Just For Fun

Post by Kerrie

Laughter can do so much for us. It improves our mood, it releases endorphins and it changes our outlook on life. For my entry today, I want to share with you some posts that made me laugh. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.


6 "You Must Be a Writer" Moments
Michelle Mach shares 6 anecdotes from 6 of her favorite writing books.

Believable Fiction
Tricia Sutton shares how truth can be stranger than fiction.

SlushPile Hell
A grumpy agent wades through query fails.

Writing Naked
Jenny Sundstedt steps out of her comfort zone and into her birthday suit.

Hell and Handbaskets
Cheryl Thurston mourns the loss of "en."

Writing Film Presents: Amazon Reader Reviews
Great video by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Which one is your favorite?

Could You Repeat That?

post by Jennifer Carter


A couple of months ago when I quit my "real" job, I went from sitting at someone else's desk, and quite frankly not working very hard, to sitting at my own desk and putting in my own "real" hours. I had some freelance proofreading projects coming in, but I also knew at the time I would need a back-up plan, which came in the form of an online medical transcription course. So for the past two months when I haven't been proofreading, I've been studying.

When I got into it, I didn't see much of a connection between it and my writing, other than typing fast, but the more time I have spent with it, the more I see how it is actually quite relevant. And timely. Not only have I had a lot of fun expanding my vocabulary and learning things about the human body I didn't even know were possible, the brief glimpses into life that come as a snapshot with each case are inspiring in themselves.

I'm to the point in my training where I'm typing actual reports for practice. All names, places, and dates are covered over with beeps so I have no idea where these have come from, and the training provider has made a point of using recordings from a variety of regional and ethnic accents, which can be extremely difficult.

Take, for example, one of my new arch enemies--the Australian doctor who I can only assume is talking with the tape recorder in his armpit and a koala bear in his mouth, nevermind the accent. What I can only make out as "Ma sinks fur BEEEEP" turns out to be "Many thanks for referring so and so." Seems quite simple after the fact, once I see the answer key. If I go back and listen again I can grudgingly acknowledge maybe he did say that. Maybe.

My frustrations with this doctor happened to coincide with my own submission of a short story to my critique groups. My story's subtle nuances seemed so clear and obvious to me, but pretty consistently, 80-90% of readers "didn't get it." I was humbled.

I believe in the advice I received somewhere down the road years ago--never, ever confuse the reader! My story felt good to write, but I clearly had more work to do. I would hate to think my overly subtle nuances would have the same effect on readers as the Australian doctor's recordings have had on me. In a way then, I guess I can learn from him. Even though he probably doesn't consider me to be the most important part of his job when he's talking into the recorder, it would be really nice if he did and then enunciated a little more clearly. Part of the "ripening" of my stories is making sure I am not confusing, and therefore alienating, those who have taken the time to read them. They shouldn't have to have an answer key to get the point, thus, the lesson I took from that experience is that subtlety is great, but I would rather be understood.

Have you ever written a piece that inspired mass confusion? How did you learn from it?

Say Cheese!

Post by Jenny

When my sons ask me what superpower I’d like to have, I often choose invisibility. Going forth unseen into the world appeals to both my private nature and my complete lack of fashion sense. (And who wouldn’t want to sneak into a movie or two?) So when NCW director Kerrie Flanagan asked me for a photo of myself for The Writing Bug, I cringed. I balked. I procrastinated. Finally, when I could put her off no longer, I asked my husband for help.

Armed with the trusty point-and-shoot, my patient spouse faithfully captured my range of forced smiles, including Acid Reflux, There’s a Spider in My Hair, Sitting on a Tack, What Smells Bad?, and the always-popular Take the *&^%$#@ Picture Already! I chose the best of the bunch—Waiting for a Root Canal—emailed it to Kerrie, and dreaded the day she would post it on the blog for all to see.

That day never came. Instead, Kerrie informed the blog team that she had decided to hire a photographer to take our head shots. Yes, that’s right. My picture was so bad, Kerrie was forced to bring in a professional.

On head shot day at the NCW studio, our friendly photographer made the process as quick and painless as possible—although when he told me he wanted ‘bright eyes,’ I had no idea how I might accomplish such a thing. (I’m sure my resulting eyebrow spasm wasn’t exactly what he had in mind.) As I was leaving, I ran into fellow bloggers Jennifer C. (such thick hair!) and Brooke (so nicely dressed!). Then I went home and made a pan of brownies—after stopping by Target for some volumizing conditioner.

Over the years, I’ve given much thought to what it means to own my writer’s voice. I’ve come a long way in accepting—even celebrating—that my voice is not perfect but is uniquely mine. I was surprised, however, at how uncomfortable I felt applying the same acceptance to my writer’s face. But being challenged in this small, admittedly neurotic, way is a good reminder to keep challenging myself in my writing, as well. And thank you, Kerrie, for giving me the opportunity to get my voice—and my reluctant, albeit professionally photographed, face—out into the blogosphere.

How do you feel about putting your writer’s face out there? Or do you prefer to use a picture of your cat?

**Click on "About Jenny" at the top of the page to see Jenny's picture. Personally, I think the picture looks great. ~Kerrie

This Week in the Writing World...June 25

by Brooke Favero
If you weren't inspired by the USA World Cup match against Algeria then maybe Pimp My Novel will inspire you to keep writing. Michele Corriel thinks failure is a good thing and Seekerville says your reversal of destiny just might be around the corner.

Cutting a Deal
Pimp My Novel talks advances. Stroppy Author demystifies advances and royalties in a publishing contract. SFWA asks are agents underpaid? PubRants defines joint accounting in a multi-book deal and the one-book deal.

Querying

Guide to Literary Agents lists the five stages of querying. Nathan Bransford critiques a query--his red-line is helpful. Moonrat stresses the importance of your first page. Rachelle Gardner gives the short-and-sweet on getting published.

Crafting

Jennifer Crusie gives your plot structure and Combreviations thinks literary fiction can and should have a plot. KT Literary asks if your characters have plot armor? Harry Potter did. TalkToYoUniverse recommends your characters should have inherent contradictions. Scott Eagan asks are your characters acting normal? Kidlit illustrates good telling and says you should stimulate first, then react (especially when introducing characters). Janice Hardy gives tips to remove the tell. Cheryl Klein addresses semicolons. Chip MacGregor lists 10 editing errors and gives tips on making the most out a critique group.

New Agent

Rob Daniel of Andrea Hurst & Associates.

Does your book need Re-Vamp? And if you didn't see this on PubRants last week, then check out my new BFF: sassy gay friend. When he can talk Ophelia down, well, that's just skills.

Nathan Bransford also posted an interesting poll this week: are you reading or writing more? Last I saw, most were reading. Are you reading or writing more? And what are you reading?

I'm definitely reading more. What I'm reading: the blogs, Puppies for Dummies, The Knight of Maison Rouge by Dumas, and The Ranger's Apprentice Book 2: The Burning Bridge by Flanagan. I know, I need to read Kerrie's post on writing a page a day again.

The Perks of Being a Hollywood +1

Post by Trai

One of the perks of working in Hollywood as a young person was, well, the perks. By which I mean, all the ancillary goodies that come with being a member of that wildly underpaid, highly ambitious brat pack, Young Hollywood. I could barely make rent when I first got started, but boy howdy, did I have a great lifestyle. House parties, wrap parties, premiere parties, tickets to free movies, charity concerts, Academy screeners (essentially free DVDs of award contenders), director’s panels, writers’ presentations, books based on the movie based on the book, holiday gift baskets because your boss likes white wine and it only had red wine… we had access to the glamorous life, and we got it all for free.

Most bosses in Hollywood were already bored to tears with the perks, but darn it, those party invites just keep coming. Especially when you had a development deal with a studio; they expect all their producers to come to all their premieres. A good boss passed on those invites and went home to hang out with his kids. Or, when a movie threw its wrap party, every single person who worked on it received an invite. Of course the only people who were important were the “above the line” personnel (the director, producers and biggest stars), but the folks who did clearances for legal or location scouted were invited to. And those folks got a +1.

I was forever a +1, and I was never without a +1. It was better for a young development executive to not have a significant other (as I didn’t at the time). That’s because you could barter your +1’s. For example, a friend of mine at Disney took me to the “Armageddon” wrap party where I got to see Bruce Willis and Jerry Bruckheimer sit on roped-off couches in the middle of the dance floor, creating a sort of VIP section that only the prettiest, youngest girls could access. And there seemed to be an inordinate amount of them for a wrap party.

Then the clock struck midnight and the stream of “talent” headed for the door. It was a mass exodus, a migration of the hottest starlets in Hollywood. The power players pleaded, but these girls were gone. Where? Why? My friend and I had to ask a junior studio executive for answers: the girls had been hired for three hours to make sure the stars didn’t have to spend their evening looking at the very average, very un-PYT crew. Now that the girls had been paid, they were off to their own parties.

In exchange for that very fun night, I made my Disney friend my +1 for the “Star Trek: Next Generation: First Contact” premiere. We both got weak in the knees when Jean Luc walked by at the after-party. They’d taken some space down the road from Grauman’s Chinese Theater and decked it out like a Borg ship. You read that right: the entire party was on a Borg ship. Even the wait staff was dressed as Borgs.

There were two highlights of that night: I got to stand right next to Alfre Woodard, who is a personal hero of mine. She’s almost unfathomably short, and just as gorgeous. The second was running in to a young man I’d gone on a single date with. He had turned out to be the kind of guy Hollywood is full of: only interested if you could help get their script read. When I told him I couldn’t (I was just the assistant to a talent agent at that time – not even a literary agent), he left after drinks.

By the time I attended that Star Trek party years later, I’d worked my way up to Director of Development. He’d worked his way up to serving me a drink at the bar.

Cheers!
Trai

Sunshine Shouldn't Stop Us

Post by Kerrie

I should move to Seattle! I love to write when it is raining outside. A freshly steeped cup of Jasmine tea next me, a candle burning brightly and the pitter patter of the rain on the windows and roof stirs up my creative muse. My words flow and time becomes irrelevant.

Well, the issue for me is I don't live in Seattle, I live in Colorado where we average 300 days of sunshine a year. The blue sky, fresh air and mountains frequently try to lure me away from computer to come out and play.

At our Northern Colorado Writers coffee yesterday this very issue came up. How do you stay motivated to write during the summer? Some ideas were thrown around like take your writing outside, spend more time reading, allow yourself some extra time to be outside...

Then someone said it shouldn't matter. It shouldn't matter what the weather is like or what time of year it is. If you are committed to your writing then you will stick with your routine and write. You will make the time to crank out those words and prioritize your writing.

It was hard to argue with that logic and no one did. The truth is, this is the advice given by many famous authors like Stephen King, John Grisham and Janet Evanovich; if you want to be a writer than you need to write every day.

So maybe what we need to do as writers is take the inscription that hangs in a New York City post office, "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds" adapt it for us and hang it by our workspace. "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these writer from the swift completion of their work in progress."

How much time do you devote to your writing and how do you stay committed to that time?


~Kerrie

Linguistic Responsibility

post by Jennifer Carter

In college I was always intrigued by the idea of linguistics. Webster defines it simply as the study of human speech including the units, nature, structure, and modification of language.

When I think of it though, I do so more in terms of linguistic anthropology, and the way language is so much a part of culture. But which came first, the language or the culture? On the one hand we manipulate or modify our language to suit our needs and change with society. On the other, language can limit our accounts of experience because we only know so many words.

Then there's the matter of dialect--presumably the same language but with differences so pronounced it becomes a thing of its own, seemingly derived from the landscape. It's a beautiful thing, I think, to picture the globe and turn the sound up on the thousands of languages and dialects spoken every day in cultures so different from ours.

As a new writer I struggle often with that daunting task of "finding my voice." But as I picture that global view and begin to zoom back in on my own country, state, city, house, and writing chair, I start to feel like finding my voice is not so much a hurdle I have to cross as a writer, but a responsibility. It's a responsibility to use the language I inherited and tell stories so that (hopefully) others can read them, both while I'm here and after I'm gone.

How long did it take to find your voice? And how did you know you'd found it?

Summer Reading and Eating

Post by Jenny

When I saw that summer was due to arrive on a Monday, I considered writing a post about the passage of time and the rhythms of the seasons—something deep and solstice-y. But school is out, the pools are open, and what I really have on my mind these days is summer reading…and summer eating.

The past winter in Northern Colorado wasn’t the worst on record, but it did linger longer than necessary. Finally, we have traded our snowboots for flip-flops and our minestrones for gazpachos. And for many of us, lighter, spicier, fresher, and juicier describe not only our summer eats, but our summer reads, as well. (Confession time: I started my summer reading with D-list Diva Kathy Griffin’s book, Official Book Club Selection. It had all of the aforementioned qualities, and then some.)

As a kid, I had my nose in a book all summer long. I have less time for that now, but I still try make a dent in my to-be-read stack, even if I have to do it a little at a time—at the dentist’s office, waiting for my sons’ baseball games to start, during the washer’s spin cycle. I’d love to know what you’re reading this summer, and where you’re reading it. A cozy mystery in a cabin, YA on the beach, a romance in Paris…? For extra fun, give a mention to your favorite summer food or beverage.

Speaking of food, summer is the perfect time to eat locally. Farmers markets are already overflowing with delicious seasonal offerings. Visit the markets often, talk to the people who oversee food production from start to finish, and I guarantee you’ll come away with a new appreciation of their hard work and dedication. While you’re at it, do the same with local authors. Seek out their books, attend their booksignings, talk to them. Rumor has it that published authors are actually real people who enjoy meeting their readers. Finally, take time to shop the small bookstores in your area—many sell both new and used books—and make some new discoveries.

And don’t forget about every booklover’s best friend, the library. The Poudre River Public Library District in my town offers summer reading programs for kids, teens, and adults. It’s a wonderful way to encourage the whole family to read—and maybe even win some prizes.

Happy Summer! Have a great season of reading and eating.

This Week in the Writing World...June 18

by Brooke Favero

It's Friday. Are you feeling it? I'm feeling it. Here are some links to get you through the weekend.

Inspiring your Quill

Should you write from your heart or follow trends? "Both," says Rachelle Gardner. Chip MacGregor thinks you need to be a triple threat of concept, craft, and creation to be published. Authoress asks if you've made writing your career? At Bookends, Christie Craig lists 5 bits of advice she's glad she didn't take.

Querying & Publishing

KT Literary lets you peak behind the curtain of how she evaluates queries. What I learned: know the agents you're querying. Guide to Literary Agents posts an agent Q&A about conferences. The Creative Penn gives tips for choosing the best book cover designer. BookEnds leads an interesting discuss on what works for social networking. Karen Gowen shares the secret to being published.

Crafting

Janice Hardy gives tips for self-editing using the find command. Nina Hess offers a recovery plan for over-writing. TalkToYoUniverse examines the meaning of names. The Blood Red Pencil fixes deep POV mistakes. Cheryl Klein helps with punctuation. The Plot Whisperer offers a trick for showing character emotion. Wordplay avoids info dumps in dialogue. C. Patrick Schulze looks at the emotional side of setting. And Seekerville helps deepen your plot.

New Agents

Amanda Luedeke of MacGregor Literary.

Are minotaurs the new vampire? And Stir Your Tea offers 50 query tricks every writer should try...Have you committed any of these querying sins?

I'm guilty of #27. I was a newbie to querying and had read that starting with a rhetorical question was a good idea. I know. Swine advice.

The Measure of Success

Post by Trai

A student asked me the other day, in a sort of hushed voice, why I’d left Hollywood. There seemed to be some sense that it would be a sensitive subject, and she needed to take care not to dig at old wounds. I think there is an idea that when people walk away from the site of a dream, there is attached to it a sense of failure or incompletion, and therefore a need to grieve.

I assured her there was no reason to whisper about my defection. I’d needed a change of pace; I wanted to get back to novel-writing and could get more support elsewhere. It didn’t mean I’d stopped screenwriting, or stopped loving screenwriting, or would ever stop someone else from falling deeply, madly in love with it.

My entire goal as a writer, a producer, a development executive, and as a teacher is to facilitate others’ storytelling. I love writing. I love it to bits and bits and next to that, I love nothing more than when another writer has a breakthrough and throws down something so sensational it makes the hair on my arms stand to attention.

LA has plenty of people to teach screenwriting, and we all teach each other. Northern Colorado doesn’t have the same support structure, the same resources. Living here has given me the unique opportunity to bring what I love to a whole new audience -- the next round of screenwriters. There was a time when the old wife’s tale was that screenwriting could only be done successfully in LA. Now everyone has access to the tools to break in from anywhere in the world. Anywhere. Even Ft. Collins, Colorado.

I told my student that the only thing any of us need ever grieve is giving up or, just the opposite -- setting impossible expectations. Telling ourselves that if we’re not on the NY Times Bestsellers List, then we aren’t successful is just as damaging as quitting. I mean, that’s some measure of success! There are only 100 spots up there, and Stephanie Myer has six of them.

There are all levels of success in this world. Take, for example, a baseball player who played in the minors but never made it to the majors. He might have that ping of sadness every once and again, but more importantly is this: he got to do what he loved. Or, take a filmmaker who’s made his movie, but never gets distribution. Is he a failure for not having made $150 million on opening weekend? Or did he win because he accomplished the creative feat he set out to do?


I love what I do, whether I ever get to see my own work on the big screen, or “only” have the pleasure of helping one of my friends, students or clients secure an agent, get a deal, go to Sundance, premiere at Grauman’s Chinese Theater or… make it to the NY Times Bestsellers List.

The point is this: we’re all hoping for that flash of success that tells us we’re really, truly writers and that we shouldn’t just give up and walk away.

And my answer is this: if you’re writing, you’re already successful.
What do you think?
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If you’re curious about Screenwriting and live in Northern Colorado, I’m teaching a 14-week advanced class beginning July 14th, and a Beginning Screenwriting class at Front Range Community College beginning January 2011. Let me know if you’re interested.

Top 10 List: You Know You Are a Writer When...

Post by Kerrie

10. You know you are a writer when it is impossible for you to read a book without a red pen in hand, so you can edit the already published and edited book.

9. You know you are a writer when you go to set the table and you find ideas you had jotted down on a napkin—a cloth napkin.

8. You know you are a writer when you dread facing the blank computer screen so much that you you’d rather pick the grime out of your stove with a toothpick, then sit down and start writing.

7. You know you are a writer when you get an email from an editor or agent in your inbox and you act like you are watching a horror movie and close your eyes, click open, then put your hands in front of your face and slowly spread your fingers out just enough so there is a tiny opening to read the email.

6. You know you are a writer when you find yourself saying, “Gee Beth, I’m sorry your dog died in that freak accident, can I write a story about it?”

5. You know you are a writer when you move your bed into the dining room and your computer into your bedroom, so you can claim your bedroom as a home office on your taxes.

4. You know you are a writer when you eagerly anticipate the release of the new Writers Markets and then when you do get it, you reverently place it next to the family bible.

3. You know you are a writer when you become so engrossed in your writing that you constantly embarrass your children because you’re still in your pajamas when you pick them up from school.

2. You know you are a writer when your fictional characters become so real that you start adding them to your prayer list.

1. You know you are a writer when you walk into your bedroom at night and your spouse has set the mood-candles, music- for a romantic evening and you say, “Not tonight honey, I am on a roll and I’ve got to keep writing!”

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HUMOR BLOG CARNIVAL CALL OUT

I am looking for humor blog posts about writing (doesn't have to be in a 10 ten list format, it just has to be funny.). The carnival will run on Wednesday June 30. Send me your links by June 25th. 

Please include: 1 sentence about the post, your name and the permalink to that post. Send to kerrie[at]NorthernColoradoWriters.com

The Ambitious Legume

post by Jennifer Carter

It’s funny Jenny S. mentioned my staring at peas, because not only have I been staring at peas lately, but also I’ve been spending a lot of time marveling at peanuts.

Our neighbor keeps a 50 lb bag of them in her yard, which keeps the squirrels in our yard very happy. They especially love it when I till up our garden beds every spring because it makes their treasure-burying so much easier. In fact, they’re so anxious to hide something in fresh dirt that they’ll sit on the fence and watch me while I turn over the soil, their little hands folded pensively at their chests, as if asking me to step inside so they can have a moment.

Our neighbor must have switched from roasted to raw peanuts, because this year when I was prepping the tomato beds, I pulled up what I thought was a weed, only to find it was growing out of a peanut shell. Like Jenny S., I have a profound respect for the potential a seed holds. And here was this peanut, growing perfectly well in my garden. I couldn’t bring myself to kill it. Besides, I have a theory that if I keep legumes growing around my tomatoes then I won’t have to fertilize.

The novelty of the peanut plant has worn off just a tad, as they’re now growing here and there in all of my garden beds, and even in my little half-barrel planters. I read up on them and supposedly they need six months of warm weather to produce more peanuts, so I let them grow knowing they most likely will not make it to a harvest.

I think that some of my writing ideas are like these little peanuts. Even when I let them germinate and sprout, take root and grow like they mean it—sometimes they just aren’t meant to make it to fruition. And that’s ok. Because those ideas that aren’t quite fully matured are like what farmers call green manure—plants grown just to be turned back into the soil as fertilizer for the next crop. It’s all practice, and it all counts. Just because it’s not published, and even if nobody else ever reads it, it’s not wasted. Its function is to make future writing healthier and richer.

Growing Ideas

Post by Jenny

NCW blogger Jennifer C., aka the Girl Who Waits for Peas, recently posted about gardening and writing. Since then, I’ve been watching my garden grow and thinking about the common ground, if you will, shared by gardening and writing. No doubt because it is spring, I keep coming back to the theme of ‘germination.’ (In autumn, I’ll probably wax on about fruition or harvest or the like.)

Seeds fascinate me. Popped from a pod or plucked from a paper packet, a dried seed shows no more apparent potential than a pebble. (Do I get extra points for alliteration?) That a tiny, shriveled seed can develop into a lush plant capable of bearing its own veggies, fruits, or flowers—which then produce even more seeds—is one of nature’s amazing feats.

Not all seeds find their future homes in the same way. Some, as the saying goes, don’t fall far from the tree. Others are borne aloft by the breeze, delivered air-mail by birds, snagged into animal fur, or passed through a digestive tract before being deposited elsewhere. If the conditions are right, the seed will absorb water, burst out of its coat, and head for the light. For me, one of the best parts of spring is tucking a seed into its garden bed, giving it what it requires, and waiting for the curve of its swan’s neck to push up through the dirt.

Ideas are born in much the same way. Somehow, a seed gets planted. Oftentimes, it’s intentional—I’ll hear something interesting or quirky and think it would make a great story. But other times, an idea drifts in from who knows where and settles in my brain. Like a seed, it undergoes a period of quiescence, when it simply rests. If I feel that it might have potential, or if I’m merely curious, I’ll nurture it. And I’ll wait. Sometimes for quite a while. Eventually, if I'm lucky, the idea begins to take root, uncurl, and stretch out, showing me its true shape. After I get a better look at it, I might realize it’s just a weed. Or I might see something unique and compelling that would be more at home in someone else’s garden. If the idea suits me, however, I do my best to tend it and help it reach its potential.

Like seeds, ideas are everywhere. Keep an open mind—a fertile patch of soil somewhere in your writer’s brain—and you never know what might grow there.

What do you do to encourage your ideas?

This Week in the Writing World...June 11

By Brooke Favero

Want the latest trends in your genre? Rachelle Gardner says get to a bookstore. Yes those titles were acquired a year ago, but they still offer insight on what's selling. So what's the #1 thing you need to worry about as a writer? Alan Rinzler says focus on content. Chip MacGregor says write what you know. And Maggie Goins recommends writing around your life.

Kidlit reminds us that your agent's editorial ideas can help your manuscript but trust your gut when deciding what changes to make. Pimp My Novel gives tips for a good title and explains a lead title.

Building Your Platform
Bookends gives the how-to on establishing an online presence, which might mean you need to un-tag some of your Facebook photos. The Rejecter says it is okay to post content on the web but be prepared to take it down if it becomes published. Book View Cafe says being published is about whom you know, so start networking.

Crafting

If love bites, then writing should hurt--at least according to Guide to Literary Agents. If it doesn't then maybe you're in need of a little re-vision. The Blood Red Pencil sharpens your writing with links to writing resources. Editor Rent says POV = viewpoint. Janice Hardy shows emotion and keeps your narrative focused. Wordplay helps tag dialogue. Plot Punctuation shows how to create the illusion of transparency. Adventures in Children's Publishing helps build tension. Kay Theod finds inspiration for story ideas.

New Agents

Marcy Posner of Folio Literary Management, Amanda Luedeke of MacGregor Literary and Chelsea Gilmore of Maria Carvainis Agency.

Funny or Die claims hunger is a writing annoyance. What annoys you when you're writing? For me, hands down: kids. Kids on your lap, kids on your back, kids shouting and kids poking at the keyboard. Yeah, I have to write at night.

BookExpo America Recap

Post by Kerrie

For years I have wanted to go to BEA. I've visualized, dreamed, crossed my fingers, threw pennies in wishing wells, prayed...whatever I could do to increase my odds, but it never worked out...That was until this year! On May 25, my daughter and I got on a plane and headed for The Big Apple.

If you are not familiar with BEA it is the largest book fair bringing together over 35,000 booksellers, librarians, publishers, and authors for three days of talks, panel discussions, and readings. Publishers are there to showcase their new titles coming out and meet with potential buyers (booksellers, librarians...). Attendees like myself are there to soak it all in.

The exhibit hall is the biggest draw.  Publishers are giving away the books and authors are there signing them. The space itself is the biggest trade show space I have ever seen. This year there were over 1,500 vendors in the 410,000 square foot area. The Javits center itself is five city blocks long and 1 wide--bottom line--its huge!

Delaney and I got there bright and early Wednesday morning and joined the hordes of people already waiting in line for the exhibition hall to open. The doors opened and people rushed in to get the free items awaiting them. It got a little crazy with some people getting pushy, which I didn't like considering there was lots of free stuff handed out over the course of the two days. But we found refuge by some smaller publishers until the initial surge slowed down.

Each publisher had a designated area and they each had a unique set up. It was clear right away where the major publishers were. They had huge areas set up with lots of eye catching graphics, colors and cushy carpeting. 

We then spent our time gathering free books, talking with authors and getting our books signed. I also talked with people at some smaller publishing houses like Coffee House Press, to see if they might be interested attending next year's Northern Colorado Writers Conference. I found it very helpful to see all the publishers and their books. It provided me with more of a visual as to the types of books each of the different houses publish.

But I have to say, getting all the free books was the highlight for us. After about the first 2 hours, Delaney and I couldn't carry any more books so went to find UPS. We found it in the basement. We got a box and loaded it up. We were able to label it and keep it there until we filled it up. Then we could ship it home.

We ended up shipping 122 books home in 3 separate boxes. Delaney was so excited because she said she now has something to do this summer (she already finished her first book, Cornelia Funke's Reckless in just two days). I am also looking forward to all the summer reading and I will be sure and share with you the ones I like.

The dates for the 2011 BEA have already been set for May 23-May 26. I highly recommend that anyone associated with the publishing world should attend BEA at least once.

Did you go this year? If so what did you think of it?

Crazy River

Yesterday I went for a walk along the Poudre and found myself thinking over and over again the words of my friend Dan: "OMG!" If you haven't seen the river in the last day or two and you have a thing for the wild and dangerous--go see it. It was high a few weeks ago, but now it's even beyond that. Footpaths through the trees along both banks are now just part of the river. The river comes up to the paved trail in numerous places to greet you now (in fact even the paved trail is closed in places due to high water). And it's moving so fast I could only catch glimpses here and there of the tree parts it was carrying along with it.

Just being next to it gets my heart racing. Did I mention it's really fast? Not only is it fast, it's rather indiscriminately coloring outside its lines, so to speak. It's going where it wants to, and I have no intention of trying to persuade it otherwise. And quite frankly I think I would be personally offended if anyone else did either.

It's hard to miss the purging and cleansing, however chaotic, qualities of a river running that high. And once I got past the OMGs, all I could think was that I wish I would write like that.

In many ways, I think that crucial first draft should be written with as much abandon. It reminded me not to worry about keeping it tidy in the lines--maybe that's not where the story is supposed to go, maybe it's really supposed to be meandering through the woods 20 feet away after all. I'll never know if I don't just go with it, typing like the snow melt, picking up debris, and knowing that later I can go back and clean it up. I put so much pressure on myself to write efficiently, cleanly...but I never seem to get very far when I do that because I'm too scared to let go and let the water get muddy.

In good time the water will subside, but I won't ever see the banks or the trails through the trees in the same way again because I've seen them now as they could be. I think I need to go take some pictures of the river so I can look at them and remember that awestruck sensation whenever I'm writing a first draft.

How do you associate 'the wild' with your writing, if at all?

From Angels to Zombies

Post by Jenny

Humans have long been fascinated by stories of supernatural creatures. Ancient mythologies, Shakespeare, Gothic literature, and folklore from around the globe are full of them. The vampire fad is nothing new—the female vamp novella Carmilla, first published in 1872, predates the original Dracula by twenty-five years (though its author, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, doesn’t have quite the name recognition of Bram Stoker). Werewolves have been prowling around in some form or other since the ancient Mesopotamian poem The Epic of Gilgamesh, and they’re still hot stuff.

If you’re bored with the current trends in supernatural fiction—from angels to zombies—have heart. There are plenty of lesser-known fantastical beings waiting to hit the big time. Consider the following, culled from one of my favorite reference books, the two-volume Facts on File Encyclopedia of World Mythology and Legend:

· Cluricane (Celtic): A solitary elf who excels at finding hidden treasure, draining wine casks, and riding sheep dogs for fun;
· Dugong (Islam): Herbivorous aquatic man whose tears are believed to be a strong love charm;
· Garboncias (Hungary): A supernatural being, born with all his teeth or extra fingers, who carries a black book and begs for milk;
· Kappa (Japan): A river demon with the body of a tortoise, the limbs of a frog, and the head of a monkey, who can be appeased by cucumbers;
· Krum-ku-dart-boneit (Australia): Evil spirits who wake men at night, take control of their bodies, and force them to hop until they die of exhaustion;
· La Llorona (Mexican/American): The ghostly weeping mother of lost children, with the face of a horse and long, shiny, metallic fingernails;
· Ludki (Serbia): Dwarfs who left Serbia when Christianity arrived because they couldn’t stand the sound of church bells;
· Mora (Slavic): A person possessing two souls, who could often be identified by his/her bushy uni-brow;
· Polong (Malay): A demon “about as big as the first joint of a little finger,” who has a cricket as a pet;
· Seng-don-ma (Tibet): A woman, often with the face of a lion, who stamps out human ignorance;

· Yama-otoko (Japan): Wild men who keep company with human-headed she-wolves; and
· Zupay (Spanish South American): A forest spirit who takes the form of a satyr or handsome young man in order to seduce women.

Okay, so maybe none of these has quite the star potential of a handsome, brooding vampire, but they’d make for some interesting supporting characters. Which one gets your vote?

Amazon Reader Reviews :-)

Post by Kerrie
My incredibly talented and funny Northern Colorado Writers class coordinator, Amy Kathleen Ryan, made this hysterical video that I had to share.
FYI: Her new book Zen and Xander Undone is getting great reviews on Amazon. :-)

This Week in the Writing World...June 4

by Brooke Favero
Returning from Book Expo America, Dystel and Goderich questions whether to BEA or not BEA and PubRants dishes on the BEA YA Buzz. If you missed BEA but want the scoop, you can get the BEA lowdown at Publisher's Weekly.

Querying
Rachell Gardner dissects the one-sentence summary. Betsy Lerner reminds writers that book proposals shouldn't include headshots. BookEnds gives an intern's perspective on querying. Kidlit weighs the pros and cons of a new vs. established agent. Guide to Literary Agents lists four articles on dealing with rejection.

Building Your Platform
Stet gives advice on what to do before your debut. Chip recommends a thick skin for bad reviews. Moonrat gives tips for a successful book launch. To bolster your online presence, Patricia Stoltey offers guest blogging opportunities. Pimp My Novel defines billing and POS.

Crafting
Should you use said David or David said? TalkToYoUniverse has an opinion. Nick Daws says you should avoid nominalization. Seekerville offers pointers for self-editing. Carolyn Yalin talks about weaving backstory. Janice Hardy gives tips on creating dramatic irony.

And if you need a laugh, Parnell Hall offers signing advice. Can you relate? Have a great weekend.

Zeitgeist Inspiration

Post by Trai

The single most-asked question I get as a screenwriting teacher is How do I protect my idea from theft?

As writers, we all want that big idea, the sure fire ride to the big time. And we’re afraid that once we hit on that golden ticket, someone is going to take it from us. In Hollywood, there are thousands of screenwriters breaking a sweat to break in, and over the years we’ve developed a superstitious behavior: we tell no one what we’re working on. In the novel-writing world, that tendency seems to be about “retaining the writerly energy” so we can finish our marathon run to the final page.

In Hollywood, it’s about not launching our million dollar idea into the zeitgeist to be poached by another.

Here’s what I mean: a fun experiment was tried by some bored MIT students. They got several thousand NY Times crossword puzzlers to agree to work on a puzzle at a specific time that day and track the results. Those in the morning took as long as they always seemed to; those working at lunch completed it faster than usual, and so on and so forth until those in the late evening zoomed through the puzzle – with almost all right answers.
According to the MIT students, the late-night puzzlers were able to solve it the faster and easier because they were tapping into the psychic energy already generated by the previous puzzlers. The answers were “out there” … these folks merely plugged in to that mental dimension and plucked them out.

Hokum? Maybe. But go ask a Buddhist what “om” is about on a global scale, and they’ll give you an answer that might rock your boat.

After reading scripts for HBO for eight years, I noticed some patterns. For example, one person would submit a screenplay about, say, the very first computer hacker to be put to work by the FBI. Within six months, four or five more scripts about that topic would cross my desk. The very same topic!

Had that first writer flapped his lips at the wrong cocktail party and got his brilliant idea passed around town like news of Paris Hilton’s latest boytoy?

No way. It was in the zeitgeist, man. One writer starts thinking about it, and somehow, some way, some of the 25,000 other writers constantly reaching out for ideas, thinking really hard about ideas, arrived at the same concept.

It’s pretty cool, actually, and it happens all the time.

It doesn’t seem to happen in the novel-writing world unless everyone’s just chasing a trend (and good on trends – they keep the lights on at the publishing houses). I think it happens in LA so much because we all live in the same physical space, generating all that creative force. Even if we never spoke to a soul about our ideas… they are still out there.


But here’s the good news: every one of those scripts about the very first computer hacker working for the FBI were completely different. Different sensibilities, different voices, different genres. Which is what I tell my students: don’t sweat getting ripped off; get your copyright registration and that’s that.

If a mystery thief should take your idea, he’s going to come up with a take completely different from yours; all you have to do is write yours better. And secondly, if that other script ends up getting made and yours doesn’t – well, that’s a free paycheck. Hollywood is wildly creative and apparently somewhat psychic (we have to be – have you seen us drive??). But we are above all else litigious.

And that’s the real reason no one steals in LA.

One Page a Day

Post by Kerrie

Last week at the Book Expo of America I had the privilege of attending an event that had Jon Stewart, John Grisham, Condeleeza Rice and Mary Roach on a panel. Stewart was the emcee and was as funny as I had hoped and expected.

The other three shared about their writing journey and their newest books. Then it was opened up to questions from the audience. One woman asked the panel if they had any advice for new writers.

Grisham's answer was the one that stuck with me. He said, "Until you are writing one page a day, you are not a serious writer."

I have heard this many times before but each time it sinks in a little more. The only way to find success as a writer is to write and to write consistently. There is no way around it. Just like with anything else, the more we do it, the better we get.

I'm trying to think of what else to say on the subject, but there really isn't much else to say. it is pretty straight forward advice and if followed, will surely lead to writing success.

What do you think about Grisham's advice?

Girl Who Waits for Peas

Post by Jennifer

Often when my eyes get tired of proofreading or looking at my computer screen, I'll step outside and sit on the little bench in between our raised garden beds and stare at my peas. Now that we've put our tomatoes out, I'll stare at those too, but mostly I stare at the peas. (And yes, before they came up, I stared at the soil where I'd planted them.) Gardening and writing have always seemed to go hand in hand to me, though I've never really analyzed why I think that, other than having a vague notion of peaceful fruitfulness.

But lately I've been a little troubled by the seeming lack of similarities between the two. Is this connection just another dearly held assumption I will have to let go of? For example, I planted my peas, and now all I can do is wait. Sure, I water and I stare, but no matter what, the inevitable outcome is my waiting. Eventually though, they'll grow and blossom and the fruit will ripen and all will be well.

My writing is not like that. If I wait, nothing happens. I not only have to stare, I have to be the soil and the plant, photosynthesizing and reaching upward, wrapping my little tentacles around the fence and climbing--or rather, give life to the characters, trouble them terribly, and make it all mean something without looking like I'm trying. Perhaps that's actually why I like to garden--the plants take care of all the work themselves, naturally and seemingly without effort, if slowly.

Then I realized, my stories are never done after the first draft. And even if I go back to them the next day, I won't have as much to add as I would have if I'd let it sit for awhile. The stories, no matter how long I may have been thinking about writing them, never seem to flesh out their root systems until I get that first draft written. I like to think of them that way--the story taking hold in my subconscious mind and action taking place that I can't see. I know it's working because at the most unpredictable times, some little blossom of truth in the story just pops out--something that wouldn't happen if I'd tried to rush it.

I've tried to send out stories without giving them time to ripen; it's just not productive. I need to remind myself that my garden and my stories will both take all the time they require--this isn't a supermarket where everything is always in season, I have to take my time and be patient with my peas and myself. Perhaps there is some peaceful fruitfulness in there after all.

What are your thoughts on gardening and writing?