Charlotte Rains Dixon

Good morning! Let’s dive in.

What crisis occurred this morning: I woke to the news that the electric coffee pot was not working.   This was not good. This was very, very bad. I pulled out my phone and looked up the hours of the nearest Starbucks (luckily, we’ve got at least three within a very quick five-minute sprint) while hub plugged and unplugged the pot and pressed the on button repeatedly. It didn’t help. Finally, he had the brilliant idea to boil water and pour it through. That worked. I have coffee.  I will not not murder anybody.

What I’m picking off my computer: Fir needles. It hit 85 degrees here yesterday, a record, and I sat outside beneath the fir tree and worked all afternoon. My computer was also covered in pollen when I came in, like absolutely every horizontal surface in this town. Which is why every human who lives here is sneezing, blowing their nose or itching their eyes, like me.

What I’m working on: I have a ghostwriting project that I’m really enjoying. Its an intense subject, but lots of good ultimately came from it.  We had some wonderful new students at our bi-weekly Wednesday Writers group this week, and we now have a good number sitting around the table talking about writing, all of whom are doing wonderful work. And I have several amazing  students and clients (Hi Mitch, Hi Courtney) who are producing regularly and several working quietly behind the scenes.  At least they better be working. (You know who you are–you’re working, right?)

And workshops–I got workshops! There’s the three-day Mapping Your Novel at Sitka Center in June (which is close to half full), France in September, which is one person away from being full, and COMING RIGHT UP is a workshop here in Portland called How to Write a Book. It is April 23, all day Saturday and it’s going to be a ton of fun, so if you live here, join us.

Oh, wait, what, you want to know what personal projects I’m working on? Well, um, er, I haven’t decided yet. I’ve got so many ideas for novels and stories in my head I’ve had a hard time landing on one. But I think I’m getting closer. I totally kind of drive myself crazy in the between-projects stage.  I can tell you another cool project I’m working on, though. It is going to be a series of prompt journals that I’m very excited about.  I’m creating these with my cousin’s wife Nancy, also known as the Sister-From-Another-Mother.  Look for them to be out soon.

What I’m reading: Honestly, a pretty silly romance.  But the reason I’m reading it is that I’ve realized, duh, that women’s fiction grew out of the romance genre,  so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to go to the roots and see how books are constructed. The bare bones of the structure in a romance makes it easy to parse.

And then there’s a book I’m not really reading, but more using as a reference. It is James Scott Bell’s Revision and Self-Editing for Publication.  But really, it is about a whole lot more than revision. What I like about it is that he has short sections on various topics, such as character, setting, etc., with bullet pointed information that makes it easier to process. There are also longer swaths of exposition, but those are easily ignorable if you are so inclined, as I am. I got this book from the library and I’ve renewed it a couple times but I think someone else now has it on hold and it is overdue. So if you’re the one waiting for it, I’m sorry! I’ll get it back soon.

What I’m doing this weekend: Organizing my office. I know! I’ve said this every Friday for the last few weeks. But I’ve made progress, I swear. (Though if you saw the stacks of boxes on the floor of my office, you might not think so.) Last weekend we got the area where the boxes had been stored cleaned up. And there’s just a few odds and ends left over to move down.  Things I rarely use and thus don’t know what to do with.

I will admit that I spend very little time on the organizing during the week, because I’m so busy and important. That’s a joke, by the way.  But it just always seems that the things I’m working on take priority.  If I were a brave woman, I would share photos of my messy office. But I’m not, so I won’t.

That is absolutely all I have today. What’s up with you?

Are you an adulterer when it comes to creativity?

I am.  Here’s a brief list of some of the creative arenas I sometimes dabble in (dabble being the key word): knitting, stitching, painting, art journaling, collage, weaving, mosaic.

Okay, nix on the mosaic. Somewhere in this house I have a bunch of ceramic shards but God only knows where they might be. But I like the idea of it.  As for the other things on the list, the activity I do with regularity is knitting, and beyond that it is a once in a blue moon thing to find me painting or collaging.

When I do these things, I love them. And set me up on Ravelry, a website for knitters and crocheters, and I can waste hours looking around.  I love to dream big.  But how many actual knitting projects do I get done each year? Oh, maybe one or two if I’m lucky.

I think this is because I sometimes feel guilty pursuing any creative art besides writing.  For some reason, I often feel I should be pouring every ounce of my creativity into writing and writing alone. And yet the people I admire the most are those who excel in one creative area, yet happily continue to ply other crafts.

What about you? Maybe you love photography, or cooking, or creating model train layouts. Or taking a foreign language. Or any number of creative activities. But how often do you stop yourself from taking time for them, thinking instead, I need to go write. When you do take time for a hobby do you look over your shoulder, terrified your writing is going to discover you at work on, gasp, something else?

One of the things I loved most about The Artist’s Way from Julia Cameron  is that she actively encourages creatives to indulge in all sorts of hobbies.  (And by the way, if you haven’t read that book in a while, consider pulling it off your shelf. I was just paging through it, remembering how wonderful and seminal a volume it is.)

So herewith is my list of my you should be a creative adulterer:

Because doing so actually fills the well from which we draw to write.  In the same vein as taking an Artist’s Date, giving yourself time to doodle or paint or draw a garden plan fills up your inner well and gives you more energy to write.

Because it will give your poor brain a break.  If yours is anything like mine, it needs one once in a while. When I’m trying to do too much I end up in a massively confused state and then I don’t get anything done.

Because a creative hobby is intentional rest.  We so easily succumb to what Jennifer Loudon  calls shadow comforts.  We don’t take time to read the book that’s been on our nightstand for a month, but we’ll happily spend half-an-hour on the internet. The first choice would result in a relaxing mental break, while the second is a bona-fide shadow comfort.  For an absolutely brilliant article on this concept, click here.

Because turning your writing into a should is a sure way to make you hate it. And when you are not allowing yourself any other kind of relaxation or fun besides writing, sure enough you’re turning it into a should.  Hey, this craft is hard—we might as well enjoy it, right?

Because good ole fashioned play is something we need more of in our lives. Studies have shown that play has great benefits for adults, including, stress relief, improved brain function, improved relationships and increased energy.  You can read more here.

So come on, take a break for your writing and indulge in that favorite hobby of yours. (And by the way, this may be the only time I ever urge you not to write, so take advantage of it.)

What is your favorite non-writing creative pursuit?  Comment below and join the conversation.

Photo by Missa88.

My brain is like a boggy swamp.

How I’m Feeling: The title of this post. I’m in a mind miasma.  I finished the rough draft of my novel, which was such a non-event it barely even registered. No glowing feeling of satisfaction or bragging to family and friends. I just quietly wrote the last word, fell on my office floor and cried “Thank you, God!” as I genuflected. Not really, but I am glad to be done with it.  I just know the rewrite is a huge job and I’m putting it on the back burner for the moment.

I have projects galore that I’m excited about. The whole time I worked on the novel all I could think about was how I wanted to be done so I could move onto the new things. And then I finished–and suddenly the new things aren’t so shiny any more.  Mind miasma. Does that ever happen to you? It does to me all the time when I finish something.  It means I just need to take some time off and give my brain a rest.

What I’m Excited About:  We’ve had a couple more people sign up for the France retreat and that’s made me think about it anew and get excited. If you are at all interested, now is the time to raise your hand because slots are filling fast.  You can reply to this email if you’ve got a yen to write in the south of France come September.

But maybe you don’t want to go so far? How about three days at the Oregon coast? Registration for my Sitka workshop is open, and several wonderful people have already committed. The workshop is called Mapping the Novel and it is going to be a ton of fun.  Here’s the link.

What I’m Disappointed In: My knitting. I went to Knit Night on Wednesday with only one project which was a big mistake because I ended up ripping it out and then I didn’t have anything to knit so I had to go home early. Ever since then, my knitting has been kind of like my writing: all my fun, shiny projects seem dull and boring.  Maybe I’m in a creative slump. Nah. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the eons and eons I’ve been a writer, its that creativity is a process. And part of that process is ebbs and flows. Right now I just have to be in an ebb.

What I’m Obsessing About: Organization.  Not macro-wise, but mini-wise. As in, should I put those notes I want to take about that book on index cards, the computer, or a min-binder? The issue is ease of retrieval, as in, where will I be able to find them again? (This is my the desktop of my computer is covered with icons–out of sight, out of mind.) Yeah, such are the things I worry about when I’m not writing.  Which is why it is VERY GOOD that most times I am writing. Because I drive myself bat shit crazy when I’m not.

What the Weather is Like: It is full-on spring here, sunny, a light breeze, 70 degrees, everything that blooms or has ever thought of blooming is abloom. There is no place better on the planet than Oregon in the springtime. But whatever you do, don’t move here.  We can’t take many more people! The population is expected to increase by another 50% by 2020 and already our housing prices have increased higher than anywhere else in the country. Trying to buy a house in Portland these days is about as easy as training a cat or selling a book.

What’s up with you?

Photo from freerangestock.

Yeah, the title has nothing to do with the content of this post, but everything to do with how I’m feeling.  It is a perfect spring day in Oregon and here are some of the great links I’ve read this past week, or maybe a little longer.

Writing

Your hero embodies the theme.

Fiction triggers-where do ideas come from?

Oh, right. And then there’s that matter of talent.

Make writing that first draft easier. (I could have used this with my just-finished mess WIP.)

Keeping goals and writing fresh.

How to show internal dialogue. (Please read this if you are a writer who loves to put thoughts in italics.)

If, like me, you are obsessed with the never-ending quest for the perfect journal,