Editing a Novel

I've signed up for Camp NaNoWriMo, the poorer, less selfish cousin of NaNoWriMo. Instead of luscious luxury hotels, we camp out under the stars and instead of a novel, we write whatever. Although you can write a novel, too. Or anything else your heart desires.

I will continue desultory editing of my 2009 novel draft, Cosmic Control: The Prime Locus Learns Something. The real learning will be by me as I continue investigating ways to edit.  So far, I've discovered two techniques that work for me: breaking the novel into scenes and writing short sentences.

The scene divisions will allow me flexibility in rearranging the plot. The short sentences will (hopefully) point out exactly what is going on in each scene. I can't remember where I got the scene idea. From scriptwriting, possibly.

The short sentence idea came from the book Several Short Sentences About Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg which is a unique book written all in short sentences. It's more like a poem than a non-fiction book. Shorter sentences are clearer and to the point. This should help remove vagueness and focus the action of each scene.

Although camp begins April 1st, I will get going before then. Or continue on from my failed attempt in February. Hoping camp will keep me motivated to move forward.

What being creative means

This is what creativity is truly: taking the leap, jumping everyday into the air without knowing exactly what will happen. Being brave and optimistic and having faith in the verse.

Screenshot from the BBC story http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24928192. 

4 Basic Steps to Letting Go

1. Awareness. Before you can work on anything you must be aware. Issues enter into awareness in many ways. So, start with what you already know, what you are aware of. This can also be named "pay attention." Whatever you are aware of is where you begin. Enhanced by: Meditation
2. Understanding. Use awareness to stay focused on the issue. Don't berate yourself for having a problem, don't condemn the problem or label it, simply watch and pay attention. Learn exactly what the feeling, notion, habit, or thought is. Gather as much information as you can. Feel deeply. Experience fully. You can't get good information when you label, constrict, or limit knowledge. Open up and see all there is to see. Enhanced by: Research, Study
3. Objectify. If you continue to kindly pay attention, you will begin to objectify your understanding. You develop a sense of humor about it. You speak and think about it as a mere fact. "Oh, so that's how I do that!" "This feeling is arises when ever I ______!" You might find yourself laughing when you notice how and when you express or do this thing. It is no longer a horrible habit or a faulty feeling, it is simply that funny thing that you do. You are outside of the thing, seeing it as something attached to you, but not of you. Enhanced by: Meditation, Sharing
4. Let Go. Now you can let go. You see the attachment as something outside yourself. You see how it is activated and where, exactly, it is attached. Like a balloon on a string, you simply open your hand and let go.

This is not easy and will not happen overnight. You will have to repeat a step until you feel the next one coming into you. This is not a thought process. It is an experiential process. No shortcuts. No instant karma. No particular time table. Some issues will take a life time.

Choose a type of meditation that benefits you. Find teachers that make sense and help you advance. All good paths lead to the same outcome. Choose the path that is right for you.

Apogee

There are times in the cycle of my life when I use up all the stored resources I can find, anything tucked away in a special place, in short, I liberate every financial store available. I get down to zero, clear out the records, and start again.There have been a few these already. I thought I was over that. I'm discovering it's part of my pattern.

The Fool, Circle of Life Tarot deck
© 2008 Lo Scarabeo

The fallow periods seem to last about year. Each time, lucky for me, someone has been there to catch me. After high school and college there were my parents, their couch, and months of old movies. After the divorce, there was my New Man, months of travel, and a lot of freedom. During the next rough period I was still with the New Man. He didn't appreciate my laying fallow but he hung in there and I began again.

Following each fallow period, I took refuge in a job for job's sake—primarily to make money. Each time the job was a little closer to my true nature. This time, I'm resisting the "jane job." I'm trying to find a way to generate income that will give me joy and let me make a contribution doing what I love to do. Hopefully, to avoid another fallow period. I'm tired of starting over. And I want to do work that lets me use both sides of my creative nature, not just the conceptual, outside, organizing part.

This time my personal low cycle has coincided with the world's depression, making the fallowness twice as long. This time there is no safe haven. I don't have the luxury of disengaging completely and cocooning. This time, although I have been helped by family, it's been mostly the government there to catch me. They catch neither gently nor with loving concern, patience, or understanding.

Where there is apogee there must be perigee. Where there is nadir there must be apex. Any gambler or Taoist can tell you that. I'm gambling that all the effort I've put into developing work congruent to my true nature will pay off. That I'll be able to generate income from work I love and feel called to do. I'm not sure exactly how that's going to happen. I'm leaving that part to the powers that be.

The Sun, Mantegna Tarot Deck