Indie Day

      I am taking Margo Dill's suggestion, and I'm heading to an independent book store today, in order to give a twist to Independence Day.


     Also, I'm a few days late drawing a name, but Vickie Newman won a copy of Not Your Mother's Book...On Being a Mom. (Of course, Vickie's last name was like a curse whenever it was uttered on Seinfeld--Val, you know what I'm talkin' 'bout--but I certainly won't hold it against Vickie.)


     And as a final note today, Love a Golden is having their annual trivia night on August 23. It's held at the Knights of Columbus Hall in St. Charles. We have a wonderful silent auction and free beer (not a draw for me, but I'm strange). If you live in the area and are interested, check out the "events" for more details. (And if you have anything you'd like to donate to auction/raffle off, please contact me. Love a Golden is a 501 (c) (3) group, so all donations are tax deductible.)   

I've Broken It, Baby!

          10,000 words might not seem like a lot, especially when a couple of months ago, I had 84,000.
      
           However, it is a lot when I started again from 0.


           This morning I worked on a longer project that I've been plagued by for the past two years. I'd gotten to 7,000 something after working on it--now and then--for the past month or so. After a few solid hours, I'd broken the 10,000 word barrier, baby!


           Writing is part talent but it's an equal part (or an even greater part) persistence. There are countless people who have a gift for writing, and yet they don't persist with it. They don't sit their butt in chair (BIC) and just write.


           I'm trying to prod/encourage/cajole/beg my WWWP writing critique group members to work on their big projects. (Warning to the WWWPs: I've got an electric cattle prod and I'm not afraid to use it.) Each woman has a "biggie" they're working on. Two of them have incredible YA manuscripts in progress. One has an adult novel they're working on (not that kind of adult novel--get your mind out of the gutter). One has a memoir that's touching and rollicking.


        Be persistent with whatever you're working on. Don't give up. Think of how you eat a T-bone or a cheeseburger or a tuna steak. You don't shove it all into your mouth at once--you eat it one bite at a time.




       Be persistent, one bite or one step or one word at a time...

South of Broad? North of Broad? Am I a Broad?

         Recently I finished Pat Conroy's book South of Broad. Yes, I know--it's not his most famous novel. Yes, I know--there are movies made from his work ("The Great Santini" and "Prince of Tides") but I haven't read any of his books until now. Yes, I know--I'm behind millions of readers when it comes to Conroy.


     Reading South of Broad was life-changing. Or rather, it was novel-changing. Or to put it in an even more accurate way--it changed my direction as a writer. Now. On the project I'm struggling with.


     To find out how reading this novel changed my writing, check out my guest post for The Muffin.
  
     And don't forget to read something great this weekend. It might change your life (or your work)...

Being a Mom

       Early this week I'm going to be working on a "mom" story *. It's going to be early this week because I have a writing critique meeting on Wednesday, and I don't have a single word written that I can share. (Only rarely do I come empty-handed because when I have nothing to share, it's a waste of the great critique I get. As I sit there on pins and needles--will they declare my piece a pile of poop?--I have to listen to Linda's pen scratch across an entire page as she deftly rearranges my story. I have to hear Lynn's pen roll across the margin as she writes a whole letter's worth of suggestions and encouragement. I have to see Beth and Tammy's faces scrunch up, and I wonder if it's a good scrunch or a bad scrunch...) I haven't decided if I'm going to write a story about my mom or whether I'm going to write a story about myself as a mom but I...wait, as I was typing this, I made a decision.
     That's the interesting thing about writing. Sometimes just the physical act of typing something helps us sort things out in our head.
      I recently got some great news. (And no, I'm not going to "tease" and make you come back to my next post for the news.) My story "Elmo's Lesson" is going to be published in the upcoming Publishing Syndicate's Not Your Mother's Book...On Cats. And, my story, "A Risky Jump" has made it through to the final phase of Chicken Soup's Reboot Your Life. (Thank you WWWPs.) I know it can be yanked up to a month before publication but even though that's not happened to me yet, I won't say it too loudly. (I used to brag that I had been stopped by police officers many times--for speeding--but had never gotten a ticket, until I got my first and only one, so now I only whisper boasts like that.)
      I am giving away a copy of the recently published Not Your Mother's Book...On Being a Mom. Many of my friends and writing friends have stories in this collection--Terri Elders, Donna Volkenannt, Renee Hughes, Debra Mayhew, Pat Wahler, Mary Horner, Pat Nelson, Linda O'Connell, Marcia Gaye, Alice Muschany, Ellie Grossman, Diana Graveman and Tammy Goodsell. (My husband judges how good my story is by where it is in the book. He is positive that the editors put the good stories in the front, and they get progressively worse. My story, "So Little Wine," is on page 200 which makes it a "dud" in my spouse's eyes. You'll have to read it to see if you concur with him.)


         On July 1st I will post who won the book...
      My story that's being considered by Chicken Soup is about me wanting to do something that some of my family considered stupid/dangerous. Is there something you've done/considered in the past that made your friends or family look at you like you're crazy? 


* Chicken Soup is looking for mom stories--tales of you and your kids as well as stories about your mom. Two different anthologies doubles your chances of getting published...


    

Request + Unwanted = Embraced

      This summer I am co-facilitating Gateway's Summer Institute. It's one of the National Writing Project sites (Gateway is at U. of Missouri-St. Louis) and is an intense graduate course. We meet for five weeks, four days a week, from 9-3:30. (It's a 6-credit class.)


       I love it.


     A couple of days ago, the other teacher (Nancy) and I demonstrated a way their writing response groups could critique each other's work. Nancy (who is white) shared a poem about the worries she has for her son. Her son has a friend who is black. She compared her concerns to the issues her son's friend's mother deals with. (Have I lost you yet?)


      I suggested she try writing it in the style of a two-voice poem. At that point, Nancy didn't want to completely overhaul her piece. She also simply might not have liked the suggestion I made, which was fine. It's her work, and her decision...

          However, after thinking about it, I was inspired to write a two-voice poem comparing the worries I have for my son with the worries a friend of mine has about her son. (Both of our boys are the same age, but her son was shot when an intruder came into his house. He is now a paraplegic.)


       So, even though Nancy requested some feedback, it was unwanted, but I embraced it and made it work for me.


       How do you deal with unwanted/unasked for advice?


   

Constructive Criticism

       I must have skin that's a mile thick. (Perhaps THAT is why I'm so fat. It's not the chocolate and the buttered bread and the mashed potatoes...it's my thick skin. Halleluiah!) I ask for suggestions on what to cut. I relish offerings from others on how to improve my writing. I appreciate honesty when it comes to writing critique.




      This past weekend I went on a writing project retreat. It was at my favorite monk-ery. I didn't necessarily get too much feedback from the group I was in, but I did get some valuable critique from the guest editor (Britton Gildersleeve...I know--what a name!) who comes every year to this retreat.




      What is the best writing advice you ever got?