PROCESS
Sunday marked the two month anniversary of me writing on a story every single day. Even on weekends. Even on vacation. Even if I go to bed and have to drag myself back downstairs and open my notebook to write at least the next sentence in the story. This should be something to be celebrated. Something to be commended. Do I do either? Uh, no. Instead I hear this mean hateful little tyrant voice observing that some days it's only for five minutes or that I haven't actually written today yet. Somebody recently asked me if I have perfectionist tendancies. On the surface it doesn't seem true. But below the surface, where that mean little tyrant resides, well, yes, apparently she is a perfectionist since nothing I do is ever ever ever good enough. It's craziness. How do I get her to shut up? I write. It sounds counterintuitive to write and give her more ammuniton to use against me such as the characters are flat, the writing is filled with cliches, that I should be accomplishing so much more in terms of word count than I do since I do stay at home and it goes on and on and on. So I write and I observe. Just acknowledging that part of me is sometimes enough to shut her up. Afterall everyone wants to feel heard.
Last Thursday I finished the draft of my story and sent it out to my writing group then immediately opened up a brand new document and typed in the first paragraph of the next story. That's what I'm working on now. I'm in that stage of getting to know her voice. Lots of freewriting to see what is churned up. Pieces of scenes, dialogues, flashbacks. This is actually kind of fun, this part of my process. I don't quite know where it's all headed yet. Each sentence I write helps me to discover a bit more about the story and the characters. It's like I'm on this expedition. So this is what it feels like to occupy a writing life.
PRODUCT
Still haven't got back on the submission band wagon yet. It's been a while since I've submitted anything to any journal out there. Not sure why. I really hate the whole logistics of it: finding the appropriate venue, on-line or post? did I already submit there? which story? when? typing up the cover letter, including a line that might jog their memory of me if they have responded favorably to my work in the past. It's all a little tedious. But it's part of a writing life so I just need to do it. Just like the exercise thing which I now do daily and have done almost daily for two years now. So I can make myself do those things I despise.
READING
"Ron Carlson Writes a Story" is seriously the best book on writing that I have read. You are practically inside his head as he writes "The Governor's Ball" privy to every decision he makes and every choice he comes up against. You see the moments when he has no idea what comes next but he stays in the scene anyway to find out. It's amazing. A must-have for any writer or any reader curious about the whole writing process.
Currently reading:
1. "Lolita" as part of my writing group. We were all amazed to discover that none of us has read this yet.
2. "The Time it Takes to Fall" by Margaret Lazarus Dean- a coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the Challenger explosion. It intrigues me since I set my first novel (my under-the-bed novel) in the same time period and wrote a scene centered on that day.
3. "Feast of Love" by Charles Baxter which I have to read before I see the soon-to-be-released movie. Several books fall into this category: "Everything is Iluminated", "The Kite Runner". Luckily I already read "The Jane Austen Book Club".
QUOTE
"Solve all your problems through the physical world. That is, if you have a scene that's stalled or muddled, go back into it carefully and write the next thing that happens in real time. Don't think, but watch instead: occupy."
– "Ron Carlson Writes a Story" by Ron Carlson
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Dreaming, Walking and Writing
I don't usually dream about writing, never about my characters which I think would be completely cool, sometimes about me actually writing and I try to read along and hope that I remember it when I wake up because I am convinced that it is brilliant. I never do and I am sure it never is. But last night I dreamt that someone showed me a photo of me sitting at this stone table writing and I look blissful. Behind me is this amazing vista of mesas and plateaus and tiny paths and streets leading everywhere and nowhere. Then I remember being there on vacation and as I look at the photo it rotates so that I can see beyond the edges of the photo. I ask for a copy and want to post it near my desk to remember how blissful writing can be.
It must be a reflection of my writing day yesterday. I put it off all morning. Ate three handfuls of chocolate chips before I finally dragged myself to my desk where I ended up staying and writing for three hours. The time flew by. I'd look up and another hour had gone by. I think part of me was riding the energy of finishing "Ron Carlson Writes a Story", which will have to a whole other post. Let me just say it is the best book on writing that I have read- and I've read alot!
During my walk this morning all sorts of pieces started falling into place for my story. I've noticed that my walks need to be at least 40 minutes long. The first twenty are taken up with all sorts of garbage but after that I seem to settle into a rhythm and the story kind of drifts across the screen in my mind and I see that Kevin is actually Sarah's older brother which I will need to say in an earlier story- easy fix. And that Marty peeks out of the window of Reed's room at the end of the story and sees her father with Abby and that makes sense and echoes back to something earlier in the story. I know that all my writing days will not be like this but I want to remember this feeling so that it will get me through the decidedly unblissful writing moments.
It must be a reflection of my writing day yesterday. I put it off all morning. Ate three handfuls of chocolate chips before I finally dragged myself to my desk where I ended up staying and writing for three hours. The time flew by. I'd look up and another hour had gone by. I think part of me was riding the energy of finishing "Ron Carlson Writes a Story", which will have to a whole other post. Let me just say it is the best book on writing that I have read- and I've read alot!
During my walk this morning all sorts of pieces started falling into place for my story. I've noticed that my walks need to be at least 40 minutes long. The first twenty are taken up with all sorts of garbage but after that I seem to settle into a rhythm and the story kind of drifts across the screen in my mind and I see that Kevin is actually Sarah's older brother which I will need to say in an earlier story- easy fix. And that Marty peeks out of the window of Reed's room at the end of the story and sees her father with Abby and that makes sense and echoes back to something earlier in the story. I know that all my writing days will not be like this but I want to remember this feeling so that it will get me through the decidedly unblissful writing moments.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
So I'm Not Actually Not Writing Into a Void
Sometimes I forget that I am not writing into a void here. That people beyond my small circle of friends and family can find me. Somebody found me once and asked to quote me on their website selling Ann Hood's new novel, "The Knitting Circle." Then today, I received a comment on an older post from one of my favorite writers, Renee Manfredi. This is almost as exciting as getting published! To save you the scrolling time here it is:
Hi there,
Came across your blog. For what's it worth, having written 2 novels and a collection of stories, and having worked all sorts of jobs and hour combination during the process, I can tell you this: whether you work banker's hours, or are at home all day, your writing demands the same effort from you. Think of it this way: a child goes through the same developmental stages, rate of growth, whether her mother stays at home with her or works all day at Microsoft. Personally, I simply don't believe someone who claims to write for 5-6 straight hours. You can certainly be in a revisional mode that long, but not a compositional one. The white heat of creativity is about 90 minutes-2 hrs. 3, maybe. MAYBE longer if you have 2 sessions per day. I don't know anyone whe stays in the chair the whole time they're writing. For heaven's sake! Everybody procrastinates. Everybody dilly-dallys. How ELSE would the house get clean, the dogs get walked, and the risotto get stirred? Or blog entries be posted? (I've already walked my dogs).
Hope this is helpful. And thanks for your kind words about my story "Bocci."
Renee Manfredi
Her words are reassuring. I'm not sure why I expect so much from myself. Maybe to justify the fact that I have the luxury of not having to work outside the home? But of course, there is a lot of work that goes on inside the home. Anway... Renee Manfredi took time to respond on my blog. How cool is that? I read her novel, "Above the Thunder" a few years ago and just fell in love with the story, the characters, everything. So, of course I went on-line to see what else she had written and bought her collection of stories "Where Love Leaves Us". It is now on my permanent bookshelf of books I turn to again and again to teach myself how to write stories that have so much depth to them. Her latest is a novel "Running Away with Franny" which I also devoured. Her characters are so rich and layered and memorable. She says of her characters in "Above the Thunder" "I never think about plot. I don't think about theme. I think about characters. And these characters became very real to me. I dreamed about them." Well, they seem very real to me too.
One of my best compliments ever came when I recommended "Above the Thunder" to a friend (to everyone really, even a lady standing in front of the new releases at the library). My friend then gave to it to another saying how much I had loved it and after reading it this friend said she could see why I loved it so much. That it reminded her of my writing. Sigh...
My, this has been a big day. Earlier I took my girls to a reading/signing with Judy Blume. The mothers were as excited to be there as the daughters. It's amazing what a significant impact she's made on at least two generations of girls and women. I just bought the collection of essays, "Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume". I'm sure we could all write such an essay.
Hi there,
Came across your blog. For what's it worth, having written 2 novels and a collection of stories, and having worked all sorts of jobs and hour combination during the process, I can tell you this: whether you work banker's hours, or are at home all day, your writing demands the same effort from you. Think of it this way: a child goes through the same developmental stages, rate of growth, whether her mother stays at home with her or works all day at Microsoft. Personally, I simply don't believe someone who claims to write for 5-6 straight hours. You can certainly be in a revisional mode that long, but not a compositional one. The white heat of creativity is about 90 minutes-2 hrs. 3, maybe. MAYBE longer if you have 2 sessions per day. I don't know anyone whe stays in the chair the whole time they're writing. For heaven's sake! Everybody procrastinates. Everybody dilly-dallys. How ELSE would the house get clean, the dogs get walked, and the risotto get stirred? Or blog entries be posted? (I've already walked my dogs).
Hope this is helpful. And thanks for your kind words about my story "Bocci."
Renee Manfredi
Her words are reassuring. I'm not sure why I expect so much from myself. Maybe to justify the fact that I have the luxury of not having to work outside the home? But of course, there is a lot of work that goes on inside the home. Anway... Renee Manfredi took time to respond on my blog. How cool is that? I read her novel, "Above the Thunder" a few years ago and just fell in love with the story, the characters, everything. So, of course I went on-line to see what else she had written and bought her collection of stories "Where Love Leaves Us". It is now on my permanent bookshelf of books I turn to again and again to teach myself how to write stories that have so much depth to them. Her latest is a novel "Running Away with Franny" which I also devoured. Her characters are so rich and layered and memorable. She says of her characters in "Above the Thunder" "I never think about plot. I don't think about theme. I think about characters. And these characters became very real to me. I dreamed about them." Well, they seem very real to me too.
One of my best compliments ever came when I recommended "Above the Thunder" to a friend (to everyone really, even a lady standing in front of the new releases at the library). My friend then gave to it to another saying how much I had loved it and after reading it this friend said she could see why I loved it so much. That it reminded her of my writing. Sigh...
My, this has been a big day. Earlier I took my girls to a reading/signing with Judy Blume. The mothers were as excited to be there as the daughters. It's amazing what a significant impact she's made on at least two generations of girls and women. I just bought the collection of essays, "Everything I Needed to Know About Being a Girl I Learned from Judy Blume". I'm sure we could all write such an essay.
Wednesday, September 05, 2007
It's a Messy, Messy Thing
PROCESS/PROGRESS
Are these the same? Not really but they are absolutely tied together. If I am not engaged in the process there will be no progress. I am still writing on my story everyday. Every single day since, what... July 23. This, my friends, is an accomplishment. Now that the girls are back in school, I expect to be more engaged in both the process and progress of my novel-in-stories.
Today was the first full day they were back in school. I kept a rough time line of my day, kind of the way dieters need to account for every morsel they put into their mouth. I won't bore you with the minute-by-minute dissection of my day. Let's just say that I managed to write/revise/mull over my story for a total of almost three hours. Plus I wrote morning pages and read "Sense & Sensibilty" as part of my self-designed MFA.
My process... well, it's messy. It's confusing. Frustrating. But it's my process and at least I have one. The story I am working on now is a huge revision of a story that my writing group has already workshopped. So I have a master copy with five sets of comments throughout. Then I have a notebook with all the scribbling I've done everyday in a barely legible handwriting, in scenes that shift from first person to third and between past and present tense. The notebook is essential. It's the most frustrating part. I often don't know what's happening next. It's hard to find a scene once I write it. I have magenta post-it notes flagging scenes that I think will be in the story. Once I read over all that I have gathered in my notebook I start to piece it together somehow with the original draft. This involves lots of "insert A here", "insert B there". But then I have A's and B's from other drafts and I forget what I meant to do. Then I can't find the scene that needs to go next so I have to "read" through al my scribbles again trying to find it. Once I have some semblance of another draft pieced together I type it all up. That's what I finished today then took to the bookstore, got my iced green soy latte and sat down with a pink pen and started all over again. More A's and B's and now notes of what I think needs to happen next.
It's messy but so satisfying when the pieces start to fall into place. I feel this quickening in my blood as I write, as I play out scenes behind my eyes as if they were a movie and know it's finally coming together. Out of this chaos emerges this little world. It's kind of amazing.
READING
So many new books coming out by some of my favorite authors. Ron Carlson's book on writing is headed my way from amazon. Came home today with Ann Packer's new novel "Songs Without Words." Ann Patchett and Alice Sebold both have new novels coming out.
I finished Antonya Nelson's collection of stories, "Some Fun". I literally read the last sentence of the novella and turned back to the beginning to start it again. Her narrators are like"having a great friend whose company you love, whose mind you love to pick, whose running commentary totally holds your attention, who makes you laugh out loud, whose lines you always want to steal." (from page 49-50 of "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott) "Some Fun" goes on my permanent book shelf of books to re-read and learn from over and over again.
ART
I made two birthday cards for my sisters. Will post pix soon. I really want to figure out how to create an album in flicker then link that to my blog. I have three more books coming from amazon, all on collage and mixed media. One covers the use of collage in writing which is something I've been meaning to explore. Another is about artist's journals- always inspiring.
QUOTE
"No matter how badly we may want it to, revision just doesn't go in a straight line. It's not a process of improvement; it's a process of learning." - Heather Sellers, "Chapter After Chapter"
Are these the same? Not really but they are absolutely tied together. If I am not engaged in the process there will be no progress. I am still writing on my story everyday. Every single day since, what... July 23. This, my friends, is an accomplishment. Now that the girls are back in school, I expect to be more engaged in both the process and progress of my novel-in-stories.
Today was the first full day they were back in school. I kept a rough time line of my day, kind of the way dieters need to account for every morsel they put into their mouth. I won't bore you with the minute-by-minute dissection of my day. Let's just say that I managed to write/revise/mull over my story for a total of almost three hours. Plus I wrote morning pages and read "Sense & Sensibilty" as part of my self-designed MFA.
My process... well, it's messy. It's confusing. Frustrating. But it's my process and at least I have one. The story I am working on now is a huge revision of a story that my writing group has already workshopped. So I have a master copy with five sets of comments throughout. Then I have a notebook with all the scribbling I've done everyday in a barely legible handwriting, in scenes that shift from first person to third and between past and present tense. The notebook is essential. It's the most frustrating part. I often don't know what's happening next. It's hard to find a scene once I write it. I have magenta post-it notes flagging scenes that I think will be in the story. Once I read over all that I have gathered in my notebook I start to piece it together somehow with the original draft. This involves lots of "insert A here", "insert B there". But then I have A's and B's from other drafts and I forget what I meant to do. Then I can't find the scene that needs to go next so I have to "read" through al my scribbles again trying to find it. Once I have some semblance of another draft pieced together I type it all up. That's what I finished today then took to the bookstore, got my iced green soy latte and sat down with a pink pen and started all over again. More A's and B's and now notes of what I think needs to happen next.
It's messy but so satisfying when the pieces start to fall into place. I feel this quickening in my blood as I write, as I play out scenes behind my eyes as if they were a movie and know it's finally coming together. Out of this chaos emerges this little world. It's kind of amazing.
READING
So many new books coming out by some of my favorite authors. Ron Carlson's book on writing is headed my way from amazon. Came home today with Ann Packer's new novel "Songs Without Words." Ann Patchett and Alice Sebold both have new novels coming out.
I finished Antonya Nelson's collection of stories, "Some Fun". I literally read the last sentence of the novella and turned back to the beginning to start it again. Her narrators are like"having a great friend whose company you love, whose mind you love to pick, whose running commentary totally holds your attention, who makes you laugh out loud, whose lines you always want to steal." (from page 49-50 of "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott) "Some Fun" goes on my permanent book shelf of books to re-read and learn from over and over again.
ART
I made two birthday cards for my sisters. Will post pix soon. I really want to figure out how to create an album in flicker then link that to my blog. I have three more books coming from amazon, all on collage and mixed media. One covers the use of collage in writing which is something I've been meaning to explore. Another is about artist's journals- always inspiring.
QUOTE
"No matter how badly we may want it to, revision just doesn't go in a straight line. It's not a process of improvement; it's a process of learning." - Heather Sellers, "Chapter After Chapter"
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Reading and Writing, Writing and Reading
WRITING PROCESS
Still showing up daily to my story. Some days it is a sentence or two but still, it is me showing up and that's something in this crazy busy summer. A big something actually.
READING
"Beach Music" by Pat Conroy.
It came highly recommended by a member of my writing group which can always be awkward. What if I hate it? I once recommended one of my fave books at the time to a friend ("Anywhere But Here" by Mona Simpson- it still is one of my favorites of all time and shouldn't she have a new book coming out soon?) and she hated it. Anyway, not the case with "Beach Music". I can't imagine rereading it but it was an amazing story. A sweeping saga of a book which is perfect for summer. The dialogue is just perfect. And I must say that I fell in love with a paranoid schizophrenic- John Hardin. One thing I really admire is the way Conroy eventually has you feeling empathy for every single character even General Elliot, even Jack's father. The one thing that seemed a little forced was the first person POV when he had to relay all the characters' histories. It didn't feel natural the way it had to come through Jack. And the content of those stories involving wife and child abuse, poverty, the Holocaust- well... it just all became a little too much to bear at times. I found myself skimming certain sections trying to bypass the true horrors. But still, such a great summer book to sink into and lose yourself.
"Practically Perfect in Every Way- My Misadventures Through the World of Self-Help and Back" by Jennifer Niesslein
I so enjoyed this book and not just because she once wrote me a very encouraging rejection for her magazine "Brain, Child". Once I got past the fact that once again someone came up with yet another great format for a memoir (see list below for others) I flew through the book. The gist of it is that she embarks on a two year selp-help escapade in order to become a better, happier, thinner, richer, organized version of herself. She's funny, honest, vulnerable. I laughed out loud in spots and groaned with recognition in others since I was familiar with just about every self-help tome/guru she experimented with. My latest addition is an audio program that promises unconditional acceptance with the premise that if selp-improvement programs really worked there wouldn't be this proliferation of them clogging shelves in bookstores. I'll keep you posted.
More memoirs with unique structures that I love and wish I had thought of first:
"Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life" by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (Laugh out loud funny.)
"Things to Bring, S#!T to Do- My Life in Lists" by Karen Rizzo (Who knew lists could be so revealing?)
"Give it Up! My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less" by Mary Carlomagno (Each month for a year she gives up something from chocolate and alcohol to televison, taxis, and dining out. Such an interesting premise and I wish I had the willpower to attempt it myself without the carrot of a book contract dangling in front of me.)
"So Many books, So Little Time- A Year of Passionate Reading" by Sara Neslon (Need I say more- the title alone is the bumper sticker of my life.)
Still showing up daily to my story. Some days it is a sentence or two but still, it is me showing up and that's something in this crazy busy summer. A big something actually.
READING
"Beach Music" by Pat Conroy.
It came highly recommended by a member of my writing group which can always be awkward. What if I hate it? I once recommended one of my fave books at the time to a friend ("Anywhere But Here" by Mona Simpson- it still is one of my favorites of all time and shouldn't she have a new book coming out soon?) and she hated it. Anyway, not the case with "Beach Music". I can't imagine rereading it but it was an amazing story. A sweeping saga of a book which is perfect for summer. The dialogue is just perfect. And I must say that I fell in love with a paranoid schizophrenic- John Hardin. One thing I really admire is the way Conroy eventually has you feeling empathy for every single character even General Elliot, even Jack's father. The one thing that seemed a little forced was the first person POV when he had to relay all the characters' histories. It didn't feel natural the way it had to come through Jack. And the content of those stories involving wife and child abuse, poverty, the Holocaust- well... it just all became a little too much to bear at times. I found myself skimming certain sections trying to bypass the true horrors. But still, such a great summer book to sink into and lose yourself.
"Practically Perfect in Every Way- My Misadventures Through the World of Self-Help and Back" by Jennifer Niesslein
I so enjoyed this book and not just because she once wrote me a very encouraging rejection for her magazine "Brain, Child". Once I got past the fact that once again someone came up with yet another great format for a memoir (see list below for others) I flew through the book. The gist of it is that she embarks on a two year selp-help escapade in order to become a better, happier, thinner, richer, organized version of herself. She's funny, honest, vulnerable. I laughed out loud in spots and groaned with recognition in others since I was familiar with just about every self-help tome/guru she experimented with. My latest addition is an audio program that promises unconditional acceptance with the premise that if selp-improvement programs really worked there wouldn't be this proliferation of them clogging shelves in bookstores. I'll keep you posted.
More memoirs with unique structures that I love and wish I had thought of first:
"Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life" by Amy Krouse Rosenthal (Laugh out loud funny.)
"Things to Bring, S#!T to Do- My Life in Lists" by Karen Rizzo (Who knew lists could be so revealing?)
"Give it Up! My Year of Learning to Live Better with Less" by Mary Carlomagno (Each month for a year she gives up something from chocolate and alcohol to televison, taxis, and dining out. Such an interesting premise and I wish I had the willpower to attempt it myself without the carrot of a book contract dangling in front of me.)
"So Many books, So Little Time- A Year of Passionate Reading" by Sara Neslon (Need I say more- the title alone is the bumper sticker of my life.)
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Ebb and flow
I'm back. Kind of. Sort of. It's been a weird long summer. I feel like I lived out of a suitcase more than not. And if you know me, well, I'm quite a homebody. My intention in starting this blog was to make myself accountable when I wrote my novel-in-a-month last September. I also thought that it would be a place to document and observe my creative process. Well. The first part went smoothly enough. I finished a draft of my novel. But the second part, the whole observing the process aspect- not so smoothly. It's been a little one-sided. I've noticed that I really only document the good parts. The light parts. The productive parts. I don't really delve into the darker aspects of my creativity. Mainly I just drop off the radar. Thus, the big black holes in my blog. But reading Nova's blog (distraction no. 99) has encouraged me to not shy away from the dark spots. It's all part of the same process. So I'm not sure if I'm in a funk because I haven't been writing as much as usual or if I'm not writing as much because I'm in a funk. Funk is my word for it. I know there are others but since the "D" word runs in my family I like to keep it at bay by not using it with me. It's easy for me to spin way way out there so I try to catch myself. I know I have to eat healthy, exercise and write. I've known this for years. It's my little triangle that keeps my energy moving. Keep me from getting and staying stuck. From getting mired in phsical, mental and psychic muck.
So I attended this amazing workshop at Kenyon, came home, wrote for the first four days then went on vacation and it all kind of slipped away from me. I was embarassed. And a little ashamed. I mean, there I had spent a good chunk of money and had very little carry over into my real life after the conference had ended. So. Now what? Thus began my descent into the funk. Instead of reaching for my steady traingle of tools I did the exact opposite: ice cream, wine, lots of really bad TV and no writing. There I went, slipping further away. Then I picked up two books by Heather Sellers- "Page after Page" and "Chapter After Chapter" - and I highly recommend both. The one thing that finally pierced through was that I had to write everyday- even on vacation. I kind of chuckled at that. Yeah, right. Like that's gonna happen. I had two more trips coming up. One at my sister's on the other side of the state and one at Disney World. And guess, what? I wrote. Every day. And not just stream of consciousness morning pages. No. I worked on my story. Every day since July 24. I told myself even if it's just one line, it's something. I don't think I ever wrote just one line. Some days were light and I managed three or four sentneces but for the most part it was a half to two pages. The key moment came last night. I was in bed. Lights off and had just drifted to sleep when I remembered that I had not written that day at all. I lay there. In the dark. Snug in bed. So easy to just stay there. It was my Ron Carlson moment. He did the exact same thing at some point in his career. He hauled himself out of bed and went downstairs, turned on his computer and wrote at least one sentence. He said that was a turning point. That in that choice, he became a writer. So I hauled myself out of bed, downstairs, turned on a light, opened my notebook and wrote a one page scene.
In that moment I was a writer. Hopefully I'll have many more of those moments. But I know I'll also have darker moments when picking up a pen feels like lifting an anvil over my head- and letting it drop there. It's that whole ebb and flow, baby. Ebb and flow. It's just that when I'm ebbing there's very little of me to draw upon. I feel thin. Fragile. So I may not write while in the middle of ebbing but I won't ignore it either. That would be shortchanging the whole process.
So I attended this amazing workshop at Kenyon, came home, wrote for the first four days then went on vacation and it all kind of slipped away from me. I was embarassed. And a little ashamed. I mean, there I had spent a good chunk of money and had very little carry over into my real life after the conference had ended. So. Now what? Thus began my descent into the funk. Instead of reaching for my steady traingle of tools I did the exact opposite: ice cream, wine, lots of really bad TV and no writing. There I went, slipping further away. Then I picked up two books by Heather Sellers- "Page after Page" and "Chapter After Chapter" - and I highly recommend both. The one thing that finally pierced through was that I had to write everyday- even on vacation. I kind of chuckled at that. Yeah, right. Like that's gonna happen. I had two more trips coming up. One at my sister's on the other side of the state and one at Disney World. And guess, what? I wrote. Every day. And not just stream of consciousness morning pages. No. I worked on my story. Every day since July 24. I told myself even if it's just one line, it's something. I don't think I ever wrote just one line. Some days were light and I managed three or four sentneces but for the most part it was a half to two pages. The key moment came last night. I was in bed. Lights off and had just drifted to sleep when I remembered that I had not written that day at all. I lay there. In the dark. Snug in bed. So easy to just stay there. It was my Ron Carlson moment. He did the exact same thing at some point in his career. He hauled himself out of bed and went downstairs, turned on his computer and wrote at least one sentence. He said that was a turning point. That in that choice, he became a writer. So I hauled myself out of bed, downstairs, turned on a light, opened my notebook and wrote a one page scene.
In that moment I was a writer. Hopefully I'll have many more of those moments. But I know I'll also have darker moments when picking up a pen feels like lifting an anvil over my head- and letting it drop there. It's that whole ebb and flow, baby. Ebb and flow. It's just that when I'm ebbing there's very little of me to draw upon. I feel thin. Fragile. So I may not write while in the middle of ebbing but I won't ignore it either. That would be shortchanging the whole process.
Friday, July 13, 2007
MIA No Longer
Sorry sorry sorry. I've been MIA ever since I left for Kenyon. I can't believe it's been almost a month since I left. I ended up not coming straight home from the conference and instead went to my sister's house for four days since our kitchen wasn't done being remodeled yet. Came home for oh, about 36 hours to do laundry before packing up again and heading to Canada to visit my mom for a week. So I've been back for eight days in my own home, suitcases unpacked, new refigerator stocked with food again and trying to sort through all that I experienced at Kenyon. I'm sure I will be writing about it many more times in the coming months but let me start here.
First of all I worked my ass off. Five, six, seven hours a day of writing outside of the classroom in addition to attending readings, eating, sleeping and socializing. It was both exhilerating and draining. I slept for twelve solid hours my first night back. So much got churned up for me regarding my own writing process and it still has yet to settle. It feels like I have layers upon layers that I need to sift through and will continue to do for a long time. It's hard to pinpoint the one big thing I learned. It feels so intangible. It was just the experience of being immersed in my writing and having Ron Carlson be so incredibly generous in sharing his own process.
Below is an inventory of the work I did in a week:
Kenyon Review Fiction Workshop with Ron Carlson
Inventory of New Work
100 Word Chapter Novel
“Love is a Ripe Green Pepper” • 1200 words
ABC Story
“Barely There” • 495 words
6 Space Breaks
“Dead Deer Bingo” • 3697 words
Person, Place, Song
“What Sixteen Looks like” • 744 word
The Pet Store story
“Off Season” • 1191 words
The Ticking Clock
“Big Glove” • 1191 words
Fairy Tale Monologue
“The Giant’s Wife” • 994 words
Scenes
“Wrong number” • 450 words
“Dialogue on Park Bench in Rittenhouse Square” • 140 words
Five of these pieces I plan on revising. So one concrete thing I learned is that I will never run out of ideas. Each day new characters appeared in new settings with new stories. I didn't think I was afraid of that but maybe I was. I remember that Annie Dillard quote about shooting it all, spending it all every time you write and not hoarding it for another story and I think I did hoard tiny things but not anymore. Every piece I wrote at Kenyon was brand new.
I learned I can write at night. I've gotten into such a routine at home. I write in the morning and afternoon while the girls are in school. Night time is family time but often it's just spent watching TV. I think a different energy emerges at night too so it might be worth exploring.
I learned where I quit in a story. I get to that part where I don't know and I lose steam. Ron says the whole point is to write yourself out to that point in the ocean of your story where you can no longer touch bottom, the sky and water seem to merge and you don't know which way is up. You're out of breath and there's that slight panic building and all you want to do is grab a life preserver in the form of a cigarette, cup of coffee, donut or even cleaning the crud from the sides of the fridge but the writer is the person who stays out there a little longer, 20 minutes should do it and the story itself becomes the life preserver. In that 20 minutes you find that one small piece of inventory, that one detail you can grab onto and keep yourself afloat.
That's about all I can process for the moment.
QUOTE
"The writer is the person who stays in the room when she doesn't know what's going to happen." - Ron Calson
First of all I worked my ass off. Five, six, seven hours a day of writing outside of the classroom in addition to attending readings, eating, sleeping and socializing. It was both exhilerating and draining. I slept for twelve solid hours my first night back. So much got churned up for me regarding my own writing process and it still has yet to settle. It feels like I have layers upon layers that I need to sift through and will continue to do for a long time. It's hard to pinpoint the one big thing I learned. It feels so intangible. It was just the experience of being immersed in my writing and having Ron Carlson be so incredibly generous in sharing his own process.
Below is an inventory of the work I did in a week:
Kenyon Review Fiction Workshop with Ron Carlson
Inventory of New Work
100 Word Chapter Novel
“Love is a Ripe Green Pepper” • 1200 words
ABC Story
“Barely There” • 495 words
6 Space Breaks
“Dead Deer Bingo” • 3697 words
Person, Place, Song
“What Sixteen Looks like” • 744 word
The Pet Store story
“Off Season” • 1191 words
The Ticking Clock
“Big Glove” • 1191 words
Fairy Tale Monologue
“The Giant’s Wife” • 994 words
Scenes
“Wrong number” • 450 words
“Dialogue on Park Bench in Rittenhouse Square” • 140 words
Five of these pieces I plan on revising. So one concrete thing I learned is that I will never run out of ideas. Each day new characters appeared in new settings with new stories. I didn't think I was afraid of that but maybe I was. I remember that Annie Dillard quote about shooting it all, spending it all every time you write and not hoarding it for another story and I think I did hoard tiny things but not anymore. Every piece I wrote at Kenyon was brand new.
I learned I can write at night. I've gotten into such a routine at home. I write in the morning and afternoon while the girls are in school. Night time is family time but often it's just spent watching TV. I think a different energy emerges at night too so it might be worth exploring.
I learned where I quit in a story. I get to that part where I don't know and I lose steam. Ron says the whole point is to write yourself out to that point in the ocean of your story where you can no longer touch bottom, the sky and water seem to merge and you don't know which way is up. You're out of breath and there's that slight panic building and all you want to do is grab a life preserver in the form of a cigarette, cup of coffee, donut or even cleaning the crud from the sides of the fridge but the writer is the person who stays out there a little longer, 20 minutes should do it and the story itself becomes the life preserver. In that 20 minutes you find that one small piece of inventory, that one detail you can grab onto and keep yourself afloat.
That's about all I can process for the moment.
QUOTE
"The writer is the person who stays in the room when she doesn't know what's going to happen." - Ron Calson
Saturday, June 16, 2007
It's a Love/Hate Thing
I love summer vacation now as much as I did when I was a kid. I love having no schedule to follow, no homework to review, projects to oversee, papers to sign, no special time to get up. Then again part of me hates summer, mostly because there is no schedule to follow and with no schedule my writing gets sidelined quite a bit. Although I did manage to get a draft together for my group before I leave this morning. Yes, after months of writing and talking about it I finally leave for the Kenyon Review fiction worksop with Ron Carlson today. I spent last night printing out stories I want to work on and getting notebooks together and copying work onto a CD and selecting reading material ( always the most crucial aspect for a writer going on vacation). Here's what I'm taking:
2 library books that will be due a couple days after I return: "Be Mine" by Laura Kasischke and "The God of Animals: A Novel" by Aryn Kyle both of which are on my never-ending list of books to read
"Five Skies" by Ron Carlson
"The New Yorker" summer fiction issue
"Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen
"Glimmer Train" summer issue
"Now You Love Me" stories by Liesel Litenburger (which has aslo been on my list for quite a while)
I'm hoping that there will be much more writing going on that reading but I'm covered either way.
Not sure how much I will be generating new work versus revising existing drafts but I brought the current projects that are hot for me right now:
- "Learning Curve" a novel-in-stories
- 2 of my best stories so far that are part of a collection
- a draft of the novel I wrote in thirty days last November. Might be a good chance to sit down and just read it through and see what I've got.
The latest issue of "The Writer" has an interview with Ron Carlson in it and reading it just reaffirmed my decision to do this. I love everything he has to say about the writing process plus I love his own writing. His stories are in my permanent collection that I turn to again and again to show me how to write.
If I have time, I'll blog while I'm there, but if not you'll hear all about when I return.
2 library books that will be due a couple days after I return: "Be Mine" by Laura Kasischke and "The God of Animals: A Novel" by Aryn Kyle both of which are on my never-ending list of books to read
"Five Skies" by Ron Carlson
"The New Yorker" summer fiction issue
"Sense and Sensibility" by Jane Austen
"Glimmer Train" summer issue
"Now You Love Me" stories by Liesel Litenburger (which has aslo been on my list for quite a while)
I'm hoping that there will be much more writing going on that reading but I'm covered either way.
Not sure how much I will be generating new work versus revising existing drafts but I brought the current projects that are hot for me right now:
- "Learning Curve" a novel-in-stories
- 2 of my best stories so far that are part of a collection
- a draft of the novel I wrote in thirty days last November. Might be a good chance to sit down and just read it through and see what I've got.
The latest issue of "The Writer" has an interview with Ron Carlson in it and reading it just reaffirmed my decision to do this. I love everything he has to say about the writing process plus I love his own writing. His stories are in my permanent collection that I turn to again and again to show me how to write.
If I have time, I'll blog while I'm there, but if not you'll hear all about when I return.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
A Conversation with my Story
WRITING PROCESS
Story: I’ve got it.
Me: Got what?
Story: Martha’s mother. Her name isn’t Helen. It’s Delia.
Me: Um… excuse me?
Story: Yeah yeah yeah… it’s Delia. Helen is her mother. Her and Toby’s.
Me: But the story is almost done and it’s Helen throughout two whole stories. It’s not just a matter of replacing the name, you know. Helen and Delia are two completely different kinds of people.
Story: I know. Isn’t it great?
Me: Great? No, it isn’t great. I’ve worked so hard on this.
Story: Yes and all that hard work is paying off.
Me: For you maybe.
Story: Well. Yeah. That’s all that matters, isn’t it? It’s all about the story that wants to be told not the story you want to tell.
Me: I suppose. But this is huge. You’re suddenly not what I thought what you were about.
Story: Exactly. And that’s when it gets exciting, for both of us.
Me: (Sigh) Where do I start?
Story: Well, start with the find and replace option. That’s a place to start. Just see her real name implanted there in the text in black and white and see what happens. Then do some freewriting in Delia’s voice, maybe on events that you’ve already written about as Helen. Play with it. This is fun.
Me: Yeah, fun. Whooppee…
Story: Trust me.
Me: Do I have a choice?
Story: Sure, you can ignore me, not write, get crabby, not write some more, get crankier, until you finally try it my way and wonder what you were waiting for all that time.
Me: (sigh again) Fine. You win.
Story: It’s not a contest. It’s win win.
Me: Whatever...
Story: I’ve got it.
Me: Got what?
Story: Martha’s mother. Her name isn’t Helen. It’s Delia.
Me: Um… excuse me?
Story: Yeah yeah yeah… it’s Delia. Helen is her mother. Her and Toby’s.
Me: But the story is almost done and it’s Helen throughout two whole stories. It’s not just a matter of replacing the name, you know. Helen and Delia are two completely different kinds of people.
Story: I know. Isn’t it great?
Me: Great? No, it isn’t great. I’ve worked so hard on this.
Story: Yes and all that hard work is paying off.
Me: For you maybe.
Story: Well. Yeah. That’s all that matters, isn’t it? It’s all about the story that wants to be told not the story you want to tell.
Me: I suppose. But this is huge. You’re suddenly not what I thought what you were about.
Story: Exactly. And that’s when it gets exciting, for both of us.
Me: (Sigh) Where do I start?
Story: Well, start with the find and replace option. That’s a place to start. Just see her real name implanted there in the text in black and white and see what happens. Then do some freewriting in Delia’s voice, maybe on events that you’ve already written about as Helen. Play with it. This is fun.
Me: Yeah, fun. Whooppee…
Story: Trust me.
Me: Do I have a choice?
Story: Sure, you can ignore me, not write, get crabby, not write some more, get crankier, until you finally try it my way and wonder what you were waiting for all that time.
Me: (sigh again) Fine. You win.
Story: It’s not a contest. It’s win win.
Me: Whatever...
Friday, May 18, 2007
Think of Trees
WRITING PROCESS & PROGRESS
I may not be writing on this blog but I have been writing elsewhere: morning pages, writing practice and short stories. I just finished the second on efrom my novel-in-stories and sent it out to my writing group for Sunday. It's still not quite right. I'm not sure about the title which means I'm not quite sure what the story is about yet. I've found that the perfect titles emerges when the story has found its focus. Maybe listening to my group discuss the characters and plot might trigger something for me to work on in revision. I just pulled out the next story and re-read it, to refresh my memory. The good thing is that I was intrigued by it- wanted to keep reading to see what happens. The bad thing is that it needs some major rewriting.
One thing I've been hyper aware of lately in my writing is the "viewpoint intruder." I read an article about it in a magazine and now I notice it in my own stories. Martha notices, sees, watches, etc.... Once the POV character is established it's okay to just let the scene unfold without constant viewpoint intrusion.
As part of my writing process lately I've been reading a poem out loud every morning before I start my own writing. Currently I am reading "The Woman I Kept to Myself" by Julia Alvarez. I love getting that language in the air. Sometimes the poem sparks a prompt for me to use in my writing practice. Usually I just listen to the words, so lyrical, so lovely, almost breathing in the writer's own breath.
READING
I've been reading "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" and was hooked by it at first but now am kind of, I don' tknow, annoyed with it. The structure and style feel so self-conscious, always calling attention to the writer's cleverness. And there's this other annoying habit of using so many unusual verb to describe, say, the setting. I know strong verbs can be an amazing strength but in this case, once again, it just seems to call attention to itself. So I have put the book down for now. I am only a few chapters into "Sense and Sensiblity." Not far enough to have an opinion yet. I've been so focused on my own writing that I don't have the concentration needed to read that much. This happened when I took the class at OU and while I was and am currently incredibly productive I do miss my reading or the ability to get lost in another writer's world, perhap because I am so immersed in creating my own fictional world.
QUOTE
"When I think of my death, I think of trees
in the full of summer, a row of them
marking a border, still too far away
for me to name them, posted with rotted boards
everyone but the faint of heart ignores."
- from "Last Trees' by Julia Alvarez
I may not be writing on this blog but I have been writing elsewhere: morning pages, writing practice and short stories. I just finished the second on efrom my novel-in-stories and sent it out to my writing group for Sunday. It's still not quite right. I'm not sure about the title which means I'm not quite sure what the story is about yet. I've found that the perfect titles emerges when the story has found its focus. Maybe listening to my group discuss the characters and plot might trigger something for me to work on in revision. I just pulled out the next story and re-read it, to refresh my memory. The good thing is that I was intrigued by it- wanted to keep reading to see what happens. The bad thing is that it needs some major rewriting.
One thing I've been hyper aware of lately in my writing is the "viewpoint intruder." I read an article about it in a magazine and now I notice it in my own stories. Martha notices, sees, watches, etc.... Once the POV character is established it's okay to just let the scene unfold without constant viewpoint intrusion.
As part of my writing process lately I've been reading a poem out loud every morning before I start my own writing. Currently I am reading "The Woman I Kept to Myself" by Julia Alvarez. I love getting that language in the air. Sometimes the poem sparks a prompt for me to use in my writing practice. Usually I just listen to the words, so lyrical, so lovely, almost breathing in the writer's own breath.
READING
I've been reading "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" and was hooked by it at first but now am kind of, I don' tknow, annoyed with it. The structure and style feel so self-conscious, always calling attention to the writer's cleverness. And there's this other annoying habit of using so many unusual verb to describe, say, the setting. I know strong verbs can be an amazing strength but in this case, once again, it just seems to call attention to itself. So I have put the book down for now. I am only a few chapters into "Sense and Sensiblity." Not far enough to have an opinion yet. I've been so focused on my own writing that I don't have the concentration needed to read that much. This happened when I took the class at OU and while I was and am currently incredibly productive I do miss my reading or the ability to get lost in another writer's world, perhap because I am so immersed in creating my own fictional world.
QUOTE
"When I think of my death, I think of trees
in the full of summer, a row of them
marking a border, still too far away
for me to name them, posted with rotted boards
everyone but the faint of heart ignores."
- from "Last Trees' by Julia Alvarez
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Word by Word
WRITING PROCESS/PROGRESS
So I slogged my way through my story today, showing up although everything else clamored for my attention from the chocolate brownie fudge ice cream in the freezer to the blue skies and the 77º day outside. But I kept my butt in this chair and managed to make some headway. Some days it's just word by word. One trick I learned from Ron Carlson is the 20 minute rule. When you feel the need to get up and indulge in whatever has been clamoring for your attention, stay in your chair for just 20 more minutes. Stay in the room, he says, meaning the room where you write and the room or scene of the story. He promises that almost always it is worth the time. Today it was. A scene that had no focal point at all finally came into focus during that 20 minutes.
I know I sound like a broken record, but really, it's all about showing up. Really. It's the same lesson over and over.
READING
So I am now reading "Sense and Sensbility" as part of my self-designed MFA. It is the second story in "The Master Class in Fiction Writing" and focuses on characterization. I've read chapter 1 so far.
For enjoyment I pulled "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" from my bookshelf and I am hooked.
QUOTE
"In the arts, your weakness becomes your signature. The fact that your work is imperfect makes it interesting. A perfect face isn't interesting. A book's flaws make it less predictable."
- Janet Fitch
So I slogged my way through my story today, showing up although everything else clamored for my attention from the chocolate brownie fudge ice cream in the freezer to the blue skies and the 77º day outside. But I kept my butt in this chair and managed to make some headway. Some days it's just word by word. One trick I learned from Ron Carlson is the 20 minute rule. When you feel the need to get up and indulge in whatever has been clamoring for your attention, stay in your chair for just 20 more minutes. Stay in the room, he says, meaning the room where you write and the room or scene of the story. He promises that almost always it is worth the time. Today it was. A scene that had no focal point at all finally came into focus during that 20 minutes.
I know I sound like a broken record, but really, it's all about showing up. Really. It's the same lesson over and over.
READING
So I am now reading "Sense and Sensbility" as part of my self-designed MFA. It is the second story in "The Master Class in Fiction Writing" and focuses on characterization. I've read chapter 1 so far.
For enjoyment I pulled "Special Topics in Calamity Physics" from my bookshelf and I am hooked.
QUOTE
"In the arts, your weakness becomes your signature. The fact that your work is imperfect makes it interesting. A perfect face isn't interesting. A book's flaws make it less predictable."
- Janet Fitch
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Short Story Immersion
READING
I have been immersed in short stories lately. I just finished "The Dead Fish Museum" by Charles d'Ambrosio last night. The stories are rough around the edges, in a good way. I remember enjoying almost every story as I read them but honestly not one paricular story stands out against the rest. To be fair that could be because of all the other stories I've read lately. Like the entire spring issue of "The Missouri Review." I rarely ever finish an entire issue of any literary journal much less read it cover to cover in two days. But that's what happened this time. I read every story, essay and poem word by word. And there's a great interview with David Sedaris. The theme for the issue is Love and Lonliness. Maybe that appeals to me. For whatever reason, I was immediateley drawn into each and every piece from the couples at the "lifestyle" resort to the father and son who both fall in love to the philosophy student who tries to put his relationship in some kind of context against the back drop of a marathon. I especially enjoyed the two essays so much that they make me want to try my hand at one myself.
I received the new Narrative on-line and read a great new story by Ron Carlson as well as an in-depth profile on Ann Beattie. While meandering blogs in between my own writing I found myself linked to 2 other short stories, both involving hands. One is by Benjamin Percy. You can find it at http://www.storyglossia.com/thirteen/bp_hand.html. Then there is this one by Elizabeth Graver at http://www.pshares.org/issues/article.cfm?prmArticleID=4916. These also inspire me. Now I want to write a story that uses a hand in a surprising way. The there's this new story by Kate Walbert that all moms can relate to: http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2007/03/26/070326fi_fiction_walbert.
I'm thinking I need a break from short stories now. Not sure what is next but I love this feeling of not knowing. I love being in this space in between books and browsing through my shelves at leisure until the next book I am meant to read falls into my lap.
WRITING
With all this reading you'd think writing has taken a backseat but that is so not the case. I finished yet another draft of "Japanese for Butterfly' and am letting it sit for a while as I work on the next story. I hauled out this five inch thick binder yesterday that has all the stories for this book so far. I grabbed the next 2 to get an idea of where I am and saw that much can and should be cut from both and that they are actually one story in different seasons- winter and summer. At one point I had over forty pages strewn across my living room floor as I made a list of all relevant scenes. I worked on it yesterday and the story and characters percolated all day no matter if I was cooking, doing the dishes or watching TV. I had to come back to my office and scribble down notes as new things came to me.
I wrote these stories a couple of yeas ago. The copies I have contain notes from people no longer in my writing group. It's been a humbling and interesting process. So much time has elapsed making it is easy to read with an objective eye. I noticed this embarassing habit I had of writing what I can only call purple prose. I read and crossed out passages with this vague sense anxiety. I knew there was a word for what I was reading but it wouldn't come to me. At some point the term "purple prose" came up in my reading and I googled it and found this: "Purple prose is sensuously evocative beyond the requirements of its context. It also refers to writing that employs certain rhetorical effects such as exaggerated sentiment or pathos in an attempt to manipulate a reader's response." Yep. That's what I did. God, it was excruciating to read. The good news is that I've obviously (uh, hopefully?) grown out of that particular writing pitfall. Oh, I'm sure I'll stumble across many more as I continue.
As part of my writing process, I am filling up pages with writing practice. Yesterday the topic was "Write about a cold snap." I started by writing that this topic does not inspire me at all, blah, blah, blah. But I stuck with it for three pages and the beignnings of a brand new short story with brand new characters emerged. I keep telling myself it's all about just showing up. Apparently that's true.
ART
Made a birthday card for a friend. Took a picture of it. And, yes, I still need to learn how to post photos. But first I need to learn how to get them off my camera.
QUOTE
"With good writing, I think, the most profound response is finally a sigh, or a gasp, or holy silence."
- Tim O'Brien
I have been immersed in short stories lately. I just finished "The Dead Fish Museum" by Charles d'Ambrosio last night. The stories are rough around the edges, in a good way. I remember enjoying almost every story as I read them but honestly not one paricular story stands out against the rest. To be fair that could be because of all the other stories I've read lately. Like the entire spring issue of "The Missouri Review." I rarely ever finish an entire issue of any literary journal much less read it cover to cover in two days. But that's what happened this time. I read every story, essay and poem word by word. And there's a great interview with David Sedaris. The theme for the issue is Love and Lonliness. Maybe that appeals to me. For whatever reason, I was immediateley drawn into each and every piece from the couples at the "lifestyle" resort to the father and son who both fall in love to the philosophy student who tries to put his relationship in some kind of context against the back drop of a marathon. I especially enjoyed the two essays so much that they make me want to try my hand at one myself.
I received the new Narrative on-line and read a great new story by Ron Carlson as well as an in-depth profile on Ann Beattie. While meandering blogs in between my own writing I found myself linked to 2 other short stories, both involving hands. One is by Benjamin Percy. You can find it at http://www.storyglossia.com/thirteen/bp_hand.html. Then there is this one by Elizabeth Graver at http://www.pshares.org/issues/article.cfm?prmArticleID=4916. These also inspire me. Now I want to write a story that uses a hand in a surprising way. The there's this new story by Kate Walbert that all moms can relate to: http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2007/03/26/070326fi_fiction_walbert.
I'm thinking I need a break from short stories now. Not sure what is next but I love this feeling of not knowing. I love being in this space in between books and browsing through my shelves at leisure until the next book I am meant to read falls into my lap.
WRITING
With all this reading you'd think writing has taken a backseat but that is so not the case. I finished yet another draft of "Japanese for Butterfly' and am letting it sit for a while as I work on the next story. I hauled out this five inch thick binder yesterday that has all the stories for this book so far. I grabbed the next 2 to get an idea of where I am and saw that much can and should be cut from both and that they are actually one story in different seasons- winter and summer. At one point I had over forty pages strewn across my living room floor as I made a list of all relevant scenes. I worked on it yesterday and the story and characters percolated all day no matter if I was cooking, doing the dishes or watching TV. I had to come back to my office and scribble down notes as new things came to me.
I wrote these stories a couple of yeas ago. The copies I have contain notes from people no longer in my writing group. It's been a humbling and interesting process. So much time has elapsed making it is easy to read with an objective eye. I noticed this embarassing habit I had of writing what I can only call purple prose. I read and crossed out passages with this vague sense anxiety. I knew there was a word for what I was reading but it wouldn't come to me. At some point the term "purple prose" came up in my reading and I googled it and found this: "Purple prose is sensuously evocative beyond the requirements of its context. It also refers to writing that employs certain rhetorical effects such as exaggerated sentiment or pathos in an attempt to manipulate a reader's response." Yep. That's what I did. God, it was excruciating to read. The good news is that I've obviously (uh, hopefully?) grown out of that particular writing pitfall. Oh, I'm sure I'll stumble across many more as I continue.
As part of my writing process, I am filling up pages with writing practice. Yesterday the topic was "Write about a cold snap." I started by writing that this topic does not inspire me at all, blah, blah, blah. But I stuck with it for three pages and the beignnings of a brand new short story with brand new characters emerged. I keep telling myself it's all about just showing up. Apparently that's true.
ART
Made a birthday card for a friend. Took a picture of it. And, yes, I still need to learn how to post photos. But first I need to learn how to get them off my camera.
QUOTE
"With good writing, I think, the most profound response is finally a sigh, or a gasp, or holy silence."
- Tim O'Brien
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Editing My Dreams?
RANDOM MUSINGS
I must be a "real" writer if I'm editing my word choice in my dreams. Last night I dreamt that I interviewed Jack Nicholson. I notice how blue his eyes are and scribble that in my notes and try to come up with a word less cliché than piercing or penetrating. I mean Jack deserves better than a tired ciché, doesn't he?
I read two books from the library and they are due back today but I had to note this weird similarity between them. They both have characters with the same name. "Skylight Confessions" has a female protagonist named Arlyn. "The Ghost at the Table has a minor male character named Arlen. Do character names go through popularity cycles like baby names?
WRITING
I'm thrilled to say that I am back in some sort of writing groove. I worked steadily on a story everyday this week, even last night at the ice cream social at school. I am trying to cut it down to 7500 words from 8100 since that seems to be a pretty basic maximum for many journals and I am already trying to place a 10,000-word story.
Not only did I write on my story for several hours each day but I also did morning pages everyday and three pages of writing practice several times throughout the week. When I took a fiction class at OU one of the requirements was at least three 20-minute writing sessions each week in addition to having a new story or revision ready. I even did one now and it's Saturday.
READING
Finished "Reading Like a Writer" by Francine Prose and I don't think I am exaggerating when I say that she has changed the way I read. As I revise my story "Japanese for Butterfly" I am reading the entire piece out loud for the third time and each time I find a word that isn't right or words I can cut. It's fun. Reading out loud illuminates where the prose is clunky but it also slows me down which is one of the main lessons I learned from F.P.
Still reading the "Dead Fish Museum" by Charles D'Ambrosio and just read the line that explains where the title comes from... perfect.
QUOTE
"Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style.
- Kurt Vonnegut
I must be a "real" writer if I'm editing my word choice in my dreams. Last night I dreamt that I interviewed Jack Nicholson. I notice how blue his eyes are and scribble that in my notes and try to come up with a word less cliché than piercing or penetrating. I mean Jack deserves better than a tired ciché, doesn't he?
I read two books from the library and they are due back today but I had to note this weird similarity between them. They both have characters with the same name. "Skylight Confessions" has a female protagonist named Arlyn. "The Ghost at the Table has a minor male character named Arlen. Do character names go through popularity cycles like baby names?
WRITING
I'm thrilled to say that I am back in some sort of writing groove. I worked steadily on a story everyday this week, even last night at the ice cream social at school. I am trying to cut it down to 7500 words from 8100 since that seems to be a pretty basic maximum for many journals and I am already trying to place a 10,000-word story.
Not only did I write on my story for several hours each day but I also did morning pages everyday and three pages of writing practice several times throughout the week. When I took a fiction class at OU one of the requirements was at least three 20-minute writing sessions each week in addition to having a new story or revision ready. I even did one now and it's Saturday.
READING
Finished "Reading Like a Writer" by Francine Prose and I don't think I am exaggerating when I say that she has changed the way I read. As I revise my story "Japanese for Butterfly" I am reading the entire piece out loud for the third time and each time I find a word that isn't right or words I can cut. It's fun. Reading out loud illuminates where the prose is clunky but it also slows me down which is one of the main lessons I learned from F.P.
Still reading the "Dead Fish Museum" by Charles D'Ambrosio and just read the line that explains where the title comes from... perfect.
QUOTE
"Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, not your games with language, which will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style.
- Kurt Vonnegut
Thursday, May 03, 2007
My 10 Favorite Short Stories
So I saw this out in the blogosphere and thought that it would be fun. Not sure if there are any parameters to follow but I decided to only list the short stories that I remember. No leafing through books to jog my memory. I can only check for titles and or spelling. So here goes... my favorite top ten stories in no particular order.
1. "Bullet in the Brain" by Tobias Wolff
2. "Milk" by Ron Carlson
3. "The Potato Gun" by Ron Carlson
4. "Bocci" by Renée Manfredi
5. "Who Do You Love" by Jean Thompson
6. "In the Event" by Christopher Coake
7. "Howard Johnson's House" by Mary Clyde
8. "People Like That Are the Only People Here" by Lorrie Moore
9. "A Small, Good Thing" by Raymond Carver
10. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" by Joyce Oates
These are all stories that have stuck with me, haunted me even. I am looking at the list to see if there is a particular theme or pattern that emerges. Several involve parents confronting the relative powerlessness we can feel in the face of our children's lives. Several star adolescents on the verge of discovery and danger. I don't know, but for these characters and their stories to stand out in spite of my voracious reading habit says something. And instead of being daunted, I actually am inspired to keep writing in hopes that I write a story so true and raw that it stands out for somebody, somewhere, sometime, someday.
1. "Bullet in the Brain" by Tobias Wolff
2. "Milk" by Ron Carlson
3. "The Potato Gun" by Ron Carlson
4. "Bocci" by Renée Manfredi
5. "Who Do You Love" by Jean Thompson
6. "In the Event" by Christopher Coake
7. "Howard Johnson's House" by Mary Clyde
8. "People Like That Are the Only People Here" by Lorrie Moore
9. "A Small, Good Thing" by Raymond Carver
10. "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been" by Joyce Oates
These are all stories that have stuck with me, haunted me even. I am looking at the list to see if there is a particular theme or pattern that emerges. Several involve parents confronting the relative powerlessness we can feel in the face of our children's lives. Several star adolescents on the verge of discovery and danger. I don't know, but for these characters and their stories to stand out in spite of my voracious reading habit says something. And instead of being daunted, I actually am inspired to keep writing in hopes that I write a story so true and raw that it stands out for somebody, somewhere, sometime, someday.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Baby Steps
READING
I am about halfway through "Reading Like a Writer" by Francine Prose. She is really helping me to slow down and savor the sentences and word choices in my reading and my writing. And she is adding to my ever growing list of books to read, some by writers I've never heard of. Henry Green, anyone?
I just finished "The Knitting Circle" by Ann Hood. I felt rather voyeuristic as I read this novel, knowing how closely it mirrors her own experience. Her five-year-old daugher, Grace, died unexpectedly from complications from strep a few years ago. In the book a young daughter also dies and it is told from the perspective of the mother who finds herself learning to knit. The author also learned to knit when the usual comfort she found in writing and reading and language in general had left her after the loss of her daughter. I am not the sort of person who cries easily while reading but this one did it. It's every mom's worst nightmare. I've attempted to write stories that deal with the loss of a child in hopes of some kind of writerly magic preventing it from happening in reality as Kate Braverman once said but it is just too huge to grapple with. It gives such a raw incite into the grieving process that I read it almost with one eye closed, unable to watch it full on.
"Moral Disorder" by Margaret Atwood is another stunning book by this author. It is a series of interconnected stories that reveal the life of Nell as a child and adolescent into young adulthood through a complex relationship with Tig. The stories are structured in this sweeping arc of time that envelopes their lives. Carefully rendered, closely observed- trademarks of this writer.
Currently reading "The Dead Fish Museum," a story collection by Charles D'Ambrosia.
POETRY
On the last day of National Poetry Month I took my youngest to a poetry reading at our library by Keith Taylor. One line that struck me was "dancing under the temporary stars." In the car my daughter asked me what my favorite poem had been. I was embarassed to realize that they had all kind of run together for me but she had a list of her favorites which once she began numerating then jogged my own memory.
ART
I went to make a card for a friend's 30th birthday the other day. Once I got into my art space I started finding objects that all went together and ended up creating a wall hanging as a present. I do have a photo and I really must learn to transfer it off my camera, onto my computer and onto my blog. Really, it's on my list of things to do. It was so much fun to create. I had no real expectations, or very low ones- just gonna make a little card. No big deal. I'm thinking that low or no expectations might serve me in many other areas of my life too.
WRITING
I'm in the middle of another huge rewrite of this story, "Japanese for Butterfly." I thought I was at the point of reading it out loud and fine tuning the prose but earlier today it came to me that I need another scene which happens to be one I wrote in the first story. So I am merging the old story and new story into an even better story I hope. My goal is to finish it this week so I can start on the next story so I can have it ready for my writing group by May 20. I also want to make a list of journals to submit 3 different stories to, one that is 10,000 words. I thought I'd make a list one day, write cover letters the next, print out stories the next, label, stuff and mail the next. Baby steps since I really hate this part of the process.
QUOTE
"You can't write seriously without reading the greats in that particular way that writers read, attentive to the particularities of the language, to the technical turns and twists of scenemaking and plot, soaking up narrative strategies and studying various approaches to that cave in the deep woods where the human heart hibernates."
- Alan Cheuse
...that cave in the deep woods where the human heart hibernates... I love this!
I am about halfway through "Reading Like a Writer" by Francine Prose. She is really helping me to slow down and savor the sentences and word choices in my reading and my writing. And she is adding to my ever growing list of books to read, some by writers I've never heard of. Henry Green, anyone?
I just finished "The Knitting Circle" by Ann Hood. I felt rather voyeuristic as I read this novel, knowing how closely it mirrors her own experience. Her five-year-old daugher, Grace, died unexpectedly from complications from strep a few years ago. In the book a young daughter also dies and it is told from the perspective of the mother who finds herself learning to knit. The author also learned to knit when the usual comfort she found in writing and reading and language in general had left her after the loss of her daughter. I am not the sort of person who cries easily while reading but this one did it. It's every mom's worst nightmare. I've attempted to write stories that deal with the loss of a child in hopes of some kind of writerly magic preventing it from happening in reality as Kate Braverman once said but it is just too huge to grapple with. It gives such a raw incite into the grieving process that I read it almost with one eye closed, unable to watch it full on.
"Moral Disorder" by Margaret Atwood is another stunning book by this author. It is a series of interconnected stories that reveal the life of Nell as a child and adolescent into young adulthood through a complex relationship with Tig. The stories are structured in this sweeping arc of time that envelopes their lives. Carefully rendered, closely observed- trademarks of this writer.
Currently reading "The Dead Fish Museum," a story collection by Charles D'Ambrosia.
POETRY
On the last day of National Poetry Month I took my youngest to a poetry reading at our library by Keith Taylor. One line that struck me was "dancing under the temporary stars." In the car my daughter asked me what my favorite poem had been. I was embarassed to realize that they had all kind of run together for me but she had a list of her favorites which once she began numerating then jogged my own memory.
ART
I went to make a card for a friend's 30th birthday the other day. Once I got into my art space I started finding objects that all went together and ended up creating a wall hanging as a present. I do have a photo and I really must learn to transfer it off my camera, onto my computer and onto my blog. Really, it's on my list of things to do. It was so much fun to create. I had no real expectations, or very low ones- just gonna make a little card. No big deal. I'm thinking that low or no expectations might serve me in many other areas of my life too.
WRITING
I'm in the middle of another huge rewrite of this story, "Japanese for Butterfly." I thought I was at the point of reading it out loud and fine tuning the prose but earlier today it came to me that I need another scene which happens to be one I wrote in the first story. So I am merging the old story and new story into an even better story I hope. My goal is to finish it this week so I can start on the next story so I can have it ready for my writing group by May 20. I also want to make a list of journals to submit 3 different stories to, one that is 10,000 words. I thought I'd make a list one day, write cover letters the next, print out stories the next, label, stuff and mail the next. Baby steps since I really hate this part of the process.
QUOTE
"You can't write seriously without reading the greats in that particular way that writers read, attentive to the particularities of the language, to the technical turns and twists of scenemaking and plot, soaking up narrative strategies and studying various approaches to that cave in the deep woods where the human heart hibernates."
- Alan Cheuse
...that cave in the deep woods where the human heart hibernates... I love this!
Thursday, April 26, 2007
My Own Self-Guided MFA
WRITING
Well, it's a good thing I gave myself permission to not write one word while on vacation since that's basically what I did. Or what I didn't do. I admire the concept of writing everyday even at the beach or the ski slopes or wherever your vacation happens to take you. But in reality, sometimes I just need a break from it and am willing to suffer the consequences of that which is that I have to slog my way back into a piece of writing. Although sometimes I come back completely refreshed. Usually it's a combination of the two.
I find myself in this vicious cycle of having a really productive writing day then completely slacking off the next day. Not sure what that is about at all. I even leave myself a note on where to pick up the next day but still I avoid my desk for hours until I get so disgusted with myself that I finally pick up a pen or the mouse just to scribble something even if it's about how disgusted I am that I haven't written all day and lo and behold I am suddenly writing and back in the groove. It's a crazy crazy way to live which makes me believe in having to write and not just wanting to.
I did manage to finish a draft of a story for my group last weekend. It was supposed to be the second story in my collection but it is now the first and it just fits so perfectly there. This is easily the 14th or 15th revision of this particular story and I can tell that although it is very close to being done I probably have another 2 or 3 to go. But these are the fun revisions. It's the polishing of each paragraph and each sentence and validating each word choice. I am currently reading "Reading Like a Writer" by Francine Prose and she has me totally enraptured with language again- both my own and in the writing of others. She opens reading up into this whole new dimension. Which brings me to my current project. This is something I've been meaning to do for a while. It's my own self-guided MFA.
This is the plan. But first a little background...
I came to writing long after I already had a degree in art and began working as a graphic designer. Just when I decided to go back to school to pursue an English degree I found out that I was finally pregnant after trying for two years. So, of course, school gets put on hold. I kept a very tenuous thread connected to writing while my children were little through various workshops and classes. My life line ended up being a workshop through the Writers Voice called "MothersWrite." We gathered each week for two hours to write, talk about writing and how to combine that with motherhood. And they provided childcare. It was a dream come true. Once my youngest had entered precshool I took myself to the Starbucks around the corner and wrote for those 2-3 hours, filling notebooks with tons of what Natalie Goldberg calls writing practice. Characters began to emerge along with possible stories but I wasn't concerned with that, just with showing up to the page.
My real commtitment came once the girls entered school full time. Suddenly there were these seven hours a day that I had to myself. Much of the stories I have finished happened since then. Ron Carlson says that the first 20 stories you write are your apprenticeship. I have 29 that I can recall. Periodically I consider going back to school but that just isn't feasible now that we have two daughters, one only five years away from graduating high school and going off to college herself. So I ask myself what would an MFA give me besides the degree and the connections. 1. Time to write. I've already established that I have that. It's just a matter of using it much more productively than I currently am. 2. Feedback on my work. Well, I have that too. I am part of a committed writing group who provide not only encouragment but incredibly insightful and thoughtful comments that make me want to make my work even better. 3. Reading lists that lead to provocative discussions of classic and contemporary writers. Now I have that too. At least the reading list part. I went online and printed out a couple of MFA Reading Lists then cross checked it against my own extensive collection and came up with a reading plan that should keep me busy for quite awhile.
The plan is to finish the Francine Prose book. (Oh, how I wish I had her leaning over my shoulder as I read, pointing out every nuance of every sentence and word choice.) My hope is that by reading her book it will help make me a more careful reader. The next book will be "Master Class in Fiction Writing" by Adam Sexton. It's broken into elements of fiction accompanied by the story that helps illustrate that particular element of craft.
Story Structure: "Araby"
Characterization: "Sense and Sensibility"
Plot: "The Secret Sharer"
Description: "Rabbit, Run"
Dialogue: "A Severed Head"
POV I- Participant Narrators: "As I Lay Dying"
POV II- Exclusively Observant Narrators: "Beloved"
Style, Voice: "A Farewell to Arms"
The World of Story: "Lolita"
That should keep me busy for the next couple of years since I also plan on continuing with my own reading for pleasure. The main thing I am learning so far is to read much more slowly. To savor the sentences. When I was in art school I was great at the gesture drawings- sketches of live models that we did in one minute increments to warm up. I sturggled when it came time to develop those drawings, layer them with texture and details- very similar to writing. I've filled close to forty notebooks with writing practice which is a bunch of timed writings done- you guessed it- really fast. Now it's time to slow down in both my reading and my writing.
Well, it's a good thing I gave myself permission to not write one word while on vacation since that's basically what I did. Or what I didn't do. I admire the concept of writing everyday even at the beach or the ski slopes or wherever your vacation happens to take you. But in reality, sometimes I just need a break from it and am willing to suffer the consequences of that which is that I have to slog my way back into a piece of writing. Although sometimes I come back completely refreshed. Usually it's a combination of the two.
I find myself in this vicious cycle of having a really productive writing day then completely slacking off the next day. Not sure what that is about at all. I even leave myself a note on where to pick up the next day but still I avoid my desk for hours until I get so disgusted with myself that I finally pick up a pen or the mouse just to scribble something even if it's about how disgusted I am that I haven't written all day and lo and behold I am suddenly writing and back in the groove. It's a crazy crazy way to live which makes me believe in having to write and not just wanting to.
I did manage to finish a draft of a story for my group last weekend. It was supposed to be the second story in my collection but it is now the first and it just fits so perfectly there. This is easily the 14th or 15th revision of this particular story and I can tell that although it is very close to being done I probably have another 2 or 3 to go. But these are the fun revisions. It's the polishing of each paragraph and each sentence and validating each word choice. I am currently reading "Reading Like a Writer" by Francine Prose and she has me totally enraptured with language again- both my own and in the writing of others. She opens reading up into this whole new dimension. Which brings me to my current project. This is something I've been meaning to do for a while. It's my own self-guided MFA.
This is the plan. But first a little background...
I came to writing long after I already had a degree in art and began working as a graphic designer. Just when I decided to go back to school to pursue an English degree I found out that I was finally pregnant after trying for two years. So, of course, school gets put on hold. I kept a very tenuous thread connected to writing while my children were little through various workshops and classes. My life line ended up being a workshop through the Writers Voice called "MothersWrite." We gathered each week for two hours to write, talk about writing and how to combine that with motherhood. And they provided childcare. It was a dream come true. Once my youngest had entered precshool I took myself to the Starbucks around the corner and wrote for those 2-3 hours, filling notebooks with tons of what Natalie Goldberg calls writing practice. Characters began to emerge along with possible stories but I wasn't concerned with that, just with showing up to the page.
My real commtitment came once the girls entered school full time. Suddenly there were these seven hours a day that I had to myself. Much of the stories I have finished happened since then. Ron Carlson says that the first 20 stories you write are your apprenticeship. I have 29 that I can recall. Periodically I consider going back to school but that just isn't feasible now that we have two daughters, one only five years away from graduating high school and going off to college herself. So I ask myself what would an MFA give me besides the degree and the connections. 1. Time to write. I've already established that I have that. It's just a matter of using it much more productively than I currently am. 2. Feedback on my work. Well, I have that too. I am part of a committed writing group who provide not only encouragment but incredibly insightful and thoughtful comments that make me want to make my work even better. 3. Reading lists that lead to provocative discussions of classic and contemporary writers. Now I have that too. At least the reading list part. I went online and printed out a couple of MFA Reading Lists then cross checked it against my own extensive collection and came up with a reading plan that should keep me busy for quite awhile.
The plan is to finish the Francine Prose book. (Oh, how I wish I had her leaning over my shoulder as I read, pointing out every nuance of every sentence and word choice.) My hope is that by reading her book it will help make me a more careful reader. The next book will be "Master Class in Fiction Writing" by Adam Sexton. It's broken into elements of fiction accompanied by the story that helps illustrate that particular element of craft.
Story Structure: "Araby"
Characterization: "Sense and Sensibility"
Plot: "The Secret Sharer"
Description: "Rabbit, Run"
Dialogue: "A Severed Head"
POV I- Participant Narrators: "As I Lay Dying"
POV II- Exclusively Observant Narrators: "Beloved"
Style, Voice: "A Farewell to Arms"
The World of Story: "Lolita"
That should keep me busy for the next couple of years since I also plan on continuing with my own reading for pleasure. The main thing I am learning so far is to read much more slowly. To savor the sentences. When I was in art school I was great at the gesture drawings- sketches of live models that we did in one minute increments to warm up. I sturggled when it came time to develop those drawings, layer them with texture and details- very similar to writing. I've filled close to forty notebooks with writing practice which is a bunch of timed writings done- you guessed it- really fast. Now it's time to slow down in both my reading and my writing.
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Apparently Walter Mosley Knows his Stuff
WRITING
Okay,okay, so Walter Mosley is on to something with this writing everyday thing so that the "continent of thought below your conscious mind" can work on the story. The book was available earlier than the date I saw on amazon. I ended up buying it a week and half ago and pretty much finished it in one sitting. It is a slim volume but full of sage advice from a writer who works at his craft. I found the third person narrative section especially helpful since that is an element I am curently struggling with. He states that "...we are viewing the world through the prism of the intelligent eye perched on Brent's shoulder, an intelligence without emotional response." That pretty much echoes what my writing group came up with when I read a passage from a short story that swings from a ten-year old girl's thoughts to an objective narrative voice within the same paragraph. They suggested that for it to work in my particular story that when the narrative voice is on, it can't include any of my usual metaphorical language. It's hard for me to do but it makes complete sense. I've been working on my story, even when I don't feel like it and finally it has fallen into some shape that feels right. And once that happened things from the first story fell into place. I'd wake up and think,"Oh, it's Barbie dolls in that scene, not baby dolls. And this scene needs to be moved from the second story to the first." And so on. So I am waking up like he said, further along in my story than when I left it the day before.
He also suggests that there is no vacation from writing. Literally. That you should write on the beach or wherever you happen to be. If you get a tooth pulled then put your character in a dentist's chair. Well... I leave for vacation tomorrow and I can pretty much guarantee you that I will not be writing everyday. Or maybe any day. I'll bring my notebooks and if I write anything that's something since I am giving myself permission to just not write for the next week. Does that make sense? With the pressue off, I am certain I will probably write at some point. Whereas if I demanded that I write everyday, well, that just wouldn't happen and I'd have the guilt on top of it.
READING
I am stunned that Oprah chose "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. Thrilled but stunned. It is not her usual woman truimphs in the end sort of novel. Not by a long shot. I read this the day it came out practically and pretty much in one sitting. Could not put it down. I even underlined sentences as I read... they are that breathtkaing. Anyway, now that it's out in paperback, everyone should read it. Really, go buy. Read it. It's amazing.
Another book I couldn't put down was "Awake in the Dark" by Shira Nayman. These are short stories and a novella that explore the deeply held secret life of holocaust survivors, what they endured, what they had to do to survive and the toll it took on them and their children as the secrets eventually surface. Highly recommended.
I am currently reading "Moral Disorder" by Margaret Atwood. Will write on it when I finish. So so good...as usual.
NEWS
My piece is now on http://estellabooks.blogspot.com/2007/04/three-hundred-and-ninety-three-and.html. There are also interviews with a some great writers- Billy Collins, Sara Gruen.
The Altercations conference in Ann Arbor is open for registration today. I went last year and ended up creating two beautiful collages that are now hanging in my house. This year I am interested in two classes. One in image transfer and the other in painting and mixing colors to get vibrant lush backgrounds.
Just finished a logo and sign for a church out in Arizona. And my sister and I also designed some logo ideas for our other sister in Florida. That was fun.
We are off to Connecticut and Philadelphia tomorrow for spring break. It's not a warm beach but it is family and our daughters seem to prefer that. So, no more posts until the week of April 15. Now I get to go pick my books for the trip. I love that part of packing.
QUOTE
"The reader is always looking for two things in the novel: themsleves and transcendence."
- Walter Mosley
Okay,okay, so Walter Mosley is on to something with this writing everyday thing so that the "continent of thought below your conscious mind" can work on the story. The book was available earlier than the date I saw on amazon. I ended up buying it a week and half ago and pretty much finished it in one sitting. It is a slim volume but full of sage advice from a writer who works at his craft. I found the third person narrative section especially helpful since that is an element I am curently struggling with. He states that "...we are viewing the world through the prism of the intelligent eye perched on Brent's shoulder, an intelligence without emotional response." That pretty much echoes what my writing group came up with when I read a passage from a short story that swings from a ten-year old girl's thoughts to an objective narrative voice within the same paragraph. They suggested that for it to work in my particular story that when the narrative voice is on, it can't include any of my usual metaphorical language. It's hard for me to do but it makes complete sense. I've been working on my story, even when I don't feel like it and finally it has fallen into some shape that feels right. And once that happened things from the first story fell into place. I'd wake up and think,"Oh, it's Barbie dolls in that scene, not baby dolls. And this scene needs to be moved from the second story to the first." And so on. So I am waking up like he said, further along in my story than when I left it the day before.
He also suggests that there is no vacation from writing. Literally. That you should write on the beach or wherever you happen to be. If you get a tooth pulled then put your character in a dentist's chair. Well... I leave for vacation tomorrow and I can pretty much guarantee you that I will not be writing everyday. Or maybe any day. I'll bring my notebooks and if I write anything that's something since I am giving myself permission to just not write for the next week. Does that make sense? With the pressue off, I am certain I will probably write at some point. Whereas if I demanded that I write everyday, well, that just wouldn't happen and I'd have the guilt on top of it.
READING
I am stunned that Oprah chose "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy. Thrilled but stunned. It is not her usual woman truimphs in the end sort of novel. Not by a long shot. I read this the day it came out practically and pretty much in one sitting. Could not put it down. I even underlined sentences as I read... they are that breathtkaing. Anyway, now that it's out in paperback, everyone should read it. Really, go buy. Read it. It's amazing.
Another book I couldn't put down was "Awake in the Dark" by Shira Nayman. These are short stories and a novella that explore the deeply held secret life of holocaust survivors, what they endured, what they had to do to survive and the toll it took on them and their children as the secrets eventually surface. Highly recommended.
I am currently reading "Moral Disorder" by Margaret Atwood. Will write on it when I finish. So so good...as usual.
NEWS
My piece is now on http://estellabooks.blogspot.com/2007/04/three-hundred-and-ninety-three-and.html. There are also interviews with a some great writers- Billy Collins, Sara Gruen.
The Altercations conference in Ann Arbor is open for registration today. I went last year and ended up creating two beautiful collages that are now hanging in my house. This year I am interested in two classes. One in image transfer and the other in painting and mixing colors to get vibrant lush backgrounds.
Just finished a logo and sign for a church out in Arizona. And my sister and I also designed some logo ideas for our other sister in Florida. That was fun.
We are off to Connecticut and Philadelphia tomorrow for spring break. It's not a warm beach but it is family and our daughters seem to prefer that. So, no more posts until the week of April 15. Now I get to go pick my books for the trip. I love that part of packing.
QUOTE
"The reader is always looking for two things in the novel: themsleves and transcendence."
- Walter Mosley
Thursday, March 29, 2007
An All Around Excellent Day
It's been an excellent writing day. Finally, finally, finally this second story in my collection fell into place. All the scenes fell into a new order that makes so much more sense and it feels inevitable. That has to be good, right? I just need to smooth out a few scenes, fill in a few gaps and send it off to my writing group for our next meeting. I'm sure they'll be grateful to see a new story. Same character but new story.
It's been an excellent library day. I checked out "Awake in the Dark" by Shira Nayman. It's a story collection that I've been eyeing at the bookstore for a while. And "Blind Submission" by Debra Ginsberg which is a novel set in the bookstore/publishing business.
And it's been an excellent bookstore day. I got the new CD by Amy Winehouse. It's playing now. She has this great phrase in the third song "What kind of f**kery is this?" I think it could catch on... Plus a book called "Writer Mama" by Christina Katz which I think is probably aimed at moms with kids younger than mine but it looks like she has some great tips for breaking into magazine writing which is something I want to do. I also bought the latest issue of a magazine out of the UK called "Psychologies." It's one of the few magazines where I read practically every aricle.
And I cleaned up our art studio in the basement. Now that it's a bit more organized maybe that will entice to go make some art.
So, yes, all in all an excellent day so far... Bring on the evening of homework, dinner and negotiating the inevitable sibling rivalry...
It's been an excellent library day. I checked out "Awake in the Dark" by Shira Nayman. It's a story collection that I've been eyeing at the bookstore for a while. And "Blind Submission" by Debra Ginsberg which is a novel set in the bookstore/publishing business.
And it's been an excellent bookstore day. I got the new CD by Amy Winehouse. It's playing now. She has this great phrase in the third song "What kind of f**kery is this?" I think it could catch on... Plus a book called "Writer Mama" by Christina Katz which I think is probably aimed at moms with kids younger than mine but it looks like she has some great tips for breaking into magazine writing which is something I want to do. I also bought the latest issue of a magazine out of the UK called "Psychologies." It's one of the few magazines where I read practically every aricle.
And I cleaned up our art studio in the basement. Now that it's a bit more organized maybe that will entice to go make some art.
So, yes, all in all an excellent day so far... Bring on the evening of homework, dinner and negotiating the inevitable sibling rivalry...
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Update
Not only was it a productive morning but I already heard back from the editor of the blog where I submitted my piece and they loved it. It will appear at http://www.estellasrevenge.com in April. Very cool... I am becoming more of a believer in just showing up and writing regardless of my current frame of mind- or lack thereof.
Well, that was productive
It is now 9:08. I wrote my morning pages which actually helped shed some light on why I haven't been writing like I want to. I finished the mysteries piece and submitted it to the blog editor. And I've been working on the second story in my novel-in-stories. I just scratched out a rough outline of a new sequence of scenes and it looks like I might end up combining the first two stories into one. I tried doing that before but something always prevented it. It still might but it feels good to be working on it. And the voice seems to be coming through this time. We'll see... it's way to soon to tell at this point.
Anyway... all in all quite a productive morning so far.
Anyway... all in all quite a productive morning so far.
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