The Green Lantern to Your Sinestro

Uh-huh. I don't know about you, but even though Hal's all emerald-ey in the picture on the left, my eye keeps being drawn to Sinestro there on the right, on account of all that yellow (okay, and maybe the whole fuchsia face n hands thing). But, see now, that's the (warped) power of the Yellow Lantern.

 In other words, fear.

All characters & images©DC Comics

Fear is the power of the evil Yellow Lantern, against which Green Lanterns were powerless for a long while (which is particularly telling, since the Green Lanterns' power is will.) In the canon, (well, one of the canons) the yellow/fear rendered the green rings inactive.

Anyway, musing on shit that's not EVEN related (like Lanterns & writing), cuz that's how I do, I find that the correlation between fear and inaction sticks out like a sore thumb in writing. Like a sore yellow thumb. So too, apparently, did the writer of this brilliantly effective Writer's Digest article that talks about all the insidious ways fear can disguise itself and derail a writing plan.

But just like Hal Jordan wouldn't leave a girl powerless in the face of that ugly yellow dude, the author gives great information about identifying fear, and then not working against it, but with it. For me, that lit up like two bright, shiny green things: 

The Green Lantern Ring

Green Lantern rings are fueled by willpower, which their bearers use to create anything they want -- and verily it is called the mightiest weapon in the universe because of it.

So, your ring is how you focus the advice from the article, such as using fear in a positive way. (I particularly dug the tip about ceasing the hunt for "perfection" [which is just another way to avoid submitting a project. You know, out of fear. Damn you, Sinestro!!] Instead of trying to perfect the writing, the author says, hone your voice,working to become more proficient at expressing it every time you approach the page.)

The Green Lantern...uh... Lantern. 

The Lanterns are the batteries that power the rings. The battery that overpowers fear? Your will. To create no matter what, to manifest what you manifest, fear be damned and damned right to hell in a flaming yellow torpedo.

So it's fitting that Hal (will) is the nemesis of Sinestro (fear). And reminding ourselves of that is pretty powerful stuff. Even if it takes a rather clumsy and radioactively green metaphor to do it :D

It should go without saying that we are not discussing the Ryan Reynolds...uh...*version* of Green Lantern, especially after the collective snort that twas heard 'round the world upon its release.

A Gift for NaNo-ers, the Stressed & Everyone Else

For NaNo-ers working like dervishes through 50,000 words, for those (like me) trail-blazing through revisions -- or anyone straining to complete unruly projects that seem to be erasing whole chunks of time and personality to boot -- I offer an early holiday gift: this guided, meditative centering exercise.

It's from The Silva Method (beware, that's some surreous long-form, hard-sale copy on that there page) -- and no, I didn't buy their big ol 10-CD, $200 program; I'm cheap and this download's free -- and it's the craziest, trippiest, most mind-bending way to relax and remember who you are and what you're working for.

This along with regular mindfulness meditation has completely reversed how I approach myself, writing and work. Which is a helluva big deal. Almost all of 2011 was an ugly slog for me, a time when I was straining so fiercely against the steel cables of bipolar and ADD that they constricted until I couldn't think, see or write over the noise in my head. I was constantly racing to catch up, clenched so tight that it's a wonder I functioned at all (I didn't).

Now, I find myself relaxed, calm and with this gorgeous mental cleanliness that, instead of knotting up and feverishly working, actually seems to make me step back from work -- even on deadline -- and relax. Then I go back and finish in a better, more alert state of mind. It actually seems to build hours into my day. How about them apples, y'all? 

Enjoy :)

Writing Advice from Southpark

So I caught this documentary on Southpark the other day. Called SIX DAYS TO AIR: THE MAKING OF SOUTHPARK, it shows how Matt Stone & Trey Parker cough out an entire episode in six days. As in, six days before it airs. As in, they have no idea what the hell they're gonna do on day one. As in, hey, did you know Bill Hader is part of their writing team?

ANYhoo...during the doc, Trey (who largely drives the writing bus), dropped a casual tidbit of advice whilst talking about how freakin soul-crushing it is to write. (Me: HOLEEE SHIT. TREY PARKER GETS IT!) Advice was simple: replace your "and"s with some "therefore"s and "but"s when a scene feels dull. Not necessarily in the writing itself, mind, but rather in your idea sequence.

To wit:

Joe Tremors sneezes all over his wife, and sprays her with snot, and crashes into the wall, knocking himself out cold.

Now, just and-therefore-but-erize it, and it becomes:

Joe Tremors sneezes all over his wife and sprays her with snot, therefore sending a fine necrovirus mist into her face. But his wife doesn't wipe it away; she opens her mouth wider. Joe snaps his head in a double take and stumbles, therefore crashing into the wall. He knocks himself out. But unconsciousness will not be a reprieve for him. Instead, the dark screen of his mind will present a miasma of images and other sensory horrors, therefore becoming a perma-freak-show theater. But only one movie will ever play here. And it is an endless reel of what he saw in the seconds before his eyes fluttered closed: his wife's outstretched arms, her unhinging jaw.The laugh spiraling out of the black gulf of her mouth as her claws reach for the top of his head.

See? A pretty decent idea generator and simple. Therefore, you should try it. I mean, that was some surreous drivel above, but see how ATB unlocked all kinds of little gateways? And they all keep branching off into cooler, darker paths. Therefore I should stop now, before I let you too far into the tangled wood of my brain. But...

And thanks to all who swung by during the Pay It Forward shenanigans, and to those awesome individuals who always comment on my posts, however infrequent they may be. I read them all :)

TYIF

Not TGIF. Because today, for me, isn't a Thank God It's Friday friday, but a Thank You It's Friday friday. Lemme explain.

Being both bipolar and ADD, I'm constantly tangled in not-getting-shit-done-ness, which makes for stressful, unhappy days. A whole helluva lotta them. And thanks to my natural melancholy and isolation, I tend to let it all suck me into a giant ugly vortex until I can't see straight. (Hello forest, meet trees.)

But this week, the multiverse had enough of my whinging. On not one but four, count 'em, FOUR occasions this week, someone presented me with a reality check. Whether it was:

Exhibit A) My friend Swathi telling me to get over bitching about not having enough time to prepare a healthy meal ("Don't tell me you don't have time and money. It's your body. Feed it.")

Exhibit B) My friend Heather telling me to get over bitching about my sperm donor's failure to send child support ("Dude, look. You're a writer with a cute hubs, two amazing teen sons, and you're putting one of them through private school without that child support money. The donor should be jealous.")

Exhibit C) The comic Louis C.K. telling us all to be thankful for the crazy amazing shit we have and not bitch about stuff like a slow connection on your cell phone ("Give it a second! It's going to space!")

Or Exhibit D) POSSESSION Author Elana Johnson who wrote a post today that reminded me of the times I used to just write for pleasure, not for an agent who asked for my book, like, five months ago and who still hasn't received it because I let the pressure get to me. (It's coming, girl!)

Each one made me stop and think. And then thank. So I'm grateful today, and thankful for that gratefulness. I'ma try to come up with some kind of regular TYIF post as a reminder. This is the first.

Had a reality check lately? Big cheesin grin about something that made you happy? Dish!

 

Louis C.K.: Everything's Amazing and Nobody's Happy

What, you ain't know My Little Pony rolled like that??

Man, I get the greatest things from Clarktoon, aka Rooster, the Great Kevinsky, or, you know, the hubs. To wit -- fonky rappin animated ponies. Just click the below (after steeling yourself for some surrreous profanity) and see if your head don't be noddin like the orderly in Mystikal's old Bouncing Back vid...

...you ain't seen bouncin' back...*nods*

Greatest audiobook. Evah.

Why wasn't this out when MY kid was two??

"FUCK your stuffed bear - I ain't gettin you SHIT!"

*dies laughing*

I mean, when you absolutely, positively got to get e'ry motherfucking child to sleep, accept no substitutes and just get yours free from audible.

You're welcome, mamacitas and papasitos :) Now get some fuckin sleep!

Song about this writer's heart

Since I've been loving you...



...I'm about to lose my worried mind...