, every paragraph, every sentence.
Now here’s something you may not know about me: I’m a perfectionist when it comes to my writing and media. I want it to always be right. I don’t want just the end result to be perfect, I want it all to be right. And that often gets in my way because I find myself editing as I go. Which sometimes makes for longer sit-downs at the computer than necessary.
I’ve been coached, often, on just moving forward. It’s not in my nature to run rampant over the keyboard and let typos, incomplete thoughts, and mismatched storylines flow like too much wine. Because then it reads as though I’ve had too much wine.
Writing with Wine
But the truth is, I’m starting to see the beauty in the #CrappyFirstDraft. There’s something freeing in just letting my fingers go at it without worrying about is this spelled right or did I get the vernacular correct?
Josie discovers New Orleans
So to my critique groups, my writing mentor, and Anne Lamott, I say
I hear you.
I’m moving forward. This week, I’m starting with Chapter Fifteen of NOLA as though all the changes in my head are already on paper. No more revisiting Chapter One. Just. Move. Forward.
It does help to have a plan. At last week’s Orange County Christian Writers Conference, my first session was with Sharon Elliott. It was a hands-on workshop titled ‘Breaking Your Book Into Manageable Bites’. And it was amazing. The very first step in creating a storyboard/outline is to know your topic.
The topic isn’t the same as the title or the outline. It’s strictly the topic. Until that moment, I’d not had a concise logline or description of my book. Sure, I know what it’s about. And if you give me half an hour I can tell you start to finish. But Sharon was asking us to write our topic on a three-by-three post-it note and I didn’t even have it in my head yet.
I grabbed my stickie stack and my pen and applied pressure. I prayed more quickly than I’ve prayed in quite a while. I didn’t want to be the only person in the room with a blank note. So I wrote the first descriptive word that came to my mind, and the rest followed.
NOLA topic
Boom. There is was. And there I was, standing next to Beckie, beginning to cry. Five minutes into my first conference, and I’m in tears because my writing life has forever changed.
I’m a writer. And I have a topic.
Two more take-aways from Bird by Bird is how the book got its name, and how to not be overwhelmed. Write just this piece. Write just this much. She illustrates this concept as a one-inch photo frame on her desk. Her task, when she sits to write, is to write only what is visible through that one-inch frame. No more. No less.
Who cares about the world at large? Write about that one corner your character is in. Who cares about the voices calling the shots from outside the border? Write only what your character hears.
I love this. I love this like the day is long and sugar is sweet. It gives me freedom to fail. And that’s what we really all need, don’t we? The freedom to find out what doesn’t work, the freedom to change this when they need to be changed. The freedom to discover what we don’t like, and then the freedom to expand it.
Start small. Focus. Then shift. Then embellish. But start.
To remind myself of this, I created my own one-inch frame. Okay, it’s more like a two-by-three because the craft store didn’t have anything smaller. And it’s not empty, because I want to be reminded that right now, my focus is on finishing NOLA. So it’s not perfect. But isn’t that the point?
Supplies for the Two Inch Story
After picking out my supplies, I came home and assembled my own story window.
Two Inch Peacock
There were too many stickers and embellishments to choose from, even in the stock I bought. With the limited room allowed, I chose the peacock and fleur-de-lis. And there’s that lesson, again: you can’t do everything at once, and sometimes you can’t do everything at all. Just piece by piece. Bite by manageable bite. Bird by bird.
My reminder now sits on my side table. It’s a symbol of everything I need to be reminded of. And the best part? It’s small enough to fit in my suitcase so I can take it with me to Blue Ridge next week.
My goal is to have my own Crappy First Draft finished by the end of June and then start the editing because, as they say, that’s when the real writing happens.
And Frankly, My Dear . . . that’s all she wrote.
You may also enjoy reading:
Why I Write. Every Day.
Five Things Friday: Peacocks
Orange County Christian Writers Conference, 2015
