Today, my guest post about neurolinguistic programming (NLP)–and its usefulness for writers–appears on writer Jagi Lamplighter’s blog. NLP ties together speech patterns, unconscious subliminal actions and reactions, neurological processing, psychology, and self- and organizational improvement. Heady stuff–and fun.
Also, if anyone wants to know the true story about how I decided which dress to wear at the wedding, you’ll find it in that post.
Writers block. It’s in the air. Last Wednesday my friend Jagi Lamplighter Wright wrote a blog entry about it. And for the last few weeks I’ve been struggling with it.
Since breaking through the block that barricaded the final scene in The Last Lord of Eden (as described in my blog post of September 13th and that of October 4th), I’ve gotten all tangled up in rewriting An Appointed Time. And so I’ve managed to do just about everything else, some of it high on my avoidance list, while An Appointed Time is opened up like a patient on the operating table. But I can’t bring myself to put An Appointed Time back together again in the new way. Even though it’s going to be ever so much better, honest.
Here’s how it happened.
About 66,000 words into The Last Lord of Eden, my protagonist rather forcefully let me know that he didn’t want to be a married man. And more to the point, his wife agreed. The problem is that I married the two of them off toward the end of An Appointed Time in a chapter that one of my friendly reviewers long ago suggested was just a little bit boring. The book will be better off without it.
However, as now written, An Appointed Time leads to this marriage as surely as the Yellow Brick Road leads to Oz. In order to have the option not to marry the two of them, I have to make changes that reverberate all the way back to the beginning of the book.
This has turned out to be a Good Thing, because the extent of the required rewrite also enabled me to scrap major parts of the first two chapters and begin the action where it should begin instead of way back in the back story where I tend to begin things.
And now that I have the patient opened up on the table, I see that I can consolidate two separate minor characters into one character, who will therefore become an interesting character in his own right. And this, in turn, gives our heroine a more believable motive for something she does that gets her into a lot of trouble.
So An Appointed Time is getting a revamp from start to finish. But it’s bloody hard work, all this throwing out of the good stuff I’ve written in order to make room for the even better stuff that will replace it. No wonder I’ve been avoiding it. This makes submitting the flex account receipts, rebalancing the retirement investments, following up on medical bills, making airline reservations, and preparing the documentation for 2009 taxes all look like enjoyable tasks.
I think I’m in trouble.
The writer Jagi Lamplighter, author of Prospero’s Daughter, recently received some flak on her blog after reporting on a panel she participated in at Worldcon. The panel was about diversity, and some of the blog’s readers took offense at her referring to a fellow panelist as a “black girl”. Apparently, “black woman” would not have been so derogatory. Yet Jagi says that she refers to all women as “girls” and means nothing by it.
I believe her. I refer to all people of any sex as “guys”. I do it all the time. Always have.
This used to drive my father crazy. “Do you guys have any plans for the weekend?” I might ask. My father would draw himself up to his full height and dignity and respond, “Your mother is not a guy!”
I didn’t mean anything by it. Still don’t.
But this little flurry on Jagi’s blog has me thinking. First, about my father, who has been dead for over two decades now. I still miss him.
And second, about why I should call everyone “guy”. And here’s what I think: At some level, I think of myself as a guy. As in “just one of the guys”, not as in interested in women. And I do have some “guy” traits: I’m more rational than emotional (of course, we women know that men are often more emotional than rational, but you know the stereotype); prefer blue to pink; dislike frills, ribbons, high heels, dresses; prefer science fiction to romance. You get the idea.
Now, if Jagi thinks of herself as a “girl”, then of course she means nothing when she refers to other women the same way. But our mutual colleague, Danielle Ackley-McPhail, author of Yesterday’s Dreams and other books, said it better than I could.
“Hard to make everyone happy when they are pre-disposed to taking offense. Of course, as writers, these are the types of things we should take note of for future use.”
I like in particular Danielle’s complete vagueness on how we should use these things. 🙂
Call me naïve, but I have managed to reach what we politely call “a certain age” without ever attending an SF Con. Until now. And I have to say, it was a blast! Balticon 42 pretty much dwarfed any conference/convention I have attended since, well, Comdex. There were eleven parallel tracks listed for each day, along with all-day all-night events in film and anime, a LARP, and other special events shown separately. And a dealer room. And parties. And autographs by famous and soon-to-be famous authors and artists. And… Connie Willis!
Of special note for me:
· Meeting Connie Willis (more than once!). She is as much a pleasure as her stories
· Meeting in person a couple of fellow St. Johnnies who are more established in the science-fiction world than I am. I am a fan of John C. Wright, and may soon also be a fan of his delightful wife Jagi Lamplighter
· Getting a lead or two to pursue for publishing some of my stories
· Becoming an on-the-spot member of the panel on “The Future of Cities”. And hats off to our moderator James Patrick Kelly for keeping his cool when the regular panelists didn’t show up. He was great!
· Learning of the simple existence of tracks in art, music, film, and podcasting, even though I attended few of them and mostly by accident
· Attending a session called “Here There Be Dragons” thinking to learn something about dragon lore over the ages but instead learning how to draw the interlace dragon from the cross of Thorlief Hnakki at Braddan, Isle of Mann. What fun, drawing again!
· Attending a podcast of “Live! Mr. Adventure”, complete with commercials, breaking news, and audience participation
· Learning to think in scientific terms about the likelihood that humankind will encounter extra-terrestrial intelligent life (not very likely, probably, but it doesn’t really matter)
· Seeing all the wonderful costumes, both in the masquerade and on the floor
· Getting my head straight about my Web site and blog (this may take a while, but it’s coming)
· Experiencing the joys of volunteering. Who would have thought? And it was my very first Con!
Congratulations to the Baltimore Science Fiction Society and the conference organizers. You put on a great event!