I don’t know why, but when I woke up this morning, I was pondering this question:
If you could break one rule (once or on a regular basis) and suffer no consequences from it, what rule would you break?
I wish I could break the rules of logic whenever necessary.
This was the day I’ve been waiting for since November – the day when I could get serious about the new book. I’ve been kicking around ideas for the characters and plot all these months, but I needed to a) get some distance from the writing of PROM, b) finish my non-fiction picture book, and c) get through all the travel and school visits scheduled for the spring.
So… Mer left for school, I got out all my notes, sat down, opened the word processing file and..
nothing.
Squat. Diddly. No inspiration. No voices. No ideas. All my notes? Worthless.
Writing can be a scary beast to slay.
But I’ve done this a couple times before and I’ve learned a few tricks. After two hours staring at the blank screen (my eyes felt like they were bleeding), I turned off the computer, put on my sneakers and iPod, grabbed a notebook and headed out the door.
It took about a quarter-mile, but then the voices kicked in. I could hear him, my Main Character. I saw the bits of the original opening scene I wanted to use, and what bits were misleading and useless. I walked for a couple hours, stopping whenever necessary to take notes. I spent the rest of the morning and afternoon turning the rough notes into rough chapters and now I feel like I found the door into the story. I surpassed the day’s writing goal and I have plenty of hours left for the other work stuff that piled up.
When writing doesn’t make you feel like screaming, it can be fun.
Mother’s Day + blueberry pancakes + people I love = bliss.
Every author I know belongs to some kind of writer’s group. I love mine.
It took me three tries to find the group that was right for me. The first group I joined was mixed – some people writing for adults and a few writing for kids. That didn’t work for me. The second group was all people writing for kids, but there was some personality conflicts so I quit that one, too. The third time was the charm.
The group I joined had been in existence for a few years before I came along. We all write for kids and teenagers. Over the years some members have moved away and new members have been invited to join. The current size – 10 members – seems to be perfect.
Here are some of us. Here is the link to their websites.
We meet once a month at the public library. Because life sometimes gets in the way, we usually have 8 or so present. Our meetings run from 9:30-12:30, usually. Then those of us who can hang around go out to lunch together. We rotate the position of “group leader”. (Nobody like doing it much.) The group leader checks in with the others ahead of time to get a head count, and arrives at the library first. She passes an agenda sheet. On the sheet we each write down if we’ve brought something to read, and/or if we’d like to talk to the group about a writing or publishing issue.
We do not pass out manuscripts ahead of time. You bring enough copies of whatever you want to share so that each person gets a copy to mark up. (The page limit is 10 pages. Picture book writers bring an entire manuscript, poets bring a handful of poems, novelists will bring a chapter.) Once the copies have been distributed, the author reads her work out loud. If there is a specific type of commentary she’s looking for, she’ll mention that. (For example, the author might just be testing a new voice, or she’s struggling with some dialog, or she’s ready to submit the mss. and wants us to go over it with a fine tooth comb.) When she’s done reading, we take a few quiet minutes to write notes, then we go around the table and say what we think.
Our comments tend to fall in one of two categories: positive feedback, and places in the manuscript where we were confused, or where the quality of the writing doesn’t seem as high. Sometimes we can get lively debates going, when two readers have vastly different opinions of something. The author might ask questions of the critiquers, but we try not to “defend” our work. If you are busy defending what you’ve written, you can’t hear what people are saying. The group leader keeps an eye on the clock so everyone’s manuscript gets the same amount of time and attention.
I’ve been attending this group for almost ten years. I’ve never heard any unkind or unprofessional comments. We have an incredible atmosphere of trust and respect. If you don’t have that in your writer’s group, I can’t imagine why you’d bother attending. In addition to critiquing manuscripts, we’ve attended conferences together, sometimes spoken on panels together, and we often share books. Sometimes two or three of us will get together outside of group to catch up or read a longer piece. Those of us who write novels never bring the whole thing to group, but usually one or two people will volunteer to read it before it is submitted.
Equally important, or perhaps more important, are the friendships that our group has formed. We’ve been through marriages, divorces, moves, births of children, graduations, deaths, good reviews, bad reviews, no reviews, medical problems, medical triumphs, and yes, the publication of quite a few books. We celebrate together and we cry together. These women are my friends and I’m not sure how I would have gotten through the last decade without them.
One more note. Many members of our group belong to other writer’s groups. Some belong to a total of three, and attend three meetings a month. I don’t do that, but I know it works well for the women who do.
I think that about covers it. Any questions?
With today’s elementary school visit done, I officially have only one more school visit during this “season” (on the 16th). So it makes sense that I had a long chat with Sarah, Scheduling Goddess, last night. Sarah is in the incredibly nice person who handles all the inquires from people who want me to speak at their conference or school. We have a couple of conferences confirmed for the fall, and now we’re nailing down inquiries from schools.
So here’s the thing. It looks like I’ll be in the Boston area from 10/31/05 – 11/4/05. If you are interested in having me speak at your school or library in or around Boston that week, let’s see if we can make it happen.
Step 1: carefully read through my information page. That gives details about my presentations, fees, requirements, etc.
Step 2: talk to your boss-type people who have to give permission.
Step 3: email Sarah: henrysa78@yahoo.com. She takes care of everything from there.
My favorite moment after today’s school visit was when I pulled out my day planner and wrote “Writing Day” on most of the remaining days in May. I can’t wait to get started on the new book. My stomach is getting squiggly (it always does this) and I am scared (I always am) and totally stoked. I won’t be giving details about the plot or characters here in LJ-land as I’m working on it, but I’ll be letting you know where I am in the writing process and how it’s going – or not going.
My next favorite moment will be in another hour or so when my BH walks in the door. Haven’t seen him in two weeks. Miss him something awful!!!
I’ll post the details about my writer’s group and the way we critique tomorrow.