Coffee With David

In the latest edition of “The Writer” magazine, I read an article by Constance Hale titled “My writing mantra: Total risk, freedom, discipline [Off the Cuff]” which described her approach to writing. While I may not follow her steps in what I do, I fell in love with this mantra and what it implies into the art of writing.

Like many new writers, I have walked in the paths of those who have gone before me. It is one of the best ways to learn our craft. Yet there comes a time when we must find our own voice and our own style. This mantra fell on fertile soil in my mind at the right possible moment. In my view: writing without pushing yourself to try something new as the writer turns you into an automaton; writing without freedom stifles your growth; writing without discipline leaves you forever in the wannabe group of writers who have all of their stories and poems in their head and never have put them in ink.

Years ago I made a resolution on New Years Eve. The resolution I made was simple: “Since, resolutions don’t work I will make New Years goals instead.” Simple enough for someone who likes to set hard goals for himself? Not really. I begin to plan my goals three months in advance of New Years. I use complex benchmarks or mile markers for myself to be sure to stay on pace, this is especially true for my writing. So what are my goals for 2009?

Novels:

Horror: Dark Medicine will be in final draft and shopped to editors and agents. A second novel will begin to be prepped.

Science Fiction: The Guardians will be plotted, rough drafted and in later draft form and will be ready to be shopped to editors and agents by early 2010

Crime Drama: Shattered Dreams will be plotted and entering rough draft by the end of 2009. It will be ready to be shopped to editors and agents in 2010

Fantasy: The Torc will go into final research and be ready to be plotted and written in 2010.

Just to give you an idea, that will round itself out in 2010 as 2 novels a year while only writing “part-time.”

In addition to the novel work:

Short Stories:

Horror: 6 Short Stories ready to be shopped to editors and agents by the end of 2009.

Science Fiction: 6 Short Stories ready to be shopped to editors and agents by the end of 2009.

Crime Drama: 6 Short Stories ready to be shopped to editors and agents by the end of 2009.

Science Fiction: 6 Short Stories ready to be shopped to editors and agents by the end of 2009.

Of course add 365 blog entries to that as well.

I know, I am ambitious or insane—possibly both. I hope you will find my work in 2009 in magazines and e-zines and maybe, just maybe on the bookshelves in 2010.

Thank you fro reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com

Unhappily, I am like many writers. I am unable to write at home due all the distractions that home comes with. As such, I head out to a few locations to write. Most of these are coffee houses of some kind. Sadly for me, but unsurprisingly, these have been filled with people. So, I am taking the Christmas week off and will see how things look Friday.

Sometimes I wish I did not read writing magazines. Last night was one of those times. I read an article in “The Writer,” which is one of the top three magazines I would recommend to any writer to read. The article I read about was regarding story production and the pressure for authors to get out a novel manuscript a year.

Now this was not the concerning part of the article. The concerning part was about the process James Patterson uses to write his best selling novels. I have enjoyed his novels, but I do not know if I can read another one after I read the article. I cannot be critical of Mr. Patterson. His method works. He produces book after book and they sell.

So what is my problem? Simply put, Mr. Patterson only outlines and edits his books. He actually turns over the actual writing to a ghostwriter. After I picked up my jaw off the floor, it made me think about one of the things I enjoy about writing and about other authors who use assistants to write.

Having an assistant is not a bad thing to have. Some famous authors have had their personal assistants or secretaries help them write their novels. Another such author is the late Sidney Sheldon. The difference between him and Mr. Patterson is that Mr. Sheldon would dictate the story to his assistant. In an interview I saw Mr. Sheldon before he passed away, he explained that his best method of writing was to return to the oral tradition. He would either dictate into a tape recorder and have someone transcribe the tapes or he would dictate directly to his assistant.

Mr. Sheldon’s oral method does not work for me, but between him and James Patterson’s method, I will take Mr. Sheldon. There is a thrill I have about actually writing my stories. They are a part of me; the ink is my blood and tears on the page. I love to actually watch my character interact and walk in their universe. I feel a sense of anticipation as I write their adventures and surprise when I find them doing something I had not plotted. Sometimes I let them lead rather than try to drag them down the road I laid out. Their adventures can be more fun and a better plot line.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com

This blog entry is several days late, so I am making up for it with three entries today. I have and still read many books and articles on writing. In each of them they offer advice about finding a place to write and so on. While I am not a Stephen King fan, his memoir “On Writing” offers some great advice. I wish I could take it.

Most often, as with Mr. King’s memoir, the advice is about having a home “writing office.” Sometimes that “office” is a small table in the attic by the widow. Unfortunately, I cannot write at home. I have too much distraction. So I chose to turn the local library or coffee house or my work break room (or empty conference room) while I am at lunch. Thus, when bad weather hits and I am stuck at home, no writing gets done.

Yet, this is a lousy situation. While the artist in me is screaming in dissention about the next sentence I am about to write, it is the truth. Writing is a business that is as much about getting quality product out to the market and then repeating it. I have allowed bad weather to keep me from writing these blogs and from going somewhere where I can finish writing “The Tower,” drafting the next draft of “The Last Friend,” or even work on chapter 15 of Dark Medicine. If I want to write for the art of writing, then it would not be such a concern.

I need to find a Plan B for bad weather and holidays.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com

I am posting this blog early as I am expecting to have a busy night tonight and want to spend the rest of the day working on Dark Medicine. If you have read my fiction blog for this week, “A Newbie Learns to Juggle,” you will have learned that I have started a new experiment of personal juggling. In my “bill paying job” I juggle schedules and priorities, which can be difficult as there are many outside influences that cause changes every time I blink. Now I am applying that to my writing career. After some advice and a lot of thought I am dividing my time between short fiction and novel writing. As I write this entry I am working on two short stories (one science fiction and one crime drama) and four novels (one in each genre I write). Due to this, I am rescheduling the publication dates of my blogs. Currently on some days I was producing two blogs at a time. For some people, that is not much. For me, with everything else, it was becoming a little overwhelming. So here is the new schedule in Central Time (GMT-6):

Every Sunday Night: Update to Dark Medicine—the horror novel that is being written currently
Every Monday Night: Short Fiction
Every Tuesday Night: Fiction Blog
Every Wednesday through Saturday Night: Coffee with David

Why do I bother to write and work on so many projects? There are many people who try to write stories because they have a misconception that writing is an easy way to make money. I will not lie and say that I do not dream of being able to squeak out a living doing something that I am so passionate about, but if I wanted to find an easier way to may make money I have a lot of second careers to choose from. Let’s see: Astronaut, Nuclear Physicist, Neurosurgeon, Congressman . . . you get the idea.

I write because I am drawn to it. It is my passion. I write in so many genres because my interests and tastes are wide and because I do not want to be pigeon holed into any one type of writing. Stephen King wrote in his memoir “On Writing” how he struggled with his novel The Stand. When I read his story about it, I wondered in the back of my mind what would have happened if he wrote more than one genre? Could he have turned to another story—say a murder mystery or a story of trying t survive on the Moon—and then been able to tackle The Stand better. I have no idea. I am no Stephen King, and he is not me. I just know that with me, working on the other projects and material that makes up the other genre helps keep me going and not become totally bogged down.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com for the latest on my stories.

I was working on this blog entry yesterday when I learned that a friend of mine lost her war with cancer. She had been diagnosed with it years ago, obtained treatment and it went into remission. We all thought things were good until it came back. Over the last four years, she fought tooth and nail to stay alive. She never surrendered and never gave the disease an inch. I loved her fighting spirit and I will miss her being in my life. I will not forget the good works she did or how she kept the fight.
A few months ago, I posted a blog titled “The Genesis of a Martial Artist and a Writer” in my fiction blog. I normally like to respond quickly to a commenter; however, I left one question alone because I was not sure how to respond to it. The question was “Any suggestions on how to keep other students, who may have an SLD in reading or written expression, motivated?” This came from Dr. Tonya, who is a school psychologist.

In my first draft to this response, I had written an eight-page essay on life as a writer with a learning disability in written expression and about my struggles. When I reviewed that essay, I decided it was overkill. Instead, let me see if I can answer it in fewer pages.

Writing can be very difficult for many who do not have a specific learning disability (SLD) in written expression or reading. When you do have one, it makes the climb all the more difficult. I understand that I am a statistical anomaly, as most with this SLD would rather avoid the pain than struggle for something that they can love. So how do I it?

Here is what I have learned from the good teachers, the bad ones, and the ones that almost destroyed me. Here is what I have learned from watching my parents sacrifice to get me the help I needed to be able to learn and achieve. Here is what I have learned by crawling this long trail every day.

1. Have faith in yourself.

Many people in this world get more out of destruction than they do from creation. With an SLD, you are vulnerable to others’ reactions to this condition. Speaking for myself, I have often felt shame when I looked at my handwriting, spelling and organizational skills. I have run the emotional gauntlet that a lot of us with SLD run. I will not go into that gauntlet here.

The one thing that I have let my SLD stop me from is something most normal people take for granted. I do not write holiday cards or notes to people in general. I hide behind electronic communication. The reason I do this is: 1. they can read it; and 2. they cannot judge me by my handwriting or lack of spelling. I will discuss how I work around the spelling problem in a few moments.

Confounding my diagnosis of SLD, I was also diagnosed with ADHD. I often do not invite people over to my home because of the organizational skill issue. My difficulty with organizational skills is a primary result of my ADHD. I am very well organized for me. However, I have seen in the faces of friends their expressions when they see my clutter. To them I can only say, it is the way my mind works. A boss once told me “I would be worried about where things were on your desk if I didn’t know I could ask you for something and you would know exactly where it was .”

When I have felt at my lowest or like I cannot achieve, I have always repeated a saying that was on a plaque that my step-grandmother gave to my father and that I “stole” as a child and have hanging on my wall even today: “Don’t worry if you work hard and your rewards are few. Remember! The mighty oak was once a nut like you.”

After I laugh at this, I then reflect that I must be a nut. I punch and kick against the very obstacle that will never go away in order to chase my dreams.

2. Keep the people who believe that you can achieve close to you.

I have crossed the paths of many people in my life who do not understand SLD. Sadly, many of these people have been teachers. I wish I could say that the teachers and symptoms of misunderstanding was a thing of the dim ages when the understandings of SLDs were first coming out. However, I cannot. I can, with great joy, say that there are a lot more teachers who have some understanding and are trying new things to help.

It is not that we cannot learn something. It is that we learn differently. We have such a range of abilities that you have to give the “normal people” a little slack. (For you normal people who are reading this, let me try to help you understand what I mean. All those who have an SLD, pardon me for just a second. Here is an example. Imagine a fourteen-year-old child entering High School. Now imagine that he has the handwriting skills of a fourth grader and the spelling abilities of a sixth grader. Do you have that image in your head? Now, for the kicker: he has the math skills and the understanding of science and history of someone in college. He also has the reading comprehension of a person who should have their PhD. This is what I mean. In case someone thinks I created this fictional person as an example—it was me at age fourteen.)

Ok, back to you SLD friends and those who might be reading this blog to see what they can do to help. I mentioned that I ran into some horrible teachers. I did and I can write pages about what they did. I won’t. It is the teachers and the others I have met in my life who have been the cheerleaders that are and must be the most important. They have faith in you when you do not have faith in yourself. Hang on to them. Stay in contact if you can and when you are feeling down, turn to them AND LISTEN.

3. Never stop working at it

People often comment on how I have so many facts in my head or that I never accept where I am, but push myself too hard. What they may not realize and I will admit now is that for me, that is survival. I never stop learning and I never stop finding ways to keep myself improving. I do not limit this to trying to improve my handwriting, spelling, and writing in general. This is also applied to my study of martial arts—which sometimes means I am doing things on injuries that I shouldn’t—or to my personal development in other areas that I am already good at.

Many people become “life-long learners” because they like learning. Don’t let anyone take away your desire to explore and to learn. Don’t let the drug dealers and gangs hook you because you feel like an outsider or cannot be successful. Don’t let the bad teachers keep you down. For you and for me, “life-long learning” is a survival trait.

Let me tie this to point number 1. Take the following words out of any personal philosophy you may have: surrender and retreat. You cannot afford them. You can never surrender, never retreat, never give up, never stop trying to improve yourself. If you do, those who want to pigeon hole you into a role less than you are will succeed. Further, if you don’t have one, get a library card and use it until it falls apart and then get another and another and so on.

If you don’t like learning, it is how you have been trying to learn. Don’t stop trying other ways.

4. Understand that the problem will always be with you and show up when you don’t want it to. Learn to work around it.

I have an uncle who was a great teacher. However, several years ago he and I had a discussion on SLD and Attention Deficit. He said that we grow out of the problems. I wish that was true.

The truth of the myth is that we learn to adapt. What personally annoys me with my SLD—ok, one of the many things that annoy me—is that I can spell a word a thousand times, and then I can’t spell it again. It is often an easy word. I look at my SLD like an annoying cough. It pops up when you do not want it to. In some cases there is nothing you can do about it (for example: if you are taking a test). In everyday life have your methods and tools to get around these times at your fingertips.

What methods and tools am I talking about? Keep reading.

5. Make your best friend the Thesaurus

Unfortunately, schools teach how to use the dictionary before they teach the thesaurus. Yet, I do not know how it could be taught any other way. I have learned that with my spelling problem I can recognize the word when I see it (thus the high reading ability) but I cannot spell it worth a darn. I can turn to a good thesaurus and find what I am looking for by looking up a word that has a similar meaning.

6. Make your second best friend the Dictionary

If the thesaurus fails you, turn to the dictionary. Finding words you are having trouble spelling are harder this way, because you need a sense of how to spell those words. If you are not too far “off the mark”, it can be a quick hunt. For myself, I can be way off the mark and the hunt can be VERY time consuming.

7. Find a way to taste success and hunger for more

One thing you need to do is find a way to be successful at something. For me I tasted success through the Boy Scouts and through Karate. From these two things, I learned what I needed mentally to keep myself going and to keep at it. I graduated from High School, college and even obtained a Master’s degree. (Not bad for someone who was told by the horrible teachers he should drop out of middle school and high school.) I had some great leaders in scouts who kept me going and pushed me to Eagle. If I had not reached my Eagle Scout rank before I was fourteen I do not know if I would have had the same hunger to prove myself as I went though High School and college.

8. Use a computer

You are living in a great age for those with SLD. Because of my handwriting, I started to learn to type on an old manual typewriter when I was in first grade. That was the first intervention that I had, and it was before I was diagnosed with my SLD. Obviously, it did not have spell check, grammar check or allow me to move paragraphs from one place to another.

The computer word processing programs today do. Use them! A note of caution: Use them, but do not rely on them 100%. They do make mistakes. Always trust the thesaurus, the dictionary, and a good book on grammar.

9. See if your symptoms go beyond just the academics

I am not sure if the physical aspects of my SLD are the same or similar to others. I would have to turn that question over to the experts, like Dr. Tonya who wrote the original comment. However, when I was diagnosed with my SLD, I also had many problems with balance and hand-eye coordination issues. If you have a SLD or your child does, I would recommend checking to see if there is anything beyond the classroom that needs to be assessed. This can be done by asking for a referral for an Occupational Therapy (for the hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills) and/or Physical Therapy (poor coordination) evaluation .

Now, an example of how these “beyond the academics” issues applied in the classroom: Part of my difficulty was that I could not transfer information from the blackboard to my paper. I could read the blackboard. I could read my notepaper. I simply could not take down the notes from the board to my paper. What did I do? Follow me for one more step.

10. Find the things that can help you improve

I had to have quite a few interventions and I still use many of them. I do not know if all those with reading or written expression LDs have these issues, but just in case here are some things that help me.

A. You need emotional support from family and close friends who try to understand what you are going through;

B. A thesaurus

C. A dictionary

D. A book on grammar

E. If you want to write like I do, find friends who are good editors. Use them, listen to them, and appreciate them—and make sure they know you do;

F. Summer school is a good thing, not a bad thing—do it even if you do not need it, it will help ;

G. Outside tutors - I would recommend getting someone who can work with your SLD;

H. Constantly work on improving yourself (don’t just focus on the areas of your SLD, but work on those harder)

I. A blackboard and mechanical chalk holder to practice handwriting;

J. A balance beam;

K. A balance board;

L. A laptop or desktop computer with a good word processor on it (and keep the spell check and grammar check on—but remember it does not catch everything);

M. Pen or pencil grips (I wish I knew what they were called, but they look like little pyramids );

N. Some type of desk or way to slant any writing surface you need so that it is at a comfortable slope (Flat desks hinder my handwriting);

O. Read and read and read some more (if reading is your SLD—Audio books are great! I use them and I love to read. At worse, get a book and read along as best as you can with the audio book, even if you can’t get very far. You will still get the book through the audio book. Oh, one note: Try to get the unabridged versions of audio books);

P. Never give up on yourself (I know how hard that can be—all too well);

Q. Play video games daily (but not into excess of homework and exercise) to develop hand-eye coordination (I had to do a half hour a day minimum);

R. Get involved in a sport like karate, fencing, boxing and so forth were you can develop on your own at your own speed and improve your hand-eye coordination.

S. Get into something where you can be successful (for me that was Boy Scouts and karate. For you it may be something else) and can take that success to other parts of your life;

T. In school, you will have to take a foreign language. I learned in college that I was a lot better at the non-European languages (especially in writing—what little I can write in Chinese or Japanese is a lot easier to read than what I handwrite in English) than I was at the European. You may want to explore it and see how you do;

U. Finally, never allow someone to put you down for your SLD.

Thank you for reading, even if you do not have a SLD in written expression or reading. If you do or if someone special to you does, I hope this response to Dr. Tonya’s question was helpful.

I may have a SLD in written expression, but I refuse to let it put a collar and chain on my muse. I will keep up my battle in order to do what I dream. Won’t you join me?

Please also visit my other blogs and www.davidalanlucas.com

Due to some special circumstances the fiction and Coffee with David blog will not be updated today. Please look again tomorrow and thank you for reading. Also, please visit www.davidalanlucas.com. The website will be updated as of 9:30 CT with some new information.

Good evening! Let me put away the microphone so I can join you for a cup of coffee. Please do not worry that I was singing karaoke. The United States Supreme court ruled that my singing was not allowed under the Constitution. While my caterwauling may normally be protected under the First Amendment regarding free speech, it was ruled to be a violation of Eighth Amendment for cruel and unusual punishment.

Tonight was the Saint Louis Writers Guild open mic night at Wired Coffee. Two of the readers, both women, discussed how changes in their lives drew them away from the person whom they were into someone whom their souls did not recognize. Listening to them both, I was reminded of my own journey back to the passion of my soul—the weaving of fiction.

There is an unverified tradition that the aborigines in Australia reportedly have. The British settlers called the tradition “Walkabout.” I have read many definitions and descriptions of what a walkabout was. My thoughts about it and how it relates to this posting is the following description: As we journey through life we sometimes come to a fork in or path. We decide to go down one road and our true selves (or soul) go down the other. We find ourselves trapped in a person we do not recognize or want to be. It is then that we must leave our daily lives, the routine we are accustomed to, and go on a walkabout. We go off to retrace our journey until one day we find the part of ourselves that we lost. We sit down with that part and discuss what has happened and the journey we have taken. We talk and argue until there are no words left to say. When that happens there will no longer be two of us, but one reunited.

Now, of course I do not believe that there really is another person walking this earth that looks and is me. But I found myself on my own walkabout over the last several years. I finally met myself again not long ago. We had our discussions and our arguments. Now I am pursuing my true self and dreams.

Are you? Have you had your own walkabout? Would you please share?

Good evening. Have a seat, pour yourself a cup of coffee (or whatever) and please excuse me as I crawl back from under the blankets after watching a surprisingly scary movie last night. I had rented “Death of a Ghost Hunter” this weekend. The premise sounded good, but I expected it to be low budget and campy. It was anything but campy. After moments into it, I had gooseflesh all over and could not tear myself from the screen. What is the movie about? I have copied the following description from Netflix:

Death of a Ghost Hunter (2007) NR: Twenty years after minister Joseph Masterson and his family were slaughtered inside their home, noted ghost hunter Carter Simms (Patti Tindall) is offered $5,000 to investigate the residual paranormal activity in the house -- with shocking results. Director Sean Tretta's spine-tingling low-budget flick was an official selection at the Phoenix Film Festival and took home the Best Screenplay prize from the 2007 New York City Horror Film Festival.

With this, let me share with you that I do believe in ghosts. Why do I believe? I have had four (4) encounters. Three of them were partial or full body apparitions and the fourth was a presence. One time I was very young (probably around age five or six); another could have been a dream when I was in my early teens; and another was as a teenager on Taum Sauk Mountain.

Let me describe what happened on the fourth.

It was October 1994. I was engaged and my fiancée and I were house hunting in Maplewood. I am not going to disclose the location of the house that was involved out of respect for the owners of that house. We arrived at this cute one story house with our real estate agent. He let us in. The interior was pretty, homey, well kept. However, I sensed a feeling of oppression. I could not put my finger on it at first. It was a sense of anger at an intruder and a strong desire for us to leave.

I started to say something about not being interested, and my fiancée (who I would marry and later, due to some problems in the marriage, divorce) started to say the same thing. Our real estate agent should have just let us leave at that time, but for whatever his reasons (I think this is the seventh or eighth house we had seen) insisted that we at least look around. We consented surprisingly and dutifully followed the man through the home.

The house was advertised as a two-bedroom home, but in my opinion, it really was not. There was a space that was used for maybe a reading nook and had a folding door top mark it as a separate room. Perhaps it could have been a nursery, but had we purchased the house we would have had to move before any babies would have been too far past the walking stage.

The hostility we felt followed us from room to room. It was not as oppressive as it had been when we first entered. Rather I felt that the presence was annoyed, but being patient. Maybe, if it was an “intelligent entity” it realized we were not going to buy the place. I do not know. We descended into the basement. It ran the length of the house. The basement was unfinished but could easily have been. Again, the presence became stronger and I could feel the hostility grow. I do not know why. All I do know is that soon we finished the tour of the basement and walk back up the stairs and out of the house. As soon as we were outside, the feeling of hostility was gone.

I asked while we drove to see the next house if our agent knew why the home was for sale. Apparently clueless to my reason, he casually informed us that the previous owner had been an elderly woman who had passed away and was found a day or two later. We went to view other homes that day and neither my fiancée nor I said a word about the hostile presence. Later that night, she and I went to dinner. I do not remember how the topic was raised, but we both began to share and verify the other’s sense of a presence at the house.

That is one of my experiences. Have you ever experienced anything like this? Do you believe in ghosts and haunting? Please share your experience, debunking, believe, or disbelieve. All are invited.

Good evening. Please ignore the shovel in my hand. I have been spending all day digging myself out of my back log of things to do after the overwhelming calendar of events this weekend. Please pour yourself a coffee, have a seat and forgive my absence these last few days.

While my absence has torn me away from you, my readers (and I know I have 150 of you, just not very many commenting, which is fine—just don’t be shy if you do want to say something or send a hello), I would not have given up a moment of the time I spent with karate, writing, and work friends this whirlwind of a few days. Looking at my event calendar for this weekend, I am reminded of my friend Rick’s often quoted comment about me: “You have so many irons in the fire that if I didn’t see the smoke, I would swear there was no fire left.”

I have always lived under an tremendous mountain of projects that somehow I manage to complete. Maybe it is the attention deficit in me that causes the desire to have so many things going at once, while the hyperactive disorder allows me to jump freely along the masts and riggings of each ship to unfurl the sheets and set the project to sail its course. After all, as I have described the desire to write to be a gift and a curse, why cannot my curses be also gifts? We are each given things in our lives that can be perceived as a gift or a curse. But, why must they be either? Why must we divide things so cut and dry? Why must it be either gift or curse, black or white, Democrat or Republican, us or them? Have you ever sat and wondered why we must classify thing as this or that?

In some cases, I am thankful we do. It makes picking out novels to read or movies to watch easier. Yet, when it comes to the journey of life, must we be so base as to classify everything in one way or other? Why not accept those things we have in our lives as a part of our lives, take what we see has handicaps and use them as strengths?

I have talked briefly of myself. Let me briefly share a story about someone else. She is a young woman in her mid-twenties. I met her when we both studied karate. She was amazing to watch, but what I found even more fascinating is how she could draw. She had the eye for detail and the soul of an artist. She sells her art and is doing well from what I hear. The amazing thing is--she was born with no hands and draws or paints only using her wrists. I have stood in awe thinking of how I could describe her process in words without sounding like I was writing some ancient Greek hero myth. You could say she was born with both a curse and a gift. Her gift found its way to come out despite her curse, and for that the world (or our little corner of it) is enriched.

Do you have anything that you once saw as a handicap, but have found that you were able to overcome and achieve despite of or because of it? Would you care to share?

Also, please visit the other blogs and www.davidalanlucas.com

Good evening!

I must apologize for not posting a “Coffee with David” yesterday. I found myself super swamped with two events that happened last night, one of which is going to be the source topic of tonight’s blog. So, have a seat, pour you a cup of coffee (or whatever) and please pour me a Mayan mocha. I just need to finish kicking on this karate bag out of frustration.

Last night I was told by a friend of something that occurred to her that every writer I know fears. Someone had taken a piece they wrote and “reportedly” used it as their own. I know the person she is accusing of it and I don’t believe they did. So it is a mess at this time. The paralegal in me is being very legal minded as I write this, because I don’t know enough at this time to prove or disprove someone actually did infringe on a copyright. Instead I want to discuss the fear that many (if not all) writers have about copyright infringements.

Let’s face it, people make copies of things they should not all the time. The copy could be a photocopy or it could be an illegal download or ripped copy of a movie. Sometimes people do not even think about what they are doing or feel that what they are doing is a non-victim crime. I will not blog on the legal aspects of this, except to say one last comment: regardless if it is copyrights or something else, the idea of any crime being victimless is as much as a myth as unicorns.

I know some writers send their works to others to read and help prepare the final draft of whatever manuscript they worked on. I do it. I have a huge problem catching my own mistakes, as some readers have seen on my blogs (blogs go through 2 or 3 drafts, my stories go through at least 7). I worry when I send my manuscript out to people to read for fear that something can go astray and my story can be stolen by someone else. I trust those who read for me, but anything can happen.

There have been some successful novels and movies made from stolen works of others. Writers spend their time writing. Our ink is our blood, our tears, our frustrations, and our sacrifice to the art. We give up time to be with friends and family to be tied to our muse. We take vacations from our bill paying jobs to sit and write. We write when we are sick—there is no real sick time for a writer. We live with the concern that someone will take our work and try to make it their own. It is not a victimless crime. Somewhere someone sacrificed something to create the art that was stolen.

Good evening! Let me put away my surveillance cameras, microphones and other gear so I can join you in a cup of coffee. While I am behind on my writing right now, I do have one of my crime dramas in mind, thus the gear.

I am not going to discuss writing so much today as overcoming obstacles. We all have them. They can be the lack of time needed to write or the resources we need to get published. Sometimes it is the lack of knowledge on a subject or lack of knowledge about the market. I haven’t even begun to look at physical obstacles or *gulp* writers block.

I have been dealing with a few obstacles in both my writing life and in my martial art life. If you do not know (see “The Genesis of a Writer and a Martial Artist”, 10/09/2008 in the Fiction Blog) I am a Nidan or second degree Black Belt as well as a writer. The study of martial arts is almost as important to me as the study of fiction writing. A few months ago I had ankle surgery due to a build up of injuries over the years (from martial arts and from other life activities). It has been a long road to recovery with pitfalls and setbacks. I found myself constantly battling depression as I struggled to overcome each stumble. I could have let the stumble put me on the ground and stayed. It is not in me to let it. I may never compete in a tournament due to the injury, but I refused to let these set backs stop me from coming back to karate. Last night, after dealing with one set back for six weeks, I finally returned. I felt rejuvenated when I put on my black gi and belt. I only did the basic workout and did not spar. I am letting my ankle slowly build back up to doing that and taking it day by day.

I am finding that I need to use the same philosophy toward my writing. I am a planner. I like to set my goals and so forth. However, as I have been learning, that is not always the best way to achieve things. (See “A Conversation I Had While in Dallas: What’s the Rush?”, 11/26/2008 ) When I take things slow and steady and achieve a little success along the way, I find myself less stressed and more enthused with what I have rather than feeling the great weight of the world on my shoulders trying to live up to ambitious deadlines. (I am not saying deadlines are not important. I am saying, don’t stop living in the now and enjoy what you have, what you have done, and what you are doing.)

When I find myself overwhelmed with what I am trying to do or I feel that I am failing at what I am doing, I remember a saying that is on a plaque hanging on my wall at home: “Don’t worry if you work hard and your rewards are few. Remember! The mighty oak was once a nut like you!”

There is no one way to overcome an obstacle. The important thing is the decision we make when we are faced with it. Do we try to overcome and risk all to achieve or do we surrender having backed away from a challenge having never tried? I will not say what anyone else should do. For myself, I am just going back to wearing the Black.

Good evening! Have a seat and a cup of coffee. I will turn down the blaring Saint Louis Blues music that is at the heart of a short story I will be writing this week—or at least that is the plan. I am looking at this weeks schedule and cringing at what little time I have to write.

Tonight I want to talk to all of those readers of this blog who are writers “in the making.” Those of you who are established authors, I ask that you please take a moment and add your thoughts and advice.

I consider myself very fortunate to have found and belong to a great writers’ group. I had to search for it and I encountered many groups that seemed to waste my time and others that were not a good fit for me. Yet, I kept looking because I knew I needed the friendship and fellowship of fellow writers. Then one day I struck gold. I found a group that offers so much for all writers. It didn’t matter the age, the experience, or the genre, they are there for everyone one of us writers.

When I started writing, and one of the things that has held me back until now, was not knowing “the ropes of the writing business.” Oh, I read about it. I devoured magazines like Writers Digest, the Writer, and Poets and Writers. If you do not read these magazines and you want to write, I strongly suggest you read Writers Digest and the Writer. I am still like a school boy who has just been blown a kiss by the most beautiful girl in class when these magazines arrive. However, they only took me so far. I found I personally needed to talk and network with other writers who had been there, share encouragement with those who struggle, and really have the door pried open.

In truth, I still do. I am fortunate to have found the Saint Louis Writers Guild (SLWG). It was an accidental discovery. Not every writing group is like them, but I want to share a little about what they have done for me and maybe others who read this blog and want to write can know what possibilities exist. The website to SLWG is www.stlouiswritersguild.org. Take a look at the website and you can see everything I am discussing here.

SLWG has given me monthly workshops that may not always be on the style of writing I do, but I have never walked away without some gem of information that I can use in my writing. It has a lecture every other month that provides the same effect. It has two open mic nights to share our work. It has critique circles and critique partners. It is, as I have mentioned, comprised of writers of all levels and styles. I go to the events looking forward to being able to share and discuss one of the two topics I can spend hours discussing. I have learned more about writing in one year with SLWG than I did in any of my high school or college writing courses. It has taken the core of what I learned from books and magazines on writing and made them the supplement to what I have learned. Writers, editors, and agents are the speakers at our workshops and lectures. Often I come from one of these events and feel that I have attended a mini-writers’ conference.

If you are serious about writing and you don’t know where to start, look for a group like SLWG—or if you are in the Saint Louis Metro area, come to an event or two and see what SLWG offers.