When I teach Writing as a Spiritual Practice, I boldly tell my students that even the minutia and trivia of their lives can be fodder for writing, especially when you think you have nothing worthwhile to say. Go ahead, write the awful truth: your life can be mundane, unimportant, boring. Write your daily “to do” list in narrative. Write “I can’t forget to buy dog food, and I better email Pat today, and oh gosh my hair looks awful, I need a haircut.” Can this be writing? It’s all compost, I say, someday you will find a tulip or a turnip growing there, I promise.

But some days I don’t believe my own stuff, you know? My listing compost won’t grow anything, it has no rich meaty red worms squirming with hunger, or slimy banana peels thick with mold. There are no invisible bacterial creatures going about their daily business, brutally colonizing the muck like Vikings landing on the unprotected shores of England. No no, my listing compost is made of flattened dust balls and year-old barbecue ashes that deaden anything they cover. I suspect my Muse is hiding out in her bathroom, sitting on the toilet and idly thumbing through a magazine, thinking her own thoughts and dumping her own waste, and withholding both from me. While here I am knee deep in dust bunnies and breathing stagnant air.

Sometimes writing ain’t no fun, you know?

Technorati Tags: Writing tip blues spiritual practice trivia minutia compost tulip turnip worms banana mold Vikings England dust balls barbecue ashes waste dust bunnies air
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

I want to explore one last idiom, and it’s a doozie.

Do you know what a doozie is? Well, of course you do – it’s something that is really cool, impressive, or costs a whole lot of money.

But you may not know where this word originated. It’s a fairly new word, born in the 1920s. Have you ever seen a Duesenberg car? If you’re not a car nut, probably not. But if you’ve ever said, “What a doozie!” you are referring to this car.

The Duesenberg was a car built during the 1920s that was one of the most expensive and extravagant cars ever. It was made entirely by hand and its price was out of reach for middle class people, and even a stretch for the rich.

Maybe calling the Duesenberg a doozie brought it down out of the stratosphere, so even plain folks could talk about it.

Technorati Tags: word history writing idioms doozie Duesenberg car expensive extravagant
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

More musing about idioms and where they came from. How about these?

Have you ever looked out your window and said, “Holy Cow, it’s raining cats and dogs!” (I live in Seattle and this happens a lot for me.) This sentence has two idioms. The meaning of Holy Cow is simply an expression of surprise, but the history of Holy Cow is still disputed. Some think it is a reference to the sacred cows of Hinduism, but since this expression originated around 1920, this is doubtful. It is more likely that Holy Cow is like other exclamations such as Holy Smoke, Holy Moses, Holy Moley, Holy Mackerel, or Holy Joe. These phrases may be substitutions for the use of the word “God” or “Jesus” in order to get around the Biblical prohibition against taking the Lord’s name in vain. Actually, no one really knows the origin of this idiom – but it’s fun to speculate, isn’t it?

The origin of “raining cats and dogs” is easier to explore. The meaning is simply a heavy rainstorm, but of course dogs and cats do not actually fall out of the clouds. So why do we say they do?

Way back in the medieval age in Europe, city dwellers disposed of their garbage by throwing it in the gutters that lined the streets. This garbage included dead dogs and cats. When a heavy rain came, the gutters often flooded and the garbage, including the decaying and stinking animals, was washed out on the streets.

So you can be grateful when you say, “it’s raining cats and dogs,” that city gutters have improved since medieval times.

Technorati Tags: writing word history idiom Holy Cow Holy Smoke Holy Moses Holy Moley Holy Mackerel Holy Joe Hinduism God Jesus rainstorm raining cats and dogs medieval age garbage gutters
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

Have you ever pondered idioms? Idioms are a fascinating glimpse into the past. But if you are just learning English, all they do is confuse you. How about “bite the bullet”? If you take this literally, it is pretty nonsensical – why on earth would you put a bullet in your mouth and bite on it? To native English speakers, this idiom of course means that in order to end something uncomfortable or unpleasant in the long run, it is necessary to undergo something unpleasant in the short run. But why should “bite the bullet” mean that?

It originated during a long ago war, probably the American Civil War. Men were getting shot, and for the ones lucky enough (or unlucky enough) not to be killed, their wounds often led to bacterial infection, or gangrene. This was way before antibiotics, so the only sure cure for gangrene was amputation. Surgeons in filthy conditions sawed off men’s limbs – often with NO anesthetics, which were in short supply.

Unsurprisingly, men tended to writhe and scream in anguish when their legs or arms were cut off, with nothing to dull the pain. This scared the other patients waiting their turn, disrupted the surgeons, and must have been agonizing to watch. So in order to give the patient something to focus on and cut down on his screaming, he was given a bullet to bite on. Bullets were used because they were readily available and were soft enough not to break the teeth.

When a man agreed to bite the bullet, he did so because he knew that this short agony was necessary to prevent a longer and more agonizing death

And now this idiom makes sense.

Technorati Tags: writing, word, history, idioms, English, confuse, bit the bullet, American Civil War, wounds, bacterial infection, gangrene, amputation, anguish, arms, legs, disrupt, patients, surgeons, focus
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

We almost always think of the effects of other people on our writing as a “bad” thing. We think we are plagiarizing, or not having original thoughts, if we use others’ thoughts, opinions, writing. This is not so! We don’t live in a vacuum. We are not separate from everything else. All the writers and thinkers who came before us, and the writers and thinkers who share our times now, color our writing.

If you want to write well, you must read well. Fall in love with other authors’ work, and yes, let their words enhance yours. Their writing will only make you bigger.

Here’s an exercise to try, called “Springboarding” which can help if you feel stuck, flat, or stale. Find a poem that resonates with you, which has lines that give you an emotional charge. Take one of those lines and use it as the first line in a paragraph. Often it’s that blank screen or page that defeats us. We need a boost to get going and begin. Using another author’s words can be an enormous help in this. Take a line of someone else’s, and go on from there, stream of consciousness style. The rest will be yours, and you can edit out what’s not yours later if you decide to keep it. At the very least, these “energy” words that you already know awaken you, will give zip to your writing.

Here’s a springboarding exercise I did, using the last line in a poem by Chief Dan George from My Heart Soars. The last lines of the poem are: “Take care, or soon our ears will strain/ in vain to hear the creator’s song.” My paragraph reads:

Hear the Creator’s song, for she is singing to you. The Quakers say, “All He has is thee,” and they know what they are talking about. The Quakers have a long history of putting their spiritual beliefs into action, especially political action. They know that words without action are dead, and that faith without works means nothing. They not only know how to sing, but also dance the Creator’s song.

Technorati Tags: writing, springboard, springboarding, plagiarizing, original, thoughts, opinions, vacuum, colors, read, learn, exercise, Quakers, Chief Dan George, My Heart Soars
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

I once ghostwrote a memoir for a lovely man who had led a rich and varied life. He was a touring musician during Vaudeville in the late 1920s and early 30s. His circuit included places like Al Capone’s Chicago, and as you might guess, there were some pretty juicy details in his stories. I loved listening to him, and could hardly wait to get those stories down on paper. The problem was his wife. She was a very proper lady in her eighties, and she did not want any of those juicy details in his memoirs – they weren’t respectable and she didn’t want anyone knowing about them. They belonged to his youth, before he became a pillar of the community.

The musician himself didn’t actually care, since he was just doing the book at the request of his children. He shrugged and said, “Whatever my wife says.” So I had to take some of the best stories out of his memoir, and make it conform to what his wife deemed proper. It made the story much blander than it should have been. Boy, that was hard for me.

This happens to ghosts. I don’t always agree with everything my client wants to say, or doesn’t want to say. I may have to argue for artistic integrity. I’ll have to defend why I want to put those details in, or why I want to take them out, or why the story about grandma and the plumber just doesn’t fit in a book about gardening. Even if it is funny.

But I must be aware that I might lose this argument. It is their book, not mine. This is one of the hardest challenges of ghostwriting – you must let go of your own ego. You can’t marry your writing. In fact you can’t even get engaged to it. At the most, you’re simply dating.

Technorati Tags: ghostwriting, memoir, man, musician, Al Capone, Chicago, Vaudeville, details, stories, wife, proper, pillar, community, client, artistic, integrity, argument, funny, marry, engaged, dating
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

Talking to a ghostwriter is almost like talking to a therapist or a bartender. After they get comfortable with the ghost, clients will tell you all sorts of stuff – and they may have second thoughts later, and wish they hadn’t.

Here’s a frustration with working with non-writers. Writers know that writing exposes you and makes you vulnerable. The more real and truthful you are, the more vulnerable and exposed – and the more compelling to your readers. But non-writers don’t know that – until they get their manuscript back from the ghostwriter they hired to write their story, and they read their words and thoughts and feelings on paper. And then they get scared. They want to hedge and soften, and turn specifics into safe generalities, so they will feel safer.

Of course, this will kill the writing. Readers respond to gut-level stuff; that is what makes stories compelling and readable. But it’s not just the readers who get shortchanged when the story is “softened.” So does the author. By softening those rough patches, by hedging their truths and telling instead of showing their pains and joys, they have dramatically reduced one big benefit of writing – healing their wounds.

From the ghostwriter’s perspective, this is so frustrating! It’s not my story; it’s theirs. If they don’t want to tell the truth, I can’t make them. All I can do is offer my word tools, and hope they use them.

Many times I’ve been told “I didn’t say that” when I know they did – I have their recorded voices saying exactly that. I had one client who had a bit of a potty mouth, but she didn’t realize it. I didn’t include many of her swear words, but I inserted a few here and there to make it sound like her. She was upset. “I would never use that f&^%*ing word!” she claimed.

I teach memoir writing and how to see your life in the context of “big history.” A fruitful exercise that I give is about the heroes and leaders you admired or despised. Here are some questions you might ask yourself (or your parents/grandparents) to get the memories flowing:

Who was the first American or World leader you were aware of as a child? Did your parents talk about him/her? What emotions did this person inspire in you – love, admiration, fear, anger, excitement? Write from the point of view of the child you were.

Who did your father or your mother admire? How do you know s/he admired that person? Did s/he talk about him/her at the dinner table? How did this hero affect you? Did you agree with your father or mother, and why or why not?

As a teenager, who were your heroes? Did you model yourself after them? Dress like them? Talk like them? Join a fan club? Write in your diary about them? Hang pictures of them on your bedroom wall? Did your hero have an effect on what you studied in school? Did they affect the kind of adult you became?

Pick a famous person you hated, despised, or feared. Write about how your fear, anger, or hate motivated you. Did you work against this person or his/her message? Did you speak out, write letters, join campaigns, argue with his/her supporters?

Have fun.

Technorati Tags: writing, memoir, feelings, history, facts, stories, truth, exercise, American, leader, mother, father, teen, hero, despise, fear, anger, hatred
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

Here’s another great story I read on Hillel Black’s blog (www.hillelblack/blog/) which I recommend you read if you want to learn how big-time editors work.

A manuscript was submitted to Alfred Knopf, one of the biggies of American publishing. They rejected it, saying, “Very dull. A typical record of family bickering, petty annoyances and adolescent emotions."

Months later, this same manuscript showed up in a pile of unsolicited manuscripts in the Paris office of a Doubleday editor. The editor didn’t feel like reading them, so he told his assistant to reject them all. Before doing so, his assistant began reading one of the submissions and could not put it down. She told the editor he really should read that one. He did, and changed his mind. Doubleday published it.

That manuscript was “The Diary of Anne Frank.” Aside from the Bible, it became the most successful book ever published.

The moral: don’t give up.

Technorati Tags: writing, give up, Hillel Black’s blog, Alfred Knopf, editors, publishing, The Diary of Anne Frank, bible
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

Recently a friend of mine lost all her work when her computer crashed – because she had no backup. This is every writer’s nightmare. Just the thought of it makes me shiver.

I once read a story about Ernest Hemingway. He had just finished a novel, and packaged up the only copy and gave it to his then-wife. This was way before computers, and maybe even carbon paper – or Hemingway didn’t feel like using carbon paper, I don’t know. Anyway it was the only copy. He asked his wife to mail it to his publisher in New York, while he went off to chase the bulls in Pamplona or something. Well, his wife got on the train to Paris, taking the novel with her and meaning to post it to New York once she got to Paris – but she had a brain fart and left it on the train!

It was never recovered. Hemingway could not write it again – he had finished with it. All he could do was grieve and feel this bottomless pit of empty. When I read this story I got the cold chills and icy sweats from horror. I felt Hemingway’s grief within my own soul. I mourned for that lost novel. I was absolutely furious with his wife, and wished she was alive so I could shriek my pain at her.

I sometimes dream about finding that lost Hemingway novel … which would probably be worth tens of millions of dollars today. Back in the 1920s he would maybe have made a couple thousand, if he was lucky. I still wonder where that novel is.

The moral of Hemingway’s story, and my friend’s, is of course – BACKUP! Never, ever, forget.

Technorati Tags: writing tip, backup, computer crash, Ernest Hemingway, novel, copy, mail, publisher, lost
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |