Getting Back to Clay

Sometimes it’s good to switch disciplines and to explore new creative territory. For instance, I consider myself a prose writer, but there’s nothing I enjoy more than delving into poetry or tackling a screenplay. It’s the same with working in the visual arts. I’m fascinated by art materials and the wide variety of new pencils, sketchbooks, and paints available on the market. But like so many other writers and artists I know, giving myself permission to whittle out a little extra space for something new can often seem impossible.

Until a few months ago, it had been nearly a year since I had allowed myself the opportunity to “write” in one of my favorite mediums: clay. My reasons for keeping my half-used 20-lb. bag of cone 4 terra cotta in the closet were about as weak as my list of “why I can’t write today” excuses: no time, no real studio space, nowhere to stack green ware (manuscripts) without it (them) getting broken (disorganized). Thankfully, by mid-January I got sick of my whining and decided the kitchen table was as good a work space as any other. So was signing up for a refresher class at a local Albuquerque studio, Mudfish Pottery.

I admit that for the first half hour of my first class I was totally overwhelmed. What on earth was I doing getting up early on a Saturday morning to travel all the way across town to sit with a lump of dirt? The mantra “make something” kept going through my mind. But what? At the same time I’d forgotten how good the smell of clay can be when the plastic bag covering it is opened. Better yet is the endless stream of ideas flooding my head and hands as I struggle to settle on just one project. In the end I followed the rest of the class and made a coil flower pot that for some strange reason reminds me of the south of France. I can’t imagine not having it close by on my bookshelf.

As a child, I hated being dirty. No mud pies for me. The writer’s world of clean white paper, smooth-flowing fountain pens, and precise typewriter keyboards fit me, or so I thought, much better than a messy art studio. Like a lot of my childhood misconceptions, how wrong I was!
It was a writer friend who suggested I might want to give up some of those early biases. I am forever grateful to her insight. Clay, rather than repelling me, opened me to the raw power of potential and possibilities. I took to clay like some close relative of the Three Little Pigs. In the early days of my new found passion, I would spend hours scouring my yard and house for improvised clay tools. I saw rocks and twigs, bark and broken household items all as coveted items for pattern-making and story-telling. One remarkable afternoon I took a leather-hard coil pot outside to carve a design into the rim. I remember thinking, “I’ve done this before.” It seemed to me that I had spent dozens of lifetimes piercing and cutting away at a similar surface. As I worked, I found myself engaged in a story that spoke louder to me than anything I had heard before. When I was finished I went inside and wrote it all down. Part of it became my inspiration for this current blog posting.

Working with clay I had to learn that cracks were for letting in (or out) more light. Fingers—not my brain--had to do the walking. And disasters could always be recycled: broken shards could be put in the bottom of flowerpots; birds and squirrels never noticed ugly glazes on the food and water dishes I placed in the woods around my house. More than anything else, though, I learned not to take myself too seriously. And at the same time, I learned not to laugh at myself too hard, either. Whether I’m writing, painting, or sculpting, the main thing is I’m having fun. That’s all I ever wanted anyway.

Tip of the Day: Don’t get stuck in a creative rut. If you’re a writer, go to an art supply store and buy yourself some fun materials for a new way to tell your story. If you’re an artist, add some words to your latest project. Turn a painting into a poem and vice versa.

Great Review of the Great Scarab Scam

Hey, everyone: The Great Scarab Scam just received its first independent book review! Take a look at this page from the seriously fun group blog, Tales From the Crit,

http://talesfromthecrit.wordpress.com/2009/03/02/the-great-chapter-book-dilemma/

I love the way reviewer AJ refers to the story as a “chapter book.” To be perfectly honest, I never really regarded that angle before and I’m delighted that it took a parent-reader to point it out to me. Even after all these years I’m still learning new things about the business of writing.

Tip of the Day: What's on your reading list? Consider choosing a book to review on Amazon.com or any other of your favorite bookselling/recommendation sites.

It's All About Trust

Sometimes it’s hard to believe in our writing or that it will amount to anything but a bunch of messy pages nobody would even use for kindling. We’ve all had those days or months when we feel like giving up, ripping to pieces every draft we’ve ever written, deciding that we’re really best suited to being “readers” rather than “writers.” Yet no matter how seriously I may contemplate that possibility, I never feel any better after telling myself, “You’re right! Quit while you’re ahead—who wants to be a writer anyway??” Rather than feeling relieved (“Oh, good, I can go eat bon-bons and re-read The Eight for the umpteenth time) I always feel much, much worse. What’s even more annoying is that the only way to seriously feel better is to go write something!

After squirreling through this kind of burn-out more times than I can count, I’ve finally realized that what it all comes down to is trust; total trust that no matter how scary or frustrating or even boring writing can be, it’s what I like to do best in the whole world and it will always be there for me. The other day I made a list of what I’ve learned about writing and trust:

• Trust that when it comes to your own writing, only you can know what’s “right for you.”
• Trust “happy accidents.” Typos or omissions can turn into whole new phrases or ways of looking at a paragraph or character from a fresh perspective.
• Trust that all writing is fixable—no matter how extreme the “mistake.” Every piece of writing contains a nugget of gold.
• Trust that there is always someone who will want to read your work.
• Trust that you can always publish the writing you believe in.
• Trust that weird twist you feel when you just know something in a sentence or scene feels “off.”
• Trust that the right words will come to you to make it all better.

While you’re at it, consider the concept of “distrust.” For instance,

• Distrust the voice that says your writing is “bad.”
• Distrust the critique group member who always, always tells you you’re “wrong.”
• Distrust perfectionism.
• Distrust anything that makes ready excuses for why you can’t write today.

But more than anything, trust that if you’ve ever felt even the smallest urge to write, paint, draw, dance, sing, sculpt—it is a genuine call from your creative spirit! Never ignore the call.

Tip of the Day: Stop what you’re doing and sit down with pen and paper. Trust that the words will come. Start by writing the first word that comes into your head. Then another. And another… See? It’s really that simple. Trust simplicity.

Book Review, Marry Your Muse by Jan Phillips

I love “how to” writing books. In fact, I like them so much I wrote one myself, (just in case I haven’t mentioned it often enough !): The Essential Guide for New Writers, From Idea to Finished Manuscript. But I couldn’t have even started that book without an entire library of great titles to encourage and inspire me. Some of my favorites include the classics such as Writing Down the Bones and Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg. Other titles on my bookshelf are less well known and these are the ones I’d like to share in this and future reviews, starting with, Marry Your Muse , by Jan Phillips.

As romantic as the title sounds, Marry Your Muse has nothing to do with Valentine’s Day or finding the perfect partner. Rather, it’s about committing to your creativity, for richer or poorer, for better or worse. And “poorer” is where my interest in the book began.

I met Jan Phillips while we were both teaching at the summer conference of the International Women’s Writing Guild. One of the perks of the conference was getting to attend other people’s workshops and Jan’s was high on my list of “must-do’s.” On the very first day I was in her class, I heard a woman say that her husband didn’t support her writing “unless it was for money,” a difficult task as she had only started writing a few months before the conference. The rest of us murmured our sympathy, but I couldn’t help but wonder if we were all just as hard on ourselves, thinking if we didn’t have huge sales and fame right from the start we were failures. In her talk that day, Jan confronted this and other very real fears that each contribute to various forms of writer’s block. More than anything, Jan suggested, we can eliminate the negativity of worrying, “Am I really a writer? Or am I just wasting time?” by simply trusting your inner Muse to look after you. The initial trust may be the most difficult part for some of us, but it’s really just about letting go and showing up.

The following year, Jan’s book, Marry Your Muse, was published. It was as good as her workshops, filled with good ideas, strong inspirations, and seriously helpful advice. Divided into three parts, the book begins with “The Artist’s Creed,” an affirmation with lines such as, “I believe that what it is I am called to do/will make itself known when I have made myself ready,” and “I believe that the time spent creating my art/is as precious as the time I spend giving to others.” The rest of the section expands on the creed with short powerful chapters filled with very human and personal anecdotes from Jan’s own journeys on the artist’s path.

Part II, “Staying on the Path,” is designed as a series of exercises and meditations complete with music and video suggestions for developing your creative commitment. Chapter headings include “Giving the Artist Within Half a Chance,” “Start Anyway,” and “Leaving the Chaos Behind” (a personal favorite!). Most of the exercises can be done with a writer friend (lots of fun), and readily lend themselves for use or discussion in a writers’ group.

Finally, Part III, “Passing the Stardust” is a compilation of stories from ten established writers and artists who share their own struggles—and triumphs—with the self-doubt and isolation of the creative process. As the section heading stages, “They are here as wind for your sails, candles to your dark, the voices of your sisters and brothers calling you forth."

Drawing on her belief that we are all natural born artists, whether our medium is the written word or the camera lens, Jan’s style is essentially joyful and centering. For those of us who have ever wrestled with the seemingly endless reasons for why we can’t or don’t have the time to write today, Jan is the best friend we’ve all wanted to stand right beside us, cheering us on. Her gentle sense of humor and her insistence that we each have a right and a reason to create will send you soaring for pen and paper. Beautifully designed throughout, Marry Your Muse is illustrated with Jan’s black and white photography. The book finishes with an extensive reading list of works cited in the text. Five stars from me!

Tip of the Day: There are literally hundreds of books on writing, each one offering a wealth of writing advice, exercises, and affirmations. Rather than trying to absorb several books at once, choose just one and commit to reading it straight through, doing all the exercises and writing assignments. Set aside a certain time of day, every day, to do this. In other words, just show up. When you’re finished, evaluate everything you’ve learned and written. Maybe you’ll come through with the draft of an entire novel or a poetry collection from just the exercises alone!

Now Available! The Great Scarab Scam

Although pre-pub copies have been for sale on Amazon.com for a few weeks, today marks the official release date of my new book, The Great Scarab Scam. Hurray!

Written for 8-12 year-olds and set in modern-day Egypt, the plot follows eleven-year-old Lydia Hartley as she helps to solve a mystery that has plagued both her archaeologist father and her Egyptian hosts for years. Along the way, Lydia makes new friends, deepens her appreciation for her often irritating brothers, and discovers an inner self-reliance she never knew she had.

Q: When did you write the book?
A: Believe it or not—I first came up with the story as part of my seventh-grade English homework. Our teacher asked us to write about something we loved more than anything. I loved Egypt and I loved archaeology. At the time I was twelve, and my little brother was two. I decided to write a story about a girl with a baby brother and how they get to go to Egypt where all sorts of madcap adventures await them.

The idea stayed with me for a long time afterwards and when I became interested in writing, I wanted to try writing for children. I remembered that homework assignment and it eventually became The Great Scarab Scam. At various stages I would start, abandon it, restart it, and then put it away for another year or two. Last year I decided I really wanted to share it with young readers and the time felt right to go to print. It seemed the perfect book to launch the new incarnation of my publishing company, Dava Books.

Q: How did you do your research?
A: Reading, reading, and more reading! And of course I took a trip to Egypt. Like my main character, Lydia Hartley, my trip was not all I thought it would be. While it was incredible to see things like the pyramids and the Tutankhamen treasures first-hand, the heat, crowds, and not feeling my best health-wise made the journey somewhat difficult.

Q: Why did you choose to write a mystery?
A: For the sheer fun of it. I loved the challenge of working out my plot and foreshadowing, and weaving in various surprises whenever I could. Because I’m usually what’s referred to as a “pantster” (someone who writes by the seat of their pants), the order and calm of writing to an outline was very restful. I enjoyed creating the puzzle.

Tip of the Day: Do you remember a story or an assignment you wrote in school? Is there something you could turn into a piece for young readers today?

Finding Lona

Until a few months ago, I had been obsessed with finding a book I remembered from my childhood; a book that seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth. The reason it kept escaping me was fairly simple: I had given it the wrong title. For some reason or other I thought it was called The Princess. Only last year I discovered (with the help of a wonderful librarian) that the book, by that great favorite of mine, Dare Wright, was Lona. However, even then I thought she was wrong and it took several attempts to convince me that yes, Lona, a Fairy Tale is the correct title and although the book is out of print, it can still be purchased or borrowed through interlibrary loan. I was stunned. Imagine all those years spent looking for the wrong book. More disturbing, imagine suddenly finding it. All of my illusions about lost causes, mysterious vanishings, and literary conspiracies meant absolutely nothing. If I’d known the correct title, I could have re-read the book thirty times over. Duh!

The reason this book was so important to me, and still is, starts with forbidden fruit. The first time I came across it--oversized, filled with evocative black-and-white photography and a beautiful princess in a flowing white gown--I was in the book section of a Los Angeles department store. (Yes, department stores sold books! Amazing!) I had never seen anything like it before, and I wanted it as soon as I held it. And my mother said, “No.” Usually, when my mother refused me a book, it meant I would get it for Christmas. Well, not that year or any year after. I begged, pleaded. No Lona ever appeared under the tree. I ended up borrowing the book from a school friend, eventually returning it with great reluctance. I don’t think I’ve ever loved a book more.

Last September and finally armed with the right title, I ordered a library copy from Arizona. The day it arrived I could hardly breathe. It was just as magical as I remembered. So many memories were associated with wanting this book. One thing in particular was that growing up in southern California every day was a sunny day. I hated sunny days. To me, rain and dark skies equaled some mysterious gothic realm that could only be had a few times a year if we were lucky. Lona’s black-and-white illustrations seemed to hold that same “rainy strangeness” that I craved back then. But stronger still, was Lona’s theme that I now realize has crept into much of my own writing: sometimes the Princess has to save the Prince.

Lona is about sacrifice, courage, and a heroine’s journey; Lona is no Sleeping Beauty. She has to struggle to complete her mission only to have the tables turn on her. As a young child, the ending disturbed as much as it inspired me (hint: despite Lona’s great efforts to succeed, instant happiness isn’t a given). Which may very well be why my mother was against purchasing it; for all I know it got bad reviews saying it was subversive and weird; also an accurate description. How else can I explain why I mistakenly thought the common romance genre abbreviation “HEA” stood for “Here Ends All” rather than “Happily Ever After”?

People ask if I’m going to purchase the book now that I’ve found it and know it’s for sale (at anywhere from only eighty to over three hundred dollars a copy.). Hmmm. Maybe my mother was thinking more with her checkbook than anything else. I may have to do the same. Like Lona, for now it’s sustenance enough to keep the goal in sight.

Tip of the Day: What was your favorite book as a child? Why? How has that book influenced you? Experiment with writing something from an adult perspective based on a similar theme.

New Year, Blank Page

What do you think of New Year’s resolutions? Personally, I like to make them, and I like to make them into goals for things that I really, really want to do.

2008 was a great year for me, and I did achieve most of the resolutions/goals that I had set for myself on January 1, 2008. But I want to do something different for 2009. I want to regard my goals for this year as things already accomplished.

I got the idea when a friend recently told me she had trouble writing the endings to her stories. She enjoyed writing the beginnings and middles, but the endings kept eluding her.

Endings have never bothered me for one simple reason: I write them first! Which made me think that’s how I want to approach 2009: by writing down five goals I want to think of as “finished.” With that done, I can then move on to let myself be surprised by whatever happy discoveries come my way in the pursuit of these goals.

For example, rather than saying I want to publish three books in 2009, I’m going to say, “I published three books in 2009.” Instead of, “I want to have a full sketchbook of new ideas,” I’ll write: “I have a full sketchbook with enough ideas to last me well into 2010.” Somehow, looking at my resolutions this way takes the pressure off; they’re already a given and I can spend more time doing what I love best—moving forward and exploring unknown creative territory without the need to always “get it right.”

Tip of the Day: Write your endings first. If you’re writing a novel, write the last five pages. For a short story or an essay, write just the last page. Screenplay—write the last scene. Poetry—the last line. And give yourself a reward afterwards. Let me know what happens. Happy New Year!