Checking things off the list

2018 Year of the New: Eliminate My To-Watch list.

I can't believe its July. I'm just not ready. I have so many things to do.

Though May was a great month where I accomplished most of my writing goals, June sort of, well, sucked.  Not going to sugarcoat it. June was a wickedly horrible mental health month confounded by migraines, tension, illness, and a birthday to just make sure and hammer in that I am mortal. Fun Times.

So for July, I'm going to focus on something I know that I have talked about before and I know will get me on the straight and narrow: feeding my muse. Though most writers don't really believe in a muse, I do. I believe there is a creative spirit  in the back of my head that is responsible for inspiration, and sometimes, she gets pissed at me and scampers off to go play with the wood nymphs that live in the backyard. 

To lure her back and take a bit of a rest, this month I'm going to focus on watching movies, documentaries, and TV series that I promised myself I was going to watch. Things that sparked my interest, things someone recommend, things that won awards for best screenplay, or were just on a list as the best horror movies on Netflix.

I have a lot of lists in my life. To-Do lists, grocery lists, honey-do lists, goals lists, edits lists, scene checklists, and some days I feel that I honestly will never accomplish any of those things on any of my lists. The guilt that comes along with all those lists is like a wet blanket on any creativity. I've been told that I need to stop "should"-ing on myself, but I can't help it.

To help out myself and my Netflix account, I'm going to start wading through the NEW programs that I have saved and try not to just listen to the same things over and over again (I'm looking at you DAREDEVIL). Watching things that I might not normally gravitate toward just to shake things up a bit.


A few currently in the queue are:

Set it Up-(movie) a rom-com about two people who fall in love after setting up their bosses. Who doesn't like a strong rom-com?
Queen of the South- (TV Show)  a female takes over a drug ring. Strong women, hello?
The Keepers-(documentary)  a nun takes on a priest accused of abuse.
Black Mirror- (Season 4) sci-fi tales of morality that have won several awards for writing
Coffee for All- (documentary) about free coffee around the world. Strong coffee, hello?
Ugly Delicious- (TV Show/Documentary) about a man who just loves food.

I feel like just knocking a few of these titles off my list will help feed the muse. And once she is feed, she will begin to question the world again, wonder about everything, and in that wonder is where the stories live, in the spaces between.

Those I suspect I might also need to NOT turn into a couch potato, so I'll be employing a few of these as well.

Please let me know if there is something that you found fascinating and I'll be tweeting away about what I thought of my a-muse-ing treats.

Thank you, gentle readers, and Carry On.

Amanda Arista
Author

Pin all the motivational quotes!

2018 Year of the New: Accountabili-buddy

So last month in the Year of the New, I started a new way of plotting while in the brainstorming phase of a book with fancy post-its and file folders and I loved it. LOVE IT!

After my Write Better Faster class,  I found this to be a great way to get my squirrelly brain to focus on multiple plots lines at once so I wouldn't have to revise so much. I can still have a clear story in mind without plotting it to death and losing the excitement of letting the characters take me on their journey.

Turns out, when you see everything together, it all gels together. And the pacing, so much much better. I can see the soggy middle!

Now all I have to go is sit down and finish a book.

Easy-Peasy, right?

Ha. Ha. No.

Writing is really hard.

Its like having a hyperactive hamster on a wheel in your  brain that just had a Red Bull. So imagine having two of them: one that writes women's fiction and the other that writes paranormal mystery.

As I'm waiting on a revision letter from my agent, I'm in Women's Fiction mode and its hard because I just want to smite everyone with a spell and chop off their heads Queen of Hearts Style.





So I need some focus. I'd been hearing writers talk about accountability groups and how much they helped just knowing that someone was at a finish line with a bright yellow sign rooting for you. That you are also responsible for rooting on that other person as well. 

Turned out, a friend reached out to me and asked if I'd be willing to be her Accountabili-buddy.

So May will be the month of Accountability. And lets hope that the random factoid here is correct.

Here are my goals for May:

• 20,000 additional words to this partially complete manuscript
• Complete a synopsis with scene breakdown as I go (a great tool for AFTER the book is written)
• First 50 pages ready to go to my beta readers. 

The plan is to check in with my Buddy at least once a week and to work on one of the above named things every day. If I run into a challenge, call/text her. If I fail miserably, have a convo about why I failed miserably and what I am going to do differently tomorrow.

So here I go, off into the Year of the New.

Wish me luck!

Amanda

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Amanda Arista
Author, Diaries of an Urban Panther Series
www.amandarista.com

Know Thyself and thy brain wiring

Year of the New: Post-its here I come!

So in February, my new endeavor was to take a class. And I did. Write Better Faster  with instructor R. L. Syme, was a whirlwind of personality tests and writing strategies that completely solidified why I do what I do and why some things work for my brain and some things don't. 

The website says that "You will leave the class with an individualized set of strategies and tactics that will help you do your best work, be your most productive, and accomplish your writing goals." and they ain't lying. I had been exposed to multiple rounds of the Meyers-Briggs personality assessments before, but never through the lens of my career as a writer. 

In case you were wondering what the brain of this writer looks:
Meyers Briggs- ENFP- Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeler, Perceiver
DISC- I/C&S- Influencer with moderate Compliance and Service
Strengthfinders- Strategic, Ideation, Connectedness, Relator, and Responsibility

The instructor helped us understand our personalities and strengths and what we can do to enhance those strengths and where we might go off the rails. For example, my strengths all have to do with big thoughts and feelings and I don't have a single detail-oriented bone in my body, which is why I can hammer out a fast draft and have to revise a million times to only keep finding mistakes. I like the emotions of the moment with the characters, but I really could care less what they are wearing so I have the tendency to write lots of dialogue and thinky-thoughts with no descriptions of place and setting. 

Knowing really is half the battle and the instructor also did one-on-one strategy sessions with us to see what one thing I could do better in the coming months as well as some great things to do when I'm ready to edit again. Anyone want to beta read for me?

Big thing- Don't change everything at once!

So the one strategy I am going to be working for March is to create a place in my house to have a focus board/plotting board, sort of like a vision board for a book. Since I can't  plot out an entire book, because that just sucks out the fun part of exploring the story and then I'll never actually write the book because, BORING. A focus board will help me not get so distracted by away from the point of the story as well as keep me focused on theme and subplots without killing the action and feelings by having them all prescribed. Also, hopefully, to have a more complete story at the end of the first draft. You can read more about one here. 

Turns out I am in a pre-writing stage for the next book, so its a perfect time to try something new. Post-its and poster board, HERE I COME!

As always, keep a look out for the hashtag #2018yearofthenew to see how I'm doing with my endeavors. And guys, you've got to keep me honest!

Carry on, dear readers. 

Amanda Arista
@Pantherista
Author and ENFP
www.amandaarista.com

Back in the Saddle Oxfords again

2018- Year of the New

So January was an interesting mix of aspirations and whirlwinds. I am very glad that all I committed to on this hashtag driven year was to read a book. #2018YOTN

Elizabeth Gilbert's BIG MAGIC was a great way to start off the year. A major take away for me was that I was the only person who could give myself a hall pass to be creative. I didn't need to wait, waving my hand frantically in the back row for some supposedly older-wiser-cardigan-wearing person to give me permission to do what I need to do. I can just do it.

If you are a creative person and want to see your greatest fears written down into a book so that you can burn them in effigy later, I do recommend page 13-15. Gilbert NAILED every single fearful thought I have ever had in my writing career. Every person has them. The successful acknowledge them, take them by the hand even, and move on. Its called Bravery.

Though there are some ideas in the book that didn't really jive with my current schema of thinking (the importance of art, how ideas find us), the one that really did was her notion of originality vs authenticity. As a person who writes in a genre where everything that can happen has happened, I struggled with the notion of "This has already been done." But Gilbert stresses that you must "say what you want to say, and say it will all your heart" and that is the authenticity that people will respond to.

The best line is the last- "The treasures that are hidden inside you are hoping you will say yes."

I mentioned in my last post that I felt like I needed to shake the dust off, go outside and clear the erasers of my brain to get 2018 all started again. Well, Gilbert's book helped me define a few more things that I'm going to try this year (one month at a time to see what sticks):
1. Dressing My Truth (getting all dressed up to seduce your muse)
2. Making dedicated time for writing (#5amwriteclub here I come to have an affair with my muse)
3. Keep learning (to have something to talk to you muse about?)

For February, I signed up for on on-line class entitled Write Better, Faster, part of the Lawson Writer's Academy. I had the pleasure of seeing Margie Lawson speak at a conference and I still carry around everything she said in that one hour lecture, so I went back to her for something new to carry with me. I will report back next month and let you know if I was an A student, or if I was in the back of the class snickering with my friends.

Carry on, dear readers!

Amanda Arista

2018: Year of the New

2018: Year of the New

I feel dusty. I feel like a dried up and crackled leaf on the wind that had been tossed this way and that for far too long. Like a doll that has been left on a shelf to watch everything happen through glass eyes. I feel like I've been holed up in my writer cave for too long and my back aches and fingers are curled and I need to shake the cobwebs off.

In thinking of Helen Lowe's last post of magic and possibilities, 2018 for me will be the year of the NEW. I feel like I haven't been writing enough or creating enough or saying enough with my work and that is just going to stop now.

Last year, I focused on the works of art, movies, the stories that I carry with me into the future. The works that have shaped the way that I write and process the world.

This year, I'd like to focus on possibly adding to that repertoire, changing my canon to help with this shake up. I just want to try something new: new books, new movies, new 5 am writing practices, journaling upside down while hanging by your toes. Like the Fool, I'm ready for an adventure!

So you, my dear readers will be along with me on my quest to become a new Writer, Creator, Human. And maybe through my foibles and follies, you can laugh along with me and add to your own treasure box of things that help you.

So for January 2018, I'm starting small. I'm going to read a book that has been recommended to me by several creative people that I admire.
BIG MAGIC by Elizabeth Gilbert. Perhaps this supernatural girl is really just drawn to the title, but for the next month, I'm going to be reading about "balancing between soulful spirituality and cheerful pragmatism," according to Amazon. I'm not usually a self-help sort of person, so this is really new for me. 

If you'd like to hear my thoughts throughout the month, I'll probably be tweeting over at @Pantherista with my progress, thoughts on the book, and maybe even the verdict on how the change is coming along.  Look for #2018YearOfTheNew.


Oh, and if you have a practice or book or movie or anything that you think I should add to my journey, please let me know!!!

Thank you so much for being a part of this journey!

Amanda Arista
Author, Diaries of an Urban Panther series 
www.amandaarista.com