Writing as a path to Awakening
Albert Flynn DeSilver
Notes & Highlights to his 11/14/17 visit to EarthTones in Paso Robles.
Memoirs are a form of creative non-fiction. This was in reference to his book Beamish Boy in which he recounts a childhood that his sisters didn't share. Myself, I have 3 brothers, and I can tell you that my experience growing up was much different than my brothers.
Empathy and understanding are critical to getting into the heat of your character.
Write your story and let it go.
Beamish Boy allowed him to make peace with his story.
Note to self:
If you write your story, be sure to write other people into the script. No author is an island is my mantra.
Suggested exercise: Write an essay as if you were your significant other.
Write your future
He didn't get into the book proposal he did for Sounds True, but clearly someone who writes a 40 page book proposal is creating a vivid image of their future.
Read more about it here.
I was thinking a lot about my 365 unedited personal essays. They are reflections that are personal but many of which my critique group tells me are deeply insightful.
Q. Should I just send 10-15 of them to an editor and see what comes back?
His message was sometimes you need to let it go and the partnership of others is key to getting published.
Don't let others who are so called 'experts' on a topic dissuade you. We are all experts based on our own unique experience.
He mentioned how an established author like Natalie Goldberg might be the authority on the topic she was writing, that he still had a unique story to tell.
I followed this with a epiphany on self-doubt (as related to being an authority):
What makes one writer more of an authority than another? They are simply the greatest authority on their own life, as you are on yours. Self-doubt is not needed.
He mentioned reading Big Magic several times as he was writing Awakening.
Deadlines
Write the proposal and sell it! Sounds True gave him an 8 month deadline to finish Awakening. Some of us need the push.
This followed with a discussion about Nanowrimo and daily word goals. First off, the goal of Nanowrimo is 50,000 words over 30 days. That's 1667 words/day).
When he has a deadline (in the case of the 8 month deadline given by Sounds True, he was able to calculate how many words/day he would need to write based on the # of days he could commit to the project (not likely 7 days/week)).
Nanowrimo
Nanowrimo was a catalyst for Beamish Boy. We discussed briefly after the event how many other bestsellers stemmed from Nanowrimo. He pointed me to Pep Talks. As of today, there are 88 essays listed to inspire you to write! Did you know The Night Circus began as a Nanowrimo effort? Read the background here.
Travel through writing
Something Albert said sparked a thought. I love adventure. Travel is an adventure but given I don't have the funds to travel so much, why not travel through writing? I can make the journey from the comfort of my computer. Best of all, there's no bar next door to keep me up all night.
Write to Travel. Q. Interview Jason!
He recommend Naked Drunk and Writing to me. See preview.
In fact, as a writer, he mentioned the importance of having a library on the craft of writing!
Iterations
This reminded me of the Kanban framework common in business.
This topic became a new module. Read it here.
Binge Writing
It dawned on me how this would be the prefect theme for the MB Writers Retreat! It's about creating containers to write. You create fences of focus and block on any distractions (for example, turning OFF the internet when you find your research is getting in the way of you writing).
The other theme I'd suggest is putting skin the game. We take what we pay for seriously.
The reason why we wrote so much in Asilomar is because we had skin in the game, we paid to be there, and the reason we were there was to right. We had a clear and present focus!
This is also why having a clean workspace is vital for maximum creativity!
TIP: I use atom as my distraction free writing space. Albert uses a blank journal (no lines).
Preview the book