My Smart

I love that I am able to write well.  A lot of people talk about how much they love to read – and I do love that too – but there is no better feeling than being able to craft effective sentences and to insert your own sense of style.

 I wrote an email to the English department today during my break period, and I got to use a whole mess of fifty-cent words:

 preclude

endeavor

inclusion

antithetical

capacity

procrastinators (why dies this end in –ors when other words <such as thinkers and doers and writers> end in –ers?  What came up with the rules for this screwy language anyhow?)

discretion

ideally

maddening

ramblings

legacy

 

I mean, I know others know these words and use them, but it just EXCITES ME to be able to put sentences together so well.

 I know, it’s silly.

But as I was writing this email, I kept thinking that teachers could use it as a great example of style and voice: 

 I merged big words with a casual style. 

I threw in the odd phrasing to offset the big words. (Example, I suggested that teachers “back-burner” an idea.) 

I used red and bold to be sure my important ideas stood out. 

I used intentional sentence fragments.

I used dashes as hyper-commas, to set off a non-essential clause

I used semicolons in a series because I also used parenthetic asides within that list

I used parentheses effectively to add information that was needed but not vital

I used sentence fragment to reinforce an idea.  Two in a row, actually.

I wrote a sentence that was 40 words long.  You’d never know unless you counted

I used ellipses to determine pacing and set up a sense of irony.

I used a question to indicate dismay.

I used a numbered list to outline what I needed my readers to do.

I used brackets to offset a parenthetical comment within a parenthetical comment

I varied short sentences with long sentences to please the mental ear

I used a beautifully-placed colon to show that my second sentence clearly reinforced and developed the one that came before

I ended with a pun

 

As I said, I know it’s silly.  But to me, this is like posting a picture of myself being pretty and making duck lips at the camera.  But instead of showing you my pretty, I am showing you my smart.

Application Submitted

I typed out my letter and had a couple friends proofread it for me, I made a few changes here and there, and I showed it to my current principal today to see what she thought. My concern was that I had not written a properly professional "cover letter" but a somewhat more casual sales pitch (from lack of a better word).  As I think I said yesterday, I know this principal to some extent and he knows me; so we aren't strangers, and I decided to approach him somewhat more as if I were selling him something he needed (i.e. me) than as if this were a cold call to determine interest.

Anyhow, my current principal told me she thought it was perfect, so I went back to my classroom and fixed a small typo that I had seen and then sent it to him via email.

 And now I wait...

Seeking a New Position

For some reason known only to the administration, I am teaching remedial reading this year. This is after three very successful years of teaching English II Honors. Now I'm a company man and I believe they had a reason for asking me to do this, but to tell you the truth this just is not a good mix. One of the reasons I'm such an effective teacher that I can serve as a model for my students. In my honors classes, this was because I was a college teacher and could give them advice for going to college as well as improving their English skills. It didn't matter that I was in a wheelchair or that I was overweight – in fact, I was able to use those negative characteristics as positive traits, the fact that I was as successful as I was despite my hindrances. But in a reading class, I don't project any sort of success – "Hey, kids, I'm a great reader. See my wheelchair and my extra weight? That's because I read so much!"  It just doesn't have any effect.

So at the beginning of this year, I decided that I would try to get a teaching position at the performing arts school which is connected to the high school at which I teach. The person who was the principal for the past three years had left (I never really got a good feeling about him), and I knew that they had built a Creative Writing lab a couple years ago but that they had not staffed the position. My understanding is that they were not allocated the funds to open that unit. But I figured, nothing ventured, nothing gained – I would wait until November or so and then contact the new principal to ask what needed to be done to get that program underway.I have not yet done anything about that – it still only October – but yesterday my beloved principal told us that she had applied for a county position and might be leaving us.I went by her office after school today, told her my intentions, and asked if she would give the principal at that school a glowing recommendation of me. She said that she certainly was, and she informed me that the SAC meeting the previous week the arts school had been given the opportunity to open that unit in creative writing. So the stars are aligning and the time is right.

I am writing a letter to him right now, indicating my interest in this position and trying to convince them that I am the right person for this job. I am at a bit of a crossroads, however.  This is essentially a cover letter for a resume, so my natural instinct tells me to be very formal. But this is an arts school, so my other instincts are telling me to be creative. I also know the principal – not close and personal, but we have talked before and he knows my name - so I just don't know which way to go.

NaNoWriMo 2013

Ha!
Wow, that was incredibly successful.
So here it is two years and ten months later.  Did I get published in 2011?  No.  2012?  No.  2013?  Not yet.  Have I tried to get published in 2013?  No.  Am I therefore going to get published in 2013?  No.
Well done, Stanton.
So what am I even doing here?
Well, see, there's the story.
I wanted to start a writing blog.  Again.  I wanted to start a writing blog again.  Like I did here, 34 months ago.  But it's just about NaNoWriMo time, and I thought I might go ahead and get serious about my writing.  First step (I thought), a blog.
I wanted to use WordPress, but at the beginning of last school year I set up a wordpress site for my teaching that the students could subscribe to and get updates on ... and since I want to be a serious writer who can say cuss words and write sex scenes and stuff, I can't use that address -- and that is the address with my name in the address. 
My, that was confusing.
Anyhow, I thought about which other blogging software there was. I have a LiveJournal that I've kept for about thirteen years, but I didn't want to use that address and I didn't want to start a new LiveJournal. I don't think anybody uses LiveJournal anymore. So I thought I'd try out Blogger, which I've used before for college and which I totally forgot I had.  So when I got here, it signed me in automatically, and here I am, ready to try again.

I was going to skip NaNoWriMo this year. I tried last year and added on 20,000 words to my previously started novel and then got to a point where I didn't know how it was going to end. I don't think there is an end to this novel, not one that doesn't end in an arrest. And that's not how this novel is supposed to end. I don't think I did NaNoWriMo the year before; maybe I did. I can't remember. I know I didn't win – I have not yet finished a NaNoWriMo.

So I was going to quit, or at least take a break this year from it. I don't have a writing class; in fact, I don't have an honors level English classes. I'm teaching remedial reading, and it's not as if I'm going to inspire any of those children to write a 50,000-word novel. They could, if they wanted to. But they won't put forth the effort. Maybe I'm negative about this, but I think I know my population pretty well.

And then a new teacher to the school – the new yearbook teacher – put out an email to the school about NaNoWriMo.  I sent her an email back expressing my surprise that we had never met as we were obviously both writers. We talked on email back and forth a bit (I can't get to her classroom because she's upstairs) and we decided that she would promote NaNoWriMo in her classes and that I would hold support sessions on Friday after school. I think the chance to sit down with other writers going through this experience might help those who are trying to write their novels. So I'm going to invite people after school on Fridays for about an hour to talk about what's going on, to get some encouragement and support, and hear what other people are going through so that we know we are not alone. I've actually tried this before the past, but I've never had more than three people at any one time. We'll see what happens.

As for myself, I have a new program called Dragon dictation that I got for my birthday that lets me talk instead of type. I am a very good talker. Much better than I am a typer – my fingers get cramped and tired. So the plan is, either before Diana gets home or after she had gone to bed, I'm going to try to talk 2000 words a day into my computer. We'll see how that goes.

Another Author's Process

This is the response from Kevin J. Anderson, who wrote (what I am pretty sure was) the first Star Wars trilogy of novels back in 1994. I asked, you may recall, for authors I had contact with via Facebook to describe to me their writing process:

My writing is usually done with a digital recorder while I'm out hiking, and the files are transcribed by my typist. I then edit everything online in my office with loud music blasting...but as often as possible I head off to a cabin somewhere so I can work without interruption.

check out my blog, kjablog.com -- I have a lot of entries there describing various aspects of my process, as well as advice.

This is the first person I have heard who desribes using a recorder and a typist -- how cool is that?!?

I went to check out his blog and was excited to see that he had taken time to present eleven entries about advice for new writers, to "help you get more time for writing, and to produce more writing when you do have time." Definitely worth the reading!

Weekend Weariness

Today, I graded papers all day.  It's what a teacher has to do sometimes.  I got up about 9:30, graded papers all morning, took a nap for a couple hours in the early afternoon, woke up feeling sick, graded more papers, and decided I was taking tomorrow off.  I am planning to sleep and sleep, maybe get some orange juice and chicken soup in my system.  I'm sure this will pass in a day or two.

I didn't update yesterday; we had to take the dogs to the vet -- the old man is just old, and the new puppy is just new, neither was sick -- and so spent all day in town.  When we got home, I finally got my wife to sit still long enough to watch Inception -- I swear, that is an incredibly well-done movie.  A little too violent in places, at least for me as a writer, but so thought-provoking and interesting.

Although I have not written anything for here, I have read the last few months' Writer's Digest magazines and finished the first of Stephen King's four new novellas, "1922," from his book Full Dark, No Stars.  I have a new appreciation for him after reading (and re-reading, and teaching) <i>On Writing</i>, and he is just masterful at creating and maintaining suspense.  I hated every time I had to put the book down and do anything else.  The next story is "Big Driver," but I am giving myself a day away so I can hit it fresh again.

Black Swan

Friday was supposed to be my Dungeons & Dragons night, but two of the players called off.  So Colin -- the DM -- and I decided to get some dinner, play some trivia, and finally decided to go see a movie.

As we sat at a high table in the bar area of Buffalo Wild Wings, we discussed what else to do that night.  We had already eaten, and he had already beaten me at every trivia game we had played in the last couple hours, so we talked about going to see a movie.  Both of us are married men, so we don't tend to go see movies very often -- our wives do not have the same sensibilities that we do when it comes to cinema.  I pulled out my iPhone and called up the Flixter app to see what movies were playing and at what time.

First on the alphabetical listing for the nearest movieplex: Black Swan.  "I heard that was supposed to be really good," he said.

"A couple of my students said it was really scary."  My classes are half-filled with students who attend a school for the arts as part of their studies, and I have many dancers.  "They said it was good, but they thought it was pretty intense."  I flipped the screen downward with my index finger, reading off some other titles that neither of us was much interested in.  Toward the end, though, was our winner: "True Grit?"

"The Coen Brothers," he nodded approvingly.

"I rented the John Wayne version from Redbox a couple weeks ago, thinking I might like to see this version.  Sound good to you?"

He answered in his best John Wayne drawl: "Sounds right fine, little fella."

"I'd never seen a John Wayne movie before that one," I said. 

"He won an Oscar for that movie, didn't he?"

I nodded.  "Rooster Cogburn.  I think I remember seeing that this was his only award."

Colin signed his credit slip and polished off his Black and Tan.  "So, True Grit?" he asked.

"Either that or Black Swan," I replied.  "But True Grit starts about 20 minutes earlier, so why don't we go see that?"

"Sounds good," he said.  We pushed in our stools and started toward the exit.

"Probably better for us," I said with half a smile.  "Two men going to see a Western makes more sense that two men going to see a ballet."

We decided to just take my car rather than both driving, and we managed to get a decent parking space for a Friday night.  We both grumbled (as only men of our generation can) about the absurd cost of movie tickets.  Colin tried to use his student ID ("I always carry it," he explained.  "You never know.  And I might get that PhD someday.") but the theatre had changed its policy and only offered special student rates on Thursdays. 

He bought his ticket and stepped aside, and I bought mine.  I looked at the ticket.  "Damn," I muttered.

"What's wrong?"

"Theatre 13," I answered.  I didn't realize at the time that he thought I had suddenly turned superstitous, but all he did was sagely nod as if he got it and followed me as I walked to the customer service desk.

The Regency 20 Theatre used to be called the Regency 8.  About twenty years ago, they added twelve new state-of-the-art theatres with better screens, better sound, and -- most important -- better seats.  I am a very large man, and although I *can* sit in the regular seats, it is not at all comfortable.  Getting up after two hours of movie watching is also difficult, and I just didn't want to embarrassment of having to ask him to help me up or to stand and watch as I got myself out of that predicament. 

"Hi," I said brightly to the disaffected teenager who had been left in charge of the customer service desk.  "Is theatre 13 one of the old theatres?"

"Yeah."

"Which theatre is Black Swan playing in?"

He looked it up on his computer.  "Ten."

I looked at Colin.  "You said Black Swan was okay.  Is it still?"

"Sure, no problem."

I turned back to the kid.  "Can we change theatres, please?  I have trouble sitting in those old theatre seats."

He effected the transaction deftly and daftly, making no effort at customer relations other than the mere requirements of his job.  (I mean, really, is a polite smile too much to ask?)

So my friend Colin and I found our way to the theatre and got what I always called "The Captain Seats": not too high up, and dead center.  We talked about movie recommendations for each other until the previews started, and then we lost ourselves in the movie.

I do not want to give anything away, but when we left the movie we were both overwhelmed with questions and discussion topics.  We answered one way and then the other and never did come to a satisfactory consensus on several important questions.  I do not think I will ever watch the movie again -- it is probably better as a one-and-done than weakening its majesty with repeated viewings -- but I am glad we went to see it.

Someday, I want to write like that.

Another Author Describes Her Process

Another author I contacted with my question about process wrote quite a bit and posted it as a note to her own Facebook.


E Rose Sabin (http://www.erosesabin.com/): I've been asked about my writing process. Writing process?? That sounds so, well, organized! I'm not a very organized person. But here's what I can say about the way I write.

Every writer has to find what works best for him or her. There's no magic formula that is a key to success. I have many writer friends, and we all work differently. Naturally, since our circumstances are different, as are our personalities. I'm a retired teacher and live alone. That means I can set my own hours and don't have to squeeze writing in around a day job as many writers do. That's fortunate, but it also means I tend to get lazy. When I was working and had less time for writing I probably got just as much writing done because I had to be more disciplined. Also I don't have to conform my schedule to anyone else's. That said, though, I also don't have anyone else around to help with housework or yard work, so either I do it myself or it doesn't get done. All too often, it doesn't get done, but some things I can't ignore or put off and have to do even though I'd rather be writing. (I'd always rather be writing.)

I'm not a morning person--never have been. I sleep late, eat a leisurely breakfast, read the newspaper or at least part of it, wash the breakfast dishes, do laundry when required, and then go to my computer. I check my email, glance over the posts on Facebook, etc. and then, finally, pull up Word and get to work. Because I eat a late breakfast, I don't eat lunch, so I write until time to feed the dogs, go back to writing after I do that, and keep going until somewhere between 7:30 and 9:00, when I stop and eat supper and only rarely go back to writing after supper.

I don't outline or plan a lot ahead when I write. I know some writers outline meticulously before they begin the first draft of a novel. I do have to outline a short story, but I don't outline novels. I have a vague idea of how the novel will progress and how it will end, but it often surprises me and takes off in a totally different direction. Frequently the way it ends is not at all the way I expected it to end when I started out. Only rarely do I know almost from the beginning exactly how it must end. I know that sounds very odd to many people, and I'm always relieved and thrilled when I find other writers who work that way, as it reassures me that I'm not a complete oddball.

What I do do is develop my principal characters as thoroughly as possible. I know their backgrounds, their history, their fears, their hopes and aspirations, their likes and dislikes. Only a small part of what I know about them actually gets into the novel except in the sense that it colors everything the character does. That knowledge is what guides the plot and determines the course the character will take, which in turn leads to the climactic scene and the novel's ending. The conclusion of the novel has to grow naturally out of the characters' actions, attitudes, and aspirations.

That sounds so neat and easy, but it isn't. I always have to do a great deal of rewriting and often have to go back and eliminate scenes or chapters because I've gotten off track and the story stops working. And usually I find that it's because the characters aren't being true to themselves. I have to review all I know about them, put myself in their place, and say, Okay, what would she or he logically do in this case? Sometimes I get stuck and have to put the work aside and work on something else for a while until I work through whatever stopped me.

Since I write fantasy, I also always have to do a good bit of world building. That is much harder for me than developing character backgrounds and histories. It's a real challenge, because it all has to make sense; has to have an internal logic.

I think this note is becoming too long and I should probably stop and get back to work on my novel. If anyone is interested, I'll go more into the world-building aspects in another note on another day. If anyone has any specific questions, I'll do my best to answer.

And for you writers, you might comment on your writing process, how it differs from mine, what you agree with and what you disagree with, etc.

The Job Gets in the Way

I am a high school teacher, and sometimes the job gets in the way of my creativity. I do not know how to keep this from happening. Today, for instance: my goal was to read at least three of the articles and/or interviews in The Poet's Market and to comment on what I gleaned from those readings, but because I had to spend several hours grading essays I simply don't have the steam to do that anymore. How do new writers manipulate their time to allow them to write in amidst whatever other responsibilities they have?


I sent this inquiry to the published authors I have on Facebook: "I wonder if you'd be willing to briefly describe your writing process for those of us who have some idea of someday trying to become writers in our own right. By "process," I mean when do you write, and where -- do you have anything specifically atmospheric (e.g. music, incense, some sort of omnipresent artifact) that you use consistently?"


So far, three of them have answered.


Lakisha Spletzer (http://www.kishazworld.com/): My writing process is a little on the disorganized side. But when I do focus, it goes something like this:

I write either at night when my kids are asleep or in the parent drop-off/pick-up line at the school when school is in session.

I do listen to music and lately it's been a lot of Adam Lambert and love songs. I actually went and created playlists for each of my series's websites that is unique to that series that I listen to at home when I write at night.

I can write in noise and I can write in quiet. It's really, for me at least, a matter of focus. If I'm not focuse, I can't write well. I also have to be in a certain mood to do certain stories. Depending on the story I have characters that can be difficult if they don't get my complete undivided attention. Others are not as difficult and I can get in their heads without much fuss.

My suggestion is to find something that works for you and be consistent, if possible. But also be flexible too.


Richard Lee Byers (http://www.richardleebyers.com/): I work every day Monday through Friday and write a certain number of new words each day. Exactly how many depends on how long the current project is supposed to be and when the deadline is. 1500 new words a day is a good quota for me, although I can do more if I push and have done less when I could get away with going easy on myself.

I start in the morning, break for lunch, and finish afterward. I go for as many hours as it takes to get my quota written.

I begin my writing day by reviewing, revising, and polishing the past couple days' work. Not only is this worth doing for its own sake, it helps me get in the writing groove, so when it's time to start writing new words, they flow a little easier.

I always write on the computer, never with pencil and paper or anything like that. My bedroom is also my workroom, and has a desk for the computer, a good office chair, and shelves for the reference books I use. I don't play any music. I need it quiet. I have hearing protectors like you wear on the shooting range to block out noise when the other people in the house are making enough to distract me.

I don't burn incense or have any sort of special talisman other than the computer. Now that you've mentioned it, I kind of wish I did have a talisman. Maybe it would help.


Mark Evanier (http://newsfromme.com/): Well, there are two answers to this. In one, I'm writing all my waking hours and even an occasional moment asleep. Whatever I'm going to write is always buzzing around in there somewhere and I'm getting ideas and filing them away for possible or probable usage, particularly on what I hope to complete in the next few days. But that's probably not the kind of answer you want.

To the extent it's possible, I get up and write all morning and all afternoon and all evening, way into the early morning hours. That's the default and everything else I do — going to a show, dining with friends, going in to direct a cartoon voice session, pausing for a nap, tidying up the kitchen, etc. — is subtracted from that. My natural habitat is here in front of this computer...or over in front of the back-up computer in my office...or if travelling, working on my laptop. For certain projects (poems, lyrics, sometimes comic books), I'll utilize a pad of paper with one of those old-fashioned things they call a pencil. (You can Google the word to find out what that is.) Before the Internet, I liked having nearby but did not absolutely require a small shelf of certain books— dictionary, thesaurus, rhyming dictionary, an almanac full of useful lists and info, etc. Now, Google and a few programs on my computer have replaced the books.

Depending on whether I'm in the mood where it will focus my concentration or impede it, I may or may not have the TV or some audio source on...a podcast, say. On a whim, I may turn it off and on or pause it or jump from one show to another. I usually leave those things off when someone else is in the room because it would drive them nuts to have it turned on and off and on and off the way I'm wont to do. Not much else seems to matter much. There's no omnipresent artifact and I'd rather smell bat guano than incense. The main thing is not to be distracted, which is why my most productive hours are late when the phone is less likely to ring. Regardless of when they're time-stamped on the website here, most of my longer postings are composed either first thing in the morning (when I'm warming up) or just before bed (when I'm winding down). This one was warming up.

I write in quick spurts and if it's going too slowly, I become suspect of what I'm writing and I go back and find things to change. Between spurts, I'll take a walk, get a snack, surf the web, go check for mail....things like that. Other than that, its pretty simple. I sit and write. I know writers who have to have the chair a certain height, have to have water to their left in a certain kind of mug, have to have the room at exactly 71.3°. Not me. I think I was inspired by my friend Sergio Aragonés after seeing him draw the most incredible cartoons on the fold-down table on an airplane or on any kind of desk or surface in a hotel room. He doesn't let not having the ideal working conditions stop him from getting his work done and I decided I shouldn't, either. What I write may not be Aristophanes — in fact, I have this nagging sense it isn't — so the least I can do is to get it done.

But that's about it. Whilst teaching, I told my students at U.S.C., "The secret of writing is to write. Stop inventing excuses not to write. Put all that inventiveness into writing." I'm hardly the first person to offer that advice. I think most writers who've had success by any measure or standard have learned this. "I can't work without my favorite sweater" is not a quirk or a superstition or a cute eccentricity. It's a means of avoidance, probably due to fear. A wee bit of fear and avoidance can be a good thing if it stops you from charging into the wrong battle or the right one before you're ready. But when it keeps you from writing at all, that's just you planting land mines in your own life.

As for me, I am still constructing my environment. I know I tend to write better away from home (and therefore away from distractions), but I rarely make the time to travel anywhere for the purpose of writing. When I was younger, I wrote quite a bit at Chuck E Cheese's, but I haven't been there in years. You know, for the most part I just write at a table in the middle of the house -- usually my dining room table but I also have a table I can use to use the computer while I am sitting on the couch (which is where I am now). Time of day doesn't matter, but I am great at burning the midnight oil and writing until 3 or 4 in the morning. Less distractions, I suppose. I prefer no music, but I usually have the television on for noise. And I am still waiting for an artifact to take on symbolic meaning: I know I will have one, but I do not know what it will be.

Rebirth

I am resolved to be published this year, or at least to make all reasonable efforts to do so. This blog, for the foreseeable future, will be about my pursuit of that goal.

Today, I took advantage of Border's 50% coupon and bought myself the 2011 Poet's Market. I figure if I am going to start anywhere, that's a good place. Last year I set myself a goal that I would write a poem a day, every day of the year. I was not successful in that pursuit, but extremely successful in writing 230 poems. Of those, I believe at least half are of better-than-average quality, which means that I have at least 100 poems quite possibly ready to be submitted. I understand that poetry is something you do out of the love of writing and that I will not become rich based solely on my poetry, but it is a window to the bigger world of publishing.

One of the articles I read in PM suggested establishing an online presence through a blog as well as social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. This is not as a place to publish written works so much as it is a means by which to attract and audience and to give them the opportunity to get to know more about you. I can use the Internet as a networking tool in this way.

So a goal I have for myself here is to be interesting enough for people to want to read what I am writing. I do not know if LiveJournal is the best venue for this; its popularity has diminished somewhat in the years I have kept blogs, and it seems more writers are drawn to Blogger. I have never been able to figure out how to subscribe to friends' blogs via that site, however, whereas here on LiveJournal it's as easy as a click or two.

So, if you decide to follow me here, you may be witness to the next step in my evolution as a writer. You may be privy to details of when and where I am getting published and how that event came to transpire. You may be part of the support system in place to motivate me on to success beyond my dreams.

If nothing else, you can giggle behind my back as I crash and burn.