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RANT-'o-the-Week: Nothing
fancy. It's been a rant-free few weeks. But, for your amusement,
here's a funny video showing medieval tech support in action,
explaining to a monk how to use the newfangled books that are
replacing scrolls:
I
posted no newsletter the past weeks because I had nothing much
to say. But this week I do. We have two new courses
to announce:
Editing
for Writers by Cindy Davis: Self-editing
is probably the most difficult part of writing. Fine tuning the
manuscript, seeing the flaws, imagining how the words sound to
the reader, and then garnering the courage to rework them is daunting.
... During this class, we’ll work on toning things down,
tightening things up—a diet for your manuscript.
Mystery
Novel by Cindy Davis: Beginning in the mid-1800s with
Edgar Allen Poe’s dark tales, mysteries have increased in
popularity over the years; today they’re one of the hottest
markets in the fiction genre.
I
am personally excited about both of the courses. As a professional
writer and
editor myself, I know that writing is rewriting. Writing is editing,
and self-editing is the first step in that process of turning
some blather on the page or screen into a succinct and powerful
manuscript.
As
for mysteries, I have written one. I'm apparently not very
good at it. Perhaps it's time I had a class too.
I'll
have more news for you next week.
WRITING AND DISCIPLINE: Mark
Twain once said that anyone can be a writer; the words are all
in the dictionary. But
we all know he was kidding. Writing, serious writing, be it our
journal or the Great American Novel, requires discipline and scheduling
and considerable stick-to-it-ness. I listened last Monday to a Joyce
LaFray, a regional publisher—Seaside
Publishing—talking to a professional
writers group about this. She
noted how easy it is to get distracted by countless minor tasks,
some of those even writing tasks but not tasks that got us anywhere.
She advised setting goals and focusing upon them. Ask yourself,
every time you stop writing to do some household task that you
don't need to do then, or that someone else can do, if you are
really looking for a way to stop writing. Ask yourself, every time
you stop writing your novel to instead spend a day reading writing
magazines, if you are using that as a distraction. Nothing wrong
with doing laundry or learning more about the business, mind
you. But the main focus should be to get the words down on paper.
WHO's
DOING WHAT:Jan Sparkman,
who teaches our Short
Story course, writes: "My new
book, Window to Home, is now available and represents completion
of a
project
I started about twenty years ago. I'd shopped it around forever
and finally found a publisher who accepted it. That's not
to say it will be successful (t's a grim story about a child
abandoned to an orphanage, and who wants to read about that?)
but at least it's not buried under other old mss. in my bottom
drawer anymore."
FEEDBACK: Got
a response? Write to me with:
Your
news about your writing
Suggestions
for the school
An
essay to be featured in the newsletter
Whatever
else I need to know
The
above might be printed. I usually use first names only. If
you wish something different, or want a web site mentioned,
tell me.
