Linda's Blog

Three Act Novels and Howdy Friends!

Hopped back on the blog yesterday and received messages from a number of writing friends.  A shout out to writers everwhere including:  Alberta, Helen, Bev, Terry, Luke, Karen, Jen, Amanda, Joe, and Jillyn.  I love hearing from other writers!

For a little writing talk:  Was in N.Y.C. at two writing conferences recently--one in November, and another one in January.  I heard both agents and editors talk about novels in terms of acts.  The current method of discussing novel structure in N.Y.C. is to divide the novel into three acts with one major plot point coming from each act.  If you think of a novel in terms of its four parts--exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution--do some combining of these and you'll have three acts.  Act one is the exposition--or the laying out of the novel including introduction of protagonist, the central conflict, and the setting.  There is one major plot point in Act 1 that sends the rest of the novel into motion.  Generally, Act 1 is between 20 to 30% of the novel.

Act 2 is the combination of the rising action and the climax.  Obviously, this is the largest act because the rising action is a major section of the novel. The major plot point in Act 2 is the plot point that changes everything--the climax. It is not at all uncommon for Act 2 to be 50 to 60% of the novel.

Act 3 is what we would normally think of as the resolution.  This is the plot point that resolves the conflict.

I heard numerous speakers talk about novels in terms of three acts.  That's part of the new lingo amongst agents/editors in the big publishing city.  I've worked through this structural idea with my students and it becomes fairly easy to see a novel as three acts.  Might be a useful idea as we're all reviewing the structure of our novels.

 

Back Up and Rolling

Back up and rolling!  Have taken some months off the blog to begin a new writing project and have attended two writing conferences--both in N.Y.C.  Have come out of these months richer in terms of craft elements and in terms of marketing creative writing.  Deeply into a new writing project.

Before my friend and fellow writer, Tracy Hurley, passed away last year, she challenged me to read 100 YA books.  Well into that also.  As I read a YA book, I make three cards on it (5x8 cards).  One card is filed by author, one by title, and then I just number the third card to know when I've reached my goal of 100.  I keep thinking how grateful I am to Tracy for starting me on this course of reading!

Here are several of the bests:  THE HUNGER GAMES, Books 1, 2, and 3 written by Suzanne Collins are terrific!  They are dystopians--meaning after the apocalypse as opposed to utopian novels.  North America has lost a major--that should read MAJOR--war and has been divided into twelve districts under the iron-arm of the Capitol.  Conditions are brutal and children under the age of eighteen are entered in Hunger Games, which are fights to the finish--only one child remains alive at the end of the Games.  These Games are televised as reality TV.  Okay--so this doesn't sound like wonderful reading, but it is.  You can't put them down.  I've known readers who have started the series and finished a book a day--three books in three days!   THE HUNGER GAMES have been on the NEW YORK TIMES best-seller list forever!

In every book I read, I like to focus on the most significant craft element in the book.  I think in these books, tension and pacing are the two most significant craft elements.  It's the tension and the pacing that keep us turnign the pages.  Suzanne Collins is a master of creating tension in her fiction.

Readers who haven't read YA before are going to be surprised at how good some of the current YAs are.  The topics are every bit as diverse as are adult novels and every element of craft is on display just as in an adult novel--characterization, plot, setting, style, tension, pacing, figures of speech, and much more.

In the current fiction marketplace, YA is where it's at!

Glad to be up and running again.  Glad to be back!

 

MUSE OR DARK ANGEL: THE WRITING LIFE

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

This is the first announcement—the first call for submissions.  BUT, BEFORE THE ANNOUNCEMENT, let me tell everyone that this year—2010—Excalibur Press is not doing a Christmas book.  We’ve had two very successful editions of the CHRISTMAS IS A SEASON series—2008 and 2009.  We’ll take a rest from our Christmas book this year and launch something new.  Excalibur Press will be doing a collection of personal essays titled MUSE OR DARK ANGEL:  THE WRITING LIFE.  The Press would like a variety of perspectives—published authors, emerging authors, beginning authors, and unpublished would-be authors.  We’d like the perspectives of older writers, mid-life writers, and younger writers.  We’d like happy, thrilled, delighted, satisfied, disillusioned, downtrodden, downhearted, or can’t-take-it-anymore essays.  Each writer should write whatever he or she is inspired to write about the writing life.  We all know that some days in the writing life are full of good cheer, hope, and joy; others are dark and dismal.  Has the sweet muse rested upon your shoulder this year?  If so, write about it.  Has the dark angel kept a thumb in the center of your back pressing you down, down, down.  Rejections, rejections, rejections!  Write about it.

We all know that the writing life is comprised of multiple components.  For each of us that includes different elements:  reading, teaching, mentoring, editing, freelancing, studying, and, of course, writing.  An essay about any one of these or a combination of these might also be of interest to readers.  A writer might experience great joy and success in one or more of these elements, but still be receiving a plethora of rejections.  A happy/sad season.  Alas!  So—WRITE ABOUT IT!

Here are the particulars:

--Essays should be no more than 6,500 words (preferably shorter). 

--The submission deadline is January 15, 2011.  (Postmarked date.)

--More than one submissions is acceptable, but not more than two submissions.  If you have multiples, select the best two.

--Mail submissions to:

  Excalibur Press

      3090 Dauphin Square Connector

  Mobile, Alabama 36607

--e-mail address:  excaliburpress@msn.com

--web:  www.excaliburpress.us  or www.thewritinglife.us      

 

Excalibur Press will run a classified ad in POETS & WRITERS in the November/December 2010 issue, so we’re expecting a good number of submissions.  Every writer has something to say about the writing life.  Start thinking.  Start writing.  Submit!!

 

HAPPY READING AND HAPPY WRITING ON THURSDAY, JULY 29!!!       

Agents, Contracts, and Good Food for Writers!

In the current edition of POETS & WRITERS (July/August), agent Julie Barer writes an interesting piece about the seven most important clauses in a publishing contract.  A survey of these seven clauses reveals exactly why a writer needs a good agent.  Here are the seven:

1.  Terms for delivery and acceptance.  This clause is important because it states when the author must have the manuscript to the publishing company.  Advances are issued in three or four parts.  This clause states specifically when the writer will receive each part of the advance.  This clause can also specify how long the editor may take to respond to the manuscript and how much of the advance the writer must surrender if the manuscript is ultimately not acceptable to the editor.  Wow—this clause is definitely important!

2. Competitive Works:  This clause specifies when the writer can publish his/her next book and what kinds of books will be considered competitive with the book being publishing.  In other words, the writer is not allowed to compete with her own book.  That would be considered unfair to the publishing company.  But all the particulars must be worked through.

3. Terms of Publication:  This clause provides the specifics of publication and the publication process.  Examples:  When will the book come out?  Will the writer have a say in the cover design or the copy that’s used to promote the book?  Will the book come out in paperback or hardcopy?  If the book isn’t published by a specified time, will the rights revert to the author?  If the rights revert to the author, how much of the advance may the writer keep?

4.     Option:  This relates to the author’s next book.  Baer writes:  “Most publishers demand that they be given the first chance to acquire your next book.”  But there are all kinds of specifics to be considered.  Examples:  When can the writer submit the next book?  (Times vary from three months after acceptance of the first book to months after the actual publication of the book.) What is the writer allowed to submit—a proposal, sample chapters, or the complete manuscript?  How much time does the original publisher have to consider the next book before the writer is free to seek other publishers?

5. Royalties:  This clause addresses royalty rates—the percentage of money the writer receives on each copy sold (generally after deduction of the advance and other expenses).  Royalty rates can be negotiated by the agent, who should know going royalty rates for all kinds of book formats and sales—foreign sales, mass market sales, audio editions, electronic editions, hardcopy, paperbacks, etc.

6. Subsidiary Rights:  This clause is a consideration of the rights that are sold by the publisher for all kinds of other uses of the work—translations, serial rights, book-club rights, excerpt reprints, performance rights, merchandising rights, and all kinds of other rights.  The Subsidiary Rights clause determines what the publisher can sell and what percentage of the revenue goes to the writer.

7. Out of Print:  This clause specifies “how many years must go by after publication before a book can be considered out of print and through which channels and in which formats a book must be made available in order to be considered ‘in print.’”  And—if a book is “out of print,” when/how can the writer gain rights to the manuscript?

 

All of the above can be negotiated by an agent.  From the above information, it becomes apparent why a writer needs a good agent.  A first-rate agent is the author’s best business partner and strongest protector.

 

Julie Barer’s article in the July/August 2010 issue of POETS & WRITERS is excellent.  Also, Julie Barer (Barer Literary Agency) was spotlighted in POETS & WRITERS, January/February 2009.  If you’re interested in agents, you might want to take a look at that issue too!

 

After my last post in which I featured Ralph Waldo Emerson, my good friend and fellow writer, Roy Burkhead, sent an interesting comment.  His quote is taken from www.booknotes.org.  I’m going to include Roy’s comment here in its totality because it’s good food for thoughtful consumption.  Thanks, Roy!

 

Hi Linda: Cannot go wrong with anything from Emerson! Loved your selections. If you get a chance, check out the following link: http://www.booknotes.org/Program/?ProgramID=1809 I believe it was the last interview from the CSPAN Booknotes series. The book was Why Read?, by Mark Edmundson. This author had A LOT of great things to say about Emerson. From the Web site: “If religion continues to lose its hold on consequential parts of society, what can take its place in guiding souls? In this important book reconceiving the value and promise of reading, acclaimed author Edmundson dramatizes what the recent identity crisis of the humanities has effectively obscured: that reading can change your life for the better. Mark Edmundson’s Harper’s Magazine article “On the Uses of the Liberal Arts” is reported to be the most photocopied essay on college campuses over the last five years. Ruminating on his essay and the intense reaction to it, Edmundson exposes universities’ ever-growing consumerism at the expense of a challenging, life-altering liberal arts education. Edmundson encourages educators to teach students to read in a way that can change their lives for the better rather than just training and entertaining. He argues that questions about the uses of literature—what would it mean to live out of this book, to see it as a guide to life—are the central questions to ask in a literary education. Right now they are being ignored, even shunned. And if religion continues to lose its hold on consequential parts of society, what can take its place in guiding souls? Great writing, Edmundson argues. At once controversial and inspiring, this is a groundbreaking book written with the elegance and power to change the way we teach and read.”

HAPPY READING AND HAPPY WRITING SATURDAY, JULY 24, 2010!

 

 

Success--Writing and Life!!

When we attended our daughter’s graduation from the College of Business at the University of Iowa this weekend, we learned that the students all knew by heart the poem titled “Success” by Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882).”  All weekend long I heard the poem in bits and pieces.  When I got home, I looked it up.  Here it is in full.  I’m inspired by it and, like the students, I plan to read it often.  We all need to be reminded of what it means to be truly successful.

Success
To laugh often and much;
to win the respect of intelligent people
    and the affection of children;
to earn the appreciation of honest critics
    and endure the betrayal of false friends;
to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others;
to leave the world a bit better,
    whether by a healthy child,
    a garden patch
    or a redeemed social condition;
to know even one life has breathed easier
    because you have lived.
This is to have succeeded.

When locating the poem, I also found a wealth of quotes by the prolific Mr. Emerson.  He was indeed wise and witty.  Here’s a little sample.

“The glory of friendship is not in the outstretched hand, nor the kindly smile, nor the joy of companionship; it is in the spiritual inspiration that comes to one when he discovers that someone else believes in him and is willing to trust him.”

“Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.”

“A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him, I may think aloud.”

“No one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourself.”

Self-trust is the first secret to success

"What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have yet to be discovered."

"Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."

The writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson are an American treasure.  My recent review of his works delighted and inspired me.  I’m ordering at least one collection of his works—essays and poems—for my bookshelf.  I can’t wait to dig into these!!

The graduation weekend was awesome, wonderful, and auspicious—yes auspicious!!  What a delight to be in the company of young people with bright futures and loaded with energy.  I loved every minute of it.  I hope a little of their energy, purpose, drive, and desire for fun rubbed off on me.  I rubbed elbows with as many of them as I could—hoping, just hoping!!

Then—I arrived home behind on EVERYTHING.  I’ve been like Alice in ALICE AND WONDERLAND—running just to remain in place.  This weekend I should have an opportunity to catch my breath.  This is day one of regular posts.  Back to the blog!

Here’s one more of Emerson’s famous quotes:    "Hitch your wagon to a star."

Yes—“Hitch your wagon to a star!!”  HAPPY READING AND HAPPY WRITING ON

THURSDAY, JULY 22!!

 

PROUD PARENT BUTTONS & DREAMING BIG!

Tonight we're in Iowa City for the graduation of our oldest daughter from the University of Iowa MBA program--a very special program taught for ten months in Europe.  She received all the usual training any MBA student gets, but she also received special training in leadership, management, Six Sigma, Kepner Teiego, lessons in Italian, and she did an internship with a company in Italy.  She was the speaker tonight for the awards banquet--she was selected by the students as speaker.  We were so proud of her!! I loved what Bev Martin said about "proud parent buttons sometimes popping"--ours popped tonight!  Amanda was sincere, she honored everyone in the program, and she was funny--so funny!!  she put the spotlight on ALL the students in the program, not on herself.  That's exactyly where the light should have been--on everyone and Amanda let everyone shine in the light!!  So nice!!  Also, her team won the award for the top consulting team during the two semesters--they consulted for a Eurpean jet manufacturer, Super Jet, a Russian and Italian company headquartered in Venice.  Proud parent buttons popping indeed!!

One thing the Dean told the students tonight--DREAM BIG!  That's good advice for us writers too--DREAM BIG.  He also said WORK SMALL.  That is--don't overlook any of the small details.  For writers that means:  doing our research, taking time to develop our stories (fiction or non-fiction), gaining proper training in our craft, giving our work time to mellow, revising carefully, and then revising again, and yet again!!  I like both of those ideas:  DREAM BIG and WORK SMALL!

Charlotte Dixon, thanks for your comment today too.  You and I both think memoirs should be truthful!!  And, like you, I was surprised at the strength of this particular WRITER'S DIGEST issue (July/August).  I also like the interview with Yann Martel, author of LIFE OF PI (winner of the Man Booker Prize).  His latet book is titled BEATRICE & VIRGIL.  Regarding genre writers and literary writers Martel suggested that every writer has to experiment and decide what is her/his format.  Here's his quote:  "Writers have to decide where they stand in that continuum of genre-driven fiction to literary fiction, and you can do that only by playing by the rules, and then breaking the rules and seeing where you're comfortable.  Any writer will be happy and good only if they know what they're doing and why they're doing it.  You have to play around until you find somethng you're comfortable with."

I'm posting this from a small computer, so will sign off for now. 

 HAPPY READING AND HAPPY WRITING ON SATURDAY, JULY 17.

Fact or Fiction--Novel or Memoir?

In the current issue of WRITER’S DIGEST, there’s an interesting debate about how truthful a memoir must be?  Is the writer allowed to re-envision scenes?  How about creating composite characters?  Is creating dialogue allowed?  What about the creation of people and events that might have happened?  Writer Jenny Rough in her article, “Based on a True Story,” thinks all of these might be allowable.  She had a chance meeting with James Frey, author of A MILLION LITLE PIECES—you know the memoir in which Frey created events and people. The sidebar for the piece reads:  “A chance encounter with James Frey leads one writer to question the very nature of memoir.”  Frey was courteous and kind to Ms. Rough.  This chance meeting started her thinking about truth in memoir.  A MILLION LITTLE PIECES was some strange creature—maybe something like a fictionalized memoir. 

   Personally, I don’t think a memoir should be fictionalized.  I don’t think there is such a thing as a fictionalized memoir.  Memoir should be truthful.  Everyone agrees that dialogue can be re-created as long as it’s based on what the writer remembers.  We don’t expect the writer to get dialogue down word for word—but we do expect the dialogue will be rendered as truthfully as the writer can remember.  We also understand the concept of emotional truth.  If two people are part of the same event, each person will see, feel, experience the event differently.  The impact the event has on the individual writer is said to be the emotional truth.  It is this emotional truth that affects the writer’s life, affects the writer’s world view, and affects the writer’s relationships.  So—we all understand that memoir is the emotional truth, but rendered as accurately as possible.  Jenny Rough sees memoir a little differently than I see it.

   In this same issue of WD, there is also an interview with four agents about the nature of memoir and truth in memoir.  Each agent believes that memoir should be TRUE—not FICTIONALIZED!  I agree with the agents.  Here’s some good news—every one of the agents argues that there is still a strong market for memoir.  Publishers are still publishing it and readers are still reading it.

   This particular issue of WD is one of the best I’ve ever read.  Nearly every article is substantial.  There’s a fine piece on arc in memoir and fiction and another fine piece by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni on what writers learn in MFA programs.  Also, there’s news about workshops and conferences.  You might just want to pick up this issue at the newsstand if you don’t subscribe.

   I’m teaching this morning.  Got to run!!! 

   This weekend we will watch our daughter receive her diploma from the U. of Iowa international MBA program.  She’s one of the speakers!!  We’re proud parents!

   To dress and to teach.  For me, teaching is a major part of “the writing life.”

   HAPPY READING AND HAPPY WRITING THIS THURSDAY, JULY 15!

Back to the Writing Business!!

Monday mornings and we think BUSINESS, BUSINESS, BUSINESS!  Get down to it!  We’re into the work week!  Here are a few competitions to think about as the work week begins.  Almost all of these include prize money AND publication. 

--If you like to write really short stories, here’s one:  Gemini Magazine is offering a $1,000 prize for a story of no more than 1,000 words.  Deadline:  August 31.    Entry fee is $4.  Address:  Flash Fiction contest, P.O. Box 1485, Onset, MA 02558. Complete info:  www.gemini-magazine.com

--Gival Press Short Story Award.  $1,000 prize for a short story of 5,000 to 15,000 words.  Entry fee is $25.  Deadline:  August 8.  Address:  P.O. Box 3812, Arlington, VA 22203.  Complete info:  www.givalpress.com 

--Glimmer Train very short fiction award. A prize of $1,200 for a story of up to 3,000 words.  Entry fee is $15.  The story may be submitted anytime in the month of July.  That means now!  Address:  1211 NW Glisan Street, Suite 207, Portland, OR 97209.  Complete info:  www.glimmertrain.org 

--Hunger Mountain Literary Journal is offering a prize of $1,000 for a work of creative nonfiction (10,000 word limit).  $20 entry fee.  Deadline:  September 10.  Address:  Hunger Mountain, Vermont College of Fine Arts, 36 College Street, Montpelier, VT 05602.

--Literal Latté essay award is $1,000 for an essay of up to 8,000 words with a $10 entry fee.  Deadline:  September 15.  Address:  Literal Latté Essay Awards, East 10^th Street, Suite 240, New York, NY 10003.  www.literal-latte.com  

--Memoir (and) offers a prize of $500 for a memoir in the form of a short story, an essay, or a poem (this sounds interesting—three forms for a memoir).  Deadline:  August 15.  No entry fee.  Address:  Memoir (and) P.O. Box 1398, Sausalito, CA 94966-1398  www.memoirjournal.com 

--Narrative Magazine offers a prize of $4,000 for a short story, a short, short story, an essay, or an excerpt from a work of fiction or creative nonfiction.  A second prize of $1,500 is also awarded.  Word limit: 10,000 words.  Deadline:  July 31.  Entry fee: $20.  Address:  Narrative Magazine, 2130 Fillmore Street, #233, San Francisco, CA 94115.  www.narrativemagazine.com 

--Watch for the WRITER’S DIGEST prompt contests.  Too late to submit this month—deadline was July 10^th, but the prompt was interesting:  “Start your story with:  “I never would have purchased this house if I’d known that . . .”  End it with:  “That’s why tomorrow I’m setting it on fire.”  Prompts are fun!  WD publishes the winning stories.  The word limit is 750 words. 

If writing conferences and workshops are your thing, WD (current issue) has a wide variety of conference listings—conferences and workshops.  Dates are from now through early 2011 and the conferences/workshops are listed for every region in the country.  If you have some available cash and are ready to travel and to learn more about writing and the writing life, you are sure to find a conference that’s just right for you!

A few interesting tidbits:  My friend Roy Burkhead sent me this one.  Did you guys know that you can still send an old fashion telegram? Not the cheapest thing these days, but if you were every looking for an interesting, unusual alternative to a greeting card, I think it would be fun to send and receive one. anyway, the link is:  http://www.itelegram.com/    I think a real person comes to the door to deliver it. 

Here’s another one:  Did you know that designer clothes are sized differently than “regular” clothes.  Example:  In “designer” sizing, an XL has a bust size of 36½ to 37½ inches, a waist of 28½ to 29½ inches, and hips of 39½.  Bottomline—many women couldn’t fit in the designer clothes even if they could afford them!

It’s Monday.  Back to work!  GOOD READING AND GOOD WRITING!

 

Odds & Ends and Mahala Church's Junk Drawer

Here are a few odds & ends about the writing process and the writing life:

1.  People you’d never suspect are making the N.Y. TIMES best-seller list in hardcover fiction.  FICTION!  Example:  Glenn Beck led the list last week with his new book THE OVERTON WINDOW.  I did a double-take to be certain I wasn’t looking at the non-fiction list.  It’s a novel of political intrigue.

2. The second big news (at least to me) is that the number one category of book on the best-seller list is in fact political thriller, a.k.a. political intrigue.  Examples:  the Beck book just mentioned; THE LION by Nelson DeMille; THE SPY by Clive Cussler and Justin Scott; THE BOURNE OBJECTIVE by Eric Van Lustbader.

3. Outside of political thrillers, the list includes a fantasy or two—example, TIME PASSAGE by Justin Cronin. (More than a hundred years in the future, a small group resists the vampires who have taken over North America.); and FRANKENSTEIN:  LOST SOULS by Dean Koontz. (Book four in the reimagining of the classic tale.)

4. There are a couple of mystery/thrillers on the list.  WHIPLASH by Catherine Coulter.  (The F.B.I. agents Dillon Savich and Lacey Sherlock help investigate misdeeds at a pharmaceutical company.)  61 HOURS by Lee Child.  (Jack Reacher helps the police in a small South Dakota town protect a witness in a drug trial.)

5. There’s only one book that could be classified as literary/mainstream—that’s THE HELP by Kathryn Stockett.  But, here’s the really big news—it’s been on the best-seller list for 64 weeks and is still ranked at number 6!!!!!

6. The bottomline: seems to be that Americans like junk-reads in the summer.  By that, I mean—books that will not be studied in universities, books that will not be around in a decade.  It’s summer, it’s hot, and folks are looking for entertainment.  Last week’s best-seller list was dominated by entertainment.  That’s okay with me because we read for all kinds of reasons.  Like many of you, I’m an eclectic reader—meaning, I read the classics, contemporary literary fiction, mainstream fiction, and genre fiction.  But, I must admit, I was a little surprised last Sunday at the dominance of genre fiction!!

7. I’m teaching a course on plots & storylines this summer at the U. of South Alabama.  I’m again reminded that if a writer knows the inciting incident, the climax, and something about the close, a novel is definitely in the works!!  Wouldn’t it be lovely to know those things about a book BEFORE starting on a project.  Most of us must discover them in the process of writing.  Alas!!

Now, after my hodge-podge of an odds & ends list, here’s a great piece by Mahala Church titled THE JUNK DRAWER.  I should have said a GREAT PIECE.  I really enjoyed this one!!  And—odds & end lists and junk drawers seem to go together.  Many thanks, Mahala, for sharing this!! 

THE JUNK DRAWER

By Mahala Church

 “Why in the Sam Hill don’t we empty this drawer?” My husband shouts, jerking the drawer handle.  “The damn thing is stuck again!”  He grabs the handle with an iron will, braces his feet, and bends his knees.  His back bent into the job, he gives the drawer a Herculean jerk.  It breaks free and my husband catapults backwards through the air.  I duck as the contents of our just-in-case drawer are flung all over the kitchen.

“What a mess,” I whine, staring around the room.

“I’m fine, thank you,” my husband gasps, flat on his back on the kitchen floor.  “This is the perfect time to throw all this junk away and start over.”  Catching his breath, he picks buttons, twist ties, and loose matches off his chest.

“No way,” I say.  “This is valuable stuff.”  I grab a loose thumbtack from his belly-button before he sits up.  I gather the bits of string, loose screws, candle stubs, and a Barbie barrette from the floor.  “You never know when you might need one of these.  Look, here’s the button to your blue suit.  Now I can fix it.”

My husband shakes his head and pulls himself up.  “I don’t believe you.  No one else keeps this kind of mess in their kitchen.”

But he’s mistaken.  Almost everyone has a junk drawer, and it’s usually in the kitchen.  I call ours the just-in-case drawer. It holds that odd piece of string just-in-case you need to tie a cover on a jar, the loose safety pins just-in-case you need to save your dignity, the stubby ends of pencils just-in-case you can’t find one when you’re playing Pictionary.  It’s the most important drawer in our home.

Those various pieces of junk as my husband calls them are integral to my peace of mind on par with the odds and ends of people I seem to collect.  However, unlike the disparate values I place on my extended family, friends, and business associates, everything in the junk drawer is of equal value.  From time to time I have been known to do the unthinkable and erase a name from my address book, but I rarely ever, and I mean ever, throw away something from our just-in-case drawer.  Those things are too rare, too precious.  One of them might be the very thing I’m frantically looking for one day—the small screw to fix a toy and stop a torrent of tears, the last drop of glue to secure my favorite angel’s wing, the key to open the cellar door that my two-year-old nephew locked with himself inside—the one that hadn’t been locked in over twenty years.

I figure ten years with no contact makes it fairly safe to erase a name from my address book, yet I always feel a little uneasy as I place the eraser over the paper.  So what if I can’t remember who they are?  Is it impractical to erase them from existence in my world?  Even worse, is it immoral?  What if my address book is the link to someone finding their long lost mother or father?  I worry about things like that.  And that paranoia carries over to my junk drawer.

To clean out the drawer just isn’t natural.  The things in there have a mystical quality.  A curse might descend on my house because I tossed away something of real value. My husband may cast aspersions at me today, but I can just hear him if I threw away one of the candle stubs in the drawer.  I was saving that in case of a tsunami.  But we live in Colorado I’d tell him. He wouldn’t care. The candle stub is indicative of something important— a sacred trust between man and his personal belongings.

HAPPY READING AND HAPPY WRITING ON THIS FRIDAY, JULY 9, 2010

 

A TIME BUDGET FOR WRITERS!

Just like the government runs on a budget (or theoretically does) and every household runs on a budget, a writer also has to budget.  We budget TIME more cautiously than money.  There are so many things (I can’t think of a better word than things.) screaming for our TIME.   To name just a few:  WORK (Many of us work part-time or full-time.  I know a few writers who have two jobs!)  FAMILY (immediate family and extended family); HOUSEHOD CHORES (no need to list those—we know them all too well!); EXERCISE AND OTHERWISE GENERALLY TAKING CARE OF OURSELVES (This is so easy to neglect!);RELATIONSHIPS (Life is full and rich only when we have strong relationships.). 

    After all these basics are the optional things.  I know many writers who post on facebook at least three or four times every day.   Others twitter throughout the day.  Some release a newsletter once or twice a month.  I post regularly on my blog—many other writers do the same.  We all feel a need to communicate with readers and fellow writers.

    Then, there is the reading.   We can’t be good writers unless we are good readers.  This is a fact!  So, we budget reading time.  Our reading is frequently eclectic.  In my own case, I read all kinds of fiction—literary novels, both classic and contemporary, historical fiction, contemporary mainstream fiction, genre fiction, memoir, biographies, and books on craft.  Occasionally, I read self-help and inspirational books.  I also read magazines:  POETS & WRITERS, WRITER’S DIGEST, THE WRITER, THE NEW YORKER, THE SUNDAY BOOK REVIEW SECTION OF THE NEW YORK TIMES, NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS, and A NUMBER OF LITERARY JOURNALS.  Always, always, always there are writers I haven’t read or haven’t even heard about—so, I add new writers to my list.  I read hardcopy and I listen to unabridged recorded books.  Writers read, and I probably don’t budget enough time for this—don’t know about you.

    Then, many writers spend much time considering how to promote their books if/when they are published.  Here’s where I cut corners.  I neither read nor study much of the promotional stuff.  I’ve cut that out of my budget.  My reasoning is that when I have a new book out, THEN I’ll begin to consider promotion and my publishing company will assist me in doing that.  But, at least several times every week (sometimes four or five times a week) I get newsletters or e-mails from fellow writers about techniques for promoting one’s self or one’s book.  I know all of this is good.  Every writer has to do it!  No way around the promotion game.  But, I’ve had to cut the promotion stuff out of my budget for now.  I had to cut somewhere and that seemed the proper place. 

    Then, there are choices to make about our writing.  Do we work on one project at a time or do we work on two or three at a time?  How do we divide our time between/amongst freelance work, short stories, poetry, novels, memoirs, and other non-fiction?  Do we work best in the mornings, afternoons, or evenings?  Do we devote weekends to our writing or use that as a time to recoup and refuel for the week ahead? 

    This I do know—a writer needs to schedule TIME TO WRITE.  I know some writers who schedule six hours every day to write.  Others who schedule two.  Here’s the thing—it’s so easy to confuse all the other stuff with writing—maintaining our blogs, posting on twitter and facebook, absorbing information about self and book promotions, reading, spending time with fellow writers.  These are all good things—but they aren’t writing!!  I have to remind myself all the time.  THESE THINGS ARE NOT WRITING! 

    Today I’m thinking CHECK THE BUDGET!  Do I have enough time for writing or have all the other things crowded out my writing time?  CHECK THE BUDGET AND DON’T CHEAT MYSELF—SCHEDULE REAL TIME TO WRITE!

*****Reminder:  in July the WRITERS’ BOOK CLUB IS DOING AN EASY BEACH READ—JOHN GRISHAM’S THE RAINMAKER.  WE’RE ALSO WATCHING THE MOVIE!  SOMETHING FUN FOR JULY!  We’ll begin discussion about the 15^th or so.

 

Meanwhile:  HAPPY READING AND HAPPY WRITING!!!!