Anne After the MFA

After a year and a half hiatus from blogging, an update seems in order: I have my MFA! Yes, nearly a year ago, I graduated with my MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults. The first six months AMFA (After the MFA), I didn't touch a book, and I didn't pick up a pen. I needed a break. This spring, however, I dove back in. You see, for ::::does mental count:::: five and a half years, I had writer's block--including the two years I attended grad school. Don't ask me how I got through; it was by the grace of God! Every piece I sent in for workshop was an idea I had come up with before the onset of writer's block. I had an okay time actually writing (although it was like pulling teeth sometimes), but coming up with new ideas was out of the question.

Well, I figured out some things about my life, and other people figured out some things about my life, and God opened my eyes to some things about my life. Once I got those things mostly straightened out--voilà! Story ideas out of the woodwork. I began a Young Adult fairy tale retelling, but after only twenty pages, I felt called back to my "epic novel," the story I've been working on for ten and a half years (minus five and a half years of writer's block). The story has gone through many evolutions already, and several different names, hence the affectionate project title of Epic Novel.

I am daunted. This project could take years more to finish. My current estimate is that it will be a four book series. Yikes! But I want to be published now! (wines a voice in my head that sounds amazingly like Veruca Salt) The wonderful thing about this story--I am incredibly passionate about it. I've known these characters longer than I've known some of my best friends. The story intrigues me, absorbs me. The result? So long writer's block, hello obsession. I'm back to struggling to balance writing with all the other aspects of life. It's a good problem to have.

I hope to keep this blog updated more regularly now, if for no other reason than I need an outlet for all my writer ramblings (there's only so much my sweet husband can take). Until next time, I remain writerly yours,
Anne M.

Handwriting vs. Computers

I’m finishing up my third packet right now, and I need a brake. I discovered where my writer’s block this packet period came from. I usually handwrite my stories, but I have to send typed versions to my mentor (so she can read them). The first packet period, I decided that I didn’t have enough time to handwrite the story and then type it up. So the second packet period, I just wrote straight into the computer.

This period, I found myself procrastinating a lot. I finally realized that I didn’t want to type my story straight into the computer. For one thing, staring at the computer too long hurts my eyes. (That’s one reason I’m so good at typing without looking at the screen. I used to unnerve my friends when they’d come talk to me while I was IMing. I’d finishing typing my IM while looking at them and listening to what they said. Ha ha, okay, I’m done with my sidetrack, and I typed the whole thing without looking!).

For another thing, I don’t like to be stuck at my computer. I like to go outside or sit on the couch or sit at the dining room table. And if I handwrite the draft, I can take it with me when I wait at the doctor’s office and other places. So, I have decided that no matter how much extra time it takes, I just have to handwrite first. Just another aspect of my love/hate relationship with technology.

Annie M.

It’s Weird to See a Backbone Walking Around without Any Other Bones or Flesh

I’m having even more trouble than usual this packet period. I just want to procrastinate so much. I have a story idea in my head, but I can’t flesh it out. I have a couple of characters with very unique qualities that give me the bare bones of a plotline. Not even, really. More like the backbone of a plotline. I can’t figure out where to go from here.

In addition to my inability to get something on the page, I’m having trouble with my reading. I’ve mostly read one craft book this period, The Power of Point of View by Alicia Rasley. Actually, I haven’t even finished it yet. I’ve read a few chapter books and excerpts from other books for POV examples. Maybe its okay if I mostly read craft books this packet since I didn’t read any craft books for my last packet. I got a few books on writing for young people at the library. I need to read those.

I feel kind of lost right now. I think I need to go do something mindless with my hands while listening to rock music. Then maybe I can get this plot to work! Maybe I should draw a picture of my main character. Or do laundry. I need to do that anyway.

Anne M.

Passion

When I finished the rough draft of my science fiction story, I decided to put the story away for awhile and try something else. My something else didn’t make it very far, and I got caught up in college. After about a year, I picked up the story again to polish the first three chapters for my grad school application. About a year or two later, I was finally accepted to graduate school! And then—I realized that I hadn’t written anything (except for polishing those first three chapters) in three years. I’d had writer’s block for longer than some of my classmates have been writing!

I thought that I would work on something completely different while in grad school—ignore my other story completely and go back to it when I have the tools to write it well. The only problem is that I can’t seem to write anything else. Ideas don’t jump out of the woodworks the way they used to. I have to struggle to come up with ideas. I’ve tried starting a couple of stories, but I just can’t get into them. They seem flat, and I have to force myself to keep writing. What happened to my passion? What happened to the days when I just wrote and wrote and wrote and couldn’t wait to wake up the next morning so that I could write some more?

My second packet is due in about two weeks, and I haven’t written anything. I’m supposed to write a short story focusing on character development. I’ve written only about one or two short stories in my life, and they were terrible. I don’t know how to write a short story. And I’m not any good at character development. So where do I start? I have been trying, but nothing’s come. So far, all my graduate school work has been absolutely miserable. I hope I can get into the grove soon.