With stay-at-home/shelter-in-place orders and the wisdom of
social distancing, many of us are feeling isolated. I’m finding myself on
Facebook more than usual just for socializing. What I’m personally not
missing is my weekly critique group.
About four weeks ago we decided to try virtual meetings
because I had moved away. Our first meeting, the others met up at a house and we
Skyped with them all sitting around one
computer. I was the only remote person. The next week we decided to try Zoom with each in one at home. It worked great and
we’ve been using it ever since and have even added two others to our group. It’s
great seeing everyone’s faces at once. We just have to be careful not to talk
over each other. (I’m
paying for Zoom since free is limited to 40 minutes at a time. It’s well-worth
the $16 something a month. Zoom lets me set up a recurring meeting which means
the meeting starts automatically. Another member also signed up as a backup
host.)
We are submitting our manuscripts on Monday and we “meet” on
Thursday. After we share our comments on a manuscript, members return the
notated copy to the author. Some of us do so via email as we’re using Word’s
commenting. Others prefer making handwritten notes on a printed copy and
mailing. It’s working well. And no one is having to drive anywhere.
Most of us had participated in Zoom meetings (or webinars) which made us aware of the program/app. But there are other similar options. Here’s what I’ve discovered:
Whereby: the free option
allows up to four people to meet at one time. For $9.99/month (probably plus
tax), you can have up to 12 participants.
GoToMeeting: You can test it free for 14 days. Plans start at $12/month.
StartMeeting:
Also has a free trial—theirs is 30 days. Plans start at $9.95/month.
Google has a G Suite Hangouts Meet: I found it difficult
to find pricing and stopped looking.
JoinMe: There’s a free
trial. For 5 participants it is $13/month. Prices go up from there. Appears
that scheduling is only an option for a higher fee.
The point is, you don’t have
to survive this virus without other writers. If you aren’t in a critique group,
maybe now is the time to find one. SCBWI
members should check their local regions and the Blueboard. If you’re on
Facebook, you can find critique partners or do swaps through Kidlit 411 Manuscript
Swap (For illustrators there’s Kidlit 411
Illustrator Critique Swap) or Sub It
Club Critique Partner Matchup.
Yesterday, a student who deals with depression and anxiety
and, like all of us, now this pandemic, said that looking at the instruction
manual felt overwhelming. Yet still she had sent in her assignment. In my
letter back to her, I commended her for her accomplishment and then gave her some
writing “work” advice.
Writing it made me aware of my own creativity. Or should I
say lack thereof. I’m finding it much
easier to do a student lesson, critique someone else’s picture book or novel,
than to actually create myself. It’s easy to jump on the news, Facebook (for
socializing), etc. I need to take my own advice.
We all have upheaval in our lives right now with social
distancing and worrying about the coronavirus. Some of you have children home
full time now. You and/or your spouse may be working from home which is another
adjustment. Or someone in the family has been laid off. It’s stressful. Perhaps
these suggestions for making writing “work” easier will be helpful to you, too.
First, pick one task
Get that one done today and stop. Don’t worry about other writing
things that need to be done. However, if doing one tasks leads you to wanting
to do more, feel free. Just don’t agonize over those days when you can only do
one thing.
But how do you know what task to do?
Set yourself a writing work schedule
1. Start by making a list of all the things you want to get done: – read recent children’s books – brainstorm ideas – research for one idea – work on first draft – revise a short story, article, picture book, or chapter – do market research – listen to a podcast on ____ topic – read blog posts on _____ – analyze feedback from others on my work – write a cover/query letter for _____ – submit manuscript _____
Be as specific as possible.
See more sample task ideas at the bottom of this article
and in the chart.
2. Commit to a time period whether it is a half hour or an
hour or two. Pick three to five days a week.
3. Next, if you can, prioritize you list in order of most important.
If none stand out, that’s okay too.
4. Then take your “to-do” list and plot them on a calendar OR
during each scheduled time just pick one off of your list.
5. Add and cross-off items on your “want to get done” list.
Word by word, project by project, if you spend a little
bit of time, you will make progress. Celebrate those accomplishments no
matter how small.
Here’s a chart suggestion for recording what you’ve done so you can look back on it and be encouraged:
Second, remember you are not alone
We are all affected. Interacting digitally with others can help us not feel so isolated. My critique group is using Zoom to meet weekly. Don’t have a critique group? Offer to exchange critiques via email with other writers. (You can find them through SCBWI.org, on the Blueboard, through Facebook and Google groups, etc.) Talk to others in these groups. Comment on blog posts or podcasts that you found helpful. Share those links with others you know. And/or share on Twitter.
Third, encourage yourself
I’m finding myself doing a lot of what I call “comfort”
reading—that’s rereading books that I know I’ll enjoy. Recently, it’s been the Harry
Potter books. I’ve also connected with some old friends whom I haven’t talked
to in years. I’m getting outside in the fresh air. What makes you happy? It’s necessary
to take a break from all the bad news and uncertainty.
Read recent children’s books. Whatever fits what you want to write.
A novel. A handful of picture books. Chapter books. What did you learn?
Research one magazine market. Read about the magazine
in the market book, go to the magazine’s website, read guidelines and editorial
calendars, and sample copies if available. Take notes, if you like. I often
write directly in my copy of a market book.
Search #MSWL on Twitter. Agents and editors give updates using
this hashtag.
Add sensory details to your short story or one scene in
your novel. Taste, smell, texture, temperature, sound, and sight. What
makes this setting unique?
Read an article on self-editing and practice one idea. Focus
on a weakness. Do you have trouble with dialogue or punctuation? There’s help
out there.
Read opening paragraphs in novels you like. Do you
see a pattern? Can you apply it to your work?
Write up the backstory for one character. Then you
can work in snippets of it throughout the novel. But beware of info dumps.
I could go on and on. All I know is doing something (like
this blog post) makes me feel better than doing nothing creative. I bet the
same will be true for you too.
Recently, I had
a student say children’s writing was “more challenging and restrictive” than
she’d thought, and she was considering changing to an adult audience. It may be
true that writing for adults is more a fit for her.
Or it might
not. With this particular student, we’d only done three lessons together. She
hadn’t tried nonfiction, which might be her niche if she’d give it a chance. The
real issue, however, is that many of the mistakes she was continuing to make
would be a problem for adult readers. So, audience wasn’t the issue. Could it
be discipline?
My mother taught piano lessons in our home. I heard her students play scales and play scales. No one learns piano just to play scales—they want to play music! However, scales are a necessary step in the process. Students moved on to simple melodies and, if they worked at it, they advanced to more complicated songs. My mother could tell when students hadn’t practiced in between lessons. They weren’t improving. Writing is similar.
We have to
practice, practice, practice no matter whether our audience is children or
adults. We must learn the basics of fiction writing: grammar, point of view,
setting, characterization, plot, etc. if we are going to succeed.
Like most instructors, I will re-explain a grammar issue, point of view, etc. in a different way in hopes that will work for the student. But sometimes I wonder, did she read what I wrote in my previous letter? Did he even try?
In both courses
I teach, we give the students deadlines. Deadlines encourage discipline. Often,
the students that progress the fastest are the ones who meet or beat the
deadlines. Each lesson builds upon the ones before. When too much time passes
between lessons, students forget what they learned earlier. I have to reteach
concepts. It slows their progress which can cause frustration for both of us.
All writing is challenging in one way or another. Sometimes it’s coming up with the idea or angle. Or making a character and/or setting come alive. Or perhaps the plot isn’t working. Or the dialogue. But once those frameworks are in place, we still have to check for flow, get rid of unnecessary words, add more detail or information when necessary, etc. And, of course, proofread. The first story I sold to Highlights went through two revisions with the editor before it was accepted. This was after it had been critiqued by fellow writers and revised several times.
I love this quote from Harper Lee, “To be a serious writer requires discipline that is iron fisted. It’s sitting down and doing it whether you think you have it in you or not.” And as Patricia Wrede said, “Talent is way down on the list of things you need to write; it comes in a distant fourth, after persistence, motivation, and discipline.”
I thought for sure we’d have my updated website switched from a Movable Type platform to WordPress sometime in May. However, due to complications in life, and difficulties with updating the website, it didn’t happen until a third of the way through June. I still have some broken links to fix, but am pleased with the new look. I know the ease of new posts is going to be worth all the time and effort.
Writing often takes more time than I expect, too. This past weekend I was on a four day writing retreat. I had a huge stack of manuscript pages I hoped to get through. I worked hours each day and only reduced the stack by half. I think part of the slog was that it had been so long since I’d looked at the novel that it took me a while to get back into the character’s voice. I’m grateful though to be that much farther ahead.
My TBR (to be read) stack got higher and higher this last month and a half. Now I have “catch up” to do on book recommendations. Looking forward to sharing those soon.
We stayed on Siletz Bay, Lincoln City, Oregon last weekend. It’s always interesting how the ocean waves, storms, etc. change a beach.
So speaking of change . . . I decided it was time for a new look so am hard at work updating my website. The difficult part is getting the past posts imported–that’s where it helps to have a husband who is a software developer. Thanks you, honey!
“I just wish people would realize that anything’s possible if you try; dreams are made possible if you try.” – Terry Fox
