Overcoming challenges to write

Today we have an interview with author Paul Maurice Martin, whose non-fiction book Original Faith: What Your Life Is Trying to Tell You came out last year.

Paul has a wonderful story about writing while overcoming illness.

Thanks for being on DayByDayWriter today, Paul, and congratulations on your book. Please tell us a little about Original Faith and how it came into being.

Martin

Thanks for having me, Samantha. Original Faith is a nonsectarian guide to spiritual growth. It speaks in terms of direct experience instead of doctrine about topics that include love, faith, work and getting beyond our egoism. The book offers readers insight as well as practical suggestions – I see the two as very much related. Original Faith is meant to enrich the faith of believers while highlighting the most energizing and creative features of inner life for nonbelievers.

The book started itself. When I was twenty-three, I had a spontaneous experience of the kind that people often seek through meditation. At that time, I’d never meditated or studied religion. I only knew that the experience was profoundly positive and a direct challenge to the despairing world view that I’d developed beginning in my teens. 

I started to see things differently, to experience life differently. I started jotting down ideas that were occurring to me just to help my own thought-process along. Several months later, I noticed it looked like my notes might be shaping up into a book manuscript.

By then, my life had been truly transformed. I’d gone from a mental state that I’m sure was clinically depressed to depression free – and the depression would never return. I was headed in a new direction that would soon take me to the University of Chicago Divinity School for a master’s degree and later a second master’s in counseling from the University of New Hampshire.

You had a break in writing due to illness. Was it difficult to starting writing again after so many years, and if so, what helped you finish?

It was a long break all right. I had to stop writing for ten years because I was working full-time, my health was declining, and I was dealing with ongoing medical travel, research into rare diseases, and major health insurance struggles. 

Starting to write again was difficult only in the sense that I had to re-familiarize myself with my notes and files. But in another way, it was easy. I was at a point where my illness was progressing so fast that it was clear that if I didn’t organize and transfer my handwritten notes to the computer soon, then I was going to run out of time. I was rapidly losing the mobility and range of motion needed to work with paper files.

Do you have a routine that you use for your writing, and if so, could you tell us about it? 

Most of the creative work on Original Faith and most of my creative writing in other areas as well was done when I was still healthy. I used to get up in the early hours of the morning to write before heading for work. Late in the afternoon or early in the evening at the end of my workday just didn’t work out – it wasn’t a creative time for me.

When I’ve heard other writers interviewed, I seem to notice that more often than not they write in the morning. Ideally, I’d have written between maybe 8 AM and 11 AM or noon. But since I had to go to work, getting up at around 3 AM and writing until between 6 and 7 AM was second best.

Of course, the hard thing about 3 AM is getting up that early and having to go to bed early. But in writing terms, it worked well. Once I’d gotten up and had a couple cups of coffee, I could write effectively at that hour. The key for me was to write not long after waking up so as to have a fresh, uncluttered mind.

I read that you started your day with meditation sessions. Could you tell us about what you do to meditate? Do you think it helps you be creative?

I learned to meditate from the late Fr. Basil Pennington at St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, Massachusetts. He taught a very simple form of meditation. It consists of repeating a word that you’ve chosen for this purpose – for example, “love,” “peace,” or “God” – and repeating it to yourself each time you exhale.

The purpose isn’t to think about the meaning of the word, but to make the word a continuing focus of attention to prevent your mind from engaging in its normally ceaseless background chatter. So even just a sound – like the famous “Om” – could work as well as a word. Every time your mind starts to wander, you return to the word or sound.

You might say that the purpose of meditation is to find out what your mind can do if you give it a break from not saying things to yourself. Giving your mind a break from mental chatter on a regular basis can do amazing things over time. These include gradually making you a calmer person in day to day life and deepening your personal relationship with God or life itself, according to how you think about these things – again, my focus is experience itself and not belief systems.

I’d be surprised if these effects didn’t indirectly enhance my creativity. For sure there were two key insights that I discuss in Original Faith that came to me as a direct outcome of reflecting on a particular kind of experience that I sometimes had while meditating.

Both of these insights concern love – a spiritual experience that crosses all sectarian divisions. Love is the subject of Original Faith’s first chapter and the foundation for everything that follows.

Thanks, Paul, and good luck with the book.

And for those reading this, reflecting on your story in the way we’ve talked about on this blog is a kind of meditation, I guess, but the deep kind of meditation that Paul talks about is something people study for years. If you want to try it, I suggest you study it carefully first.

If you have any questions for Paul, post them in comments. For more information about Original Faith: What Your Life Is Trying to Tell You, see Paul’s website and the book’s Amazon page.

Write On!

Writing with a partner

Current word count: 23,886

New words written: 811

Words til goal: 16,114 / 403 words a day til the end of September

Finished the chapter I was having some problems with this morning. Yay! Looking forward to getting a bunch more done this weekend.

But now, I have a treat: an interview with picture book author Doris Fisher who has a number of books on shelves, some she wrote by herself and some with a partner. I haven’t written with a partner, and I’ve wondered how it works. Does one write and another revise? Do both write during meetings together? Doris will fill us in.

First a little about Doris. She wrote her baby animal rhyming book Happy Birthday to Whooo? by herself, and she has a series of math picture books — One Odd Day, My Even Day and My Half Day — written with Dani Sneed.

Now, onto Doris:

Did you write your first book by yourself or with a partner?

I wrote my first published picture book, Happy Birthday to Whooo? by myself. It is baby animal birth announcements involving word play. Guess which animal has been born, then turn the page to see if the guess was correct. The words and illustrations provide hints.

How did you get together with your co-author, Dani Sneed, for the math books?

My co-author, Dani Sneed, and I had been going to conferences and children’s writing events together for three years. In that time, I discovered I could write rhyme and write it well. Dani had written a math book about odd numbers in paragraphs. One day, she asked me to try to write it in rhyme. Luckily, it rolled right out and became our first book together, One Odd Day, about odd numbers.

How did you and Dani work on the picture books? Did you write only when you were together, or did one write, the other revise?

Because I was writing the entire book in rhyme, by myself, Dani and I got together when the stanzas were basically complete in a first draft and discussed the meter, rhyme and the beginning, middle and end of the book. It was a lot of fun for both of us. She provided the idea and the text, while I put her words into verse. Of course, we went back and forth a lot, until it was what we both wanted.

Our first book, One Odd Day, led to the requests from our publisher, Sylvan Dell, for our following books, My Even Day and My Half Day. They introduce odd numbers, even numbers and fractions. They are not textbooks, but math with a laugh!

What are the differences between writing a picture book by yourself as opposed to writing as a team? Are there benefits/challenges to each?

 When you write with someone, you consider each other’s ideas and comments. The book is not totally your own. Patience and diplomacy are good qualities to have for this type of team work. Give and take and cooperate!

The benefit to writing alone is a complete feeling when finished. With a co-author, there may always be changes and suggestions made in the text, by one of the authors. Co-authorship is fun, but not for everyone.  

On the other hand, two creative minds are always better than one!

What advice do you have for writers who are writing, or considering writing, with a partner? 

Be sure to lay out the groundwork for partnership. How the income will be split, the expenses, the submitting, the author events (hopefully to come) and unexpected bumps in the road. 50/50 for everything is usually expected by a publisher, otherwise, the payments, etc., become too complicated.

Be aware of differences in writing habits, amount of time devoted to the project and the determination to succeed of your partner. Hopefully, both authors have similar goals for the book.

Thanks so much, Doris. Great books and great info.

Anyone else writing with a partner? How are your experiences? Got any other advice or comments?

Write On!

Guest blogger – Bettina Restrepo on her road to publication

Check-in: Between yesterday and today, I finished the current revision of my first novel. Yay! Now I just need to find some beta readers for it. But my next writing goal is back onto novel number 2, which I’ll be hitting hard to still keep my goal of finishing by the end of September.

Today, I invited Bettina Restrepo to guest blog. Bettina’s debut book, a picture book called Moose and Magpie, was launched recently, and it’s really cute. She did some great innovative things with it, blending a fun story with factual tidbits. Check it out when you get a chance.

As I always find it fascinating to hear about authors’ stories of perservance to publication, I asked Bettina to give us hers. So, without further ado, here’s Bettina:

I believe writing is art and publishing is business and the two mix like oil and water.

My publication path involved writing for magazines, beginning a novel in 2002 (then submitting it about 15 times when it wasn’t ready), being involved with great critique groups, attending as many conferences and classes as possible and reading voraciously. 

It also involved life.  I needed to grow.  I needed patience.  When I first entered this vocation, I wanted everything NOW and TODAY.  I wasn’t ready and thank goodness it didn’t happen.

I landed an agent.  Mr. Wrong.  I got rejected everywhere.  I wrote a second novel.  Mr. Wrong stopped talking to me, so I fired him.  I dove into depression.  I wrote more magazine articles.  I rewrote novel number one.  I went to TLA and make a joke to a publisher about a moose and wrote a picture book.

They said yes.  I nearly pee’d my pants, but I got to work.  I didn’t want this to be my only book.  I wanted to finish my novel.  I needed a website.  I needed to build a school program.  I needed to figure out how to market a book. 

These things took almost two years.  TWO YEARS!!!!  

MOOSE and MAGPIE was born.

I hit the ground running.  In the mean time, I landed the agent.  Ms. Lioness-of-Gold.  She asked me the best questions, I revised.  I signed.  We sold – to Harper Collins.  We’re now revising my second novel, with the third in the works. 

With complete confidence.  I have a new sense of purpose in the writing world.  My moose gave me a push to get things in motion that I had been working on for years.

It took me years to figure this out because I come from a business background where we described things in QUARTERS, and NOW, and TODAY.  Here are a few ideas I think are handy. 

Tips about publishing:

1. The average wait time from acceptance of manuscript to publication is about 3 years.
2. 98% of manuscripts in the slush pile won’t get more than 3 minutes of look time.[1]
3. Many publishing houses will not answer your mail or your phone calls.  (it’s not that they don’t like you.)
4. You need an agent to get the best deal.
5. It’s harder to get an agent than to get a deal.
6. Yes, you need connections and to go to conferences.  But, the work must speak for itself. 
7. Re-read #6.  It’s not about the personality. 
8. Learn that time has no relevance until you get your editorial letter (about a million years from now).  Then, everything needs to be done YESTERDAY.
9. Treat your business and your art as two separate entities.  Spend carefully.  Cultivate wisely.
10. Keep working and revising.  You never know when you hit pay dirt.   

Moose and Magpie, Sylvan Dell Publishing, debuted this summer.   You can reach Bettina at Bettina@bettinarestrepo.com

[1] From the accurate methodology of drunken editors in very loud bars being asked this question over ten years.  I value my objectivity and mathematical prowess.

Writers are never alone

Check-in: Another chapter and a half done on the rework of my first novel.

Now, here’s a great author article to read. I loved this Washington Post article about author Elizabeth Strout, who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning Olive Kitteridge. Strout, the article says, lives in a ”modest apartment near the East River features a view to the north of 72nd Street and an air conditioner that starts spitting smoke the moment it’s turned on.” (Remember what I said about best-selling writers’ earnings yesterday?)

What’s wonderful about this article is that I can see so much of my writing experience in what Elizabeth says, like the epiphany she had while struggling with one story and finding the answer in another (bottom of the first page). That has happened to me, and I credit a lot of the changes I’m making in my first novel with the fact that I moved on to novel number two. That experience gave me the ability to look at my first novel in a different way.

The fun thing about reading about other writers is seeing yourself in them. Because no matter whether they’re best-selling authors or writers working to sell their first book, all writers share certain experiences, like those days when inspiration is nowhere to be found, feeling of insecurity and those epiphanies when everything comes together and you wonder whether you it came from you or something devine, because it’s so perfect. We all have these times, but it’s always good to be reminded that we’re not alone.

How’s your writing experience going?

Write On!

Author interview: Chynna Laird

Huge apologies to Chynna Laird. I was supposed to put her interview up first thing this morning, but in the middle of a very busy work week, I totally forgot until now. So, I hope you enjoy her interview below. Chynna is one of those amazing people who has loads on her plate and still managed to write not one but two books and get them published.

Before we start the interview, though, my quick check-in. No writing today. Urg! But, I did write yesterday, so here’s where I stand after yesterday:

Current word count: 16,036

Words written yesterday: 628

Words til goal: 23,964 / 352 words a day til end of September

Now onto Chynna!

Hi Chynna. Congratulations on your book, I’m Not Weird, I Have SPD, as well as your memoir, Not Just Spirited: Living With Sensory Processing Disorder, being released in August. Please give us a little background about these books. 

Samantha, I am so thrilled to be here … thanks for having me. My first book, “I’m Not Weird, I Have SPD,” is a children’s picture book I wrote for my daughter, Jaimie. Initially, I wrote it to validate her feelings and assure her that there were other children in the world who felt the same way she did. Sadly, the book stemmed from an experience at the park where a small group of children made fun of Jaimie’s behavior and her “different” reactions to things. It hit me then that, not only did I need to help other people understand Jaimie, but I also needed to help her find the words to explain what she went through to others.

Several months before this incident, I did some of my own research to understand what she was going through: I put on itchy, uncomfortable clothes (like tight-fitting or wooly/scratchy materials), I tried walking around with my shoes on the wrong feet, I shined a very bright light into my face trying to work, I put heavy winter clothes on when it was hot outside and I tried doing things with my left hand instead of my right. I know these may seem like extreme things, but these are how the world around us feel to children with SPD every day, and being a yearly volunteer for the SPD Foundation’s “National Sensory Awareness Month” in October, I already had ideas how to help me become more sensory smart.

All I wanted to do was get the slightest inclination of what it must have been like to be constantly bombarded with sensory stimulation that you can’t tune out. It wasn’t until I did these things that I saw the world through Jaimie’s eye. That’s when I had my “A-Ha!” moment and wrote the book.

The memoir is something I’d been working on for a couple of years. In fact, I was still writing it when my children’s picture book came out. I had a few agents and publishers interested in it, but it wasn’t a story that fit into their a usual editorial lineup—it was too much of a “specified niche.” But most of them told me to forge ahead and keep trying. The point of my memoir isn’t to say, “This is what you should do…” It’s to help other parents in the same position be brave enough to find the right help for their child no matter what obstacles get in the way. If you have a gut feeling that something isn’t right … if your child isn’t thriving the way he or she should … keep being that squeaky wheel until someone listens.

Did you always want to be a writer or did it come out of feeling as though you had something to say? 

You know what’s funny? I’m not sure I always knew I wanted to be a writer—in a professional sense—but I’ve always loved reading and writing. I think, as you said, I’ve always had something to say so I wrote it down. I just didn’t have the confidence to believe others would actually want to read what I wrote.

It wasn’t until I wrote a story about a wonderful old man that made a huge difference to me during a very difficult time in my life that I felt brave enough to share my words with others. Someone told me to enter it in ByLine magazine’s monthly contests. Not only did it win first prize in the category (“Inspirational”), the editor of the magazine at the time told me to “Get out there and get this story published!” Within a month, it was published in Angels On Earth magazine and the rest is history. 

Actually, I’m pretty choosy about where I send my stuff now as I don’t have as much time as I used to to send out a ton of queries. Also, a lot of people ask me to contribute now, but I guess I know that my name will be put with whatever I write, so I want it to … matter, you know? And recently my writing has focused more on children and families with special needs, particularly those with sensory issues or SPD.

You’re the mother of four children under the age of 6, and yet you still manage to make time to write, when you’re not finishing up your BA in psychology. When do you write and how do you fit it in your schedule?

This is a great question, because as my kids get older, and refuse to nap during the day, my writing time seems to get less and less. What I do is write around life. Basically, that means you just squeeze that writing time in around all the other activities you have going on.

Being a Mama is my #1, full-time job—everything else is secondary. The places I write monthly for understand my priorities, especially since I have two special needs children, a baby and another little girl who just needs her Mom’s attention. But editors with major magazines and/or publishers need you to meet deadlines in order to meet their own. If I absolutely need to complete something during the day when my kids are here with me, then I wait until snack time when they get to eat their snack and watch their television show. For that half-an-hour I meet a deadline or answer emails … whatever is more pressing. Then I give my kids my full attention until rest time. Jaimie and Jordhan don’t always sleep during that time (they are 6 and 4, respectively, after all!) but they must have a rest, which just means having some quiet time. It’s especially important for Jaimie who has a lot of difficulty with self-regulation—her rest is to help her calm down a bit so we can do her Sensory Diet exercises. It’s an entire process to help her organize her body.

During rest time, I do a bit of work for an hour or more if I’m lucky. Then I stay up a bit later to do some more. In total, I usually have about three or four hours to do some work. During the school year, I have to divide that between school and writing, then my “stay up a bit later” time is even later. But I can’t stay up late and get up early. We Mamas need our sleep or we can’t do our main job properly, right?

The key is not to get frustrated on days where the kids don’t nap the way they should or you can’t get everything done the way you want to. There will be days where you’ll get tons done and it all balances out.

Are you planning to write any more books? 

I’ve just signed on with Sunrise River Press to write a book about the Sensory Diet. This is basically a holistic approach to treating children with SPD combining nutrition, exercise, physical activities and other stimulating activities accustomed to the child’s needs, skills and what he or she is good at. The key is focusing on the natural, holistic approach to treatment and healing.

I got the idea from years of research, interviews and helping to connect parents with the resources they want. Really, it’s for parents with sensory sensitive children who have gotten their diagnosis then are seeking the best possible ways to treat/cope with it. I’ve done the research so these parents don’t have to, and they can just take the information in the book and help their child. That’s very important.

Sounds great. What advice do you have for mothers and writers making time for their passion? 

I believe we all need to have something in our lives we are passionate about that helps bring us back to earth and reconnects us to all the significant parts that make us whole: mind, body and soul. And if writing is that passion for you, then you should try finding a bit of time for it each day.

As I mentioned earlier, writing is therapeutic for me—it calms me and gives me a platform to express myself in a creative way. Being a Mom is very important to me, and my children mean more to me than anything in the world. But we mothers need to allow ourselves some time to explore the other sides of ourselves once in awhile. I’ve found since I’ve slotted a bit of time—whenever it may occur—to write … to be creative … to explore a part of me that isn’t “Mommy” … it replenishes the positive energy I need for my children. After all, I’m teaching my children that having some alone/rest time each day is important for the soul, so I should be doing the same.

So, try plugging into that passion—even if it’s just for a little while each day. Mamas need that time to connect to who they are aside from being a Mama. And whether your passion is writing, reading, dancing, sculpting or art, we should all have some sort of creative energy to tap into and recharge us.

Thanks, Chynna. Any tips on managing writing along with a family? 

It can be very difficult to squeeze that writing time in when children are young because they need you so much during the early years. They want, and need, our attention as they explore their little worlds. And when you have special needs children, they need even more of your time.

I’ve always tried looking at our situation like we’re a team and each of us has to do his or her part in order to make things run smoothly. I’m very lucky to have such a fantastically supportive partner, Steve. He is a very “hands-on” Dad. He comes home and helps out with the kids so I can fix dinner, he helps me with housework if I get behind, and he gives me a couple of hours to myself every weekend to go off to a coffeehouse to do some work. I think one of the most important things we do is have dinner together. We sit around the table every night—no matter how chaotic it gets—for a meal. We talk, laugh, discuss how to help Jaimie through something she’s worrying about, etc. We’ve found this time helps to connect us, even if it gets really loud some nights! 

I’d have to say that the key component in managing a busy career with a busy family is balance. Balance is everyone working together, everyone practicing good communication, mom/writer knowing what her limits are and working within them, and mom/writer not taking on more than she can handle at a time. The last tip was hardest for me because I’ve always been the sort of person who needs to be doing several things at once. It becomes a problem when you have so many things on the go, you can’t give any of them your 100% attention. So, in the end, your family dynamics suffer and your writing suffers. Knowing what you can handle and when is the best way to ensure you do everything you take on to the best of your ability without wearing yourself out.

Wow! Great advice, Chynna, for all of us writers balancing our writing and the rest of our life. I absolutely agree that making the time to do what we’re passionate about is so important.

Check out Chynna’s books, and if you have questions for her, post them in the comments. You can also find out more about Chynna on her website, and hear more from her at her blog.

Author Interview: Ann Whitford Paul

I have a confession. I missed writing again yesterday. Doh! So no word count.

But, today, author Ann Whitford Paul is joining us on Day By Day Writer. Ann is an expert on writing picture books, and I’ve grilled her on the art of telling a complete story in 700 words of less. If you have another question for Ann, post it in the comments.

Ann, congratulations on your new book, Writing Picture Books: A Hands-On Guide From Story Creation to Publication. I think the work it takes to write a great picture book is underestimated. I’ve tried writing some, and still haven’t succeeded. I’ll have to get your book! How long did it take you to figure out the process of writing picture books, and how did you learn it?

I’m a slow learner. I was writing picture book stories for 5 years before I sold my first one. Why did it take so long? One reason was I was busy raising four children and it was difficult grabbing chunks of time to focus. But when I did have time, I always wrote and my bookshelves hold the evidence of the numerous books I read about craft. In addition I attended classes at UCLA Extension and looked forward every summer to the SCBWI National summer conference in Los Angeles. Another thing I did was study picture books. Besides reading many to my children, I also typed up their texts to have after I returned the books to the library. I even made dummies (pretend books of 32 pages with the text cut out and pasted where it went in the published book.) I still do that with favorite books. It helped me learn about pacing and page turns in picture books.

How important is character development and action in picture books? What are the most important elements?

Strong characters are incredibly important in picture books. Just think back to those picture books you loved from your childhood. My favorites,
which will date me, were Ferdinand and Peter Rabbit. My children loved Rotten Ralph and Curious George. Now my granddaughters love Fancy Nancy and Olivia. A strong, compelling and imperfect character gives child listeners someone to identify with and worry about and, most valuably, a friend to
come back and visit over and over again.

Action is also necessary because our books are illustrated and thoughts and dialog are difficult to illustrate. Also we want lots happening in our books to grab and keep the young children’s attention.

Which of your books was the easiest and which the hardest? Why?

The easiest book I ever wrote was EIGHT HANDS ROUND: A PATCHWORK ALPHABET because quilting and sewing patchwork is a hobby of mine. Also, from the time I was a child, I have been interested in history . . . not the dry dates of battles and treaties, but the everyday details of how people used to live. Patchwork patterns with their names inspired by the times they were stitched, such as Anvil, Buggy Wheel, Churn Dash spoke of earlier centuries. Even though I read over 60 books and spent six months researching, this was the easiest book I wrote, because it came out of my passions and I cared deeply about getting it right.

One of the hardest books I wrote is IF ANIMALS KISSED GOOD NIGHT. This was inspired by a game I used to play with my third child, Alan. We live close to a zoo and often went there after afternoon naps. Then, that night, we would pretend we were animals and tried to kiss the way they might. For example, we held our arms like long trunks and kissed at the end of them like an Elephant might do. We squirmed on the ground and kissed like snakes. We kissed while hopping pretending to be kangaroos. But the writing was impossible. I wrote one version that echoed exactly what we had done–a mother and son playing the game together and sent it to several editors. It was always rejected. Finally one editor explained why. She thought it was a bit incestuous!! Wow! That thought had never occurred to me. So I had to go back to square one. I decided to forget about people in the book and just imagine how animals might kiss and not have any people in it. Interestingly, the illustrator, David Walker, put in a mother and her child at the beginning and end of the book so it would feel like a conversation between the two. Also this time, I wrote using rhythm and rhyme so that took more time.

What are some of you favorite picture books from other authors, ones that have inspired your work?

I absolutely adore this new rhymed picture book I CAN DO IT MYSELF by Diane Adams and illustrated by my friend Nancy Hayashi. THANK YOU, SARAH: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving by Laurie Halse Anderson is also a favorite. It’s amazing how lively she made a history book. Helen Ketteman in BUBBA THE COWBOY PRINCE and other retellings uses fabulous fun language. Check them out.

It seems that word counts are always changing. What’s the current trend?

I always get nervous when my picture book text hits 700 words. In WRITING PICTURE BOOKS I have a chapter about the different word counts in board
books, picture books and picture story books. The more a writer is familiar with children of all ages, the more he/she can predict their attention spans
and write accordingly.

Picture books seem to always be in demand. Can you tell us a bit about that segment of the publishing business right now?

Ouch! The publishing business is going through tumultuous growing, or perhaps changing is the more appropriate term, pains. Many wonderful editors have been laid off, and budgets are being cut back so publishing houses are more careful about what manuscripts they buy. That could be a good thing for the world if it means more quality books. On the other hand, it’s difficult for the creators, because the odds of selling a manuscript are decreasing. I certainly hope picture books and that wonderful sensual experience of shared reading and turning pages together will be around for a long time.

Thanks so much, Ann.

Don’t forget you can leave Ann a question in the comments.

Write On!

Author interview: Elizabeth Kirschner

Today we have a visit from Elizabeth Kirschner, who’s doing a blog tour about her book My Life as a Doll, a book of poems about how a mother’s violence affects her daughter. Here’s some more info about her:

Elizabeth Kirschner has published three collections of poetry, Twenty Colors, Postal Routes and Slow Risen Among the Smoke Trees  with Carnegie Mellon University, and most recently the fourth, My Life as a Doll, with Autumn House Press. She has also published a chapbook, The Red Dragon, and has a fifth book of poetry, Surrender to Light, due out from Cherry Grove Collections this August.

In addition, she has collaborated with many composers and has two CDs, both from Albany Records, that feature her work. In the first one, The Dichterliebe in Four Seasons, she set her own poetry, not a translation, to Robert Schumann’s gorgeous love sing cycle. In the latter, New Dawn, Carson Cooman has set to music eight of her poems. Elizabeth studies ballet and lives on the water at Sea Cabins Retreat in Kittery Point, ME.

Welcome, Elizabeth, and first, Happy Birthday! It’s wonderful to have you with us on your special day. To celebrate, here’s a cake. You’ll have to imagine it tastes wonderful.

And congratulations on your new book, My Life as a Doll. Poetry is something I have never be any good at, but it’s so beautiful. Can you tell us a little about your process? When you’re writing a poem, which comes first, the premise or the words?

Much of my process flows out of my practice. I write every morning, seven days a week. Early on, I developed what Flannery O’Connor called the “habit of art.” Being present, attentive and tuned in brings the words in. I often move from the art of reading to the art of writing, as reading can serve as a catalyst for poems. I also take a long matins walk by the sea everyday and lines sometimes come to me, even whole poems. Like Mary Oliver, I carry a little notebook and pen on my excursions into the natural world to get things down before I lose them. So, yes, language comes first—a poetic phrasing or image that embodies a feeling—that is slowly shaped into the full realization of a poem. I don’t consciously think about premises: They announce themselves media res.

My Life as a Doll is about the effects a mother’s violence has on her daughter. Can you elaborate?

My Life as a Doll emerged, fiercely so, out of the retrieval of a catastrophic memory that had been buried in the underworld of my consciousness for decades. This memory spurred other demonic memories and is delineated in the title sequence:

 

                        After my mother hit the back

                                    of my head with the bat’s

                                                sweet spot, light cried

 

                        its way out of my body.

                                    I could not yet tie my own

                                                shoes. I could not yet pour

 

                        my own milk, but deeply

                                    down and down I went

                                                like a ball bouncing down

 

                        the cellar stairs. There

                                    I played with my dolls…

 

Cruelty tutored me, and out of that brutal schooling came the book, which is one long poem broken into four sections that define, refine the violence and its impact, which, for the speaker, is madness. In the end, My Life as a Doll stands as trophy, testament to the resilience of the human spirit, its triumphant rising out of the bleakest of depths.

Wow! What kinds of things inspire you in your writing?

The natural world has had a great influence on my writing. Much comes to me during my epic, Wordsworthian walks. The work of other poets, current and non, has been a constant deep, rich source of the inspiration in my aspiration to write poems. I keep what I call “Nickel Notebooks,” which are old composition books in which I record poems I love and words about the writing of poetry that resonate with me. I have well over a dozen Nickel Notebooks—it’s a great way to get inside other poet’s poems. I also dance and am a lyricist, and this engagement in other art form also molds the choreographing of the poem, particularly its music.

Have you ever wanted to write prose, or were you always drawn to poetry?

Poetry was and remains my primary passion, but I have segued into prose, particularly in my twenties when I entered what Erik Erickson terms “the moratorium,” which is “a time when the individual appears to be getting nowhere, accomplishing none of his {or her} aims.” Like Sylvia Plath, I made a bad calculation by spending nearly a decade trying to write short stories. It wasn’t until I, like Plath, according to Ted Hughes, accepted that my “painful subjectivity” was my real theme and that the plunge into myself was my only real direction, could I begin to come into my full promise as a poet, and the writing of My Life as a Doll really employed every ounce of my poetic powers.

I love that you have created a mentorship program for poets. Please tell us more about Wise Eye: Creating Poetry That Soars.

Mentoring, I think, goes deeper than what one can accomplish in the classroom. It allows me to help develop, in the fullness of time, first the gestation, then the fruition of the poetic sensibility. This is very complex, as it means delving deep into myself for that wise eye that has deepened my vision and envisioning of the art of poetry. I tend to the cultivation of other poet’s poems as seriously as I do  my own poems. It’s akin to breathing—I instruct others on how to inhale fledgling poems, exhale poems given wings with roots. A beautiful paradox, but one that speaks to the genesis of a poem. I have much to give, and by doing so, I pay homage to the gifts given to me.

And I’m sure those you mentor are grateful. Thanks very much for joining us, Elizabeth. And good luck with the book.

If you’ve got a question for Elizabeth, you can post it in the comments. You can also see more about Elizabeth and her work on her website.

Author interview: Danette Haworth

Danette Haworth

Today we’re please to welcome Danette Haworth to Day By Day Writer. Danette’s debut novel, Violet Raines Almost Got Struck By Lightning, was released last fall. It tells the tale of spunky 11-year-old Violet Raines. Click here for the book trailer.

Welcome to Day By Day Writer, Danette, and congratulations on Violet Raines Almost Got Struck by Lightning. I read the first chapter on your website, and when I then read your bio on your website, I was struck by how similar Violet sounds to you. Is there a lot of you in Violet?

Secretly, I am a lot like Violet; I’m just not as bold. Violet isn’t afraid to make her feelings known; she doesn’t check herself for political correctness. Though this boldness gets her in trouble sometimes, I admire her for not being a shrinking violet (heh-heh!) 

I feel like I am the same person I was when I was younger—just more experienced now. As an adult, I know what feelings I’m allowed to express and what feelings I need to deal with. I’m not so quick to blame, having learned that my perspective is not always the correct one. That’s something Violet learns in the book.

As far as being outdoors, Violet and I prefer the woods to being inside the house. Many forts were built by my hands, and I was always proud of the heights I could climb to in the sap tree across the street. Daddy-long-legs and caterpillars were welcome to crawl on my arms. (Notice the past tense! I hate bugs now.)

Violet’s voice is so clear from the first paragraph. “I wasn’t scared-I just didn’t feel like doing it right then” says so much about this character. Was Violet this strong a character when you first started writing your book, or did she come into view the more you worked on the story.

Violet pushed herself right in front of every other idea I had. When I sat down to write this book, I wrestled with adult themes and issues—sibling rivalry and what it turns into as children become adults, mother/daughter issues—but Violet appeared in my computer room one day. She came with all her quirks, her accent, her affinity for the outdoors, and she delivered the first paragraph of the book. 

What tips can you give writers about creating strong characters?

Though Violet came to me as a complete character, I can’t help but think her appearance was the result of my spending a couple of weeks thinking about the setting and the catalyst for the story I thought I was going to write. Violet stemmed from my original vision with a path of her own.

If I have any tips worth giving, I would say don’t skip over the preparatory steps in a rush to begin writing. Allow yourself time to play around with your characters; let them take over a bit; give yourself permission to do this thinking without pressure. Then you can develop a character sketch and in doing so, details you hadn’t even realized you knew will flow from your pen.

Make sure you’re honest. Don’t hedge when developing the personalities of your characters. Strong characters have real feelings, all the way down to their secret hearts; if you can, or are willing to, expose those feelings, readers will respond to that. They’ve had the same feelings too. 

What was your inspiration for this book and these characters?

It kind of started with my mom. I have a picture of her when she was three years old, and she’s sitting on top of a pony like a little princess, a tomboy princess. By all accounts, she was stubborn and feisty, and I had that picture in the back of my mind when I sat down to write the story.

My mom lived in farm country, and I grew up hearing how she always got invited to the neighbor’s house each Sunday for a fish fry. One of the best parts about the fish fry was that her brother and sister never once were invited, a real coup for my mom, who was the youngest! 

Eddie is based on a boy I knew in 4th-6th grade, a gracious boy who really was the fastest runner in all those grades. I think everyone had a crush on him.

Will we see more of Violet Raines? She’s so much fun.

Thank you! I had a lot of fun writing Violet. I’ve often said I felt more like I was watching her rather than creating her. I don’t know if we will see more of Violet Raines. I like where I left her, right near the bridge with Eddie. Of course, you never know! 

Did you always want to be a writer? And if so, did you always want to  write for children?

I always wanted to be a writer. I used to produce volumes of poems and comic books, starting when I was six years old. Reading was my favorite elementary school subject, and later, I loved writing. In seventh grade, I penned (penciled!) my first novel, which took up three composition books and got lost the next time we moved. (My dad was in the Air Force.)

Because I love literary stories and short stories, I thought I’d be the writer of those kinds of works. But even the first novel I wrote as an adult (Me and Jack, Walker 2011) was conceived as an adult novel, yet when I hit the keyboard, it was a middle-grade novel that took over. I think that’s where my heart is. 

Can you tell us about your road to publication?

When I went to college, I wanted to study some kind of writing, and I wanted to make sure I could pay my bills; I took up technical writing. I enjoyed my job. I got to work with scientists and engineers who studied the uses of state-of-the-art technology. That was my day job; at night, I wrote short stories and stuffed them into envelopes with SASEs. I submitted everywhere, often without any acquaintance with the journals or magazines I was submitting to. Yet I was always surprised and disappointed when I’d find that little story back in my mailbox shortly after.

Not having any background in writing fiction, I decided I needed more of an education on the craft. I read books, writers’ magazines, and took a course on writing short stories. I began to study the magazines I wanted to submit to, and after a while, I began to have some success. Small successes, but still!

Eventually, I quit working to have a family, but I kept writing and submitting. Just a few years ago, I decided to chase after my big dream and write a novel. I didn’t know how to do it, so I prepared myself by once again reading books, this time on the craft of novel writing. Then I wrote Me and Jack, and when I finished it, I started Violet Raines.

I’d just finished the rough draft for Violet when I heard about an SCBWI conference coming to Orlando. Critiques would be available! I knew it might hurt, but I also knew it could only help me improve the manuscript. I polished up the first ten pages and submitted them for critique.

Stacy Cantor, an editor with Walker Books, critiqued my submission and loved it! I tried to act professional as she spoke to me, but I was floating like a balloon on helium. She closed the session by asking me to submit the full manuscript to her, and that’s how I got started on this whole thing.

What’s the biggest thing you learned working on Violet Raines, about writing or otherwise? And what was your biggest challenge?

One thing I learned was that when you’re done with a manuscript, move on! Do not get out of the discipline of writing every day. Because I’d never published a book before, I didn’t know how demanding the proofreading rounds would or would not be. I was afraid to get into a new story for fear I’d need to dive deeply back into Violet. Now I know I can handle those rounds while remaining entrenched in a new work. 

My biggest challenge is still trying to stop talking about Violet when innocent people ask me about her, and I jabber on even when I see their eyes glaze over.

What are you working on now?

I’m working on revisions for The Hotel of Blueberry Goodness (Walker 2010), in which a girl who lives in a hotel meets an eclectic group of friends, including a teenage runaway. Next are revisions on Me and Jack (Walker 2011), about a boy, the dog he adopts, and the narrowminded residents of the new town they move to.

Thanks so much for joining us, and we hope to see more of Violet.

Thank you, Samantha!

You can read more about Danette and Violet Raines on Danette’s website. Also, keep up with Danette’s news on her blog.

Author interview: Elizabeth Fournier

Elizabeth Fournier

Today we’re welcoming Elizabeth Fournier to Day By Day Writer. Elizabeth wrote her All Men Are Cremated Equal: My 77 Blind Dates balanced between a day job and new marriage and self-published it. She has quite a colorful working background, as she says on her website: “Elizabeth is currently the voice of the autopsy exhibit in the forensic wing at the United States National Museum of Medicine. You can also see her online as the Video Spokesperson for Chinook Winds Casino Resort. She and her dance partner, Scott, teach Ballroom Dance at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. Oh, and she’s also a full-time mortician.” Ha! And love the title of that book. Now we know where it comes from.

Writing a novel in between a full-time job, family and the other commitments in one’s life is, to say the least, challenging. (Not to mention tiring — I’m in the same boat.) How did you fit writing into your schedule?

When I wrote All Men Are Cremated Equal: My 77 Blind Dates, I was newly married. After planning a wedding across the country in only five months, I decided I could do anything. So I promptly sat down at the keyboard after our return from New Jersey and cranked out my manuscript.

The conflict between wanting to be with my new husband and wanting to write was tricky. It was a long, hot summer, and I had to miss out on some great fishing and hikes, but I managed to never miss a tasty barbecue! I was so lucky to have a supportively fabulous husband so I could take that time and do my work at home.

The editing portion of my manuscript took place at my funeral home. My parlour is located on acreage in the country in a remodeled goat barn. It is peaceful, and my mind feels untroubled there. I can stare out the window and see deer, green grass and lots of beautiful trees and plants. It’s Heavenly!

How long did it take to write and revise your memoir ready for publication?

I finished my first draft in a month. Seriously, I did. The book started from a series of e-mails I sent to my beloved father. I would tell him about a date and then e-mail him the not so great events of the date when arriving home. He loved being a part of my quest to find true love as much as I loved having him along for the self-deprecating ride.

The first draft was 77 chapters, one chapter for the 77 individual dates. I thought it was fresh and brilliant! None of the literary agents I sent it to could see that point of view. I quickly decided that a redo was inevitable.

With enthusiasm quashed, I got back to the keyboard and enlisted help from a wonderful storyboard editor down Hollywood way named Michele Gendelman. She had worked (among many things) on a few episodes for The Facts of Life. The show’s glamour character, Blair Warner, was the end-all for me in my youth, so I knew I was in capable hands.

Michelle encouraged me to break up the manuscript into larger chapters, add dialogue and most of all, have fun. Sound advice, and even though she knew dialogue doesn’t easily appear out of the sky, I opened my heart, and it all poured out with ease.

As I had revisions revised and revisited, it all tightened up into a nice story. The original manuscript was twice as long. While preparing the final version, I was most concerned with being extremely honest without violating the privacy of my wonderful friends – and blind dates!

Did you always plan to self-publish or did you go the traditional route first? And how did you decide to self-publish?

After I had a pretty decent version, I obtained an agent rather quickly. I got the phone call while pregnant and drying my clothes at the Laundromat. I could hardly hear her over the whizzing noise of the vast dryers, so I had to move the conversation to the funeral van waiting in the parking lot. My husband found me collapsed in the back on the gurney after my exhaustive, joyful shrieking.

That joy turned to immediate frustration when my newly acquired agent’s e-mail updates would list proposals sent out to various editors, only to find curtly generic “thanks, but no thanks” notes received back. I thought that publishers would read the synopsis and opening chapters to see if I had a feel for language and an aptitude for telling my story. To that extent, I did accomplish something. Although every submission came back with a rejection, it was clear they had enjoyed reading the material. That was the upside.

The downside was that they also said they rarely, if ever, accepted non-fiction manuscripts from some random writer without a platform. After all, I am just a girl from Boring, Oregon, who went on 77 blind dates and just happens to own a keyboard.

What were the biggest hurdles you had to overcome in self-publishing?

When my book was released, I was psyched and knew it was a must-have for all bookstores, everywhere.  Ha! I called the corporate offices of Barnes and Noble and learned that even though my book is on their computers, they rarely ever stock self-published books.

I’ve also learned that without bookstores, a book isn’t likely to do well, even with lots of publicity. A huge percentage of people do not buy books online. I am available through Amazon and I am distributed through Ingram, so I am essentially available at any bookstore or website, but I really had my heart set on waltzing into a Borders one day and seeing a huge cardboard cut-out of my lovely cover.

This all does not mean bookstores will stock my book. There are so many hurdles in doing it yourself, including getting book reviews and noticed by the book industry papers, such as Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, ForeWord and Booklist. I haven’t overcome all the hurdles yet.

How are you promoting the book?

Work, work, work! It is a job which never sleeps. Thank God for the Internet and e-mail. I can solicit, query, chat, blog, post, research, etc. 24 hours a day. I solicit websites, send out queries to radio stations, I chat with other authors of my genre, I blog on a few sites, I post connect with others, and I research more ways to promote myself. I put myself out there, and it has paid off.

I have hit up trade publications, anything about dating, blind dating, local and community papers, have done readings at local places, am for sale at random local places and pretty much hand out my book cover magnets to all I speak with.

I have a wonderful publicist (Abby Kraus PR) who finds interesting and valuable leads. She’s great! I definitely recommend hiring a publicist – they just have many, many more contacts than an average author can find scouring the Internet.

What advice would you give to other writers considering self-publishing?

I’d read somewhere about advertising that it takes seven times for a person to see a new product before it registers. Thus, how do you show your book to people seven times? Get the word out there. Solicit, query, chat, blog, post, research!

A talent you need as a writer is the ability to write a good short query via email. You need to understand how to get the attention of harried editors, agents, reviewers, and more people.

One trick about press releases, by the way, is to come up with a headline that does NOT mention the title of your book or your name. After all, if people see either, will they be compelled to read your release? Probably not. This forces you to find the news for your headline.

Writing a good book, compared to a bad one, involves one thing — work. And a great, quality book cover is critical.

Great advice!

Check out Elizabeth’s website, and if you don’t see her book in your local Barnes & Noble, ask them why.

And follow Elizabeth on the rest of her blog tour:

May 18: TV Boyfriends

May 21: Annette Fix’s blog

May 22: Kristin Bair O’Keefe

May 26: Wedding Skulls

June 2: Nice Shoes! and Other Life Observations

June 5: Fatal Foodies

June 8: Sybil Baker’s blog

June 11: Misadventures With Andi

June 15: Modern Single Momma

Write On!

Author Interview: Rachel Dillon

Today on Day By Day Writer, we welcome debut author Rachel Dillon, a fellow member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators. Rachel is currently doing a blog tour talking about her book Through Endangered Eyes: A Poetic Journey Into the Wild, published by Windward Books.

Rachel Dillon

Here’s her bio:

Rachel Dillon was born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin. She attended the University of Wisconsin, Madison and graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science in Art, emphasizing in Graphic Design. Outside of art, Dillon held a special interest in evolution and extinction and took several classes in paleontology, and geology. Her passion for animals grew as she learned more about endangered species.

Her book is beautiful, so check it out. Now onto the interview:

Rachel, I read that you were in marketing. Did you always want to be a children’s book writer/illustrator, or is it something you stumbled on?

Stumbling is a great analogy. I hadn’t ever thought about writing a children’s book and most certainly not doing illustrations. It all just seemed to fall in place. My book combines all the things I love: children, animals, painting and writing. I went to UW-Madison, for art and graphic design. I was in marketing for many years after college.  I think my goal now is to say, when someone asks what I do for a living, “I am an author and artist.”

Poetry is an amazing form of writing — one I’m terrible at, so I’m in awe of those who can write it. Did you study poetry before you wrote the poems for this book or is poetry something that comes easy to you?

I really haven’t had formal training in writing and poetry, other than college classes in English Literature. I know when I was growing up, I would express myself with poems and lyrics. As a mom, I love books with clever rhymes. I can’t stand rhymes that don’t quite sound right. There is a rhythm, a cadence, and a rhyming poem flows or it doesn’t. I wrote what sounded right to me.

Your book is about endangered animals. What is it about endangered animals that inspires you?

My sadness inspires me. My heart aches when I hear stories about animals and what has happened to make them endangered. There is something so innocent about animals. They are driven to survive. I also believe that everything has a purpose on Earth. Each species is unique and interesting, and when you eliminate one species, others will be affected. I know that extinction is part of nature, but I have read the rate of extinction is occuring at an unnatural rate.

Your painting style was inspired during a trip to Australia. Could you tell us more about that?

When I was 19, I took my third trip to Eastern Australia. My aunt and uncle live in a town called Ulladula, the sweetest place on the coast. We travelled south to Canberra, where I was inspired by all the Aboriginal Acrylic Dot Paintings. They were in galleries; on the sides of buses; in museums; and even on sidewalks. I loved the colors, patterns and textures. I learned more about the dot painting technique in books, although resources were slim in the U.S. I decided to try out the technique on some of my own art projects and loved it. Painting in dots is soothing and meditative and after 16 years, my technique is still evolving.

How did you go about designing the book? Were there specific things you wanted to achieve?

I wanted to create something unique, that children had never seen before. I wrote the text first and painted the animals second, so they were consistant with the poems. It is important to me that the children understand the issues that endangered animals face, as well as how each species is unique and has a job to do on the planet. The facts help to break down the poem for the child or reader, so it can make a real impact. I wanted to create something beautiful that people would want to take with them as they grew up.

I read that many of your poems were written on scraps of paper at a stoplight while you were taking your daughter to daycare. As a writer or illustrator with a day-job, it can sometimes be difficult to fit in your passion, and even more difficult to keep it going long enough to finish the work and see it through to publication. What kept you going? And in what ways did you make the time to finish Through Endangered Eyes?

I am a Taurus. I am stubborn, and when I get an idea in my head, I do my best to see it through. I also had a lot of people that believed I could do it, and a lot who didn’t think I could — which motivated me more. Most of all, I believed that what I was creating was important for kids to read. I want to make a difference for animals, and this was one way I thought I could help.

Creating the book was my creative escape. It was time for me. I fit writing and painting in any time and place that I can. It is so easy to for me to pay attention to the needs of others and forget myself. My book and the commitment to my publisher was the motivation I needed to complete the project.

Talking about publishers, please tell us about your journey to publication after your book was finished.

It took a LONG time to get published. I started writing the book “Through Endangered Eyes” in 2002.

I submitted to 3 publishers in 2003. With 2 illustrations and all of my text for nine species + human.

My first publisher, Stemmer House, sent me a contract in 2004. After I thought I completed the book, they asked me in 2005 to take the book from 9 species, to twenty. Many drafts later, I thought I completed the book again in 2006.

My first editor, Craig Thorn sadly passed away in 2006. I was released from my contract from Stemmer House in February 2007. After which, I submitted to 14 publishers. I lost count of rejections.

In February 2008, I got a call from Windward Publishing, and they wanted my book! I signed the contract with them that month. A new draft, with their suggested changes was sent to them in April 2008. After three more drafts, my book was completed in December of 2008 and published in January 2009.

What a rollar coaster ride, especially when I have a hard time being patient.

Wow! That must have been emotional. I understand you’re working on a second book, again about the wild kingdom. Please tell us about it.

My second book has a working title of “Through Desert Eyes.” I have chosen 21 desert species that are endangered from all over the world. I will include a couple of pages about desert ecosystems and how species are adapted to a dry environment. I want to talk to more specialists for this book and not rely as much on the internet research. I am very exciting about the paintings too. I have matured as an artist through this publishing process.

Could you tell us a bit about the types of things you’re doing to market Through Endangered Eyes?

At each reading I give away bookmarks, so if the kids are interested in the book, my Web address is on it, so their parents have a place to buy the book. For the teachers or event coordinators, I give out a notecard and a magnet with an image from the book on it. I have my blog, my Web site, business cards, a facebook page, and I always carry a box of my books in my car, ready to sell! I am building a mailing list from the checks I receive, so I can mail out postcards if I have a new painting out, or have an event coming up. I also have a large email list that I use to promote things. I send out a press release to the local papers and add to their online calendar, if I have an event coming up. For events that are unique, I will contact the local TV stations and see if I can do a morning show visit. I would love to be a part of a local NPR giveaway, during their fundraising event. So many options.

In the future, I want to add video of me reading my book, and audio of me reading the book; keep posting images from the classrooms I visit, and events I do. I want my blog and site to remain interesting so that people return for more information.

My favorite thing to do as a marketer is to do readings and visit schools. The comments and enthusiasm, makes the book all worth while!

What advice do you have for first-time writers and illustrators pursuing their dream?

1. Be patient.

2. Research. You’ll cut your rejections if you find out what the publisher wants.

3. Stay positive during editing. I have probably gone through hundreds of manuscript changes, not to mention changes to my illustrations before my final book was completed.

4. Lastly, believe in your work. If you believe what you have created is amazing, someone else will agree.

Thanks so much for joining us today, Rachel. Good luck with Through Endangered Eyes, and we look forward to seeing Through Desert Eyes on shelves soon. You can read more about Rachel on her website, RachelDillon.com, and her blog.

Write On!