JacketFlap connects you to the work of more than 200,000 authors, illustrators, publishers and other creators of books for Children and Young Adults. The site is updated daily with information about every book, author, illustrator, and publisher in the children's / young adult book industry. Members include published authors and illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, booksellers, publishers and fans. Join now (it's free).
Login or Register for free to create your own customized page of blog posts from your favorite blogs. You can also add blogs by clicking the "Add to MyJacketFlap" links next to the blog name in each post.
Blog Posts by Tag
In the past 7 days
Blog Posts by Date
Click days in this calendar to see posts by day or month
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Believe, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 25 of 46
How to use this Page
You are viewing the most recent posts tagged with the words: Believe in the JacketFlap blog reader. What is a tag? Think of a tag as a keyword or category label. Tags can both help you find posts on JacketFlap.com as well as provide an easy way for you to "remember" and classify posts for later recall. Try adding a tag yourself by clicking "Add a tag" below a post's header. Scroll down through the list of Recent Posts in the left column and click on a post title that sounds interesting. You can view all posts from a specific blog by clicking the Blog name in the right column, or you can click a 'More Posts from this Blog' link in any individual post.
Before I actually do the tag, today is Gaudete Sunday, and my little niece Chloe received her
First Holy Communion today.
She was so excited, it was so cute. She was shaking when she went up to receive, she was so jazzed. We were all so proud. :-) (That is an example of how NOT to repeat the word "So" so often.) Anyhoozle, hope your Advent continues well!
Now, for Bella's Tag.
So the RULES to this tag are as follows:
1.) Link back to the person who tagged you. 2.) Answer the Questions (which are not supplied here, but given via Bella's blog.) 3.)Tag five (or more - hahahahaha) people.
Soooooo, I linked. :-)
Here are the questions lifted from Bella's blog:
1.) When does the Christmas season officially 'start' in your house? Officially?... It starts AFTER Christmas. Right now we're in the Advent season. However, if you're talking about Christmas SPIRIT, it kind of rolls up (on me) on Thanksgiving.
2.) What is your earliest memory of Christmas? I remember being super little, like three or four, and waking up and smiling into one of my older sisters' face as she woke me and hissed, "It's Christmas!" I remember thinking, "Wow, Christmas. That's so cool!"
3.) What is something that is something that is iconically (if that's even a word) Christmas for you or your family? Probably the food. Christmas morning is the only day in the world that we have Italian sausage and soft rolls and orange juice for breakfast, and usually the *main* day that we have gnocchi and ham for dinner. We also do the Advent wreath and sing O Come Emmanuel at dinner.
4.) What are some of your Christmas Traditions? We always listen to O Holy Night (Nat "King" Cole version and Josh Groban version) on Thanksgiving. We also watch Holiday Inn on Thanksgiving. We celebrate St. Nicholas Day on December 6 and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8. We do the Advent wreath and do Christmas rings, counting down the days to Christmas. We decorate the house, usually starting around December 6th or 8th. We bake and make gnocchi the week before Christmas. We watch Christmas movies. Many, many, many. :-)
5.) What is one of the traditions that you want to carry on even after you're married? Just one? I want to make gnocchi and ham every Christmas, and I definitely want to keep the tradition of Epiphany.
6.) What if your favorite thing when preparing for Christmas? The baking, decorating or cleaning? The decorating. Totally, the decorating.
7.) What is a special/unique Christmas memory? About 23 years ago my Grandpa passed, right around Christmas time, and my mom was not here for Christmas. So all of us kids at home saved one present and left it under the tree, and when she got back in January we celebrated our first Epiphany on January 6th, and we have celebrated it ever since.
8.) What do you like better, giving or receiving gifts? I LOVE giving gifts. I sit right next to the person and am like, "Open it more... and more... and more... can you guess what it is from the box? Huh, huh, can ya, can ya?"
9.) What are some of your favorite Christmas cartoons? Mickey's Christmas Carol. How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The First White Christmas - The Story of the First Christmas Snow.
10.) What are some of your favorite Christmas movies? It's A Wonderful Life (My absolute FAVORITE.) Angel In the House (a recent discovery). Silent Night. A Christmas Carol with Reginald Owen. (These are the four I NEED to watch.)
After that I like to watch: One Magic Christmas. While You Were Sleeping. Doctor Who (Eleven's) Christmas Specials. A Keaton Christmas Carol.
11.) Do you have a real Christmas tree or an artificial tree? We have an artificial. I am of two minds between real and artificial. I love the smell and authenticity of real. I don't like how they shed needles or die so soon. However, I don't like how fake smell... odd, but I do like that you can leave them up through the entire season.
12.) Do you have a favorite Christmas book/story? The Crib of Bo'Bossu. Makes me cry. EVERY time.
13.) What is your favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night (Josh Groban and Nat Cole's version) Believe (Josh Groban)\ What Child is This (Josh Groban and another version that is a group version that I can't find that I LOVE.) Little Drummer Boy (Tennessee Ernie Ford and Josh Groban) In the Bleak Midwinter (Julie Andrews) The Little Road to Bethlehem (Hayley Westenra) Peace Shall Come (Hayley Westenra) And too many others too count. But those are the top seven I could recall one after the other.
There are so many amazing quotes out there that focus in on what needs to be done and does it in a sentence or two.
The quote above from Anatole France, does just that.
It reminds me of the Bible quote: "Faith without works is dead."
No matter how much planning you do, if you don't take actionable steps, you won't get anywhere. And, if you can't dream it or believe you can accomplish it,
0 Comments on Content Marketing Success - You have to walk the walk as of 7/25/2014 6:42:00 AM
5 Stars Santa’s Last Present Marie Aude-Murail & Elvire Murail Quentin Blake Pages: 32 Ages: 6+ Inside Jacket: Julian is almost too old to believe in Santa Claus. But since his parents talk about Santa constantly, Julian decides to write the big guy in red one more time . . . just in case. This [...]
My weekend: snow, writing, dragons (of the self-doubt variety.)
Revision is SO scary. It can feel like battling a three-headed dragon. You deal with one problem, you make two more for yourself. Everywhere, there are teeth. But if you look for it, there is also snow. Miraculous, unpredictable snow.
See those silhouettes underneath the dragon? They're fairytale postcards I bought in Germany. And the gypsy doll is a marionette I found in Prague one bitterly cold winter day. (So is the dragon.)
Back to work now.
2 Comments on Writing in the Snow with Dragons, last added: 10/31/2011
My mom is a superb gardener. So is my daughter. Me? I confess to having killed a rubber tree plant once. And many other varieties of green things many times over.
Yet.
I bought this lovely herb planter. Walked it home in my arms from the farmer's market. Everything in it is still alive, except for the dill, which mysteriously shriveled overnight and has but one teeny leafy sprout left. I've used the basil and parsley. Admired the rosemary and marjoram and chives. And if when the nasturtiums bloom, I can even put flowers in my salads.
Why do I keep buying plants when I fear they are doomed? Because I cook. I need fresh herbs. And I'm too lazy to keep running to the store. And I like the shape the plants make as they curl down from the pot.
I'm also thinking of planting some garlic--- even more so since I found this terrific quote, which was pungent enough to inspire a poem:
"Garlic is as good as ten mothers." (from this site, no source)
Who needs admonishment when you can plant three or four squeaky clean cloves of peeled garlic between your back molars and bite down, hard?
Who needs milk
9 Comments on Poetry Friday: Garlic, last added: 10/15/2011
When I was a kid, my mother used to make us salsa with raw garlic, because it would stave off colds and once Mama made my older sister CHEW raw cloves because she'd somehow (eeek!) gotten worms.
Geez, louise, garlic staved off just about everything with the stern strength of motherhood. My sister STILL chews it when she gets a cold (and woe to her wee boys - I see garlic in their future when their teeth get big enough), but I just -- no. I can barely deal with onions, much less garlic raw. I'm a wuss, and take garlic pills, and that's enough mothering for me.
I also do the garlic tablets, I have a extreme dislike of heavily scented breath--especially my own. Garlic is a natural antibiotic and is reportedly good for your heart. Another example of how old folk wisdom was based on fact.
such a wonder ode to "the stinking rose." my first experience with that expression came from a cookbook my mom used to decorate the kitchen walls (long story, tho i wished she used the books instead of decorating with them). later, it was used as the title of a documentary which i saw in a theatre where the director roasted garlic in toaster ovens in the auditorium so the place smelled more and more like garlic as we watched.
anyway, best of luck growing garlic. i have a purple thumb myself and two attempts have failed me so far...
Hah! Mommas and Garlic, well I never! Hahaha. Very apt - gritty, pungent, and with all the aromatic fragrance and taste of motherhood all wrapped in its scrapey-knotted feel. Love it!
Wowza! Can you hear my thunderous applause? Love the pithiness of your poem; such a great paean to motherhood.
Love your herb planter -- we have basil growing outside and its scent keeps the deer away. :)
Good to know I'm not the only one with a black thumb. At least now I can blame the lack of sunlight, both indoors and out (because of our trees). Even our grass won't grow . . .
I'd also hate to have to add up all the green things I've killed with my black thumb, even the ones I bought because their tags said, "Thrives on neglect." Latest: A beautiful gardenia. Sad.
I like to write while listening to yoga music. It puts me in the zone. Since I don't understand Sanskrit, the words aren't distracting. The beat, based on breath, is energizing and relaxing at the same time, like a strong cup of tea. And best of all, I've developed a Pavlovian response to it. When I hear the music, I write.
I'm also addicted to taping mantras to my laptop. For Letters From Rapunzel, it was this fortune cookie fortune:
For Operation Yes, it was:
SERVE THE STORY
Lately, in my continuing struggle to revise a YA manuscript, I've gone through a slew of them, and I'm toying with putting up Auden's quote about poetry, which I think perfectly describes the complexity of a YA novel:
"Clear thinking about mixed feelings"
Or perhaps this one, which reminds me not to bother being someone I'm not:
"Cool and I have never met upon the high road of life." -- M.T. Anderson
Do you have a writing mantra?
5 Comments on Writing Mantras, last added: 10/22/2010
Tanita, I agree that Tobin is the epitome of cool---witness his exquisite parody of the state song of Delaware--- but it all depends who's making the cool rules. I guess I see this mantra as: Be true. Not cool.
"I like knowing nothing, but feeling everything." ---Sharon Creech, speaking about rough drafts in "Leaping Off the Porch," from Barbara Harrison and Gregory Maguire's collection of essays, Origins of Story.
"An acting teacher used to tell us, 'The best protection is stark naked,' meaning that if you commit yourself to a role and to your character’s objectives, and open yourself completely to the moment onstage, there is no room for self-consciousness or second-guessing. It’s when you indulge in half-measures that you screw up." ---Susan O'Doherty, Ph.D., from her column, The Doctor is In
I love both these quotes, but of course, they intimidate me, too. How to be so brave? How to be so balanced that leaping and committing are both possible?
What doesn't work is looking at my own feet. Look out and up. Breathe.
2 Comments on Knowing Nothing, Feeling Everything, last added: 10/6/2010
Wonderful quotes and for me, right now, so true. To me, it means putting away concerns of theme and the ideas I want to put in the story and just taking in the character unabashedly.
I'm beginning to think that if Liz Garton Scanlon called for the moon to stay full an extra night or two, she would get it. Last year, she cajoled seven of us into writing a crown sonnet---even though the majority of us had never written a sonnet, crowned or uncrowned, before. This year, she eased up and requested but a villanelle apiece. Oh, with one rule: we had to use the words "friends" and "thanksgiving" in our repeating lines.
Again, I tumbled into the task; my first lines were atrociously weak. Again, I felt the rules of the form, the interlinking lines of the villanelle hold me up. And now? Now, I'm wishing for a lute to clutch so I could play minstrel and attempt to recite for my supper. I might be beaned with a stale roll for my trouble, but no matter. I'm a convert to villanelles, and no amount of heckling can dissuade me.
Note: I tweaked Liz's rules and used "give thanks" rather than "thanksgiving." I did not, however, mess with "friends." That would've been foolish.
Friends, Marrow Each to Each
Friends, marrow each to each; else famine steals the feast; Deck Brie in berries; fat the soup with heart-shaped clams; Tho' light is gone, give thanks; in darkness, praise increase.
Gild lintels; silk-gird chairs; burn candles by the fist; Salad greens dress in yolks and salted curls of ham; Friends, marrow each to each; else famine steals the feast.
Honey-spike the squash; with silver eat, bright and greased; Flood mouths with wine; potatoeswithbutter enjamb; Tho' light is gone, give thanks; in darkness, praise increase.
Lift turkey, speckled trout and haunch of wilder beast; From hand to hand, pass blessings with the loin of lamb; Friends, marrow each to each; else famine steals the feast.
Cling to those beside you, crying, as for a priest; Drench cake in cream; slather black bread with bursts of jam; Tho' light is gone, give thanks; in darkness, praise increase.
If sing, full-throated keen; if dance, 'til dawn at least; Hearts consumed by sorrow are hollowed gram by gram; Friends, to all be marrow; else famine steals the feast; Tho' light is gone, give thanks; in darkness, praise increase.
---Sara Lewis Holmes (all rights reserved)
*Marrow: 1. A soft oleaginous substance contained in the cavities of animal bones. 2. The essence; the best part. 3. In the Scottish dialect, a companion; fellow; associate; match. 4. v.t. To fill with marrow or with fat; to glut.
Honey. Nobody will be beaning you with stale bread, I can assure you of that. Mercy, I'm loving this poem all over again! It's a full-throated keen and we are lucky, lucky, lucky you sat down to write for us...
I have to confess that yours is my hands-down favorite among our villanelles. "Fat the soup with heart-shaped clams" and "potatoeswithbutter enjamb" slay me.
And that closing stanza has me swooning all over again. Such lovely work!
Girl you are making me HUNGRY. Thank the Lord for friends like you that never stop messing with me. This is truly lovely and wonderful. That last stanza brings down the house.
"Salted curls of ham" and "Honey-spike the squash" were my favorites. This was SO good, thanks for sharing. And I agree with Andromeda, your poem is making me hungry!
I think I would be crying for a priest -- for last rites -- if I ate all of this. Although the gilding of lintels, silk-girding of chairs and burning of fists of candles say I would go out happily and beautifully.
Sara, this poem is such a feast itself, of glorious images/sensations. I feel like it should be woven into a tapestry and hung in a castle's great hall! Much heartier art than an image of a fox hunt or something.
It's full to bursting with details I love, but here are a few favorites:
Gild lintels; silk-gird chairs; burn candles by the fist; Salad greens dress in yolks
Honey-spike the squash; with silver eat, bright and greased; Flood mouths with wine; potatoeswithbutter enjamb;
Drench cake in cream; slather black bread with bursts of jam;
Hearts consumed by sorrow are hollowed gram by gram; Friends, to all be marrow; else famine steals the feast;
This is scrumptious (and feels so polished, too)! Congratulations, Sara.
Where to begin in praise of this delicious work? Overflowing with my favorite kind of imagery, words savory, sweet, ripe on the tongue. Love the details, the musicality and flow.
"fat the soup with heart-shaped clams" Are you trying to KILL ME?
"Potatoeswithbutter enjamb" ♥ ♥ ♥
Sigh. Definitely feel like a minstrel should recite this at a Medieval or Elizabethan feast.
Thank you for teaching me new meanings for a familiar word (marrow) and for another poem that will help hearts to heal as they turn away from sorrow and towards praise and thanks and friends. Bless you.
For all my friends who've taken on the challenge of National Novel Writing Month, I salute you! More than that, I'd like to scream for you until I'm hoarse, hand you Gatorade, and wave a huge banner with your name on it.
But we know the Internet has not progressed as far as that. The cupcakes laced with inspiration that I keep trying to send you through the broadband connection keep getting stuck in the transfigulator. And the assassin I dispatched to quiet your internal critic keeps missing his target and dropping his cone of silence over those random popup ads that blast techno dance music.
Maybe it's too early in the month to talk of resistance. You're probably flying along, feeling the rush of words. But one day, this month, you're going to face a wall. All the more reason to stockpile now the encouragement you'll need to get through it. And think about it: isn't this act of overcoming just what you're asking your characters to do?
Resistance is directly proportional to love. If you’re feeling massive Resistance, the good news is, it means there’s tremendous love there too. If you didn’t love the project that is terrifying you, you wouldn’t feel anything. The opposite of love isn’t hate; it’s indifference.
The more Resistance you experience, the more important your unmanifested art/project/enterprise is to you—and the more gratification you will feel when you finally do it.
Go, NaNoWriMo-ers! Go!
4 Comments on NaNoWriMo Fuel: The Battle of Resistance, last added: 11/5/2009
I'm doing the play version Naplwrimo. It's been thrilling so far, there really is something about such an intense focus to create. We'll see how it is on Day 22....
I'm revising this month, so no nanowrimo for me! I just got back from the school book fair. I bought Operation Yes for my fifth grade son (and I) to read. I was so excited to see it on the shelves. I'm going to get started on it tonight!!
"But we know the Internet has not progressed as far as that. The cupcakes laced with inspiration that I keep trying to send you through the broadband connection keep getting stuck in the transfigulator. And the assassin I dispatched to quiet your internal critic keeps missing his target and dropping his cone of silence over those random popup ads that blast techno dance music."
Lindsay, someday I'm going to try NaPlWriMo, just for the fun of it. I think I'd learn so much about dialogue and pacing and structure. Or I'd tear my hair out in frustration. One or the other. :)
Kelly, thank you! Hope you and your son enjoy reading it!
Adrienne, I appreciate your appreciation. Extra cupcakes for you. Wait...Dang. Sorry.
I went to hear Sherman Alexie speak this week,* and it messed me up.
During his talk, he acted out a scene in which his dad gets drunk and tells his seven-year-old self and all his gathered young friends about how women. . . NO, can't write that here on the blog.
Okay, he talked about giving President Clinton grief for his "my grandmother was Cherokee" attempt at empathy, and then, later, he describes Clinton embracing him with "Big-Mac breath," leaning in to whisper in his ear "Alexie, you're----" NO, can't write that either.
Maybe, maybe, I could tell you about his description of President Obama's inauguration on TV, in which he noted the huddle of emaciated, hippie vegan white women with ugly shoes swaying arm in arm with the Aretha-sized, fur-coat-wearing, Baptist-churched and well-heeled black women, one of whom had a fox head dangling off her wrap---which kept hitting a vegan woman in the head. Okay, I got through that one. But it was way funnier when he told it.
Alexie is as profane, achingly hilarious, and fearless in his public presentations as he is in his fiction. As a huge fan of his, I listened with alternate awe, discomfort, and glee. I bought a book of his poetry, FACE, which I hope to feature tomorrow for Poetry Friday. I had to drag myself away from his autograph line, which was at least a hundred people long, by doing the mental math (100 people x 1 minute each = 100 minute/over an hour-and-a-half wait.)
But when I attempted to get back to my own work the next day----THUD. I realized how badly he'd worked me over. I'm not fearless. I'm not profane. (Sometimes, I'm funny. I give myself that.) But all I could write in my notebook was: nothing I write really matters. Why should people care? BLAH.
Has this ever happened to you? Not jealousy, but a realization of your limitations as a writer?
I got over it, first by realizing that writers have different roles. Some are here to blurt out the truth. To overwhelm you with a barrage of jabs to your prejudices and fears. Others tread on little cat feet. They are stealth. The potions they administer flow through your veins slowly and when you wake up a little more beautiful than you were the day before, you never trace it to their subterfuge. Either is good. Change happens.
The other thing that helped is that I went back and re-read his poem, "Water," published in his collection, One Stick Song. It ends with the phrase "two parts heartbreak and one part hope." I realized that is exactly what fiction is. I dove back in to my revisions, looking for both the heartbreak and the hope, but more willing to allow the heartbreak in. Thank you, Mr. Alexie.
Sherman spoke at the SCBWI summer conference, and I had the same reaction. He was jarringly moving, and told us how we should write powerful books for kids with their own hard stories. I was humbled because I write silly stories. But, I realized kids (and esp. kids with hard stories) need silly books, too. Then I felt better. :)
Yes. That has happened to me approximately 1,572 times. Thank heavens for the one part hope.
Anonymous said, on 9/24/2009 11:29:00 AM
Jealous. So jealous you heard him speak.
As a reader, I can say that even your short blog posts really matter. Your books, even more so. I know you're not fishing for compliments: I'm just sayin' anyway...
I'm doing some writing myself now, though, and I get this. I really do. It's all new to me (writing that's not for a blog post, that is), and NOW I get what writers mean about how easy it is to beat oneself up and self-deprecate. But a good friend reminded me recently: Just write, write, write. Keep writing. Don't judge at first. Just get. it. out.
I'm kind of in love with Sherman Alexie. D. knows. So, it's all good. But, I'm scared of seeing him in public; reading him makes me cry. Can you imagine if I broke down weeping because he messed me up?
I have SO, SO, SO, SO, so felt that ...not envy, but that stomach-dropping, "Oh. Crap. I don't matter," feeling before. I don't know if I can ever be as comfortable in my skin as S.A., but he's been perhaps beaten into his, and it's a different fit. And maybe that's not what I'm here for, either.
I'm hoping to find that heartbreak and that hope. And that fearlessness, and that optimism and that love.
Gosh, I love that guy.
Thank you so much for sharing your visit with him. I'm not jealous or anything (much).
Sara, This is beautifully said. Sherman is probably one of the most dynamic speakers in literature today. I would bear at least two things in mind though.
He's been at this a very long time. It's entirely possible that when he was starting out 1,000 speaches ago he was not quite as eloquent and confident as he is now. It's entirely possible that after your 20th book you will be as accomplished a speaker/writer. You'd never be like him but you could be as good on your own terms if you worked at it as hard as he does.
Also, I suspect that the man he is in public for our entertainment is not the man who sits down at the computer every day to write. What makes you think he doesn't entertain all the same doubts you do? Maybe even more as he has the weight of expectation on his shoulders.
The only answer for any of us is to write the most authentically Sara or Sherman or Rosanne story we have. Not a very satisfying answer, but for me anyway, it's what keeps me at the page day after day.
Hmm. I think there is more than one way to be brave. The topics you tackle in your middle grade fiction are important - and those require courage, too, even if it's of a different tone than Alexie's.
I love Sherman Alexie. I wish I had been with you. He is so smart--and so funny--and such a talented writer. I've heard him speak via television and the Internet--never in person. He's was great on The Colbert Report.
It takes all kinds of writers to build a world of literature. I wish I could write children's fiction and picture books like CHARLOTTE'S WEB and THE GIVER and TUCK EVERLASTING and The Ramona stories and MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS... I wish I could write poetry like David McCord and Lilian Moore and Karla Kuskin and Myra Cohn Livingston and Barbara Juster Esbensen... I decided some time ago that I had to develop my own writing style...my own unique voice to the best of my ability. You have most definitely done that.
Let me add: I'm always impressed by the depth and insight of the original poems you post at your blog.
Funny, I had the same sinking feeling last night after reading an essay by Wells Tower. Every sentence so exquisitely crafted, and like Alexie, redolent with dark humor too.
Today I felt much better cause I decided to buy his book to savor and learn from.
Thank you for saying what I feel in such a way that I know what I feel even better than before.
There are so many writers that I read and feel consumed with jealousy....but then I try to remind myself that somewhere out there is a child waiting for my story and if I can touch just one, well, that will be a start.
This is when I wish Blogger allowed me to reply to each comment individually like LJ does. So much collective wisdom here. Thank you. Can all of you come over and talk about this some more? I'll make brownies.
Sara- Some painters use pastel colors, others use bold, color and design. So, Sherman Alexie is the bold/bright kind of writer and yours, by contrast, tends toward the other palette. So what? Any palette can produce stunning art!
HipWriterMama has a fantastic 30-day challenge going called "Mapping Out Writing Time." Videos, writing prompts, inspiring stories . . . she's got the juice.
Through the Tollbooth is always well-stocked with timely advice, but last week, they outdid themselves with a series of posts beginning with the irresistibly titled "FREE: Writing Lessons Here!" If free doesn't do it for you, they also have posts about retreats, MFAs, conferences, online classes, local writing centers . . . you have no excuse not to learn something from this power lunch.
Finally, if you need a push on the marketing end, there's Shelli's Market My Words where every Monday, she interviews a key player in the biz, and every Friday, she rounds up the best marketing advice on the web. As good as Vitamin C (I'm talking Caffeine) for jazzing you up about an often-dreaded part of the writing life.
It may or may not be morning where you are. If it is, I'm jealous.
I love mornings more than any other part of the day. I love the cozy quiet punctuated by the purposeful sounds of people getting ready; I love the brightening sky; I love the taste of warm, sweet coffee; I love the touch of cool air when I pad out in bare feet to get the paper; I love checking my inbox for the overnight delivery of email; I love that everything is possible before the day unfolds.
The only trouble is that I cannot, no matter how hard I try, cram all my day into the morning. Every "good for me" thing competes for precious morning hours---writing, exercise, clear thinking, planning, and yes, eating, because I'm always hungry in the AM. Then, when afternoon comes, anything I haven't managed to complete has to deal with grouchy, sloppy, lazy, junk-food craving, not-morning me.
So, I've decided to have TWO mornings. (I can hear you laughing. It's okay. My husband was mightly amused when I announced this plan.)
Every day, I'm going to re-boot right after lunch. Take a mini ten-minute nap, drink a large tea latte, and pretend it's morning all over again.
I'll let you know how my manipulation of the time-space continuum goes. Any donation of morning hours from you night owls would be much appreciated.
0 Comments on Goooooood Morning! as of 9/14/2009 2:03:00 PM
Character: eats colorful, easily imagined, and highly evocative food Writer: scrapes crumbs from the couch cushions when fridge is empty and deadline is nearHAHAHAHA! *snort* Oh, Sara. I need to know when you invisibly came over here and saw me do that...
We are definitely not who we write -- and the sooner we know that, the easier it is to write characters who make mistakes. I struggle with that ALL THE TIME. And I think "Keep Calm and Carry On" is going on my list of Tattoos I Would have if I Wasn't A Wimp Afraid of Needles.
Oh, Tanita, I'm sure your scraped crumbs are homemade, organic ones, and not weeks-old dust from stale graham crackers like mine...
A Tattoo list is a most excellent idea. If your list includes possible body locations, I think "Keep Calm" on the back of one hand and "Carry On" on the back of the other would be perfect for pounding the keyboard.
Oh I am laughing-crying over this post. Honey, you definately deserve an amulet. Tanita -- you, too. I say we order a round of 'em and pass 'em out to everyone who's thirsty...
I'm sorry about the lack of blogging. I've been on a roller coaster with my new manuscript. I love it. I hate it. I love it again. Up. Down. Up.
Ptooey. I'm feeling nauseous.
The only that helps is knowing that I always feel this dichotic paranoia about my work. Because some things in it are piercingly lovely. And some things in it are crap. The secret is to trust both of my instincts, to love it and hate it, to not block those feelings, but use them to make it all better.
If I didn't love it, I couldn't go on.
If I didn't hate it, I couldn't change it.
So. Up. Down. Up.
Until today, when I let it go and submitted it.
I wish I could join you for Poetry Friday tomorrow, but I'm going to enjoy a day of rest after the ride. See you next week.
10 Comments on Up. Down. Up., last added: 5/25/2009
Oh, Sara. Oh, oh, OH, I'm so where you are. I'm allegedly doing a few "final" edits, but I can't seem to let mine go. I hate it, at the moment, and I think, "What's the POINT of this!?? Why did I start!? It SUCKSSSSSSSSSSS!"
Get off the roller coaster, stagger away shakily, lie down, and get some rest. xo
This is what I love... I mean hate... I mean love... about the writing life in general. Y'know? It is a rush (I love it!!) followed by despair (I hate it!!) followed by... ad naseum. Oi.
I hope tomorrow includes a very tall latte and a very long savasana for you, my dear...
Good luck with your manuscript. I know the feelings you expressed about the ups and downs and roller coastering of working on one's writing.
I found that I had to cut back lately with postings at my blogs recentlty, too. You have lots of loyal followers. We'll keep checking back to see how things are going.
Just catching up a bit on blog reading. Hope you've recovered from the experience! Think how boring writing (and the actual stuff we write) would probably be if we loved everything we wrote. Right? Uh, right? Maybe? C'mon, that's what keeps me going...
That list makes a nice (i.e anti-insidious) poem, Sara! Moos and moola, muggings and muggles (and with poetry, illumination is in the eyes and ears of the beholder, so I think you did it....)
If it seems like writers seesaw between our right and left brains, it's because we DO.
So far, on my Work in Progress, I have tried the timed writing approach. This worked excellently . . . until it didn't. Then I constructed an outline, which served me beautifully . . . until it didn't. Then I decided that I needed to write 1000 words a day until the draft was done. Which worked fabulously . . . until it didn't. Now I'm back to the timed writing approach . . . which thank you, is working marvelously. Until it doesn't. But that's okay. I'm used to it by now.
That determination that Laini speaks of? It's what I would call strength in flexibility. (You might call it yoga, too, if you are also obsessed with mastering crow pose and headstand, like I am.) That's what keeps me going. That's what keeps all writers going. We bribe ourselves. We give ourselves pep talks. We set up routines. We play and we work. We may look unfocused at times, but in reality, we are the pit bulls of the universe. We have latched onto our heart's desire and there is no way we are letting go.
P.S. Tanita Davis is blogging about this today, too. Must be the month of March. Winter vs. Spring. Snow vs. Sunshine. Lions vs. Lambs.
0 Comments on Writer Death Matches: Discipline vs. Devotion as of 1/1/1900
Wow. I like that Pavarotti quote, too. I think devotion happens when you love what you do. Discipline is what you apply when you're just paying the bills. I like my job. I really do, and I'm grateful to be able to work from home, but if I were IN LOVE with it, I wouldn't dread opening up my work email sometimes. When you are devoted to it and in love with it, time just flies, huh?
You're right . . . there must be something in the air. I was planning a similar subject - on my blog today but did some reading first and figured you and Laini said it best and first!
This is an awesome quote! I have often chided myself for lack of discipline, but I would totally call myself devoted. What a nice pick me up for a Tuesday. I'm off to be devoted to my work...
Sara, I couldn't agree more. It's like having a tool box and knowing there are times for a wrench, and times for a hammer. My *process* if you can call it that is all about figuring out what's going to get me going through the next little bit. Like you, sometimes it's freewriting, sometimes it's outlining. Brainstorming, trying to think at the story from a different angle, whatever I need to do. Sigh. Why can't it be EASIER???
I'm not working on my writing, but on staying motivated to keep up the new KidLitosphere Central and it's been really hard. But honestly, I think its a combination of the weather and the economy. I also think I may not be alone in suffering in my creativity with this noxious combination.
We've had one cold winter here, as you know Sara, but with the rare snow to be the silver lining. So many places around the U.S. have also had a tough winter. Throw the daily dire economic news on top, and how can help but be weighed down?
Personally, I'm plugging along and hoping that Spring will bring some new energy.
I love that word, devotion. There are so many implications. Love. Loyalty. Tenderness. Open-hearted truth. All things we need to bring to the page. And the mat, since you mention yoga. Good lord, the practices are similiar in the end...
We are the pit bulls of the universe--I love that! When I teach classes full of aspiring writers, I so wish I could make them see that being a pit bull is what eventually bring publication--more than great flashes of inspiration or mastery of grammar or even great plotting. Not that all that isn't necessary. But if you're not a pit bull, it's still (sadly) unlikely your writing will get published. Tough business calls for both devotion and determination!
How many YA novels have you read with a voice that comforts you?
I just finished reading Marcelo in the Real World, by Francisco X. Stork, and frankly, I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to dissect it or review it or analyze it. I just want to tell you to read it.
But I'll try to say a tiny bit more than that, because some of you might need convincing.
In the opening chapter, Marcelo talks to his doctor about hearing "internal music" and like the doctor with his carefully worded questions, I struggled to understand what Marcelo meant, to imagine such music, because...well, because I liked Marcelo. And I wanted to believe in such a beautiful thing as music that can be "remembered" and dwelt in and that is always with us. But I didn't really get it.
Meanwhile, I fully enjoyed the story as it unfolded, not in doctor's visits or dissertations on music, but in Marcelo's matter-of-fact telling of his summer in the "real world" of his father's law firm. Nothing there happened exactly as I thought it would, and I often laughed. Best of all, the characters were built layer by layer through Marcelo's considered observations of them and their behavior. When he says that he doesn't know how to "read" people's reactions, and that he has to train himself to make the right responses, I knew it was his self-described Asperger's-like syndrome manifesting, but it never felt like a literary artifice. More like I was abiding with him, in the sense of "dwelling or sojourning."
Then, in almost the last chapter, Marcelo talks about the internal music again, and I suddenly realized that not only did I know what he was talking about, but I had experienced it! Not by reading this book; I don't mean that. I mean that I recognized the state of being he was describing even though our language for it was different.
Spirituality is an extraordinarily difficult thing to write about. But if a story can help you access what you already know...can help you remember...well, you should read it.
Told you.
7 Comments on Marcelo in the Real World, last added: 1/30/2009
Just to be clear: I wouldn't say the book itself is "comforting"---in that most coming-of-age stories aren't. Marcelo certainly has to suffer and change in the real world. When we grow up, we lose much. But the steadiness of his voice, the honesty and integrity of it, were comforting in such a way that I wanted to stay in the "real world" even when it was difficult.
I had exactly the same experience with the music -- confusion in the beginning, and then "Yes!" later on. Such sparseness of voice and yet such emotion. Yum.
A certain day became a presence to me; there it was, confronting me--a sky, air, light: a being. And before it started to descend from the height of noon, it leaned over and struck my shoulder as if with the flat of a sword, granting me honor and a task. The day's blow rang out, metallic--or it was I, a bell awakened, and what I heard was my whole self saying and singing what it knew: I can.
9 Comments on A Certain Day, last added: 1/22/2009
We're told that the key to success is "to believe in ourselves."
We're counseled to tell those we love that we believe in them too.
Teachers believe in their students. Parents believe in their children. Countless writers say that they would've given up on their eventual masterpieces if not for another friend or writer or editor who "believed in them."
I don't think of belief as blind faith in anything--not in a thing, a person, or a system. I think of belief as love in action.
We see. We hold fast. We call forth.
If you're drafting a long story---and many of you are for National Novel Writing Month---believing means knowing the words you put on the page today are not the end.
See them clearly, as neither bad nor good, but just the beginning. Hold fast to the plan you've set out for yourself. Call forth what you have today.
It is by such actions that we love into existence what we truly believe in.
10 Comments on Read Write Believe, last added: 11/8/2008
Thank you for that, Sara. I happen to be trying -- really really trying -- to write a fast all-the-way-through, messy first draft for the first time in my life. It is against my nature, and it is difficult, but I am trying, and this post is lovely.
P.S. He aims his advice at those just starting out in a creative field, but truly, this is a comfort to anyone, master or apprentice, who struggles to make something out of nothing.
8 Comments on The best advice EVER, last added: 6/13/2008
I watched that and found it very good advice, too, and then I went to Laini's blog (about 3/4 of the way through) and figured out who it was! Neat. It's always hard to imagine how these radio folks look; rather, they never look like you expect them to.
I'm not a novelist, but I think this applies to blogging, too. If one is at all interested in getting better at posting (your style of writing, say, or whatever you think is lacking in your writing at your blog), then this advice applies. Can we call it the Necessary Crap Phase?
And there are times I don't want to do a post. I mean, I might have loved what I'm posting about (or I wouldn't bother writing about it), but I'm not in the mood to complete -- or even start -- the post, maybe even because I feel daunted to describe the great book I read or whatever. But I set that challenge and those deadlines (for lack of a better word) for myself, like he's talking about. It's just good discipline that I need. Great advice.
He says it much more eloquently!
Thanks for linking to this. Thanks to you and Laini.
Yes, Jules, I'd definitely include blogging as a creative endeavor that involves making something out of nothing---and one that requires boatloads of practice if you want to get better at it.
And I added some info before the video, identifying Ira Glass from This American Life. I didn't mean to be mysterious about it. I was just so eager to share that I threw it up there without a thought for an introduction.
Hi Sara! Glad you enjoyed. It really struck a chord with me. I love Ira, and as Jules said, it's weird seeing that very familiar voice actually coming out of somebody's face!
Liz, it sounds like he's cut off in this video at the end, so I looked around. There are parts 1, 2, 3, and 4, I believe. "Ira Glass on Storytelling" They show up as still frames at the bottom of the video window when you finish watching it (or if you click on the arrow on the bottom right to change the view mode.) Or you could just search on YouTube.
While digging through an old notebook, I found a yellow index card. It's a list that I copied out of my journal, from an entry dated January 23, 2003. The entry says:
"Reading Beyond the Words by Bonni Goldberg---she has lots of good ideas/different perspectives on the writing life. Yesterday, I read her section on 'Reasons to Write.' I haven't felt much reason to write lately, mostly because I've been discouraged about the lack of an audience. Why speak if no one is listening?"
Here's the list that followed, which I tucked into my novel notebook, so I could look at it when I was faltering:
To save your eyes, I'll retype my scrawled writing.
Why I Want to Write
1) To ask questions
2) To find connections
3) To respond to beauty/mystery
4) To enjoy the thrill of paradox, of struggling to contain two ideas at once
5) To be intimate with the world/with other readers and writers
I like your six things,#4 especially. My own list would include self-obsessed stuff like "validation," "because I'd rather write than speak," etc.
Jules at 7-Imp said, on 4/30/2008 12:45:00 PM
Wow to #6. I feel that sometimes, which is just frustrating when you have little writing talent (like I do -- it's true, not self-deprecation. This is why I'm the spectator in the gallery instead).
I'd love to write a post one day about why I blog and would love to hear others' thoughts on it. I ask myself that all the time, since if I didn't stop to blog about books I read, I'd have twice as much time to read even more books. The most honest answer is kind of in line with what Jama mentioned: validation. Or maybe even a sort of arrogance. "I think there are lots of bad books for children out there. Here are the ones I think are good. Read them."
Hey, at least I'm being honest about it, huh? Jules, 7-Imp (who also likes your #3 -- sometimes I ask myself: Why read any other kind of book?)
Donna Jones Koppelman said, on 4/30/2008 5:16:00 PM
What a wonderful find. Thanks for sharing. It's so encouraging for audience-less people like myself.
If you could go back to your apprentice writer self, what would you tell her?
"Don't be so hard on yourself," I guess. I thought everything had to be perfect before I could show it to anyone, which means I never got any feedback on anything, and without feedback I couldn't work on improving. It was a vicious cycle. Eventually, I learned to share work with people even when it was in its rough stages without worrying that they'd be filled with scorn and hatred. After all, I can read their rough work without turning on them like a wildebeest."
First of all, I love her answer. Second, I still am an apprentice writer. Always will be. Third, if I had to answer that question, I would say:
Get comfortable with NOT KNOWING. Not knowing where you are going. Not knowing if you will succeed or not. Not knowing if "it will all be worth it."
When I was younger, the thing I wanted most was TO KNOW. I loved books where a character was given her Destiny, or her Quest, and then the adventure began! I thought it mightily unfair that no one ever appeared to me and told me what my Mission was.
I had no idea that not knowing is actually a physical state that you can put yourself it, keep yourself in. That it is a place to seek out, not to avoid. When you DO NOT KNOW, you are headed out on your mission, your destiny, your quest. Otherwise, writing would just be a trip to the grocery store.
For a good post about teaching kids to be comfortable in the not knowing zone, see this one, Chase the Challenge, from the blog, Unwrapping the Gifted (part of Teacher Magazine's online content.)
10 Comments on If you could go back..., last added: 3/17/2008
This makes me think of this from Rilke, which I had to go look up, though I've practically committed it to memory:
"Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books that are now written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer."
adrienne said, on 3/11/2008 2:36:00 PM
My apprentice self needed to hear that today.
laurasalas said, on 3/12/2008 6:17:00 AM
Great post (and the one you linked to, as well)! Thanks.
Sara said, on 3/13/2008 1:59:00 PM
Thanks, you guys. I love an interesting question, and this certainly was thought-provoking. I guess I was one of those bouncy kids who loved answering questions and had my hand stuck up in the air all the time. :)
MR: I love that you have a wall of writing.
And Jules, I'm using that Rilke quote in my presentation now that you've reminded me of it. Thank you! TadMack, I'll have to figure out how to work in Being in the Wind, also. So appropriate for the breezy weather we've been having.
a. fortis said, on 3/17/2008 12:08:00 AM
I loved that Cassandra Clare interview, too. I wish I were better at the Not Knowing. One of my art professors in college once said (not to me, but to the class) "Do not be afraid to step into the void." That's one of my favorite bits of advice ever.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg?picon=848)
.jpg)
Cannot believe the weather there. Cannot believe it! That'll weed out all but the hearty Trick-or-Treating.
The first snow of the year always does seem like kind of a miracle. We haven't had ours yet, but it will be soon, I've no doubt.