Darcy Pattison Reading

But what if there’s nothing going in? I’ve been reading less lately and it shows in less coming out. Well, that’s not strictly true. I’ve been reading, but mostly internet articles, websites, blogs–not books. This week, though,I’ve read two novels and have a stack of a couple more to read. It’s a breath of fresh air, a coming home that I didn’t know I needed to do.

Why did I leave? I’ve been swept up in the online world for a bit this year. It’s a vast, uncharted world of opinion, with bright spots of voice and humor. Reading around has been interesting, but even here, my habits were shallow, skimming and not staying for a long time on any site.

But this week, I read two novels and was swept away in Story, falling in love again with the language, characters, events,with the way you get lost in the flow of a story. Hours pass, as you travel, meet new people, feel strange emotions, live in the moment of Story. I read Eva Ibbotson’s fantasy middle grade novel, The Secrets of Platform 13. Then I jumped to an adult mystery with Look Again, by Lisa Scottoline. In line next is an adult fantasy novel, and waiting in the corner is a fantastic new bookstore I’ve just discovered. Meanwhile, I’ve stood in B&N and read through board book after board book, in search of the special ones to give to my new grandson for Christmas. From short to long, baby audience to adult, I am devouring Story.

I am gearing up to write and write and write a new story in January. And this is the right preparation: read and read and read. Literature in, literature out.

What books are you currently reading? What are you giving for Christmas presents?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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I’m grouchy.
I just bought a week’s pass at the Medical Center parking deck.
My MIL has been sick, in and out of ICU, finally back to a rehab place, but in ER twice this week. Probably will go back before the end of the week, hence the week’s pass.

Writing?
Yes and no.
When life gives you lemons make lemonade?
Yes and no.

In the midst of life, in all its glory and despair, how do writers write?
Set small goals. I’ve tried to do small things while I’m at the hospital. They DO have great internet connections, so I’ve answered email, read blogs, done research on issues for a story.

Edit. I find it easier to edit something for grammar. So many comings and goings of medical staff, it’s hard to concentrate on substantive revisions. But I can edit a paragraph, stop, then pick it back up easily.

Allow yourself NOT to write. Some of that has happened this month, too. It’s okay to not write for a day, if life is pressing.

Get time away. It also helped to just leave town for three days, leaving things in the capable hands of other family members. I rested, I thought about a project for an hour straight–maybe more, and I worked, at a hotel, at a coffee shop. Had long hours to think and work! Sent out a mss. Came back refreshed and ready for the hospital again.

At least school visits are over, and I have no speaking things for a month or so. Writing and life–somehow, we manage both of these, don’t we?

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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I’ve started my new novel. 443 words!
But, life is already intruding. How dare it?
Family health issues (MIL in hospital), news of great joy (too early to be public about these), events that require massive amounts of intense time (Arkansas Literary Festival), planning for future events, and well, fill in the blank with your own Life Issues and Events.

But I WILL work on another scene today. I will.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Over on Happy Accidents, Greg Pincus is talking about the question of “Do you Spend Too Much Time Online”? He points out that you can do a lot in a short amount of time.

Work Smarter, not Harder

This week, I sat down and tried to figure out all the tasks that I now know how to do and was amazed:

• Blog. I can set up a WordPress blog in 30 minutes flat, including doing some customizing on the fonts/layout and adding pictures and tracking software. Writing posts is a snap. Part of that, is that I’m pretty good at manipulating photos.
• Speaking. I can create an interesting presentation, including powerpoints, slides, video and handouts. Ask me to do it for a 30 minute presentation or six hours, no problem.
• Social Media. I can twitter and Facebook with the best of them. GoodReads, LibraryThing, etc–I’ve got an account.

So much for skills. Then, I decided to write out a list of everything you might want to do to publicize a book, not just for a launch, but for ongoing promotions. Notice that each of these is a multi-step process.

• Facebook
• Blog/Website
• Landing Pages – special sales pages for a book
• Flyers/Print media to hand out
• Video – book trailers
• Networking – guest posts, joint projects online, chatting, email, etc.
• Build a Mailing List

Mind you, this is for EACH book!
And then, there’s keeping up: are you using QR codes yet? See, you haven’t even heard of a QR code, you’re already behind! It’s easy to feel that way, anyway.

Of course, in the middle of all of THAT stuff, you must prioritize this: write the next book.

Between Writing, Speaking, Blogging, Promotions, and Networking–Wow! It’s so easy to get lost.

Plan of Action

This week, I’ve stepped back a bit to look at all this and ask myself, what do I really want to do?
Answer: Write, mostly fiction, but also some creative nonfiction

Okay, then how can I work smarter, not harder?

It has helped immensely to just catalog all these tasks and set them up in a spread sheet. I’m not so obsessive that I’ll use this daily, but I want to check it weekly. I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that this or that book needs some PR attention. But I don’t want those peripheral tasks to take over my writing time.

Writing down the scope of what I expect from myself has helped. Now I can prioritize and manage the tasks and work smarter, not aimless; smarter, not harder.

Read through some of the comments on Greg’s post and come back here to talk, too.

Fiction Notes will be on Spring Break next week! Hurrah!
But I’ll come back with a vengeance, ready to write and blog.
In the planning stages: 30 Days to Stronger Voice and 30 Days to Stronger Book Marketing.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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Arkansas was blanketed with snow yesterday, up to 2 feet in NW-Arkansas, and about 6″ (officially) in central Arkansas, although it looks like much more to me.

When you have an unexpected day off, what do you do?

1. Read. I had already bought Paolo Bacigalupi’s book, Shipbreakers, which just won the Printz award for best teen fiction. So, I read it. Great book. It’s a great example of how to start action in media res, and keep the action going. This is a futuristic world, almost a dystopia. But we don’t have a prologue that explains all this, rather the information is given naturally as the story progresses. We don’t know information until we need it.




2. Learn. I also watched some YouTube videos in my on-going self-education about book trailers. I found this video to be an interesting introduction to the book/CD of The Selfish Giant, with musical adaptation by Dan Goeller and great new illustrations (March 1 release date). Maybe I just liked it because I’m snowed it!
   
   
   *|YouTube:we78ycIUYkk|*




3. Observe. Finally, I went walking in the snow, taking pictures. I snapped pictures of birds at my feeder: rufous-sided Towhee, downy woodpecker, tufted titmouse, chickadee, blue jay, cardinal, house sparrows, house wren and more. In other words, I filled the coffers with sights, sounds, smells, textures, temperatures and more, so that when I sit down to write, I’ll have something to draw upon.

Today–I’m back at my computer, even though the world outside glitters and beckons. Because that’s what writers do: we write.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Getting the Writing Done

Some days are overwhelming with 1000 tasks and ideas competing for attention. How do you focus on what really needs to get done? How to you make sure the “imperative” things (those things that must be done TODAY) don’t take over the “important” things?

First, make sure you know what’s important to you! What are your long-term goals for your career? Carve out the time for what is important. When I had four children at home and I home-schooled them, people would ask where I found time to write. Basically–you do what is important to you. I don’t know how. For sure, I can’t tell you how. But I know this: if it’s important enough you WILL find time. Somewhere.

Second, lists help me a lot. I make a list of things I need to get done and make sure that the list includes those important things, as well as the imperative. It works well for me to cross off things from a list. If something doesn’t get done today, it’s on tomorrow’s list. Well, really, I have a sort of weekly list, a messy piece of paper that sits in front of my computer monitor. I make notes from phone calls and doodle on it. But the list is still prominent. And when that piece of paper gets too messy, I get a new one out and put the current list on it and start again. Shrug. It’s messy, but it works.

Writers write. That next scene may not actually be written on the page at any one time, but believe me, it’s written on the important list in my mind. I always find time to work on something about my WIP novel. Yesterday, I just managed to plan the revision of the next scene. Today, I’ll write that and hopefully, plan the next scene’s revision. But if I can’t get that planning done, I’ll start there tomorrow. I don’t worry so much about how MUCH I get done each day, so long as I’m always chipping away at the task.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

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Kathi Appelt says, “Write as if your hands are on fire.”

Stories need passion to come to life.

How do you write with passion when life interferes so much?
This year has been full! We’ve had a new grandbaby (he’s a kick!), a wedding (stunningly beautiful), my daughter and new son-in-law moved to a new state (oh, aching heart), we took a trip to Boston and Nantucket (Wow!), a friend’s family is in full-tilt (shared tears), and walked through any of the dozens of other family situations that occur in a typical family.

Oh, my DH bough a new car, too. It gives me great joy to see his pleasure in driving it!

Writing in the Midst of Family

I did write through all this. Of course, I wrote!
I finished a non-fiction project.
I started a new novel: it’s plotted, has character sketches, did research for certain aspects of it, and rewrote a first chapter in about 5 different voices until I’m happy with it.

But the new novel never really caught my passion. I’m interested, love the premise, think the characters have great potential and I’d really like to read this book. Really.

But somehow, the passion never came. The drive to get to the computer to see what happens next, to make the next section come to life.

So, one day, I started reading through all the old novels that life in bits and bytes on my computer and — well, one caught my interest. It’s a novel that was too edgy when I wrote it, and now, seems tame in comparison to today’s edgy. But, with some work, some revision, maybe. . .

Last week and this week, I can’t wait to get to the computer and work. This is the right story to be working on right now: its time has come.

Sometimes, we wander through this writing life not knowing what to work on next, where to turn. What story would sell the best, what would please editors or readers? Wrong questions: where’s the passion? I know I”m doing some of the best work I’ve ever done on this story because, finally, I’ve found a story that excites me. Finally, I care.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Private v. Public Stories: When to Hold Back

We’re talking about those old files, old stories, old passions that are hidden in your file drawer. Here are four manuscripts that should stay in your drawer.

Your first manuscript. No, you are not allowed to air your first attempts at writing fiction to the world. No. Don’t do it. Let your squeaks and squawks forever remain hidden.

The intensely personal mss that is “true to life.” As I talked about last week, it’s very hard to turn life into fiction. It’s especially hard when the life issue is a difficult, emotional one. Yes, write about those things; writing is a type of therapy for some. But before you try to sell it as fiction, be sure you’ve turned loose of the exact events, the exact language, the exact dialogue, the exact characters. You must loosen your grip and serve the needs of your Story. It’s so hard when the event is so emotional, but you must do this. Otherwise, sell it as a memoir, or turn it into a self-help book for others in the same situation. I’m not saying you can’t write about your life; I’m not saying you can’t publish something about strong, difficult events. But if you want this to be a novel, a piece of fiction, maybe it needs to just stay in your file drawer.

The mss your spouse/family hates. Your first critics are your family and for good reason. When you publish fiction, you enter the public arena and that means your family is dragged along, for better or worse. Just a warning: do this at your own risk.

Any mss that you can’t imagine with your name on it. You know that feeling of getting a new book and seeing your name on it? (Or at least you can imagine that feeling?) Can you also imagine seeing your name on a book and getting a sinking feeling? Any story or novel or nonfiction topic that will cause a sinking feeling in your gut–leave in your drawer. This could be because of the topic or the quality of the writing. Only put out your best, manuscripts for which you can stand tall and proclaim, “I wrote this.”

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

A 5-part series.

How Valuable is Your File Drawer?

You are writing fiction and building a career. One of your valuable assets is your file drawer, your rejected stories. I have 2 four-drawer file cabinets full; plus, my flash includes many partial or complete manuscripts and ideas for stories that never made it to a hard copy to file. What do I do with all that effort in story telling, those past fragments that haven’t yet made it to print?

Appreciate the old stories for bringing you to this place. Writers develop skills as they practice writing, But often early manuscripts deal with the same ideas, emotions, themes, character types, plot types that you will deal with later in your career. The practice material in your drawers (or on your computer files/hopefully backed up on your flash drive) is valuable simply because it was practice material. You couldn’t be at your level of writing without all that practice.

Old stories can tell you who you were. I don’t know who said it first, but you should “pay attention to what you pay attention to.” Flipping through old files, re-reading old manuscripts tells you what you were paying attention to at different time. Think about why it interested you at the time and why your attention has turned to other things now. Does re-reading old stories bring back some of that passion and interest? Do you wonder why you stopped caring so passionately about that idea? Are you amazed at the topics you once wrote about? When you flip through, what catches your attention now? Knowing who you once were may be the thing that tells you who you will be tomorrow.

Wealth of ideas. Re-read your old story with an eye and ear toward ideas. It’s a great prewriting tool. Maybe something in the old files will:

• Spark a new story
• Spark a new character
• Spark a new plot or plot twist
• Make you fall in love again with a certain voice
• Make you fall in love again with a genre

Re-Purpose your old story.
We’ll talk about this more this week. For now, I”ll just say, those old files are valuable! Make sure you’ve backed up everything!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win

Relaxed, Happy, Confident Snowboarder

I’ve been caught up in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics this week. Last night, one of the featured stories was Shaun White, the amazing half-pipe snowboarder. What stands out to me is his joie de vivre, his joy in his sport and in his life. That outrageous long, red hair, his infectious smile, the casual plaid of the US snowboarding team — Wow!

And then, he dropped into the half-pipe for his first run. Snowboarders must do one pass without any tricks, just a plain jump to show they are in control. White’s plain jump was this slow, tremendous leap toward the starry night, then he hung there weightless for a moment before dropping back into the half-pipe for the tricks his fans were looking for. But it’s that plain jump that held me: the sheer height of it, the reach beyond the grasp of the other boarders.

Then, when he’d already won the Gold Medal on the basis of his first run, he had a chance for a second run, a sort of victory lap. His coach told him to do whatever tricks he wanted. He joked, “Maybe just a run straight down the middle.”

No. White did the run he had planned, including his special “Sean Snake” or “Big Mac” or “the double MacTwist 1260″ or the “Tomahawk” (as White dubbed it, after a steak he’d eaten in Vancouver): it’s an impossibly difficult trick, in which the boarder flies over the half-pipe and flips head over heels twice, while packing 3 spins sideways into that jump. Wow. On a give-away, a victory lap, he gave it his all. And bested his own score by two points.

Elmore Leonard on One Million Words

It reminds me of my friend, BB. He’s been writing about four or five years now and just sent me a couple new chapters for review this week and I was blown away. BB is an Elmore Leonard fan (to the utmost!) and BB tells me that Leonard said you must write a million words before you find out what you want to write and how you want to write it.

Well, this time BB’s writing was confident, strong – like Sean White was last night. BB is finally saying what he wants to say and saying it how he wants to say it. Wow!

Hold Nothing Back

It reminds me of Annie Dillard’s essay, “The Stunt Pilot,” in her book, The Writing Life. She begins her book of journal entries about writing like this:

When you write, you lay out a line of words. The line of words is a miner’s pick, a wood-carver’s gouge, a surgeon’s probe. You wield it, and it digs a path you follow. Soon you find yourself deep in new territory. Is it a dead end, or have you found the real subject? You will know tomorrow, or at this time next year.

(I’ve forgotten how much I like this book, her writing.)
But for me, it’s the last chapter that shines. Dillard take a ride in a small plane with stunt pilot Dave Rahm. She writes a glorious description of his skill in flying through the sky with twists, turns, barrel rolls, owning the sky. The one thing I remember the most, though, is her assessment of Rahm’s skills as a pilot: he’s good only because he holds back nothing. He gives it all.

Dillard suggest that great writing comes from the same joy and willingness to give it all: Hold nothing back, she says. Not that special turn of phrase, not that emotional commitment, nothing. Give it all. And trust that the next time you need something special, it will be there.

Sean White, my friend BB, Dave Hahm, Annie Dillard – they give it all in the service of what they love. And it’s a joy to watch them fly.

The Writer’s Challenge: Can I do the same?
I don’t know.
I don’t know.
Really. I don’t know.
All I know is that I want to get up every morning and challenge myself: Give it all.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Wisdom, the Midway Albatross

by Darcy Pattison

Giveaway ends March 11, 2012.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to win