The Process of Painting- Or Writing

So I took a little break from writing to paint the master bathroom, only as I slapped the paint on, I realized that painting and writing are very much alike.

To paint a room/write a book you have to follow the same steps:

1. Set Up The Space.
For the room that's being painted, that means remove furniture, pictures, and other stuff. If you can't remove a piece of furniture, push it into the middle of the room and cover. Vacuum the dust bunnies.

Before you write, you need a designated space. Whether it's the kitchen table, a nook in the basement, or a private office, you need to have a table, all your supplies nearby (laptop, pencils, paper, reference books, etc.) and a comfy chair. Tea and cat optional.

2. Do The Prep Work Before You Start.
In the room, that means sand the walls, spackle holes, caulk gaps around windows and molding.

For the writer, that means Research! Outline!

3. Use The Right Tools.
A cheap paint roller won't give a smooth finish, bargain paint won't last, and using a 1" brush to paint a wall will take forever. Using plastic 'drop cloths' is not smart because paint doesn't dry on plastic so you'll probably step into the drips and track it all over the place anyway. Use a canvas cloth to catch the drips.

When you're a dedicated author, don't use a free word processing program just because it's free, it has to offer the features you need. A paperback thesaurus will give you more information than the one in a word processing program. Cheap pens skip and you'll need a ton of them so get a better grade.

4. Consult The Pros 
You're not an expert on paint; that's okay. That's why there are friendly people at the paint store who can answer questions, point you to what works for your project. Pick their brains. Read a How-To book (Is there a 'Painting for Dummies' book? Always good for learning the basics.)

Just because you wrote poetry or newspaper articles or even have been published, expert advice should always be welcome. Going into a new genre? Get informed. Writer's Digest, a class, a conference worshop- all great venues for sharpening your skills. But just like some schmo in Home Depot, beware of those who hold themselves out to be experts--and aren't. (I've gotten bad advice from people who think they knew more about paint than me.)

5. The First Effort Is Just That- The First
Usually walls should be primed then painted, but with the new paints, it's primer and paint in one so it saves you a step. But don't make the mistake of thinking you'll get away with one coat. Guaranteed there will be 'holes' in the coverage (they're called holidays by pros). Just accept that you'll need a second coat.

Writing is the same. Don't ever think that you write it and you're done. Nuh uh, no way Jose, are you crazy? Unlike painting a room where two coats will work, writing will require multiple reviews, revisions, and rewrites. You'll get a room painted sooner than you'll have a polished manuscript.

6. Stop and Fix the BIG Problems 
You're painting when suddenly you notice that there's a dent in the wall that you somehow missed.  Maybe the color looks way different than you thought and you don't like it, but you're halfway done. The paint isn't going on smoothly. You could keep on painting, but it will be obvious there's a problem. STOP. There's no sense completing the job with such a major flaw. Fix it now before the whole thing gets out of hand, even if it means starting over.

Your plot dead ends. No one like your characters. You're telling, not showing. There could be any number of problems- all you know is that it's not working. Unless you're doing NaNoWriMo, STOP. No sense completing the book with a major flaw. It's easier at this point to analyze the problem, make notes on how to fix it, then fix it.

7. Add The Final Touches 
Now that your room is freshly painted, it's time to add those things that add punch: new pillows, brightly colored drapes, interesting textures on bed, floor, walls. These are the details that add pop.

In a manuscript, the final touches are the title, specific details on setting, character quirks, showing not telling, matching your tenses, substituting action verbs for passive ones. It's the little things like these that give your story a wow factor.

If you think you can't paint a room but you can write a novel, or can paint a room but can't write a novel, you're wrong. You can do both because they follow the same process.

Time to go back to writing; I'm in the middle of prep work for this new project-outlining so I know where the story is going and I can control it. Maybe next week I'll paint the bedroom.

Stay tuned-

Char 
(the color of my name above is almost the same color I've done the bathroom- 'young pumpkin')

Accept It, Use It, Work With It.

I'm not an angsty person. In high school, I didn't pine over a crush who didn't return my admiration, I didn't wail that I didn't get invited to the cool kids' parties, and I didn't sob when I didn't go to my prom. I don't do emotional slobber.

Maybe it's my industrious, stern German background. We didn't have all that much drama in our family; we tended to keep it to ourselves or behind closed doors. And it goes without saying that I don't like woeful, angsty books. Weepy females tick me off.

So when my agent says I need more emotion in a scene, I know she's right. I don't even argue, I revisit the scene and figure out where my cold-hearted writing needs to be humanized. Sometimes that's hard to do. This difficulty with emotion is a blessing when I'm asked to write a eulogy. I can write passionately about a passed loved one and smile through the recitation while everyone else cries deathinconsolably.

To make my scenes more heartfelt, I have to draw on personal experience, allow those repressed feelings to bubble up, and channel them into my writing. Recently, I lost my beloved Aunt Kay, my mother's sister who was in many ways, a second mother to me. With her sickness, hospitalization and then death, I was with the family, helping to support my cousins and uncle. For the most part, I stayed strong- because they needed me. But even now, almost a month later, I find it hard to 'let it go' and cry over my broken heart.

But thinking about her loss helped me feel a scene from my middle grade historical novel where a young boy loses a friend. It's during World War II, and the friend is a soldier in Hitler's army. Like with my aunt's illness, death and loss were hovering in the background, waiting for their opportunity.

I didn't add a lot of drama with the revision; my character, a 13-year-old boy named Tomas, of a sturdy Germanic family, isn't going to scream or pull his hair, or faint. He's going to be strong, like his parents and like the little soldier the Third Reich expects him to be.

But he can't. He throws himself into his mother's arms and cries, his whole body shaking.

That's it. That's the end of the chapter and that scene. For a boy trying to be stalwart during oppressive times, completely breaking down like that is expressing his grief.

Eventually, characters and people have to let loose, no matter how hard it is.

Char 
Clip art courtesy of Microsoft/Bing

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Oh, That Novel's Not Finished...

Before we start the great NaNoRevMo in February, (NaNoWriMo org does their revision program in the summer- I don't want to wait that long so if February doesn't work for you, do theirs in the summer), please read the sign.

Rejection is important. Painful, yes, but important. Just because you finished your novel doesn't mean it's good. Actually, because you wrote with determined speed, it's probably crap. If you submit it to an editor or agent now, not only would you get rejected, you'd be the butt of office jokes because it's that bad.

Don't despair. Rejection is the natural order of the universe.

  

If anyone knows about rejection and failure, it's Thomas Edison. He racked up more failures and had his ideas rejected by more people than Stephen King or Dr. Suess- and even me. Sirenz had over 60 rejections. Today, four books have my name on them. I know the pain of rejection. Sure, I hate it, sometimes think it's unjustified, but see above again.

This is the lesson I learned, that every writer learns. Or artist, inventor, musician, student, businessman, etc. Even when you finish your NaNoWriMo revision, you have only begun the process. You will revise multiple times; until you're satisfied, the critique group/beta reader is satisfied, an agent is satisfied, the editor is satisfied.

It's going to hurt, I won't lie to you. There were times I threw stuff, cried, yelled, and vowed to snub everyone who rejected me once I became a famous author. 

But I kept writing and revising and imagining and learning. I didn't stop. You can't if you're serious about writing. I've met too many people who say that they were too busy right now to finish the revisions, or the editor/agent doesn't know what they're talking about, or it's good enough, I'll just self-publish. (The good self-published books are thoroughly edited or they don't sell so that's not an option to skip more revisions.) Currently, I'm revising four novels. None of them have stayed the same since I wrote that first draft. Characters were removed, changed gender, given bigger roles. Places were changed, dialogue shortened or lengthened, events were put in or they were deleted, word counts increased or drastically reduced. 

This is all waiting for you. Embrace it. Learn from it. Use it. Accept it. 

Keep writing, keep the faith. Next week- a list of books to help you edit your manuscript so save your holiday gift $$; you'll want some of these.

Have a Merry Christmas, a wonderful New Year, a Happy Holiday for the path you follow--

Char