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My thoughts on writing and other random things as they come up. |
| This is a blog where I keep my thoughts and daily comments about writing and WDC. |
I was thinking on the way to work today, I left out an obvious choice for ring tones for writers. "Paperback Writer" by the Beatles. I'm also spending this week annoyed with poetry for some reason. Maybe annoyed is not the right word. Perhaps frustrated is the right word. I think I'm just tired. Tired of fighting it. Out of love with it this week. I'm sending it a middle school note that says "I am NOT going with you today." I'm sure poetry is relieved! Hehe. It's just so much easier to get the same point across by actually telling the story. Without employing 'stuff' to create the same experience in the reader's mind. And I'm...just tired. I'll give it a break, and maybe in a week I'll read some more poetry and remember why I feel in love with it. But as of right now, well....things aren't looking so good for poetry. |
Today I came across an old song, "Along came Jones" By Ray Stevens.  I got to thinking that would make the perfect ring tone for a writer! I keep playing the video over and over and it's cracking me up! What do you think would make a good ring tone? PS - Don't you think Ray Stevens songs would make GREAT writing prompts? Best wishes Sil |
| This will be quick, I have a busy day ahead, but I wanted to share this great article. My friend Jeanetta linked it on facebook, and it's a wonderful example of sensory detail. It's a rather touching story: http://www.hippocampusmagazine.com/2012/08/dirty-clothes-by-roberta-f-king/I hope you enjoy. C. |
I have a vacation day today, so I've decided to spend it reading and writing. I received notification yesterday that my short poem, "The Trollop Goes Fishing" had been posted at Camel Saloon. This is one they accepted a couple weeks back.I thought I might share how this poem came to be. Inspired by Asymmetrical's 2012 rejection campaign , and encouraged by my publication in the Spring Issue of Shadows Express , I have started to send out some of my poems for publication.I know most of them will be rejected, but I try hard to submit to publications that 'fit.' And, I see submitting and receiving rejections as part of the 'paying your dues' process. Why wait to start paying your dues until later? Pay them in advance I say! Plus I'm old. I don't have forever. I'm doing well on tallying up rejections, although I don't send very many pieces out. I'm also learning in the process. One of the things I've learned is that submitting takes a great deal of time. The research involved in finding great pubs to submit to and actually tailoring something to fit is very time intensive. But it can pay off. In this particular case, I chose a publication that seemed accessible and had a decent response time. According to Duotrope - they accept roughly 30% of the work submitted (seemed like a decent stat for a new writer). It's a saloon, so I figured they would like poetry that would appear to a bar type audience. Work that deals with drinking your troubles away, and the associated issues that drive people to drink. I wrote this piece specific for the journal, packaged it up with two other poems, and sent it out the next day. 24 hour turn around on a poem. Short for me. It's not the stuff I usually write. And - It's not based on personal experience! So please don't take it "personally." It's got mistakes, it could be better. The version I sent out was missing commas. But it's published, and I now have two publication credits (and three poems, one pending) to my name. I hope you'll stop by the camel saloon, read my piece, and leave a comment! I hope something about my journey helps you with yours. Best wishes, Sil |
The fires in Oklahoma were pretty scary yesterday. One started about three miles north and one mile west of our house. The wind was blowing to the north east. Over the next five hours, it traveled four miles north and two miles east, right on track to enter the the town of Glencoe. Glencoe is 8 miles north from my house. The evacuated the town of Glencoe around 6 p.m. At approximately 7 p.m., the wind shifted, and started blowing to the south, south west. I believe this probably saved the town of Glencoe. However, it sure made us stress. The ash started falling into my yard at 7:15 PM. There's still a large amount of smoke in my yard this morning. As the fire moved back south, It was so hard to listen to the deputies call in reports of rural houses burning. (We were listening on the scanner). There weren't enough fire resources, and what fire resources there were - had to stay and protect the town. My husband stayed up on fire watch till about 1:00. About 4 a.m., a storm hit. We got about 1/4" of rain, so I think we might be safe for now. By noon, everything will be dried out again. I prayed a lot last night for friends and family, as well as anyone impacted by the fire. So far I haven't heard any reports of anyone injured (or worse) in the fire. That was just one major fire of many in Oklahoma yesterday. I remember dreaming the rosary last night. So I was even praying in my sleep. I hope that this new day bring some relief. It's only supposed to get up to about 100 today. I probably won't be around WDC as much over the next few days. Hug your family close. You never know what tomorrow might bring. God bless and lots of love, Sil |
| There are still wildfires burning in Oklahoma. I sit around glued to the TV, watching the fire eat up square miles. So far, the big ones are about 50 miles away, and the little ones 2+ miles away. But it feels like it's just a matter of time. With continued heat and no rain in the forecast, things continue to look pretty dismal. Hard to focus on things like shopping for school clothes when families are losing everything. On to writing: While I was checking the 'who's online' status this morning, I saw the following advertised on A Wilcox's billboard: A Brief Guide to Writing a Short Story .Since that was the topic of yesterday's blog (differences between short stories and novels) I clicked. It's a short story guide for commercial fiction genres. It was rather interesting, so I linked it here to share with you. Hope you stay safe today. Best wishes, Sil |
| I'm a member of the Woolgathering Wordsmiths and for the last several months we've been reviewing Brook's book "Story Engineering." . It was an interesting book, and once you mined out the important parts, valuable. It could have been a better book if he spent less time justifying his points and more time just making them. As we got to the end of the book, I wondered what business I had really studying novels. I don't think I'm going to write one any time soon. My focus is more on short stories and poetry. I feel like I have to understand language at the micro level (poetry) and story construction in a small landscape (short story) before I have what it takes to write a novel. I'm looking to my education in poetry and short stories to provide what I see as the building blocks to a novel. But - now I'm wondering if that is the right thing to do. I may never write another novel. It might just be short stories and poetry (which will be fine). But I'm not sure that all the premise of 'the novel' apply to short stories. Is a short story just a compacted novel? Are there elements of a short story NOT present in a novel, and vice versa? Is it just the number of pages and/or word count that make it a novel vs. a short story, or are there other elements? All things I'm thinking about. The next meeting of the wordsmiths will be August 16th, and we will be discussing a portion of the writing tips from the "Wired for Story" website: Thirteen Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Story. Maybe it will help me answer those questions! I hope you will consider joining us! Sil |
| I sure feel like I'm whining about the weather a great deal, but this is crazy. I'm having nightmares about the weather and fires. Last night at 10:00 PM it was still 98 degrees. We had deer up in our yard during daylight - like 4 p.m. yesterday. The creek is about to go dry. My barn cat laid in the sprinkler. We're still trying to save that old oak. Right now it's 113 at my house. I don't know how the livestock will survive all this heat. No relief in sight. No rain. More fires, about a mile away again. I'm sure spending a lot of time praying. Best wishes, Sil |
| Yesterday about 3:30 a fire started about a mile from my house. I think you have to be from the country to understand how "close" a mile is. My nearest neighbors live about 1/2 a mile away. The temperature was around 110, and there was a wind. Luckily, the wind was blowing away from my house, or I wouldn't have one right now. Five other families were not so lucky. It's kind of a sobering day for me. Hope you and yours are safe and staying cool. Best wishes, Sil |
| Go away Rattle. I'm not ready. So why can't I get this deadline out of my head? Maybe THAT's why they call it Rattle. It sticks to you! http://www.rattle.com/poetry/prize/about/ I have two poems I'm in love with. But next week I'll toss them over in favor of something else. Ah, I'm so fickle! Maybe talking about it will help me exercise the demon.... XOX Sil |
| I picked up a couple or three new books at Barnes & Noble Saturday. I swear I'm such an addict. I'm reading Wired For Story, and so far it's EXCELLENT.She says many of the same things the other writing books do - but in a different way. This one appeals to the scientist in me (did you know there was one in there?). Maybe if I read something enough times, it will sink in (and rub off). Happy Monday! Sil |
| Our first memoir study group meeting was a success! We had (4) attendees, and got some excellent critiquing finished. I'm really excited about this group. One of the ladies submitted a work for this contest for writers over 50. I'm sharing it here in case you have some interest in contests: http://www.passagerbooks.com/submit/ New! Call for Memories, Journal Entries: Last Moments Passager is collecting anecdotes, accounts, memories, journal entries, about the last moments of life. Tell us what you witnessed, where you were, things that were said and unsaid, the feeling in the room, the air in the room, anything that you want to share. Deadline: August 15, 2012. Email or snail mail, five hundred words max. Include in the body of the email, no attachments. No poems, no short stories. Send to editors@passagerbooks.com What a challenge! To write something in 500 words or less that conveys the last moments of life? I hope the critique helped her out. I've been inspired by the ladies in my group. They are so brave with their writing, so courageous. I hope I can do some of the same. As a result of their examples - I also wrote two new poems this weekend. I'm kind of shocked at myself. It's amazing what comes out when you put myself in a position to take some chances. On a side note - Two people have told me how much the memoir class meant to them - one of them even said the class (and writing) had the power to change lives. I can't tell you how deeply that touched me. I keep trying to get some of these great people to join me on WDC. It would be so fun to share this with them! I'll keep trying. Time to (gas) grill some ribs. I think I can probably do it on the sidewalk - It got up to a very depressing 112 here today. No relief in sight. We'll probably lose some of our 100 year old oaks. One of them is already dropping all its leaves. My yard looks like fall. Losing those trees makes me want to cry. ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Hope it's cool where you are.... Best wishes, Sil |
| I don't know if you use Duotrope or not, but they have a search function that allows you to narrow down your search in very meaningful ways - if you can figure out how to use it. Recently, an article pointed me to Duotrope's search for "accessible markets and best response times." I'm impatient, I'm in a hurry to get my rejection, so I tinkered with "best response times". I also submitted a couple poems to "accessible markets" and have found it very helpful! Here is a link that explains the various items available in the "STATS" section:STATS .Here is a list of the results for poetry. You can toggle this for fiction or non-fiction.. .New to submitting items for publication? Try the "approachable" market! It worked for me! Best wishes, Sil |
| Yeah! I have had two poems accepted! WEEE!!! "I am delighted to accept Lovers and Trollop, and will let you know when each is posted, ten days or so." This is a great place to submit poetry. Be sure to send a photo, and read the submission guidelines carefully. http://thecamelsaloon.blogspot.com/ *happy dance* |
Last night was our last Memoir I class. We ended the class on just the right note, everyone had an opportunity to read a portion of their stories out loud. It was a very emotional experience, and I was stunned by the courage some of the other writers displayed. I am humbled, and challenged by their courage and their depth. I hope I can write like that some day. I feel so connected to them! I'm so glad we've decided to continue with a bi-weekly student-led meeting and we will be starting a Memoir II class in October. Wow. That's really all I can say - is Wow! I feel like I'm in the company of giants. Happy Thursday. Sil |
I stumbled upon this while paging through my library's "memoir" offering: Crossing a Different Bridge. .It's a story about a woman growing up in Oklahoma in the early 40's. I couldn't have less in common with her - but I'm loving the book. It's written in a very poetic way, and interspersed with poems. It's a recommended read! Sil |
I was mulling over my assignment (Memoir #3) when I saw the writer's camp today: "You are locked out of your house." I remembered something that happened to me, and wrote it out just minutes before the deadline. It won the cramp but still needs modifications.
It's unfortunately 100% true. Thank you cramp, for helping me to finish something for Memoir Class! |
| I've pulled a muscle in my back, so I'm having a day of it. This is not how I wanted to spend the weekend. I had plans to overhaul my closet and clean. Now I am sitting at the dining room table because sitting in the cushy recliner makes it worse. Why do husbands get so annoyed when their wives are injured or sick? I'm not sick or hurt often, but my husband gets so grumpy when it happens. I can't do much - I've been spending most of the day working on revisions to "Invalid Item" . I think I'm making progress. I hope I am anyway. If it's better its due to recent feedback from friends. If it's worse the fault is my own.Still - there are two other problems going on. One, I'm supposed to be working on something else, something "juicy" as my final project, instead of revising this one. I'm a master of avoidance. Two - I want to request reviews on Memoir Assignment #2, but I'm amazingly reluctant to do so. Because it's a true story, it's near and dear to my heart. I'm not sure how I would feel about content criticism. Maybe just acknowledging that I might have trouble with it will help me recognize that fact so I don't over react? Hopefully you are having a good weekend. Best wishes, Sil |
| Oh I hope someone is not playing a trick on me! OWFI just announced that Patrick Rothfuss is going to be the 2013 Keynote speaker! .I've read his first two books - and I've even shared it with some folks in my office. This is very fun. The only thing better would be if Ted Kooser or Billy Collins were speakers. *happy dance* |
| Two posts today, aren't you lucky? This came from the poets & writers news blurb, so if you get that, you've probably already seen it. But I think this letter was so great, I just had to share it link: ."Late-1938, eager to gain some feedback on her work, aspiring young author and Radcliffe sophomore Frances Turnbull sent a copy of her latest story to celebrated novelist and friend of the family, F. Scott Fitzgerald. Before long the feedback arrived, in the form of the somewhat harsh but admirably honest reply seen below." (quote from website linked above). Sil |
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