Write On Right Now!

This blog has moved

2007-03-28T15:30:00.000-07:00

I'm suffering from too many blogs and not enough time so I am closing this blog. The old entries will stand but I will not be adding to them here.

I am gradually moving all the old writing and picture prompts to my writing blog, Susan Writes. You can find the prompts in the sidebar.

Thank you for reading along.

And remember, write on, right now!
Susan

Writing Prompt: Your dream house/room

2006-12-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

Write in vivid detail about your ideal place to live or work. Describe the feel of the floor beneath your feet, the smell in the air, all those sensory details that can make a reader feel as though they are in the room with you.

Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt: The do over

2006-10-12T18:54:00.000-07:00

Pick a day that didn't end the way you wanted to and rewrite the ending.

Write on, right now.

Picture Promt: A hat

2006-10-10T21:09:00.000-07:00

Who wore this hat? Write on, right now.

Picture Prompt: The Road

2006-10-08T20:23:00.000-07:00

What happened? Write on, right now!

Picture Prompt: The cart

2006-10-07T14:23:00.000-07:00

What happened here?

Write on, right now!

Writing Prompt: Money

2006-10-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

Make a list: What could you do with $1.00? $10.00? $100.00?

Write a scene about something on your list.

Write on, right now.

Picture Prompt: The hat

2006-09-27T07:42:00.000-07:00

Who wears this hat? Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt: Celebrations

2006-09-20T07:47:00.000-07:00

Write about a celebration that is happening. Try to write it from two points of view; from the point of view of someone who is enjoying the celebration and the point of view of someone who would rather be anywhere else doing anything else in the world BUT celebrate.

Write on, right now.

Picture Prompt: What's going on?

2006-09-17T11:08:00.000-07:00

What's his story? Write on, right now.

(Note to those who read this blog on a feed: for some reason the photos are not showing up. You can click on the link in the feed to see the pictures at the actual blog.)

Picture Prompt: What's their story?

2006-09-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

Are they going toward something or getting away from something? Someone? What's their story?

Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt: Under your bed

2006-09-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

What's under your bed, real or imagined?

Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt: What do you see?

2006-09-07T22:57:00.000-07:00

From where you are sitting right now, make a list of everything you see. Keep listing until you feel compelled to write more than just a list.

Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt: Lost

2006-09-06T11:03:00.000-07:00

Write about something you've lost.

Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt - Blue

2006-08-29T13:38:00.000-07:00

List as many things as you can that are blue. Now write an emotion next to each of those words. Add a verb to each line. Now, see if you can turn some of those lines into mini stories.

Write on, right now.

Picture Prompt: What's his story?

2006-08-28T06:26:00.000-07:00

What's his story? Write on, right now.

Picture Prompt - What's this person's story?

2006-08-22T07:14:00.000-07:00

You come around the corner and see this person.
What's their story?

Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt - Disappointment

2006-08-19T10:47:00.000-07:00

There was something you wanted once, very badly, and you didn't get it. Write about it.

Write on, right now.

Picture prompt - Button jar

2006-08-17T06:36:00.000-07:00

Who kept this jar of buttons ?
Write on, right now.

Picture Prompt - The Elevator

2006-08-15T06:34:00.000-07:00

Are you going up or going down?

Write on, right now!

Writing Prompt - Complete the following sentences

2006-08-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

I seem to be brave but really I'm . . .

I seem to be forgetful but really I'm . . .

I seem to be shy but really I'm . . .

I seem to be small but really I'm . . .

I seem to be ordinary but really I'm . . .

Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt - Ending

2006-08-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

Write about a time that something ended.
A movie you liked. A good book. The school year. A relationship.
Write on, right now.

Shameless Self-promotion - SmartWriters Contest

2006-08-02T19:57:00.000-07:00

A brief intermission while I jump up and down after finding out I won both a second place and an honorable mention in the SmartWriters contest. You can read all the juicy details over in my regular writing blog on LiveJournal. http://susanwrites.livejournal.com

Write on, right now.

Picture Prompt - The Harmonica

2006-08-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

Someone gave you this to you and told you to do something with it.

Who gave it to you? What did they want you to do?

Write on, right now.

Picture Prompt - What's his story

2006-07-31T08:49:00.000-07:00

What's this dog's story?
Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt - The Bee

2006-07-29T08:38:00.000-07:00

A bee is following you. What happens?

Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt - The fall

2006-07-25T14:38:00.000-07:00

You just fell. Or did you trip? Did you hit the ground or fall through something magical? Are you okay or are you hurt? Are you alone or did someone see what happened?

Write on, right now.

Picture Prompt - Thinking about . . .

2006-07-11T18:58:00.000-07:00

What is he thinking and why?
Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt - Childhood home

2006-07-10T06:57:00.000-07:00

Think back to the first place you remember living as a child. Pick a room in the house, any room, and describe it in detail.

Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt - Tell a Lie

2006-07-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

Write a scene with two characters in which one person catches the other person in a lie.

Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt - The Story in your Song

2006-07-07T07:17:00.000-07:00

If you have an iPod or some other playlist going, go to #7 on your list. Otherwise, pick up a CD and (with lyrics) and listen to track #7. Every song tells a story. Write the scene that is the story in your song.

Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt - Superpowers

2006-07-05T08:19:00.000-07:00

What's your superpower? Not the flying and seeing through walls sort of superpowers but the thing you do better than anyone else. Maybe you're a whiz with numbers. You cook the best apple pie. There's not a broken machine you can't fix. You're a good listener or singer or maybe you are the all-around best window cleaner in your state.

Think of something you do well. Really, really well. Now give that trait to a character. Now bring on another character who wants to stop you from doing what you were meant to do. Develop a scene between the two of them.

Write on, right now.

Picture Prompt - What's her story?

2006-07-03T16:22:00.000-07:00

What's her story? Write on, right now.

Shameless Self Promotion

2006-07-03T16:04:00.000-07:00

Time out for a quick bit of shameless self-promotion. If you read my regular writing blog Susan Writes feel free to skip ahead to the next prompt.

My thanks to Kelly Herold of Big A little a for her review of Hugging the Rock in the June/July 2006 issue of the online magazine The Edge of the Forest. (If you are reading this blog entry after July 2006 you'll have to go to the archived issues for it as the links go to the current issue.) Also, in the same issue, you can read an interview with me in the column The Blogging Writer. The Edge of the Forest is a fairly new edition to the online MUST-READS to add to your list.

Also a pointer to a couple of interesting posts in the other blog. There's the evolution of a poem from Hugging the Rock which covers a 3 year span and an essay on The Writer and the Hawk.

We now return to your regularly scheduled prompts.

Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt - Finish the following sentence

2006-07-02T12:19:00.000-07:00

When I turned the corner I came face to face with . . .

Write on, right now.

Picture Prompt - The Bag

2006-06-30T19:49:00.000-07:00

What's in the bag? Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt - Illness

2006-06-29T21:57:00.000-07:00

Pick a character from your current WIP or dream up a new character but have one in mind before you start. Got it? Okay, your character is sick. Either stomach clutching run to the bathroom sick or curled up on the couch with a bucket sick or in the hospital sick. Someone comes into the room. It could be someone you know or it could be a total stranger. But the new person in the scene doesn't like to be around sick people. In fact, this new character might even be afraid to be around sick people. But for some reason, the two of you have to talk about something.

Write on, right now.

Picture Prompt - Hungry?

2006-06-27T19:35:00.000-07:00

This is what you're expected to eat for dinner? Uh oh. What will you
or your character do about this? Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt - At the Airport

2006-06-26T10:48:00.000-07:00

You're at the airport waiting for someone to get off the plane. Is it someone you haven't seen for a long time? Someone you have never met in person? Someone you had cross words with the last time you met?

You wait, impatiently perhaps. Perhaps not.

You wait until everyone gets off the plane. You wait until there is no one else left and you are all alone.

What happened?

Write on, right now!

Picture Prompt - The Window

2006-06-24T21:04:00.000-07:00

Is she watching for something? Waiting for someone to
arrive or watching after someone has left?

Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt - Showing up Late

2006-06-23T07:31:00.000-07:00

You're late. You're very, very late for something important. How do you feel as you are racing to get there? Do you rehearse excuses on the way? What happens when you finally arrive? Write the scene where you actually arrive then write the same scene from another person/character's point of view.

Write on, right now!

Don't forget to visit Susan Writes.

Picture Prompt - The Phone Call

2006-06-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

Who just called you? Was it a good call or a bad one?
How did you feel when you said goodbye? Write on right now!

Writing Prompt - Dig a Hole

2006-06-21T17:03:00.000-07:00

First, pick your character. Is it someone from a current project or is it someone new? Okay, now get a shovel and dig a hole. Ask your character why he is digging a hole. What will he put in the hole or what might he find as he keeps digging? Try to use all five senses as you write. Remember that digging in sand at the beach will feel and smell differently than digging in mud in your backyard.

Write on right now.

Picture Prompt - The Dog

2006-06-20T19:35:00.000-07:00

Who dog is this? Is it yours? Did you stumble upon him while you were out walking? Did he bark at you? Growl? Whimper? Will you leave him here? Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt - The Monster Under Your Bed

2006-06-19T06:39:00.000-07:00

Many of us had childhood fears that made falling asleep difficult. (Some of them carry over into adulthood.) My fear wasn't the monster under my bed but rather the one in my ceiling. Think back to being a child, either your own childhood or your character in a current WIP, and write about what make that person afraid to go to sleep at night.

Write on, right now.

Picture Prompt - The House

2006-06-18T09:50:00.000-07:00

Who lives here?

Write on, right now!

Writing Prompt - How Hot is it?

2006-06-17T11:20:00.000-07:00

Make a list of things that are hot to touch to taste, things that make you feel hot, things that the heat causes.

Pick one that calls to you and write about it.

Write on, right now.

For more on my writing life, check out my other blog, Susan Writes.

Writing Prompt - Poetry Friday/Haiku

2006-06-16T08:44:00.000-07:00

Over in the children's literature blogging world a phenomenon called Poetry Friday is building up steam. Children's literature lovers post their favorite poems and discuss the art of poetry. I am going to try and add a poetry exercise here on Fridays.

Since my Poetry Friday post for the day in my other blog is about haiku, today's writing prompt is for you to write a haiku. At its most basic level, haiki is comprised of three lines, 5-7-5 syllables. Think images. Think emotions. Think nature.

Look out the window and pause to reflect a moment on whatever bit of nature you can see. If you are in an office building, look up at the sky and the clouds. Now, close your eyes and try to recall that same image. Now, write a haiku about it.

Write on, right now.

Writing prompt - Do overs

2006-06-15T06:50:00.000-07:00

Make a list of anything you wish you could "do over" from the past. Want to catch the winning touchdown? Win first prize in a contest? Get a particular job or know just the right thing to say to that bully back in the third grade? Now's your chance. First write a scene that details the facts as the event actually unfolder. Then write a scene in which the outcome of something in your past is different than what really happened.

Write on, right now.

Don't forget to visit Susan Writes, my other blog about my writing life.

Picture Prompt - Fences

2006-06-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

Fences can be put up to keep things in or keep things out. Below are three pictures of different kinds of fences. Pick one and write about what it is keeping in or out. You can write from the point of view of what's on the outside, what's on the inside, or even from the point of view of the fence.

Write on, right now!

Visit my other writing blog Susan Writes.

Shameless self-promotion - free contest! Sign up for my free monthly newsletter and you might win a copy of the galley of my upcoming middle grade verse novel Hugging the Rock.

Writing Prompt - The Power of Persuasion

2006-06-13T10:46:00.000-07:00

No matter what kind of writing you do, you are trying to convince someone to see something through your eyes. In fiction, it is the believable character and their motivations for their actions. In non-fiction it is perhaps to sway them to your opinion or convince them of the importance of something that is important to you.

For today's writing prompt, write an ad for a product that doesn't exist - yet. Name the product. Describe it. Convince the reader they need it.

Write on, right now.

For more on my writing life, check out my other blog, Susan Writes.

Shameless self-promotion - Interview and review

2006-05-04T20:43:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share with everyone that there is an interview with me posted on Cynsations. And the first review for my middle grade verse novel (Tricycle Pres, September) is posted at Fuse #8.

Don't forget my writing blog at livejournal Susan Writes.

Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt - The Big Fight

2006-03-30T20:29:00.000-08:00

Write about a fight, a big fight, from both sides. A mother and a daughter. A boss and an employee. Two neighbors. Let's hear both points of view.

Write on, right now.

Visit my other writing blog Susan Writes.

I'm also on MySpace.

Shameless self-promotion - free contest! Sign up for my free monthly newsletter and you might win a copy of the galley of my upcoming middle grade verse novel Hugging the Rock.

Writing prompt - Pick an Object

2006-03-26T11:16:00.000-08:00

Get up from your computer right now and pick up an ordinary object from anywhere inside or outside. A rock, a spoon, the leaf off a plant. Anything. There's no right or wrong answer. Come back to your computer and just study it for at least a full minute (which is longer than you think.) Look at the shape, feel the texture, does it have a smell?

Okay, now describe it so that someone who is not in the room with you can guess what it is.

Write on, right now.

Visit my other writing blog Susan Writes.

Shameless self-promotion - free contest! Sign up for my free monthly newsletter and you might win a copy of the galley of my upcoming middle grade verse novel Hugging the Rock.

Writing Prompt - Green

2006-03-15T08:51:00.000-08:00

List as many things as you can think of that are green. Try for at least 10, more is better. Now look at your list and try to write something linking at least 5 of those items together.

Write on, right now.

Vist my other blog about my writing life.

Writing Prompt - Friendship

2006-02-27T21:11:00.000-08:00

Write about a fight with a friend. Who was wrong? Who was right? Did you make up?

Write on right now.

Picture prompt - Pocket Watch

2006-02-23T16:06:00.000-08:00

Did you inherit this watch? Steal it? Find it someplace when you were
looking for something else? Write about it. Write on, right now.

For more about my writing life, read Susan Writes.

Picture Prompt - Stairs

2006-02-22T19:09:00.000-08:00

The stairs. You just came down this stairs or went up them. Did you walk up slowly, somewhere you didn't want to go? Did you run down them, running away from something? Someone? What's the story of the stairs? Write on, right now.

Don't forget my other writing journal, Susan Writes.

Picture Prompt - The door

2006-02-20T15:58:00.000-08:00

This week is all about picture prompts. Write about this door. Where does it lead? How did you find it? Write on, right now.

Shameless Self-Promotion - Excerpt from my novel & Black History Month

2006-01-21T12:54:00.000-08:00

As important as promotion is to getting the word out about an author's books, it's often the most difficult (and time consuming) thing to do until you're so famous that it seems like you don't need worry about it anymore. I rely on the kindness of friends and strangers to help spread the word. That being said, it seems like blogs are becoming one of the top ways that booklovers share their love (and dislike) of various books. Not long ago, Agent Obscura (Nadia Cornier) tried something called The Great Blog Experiment to see how many people she could get to buy and talk about a certain book in order to help it get the push she felt it deserved. I haven't heard how that experiment went but I do know that it's getting harder and harder to find a reader who hasn't heard of R. A. Nelson's controversial book Teach Me. (Go Russ!!!)

Now's the part where I ask for a little help of my own. My latest book, Robert Smalls Sails to Freedom, is out now. It's an easy reader, On My Own History title from Millbrook/Carolrhodda. Robert Smalls was a slave in South Carolina during the Civil War. He worked (handing over his money to his master) on a sidewheel steamer and knew every inch of the Carolina waterways. When he got his chance, he stole the ship he was working on and sailed himself, his family, and a few friends, right out of the harbor under the eyes of the Confederate troops. He handed the ship over to the Union Navy. For the rest of the war Smalls assisted the Union Navy. After the war Smalls went on to become a South Carolina congressman. He is considered one of the first African American heroes of the Civil War.

I haven't had nearly the time I needed or wanted to promote this book in time for Black History Month next month. If you are a teacher or a librarian or know someone who is a teacher or a librarian or a homeschool parent or anyone who is looking to read about an interesting slice of history, please consider taking a look at this book. And I hope you will help me spread the word. If anyone can, bloggers can and will.

I have more time to get the word out on this next book, but as many of you know, it takes time to build a buzz, and that's what my publisher and I hope to do with my middle grade verse novel, Hugging the Rock. It will be published in the fall of 2006 by Tricycle Press. This weekend at ALA Midwinter Tricycle is handing out excerpts from the book with information on how librarians and reviewers can request a galley. If you weren't able to make it to ALA and pick up a copy of your own, never fear. Download an excerpt of Hugging the Rock in PDF form right here on my website.

Fall books have a higher chance of being lost in all the holiday stuff so please help me spread the word about the availability of the excerpt to any librarians and reviewers you might know. And if you like what you read, please let me and/or Tricycle know.

How far can a blog reach? Let's find out, and thank you, in advance.

Write on, right now.

Picture Prompt - The Cemetery

2006-01-21T11:54:00.000-08:00

What are you here? Write on, right now.

Read about my writing life at Susan Writes.

Writing Prompt: Neighbors

2006-01-19T19:42:00.000-08:00

Who lives next door to you?

Write on, right now.

Don't forget my other writing blog at Live Journal.

Writing Prompt: Your Childhood Bedroom

2006-01-18T21:21:00.000-08:00

Describe your childhood bedroom. Did you have a room of your own or did you share it with someone. Were you neat or tidy? What did you hide under the bed?

Write on, right now.

Don't forget my other writing blog at Live Journal. Daily updates.

Writing Prompt: Accidents

2006-01-17T20:14:00.000-08:00

It was an accident. They happen sometimes. You didn't mean to do it. You didn't want it to happen. Not really.

What did you do?

Write on right now.

Don't forget my other writing blog at Live Journal. Daily updates.

Writing Prompt: Description

2006-01-16T19:55:00.000-08:00

What colors are the following words:

Hide
Run
Sing
Eat
Laugh

Write on right now.

Don't forget my other writing blog at Live Journal.

Writing Prompt: Food

2006-01-15T21:39:00.000-08:00

You've been invited to an important dinner. As the plates arrive you realize that there is one piece of food on the plate that you absolutely cannot, will not, EVER eat.

What is it?
Why won't you eat it?
What do you do?

Write on right now.

Don't forget my other writing blog at Live Journal. Daily updates.

Writing Prompt: One Song

2006-01-14T21:26:00.000-08:00

Pick a song that brings out a strong emotion in you. Listen to it several times then write about what you think it is that brings out those emotions.

For some ideas of songs that other writers react strongly to, check out this post on music at my other blog.

Write on, right now.

Writing Prompt: Enemies

2006-01-13T18:17:00.000-08:00

Write about an enemy, real or imagined.

Write on right now.

Don't forget my other writing blog at Live Journal.

Daily updates.

Writing Prompt: Your First Car

2006-01-11T21:19:00.000-08:00

Write about your first car. Did you save for months to buy it yourself? Did you inherit someone else's old car?Did you love it? Hate it?

Write on right now.

Don't forget my other writing blog at Live Journal. Daily updates.

Writing Prompt: Hands

2006-01-10T19:44:00.000-08:00

Spend several minutes staring at your hand, both sides. Run a finger up and down between the fingers. Look at your fingernails. Are they long, short, dirty or painted? Rub a circle in the back of your hand, then on the palm. Make a fist and hold it tight then open it.

Now describe your hand.

Write on right now.

Don't forget my other writing blog at Live Journal.
Daily updates.

Do you have a writing prompt to share? Please feel free to add yours to the comments or email me and I will be happy to post them and give you credit.

Writing prompt: Money

2006-01-09T18:18:00.000-08:00

You have $3 and a handful of change in your pocket . You're getting ready to walk in to the quickie mart for some junk food. A child about 7 years old comes up and asks you to buy him something to eat.

What do you do?

Write on right now.

Don't forget my other writing blog at Live Journal. Daily updates.

Picture Prompt: The Store

2006-01-08T16:10:00.000-08:00

Who works here? Who shops here?

Write on, right now.

Read Susan Writes! for more about my writing life.

Writing Prompt: Superpowers

2006-01-08T15:56:00.000-08:00

If you could have any kind of a superpower, what would you want? What would you be willing to give up in order to get that superpower? Would you want your spouse or child to have that same superpower?

Write on right now.

Don't forget my other writing blog at Live Journal. Daily updates.

Writing Prompt: One Tree

2006-01-08T09:24:00.000-08:00

One tree.
Write about one tree in your life.
Real or imagined, it doesn't matter.
Just a tree.
And then . . .

Write on right now.

Don't forget my other writing blog at Live Journal. Daily updates.

Also, Oliver, from my new picture book, Oliver's Must-do List, has a blog of his own!

Just released in time for Black History Month Robert Smalls Sails to Freedom.

Writing prompt: Lost

2005-08-30T09:09:00.000-07:00

Write about a time you were lost. Did someone find you or did you find your own way home again?

Write on, right now.

Read Susan Writes!

Writing prompt: Fear

2005-08-28T19:57:00.000-07:00

What are you afraid of? We all have lots of fears but somewhere deep inside is a fear that you don't often (if ever) share with someone else. Give that fear to your character and write about it without ever telling the reader what that fear is.

Write on right now.

Read Susan Writes!

Writing prompt: Comfort Food

2005-08-18T16:12:00.000-07:00

What was your comfort food as a child? Mine was creamy Jiff peanut butter on soft, white Wonder bread and slices of Del Monte sweet pickles. It still is. One bite and it takes me back to being 10 years old again.

What was your comfort food as a child? Do you eat it still? Does it still offer comfort?

Write on right now.

Don't forget my other writing blog at Live Journal.

Writing prompt: List Poem

2005-08-15T17:14:00.000-07:00

List poems are great warm-ups to an actual writing session. This can be as easy or as difficult as you want to make it. Make a list of all the things you CAN'T remember.

I can't remember . . .

Write on right now!

Read Susan Writes!

Writing prompt: Connections

2005-08-11T18:34:00.000-07:00

What did your mother or grandmother always have in their purse? Just list the items you remember. How many of the same items do you carry with you at all times? What's different and why?

Write on right now.

Read Susan Writes!

Writing prompt:dialog

2005-08-10T19:46:00.000-07:00

This excercise is best done with a tape that you can pause and rewind. You can tape a television show, a commerical or put in a movie. Turn the sound to OFF.

Watch for 5-10 minutes with your finger on the pause button. Watch, pause, then fill in the dialog on your own. If it is something you've seen before, try not to recreate what you think they said but come up with something new.

Write on right now.
Susan

Don't forget my writing blog on LiveJournal

Writing Prompt: Paying attention

2005-08-07T17:22:00.000-07:00

Pick a color - green, blue, red, brown, whatever pops into your mind right now. Go around your room, your house, inside and outside and write down just one word descriptions of what you see that is JUST that color. If you're really ambitious you can try to record your color finds for an entire day. Later, when you are done collecting, reread what you have found then write.

Write on right now.
Susan
Visit my writing blog

Writing Prompt: significant items

2005-08-06T12:32:00.000-07:00

Pick one of these three pictures. Imagine that you carry this item with you in your pocket at all times. Why? Are you an adult or a child? Did you find it? Did someone give it to you? Do you let people know that you carry it with you or do keep it a secret?

Write on right now. Susan

PS - don't forget to visit my blog about my writing life over at LiveJournal

Writing prompt: grandparents

2005-08-01T20:12:00.000-07:00

Today's prompt comes from the book Room to Write by Bonni Goldberg.

Today begin with the word grandmother or grandfather and let the memories and associations serve as a tour guide. Examine what surfaces. Is it mostly character description, story, history, opinion, or something else?

Write on right.
Susan

Writing prompt:Secrets

2005-07-31T08:59:00.000-07:00

You hid something here a long time ago. What was it? Is it still here? Did you come back for it?

Write on right now!

Cha-cha-cha-changes

2005-07-29T21:02:00.000-07:00

Well I caved in. In spite of the fact that I think Blogger is a better system, much easier and quicker to post, and a whole bunch of other things that Live Journal doesn't have, well, I went ahead and started a LJ anyway. You can find me over there as susanwrites.

Why the move? Does it really matter? I am NOT going to close this blog at all. It stays here, same name just a slightly different function. This will be my home for writing exercises. I love writing prompts and execises and anything that helps me jumpstart the writing muscle. When I teach writing workshops you can count on me to bring in my suitcase filled with props to get you started writing. I also love picture prompts because 10 people can look at the same picture and come up with 10 different stories to go with them. If you have a writing exercise you would like to share, Oliver's Must-Do List. I'm keeping it a bit of a secret until I work out all the final details. If you're afraid of missing something, you can always sign up for my mailing list (Just a short one that goes out no more than once a month.)

Write on right now.
Susan

Our inner monsters

2005-07-28T15:03:00.000-07:00

"We're looking into ourselves, looking at the world around us, and letting our monsters out." Lenora Champagne

This way of looking at writing really resonates with me. We turn inward and force ourselves to face the sort of things you only whisper in the dark. I think that's where many a writer's core themes reside, in the darkened corners of our thoughts. At least that's where mine are. Most of my work has a theme of a missing parent. It might be from death, divorce, or just an emotional absence, but someone who is supposed to be loving and supportive is usually not available in my stories. I grew up without a dad, without ever knowing him or his family so the concept of family is really important to me and the pain of a missing part of the family comes from the heart of me, the monster I try to keep hidden and the monster who still threatens to make me cry.

I try to write about families with two parents but so far it's just not working. The pieces of me the make it to the page are the parts of me that are still trying to find out where I fit into a family equation. It seems my characters are often struggling with the same monsters.

What are your monsters and how do they affect your writing?

A bit of shameless self-promotion. Author Ellen Jackson interviewed me for her column Secrets Of Success. Here's the interview, my very first one online. Thank you, Ellen.

Write on right now.
Susan

What does it cost you to be a writer?

2005-07-27T19:11:00.000-07:00

I love this quote from Toni Cade Bambara:

"I have shrewd advice to offer developing writers about this business of snatching time and space to work. I do not have anything profound to offer mother-writers or worker-writers except to say it will cost you something. Anything of value is going to cost you something."

With writing, as with most things in life, you have to put yourself into it before you get something out of it. That means giving up some of that time you used to spend watching television, playing games, sleeping late, or even spending time with friends and family. Because get one thing straight right now; writing is work. It means realizing that the first, or second, or third, or maybe even the tenth version of a story still might not be ready for publication and it means submitting rejected manuscripts again and again until they find a home.

Perseverance wins. Repeat that ten times.

Think about your best-written manuscript at the moment. Have you sent it out yet? How many rejection slips have you collected on it? Two? Three? Ten?

Not enough.

Robert M. Pirsig's bestselling book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was rejected over 120 times before being published. To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street by Dr. Seuss, collected 29 rejection slips before it found a home. Stephen King received 84 rejections for a short story that eventually sold to Cavalier magazine. How many rejection slips are in your bottom drawer right now? Why aren’t those manuscripts back in the mail already?

Writing isn't easy. And it's going to cost you something. Are you willing to pay the price?

Write on right now.
Susan

Surviving a Writer's Life

2005-07-25T17:16:00.000-07:00

I'm rereading some of my favorite writing books lately, looking for the bits and pieces that speak to me, checking what I have marked with Post-It notes and highlighting, seeking the spark, the connection that reminds me that even when I don't write, I am still a writer. Today it is Surviving a Writer's Life by Suzanne Lipsett. I think it's out of print but it's worth looking for. It's not about how to write but about being a writer on the good days and bad days and all the in-between days. She wants to write but she fights being a writer until she has a light bulb moment and says,

"I began to see that it was a question of surviving your raw material. Whatever life offered, and only what it offered, would become the stuff of art. The challenge was to live through it and then look back open-eyed without flinching. It then occurred to me then that if I ever picked up my pad and pencil again, I might actually have some stories to tell."

I agree. I think it was Hemingway (and if it wasn't I'm sure someone will correct me) who said that he couldn't write about Paris while he was in Paris because it was all too close. He needed the distance. I am starting to write stories that have their roots in my own past, stories that I know I couldn't write 20 years ago or even 10 years ago because they were too close to the surface. But now they have fermented for a while and I think I am ready.

Lipsett goes on to say, "It is writing plus life that makes a writer . . .because life alone creates a point of view. Irony of ironies, the more separations we experience, one from another, the more stories we have to tell - and the more pressing becomes the need to tell them."

Write on right now.
Susan

The jealous writer

2005-07-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

Jealousy is tough. I don't know of any writers who don't feel varying degrees of twinges of it at one time or another but it is how we handle it and ourselves when confronted with it that matters, right?

Sometimes it's really hard to hear how people are selling and selling and selling, especially in a week (month? year?) when editors seem to be handing out nothing but impersonal standard rejections slips. I can read in Publisher's Lunch about my agent making a "good deal" for someone else and for a moment or two or three I feel tinged in green, at least until I remember I am not there yet, with there being that mystical place I call established. A friend I love and care about can land a deal with a top tier publisher or win a coveted award and I admit to cheering and whimpering at the same time.

Does this make me a bad person? No. It makes me normal. Now of course if you become so obsessed with being jealous that it affects your work, turns you into a midnight stalker or someone who posts annonymous negative reviews for the other person online, well that's a different story.

Joan Didion says, "To cure jealousy is to see it for what it is, a dissatisfaction with self."

I don't know about you but I usually put the blame for whole dang thing on my shoulders. The other people are selling because they are writing more than I am, which means they are improving quicker and they are producing more and they are better at the discipline it takes and so on and so on. I always assume that the fault is mine. If I lived up to half of my potential, I'd be there too. So while I get twinges when I hear of things going well for other writers I know, it's usually followed by a big dose of guilt because I know I'm not working as hard as I could. I can't imagine sniping to someone about their success, but then I've listened to my fair share of sniping from others, so I shouldn't keep being so surprised at how cruel some people can be.

I never begrudge the hard workers their success. Publication is a hard earned reward. What I DO have a hard time with are the people who are sure that it must be connections that got you somewhere, or that they could do it too, if they only took the time. (Right, and I could be a brain surgeon in my spare time if I wanted to.) And in order to get the word our about work, we need to talk about it. If we don't flaunt our work, as in being our own best PR person, then no one will ever hear of us. Yet if flaunt it, we are snobs or ego maniacs or something. No wonder so many writers are bi-polar.

Marge Piercy has written a wonderful poem called For The Young Who Want to and I suggest you go read the entire poem which ends with: "Work is its own cure. You have to like it better than being loved."

Write on right now.
Susan

They say it's my birthday

2005-07-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

Yup...watch out for all the candles on the cake 'cause I'm celebrating today. Thanks to Cynthia Lord for the virtual birthday cake. My husband, bless his wonderful heart, got up with me at 5am to give me my birthday gift so I didn't have to wait all day. It was a lovely gold and silver necklace and earring set in a Celtic knot. I also have a beautiful bouquet of flowers at home and when I got to work, 2 dozen roses were delivered to me there. Do I feel spoiled? You bet! My son called in-between classes from college, my boss brought me a yummy chocolatine with a candle in it and my cubicle mate took me to lunch. My husband is on his way home from work and we are off, over the hill, to Santa Cruz for dinner. I haven't made up my mind where yet but most likely it will be The Crepe Place, my favorite hangout. First a stop at Bookshop Santa Cruz, Logos Books, and Capitola Book Cafe, then The Crepe Place for something yummy and a pot of chai. We probably won't sit in the garden since it is, if you can believe it RAINING at the moment but hopefully there will be a patch of dry so we can go walk some on the beach.

Favorite birthday memory from childhood was when I was 8 or 9 years old. I used to get so excited about birthdays (or any special event) that I would get sick so my mom, who had to work all day, hid little presents all over the house. Then she would call me throughout the day and tell me where to go look for something. Favorite birthday cake - American Beauty cake, four layers of red velvet moist chocolate cake with the yummy cooked frosting. We used to hide a penny, nickel, dime, and a quarter in it for luck.

What's your favorite birthday memory?

Write on right now.
Susan

New book fun

2005-07-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

I love it when new books come in the mail.

About a year and a half ago I did a bunch of books for a Korean publisher. An editor sent me an email asking me to write for them. I expressed interest yet wasn't sure that anything would come of it. I ended up doing 13 books for their very young early/pre-reader program. They use books in English and the book on tape to teach English in the school. They're short and simple but the illustrations are adorable. One of my favorites is My Dog which they chose to illustrate using a Sapsali or Sapsaree dog which is an ancient Korean breed that was going extinct and they want to be able to include it in lessons about the dog history. Some of the books have songs and music written on the last page and all have some extra teaching activity written into the last few pages.

Writing lesson of the day? You don't have to walk through every door of opportunity that comes your way but take a good look at all of them. You just might find the perfect fit for you. The timing of working on these books was perfect for me because I was recovering from a major shoulder/back/neck injury and really couldn't manage to concentrate on writing a novel. You won't find these books in the bookstores or on Amazon but they'll be fun to share at school visits. I can't wait to for the rest of them to arrive.

Write on right now.
Susan

I remember

2005-07-17T16:53:00.000-07:00

I remember having one of the very early Barbie dolls that looked like this and when the new Barbie came out my mom took me down to Rhodes Department store to trade it in. We traded in my old Barbie and something like $1.00 and we got the new one in exchange. She had an orange bathing suit with some kind of netting over it and her arms and legs bent. I never ever liked it as much as my original one.

After Barbies, I went on to Little Kiddles and I really liked these guys. I had pretty much the whole set and figured I'd grow up to date a blonde-haired guy named Biff. (I didn't.) Also big were these Kiddie Kologne dolls that had strange perfume smells. There really weren't any kids in the neighborhood where I grew up so I had a lot of dolls and a good imagination.

I never had a shower in the house where I grew up so it was a bath every night before bed. My mom used to give me bubble baths with soap that came in these dispensers like cartoon characters. I must have had 50 of them lining the bathroom wall. Much to my grandmother's dismay.

And of course snack time was big after school and I would often opt for a space food stick and wash it down with some Hi-C. Mmmm....good.

I also remember when the telephone company first came out with the Princess phone. My mom got one in her bedroom and I got the little mini phone on a keychain. When I got older and started dating, my mom got me my own Princess phone with my own number (mom was single and dating too) and we used to call each other from our bedrooms to say goodnight.

This trip down memory lane brought to you from me, reclining on the couch and still recovering from oral surgery and trying not to think about going back to work tomorrow. What would I find if I followed you down your memory land?

Write on right now, Susan

Shameless self-promotion

2005-07-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

Lately people who have been visiting my website have commented on how large it is and how they are afraid they might miss something really good. I decided to post a few of what I think are the highlights of the site (it is pretty dense) and if anyone else thinks I left something out, well feel free to let me know.

In the teachers section the teaching guides database is your link to over 1000 curriculum guides for children's books (and growing all the time.) Authors are encouraged to submit their information to be added to the database. I really believe authors need to make it easier for teachers to connect their books to the classroom curriculum and a teaching guide for your book is a great way to do it. You can search by title, author, illustrator, category and keywords. Give it a spin. And while you're in the teacher's area, check out the children's authors match game. Ever wonder what some of your favorite children's authors looked like as a kid? Now's your chance.

If you need free content for your parenting, homeschool, teacher newsletter or website, check out some of my previously published parenting articles that I am offering as free reprints. Those looking for a spiritual freebie can reprint my popular 10 Things Your Child Should Know About Prayer piece.

Quotes about writing is one of my favorite pages and I add to it often and if you need to kick back and relax, how about watching one of these 200 movies about writers? And if you need a jumpstart with your writing, there are plenty of writing exercises to get you going. My favorite is STORYPARTS an interactive story building that is great for all ages but lots of fun for kids.

There's more, of course, but I hope that's enough to get folks interested in checking it out.

Write on right now.
Susan

How do you read a book?

2005-07-12T20:55:00.000-07:00

When I was a child reading just for pleasure I didn't think about how to read; I just picked up the book and read. But as I started to take my writing more seriously, I began to panic (something I do a lot) that maybe I wasn't reading a book correctly. I used to feel stupid trying to discuss children's books with other people. They'd be talking about the layers in the book, the recurring theme that mimicked some mythological story, and the hidden meaning in the fact that the character picked up a banana instead of an apple to eat for a snack. Me, I knew if I liked it and I knew if I didn't but I usually didn't know why. The panic increased. Now I didn't only have to be a good writer, I had to be a good reader too. And of course I was sure that I was doing it wrong.

I like to read like the child I once was. When I am interested, I keep reading, and when I lose interest, I put the book down and don't worry about it anymore. When something strikes me especially well, I do tend to reread it over and over again, trying to understand what it is about that sentence or that paragraph that grabs me. Those are the ones I write in my journal to savor later, but I never quite figure out the why behind them and usually settle for just enjoying their existence.

We are all different kinds of learners. A friend told me once that, "Some people don't need anything more than their instinctive responses; some people are actually stymied by too much critical thought." When she said that, When I read that, my brain sorta clicked and went bingo! The more I think about some things, like process, the less I understand it and the more I begin to doubt what I am doing. I tend to forget sometimes that I am an instinctive writer. The more I go against that process the more trouble I have with the writing. In the rest of my life I have always liked having rules and guidelines to follow so it turns me inside out when I go to write and realize that I can't follow guidelines on how...I just have to do it.

Now I know that there is no right or wrong way to read a book. There is just reading and not reading.

Write on right now.
Susan

Getting down to the actual writing

2005-07-09T19:59:00.000-07:00

I was thinking about writing habits and how so many writers are, or can be, procrastinators. Okay, I was procrastinating about writing and then started my typical worry wart path of hoping that I wasn't the only one that had trouble sitting down to write, even when I want to write. Now logically I know I am not alone. And logically I know that all writers have different methods and that's okay. But when I'm in worry mode I'm rarely logical.

Anne Tyler says, "I have to begin all over every day. I get up at 6 or 6:30 to clean the house, and feed the children, and cook our supper ahead of time, so that I can be perfectly free the instant the children leave for school; but then when they're gone I find I'd rather do almost anything than go into my study. The door is so tall and dark; it looms. The whole room smells like a carpenter's shop because of the wooden bookcases. Ordinarily it's a pleasant smell, but mornings, it makes me feel sick. I have to walk in as if by accident, with my mind on something else. Otherwise, I'd never make it."

Like Tyler, I tend to dance around my writing. I can't sit down first thing in the morning and write. First off, most mornings I am rushing off to work but even on the weekends, it's just not my style. I'm not a morning person so even though I'm up, I'm not awake for a couple of hours. I make my chai, read some email and blogs, get up a dozen times to look out the window at the birds. Decide to go out and feed the birds which means I should really go feed the fish in the pond. I scoop some leaves from the pond and pause to watch the Valley Carpenter bees dart from flower to flower looking for breakfast. They're big, fat, black bees, at least as big as my thumb, and look like they are covered in velvet. I follow the bees and discover the blue flax and the clarkia and the columbine seeds have dried out so of course I have to gather them before the birds eat them all. My dog stays right by my side as I gather seeds. She has somehow decided I need protecting during this process.

All at once a California poppy pod bursts, the sound easily heard above the chirping of the birds, and it is like an alarm clock that goes off, telling me that it is time to write. I call the dog and head right to the computer, anxious to see what happens next in my story.

Some Saturdays are like that.

Write on right now.
Susan

Thinking writing thoughts

2005-07-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

but not doing a lot of writing. I am still pretty much floating on the air that comes with a sale. This one just feels different. Lots different. Many thanks to so many people who shared in my joy and sent congratulations. And a special thank you to my Live Journal syndication sponsor, Cynthia Lord who not only sent me thanks, but a tiara as well!

Now is the limbo time that I knew was coming while I wait for the revision letter. Here's hoping there's not a lot to do. They want the final manuscript in November so they can bring it out fall 2006.

But I can't turn off my writing brain. I've been working on promotion for Oliver's Must-Do List and thinking about my next book. It's completely different from Hugging the Rock and yet it's not. It's a YA. HTR is a MG. It's from a boy's point of view. HTR is from a girl's point of view. It's about a missing father. HTR is somewhat about a missing mother (but more about the bonds between a father and a daughter.) So it got me thinking about something that comes up every so often in writing conversations. The idea that we write the same story over and over again because of some connection in our own life. My recurrent story in books is a missing parent and a search for love and belonging within the family. No surprise there for me as I grew up without a father, without ever knowing his side of the family, and I have always felt like the square peg in the round hole with my own family. I worry sometimes that each story won't be different enough to stand on its own but so far, so good. I think the bigger worry is that with each book I write, I dig a little deeper at my own pain. But I also work out a lot of my own issues in the course of the writing.

What about you?

Write on right now.
Susan

I am officially a Tricycle Press author!

2005-07-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

At last, after very long negotiations where my wonderful agent Jodi Reamer earned every single penny of her commission, I am thrilled to announce a sale! Tricycle Press just bought my middle grade verse novel HUGGING THE ROCK which they want to bring out fall of 2006.

I'm doing the happy dance!

Write on right now.
Susan

The company of writers

2005-07-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have Live Journal envy. Terrible, isn't it? I think it's the friends thing and making it easier for people to link up. I LOVE the design of my blog here and I won't go to the hassle of redesigning a LJ but I am contemplating starting a LJ as well. Am I crazy? I am trying to build a web presence and I know that it will take a long time and I am probably crazy to think about it. I wish that Blogger would hurry up and come out with a way to link, or the open id or something. Shoot. I am nuts to think about two blogs...what would I do differently in the other one? Grr. I hate it when I start to get goofy ideas like these.

Writing is such a solitary profession that it is an special treat to be able spend time with my writer friends. Peni Griffin author of 11,000 Years Lost was in town with her husband Damon (my very first HTMl instructor ages ago) so we met for dinner along with Walter "the Giant" Mayes and Valerie Lewis, owner of the fabulous Hicklebee's children's bookstore as well as Walter's co-author on Valerie & Walter's Best Books for Children 2nd Ed : A Lively, Opinionated Guide a wonderful guide to children's books. I also got to see Walters new book, Walter the Giant Storyteller's Giant Book of Giant Stories which is a lot of fun.

I feel happy, rejuvenated, and very grateful for my friends, online and off.

Write on right now.Susan

What does reading mean to you?

2005-07-03T18:10:00.000-07:00

Books have saved my life. It's as simple and as complicated as that. How about you?

For as long as I can remember, books have been my haven from the world when I could no longer cope. They have taught me the courage to risk living my creative life to its full potential. They have been the one constant in an unstable world, the one place I can go where I come away not judged, but enriched and enlightened.

One of my current projects in process is a book about the importance of reading. I'm trying to gather information about people's reading habits and how it impacts their lives for use in the book. I've posted a short survey (5 questions) on my website and I am looking for people from all walks of life to answer these questions and to help me circulate it to other readers.

Please consider taking my survey on reading and help spread the word about the survey to other readers.

Write on right now.
Susan

Finding your writer's voice

2005-07-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

Don Tate brought up one of my very favorite writing topics when he asked me about voice in our writing. He wondered, "How important is it that the author's voice match the characters voice or language particularly if the character is supposedly telling the story?"

The short answer? Voice is one of the most important elements in a story. Have you ever heard someone singing off-key and wish they would stop? What about a beautiful singer that you wanted to hear again and again? That's the difference between the wrong and right voice to tell your story.

Voice is elusive. It's you and it's not you. It's the character but it's not just the character. It's you, the sum total of your life experiences filtered through your character and his life experiences. It's the reason why I can show a writing class of 20 people the same picture of a child at the park who fell off the swing, is crying, looking around for someone, and how I can, and will always, get 20 different stories. (Not all of them using the right voice, but still.)

Here's another take on it from Andrea Weiss. She said, "Consider Meg Ryan and Meryl Streep. Ryan is cute and easy to relate to, but when we see her in a movie, do we ever forget she’s Meg Ryan? No. Streep, on the other hand, can play different roles and do different accents so convincingly that we have no idea who the real Meryl Streep is. You have to be the Meryl Streep of writing—you have to speak with different accents."

For me voice is connected to telling the truth when we write. If I tell the truth, write with emotional honesty, the character's voice will ring true. It doesn't mean all my characters are me but I do think it means I tap into the similarity of feelings in me that are true for my character. When I play it safe with my writing, my characters have no unique voice. Only when I dig into the real heart of me when do I start to hear the uniqueness of my character's voice. So for me, finding my character's voice means looking inside of me and finding my voice, and then giving it free rein to come to the surface.

If you've read any of my other posts you'll notice that writing with emotional honesty is a constant theme for me. And for a couple of good reasons. One, it has been a recent discovery for me and two, well, it works.

Now if you're one of those writers whose voice comes to them naturally, terrific, but go on, get out of here because I have been struggling to find, and then fighting with my writer's voice for 20 years or more.

You are in all your characters but not all your characters sound the same. You already have your voice, it's just buried under all the school rules and writing class rules and inner critic nags. If you can recognize that you already know what you need to do in order to write authentically, then you can work on feeling safe enough to do so. Make sense?

Jane Yolen says, "Even imaginary places need to be anchored in life."

I think that’s what voice does – it connects the imaginary places in our stories with our real life emotions.

Thaisa Frank, author of Finding Your Writer's Voice, says, "What makes one writer better than another writer is the writer’s ability to be honest with themselves as they tell the story."

Many beginning writers have characters and stories that all sound the same. What is said by one character could be said by any of the others. They often start writing from a fearful place, fear of their ability and often low self-esteem. If I ask these students to write a bio for me, just a snapshot of their lives, you know what I get? Voice. Yep. But in many cases they lose their voices when they try to act writerly. Hey, I speak from experience. Been there, done that, and am grateful for my critique group and editors who all keep me honest.

For me it is a lack of trust. When I write in my natural voice, it almost seems too easy and I don't trust it. That's what happened with an early version of HTR. Not that writing the book was easy but getting it down just flowed. Because it was easy, I didn't trust it and I "messed with it" until the voice was hidden in places.

I believe that we all have that individual voice inside of us, just like we have our own wonderfully distinct personalities. We just need to feel safe enough to be ourselves on paper.

Write on right now.
Susan