Category Archives: The Writing Life

BEGINNING AGAIN

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OLD PICS ARE THE BEST PICS                                   How many times have I begun again? Somewhere between 96 and 1,811 times. It is what I do. I am not only talking about my writing, I am talking about my life.

It’s not so much because I’ve failed a lot, it has more to do with my expectations failing me. What else is new?

It wasn’t my daddy’s fault that he could finally buy a house so we moved one month before the end of grammar school, leaving behind my 6th grade teacher—the only one who ever liked me–far behind. It’s a long story about my other teachers and it has to do with my working in studios since I was 17 days old. My new teacher at my new school really hated me—I bit my nails—the whole class lost hearing Kon Tiki until my nails grew out—the kids hated me, too.  One month until Jr. Hi arrived.

Begin again.

It wasn’t my fault that at 74, having live around LA my whole life, I have moved To Mount Vernon, Washington. Yesterday, missing a slew of old friends, I was griping a “little,” and my granddaughter, Sarah, said, “Bubbe, go make lemonade with all those lemons.” She was right on. Upward and onward.

Begin again.

My oil painting teacher said I had talent—I painted and painted—my watercolor painting teacher said I had talent.  Really  Me?  My artistic soul dreamed, but it was not to be. My dream of a garret in Scotland and becoming famous—Poof! Three wonderful kids.

Begin again.

Then there was my stained glass window class of 10,000 cuts. Even if I was good at it (?), I felt I might need my fingers in later life. I took my 10 X14 masterpiece home, and covered my hands with Hello Kitty bandages. I found out I am blood type B negative.

Begin again.

Piano—zip. Violin—zip. Ballet—zip. My mother’s dreams for me—zip—zip—zip. My dreams—not so much. What was there out in the big world meant for me?

Begin again.

The UCLA Writing program? I liked children’s books, didn’t I? I liked essay exams, didn’t I? I loved writing stories for kids, wouldn’t I? Besides, if that didn’t work I could always…SIGH.

Begin again.

So I went back to college. I took classes from the best, Sue Alexander, Eve Bunting, Sid Fleischman, and met Judy Enderle. Authors, editors, agents, publishers. A new friend who was already published! Good start, right?

Miracle! Someone wanted to buy my first YA. All 140 pages of it. Problem was; it was 250 pages long. What did I do? Of course. Nothing new here.

Begin again.

Second book—perfect! Almost. Begin again!

Third book—exceptional! Nearly. Begin Again!

Sometimes the editor can be wrong. You have begun again so many times you’re not sure what you were writing in the first place. It happened to Judy and me, and the editor had the book for six years. Changes after changes.Beginning again and again and again. The editor was fired. The book was returned. We sold it to another editor. The last time when we began again, we put it back in its original form. Sometimes you are right—your book is perfect.

BUT, if you want to sell it you smile and…Begin again.

 

THE VALUE OF WAITING

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Editing1     By Judith Ross Enderle

I’ve been waiting. My writing partner Stephanie has been waiting, too. We are both waiting for the same thing: for life to settle down so we can get back to revising our middle-grade manuscript.
(An editor is patiently waiting, too—we hope.)

So why all this waiting?

This has been one of those unexpected-events-in-life summers. MOVING! And I mean more than getting out of my desk chair and taking a walk. I mean choosing a different house, selling the house I thought I’d never sell, packing billions of boxes, piling those boxes in a new house, unpacking those boxes, trying to decide what goes where. (I swear I rearranged things on the living room mantle at least a dozen times, and I’m still not sure it’s right.) Decisions!

Yup! I moved. I moved about six streets from where I lived before. BUT—I wasn’t the only one.

Stephanie moved, too. She can tell you all about her move (much farther than six streets) in her blog post coming up.

So what does all this have to do with waiting? When I’m moving I find it hard to focus (and I’m too tired to focus) on anything but getting from point A to point B. The writing I do during this time consists of lists: who to contact to turn off utilities, who to contact to turn on utilities, change of address lists, to-do lists, must-have and want-to-have lists.

Writing during this time is brief: what’s in each box, all packed and taped, and what room does it belong in.

Writing during this time fills Post-It notes galore: things to do, arrange, give away, buy, calls to make etc.

And then there’s getting the office disassembled and reassembled, with fingers crossed that everything will work. And when it doesn’t,trying to figure out why.

Moving is not for sissies!

During all this moving, the revision has been waiting. But the time hasn’t been wasted. Time away from any work always seems to help to see the story in a clearer light. There’s that voice problem with the one character. I think there’s a solution now. The motivations of the characters can be shown in a clearer way, perhaps. Got to check to be sure we’ve shown what’s at stake, physically and emotionally.

Yeah! Waiting. Maybe not such a bad thing after all. Could mean a much better story. Now it’s time to stop waiting and get busy revising. Ready, Stephanie?

CONFERENCE MUSINGS

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I’m back from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Conference in Los Angeles, as usual a terrific conference, and slowly getting over the brain overload–normal– and slightly sprained ankle–not normal–that I acquired during the week..

The good news this year is that everyone from Simon & Schuster Vice-President and Publisher Justine Chanda, who spoke about ‘The State of The State of the Industry,’ to Deborah Halverson, who gave the annual market report, (available to all SCBWI members), to various editors and agents, all agreed that children and teen publishing is in great shape, which cheered conference participants immensely.

Young adult fiction is still going strong, with the exception of dystopian novels, which are generally believed to have passed their peak.  (Personally, I never liked them that much to begin with, although some good books have come out of the trend.) Self publishing continues to be more accepted, although those who do it are urged to do it well, with careful attention to editing and book design.

One of the most interesting comments I heard, several times, was the agreement that YA novels are getting a lot of cross-over; that is, that many adults as well as teens are reading them.  No wonder, then, that so many YA novels have graced this last year’s best-seller lists. Someone, I forget who, put up a quote from TV comic Stephen Colbert, that said something like:  YA novels are regular novels that people actually read!

There were many good keynotes and many, many good workshops–I wish I could have attended twice as many as I did.  There was an editors’ panel, one composed of agents, and one with marketing and sales people.  Add that to seeing old friends and making new ones, and it was a very productive week.  (Have to come clean:  I’m on the SCBWI Board and have been a member for over 20 years, so not exactly unprejudiced, here. : )

I think most of us came home with renewed enthusiasm to get back to work. So excuse me while I switch to the WIP.

Cheryl

PS During the Board meeting, the dispute between Amazon and Hachette Book Group was discussed, and a statement will be released about that, soon.

WHEN THE MUSE VACATIONS by Judith Ross Enderle

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shutterstock_132452552Every once in awhile my muse, that creative cheer leader that whispers encouragement and shares fabulous ideas, takes a vacation. I don’t know where she goes or how she chooses a time to leave, but sometimes she’s not anywhere around. This missing muse used to panic me. What if I never had a good story idea again? What if I couldn’t finish my current project? What if there were no what-ifs ever again? (Writers are so good at imagining the worst.) But then I realized that a muse needs time off in the same way a writer sometimes needs time off. And perhaps for the same reasons. So—

Here’s what I try when my muse takes time off:

I might take a break, too. Shift into a different mode, another interest. Gardening helps to calm my brain and I find it often helps me solve plot problems (no pun intended).

Read. Read. Read. I try to pay attention to what keeps me turning pages, how the author solves a knotty problem for the main character, word choices, the voice of the author and the voices of the characters, emotions made visible through showing, the setting details, the sensory images. I’ve learned a lot about writing from reading.

Walk. I enjoy walking. On a long walk I can let my mind wander and explore the outdoors.
Sometimes I call a fellow author. I’m not the only one whose muse goes off to a muse convention or on a Hawaiian vacation.

An afternoon out can help. Over lunch with a friend, we can catch up on life. We might talk about old times and new times to come. Sometimes we talk about everything except writing. Perhaps a muse notices when you aren’t missing her as much as she expected and she comes back sooner than planned.

Still, every once in a while, unexpected life happens outside of writing. Sometimes we need to abandon our muse to take care of family, ourselves, all kinds of life happenings. That’s important. The muse understands. How else will we know how to create the tough times and the emotions that go with them when we get back to our story characters, when life settles down, when the muse is there to whisper to us again?

Have you found other ways to get past the missing muse times? Or the tough life times? If so, please share in the comments.

New Year, New Words

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Somehow New Years always seem to demand new year’s resolutions, no matter how many worthy promises  to ourselves were left in tatters last time around. From personal–those five pounds put on by grazing on too many holiday sweets that now need to be dropped–to professional, do we have resolutions!  As I cleared up shredded wrapping paper and fallen Christmas tree balls sent hither and yon by clever cat paws, I was already pondering.

My writing resolutions are clear.  I did finish the YA novel I was writing in 2013.  In December I read the last, much revised chapter to my critique group.  Now a little more polishing and I must brace myself and put it out there into the cold, cruel world–that’s resolution number one, and then, number two:  start a new project.  I already have something in mind, although I’m not ready to talk about it yet.

Number three: I want to learn more about ebooks and think about reviving some older novels that are OP (out of print) and decide if I want to try to get them back into circulation and if so, see what is involved.  Okay, I confess, that was a resolution for this year, too, so I really need to do that one, or at least, gather the info.  I do know that the books will need some revising–no one is as up to date on new technologies as teens and preteens, so if I do reprint a book even a few years old, it will have to be brought into the world of cell phones, texting, etc. So my tech horizons will be broadened in more ways than one.  Santa brought me a new up to date I phone for Christmas, so that will help.

And after that, who knows?  What are your resolutions?  More consistent writing hours?  Better research habits, or maybe reminders not to get so carried away by your research that you forget to write?  Are you determined to find a new critique group/start a new critique group?  Haunt the local library and book store and read plenty of the age fiction or nonfiction you wish to write?  Go to a writers’ conference and get the tips and networking you need to get past your current logjam?

Whatever your resolution, I wish you good luck and fortune in 2014.

Cheryl Zach/ WIP:  The Devil Tattoo

 

 

 

Love Your Characters, but Not Too Much!

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I had been stuck on the sequel to my YA novel Runaway Storm for a long time. I couldn’t figure out what the problem was, but I knew something wasn’t clicking. After completing almost an entire draft, I had decided the story was too edgy and dark. It had drifted far from the fun boys-against-the-wilderness coming of age storyline into a drug-addled world of abandonment.  No! No! I could not let this happen to my beloved main character David. I threw away about half of the manuscript and re-plotted. After all, what kind of a disenchanted adult would David grow up to be if he lived through so much horror? I slashed the darkness through the pages until it was only ankle deep. No steep mountains, no black bat-filled caves or murky oceans.  And I had succeeded. David would grow up without worry lines etched deeply into his young face. He would indeed be a very fine young man… just not a man of very good character. Oops, I mean, he just didn’t make a very good character anymore. In loving him so much, I had made him unlovable. By taking away all the challenges and dangers, I stopped worrying about him. (Ah, Mom relaxes.)  But as a book character, I had made him bland and uninteresting. A pretty flat character that even I couldn’t care about, so no reader would care either.

It was time to re-examine my intentions. I was now a good mother and a lousy writer. But wait had my worlds merged? Was it truly reality that had intruded into my story and my character? Aha! That was the key. Subconsciously, I think I had transferred my own teenage son into my character. How could I let anything bad happen to either of them? And where is a good “Writing therapist” when you need one?

Fortunately, I was able to figure it out. I had to separate the “real boy” from the character. I had to jump back into David’s head and I had to let him fall off a cliff and struggle to climb back up.  I had to remember that the darker and harder the challenges, the stronger my character would become.

Although I do not want my son to suffer quite so many challenges, I do know that fiction and reality run parallel. Both teenagers, real and imagined, have to grow through their own experiences and learning to fix their own problems, as painful as that can be for both mothers and writers.

AND THE ANSWER IS–

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Side A.
Can you guess what and where the question was? I’ll tell you. This was 70 across in a crossword puzzle, (Bellingham Herald, Thursday, July 4, 2013.) The clue was: Better song, usually.

Yeah, I know. How many people know what side A means anymore?

Is your childhood “history?” There are a lot of details that change with time. It’s important for writers to be aware of what is and what is no longer as well as what was and when.

Just at technology rapidly changes, so does language. Rad, cool, excel, neato, hot, fab, square, dweeb, etc. go in and out of vogue almost before you can learn the latest word to describe what’s great and what isn’t. This is why it’s sometimes wise to avoid current slang or invent your own for your characters.

It’s not just slang that you have to check out. When did “okay” come into use? How about “green light?” And while “greenhouse” has been around since 1664, “greenhouse effect” dates to 1937. What? Did you think it was more current than that? Me, too. Check your Webster’s Ninth for dates.

Whether your story is set now, when you were a kid, or before you were born, you can’t avoid details that belong in the time period. What surrounds your character at home and away? What is the place like?

Dial phone or cel phone? Pay phone, yes or no?

What about the school year? How long? What months? In school: rulers, pencil cases, what kind of desks, black boards, green boards, chalk boards, slates, computers? Does the school in your story have a computer center or a library? What about pointers and maps and AV equipment?

Microwave? Frozen food? TV dinners? What’s for breakfast? What kind of snacks? Is a PB and J sandwich allowed at school? (That lunch favorite isn’t welcome these days in many schools because of allergies.)

Think about the television, the radio, the record player, cassette, CD or MP3. Do “ear buds” exist?

The lists could go on and on, like a time-line—which, by the way, is handy to have available. Do a Google Search for history timelines. You can be specific.: American History or Language History or . . . . I mentioned Webster’s Ninth Collegiate Dictionary for word usage dates. And it doesn’t hurt to have a Slang dictionary handy.

Putting your characters and your readers in place—it’s all in the details.  So, before you send off that final draft, if you mention Side A, be sure it fits the time and place of your story.
Happy Writing!
Judy

MAKING YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE–ONE DAY AT A TIME

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Message Stones

I’ m just coming out of a period when life overwhelmed me and the writing spark withdrew and hid behind the dark places inside, and boy, was it scary. So I’m so madly happy that the spark has once again ignited, that for the moment I need little help returning each day to the current WIP. I usually start by rereading a few pages that I wrote the day before, which warms up the writing muscles, and then I let my characters loose and see where they go!

And on the note of my happiness as I write–I don’t watch much tv (there are exceptions, but that’s a story for another time) but I have seen promos for a new reality show where adults are given a chance to try for the ‘big dream’ they always longed for but never got to pursue. One man wanted to be a professional chef and cook for the President in the White House; one man wanted to drive race cars; one woman wanted to be a professional photographer, so she was getting to do a shoot for Sports Illustrated, and so forth. The excitement and poignancy felt by the people who got this second chance was so moving to watch.

And I marveled and thought how amazingly blessed I have been, despite the low points, despite recent years when I couldn’t write and the early years when I wrote and couldn’t sell, to have still managed to break through the tough nut of publishing, to sell over 50 books to major publishers, get good reviews, occasional awards, the respect of my peers. I have had this dream from childhood, and even though I never became a Stephen King or a J.K. Rowling, I’ve done so much that I hoped for–I need to appreciate how good it has been. And I do, truly. And I hope to carry the writing spark with me for the rest of my journey, and to entertain, move, and illuminate the readers who share the journey with me.
Cheryl Zach

When secondary characters don’t behave

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As the White Rabbit famously said, “I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!”

And I know it, I’m so sorry.  I’m moving, (you don’t want to know.  Think boxes, boxes and more boxes.)  The whole family has a stomach bug–you for sure don’t want to know details about that!  And when I’ve had the rare spare moment, I’ve added a few lines to the WorkInProgress, pounding out scenes and editing dialogue and making notes for future chapters.

The good news is–there actually IS a WIP.  Despite all best intentions, life sometimes takes over, even before the chaos of the move, and for a time, I couldn’t connect with the writing side of my brain.  Sometime, I will write about that–it’s too much for even a blog, though, I think.  But I can’t tell you what a relief it was for the ideas to begin to flow again…..whew!

And when I pushed everything else away and had to decide which book idea to work on, it was a Young Adult I had put aside some time ago when I got hung up over the problem of Bad Language, which I thought might set off all the censors and cause trouble with schools.  I had this drug dealer, you see, who was swearing every other word.

But this is the book, the story, the main character who is calling to me, so I pulled it out and took another look.  And I discovered that, although, yes, his swear words are still a problem–right now, I think the four letter words are just going to have to fall where they may–the much bigger problem is–he’s a total stereotype.  And I’ve taught students in my writing classes about avoiding this pot hole!  Teacher, listen to your own lesson!

Okay, I admit I don’t know that many drug dealers.  I don’t know any drug dealers–but that’s no excuse.  I do know how to create characters, even minor, foul-mouthed characters that nonetheless play an important, even vital role in the story.  They have to be individual, with their own storyline, their own background, needs, experiences.  Even though the readers will never glimpse most of this, the author will know, and it will make the character real, make him rise off the page.

So  I went back to square one and a much more satisfying character evolved. . . And now my story is humming along, and I can focus again on my main character–who is not, as you might be thinking–hooked on drugs.  It’s a lot more complicated than that.  This novel is about a girl from a rough part of town, yes, (not that drug dealers aren’t found in ritzy subdivisions, too!) but it’s mostly about identity–something I’ve played with before.  (RUNAWAY, Berkley, which won a RWA Rita award in the YA category.) I always tell my writing students that YA novels are by definition coming of age novels, but they also involve a teen figuring out who he/she is.  How much is environment/experience, how much of the real you are you born with, how much can you change–if you choose to, wish to?  Parents sometimes wonder this as they watch their children grow up, but what do teens think/feel when they hit a defining moment or a traumatic experience?

Oh, I can’t wait to jump back into this novel and share these exciting/poignant/heart-rending hours with my teen as Jude makes life or death choices.   So–see you later, fellow writers, and good writing!

Cheryl

MEANDERINGS

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Editing1     One way authors create character is through word choices. For example, Who would use a word like harbinger? Katniss Everdeen? The Cat in the Hat? Winnie the Pooh? Captain Underpants? Harry Potter? The main character in your story?

When you first start writing for publication, you think: If only I could get this one book published. When you have been publishing for awhile, you think: If only I could get this next book published.

Author Sid Fleischman always gave good advice. One tip he shared proved so true. “Never throw anything away. If you cut scenes or information from your work, put those parts in a doggie bag.” Doggie bags might contain future magazine stories or nonfiction articles, picture books, sequels, or new novels. Does your computer have a doggie bag file as well as an idea file?

If there are topics you’d like the Mavens to address, let us know, please. The other Mavens will Meander when inclined or when avoiding writing or instead of cleaning the office or . . . .

Happy Writing, Everyone!