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HOW TO MAKE THE SPARKS
FLY
The idea for STOP THAT NOSE! started about eight years
ago.
My son was in pre-school and he thought sneezing was so
funny!
So I wrote a story and then wrote it again and again
and then had writing friends read it and used their
suggestions and wrote it again and had more writing friends read it
and wrote it again and had teachers read it and wrote it again and
read it to kids, took their responses and wrote it some more and
then...I read the story at Kindling Words in 2004. My editor was one
of the people in the audience who roared with laughter. The
response...well...it blew me away! I mean, making people
laugh...that feeling is nothing to sneeze at. My editor gave me
suggestions, and guess what...yep!...I wrote the story again.
But this time when I sent the story in...my
editor e-mailed back an offer! So that was the end, right?
Nope, along with the offer came more suggestions
so I wrote the story again...and then again...and then...a version
was accepted! Yeah! So that was the end, right? Nope, once
the stupendous illustrator, Lee White, started to
work his magic on the book, it became clear....we didn't need as
many words. The pictures spoke volumes....so once again....you
guessed it....I rewrote the story. But you know what? I'm anxious to
do it all over again. Because, even though it was hard work and took
a long, long, long time....seeing all this creative energy in a fun,
frolicking, fabulous book is...well...just....fun, frolicking and
fabulous!
So where can ideas can come from...ANYWHERE!
Is there anything you found unusual today? Something that caught
your imagination? Take that little spark and help the flame grow by
playing with language...your story doesn't need to rhyme, but words
trigger other words. Ideas trigger other ideas. What characters do
you see in your mind? As you write about them, they become more
alive. I've had characters walk off the page while I've been typing.
I've asked them, "Where are you going?" Then I had to keep writing
just to find out. So play with the words, the story, the characters.
It doesn't have to be perfect. Once it is on the page, you can
rewrite. You can't rewrite until you have written. Yes, you
first have to face that blank page and fill it. But no one will
fill it exactly the same way---that's what makes writing so
exciting. So stoke your imagination with images, words, music, art,
anything that flames your creative power. Discover new sparks in the
world.
And finding your inner voice? Yes, writing can help with that
too. Inner voice is your true wisdom, but it often gets buried under
the layers of comments of what we should and shouldn't do or what we
should or shouldn't believe. It's hard to hear when it is buried so
deep. But it is still a burning ember! Shift those logs around and
it can burn brighter than ever. It can fire up your enthusiasm
for life and your belief in yourself.
So get a journal--whatever journal speaks to your or feels good
to write in or sit at a computer, because you can't write without a
way to get words onto paper. Find a pen that feels good in your hand
and settle in a comfortable chair.
Take five or ten minutes to just write--images from the day,
scrapes of your dreams, a word or phrase that won't go away. I
loved--A-A-Aardvark! It sparked the story. Play with your thoughts
or dreams, follow them wherever they might want to go. Their
paths maybe circular or go through a dark jungle or make you slog
through a thick, soupy, boggy swamp filled with leeches, but
each journey is an adventure. You will go to a place that you
have never been before because this is a new day of writing and you
are a new person--today's person. You were not exactly the same
yesterday and won't be the same tomorrow--so follow the path of the
words today and discover who you are today.
Fire up your imagination!
Discover the flames of your passion!
Burn through the layers piled on by
the day to day drudgery and find your deep inner wisdom.
It has a lot to teach you. It is the
fire of your soul.
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