The Day Before a Brand New Year

I love the end of one year and the beginning of another. I suppose it's because I'm a long time advocate of the aphorism "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." I'm not sure where that comes from--probably a twelve-step program--but regardless, I embrace second chances, new opportunities, jumping into new frames of mind. If there is one thing I've learned is that my past doesn't have to be my future. I know who said that, at least on a self-help tape, Tony Robbins and it resonates with me.

There is almost always something one can do to make things better, or to shift from one path to another. I admit I'm not sure this works for people in dire straits, the homeless, the destitute, the hopelessly addicted and those who have the misfortune to live where war rages, but the rest of us, we have no excuses.

I only have a vague idea of what I want to accomplish this year. I haven't taken the time to write it all down yet, but I do know that while some of my resolutions may fall by the wayside, most of the will not. This is the year I want to keep things simple, take each day as it comes, but be clear to myself what is really important. I want to take steps everyday--creeping aching steps if necessary, but steps toward making my life what I want it to be. Keeping my family and friends close, keep my fingers at the keyboard daily for strong productive segments of time, painting often, and painting only what I want to paint with no one's rules drumming in my head, and beading too, even that, when I want something I can hold in my hand immediately, feel its weight, and give away. And I want to do something for others. Step out of my own world for a while each week and give away something of me.

I count myself lucky that these are the threads I can braid together into a thick uneven plait and lucky to be able to shake it out at the end of each year and start again.

Process and Malcolm and Outliers

This morning I read an article about Malcolm Gladwell's new book, Outliers and his theory that it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert. It's confirmation of what I've told myself. Writing--good writing--is all about the seat of the pants in the seat of the chair. Thank you Mrs. Hawkins. So time spent becoming an expert means time spent in the process of doing.

I'm rereading Ron Carlson's book, Ron Carlson Writes a Story, on process. I gave my original copy to Mr. Pierpont, a writer friend who lives in Seattle, and ordered a new one for myself. I love that book because Carlson lets me sit on his shoulder as he puts together his story.

When another friend shared with me this morning that she's decided the best way for her to work is to begin by sitting down and letting it happen, it resonated. This is exactly what Carlson does. He says "process" is the key, finding your own, and I couldn't agree more. Here's mine.

1. I type or hand write everything I know about the idea in my head. I do what feels "right" as a first step, whether it's a full-to-the-end draft, notes, outline, or brainstorm. This varies with the trigger, the dawning of an idea in my brain, what it is: a title, a plot, a character, an incident, a theme.

2. Whatever I end up with, I work from there.

If it's mostly a plot, I make an informal outline, then I fill in the blanks, the who-what-where-why-how of each scene in the outline. I remind myself that scenes, scene-sequences, chapters, parts, the whole story, should have answers to all five questions somewhere in the text. I try to identify the possible theme here, but sometimes I have no idea.

If, instead of making an outline, I've written a draft to express what I know about my story, I search for the major scenes-segments-acts and ask myself what they mean thematically, what the spine might be etc. I also consider the order I've placed these scenes in. Does it make sense?

If I've come up with notes and brainstorming, and this is my most common way of proceeding, I write a quick draft. Sometimes I do a little research about the "where" or the "what" before I write that first draft, but often I just go.

3. If the story's got something compelling, all the above converges and I have a working draft. Then it's time for me to do some kind of analysis. These are the things I look at.

Character
Are characters clear, defined, and have their own problems and attitudes? Do they fulfill a purpose in the story? What is each one's purpose?

Plot
Does the sequence of events set up an inevitable, yet unexpected ending? Are there set-ups and pay-offs throughout the story? Are the transitions from scene to scene clear? Does the plot support the emerging theme in the best way it can?

Time and place
Is the setting defined or purposefully undefined? Can the reader SEE what's going on, like it's up on the big screen?

Theme
Does this story have the ability to resonate with the reader on both a personal and universal level? Is it compelling? Have all the other elements been put into service to enhance and clarify the theme?

Language
Have all the cliches and stolen images been purged to the best of my ability? Do the sentences act as real sentences? (Tell the reader something specific) Have I said things twice that don't need to be said or repeated enough things that bear repeating? Have I pared all useless language? Changed most of the general words like "it" to meaningful, concrete nouns that clarify and enhance?

4. At this point, I look for intelligent, kind, but honest readers to find flaws and reenforce the story's strong qualities. I want them to tell me if it worked.

5. I rewrite. I let the comments of others guide me in decisions, but I've learned to trust the little voice in my head.

6. I read the story aloud, have a friend proof-read it, and proofread it myself.

7. Then I submit it to, hopefully, the right markets.

8. But most importantly of all, I start a new story.

The above process has evolved through well-over 20 years. Whether I've become one of Malcolm's experts is highly debatable, but this I can say for sure: 20+ years of writing practice has enriched my life beyond measure. Striving to be good at something is its own reward.

Holiday Hubbub

Hubbub! What a great word. Too bad I don't have much time to enjoy it. I see that most people are in my boat. Too busy to be surfing the net. I just want to wish everyone out there a wonderful holiday with family and friends.



Peace and Love.

People Running around like Campine pollos sin cabezas

Okay, I'm a little over the edge this morning. Just proof-read a new story to send out to various and sundry contests and feeling a little light-headed myself. The next two weeks are going to be nuts and when I scrolled through my blog roll, I noticed no one is blogging. Hey! An opportunity to gather mine readers to me!!!

So what can I blog about? Gretchen Wilson last night.

Lesson: Don't show up to Club Nokia an hour early because you won't see the star for at least two hours. That's two hours of non-stop recordings of scratchy Johnny Cash while sipping your Oban. Could be worse. After a while, I took a nap.

Observation: Gretchen Wilson has a terrific voice, she's got charisma, but in the words of AI's Simon Cowell, she doesn't really have a clear picture of who she wants to be. Half her set were covers of the venerable likes of Steve Perry, Ann Wilson, and Led Zeppelin.

Overall impression: Had a great time.

The Holidays.

Today and the rest of the next 13 days are about following holiday traditions like spending money on gifts people will want to return and so they "return" them to you to "return" to the store, eating See's candies and Christmas cookies in order to satisfy friends who have your best interests in mind most of the time, but feel that just one calorie-laden sweet treat can't possibly make you fat and not factoring in (even though they've known you for what 35 years?) the inevitability of you saying, "Please sir, I want some more," AND putting an eight-foot fire hazard right in the middle of your beautiful living room, loading it down with kindling, ie. wooden ornaments, paper ribbon, cardboard Santa faces, etc, and stringing the whole thing with the equivelent of a thousand unlit matches soaked in gasoline and then putting said "fire-hazard" next to a blazing yule log.

So fellow headless chickens, rejoice and be sure to stock up on eggnog and rum.

Best of Every Day Fiction NOW available for order

The Best of Every Day Fiction 2008 (Anthology)



From the press release:

Flash fiction is generally recognized as being fiction under a thousand words - the perfect length for a coffee break - but despite its appeal as a quick read, it is not simplistic. Quite the opposite; it can and should be one of the most demanding literary forms, with a need for perfectly crafted prose, a complete story arc in a tight space, and an immediately engaging hook.

The Best of Every Day Fiction 2008 brings together one hundred flash fiction pieces selected from Every Day Fiction's first year of publication. These stories cross boundaries of genre and geography, with tastes of science fiction, humour, romance, fantasy, horror, and surrealism alongside the more traditional literary pieces, from authors writing in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Finland, India, Israel, Nigeria, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The anthology features all three of my stories published in EDF's first year, One Question, The Breach, and Spring Melt as well as 97 other wonderful stories. For before-Christmans shopping, shop at EDF, hard-back or soft-back available. Hurry, the time frame is slim.

Mammoth in Late November

Want to share some pix from our holiday with Hillary. We cooked an 18 pound turkey for five, mashed potatoes, the works. It was fun and different. I wrote a lot too, working on my Rose Metal Chapbook entry (shout out to Sarah for sticking with me to make the deadline). Actually, writing on a vacation is usually so hard for me. I want to play cards, hike, help with the jigsaw, but this time, I could focus. I don't know if it's because I'd just spent to concentrated weeks on jewelry-making and was still in that "get it done" state of mind or if it was Sarah's faith in me that I could do it, but it all balanced out nicely. We went out into a meadow near McGee's Creek with the dogs, Hill helped me with a couple stories, we watched football, it was very cool.
The weather too was balanced. Snow the day and night we arrived. Bright and sunny the rest of the time.
The morning after we arrived, I pulled the blinds and the sun, snow, and landscape sparkled right into the condo. Amazing.

BIG BIG NEWS-Pushcart Nom!

I still can't believe that someone out there in the ether read my story, Spring Melt and somehow put it together with these words, PUSHCART NOMINATION. I owe Every Day Fiction (and that means Jordan Lapp, Camille Gooderham Campbell, and that tech-whiz Steven Smethurst, the salty one) a huge hug of gratitude for submitting my story. And all my buds at EDF who've been so encouraging to me. I won't list them for fear of leaving someone out in my own excitement, but you know who you are.

Oh, and CONGRATS TO MY FELLOW EDF NOMINEES. I'm honored to be among your number. Find links to their work at EDF:

ONE BRIGHT MOMENT • by Joel Willans
LARRY LEGEND • by Jason Stout
WITHOUT NAPIER • by Michael Ehart
WING MENDING • by Dave Macpherson
WITH LOVE FOREVER YOURS • by Alex Moisi

And if you're thinking, what the hell's a Pushcart? CLICK HERE.

Stolen Link for "New Classics"

Just dropped by Abunchofwords and found this link. Being the bookworm I am (see below) I stole the link: EW 1000: Books The New Classics: Books

A quick review reassures me there is some common ground here, but not necessarily in the same order:


The Road
Beloved
Mystic River
Cold Mountain
A Handmaiden's Tale (I'd add Cat's Eye)
On Writing
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
White Teeth instead of On Beauty
Lonesome Dove
Angela's Ashes (I'd add The Woman Who Walked into Doors too)
Birds of America
I'd pick Tortilla Curtain rather than Drop City
Nickeled and Dimed (this is obviously not a fiction list)
Holes
Atonement
The Giver
Cathedral (do they mean this specific story or the collection? My copy of Cathedral is in a different book)
Kavalier and Clay (but only because there are 100 on the list. This would be in the 90s??? #99? Actually, maybe I like The Yiddish Policeman's Union better. Either way Chabon should on the list. I have to think about this.)
Kite Runner (this should #100)
A Prayer for Owen Meaney and I'd add Cider House Rules
Remains of the Day
The Tipping Point (& Blink)
The Stone Diaries (This belongs way, way up on this list. Not here!!!)
High Fidelity
Close Range



Here's what I'd add. This is just off the top of my head.

The Stand (how can you list The Road and not have The Stand on there somewhere? Or maybe since Cathedral is listed, what about The Shawshank Redemption?)
Middlesex
She's Come Undone
We Were the Mulvaney's
House of Sand and Fog (blew me away)
The Hours
I Know why the Caged Bird Sings
In the Electric Mist with the Confederate Dead (James Lee Burke)
McCullough's Masters of Rome series

Pillars of the Earth (but not the other one)
Something by Michael Connelly but I have to think about it.


I've read all the above and would put them on my list. Now here's what I'd take off the list:

The Corrections (yuck, puke! Sorry but I actually did throw this book across the room!)
The Da Vinci Code????? Are you kidding me? It ain't Treasure Island.
Eat, Pray, Love. I liked this book, but a modern classic? NO.

And of course, there's many on that list I haven't read....

Great News SRR has accepted "Listing Lisa"

I am very excited to find out that the Salt River Review is going to publish "Listing Lisa" in their next issue.

Inching along like any old BOOKWORM

Sent this by Michael of Lazy Thoughts from a Boomer. It's a "Bookworm Award." Have to admit I qualify.

"Open the closest book to you--not your favorite or most intellectual book, but the book closest to you at the moment--to page 56. Write out the fifth sentence as well as the next two or three sentences. Pass this on to five blogging friends."

The closest book to me at this moment is A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I have it out because I have a story which uses some of the structure of that book. to give credit to the inspiration, I wanted to borrow certain names, like Madame DeFarge. Only my character is "Fargo." And of course there is a Jack and a Chuck and Sid. I actually haven't worked on this story in a couple of months, so that proves to you just how messy my desk really is. And how whack some of my ideas are.

I can't follow this exactly because a sentence is carried over from the previous page so I'll count from the first full sentence. It's Dickens. So don't blame me if it isn't one of the most exciting parts of an extremely exciting book, but it is funny. Remember CD got paid by the word!

Whatever gloss the various spectators put upon the interest, according to their several arts and powers of self-deceit, the interest was, at the root of it, Ogreish.

Silence in the court! Charles Darney had yesterday pleaded Not Guilty to an indictment denouncing him (with infinite jingle and jangle) for that he was a false traitor to our serene, illustrious, excellent, and so forth, prince, our Lord the King, by reason of his having, on divers occasions, and by divers means and ways, assisted Lewis, the French King, in his wars against our said serene, illustrious, excellent, and so forth; and that was to say, by coming and going, between the dominions of our said serene, illustrious, excellent, and so forth, and those of the said French Lewis, and wickedly, falsely, traitorously, and otherwise evil-adverbiously, revealing to the said French Lewis what forces our said serene, illustrious, excellent and so forth, had in preparation to send to Canada and North America.

Sorry guys, this one is just too fun. I'm passing this bookworm award to the following and invite them to play (but only if it is their wish to):

Jane at Chasing in Circles
KC at Now Playing in Seattle
Kev at Shameless Creations
Katharine at People, Places, and Pasta

Boutique Bust

Yes, it was a bust. Very few people showed up and while most bought something, everyone seemed aware of our uncertain economy. Can't say I blame anyone. People may be waiting to shop for the holidays. Although I know a few people who are "done," most of us have decided there is plenty of time to make that list and check it twice.

That said, I am please with the jewelry I made this year and pleased at how I was able to focus my mind and time on the task. Though I struggled a little when I first sat down in the garage and flipped on my OTT light, by the second day I was in a groove. This tells me that while I am easily distracted, I can still focus when it matters. That's good news for my writing.

My goals for the next six months concern my novel. I wanted to finish it this year, but obviously that isn't going to happen. However, I've painted now for a while and created some nice jewelry, those creative urges quelled, and it's time to get back to the solid pleasure of putting one word after another, building sentences, and playing with the lives of my imaginary people.

I am blessed. There is nothing else to say but that. My son, Nick and his new bride, Mysti, had a wonderful and fun wedding, my husband is getting close to retiring (I've started the honey-do list), Hill is happily ensconced on her mountain with good friends, and Cinder is still wobbling around. And I have my writing.

Boutique Previews

Jewelry COUNTDOWN

This Friday and Saturday, November 14 and November 15, I am participating in a craft show at a friend's house, cozily named "Betsy's Boutique." Now Betsy is a stupendous photographer.
and has put together this "open house" for friends and family for years. This year (and last) she's invited me and a couple other friends to join her.

"Pressed in Time Flowers" is such a cool idea. Lisa and Bev make custom designs from special occasion flowers like weddings, funerals, graduations, etc.

Betsy also invited long time friend Rhea who has come up with a killer idea. Cute and odorless litter box covers.

And then of course there is me with jewelry and paintings.

So I've been busy. After this weekend, it's going to be back to the keyboard for me.

My First Mention in a Blog whose author I don't know!

I'm pretty excited. I just got my first mention in a blog whose author I don't know. This is a milestone for me. My buddies always say terrific things, but you know, they ARE my buddies, and now here is someone out in the ether reading one of my stories and recommending it in her blog!!!

Check it out: abunchofwordz!

Add abunchofwordz to your blogroll!

Deleted!

Wikipedia deleted Every Day Fiction. I understand they have some rules. As a former English professor who had students using Wikipedia as their source material, I understand that the site is trying hard to live down their reputation of not being a genuine place for academic research. I remember chalking on the board, "NO WIKIPEDIA!"

They still have a cloud hanging over them when it comes to hard research so I "get" their dedication to selectivity. However, I fail to see how research stringency affects Every Day Fiction. It is not a resource for term papers nor pretends to be. No student is going to use EDF as a source to take the easy way out of research. The need for citations, references, etc. just isn't there for a fiction e-zine.

For e-zines, the powers that be at Wikipedia use the word "notable" to determine inclusion. Popularity matters not a whit since I'm pretty sure EDF has more hits than other e-zine in the Wiki index. They've been strict with EDF's application. When is a mention in The Wall Street Journal not enough to make EDF notable? It's very difficult for me to understand this situation.

It's sad because Jordan Lapp, the editor of EDF, and Camille Gooderham Campbell are serious about creating a quality e-zine. They treat both the writers and readers with respect. They comment positively on each submission, give clues to why something is rejected, and support and encourage writers at all levels of development. They work hard to publish stories of high quality while remaining open-minded to subject matter and genre. Of course, I am prejudice. They've published four of my stories and selected three to appear in the upcoming Best of Every Day Fiction anthology. I am proud of this. I've seen pages of it and it is beautifully done. I owe much of my newly-found confidence to them and the readers at EDF.

They are professionals and their enterprise will thrive, an article in Wikipedia notwithstanding.

Wiki Every Day Fiction

If you are a reader of Every Day Fiction and appreciate the quality of fiction offered by editors and administrators Jordan Lapp, Camille Gooderham Campbell, and Steven Smethurst, please visit its Wikipedia site which is in danger of deletion.

Apparently the support of the community must come from outside the community so I'm hoping some of you will go to Wiki's Every Day Fiction page and comment on its value to the writing and reading community as well as to the world wide web itself.

I will GET to the wedding, but first...

I am so pleased to announce that three of my stories--One Question, The Breach, and Spring Melt --have been accepted in the Every Day Fiction's Best of the Year Anthology! I am flattered and thrilled. The book is due out before Christmas! I'm not sure about disbursement yet, will let everyone know.

I'm still working on the wedding pictures in between making jewelry, but here's one to hint at what's coming:

We're Ba-a-a-a-a-c-k from DC and the WEDDING

I have much to say about the last six days, but so much that I can't really do it at this moment. Here's a little tidbit about my sister Jane, my niece Julia, and nephew Sam (Samuel ADAM).

From the Gazette (what Gazette I don't know)
Over Mount Vernon, VA …

By George, Mount Vernon family causes a stir at historic presidential site.

The odds of this may be even greater than one in a million:

The 1 millionth visitor to George Washington's Mount Vernon Estates and Gardens historical site in Virginia this year was from Mount Vernon, Iowa.

Actually, three people from Mount Vernon, Iowa — Jane Marshall and her two children, Julia, 13, and Sam, 11, officials at the site said. They walked through the gates of Washington's famed Virginia mansion and burial place at 10:45 a.m. EST Thursday.

"Oh, my gosh!" Jim Rees, executive director of Historic Mount Vernon, exclaimed to other employees after asking the Marshalls who they were and from where they had traveled. "They're from Mount Vernon, Iowa!"

"It was so funny," Emily Coleman Dibella, the site's director of public affairs, said today. "It was such a coincidence."

The Marshalls were greeted by about 50 employees of the site who lined up and threw confetti while a trumpet fanfare was played. A worker dressed in character read a proclamation and presented the Marshalls with a gift basket before the family got a VIP tour.



The Marshalls visited with friends from Chantilly, Va.

Dibella said officials at the historic site were please that people still are traveling to see the site south of Washington, D.C., overlooking the Potomac River, given the slumping economy. "We're just thrilled that people continue to come and are interested in George Washington," she said.

How I got hit by the ARTS bus?

Someone asked how I got started painting. I'm almost positive I blogged about this before, but I'm posting what I said to my friend because it can't be said enough. Too many people allow fear of failure to keep them from the joy of doing what they want to do. They let pre-determined pain slap 'em down.

Yes, it be great if we could live out a period in our lives just as Bill Murray did in Groundhog Day where our stumblings and sour notes are immediately forgotten by those around us. Yes, we all wish we could become proficient in a skill overnight, but unfortunately, we can't. We have to pay for the joy of being good at something, first by being bad. And it's that fear of badness that paralyzes so many of us.

I've spent a life time repressing my desire to paint. I was all caught up in things being good enough. Writing has matured me about this. I now understand that if you work at making something better with patience and joy, it will turn out better than if you spend the same time feeling frustrated and inadequate. I'm just glad I figured this out while I'm still functional!!

I'm almost 60 so time has spurred me on and also helped me let go of "perfectionism." Better to do and be just okay, than not do and not do jack sh*t.

I decided to start painting in February of this year. Was on jury duty and if you are on jury duty in LA, you can get into the Museum of Contemporary Art for free on your lunch hour. So that's what I did. There were only about 20% of what I saw that blew me away. The rest seemed either stupid, sloppy, or merely adequate. So I thought, hmmmmm, I can be merely adequate, and I have no expectations of ever being in a museum. So what do I have to lose?

One picture really gave me an emotional jolt. I spent a lot of time in front of it. Turned on in the art sense. My thought, I want to do that. It was abstract and used wire and card board. I like wire. I like cardboard, especially corrugated cardboard, rapidly torn so that it appears half and half...

I went to Michael's and bought the cheapest stuff, a pack of Liquidex Basics acrylic paint with a 50% off coupon for 16.00, packs of miscellaneous brushes, gesso, and 16x20 canvases at 5.99 each, acrylic craft paint in metal colors, gold, silver, copper, and bronze because the painting I liked had a silver spot just off center that appealed to me. And most importantly, a color wheel because over the years I know about opposites, complements, etc and their importance in both visual arts and written arts.

Well, I went home, went out to the garage, and quite literally, played. And played for hours, days, and now months. I am shocked that people like my art. I paint to make myself happy, mostly experimenting with color and shape and the odd bits I pick up on the streets during my walks.

I hit a bonanza last week-end when visiting a friend who is a carpenter when he gave me carte-blanche to his workshop. It was a treasure hunt, not sure what I'd find as I pulled out each plastic drawer!!! I found some great provocative shapes. Fell in love with washers, bolts, chains, anything rusty, broken, or unfathomible.

My advice to any repressed, perfectionistic, fraidy-cats out there is go to a contemporary museum for inspiration. Start with abstraction. No mistakes can be made. Layer on lots of paint and keep going until just as you're about to lay on another color in the upper left hand corner, your eye tells you, STOP, this piece is done!!! And then stop and go on to another blank canvas.

Whoa BABY! Tagged AGAIN

This one is a nice compliment!!!

Kev-lar tagged me, and everyone I would tag. Thank goodness my sister isn't part of this crowd! Here arethe rules of the tag. I think I've messed them up. But I think they were messed up before:

1. Display the award. See above!
2. Link back to the person who gave you this award. That was that shameless red-headed boy.
3. Tag at least 7 other blogs. (Thanks, Kev!)
4. Put links to those blogs on your blog.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the people you've tagged.
6. Copy, answer, and post your answers should be here to the questions below

You can only answer in one word:
1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Where is your significant other? Work
3. Your hair color? Hidden
4. Your mother? Missed
5. Your father? Hmmmm
6. Your favorite thing? Life
7. Your dream last night? Jumbled
8. Your dream/goal? Awareness
9. The room you're in? Temple
10. Your hobby? Unanswerable
11. Your fear? Confusion
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Italy
13. Where were you last night? Home
14. What you're not? Sentimental
15. One of your wish-list items? Perserverance
16. Where you grew up? SoCal
17. The last thing you did? Walked
18. What are you wearing? T-shirt
19. Your TV? Off
20. Your pet? Spider
21. Your computer? Addicting
22. Your mood? Mellow
23. Missing someone? Jane
24. Your car? Zooooooom-zooooom
25. Something you're not wearing? Shoes
26. Favorite store? Target
27. Your summer? Insane
28. Love someone? Many
29. Your favorite color? Red...gold...red...gold...red...gold!
30. When is the last time you laughed? Tagged.
31. Last time you cried? Weeks

Thanks for the meme, Kevin.

Now I must figure out seven bloggers to tag, not include Erin, Alex, M, and Sarah,

Jane
Sylvia
K.C.
Madeline
Michael
Katharine

That's all the people I know who might conceivably do this. If you don't want to play, it's no sweat, no worries, and no skin off my nose. (where the heck did that last expression come from?) I understand and hold not a thing against any of you. Unless that thing is me, and we're hugging.(Kev actually said this corny part, not me. I'm NOT sentimental, just too lazy to erase it).