I had the pleasure of seeing the Broadway Musical BEAUTIFUL on Sunday. I loved it! Amazing story and music–the performances were superb. I’m a HUGE fangirl of Jessie Mueller now. But it also burrowed into my heart because it spoke to me about VOICE and this is a theme that has been happily haunting me since the #LA14SCBWI Conference. I don’t believe in coincidences–I believe in messages. So I try to listen the very best I can to what the universe is blasting me with. Here’s what I learned about my writing and voice from Carol King and the Broadway Musical BEAUTIFUL…
1. Love what you do.
2. Be yourself.
3. Speak your truth.
4. You can not be heard by others unless you can be heard by yourself.
5. Artistry must be repetitively practiced.
6. Failure is the gateway to growth and success.
7. Friendship is an important ingredient in our work.
8. People long to make real and meaningful connections with other people.
9. A journey starts with a plan and almost always takes an unexpected turn.
10. Sometimes the unexpected turns out to be something beautiful…
You’ve got to get up every morning with a smile on your face
and show the world
all the love in your heart.
Then people gonna treat you better.
You’re gonna find–yes–you will
that you’re beautiful as you feel.
Be sure to watch this all the way through–there’s a bang up ending.
http://youtu.be/_N0nkTJhfb8
What is the most beautiful thing about your writing? What’s your favorite Carol King song? Have you seen the play? If you get the chance to take it in–don’t miss it. <3
The last couple of days I’ve been knee deep in a revision. You’ve probably heard me blabber on about this before, but revision is my favorite part of the writing process–until it’s not. Hey! Don’t roll your eyes at me. I’m serious. What I love about the revision process is that I’ve arrived at a place where I’ve created the template for my work. The bones are on the page. And then I have the ability to be a tinker and play around with all the pieces until they fit perfectly. But there always comes a point when I hit THE LINE.
THE LINE is the Bermuda triangle of the writing process. You can get lost there and disappear forever if you’re not careful. In my humble opinion, it is a fine margin between making something better and overworking it. Kinda of reminds me of pie crust. If you manipulate that pile of dough too much, it all starts to fall apart. Or it gets too tough. When you are tweaking your manuscript, there is usually the chance of trying to make everything so “perfect” you lose your voice. And as I heard in LA from EVERYONE–your voice IS who you are in this business. It is the only real currency you have.
But, I call it a THE LINE because Linda Sue Park is right also–the tools of our trade are our words and you had better send out your best ones. They must be worthy. You do have to walk right up to the very edge to present your best self to the world.
Now you want to know how to tell when you’ve crossed the line. In fact, I can see you pulling out your hair and running around a round room looking for a corner to sit it. I feel the same way in this business–often. And the hard truth is that you don’t know. I’ve never met a writer who does. If you watch yourself closely enough, you might begin to see the patterns in your own process, but truthfully, there are always exceptions. *sigh* We all have blind spots when it comes to our craft.
You’re never going to know for sure. Come here–let me hold you. (((((hugs))))
But there are things that are guaranteed…
*Always do your best. Not your “that was easy” best, but your blood, sweat and tears best. Then no matter what the outcome, you can hold your head up high.
*Never give up. And I don’t mean never give up on your manuscript. Sometimes, you have to know when to walk away–heck–after you’ve grown by writing a few more manuscripts, you can always come back with a new perspective. Most people don’t–they might harvest something from the fallen pages, but they realize that there was a reason they had to put the piece to the side. And you can only see that with distance and more practice. Just don’t let immediate failure take you to the point of ultimate failure. Stepping stones.
*Trust your voice. The things that make you different from everyone else that will capture the attention of others. But it’s rarely a lightening strike. Being different almost always makes it harder to be heard. When you’re different, your success depends on other people having a vision for your voice. Hold the course. Walk the line.
What’s “line” challenges you in your writing? How do you handle it?
I’m back! And while it was a much needed vacation (especially from blogging and crazy social media) I missed you. And I’m excited to be blogging with a little less stress. I pictured myself doing a catch-up blog post, but I’ve posted most of those picture highlights and tweets from my vacation already and I feel a topic calling to me. I want to talk about voice today. Traditionally when writer folks talk about voice, they are referring to that unique quality in someone’s writing that sets them apart from other writers and is sort a window into that writer’s soul. I love talking voice whenever I can. It’s a topic I find highly interesting, but today’s approach is a little different.
I’m talking about having the strength to speak up.
If you know me, you know I really hate confrontation. I do better when I’m speaking up for someone else, although even that’s hard for me. There IS strength in having a long fuse–being slow to return a volley. But there can also be a very unhealthy aspect to swallowing your feelings–when your choices are not made from the heart but come from an overwhelming fear of what will happen by rattling someone else’s cage. Emotions that are processed in an intelligent way contribute to growth. Emotions that are buried out of fear will come back and bite you in the butt. This week in a very personal aspect of my life, my extremely long fuse finally butted up against the bomb. I’ll be the first to admit, it wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t eloquent. The act of vomiting everything I’d contained for so long wasn’t that pleasant either. Throwing up isn’t a good time–BUT YOU FEEL BETTER AFTER ALL THE YUCK IS OUT!
I’ve been examining my sudden burst of courage and I’ve realized a couple things…
*I needed a catalyst to open the door to my voice. I needed to have something very concrete and in my mind–irrefutable to use as a starting point. This is just another way of saying I needed to mean what I was saying. Having complete confidence that I had the right to speak made me comfortable enough to let my voice out. But once the flood gates were open, I couldn’t stop the spew. Those feelings had been simmering for way too long.
*I said what I did in complete and utter anger–but I don’t regret it–because at my core I know it to be my truth. Notice I didn’t say THE truth. I’m smart enough to know that truth is bendy and illusive, but it was my truth and I own it.
*Part of my fear in speaking up is making other people uncomfortable. Kimmiepoppins is a people pleaser at heart, but upon self examination I’ve realized that this particular situation had made me uncomfortable for YEARS. And while the confrontation doesn’t actually make me feel any less uncomfortable, it does make me feel lighter. Like I took some of the weight that was hanging on me and spread it to some of the other people involved. I don’t know how they’ll carry it, but I’m reminded that it’s not always my job to protect other people from themselves. Don’t I always say that it’s dealing with your life that makes you grow? Comfortable is a rest stop for growing.
Of course I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t relate this experience to writing. I believe the only way you can find your writing voice is to have a voice to start with. Perhaps at times it feels a little easier to slowly and privately weave your voice like threads in a tapestry. But if I’m honest, when those threads become a book, I’m using my voice to bravely put words out into the world. I can’t speak for everyone, but what I know is that I MUST speak for myself in all aspects of my life. There’s a disconnect if I write with courage and live with fear. There’s a disconnect if I live to grow and I write without stretching. Will the people on the wrong end of my fuse like my voice? I doubt it. Will readers like what I bring to my pages? Some will. Some won’t. But either way, I’m learning what I can live with.
Wishing everyone a Happy 4th of July. Remember that part of being free is knowing who you are. Don’t be afraid to share that with the world–their gonna love you!
Kiersten White wrote a 50,000 word draft of a novel in nine days!!! And to top it off–it sounds freaking amazing. I’m not afraid to say it–just the thought of trying to do that scares the hell out of me. It took me 4 years to write SURFACE and I’m still tweaking it.
My first response to this news was to immediately deem myself a failure in all things writing. (Obviously, I am not keeping up with the cool kids.) But, after beating myself about the head and shoulders with a wet noodle, I breathed into a brown paper bag a couple a lot of times and started to realize something. Wheezing doesn’t help AND Kiersten has a different voice than I do. Simon Pulse didn’t buy my book because I sounded like the next Kiersten White–they bought it because I sounded like the first Kimberly Sabatini.
I’m also discovering that voice is more than the product that shows up on the page. A voice is an extension of who we are and how we craft. Kiersten is a kick-ass power house and accessorizes with a sparkly pink taser and that absolutely comes out in her characters. So, is it any surprise that’s how she writes and revises too? It’s her voice and that is why we love her.
I have a different voice. It’s a little bit of a dichotomy. It has a touch of stage fright, but it turns into a blabber mouth once it gets over it’s nerves. I don’t have a pink sparkly taser, even though it might come in real useful with three boys. And I can’t write a novel in nine days. It’s impossible for me to write my stories any faster than I can live them. It’s just my way–and it’s okay. Some days I wonder if you’re going to like my voice. It scares me to think about it, but then I remember that the best stories come from an author who has figured out how to love her own voice. The rest is beyond my control…
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