I planned to write every day on this vacation. It should be no problem, as on vacation I have much more free time than during my exhausting normal routine. But the first thing I did was forget my laptop plug at home. Must admit I wondered if this oversight may have been a subconscious need to take a break.
What do I do without writing? I fill each day with travel, friends, babies, relatives, clients, cover to cover NYT reads, books (none of which I’ve finished), walks in the rain, amazing scenery and of course, a smorgasbord of scrumptious food. As Andy McDowell’s character in Sex Lies & Videotape says wistfully, “I was happy once. I got so fat…”
I love that quote because it speaks to the beautiful but messy process that unfolds when we let go of discipline and let ourselves, as they say, roll with it. It’s an intuitive state that happens to be fertile ground for ideas, even if for the moment they remain “up here.” (tapping my temple)
Not that I haven’t tried. I bought two notebooks, both sitting in their bags. Tomorrow marks the passing of the first week of vacation. I’ll open a notebook and get cracking in honor of my journey’s halfway point. I’m actually looking forward to capturing some of the ideas kicking around in my head.
Okay, there, I’ve made a commitment. One thousand words or bust. And if it feels too much like work, I’ll nibble on some really good chocolate while I crank it out.
Posts Tagged ‘writing’
On Stephen King, Writing and Logging Off
In Uncategorized on May 19, 2011 at 7:35 pm
I am currently reading Stephen King’s On Writing and basically hanging on his every word. Some moments when he is sharing the specifics of the work ethic that has marked his famously prolific career, I am proud that I have adhered to his suggestions without even knowing it. For instance, ever since I started writing books, I was willing to take notes and comments from readers I respected, and use them to make the work better. Secondly, I felt that the first draft was sacred ground, like a place you have to go to all by yourself before you are ready to ‘let others in.’ Lastly, I love the way he remarks on people saying snarky things to him about writing popular literature, as if it is somehow a ‘lesser’ art form if a lot of people read it. King certainly has earned the right to thumb his nose at the pretentious posers of the lit world. I have had people, especially family members, say similar things to me about writing for the Young Adult market.
But while many of his suggestions have validated my own writing practices, one King assertion is decidedly uncomfortable for me to hear. Turn off the TV, he says. If you are a serious writer you do not have time to squander sitting in front of a ‘glass box.’ Okay, I am thinking, I can handle that. If you are going to churn out 6,000 words a week as he proposes, obviously something has to go. And I can give up TV without much angst. But a darker revelation lurked beneath his words.
On Writing was published in 2000, when the internet was, compared to today, in its infancy. I don’t think I have to tell you this unrefutable truth: today’s internet is a much more daunting time sucker than the glass box ever was. So out of enormous respect and gratitude for his brilliant, tough-love advice on how to be a prolific and adverb-free writer, I must add my own personal addendum to his TV suggestion:
NO INTERNET DURING YOUR WRITING TIME. If you are to turn out 1,000 words a day, 6 days a week (or even my modified version, 500 words a day, 5 days a week), you do not have time for Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, ichat, e-commerce, or any digital noodling other than RESEARCH FOR THE BOOK.
*Phew*, there, I’ve said it. Love it or hate it, that is my key to producing pages in this distraction-riddled world. My new credo is try to write in a place where I cannot log on to the internet, so that I will not risk being swept up into a cyber world and look up having lost hours of all-too-precious writing time.
And with that, faithful readers, I will sign off…
My agent loves my new draft!
In Uncategorized on January 7, 2011 at 8:27 pmWhat can I even say? Five months well spent. I am so excited about the new draft, too. It makes the book more fictional, more of a novel. I used an unconventional structural element, which frightened me at first but came so naturally. When the voice of a character comes naturally that is a very good sign.
As always the writing was done at six in the morning, on time grabbed and fought for in a hopelessly busy life. My kids had grown to view my laptop as their enemy, but I made it up to them by being with them every second of the winter break after I had gotten it turned in.
Last night my 9 year old son asked me if he could read my book for his school book report. I told him – along with my 6 year old daughter - that they would have to wait till they are 15 or so to read it.
But so sweet that he asked, so proud that I am a novelist now, against all odds. I truly can visualize Cinnamon Girls in hardcover and can not wait to smell and kiss my first copy.
©2009
In Uncategorized on April 29, 2010 at 12:29 amWorking on a revision of my manuscript, I noticed the ©2009 on the cover page. It stuck me that I have years invested in this book, and how writing has become something of a life marker for me.
Time passes, but the work of writing continues, indifferent to the date, the number of hours spent, the non-writing events of your life that take place while the work marches on.
My daughter turns 6 in May. She is my youngest, and she’s turning in to a long-legged youngster before my eyes, her babyhood receding like the beaches on the East coast. Will she remember Mommy writing, and writing, and writing when she recounts her childhood? She already looks forward to seeing my book on the shelf at our local bookstore. How old will she be when that happens?
The truth is, the process of getting a book ready is something that just takes as long as it takes. I’ve learned not to freak out about measuring the time put in, although I do muse about how, with each revision, my hourly pay for the book goes down. And I think, wryly to myself, I may be lucky to get minimum wage for the hours I put in.
Still I can feel that I am a lot closer to my goal. I’ve started another book. I’ve gotten an agent. I’ve built a huge support group of readers and well-wishers. Best of all, I’ve learned to enjoy the journey. I used to despise people who said that, but the grueling process of writing a first novel has changed me. I relax into taking as much time as is necessary, because that’s how you polish something that is good until it truly shines.
I do hope that I’m not still looking at that © 2009 next year, however.
Libba Bray, I can’t wait to read your book
In 1 on April 16, 2010 at 7:26 amA shiny copy of Going Bovine is sitting on my bedside table today and I can’t wait to crack it. I was lucky enough to see Libba Bray speak last Saturday and she seemed like such an organic, prodigious talent. It’s inspiring to see the level of literary creativity in the genre right now. I need to see what I would call “real writers” in YA, because I do get discouraged by some of the extreme genre work out there. Mainly because I know I couldn’t do that kind of work.
When asked what made her write and how she became a writer, Bray told of a personal tragedy that turned her diary into her lifeline… and the rest was history. Thank you, Libba, for sharing this with us and for your courage to busta move out of the expected.
You also have a career in standup should you ever tire of being a Michael L. Prinz Award-winning writer…
Writer’s group tonight. Why the fright?
In 1 on February 10, 2010 at 1:11 amAt 7:00 tonight I will attend my monthly writer’s group. Tonight the group will critique a portion of my YA novel in progress. As always, I dread it while being wholly committed to showing up. Despite my pervasive bad attitude, I remain grateful that a small group of fellow writers will take the time to skewer me (or not). These sincere readers will devote a good chunk of their evening to my manuscript, even though all are busy Los Angelinos with their own projects. I always have a good time so why is it such an internal battle to face the music?
The core source of my dread is also the most interesting aspect of the group: my story and characters will be critiqued. This will the first and most innocuous occasion (of many, I hope) when I will buck up and smile, nod, scribble notes and in general feign fascination with every niggling criticism of my WIP. Perhaps the reason my stomach titters is that critique groups are always a brush with the unknown. Will they gush over it and tell me not to change a word, just ‘keep writing’? Will they tell me they liked that other idea from a few weeks ago much better? Will my readers understand why this idea — amidst several other book ideas they have critiqued recently — inspired me to take the leap and start the years-long journey of writing a novel for potential publication? I do not know what they will think. Therein lies the terrific value, and attendant stress, of being critiqued.
The process of writing is magical. I already think of my girl protagonist often and wonder what she would think and do in a given situation. But I am still getting to know her. I want her to be vulnerable and raw, so that the reader keeps reading to see if she will combust or get plowed under. But I don’t think I’m there yet with her voice. She is too matter-of-fact still. I know that I will be able to work on that, adding depth to her voice as I gain understanding of her backstory and her present conflicts. Yes, as you can see, I am not without my own inner critique – if I didn’t have a good sense of what is working and what is not I’d be a weak writer. The reason why I’ve shown up for a writers’ group for years is so because others point out things I don’t see about my WIP. This is a terrifically important step in the process of crafting a superior book. A novel polished enough to blow someone’s mind out there.
There are scores of gatekeepers whose main job is to say no to us. What we do with our writers groups and critiques and work shops and support groups and classes and voracious reading and Facebook-ing and tweeting is to build something that can weather the tough editorial process. I hope this doesn’t sound bitter, because I’m not. I am simply a pragmatist whose sole aim is to turn out the best material I can muster.
I already know I am going to write this book. So tonight, I am going to quietly show up, with a sharpened pencil and a receptive heart. I will thank my fellow writers, for reading my pages and taking the time to share reactions to my work. I may be tweaked and even pained by your comments, or I may be flattered and greatly heartened. It doesn’t really matter which. It’s all just one more day in a chain of days as I undertake the job of being a writer – a job I feel thrilled and blessed to pursue.
click on the picture to find a critique group near you
My friend Shaun went to Sundance…
In 1 on February 4, 2010 at 1:29 am
click on photo for full story
Sundance Film Festival is always overwhelming, and this year was no exception. How do you weed through a film catalogue that reads like Encyclopedia Britanica? One way to narrow it down is to focus on films adapted from books. There were at least five this year: Twelve (Author: Nick McDonnell); Winter’s Bone (Author: Daniel Woodrell); The Extra Man (Author: Jonathan Ames); The Taqwacores (Author: Michael Muhammad Knight) and The Romantics (Author: Galt Niederhoffer.) What a thrill it must be for these authors – to see a filmmaker take on the monumental task of bringing their story to the screen.
The year before I went to grad school at Columbia, I spent a winter working for Sundance as their press liaison by day and volunteer driver for the Sundance Director’s and Producers’ Labs by night. From driving Oliver Stone in from the airport to suggesting screenings to Roger Ansen and Pauline Kael, it was a heady and inspiring time. When I look at this photo Shaun took last week, it brings it all back – along with his tales of near-all-night parties and tagging along with Sundance folks to screenings. Long live the spirit of indie adventure – in films and in the books that inspire them.
Franny & Zooey is one of my favorite books
In 1 on January 28, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Although he became known almost as much for his reclusive ways as for his seminal YA novels, JA Salinger is a giant among writers. What impressed me most about him was his ability to give us narrators that intrigued – they weren’t quick to unlock their secrets or reveal their demons. Salinger left that job to the reader, and that’s why we pored over them again and again.
As for the reclusiveness, if I could pull that off I’d have written 10 novels by now. RIP, J.D. Salinger, you will always be my ultimate idol.
To My Agent in the Caribbean: Enjoy
In 1 on January 18, 2010 at 9:37 pmI feel sorry for my agent Bri, being on vacation when an event so horrible errupts that you must interrupt your bliss to tune in on the news. I happened to be in Positano, Italy when the Columbine disaster happened and remember dreading the news but feeling obligated to stay updated. Adding to that quandry, Bri is in the Caribbean, which much feel strange.. to know that besieged Haiti shores occupy the same sea as her chosen island paradise.
Knowing how hard she works, I hope she is thinking about little other than the gentle waves breaking on her pedicured toes. I do have to admit, however, my nagging need to obsess about the fate of my manuscript creeps in from time to time. Specifically, I wonder about her e-mail account & wonder what would happen if an e-mail about my manuscript came in while she is gone. Is someone looking them over in case an acceptance letter from an editor is gathering dust in her in-box? Can someone else reply if one does come in? Do I sound self-centered?
Tomorrow she comes back and no matter how hard I try, I will not be able to resist checking my e-mail every two seconds all day long. Dusty acceptance letter, take heart: we will get you, we will reply, and most importantly, we love you…
