SBWC Golden Nugget #1: WTF is writing, really?

Gold nugget image courtesy of James St. John  and Creative Commons

Over the course of this week, I am going to gather and write a little bit about the golden nuggets I captured during the Santa Barbara Writer's Conference (SBWC).

The workshop I spent the most time in was called Story Structure for all Genres. Playwright and author, Dale Griffiths Stamos, provides brief lecture and then conducts interview-style one-on-ones with each author, discussing their overall work.

I'm still very new to writing so it takes only the simplest of ideas to blow my mind. In this case, asking the simplest of questions: What *IS* writing? This answer surprised me by focusing on one way to think about the relationship between writer and reader:

• Writing is about planting questions in the mind of the reader. 
• Successful writing is about answering those questions in a way that leaves the reader feeling fulfilled.
• Setups must have payoffs.
• The author must have the answer and give it to the reader.

And there it is. All writing can be boiled down to a good joke; A setup and a payoff. The trick as an author is to recognize which bit of what you wish to write belongs in each category.

• If I have a cool idea, is it part of the setup (worldbuilding, for example) or the payoff (action)?
• As I help my character fight for what they want, what actions are setup or payoff?

Stamos referred to the "Obligatory Scene." This is the climax, the moment where the reader gets exactly what the writer has persuaded them they want. Again, I will believe anyone who tells me that this is the absolutely MOST basic of writing concepts, but I can also honestly say it is an idea I have never specifically considered.

I mean I *know* this as the reader, but as the writer...? Knowing what my obligatory scene(s) will be feels like the reason I tend to write the beginning, the end, and then try to figure out the middle.

When I think about each thing I write, from now until my forever runs out, I'll be asking myself:

• What questions are you setting up?
• What will the payoff be?

So watch me try it for this blog post. [Deep Breath] The setup is on the left, the payoff in ( ):

• Hey, wanna know what I learned? (Writing is setups and payoffs)
• How did I learn it? (Via lecture and interview during class)
• Why is it important? (Provides an interesting new method for testing writing structure)
• What has changed? (Can be used consistently as an exercise in increasingly intentional crafting of content)

WHEW! Well, that was good practice, now I think I'll go try it with the treatment I'm writing for an upcoming mystery series.

I'd love to hear what you think about this idea and how you use it in your pre-writing and/or planning and outlining.

When a Body Dies

There are facts about body death that you don’t think about until you are staring at someone close-er to dying than you have ever been. Agéd dying is so much different than movie dying. I am wishing for explosive blasts and car crashes and blood. Mud and dirt and tears. At this moment, I’m sure the guillotine would be a better end than body death: general organ failure.

Unlike action heroes cut down in their prime, when bodies are closer to the ashes-and-dust phase, they don’t work very well. It is shocking. Skin is like overripe peaches: easily bruised and torn away with the slightest handling. Anemic blood comes closer to resembling fruit juice.

Liquids dribble out with no force as the body weight drops and the human frame seems to become depressurized. Bloody urine is a strange bright color against the toilet edges, a wet slash down the front of the porcelain, and an awkward curve where the commode meets tile floor.

When a Body dies, the waste removal systems get clogged and sluggish, and even the pharmaceutical draino causes only momentary bursts of vile smelling, ammonia-laden stool. Valves all over the body breakdown, and past a certain point, replacing the hardware becomes pointless. Every screw is stripped, and nothing holds in. There are no anchors for attachments. They all pull out.

Tissues inside become as weak and flimsy as the skin outside. Abdominal walls tear and organs once held in place begin to spill outward, herniated bulging controlled with wide bands of elastic and ample widths of soft Velcro.

The worst is watching the person, the human inside the body, become detached from the Death of the Body. After awhile, watching your own body die, watching your own flesh lose control leads to an acceptance of the Body Death. I see in the eyes, the wanting – wanting to do certain things and not being able to do them. Wanting the Body to at least behave like a trained dog: Sit! Stand! Roll over! As these things become impossible, there is an acceptance of what can never happen on command again.

Acceptance of help, of assistance. There is help with love, there is help for pay. But thankfully, for this situation, there is help. There has been help when it was most needed. Throw money at the problem. Hired nurses, caregivers, staff. It doesn’t matter whose husband, brother, sister, cousin…get someone else to clean up as the body decays, dies, melts away flake by flake.

When the body dies but the person who has always inhabited it is not ready to die with it there is an awkward silence. An anger, a denial, and perhaps withdrawal. Detachment from the body, with all of its disgusting death throes. The here-and-now, present in the moment becomes far too painful to experience.

And so the questions, “How do you feel?” And “where does it hurt?” Become the most painful questions of all, because the real answer is “I don’t want to know.”

“I want, more than anything, to leave this body. To disassociate with this mass that disobeys and derides me at every unclear, rattling breath. That contradicts my desires in spitefulness, leaving me lying, unable to move, soaked in my cold feces.

“And so, I must tune it out. Leave it behind. Watch TV. Look at the faces of my loved ones. Leave the body behind, damn fool thing, to do whatever the hell it wants, without me. Sleeping is nice. There’s no body in dreams. I long for dreams of hauling, moving, hammering, building, riding my bicycle, dancing with my wife, and even fathering children. Any dream where my body was strong, where it did exactly what I told it, and so, we were together, body and soul, as being human should be.”

Is that what is in the dreams? 

What is happening when the flickering blue-veined eyelids stretch over bulging eyeballs? What can the dying eyes still see? They still like pretty girls, as evidenced by the blonde Barbie realtor my dad picked, instead of the charming Ken doll.

The whole thing is just horrible. Not because my dad is going to die, because we all are going to die, but rather because my dad’s body will die and he won’t want to go with it. That is sad. That my father’s soul and heart will not get an option to linger behind, fulfilling whatever impetus remains of life. Whatever final adventures my father wanted to achieve.

Take the train to the Grand Canyon. See more of the world. Watch his grandchildren graduate from High School, or College. Whatever it is that was important to him, whatever his work was in this life, will he feel that he has completed it? Will he be at peace when his Body dissolves into mush – no more individualized cells, doing small jobs in harmony; instead, poisoned and broken fluids all running together inside, ending the lungs, heart, bowels.

Clear Agreements & “Accountabilibuddies”

 As a follow-up to my SMART goals post, I'd like to share some ideas about working with an "accountabilibuddy," or ABB. My own shiny new ABB used this term at a recent meetup, and I LOVE IT. She thinks her brother may have coined the term, and if so, I thank him deeply.

Often the most difficult part of achieving your dreams is staying on track. Writing actions down, getting specific, and shouting them out loud may be half the battle, but then there’s that other 50%. 

Asking for accountability, support, and cheerleading is hard for a lot of us. It requires trust, commitment, and equality.  Giving support can also be risky. Many people fear being sucked in, having someone be dependent on them, or giving too much and burning out.

           

The best answer for overcoming these very real challenges to supporting each other is to have a clear agreement about what the ABB relationship looks like. Because your new buddy is a fresh relationship with no interpersonal baggage (yet), it is an amazing opportunity to practice communication and an idea called Clear Agreements.

           

Creating a Clear Agreement is such a simple process that it feels embarrassing to write it down; just determine: What, When, How? (Why is optional) Simple, right? Obvious, right? Duh, right? Turns out not so much. Taking the time to stop and do this early and often in new relationships is uncommon. It may also be more difficult than you might think, because while the shiny new relationship doesn’t have any baggage yet, you, my friend, almost certainly do.

           

The good news is that answering the questions below and practicing setting clear agreements will not only help you have a solid and dependable accountabilibuddy, but it might improve your other relationships as well. Here are some questions you can use to prepare for a strong, mutually beneficial “accountabilibuddy” relationship:

1) Consider past experiences where you felt supported. Have you had a great boss, a team coach, a parent, a teacher that challenged and encouraged you? List specific actions or key words that person used to motivate you:

2) Based on your Goal and Action Plan, what does ideal support look like?  What actions would you like an accountabilibuddy to take that will help you stay motivated and move forward in your goals (especially in the face of adversity)? Examples: email, phone call, meeting, walk.

3) When and how frequently would you want a buddy to hold you accountable? Daily? Weekly? Bi-Weekly? Monthly? Be as specific as possible about your ideal support.

4) How do you want to work with your accountabilibuddies? Phone? Email? Text? In-person? Over coffee? While exercising? In a coffee shop? At your home? Be as specific as possible about your ideal support.

 

5) Review the What, When, How items you’ve captured. Are you willing to provide some of these to someone else? Do they seem like a lot to ask? Write down any support you want, but feel like you might not be able to provide yourself.

The Clear Agreement I want to ask for is ___________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

One thing I will do to practice asking for support is ___________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

The hardest part of the ABB relationship for me is ___________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

Once you've answered all of these questions, you should be pretty clear on what you want. Not sure who to ask for support? Here are some tips:

1. Start by telling everyone how excited you are about your goal! Once they know what it is, they may know someone on a similar path or even someone who had "been there" and may be available to mentor you.
2. Checkout Meetup.com for local groups that meet to support realizing the type of goal you are pursuing.
3. Hire a coach. Sometimes you want to rely on a professional. This can be especially useful if you aren't interested in a mutual accountabilibuddy agreement. Coaches will help you create a clear agreement, support you, and in return you'll pay them. Voilà! The relationship stays in balance. [Yes, feel free to hire me if you really want to! www.mesasteps.com]

My S.M.A.R.T. Goal Example for 2016

As you're about to read, writing is one of my biggest "new" goals for 2016.

In my life as a corporate trainer, coach, and project manager, it has been my privilege to help other people create and stick to S.M.A.R.T. goals.

I know. Everyone is groaning and closing their browser on my blog post right now. Especially anyone who has ever been a manager. But I truly find S.M.A.R.T. goals useful. I offered to write up what the acronym means and an example of how to use it for my local women writers group, and I'm re-purposing that offer as a blog post.

What you will also see below is my personal example of goal setting for 2016. Because that is text-heavy and Bo-RING, I'm going to capture images from a new tool that I was invited to use by one of my writing and costuming heroes, Mary Robinette Kowal. If Mary says something helps her, I give it a go, and this year that means Habitica.com.

This isn't a plug for the app, but I can say that where I personally have always fallen down on using S.M.A.R.T. goals is in the iteration and CONSTANT VIGILANCE required to achieve them. I'm now using Habitica for that, and so far, I love it.

I also offered to write a bit about ways to ask for and offer support, to what one of my groups is calling "accountabilibuddies." It rolls off the tongue like supercalifragilisticexpealidocious, but is a noun, not an adjective or an exclamation. Watch for that as a followup tomorrow.

SMART Goals

S = Specific

M = Measurable

A = Accountable

R = Realistic

T = Time phased

The reason to break goals down into a short paragraph that addresses each of these criteria is to ensure that goals aren’t too big and impossible, nor too small and insignificant. Just like a novel, an article, or a story, to set successful goals, first we do our pre-work.

For example, my general goal might have started out as “Do more blogging and get published.” That’s nice. Nice Goal. Hey...Back...Stay Back...NICE GOAL...GOOD GOAL…OMG IT’S GOING TO FALL ON ME, HELP!!!!

This is what happens to big, non-specific goals. THEY CRUSH YOU.

So ask your 5 Ws + 1 H, and then add your sensory/somatic questions: Who, Why, What, When, Where, How, See, Smell, Taste, Touch, Hear

Who - I WILL blog more and get published. I will need the SUPPORT of my husband, a writing group, an editor, my friends. All of these people are a part of whether or not I reach my goal.

Why - This goal is important to me because the career of writer appeals to me. [If I was my coach, I would make me expound on this. Trust me I have elsewhere]

What - Blogging means public posts that anyone with internet access can see. Being published means someone read something I have written and paid me (anything) to use it in a publication.

When - In 2016

Where - N/A (It is ok to skip things that don’t seem relevant. All the questions will not apply to every goal)

How -  By writing every day and participating in writing groups.

See - When I achieve my publication goal(s) I will see an acceptance email and a contract. Then see my writing online or in print in an uneditable format. Not my blog; Can’t go back and edit ink on paper. When I achieve the blogging goals, I will see more entries in 2016 than I had in 2015.

Smell - N/A, but get more creative than I did here and TRY to come up with a sensory outcome for your goals.

Taste - I will taste the special victory dinner out that will be my reward for a first publication and at every 50 blog posts. I will ask my friend Emily to make me her special cinnamon chocolate cake to celebrate my first $1000. in writing sales.

Touch - The feel of flipping pages in a magazine to see something I have written will FEEL like victory!

Hear - I will hear pieces as I read them out loud prior to submitting them. I will hear my husband say “I’m so proud of you!” and read congratulatory messages from my writer friends.

I’ve taken some time to think about all things that might apply to my goal. Now we can put them into the SMART format. Let’s look at each aspect of the acronym:

S - Specific

From “do more blogging and get published” I already have more specific ACTIONS I will take to reach the big goal:

I will write every day.

I will join a writing group.

I will write blogs and stories/articles.

I will submit to journals and magazines.

Now, as I move on to the next letter, I keep challenging myself with more questions.

M - Measurable

For each action toward the goal, ask, “How will you measure this?”

I will write every day. (When? Where? How many Words? How much time? How many publications?)

I will join a writing group. (How will you find one? How will you measure that you are in one?)

I will write blogs and stories/articles. (Where will you keep your list of ideas for your writing? How often will you do prompt writing, read other blogs, or find fodder for what you want to write?)

I will submit to journals and magazines. (How will you find markets for your work?)

Now the Actions have become:

I will write every day: New content, including my warm up, morning pages, prompts, and tarot in the morning when I’m ‘dreamy,’ and edit existing content when I’m fully awake.

I will join a writing group at Meetup.com, MRK FB Group, and meet local writers via participating in NaNoWriMo.

I will write blogs and stories/articles beginning with the backlog of incomplete stories and travel from 2013 - 2015. The list of drafts is in a Writing folder on my laptop and ready to submit stories will be kept in DuoTrope, where I will track my submissions.

I will submit to journals and magazines that I find using DuoTrope, Freedom With Writing and FB groups that alert about writing contests.

A - Accountable

For each action toward the goal, ask, “How will you be accountable for this?”

Now the Actions are:

I will write every day: New content, including my warm up, morning pages, prompts, and tarot in the morning when I’m ‘dreamy,’ and edit existing content when I’m fully awake. I am accountable to myself, but I will also track whether or not I wrote using Habitica.com and have many journal entries as evidence.

I will join a writing group at Meetup.com, MRK FB Group, and meet Local writers via NaNoWriMo, and find an accountabilibuddy to externally motivate me.

I will write blogs and stories/articles beginning with the backlog of incomplete stories and travel from 2013 - 2015. The list of drafts is in a Writing folder on my laptop and ready to submit stories will be kept in DuoTrope, where I will track my submissions. I will track via habitica.com and my accountabilibuddy.

I will submit to journals and magazines that I find using DuoTrope, Freedom With Writing and FB groups that alert about writing contests. I will track via habitica.com and my accountabilibuddy.

As I mentioned at the start, this is my weakest area of every S.M.A.R.T. goal I've ever made. 

Enter Habitica! 

What I find very useful is the way Habitica categorizes things as "Dailies" "Habits" and "To-Dos." Joining a writing group is a To-Do because I only do it once. On the other hand, submission might only happen one time, but it involves steps, and Habitica lets me break them out into a checklist:

Writing a certain amount every day is an ongoing habit. Every day I do better, or worse, so habits have +/-. Habitica lets me log wordcounts, which will differ from day-to-day:

But writing EVERY day is a Daily - I lose life-force points if I don't do at LEAST my morning pages:

If you're motivated by checking things off of lists and you need a place to keep ALL the things you need to do, gamifying your life might be a fun thing to try for 2016.

R - Realistic

For each action toward the goal, ask, “Is this Realistic? What could PREVENT this action from happening?”

Problem solve any challenges. Now the Actions are:

[EVERY day? Really?! What about Vacation? Weddings? Funerals? When you’re sick?] I will plan to write every day, but have compassion and forgiveness for myself if it doesn’t happen. If I am really excited about an existing piece, or on a deadline, I give myself permission to prioritize my writing each day. Generally following the pattern of new content, including my warm up, morning pages, prompts, and tarot in the morning when I’m ‘dreamy,’ and editing existing content when I’m fully awake, are the actions I will take to meet my goal. I am accountable to myself, but I will also track whether or not I wrote using Habitica.com and have many journal entries as evidence.

[What if your group breaks up? What if your group hates what you write?] I will join a writing group at Meetup.com, MRK FB Group, and meet local writers via NaNoWriMo, and find an accountabilibuddy to externally motivate me. I will work with people who inspire and support me and I will leave the group if it is hindering my goal instead of helping.

[You have too many stories to work on! What if you get writer’s block? What if all your stories suck? How will you pick?] I will write blogs and stories/articles beginning with the backlog of incomplete stories and travel from 2013 - 2015. I will pick a market FIRST, and then look through my stories that seem to meet the needs of a contest or publication. The list of drafts is in a Writing folder on my laptop and ready to submit stories will be kept in DuoTrope, where I will track my submissions. I will track via Habitica.com and my accountabilibuddy.

[What if you only get rejections for everything you submit?] SUBMISSION COUNTS. BLOG POSTS COUNT. Because the core of the goal is “more” I only have to beat my own prior year record (49/0 respectively). Two items per month feels realistic. I will submit to journals and magazines that I find using DuoTrope, Freedom With Writing and FB groups that alert about writing contests.  I will track via Habitica.com and my accountabilibuddy.

T - Time Phased

For each action toward the goal, ask, “When will you do this? BY WHEN will this be complete?”

Now the Actions are:

I will plan to write every day, but have compassion and forgiveness for myself if it doesn’t happen. If I am really excited about an existing piece, or on a deadline, I give myself permission to prioritize my writing each day. I will generally follow the pattern of new content, including my warm up, morning pages, prompts, and tarot in the morning when I’m ‘dreamy’ from 7-8AM (7hrs/wk), which I will put on my Google Calendar and make a Habit for in Habitica. Editing existing content will happen when I’m fully awake, Tue - Fri, 10AM - noon (8hrs/wk), which I will put on my Google Calendar and make a Habit for in Habitica. I am accountable to myself, but I will also track whether or not I wrote using Habitica.com and have journal entries and submissions as evidence.

Before January 1, 2016, I will join a writing group at Meetup.com, MRK FB Group, and meet Local writers via NaNoWriMo, and find an accountabilibuddy to externally motivate me. I will work with people who inspire and support me and I will leave the group if it is hindering my goal instead of helping.

I will write blogs and stories/articles beginning with the backlog of incomplete stories and travel from 2013 - 2015. I will pick a market FIRST, and then look through my stories that seem to meet the needs of a contest or publication. The list of drafts is in a Writing folder on my laptop and ready to submit stories will be kept in DuoTrope, where I will track my submissions. I will track Market Research, Story Editing/Critique, and all the habits via Habitica.com and my accountabilibuddy.

By the 15th and 30th of each month I will have updated my blog and DuoTrope.com. Submissions all count, and blog posts count.  Because the core of the goal is “more” I only have to beat my own prior year record (49/0 respectively). Two items per month feels realistic. I will submit to journals and magazines that I find using DuoTrope, Freedom With Writing and FB groups that alert about writing contests.  I will track via habitica and my accountabilibuddy.

If you happen to ask me what my writing goals are for 2016, will I read you this 1500+ words of exposition? No. Way. Besides there are whole other chunks of write-ins and time listening to Writing Excuses that aren't even included in here. But from the work I’ve done, I have my elevator pitch which is specific, measurable, accountable, realistic, and time phased:

I will work on writing for at least 15 hours a week, and complete 2 finished pieces of writing each month. Blog entries or submissions to paid markets both count towards my goal.

And if anyone asks, I can expand on questions like…

How are you going to do that?

Where will you get your ideas?

What tools will you use?

...because I’ve REALLY THOUGHT ABOUT IT!!