Saturday Edition – What We’re Writing and Reading

Welcome to this Saturday Edition of What We’re Writing and Reading.

We’re taking a little detour on the weekends now to share some of what we’re up to with our writing (when we’re not here) and what we’re into with our reading (around the web). We’ll also pull back the curtain a little to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what went into a piece.

We hope you enjoy this little diversion and encourage you to share your own posts and picks in the comments.

Happy writing! Happy reading! 

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Lisa J. Jackson

What I’m writing: Registration opened last week for The New England Crime Bake mystery writers’ conference. I’ve been writing a lot of e-mails to registrants and updates to the committee (I’m the conference registrar). It’s a lot of fun and the conference is 50% full.

I have a YA novel started that I’m excited about, tentatively titled “Gramps.” The idea has existed for a while, but my trip last week allowed me to reconnect with the main character and the story (takes place along the Atlantic coast).

What I’m reading: I just finished a fabulous (to me) book called “Sail Away Ladies: Stories of Cape Cod Women in the Age of Sail” by Jim Coogan. I’ve always been drawn to the sea – there’s just something calming and invigorating about it – and while vacationing last week on Cape Cod I found a local historian with a few books about the area. This book has 12 stories based on journals and accounts of women who sailed with their husbands and fathers in the 1800s. I’m amazed at the strength and perseverance they had and the stories gave me ideas for my fiction.

Diane MacKinnon:

What I’m Writing: I’m starting to rewrite my novel (again) and I’m doing some writing prompts and creativity exercises to generate ideas for another project. I have a bunch of writing books and I keep choosing random writing exercises from different books. It’s been a really fun way to get some writing in and eventually I’ll look back at what I’ve written and see what the themes are.

What I’m Reading: I just finished my third book by Brene Brown. You can check out all her books here. She’s totally amazing and her books are well written. She delivers a lot of great information with a lot of humor and great stories. The only fiction I’m reading right now is The Magic Tree House series, which my son and I listen to in the car. Each story (there are at least 50) is set in a different time and place and it’s been fun to hear how the author changes the dialogue to signal different settings. For example, my son recently told the babysitter “night is almost upon us,” after we listened to “Christmas in Camelot.“

Jamie Wallace:

Another week has flown by and Memorial Day is bearing down upon us like Hercules from The Sandlot - slavering and slobbery, bringing heat and humidity and wistful thoughts of autumn. (At least for me. Can you tell I’m not a summer person?)

What I’m Writing: I’m starting to write some of the “foundation” documents for my relaunch of Suddenly Marketing. I’m working on my perfect customer persona, mini manifesto, and so forth. This project is at least three years in the making, so I have many (many!) pages of notes to review. It’s been an odd trip down memory lane as I read through things I wrote in 2010 and think either, “Man, what was I thinking?!?” or “Wow. Nothing’s changed.”

I also managed to find time to write a post for my Suddenly Marketing blog – another (I hope) inspirational piece about some of the most common challenges people – especially artists of ay kind – have with marketing. Here’s a quick excerpt:

Here’s the thing – in my heart I am an artist, and as the stereotype suggests, I have a built-in aversion to anything that resembles commercialism. I’m not going to go too deep into all the misguided beliefs that are wrapped around my unease about selling and asking people for money. (That’s a post for another day.) So, how, you may ask, did I wind up making my living as a marketer and, more importantly …

… what the hell does my epiphany have to do with how YOU feel about marketing?

Everything.

If you are an artist, a writer, or a creative in any other sense of the word (spiritually, artistically, entrepreneurially), it’s probable that you are saddled with the same misconceptions and discomforts about marketing.

You can read (or listen to!) the rest of How to love marketing (even if the very word makes you cringe) over at Suddenly Marketing. (And, yes, I did edit the picture of the dolphin to include a line from one of my favorite books.)

What I’m Reading: Once again, time to read for pleasure was scarce this week, but I did manage to squeeze in a few posts from my favorite writing blogs:

• The Hook and the Hitch by @demianfarnworth – A gem of a flash fiction piece that he later uses to illustrate some copywriting techniques
• Episode 9: Defamiliarization [podcast] by @bradreedwrites – If you missed it, please check out my glowing review of Inside Creative Writing
• How to Get Things Done (A Flowchart) via @99u - a tongue-in-cheek diagram that made me giggle
• 21 Great Reasons to Keep Blogging by @craigmcbreen -  I especially love 3, 8 – 10 and 21.
• 25 quotes on writing & creating like your cash flow depends on it by @NikkiGroom – Because, who can resist a good quote?

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We’re All Creative

I’ve been thinking about creativity lately, especially creative writing.

I just finished reading Brene Brown’s books. Dr. Brown describes herself as a qualitative researcher and a storyteller. She interviews people and listens to their stories and analyzes what they tell her about specific topics and then comes up with different theories based on that analysis.

I love reading the results of her studies and I love reading about the studies themselves.

Recently I heard Dr. Brown speak and she backed up every claim she made with evidence from her research. I so admire that.

But, it’s hard to be creative when you’re trying to back up everything you write with evidence.

Maybe that’s why I’m so much more comfortable with writing nonfiction.

Yet I have a longing to write fiction. It’s been with me since I was a child and I want to honor that longing—I know it’s not going away.

And Brene Brown’s research shows that creativity is a necessary part of a “Wholehearted” life.

One of the things Brene found in her research (from The Gifts of Imperfection) was that there’s no such thing as “creative people and non-creative people. There are only people who use their creativity and people who don’t.”

I found this very encouraging. My creativity is there, I’m just not used to using it all the time—and I can practice!

The other statement that came out of Brene’s research on creativity that I found compelling was this one: “If we want to make meaning, we need to make art.”

I want to make meaning, we all do. So it’s okay to create art (not just nonfiction.)

After reading all this research, I’m now giving myself permission to take my time finding a new creative writing project. Since I finished and submitted my short story at the end of April, I’ve been floundering, feeling like I’m wasting time because I didn’t immediately dive into a new project.

“Wasting time” is only one way of looking at it. “Feeding the muse” is another way to look at it. Or, “preparing the ground,” as it’s gardening season.

Some ways I’m trying to develop my creativity:

• By using writing prompts daily,
• By writing “Shi***y First Draft” at the top of every new document (on the advice of Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird),
• By writing with an audience in mind made up only of people who love me and love whatever I write. (It really takes the pressure off.)
• By doing other creative projects that have nothing to do with writing (like calligraphy, which is technically writing, but you know what I mean!)

In just a couple of weeks, I feel more creative than I have in a long time. I’m waking up in the middle of the night to write down ideas and phrases that seem to come out of nowhere.

What do you do to develop your creativity?

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Writing and reading humor for a Monday

I enjoy writer/illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi‘s site, Inkygirl blog, and cartoons she contributes to Writer Unboxed.  I wanted to introduce you to Debbie and share 3 of my favorite cartoons. Maybe she’ll inspire you, too!

A Reader’s Dilemma
Credit: http://inkygirl.com/

I’ve suffered from this – there’s no unseeing what has been seen!

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NaNoIdMoAdMo
Credit: http://inkygirl.com/

Writing challenges are great, but let’s be careful!

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Why we keep notepad and pen by the bed! Credit: http://inkygirl.com/

The voices never stop talking to us.

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Lisa J. Jackson loves working with words in her own work and with businesses. She also loves New Hampshire and is focused on completing several 5Ks in 2013 as a way to get off the couch consistently. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, Biznik, Facebook, and Twitter. 

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Saturday Edition – What We’re Writing and Reading

Welcome to this Saturday Edition of What We’re Writing and Reading.

We’re taking a little detour on the weekends now to share some of what we’re up to with our writing (when we’re not here) and what we’re into with our reading (around the web). We’ll also pull back the curtain a little to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what went into a piece.

We hope you enjoy this little diversion and encourage you to share your own posts and picks in the comments.

Happy writing! Happy reading! 

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Lisa J. Jackson: I’m away on vacation this week, exploring “the Cape”. It’s been quite enjoyable and relaxing (once I convinced myself I didn’t *have* to do anything except fun stuff). I haven’t been online much (yay, I can cut the online umbilical cord!) Amazing that I’ve been a lifelong New Englander and never explored the Cape until now. On Tuesday morning there were 2 rain clouds in all of New England — guess where I was? Yep, right under them. Ah, well, it’s vacation.

What I’m writing: I’ve enjoyed getting back to journal pages and exploring my thoughts. I’ve had a lot of downtime and quiet time, and there’s something about sea air that rejuvenates my soul. I have notes for new story ideas written down, and I’ve written a lot in my planner – steps to achieving goals.

What I’m reading: I brought a copy of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine with me. It’s been fun to read short mystery stories. I’ve heard writers and authors say they can’t read in their genre when they are writing, but I think it’s like catnip for my muse. So many twists and turns for her to play with so when it comes to my stories, she can surprise me. I’ve also (finally) finished the novel  ”Precious Blood” by Jonathan Hayes. Definitely dark, and the main character is a medical examiner, so, well, you don’t want to read it while eating.

And this post caught my eye and is worth the time if you’re seeking to build an audience: 12 Ways to Delight Your Social Media Community & Audiences.

Or if you’re considering starting a blog, here’s a post with 5 top tips for Starting Your Business Blog.

I hope you’ve had a great week and have found ways to get your writing projects done while also enjoying some personal reading time.

Jamie Wallace: Hello, fellow writers! Happy Saturday.

Work has been a little wonky this week, but managing to keep busy with some website copy for an architect and continuing revisions to a B2B ebook. I haven’t managed any personal, creative writing other than my morning pages and a column I’m working on for next week’s paper. Mostly, I’ve been focusing on continuing to work on some critical business development projects. I’m working with a lovely coach (who I’ll write more about soon) and starting to really unpack where I’m going next with my marketing business. I’m pretty excited, especially because part of what I’m going to be doing will be geared towards writers. Finally!

What I’m Writing:

This week I posted another seriously from-the-heart post on my marketing blog. I wrote Do you know why you do what you do? after several disparate things clicked into place in my head and told me a story about the importance of knowing – really knowing – why you do what you do. The post was a little bit of a departure for me because it came out in a series of fragments that are loosely connected. I’m wondering if that was because I’ve been thinking a lot about creating a series of linked short stories. Perhaps my subconscious brain picked up on that vibe and tried to replicate it in some way in the blog post. I don’t know. What I do know is that I definitely got a little emotional on the recording.

What I’m Reading: 

Though I’m still working on Alice Hoffman’s The River King, I also picked up and began reading the first short story in a book that’s been on my bedside table for longer than I care to admit, Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clark. I’m becoming very interested in the idea of writing short stories, so I’m looking for good examples to study. (If you have any recommendations, I’d love to hear them!)

In addition, I enjoyed a few great blogs posts:

• 101 Tweetable Quotes For Authors by @AuthorMedia
• Kindle Singles and Why You Want One by @brooke_warner via @shewritesdotcom
• 6 Tips to Grow Your Twitter Followers by @DanielSharkov
• Your Platform is Not a Stage You Stand On  by @DanBlank

 

photo: M. Shafer

Deborah Lee Luskin: Finished another chapter of Ellen! And started the next! Recorded a commentary on Tuesday that was broadcast on Wednesday. All reading this week was work-related research, and free time was spent with visiting children. Bliss.

 

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Run, don’t walk, to listen to Inside Creative Writing

If you’d like, you can listen to this post.

I am a writer, but I am not yet the writer I want to be.

I have had very little in the way of formal training. I do not have a college degree or an MFA. I have taken a few, scattered writing courses (most recently a class on writing fantasy at the wonderful Grub Street in Boston), but mostly I’ve cobbled together random bits and pieces – like a magpie collecting shiny things to adorn its nest.

Though my journey has followed a somewhat circuitous path, I believe that I have made progress. From a seven-year-old scribbling in a notebook that I pilfered from the supply closet at the bank where my dad was a VP, I have evolved into someone who makes her living with words – crafting content for my marketing clients, writing a column for my local paper, and even occasionally penning a feature piece for a regional magazine.

But, I am still not the writer I want to be.

I ache to write fiction, but as a single mama workin’ this gig, I can’t easily afford time to play in the speculative and financially unstable world of fiction. The writing that pays my bills takes precedence. Making time to practice and study the craft of fiction is a challenge for me, to say the least.

Enter the power of the podcast.

Those of you who’ve been hanging around here awhile already know that I am a huge and unabashed fan of audio books. If it weren’t for audio books, I’d probably only manage to read a handful of novels each year. But with Audible in my pocket, I am able to “read” while I walk, drive, do the dishes, run the vacuum, etc. It’s a beautiful thing.

Podcasts are another audio format that allow me to connect with content while I’m doing something else. I have been listening to several marketing podcasts for a while, but only recently decided to investigate writing podcasts. Long story short, I struck gold with a brand new podcast called Inside Creative Writing.

Brad Reed is the writer and educator behind this podcast. As a frequent podcast listener, I can be a bit of a critic, but this guy is doing a fabulous job. His shows are highly informative, entertaining, and actionable. I frequently pause in my walk to jot down a note so I don’t forget what he’s said about a particular technique or insight. He has put a lot of thought into his format – alternating one-man shows with interviews and always including a couple of closing elements – “Wise Words” (inspirational and thought-provoking quotes) and a writing assignment (not a prompt, but an assignment on applying the techniques discussed in the show). His production quality is great, his show notes are thorough, and he even has a way for listeners to participate in the show by leaving him a voicemail with a quote for the Wise Words segment, which he then edits into the actual show. (You can hear my debut appearance in Show #8.)

Can you tell I’m a bit of a fan?

The thing is, we’re only eight shows into this podcast, and I have already learned SO much. Reed covers topics in a way that is clear and non-threatening. He makes great use of examples to bring each of the concepts and techniques to life. He isn’t afraid to take deep dives on a topic, making sure you – as the listener – really have a chance to fully absorb and process the idea. Also (and this counts in my book), he’s a really nice guy. I emailed him a quick note of appreciation and wound up having a very pleasant email chat. I can tell that Reed is doing this with his community firmly in mind.

I really can’t recommend the show enough. I was talking to a group of writer friends earlier this week about our favorite writing resources – the go-to books, blogs, and magazines that help us get a handle on what the hell we’re doing. All the usual suspects came up, but then the conversation took a turn as one of the writers sputtered, “They’re all great, but I never have time to read them!” Too true.

I subscribe to Poets & Writers. It’s an excellent magazine (probably one of the very best on the topic of writing). I always learn something when I read an issue, but – like my friend – I can’t always find time to read them. As a matter of fact, I have four unread issues sitting in a pile next to my desk right now. I feel guilty and frustrated and a little defeated when I think about how long those magazines have been sitting there, waiting for me to find a few minutes to crack their crisp covers. Alas, I don’t see that happening in the near future. However, the Inside Creative Writing podcast is filling that gap in my education quite nicely. I can honestly say that I am learning as much (if not more) about good story writing by listening to Reed as I would poring over the pages of Poets & Writers. (And, that’s saying something!)

I guess the most telling thing I can say about how much I like the show is this: I’m willing to pay for it.

In the most recent episode, Reed invited listeners to become supporters by making a voluntary donation to help offset show costs. He called it the “public broadcasting model.” I immediately went to www.insidecreativewriting.com and clicked the “Donate” button. I plunked down $36 – what I might pay for a year’s subscription to a quality, writing magazine – and was happy to do it.

After all, I can certainly forego a few lattes in the name of becoming the writer I want to be.

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Jamie Lee Wallace is a writer who also happens to be a marketer. She helps her Suddenly Marketing clients discover their voice, connect with their audience, and find their marketing groove. She is also a mom, a prolific blogger, and a student of voice and trapeze (not at the same time). Introduce yourself on facebook or twitter. She doesn’t bite … usually.

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The Other Typist – by Suzanne Rindell – Review and Giveaway

I was recently sent an Advanced Readers Copy (ARC) of the book “The Other Typist” by Suzanne Rindell. Because of my work as a writer, blogger, and yes a book reviewer on another site, I tend to get books sent to me on fairly regular basis.

Which, is sometimes a good thing and other times it’s not.

When this book arrived, I sighed. I have sooo many books to read in my to-read pile (can you relate?) but still, the book size (trade paper) and the cover art got my attention.

The Other Typist takes place in 1923 and is the story of Rose Baker who is a typist in a police station. IT is her  job to record criminal’s confessions.

I turned it over to read the back:

“Get ready for the year’s most fascinating unreliable narrator…”

Huh?

And then there was this little beauty by Alice LaPlante author of Turn of Mind:

“Eerie and compelling … a riveting page-turner… Don’t start this novel at night if you need your beauty sleep – you’ll stay up to all hours devouring its pages.”

Another review made reference to the book as a “page-turner” a phrase so overused in book reviews as to make it meaningless.  A few alarms went off in my mind – yeah right, is what I basically thought.

Even though I was busy, even though I had tons of work to do, I opened the book and read a few pages. I just want to get the feel of the book, I told myself.

That night Marc made dinner and I continued to read.

My nightly Criminal Minds (we only get basic cable and so Criminal Minds is pretty much all we watch) fest was ignored as I sat in my chair and read.

I stayed up late to keep reading.

The next morning, I got up early to read before I started my work.

Yes. It is that good.

So what makes this book so literally page-turning?

There are several things.  This book is definitely not a one trick pony. First of all, the main character, Rose, grabs your attention on page one and then she drills a hole into your brain and stays there. You can’t help but think about her after you’ve put the book down. Like a thought just out of reach, impossible to solidify, you keep thinking – what is it that is wrong with Rose?

There’s just something not quite right about her, but what? Because it’s a narrated story from Rose’s point of view, you are privy to her thoughts and so you are in the driver’s seat right beside her as you see the inevitable train crash coming.

But you can’t do anything except hold on tight because Rose doesn’t see what is so very clearly in her path.

Another page-turning aspect? The writing, my Lord, the writing is sublime. Here’s an example:

“So I was surprised one day when Odalie emerged from the interrogation room and exclaimed, “He is just absolutely the law itself, isn’t he?” As we were not in the habit of making conversation, I looked around to see who she could possibly be talking to. The days were getting noticeably shorter by then. We were headed into the long black nights of winter, and although it was only four o’clock, outside a cloudy sky was already turning from ash to soot. And yet inside the office there was still something vital, the peculiar sort of kindling that comes from human activity buzzing away in the falling dark of dusk. The electric lights still glowed, and the office thrummed with the sounds of telephones, voices, papers, footsteps, and the syncopated clacking of many typewriters all being operated at once. It could very well be day or night, outside for all anyone cared: at that exact moment, everyone was quite busy, absorbed in what they were doing. And there was Odalie – still standing in front of her desk, facing me, her question (rhetorical though it was) still hanging in the air unanswered. I looked up at her and I remember – I remember this image quite clearly – the bare electric blub that dangled above her cast a perfect shimmering halo around the crown of her head, a perfect corona of light caught in the sheen of her silky black bobbed hair.

“Yes,” I stammered after a while. “The Sergeant is an excellent man.””

So much is packed into this paragraph. We are privy to Rose’s thought process as she struggles to respond to a simple statement. We become incredibly uncomfortable for her, as she stumbles to figure out social interaction.

Please what is up with this chick?

There are so many more examples of this extraordinary writing that this book is worth the price for anyone to read just for its literary excellence.

And then there is the story. You’ll be reading along and a clue, a bit of stunning information is brilliantly dropped into the story as casually as if someone were commenting on the weather. There were several places where I had to go back to reread a passage.

Did it really say what I thought it said? Are you kidding me?

Using the book-review-overused, but yet, in this case, very apt turn of phrase, this “page-turner” will constantly gnaw at you. The Other Typist will seep into your brain. You will think about the book when it is in your hands, and you’ll be wondering about Rose and Odelie when it is not.

In short, go out and read this book. You will not be sorry.

Now for the fun part, the publicist has agreed to send a copy of The Other Typist to someone from this blog. Leave a comment below and a winner will be randomly selected and announced on this Friday May 17th. (US addresses only)

Note – I have not been compensated for this review. All of the opinions are mine.

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Wendy Thomas is an award winning journalist, columnist, and blogger who believes that taking challenges in life will always lead to goodness. She is the mother of 6 funny and creative kids and it is her goal to teach them through stories and lessons.

Wendy’s current project involves writing about her family’s experiences with chickens (yes, chickens). (www.simplethrift.wordpress.com)

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My muse enjoys dancing in the rain

In typing in the title for this post, I now have the song “Singing in the Rain” on high volume slamming around my brain. And I think some memories of middle school chorus are trying to push to the front of my memories. Oh my!

It’s amazing what the writer’s mind does with words, isn’t it? And that leads into my topic today.

Intense rain storm and flooding

I’ve discovered that my muse is very active and vocal on rainy days more than any other type of day. In fact, just saying ‘rain’ gets her doing jumping jacks.

She feeds me a lot of character dialogue in no particular order or manner, and seldom related to a single story. On the day I took this intense rain photo (in July ’08), Ms. Muse had all sorts of things to say, including children’s dialogue as they played at the beach, dialogue from animals (a la Dr. Doolittle) relocating from the country to the busy city, and dialogue from two 20-somethings trapped at the top of a local mountain in a blizzard.

Glorious sunshine

On sunny days, my muse is open to exploring the outside world in search of new ideas. In a way, she likes to sun herself and take it easy. She lets the world be her cabana boy and serve ideas to her instead of going out to find the delectable fruits and seeds of ideas herself. (And, yes, sometimes she falls asleep in the sun without sunscreen on, which brings a lot of adjectives out.)

Snow and Sunshine

On snow days, she likes to gander at the landscape and wonder about the critters and people moving around ‘out there.’ She feeds me ideas about how the birds don’t fall out of the trees (after all, they can get a lot of snow on their shoulders!), and wonders if all the chipmunks found their way into a hole safely (and have enough food for their families to survive behind underground for a few days). Eventually she thinks about humans getting outside and unburying their world. More poetry flows through my muse on mornings like that, than prose.

On dismal, cold days, I’ve discovered my muse likes to play around with dark fiction and suspense, anything that gets my heart rate up. It must have something to do with the brisk air. She’s very ‘sharp’ on cold days, especially evenings. Everything is pointed (like icicles), brittle (like wind chill), and dark (like the short days). She brings me a lot of visuals, movies in my mind. There’s always an over abundance of activity with the characters that I can’t possibly keep track of everything, but I do end up warming up.

During the fall and spring, when a breeze can kick up a lot of scents (I love the lilacs right now!), my muse enjoys reminding me about such things as being in my grandmother’s kitchen while she was baking, being at the sea shore, and the moment I reach the peak of a mountain after hiking through the woods. A lot of journal writing pours out of my fingers at these times.

Now I have “America the Beautiful” on a loop in my head.

Does your muse react differently to the weather and temperature?

Lisa J. Jackson loves working with words in her own work and with businesses. She also loves New Hampshire and is focused on completing several 5Ks in 2013 as a way to get off the couch consistently. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, Biznik, Facebook, and Twitter. 

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Saturday Edition – What We’re Writing and Reading

Welcome to this Saturday Edition of What We’re Writing and Reading.

We’re taking a little detour on the weekends now to share some of what we’re up to with our writing (when we’re not here) and what we’re into with our reading (around the web). We’ll also pull back the curtain a little to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what went into a piece.

We hope you enjoy this little diversion and encourage you to share your own posts and picks in the comments.

Happy writing! Happy reading! 

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Lisa J. Jackson:

What I’m writing: This week I managed to get short journal entries completed. Woo hoo! Yay me! I’m working on a magazine article and a business case study — I got the interviews done, now I have to transcribe them and get the papers written and submitted quickly. Have I ever mentioned that I love variety? I do!

What I’m reading:

I’m catching up on a couple of copies of Runner’s World. After walking my last 5K (I swear it was up hill both ways, sideways, and backwards), I’m determined to run my next one in a couple of weeks, and the motivation I’m finding in the stories in this magazine is amazing.

Here are couple blog posts that caught my attention this week:

• Here’s a video interview with a literary agent posted to a university’s (one that holds a special place in my heart) blog for creative writers. What a Literary Agent Does and How They Help You.
• Here’s a post with a fabulous picture of a momma and baby crane that leads into a post on Content Marketing: Are You Sharing Your Best Stuff? I think I’ve shared Pam Moore’s (1/2 marketing, 1/2 geek, 100% social nut) blog link with you before – it’s great.

Diane MacKinnon:

What I’m Writing: I submitted my short story last week so I spent the last month working on it every chance I got. It feels great to have it completed and out of my hands, but I do feel a little lost as I consider what my next big writing project will be. In the meantime, I’m journaling more, and I’ve been keeping up with blog posts for my blog and for WTL-LTW. I just saw a call for submissions for a shorter piece, so I may write an essay for that.

What I’m Reading: I’m currently reading two of Brene Brown’s books: Daring Greatly, her latest book, and I Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t), her first book. I just started a book for my book club, but I’ll wait to mention the name until I get a little further into it.

Jamie Wallace: Oh, what a week I had last week! I missed being here on Saturday, but I had two really good reasons for my absence. (I don’t have a note from my mom, so you’ll just have to trust me on this.) Reason #1: My trusty MacBook Pro needed an emergency triple bypass. No joke. The Genius at the Genius Bar almost couldn’t get the diagnostics to run, and when he did he gave me a thumbs down on my battery, my fan, AND my logic board (whatever the hell that is). When he asked me to sign the release, and I asked if I had to leave my computer with him right then, at that moment, he said, “This isn’t elective, this is an ER, all-hands-on-deck situation.” Um … riiiight.

Happily, my computer is now (knock on wood) back up and running. Hooray!

Reason #2: I spent Saturday attending the Grub Street writers’ conference in Boston. This annual event (called “The Muse”) is fabulous. There is nothing so exhausting and so exhilarating as spending a whole day immersed in a crowd of rabidly literate and creative writers. The sessions were great, the camaraderie was heartwarming, and the keynote speaker was the one and only Amanda Fucking Palmer. I have SO much to share from the event, but I need to sit back and regroup before I do that. So – consider this a “coming soon!” notice.

What I’m Writing:

Work, work, and more work. Continuing to hammer away on one client’s ebook while just wrapping up first drafts of another client’s case studies. I also wrote a rather long post for my marketing blog on the topic of knowing (really knowing) who your competition is. (Hint: It’s not who you think it is.) I’ve been continuing to experiment with including audios with each of my blog posts, but still don’t feel 100% comfortable behind the mic. I’m guessing that comes with practice. Lots and lots of practice. Anyway – here’s the blog post: Your competition isn’t who you think it is.

I also posted a reprint of a column I wrote for my local paper on the ups and downs of house hunting. You can read Looking for love in the real estate section on my blog. Love to hear your  house hunting stories!

What I’m Reading:

The joy of novel reading has taken a backseat to a crazy schedule, but I still always seem able to make time for the blogs. Here are a few of my faves from the week:

• Lessons Learned From Bestselling Indie Authors On Writing, Publishing & Book Marketing by @thecreativepenn
• 22 Staples And The State Of Two Internets by @RichBecker
• THIS IS WATER. A must-see, if you haven’t already. <– This was the tweet from @SusanOrlean. I’m so glad she shared this poignant piece from David Foster Wallace. Writers have to see the water … and help other people see the water.

 

photo: M. Shafer

Deborah Lee Luskin

What I’m Writing: I finished my 330-word commentary for Vermont Public Radio’s annual Commentator’s Brunch, where thirty of us each deliver a 2-minute story on the same prompt. This year’s prompt: Lost and Found. Nothing is harder than writing this short! I also submitted a 500-word piece for the regular series; I hope to record it next week. My piece about storytelling, The Need That Sets Us Apart, appeared in my column for the local independent newspaper this week. And I continue to make progress on Ellen, the novel. What I’m Reading: Because I spend so much time in front of the computer for work, I tend to read books and magazines. This week, I’ve been reading The Bluebird Effect by Julie Zickefoose, and Prime by Pepper Schwarts. My great indulgence is to read The New Yorker while soaking in the bath.
 What Else I’m Doing: Spring chores and gardening! And the 2013 rowing season has officially begun!

 

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Six Writing Lessons From The Garden

 I love to garden. It’s a meditative activity – something I can do while my mind freewheels. Last Sunday, I found myself thinking how preparing a small vegetable patch is like writing a book.

Lesson 1: Writing is Solitary.

For the first time in thirty years, I’m planting the garden solo. My husband helped me install the fence posts (just as he built the studio where I write), but he prefers to nurture the orchard. I’m on my own, just as I write by myself during the week while he’s off tending to his patients’ health.

Lesson 2: Selectivity is Good.

There was a time when we grew and preserved all our food – but no longer. We’re now supplied with locally grown produce from a neighbor’s organic farm, so I’m only planting high-value items that are harder to find in local markets – shallots and leeks, fennel, escarole and Brussels sprouts – as well as items we consume in quantity – cucumbers and cherry tomatoes, hot peppers and a wide assortment of culinary herbs.

I’m leaving the prosaic vegetables – the zucchini and green beans, the carrots and potatoes – to the production professionals. In a similar way, I’ve retired from the teaching, managerial and editorial jobs that others can do as well as or even better than I can. No one else can tell the stories I imagine, so I’m concentrating on them.

Lesson 3: Limits are Helpful.

I started by limiting the scope of my garden. I’ve fenced off an eight- by sixteen-foot rectangle to keep the free-range chickens out, and to keep my intentions focused – and manageable. Our previous gardens were huge, time-sucking affairs, and sometimes we raised an equal quantity of weeds as tomatoes. Similarly, over the past year, I’ve drafted thousands of words about my character’s life. But recently, I’ve come to realize that the story I’m telling takes place over the course of nineteen months. So that’s what I’ll develop; everything else must come out, just like the weeds.

Lesson 4: Writing Takes Time.

At the outset, a hundred and twenty-eight square feet looks just as big as a 100,000-word novel, and turning it over with a hand fork appears as daunting as filling a ream of paper by pen. My husband offered to do this heavy task for me; he would have had the garden-plot ready in less than an hour. I thanked him and said I would do it myself. It took me three hours, during which time I meditated on how preparing the garden is like writing a novel. I stopped only for water and to take pictures for this post, which I was composing as I dug.

Lesson 5: Small Tasks Yield Success.

A week earlier, I’d covered my plot with a tarp to warm the earth and kill weeds. The weeds continued to flourish, however, and the prospect of turning the soil by hand and pulling the weeds out by the root was too much. So I put the tarp back in place and

Working a small section at a time.

uncovered only a quarter of the space. After I turned those thirty-two square feet, I peeled the tarp back again, turning and weeding the next section. Now, the job was half done. I folded the tarp back again and again, always giving myself a small, measurable task that I could reasonably accomplish. Writing a book is just the same: I break each chapter into sections, and each section into paragraphs, each paragraph into sentences, each sentence into words. Each time I stuck the fork into the soil, it was a reminder that books are written one word at a time.
Lesson 6: The End is the Beginning

By the time I had raked the soil into beds and outlined the footpath with string, my neck was sunburned, my back was sore, and I was ready for a bath. I was done – for the day. I now had a well-defined garden plot with clearly outlined beds as weed-free as a clean piece of paper. Even though I was done-in, I’m anything but done. In fact, I’m just ready to start.

Ellen, the novel I’m crafting, is further along than my garden. But the garden is a good reminder about how to maintain forward progress on this first draft. My afternoon preparing my garden yielded these six truths: 1) Even though I work alone, I’m deeply engaged with my characters; 2) every time I cut out a scene or a character or an unnecessary word, I gain a clearer sense of what aspect of the story to nurture; 3) knowing the limit of the narrative has helped me focus on the story I have to tell; 4) drafting the novel is taking a long time – and I make progress daily; 5) I experience the elation of success when I set myself small, measurable tasks; and 6) every time I finish a section, a chapter, an entire draft, I’m ready to begin another section, another chapter, another draft.  And even when that’s done – even when the writing and revision are finished – there’s another whole set of steps to see a book to completion, but those are chores of another season.

This growing season has just started. I tell myself, if I write word by word, weed by weed, my effort will blossom, and in time, I’ll see my book in my readers’ hands.

Meanwhile, I have a lovely garden bed ready for seeds.

photo: M. Shafer

Author Deborah Lee Luskin gardens and writes in southern Vermont and can be found on the web at www.deborahleeluskin.com

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Saturday Edition – What We’re Writing and Reading

Welcome to this Saturday Edition of What We’re Writing and Reading.

We’re taking a little detour on the weekends now to share some of what we’re up to with our writing (when we’re not here) and what we’re into with our reading (around the web). We’ll also pull back the curtain a little to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what went into a piece.

We hope you enjoy this little diversion and encourage you to share your own posts and picks in the comments.

Happy writing! Happy reading! 

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Lisa J. Jackson: Time flies by so quickly! Another Saturday already? Well, okay.

What I’m writing: I put the final touches on a short mystery story and subbed it to an anthology on Tuesday. Why I waited until the last minute to submit it, baffles me since subs opened in January for this particular book. I hope to get better at submitting in general and submitting before the last minute going forward. Speaking of last minute submissions – I better get my sub in to my crit group!

What I’m reading: The user’s guide to my new DSLR. So many features and things to learn about this fabulous camera. It’s a Nikon D600 and will keep my happy for many years to come. I’ve been saving and planning to get a nice camera for years. A goal accomplished!

In other reading – Terry Whalin posts a lot of great information for writers through his Twitter account. He’s a former literary agent and is now an acquisitions editor and author, so knows what writers need to know about. A recent post by Toby Neal caught my attention, Women and the new entrepreneurship. She talks about what it’s like to be a small business owner. Her site is focused on writing, creativity, and Hawaii (where she lives). And while I’m on the topic of small business ownership – Intuit has a lot of great articles and resources on its Small Business Blog.

 

photo: M. Shafer

Deborah Lee Luskin: Great progress on Ellen, the novel; wrote and submitted a column on storytelling for the Commons; started a commentary on the prompt “Lost and Found” for the VPR Commentator’s Brunch on June 15; wrapped up the special project I’ve been doing for VPR and submitted my final invoice (fun!). I also set up three meetings to learn from others about starting a very local newsletter for my small town. Wednesday evening, I attended a lecture about William Wadsworth and Robert Frost given by Vermont’s Poet Laureate, Sydney Lea, and I’ve been  rereading Robert Frost ever since. I also sat down at the piano twice!

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