Outtakes 89

Alternatives

By Cait Collins

There are times when no matter how hard I try, I cannot shift from my day job to my job as a writer. Long hours, stress, and continued interruptions can and will disrupt concentration and creativity. Just because the new pages don’t come does not mean a writer shouldn’t use writing time productively. These are my suggestions.

• Free write. Turn off your internal editor and write non-stop for ten to fifteen minutes.
• Write one long sentence. Use pen and paper. Select a topic such as “My first date was…” Do not use any punctuation. Instead use conjunctions and connectors: and, but, so, then, so then, when, neither/nor, either/or, and so, because, etc. Write for five minutes.
• Use your writing time to edit previous chapters or sections in another project. You can accomplish a lot in half an hour.
• Work a crossword puzzle. It’s a good way to work on your vocabulary and spelling.
• Do research for your project. By using this down time to fill in the blanks, you will not need to interrupt your creative process later.
• Catch up on email, submission follow up, and social media. It’s also a good time to update your website and author page.

These are just a few suggestions for keeping your scheduled writing time productive. Down time should never be lost time.

Outtakes 87

Release 3-27-1213

When You Have Nothing To Say

By Cait Collins

I hate saying this, but I have nothing to take out of my mind this week. My thoughts are focused on responding to clients. After nine to ten hours of quoting contract provisions, calculating annual accrued interest, telling a beneficiary the contract was surrendered, and researching contract histories, I’m brain dead. I’m not sure I can write a coherent sentence much less create a well constructed blog.

This is one of those times when it’s best to say little and maintain a semblance of professionalism. Better to be thought a fool, than to type gibberish and remove all doubt. Less can be more. And if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Fake it til you make it. Wow, how many more clichés can I drop into this paragraph before I prove my mind is not functioning?

Writers prove their lack of vocabulary and ability to construct a story when the work is filled with clichés. While lines like “when hell freezes over” might be appropriate once in an entire novel, repeated over-used phrases ruin the work. Be creative. Instead of saying “you are not a blip on my radar” try “you’re not even a speed bump in my road.” Better yet, “and you are…?” All three indicate the character is not important to the speaker, but only one escapes sounding common place. Remember when “at the end of the day” was the hot saying. Newsmen, commentators, editorial writers used that line to the point of being irritating. At the end of the day, the writer or speaker showed a lack of originality

Used sparingly, some clichés might spice up your project. Just remember your original lines are better. Use your words instead of the old and tired.

Outtakes 86

Snap Shot

By Cait Collins

I didn’t realize how important old photographs were until I began writing TABLES, a series of stories about growing up as a Baby Boomer. The 50’s and 60’s were exciting times.  Lifestyles were so different back then. Family was important and so was picture taking. My photo albums witness the advances in photographic technology. My skills improved with each new camera I purchased. But cameras are not the issue. The picture, the snap shot is the subject of the Outtake.

I’ve been flipping through photo albums searching for more inspiration for my stories. Each shot brings back memories of my youth. The colors and scenes fill in blanks in my memory. Some spark memories that make me laugh or bring a tear to the eye. The pictures serve as a history of my family and the life we shared.

As valuable as the prints are for my current work, they also trigger story ideas. Take the photograph of my older sister getting ready for her wedding. She’s rolling her long auburn hair on super-sized rollers. Disappointed in the style she received at the salon, she started over. But what if we change the situation? The young lady has a date with a new guy. A friend arranged the meeting in hopes the couple might hit it off. One of the duo harbors a dark secret. The other approaches the evening with anticipation. Maybe this new person is the one.

What if Mr. New Guy arrives carrying a box of chocolates and a long stem yellow rose? And then, instead of giving his date the gifts, he gives them to her mother. So when she sees how he honors her mom, she decides to give him more than a passing glance. Maybe she feels a twinge of jealousy. Mom is not that old and she’s still a beautiful woman. What is he’s more interested in her mother than he should be? Let’s suppose he plans to play one woman against the other. Or maybe Mom is his mother; the woman who abandoned him at birth. He accepted the date with his sister to get close to the woman who threw him away. Hurting the sister is his way of getting back at Mom. However, the older woman doesn’t really care about her daughter’s feelings. She has her own agenda. Our young lady is not so innocent. She’s going out with her friend’s friend in order to get out of the house and meet up with her gang member boy friend.

Now we have the start of a story.

Photo albums may not be plentiful in every home, but no writer should miss out on the inspiration of pictures. Post card racks, antique store photo displays, magazines, and craft stores are sources for creative stimulus. Start an album of photographic treasures to help spark or enhance your imagination. One snap shot might actually be worth a thousand words in your story development.

Outtakes 85

Rest in Peace Mr. Mouse

By Cait Collins

I never fully understood the importance of my computer mouse until my company updated my system and provided a new mouse. At first Mr. Mouse seemed happy to have me as an owner, but last week for some unexplained reason, he went rogue. I couldn’t understand his problem. I’d ask for my work list, he’d give me the program manager. “Open search results,” the click commanded, but he gave me the completion page. I spent twenty minutes building a complicated search of provision screens. When I hit print to attaché the screens to my proof package, “Abort Print” flashed on the screen and my twenty minutes of hard work disappeared into cyberspace.

His misdeeds continued when I read my email. I keep my inbox set to sort by date received. I’d open a new email and Mr. Mouse would resort my inbox. Not just once, mind you, but every time I opened a new item he’d jump in and move my purple flags to the bottom of the list, or put old emails on top. Deleting was a real trip. Highlight one item, delete three. I spent my time searching the deleted items folder for the emails I needed to keep. My patience with this rodent was wearing thin. The lyrics of a song from Disney’s Beauty and the Beast kept running through my head. I could hear Gaston inciting the crowd, “Kill the Beast!”

How appropriate.

My manager sensed my frustration. Thinking the problem was related to the mouse’s speed, we applied electronic Prozac in an attempt to slow him down. No luck, he became more diabolical. He attacked my quality review file.

Part of my job requires I review correspondence produced by other team members. The letter I was editing needed some additional information, but the mechanical rodent would not let me insert the phrases. I spent an hour editing a one page document because that hunk of junk kept jumping from one line to the next highlighting text I needed to keep. I had to adjust the margins on this document. Piece of cake. Yeah, right. I could read his mind. “Oh, you want to reduce the top margin to .9. You really want a .7 margin. And the side margins, let’s make those .6. I had to battle the gadget to reset margins.

Fed up with the tomfoolery, I place a call to our help desk. The technician searched for possible solutions, but she couldn’t even find a problem. So she called in a Dell technician. He arrived about 15 minutes later with a new mouse.

“I hear you are threatening to smash your mouse.”

“No, I said I was going to put a bullet in it.”

“You’re not the first person to say that. Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll fix the problem.”

Seconds later, Mr. Mouse was dead. His lifeline disconnected from the energy giving electricity and programming my computer provided.  In his place was a docile, responsive instrument. I could work again.

I thanked the tech for arriving so quickly. He told me it was no problem. He’d take the offensive piece of trash and throw it away.

“You mean I can’t have that honor?”

He handed the mouse to me. “Have at it.”

Kerthunk! My enemy landed in the bottom of my trash can. Throughout the day, I buried that monster under my empty coffee cup, the wrappings from my lunch, and my empty bottle of green tea. How satisfying. We had finally killed the beast.

Outtakes 84

The Choice

By Cait Collins

I was once asked which one of my senses I would be willing to give up.  The choice was mine. Did I want to live without my sight, my hearing, the sense of smell, taste or touch? I didn’t know how to respond then, and I don’t know how I would answer now.

I cannot imagine not seeing another sunrise or watching kids make snow angels. I’d miss the fall colors and baby smiles. Imagine going through life and not hearing the gentle rain fall, the voice of a loved one, a child’s laughter. How I love the smell of fresh baked cookies and the scents of the forest on a spring day.  What if I could not taste the spicy bite of my sister’s enchiladas or the slight bitterness of dark chocolate? Touch might be an obvious choice, but then again I’d never feel the downy softness of a rose petal or the feathery paper birch bark as I peel it from the tree trunk. The choice is more difficult because I’ve been blessed to have all my senses. I know what I would be missing.

Test your writing skills. Your protagonist regains consciousness following an accident. He cannot (see, hear, smell, taste, or feel). You select the lost sense. How does the character react to the news?  Is the loss temporary or permanent? What ordeals and obstacles are faced and battled on the road to recovery?   Try writing the scenes with each of the senses and note the differences in response and recovery depending on the missing sense.

Enjoy the exercise.

Outtakes 83

Blizzard

By Cait Collins

The Texas Panhandle was hit by a blizzard on Monday, February 25. Officially, Amarillo received 19 inches of snow, but the hurricane force winds blew that 19 inches into 2.5 to 7 foot drifts. By mid-morning, roads into and out of the city in all directions were closed. The National Guard was called out to assist first responders in reaching stranded motorists. In some areas, authorities were stopping travelers and sending them back. Motels and hotels were full and shelters were opened. Power was out in some areas of Amarillo. I called my 97-year old friend who was without electricity and heat for a short time. I was terrified when she told me about losing power. Thankfully, she is okay.

My family was lucky. Most of us got a snow day. One sister was at work at 5AM, Her company ordered the closing at 1PM. By this time, she was snowed in the parking lot. Her employees and a couple of patrons helped her out. She made it home about thirty minutes later, but got stuck when she tried to turn into the alley. Another driver stopped and helped her get her vehicle to the side of the road.

The storm has moved on and the clean-up has begun. My sidewalks are clear and the ice and snow removed from my front door. I still have to take care of the drift behind my car and help my sister clear the huge drift behind her car. Her side of the parking lot got the worst of the drifting. We joined a neighborhood dig out. Together, we cleared the snow and put each other in position to go to work on Wednesday.

One of the young men in the group had just moved to Amarillo. This was his first blizzard. He told me he did not enjoy this. The truth is none of us like these storms. They disrupt lives and increase our stress levels. Thankfully, we don’t get this much snow very often. The good news is 19 inches of snow equals about an inch and a half of rain. That’s moisture our farmers and ranchers desperately need. While I don’t enjoy the inconvenience, I will not complain. This snow will help the economy of the Panhandle.

I am going to complain a bit. I’m cold and my neck, shoulders, and arms hurt. I’m sure that by morning moving will be difficult. But I had fun and got to meet new people. Now it’s time for a hot bubble bath, a glass of wine, and a good book. Tonight I just want to relax, enjoy a bowl of stew, and watch my favorite TV shows. I’ll get back to writing tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day.