by Andrea on February 5, 2010
Over on Bruce Black’s blog, Wordswimmer, there’s an interesting interview with Phyllis Root about her writing process that made me think, “Yeah, that’s me” several times. Especially the part about how she says she’s much nicer when she’s been writing than when she’s been avoiding it.
Avoiding writing? I am definitely guilty. Even when I’m in the mood to write, and I’m determined to finish my first draft, I still have trouble getting those first few words down. I make all kinds of mental excuses…
1. I just have to check my e-mail. Yeah right. Like I’m so popular I’ve gotten 15 urgent messages since five minutes ago when I last checked.
2. First, I need to find that __________. Fill in the blank with the desperately-needed item of choice. Of course, it doesn’t matter what the “thing” is, because it’s not exactly a life or death drama if it doesn’t appear right now during my writing time.
3. There might be something interesting on ________’s blog. Ahem. Do I really want to waste my precious writing time checking out blogs? Not that I don’t enjoy reading blogs and other writing-related stuff, but there’s a time and a place. And it’s not when I’m about to get started on my own writing.
4. I’ll just make one call, and then I’ll get started. Except one call takes at least half an hour. Then, by the time I find my story notes, open the file and get my brain going, writing time has pretty much evaporated.
What do you do to avoid writing? Any tips for making use of the time you’ve set aside for writing to…I don’t know…actually write?
– Andrea
by Debbie on February 4, 2010
With Valentine’s Day coming up in next week…
by Carmella on February 3, 2010
I’m a sucker for inspirational knickknacks. I think nothing of splurging on items that delight my muse or remind me to have fun. I blame my mother for this. She’s an artist for Hallmark and routinely buys things simply because they feed her soul and she taught me to do the same. With that in mind, I thought it might be fun to take you on a virtual tour of my office.
Here are just a few of things that grace my writing space:
A boxed collection of “Wizard of Oz” Pez. (Love the movie, love and collect Pez. A perfect combination.)
A tiny replica of a gargoyle from the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. It’s a little, scary dude with his fingers in his ears who reminds me not to listen to my inner critic.
A photo from our hotel balcony in Maui. My whole family (siblings and spouses and kids and grandparents) went a few years ago. It was the best, most memorable vacation ever simply because we were all together -and extra meaningful considering my dad had a heart attack just a month before.
A figurine of a girl with crazy hair like Roseanna Roseannadanna. (Am I dating myself here?)
A sparkly, silver pen I got when I met Ingrid Law, author of the amazing book “Savvy.” The pen says, “What’s your SAVVY?” Ingrid’s book helped changed the direction of my career and getting to visit with her for an hour or so was really cool.
A Nemo Pez (“Just keep swimming.”) and a Dinosaur from Toy Story Pez (“Great. Now I’ve got guilt!”) Are you sensing a theme yet? 
A photo of my niece when she was three. She’s got this wide-eyed expression and biting into a big, red apple. The photo reminds me to take each day “one bite at a time.”
A fringed, elephant lamp that I found at an antique store. I thought it was so ugly it was cute.
A 3 foot model of a narwhale tooth. I made it while working on a book on the Arctic and Antarctic.
A pyramid made of straws and pipe cleaners. Okay, technically I can’t see that unless I look up. It hangs from my ceiling directly above my head. My kids made it for me so I’d have “pyramid power” while I was working on my book, “Great Ancient Egypt projects You Can Build Yourself.”
What are a few special things you keep nearby while writing?
by Christina on January 31, 2010
A couple of years ago, my husband and I took a trip to the elephant park in Koh Samui, Thailand. When our tour guide showed up, she exclaimed, “Oh! You a movie star!”
I’m not sure who she mistook me for, but she was determined I was some famous celebrity. Hardly! I tried to explain to her that she was mistaken, but my husband wasn’t helping AT ALL. He only nodded to the lady, saying, “Yes, but don’t tell anyone.”
Oh the stinker!
No matter what I said, my tour guide would just winked and give me her ‘it’s our little secret’ smile. She spread the news to the rest of the staff there. I was succumbed to numerous pictures and stares. A guy even took my picture from a bush! Embarrassing! My husband had a good laugh, but I’m afraid all that guy got was a frowning picture.
This story makes me think of myself as a writer. Am I a movie star in my writing? Are my manuscripts sparkling with stardom?
The thing is, to be a movie star, you need confidence. And confidence in who I am as a writer has a big part in creating my Voice and Tone in my stories. So how can I become a Movie Star in my writing?
Here’s a list I came up with:
1. Put my characters on the stage and get them acting. (Show, don’t tell.)
2. Make those characters lines shine. (Every character’s speech should be distinctive)
3. Play up my character’s mannerisms. (What actions, sayings or details make my character special?)
4. Stage make-up (Pay attention to grammar and format)
5. Stage props (Set the tone by my setting)
6. Spotlight (Focus my chapters so they move the plot forward)
7. Get over stage fright (Be myself as I write. Don’t think about anything other than my characters and my story)
So maybe we’re not Hollywood celebrities. But by using these tips, I know we can make our manuscripts into MOVIE STAR! material.
by Kate on January 30, 2010
Anyone else out there enter Highlights’ annual short story contest?
I dropped my story in the mail yesterday, but I wouldn’t bet on my chances. The competition in the contest is intense. Two local writer friends entered and I’m not sure my story could beat their stories, nevertheless EVERYBODY’S stories. So I’m not counting on the prize money. I quite like the story I entered, but my chances of winning the $1000 are about the same as winning $1000 in the lottery. So why did I enter?
Because the contest pushed me to write a story within 750 words about a predetermined topic. It was an excellent chance to work on my craft with a deadline. I couldn’t just think, “I should write a short story someday.” The contest made me write it and revise it several times by January 31. Without the contest, that story–and I quite like that story–would not exist. In a way, my ticket into the contest is more valuable than the prize itself.
Now the SCBWI Work in Progress grant deadline is approaching. Again, the competition is intense. But entering would force me to polish a synopsis now instead of procrastinating, so I’m considering it.
I’ll be keeping my eye out for other contests this year. If you hear of any good ones, please pass them on!
– Kate
by Debbie on January 28, 2010
by Carmella on January 26, 2010
“If you’re not failing on a regular basis it means you’re just doing what you already know how to do.”
My oldest, a junior in high school, is a gifted musician. Matt currently plays four instruments: piano, clarinet, mellophone and bassoon. The bassoon, which he took up right before his freshman year, is he favorite.
Last Saturday, Matt signed up for the district Solo and Ensemble Day. It’s an adjudicated event, meaning kids perform and receive scores and comments. They aren’t competing against each other, just themselves. Matt, being an ambitious kind of kid, decided to perform a piano solo, a bassoon solo and in a clarinet ensemble. It’s not unusual for kids to play two instruments or play as well as sing in the choir events. But three instruments? Practically unheard of.
I went to the event, anxious to see how he’d pull it all off. And I came home enormously proud.
It wasn’t because his clarinet ensemble scored a 1 (superior). And it wasn’t because he played the bassoon flawlessly and earned a 1 with that as well. Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t but help puff up my chest a bit when a music director from another school sat in on his bassoon performance because she’d heard about him. (Afterwards she said she had two words for me: full ride.) And the judge was openly vocal about her delight – and that was after he played only his scales!
No. I was proud of my son for his piano solo. In a word, it was rough.
From the moment he sat down on the bench, things went poorly. He played the wrong scales and fumbled on the ones he did play. Clearly rattled in front of a roomful of friends and strangers (and with the judge standing right behind him), he took a second to regain his composure and played his selected song. He made several mistakes on that as well.
But here’s the thing: he took a risk and that required courage. And more importantly, when he fell short of his goal he let it roll off him. After he got his score (a three) and read the judge’s harsh comments, he just smiled and shrugged and said next time he’ll prepare better. He’s already talking about next year; he wants to learn the French horn and play a solo.
So. What on earth does any of this have to do with writing you ask. Just this: taking risks in your work is a good thing and how you handle the rough days says a lot about the kind of person you are. Writing – as most of us know all too well – is a vocation that comes with plenty of rough days.
What kind of person are you? What kind of person do you want to be?
Personally, I hope I grow up to be just like my son.
by Andrea on January 22, 2010
I finally took the plunge and set up my own blog. I’ve decided to challenge myself to read 100 MG and YA books in 2010, and a blog seemed like a good place to record and make me accountable for reaching my goal. Even though I don’t intend to write book reviews, I do plan to keep a list and note some of my thoughts, especially ones that provide insights into my writing.
This project seems daunting – it works out to 8 and 1/3 books a month – but I probably read close to that anyway. My 10-year-old daughter thought the challenge sounded easy, until I pointed out that I was planning to read books I had never read before. [She reads Harry Potter or another of her favourites at least twenty times a year.]
The idea came to me when I realized that the characters in my latest work-in-progess, a MG grade novel, were starting to take on a YA quality. It dawned on me that I’d been reading a lot of YA books, and they were inadvertently shaping the tone of my writing. Has that ever happened to you?
P.S. Before anyone mentions it, I have checked out Goodreads, but at this point, the blog is the step that is right for me.
– Andrea
by Carmella on January 20, 2010
One day last week my twelve-year-old came home from school and asked what I did all day. Giving into self-pity, I told her I thought about looking for a job.
“But you already have a job,” she said. “You’re a writer.”
“Apparently not a very good one,” I said.
She looked at me thoughtfully and said, “One of those days, uh Mom?”
Yes. It had definitely been one of those days. I was struggling with my WIP and just received my third rejection for a full of my YA in less than a week. Though, the rejections were extremely encouraging and not based on my writing but things out of my control (tough market, agent’s personal taste), they hit me hard. I did what pretty much any writer does – I whined, cried, ate some chocolate and considered getting a “real” job.
My fabulous critique group tried to cheer me up by saying all the right things.
My first reader joked that the one agent probably turned it down because she had the first name as the book’s antagonist.
My sweetheart-of-a-daughter offered to rub my shoulders.
But at the end of the day, the one thing that really helped was this: I sent out another query.
When you’re stuck in the middle of the road and can’t figure out which direction to go, sometimes the only thing you can do is pick up your foot and take a step. Doesn’t matter which direction. Doesn’t matter if the step is big or small. Successful or disastrous.
What matters is that you have the courage to just keep moving.
What do you do when you have “one of those days?”
by Kate on January 16, 2010
My favorite place to read a book is in front of the Christmas tree. The holidays were quiet at my house this year, giving me a chance to read some very fun YA novels:
THE ESPRESSOLOGIST by Kristina Springer
Humor in the line of the popular AUDREY WAIT, THE ESPRESSOLOGIST centers around a coffee house barista. When Jane starts matchmaking friends and customers based on their coffee drink choices, her ambitious manager pushes the scheme out of Jane’s control. Very funny, clean romance.
PRADA AND PREJUDICE by Mandy Hubbard
A high school sophomore on trip to England travels back in time to the early 1800s, and local titled family mistakes her for a long-lost American friend. Austen-type misunderstandings are complicated further by Callie’s modern attitude. A super fun read for Austen fans.
IMPOSSIBLE by Nancy Werlin
A high school senior is fated to perform the impossible tasks from the song “Scarborough Fair” to save her family. I loved how every character in this book was well thought out and clearly doing his or her best. Add a touchingly written romance and this book was impossible to put down.
Did you get a chance to read over the holidays? Can you pass on any recommendations?
– Kate
