Community Creative Writing Course

Thank you for stopping in. Check back soon, more details to come. 

Original

Week Four--Week of Me

original link here

Hello fellow Creatives! Welcome to Week Four of our five-week Picture Book Challenge. 

Remember, as far as rules go, we’re keeping it simple:

1. Word count: 300-500 words.

2. Write only what the illustrator can’t illustrate. Allow room for their art (or yours if you’re illustrating your own stories) to bloom too.

3. Be kid friendly. Review Week 1 for a reminder of what that means.

Okay, friends, this week we’re taking the notes and the lists and the conversations we’ve had, all the digging we’ve done over the past few weeks, and we’re putting our findings to a different kind of work.

We’ve spread our arms wide to figure out why these books and stories are meaningful to us, generally. Now we narrow our investigation to the individual, specifically. To the me, and to the you, to our hearts.

Who are you? As a person, as a title, as a number in a crowd? And what experiences in your life, your culture, your surroundings have impacted who you were when you were two vs. when you were ten vs. who you are now?

How do these things affect the way you feel and interface with the narratives you’ve studied the past few weeks, and hopefully created as well?

These are big questions. Maybe it’s easier to ask the little questions, then over time answers to the big questions manifest more clearly.

Little questions, such as:

“Do you believe in soulmates and why, even if the answer is ‘no’?”

“If you have a nickname, what is it and how did you get it?”

“Which do you prefer, soy milk, cow milk, or some other kind?”

From broad wonderings to minute details, any query will do. Where do we find a lot of random yet potentially enlightening questions for ourselves? Put into your favorite search engine something like, ‘conversation starters,’ or ‘character prompts,’ etc. What are some questions you’d ask your favorite famous person, then ask yourself instead.

Here are a couple Q&A’s from Kicking Corners to get your brain rhythms flowing, if you need:

Lack Luster Liebster

1+1=11

HummyPutterings

Things I Love

Blogging Award and Such

Create an ongoing list of questions for yourself. As you consider your answers, take cue from our Week of Wonder and tap into your inner child. Remember: new, strong emotions, and empowering.

In what ways can you look at the questions from new angles? How can you incorporate smells, textures, sounds to make your answers feel more visceral? More real to you?

In what ways do the questions shake up your strong emotions? If they don’t, can you consider the questions in different ways so they do?

How does answering these questions empower you? If your answers don’t feel empowering at first, or this seems unclear, sit with the idea a little longer. Do you recognize change in yourself that’s been positive? Perhaps you haven’t changed, but rather you’ve become stronger in your resolutions.

Your findings through doing these exercises will be pure gold fodder, my friends. The stories you remember could be stories you want to retell. Maybe you see a series of patterns or events that connect in your answers to build a bigger story. Or maybe you understand now why a certain legend is so important to you and you want to create that connection for little readers.

Whatever you find, and whatever you decide, write it all down. Then write your story.

We can do this. 300 words from your heart.

 Go, write, win!

Week Three—Week of Legends

Hello fellow Creatives! Welcome to Week Three of our five-week Picture Book Challenge. 

Remember, as far as rules go, we’re keeping it simple:

1. Word count: 300-500 words.

2. Write only what the illustrator can’t illustrate. Allow room for their art (or yours if you’re illustrating your own stories) to bloom too.

3. Be kid friendly. Review Week 1 for a reminder of what that means.

Okay, so this week is similar to Week 2 in that we’re making a list of favorites. This week, though, we’re spreading our arms out a little broader and digging in a little deeper.

This week, we make a list of our favorite fairytales, legends, and songs. Here’s where we’re reaching broader, right? These foci span culture, time, and narrative style. And again, we’re digging deeper by figuring out why these different aspects of culture, time, and style are so meaningful to us. Why do these things go ping?

So, make your list of at least ten favorite fairytales, legends, and songs. Maybe circle the ones that come to mind first, without a lot of brain poking or research. The answers that just roll out sans thought.

If you want or need to research to get more ideas, definitely do. Project Gutenberg is a fantastic public domain resource. There are so many stories and songs out there that I forget I adore until I’m reminded of them, and then it’s like meeting old friends when I run into them again. Crane Wife! Teeny-Tiny Woman! Golden Goose! Little Talks! Happy gasps and small swoons for all.

Read or listen to them, if you can. Then read or listen to them again. Read or play them to others. Talk about them with friends and family, get their thoughts on these stories. Observe people’s reactions.

After you’ve gone through your favorite fairytales, legends, and songs multiple times, make notes of your favorite things in each. Things that make your heart squeeze, things that make you feel deeply, but also things you think could make the stories or songs better.

As with Week 2, your notes will reveal similarities across stories of your specific preferences. This is how you begin to understand what legends to embed into your own stories and why those themes or ideas are important for you to explore.

For example, three favorite fairytales that roll off the top of my head are Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty.

Some similarities across the three stories include:

*A female character who’s put into a situation(s) that’s difficult to deal with—hard both physically as well as mentally/emotionally.

*Enchanted surroundings, or people/animals, who help the main character. She’s not alone, even though she may not understand the enchantment(s).

*Moments of simplicity, wherein the main character is able to feel safe or peace, even if the big problem of the story hasn’t been resolved yet.

Looking at these three shared threads, I ask myself, Do I feel deeply about these things?

Yes, I do.

Can I incorporate these three ideas into my next 300-500 word children’s story, then?

Yes, I can.

We can do this, right? Write. Create something legendary.

Go, write, win!

Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men

Week Two—Week of Why

Hello fellow Creatives! Welcome to Week Two of our five-week Picture Book Challenge.  

Remember, as far as rules go, we’re keeping it simple:

1. Word count: 300-500 words.

2. Write only what the illustrator can’t illustrate. Allow room for their art (or yours if you’re illustrating your own stories) to bloom too.

3. Be kid friendly. Review Week 1 for a reminder of what this means.

How’d last week go? Were you able to cultivate some wonder? To tap into your strong emotions? Did this help you create 300-500 words of a story with a strong character, or set of characters, who will empower young readers?

I had a problem with a vacuum. Cue strong emotions. Rather than acting out on my frustrations while trying to wrap my brain around the problem, I tried doing this cultivating wonder thing. I got down on the floor, squiggled around to see the situation from a different angle. Tried wrapping my imagination around the problem instead, and vwalla! My 488-count vacuum story was born.

Week Two we want to continue doing this, but with a little more focus on the WHY of it all.

This week we make a list—an ongoing list, if you like, it doesn’t have to only be this week—of our favorite picture books. Then we figure out why they are our favorites.

So, first, make a list of at least ten of your favorite picture books. Read them, if you can, and then read them again. Read them to others, especially kids, to observe their reactions too. Where do they laugh? Is it the same as you?

If you don’t own all your favorite books, or they aren’t available at your library, YouTube usually has a number of people who read picture books for a virtual storytime experience [example below: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, by Jon Scieszka...so, so good]. See if you can find what you’re looking for there.

After you’ve gone through your favorite books multiple times, make notes of your favorite things in each of the stories. Things you like, things you savor deeply, but also things you wish the author and/or illustrator did better.

Your notes are going to reveal similarities of your specific preferences across these stories. This is how you begin understanding your why’s. Do you always love a strong female character? A diverse cast of characters, whether the author uses humans or anthropomorphic animals? Do you appreciate great uses of metaphor? Witty twists on fairytales? Maybe you love it when the rhyme is spot on, or maybe you don’t like rhyme at all.

These similarities are your golden stars. Sticker them, and make sure you put at least some of those golden stars in your own story you write this week.

Just 300 words. No problem, right? Write. 

Gold star stickers for everyone this week! 

Go, write, win!

Week One—Week of Wonder

Hello fellow Creatives! Welcome to Week One of our five-week Picture Book Challenge.  

Remember, as far as rules go, we’re keeping it simple:

1. Word count: 300-500 words.

2. Write only what the illustrator can’t illustrate. Allow room for their art (or yours if you’re illustrating your own stories) to bloom too.

3. Be kid friendly. Read on to consider what that might mean:

Ann Whitford Paul wrote a fantastic, hands-on guide to picture book writing that leads us from the tiny seeds of story creation all the way to publication. It’s called Writing Picture Books, and it is truly so insightful. Truly, if you want more help with brainstorming, structure, language, tying up loose ends, and prepping your stuff for submissions, this book. This book, people.

Let’s dive into some characteristics of children that Paul suggests we keep in mind while creating children’s books (she gives us twelve, but I’m only paraphrasing/quoting from three here; I say again, get the book):

*EVERYTHING IS NEW

“We step right over [a worm, but] children squat to watch it squirm. The world is a wonder to children, but most adults have grown blasé about it. As a children’s writer, you must tap back into the excitement of discovery.”

She offers multiple suggestions on how to do this. Don’t be afraid to look foolish. Make yourself small, get on your hands and knees and pay attention to what you notice at that level. Really pay attention to sights, sounds, smells, textures. Then, when you write, put the things you notice, the recaptured wonder, into your words.

*CHILDREN HAVE STRONG EMOTIONS

Paul makes note that “…when you are young, everything matters; everything is serious.” So while we, as adults, might be able to shrug off the fact that we dropped our favorite ice cream on the ground and it’s gross now, all grimy with chunks of gravel and dirt, a child might throw a tantrum.

“Children care deeply. Tap into their strong emotions for your stories.”

*CHILDREN LONG TO BE INDEPENDENT

“In our books, we should strive to give [kids] examples of strong girls and boys who find their own solutions to problems. Our books should empower children.”

Paul reminds us how annoying it can be when someone tells us how to do something, especially when they tell us over and over, and over and over, and over, even if they’re just trying to be helpful. Kids feel this way too. They want to do things themselves. And they want to see themselves in our stories, so let’s give them characters who are strong and brave and kind. Capable, even when they make mistakes.

So, to write kid friendly we need to cultivate wonder, tap into strong emotions, and create strong characters who will empower our young readers to learn and be independent.

No problem, right? Write. 

This week, write 300 words. Text it out to a friend, scribble it on a napkin with permanent marker, journal it, spin it on the inside of a lid, turn it, tap-tap it up on your computer, whatever way helps you to get it out of your head and into the physical world. We can do this.

Go, write, win!

original link here

Mindful May: Yoga with Adriene (and Steampunk Skunk)

Hello Everyone! Today on our mindfulness quest I bring you two people/things I love:

1. Yoga with Adriene 

(I've even put a handy little link to the left under the quick ref column. Super-duper writer resources, yes. I love her stuff that much). She talks about calm and creating space for mindfulness. That space--whether mental, physical, emotional, or otherwise--is so important. I had no idea how to create head space on my own amongst all the head chatter I juggle constantly. Maybe it's the same for you? No worries, Adriene helps guide you through the process. I wish I'd known about this stuff years ago. But I didn't, and that's okay, I'm just glad I know now. 

2. Steampunk Skunk

I adore skunks. Beta knows this and draws me skunks often to help me be happy. Exactly how Steampunk Skunk came about, I'm not sure, but this character is the best. Guaranteed to make me smile every time. I hope he makes you smile too...he's going to do a little yoga stretch here while I link below the flexibility video I try to do everyday. You should try it too. Steampunk Skunk will do it with you.

It's only 16 minutes, and it's really that good. So, so good. 

Let me know if you try the flexibility stuff and what you think. I'd love to know your thoughts about this, or yesterday's post about leaning into what makes us happy. Splashing in rain, a warm cup heating up cold fingers, the satisfaction of fixing something. What else?

Wrotes Quotes

All of these, m'kay? Because every once in awhile I need a kick in the arse that makes me go, "Oh, yeah! That's right...I didn't think about that." And then I dig in and write harder.

41 Eye Opening Quotes

link to original

Ask Polly

Hello to this, and thank you very much (click on exerpt to go to full badassery article):

We are old nobodies who love what we do. We would be old nobodies even if Oprah and the New York Times best-seller list consecrated us, because we don't want to create illusions around ourselves like so many others have done before. Instead, we make what we love and dress how we like and dance in our kitchens and breathe in the good moments because we know nothing lasts that long. We will never have everything we ever wanted. The world will not turn shiny and spotless and perfect one day. We aren't rushing to some imaginary finish line. We are inching along slowly, smelling the flowers, playing with our dogs and cats, giving generously to those who need our help when we can.

We wake up very early in the morning, before the sun comes up, and we say to the world: I AM OLD AND I AM A NOBODY AND I LOVE WHAT I DO. You will be just like me someday. If you're lucky.

Regency Mimsy

I'm thinking of writing some Regency stories. We shall see. Meanwhile, a lot of my research is coming up with links I can't pin on Pinterest because they're lacking in lovely pictures. So, I'm listing those links here so I have easy listy access.

original link

Extremely Detailed Map of London 1818: Map of London in 1818 Pre-John Snow

Primer on Peers: A Primer on Regency Peerage and Precedence

Fantastic Regency World Glossary: Candice Hern Regency Glossary

Regency Slang from the Pages of Georgette Heyer: Regency Cant and Expressions

Info on Gun Powder: Saltpeter Manufacturing and Marketing and It's Relation to the Gun Powder Industry...During the Nineteenth Century

Discourse on long distance travel: Passage East

Little bit of pre-regency research: Romanticism and Mary Tighe's "Psyche": Peering at the Hem of her Blue Stockings

Tighe's Psyche poem: Psyche; or, the Legend of Love

Details about daily routine: The London Season

This one is excellent: Pride and Prejudice--notes on education, marriage, status of women, etc

Essay on cultural debates about the Grand Tour: Unnationalized Englishmen in Mary Shelley's Fiction

Seven

So have you heard of the seven basic plots?

I’m trying to figure out if I buy into the notion.
 

See, there’s the thing with color and what we as humans can perceive in the visible spectrum. R-O-Y-G-B-I-V. Wavelengths vary greatly outside this range – from the size of the universe to somewhere in the vicinity of the Planck length (as far as we know, but really, what do we know?) – and yet we can only see these certain ones with the naked eye, right? 

original link

Is it the same with the human experience? While the possible hues of our histories, life events, and realities may seem limitless, are we so constricted by the confines of our language and perception that we can’t move away from:

• Overcoming the Monster

• Rags to Riches

• The Quest

• Voyage and Return

• Comedy

• Tragedy

• Rebirth 

I can't seem to get my head out of this thinking spot, lately.

Also, is it just complete coincidence that both the basic colors and basic plots come in seven?

What are your thoughts about all this?

Super Villains?

Only one question this week: In your opinion, what constitutes a villain?
 

Answer in the comments, link up a longer answer from your blogs, etc. I’m very much interested in your thoughts.

Bonus question: Who is the best villain you’ve read/watched/met, and why?

And here's something to get you started...

Follow the White Rabbit

Here are my top three pieces of advice this week, my friends (go read the links and I promise you won’t be disappointed):

1. Score Barton Moody as your tax guy. If you can, go in personally to see him because it’s such a treat, but if you don’t live anywhere near Salt Lake City he’ll do long-distance. So that means you.

link to original here

2. “Write with an imaginary machete strapped to your thigh. This is not wishy-washy, polite, drinking-tea-with-your-pinkie-sticking-out stuff. It’s who you want to be, your most powerful self.”

3. “Know your industry. But don’t get bogged by it. Your book can’t succeed if your book doesn’t exist in the first place. Concentrate all fire on that Star Destroyer, mmkay? You can’t control publishing. You can’t control the audience’s reaction to your book. Control what you can control, which means: write the best book that lives inside you.”

To all of the above I would add – writing is my gig but if something else is yours (art, music, design, dance, math, gaming, etc) these things apply to you as well. 

You may not be able to control other people’s reactions but you can control, to great extent, what you think and do. So create and experience life with that imaginary machete and be your most powerful you.

That, and talk to Moody.

  

And here's some magic from Daughter:

 

Author Interview: Marianne Walsh

I'm not generally a funny person. I try sometimes -- which in its own way is a little funny I suppose -- but I’m not naturally good at it. I am, however, pretty good at pegging humorous people when I find them. Hubs has been making me belly-laugh from the first night I met him. The women in my writing group are so witty and sarcastic I always come away feeling a tiny bit high. And then Marianne Walsh is…well. Well. She's answered a few of my questions about her writing process and if you’ve read her stuff you already know the glory of her humor, so any amount of my prefacing would simply fall flat. If you haven’t read her stuff? Your new life starts today – here’s where you get started:
 

Marianne Walsh is a columnist, wife, and mother from Chicago.  Her writing appears in the magazine Chicago Parent, in the new book, Epic Mom: Failing Every Day a Little Bit More Than You, and in her signature blog We Band of Mothers.  Marianne has also been featured in The Wall Street Journal, on WGN-Radio 720, and on BlogHer.  She was voted one of the Top 25 Funny Mom Blogs for 2012.  Marianne holds a BA and an MA in English, and currently spends most of her free time wiping pee off toilet seats. 

Have you always wanted to be a writer? 

I had originally planned on becoming a nurse.  Sadly, “The Great Dead Pig Debacle” of 1985 put an end to all that.  It was dissection week for the 7th grade biology class.  Yet the moment they plopped poor dead Wilbur on my lab table, it was lights out.  The school staff scraped me up off the floor and granted me “conscientious objector” status.  I knew I needed a Plan B as far as future studies and career choice.  I opted for English.  No blood.  No pigs.  No problem. 

What made you sit down that first day and begin to write your book?
My co-author, Julie Harrison, emailed me:  “Wanna write a book together?”  I’m sure Rodgers & Hammerstein started out pretty much the same way.  Except for the email part.

What challenges did you have in the beginning, and how did you push past them to continue?

Insecurity, a short attention span, and three young children were big obstacles to overcome.  I decided to sacrifice sleep for a few months, and it worked brilliantly.  My own fears were a little harder to shake off.  I finally decided that I didn’t want to be that eighty-year old woman on her deathbed lamenting how she never took a chance or a single gamble.     

How do you balance writing and being a very busy person?

3 cans of Red Bull a day.  And Cocoa Puffs.

 

When did you know your writing was good enough? 

I don’t believe any writer ever feels her stuff is “good enough.”  Writing requires a knowledge of language, emotional subtlety, and the human condition.  Most writers are extremely sensitive and tend to absorb criticism, or even perceived criticism.  One must develop thick skin in order to keep at the craft.  When that fails?  I recommend calling someone who thinks you’re fabulous.  Like your mom.   

In all honesty, I actually do read each one of my planned columns to my mom over the phone before I turn them over to my editor at Chicago Parent.  If I can get her to laugh, I know it’s a good one.  If I hear her say more than once, “I don’t get it,” I know I need to start over.  Moms are the best.     

What gave you the courage to make your writing public?

Bailey’s Irish Cream.

Who do you write for primarily; yourself or your readers, and are there some pieces you work on that are for your eyes only?

My style of writing is definitely reflective of my readership.  I do not weigh down my essays with anything terribly controversial, deeply personal, or potentially divisive.  I feel my “job” as a humorist is to provide some fun, laughter, and commonality to the human experience.  Bob Newhart once pointed out that it would be ridiculous to create a rift in an audience for the sake of a single joke.  I am honored that my readership is so wonderfully diverse.  As a humorist, I am let off the hook for taking sides on serious matters.  While I certainly have opinions on such subjects, you will rarely see them in my writing.  Funny trumps all.  The other, more serious stuff gets hand-written into my journals.  Good luck trying to decipher those!  I’ve got the handwriting of a 1^st grader.    

What would the top three pieces of advice be for those who are working towards getting published?

First, writers need to write.  A lot.  They don’t need to share every last word, but the only way to improve one’s work is to practice.  There are also many phenomenal writers out there (far superior to me) who hold desperately to the notion that the universe will somehow discover their enormous talent.  It is the biggest mistake a writer can make.  Submitting articles and manuscripts to agents and publications is just as important as the actual writing.  It only takes one “yes,” but one needs to plan for a thousand “no’s.”  Lastly, I cannot stress enough the value of networking.  Meeting people in the industry, listening to the needs of editors, and developing relationships with other writers provide a wealth of information and direction for pursuing publication.  And the bonus?  The people you meet along the way are usually pretty neat. 

Huge thanks to Marianne for sharing these thoughts and laughs. Definitely check out her book. Here are a couple of reviews that make it an obvious must-read.

"I loved this book so much that I bought one for all the moms I know! It is laugh out loud funny. It highlights the day-to-day humor in parenting and never loses sight of how tough a job it is. Since this is a review, I though I'd be fair and highlight the negatives. I'm disappointed that the book didn't go on forever; I didn't want it to end!" -- Brett S. Boyer

"As a mom of two young boys, I barely have time to bathe or do laundry, much less read (and Goodnight Moon doesn't count). But, I laughed out loud reading Epic Mom. Julie and Marianne's everyday motherhood stories are witty, self depricating and sweet. Reading the book is like hanging out with a close friend, hearing about her latest adventure in motherhood. If you liked Tina Fey's or Mindy Kaling's humorous essays, you will love Epic Mom. These gals should have their own sitcom! It is better than a glass (or two) of wine and a great holiday gift for any mom." -- Rada Dorman

Author Interview: Iris Blobel

I'm so excited to have another author willing to sit down and answer some questions. Iris Blobel already has two published books, but her third was recently released in September of this year. She's blog-hopping and was gracious enough to stop in to discuss her new book, her writing process, and give away two free (PDF) copies of Innocent Tears. So if you're interested in one of those, let me know in the comments. Meanwhile: 

Iris Blobel was born and raised in Germany and only immigrated to Australia in the late 1990's. Having had the travel bug most of her life, Iris spent quite some time living in Scotland, London, as well as Canada, where she actually met her future husband. Her love for putting her stories onto paper has only recently emerged, but now her laptop is a constant companion. Iris resides west of Melbourne with her husband and her beautiful two daughters as well as her dog. Next to her job at a private school she also presents a German Program at the local Community Radio.

1. Have you always wanted to be a writer? 

Funny enough, I have to admit not really. In fact until only recently I never even thought about writing til one night, bored and not tired, I started to jot down a couple of paragraphs I had in my head. It kind of snowballed from then on. A friend of mine helped me with a couple of hints how and what to write, and another friend liked what she read – the rest is history so they say. With English being my second language I would have never thought to be writing stories – but now I love it!

2. What made you sit down that first day and begin to write your book?
I dream vividly and I’m also a believer in dreams. So when I looked through the notes I had made about my dreams, I came up with my first story. Since then, I write down ideas wherever I am – with my desk sometimes covered with “Post-it” notes. It’s quite a sight.

3. What challenges did you have in the beginning, and how did you push past them to continue? 

Time. Definitely time. Then as well as now. But I think I’ve found a healthy balance. I was like “on a roll” after my first book was published and my family was somewhat neglected. Nowadays family comes first no matter what – second the pile of little notes on my desk ;-) 

4. How do you balance writing and being a very busy person? 

Tricky question! I think after the initial humble success of my first book I wanted to write like all the time. Nowadays I feel more content with what I have achieved and I know if I don’t write today, there’ll still be a tomorrow. Family comes first and should I have some spare time at the end of the day and I feel like writing, then so be it. It’s the old saying, it’s not about quantity but quality. Yet, having said that, as already mentioned above, I have lots of little post-it stickers all over my desk with ideas and small paragraphs for one of the WIP's. 

5. When did you know your writing was good enough? 

I still have doubts. But it’s wonderful when readers tell me how much they have enjoyed reading the story. It’s worth more than any money in the world! I once wrote a blog post about the difference between a storyteller and a writer. I’d consider myself as a storyteller, needing lots of help from an editor to polish my book. 

6. What gave you the courage to make your writing public? 

My husband! He’s been supportive from the very first moment suggesting the idea of having my first story professionally critiqued. And I’ve been very lucky that my readers have been very kind and encouraging as well. It’s always a big step for me to submit a story to a publisher (which sounds exaggerated since I’ve ‘only’ published three books – LOL), and for others to judge “my” words, but I’ve learned to accept that everyone has different tastes. It helps! 

7. How did you manage rejection? 

I’ve been extremely lucky to not have had many. Can I say I receive them, read them and move on. If they include advice, I try to take them to heart. 

8. Who do you write for primarily; yourself or your readers, and are there some pieces you work on that are for your eyes only? 

I mainly write for myself. It’s like a TV set up in my head and since it was turned on a few years back it just won’t stop.

9. What would the top three pieces of advice be for those who are working towards getting published? 

A – DO NOT GIVE UP!

B – Enjoy the ride, don’t ever let it turn into stress.

C – Stay true to your voice – but take on valid advice or critique.

Many thanks to Iris Blobel for her great insights as well as her time in answering some of our questions. Don't forget to let me know if you're interested in winning one of the copies of her new book. If you'd like to contact Blobel, here are her links:

FB: www.facebook.com/irisblobel

TWITTER: www.twitter.com/_iris_b

BLOG: www.iris-b.blogspot.com