The Artist’s Way is the seminal book on the subject of creativity. An international bestseller, millions of readers have found it to be an invaluable guide to living the artist’s life.

I’ve heard about this book and the workbook that goes along with it. I remember hearing about “morning pages” (“pages of longhand writing, strictly stream-of-consciousness, which provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize, and synchronize the day at hand” first thing in the morning.) and we’re going to be required to do that for this class. We won’t have to share what we wrote, just the experience. I’m hoping this will get me back into a writing routine again because I seem to have lost my momentum until recently. This book is a 12-week program that will will “will help you discover and recover your personal creativity, artistic confidence, and productivity”.

When Ms Cameron teaches this course, she requires her students to sign a contract committing themselves to the course. There’s an example in the book and I’ve decided to sign the contract for the public to see.

I, Celise Downs, understand that I am undertaking an intensive, guided encounter with my own creativity. I commit myself to the thirteen-week duration of the course. I, Celise Downs, commit to weekly reading, daily morning pages, a weekly artist date, and the fulfillment of each week’s tasks.

Celise Downs
6 June 2011

You read it here, folks. This is going to be interesting.

Technorati Tags: Julia Cameron, THE ARTIST’S WAY

I was thinking of Staind’s song, “It’s Been a While” as I wrote this post. I like that band. And it really has been a while. I can’t remember the last time I visited anyone in my blogroll. There’s a fine layer of dust over there. *blows out a breath and coughs as dust mites fill the air*. Sorry about that. I tend to abandon blogs that haven’t been updated in a while, so I imagine that the few regulars I had have long since found someone else to follow.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but my blog is probably going to remain sporadically updated for a little while longer. School has been an all-consuming evil obligation, to the point where I read if I have any free time. And I’m reading books, not blogs. So, let me catch everyone up before I disappear again.

School Daze – The spring semester ended with A’s in both of my classes, Volunteer Management and Human Relations. Thank you to Shoshana Ross and Chantal Sheehan (again) for being my mentors. You can read more about that HERE. I created the other website to chronicle my journey to opening my own nonprofit, so anything I learn in regards to that will be posted on that blog. Anything about writing will be posted here. The summer session starts tomorrow (I had about a 3-week break reprieve) and I’ll be taking Marketing for Nonprofits with Abbie Fink of HMA PR and an online Moodle course, Self-Exploration Through Creative Writing. I’m still looking for course mentors for the Fall 2011 through Spring 2012 semesters. If you or someone you know would be interested, check out the details HERE.

Writing – I finally finished writing Chapter One of the DA graphic novel. You can read about my first two sessions with Bryan Graham, creator of Section 1138, HERE and HERE. It took a lot longer than I thought because I still want to add stuff and keep the dialogue the same. I realize that I may have to re-vamp the story a little bit and provide more action on Draven’s part. I had an original idea when it came to this series: providing little tidbits at the beginning of each chapter that are based on her assignments. For Book One, since it involved a place called The Royalty Treatment Day Spa, I wanted to put the different spa treatments you could get at this spa at the beginning of each chapter. My mentor from my Novel Revising course stated that the info was distracting from the story, especially since not a lot of the action was happening there. I should only include it if the action is actually happening there. Hence the changes I’ll need to make. Now that I’m going a different route with the series, I can have actual pictures instead of text. In addition to finally finishing Chapter One, the Draven Atreides website is done. Finally! After nearly a year. There’s nothing in The Books area (yet), the newsletter hasn’t been created (yet), I haven’t set up a Twitter account for her (yet), and no thoughts have been written down in her “Diary” (yet), but you can look at everything else. LOL. All of that will come when Book One is released. Now that the series site is up, I’ll be chronicling the process of writing the GN over there as well as here.

Life – Still working the day job, but hope to move into the nonprofit sector by the end of the year. Health-wise, I’m trying to cure a reoccurring body dysfunction. During this process, from Dec 2010 to now, I’ve lost about 12 pounds. And no, losing those pounds was not intentional and not something I could afford to lose. Shit like that just happens when you cut something out. I’m trying to gain some weight back while maintaining a healthy diet, but the good thing is that I got a semi new wardrobe out of it. A lot of the clothes I had before were too big, so I had to go out and buy ones that fit. Oh, the hardship! And it really was for someone like me. LOL. Seriously. I’ve never liked clothes shopping (even when I was young) and would rather spend money on books than clothes. LOL. My good friend and manager left the company last month to move to Florida. Really, really bummed about that. And I found out my best friend is moving to Boston for her dream job at the end of July. Really, really bummed–and depressed–about that. I feel like everyone’s leaving me and moving on with their lives. I’m happy for them and at least will have two new places to visit (never been to either place), but still…*sigh*. It just really sucks.

Soooo, that’s it. In a nutshell. My birthday’s this Sunday and I’ve got some stuff planned, so I may be posting again this weekend.

Technorati Tags: Staind, HMA PR, Section 1138

Session #2 – Mar 31st

This time, I did a lot better. I took a page from the script section in the IDIOT’S GUIDE TO CREATING A GRAPHIC NOVEL and copied the format of that script. Very, very helpful.

I stopped over-describing things, but still described things. If that makes sense. And Bry still suggests that I should cut down on the dialogue. CLICK ON LINK FOR FULL-SIZE VIEW

When I sent him these next 5 pages, I said this in my email:

• I revamped it a little after we talked. I liked your idea about the full page of the spa and police cars with flashing lights in the parking lot. I also liked your idea about the initial meeting between Draven and the agents. That was pretty much the whole first chapter.

• I know what you’re going to say about some of the dialogue (too much), but it’s going to be a graphic novel, not a comic book. And I liked the way Richard Sala did it in CAT BURGLAR BLACK.

• At one point, I had decided to model my novel after CBB: 126 pages, roughly 16 pages per chapter. The first chapter actually had 40 pages. And it’s only got 5 chapters! But I like the prose-with-picture theme that Hannah proposed, which made me think of a diary format (Kinda like “Diary of a Wimpy Kid”. I’ll bring a copy tomorrow so you can see what I’m talking about. And no, the copy isn’t mine. I borrowed it from a co-worker who’s got a kid). LOL): where it’s like Draven’s telling the story (pictures) and will occasionally “interrupt” and provide a little commentary. You’ll see what I mean when I use the different font.

In regards to that last bullet point I would like to add that this is Book One. I feel that this first time, there needs to be a bit of explanation as to Y.I.D.’s purpose and a little background on Draven’s target. I may cut it a little bit, but for now, I think the wordiness needs to stay. Of course, that may change once the illustrator gets his/her hands on it. Since I’ve decided to go the picture-and-prose route, that per chapter page length might not work (although I’d like to keep the 126 total page length). I think it would really depend on how I do the prose. But an idea Bry came up with regarding the cover got me a little fired up about how this GN will look when it’s printed.

Without giving away too much, the cover is going to look like a file folder and the concept was that Draven would be telling the story like a diary (with pictures), so the pages would look like lined paper (i.e. DIARY OF A WIMPY KID series). But if it’s going to look like a folder on the outside, it should look like one on the inside, too, right? Not like a diary, wouldn’t you say? Yeah, that’s kinda what I was thinking. And the contents of a folder generally have a lot of notes in the margins, sticky notes, pages of actual notes, etc. Draven does a lot of internal thinking and she also keeps journal-style notes of her activities and findings.

Bry came up with a fabriffic idea that during these points in the book, I should use an actual image of a Post-It note with writing on it…or an actual blank page with typed up notes…or a note in the margin that’s one of her internal thoughts.

How. Freakin’. Cool. Is. That?

I never would of thought to do something like that. Bry continually opens my eyes and shows me how much you can do in a GN and how it’s all about The Visual.

“So, how did it feel this time? Was it more difficult?” he asked.

“The script format is easier. The re-writing is a little difficult, still. I’m starting to realize that I’m cutting out whole chapters,” I told him.

He shook his head and said, “No. Don’t think of it as cutting out, but just writing it in a different way. If you think of it like that, it should get easier.”

Which totally makes sense. I’m used to describing EVERYTHING and a lot of the things I’m describing can now be images. So really, all that’s left is dialogue and Draven’s inner thoughts.

During these past two sessions with Bry, I’ve had so many Lightbulb Moments it’s ridiculous. That one however, felt less like a lightbulb and more like a spotlight. LOL.

And now you see why I love working with him.

Lessons Learned:

~ Start looking for an illustrator now – It took Bry 7 months to find his. I was thinking that I needed to wait until the story was done, but I already have the story. Duh.

~ In selecting an illustrator, be well, selective – Don’t send the whole script, just a few pages to see how they perceive your characters. Website is preferred (so you can at least see a portfolio), if not, have them send samples. If you can’t pay the artist (which is preferable for me, but let’s get real here…), then work out a talent+trusting relationship+belief in the project=the-money-will-come-and-we’ll-split-it-50/50 situation.

~ Assign a color to each main character to indicate who’s talking – Especially if the dialogue takes place off-panel.

~ is WAY more helpful to me than . Sorry Scott.

~ Just like writing a novel, there’s no right or wrong way to write a GN. REALLY. – It’s whatever works and feels comfortable to you and your illustrator. This is actually something Bry has to keep reminding me about, but sadly, it’s going to take a little longer to absorb. LOL.

Technorati Tags: IDIOT’S GUIDE TO CREATING A GRAPHIC NOVEL, DIARY OF A WIMPY KID, Post-It

However, I did enjoy reading Richard Sala‘s CAT BURGLAR BLACK.

Trying to script the first 5 pages was extremely difficult.The first chapter in Book One is basically the agents heading up Y.I.D. going over the special “deal” with Draven and going over her first assignment. That’s it. The first 5 pages are the agents explaining the deal.

So, here I am, trying to capture all that.

When Bryan brought the first scripts he wrote, at the top, it said “What Not To Do.”

Basically, it was everything that I did in describing how I wanted the panels to look. LOL

I sent him what I did and here’s the first page with his comments (CLICK TO ENLARGE).

Once I get the hang of this script writing thing, I should be able to do it like this (CLICK TO ENLARGE):

See the difference between mine and the X-MEN script?

In regards to this first assignment, he tells me at the top that I need page numbers and asks me “How do you want pacing?” A typical comic book is 22 pages and the whole thing is scripted in 7-9 pages. The whole thing! My “homework” was 6 pages. Granted, graphic novels are different from comic books and I’ll have more leeway in telling the story, but yeah, I’m definitely a nube here. LOL.

In the left-hand margin he says “A lot of movement. Break it down to photos!”

At the very bottom he gives me a tip from Stan Lee: “Never use more than 28 words of dialogue per panel.”

Cutting dialogue and description is going to be hard for me. Especially description. I’m used to describing everything, from what a person wears to scenery to facial expressions. I mean, I’m going to have to cut out a lot of shit!

During the course of our 2-hr meeting, Bryan and I talked about a lot of stuff:

~ Breaking my novel down into 3 acts

~ Figuring out how long I want the novel to be

~ How many pages do I want my GN to be

~ How many panels per page should I have? The typical number is 4-6

~ Start thinking VISUALLY (very important)

~ Study more graphic novels, especially the ones being read by 13-18 yr olds (and hopefully it’s not those manga ones)

~ Read up more on the GN industry (because I need to know the jargon) which is why I bought Scott McCloud‘s UNDERSTANDING COMICS and THE COMPLETE IDIOT’S GUIDE TO CREATING A GRAPHIC NOVEL by Nat Gertler and Steve Lieber.

~ As a writer, I’m going to have to leave my ego at the door….because it’s going to be all about the illustrator, not the writer.

~ Illustrators and writers have a partnership and everything should be 50/50

What I love about working with Bryan is that he comes from the comic book world. Section 1138 is the first comic book he’s creating, yes, but he knows comics. He’s been reading them forever. I, on the other hand, have not. I’m coming from the novel world. We view my novel in two different ways and I love getting his opinion/impression/whatev of my novel. I see my novel as just words, he sees them visually and can tell me, “this could be one whole panel, no dialogue” or “you can show her facial expression here instead of saying this”. It’s going to be difficult, transitioning from novel writing to writing a graphic novel, but I know that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel: Bryan. He’s going to show me how to do this and we’re going to get through this together. He’ll help me create a graphic novel and I’ll help him edit his comic book. A win-win situation.

One of things Bryan mentioned was the fact that my novel should start somewhere else within the story, like an action scene. Which makes sense if you think about it. The majority of the t.v. shows me and my husband watch start out with an action scene. And then the rest of the show is piecing together what happened. I want all the books to begin with a debriefing and end with a psyche eval (it’s part of Draven’s gig and she has to have one at the end of each assignment). So for instance, in Book 2, it would begin with a little recap of what happened in Book One and then segue into assignment #2. By the end of our meeting, Bryan was able to condense the first chapter (10 double-spaced, typed pages) into just 3 GN (Graphic Novel) pages! Three, peoples! I even got a little giddy when he gave me the suggestion for the back cover: a file showing her case. Hah! How awesome sauce is that?

So, in between working full-time, school, and taking non-school related courses like grant writing, I’m going to turn my novel into a graphic novel. This is going to be my way of giving myself some “me” time and not be so consumed with school all the time. We plan to meet a few times a month, and take it slow: 5 pages at a time. Yeah. This. Is going to be interesting. Hope you all stick around for the journey.

Lessons Learned:
~ GNs will be 126 pages long
~ GNs will have 4-6 panels per page
~ Be less descriptive
~ Watch word count

Technorati Tags: X-MEN XENOGENESIS, Warren Ellis, Richard Sala, CAT BURGLAR BLACK, Stan Lee, Scott McCloud, UNDERSTANDING COMICS, THE COMPLETE IDIOT’S GUIDE TO CREATING A GRAPHIC NOVEL, Nat Gertler, Steve Lieber, Section 1138

Today was definitely a good day.

Normally, I would be doing this on my breaks and at lunch. But since I have two other classes, I’m writing during my hr lunch. Not so much at home. Yet.

The 1st 30 pages are due next Thursday. Hoping to have a better day tomorrow.

Make Your Creative Dreams REAL
A Plan for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People, Avoiders, and People Who Would Rather Sleep All Day
by SARK
May 2004, Simon and Schuster, ISBN: 0743229215

First of all, I’d like to point out that SARK is one of my favorite authors and literary crush. I am a SARK disciple and pray at the alter of SARK. If she were a cult, I’d join and never look back. I’ve met her several times and have had the pleasure of attending a couple of her workshops. And each time, I’ve come away feeling energized. She has the most amazing presence. Her regular attire of lounge pajamas could be the reason, but I’m sure that’s only part of her charm.

This book changed everything…for my writing. Because SARK (a.k.a. Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy) introduces the Micro Movement Wheel.Click image for bigger view

It’s to help you complete a huge task in increments of 5 sec-5 mins. As you can see in this example, the “dream” is in the middle and each of the 12 sections has a task. Each of these can take 5 sec-5 mins, until eventually, you get further every time and have reached your “dream”.

I applied this activity to my writing, but call it Writing Movements. When I actually have Writing Movements, they get posted here. The results of the Writing Movements, not the actual writing itself. I’m superstitious like that. But I digress…

It works! I’ve finally found something that works for me! Hallelujah, praise the Lord, pass the biscuits!

I use this when:
1) I’m not feeling very productive
2) Trying to crack through writer’s block
3) Procrastinating about writing.

This book was made for me because my other middle name is Procrastination (it’s just not on my birth certificate). I love all this woman’s books, but this one has a special pocket of my heart. The one for writing.

Technorati Tags: Sunday Scribblings, Make Your Creative Dreams REAL, A Plan for Procrastinators, Perfectionists, Busy People, Avoiders, and People Who Would Rather Sleep All Day, SARK

Saturday – Spent the better part of the morning shopping for a dress for the company holiday party. Found it on clearance at Dillard’s. $33! Not bad, eh? I never really like to shop at department stores like that because they’re usually too expensive. I think I got lucky this time.

I also went to see NEW MOON. I may have to see it again because I got irritated with the teenybopper girls talking and hooting every time Taylor Lautner took off his shirt or he appeared shirtless in a scene. Or when Rob Pattinson appeared shirtless. Truly annoying. I don’t think I was ever that obnoxious at that age.

Anyhow, I thought it was okay. Nothing to jump up and shout about. I felt that way about the first one, too. I wasn’t really impressed. It just seems like the actors are trying too hard to act. Or something. With the HARRY POTTER movies, I can honestly say that out of all of them, THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE is my favorite. It was really, really good. With these movies, so far, I can’t say that. Maybe they’ll get better? One can only hope. However, if I absolutely had to choose, I would be Team Jacob for two reasons: 1) He’s buff and 2) He’s warm. Like, “108 degrees over here”. That would be a plus for me because I’m always cold.

Sunday – I didn’t do. One. Damn. Thing. I hung out in my pj’s and robe and battled a headache all day. Needless to say, it was the most aspirin I’ve ever taken in one day. I think my first mistake was taking them when I first woke up…and then watching t.v. in the dark. When I should’ve been sleeping. That headache never had a chance to properly go away and it just lingered. Ugh!

Writing Movement – I dropped out of NaNoWriMo. I wasn’t enjoying it, as you might have noticed from the last week’s update. I would just rather write at my own pace.

School Daze – Working on the final draft of my paper that’s due Monday. I still have to send in the self-eval for Math class and I have to make my Social Justice project for EIS look pretty. I’m going for a PowerPoint presentation on that one and using some of the Mentoration posts from my Non-Profitation blog.

Yeah, so that’s it. How was your weekend? Where will you all be for Turkey Day?

Technorati Tags: Dillard’s, NEW MOON, Taylor Lautner, Rob Pattinson, HARRY POTTER, THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE, NaNoWriMo.

Saturday – We’ve started a two-part activity with the girls at The Gurl House. It’ll be something they can use wherever they go. Mr. Maul and I went to see 2012. Is it just me or is Hollywood been interested in making –end-of-the-world type of movies lately? THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW was a walk in the park compared to this movie. I was actually squeezing Mr. Maul’s hand, wincing, and bobbing and weaving in my chair like this was in 3D. It wasn’t, for the record. And I wasn’t holding his hand because I was scared, we just sometimes hold hands while watching movies. This was a bit of a nail biter and when the world was falling apart—literally—there were a couple of “Holy crap, there is no way they’re gonna make that” scenes. I also found it interesting that–SPOILER AHEAD–out of all the places that got hit, Africa ended up being the “Safety Zone”. Afterwards, we stopped by BN and I picked up “Dani Noir” by Nova Ren Suma. It’s in my YA TBR pile. Yes, I actually have a YA TBR pile. It’s a shocker, I know, so sit down before you fall down.

Sunday – I pretty much hung out with the ISO girls all day. Well, almost all day. We were doing membership photos and to get 13 women to look like something out of the 40’s (hairstyle-wise), well, you shouldn’t be surprised how long that takes. I got there close to 1pm and didn’t leave until close to 9pm. Some got there at 10am (if they needed help with hair), so you can imagine the long day for that person. The actual picture taking didn’t really start until around 3. It was a bit crazy, but fun.

School Daze – Research paper is due this Sunday, although our core faculty person is giving us an extra week because she hasn’t read them herself yet. We’ve only been getting critiques from our peers. And I still need to write up my self eval for my Math class. Which I’m done with, btw. I’m getting ready to decided what I’m taking next semester and I’ll be meeting with a mentor for one of those classes this weekend. I’m looking forward to getting started working on that Study Contract.

Writing Movement – Nothing for three days. Not even while I was at work. I’ll be talking about that in the Weekly NaNo update momentarily.

So, how was your weekend? Anyone looking forward to seeing NEW MOON this weekend? I won’t be there at midnight, of course, but I have plans to see it this weekend.

Technorati Tags: 2012, THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, Dani Noir, Nova Ren Suma, NEW MOON