1.29.25

hoping to conjure up a good story
press words like piano keys push
warmth into the floorboards by
the soles of feet the souls
of characters etched
by heart

#katyamills

1.25.25

5am. the wilderness in the heart need not be tamed. listen with all your senses. breathe into its arrhythmias. stay long enough to record it. if you dare.

#katyamills

1.23.25

 the room where I write has five walls and a light hanging off a ten foot chain. a newsprint by Banksy tacked up to remind me. a girl with her legs crossed. seated. looking thoughtfully at a bird. if you get tired, it says, learn to rest, not to quit.   #katyamills

motif

a central part of her process involved locating the #motif internally and forging ahead until its pattern and rhythm are clearly communicated and staying with it until ready for print #vss365

#katyamills

escargot

a steady hand
wandering mind
moods break and make
a row
you get it down
in columns
even if it's slow
escargot

#katyamills

blood

The first draft had to be almost effortless or else you would get caught up in editing too soon and lose the story.  The final copy would have to come off as almost effortless. The difference between the first draft and the final copy was blood sweat and tears. Okay, blood is an exaggeration. Usually.   #katyamills

burn the wheels

catastrophic thoughts

churn through my head i

grab the nearest

bicycle and burn the wheels

off the spokes

#katyamills

drafting

one way to start fresh on a piece of writing is not worry about anything. let the words go. care less of punctuation which can be righted in the editing phase. come back to it later. let the rhythm get top billing. storytelling gets VIP treatment. this is a free write so let it be free.  #katyamills

life of a writer

they ask me how

i write. i may i might

tell them. or not

i establish rules then 

in light of the risen sun

they lie broken

at my blood red

toenails

#katyamills

language 1

i like to pick up on cadences

language rolling off the tongue

a writer's job is like mining colloquialisms 

off the streets

#katyamills

whatever (it takes)

 smoked a whole pack 

of cigarettes drank an entire pot

of coffee

whatever it takes to keep still 

and write the damn

book

#katyamills

may 18

i have this aching in my bones. but it's ok. summer is about to strike. the sun the source of energy. i love this feeling. i know this feeling. i'm at the edge of a jagged cliff. preparing for a deep dive... into a book.

#katyamills

writing tip

emotional coloring

extractions from the past 

by intention

can transform the ache of remembrance
and bring your history

back to life

#katyamills

statica

 

the divine 

exists in the space between stations

where molecules cease 

to behave

#katyamills

notes 24 october

with hope upon wakening

believin the work to be done 

i open my manuscript

and like the washer the dryer you

spill out on the floor at my feet

such is life

replete and resplendent

we sharpen our blades

and fall on them

#katyamills

storytelling

 let the story tell you

fictions

what really happened

memory clouds it

feelings color it thoughts about it

change it

what it really was what

you guess it was

just don’t go thinking

pretending you know

the facts are closer but alone

they are meaningless

that’s why it’s fun to write

fiction

published on wordpress

by Katya Mills

put me away. they

all the pain in my body i was

talking to myself they won’t put me

away i seem to be okay i

gotta full time job the only chemical

in my system is caffeine

they won’t put me away

i gotta therapist i

got a yoga class a bunch of misfit friends

and family though they live so far

away they won’t put me

away

i got an imagination that’s my favorite part my

greatest strength my best asset my one

talent i think i’ll write it

down and make it

real

prose version: all the pain in my body could not stop me. i was talking to myself and giving myself encouragement. hopefully they won't put me away. i seem to be okay. i gotta full time job and the only chemical in my system is caffeine. i gotta chiropractor and a therapist. i got a yoga class and a bunch of friends. i gotta family though they live so far away. i got an imagination and that's my favorite part. i think i'll write it down and make it real.

iiii iiii ii

i cannot imagine life without
first a commitment to be helpful

i left all the jobs i ever had that did not feel so
clerk, salesperson, broker, messenger, banker, waitress
i found a way to make a living by helping

writing

this is my practice
this is my devotion

notes on a (writing) process

i do not wait to be inspired to write. i block off time every morning to work on something original, often flash fiction, prose, poetry... you know, just words strung together in a way that makes sense to me. might be 5 might be 100. i do not wait though yes, i can feel uninspired. if so, i let go and step away for some time, breathe, drink some water, walk around, talk to the cats, do the dishes, stretch, whatever. just changing channels can do wonders. then i may work on #wip edits as i always have a single wip occupying my every day mind and heart.  focus on the immediate work in progress will bring me back in alignment with the gods. or if it's a really bad morning or im exhausted past the point of coffee making a difference, i may read a few pages of Nabokov, some classic or even a contemporary, or some flashes on wordpress and find my way back to inspired. i like to listen to a little jazz or classical in the background, soft, helps me get there. going out for a walk. prayer. if my wip really is taking off and im getting excited towards finishing, i may devote entire nights or weekends to the work. i have been known to take a week's vacation from my day job and devote the entire time to writing. for me it's mostly practice, the writing process, practice and devotion. i will be reading my work at the Sacramento Poetry Center via Jennifer Pickering this afternoon, and she asked me to talk about writing process for a little bit so im cutting it up here first.