Newsies

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

I didn’t fold my laundry this weekend.

Scandalous, right?

Actually, my weekend turned out just a little bit too busy to include boring stuff like laundry and clothes hangers. On Sunday, like an actual adult who has an adult job and does adult things, I got all my meal prep for the week done, including breakfasts for my sister and I and lunches for the entire week.

Then I dumped the rest of my Sunday tasks, dressed up all fancy, and went out to sushi with my mom and my sister.

Because weekends are short, y’all.

After sushi—and wandering around in the grocery store in serious big-girl heels and makeup to make sure we had eggs in our fridge before Monday—we went to see a play at the Ent Center for the Arts.

A Broadway musical, actually, performed by the Starz Theater group.

Newsies, to be completely specific.

Guys. I loved it so much. So much. We sat in the balcony above the stage, which meant we could see everything, and since the story was completely new to me, I was completely enthralled. The theater had been sold out all weekend, and I was lucky to get tickets as last minute as I did. I’m so glad I did.

The story, in a very tiny nutshell, is about a group of newsboys in 1899 New York City, taking on the corrupt newspaper tycoons of the day. Everything about it was fantastic. It may not have been a Broadway cast or a Broadway stage, but the Starz Theater group, in my very humble opinion, did an amazing job portraying the story.

Basically, I loved it. The songs, the choreography, the fabulous set design, and, of course, the snarky lead. Honestly, the moment the lights went down in the theater and the curtain rose, I knew this was going to be a winner, and I was not disappointed.

Yeah . . . I’m going to be listening to the soundtrack for a while.

What is your favorite musical? Tell me about it in the comments!

Devouring Stories

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

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Last week we started talking about things writers can do to move their careers forward when the next step seems impossibly far off.

Sometimes ‘making it as a writer’ seems like it’s full of huge, gigantic leaps forward: finishing a book, finding an agent, getting published, working full-time as a writer, earning this award, being asked to speak there—the milestones seem impossibly far apart and way too difficult to accomplish.

So, I think it’s time to start talking about the small steps.

The little things we can do every day to deepen our understanding of this craft.

Time to pay attention to the little things, my friends, because believe it or not, those milestones aren’t the building blocks of your career. Sure, they look fancy and they’re fun plaques to have up on the wall. But there is a whole lot of in-between steps before you can reach them.

We’re here to talk about the in-between. The practical.

And today’s practical?

Devouring story.

I’m not here to tell you to read War and Peace or 100 books in a year. But as writers, we need story. Not just our own stories, because we all know how we get caught up in the complexities and frustrations of our stories, and, unfortunately, we all have our blind spots.

Writers need story. I write for a radio drama. I spent all Sunday last week binge-watching The Mandalorian. I listen to audiobooks on a regular basis, I’ve watched movies specifically for work to better understand story structure, and I have started to be able to predict what comes next in the movie theater simply because I know where we are in the story.

Writers. Need. Story.

We need to analyze story, we need to pick apart our favorite books and movies and video games and graphic novels and see what makes them tick. We need to be that irritating person in the movie theater who leans over and whispers, “Yep. ‘All is Lost’ moment. Right on cue.”

I am not a fan of dictating exactly how anyone needs to ingest story. Books, movies, TV, video games, radio. It doesn’t matter. But as a writer, you need story. Not to listen to mindlessly, but to analyze, dissect, learn from.

So next time you want to take another step and or do the next right thing, watch a favorite movie. TV show. Pick a story, and grab your notebook. Find the ‘All is Lost’ moment. The quarter mark, where the upside-down world begins. The catalyst. Pick the story to pieces and see how it works, what theme the writer used. Write a pitch for it.

The more you devour story, the better you will understand it.

What are some of your favorite stories? Tell me about them in the comments!

Dark To Dark

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

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Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It’s also a Monday.

And I get to stay home.

What a strange feeling.

I am celebrating by watching the birds come to get the birdseed I left on the porch for them. So far, there is one Steller Jay. I guess word hasn’t gotten around yet. I’m hoping for Black-Capped Chickadees and Bluejays. Maybe a Magpie too.

Since it is a Monday, I am writing today, but I am enjoying the novelty of writing in my house in the sunshine. Lately, I have discovered the downside of working full-time in town in the winter, which is that I work from dark to dark. I usually drive into town with my dad in the very, very early mornings, spend an hour or two at my gym, then am in the office by the time the sun rises.

And, you guessed it, it’s already dark by the time I get outside again.

I’ve begun to turn into a creature of the night. Like, I’ve always been fairly pale by nature, but now I’ve reached vampire status. I glow.

It’s a little scary.

I tried to offset the effects of my ‘no-sunlight-ever’ routine yesterday by sunbathing on my porch for a while. But it’s January. Which means there’s plenty of sunshine, but there’s also snow and biting cold and wind.

It lasted maybe two minutes.

I guess I’ll have to wait for summer to come around again to put some color back into my cheeks. Maybe I’ll take a vacation and go visit my sister in Virginia and lie out on the beach for a while. Sure, I may blind a few people passing by, but at least I’ll stop looking like the undead.

Maybe.

But today, I get to write at my desk at home, which means I have sunlight streaming in through my windows and the honey-colored wood in my house is glowing with sunshine and my kitty is there to hang out with me and there are birds eating from our makeshift bird feeder.

So, yes. Today is a very good day.

Maybe I’ll get some vitamin D through the windows?

What are you planning for your long weekend, and to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.? Tell me about it in the comments!

What Next Step??

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

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I wrote a post recently about doing the next right thing.

Since that’s my version of a New Year’s Resolution, I’ve been thinking about it quite a lot.

I also went to go see Frozen 2 over the weekend with my younger sisters. In case you were wondering, it was fabulous. I loved it. But it was also about doing the next right thing. And it started me wondering.

What is the next right thing when you’re a professional writer?

Sometimes, that can be a pretty difficult question. Especially because it varies person to person and day to day. Sometimes the next right thing is to write a page, read a new book, or spend an hour or so journaling with your characters. Other times it can be completely different: spending some time away from your computer, going for a walk, or setting up a social media page to connect with other writers and potential readers.

Unfortunately, there is no formula. Everyone is on their own journey, and no one can simply snap their fingers and say, “This is what you need to do today to take a step forward in your journey.”

If only life were that simple.

However, sometimes it really is so, so hard to know what the next right thing is supposed to be—especially when you’re a writer. Getting a book published or finding a job in your industry can seem impossibly hard, and sometimes it feels as though, instead of a long road to walk, there’s a gaping chasm that you have to (somehow) jump over. It becomes a leap of all or nothing, right now, instead of a journey with definable steps.

Writer, I promise that isn’t true.

Since it can be so hard sometimes to know what the next right things are, I’m going to devote a series on this blog to look at some of the next right things that have gotten me where I am today.

Starting with Save The Cat.

Before I started working as a full-time scriptwriter, I hadn’t read very many books on structure or style or anything else. Let’s be honest, there are about a million different books out there, everyone has their opinion on how story works. Some are great and some are not so great.

I could never figure out which was which.

But when I started my job, my manager had some very defined tasks for me to develop my writing skills. One of those tasks was to read Save The Cat, by Blake Snyder.

I still have that book on my desk. As well as the two followup books.

And yes, I still pick them up when I’m stuck and need inspiration, instruction, and a direction for my scattered thoughts.

It is a detailed, understandable guide to structure and story, written by a screenwriter who worked in Hollywood for many years and made more money in this industry than I will ever manage. His writing is clear and concise, and his advice is solid good sense.

So when I’m stuck, and I don’t know what the next right thing could possibly be, I reach for Save The Cat, and give my understanding of structure a boost, because I know that will do nothing but move me forward.

What is one thing you do for your writing when you’re not sure how to move forward? Tell me about it in the comments!

Weekend Prep

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

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My weekends are very precious to me.

I have solid tasks that I make sure are done every Saturday and Sunday to prep for my week. Breakfasts for the whole week are made, lunches are planned, laundry is done and folded. Hopefully, my house is cleaned, and I get some writing done.

Books get read, too. On the best weekends.

But my weekends are also the time to spend with my family. And this weekend, my sisters and I decided to take the afternoon and go see Frozen 2. Six of us went, and that meant a lot of special heels, favorite outfits, giggling, and one big van, because six girls will not fit into my little car. Trips into town when you live so far out in the country are occasions. We have a lot of fun with them.

We also had a lot of fun with Frozen 2. I think it might have been better than the first one, which is saying something. Yes, I loved the first one. I still sing Let It Go.

Don’t judge.

But Frozen 2 was a wonderful, hilarious experience, and all my sisters loved it.

I laughed so hard.

The best part of the movie, though, besides Kristoff’s song (because I’ve been waiting years for a proper Disney Prince song) was watching my little sisters crack up over Olaf’s story and the reactions he constantly got to his nonsense.

It was wonderful.

Afterward, we went out to lunch and ate way, way too much food. Then picked up ice cream sandwiches on the way home, because why not?

Then I came home and made baked oatmeal cups, homemade hummus, and Monday’s lunch because I still have to eat this week. I’m not going to lie, but Phineas and Ferb played in the background while I cooked. It’s my favorite, especially when I have a lot of kitchen prep-work to do.

Don’t laugh.

So, basically, I watched cartoons and made snacks all day Sunday. How was your weekend?

Have you been to see Frozen 2 yet? What did you think? Tell me about it in the comments!

The First Of The Year

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

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The first book, that is.

That’s right! My book list for this year is up and running. I have two books on it so far. A Map Of Days, and The Hygge Life. Thankfully, I’ve had a bit of time to read and relax this weekend, because the last few weeks have been crazy and hectic and busy, and my books got the worst of it.

I didn’t pick them up. For days.

But I’m back into the regular swing of things, and the age-old question that every bookworm/adult asks is now knocking at my door.

“How in the name of bookmarks and sanity am I supposed to find time to read as an adult?”

What a great question!

I have no idea how to answer it.

Obviously, there must be an answer. I know amazing, fantastic adults who tackle so much more than I could ever dream of doing who read. And not just read, but read a lot. It is possible.

And now that I am entering a new year with a new set of pressures and deadlines and expectations, I am determined that I am going to find my own answer to this question. Because, of course, every adult who faces this question has to find their own answer.

Unfortunately, there is no universal key.

No one-size-fits-all.

No secret formula.

For me personally, I know already that a good deal of whatever books I plow through this year are going to have to be audiobooks. I have an hour’s ride to work in the morning and an hour home, and it’s amazing how many audiobooks I can devour with that time. For the rest—I’ll have to catch them in minutes. In the last half-hour before bed. During my lunch break—when I’m not trying to be social and have friends.

I am still convinced that bookmarks are the adult reader’s best friends.

I don’t have anything even remotely similar to a ‘to-be-read’ list for this year, but a few that will hopefully feature on my ‘read’ list are . . .

Nicholas Nickleby

Les Miserables

The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry

The Lord of the Rings

The Girl in Cabin 10 (which I am reading now)

and Garden City.

I like to scatter old and new books through my list. Old favorites and new experiences. Since I always choose my books by what I feel like reading at the moment, none of these are certain. But at least I will have tried!

What’s on your to-be-read list this year? Tell me about it in the comments! And I’d love suggestions for my own list as well!

The Next Right Thing

Posted on by A.R. Geiger

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New Year’s resolutions are hard.

Statistically, most of them end up abandoned a month or so after New Year’s. I myself have never had much luck with them. They put pressure on us for a huge amount of change in a very, very short time, and personally, I’ve never found that life changes that way.

The changes that have come in my own life, big or small, have come slowly.

They’ve come one page, one morning at the gym, one journal entry at a time.

In the last decade, I’ve traveled to eight countries, written ten books, moved into my own home, worked multiple jobs, started this blog, and finally made something of a start on my career. None of that came out of a New Year’s resolution.

It came from moments.

From working when I didn’t feel like it.

From people supporting, loving, and believing in me, even when there wasn’t a great deal to believe in.

From knowing what my dreams were every single day, not just the first day of the year.

And most of all, from prayer, and from knowing that God had something for me right where I was, whether I could see it or not.

I could not have predicted where I am today five years ago, or ten years ago.

I’ve never been a five-year-plan kind of girl. I know what I want, and I know what I’m passionate about. I love books, I love stories, and I’ve spent this decade pursuing that. I didn’t make a resolution to end up here, I never had more of a plan than to publish my books and to make my living as a writer.

But I took the chances that came my way. I treasured my moments and used them. And I focused on doing the next right thing. Whether that meant writing another page. Or attending another conference. Or seeking out the help I needed.

Or simply being able to appreciate where I was while I built to where I wanted to be.

So this year, I don’t have any resolutions, except to do the next right thing. To take the next step.

And to treasure where I am, no matter what the future holds.

Here’s to 2020!

What are some of your hopes for 2020? Do you have a Next Right Thing in mind?