I was horrified by the idea of seeing publishing as prostitution. Writing is telling stories, and while we all tell stories to ourselves, why take the time to craft a well-told story and not let anyone else hear it? I told stories in my college lectures, I tell stories to my friends to illustrate a point, I have told stories in my blog posts, but I became an writer when I started to tell stories in my fiction, and I became a published writer when I was unwilling to let those stories stay hidden in a drawer because I couldn't sell them professionally. In my case, the stories are based on the real life women working in 1880s San Francisco that I had studied. I did get to tell their stories occasionally in my lectures, but now, because I offer my stories at reasonable prices, and occasionally for free, literally millions of readers have had a chance to read and enjoy the stories of those women's lives, which gives me enormous joy. Their stories, as the stories of all the characters I create, deserve to be heard, and if I work on perfecting my craft, and getting those stories out to be read, I have honored myself and the act of creation. Humph, you can tell this upset me!!! What a terrible message to someone who wants to be a writer!
It was the $$ piece that set her off. To share stories with others--she understood. But she actively discouraged us from trying to sell the work! I took her night-school classes for a couple years, and group of us started a community writing club. (She had no problem with being paid to teach!) and I was trying to sell my work, sending it out, getting rejections...and feeling I had to "hide" that from her! (I was 18/19 at the time.) It took time for me to feel okay about sending out work.
M. Louisa Locke - I laughed when I read that bit. There are writers who believe that. There are other writers - good ones - who just don't want to go the publishing route. They write to express themselves and don't want to be bothered with all the trauma and drama and heartbreak that goes with trying to be published. Mostly I can't get published, but kudos to those who can!! If no one got published how on earth would we ever learn other points of view or expressions of our own experiences?
It really just depends. I do any combo of music or silence kina based on mood, noise level in the house, and the piece I'm working on. Having said that, lately my default is music with lyrics. Or silence. Maybe 50/50? But my highest word counts have come from Baroque music without voices.
Letting the word processor scan everything I’ve written since I stopped using paper and pen turned up only a single document that even included the words “phone booth.” The document in question was a poem entitled “Elegy for Old Stuff,” so obviously we’re in the realm of nostalgia here. In fact it’s hard to imagine writing anything today involving a phone booth that isn’t nostalgic in some way.
For example, if we think of famous phone booths throughout history, we have Superman’s, where he occasionally changed; Dr. Who’s TARDIS, disguised as a police phone box; Bill and Ted’s time-travel phone booth; and Maxwell Smart’s phone booth entrance to Control HQ. All of those are charged with nostalgic glow.
Isn’t Phish a nostalgia band in some sense via their connection to The Grateful Dead? I know former Dead Heads who are now, I believe, Phish Heads (not sure if that term is a thing).
I prefer no noise during most activities, but I suppose watching YouTube music videos before writing could provide sensory stimulation that might be helpful, although mostly they’re useful for procrastination. For example, the rockers Fanny in 1971 covering the Beatles or, as here, Stephen Stills (doubly nostalgic). Extra nostalgia points for long hair parted in the middle, colorful vests, wide leather belts, bell bottoms…
That sense of readiness-to-begin somehow has to happen. And an almost physical sensation--push!--to know when to let that go and immerse into the work. Music, youtube, mucking about online... procrastination...
No one has posted a phone booth piece yet. Have to say I am curious to see what younger Unschool folks might come up with.
But it won't be nostalgia is the work is set in the past. (Point taken, though!)
Re the survey of writing soundscape, I require no extra auditory inducements. Outside, there’s a kaleidoscope of bird calls, a steady rhythm of traffic ‘swish’ like breaking waves and occasionally an excited dog sharing its discovery of new scents. Any quiet ,inside is filled with ideas playing tag in my head!
Once into the work, do you hear these sounds? Do they break the work, even just momentarily?
They do and don't for me. Depends where I'm at. I remember a time of struggling with work, and a neighbourhood dog began to bark rhythmically...and it went on and on. I had to go out, up and down the streets. Couldn't find him. I suspect I needed a break :)
I paid for a pitch session and went to a writer for an evaluation. I wasn't ready but I need to know if I had any ability--and only perseverance reveals that. The experience was fantastic. Historical writers are experts in their era, but few are good at storytelling. I volunteered to read author's first pages and got complimented by an experienced editor on how I interpreted the dialogue. She'd never considered the throwaway words that reveal character--this isn't a direct quote, but I'd made an impact. 3 cheers for my theater degree, 25 years doing phone interviews, giving speeches in Toastmasters, and doing a podcast. If you approach going into those meetings as team building and truly listen to their comments, you'll come away with confidence on what your next steps should be. I met my fiction hero there Patricia Kindl author of "Owl in Love."
It sound like an enlivening time. To think of as "team building" is so good. That might be your theatre background. Drama is collaborative... in ways that novel-writing is just not. And to be learned from (note to self here!) Makes me think of a former student, a screen-writer, who bemoaned the loneliness of novel-writing.
So much shared learning and growth.
All right! This conference goes on the list! Thank you, Margie.
Somehow I can't add a comment to the poll, so say here that I listen to instrumental, or voice, or voice and instrumental, or Tori Amos, or Vivaldi, or Bellerofonte Castaldi, or whatever the mood of the writing calls for, though lately my playlist is far too small. I'm still a CD person and who does that anymore?
There was a one week time limit on the poll! So I'm glad you went ahead and listed your working faves. CDs mean you can really control what you're listening to AND you're not giving funds to spotify--who is not doing a thing for artists.
I was horrified by the idea of seeing publishing as prostitution. Writing is telling stories, and while we all tell stories to ourselves, why take the time to craft a well-told story and not let anyone else hear it? I told stories in my college lectures, I tell stories to my friends to illustrate a point, I have told stories in my blog posts, but I became an writer when I started to tell stories in my fiction, and I became a published writer when I was unwilling to let those stories stay hidden in a drawer because I couldn't sell them professionally. In my case, the stories are based on the real life women working in 1880s San Francisco that I had studied. I did get to tell their stories occasionally in my lectures, but now, because I offer my stories at reasonable prices, and occasionally for free, literally millions of readers have had a chance to read and enjoy the stories of those women's lives, which gives me enormous joy. Their stories, as the stories of all the characters I create, deserve to be heard, and if I work on perfecting my craft, and getting those stories out to be read, I have honored myself and the act of creation. Humph, you can tell this upset me!!! What a terrible message to someone who wants to be a writer!
It was the $$ piece that set her off. To share stories with others--she understood. But she actively discouraged us from trying to sell the work! I took her night-school classes for a couple years, and group of us started a community writing club. (She had no problem with being paid to teach!) and I was trying to sell my work, sending it out, getting rejections...and feeling I had to "hide" that from her! (I was 18/19 at the time.) It took time for me to feel okay about sending out work.
M. Louisa Locke - I laughed when I read that bit. There are writers who believe that. There are other writers - good ones - who just don't want to go the publishing route. They write to express themselves and don't want to be bothered with all the trauma and drama and heartbreak that goes with trying to be published. Mostly I can't get published, but kudos to those who can!! If no one got published how on earth would we ever learn other points of view or expressions of our own experiences?
It really just depends. I do any combo of music or silence kina based on mood, noise level in the house, and the piece I'm working on. Having said that, lately my default is music with lyrics. Or silence. Maybe 50/50? But my highest word counts have come from Baroque music without voices.
Baroque - no voices... One for!
Letting the word processor scan everything I’ve written since I stopped using paper and pen turned up only a single document that even included the words “phone booth.” The document in question was a poem entitled “Elegy for Old Stuff,” so obviously we’re in the realm of nostalgia here. In fact it’s hard to imagine writing anything today involving a phone booth that isn’t nostalgic in some way.
For example, if we think of famous phone booths throughout history, we have Superman’s, where he occasionally changed; Dr. Who’s TARDIS, disguised as a police phone box; Bill and Ted’s time-travel phone booth; and Maxwell Smart’s phone booth entrance to Control HQ. All of those are charged with nostalgic glow.
Isn’t Phish a nostalgia band in some sense via their connection to The Grateful Dead? I know former Dead Heads who are now, I believe, Phish Heads (not sure if that term is a thing).
I prefer no noise during most activities, but I suppose watching YouTube music videos before writing could provide sensory stimulation that might be helpful, although mostly they’re useful for procrastination. For example, the rockers Fanny in 1971 covering the Beatles or, as here, Stephen Stills (doubly nostalgic). Extra nostalgia points for long hair parted in the middle, colorful vests, wide leather belts, bell bottoms…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6O3lN2NoJg
Thanks for the link! That was good.
That sense of readiness-to-begin somehow has to happen. And an almost physical sensation--push!--to know when to let that go and immerse into the work. Music, youtube, mucking about online... procrastination...
No one has posted a phone booth piece yet. Have to say I am curious to see what younger Unschool folks might come up with.
But it won't be nostalgia is the work is set in the past. (Point taken, though!)
Phish Heads should be a term, yes.
Re the survey of writing soundscape, I require no extra auditory inducements. Outside, there’s a kaleidoscope of bird calls, a steady rhythm of traffic ‘swish’ like breaking waves and occasionally an excited dog sharing its discovery of new scents. Any quiet ,inside is filled with ideas playing tag in my head!
Once into the work, do you hear these sounds? Do they break the work, even just momentarily?
They do and don't for me. Depends where I'm at. I remember a time of struggling with work, and a neighbourhood dog began to bark rhythmically...and it went on and on. I had to go out, up and down the streets. Couldn't find him. I suspect I needed a break :)
These sounds remind me that there is a so much other life happening out there…..possibly cheering me on to keep at it…..’mining my inner life’
I like the idea of sounds as cheering on--I think you're right.
I went to the Historical Novel Society conference in Oregon. It was a wonderful experience and worth every Penny.
Thank you for letting us know about this one, Margie!
Were you aware--or made aware of!--opportunities to submit work to editors/agents after the event?
What made it worthwhile?
I paid for a pitch session and went to a writer for an evaluation. I wasn't ready but I need to know if I had any ability--and only perseverance reveals that. The experience was fantastic. Historical writers are experts in their era, but few are good at storytelling. I volunteered to read author's first pages and got complimented by an experienced editor on how I interpreted the dialogue. She'd never considered the throwaway words that reveal character--this isn't a direct quote, but I'd made an impact. 3 cheers for my theater degree, 25 years doing phone interviews, giving speeches in Toastmasters, and doing a podcast. If you approach going into those meetings as team building and truly listen to their comments, you'll come away with confidence on what your next steps should be. I met my fiction hero there Patricia Kindl author of "Owl in Love."
It sound like an enlivening time. To think of as "team building" is so good. That might be your theatre background. Drama is collaborative... in ways that novel-writing is just not. And to be learned from (note to self here!) Makes me think of a former student, a screen-writer, who bemoaned the loneliness of novel-writing.
So much shared learning and growth.
All right! This conference goes on the list! Thank you, Margie.
Somehow I can't add a comment to the poll, so say here that I listen to instrumental, or voice, or voice and instrumental, or Tori Amos, or Vivaldi, or Bellerofonte Castaldi, or whatever the mood of the writing calls for, though lately my playlist is far too small. I'm still a CD person and who does that anymore?
There was a one week time limit on the poll! So I'm glad you went ahead and listed your working faves. CDs mean you can really control what you're listening to AND you're not giving funds to spotify--who is not doing a thing for artists.