River of Words - Anthology - official launch

THE MSA POETS POTPOURRI SOCIETY OF ABBOTSFORD

IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THEIR 2009 ANTHOLOGY River of Words.

This anthology showcases the talents of over twenty Valley writers including the winners of our River of Words Poetry Contest.

Bound in a spiral spine and wrapped with a cover that features a panoramic view of the Fraser Valley, this book is a delight from cover to cover.

 

 

We would like to extend an invitation to all of you to join us for this event.

Thursday November 26

7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

The Reach - Gallery and Museum,
32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford, BC 

(on the same grounds as the Clearbrook Library).

Maps and more information at www.thereach.ca

The evening will include a reading time and refreshments.

The event will also support the Abbotsford Food Bank. Participants are asked to bring an item of nonperishable food. Please note that $2.00 from the sale of every book will be donated to the Abbotsford Food Bank!

NaNo update

Just a little update on the last week. I've written. A lot. If you check the NaNo widget to the right, you'll see my word count is 16,110. My goal was to reach 16,000 before I quit for the weekend. Now the story gets a rest till Monday morning.

I'm learning so much!

• I can write for long stretches at a time.

• I don't work like I thought I would. I envisioned myself working for hours at the keyboard. However, I've discovered my best way of composing is longhand, with pencil. This is about the speed my brain works (I know, I'm slow). Then I read what I've written onto a minicassette tape and type it out as if it were dictation (good thing I kept my transcription tools)  making wee changes along the way but of course never officially editing. I've sworn off that for the month!
  
  (For your interest, check out this piece about the variety of ways 'real' writers work - sent to my by one of my NaNo buddies)
  

• This story has been brewing inside me for years (I first had the idea and did some work on it in 2002). It feels very good to get it out of my head and onto  a document  - I was going to say 'paper' but I haven't even printed the thing out yet.

I'm celebrating the end my first week of NaNo with hubby, and friends. We're going to see and hear Adrian Plass and Glen Soderholm in the Story and Song Tour - Delta BC. Woot!

My NaNo adventure

I haven't posted much about writing in the last few weeks - but I have been doing it! Maybe that's even better than writing about it.

Around mid-October I started to seriously consider registering for NaNoWriMo. That's short for National Novel Writing Month and it happens every November.

The NaNo movement started small a few years ago but has blossomed to thousands of writers getting on the NaNo bandwagon, each with the goal of writing 50,000 words of the first draft of a novel from Nov 1-30 (or at least that's what one must do to 'win').

I was persuaded to dive in by some of the things Chris Baty wrote on the NaNo web site. I was even happier I had registered when I got my welcome email on October 27th. In it Baty makes three main points:

1. It's okay to not know what you're doing.
2. Do not edit as you go.
3. Tell everyone you know that you're writing a novel in November (basically so it's impossible to quit without losing a lot of face).

I especially perked up at point number 2. Because editing as I go is my modus operandi. But it makes for painfully slow writing. Here is an expansion of the "Do not edit point:

"...Editing is for December. Think of November as an experiment in pure output. Even if it's hard at first, leave ugly prose and poorly written passages on the page to be cleaned up later. Your inner editor will be very grumpy about this, but your inner editor is a nitpicky jerk who foolishly believes that it is possible to write a brilliant first draft if you write it slowly enough. It isn't. Every book you've ever loved started out as a beautifully flawed first draft. In November, embrace imperfection and see where it takes you."

So, having sent my inner editor on a much-needed holiday,  I've actually been free to write fairly quickly - for me. As of this afternoon, I've logged 6534 words of the aforesaid"beautifully flawed first draft." I'm simply not allowing myself to edit. Case closed.

I'm trying different ways of spinning this tale.

On Sunday I plunked it out at the keyboard.

On Monday I thought of using my old transcription tools and tried telling my story to my little Pearlcorder microcasette recorder and typing it from that (I have the playback machine with the foot pedal). That works fairly well if you can get into a smooth telling mode.

Today I tried writing in longhand with pencil, reading what I'd written back to the recorder and typing it as dictation. That may work the best, as my thoughts flow about longhand writing speed, and typing from dictation is a lot faster and easier on the neck than typing from copy.  

My daily goal is 2000 words. If I reach that six days a week, I'll be able to take Sundays off, which is my intention (although I did write on the 1st).

If you're interested in checking on my progress, my NaNo profile page is here.

Book review: Leaving Yesterday by Kathryn Cushman

Title: Leaving Yesterday
Author: Kathryn Cushman
Publisher: Bethany House, October 1, 2009, paperback, 320 pages. 
ISBN-10: 0764203827 
ISBN-13: 978-0764203824



What business could a police officer have with her except to bear the bad news that her son Kurt has been found dead, Alisa Stewart wonders as Detective Thompson’s car turns into her driveway. But a few minutes later she is saddled with an even greater burden as she discovers her 21-year-old drug addicted son is wanted for questioning about a murder. When he calls home a few days later with the news that he’s been in rehab – and for a while – she reasons it couldn’t be him, could it?

In Leaving Home Kathryn Cushman combines what Alisa finds in a box of Kurt’s things with old frictions between Alisa and her estranged husband, the need to keep up appearances at her church and, above all, the determination that her son will have the new start he deserves to give us the tug-of-war tale of a mother’s love.

The story, told in first person by Alisa, has a rapidly thickening plot. Pressure on her to look good in her position of women’s ministry leader mounts even as her relationship with her husband Rick deteriorates and questions about Kurt multiply. She finds she can be most herself with her neighbor Lacey, a retired lawyer who is canny, pragmatic and a mistress of rationalization. Cushman takes Alisa and the whole family through some tough situations and decisions in a book that is hard to put down.

Character-wise I found myself with mixed feelings about Alisa. Though I sympathized with her as a mom and understood her mother bear impulses, there was something Barbie-dollish and plastic about her too. She came off as shallow in her role as wife and women’s pastor, and smug as a public speaker. My favorite character was her 10-year-old daughter Caroline who was completely believable with her bouncy ways and excitable, dramatic clinginess. Alisa’s husband Rick rang true as well – even though he was a bit of a downer. Jodi and Monte were recognizable and fun as aging hippies. I wasn’t sure what to make of Kurt. He was sweet and genuine on the surface but showed just enough deviousness to keep me wondering, through most of the book, just how genuine his reformation really was.

Cushman does a good job of bringing up some weighty themes even as she weaves this entertaining story. No mother will be able to read this book without asking herself if she would she go to the lengths Alisa did if she were in the same shoes. The story touches on other issues of parenting as well, like permissiveness, tough love and the possibility that parents drive their kids to self-destructive behaviors with dysfunctional parenting. Cushman introduces God the Father as the greatest example of a parent. The story also makes us think a lot about guilt.

For a hard-to-put-down read that will prompt you to take a thoughtful look at your role as a parent and as a child, Leaving Yesterday is a good choice. 

Read the first chapter.

Reading Group Guide for this book.

(I received this book from Bethany House for the purpose of writing a review.)

Book review: Things Worth Remembering by Jackina Stark

Title: Things Worth Remembering
Author: Jackina Stark
Publisher: Bethany House, October 2009, paperback, 320 pages

ISBN-10: 0764207113 
ISBN-13: 978-0764207112


Kendy Laswell can’t wait for her daughter Maisey and fiancé Marcus to get home this third Monday in July. It’s a mere six days till Maisey’s wedding and there must be a thousand things to do – though Masey hasn’t told her much.

But when the kids arrive, Maisey says she’s tired and goes straight to bed. Kendy hides her disappointment but inside asks, for the thousandth time, what is at the root of her daughter’s avoidance? The only thing she can think of is the months-long depression she suffered when Maisey was 13. Things have never been right between them since that dreadful summer nine years ago. Now, though, they still have the rest of the week to patch things up.

In Things Worth Remembering, Jackina Stark takes us through the week before Maisey’s wedding. Through the first-person voices of Kendy and Maisey we live those memorable six days, but much more, as incidents trigger memories. These, plus Maisey’s surprising outburst on Wednesday and a health crisis on Thursday work together to create a heart-wrenching story about mothers and daughters, marriage and marital unfaithfulness, family, love, and forgiveness.

In Kendy and Maisey, Stark has created two flawed but sympathetic main characters. The supporting cast of Luke (Kendy’s husband), Marcus, Jackie and others also feel real and convincing. Stark’s style of writing current happenings in present tense with the back story in past tense helps dispel any confusion about now and then. Her contemporary American setting feels absolutely believable and authentic.

The story is seen through the lens of a Christian worldview. Stark works the faith of her characters into the story seamlessly and in a way that feels organic to its plot and characters. To underline how integral faith is to the story, we find that even the title hearkens back to a discussion of it:

Luke (to Maisey): “’Children of dust, Maisey, children of dust. That’s not an insult to the human race; it’s just a fact. Making mistakes is unavoidable; we are the created not the Creator. But it is also a fact that God loves us despite our frailty. And it’s a fact that life is good when we choose love and forgiveness.’

I close my eyes against his words.

Dad puts his hands over mine and I dare to look at him.

‘These things are worth remembering, Maisey – they really are.’”  248-9

Being a daughter myself and the mother of a daughter (with whom I planned a wedding a few years ago) I related to Kendy at a gut level. Maisey’s rudeness to her mother and the  way she shut her out of all her wedding plans and activities made me wish I could take Kendy aside and tell her she’d better stop acting so passive and make an effort to get to the bottom of their rift. Yet Kendy downplays her hurt to the extent that at times she seems almost stoic when one would expect her to be falling apart. However, this downplaying is probably safer than over emotionalizing, as Stark has created an emotional minefield of a situation, and the tone of Kendy’s telling could easily have degenerated into sentimentality and self-pity.

Altogether the book flew by far too fast for me. The way it explores the mother-daughter relationship and forgiveness would make it an excellent choice for individuals or reading groups.  Discussion questions are here. Read an excerpt here.

(I received this book from Bethany House for the purpose of writing a review.)

November is coming!

And what is there to get excited about in November, you ask.

It's the month of two ambitious writing challenges that, should you decide to accept them, will have you swimming in words.

November Chapbook Challenge at Poetic Asides:
Write one poem a day in November (Robert Brewer will post daily prompts), use December to preen those poems, then submit your best 10-20 pages - 1 poem/page -  to Robert by January 2/2010 to enter the chapbook challenge.

NaNo WriMo (National Novel-writing month)
Write a short novel (50,000 words) during the month of November (quantity, not quality is the watchword here). Read all  the details at the NaNo WriMo web site.

• What is NaNo WriMo?

• How does it work?

• FAQs

Are you up for either - or both?

Does your poem pass the sound check?

Of all the things I find difficult about writing poetry, choosing words that flow over the tongue and sound musical may be my biggest challenge. It seems I naturally gravitate towards alliteration, ending up with all kinds of harsh and tongue-twisty bits. That's one of the reasons I chose to write about the sound of poetry in my latest Poet's Classroom column.

In researching the article, I found out lots of good stuff about the texture of words, onomatopoeia, alliteration, rhyme, repetition and more. Check out "The Sound of a Poem" here.

Top Ten Blogs for Writers

Want to add the best writing blogs to your reading list? Michael Stelzner of the Writing White Papers runs a yearly top blogs for writers competition. On September 22nd he announced the top ten writer blogs for 2008/2009. Here they are. (I can personally vouch for number 1. I follow Copyblogger on twitter and his articles are excellent.)


1. Copyblogger (Brian Clark)

2. Men with Pens (James Chartrand and Harry McLeod)

3. Freelance Writing Jobs (Deb Ng founder)

4. Write to Done (Leo Babauta)

5. Confident Writing (Joanna Young)

6. The Renegade Writer (Linda Formichelli and Diana Burell)

7. Remarkable Communication (Sonia Simone)

8. Writing Journey (Bob Younce)

9. Freelance Parent (Lorna Doone Brewer and Tamara Berry)

10. Urban Muse (Susan Johnston)


Hat-tip: @JanalynVoigt

A "God quote" doesn't make a story Christian

"...whether you are writing for the main stream or one of the niche markets, the religion must be an integrated, fundamental part of your story. A secular story with random Bible quotes dropped in doth not a Christian Fiction story make. If you have an extremely devout character, then their religion should permeate every aspect of their life. On the other hand, a character that only attends temple on the high holy days every other year probably is not going to be quoting the Torah or Talmud on a regular basis. You want the religious aspect of your story to seamlessly integrate with the rest of the work, not pop out at random places."

So writes Editor/Publisher and writer of the Buried In the Slush Pile blog in the post "Holy Writing Batman." Last week she wrote several posts on writing fiction for the religious market for kids. You'll also want to check out:

• Redefining good Christian historical midgrade novels

• Tip of the week

• Review of the week - Religious Fiction Topic

Review of Everyday Greatness by Steven R. Covey

Title: Everyday Greatness: Inspiration for a Meaningful Life

Author: Steven R. Covey, compiled by David K. Hatch

Publisher:  Thomas Nelson, 2006

ISBN-10: 140160241X 

ISBN-13: 978-1401602413

Sixty three of the best stories from the Reader’s Digest archives, organized into twenty one chapters which address essential components of character are what’s inside Everyday Greatness.

What was the point of resurrecting and reprinting these stories? For David K. Hatch, who pulled the collection together, it began as a search for stories and anecdotes he could use in public speaking. For Stephen R. Covey, who introduces each chapter and links the stories with insights and observations, the book’s purpose is to help the reader understand what makes a person great – not only in public but also in private life.

Chapters titled Charity, Courage, Humility, Gratitude, Perseverance, etc. (21 in all) explore the topic subject with three stories, a few questions (called “Reflections”), and a section of quotes, all stitched together with commentary by Covey.

The stories themselves are by a variety of authors, new and old, from Henry David Thoreau to Reba McEntire. They’re short, easy to read, interesting, and illustrate the subject under discussion more efficiently than a lecture twice their length would.

If there’s one criticism, it would be that this everyday greatness is achieved by self-effort. Any mention of God or a new life in Christ or the transforming work of the Holy Spirit is absent. And so the book presents only a partial picture of how this everyday greatness is achieved, at least for the Christian. However, each quality discussed is something the Bible and Jesus emphasized as well. The difference is in how and to what end you achieve them.

Despite that quibble, the book offers a lot to think about. There’s enough good stuff here to overwhelm. The “Afterword” section at the end of the book helps dispel the overload by listing ways the reader can begin putting the principles explored into practice.

For a book that will encourage and inspire in literally hundreds of ways (there are around 600 quotes), Everyday Greatness is recommended.