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Writing Advice From Alice McDermott

June 14, 2013 by Leave a Comment

I recently attended the Washington Independent Review's first annual Books Alive conference. One of the many speakers in attendance was award-winning author Alice McDermott.

In college, I read Charming Billy, for which McDermott won an American Book Award and the U.S. National Book Award for Fiction, and loved it.

I grabbed a seat at one of the front tables in her breakout session, “What's Novel About the Novel?”

I dream of being a novelist, after all.

Someone asked the panel a question that I don't exactly remember. But Alice McDermott's response stuck with me.

She shared writing advice that resonated with her when she was trying to write and raise small children — a boat I find myself I at the moment. I'll paraphrase:

As soon as your children have left for school or daycare or for grandma's house, clear off your kitchen table with one sweep of your arm (she animated by making a sweeping motion with her arm) and get to work writing. Don't stop writing until your children come home. Let the dishes and laundry wait for their return. You can get your chores done then but you cannot write, at least not with the focus it requires.

Her words resonated with me. I put off so many things while I wait for the ideal time and place, while I wait for perfection.

And at the top of that list is writing.

What are you putting off while waiting for perfection?

 

Filed Under: Conferences, Follow the Novel, My Life in Words, Writing Tagged With: , , ,

Why Writing is Like Running

December 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment

I haven’t posted in a while because my site was down and I wasn’t sure how to fix it (thank you DreamHost for coming to my rescue). I have been writing in my head, though, so look out for a slew of posts to come, hopefully, more regularly.

Yesterday, as I was driving, I had an epiphany as to why I haven’t written a novel yet. Writing a novel is like running a marathon – it takes a good chunk of time to get from the start to the finish. I doubt I’m the first person to come up with this analogy but it was an a-ha moment for me.

I have no desire to run a marathon but, if I did, I would train. Training builds strength and endurance and requires discipline. So maybe I should apply that same concept to writing.

What if I adapted a marathon training schedule to writing? I could replace miles with minutes. Over the course of several weeks, I’d dedicate a few days to writing, gradually increasing the amount of time spent until I produce a novel.

Here’s the Novel Writing Training Schedule I created based on Hal Higdon’s marathon training plan. We’ll see if it works.

 

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NaNoWriMo 2011

November 1, 2011 by 4 Comments

It’s November and that means its National Novel Writing Month. The challenge is to write a 50K word novel in 30 days. I attempted it for the first time last year and failed. I only managed to write 5K words.

I want to try again but not this year. Its just not feasible with an infant. I was going to devote these 30 days to writing an e-book about food allergies. Instead, I’m going to give myself six months and publish it in time for Food Allergy Awareness Week.

And now that I’ve announced that on my blog, I guess that means I have to commit to it. : )

Wish me luck!

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National Writing Day

October 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Apparently, October 20 is National Writing Day.

Who knew? You’d think I would.

So, in honor of this day, here’s a post I wrote awhile ago about why I write. Still holds true.

Enjoy.

What have you written today?

Filed Under: Follow the Novel, My Life in Words Tagged With: ,

My New E-Writing Goals

December 6, 2010 by Leave a Comment

I fell in love with writing stories in the third grade when (probably thanks to my mom) my short story was published in the PTA newsletter. I didn’t particularly enjoy the taunting I got on the bus ride home that day but I didn’t let it get me down. I was a published writer at the age of eight!

Since then, I’ve dreamed of writing a published novel. I made a few attempts, mostly within the safety net of a classroom, but I haven’t pursued this dream in earnest.

Maybe I’m afraid I won’t achieve it.

Or maybe I’m afraid I will.

The fact of the matter is that if I don’t try, I never will. And if I learned anything from NaNoWriMo is that I have to put forth the effort (duh) to make this happen.

So I’m rethinking my goals, slightly.

My goal used to be seeing my book on the front table at Barnes & Noble. My ultimate goal was the New York Times Bestseller list (a girl can dream, right?). Those are still my dreams but now I also have the New York Times E-Book Bestseller list to add to the mix.

I’ll admit, when I first heard about e-books about a decade ago, I brushed off the idea. And, until recently, didn’t take seriously any of the e-books being hawked around the Internet.

Many of my friends in the publishing industry are scared apprehensive of e-books and how they are changing the marketplace. I’m actually excited (gasp!) about the possibilities. I don’t believe that e-books will completely eradicate the paper book (audio books didn’t) but they are definitely changing the game and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I think it opens up more doors.

So I’m opening my mind to achieving my goal in a way that I didn’t originally envision. I guess it doesn’t matter how I get there, as long as I do.

What do you think of e-books? Ever considered writing one?

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