Day 9 total: [18,262 / 50,000]
I went to Barnes & Noble last night and walked through the shelves and found the places where my novels will live once I write them. For the most part, the places are in good spots. I looked at the boxed sets the store has placed at the end of isles in anticipation of Christmas gift buying and thought what my series novels will look like in a box set, particularly what their packaging will be. I'd like spines with just a little bit of shine; something more metallic than matte.
When I did the Artist's Way this summer one of the realization/visualization tasks was to figure out what success means to you and not use anyone else's standards. My standards involve walking into a bookstore and picking up a book with my name on it. After my grumpy, angsty, anxious feelings of the past few days, getting back in touch with that realization/visualization was good for me.
I realized that yesterday's "grass is greener" ranting was more symptom than malady. Whenever my tolerance for pretentiousness (in relation to writing) is reached I lash out snidely about my intent to write commercial fiction and having nothing to do with things literary once I'm done with school. It really has nothing to do with commercial vs. literary fiction; it has only to do with my tolerance for BS being surpassed.
I am a writer. I do not see myself as an Artist, or (god help us) an Artiste. I am a storyteller. And I am in an MFA program to learn how to be a better writer and a clearer, more dramatic storyteller. The storytelling bug is something I've had for a long time and the writing inclination is only slightly younger as I didn't have my alphabet down when I first started making up stories that I very much believed.
That said, I get worked up (and weary) when distinctions are made between the audience you want and the typical reader. These discussions usually end up going down the gutter of no one reads today and that's just fucking depressing and untrue. Someone is still reading or there would be no Barnes&Noble and no more books. I see B&N and I see books. I even see lovely little independent bookstores (although their economics are perilous at best and I really should support them more it's just they don't have very convenient hours for me). Someone is obviously still reading something. I get even more weary when people start bad mouthing one institution or another, (a press, a school, a school of thought, a journal, a paperback writer, etc.)
I read the introduction to How to Be Alone and half of "Why Bother?" a reworked essay by Johnathan Franzen that most people know as the 1996 "Harper's Essay," I came to the realization (greatly influenced by Franzen's notions) that there is a reason for the fanaticism of the no one is reading! panic, and the I must write the Great American Novel!, or save the short story from death! and there's a disconnect between American culture and the desperately good work of novels who try to capture, engage and comment on American culture! The reason is simple: whether they know it or not, these people are practicing the religion of Literature.
Logic does not breed that kind of passion and fanaticism: faith does.
I'm not trying to make a judgment on the practice of the religion of Literature or it's simultaneous co-existence with other religions, I'm just saying that it all gets easier to understand when I look at the rhetoric on Literature as faith not necessarily part of the academic discipline (nuts and bolts and practical stuff) of write.
Literature (note my repeated use of the capital L) does seem to be the predominant faith in academia. I don't think it's a bad thing, I just don't practice it. Just like I don't practice Christianity or Judaism but I don't think they're bad things, they're just not my things. If I could survive deep in rural Indiana as a non-church goer among Bible-thumpers then I can learn to let this rehtoric roll off my back as well.
I am a writer and I want to see my name on the books in the store; I don't need an NYTimes book review. I need a box set of paperbacks with a slight shimmer and my name on every one of them. :)
Showing posts with label great american novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label great american novel. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Keep Writing!
I once dated a guy who claimed he was on the verge of the next Great American Novel (dispelling the myth of the 'Great American Novel' will be a later entry). He told me he had planned the whole thing out in detail. Plotted it meticulously. Developed characters that the critics were going to love him for. With such great insight into the human condition that it would be on reading lists long after his death. Except this was all in his head. He hadn’t written down a single word.
I pushed for him to write it. To write anything. I even threw my weight behind it both as girlfriend and as fellow writer, but he wouldn’t listen. He wouldn’t even discuss it with me other than to tell me it would be great and talking about it would ruin his vision.
To this day, I’ve never seen him publish anything. Anything.
I don’t tell this story to upset or to discourage. I tell it to reinforce that if you want to write there is a necessity of actually writing. No one runs the Boston Marathon just because they’ve been thinking about it without getting up and running every morning for months before hand. You have to get over whatever is keeping you from running -- your ego, your inexperience, your bad knee or your schedule -- and hit the pavement.
The best advice anyone can give to those who want to write is to write constantly. The second best: don't be afraid to talk about it. Constructive criticism and feedback are very important to learning any new skill. And no one, no matter how great a writing, ever publishes without accepting both criticism and feedback.
But first you need to keep writing. Think of being on that morning run again: it's easier when you're already in motion than when you are starting from a complete stop. The second mile is much easier to start than getting off the couch ever is. Once you decide to write, and write for writing's sake there are ways to trick yourself into writing more. Just like there are ways to trick yourself into running further when you're out on the pavement.
1. Keep paper on you always, I have a thin little pocket notebook perfect for my back pocket. (People keep asking me if I’m a reporter and if I’m feeling spunky I tell them yes.) Write down anything interesting you think or hear or see. I’ve got a great description of the bum who lives on my corner and a transcribed conversation between three hicks about the end of the world all because I kept my eyes and ears open and paper in my back pocket.
2. Keep a journal. Keep five. Anything that makes you write. I have one journal that is notes on my own life, not very useful for stories but cathartic. Another is ideas for fiction. A third is made up entirely of single lines that rattled around in my brain and would not stop bothering me until I gave them space on paper. It might not be a good space, or the right space but I will find that someday and in the meantime I don’t let myself worry about their rhyme or reason. A fourth journal I use for notes on humorous subjects that I might want to blog eventually. My father keeps a journal entirely based around recipes he finds and his experiences making them. You get the picture.
I've read that there's a school of thought that you need to keep at least one handwritten journal so that you can stay in touch with actual "writing." I think this is a bunch of bull. Do what feels right for you. If labor intensive longhand slows down your process then forget it. If you can't type to save your life then use a pad of paper and pay the neighbor kid to type it up later. NO ONE has the upper hand on method; it is, after all, an art not a science.
3. If you struggle with getting to the point where you write for the sake of writing constantly, then take a class. You'll also get that much needed chance to talk about your work. Writing workshops aren’t just for college students. They’re popping up around the country, in city recreation programs, community colleges and bookstores nationwide. And if you still can’t find one there’s always the internet and low-residency MFA programs. Also available are week or weekend long workshop retreats. I went to the Kenyon Review's workshop and loved it. All these options present deadlines. Deadlines are an amazing thing. Some times you really do just need a boot to your behind to get you going. See Poets&Writers for listings of writing programs and conferences and residencies.
4. If you possess more discipline and can do it on your own then set aside time to write each day. Or maybe you want to begin with setting aside a few hours Saturday morning to work yourself into it. Mornings or evenings doesn’t matter, but whichever you choose make sure it is something that you are not going to trade for time to sleep or do laundry when push comes to shove.
In the end, these ideas are all just suggestions to trick yourself into writing. Everyone’s different and maybe something else will work for you. But there is one sure fire way to fail at writing: by not writing. Remember that old boyfriend of mine? He’s only ever written one short story, and, last I heard, still not one word of that supposedly great novel.
I pushed for him to write it. To write anything. I even threw my weight behind it both as girlfriend and as fellow writer, but he wouldn’t listen. He wouldn’t even discuss it with me other than to tell me it would be great and talking about it would ruin his vision.
To this day, I’ve never seen him publish anything. Anything.
I don’t tell this story to upset or to discourage. I tell it to reinforce that if you want to write there is a necessity of actually writing. No one runs the Boston Marathon just because they’ve been thinking about it without getting up and running every morning for months before hand. You have to get over whatever is keeping you from running -- your ego, your inexperience, your bad knee or your schedule -- and hit the pavement.
The best advice anyone can give to those who want to write is to write constantly. The second best: don't be afraid to talk about it. Constructive criticism and feedback are very important to learning any new skill. And no one, no matter how great a writing, ever publishes without accepting both criticism and feedback.
But first you need to keep writing. Think of being on that morning run again: it's easier when you're already in motion than when you are starting from a complete stop. The second mile is much easier to start than getting off the couch ever is. Once you decide to write, and write for writing's sake there are ways to trick yourself into writing more. Just like there are ways to trick yourself into running further when you're out on the pavement.
1. Keep paper on you always, I have a thin little pocket notebook perfect for my back pocket. (People keep asking me if I’m a reporter and if I’m feeling spunky I tell them yes.) Write down anything interesting you think or hear or see. I’ve got a great description of the bum who lives on my corner and a transcribed conversation between three hicks about the end of the world all because I kept my eyes and ears open and paper in my back pocket.
2. Keep a journal. Keep five. Anything that makes you write. I have one journal that is notes on my own life, not very useful for stories but cathartic. Another is ideas for fiction. A third is made up entirely of single lines that rattled around in my brain and would not stop bothering me until I gave them space on paper. It might not be a good space, or the right space but I will find that someday and in the meantime I don’t let myself worry about their rhyme or reason. A fourth journal I use for notes on humorous subjects that I might want to blog eventually. My father keeps a journal entirely based around recipes he finds and his experiences making them. You get the picture.
I've read that there's a school of thought that you need to keep at least one handwritten journal so that you can stay in touch with actual "writing." I think this is a bunch of bull. Do what feels right for you. If labor intensive longhand slows down your process then forget it. If you can't type to save your life then use a pad of paper and pay the neighbor kid to type it up later. NO ONE has the upper hand on method; it is, after all, an art not a science.
3. If you struggle with getting to the point where you write for the sake of writing constantly, then take a class. You'll also get that much needed chance to talk about your work. Writing workshops aren’t just for college students. They’re popping up around the country, in city recreation programs, community colleges and bookstores nationwide. And if you still can’t find one there’s always the internet and low-residency MFA programs. Also available are week or weekend long workshop retreats. I went to the Kenyon Review's workshop and loved it. All these options present deadlines. Deadlines are an amazing thing. Some times you really do just need a boot to your behind to get you going. See Poets&Writers for listings of writing programs and conferences and residencies.
4. If you possess more discipline and can do it on your own then set aside time to write each day. Or maybe you want to begin with setting aside a few hours Saturday morning to work yourself into it. Mornings or evenings doesn’t matter, but whichever you choose make sure it is something that you are not going to trade for time to sleep or do laundry when push comes to shove.
In the end, these ideas are all just suggestions to trick yourself into writing. Everyone’s different and maybe something else will work for you. But there is one sure fire way to fail at writing: by not writing. Remember that old boyfriend of mine? He’s only ever written one short story, and, last I heard, still not one word of that supposedly great novel.
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