Rust and short stories

or "from the Amber that doesn't write too much"

I may share a name with our dear cabin girl, but I don't share her problem. Mine is that I have written very little in the past five months... or more like a year. Ever since last spring break, when I started to home educate my family.

Since that time, I get up every morning, stretch, and feel a slight creak. It's the rust. It creeps and spreads, chewing, gnawing, eating away at my writing implements. Ruining them! So when I finally get a free hour to write, I sit down and start oiling my tools with a little writing exercise, or I look over a tangle of partials, or write a (blog post), and before the tin man has said nary a word, something interrupts and the moment is gone.

And every day, it's a little bit worse.

Do you go through periods like this? Does the feeling resonate with you?

Well, I have found a satisfying way to keep my arsenal shiny and oiled: SHORT STORIES.

src: wikipedia.org

Yep. Now, I know short stories are not the enticing vixens that novels are. I have shied away from them in the past... it can be hard, particularly, to write a short story with a sci-fi/fantasy bend because you don't have much time for world creation. But short stories are great for exploring characters and situations. They give you a chance to create a satisfying arc, a cycle with a beginning and an end, something with emotional kick. All in just an hour or two!

Some of my shorts have been totally new ideas, a chance to test drive (before laying out 50k and finding out it stinks). Some have been shorts of longer partials I have laying around. Or self-contained scenes that don't fit in the main storyline. A short is a fantastic way of spotlighting a minor character that you love (or can't find a way to love) without letting them take over your novel manuscript.

So if you haven't written a short lately -- or ever -- here's your nudge. Write a complete short, say three thousand words, and see if it makes you feel just a bit more limber than before.

And then, if I didn't fear being called a hypocrite, I'd tell you to submit it! Or, at least, think about making it into a novel or screenplay.

Write on!

Exercise is not a writing excuse

My sails are pointing me toward warmer shores at the end of this month -- Rebecca's homeland, actually (sorry Rebecca, I'm flying direct to Maui or I'd love to meet up!!) and as you might imagine, I have a certain fear that I may be mistaken for a resting seal if I don't tone up a bit.

As a result, I've been much more diligent than in winters past about keeping up an exercise program, and I just have to share how important I believe exercise is -- especially for writers!

You probably all know this. I thought I did. Every time I'm in a good exercise habit, I see how invaluable it is to my creative mind, to my mental energies as much as to my physical energies. Then, something happens: a busy spell, an illness, something to get me off track with my exercise program, and every time, my writing productivity also suffers. It's amazing how correlated they are.

When I'm running (my exercise of choice) I get all sorts of ideas so that I'm excited when I sit down to write. I also get my spiritual food while running because I love podcasts and videos. Sometimes I watch behind-the-scenes extras of my favorite movies: I love hearing the series creators or the film writers talk about characters and story. There are so many types of good that come during my workout.

But somehow it's the extra nth factor that really makes the difference. It's that knowledge that I accomplished something today, so what's stopping me from accomplishing another great thing? It's the doing of things that leads to the doing of more things. Simple, but true!

So I'm just reminding you (and myself, for I'm sure to hit another slack-off after my Hawaii trip!) to get out there and exercise, your writing will thank you!

Write on,
Amber M