Maris Soule

Don’t talk about your book? That sounds like I’m giving advice opposite to what all the PR gurus tell us. Right?

Well, I don’t mean AFTER your book’s been published but BEFORE.

The more you talk about the story you’re going to write, the greater the chance you’ll lose that initial enthusiasm. I remember a gal who joined a local writers’ group I belonged to. We met twice a month and for weeks she would come to the meetings and tell us about her story. She worked out an elaborate plot outline and could describe each scene (especially the humorous ones) in great detail. Sometimes she’d come with a written scene or chapter and would read it to us. We would praise the piece or suggest ways we felt she could improve the scene, but that was as far as it ever went. She never wrote the book. And why?

“I got bored with it,” she told us. “And then I got this new idea. How’s this sound?” And she’d start off with another  story idea.

Her ideas were good, but by the time she’d finished telling  us and anyone who would listen about the story, it had become “old” to her. It lost its freshness. She lost her enthusiasm.

Now some writers can and need to develop complex plot outlines. Somehow, even after working on an outline for a year (Jeffery Deaver  does this), they still have the enthusiasm to write the entire book—and do so.  A detailed outline works for them, gives them the framework they need, but they  don’t talk about the story with everyone they meet, not in minute detail, over  and over.

Other writers will spend hours, days…weeks working on an outline, creating a framework that’s so detailed, it’s almost a book in itself.  (Years ago I read a synopsis for a mystery that was 99 pages long. She hoped to sell the book on the synopsis. I really don’t know if she did or not. I do  know, if I wrote a synopsis that long, it would be difficult for me to give the actual book a fresh approach.)

Often a new writer finds it safer to talk about a story that’s GOING TO BE written. An idea can be played with, modified, and strengthened with each new suggestion. There’s no chance that the idea won’t turn out exactly as imagined…after all, it’s still just an idea. If someone thinks the idea won’t sell…well, that person doesn’t understand the idea. (Or even worse, if the writer believes that opinion, the idea will be dropped, and maybe it was
a good idea. Maybe it was a great idea that simply hadn’t been tried before.)

It’s good to try an idea out on a few trusted friends, but the writer who truly wants to see that story in print knows the only way to accomplish that is to SIT DOWN AND WRITE IT.

This morning on CBS I watched a segment highlighting how a school in California has incorporated yoga into its daily curriculum. The result, the school administrator said, was fewer dropouts and higher test scores. The students claimed doing yoga helped them concentrate, think things through, and feel more relaxed.

I’ve been taking yoga classes since 2001. I started after shoulder and neck pain sent me to a chiropractor.  After the chiropractor helped ease the pain, I asked him what I could do on my own to prevent the pain returning. He recommended yoga, and so I signed up for a class.

And it’s helped.

There are different styles of yoga being taught, and over the years I’ve had several different instructors, each approaching the practice in different ways. Some use the proper sanskrit terms (asana, prana, pranayama), others use the common pose descriptions (down dog, child’s position, warrior 2). I’ve never done the style where they kick up the heat, nor the one where you move rapidly through the poses. I don’t think I’d like either of those, and I’m not sure sweating or moving rapidly through a pose is what my body needs.

As a writer, I’m often sitting in front of my computer, concentrating on a story for hours at a time. I forget to sit up straight, shoulders back. No, the more involved I become in my writing, the more I lean toward the computer’s monitor. I also don’t always remember to keep my hands supported (to avoid carpal tunnel), and I definitely forget to stand up and
move around. So, of course, the more I’m into a story, the more trouble I have with my back, my legs, and my neck.

I try to make it to two yoga classes a week. I do a few poses at home in between those classes, but not for any extended time and not on a regular schedule, and I definitely notice more physical discomfort when I miss class for any extended amount of time.

I also walk. Having a dog and living in a condo where I can’t simply let him loose when he needs to go out, forces me to walk. These aren’t the cardio vascular walks exercise gurus recommend. No we walk a ways and then he catches a scent he has to investigate so we pause as he checks out the scent. It may not be helping my heart all that much, but these walks help my legs and give me a chance to think.

Both the yoga and the walking, in my opinion, help with my writing. With yoga we’re told to clear our minds, let go of all thoughts for a while, to simply concentrate on our breathing and our body. With the walking, I can let thoughts wander in and out of my consciousness as Zuri and I head over to look at the lake (It’s wild today). With either activity, I return to my computer refreshed and ready to go to work. As a writer, that’s exactly what I need.

What exercises work for you? Why?