Author: confidentwriter

Motivating Word · Quotes

Motivating Word

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SAILING

We usually think of sailing as traveling across the sea in boat with sails. But today think of it as moving through your day and your week smoothly and confidently.

The ship of my life may or may not be sailing on calm and amiable seas. The challenging days of my existence may or may not be bright and promising. Stormy or sunny days, glorious or lonely nights, I maintain an attitude of gratitude. If I insist on being pessimistic, there is always tomorrow. Today I am blessed.

Maya Angelou

Motivating Word

Motivating Word

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RELAX

Yesterday, my husband and I decided to take a day trip to Martha’s Vineyard. Neither of us had ever been there before. We were only two hours away, so we figured what the hell.

Our adventure had a momentary setback when we discovered we had to take a ferry and the parking lot was four miles away. But we managed to park and hop on a bus back to the dock before the ferry left.

Needless to say, there was a tad bit of stress involved. But as we settled into our seats on the ferry, we felt a calm come over us. There was nothing but sunshine and the ocean air.

Everything else melted away.

Once we got to the island, we rented a couple of bikes and rode around to Oak Bluff. We found this great restaurant called Lobsterville. Their second floor balcony gave us a great view of the harbor. I ordered their lobster roll and the chunks of lobster meat were as big as my thumb.

I was totally relaxed.

I wanted to stay longer so I could maintain the feeling. But it occurred to me that I was able to relax because I allowed myself to be in the moment.

When we slow down and enjoy the moment, we relax. Being present makes us better writers.

I picked up a rock with the word “Relax” craved in it as a souvenir. It’s my reminder to slow down and enjoy moment.

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Quotes · The Writing Life

My Little Secret

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I’ve been keeping a secret from the followers of this blog. I’m not quite sure why I haven’t written about it before. Nonetheless, here it is.

I started a literary magazine designed to celebrate the creativity and wisdom in every woman. It’s called Minerva Rising. The idea came to me in January while I was planning my goals for the year. One of my goals was to get my short stories into a literary goal. I went through the Literary Journal and Magazine database on Poets and Writers, but most of the journals seemed too experimental or academic for my stories. None of them focused on the everyday life of women. I began to imagine a literary journal that would publish the types of stories women share with one another – kind of like a girl’s night out in print.

Girl’s night out is so important because it’s a time when women get together to share the stories of their lives. Sure there’s lots of wine and martinis, but there is also a strong sense of camaraderie. Women are empowered through the exchange of ideas and the sharing of experiences. There’s a communal understanding of the various roles we play and the sacrifices we make. We find validation and acceptance.

Toni Morrison says:

“If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”

So I decided to start the journal I wanted to read.

Now this isn’t the first time I’ve thought of starting a magazine. Nine years ago, I bought the book Starting & Running a Successful Newsletter or Magazine by Cheryl Woodard.

But I actually never read it. I simply came up with a theme for the first issue and wrote the letter from the editor. I asked a friend to join the effort, but it never got much further than my letter and an unfinished article of friendship.

But this time I spent a fair amount of time thinking about the magazine’s focus. I knew if the foundation was strong enough, it would develop the momentum and strength to stand on it’s own. I combined my life long mission of empowering women with my love of literature and art. And as you know from “Support Your Local Independent Bookstore”, I’m a sucker for anything in print, so I knew the journal would have to be in print.

I shared the idea with three women whose talents and knowledge seemed to be just what a project like this needed. Each one of them loved the idea and wanted to be a part of it. Together we began to build Minerva Rising.

It’s amazing what it has grown into in just six short months. We have not only come up with our name, logo and mission, but we’ve also accepted sixteen pieces of literature and poetry from our first round of submissions. Our first issue will be in print the first week in September.

I share all of this, in part, to indirectly explain my somewhat sporadic posts the last few months. Most of my time has been spent on getting Minerva Rising up and running. As a way to get people excited about the project, we started a literary blog called The Keeping Room. It’s a casual forum where we share stories related to the current them of the journal. My Associate Editor, Dulcie Witman and I share writing responsibility for the blog. There’s a new post every Monday. Check it out. This week I write about painting and perfectionism.

Now that the secret is out, take a look at our website. Let me know what you think.

I’ll be sure to keep you in the loop going forward.

Books

Support Your Local Independent Bookstore

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After creating my summer reading list, I headed over to Barnes and Noble to purchase a few books. And much to my dismay, they didn’t have any of the books I listed. I asked a bookseller to check the computer to see if they had How to be Alone by Jonathan Franzen. Supposedly they had one copy, but the bookseller and I couldn’t find it. I ended up having to order it. I left the bookstore empty-handed and sad.

Next to the shoe department, which by the way I never leave empty-handed, bookstores are my favorite place to shop. I love the smell of new paper and the bright colors of the book jackets. If left alone, I can spend hours just perusing the shelves. It isn’t usual for me to come out with tons of books I didn’t even know I wanted.

Unfortunately, Barnes and Noble no longer qualifies as a bookstore to me. The first thing you see when you hit the door is the Nook display. They are much more interested in selling the Nook than good old fashion books. And the books they do offer seem to focus on what’s new or what’s popular. I know they have to make money and that e-readers are a hot commodity, but I refuse to jump on the bandwagon.

Books are so much more than words on a page. I need to feel the texture and weight of the paper between my fingertips. I need to hear the slight crack of the binding as I open it. I need to be drawn to the shelf by an interesting cover. I need a real bookstore.

As I walked out of Barnes and Noble, feeling like I had just lost my best friend, I decided to write a tribute blog to our past relationship and call it “The Death of the Bookstore”. I planned to work on it last week while I toured colleges with my daughter.

But after a wonderful tour of the University of Michigan (No bias, of course), I spied an independent bookstore on the way to the car. I dragged my daughter and her friend over to take a look.

I was in heaven.

I wanted to spend the rest of the afternoon searching the shelves for the perfect book. A few eye rolls and barely audible sighs let me know there was no way I was going to be able to shop and peace, so I quickly grabbed two books off the shelf.

As I paid for my purchases, it occurred to me that the bookstore was far from dead. Independent booksellers (or indies as they call themselves) still believed in the power of the printed word. But they need our support. So here are 7 reasons to be indie bound:

  1. Indies carry books on a variety of topics that you may not find in a chain bookstore. They carry the popular books found in the big box stores as well as lesser known authors and eclectic interest. I found a book at the indie in Ann Arbor about the history of women at the University of Michigan. The university was one of the first large institutions to admit women in 1870 and the book examined the results of what was called “The Dangerous Experiment.”
  2. Indies host monthly author events. Anderson Bookshop in Naperville, IL (one of my favorite places) is hosting ten different author reading and book signing this month alone. These events give you an intimate setting in which to meet the authors and to hear what they have to say about their books.
  3. Indies celebrate writing and writers. They carry books by local authors. They also host critiques groups and writing workshops.
  4. When you spend money an independent bookstore the money stays in your community. Indies are locally owned and operated. When you support them, more of your money is funneled back into the community. There’s a whole campaign called the 3/50 project which ask consumers to frequent three brick and mortar local businesses that they don’t want to see disappear and to spend $50 a month.
  5. Booksellers at independent bookstores are willing to spend more time with you. They freely share their personal favorites and will point you to another staff person if they aren’t familiar with a particular book. They are professionals readers and general work at the bookstore because they care about books.
  6. Indies have big comfortable chairs to read in. They want you to stay awhile. I’ve visited Indies where there is free coffee and cookies on the counter. The atmosphere is just more homey and laid back. I found a cute bookshop called Fox-Tale Bookshoppe in Woodstock, Georgia. The decor was so cute that I immediately wanted to grab a book and curl up in one of their chairs.
  7. Some Indies will even buy your used books. It is the perfect way to recycle and trim a little off of your book bill.

What are some other good reasons to go Indie Bound?

It’s up book lovers to support our local independent bookstores if we want them to be around in the future. Visit indiebound.org to find local bookstores in your area. Be sure to check out their Indies Next List for recommendations and new releases.

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Books

Summer Reading List

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Call me weird, but I get excited when my daughter brings home her summer reading list. I can’t wait to see which books the teachers selected. And I feel a certain vindication when one of my favorites makes the cut.

I’m always tempted to read one of the books on the list as a way to connect with my daughter. But after the Twilight mother-daughter book club debacle – I read all four books and she decided after the first one they were too boring – I realized she doesn’t share my enthusiasm for reading. Not to mention the fact that most of the books on her list get read two weeks before school starts in a rush mode that doesn’t invite much conversation. So this year I’ve decided to create my own summer reading list.

Last weekend I read through the New York Times book section for ideas, but nothing jumped out at me. I almost abandoned the idea, but then it occurred to me that my daughter’s list had a plan behind it. The teachers develop the list as a gateway to the coming school year. It’s designed to engage the mind and challenges thinking.  Of course the planning and foresight is often lost on high school students, but the premise of using the lazy days of summer to contemplate new ideas is inspiring.

So here is The Confident Writer’s summer reading list to nurture our inner writer. The list focuses more on categories than specific books. If the books listed don’t interest you, pick another one. The idea is to challenge your thinking and enrich your craft.   Read one from each category or pick your favorites.   Here’s the list:

  • A classic. I know there is some debate about what actually constitutes a classic, butthat doesn’t really matter for our purposes. What’s important is reading somethingthat has stood the test of time. I plan to read either House of Mirth (Edith Wharton) or Lady Chatterley’s Lover (D. H. Lawrence). My only motivation for choosing these two books is that they are both currently on my bookshelf unread.


  • A book on craft. The summer is the perfect time to commit to reading an instructional book, because we are more open to try new ideas. And though this blog is about writing, there are craft books for whatever you like to do. I plan to read either Turning Life into Fiction (Robin Hemley) or Writers and Their Notebooks (Diana Raab).

    • A collection of stories or essays. I’ve been dabbling in this genre with my own writing so I need to read more of it. I’m particularly interested pieces about relationships between men and women as well as suburbia. The nice thing about reading a collection is that you can read it in tiny snippets. My two picks are either How to Be Alone (Jonathan Franzen) or Eleven Kinds of Loneliness (Richard Yates).

Can you think of other books or categories that would be good to add to the list?  It’ll be fun to see what everyone is interested in. Share what you’re planning to read this summer.

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Images · The Writing Life

Five Ways to Refresh Your Writing

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Nothing kills creativity like being stuck in a writing rut. Circling around the same old tired topics make writing flat and uninspiring. And if you’re like me, you find yourself avoiding your writing time. The kitchen has to be cleaned. The dogs fed. Facebook checked. But there are five ways you can breath new life into your writing.

1.  Take an excursion to some new in your community.

Visiting somewhere new stimulates our senses. I recently went to an art fair in an
Atlanta neighborhood. The architecture of the homes was so different than the suburb where I live.

People hung art on their siding. The houses were painted wild and interesting colors. It made me think about the differences between someone who would live those homes and someone in the suburbs. I started to do little character sketches in my mind. I regretted not having my camera to capture what I saw.

2.  Look at old photos

Photographs are excellent writing prompts. But old photos elicit memories and images of time gone by. I came across on an old photograph of my grandparents’ house. It was taken before I was born. The neighborhood looked different, but the house was exactly the same. As I studied the picture, I was reminded of the generations that had grown up in and around that house. I remembered the warm summer evenings sitting on the porch, rocking back and forth on the glider.

I also found a picture of me as the flower girl in my aunt’s wedding. My mind drifted back to the days before smart phones and cable television. It made me want to write about that little girl’s world.

3.  Visit an antique store

There are so many interesting items in antiques stores. There have tons of jewelry, coins, furniture, household tools, dishes and clothing to spark your imagination.  You could write about how a particular item wound up in the shop or use as a prop in your story. The Secret Lives of Dresses is a novel about a woman who discovers each dress in her grandmother’s vintage dress shop has a special story.

4.  Eavesdrop

I had mixed emotions about adding this to the list. But to be honest, I have gotten some the best lines from things that I’ve overheard at the grocery store. Of course, restaurants are wonderful because of the interaction between people as they eat. Sometimes I pay more attention to what’s going on at other tables than my own. Some might call that nosy, but I call it research.  In fact, I wrote an entire short story from a conversation I heard while waiting at a restaurant bar for my girlfriends. I was so inspired that I woke up the next morning writing. It was exciting to have a fresh idea to work with.

5.  Change your perspective

We often write from our own perspective. I always look at the story or the issue through the eyes of a woman. However, sometimes I switch perspectives to get a better view of the story. It helps me to see the situation differently. I end up noticing things I wouldn’t have otherwise. I begin to understand what motivates people to do and think like they do. I wrote a story years ago about a woman who left her husband. One of the writing groups I shared it with said she was a complete bitch. I was so angry about their assessment. I ended up abandoning the story after several rejections. Recently, I rewrote the story from her husband’s perspective. Not only did it help me to get a more complete picture of the story, it also helped me to see why the other group thought she was a bitch.

There are a ton of other things you can do to refresh your writing, but I’m going to stop here.

How do you liven things up in your writing?

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The Writing Life

Memories

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This week, I’ve been thinking a lot about the past. It tends to happen when a loved one dies. Conversations and experiences resurfaced in such vivid details that the writer in me wanted to sit down and mine those memories for material for my writing. But I couldn’t. There were too many other things going on around me and in me.

I played solitaire on my computer, instead.

Yesterday, I gathered with my family to support my aunt and cousin, reconnecting with relatives I hadn’t seen in years. With each interaction pieces of the past emerged. I wondered why I didn’t have such rich recollections when I’m sitting at my desk writing. I wanted to jot down notes so that I would remember all the images and stories that were floating through my mind. But then I’d glance toward my cousin’s coffin and suddenly couldn’t remember what was so important. Grief took over.

I wasn’t in control. My emotions were raw. Images, reminiscences and thoughts came up without a filter.  And it occurs to me that in there is a valuable writing lesson.

When we let go of control, we have access to so much rich material within us.

Uncategorized

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Inspiring and Money-saving

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The one activity I love more than writing is shopping. So whenever I go to Manhattan, I rarely make it off of Fifth Avenue. Something about walking down that street with a bunch of bags in my hand really trips my trigger. But believe it or not, last Friday I decided to branch out. I spent the afternoon at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

I only had a three hours to explore the museum, so I researched which exhibit I wanted to visit before I left Atlanta. I selected The Steins Collect: Matisse, Picasso, and the Parisian Avant-Garde, a special exhibition open through June 3, 2012. I’ve never read anything by Gertrude Stein, but Hemingway wrote a lot about her in A Moveable Feast. I was also familiar with her influence on Pablo Picasso from a guided tour of a Picasso museum in Barcelona. And I loved Monica Truong’s fictional account of the Parisian household she shared with Alice B. Toklas in The Book of Salt. I had enough knowledge of the famous literary and artistic salons hosted at 27 rue de Fleurus to not only enjoy the collection, but also study it (from a totally non-art history perspective).

As I walked around looking at the paintings, I was a little intimidated by the artist standing around the galleries sketching paintings. I wanted to be able to translate what I was seeing into something I could use for my writing. But then I came across  Melancholy Woman by Pablo Picasso. It made me want to write.

The color and texture totally set the mood of the painting. The layered shades of blue, mossy green and gray made me feel the despair. I longed to be able to evoke such powerful emotions with words. But often I struggle to find the right words to capture intensity of a feeling. I end up writing around the mood – telling rather than showing.

I almost concluded it would have been easier to be a painter until I noticed Head of a Sleeping Woman (Study for Nude with Drapery) by Pablo Picasso. It hung next to eight studies of the same subject done with different media (watercolor and gouache, oil wash, tempera and watercolor, Conte crayon, gouache) and on a variety of surfaces (paper, canvas, paper mounted on board, paper mounted on canvas, paper mounted on panel and cardboard).

Including the word study in the title suggests Picasso was playing with the subject and the form. He used aspects of the eight other pictures to create the final painting. It screamed revision. It also confirmed the need to spend time with you work studying the various pieces that create the whole. So, I concluded that in order to evoke a mood in words, the writer has to go back and inhibit the moment from a variety of perspectives and vantage points, creating a study of the subject. I stood next to a woman sketching the painting as I wrote my notes on my Iphone.

I felt like an artist. It was almost as if I were in one of the Stein’s salons.

As I wandered through the rest of the exhibit, I discovered Gertrude Stein was often the subject of several sculptures, drawings, painting and photographs. The artist who visited her salons would have her pose for them and in return she would write word portraits of the artist. I was totally intrigued by the way she merged art and words.

Just before I left the exhibit, I stopped at a photograph of Gertrude Stein at her desk with Alice B. Toklas standing in the doorway. The neatness of Stein’s desk and Toklas position outside of the office spoke to me. Something in Stein’s face suggested that her office was a sacred place for her work. It made me realize how much I had let the chaos of my life encroach on my art. I felt the need to reclaim my creative space. I suddenly wished I could talk to Gertrude Stein about writing and art. So I bought her book, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas, in the gift shop on my way out.

I’ll let you know what I discover.

The day after I visited The Met, I found myself on Fifth Avenue going from shop to shop. But it just didn’t feel the same. I kept thinking about the magnificent pieces of art I had seen the day before. I wanted to go back and wonder around another gallery. I purchased a tube of lipstick and went back to the hotel.

Who knew visiting The Met could save you a ton of money?

The Writing Life

Writing on the go

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I’m on my way to New York to watch my daughter’s chorus perform at Carnegie Hall. So I’m writing this post from 38,000 feet. I figured it would be a good use of my flight time. I usually write in my office with all my writerly things around me. It puts me in the mood. However, I haven’t been able to spend much time in my office because of my travel schedule. It creates a writing dilemma.

My first inclination is not to write. That’s what I did in February and most of March. But then I’d have to deal with the loathing thing writers do to themselves when they don’t write. So the question becomes how do you get the work done on the go?

Here are three suggestions to keep writing when you’re away from your regular routine.

1. Go low tech. Take along a notebook and a pen. Last week, I took a fresh notebook to the beach. I spent every morning sittting on my balcony writing. The new scenario inspired me. Writing in the notebook freed up my need to control the writing. I started a new piece that surprised me.

2. Use your smart phone. For some this is a no-brainer. For others writing on those little devices is less than appealing. However, there are some great journaling apps. I like NoteMaster and MyJournal. Write down quick ideas or write when the opportunity presents itself. It isn’t ideal, but it’s better than losing your flow.

3. Revise. Print pages of your work to take with you. Being away from the computer gives you time to think. Record your thoughts on the page so that when you return to your office you’ll be further along in the process.

I’m not suggesting this will be your best work, but it keeps you writing.