My husband and I were recently talking about creativity.

He tried to tell me in the kindest way possible that writing is just not my thing. He didn’t need to be gentle. I agreed with him right away. Whenever I sit down to write a novel I can’t ever seem to get the words to flow. When I do write, it’s generally flat and stilted. I do pretty good with non-fiction, but writing “literature” just does not seem to be my thing. I did complete NaNoWriMo last year, but the novel was horrible. Probably the worst thing I’ve ever written. Plot holes, one dimensional characters with multiple personalities (as in they changed their one-dimension qualities throughout the novel), etc.

However, I still have a very strong urge to tell stories, and I don’t think that will ever stop. We figured out that since I am such a visual person, I probably need to use a visual format, like a graphic novel or a screenplay, instead of a novel.

If you remember, I started a screenplay when Script Frenzy was going on. I was very happy with what I wrote in that case because it was a good way to translate what I see in my head onto paper. I just haven’t done much with it since then. I think I’ll dig it back out to see what I can do with it.

I think the idea of creating a graphic novel is a wonderful idea too, since I used to love to draw and paint. I just don’t see any of my current ideas fitting into that format. My husband, however, has written two stories that I would love to turn into graphic novels. One is about zombies and the other is a children’s story.

The only problem I see with getting back into writing/drawing is that I’ve not done either for at least a few months and I’ve started projects or developed interests in the mean time that already have me stretched a bit thin. I just have too many interests!

I also agreed to edit my husband’s 2007 NaNoWriMo novel for him, so I just don’t know how much more I’ll take on at the moment.

I’ll get the stuff out, but probably wont do much on any of it for another month, when I’m no longer consumed with my genealogy book or busy editing my husband’s novel.

I want what I do to be fun and not feel like something else I have to do.

I’ve been writing a lot of fiction lately (well, a lot for me) and I’ve been realizing that I prefer to write in longhand rather than on the computer.

Writing on the computer is nice because that’s ultimately where I want my story to end up, so if I write it on the computer I don’t have to later transcribe it. But, writing on the computer makes it much easier to go back and edit things. That may sound like a good thing, but for me it’s the kiss of death.

When using a word processor I find myself just writing the gist of things rather than what I really want to say, telling myself that I can easily go back later and fill in the details. But that’s the thing, I never go back, so sections of my story are anemic. Sure, I could fix that in a second draft, but by then it’s likely that I will have forgotten the ideas and feelings I originally wanted to evoke. Also, if the reason I put off sections is because I found them too boring to write, then they are likely too boring to read and they should have been cut out in the first place. The problem is that sometimes those scenes are pivotal to other later action and I end up not knowing how to fix it when editing. I don’t want to excise the stuff, but I don’t know how to make it exciting. When I write longhand, I get it all out right then and there. I have to. There’s no room to squeeze it in later like there is on a computer. And if it’s too boring a read at that moment I have to find a way to fix it, at that moment.

I also like the freedom pen and paper allows me. I’m not tied to the computer. I can sit wherever I like. One of these days, when it’s nice, I really want to get outside and do some writing. I think that would be really nice. I always seem to get the best ideas when I’m sitting outside.

I also just love using pen and paper. I don’t know what it is about the feel of paper under hand, but it makes writing so much easier. The words just flow out of me, whereas when I sit down in front of a computer I immediately feel blocked.

Anyone else feel the same way as I do?

___________________________

Oh… Sitting here writing this while husband watches TV, I just realized another benefit of using paper: You don’t get dirty looks for typing too loudly.

I’ve been reading a lot of Wil Wheaton’s blog lately. A little over a week ago he linked to another blog that listed Steven King’s book “On Writing“, as one of the four books every aspiring writer should read.

I got the book from the library the other day and a funny thing keeps happening as I’ve been reading it. Since I haven’t gotten very far through the book most of it is generic stuff that could theoretically happen to anyone. Then King will briefly mention one of the books he has written, and I think, “Hey, wait. I’m reading a book by Steven King, not Wil Wheaton.” It throws me a bit and I have to backtrack in order to get my bearings.

I keep doing it. I don’t know why.

It may have something to do with the fact that King wrote Stand By Me and Wil recently mentioned the movie on his blog. Who knows. I just find it interesting.

I’m not a fan of most Steven King’s books, because of the genre, but I know he’s a good writer. I also know that Wil Wheaton is a good writer, however, I don’t think I would have truly realized how good he is unless I hadn’t mistakenly read part of the book as written by him instead of King.

_________

As an aside… After reading more of this book, I have become really inspired. Another story idea popped into my head while reading it and I’m really excited about it. Without saying too much (or anything really), it’s based loosely on an idea (actually more like a theme) I’ve had running through my head for a while. It’s just now I think I’ve finally discovered an angle that might work.

Script Frenzy 2008 is now officially over. A big congrats to all those people who finished their script!

I didn’t get much done on the script project I mentioned earlier, but I’m happy with what I did do. Unlike the past times I’ve tried to write this story, I finally got across what I’ve always wanted to, at least in the part that I’ve written. Even though Script Frenzy is over I plan to continue working on it in the coming months.

For those curious, the story is a loose fictionalization of how Indians kidnapped Phoebe Tucker-Cunningham and murdered her children, her time with the Indians up until the time she was ransomed by Simon Girty, and her husband’s three year search for her. My daughter is descended from Phoebe Tucker and Thomas Cunningham. She is their 6th great-granddaughter:

1 Thomas CUNNINGHAM
+ Phoebe TUCKER
    2 Sira Leah CUNNINGHAM
    + Benjamin HARDMAN
        3 Thomas HARDMAN
        + Sarah FLING
            4 Henry Green HARDMAN
            + Florinda Alice WOODFORD
                5 Walter William HARDMAN
                + Ermal Jane VANHORN
                    6 Living HARDMAN
                    + Paul Emerson WOLF(E)
                        7 Mother-in-law
                        + Father-in-law
                            8 Husband
                            + Me
                                9 Daughter

For those who know me well, you know that I’ve been working on a “genealogy book” for a few months now. I haven’t elaborated on what exactly that means, so I will talk about it here.

I’ve been working on my family’s genealogy for a long time now, and I’ve always wanted to write a book about my ancestors. I initially thought I’d write an “All my ancestors” book that would cover everyone in my family tree. I quickly realized, however, that this type of project would not only never get finished due to the sheer volume of information I have, but only a couple people would ever be interested in it, mainly myself and my children.

So, I’ve decided, for now, to write only about one branch of my family tree, the Seibert family, which covers all the ancestors of my maternal great-grandmother. The Seibert family holds a reunion each year, so I gathered info and photos from the family at the 2007 reunion and I’ve been working on compiling it for this year’s reunion.

Writing this book has actually helped me break through a lot of brick walls on this line of the family. I initially thought that I would only be able to go back so far, but since starting the writing of this book, I’ve discovered two more sets of parents and I’ve also found information that helps to substantiate or refute family lore that I had just assumed would never be answered.

I am very happy I’ve been able to find all of this info, however, the scope of the book has also grown quite considerably because of it, which might be a problem. At this point, I have much of the book already written in some form or another, but only three chapters are completely finished and there are eight more to finish, not to mention I still have to create the index, fix the source citations that LaTex (my typesetting program) screwed up, and edit photos/maps/charts to be the right size for the book. I still have so much to do that I don’t know if I’ll get it all done in time for the reunion this summer.

Another problem I’ve found, that I didn’t anticipate, is that I occasionally need to get away from the book for a few days and that just puts me farther behind schedule. I absolutely LOVE every aspect of genealogy, (Except maybe the hours I spend at the library or similar archives. I wish it were ALL online.) so I figured I wouldn’t mind spending most of my free time working on it. However, I’ve found that even I have limits to how much genealogy I can take.

If I don’t finish it by the 2008 reunion, it won’t be the end of the world. I’ll just end up finishing it for the 2009 reunion instead, but I did sort of promise it would be done and I would feel bad about not having come through. I’ll think about that later if it comes to that. I hope it doesn’t.

For those who want more details about what it will cover, this is the current Table of Contents (Each chapter will cover the people named in the chapter title as well as each of their children.) In parentheses, I’ve noted some of the info to be covered:

Ancestors and Descendants of Freidrich William Seibert (1889-1949) and Irene Mary Beckman (1890-1985)

Part 1: Ancestors of Freidrich William Seibert

Chapter 1. Valentine Frey and Katherina Knoerr (Will cover family lore dealing with wine making and being a “millionaire”)

Chapter 2. Jacob Seibert and Malinda Frey (Will cover involvement with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias and community service in Louisville, Kentucky)

Part 2: Ancestors of Irene Mary Beckman

Chapter 3. Moritz Sermersheim and Cacilia Berger (Will cover info on Waghurst, Baden, Germany)

Chapter 4. Charles Rix and Maria Anna Sermersheim (Will cover desertion, the battle of Vicksburg, aftermath of Civil war, and what it was like to apply for a pension)

Chapter 5. Herman Peter Beckmann and Katherina M. Stroemsdoerfer

Chapter 6. John Herman Beckman and Drusilla Irene Rix (Will briefly cover WWI)

Part 3: Freidrich William Seibert and Irene Mary Beckman and their Descendants

Chapter 7. Freidrich William Seibert and Irene Mary Beckman (Will cover union organization in Akron and Barberton, Ohio and political activity in the Communist party)

Chapter 8. Thelma Corrine Seibert (My great-grandmother; will cover her life as a civil rights lawyer who was involved with the Communist part)

Chapter 9. Dorothy Dixie “Dots” Seibert

Chapter 10. Linton Frederick “Buzz” Seibert (Will cover the “Battle Axe Regiment” in WWII: Saarbrucken, Spicheren, and earning a Purple Heart)

Chapter 11. John Rix “Babe” Siebert (Will briefly cover WWII, stationed in Australia)

Appendix A: Theobald Seibert and Catherine Kintzer (Probable parents of Jacob Seibert; Will cover info on Wolfersweiler area of Oldenburg, Germany)

Appendix B: Explanations of trades/occupations (Will cover cabinetmakers, patternmakers, carriagesmiths, coopers, among others)

Appendix C: Explanations of diseases/causes of death (Will cover mainly different cardiovascular diseases, but also Bright’s disease)

Once this book is done, and I’ve had enough time to fully recover from writing it, I plan to switch to another branch of the family and write about that one. However, as of right now, I’m not sure which branch I want to work on. It’s been so long since I’ve looked at any other part of my family tree that I really don’t know which one would be the best to attack. Having said that, I think I’ll probably lean toward my grandfather’s family regardless. My grandfather has such a wealth of knowledge regarding the family that it just makes sense to tap that resource before I no longer can.

Over the past month I’ve occasionally thought of writing a story for the 2008 Script Frenzy, which kicked off today, but I decided I was too busy with other commitments to try it. However, in the past few days, with the “threat” of Script Frenzy looming, I’ve really been feeling the need to write something, so I think that I will go ahead and “do” Script Frenzy, but do it my way. Not officially.

I’ve had a story running around my head for about 3 years now and I’d love to get it on paper… er, pixels… or whatever computer jargon is appropriate here.

I’ve tried writing this story a couple times. The first time was for 2005’s NaNoWriMo, but I only got a couple thousand words in before I crashed and burned. The times I’ve tried since then have been equally disappointing. My main problem with writing it has always been that I saw it vividly in my head, as if I was watching a movie unfold before my mind’s eye, but when I tried to capture it in words, it just fell apart pathetically. Now, I know that it is likely just me lacking the creativity to find the right words, and maybe it’s just a cop out, but I’ve been thinking that if it feels like a movie in my head, maybe I should write it as if it were a movie even if I’d rather see it in novel format. Also, then I can just say something along the lines of “To the left of the meadow you see him lurking behind the bushes” rather than come up with some literary stuff like, “Breathing slowly, he peered out into the meadow through the tangle of arrowwood branches.” This way I might finally be able to get the story on paper and then go back in and work on turning the script into a novel.

We’ll see how it goes. In any case, good luck to those who are starting their Script Frenzy adventures.