Reading, Writing and Scratching the Itch

Well, it's been one week since I blogged about getting back in the writing saddle, and I find I'm still struggling to straddle the obstacle of scheduling time.  In my defense, I did work 9-hour days T-F, and this week's plan is to hone those hours down so I can begin anew. Although I haven't yet sat at the keyboard (aside from copywriting hours), I awoke from 2-3:30 a.m. one night and spent it re-reading essays in my thesis manuscript. Something about that etherial time of night lends itself to imaginative meanderings of the mind, so I was able to sit with the pages I thumbed in my lap without judgment, but with curiosity. There are three essays with braided stories and my next task is to untangle them on Scrivener so that I can reweave the strands into something new.

My bedside pile of books and magazines

As always, deadlines help propel me toward my goals. I did sign up for the fall Writer's Inspiration + Support Workshop, which meets once a month for three months, starting Sept. 21. And there's a Sept. 22 deadline for a Creative Nonfiction contest on a theme that my particular story addresses:

For an upcoming issue, Creative Nonfiction is seeking new essays about WAITING. We’re looking for well-crafted true stories of delays, postponements, and pauses that explore and examine our relationship with time.

In the meantime, reading (and hearing others read) also serves as inspiration. Recently I went to a Get Lit event at one of the wine bars in my town, Petaluma. Among the three featured readers were Stefanie Freele, whom I've blogged about, and Daniel Coshnear, whose fiction class I took four years ago and whose book, Occupy and Other Love Stories, I wrote about for the Press Democrat. I purchased a book from each, and have been reading and enjoying Coshnear's short story collection, Jobs and Other Preoccupations, which offers much food for thought for rethinking and revising my own short fiction. And last week I bought the cartoon memoir Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, a laugh-out-loud but poignant portrait of aging in America by New York Times cartoonist Roz Chast. So, I didn't write, but I spent an entire afternoon reading in the park.

Duotrope Submissions Tracker: "Rinse & Repeat"

Thank you for your recent submission to Gulf Coast. We appreciate your patience while we read your work. However, we're sorry to inform you that your work was not the right fit for us at this time. Thank you again for submitting, and good luck with all your writing endeavors.

Sincerely,
The Gulf Coast Editors

My first publication by Travelers' Tales

It's just another day in the business of literary rejection. After submitting "Crisis" as my sample essay for my application to Lit Camp, I polished (and re-polished) the piece and sent it on its merry way. During the months of March and May I submitted to 10 literary journals. Since I'm pretty bad at keeping track of my submissions/rejections (needle-in-a-haystack acceptances I celebrate--yes, that's me with my first publication in 2009), I decided to try out Duotrope, "an established, award-winning writers' resource." Check out features like its publication search (you can customize searches of market listings and even compare response times and acceptance rates) and submissions tracker.

I signed up for the 7-day free trial and committed to a full-year subscription ($50, or just $5 a month, which might be the best route in retrospect). Here's what my submission tracker looks like:

In case your magnifying glass couldn't decipher the tiny text from my screen capture, it's basically a spreadsheet with columns for piece, publication, date sent, date rejected/accepted, type of response (I've got 4 of those lovely letters so far!), and how many days you've waited with bated breath. You can even filter your report by submission status, piece, market and year of submissions.

Even if you don't have any submissions to date, I encourage you to check out the Duotrope website. In their own words:

Like the shampoo bottle says, "Rinse and repeat." Keep writing, keep submitting. Learn to shake off rejections and accept constructive criticism. Celebrate your acceptances. You'll have many more to come!

Creative Writing Club: How to Inspire Teenagers

A couple of months ago I started a creative writing club at the high school where I work. I wanted to gain some experience "teaching" writing to young adults, and to provide a space where they could explore writing on topics of importance and relevance to their lives. Even though the English teacher was able to offer extra credit, I mentally prepared myself in case no one came during their lunch break. I was surprised and elated when that first Tuesday seven eager students showed up! Since then, we've had a steady stream each week--including several poets, fiction writers, an essayist and a songwriter.

Once, only one student came--late. I almost cancelled, but in just that short time he shared with me some experiences and insights from his life (such as incarceration and counseling groups/wilderness excursions) that he wants to develop into an article. The fact that he trusted me with his ideas, and then tore the previous weeks' writings from his notebook and handed them to me to read, filled me with glee for the rest of the day.

Each week, I share a sample of a different writing style or format. Then they write for 10-15 minutes on a topic or theme. Sometimes they'll share it aloud that week or the next. I always encourage them to choose a medium they want to work in: narrative, essay, poetry, spoken word, song or even just a list of ideas. My intention is to demonstrate a range of writers and styles--from haiku to comic books.

The first week, I introduced them to one of my favorite writers, Sandra Cisneros, with two excerpts. I also passed out a short comic book-style story from an anthology called Dear Bully. I read from the same book a short essay called "Isolation." They used that as their prompt and were writing past the bell. The next week I shared the following poem video "How to Be Alone" by Tanya Davis. Since so many writers break isolation/aloneness through the act of writing/confiding to the page, I wanted to expand their concepts of what is possible--both in creative form and content.

I've also passed out short essays on the theme "Why I Write," which generated interesting discussions on the drive and purpose of sharing ideas through the written or spoken word.

In the words of one student: "The writing will set you free."