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 I really liked what Emma Watson had to say about the appeal of Harry Potter. Food for thought when I finally approaching writing my own stories...

"It's just the most complete escapism. Which is what great stories are -- that you just can completely lose yourself in another world. And what I really love and what I think that people really love and why the stories are so enduring and why they touch so many people is because the characters are so, so real and flawed, and inspiring, and lovable -- completely lovable." -Emma Watson

Taken from my sketchbook, a thought to remind myself that the only true way I'll fail as an artist is when I neglect the reasons why I became one in the first place.  I often get hung up on not being good enough or not being smart enough. But there are infinite roads to success. At the end of the day, the only way I'll get there is if I remove myself entirely from the equation. Being an illustrator is not about ME. It's about telling a story. Serving whatever project in the ways best suited to it. It's about creating something beyond myself. I can't guarantee anyone will like my work. But I believe that if I make art with love and enthusiasm and dedication, it will show through and reach an audience (no matter how small).

If I concentrate on doing things for worthy reasons, I remember that it's not about me at all. And that takes the pressure off just enough to get going. 

The stories were a hybrid. A lot of them were based on traditional tales that I tweaked here and there, embellishing myths that were little more than a line. For example, at Chinese New Year, it is common to find pictures of two plump children dressed in red decorating doorways. These children are called Da-A-Fu. Why? I researched and only found a very short summary of them: they were two spirits transformed as children sent to destroy a green monster that was terrorizing a village. There were no details of how or why or what village, but it was enough to spark my imagination. So with that, I created the twin characters of A-Fu and Da-Fu in Where the Mountain Meets the Moon who destroy the Green Tiger.

Not a very organized one! Every time I wrote a story I would think, does this have a purpose with the rest of the plot? If there were at least 2 threads that could tie it to the larger story then I kept it. If there weren’t, I cut it. It was really just a lot of obsessive thinking.

I knew the ending about the questions before I wrote the book. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is very loosely based on a folktale called "Olive Lake," though I changed it quite a bit. In the folktale, the main character is only allowed to ask the God of the West a limited amount of questions, so the structure was already there! All the additional ending elements--Fruitless Mountain turning fruitful, etc, I had planned before I started writing as well--I like to have kind of an end goal so I know where I am going when I write.

However, one also has to be flexible as they write too! For me, all the storylines with the Book of Fortune and the Secret of Happiness came pretty late and those, I think, are the real heart of the ending.

I actually enjoy revision. It's writing the first draft, that initial output, that kills me! And my editor, Alvina Ling, is not only my editor but a great friend so I really trust her opinions on my writing...and she understands when my writing is quite rough.

But I don't really have a clear organized process. I write the first draft the best I can, send it to Alvina and wait for her response. Usually she has a really good idea of what to do with it and then I get to work. I like the retooling of the story; I feel like revision is when the st

1 Comments on INTERVIEW WITH GRACE LIN: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Post #7, last added: 6/7/2010

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Heather Hedin Singh said, on 6/7/2010 8:50:00 AM

Grace,
Thank you so much for your thoughtful answers! I really enjoyed hearing about your process--what you knew before you started and what evolved in the course of writing.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon was such a fun book to read, and all of those stories really make it unique.

Thanks!

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When I’m frustrated, it’s usually a sign that I’m trying to control something I can’t control. This can be a person or a situation or an event. The process can churn your mind into mush until you can’t think.

On the other hand, making a 180-degree switch and focusing on the things I can control (self-control) is the fastest way out of frustration. This concept certainly applies to your writing life.

Words of Wisdom

Remember the Serenity Prayer? It goes like this: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

How about reducing frustration with your writing life by applying that wisdom to your career? Here are some things to accept that you cannot change:

• How long it takes to get a response from editors and agents
• Rejections
• Editors moving before buying the manuscript they asked to see
• Size of print runs
• Reviews
• Publisher’s budget for your book’s publicity and promotion

Trying to change anything on the above list is a sure-fire route to frustration and wanting to quit.

However, do you have courage to change the things you can? Here are some:

• Giving yourself positive feedback and affirmations
• Reading positive books on the writing life
• Studying writing craft books
• Writing more hours
• Reading more books in the genre where you want to publish
• Attending local, state, regional and national conferences you can afford
• Joining or forming a critique group

Wisdom to Know the Difference

If you’re battling frustration and discouragement with the writing life, chances are good that you’re trying to control something beyond your control. It will make you crazy! The fastest way back to sanity is to concentrate on what you can control about the writing life.

Choose anything from that second list–or share an additional idea in the comments below–and get on with becoming a better writer. In the end, that’s all you can do–and it will be enough.

According to the National Science Foundation, the average person has about 12,000 thoughts per day, or 4.4 million thoughts per year.

I wager that writers are well above the average because we read more and writing causes us to think more than the average.

Who’s In Charge?

I had known for a long time that our thoughts affect our emotions, and that toxic “stinking thinking” could derail our writing dreams and health faster than almost anything. You are the only one who can decide whether to reject or accept a thought, which thoughts to dwell on, and which thoughts will become actions.

But sometimes–a lot of the time–I felt powerless to actually do anything about it on a consistent basis. Sometimes I simply felt unfocused and overwhelmed.

Need a Brain Detox?

I’ve been reading a “scientific brain studies” book for non-science types like me called Who Switched Off My Brain? by Dr. Caroline Leaf Ph.D. which has fascinated me. With scientific studies to back it up, it shows that thoughts are measurable and actually occupy mental “real estate.” Thoughts are active; they grow and change, influencing every decision we make and physical reaction we have.

“Every time you have a thought, it is actively changing your brain and your body–for better or for worse.” The author talks about the “Dirty Dozen”–which can be as harmful as poison in our minds and our bodies.

Killing Our Creativity

Among this dozen deadly areas of toxic thinking are toxic emotions, toxic words, toxic seriousness, toxic health, and toxic schedules.

If you want to delve into the 350+ scientific references and pages of end notes in the back of the book, you can look up the studies. But basically it targets the twelve toxic areas of our lives that produce 80% of the physical, emotional and mental health issues today. And trust me. Those issues have a great deal to do with you achieving your goals and dreams.

There Is Hope!

According to Dr. Leaf, scientists no longer believe that the brain is hardwired from birth with a fixed destiny to wear out with age, a fate predetermined by our genes. Instead there is scientific proof now for what the Bible has always taught: you can renew your minds and heal. Your brain really can change!

Old brain patterns can be altered, and new patterns can be implemented. In the coming days, I’ll share some more about the author’s ”Brain Sweep” five-step strategy for detoxing your thoughts associated with the “dirty dozen.”

But right now I’m going to read about the symptoms of a toxic schedule. I have a suspicion…

It will take my aging brain several days — possibly weeks — to process all the information I gleaned from the 2009 SCBWI-Midsouth Conference. We were blessed to have the warmest, friendliest, and most inspirational faculty I’ve ever seen assembled in one place at one time.

Several upcoming posts will be devoted to sharing what I learned during the weekend. I’ve decided to start with the one “goosebumps” moment I experienced.

If you ever have the opportunity to hear Cheryl Klein teach “Principles of Plot,” go. Don’t miss it. Don’t make excuses. Just go.

Over the years, I’ve spent tons of money on books that I hoped would give me a better understanding of how to plot a story.

There are rare times when we have a thought or impression that is so powerful that it affects us physically. We get goosebumps. We shiver. We gasp, awed by that “lightbulb” moment.

Halfway through Klein’s workshop, a switch flipped in my brain and the light came on. It was as if a thousand puzzle pieces suddenly clicked together, creating a recognizable image. (Looking back on it, I hope I didn’t gasp out loud!)

At last, the principles of plot were no longer mysterious and unobtainable.

My thoughts raced. I flipped a page in my notebook and started writing. My hands trembled. I couldn’t form the words on paper fast enough.

It was such a relief, at last, to understand — to know.

At the end of the presentation, I tried to thank her, but I was so full of nervous excitement that I know I did a poor job of expressing my gratitude.

Hopefully I can make up for that with this post.

Cheryl Klein, if you read this someday — thank you. Thank you for coming to our conference and teaching the principles of plot in a way that I could understand. Thank you for your workshop. I came away inspired to work harder, to keep writing, and to put the knowledge you shared with us to good use.

Time to interrupt the conference tips series with a disclaimer.

Lest I sound all high ‘n mighty, I must confess that I am guilty of some of the aforementioned heinous conference behaviors.

Ugh.

Anyhoo, I’m going to share a few of my past oopsies with you, along with this bit of wisdom: Learn from your mistakes. That’s what I’ve done. I’ve goofed up critiques or conversations because I didn’t know what was against protocol — hence the reason I am posting conference tips, dear reader. Now that I have a few more writing years under my belt, I’ve arrived at the place where I understand that each conference, each critique, each chat teaches me something. When I act in an unprofessional manner, I lose that learning experience. Conferences and retreats are expensive and don’t occur every day. I can’t afford to lose any opportunities.

I am happy to say that I’ve never cornered an agent or editor in a bathroom, janitorial closet, elevator, restaurant, hallway, or gift shop. I am also proud that I’ve never monopolized a conversation or used a cell phone during a workshop.

I have, however, been guilty of:

• Crying during a critique. I know the critiquer didn’t mind — she hugged me at the end! She’s probably the warmest, fuzziest person you’ll ever meet in the business. By the time she was finished with me, she had me convinced I could fly. However, there are lots of agents and editors who are immediately turned off when the waterworks turn on. They say it’s a business and we should behave that way. They are correct.
• Contacting the agent assigned to critique my work prior to the conference. Ack. Looking back on it now, it was SUCH a stupid thing to do! I will never, ever do that again.
• Not listening during a critique, because my mind was racing! I was thinking about what I should say next, how I should respond, rather than soaking up the advice. Dumb, dumb, dumb! D’oh!

So just remember, as you read my final pre-conference thoughts this week, that I have been there and done that.

Now I know better, and so do you.  

If someone graded you on self-care or self-nurturing, how would you do? Most of us–especially women–would flunk the evaulation. And if you’re also a writer, that can spell trouble.

What’s Your Excuse?

As women, we’re taught to meet everyone else’s needs before we nurture ourselves. And we do so, mostly without complaint, until we drop of exhaustion or illness. We de-value self-nurturing and self-care, putting it at the end of our lengthy list of Things To Do.

Back in 1992, during a particularly harrowing year, I bought a book that I recently re-read. I was delighted to see it has been reissued. The Woman’s Comfort Book: A Self-Nurturing Guide for Restoring Balance in Your Life by Jennifer Louden is chock full of some of the most fun and practical and specific ways you can incorporate self-nurturing activities into your life. The book was written after a year of trauma that left the author unable to write or relax.

As she put it, “I needed to trust what my inner voice was telling me, which was to slow down, take some time to care for me. But I felt too guilty about not being ambitious to heed my intuition. And so a dangerous prison formed: I couldn’t take time to care for myself because I felt I should keep working, but I couldn’t write because I wasn’t nurturing myself. What a mess!”

What’s Your Problem?

One of the best features of the book is a big chart that lists nearly eighty ailments you might have, then the corresponding short chapters that might help that problem. For example, if you feel “deprived,” she suggests the activities in the chapters entitled “Checking Your Basic Needs,” “Comfort Journal,” “A Self-Care Schedule,” “A Day Off,” “Heal Your Habitat,” and several others. If your problem is feeling joyless, you might try the chapters on “Your Nurturing Voice,” “Reading as a Child,” “Seasonal Comforts” or “Animal Antidotes.”

Her ideas are budget-minded (the only kind that work for me), and they are things you can do in your own home. For example, one chapter is on creating a personal sanctuary for yourself. I intend to use a few of her suggestions to rearrange a corner of my office, “walling off” a section with my freestanding bookshelves, moving a small rocker to that corner, adding some plants, a large framed poster of the English countryside, and a small rug to distinguish my sanctuary.

Courage, Fortitude, Boldness

The author claims that it “takes courage to make nurturing yourself a priority. It takes fortitude to meet your own needs. It takes boldness to listen to and trust your intuition.” If it’s been years since you allowed yourself to make self-care a priority, I think her statement is true. I know it was in my own case.

Ms. Louden also asserts that “deserving time to care for yourself is not something you earn…Taking care of yourself is not a reward for getting ten thousand things done today.”

Don’t Wait–Act Now!

There’s no need to wait until you’re burned out with a severe writer’s block to take care of yourself. A little daily self-nurturing goes a long way toward avoiding such conditions. And if you need someone to give you permission to do so, consider it done! I am ordering you to take good care of yourself!

Don’t know where to start? Then I really urge you to get a copy of Ms. Louden’s book and sample some of her fifty chapters of ideas. I know you’ll find something you’ll love!

As my sons become adults, I still can’t help offering advice to them, invited or not. I sidle up to them and thrust it out like a slightly wilted bouquet, the remnant of a relationship that has changed forever.
Some of it is well-received, other suggestions are dropped into the dustbin without a second glance.
My older son tends to prickle when I offer up my wisdom. Somehow, it clamors in his ears like criticism. I don’t mean it to be.
My younger son receives advice graciously. Doesn’t mean he’s going to use it, but he smiles and nods as if he’s filing it away.
Recently, he began an internship at his dream employer, a video game design firm. “Do you have the right clothes?” I asked him. “Do we need to go shopping? You want to make a good impression.”
“It’s casual dress,” he said. “That’s what they said.”
“Don’t go in there in shorts and flip-flops on your first day,” I said. “Wear khakis and a collared shirt until you see what everybody else is wearing.”
He rolled his eyes but left the flip-flops at home. That first night, I called him to see how it went. “What were they wearing?” I asked.
“Normal clothes, Mom,” he said patiently.
“What do you mean by normal?” I asked.
“Shorts and flip-flops.”
My sons will likely never wear collared shirts. And maybe that’s fine.
I remember the summer I was married. I’d been living in an apartment with my sister for a year, but moved home with my parents just prior to the ceremony. There I was, lodged in my old room for a month, living out of a suitcase.
I think my father saw it as his last opportunity to prune and shape me in the direction he wanted me to grow. I remember him framed in the doorway of my room , telling me to clean it up.
“You’d better not keep house like this once you’re married,” he warned, shaking his finger at me. “Your husband won’t put up with it.”
This advice was not well received. It was out of date. It did not reflect what I saw as my new peer relationship with my father. It had nothing to do with how my soon-to-be husband and I planned to live our lives.
Looking back, I think it was offered out of love, and his own experience, and the pain of separation. It was all he knew how to give me at the time.

“When you write, you light a bonfire in the spirit world. It is dark there. Lost souls wander alone. Your inner flame flares up. And the lost souls gather near your light and heat. And they see the next artist at work and go there. And they follow the fires until they find their ways home.”
 
Said by a Mexican healer woman, quoted in “Life Is An Act Of Literary Creation,” by Luis Alberto Urrea (from NPR’s This I Believe.)

This past week, negative Agentfail comments, many posted anonymously by angry writers, have hovered like storm clouds over the blogosphere. The posts were in reponse to Queryfail, a day when agents shared via Twitter portions of queries from writers (no names mentioned) that prompted immediate rejection.

The agents had good intentions, for the most part. Queryfail was intended to help writers increase their chances of getting a partial or full request from an agent. Some Agentfail posts offered constructive criticism. Others were just downright bitter.

Fortunately, folks were posting positive agent comments today.

Here’s my two cents on this:

1. Angry outbursts don’t improve anyone’s situation. (I know, because every time I have my own angry outburst, I end up embarrassed afterwards, wishing I’d controlled my temper.) If you can’t find an agent for that manuscript you’re shopping around, work at improving your manuscript rather than blaming agents for your inability to get published. Get past the “it’s them” syndrome and consider reasons why you might be the problem.

2. This is a business, people. It’s not American Idol, the Publishers Clearinghouse Sweepstakes or one of those fast-food restaurant promotions where “everyone’s a winner.” Completing a manuscript doesn’t mean you’re entitled to a contract or even a request for a partial read by an agent.

As the recession continues, more people will try their hand at writing children’s picture books and novels, believing it’s a quick way to make money.

Read my lips: It’s not.

The path to publication is long and arduous. It takes months, sometimes years, to write a novel. It takes months, sometimes years, to get a novel accepted for publication. It takes months, sometimes years, for a book to go from contract to the bookshelf at Barnes and Noble. Same for picture books. Just because they’re 700-800 words doesn’t mean you can flip ‘em quicker than a griddle cook at Waffle House.

In other words, if you had a complete manuscript for a novel and it got accepted today, by the time it hits the shelves, the recession may be over.

As for the making money part — I’d write more, but right now I’m laughing so hard the tears are shorting out my keyboard.

It seems that we live in an age of anger, and sometimes it’s so contagious that we catch it and spread it without even realizing the effect it’s having on us or our surroundings.

The negative energy emanating from the whole Queryfail/Agentfail debacle has, at least for me, done nothing to improve my understanding of the business.

The only thing I learned is that there are a lot of bitter writers out there.

Bitter is not what I want to be, not about my writing, nor about agents or editors.

The day that I am overcome with bitterness will be the day that I fail as a writer. And if I fail, I won’t have anyone to blame but myself.

Everyone’s short of money these days (unless you’re the government, in which case you just print an extra trillion or two). Like the rest of you book lovers out there, I want to keep adding to my shelves. I want to purchase the latest releases by my author and illustrator friends as well as other writers whose works I enjoy. Hence the first of many tips to help you feed your book habit when money’s tight.

If you’re looking for a way to support the publishing industry during these difficult economic times, might I suggest making your own laundry detergent?

Yes, it’s true — the woman who is addicted to all things convenience — convenience stores, convenience foods, etc. — makes her own laundry detergent.

I stopped buying the manufactured stuff months ago, thanks to my daughter, who talked me into trying this recipe from The Family Homestead.

Today I made a double batch, and it took maybe a half an hour. When I’m done, I look at all that detergent and feel so, um, self-sufficient! I use the Fels-Naptha soap, which has a nice fresh smell. I keep the detergent in a five-gallon plastic bucket. Since I made a double batch, the bucket is nearly full. That’s enough detergent to last months, since you only use 1/2 cup per large load.  There are no more big plastic detergent jugs to recycle! And I can use my extra money to buy the latest by Neil Gaiman, rather than a gallon of Gain.

I’M HAPPY TODAY BECAUSE … The new season of DIRTY JOBS begins tonight on the Discovery Channel! Mike Rowe is absolutely the bomb.

I learned an interesting lesson the other day concerning critique. The lead reporter at our newspaper is a skilled and savvy journalist, plus an excellent writer. If you considered the newsroom a dog pound, our lead reporter would be the German Shepherd — the one who grabs the bone and doesn’t let go until it’s crushed, ensuring all dirty secrets have been uncovered and justice has been meted. The other two reporters would be the border collies — fiercely loyal and able to round up all information quickly and efficiently.

I am the daschund — the funny little weenie dog who yips incessantly and needs directions to keep from chasing my tail.

We have to proof each other’s stories before passing them on to the editor, who passes them on to the copyeditor, who then passes them on to who knows where, so our stories get read and proofed probably 4 or more times before going to press.

I was proofing someone’s work the other day and quizzed Mr. German Shepherd about what I thought was an MIA comma. He found something more important.

“You’re editing for style,” he said.

I didn’t understand what he meant. I mean, I know what style is, but I didn’t understand what he meant by editing for style.

The next day, I found out. He explained that I was substituting my word choices for the writer’s, making the story sound more like my writing than the writer’s.  I should have suggested the writer re-word the sentence to read more clearly, rather than tell the writer how it should be re-written.

As I considered this I thought about how many times I have critiqued manuscripts for friends, inserting word choices that may be preferable to me but would not have been that person’s way of phrasing things.

While I can’t go back and change those critiques, I now know what I need to do in the future to help my coworkers, and my fiction-writing friends, revise their work.

More red ink is not better.

So next time I read a passage that IMHO needs to be clarified, I’ll suggest it, but will remember to go gentle with that red pen.

Oh, how sad. The wonderful "Farley" cartoonist has passed. He just announced his retirement a few days ago, then succumbed to a brain tumor. He was 64.

Many many mornings I enjoyed reading about Farley, Irene, Bruce the Raven, Velma Melmac, the bears, and more in the Chronicle while I drank my coffee. He and they will all be sadly missed.