Christmas Wishes

Dear Santa,

I have been very good this year. I have almost finished my book, and if you saw all that I had to deal with this year, you would be impressed. Assuming you are impressed, then you will probably want to get me everything on my Christmas wish list. I want:

• A hefty gift certificate to the Levinger’s catalog
• A Mac Desktop
• A new book contract
• Lots of comfy pajamas - Pajamas are the one thing that Hugh Heffner got right.  I write better in my pajamas.
• An end to hunger
• World peace

However, if I can only have one thing on my list, please choose between an end to hunger and world peace.

Love,

Lucinda

To my readers, whatever holiday you do or do not follow, I hope it is a merry one.

Exclamations!!!!!

"Exclamation points are the most irritating of all. Look! they say, look at what I just said! How amazing is my thought! It is like being forced to watch someone else’s small child jumping up and down crazily in the center of the living room shouting to attract attention. If a sentence really has something of importance to say, something quite remarkable, it doesn’t need a mark to point it out. And if it is really, after all, a banal sentence needing more zing, the exclamation point simply emphasizes its banality!" 

— Lewis Thomas

 

One of my favorite writing pointers is, “Never use exclamation points unless absolutely necessary!!!!!!” Punctuation is the mortar that holds our words together, but the words are the bricks. You can still build something with bricks and no mortar, but mortar without bricks doesn’t make anything. The goal is to find words that are the exclamation marks.

Speaking of which, exclamation marks used in an email header is a red flag suggesting possible spam. The same is true for capital letters. I delete everything that is capitalized and exclaimed. Spammers take note: “CLAIM YOUR MILION DOLLARS TODAY!!!!” is lousy English. Try, “Claim your million dollars today” Don’t forget to spell check.

Revisions

“I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter.” -  James Michener

I was talking to another writer about writing (what else do writers talk about?). She told me she likes to write, but she loathes revising. I am the opposite. I fall in the Anne Lamott camp of writing – I write shitty first drafts. Rewriting isn’t always fun, but it is so rewarding to watch everything come together. It’s like making a quilt. The first draft is like a bunch of cut up pieces of fabric. The revision is like putting the quilt together, watching all those words magically coming together.

Blog-block

"Yes, it's hard to write, but it's harder not to." - Carl Van Doren

I am experiencing blog-block. Between Thanksgiving, my family being here for 12 days, power outages, and holiday hoopla, my writing has slacked off. Every moment goes to the book, so when I think about blogging, my mind goes numb. Blogging is a commitment, and like all commitments, sometimes there is enthusiasm, sometimes there isn’t. However, the commitment is still there, even if I can’t seem to muster up a single witty comment or insight.

The bottom line is that we must keep writing, no matter what.