fear and writing | how not to write | how planning a plot can slow writing | PLot Planner | plot whisperer
Mother Knows Best
Thanks to my mom, I have a new understanding of the plot work I do with writers. Leave it to my mother to be the one to teach me.
In February, during a lull in preparing for 2 giant birthdays in one — my mother’s 90th and my sister’s 60th, I made the Beginning section of a Plot Planner for my mother’s blog.
Never did I know how much angst that 8 X 11 piece of paper with a simple line and some sticky notes could cause.
Rather than write the scenes she had come up with, my mother left the Plot Planner out in plain sight. Now that I know better, I assume the long pause in her blog posts these past several weeks because of computer problems was likely due to the looming Plot Planner. The compulsive knitting she undertook could also be due in part to resistance to the threat of the Plot Planner.
She reminded me today of how simple things can scare her, this from a woman who has never shied away from anything she wanted in life!
Anyway, now I know why sometimes it takes so long to hear back from writers after the work we do together. Rather than a help, seems some of the support I offer limits more than broadens a writer’s passion — at least that seems to be the case with my mother. Drat!
Perhaps I’ll direct writers interested in a plot consultation to read this post first as a disclaimer.
Your 90-year-old mom keeps a blog? Who needs order after that setup? Sometimes glorious chaos can be its own reward.
I've learned that we can't organize memory. Sometimes it's richest when it's allowed to erupt in its own disorderly way.
Your om keeps a blog as well? lol. Mine doesn't but anyways nice post!
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