One of the craft books I read recently (I know, bad me for not remembering /which/ one) recommended taking a favorite book and retyping the whole thing to get a feel for how the story was paced. I really don’t have the time (or inclination) to do that, so I thought I’d try a little [...]
Archive for the ‘Practicing Risk’ Category
An Experiment
Posted in Practicing Risk on August 4, 2008 | No Comments »
Day 4 - Retrospective Pt 1
Posted in Housekeeping, Practicing Risk on July 11, 2008 | No Comments »
This day was the day I have most looked forward to and the one I was most nervous about - the first real day of lectures and workshop. I’ve described the residency to others as a two-week conference and it has a lot of those markers with the exception that we’re all focused in the [...]
Day 2 - Retrospective
Posted in Artists and Visionaries, Backstory, Practicing Risk on July 10, 2008 | No Comments »
Got up moderately late - 11 local time, but 7 Pacific. Not bad for having not gone to be until 3am local. I was glad I’d packed for the night, but was sorry I didn’t have fresh clothes to change into. It’s such a small thing for me usually, but with the heat the way [...]
Day 1 - Retrospective
Posted in Backstory, Practicing Risk on July 10, 2008 | No Comments »
I count the first day of school as 7/7/08, a Monday, a travel day for getting me from home to Montpelier, VT. I write this two days later because I spent all Monday getting from home to VT…and a little bit more.
Thankfully, my family took me to the airport shuttle first thing in the morning. [...]
Two Weeks and Counting
Posted in Housekeeping, Practicing Risk, lists on June 24, 2008 | 1 Comment »
I sometimes wonder if trying to keep up my blogs is counter-productive to keeping up with the whole full-time mom/full-time editor/full-time MFA student thing. Already I’m seeing things drop away as I hone in on the perfect schedule - an illusion, really, since I’m not actually doing all three things, just the usual two and [...]
Writing It Real
Posted in Artists and Visionaries, Asking and Receiving, Practicing Risk, tagged Add new tag on May 29, 2008 | 1 Comment »
Still busily reading for school this summer, but recently received some cool news.
Sheila Bender is one of those writers I’ve read off and on for years, mostly for her sound advice on the process of writing. I discovered A Year in the Life soon after the birth of my second child and it [...]
Manuscripts Away!
Posted in Practicing Risk on May 20, 2008 | No Comments »
After much hacking and slaying mixed with misery and despair, three picture book drafts are off for the VC workshop.
It makes for happy.
First I thought I’d write something completely new in the YA realm. Then as time slipped away I thought I could at least turn in the same stories that I had submitted [...]
Timeliness
Posted in Housekeeping, Practicing Risk, tagged FilAm Lit, Goals, Time on April 24, 2008 | No Comments »
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 [...]
Performance Anxiety
Posted in Backstory, Practicing Risk, tagged compromises, motherhood, Reasons on April 10, 2008 | 2 Comments »
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 [...]
Riding the Wave
Posted in Asking and Receiving, Practicing Risk, tagged Aphorisms, Contests, Submissions, Travel on April 1, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Writing begets writing.
I’m going to have that printed and framed, I think.
So riding the crest of my work last night, I took three unpublished pieces from my files and sent them off to an essay contest. When I sat down to work, I thought I had a month to get the pieces ready, but a [...]
