07.03.20

Revise !

Posted in Dreams, Kerouac, Life in general, Novel excerpts, On writing, Writers, Zone 9 Trilogy at 8:42 am by Marion

Writing is revising, and I will spend all day revising the last chapter, then going through the entire first draft of the book.

For inspiration, here are some quotes:

“Throw up into your typewriter every morning. Clean up every noon.???
? Raymond Chandler

“Given the initial talent … writing is largely a matter of application and hard work, of writing and rewriting endlessly, until you are satisfied that you have said what you want to say as clearly and simply as possible. For me, that usually means many, many revisions.???
? Rachel Carson

“Read over your compositions and, when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.”
– Samuel Johnson

“Put down everything that comes into your head and then you’re a writer. But an author is one who can judge his own stuff’s worth, without pity, and destroy most of it.”
– Colette

07.02.20

The Blog Returns

Posted in Animals, Life in general, On writing, Writers, Zone 9 Trilogy at 11:21 am by Marion

Now that I sense some economic security with a job that I love, I feel comfortable enough to resume this blog. So it’s good to see you, writers, readers, and the idle curious!

This weekend we celebrate the Fourth of July. We are a nation in crisis in many ways, but combined with my own two years of anxiety, this time has forced all the nervousness and fear I’ve felt into an explosion of writing.

As such, I plan to finish the first draft of my novel, working title “Shift,” this weekend. I have three readers lined up to help me get it into good shape and then I will seek a publisher.

“Shift” is the first of what I imagine as a series. I have the first three books already taking shape in my mind, with the second one “in progress” mentally. The second trilogy is also taking shape.

How to describe these books? Without sharing too much, they take place in a dystopian not-so-future, where animals are known as “pre-foods” and imprisoned in terrifying compounds known as “stadia.”

The narrator is trying to make her way in this morally ambiguous world, where she just wants the means to keep her house and not live in her car.

05.03.20

Inspired by Adversity

Posted in COVID-19, Life in general, On writing, Writers at 5:31 pm by Marion

Fiction Daily is taking an extended break while I work on a new novel – The Zone 9 Trilogy.

In the meantime, Eugene Downs, my friend and fellow writer, has begun to write about the lives of fictional characters as it relates to our current pandemic, with the loss of life, income, and connection we are experiencing.

Gene is one of the most widely-read people I know. He is knowledgeable and insightful about all aspects of fiction, and hundreds of writers as well.

Treat yourself by visiting his LinkedIn page and watching for his posts. Here’s an excerpt and a link –

This is the first in a series of periodic postings about insights and Inspirations gleaned from my recent fiction reading.

“Here is a beautiful passage from Chapter 54 of “Martin Chuzzlewit,??? by Charles Dickens. The speaker is the ironically named Mercy “Merry??? Pecksniff, explaining how adversity has transformed her from a selfish, spoiled young lady into a thoughtful, caring woman:”

Read more on his LinkedIn page at this link.

03.25.19

Change is scary

Posted in Buddhism, Events, Life in general, On writing at 2:54 pm by Marion

Hello FD readers!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted. OK, well, it’s been more than a month. I’ve nearly finished the short story, and been teaching English to international students. And, I completed my 12th marathon.

At the same time I’ve been trying to take chances on new activities, new choices, and new patterns. It’s incredibly difficult, but you already knew that.

While FD centers on writing, many people know I am vegan, in addition to being a writer. My veganism comes from the awakening I had five years ago, that my actions directly caused animal suffering.

Nevertheless, I still eat processed foods from time to time – and while that kind of “food” may be vegan, it’s bad for me. So I have adopted the new guideline to avoid processed foods. That means any food that has stuff added to it, after it’s been cut or mashed or whatever.

Can I tell you how fantastic it feels leaving all that processed junk behind? Well it does!

But it is terrifying for me to think, “Will I ever eat another Oreo? What about hummus? Crackers?”

The thing is, change keeps us alive; every breath is change. And if we resist change, if we push back, we are still changing – but instead of growing, maybe we change into something stagnant.

Oh, and speaking of change: Enjoy FD’s new look!

02.15.19

Presenting: The Present Perfect!

Posted in Figuratively Speaking, On writing, Writers at 3:27 pm by Marion

It’s back!

This sometimes Friday feature examines language quirks and oddities. As I am currently teaching English to international students, I’ve had a lot of exposure to the sometimes random nature of this language.

Present perfect
What a crazy tense this one is. It is among the distinctions of the English language that we have this cool tense. It represents an action that began in the past, and continues right now. It also refers to an action that began in the past and may – or may not – be continued in the present or near future.

I have been to France = I went to France, and I may go again. My life isn’t over yet!
He has eaten breakfast = he just completed it, and we’re still thinking about it right now. I think he’s still wiping the toast crumbs off his face.
Have we got enough money? = We want to do a thing and need to know before we get started.
They haven’t paid = They need to pay right now!

Notice the subtle differences:
I went to France = I went one time and I can tell you about it, but that chapter has closed.
He ate breakfast = so what?
Did we have enough money? = Who cares, it’s over now
They paid = Again, nothing to see here

The present perfect gives a vivid, active connection to the present. That tense enlivens our conversations, and gives our language additional life, vigor, and immediacy.

Next week: More fun English language tenses

02.05.19

When focus is both needed and unwelcome

Posted in Animals, Cats, Dogs, Dreams, Life in general, On writing, Writers at 11:11 am by Marion

As a writer I’ve often talked about how creativity means letting go of our foothold here, to drift and dwell in vaguely defined places of our mind.

I am nearly finished with a new short story, and yet to execute the last 2,000 words I know I’ll need to leave this place for at least a day, if not two, in order to follow these haunted characters to their conclusion.

In the meantime, here I am, in a way also haunted, by living in this cramped physical world with its requirements and obligations.

Yet to finish it, I must contend with the real-world obligations to make sure I have Internet, power, water, and food. To make sure my animals have their walks, meals, and head pats.

At the same time I need to cut ties with all that and pursue the waking dream I call writing.

As typical in this world, I am walking the tight rope. I hope to publish a draft soon on this blog. Working title: My Secret Song.

I’ve updated my web page too with items from my professional portfolio, as well as the enormous independent study I completed in graduate school. That paper resulted from semester-long research into global laws protecting farmed animals.

Have a look at www.marionblackburn.net

01.30.19

Vortex

Posted in On writing, Writers at 10:26 am by Marion

I’ve written a few times about what it feels like to write fiction, the sensation of falling into darkness, of dissociation, of becoming “unhinged,” or untethered from the concrete world of sensations.

As we await the polar vortex being pressed into the U.S. from the Arctic, as heavy air pushes it down, there we feel time slow down. We feel something coming, and we must wait for it to arrive, with undetermined consequences.

Much like writing, which descends on us, subsumes us, and causes us to wait for the unknown effects. Once it lands on us, if we invite it in, we disappear into its vortex, just as Chicago and the midwest, really into the South, become encased in Arctic temperatures.

The freezing can feel a lot like death, but we know there is life even in the desert of ice. Mostly it holds on for signs of life, and with writing, that is you, Dear Reader.

01.28.19

The Dark Side

Posted in On writing, Writers at 10:01 am by Marion

I am working on a short story exploring fears, nightmares, and dark images. It feels uncomfortable to write out thoughts we’d rather hide, images inside us we deny. If we dunk ourselves too much into darkness, can we emerge? Does it change us? That explains why I rarely write about dark thoughts; I fear becoming consumed somehow by them, that they will become real, and take over.

Still, they form a part of my creative mind, and writing at its most interesting examines every part of being human, living as a sentient being part spirit part body part thinker. To see what’s hidden, yet what makes us complex, and to portray it – but artfully.

Another aspect of short story writing is the ability to finish within a clear period of time. Working on the novel for years now it has become almost overwhelming. Every time I pick it back up I have to review my characters, what’s going on, where we are heading. By that time, I’ve used up a half hour at least, and it all seems for naught. And I go wash dishes or walk the dogs instead.

With a short story, I feel able to accomplish, to complete, a work. So I will wrap up this dark story this week, I hope.

01.25.19

The work life-life’s work balance

Posted in Buddhism, Dreams, Life in general, On writing, Writers at 12:42 pm by Marion

I’ve written about the difficulty of writing and having any other type of activities in a day. Another aspect of writing, perhaps less known, is the mental disappearance that can happen.

When we sit down to write, we willingly break with the so-called “real” world, that is, the world that appears solid to us. The world we can touch, smell, hear, see. The world that has bills, meetings, and schedules.

To write means to cut ties with this world, and have the mind entirely free of any other thought. That’s self-evident.

What many people don’t know – including writers, that is, until we’re neck deep into a novel or story – is that writing also requires a break with another world, the world of our own mind. The world of our own sanity. The world where we are in charge, and events happen in someone predictable, or logical ways.

When we let go to submerse ourselves in writing, the break required to really create shifts our inner identity off its base, then shatters the base, and leaves us hanging.

When we are hanging in that way, adrift, maybe terrified, that we find art.

01.15.19

Disappearing Writer

Posted in Life in general, On writing, Press, Writers at 11:31 am by Marion

One aspect of writing that’s difficult to describe, is that we disappear when we write. That’s one of the toughest requirements, or should I say fallout, from writing. To do so requires a person to vacate their own life, their own mind, their own daily activities. In their place, the writer inserts stories about other people, and their struggles, goals, and nightmares.

In the meantime, the real person, the physical writer, sits at a desk. Hours pass, even days. Dishes accumulate; the floor needs to be vacuumed; the bed sits unmade. Calls go unreturned, and of course, bill pile up.

Life outside the writer’s mind continues.

But the writer agrees to exit life, to create this other thing, this other living body, this story, this novel, this essay.

It’s an uncomfortable choice, but a goal that compels me to it.

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