Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Big Life Drama Moments


I experienced a major life change last month. Actually, the whole of 2012 was a bit of a challenge. My mother moved in last January, suffering from serious health issues that were quite mysterious, mostly painful, exhausting, and frustrating for her, me, and the rest of my family (meaning, my husband and 2 kids - no one else, I'm an only child). Typical of our relationship, my mother and I clashed and bashed as only alpha mothers and alpha daughters can do in times of unyielding I-don't-know-what-the-heck-to-do-nowness and I found myself in the odd position of trying to take care of my mother, and protect my kids from all the drama.

In my world, when someone I love is suffering, it can really set me off-kilter. And the bratty me that never wants to grow up is stubborn about not wanting to reverse roles with my mother. For the adult me, not knowing why someone is suffering, why they can't help themselves, why I can't help them, consumes my patience like a half-starved wolf. 

September 2012 rolled around and after a sudden kidney failure, she finally had a diagnosis thanks to the persistent efforts of the medical team at Beth Israel Deaconess:  stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma.  Normally HL is treated with high success rates, but as my mother had been struggling with symptoms for six years, she had a steeper hill to climb and pretty soon that hill became a mountain. She passed away on November 6, 2012.


My mom's passing was is tough, and it came too quickly after my father's passing in 2008. Remarkably though, my years of studying emotional character arcs and universal story arcs for both my writing and my healing practices have served me well in real life.  I've learned that big life drama moments aren't meant to suck us down into an abyss of sorrow or anger. These moments are in our lives to teach us about ourselves, about life, and about the magic fabric that ties all of our hopes and dreams together. If we, once in a while, allow ourselves to step back from the immediate experience and observe how we deal with crisis, we can mine the experience as something more than just a tragedy. It might even make for a good story someday!

what's your story?

My experience with my mom's illness, her diagnosis, her treatment, and her death has transformed me into something more than I once was. More compassionate, more loving, more understanding, more filled with awe, more at peace. While I don't recommend you all go out and get yourselves a life-or-death circumstance, I do wish for you (and your characters, for all you writers out there!) to find the courage it takes to free yourself from your beliefs about what an experience should be, so that you may discover the transformative experience that it really is

Blessings to you in 2013 and happy writing!

Sunday, September 16, 2012

September Magic

It's September. A new year for school.  A new year in the Jewish calendar. Time to buckle down.  In the spirit of new pencils and pens, apples and honey, I'm making myself a promise.  I'm going to go full-steam ahead and finish the final round of edits of my upper MG fantasy novel in the next two weeks.


I'm almost there.  I can taste success in the wind (or at least smell the apple pie in the oven).  Let's see, this is about my 7th round of edits. I'm on page 193 of a 270 page manuscript and I finally have a brilliant idea for how to fix my first chapter to reach out and grab my reader friend's nose and pick it.  You read it here:  For the first time ever - it is possible to pick your nose, pick your friends, and now even pick your friend's nose. Satisfying, isn't it?


If you knew me and the current state of chaos in my life, you'd probably think I'm crazy to set this deadline for myself. Take this week for instance: my went into the ICU and requires daily visits, both daughters have colds, my dog is rolling around in something stinkerific in the backyard, I'm waaaaay behind planning a bat mitzvah (as in, not even started), my front stairs are torn up, there's some weird emergency light shining on my car dashboard, and oh yeah, housekeeping got bumped down to Z priority (obvious!).



If you know me well, you'll realize that I thrive in chaos like this.  Seriously.  I am the eye in the storm. I will meet my deadline.  How will I manage? A whole lot of willpower and a sprinkle of magic.



Love you!  Now go work your own magic.


Sunday, August 12, 2012

WriteOnCon - to post or not to post




Once again I'm participating in WriteOnCon.  For those of you who don't know about it, it's a TOTALLY FREE online writers' conference for kid lit.  Registration is free.  Participation is free.  Lurking is free.  Exposure to industry professionals is free.  Critiques are free.  It's all free.  Did I say free?  Yes, I did!

Basically in all my spare time this Tuesday and Wednesday, I'll be sitting on my coccyx in front of my computer and absorbing information like a sponge.  Hopefully, I'll make a few friends along the way.

Obvs, I'm excited about the conference.  So, now why have I been debating whether to post my QL and first 250/450 pages?  It's like the blind-date jitters, I guess, and the reasons basically center around self-esteem (i.e., how bad do I suck as a writer?).

It's weird that this fear of being seen peeks its ugly head in my room right now when opportunity is pinging on my computer screen.  Seriously, why doesn't my fear have any logic?  And why have my friends been asking today about the saboteur archetype as defined by the brilliant Caroline Myss?

Saboteur - sabotage.  Fear gives rise to self-sabotage.  Oh.

Best not to let irrational fear get in my way.  My writing has stood naked in front of my critique groups already and survived without coloring me permanently pink from embarrassment.

So, what am I going to do??  Plan of attack.
1) Troll through other people's writing;
2) Leave some critiques.
3) Breathe
4) Post QL.
5) Enjoy

Participating in WriteOnCon 2012?  Friend me!  user name: petrichor

Thursday, June 7, 2012

It stuck in my brain and spoke!


A funny thing happened today while I was reading my writing partner George Kulz's blog. George enters lots of writing contests.  One that he entered twice back in May was at Gennifer Albin's blog

Gennifer posted a series of images and asked readers to post a caption of 150 words or less. The contest winner was awarded critique of their query letter by Gennifer's literary agent, Mollie Glick of Foundry Literary and Media.

Today is well past May, obvs. Didn't matter to me. One of the images, the one to the left of this post, stuck in my brain and spoke.  So, what the hey, I wrote down the words and hit submit.  Sometimes inspiration grabs hold and shakes the words loose!

For Gennifer's blog and my (late) entry, check out:  http://genniferalbin.com/agentversary-entry-day-5/
Mine is the seventh entry.  My writing partner George's entry is the first.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Creating an Emotional Arc: Stages 5 - 8

Mirror mirror on the wall:
how to be the most inspiring kick-ass character of them all.


A lot of writers will end an emotional arc at stage 4, with the main character confronting and then defeating the mean evil dude, tag on a quick conclusion and call it a victory. An ending like this is exciting and something we know and anticipate as readers. It’s also a technique that’s handy for carrying your emotional arc through a book series until its resolution in the final installment. For more on stages 1-4, see my earlier post.


Using the Harry Potter books by way of example, I wasn’t particularly surprised about the endings in books 1-6, but I felt a large measure of satisfaction about them because good triumphed over evil. Still, something emotional was left unresolved, and I felt that emptiness both as a reader (and as a movie-goer) because Harry was a more tortured soul with each consecutive book in the series. J.K. Rowling finally and inevitably addresses Harry’s soul in book 7 when Harry is, at last, able to clear his emotional traumas so that healing can begin. We know Harry’s been able to heal because at last he is confident and his personal boundaries are solid when he stands on the platform and waves goodbye to his children aboard the Hogwarts Express.


As difficult as it is to leave Harry Potter aside, let’s pick up where we left off running through the 8 stages in clearing emotional trauma. (1) Something happened that (2) angers our character and makes her feel threatened, so she (3) takes her anger out on other people – blaming them, because if it weren’t for them she wouldn’t feel like she does now. (4) She gets so angry that she works up the courage to confront the person who did her wrong and battles them. Maybe she raises her voice, maybe she swears, maybe she even goes ninja on the villain! Now the dust settles and she’s standing amid the aftermath of stage 4. Where does she go from here?


5. Finding the mirror

Up until now, our character’s anger has motivated her to seek retribution and justice. Her most natural human reaction now would be to justify her actions by believing that she’s right, that she’s in the right, that she has the right, that the other is just plain wrong. She's trounced the villain and now some might already call her a hero, but not me. I want her to inspire our readers, so we dare her to reach stage five and look beyond her own self and consider that the villain may not be a one-dimensional evil force but rather a more complex character with his own set of values and fears. Before I'll call her a hero, she needs to learn from this experience and bring back some wisdom. 


She’s ready to learn. Now that she’s released the pressure valve on her anger, she is calm enough to engage in some logical and perceptive thinking. She pulls in the reigns on blaming and projection and begins to see how she may have co-created the situation.


She notices the chink in the villain’s armor, a whisper of his vulnerability. And now our character flexes her maturity muscles because rather than take advantage of the villain’s vulnerability, your character begins to wonder why the villain acts the way he does. She wonders if the villain is afraid of something and then discovers what that fear is. She explores why the villain might fear that something, and what his belief is about it. Soon she sees that the villain believes something false, and that false belief creates a fear that compels the villain to act out to protect himself or something or someone he cares about.


Can you see why most characters screech to a halt before they’ve reached stage 5?  Finding the mirror is hard! Finding the mirror requires a certain amount of psychological and emotional maturity from your character. She must be able to look for the life lesson in what happened and begin to appreciate the role the villain played in teaching her that lesson.


**NOTE: In exploring this stage of finding the mirror, you might notice that your character has sadistic fantasies about exploiting the villain’s vulnerabilities and finding sick and depraved ways to cause the villain further pain and suffering. This fantasy behavior is Totally. Perfectly. Natural.  Enjoy it and move on.


6. Recognizing the reflection


If you’re like me, then your life is basically a soundtrack. Memories and ideas stir up lyrics to songs. The song evoked at this stage 6 of emotional clearing is a no-brainer. Before you start moonwalking and waving around a sequined glove, take a moment to appreciate that something magical happens before that Michael Jackson “Man in the Mirror” moment.



Maybe your character sees the villain as selfish, quick-tempered, untrustworthy, or manipulative. Superimposing their reflections, your character has the opportunity to see that the villain is reflecting or mirroring back an aspect of herself. She too can be selfish, quick-tempered, untrustworthy, or manipulative. I'll go so far as to call her a hero if she can now sees that she has done the same thing that she judged the villain for doing. 


Powerful, eh?  Damn straight.  Wait, there’s more. When your character’s anger crumbles it brings a delightful chaser of empathy and sadness because she understands first-hand, the fear that drives both her and the villain to that behavior.


Sit with that a moment.  Your character the hero looks in the mirror and sees the villain and her own image superimposed. Your hero and your villain are one and the same. Chilling.  If you’re inclined to write like Edgar Allen Poe, maybe you want to stop here. Let your character suffer a mental breakdown, convincing herself that she will never ever get out of this endless loop of pain.  Allow her to be haunted by the sound of her own beating heart.


"I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity." ~ Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)


Or, you can move on to stage 7. 


7. Forgiveness

If your character is anything like me, I’m basically in shock in stage 6 when I see how the villain is mirroring back my own bad behavior. Then I move into feeling awful about myself at the start of stage 7. Now, the only thing that’s going to see me through and inspire others to take this journey is finding my way to forgiveness. Here’s how it’s done.


In stage 6, your character is staring at herself and the villain superimposed in the mirror and she’s seeing that they’re both afraid of something and it caused both of them to act out in a similar manner. Whatever the behavior is that is reflected back to her, it is one that ultimately is motivated by fear. It’s time for your character to do some exploring into her psyche.


Her next step is to ask, “What am I afraid of?” Let her spill her guts and talk about all the things she’s afraid of. A pattern will emerge that will point to a common theme in the things she says about herself, others, and the world.


This theme highlights your character’s false core belief. It developed over time, usually from childhood and is influenced by significant life events and particular life circumstances. A core belief is always an “I” statement, as in “I am unworthy.” She will hold onto this core-belief with a vise grip. A belief “Nobody will choose me” is called a supporting belief and it is a prediction about what others will do or have done. Her way of interpreting other people’s reactions gives the core belief the appearance of being true and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.


Your character is going to recognize how she has self-sabotaged by focusing on information that supports her belief and ignoring evidence that contradicts it. More, she is going to realize that her (and the villain’s) core belief is false and she is going to begin to understand and forgive herself for acting out in defense of that untrue core belief.



8. Letting go & moving on



No surprise, core beliefs are hard to change. However, your character kicks ass and she’s going to do just that. She’s made it through 7 difficult stages of clearing her emotional trauma and she is not about to backslide now. She is going to shatter the illusion of the core belief and uncover the truth, which will be a statement completely opposite from her false core belief; in this instance, “I am unworthy” shifts to “I am worthy.” And she’ll reinforce this new positive core belief with evidence and information.


At this point, there’s a tangible shift. All those emotions your character felt, the anger, pain, blame, empathy and sadness transmute to appreciation and gratitude for the villain. Realizing the powerful gift brought by the villain in this encounter, your character can at last release him. She may even feel compassion for the villain and be able to apologize and validate his pain.


Now, when your character looks in the mirror, the glass is clear and she sees only herself. True, strong, wise. Totally worthy. Mirror mirror on the wall, she is the most inspiring kick-ass character of them all.  Seriously!  She’s cleared emotional trauma. The conflict is over.


Bonus – there’s more trust in her relationships because she’s able to work through conflicts when they arise rather than run away.


Summary

So, there you have it. Three blogs and an exercise giving you my take on creating an emotional arc using anger. In case you missed my first post, here are the eight stages in one handy list: 


The 8 Stages
1. The smoking gun
2. Anger
3. Projection and blaming
4. Expressing anger and releasing pain
5. Finding the mirror
6. Recognizing the reflection
7. Forgiveness
8. Letting go and moving on

Most of the time, we go through these stages intuitively. These are the times when the smoking gun isn't aimed at us, or it misses its target, or our shields are solid enough to protect us. Other times, the bullet hits its target and we are hurt enough to get angry. 

Anger is an energetic signal that you are ready to make a change. How you want to make that change is a mental decision. It involves calculating the variables between changing the other person (doesn't work), changing the situation (might work), or changing something about yourself (worth a try).  

When a person in real-life or a character in a novel is brave enough to work through their anger and change a core belief about themselves they are, in my opinion, the most inspiring kick-ass character of them all.

Let me know what you think about this post series, and if there are other ideas you’d like to explore with me. I’d love to hear from you!

Monday, May 14, 2012

An exercise to tap your anger


Go ahead, beat up your sofa!

For this post, I want to back up a bit and really dig into stage 2 of the 8 stages of emotional clearing. Stage 2 is where your character must tap into her anger. As I said in my earlier post, many people get stuck at stage 2 because they don't recognize how anger disguises itself in other emotions or behaviors.
If you or your character has no clue how to touch anger or are just plain afraid to do it, this is the exercise for you! 

Getting in touch with anger.  Ooooh, that's a fun one. For someone who has a difficult time accessing anger, the key is to find something that's opposite of your normal routine. So, for instance, for people who spend much of their days in their brain (writers, software engineers, bankers, really any desk job) physical techniques can be very effective for releasing anger. People who are quiet can benefit from using their voice.  Here's a great technique that combines both types of release, physical and vocal.  

Things you'll need:  
  1. whiffle bat (plastic bat)
  2. sofa
  3. room to move with no breakable objects, people or pets nearby
Get yourself a whiffle bat and stand in front of your sofa.  Now think about a person who triggered you. Picture them in your mind. Hear their awful words. Picture them pointing their finger at you, yelling, accusing, blaming as they cross your personal boundary. Feel how your belly starts to churn up some energy. You're starting to feel that familiar flight or flight sensation. Stick with it. 
The person is coming at you, still yelling, accusing, blaming. You can't even hear the words any more. Just a roar in your ears and flashes of their angry face.  


Now pick up the whiffle bat
Give yourself permission to pummel your sofa.  
Really swing and whack.  Cuss.  LOUDLY.  Blame the source of your anger.  Cuss them to hell.  Keep going until you have no more whacks or cussing left to do. Drop the bat. 

Notice your energy.  Notice how you feel.  

Write that feeling down, or discuss it with someone.  Do you feel lighter? Do you feel lost? Do you feel more yourself? Do you feel pleasure? Do you feel guilty? What do you feel? However you feel, ask yourself why. What need did that release in energy fulfill?  What needs do you still have? 
Come up with some ways to fulfill those needs.

You're a writer - remember those feelings. Allow your character to draw on them to move through their own issues.  When your character recognizes their needs, they'll come up with a plan.

The technique above is very useful for expelling a large amount of anger and resentment very quickly. Notice how you feel about the technique. Your reaction to the technique is a reflection of how you feel about releasing anger. For some, the technique can be frightening and overwhelming.  Others relish the idea of pummeling something, swearing and screaming.  Some people only want to scream.  Some people can't scream at all, or won't cuss.  And others give only wimpy taps with the bat. For some, the session goes on for ages until they are physically and emotionally drained. For others, the session lasts only a couple of minutes. Whatever you won't do, or had difficulty doing in that exercise, those are signals of your personal boundaries, your code of behavior. 
Keep in mind though that the boundaries are artificial boundaries - you make them, you can break them, you can make those boundaries flexible and healthy. You're in a safe environment - just you and the whiffle bat and the sofa. Nothing is going to break. No one is going to get hurt. Things can only get better. Now, in this safe environment, is the time to give yourself permission to shift energetically.  

Giving yourself permission to release your anger in a safe environment is a great step toward healing. Because you are replacing the person who triggered you with an inanimate object, and you are quickly releasing a large amount of energy in a safe environment, the technique shifts your attention away from the other person onto you. Participating in the experience energetically imprints itself on you, shoring up your personal boundaries and giving you confidence that you can take care of yourself in the future. And with that confidence of being able to work through your anger to identify and fulfill your needs, you are less likely to be triggered by other people.

And now let's shift to writing.  I'm curious. How do your characters deal with anger?

Monday, May 7, 2012

Creating a Character's Emotional Arc: in stages 1 - 4



Imagine how excited I was to learn that my years of training in energy medicine and psychology could actually help me construct a fictional character’s emotional arc!  Now quadruple that and add a cherry on top because when I think about the ripple effect and how relaying this info on to you and how you can use it to reach your readers, I’m over the moon with excitement and gratitude.  


We’ve arrived at the fun part, where we see how to create a character’s emotional arc.  Let’s get to it. We’ll start with stages 1 through 4.


1. The smoking gun
Picture a smoking gun in your mind and chances are you’ll sense something sinister is afoot. Smoking guns indicate that someone violated a personal boundary or an agreement on how they are expected to behave around you. In writing, we call this threat or danger “the inciting incident.”


2. Anger  Biologically speaking, our bodies react to a perceived threat or danger by releasing certain hormones like adrenalin and cortisol, speeding our heart rate and increasing blood pressure, slowing digestion, increasing blood flow to major muscle groups and adjusting other autonomic nervous functions in order to give our bodies a burst of energy and strength.

Emotionally, the inciting incident triggers anger. Anger may be hard to recognize beneath the layers of anxiety, self-pity and sadness, but it’s there and your character will need to use that anger as a driving force to move through to the next stage. 


Finding the anger can be difficult because by culture or by nature, a lot of people don't allow themselves to get angry. They feel uncomfortable or even go so far as to believe they have no right to their anger. Are you one of them? Sometimes we need to give ourselves permission to fume in order for our characters to do the same. 


Look for clues to your character's anger. If you find her saying something like, “It’s not worth getting upset over,” that's a clear indication that she is stuffing her anger. Other indications are typical behavioral responses to the threat. Males typically respond with fight (aggression) or flight (social withdrawal, substance abuse), while females typically respond by protecting to their children, if they have any, and by seeking social support in groups. But hey, it’s your novel. Who’s to say that your character must conform to these typical roles? 


Just remember that at this stage your character does not want to be nice, she wants to be ANGRY.


3. Projection and Blaming
Now that your character is good and angry, go ahead and let her blame someone for causing her to feel that way. Not taking responsibility for our own feelings is called projecting. Many people project and blame out of earshot, but never confront the person with whom they are upset. It’s easy to see why. Most people would think twice about expressing their anger to the person holding a smoking gun.


4. Expressing anger and releasing pain
Your character has finally surmounted the obstacles of stages 1, 2 and 3. A round of applause is in order because it takes courage to make it this far.  You’ve reached the turning point in your novel. This is the step where your character expresses her anger toward the transgressor, the villain, the mean and evil dude, and finally stands up for herself. This is when your reader is anticipating a smack down and it is a cause for celebration.

How your character stands up for herself, depends on the intensity of the boundary violation and the inciting smoking gun incident. Mild violations may require just speaking up about it. Stronger violations, the kind that elicit reader response, may entail speaking up plus throwing in a few choice cuss words for good measure, dammit!

But what if your character is not willing to scold the mean and evil dude? Totally not surprising. Most people feel pretty weak when it comes to expressing their anger. Ultimately though, suppressing anger is futile. Unexpressed anger is toxic and your character will find a way to release it. Instead of confronting the evil dude, you might find your character turning anger inward against herself, or letting it out sideways by lashing out at the innocent, or even taking a circuitous route by engaging in passive aggressive behavior against the perpetrator. How your character manages her anger might violate personal boundaries and agreements and trigger an angry response from someone else. And yes, you can count me in among the wicked and wily scumbling my fingers and sneering, “Mwah ha haaaa!” because this kind of tension triggers subplots.  


But remember, if your goal is an emotionally rewarding ending, suppressing anger is not ultimately the answer. Your character must express her anger directly in order to release the pain.

A lot of writers will stop here, either subconsciously or purposefully, with the main character confronting and then defeating the mean evil dude followed by a quick conclusion, and call it a victory. 


How easy is it for you to express your anger? Do you confront the transgressor or does your anger come out in other ways? Are you uncomfortable at any point? Where is your sticking point? 

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Introducing the Eight Stages of Emotional Clearing aka Identifying a Character's Emotional Arc


Over the years, I’ve come across many techniques to clear negative emotions. Some of them occur naturally, and sometimes alarmingly, in our bodies. For example, toxic emotions can result in stomach upset similar to food poisoning and have its consequences with a day or more on or in front of the toilet. Or, our bodies can try to eliminate those toxins in other ways, as in hair loss, skin rashes and breakouts. Alarming, disgusting, nasty gross, yessiree. Go on, see my earlier post on why it's important to clear negative emotions.

Techniques that I’ve used in my healing practice to help my clients navigate through some pretty tough times might be EFT, holding alarm points, meditation, energy work, massage, and counseling. They are all extremely effective techniques, but they’re not easy to translate into a MG or YA novel, especially where I want to express a character’s emotional arc through action and interaction with other characters.

That set me to thinking about kids and how they might express their emotions and the consequences. Really, they’re no different than the teens and tween we all have living in our own psyches. Tweens and teens often don’t have access to any of those healing tools, and their raging hormones often result in confusing emotions and anger at some level for losing control of someone or something. The anger then spurs them to lash out either at people around them, or themselves, setting up conflict. Even in adult literature, those steamy scenes are wrought with conflict and that inner voice that asks, “Uh oh, what have a I done?” The conflict is what makes a plot intense.  It’s the page-turner.  



Conflict only gets you so far. Readers look for a satisfying ending. For me a satisfying ending would serve up justice, makes me feel good, and ties up all those loose ends. But as a writer, I can't go on only what I would like to see; I also have to consider what the character in my story wants. The ending to a story is set up by how the main character suffers those conflicts, and it is rendered satisfying by how they resolve those conflicts in a way that is deep and meaningful for them, probably one that doesn’t involve breaking out in hives or spending the day in the bathroom. 
To nudge my characters along the their emotional arcs, I loosely borrowed from the wisdom of Debbie Ford's Shadow work in Dark Side of the Light Chasers and came up with eight stages of emotional clearing. These are stages that everyone goes through to resolve emotional pain and trauma.

The 8 Stages
1. The smoking gun
2. Anger
3. Projection and blaming
4. Expressing anger and releasing pain
5. Finding the mirror
6. Recognizing the reflection
7. Forgiveness
8. Letting go and moving on

Most of the time, we go through these stages intuitively.  Other times we get stuck and need a bit more nudging. I like knowing where my characters get stuck because that informs their personalities.

Want to know more about these stages and how to build a character's emotional arc? Read on.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Inspire Your Readers: Emotions


The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-- Robert Frost

I thank my high school English teacher, Mr. Hancock, for introducing me to that poem and others by Robert Frost. I loved that poem then, because I thought I really “got” what Frost was saying about himself and making decisions. Even back then, people labeled me a decisive person, probably because I frequently went with my gut feelings. But what those people didn't see was that on the inside I was jelly - constantly questioning whether I made the right choice. Did I choose the right classes? The right extracurriculars? The right friends? The right clothing? Big decisions, little decisions, any one of them could change the course of my history. Robert Frost and I were simpatico. We had an understanding. I could relate to him standing there in the woods wondering which path to take.

But now, after a half a life of learning and reflection, I read that poem and I know Frost understood me. And you. And the neighbor down the street. And that little kid sitting on the corner begging you to buy a pack of gum in some third-world country. I know this because really great writers like Frost look inward to see outward. They have an ability to express their soul's journey and relate it to the journey of all souls.

The challenge and gift of talented writing is to let the reader know they're not alone in their emotional experience of a challenge or conflict, whether it's making a decision that might lead to regret or working through a conflict. Inspirational writing, blatant or subtle, has the additional task of helping us clear our emotional wounds. It's my belief that this holds true for both fiction and non-fiction writing.

Whether the author is conscious of it or not, great writing (a character driven novel, for example) is doing just that - clearing emotional wounds. For some writers, this journey from conflict to resolution is intuitive. For others, it's not so easy. Why? Because most of us have never been taught how to clear negative emotions from our bodies, and it's no easy task to write about something we don't know how to do ourselves in our daily lives.

Why is it important to clear negative emotions? I'm going to take advantage of my winding paths of education to impart some hard-earned knowledge that solidified during my three-year training as a Certified Energy Medicine Practitioner. When a conflict is left unresolved, we harbor negative emotions and create imbalances in our energetic layers. In our physical bodies, imbalances can lead to illness and disease. In our mental bodies, imbalances can create frustration, anxiety, depression, and associated disturbances. Emotionally, imbalances can result in acting out destructively, directly by becoming enraged, or indirectly through passive-aggressive behaviors. All of these imbalances can challenge and even be destructive in our relationships, both with ourselves and with others. And frankly, negative emotions can be plain exhausting if they're not cleared.

Your mind might be trying to block this information right now. There are certainly times when mine does. My internal voice (aka, my inner child) is fond of whining. And when I write and I'm trying to dig deep into my characters, they whine even more loudly, "You want me to face my emotions? It's too hard! Why do the process work when I've already learned to ignore and bury all that pain?" Hearing that voice is when I remember this nugget of wisdom that came to me in story form during meditation....

Simply dressed in a white robe and sandals, balancing sacks of clothing strung on either end of a thick bamboo pole, I was a washerwoman standing at the bottom of a vast stairway in Tibet yearning for the wisdom of the cleric above. I started to climb. 

At first, I could easily balance the weight across across my shoulders. I was used to long days of shouldering other people's dirty laundry. As I climbed further though, my neck and shoulders grew hot and sore. Further still, I found my steps slowing and now even my legs and feet ached. Half-way up, I rested. I sat on a wide plateau, wiping the sweat from my brow and considering whether to continue my climb. 

The cleric in his saffron and brick-red robes smiled at me. Encouraged, I once again shouldered my burden and forced myself to continue. Now the pole dug into my neck and my back hunched over. I pushed myself to continue even though I hurt and my burden was almost more than I could bear. I was a washerwoman. These dirty clothes were my responsibility. I would not leave them behind. 

But almost at the top, I found I was too weary to take another step. I un-shouldered the pole and let the clothing drop, but even without the extra weight, I was so worn out that I struggled to continue the few remaining steps. 

At last, I faced the cleric, who was at once old and young, male and female. He laughed at me. Why would he laugh at my efforts? I was confused. I became indignant. My anger turned inward. I admonished myself for wasting my time and effort on the climb and for abandoning the baggage that other people had entrusted me with. Then I felt angry toward the cleric.

"You present me with a difficult task and then laugh at the foolishness of my undertaking? I came for your wisdom."

The cleric's eyes twinkled. "I will tell you what you already know. You could have left your burdens at the bottom of the stairs." 

Only then, looking back at the pile of laundry I had abandoned below, did I feel the burden truly lift from my shoulders. Only then, could I look back and laugh.



Sunday, January 8, 2012

NESCBWI 2012 Conference: Keeping It Real


The annual New England SCBWI Spring Conference opens its registration on January 23rd, 2012. This year's theme is "Keeping it Real: Reality and Worldbuilding in Fiction, Nonfiction, and Illustration."

You can find the link to the conference here: NESCBWI Conference Registration 2012

This year, the conference will be Friday, April 20, 2012 - Sunday, April 22, 2012, at the Sheraton Monarch Place, in Springfield, Massachusetts. I haven't personally visited the new site, but I hear it is fabulous and will accommodate the larger crowds that have been frequenting our regional conference over the last few years. Word is, New England conferences rank right up there with NY and LA.

Why does our conference attracts such large crowds? It could be because we attract renowned authors, illustrators, agents, and publishers to lead workshops and give keynote addresses. This year, for example, Sara Zarr is delivering the Author Keynote on “The Meaning in the Mess: A Case for Writing Life As It is, Not How We Wish It.” Sarah is the acclaimed author of four award-winning novels for young adults. And, Harry Bliss is delivering the Illustrator Keynote on “Laughing Between the Lines: on Pictures and Humor”. Harry is an internationally syndicated cartoonist and cover artist for the New Yorker Magazine and has illustrated a number of award-winning children’s books.

Our region is also notable for the fact that so many award-winning authors and illustrators live right here in New England. They’re members of the NESCBWI, and they continue to attend our conferences, lending us their depth and breadth of knowledge and ideas, and yes, their smiles and laughter.

But what really sets our conference apart, is the people who put their time and energy into making the New England SCBWI successful. From the Board Members, to the Conference Faculty, right on down to the weekend volunteers, we are a region of abundant generosity. NESCBWI is an entirely volunteer-run organization and we depend on more than 100 volunteers each year to make our conference not only a success, but one of the most exciting, educational and best attended SCBWI conferences in the country.

This is my third year as Conference Volunteer Coordinator. Is it a lot of work to organize 100+ volunteers? You bet. It’s also fun. As a general rule, children’s book writers and illustrators are fun people to be around. We’re topped off with a sprinkle of magic fairy dust that makes us silly and approachable, generous and thoughtful, imaginative and big-hearted. Plus, we’re really really smart (and humble). Our wisdom is is found in our words and pictures and permeates the fabric of time and generations. It’s fun to attend a conference and it’s fun to volunteer. In fact, if you want to volunteer at this year’s conference, you can write to me at: nescbwi2012help@gmail.com.

The New England regional conference is a great place to make friends and connections. Learn a new skill, go deeper into your work, find a support group. Inspire and be inspired. Get involved. You’ll find what you’re looking for at NESCBWI’s Spring Conference.