Writing

Plan Your Life

/ LKWeir

by LK Weir

I spent today planning my life. I would like to tell you that it had some meta-spiritual purpose relating to the full moon, or the start of a new month, or even a profound new sense of purpose. But that would be a lie. The truth was…I really, really wanted to hang up my new whiteboard. 

Crisp and empty, it was ready to be filled to the brim with all the things I haven’t done yet but intend to do. All those beautiful instructions for me to follow…yes, I am in love with planning. 

I am a schemer, a plotter, a list-maker and a to-do writer. I get a kick out of setting goals, breaking them down into tasks, and sub-tasks. Maybe even sub-sub-tasks, but never sub-sub-sub-tasks… except sometimes. 

Deadlines, time-limits, and calendars—oh my! 

The perfect way to spend a day indoors.

I wasn’t always like this. I used to be the very opposite of a planner; disorganized, chaotic, and quite frequently confused. Most who knew me would say I was the very definition of haphazard. I missed appointments, scrambled for deadlines, struggled in school, and nearly forgot work shifts. I was always late and rarely finished what I started. 

I hated it. I didn’t want to be the person who couldn’t be relied upon, the person who had bad grades and constantly made up excuses.  But most of all, I didn’t want to spend my entire life not making my dreams come true. The problem was, I didn’t know I could be better. 

Then, I tried planning. 

I was given a free organizer and instead of tossing it into my backpack, to let it rot with the orange from two weeks ago, I opened it up and marveled at its blank pages. I started by entering my exam dates. And then the dates of my assignments. And then my shifts at work. And then I started to plan when I would work on my assignments before they were even due. And then…oh my…I was hooked. 

So, why do I plan?

By nature, I am a serial procrastinator. Nothing would ever get done if I didn’t plan for it. 

“For me, not having a plan is like wandering the woods without a map. There is the tiniest chance I will find an oasis with tiny forest people to feed me supper, but it is far more likely I will end up in the dark with a hungry belly.”

– LK WEIR

At first, I found it overwhelming to write down all the things I had to do. But, one-by-one I accomplished things and crossed them off the list. My goals got bigger, my task list longer, and suddenly I had finished writing a novel (PrismCityPress.com), moved countries twice and travelled throughout Europe and India. 

And the only reason I could do all of this?

Because I had planned to do so.   

So, wipe off your whiteboard, dust off your organizer, take a day, and set to planning. Build yourself a map to your future. I promise, it feels pretty damn good to plan your life.

The Negative Review

/ LKWeir

by LK Weir

“There is no glory except

straight through your story.”

UNTAMED BY GLENNON DOYLE

This week marks the first negative review of my debut novel. I had mentally prepared myself for this moment. Of course it had to happen at some point. In fact, it should be a moment of pride that I’d managed to reach a wide enough audience to find a reader who didn’t enjoy the product I created…. painstakingly….with blood and tears. 

After all, it’s just a book.

Another product in the market.

Not everyone will like it.

Just ignore the single bad review and concentrate on all those that are good.

Easy right?

I hadn’t yet set up my Goodreads Author account, so I thought it was time to get that in order. I searched for my book and saw a picture of a person’s face I’d never seen before. A new review! Very exciting. Next to the face was a single star blinking shame at me. 

Before I had even read the review, my heart was through my chest. Beating at a pace that made me want to throw my laptop and run, never looking back.  

I disappointed a reader.

⭐Rating: 1 out of 5.

Not a big deal, I never expected to be loved by all, after all, how many books had I not liked? But I couldn’t stop reading it, over and over, dissecting the words that were written. Honestly, they weren’t that bad. It wasn’t scathing, it wasn’t that I had completely disappointed them. But single star? Maybe it was worse than I thought, I must be reading it wrong. I read it until I second guessed myself and my ability. Slowly slipping down the canyon of negativity, allowing all the worst thoughts to take ownership of my mind and shame me into a spiral.

It’s not personal, they don’t even know you.

It doesn’t mean you’re a bad writer.

This was only your first book, you’ll get better.

Eventually you will write so well that no one will dislike what you write.

Stop kidding yourself, that’s impossible, you could never write that well.

Maybe you should give up now.

What’s the point if you can’t make everyone happy?

Your book isn’t good. You told yourself a horrible lie.

Everyone will see this and know you are a fraud.

Then I took a breath. Put my laptop down and disconnected my thought spiral. I love story telling. Deep down in the pit of who I am, I know that one bad review (or maybe someday many more) cannot stop that love. It is who I am, it is who I have always been, and it is who I will continue to be. 

It’s not about pleasing everyone. It’s about doing something you love for the love of it. 

Writers create magic. We pull from a place we don’t quite understand and weave together people, places, things, and emotions into a tale that didn’t exist before we wrote it. We have the ability to bring entire communities to life, and create fully functioning people with thoughts, feelings, quirks and traits. We create lands where no person has set foot, and situations that would be impossible in the world we actually live. And we want to share that magic.

Not everyone will like it. And so what? What matters is that the magic was created in the first place. 

So, I would like to thank my first negative reviewer. I went through that plethora of emotions to come out the other side remembering why I do this. I emerged with a better understanding of myself and a drive to push myself even further. 

After all, it’s my story.

Mind The Gap: Write Details

/ LKWeir

by LK Weir

“One of the hidden gems of becoming a writer is the ability to see the world differently.”

– AUTHOR LK WEIR

Immersive writing requires details that allows the reader to hear, see, taste, and feel the story as it unfolds. It’s about making the story tangible, a place where the reader can forget who they are, and live in your world.

This may seem like a daunting task, but it’s an excuse to study the world. A reason to observe the smallest details, the things that most people wouldn’t notice as they go about their life.

What does the air taste like?

What is that sound in the distance?

How would you describe that colour?

Storytelling is a fantastic excuse to stay present and live the world around you.

An example:

Boarding a London train, rough draft:
I’m standing on the platform waiting for the train. People stare at their phones, but some still read actual books. The train approaches, and I get on. Hopefully, I don’t get lost. London is a big city.

With detail observed from the world around me:
The underground of London is a vast network of crisscrossing lines. I stand in awe, staring at the complex map decorating the tunnel entry. After two abnormally long escalator rides down into the earth, I can’t quite fathom how far I have travelled into the belly of the city.
Blue, red, grey, yellow, green—woven together like a spider’s web, connecting at strategic junctions. I try to find my destination by matching the spider’s lines to the one on my phone. My network cut out on the second escalator down, and all I have is the last version of the map Google gave me. None of it looks quite right.
I decide to trust Google, rather than the stationary map, and hope that I don’t end up on the wrong side of these tracks. I step back from my examination of the wall and realize the platform is filling quickly. Londoners of all types, staring at their phones or reading a good book. Yes, reading is still a popular activity in the underground. It gives the author in me hope.
The tunnel is dim and smells of soot. A display board tells me that a train is approaching in orange typeface, the one after is in 3 minutes. I check the destination name against the one on my phone. It agrees.
Warm earthy air blows strands of my hair in a scattered dance across my face. Headlights brighten the black hole and finally the high humming sound of the train as it shoots out of the tunnel. It speeds by at a pace that makes me wonder why the yellow safety line is so close to the edge. The blurred train slows and stops. The doors side out, then apart. A voice announces, “Please, mind the gap between the train and the platform.”
I do.

The gift we receive as writers is the ability to transform the world around us into a beautifully crafted and immersive story. The more we can observe our world, the better writers we can become.

So listen to the dripping faucet, smell the flowers in the air, taste lemon on your lips. Live the moment and let those small details transform your story!