Magic Cottage Creations

Magic Cottage Creations
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November 28, 2019

Writing Mind

By Maryanna Gabriel


I have been struggling with some of the teaching that I am getting which seems to be pretty universal as a writing goes these days. We aren't supposed to say things like "she said sadly" we are supposed to make it like on-screen drama and show that she is sad with props and body language, "...her eyelid twitched as the wind moaned against the shutters"
. We also aren't supposed to use adverbs and adjectives, or to at least minimize them, which is a bit like eliminating half the English language. I am having a tough time with some of these rules. There is a lot of referencing to Hemingway's style and writing like him. I find myself gritting my teeth (see how I tell you how I feel instead of showing you - yikes).

I work at my dining room table. I try really hard to keep papers under control. If I have to do something for the house I switch to the other end of the table and if I am journaling or writing letters I move to my desk which is an elegant piece of furniture but there is no heater there. My house is like a kleenex box so getting up in the early morning I perch over one one of the heaters and hove to. I seem to think best in the quiet of the dark, and as the light comes into the sky, I remember I have to do things like eat and move my body about. It is a bit-by-bit thing, while negotiating self talk that entails questions like, why am I doing this again? I have grown used to it and am getting better at ignoring the peanut gallery chit chat and am just getting on with it.