Here's the new book trailer for Ellen Potter's The Humming Room. It's as gorgeous and haunting as the book. Two words: READ IT!! And watch the trailer, too. You won't be sorry.
The Humming Room by Ellen Potter (book trailer) from Ellen Potter on Vimeo.
Add a Comment
If you've ever been curious about what a writer's notebook REALLY looks like (or at least mine), check out my guest blog post at Sharing Our Notebooks this week. This is a fun new blog posted by Amy Ludwig Vanderwater that peeks into people's notebooks. Oooh... can't wait!! I'm going to be checking it out regularly. Are other writers as messy as I am? Do they make ever stranger notes than I do?
P.S. Yes, this is a bank deposit slip. I write on the front of them, too, sometimes!
Add a Comment
What do I like to do in my spare time, when I'm not writing? Read, of course. Here is a review of a book that I loved and that I think will be of interest to many writers. There are, of course, many more books that I've read and loved this summer, but I'll save them for another blog post. This book is for grown-ups, while many of the other books that I read were YA or MG.
And I need to add my usual abject apologies for being such an infrequent blogger here... I'm spending a lot of time over at the Spilling Ink blog with my writing buddy and dear pal Ellen Potter, if you want to see more of what I'm doing online these days.
I took Writing Yoga by Bruce Black on a road trip to my stepson's college graduation halfway across the country a few months ago, and read a little of it every night in various hotel rooms. While reading it, the highway and chain motels vanished, and I felt like I was on a retreat, in silence and quiet, exploring my internal world. There were brilliant parts about starting a practice journal, moving past fear, and listening to inner voices that particularly resonated with me. I've never really wanted to write a journal, but after reading Writing Yoga, I wanted to start. This is a gentle, thoughtful guide to exploring your internal world through writing and yoga postures. If you are a writer and/or yoga student, this is a must read. It's also a beautifully written account of Bruce's own writing/yoga/personal journey. There are treasures here for anyone who opens this book. As Bruce says, "You never know where life will lead you or who you'll find to help you on your way." I consider Writing Yoga as one of those teachers.
To find out more about Bruce, check out his two wonderful blogs: Wordswimmer "Come dive into a sea of words and swim toward a new understanding of the writing process," and Writing Yoga, which is a companion blog to the book.
Add a Comment
The Magic of Lanterns at the Montreal Botanical Garden
My husband and I just returned from a trip to Montreal, Quebec, where we had the good fortune to visit the Botanical Gardens during the month long Magic of Lanterns exhibition in the Chinese gardens.
The lantern boat is floating on the water; behind it, outlined in lights, is the Friendship Hall.
One of the evening's participants strolls through the garden under her parasol.
The night's festivities!
Lanterns hanging from The Tower of Condensing Clouds.
Add a Comment
In honor of Random Acts of Publicity this week (which I missed due to a very bad mood), I’m doing Random Acts of Book Adoration here on my blog today. I’m going to feature a few books that I love. Some are new books; some are old. These aren’t reviews; they’re just opinions.
First, The Kneebone Boy by Ellen Potter. Okay, anyone who knows me for longer than thirty seconds knows that Ellen is one of my all-time favorite people/writers/writing partners. But does that mean I have to automatically love everything she writes? I might have read The Kneebone Boy with a gnawing feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach, nervously worrying about how to break the bad news to Ellen that I didn’t, in fact, like her book. But happily it wasn’t like that… The pit of my stomach didn’t feel very pit-like when I was reading The Kneebone Boy. No, there was a party in full swing, with whooping and cheering, fizzy pink drinks with cherries on top, and spontaneous whirls of delight. The book was dark, mysterious, dramatic, funny, warm, and delightful. Okay, I LOVED it. Way to go, Ellen! And the cover totally rocks. (Even though I never say things like “the cover totally rocks.”) It just does. So read it! The release date is next Tuesday, September 14th. You won’t be sorry.
Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin. I wasn’t expecting anything in particular when I read this book. It had great reviews, which were promising, although not a guarantee that I’d even like it. If anything, I was hoping not to hurl this book across the room in disgust, or to return it to the library before I got to page twenty-five. (It happens.) Or to make my neighbors cover their ears when I started to shriek in anger at the bad writing. (Okay, this has never happened, but maybe someday?) Let me say that I was very pleasantly surprised by Elsewhere. I loved it. Maybe even adored it. It’s a brilliant book, brilliantly done. It makes you think, but yet is deeply comforting. It might even be close to a perfect book. (If it is, it’s a fluke of nature. But a really amazing one.)
I resisted reading The Book Thief for a very long time. A story narrated by Death set in World War II? Sounded like too much for me. I didn't care that a million people had read it or that it had won dozens of awards. The first page turned me off and that was that. Okay, it really wasn't fair to give up after only a page. But that's what I do sometimes. The next time I picked it up, I forced myself to read further into the book, where i was richly rewarded for my persistence. I totally fell in love with this one. Amazing
Add a Comment
Denver Botanic Gardens (picture by Anne Mazer)
We’ve been doing a lot of writing workshops for kids this summer. When we give a writing exercise – an “I Dare You”- we try to make it as much fun as possible. Here’s one that we often use (with variations), which Ellen Potter created for our Spilling Ink website: “Write a scene in which your character opens a forbidden closet door.”
Every time I hear this, my fingers start to quiver, and my eyes dart around in search of the nearest pen and paper or computer keyboard. It’s instructive to watch the kids’ responses. Some of them have a similar reaction to mine. Their eyes light up, and they lean over their notebooks, writing as if someone is chasing their pen across the paper. Others think for a while before writing; still others consult with their friends. And some raise their hands with questions about the assignment:
“Can it be a bedroom door?”
“Yes.”
“Can it be a front door?”
“Yes.”
“Can I put a ghost in it?”
“Yes.”
“Can it be set in another universe?”
“Yes.”
“Is it okay if I don’t name my characters?”
“Yes.”
“My ideas are all messed up in my head. Can I write them that way?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t have any ideas about closet doors. Can I work on my own story instead?”
“Yes.”
After giving several workshops in a row, I realized that every single question they asked us was actually the same one: “Is it okay to write the story my way?” They were looking to Ellen and me, as the story authorities (so to speak), to give them permission to follow their instincts. Since the purpose of our writing workshops is to, well, um… write, we wanted to encourage anything that would help them dive deeper into their stories. And dive they did. Kids are natural storytellers. Ellen and I were astonished at the pieces they read, which were alive with humor, suspense, snappy dialogue and vivid characters.
Writing teachers often talk about “getting out of your own way.” I’ve never quite understood this concept: does it mean that YOU are the problem? But learning to write is all about finding out who you are. How can you do that if you’re always getting out of the way? (Yes, that’s a future blog post rant.) On the other hand, getting out of the way of young writers makes perfect sense to me. As their workshop leader or writing teacher, I want to clear all the obstacles, false ideas, worries, fears, and misconceptions about writing from their heads, so they can feel free to explore, wander, experiment, and discover. Who cares if they alter our writing prompts beyond recognition or ignore them altogether? The point is to write, not to write it our way. So we tell them not to worry. They can narrate the story any way they want. “Just write,” we tell them over and over.
Add a Comment
Beara Peninsula, IrelandRecently, I've been thinking about a classic bit of writing advice: "Show, Don't Tell." It's one of those nuggets of writing wisdom that’s always offered up to beginning writers. There are lots of good things to say about showing. It brings you into the heart of a story, and allows you to experience it as if it were real. But is it really the gold standard of writing? Is writing ALL about showing? Why do so many writers and writing teachers say, “Don’t tell?” Why not? What’s so bad about telling?
Telling: He was scared to start school.
Showing: His face was hot and perspiring; he kept wiping his upper lip with the back of his hand. He crossed his legs and then uncrossed them. His shirt was already soaked and it wasn’t even 8:00 o’clock yet. He wondered if the stories about what happened to first year students were true.
Okay, the “showing” example above is definitely a lot more exciting and visceral and real. But if you show every little detail of your story and feel that you “must” make your reader experience it all, it could be like having a pile of smelly, weird, mashed-up garbage dumped over your head, or being locked in a room with someone who doesn’t stop talking about every – single – stupid – thing – that – ever – happened – to – them – in – their – entire – cruddy - life. AAAAAGH!
Here’s where the poor reader wants a spot of telling. Catch us up on the exciting, essential bits of the story, but spare us the tedious or too painful details. A writer has to be selective in choosing which scenes to highlight. Telling allows you to zoom in and out of the story. Imagine that you have a movie camera to focus in on the fascinating close-ups, and then an unseen narrator does a voice-over to catch up on what’s happening behind the scenes. Sometimes you want to soar over your story and see it from a distance. Telling allows you to do that. Sometimes you want to give information in a dry and matter-of-fact way. Restraint at the right moment is a powerful storytelling tool. That’s telling, too. The "telling" example above - "He was scared to start school" - which seems so boring at first glance, could be a very effective opening or ending to a story, for example. It's all in how you use it. That's the art of writing.
Let's change that writing mantra, "Show, Don't Tell." Your kindergarten teacher had it right. It’s “showing and telling.” You need them both for good storytelling.
I realize I have been very remiss about posting to my blog lately. My son scolded me last week and said I was going to lose all my readers.. I do hope that's not the case and that you'll all forgive me for my long absence. Here's what I've been doing INSTEAD of posting to my blog:
1. Doing appearances with my friend and co-author, Ellen Potter. (She's on the left; I'm on the right.) And did a couple by myself, too!
2. Writing for other people's blogs:
Ellen and I did an interview about reading and writing on Cynsations (click on link to read interview)
We shed some light on Spilling Ink on the Hipwritermama blog
And there's more to come on Imagination Soup and Seven Impossible Things before Breakfast (Links below in the update!)
3. Helping to cut my daughter's hair (that blur of blue in the background is her boyfriend, who did most of the cutting)
4. Working on my novel - yes, this is what it's been like, folks. Rip, rip, rip. (Metaphorical rips, of course, since I'm writing on a computer.) Or should I say, delete, delete, delete? If I had a picture of me pulling out my hair, I'd post it, too.
5. Squirrel portraiture: Isn't this a handsome one?
I'll try to post more regularly from now on, my friends... Promise!!
Love to all, Anne
Add a Comment
See commandment #8!
1. Thou shall read a lot.
2. Thou shall write regularly and work steadily at thy craft.
3. Thou shall not worry. Thou canst always correct mistakes later.
4. Honor they inner vision.
5. Thou shall not steal other writers' work.
6. Thou shall not murder thy readers with boredom.
7. Thou shall not be intimidated by writer's block. Thou shall remember it happens to almost all writers.
8. Thou shall have fun.
9. Remember thou art writing to communicate.
10. Thou shall celebrate thy successes and make a joyful noise unto thy friends when thou art pleased with thy work.
Note from Anne: Commandments are intimidating, so please think of these as Ten Suggestions for Young Writers. I left them as Commandments only because I was having too much fun with the "Thou shalls" and "Thou arts." (Obeying Commandment, er, Suggestion, number 8, of course!)
Add a Comment
"Recent research suggests that highly sensitive, arty-type humans have a lot in common with squealing pigs and twitchy mice." - Even Among Animals: Leaders, Followers and Schmoozers by Natalie Angier.
According to this very intriguing article published in the New York Times today, it turns out that animals have distinct personalities just like people. There are bold, fearless leaders among geese, for example, who are quick to explore new territory. There are predatory female spiders who eat their mates. And there are other animals who are very sensitive to their environment, take in a lot of information, and become easily overwhelmed. The squealing pigs and twitchy mice, that is.
When I was a kid, my mother used to call me "The Princess and the Pea," in honor of the princess who could feel a single tiny pea under a hundred mattresses, but if she had read the NYT article, she might have called me a squealing pig or a twitchy mouse instead. Honestly, I think I'd rather be a princess, even an oversensitive and finicky one. It just has a little more glamour to it. But I'm glad that I have soul-mates in the animal world, and I don't think I'll ever look at pigs or mice the same way again. (Is this why they are such popular characters in children's books?)
As a kid, I never knew quite what to make of my "squealing pig, twitchy mouse" nature. Other people sometimes seemed uncomfortable with my perceptions and feelings. They were probably bold geese or predatory spider types. (Wish I had known that when I was a kid!) But when I grew up, something wonderful happened. I put all those "squealing pig, twitchy mouse" observations, thoughts, and feelings into stories - and finally people could hear and accept them. Like many other artist-types before me, I had found my place in the animal, um... human kingdom.
So, I'm left with one big question: If pigs, mice, geese, spiders, birds, and other animals are so much like us, are there artists in the animal world? If there are, what do they create?
Add a Comment
Anne and Spilling Ink
Happy Birthday, SPILLING INK! You're finally out in bookstores... And check out the new website for the book that Ellen Potter and I have launched. There's a fabulous blog post by Matt Phelan on "Back to the Drawing Board," lots of free stuff, and best yet, a chance to win a free signed copy of SPILLING INK! See you there!
Add a Comment
Two great writing contests for young writers: Clara Gillow Clark is holding a writing contest on her blog to win a gift certificate to your favorite bookstore.
Bonus: If you sign her blog, you can also win a signed copy of Spilling Ink or Slob. Scroll to the bottom of the page for details! Deadline: April 9th, 2010
Ellen Potter is also holding her annual contest for young writers. Win $100, $50 or $25 gift certificates. Deadline June 15, 2010.
Check them out!
Most people don't equate creative writing with thinking. In many minds - or at least this is the way it seems to me - people think of creativity as happening in a flash of light, or as a flow of brilliance. Yes, there are flashes of light and moments of brilliant flow, but creative writing is actually hard thinking. I believe that good thinking equals good writing. Whenever I get frustrated with a writer, inevitably I can trace it back to faulty thinking.
No matter what kind of a writer you are, your story must be internally consistent for the reader to believe in it. You can't create zombies with sensitive stomachs on one page and then have them chowing down on Big Macs and french fries on another. Or, if you're a more realistic writer, your bullies can't suddenly become kind and thoughtful. Would your main character really dance on his best friend's grave? Maybe, but you have to think of reasons why. Think about your setting: a landscape of snow, ice, and frightening predators will create different dilemmas for your characters than a sunny beach-side village. Or your dialogue: a wealthy shoemaker from the middle ages will speak differently than a rich venture capitalist from the twentieth century. They might both have wives who run away, but their responses will be very different. You won't describe them with the same words, either...
There are millions of invisible choices that every writer continually makes as he or she is writing. It's as if we're holding our imaginary worlds up to the light, examining them from every possible angle, thinking out the consequences of each choice, trying to see our creation in as many different ways as possible, so that we can make it as real and believable as we can. Thinking isn't the opposite of creativity - it's essential to it. Once you start thinking deeply, your focus becomes more powerful. That's when moments of flow and flashes of brilliance happen.
Add a Comment
Last week I came across an intriguing piece of advice for writers: "Never throw anything out." "Uh oh," I thought, "I'm in trouble." I've been ripping, tearing, shredding, burning, crossing out, and tossing things in the trash for as long as I can remember. My first memory of getting rid of writing comes at age seventeen. I had just broken up with my boyfriend. With a hurt look on his face, he handed me back a packet of letters I had written him. I didn't bother to read them over, but headed straight out to the burning barrel in our backyard.
Later in life, I was to toss not only love letters from unhappy relationships, but also ordinary letters, diaries, journals, first drafts of stories, second drafts, third drafts (you get the idea), etc. etc. I began to joke about "that giant wastebasket in the sky" which contained all the material I had thrown out in my life. I never saw the point of saving multiple drafts of any book. Once the final book was published, I destroyed all the earlier versions. Of course, there were things I saved, as well. I still have a few of my earliest writings, such as "The Cowboy Coloring Book" that I wrote and illustrated at age 6 for my brother. I have dream diaries, a few travel journals, my son and daughter's stories, and every single letter that kids have written me about my books. I've never thrown out any poem I've written, either.
Have I ever regretted anything I destroyed? Of course, I have. Now I wish I had those letters written by my seventeen year old self. I wish I had my early journals. It never occurred to me as I was burning, tearing, or shredding, that someday I might be curious about my younger self. However, I've never regretted getting rid of manuscript drafts or unsuccessful stories. Getting rid of old things often frees me up for what's ahead. I don't want to hang onto every little scrap of writing as if it's my most precious treasure. Even if I lose a few good ideas along the way, it's okay. What's on paper is finite, but what's inside the brain is infinite...
