A Holiday Treat

As we move into the long holiday weekend -- the long holiday week for me and my cat-tastic travels -- I have been gifted with the following: the long awaited audio files from the Kenyon Review Writer's Workshop participant readings!!!!

The readings are grouped by day instead of being separated out by individual speaker, which means that I won't be able to put my clip up on my website unless I get fancy with my audio file editing skills. And by 'get fancy' I mean develop any at all because I've never done that before.

Yours truly was only number three to read on day one, but if I remember correctly (and I might not as the adrenaline was fairly high) the girl reading before me was rightly hilarious. The woman after me ... I remember nothing of, at that point the adrenaline of reading in front of roughly 80 - 100 writing savvy peers had wiped my brain clean of any cognitive process.

Those of us up on the first day only had a couple of days to write and polish what we read because "the spirit of the thing" was to read new work, work that had been started there at the Kenyon workshop -- for my group that meant there were only three writing projects to pick from, one that had been written in the 24 hours prior to the reading. I ended up reading the very first piece that I wrote there. Not only did the extended 72 hours help, but it fit the best into the three minute time frame.

And hearing it now ... there's words, repetition I would cut. Argh. Are we ever really ready to let go of our writing?

Do You NaNo?

I do.

NaNoWriMo is quickly approaching. It's already October 22 which means there is just a little more than a week until November 1 and the beginning of the 10th year of NaNoWriMo.

If you don't know, NaNoWriMo is the crazy acronym for Chris Baty's pet project with the really long name of "November is National Novel Writing Month."

The event, its website and the corresponding book, No Plot? No Problem!, have a jubilant and, at times, silly tone -- if you couldn't already derive that from the fact that this year's graphic involves a viking helmet for no obviously identifiable reason. But it all translates into a you can do it! atmosphere, one that makes it baltantly obvious that the only obsticle to writing your novel is yourself. A fact that is true all year round but unavoidable for the month of November.

I'm both heartened and amused to see the more scholarly set of writers jumping on board this year. My experience is that the majority of NaNo-ers are genre writers ... but then again aren't the majority of fiction writers genre writers? As far as living writings go, they take up the most shelf space in book stores. Not to make value statements about types of writing or people who do writing only in one vein, but I enjoy seeing the MFAers contemplating this crazy-outside-the-box-of-notions-of-serious-writer event.

Somehow turning out 1667 words per day for 30 days while being encouraged to write drivel just to pad your word count and get on to the next thing, the next idea, the next covnersation you can go back and edit the rest later, doesn't fit with many writer's romantic notion of Hemingway in a Paris cafe.

Then again I think most students entrenched in their MFA, and most successful writers in general, will tell you there is no romantic notion, that it's simply a matter of constantly learning craft and getting the words down on the page.

That, and I hate Hemingway.

So now that I've jumped on the NaNo wagon, I just have to decide what it is that I'm going to write.

This past January I completed a different nano-style event (aptly named JanNo) and it was great. The novel I turned out was rubbish -- I went for cliche genre fiction (trust me, you don't want to read it) just to prove to myself that I could put together a plot that was that long -- but the sense of accomplishment was great. And -- bonus! -- I was so engaged in writing that I turned out two brand new short stories during that month that had nothing to do with my 50k word novel.

While I am certain that I will do a NaNo this year -- BTW don't you love how NaNo is simultaneously proper noun, general noun and verb? -- I'm still contemplating what it is that I'll be working on.

My first thought was to write 50k of literary fiction that I could possibly work into an MFA thesis -- or, better yet, try and get published in the next three years. Novels take an insane amount of time in the editing-submitting-agenting scheme of things so I will undoubtedly be on the job market before I have a published book unless I write a draft of one this year.

Anyway, the novel.

It was going to be this character moving to a new city (so that I could incorporate all my "new city" experiences into her story) because this was the city her sister had gone to college in and lived in for five years -- with all sorts of nitty-gritty issues to pick apart there.

But then I stepped back from that idea. It sounds way too much like my undergrad fiction where the character spends most of her time watching other people and delivering commentary. Gotta move past that.

My next thought was to jump into what many in my MFA program are describing as their side or pet project: a young adult novel. It would be fantasy, not because that's what's hot on the YA market (although that's a plus) but because that's what I read when I was 12. The best part of this would be that it would be a mental break from the work I'm doing in grad school but still be writing.

The next option is to go for something contemporary, something that could still be considered thesis material, but it has a little bit more plot to it. I've ened up layering a bunch of "types" into it: the return of the prodigal son, the three sisters/family story, a contemporary coming of age (or is it second coming of age when we do the adrift at 25 story?) It's set in a Detroit suburb during the month of June ... and I've only ever tried to write it in the summer months because that's when those details ring the truest to me. I wonder if I can stretch myself to write about it in bleak November?

End of Month Ralley and Pep Speech!

GOAL: finish the JanNo! Fill in the holes! And rewrite whatever I have to! By the end of February! Go team! ... well, more like Go me! but whatever works and puts you in the mood.

I know the characters in this novel a little better now so I can write the conversations that I left out before. Don't get me wrong: there was a lot of dialog before ... I just didn't cover a lot of the things I should have.

With a goal like this it will be a tough week, but I know I need it. I need this kind of quantifiable accomplishment to prove to myself that I'm working hard with the time I have and to silence the little voice that likes to point to any failure in my life and tell me I'm a quitter.

I'm pushing forward now as hard as I can because I know I need to make the most of this time to accomplish completed manuscripts and get myself into the habit of writing constantly and writing hard. I'm floored by the applicants that say they "took months off of writing" to recover from their MFA applications. You can't be serious, right? What do you expect you'll be doing for 2-3 years if you get in? Certainly not taking time off. And if you listen to the current MFA students, they all say they wish they had written more the months prior to starting their MFA. When I've asked them why one did say that having "back up material" that he could take to a workshop if need be would have been nice but for the most part they all agreed that the habit of writing, and writing hard prior to the MFA would have been a great thing to have in order to adjust to the pace.

Say hello to SpeakCoffee's work ethic: a 60,000 word novel first draft (and still going obviously), and for the month of February I am submitting one short story a week to a literary publication. I've researched my markets, edited my work and keeping my fingers crossed.

How many times have I read that talent is a dime a dozen. That the people who impress are the ones who take the time to learn their craft and employ it. And that the ones who succeed are the ones who persist when all the other talented, skilled writers have given up and packed it in to drive truck cross country.

At the moment, persistence means increased output. The chain of logic is kind of long but let me explain:

The goal is to be a writer and teach writing at a college level.

• To get a teaching position at most schools you need an advanced degree and a book length publication (they look at literary fiction not genre most of the time).
• To get a book length publication you need a manuscript and an agent.
• To get an agent you need A) extremely good luck or B) persistence and several magazine publications.
• To be published in magazines/literary journals you need short stories of appropriate length that are in good shape and possess a Wow! factor.

So right now:

• I have a BA in my chosen field.
• I've applied to get that advanced degree.
• I'm sending work to magazines/literary journals.

However, sending out work and hearing back is a very slow process, (for the very good reason that they're most often overwhelmed and underpaid). So to expedite the process you need to have one of three things happen:

1. The first mag I send it to buys my stuff and I don't have to worry about it.
2. I only choose markets that allow simultaneous submissions, to other markets.
3. I have a lot of work that can be out at several different markets at once.

Option (1) is ideal, (2) doesn't always work out and so I need to work my magic on option (3): high output.

I know some of my programs have begun contacting applicants that they want. This makes me nervous that they don't want me. All this nervousness is translating into a drive to work even harder. I need to use this time to churn out as much as I can. To work as hard as I can. Because if they don't want me, I know I'll have to work that much harder than I am now to achieve my goal. I refuse to lie around and be devastated. When I was on my varsity field hockey team in high school I was floored when I didn't make co-captain my senior year. The girls who did make co-captain were shocked that it was them not me. So I knew I would push harder than ever and try my damnedest to make All-State team and MVP that next season. The next season I made All-State team. I didn't make MVP, instead I was voted the played that always gave 110% -- obviously I was doing something right.

We only have so many dreams in our lives. This one is mine. Like field hockey was mine. I'm going hard and I'm not giving up. I might not make MVP, but you can't fault my work ethic.

Groundhog Day

I think I understand the appeal of Punxsutawney Phil's life choice. He's not one of these New Year's Resolutions kinda guys. No, he waits it out until the craze is over, until most resolutions are broken and the majority of Americans have already quit dieting. That's when he comes out and reassesses his situation. Me? I've come out of my JanNoWriMo writing cave, taken a look around, accessed my real life situation and decided that shadow or no, I want back in my cave.

I love the intensity with which I threw myself into my 50,000 word goal. But without that intensity what do I have to fill my spare hours? Not too much that I'm proud of. Do you know what kind of crap is on TV these days? Have you ever seen an episode of "Extreme Makeover"? Omigd! Scary! But you stay glued to it like a train wreck. I'm fed up with TV. The writer's strike needs to be over now! End the reality TV madness! Bring me back sitcoms and dramas!

It took me about 48 hours to realize I was happier and healthier writing all the time than I was during my mental "break" from writing. I also downed a scary amount of refined carbs during that first 24 hours that quickly left me feeling weak and tired.

Refined carbs + boredom + "Extreme Makeover" = Ug.

Now if only I could find someway to make guys wear top hats and bow ties as part of my announcement that I am once again retreating into my Cave o' Writing for at least the next six weeks.

By the way, Punxsutawney saw his shadow too. We're both digging in for the rest of Winter.

JanNoWriMo Winner

The past week has been strange and crazy. But as it calms down I will return to my blog, I will stop posting depressing entries, I will write more on The Trees story, and I will stop to shape my eyebrows again. You might not know it, but they've been neglected and could use some love.

My paternal family saw the weekend through. Apparently, we're tough little buggers that hold it together until the last. My mother (divorced from my father) responded to the news poorly. She hadn't known how bad my uncle was doing. She knew he had cancer but she had not known that they determined that it was caused by asbestos. One of her first questions was How is your grandmother doing?

My grandmother? Is a tiny but tough woman. She held it together and weathered the storm. There were a few times when she had to step out, but that was last weekend. She has been through everything and she just doesn't fall apart. I don't think she could if she wanted to.

I finished my JanNoWriMo goal tonight by surpassing 50,000 words on one story. The novel has not reached completion. People keep mentioning that it is remarkable that I managed so much when such things were going on. I'd be lying if I told them writing fiction wasn't sheer, joyous escapism. I've had little else to do this past week other than write and worry. So I've written.



Look: the turtle made it. He didn't even get run over.

Storm's a'brewin'!

You know how there’s an arch type of old men sitting on the porch rocking away telling you that a storm’s a’brewin’! cause they can feel it in there knees? Well someone get me a rocking chair.

I have been developing the worst sinus headaches whenever a storm’s about to show up, the barometer rises or, like today, general ickiness ensues. The effect is not pleasant.

I’ve always gotten horrible headaches – As a child my mother thought I just ate chewable Tylenol so much because I liked the taste. Ick and no. – but for the past couple of years I’ve been able to keep them under control by staying away from the three big no-nos that always cause me pain: red wine, Splenda and tofu/MSG. Why do I lump tofu and MSG together? Because supposedly your body handles processed tofu in the same way it handled MSG. Darn, no to-furkey for me.

But my new weather-telling ability seems to negate all my careful no-tofu planning. I guess the good news is that a combination of decongestants, pain killers, and some time spent curled into a little ball make it pass.

I received notification from the Kenyon Review that I have been offered a spot in their summer 2008 program! This is not an MFA program (too early to hear back from them yet) but it is the fabulous weeklong workshop I attended last summer as a “Fiction for New Writers” participant. “New Writers” had to submit a résumé but not a writing sample to get in. However, to move up from the “New Writers” workshop group to the “Fiction” workshop this year I had to submit a writing sample for them to read. *Dances!* And now I’m in the Fiction Workshop, nothing “New” about it!

I started in on my first JanNo, actually my first WriMo ever. (Details) And it quickly became an obsession. I am currently at 14,387 words written since January 1, 2008. Which is about four or five times the amount of original fiction I wrote in the month of December.

The greatest part is the community forum boards. People are constantly posting, requesting help plotting, sharing trials, posting successes and generally being supportive of each other. And every so often I find out that one of the posters is 15 – or worse, 12 – and I choke a little. You’re 12 and you’ve already written 20,000 words on one single story? I’ve ... well I’ve never done that, not for one single story. My senior thesis clocked in at just under 18,500 and that took months!

And then spider attacked my writing desk Aah!

I took a break from JanNo to write on The Trees but stopped just shy of where it starts to get interesting, and posted that, due in great part to Jud dropping hints like bombshells.

Then I finally decided to check out the forum boards that Poets&Writers magazine has online. I'm uncertain why I avoided these prior to completing the bulk of my MFA applications. They would have been a great resource; however, knowing what I do now about them, I think it is a good thing I didn’t find them.

They call the boards their “Speak Easy” and I’m not sure why they thought the title was so cute. If there actually was alcohol involved I might be of a different opinion. Instead, they offer up nothing but a taste of desperation.

Like some sort of information clutching archivist, P&W has not cleaned out these boards since they were first created in 2004. And, as best I can tell, does not allow the casual browser to create her own thread. The result: popular threads that are thousands of entries long.

Who really wants to sort through all that? Not I, said the Speak Coffee.

Nervous would-be MFA candidates are already making noises about when they’re going to hear back. And swapping stories of when such-n-such top school made the first round of phone calls last year.

Letters are bad, they tell you. Acceptances only come by phone or email. If they sent you a letter, it has a rejection in it.

Why am I reading this stuff?!?!

I had been warned about the P&W boards: that they suck you in, waste hours of your life and eventually steal your soul.

That I’m certain is true and sound advice. Especially as no one – no one – is getting a call in the month of January. Academia does not move that fast. Period.

So I shook my head in wonder and disbelief, cleaned off the trail of spider guts from my desk where I’d helped the little guy to his final moments, and cocooned myself in my JanNo. Better a productive obsession than an unproductive one.

JanNoWriMo: the craze sucks in another soul

Have you heard about these things? "NaNo" months, as they're called, are month long novel writing marathons. The biggest one (and the original so far as I can tell) is NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo challenges participants to write a 50,000 word story/novel/novella entirely within the month of November.

To support and encourage this flurry of writing activity is an online community of, you guessed it, message boards. And NaNo even provides weekly email pep talks. There's even a one day fund raiser called "The Night of Writing Dangerously." These guys seem to have a great sense of humor but are, like all marathoners, crazy.

"Winners" are anyone who crosses the 50k finish line and get their own special icon to post on their blog/myspace/facebook/whatever. Who's to tell if you win? Well, no one honestly. Whether you download the winner's certificate or not is completely on the honor system. But Rah! Rah! you if you do it.

You may recall this lovely little yellow graphic sitting in my blog earlier this year. This past November I discovered NaNo for the first time despite the fact that it has been around for several years. Discovered it on November 20. I did not attempt to finish 50k in the ensuing ten days. Sorry, no winner's certificate for me.

Apparently these things are so thrilling and enthralling that there are other communities and other websites ready to roll with their own marathons allowing crazy writers their choice of month or the choice of attempting all of them. Hey, why just run Boston when you can run Chicago too? JanNo, JulNo are among the more prominent in existence as well as Screenwriting Frenzy and WriYe for year long writing goals just incase one month is too short sighted for you.

JanNoWriMo begins, unsurprisingly, January 1, 2008. And it has claimed this soul as one of it's crazies: Mine.

Sadly, it's icon is no where near as cool as NaNo's but I guess that's what happens when one is funded and the other isn't.

I begin Jan. 1 on my 50,000 word quest. Which gives me 24 hours to decide if I want to write something from scratch or add 50k words onto an existing story.

I encourage you to join me. Because crazy should stick together.

My cute word count ticker ready to go (now if only I understood the ticker technology better I wouldn't have to make a new one each time I updated ... or maybe it's not me and it's just that the ticker site is not user friendly).