Book Lists

Conferences

By on January 25, 2013   /   Book Lists  

Hi Mixed-Up Filers!!

It’s good to be back! Welcome to my semi-annual post with Mixed-Up Files!!  Okay, before I incur the wrath of the all-mighty Elissa Cruz, I am joking! It’s only been fourteen months. Wait, is that more or less than semi-annual? I’m sorry, math has never been my best subject. But, it’s okay. That’s what happens when you write for a popular site like Mixed-Up Files and its eighty-seven members! Still, I appreciate the massive letter-writing campaign that has been undertaken on my behalf, in order to get me more time on this site! Elissa Cruz told me that it literally took her like three to five minutes to go through the two letters she received, clamoring for more of me! I thank both of you for writing!

But, I digress. Back to my post! I was originally going to entitle this Our Firsts, but then I realized that I titled my last post that, and I also believe it makes me sound like some lovesick teenage girl writing an entry in my diary. But, that’s not it at all.

I’m talking about conferences!

This past weekend, the area I live in (south Florida), had its winter SCBWI writing conference. And in another week is the SCBWI winter conference in New York. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend the Florida one this year. And the New York conference is strange for me, because while I am originally from New York, I have never attended a conference there. But, thinking about it, reminded me of the first time I went to any writing conference.

I am not sure exactly what year my first one was without putting a lot of thought into it, and as many of you know, whenever I do that, it never turns out well. But in any event, it was quite a few years ago. And what I remember most, was that I was sooooo nervous going. I didn’t know anybody, but was still excited to see real-life authors speak on the topic of writing. I wanted to get better, but I also remember thinking that I was already pretty good. I guess, that is a requirement of anybody that has a creative spark, you better believe in yourself to an extent, no matter what, right?

So, I went down to the conference, pretty much stayed to myself, and just soaked everything in. Not that I was anti-social, it’s just overwhelming when you really don’t know anybody and you are attending an event where it seemed like everybody knows everybody else except for you. After you go for a while, you begin to see that these writing folk are really just regular people. Perhaps, a bit odder and more eccentric than everybody else, but still just people…okay, a lot odder and more eccentric, but still, they are a tight-knit bunch and very welcoming to new writers. I felt amazed at seeing all these people whose books I’d loved, standing alongside of me.  It takes a few moments to get over being star-struck, and remember why you are there.

One of the funny things I do remember, is being extremely confident. Sure, I admired these writers, but I was also ready to dazzle everybody with my own writing. They would hear my work and shower me with praise and adulation, perhaps be carried off on their shoulders , with the well-deserved shouts of “Way to write!” echoing through the halls.

Well, that didn’t happen. What did in fact happen, was the embarrassment of hearing my work ripped apart. Why? Because I wasn’t ready. Plain and simple. So, what did I do? I basically, slunk back home, with tail between my legs and kept trying.  It was either that or give up, and almost every speaker I’ve heard since that initial conference, said that those that persevered, were the ones who made it. If you doubt, then you give up, and of course you won’t succeed.

You have to keep working at it and get better. I mean now, I’m almost ready to use two syllable words on a semi-regular basis. Almost. Since that first time, I’ve gone to many conferences and met many wonderful people and heard some great people in the writing industry speak. I have been getting positive critiques and feel much more polished. And even more important than any of that, is that I’ve made some incredible friends. And if you are a writer, you know that writing friends are necessary and also different than non-writing friends, because they just get what you’re doing. Your other friends just can’t understand. They are the ones issuing questions such as “Why aren’t you published yet?” or “Are you going to be rich doing this?”. You need those other writing friends. Now, when I go to conferences in this area, I feel like I know the majority and it’s certainly a lot more fun when a lot of people know you as well. A much better experience hanging with like-minded people, instead of standing off to the side and observing.

So, if you are in the SCBWI New York conference next weekend, and you see a lost soul hailing from Coral Springs, Florida, go on over and say hi!! And then of course have the common decency to introduce him to Julie Andrews!!

And remember, if I receive over 100 comments, Elissa Cruz has promised to cover herself with honey and run through a bear cave. Honestly, you just can’t beat that for your entertainment dollar!

Back to Top

The Longhand Writing Challenge

By on January 18, 2013   /   Book Lists  

Back when I spent a lot of time on the (wonderful) Absolute Write forums, I loved it when someone would mention a writing program like Scrivener or StoryMill. Because comments like these would inevitably follow:

Writing Longhand

Credit: Abizern

“Pshh…Hemingway didn’t have Scrivener. He got along just fine.”

“All those extra features are so overwhelming! Give me good old Microsoft Word any day.”

“Word processor? Please. I write by hand.”

At which point I’d come in with something like:

“Pen and paper? Ha. I “penned” my first novel with stone and chisel.”

My passive aggressive point being that every writer has his or her own method, so let’s not judge someone for wanting to use a high-tech option. And yes, it was a bit defensive of me, because my love for Scrivener knows no bounds.

But I have a confession: I never write by hand. In fact, I think I can count on one hand the number of times I wrote by hand last year (and of course I mean wrote creatively, not signed documents and filled out forms).

And I want to try longhand.  Maybe not an entire novel, but just a little something every week. I think writing this way engages the brain a little differently – I’ve even heard some writers claim that their prose is more natural when they write by hand because they use smaller and/or simpler words (or maybe they’re just not constantly clicking open the thesaurus).

Of course, then you have writers like me, with handwriting so godawful it’s practically undecipherable. But what’s really stopping me from writing longhand? The following are the embarrassing but true reasons why:

  1. It physically hurts. That’s how out of practice I am. When I write solidly for longer than five minutes, my hand actually begins to cramp up. (And I’m a percussionist – you’d think some of those developed muscles would help me out a little bit.)
  2. I’m so lazy it’s ridiculous. Every time I glance at a notebook, my brain is all “come on, you’re just going to have to type it all into your laptop eventually anyway…just skip this step.”
  3. Seriously – if my handwriting were a font, it would be called “drunk chicken stepped in paint and did the conga.”

The funny thing is that if I could just get over number 2, I could probably fix numbers 1 and 3 with time and practice. So that’s what I’m going to do.

My personal challenge for 2013 is to write longhand. An entire book? Probably not – but I’m aiming for a scene per week or two. By the end of this year, I don’t want to glance over at the bottom of the bookshelf and see that sad little notebook I bought months ago with so many blank pages. I want notebooks – plural – filled with scribbles and scrawls and drunk chicken scratch. I want to find out for myself whether or not writing longhand changes my prose, or anything about the stories I tell. Heck – I just want to spend less time on my laptop in general.

None of this is to say I’ll give up Scrivener – never! It makes keeping track of separate drafts so ridiculously simple, and it’s very practical for keeping my books organized.

What about you – do you write by hand often? Do you want to? And for the love, if anyone has any tips on how I can improve my first grade teacher nightmare handwriting, I’m all ears.

 

Michelle Schusterman is an author, musician, screenwriter, and Vogon poet living in Queens. Her middle grade series, I HEART BAND, will be launching in January 2014 with Penguin/Grosset. You can find her on KidLit Network, Twitter, and Tumblr.

Back to Top

Top 10 Deep (& Stolen) Thoughts about Writing

By on January 16, 2013   /   Book Lists  

Thank God for group blogs. Otherwise, I’d have to act like I had some deep and insightful thing to write about way more than just once every three months. Of course, the problem is that eventually my three month reprieve ends, and my quandary returns:

What the heck should my new MUF post be about?…

This time around, I considered writing a post about creating effective settings, which is something I’ve been working on in my own writing lately. But then I decided that was way too much work because I am officially not an expert on creating effective settings. Dang.

Then I considered flaunting my sagacity by discussing “objective correlative,” which is a literary device fellow-MUFer Jennifer Duddy Gill brought to my attention about a week ago. Then I realized that would be even more work than writing about setting because I don’t know squat about objective correlative except that Jennifer said I’m good at it even if I don’t know what it means. Double dang.

That left me with nothing to say. And not having anything to say really sucks when you’re supposed to say something. So I decided to not really say anything at all. Instead, I’ll let other, much wiser folks have their say. Thus, I offer you the following TOP 10 DEEP (& STOLEN) THOUGHTS ABOUT WRITING:

  1. “The sinister thing about writing is that it starts off seeming so easy and ends up being so hard.” –L. Rust Hills
  1. “The challenge for a writer is to find ‘not the way to say it.’” –Milan Kundera
  1. “Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” –E.L. Doctorow
  1. “You do not have a story until something goes wrong.” –Steven James (“Story Trumps Structure,” Writer’s Digest, February 2011, p. 37)
  1. “Good writing does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. . . . It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else’s head—even if in the end you conclude that someone else’s head is not a place you’d really like to be.” –Malcolm Gladwell (What the Dog Saw and Other Adventures, p. xv)
  1. “The bigger the issue, the smaller you write. Remember that. You don’t write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid’s burnt socks lying on the road.” –Richard Price (quoted in What a Writer Needs by Ralph Fletcher, p. 49)
  1. “It is an intriguing fact that in order to make readers care about a character, however bad, however depraved, it is only necessary to make him love someone or even something. A dog will do, even a hamster will do.” –Ruth Rendell (“What to Pack in Your Fiction Tool Kit,” Writer’s Digest, December 2010,p. 21)
  1. “All of fiction is a practical joke—making people care, laugh, cry, or be nauseated or whatever by something which absolutely is not going on at all. It’s like saying, ‘Hey, your pants are on fire.’” –Kurt Vonnegut
  1. “It’s important to write every day. Just logging hours writing will make you a better writer. Or it will make you insane. Which sometimes makes you a better writer. It’s win-win.” –Justin Halpern (as interviewed in Writer’s Digest, September 2011)
  1. “Throw up into your typewriter every morning. Clean up every noon.”–Raymond Chandler

There. Done. The MUF’s laziest most inspirational blog post ever is now complete. Laud my perspicacity. Revel in my insight. Bask in my writerly wisdom. Then feel free to share a favorite writing quote of your own while simultaneously resisting the urge to tell me to work harder on my posts.

Back to Top