Your Job Is to Create by Linda Williams Jackson

A few years ago, my daughter created a lovely sketch of one of her friends for her 16th birthday party. On the day of the party, my daughter changed her mind and didn't want to present the sketch to her friend.

"Why?" I asked.

"She might not like it."

"That's not for you to decide beforehand," I told her. "That's for the person who's receiving the gift to decide. Your job is to create."



A painting my daughter gifted me for Mother's Day



Telling my daughter those words opened my own eyes. So many times, I simply don't want to show up and do the work. Writing a book is hard, especially when you fear that no one will like what you’ve written. But you know what? It’s not my job to worry about who will like my creations. My job is to create. And so is yours.

So create and submit. Then allow the recipient of your creative work to decide whether it's right for them or not.

Until next time, happy writing!

A few thoughts on Beginnings by Paul Greci

Photos by Paul Greci

A birch tree, a spruce tree and a saguaro cactus ran into each other at a bar…

I’ve set the expectation here that I’m going to tell a joke. In other words, in the opening line, I have made a promise and the reader expects me to follow through.

Several years ago, when I took a multi-day writing workshop from Jeanette Ingold, one of the things she said was that in the first chapter of a novel you make a promise to your reader.

Part of that promise is created by the tone you set. Part that promise is created by questions you raise. Part of that promise is created by the voice. Is your story a thriller/adventure? Or, is it more introspective? Is it historical? Is it more character or plot driven?

According to my wife, who is an avid reader, and novel writer, the promise in the first chapter is often instrumental in her deciding if she is going to keep reading a book. If she’s interested in the promise the author is making, then she’ll keep reading.

In his book, The First Five Pages, Noah Lukeman says this about openings and extending them beyond a one-line hook to encompass the first chapter: “At its best, it can be not only a propellant but also a statement of what you might expect from the text to come.” He goes on to say, “….don’t write an opening for the sake of an opening, but for the sake of the story that follows.”

Now about that birch, spruce and saguaro…After heated exchanges about the merits of spines versus needles, and sap versus water, and who is better nesting habitat, more fire proof and drought resistant, they all threw up their hands in laughter realizing that even though each one has its strengths and distinctions, in the end, they are really more alike than different.

 Paul Greci is the author of Surviving Bear Island, a 2015 Junior Library Guild Selection and a 2016 Scholastic Reading Club Selection. Forthcoming in 2018 is the yet to be titled sequel to Surviving Bear Island published by Move Books. In 2019, Paul's first young adult novel, The Wild Lands will be published by Macmillan.

What Keeps Me Going by Paul Greci

 

The morning of the Equinox Marathon

When I first started writing fiction 15 years ago, I didn’t consciously think about success. Instead, I was swept away by the writing process, and hoped I could finish a first draft of a novel. In other areas of my life, I’ve been pretty self-disciplined when it comes to learning new skills, and that same self-discipline helped me to keep writing.

Lately, I’ve had a little bit of external success in the publishing world. And, I contribute much of that success to internal factors: not giving up, putting forth my best effort, and growing a thick skin while facing hundreds of rejections over the years.

A friendly gathering of the thick-skinned (photo: Paul Greci)

  

It’s true that I worked hard to find an agent. And, like James discussed in his recent post (Handling Rejection), for me, that involved a lot of rejection. I had multiple rounds of agents reading four different manuscripts of mine over the course of four years before I found my agent, Amy Tipton.

I’ve been working with Amy for six years. Two years and two manuscripts went by before we celebrated our first sale, Surviving Bear Island. And then four more years went by before we celebrated our second and third sales.

Whether I have a book under contract to write or not, I’m still showing up to write and wearing my thick skin when it’s needed. I’m focusing on the story I’m writing, fascinated by the process, and that process involves confronting the fears, uncertainties and uneasiness that come and go in the course of creating a story. I don’t think that discomfort will ever go away, and when I think deeply about it, I don’t want it to go away. It is part of the equation that pushes me forward. It is part of the creative process.

Paul Greci is the author of Surviving Bear Island, a 2015 Junior Library Guild Selection and a 2016 Scholastic Reading Club Selection. Forthcoming in 2018 is the yet to be titled sequel to Surviving Bear Island published by Move Books. In 2019, Paul's first young adult novel, The Wild Lands will be published by Macmillan.

Did I Make the List? by Linda Williams Jackson

I hope that third grade was not as horrible for anyone reading this post as it was for me. When I was in third grade, there was one girl who was considered “the boss.” I’m not sure how she came into this position, but the position was respected to the point that this one girl (one girl!) made a list every morning and the rest of the girls in our class adhered to it.

The title of the list was: “Who I’m Playing with Today.”

The list was passed around for EVERY girl to check for her name. And if your name wasn’t on that list, then P—, “the boss,” wasn’t playing with you (or even acknowledging your existence) that day.

 

Obviously, P— was the most popular girl in class, and she had a group of favorites who ALWAYS made the list. I, unfortunately, was not one of her favorites. As a matter of fact, I rarely made the list. Sadly, one day rather than an inclusion list, P— passed around an exclusion list. It read:

Who I’m Playing with Today:

Everybody except Linda Williams

Ouch! That stung! When the list got passed around, I noticed the look of shock on all the girls’ faces. They knew that I was not to be spoken to or even acknowledged that day. But there were two girls, Tammy and Yolanda, who were bold enough to ignore the list. And they both came to my desk and said, “We’ll play with you, Linda.”

I was happy to at least have two real friends, but it hurt, nonetheless, to be the sole exclusion from “The List” and to be the one girl who almost NEVER made “The List.”

What the heck am I trying to say with all this?

Before I became a published author, I didn’t pay much attention to all the “Best of” lists. But once my little book made a list, I started to notice these lists more. I started to click every time a link to a new list appeared. When I didn’t see my book listed, I would begin to feel a tad bit sad. That’s when memories of third grade came flooding back to me. Who are these people making the lists? Um, mostly our peers—peers who, at some point, have been deemed the experts in defining the “Best of” lists.

Sure, these lists have value, and it’s an honor for the author when his/her book makes one. But there are SO MANY GREAT BOOKS published each year that will never make the “Best of” lists. Remember Tammy and Yolanda, the two girls who played with me on Exclusion Day? They saw value in me even if P— didn’t. And those books that never make any “Best of” lists? Guess what VERY important list they made? A publisher’s list! Yep, that’s right. An editor saw value in that author’s words and said, “Hey, we’d like to publish this.” After which, they invested their own time and money into turning that author’s words into a bound book (or e-book) for others to read. Now, isn’t that the most wonderful of all lists? And if you are a published author who is reading this, please remember that your book did indeed make “The List.” It made your publisher’s list. It made your fans’ lists. So let’s all be like Tammy and Yolanda. Let’s try our darnedest to ignore the lists and celebrate the joy of writing and reading!

Can I get an amen?

Team YOU--Who's On Your Team? by Yamile Saied Mendez

The original A-Team

With back-to-school, it's also back to sports! It's not only [American] Football taking over your weekend, but the beautiful game (AKA Fútbol, or soccer if you must) is also back in full force. I'm thrilled that FC Barcelona and Rosario Central are back to the pitch, and I have such high expectations for these two teams. Too bad all I can do to help my teams is cheer for them while I watch on TV (except for the one blessed time I went to Barcelona, and that one time twenty years ago when I was back in Rosario for a game). 

Maybe because I love team sports so much, I've always been conscious of the people around me, my team.

I hated group projects in school, but I'm not talking about this. 

In my mind, the people that help me in my writing journey are more like the characters of the A-Team show I loved watching as a child. I don't remember much of the show other than each character had their specific role in the group, and they were all equally important. 

So what are the roles of the people that should be part of your A-Team? 

They are alpha readers, beta readers, accountability partners, critique partners (group), writing coach. 

Alpha Readers

I wrote my first manuscript during NaNoWriMo, and after tying The End I was ready for a reader (I know, I know. I shiver at the thought now too). One of my best friends is an avid reader, and she volunteered. After she was done, she didn't cut all communications or move to another state/country (shocking. I know. She's a true friend). She offered me great feedback, from a reader's perspective. 

When I was ready to type my second story, she wanted to read as I wrote. She then became my alpha reader. This has forever been one of the best experiences of my writing life. Every morning, I'd send her what I had written the night before. She's text me her reactions as she read. Or sometimes a few days would go by between my sending her new material. She wasn't a writer, so she didn't expect me to read any of her material. She asked all the right questions about my story and characters, helping me notice plot holes, inconsistencies, etc. It was so helpful that the first draft of that book wasn't as terrible as my NaNoWriMo draft had been.  She expected me to send her new pages at least a few times a week, and she was extremely positive and encouraging. During a first draft, you want to know if the story is working, and she was the perfect person for this. 

Beta Reader 

A Beta Reader is someone who reads a partial or full manuscript and offers you feedback on it. The feedback may vary from structural comments, line edits, cultural/ethnic representation. Usually beta readers swap manuscripts, or in the case of sensitivity readers or editors, they need to be compensated for their time. 

Accountability Partners

Accountability partners don't always read each other's pages. They mainly hold each other accountable to goals they tell each other at the beginning of the week. A friend and I would text our goals every Sunday night, and then each day at the end of the day, we'd report our what we'd done to accomplish that goal. Knowing that my friend was waiting for my text pushed me to get to work instead of making excuses. 

In  Done and Done: The Power of Accountability Partnering for Reaching Your Goals, Anette Lyon and Luisa Perkins (accountability partners themselves) explain how this kind of partnership can be one of the best strategies for your team. 

Critic Partners/Groups

Critique Partners and Groups dynamics vary from relationship to relationship. Some meet online. Some meet in person every week at the same time, once a month, every other month, etc. They'll read a full manuscript at a time, read everyone's ten pages ahead and come to the meeting prepared to discuss (like a workshop), or read right there on the spot and offer feedback. Some people belong to more than one writing group and love it. Others can't commit to the workload of reading so much material every week/month. 

Writing Coach

A writing coach could be a mentor or an instructor. You can hire someone to both hold you accountable to your goals, and who'll give you feedback on your manuscript and walk you through your writing problems. 

 You could also find this amazing kind of mentor through contests such as Pitchwars, in which aspiring writers are paired up with a mentor, and for two months they work on revising a manuscript for an agents' showcase. 

The We Need Diverse Books organization also offers a mentorship program. Check it here. 

But the most important quality in any of your team members is that they'll be cheering for you. Yes, sometimes there will be some harsh love involved, but mostly, there will be a lot of encouragement and cheering. 

What kind of members do you have in your team? Share in the comments!

Don't Mind the Gap by Kell Andrews

When I finished my first novel, I gave it to my husband to read and asked, "Does it seem like a real book?"

It seemed like an actual book with a plot and characters. More or less -- I was aware that there was something that was NOT like a book about it -- or not like the kind of book I wanted to write. I had created a complex community, huge cast of characters, and an original magic system and grafted it onto a lot of historical research. In my inexperienced hands, the story felt kluged together with rubber cement and cellophane tape. There was a huge gap between my vision and my execution.

In the end, after revision, that manuscript was enough like a book that I got an agent, but not enough that we managed to sell it.

For my next project, I aimed to write a book with a scope I could manage -- I set it more or less in my own backyard. That book turned out to be Deadwood -- and although it got published, there was still a gap between what I wanted to achieve and what I accomplished creatively.

The book I'm working on now is a story I put off for years because I knew I couldn't do it justice. Then eventually I started writing because whether I achieve my vision of what I want or not, it's the kind of story I want to read. The only way to read this particular one is to write it, whether it ends up published or not.

There will always be a gap between what I want to write and what actually shows up on the page, but being too conscious of that gap means I won't cross it. Instead, I'm going to fill it with words and maybe find myself on the other side.

Persistence by Paul Greci

A persistent hunter. (photo by Paul Greci)

There are many examples of persistence in nature because persistence is part of survival. But as humans we have choices about persistence that don’t have to do only with survival.

Several years ago I had knee surgery to smooth out a slightly torn meniscus. With physical therapy I managed over time to continue to do long distance running and still run marathons. I’m certainly slower than I was prior to the surgery; but I’ll keep on running if I can because I love it. With age, injury, and wear and tear, it’s inevitable that the human body slows down, breaks down.

One thing I love about writing is that barring any major physical or mental impairments, you can keep improving forever.

My recipe for improvement has one simple ingredient: Persistence.

For me, persistence means:

1. Not wasting whatever amount of time I’ve created in my life to write, i.e. showing up.
2. And, to paraphrase Laurie Halse Anderson: asking how I can make what I’ve written better instead of looking at it and saying this is pretty good.
3. Even after I’ve done many revisions, be willing to do more. (In other words, keep applying point number two from above.)

I’ve heard a couple of successful writers proclaim the following myth: if you don’t have what it takes to write, i.e. talent, you never will. Quit wasting your time.

In contrast, James Scott Bell, in his book, Plot and Structure, referred to this as the Big Lie. He spent several years of his life believing the Big Lie before he realized that he could learn how to write fiction. Now, as you probably know, he’s published over twenty books. 

Needless to say, I agree with James Scott Bell!

What does persistence look like for you?

Paul Greci is the author of Surviving Bear Island, a 2015 Junior Library Guild Selection and a 2016 Scholastic Reading Club Selection.

The Three Kinds of Books You Haven't Finished Writing (illustrated with unfinished craft projects) by Kell Andrews

I am descended from a family of pack rats. If you show me a picture of me in sixth grade, I might still own the shirt I was wearing. It's not my fault. I get it from my mom, who got it from her parents, and I gave it to my children. Another family trait is creativity, along with a decided difficulty in finishing any task or project.

All three traits converged when my children came home from an overnight visit to my mom's with a bin full of craft materials -- fabric remnants, notions, and supplies, along with this unfinished project:

I recognized that linen tablecloth! It had been folded in the bottom of my mom's sewing kit as long as I could remember, three-quarters cross-stitched, waiting to be finished. We weren't allowed to mess with it because she meant to finish it some day.

My mother began embroidering that tablecloth in college. Since then, she earned her degree, got married, raised three children, worked several long careers, and finished many, many challenging and complex projects, from chair caning to gardening. But she never finished this tablecloth.

Because I'm my mother's daughter, I also have an unfinished project. Mine is a nine-tenths-written novel. That's kind of different, but also kind of the same.

I present the three kinds of books you haven't finished writing, using unfinished (now vintage) craft projects as example.

1. The Tablecloth: The Big Project That Outlasted You

My mother had a lot of ambition when she began that tablecloth. It's big enough for a 1960s dinner party, old fashioned enough for an 1860s one. She started strong, doubling up her floss, stitching those Xs row by row.

Then she ran out of floss. Apparently she shouldn't have doubled the thread after all apparently -- she started too strong. She literally reached the end of her rope and stopped there. Where, oh where, could one possibly find more embroidery floss?

Some novels are like that -- so big and ambitious so your energy or abilities run out before the end. Or maybe you started off too strong, burning through the words with NaNo or a similar writing frenzy until you plain burn out.

The solution: You can get more embroidery floss at any sewing or craft store. And you can get more energy if you let yourself recharge. A three-quarters finished tablecloth does no one any good, and neither does a novel without the end. Finish it.

2. The Needlepoint: You Finished the Fun Part and Now the Boring Part Is Left

Here the whole figured part of a needlepoint nickel has been worked, but only the plain old background is left. And what's the fun in that?

The solution: Novels are more than just the fun part. There's the revisions, the rewrites, the whole long slog. You can sit and admire the outline of the picture, but if you want to get published, it's time for the slog. So finish it.

 

3. The Odds and Ends: What Is This Stuff Anyway?

A buckled dollhouse rug? A poorly pieced quilt? A still life with thimble and dumb bells? A crocheted whatnot?

Sometimes projects are just false starts,  bad ideas, or unfixable executions. You don't need to finish every thing you start, and these are proof.

The solution: If a project really isn't working, file it away, dismantle it for parts, or even delete it. Don't throw away your good writing time after bad. If you force yourself to commit to projects that will never work, you take time away from writing novel that will.

What kind of unfinished book do you have? 

I think my unfinished novel is category number one, but I'm not going to let a tablecloth novel defeat me. And yes, like my mother, I've been working on other things -- writing picture books, working my day job, raising my children. But now it's time to get back to cross-stitching writing.

Proof that Bigfoot is REAL! by Hilary Wagner

If you've ever watched the show, Finding Bigfoot--something I watch when I can't fall asleep, you've probably noticed the show tends to go in a loop. They interview folks who claim to have seen Bigfoot, they go searching the wilderness in a dark, mostly creepy forest setting, and then--of course--there's some mysterious howls exchanged across the landscape and knocking on wood, which apparently is something Bigfoot would do to attract, well...another Bigfoot. They never find Bigfoot. They never find irrefutable proof of Bigfoot, but man, do they believe he's out there.

I know Bigfoot is not real. In all the years people have been chasing Bigfoot, there would be scientific proof, such as remains, DNA, or heck, even pictures that weren’t blurry brown smudges! Truth is, though, I want Bigfoot to be real. I want there to be a creature out there that's stayed miraculously hidden from humans for eons. I want the Yeti to dwell in the snowy mountains of Nepal. I WANT TO BELIEVE! 

That's where we come in. As writers, we get to step in and bring our favorite "what-ifs" to life! We get to give them blood, and skin, and fur, and voices. Winged goblins, evil witches and scaled dragons take flight. Animals talk in a way we understand. Dwarves, gnomes, and fairies live in the shadowy places of forbidden forests, and we, as writers, have the honor of making the unreal very real.

This is how we know all dragons have a small soft spot on their underbelly. This how we know Santa can squeeze down even the smallest of chimneys. This is how we know house elves are bound as servants forever, unless given clothes by their owner. 

And, this is how I know I'm born to write.

I want to believe.  :)

Bears, Rainbows, and other Natural Wonders by Paul Greci

 

Male Grizzly Bear. Photo by Paul Greci

I took a lot of photos in 2016. Below are a few from this past year. 

I use the natural world as an inspiration for my writing.

 You know the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words, right?

As a writer, I think that a picture can produce or inspire a thousand words.

Sometimes I keep a photo up on part of my desktop when I’m writing, or I’ll click back and forth between a photo and my manuscript. For my characters, sometimes I use photos to help me create moods, tap into emotions, and inspire actions.

 

Grizzly Sow and yearling. Photo by Paul Greci

Double Rainbow at the Alaska/Yukon Border. Photo by Paul Greci

Black Bear. Photo by Paul Greci

Moose cow and calf. Photo by Paul Greci

 

Southeast Alaska Coastline. Photo by Paul Greci

Porcupine. Photo by Paul Greci

This is the last Project Mayhem Post of the year. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

Paul Greci is the author of Surviving Bear Island, a 2015 Junior Library Guild Selection and a 2016 Scholastic Reading Club Selection.