I've lost it!

No, not my mind ... yet.  After a hectic week, in which I have accomplished much in the arena of home improvements and zero in the progress of my second novel, I am left wondering, "Where did all my creativity go?"  Did I place in a box and accidentally stick it in the attic?  Did it get donated to Goodwill? Where can it be?  Oh no, I've lost it!

In trying to find my creativity, I have retraced my steps back to when I had finished writing the very rough first draft of Going Barefoot in Greener Grass.  I recall explaining my inspiration to write as following a dream.  My two very supportive sister-in-laws were among the first people I told about this dream.  "Oh, you're like Stephenie Meyer!"  They gushed, "She had a dream and that's where she got the idea for her books."  Well, no.  Not that kind of dream.  Although that would have been really cool.  I've been trying to write in my sleep lately ... with no luck.  But my sister-in-laws make a good point.  Stephenie Myer apparently unlocked her creativity when she was at rest and her mind was free to wander.  In the past, my writing has been done in the quiet moments while my children slept.  And before I tapped one computer key, my imagination had wandered freely.  Most times, I had felt more like a reporter describing a movie scene that I was watching in my mind.

Okay, so I need to declutter my brain to uncover my creativity.  But for some reason, I am hestitating.  Ever since I've been putting my work out there for agents and now Kindle consumers to read, I've been second guessing my every word.  So now that I know where my creativity is hiding I still can't get it into gear.  I look to my children.  They make Lego creations, mold Play-doh and scribble abstract art all the while never caring if the rest of the world thinks it's any good.  Like most children their age, they act creatively because it's fun.  Blank pages rarely deter them.  Rather it most likely appears familiar.   Most of a child's life seems to be a blank page waiting to be filled in with new experiences.  Maybe it's time I tap into a little of their untainted youthful enthusiasm.  While I'm at it, I ought to heed the advice I've since discovered: something about the first draft of a novel being written passionately.  Correcting mistakes, editing and refining should be shelved until the next several drafts.

As I look around my house, I think I have found where my creatvity has been hiding after all.  I've been using it and, in all probability, exhausting it, on paint colors, on furniture placement, on those new lamps I had to have especially since I got a great deal on them and on hanging my favorite pictures in new locations.  Perhaps, all I need to get back on track is a few quiet moments and a good night's sleep (hopefully I dream of a vampire and a regular girl ...  wait, that's been done).



 What fuels your creativity?  I'm up for suggestions.

There's no place like ...

... home!  This week, I'm giving a shout out to Dorothy and her little dog, too, as a self-imposed tornado has sent my house spinning.  As I mentioned last week, my husband and I are making long overdue improvements to our home.  The carpets in which my children have abused beyond saving are being ripped out for more durable flooring.  Besides spilling juice and potty training accidents, recently they sealed the carpet's fate by rubbing blue colored glue stick into its fibers.  I laughed deliriously and my children thought I had lost my mind clearly confused over not being held accountable.

Actually, I am seriously questioning my sanity judging by the state of our home at this moment.  Choas reigns in the form of stacked furniture.  Once the changes are complete, I'm sure we'll be saying, "How did we ever stand it before?"  I think it has to do with getting stuck in a rut.  Sometimes keeping the status quo is so mindlessly easy, we overlook any unpleasantness that accompanies it.  It takes real effort, something like the sweeping force of a tornado, to escape the rut.

And so, in being sucked up by the winds of change, my children, our dog and I are saying, "We're not in Kansas anymore."  Actually, we're ten minutes away at my parents' house and still in Pennsylvania, but you get the point.  Being away, I find myself thinking a lot more about this place we call our home.

The notion of "home" has a universal appreciation.  Certainly from movies, such as The Wizard of Oz,  to literature to music and art, the theme of "home" has a powerful presence.  In my own writing, in Going Barefoot in Greener Grass, my characters'  homes on Orchard Lane begin the story, provide refuge as the drama unfolds and act as the setting for the final chapter.  I believe the reader gets a feeling of security to trust the twists and turns the author provides if the main character's home is defined and acknowledged.   Look at how The Wizard of Oz gets its emotional payoff by the audience relating to Dorothy's desire to return home.

"Home" can represent our roots and define who we are.  As adults, where we decide to call 'home" can be the way we define and express ourselves.   "Home", whether old or newly found, gives us our foundation for constructing the rest of our lives.  If our home is in disarray, so too goes our lives.  No matter how I had denied it, that old carpeting had been depressing to live upon.  I anticipate the new clean flooring will add a lightness to my mood.  Now, if only I had a pair of ruby red slippers to click together and complete the work!

No matter where it is or in what condition, it's difficult to object that there truly is "no place like home".     

Surprises

Surprise! Today's post is not all about me.  I mean, it can't always be all about me.   You know, all the time :) In the interest of "helping a writer sister out", I have included a description about a novel and first time author worth checking out.  One of the central themes of the novel centers around a surprise.  Whether a surprise is happy or disconcerting, it always makes for an exciting story twist or, for that matter, real life that much more interesting.  In the spirit of today's extra blog post, be on the lookout for surprises, hopefully of the pleasant and smaller scale kind.  I'll keep an eye out, too.  Perhaps it could be as simple as discovering a few more blooms appearing from the bulbs I planted last fall.  Who knows?  I'll just have to be surprised, that's half the fun.   

I wrote today's post as part of the WOW-Women on Writing Blanket Tour for
Letter from Home by Kristina McMorris (http://www.kristinamcmorris.com/). This debut
novel is the story of three young women during World War II and the identity
misunderstandings they and the men in their lives have. Ask yourself: Can a
soldier fall in love with a woman through letters? and What happens if the
woman writing the letters is different from the woman he met the might
before he shipped out, the woman he thought was writing the letters? Is it
still love or just a lie?

Like many authors, Kristina has had a wild selection of "real jobs"
everything from wedding planner to actress to publicist. She finally added
novelist to the list after  Kristina got a peek at the letters her
grandfather wrote to his sweetheart(a.k.a. Grandma Jean)while he was serving
in the Navy during World War II. That got her wondering how much two people
could truly know each other just from letter writing and became the nugget
of her novel.

In honor of her grandparents, and all the other families kept apart by
military service, Kristina is donating a portion of her book's profits to
United Through Reading, a nonprofit organization that video records deployed
U.S. military personnel reading bedtime stories to their children. You can
learn more about the program at http://www.unitedthroughreading.org/
If you comment on today's post on this blog or any of the others
participating in Everybody's Talking About Surprises, you'll be entered to
win a special surprise prize! It includes an personalized copy of Letters
from Home, a Big Band CD, Victory Garden seeds, and more.  To read
Kristina's post about surprises and a list of other blogs participating in
Everybody's Talking about Surprises visit The Muffin.(we'll forward you the
link to the listing on the Muffin)

http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/2011/03/everybody's-talking-about-surprises.html