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Jessica Ferguson

Author, Writing Coach, Speaker

Y is for Yesterday

April 28, 2016 By Jessica Ferguson 4 Comments

YGrab a pen and paper and number it from one to twenty-five. Now list everything you did yesterday. Tomorrow I want you to write down all the things you did today because by tomorrow, today will be yesterday. For an entire week, I want you to write down what you accomplished the day before—which is always a yesterday.

After a week of itemizing, go back and circle those things you feel passionate about. Take a hard look at each day, the time you’ve spent. Do all your yesterdays look alike?

I know there are things we have to do. Many of us hold full-time jobs, we have young children to care for, and school activities. Some of us actually prepare and eat our meals at home. There’s grass to mow and clothes to wash. By the time we have a quiet moment, we fall asleep, or we’re too tired to think.

I could say “this too shall pass” because it will. It’ll be our yesterday.

I don’t believe in putting our writing before the family so somewhere between putting the youngest child to bed and tossing the whites into the washing machine, can you figure out the GMC (Goal, Motivation & Conflict) for that new idea that’s popped into your head? Snag it this time. Don’t let this idea get away from you. Jot it into the Notes of your iPhone, or download the Dragon Dictation app, speak your GMC and email it to yourself. You can always glue a magnet on the back of a light-weight notebook to keep on the fridge. Capture some of those brainstorms that pass through on their way to yesterday.

I can’t tell you how many times I hear “I’ve always wanted to write a book. When I find the time, I will.”

I want to ask them so many questions, like:

A book or THE book?

Do you have an idea that gnaws at your insides?

Find time? Why don’t you MAKE time?

What’s standing in the way of writing that book now?

I don’t ask my questions, but I feel sad because often those people—regardless of age—will never write their book. They haven’t started the process: studying the craft, buying the how-to books, hanging with other writers in clubs or critique groups, attending conferences. Actually writing.

Start now! I can’t say it enough. You’re not too young, too old, too sick or too busy. Start now! No matter how many or how few words or pages you write each day, it counts. It matters. It’s part of the process that puts you on the path to accomplishing that dream.

I’d rather chase my dreams for fifty years and never catch them, than never chase my dreams at all.

Is yesterday a sad word or is it my imagination?

Filed Under: A to Z 2016 Tagged With: GMC, Writing Process, Yesterday

B is for Backlog

April 2, 2016 By Jessica Ferguson 21 Comments

BB is for Backlog because I’m wondering if you have a backlog of stories, poems, and novels that you’ve given up on. Are they hidden in a drawer or file cabinet, unfinished?

I have many. I think of them often and vow I’ll get back to them. Chances are I won’t because I get fresh ideas that I do start and finish.

I have so many rough drafts, it’s almost ridiculous: first drafts, fifth drafts. One manuscript has been taken apart so many times, chunks are missing. The reason these books are still drafts is because I didn’t plan. I plunged head first into NANOWRMO or some other exciting “Write Fast” activity and I neglected to give sufficient thought to my characters, their GMC or my beloved 3-Act structure.

Yes, I know there are successful seat of the pants writers out there. I’m not one of them, unless you count eleven rough drafts a success. I definitely know how to finish a book–it’s the grunt work of a SOTP manuscript that I don’t particularly enjoy–the  rewriting of a book that’s got too many holes.

And that’s where planning comes in. The more you plan, the easier the rewrite.

The late Stephen Cannell planned extensively. He stated that sometimes he wrote 60 page treatments of his novels, then he’d never look at those pages again.  He knew his characters and story so well, he didn’t have to refer to his treatment.

I especially like his outlook on unfinished manuscripts.

Cannell said, “You get nothing from an unfinished project, and you learn nothing.” At some point he made a deal with himself that he would never abandon another project; he’d write to the end. That’s when he started on his road to success.

So what are we going to do about our backlog of poems, stories and novels? Any ideas?

Filed Under: A to Z 2016 Tagged With: A to Z Challenge 2016, GMC, Stephen Cannell, writing, writing fast

Reality Faith.
Reality Fiction.

"As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
Acts 4:20

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