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Grist for the Muse #35 -- May 2007
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mich-@flashwriting.com
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May 03, 2007 18:01 PDT
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Grist for the Muse
Issue # 35 May 2007
In this issue:
* Musings
* Writing Jumpstarts
* Shameless Self Promotion
* Muse Review
"Writing is like cooking...if you spill something, you should make it look
like part of the act."
--Fran Lebowitz
Musings
Lookee here! Only a day late instead of a couple of weeks... oh well, I'm
getting better at hitting these deadlines. Read on...
******
Saw Walter Mosley's keynote address at the Columbus State Community College
Writers Conference last Friday. I sat next to Gail, one of my all time
favorite students, who I haven't seen in a while and we listened to Mr.
Mosley speak. He said that you simply must write every day, 7 days a week,
90 minutes a day. If you don't feel like writing or nothing comes, sit there
until it does. He writes three hours a day when he first gets up in the
morning. This seems to be the most consistent habit of all successful
writers is to write every single day of the week, preferably on a regular
schedule (at the same time every day at a time where you are at your best.
Gail told me afterwards that I should be proud that I am teaching the
techniques that successful, best-selling authors use every day. That too
much education can get in the way of telling a good story. Homer was blind
and illiterate. That writing is done largely in the unconscious mind and all
a writer has to do is transcribe what it tells you, but you need to be
sitting there at the appointed time to hear what it has to say. That
showing is almost always better than telling. That too many people get hung
up on the things that they don't know or don't think that they know such as
grammar or spelling or how to do some sort of technical thing correctly. It
is almost always total bunk.
I forget to practice what I preach sometimes. Time for me to remember.
******
Friday was a work-at-home day, where I come out to the office in my
unattached garage (one of the biggest selling points when we bought the
place over a decade ago) and had a great day. I had one of those days at
work where you are working fast, slashing things off your to do list in a
fugue state, and the next thing I knew it was 5pm and the day was over. One
of the things on my list: Writing practice. And I just didn't get around to
it. I decided, well, I can take a break after my productive day, and do this
after dinner, then it was right before bedtime, and then I was too tired. A
typical scenario for me.
In fact, I even gave myself a break from the 2-a-day practice regimen that I
had been doing fairly well with when I'm in my office in Columbus (one
session in the morning about 10am and another either during lunch or around
3pm) knowing that I don't do as well with the writing sessions at home. But
I never asked myself why I couldn't find the time to write here on the days
when I have additional time gained by saving 90 minutes each day from not
driving to work.
I opened the office door yesterday morning the urge to start anew, , sat
down, and blanked out. There was too much stuff in the way. No room to pull
out the notebook and write. Lots of notes, business cards, word tickets, and
receipts scattered everywhere. Elvira had knocked over my pencil cups, and
there wasn't any clear space available on the large surface of my desk to
work. Books had migrated to the desk surface when they ran out of space on
my writing bookshelf. My paper tray, which was supposed to only be devoted
to projects I am currently working on, was piled high with papers that I
knew I needed to do something with, but didn't know what, so I threw them in
there to make a decision later.
So instead of picking up a pen or turning on the laptop, what did I do? I
cleared off the desk. I threw everything off it. Then I got a little
Fantastik and wiped off all the dust, crumbs and cat hair. I reorganized
the books on my writing bookcase, removing those that could be on another
bookshelf, and moved the books that had landed on my desk back up onto the
shelf where they belonged. About 2 hours later, the desk had been cleaned,
the shelves reorganized, papers sorted, and the area works better for me
now. The resistance I feel toward sitting down and getting started is almost
gone (it never truly goes away completely). So the time investment for
reorganizing my work area was worth it.
Atmosphere is very important when writing. Disorganization is distracting.
Not having the tools you need, such as pens, notebooks, reference materials,
etc. on-hand and easy-to-find is also distracting. Constant interruptions,
same thing. Sometimes the disorganization alone rips away your focus from
your work. It reminds you about all of the other things that need to be
done; The drywall work in the master bathroom, the pantry that needs to be
cleaned, and all of the paper that you need to review and file.
Writers need to make our writing time sacred, and the place where we write a
sanctuary from all that is not about the work.
--Michael
Shameless Self Promotion
Advanced Fiction Critiquing Workshop Forming
It's that time of year again! Time to get serious about your fiction or
narrative non-fiction. This is a 12-hour program that will meet every other
week for 6 weeks. In this group, we will work on getting your writing ready
for publication by using your works in progress. Some of the areas we will
cover will be preparing your manuscript properly for publication, problems
with character, dialog, conflict, and description. In addition, this class
will address problems identified by the participants.
This is an intimate class with a maximum of 8 participants. The textbook we
will be using for the class is Noah Lukeman's The First Five Pages.
The cost of the workshop is $75. You can pay for the class via PayPal,
sending me a check or money order or paying me on the first night of class.
We will determine a location convenient to the majority of the participants
once everyone has registered. So if you are interested, please let me know
what days work best for you to schedule this class ASAP, and we'll get it
set and on the calendar.
The first week we will establish the guidelines for the workshop, learn how
to perform a good critique and how to learn from it, and schedule the work
presentations. During this meeting we will also identify the specific
problem areas that you want to have addressed.
Beginning the 2nd meeting, I will put together and present information on
the selected problem areas for the first 30 minutes, and the remaining time
will be spent critiquing the participants' work. Each meeting, two to three
writers will present 10 to 15 pages (maximum) to be critiqued at that
meeting. Everyone should get to present at least twice during the 12 hour
workshop.
If you have any questions, or need additional information about the class,
please feel free to contact me. Thanks!
Writing Jumpstarts (courtesy of JumpStart Jar)
JumpStart Jar: The Fantasy & Sci-Fi Edition Coming SOON!
New Characters! New Problems! New Secrets and Settings! New Complications
and Storytelling Styles! Along with new nouns, verbs, adjectives/adverbs,
and provocative phrases. All with a speculative fiction twist. Projected
Release Date: June 15th.
Pre-Order yours now at the special low price of $10.00 (plus $2.50 shipping
and handling). Or save on shipping costs and arrange to get yours at one of
Michael's upcoming classes or presentations.
Quick Topics
* Throw pillow
* Sarge
* Dog collar
* Cup of tea
* Functional
* Getting into it
* Raise the roof
* Seeking
* Snuggling
* Lazy bones
* Garlic
* Follow-up
Story Starters (Provocative Phrases)
* Don was looking for a way out...
* Sunday, I found a...
* We don't do things like that here...
* She sucked in her breath, closed her eyes, and...
* Oh no you don't!
* You have 10 minutes to get there...
Do you want more prompts? Buy a JumpStart Jar or check out the Grist for the
Muse Blog at <http://gristforthemuse.blogspot.com/>
http://gristforthemuse.blogspot.com/ every Tuesday for Topic Tuesdays and
every Friday for Provocative Phrase Fridays.
Muse Reviews
Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly by Gail Carson Levine; Collins;
2006; 176 pages
It wasn't until I was over halfway through this book when I looked it up on
Amazon to capture the info about it for my Reading List and discovered that
this is a book about writing targeted toward kids age 9 and up. And it made
perfect sense. Levine, the author of Ella Enchanted, and the Princess Tales
series, uses her own writing experiences for the various chapters and covers
many of the techniques that many writers use successfully. Like telling the
faultfinding chatter of your critic to SHUT UP, learning to use your senses
to capture the specific details of the world around you, and handling the
basics of characterization, plot, and point-of-view.
Some of the best chapters in the book deal with showing and telling (and
when to do one instead of the other), doing bad things to the characters
that you create and love, and revision.
This book features short chapters, excellent examples, lots of exercises and
good advice. I'm buying a copy of this book for my daughter, a sixth grader
and an aspiring writer, but this book is great for writers of all ages. And
always remember: "Save what you wrote."
Rating: **** (Buy on Sale/Discounted)
About Ratings: ***** -- Well Worth it at Full Retail Price; **** - Buy on
Sale/Discounted; *** - Buy Used; ** - Borrow It from the Library; * - Waste
of a Good Tree
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ABOUT THE PUBLISHER: Michael Wilson has been teaching creative writing
classes and facilitating writer's groups for more than a decade and was an
award-winning Contributing Editor for The Writer's Block at Suite101.com.
Currently, his quarterly column, Flash Writing, is featured at
www.flashquake.org <http://www.flashquake.org/> . He has a BA (with Honors)
in English from Ohio University, and has been a featured guest speaker at
the Thurber House, the Maumee Valley Writer's Conference and the Columbus
Writer's Conference. He is also the publisher and editor of Grist for the
Muse a free monthly creative writing e-newsletter. His first book: Flash
Writing: How to Write, Revise and Publish Stories Less Than 1000 Words Long,
was published in October 2004. You can get additional information about him
at <http://www.flashwriting.com/> www.flashwriting.com.
Copyright 2007 Michael L. Wilson. All rights reserved.
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