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Thankful Thursday: Japan

Posted on by beckylevine

We’re all thinking about it and all talking about it–the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan and the truly frightening things happening at their nuclear plants. It’s been one of those dislocated weeks for me–my writing is going wonderfully, life is good, I’m  happy, but underneath it all the horror and grief and wishing have been running a constant thread of tension. Jenn R.  Hubbard said it beautifully here.

So this week, like so many of us, I am feeling extra grateful for the fact that I am safe, that my family and friends are safe. That I have a wonderful home and piles of books to nest with, that my son has a roomful of musical instruments and a kitchen table where he’s happy (or as happy as he can be) to spread out his homework, that my husband is strong and healthy enough to cycle 100+ miles on a Saturday, that I have both of them in my life. Here.

I am even more grateful, though, for the organizations and individuals who make it easy for me to do something. No, I haven’t jumped on a plane to Japan (yes, the thought has crossed my mind); I haven’t risked exposure to radiation or the overpowering feelings of anguish & helplessness I know I’d have to experience if I landed there. Thanks to the Red Cross, though, I was able to take a few seconds and click through to send money. I know there are hundreds and thousands of organizations out there–I feel strongly that I trust the Red Cross to take my money where it’s needed. When it’s needed.

And then…then there are the individuals. The ones who—without an already-developed infratructure–step forward and create another venue for us to help. Just from being on Facebook and Twitter the past few days, I found out about two: Authors for Japan and KidLit4Japan. My Facebook and Twitter friends lists tilt heavily into the writing profession; but I would bet just about anything that a little hunting would find me teachers for Japan, quilters for Japan, mothers, fathers, doctors, engineers, teenagers, chefs…you name it. Because people care. And people want to help. And amazing people like Greg R. Fishbone (the organizer of KitLit4Japan) take time and energy (and this isn’t a little bit of time and energy) to set these things up. To give us the means to fill out a simple form, donate a book or our own small chunk of time, and raise more money to send.

Because that money is needed.

I filled out my form for KidLit4Japan yesterday. I’ll be donating a copy of my book, The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, plus a critique of either the first chapter of a novel or a complete picture book. Check out everything at the auction, but I’ll keep you posted about when my stuff  comes up, here and on Facebook and Twitter.  Let me tell you—easy. Does this make me feel good? Honestly, it’s more a feeling of “If I can’t do this…,” but I’m incredibly grateful that it is something I can do. And incredibly grateful that heroes like Greg are willing to take on the bigger jobs, the ones that let us–as part of whatever tribe we belong to–make some actual kind of difference.

So, yes, Mother Nature has hit with a big one. The destruction she can wreak is, honestly, terrifying to me. But then I flip the coin and see what people can do and do do, and I have hope and some kind of strength to hang onto.

*Hugs*

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Mind the Gap

Posted on by beckylevine

When your characters dance into your mind, full and alive and layered and laughing, and your fingers type away at the keyboard, and the words appear on the page, how do you know? How do you know if you are painting what your mind is seeing, recording what it’s hearing, or if the sights and sounds are staying put inside you as ideas only. You’re pretty sure you’re getting some of it, you hope you’re getting close, but because your mind is so full of your imagination, how can you be positive?

Of course, this is something you look at during revision, when you come back to the words you’ve written and take a close look at what they actually say. For me, though, it’s also something I trust my critique group to help me with. I know that, if the gap is there–the gap between what I know and what I’ve written–they’ll see it. They’ll point it out, and they’ll help me to fill it in as I revise. This “safety net” that they give me is one of the biggest reasons that I can write freely, why I can (usually!) tell my inner editor to go away.

What about you? How do you separate yourself from the story you imagine as you write and recognize the one that comes off the page at you when you go back and read it? How do you identify the gap?

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Monday Mentions

Posted on by beckylevine

A quick post today, just a few reminders of things you might want to know about.

1. If you haven’t heard yet, Lisa Wolfson, known by her author name of L.K. Madigan, died last week from pancreatic cancer. Lisa was the author of Flash Burnout and The Mermaid’s Mirror, and was deeply loved in the kidlit world. There have been tributes all over the blogosphere. I didn’t know Lisa personally, but she was helpful and generous when I interviewed her for an article about online critique groups. Every tweet, every Facebook update, every blog post I’ve looked at this week, about Lisa, has reminded me how hard life can be, how bravely people face it, and how much love is out here on the Internet.

I want to just put up the address for a trust that has been set up to help Lisa’s son, Nate, go to college. If you are interested, you can donate to the trust by sending a check to:

Becker Capital Management, Inc.
Attn: Sharon Gueck/John Becker
1211 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2185
Portland, OR 97204

Lisa’s husband has posted about this on her blog.

2. On a lighter note, I am still running my contest for a copy of Megg Jensen’s Anathema. Leave a comment at the contest post, and I’ll draw a winner this coming Wednesday.

3. Martha Alderson, The Plot Whisperer, is on Step 22 (The Beginning of the End) of her YouTube Plot Series. There are a few more steps to come, but I thought I’d link you to Step 1 in case you haven’t heard of the series & want to get started. Plus, for those of you still stuck in the cold of winter, Martha’s background of Santa Cruz, California, will give you hopes for spring.  To see Martha’s series from the beginning, go here.

4. Whether you’re a picture-book writer or not, you shouldn’t miss this Has Your Picture Book Already Been Published? flow chart that Tara Lazar posted at her blog. Warning: Many roads lead to “Yes.”  🙂

5. If you know (or are!) a teen writer, don’t forget about Capital City Young Writers’ literary journal. The journal is in its first year, and submissions are open for another two weeks–until March 15. The theme is “the undiscovered,” and teens can submit in many genres–all listed here.

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Just a Spoonful of Sugar…

Posted on by beckylevine

Saturday morning didn’t start so great. I went into the weekend knowing I needed a break from a couple of jobs I’d been doing, but also that I had some other things to get done before I dug into writing again. Jobs I was not feeling all that confident about. So, yes, I woke up just a little cranky.

And then, mid-morning, as I was still in cranky mode, my husband told me to look outside.

It was snowing.

I know, for those of you who have been dealing with mounds of the stuff all winter, not a big deal. Or maybe just not a reason for happiness. But we’ve been in this house over 15 years, and I think we’ve maybe woken up to snow once?

Saturday’s snow didn’t stick at our house. It did keep coming, though, sometimes mixed in with more rain, sometimes, less, for about 40 minutes. I stood and watched it for about 10. It was blobby and soft, little white shapes against a very grey sky.

And all of a sudden, I was in a great mood.

If I have to tie this to writing, I’d say–remember: there is always a reason. When your characters switch gears, when they go from up to down, or vice versa, there is a cause. It has to be solid; it has to be real. But it doesn’t have to be big.

Sunday, of course, my husband had to explore. Did he get out his skis? His snowshoes? His warm boots? Nope.

If you can’t read the sign, the street is named Snow Crest. I don’t know who put up the sign, or when, but this weekend their optimism payed off. And, I’d say, was contagious. I got both my jobs done, relaxedly and happily. And this week, I’ll weave my writing back into my work days.

Wishing all of you a little bit of magic mood-lightener when you need it.

Posted in Picture Books, Thankful Thursday, The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, The Writing Path, Uncategorized, Writing Goals

Thankful Thursday: Ideas

Posted on by beckylevine

I think I’ve talked here before about how I used to be a one-idea person. I had one idea for many years, and I wrote on it and wrote on it and wrote on it and sort of revised, and–honestly–it never went anywhere.

So I was really glad when another idea came along. And that idea turned into a story I write and learned-about-revising on, and that I hope–someday–someone will love as much as I did.

But when I was done, then I was sort of staring out into nothing. No more ideas. And this, as you can imagine, was pretty scary. I’d sort of known this possibility was lurking there all along, especially as I wrote and wrote and wrote on that first book and didn’t have any story characters poking at me, asking for my attention. But I had something I was working on, and so I didn’t let myself worry too much about that something maybe not being enough. Until…it wasn’t.

What changed? A couple of things. Caro called to me from the pages of a history book, demanding a place in a real-life moment. I got the contract to write The Writing & Critique Group Survival Guide, and, in the course of that project, I had to come up with many passages from “fake” stories. I used these passages to show my readers what to look for as they critiqued. When I went to think of a picture book idea, I got one–and it turned out to be one that I didn’t want to be fake. It was a story I wanted to write, for real. That idea turned into the picture book I’ve been working on this year. Which, if not done, is at least well on its way to that point.

Somehow, having two projects to work on seemed to loosen the latch on my idea door–I’m now at the point where I have several I’d love to dig into, when I have time. A friend of mine talks about “princess problems,” and I think having too many ideas fits under that umbrella-so no complaints here!

But…I’ve never been in the position of having to actually think of an idea. (I know, another one of those problems!) And I’ve decided that–guess what? I want to write another picture book. There are a few reasons behind this want:

  • I have figured out that I like writing in this genre.
  • I’ve heard recently that some (all?!) agents want a writer to have several picture books in the done pile before they’ll consider signing that writer. (No, I’m not letting this scare me, but I’m accepting it as a possible market reality.)
  • I like having not just more than one idea, but having more than one project I can actually work on at–basically–the same time. I like switching between the two. The thought of doing that with two novel projects pretty much blows my mind, but I do feel like I’ve been able to make steady progress on this picture book and my YA in the past few months. Which is good.

So…the other night, as I was heading into sleep, I let my brain drift. I don’t even know where I was sending it, just…out there. Maybe I was hoping for a visit from the muse, maybe just reassurance that I hadn’t turned back into a one-idea writer (or at least a one-picture-book-idea writer). I went to sleep without the visit or the reassurance, but I’m learning not to let that stress me out too much.

The  next day, I didn’t worry at it, but…sometime in the afternoon, I opened up a new Scrivener file and popped down the basic idea for, yes…another picture book.

Is it magic? Is it just being open to possibilities? I’ve heard this is the most frequent and challenging question authors hear–where do you get your ideas?

As of today, I have no clue. But I’ll tell you one thing–not knowing is definitely a princess problem.

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The To-Do List

Posted on by beckylevine

Many years ago, when I was feeling just slightly overwhelmed with life, someone gave me a piece of very good advice–write it down. Write down all the things that are swirling around in your head and stressing you out. I said, but what if I still can’t get it all done? She said, well, then those things probably weren’t all that important.

Duh! Did I mention I was slightly overwhelmed at the time?

I went out and bought a PDA. And I did just what she said–wrote everything down. Okay, I stylused everything down.

And she was right. It helped. I think this is because, along with all the pressure of thinking we have SO much to do, there comes that fear that we’ll forget one or more of the tasks, and then…you know, the world will stop turning.

Life got more cope-able eventually, but I never did let go of my list habit. Many times, I end up doing just what I was “worried” about–not actually getting to the items on the list. Which, I have found out, is definitely okay. Sometimes the list itself can be just a little scary, but only if I actually let myself stare at it for too long. You know, rather than picking a job and getting it done.

Here’s the big thing about the list–it lets me get my writing in. First of all, yes, I always include my writing on the list. But more than that, the list puts me back into a make-it-work mode. It proves to me that I am right–I have plenty to do. Which means it is time to shift out of my rambly, whatever-pops-up-first-into-my-face methodology into a more organized state of being.

In other words, get back to my fiction-first rule.

This week, I have a pile of non-writing work stuff that I have to plow through, while son’s out of school. Next week, though, when those things are out of the way and we’re back on a more structured schedule, the list still won’t be truly depleted.

That’s okay. Because next week…wait for it:

Fiction comes before taxes. On my list and in real life.

Do you love lists? Hate them? Hang onto them like the life-preserver behind a high-powered speed boat? Here’s to however you make it all work!

Posted in Uncategorized, Writing

Transitioning Between Projects: How Do YOU Do It?

Posted on by beckylevine

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve been pretty darned immersed in revising my picture book. People talk about which stage of writing a book we like best–early drafts, major revisions, final polishing. I’ll take any and all of those, as long as I get to a point where I can be and am totally immersed in that project. Where I go to bed thinking about it, wake up on the same path, and–whether I react with excitement or nerves–know for certain that this is the fictional world I’ll be stepping into today.

And then came “the end”–at least the end for now. The picture book has hit the email & the snail-mail, on its way to get critiqued by a couple of people in the publishing world. Despite the fact that I’m not querying or submitting yet, there is a wonderful wing-like feeling to thinking about the story out there, being seen, being read. And I’m letting myself enjoy that feeling.

In pretty much every other sense, though, I’m closing the door on the picture book for a while. I won’t be getting those critiques back until April, probably, and I’m going to wait to see what they tell me before I take the book back to my critique group. I’m also not revising a word of the story until then.

Which means, back to the other stuff. Time to shift gears.

In a way, the transition comes at a good time. My son is out of school for a week, which always throws life onto a different schedule. I’ve got some editing to do, along with prepping a few Power-Point presentation for a local SCBWI workshop series I’ll be doing. That’s the plan for the next week. And then, when my son heads back to school, I’ll head back to my historical.

I said that this is a good way to shift, in some ways. In another way, because I pushed these other things out to get the picture book done, they’re going to pretty much take up this week, which means I’ll be away from Caro & Chicago for that much longer. I’ll be away from the segment of my brain that thinks in terms of creating worlds with my own words. Sometimes, when you’re gone too long, the bridge back can look spindly or like it’s missing a few planks.

I’m thinking, to keep that bridge stronger, I’ll be getting back into my research during non-editing/powerpointing time. If I can’t write about Chicago in 1912, I can read about it. And immigrants. And automobiles. And photography. Obviously, research is its own form of immersion.

What do you do when you’re moving from one project to another, or when you’ve had to step away from the fiction altogether? How about sharing some tips in the comments!

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Friday Five: Around the Blogosphere

Posted on by beckylevine

I take you today to a few posts that caught my eye, and my imagination, over the past couple of weeks.

1. PJ Hoover lists her top ten reasons to have a writing group (different than a critique group).

2. Beth Revis gives her answer (for now) on the question of how to define success.

3. On a similar thread, lit agent Erin Murphy guest-posted over at Shrinking Violet Promotions about the many different paths to success.

4. Janni Lee Simner coaxes her protagonist to join her on the first steps into Draft 3 of her their WIP.

5. Terri Thayer asked us to share our snow-day stories. Being a native Californian, I had to make mine up. 🙂

Happy Friday, everyone, and here’s to a wonderful weekend.

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The Picture Book: Using Word Count as a Revision Tool

Posted on by beckylevine

The last couple of days have been a whirl of productivity for me. And, you know, the good kind–where you’re actually happy-ish with the work.

What happened?

Short story: I chopped the picture book in half.

Long story (Because you know I never use just the short story):

Like I said on  Monday, I’ve got a couple of events coming down the line that will give me a chance to get the picture book critiqued. I’ve known all along that it had way too many words (anywhere between 700 and 900, depending on which draft you opened up). I was okay with that, because I know that I am good at cutting and trimming and sharpening, turning a long scene or story into a much shorter one. It’s not a natural talent–I developed it over the three years I worked as a closed-captioner, taking TV and movie dialogue and editing it down to a specific word-per-minute reading rate. Anyway, I knew I could do it, so I wasn’t worrying about doing it…yet.

Until these critiques reared their heads. Because what was the point of submitting a picture book that I knew was too long. That’d be the first thing the critiquer told me, maybe even the only thing. Which would be a total waste. Plus, for one of the critiques, I only get to submit the first 300 words. Before I started this revision, 300 words barely got the reader past the opening.

So I cut. I didn’t take a red pencil and mark up the words I had. Instead, I opened a new file and only typed in the words I thought I could keep. Note I did not say “the words I needed.” Because, honestly, I really didn’t feel like I knew which those were yet. And, yes, I played as I went and moved things around and fiddled with the story . By the end of the day I had a draft that was just over 600 words, with red placeholders where I knew I need something different from what I had. I was still feeling pretty muddled and not confident about what those something-differents might be, but I was pretty happy with that 600+ word-count. I figured that, give or take a very few, this was the number of words I had to work with.

What did I do next? What I always do when I’m trying to learn about a genre–I went to the experts. I hauled a stack of my favorite picture books over to the couch, and I read. I let myself reread some of the older ones, from my childhood–Millions of Cats, Choo Choo, The Story about Ping, but I knew that was more play than work–yes, they’re wonderful, but they don’t have the low word-count or the story form I was looking for.

So I went on to two books that are pretty fantastic and that were published in the last year or so: Linda Urban’s Mouse was Mad and Bonny Becker’s Visitor for Bear. I was looking for a few things:

  • What were the heroes’ goals?
  • In what way did the heroes actively try to reach those goals?
  • What were the obstacles to the heroes’ attempts?
  • What words (and how few) did the authors use to show these story pieces?
  • What words (and, again, how few) did the authors use to increase tension across the story?
  • What information did the authors include and what did they choose to leave out?

These are all questions I have been struggling with in the picture book. Questions that I had been trying to answer by writing and fiddling with too many words. As I read Linda and Bonnie’s books, I did get the starts of some thoughts about how to do it differently, thoughts I played with yesterday. I think the most important thing I got, though, was a reminder that this can be done. A good, strong, funny, what-next, complete story can be written with a very small number of words. And when it’s done well, it’s magic.

I’m not saying yet that I can do it. I’m not Linda Urban, and I’m not Bonny Becker. What I am, though, especially since yesterday–when I got new story ideas, cut more words and added some better ones, strengthened characters, and got my husband to say he could “see the illustrator having fun with this”—is a writer committed anew to this genre and to wanting to find my place in its market.

And did I mention, a writer who finally has a picture-book draft that feels like it might be getting there and that is…wait for it: under 500 words?