I have had a particularly difficult time writing since starting my detailed outline of my current novel in the works. This current difficulty is surprising in that the story itself is pretty much laid out for me. All that is left is the writing. I've pondered this for days, wondering what is the slow-down.

I considered if I've run out of passion for writing. While not wanting to write can sound like "not wanting to write," I knew in my soul writing is here to stay, that it is something deep within my genes. There's no getting rid of it.

I considered my ADD or my crippling lack of organizational skill was too severe to overcome, that I would be doomed never to complete a long or in any way complicated work. I looked at my detailed outline and knew that couldn't be the case. It was/is not perfect, but it's perfect enough to allow me to write without a significant risk of cornering myself with a plot hole.

I considered I may lack the maturity to sit my butt down and do the hard work. This is probably a contributing factor, something which needs to be addressed sooner than later. But as the main reason, it lacked legs. I sit for hours and work on websites, a task that, over time, has given me less satisfaction but that I do well. I also recdntly completed P90X, that maniacal exercise challenge/program from the infomercials, on my first attempt. So I have discipline. Something else is at work.

Ashamedly possessing what I've described as a "mystical bone," I took something akin to a spirit walk to look at how I was thinking about the story itself. I often wake up in the middle of the night and think or work for an hour. In this time, my creativity seems closer to the surface. Sometimes I'll come up with a solution to a design problem or I'll be "given" the solution to a POV issue that's been bugging me for days. I might realize how to handle a parenting issue. Anything. But just as often, I'll be able to see a problem that I didn't realize was there in the first place. The answer to my writing difficulty was "revealed" to me in this way.

Days and days have gone by with my writing at a constipated pace. I've written the beginning of the story five or six times, doubting the direction of these first steps each time, hearing the voices of my critique partners in my ears. Beckie would say this or Joe would ask that. Sanford would urge me to start more aggressively.

Then it hit me. I was no longer writing the story of my heart from my heart. I was auditioning every word for the people who would see it in a couple weeks. Like asking permission to take each step, it was taking me forever to get across the room or, in this case, get the story written.

One can't write effectively with eyes over his shoulder or with the voices of his audience in his head. Doing so is not joyful writing and if one writes without joy he may as well take out the trash or wash the dog.

An article in the most recent issue of Writers Digest mentioned that critique groups can sometimes stifle a writer's creativity by building in him the urge to write for those people, knowing what each of his peers picks up on.

Guilty. 

(Footnote: The fact that there is a downside to critique groups -- or anything related to writing, for that matter -- doesn't mean that one should exclude them from one's consideration, only that one should know and avoid that specific downside. One wouldn't stay home just because there is a potentially car-ruining pothole on the way to work; one would drive around it.)

As soon as I realized that was what I was doing, the desire to write returned as if it were Granola and I just got found starving in the forest. 

So my advice at this point is this. Write for yourself. You guessed it. That means keep your critique group out of it. Keep your spouse and your kids out of it. Keep your mom out of it. Keep your 5th grade English teacher out of it. Keep the invisible eyes of your present or potential audience out of it.

Writing for yourself doesn't mean you need to be selfish or stupid. You still need to integrate your writing schedule with family and work. And you still need to avoid overtly stupid writing errors if you have an eye on getting published. What writing for yourself means to me is keep the child in you who always loved writing interested in the writing.

When you sat in your room as a teen, writing the story you HAD to write, you never thought about how women's groups in Pennsylvania might accept your lead character's misogynistic tendencies, right? Well, don't set out to intentionally offend anyone, but also don't set out to appease anyone for the sake of safety or sales. I'd bet you didn't try to write the story perfectly; it was the story that mattered most, not the perfection of every line. If you're reading this, you probably want to get published and that's fine, but you can't afford to let that slow or soften your work, especially in the early drafts.

Write the story you had in mind the way you envisioned it. If you're involved in a good critique situation, you'll be able to take what you need and won't offend anyone by leaving what you don't need behind. They'll let you know if you've gone unmarketably too far. They'll also let you know if something doesn't make sense. Hopefully, they'll let you know when you're probably worrying about nothing too.

But, at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter who says what. If you knew today you'd never get published, would you really stop writing? Probably not. So you must embrace writing for yourself and trust the craft will improve on its own.

A stand-out occurrence of 2009 was discovering Local Coffee, a terrific coffee shop in the Stone Oak area of San Antonio. It is a simply-designed, quiet space that, in the first 6 weeks of its opening, became THE go-to spot for writing, conducting business and just relaxing. 

The secret is unrivaled coffee. The quality of the beans and the impeccable knowledge and care with which they are prepared results in a cup of coffee like none I've tasted before. I've spoken to the owner, Robbie Grubbs, on a number of occasions about various aspects of the coffee's preparation and there seems to be no end to the amount of small details that go into the path from plantation to enjoyment.

To illustrate, a number of employees did not make the cut the first couple weeks. I asked Robbie how this was possible: it's just coffee, right? The ones who did not make it did not understand Robbie's vision and standard of excellence. Eventually, he brought in a couple of folks with a huge amount of experience in one of the few coffee houses that share Robbie's high standards. One of the baristas was basically imported from Washington, DC. Unreasonable? Before you taste the coffee, you may think so. Afterwards, there is no question his close attention to detail is what is behind Local Coffee's quick success.

Local Coffee, as the name might suggest, is dedicated to "local made/local paid," healthy and eco-responsible. Nearly all of the interior build-out was done with reclaimed materials. All the lighting is environmentally friendly. The travelers -- the to-go coffee pitchers for businesses, etc. -- are made from recycled cardboard.  All their baked goods are from local businesses

They display art from local artists on an approximately one-month turnover. They also hosts quiet, tasteful acoustic sets from local musicians on Saturdays (as of this blogging, of course). 

So if you haven't tried Local Coffee, stop in. It's located at the southwest corner of Sonterra and Sigma. Look for the orange and black sign (also shown here).

With the new year only days away, it is time for us to consider resolutions. Though my sense of humor is well intact, I'm not one of those who finds breaking one's resolutions humorous.

For around a decade, I've given myself a limit of three resolutions as a way of better insuring I can keep my word. I begin one thing, end one and improve one. This system has not let me down. It is efficient and manageable.

This year I thought I'd go one step further, considering I have not been a perfect writer in 2009. This year, in addition to the "real" resolutions, I'll also include some sub-resolutions that are specific to writing.

What to begin
One day -- Wednesdays, I think -- will be submission days. I probably submitted 12 times in 2009. No excuses, that was not enough. The winner of this year's San Antonio Writers Guild Judy Award, Sanford Allen, had over 60 rejections in 2009. Rejections. Not total submissions. Only rejections. And, needless to say, he got his fair share of acceptances. As the founder of the Judy Award says at each of our once-a-month meetings, "You can't get published if you don't submit." Thus the cash prize she offers.

What to end
This one was a bit harder because everything I wanted to end really sounded like another "begin." So what did I do in 2009 (and before) that I needed to stop doing? Again, I'll make another reference to Sanford Allen who, in 2008, shared a list of practices he found in some publication or other that gave suggestions for how to keep distractions out of one's writing space. Near the top, if not the top itself, on the list was -- and I paraphrase -- "Turn off your browser BEFORE you write." Man is that me in a nutshell. For whatever reason, before I write, I have the nasty habit of checking my trash email -- my Yahoo! account -- for anything of interest. Sometimes doing so can take me a minute and sometimes it can erase a whole writing session. Somewhere deep in my psyche, the fear of failure/success/work/whatever is allowing this distraction in. In 2010, I am allowing it out.

What to change
This may not be totally fair but, in all honesty, I haven't given this idea all the room to breath it needs in order to be fairly judged successful or not. Detailed outlining for anything I write over 1k words. In 2009, I was so impressed with the outlining process, I am wanting to implement it with more seriousness going forward. Though it may end up not working out, or only working out for a time, I have found enough beneficial in creating detailed plot outlines that upping the practice, in my opinion, counts as a change.

So, my suggestion to you is this: in the last days of 2009, take careful inventory of your own writing habits and isolate those three things that will improve you as a writer. Decide, commit and reap the benefits. 

Have a great holiday season.

As I have mentioned before, I am writing my long-time-bubbling-in-the-background novel by using an in-depth plot outline before beginning the real writing. The process has been surprising in a few ways. Below, I describe a what a detailed outline is for me and how it can benefit one's writing as well as ways in which it is not a perfect tool. 

So what is a detailed outline?
When I began outlining, I wasn't sure to what degree of detail I needed to go but after working on it a while I hit on a decent analogy. Write in the same way you would describe the story to someone if you were sitting on a couch with them. Don't leave out any important details but instead of telling the story, you're interested in telling them about the story with an aim to keep their interest. This way, you've got a good gauge of how long to linger at different points in the story and when you need to step up the pace.  

Detailed outlining is -- or maybe can be -- a slow process.
When I began outlining, I would say I had a decent idea of how the story was going to go; however, once I got in to the outlining, I realized there were -- or would have been -- many sections that would have stopped me in my tracks. Little logic errors here and there or places where I needed to decide which of two characters should die first or, in fact, whether one of the characters in question should die at all. Solving these problems in the outline proved to require no less time that they would have during the writing, but solving them at this early stage did not require stopping my writing momentum.

Detailed outlining helps someone like me.
I've made no secret about my easy distractibility. Whereas the seat-of-you-pantsers -- which always sounds a little too Nazi tank squadron for my liking -- seems somehow to avoid or correct plot holes as they occur, I am glaringly unable to do so. In the beginning when I first began serious writing, I tried many different ways of approaching the craft in an attempt to find the process that worked for me. I found the most successful work environment: coffee house that isn't freezing or McDonald's-ish or with sub-par coffee (are you listening Starbucks?). I found the writing tools that work best for me: MacBook Pro using Pages, noise canceling earbuds, Monroe Products' "So" Chord or other non-vocal ambient music. I found that, for whatever reason, I write better when dressed for work rather than sweats and tee. I work better in the ridiculously early morning or immediately following a nap. It turns out I MUST have an outline of the entire story (or at least for an entire major section) in order to keep everything in line or I'll chase a great idea into an unworkable corner every time. 

Detailed outlining has most of the qualities of writing the actual story.
I find that, as I work through the outline, the characters come alive in nearly the same way as the do in the actual writing. That came as the biggest surprise of all. I would have guessed the outline to be cold and distant, but i caught myself thinking "my character wouldn't do/say that" many times and, in those instances, it was comforting to know the fix could not only be quick but I could just note a suggestion as to the change. I didn't need to take time to nail down the exact wording. I found this part of outlining similar to a playwrite's staging notes: "Chetan backs away, stumbling back in his terror at..." And in the event a whole section does go off track, it's way easier to redirect/correct an entire chapter than the long-form story.

Detailed outlining keeps the story moving.
Somewhat akin to guiding oneself away from tempting tangents, outlining in this way moves the story from one gripping moment to the next. When all one has are the basic events and the important items to remember, one tends not to ruminate unnecessarily in any one place for too long.

Detailed writing -- I've been assured -- makes the actual writing easier. 
Chris Roberson (who can be see here doing childish cartwheels) encouraged me to consider detailed outlining when he spoke to the San Antonio Writers Guild in mid-2009. In that talk, he said the main benefit of outlining, past the reasons I've already mentioned above, was that once the actual writing begins, one cruises. He said that it is not unusual to pop out 20 pages -- good pages -- in a day because all the questions are answered. The path is cleared, so all one has to do is walk it, or in this case, run it. And to confuse things with another layer, the benefit of writing at that pace is the voice remains more consistent throughout the work, something which which a beginning writer may struggle. Too often, I have taken too long on a story. When I've finished and read it back, the writer at the beginning of the work is clearly in one state of mind or skill level and in a different place by the end. Readers enjoy experiencing change in a character through a story, but I'm pretty sure they don't look for or appreciate that same change in the writer.

Possible pitfalls of detailed outlining.
It's difficult to do more than guess at the possible pitfalls of working this way since I haven't done much actual writing based on the outline work, but I know one element that doesn't fit well into the outline is setting and sensation. Since the outline works exclusively with gripping events and the bridges between them, only the parts of setting that are key to those events being possible are included. A good idea may be to note at the top of each outline "Don't forget to paint a picture," and "Remember the five senses;" otherwise, the writing may stick too literally to the events, making the story sound cold and distant. I'll have to remember to turn the heat on when I start writing.

The verdict.
I wouldn't want to work any other way when it comes to longer works. I can certainly see a place for seat-of-my-pants at some point. Maybe detailed outlining will teach me enough about what does and doesn't work in plots so that someday I can just wing it. That just isn't possible now. I almost wrote that for shorter works, a detailed outline may be unnecessary, but I think one may be even more necessary given the less forgiving nature of short works compared to long. So let me say, for works under 1000 words one probably doesn't need an outline. For anything else, please give it a shot.

Detailed patterns in line drawings by Pedro Lucena courtesty of Gentle Pure Space: Graphic design, art, and other creative inspiration.

My mentee -- and let me say once again how much I truly hate the word -- finally got on her page and spoke to the world, so I'd like everyone to stop by and give her a quick read or her efforts will have been in vain and, well, you'll all be to blame, won't you now.

Click here to visit Rebecca's sparse page »

What do you get when you squeeze a pod?
Peas out.