December 1, 2022 newsletter

Conclusion to "radical cutting at the Del," checking out Annie Finch's outstanding poetry book (starting a discussion group), holiday writing prompt, and more...

Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash

It is December! Time for the potpourri first-of-the-month newsletter, with a bit of craft, a poll, a prompt… another recipe. (At the end here, I’ll re-post the eggnog recipe that I shared with Time Travel Kitchen last year. Note, it needs at least four days to mellow, and a week to be really perfect. It’s like pre-writing: plan ahead.)

Welcome to new subscribers. There are many of you these days. Please explore the Indexes (2021 & 2022) to see all that’s here, read the “about” page, and ASK QUESTIONS. (Email: alison@alisonacheson.com)

And Thank you! to those who have chosen to go paid. Your active support makes all the difference to this writer/ex-academic. Maybe it comes down to one’s value system: do you think labour—that you enjoy and find useful—should be compensated? Know that I appreciate your recognition of this!

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Prompt

For the benefit of those who are new:

Each month, in this ‘first-of’ newsletter, there’s a prompt. I post a separate thread on which you can post your response to this. (The thread will land in your email minutes after this—watch for it.) I explain the prompt here, and you post there.

Last year we ran a mini-course in “holiday” writing (the definition for “holiday” is broad—from New Year’s Eve to summer vacation; it might be a familial creation!)

One of last year’s responses grew to a story which will be published in Canada’s Globe & Mail toward the end of this month! I’ll pass along the link. Congratulations, Suzanne Johnston! Very exciting!

For this prompt, I’ll share again the generative post from last year.

• The One Element to think about as you work? Strive for emotion! Not “sentimental.” What does this mean? It’s part of the “showing and telling” piece, in many ways. “Emotion” is about evoking genuine feeling—from within you and your characters, and reaching to the same for your reader. “Sentimentality” is what Disney does—and it often slips into “telling” mode. Cliche and over-used words signal sentimental—so watch for them.

From last year:

Holiday mini-course prompts... let the thinking begin!

Post, and do offer feedback to others’ posts. Mostly, enjoy!

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Summation of Radical Cutting at the Del

I’m including this as the “craft” piece for the month. If you missed the earlier pieces, written while I was vacationing at the Del Coronado in San Diego, I’ll share the links in the “re-cap of November posts”—see below.

My self-assigned task was to try to cut 2000 words per day on each of the six days I was there, from an adult novel 112000 in length, and deemed too long, by my agent. (Rightfully so.)

The historical resort, the setting for the the 1958 movie Some Like it Hot, is a wonderful place to just be, or to spend focused time on something… or to read a lot of wonderful books. Which is what I’ll do if I’m ever there again. I did walk the beach, and watch the sun set and the holiday lights go up. I had three meet-ups and meals with friends. But mostly I sat in the (winter!) sun and worked.

In the end:

I cut over 9k of the 12k I wanted. And I’m satisfied with that. For now. The posts about radical cutting elicited a lot of responses, and I also received some emails about the process. People have strong feelings about cutting and about not cutting! As far as I’m concerned, the points of view are valid.

But if I have to lean on one side or the other, I’m going to liken the publishing process to midwifery. And I’m grateful that with each of the three times I’ve given birth to a human, it’s been with some help. Books and stories are not so different, to my mind. (How do I know this? From the post-partum.)

A good editor is worth a lot.

Still, if you feel otherwise, and want to discuss, find the comments!

The re-grouping:

I’ve been returned home from San Diego for more than a week. Since being home, I’ve cut only 1000 more words. I’ve slowed. The novel is tighter, and now I need a break. In my process, there is no substitute for the element of Time. Time has a significant role and is a tough one to mess with. For the record: my “2000/day for 6 days” was a bit of a mess with Time!

But even when taking a break, my mind continues to question. As I cut, I became more aware of the choices I’d made in the creating of this story; I’m more aware of threads and undercurrents, and the workings of my subconscious. I don’t want to know all the workings. I like for there to be a bit of mystery. But my understanding has grown.

For instance: I was working through one scene toward the end, a seemingly innocuous little scene of an ageing person doing some crafting, in which she is “salvaging.” The word “salvage” is never mentioned, but the idea is there. I ended up seeing the significance in a mention of scissors—a significance I hadn’t understood before. It’s as if the cutting has lifted certain pieces into relief. This is the gift of such work.

I was reminded of this after a book review I wrote was posted by BC Review. The writer wrote to say she’d learned “new stuff” about her “own book.” This made me laugh—I do know exactly what she’s saying. And this writer knew exactly what her story needed, even when she was guided by her subconscious.

One of the toughest things about writing is that, in a world that aspires to measure EVERYTHING, there is no real measurement of what you are learning or “achieving.” We have to cultivate, within our selves, living with that. And be content.

At the same time our contentment has to have a rub that pushes us to get up in the morning, and continue with our labour.

One of my closing thoughts with all this:

Why do I think/assume it’ll take any less time to cut 2000 words, as to write 2000? It’s a rare day that I write that much, let alone having six consecutive days of writing that amount…

Post any thoughts:

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Annie Finch - let’s make 2023 a Year of Poetry!

In the next week or so I’ll be completing and posting my review of this book. The read is taking time; it’s rich. So much to absorb.

For each chapter in the book, Finch has a series of provocative questions, and it would be happily challenging to work our way—slowly—through some of these. In the new year, I’ll start such a discussion thread.

I studied poetry through my MFA program, and worked with poet and translator George McWhirter, a brilliant and generous human being. His teaching meant his own silence in the classroom, followed by a one-on-one meeting. In those times, he would share his thoughts, discuss, fill my hands with the books of poets I would most benefit from, selected with care. But in a class of a dozen, with exposure to only the works of that dozen, without the time for detailed study of multiple forms… while I know my own poems were strengthened, it wasn’t comprehensive.

This book contains within its covers enough to give you a thorough understanding of multiple forms, the why, the process, and further—how you share your work with others. There are exercises and Finch’s decades of experience, both writing and teaching. I’ll share more in the review—look for it.

And here I’ll post the link from which to order her book. I asked Ms. Finch if she has a preferred way for reader-writers to purchase—this was her answer.

Continue to post any poetry in the poetry workshop space. (Email the work to me, to go into the queue.) We have a number of writers posting there now, including a couple for whom poetry is a new area. Good to see courageous jumping in! And to see those who have been toiling through time, too. Writing is process —

(Workshops are for paid subscribers only. Here are instructions for accessing.)

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A little grammar/spelling piece FYI:

Hiccup or hiccough?? I had to look it up the other day. As a Canadian, I usually use what I think is the UK spelling. But this post was illuminating. Turns out “hiccup” has been around since the beginning, and “hiccough” is really about confusion…

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Re-cap of November posts

Starting with the November 1 newsletter which outlined the “humour” prompt for that thread. (The humour piece was based on an October post here.) Yes, you can still post a piece for feedback! And offer feedback on others’ works. Always, with all archived potpourri posts.

This piece—below—posted early in the month, when Substack was taken over by some “Chat” capability, garnered the most comments on any Unschool piece ever. So should probably have its own box:

Eulogy for the Magazine Rack

Oh my.

Then the sometimes-challenging task of finding a title. They can come so easily… or not at all.

I posted about the cutting of copious words. And that led to the follow-ups: Days 2 and 3, and Days 4 and 5. (Summation above.)

And a post for writing for young people on the issue of language (cursing) and acceptance or lack of.

A Happy Thanksgiving for the American readers!

And a piece on “image”—not just visual for poetry and fiction.

We’ve had a total of eight workshop posts, a good number for a busy month.

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I posted a thread for NaNoWriMo convos too. Speaking of which:

NaNoWriMo Reports…

Want to share how your month went? I’d love to hear.

Three questions: (and I’ll post the answers)

1. What was the most surprising piece of this month’s work for you?

2. Did you hit the “goal” or reassess or create your own?

3. How did you feel about the 50000 word goal and what you actually did?

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And the promised ’nog recipe. Bring on the eggs and rum…

Time Travel Kitchen

Do you know any writers or writers-in-waiting who would enjoy The Unschool?

Or:

Or, if you haven’t already:

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Wishing all of The Unschool Writers a most merry holiday season! Put your feet up, or dance or celebrate in the way that means something to you and yours. Thank you for bring here, sharing your work and questions and your time, through all these months of 2022!

Peace—

Alison