Poetry Wheel

A while back, I read somewhere about a poet who rented a booth at a fair and charged a dollar for a poem written on the spot, using a theme or words that the customer offered. Years later, I ran into a similar concept in a NYC subway station--a guy was sitting behind a table with a big sign that read "POEMS". For a donation, he would type up a poem on the spot on his typewriter and give it to you. I participated, and though I can't find the poem he wrote at the moment, I remember it was about a girl in a red coat (the color of coat that I was wearing).

When the Easton Cultural Council (which I am the publicity director for) wanted to come up with an activity we could bring to the town's Fall Festival, those two experiences came to mind. I googled around a bit, and voila! I found a kid-friendly poetry activity: The Poetry Wheel.

Luckily, a friend of one of the Council members had a wheel he made for carnival games at his temple. We borrowed it, and I made some word tags using words I cut out from magazines.



When I first suggested the poetry wheel concept, some members seemed a little hesitant: Would kids really want to write poems at a fair? Wouldn't it be too much like school?

We figured out the answer when, during the first hour of the fair, we got more kids than the three adults manning the booth could handle. We had a line! (Granted, we did offer them candy as a prize after they completed their poem. But even still, 9 out of 10 kids seemed to enjoy the writing part as much as the candy part.)

I just hope one of these budding poets will look back on the Poetry Wheel as one of the things during their childhood that inspired and excited them about writing.

(We also decorated the booth using lanterns made out of soda bottles and tissue paper. We're hoping to bring a lantern walk to Easton, similar to the lantern walk Brian and I participated in in Jamaica Plain for 10+ years.)

More on saying no

If I believed in the universe sending me messages, I would take getting this article in my email box about the freedom that comes from being able to say no as a sign. Especially since it comes on the heals of my post about setting limits.

Along those lines, my friend Shannon just wrote about fitting creative pursuits into her life in a beautifully titled post, Row by Row.

Even if I don't believe the "universe" is sending me this message, I'm picking up on it none the less. Must. Say. No.

30 and Below? Not any more...

I think of myself as someone who's not overly concerned about aging. But I'm starting to wonder if that's just because I'm still relatively young! A few things conspired to make me think about aging: I spent time with four generations of family this weekend, I was incredibly excited when I got carded at my cousins wedding, on the plane ride home I learned that I am not that much younger than People Magazine, and, most relevant to this blog's topic of creative living, I came across this contest for young writers. I clicked on the link announcing the contest and realized I'm too old to participate! Talk about a reality check...

Writerbug regrets that it is impossible, under any circumstances, for her to...

I recently learned of a writing/poetry blog I really like, Book of Kells. Kelli has a post about productivity that I found especially relevent to me and to many of my friends, who are trying to accomplish much--and succeeding, though sometimes at the price of their happiness and sanity.

The post talks about a writer called Edmund Wilson, a very influential book critic in the 1920s. Here's how he dealt with being asked to do too many things: One, he didn't worry about trying to please everyone, which of course is impossible and only distracts you from the things that are important to YOU. And two, he used the following form letters to decline requests:

Edmund Wilson regrets that it is impossible for him without compensation to:

read manuscripts
contribute to books or periodicals
do editorial work
judge literary contests
deliver lectures
address meetings
make after-dinner speeches
broadcast;

Under any circumstances to:

contribute to or take part in symposiums
take part in chain-poems or other collective compositions
contribute manuscripts for sales
donate copies of his books to libraries
autograph books for strangers
supply personal information about himself
supply photographs of himself
allow his name to be used on letter-heads
receive unknown persons who have no apparent business with him.


Pretty awesome, no? What would your list look like, if you had the balls to hand it out?

My list of things I won't do would include:
Stop to hear your schpeel/sign your petition when I am exiting the grocery store

Plan office parties/buy going away presents even if it means that no one else is going to think to do it

Say yes to social engagements that I am not 100% excited about going to. (This already feels impossible, even in my imaginary life. I will ammend to say: "Say yes to social engagements that I am not 100% excited about unless the guilt regarding saying no feels too great." God I'm weak.)

Feel the need to keep friendships going when they don't seem to be nourishing either party

*********
If I could implement these things, I bet my life would feel much more balanced, especially in terms of getting to spend time with the people who really do nourish my soul. At the moment I seem to have many many more friends who I see every few months, than friends I get to see on a regular basis, as often and as much as I would like to.

That said, my priority at the moment is my writing, so some of that is my own doing. (Well, actually, my priority at this very moment is getting over this awful, awful cold, which has pretty much floored me.)

Looking forward to seeing your list!

Dear Diary

As I mentioned previously, I went to see a show called Mortified recently, where people read from their teenage diaries. As expected, it was hysterically funny. It was also poignant.. The readers--men and women, people my age and much older--all wrote and read in different styles and different voices, but so much of the content was the same. It involved boyfriend/girlfriend drama, friends being mean to each other or leaving one another out, people and relationships changing with time... It struck me that adolescence is a time when we all feel so alone, yet in reality, we are all going through the same things.

When I was thinking about writing this post, I realized that that fact isn't just true of adolescence--as life goes by, many of the problems we face are things that feel so isolated, yet that many people face. I don't think there's much of a solution for this. Heartbreak and difficulties seem to inherently make you feel alone, no matter if you know that others are dealing with, or have dealt with, the same thing. But maybe keeping that thought in mind can help getting through that loneliness a little easier.

October To Dos, and NaNoWriMo

October has a special feeling to it now that I'm committed to doing NaNoWriMo again**. I feel like I imagine a mother might feel in the last month of pregnancy, when she's scrambling to get a bunch of things done before she has to devote all her time to her baby. (More on the parallels between writing and motherhood another day.)

So here are the writing/creative things I want to get done in October, pre-NaNo:

+ Finish the two baby sweaters I'm making for my brother-in-law and sister-in-law's babies.

+ Get the short short "Marriages Mysteries" revised and send it out.

+ Get the longer short story "Trying" revised and send it out.

+ Send out my body image essay

+ Write a pitch for the Coupling column of the Boston Globe

+ Write a pitch for an article on simultaneous submissions and find some writing mags where it might find a home.

+ Write a pitch for Utube's first literary journal, Shape of a Box. (Love the concept!)

I'm slightly tired from just typing this all, but I think it can get done.

**I am not going to follow the NaNo rules 100%, as I did last year. I am in the process of completely rewriting my NaNo manuscript from last year. Basically I'm using the idea and the characters that came out of all that writing, but I'm not using the actual writing at all. I don't want to interrupt that process to start on another novel. So I'm going to continue working on my second draft of that first novel, with the goal of getting 50,000 words of it (re)written in November. In any case, November is going to be completed devoted to writing, and that's the point of NaNo, right?

What a difference a year makes

I'm dashing this off before running to meet a friend to see Mortified, a hilarious-sounding piece of performance art where people read from their teenage diaries. I'm feeling a little anxious about going--this is a new friend and I'm realizing more and more what an introvert I'm becoming and how these acts of reaching out unnerve me. That's the reason I'm taking the time to write this now, since writing is one of the things that reliably centers me (walking is the other).

Last year this time was the hardest time of my life. For reasons too personal to share here, last fall was a time filled with darkness and depression for me. I'm reminded so heavily of that time now, as the anniversary of this dismal period is upon me. For example, last year this time, I could not get up the energy or initiative to start up a NaNoWriMo group in Easton, even though I wanted so badly to learn more about the writing and arts scene in our new town. I remember hating myself for not having the focus to do that. (Luckily, Brian stepped up and did this without my help.) This year, on the other hand, I am so excited to welcome NaNo into my life, and I will be contacting our library soon to see about hosting some write ins.

There are other "fun" things, like hosting a French cooking class at my house and having my family over for Thanksgiving, that I look back on and realize how much energy they took up--so much more so than usual because pretending to be OK and happy sucks out whatever little life there is in you when you're depressed.

I know a few friends who are going through some tough times right now. Divorces. Difficult pregnancies. Stresses of kids and working. So I'm posting this now to say, Hang in there. This fall might be truly awful. But in a year, you might look back on this and say, "Phew. So glad that's over and I'm happy again." I hope you can.

Where I write

Check it out, I'm featured on the NaNoWriMo blog! (Along with my cat, Boom Boom)

[34 days until NaNoWriMo 2009!]

Writers' Group Feedback

As I posted on Friday, I had my first meeting with a novel writing group this week. I got great feedback on the first chapter of my novel (3rd+ draft of said chapter...). I thought I would record some of the edits want to make in the next draft here. I want to move ahead and get the 3rd draft of chapter two finished, so this post will serve as a reminder of what I took away from my groups' comments when I get back to chapter 1.

Opening: Move the section where Emily swings on the ledge of the balcony up, and the part about listening to the party noise below it.

Throughout: Watch the mentions of the rain. A bit heavy handed/seemingly metaphorical.

Scene with Hugh: Make it more distinct from scene with David. Maybe Hugh gets mad that she didn't tell him about her sister's death. He definitely should be aggressive and push her toward contacting Colin. Then the chapter will end with her not quite deciding what to do yet.

*******
typ Things to do
I want to end with a short list of things I hope to get done this week:

**Finish typing up long-hand version of chapter 2; then go back and write out longhand the end of that chapter.

**Apply to the two writers' residencies I flagged

**Revise Darfur and Marriages' Mysteries

How to: Make a Journal

I recently discovered that I love writing in small, spiral notebooks. I find them easy to carry, I like the thickness of the lines, and for whatever reason, I found myself more compelled to write in it than the pretty journal I bought.


That said, I wanted to pretty it up a bit. So I went to my old staple of a craft, collaging.

Brian and I happened to be at the dollar store earlier that day, and I found a book of vintage images there for, you guessed it, a dollar--originally priced $25!

I chose this image to serve as my background:


In my mind, the key to collaging is not using regular old glue. It leaves too many lumpy bumps. So instead, I water the glue down. I pour a puddle of glue into a disposable cup (this one recycled from Brian's breakfast), and add water until the glue is about the consistency of pea soup. I stir the concoction with a straw or coffee stirrer.

This time, I painted the glue onto the notebook cover using a corner of a sponge because I couldn't find a paintbrush.

Next I looked through my image book and cut out anything that spoke to me and added it to the background:





I added an envelope to the inside front cover to hold any random images/words I find inspiring and cut out from magazines or other media. Of course, I couldn't leave that envelope plain, so I collaged that with some of said inspiring words:



And tah-dah! A functional, interesting journal that I can't help smiling every time I write in.

Random thoughts on a fall Friday

I met with a new writing group last night. It's made up mostly of people who were in the novel writing class I took last fall at the Harvard Extension School, along with someone from my MFA program and a friend of one of my classmates. This is the first time I'm in a group that focuses solely on novel writing. We're meeting once a month, discussing half the groups' chapters at a time. I'm looking forward to giving and getting feedback about my novel from people who are reading it a chapter at a time, like any reader would. Plus, since most of us came from the same class, we have a similar style/vocabulary around workshopping, which made it feel like a comfortable fit from the get go.

+++++++++

My BCAE writers' retreat class was canceled due to low enrollment. While I am disappointed, I'm also grateful to have an unexpected chunk of time free. I plan to walk with the dogs in the woods near my house, go on a bike ride with Brian, and organize my shed into a gardening shed, instead of a holder-of-random-crap shed.

I think the low enrollment has to do with the cost of the class--they charge $90 for a 4 hour workshop, which seems like a lot, especially in this economy. I'm going to talk to them about changing the price, and also about altering the time/day from Saturday morning to a weeknight class that meets for 3 hours instead of 4.

+++++++++

I have a lot of photos of some creative projects I've worked on recently--a journal I collaged a cover for, a lantern I made, and a shawl I knit. Hoping to post some photos/how-tos this weekend.

++++++++
I just stumbled across this wonderful bookstore, located in Western Mass, Montague Bookmill. It's described as:
"a used bookstore housed in an 1842 gristmill, set on the banks of the Sawmill River,a few miles north of Northampton and Amherst, Massachusetts. The mill building is also home to a unique cafe, a gourmet restaurant, an antique shop, and an artists studio."

I think I have to make a trip west to check this place out!

+++++++
Lastly, I learned about this awesome website, VeggieTrader.com, where gardeners can post if they have too much of one crop and want to trade it for another home-grown plant. That way if you get way too many cucumbers, instead of letting them go to waste, you can trade them for tomatoes or something else.
It seems to just be getting started, and the more people who use it, the better it will be. So spread the word, please!

+++++++

Have a good weekend, all!

Book lovers unite!

Who knew there was such a thing as Book Blogger Appreciation Week? (Poetmom, that's who!) It's a week to "recognize the hard work and contribution of book bloggers to the promotion and preservation of a literate culture actively engaged in discussing books, authors, and a lifestyle of reading." A lifestyle of reading. I like that!

In honor of BBAW, I'm completing this meme. (Mostly its because I love talking, writing, blogging about books.) Let me know if you do, too!

You and Your Reading Habits

1. Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack? Sure. I snack all the time. No particular favorites though at the moment I'm addicted to cheese Pirate's Booty. (Getting a craving as I type...)

2. Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you? I only mark certain books, like how-to books. Sometimes I will underline in fiction books if I feel the book has a lot to teach me about story telling. For example, I just bought a second copy of Ann Patchett's Magician's Assistant so I could underline how she shows the main character's emotions without telling the reader what she is feeling. I couldn't write in my first copy because Ann Patchett signed it, and writing in that copy would be sacrilege!

3. How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open? Usually bookmarked with random paper, like ATM receipts.

4. Fiction, Non-fiction, or both? My first love is fiction, but I throw in poetry and non-fiction from time to time.

5. Hard copy or audiobooks? Both. There's nothing better than knitting and listening to a good audiobook by the fire on a cold evening.

6. Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point? I read to the end of chapters.

7. If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away? No. I try to remember to do so when I'm by my computer/dictionary, though.

8. What are you currently reading? One Secret Thing, poems by Sharon Olds (Another shout out to PoetMom for suggesting this wonderful collection)

9. What is the last book you bought? Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. (I read a library copy first, and then bought it so I can underline and savor it.)

10. Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time? I almost always have a few books going at the same time. Some are better commute reads, some at-home reads, etc.

11. Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read? Any time I can. I do cherish my commuter train reading time.

12. Do you prefer series books or stand alone books? Stand alone.

13. Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over? Ann Patchett, Timetraveler's wife, Bird by Bird by Ann Lamott

14. How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?) I guess by subject...Fiction books are generally all together, then how-to books, etc. But in general, I'm not very organized with my collection. I like the juxtaposition of serious books with funny ones, poetry with classical fiction.

To Dos

As readers of this blog know, I am an avid list-maker. I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately, and so I am hoping that making and posting this list of things to do will calm me down/organize me. Here goes:

* Promote the writing retreat I'm leading at the Boston Center for Adult Ed next Saturday. (Speaking of which, please check it out, dear readers!

*Look at some old stories to see if they are ready to submit: Rest of June, Darfur, Marriages Mysteries (by end of the month)

*Type up the notes from chapter 2 (of my novel). Continue writing it. I would love to have a draft by mid-October.

*Submit, submit, submit.


And in the spirit of patting myself on the back, here are some "recently dones"

* Organize lists of journals to submit to, and journals I have submitted to and been rejected from (wah.)

* Send first chapter of revised novel to writer's group

* Send essay on body image to MFA friends for review

Hope everyone has a nice (if rainy, in New England at least) weekend!

Fall time

I've been thinking about time a lot this past week. The change of season prompted some of this. In the summer, time seems both very limited and in abundance. The days are so long, giving me the feeling of, why rush? There will be light for hours still. On the other hand, though, there are so many things I want to pack into each warm-weather day, knowing as I do that they are in short supply. So in that way, time feels very short.

Of course, when time is short, I feel rushed and overwhelmed, feelings I just don't deal with well. And one of the thing that often suffers from my lack of time is my writing. I was careful not to let this happen too much this summer, but I definitely didn't get as much work done on my novel as I hoped.

And so, as we enter fall, I'm left with the feeling of, will I ever get this novel done?? Part of the solution is to learn some patience. Another part is to use the shorter, cooler days of fall to hibernate a bit more, saying no to some social activities to make more time for my writing.

Themes
As these things go, once I started thinking about my time problem, I started noticing lots of other mentions to other people's time issues. Here's a paragraph from an article on Salon.com that I particularly liked:
"You may not feel ready to do something that is necessary. You do not control the timetable. This is evident when people die, are born, get married, move away, are fired, hired, change their minds: You are not ready for what the changes in the world around you require you to do. Nonetheless, you deal.
You don't have a lot of time. You don't get a lot of chances. People get ready, there's a train a-coming. Don't need no ticket, you just get on board."

I also realized that I've posted a number of times on time issues, so clearly this is a theme in my life.

Lastly, I came across this lovely quote regarding how to use time. I love it in that it applies to so much, not just farming and crops.
"It will not always be summer. Build barns."
~Hesiod

Happy fall!

Umbrella art

I'm heading away for the weekend, but I leave you with a picture of an art installation project that I found very interesting and inspiring. Amazing what you can do with everyday objects.


Click for more umbrella art.

braiding story lines

While I was away, I took the time to catch up on lots of issues of Writer's Digest. One of the articles I read talked about how, when writing a novel,you need three stories lines that run throughout the book. These story lines should be interwoven, just like the strands of a braid.

I found that to be a useful concept when thinking about my novel. I decided that the three story lines are:
1- What happened to Carrie (the main character's sister) that made her commit suicide.
2- Emily (main character) and David's relationship. Will they open up to one another and take a chance on love?
3- The sisters' family and early life, and the current relationships Emily has with her parents(or lack thereof).

Anyway, this video also reminded me of the idea of braiding, though it only uses two strands, and it's more of a study in contrasts and similarities than a true interweaving. In any case, I think it will be helpful to those of us thinking about story telling. And it's funny and about the Red Sox to boot.

Canadian Writers Retreat: In Photos, Part 1

One of the first things Tavi, Tracy, and I did when we got to the beautiful Haliburton, Canada, (no relation to that evil Haliburton company) was take a stroll through the Haliburton Sclupture Park. It was beautiful, and even the sculptures we didn't like very much were entertaining (see the beaver/lamppost picture).

Here's a slideshow of some of my favorites photos from that day. I'll try to make another slideshow soon that shows how we spent most of the week--writing by the lake. Here's Slide Show, part 1:

Sunday Scribblings: Poetry

This week's Sunday Scribblings prompt, Poetry, is so timely for me. One of the things I wanted to do with my week away was to read some poetry, and I have read, and listened to, Mary Oliver's beautiful poems.

I'm not quite brave enough to write and share a poem on the blog yet, since I don't, by far, consider myself a poet. What I want to do instead is share some of my favorite lines/phrases from Oliver's poems from the book Thirst.

*My work is loving the world.*

*the lovely meaninglessness of time*

*For a long time I was not even in this world*

*How to keep warm is always a problem, isn't it?*

*From the complications of loving you/ I think there is no end or return.*

*You have broken my heart./ Just as well.*

*In the city called Wait,/ also known as the airport,/ you might think about your life--/there is not much else to do.*

Beautiful, no? For more poems and writing about poetry, head over to Sunday Scribblings.

Alice Munro

I am such an Alice Munro freak, I once drove from Boston to New York to see her speak. And it was worth it, even though my car broke down and blocked traffic in the middle of NYC.

It's funny, then, that I'm learning about a new book of hers, Too Much Happiness, while I'm in her home country of Canada. And I am so happy to share this wonderful review published in Canada's Globe and Mail.

My favorite line is: "Most importantly, these stories are not asking for our praise, they ask for our attention. They...ask...for silence – and not an awed silence at that (though awe is certainly possible), but the silence that happens when you close a book and pause and continue with your life, less lonely than you were before."

That sentence sums up what I look for what I read, and write.

What I'm reading

I'm taking some of my retreat time to catch up on the articles I've been meaning to read. I thought I'd share some of them with you, dear readers. The first one I'm getting to is a commencement speach David Foster Wallace gave to Kenyon College 2005 graduates, sent to me by my brilliant friend Megan, who always passes along the best articles.

Some of my favorite quotes from the article:
"And I submit that this is what the real, no-bull- value of your liberal-arts education is supposed to be about: How to keep from going through your comfortable, prosperous, respectable adult life dead, unconscious, a slave to your head and to your natural default-setting of being uniquely, completely, imperially alone, day in and day out."

"There happen to be whole large parts of adult American life that nobody talks about in commencement speeches. One such part involves boredom, routine, and petty frustration." [This reminded me very much of some of the article I read in last week's Sunday Scribbling posts on the prompt "Adult"]

"The point is that petty, frustrating crap like this is exactly where the work of choosing comes in. Because the traffic jams and crowded aisles and long checkout lines give me time to think, and if I don't make a conscious decision about how to think and what to pay attention to, I'm going to be pissed and miserable every time I have to food-shop, because my natural default-setting is the certainty that situations like this are really all about me, about my hungriness and my fatigue and my desire to just get home, and it's going to seem, for all the world, like everybody else is just in my way, and who are all these people in my way?"

"But if you've really learned how to think, how to pay attention, then you will know you have other options. It will actually be within your power to experience a crowded, loud, slow, consumer-hell-type situation as not only meaningful but sacred, on fire with the same force that lit the stars -- compassion, love, the sub-surface unity of all things. Not that that mystical stuff's necessarily true: The only thing that's capital-T True is that you get to decide how you're going to try to see it. You get to consciously decide what has meaning and what doesn't. You get to decide what to worship..."

"The capital-T Truth is about life before death. It is about making it to 30, or maybe 50, without wanting to shoot yourself in the head. It is about simple awareness -- awareness of what is so real and essential, so hidden in plain sight all around us, that we have to keep reminding ourselves, over and over: "This is water, this is water."

It is unimaginably hard to do this, to stay conscious and alive, day in and day out."

One of the heartbreaking things about this speach is how often Wallace talks about suicide, years before he killed himself.

Question for other writers. Please discuss.

When you're submitting your work, do you submit to contests with fees? If so, how much do you spend per year? How do you decide which are worth paying to join?

I ask because I tend to avoid contests with fees, because it seems that $10 or $15 contests could add up very quickly. But one of the writers with whom I am on retreat said that the two publications she has gotten were both through contests. And she admitted that she spends a lot on entering them. So I'm wondering what others do. Please comment.

On retreat

I am in beautiful Haliburton, Canada, on a self-directed writing retreat with two of my wonderful friends from my MFA program. So far, our days have been filled with:

Reading
Kayaking
Lunch
Writing
Meditation
Naps
Writing
Delicious and nourishing dinner
Writing/reading/listening to poetry on CD

Could life get any better?

I'm working on chapter 2 of my novel, and some other miscellaneous writing tasks. And I am more relaxed than I thought I could be. Pictures coming soon.

My new favorite quote

"A work of art is, first of all, work."

~Paul Engle

Creative gifting

One of my favorite creative outlets is gift giving. What better way to use your creative/crafty talents than by sharing them with the ones you love?

This is one of my go-to gifts for new parents: a diaper cake!


It's very simple to make, and people seem to love them. Here's a step by step:

1. Buy a pretty plate, preferably something with the design on the edge of the plate, so you can see it when the "cake" is on it.


2. Buy diapers, and roll about 20 individual diapers, tying each with a ribbon.



3. Then place the rolled diapers on the plate, standing them up longwise. Use enough of the rolls to cover the main part of the plate. Then tie another ribbon around the whole layer of diapers.

4. Repeat, making the second and third layers smaller, so the cake is tiered.

5. For the finishing touch, I use basket wrap, which you can get at craft stores. It's basically a cellophane bag that you place the gift in, tie the top with yet another ribbon, and then use your blowdryer to make the cellophane shrink to fit the gift. If you don't want to buy this type of wrapper, you could also use colored saran wrap.

You can also tuck little gifts into the tier ties, such as pacifiers or small toys.

Ta-dah! A gift that's sure to be a hit at your next baby shower.

Submissions Fatigue

I am sitting here, submitting some stories to some journals, and wondering why I find this process so damn draining. I try to make it as painless as possible--Before "submission day," I create a list of journals I want to submit a particular story to, along with the pertinent information about how the journal prefers to accept submissions, the editor's name, etc. That way, when I finally have some free time, I can open the file and run quickly down the list.

In theory. In reality, it takes me hours to submit one story to eight journals. Why? Part of it is that I want to double check everything on my list, to make sure I don't screw up the email address, or whether a journal wants stories mailed and printed in a particular type of font.

Another part of it is that I find it emotionally taxing--No matter how "used" to rejection I get, I still don't enjoy sending my babies out to the slaughter. So I try to give myself frequent, short breaks so as not to overwhelm my system.

Anyone have a better system than the one I described? If so, I'd love to hear about it. Off to bed... wishing my stories good luck out there in the world!

Sunday Scribblings: Adult

I haven't Scribbled in a long, long time. But since I'm trying to reinvigorate my blogging (as I posted about here), I figured I'd return to an old favorite way to get my writing.

On this week's Sunday Scribblings prompt, this question about adulthood spoke to me the most: Are you glad to finally be an adult? I thought about this question the other day, when I heard some fellow commuters talking about their teenagers. The parents were saying how lucky the teens had it--they didn't have bills to pay or jobs to worry about. I shook my head and thought to myself, How wrong those people are. I will take bills and jobs and car troubles and relationship problems and all the other downsides of adult life over the many downsides of being a teen. The most prominent one in my memory? How poorly developed my sense of myself was.

With every passing year, I get to know myself that much better. And with that knowledge comes a sense of confidence that I just couldn't have had as a teenager. I didn't trust that I had the strength to get through the minor challenges that I barely think about now. I remember crying so hard when the Amtrak train I was supposed to get on was oversold and there was no more room for me. I was 19 or so, heading back to college after winter break. When the train stopped at Penn Station, even the doorways were crammed with people sitting on their suitcases.

As the train pulled away, tears of frustration filled my eyes. I didn't know what else to do. I pictured train after train coming into the station already full, and my being stuck in Penn Station forever.

Now, when things like that happen, I know that even if I can't get a fair or reasonable response from the people in charge (as was the case when I tried to get someone to explain to me how they could sell more tickets for a train than there were seats on that train--why have me make a reservation for a particular train if that reservation is meaningless?), I can take care of myself. I can buy a bus ticket instead, or rent a car. I can call someone to see if I can spend the night on their couch and catch a train the next day. I can sleep in the train station if I really have to.

I can also deal with the anger and frustration that comes with these situations by venting out loud or in my head. By knowing that when I get home, I WILL be getting a refund for that train ticket if I had to spend more money on an alternate mode of transportation. And I know that no matter what happens, I'll be OK. I'm smart enough and strong enough to figure something out.

As a teenager, I didn't know that about myself. And I wouldn't trade that knowledge for anything--not the ability to sleep in every day of the summer, not the ignorance of credit card late fees, none of it.

What are your thoughts on adulthood? For others' take on the subject, check out Sunday Scribblings.

A gardening slide show

I'm taking a multimedia journalism class, and one of the simpler tools we're using is slideshows. Here's one of photos from my garden.

New look, altered focus

I haven't been blogging much lately, even though I've been thinking about the blog quite a bit. Part of me blames Facebook--it's such a fast, easy way to share links and thoughts with people, many of whom would never venture over to this ole blog. [Readers, any thoughts on the redundancy between FB and your blog? Do you post certain things in one place, other things in another? Would love to hear your thoughts.]

I also blame lack of time for my recent un-blogging. Work has been crazy. As has life in general. Mostly in good ways, but still.

I have been thinking a lot about my life and what I want to do with it (For this I blame the many people around me who are having babies, a life-structuring activity that I am just not ready for.) The bottom line is that I want it to be a creative life. What does this mean to me?

* Writing. Lots of writing. Writing for fun. Aloowing myself to write about whatever subjects call me at the moment, and in the style that calls, too.

* Keeping a daily journal. This is separate from the writing bullet just because it's so important to me that it deserves its own space.

* Gardening. Surrounding my home with beautiful flowers and delicious plants.

* Animals. I'm not sure why taking care of my animals feels like a creative outlet to me, but it does. I think it has to do with the intimacy that animals give at such a low cost in terms of drama or emotional neediness.

* Photography.

* Crafts, like knitting, collaging, sewing, decorating the house.

* Yoga.

* Devoting the time and energy to the people in my life whose relationships I cherish, and not spreading myself thin on people who I don't deeply connect with.

* Getting out in nature.

* Dancing. Even if it's just in my living room.

* Volunteering. I realize this is stretching the meaning of "creative", but I do think that giving back to the world/your community is an important part of living a meaningful life. Which is really the purpose, for me, of deliberately living a creative life.

What does all this have to do with the blog? Well, along with the new look, I plan to alter the focus of the blog to reflect these various creative pursuits.

Hope you like the slightly altered focus and the very altered look. Please let me know what you think of both, but especially the color scheme. If anything is hard to read, I want to know so I can change it.

Thanks all. I'd also love to hear what things you think of when you consider your own creative life.

Good Quote

I feel like the blog has been a little quote heavy these days. I promise to post some pics this weekend to even things out. But I can't help but share this quote, which the ever brilliant Jon Stewart said back in January, but which I just heard today (thanks Utube!)

"If you don't stick to your values when they're being tested, they're not values.... They're hobbies!"

Backsides

No, this post is not about people's bums. I'm talking about the back covers of books. I just read an interesting blog post by a book reviewer that talks about his preferences of what is found on the back cover of books:

"The method I endorse...is judicious quotation from the book itself. Not the first paragraph, because everyone can flick to that easily enough themselves. Just a really good, representative section - say, the beginning of a passage the author would read at an event - or a single brilliant line."

I agree that this method has a lot of value--it gives a sense of the prose, and if chosen well, it can also give a sense of the plot.

I also like when there is a synopsis that is clearly written to mirror the prose of the book. This works especially well for short story collections, since there is no one plot to talk about. For books of poems, I like to read a short description of the poet's style (ie, what topics she writes about, whether she relies heavily on one type of structure or another) and then to get an excerpt or short poem.

I wonder, how much say does an author get about the backside? Can she write the copy herself? What better way to make sure it is a good representation of the style found in the book itself... Any published authors out there, I'd love to hear about your experience with backsides.

Liar!

I recently read about a conflict between an author and her publisher regarding book cover images. It wasn't just a situation of artistic differences--the publisher chose a cover showing the face of a white girl when the main character of the book is black.
The author, Justine Larbalestier, explains the situation very well here. The basics: the publisher felt that books with black people on the cover don't sell well, and they wanted a photo of a girl on the cover, so they went with a white girl. Since the book is about an obsessive liar trying to mend her ways, the publisher didn't feel that having a mismatch between the cover and the character's description of herself was a big deal.

I work in publishing, so I understand that cover images are very important to a book's commercial success. And as writers we should all be concerned about our commercial success because, after all, we want our work to reach people and we want to get book contracts in the future. But c'mon. There are clearly ways to satisfy the needs of the marketers and the integrity of the book. (The sad fact that racism affects book buying is a whole 'nother matter.)

That said, one positive thing about this controversy is that people are talking about the book. I, for one, am going to read Liar, which I may not have heard of if it weren't for the ill-chosen cover.

Good Quote

I like this quote because it emphasizes the importance of setting goals, not just in reaching them. I'm going to try to remember these words next time I'm hard on myself for not getting everything done that I want to...

"A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at." Bruce Lee

Who knew Bruce Lee was so deep? ;)

Tri training and writing

So all this swimming, biking, running, and more swimming has knocked me out of any sort of writing habit. As my triathlon gets very close, I am feeling very frustrated about the fact that I have managed to fit into my weeks an absurd amount of workouts, but I cannot fit regular writing into my life with anywhere near as much intensity. I've thought about why and come up with a few theories:

1-Working out shows fairly immediate results. Within a few weeks, you lose weight, see more muscle, run faster, etc. Writing? Even with the most consistent writing practice, results (in terms of noticeable improvement or getting published) are few and far between.

2-There's much more social support for working out. I have lots of friends who will accompany me to the gym or go out for a run with me. Writing is so solitary--which I love, but which also means there's no peer pressure egging me on, and I can't kill two birds with one stone by writing while I chat with a friend I've been meaning to catch up with.

3- Similarly, there are many more people in my life who will pat me on the (sweaty) back after a workout than there are who will cheer me on for finishing a page of writing.

4-Did I mention the immediacy of results?

All that said, I am *pretty* sure that if I committed more to writing, I would see more results. So, even without the guarantee I wish I could garner from the writing fairy, I am going to commit to a writing routine in August. I'm still working out the kinks of the program, but I'm sure it will be just as grueling--and hopefully satisfying--as the tri training has been.

Good Quote

"It is worth mentioning, for future reference, that the creative power which bubbles so pleasantly in beginning a new book quiets down after a time, and one goes on more steadily. Doubts creep in. Then one becomes resigned. Determination not to give in, and the sense of an impending shape keep one at it more than anything."

~Virginia Woolf

Words I hope to remember as I work on revising the first few chapters of my novel and then pushing onward!

Revising on a Boston-bound Greyhound

Eek--it's been a while since I've posted. This summer feels very busy--actually, it's just a tad busier than I'd like, and I'm thinking that August will be the perfect pace. I'll be done with my triathlon training then, and hopefully relaxing will fill in the void that training has left. Plus, in August I get to spend a week at the Canada lake house, writing and hanging out with two of my favorite people in the world. Oh, how I am looking forward to that!

I have been getting a bit of writing done (not as much as I'd like--never as much as I'd like...). I printed out the two stories I've been sending around, and that have been getting rejected, and read them on the bus back from New York this weekend. Having not read them for a while, I came at them with the freshest eyes I have since writing them. I discovered:

1. The longer story (Cartes Postales) had a few typos! So embarrassing! I think what happened was the last time I edited the story, I didn't have the stomach to reread it purely for typos. Big mistake--and one I will never make again!

2. I found a solution to a problem that was plaguing Cartes--the transition from where the main character goes from wishing her husband were still alive to actually believing he is. Again, having some distance allowed me to find a simple solution. Once I make these small changes--AND PROOFREAD THE STORY--I'll send it out again.

3. The shorter story, Because We Can (a title that I might change), was cleaner--thank God! I still made a few small edits, though, and had a feeling that the ending wasn't quite working. But I couldn't figure out why. Then I read Lorrie Moore's recent story in the New Yorker and I had an idea-- the story needs some retrospection on the part of the main character. She needs to look back to be able years later to understand what the incidents of the story meant to her.

I journaled about this change this morning on my train ride to work, and plan on implementing it as soon as I can get some time in front of the ole computer. Then I'll PROOFREAD IT and start sending it out again.

Year in Review

I feel lucky to have a birthday smack dab in the middle of the calendar year. It gives me an opportunity to reflect every six months--in January at the start of the New Year, and in June at the start of my New Year.

I read back on this post regarding my Writing Action Plan for 2009, and I'm happy to say I'm on track: I'm working on the ole novel, and have 2 stories I'm sending out (and getting a lot of rejection notices on...). I sent in a query to NPR, and also got a rejection. But hey, I sent it! So I'm trying at least. I attended Grub Street's Muse and the Market Place (and will post about it soon... better late than never, no?).

I have also recently begun some volunteer activities, which I'm quite proud of. I'm going to start tutoring some ESL students in Brockton (a nearby town that has a big immigrant population) in July, and I've contributed time and seedlings to a garden plot whose produce will go to a food pantry.

Speaking of gardening, I'm taking time to do a lot of it. I'll post some pics (including one of a basil leaf as big as my hand!) as soon as I can find the damn cord that connects the camera to the computer.


There is still much I'd like to do in 2009:
1. Publish a story,
2. Get a second draft of most, if not all, of my novel
3. Do NaNoWriMo in November
4. Get one more story finalized and into send-out rotation.

But all in all, the first half of 2009 has been a mostly happy, mostly productive time, which is all I can ask for really.

Another (nice) rejection

I got yet another rejection, this one seems to be one of the more encouraging kind that said they enjoyed my work, but can't publish it. If I didn't already have more artistic designs for my home office, I could start wallpapering it with rejections. Sigh.

I think it's time for me to review the stories I've been sending out again, to see if I need to tweak them. I'll also hit up a few of my literary friends who haven't read these pieces yet to see if they have any feedback. If you have interest in doing that, dear readers, please leave me a comment and I would be delighted to email them to you.

Happy weekend--hope it's rejection free! :)

Two good quotes

I'll let them speak for themselves:


When I look at all the writers who have won coveted prizes and all the filmmakers and artists who have had success, what I notice is that they are the ones who actually filled out the applications for fellowships and sent their work around for critique and rejection; they are the ones who locked themselves in rooms and worked at it; they are the ones who did what was required; they are the ones who allowed themselves to be beginners and to begin at the beginning and do the next obvious thing.
~Cary Tennis of Salon.com

"Decide what you want, decide what you are willing to exchange for it. Establish your priorities and go to work." -- H. L. Hunt

Feeling disconnected from writing

I spent some time yesterday organizing my submissions chart, and doing so made me realize how disconnected I'm feeling from writing. I think a huge part of it is because I'm training for a triathlon. Crazy, I know. A friend talked me into it, and it's been fun, but time consuming. I am hoping that this training will make me feel super duper fit. That's my real goal. And finishing, no matter how long it takes me.

But anyway. Back to writing. All this training has taken time and energy away from it. I need to refocus, though, cause I'm really missing it. And I feel like (to use a sport's metaphor) I'm running in place in terms of my submissions and revisions.

I don't have a specific goal in mind here, other than to just get myself re-connected. That'll probably mean writing some pages of the novel (and hopefully get to 30 by June 30), taking a look at the two stories I've been sending out that have been getting rejected left and right, working on my Real Simple essay, and editing down a short short for submission.

How do you reconnect to writing (or your other passions) when you feel your attention waning?

When did you first realize you're a grownup?

PoetMom challenged me to enter this essay contest. And you all know how I love a challenge! The theme of the essay needs to be: When did you first realize you're a grownup?

I've been brainstorming, and I've decided to go with the time I took care of my parents while my mother was in the hospital. I say "took care of my parents" because my dad needed more attention than my mom, since he was so scared.

Here's info on the contest. Even if you're not going to enter, it's an interesting question to think about. Leave a comment about when you realized you were a grown-up.

When did you realize that you had become a grown-up? Perhaps it was when you
first paid taxes or met your son’s first girlfriend. Whether the experience was
difficult, funny, easy, or bittersweet, share your lesson and you could win.

Enter Real Simple’s second-annual Life Lessons essay contest and you could have
your essay published in Real Simple; win round-trip tickets for two to New York
City, hotel accommodations for two nights, tickets to a Broadway play, and a
lunch with Real Simple editors; and receive a prize of $3,000.

Next scenes

In the spirit of getting back into the 30 pages/30 days challenge, here is a list of scenes I want to write. I'm not sure if they'll make it into the novel, but they will certainly inform my understanding of the characters and backgrounds:

** Emily (the protagonist) and her sister Carrie as kids, at home before their parents got divorced. What was the relationship like between her parents? What did Em understand about it, at the time and in retrospect? What did the house smell and look like? How close were Em and Carrie as children?

** The family vacation that scarred Carrie (I won't give away how on the blog!). What does Em remember of it? What did that house look, feel, smell like?

** Emily and Carrie in Boston together as adults. They don't share an apartment, but they hang out all the time. What do they do together? What is there relationship like? What are their exchanges like?

I'm sure I can get 23 pages out of these!

Check in: A page a day in June

I love deadlines, even self imposed ones. Without a deadline, I get very little done. So I jump on the chance to do writing challenges, such as NaNoWriMo (the challenge is to write 50,000 words of a novel in one month. And it's why I was excited that BostonErin posted a smaller but similar challenge on her blog recently: Write a page a day in June.

I learned of the challenge on June 4, so I was already handicapped. Then, I was away at a science writing fellowship for 5 more days after that, which left little time for writing of the creative kind. But the road to not writing is paved with "life came up" type excuses, so I am determined to get back on track.

Today, when I had many excuses not to write (the most urgent being that I was hung over), I managed to get down 6 pages! Add that to the one page I had written before now, and I'm at 7--count 'em, 7--pages.

What's that you say? It's June 14th, which means I'm 7 pages behind? P-shaw. That's nothing. I'm a cram-at-the-end deadline-loving gal.

Podcasts on Writing

I just came across this blog, which is by a writer named Tim Lemire. It features podcasts of Tim reading mini essays on various aspects of writing.
I just listened to one about writing processes, and how even though famous authors may make it sound like there is one way to write (ie, using a yellow notepad while in bed at 6 a.m.), everyone has to experiment to find the method that works for them. I found it a fun and informative listen. Give the blog a try, and let me know what you think!

An essay in Tweets about working at the New Yorker

I seem to be on a New Yorker kick. Here's an interesting article by Dan Baum about his experience writing for the New Yorker, which ran as a series of Tweets (which is a medium I have yet to understand the point of, but that's a topic for another post). I love hearing about writers' lives and experiences, and I was especially interested since the New Yorker is, of course, the creme de la creme. Baum also very generously posts on his web sites the article queries that got him into the New Yorker and other mags, and the ones that got rejected. What a model of helping aspiring writers!

Can Writing Be Taught?

Poetmom posted a link to this interesting New Yorker article on MFA program. It talks about the question of whether writing can be taught, and if not, then what is the point of MFA programs in the first place?

The piece is a reaction to a recent book called "The Program Era" by Mark McGurl, which talks about the huge rise in MFA programs in recent history (which, I learned through the article, was first due to the fact that WWI Vets could only get government money for degree programs, so MFA programs sprouted up as a way for vets to take creative writing classes for free).

Here is my reaction to the article. I'd love to hear yours, too!

First, the question of whether writing can be taught. I think writing takes three things:
1. Stick-to-it-iveness. Writing is hard and lonely, and often filled with rejections. You've got to have immense perseverance not to give up. Oh, and did I mention that writers are usually not paid for their work, or at least not up front, while they're actually doing it?

2. Talent/creativity.

3. Knowledge. Knowledge about literature, about the structure of a story/novel/poem, about what works and what doesn't.

Of these three, number 1 is most important, in my mind. I don't think you can make someone be more dedicated, or more "sticky". But talking about how much perseverance writing takes can help people realize every writer feels like writing is a tough, tough thing that they occasionally want to give up on. That can be an invaluable lesson.

Number 2, inspiration, can't be taught. It can be given room to blossom, but that's different than teaching someone how to have talent or be creative.

Number 3, knowledge about writing and literature, can certainly be taught. I came out of my MFA program with much more knowledge on these subjects that's one of the things I came out of my MFA program that I did not have going in.

What's also discussed in the article is the things outside of learning to write that one gets from an MFA program. From my MFA experience, the most important were:

**The ability to make my writing a priority. As the New Yorker writer, Louis Menand, put it, "to actually write stuff (as opposed to planning to write stuff very, very soon)."

**A sense of community, and some of the best friends I'll probably ever have. Again, to quote from the article, (this from a part where Menand talks about his own experience studying poetry): "I just thought that this stuff mattered more than anything else, and being around other people who felt the same way, in a setting where all we were required to do was to talk about each other's poems, seemed like a great place to be." Amen to that.

Two new goals

I've got two writing goals to announce:
1- Write a page a day in the month of June. This is inspired by the lovely and talented BostonErin.

I plan to write scenes from the novel I'm working on. I'm not going to worry about where exactly in the book the scenes will go just yet.

2- Get chapters one through three edited and in descent shape by August, when I'll meet up with two of my wonderful, wonderful writing buddies for a 5-day-writing/editing/critiquing-retreat on a lake in Canada.

I'm also hoping these challenges will inspire blog posts and get me back into the habit of writing here, but we'll see...

Focus on your desire to write, not your unit sales

I've linked to Ask Cary here before, but once again he has written beautifully about writing and the writing life, so I can't help but share. This time, he talks about how writers who are down on their work should focus on what brought them to dream about becoming a writer, not some outside measure of success (publication, number of readers, etc.).

Like many writers, what brought me to writing was the idea of expressing myself, the truths about my life, and, I think, life in general. Personally I find it very hard to talk about these concepts directly, so writing about fictional characters who are dealing with them is the safest, best way for me to get those ideas across to others. What I've learned as I've written is that often times the writing also helps me learn the truths about myself that are buried fairly deep, which I wouldn't get to if I didn't take the time to think, reflect, write, and revise.

How about you? What brought you to writing? What keeps you going?

I'll leave you with a quote from Cary that touched me:

...Soon I realized that there were other secret languages and other people who could read these secret languages. That was the vision that excited me and made me want to be a writer: I wanted to find a secret voice within myself like the one Dylan Thomas had found, and begin speaking it and see if anyone could understand me. To this day, when I grow weak and tired, I seek that primary thrill of adolescence; I try to re-create for myself my own strange, secret language.

Dear blog

I'm so sorry for ignoring you, blog! Things have been crazy, with a ton of day-job work, and a trip to Ireland (pictures to come!), as well as some gardening and house projects. Phew. I've been busy! But I do promise to try to be better about getting over here to muse about writing and the writing life.

In the meantime, here are some quotes I came across today on Post Secret, one of my favorite blogs of all time. These are pieces of advice to graduates. If there are any readers out there who haven't given up on me, I hope you enjoy these:

“He who works with his hands is a laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman. He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist.”

Contrary to popular belief, these are not the best years of your life, just the least complicated.

"Today you are you, that is truer than true. There will never be anyone youer than you."

"The hardest part isn't finding who we need to be. It's being content with who you are."

Contest/Writing prompt

I saw this contest announcement, and I think "smoke" makes and interesting writing prompt, so I thought I would combine the two in the near future. Look out for the post soon! Care to join me?

Submission Call for SMOKE themed anthology. Poetry and Micro or Flash Fiction. Deadline October 31, 2009.

More details can be found at The Smoking Book blog, thesmokingbook.blogspot.com, the on-line edition of SMOKE.

Poetry (any form or style) and Micro or Flash Fictions wanted for an anthology on SMOKE. Not just the black clouds rising from the five-alarm fire next door, or the billowing plumes of smoke warning us of a forest fire, or the emissions from smoke stacks, apartment house incinerators, and crematoriums, smoke rings rise from cigarettes, smoke pours out of headshops, pipe shops & cigar stores--see that purple haze rising over the fields of poppies and marijuana we just planted--we've used it to communicate via smoke signals and skywriting, to cover our tracks and disappear with and without mirrors, combat the enemy on and off the battlefield, kill bugs, flavor food, cure illness, declare peace treaties, and fragrance our homes. Got the idea? Release it onto the page.

Sunday Scribblings: Scary

This is from the point of view of Em, the main character in my novel-in-progress

What am I scared of? A few weeks ago I would've said nothing. I would've even told myself that, answered with the one word before I even gave the question any thought. Now I'm realizing that I'm scared of my life continuing on like this, so lonely, so alone.

Before Carrie died, she was the only person I needed. Even when she was in New York and I was in Boston, just knowing she was out there was enough. Knowing that someone, somewhere understood me, saw me. I never would've said that to her, never would've even thought it. I just knew it in my gut.

It's been five years since I've felt like someone got me. I have friends who I drink with and play darts with. We do trivia once a week. From the outside, it would seem like I had created the family I didn't have growing up. But they don't even know about Carrie, let alone what I think or feel about anything other than the Red Sox, the sloppy old guys who sit at the bar, and the various political stories of the moment.

It's terrifying to think of going through life like this forever. The only thing scarier? Actually opening up.

Listen up!

As some of you know, I like listening to books on tape and other audio materials while I knit, drive, clean the house...pretty much anytime I can't actually be reading but my mind can focus on a story.

I started a new little area on the blog where I can keep links to some of my favorite sites for audio materials. See "Listen up!" on the left. Let me know if you have any favorites that aren't listed, or if you like any of the ones I have listed.

My writing class, a review

Last weekend, I taught the writing class that I blogged about a few months ago. It was through the Boston Center for Adult Education, and it was called an Intensive Writing Retreat. I'm happy to report that it went really well!
There were 4 students, so it made for a very intimate experience. I really enjoyed it--I did some of the exercises along with the class, and we each read some of our freewrites. I learned a lot--and it seems the students did too. They were all very good writers, and had interesting things to say about writing and the process. For next time, I'll have a better sense of timing--things took longer than I expected them to, which was fine because my outline was flexible.
And the new BCAE building is beautiful! So bright and airy, and both modern and homey at the same time.
My take home from the class was remembering that writing should be done for its own sake, not to "finish" something or publish it, necessarily. Those are fine goals, but they can't be what drives a writer to write, or at least, they can't be what drives this writer to write if she wants to enjoy the process--which she does!

I also applied for a college-level adjunct teaching course. Fingers crossed!

Novel exercises

In working on my novel, I'm realizing that one working style is not going to carry me through the whole process. I started out able to write scenes in the order I imagined them appearing in the book. I got through the first few chapters doing that. Then, I got completely blocked. The idea of tackling the next chapter scared me because I didn't know enough about what was going to happen there.

So I stopped writing for a week or so. Then my husband asked me to read an exercise he was working on for a class he's taking on writing the mystery novel. The exercise entailed writing one scene, about a time when the main character felt his or her life changing very quickly. I read B's scene and was totally inspired. Not only was his scene good, it reminded me that I don't have to write a chapter at a time. I can write scene by scene. One scene! That's all I have to do to keep going.

And that is what I have been doing. Imagining one scene that I believe will occur in the book, thinking about it over the course of a day or two, and then writing it out on paper. I'm saving each as an individual Word file, organized into folders around the theme of the scenes or whose in them, such as "mother", "father", "break up", etc. That way, when I go to plug them into chapters, I can find the pieces that belong in each.

B is doing the same thing, and he's looking for more exercises to give him ideas about the kinds of scenes to write. So what do you think? What ideas to you have for exercises in scene writing?

How to start seedlings

In honor of spring, I take a break from writing about writing to write about gardening. I'm starting vegetables from seeds this year for the first time. Throughout the (long, long) winter, I did research and ordered seeds for plants found in a basic vegetable garden, including 3 different kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, basil, parsley, and lettuce.

Now that we're about 6 weeks out from the last frost around here, I'm starting those seedlings indoors. Before the seeds sprout, they need warmth more than light to germinate, so their temperory home is atop our dryer, which I will try to use once a day for the next seven days so the seedlings get some heat.














I bought a few peat cups, which you can plant directly into the ground when you move the plants outside. This helps not disturb the fragile roots that have formed. I also learned that you can make your own peat cups using egg cartons and toilet rolls, so I did that as well.













I bought seed starter mix, which I've heard is essential:














And lastly I labelled the containers so that I wouldn't mix up a sun-loving tomato with some shade-loving kale.





I'll post more pics when the seedlings sprout, and I move them under the plant light, which I plan to install in another part of my laudry room.

I love the feel of dirt beneath my fingernails!

David Foster Wallce

If you haven't read the posthumous profile of David Foster Wallace in the New Yorker, you must. It is so beautiful and touching, and it really captures just how crazy-making it can be like to be a writer. I was scared to see how much I related and empathized to his struggles.

My favorite line of the article:
“Fiction’s about what it is to be a fucking human being,” he once said. Good writing should help readers to “become less alone inside.”

That's exactly why I read--and write.

RIP, DFW.

Tired

Maybe it's the change of seasons. Or the stress of the economy. Or the stress particular to my workplace at the moment. Or the stress of adopting a new (un-housetrained) dog. Whatever the reason, I'm exhausted. From the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep.

And this means I'm not writing much. It's one of the only things I do that takes a lot of energy that I can easily cut out of my life. But, though I imagine life would be easier if I could be content with just coming home after work and watching TV, that's just now who I am. So it's not like I'm ready to give up and stop writing. I'm just frustrated with my current situation, and hoping it passes soon.

What I'm trying to do to keep my energy up and stress down in the meantime:

*Going to sleep early
*Eating well
*Exercising (though of course it's the last thing I want to do since I'm so tired!)

Any other suggestions are most welcome!

To Dos

Posting my lists of things to do has led me to a helpful discovery: What I expect to get done in a given time period is not equal to what I actually can get done. What I expect to do in one week generally takes me two weeks.

At work, I've had to start estimating the time a project will take before I start, in order to give a cost estimate to clients. That's a harder task than I thought at first, because stuff comes up and things change. But I'm getting better at it, and I'd like to apply that ability to my writing goals as well.

Why does it matter? Well, psychologically, it's nice to get done what you plan to get done.

So, this week, I plan to:

Finish chapter 3 of my novel. That's it.


Back burner writing tasks to keep in mind:
* Revise The Rest of Her and send it out
* Keep sending out Cartes as publications open their submissions
* Look into freelance opportunities that I've emailed to myself.

Non-writerly to-dos in the near future:
* Hang paneling in office
* Paint office walls
* Buy lights for office
* Start seedlings

Sunday Scribblings: Dear Past Me, Dear Future Me

It's been a loooong time since I scribbled. But I like this prompt and am going to use it to brainstorm from the point of view of the main character in the novel I'm working on. Here goes.

Dear Past Me/Future Me,
What the f*ck? Is this some therapy bullshit? That crap does not work, I don't care what all those shrink-a-dinks say.

Ok, that skepticism out of the way, here goes. I wish I could tell a past me to cherish my time with Carrie, that the time will end much too soon. And that things are not always what they appear. Someone who seems much more stable and happy than you yourself are might actually be way more f*cked up. F*cked up enough to take her own life. Oh, and past me? You yourself are not suicidal and you never will be, so give up on that messed up "dream" before it takes hold of you and won't let go until a monsoon-like October after your 30th birthday.

Future me? What can I tell you? I don't even know who you are. And I guess that's as exciting as it is scary.

XO,
Em

Take my breath away

The highest level of writing, in my experience, is that which takes my breath away. Literally--the words, sentence, idea makes me gasp and forget to breathe for a moment. It doesn't happen often, so I thought I'd share a paragraph that did it for me. It's from an essay in the New York Times' Sunday Magazine by Bernard Cooper:

"The only story I know is the one about Brian dying....It’s as if we met so we could be together when he dies, paid the mortgage so we could be together when he dies, sustained ourselves with food and love and hard work so we’d one day come to the realization that everything up to this point was a prologue. The story has started here, now, when time is finite."

Beautiful, no?

Writing resources: New Finds

A few writing resources I wanted to share with you all:

1. Coffee House for Writers. I was aware of this group a while back, and then they fell off my radar. But I came across them today, and their newsletter about fiction writing caught my eye. I liked their selection of articles, which cover things like writing flash fiction and promoting your novel.

2. Review Fuse. I haven't tried this personally, but it's a neat concept: You can submit your work to this web site, and it matches you up with writers of similar skill levels who will critique your work. You critique others' work as "pay back". As far as I can tell, it's completely free.



3. Funds for Writers. I get the weekly e-newsletter, which lists publications seeking submissions, grants, and writing jobs. I've found some interesting publication through it.

Weekly to-dos

I realized with pride that I finished almost all of the to-dos I posted a week or so ago. So I'm inspired to post some more to keep myself accountable.

Non-writerly (in order of importance:
Organize tax info for accountant

Put up panellng in office

Scrub down upstairs of house


Writerly

Finalize short short and send out

Continue working on novel--try to get in a few pages every day, since I realized that when I took a break last week due to my insane flu, it was harder to get back into it.

Catch up on writing exercises for class

Good links, Fun photos

I wanted to share some interesting stories about writing I've come across recently, as well as some photos of my insanely cute new dog, Rufus. (He's the gray one--Chloe is our black lab, whom we've had for 3 years.)





Last night, I heard a great piece on NPR about creativity. It was a speach by Carol Becker, Dean of Columbia University School of the Arts. She talked about living the artist life--with all the fears and loneliness that can come along with it. One of my favorite parts was when she talked about how important it is for artists to play--to let themselves get immersed in something that interests them, even if it might not seem like something that will pay dividends in the near future. She talked about a student traveling (to the Mid East, I believe) who got obsessed with the many shades of gold used in the regional archictecture. He spent the whole trip photographing examples of gold, and I'm sure he gained a sense of the depth of color that he couldn't get any other way. I find myself doing this in more literary ways when I can get obsessed with the root of a word, or when I can read a novel or short story again and again, always finding something new to marvel at.

Dean Becker also talked about how perfectionism can just kill an artist, so I was intrigued when I saw this article about perfectionism in the Boston Globe this morning. Though I'm certainly not as bad as some of the perfectionists profiles, I do have my share of perfectionist tendencies. I really liked this analogy: Say you pay $2 for five minutes at a do-it-yourself carwash, and clean away about 80 percent of your car's dirt. That makes sense. Then you pay another $2 for a second round, and clean away another 10 percent. Your returns are diminishing. Then another $2, which yields only about 5 percent more. At some point, though having a clean car is a fine goal, you are clearly wasting your time and money.

And lastly, an interesting article on the copyright issues that are arising for the Kindle because it allows users to listen to e-books aloud--and it isn't paying writers or publishers for audio rights.