Marie-Claude's Blog http://mcbourque.com/blog ~ writing... everyday ~ Fri, 04 May 2012 01:53:03 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 Writing as a priority http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/05/03/writing-as-a-priority/ http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/05/03/writing-as-a-priority/#comments Fri, 04 May 2012 01:53:03 +0000 Marie-Claude http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/05/03/writing-as-a-priority/

Still writing?

I am. I squeezed in two half hour session today, one at 5 am and the other just after I walked my son to his bus stop at 8:30 am.

Today was a pretty stressful crazy day and I am so glad I chose to write first thing before thinking of other things.

I am waiting for my score results for my teacher performance assessment (which will determine when I get my state teaching certificate) and today apparently was the day and the wait was killing me (still don’t know yet). So I did very little productive work today.

But I wrote!

I guess that is what it boils down to. Do the most important thing as soon as you get up.

It worked for me today.

Much love,
Marie-Claude xoxox

Location:Seattle

]]> http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/05/03/writing-as-a-priority/feed/ 0 The lure of the all-or-nothing writing http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/05/02/the-lure-of-the-all-or-nothing-writing/ http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/05/02/the-lure-of-the-all-or-nothing-writing/#comments Thu, 03 May 2012 03:28:06 +0000 Marie-Claude http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/05/02/the-lure-of-the-all-or-nothing-writing/

Are you an all-or-nothing writer? By that I mean do you write in big chunks of free time, on week-ends or holidays only?

To me it sounds so seductive. I need about 3 half-hour morning sessions to edit one scene, so if I have a full 8 hour day, I should be able to edit at least 4 scenes that day. Of course I could, I did this before.

But… I’m forgetting one thing. Right now I am burnt out from 15 month straight of an intensive graduate school program and I need a holiday. Not a holiday from writing, but some down time.

Problem is, I thought I could write during my time off. I though I could skip my regular morning writing sessions and catch up during the day when my kids are off at school.

But what happened is that (1) I had too much unstructured time on my hand and (2) I’m still not done with school (I have my Masters presentation in about 10 days) and (3) I have a backlog of neglected life stuff to catch up on.

So the writing has been sparse. Except for this week, when I realized that there was no way I could kid myself. I’m not a full time writer.

What works for me is to get up at 5 am, get my coffee, fire up my laptop and work on that novel, everyday. Even 30 min is enough to see progress.

So I’m moving along this week, with one scene already completed. How is your own writing coming along? Slow and steady or great and short burst?

Much love,
Marie-Claude xoxox

Location:Seattle

]]> http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/05/02/the-lure-of-the-all-or-nothing-writing/feed/ 0 Writing… liberated http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/04/30/writing-liberated/ http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/04/30/writing-liberated/#comments Mon, 30 Apr 2012 22:43:54 +0000 Marie-Claude http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/04/30/writing-liberated/

If you regularly pass by this blog, you may wonder where I’ve been in the last week or so.

So yes, I have been sort of hiding from the work. The problem with this “trying to be a productive writer” thing, is that writing can get so riddled with anxiety that it’s not really like cranking up work output factory-like.

I do try to make it so, but that little voice telling me my attempts are futile is very hard to quiet down.

Yet yesterday, I stumbled upon this great quote by J. D. Salinger:

“One day a long time from now you’ll cease to care anymore whom you please or what anybody has to say about you. That’s when you finally produce the work you’re capable of.”

This trusty resonated with me. Yes, I have one agent who requested this manuscript I am working on and I have been thinking a lot about how she would react to the story. But to be honest, I am taking so long that it is very likely her interest has already vanished.

And that’s ok. There are tons of agents and publishers to submit to, and frankly, if I am to make any progress, I can’t think of sales and contracts right now. I’m more for enjoying the thrill of building my story, spending time with my characters and basically having fun with it.

Hope you can do the same with your work.

Much love,
Marie-Claude xoxox

Location:Seattle

]]> http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/04/30/writing-liberated/feed/ 0 Escaping writing doldrums http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/04/23/escaping-writing-doldrums/ http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/04/23/escaping-writing-doldrums/#comments Mon, 23 Apr 2012 22:58:24 +0000 Marie-Claude http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/04/23/escaping-writing-doldrums/

First thing let me apologize for not posting for over a week. Yes I am writing. Not as much as I’d like, and not quite enough to report.

Writing doldrums are settling in and I’m pretty sure the reason is how the business of writing is getting mixed with story telling in my mind.

I know I have been staying away from editing because of the fear and anxiety that maybe my writing is not good enough.

Yes it takes more than one sale to feel validated. And who knows maybe one never feels validated and needs to fight doubts non stop.

The business part of it takes its toll on a writer’s spirit: there are the rejections, then the bad reviews and sales numbers. There are publishers closing and editors moving and the self-promotion that either work or not and certainly suck out the life of any normal person.

I’m not complaining, really. Just telling it like it is.

Among all this, I realized that I have only one choice: write or not. That, at least, is in my control. I can just write the book and see what happen.

I spent the last week typing my handwritten manuscript and it never felt so good, almost like being told my story all over again. And somehow I can’t stop typing because I’m amazed to see what I wrote next.

Good things, all around.

Much love,
Marie-Claude xoxox

Location:Seattle

]]> http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/04/23/escaping-writing-doldrums/feed/ 0 And it took 3 weeks… http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/04/16/and-it-took-3-weeks/ http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/04/16/and-it-took-3-weeks/#comments Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:48:54 +0000 Marie-Claude http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/04/16/and-it-took-3-weeks/

How long was your longest no writing stretch? For me, it took 3 weeks before I could go back to writing. One week to finish my full term school internship while starting to writing my 75 pages performance report. One week to actually write and submit the whole thing (50 hrs of work total) and one week to recover and start looking for a teaching job.

The strange thing is that while I couldn’t work on the novel, I also couldn’t read fiction at all and chose to watch mindless tv shows to chill.

I seem to be back in force though. I started reading last night and today I got back to my work in progress, editing while the family slept, then took 3 hours to type some of my hand-written first draft this morning. It’s quite amazing to be back to write again. There is a certain peace that comes from doing this every day.

I have sorely missed it.

Much love,
Marie-Claude xoxox

Location:Seattle

]]> http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/04/16/and-it-took-3-weeks/feed/ 0 The world of an imperfect writer http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/28/the-world-of-an-imperfect-writer/ http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/28/the-world-of-an-imperfect-writer/#comments Wed, 28 Mar 2012 23:45:32 +0000 Marie-Claude http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/28/the-world-of-an-imperfect-writer/

I was just reading one of my favorite style blog (my guilty pleasure) from a great and cute blogger who talked about about how a lot of bloggers out there pretend they have the perfect solutions, perfect life, style, habits, everything.

She was discussing how sad it made her to see how these people pretend to be someone they are not.

Did you ever notice that? How do you feel about that?

I realize that for myself, I prefer reading blogs from people who are real and are ready to admit their imperfect life.

I remember saying at a writer’s panel once that as a new writer you have to try to always be positive out there in cyber space. By that I meant not be snarky and complain about others and the business on the internet. But at the same time, I believe it’s ok to be real.

I have lots of moments of doubts in my writing. I try really hard to write every day and I don’t always succeed, especially now that I need to find a day job to support myself. The fact that I am not contracted (i.e. I don’t have a publisher who gave me an advance to write my current projects) worries me, yes and I really don’t feel that I know how to write well, even if I sold (and published) one book with a very respectable New York editor.

But I do try to be positive on the internet, that is what I really am like if you meet me in person (in fact my mom says I inherited the happy gene from my dad’s side of the family).

It does irritate me a little when people appear to be just too perfect and polished in the cyber world. Life is just too short to pretend all the time, don’t you think?

So, like many of you out there, I struggle with my writing dream while trying to maintain a positive attitude. It’s just life.

Welcome to the world of an imperfect writer :)

Much love,
Marie-Claude xoxox

Location:Seattle

]]> http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/28/the-world-of-an-imperfect-writer/feed/ 0 Seeing the writing http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/26/seeing-the-writing/ http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/26/seeing-the-writing/#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:41:35 +0000 Marie-Claude http://mcbourque.com/blog/?p=2875

Do you have these moments where you are so into the nitty gritty of your little scene that you fail to see the whole story.

I’ve been kind of feeling that way lately as I revise scenes, sometimes one paragraph at a time. I can’t help myself but think that those particularly small things are so boring.

I worry, thinking why would any reader think this is worth anything. I don’t see the story at all.

This morning I took some time to step back and read a few chapters of the book I was revising. It was amazing what this did to my mood about the book.

I fell in love with the story again, isn’t it cool!

I’m still not sure if readers will like this, but at least I know that I still love it.

And that’s half the battle won right there.

Much love,
M-C xoxox

Location:Seattle

]]> http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/26/seeing-the-writing/feed/ 0 What’s your writing music? http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/26/whats-your-writing-music/ http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/26/whats-your-writing-music/#comments Tue, 27 Mar 2012 00:15:41 +0000 Marie-Claude http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/26/whats-your-writing-music/

Do you listen to any particular music when you write?

These days I don’t. It’s just the wonderful sound of silence for me right now.

But I usually have some sort of playlist when I write. For my steampunk novel I listened to a lot of Abney Park, naturally. But also to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtracks.

These days however, since I have a teen boy into Skrillex, I ended up having the song Get Up on my iPhone. How can I not love that. It’s Skrillex featuring Korn (kids favorite mixed with mom’s favorite) and the song for the movie SuckerPunch.

Perfect song to get me into the steampunk mood, don’t you think?

What’s your writing song?

Much love,
Marie-Claude xoxox?

Location:Seattle

]]> http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/26/whats-your-writing-music/feed/ 0 Weekly Writing Wrap-Up -Week 12 http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/25/weekly-writing-wrap-up-week-12/ http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/25/weekly-writing-wrap-up-week-12/#comments Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:04:02 +0000 Marie-Claude http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/25/weekly-writing-wrap-up-week-12/

How was everyone’s writing this week? It looks like I was a little short on my writing goals this week.

In fact the stress level with the end of my grad school program is so high that I am losing counts of what day it is and what I am doing.

This week I may or may not have written (revised) 3-4 days and took one morning for interview questions for RTBookReview magazine.

But I do know that I did finished revising chapter 22 of the steampunk novel.

So small progress is better than none!

Much love,
Marie-Claude xoxox

Location:Seattle

]]> http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/25/weekly-writing-wrap-up-week-12/feed/ 0 Itsy bitsy sunday writing http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/25/itsy-bitsy-sunday-writing/ http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/25/itsy-bitsy-sunday-writing/#comments Sun, 25 Mar 2012 18:48:07 +0000 Marie-Claude http://mcbourque.com/blog/2012/03/25/itsy-bitsy-sunday-writing/

Did you do your daily writing yet? I have to admit struggling today when I woke up. I had thought of doing a super long session this morning because I had such a bad writing week.

So of course, when I push too hard, I tend to procrastinate. I’m big on perfect or nothing.

So this morning I allowed myself a short session, 30 min, and that’s that.

As soon as I loosen the pressure a little, oh miracle, I made it to my laptop. 30 minutes later, I emerged with chapter 23 all done!

Amazing how that little itsy bitsy writing time can make you more productive, isn’t it?

Do you ever have such breakthrough about your writing process?

Much love,
Marie-Claude xoxox

Location:Seattle

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