Friday Fun – Creative nonfiction – yes, no, maybe?

Friday Fun is a group post from the writers of the NHWN blog. Each week, we’ll pose and answer a different, get-to-know-us question. We hope you’ll join in by providing your answer in the comments.

QUESTION: Do you write creative nonfiction? We’ve recently discovered the site for the Creative Nonfiction Magazine. According to the site’s authors, this genre is one of the most active and “up-and-coming” genres in the publishing industry today. Is it a type of writing you’ve ever done or thought of doing? 

photo: M. Shafer

Deborah Lee Luskin: I’m not really sure how to answer this. I’m an essayist – the author of short, non-fiction stories and opinion pieces, pieces that require creativity and craft. Does that qualify?

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Julie Hennrikus: What an interesting question! I don’t write creative non-fiction. I do write fiction that draws on life. Does that count? I remember a few years ago when a  famous memoir ended up being fiction, and I thought a lot about this very fine line between the two, especially for writers. I am fascinated by the “up-and-coming” description. I need to check the site out!

Lisa J. Jackson: I haven’t labeled my writing as creative non-fiction, but a lot of my feature articles can fall into that category, I believe. I work to tell people’s stories honestly and in a way that pulls the reader in. So, I write short creative non-fiction and haven’t thought at all about writing book-length yet. But, who knows?

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Jamie Wallace: Since I was a little girl, I have loved fantastic stories. My literary worlds were filled with talking cats, unicorns, witches (mostly the good kind), and other creatures and creations that I could not hope to meet in “real” life. Though I still hold dear the magic of these outlandish worlds, I have recently also been beguiled by the idea of beautifully crafted stories and narratives that spring not from the wilds of the imagination, but from the truth of reality.

One of my favorite presenters at this year’s Grub Street Muse writers’ conference was Mitchell Zuckoff, a longtime writer for the Boston Globe and other publications. I have also somewhat recently discovered the creative non-fiction works of Susan Orlean and been intrigued by the way she weaves an entertaining and thought-provoking story out of the bits and pieces of real life that she researches. As a columnist, I write essays that are based in my observations of reality and creatively presented. That is, perhaps, a baby step towards crafting longer form creative non-fiction.

I say “yes” to creative nonfiction. The genre gives writers a chance to explore interesting aspects of the world we live in … and fiction or nonfiction, isn’t that what good writing is meant to do?

Diane MacKinnon: I think of my life coaching blog as creative nonfiction, and I’m hoping to write a creative nonfiction book at some point. I have a file of notes, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten. Any story that’s crafted well is creative, in my opinion, otherwise it would just be a dry recitation of facts (in the case of nonfiction) or a list of characters and events (in the case of fiction). I hope to do more creative nonfiction in the future, and I’m definitely going to check out this magazine!

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Friday Fun – Has art ever inspired your writing?

Friday Fun is a group post from the writers of the NHWN blog. Each week, we’ll pose and answer a different, get-to-know-us question. We hope you’ll join in by providing your answer in the comments.

QUESTION: Have any of your stories been inspired by a piece of visual or performing art – a painting, a photograph, a sculpture, a dance, or vocal performance? What struck you about the piece and inspired you to write? 

Julie Hennrikus: In so many ways! I run a service organization (StageSource) for the New England theater community, so I see a lot of theater, and talk to a lot of theater folk. Since storytelling is in the DNA, that inspires me. And the dramatic structure of plays is the same for mysteries, so there’s that. Also, using Scrivener, I often take a photograph or a painting and use them as reference points to describe a place, or an emotion. And music is frequently a mood setter for me, though I can’t write with music in the background. Artist dates are my creative food–I am pushing myself to explore new (to me) art forms. Sorry that there aren’t specifics, but I love that my life is full and inspired by art and creativity, and I know it makes me a better writer.

Lisa J. Jackson: Absolutely. I have many short stories whose inspiration came from photos I’ve come across (or taken on my own). I’m always inspired by B&W drawings or photos – something about the lack of color and the different shades of gray pulls me in and gets the muse extremely excited and creative.

I’ve been watching a lot of Alfred Hitchcock Presents episodes via Hulu and although pulled in by the mystery, the b&w filming also pulls me in as I wonder about all the colors that I can’t see. It’s a fun creative exercise to wonder what the set was really like – did they care about having complementary colors? Or just use whatever was on hand since it would only convert to a shade of gray, anyway?

Diane MacKinnon: I can’t think of a specific type of art that has inspired my writing other than poetry and literature. Over the years I’ve written sonnets after reading some of Shakespeare’s, haiku’s after discovering the form in a book of Eastern poetry, and I’ve even written my version of an epic journey after reading The Odyssey. While some might not consider this art, I’ve even written about an eventful day as a Star Trek episode. The limitation of different forms somehow boosts my creativity–and it’s really fun..

photo: M. Shafer

Deborah Lee Luskin: Absolutely! Classical music – especially chamber music – was a huge influence and became an important theme in Into the Wilderness. Music is the common language for Rose and Percy, who have no other way to communicate when they first meet. Percy (the leading male) even learns how to play the piano in the course of the story. Landscape and fashion are key elements of Elegy for a Girl, the novel currently with my agent. And I’m now writing Ellen, a story about a character who is hugely influenced by nineteenth century British fiction.

Jamie Wallace: All. The. Time. The quantity and diversity of artworks that have sparked my writer’s mind are nearly impossible to measure. A beautiful bracelet gave me the idea to write a series of linked short stories about the bracelet’s many owners. This painting of a mermaid (which I coveted for years and which my parents gave to me as a Christmas gift last year) made me want to write a story about this beautiful and fierce merwoman. I wanted to find her story and explore her world under the sea. My daughter takes dance classes at a local dance studio that is well known for its modern choreography and gorgeous aerial work. Each time I watch one of these abstract, wordless shows, I can sense a story coursing along just below the music – reaching out through the dancers’ moves. I don’t know if I’ll ever actually write any of these stories, but they stick with me and I feel like even as time passes, they continue to percolate in the back of my mind – slowly brewing themselves into something more tangible than an ephemeral breath from the muse.

Take this song by Sting – a track off his 1999 album, Brand New Day. This song has been rattling around in my head for fourteen years.

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Friday Fun – What does your writing desk look like?

Friday Fun is a group post from the writers of the NHWN blog. Each week, we’ll pose and answer a different, get-to-know-us question. We hope you’ll join in by providing your answer in the comments.

QUESTION: A writer’s desk is sacred ground. Some are covered in haphazard heaps of half-finished manuscripts, illegible notes, and stacks and stacks of books. Others are pristine – blank and clean like the unwritten page. What’s your fancy? What does your desk look like, and is it the way you like it, or do you wish you could settle in to work in a different setting?

Lisa J. Jackson: Oh my, I’ve just looked at my desk. And, wow! My desk is covered with oodles of various small pieces of papers that contain notes, story ideas, titles of books to get, Twitter handles of people to keep track of, account passwords, and a few notebooks and pads of paper. I have a few napkins and mints here, too. And pens! Wow, look at all the pens hiding under the paper! I do all my writing on my laptop, which is portable, so I seldom sit and write at my desk – which probably explains how the desk has become a catch-all for all these other things! I think I need to do some cleaning.

Jamie Wallace: Since a picture is worth a thousand words, that’s what I’m going with here.

1. My MacBook Pro – Only two years old and we’ve already (recently) been in to see the “Geniuses” at the Apple store for a new logic board, fan, and battery. I swear I will never go back to a PC, but sometimes the Mac romance does wear a little thin. Or, maybe, it’s just technology I have a problem with in general.
2. My old-fashioned tools – “Scribbler” notebook (in which I write all my random daily jottings – phone call notes, quickie reminders, mind map outlines for posts, etc.) and my magic wand. (No, I’m not kidding – basswood, very plain, helps me think.)
3. One of two kitty bosses – Miss Bella Mama Thunderpaws – taking her ease and making sure I don’t slack off.
4. Notebooks & Sketchbooks – filled to the very last page with ideas, thoughts, scribbles, sketches, etc. … the kind I don’t want to lose, but am never quite sure how I’ll put them to good use.
5. Piles of books and notes on the art & craft of writing – Notes from conferences, non-fiction writing books, notebooks full of bits of wisdom culled from other writers and various writerly sources. (Often where I go when looking for post ideas for this blog!)
6. To be read (and re-read) book piles – Only two of the half dozen or so throughout the house.
7. Unread Poets & Writers magazines – I will get to them. Eventually. (And until I do, I still have my podcasts …)
8. My trusty thesaurus – My most valuable writing tool.
9. Unpaid bills, unread memos, random business cards – All stuff that should be filed … someday … when I’m done writing.

Diane MacKinnon: Wow, Jamie, that picture is worth 1,000 words! Especially love the kitty house. My desk is much more mundane, although I love my actual desk. It’s made of cherry and it is simple and beautiful and I love when it is all cleared off so I can see the lovely wood. Usually the center is clear, with a few things to either side of the blotter. My planner, my journal, a few pens. When I sit at the desk I keep a few hummingbird mementos in sight. One hummingbird is carved from a dark wood and my husband brought it back from a trip to Costa Rica (where he saw many hummingbirds.) Another is a brightly colored hummingbird that is swooping down over a votive candle–that one came from a friend. Hummingbird is my totem and always reminds me that I am here for joy and hard work–and, especially when I’m writing, the two are not mutually exclusive!

Deborah Lee Luskin: It would have been easier to describe my desk than it was to figure out how to insert this photo here, but after Jamie’s techno-wizardry, I had to give it a shot. Even so, the photo is deceiving. It was taken eighteen months ago, when I was just starting Ellen, the novel I’m writing. Now, there’s no snow on the ground – and there are lots of piles of pages and books on my desk. But it’s too late to go out and snap a photo in the dark. I write on a laptop, with an extended keyboard, which I place on my lap with the computer on the desk. And I stare out the window. A lot.

 

 

 

 

Wendy Thomas: Can’t even show a picture of my desk, it’s that bad. I tend to collect clutter in the same way that squirrels are attracted to the peanut lady in the park.

I sit my butt at my desk every day, as such I have many, *many* projects going on at the same time. I *always* have a pile of books to read or reference on my right. Seriously, I’ve tried to get that pile down but in a spontaneous generation kind of way, it seems to grow on its own.

I also have my breast cancer pink timer, located on the corner of my desk. I use that tool more than anything as I’ll set it for 30 minutes at a time to reach a writing goal.

On my left is the pile of various loose papers that need my attention, as well as my calendar book. It’s a goal this weekend to go through that pile in order to get it down to a non-Vesuvius size.

The last thing that I have (besides my computer of course) is one of those single picture clip things. Each morning I write a to-do list on an index card and I clip it to the holder which then sits just to the right behind my laptop. It’s pretty hard to forget a task that needs to be done when it’s looking at you right in the face all day long.

Organization has never been one of my strengths. I tend to keep lists and do a cleaning purge when things start to fall over.

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Friday Fun – Shopping in advance of storms and holidays

Friday Fun is a group post from the writers of the NHWN blog. Each week, we’ll pose and answer a different, get-to-know-us question. We hope you’ll join in by providing your answer in the comments.

QUESTION: It’s a holiday weekend here in the U.S., and like when extremely bad weather is forecasted, crowds swarm to grocery stores. Talk about your strategy when it comes to needing to go to the grocery store before a bad storm or when a holiday looms.

Lisa J. Jackson: I remember the dread I used to feel when I worked a corporate job and had to battle the grocery store on my way home from work. It was never fun to go from traffic-laden streets to people-filled aisles. From long lines at street lights to long check-out lines. My strategy is avoidance: I try to do my shopping on an early morning in the middle of the week. There have been times, and all I can do is laugh at myself, when I’ve needed something, 1 little thing like ketchup for cheeseburgers, and I’ve had to join the masses. Or when the weathermen say a bad storm is approaching and power outages are likely, I don’t race to the store for milk and eggs (with a power outage anything in the fridge is at risk), but instead I go to the store for ice for my coolers (to keep the milk and yogurt chilled), peanut butter for sandwiches, and fruits.

When I have to go with the crowds, I make sure to (1) have a list to avoid wandering the aisles, (2) have no more than eight items on the list to use self-checkout or the Express lane, (3) park away from the store entrance for easier egress, and (4) make sure to have double the time it would normally take for a quick trip to the store available.

Julie Hennrikus: I live with my cat. No kids. No husband. So emergency shopping, provided I have enough cat food, can happen in a CVS if I need it to. What I do try to do, on holidays or weather emergencies, is to cook something that lends itself to several meals. For Nemo, I made a fierce chicken pot pie. This weekend, I will be spending time with my sister and her family. A plate of brownies, and calico beans are on to do list.

Diane MacKinnon: My strategy is to try to get to the grocery store when it opens, before the crowds get there. But if I have to go to the store when it’s crowded, it doesn’t really bother me. The Market Basket near me usually has a lot of registers open so even when it’s crowded, check-out doesn’t take long.

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Jamie Wallace: I was actually interviewed on this topic by the Boston Globe for a quick piece they did on procrastinating storm shoppers just before a big snow storm hit. As you can tell from my quote in the article, I don’t really have much of a strategy. Though I usually have the basics on hand as a matter of course (I have a nine-year-old daughter, so I’m usually pretty on top of stocking the pantry), a storm warning is more likely to send me scuttling to make sure that my Kindle is charged and my booklight has batteries. I could live on Saltines and bottled water for a few days if I had to, but I wouldn’t want to have to go without something to read!

photo: M. Shafer

Deborah Lee Luskin: I’m glad I read this, so I know there’s a storm coming! Between my laying flock, my freezer, and my CSA (in its second week), I’ve got plenty of food and a house full of books. I just have to remember to fill some buckets with water so I can flush if the power goes out for a long time.

Wendy Thomas: When the kids were younger, I had to make sure we had plenty of food, formula, diapers, and wipes in the house *every* time they predicted a bad storm. These days, now that the kids are older and have learned how to fend for themselves, I just make sure we have enough food for the animals and then I fill my water bottle and set it next to a book that I’ve been dying to start.

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Friday Fun – Favorite reads from childhood

Friday Fun is a group post from the writers of the NHWN blog. Each week, we’ll pose and answer a different, get-to-know-us question. We hope you’ll join in by providing your answer in the comments.

QUESTION: What did you enjoy reading as a kid? Was it the comics in the Sunday paper? Pop-up books? Hardcovered? Floppy covered? What leaps to mind as a fun read when you were a wee little lad or lass?

Lisa J. Jackson: Funny – the first thing that comes to mind is Sunday comics but only if I had Silly Putty so I could transfer some of the images onto the funky dough and them stretch it and play with it. For some reason that still makes me giggle. I particularly liked Garfield and can remember being able to make him shorter and fatter and giving him funny expressions when I had the Silly Putty. Second thing that springs to mind is comic books. I really enjoyed the small paperback stories with all the pictures. I had a super-hero spurt and enjoyed reading about all the individuals who each had a unique power. I think it went a long way to letting me know it was okay to not be part of the ‘in’ crowd. Fun question!

Diane MacKinnon: When I was 11 I was placed in an accelerated readers group at school, and we had to read Pride and Prejudice, which I hated: I told my mom it was about a woman and her four daughters and all they cared about was getting married–boring! We also had to read Jane Eyre, which I loved! I’ve read it many times over the years and it’s still one of my favorites. I’ve also reread Pride and Prejudice with a more mature outlook and found it’s not boring at all. Fascinating, in fact. Other favorites from my childhood are Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh, The Good Master, by Kate Seredy, and all the Nancy Drew books. I used to read all my brothers sci-fi/fantasy books, such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and basically anything that anyone left lying around.

Wendy Thomas: Like Diane, I got placed in an accelerated reading program called Jr. Great Books when I was young. It gave me an appreciation for the classics at a very early age (which is is one of the reasons why I think I was *the* only person in my High School class who truly enjoyed The Scarlet Letter.) When I think about my favorite books that I liked as a young child, there are many – Sad, Mrs. Sam Sack – the story of a woman who thought her house was too small and how she finally learned to appreciate the space that she had. The Little Mailman of Bayberry Lane – a charming animal story with a wonderful surprise ending and The Happy Birthday Present where a boy makes the most beautiful gift for his mother.

When I got a little older, Misty of Chincoteague  was the first of the many horse books I read. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang, Bambi, The Shoe Shop Bears. Rascal, and Born Free (hmm, look at those early nature memoirs) were some of the other books that also held magic for me within their covers. Like it is today, when I was a kid, you’d never find me without a book in my hands or one waiting for me in my backpack. While in school, I worked, was on school sports, and participated in school Government, but somehow, I still always found time to read.

Julie Hennrikus: I loved (and still love) series. I read Nancy Drew, and some Hardy Boys. I loved books by Beverly Cleary, and the Encyclopedia Brown books. And I remember some books, but not the names. I remember a series about kids who lived in a bus or a train? And Harriet the Spy, of course. Roald Dahl. And Archie comics. I am thrilled that I am moderating a panel on YA literature at the New England Crime Bake this fall. Should be a great opportunity to discover new books, and make some recommendations to the young readers in my life.

Jamie Wallace: What I remember most about reading as a kid is the sheer volume of books I consumed. Each week, my mom would bring my sister and I to our public library, a venerable old building with ivy climbing the walls and an ornate wrought iron gate at the door to the children’s room. From the very first, I loved the smell of the books and the experience of pawing through them one at a time, shelf after shelf. Mostly, I read fantasy and science fiction. JRR Tolkien was an instant favorite (I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time when I was in third grade), as was Peter S. Beagle (I must have read The Last Unicorn a dozen times). I read every book Anne McCaffrey wrote in her extensive Pern series. I read L. Frank Baum, Roald Dahl, and Shel Silverstein. I read The Wind in the Willows, Misty of Chincoteague, Julie of the Wolves, and Island of the Blue Dolphins. I read Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea books and Madeleine L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time series. I read E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet Swan. I read George Selden’s The Cricket in Times Square and Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth. Each week, I came home with a huge LL Bean tote bag filled to the top with new adventures. My appetite was insatiable, my thirst for story unquenchable. I miss those long days of doing nothing but reading. I do not know if I have ever come closer to bliss.

 

photo: M. Shafer

Deborah Lee Luskin: Oh, so many books! I was a lonely kid, so the characters in books were my best friends, starting with Are You My Mother, to Charlotte’s Web, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Doctor Doolittle, Beverly Clearly books, The Borrowers, Nancy Drew. And then came the Victorians: Arthur Conan-Doyle, Charles Dickens, Charolotte Bronte, Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen. As I teen, I read all of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe mysteries, and Regency Romances, historical fiction, anything steamy I could get hold of. I miss those days of reading all day and long into the night!

The winner, chosen by Random.org, for The Other Typist is: Kristin (#8).

Congratulations and please let us know what you think of the book.

Please send your mailing information to me at wethomas@gmail.com (the email through this website doesn’t work for me)

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Friday Fun – At the End of the Day

Friday Fun is a group post from the writers of the NHWN blog. Each week, we’ll pose and answer a different, get-to-know-us question. We hope you’ll join in by providing your answer in the comments.

QUESTION: It’s been a good day. The writing has gone more than well and you are feeling both happy and proud. How do you celebrate a great day of writing?

Lisa J. Jackson: Oh, this is easy! I celebrate with a glass of wine and bowl of popcorn after doing a happy dance. And, funny thing, usually after a great writing spurt I’m inspired to write more, so I’ll usually journal about the accomplishment and what it was that I wrote. I suppose I try to analyze the moment too – what it was that made it such a great writing day. I like to try to figure things out so if I want to replicate them later on, I can.

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Julie Hennrikus: I find writing to be great work, but really hard work. And because my life is a little nuts, I usually write at night. So celebrating may mean a glass of wine, but more likely means bed.

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Diane MacKinnon: I don’t really have a way of celebrating a great writing day, and that seems wrong. I’ll have to come up with something. Truthfully, I write in the “corners” of my day, so I’m most likely to close my computer or my journal after a great writing session and jump back into the moment with my son and husband. I will say that having completed a writing task or goal to my own satisfaction creates a great feeling in me. I do try to savor that, as I did last week after submitting my short story to an anthology.

Jamie Wallace: I’m with Diane. I’m usually hopping so fast from one thing to the next that I rarely take time to celebrate. Bad, writer! We should always celebrate even the smallest writing accomplishments! Though I may not throw myself an actual party, I definitely do get that victory lap feeling. My step is lighter and bouncier, and my head is a little higher. I feel like a weight (that dreaded deadline yoke) has been lifted from my shoulders and the world is full of fresh, new, writerly possibilities. I’m in love with writing again. It’s funny, though there’s nothing else I’d rather do in the world, I do love writing most of all when it’s done.

photo: M. Shafer

Deborah Lee Luskin: Celebrate? What a concept! I love being a writer, but it’s also my job, so the end of the day – good or bad – is always a scramble to get exercise, prepare dinner, bring the laundry in from the line.

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Friday Fun – Celebrating Spring

Friday Fun is a group post from the writers of the NHWN blog. Each week, we’ll pose and answer a different, get-to-know-us question. We hope you’ll join in by providing your answer in the comments.

QUESTION: The calendar suggests that spring arrives in late March. New Hampshire residents know it’s more like the first of May (if not June). How do you celebrate spring?

Lisa J. Jackson: I celebrate by doing my Spring Cleaning. Out with the bulky winter clothes and in with the comfy light-weight clothes. I *love* this time of year. There’s something motivating to knowing that even if the house has a chill in the air in the morning, it will give way to just-enough warmth. And I love the sunrise coming earlier and earlier and waking up to the birds singing to each other. Right now I’m pretty excited about my 5th race of the year (Sunday) and having this wonderful streak of cool nights and 70-degree sunny days.

I spent last weekend in Atlantic City, NJ and walked the impressive boardwalk each day. Sunday could have been a beach day — if I had packed shorts. I had no idea it would be so nice there in April!

photo: M. Shafer

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Deborah Lee Luskin: I think about spring cleaning, but I always choose the dirt in the garden instead!

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Susan Nye: Normally I try to find time for the too many to count spring chores or ignore them to revel in the sunshine on a walk around the lake. This year, I headed down to Florida. It’s a working vacation. I still have a bunch of assignments to juggle but I’m writing in shorts and a t-shirt.
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Diane MacKinnon: To celebrate spring, I run more! I’m outside a lot anyway, but once the snow melts I can get back to running in the park (Mine Falls) with my son in the jog stroller. Now it’s light early enough that I can run before my husband leaves for work, too. Or meet one of my sisters on a weekend morning for a sunrise run. I’m training for my first half-marathon since I had my son, so I’m getting out more and more. This weather seems to be celebrating spring this week, too, and I’ve been outside to celebrate with it, whether it’s in the sandbox with my son, at the playground, or at the park.

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Friday Fun – The Perfect Day

Friday Fun is a group post from the writers of the NHWN blog. Each week, we’ll pose and answer a different, get-to-know-us question. We hope you’ll join in by providing your answer in the comments.

QUESTION: How would you define the perfect day?

Lisa J. Jackson: Oh, my, the perfect day for me is waking up at sunrise in the most comfortable bed in the most beautiful cottage on the edge of a beautiful lake (in NH, most likely). I’m able to see the sky brighten as the sun finds its way over the mountain, and I take my time getting up. I get my iced coffee and go out to the deck to watch the sun rise higher into the sky. Maybe I’m motivated for an early morning kayak trip. Maybe I write. Maybe I take pictures. Or maybe I just sit and enjoy the quiet that slowly moves aside as the birds and squirrels and other forest critters wake up and welcome the new day with me. I love long days and perfection comes when I can wake at sunrise and move from the fuzzy fog of sleep to the full awakeness just as the day does. Anything after that is gravy. My perfect day is a day that starts like that – the other details just don’t matter as much. I find more joy and serenity in a sunrise than I do in a sunset, so if that’s what you were thinking…that maybe I look forward to sunsets just as much, nope. Give me a new day and I’m grateful to know it’s going to be what I make of it.

photo: M. Shafer

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Deborah Lee Luskin: The perfect day is one of balance: time to write and time to walk, time alone and time with others, time of activity and time of rest, time to read and time to weed, time outdoors and time inside, a time for coffee and a time for gin. . .

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Jamie Wallace: I have to say, I like Deborah’s style. Though, my perfect day would be one that includes time for tea (or chai) and whisky. My perfect day is not defined by any particular activities. My perfect day is more about having breathing room and a sense of accomplishment. Most of my days are so full that I’m halfway to dreamland before I get a chance to quiet my mind and remember who I am for a moment. I love a day with time for noodling and meandering and just being present. I also love a day with time to create, especially if it’s a day on which I ship something – a blog post, a column, a client copy deck, a poem just for me. Those are the two things that bring me a sense of calm and happy purpose.

Susan Nye: I’ll rise early and ease into the day. For years I thought I wasn’t a morning person. Then I realized that I just wanted to meet the day on my own terms in my own way. I like solitude in the morning and don’t want to talk with anyone. After a coffee, I’ll head out for a walk around the lake while the air is still fresh and cool. Home again, showered with a fresh cup of coffee, I’ll have a fabulous four to six hours of uninterrupted of writing time. The work will, of course, go beautifully. I’ll reward myself with a book on the porch for an hour or two. Next, it’s off to the beach and friends and family to watch the loons with a glass of wine followed by dinner. The day would end watching the moon rise over Mount Kearsarge.

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Friday Fun – Who Inspires You?

Friday Fun is a group post from the writers of the NHWN blog. Each week, we’ll pose and answer a different, get-to-know-us question. We hope you’ll join in by providing your answer in the comments.

QUESTION: Literary great? A favorite teacher? Famous or not? Friend or family? Who inspires you?

Lisa J. Jackson: Hhhm. My grandmother is my inspiration for living the life that I live. She’s always with me, even though she left the living almost two decades ago. As far as writing inspiration, other than my co-bloggers here who are always inspiring me with their posts, it’s just myself. I don’t have a particular author that I want to write “like”. My dark fiction has definite touches from how many Stephen King books I devoured started as a teen, but my ultimate goal isn’t to be a great dark fic writer. There isn’t any writer who comes to mind who I can label as one who inspires my work per se. A few friends and one of my brothers want to to read what I write and I enjoy writing for them, and their nudges are appreciated – so they inspire me – since if I don’t write I know they’ll be sad. And I don’t like people to pout. I’ve been inspired to write since a young age – it’s the voices in my head who inspire the most!

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photo: M. Shafer

Deborah Lee Luskin: My children inspire me with their passion, intelligence, creativity, generosity and integrity. They give me hope for the future.

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Jamie Wallace: I am inspired by so many people, each for different reasons and in different ways. I am inspired by my mom’s amazing perseverance and attention to detail, her powers of clarity and ability to bring out the best in other writers. I am inspired by my dad’s imagination and vision, his artistic sense and the grand scale of his ideas. I am inspired by my daughter’s confidence and creativity, her sense of play and lack of inhibition. I am inspired by my beau’s limitless faith in my potential and tireless patience (as he listens, yet again, to all my plans, promises, hopes, and dreams). I am inspired by each writer I meet – the famous and the unknown. I am inspired by Nature (not a “who,” I know, but still a huge inspiration) – all the metaphors and magic that spring from that world. I am inspired by the characters of all my favorite stories, their courage, ingenuity, and faith. And I am inspired by the little girl I once was. She never doubted that her life would bring her adventure, love, success, and happiness.

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Friday Fun – Lost your mojo?

Friday Fun is a group post from the writers of the NHWN blog. Each week, we’ll pose and answer a different, get-to-know-us question. We hope you’ll join in by providing your answer in the comments.

QUESTION:  It happens to all of us. You’re working on a piece and it just isn’t going well. Last you knew, you were smarter, sharper, funnier or whatever-er than this miserable article, story, or blog post. What do you do to get back on track?

Lisa J. Jackson: Ah, yes, losing  Mojo, it happens. Mojo seems to run off when I have a lot of time to dedicate to my project. I look forward to my time to write on the project and tell Muse, show up, and then Muse is off on a carefree cross-country motorcycle trip with Mojo.

I get frustrated, probably curse a time or two, and then laugh at the absurdity of thinking I’m floundering. I mean, seriously, Muse and Mojo as a couple? Ha! No chance they’ll last longer than a few hours, and then both come racing back and want to be first in line with the apology.

It’s funny to see the imaginary expressions on their faces when they realize I’ve completed a brand new project that neither was privvy to, while they stepped out together.

Once Muse and Mojo are back at home, though, I can finish up the project they ran away from quickly enough, since they both go above and beyond to get back in my good graces.

Jamie Wallace: I smiled when I read this week’s question. The column I wrote for my local paper this week was a perfect example of losing my mojo. Ironically, it was on a topic that I thought would be a breeze: my cats. I had a mind mapped outline that sprawled up, down, and across a whole page in my notebook. I had plenty to say and passion for my subject matter, but try as I might I just couldn’t get the words to come out right. My column typically clocks in around 600 – 700 words. I think I wrote three times that over four false starts. I’d literally get 400 words into a draft and think to myself, “Nope. That’s not it.” It was exhausting. I eventually found my groove, but it was a grueling process.

When I find myself in this situation, it usually means that I haven’t prepared enough. I either don’t have enough reference material (often the case on client projects), or I just haven’t found the angle that makes everything clear for me. There are other reasons that come into play (I explored several of them in my series on writer’s block), but usually the underlying culprit is simply that I’m not ready – tactically, logistically, or emotionally.

What do I do? First, I keep writing – trying to pull something through that will give me the thread of an idea or perspective I’m looking for. If that fails me (and I haven’t backed myself into a corner by procrastinating right up to my deadline), I will walk away for a while – get outside, go for a walk, take a karate class – anything to get my head out of the work. Finally, I’ll read something – anything. Sometimes, reading someone else’s words can help me get mine flowing.

photo: M. Shafer

Deborah Lee Luskin: Yup. Happens all the time. My answer? A walk. A true, four-to-six-mile walk works best, but if I don’t have the time or weather for that, simply walking away from my desk and doing something else also does the trick. It’s a matter of time and space – giving my mind enough of both to freewheel through its mysterious processes. And just as mysteriously, it comes back. Learning patience and having faith that this is so has made my life as a writer much richer and more productive – and I’m a lot happier, as a result.

 

Diane MacKinnon: When I start to lose my oomph for my writing, I walk away and do something else, as Jamie and Deborah mentioned. I often plan for this–most of the time I write a blog post draft and then put it away, usually for a couple of days, occasionally only for a couple of hours. With my other writing, I am sometimes blind-sided by the sudden lack of enthusiasm for the project. When this happens, I do exercises to get back on track (since I’ve usually set aside only a specific period of time and I don’t want to squander it). Creative writing prompts, open-focus techniques, a short stint at meditating while sitting at my desk–all of these can work for me. In those moments, I just stay at my desk until I’m back into work mode (or my time is up!)

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