Catching Up

It’s been busy, which doesn’t bode well for surviving and thriving this summer, but I guess it’s just safe to say that if I’m not writing here, that means I’ve been choosing to do my writing projects and reading for school.

A list of books I’ve been reading can be found on my Goodreads blog:

I’ve also gotten some financial aid information which has allayed most my fears that I wouldn’t get funding for school. I’ve arranged housing and bought my plane ticket, as well as arranged for time off work. All that’s left is my manuscript, which has shifted from two picture books to a section of a YA novel in progress, due by May 23. I love working on deadlines!

Sometimes, oftentimes really, all the parts that make up my life seem to get out of sync. There’s this project and that crisis and this conflict and that resolution. First a great tragedy, then great comfort mixed with writing challenges and travel. I found this the other day and somehow it made me feel much better:

See, the metronomes are all the different parts of my life now, often strumming along at different beats, tugging and pulling me every which way. But they’re all there and they’re all part of me, and when I allow them to share energy, allow the chaos of movement that is change, then I have great hope that soon, things will settle out, synchronize and all will be well again.

Timeliness

There are four — and only four — general measures of output. These four are Quality, Quantity, Cost, and Timeliness. Notice that the last measure is “timeliness,” not “time.” That’s because in measuring output, it’s more useful to focus on timeliness — adherence to schedule, meeting deadlines — than it is to think about clock and calendar time. - Dick Grote

 I try to apply aphorisms that catch my eye to the way I’m approaching writing at that very moment.

Of the four measures of output, I think I do pretty well on quality, okay on quantity, not so great on cost (I love my gadgets and books) and timeliness?

Timeliness is definitely a bugaboo.

I constantly /feel/ behind. There’s a plethora of cool books that have come out or will come out soon by FilAms and about FilAm history. It’s a great thing, quite the change from 10 years ago when I was lucky to stumble on anyone at a bookstore, even Carlos Bulosan or Peter Bacho. If I’m very smart or very lucky, I might get a picture book out in the mainstream before the turn of the next decade. I have to fight to stop berating myself for not taking risks sooner, for not following this path more vigorously when I first thought about applying to VC back in the late ’90s.

But letting that go and turning it around is more productive - there’s books out there that will support my books. Our nearly invisible face is coming around and being seen. The FilAm literary community is gaining strength and recognition, and folks are starting to see that FilAm lit has been around for quite a few decades and will continue to grow and expand under that momentum.

Getting back to the personal - meeting deadlines, adhearing to a schedule, creating and meeting attainable goals, and most importantly /tracking/ those milestones - all these things about timeliness will be something I will be bringing into my practice, right along with refining quality and quantity, and monitoring costs carefully. 

I wonder if there’s software out there for this sort of thing… ?

Run-Up to SCBWI Western Washington

Headed out this weekend to attend SCBWI Western Washington Conference…which I see is sold out. Whoa. I’m glad I got my reg. in a few weeks back.

I want to pitch a couple of picture books, but I registered late and didn’t get any pitch appointments with agents/eds. I feel like I need to bring /something/ though, so I’ll bring copies of the manuscripts at least. I’m also trying to remember how to do a cold pitch letter. I learned about cold pitches the last time I was at a SCBWI conference… ten years ago in Honolulu… So to the Intertubes I go tonight.

Came across  this terrific article on Query Letters by Nathan Bransford of the Curtis-Brown Agency. It’s got the skinny on the hook-line-and-sinker of how to capture an agent’s attention with a simple 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper. If nothing else, I have a template to use when I send queries out after the conference. 

I know publication isn’t the focus for the MFA program at VC, but it’s something I have/want to keep my feelers into while I’m in the program. It’s a way to understand the audience you’re approaching, I think. I don’t want to become market driven, but knowing what’s out there, what’s worked, and what’s being looked for will help me develop ideas more carefully, I think. 

I’ve been updating my Goodreads Blog complete with a few annotations. So many books to read before the residency starts. Just counting the faculty books at one each is 17 books and in many cases of authors that are doing work I’m interesting in producing, I’m hoping to read at least two books, maybe three.  In the meantime, I’ve been tagged by Dawn, one of my future classmates with the following meme:

Grab your WIP (work-in-progress)

Find page 30 of the MS or page 3 for PBs

Find the fifth sentence.

Post the next three sentences.

Tag five people 

So, from my WIP which I may/may not work on during VC: She eyed the other two again. “Well, I got corn fritters cooling on the table and hot coffee if you don’t mind the burn.” She stepped out of the house and started shooing them in as if they were chickens. “No need to be hanging on my doorstop like a bunch of vagabonds,” she muttered, then shut the door behind them once they’d all crossed the threshold.

Betty is such a cool character.

Alrighty - I don’t have five fiction folks linked to this blog yet, so if you’re here, consider yourself tagged.

Working Titles/Authors

Here be a list of authors I’d like to study and emulate. This will be an ongoing list, updated periodically.

Lawrence Yep

Eve Bunting

Jane Yolen

Charles DeLint

Neil Gaiman

Harold and the Purple Crayon series

Moonbear series

Christopher Paul Curtis

Tony Robles

Growing Up Filipino I and II

Kate DeCamillo

Paul Gobel

Packing List

Been spending the last few days reading the listserve forum for the VC program. Pretty overwhelming at first reading everyone’s posts and trying to figure out what I need to do next. 

First, of course, is getting my manuscript done, which I think will require a bit more thought than I had originally planned… I’m going to take a few risks, I think, and hopefully not fall flat on the first residency out. But the pieces I have finished really are as finished as I think they need to be before sending out queries, so that means drafting new work and that’s a good thing. 

Second ought to be getting my plane tickets and housing arranged, but I haven’t gotten any details on financial aid disbursements yet, and I want to be sure about that before committing my credit card to anything unrefundable. 

So instead, here’s the start of a list of things I know I’ll need to bring (besides the obvious stuff):

Mosquito repellant (because they love me)
Flip Flops
Emergen-C
Manuscripts to read for open mic’s
One good FilAm history book
Laundry Soap
Money for Ben and Jerrys (yay!)
Flash Drive(s)
Cel phone charger
Gal bags for ice packs
Quarters (thanks Dawn!)
Sunscreen (added 4/24)
Hat with wide brim (added 4/24)
Small umbrella (added 4/24)

That’s the list so far. Digging into details today has helped me with the nervousness. 

Action disperses fear. Another good aphorism. 

 

Performance Anxiety

Weekend busy-ness turned to workweek busy-ness spiced with disappointment and more risk-taking. 

I had to shift my sights to adjust to part of the MFA plan not coming together as I had hoped while still making sure the goal stayed in sight. Back to that not-giving-up, thing. It’s been slow going, getting my feet back under me, but tonight I signed up for the MFA listserve and continued to compile a list of books I’d like to buy and read before the residency.

I’m planning on attending the regional SCBWI conference at the end of the month, so I’m saving my pennies until then since I know I’ll want to buy up the entire exhibit floor once I arrive. The downside to the timing though is that I’ll be missing one of the two school theater performances that likely one or both of my daughters will be performing in. 

So starts the next stage in the delicate balance between being a mom and being a writer. The residency this summer also crosses over their theater camp, although from this side of the calendar, it looks like I’ll be home in time for a few of the weekend performances. 

I broke the news of my return to school to my boss and coworkers today. In general everyone was really supportive – okay on coworker looked at me like I was nuts, but she’s recently graduated from her MA program and knows how demanding school can be. The whole working full time, two kids, full time school thing sort of boggles her mind.

Boggles mine too. 

So why an MFA and why now?

I know what writing classes do to boost both my writing and my skills – I need that crucible to develop new material and get into that space of acting like a writer. As for why now, why not? 

It’s not convenient, but when is life really convenient? I’ve known folk who tried to plan their lives out to fit perfectly, convenient, paced lives… and either threw in the towel in frustration or realized that they’d missed out on a great many things in the meanwhile. 

Would I rather have waited until I won the lottery or rather have started sooner (say two decades maybe)? Sure, who wouldn’t? 

But here’s what I’ve got – a marriage, two kids, a mortgage, a full time job, and an unending desire to be a better writer. 

So the better question has emerged: How can we make this happen now? 

Gift of Collaboration

Came home late tonight after working all day, taking the family out for dinner and catching the First Friday Concert by Swil Kanim.

Swil is a musician, storyteller, and philosopher who’s name is Richard Marshall but who /is/ Swil Kanim – Works for the People. 

I’ve seen Swil perform off an on for years, ever since seeing him in the Business of Fancydancing and finding out he played not only locally, but monthly at a local coffeeshop. He plays for free and liberates his CDs for free, and folks donate what they can, when they can to help he and his wife keep being who they are – artists and ardent supporters of human beings. 

I always learn something from Swil, even if the set pieces are the similar. I learn about how to be a better artist, be a more excellent person, live with failure, and live with passion. Tonight, I learned about the importance of collaboration between artists, how we need to encourage each other to honor our gifts, support each other, give each other a safe place to be the artists we are. I also offered my own gift to him, offered my experience as a writer to get one of his stories made into a children’s picture book. It might be in the works already, but it was important for me to connect and offer what I had after he had given so much of who he was to me and to others. 

That’s the medicine of Swil Kanim, the ability to create connections, heart to heart and keep that going, performance after performance. To witness to gift giving and gift receiving, and call our attention to it so we can all be grateful together. 

Things Done and Yet to Do

Sent notes off to the other program I’ve decided not to attend even after acceptance the other day, as well as a note to the VC faculty for non-fiction I was in contact with earlier this year, Sue Silverman. She’s very kind and encouraging and I’m hopeful we can keep in contact even though I’m not in the non-fiction track right now. Her memoir Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You carries themes I hope to have the courage to write about one day. I’m still uncertain, but also hopeful I can find away to express my experiences eloquently and honestly also.

 

I’m getting a bit backlogged on projects again. It happens when my schedule gets a bit wonky. Been doing the parenting thing mostly while DH has been down with the flu. I keep trying to write a list of everything that needs to be done, but I only get half way, lose the list, start over, get half way, find the first list, lose the second list… onward and repeat. All the while gathering new information that needs to be culled and processed. 

 

Glad tomorrow is Friday, then, so I can hopefully get a bit of rest and organizing time this weekend. 

 

I think I’ll jot my lists down here. Perhaps I’ll be less likely to lose them part way through!

 

Receiving the Unlooked For

Today, a small miracle.

 

VC sent me an email letting me know a few more details on the residency this summer, not the least of which was informing me that I had been given a scholarship!

 

I didn’t even apply for it – they just offered it. So wonderful! 

 

It’s a good start to what I hope is a trend as I continue to chase down funding sources. 

 

Reading the email, though, I started to feel a little overwhelmed by the details still to happen before the residency – books to read, manuscripts to write, forums to join. 

 

Even with lists, I’m afraid I’m going to forget something! But that’s just being overwhelmed today, I think. So I’m going to stick with the good scholarship vibes. 

 

Only communal narrative again today – I’m adjusting to a temporary change in family habits. It’s slowly coming together, but my kitchen is a mess. 

 

I need to bubble some story ideas for the workshop manuscript – I’m thinking at least one will be a retelling of Alitaptap, and I may try my hand at crafting Gift of Plums (a performance piece) into a short story. Later this month I’m attending a regional SCBWI conference and I may see what comes of that too. 

 

I love conferences – they generate so much energy for me. I may even get a chance to pitch one of my picture book manuscripts while I’m there. 

 

That’s the thing I’m trying to keep in mind – I know that MFA programs discourage having a set project going into the program, but I want to also be able to keep looking for ways to publish my work, keep going on the writing career while I’m learning how to be a better writer. I hope I can keep that momentum going even as I’m reading, critiquing, writing. 

Practice is Practice

 

 

Got thrown off kilter today.

 

I work for a scientific nonprofit as an editor and we’re past deadline on our close for three of our journals. Wishing I had taken a more hardline with authors late with their corrections is one of those ‘hindsight is 20/20′ things. Tomorrow we close one way or another and hopefully not burn any bridges in the process.

 

In the midst of all the work angst came a letter from an MFA program I had applied to and had not heard from well after I’d heard from the two others I’d applied to. The letter let me know that basically the letter they had sent last week (which I haven’t received yet) had noted that I was waitlisted, but that a spot had opened up for me (since I was at the top of the waitlist).

 

Financially, I think the program is more convenient than VC since I wouldn’t have to travel as far, but the tuition is the same, but I’m not entirely sure the program is as good a match for my writing as the VC and the other program I had applied for.

 

I’m also waitlisted at the other program which, I think, is the strongest of the three for my nonfiction, but doesn’t offer the Children’s Writing track. An MFA in Children’s would be unique, I think, since there are very few programs, residential or low, out there for that type of writing. I’m hoping that having the dual-MFA will put me in good stead after I graduate.

 

Anyway, it all threw me off and I was edgy for most of the day. I did more community narrative though, to get writing practice in at least. Christopher Paul Curtis (Bud, Not Buddy and Elijah of Buxton) said he wrote for years during breaks while working at an auto factory – years of simple diary notes on how much he hated his boss. **chuckle** 

 

Practice is practice,” he said, so I’m trying not to be too uptight about not chasing a contest or scholarship down tonight.

 

I’m going to sit on the email I got today and go through those risk questions Ben Cooper (Take the Risk) outlines in his book:

 

What’s the best thing that can happen if you don’t do this thing?

What’s the worst thing that can happen if you don’t do this thing?

What’s the best thing that can happen if you do this thing?

What’s the worst thing that can happen if you do this thing?

 

I think I know the answers, but I’ll meditate and see where that takes me next.