F is for Forget by Lorilee Guenter

 

This week I made a list of possible words that begin with the letter F. Some have obvious connections to writing, such as form, function, and fiction. Others, such as flower and fountain left me puzzling over possible analogies. I considered fabric. It shows up in cliches such as "the fabric of life." Words like events weave their way through our stories. 

Nothing felt right. I could not find a flow for the writing. As I fought the urge to crumple the paper and toss it in the vicinity of the recycling bin, I found myself thinking: "Forget it." Sometimes it takes admitting the failure of an idea and walking away before the words come. Sometimes it is helpful to forget in the middle of floundering.

I was reminded that it can be beneficial to forget the final form as you play with an idea. For me the observations and ideas come together much quicker if I relax and play with words than if I try to force them. Sometimes a poem communicates the thought in a better way than prose does. In this regard, I find writer's who work in multiple formats are fortunate. They have many tools to express themselves. 

It is useful to forget past failures. Learn from them, then let them go. A story that continues to fall flat might benefit from sitting on the shelf for awhile, or even forever. Its sole purpose might have been a learning exercise. Not everything needs to be finished. 

There are some things that should not be forgotten. The foundation of my faith keeps me grounded. It is more important than deadlines or stress. However, deadlines are another thing firmly in the must remember category. I forgot the day this post needed to go live because I wrote the day down wrong. Fortunately for me, I wrote the deadline earlier than the actual date. This let me keep my commitment in spite of a faulty memory. 

Remember (don't forget) to pause and enjoy the moments you have been given. It is in those spaces the ideas build for me. The details of life can add depth to our writing. Even if they don't, they add depth to our days. The moments are gifts from God. 

F is for Focus by Carol Harrison

 

 

Over the last few months, I’ve had trouble focusing my attention on anything. Often, at the end of the day, I look back and don’t see what I’ve accomplished. Editing still needs to be done. A story waits to be written. Deadlines, self-imposed, come and go. Have you ever had days or weeks or even months like that?

Sometimes, our focus is diverted due to health issues or other unexpected pressing matters. We have no choice but to prioritize. I’ve had to put my focus on health issues, appointments, and basic things around the house. At times the blank page mocks me about procrastinating and I have to be honest with myself and evaluate where my time and energy needs to be spent.

But at other times, I sit and stare at a blank computer screen. The words aren’t typing themselves. I walk away and grab a pen and notebook, but the distractions pull my focus off writing. What distracts you? I have a few things that distract me. Some are necessary but maybe at a different time. Others are frivolous and easier to relegate to the background. I began a list of my distractions.

1.      A messy workspace, clutter

2.      Those bings and dings with notifications popping in. They just might be important.

3.      Forgotten household tasks that now must be dealt with, or so I think

4.      Negative self-talk like “Why bother? What will you do with the writing anyway? It’s not good enough?”

5.      Fear of failing. But if we don’t sit down and write, we’ve failed by not trying.

George Lucas said, “Always remember your focus determines your reality.” If I never focus on writing, the reality is I won’t be able to share the stories, devotionals, or articles with others. They will remain hidden in a notebook or on my computer.

We need to plant the seeds that will enable us to focus easier and then cultivate the skill with our writing or any other task we need to accomplish. What are some tips you’ve discovered that help you focus on writing? Some suggestions include:

1.      Clear away distractions. If it is a messy workspace, schedule time other than your writing time to organize it and remove the clutter in your environment which will in turn help negate the mind clutter.

2.      Make yourself some goals. It is not something everyone enjoys or wants to do. But setting big goals and then breaking them down into weekly or daily steps can help you focus on a little bit at a time instead of being overwhelmed with the big picture.

3.      Accountability – It helps me when I have an accountability partner, or more than one. There is a sense of urgency when that other person asks you how far your writing project is and the expected completion date.

4.      To do lists help you see all your everyday tasks and writing ones too. It makes it easier to visualize what needs to be done and the priority it demands in your schedule. An appointment must be met at the assigned time, for example.

5.      Schedule writing time. This is something I struggle with even though I know mornings are the most productive time for me.

6.      Put into practice all the information you have learned over the years. I have a habit of wanting to continue to take a course, go to a workshop, or attend a conference. But I need to use what I’ve learned or it becomes meaningless. That negative voice that tells me I don’t know enough must be quieted.

7.      Just start writing. Use a writing prompt, write everyday happenings, or just nonsense. This helps get the creative juices flowing. Louis L’Amour told an interviewer he never had writer’s block because he had a number of projects on the go in various stages. If he couldn’t think of what should happen next in a story, he’d move to editing a different one, jotting notes for the next story, or polishing a piece to publish. By that time the ideas had filled his mind for the current story. What might work for us?

8.      Don’t edit as you go and break the flow of creativity. The edits can wait until we finish the piece.

9.      Give yourself permission to take breaks so you can return refreshed. But plan the length of those so they don’t become excuses to procrastinate.

These tips are all ones we’ve heard, often many times already. Some we use and keeping focus becomes easier. I needed the reminders so I can quit procrastinating and become more focused and productive with my writing.

Jen Sincere said, “What you focus on, you create more of.”

What does focus look like in your writing life? What works to help you keep on task? The things that I find helpful, might not work for you and vice versa. But the one constant is the need to keep our attention on the goals, the plans God has whispered to us, and the desire to share what we’ve written with others. Now no more evading, no more letting the blank computer screen defeat me, I must spend time focusing on my writing.

 

Carol Harrison attempts to stay focused on the tasks at hand, with varying degrees of success, from her home in Saskatoon. She loves having the inspirational bits and pieces around her desk area to remind her of the stories yet to be told and the memories past. www.carolscorner.ca

City Flickers by Sharon Heagy

                                             Photo by Paul Crook on Unsplash

        RAT-A-TAT-TAT! My head snapped up and my eyes scanned the rooftops to my left. The reverie of my morning walk was broken and the culprit or culprits had to be on the roof of one of the buildings beside me but I saw nothing. A few steps more and RAT-A-TAT-TAT! Drawing a hand across my brow, eyes straining and squinting at the top of the buildings, I expected to see construction crews. Imagine my surprise when I realized the noise was caused by birds. And not just any birds, city Flickers! The Northern Flicker, well established in the city of Calgary, had made all that noise.

            “Crazy birds,” I called. “You won’t get any bugs for breakfast bashing your beak on that metal. Find a tree or a nice patch of grass.” Ignoring my sage advice they hammered on incessantly.  With a bit of a harumph, because I was quite obviously ignored, I shrugged my shoulders and carried on. 

            City Flickers. Down on the farm Flickers are too busy foraging for food to satisfy their enormous appetites to be bothered with such nonsense as pecking on metal. But maybe it’s just because we don’t have the multitudes of birds like the city. In Calgary, they are so plentiful that they once considered giving the Flicker the honour of official city bird. But I can see why they hesitated as these birds pursued such a seemingly useless endeavour as trying to get a big fat nourishing bug off the metal sheeting on the rooftops.

            Are we humans like Flickers? How often do we relentlessly ‘rat-a-tat-tat’ on some path, making an abundance of noise while God is trying to get us to head in another direction. Do we keep our heads down, exhausting ourselves in useless pursuits when all we have to do is take one lovely, long minute, look up and listen? It’s in the pause that the hands of God can reach down behind us and, as loving Father, gently guide His children to see the better way. 

            Writers can benefit from the same pause. We can get doggedly determined, head down trying to plod our way through the muck with Biblical persistence, which sounds like a good thing, and it can be, but only if it’s a God thing. Otherwise, we just spin our tires. Do we take time to look up from our work. To pause and take one lovely long minute to wrap ourselves in God’s presence and wait for His revelation and direction for the work being done in His name?

            And not only for the work but for directions in general. He is the guardian of our time and the breath to our life. Writing is a solitary endeavour and we tend to shut ourselves away. But if we listen, God may have other plans for our moments. He may want us to stop and hug a child or a spouse, call a friend who needs encouragement or visit a shut in. He may want us to take a walk outside with Him in His glorious creation to hear His voice and renew our perspective.

            From my perspective, the Flickers were absorbed in the absurd but further research exposed the reason for their bizarre behaviour. They are declaring their territory, keeping other Flickers away. Perhaps as writers we need to consider the prayer of Jabez, with which I am sure many of you are familiar. That little prayer in the middle of the family tree in 1 Chronicles 4 (verse 10). In the first line of the prayer, Jabez cries out to God and asks Him to bless him and increase his territory. Do we need to increase our territory as writers for God? It could mean we need to pause and write a letter to lift someone up. It could mean having the courage to allow others to read our sacred creations. Or, scarier still, to enter a contest or send a manuscript off to be considered for publication. Perhaps it would mean re-organizing our 24 hours to give more time to pursue the passion that He has instilled within. 

            I was wrong about the Flickers. I found they had a purpose in their noise other than to annoy people. Had I done the same with people I had met?  Making surface judgements instead of looking deeper, past the noise to see the hand of the Creator upon each and every beautiful soul? 

            City Flickers have taught me many lessons since the day I witnessed them drumming on the rooftop and I don’t think I am done learning what God wants to show me through these feathered creatures. All because one day He got my attention and made me look up for one long and lovely moment in time. 

            

Fun with Fiction by Steph Beth Nickel

 

I am in the process of writing a YA speculative fiction book, Rule and Reign. One of the characters my critique partner particularly likes in a young boy who is always running wherever he goes.

Below is the scene in which he's introduced. I hope you enjoy it!

After traveling almost as far as my old room, I’m still so focused on convincing myself that I have every right to explore the castle that I nearly fail to sidestep a young boy, no more than seven sun-cycles old, who comes dashing around the corner and almost collides with me. He pulls up short and his jaw drops. 

“I’m so sorry, Your Highness. I… I… Please don’t tell my ma. She’s always scolding me fer running in the halls. But then, she scolds me fer being late.” He exhales loudly and looks away. “I don’t understand.” He’s rocking back and forth. I doubt he’s used to standing still for any more than a few measures.

“What’s your name?”

“I’m Todd, Your Highness.”

I smile widely. “It sounds a lot like my father’s name. His name was Trad.”

“Oh, I know.” He bounces up and down. “He was my hero. He was strong and brave and kind.” More quietly he adds, “And he never told Ma when he found me running through the halls.”

I laugh. Todd’s head snaps up. “You laughed. Ma says royals don’t do that—no one ’cept Prince Trad.” 

“It will be our secret. Okay?”

Todd nods his head vigorously. 

“So, Todd, where were you off to just now?”

“Ma said I could go t’ the stables. My best friend works there. He just cleans up after the horses, but sometimes, he gets to watch the soldiers train if he does an extra good job.”

“The stables, huh? Would you mind if I came along?”

The boy puts his still-chubby hands on his hips. “Princess, this is yer castle. The stable and horses are yers too. You can go anywhere ya want.”

“Well, Todd, I guess you’re right. Then, it’s off to the stables we go.”

“And you won’t tell my ma I was running?”

“If you won’t tell my grandmother I was laughing.”

“That’s easy. The Council Lead doesn’t know I ’xist.”

I sigh. That’s probably true. “Now, let’s go see some horses.”

“I don’t s’pose you want to run. Do you?” he adds, eyes wide.

I shake my head. “It’s probably best if the Princess of Betria isn’t seen running in the halls.”

He shrugs and sighs. “I guess.”