Public Readings--Do's and Don'ts

        A group of writers (poets and story-tellers) got together at a restaurant/bar recently, and I went to their public reading. I've compiled a list of (hopefully) helpful hints.

1.  If you are nervous and tend to mumble/not enunciate clearly, shave off your beard and mustache for the occasion. (Ladies, that goes for you in the hairy menopausal phase, too.) We can't read your lips with all that hair obscuring our view, and as fast and mumbly as you present, we need all the help we can get.
Give the audience what they want.

2.  You may think your twenty minutes of rambling introduction. About. Each. Poem. is engaging, but look at your audience. Their eyes are closed. Drool is coming from their mouths. They're snoring. Be aware of your audience.

3.  If you're nervous, and alcohol is available, have a drink. A glass of wine might help out with #1. Drink.  (Sorry. That's all I could come up with for that one.)

4.  Be passionate/involved in your piece. Speak with expression. Pepper your piece liberally with Sioux's favorite word. Make the crazy redhead happy.

5.  Be humble. Come up, give us a tidbit of an introduction, and then read, darn it, and when you're finished, leave the microphone. That's why we came--to hear you--and if you're good, your words will speak for themselves. Give the audience some credit.

What tips do YOU have for writers who read their stuff in public?

By the way, Linda O'Connell has almost reached her Chicken Soup goal. Is it a gross of stories (144)? Is her goal equal with her age? Find out what her next goal is, since she's about to hurdle over her current one...(Ask her.)

Creating Engaging Characters

       Meth. The science behind it is intriguing. The business of it is fascinating. And thanks to Vince Gilligan and Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul, I get to immerse myself in the life of a meth-maker. All because of the show Breaking Bad. On August 11 the final (sixth) season begins. (Sigh.)

       This show begins with a high school chemistry teacher--a very nice guy who never breaks the law--and after finding out he has a horrible cancer and mere months to live, decides to make meth (really pure meth) to take care of his wife, his high school-aged son (who has cerebral palsy) and his not-yet-born daughter after he dies. What began in season one with just drug manufacturing and distributing has spiraled out of control. Murder. Horrible choices. And lots and lots of lies.  

      As writers, we have to create interesting people when we craft fiction. We can't just have a person in our story go instantly from calm and rational to homicidal. Internal things have to start percolating. Tiny fuses have to be lit so when the explosion comes, the reader is left charred right along with the character.

         What shows or movies did you love (or do you love) that immerse you in a different life?  (And if you do watch Breaking Bad, don't tell me about how it ends. I don't have cable/satellite, and will have to buy the DVD once it comes out.)

Writing...It's a Sticky Thing

         I just finished leading a two-day workshop for teachers (from two schools) in my school district. It was exhausting  rewarding and fun.

       The workshop centered on teaching writing in math, science and social studies. The new Common Core Standards  will officially begin in our state in the 2014-2015 school year. The Common Core will replace the state tests for most of the country and will signal the demise--at the end of this school year--of the idiotic unrealistic  too-tough current MAP test, which is what Missouri students and teachers have had to endure use as far as assessment for too many years.

       Hey! Writing should not be done only from 11:00-11:20 anymore. That's was our theme song for the past two days.

        Writing is stickier than math (there's always a correct answer and a set way of finding the answer in math). It's more elusive than science or social studies, too. Knowing how to nurture a student's creativity, and figuring out how to teach students to loosen the reins on their writing voice...that's something that often flummoxes teachers.

       The mind-boggling thing about this workshop was how many talented voices emerged. This workshop was underwritten by the Gateway Writing Project, a National Writing Project site, and writing is always a part of every workshop/meeting/national conference--it's never pure lecture with passive participants with the NWP. Over the past two days, teachers wrote "I am from" poems and memoir vignettes and a variety of other pieces. The talent and distinctness of their voices was amazing. Often, teachers are sometimes reluctant to share their personal writing, but this time, it was not the case.

a student writer...

       If you're a writer, when did you first figure out you enjoyed writing? Or do you--like me--still find it to be a grueling, hair-pulling screamfest (at times)?

Today's Kids

        Folks who make blanket statements about kids today aren't getting to know the kids of today.

       For example, the kids living next door to us greet us first when they see us in the yard, saying, "Good morning." They're polite, well-mannered children.

       Another example--a young man who (in May) graduated from one of my district's high schools, is now working in a local restaurant--as a pastry chef. As the owners were renovating (since January), he came by every week, looking for a  job.  They kept telling him no. On the day the restaurant opened, this kid showed up with his apron and his pastry chef tools, ready to work. (He was already a shining star of the high school home ec department.) They finally gave him a try, handed him their pie recipes, and from what the owners say, his apple crumb was prettier of than the owners, and out-of-this-world delicious. 

        One of my students this past year did something very selfless, and was a great friend in the process. Moved by what he did, I wrote a story about him (entitled "Help By the Bagful") and submitted it to the Chicken Soup: For Positive Kids I just got news today that the story about him had made it through the first round of editors. Although my friend Lisa Ricard Claro warns me to not count my chickens until they're hatched--she's known too many people who had their story booted out at the last minute--but if I have to, I'll just smash the eggs and chalk that up as one of my many rejections.

         Speaking of eggs, the WWWPs are a bunch of good eggs. They helped me immensely with the story--if I had submitted it before I got it critiqued, it would not be under consideration right now.

          What is your opinion of kids today?

So, What's Your Story?

          Today I went to the Saturday Writers meeting. Kristina Blank Makansi and Jennifer Dunn Stewart of Blank Slate Press were there to talk about queries (Yikes!) Some of the people shared their query letters for critique--I shared my steaming pile of poop query letter. It was not pretty helpful.

        If you are a writer, you'll enjoy this video. And if you are not a writer, but you are constantly amazed by people's unrealistic self-perceptions and their screwed-up views, you might chuckle right along with us writerly folks... 

       I read C. Hope Clark's post about the stories that are left untold. It is my belief that everyone has a book in them. Everyone has a story to tell.  What stories do you have that are not being shared? They will vanish if they aren't told to someone or written down. What stories do your parents or grandparents or aunts or uncles have that will be lost without being chronicled?

       Don't put it off until it's too late...You'll regret it if you wait too long.

       And it's not too late to be a part of Not Your Mother's Book...On Being a Mom. Dianna Graveman is the editor, along with Dahlynn and Ken McKowen. This book (see the cover below) has August 1 as a deadline. If you have a story for this collection, submit it quickly. For other titles, check out www.publishingsyndicate.com for dozens of anthologies that are currently being developed.



My story, "So Far I've Avoided Prison...Pass the Wine,"
has made it through the first round. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

A Thief...Now a Liar...And a Call for Submissions

            Many years ago I stole a dog. I was wearing my son's hoodie and my husband's hiking boots as a disguise.

           Actually, I tried to steal it, but that night--of all nights--the beagle had been allowed into the owner's house. The next morning, my friend had to serve as dog-nabber. To find out why were stealing the dog or if we succeeded, or if this post is being written by me in prison as I serve my term for committing a felony, you'll have to buy a copy of Not Your Mother's Book...On Dogs published by the folks at Publishing Syndicate.

           Last night during the WWWP writing critique session, I shared a story about a big fat lie I told...for the sake of a dog. I'm hoping that in the near future, Chicken Soup snaps it up.

This is our dog, Foley. He was not stolen nor did we have to tell a lie
to get him. (In his mouth is "Disgusto-Ball," his favorite ball. This was the
ball he found in a neighbor's yard when he was in his first foster home,
and he's quite attached to it, despite it being torn up and...disgusting.)

         If we're writers, we use our life experiences and we relive them as we try to move people. If telling stories and creating poems is not our thing, we keep our memories alive when we share them with our family and friends or we look at photographs from the past.

        What is something you've done that borders on dishonesty?

        And hey! Chicken Soup is looking for "Home Sweet Home" stories. The deadline is November. Fellow writers--get crackin'.