Re-inspired

After nearly two months, I'm back to blogging. For some reason I can't even explain, I've been struggling with keeping my writing on track, and I've also let my blog and daily journaling fall behind. But I'll try to rationalize it all, if only to figure it out for myself.

It's been hard to keep focused on "What Luck" because I've also been thinking about two other book ideas that have been holding my attention, and I've been making notes about them so I don't lose my grasp on them until I'm ready to fully write those projects. I really don't need any more ideas, but I really can't complain about being an idea factory, since there are other writers out there who seem to have only one book in them, and then struggle for years to come up with a follow-up. I'm grateful that ideas come so easily to me. But I have to rein my writing ADD and learn to concentrate on one project at a time.

And day-to-day life always seems to require a lot of attention and time. I try to balance work, family, and a bit of a social life with some rest and down-time. But that's usually a challenge for most artists of every medium. I know musicians who have two jobs in addition to gigging and working on recording; artists who are also students; and writers who are parents of young children. Those are just some examples of the juggle between creativity and responsibility, and they are proof that it can be done.

I also must admit (in the spirit of full disclosure) that in the past month I've invested way too much time watching a certain musician on a certain talent program on TV. But inspiration can come from a lot of different places. At least, that's how I've been justifying it! And some of his traits could very well embody a character in one of the book projects that I've had in my head for the past several months, and have been thinking about recently. But I keep telling myself that will have to be my next book, after I finish "What Luck." (Vote for Jason on American Idol! OK, that's my plug - now back to my post.)

Anyway, in the past week, I've been re-inspired to keep working on "What Luck," thanks to SCBWI. Last week, Michelle and I both registered for the regional June conference, and also for a possible manuscript critique. Critiques are limited, so we were both happy when we heard back that we were signed up! Manuscripts can be up to 15 pages, so I'm re-submitting my re-written first chapter of "What Luck," that was favorably critiqued at last year's conference. I'm hoping it will be assigned to be critiqued by another editor or an agent this time. So now I want to try to finish a rough draft of the entire book, in case I'm asked about it. I refuse to sabatoge myself and my writing again!


And on Saturday morning, Michelle and I went to the ShopTalk meeting at the bookstore. It was a pretty large group - about 15 people. Lori, an old writing friend of Michelle's, who has recently re-connected with her, came down from Schnectady just to see Michelle and sit in on the group. That's a long trip! She's a mother and a pre-school teacher, and has been working on picture book writing. She's registered for the June conference, too, so it will be great to see her there.

Three people shared their work with the group. Roxanne read a story she submitted to a kids' science magazine, and is now working on re-writing it for them. It's a creative, fact-filled story about a little girl who can't see the stars in the sky because of her town's light pollution, and how she tries to find the stars again. I thought it was great, and the others in the group liked it too, and gave Roxanne some re-writing tips. Good luck, Roxanne - I hope your story will get published soon! Roxanne is signed up for a critique at the conference, too - it will be great to see her there.

Kim read the beginning of her teen metaphysical fantasy novel, and also a chapter in the middle. She had given me her manuscript to read a couple of months ago, and I returned it to her at last month's meeting. I loved the book, especially the spiritual theme, the otherworldly setting and the characters, who are searching for meaning in their lives. She has a first draft, and is working on expanding and deepening the story in her re-write. Some of the group gave her tips on rewriting the beginning to make it clearer to the reader, and gave some point-of-view advice on writing from within the character, so each character seems real and relatable. That's advice I can keep in mind, too. This is the last ShopTalk Kim will be attending until after the conference, because she and her husband coach kids' soccer until then. I'll miss her at the meetings, but we're keeping in touch online, and I'm glad I'll see her at the conference. She's excited to have a critique, too.

Debbie, an illustrator, who is working on a picture book along with her writer husband, showed us some of her illustrations for the project. The pictures of a little girl and her pesky but lovable dog were sweet and added much to the story. Debbie said the dog is based on her own Jack Russell Terrier. The group loved the illustrations, and gave Debbie some advice for her husband on rhyme and rhythm for his text. Debbie said she'll be at the conference, and Barbara, the regional director, encouraged her to sign up for an art critique.

There are still openings for art critiques, but the writing critiques have been filled. They filled up fast, so I'm relieved that I sent in the registrations for me and Michelle in on time. Now I just have to polish my manuscript for the critique, and try my best to finish this book by June!

I had mentioned my ongoing struggle with finishing my writing projects when we all introduced ourselves at the beginning of the meeting. And regional director Barbara had a funny story on the topic. She's a retired art teacher, who teaches art to a nine-year-old boy. He told her about his dog who barks a lot, and she said her Sheltie also won't stop barking, so she wrote a story about it. He asked what happened in the story, and she admitted that she didn't finish it. He said, 'I know - I do that too sometimes with my stories - but summation and conclusion is everything!' Wow - wise and intellectual advice from a nine-year-old! I should be able to follow that!

Afterwards, I had lunch in the cafe with Michelle, Lori, Kim, and Moni, who's new to the group and is working on a middle-grade mystery. It was great to be able to carry over the energy from the group into a relaxed, small-group discussion. We found a common bond reason for why we write for our particular reading level. Because of family circumstances, Michelle and Moni both felt a great responsibility during their middle-grade years, and Kim and I both felt that same type of responsibility during our teen years. I think we are all writing to the kids we were then, to get back some of what we might have missed during that time in our lives. Later, Roxanne and I talked a bit about our mutual struggle with finishing. She has written many short pieces, but feels daunted by her longer middle-grade fantasy novel. We encouraged each to other to stick with it, with the conference as our goal. We all exchanged e-mails so we can keep the good momentum going. I'm so glad I took the entire day off from work to focus just on writing. The SCBWI meeting was just the first part of an inspiring day.

On Saturday night, Ian and I went to Michelle's for the Wildwood Writers group, along with Rich and his partner Mark. We had a great, lively discussion about writing, music, art and creativity. Rich and Mark talked about the music projects they've been working on, and some of the songs Rich has been writing. Ian told everyone about his upcoming solo photo show at the Muddy Cup coffeehouse in New Paltz, that opens on the last Saturday in April. That's the day of the next SCBWI and Wildwood meetings, so we made plans to go to Ian's opening too.

Michelle read some of the poems she recently submitted to some online poetry sites, and also a few new pages of the new middle-grade childrens book she's writing. It's another great story, of two boys from very different family backgrounds who are best friends. Her characters are already well-drawn, and their dialogue is natural and believable, and her early-20th century country setting is just right for the story. Michelle's re-submitting the first 15 pages of "Blackboard" for the writing conference though. She wants some professional feedback that she can use in her next re-write. I think after one more re-write, it should be ready to send out. It's already so good, and I hope that whoever critiques it will be interested in reading more.

Rich and I haven't written much in the last month, so we didn't bring anything to read. But we both talked about where our projects are going, and what we think we'll write next. We also talked about the things that have held our writing back lately. I mentioned all the reasons I wrote at the beginning of this post, and Rich said he's trying to get settled into his job in Albany, and is looking for an apartment. Neither of us have had a lot of quiet time for writing, but we both promised to bring some new pages to the next meeting.

Then we all just talked, about anything and everything - books, movies, music, TV, art, and a lot more stuff. We made tentative plans to all go and see the Gustave Courbet exhibit at the Met sometime before it closes in May. We stayed until around 11pm - really late, especially since I had to work at 9:00 am on Sunday. But it was totally worth it. I told Rich it was the highlight of my month, and I meant it!

So now I feel re-inspired and fired up, to keep on writing "What Luck." Hopefully I'll have chapter 5 finished by the end of the week. I'll try my best to keep the momentum from Saturday going. I'll post an update as soon as I reach that goal.