This week in the Daily Writer

Mr. White started off the week with a discussion on the topic of honesty and authenticity and assigned the writer to read through a draft of a work in progress (WIP) criticiquing it for authenticity. I had actually already been doing that with a short story/novella/novel that is the journal entries of a pioneer woman telling about her experience in early Sheridan County Nebraska. Since that was where I spent the majority of my childhood there were somethings that I already knew but was somewhat foggy on the exact dates so I went back through it after I did some research on the internet.
Monday's entry was about the fact that writers creat worlds. Some of the worlds actually exist, or existed while others are modeled after real places but are fictional and there there is the true fantasy and science fiction writings that are not real places. Mr. White suggests to make the world you are writing about more realistic you need to sit and actually visualize the setting and using words as pigments paint the scene and scenery along with other elements experienced by the senses. That is what I did when I created the novella/novel that I wrote for my NaNoWriMo assignment. I created a fictional town modelled after a real town close to where I live. Some of the features are real and others are purely fiction.
Tuesday's entry was on confession and Mr. White extolled the benefits of personal confession for writers. Wednesday's entry was about writing adventure. Not some much as relates to say an action adventure story but what the writer would see as something adventurous to them. They also need to be aware of what the character(s) they are portraying would consider an adventure.
Thursday's entry was about developing an authentic writer's voice. He shared that in trying to be natural some writers try to hard and end up sounding fake. He then gave an assignment to help the beginning writer develop an authentic writer's voice. Friday's reading had to deal with symbols and reality. He stated that "symbols codify human reality, and in a spiritual sense become reality". He also discussed how symbols "render the abstract concrete". He then assigned the task to take common household items and free-associate possible symbolic meanings.
Today's reading was about dealing with writer'sblock. He listed five types of blocks and offered suggestions to cope with each. So far the ones I have experienced the most have been: psychological blocks (my inner crictic tells me that I'm not good enough, that my writing will never amount to anything), and distraction blocks (other things in my life distract me from writing). I have also experienced at times the creativity block that stricks some, if not all writers. Unlike his particular suggestion of keeping on writing one sentence at a time, I find that if I'll put that story aside and pick up a different one that I am working on, the block on the original story ends by the time I pick it back up. That is the reason I currently have six WIPs and suggestions for about a dozen more in my composition book.
I am finding that writing daily is a real problem but I can find time one the weekend to get caught up so for awhile until my schedule slows down I will make this a weekly blog instead of a daily one.

Still can't get with it.

I am in some sort of funk or something just can not seem to get with doing any writing.

Jan. 18: The Art of Concentration

Fred White's writing for today is related to the art of concentration. Concentration meaning to think intensely about a subject, and concentration meaning thinking about the essential aspects of a subject. Concentration is something that I struggle with at times. Sometimes it is very easy to close out background noise and focus on what I am reading, writing, or working on. At other times this is difficult and I have to get rid of all distractions in order to really work on the current project. Mr. White does give an exercise that he states will increase your powers of concentration. He suggests that you spend 30 minutes thinking about and concentrating on a topic you would normally only spend 10 minutes on. He also gives a writing assignment which is meant to focus your concentration on a topic/one scene.
I have also found that if I am really into the moment and focused on writing whatever it is I am writing about then my powers of concentration are very strong. However, if I am not that focused in the moment I get into the mode of multi-tasking which I consider the worst thing that we were taught to do a few decades ago. Multitasking keeps you from being mindful/aware of the moment. It keeps us from being focused and it reduces our ability to concentrate on the topic/problem/scene we need to be focusing on.
All of that said I am now going to concentrate on something that I want to work on tonight for 30 minutes to an hour, which is 1 Corinthians chapter one. I want to begin an in-depth study of Paul's two letters to the Christians in Corinth. Someone reminded me that these two letters address how we are to treat our bodies. So, will close this to go study Corinthians.

Jan 17: Listening Holistically

It would appear that in order to stay on track with my writing and to keep the creative juices flowing I do need to write daily so this week will start a new with this journal using the Daily Writer. Today's entry as the title states is learning to listen. According to Mr. White learning to listen holistically means listening to any given issue from multiple perspectives not just one or two. He also lets us know that this is not an easy task to accomplish. Just listening can, for many of us, be a difficult task. In therapy we refer to it as actively listening which means you listen to the others in the conversation well enough that you can paraphrase what they said. Both active listening and holistic listening would mean that you would have to focus your attention on what others are saying. All to often most of us, myself included, tend to listen with the intent of formulating our response. This is particularly true if we disagree with the other person(s) in the conversation. This is when Mr. White thinks we should listen the most carefully and so do I. So I will attempt to listen more holistically.
Mr. White states in For Further Reflection, that we should ask ourselves two questions in order to improve your listening ability. How good a listener are you? How closely do you pay attention to what people say? One of his assignments is to write a short story in which you satirie characters who get into trouble because they fail to listen carefully. Won't have time for that because I still have my original four short stories that have not been completed. But I will keep it in mind and add it to the growing collection of story ideas.

January 10 - Many different readings

Today I thought I would share my thoughts from all of my daily readings. From the Daily Writer, Fred White to day talked about dreams and keeping a dream journal. He states that dreams offer the writer a wellspring of character development. In his daily assignment he suggests that you write a story from one of your dreams and not worry about the fact that things seem to be odd jutapositions of items or actions. He refers the writer back to a large white rabbit and a pocket watch. On the surface an odd jutaposition but in reality from it developed the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland going on about being late.
The two daily devotionals that I am reading are The Upper Room and Daily Splashes of Joy by Barbara Johnson. From the The Upper Room the writer talked about facing your fears and listening to God telling you to do something that maybe you are afraid that you may not be able to accomplish and he reminds us that if God wants us to do something He will give the courage and the strength necessary to do the task. In Daily Splashes of Joy Barbara Johnsn today talks about how Christians need not fear death because we know that the end of this life means the beginning of an eternal life that is so much more than what we have on earth.
Then there was my Bible reading for the day which was Genesis 30-31. In Genesis 30 I read again the story of Jacob's many children born by his two wives and their maidservants. The thing that has always made me wonder is that each one of these children were given by God but in answer to prayers that voiced the two sister's envy of one another. It would seem that God would not reward envy, but then I remember that it is from these twelve sons that the twelve tribes of Israel will come. In Genesis 31 Jacob prepares to leave Laban his father-in-law and return to his country. It also talks about how Laban has repeatedly attempted to cheat and underpay Jacob. These two stories on their own would make one wonder about how God treats his children. That would be taking the stories out of context. This is something that writers on the topic of Bible Study warn against. So for now am not going to try to figure out why these things happened but trust that God had a plan all along. Which is something that I need to take into my daily life.

Jan 6: Brainstorming for Effective Titles

In today's reading the subject is the importance of titles. Along with way the author also some examples of how authors have started out with one working title but ultimately ended up with a different more effective title. He also discusses the difference between titles for fiction and nonficiton works.
FOR FURTHER REFLECTION
Here the author discusses the fact that the title is usually the first thing the reader encounters. He applies the same statement to the titles of magazine articles. He states that a cleverly worded title often helps the reader decide to read the book or article.
TRY THIS
The assignment is to brainstorm for the title of a short story or magazine article you've recently begun. Be inventive! Come up with several possible titlesw; circle those that best arouse curiosity. For fiction titles, try hinting at the storyline. For nonfiction titles, use a main title plus subtitle approach.
This is something I do with every article I submit. For professional journals the title are pretty straight forward because the publisher are not looking for engaging titles. With e-zines I try to be informative but also shoot for titles that will catch the readers attention. I'm not always successful but do think I am getting better. For my novel the critiques I have gotten was that my clever title is not eye-catching enough and also the average reader doesn't get the significance of the title. So this is something I need to give more consiration too.

Jan. 4: Thinking About Your Readers

In today's reading Mr. White asks us to consider the audience we are addressing. He starts by discussing Walt Whitman and how he was a human being reaching out to other human beings through his poetry. Mr. White urges the modern writer to not see themself as a writer but rather a person reaching out to an audience. As he put it "entering a conversation with humanity".
FOR FURTHER REFLECTION
In this segment he again asked what he writer's relationship with their readers. According to Mr. White the answer to the question of how the writer views the relationship with their readers sheds light on the writer's reason for writing. The possibilities that Mr. White sees are teacher, entertainer, or a participant in the drama of life.
TRY THIS
The assignment is to draft a poem or letter addressed to your fellow citizens in which you share one idea for making the world a better place. Is it the importance of individual citizens exercising civic responsibility? Is it having faith in a higher power? Perhaps you have a vision for education reform? Be as detailed as you can about the program you propose.
If I were to answer the question as to how I see myself in my relationship with my readers today I would say teacher but that might change depending on what I am writing, for whom, and about what. I would most likely, given the choices listed above, go with the one idea that what would make the world a better place is having faith in a higher power and more specifically in God. However, with the contrains of time tonight I do not have time to write such a letter.
So for tonight keep writing. I need to get busy writing another assignment.

Jan. 3: Acting upon your New Year's Resolutions

For today Mr. White urges writers to set aside time each day to write. He feels this is a better resolution than just saying your going to write. His reasoning is that by writing daily it becomes a habit. A habit that becomes and intrigal part of your life. Therefore his assignment is to schedule a realistic part of each day as time to write. He advises going about it much like eating, as something that has to be done on a consistent basis. He further advises that you not only set aside time daily to write but also determine what type of writing will you do during that time. By this he means will you develop a character profile, work on the outline for a novel or article, descibe a setting.
This advice is pretty much the same as all websites and books about writing. It is not meant that each day you are going to write something spectacular but that you will be working on various projects and each day you work on one or more facets of one of these projects. Ultimately, you will find that you have completed the projects. The nanowrimo challenge that I worked on during November also help this process of daily writing become more ingrained as does Mr. White's book The Daily Writer. Therefore, most days I am able to work on a portion of a project or on some days actually complete a full project. This is particularly true about writing articles for the three websites where I publish articles. At other times all I am able to do is to work on research. However, research is an important part of writing.
Something else that helps make writing daily easier, at least for me, is writing different types of writing about a variety of different topics. Therefore not only to I write articles on a variety of topics but also short stories that relate to different topics. I am also working generating a number of different writing venues which will ultimately mean that I not only write articles for websites such as Helium and Hub Pages but also for published magazines. The same is true of short stories; I plan on publishing some on a website that I create but also for magazines or other publishers of short stories. I also have subitted an article to a professional journal and planning on working on several more. All of this keeps me from getting bored.

Jan. 2: Contemplating Art

In today's writing Mr. White states that art, whether a picture, statue , or photograph can profoundly stir our emotions and stimulate our imaginations. He goes on to use two paintings as examples of this truth. He states his feelings on these two paintings and what they stir within him. He further states that the artists uses images to represent ideas and experiences much as a write uses words.
Assignment: spend time contemplating a work of art ad then write a one-page story in which you enter the work of art. Then describe how you interact with your surroundings. For possible inspiration he uses the scene in Mary Poppins, when Mary, Bert, and the children jump into one of Bert's sidewalk paintings.

Jan. 1: Uses of Allegory

Allegory: Description of one thing under the image of another. A story in which people, things, and happenings have a hidden or symbolic meaning; allegories are used for teaching or explaining ideas, moral principes. Mr. Fred White, the author, believes that one of the finest allegories is John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress. He further states that "allegories convey wisdom by translating abstract principles into dramatic incidents. He also uses as another example of allegory serving as a guide, Little Women. In particular he cites where in Louisa May Alcott's book her four female characters (the March girls) use Bunyan's book to guide them through difficult times.
The assignment is to write an allegory.