onewildword

Dec 9

Writers and their cat muses

“I wish I could write as mysterious as a cat.” ~Edgar Allan Poe

I own three cats–two orange brothers (Teddy Bear and Simba) and an older gray and white female cat (Precious Chase aka P.C.) who acts as their surrogate mother. Not only do my cats provide love, affection, and constant entertainment (I believe they were stand-up comics in a previous life) but they have, on occasion, acted as muses.

A few years ago, as I was finishing my thesis for my MFA program, I’d been having trouble with a particular chapter near the end of my book. I walked into our sunroom one day to find Teddy Bear, our 15-lb orange boy, literally eating my chapter–tearing it into little pieces and swallowing them. He made me see that the chapter had to go and instead of rewriting it, he was going to help me shred it. Read more

Dec 8

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Apply your writerly skills to a holiday letter

It’s time to bust out your pen or keyboard and write your annual holiday letter.

One of my favorite things to do when I go home for the holidays is to read all the letters that my parents receive from relatives and family friends. I know that some people like to make fun of them, but I love to read them all.

As writers, the bar for us may be just a bit higher for this annual missive, so if you’d like some tips for writing your letter, read on.

Remember your audience. Write for the recipients, not yourself. Think about the topics that would be especially informative or inspiring to them. Read more

Dec 7

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Stretch your writing comfort zone

“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.”
-Abraham Maslow

As I grow into being a prose writer there are times when I feel like a fraud or a fake. I feel uncomfortable in this new territory. Sometimes, I want to run away from it all. Throw down my pen. Burn all those awkward sentences. When I start to feel this way—like an absolute and utter failure—I go back to poetry.

Poetry is my comfort zone. I feel safe there. I know I can create there. When I write poetry, the words, images and metaphors are my abacus, my rosary, my worry beads. To me, poetry organizes my world. I feel most comfortable in that space. But how can I use this comfort zone to help me grow as a prose writer?

Years ago, I read a little business book that promoted the idea of building on our daily small successes. When you have a success, use that to build your next success. Read more

Dec 6

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Memoir “The Tender Bar” inspires unique character descriptions

“The Tender Bar,” tops my list of favorite memoirs, not only because of the voice and emotional pull of the story, but for how it inspired me to think more creatively about character description in my own writing.

J.R. Moehringer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, wrote The Tender Bar about growing up without a father but with the guidance of his Uncle Charlie and a group of other men at their neighborhood bar who filled in as father figures.

Here’s how Moehringer uses cultural icons to describe Joey D, one of the men from the bar:

“…a giant with a tuft of gingery hair atop his spongy orange head, and features glued to the head at odd angles. He seemed to be made of spare parts from different Muppets, like a Sesame Street Frankenstein — head of Grover, face of Oscar, thorax of Big Bird.”

Moehringer goes on to write: “Though hulking and slouch-shouldered, Joey D had the manic energy of a small man. He speed walked, fluttered his hands, spoke in word spasms that left him winded. Like hay fever sneezes, whole sentences exploded from his mouth in one burst: Ocean’sgoingtoberoughtoday!” Read more

Dec 5

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Using poetry to enrich your prose

French writer and philosopher Voltaire wrote that poetry is the music of the soul. He also said, “Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.”

Besides being an end in itself, poetry also helps me dream up ideas for the novel I’m writing.

Some people create storyboards or collages to help them brainstorm. I’ve done this but, recently, I wanted to delve deeper into an idea I was developing so I decided to write a poem about it.

Poetry is all about getting the right words in the right combination in a small space (well, at least smaller than a novel). Poetry is about condensing details and sense impressions, and using metaphor to evoke an emotional response in our readers. When I write poetry, it forces me to go deeper into my subject and think of it in new ways. I can relate to what Voltaire said because poetry becomes an echo that stirs up images and ideas on the periphery of my original idea or thought that I may not have otherwise seen. Read more

Dec 2

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Want to publish? Approach your writing as a career

Sure you want to get your work published, but have you thought about your writing in terms of a career?

It’s easy to focus on the work at hand — the current short story, memoir, or novel in progress. But a couple years ago, I gained a new perspective from literary agent Donald Maass, who says:

Writing is a long-term profession that you must approach as a career. And that career is ultimately in the writer’s court.

First and foremost, Maass says, a writing career begins with good storytelling. Studying craft and writing daily is step one. Maass, author of Writing the Breakout Novel, teaches writing and how to propel your storycraft to the next level in his book and workshops. His advice made me think about what it takes to build a writing career.

Consider these career-building strategies.

Hook into your town’s writing community. Writers are everywhere, so whether you live in a town, tiny burg, or big city, you should be able to find a community of writers (even if it’s small) who share your interest. If you can’t find what you’re looking for, consider starting your own writer’s group. Writing MeetUp Groups are another good way to find a writer’s group focused on writing in general or by genre. Read more

Dec 1

Letting go of the old to make room for the new

In my last post, I wrote about poet and author Raymond Carver’s law: “…to use up the best that was in him each day and to trust that more would come.” Carver exemplifies this philosophy in his last book of poetry, A New Path to the Waterfall, where some of the best poems are also some of the shortest.

My favorite is a poem called “Quiet Nights”—four short lines about life, death, and rebirth. This poem reminds me of my process of becoming a writer and an artist—each day dying to the old and reawakening to the new, pulling at my ropes, wanting to set sail to the next new place my writing will bring me. And what about Carver’s Law? I learned that I don’t need to hold anything back, that I can give my all each moment on the page because, in giving everything I have, I make room for the new. Read more