Category: Inspiration

Fight (and Write) Like a Girl

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Last night I went to Boston GLOW’s Fight Like a Girl! author panel, and it was awesome!

The MG panel–Lynda Mullaly Hunt, Padma Venkatraman, Erin Dionne, Jennifer Carson, and Ellen Booraem

Techincally, there were two panels–one for middle grade authors and one for YA authors. Even though you could have just attended one or the other, I was glad to see both. Panelists tackled different issues, like how setting was used or how the line between weakness and strength is blurred or how reading allows for greater empathy. It was inspiring to hear so many fantastic MG/YA authors talk about their work, and to hear about an organization dedicated to helping women become active leaders in their communities and the world.

The conversation got me thinking about the different ways in which my characters are strong and weak, and how these qualities are manifested b their actions.

Other fun stuff:

  • Hearing about people’s inner nerdiness.
  • My new Fight Like a Girl t-shirt.
  • Meeting new writer friends, seeing old writer friends get to be friends.
  • Being prompted to ask my question in the YA Q&A session (since I tend to freak out about raising my hand).
  • Swag bags.
  • Hearing about Boston GLOW’s 2013 IGNITE Change Leadership Contest.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this event so inspiring and so much fun! I’m feeling stronger already.

Take a Deep Breath and Take Your Time

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Love this post at YA Highway about taking care of yourself in the stressful world of writing. Among other things, Kirsten Hubbard reminds us that we should give ourselves permission:

. . . to take your time.

As writers, we’re so aware of time. How much time we have to write each day. How long it’ll take to finish a book and revise it. To get an agent. To sell to a publisher. And after that, there’s contracts, editing, promotion, and (a million light years away) release.

Everything takes so damned long! As a result, we often fall victim to this relentless urge to hurry hurry hurry – because somebody will write our idea, or we won’t have a 2013 book out, or we’ll turn 18 or 30 or 45, or a million other arbitrary things. On good days, that hurry hurry hurry refrain lights a fire under our butts. But it’s also really freaking stressful. And stress doesn’t result in our best books – or happiness in general.

As long as you keep writing regularly, give yourself permission to take your time. It’ll take how long it takes. And however long that is – it’s okay.

In moves, books get written in the time it takes to show a montage. There’s no editing required. People are super successful published authors by the time they’re 18. That’s totally unrealistic! The writing and publishing process takes a long time. And most people don’t understand that. They’ll ask when you’ll be done with your novel/get an agent/get published. Mostly this is just from excitement, but it can induce a lot of unnecessary pressure. (As if you’re not already beating yourself up about that stuff, right?) I love Kirsten’s suggestion to take your time. Rushing the journey doesn’t help and only needs to stress.

Make sure to check out the rest of the list for more ways you can give yourself permission in your writing career. I’m feeling more relaxed already!

Try to Praise the Mutilated World

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I find it strange to talk about September 11th because, unlike so many people in New York or Washington or Pennsylvania, my life wasn’t dramatically affected that day. Whenever this day comes up, or the anniversary of any other tragic event, I turn to this poem by Adam Zagajewski:

Try to praise the mutilated world.

Remember June’s long days,
and wild strawberries, drops of wine, the dew.
The nettles that methodically overgrow
the abandoned homesteads of exiles.
You must praise the mutilated world.
You watched the stylish yachts and ships;
one of them had a long trip ahead of it,
while salty oblivion awaited others.
You’ve seen the refugees heading nowhere,
you’ve heard the executioners sing joyfully.
You should praise the mutilated world.
Remember the moments when we were together
in a white room and the curtain fluttered.
Return in thought to the concert where music flared.
You gathered acorns in the park in autumn
and leaves eddied over the earth’s scars.
Praise the mutilated world
and the gray feather a thrush lost,
and the gentle light that strays and vanishes
and returns.

—Adam Zagajewski

(Translated, from the Polish, by Clare Cavanagh.)

It was published in the September 42, 2001 issue of The New Yorker. Click through for more poetry in response to that day.

May the Words Be Ever in Your Favor

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Another reason to pay attention in school–you could get ideas for your own bestselling dystopian YA series. The Oxford Dictionaries looks at the language of The Hunger Games. They point out how Panem is a take “panem et circenses,” a reference by Roman poet Juvenal to Ancient Roman society. Another part I liked in particular:

“Like many fantasy writers, Collins has invented some new vocabulary of her own. Anavox is akin to a slave – someone who has been punished for a ‘crime’ and thereby made a mute servant. Her reason for choosing this word is simple: the Greek prefix ‘a’ means ‘without’ and the Latin ‘vox’ means ‘voice’ so avox literally means ‘without voice’.”

When I was in sixth grade, I was so mad at my parents for signing me up for Latin class. But apparently they–and Suzanne Collins–were onto something. From real history to bits of inspired Latin, a little knowledge can really inspire your book.

(image: NYPL Digital Gallery)

Writing for the End

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This week, Writerly Life’s Tip Tuesday suggests how the ending can push your writing forward through a rough middle slog:

“Don’t think about the middle or all the small wearying intervening scenes you have to write. Instead, allow yourself to picture the very ending. Get a clear image of the last scene, the final message you want to send; if you can, try to picture even the final image. Where is your character? What has been accomplished? Who is your character with? Who is he or she thinking of in his or her last thought?”

Just like picturing the finish line during a race or imagining a new, unpacked apartment while you’re surrounded by boxes and chaos (guess what I’m doing this week), imagining the end of your book while you’re in the middle can be a big boost. You want to make it to the end. You want to be in that last moment when your readers think “Oh my gosh, best book ever!”

Still, I think it’s okay to be imagining your ending while you’re in the middle and still allow the ending to change once you get there. I had an image in mind for the end of Queen of the Air that didn’t get used at all, but the vibe was still the same. Sometimes stories take you in a different direction than you expected. Heck, even JK Rowling changed her ending slightly after she told the world that the last word of the Harry Potter series would be “scar.” If Rowling can do it, so can you.

You Could Describe My Writing Style as Cat-like

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Love Julie True Kingsley’s post about her writing process is like her battle against the corn meal moths. She describes her writing process as having a lot of intensity and fervor, but can be frenzied. She also looks at more meticulous and steady approaches, like how Jo Knowles described how her writing process is like running.

That, of course, got me thinking about my own writing style. I don’t think I’m as enthusiastic as Julie and I’m not as focused as Jo. Probably not surprisingly, I turned to adorable animal videos for my answer. Then it hit me.

I’m like Maru.

In particular, this video of Maru:

Maru circles the box. He’s uncertain about this box at first. Then Maru can’t get enough.

Like Maru, sometimes I need to circle an idea for a while. I don’t tend to talk about my works-in-progress a lot. Sometimes I get nervous about starting to write and actually sitting at the desk, and will avoid it. But once I’m there I love it. I end up wishing I could do it all day. I am totally Maru jumping into the box.

What’s your writing style like?

Also, if you haven’t seen any of Maru’s videos, check them out. Maru’s hilarious.

Love Those Love Lists: Road Trip Wednesday

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I don’t tend to take part in a lot of weekly activities, but this week’s Road Trip Wednesday on YA Highway is too awesome to pass up.

Inspired by Stephanie Perkins’ post on Natalie Whipple’s blog, what is your novel’s “Love List”?

From Stephanie Perkin’s original post about Love Lists:

“Whenever I begin a new project, I also begin a list called “What I Love About This Story.” I start by writing down those first ideas that sparked the fires of my mind, and then I add more ideas to it as I discover them during my push through early drafts….I use this love-list as a touchstone to remind myself during the hard times why my story is worthwhile. It’s easy to forget the GOOD STUFF when I’m wading through the muck, and the end is still months away, and it feels pointless and hopeless to continue. This list becomes a crucial reminder: Yes! This is a story worth telling! If I saw this sitting on a shelf, I would want to read it!”

Such a great idea! What a great way to keep yourself going, and to have a point of reference for all the stuff in your story you’re working toward or focusing on. My current project’s love list so far:

  • haiku
  • humor
  • concerts
  • Judaism
  • pie
  • grocery carts
  • tradition and identity
  • Bat Mitzvah
  • poseurs

Make sure to check out the comments in YA Highway’s post, because people link to their own love lists. Share yours, too!

Find Your Passion

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Kind of in love with artist Lisa Congdon’s work. Her series of quotes is fantastic, too. I especially like this one:

Good advice for pretty much anyone. Work like writing can be hard, especially when there’s a lot of rejection involved. Staying tremendously interested in stories can help you move forward through those hard times in your writing career.

It doesn’t look like this image is up on her Etsy site (yet?) but I’d love to have a print and hang it above my desk. Great writing inspiration!

(image: Julia Congdon)(via A Beautiful Mess)

Quote of the Day

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“Storytelling makes us more alive, more human, more courageous, more loving. Why does anybody tell a story? It does indeed have something to do with faith, faith that the universe has meaning, that our little human lives are not irrelevant, that what we choose or say or do matters, matters cosmically. It is we humans who either help bring about, or hinder the coming of the kingdom. We look around us, and it is a complex world, full of incomprehensible greed…irrationality, brutality, war, terrorism–but also self-sacrifice, honor, dignity–and in all of this we look for, and usually find, pattern, structure, meaning. Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.”–Madeleine L’Engle

From Madeleine L’Engle Herself: Reflections on a Writing Life. This idea of writing as a way of expressing hope for humanity and finding meaning in the chaos reminds me of Faulkner’s Nobel Prize acceptance speech.