I got up this morning all set to write and catch up on my poems for the PAD November Chapbook Challenge. Then, I was going to write toward NaNoWriMo. And guess what, I’m on my way to it.

I made my list last night, and allowed for Twitter and Facebook and blogging. After that, it was down to the projects that had deadlines. Two things went into this plan.

Time to Play

Twitter and Facebook are like play time for me. It’s where I get to relax, share with and learn from others. It’s my personal growth resource and that’s important. People try to say social media is bad, like guns and hate mail. You know, I find it’s always the person driving the vehicle that determines it’s benefit or danger.

And there are those who say it’s useless. The stats paint a different picture. If you are participating in marginal activities and hear naysayers in your head, it can be distracting. Know what’s important to you and include it in your tasks. Including the lighter tasks breaks up your day in positive ways.

Clear Outcomes

Sometimes my list is murky at best, with varied what ifs and maybes, and open ended deadlines. Those lists are helpful guides. Still, when I can be concrete, it helps me to formulate a clear vision in my head. Visualization helps me to know where I’m headed, how I’m getting there and when I’ve arrived.

Knowing What Comes Next

Generally, I like to go with the flow. And I like that flow inside of structured time. This afternoon, I’m going to be free and veg out in front of the TV for two hours. I’m going to indulge a guilty pleasure and watch back-to-back episodes of Murder, She Wrote. I’ll be sitting in the midst of a pile of books on writing and one for book club meeting this Sunday. And when I’m done with that, the next thing on my list will be waiting for me.

So, I have my list of things to accomplish. The goals are clearly delineated and I’m free to get to them however I see fit. And, at the end of the day, when I’ve put a line through as much as I can do I will feel content as long as I’ve done my best.

Do you find that planning helps or impedes your progress?

Recently, I watched an emotionally charged video. It was a sad story of a young girl sentenced to life in prison at age 16. At the time she made the video she’d already served 13 years. Her story, her voice, her tears were evocative, certainly. I felt compelled to be angry on her behalf. I was even skeptical of a commenter who said the young woman’s sentence was justified.

Beyond the fact that the content affected me emotionally, it got me thinking about just what made it such a powerful video.

What Made it Effective?

I wanted to know just how the producer/editor team was able to work me so? What elements t made this video speak so clearly to me? And I compared it with TV and movies to see what gets me so invested. Here are some of the things that can engage me deeply with what I’m viewing.

1. Believable characters - The woman had a believable demeanor.

If you look like you’re lying, I’m gonna shut down. And, I suspect I’m not alone in this.

2. No excessive expression - The woman cried but not throughout.

Overly dramatic, thespian-class delivery has the  same effect of causing me to shut down. It makes me not believe what I’m being shown.

3. Sense of fair play - She agreed she needed punishment, but thought her sentence was excessive.

Sharing opponents’ points, even some, makes me feel like I’m being fair and reasonable with a good sense of comprehension. And, really, most of us want to think we’re being fair, right?

4. Detailed the situation - The speaker told what her relationship was to her victim.

Sharing your relationship with the subject of your article isn’t always necessary or possible. But when you can, you’re tapping a potential wellspring of empathy, sympathy and compassion from your audience if you deliver it right. The persons who put this video together did a good job of cultivating my interests and swaying my opinion

5. She was brighter than her circumstances - She had positive things to say about her circumstance and possible future.

When I see the heart strings videos, movies, news segments, I always want to have a small hope at the end. For me there’s nothing worse than being brought low and LEFT there. This was not the video to leave me laughing and dancing. However, it imparted a measure of hope, even though a brighter day needed major changes in something.

What Reaches You, Reaches Others

The weight of the video was on the young woman speaking. In fact, no one else was heard or seen on the video. Not even the interviewer, although the speaker was obviously answering questions. From this solo expression, I still came away with the sense of the rest of the story. And I considered that my reaction probably would be in favor of the interviewee even after hearing the rest.

Whatever you write, no matter how sad, violent, disappointing, cutting, it’s important to give back in replacement of what you pull out of your audience. When I wrote medical stuff, the diseases were really scary to contemplate. But there’s hope. We never ended on the grossness of the ailments. Instead we’d go back around to the front tying in with whatever the upside might be. Yes, disease x is debilitating, but it’s reparable and preventive. And your kids don’t have to have it either.

Using these five points, I write to get the attention of my audience. It’s not the same for every type of writing but I look for chances to use them in my writing assignments. I’ve been using variations of these points to get attention for many years, and they still come through.

Try it out for yourself. Look for ways to use these points and let me know how it works for you.

I’m always amazed by how much things can change in writing.

My Celebration Poem

For Mother’s Day, I decided to write a poem for my mom. Getting a jump on things, I started writing the night before. But, I thought about it for longer than that. Anyway, I had this bumpy, lumpy and awkward thing that halfway through, started to resemble what I wanted to say.

After a while, I put it to bed. The project was leading me to that area of my brain I didn’t want to go. The signpost reads:

r u kidding me? you say you write poetry? hahahahaha, tell me a nudda one

I loathe that area. That’s the CENSORS’s room and if I wake them too early, it’s really hard to shut them off—at least not when I’m tired.

It was the last thing on my mind when I went to bed. A few other random thoughts crossed my mind and then I was out. In the morning I jumped out of bed and wrote the thing. I referred to the draft to make sure I’d touched on the points that mattered the night before.

The words dripped down from my brain, fell out of my fingers, as they clicked away at the computer. I heard her stirring as I laid on the finishing touches. I had words on the page and I wasn’t sure they were the right choices. Definitions to check, revising to do, editing, then picking the write pictures, and one more edit.

An interesting thing, had I thrown the whole thing out, as almost happened anyway, I would not have missed much. I at least had the draft to refer to.

I guess it worked. My mom loved it. In fact she was so pleased by it, she decided that I can’t post it because she wants to keep it to herself for a while. She doesn’t know about my traffic.

My Understanding of Drafting

Drafting is the key. When I write to a project, I begin by listing everything that might be pertinent to the subject. This stage is where you unearth all your ideas and allow them room to run around with other ideas, make friends and change their clothes, if needed.

Willingness to let go is crucial. If you’re not willing to let go, then you’re stuck with the first thing that spills forth. That is way wrong. I usually know when a thing really blows. And these days, I’m very much willing to work on revising and editing.

Willingness to revise means more work gets done. When I first started writing I worked at it. That was in grade school. For a long while I stopped writing and then picked it up again. That was years later. In the time between those bouts of poetry, I forgot about revising as a viable step. I’d convinced myself that if I didn’t do it right, if it didn’t come out whole in the first draft, then it was to be scrapped.

Some people still write with that belief—poetry anyway. Fortunately for me I revised that way of viewing my work. And it’s a good thing too. Because if I were still thinking that way, mom would not have gotten her Mother’s Day poem. Even more, I would have a pile of stuff in the trash instead of saved for the revising stage.

All you need is editing sometimes. Having said all that, sometimes they do still come out whole, practically writing themselves. Instead of trashing it in disbelief that I can still get those, I snatch them up and run with them. From time to time, I will write a poem that just needs to be edited. Once or twice I can remember changing just a word. It’s a good feeling.

Utah and Alabama Fans on Canal Street, 1.2.2009

This is really a busy week in New Orleans. What with the New Year celebration and the Sugar Bowl tonight, revelers are out and about in great numbers! Canal Street is busy like I haven’t seen in a good while. It took me fifteen minutes to get on the elevator (new technology, not so successful with large numbers). The wait gave me time to look around at all the people, all the red, as Alabama and Utah fans milled about and enjoyed the pre-game festivities.

While most people plan trips like this, there are those who just take the trip. One young man was marveling at his own ingenuity, as he described to a friend how he slept outside on a bench last night. If he didn’t have a hotel room at all, he seemed largely unperturbed by the fact as he continued to enjoy himself.

Among these visitors to the city, there are those who wing it, plot it and plan it. And, of course, there’s necessary overlap. Just like in writing.

Wing It

When you write, you have the option to wing it, write off the cuff, publish it and then check it out. I find this pattern in the personal blogs, ones with no overall theme. They plan the individual post to share each message and they’re done with it.

Plot It

You can be a plotter, mapping out the post, coordinating sometimes months out how each post will relate to the other as well as to the monthly themes. I would guess that this is closer to a business blog or website with a library of articles. Off hand, I don’t know of blogs that plan to this degree.

Plan It

Most of the blogs I follow regularly fall into this category, including this blog. And of the two, this blog is falls into the latter. I don’t do themes well, yet, but I plan to try a few—at least I’ll continue the one I started last year. It’s important enough to me to go back and re–introduce it.

• Themed Blogging

The third writer type is the planner. Not nearly as detailed as the plotter, this writer has an overall theme for the blog, and a theme for a specific time frame. Within this framework, the writer is free to be responsive to ideas that pop up when walking or showering etc.

Confident Writing has a great example of this type of blog. Owner Joanna Young sets forth her monthly theme. This adds a tighter framework for developing her posts.

• Non-Themed Blogging

The other planned blog doesn’t regularly use themes, only operates within the framework of its purpose. Problogger is a great example for this type of blog. Owner Darren Rowse occasionally uses short term themes. Generally, he publishes within the framework set by the purpose of the blog which is blogging for profit.

Blog writers are often very spontaneous and not so measured as the website articles. And this is part of the draw and the fun for many, including me.

The Inevitable Overlap

The overlap is in the fact that we all must have some of each of these traits to get anything done. If you’re a planner or a plotter, you still need a bit of the “just do it” attitude to finally hit the publish button. After all the preparing, researching, thinking and creating, if you don’t hit the publish button then your not publishing. And isn’t that ultimately the point?

Read any of the successful blogs that you regularly follow and you can see the patterns emerge. The planner and the plotter and the person winging it, are successful when they sufficiently balance some of each of these traits.

I’m curious to know how you manage your blogging. Are you a plotter, planner or just winging it? Leave a comment and tell me about your blog.

UPDATE: I thought I’d add a mini poll to see what the spread might be. Please take a moment to participate in the poll by indicating what is the dominant process you use in blogging.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Losing the Remote. On a groggy Friday evening, I lost my TV remote. When I lost it this time, the TV input was in DVD mode. I can’t switch input signals from the TV-mounted controls. So I really needed to find it.

I looked in the obvious places, first. And when nothing turned up in those places, I looked in the I-can’t-believe-I-put-that-there places. I got a little frantic but decided that it was early in the weekend. I wanted it in time for Bones on Monday night.

Through my weekend of activities and errands, I looked for my remote when I thought about it, to no avail. One thing was stuck in the back of my mind and not too far: I was making this too hard.

Finding Your Story Line

It can be a lot like finding the remote control. Only in writing, it’s a bit more frustrating. You have your topic, tone, and your point of view, none of which addresses how you get your point across. Often, the bloodless way to get down to the path of your project is to start writing. I find what helps me is to list everything that I know about my topic.

Researching the topic can be part of the process, sometimes it yields the perspective you search for, yielding something that captures your attention. And it can prove you wrong, pointing you in a new direction.

So, don’t think that because you don’t know where you’re going in a topic, you need to dump it. It happens to writers, that we start out with one idea, decide how to reach it, and write until there’s a whole story and it only remotely resembles what was planned.

Added Benefits of Searching

Do you ever research a topic and get to a point where you’re just writing? I find that the research helps me to tap into the data that I have stored in my head. In an editing stage, I search for the information to verify my recollections.

I try not to keep my focus too narrow, like entertaining things that crossed my mind while searching for the remote control. I came up with dinner plans, weekend dress ideas, and this blog post. You definitely want to stay open to new thoughts, as, a good research session can lead to some very interesting tangents, so catch as many as you can.

So Where was My Remote?

Finding the remote. I didn’t tell you what happened with my remote. After a few thorough searches over two days, decided to pay attention to the voice in my head, the one that said I was working too hard. I decided to listen after I’d just bought a cheap remote on the way home Monday evening. It couldn’t adjust my input signals either. I sat at my desk thinking it would jog my memory. I thought for a moment, taking a slow look in the immediate area. And there it was on the floor, face down, blending in with the carpet. I picked it up and was able to tune in to Bones for the last half hour.

Related Entries

• chasing the poem
• writing life: 7 strategies to keep going
• Body Position Jogs Memory

When You Can’t Blog About It

While I was swamped at work I was still saving random thoughts. So, now I’m going back through them to mine for post-able material. As I researched for work projects, thoughts would pop int my head about my blogs, in spite of my dedicated focus.

Since I am a believer in tracking tangential thoughts, I always have at hand something to write on. I have used many different papers through the years and have come to really enjoy writing on blank pages. Since I’ve discovered Moleskines, I have the variety to suit my tastes.

• pocket ruled reporter – goes pretty much everywhere and collects whatever comes to me
• large blank hardcover notebook – catches my poems
• large squared reporter – records/plots business ideas, plans and implementation

My daily journal is a composition notebook.

Software and Browser Addons

Online is another story. I am a WordPerfect user since the days of its DOS-based version. I have Word to accommodate business communications for those who are “WordPerfect-challenged.” I wanted to find something more closely integrated with the internet, so I added a few applications this year and experimented with them. Here they are in the order that I tried them.

Google documents: I like it well enough for ideas and starting posts, journaling progress of ancillary tasks, when I don’t want to pick up a pen, or leave the internet. It’s only a tab away.

Google notebook: It did some things that were really interesting. Like, when you highlight and clip content, it automatically snags the website URL. The great thing about that is it makes returning to the site later a snap—or a click, no re-searching or address-typing required required. It stays out in front of the screen so you can work right from the site you’re on. Or you can pop it out in a separate tab. Or, you can put it in a separate tab, which gives you access to more of the capabilities.

What I like about Google Docs and Notebook:

• They’re portable. Wherever you log in, there’s your work, in the corner, or on a tab.
• They offer a place to capture live links for one-click returns.
• Docs pages are printable from the app, so I can edit manually whenever I feel like it.
• Docs offers a spreadsheet application and that’s a big plus for me.
• Notebook offers tabs capability which offers an alternative way to filter notes.

What I don’t like about them:

• One thing that gets in my way is that it gets in my way. Sometimes I have to actually close the Notebook, or put it in another window, to get it out of the way of my content.
• The Docs page is always on a separate tab, which means no side-by-side viewing.
• Notebook pages are only printable in full tab view.

They’ve served me well for a few months now. I kept an eye out for different applications to research.

I’ve Discovered Scribefire

For a while now, I’d been noticing a new application. I am skeptical about adding techno gadgets, but it kept nagging me that this might be the add-on to eclipse the others. Finally, just before my vacation ended, I decided to try one more thing. I went to Scribefire from ProBlogger.net because I kept seeing it there. The application is quite stunning! I haven’t used all of its capabilities. I didn’t even integrate it with any of my blogs, yet, and its usefulness is undeniable. I’m not dismissing my Google additions, for now, but I’m definitely making use of Scribefire.

What I liked right off:

• The download was really easy.
• When it’s closed it’s quite unobtrusive.
• It’s fully integrated with the browser window.
• I didn’t need an email account.
• You don’t need a blog to use it.

What I’m hoping for in future versions:

• Live link capture – it’s a help especially for double-checking information on the fly
• Portability – so I can work from whatever computer I’m near, if I choose

My brother was looking for an application to collect information while he surfed. I told him of the different applications I was using. After the first couple of days I used Scribefire, I shot him an email to let him know about it. And I thought I’d share it here. I’m glad I finally tried Scribefire. Now, I think I have all bases covered. Really there’s no way I’ll miss an idea unless I just don’t make the effort to capture it. It happens, but I try to keep that to a minimum.

Tell me what you use to capture your thoughts. If you’ve found something that you really love, that you think does everything, let me know.

I’m a copywriter and I think my job is great! How many times do you hear that? How many people do you know do what they really want to do for a living? Not many, right?

Sometimes It Really is Work

As much as I love writing, as much as I love my job, there are times when I just don’t want to do it. It’s not my curtain call or my final departure from the page, it’s just that there are times I don’t want to do the work of writing at that particular time. Other things may be distracting me, or the load may seem overwhelming.

What’s My Problem?

I know you’re probably thinking if I love writing, can I really not want to do it? The thing is there are times when several deadlines converge on the same day in the same hour. And I know when I meet them all, the cycle only begins again. Basically, the list of stuff I gotta do looms larger than it really is. I have to add back into the mix, breathing space, room to rest and resume, because, as a friend says, No sitting, no soaring.

What’s My Solution?

Inspired by the need to press on, I’ve developed a few strategies to keep writing. I use these to infuse my writing sessions with space, room to breathe throughout my writing projects. These 7 are my favorite guides and breaks.

1. Have a schedule. Sounds obvious but many skip this part because writers are supposed to be free-wielding I guess. Keeping my goals ahead of me is how I pace myself.
2. Know the audience. Not only the external audience, but also know the owner audience. These help to set the tone for your project. After all, who wants a blog post that sounds like a white paper? And, more egregious is the reverse.
3. Follow idea leads. Researching often reveals tangential topics that interest me. I allow myself to follow these to some end. I record the related links with brief a explanation in my Google documents.
4. Take time to think differently. Draw. Make things. Graphic design and Lego® blocks work well for me. Meditate. I take a couple of minutes to do a B.R.E.W. meditation to clear my head.
5. Exert yourself. Take a brisk walks. Take a camera on your walk. At home, safe from laughter, I dance too.
6. Write notes. There’s life apart from writing and sometimes things that really need to get done insist on intruding on my thoughts. When that happens, I entertain them long enough to write them down.
7. Write junk. Write drivel and nonsensical stuff. For me it works well when it’s unrelated to my work. I can always delete it after.

Try these if you get struck. As you get more comfortable with working through the sluggish times, you will come across things that work for you. Take note, and save them for when you need them. And if you get time, come back and share some things that work for you.

Remember to enjoy your writing life.

The Captured Verse

I sit to work and words come sliding at me. I’m at first base, over the base with an over sized catcher’s mitt. Other days, I’m at Pete’s place in Chalmette, Louisiana, with my daddy’s favorite Shakespeare Ugly Stick. They’re out there, but I have to work a little harder to catch the words meant for me.

Later, I look through my notebook and I find there, the words that paint an event, illustrate the emotions, and recall for me the reason I got them to the page. If I can still get a sense of where I was with them, those are the poems I work with.

I was asked once, by a close friend, if I wrote poems for my audience first. I told him no and added that I didn’t think that was possible.

Of course, the question stuck with me. I mull over, even now, some years later. The answer is still the same. Any audience I might have must be secondary—for safety’s sake.

Me First

It’s not selfish on my part—well it is selfish, too. (I don’t want to look like a complete fool.) And it’s to protect the audience from the raw stuff that I jot down when I’m fishing. I have to clean it up and pretty it up and format it so that they can read it the way I intended. After, they can take from it what they will. At my desk, I’m a whittler with my favorite whittling knife paring down the excess and repositioning content. It has to ultimately work for me, even after I work at it, before it can be eligible for sharing.

Laying Bare My Soul

I thought about putting the word “naked” somewhere in the section heading, since it’s as intense.

Before I share anything I revisit the verses with my audience in mind. They get the benefit of being audience to a piece only after it has met my approval. This doesn’t guarantee that the audience won’t get something crappy, only that I tried to give them something good. If that fails, it won’t be for a lack of trying on my part.

What Happened When I Let Go of My Poetry

This same friend of mine who asked about writing for the audience, was one who suggested that I publish something. My response was, “Why would anyone but me and a few friends and family members want to read this?” He replied to me, “Publish, and you’ll be surprised at the audience you gain.”

When it was time for me to publish, when it was in my spirit to share my work, I did it. Pebbles in My Shoes is the fruit of that labor. It didn’t matter if there were only the six people in my immediate family (me included) and a small group of others who read my work. I was happy I did it. It came to pass that my friend’s assessment was accurate. It took me a while to realize that I had gained a good audience. And now, 4 years later, I still smile about it.

Try This Guide

If you don’t have the time to write, do it anyway. If you have to do it for someone else, try it anyway. If you need what you can’t find, don’t spin too many lines, only relax and try anyway. What’s meant to come out will have it’s day. If you drop your baited line, you’ll hook up in time, with what you want to say.

What Happened to Me Recently

My dad died October 25, 2007. From the time he died, my mother asked me repeatedly would I write a poem for his funeral program. I told her no. “Are you sure?” she asked me. I tried to get indignant but there was none of that in me. I just couldn’t collect everything that was in my head and heart—it seemed so much bigger than me.

My cousin reminded me of the things that I told her about my writing and how I just let things come to me because forcing rarely worked. “It will come when it comes,” she told me, telling me what I’d often said. I was skeptical in this instance. So, I let No stand for my mother and went on with the rest of the preparations.

We were in New Orleans in the hotel and around the city getting everything together, running into one obstacle after another. Finally I was in FedEx Kinko’s waiting for a machine to copy the programs. I sat at my laptop and the words came.

Life Lessons

I remember the dancing spirit
the steadfast father
the undaunted provider in all times.

I recall the man who knew
how to be with
friends and family in warm companionship.

I learned that keeping people
means letting them be themselves
and being the best person I can.

I understood long ago
I am you in more ways than I can count.
You gave me the best of you.

For that,
I am eternally grateful
and humbly content.

Thank you, Daddy, for everything.