I have a confession to make. The novel I am working on now is not my first. It isn't even my second. It's my sixth. And it's the first where I feel that I have grown so much as a writer, that it is submissable after a rewrite.

I have a whooooole pile of other words that aren't. They could be submittable after rewriting the whole darn things. I won't.

Why?

Because they are my foundation bricks. They are the books where I learned my craft, where I found my voice, gradually, and where I learned so much about myself and my writing. I wouldn't be where I am today as a writer if I hadn't taken the plunge with them.

And I love them all. The wobbly YA book with a fantastic teen girl, who deserves so much better, and will get it too, one day. Or another book, that started out so good, with an idea I fell in love with immediately, and then crashed and burned halfway through chapter 2. Writing and finishing it helped me through a very very hard time in my life, and I felt so much better for it.

This book, and many others, are sitting on my hard drive, gathering dust. That's all they will do. But each and every book has their strength in the book I am writing now. I am at 20K now. And each word was such bliss to write down. I engage all aspects of me in my writing, and the result is a book I can't wait to start on again.

On Tuesday you have met your inner two year old, today we are going to explore how you can use her on your travels through your writing :)

Part 2: Come out and play!

On Tuesday I wrote about your inner two year old's positive and negative sides. She can play and dream and be utterly blissful, but she can also be very very very afraid, and is very good at giving up on something she really doesn't like (ever tried to get a 2 year old to eat food she didn't like the first time?). If you let those fears take a hold of you, you are neglecting the other side of your inner two year old: play. The funny thing is, that play is one of the best ways to deal with fear.

Want to come out and play? My inner two year old just went: "Wheeeeeeeeeeee!"

Dance! Shake up your sessions
Your inner two year old hears music she loves. She drops everything she is doing, and dances, sings along even though she doesn't know the words, just hearing the music makes her blissful. And ooohhh don't get her on a swing set, because she just rocks at swinging, the biggest smile possible on her face, she tosses her legs high in the air, and is completely carefree.
Let your inner two year old out to play when you start your sessions. First do something that brings her out in full,  like dancing like mad, listening to upbeat music, start your writing with a big smile on your face, and see it as the gift that it is!
You rock, and it is time the world SEES you do! Let your characters dance like you do, and be blissfully happy in a scene, just convey the feeling you have when you play into your character's happiness.

Play somewhere else
Even though your inner two year old has her play room, she loves to get her toys and toss them all over the living room floor, or to bring a toy to bed, hiding it under her blankies, playing until she blissfully falls asleep.
Write in the subway, in the park, in a pub, in the doctor's office. Don't be afraid to just step out of your boundaries, and just write anywhere you want. You are a writer, show that to the world without a care. Whenever fear or shame pops up, tell your fear to shove it, you are playing :)

Get in trouble
Remember the feeling of being up to no good. Sneaking around the house, hiding your daddy's car keys, hiding behind the sofa, ready to shout: boooo! when someone passes by, and giggling like mad when they are all shaken up. Or be all aloof and angelic when someone asks you: "did you do that?" and shake no trying to keep a straight face.
Just bring this playful mischief into your writing, sit behind your desk with a grin, throwing in a major twist at your readers that they never saw coming until they notice they did see a hint to that earlier, or by letting one of your characters pull a prank on someone else. Get your characters in trouble, be playful and mischievous in your writing, your readers will love to see your stories sparkle with that!

Get a new toy
Your inner two year old loves nothing better than getting a gift! A new toy, a doll to play with, a new book to "read", a new friend.
Get one of your characters, and plop them into a whole different genre, a genre you love to read but haven't really thought about writing in. Get yourself a new colourful writing pad, and write with the pretty coloured pen that you always wanted but thought was childish. Anything to get your writing into a new, fearless, gear!

Build a huge tower of bricks
Just see your inner two year old, sitting on the floor surrounded with building blocks. She picks some up and tosses them away, others she puts on top of a big stack in front of her. She has a big tower already. Then she "accidentally" throws it over, and laughs like mad. She gets the bricks again, and with the tip of her tongue out of her mouth she puts a big red block at the base of the amazing new tower she is going to build. Even better than the last one, she promises with a giggle.
Don't be afraid to start over, with a story, with a book, anything. Just keep what you know is good, and just leave the rest by the wayside. It may be that you use them, or it may be that they sit in a plot bunnies folder for eternity. You rock at playing, and you can reinvent your writing every time you sit behind your desk and play with your blocks, the words that weave together the story you desperately want to tell.

Be excited
Your inner two year old sees gramma coming from a mile away. She jumps up and down and can't wait for the front door to open and let in the woman she loves the most. She really really wants to hug her and smooch her. As fast as her little feet can carry her, she runs to open the door.
Yay! You get to write! Of all the things in the world you love, this is what you love best, you, your desk and that amazing story you want to tell with every fiber of your being. And if it gets rejected, just grab the bricks, and build again, make the story better than ever, and submit it again. You are a limitless being, after all!


Your assignment
Get out the story I asked you to bring along, and select a character. Now play with him or her using one or two or all of the tips above! Remember to write with a big smile on your face, and allow yourself some play time before sitting down to write this scene. I will post my scene too, as a reply to this post.

This is a great way of using the positive aspects of your inner two year old (her llimitless imagination) in your writing. Post this meeting in either a reply to this post or an email to tamlynleigh at gmail dot com.

On Saturday I will post the last part of the workshop: the FREE Writer :)



And last but not least: the prizes
Anyone who posts a reply, can enter into a raffle to win the following prizes:

1. An Ebook of Stephen King's On writing You choose the format, I buy the book and mail it to you.
2. A one hour coaching session Through chat (or if you wish we can correspond through email, 3 emails total), going deeper into your personal aspects of fear and the way it influences your writing (and your life)
3. A story - tarot session You email me a description of one of your characters on a problem they face, and I do a 3 card tarot reading for him or her.This is a great way to find underlying emotions and problems.

If the reply to this post is your first reply to my workshop, please state which of the prizes you would like to win :) The answers to tuesday's post are already on my list. (and yes, I checked it twice ;) )

Good luck!

One of the biggest obstacles on a writer's path is their fear. It can be fear of anything: what if they won't like my stories, what if I am not good enough, what if my story is just plain stupid. From the starting block of a story to the publication of it, fear likes to play a part in each stage of writing.

In this workshop I want to offer tools to break through that fear, and get you to write through all stages, putting fear on the back burner.

But first, an introduction to the basics of play and fear. As I don't want to write a long post that no one reaches the end of, I will keep things short in this.  I might write a more detailed post on the nature of fear after the workshop if you would like to learn more :)

Part 1: Meet your inner two year old

Deep inside of you lives a little temperamental two year old. For the sake of the rest of this introduction I will use the female form. I am a woman after all, just read he if you are male :)

My inner two year old is a blonde curly haired girl in a dress with big pop art flowers, and she constantly demands my attention.

Can you picture your inner two year old already? (if it doesn't work, just get a picture of yourself at that age.)

Your inner kid can do two things really well.

She knows how to enjoy life to the fullest. She plays like a pro with all the toys that are at her disposal. She dances through life, loves to giggle and sing songs. She can often be found in a corner of the room, making up stories using her dolls as characters. Her stories are the best, because she excels in visualization, and her imagination is limitless. She dreams up whole new worlds during those moments of intense play.

She knows how to be scared shitless. She also has a dark side. She hates anything new, and she is afraid of dogs, thunder, darkness, aunt Bertha's persian cat, basically everything that gets thrown into her little world. The strangest things scare her, and she is really good at hiding away under the blankets.

Writing, two year old style
You as a writer get to deal with both aspects of this two year old, and oh boy, does she show off at all steps of your writing life.

You write something you are happy with, it is playtime to the max. You have a big smile on your face, and the words just write themselves. You see everything clearly, you can visualize your characters, and you giggle at the in-jokes you know only you will really get.
Your inner two year old goes all out, dancing, singing, joking, everyone is laughing, which makes her go even wilder.

You write a story, but you aren't happy with it. There is something missing, you just don't know what.
Your inner two year old listlessly toys with her food. Any question you ask her, gets answered with a grumpy: "don't wanna!"

You are editing your story, cut out some parts of your story, and polish it until your story shines from all sides.
Your inner two year old wonders when life got so boring. She only has her dolls, but she really really really wants to play with the jigsaw, anything but the damned dolls. She forgets that last week all she wanted to play with were the dolls, and that back then the rest of the toys were completely forgotten.

Then you show it to someone, and don't get the same reaction back that you had. You send it in to a publisher, and get a rejection letter.
Your inner two year old made a drawing, and shows it to mommy. She doesn't get the response she expects, and stomps away to the corner of the room.  She wraps her arms around her knees, and vows to NEVER do it again. Complete with a pout and a growl.

You have made a sale!
Your inner two year old is so happy, there can not be a bigger happy than the one she has. Everything is awesome in her world!

Your story is published, and gets a bad review.
Your inner two year old locks herself in the bathroom.

The last time you sent a story in to a publisher, you received a well motivated but still painful rejection, so you scratch that publisher from your possible list for the next story.
This when her fear starts meddling with her play. Last time the thunder scared her, so she never plays in the room when there is a thunderstorm.

I can come up with a lot more examples, do hope you get where I am going after these, though :)

Now the microphone is on you

Tell me about your inner two year old. What does she love to do, and what is she afraid of? What drives her insane? What makes her want to hide in the corner? And now, with this realization in mind,  what is the aspect of writing you have trouble with, how does your inner two year old come into play?
You can answer either as a reply to this post, or in an email to tamlynleigh at gmail dot com. Both ways makes you eligible for prizes.

On Thursday: Step Two - Come out and play 
For this day I want you to get out a story you have really struggled with, it can be in any stage of writing, from the first idea to several submissions.

And now for the prizes!
Anyone who posts a reply, can enter into a raffle to win the following prizes:

1. An Ebook of Stephen King's On writing You choose the format, I buy the book and mail it to you.
2. A one hour coaching session Through chat (or if you wish we can correspond through email, 3 emails total), going deeper into your personal aspects of fear and the way it influences your writing (and your life)
3. A story - tarot session You email me a description of one of your characters on a problem they face, and I do a 3 card tarot reading for him or her.This is a great way to find underlying emotions and problems.
   

Please write which prize you would like to win in your first post, so that I  can give away the latter two prizes to people who really want it :)

This year I am hosting a workshop for Lynn Viehl's Left behind and Loving It on my blog! I am very excited about doing this. In a couple of hours I will post the first part of the workshop (am posting it then to keep in tune with the US timezones :) ), and will tell you about the competition I will be running throughout the week.

I will post three times total this week (unless I think of something else I can post in between), and they will appear today, and on Thursday and Saturday.

For this workshop I use my own experience in writing, and some information from the studies I have been doing on relaxation and yoga.

I hope you enjoy what I have to offer you for this workshop, and I look forward to your posts!

This is a first draft of an essay I wrote for chicken soup for the soul. I do not think I ever submitted it.

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On a clear, sunny morning in spring time my day started like all others. I worked myself out of bed, and walked to the bathroom with my hands planted at the base of my spine. I moved with difficulty, as I was in a lot of physical pain. After a long shower I put on some clothes, and walked downstairs to eat.

After my breakfast I stood up, and proceeded to wash the dishes left standing from the night before.

While I was stacking the plates in the rack to dry, a single tear slid down my cheek. I brushed it away with the palm of my hand. More tears raced down my cheeks, and I had to sit down in my chair before my legs gave way.

As the tears flowed, many thoughts raced through my head. I, always the inquisitive one, wanted to know why I broke down and cried, while my emotions seemed to be in some sort of balance lately.

The answer came soon, and it was only one word: acceptance.

I looked at the body that was mine, slumped in the chair, a handkerchief dabbing the stream of tears away. I asked myself why I punished myself. Why could I not allow my body to rest a bit longer, so I could better deal with the day ahead.

While the last tears dried on my skin, I realized acceptance was the key, the only key, to my recovery. My body gave the signals, and I could only accept them for what they were telling me.

I worked myself up from the chair, and walked back to my bedroom. I slipped back into my pajama’s, and crawled back in bed. Soon my body started to relax, and I fell asleep.

Two hours later I was able to finish the dishes without extra pain, because I had finally learned to move with the tides of my body, not against it.

Angengland on twitter asked me this question, and I didn't have enough space for the answer (140 characters can be a lil too few lol). It was easy to decide to make today's Nablo post about plotting my current novel.

I started out with an idea for a paranormal romance. The idea was born walking through the streets of a neighbourhood I have grown to really like.

From that I started to freewrite, about characters, about events happening. I opened a file and just began a brain dump, basically.

As the image of what the story should be like began to grow, I opened various files, one for plot ideas and one for characters, and just sorted out the brain dump notes in those files.

Then I began to snowflake the plot, but stranded at the first page. It just felt too restrictive for me. What did help was a really good talk about the book, telling about my ideas and how I felt the plot would progress.

I sat down and began to write the backstory in general, wrote what brought my characters to the start of the book, and then used those notes for my character work sheets (which are very basic. If this works out I might share them :) )

After that I started writing out the plot per chapter, and then dividing up the chapter in scenes, all using my notes. As I began to plot I cut out some of the ideas I had, added others (the most significant discovery in this part of the process, that my MC liked another girl better lol), and from there grew the outline I am now going to write the novel from. All the while I was writing my plot out, I wrote down new thoughts and ideas about my characters, and the motivation for all my characters became abundantly clear by the time I was at chapter 7 in the outline.

It was a very exciting process, and I got to discover parts of my novel that I probably would not have discovered if I had just started writing from that one idea I had at the beginning of this blog post.

I recognize this process is very haphazard and chaotic, and I have no doubt it will change, but it works for me, and that's what counts :)

Day two of NaNoWriMo, and I am still not writing on my novel. I am still working out the kinks in my plot, so my novel will be easier to write.

I am an organic writer, have written most of my work that way, but found that it is almost impossible to edit the work. The plot goes everywhere, the characters aren't consistent throughout the book, making it all work is costing me a lot of time and energy, and it is frustrating as heck. 

So for this nano I decided it was time to change that.The plotting is unexpectedly fun, I have already shaken up the plot several times, from changing the heroine of the story (as I realized the heroine I wanted for him, was way better for my MC's best friend), to finding more and more motivations, quirks, gifts of the characters in the book, even for some of the C-cast :)

I would have had these revelations during my organic writing too, the difference is, that I changed the book halfway through the story (happened literally with a book I wrote two years ago, I decided my MC was way better matched for another character, and changed mid writing), now I change it in my outline, and its way less work :)

I think my outline will be done tonight, so I can start writing my book tomorrow. I have no doubt it will still be hard work, but I have learned a lot from plotting a book out beforehand. Who knows, I might finally get to send a book to a publisher next year!