Robin Layne's Blog: From the Red, Read Robin - Posts Tagged "writing"
Eenie Meenie Miney Moe . . . Catch a Title by the Toe
What should I Name this Blog?
I started brainstorming titles, and came up with a veritable kaleidoscope of them! I thought I’d throw them out here because they show various facets of myself, my interests, aims, and writings. I might come up with more in time, but for now, I welcome thoughts on these—or combinations of them. You can see I’ve already eliminated some of these, but I hope that seeing why is informative and entertaining. I plan to write on subjects for book lovers and writers alike.
Red Robin’s Bloggin’—could mean either the process of blogging or the fact that Robin is blogging. The color red has significance to me on a number of levels. Downside: could be confused with the restaurant. (How do you trademark a color and a bird? But they did.) Also sounds like “noggin,” and that’s where these thoughts come from.
Red Robin Bloggin’—rhymes, and so is more poetic than the former idea. Still could be confused with the restaurant.
Red Robin’s Bloggin’ Toboggan—a wild ride, to be sure.
Robin’s Red Blog—reminds me of the Portland Red Book, but it’s not a very similar name.
The Little Red Blog—sounds like a children’s book blog—not appropriate for most of what I will talk about.
Robin’s Big Red Blog—possible.
Little Red Robin Hood—now that’s a mixture of tales!
Little Red Bloggin’ Hood—too cutesy, I think.
Robin’s Blood-red Blog—this is okay, although it reminds me of “The Blood-red Pencil” (a writing website). But I like “blood-red.”
Robin’s Blood-read Blog—a little cleverness thrown in for readers with eyes sharp enough to see it, and would be especially appropriate when my book comes out.
Blog Blog Bloggin’ Along—a play on my name but nothing more.
A Walk Down Robin La(y)ne—another play on my name, but what does it mean to walk down me? No, I think not.
Robin’s Song—lame, unoriginal.
Herald of the Eternal Spring—this is a name for my spiritual identity and purpose, and also sounds like the name of a newspaper, perhaps. But I don’t know that people would connect a blog with a newspaper. A robin is a herald of the spring; I am a herald of the spring of Christ’s blood and God’s Spirit, and of the eternal spring they will bring.
My Night-blooming Series—a blog is a series of posts, and my books are expected to be a series as well. I usually bloom at night, like the night blooming cereus flower (pronounced “series”), and in the morning feel wilted and half-dead. I also might still have some graphics from my old web domain picturing a red-toned night-blooming cereus. . . . Just checked all over the computer. Nope; I don’t have the picture, except for part of it with “Robin’s Nest” written on it. But anyway, I wrote a poem in my younger days called “The Night-Blooming Cereus,” expressing the value of fleeting beauty and life. This poem will appear in the novel I’m working on, as written by one of the characters. And since my novel and its planned sequels concern vampires, the name is appropriate on that level as well. A discouraging thought is that people making the connection with the flower may think I misspelled its name.
I think I like this last name best, but I would like to sit on it a while. Still, I hope you have found this fun to read. What do you think?
Welcome to my blog!
I started brainstorming titles, and came up with a veritable kaleidoscope of them! I thought I’d throw them out here because they show various facets of myself, my interests, aims, and writings. I might come up with more in time, but for now, I welcome thoughts on these—or combinations of them. You can see I’ve already eliminated some of these, but I hope that seeing why is informative and entertaining. I plan to write on subjects for book lovers and writers alike.
Red Robin’s Bloggin’—could mean either the process of blogging or the fact that Robin is blogging. The color red has significance to me on a number of levels. Downside: could be confused with the restaurant. (How do you trademark a color and a bird? But they did.) Also sounds like “noggin,” and that’s where these thoughts come from.
Red Robin Bloggin’—rhymes, and so is more poetic than the former idea. Still could be confused with the restaurant.
Red Robin’s Bloggin’ Toboggan—a wild ride, to be sure.
Robin’s Red Blog—reminds me of the Portland Red Book, but it’s not a very similar name.
The Little Red Blog—sounds like a children’s book blog—not appropriate for most of what I will talk about.
Robin’s Big Red Blog—possible.
Little Red Robin Hood—now that’s a mixture of tales!
Little Red Bloggin’ Hood—too cutesy, I think.
Robin’s Blood-red Blog—this is okay, although it reminds me of “The Blood-red Pencil” (a writing website). But I like “blood-red.”
Robin’s Blood-read Blog—a little cleverness thrown in for readers with eyes sharp enough to see it, and would be especially appropriate when my book comes out.
Blog Blog Bloggin’ Along—a play on my name but nothing more.
A Walk Down Robin La(y)ne—another play on my name, but what does it mean to walk down me? No, I think not.
Robin’s Song—lame, unoriginal.
Herald of the Eternal Spring—this is a name for my spiritual identity and purpose, and also sounds like the name of a newspaper, perhaps. But I don’t know that people would connect a blog with a newspaper. A robin is a herald of the spring; I am a herald of the spring of Christ’s blood and God’s Spirit, and of the eternal spring they will bring.
My Night-blooming Series—a blog is a series of posts, and my books are expected to be a series as well. I usually bloom at night, like the night blooming cereus flower (pronounced “series”), and in the morning feel wilted and half-dead. I also might still have some graphics from my old web domain picturing a red-toned night-blooming cereus. . . . Just checked all over the computer. Nope; I don’t have the picture, except for part of it with “Robin’s Nest” written on it. But anyway, I wrote a poem in my younger days called “The Night-Blooming Cereus,” expressing the value of fleeting beauty and life. This poem will appear in the novel I’m working on, as written by one of the characters. And since my novel and its planned sequels concern vampires, the name is appropriate on that level as well. A discouraging thought is that people making the connection with the flower may think I misspelled its name.
I think I like this last name best, but I would like to sit on it a while. Still, I hope you have found this fun to read. What do you think?
Welcome to my blog!
Still Another Idea, and Morning Musings
This morning, a variation on the first theme came to me:
From the Read Red Robin
or:
From the Red Read Robin
Today I have broken my pattern by waking up early . . . but I don't want to get worms. I would rather get ideas. I was told that some writers prefer to write early in the morning when they are half asleep, in a semi-dream state. Perhaps that is the same reason I like staying up late doing fun or creative things. I actually enjoy pushing myself into the night. Some nights, I am so tired I think I will go to bed early, but some little thing interests me, and the next thing you know, I've got my second wind. But in the morning, I feel like a zombie for hours--lately, even after I've had my caffeine. I prefer tea to coffee, as my system doesn't like the acid in coffee.
I know it looks strange having a book I'm published in on my "To Read" list. It's just that it's been a while since Medley of Fiction was published, and while I know I read at least some of it, I can't remember if I read all of it. I may have finished it back then, and even written a review of it on another site. Are we allowed to mention other sites here? Perhaps even to transfer reviews from them? If it's kosher for both sites, I could import quite a few. And earlier, I did reviews in on MySpace, where my blog was called "Hatching My Eggs." I lost interest in MySpace when I couldn't view everything on it. Facebook became the new space for visiting with people, but it's different. And I've never ventured into Twitter yet--not sure what my place in it will be yet (bird though I may be). A person's got to spend some time away from the computer sometime! (Which reminds me, I think I made a mistake in ordering a color computer version of a local writer's newsletter when I could get it in black ink in the mail; sure, it probably comes a little sooner this way, but I don't want to print out something that extensive in color, so reading it requires even MORE time at the computer. Remind me to change my subscription to a copy I can easily take with me to ride on the bus.)
In addition to my writing, I am also an editor. I am currently taking an online editing certificate program from UC Berkeley. In June, I graduated from Portland State University with a BA in English, minor in writing, and part of that minor allowed me to be on the editing staff of Ooligan Press, the only student-run publisher of trade books in the world. It was an exciting experience, editing fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, and being part of the general publishing process. The university offers a Masters program in publishing. After all the years I have been in college, and also away from college doing other things, I was still an undergraduate when I was there.
But about Medley of Fiction: From what I remember, it's a great collection, from what was a great website, AuthorsByDesign.com. My contribution is a poem called "Eros at My Window." You may know this already, but Eros is the Greek god of romantic/sexual love. Our culture knows him more commonly by his Roman name, Cupid, but I don't like that name as much because it conjures images of adorable baby angels. Eros' darts are real, and they hurt when you wake up from your daze of infatuation. Don't get me wrong, I think erotic love can be wonderful, but in its place, in the balance of the other loves, with agape (unselfish divine love) at its core. For more of a sense of what I mean, I recommend reading C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves, or looking up "love" in a good Greek Lexicon.
I think Medley of Fiction had a very small run, but it does have an ISBN, so I was able to add the book to the site and so get this author page. I have published other poems and short stories, but not in books with ISBN numbers. (Just found out another book in my portfolio has an ISBN; I'm going to add it to the site as well. It has fiction, nonfiction, and poetry of mine in it.) The poems were mostly in newspapers and in a newsletter I used to edit. The short stories are in other small-run books and online; one was in The Lamp-Post of the Southern C.S. Lewis Society. I have also enjoyed doing what is misleadingly called desktop publishing--creating a book of poems, lyrics, and stories, and making a number of smaller booklets to give away, trade, and sell. I have also had stories and poems in literary journals that don't have ISBNs, including two Write Around Portland anthologies and the literary journal of Portland Community College Cascade campus (Pointed Circle). I might write about my experiences with some or all of the above. You can give feedback on what you'd like to read about.
Thank you to my new friends on this site and to the advice and camaraderie you have provided already! One friend has helped me see ways I can improve the short story posted in my writings called "Blood Ties." The version I posted is the one that won an AuthorsByDesign contest, but we can always improve our writing with time. I am thinking of making improvements and re-posting it, but for now I will wait and see if more improvements come to mind. There is also the consideration of time juggling.
Now I feel like going back to bed. Just not a morning person! I tried.
From the Read Red Robin
or:
From the Red Read Robin
Today I have broken my pattern by waking up early . . . but I don't want to get worms. I would rather get ideas. I was told that some writers prefer to write early in the morning when they are half asleep, in a semi-dream state. Perhaps that is the same reason I like staying up late doing fun or creative things. I actually enjoy pushing myself into the night. Some nights, I am so tired I think I will go to bed early, but some little thing interests me, and the next thing you know, I've got my second wind. But in the morning, I feel like a zombie for hours--lately, even after I've had my caffeine. I prefer tea to coffee, as my system doesn't like the acid in coffee.
I know it looks strange having a book I'm published in on my "To Read" list. It's just that it's been a while since Medley of Fiction was published, and while I know I read at least some of it, I can't remember if I read all of it. I may have finished it back then, and even written a review of it on another site. Are we allowed to mention other sites here? Perhaps even to transfer reviews from them? If it's kosher for both sites, I could import quite a few. And earlier, I did reviews in on MySpace, where my blog was called "Hatching My Eggs." I lost interest in MySpace when I couldn't view everything on it. Facebook became the new space for visiting with people, but it's different. And I've never ventured into Twitter yet--not sure what my place in it will be yet (bird though I may be). A person's got to spend some time away from the computer sometime! (Which reminds me, I think I made a mistake in ordering a color computer version of a local writer's newsletter when I could get it in black ink in the mail; sure, it probably comes a little sooner this way, but I don't want to print out something that extensive in color, so reading it requires even MORE time at the computer. Remind me to change my subscription to a copy I can easily take with me to ride on the bus.)
In addition to my writing, I am also an editor. I am currently taking an online editing certificate program from UC Berkeley. In June, I graduated from Portland State University with a BA in English, minor in writing, and part of that minor allowed me to be on the editing staff of Ooligan Press, the only student-run publisher of trade books in the world. It was an exciting experience, editing fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, and being part of the general publishing process. The university offers a Masters program in publishing. After all the years I have been in college, and also away from college doing other things, I was still an undergraduate when I was there.
But about Medley of Fiction: From what I remember, it's a great collection, from what was a great website, AuthorsByDesign.com. My contribution is a poem called "Eros at My Window." You may know this already, but Eros is the Greek god of romantic/sexual love. Our culture knows him more commonly by his Roman name, Cupid, but I don't like that name as much because it conjures images of adorable baby angels. Eros' darts are real, and they hurt when you wake up from your daze of infatuation. Don't get me wrong, I think erotic love can be wonderful, but in its place, in the balance of the other loves, with agape (unselfish divine love) at its core. For more of a sense of what I mean, I recommend reading C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves, or looking up "love" in a good Greek Lexicon.
I think Medley of Fiction had a very small run, but it does have an ISBN, so I was able to add the book to the site and so get this author page. I have published other poems and short stories, but not in books with ISBN numbers. (Just found out another book in my portfolio has an ISBN; I'm going to add it to the site as well. It has fiction, nonfiction, and poetry of mine in it.) The poems were mostly in newspapers and in a newsletter I used to edit. The short stories are in other small-run books and online; one was in The Lamp-Post of the Southern C.S. Lewis Society. I have also enjoyed doing what is misleadingly called desktop publishing--creating a book of poems, lyrics, and stories, and making a number of smaller booklets to give away, trade, and sell. I have also had stories and poems in literary journals that don't have ISBNs, including two Write Around Portland anthologies and the literary journal of Portland Community College Cascade campus (Pointed Circle). I might write about my experiences with some or all of the above. You can give feedback on what you'd like to read about.
Thank you to my new friends on this site and to the advice and camaraderie you have provided already! One friend has helped me see ways I can improve the short story posted in my writings called "Blood Ties." The version I posted is the one that won an AuthorsByDesign contest, but we can always improve our writing with time. I am thinking of making improvements and re-posting it, but for now I will wait and see if more improvements come to mind. There is also the consideration of time juggling.
Now I feel like going back to bed. Just not a morning person! I tried.
Red to be Read
I'm back at last! I got up early enough to be drunk on tiredness, hoping my dream state is still lingering. I heard some writers prefer to write at such times. Wow, it's already 9:02 a.m.! I got up about 7, I swear! But I have done a number of things this morning already, including cook and eat breakfast and some matters of business at the computer, including emailing my writing group to shamelessly solicit ideas for where I'm stuck in my story. But it is a glorious thing to reach the point in going over the old draft where I honestly have holes in the plot that need filling in. I know the gist here--just need the details. And why cannot writing be a community experience, at least at times? I have learned the joys of writing in community in more than one setting. Hemingway's quote bears repeating. Let's see if I can get it right: "There's nothing to being a writer. All you do is sit at a typewriter and bleed." If I must bleed at the keyboard, letting out all the passion and pain within me, let me also soar the heights of success when I really gain from writing and others love it and gain, too. And let me spend some time with other writers giving and receiving moral support as we inspire one another to write.
October is a special time for writers and booklovers around Portland, Oregon. Why is "booklovers" not a single word to spell check? It ought to be, don't you think? And why did I twice start to spell "Potland"? It must be the skunk-like reek that keeps coming in from the neighbor's apartment. Regardless, it's not a hemp festival that draws me this week. It is Wordstock, an annual book lover's fair. There, I made two words of it. Wordstock is unbelievably inexpensive to attend--$7 a day, or $10 for both Saturday and Sunday, to enjoy all the exhibits, panels, and author presentations at the Oregon Convention Center this weekend (the 13th and 14th). If you sign up for a writer's workshop, which costs $35, you get in free for that day, and if you sign up for more than one workshop, the workshops are discounted. I am going to attend the workshop, "Starting a Series: What you need to do before you sit down to write." Since I sat down to write mine approximately 12 years ago, I figure it's about time I learn some tips. I've mostly been working, off and on, on the first book, but I have worked some on the books to follow. Someone has even suggested I break down my first book into more books as a solution to the problem that it's currently too long. I am considering the possibility, but at present, I don't see it working satisfactorily. I would need to break it up into the right climactic elements, and I'd also have to come up with an extra book title or two. But we shall see what happens. For now, I just want to finish the draft I have. Anyway, the series writing workshop is taught by April Henry, a New York Times bestselling novelist who is starting her 3rd series (I put it that way for brevity and to avoid trying to learn what is the plural of series). At least some of her books are YA, and I'm glad because that's what genre of books I'm writing as well.
The Wordstock-related events kicked off with the Text Ball by the Independent Publishing Resource Center last Saturday. I went for my first year in a zany costume and had a lot of fun. Costumes containing text were encouraged. I didn't win a prize; they seemed to like simpler and more elegant costumes with more unified ideas. I wore my entire button collection, a wire sculpture on my hat, and wrote body puns on my hands, arms, and face (see the pictures I will have loaded this morning). As you will see when you look at my hand pictures, I illustrated the Hemingway saying by making drops of red down my fingers.
I have spent hours going through the Wordstock guide and reading about some of the authors on the Internet, deciding which events to attend Saturday and Sunday, because so many good ones overlap in time. I have the booklet all marked up now, my course mapped out.
I am looking forward to the Open Write, in which contestants write to a prompt for 9 minutes and the work is published on the Internet. I am used to writing to prompts from a number of writing groups (if you haven't tried it, I recommend it, especially when you need to do something fresh; you can get writing prompts online); it's been a while since I've had so few minutes to write to one.
I have been quite the night owl lately, but because the book fair is a daytime event, I have been trying, until this morning unsuccessfully, to change my sleep patterns. The fact that the Text Ball ended at 11 p.m. didn't help. The panels and author events at the book fair don't start until 11 a.m., but I want to have some time for the Open Write and the exhibits. There is always a free book exchange table, and every book- and publishing-related kind of table you can imagine.
I will write about my adventures afterward, but it may take me a few days, since I also have homework in my copyediting class and other matters to attend to.
If I bleed my red blood to be read (and that is not by far the only reason; some of it is for my own catharsis), I have a milestone to celebrate. I have my first fan! Thank you, Dustin, for all your encouragement. Even if I only have one reader, I can legitimately include "Read" in the name of this blog.
Now I shall drink more black tea, put on sweater, and load the Text Ball pictures. I took pictures of some great costumes that I won't post because I didn't get those people's permission. But I will ask my writer's group friends if it's okay that I post some of their pictures as a thank-you for their support of my writing. If you are reading this, I encourage you to comment or message me and tell me what you think--or just say hi so I know you're out there. I want to read YOU as well. If only there was time for us all to read everything we want to share!
October is a special time for writers and booklovers around Portland, Oregon. Why is "booklovers" not a single word to spell check? It ought to be, don't you think? And why did I twice start to spell "Potland"? It must be the skunk-like reek that keeps coming in from the neighbor's apartment. Regardless, it's not a hemp festival that draws me this week. It is Wordstock, an annual book lover's fair. There, I made two words of it. Wordstock is unbelievably inexpensive to attend--$7 a day, or $10 for both Saturday and Sunday, to enjoy all the exhibits, panels, and author presentations at the Oregon Convention Center this weekend (the 13th and 14th). If you sign up for a writer's workshop, which costs $35, you get in free for that day, and if you sign up for more than one workshop, the workshops are discounted. I am going to attend the workshop, "Starting a Series: What you need to do before you sit down to write." Since I sat down to write mine approximately 12 years ago, I figure it's about time I learn some tips. I've mostly been working, off and on, on the first book, but I have worked some on the books to follow. Someone has even suggested I break down my first book into more books as a solution to the problem that it's currently too long. I am considering the possibility, but at present, I don't see it working satisfactorily. I would need to break it up into the right climactic elements, and I'd also have to come up with an extra book title or two. But we shall see what happens. For now, I just want to finish the draft I have. Anyway, the series writing workshop is taught by April Henry, a New York Times bestselling novelist who is starting her 3rd series (I put it that way for brevity and to avoid trying to learn what is the plural of series). At least some of her books are YA, and I'm glad because that's what genre of books I'm writing as well.
The Wordstock-related events kicked off with the Text Ball by the Independent Publishing Resource Center last Saturday. I went for my first year in a zany costume and had a lot of fun. Costumes containing text were encouraged. I didn't win a prize; they seemed to like simpler and more elegant costumes with more unified ideas. I wore my entire button collection, a wire sculpture on my hat, and wrote body puns on my hands, arms, and face (see the pictures I will have loaded this morning). As you will see when you look at my hand pictures, I illustrated the Hemingway saying by making drops of red down my fingers.
I have spent hours going through the Wordstock guide and reading about some of the authors on the Internet, deciding which events to attend Saturday and Sunday, because so many good ones overlap in time. I have the booklet all marked up now, my course mapped out.
I am looking forward to the Open Write, in which contestants write to a prompt for 9 minutes and the work is published on the Internet. I am used to writing to prompts from a number of writing groups (if you haven't tried it, I recommend it, especially when you need to do something fresh; you can get writing prompts online); it's been a while since I've had so few minutes to write to one.
I have been quite the night owl lately, but because the book fair is a daytime event, I have been trying, until this morning unsuccessfully, to change my sleep patterns. The fact that the Text Ball ended at 11 p.m. didn't help. The panels and author events at the book fair don't start until 11 a.m., but I want to have some time for the Open Write and the exhibits. There is always a free book exchange table, and every book- and publishing-related kind of table you can imagine.
I will write about my adventures afterward, but it may take me a few days, since I also have homework in my copyediting class and other matters to attend to.
If I bleed my red blood to be read (and that is not by far the only reason; some of it is for my own catharsis), I have a milestone to celebrate. I have my first fan! Thank you, Dustin, for all your encouragement. Even if I only have one reader, I can legitimately include "Read" in the name of this blog.
Now I shall drink more black tea, put on sweater, and load the Text Ball pictures. I took pictures of some great costumes that I won't post because I didn't get those people's permission. But I will ask my writer's group friends if it's okay that I post some of their pictures as a thank-you for their support of my writing. If you are reading this, I encourage you to comment or message me and tell me what you think--or just say hi so I know you're out there. I want to read YOU as well. If only there was time for us all to read everything we want to share!
Take Stock of the Word: Wordstock 2012, Saturday Edition
Been awake since about 1 a.m. and can't sleep. What irregular sleeping patterns! But it's all the better for you, if you want to read about my experiences at Wordstock, because I've have a lot of things to juggle, and only in the insane hours of the middle of the night do I feel justified to do something I don't absolutely have to do. I figure I'm too tired to pursue my obligations during such an hour. And I'll test out that semi-dream state I heard about, although I don't remember any of my dreams of the evening.
I was going to start with some highlights, but ended up covering a good amount of detail in the order that I enjoyed it.
The event began an hour later than I expected, and I was there early even for my expected time. It wasn't clear that doors open at 10, not 9, so it was hurry up and wait, then wait and hurry up. Fortunately, two books vendors had their ware on display out front, YA and poetry, respectively, and I was soon so engrossed in looking over those that I missed the 10 o'clock starting time. (My watch band broke that morning, so I had my watch in the pocket of my tight pants and I didn't look at it that often.) I rushed in to do the Open Write, and after waiting in a line with nothing much to do (books, books, everywhere, but none of them to read!. My nine minutes of fame was a disappointment. My fingers had a hard time finding the proper keys on the laptop, and I lost much precious time going back and fixing mistakes in a slow way I'm not used to. My prompt didn't inspire me much, and what I wrote was banal and incomplete. I will try again this morning with a different prompt and a different judge and I'll ask ahead of time what to do about typos. (My home keyboard is a large ergonomic one designed for carpal tunnel sufferers.)
I barely made it to my first panel, "Putting Words in the Mouth of God." Three authors with radical approaches to religious subjects led a fascinating discussion of saints of old, and imagined ones of today--their courage, their determination, and even their humor. I think it was Colin Dickey (but it might have been James Bernard Frost) said that there is no laughter in the New Testament--an idea I find absurd, considering the laughter I and many others experience under the power of God today and the absurdities of some of Christ's sayings. Who could have kept a straight face when the carpenter described a current religious leader swallowing a camel, or a judge with a beam of lumber sticking out of his eye? Dickey, who wrote Afterlives of the Saints said that Lawrence was the patron saint of comedians; Lawrence joked about being done and ready to eat while he was being burned to death. Dickey thought that Lawrence seemed to come from another religion. Certainly, he doesn't belong with the Jesuit who told his class the story and then upbraided them for laughing at it.
This reminds me of a dating site I am familiar with. You can use multiple choice answers to fill in some basic information, and if you pick a religion, you can say you are "very serious about it," "somewhat serious about it," "not very serious about it" or "laughing about it." To be serious might be to be devoted to your God or faith with all your heart that you are able, or it could mean you are a stuffed shirt. "Laughing about it" could mean you don't like the label you've been given and you make fun of it, or it could mean you just plain don't care. Or it might mean that your religion really makes you happy. How often these days is laughter really about happiness, and how often is it an expression of cynicism, ridicule, or a shallow escape from deep sadness or anxiety? I think even in those cases, it can sometimes be healthy. The problem comes in when "taking things seriously" means we can't laugh at ourselves, our circumstances, even our sufferings and deaths. As I like to put it, Don't take yourself seriously; you're just a character God invented.
Someone in the audience pointed out that today people with the intensities of the once-admired saints are labeled with mental disorders and subdued with drugs. Where are the zealous today? Tanya Hurley said that much of her novel, The Blessed, about three reincarnated teenaged girl saints, takes place in mental the ward.
Panelist James Bernard Frost wrote a very Portland- (Oregon)culture story called A Very Minor Prophet: A Novel, concerning people who have lost their religion and still need something. And based on some of the things I've heard and read about religion, losing it can be for some the best way to start on a path of real life. As Frost put it, religion is stiff and reverent, and new life is needed. The dwarf preacher in his story gets carried away, swears, and is a laughingstock but a breath of fresh air. But the author says it is a Christian message and that some ministers have expressed appreciation for this unorthodox book.
All three of the panelists grew up in Catholic homes and were influenced by stories of the saints. Dickey appreciates their spunk, although he is an atheist today. Within Christianity, it is chiefly Catholics (and then only those who actually LIKE Catholicism rather than those who have found themselves scarred and left the Church) who don't treat "religion" as something of a dirty word. It used to be a good thing to be thought of as religious, but today, both the born-again crowd and New Agers prefer to call themselves "spiritual" and the people outside their belief system "religious."
After this panel, I was hard-pressed to decide whether to attend a reading by two apocalyptic writers or listen to parts of A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry. Poetry feeds the soul and I don't read or listen to enough of it, so I chose the latter. Persona poetry turned out to be just what I guessed it was: poetry written from the point of view of characters other than the poet--the poetic version of first person fiction. I got to meet the goddess Calypso, who finds Odysseus washed ashore like a drowned kitten and wonders if she can keep him; a Russian fairytale version of Snow White; a total jerk of a man; the Hulk; and more. The poets said that you need empathy to wear the mask of another person and that not everyone is capable of doing that regarding people very different from themselves. These poems were great, and I want to try writing more of this type of poem myself.
The next event I attended was "The 'Adult' in 'Young Adult,' about handling "adult" subject matter in teen novels. I put "adult" in quotes here because, as both audience members and authors acknowledged, everyone is younger in some ways and older in others. I didn't take down who said what here, but it was said that who you write about determines a books niche rather than who you write for.
I learned some interesting facts about libraries: 1. Faced with budgets that limit the number of books they can order, they don't so much out-and-out ban books as avoid ordering ones that are likely to create a hubbub. 2. At least some libraries buy the newest titles, keep them for a little while, and then send them back and buy the fresh new titles.
Many questions strayed from the topic. People wanted to know more about techniques of writing YA. Most YA is written in first person. Third person can be done, but authors using it tend to tell rather than show. It is important to keep an intimate point of view, whichever approach you use.
Next, from authors Lisa Burstein and Katie Kacvinsky, I learned some surprising things about what publishers and reviewers consider acceptable today in young adult books: sex is, drugs and alcohol are not. However, Steve Brezenoff includes drugs and alcohol, as well as cussing in his YA novel, Brooklyn, Burning. A writer must be true to the characters. The writers also pointed out that teens always feel like they have a spotlight on them. Yes, I remember that self-consciousness well!
I'm getting increasingly tired and it's getting fairly close to the time I should get ready, so I'll gloss over most of the next talk I went to, featuring Steve Brezenoff and Inara Scott. I was very glad I went to this, though, because it was a great relief to hear from successful published writers who don't follow all those rules they tell you you have to do: Brezenoff doesn't write every day. Inara says you don't have to. She writes in spurts like me! At last, I have been validated! She said, "If the passion's not there it's okay to take a break." As a pin I inherited from my mother says: Screw guilt.
There is, it was said, a huge crossover between young adults (up to age 21) and adults--about half and half. Understandably, then, there is more sex and violence in YA today than there used to be. Parents concerned about what their children read can ask booksellers and librarians about books appropriate to their ages, and when the youths liked a book they can ask for similar titles.
It was pure enjoyment listening to Ray Rhamey read from The Vampire Kitty-Cat Chronicles. Told from the undead tomcat's point of view, it is funny and takes into account a lot of practical matters that vampires might have to deal with. I absolutely had to buy it. I confess my mind wandered as Rhamey read from two of his other books and I didn't get interested in them, but afterward I ran to the bookseller's table, bought the last copy of Vampire Kitty available, and ran to get the author to sign it for me.
I heard a new term from two different writers, the second one explaining what it means. A pacer is a writer who doesn't plot. Rhamey writes to see what happens. He wrote the kitty story online at first, something I did for a while with one of my vampire characters. That character, by keeping his own journal, seemed to invent himself; he developed in a matter of months while others have taken years.
The final panel was about sidekicks, or secondary characters. A sidekick isn't necessarily the protagonist's best friend. The sidekick is almost always of the same sex, but there are exceptions. There can also be more than one of them. Sidekicks can be a contradiction of the main character, to keep things in balance. A panelist gave the example of Don Quixote's Sancho Panzo. The character may be an externalization of the protagonist so he isn't talking to himself; the sidekick can be either antagonistic or agreeing.
For my novel-in-progress, Blood of the Willing, I like to throw my protagonist Mary together with her cantankerous and humorous friend Darrell for contrast in personality and in views toward how to handle the problem the book poses. Darrell, the traditionalist, thinks vampires are purely evil undead monsters that should all be killed. Mary finds herself taking a different view and approach. Either way they choose, both approaches have serious prices to pay.
I think I have finally said all I want to say about yesterday's half of the book fair. Tomorrow is here, that is to say it is 5:33 a.m., and I have to "get up" in less than half an hour. I pray I will have an energetic day in spite of my lack of sleep. I look forward to my workshop on starting a series.
I was going to start with some highlights, but ended up covering a good amount of detail in the order that I enjoyed it.
The event began an hour later than I expected, and I was there early even for my expected time. It wasn't clear that doors open at 10, not 9, so it was hurry up and wait, then wait and hurry up. Fortunately, two books vendors had their ware on display out front, YA and poetry, respectively, and I was soon so engrossed in looking over those that I missed the 10 o'clock starting time. (My watch band broke that morning, so I had my watch in the pocket of my tight pants and I didn't look at it that often.) I rushed in to do the Open Write, and after waiting in a line with nothing much to do (books, books, everywhere, but none of them to read!. My nine minutes of fame was a disappointment. My fingers had a hard time finding the proper keys on the laptop, and I lost much precious time going back and fixing mistakes in a slow way I'm not used to. My prompt didn't inspire me much, and what I wrote was banal and incomplete. I will try again this morning with a different prompt and a different judge and I'll ask ahead of time what to do about typos. (My home keyboard is a large ergonomic one designed for carpal tunnel sufferers.)
I barely made it to my first panel, "Putting Words in the Mouth of God." Three authors with radical approaches to religious subjects led a fascinating discussion of saints of old, and imagined ones of today--their courage, their determination, and even their humor. I think it was Colin Dickey (but it might have been James Bernard Frost) said that there is no laughter in the New Testament--an idea I find absurd, considering the laughter I and many others experience under the power of God today and the absurdities of some of Christ's sayings. Who could have kept a straight face when the carpenter described a current religious leader swallowing a camel, or a judge with a beam of lumber sticking out of his eye? Dickey, who wrote Afterlives of the Saints said that Lawrence was the patron saint of comedians; Lawrence joked about being done and ready to eat while he was being burned to death. Dickey thought that Lawrence seemed to come from another religion. Certainly, he doesn't belong with the Jesuit who told his class the story and then upbraided them for laughing at it.
This reminds me of a dating site I am familiar with. You can use multiple choice answers to fill in some basic information, and if you pick a religion, you can say you are "very serious about it," "somewhat serious about it," "not very serious about it" or "laughing about it." To be serious might be to be devoted to your God or faith with all your heart that you are able, or it could mean you are a stuffed shirt. "Laughing about it" could mean you don't like the label you've been given and you make fun of it, or it could mean you just plain don't care. Or it might mean that your religion really makes you happy. How often these days is laughter really about happiness, and how often is it an expression of cynicism, ridicule, or a shallow escape from deep sadness or anxiety? I think even in those cases, it can sometimes be healthy. The problem comes in when "taking things seriously" means we can't laugh at ourselves, our circumstances, even our sufferings and deaths. As I like to put it, Don't take yourself seriously; you're just a character God invented.
Someone in the audience pointed out that today people with the intensities of the once-admired saints are labeled with mental disorders and subdued with drugs. Where are the zealous today? Tanya Hurley said that much of her novel, The Blessed, about three reincarnated teenaged girl saints, takes place in mental the ward.
Panelist James Bernard Frost wrote a very Portland- (Oregon)culture story called A Very Minor Prophet: A Novel, concerning people who have lost their religion and still need something. And based on some of the things I've heard and read about religion, losing it can be for some the best way to start on a path of real life. As Frost put it, religion is stiff and reverent, and new life is needed. The dwarf preacher in his story gets carried away, swears, and is a laughingstock but a breath of fresh air. But the author says it is a Christian message and that some ministers have expressed appreciation for this unorthodox book.
All three of the panelists grew up in Catholic homes and were influenced by stories of the saints. Dickey appreciates their spunk, although he is an atheist today. Within Christianity, it is chiefly Catholics (and then only those who actually LIKE Catholicism rather than those who have found themselves scarred and left the Church) who don't treat "religion" as something of a dirty word. It used to be a good thing to be thought of as religious, but today, both the born-again crowd and New Agers prefer to call themselves "spiritual" and the people outside their belief system "religious."
After this panel, I was hard-pressed to decide whether to attend a reading by two apocalyptic writers or listen to parts of A Face to Meet the Faces: An Anthology of Contemporary Persona Poetry. Poetry feeds the soul and I don't read or listen to enough of it, so I chose the latter. Persona poetry turned out to be just what I guessed it was: poetry written from the point of view of characters other than the poet--the poetic version of first person fiction. I got to meet the goddess Calypso, who finds Odysseus washed ashore like a drowned kitten and wonders if she can keep him; a Russian fairytale version of Snow White; a total jerk of a man; the Hulk; and more. The poets said that you need empathy to wear the mask of another person and that not everyone is capable of doing that regarding people very different from themselves. These poems were great, and I want to try writing more of this type of poem myself.
The next event I attended was "The 'Adult' in 'Young Adult,' about handling "adult" subject matter in teen novels. I put "adult" in quotes here because, as both audience members and authors acknowledged, everyone is younger in some ways and older in others. I didn't take down who said what here, but it was said that who you write about determines a books niche rather than who you write for.
I learned some interesting facts about libraries: 1. Faced with budgets that limit the number of books they can order, they don't so much out-and-out ban books as avoid ordering ones that are likely to create a hubbub. 2. At least some libraries buy the newest titles, keep them for a little while, and then send them back and buy the fresh new titles.
Many questions strayed from the topic. People wanted to know more about techniques of writing YA. Most YA is written in first person. Third person can be done, but authors using it tend to tell rather than show. It is important to keep an intimate point of view, whichever approach you use.
Next, from authors Lisa Burstein and Katie Kacvinsky, I learned some surprising things about what publishers and reviewers consider acceptable today in young adult books: sex is, drugs and alcohol are not. However, Steve Brezenoff includes drugs and alcohol, as well as cussing in his YA novel, Brooklyn, Burning. A writer must be true to the characters. The writers also pointed out that teens always feel like they have a spotlight on them. Yes, I remember that self-consciousness well!
I'm getting increasingly tired and it's getting fairly close to the time I should get ready, so I'll gloss over most of the next talk I went to, featuring Steve Brezenoff and Inara Scott. I was very glad I went to this, though, because it was a great relief to hear from successful published writers who don't follow all those rules they tell you you have to do: Brezenoff doesn't write every day. Inara says you don't have to. She writes in spurts like me! At last, I have been validated! She said, "If the passion's not there it's okay to take a break." As a pin I inherited from my mother says: Screw guilt.
There is, it was said, a huge crossover between young adults (up to age 21) and adults--about half and half. Understandably, then, there is more sex and violence in YA today than there used to be. Parents concerned about what their children read can ask booksellers and librarians about books appropriate to their ages, and when the youths liked a book they can ask for similar titles.
It was pure enjoyment listening to Ray Rhamey read from The Vampire Kitty-Cat Chronicles. Told from the undead tomcat's point of view, it is funny and takes into account a lot of practical matters that vampires might have to deal with. I absolutely had to buy it. I confess my mind wandered as Rhamey read from two of his other books and I didn't get interested in them, but afterward I ran to the bookseller's table, bought the last copy of Vampire Kitty available, and ran to get the author to sign it for me.
I heard a new term from two different writers, the second one explaining what it means. A pacer is a writer who doesn't plot. Rhamey writes to see what happens. He wrote the kitty story online at first, something I did for a while with one of my vampire characters. That character, by keeping his own journal, seemed to invent himself; he developed in a matter of months while others have taken years.
The final panel was about sidekicks, or secondary characters. A sidekick isn't necessarily the protagonist's best friend. The sidekick is almost always of the same sex, but there are exceptions. There can also be more than one of them. Sidekicks can be a contradiction of the main character, to keep things in balance. A panelist gave the example of Don Quixote's Sancho Panzo. The character may be an externalization of the protagonist so he isn't talking to himself; the sidekick can be either antagonistic or agreeing.
For my novel-in-progress, Blood of the Willing, I like to throw my protagonist Mary together with her cantankerous and humorous friend Darrell for contrast in personality and in views toward how to handle the problem the book poses. Darrell, the traditionalist, thinks vampires are purely evil undead monsters that should all be killed. Mary finds herself taking a different view and approach. Either way they choose, both approaches have serious prices to pay.
I think I have finally said all I want to say about yesterday's half of the book fair. Tomorrow is here, that is to say it is 5:33 a.m., and I have to "get up" in less than half an hour. I pray I will have an energetic day in spite of my lack of sleep. I look forward to my workshop on starting a series.
Ditching Church to Follow my Calling: Wordstock, Sunday Edition
I was more prepared Sunday, although I did forget the guidebook I had marked up with my plans for both days because I'd left it by the computer to refer to while writing my last entry. In a way, that was all for the best, because I had wanted a fresh map for the new day. After I got my hand stamped with the trademark red chair and lamp (free admission for either day you pay for a workshop), I sat down to plan my second day all over again. At the same table sat a woman writer with her young bookworm daughter. The woman was impressed that I marked the intended stages on my map with the time for each one (having been confused Saturday by my earlier technique of numbering the events in chronological order starting with 1), and I was impressed that she writes children's books about animals for National Geographic. I had brought along Vampire Kitty-Cat to read on the way there and back, relieved to finally be reading fiction again instead of my editing tomes. I recommended it to the woman's daughter.
Again, I missed the 10:00 starting time. They ought to blow a shofar or something. I only missed it by a couple minutes this time, but it was enough time that I again waited in line for the Open Write--not for long, though. I learned that you could write as many times as you wanted in the day, which is not what I had been told Saturday. I didn't have time to keep trying, although it would have been fun to go several times. I was, as the Blues Brothers say, on a mission from God: a mission to get as much as I could from the book fair as a writer and reader, and to make contact with potential employers and clients. Writers, editors, and students have to eat, too, and years of dedicating myself to my schooling as prices have risen and food stamps lowered have slimmed my pocketbook considerably.
My prompt this time was more helpful, and my fingers were surer on the small laptop keyboard. I made fewer mistakes and spent less time correcting them. I wrote a halfway decent little story, stopping ahead of my deadline because I heard someone else's timer ring and mistook it for mine. If I hadn't sent the story in when I did, and if I had thought about it a little more thoroughly, I would have perhaps mentioned the actual spell that brought the dragon into my life before it singed my hair off when I was trying to teach it to light my barbeque. But maybe that's better left unknown. After all, it was obviously a magic book I was reading, and those things can be dangerous.
I wasn't around the Attic Institute booth when they announced the winners, so I had to wait for the email to find out. I didn't really think mine was that original, but there was a category (I think they made it up for the writer) called "Best use of mythical beast." For a millisecond, I wondered if I had my claim to fame, but of course it wasn't me. After all, there was nothing incredibly unusual about my dragon.
From there, I sat watching a panel on a large stage, called "Twisting the Tale," about putting characters into horrible situations to create an exiting story. The subject could have been exiting in itself, and useful to a writer, but in my view it was but mildly interesting, and became less so the more it went on. The authors simply read from and talked about their books; I didn't get any specific tips about how to torture my own inner people. I did hear a thought-provoking quote from Kurt Anderson, author of True Believers: "Her belief in her own sanity was so strong, it led to insanity." This leads me to respond with a couple more quotes: "It has the ring of truth." --Gandolf, in Tolkien's The Hobbit. "Sanity is overrated." --that famous poet, Anon. How many of us label ourselves sane and a certain minority insane--and how often are the labels really accurate? Is anyone truly and fully sane? How do we define sanity?
I left my seat and walked up and down the exhibit hall, my envelope of resumes and business cards in hand. My painful shyness of the day before had fled. Saturday, at the end of the day, I had approached a friendly man from Minuteman Press who invited me to spin a wheel for a prize. Since he printed books for self-publishing authors, I'd chatted with him and asked him if he referred clients to editors. He said he did, and I gave him my resume and business card and chatted with him for some time. Now, I was amazed at how many publishers in this exhibit hall expressed an interest in my editing for them. I also signed up to do reviews for The Portland Book Review in exchange for free books.
At noon, I went to the panel on teen thrillers, featuring April Henry, author of The Night She Disappeared (based on a true story), Jeanne Ryan (pronounced Jeanie), author of Nerve, about a deadly online game of Dare, and Kimberly Derting, who writes the Body Finder series, about a girl who can find corpses and their killers by their "echoes" and "imprints," respectively.
The authors said that there used to be a big leap from books like Charlotte's Web and Nancy Drew to adult thrillers like Stephen King's--nothing less scary for teens to read. Elsewhere in Wordstock, it was expressed that this jump tends to be the habit of young male readers, anyway. One of the authors in this panel said she found psychological thrillers more frightening than horror because they could really happen. (I'll make a note to include plenty of things that could happen along with my fantastical themes; this goes hand-in-hand with my philosophy that the more realism I can include, the more easy it is to imagine the fantasy elements as true also.)
Why do these authors write their thrillers for young adults? They said it was their natural voice, they liked the pacing, and that teen experience is fresh, new, and always on the surface; a teen's best and worst day in life can be in the same hour. (Sounds to me as if teens are all bipolar--speaking of the fluid definitions of sanity.) Teen years are full of firsts: first kiss, first job, first day of high school . . . Writing (or reading) YA, you get to experience it all again. Teens also make enthusiastic fans. One author said they will come up to her and say theirs is the best book they have ever read . . . although she may find out later they never finished it.
Sorry I didn't sort out who said what here. I suppose I was more interested in the flow of the conversation and the information itself, since I am writing YA myself.
One of the authors said she wrote what she thought was an adult book, but because it had a teen protagonist, her agent said it was a teen novel.
But one thing that needs to be kept in mind is that some things can be too grisly for teens. The next matter is what not to include in YA books and why. They said that the books can teach but that learning should not be their main purpose. They should entertain. They should be pretty clean. A teacher was fired over some language in books. The author didn't want to make that happen to a teacher. The panel also said a YA book should not be a "problem novel," simply a book showing that a teen is not alone in being in a certain situation.
Publishers can grow looser in their standards as a series goes on. And teens like dark subjects. If they cannot find them in YA books, they will go to adult ones.
Tips for writers of teen thrillers and other books:
1. As I wrote in a special note to myself at the top of the page, when you leave one character on a cliffhanger, try to switch points of view to another character.
2. No matter how much you hear or read from and about other authors, there is no right or wrong way to write a book! This advice was so freeing to me, I wrote a big YES! in the margin.
3. For those who can afford it: I have heard more than one recommendation at this Wordstock of a computer program called Scribner. They said it's ideal for writing books. You can keep applicable photos, web pages, and index cards on the pages you are writing on and you can move them around.
4. If you can't get Scribner, you can cut out pictures from magazines that look like your characters. I have done this at times. It helps if you have some art ability of your own and can draw them, either from found pictures or from your own imagination. Then you can put those pictures up where you can refer to them and be consistent about their features.
5. Regarding research: If you are fortunate enough to get to North Carolina, you can take advantage of the Writer's Police Academy, started by a retired officer tired of writers making mistakes in their fiction. It sounded like a stupendous opportunity.
6. Also regarding research: Although Google is extremely useful for finding all kinds of facts, Phillip Margolin (who moderated the panel and also happened to speak at Willamette Writers this month)prefers to call and visit detectives and other professionals people in person. He finds that he or they will think of things he wouldn't have come up with otherwise. Margolin says these professionals love to help out.
The next panel I attended was "The Heart of the Matter," which according to the guidebook was concerned "compelling characters and stories . . . born from painful emotions and events in the author's life." It turned out that the panel didn't talk about writing fiction but memoirs. Although it was moving and empowering, I came away wishing I'd heard something about how to transfer my pain into fiction, and feeling slightly guilty that I'm not pursuing memoir. I could relate to the writing of a memoir book but not to the publishing of it. These writers pretty much said, Screw what your family thinks; you owe it to the world and yourself to open up and spill your darkest secrets and let others out there who have experienced similar abuses know they are not alone (yeah--the opposite of what the last panel said about "problem stories," it seems). I feel alone in that the things I most want to keep to myself are not among my sufferings but among my joys. I am considering letting my own memoir be read and possibly published posthumously (assuming the end of the world, so to speak, doesn't come first; dystopias was one of the themes at Wordstock this year, and I think it's an appropriate year to focus on them).
I felt a little guilty that I spend so much time writing fiction and letting the depths and heights of my experiences and emotions weave into them. I have fun skewing and exaggerating them beyond recognition and find catharsis in the midst of it. Why whine about victimization in my dysfunctional family and elsewhere in my life when I can take those experiences, add those of others I have met and read of, mix in a healthy dose of dark fantasy, and empower my characters to do things I could never do in my mundane life as a kind, gentle person? Wow, I've really turned this part of my report into a rant. This is not to say that anything I heard at said panel was invalid or unhelpful; it's just that it wasn't what I expected.
Since I find myself loving to write fiction more than nonfiction, I will talk about how fiction and fictional techniques figure into memoir.
Duff Brenna, who dealt with an abusive childhood by writing Murdering The Mom: A Memoir, ended up using three points of view, with third person limited and second person voices to vary the distance for himself and his readers. Jerry McGill, who was shot and paralyzed by a random stranger, had to invent his unknown attacker and give him a fictional history in Dear Marcus: A Letter to the Man Who Shot Me. Truth, as the panel pointed out, has multiple perspectives. I have even heard this concept applied to our Maker: "Mister God hasn't got a point of view--only endless viewing points," says the little girl in Mister God, This Is Anna.
The panelists explained the notable difference between memoir and autobiography: in memoir, if you can't remember something, you can make it up. In biography (auto or otherwise), you are obligated to get the dates and facts right. Getting dates right may be attainable, but who really knows the facts of even part of a life, much less years of a life? Although the moderator said she knew that children remember well what happens to them, at least one panelist said memory is fickle. (Here is a demonstration of it: I'm not sure who or how many of the three expressed that.)
Another important difference to note may be particularly of interest to memoir writers: Small independent presses will publish dark themes. Large commercial publishers want no dark material and they want all to be transformational. I find this to be a contrast to trade fiction. Here we are lifting up the dark themes in fiction with such writers as Stephen King and ignoring the who-was-its of the truth that inspires such fiction when they write what really happened to them. If you doubt that dark fiction comes from dark truth, try reading Stephen King's On Writing, which relates many of the horrors of the author's own experiences from young childhood on that prove what I read once in a Writer's Digest article. Whatever happens to you, no matter how bad, if you are a writer, "It's all copy." (Again, my fickle memory lacks an attribution.)
Just a little was said about a work of fiction, Yuknavitch's Dora, a Headcase (which Goodreads doesn't have in its database). The author said this teen book gets a lot of "adult hoodoo" trying to keep secret what the teens experience. Again, no "problem books." By all means, keep those who suffer from abuse and mental illness isolated! After all, we have met the enemy, and it is us, so let's imprison ourselves.
A little free dark sarcasm for you there.
The dark stories of real life are tales you "can't wrap up into happy little endings," one of the authors said, adding that a good movie, play, or book makes you feel sick at the end, not necessarily happy.
A note of hope for writers: Although celebrities sell a lot of copies of a book fast, lesser known authors sell their copies of a book longer. The two types of writers even each other out over time.
From there, I rushed to my workshop, "Starting a Series," by April Henry, and found it had already started. Some of what I heard I had already figured out on my own. For instance, the first item in my notes: make careful decisions with the first book.
Good news: Series (serieses?) sell very well, especially among teens, who get used to the whole setup the first book and then the series doesn't require as much of the reader. Adults like a series because they like the characters, which "seem like old friends." A series is no harder to sell than a stand-alone.
Every good series needs a hook, an overarching idea, but each book must not be the same. Each book must be whole and complete in itself, with a conflict and a resolution and some anticipation of what is to come. Writers, don't let people feel like they just walked in when they pick up a later book in the series. On the other hand, provide background information only when needed. Trilogies often have the flaw of the second book ending on a "downer."
A series is much more character-driven than a stand-alone book. Try using things you know well and have an inside scoop on to round out your main characters. You may want to write about two or three main characters and switch point of view. Note: I went to a meeting last night in which a writer said she was forced to re-write her mystery because a an agent or publisher told her there are no multiple points of view in her genre. Her genre is the same as April Henry's--mystery. I wanted to talk to her about Henry, but the acoustics in the room made it impossible for her to hear me from across the room, my foot was hurting for unknown reasons, and I was suffering from a bout of shyness and social awkwardness. Maybe it's better I didn't challenge the poor woman. At any rate, one point of view you wouldn't want to include in a mystery is the murderer's. Need I say we don't give away who done it? (That keeps my current work-in-progress from being in the mystery category; who done it is pretty clear early on; how to stop her from doing it is the problem.) To continue with my notes from the workshop: The characters should be bigger than real life. We already have real life. Make their lives more interesting and exciting than ours. Turn up whatever is the character's thing, their job, task, hobby, etc. Give your character a special area of expertise, and explore a new facit of it in each book. Give them bad habits readers can relate to, whether small-range or serious, that they are always trying to overcome. For instance, your character could have an alcohol problem that fluxtuates with each book.
Some flaws stay with a character forever; others are overcome. Perhaps the external problem is solved in one book while the harder, internal problems continue. The character could deal with a different problem each book. The characters must grow and change, with the main character most affected. A lot of life-changing things must happen. We want to read about people with a lot of trouble and problems--not like we want our own lives to be! She also said to make all the characters likable and important--although I wonder whether this is as true for villains as for heroes. There are, as you no doubt recognize, characters we love to hate. Perhaps if we really understood them we might like them to more or less of an extent, but fiction doesn't always allow us enough time to get to know them that well. If the same villain continues throughout a series, he may be sympathetic to the reader, though. One of my Goodreads friends suggests I strive to make a villain so sympathetic readers will root for him or her. I'm not sure whether I want to go that far, but I think I could strive for that with some of them, at least.
It is hard to avoid stereotypes. April Henry's suggestion is to break down stereotypes, mixing the traits up like a sectioned flip book. I can only hope I come to recognize stereotypes in the first place to that I can effectively mix their traits. Add the unusual, she said, and don't make characters too similar to one another.
Ask yourself what your characters love, what they are afraid of, and what they want. What do they struggle with, and what do they try to hide? Don't forget disabilities in the characters and their relations.
Oh, I see the suggestion about the magazine pictures was made in this workshop. You can also go to stores that match your characters' income level and pick out what they are likely to wear. I suggest taking pictures of them if the proprietors don't mind. You might even find otherwise expensive items in thrift stores and actually buy them. Yeah, I think cheap because I have to. I'm so glad my daughter isn't like my niece, who insisted on Dolphin brand shorts when they were the in thing; my daughter has always loved Goodwill, where you can find some of the coolest stuff for just a few dollars. I'm thinking of a few reasons why buying the clothes might be better than taking pictures of them: you can clearly see them from all angles; you can be familiar with the feel of the fabric; if they fit you, you can wear them and know what they feel like and look like when worn; if they don't fit you, perhaps you can find people they do fit who can act out the characters to help you write scenes, and to play out scenes as publicity gimmicks.
A new point of view in another book that has never been used in an earlier book can confuse readers. ("Uh-oh," I wrote in my notebook's margin; I have planned to write my second and third books partly using new POVs of some of my secondary characters, but as long as Book 1 already is, I can't go back and add those points of view--don't think I should, anyway, because it would make the story too complicated, especially for young adults. This is a rule I think I will bend, because I and others love some of my secondary characters and I think their POVs are aching to burst out. It helps that one of my POV characters in my first book reads some of another character's diary, which introduces her point of view a little. But I also want to bring new characters into the second book, and I feel I need the point of view of at least one of those to make the story work. I was thinking of introducing him through letters rather than the traditional POV narration.
Meyer Briggs and other online questionaires are good for characterization.
Unless you pick a specific year for your setting, try not to nail down time too much.
Consider stories that can go across several books. Leave some information fluid; you don't have to know everything in advance. You will have new ideas later. Don't save the good stuff for later. Use your good ideas now. You have a chance to get this first book book published. When you approach a publisher, she said not to try to sell on the series. Just try to sell the first book; with that in mind, write the ending on a strong note. My concern with this is that I would like my book cover to include the name of the series on it; I've even been working on a logo.
April Henry said to list things the character would never say, do, or think. Then find situations when they have to do these things. I guess writers have to be cruel to their darling characters. Henry says to make their lives as bad as possible for as long as possible; it makes reading more interesting.
Of course, we writers also have to figure out how to get our characters out of these scrapes so that they survive into the next book. Or do we? Shall we let them continue as vampires, zombies, angels, saints? Depends on the genre, I'd say. Probably best not to suddenly turn a standard mystery series into a paranormal one.
Because the workshop let out at 4:15, I was late for the next event on the Tri-Met YA stage, which had also switched topics with the one meant to come after it. I listened to David Levithan read a little from his novel, Every Day, about a boy who wakes up in a different body each day. My memory fails me at that point (did someone else take over my body for a while?); all I know is that Wordstock was soon to end and I had more tables to visit in the exhibit hall. I do remember while canvassing the place that I noticed I was too late for the beginning of "New Trends in Teen Paranormal." I figured it was more important to find work than find out what was being published now, because it's useless to follow or predict trends, and what does the knowledge of what is already being published really do for you, anyway? Even though I still didn't visit every possible market for my editing and writing in the hall, I came out confident, and I found a good magazine I might contribute to and make good money. It's a literary magazine for parents, called Stealing Time. They pay on acceptance, which is a good thing.
So much more I could have enjoyed. So much more I could say about the books I learned about. But that is enough for me to say. I can't blog my whole life away. Poor novel is being neglected, among other things.
Happy reading, happy writing! And enjoy your life as well!
Again, I missed the 10:00 starting time. They ought to blow a shofar or something. I only missed it by a couple minutes this time, but it was enough time that I again waited in line for the Open Write--not for long, though. I learned that you could write as many times as you wanted in the day, which is not what I had been told Saturday. I didn't have time to keep trying, although it would have been fun to go several times. I was, as the Blues Brothers say, on a mission from God: a mission to get as much as I could from the book fair as a writer and reader, and to make contact with potential employers and clients. Writers, editors, and students have to eat, too, and years of dedicating myself to my schooling as prices have risen and food stamps lowered have slimmed my pocketbook considerably.
My prompt this time was more helpful, and my fingers were surer on the small laptop keyboard. I made fewer mistakes and spent less time correcting them. I wrote a halfway decent little story, stopping ahead of my deadline because I heard someone else's timer ring and mistook it for mine. If I hadn't sent the story in when I did, and if I had thought about it a little more thoroughly, I would have perhaps mentioned the actual spell that brought the dragon into my life before it singed my hair off when I was trying to teach it to light my barbeque. But maybe that's better left unknown. After all, it was obviously a magic book I was reading, and those things can be dangerous.
I wasn't around the Attic Institute booth when they announced the winners, so I had to wait for the email to find out. I didn't really think mine was that original, but there was a category (I think they made it up for the writer) called "Best use of mythical beast." For a millisecond, I wondered if I had my claim to fame, but of course it wasn't me. After all, there was nothing incredibly unusual about my dragon.
From there, I sat watching a panel on a large stage, called "Twisting the Tale," about putting characters into horrible situations to create an exiting story. The subject could have been exiting in itself, and useful to a writer, but in my view it was but mildly interesting, and became less so the more it went on. The authors simply read from and talked about their books; I didn't get any specific tips about how to torture my own inner people. I did hear a thought-provoking quote from Kurt Anderson, author of True Believers: "Her belief in her own sanity was so strong, it led to insanity." This leads me to respond with a couple more quotes: "It has the ring of truth." --Gandolf, in Tolkien's The Hobbit. "Sanity is overrated." --that famous poet, Anon. How many of us label ourselves sane and a certain minority insane--and how often are the labels really accurate? Is anyone truly and fully sane? How do we define sanity?
I left my seat and walked up and down the exhibit hall, my envelope of resumes and business cards in hand. My painful shyness of the day before had fled. Saturday, at the end of the day, I had approached a friendly man from Minuteman Press who invited me to spin a wheel for a prize. Since he printed books for self-publishing authors, I'd chatted with him and asked him if he referred clients to editors. He said he did, and I gave him my resume and business card and chatted with him for some time. Now, I was amazed at how many publishers in this exhibit hall expressed an interest in my editing for them. I also signed up to do reviews for The Portland Book Review in exchange for free books.
At noon, I went to the panel on teen thrillers, featuring April Henry, author of The Night She Disappeared (based on a true story), Jeanne Ryan (pronounced Jeanie), author of Nerve, about a deadly online game of Dare, and Kimberly Derting, who writes the Body Finder series, about a girl who can find corpses and their killers by their "echoes" and "imprints," respectively.
The authors said that there used to be a big leap from books like Charlotte's Web and Nancy Drew to adult thrillers like Stephen King's--nothing less scary for teens to read. Elsewhere in Wordstock, it was expressed that this jump tends to be the habit of young male readers, anyway. One of the authors in this panel said she found psychological thrillers more frightening than horror because they could really happen. (I'll make a note to include plenty of things that could happen along with my fantastical themes; this goes hand-in-hand with my philosophy that the more realism I can include, the more easy it is to imagine the fantasy elements as true also.)
Why do these authors write their thrillers for young adults? They said it was their natural voice, they liked the pacing, and that teen experience is fresh, new, and always on the surface; a teen's best and worst day in life can be in the same hour. (Sounds to me as if teens are all bipolar--speaking of the fluid definitions of sanity.) Teen years are full of firsts: first kiss, first job, first day of high school . . . Writing (or reading) YA, you get to experience it all again. Teens also make enthusiastic fans. One author said they will come up to her and say theirs is the best book they have ever read . . . although she may find out later they never finished it.
Sorry I didn't sort out who said what here. I suppose I was more interested in the flow of the conversation and the information itself, since I am writing YA myself.
One of the authors said she wrote what she thought was an adult book, but because it had a teen protagonist, her agent said it was a teen novel.
But one thing that needs to be kept in mind is that some things can be too grisly for teens. The next matter is what not to include in YA books and why. They said that the books can teach but that learning should not be their main purpose. They should entertain. They should be pretty clean. A teacher was fired over some language in books. The author didn't want to make that happen to a teacher. The panel also said a YA book should not be a "problem novel," simply a book showing that a teen is not alone in being in a certain situation.
Publishers can grow looser in their standards as a series goes on. And teens like dark subjects. If they cannot find them in YA books, they will go to adult ones.
Tips for writers of teen thrillers and other books:
1. As I wrote in a special note to myself at the top of the page, when you leave one character on a cliffhanger, try to switch points of view to another character.
2. No matter how much you hear or read from and about other authors, there is no right or wrong way to write a book! This advice was so freeing to me, I wrote a big YES! in the margin.
3. For those who can afford it: I have heard more than one recommendation at this Wordstock of a computer program called Scribner. They said it's ideal for writing books. You can keep applicable photos, web pages, and index cards on the pages you are writing on and you can move them around.
4. If you can't get Scribner, you can cut out pictures from magazines that look like your characters. I have done this at times. It helps if you have some art ability of your own and can draw them, either from found pictures or from your own imagination. Then you can put those pictures up where you can refer to them and be consistent about their features.
5. Regarding research: If you are fortunate enough to get to North Carolina, you can take advantage of the Writer's Police Academy, started by a retired officer tired of writers making mistakes in their fiction. It sounded like a stupendous opportunity.
6. Also regarding research: Although Google is extremely useful for finding all kinds of facts, Phillip Margolin (who moderated the panel and also happened to speak at Willamette Writers this month)prefers to call and visit detectives and other professionals people in person. He finds that he or they will think of things he wouldn't have come up with otherwise. Margolin says these professionals love to help out.
The next panel I attended was "The Heart of the Matter," which according to the guidebook was concerned "compelling characters and stories . . . born from painful emotions and events in the author's life." It turned out that the panel didn't talk about writing fiction but memoirs. Although it was moving and empowering, I came away wishing I'd heard something about how to transfer my pain into fiction, and feeling slightly guilty that I'm not pursuing memoir. I could relate to the writing of a memoir book but not to the publishing of it. These writers pretty much said, Screw what your family thinks; you owe it to the world and yourself to open up and spill your darkest secrets and let others out there who have experienced similar abuses know they are not alone (yeah--the opposite of what the last panel said about "problem stories," it seems). I feel alone in that the things I most want to keep to myself are not among my sufferings but among my joys. I am considering letting my own memoir be read and possibly published posthumously (assuming the end of the world, so to speak, doesn't come first; dystopias was one of the themes at Wordstock this year, and I think it's an appropriate year to focus on them).
I felt a little guilty that I spend so much time writing fiction and letting the depths and heights of my experiences and emotions weave into them. I have fun skewing and exaggerating them beyond recognition and find catharsis in the midst of it. Why whine about victimization in my dysfunctional family and elsewhere in my life when I can take those experiences, add those of others I have met and read of, mix in a healthy dose of dark fantasy, and empower my characters to do things I could never do in my mundane life as a kind, gentle person? Wow, I've really turned this part of my report into a rant. This is not to say that anything I heard at said panel was invalid or unhelpful; it's just that it wasn't what I expected.
Since I find myself loving to write fiction more than nonfiction, I will talk about how fiction and fictional techniques figure into memoir.
Duff Brenna, who dealt with an abusive childhood by writing Murdering The Mom: A Memoir, ended up using three points of view, with third person limited and second person voices to vary the distance for himself and his readers. Jerry McGill, who was shot and paralyzed by a random stranger, had to invent his unknown attacker and give him a fictional history in Dear Marcus: A Letter to the Man Who Shot Me. Truth, as the panel pointed out, has multiple perspectives. I have even heard this concept applied to our Maker: "Mister God hasn't got a point of view--only endless viewing points," says the little girl in Mister God, This Is Anna.
The panelists explained the notable difference between memoir and autobiography: in memoir, if you can't remember something, you can make it up. In biography (auto or otherwise), you are obligated to get the dates and facts right. Getting dates right may be attainable, but who really knows the facts of even part of a life, much less years of a life? Although the moderator said she knew that children remember well what happens to them, at least one panelist said memory is fickle. (Here is a demonstration of it: I'm not sure who or how many of the three expressed that.)
Another important difference to note may be particularly of interest to memoir writers: Small independent presses will publish dark themes. Large commercial publishers want no dark material and they want all to be transformational. I find this to be a contrast to trade fiction. Here we are lifting up the dark themes in fiction with such writers as Stephen King and ignoring the who-was-its of the truth that inspires such fiction when they write what really happened to them. If you doubt that dark fiction comes from dark truth, try reading Stephen King's On Writing, which relates many of the horrors of the author's own experiences from young childhood on that prove what I read once in a Writer's Digest article. Whatever happens to you, no matter how bad, if you are a writer, "It's all copy." (Again, my fickle memory lacks an attribution.)
Just a little was said about a work of fiction, Yuknavitch's Dora, a Headcase (which Goodreads doesn't have in its database). The author said this teen book gets a lot of "adult hoodoo" trying to keep secret what the teens experience. Again, no "problem books." By all means, keep those who suffer from abuse and mental illness isolated! After all, we have met the enemy, and it is us, so let's imprison ourselves.
A little free dark sarcasm for you there.
The dark stories of real life are tales you "can't wrap up into happy little endings," one of the authors said, adding that a good movie, play, or book makes you feel sick at the end, not necessarily happy.
A note of hope for writers: Although celebrities sell a lot of copies of a book fast, lesser known authors sell their copies of a book longer. The two types of writers even each other out over time.
From there, I rushed to my workshop, "Starting a Series," by April Henry, and found it had already started. Some of what I heard I had already figured out on my own. For instance, the first item in my notes: make careful decisions with the first book.
Good news: Series (serieses?) sell very well, especially among teens, who get used to the whole setup the first book and then the series doesn't require as much of the reader. Adults like a series because they like the characters, which "seem like old friends." A series is no harder to sell than a stand-alone.
Every good series needs a hook, an overarching idea, but each book must not be the same. Each book must be whole and complete in itself, with a conflict and a resolution and some anticipation of what is to come. Writers, don't let people feel like they just walked in when they pick up a later book in the series. On the other hand, provide background information only when needed. Trilogies often have the flaw of the second book ending on a "downer."
A series is much more character-driven than a stand-alone book. Try using things you know well and have an inside scoop on to round out your main characters. You may want to write about two or three main characters and switch point of view. Note: I went to a meeting last night in which a writer said she was forced to re-write her mystery because a an agent or publisher told her there are no multiple points of view in her genre. Her genre is the same as April Henry's--mystery. I wanted to talk to her about Henry, but the acoustics in the room made it impossible for her to hear me from across the room, my foot was hurting for unknown reasons, and I was suffering from a bout of shyness and social awkwardness. Maybe it's better I didn't challenge the poor woman. At any rate, one point of view you wouldn't want to include in a mystery is the murderer's. Need I say we don't give away who done it? (That keeps my current work-in-progress from being in the mystery category; who done it is pretty clear early on; how to stop her from doing it is the problem.) To continue with my notes from the workshop: The characters should be bigger than real life. We already have real life. Make their lives more interesting and exciting than ours. Turn up whatever is the character's thing, their job, task, hobby, etc. Give your character a special area of expertise, and explore a new facit of it in each book. Give them bad habits readers can relate to, whether small-range or serious, that they are always trying to overcome. For instance, your character could have an alcohol problem that fluxtuates with each book.
Some flaws stay with a character forever; others are overcome. Perhaps the external problem is solved in one book while the harder, internal problems continue. The character could deal with a different problem each book. The characters must grow and change, with the main character most affected. A lot of life-changing things must happen. We want to read about people with a lot of trouble and problems--not like we want our own lives to be! She also said to make all the characters likable and important--although I wonder whether this is as true for villains as for heroes. There are, as you no doubt recognize, characters we love to hate. Perhaps if we really understood them we might like them to more or less of an extent, but fiction doesn't always allow us enough time to get to know them that well. If the same villain continues throughout a series, he may be sympathetic to the reader, though. One of my Goodreads friends suggests I strive to make a villain so sympathetic readers will root for him or her. I'm not sure whether I want to go that far, but I think I could strive for that with some of them, at least.
It is hard to avoid stereotypes. April Henry's suggestion is to break down stereotypes, mixing the traits up like a sectioned flip book. I can only hope I come to recognize stereotypes in the first place to that I can effectively mix their traits. Add the unusual, she said, and don't make characters too similar to one another.
Ask yourself what your characters love, what they are afraid of, and what they want. What do they struggle with, and what do they try to hide? Don't forget disabilities in the characters and their relations.
Oh, I see the suggestion about the magazine pictures was made in this workshop. You can also go to stores that match your characters' income level and pick out what they are likely to wear. I suggest taking pictures of them if the proprietors don't mind. You might even find otherwise expensive items in thrift stores and actually buy them. Yeah, I think cheap because I have to. I'm so glad my daughter isn't like my niece, who insisted on Dolphin brand shorts when they were the in thing; my daughter has always loved Goodwill, where you can find some of the coolest stuff for just a few dollars. I'm thinking of a few reasons why buying the clothes might be better than taking pictures of them: you can clearly see them from all angles; you can be familiar with the feel of the fabric; if they fit you, you can wear them and know what they feel like and look like when worn; if they don't fit you, perhaps you can find people they do fit who can act out the characters to help you write scenes, and to play out scenes as publicity gimmicks.
A new point of view in another book that has never been used in an earlier book can confuse readers. ("Uh-oh," I wrote in my notebook's margin; I have planned to write my second and third books partly using new POVs of some of my secondary characters, but as long as Book 1 already is, I can't go back and add those points of view--don't think I should, anyway, because it would make the story too complicated, especially for young adults. This is a rule I think I will bend, because I and others love some of my secondary characters and I think their POVs are aching to burst out. It helps that one of my POV characters in my first book reads some of another character's diary, which introduces her point of view a little. But I also want to bring new characters into the second book, and I feel I need the point of view of at least one of those to make the story work. I was thinking of introducing him through letters rather than the traditional POV narration.
Meyer Briggs and other online questionaires are good for characterization.
Unless you pick a specific year for your setting, try not to nail down time too much.
Consider stories that can go across several books. Leave some information fluid; you don't have to know everything in advance. You will have new ideas later. Don't save the good stuff for later. Use your good ideas now. You have a chance to get this first book book published. When you approach a publisher, she said not to try to sell on the series. Just try to sell the first book; with that in mind, write the ending on a strong note. My concern with this is that I would like my book cover to include the name of the series on it; I've even been working on a logo.
April Henry said to list things the character would never say, do, or think. Then find situations when they have to do these things. I guess writers have to be cruel to their darling characters. Henry says to make their lives as bad as possible for as long as possible; it makes reading more interesting.
Of course, we writers also have to figure out how to get our characters out of these scrapes so that they survive into the next book. Or do we? Shall we let them continue as vampires, zombies, angels, saints? Depends on the genre, I'd say. Probably best not to suddenly turn a standard mystery series into a paranormal one.
Because the workshop let out at 4:15, I was late for the next event on the Tri-Met YA stage, which had also switched topics with the one meant to come after it. I listened to David Levithan read a little from his novel, Every Day, about a boy who wakes up in a different body each day. My memory fails me at that point (did someone else take over my body for a while?); all I know is that Wordstock was soon to end and I had more tables to visit in the exhibit hall. I do remember while canvassing the place that I noticed I was too late for the beginning of "New Trends in Teen Paranormal." I figured it was more important to find work than find out what was being published now, because it's useless to follow or predict trends, and what does the knowledge of what is already being published really do for you, anyway? Even though I still didn't visit every possible market for my editing and writing in the hall, I came out confident, and I found a good magazine I might contribute to and make good money. It's a literary magazine for parents, called Stealing Time. They pay on acceptance, which is a good thing.
So much more I could have enjoyed. So much more I could say about the books I learned about. But that is enough for me to say. I can't blog my whole life away. Poor novel is being neglected, among other things.
Happy reading, happy writing! And enjoy your life as well!
The Genesis of a Writer
I’m not sure there was one moment in my life when I realized I would be a writer. I think it was close to a destiny I always knew. Stories were important to me from the beginning. I loved the picture books my mother read to me. In kindergarten, our class made a book of pictures by each pupil; accompanying the drawings were short piece of writing we had dictated to the teacher. I acted out fairytales for family members and friends, like “The Three Bears” and “Cinderella.”
In first and second grade, we wrote stories and illustrated them on big-ruled sheets of paper. Our teachers gave us really creative prompts, and I think I got into more detail than the other kids, careful to include a logical beginning. In second grade I stayed in recesses to make my first picture book.
I was teased a lot by my schoolmates, and it cut me deeply. My family was unsympathetic to my complaints about it. I told myself that when I grew up I would be a famous artist and writer. Then those who had hated me would read about me in the newspapers and be sorry. I would show them I was better than a misfit crybaby, and better than all of them.
In third grade, I used to go visit my second grade teacher. I told her I was going to be an author. She pinched my cheeks and said, “Write children’s books.”
Sorry, Mrs. Palermo. My interests are broader, and I don’t pander to your expectations. I write what inspiration leads me to, not what one set age group dictates.
When I was still a child, it would take me hours to get to sleep, so I would make up novels in my head. Now I find that I can’t carry whole scenes in my memory for long without writing them down.
Although I still do a little art for my own pleasure, most of my art is to help me picture the characters in my stories or to design possible covers for the books. The “famous artist” part of my ambition has pretty much fallen by the wayside, leaving me more time to write. I’m driven to imagine, get it into words, and share it with others. Fame is slow to come by and not a need anymore. I’m famous to God. But I would like to produce published books. And I want to make a living on my writing!
I get the impression that most people think writing like mine is play and that I should spend my time doing more “important” things. Writing is enjoyable for me, but it also requires a lot of time and effort. Most of the markets out there pay nothing, and another large percentage pay a only a handful of dollars, I suppose for the purpose of saying you’re “paid.” Some writers make their living writing articles, but the really creative stuff doesn’t provide a living except to the rare superstar author. What are our values?
I write because I love stories. I write because the Lord I love is the Word. God made me in His image. And He is the Creator. So I am a creator, too.
(Sorry if a bit of this is the same as my author information. I wrote this entry to a Writer's Digest website prompt while in my writers' salon group. The information was all new to my friends there.)
In first and second grade, we wrote stories and illustrated them on big-ruled sheets of paper. Our teachers gave us really creative prompts, and I think I got into more detail than the other kids, careful to include a logical beginning. In second grade I stayed in recesses to make my first picture book.
I was teased a lot by my schoolmates, and it cut me deeply. My family was unsympathetic to my complaints about it. I told myself that when I grew up I would be a famous artist and writer. Then those who had hated me would read about me in the newspapers and be sorry. I would show them I was better than a misfit crybaby, and better than all of them.
In third grade, I used to go visit my second grade teacher. I told her I was going to be an author. She pinched my cheeks and said, “Write children’s books.”
Sorry, Mrs. Palermo. My interests are broader, and I don’t pander to your expectations. I write what inspiration leads me to, not what one set age group dictates.
When I was still a child, it would take me hours to get to sleep, so I would make up novels in my head. Now I find that I can’t carry whole scenes in my memory for long without writing them down.
Although I still do a little art for my own pleasure, most of my art is to help me picture the characters in my stories or to design possible covers for the books. The “famous artist” part of my ambition has pretty much fallen by the wayside, leaving me more time to write. I’m driven to imagine, get it into words, and share it with others. Fame is slow to come by and not a need anymore. I’m famous to God. But I would like to produce published books. And I want to make a living on my writing!
I get the impression that most people think writing like mine is play and that I should spend my time doing more “important” things. Writing is enjoyable for me, but it also requires a lot of time and effort. Most of the markets out there pay nothing, and another large percentage pay a only a handful of dollars, I suppose for the purpose of saying you’re “paid.” Some writers make their living writing articles, but the really creative stuff doesn’t provide a living except to the rare superstar author. What are our values?
I write because I love stories. I write because the Lord I love is the Word. God made me in His image. And He is the Creator. So I am a creator, too.
(Sorry if a bit of this is the same as my author information. I wrote this entry to a Writer's Digest website prompt while in my writers' salon group. The information was all new to my friends there.)
Transforming Stories for the Stage
"A Wall is a Road." That's the title that Katy, the creative director of the Well Arts Institute, has given to our writing group's upcoming second annual theatrical production. She had to come up with a title some time ago to put on the website. I'm not sure how she came by this name, but I love it.
I am privileged to live near Portland, Oregon, which has a a lot of opportunities for people who wish to write. Well Arts is one of the non-profit programs that is free to the public and involves writing in community. It's the only chance I've ever had to see my own writings acted out on stage by professional actors. Our group, Beautiful Minds, meets at a NAMI office twice a month. (NAMI stands for National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.) Anyone with a mental illness or who has a friend or relative who has one is welcome to join in--which means, as Katy puts it, practically anyone. At each meeting, Katy focuses on a theme, such as conflict, heroes and villains, or hidden treasure, and then we do a timed writing about whatever the theme suggests to us individually. Recently, Katy had us read stories by others by other members of the group and write responses to them, so that we would have more continuity in the production.
So many good stories put Katy in a difficult situation; a lot had to be left out to keep the drama from dragging too long. But I'm happy with the way her current draft fits together.
We had auditions for professional actors last Saturday. Three of us writers showed up. There are always more female actors than male ones. (Last year, two of my male characters had to become female ones because of this phenomenon. I've learned not to write about men as much.)Some of the women read the parts so well it was a difficult decision. But it is a dream come true to help in this decision-making and be part of a theatrical team. There's nothing like good acting to bring writing to life!
We also may have to do a lot of rewriting along the way to make our stories better and more fit for the stage. Katy is an excellent writing coach. I got very tired of making changes to my longest skit last spring, but it was worth it to see it all come together and note how audiences reacted.
Rehearsals for this March's production start in the latter part of next week. The writers are encouraged to come and help coach the actors and enjoy the process of the play taking shape. Actually, I hesitate to call the Well Arts shows plays, because they are more like patchwork stories knitted together for creative congruity. The actors have only a month to practice. As an aid to them and to emphasize the writings, the actors hold the scripts while they recite the words and show the emotions; the amount of action, props, and settings vary from group to group, presentation to presentation.
Last year, our show was called "What's Important Is the Story"--which was a line from one of my stories, and also the name of that story. My contribution of stories was the second largest (five of them). Four featured the same fictional character, a writer with a telepathic link with a bard in another dimension (the writer character was one who had to undergo a "sex change"). The fifth story was a monologue in which an actress playing me pondered how she came to have a love relationship with Jesus and the challenges that relationship weathered. Katy said it was the best thing I had written in the class. All six of the writers, and all six of the actors, are highly talented.
I caught a bad cold from going to all the rehearsals, but it was worth it. I saw all four showings, carefully timing my coughs so as not to interrupt dialogue.
Well Arts works with a number of different groups who have health challenges or face crises. Its philosophy is that the creative process is healing. Some of the other groups Well Arts works with to make plays are Voices of Our Elders (seniors in two different locations), Soldier's Heart (veterans), and Returning Heroes (writers who have taken part in a past production).
I don't know whether similar programs exist in other locations. If they don't, perhaps some people will investigate the Well Arts Institute and get some ideas about starting such organizations in their own areas. The website is http://wellarts.org/. (I'd create a real link here, but I'm confused by the description in the Formatting Tips.)
I am privileged to live near Portland, Oregon, which has a a lot of opportunities for people who wish to write. Well Arts is one of the non-profit programs that is free to the public and involves writing in community. It's the only chance I've ever had to see my own writings acted out on stage by professional actors. Our group, Beautiful Minds, meets at a NAMI office twice a month. (NAMI stands for National Alliance for the Mentally Ill.) Anyone with a mental illness or who has a friend or relative who has one is welcome to join in--which means, as Katy puts it, practically anyone. At each meeting, Katy focuses on a theme, such as conflict, heroes and villains, or hidden treasure, and then we do a timed writing about whatever the theme suggests to us individually. Recently, Katy had us read stories by others by other members of the group and write responses to them, so that we would have more continuity in the production.
So many good stories put Katy in a difficult situation; a lot had to be left out to keep the drama from dragging too long. But I'm happy with the way her current draft fits together.
We had auditions for professional actors last Saturday. Three of us writers showed up. There are always more female actors than male ones. (Last year, two of my male characters had to become female ones because of this phenomenon. I've learned not to write about men as much.)Some of the women read the parts so well it was a difficult decision. But it is a dream come true to help in this decision-making and be part of a theatrical team. There's nothing like good acting to bring writing to life!
We also may have to do a lot of rewriting along the way to make our stories better and more fit for the stage. Katy is an excellent writing coach. I got very tired of making changes to my longest skit last spring, but it was worth it to see it all come together and note how audiences reacted.
Rehearsals for this March's production start in the latter part of next week. The writers are encouraged to come and help coach the actors and enjoy the process of the play taking shape. Actually, I hesitate to call the Well Arts shows plays, because they are more like patchwork stories knitted together for creative congruity. The actors have only a month to practice. As an aid to them and to emphasize the writings, the actors hold the scripts while they recite the words and show the emotions; the amount of action, props, and settings vary from group to group, presentation to presentation.
Last year, our show was called "What's Important Is the Story"--which was a line from one of my stories, and also the name of that story. My contribution of stories was the second largest (five of them). Four featured the same fictional character, a writer with a telepathic link with a bard in another dimension (the writer character was one who had to undergo a "sex change"). The fifth story was a monologue in which an actress playing me pondered how she came to have a love relationship with Jesus and the challenges that relationship weathered. Katy said it was the best thing I had written in the class. All six of the writers, and all six of the actors, are highly talented.
I caught a bad cold from going to all the rehearsals, but it was worth it. I saw all four showings, carefully timing my coughs so as not to interrupt dialogue.
Well Arts works with a number of different groups who have health challenges or face crises. Its philosophy is that the creative process is healing. Some of the other groups Well Arts works with to make plays are Voices of Our Elders (seniors in two different locations), Soldier's Heart (veterans), and Returning Heroes (writers who have taken part in a past production).
I don't know whether similar programs exist in other locations. If they don't, perhaps some people will investigate the Well Arts Institute and get some ideas about starting such organizations in their own areas. The website is http://wellarts.org/. (I'd create a real link here, but I'm confused by the description in the Formatting Tips.)
Stealing Time has Accepted My Story!
These days I have been staying up really late at night, so late it's early, as they say, to the point that someone said today that I'm a vampire. I deny it; I may write about vampires, but I have no fangs, don't bite people, and don't drink blood. I just don't usually get tired in the evenings. When it's late, however, I usually don't do any work, either--which may be why my system insists on staying up: It likes the game playing, the relaxation, and the chatting with friends on Facebook. It was typical yesterday morning that I was slowing down at 2 and looked at my email before I was about to shut down my computer. But this time, lo, a miracle! An fellow Robin (Jennings, I think it's safe to say) was apparently also up late, but she was working. She had sent me an acceptance letter for my story, "Like a Salmon, I Swam Upstream."
I was overjoyed to the point that it all felt unreal. I had given up hope on my submission to Stealing Time magazine because I had not heard from the publisher after several months of waiting, and, since it was an online submission, I thought the response would be sooner. I had told myself that the editors wouldn't take it because it didn't fit well enough with the issue I submitted it to. I had written it with the Pregnancy and Birth issue in mind, but, when I went to submit it, the magazine was no longer taking submissions to that issue. So I tried the Milestones issue instead. I also feared that the publishers might not like my Christian point of view. But now this editor said she LOVED the story and was excited to publish it. I figured she couldn't be more exited than me, but one had to wonder.
The email added that the story just needed a little bit of editing and that I would be referred to the fiction editor for that. Oops! I wrote my fellow Robin back (she shares the best name in the world with me) that I was very excited to have them publish my story but that it was not fiction; this story of a difficult unplanned pregnancy and a three-year nightmare legal battle over custody of my child was my personal experience, just as I remembered it.
I had sort of jumped the gun there in my eagerness to reply to the acceptance letter. A second email had followed right after it announcing an update on the information on my submission. I clicked the link it cited, and read a note that the words "fiction editor" had been a typo. A couple short notes followed clarifying that there was no more confusion. As I like to say, editors need editors.
Stealing Time is a literary magazine for parents. Between it's slick, expertly-illustrated pages, it showcases thoughtful fiction, non-fiction, and poetry having to do with parenting, step-parenting, grandparenting, and so forth. I was first introduced to the publication at Wordstock last year, where I met some of the editors and bought a copy for $6. They told me they accepted previously-published material, which was a relief to me, because practically any small exposure to a piece of writing is considered publication, and I've posted some of my stuff on the Internet and also had some published or "desktop published" in very limited circulation, thereby barring those works from most publications. In addition to this open door, this magazine pays well--much better than anyplace that has ever used my writing. Each writer gets a minimum of $100, with payment going up according to length and how much they love the piece.
The Milestones issue is for this summer and fall. You can read about the magazine, enjoy some sample stories, and submit your own work to the coming issue of your choice at StealingTimeMag.com.
Thanks go to the people who critiqued my story, and, many years ago, to the people who helped me get through all the rapids and snares of that time I wrote about. My daughter is 23 now, and living far away. Despite the present distance, I'm glad that we got to do a lot of growing up together, instead of her never knowing her mother at all. And thanks go to my own mother, who encouraged me to take up the fight, and who would be proud of me if she were still alive. Many people I could thank, but trying to remember them all here would give away too much of the story.
As I once read in Writer's Digest, "It's all copy." That is, whatever you go through in life, learn to eat your problems for breakfast, and, when they are digested, write what you remember, and sell it!
I was overjoyed to the point that it all felt unreal. I had given up hope on my submission to Stealing Time magazine because I had not heard from the publisher after several months of waiting, and, since it was an online submission, I thought the response would be sooner. I had told myself that the editors wouldn't take it because it didn't fit well enough with the issue I submitted it to. I had written it with the Pregnancy and Birth issue in mind, but, when I went to submit it, the magazine was no longer taking submissions to that issue. So I tried the Milestones issue instead. I also feared that the publishers might not like my Christian point of view. But now this editor said she LOVED the story and was excited to publish it. I figured she couldn't be more exited than me, but one had to wonder.
The email added that the story just needed a little bit of editing and that I would be referred to the fiction editor for that. Oops! I wrote my fellow Robin back (she shares the best name in the world with me) that I was very excited to have them publish my story but that it was not fiction; this story of a difficult unplanned pregnancy and a three-year nightmare legal battle over custody of my child was my personal experience, just as I remembered it.
I had sort of jumped the gun there in my eagerness to reply to the acceptance letter. A second email had followed right after it announcing an update on the information on my submission. I clicked the link it cited, and read a note that the words "fiction editor" had been a typo. A couple short notes followed clarifying that there was no more confusion. As I like to say, editors need editors.
Stealing Time is a literary magazine for parents. Between it's slick, expertly-illustrated pages, it showcases thoughtful fiction, non-fiction, and poetry having to do with parenting, step-parenting, grandparenting, and so forth. I was first introduced to the publication at Wordstock last year, where I met some of the editors and bought a copy for $6. They told me they accepted previously-published material, which was a relief to me, because practically any small exposure to a piece of writing is considered publication, and I've posted some of my stuff on the Internet and also had some published or "desktop published" in very limited circulation, thereby barring those works from most publications. In addition to this open door, this magazine pays well--much better than anyplace that has ever used my writing. Each writer gets a minimum of $100, with payment going up according to length and how much they love the piece.
The Milestones issue is for this summer and fall. You can read about the magazine, enjoy some sample stories, and submit your own work to the coming issue of your choice at StealingTimeMag.com.
Thanks go to the people who critiqued my story, and, many years ago, to the people who helped me get through all the rapids and snares of that time I wrote about. My daughter is 23 now, and living far away. Despite the present distance, I'm glad that we got to do a lot of growing up together, instead of her never knowing her mother at all. And thanks go to my own mother, who encouraged me to take up the fight, and who would be proud of me if she were still alive. Many people I could thank, but trying to remember them all here would give away too much of the story.
As I once read in Writer's Digest, "It's all copy." That is, whatever you go through in life, learn to eat your problems for breakfast, and, when they are digested, write what you remember, and sell it!
Earned My Editing Certificate!
Since May of 2012, I have been taking U.C. Berkeley's extension program in editing, and as of August 6, 2013, I have finished all four consecutive online courses and am waiting to receive my certificate in the mail. It was quite an experience learning with adult students all over the world who share my passion in catching the errors in writing and helping others improve their self expression. The class was recommended by a local professional editor who taught a one-day class in starting your own editing business. Thank you for the tip, Charity Heller! And thank you for your class. I actually started my freelance editing and writing business, Robin Layne Enterprises, soon after taking Charity's workshop. I edit fiction as well as non-fiction, but fiction is my favorite. Besides my own freelance editing, I've had practice with fiction editing (and poetry editing, too--believe it or not, it can be done!) at Portland State University, where I earned my bachelor's degree in English, minor in writing, in spring 2012. All this after a 20-year break from school in which I raised a child by myself and thought I would never go back to college and finish what I started so long ago.
The editing sequence, I learned when I had almost finished it, includes editing of non-fiction only. A good number of us hope the program will be expanded to include fiction, in spite of learning that it doesn't pay as well. My last instructor, bless her heart, tried to convince me that non-fiction editing is better, to no avail.
The first class in the sequence is Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage for Editors, and includes lots of information about the appropriate terms and rules as well as practice copyediting. The second class is Introduction to Copyediting. Students almost exclusively use the track changes function in Word to do their editing. The third class is Intermediate Copyediting. The fourth is a big leap, Substantive Editing. This fourth and final course includes more copyediting practice with the addition of developmental editing (which I call seeing the forest rather than just the trees) and information about being part of a publishing team (something I had real-life practice with at PSU's Ooligan Press, but there is always more to learn). The final exam was another leap for me, long and difficult, and I wasn't the only person who wished I had another week to work on it. The best part of the exam was figuring out how to tackle the 3-part project, reinforcing knowledge about how I learn. For me, I had to write things down to think things through, so that was what I had to start with. The file in which I kept these notes evolved into the memo to the hypothetical authors I was editing for. I nibbled at the project from the sides, a bite from Part 3, Part 2, Part 1, and went back and forth until the thing took shape.
Everyone has a different learning style. Finding out yours is perhaps half the battle of getting an education. I hope you learn what works for you and that you never stop learning and growing all your life.
The editing sequence, I learned when I had almost finished it, includes editing of non-fiction only. A good number of us hope the program will be expanded to include fiction, in spite of learning that it doesn't pay as well. My last instructor, bless her heart, tried to convince me that non-fiction editing is better, to no avail.
The first class in the sequence is Grammar, Mechanics, and Usage for Editors, and includes lots of information about the appropriate terms and rules as well as practice copyediting. The second class is Introduction to Copyediting. Students almost exclusively use the track changes function in Word to do their editing. The third class is Intermediate Copyediting. The fourth is a big leap, Substantive Editing. This fourth and final course includes more copyediting practice with the addition of developmental editing (which I call seeing the forest rather than just the trees) and information about being part of a publishing team (something I had real-life practice with at PSU's Ooligan Press, but there is always more to learn). The final exam was another leap for me, long and difficult, and I wasn't the only person who wished I had another week to work on it. The best part of the exam was figuring out how to tackle the 3-part project, reinforcing knowledge about how I learn. For me, I had to write things down to think things through, so that was what I had to start with. The file in which I kept these notes evolved into the memo to the hypothetical authors I was editing for. I nibbled at the project from the sides, a bite from Part 3, Part 2, Part 1, and went back and forth until the thing took shape.
Everyone has a different learning style. Finding out yours is perhaps half the battle of getting an education. I hope you learn what works for you and that you never stop learning and growing all your life.
On Not Reading: Confessions of a Caroling Bell Ringer
This Christmas season, I am bell-ringing for the Salvation Army six hours a day, six days a week. I am not, as some who pass by assume, a volunteer. I earn minimum wage. I need the money to pay bills. But I also love the job. I did it every year since my daughter was small, until I went back to college and was too busy with my studies. What could be so great about standing—or sitting, when my medical problems flare up—for hours on end ringing a bell? First off, it’s for a good cause. The kettle money is the only source that the Salvation Army has to help the needy within this county at Christmas time and all year round. I also love greeting people, spreading cheer and blessings and keeping an attitude of prayer throughout the day. If I had a present for every time that someone wished me a Merry Christmas out there in front of the Safeway—or the times I wished others the same—I don’t know where I would fit all the gifts. I represent Christmas and a Christian ministry and church that is well-liked by all types of people. Some people tell me that it is the only social service that gets through to military workers and disaster victims. I love watching children enjoy giving, and I laugh that they call me Santa although I’m a woman and I don’t exactly dress the part. They ought to know better, I think, because while I ring, I sing. My favorite part of this job is the special contribution of my voice.
Never mind the story that a robin heralds the spring. This Robin gets her greatest opportunity to sing out in the winter: carols about the birth of my beloved Lord, songs of joy about fun times, hymns of thanks and worship, and titles that aren’t connected with Christmas but speak of winter cold and snow. I even wrote two of my own verses to “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas”:
Jolly old Saint Nicholas,
lend your ear this way;
I hope you tell everyone
what I’m going to say.
Christmas Eve is coming soon;
Now, you dear old man,
whisper what it really means,
tell me if you can.
Daddy wants a brand new car,
Mommy wants a house,
sister wants a new PC,
kitty wants a mouse;
But these kinds of presents can’t
give our spirits rest;
Only God, who sent His Son,
gives the very best.
You can listen to me sing this on YouTube: St. Nicholas song
People like my voice. They don’t often stop long enough to hear a whole song, or even a whole verse, but it is enough to cheer them, invite compliments, sympathy when it’s cold, and cups of Starbucks hot cocoa, not to mention an increasing number of donations as the season progresses. I’m not allowed to put money in the bucket myself this year, which leads to some people’s carts rolling down the sloping sidewalk into the parking lot, especially if I have to sit in my chair and can’t reach to hold the cart for them.
The plan this year was for every paid ringer to work Monday through Friday, replaced by volunteers on Saturday, but at my location no one volunteered during the hours I work (1 to 7 pm.). I’m happy to make the extra money, but boy does it keep me busy! When I’m not at work or commuting to and from, it amazes me how much time just preparing Christmas letters and cards takes. Not to mention all the time (and money) it took to get enough warm clothes to get me through freezing days. I wear ski pants every day, two wool sweaters, two warm hats under my Santa cap, and more layers than that under my wool coat. A lot of people say, “You picked a cold day to do this!” or “You must be freezing!” Some nights I nearly am, but other times I’m hot in all those layers. I look at these people, dressed as if for summer, and I wonder how they can stand just walking in and out of the store. Some say, “You should be inside!” I don’t belong inside; I would bake in my layers, I wouldn’t be able to sing, and I probably couldn’t ring, either.
I have to carry a lot with me on the bus to work including a full thermos, a lunch to eat just before I start, a cozy blanket for when I am sitting on the colder days, toe and hand warmers, you name it. So I don’t take a book. I am used to reading on the bus. Ergo, I’m not getting my reading done. And—here’s where the real confession comes in—although I have no excuse about weight or volume at home, I have hardly read my Bible since I started the job this season. Normally I read some nearly every morning with breakfast. Now at that meal, I pore over my schedule book, address Christmas cards, make phone calls, whatever else I feel I need to do. I feel like the biblical Martha, a human doing rather than a human being, when I’m at home doing all these tasks. Only last Saturday and Sunday did I slow down. I found play even more necessary than sleep last night. I dinked around on the computer until about 4 in the morning, although I had to get up at 6:30 to get ready for church. Then, I brought a book on the bus, Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power Of Positive Thinking. And I actually read! I read about the importance of taking time to relax and to read some Bible.
The human being is alive from the depths of her heart at the kettle. My church has no choir, and I haven’t played my guitar in a long time; I lack the motivation to take up those songs I wrote long ago or write new ones when the guitar playing has become so rusty. But at the kettle, the person I most entertain is myself. What I lack in Bible reading, I make up for in worship. When the only reading I do is the lyrics in my song folder, I’m in my element. Some of the songs even make me cry—which is bad for singing, let me tell you. And my range is sometimes lacking, especially earlier in the day. Although “O Holy Night” is practically everyone’s favorite, I won’t attempt it before dark. But I can sing “I Want a Hippopotamus” anytime. “The Grinch Song” I don’t usually attempt because I’m afraid passersby might think I’m saying all those despicable things about them. Anyway, you get the idea.
If you want to read some of my reflections about Christmas songs, go to http://robinlayne.hubpages.com/hub/Cr.... It also features a picture of me at the kettle and a video of me singing my “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas” verses … complete with my daughter’s cat on my lap—until he, like my audience in front of the store, rushes off to other business.
Another confession: I did bring my draft of this post with me on the bus to edit. But since it’s not a book, it doesn’t really count as “reading,” does it? Just as writing short things like this while ignoring my novel-in-progress doesn’t count as “writing.”
The reason I have time to post this now is that my body very radically told me to take a break: The ankle I sprained prior to the beginning of my job acted up today and I had to skip working on what might be one of the best-yielding days of the season (the Saturday before Christmas). And if it’s not the ankle, it’s a knee. At least there were two volunteers today, from 10 to noon and from noon to 2.
I’d already arranged for a friend to pick up my Christmas food box today. Can you hazard a guess as to the source of this gift? Yep. The Salvation Army. Better than the food, to my mind, was flyer with a new rendition of the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
As above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals,
Keep us forgiven with you
And forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the evil one.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
AMEN
Okay . . . When it’s that potent a message, it doesn’t have to be a portion of a book. It counts as reading.
I will post a picture of myself at the kettle from a few years back in my Photos section.
I urge you also to “do the most good” in all your endeavors both during this season and all year long.
Merry Christmas to all, to all a good night, and peace through 2014!
Never mind the story that a robin heralds the spring. This Robin gets her greatest opportunity to sing out in the winter: carols about the birth of my beloved Lord, songs of joy about fun times, hymns of thanks and worship, and titles that aren’t connected with Christmas but speak of winter cold and snow. I even wrote two of my own verses to “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas”:
Jolly old Saint Nicholas,
lend your ear this way;
I hope you tell everyone
what I’m going to say.
Christmas Eve is coming soon;
Now, you dear old man,
whisper what it really means,
tell me if you can.
Daddy wants a brand new car,
Mommy wants a house,
sister wants a new PC,
kitty wants a mouse;
But these kinds of presents can’t
give our spirits rest;
Only God, who sent His Son,
gives the very best.
You can listen to me sing this on YouTube: St. Nicholas song
People like my voice. They don’t often stop long enough to hear a whole song, or even a whole verse, but it is enough to cheer them, invite compliments, sympathy when it’s cold, and cups of Starbucks hot cocoa, not to mention an increasing number of donations as the season progresses. I’m not allowed to put money in the bucket myself this year, which leads to some people’s carts rolling down the sloping sidewalk into the parking lot, especially if I have to sit in my chair and can’t reach to hold the cart for them.
The plan this year was for every paid ringer to work Monday through Friday, replaced by volunteers on Saturday, but at my location no one volunteered during the hours I work (1 to 7 pm.). I’m happy to make the extra money, but boy does it keep me busy! When I’m not at work or commuting to and from, it amazes me how much time just preparing Christmas letters and cards takes. Not to mention all the time (and money) it took to get enough warm clothes to get me through freezing days. I wear ski pants every day, two wool sweaters, two warm hats under my Santa cap, and more layers than that under my wool coat. A lot of people say, “You picked a cold day to do this!” or “You must be freezing!” Some nights I nearly am, but other times I’m hot in all those layers. I look at these people, dressed as if for summer, and I wonder how they can stand just walking in and out of the store. Some say, “You should be inside!” I don’t belong inside; I would bake in my layers, I wouldn’t be able to sing, and I probably couldn’t ring, either.
I have to carry a lot with me on the bus to work including a full thermos, a lunch to eat just before I start, a cozy blanket for when I am sitting on the colder days, toe and hand warmers, you name it. So I don’t take a book. I am used to reading on the bus. Ergo, I’m not getting my reading done. And—here’s where the real confession comes in—although I have no excuse about weight or volume at home, I have hardly read my Bible since I started the job this season. Normally I read some nearly every morning with breakfast. Now at that meal, I pore over my schedule book, address Christmas cards, make phone calls, whatever else I feel I need to do. I feel like the biblical Martha, a human doing rather than a human being, when I’m at home doing all these tasks. Only last Saturday and Sunday did I slow down. I found play even more necessary than sleep last night. I dinked around on the computer until about 4 in the morning, although I had to get up at 6:30 to get ready for church. Then, I brought a book on the bus, Norman Vincent Peale’s The Power Of Positive Thinking. And I actually read! I read about the importance of taking time to relax and to read some Bible.
The human being is alive from the depths of her heart at the kettle. My church has no choir, and I haven’t played my guitar in a long time; I lack the motivation to take up those songs I wrote long ago or write new ones when the guitar playing has become so rusty. But at the kettle, the person I most entertain is myself. What I lack in Bible reading, I make up for in worship. When the only reading I do is the lyrics in my song folder, I’m in my element. Some of the songs even make me cry—which is bad for singing, let me tell you. And my range is sometimes lacking, especially earlier in the day. Although “O Holy Night” is practically everyone’s favorite, I won’t attempt it before dark. But I can sing “I Want a Hippopotamus” anytime. “The Grinch Song” I don’t usually attempt because I’m afraid passersby might think I’m saying all those despicable things about them. Anyway, you get the idea.
If you want to read some of my reflections about Christmas songs, go to http://robinlayne.hubpages.com/hub/Cr.... It also features a picture of me at the kettle and a video of me singing my “Jolly Old Saint Nicholas” verses … complete with my daughter’s cat on my lap—until he, like my audience in front of the store, rushes off to other business.
Another confession: I did bring my draft of this post with me on the bus to edit. But since it’s not a book, it doesn’t really count as “reading,” does it? Just as writing short things like this while ignoring my novel-in-progress doesn’t count as “writing.”
The reason I have time to post this now is that my body very radically told me to take a break: The ankle I sprained prior to the beginning of my job acted up today and I had to skip working on what might be one of the best-yielding days of the season (the Saturday before Christmas). And if it’s not the ankle, it’s a knee. At least there were two volunteers today, from 10 to noon and from noon to 2.
I’d already arranged for a friend to pick up my Christmas food box today. Can you hazard a guess as to the source of this gift? Yep. The Salvation Army. Better than the food, to my mind, was flyer with a new rendition of the Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father in heaven,
Reveal who you are.
Set the world right;
Do what’s best—
As above, so below.
Keep us alive with three square meals,
Keep us forgiven with you
And forgiving others.
Keep us safe from ourselves and the evil one.
You’re in charge!
You can do anything you want!
You’re ablaze in beauty!
Yes. Yes. Yes.
AMEN
Okay . . . When it’s that potent a message, it doesn’t have to be a portion of a book. It counts as reading.
I will post a picture of myself at the kettle from a few years back in my Photos section.
I urge you also to “do the most good” in all your endeavors both during this season and all year long.
Merry Christmas to all, to all a good night, and peace through 2014!
From the Red, Read Robin
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