Invest in Yourself. You're Worth It!

Thought for the day: The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. You can always do it better, find the exact word, the apt phrase, the leaping simile. ~ Robert Cormier

My daughter Maggie sent the following link. It certainly is food for thought. Don’t be put off by the fact it starts out talking about music. It is really for all kinds of artists – like writers! http://puttylike.com/starving-artist-meet-web-2-0/ Just thought you might find it interesting.

A couple weeks ago I announced Megan had won an autographed copy of no-name baby by the incomparable Nancy Bo Flood. Megan, I’ve tried to contact you three times and haven’t heard back. Please contact me so I can send you the book. Readers, if I don’t hear from Megan by the next blog post, I will draw a new name from those who commented on that post. I also have winners to announce from my last blog post. Jennifer Rumberger was the first to have her name drawn, so she will be receiving The Bell Bandit, and Barbara Watson’s name was also drawn, so she will get a copy of The Secret Tree. Congratulations!!!

When I retired a few years ago, my good friend Jan Paluch, who had listened to me talk about how I wanted to get serious about my writing, sent me a brochure for the Sacramento Writer’s Conference. I plunked down some money and spent a couple of days rubbing elbows with the likes of Erin Dealy and Patti Newman, and John Lescroart.(Yes, THAT John Lescroat!) I met some other newbies and learned a great deal. Out of that experience came my first critique group. I was on my way. I went to the conference again the next year, but it was pretty repetitious, so I started looking around for other ways to further my writing. I took the ICL course and went to workshops and conferences and joined SCBWI. I got better and better at my craft. Every year I invest in myself. I find the best workshops and conferences I can and spend the time and money to make myself a more accomplished writer.

Peggy Thomas

Last week I was in Pennsylvania at a Highlights Founders Workshop. This was my fifth time going to Boyds Mills to learn from the best, and it is paying off in many ways. I have sold some work in the last couple of years. No books yet, but YET is the operative word for me. I know that I will sell some of my books. And that is happening because I continue to invest in myself.

Last week’s workshop was Whole Narrative Non-Fiction. I spent a week with Peggy Thomas, Elizabeth Partridge, Susan Bartoletti, CarolynYoder, Nancy Bo Flood, Barbara Krasner and a wonderful group of attendees. Look at the names on that faculty list! Imagine just being in their presence for a week! I’ll bet between them they have close to a hundred books published. Amazing. We had hours of workshop time every day as well as hours of quiet writing time. In addition, we had all our meals together as well as cocktail time. (You’ve got to love the cocktail hour at Boyds Mills.) In addition, we had an individual talk from most faculty members sharing how the writing process works for each of them.

Nancy Bo Flood

This is a new workshop for the Highlights people and it wasn’t perfect, but they listen well and I’m confident the next time it occurs it will be close to perfect. But I came away from that week with a non-fiction book manuscript I believe will be ready for submission very, very soon. It’s miles better than it was when I showed up. I had lots of help from almost all the faculty. (I didn’t happen to get much time with one faculty member, but had good amounts of time with everyone else.) Nancy Bo Flood also spent a lot of time with me on a poetry project I’m working on. She has such great expertise in that area and was happy to share her time and knowledge with me. I think that project is now almost ready to submit. (Thanks, Nancy!!) I made the comment while at the workshop that if I didn’t have grandchildren in California and if money were no object, I would go to all the workshops Highlights offers. I’m not kidding. They are that good. Check out their offerings HERE.

I received an email recently from Nancy Sondel, founding director of the Pacific Coast Children’s Writers Workshop.  She is contacting people for her Fall 2012 workshop and said she hoped I could join them. I wish I could afford to go, but I just came back from a pretty expensive workshop and am already committed to another later this year. Maybe next year I’ll return to the PCCWW. I went to one a few years ago, and it was a great experience. There are different levels you can sign up for including one which includes a full-novel critique from one of the faculty. This year’s faculty includes editor Simon Boughton (senior VP and publisher; Roaring Brook Press and Farrar, Straus & Giroux), agent Emily Sylvan Kim (president, Prospect Agency), and agent Joe Monti (Barry Goldblatt Literary). WOW! For more information, check out the site HERE.  I really think this is worth your time to explore. I learned so much when I attended and, again, had a great deal of time with wonderful faculty members.

Not all writers’ workshops are as good as these are. One year I attended one of the Big Sur Writers’ Workshop. They are pretty popular. After all, it is Big Sur. They do them twice each year. These workshops are put on by a literary agency, are expensive, and don’t return much on your investment, in my humble opinion. Others may have a different view.

I make sure I attend at least a couple of conferences each year and go to a couple of workshops or retreats as well. I really like the one-day local SCBWI conferences and workshops. They are inexpensive and they seem to draw excellent faculty. And the SCBWI regional people work really, really hard to put on great events. I’ve never been disappointed. Ask around before you make any decisions. Talk to all your writer friends and see what experiences others have had. Invest in yourself, but invest wisely.

My next post will be back to some book reviews and probably some giveaways, so please tune in. And please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you. Remember, if you have trouble leaving a comment, click on the title of the post and it will give you just this post with a comments section on the bottom. Also, if you haven’t signed up by email, please do. Just look in the upper right-hand corner of this page, pop your email address in, and you will receive an email each time I put up a new post. Your information will not be shared with anyone.

Tell Me a Story -- Narration in Today's Writing. Book Reviews and a Give-Away

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First of all, for my writer friends, two great links. The first is to remind you why it’s probably a really bad idea to ask for advice on your writing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sifESist1KY

If I posted this before, forgive me. I look at it now and then just ‘cause it makes me laugh out loud.

I know the SCBWI Spring Spirit Conference is coming up very soon her in the Sacramento area, and I'm sure there are spring conferences all over the place, so here is a blog post with some important reminders: http://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2012/04/02/conference-dos-and-donts2/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+WritingAndIllustrating+%28Writing+and+Illustrating%29

Second order of business is WINNER, WINNER, CHICKEN DINNER!!  The winner of the drawing for my own ARC of One for the Murphys is SHANNON HITCHCOCK! Yay for Shannon. I am contacting her for a snail mail address and soon she will be reading this wonderful book. We have another give-away today, with TWO winners, so make sure you read to the end.

Today I’d like to talk about the return of narrative. For as long as I have been seriously writing, I have heard and read that we have to show, don’t tell. Dialogue and action reign over all. Narration should be nearly non-existent in our writing. Actually, I think it’s pretty good advice a lot of the time, but great writing sometimes happens when a story is told – narrated – just like stories have been told for thousands of years.

A few months ago, I reviewed a book for the Sacramento Book Review that really stuck with me. I thought about it a lot and was amazed that it was published in the publishing environment that exists today, because it is almost totally narration. That book is An Elephant inthe Garden by Michael Morpurgo. You can see my review by clicking HERE. It is a wonderful story based on a true happening from Europe in World War II. Morpurgo strays far from the original happening, but good historical fiction often does.

What is amazing to me is how Morpurgo structured the story. It begins with a woman who works as a nurse at a home for elderly people. The woman has to bring her young son Karl along one Saturday when she is working because she doesn’t have anyone to leave him with. She pretty much tells us (narration) her part of the story. While there, Karl wanders into the room of Lizzie, one of the patients. Karl protests when his mother drags him out that Lizzie was about to tell him the story of the elephant. His mother tells him there is no elephant, just the imaginings of an old woman. Lizzie asks about Karl and Karl comes to see her again. She begins to tell (narration) the story of an elephant in her garden, many years ago during World War II when she was a child in Germany and how that elephant helped her family escape from both the Nazis and the Russians at the end of the war. It is an incredible adventure and a love story all wrapped up together. Lizzie tells (narration) Karl and his mother this story over a couple of visits and there is narration by the nurse between visits to break Lizzie’s long narration.

I loved the story and the writing. It was a real treat to lose myself in the idea of simple, old-fashioned storytelling. Come on. We all love to have a good story told to us, so why is there so much writing angst about narration? Clearly, Michael Morpurgo isn’t suffering from that angst. He has tons of books published. (No. Seriously. I mean TONS. Look at his website books page by clicking where it says "books page." He has written wonderful, popular books like this one and War Horse, which I haven’t read yet, but I will. Today I read another of his books – Kaspar the Titanic Cat – and, guess what? It is TOTAL narration. I liked it every bit as much as An Elephant in the Garden. What can I say? I just love having a story told to me. I’m a kid at heart. And since Morpurgo writes books for kids, he just might be on to something.

Kaspar the Titanic Cat is a lovely story of an orphan boy who finds himself, true friendship, and a family because of a prince of a cat. It’s fanciful, but totally believable. Johnny Trott works as a bell-boy at the Savoy Hotel. He is befriended by an opera singer, Countess Kandinsky, who comes to stay at the hotel for three months with her cat Kaspar. Johnny is chosen to care for the cat, walking him during his breaks and making sure he is fed and cared for when the Countess is away at practices and performances. When the countess is killed in a traffic accident, Johnny tries to take care of Kaspar, but the cat will not eat and hardly even drinks water. He loses weight and his coat dulls. A wealthy American family, the Stantons, comes to stay at the Savoy for a couple of months prior to their up-coming trip on the wonderful, new ocean liner, the Titanic. The Stanton’s young daughter, Lizziebeth, discovers Kaspar and is able to get him to eat again. They become great friends and Lizziebeth becomes friends with Johnny as well. Johnny ends up saving her life and the Stantons reward him. When it is the time for them to leave, Johnny gives Kaspar to Lizziebeth, and the Stantons take Johnny along to the Titanic to help them settle in on the ship. Johnny decides to stow away and go to America. Remember now – this is the Titanic. This entire book is Johnny Trott telling (narration) his story.

Michael Morpurgo

Narration has its place in writing. Few writers would take on this kind of complete or nearly complete narration these days, but when done well, it works. I think Michael Morpurgo does it very well. I’d like to offer two of you the chance to see what you think. I am going to give away my gently-read copies of An Elephant in the Garden and Kaspar the Titanic Cat. You can win one of them. You will get your name in my blog hat (from which my eminently honest granddaughter Gracie will choose two names) if you leave a comment here on the blog, and tell me what you think about narration angst or anything else on your mind and which of the books you would prefer. Because I am trying to drive more traffic to my site, I will put your name in a second time if you put a link to my blog on your blog or even on Facebook and let me know that. The person whose name is chosen first will receive the book of his or her choice. The second name drawn will receive the other book. That drawing will take place next Wednesday – April 11 – so have your comments in by midnight , Tuesday, April 10. These are both wonderful books and I know you will enjoy either. So, please leave a comment and let the games begin!