A Writer’s Diary

This is pretty funny, but I have acquired a following on Twitter. Even though I do not Twitter. It cracks me up. I joined briefly a while ago and then didn’t do anything with it, so I opted out. Or so I thought. So, just in case you decide to follow me, I won’t be going anywhere. But you can friend me on Facebook.

Also, I have been writing again. Have not picked up the WIP but did a longish (for me) post for 50-Something about my fraught relationship with food. I worked on it yesterday, and left it a big mess. But this morning I ironed out all the many issues I had with it and added some sorely needed humor. Now I’m happy with it! And glad to be writing again. Will post link when it goes up.

Now that I’m not officially reviewing anywhere, I feel like starting a new category. Here’s what I’ve been reading for the past few weeks.

Novels

The Family Man, Elinor Lipman. Fabulous story full of heart and sass.

An American Wife, Curtis Sittenfeld. Why I like Laura Bush. 

The Fixer Upper, Mary Kay Andrews. A domestic disaster full of humor.

Ask Again Later, Jill A. Davis. Unconventionally but entertainingly told.

True Love & Other Disasters, Rachel Gibson. (romance) For me it’s not about the hockey playing hero but Gibson’s storytelling skills.

Finger Lickin’ Fifteen, Janet Evanovich. (comic “mystery”) Doubt I’ll ever grow weary of Stephanie’s cars blowing up or her love triangle with Ranger and Morelli.

Other Fiction

Talk of the Ton, Eloisa James et al. (historical romance novellas) Love my Regencies.

My Father’s Tears, John Updike. (short stories) Imbued with wisdom–and the sadness of saying good-bye.

Non-fiction

Never Say Diet Again, Chantel Hobbs. Inspiring and tiring.

The End of Overeating, David A. Kessler, M.D. Lucid story of how big business hijacked the American menu and how we can take it back, one meal at a time.

And my friend Josie recommended The Writing Class by Jincy Willet, so that’s next.

Last session of the creative writing class this morning. What a nice group of students! (And you know I don’t always say that.) Every class has it’s own identity and one of the features of this one was that they were super supportive of their fellow writers. Every time someone finished reading a poem or story to the group, spontaneous applause broke out. And Kim even brought donuts one day.  

Today, they all applauded me, which made my heart melt because it doesn’t happen very often. I mean, I get lots of good evaluations, but not too much with the clapping. So that made this morning sweet as being back online. (Finally!)

Heard the hail against the windows before I looked outside and saw the wind blowing sideways; it looked like clouds of rain puffing by. Like the sky tipped upside down and was rushing by me in a big hurry to get someplace else. I felt a little like Dorothy tripping to Oz.

After about an hour, the storm blew over, but not before it ripped down my huge honeysuckle vine. The trellis crushed my black eyed susan patch. Our yard, front and back, was briefly under water. But it wasn’t until the next morning that the true tragedy hit: my internet connection had been knocked out.

Something with the router, we at first thought. Al opened it up and the whole thing was fried. So we bought a new one. Still no connection. Cable guy is coming tomorrow. Apparently a lot of people lost their wireless. Meanwhile, I’m posting from school just like the kids do when they think I’m not paying attention.

A few ideas brewing in the brain, and today I actually wrote them down which got me started and eventually I ended up with three whole morning pages!

The two big things I’m thinking about for this site are 1. holding a workshop in July and 2. publishing an e-book (or maybe posting it as a free download). The workshop is something that Paperback Writer is doing, and I’d link into that. If I can think of something to offer. So far I have two ideas, and neither of them seem to fit the parameters. Maybe I’ll just participate in the workshops and take a break from teaching;-)

The e-book thing is something I really really really want to do. I’m just not sure exactly how to do it. Need to talk to the agent about it. The book would be Embellishments (formerly Sugar Shack). I’d have to read it first to make sure it’s good enough to print. At the time I wrote it, I thought it was. My agent thought it was. And an editor at a major publishing house thought it was. But then the deal didn’t go through and the book has been stuck in limbo.

So…maybe I’ll do a thing with BookSurge. I like this idea because people with Kindles could download it. I also thought of posting a chapter a day here and then putting the whole thing on PDF. Lynn Viehl uses Sribd for her free e-books, so I could also check them out. I’d like to get that done this summer too.

See I’m thinking. Just not doing. Yet.

The draft is still resting in its drawer. Read in July’s The Writer  that Clive Cussler leaves his drafted manuscripts in the drawer for a month or two before revising. It’s been two weeks for me. According to Cussler, if you leave the book alone for a good chunk of time, when you pick it up again you’ll see it with new eyes. Editor’s eyes. Rested eyes.

Haven’t been writing much of anything else, either. Morning pages here and there. But nothing creative. I really tapped the well this time and it is bone dry. So I’ve been reading and puttering and taking long walks and of course finishing up my summer writing session. For the first time in a long time, I don’t wake up with a story in my head clamoring to be told.

It’s kind of a relief.

Here’s my latest post over at 50-Something.

Reading James Frey’s novel, I realize he does everything I tell my students not to do. He doesn’t bother to indent his paragraphs or close run-on sentences. Here’s an example plucked from the middle of the book: “The next day at work it’s the same dinner is fish sticks and a Jell-O dessert bed same.”

What’s different is that it is clear Frey knows the rules and chooses to break them. With students it’s obvious that they just don’t know any better. Frey makes his run-ons almost feel like poetry. He puts some thought into those rambly sentences. And I get why he does it. It’s his signature voice move, a carry-over from A Million Little Pieces. It is also annoying. Like listening to a low-talker, I have to pay extra attention and parse those sentences myself. 

Another thing he does that goes agaisnt the current creative writing wisdom is jam his book full of characters you never see again. A cast of thousands. Some chapters are just lists of names. A (very) few characters turn up more than once, but their stories are sparse and told in stingy units. Also, way more summarizing than scene. And far too many !!!!!!! s. A chapter of random “fun facts” about Los Angeles. Weird introductory dialogue tags that get their own (unindented) paragraphs.

None of this stuff bothers me as much as the run-ons, although I was getting a little sick of investing in new characters after the first couple dozen were introduced. Then finally about halfway through the novel he started bringing a few back for quick revisits. And I have to say that along with the annoyance I am absolutely absorbed. To a surprising degree. There is menace in this book. And hope.

I also think it’s interesting and brave that Big Jim went ahead and made art his way after Oprah shamed him on public television. He could have easily retreated after the backlash. So good for him. He’s not cowed. He’s not bowing down. He’s doing what he loves, and he’s doing it his own way, which is the most important lesson about creative writing I try to teach my students.

What does the practice of yoga have to do with writing? Not a thing for some people, but for me, it’s vital. Writing is a sedentary practice, and yoga gets me moving, wakes up a body that far too often is stuck in my story-making mind. But there’s more to it than that. In fact, yoga just might have saved my life.

For a few years I had a medically irreversible pre-cancer condition called Barrett’s Esophagus. As a student of yoga, I associate the esophagus with the throat chakra, one of the seven energy centers of the body. Esoterically, when the throat chakra is damaged, it indicates that the voice has been silenced in some way. For a writer, that’s a death metaphor. So of course I did everything my doctors told me AND worked with yoga and chakra clearing to heal myself.

The biggest change the specialist recommended was in my diet. No more coffee or chocolate. No tomatoes or wine. Diet is important in yoga, too. I had noticed in the past that when I ate a steak or drank more than a glass of wine the night before yoga practice, I’d have a hard time in class. I’d get nauseated and dizzy. My teacher always asked about my diet before showing me how to sit out the session in a pose designed to calm the digestive system.

With all of this in mind, a year ago I quit eating meat. It wasn’t difficult. I’d read a book about the meat industry in our country and it totally turned me off. Plus, I was supposed to be eating smaller meals, so I figured taking out the meat would do that. My husband is a healthy eater, and he was all for cutting out the meat, which made things so much easier.

I continued to work with my inner body, envisioning my throat chakra and thus esophagus as bright golden, like a little burst of sunshine. A few months ago, a sentence floated into my head. As a writer, that’s not unusual. But this sentence was “My throat is fine; I don’t have Barrett’s.” I am not the kind of person who expects miracles, but I believed it.

And sure enough, when I went for my scan this year, the test came back clear. I reminded the nurse that everyone from the specialist to my family doctor told me the condition was irreversible.

“It’s rare,” she said about my spontaneous healing, “but in a very tiny number of cases, it happens.” She of course attributed my perfect esophagus to the Prilosec I take every morning. Me, I know it’s down to yoga.

Nine more pages this morning was all it took to wind up the draft of Traveling Girl. As every writer knows, this isn’t the end. Far from it. But it’s enough for now. I feel like I can take a break from this book. Nothing is pressuring me to complete a revision, at least not yet. As soon as someone makes an offer on Gypsy, that will change.  

My main concern now is why it’s taking so long to place Gypsy. But I’m going to take a short break from worrying about that, too. Then I will get to the bottom of what I need to do next in the business part of writing and getting published.