sabbatical

Putting this blog on hold. Moved over to Wordpress for a blog that is not confined to GC.

perspective

"140 characters is a novel when you're being shot at."

-- tweeted from Iran

MFA

the debate goes on, sorta... http://www.flatmancrooked.com/archives/3238

I'm about to get my MFA from a low residency program. There are disciplines that are well-suited to the online format and writing is one of them. It's been a great experience to have a community that loves books as much as I do. We debate, share, offer moral support, and compare notes (time for a shameless plug for ANNOTATION NATION!)

I'm about to head into my last residency and will let you know how it goes. Keep writing.

Green

Green for the Iranian protesters. Not quite the shade, but as close as Blogger gets...

Link to Persian novels http://www.mage.com/fictionbooks.html

Also at Amazon

for you poets

Please check out Richard Garcia's online classes if you are serious about your poetry. 

He also offers manuscript and chapbook consultation.  Payment on an hourly basis.

you can contact him through his website for more information.

http://www.richardgarcia.info/

(hint, click on the opening in the bamboo forest to enter site... the dark part, yep, you got it)

overcast

Too many gray days here - I need sun. Not much to say, so will give you some links

Have fun in France here

and a small rant on Kanye West

Beverly Hills Art Show

If you're in Los Angeles this weekend, please stop by the Beverly Hills Art Show Saturday or Sunday 10- 6 and buy something from my friend, sculptor Vicki Banks.

Light posting as I finish my MFA.

Thursday already?

After 10 hours of sleep, I feel much better and ready to write. Doris Lessing maintains that there are no laws for the novel. Still pondering that one. 

In the meantime... a book of photos that change in the sun.

Time to write....

A day of Edgars

I'm not much for mysteries, but this post title made me laugh: The Edgar Winner Group: 2009 Edgar Awards

Decided the best thing to do for creativity today is to take the day off. I am irritated because I thought I had the full text of Edgar Sawtelle on my Kindle and it was only a sample. Unnoticed until they asked me if I want to buy the whole thing. No, Amazon, I'm feeling cranky and am switching to the The Time Traveler's Wife. In paperback. Even your fancy whispernet will not lure me.

I may start a new blog about writing the current novel, which has a character named Edgar.

research

One of the things that bothers me in fiction is sloppy or non-existent research. The internet has made research easier, but you have to check sources carefully. We're human and we're going to make mistakes, but my advice is to learn to research in a library the old-fashioned way first so you at least have some idea of what you're looking at online. Example: Toni Morrison's been taken to task for including starlings in A Mercy. Is the occasional anachronism or inaccuracy a problem? Depends on whether it takes the reader out of the narrative. Practice good research and it will lessen the odds that your reader will say, 'wait a minute...'

Sometimes my research branches off into something that isn't pertinent, but oddly timely. Turns out that today, Hilary Clinton is scheduled to preside over a ceremony honoring those in our foreign service who've died on duty. I was looking for pictures of eyes of Somalis and Ethiopians in order to describe a character and found the very sad story of Brian Adkins who was murdered in Ethiopia. I initially found an article that he was found dead, then looked further to find out what had happened. May he rest in peace.

Map your sin

What? You thought I was kidding? Would be kind of interesting to use that map in a book - 7 characters in the 7 main areas around the country or something like that. 

Looked at the calendar and freaked out - everything for school is due in a few weeks. I have to get busy.

up and running!

No, not me. Though I did go for a 4 mile hike first thing this morning. In another piece of synchronicity, I found this piece on close reading. Nice segue to:

It's the launch of Annotation Nation! (cue applause) Kate Maruyama and I are beginning to post annotations and will soon expand. We found annotating books, mostly novels, helpful for our writing. This is not close reading for literary criticism, but as a tool for writing. Hope you enjoy.

Want to feel better? First, turn off the news, then go here.

I took yesterday to go to a taping, then out to dinner with friends.  Back to work.

L.A. Festival of Books

I vote for football. I concede it was perfect weather for the Festival of Books. Not hot, nice breeze, a little on the cool side. But I hate crowds and it was crowded. The first panel was fine, mostly thanks to David Wroblewski. They each read for a couple of minutes from their books - he also read the best, but I imagine he's also had the most practice. Here are a few of his nuggets: without an element of artifice, fiction doesn't feel real; he likes the narrative tool of a good observer; the elementary structure of the novel is a braid. Plot is a tool for taking stories apart, not creating them - if you use it to create it's like knitting with chainsaws (nice image). A novel = unnaturally long story. And from Joan Silber: plot is about how the writer thinks the world works. Bear in mind, this is a general public event, not one directed at writers.  

Wroblewski recommended So Long See you Tomorrow by William Maxwell. Joan Silber recommended Remembering Babylon by David Malouf.

The second panel was an interview and it was pretty dull. I won't name names. I sat there wondering why I was there listening to some mediocre questions on writing instead of going home to work on the novel. So I'm home now after getting jostled by crowds, eating a mediocre $7 cheeseburger and paying $3.75 for a bottle of water because I forgot mine at home.  I couldn't face two more panels, even if they were spectacular.

I guess it boils down to the fact that I get enough of writers talking about writing in grad school. Time to write.

 

p.s. The San Diego Chargers picked Larry English. Maybe this will finally be the year.

choices

I seem to recall that this happens regularly: the NFL Draft and the L.A. Festival of Books are on the same weekend. This is a problem for me because I love both books and football. Yes, it's possible. Anyway, I'm going to the book fest. I have tickets for 4 of the panels. And I'll settle for the highlights on the NFL network. 

Lot of trouble with my right shoulder - a problem for a right-handed writer. Maybe it's dehydration. I had a quart last night and a couple of glasses of water this morning and it's easing up. That's when you just feel foolish. Oh, water. Okay.

win win

Just got my free cone from Ben & Jerry's in Burbank - barely a line, chocolate fudge brownie ice cream and they were collecting for a charity. How outstanding is that? It gets better.... Have to admit I can't remember what I donated to (muscular dystrophy?) because the fireman who served my cone was HOT!  ;-)

Then I came home and finished my novel. 

Okay, kidding about the last bit, but the rest is all true. And I am writing... back to it.

And now for something completely different:

This is cool.

more books

Last Saturday, I went to a wonderful bbq with about a dozen writers and talk turned to books (I know, real shocker). Our post-grad "to read" pile is growing. Now I have even more to add. The Pulitzers were announced yesterday. Here's the list and the winner for fiction is Olive Kittridge, a collection of short stories. Plague of Doves was the runner-up. 

Shoot, I just got around to last year's winner! 

Have to admit, I've not been a big fan of short stories, but that is slowly changing. I still prefer the experience of getting lost in a novel.  As I wrote in a recent annotation on Johnston's Corpus Christi, I find short stories demanding, requiring concentration. They are not a relaxing art form. I have found that once I started reading books to see what authors were doing, the process moved - logically - from unconscious influence to purposeful learning. I no longer had to worry about my writing sounding like someone else's because I could look at the nuts and bolts of what they were up to and choose to use elements or not.

By the way, I want to start getting a commission on Kindle sales - just showed it off to the doctor who injected my sore shoulder (blessed relief) and he's getting one for his wife. This is probably the sixth one I've sold in the last 10 days. Pony up, Amazon.

Better days

Received the nicest note this morning from my mentor, Gayle Brandeis. She was full of encouragement, something Dorothy Allison spoke about when she came to Antioch last winter. We writers, all artists, have to keep encouraging each other. It's daunting to keep creating when things take a dip as they inevitably do.

Just discovered Martin Levin's blog.  I had the pleasure of meeting him at Book Expo in DC a few years ago. He's a wonderful and kind man and knows more about the publishing business than just about anyone.

Okay, it's a very busy day, already finished two paragraphs and the outline of a scene by 8 am: I need to write something early on so that if I don't get back to it, I won't feel like the day has been a waste in terms of writing. Kind of like exercise - get it done early so excuses don't pile up. Speaking of which, I'm going for a walk in the hills.

whoa

Had a massage this afternoon and it was like receiving a new body. Felt a little weird walking around, as in 'welcome to planet Earth' weird. Before that, however, I worked on the new novel and had coffee with an artist.  Also working on a new project with another writer and when we're up and running, I'll give the details and link, so stay tuned. These are the things that help me after a disappointment. 

disappointment

This is a hard post to write. I did not make the semifinals of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Awards with GROWING CHOCOLATE. I thought I had a solid shot, but either the piece is not strong enough or it's not the right venue.

I just returned from a much needed break (little did I know how much I'd need it!). Onward and upward. I do have an idea for a scene in the book I'm working on now, so that's where my focus must stay.

But oh it does sting.