The other night, after having a conversation with an old friend, I pulled out a big black binder filled with pieces I had written.
I spent more than a few minutes walking down memory lane that night, reading and rereading, reminiscing about what spurred on a poem, or how I actually used to be able to write an entire upper level college essay in French. I laughed at a few pieces, swooned at a few more, and at one point, I even shed a couple of tears.
Those pieces tell their own individual stories, of course, but put together they also tell a collective story: the tale of my writing journey that, apparently, started long before I ever thought it did.
For you see, I've been writing since I was a kid. Really. I found half-formed poems, letters, quotes,
and the beginning of what I think might be an epic love story. With each piece, I noticed an improvement in writing craft and style. I noted that I moved from simple letters and words to more sophisticated fragments and phrases.
And the lesson I learned? That with each new piece, my writing improves. That's right: every single time I sit down to write and revise a piece, I'm moving forward and making progress on a dream. I might have to take one million baby steps to get there, but someday, I will.
Start working on your dream, whatever that may be. And as always, Happy Writing!
On Saturday, despite the blanket of snow that covered the ground in
Yellow Springs, Ohio, I attended the spring (ha!) seminar from Antioch Writers' Workshop. The topic of the seminar was "The Writing Life," and Margaret Wrinkle led the pack as the featured speaker.
I hadn't heard of Margaret Wrinkle before registering
for the seminar, but I took a peek at her bio, which intrigued me
(excerpted from her website):
Born and raised in Birmingham Alabama, Margaret Wrinkle is a writer, filmmaker, educator and visual artist. Her debut novel, Wash, published
by Grove Atlantic, reexamines American slavery in ways that challenge
contemporary assumptions about race, power, history and healing. It
has won the Center for Fiction’s Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize and
an American Book Award from the Before Columbus Foundation. Wash has also been named the Fiction Runner Up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, a finalist for the 2014 Chautauqua Prize, a Wall Street Journal top ten novel of the year, a New York Times Editors’ Choice, an O Magazine top ten selection and a People magazine 4-star pick.
Not intimidating at all, is she?
Much
to my utter delight, Margaret Wrinkle walked into the auditorium
dressed in casual clothes and spoke to us like she'd known us for years.
And after listening to her speak about her writing life, her bookis now on the top of my to-read list.
But
what did she say that other people have not? I mean, I've been to
several writing conferences, I personally know authors, and have read
extensively on "the writing life." In fact, I have my own writing life,
right? A couple of sentences stuck out amongst the others in her
presentation, as they struck me as something I hadn't really thought
about before. They included:
Images help you stay present to the heart of the story.
Your mind is a small boat on the ocean of your subconscious.
Live a boring life; save the drama for the work.
I plan on referring to those thoughts wherever and whenever I can.
~
I also had the pleasure of hearing three energetic and passionate
speakers talk about querying, editing your manuscript, and
self-marketing.
First up, Sharon Short.
I know Sharon on a first-name basis, and attended the query session
because I was interested in what she had to say. (I'm in the process of
querying right now and have an agent looking at my book. I hoped that
I'd done everything right.) Sharon's genuine enthusiasm made for a great
session. She shared her experiences with querying, gave us some
information about agents--those to look for and those to avoid--and
helped us understand the importance of researching which agent you
actually query.
Kate Geiselman
then took me through the art of editing and formatting a manuscript.
Again, I'm past this stage but I felt like I wanted a refresher course.
Kate provided that and more. She began the session with a lovely video
by Stephen Fry (If you haven't seen this yet, you should):
And
from there, she reminded us of grammar rules and formatting tips that
any writer could use. The best advice she gave, though, is to pay attention to submission guidelines, as they can vary widely. Like the true teacher she is, Kate repeated that phrase often.
I'd seen Kate before at a Sinclair Community College
writing workshop, but I've never had the privilege of attending one of
her sessions. She's a vibrant teacher and someone from whom we can all
learn.
Last but not least came the session with Greene County Public Library publicist Ryan Ireland.
He'd created a presentation worthy of any publicist, and disseminated a
wealth of information on how to self-market. (He spoke about figuring
out your readership, what to include on a website, and how to use social
media most efficiently, among other topics.) I'd chosen this session
because I find it really easy to help promote someone else, but I had,
until yesterday, no idea how to self-market myself. Based on what Ryan
said, I think I have a lot of work cut out for me, but I knew that when I
got into this mess of a writing life.
~
This
spring seminar is a one-day type that happens every year. I'd suggest
trying to get there next year, if you're local. But if you're looking
for something even more extensive, consider the Antioch Writers' Workshop Annual Summer Workshop.
It's a week-long event that is chock full of information and experience
that any creative writer would be fortunate to add to his or her
writer's toolbox.
Happy Writing!
~Christina
(Blog post originally published at http://17gon.blogspot.com/ and used with permission here.)
