Revising
I just finished (I say that loosely) a new draft of my novel.
I all but threw out the last draft and started over. The protagonist is the same, and her best friend—a sort of sidekick—remains. Other than that, the story morphed ahead several decades, and its focus became much smaller.
This writing process confounds me, yet I am in love with it. I spend so much time alone, mulling over words and phrases, wondering, “How would she really respond in this situation?”
Tagged with: audience, connection, construct, process, rejection, struggle, truth, why write
Suspending
Last summer I launched my website. It has paid off in ways I could not have imagined back then. People from around the world have visited, allowing me to make connections I would not otherwise have had the chance to make. The website has also allowed me to reconnect with friends from long ago. I am grateful for both opportunities.
All that said, I cannot seem to find my stride with this learning journal. While I had hoped to give it focus, I am not convinced I have succeeded. My original goal was to “document learning moments”—to “examine my own storytelling, as it hinders and helps me along my path,” but I now see that as vague and meandering—without a clear sense of direction.
Tagged with: learning, process, story, why write
I Don't Know How to Do This
Okay, I have been teaching first year writing classes for over 20 years. I thought I had a handle on it. But recently, and especially during the last week of grading papers, I have found myself questioning, “Just what does it mean to teach writing—not to those who want to be writers—but to those who have been told over and over again that they cannot write—to those who have become accustomed to circled words and indecipherable scrawls in their margins What is it they really need?”
Today, I asked students to rewrite paragraphs. I handed out a wonderful example of a student paragraph in rough draft form. Next, I showed them how, with transitions and recurring images/thoughts/metaphors—with careful editing and attention to detail—they could transform a choppy, confusing paragraph into one that flowed and connected.
Tagged with: learning, students, why write
Home
Dear Readers,
My cold and windy Provincetown retreat, as it turns out, was productive. I made discoveries about my writing. I have 23 chapters of a new and improved novel; and on the cutting room floor, I have stories worth keeping.
Sometimes, as I preach to my students, learning only happens through struggle; and while I try to make learning fun for my students, I know that sometimes, it just cannot be.
Tagged with: construct, discovery, struggle, students, why write
Retreat - Take Two
Okay—someone tell me—why am I so compelled to write?
These last few days, trying to solve the problem of my novel, have forced some hard work out of me. I might even say I’ve come face to face with a few demons. I might even say, I am taking a hard look at myself through my characters. Oh, to be human.
Tagged with: audience, construct, structure, struggle, why write
Retreat
I am taking a week-long writing retreat in Provincetown—the goal of which is to revise my novel manuscript, The Side Door. Gizmo is here with me.
The whole idea sounded vaguely romantic when I thought it up. But now, two and one half days into the retreat, I see the pitfalls.
Tagged with: audience, rejection, why write
To Lurk
A writing friend recently invited me to join a listserv—one designed to talk about the craft of writing, specifically Middle Grade and Young Adult books. Another invited friend suggested she might be interested in joining, but would rather lurk than interact.
Friends and acquantainces have confessed that sometimes they lurk on my blog—meaning, they visit and leave without commenting.
Tagged with: discovery, why write
Sounds and Melodies
Last night, I rode in a back seat through the Midtown Tunnel, down Second Avenue, west on 19th and over to Eighth Avenue. Every time I come to Manhattan, I am struck by its personality. Boston, for all its history, does not speak to me the way New York does.
This morning, I listened to an interview between Terry Gross and Paul Simon. She asked him about his song, “The Sounds of Silence”:
Tagged with: pace, quotation, why write
Waiting
Here is the text of my most recent letter to students:
We spend so much of our lives waiting: for trains, for doctors, for a phone call, a letter, a dream to come true. We wait in lines or in rooms made just for waiting, with chairs and magazines, even toys and TV and coffee.
Tagged with: connection, discovery, letters, why write
What makes a good short story?
I love short stories; I love reading them; I love writing them. Recently, I saw Sarah Polley’s film Away from Her based on Alice Munro’s short story “The Bear Came over the Mountain.” As I watched the movie, I was viewer and reader at the same time. The movie was at once literary and visual and…well…perfect. I wonder, what makes a great short story? Raymond Carver. Alice Munro. James Baldwin. Margaret Atwood. Louise Erdrich. Flannery O’Connor. Anton Chekov. Toni Cade Bambara… When someone says, “S/he’s a master of short story writing,” how is that defined? What makes a master?
I put this out as a question to anyone who may be reading these journal entries. It occurs to me, the more I write, that I would be content just reading and writing my life away. Well, I’d like some bread and cheese and wine mixed in, perhaps some human contact, perhaps a walk in the woods, an occasional TV show—but you get my point.
Tagged with: story, structure, why write
Early Morning Rain
I was just getting ready to leave for my Tuesday teaching day when I heard a familiar plunk inside my front door. Early. Eight a.m. I looked out the window to see the PO truck driving away, chugging up the street while our terrier mix Gizmo barked at the door where the package was left. I did not want to open the door because lately, these early morning deliveries have been sad. This morning was no different. I wasn’t surprised to find my novel manuscript, returned to me.
I know writing, creating, discovering has its rewards. And I know rejection is as common as Gizmo’s bark; still, the familiar ache never changes.
Tagged with: discovery, rejection, struggle, why write
Students Write Back
I have mentioned that I write regular letters to my students, and they write individual letters back to me. I recently wrote to them about how hard it is to get started writing sometimes. Here are snippets of some of their thoughts:
I enjoyed your letter. It expresses how many people feel when writing a paper or assignment. If there is no desire to write something, then it is hard to find something to write about…I may have an idea for one paragraph or only a few sentences, but the more I sit there in front of my computer, the more words just come spilling out of my head.
Tagged with: audience, letters, students, why write
Links
So far, there are two links to other sites on this page. I plan to add more. But I’ve been thinking about the word itself, links, and how the internet has created a valuable sense of connection for me.
If you are interested in children’s literature or baseball, check out Barbara Gregorich’s website. She and I are in a critique group together, and she has been a wonderful writing and marketing resource for me. Our group, called the Londonderries, is made up of six writers, from different cities. We meet every week online, and we meet every two years in person.
Tagged with: connection, links, why write, words
Letter
Here is a portion of my most recent letter to students…
Dear Students,
I’ve been having a hard time starting this letter. In fact, I wrote another letter and decided it was boring. I didn’t want to give it to you. I suppose that happens to you, yes?—writing something and not liking it—feeling the pressure of having something due and simply having no inspiration to do it?
Tagged with: construct, discovery, letters, struggle, students, why write
Twyla Tharp
Lately, I have been thinking about the disconnect between the process of writing and the marketing of writing. I have been trying to write the perfect description that 1) makes someone want to read my novel and 2) makes someone believe it can sell. In essence, I am trying to put words to my voice, style, and vision.
A few weeks ago, my friend Rita sent me a book: The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. In it, Tharp discusses what she calls “creative DNA.” I like this quotation:
Tagged with: audience, discovery, quotation, struggle, why write, words
The True Experience?
In searching through some books for “teaching of writing” ideas, I came across this quotation from Vivian Gornick’s The Situation and the Story:
“From the first I thought that to teach writing was to teach my students how to keep on reading until we all saw as clearly as we could what was driving the writer. What, we would ask of the manuscript, was the larger preoccupation here? the true experience? the real subject? Not that such questions could be answered, only that it seemed vital to me that they be asked. To approach the work in hand as any ordinary reader might was to learn not how to write but—more important by far— why one was writing. In these classes both I and my students discovered repeatedly that this was more than half the battle.”
Tagged with: quotation, structure, struggle, students, truth, why write, words