February 05, 2010
A Writer's Guide to Being Snowed-In
When news of an imminent snowstorm hits, ordinary people prepare. Some anxious awaiters visit the home & garden store to buy calcium chloride for the sidewalk. They gas up the snow blower and place the shovel within reach of the front door. Others head for the grocery store to stock their shelves with bread, bottled water, heat-and-serve soup, hot chocolate, and perhaps a little something to spike it with.
But we writers are not ordinary people. Rather than waste our time gathering sidewalk treatments and rushing for staples, we do something that feels perfectly natural to us. We rush TO Staples. Or Office Max or even Target -- whichever is nearest -- for all we need is a couple of packs of printer paper, some fresh ink cartridges, and maybe a new pen.
In preparation for the storm that's already upon us today, I also stopped at the library and the bookstore. It's only supposed to snow for 24 hours, but I checked out three books and purchased two, in hopes of reading and writing and reading some more. Oh, and I did pick up a staple I couldn't do without for 24 hours -- a pound of coffee at the bookstore cafe.
Let's face it, writers view a storm of any kind as a gift, a treat. For all those cancelations offer us that lump of time we haven't been able to whittle out of our schedules for the whole month of January.
How do you plan to spend the next 24 hours? Will you:
* Read for pleasure outside the genre you're currently writing (attempting to turn off that internal book critic)?
* Read to analyze what others in your field are writing?
* Catch up on some publishing news or scan a couple of how-to-hone-your-craft articles?
* Edit your manuscript or brainstorm a new plot?
* Do online research for your work-in-progress?
* Register for Fat Plum's Book Boot Camp? (Hint, hint...which brings me to my next point...)
* Work on social networking and self-promotion?
* Or will you write, write, write until your eyes go blurry and your fingers numb?
For me, the answer is clear and simple. I'm going to do all of the above and more. I might clean out my closet or wash all the sheets. And, oh yeah, I want to make a blueberry pie.
Happy snowstorm, writers! Enjoy!
Posted by Judy at 03:11 PM | Comments (13)
January 06, 2010
New Year's Resolutions
Today, the doorbell rang at 12:40 PM and, to my surprise, my new oven was being delivered early. The delivery was supposed to arrive between 1:00 and 4:00. Ordinarily, I would have expected it to show up at 5:00 or even be postponed until tomorrow. So this was great! I hoped this promptness was a sign of how my new year would proceed -- shorter waiting periods, increased productivity -- you get the picture.
While I chatted with one of the delivery men about the broken oven being a great excuse for going out to dinner instead of having to cook tonight, the other man fell silent. He was reading something hanging on my kitchen wall. He chuckled and said, "I like Dad's number three the best." It was then I realized just what he had read.
A little too early on January first, my teenaged daughter pulled out a piece of bright yellow poster board and a big pack of Sharpies(TM). At the top of the poster, she wrote in jaggedy, angularly artistic letters: Unbreakable Resolutions. She proceeded to create a bulleted list of five points for each family member and then added a column for the family as a whole, titled "Everyone." Under this category, she listed chores and responsibilities that generally fall on me, so I was quite happy to see that list evolve.
Once the poster was fully and colorfully decorated, we each had five "unbreakable" blanks to fill. "My first one is easy," I told my daughter. "Write 'EXERCISE'." She laughed and scribbled it in beside the number one.
"Guess you'll have to dust off those old YWCA and Club Membership cards," she said.
I laughed too, but the sad fact was, she wasn't joking. Hopping on an elliptical machine once every ten days did not constitute exercise. And at home, Wii Fit was fine as long as no one else was around to watch. But it seemed I could fill a room with the click of the Wii controller and a ting of the intro music. I guess everyone wanted to witness my best Warrior pose.
I didn't commit any further than the word "Exercise" on line one, however. I wasn't about to add specifics about how many times a week I'd attempt to go. After all, this was the year of the "Unbreakable Resolution." And no way was I going to be the first family member to crack.
I added such achievable resolutions as gagging down more calcium (I hate how huge those horse pills are) and using my new Envirosax bags, given to me as a gift from my dear friend Julie. I knew those were two things I could surely accomplish. But my entries numbered four and five remained unwritten.
My oldest daughter is a college student and she promised to update her list by text messaging entries just as soon as they came to her. But we all could write her list for her: 1. Study Harder. 2. Get More Rest. 3. Get More Rest. 4. Study Harder. She is a collegiate swimmer on an intensive training trip at the moment so, of course, she sent the message that "Swim Faster" should be added to her segment of the family poster. NCAAs, here we come (hopefully)!
My son's list constituted such ideas as "Clean Room", "Talk Less in School", and "Actually DO Physical Therapy Exercises." Those, of course, were all written in his older sister's handwriting. Had he come up with his own resolutions, they would have read something like, "Play More XBox" and "Golf Everyday."
My middle daughter's list of five encompassed such entries as "Stop Procrastinating" and "Strive to Achieve ALL Goals Made." Wow, she went easy on herself this year. She also added a sixth parenthetical point that read: GET A BOYFRIEND. Ahh, isn't that the resolution of every girl her age? But it was her first entry that hit home for me. She wrote the simple words, "Finish Play."
"Wow," I thought. "That's a doable goal." My daughter had begun writing a play last summer and she really could finish writing it this year. After all, she had twelve months to do it.
She had twelve months, and so did I. That was when I stepped up to the plate with my big number four: Finish Novel. And for me, this year, that goal's unbreakable!
So there, I've done it. I've committed in front of all of you to complete my novel and put it out there for the world to see. (Don't worry, I've already warned my agent that it's coming!)
And now, it's your turn. What doable, unbreakable resolutions do you have the courage to commit to this year? Write them in the comments section below, and you won't feel all alone in tackling this year's goals with vigor. No more allowing another year to slip by. This turn of the decade, 2010, is the year for you to be productive!
Oh, and in case you're wondering what point the delivery man got such a chuckle from. It was Dad's number three: Stop Speeding. Can you guess whose handwriting that one was written in?
Happy New Year! Wishing you a productive, happy, and healthy 2010!
Judy
Posted by Judy at 01:35 PM | Comments (17)
November 26, 2009
A First-Timer's View on Cooking a Turkey
Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a... Wait, I'm mixing my holidays here. And I shouldn't be because Thanksgiving is one of my most treasured days of the year. It's full of warm gatherings, family, friends, and fun. And best of all, the year's most delicious, delectable food!
I'd like to share with you today an essay I wrote about the first time my husband and I took on the challenge of preparing Thanksgiving dinner. The piece originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review several years ago (but don't worry because all publication rights have reverted back to me). This is one of my favorite stories to tell.
The Turkey's Wingless Flight
by Judith Burnett Schneider
A few problems arose with our decision to spend the Thanksgiving holiday at Mom's vacation condo in Florida. My husband and I would miss the family, for certain. But they could use the extra elbow room at the table. More critically, we'd miss our mothers. Without them, who would cook the Thanksgiving turkey?
At first, neither of us wanted the honor. As a newlywed, my cooking expertise was limited to boxed macaroni and cheese, packaged kielbasa, and my favorite, frozen peas. I was, however, the more qualified chef as my husband's gourmet talent was comprised of take-out in any form. After minimal deliberation, the answer became clear. We would have to go out for Thanksgiving dinner.
But Thanksgiving was supposed to be a personal holiday -- nothing commercial, nothing overdone (except the crispy, browned skin of a properly roasted bird). I longed for the glow of candlelight and the taste of old family cuisine wrapped in the comforts of home albeit, this year, away from home.
"I'll do it," I said, unwilling to succumb to the temptations of a cold and impersonal (and no doubt exclusive) restaurant. At the same time, my husband decided that he wanted to cook. (For the record, it was the last time he ever offered.) At work for him was the I-can-do-anything-you-can-do-better ploy. The challenge grew from dining out, to boxed stuffing, to preparing the gourmet family recipe. Our Thanksgiving dinner in Florida would be as close to "the usual" as possible, minus sharing the table with 30 or so additional people. With this decision, however, came another problem. Arriving late Wednesday night, when would we shop for the cooking necessities? (At the time, there were no 24-hour grocery stores, believe it or not.)
The solution came to me one night in a dream...Turkeys can fly. We could transport a frozen turkey on the plane with us -- a sort of thawing in flight. Surely the FDA (and probably the FAA -- this was pre-9/11, remember) would shake a pointed finger at the mere concept, but it was a risk we would have to take.
My husband found the idea to be ingenious. In addition to the turkey-transport, he intended to transfer other supplies including the ingredients for the family stuffing recipe. Which raised the following question: Do we follow his mother's family recipe? Or mine? In time, we found compromise. The stuffing would include what I liked about my mother's recipe and what he liked about his but would exclude what he didn't like about my mother's and what I didn't like about his. Complicated, yet delightfully simple.
Wednesday came, the day of our departure. I carried my portable Igloo cooler loaded with a hand-chosen twelve-pound frozen turkey which definitely weighed far more than twelve pounds. My husband toted the pantry package.
In the airport, people stared and pointed. We looked like a pair of surgeons carrying an organ for transplant. I couldn't have guessed that a cooler containing a thawing bird (that wasn't getting any lighter) would attract so much attention. It must have been the reason for our parting crowds, in addition to hailing a cab so quickly, even from the back of the line. Above all, we probably broke world records: Thanksgiving Turkey's First Jet/Cab Jaunt.
Early Thanksgiving morning, as the oven heated the already sun-warmed kitchen, we realized it was time to do what we must to our flying friend. After unwrapping and rinsing, I lifted the turkey into the pan while my husband prepared the candied sweet potatoes. Fumbling through the cabinet, I located the roasting pan lid and stood up. Something wasn't right. The turkey had moved. He was open-armed as if to invite me into the pan. "Ooo." I jumped.
In all the advice I'd been offered before our trip, there was no mention of the turkey's flapping wings. I pushed the wings back against the body of the bird. They stuck for a moment and then popped out again. I entered some involuntary form of panic. Historically, I had not been one who enjoyed entertaining thoughts of what my food used to be before it landed on my plate. But this turkey wouldn't let me forget.
Abandoning the sweet potatoes, my husband came to my aid. He pulled two baking pins from a nearby drawer. The expert, I sighed. The take-out artist. I stepped aside and let him do what he could. He tacked the turkey's wings to the body but the elbows, if that's what they're called, jutted out to touch the sides of the pan. "We can't have that," I said. "It looks, I don't know, uncomfortable." My husband agreed. We tried several other pinning positions, none of which looked any more natural than the first. "He looks like he's doing the chicken dance," I said.
Silence ensued. "The wings will have to go," my husband said. Far behind schedule already, we were left with no alternative. And as white meat eaters, neither of us would miss the problem limbs. So with a quick slip of the knife, the wings were gone. Hurriedly, I stuffed the wingless turkey, slammed the lid, and shoved the bird into the oven. The worst had to be over.
With the table set, the candles lit, and the fiery sunset igniting the horizon, we gathered, the two of us, to enjoy a private, hard-earned Thanksgiving dinner. My husband carved and I served. After much planning, everything was perfect. I didn't miss the cold Thanksgiving Day weather they were reportedly having back home. We toasted to health and happiness, said a thankful-filled grace, and plunged in for the true test. The turkey was moist and tender. The sweet potatoes were scrumptious. And now, to taste the combination stuffing recipe. Sinking my fork into the bready mound, I stabbed something -- something that had to be inedible. Could it be paper? Oh no, not the sack that housed the giblets and other things I didn't want to think about. Oh yes!
My husband and I toasted our near success on that memorable Thanksgiving Day. It was no tragedy to have prepared a wingless turkey. After all, we succeeded in forming new family traditions. The whole traveling turkey, dewinging experience was rather enjoyable (although dining in even the most ordinary of restaurants might not have been such a bad alternative). Over coffee, we discussed a range of topics including the pros and cons of removing the giblet bag before cooking. We even decided to attempt pumpkin pie some time. In the end, we vowed never to roast another turkey on Thanksgiving -- without first removing its flapping wings.
(This essay originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on November 20, 1994)
This is reprinted in loving memory of my husband's mother, Ann Schneider. This will be our first Thanksgiving without her. She will be warmly remembered and missed.
I wish you all a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving Day!
Judy
Posted by Judy at 10:27 AM | Comments (2)
April 08, 2009
Take a Positive Approach: Attend a Conference for Writers
Currently, there's a lot of chatter on the web (and tweets on twitter) surrounding the agent-author relationship. In brief, some of the postings turned negative when several participating writers complained about certain agents' policies including the no-response-means-I'm-not-interested one (in other words, when a writer sends a query, an agent doesn't respond at all unless she is interested in seeing more of the manuscript). Writers complained that they deserved the courtesy of a "no thanks" reply, at least.
I won't continue on the subject, here, because I feel enough has been said. When I had something specific to offer in the way of advice or opinion, I posted in the comment sections of the corresponding blog entries. If you'd like to catch up on any of the goings on, click on some of the blogs listed to the right of this posting.
If there's enough talk about the above-mentioned controversy, why then did I bring it up here? For two reasons:
1. To inform you of its existence, in case you didn't already know.
2. To NOT hop on the bandwagon and, instead, to help you use this fodder as fuel to propel you into writing/editing/submitting action.
How? By doing what every good writer should do in the spring/summer seasons: Attend a writers' conference.
Rather than spend a lot of time complaining about (or reading the complaints about) agent policies, why not take a positive action that can bring about the results you want: To sign with an agent or publisher? I can't think of a better way than to take hold of spring and/or dive into summer than by attending a conference.
In order to find the right conference for you, ask yourself (and be honest), where am I in my current project? If you've written and edited an entire manuscript and you feel it's ready for submission, I recommend attending a national conference where big-name agents will engage in pitch appointments with authors (ten-minute stints that allow the writer to pitch the novel or nonfiction book idea to an agent of his/her choice). There, you'll hear top authors speak and rub elbows with some of the most successful in the biz. Here are a few that might interest you.
For mystery and thriller writers: ThrillerFest 2009
This one is good for writers of romance, mainstream fiction, and even mystery: Romance Writers of America Conference 2009
Another conference with a lot of big-names: 2009 Backspace Writers Conference
Here's one that allows you to meet New York agents or to focus on writing memoir: International Women's Writing Guild: Big Apple Conference
If you have a strong first draft but know your manuscript needs some polishing, attend a nuts-and-bolts type conference in which the techniques of revising will be highlighted, along with other helpful sessions that might include encouraging you to write an engaging query and/or an irresistible first chapter. Here's a favorite of mine for such instruction.
This conference helps you kick back and tap the muse or roll up your sleeves and work, work, work: The International Women's Writing Guild: Remember the Magic
If you've got the seed of an idea and want to know how to turn it into a novel or approach magazines and newspapers with it, a local conference will probably give you the best bang for your buck (sorry about the cliche). In addition to my top choice shown below, check your library and community calendar listings for workshops, seminars, and even book/critique groups in your area.
This conference is great for writers of all levels: The Pennwriters Conference -- A Writer's Tool Chest
Take a moment or even a couple of hours to browse these websites (and others) to find the right conference for you. Talking with active writers, hearing the words of inspiring presenters, and schmoozing with editors and agents is the best motivation a writer can find. Let me know where you decide to go!
Posted by Judy at 10:40 AM | Comments (2)
April 02, 2009
Rejection from an Agent is like a Rejection from Harvard: You Can't Take it Personally
My daughter's friend did the unspeakable. He applied to 18 colleges. He's a minority student who scored 2400 on the SATs, earned a 4.0 GPA (or 5.0 or 6.0 whatever the highest is these days), racked up 300 hours of community service, plays the piano, tap dances...the list goes on. And on. In short, he is the quintessential college applicant (the envy, or more likely the bash-bait, of all his peers).
Why blog about Super Senior on my writing space? There's a lesson for us all in what lies ahead. Keep reading.
As colleges passed out their decisions over the past few days, this ultimate applicant, however, received the following news.
Harvard: Rejection
Princeton: Rejection
Yale: Rejection
Penn: Wait-listed
You might first react by saying, "What the...?" The point is that rejection happens, even to the tippy-top, cream-of-the-crop.
And the same holds true for submitting writers. Many of my colleagues and cliets have received rejections from 2 or 3 agents and then tossed their manuscripts into a drawer. Sometimes that manuscript needs to be tossed, especially if it had a waning plot or was one draft short of being ready to submit.
Some of those manuscripts, however, are ripe and ready. And the writer needs to do the unthinkable, like the 2400 Kid did, and submit, submit, submit. There's no way Super Senior can take his rejections personally. He did everything in his power to make it to the top of the admissions pile. And still, for some schools, he just wasn't what they were looking for.
If you have a manuscript in the drawer that has been rejected a couple of times, pull it out and read it. If it's rough, revise. Make it tippy-top, cream-of-the-crop. Then, hop on over to The Guide to Literary Agents and start researching appropriate potential agents. Next, write an exciting query letter (if you're stuck, check out Query Shark) and give it a try.
And if you receive a couple of rejections, don't take it personally. You simply didn't write in the genre or voice they were seeking at the time. Keep submitting until you find the right agent for you.
Adopt the perserverence of the Super Senior who, by the way, was accepted to Brown and Dartmouth. Poor kid won anyway, didn't he? And you can, too!
Good luck!
Judy
Posted by Judy at 08:37 AM | Comments (5)
March 19, 2009
Dave Barry's Colonoscopy: An Inspiration to Writers
My husband recently turned 50 and altered his life goals. Top on his list: To earn Dave Barry's Colonoscopy Certificate.
Along with round-the-middle weight gain and rapid vision loss which requires one to stock up on over-the-counter eye glasses purchased in bulk at Costco, turning 50 brings with it the gift of intrusion in the form of a colonoscopy.
When my husband decided to succumb to the procedure, friends sent him the link to Dave Barry's column called A Journey into my Colon -- And Yours . Dave writes in full detail about the purging process and the exploration afterwards, so I need not delve into those previously charted waters. But I must warn you: Read Barry's essay in private to avoid being viewed as a hopeless geek who laughs at his own computer screen.
When my husband forwarded the colonoscopy link to me, even though I am far younger and am hoping a simpler procedure will come along by the time I hit the big one, I was awakened. Not only as far as colon cancer awareness goes, although that's his top take-away message, but about how brilliant a writer Dave Barry is. (And I'm not just saying that with the hope that the writing genius will visit my blog and offer a comment, however excitedly welcomed such an act would be!)
I wrote a book several years ago called Write Well & Sell: Changing Life's Simple Stories into Sales , an instructional manual that is essentially what my husband calls "Writing Essays for Dummies," and he means that in a good way. Nevertheless, many of the writing tips and techniques I offer in the book are perfectly exemplified in Dave Barry's essay.
One of my favorite parts of Changing Life's Simple Stories into Sales is a section called The Trick List: 15 Ways to Enhance Your Writing. The list features various simple tips that, when added, will undoubtedly make your story more readable, more memorable. (As an aside, The Trick List is complemented later in the book by The Don'ts List: 11 Mistakes to Avoid.)
In his colonoscopy column, Dave Barry uses nearly all of the tricks I highlight in the list. Now, this can mean one of several things:
1. Dave Barry read my book.
2. I wrote the book after reading Dave's column.
3. Dave and I are friends and collaborate on all of our works.
4. Dave Barry is an exceptionally talented writer and my book teaches you how to hone your skills to become just that.
Let's go with #4.
For example, point number 5 on The Trick List is to "Use Simple, Visual Similes and Metaphors." How often have you neglected to add similes or metaphors to your WIP because doing so requires some tweaking to find the right one for the application at hand? Or worse yet, how many awkward, difficult-to-decipher similes have you deleted from your own work or been annoyed with in other published writings? Adding a clear and meaningful simile or metaphor isn't novel advice. Yet somehow this technique is grossly neglected by many writers, both published and non.
Another Trick List tip is number 8, "Single Out a Sentence as a Separate Paragraph." You can also use a few-word phrase in a paragraph of its own. The impact, of course, results by forcing the reader to place emphasis on those words, on that action, and/or on the emotion the action evokes. Again, the advice isn't all that profound but is extremely effective and very easily implemented.
A final technique featured in the list is noted in lucky tip number 13, "Choose a Theme." We don't need to get into a heavy discussion defining theme at this time. What I refer to here is the idea of applying a recurrent idea, a motif, if you will, to your writing. By referring lightly to the chosen theme throughout the piece, you'll weave in a thread that will pull the reader from your gripping beginning to a satisflying end.
While I don't have permission to show you explicitly how Dave Barry executes these tidbits of advice (although I do have permission to link to his essay), you are fully capable of reading the piece and extracting the examples on your own.
Please don't poo-poo these suggestions as minor or measly or insignificant. After you note the use of these techniques in Barry's writing and see how powerfully effective they can be, I hope you'll pull out your drafts and apply them yourself. Using theme and relevant metaphors, for example, are the fundamentals upon which most good writing rests. Why not go back to giving the basics a try?
And for those of you approaching 50 or older, don't forget to sign up for the dreaded invasive procedure, if for no other reason than to earn Dave's certificate. In the end, there's a theme to be followed here: Purging and exploring helps colons and writers. (Oh yeah, and it doesn't hurt to come full circle either.)
If interested in purchasing Write Well & Sell: Changing Life's Simple Stories into Sales, email me. It's $10 plus shipping. (I like to use the $4.95 Priority envelopes so the book arrives in good condition and in a day or so.)
Posted by Judy at 11:09 AM | Comments (10)
November 06, 2008
It's Not Too Late to NaNo
Last year on Halloween night, I panicked. I had vowed to meet with two friends the next morning, laptops in hand, to kick off our participation in the world-wide writing event known as NaNoWriMo, short for National Novel Writing Month, the gist of which is to write an entire novel (50,000 words) in the month of November. I've enlisted in NaNo since 2005, but this particular October had come to a close without my having the slightest idea what I would write. As I drove home late that Halloween night, leaves blew across the dark, windy road before me. And it brought to mind a lecture I had once attended by Mary Higgins Clark.
She talked about how she was able to continue to interest her readers without the graphic, sensationalistic details other mystery, suspense, and horror writers had incorporated. She said (and I paraphrase, as the lecture was several years ago) she tried to tap into the basal fears that will never cease to evoke a response in people. She referred to experiences like hearing a bump in the night, being followed by someone through a shadowy alley, or -- here it comes -- driving alone down a dark road on a rainy night.
It came to me, then. I had my opening for my new NaNo novel, and I'd take it from there. Playing the What If? game during the rest of the drive home, I thought about how a character might respond if a person desperate for help (or even needy and bleeding) stepped out in front of her car on that isolated road. Would she stop? Call 911? Keep driving? The possibilities stretched out before me. And from there, my NaNo novel was born.
This year, I spent the month of October in preparation mode. I plotted intriguing twists and intricate turns so that, rather than write a draft during NaNoWriMo that needed gobs of revision to be marketable, I'm hoping I'll be a couple of drafts closer to having a finished product I can offer my agent.
So I encourage you to sign up, this year, today, right now, to participate in National Novel Writing Month. It takes only a few minutes to set up an identity (use your real name or a pseudonym of choice) and get started pumping up that word count. If you begin today, you'll have to write about 2000 words a day or approximately eight manuscript pages. That's a lot, I know, but it's not quality you're aiming for this time around. Start with any old character and put him in a sticky situation facing a nasty antagonist, give him a sidekick and/or a love interest and then write your way out.
NaNoWriMo is an invigorating experience. As the creativity is freed, the laundry piles up, lunch meetings get canceled, and you start weighing the nutritious differences between drive through and take out (hint: take out is better). People will look at you as though you're starring in your own Ground Hog Day movie when you walk into the same coffee shop five days in a row (preferably one with free refills), seeking out the same nook in which to write (usually a booth near an electrical outlet).
It's tough to describe the NaNo experience to non-NaNo writers. My best advice is to give it a try. If you finish the month with 50,000 words, then great. You win a printable certificate that says you did. If you end up with only 10,000 more words under your belt, so what. You're still a winner because you've kicked yourself in the &$*% and jump-started an exciting new project that just might propel your writing momentum for several months or even all year.
Go NaNo, I say! Give it a try, today!
Posted by Judy at 08:08 AM | Comments (8)
May 18, 2007
Life Gets in the Way
About a month ago, I registered for the Pennwriters Conference taking place this weekend. I was looking forward to attending a few of the panel discussions and lectures and to interacting, in general, in a productive environment. (I was also hoping for a great cup of morning coffee and some engaging conversation throughout the weekend.) Instead, here I sit, at my work computer. Why? Well, as luck would have it, life got in the way.
For many, many reasons, I was unable to attend the conference. So, if you feel sorry for me in the least (and if you were lucky enough to be in attendence), would you be so kind as to leave your comments, thoughts, impressions, and suggestions concerning your agent appointments, the presentations, the meals, and whatever else you'd like to include? If you are a speaker, let me know how your session went. Did you field any excellent questions? Those of you who attended or hosted the critique sessions in the evening, how did they go?
Conversely, if you weren't able to participate in the conference, like me, then feel free to wallow in your sorrows here, too. Others of you might like to share conference-going tips and suggestions we all might benefit from hearing.
In thinking about all the buzz I'm missing, I'm reminded of the following quote:
"I have made it a rule of my life never to regret and never to look back. Regret is an appalling waste of energy...you can't build on it; it's only good for wallowing in."
-- Katherine Mansfield, 1888-1923, Writer
So I don't regret the way life's course took me this weekend, nor am I going to waste time wallowing. I've vowed to accomplish several mini-goals with my unexpected time. In fact, I crossed one off of my list before I posted this very message.
Thanks for visiting! I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Best,
Judy
Posted by Judy at 05:28 PM | Comments (7)
May 11, 2007
Smear the Lines
"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear."
~ Joan Didion
These are the words of a self-confident writer who can comfortably explore how she feels about what's going on around her, how she interprets her observations, and how she allows them to affect her life. She is able to reveal what she wants and to face her fears head on. Are we?
Most of you know that essayist and author Joan Didion struggled through the sudden death of her husband a few years ago and the subsequent death of her 39-year old daughter only four months later. In an interview approximately 18 months later, Didion said, "I had to write my way out of it. Because I couldn't figure out what was going on. By the time I started it - John died December 30, I didn't start writing until October - I was out of the phase where I didn't know I was crazy. I was still crazy, but I knew it. So, it was a step back."
While Joan Didion was able to drop all pretense and face her fears through writing, many of the rest of us continue to struggle. We must strive to shake off the self-consciousness that often stifles and inhibits our writing. We need to forget about what people will think when our characters have disturbing thoughts or when they participate in frightening, twisted, or illegal activities. We need to fight the urge to edit toward the politically correct when, for example, we're working on a humor piece and we're not sure if entertains or offends.
The other day, I entered a local coffeehouse and ordered a decaf-skim-no-whip mocha. (I know, why bother, right? I could have ordered water.) After dropping my 92 cents change into the tip jar, I coughed up the courage to ask the barista a question, the reason I'd come into the shop in the first place. He was a twenty-something guy with beyond-baggy cargo shorts that defied gravity like no other. He wore a hemp choker and a gold watch that didn't match the rest of him.
"Hey, were you here for the comedy night?" I asked.
"I was." He turned toward me, seemingly surprised I was aware of the event. After all, I wasn't a regular, and he knew it.
"How'd it go?" I asked. But I didn't wait for an answer. "My friend came to read and I was wondering how she did."
"Oh, she did great." He didn't bother to ask which reader was my friend. "She was really funny."
She did it, I thought. She put herself out there, read her humor essay in front of a house full of strangers who sipped cappuccino and chai tea. Her debut reading was well-received. Yippee for her! Yippee, yippee!
I didn't question how the guy knew which woman I had referenced. I figured he had stereotyped us together, based on our ages or appearances or, I don't know what (the whole idea of which might make for a separate blog entry in the future). What was most important was that a lone writer had taken a chance, by putting a part of herself on paper and then exposing it to a crowd of potential boo-ers and hecklers and, least of all, critics.
Like my friend at the coffeehouse, we all need to push away the worry that the world might read between our written lines, because they will. And after all, isn't that what we want?
This humor writer's self-confidence and willingness to put herself out there reminds me of my nephew who is an artist and a lawyer. When among a group looking at any of his paintings, he remains peculiarly silent. Always.
"So what did you mean by this?" I'll ask. And I really want to know.
Silence still.
"Come on, I'm family. You can tell me," I say.
His reply is a constant, "What does it mean to you?"
(I suppose he doesn't care about the rule that requires we never answer a question with a question.) Above all, he is confident enough, comfortable enough to have poured whatever he could of himself into the painting, exhausted himself in it, really. So much so that he can then allow the public to interpret it, free of his influence. I admire (and sometimes abhor, in a loving way, of course) his self-assurance. How does he do it? How does he fight the urge to make sure that absolutely everyone alive knows exactly what he intended? With confidence, that's how.
I believe he knows that each finished painting represents his best work, at the time anyway, and he is comfortable letting it go.
Like my artist nephew, we must stop concerning ourselves with what readers will surmise about us and our personal lives. The fact is that they're bound to do so. If you're going to put yourself out there by presenting words and paragraphs for the public eye, and that's hopefully what most of us want beyond journaling, then you are going to be subject to scrutiny. So we must produce our best work and then let it go, much like Joan Didion did when she unveiled herself in The Year of Magical Thinking (Vintage).
Her honesty among those pages is painful, memorable. And as a reader, we relate to it in a personal, individual way. Similarly, it is our own honesty and individuality that can smear the line of paint that divides how we live and what we write. We need to allow for the smear and let the new colors emerge.As Rhys Alexander says in Writing Gooder when talking about adding detail, "It's the difference between a pencil sketch and a lush oil painting. As a writer, words are your paint. Use all the colors."
So get back to your keyboards and write your best work. Use all the colors you can and then let it go. And when asked what you meant by something you wrote, feel free to look your reader in the eye and confidently utter my nephew's line: "What does it mean to you?"
Posted by Judy at 10:50 AM | Comments (3)
April 26, 2007
Creating Possibilities
"If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of potential -- for the eye which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints; possibility never."
--Soren Kierkegaard, 19th Century Danish Philosopher
Kirekegaard's words "passionate sense of potential" stir something in me. Without potential, without a passion for possibility, what do we have?
As writers, each and every one of us has potential. Every word we write has the potential to be read. Every manuscript we complete holds the possibility of landing us an acceptance for publication. Each book we author might be the title that changes the lives of those who read it. The potential is there, waiting for us to give it a shove.
But unlike opportunity (that has been shown to occasionally knock its way into our lives), potential, like a late-term pregnancy, must often be induced. We can't ask for the promise of something good and then sit idly in wait for it to birth precious offspring. We must induce potential by creating possibilities.
I recently experienced the benefit of a possibility I helped to create. A while ago, I mentioned to a near stranger (the woman at the bank, as I've come to refer to her) that I was a writer. She is a teller and an avid reader, so my news struck a chord in her, of sorts. I see her at the drive-thru window every week or so. With each deposit or withdrawal, our serial conversation transmitted across a weak speaker system has progressed from the titles of my books that have already been published to the nature of what I'm working on currently, to the essence of the problems I might be facing with plot and character and subplot and so on. It's been interesting for me to hear her non-writer's perspective on the ups and downs we writers experience.
I've come to notice that when I drive up to the '50s-style, tinted green, slanted-out window, if my woman at the bank isn't there, I'm a bit disappointed. So later in the week, I might scrape together a couple of dollars to be sent to her through the tube, the whir of which has become a great dialogue initiator.
A couple of weeks ago, I entered the far lane and pushed the button to summon the woman at the bank. She appeared and before I could talk said, "What are you working on?"
I proceeded to offer details about my current work-in-progress, the first draft of a novel.
"But what about the other one?" She was referring to a novel I had completed about a year prior.
"Oh, it's not good enough," I said. "I'm not going to try to sell that one."
"I'll read it."
The directness of her statement bounced around the interior of my car...and my brain. "That's okay, thanks, I'm not working on it anymore."
"I don't care, I'll read it."
Now, what was I supposed to do?
She continued, "I'm going on vacation in three weeks and I'd love to curl up with your book and read."
By then, the transaction had ended and it was time for my response. "I might take you up on that," I said. But I was fairly certain I wouldn't. Why waste time on something that's not going to sell?
For nine days, I did nothing with the woman at the bank's offer, her induction of potential, her giving of possibility.
But it gnawed at me. I should give her something.
I toyed with presenting her with the first third of the novel I was currently working on. But what fun would that be for her, a book with no ending? I pondered giving her nothing at all, but not for very long.
By day ten, I turned to my dear friend and colleague, Mary. "What should I do?" I explained how I didn't want to bite, slap, or even ignore a hand that was reaching out to help. And yet, how could I allow a stranger's first look at my work to be tainted by a mediocre presentation?
Clutching her coffee mug, Mary responded. "Work on it, then give it to her." They were simple commands, yet they were the words my hungry inner self longed to hear.
The timing wasn't perfect, as it rarely is, but this situation had a potential I couldn't let pass. It would be the first time a non-writing reader would experience my fiction. And through an exchange with Mary, I was committed.
Ignoring the dread that often accompanies that first look at a several-hundred-page revision, I printed and revised and typed in my edits, beginning before the dawn of day (usually from 4:00 to 6:00 AM) and ending long after I would have ordinarily needed rest. By Friday, day 21, I handed the woman at the bank 17 chapters, less than half of the book. With that, however, I had gained, not only the satisfaction of having met (at least partially) a deadline, but the momentum of being immersed in the project.
On Monday morning at 8:15 AM, my phone rang. The woman at the bank had stayed up past 1:00 in the morning to finish reading my partial book. "I couldn't put it down," she said. "I have to know what your antagonist is up to."
I didn't answer, still trying to let the joy sink in. I had been affirmed. And it felt great!
She interrupted my welling with "You're not going to tell me, are you?"
I told her no and we set a new deadline.
We all have what it takes to create potential for ourselves. So why don't we? Sometimes inducing possibilities involves taking risks, risking the puncture of our protective coating that keeps us safe inside our own little worlds, gambling that image we hope to portray, taking a chance on changing how someone views who we are.
This week, I challenge you, in Kierkegaard's words, to have an eye that "sees the possible." The lure of possibility is a magnet. I invite you to share your stories of potential that you've created, induced, and seized. Take a chance and answer the question, how have you been drawn in?
Posted by Judy at 07:45 AM | Comments (8)
March 30, 2007
Lisa Scottoline Advises "Don't Give Up"
Most mornings, at or around 8:45 AM, I flip on the TV and hit all three networks. I'm checking hungrily for author interviews. I know they only last 4 to 5 minutes, but I absolutely love hearing what big-name authors have to say about their new releases and, more importantly, about the writing process.
Earlier this week, I found Lisa Scottoline on The Early Show. And to my delight, she didn't disappoint. Among a range of topics, Lisa talked about the pains of rejection, having suffered through five years of it herself. Rejection is something we all experience. And yet, her words made me think about how reading the blogs of writers, agents, and editors is an essential task for writers. It is possible, simply by listening to the experiences of others, to shave years of valuable time off of the writing and submission processes -- a fine example of how "Don't make the same mistake I did" can really work.
During the interview, Scottoline talked about the protagonist in Daddy's Girl and how she comes to realize the importance of family. The author said she often writes about this subject in her books. Because family plays a dominant role in my own life, I pressed the "up" arrow on the volume button and leaned in.
Lisa laughed as she recalled her mother saying to her as a child, "Go out. You're going to ruin your eyes. Stop reading."
It sounds like a crazy message for a mother to send a child. And yet, for me (and probably for many of you), it was as though Lisa were talking about my own precious childhood.
I found out, when I was about tirty years old, that my mom signed me up for the local softball league because she was afraid I "read too much." Can that be? Can a child read too much?
So much of what Lisa Scottoline covered in those few short minutes struck a chord. She said of the writing process that, while she hoped she was evolving into a better writer (much like strengthening a muscle by stretching it), the act of writing itself wasn't getting any easier. It felt good to hear her say that, and not because misery loves company.
Writing is work and we can't forget that. While sometimes the words gently roll off the fingers and onto the page, more often it is a struggle to shape each sentence to get it just right. As a result, the writer who's willing to put the time in, who progresses and evolves, who changes and makes amends is the one who moves forward.
One of the most enlightening statements Lisa Scottoline made was this: "Don't give up until they publish you."
I couldn't have said it any better. Keep growing as a writer, continue seeking out the best match-of-an-agent or -editor. Don't stubbornly stand there and whine that your voice isn't being heard. Instead, be a Siren. Transform your words into a crystal clear song that agents and editors and readers adore.
Posted by Judy at 09:37 AM | Comments (5)
March 08, 2007
Where Opportunity Lies
I scored 800 in the Logic section of my GREs, so it’s only natural for me to like things to make sense. I’m no Einstein, but I like it when blonde people have blonde eyebrows; that just makes sense. When I meet a couple, I like when they look as though they belong together. Otherwise, I’ve got a puzzle to solve – to figure out why they ended up together. And even though it’s not always possible to come up with logical answers in life, I like to understand why people behave the way they do.
Which is why I never get it when some writers do all the work they do, only to let it fizzle when an agent or editor asks for a change. I knew a writer once who wrote an 80,000-word romantic suspense novel. In just a short time, the author was able to attract a large house editor’s attention. The editor loved the characters and the plot but wanted the writer to heighten the whole thing, adding at least one more subplot and increasing the word count to 100,000.
Although I can identify with the dread of going back through a project when you thought it was as complete as it could be, I didn’t at all understand this writer’s reaction.
“I’m not doing it,” she said to me. “This is not a 100,000-word type of book.”
“It’s not right now,” I told her. “It will be after you make a few changes, add several more scenes, and further flesh out some of your minor characters.”
She never did. And in the blink of an eye, she lost the editor but was awarded the opportunity to allow a nice fat manuscript to gather dust on the back file cabinet. To this day, it remains unpublished.
Similarly, I’ve seen writers lose contracts because of missed deadlines (and I don’t mean by a few weeks – we’re talking months, here). Some writers I know have argued with editors in attempts to hang on to titles the authors held dear. Others were reluctant to give up a difficult name at the suggestion of a pseudonym by an agent or marketing staff. Now, I’m not saying we should sell our souls and all become Roxanne Rung just to climb the publishing ladder. But if you’re with a reputable agency and a respectable publishing house, you need to turn your work loose and let them do their jobs.
Don’t allow all of your efforts and abilities to languish in the drawer because of stubbornness or laziness. As Einstein put it, “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” So while it might be more difficult to plow through that manuscript one more time, or to go through the process of re-thinking your title (especially after it took you months to come up with your favorite) or choosing a more memorable pen name, remember that the opportunity you’ve labored for lies just on the other side.
While you trudge through those revisions, keep in mind your end goal of seeing that book on the shelf. After all, that just makes sense. Doesn't it?
Posted by Judy at 08:25 AM | Comments (9)
March 01, 2007
It's March! What Have You Got to Show for It?
It’s March 1st and that can only mean one thing: January and February are gone forever (at least until next year). And what have you got to show for it? I’m sure at the introduction of the New Year, amidst the firecrackers and champagne, you made a promise to yourself: to write more, to complete that first draft, to finish the proposal, to find an agent, to get published, to lose weight (okay, now we’re getting off track), or something. And have you done it? Well, have you at least attempted to do it?
For many of us, the answer is no. But it’s not too late. You still have a couple of months before editors and agents pack their bags and head for the Hamptons. (Agents, I know you all don’t vacation in the Hamptons, but as a land-locked native of the Middle-Atlantic region, I love the glamour in that). Let’s treat this day as if it were the first of January, minus the hangover. Wake up, retrieve that outline or pull out that draft. It’s time.
Here are three simple steps that might help catapult you over those previously insurmountable obstacles:
Step One: Don’t dwell on what you haven’t done.
You’ve already wasted enough time saying, “I don’t know where the time went.” Forget it. It’s gone. Whatever you were doing in January and February took you farther from your writing goal, so let’s turn that distance into motivation. The time is now. If you’re still not ready, you might want to write a checklist of items you CAN cross off, like “I know what my protagonist does for a living” or “I’m going to include mini-quizzes in my how-to book.”
Step Two: With that behind you, set a reasonable goal.
Don’t tell yourself to accomplish grandiose generalities like “write your novel” or “finish your nonfiction book proposal.” Those goals are huge. It brings to mind the words of my father who paid for 32 years of private college tuition (some of us have graduate degrees). He said, “If I had thought about all the money I’d be spending when I wrote that first check, I might never have done it.” So don’t overwhelm yourself. Forget the big picture. Instead, be specific. Vow to write a detailed character profile, to rough out the opening paragraph for your query letter, pick three target markets for your article idea, or to brainstorm a fresh format for your nonfiction material. Those goals are fair and far less frightening.
Step Three: Now, do it.
Don’t pull the postponing-the-diet trick of “I’ll start next Monday” or even tomorrow. No, you can start today, by making a quick note of what you’ve already accomplished and then deciding where you’re headed. I don’t want to hear that you don’t know where to go. If you’re writing fiction, there’s no right answer, so choose a direction, commit to it, and head there. For nonfiction, you’re the expert. Decide what message you most want your readers to receive and move forward from there.
Henry Ford said it best: “Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.” Force yourself to focus in March so that, come April 1st, you won’t be fooling yourself any longer.
Posted by Judy at 09:09 AM | Comments (6)