Aubergine

2012 Blogathon, here I come!

I've decided to participate in the 2012 WordCount Blogathon for the month of May.  Because I want to build my blog-post writing muscles. Because I want to strengthen my confidence in my writing voice.  Because I have a few topics I want to experiment with. And because I guess I don't have enough to do, what with the fledgling writing business, raiding a toddler and running a household.  

So you can expect to see a lot more posts around here over the next 31 days.  I hope you enjoy them, and I'd love your feedback on what you like and want to see more of.  

If you are a new reader, welcome! I'm so glad to have you here!

Book Review: You Are A Writer (So Start Acting Like One!) by Jeff Goins

When I was at Blissdom a couple of months ago I had to choose between seeing Jeff Goins speak about falling back in love with writing and a session with Tyler Merrick about working with intention.  I chose Merrick and it was a great session.  But a couple of friends who attended the Goins talk told me it was the best session of the weekend. So I was really glad to hear he had a ebook coming out, and really delighted that he sent me a copy to read and review.  And you know? It is one of the best books on writing I've read in a while.  And I've been reading about writing a lot lately.

In You Are a Writer, Goins doesn't cover craft. He doesn't suggest what topics will sell best. He doesn't roll out his long writing career and long list of editor relationships as credentials.  He writes about how his path as a writer has been hard at times, how he has had some success, but also been frustrated and burnt out.  And then he describes how he found his way out from there and how.  He writes about how the writing and publishing paradigm can - and should - be different, and how straightforward it is to shift it. At the root of it, he offers simple advice:

1. Write. A lot.

2. Write for yourself.

3. Fall (back) in love with writing.

4. Put your work out into the world consistently.

This book is a reminder to stop writing what we think others want us to say how we think they want us to say it. Instead, he recommends we find our individual voice, build a platform, and make connections with people who will help get our work in front of more people. When he did these things, he says, readers (and publishers) came to him. He believes his methods will work for others. And I have just enough experience at this game to believe he is right. 

Of course I am over-simplifying because I want you to read the book for yourself. Goins' voice is warm and encouraging.  He doesn't make promises of easy success.  He doesn't pretend that the writing life is easy or that you will get rich living it. What he offers, instead, is a encouragement to come back to your passion for writing.  A reminder that we writers write because we have something to say. We have voices and we want to leave a mark. And he suggests ways to keep our passion alive while also building a legacy.  He encourages us to believe in ourselves. To know we are writers no matter how big our audience is.  He encourages us to keep writing.

I've been struggling with the process of querying and submitting, trying to figure out what to write about and who to write for. This book's message lands in my lap at just the right time.  I chose writing as a path because I love to write.  I know I have things to say - stories to tell, experiences to share, things to teach.  But in the effort of chasing a paycheck, I'm already starting to lose confidence in my voice. 

Of course the pay is important.  I don't have a full-time job, like he did, to support me while I build a platform.  But I do have the cornerstone of a platform already in this blog.  I believe I am a good writer and I am committed to improving.  After reading this book it is clear to me that the puzzle piece I'm missing is the connections.  This is where I need to focus my energy.  But at the same time I need to keep writing.  Keep showing up at the page and exercising my voice.  I have been slipping at this habit and I miss writing for the sheer joy of words.

Thank you, Mr. Goins, for reminding me that I am a writer.  I just need to write. And keep writing.

You can find the ebook on his You Are A Writer page (in Kindle, Nook or PDF formats, but sadly not for iBooks).  He is also offering great packages that include worksheets and additional audio content and interviews along with the book. 

 *The links above are not affiliate links and I received no compensation for reviewing the book other than the opportunity to read it.

 

Reading essays

Recently I have been making a study of the essay. 

The form goes by a few names these days: creative nonfiction, personal essay, short first-person nonfiction, memoir.  I visited the library and pulled a few books that would give me a selection, such as The Art of the Personal Essay and In Brief: Short Takes on the Personal. I selected two editions of The Best American Essays, one edited by Adam Gopnik and the other by Mary Oliver.  The Mary Oliver edition, as seems appopriate considering a poet’s ability to whittle, was half the size of every other edition on the shelf.

Sometimes reading this way, critically, to learn craft, is hard on my ego.  "I will never be able to do this," I think. "I can't put words together that well, I have nothing to say, my stories are not interesting, what do I even know about writing?" 

But sometimes I read something that inspires me to shove that whole whiney voice in the closet and get out my fastest pen and my most comfortable notebook.  In the middle of an essay by Harriet Doerr called "Low Tide At Four," in In Brief, about a memory of a summer's day at the beach with her family, I found this gem of a paragraph:

"Mrs. Winfield has survived everything: her husband's death and the death of a child, earthquakes, floods, and fires, surgical operations and dental work, the accidents and occasional arrest of her grandchildren.  All these, as well as intervals of a joy so intense it can no longer be remembered." 

Essays are hard.  Or, more correctly, good essays are hard.  You have to show conflict, change, character, scene.  You have to tell your very personal story in a way that is universal.  The way I love my child has to really be the way you, my reader, love your child.  I’m not very good at it yet.

Mostly I go running at the topic, clearing the phlegm, and write my way through it.  I don’t always know what I’ve learned until I write it.  Or sometimes until after I write it three or four different ways.  I forget to show in my eagerness to tell, and I bang you over the head with my learning. 

I’m still learning to be deft, like I aspire to be.  But they say reading is the best way to write.  And so I am reading.  And reading and reading.

 

In between: The importance of refilling the creative well

I finished a writing assignment on Saturday and submitted it to my editor.  Sunday and Monday are not working days for me, so today was my first day back at the computer.  My work hours are precious - I have only 14 of them each week - so when I have childcare I usually hit the ground running and don't stop until I absoultely have to leave the keyboard.  But today I gave  myself permission to do nothing.  

For the last few days I have been dragging. I have felt emotionally and creatively drained. My courage has been iffy and I have been questioning how I spend my time and energy.  I have a scratchy throat and I long for my cozy bed.  Preferably with no squirmy toddler in it.

Back when I was a project manager of really big projects, I grew to love the in-between-project time.  After you ship and after you celebrate there is this little slip of time in which you can take a great big breath and re-fill.  Re-juice.  In that space, if you give yourself permission, you can find the most wonderful things.  New ideas.  Things you've learned but haven't had time to assimilate yet.  Epiphanies. The energy to design new processes and strategies if you need them.

So today, instead of anything that looked much like work, I caught up on all the articles I had filed away in Safari Reader.  I sat on the couch and sipped a cup of lemon tea while the cats warmed my hip.  I made a turkey and gouda sandwich and ate it sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table while I flipped through my writing notebook.  I organized my list of ideas for essays and got them all in one place.  I started a few new draft posts for this here blog.  I stopped in the middle of what I was doing to grab my camera and photograph a flower on the kitchen windowsill that was catching the afternoon sun just so.  I cleaned off my desk and paid the bills.  I sat in the sun and read a letter (on actual paper!) from a friend who lives half a world away.  I updated both of my computers with all the recent software updates. I cleared out my email inbox.

I didn't have any epiphanies this time.  But I did decide to write this post, and I did remind myself that I have lots of ideas churning. So many! I thought a bit about what kind of writing I want to do next and how I want to build my business. And I reviewed my organizational methods and decided they are working for me still.

Most importantly, though.  I feel better.  My throat is still scratchy, but I'm sitting up straighter. I'm smiling, and I'm excited to start working again.  And I still have 40 minutes until I go pick up the kid.  

Do you do this?  Do you pause between projects?  What do you do to refill your cup right after you have finished something big?

Is there anything better than this?