And Now For The Hard Part

Now that I’ve finished my new book, The Queen of Kansas, of course I’m relieved and pleased to have gotten this far.  The problem is I’m in what for me is the toughest phase of the whole enterprise.  That is, waiting for a small group of family and friends to finish reading the draft and providing me their feedback.

Lewis Carroll

For the past couple of years, The Queen has been restricted to my head and in my DropBox. While that’s OK, it definitely wasn’t the point of working this hard. Obviously, writing is a form of communication but unless you find mumbling to yourself enormously satisfying, an important aspect of written communication involves other folks reading it.

To help my pre-publication readers know what kind of feedback would be most helpful, I developed a set of questions including:

  • Is the book a “good read?”
  • Are the characters interesting/compelling enough to want to spend time with them?
  • Does the story pull you along?
  • Is the narrator’s voice credible?
  • Do you care what happens to the characters?
  • Are the settings sufficiently realistic/detailed that you can visualize them?
  • Did you get bogged down?  Bored?  Confused?  If so, where?

While I wait for feedback, my imagination freely and happily ranges over a landscape dotted with negative comments.  Of course I know that doesn’t make much sense, so to distract myself I’m working on the outline of a new book.  Does that help keep my negativity in check?

Probably not.

If You Only Just Ask

As I’ve written before, my new book involves a lot of research and since parts of it are loosely based on events in the life of my family, I’ve become an Ancestry.com addict.

Over these past couple of months, what has been so remarkable has been the generosity of persons I’ve asked for help.  I mean, look.  I’m a complete stranger.  Sending an email out into cyberspace and asking a person I’ve never met (and probably never will) if s/he can answer a question or lead me to information about a specific point feels risky.  And the range of my questions (and the replies) is amazing.  I’ve asked about the sales price of a particular, 1930’s era model car; about the interior layout of a Hudson River Steamboat; how a certain street in the Bronx would have looked in the 1930’s.  It goes on and on.  What’s so surprising and gratifying is how willing and helpful complete strangers have turned out to be.

Who would of thunk it!?

It’s especially wonderful because these last two months have been difficult for us.  Luisa has experienced an almost constant pain that has managed to defy the analysis of our local medical community. So, of course, I’ve been even more distracted than usual (and that’s a lot!!).  But thanks to the internet and my hummingbird approach to writing, I’m moving ahead with the new book.   190 pages in and still feeling enthused.

So what’s the takeaway?  It’s that people are pretty darn terrific if you give them half a chance!

 

And here’s how it’s working

In my last blog, I talked about my “hummingbird” approach to writing — all fits and starts and never letting yourself assume that you can only write when and if you have long, uninterrupted blocks of time.  Yes, it works, but do I yearn for long, uninterrupted blocks?  Of course!

A progress report.  My current project, a novel about a Jewish-American woman born in 1918 and that follows her life for approximately 40 years, is actually taking shape.  I’m about 130 pages into it and even though it’s mostly being writing under the constraints of my “hummingbird” method, things are starting to fall into place.  I’m enjoying getting to know the protagonist, as well the other characters in her life, and look forward to each new, albeit brief, session.

eb56bb711def1f34ffb1a16a49c7a222Because this novelis set in real places and at a real time in history, I needed to do a lot of basic research before

I ever wrote a word.  But once I’d completed what I absolutely needed in the way of research, I had a choice:  to either continue to research everything I possibly could or or to start writing and do

I love the research and could easily let it drag on for years and years and never actually start to write. Working as I do, when I come to a point in the story where research is essential, I either stop and do it on the spot or mark the passage and return to it later.research on the fly.  I chose the latter.

Stay tuned.

Write Like A Hummingbird

Since my last blog in which I bemoaned what has become (temporarily, I hope) an all-consuming focus on things canine, I’ve actually discovered a way to write.

It’s true, that Mischa, the Newfoundland, is by my side 90 percent of the times.  That’s because I’m under strict orders from the vet not to let her play, run, jump, frolic, cavort, prance, caper, gambol, romp or even walk more than a few steps.  So, as long as she’s awake, I’m  up and down . . . in and out . . .  with Mischa.  She’s a puppy that, after all, is constantly on the lookout for opportunities to engage in any and all of the above activities.

You might wonder what kind of writing I can get done when I’m interrupted every few minutes by a dog or a kid, or anything else for that matter.  I was feeling sorry for myself and figuring I’d have to put it all aside, when I noticed a hummingbird buzz in to eat from a feeder that hangs about four feet from where I’m sitting.  The little guy zoomed in, took a few sips and flew away.  His wings never stopped beating.  That’s when it hit me that if I really want to write, I’ll have to expect to do it more the way a hummingbird feeds and less as I would if I were enjoying a slow, leisurely, gourmet meal at a fine

Russian River-Coastal-20131020-00052restaurant.  I’ll need to pop in, write what I can, and zoom off to the next thing.

In the end, it comes down to realigning my expectations.  If mine are such that the only way I can imagine myself writing is to require long, unbroken stretches of silence, I might as well give up now.   But, if I can modify my expectations so that rather than wait for that perfect, interruption-free environment, I can see myself writing in short, frequently interrupted, bursts, I might surprise myself at what I can accomplish.

I’m not advocating this as the optimum way to write.  It’s not.  But it is a way to write.  Eventually, I’ll need to carve out those long, uninterrupted periods so I can take what might be a jumble and turn it into coherent, well-written prose.  My point, however, is that if I can “write like a hummingbird” and do what I can, when I can, I’ll be much farther along than if I wait for that perfectly silent, uninterrupted stretch of writing time.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

What I’m Working On Now (Part I)

Now that I’ve finished the film treatment for “I Love You, California!” I’m moving on to a new, challenging and exciting project.  But what happens with the film treatment, you ask? Stuff it in a drawer?  Honestly, I’m not sure.  I’ve never done anything like that before and so I’m unsure about next steps.  I suppose that with luck, we’ll find somebody in the film-making world who thinks we have a great story and will help it get made.  This is not the part of the work that appeals to me.  I enjoy the research and the writing.  In an ideal world, I’d leave every bit of the promotion to others.

Be that as it may, it’s still time to dig in to a new project and let the treatment “ferment.”

Trust the process!

Writing a novelSo the new project:  I’ve started the research for a novel that will follow an American family through the 1920’s, 30’s, 40’s and 50’s.  For a writer, this 40-year period is particularly juicy.  The Roaring 20’s, the Great Depression, World War II, and the McCarthy era, along with the post-war expansion, will comprise building blocks of the story.

How do I approach a writing project like this?   Since I’ve never tackled writing a novel, I’m figuring out what works for me as I go along.  There’s a good deal of finding my way by bumping into things and then changing direction.  I started out with ideas for a beginning, middle and end.  As a playwright, I know that the place to begin should follow an inciting incident.  Something has to have happened that sets the play . . . the machine . . .  the story . . . in motion.  I want to start this novel in much the same way and to that end, I’ve drafted a beginning that, for the moment, I like and that I hope will infuse the story with the energy it needs to keep a reader engaged.  Now I’m collecting my characters and working up their life histories.

If you’ve tackled writing a novel, I’d be interested to hear how you got the ball rolling . . .

In the Moment

Now that summer is winding down, I’ve launched a new writing project and boy . . . does that feel good. Summer is a busy time for me. Luisa and I receive (and welcome!) many out-of-town family members and friends, either in Sebastopol or at the farm. This is also the time that my work representing the Università Cattolica del Sacro CuoreUCSC-Milan in Milan heats up. This summer we had Italian students at UCLA; Stanford; UC Berkeley; Columbia; The University of San Francisco; and the University of New Orleans. Last summer, I was starting work on the film treatment that eventually became “I Love You California.” I tried to squeeze in minutes of writing between social and professional obligations. It didn’t work well. Mostly, I felt frustrated with myself for not getting enough done. But this summer, I played it differently. I had a general idea of what my next project would be, but rather than Rezanov & 'Concepcion imageexpend energy feeling resentful, stressed or conflicted, I let myself enjoy our family and friends and did what needed to be done to insure good summers for our students. In short, I did my best to stay “in the moment” and use whatever downtime I had not to write, but to think about writing. The result: we had a very enjoyable, relaxed summer and, truth be known, I wouldn’t have accomplished much even if I had fretted about it.   This way, having thought about it but not having butted my head against a wall, I’m ready to go with a sufficiently clear idea of how to proceed. This summer taught me  an important lesson.  Now all I have to do is remember it!

Writing and the Art of Fermentation (Part 2)

It took me a while to realize that I’d developed a system for sustaining my writing over long periods of time.  There was nothing intentional about it.  It only became evident in hindsight.  Here’s how my writing process seems to work:

  1.  I get an idea for a writing project and start to think about it.  A lot of it’s just that.  Thinking.  Sometimes I also take notes.  If I can sustain my attraction to the idea for a few days or weeks, I’ll get serious and really get to work on it.
  2. Once started, I can almost guarantee that eventually I’ll run into an internal (or external) roadblock.  For me, that usually means that I don’t know how to proceed or that I’ve lost confidence in the validity of the project.
  3. Brick WallRather than bash my head against a wall, I’ve found that it’s better for me to simply stop working on the project that has me frustrated and set it aside to quietly “ferment” while I tackle something else.
  4. Since I have amassed a good quantity and variety of work in various stages of completion, this is when I take up a writing project that I had previously set aside.  In 9 cases out of 10, the magic of fermentation has done its work and what had seemed an insurmountable problem has been reduced to a manageable scale.
  5. The whole thing is a cycle.  While I’m working on one writing project, others are fermenting.  It seems so obvious, doesn’t it?  But when you’re stuck (or at least when I’m stuck) it’s not always easy to remember that you don’t have to sit there in misery.  You can move on and come back later.

Fermenting.  It’s not just for yogurt!.

 

 

 

Writing and the Art of Fermentation (Part I)

Over the past ten years, I’ve written five full-length plays, four short plays, one full-length historic reenactment, one full-length film treatment, two books of short fiction and one published memoir. Spelled out, it seems a respectable list, but on those days when writing is the last thing I’m able to manage, I grow critical for not getting to “it.”

winemust

But if I’m willing to take a deep breath and step away from self blame, I begin to see that what looks to me like inactivity often serves a function; the function of “fermentation.”  Just as with making sauerkraut or yogurt or wine, fermentation is an essential component of my creative process.

My fermentation has two stages.  The first one often comes on early.  Once an idea for a story or play begins to take shape, I’ll outline what I think the plot could be, what form it should take (short story, play, etc.) who the characters are, the location . . . the essentials.  If research is required, I’ll start that, too.  If the shape of the writing project is clear and I’m satisfied, then I can work steadily at it for days or weeks at a time.  It’s one of my favorite aspects of the writing process.

But often, after that initial burst of enthusiasm and creativity, I’ll run into what feels like a brick wall.  Nothing makes sense . . . what had recently felt exciting now feels uninspired and flaccid.  Rather than toss the project, this is the time for me to launch the first period of fermentation.

(To be continued)

 

Some Very Good Writing!

I just watched the National Theatre Live’s production of Helen Mirren, starring in The Audience by Peter Morgan at the Rialto Cinemas in Sebastopol.

The Audience

In the course of her (so far!) 61 year reign, Queen Elizabeth II meets with each of her twelve Prime Ministers in a weekly audience at Buckingham Palace.  These meetings are completely private and the contents are not shared with anyone, even spouses.  What Peter Morgan has done is to imagine what might have been said in these private meetings between Queen and Prime Minister in order to create a funny, insightful and often touching portrait of some of England’s leaders.

Mirren is excellent, but so too is Haydn Gwynne as Margaret Thatcher, Nathanial Parker as Gordon Brown.

What could have been two and one-half hours of tedious, one-on-one political conversation instead flew by, thanks to Morgan’s witty and perceptive dialogue; brilliant staging and costumes, and a dramatic structure that seamlessly shifts forward and back in the chronology of her reign.

During the intermission, Peter Morgan was interviewed on camera.  He admitted that since the meetings were all secret, he couldn’t be sure of their content.  However, he did know what was going on just before and after each of the weekly encounters so although he couldn’t claim accuracy, he could claim truthfulness.

Take a minute to watch the Audience Trailer.  You’ll see why each of us in our party of 5 left the theater wishing the show hadn’t ended!

 

Author Reading at the Druids Hall

Redwood Radio Reading at Druid's

Redwood Radio Reading at Druid’s

Saturday afternoon, I read from my new memoir Sometimes I See You at the Druids Hall at the Plantation Farm Camp.  It’s a wonderful setting and thanks to the generosity of the owners of Plantation, David and Suzanne Brown, it occasionally serves as a showcase for local writers.  Built originally as a meeting place for members of the Ancient Order of Druids, it first morphed into a dance hall, then a library and craft center for the Camp, a storage building, and now a wonderfully restored museum of local memorabilia from the 19th and 20th centuries.  When I was thinking about what to read on Saturday, I figured that most of the audience would be local and that many of them had lived in the area since the 1970’s.  With that in mind, I chose to read a section from the book that dealt with that time and this place.  It worked!  There was real enthusiasm for the book and lots of questions.  Amazingly, we sold out all the books I’d brought.  A friend and fine reader, J Anderson, read a story from my first short story book, Gone to Ground.  It required him to take on the persona of a middle aged woman from west Texas who sells paint in a Home Depot near L.A.  He did a great job and the audience appreciated him and the story!

I wanted to find a photo of the interior of Druids since we didn’t have a good one from Saturday’s event.  I checked the web and low-and-behold, came across this photo, posted by Jacob Bayless.  It was taken last year when we performed a readers’ theatre version of my short story, Redwood Radio from my second collection, Fetching Molly.  The cast was great and so was the response.

If the next reading (April 19th at the Occidental Center for the Arts) is even half this much fun, I’ll be a happy camper!