Finish What You Start

On the Belbin Team Inventory, I score as the Finisher. This may be why I haven’t often fallen into the trap that snags many writers, of starting multiple projects but finishing none of them. That is, I haven’t fallen into that trap until … lately, when I’m in the middle of editing an anthology, writing a short story, submitting a novel, and still hoping to enter at least two contests, apply for a grant, and maybe write an essay or two.

So when I read these Six Tips for Finishing What You Start on Susan K. Perry’s blog (Susan is an author I “follow” on Goodreads), they resonated with me in a way they wouldn’t have in the past–especially tip number one, about keeping a schedule. I can definitely attest to the importance of keeping a schedule in finishing writing projects, and not sticking to this schedule has been my downfall in the past couple months. As a part-time freelancer, sometimes my schedule is too flexible for my own good. My writing time gets shifted around from day-to-day … and sometimes, it gets shifted right off the agenda. So here I am, once more making a renewed commitment to write first-thing in the morning, every morning. On days that I’m working from home, my day starts when I say it starts; and on days when I work at the library, I rarely have to be in before noon. So in theory, writing consistently first thing in the morning shouldn’t be hard. Except, it is hard.

It’s hard because writing at any time of day is hard. It’s hard because no one wants to start off their day doing something as grueling as writing can sometimes be. But for me, there’s something that’s even harder: writing at ANY other time of day.

When I don’t write first-thing in the morning, I have lots of excuses as to why: I needed to see if I had any assignments that were “on fire” and in need of immediate attention. I’m at a loss for inspiration and hoping that it will come to me throughout the day. But although waiting sometimes brings results, I honestly can’t feel good about my day until after I’ve worked on a writing project. So if I work on my writing first thing in the morning, I go into the rest of my day knowing that the hardest part is behind me–and feeling a weight lifted from my shoulders. And if that elusive inspiration really does strike as the day goes on, well, there’s no rule against writing twice in the same day, is there?

So now, I’m off to bed–I have to wake up early for writing tomorrow.

Snow Days and Writing

Snow days are so good for writing.

Being snowed in today reminded me of living in Duluth, and the time I was snowed in my apartment for two days in a row. My room-mate was in India, missing the only blizzard we got that year. I was working on the novel I jokingly called “Go to Hell” because it was a companion novel to one that had the word “Heaven” in the title, and because it gave me so much trouble while I was writing it. But there was something about those snow days that kept driving me to the computer again and again to get those scenes down.

Today I finally collected my 30+ poems from November, pulling them from my paperjournal, my Pictojournal, my Livejournal, and even my program for the Call to Action conference. Now I need to cull the collection down to 10 – 20 pages (currently it’s 36, but I won’t be sorry to see some of those poems go.) Here are a few that I feel more comfortable showing in the light of day now that they’ve gone through a first revision:

Tower

Did I ever tell you how happy I was in that tower?
From there I saw blue water stretch out forever—
I thought the silver moon on the black lake
Was the essence of joy.

From there I saw blue water stretch out forever—
And a narrow bed is never lonely under a full moon.
Was the essence of joy
Lining up my shoes perfectly at the door?

And a narrow bed is never lonely under a full moon,
And no one ever kicks my shoes across the floor.
Lining up my shoes perfectly at the door,
I rearranged the furniture to fill the empty places.

And no one ever kicks my shoes across the floor
When the hours stretch before me like the water below
I rearrange the furniture to fill the empty places,
And I don’t wait at windows for you anymore.

When the hours stretch before me like the water below,
I thought the silver moon on the black lake
And I don’t wait at windows for you anymore.
Did I ever tell you how happy I was in that tower?
- Nov 5, 2010

Disturb the Dandelions

Did you hear what I said
as you glanced up at TVs and waiters?
This conversation
has been choking my brain
like dandelions overrunning the lawn.
I watched them grow as I watched you shrink.

She accused me of pulling out my hair,
dropping it in the breeze like dandelion fluff
just so she could make all
those nights of crying make sense
as I kept my secrets in the room upstairs.
We can open the door to that room tonight,
even if it says
Do Not Disturb.
- Nov 30, 2010

Up to My Eyeballs

My status over at gmail, which is where I keep my “freelance/writing” account, claims that I’m “up to my eyeballs in writing projects.”

And the end of the year certainly is a busy time for writers, but now that we’re on the last day of November, I’m finally able to tick some of those items off my list.

1. NaNoWriMo. No, I didn’t participate this year. But I did spy on my friends who were participating. How did you do? And when can I read your stories?
2. The McSweeny’s Highwire Fiction Award: This is a grant given to a woman younger than 32 to work on her writing. I sent my application off the week before Thanksgiving, and it wasn’t nearly as daunting as I expected it to be. The moral? Don’t ignore opportunities because they seem hard in your mind. Try it before you decide how “hard” it is.
3. The Gotham YA Novel Discovery Contest: This contest requires only the first 250 words and title of your novel, along with a $15 entry fee. I entered it last year, but the rules didn’t say anything about not being able to enter the same novel twice. So, I did. I’m sure the first 250 words are better this time around, anyway.
4. The PAD Chapbook Challenge: I wrote 30 poems in November, y’all! Although I’ve won NaNoWriMo 3 times, this is the first time I’ve successfully completed a poetry challenge. Now I’m putting them aside as I focus on December’s projects.

Numbers 1 – 4 above ALL have November 30 deadlines. What does that mean? If you read this post immediately after it goes up, there might still be time for you!!

Now that those writing adventures are behind me, I can focus on these, in deadline order:

1. Finishing the revision on my final chapter of the YA novel, in time to turn it over to my writers’ group on December 11th.
2. Frantically spit, polish, and shine said novel between December 17 (writers’ group) and December 31 (Delacorte Press First Young Adult Novel Contest deadline).
3. Turn my attention to this jumble of 30 poems and perform same treatment on them to send them off for the January 5 PAD Chapbook Challenge deadline.
4. Prepare a curriculum for Writing for Expression, Reflection, and Legacy, a writing class I’m teaching to senior citizens this spring.
5. And after the class ends in April? There appears to be . . . a void. For now. I can’t wait to see what fills it!

I Have a Plan!

So, I’ve made my decision: I’m not going to do NaNoWriMo this year. I don’t want to abandon my revisions of ETD when I have good momentum going, especially since I want to have it ready to submit to Delacorte Press’s Young Adult Novel contest, which closes on December 31.

However, in lieu of NaNoWriMo, I’m going to participate in the November PAD Chapbook Challenge, which is akin to National Poetry Writing Month’s Poem-a-Day challenge, except . . . November’s resulting poems are eligible to be published as a chapbook. Poetry is not my strong suit, but it’s never too late to learn. And the Jan 5 Chapbook Submission Deadline will help keep me on track.

Finally, I’m also going to apply for a McSweeny’s Grant to work on my writing. So, I have October to focus on the rest of my novel revisions, November for massively producing new work, and December and January for submitting. I’m excited!

Follow-up Friday

I missed the boat on last week’s Follow-up Friday due to pulling an all-nighter on Thursday and using the remaining time after I woke up on Friday to prepare for the arrival of houseguests. You could say I finally cleared the “follow-up” list on putting the house in order, however.

This week, however, I’m back at it, pursuing the following opportunities:

• Applying for a temporary position at my local library, overseeing the library’s Teen Program
• Sending my head-hopping article off to Writers’ Journal, which expressed initial interest after I queried the editor. This is not a guaranteed sell, but it’s one more step in the right direction
• Mulling over ideas for a short story to submit to Glimmer Train’s biannual Family Matters contest

Win a Professional Novel Critique

So, I’ve come to terms with the fact that my current novel won’t, in fact, be ready this year for Delacorte Press’s Young Adult Novel Contest. I didn’t expect the plot to take such a different course during the rewrite, so I feel as though over half the novel is really still a “first draft” (a first draft with these particular plot elements, at least). I’ll have to give it at least one more good spit-and-polish before I share it with anyone.

But what if I could get a professional spit-and-polish? I AM going to enter it in Wordhustler’s Literary Storm Contest. For a $10 entry fee, you can submit the first 50 pages of your novel to judge (and literary agent) Danielle Chiotti. The winning entry will go on to a free professional critique from Joyce Sweeny. I was debating between submitting the first 50 pages of my current novel and my most recent adult novel, but both Danielle and Joyce seem partial to YA work — the head of Danielle’s agency even mentions particularly liking “real-world” novels with one “fantastic” element. I happen to have just the thing.

Writing Contests

It looks like Delacorte Press is holding their young adult novel contest this year after all. It’s a good thing I finally started writing again today.

Also, the WeBook Poetry Contest is now open for judging. I got an email from them today congratulating me on entering the contest. Just on entering! There’s a website that makes a writer feel good. Wouldn’t it be nice if everyone we submitted to congratulated us for it? If you haven’t done so already, you should get an account there so you can vote for me. Or get one so you can vote for someone else, and because it’s fun, and so you can get some easy congratulations.

If you can’t be the best, why not be the worst?

A friend recently sent me the winning entry of this year’s Bulwer-Lytton fiction contest. The contest calls for literary parodies and gives an award for the most poorly written opener to a (possibly non-existant) novel. The contest is in memory of the author who penned the immortal words, “It was a dark and stormy night.” So, without further ado, the winning gem:

“Folks say that if you listen real close at the height of the full moon, when the wind is blowin‘ off Nantucket Sound from the nor’ east and the dogs are howlin‘ for no earthly reason, you can hear the awful screams of the crew of the “Ellie May,” a sturdy whaler Captained by John McTavish; for it was on just such a night when the rum was flowin‘ and, Davey Jones be damned, big John brought his men on deck for the first of several screaming contests.”

David McKenzie
Federal Way, WA

Put Those Poems to Good Use

I just entered three of my poems from National Poetry Writing Month into WEbook‘s poetry contest. WEbook calls themselves the “American Idol” of creative writing. Essentially, it’s a vast web community of writers and readers who write, upload, read, and critique the user-generated content on the site. From time to time, WEbook publishes the projects that receive the best reviews.

I signed up for my WEbook account months ago, but I’ve only started poking around there recently.  Submissions for the poetry project opened on June 15 and will close on August 1, when the voting will begin. That means I submitted my poems relatively early — yet, they still were plopped at the end of a LONG line (23 pages) of already-submitted poetry. My hunch is that the earlier you submit, the better, because there are going to be LOTS of poems to peruse, and probably many voters who won’t keep reading till the end. But there’s still plenty of time for you to throw your own poetry into the ring!

Even if the poetry contest isn’t your thing, WEbook seems like a useful place to get diverse feedback on your work, which could be especially helpful for writers without writers groups. It also seems like a place that could swallow you up and take hours of your precious writing or working time . . . which is why I’ve resisted the urge to go there often. But it may be just what the doctor ordered for anyone with a boring sit-at-the-computer-jobs that allow for daily, web-surfing.

Last minute markets: Scripts and Poetry

In honor of ScriptFrenzy and NaPoWriMo, here are a couple last-minute markets for scripts and poems.

Scriptapalooza

fee: $45, prize see below, Deadline is April 15th, 2009

Must be 18 or older to enter. Any genre will be considered.

Multiple submissions are accepted, but one application form and entry fee must be attached to each entry.

Each submission must include the following:
- The completed entry form
- The appropriate entry fee
- The completed feature screenplay

Scripts must be in English, between 80 and 140 pages long. Pages must be numbered on standard format paper bound with two or three brads.

Winners receive a cash prize and possible agency representation.send: Complete MS

looking for: Screenplay

Marsh Hawk Press Poetry Prize

fee: $20, word count: 48-70 pages, prize $1000, Deadline is April 30th, 2009

Submit a manuscript of 48-70 pages of original poetry in any style in English. The manuscript must not have been published previously in book form, although individual poems appearing in print or on the web are permitted. Entries may consist of individual poems, or a book-length poem—or any combination of long or short poems.

Submitted manuscript must contain 2 title pages: Name and contact information should appear on first title page only. Name should not appear anywhere else in the manuscript.

Manuscript should be typed, single-spaced, paginated, and, if sending by regular mail, bound with a spring clip.

Include a table of contents page and an acknowledgements page for magazine or anthology publications.

Enclose an SASE for announcement of the winner. (If submitting electronically a receipt will be emailed to you immediately after a successful upload of your manuscript.)

Manuscript cannot be returned.

Postmark deadline: April 30, 2009.

If submitting by regular mail include a check or money order for $20 entry fee, payable to MARSH HAWK PRESS.send: Complete MS

looking for: Poetry

AND I tried to embed the nifty WordHustler “Submit to This Market” widgets and couldn’t for the life of me get them to work. This is not the first time trying to embed html in WordPress has gone awry, so if anyone has tips, I’d love to hear them! (And yes, I DID switch to HTML version to embed the code).