Concerts

Last Saturday night we ventured out to one of my favorite venues, The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. The theatre is a restored art deco theater that has hosted many of rock’s legends. The building is just shy of a century old. In the tradition of sixties liquid light shows, patterns are projected on the walls and ceiling. On Saturday a cartoon squirrel ran around among a paisley motif. This then morphed into strange configurations as the band took the stage.

All appropriate illusions for the Chris Robinson Brotherhood.

Most of the shows we have experienced here give the option of walking up to the stage, in a polite standing room only area, or if one chooses, sitting up in the balcony. Since I am height challenged, I prefer the back of the floor or balcony. Hubby will venture up front yet I get too squished to appreciate the view.

Recharging my creative juices in this fashion brings on a plethora of strange occurrences, the most prominent one happening this morning. I woke to my characters fighting. Not my present characters, they are still steamed that I haven’t finished telling their story, these voices were those of past protagonists.

And what were they fighting over?

This blog. Okay, so I realize some of you think that maybe I had lost part of my mind at the show, yet hear me out. This is the time of year when we all seem to look around and (hopefully) appreciate the good things in our lives. My past protagonists want to express that appreciation to our readers.

To maintain a bit of order, and the ability to get back to my current character crisis, here are some thoughts from a few old friends:

From Lindsay of Dancing With Faith: “Hi beautiful people! I am so grateful for my family and friends and the beautiful sound of live guitars. We wish all of you a wonderful Thanksgiving.”

From Maxi of Maximum Mayhem: “Ric, I, and my entire family wish you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving. I would include greetings from Zach yet I don’t want to overstep any boundaries because our relationship is, well, complicated. If she ever finishes, look for the next part of our story coming soon, well not too soon because she gets distracted and well, you know…”

From Izzy of The Perfect Pitch: “Bobby and I would like to send out holiday greetings to all our friends and family! And a special congratulation to The Chicago Cubs! As Red Sox fans, we get it.”

And finally, from Rina of Passenger – the only game in town: “Greetings folks. Chris Robinson Brotherhood, huh? At least she listens to jam bands. This is probably why she hears those voices, too. To quote one of my favorite artists, G. Love, I wish you peace, love, and happiness!”

Can you see why I don’t let them speak, yet I am so grateful for their voices!

I’m grateful for many things, like you (yes, you), the ones who take the time to read my creations along with family, close friends, and one psycho Beagle-Dor (half lab, half beagle). There is more: poetry and books, good music and bad, mentors and students, rainbows and sunshine…for this and more, Be grateful!

Okay – some of my writer friends are looking at this title and laughing thinking how much of a slacker number this is because they hit 2,000 words with their eyes closed.

Well I don’t.

A very wise investment professional once used the quote, “Some days peanuts, some days shells.” As a writer, I experience both. Some days the words flow and I feel like I can write an entire novel in one sitting, while others are just a struggle to get a paragraph down.

My last few days I managed to get in the groove and produce over 2,000 words a day. I’m not saying everything I wrote is good, or usable, and doesn’t need editing. The words are on the paper.

This is a first draft people. It takes time to mature.

So how does one write 2,000 words a day. The easy answer is you sit at your computer, make sure the computer is turned on, and you write.

Boom. Done. Not quite.

In my experience, I have spent many days staring at my screen, typing nothing because I can’t think of what to write. Apparently this happens to a lot of inspiring writers because I have heard this many a times from many people. Lately, I have used Walter Mosley’s advice from his ThrillerFest workshop as motivation, “Write every day.”

And I have. My most productive days seem to come after I have spent time listening to live music the night prior. Although I can’t figure out why since I am usually exhausted too. For the last four days I was fortunate to attend one of those huge music festivals. Normally the computer would stay home locked in the safe, except Walter said you have to write every day and while a pen and paper would suffice, I would only have to type it all in later. To be honest, I don’t think I would have written so much “manually” anyway.

Here is the breakdown: I wrote the morning before we left, around 1,000 words. Went and saw two bands that evening, got up the next day and wrote about 2,000 words. Went and saw five band, crashed hard (slept soundly), got up, saw four bands, skipped the headliner because we’re not a fan, came back to the room and wrote 2,200 words. The final day I got up, wrote only 1,000 words because Warren Haynes was doing a solo set at noon and well, one does not miss Warren Haynes solo.

I had the motivation; time was my enemy.

I’m writing this on Monday so no counts in yet I know they’ll be high. My characters are screaming to be heard as I finish this post. Since this was the Summer Of Live Music for me, I looked back at my word count for mornings after concerts. Not only were my counts up, in my opinion, the quality appeared better.

It seems to me that live music is my muse.

So the answer to How To Write 2,000 Words A Day is feed your soul, find your muse, and then sit and write.

Good luck and happy writing!

L.M. Pampuro

Author

Feeling Grateful

How To Write Over 2,000 Words A Day