Blog

YourHub.com \\ Parker \\ Blogs \\ Life \\ My Life \\ Mixed Bag

Blog Entry 14 of 107 Bad Mom

I call myself Bad Mom because at the time I came up with it, I was learning about the assumptions we put behind our words. I was following the pattern of not believing that my kids are okay, and speaking to them from that basis. I changed that, and it made a big difference. I am from Utah and my people are still living there. My husband was in the Air Force and we rattled around until we saw Colorado, and we stuck.

Blog Url: http://denver.yourhub.com/~Huh

Entries:

How I keep writing even tho it's sickening

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

Contributed by: Lisa Arata on 10/9/2007

For years I tried to write stories the same way I tried dieting: Devise a program that I promise to stick to, start it, and promptly quit.

Now I have a different tack.

First, I think about getting a job and feel horrified, then think about writing and that feels nice. So I go write.

Second, I put on music from my ipod. I've made a playlist of songs that evoke the mood of the story. For example, my first story was heavy on inspiration from America and Ben Taylor. Kind of a yellow and orange vibe. My second story has more Emerson Lake and Palmer and Heart. A gray and red sort of feeling.

Third, I lock my mind into the story and a sort of logic takes over. I try to make each scene make sense and have a purpose for being there. I have a general outcome in mind at the beginning, and I try to make the story go there.

Fourth, I write in breaths. In between exhalations of story I go research things I want to know about for my stories, like orienteering, the ROTC, photosynthesis, National Outdoor Leadership School, the seventies. I get more songs for my playlists. And I write some more.

The days fly by. I don't feel like eating. I get in an emotonally charged state that feels a little sickening after awhile.

But hey, it's working. I finished my first draft of my first book in about a month. Now a chunk is missing from the center because I don't know crap about the Military. I know about backpacking, though.

God help me. I've got to finish that first story. I want to be rich enough to tell anyone I want, "go to hell." The only way to get there is torelease my devastating brilliance into the world.

Yeah! Who's bad? Me, that's who. Crush it!

< Previous: 'Weight Loss--the 20 Ye...' | Next: 'One Blind Leap Across ...' >

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above blog

Current Rating

Based on 1 user ratings.

Talk Back : submit comments to the blog

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Thank you! Your comment has been updated.

CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Lisa Arata

Greeley , CO

Lisa Arata has posted 107 blog entries and 141 comments since joining on 4/18/2007. Lisa Arata 's average blog rating is 4.77.

view profile » view other postings from Lisa Arata »

SAVE AND SHARE THIS BLOG ENTRY

digg	Google
del.icio.us	Yahoo!
reddit	Newsvine

What is this?

BLOG ENTRY RSS FEEDS

All blog entries

All blog entries in Parker

All blog entries by Lisa Arata

BLOG LIST

WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?

Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyonewhat events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

Loading Ad