Show notes
Announcements: Registration is open for the 2024 Writer Craft Writing Retreat and Workshop in Marcola, Oregon. At this point, there is only four private tickets left and three shared tickets. We'll likely sell out again. ValerieIhsan.com/retreat for more info. UPDATE: Valerie: meditation: Balance app updating website slowly pitch conferences (Accountability for Authors)(What could I teach?) Erick: ice storm cabin fever novella in Strange Air series on 2nd draft still developing second series; plotting from beginning to end Happy Birthday! (48) Just finished: Ma and Me by Putsata Reang I'M READING: What's a Poor Girl to Do?: Prostitution in Mid-Nineteenth Century America by Elizabeth A. Topping Praying with Jane Eyre by Vanessa Zoltan The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo Up Next: The Creative Act by Rick Rubin Erick's Reading: A Prayer for the Crown Shy Anna's reading: Dortmuder novels (Donald Westlake) Show Notes: Bio: Anna Willman has been a certified Focusing Trainer since 1982. She has a Master’s degree in International Studies from Claremont Graduate School and a Master’s in Comparative Politics from Columbia University. She was a Fulbright Scholar in Zagreb, Yugoslavia, in 1971 and 1972. She retired in 2008 after fourteen years as director of the Confidence Clinic, a Focusing-oriented community wellness program for women. Since retirement she has written extensively about the program’s history, its philosophy and practice, and its outcomes. She has also written and published six novels and a humorous short story about disappointed expectations. Our bodies hold our experiences in its cells. You feel your emotions in your body. (Pain, etc.) It starts like meditation, but with focusing you create an inner space and listen to Self and garner wisdom from it. Shift = noticing how to carry my experience of past trauma TODAY. It's always healing. The shift that happens is a big sigh of relief. Because now you know. A Knowing. A Clarity. A way to heal and understand yourself better. Your characters also (as they become more and more real) have past experiences that they feel in their bodies. Select a character (problem, won't do what I want, motivation issues, or discomfort with the character). Slow down and relax, feel your chair, your feet, aware of body, notice rhythm of your breathing, ... Bring your character into your body, see if you can sense your character's discomfort in a situation. Can you feel your character's body? Do they notice what they are feeling? Any physical discomfort? Sit with the experience. How is your character physically feeling it? Where is it? What is the quality of the sensation--lethargic, energetic, restless? Does it have a color? Soft, hard, loose, tight? What words can you use to describe it? When you have a strong sense of it, how does your character respond to it? If it is painful, how do they escape it? Hide from it? Run away? Whimper? What is their normal response? Do they have to respond out of their ordinary? Is this a normal response to them or brand new? Given nature of your plot, pause and write down the words about how character is feeling, etc. How aware are they showing their feeling? Show not tell. Write what they do. Is there an awakening for them? How do they act afterwards? Sit with your char, let your body feel your char's body, write down everything (even if it doesn't make sense), ask "What else?" Listen with compassion and curiosity. You want to understand. Not judging. If you do, your character will clam up on you. If I let characters do what they want to do, instead of plotting it, they get where I want them to be regardless, usually. (Anna) Use when you have limited actionable responses for characters. Deepen the char, improve the writing, character's interact with each other is more Real. Use this to develop metaphors. Loose Ends (novel Anna wrote with the serial killer character) Kaleidoscope (novel Anna wrote about focusing and D.I.D.) (Whole Body Focusing.) Anna's Amazon page with all her titles. Focusing Initiatives International: webinars (check for any workshops Anna does). Next Episode: How to Use Your Local Library as an Author Resource Find Us: Valerie's Linktree: https://linktr.ee/valerieihsan Erick's Linktree link: https://linktr.ee/erickmertzauthor Writer Craft Facebook Group Valerie’s Services: https://valerieihsan.com Valerie’s Author Site: https://valerieihsanauthor.com Valerie’s Facebook Page and Instagram account Erick’s Services: https://erickmertzwriting.com Erick’s free book on Ghostwriting: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/cexki4kp5n Erick’s Author Site: https://erickmertzauthor.com Erick’s Facebook Page and Instagram account Patreons: https://patreon.com/valerieihsan https://patreon.com/strangeairmysteries Tools: Passion Planner: https://passionplanner.rfrl.co/e86j8 (affiliate link) Discount Code: VALERIE150 ProWriting Aid: https://prowritingaid.com/?afid=9378 (affiliate link) Resources: "How to write an eavesdropping scene" on Erick's blog Reading Critique Group for Writers FB Group (Jennie Komp's group) 3 Bird View FB page (Jennie Kemp's business page) Author XP (marketing for authors) (bi-monthly promotions) Raven Publicity (publicity for authors) The Shades of Orange (Rachel, Book Blogger on YouTube) for book recommendations SF/Fantasy/Horror Contact Erick for business-starting advice or building a website. Contact Valerie for author coaching. Thomas Umstattd Jr, at Novel Marketing Podcast. Ep255: How to Create an Email Onboarding Drip Campaign Russell P. Nohelty and Monica Leonelle's book, Get Your Book Selling on Kickstarter. Balance meditation app. Book Recs for writing/creativity/business: Thinking in Pictures by John Sayles Some of the Books We've Read This Year: Nejishiki Yoshiharu (Erick) Ma and Me by Putsana Reang (Valerie) The Weird and Eerie Children of Ruin