Sunday, January 31, 2010
In Progress A Five-Year WritingPlan
to be a writer-in-residence at a writing conference or college
to have sold 3 novels, the 2 I completed in 2009 and 2010 as well as the one completed in 2011
to have sold a how-to book based on my class assignments
to have attended the opening night of my first play
to be marketing novels written 2012 - 2014
and...?
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Lost in a Book
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Creative Writing
Creative Writers
We fill our cups with each other’s words until they run over.
We fill picnic baskets, trunks, silos, freight cars, and hay barns with our words. Every one a gift.
Listening to each other’s words is as pleasurable as eating watermelon on the porch steps (with comments launched like watermelon seeds into the back yard).
Our words interlock
like the strands in a multi-colored braided rug.
Our words blend and sing harmonies.
Our words pluck long-forgotten chords in each of us.
Some words grow in neat rows, willing to be weeded and watered.
Other words escape and tangle into briar patches, resisting and drawing blood when we try to pick them.
Some words roam wild and free on the high slopes and have to be chased down and forcibly corralled.
Other words are as docile as sheep waiting to be penned.
As writers, we have to be
…as persistent as prospectors panning for word nuggets that will assay into stories.
...as faithful as fishermen, patiently casting into a pool of words to see which ones will bite, taking the keepers home to fillet and fry up as stories and poems.
…as tough as tight rope artists, walking the wire of writing and step by assured step bridging the gap between inspiration and story.
I celebrate the writers who have read their work tonight!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Quick to No
Impersonal response reminding me it's better to "know" than wait for a personal gentle let-down.
Hmmm. Not sure about that. The limbo of querying, in which all is possible for weeks until the reply comes back, was truncated today. After 4 hours, Grace was back in my court.
Time to serve an ace.
This is why having 10 queries out at a time is such a good idea.
Friday, January 15, 2010
5-Year Plan
My last 5-year plan (1980) had a single goal "get a job in the fire service." I accomplished that one in 4 years. Published a book on arson in 1982, joined the Bellport Fire Dept. as a volunteer in 1982; became an editor with the NY Fire Dept. --temp, 1983; full-time, 1984.
What does a five-year plan have to do with Grace at War? Everything! For 2010: have at least 10 queries out at all times; sell the book. See it in print by 2012. Meanwhile, get the new novel ready to send out before November 2010.
I'll post my progress!