'Why I Write' by Lisa Heacock

I’ve been writing since I could first put pencil to paper and form words.  My first editor and publisher was my grandmother, Elsie Kovanda Baucke.  She helped me think up stories.  Hovered over the red and white checked tablecloth in her kitchen, I’d scrawl them onto the pages in painstaking childish print, and illustrate them in brilliant Crayola hues.  Together, we’d cover cardboard with scraps of fabric to make book covers.  Then, Grandma would sew the finished book and binding together with a needle and thread.  She had a shelf in her bookcase devoted to my earliest works of fiction.

From my grandmother, I learned to stretch my creative wings and soar.  She taught me that I could be a writer, an artist, a musician, or anything else I aspired to be.  The most valuable thing I learned from her was the art of storytelling.  She wove the stories of her youth in turn of the century Table Rock, Nebraska into vivid bed time stories.  Writing her stories, telling her tales of life, love, and loss, has always been on the list of books I wanted to write.  I told myself that I’d write them, “Someday, when I’m a better writer.”

It was a moment of great irony when I realized that I’d missed a rather Universal Truth in my grandmother’s stories.  There is no “someday,” there’s only today.  As for waiting to be a better writer, if I wait to write this story until I’m convinced that I’m a “good enough” writer, I’ll never tell the story, and it’ll be lost forever.  Until I’m too feeble to hold a pen, and my vision fades so that I can’t see a computer screen, I’ll be refining my writing technique.  I owe my grandmother‘s memory a real book honoring her story.  She entrusted it to me, and I don’t plan on letting her down.  To that end, “Tales from Table Rock,” the story of Elsie Kovanda Baucke, is my current work in progress.

Telling her story is a bit of a departure from the paranormal mystery/romantic, “Collectively Conscious,” series I’ve been writing.  For one thing, there’s considerably more research involved with historical creative non-fiction.   Unlike the fictional world of Jessalyn Monroe in “Collectively,”  “Table Rock,” is about real people, places, and events—even though I know that Grandma wouldn’t object to the creative license that I’m using to weave a good story. 

Having learned the art of storytelling at the feet of a master, my aim in writing is to use language as a paintbrush, and words as the colors to paint a picture so vivid that it jumps off the pages to hover above them like a holographic projection.  Good writing—really good writing does that.  It transcends the paper and ink, and seems to float above the pages. 

If you finish reading a scene out of breath, because you were swept away by the story, I’ve done my job as a writer.    Much in the same way that a marathon runner seeks more than to transport himself twenty six miles from where he started the race, a writer toils to do more than simply tell a story.  Finding the perfect combination of words--phrases that illuminate, impassion, and inflame is my pursuit.  If you find yourself coming back to a scene again and again, each time finding nuances, inflections, and poetry that you didn’t see before, that’s the Holy Grail of writing, a step in the path to Enlightenment, a moment of Nirvana.  I’ve never experienced a runner’s high, but I understand it.  It’s why I write.

Set the Mood by Katie Cloran

We all know the scene; elder man pens his masterpiece in a pub smoking a pipe as it mingles with the smells of Irish coffee and cappuccinos. As writers, we all have our own scene. For some, the example above just doesn't do anything; doesn't inspire anything creative. But for others, that's their scene; their little piece of heaven. It turns them on!

For me, I love a good local cafe house that serves teas. I want to sip my tea in an atmosphere littered with jazz and clinking cups with gossip amongst the folks gathered underneath local art. That's me. I also like bookstores. But I'm not always able to get to either of these hangouts, and plus I don't want to have to spend at least $3.00 a day just to sit in that atmosphere for a couple of hours. Another issue is, sometimes we just need peace and quiet. There are times when I need silence; and I mean complete silence to write. Also, take in account, when you write: If you have a burst of inspiration and you're only reason not to write is the fact that your favorite hangout is closed at 1am then maybe you should rethink your hangout.  

Here is my solution: I light a candle and lightly play something soothing throughout the room in my home I am writing in. Buy a candle that fits your story and write to it. The scenery part of your brain with click in and send a message to the other areas, "It's time to write." The scent somehow seems to transport your mind to the place you have created in your story. 

So if you want coffee house, make coffee house. Brew your favorite coffee. Play jazz. Play music that inspires you. Light a candle. Invite friends over to clank cups together for a few hours if that will help. Or even ask your kids to make finger paints and hang them up for a little design touch.  

What is your scene? Set the mood to mimic, and write. Beginning writers, most of all, get caught up in this nasty notion of an excuse. I was a student in this same excuse. So take this from someone who has used this excuse over and again. Set your own mood and don't let details get in the way.    

Copyright 2007. Katie Cloran