Thank-You Thursday: I'm Always Learning

Happy Thanksgiving, blogfrogs! Today is the last installment in my Thank-You Thursday series, in which I shrug off my usual grumpiness and revel in all that is wonderful about the writing life.

I guess there must be writers out there who hate research. ("Dang! Why did I have to set my novel in 15th-century Belgium? Was there even a Belgium in the 15th century?!") But most of us love it. We love it because we're naturally nosy curious creatures who enjoy learning about new things. Maybe we've never wondered what exactly the procedure is for launching a nuclear missile, but now we're writing a story about it, and we have to find out. And it's fascinating!

The thing is, most places, people, jobs, cultures are fascinating. Or at least they have fascinating components. Stories are everywhere, and if you love them, you'll find that research is just the search for the right one. You get to be the detective searching for that nugget of truth: Where was King Arthur's legendary Round Table located? How fast can a cheetah really run, and what does it look like? Are we ever going to get to drive flying cars?

Learning can take so many forms. It's not all about dusty history books. You can take lessons in archery or fencing or flying. You can travel to Rome and visit the ruins of a great empire. You can even eavesdrop on your middle-schooler and his friends and figure out what the hell they talk about all day.

So I'm thankful for work that's not only fun in and of itself, but that leads me to explore other civilizations and walks of life. That way I can lead a thousand lives not my own.

How about you? What fantastic bit of esoterica have you dug up lately?

P.S.  If you're really into research, see this recent post about how to write about a place you've never traveled to.

image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Public domain. 

Thank-You Thursday: Inspiration Is EVERYWHERE

Why this photo? Because it sparks the imagination.

If you're just tuning in (as most people are), you'll not realize that I've been overflowing with gratitude about the writing life all month. (Check out the other Thank-You Thursday posts here.) This week, I'm grateful that as writers our inspiration is all around us.

If I were a stockbroker trying to make creative investment decisions, I wouldn't know where to turn for inspiration. (And, yeah, you wouldn't want me touching your money anyway.) Cooking? I can stare at a cupboard full of food and see nothing to eat.

But writing is different. The great ideas are just waiting for us! An overheard conversation (oh yes--I do eavesdrop), a moment of déjà vu, the shape of a cloud on a stormy day--all of these things are fodder for a story. And that's just the fountain of ideas. For excellence, we can turn to those masters who make it look so easy, but who work so hard. 

Here are some of my favorite inspirations:

• C.S. Lewis
• E.B. White
• Russell T. Davies
• Madeleine L'Engle
• Joss Whedon
• Stephen King
• J.K. Rowling
• Harper Lee
• Steven Moffatt
• Roald Dahl

... and that's the short list. As writers, we're free to pick apart the masters' material and see how it works, why it works, and what we can do to make our own stuff better. We can also glean inspiration from symphonies, pop songs, architecture, vast landscapes, city streets ... the list never ends. 

Don't ever tell me you don't have any ideas. What you have is an overabundance of ideas. You just have to narrow it down to a single, really good one.

So thank you, creativity goddess, for all the great stuff to draw from. And also, thanks for making me so bad at math that no one will ever hire me as a stockbroker.

And how about you? Where do you draw inspiration from?

image: The Prague astronomical clock (in Old Town Square) was installed in 1410 by clock-makers Mikuláš of Kadaň and Jan Šindel, and is the oldest functioning astronomical clock in the world.

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. Photo by Godot13 and is free to share and reuse under this Creative Commons license.

Thank-You Thursday: You Can Do It Anywhere

There aren’t a lot of portable jobs out there. Teaching? Without a classroom, you’re just talking to yourself. Acting? You need a theater. Lawyering, accounting, marketing—most of those need some office time, even if you can take certain tasks on the road with you.

But writing: so easy.

I’m writing this post from a nice nook in the Student Center of my local community college. I feel pretty high-tech because I have an outlet for my cell phone and I’m working off the college’s wi-fi connection. But really, all I need is my notebook and pen to write. And I can take that anywhere I like.

That’s more than a matter of convenience. A change of venue is often needed to juice my creativity. Part of me draws comfort from the daily trek to my home office. My writing mind clicks into place when it sees all its familiar trappings: rugged old rolltop desk, cup of coffee, view of the crapabble tree out my window. But sometimes, like a spoiled two-year-old, my creative mind shuts down and refuses to work unless I give it something different: a new journal, a cool pen, a view of the sun cutting through autumn leaves, the roar of the surf. And because I write, I can indulge those desires. They come cheap. (Well, not the surf. I’m in Kansas, after all.)

So yes, I’m grateful that my chosen art form can go anywhere and doesn’t require an outlet or a studio or even a table. A sturdy lap, some lined paper, a writing instrument—that’s all I ask. And maybe a star to steer her by.

Sea Fever

By John Masefield (Poet Laureate of England; 1878-1967)

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;

And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking,

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

_______________________________________________________

Every Thursday this month I'm shedding my grump coat and giving thanks for the writing life. Search for the tag Thank-You Thursday to see other posts in the series.

Thanks to the PoetryFoundation.org for the text of Masefield’s famous poem.

images: top (John Masefield) courtesy of Wikipedia. Public domain. Image published in Newcomb, A; Blackford, K.M.H.: Analyzing Character, Blackford, New York, 1922. Earlier editions from 1916 and 1920 also exist.

bottom (brigantine) courtesy of Wikimedia Commons: Brigantine 'Adolph' in the Bay of Naples. Unknown Italian artist. Public domain. 

Thank-You Thursday: The Fun of Writing

Happy November! It's the month of gratitude. Each Thursday this month, I'll tell you one thing that is fantastic and wonderful about the writing life that I'm grateful for.

Notice that I didn't say the professional writer life. Because that's an entirely different animal. The writing life is that experience--whether it's once a week, every day for 10 minutes, or your real-life, 9-to-5 job--that you have while writing. Publication is optional.

Today: I'm grateful for the writing life because

it's fun

That's right. The rest of the year, we can moan and groan about the agonies of writing, sitting over our typewriters and opening our veins, or banging our heads on desktops, the self-doubt, the isolation, whatever.

But at the end of the day, it IS fun.

Writers get to play, just like when we were kids, except we get to play forever. We get to close the door on the realities of our small lives and soar into wide-open vistas full of anything we want. Our imaginations allow us to create our own fun. We can time-travel to a 13th-century Russian monastery or a 25th-century Mars colony. We can fall in love or comfort children or fight Nazis. We can even save the universe using a kettle and some string.



I wake up every day wondering, What will I make today? A sad world? A happy moment? Will I scare people, enrich people, disgust people? Or just pour sand through a dumptruck in my own private sandbox?

The choices are ours. And they're marvelous. Be grateful that you get to do this, even for a few minutes at a time. Because frankly, if we were in it for the money or the fame, most of us--um, 98 percent of us, maybe?--wouldn't be doing it at all.


video clip is from Time Crash, that fabulous mini-episode of Doctor Who written by one of the most fun-loving writers I know--Steven Moffatt-- and starring David Tennant as Doctor #10 and Peter Davison as Doctor #5. Thanks to kaitlinmj for the video. Watch the full episode here (about 8 minutes long).