The unexpected joys of writing (or – don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty!)

As some of you know, I’m in the middle of writing a story for Amber Quill that features an orgy. Yikes! I definitely had days in the beginning where I wondered what the heck I was thinking. After several starts and tosses (which tend to be how I write) I finally found my stride and am having fun with it.

My female protagonist in the story, Mia, is a sculptor, and throughout the course of the story there are scenes from a clay pottery class she’s teaching. Now, I probably haven’t actually worked with clay since high school art class. Of course, like many writers, I turned to the internet for information and a few of the details. Working with my critique group, I had an interesting comment from someone. Need more details in the class – more ‘showing’, less ‘telling’ (and all the writers out there know, if we had a nickel, or even a penny, from every time someone told us that, etc etc).

Time to do some research. I’ve always been nervous about doing research. I’m a bit uncomfortable with calling up someone and saying ‘hi, I’m a fiction writer and I need some details on what you do.’ Fortunately, however, I’ve been listening to Anne Lamott and her wonderful book ‘Bird by Bird’ and lecture based on the book ‘Word by Word’. I recommend them highly if you need some inspiration. In both of those, she liberally encourages writers to pick up the phone and call experts in the field to get information.

So, fortified with my Anne Lamott-inspired courage, I found a local pottery studio, called the owner, and set up an appointment to spend an evening with them. I had an amazing time. I do find writers, artists, and musicians always mix well, so that probably helped. I was able to observe the processes, look at tools and ask their names, talk to people about their triumphs and failures, and get my questions answered about timelines and the glazing process (no, it’s not realistic to expect people to mold with clay and get their pieces fired and glazed over the one week course of my story!). I watched people throw pots on wheels, trim, add handles, mold over bowls and add textures, and braid extruded coils. A wonderful woman making garden spikes took me through her process step by step and had me use rubber stamps to imprint the names of the plants – trickier than it looked.

Will I use everything I learned in the story – of course not. But it was a very worthwhile trip, in three ways. 1. People love to talk about what they do – don’t be afraid to ask. 2. I got a much better sense of the art I’m working with, and that will infuse my scenes so they don’t scream stupid. And 3. (most important) For heaven’s sakes, do your research first! I’d create a sign that says that and post it by my computer, but I’m sure I won’t forget the time I’m now spending rewriting my pottery class scenes.

Contest note – If you like this blog (or even if you just read it!) leave me a comment. Everyone leaving a comment on my blogs during May will be entered in a draw for a $10 Amber Quill Press gift certificate, one entry per comment.

-Kelsey Lewis
Shamelessly erotic
www.kelsey-lewis.com

Turn off the screens and make your kids bored!

Yesterday I witnessed a sight that took my breath away – my thirteen year old son, who is probably clinically borderline ADHD but who we like to call ‘spirited’ – sitting on the couch, lost in … a book! A real live very thick fantasy paperback! I had to grab a wall so as not to drop to the ground. (If he had been aware of me he would have rolled his eyes and said ‘oh Mom!’ – but he wasn’t)

What brought on this completely out-of-character behavior from my child, who tells me over and over he hates to read? A little creative parental discipline. We had one too many disagreements with a teacher over whether homework is optional (my son thinks it is, the teachers and parents not so much), so we put in place a ‘to the end of the term’ restriction – no more TV or recreational computer during the school week. It’s a restriction we’ve used off and on over the years with my kids, depending upon attention to school work and parental time and energy to monitor it. My hope, of course, was that then they would have more time and mental energy to remember and do their homework. That’s been a hit or miss effect. The unintended, surprise outcome (which I probably should have expected) was that, they’re bored, unused as they are to finding entertainment that didn’t involve planting themselves in front of a screen and letting someone else take over their minds.

Boredom in children, I find, is a good thing, a necessary thing. Because everyone can only take so much boredom. In their search to relieve it, they’ll do a lot of things they wouldn’t normally do, or wouldn’t do a lot of – read, practice instruments, play board games. These activities, let’s face it, take more effort, more engagement, and more mental energy, especially for the ‘flickers’ generation. I find if you ask them to do these things, while they’re in front of a screen, or when being in front of a screen is an option, you often get a fight, and a lot of edginess. It’s amazing how the fight goes away, and the edginess eases, not just when you turn the screens off, but when the option is removed.

I’ll end with a story about the musical family Leahy, one of the most amazing phenomena I’ve ever witnessed. They’re a wonderful family of musicians, 11 children, who grew up near where we used to live in Ontario. If you ever get a chance to see them in your area, run, don’t walk, to the ticket booth. They all play multiple instruments and step-dance, often at the same time. Various combinations of 8 or 9 of them perform together at any one time. Can you imagine keeping that many kids occupied growing up? I can’t. But I do know that they grew up dancing and practicing music on their farm – with no TV. Makes me think a lot.

So I’m not advocating throwing out the TV (I admit I’d be lost without my Buffalo Bills in the Fall!), but I am advocating keeping a weathery eye out for an reason to turn it off for planned amounts of time. Nothing like a questionable report card or over-curfew transgression as an excuse to say – ‘okay, turning the screens off during the week’. Maybe your kids will get bored too, and surprise you with how they decide to fill their newly found time.

-Kelsey Lewis
Shamelessly Erotic
www.kelsey-lewis.com