Swagger

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

2012-02-27T01:01:00.000-08:00

Shakespeare’s immortal words from ROMEO AND JULIET: What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

How much time does a writer spend deciding on a character’s name? Is it as tough as naming a child? Did JK Rowling consider other names for Harry Potter? Claude? Or Marvin? Now that we know Harry, can we imagine him by any other name?

I’ve been told not to dwell too long on a name because an editor might change it anyway. For me, there’s more to it than that. If I want to do justice to a character’s story, I need to get inside his head, and the right name can make that easier.

In one of my historical fiction novels, my protagonist’s family history is integral to the plot. Her ancestors have lived in West Virginia since it was part of the Virginia colony. The family name had to be appropriate to the time and place. And I knew it would help my writing if the name evoked something in me.

The girl’s grandpa had a brother who died in battle, and Grandpa is a key character in the story. When I thought about Grandpa and his brother, I remembered a pair of brothers who lived nearby when I was a kid, Jimmy and Sammy Kent.

Jimmy was older, and Sammy followed him everywhere. Jimmy often tried to ditch Sammy, especially when girls were around. Once, as Jimmy hurried up the street, trying to outdistance his brother, Sammy fell and skinned his knee. Jimmy was beside his brother in an instant, comforting him. He took Sammy’s hand and led him home to take care of the injury. I didn’t know these brothers well, but that image remained with me.

So I gave Grandpa in my story Jimmy & Sammy’s last name. It made him real to me, and I was more able to believe in the brothers’ relationship. Now that it’s written, I wouldn’t mind if an editor wanted to change the name. It already served its purpose.

Kathy Cannon Wiechman

Thinking like a (wo)man

2012-02-23T01:01:00.000-08:00

The other night my hubby and I were relaxing in front of the TV watching Blade Runner in real-time. We were lying on the couch like slugs in our sweats. He was cuddling our 50-pound dog. We passed a sleeve of Do-si-do Girl Scout cookies back and forth. A commercial for Match.com came on followed by one for eHarmony.

In my not unusual way of saying exactly what pops into my head at the same time it's popping, I made some joke about the types of things his ad might say that would definitely not attract women.

And I hurt his feelings. I felt terrible about it.

To make it up to him, I crafted a personal ad describing him in a more flattering light. I wrote it with an eye towards highlighting his positive qualities that I thought women would find desirable.

Handsome white male with piercing baby blue eyes is looking for a woman with whom to work-out, cuddle on the leather couch in front of the big screen TV, walk his black Lab mix, and eat candlelit dinners. Easily shares details about his job managing the Ohio office of a nationwide engineering and consulting firm, but eager to hear about your day. Great listener. Likes to take care of his lady in every way.

What woman wouldn't follow up with a guy like that! I thought. I sent it to him to show him that he did indeed have great qualities that women want. That I want.

Then he returned the favor. It was an eye opener. It wasn't anything like what I would have written about myself. Even if I was trying to write from a male POV.

As I read it over again, the difference between what's important to men versus what's important to women really sank in. Even for me, a woman who wouldn't describe herself as stereotypically female (ex: shopping is my idea of torture and I think most gossip is mean-spirited and don't partake.) Here's what my husband viewed as very attractive:

Beautiful hazel-eyed lady with an 18-year-old's body! A bit rough around the edges at times, but very loving and forgiving; loves to be massaged and even allows her man to watch action movies and sports on a fairly regular basis.

Try it with your significant other. Don't belabor it. Take no more than five minutes and write a personal ad about your partner. Have him/her do the same. Compare the two perspectives. Marvel at how men and women really do notice and value different things.

Let me know how it worked out for you.

Kim Van Sickler

Transformation

2012-02-20T07:22:00.000-08:00

By Juliet C. Bond

I've written two short stories and one poem that were published in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. I know, I know. This particular series has become the source of mockery for many “serious” writers but in its defense, the books sell like hotcakes. Stores can’t keep them on their shelves and for every ailment or interest, there is a Chicken Soup for the Soul response. A few years ago, I walked into my chiropractor’s office and noticed her copy of Chicken Soup for the Chiropractor’s Soul. My husband was given a Chicken Soup for the Teacher’s Soul, by a devoted student and my son cherishes his copy of Chicken Soup: Teens Talk Middle School.

The success in these publications lies in two main techniques. First, the publisher targets unique topics and groups to create content for and market to. People like to buy books that are tailored to their life experiences. Second, and this is the most important, the stories make us feel our hearts swell a little bigger with their good news.

In a world where the popular newsroom direct is, “If it bleeds it leads,” we all hear bad news in an almost constant loop. As a result, most of us suffer from a profound lack of good news – of stories that lift the ache from our shoulders and remind us that kindness and human triumph exists.

And there is something else. In a recent interview with the amazing Joy Cowley, she noted that,

I found that as often as I opened a book I could enter new lives! Whoever said you could only
live once wasn’t a reader!

She made me think about how often I immerse myself in the new life of a character in a book. My favorite characters are brave where I would be shy, they act when I would be paralyzed, they say just the right thing at the right time to the right villain, their adventures are ones I would be too careful to ever engage in, but they generously offer me the opportunity to travel the world, fall in love and fight injustice without ever leaving the comfort of my couch.

Oh! To be Katniss from The Hunger Games, with her perfect shot, her fearless commitment to justice and the way she almost rabidly protects her mother and sister!! Not to mention Katniss's juicy challenge of deciding which of her two love interests to choose from – the sensitive, caring one or the sensitive, caring one.

Pure joy for a generation of gals hooked on “Twilight’s” Bella who cowers in corners while her dangerous boyfriends resist their urge to eat her.

Which reminds me of a quote by the writer and activist, Muriel Rukeyser.

The world is made up of stories, not atoms.

I’d always wondered about my stratified interest in social work and fiction writing. I think it was the nature of stories in both professions that drew forth my passion. Ideally, a good story transforms the main character. That’s true in fiction and in real life crises where people need intervention to aid them towards a new beginning.

Yep, the power of a great tale is firmly centered on the magical, arduous transformation within a flawed person with limited potential. And isn’t that what we all are?

That’s why the Chicken Soup for the Soul stories work so well. In only a few words, the imperfect reader is introduced to a believable, relatable main character. Then, we are led through tragedy, despair, lost hope, unexpected solution and finally, a glorious, satisfying, triumph.

It’s so pleasurable it’s like... chicken soup for the soul.

MY CONFESSION

2012-02-16T01:00:00.000-08:00

What I am about to confess will not come as a surprise to anyone who really knows me or even to a few who have met me only casually. It is something that embarrasses & confounds me, but since I am unable to control it, I’ll confess.

I cry.

And I don’t just tear up at funerals. My family says my nose gets red first, before I weep, sob, & blubber until my voice dissolves into hiccups. Snot has been involved. And it isn’t just at funerals. I have cried at weddings, graduations, parades, ball games, & dance recitals. I cry at movies and shed tears across pages of books. My husband teases, “What’s the matter? You have something in your eye?” when the only thing in my eye is tears.

I cry when I’m happy, sad, proud, angry, or witness anything that stirs me. I cry for the victors and for the defeated. I cry at partings & reunions. Apparently, my emotions have a direct line to my tear ducts.
I have come by this trait genetically. Mom was a crier, but so was Dad. There are some who find man tears a sign of weakness, but to me they are a sign of caring. If Dad talked about his family, his home town, or his Army crew, tears gathered in his eyes. It was that emotion/tear duct connection that we share.

I have been an avid reader since I first learned how, but in recent years I’ve done a lot of manuscript critiquing, and a good manuscript must pass the tear test with me. If a story doesn’t make me cry at some point, the author failed to pull me in emotionally. The characters didn’t make me care.

Bruce Coville once said, “A story should contain at least: one belly laugh, one honest tear, and one gasp.” Good test, Bruce. But if you want me to love your book, it should leave me wiping my eyes and blowing my nose. Hubby should ask if I have something in my eye.

What was the last book that made you cry?

Kathy Cannon Wiechman

Guess what I did last weekend?

2012-02-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

I followed Gina's advice and had me a BURN.

I took three large Highlights canvas bags, from the Chautauqua Conferences and the Founders Workshops attended through the years, and filled them up with hundreds of pages. They were old, rough copies of manuscripts, scribbled notes, rejection letters, used up journals, etc., that were taking up space in my bursting file cabinets, and no longer served any purpose. I loaded them in the trunk of my car and brought them to our house in Northwest Connecticut. While my family went off skiing at Butternut Mountain, I leisurely fed the pages into the fire.

I cannot tell you how good it felt. I was completely at peace. While snacking and enjoying mugs of steaming coffee, I had time to muse over my luck at encountering The Highlights Foundation and its wonderful people: staff, teachers, editors, and most of all, Us, the writers/students/new friends. And I was filled with joy, appreciation, and deep gratitude.

Graziella Pacini Buonanno

Group Poetry

2012-02-10T01:01:00.000-08:00

Twice a month I attend a group poetry therapy session. I know what you are thinking, poetry therapy? In a group setting?

Basically we come together and with the help of a facilitator we write poetry. The prompts are poems that we are given to open up our writing brain. It is a pretty amazing experience.

At the last meeting our facilitator gave us a poem by Leonard Nathan entitled So? It is a poem about accepting who you are not and who you will never become but also about who you are. We were encouraged to write our own version by following the format of his poem. It is admittance of your weaknesses, the shortcomings that you have imposed on yourself. But also the acceptance of your strengths.

And it was liberating. I encourage you to do the same. Who have you always aspired to be? What have you hoped to do but know it is impossible? By writing my version of this poem, I let go some of those dreams and accepted who I am right now.

So?   So?
Leonard Nathan    Regina Gort

So you aren't Tolstoy or Saint Francis   So you aren't Jacques Cousteau or Mary Oliver
or even a well-known singer      or even the Queen of England,
of popular songs and will never read Greek will probably never again read Tolstoy or
or speak French fluently,    speak Japanese fluently.
will never see something no one else    You will never fly to the moon or discover
has seen before through a lens   the missing link.
or with the naked eye.    You have been given the ability to love and
You've been given just one life   receive love.
in this world that matters    and more than that you can look yourself
and upon which every other life   straight in the eye
somehow depends as long as you live, and honestly say that you matter.
and also given the costly gifts of hunger,
choice, and pain with which to raise
a modest shrine of meaning.

Regina Gort

-------Savoring the Little Things

2012-02-07T01:01:00.000-08:00

Troop 71009 standing in front of Raccoon Roost.

I took my Girl Scout troop of eighth graders to a camp in Trumbull County, Ohio, over the weekend. We were fortunate to have mild weather: temperatures in the 40s during the day and sinking to the mid-20s at night. Our cabin, built in the 1950s, was the original caretaker's cabin. It was constructed with a wood-burning stove for the sole heat source and no indoor plumbing. We had to stoke the stove every 2.5 hours, heat any water we wanted to clean dishes with, and prepare three basins of water (from containers I brought from home) to clean up after each meal. The first basin's hot water and soap was for washing, the second's bleach/water combination was for sanitizing, and the third's water was for rinsing. Cleaned dishes went in dunk bags and air dried.

Amy stokes the wood-burning stove.

Carli & Tina wash dishes.

The girls planned the menu and I tweaked it. I decided we'd make a dump cake for dessert Friday night and a hashbrown-sausage-egg casserole bake for breakfast Saturday--in a Dutch oven, a cast-iron pot that you heat with coals and that I had learned to use in theory and training, but not practice.

Carli, Megan W., & Kathryn learn that Dutch oven cooking isn't quick.

Does it surprise anyone that most of our time and energy was devoted to keeping the cabin heated, cleaning up after meals, and trying to cook with the Dutch oven?

There wasn't much grumbling. Any sissies I might have had in my troop dropped out long ago. The girls know me, and accepted the fact that we spent all Saturday morning trying to follow the recipe before admitting defeat and popping the dutch oven sans lid in the beat-up indoor oven so we could finally eat breakfast at 12:30 pm.

Bethany's soup on the stove complimented our grilled cheese in the pie irons for lunner after our late brunch.

That afternoon we were working on requirements for a couple of Cadette awards. One of the prompts was, "I'm glad I'm alive because..." The girls gave some thoughtful answers. Then Bethany blew us all away with hers. "I'm glad I'm alive for all the little things," she said.

We pressed her. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "You know, all the things that take you by surprise as you're going about your life. You may not expect them and when they happen you sit back and go, "Whoa, that's so cool; and it really makes you think and appreciate that you're here to notice them."

Tina gets 'em going.

My turn.

Boom, boom, pow. Hammering the sign back in.

Blind trail.

Like the orange glow from the moon that transfixed us Friday night as we spent way too long squatting in the fire ring trying to heat our coals to cook our dump cake. Like the amazingly good percussion routine the girls spontaneously created with the lummi sticks they found in a corner of the cabin while they waited for one of their meals. And like the way one girl whispered heartfelt advice to another in the wee hours of the morning, when they thought everyone else was sleeping, about boys.

Our luxury sleeping accommodations.

The little things. The things that when they happen, you stop what you're doing for a minute to appreciate them. The things that when you recall them, they bring back that powerful feeling you had the first time. The things that make life worth living. Sometimes it takes a child to remind us jaded, over-worked adults of the wonder of the world. It's out there, just waiting for us to notice it.

Kim Van Sickler

She did it Anyway

2012-02-04T01:01:00.000-08:00

By Juliet C. Bond

In writing, as in most things, we take a leap of faith. We gather up bits of ourselves, observations and old ghosts, and do our best to invite them in. Then, surrounded by this motley crew of ideas and memories, we sculpt a series of scenes. For me, the leap comes in sharing my stories. This makes sense because the offerings are parts of ourselves. To share these sacred dreams are a little like undressing in front of a mirror, behind which, stands a roomful of respected peers.

Terrifying.

But we do it anyway.

We willingly shed our skins for others to cluck, fuss over and judge; believing our stories are worth the risk.

In, “Take Joy,” the prolific author, Jane Yolen writes,

Writing for a living is much easier than sitting in a therapist’s chair. Cheaper too. Authors get to parade their neurosis in public disguised as story. If we are lucky, we get paid for doing it. And we get applause as well. As Kurt Vonnegut said, ‘Writers get to treat their mental illnesses every day.’

…That one’s writing goes out and touches someone else on that same level – thought differently- is one of the pieces of magic that attends to art.

On bad days, avoiding writing is like avoiding the mirror, never mind the peers. It’s our own judgment that’s ultimately most damaging. We cancel the therapy appointment with some lame excuse and watch an episode of “The Housewives of Beverly Hills,” instead.

But in the end it isn’t worth it. If it’s our own judgment we are most afraid of, then that episode of “The Housewives,” definitely won’t be the cure.

So this is what I hope for myself and for all writers.

When I am most fearful, reluctant to attend the imaginary session.

I do it anyway.

HIGHLIGHTS FOUNDATION WORKSHOPS

2012-02-02T01:01:00.000-08:00

If you read this blog, you know the Swagger Writers met at a Highlights Foundation workshop. Actually, I first met Rich Wallace at the HF Workshop at Chautauqua in 1999, and I took one of his HF Founders workshops in 2003. I met Jon Egan three years later at another workshop, and we all met up at Rich’s workshop in 2009. Why so many workshops? Why did I keep going back?
I’m frugal. I clip coupons and shop for bargains, but when it comes to my writing, I want the best. For me, the HF workshops are that. I get questions answered and work critiqued. I get encouragement. I get treated as someone whose work matters. I come home with knowledge gained and notes on what to do next.
Some who have never been to a HF workshop say they cost too much, but a bargain hunter like me has to look at what one gets for the price. I’ve gone to many one-day conferences that are cheaper, but there I am, one in a sea of participants. If I attend the night-before dinner, it costs extra. If I get a 15-minute critique, another extra fee. And, of course, there’s the cost of my hotel. If I want the most from it, it’s no longer inexpensive.

At the Foundation’s workshops, all meals (cooked by chef extraordinaire Marcia Dunsmore, who makes my dietary restrictions taste fabulous!) are included.

Gourmet meals are served at the Farmhouse when you attend a Highlight's Foundation workshop.

My room (actually a cozy cabin in a gorgeous bucolic setting) is included. And the ratio of faculty to participants keeps me from feeling at sea.

Private cabins for sleeping and late-night writing.

Rich’s workshops are not the only HF workshops I’ve been to. I attended ones with faculty like Joy Cowley, Patricia Gauch, & Peter Jacobi. These are experts, who know how to write & sell children’s literature, and they are willing and eager to share their knowledge. And they work one-on-one with each participant—& not just for a 15-minute critique.

Since my first HF workshop in 1999, I have recommended the workshops to writer friends who might benefit from that one-on-one attention. One of those friends was Dave Richardson.

Kathy (back, fourth from left, and Dave Richardson, standing next to her), with other Highlight's workshop attendees.

Dave had already been published in Highlights magazine, and was a natural fit for the Chautauqua workshop in 2004. He talked to everyone there and made lasting impressions on many of them. One of those contacts led to his landing a job writing a book review column for Reading Today.
Another was Patti Gauch. The faculty for Patti’s HF workshop coming up this summer (Master's Class in Fiction Writing for Children & Young Adults, June 24-July 1) includes my friend Dave Richardson. It also includes special guests Joy Cowley & Peter Jacobi. Plus authors, an illustrator, editors, & an agent, all at one workshop. Wow!

What can you expect from a workshop with Dave? You can read all his impressive credentials by checking out the faculty for the workshop at www.highlightsfoundation.org & you can find his blog at www.riterdave.blogspot.com, but as someone who knows him, I can tell you he reads more books for young people than anyone I know, and he has a sharp eye for what a reader will love. We’ve been in the same critique groups for more than ten years and he offers tremendous insight into what works and what doesn’t. And he’s always thrilled to spot undiscovered talent.

If you’ve never been to a Highlights Foundation workshop, why not give this one a try? And if you have been before, you can’t beat this wonderful faculty for a return visit. Check out the web site and see what you think. Who knows? You could meet a great group of friends to swagger with.

If you sign up, come back to this blog and let us know. And be sure to give us a report when you get back from the workshop.

Kathy Cannon Wiechman

The Burn

2012-01-31T01:01:00.000-08:00

Last week we had a good friend over for dinner. He is someone who I respect as a poet and person. After dinner he told us about how he and another friend had gotten together and decided to do a “burn”. It's not what you might be thinking.

He explained that they gathered their early manuscripts, notebooks, revisions and anything earlier than the last three years of writing, built a fire and then burned their work.

I asked a ton of questions like: Did they sort it? Did they read through it first? Was there any particular order to the burning? All of the answers were no. He stated that it was just a fire and two guys burning what needed to be shed.

What a concept, I thought. Especially for me who has boxes of hard copies, years of notebooks and back-up USB drives to my back-up files online. I wondered if I could do some burning.

It wasn't until I received my latest rejection letter that I put the thought into action.

What was I holding onto all this stuff for anyway? I wasn't planning to wallpaper a room with my rejection letters; they were in a box in the basement. And I am pretty sure that even if I become a bestselling writer, no one is going to buy any of my early manuscripts.

So I started the process and after three days of digging and sorting I ended up with two boxes and a milk crate full of writing. I kept the notebooks and journals from 2009 to now (seven to be exact), a couple critiques, and my very first book of poetry I wrote (in 8th grade) but everything else had to go.

Extraneous stuff that needs to go.

My husband, Tim, was kind enough to help out by clearing a place in the snow and collecting some wood (albeit wet). I carried out the milk crate of paper and I started burning.

We sat around the fire and put in page after page, notebook after love letter after manuscript. And it took longer than I thought. In fact we didn't even get to the other boxes.

Aftermath of "The Burn".

But I can't even begin to explain the catharsis. It was even better than I had imagined. Unlike my friend, I read some stuff aloud and some quietly to myself. And though it was interesting to see where I used to be as a writer. It was amazing to realize how much I have grown as a writer.

My husband said that it was a great example of living in the now. And he proceeded to gather up some old photos.

We have another burn planned. And we might make a party of it. Invite some friends, drink some wine and burn collectively.

I encourage you to give it a try. Even if it's just one page, just one sentence.

Regina Gort

Orson Scott Card: Marketing Genius?

2012-01-28T01:01:00.000-08:00

So I finished Ender's Game, and wrote a brief review of it for Goodreads because I'm curious what books will get recommended to me once I do my 20 reviews. I gave it five stars.

Homo- or paederotic? Really?

I knew my stepson liked the book. He's the one who recommended I read it. So, thanks to the wonder of Facebook, I messaged him in his apartment at FSU asking him to rate the book and tell me what he liked best about it. Here's what I got back about thirty minutes later. I liked it. I'd give it 4 stars. It was a bit of a heady and political book, which gives it controversy, but the story is very good, and that's what it should be about. Plus he's remarkable about describing battles in 3D.

After I posted my review, I scrolled through a few of the other 11,000 reviews and 213,000 ratings. Seriously. And I quickly realized something. People are deeply polarized by this book. The majority of reviews are positive. The bulk of negative ones talk about the book's "one dimensional cardboard cut-outs," "infallible, mostly emotionless and paper thin protagonist," "side stories that didn't add to plot development," primitive writing", and "pathetic New Age garbage." One reader said, "I threw my book across the room after I finished it."

But then I stumbled on criticism that made me do a double-take. "Bizarre homoerotic subtext....It creeped me out and I'm gay." "Creepy pedophile vibe." "I believe the author's conceit and prejudice played a big part in my being unable to enjoy this book [throwing] homo or perhaps even paedo-erotic undertones into starker relief."

Huh. To me, the author's mention of boys in various stages of undress as they prepared for bed or showered, wasn't as weird as how the lone prepubescent girl in the barracks was naked right along with them. But this was a tiny part of the story and I moved on to embrace larger concepts.

The sex reference criticisms made me wonder, so I did a little checking on Orson Scott Card. He appears to be a very opinionated man. And a very religious man. He writes a critique column in his local newspaper: Uncle Orson Reviews Everything and blogs his opinions freely: The Ornery American. He wrote a rambling diatribe in 2004 proclaiming that marriage is a sacred institution between one man and one woman (as well as stating that men and women are inherently foreign to each other.) He spent an awful lot of time explaining how gay people can marry: all they have to do is make their marriage a sham by marrying someone of the opposite sex. He seems to be endorsing closet homosexuality. Is outrage over this article the genesis of reading sexual overtones to what I viewed as simple scene descriptions?

The controversial and beloved Orson Scott Card

Whatever the answer is, I figure the way he gets his name out there and the fact that he doesn't shy away from expressing himself probably attracts more readers than repels them. Even if someone's expressing outrage about him, they're saying his name. I bet people have read the book just to check out the sexual overtones themselves. I mean the guy's got 11,000 reviews written about this book just on Goodreads. And I personally don't care what anyone privately thinks if they can write a good story.

What about you? Would you ever refuse to read an author's work of fiction if you disagreed with his/her personal philosophy? Do you think your disagreement with the author's personal philosophy would color your reading of his story?

Kim Van Sickler

Gloria Steinem

2012-01-26T01:01:00.000-08:00

By Juliet C. Bond

I am the child of a feminist.
One of my earliest memories is of being plopped onto a wide summer lawn alongside my sister, watching as my mother joined a group of women who chatted and adjusted their signs. I remember the warm sunshine and the eager energy around us. The women's faces lit up with the joy of feeling powerful; a rare experience during a time when women still couldn’t get a credit card unless it was in their father or husband’s name. In fact, there were so many things women couldn’t do in the seventies that we take for granted now.

· In junior high, girls took home economics and boys took shop,
period.

· Babies were automatically given their father’s name at birth. If there were no father, the certificate was stamped, “illegitimate.”

· There were few childcare centers available to women who needed to (or wanted to) work.

· In elementary schools, virtually all of the teachers were female. In fact, there are a few states where it is actually illegal for men to teach grades lower than sixth, on the basis that it’s unnatural or dangerous.

· The National Honor Society kicked girls out if they “got themselves pregnant” (this one is still true today.)

· Only two percent of the military were female, and those were primarily nurses.

· Women workers could still be fired or demoted for being pregnant.

· Women made about fifty-two cents for every male dollar.

Over the next twenty years, women fought and won the right to end sex discrimination in hiring. They went to battle to win the Equal Employment Opportunity Act, Title IX, housing discrimination protections and won the right for married women to legally access contraception. They even pushed so hard for the Equal Rights Amendment (first proposed by Alice Paul in the 1920's) that, for the first time in fifty years, it passed through congress.

But it didn't pass the ratification process.

The Equal Rights Amendment is now in it's 112 year before the senate, still unratified, and its supporters are still fighting for the simple words, "equality of sexes," to be added to the U.S. Constitution.

Growing up, I learned that all of these issues were still, in many ways, problems for the women of my generation. I faced my own repeated experiences of sexual harassment and even assault. I found myself belittled or ogled at by male employers and I constantly got into arguments with my male friends when they made sexist jokes.

(My little brother, me and my sister. I'm about 17 years old here

and just coming into my own as a feminist.)

In college, I chose classes in gender studies because the second wave made those classes a reality. And while working as a social worker, I was keenly aware that the welfare system was the literal bottom of the barrel for America. This was the place where poor women and children scraped and scrambled for bare bones survival. I remember a client who lost her baby’s formula when the state found out she had a live-in boyfriend. After all, a male presence automatically assumes that women have a secondary form of income and no longer need the state to be, "her man." Of course, without food, the children became officially neglected, placed in foster homes and fell into my lap. Another client had so many roaches in her cheap, government subsidized housing, that they were crawling in waves across the kitchen.

After fifteen years of working within this system I needed a break and began teaching part time while I raised my three children. My first classes were solely Social Work and Justice Studies but I got a call one day. Would I be willing to teach a class on Women in US Society? I jumped at the chance.

I have been teaching this class for almost six years. We go over women's history before moving into contemporary issues and my students are enthusiastic and outraged when they learn about the long hard fight women have been waging for over one hundred years. Most of the time, my students have never heard of the first wave feminists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Ida B. Wells, Mary Wolstonecraft or Francis Willard.

They have no idea that women traveled the country for years fighting for voting rights, that they legislated for the right to divorce and were even tortured in their efforts to gain the legal freedoms we enjoy today, And to my students, even the second wave leaders like Angela Davis, Gloria Steinem or Dorothy Pitman Hughes are only vaguely familiar names with no knowledge of their accomplishments to back up the name recognition. It's not their fault. These women, their battles and achievements, are not in their high school textbooks.

I teach my students about these women. I'm proud to do that. I'm excited to walk into class and share their stories every day. I not only owe it to women like my mother - who fought so I could be hired as a college professor and even make the same pay as my male colleagues - I owe it to my daughter and her contemporaries too. I love the looks on my student's faces, their righteous indignation and their sunlit expressions as they rev up their engines. They will be the next generation of strong leaders who make the world a less hostile place for women.

So when I got an email from a colleague with the question, would you be willing to have the writer/activist Gloria Steinem in your class next semester? I nearly fell off my chair.

Gloria Steinem the Gloria Steinem, is coming to my class!

I called my husband.

"Wow," he said. "That's like Buddha visiting a Buddhism class…"

I laughed out loud. Yep, I thought. That's exactly what it is.

On February 7th, I will host the most famous and arguably, the most influential, living feminist leader. This time, I'm no little girl sitting in the grass. This time, I get to join the group of women standing on the lawn, preparing for the protest.

Sharing the Love

2012-01-24T01:01:00.000-08:00

A big bloggy thank you to Dawn Malone over at Here's the Story for passing on the Liebster Blog Award to us. The award is designed to recognize blogs with under 200 followers. It appears that recognized blogs are supposed to spotlight five blogs who should get the award next and so on. In the spirit of Liebster Blog then, here are some promising sites we at Swagger enjoy, and encourage you to visit:

Hands on Books: Nonfiction for Kids with Fun Activities
Tasha Seegmiller
Juliana L. Brandt
YA Fusion
Smack in the Middle

"Liebster" in German means beloved. So was this award created by a German blogger? Does anyone know?

Swagger Writers

COINCIDENCE

2012-01-21T01:01:00.000-08:00

When I planned to take my elderly aunt to an event on the riverfront, I wanted to drop her off close to the entrance before I parked my car, but the entrance wasn’t set up for that. I was put in touch with a woman in charge, who told me a place to drop my aunt, and offered to meet us there, with a wheelchair if necessary. She said she’d sit with my aunt while I found a parking space. I recognized this nice woman’s name, though my married name was unfamiliar to her. We went to kindergarten together—and I hadn’t seen her since.

Coincidence.

Years ago, my parents visited my uncle on an army base in D.C. Uncle was an Air Force Colonel. He had tasks to finish before he could give them a tour of the base, so he assigned a young corporal to take them for a snack while they waited. The corporal turned out to be a neighbor, who had grown up down the street from us.

Coincidence.

More recently, my brother took a trip and ran into a cousin of ours in the airport—in Germany!

More coincidence.

Coincidence. Happenstance. Serendipity. Whatever word you use, we see it all the time. But when we write a fictional story with coincidence, we are told it doesn’t seem realistic.

I asked a workshop instructor about this, and he said, “While coincidence does happen in real life, when we see it in fiction, it feels contrived.”

If I write about Wesley, a young Pennsylvanian, who visits relatives in the South when the Civil War breaks out, and I have Wesley join the Confederate Army with his Southern relations, can I write that Wesley is killed during the Battle of Gettysburg only a stone’s throw from his northern home?

Too contrived?

I can write this story as non-fiction because Wesley Culp’s story is true. He died on Culp’s Hill, land named for his family. Yes, history is full of coincidence, but fiction isn’t allowed to be.

What are your feelings on coincidence in fiction? Too contrived for your taste?

Kathy Cannon Wiechman

You are a Success!

2012-01-19T01:01:00.000-08:00

As I look back at my goals for 2011 and look ahead toward new goals, it is easy to become discouraged. I decided to post a poem by Marge Piercy that reminds me to keep my perspective of what success really is.

FOR THE YOUNG WHO WANT TO

Talent is what they say
you have after the novel
is published and favorably
reviewed. Beforehand what
you have is a tedious
delusion, a hobby like knitting.

Work is what you have done
after the play is produced
and the audience claps.
Before that friends keep asking
when you are planning to go
out and get a job.

Genius is what they know you
had after the third volume
of remarkable poems. Earlier
they accuse you of withdrawing,
ask why you don't have a baby,
call you a bum.

The reason people want M.F.A.'s,
take workshops with fancy names
when all you can really
learn is a few techniques,
typing instructions and some-
body else's mannerisms

is that every artist lacks
a license to hang on the wall
like your optician, your vet
proving you may be a clumsy sadist
whose fillings fall into the stew
but you're certified a dentist.

The real writer is one
who really writes. Talent
is an invention like phlogiston
after the fact of fire.
Work is its own cure. You have to
like it better than being loved.

Regina Gort

Books that 14-year-old Girl Scouts love :)

2012-01-17T01:01:00.000-08:00

Imagine how thrilled I was when my daughter, who would rather be texting or playing games on her iPhone (bought for her by my ex-husband, not me), read a book I suggested, AND clamored for more. Not only did she cry over it, bemoan the MC's fate, and talk to me about the characters like they were actual people, she wrote a book review for Amazon. (I wrote the title for her.) Here it is.

5.0 out of 5 stars
Fourteen-Year-Old Reluctant Reader Couldn't Put My Beginning Down.
December 27, 2011
by Claire Omerza
This review is from: My Beginning (Paperback)

My mom's always trying to get me to read and I also have to read for school. Usually when I read, I set goals, like finding a page I'm going to read to or a chapter I'm going to finish. But when everyone in my family read the Hunger Games books, I did too. I really liked them. And when I read Melissa Kline's My Beginning, I felt the same suspense I did for the Hunger Games series.

To be completely honest, when the story started, I felt like I was Ivory and Aidan was my boyfriend. When bad things happened to them, I cried. When things were good with them, I was happy. So even though the story is set in the future and that makes it interesting, the idea of Ivory wanting to find happiness with a guy she likes, and then all of the problems they have to overcome to be together, is something I really relate to.

As soon as I finished the book, I texted my best friend Emily that she's got to read it.

***
Claire claimed she is Melissa Kline's Number One fan and that makes me happy, since Melissa's a fellow Swagger and a terrific author and person. But then I started thinking about the other Cadettes in my Girl Scout troop. Some of them are readers and some of them aren't. What books excite them?

Girl Scout Troop 71009 weighs in on their favorite books

Nicole, an award-winning poet, rattled off dozens of books that make her swoon. But when I pressed her for her absolute favorite, she settled on The Sister's Grimm series by Michael Buckley. Nicole loves long books AND series because she says they give her more time to hang out with the characters she's bonded with.

Tina, a non-reader, had no interest in recalling a favorite book. "I don't read except what I have to for school," she says. But, she is writing a screenplay for a movie. It's probably full of slapstick humor because this former monosyllabic speaker has morphed into a physical comedy kind of gal. I think her stints as Magenta in our troop's "Rocky Horror Picture Show" re-write and as Chef Male in our original production of "The Mystery of the Missing Meatball" changed her life forever.

Megan R., said Lauren DeStefano's Wither is her favorite book. It's the first in a series and it's about young girls kidnapped and forced into polygamous marriages. This shocked the hell out of me. Megan is a quiet girl who raises guinea pigs for show. I didn't even think she liked boys. I thought her favorite book would feature animals.

Megan W. also surprised me with her great taste. Not that she doesn't have taste. I just didn't expect it to be so classic. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien is her favorite book.

Amy, our tomboy, gave her highest mark to Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian (Book Five) by Rick Riordan. Proof that readers do devour the entire series!

Carli, our quiet, sensitive girl, unhesitatingly told me that Hiding Edith by Kathy Kacer is the best book she's ever read. Part of a Holocaust Remembrance Series, this Diary of Anne Frank-like work is a non-fiction account of Edith Schwalb going into hiding after the Nazi invasion of France.

Bethany, a Power of the Pen writer and unabashed Christian, loved Soul Surfer, the real story of surfer Bethany Hamilton, the girl who lost her arm in a freak shark attack. When I asked her about the book, she launched into a detailed account of how Bethany's positive spirit has helped so many other accident victims.

Gillian, a jokester, liked Freak the Mighty, by Rodman Philbrick, a book about the unlikely friendship of a slow learner stuck in the body of a teenage giant, and a tiny Einstein in leg braces. It was made into the movie Mighty.

Finally Kathryn, a middle schooler born with the soul of a (nice) schoolmarm, could not stop raving about Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, a book about a former student who reunites with a favorite college professor after the teacher's diagnosed with cancer.

An impressive array of titles representing multiple genres. My girls make me proud.

Kim Van Sickler

Highlights Magazine's "The Timbertoes"

2012-01-14T01:01:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite tasks is writing The Timbertoes each month for Highlights. The little wooden family was created by John Gee many years ago (he did the writing and illustrating; I just write), and the comic strip has appeared in just about every issue of the magazine for more than 60 years.

I believe I'm only the fourth person ever to have the byline. Gee did it until this death, and then writer-illustrator Sid Quinn took over for a long stretch. My former colleague Marileta Robinson did a wonderful job with the strip until her retirement a couple of years ago, and I was honored when I was asked to take her place. Each strip includes 12 panels and a total of less than 60 words, so it requires a very tightly written story.

And that's the key: the story. There isn't much room for character development or plot, but there has to be some of that. Most important, is an element of adventure or surprise. In this month's story, for example, Pa Timbertoe makes musical instruments for the family (he's a carpenter). They play very badly, but they enjoy it, so they keep playing and get better at it. Lots of noise. And the dog joins in by howling.

If I can make myself laugh a bit each month, I figure I've accomplished my goal for the script. It's a long, proud legacy to live up to, and I don't take it lightly.

Rich Wallace

10 Questions For Every Writer in 2012

2012-01-12T01:01:00.000-08:00

We often start a new year by re-evaluating our lives in general, but have you ever re-evaluated who you are as a writer? Why not start the year by checking in with your inner writer and see if your likes/dislikes, goals, or writing preferences have changed. You might be surprised! Here are some helpful questions to get you started. Answer spontaneously and have fun with it!

1. How do you define "writer"? Do you consider yourself to be one?
2. What is your passion when it comes to writing? (novels, non-fiction, poetry, short-stories, children's books, journaling, etc.)
3. What do you read as a writer? What types of books have you read in the past six months?
4. Do you write what you read or would you consider it?
5. What two genres stand out in your mind the most?
6. Do you write for others, or is your writing strictly private?
7. Would you like to share your writing with others someday?
8. What is the biggest gift that writing has given to you?
9. What keeps you motivated to write?
10. What writing goals have you set for yourself in 2012?

Happy Writing! ~Melissa Kline

Nowhere to hide in three-word sentences

2012-01-10T01:01:00.000-08:00

A couple of words about the book I read, Thinking About Memoir by Abigail Thomas. It was short and chock-full of good advice. I found the following exercise challenging but interesting: “Take any ten years of your life and reduce them to two pages. Every sentence has to be three words long - not two, not four, but three words long. You discover there’s nowhere to hide in three-word sentences.” How true!

I am currently reading a book I received as a gift on Christmas morning coming out of church. It’s a spiritual memoir, My Life with the Saints by James Martin, SJ. Thus far, I really enjoyed the chapter on Thomas Merton. I have 14 chapters to go. I don’t know why, but I’m really drawn to this book. It seems to be just what I need at this particular time in my life. I've heard it said, "God works in mysterious ways…"

Graziella Buonanno

Kelly Milner Halls on "Girl Meets Boy," Free Speech and The Writing Process

2012-01-07T01:01:00.000-08:00

By Juliet C. Bond

On the first night of my first writing workshop, I attended a barbeque. It was a beautiful summer evening. A tent had been erected on a wide back lawn located on the lip of a lake. Some of the writers were taking boat rides, others stood in circles getting to know one another in the gentle breeze.

I wandered around making small talk, smiling like I was comfortable when I wasn’t yet. At dinner, I took my plate and sat across from a genuinely smiling woman. Maybe she doesn’t know anyone here either, I thought. I introduced myself, proudly sharing that I’d recently had a picture book published. She said her name was Kelly and told me that she wrote non-fiction picture books. I can’t remember why, but I shared with her that my favorite children’s book author is Chris Crutcher. I confided that I’d even sent him an email once telling him how much I admired his stories.

“Really?” She laughed. “He’s my boss, and one of my best friends.”

It turned out that Kelly Milner Halls was on the faculty of that writing workshop and that she is Chris Crutcher’s assistant. Chris Crutcher, the only writer I have ever felt compelled to enough to put on my dork hat and send a fan letter to, and I sat right down next to one of his best friends at my first dinner with other writers. That had to be fate or something even better.

It also turned out that Kelly is one of the nicest people I have had the pleasure of getting to know. She has a laser sharp wit, a heart as big and warm as any working hot tub and she's an immensely skilled writer herself.

In fact, Kelly’s own list of publishing accomplishments are too long to tackle! She’s written thirteen picture books, numerous craft, career and science books and over 1,500 articles, bylines and reviews. Her latest book, Girl Meets Boy, is a series of short stories in pairs that vary from the female and then male point of view. It’s YA fiction and she contributes her own important piece alongside some of the greatest writers in YA fiction today, including Chris Crutcher.

Since that first meeting, Kelly and I have become fast friends. She's given me writing advice, we've debated political issues and we even of shared another mind-blowing meal with other writers when she came to Chicago for ALA.

A few weeks ago, I picked up an ARC of Girl Meets Boy at the NCTE conference. Kelly was eager for my feedback but, after I read it, I realized that this book is far more than a series of fun stories. The depth of the issues each character grapples with and their scathingly real voices blaze right through the reader's skin. They also invite a host of questions I was dying to ask Kelly. So I did.

Me: You said in the introduction of Girl Meets Boy that, “truth is subjective.” In the book, the reader is allowed into the minds of both the boy’s and the girl’s head in a series of short stories by various (awesome) writers. How did you direct the authors ensure that points of view varied in their subjective truths but stayed authentic?

Kelly: One author, in each pair, took the lead and created the first story. I asked them only to write a story with a male/female relationship of some kind featured. It could have been anything -- love, hate, friendship, infatuation, healthy or unhealthy, as long as one boy and one girl were impacted by the turn of events. I also encouraged them to write the story they've always wanted to write, no holds barred. I think the writers did a fantastic job in creating diverse scenarios, independent of one another, as well as stories with deep emotional commitment and meaning.

Me: So I just want to jump into the meat of yours and Chris’s story because it was compelling and because I struggled so with the female protagonist. I know she was damaged by a series of painful experiences but she read as almost ruthless, even when I arrived at her point of view. In fact, one reviewer described her as a “dangerous girl,” and in your introduction, you described her as “toxic.” What motivated you to write this girl?

Kelly: I knew a girl in high school who had been molested by her step father. She talked about how she used her power over him to get the things she wanted. She was so open, about it, so calculated -- it blew my mind, even then. She didn't show that angry edge, but I kept thinking how angry I would have been if the people I was supposed to trust exploited me. So I gave Wanda that edge. She was dangerous because she felt she had nothing to lose. She was, in her own mind, ruined -- unworthy of love. So lust was all she had left. And there are so many girls out there who fear the same things are true in their lives. She was toxic, but that was her survival skill.

Me: I was also intrigued by the fact that Wanda wanted to have sex. I am the advisor to a group of feminist students at Columbia College (called The F-Word) and we’ve just begun to embrace the concept and envision activities around the “power of yes.” By that I mean, the necessity of girls and women feeling unashamed of their own desire. There is so much confusion for young men and young women in a sexual exchange because “good” girls are supposed to say no even if they want to say yes. This tends to put the boy in a situation where he has to push in order to find out if “she really means no.” For girls who really don’t want to have sex, the exchange can escalate to date rape. For girls who do want to have sex, they have to pretend they don’t in order to avoid being seen as “slutty.” So I liked that Wanda was unafraid and unashamed of her sexuality – or was she?

Kelly: No, you're right. Wanda loved and fully embraced her sexuality. It was the one place she felt safe and sheltered from her own sense of worthlessness. She didn't have to wonder if she was good at it, because the response was so immediate and so easy for her to recognize. And in those physical moments, she had power over her body and, in many ways, over her partner's body, too. She knew she had her sexual strengths. It was love she doubted.

Me: The cover of the book is eye-catching. There is something all consuming about the way the couple is draped over the tree looking as though they are completely exhausted and removed from the world. Did you have any input in the cover of this book?

Kelly: Chronicle Books created that cover and revealed it to me. So I had no input at all, but I really love it.

Me: I also thought it was wonderful to include the story of a transsexual character. There are also mixed race couples, couples whose gender constructs are flipped (the girl is the protector and pursuer if the smaller boy) and a gay character. You have a link on your web page about your commitment to free speech, any concerns that this book will be banned due to the transsexual content (or any of the conceivably “divergent” content for that matter.)

Kelly: There is not a doubt in my mind, if the book is widely read, it will be widely challenged. That's not what we set out to do, but after working for Chris for so long, I know it's probable. Telling the truth so often draws fire. Sara Ryan and Randy Powell's story about a transgendered character could make it more likely, but I love the story. I think they handled the awkward quality of some personal relationships in the lives of transsexual people with compassion and candor -- without apology. It hope it rings true for other kids trying to traverse those waters. I hope it helps them feel a little less alone.

Me: You have been working with Chris Crutcher for over ten years, how do you think his writing has influenced your own?

Kelly: Of course it has, but not because I work for him -- not because we're friends. His work influences mine because he is my favorite author, apart from our friendship. He says I can't be objective, but he's wrong. I am a tough, tough reader. My patience for fiction that is less than authentic is almost non-existent. But when I read Crutcher's books, I am always astonished by how honest he is in crafting his characters and their challenging lives. He's been accused of stacking hardships against his protagonists to build sympathy, but anyone who has worked with at-risk kids knows he could double the trouble without leaving the realm of possibility. When it rains, it pours in the lives of troubled teens because one thing leads to another and another and another. He tells the truth, and I hope I do too. If I can't, I won't put it out there. In so many ways, his courage sets the benchmark for all YA authors hoping to write realistic fiction.
.

Me: What’s your writing process? Do you have to get into a special zone, time or place to write?

Kelly: Mine is a little weird because I am known for my nonfiction for much younger readers, and I love those books too. So I tackle my nonfiction deadlines first, because nonfiction interviews are easier to arrange in traditional working hours. Then I work on fiction at night. In a way, nonfiction is my day job, while fiction is what I do after work.

Me: I have a friend who gave me a couple of tiny gremlin-heads I keep by my desk with the quote, “It is not our task to eliminate the gremlins of self-doubt but to educate them.” Do you have any advice for keeping away the gremlins of self-doubt?

Kelly: My daughter, Kerry is also a writer. The three of us -- Kerry, Crutcher and I -- had breakfast not too long ago. Kerry had hit a rough patch on her work-in-progress and Chris offered to help. As she described the doubts she had, her fears, I kept trying to reassure her, to take the sting out of her confusion. Chris shot me that, "Hush!" look, and it confused me, but I trust him, so I shut my trap. Later, he called me and I asked why he'd had that reaction. He said, "Kelly, stop trying to alleviate her discomfort. It's necessary. It's part of the writing process."

To me, the trick is to balance or embrace the fear and to write through it -- to recognize almost everyone's first drafts are pretty bad, but writing is truly a process. Write the rough first draft, then revise to a smoother second draft. Stick it out through the third draft, the fourth draft, the fifth draft; whatever it takes to produce the final work that makes it look so easy and natural, once people read it.

Fear isn't your enemy. It's a part of the process, so relax and let it be.

AUTHENTICITY

2012-01-05T01:01:00.000-08:00

Show, don’t tell. The writer’s mantra. I prefer to say Don’t tell me, take me there. There’s more to accomplish than showing. We need to be in our characters' heads and see what they see, but we also need to hear, touch, feel, smell, and taste.

Since much of my writing is historical fiction, I read volumes to learn what my characters experience. I try to go to locations where my characters would have been. Those places are different now, but it helps to get a glimpse of a real place.

Whenever I can, I go a step further to make my details authentic. A current WIP takes place during the Civil War. Before I wrote a battle scene, I talked to firearms experts about the weapons of the day. I asked my experts about the smell of black powder, but couldn’t get a satisfactory answer. So I told my husband to ask some friends.

Word got around about what I needed, and a friend showed up with a black powder muzzleloader. He not only let me smell the powder, but he let me hold the gun and feel its weight in my hands. He taught me to load it and fire it. (Thanks, KB and Jim D!) I now know what it feels like to fire my MC’s weapon. I know the smell of black powder both before and after it’s fired. I know the kick to my shoulder and how frustrating a misfire is. At least I wasn’t facing down the barrel of an enemy when that happened!

When my character had his arm amputated as a result of the battle, I talked to amputees. But when my MC was going to be in water, I had to take that further step once again. I had my husband tie my arm—and I went in the water to see how it was to swim with only one arm. I had him time my swimming with both arms and again with one arm to see if and how much it slowed me down.

Taking these extra steps not only gives me authentic details for my stories, it’s a real kick—and not just to my shoulder!

What do you do to ensure you're providing authentic details?

Kathy Cannon Wiechman

Best Movies of 2011

2012-01-03T01:01:00.000-08:00

Here's Swaggers last "Best of 2011" posts:

Let me say right now that I don't get out to movies much. My kids would say that RIO and Rango topped the chart. And I totally didn't see H.P. First one I didn't see in the theater (my priorities have changed a bit). I also had no intention of going anywhere near Breaking Dawn.

For me in 2011, the movie highlights were The Help and The Muppets. The screen adaptation of The Help was so true to the book and well done. And really it didn't get any better for me than a comeback by my favorite gang of weirdos in The Muppets movie. Bringing "The Rainbow Connection" to a new generation was priceless for me (especially when my three-year-old left the theatre singing "Mahna Mahna").

But now that it's 2012, I have to say I'm planning on making time to watch Hunger Games.

What movies inspired you in 2011? Which ones are you looking forward to seeing in 2012?

Gina Gort

Accountability Post for 2012 by Juliana Brandt, Julie Jordan, & Swagger

2011-12-31T00:01:00.000-08:00

Will we keep our New Year's Resolutions in 2012?

Juliana:

Juliana Brandt

To make my resolutions for this year, I wanted to check out if I succeeded at all in completing any from last year. I had to go wayyy back to my old blog (aspiretobejuliana.blogspot.com) to find my resolutions from last year. Impressively, I actually managed to do one of them! (Although it was totally by mistake.)

Last year, I had four resolutions:
1. Become a published author, whether it be a short story, an article for a newspaper/magazine, or a book.
2. Learn how to cook!
3. Play the piano every day.
4. Floss every day.

I did become published this year, though it was through Rachel Harrie's blogfest. Woohoo! :) Her fest was a ton of fun and I LOVE that she published a book out of the fabulous short stories everyone wrote. The only other resolution I kept was flossing and THAT only lasted half the year... *sigh*

SO, this year, I am going to cut the resolutions in half and see if that helps.
1. Floss every day!
2. Query and try my best to land an agent.

Juliana Brandt http://julianalbrandt.com/blog/

***
Julie:

Julie Jordan

I’m one of the many who has always wanted to be a published writer. 2012 is MY YEAR! My debut novel, Book 1 of 4 in my TIME Series, is an adult romance with a touch of paranormal. Janelle’s Time (Book 1) is at the publisher now. Janelle, the daughter of a New Hampshire farmer, and Richard, the youngest son of an English Duke, have a rough time getting it right, for all their great love. Will their love overcome all the obstacles? I’m already working on the marketing and promotion. This book, especially, must show at least moderate success or everything else planned for the year won’t matter much. . . No pressure, right?

Moria’s Time (Book 2) was my NaNoWriMo project for 2011 and sits at 51,000 words. Moria, Janelle’s daughter, is the focus of a vision as an infant. She fulfills that vision for her life in service to others, but finds herself in grave danger - and in love. Will Moria and her lover survive the danger? Will their love survive her destiny of service to others? I need to finish and submit this.

Adelle’s Time (Book 3) is still in my mind, but the story is starting to gel. This book alone could take a big chunk of the year. Adelle, Moria’s twin sister, is an American country girl with an English aristocrat father. She dreams of being an English Lady, and will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. Will she be happy as an English Duchess in Victorian England, or will she find her way home to her American roots?

Logan’s Time (Book 4) is about halfway through the first draft. Finishing this book is also a priority. Logan, the Scots’ Duke of Muileach, grows up in the Scots’ Highlands. There are women in Logan’s life: Annella, his mother who abandoned him; Rachel, his wife; and Seanna, his sometimes-lover. Will Logan make peace with his mother? Will Logan and Rachel live happily ever after? Or, will Seanna destroy Logan’s marriage?

I’m not delusional - Wonder Woman couldn’t do all this in one year - but I’ll give it my best shot.

Julie Jordan http://aplaceforwriters.wordpress.com/

***

And from the Swaggers: http://swaggerwriters.blogspot.com/

Kim Van Sickler: In 2012, I resolve:
1. To pursue the path to publication for my mermaid and witch MG books, including continuing to search for an agent and publishers, and rewriting as needed.
2. Write at least one short story a month.
3. Keep the Swagger blog going strong.
4. Complete a new book that's not narrated in female first-person present.

Kim's hubby knew exactly what to get her for their anniversary. Her first laptop, so she's not chained to the desktop.

***

Gina Gort: With the support of my family, I can swagger. 2012 Resolution: To press on regardless.

Gina will draw inspiration from her family in the year ahead.

***

Kathy Cannon Wiechman:
I resolve to try to have a more positive attitude and be more proactive in my manuscript submissions.

Kathy's going to force herself to move to the next level.

***
Graziella Buonanno: I will write my WIP at least every day at least 15 hours per week.

Grace hopes her resolution isn't a fish story.

***
For all of you out there making resolutions, GOOD LUCK! We sincerely wish you the best for the upcoming year. Leave us a comment below about your goals in 2012. Then don't forget to come back to our blogs in June for the Mid-year Accountability Blogfest!

Happy New Year!!

Juliana Brandt, Julie Jordan, & Swagger

Ten Best Real Headlines That Would Make a Great Book Premise

2011-12-29T01:01:00.000-08:00

A reflection of and a few writing prompts to ring in the new year…

10. Return of the Giant Carnivorous Hermaphrodite Snails (Yahoo News-LiveScience.com, 6-3-2011).

9. Man With Clown Nose in New Cumberland Poses No Serious Threat (Patriot-News, Harrisburg, Pa., 7-3-2011).

8. Gold, diamonds dropped into Salvation Army kettles (msnbc.com).

7. Woman Missing Since She Got Lost (Chicago Sun-Times, 5-17-2011).

6. Teen Dies of Shaken Baby Syndrome (Chicago Tribune, 3-9-2011)

5. Boy, 9, suspended for reportedly calling teacher ‘cute’ (from MSNBC.com)

4. St. Paul impounds fiberglass cow (from MSNBC.com).

3. Sinead O'Connor Gets a Marriage License in Las Vegas (from People.com).

2. Slip-Up in Chinese Military TV Show Reveals More Than Intended (from chinadigitaltimes.net).

1. Sweet deal! Couple finds love in Black Friday line (from msnbc.com)

***
Do you have any headlines to add?

Juliet Bond

Best Lyrical Writing Prompts for 2011

2011-12-26T01:01:00.000-08:00

Here are my top 10 songs from 2011 that would make amazing writing prompts. I could write a book about each of you.

10. Sleep by The Roots
To catch a thief, who stole the soul I prayed to keep
Insomniac, bad dreams got me losing sleep
I'm dead tired, my mind playing tricks, deceit
A face in the glass, unable to admit defeat
All that I am, all that I was is history..

9. Spectrum by Florence and the Machine
...And when we come for you we'll be dressed up all in blue
With the ocean in our arms, kiss your eyes and kiss your palms
And when it's time to pray dressed up all in gray
With metal on our tongues and silver in our lungs...

8. The Last Living Rose by PJ Harvey

Goddamn Europeans
Take me back to beautiful England
And the gray, damp filthiness
Of ages and battered books
And the fog rolling down behind the mountains
On the graveyards and dead sea captains...

7. A Long Time by Mayer Hawthorne

Oh, Henry was a renegade
Never liked to play it safe
One component at a time
There's got to be a better way
Ohh people come from miles around
Searching for a steady job
Welcome to the Motor Town
Boomin' like an atom bomb...

6. Someone Like You by Adele
...I hate to turn up out of the blue, uninvited
But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it.
A had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded
That for me, it isn't over...

5. Mean by Taylor Swift
...I'll bet you got pushed around,
Somebody made you cold
But the cycle ends right now
'Cause you can't lead me down that road
And you don't know what you don't know...

4. Murder to Excellence by Jay-Z and Kanye West
The old pastor closed the cold casket
And said the church ain't got enough room for all the tombs
It's a war going on outside we ain't safe from
I feel the pain in my city wherever I go
314 soldiers died in Iraq, 509 died in Chicago...

3. Pumped Up Kicks by Foster the People
Yeah he found a six-shooter gun
In his dad's closet, in the box of fun things
I don't even know what
But he's coming for you, yeah he's coming for you....

2. Man Down by Rihanna
I didn't mean to end his life
I know it wasn't right
I can't even sleep at night
Can't get it off my mind
I need to get out of sight
Before I end up behind bars...

1. Good Life by New Republic
Woke up in London yesterday
Found myself in the city near Picadilly
Don't really know how I got here
I got some pictures on my phone...

***
What songs would you add?

Kim Van Sickler

Swagger Tree (Composite Poem)

2011-12-23T01:01:00.000-08:00

I asked the Swagger team to send in a stanza or two about a Christmas tree memory. I sent them [little tree] by E. E. Cummings as inspiration. In return I compiled their words into a collective poem. I got back some great pieces that tell a story, like Graziella's first tree in 1949 Italy that was sent to her by her American grandmother, fully decorated with butterscotch balls.
***

Swagger Tree

Arbor
Juniper, green
Smelling, sparkling, exciting
Butterscotch-gold-candy-covered
First tree.
Delicate boughs,
dressed up for the season.
she stares up from the bottom,
mesmerized, enchanted, intrigued.

Delicate orange curls,
a dress for the season
she twirls with delight,
a birthday wish come true.
A lifetime ago

you and I crawled underneath

your parents' tree

holding hands and looking up
at the constellations
twinkling overhead
I used to decorate a pine
With ornaments and lights.
I loved its piney needle smell
On cozy winter nights.

No artificial tree could be
As lovely to behold
Until I learned pine allergy
Was not a Christmas cold.

A tree transported,
thousands of miles traveled,
a desert oasis of lights
that made me believe.
Evergreen

Gnarled and grey

Dropped needles in brittle heaps
Love anyway.

Regina Gort

Best & Worst Writing Excuses of 2011

2011-12-21T01:01:00.000-08:00

Top 10 Best Excuses Not to Write in 2011

10. I have a doctor’s appointment.
9. I’m critiquing a ms. for a friend.
8. I’m taking a walk (good chance to reflect on story ideas).
7. I have to shop/wrap/decorate for Christmas.
6. I’m too distracted and can’t focus.
5. I’m reading a good book.
4. Lunch with my sibs.
3. Granddaughters’ dance recital.
2. Son’s wedding day.
And the Number 1 best excuse not to write in 2011: Hubby’s in the hospital.

Top 10 Worst Excuses Not to Write in 2011

10. I have a headache.
9. I need to wash my hair.
8. The floor needs mopped.
7. I’m too tired.
6. I need caffeine first.
5. I’m planning a funeral for the character I killed off.
4. Blood sugar’s low, & I need to eat.
3. The dryer’s buzzing.
2. I have coupons that expire today.
And the Number 1 worst excuse not to write in 2011: Justin Bieber’s on The View.

Kathy Cannon Wiechman

A gift that keeps giving

2011-12-19T01:01:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine recently lost her brother to cancer. And when she came over to visit a few days ago she brought with her an envelope of his writings. She pulled it out, and with eyes full of tears she told me that he wrote these during his treatments. She said the most special to her was a poem he wrote for her birthday. “He wasn't a writer by any means but this is the most precious gift I have ever received,” she stated.

This got me thinking about Christmas and how something simple but meaningful can stay with someone for a lifetime. I keep a stack of letters my grandmother wrote to me and inside she always had a little poem.

It made such an impression on me as a kid that poetry became and continues to be a big part of my life.

So this Christmas give someone who has everything a Cinquain poem.

Cinquain is a short, usually non-rhyming poem consisting of twenty-two syllables distributed as 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, in five lines. It was developed by the Imagist poet, Adelaide Crapsey. Another form, sometimes used by school teachers to teach grammar, is as follows:
Line 1: Noun
Line 2: Description of Noun (2 adjectives)
Line 3: Action (3 words that end in -ing)
Line 4: Feeling or Effect (4-word phrase)
Line 5: Synonym of the initial noun.

Here is one I wrote for my husband:
Tim
Husband Father
Nurturing Loving Listening
Keeper of my heart
Partner

-Regina Gort

I Swagger

2011-12-16T01:01:00.000-08:00

Today we are participating in this blogfest and re-posting a post. We give you one of our first posts from October 2011. Check out other top-notch re-posts by bopping to the other sites listed at: http://dlcruisingaltitude.blogspot.com/2011/11/deja-vu-blogfest.html

Swagger:
to walk with an air of overbearing self-confidence.

Swaggerer Jon Egan circa 1980's

A few years ago, I hardly swaggered. I more or less staggered.

When at my husband's work functions, people would ask what I did for a living. I would stammer, “Oh, I'm a stay-at-home mom.” On occasion with a couple drinks in me, I might even blurt out, “I write sometimes.” But the follow-up question would leave me staring like a deer in headlights, “So, what have you published?”

At that time I had published a poem in a children's book ( http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Glimpse-Michigan-Kevin-Kammeraad/dp/0971269297 ). I had attended conferences, belonged to a critique group, was writing my first novel, and had written for as long as I could remember. But I had no confidence in myself as a writer. I didn't have any credentials to call myself a writer.

All of that changed though.

Shortly after I found out I was pregnant with our third child, an opportunity came into my inbox from the Highlights Foundation ( http://www.highlightsfoundation.org/ ). For years, I had been getting their newsletter about workshops for writers and though I really wanted to go, I knew it wasn't a financial priority. But I decided to apply for a scholarship. I was working on my second YA novel and I figured it couldn't hurt to try. Despite my collection of over 50 rejection letters from publishers, I applied.

It wasn't long before I received an e-mail that invited me to Honesdale, PA, for a YA Novel workshop with Rich Wallace ( http://www.richwallacebooks.com/Home.html ). The foundation covered most of the cost for the workshop. I was elated. Someone aside from my husband believed in me as a writer. So we scraped up enough money for a plane ticket and I was off.

Swaggerer Rich Wallace

Needless to say, I found my voice. And I learned how to be confident in it.

I made life-long friends that believed in me, encouraged me and inspired me.

After my third daughter was born, our family experienced a traumatic event
( http://thegortfamily.blogspot.com/2010/03/elizas-first-day.html ). It changed us all, forever. But the one thing that remained intact was my voice. I wrote my way through grief, and two years later I am still writing.

Swaggerer Melissa Kline

In fact, I am doing more writing than ever and I am doing it with swagger. It is something no one or circumstance can take from me.

I challenge you to find your voice and swagger, too.
***
The Guilt of Honesty

Looking over a cliff
and if I don't take the first step
I will fall
or be pushed by circumstance
into the jagged rocks below.

Swaggerer Kim Van Sickler

But if I jump
calculate my velocity,
I will hit
the cool water
below,

where I can swim

uninhibited,
free.
Maybe even bask on a rock

Swaggerer Kathy Cannon Wiechman

cleansing in sun and water,

before I climb
back up the cliff face
inch by inch.

And onto the path
that leads
Home.

Swaggerer Graziella Buonanno

by Regina Gort

Swaggerer Juliet Bond (second pink shirt from left)

Swaggerer Regina Gort

Suspense, Scares and Stress: Tips for Keeping Up Suspense in Your Novel

2011-12-14T01:01:00.001-08:00

This holiday season, I want to share some tips I have eagerly absorbed during workshops with fabulous authors, editors and agents. Because they are a compilation of goodies from my notes, I am going to share them with everyone who is savvy enough to read and follow this blog J FOR FREE!

My holiday present to you!

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

1. What does your character want?

2. What are the obstacles that will prevent your character from easily getting what they want? (Make a list of possibles)

3. Can those obstacles be foreshadowed early in the story?

4. ABACBC – imagine three rainbow-like arcs that all intersect. Storyline A will resolve itself after storyline B has been introduced but the reader will be hooked into B now so they won't want to put the book down. Then, introduce storyline C before resolving storyline B. These are the smaller storylines that intersect and keep the reader hooked.

5. Set up expectations and then surprise your reader by NOT doing what they expect the MC will do.

THE SLOW REVEAL

1. Begin the story with a character experiencing the after-effects of something, but slowly reveal what that incident was.
2. When nearing the climax, give the reader a sense of speed by using more dialogue, shorter paragraphs and sentences.

ALONG THE WAY

1. Keep your audience guessing – provide little mysteries along the way to keep the reader hooked.
2. “Kill Your Darlings” Put your characters in sticky situations. Then, throw rocks, sticks and firebombs at them to force them towards an epiphany.

3. Help them find a way down from the tree and make sure the set-up for the rescue – or conclusion, has been hinted at earlier in the book so that the reader recognizes it when it happens. A great example of this is the Newberry winning book “When You Reach Me.” The fabulous ending is embedded so perfectly early in the plot that you feel excited and satisfied when it’s revealed.
4. Eventually, or even a couple of times through – teach your character a lesson.
5. The reader has to feel like they ARE the main character. Chase them into the story and fill them with anticipation. Think roller coaster ride.
6. Sometimes, you want your reader to anticipate something bad is going to happen.

SUSPENSE THROUGH CHAPTER ENDINGS

1. A well-used technique is to introduce action at the end of one chapter that resolves itself in another.
2. Cutting the action early may also engender suspense and cause anxiety in the reader. A good example is My Teacher is an Alien by Bruce Coville, when a mean teacher finds an incriminating note. Before he opens it, the chapter ends and the reader has to hang in there for two more chapters before finding out what the teacher’s reaction is. In the meantime, another storyline/challenge is set up.

3. Hint at stories to come – for example, in “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” grandpa starts an intriguing story about a creepy chocolate factory, but it’s bedtime and they are interrupted – can’t finish it until later.
4. Vary the kind of cliffhanger at the ends of your chapters so the reader doesn’t expect the technique or become bored by it (or aware of it.)

SUSPENSE KILLERS

1. Bad dialogue
2. Unnecessary description
3. Forced motivation (Make sure the set up is there and that it’s natural.)
4. Vague action

SUSPENSE CREATORS
1. Creativity and variation
2. Confidence

Last of all, if you are feeling a pull throughout your writing, one that brings you back to your own story with enthusiasm, you know you are on the right track!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Juliet Bond

Mason Jar Story

2011-12-12T01:01:00.001-08:00

Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan. Allow to simmer for as long as it takes.

to prepare the stock:
1 C reading other like works directed toward your intended audience
(To provide a richer flavor, sprinkle with reading a wide variety of genres)
1 C networking
1 C critiquing
1 C instruction in the type of writing you're trying to do
You may freeze this stock indefinitely, making sure to replenish it as needed.

Add to the basic stock:
1 T engaging premise
1 T likeable and entertaining characters
1 T voice
1 T believable dialogue
Fold in just enough backstory to keep action moving along.
Bring mixture to a slow boil. Add:
1 t pacing
1 t suspense
1 t fulfilling promise to the reader
You will need to taste the mixture frequently to ensure it is the right consistency.

If mixture is undercooked, will appear thin and runny.
If mixture is overcooked, will appear mushy and heavy.
Mixture is done when critique partners urge you to submit it. In that case, serve immediately and enjoy.
***

What do you think? How would you change/improve this recipe? Do you have a recipe of your own?

Kim Van Sickler

WORSE THINGS THAN REJECTION

2011-12-10T01:01:00.000-08:00

One fact writers must face is that opinions vary. What one reader/editor loves, another might find weak or offensive.

You might say I learned this lesson early.

In grade school, I used to write plays. I wrote them because I enjoyed it, and nobody ever read most of them. One evening I settled down at Dad’s Underwood manual typewriter waiting for the Muse to visit, when my little brother (Let’s call him Mikey) asked what I was doing.
“Writing a play.”
“What about?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Can you write it about me?”

And so I did. I wrote a play about my 9-year-old brother and his classmates—and his teacher. He watched me type and read over my shoulder as I tapped out each word. He laughed in all the right places.

I had an audience, a reader, someone who enjoyed my work. I admit I let him egg me on to make jokes at his teacher’s expense. Give them what they want, right?

Today, I don’t remember the jokes or the plot or anything about the play, except I know I referred to Mikey’s teacher as The Head Cheese. There may have been jokes about smell.

The next day, I left class after school to go to the Girls' Room to change for softball tryouts. The principal stopped me in the hall, my play in her hand. She was not a fan of my work.

It turned out Mikey liked my play so much, he took it to school to share with his friends. And his teacher caught them, confiscated the script in question, and asked who wrote it. The teacher took it to the principal, who told me I had to go to the teacher & apologize for being disrespectful.

Did I mention that the softball coach who was in charge of tryouts that day was none other than my brother’s teacher? I didn’t make the team.

Kathy Cannon Wiechman

A Girl’s Guide to Christmas 2011

2011-12-08T01:01:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago, my friend Rian wondered aloud at the way her children have been going on and on about the “Black Friday” sales. The thing is, her kids have never been to a Black Friday sale. So how did they know of them? Experts now say that, on average, Americans are exposed to more than 2,000 images, stories and ads per day. These ads seep into our brains through newspapers, radio, print, billboards, television and internet. They tell us, not only what to buy, but who to be. And they generally carry some pretty nasty messages about girls and women through repeated images.

I’m pretty sure you’ll recognize the images as I describe them:

The shockingly skinny girl.

The "Is she dead?" ad.

The woman posed as a child.

And the child posed as a woman.

The "Woman as object" ad.

The assault ad.

The insult ad.

The TV shows that force girls to grow up too soon.

The toys and products that do the same.

(Oh, this? This is a padded toddler bra. Yep, I said toddler.)

These ads and products remind me that:
 81% of ten-year-olds are afraid of being fat.
 In the 1970’s the average age of a girl who started a diet was 14. By the 1990’s, the age had fallen to 8.
 Americans spend over 60 billion dollars a year on diets and diet related products.
 42% of 1st through 3rd grade girls say they want to be thinner (source: America the Beautiful II).

Black seems like the right color for a day when the “girl” aisles offer great deals on sexualized dolls whose professions are limited to teacher, nurse and fashion designer. I have to remind myself that there is good stuff out there for girls. You won’t find it on the shelves at Walmart, or in Teen Vogue but it is out there. And it’s worth looking for if you want to counteract some of those 2000+ messages our kids are getting.

Websites:
There are some great websites for girls but my favorite (which has a corresponding magazine) is New Moon Girls featuring poetry, stories and articles written by girls, about girls. The focus is generally on friendships, body image and adventure with resources for parents and some great features like this virtual “button” that girls can use to identify ads that are not respectful of girls and women and celebrate those that are.

www.alreadypretty.com
www.braincake.org
http://www.about-face.org/

Books with Great Girl Characters:
Lovell, Patty. Stand Tall Molly Lou Melon. Ages 4-10. Molly Lou Melon barely flinches as she systematically sets out to prove herself.

Yolen, Jane. Sleeping Ugly. Ages 5-10. Sleeping Ugly reminds the reader that beauty is more than skin deep.

Hannigan, Katherine. Ida B. Ages 8-13. Ida B. is a fourth grader whose story will resonate long after you have put this book down.

Cushman, Karen. The Midwife’s Apprentice. Ages 11 +. Our heroine befriends a cat, names herself Alyce, and learns something to deliver babies.

Donelley, Jennifer. A Northern Light. Ages 13 +. Mattie's frank and humorous voice reveals much about poverty, racism, and feminism at the turn of the twentieth century.

Collins, Suzanne. The Hunger Games. Ages 13 +.
Amazing survival story set in a post apocalyptic future.

Bray, Libba. Beauty Queens. Ages 16 +. Teen beauty queens fight for survival on a "Lost"-like island.
Anything by Carolyn Mackler, Laurie Halse Anderson or Laura Ruby are fabulous!

Magazines:
Teen Voices
New Moon Girls
Bust (for older girls)

Books to Learn More:
Can’t Buy My Love by Jean Kilbourne
So Sexy So Soon by Diane Levin and Jean Kilbourne
Cinderella Ate My Daughter by Peggy Orenstein
Who’s Raising Your Child? Battling Marketers for Your Child’s Heart and Soul by Kathleen McGee

Films for Parents and Older Kids:
America the Beautiful
Still Killing Us Softly
Tough Guise
Miss Representation

This year, I skipped the ~~Black Friday sales~~ to find items that send a better message to the girls in my life. I’d love to hear what you’ve found. Please send me some suggestions by posting comments! Let’s let girls know that they are (as the fabulous Pink sings) perfect.

Watch Juliet's video here

Juliet Bond

THE WRITER’S JOURNEY

2011-12-06T00:14:00.000-08:00

A friend, returning from a writers’ conference, told me she felt her writer’s journey was like climbing a mountain, with being published at its peak. The presenters at the conference were on that peak reaching down to help her up. While she found the conference and its faculty helpful, she felt the mountain was too high, and the gap between her and the peak still too great.

I told that friend she needed a new metaphor, a different analogy. If she climbs a mountain looking only to its peak, whether as her goal or for help in attaining it, she’s missing all the wonderful views from her spot on the mountainside. And once she reaches the peak, what next?

I see my writer’s journey as a road trip. Jon Egan used a similar analogy in his 11/26 post, referring to the “sometimes paved and easy to navigate” stretches as well as ones “dirty, full of potholes and ruts, and dangerous washouts.”

On any road trip (and I’ve been on many), you have to stop often to refuel, and perhaps charge your battery. Maybe you get your vehicle cleaned and polished for the next leg of your journey. For a writer, these stops are conferences and workshops. You re-energize yourself, polish your words, and mingle with other travelers who are on similar journeys. Some of them may give you insight about road conditions or tell you about a shortcut. But to get anywhere you have to keep driving (writing).

I have been on my road trip for a long time. I’ve hit some bad weather (rejections) and rough patches of road (writer’s block) more times than I’d like. And in current times, the road to publishing is terribly crowded. But I’ve seen gorgeous vistas (satisfying work, a poem published, contest prizes, as well as actual beautiful sights during research jaunts) and met many authors whose work I adore. I’ve made friends (including my fellow Swaggers), and it’s been a wonderful journey thus far, in spite of those occasional flat tires, lost fan belts, and traffic jams.

And, yes, we all hope that we will locate a contract—or several of them—(for a book or an article) as we travel. But those are not on a mountain peak. They’re just more stops along the way toward the real goal—reaching the heart of a reader.

So keep traveling, soak up the scenery, observe, pick up a souvenir or two, and enjoy the drive!

Kathy Cannon Wiechman

Writer's Block (or the sudden need to do anything else but write)

2011-12-03T01:02:00.000-08:00

Maybe it's the time of year, laden with celebrations and rushing around, but I am unable to write. Okay, more honestly, I don't write. It's a writer's block I face every year around this time. Some (my husband) may argue that I actually set myself up not to write the last two months of the year. But right now is my time to absorb, hibernate, and rest. I am taking in all sorts of tidbits that I scribble in my journal.

The most recent is a quote from a Rumi poem, "Read the book of your life that has been given to you."

I could chew on this one all winter.

And so I wonder about other writers. I even find myself Googling writer's block.

Do you have a time of year, or maybe a time of day where you can't write? And what do you do when you hit a wall?

Regina Gort

My Favorite Writing Books

2011-12-01T01:01:00.000-08:00

It is very difficult to write without a prompt. I thought I could write about all the things and the people I am thankful for in my present life, but that would probably result in a long, boring list or a portrait of an unbelievably lucky woman. And how useful would that be to anyone who would glance at it? Blah blah blah. No, today what I'd like to do is share with you the titles of a few excellent books that were recommended to me by my writing teachers, which I found to be very helpful.

A Writer’s Time by Kenneth Atchity
Tell It Slant: Writing and Shaping Creative NF by Brenda Miller and Suzanna Paola
The Situation and the Story by Vivian Gornick
Word Painting by Rebecca McClanahan
From Where You Dream by Robert Olen
Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose
Your Book Starts Here by Mary Carroll Moore

Happy Reading!

Graziella Buonanno

Know Your Characters

2011-11-29T01:01:00.000-08:00

Don't expect the puppets of your mind to become the people of your story. If they are not realities in your own mind, there is no mysterious alchemy in ink and paper that will turn wooden figures into flesh and blood. --Leslie Gordon Barnard, Canadian short story writer, 1890-1961.

Over the years I've learned to cut pictures out of magazines to represent the characters in my story; created detailed character charts chronicling my characters' mannerisms, beliefs, histories; cobbled together the rules of my worlds and the power structures that dominate them. It helps. Now. At first I felt compelled to reveal everything in too-heavy dialogue or information dumps. I've gotten better. Now all that groundwork allows me to set the story and weave the other stuff in at the right time.

Then I start editing and find myself making all kinds of drastic changes to my manuscript. Turning a YA into a MG. Eliminating subplots. Getting rid of and combining characters. My story always seems to be changing. My challenge is nailing it down long enough to make across-the-board edits so everything sounds consistent.

What do you do to flesh out the "puppets of your mind" so they look, sound and act like real people? How do you go about revising your manuscript when you change your story so that all of your details relate to your new story and not your old one?

Kim Van Sickler

The Power of Writing

2011-11-26T01:01:00.000-08:00

I won't go into any details here, but as a lot of my friends know, it’s been quite a past couple of years for me. With everything that’s been going on in my life, I have really found it difficult to sit at a computer and focus on anything other than troubles surrounding my life, which would be awesome if that’s what I was currently writing about. Sadly it isn’t!

In my earlier post, I mentioned that I’m a reluctant writer at best, so that, added to the fact that my mind has been barely capable of sticking to one subject at a time, has made it almost impossible for me to do anything even nearing creativity: time spent at Boyd’s Mill’s excluded. Many times, many, many times, I’ve sat at my computer and faced that most frightening of things to a writer… a blank page screaming at every neuron of my numbed brain to hit the lettered keys and create something exciting, brilliant, and full of a unique voice that some editor in a position of power will be compelled to respond to with, “Send me everything you’ve ever written, we’re penning you to a multi-book deal.”

Alas, my friends, those keys were never punched with wild abandon, no brilliant new novel was laid upon virgin pages, no unique voice channeled itself through my fingers, and nothing was sent to that eager editor in search of the next great, “Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel.”

Instead, mostly the resulting words formed by this muddled creative center of mine were very simple and somewhat cathartic and generally repeated on at least a weekly basis.

Wanna know what most of my pages ended up looking like? Well, like it or not since you’re reading this post I’m going to tell you, so pull up an even more comfy chair, maybe grab a cup of coffee or tea, polish your eyeglasses… Ready?

“I have no idea what to write about.”

“Why can’t I write anything?”

“What is going on in my head that won’t allow me to write?”

“I have no idea what to write about.”

“I hate looking at blank pages.”

“Why do I think I can be a writer?”

“I should drag my bum to work.”

Etc. …

Funny thing is, that after sitting down and writing those lines, what usually followed were sessions spent writing about nothing. A lot of the sessions were nothing but random thoughts. Sometimes a page of nothing became three or four pages of nothing, which took me down a road I had no idea even existed. I spent times wandering down all kinds of roads, mostly about my own life.

Sometimes the roads were paved and very easy to navigate, and sometimes they were the roads of nightmares: dirty, full of potholes and ruts, with dangerous washouts, but in the end, no matter if it was a short journey or an epic cross-country trip, they ended up being pretty interesting when I look back at them. I ended up writing a lot of round file stuff. I wrote quite a bit of stuff that looked like it was dictated in tongues. But I also wrote, what to me was some gemstone quality stuff; not a lot, but, in the end, just the act of sitting down and tapping keys about random thoughts or negative thoughts was enough to help assuage the fears that I am not a writer, and that, my friends, can be pretty powerful stuff!

P.S. I love how Rich Wallace seems to sneak lists in when he writes, so I’m stealing your idea bro!

My Five Favorite Movies List:
Under The Tuscan Sun
The Castle
Gladiator
The Blind Side
Big Easy

Jon Egan

A DAY FOR THANKS

2011-11-24T01:01:00.000-08:00

Traditionally during Thanksgiving week, I make a list of things I am thankful for, and that list always begins with my family and friends.

Last weekend, our family added a beautiful, loving daughter-in-law who makes our son happy, and I am exceptionally thankful for this addition to our family.

My list of friends includes the Swaggers who share this blog, dear friends who I cherish more every day. And now I am also thankful for those of you who follow it. May we become or continue to be friends.

This year Thanksgiving falls on the 5-week anniversary of the cancer death of a member of a small (now 8 of us) critique group in Cincinnati. Our group will remember Linda Sanders-Wells as a woman with an abundance of –ives.

Linda Sanders-Wells

Linda was creative. Her writing covered the gamut: from fantasy novel to realistic fiction novel to poetry to picture books. Her ideas and the words she chose to express them amazed us.

Linda was imaginative, and her work was the epitome of it. She encouraged us all to connect to our imaginative sides. Her picture book, Maggie’s Monkeys (a Junior Library Guild selection included in The Bank Street Best Children’s Books of the Year 2010), celebrates the magic of a child’s imagination.

Linda’s criticism within our group was always constructive and right on target. She showed us how to make our work better and encouraged us to do it.

Linda was sensitive. She often became discouraged and frustrated with the publishing world, not only when her work was rejected, but when the rest of us received rejections. Often when an editor made me feel defeated, Linda sent an encouraging email, always trying to boost my spirits and keep me going.

And Linda was supportive. She not only supported our writing efforts, but also supported us emotionally. When another member of our group fought her own battle with Cancer, Linda led the group in a walk to raise funds.

As Linda fought the brave fight, her friend Eunice (writer e. E. Charlton-Trujillo) planned to surprise her this Christmas by publishing another of her books. But her death came sooner than expected. Eunice plans to continue this project, with the help of Linda’s teen daughter, as a tribute to Linda.

The Writing World is missing a true talent and a devoted friend. She’s gone, and a little piece of each of us is gone, too. But we will remember her forever.

Piñata Productions has hired Cincinnati artist Brian Hagen to create the illustrations for Linda's novel, Sometimes Friends. The completion of the book, geared for ages 8-12, will be a collaboration between e. E. Charlton-Trujillo and Linda's daughter, Abigail. Abbie and Charlton-Trujillo have collaborated a number of times over the years on film projects. No one knows Linda's creativity and could honor her book like Abbie. Piñata Productions will release a book trailer by early December 2011.

With an illustrator hired, the book is currently in presale. The book's layout and style are similar to Eileen Spinelli's, Where I Live. Each book costs $15 dollars, which includes shipping. Orders of 12 books or more sell for $10 each, with a flat $10 for shipping.

Checks can be mailed to:
Piñata Productions
Attn: Eunice Charlton
1655 Westmoreland Ave
Cincinnati, Ohio 45223

Should you prefer to order via PayPal, payment can be sent to: thelostbrady@hotmail.com . Please note: Payments via PayPal require a $1 service fee per purchase.

Visit the Piñata Productions page for Sometimes Friends at: http://pinataproduction.com/?page_id=1720

So, to my list, I include that I am thankful for having known Linda, though for far too short a time. As you give thanks today, remember your friends and family. Treasure them and hold them close to your hearts. Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Kathy Cannon Wiechman

Blowing in the Wind

2011-11-22T01:01:00.000-08:00

They say to write what you know. But what if one of the things you know best -- something you’ve spent inordinate amounts of time ruminating about – seems to carry virtually no chance of winning a wide audience? Or any audience at all?

Since early childhood, I’ve harbored a vast knowledge about a single subject, yet I’d never written about it until very recently. Amazingly, a publisher actually requested material that was grounded in the very topic I feared would never find an outlet. How did they know? They didn’t. They merely put out a call, and I answered.

The subject is flatulence, and the audience is young kids, particularly boys. The publisher’s need for stories and quizzes and anecdotes seems endless. My contributions thus far have been a folktale-like story about animals farting in the forest (complete with an Aesop-like moral), and a list of words for farting in foreign languages. Other contributors are way ahead of me, but I’m still thinking. And the editor said my forest story made her laugh so hard she nearly aspirated a French fry.

I’m very proud of that.

The editor, whom I’ve known for many years, seems amused, but baffled to have fallen into her current position. I’ve learned a ton from working with her; believe me, the material they produce is top-notch and hilarious, and actually of educational value. It isn’t all about farting, but much of it is closely related. Boys like that stuff. As they get older and grow into adulthood, they don’t talk about it as much. But somebody has to produce high-interest material for kids to read. I’m just fortunate to have studied the subject.

Rich Wallace

I Need Poetry

2011-11-19T01:01:00.000-08:00

A few weekends ago, I had the pleasure of hearing Ted Kooser, the 13th Poet Laureate of the United States, and Terrance Hayes read their poetry at a Grand Valley State University function. And in a time when reality T.V. stars and even YA authors grace the covers of magazines, it was nice to find a moment and place where poetry was valued. Not just that but also seen as valuable.

There were Terrance Hayes groupies in t-shirts and a line afterward to have books signed by Ted Kooser. I can say that I didn't love every poem, in fact there were ones I didn't like, and ones I didn't understand. The point is there were ones I liked, ones I loved, and some that moved me to tears.

Terrance Hayes

Ted Kooser believes that poetry makes us better people, and has started a column that is syndicated in major newspapers and online publications. It's called American Life in Poetry. You can even sign up for a weekly poem.

Ted Kooser

But so what? What's the big deal with poetry?

I believe that poetry makes a good writer great. It can challenge you. You try telling a story with a plot arc in just a few lines in a way that makes people want to keep reading.

I am on my poetry soapbox and you are never getting me down. Because it has changed my life. Even as I write this, I can see myself on a poetry infomercial. But it really has. It has allowed me to process emotions that I thought were untouchable. And it has made me a much better writer.

One of my favorite quotes is from Jim Harrison: "Poetry, just like painting, is something that you have to give your entire life to -- and that includes all of your life."

I am not asking you to give up everything for poetry but maybe give it a second look and see some value in it.

Find a poem you like, just one, and rewrite it. Use some of the words, none of the words, but really sit with it for a few minutes. Read it a couple times. Circle what you like about it. Write about why you like it. And then allow yourself to rewrite it.

Regina Gort

Warm Fuzzies: Week Four. Show us a warm, fuzzy moment

2011-11-17T01:01:00.000-08:00

A warm, fuzzy moment from one of my Christmas stories:
That's when it happened! The magic! Matt could feel it! There was no choir of angels, no burst of bright light. No ghost transported him to other Christmases. No strange figure presented a life where he'd never been born. There was only Christmas music from the mall speakers, interrupted to page a cleaning crew.

But the magic happened!

-Kathy Cannon Wiechman

***
I write because I love to do it. I love to express myself through the use of language, choosing words carefully to achieve specific effects. I wish I could do it also through music or painting, but words are the only tools I own, and seek to augment always. I write because when I do, I forget my solitude, and I enter into a "dream space" where I am happy.

My writing has expanded my horizons, has allowed me to meet and befriend many wonderful people, who like me, love writing. Whenever self-doubt appears, I can reach out to my "family" of fellow writers for support. According to the great teacher and author Mary Carroll Moore, A Community (of writers) and Rhythm (regular writing practice) are two elements necessary to anyone who is seriously committed to writing and finishing a book.

-Graziella Buonanno

***
The moment when my characters and I become one, when I can't tell if I'm leading or following, when I'm living and breathing -- writing without a pen, paper or laptop in hand -- that's what makes writing worth it to me. I love it when the magic takes hold and I'm no longer in control. Writing is and always has been my escape, my nirvana, my serenity.

My favorite warm fuzzy moment or what makes me warm and fuzzy is knowing that I always have writing, no matter what. My WIP's and characters give me a warm fuzzy feeling of safety and security. I know that I can always express what I need to through writing and it can stay mine.

-Melissa Kline

***
When I'm puzzling over how to release a key bit of information in one of my scenes and then a character takes charge and shows me the way, that's a warm and fuzzy moment for me. In this scene I was working on yesterday, I needed to set the stage for a future showdown between my MC and her potential mentor:

“And that's your problem. Witches and wizards are supposed to be bitter,” Culbreath says. “Even mortals expect it. No one expects a nice, forgiving witch. Look at you! You're an aberration!”

I feel like Culbreath's baiting me, so I don't react to what he's saying. Interestingly enough, that fires him up even more. He pounds both fists on the table. "A witch with a reputation for compassion! What is this world coming to?"

-Kim Van Sickler

***
A warm, fuzzy moment from my MG novel:
I ran over Benny Dibin with my first electric wheelchair. He was practicing a break dancing routine in the gym when I lost control and knocked him over. All I remember is a blur of orange hair falling on top of my lap.

“Watch where you’re going, Wheels!” he screamed.

I pushed the buttons on my talk box to answer, “Jerk. It’s a new chair.”

Then I dumped him in the janitor’s closet.

That was almost six years ago, and we’re still best friends.

-Regina Gort

***
In 2003, my best friend collapsed in front of a room full of kids. She was thirty-three years old and, just like me, a mother of three children. Over the next two years, those who loved her watched her deteriorate and eventually die from the aneurysm that caused her collapse. I wrote my first children’s book to give her kids a tool for grieving. My second book was also written to assist grieving children. After that, I began learning more about craft and using writing to attend to some of the issues that still lived inside my own inner child. For me, stories can heal, or at least provide a salve and give us a blueprint for the way we want to live. Richard Peck says that our main character should always be the kid we wished we could have been -- us, just a little braver. Those are the kind of characters that remind us, every loss is survivable.

I just finished a YA where the main characters have lost a friend through a tragedy they all contributed to. This excerpt is a climax for one of the characters and was inspired by the Radiohead song “Videotape.”

After climbing in, I slam the car door. The night is breezy. It smells like lemons and something else, green and grass-like. I decide to take the scenic route home. The ravines are lined with mansions and enormous trees that were here long before anyone I know was ever born. They twist and turn as I make my way down. I lean from side to side, bending as I take the curves. I can just make out the shadowed leaves as my headlights roll over each new tree. It’s so pretty I take out my phone and poke in the videotape settings. Then I hold it out the window to catch the lights and the leaves and the swerves. I steer with one hand, the wind rushing past my cheeks like a hundred soft hands.

My eyes blur with tears.

It’s so damn pretty.

-Juliet Bond
***

Swagger Writers

The Gremlins of Self-Doubt

2011-11-15T01:01:00.000-08:00

A few years ago I came across a quote by Marianne Williamson. She's one of those life-coach people who appeared on Oprah heavily in the 1990’s and spoke in a soft voice. A very thin woman, she encouraged viewers to engage in “Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever.”
Uh huh, yeah. I did not think I had anything to learn from Marianne Williamson. As is frequently true, I was wrong.
Here’s the full quote:

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

You have to admit in this, if nothing else, the new-agey Marianne nailed it.

In writing, I am constantly fighting what my friend Linda aptly named "the gremlins of self-doubt.” Linda hosts this holiday party for our critique group every year and one year, I was awarded two tiny bearded heads on a string. Attached to the heads was a slip of paper with the words, “It is not our task to eliminate the gremlins of self-doubt, but to educate them.” When I read the quote out loud, the room sighed in a collective, “Yes!” That’s because we all have these gremlins. And they aren’t just about failure. Nope. We are also afraid to win.

Crazy, right?

Because here’s the thing: if we succeed, then we’ll have to succeed again…and again. People will expect us to be more than a one-hit-wonder, better than say Vanilla Ice or the Baha Men.

The Baha men gave us "Who Let the Dogs Out?" But SEE? You didn’t know them. They disappeared because they succeeded (Yeah!) but then didn’t succeed again (Boo.) And now they will forever be known as, well, nobody knows who they are.

Still, are we really going to let those gremlins get us down? Will we allow their mean voices to whisper sad tales of the Baha Men and their ilk into our ears? Should the gremlins be allowed to keep us from submitting our work to the agents and publishers who can get our words to the wider public, or from writing at all? No, I tell you! Hang those bearded heads above your desk and write. Dangle them from a nearby wall as you read a recommended book about craft. Shove them in your backpack and head off to a workshop or writing class.

Let. Those. Dogs. Out.

Because when you hear the low and irresistible bumpin’ base notes of "Ice, Ice Baby," you cannot deny the pull. You CANNOT! You will (even if secretly) gyrate your hips or nod your head because that song ROCKS!

So okaaaay, Vanilla Ice did turn out to be less than we’d all hoped (oh, for another equally awesome-played-at-every-wedding-and-bar-mitzvah hit like THAT!) And maybe Marianne will offer me only the one brilliant quote. Or the Baha Men will never cause us to fist pump to another song again. But come on people, even if it was only the one awesome thing, they gave the world something astonishing!

We can too.

‘Cause in the end, who are we to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are we not to be? Our playing small doesn't serve the world.

Juliet Bond

YA Author Melissa Kline Talks About Small Presses and Self-Promotion

2011-11-12T01:01:00.000-08:00

When I met Melissa Kline two years ago, she had a rough manuscript for her novel MY BEGINNING, and an unshakable belief in herself. The book came out this past summer, garnering Melissa awards and kudos.

Melissa (right) promoting the Rocky Mountain Women Writers, a group she founded, and her book, at a Wine Women & Wellness event in Denver last week.

KCW: MY BEGINNING was published by a very small publishing house, Lucky Press. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of publishing with a small press?

MK: Advantages: Having a close relationship with my publisher/editor, having a say in book design, cover design, titling, etc., independence - scheduling own signings, events, etc., becoming an entrepreneur - making connections, marketing and promoting - a crucial skill in this market.

Disadvantages: Minimal exposure to media, corporate bookstores, prestigious awards, international marketing.

Being with a small press has been a wonderful experience for me! I am so grateful for my publisher and the strong foundation we've built together as a team.

KCW: Did you pattern your character Ivory after someone in particular? And what similarities do the two of you share that you were able to draw on to create her?

MK: She is me! Ivory and I share many similarities. As a child I was painfully shy, introverted and a dreamer. I was teased because of the way that I looked, and not accepted amongst my peers. I always had one good friend growing up and a die-hard crush on one boy throughout most of my school years. I longed to escape as a teen, just as Ivory does. Her transformation and awakening is representative of my own changes and metamorphosis.

KCW: How have the awards that MY BEGINNING earned affected your work on the sequel?

MK: Receiving the Halloween Book Festival award boosted my confidence tremendously. I have been told that MY BEGINNING is motion picture-worthy and to keep the same writing curve. There is a little bit of added pressure, but I'm super excited about the sequel and know that it's going to be just as good, maybe even better, than the first!

KCW: You make miniatures and draw sketches of your characters and settings. For many writers, those things could be a distraction from actually writing. How do you make it work for you and still find time to write?

Melissa's miniatures

MK: Usually, I write the story first, then create. But sometimes if I'm stuck on a scene or need a boost of inspiration, I'll get creative. These methods help me connect with my characters and get to know who they are on a deeper level. It aids me in the writing process and is not a distraction at all. There is an ebb and flow to everything I do. Sometimes I need to be creative, and sometimes I need to just write. It's important for me to honor my creative intuition.

KCW: You're a real go-getter when it comes to self-promotion, even before your novel came out. What are some of the steps you took to sell your book? Which were the most successful?

MK: First of all, I think it is so important to define who you are and what you want. That was a very important step for me - owning my writing talent. After that it was all about sharing it with others, i.e., creating a professional platform including a blog, writers group, business cards, tag lines, etc. Networking is a huge part of success! Even the smallest connections can take you to big places. Create a professional portfolio for yourself and take yourself seriously. Say, I AM! not I WANT. Present yourself as a professional to others wherever you go. I think this is especially important. We have to believe in ourselves first and own who we are! Sounds corny, but it really works.

Melissa at a book signing with two other authors.

As far as book promotion, it's all about getting out there, making connections and being willing and patient. Keeping with the same mind set as I mentioned above. Networking, networking, networking. It's been really powerful for me to connect with other authors for events and promo work. I think that writers/authors need to stick together and support each other. There is power in numbers!

***
For more information on Melissa Kline, go to http://melissakline.blogspot.com/ or the Melissa page of Swagger. If you want to enter to win a free copy of MY BEGINNING, enter our Swagger Swag contest. See the 10/12 post for details.

***
Share your publishing and promotional experiences with us. Do small presses make you feel more a part of the creative process? How do you promote yourself?

Kathy Cannon Wiechman

Interview with Picture Book Author Juliet Bond

2011-11-10T00:01:00.000-08:00

Juliet Bond (center) with two of her favorite authors: Carolyn Mackler and Chris Crutcher

Juliet Bond is a professor of Humanities, a social worker, and a writer represented by the Jennie Dunham Agency. She was motivated to write her picture book, Sam's Sister, from experiences she had working as a private adoptions counselor. The book is the only picture book to address open adoption from a birth sibling's perspective. You can read more about her at http://julietcbond.weebly.com/

"Sam's Sister is a work of beauty. The author and the illustrator have done an impeccable job of representing the emotional aspects of open adoption from a child's perspective."
-Julie Jarrel Baily, Author of The Adoption Reunion Survival Guide

KVS: The genesis for Sam's Sister happened when you were working with pregnant women who were deciding whether to give their children up for adoption. Tell us about it.

JB: Although society has some widespread stereotypes about who birthmothers are (that they are all naive teenagers who are pregnant for the first time), the truth is that at least sixty percent of birthmothers are between the ages of 20-24 and are already parenting children. As a result, they are making informed decisions based on the financial and emotional realities of parenting.

KVS: Sam's Sister is written from the point of view of the biological sister of a boy given up for an open adoption. What was your goal in writing it?

JB: Sam's Sister was meant to educate about open adoptions and to give birthmothers who are choosing open adoption a model for discussion and intervention for the birth child. For example, in the story, the birth child uses a journal, sees a therapist, visits her mother in the hospital, and her feelings are validated by both the birthmother and the adoptive family. Additionally, the birthmother receives a powerful thank you letter from the adoptive family. These are all clinical tools we use in adoption to care for the emotional health of everyone involved.

KVS: You've also written three stories that appear in Chicken Soup of the Soul series books. What prompted you to write them?

JB: I was interested in the book topics [Tough Times, Tough People: 101 Stories About Overcoming the Economic Crisis and Other Challenges and Teens Talk Middle School: 101 Stories of Life, Love & Learning for Younger Teens] and thought I could contribute something joyful. I love how stories can uplift, provide connection and move readers. One of my favorite quotes is by a female physicist named Muriel Rukeyser who said, "The universe is not made up of atoms. It's made of stories."

Juliet Bond is offering a critique of a picture book manuscript as part of the Swagger Swag Giveaway. ONLY FIVE MORE DAYS TO ENTER. She's also giving away a copy of Sam's Sister and Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tough Times, Tough People, as additional prizes. If you haven't entered to win yet, all you have to do is share the following link: http://swaggerwriters.blogspot.com/
somewhere on the Internet - on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc., advertising our site AND follow us. Then, leave a comment below with proof that you shared one of these links. For details on our other prizes for following and promoting us, go to the post for 10/12/11.

Kim Van Sickler

Warm Fuzzies: Week Three -- Name Our WIPs

2011-11-09T00:01:00.000-08:00

Can you name our WIPs? Here are three of them.

The Academy of Witches and Wizards is about to assign thirteen-year-old Grizelda Q. Fiddlesticks her job for life. In her journey to become an official adult, Grizzy faces a superstitious and entrenched witching establishment determined to assign her a role she dreads. She debates turning her life on the witching world and becoming mortal, flees an evil mentor who wants to use her to destroy mankind, and evades her half-brother who's an accomplice to the sick plot. She's in danger of losing her best friend, the victim of a bizarre kidnapping and attempted Final Transmutation, and infected with a deadly virus.
Kim

Since I know what my MC wants to happen, I either have the opposite happen or give the character what he/she wants but in an unfavorable way or have them find out it wasn't such a good thing after all.
Kathy

Storm enjoys skateboarding, soldering and hooking up with his brother’s girlfriend. Losing his virginity to Holly is a good distraction from the feeling that he killed his own mother. But there’s a problem… he despises Holly. Kelly is the girl of his dreams. Storm is in a tangle and the guilt that his dad lays on him only intensifies his problems. An argument lands him in the school counselors’ office where he finds unexpected friendship. Will Storm overcome his fears and let go of the feelings that have been haunting him?
Melissa

Juliana: Five points for blog and two points for two FB posts about Warm Fuzzies last week. 17 points total.

Interview with Prolific MG & YA Author Rich Wallace

2011-11-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

Swagger Writer Rich Wallace wrote Wrestling Sturbridge, a YALSA's 100 Best of the Best for the 20th Century. He's written more than 25 novels, targeted to MG and YA male audiences, usually featuring sports themes. His latest book, War & Watermelon, is a semi-autobiographical story about a 12-year-old boy's pilgrimage to Woodstock in 1969 with his older brother.

JE: How old were you when you finished your first manuscript, and I mean one that you could hold up and say, “Wow! I wrote a book.”

RW: Well, I wrote a lot of comic books in third grade. I finished an actual novel manuscript at about age 30.

JE: Do you have any manuscripts hidden in a drawer that for whatever reason will never see the editor's desk?

RW: Yes. Who doesn't?

JE: When you begin a new novel, do you already know the beginning, middle, and end? Do you have your time period down? Or do you just wing it?

RW: I begin with a character in a situation and then start winging it. After a chapter or so, I start to think about where it might be going.

JE: Is it fair to say most of your writing is memoir-based and if so, how focused are you on the facts and how much is poetic license?

RW: Yeah, there's a great deal of me in every protagonist, and I draw on events from real life. But I take whatever license I need. A friend from childhood read War and Watermelon last week and got in touch with me about it. He remembered a lot of the events from that summer of 1969 in our New Jersey town, and kept asking things like, "Did your brother really get jailed in Syracuse for protesting the Vietnam War?" (jailed in Buffalo, but basically true), and, "Who were those two girls at the swim club?" and then he named four possibilities. I told him the girls were drawn in part from the very four girls he mentioned, and many others.

JE: Will you admit to having a favorite book that you wrote?

RW: I still really love Wrestling Sturbridge, which was my first and perhaps my purest novel. Very clean storyline. No excess. High intensity throughout.

JE: Which one was hardest for you to write and why?

RW: Probably Playing Without the Ball. I was recently divorced and my oldest brother, (Bobby--he's Ryan in War and Watermelon) had just died of cancer. Rough time, so the darkness comes through in the setting and the main character. I was fine, but I was sorting things out.

JE: I know you kept a journal when you were growing up, (which I wish I had done!) Was that common knowledge at the time?

RW: I hid my diary from everyone! No way did my parents know about it. Too many very personal revelations in there. It was my way of sorting things out, gaining some perspective. I probably mentioned it to my boys at some point if they were having a hard time with something, and I think one of them took me up on it for a while.

JE: If a producer came up to you and said, “Rich, we’re gonna make a movie based on one of your books,” which book would it be and why?

RW: I get feelers almost every year about certain books, particularly Wrestling Sturbridge, Playing Without the Ball, and Dishes. I plan to write a screenplay for one of them soon.

***

If you haven't already, enter our contest for a chance to win a free copy of War & Watermelon by Rich Wallace.

For details, go to the post for 10/12/11.

Jon Egan

Warm Fuzzies: Week Two Inspiration & WIP

2011-11-03T00:01:00.000-07:00

Swagger posted a sidebar answer to Week One's Warm Fuzzies question by last Friday and then formalized it into a posting on Monday, so I guess that gives us five points for last week?

As lucky winners of Saba's book, Swagger held an intra-Swagger dice roll and the winner is Regina Gort!

Jon Egan is pouting that we don't have more male followers (seven, and two of them are Swaggers), but that seems to be pretty typical of writing and reading blogs. Especially blogs about writing for kids. Don't you think? And we are THRILLED about the more than fifty followers we have attracted in less than a month. Thank you! And keep on coming!

Now to Warm Fuzzies Question #2. Teaser pics of our WIPs and what inspires us.

Gina's oldest daughter, Gwen, keeps her motivated and keeps the poetry coming in waves. You might say she is Gina's first mate in the ocean of life.

Juliet's WIP:

Jon's WIP:

Graziella says what inspires her writing is her love for Italy and for this great country, the USA. Here's her WIP:

Melissa's WIP and more details about what inspires her on her blog http://melissakline.blogspot.com/ :

Kathy is inspired by reading histories, diaries, newspapers, & vintage books. She has a small collection of text books more than a hundred years old, & just holding one of them can often put her into the mind of a child who may have studied from that very book. Old book + imagination = Inspiration. Here is her WIP photo:

And finally here's what Kim's working on:

So anyone want to take some guesses, especially on some of the harder ones?

The Swaggers

Interview with "Best Fiction for YA YALSA List" Nominee Kristin Wolden Nitz

2011-11-01T01:00:00.000-07:00

Today I am happy to welcome, Kristin Wolden Nitz to SWAGGER. Her most recent book, a YA mystery novel titled SUSPECT, has been nominated for numerous awards including the BEST FICTION for YOUNG ADULTS YALSA list for 2011.

The Kirkus review stated :

Nitz intertwines and then untangles relationships among the teens and guests, weaving a credible mystery for a wide adolescent audience. With clues and red herrings neatly scattered throughout, the book scores as a darned good little mystery. Intriguing, suspenseful fun.

In SUSPECT, Jen's mother disappeared fourteen years ago but has been sending Jen letters and gifts during that time. Now, that has suddenly stopped, and Jen is facing a boring summer helping her Grandma Kay prepare a murder mystery weekend at the Shoenhaus -- Grandma Kaye’s bed-and-breakfast. As suspicions fly, Jen begins unraveling her own family mystery of her mother’s disappearance.

GG: You've written an upper middle grade sports novel, lower middle grade contemporary fantasy, and several nonfiction sports books. What made you want to write a YA mystery?

KN: One of my favorite writers for adults is Barbara Mertz, who has written over 50 novels under the pseudonyms of Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels. She’s probably best known for her Amelia Peabody series. Peter Theroux wrote the following about that character in a review: “If the reader is tempted to draw another obvious comparison between Amelia Peabody and Indiana Jones, it’s Amelia—in wit and daring—by a landslide.”

In many ways, I think that I studied writing at the Mertz Academy with an emphasis on lively dialogue and interesting locations. While no one would probably make the connection in my upper middle grade sports novel or my lower middle grade contemporary fantasy, I’m guessing any fans of Ms. Mertz who were familiar with her earlier stand-alones would see any number of echoes.

Interesting old house? Check.

Gorgeous garden? Check.

Eccentric older lady whom people have given up arguing with? Check.

Two competing love interests? Check.

Snappy dialogue? Check. Or at least I'd like to think so.

And I even managed to slip in a CROCODILE ON THE SANDBANK recommendation on page 54. That’s the first Amelia novel.

The kernel for SUSPECT came to me when I was reading an article about an old wine cellar being reopened after being closed since Prohibition. I remember wondering what would have happened if they found a body. The story moved well away from those origins. But after reading all of those Elizabeth Peters novels—not to mention works by Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer, Charlotte MacLeod and Dorothy Sayers—I was ready.

GG: What did you find the most challenging about writing a mystery?

KN: Finding the right balance for the clues and the red herrings. I had already received some great advice on that from a writer named Constance Hiser: “Red herrings shout. Clues whisper.” But it’s not always easy to apply.

GG: Jen is a strong female character that I found very well-balanced. Determined but not overbearing. Where does the inspiration come from for a great character like her?

KN: Writers are magpies. We collect little sparkly bits from all over the place. Naturally, my favorite authors provided wonderful examples of determined heroines. Since Jen’s family life was so different from mine, I knew that there wasn’t any real danger of her turning into me. That’s why I decided that she could be an extremely tall, girls’ basketball player who ran long distance. Because I have a long distance runner and a basketball player in the family, I was able to update things fairly easily.

GG: Do you have a writing routine? Is there a special place or time of day that works better for you?

KN: I’ve now gotten into the habit of writing first thing in the morning. When my kids were really young, I wrote during their naptimes. I will often write the first draft of a scene by hand. Then I type it into the computer and start the first round of revisions. I did try NaNoWriMo and wound up with an absolute mess before I gave up. I discovered that I need to know exactly what happens to my characters before I move on.

GG: What advice would you give aspiring writers?

KN: Don’t just write what you know. Write what you care about. If you’re passionate about something, that will come through to the reader. Moreover, you’ll actually enjoy whatever research that you need to do in order to bring a project to life.

GG: Kristin Wolden Nitz created a whodunit that kept me guessing until the very last pages. I could hardly put the book down until I finished it, which didn’t take very long. This is a perfect book to snuggle up with on a cold fall day. Thank you, Kristin!

Attention to those who SWAGGER: Enter our contest for a chance to win a 10-page MG or YA manuscript critique from Kristin Wolden Nitz.

All you have to do is share the following link: http://swaggerwriters.blogspot.com/

somewhere on the Internet - on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc., advertising our site AND follow us.

Then, leave a comment below with proof that you shared one of these links. If you tweeted it, attach your twitter url; if you posted it on FB, comment with your FB url ; if you blogged it, include your blog link, etc. To be entered in our drawing to receive a prize, you have to include the web address to the shared link in a comment.

For details on our other prizes for following and promoting us, go to the post for 10/12/11.

Gina Gort

Quoth the Raven, "Nevermore"

2011-10-31T00:10:00.000-07:00

"But the raven still beguiling all my sad soul into smiling,
Straight I wheeled a cushioned seat in front of bird and bust and door;
Then, upon the velvet sinking, I betook myself to linking
Fancy unto fancy, thinking what this ominous bird of yore -
What this grim, ungainly, ghastly, gaunt, and ominous bird of yore
Meant in croaking `Nevermore.'"

--From Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven

Go with us here. It's Halloween. We're also participating in Juliana Brandt's Warm Fuzzies Blogfest. http://julianalbrandt.com/2011/10/warm-fuzzies-blogfest/ . Although we had our responses posted in a sidebar by last Friday as requested, that didn't give any of you the opportunity to weigh in with any of your comments. So today we are transitioning those responses out of sidebar-land and into a real post. A real post that is also a multi-post as the Swaggers weigh in to the question for the first week: How do you broach the subject of being a writer to other people who aren't authors?

Before we list the Swaggers responses, at least one of us has had the pleasure of visiting every single blog participating in the Warm Fuzzies Blogfest. This Swagger is blown away by the creativity and energy of these fellow bloggers. Obviously, these blogs are the brain children of writers. Not New York Times best-selling authors, but writers who feel the calling of language and yearn to create something beautiful with it. And do.

And by far the majority opinion of the participants in this blogfest seems to be one of consternation over broaching the subject. (And that includes some Swaggers too.) Why? Because these writers seem to be empowering others to determine their self worth. Now here we go, trying to tie in the above quote to the issue at hand in the spirit of Halloween. Isn't looking to others to validate what we do, sort of like looking to the raven for wisdom?

If we can't summon that sure-fire belief from within, won't we just drive ourselves mad trying to find approval from others?

And now, rightly or wrongly, here's how the Swaggers deal with the situation.

Kim: I do a lot of volunteer work as a Girl Scout leader and service unit director. Sometimes that seems easier for people to understand. If I'm talking to someone who I think won't approve of a "writer" who doesn't have a best-seller on the shelves, I revert to my glut of volunteer work. Everyone gets that!

Melissa: I am very proud to call myself a writer/author and love to share that fact with others. I was a closet writer for many years so sharing and owning my writing title now is very important to me. The best response I've heard from telling others that I am a writer is, "Me too!" There are SO many of us out there! It seems to be one of those things that people don't openly admit unless someone else does - which I do - so it is neat to see others open up.

Jon: I gave up a long time ago really worrying about people’s reaction when I told them I was a writer. I used to freak out answering that question, because other than a few small things, I didn't have any publishing credits and the next question from them was inevitably, “Oh, what have you written that I may have read?” So now when people ask me what I do, I tell them I’m a writer and when they ask what I write, I generally respond by saying, “Words!” Then I just go with the flow of the conversation.

Juliet: Though I have published articles, short stories and a picture book, I still feel a twinge of self-doubt when I call myself a writer. And I think there is an additional er, um moment when I explain that I write for kids. But there isn't much any of us can do to combat people's generalizations or assumptions about what it means to be a writer - or a chef - or a supermodel, etc. Each identifier is accompanied by some stereotype that can only be dissolved through deeper associations. So mostly, I just go with supermodel instead of writer...

Regina: "So do you do anything outside of the home?"
"Actually, I'm a writer."
"Do you have a book?"
"Well, I have some manuscripts I'm working on and I have a poem published in a children's book."
"Oh, so you write for kids?"
"Yes."
"So that's not that big of stretch from raising kids, huh? Not rocket science, ya know."

This conversation ended as I excused myself to the open bar at my husband's holiday work party.

Kathy: I rarely offer the title Writer unless asked, "What do you do?" because I always get that same question, "What have you published?" Earlier this month a friend in the publishing business introduced me to a charming woman. "Kathy's a writer," he said.
"Oh that's wonderful! What books have you published?"
"None have been published, but I've written many."
"Oh."
Egg on both faces, yes. But damn it! I AM a writer & I don't care who knows it!

Graziella: Recently I attended a class reunion and retired teachers' luncheon, and on both occasions I was asked, "What do you do for fun these days?" I think I shocked everybody.

"I have a book coming out. I am a writer. Well, it is not always fun, but yes, I do enjoy writing. I Iove taking writing classes and workshops, improving the craft, and meeting new, interesting people. I want to continue to learn and grow as a person and as a writer."

Besides that, it is a great excuse for getting out of full-time babysitting the grandkids.

The Swaggers

Middle Grade Highlight Might Be Rocky Horror

2011-10-28T06:27:00.000-07:00

Everyone knows that middle school can be awful, right? I mean, when you look back at your own life, I bet most of us wouldn't rank that period after grade school but before high school as a highlight. Weren't we all trying to muddle through those confusing early teen years the best we could? And sometimes the results weren't pretty.

But other times, these new teens catch you by surprise and take your breath away with their still-exuberant love of life. We all know that when teenagers find something they like (i.e., video games, TV, text messaging) they tend to spend as much time as they can get away with doing it. Because despite what they say, they're still kids. Kids want to have fun and aren't afraid to demand it.

So when six of my Cadette Girl Scouts decided they wanted to create a seven-minute radically altered version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show to perform continuously at Lake Farmpark's beloved Haunted Hayride, I was skeptical. This project would be the service component for these girls to earn the Silver Award, the highest award girls at this rank can earn.

We need boys to pull this off, I told them. And we could use a few more girls too. We have to develop a G-rated story, choreograph it, make our sound track, build a set, design costumes, pull together props, and practice, practice, practice.

Sounds like fun, they said.

They recruited boys to help. Other girls followed. They came to practice after practice all summer long. I witnessed bursts of creative genius from all of them. Most astoundingly, they showed up for every performance.

Aren't you bored yet? I asked them after the 55th show.

Nope! they all said.

And it was obvious they weren't. They chattered and commiserated and discovered things about themselves and their audiences. They helped one another with make-up, gave kudos where kudos were due, consoled when mistakes happened. They joked and teased and flirted. We were the group kicked out of Kirtland, Ohio's Lake Farmpark every night because the kids dawdled over their end-of-the-evening pizza, wanting to hang out together just a few minutes longer.

I'm not going to sugar-coat the difficulty of keeping 13 middle-graders on task. I supervised everything and spent a huge chunk of time on this project.

Still...the kids surprised the hell out of me. They made a commitment and stuck to it. They created a memorable show that they never tired of performing. They worked together as a team.

And when they look back on their middle-grade years, they'll probably remember this show...fondly. It might even be a middle school highlight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwQcL6xNMLo

Kim Van Sickler

The Agony of Waiting

2011-10-26T05:22:00.000-07:00

I am sure it is not the first time that a book’s release was postponed…but why did it have to happen to me, that is, why my book?! My editor informed me of the delay, and told me it was due to a problem with the presses, something about the colors running "hot" and they were trying to correct it.

Well, I guess these things happen, but I can’t help feeling like a girl who has been told that Santa had an accident and cannot deliver her presents for a while.

I have to be patient and tell myself that this delay will make my joy even greater, when finally I hold my first book in my hands. In the meantime, I keep busy preparing for the launch of my first born, named Dancing on Grapes.

Despite these setbacks, I am very excited that I gave my first reading of the yet-to-be-released picture book (author’s copy) at the Warner Library in Tarrytown, NY, and at Main Street Sweets (home-made ice cream parlor) in Tarrytown.

Later this fall, on Sunday, November 13, at 4:30 p.m., I am hosting a party at the Hudson Valley Writers’ Center, in Sleepy Hollow, NY, to celebrate the launching of the book.

All Swaggers are invited too. Hope to have more dates to share soon.

Graziella Pacini Buonanno

I'm Seeing Stars!

2011-10-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

I'M A WINNER!!!

My debut novel, My Beginning, won the young adult title of the 2011 Hollywood Halloween Book Festival! I just got back from the awards ceremony which took place in Hollywood, California on Friday, October 21st - just two weeks after our Swagger family reunion!

With award winning novel and certificate!

The journey started with a couple of days of exploring the nostalgic west Hollywood, including taking a trek up to Griffith Observatory, mingling with crowds in front of the Kodak theater, stepping on stars on Hollywood Boulevard, and enjoying some exotic beverages and meals.

Someday, this star will be mine!

Friday afternoon I readied for an evening at the famous Roosevelt Hotel where the awards ceremony took place.The Roosevelt Hotel towers above Hollywood Boulevard in the heart of West Hollywood amongst many other historical landmarks. When you walk in, you are immediately whisked back to another era. That old tinsel town vibe is everywhere.

In lobby of Roosevelt Hotel

The Halloween Book Awards ceremony was on the 2^nd floor in the Academy Room where I was warmly welcomed by Bruce, the event coordinator and founder of the Halloween Book Festival. I was treated to delicious hors d' oeuvres and cocktails as I mingled with other authors and participants.

When the ceremony began, Bruce talked a little bit about the Halloween Book Festival and how it all got started. Here is a little blurb from the evening:

"Tonight's awards ceremony marks the culmination of years of hard work by our authors and publishers...We are very proud to honor the winners, runner-ups and honorable mentions of one of our top book publishing festivals...less than five percent of our festival entries are ever honored with recognition by our staff...Tonight's winners truly represent the best of what current book publishing has to offer."

There were ten winners in total along with several honorable mentions and runner-ups. My Beginning was the Young Adult title winner - and this was its first contest! Whilst Bruce was introducing me, he said that My Beginning is Motion Picture Worthy! What a compliment!

Giving a speech at the podium.

I told a little bit about my book, then thanked my family and publisher Janice Phelps Williams for being so supportive and encouraging. After all of the speeches and awards had been given, we had a press shoot and interview with a couple of reporters. I felt like a true celebrity!!! I made some great new friends and had a wonderful time getting to know some of the other authors.

Getting paparazzi'd!

I'm truly honored to receive this award. It is all so surreal and hasn't completely sunken in yet. I can't believe I spoke at a podium... On a microphone... In front of a ton of people... In Hollywood... At a famous hotel... AWESOME!!!

All in all, it was a very successful trip - a dream come true! I'm so proud to be a Halloween Book Award winner.

Thank you Swagger family for always believing in me. I love you guys! :)

Finding Your Cave

2011-10-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

In my bio, I claim to be a reluctant writer, and I firmly believe that’s a true statement.

I’ve read more than a couple of books dealing with the writing process, and while there are many different suggestions for developing your craft, most seem to have two common suggestions: find a space to write, and write something every day. Well, I agree that for most people this is probably great advice, but sadly for me it doesn’t quite work that way.

When we moved to Lake Arrowhead, my ever-supporting wife suggested that I take the whole area on the second level of our house, previously used as a game room and make it my writing cave. I’d have a stunning view of the lake, be surrounded by inspirational books, paintings, and general nick-nacks from my past writing retreats, and therefore should have no problem penning many best sellers.

So I set up my gorgeous desk (I do love my desk: distressed wood, wrought iron, with a weathered leather writing surface) facing the lake, moved my superbly comfortable office chair into place, spent literally weeks deciding on a color for the walls (even researched color psychology on the net so I could choose one that aided in creativity), removed all the possible outside distractions, purchased an office armoire where we could keep all of life’s day-to-day minutia hidden from view (i.e. bills), then we stood back and admired my cave. It was perfect. I could almost feel my muse taking up residence in the reading chair by the window.

We moved into this house nineteen months ago and I’ve done some writing since then: finished my first full-length novel, started another new one, dug into one that I set aside a few years earlier, even wrote some poetry. Trouble is, I don’t sit down every day and write. In fact, I can easily decipher the work I’ve done on days that I did sit down and make myself write as opposed to the work I did when I felt that unconscious urge to craft letters into words, words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs, blah, blah, blah. (Actually, I rarely use punctuation and I barely know when a sentence should end and a new one should begin – KVS edited this.) Sadly, the urge to write doesn't come along too often, so consequently all the writing I’ve done could’ve been done in the course of a month.

Oh, and my gorgeous, inspirational, cave has never been used for writing. Nope, not even once! Although I have sat at the desk a couple of times… to catch my breath after running up the outside stairs.

I guess my point is, that it’s okay if you don’t follow conventions, and it’s okay if you don’t write every day, and yes, it’s okay if you don’t have a cave. (By the way, I have done all my writing sitting at the dining room table in a chair that long ago lost any semblance of padding that faces the kitchen instead of the lake.) I may not write every day, but I never stop thinking about writing. I do envy the people who can get words on paper on a regular basis, but I no longer beat myself up because I can’t. I just try and make the most of it when it happens.

Two of my favorite books on the writing process:
Stephen King – On Writing.
Anne Lamott – Bird by Bird.

Jon Egan

Becoming a Writer

2011-10-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

I wrote my first poem when I was five. I pounded it out on the keys of Dad’s old manual Underwood typewriter. It was sixteen words long, and I was hooked on the Power and Magic of Words. After that, I used the old Underwood every chance I got. I wrote poems and plays. A few of my fellow fourth graders performed one of my plays in class.

I was 23 when I mailed my first submission. My first rejection letter arrived soon after. I still have it. I’ve saved all my rejections. Early on, most were form letters. Eventually, many of them gave advice and criticism. And more recently, editors have asked for more of my work and to see revisions.

I kept writing. I wrote poems, short stories, and novels. One short story won a prize from the Children’s Writer in 1996. Another won a prize from them in 2011.

In 2002, I received my first acceptance letter, my first sale. It was for a poem (My Face), published in February, 2005 in Ladybug magazine.

While those contest prizes and that acceptance letter helped to validate my struggles, they did not make me a Writer. Seeing my poem in Ladybug was a dream-come-true, but that didn’t make me a Writer either. What makes me a Writer is all the time I spend doing what I love, choosing the words to put on the page, structuring them into sentences and stanzas and paragraphs.

I’ve been a Writer since I was five.

Kathy Cannon Wiechman

Workshops - Always a Learning Experience - Even for the Teacher

2011-10-16T08:09:00.000-07:00

About three times a year I get together with a group of writers at the homestead of the founders of Highlights for Children magazine. The publication’s been around since 1946, so it’s fostered the careers of a great many writers. These days, in addition to the wonderful magazine, a book division, a web presence, and a lot more, Highlights has a non-profit side that provides dozens of workshops each year with the aim of improving the offerings of what’s being written for kids ( http://www.highlightsfoundation.org/ ). That’s how I met this group of people who’ve since dubbed us the Swaggers; we gathered two years ago for a workshop on writing novels for teenagers. It was obviously a success, because most of the group returned for a second round earlier this month.

I was technically still “the teacher” this time, but I didn’t feel like one at all. I always learn a lot from these workshops, but this time was particularly enriching. There’s been a lot of success from this group since the last time we met: a published novel, a published picture book, a number of projects that are ready to submit. Listening and participating in group discussions of the work was enlightening and uplifting. Can’t wait to do it again.

Here are my five favorite TV characters of all time:

Barney Fife
Ed Norton
Bugs Bunny
Lisa Simpson
George Castanza

Rich Wallace

Finding a support network

2011-10-14T09:56:00.000-07:00

Some people are really good at networking. They use their natural charm to fill strangers with sunshine and uplifting theme songs. These people show up for networking events wearing just the right outfits. They make jokes that everyone laughs at and they laugh at everyone’s jokes. When they tilt their luminous heads and say goodnight, the whole room aches to follow them home.

Then there are writers.

On the whole, writers have a reputation for being awkward in social situations. After all, sitting at a desk all day creating alternate realities while wearing sweatpants and occasionally breaking to scrounge for non-molding leftovers in one’s refrigerator, doesn’t exactly build social skills.

So when writers get together, it’s a little like assembling an assortment of mismatched dolls at a tea party. Everyone sizes each other up, wondering what they could possibly have in common with the others. There is shy Barbie whose deeply rooted fantasies have been channeled into fabulous sci-fi novels with badass female main characters. Sitting next to her might be gentle Madame Alexander. She’s mined the landscape of her experience and memory to weave together prose so gorgeous it makes your teeth hurt to read it. Often, there will be a stuffed animal type. This writer/doll pours out the content of their heart with such skill that the reader can actually see their glistening guts and throbbing heart.

Also, sometimes there will be a guy at this tea party.

This is less common in groups of children’s book writers, but it does happen. The male doll might possess any of the aforementioned doll personalities or he might be rocking his own unique G.I. Nerd or Don’t Care Bear. But when these writer dolls sit down for imaginary tea and invisible crumpets served on plastic plates, the thing they all have in common is their predictable discomfort at being surrounded by strange dolls who they should “get to know.”

Two years ago, I went to one of those tea parties. It was a retreat of sorts – a few days of sharing work and participating in writing exercises. It turned out to be an altogether pleasant experience. I learned a few useful tips about craft, chatted awkwardly with a big New York editor and made polite small talk with the other writer/dolls.

So I was a little perplexed when one of them suggested an “alumni workshop.”

“Hey,” she grinned. “Let’s all get together and do this again!”

“Yes!” Another chimed in. “How about two years from now?”

I nodded agreement, thinking, I’m up for it, but more than likely I’ll never see these dolls again. I flew home from the tea party relieved to return to my messy desk and the half-eaten box of pop tarts hidden on a nearby shelf.

But it wasn’t too long before e-mails poured in from the other dolls. We swapped Christmas cards. I slept in one’s living room on an out-of-town trip and visited another just to see her new baby and eat a fabulous lunch at her favorite local restaurant. One of the dolls, whose writing makes me drool with joy, took me under her wing by critiquing my work and suggesting clever tips to improve it. Another joined my online critique group.

I learned things about the other writer/dolls that made it clear we did have things in common and even if we didn’t, I could appreciate the difference with respect and sometimes awe. I learned their stories.

Two years came and went and it was time for that “alumni workshop.” We crossed the country on planes and in cars to get back to the place where we’d originally met, under the careful nurturing of Kent Brown and the Highlights/Boyds Mills Press family.

And the magical thing about the second time around was that, after two years of building relationships, of shedding our uncertainties and tearing the plastic from our skins…we were no longer dolls.

Now we were ourselves, messy, imperfect and infinitely accessible. This time, we shared and wrote without fear. We laughed, cried, drank wine and leaned against one another, rejoicing in the small triumphs of words put together to form flawless images or evoke faultless emotions. A visiting editor remarked, “This is a really unique group! You guys seem to have such a lovely rapport!”

And we did--we do.

This is more than a pleasure. It’s a gift in a world where writing is solitary and sometimes competitive (even for those who write for children.) We need others to lift us out of the dark places and battle self-doubt. We need them to tell us when the work isn’t good enough and help us to make it better. We need their stories to assist us in shaping our own. True camaraderie is powerful in its ability to uplift and instill drive, but it’s often hard to come by.

I won’t stop donning my doll attire and attending tea parties. Networking is a necessary activity in publishing. But I’ll carry inside me the knowledge that, somewhere in the Pennsylvania hills, is a room of writers who have my heart and have my back. And that kind of knowledge can bring a writer the kind of confidence that just might help them to leave sunshine and echoes of theme songs in their wake.

Juliet Bond

I Swagger

2011-10-13T07:46:00.000-07:00

Swagger:
to walk with an air of overbearing self-confidence

A few years ago, I hardly swaggered. I more or less staggered.

When at my husband's work functions, people would ask what I did for a living. I would stammer, “Oh, I'm a stay-at-home mom.” On occasion with a couple drinks in me, I might even blurt out, “I write sometimes.” But the follow-up question would leave me staring like a deer in headlights, “So, what have you published?”

At that time I had published a poem in a children's book
( http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Glimpse-Michigan-Kevin-Kammeraad/dp/0971269297 ). I had attended conferences, belonged to a critique group, was writing my first novel, and had written for as long as I could remember. But I had no confidence in myself as a writer. I didn't have any credentials to call myself a writer.

All of that changed though.

Shortly after I found out I was pregnant with our third child, an opportunity came into my inbox from the Highlights Foundation ( http://www.highlightsfoundation.org/ ). For years, I had been getting their newsletter about workshops for writers and though I really wanted to go, I knew it wasn't a financial priority. But I decided to apply for a scholarship. I was working on my second YA novel and I figured it couldn't hurt to try. Despite my collection of over 50 rejection letters from publishers, I applied.

It wasn't long before I received an e-mail that invited me to Honesdale, PA, for a YA Novel workshop with Rich Wallace ( http://www.richwallacebooks.com/Home.html ). The foundation covered most of the cost for the workshop. I was elated. Someone aside from my husband believed in me as a writer. So we scraped up enough money for a plane ticket and I was off.

Needless to say, I found my voice. And I learned how to be confident in it.

I made life-long friends that believed in me, encouraged me and inspired me.

After my third daughter was born and our family experienced a traumatic event
( http://thegortfamily.blogspot.com/2010/03/elizas-first-day.html ). It changed us all, forever. But the one thing that remained intact was my voice. I wrote my way through grief, and two years later I am still writing.

In fact, I am doing more writing than ever and I am doing it with swagger. It is something no one or circumstance can take from me.

I challenge you to find your voice and swagger, too.

The Guilt of Honesty

Looking over a cliff
and if I don't take the first step
I will fall
or be pushed by circumstance
into the jagged rocks below.

But if I jump
calculate my velocity,
I will hit
the cool water
below,

where I can swim
uninhibited,
free.
Maybe even bask on a rock
cleansing in sun and water,

before I climb
back up the cliff face
inch by inch.

And onto the path
that leads
Home.

Regina Gort

Swagger Swag Giveaway

2011-10-12T13:38:00.000-07:00

We're proud to launch our group writing blog for writers and readers and we'd like you to be a part of it!

All you have to do is share the following link:http://swaggerwriters.blogspot.com/

somewhere on the internet - on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, etc., advertising our site AND follow us.

What are the prizes, you ask? We NOW have thirteen of them. That means we'll have THIRTEEN winners. The first name drawn picks their first choice and so on:

-critique of the first ten pages of an MG or YA manuscript by Kristin Wolden Nitz, author of Suspect
http://www.theresabook.com/2010/11/book-review-suspect-by-kristin-wolden-nitz/

-critique of your PB by Juliet Bond, author of Sam's Sister

http://www.perspectivespress.com/samssisterReviews.html

-critique of your PB by Graziella Pacini Buonanno, author of Dancing on Grapes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dO8VVYQsKHM

-one copy of War & Watermelon, Rich Wallace's new MG book about Woodstock

-two copies of Kickers Book One: The Ball Hogs paperback by Rich Wallace

-two copies of My Beginnings, Melissa Kline's sci-fi debut YA novel

-a first-year anthology of short story contest winners from the Center for Writing Excellence (featuring a story by Kim Van Sickler)

-a Creating Characters that Speak Workbook by Center for Writing Excellence's Director, Janie Sullivan

-one copy of Dancing on Grapes, the picture book debut by Graziella Pacini Buonanno

-one copy of Sam's Sister, a hardback picture book about open adoption by Juliet Bond

-one copy of a Chicken Soup for the Soul (featuring a poem by Juliet Bond)

Giveaway is extended to Tuesday, November 15, 2011. Please make sure we can contact you to send you your prize.

Thanks for supporting Swagger. We think you're gonna like the diversity and depth our blog plans to offer.

Can't Please Everyone

2011-10-11T05:43:00.000-07:00

I think I'm in danger of becoming a milquetoast editor of my own writing.

This is distressing.

I've arrived at the crossroads of being able to see the POV of whomever criticizes my manuscripts. But rather than enlightening me, this awareness is my latest source of confusion as I try to revise my MG mermaid novel a final time before I send it out into the world.

And nowhere is my latest revision bothering me more than the all-important first scene. I agonize over it. I need to capture the reader's attention. I need to make that all-important promise to the reader. I need to start the journey in my hero's world. I need to provide an opportunity for the reader to get to know my MC. And now...I need to reconcile totally different opinions on how I should do this.

What do you do when you get contradictory advice and you see both POV's?

My critique group loved my opening. "OMG, Kim! This is so good! I'm totally hooked. YOU NAILED IT!" they told me in our last critique session. I left the meeting elated and psyched about my chances with the agent who was coming to the Northern Ohio SCBWI Conference. The agent that I paid to get a critique from. Maybe she'd love it too, and would either ask to see my book or tell me it wasn't something she was interested in, but that it was a great start. She'd tell me that some other agent would love it.

But that's not what happened at all. She hated it. She ripped it apart and said my MC's "interiority" was merely a mask for me to tell and not show.

Oh no. After I picked myself off the floor and dragged a friend to the bar to down a much-needed drink, I fixated on the critique. "Yes," I told my friend. "I see what she's saying. I'm going to start the story at school and hammer home my point by showing how my MC goes to great pains to keep any friends from ever going to her house."

And the next day that's exactly what I did. I rewrote the first scene entirely and much of the next two chapters as well. I brought my revisions with me to a writing workshop I attended with The Swaggers the following week. "I want to read to you my revised first two chapters. I got this great advice from an agent and I took it and here's the result." I read the new opening to them, expecting congratulations on churning out an even better product.

But that didn't happen. They thought it was a very average opening. "Read us the opening the agent hated," they told me. So I did. They loved it. LOVED IT!

Then they spent the next twenty minutes trying to convince me to go back to it.

One agent versus eleven writers. I respect all of their opinions. But I guess I gotta go with the majority. Like one of the writers told me, maybe the agent had a bad day. Maybe she'd just read a bunch of crappy manuscripts before she picked up mine. Or maybe she was wrong. She's only human too, and just as capable of making mistakes as the rest of us.

I hope that the agents and editors who read it next agree with my writer friends. Fingers crossed. But I also need to take a stand. I like the opening the agent hated. I'm going to stick with it. Even if I hear back, "Why don't you change that opening..."

Instead, I'll address the agent's criticisms another way. I'll flesh out scenes for maximum impact and review my manuscript to make sure it's showing plenty of action. So does that still make me a milquetoast?

Kim Van Sickler