Work in Progress: Playing the Waiting Game

I’ve been having a summer of waiting to see what will happen with the novel I finished revising in June. I’m terrible at waiting—I’m the most impatient person on earth—but in this case, there’s no alternative. So…I’ve waited for people to return from vacation and then waited for them to pay attention to my work amidst their piles of post-vacation crap. Then, I waited for more people to return from vacation and am still waiting for several of them. As I understand it, the publishing business pretty much shuts down in August, so this month has been excruciating—I can’t even comfort myself by envisioning someone reading my book because I know it’s simply plopped on a stack of other people’s books, waiting. Of course, once we hit the fall, there’s the Frankfurt book fair that keeps the publishing people busy, then there’s Thanksgiving and the holidays, when of course no one gets any work done. I guess there’s a brief window of actual work in mid-winter and early spring, and then it’s the big BEA book convention and we’re back to summer when no one is around to read manuscripts. I count about six weeks of actual time when someone might focus on a sweet little novel manuscript like mine.

Oh, just a joke, editor-types! I know you work hard for very little $$ and I love all of you dearly, especially any of you with a copy of my book on your stack of post-vacation crap to deal with!

Still…waiting is not for the faint of heart. I’ve been finding it hard to fully launch into a new novel, so this summer I’ve tried to distract myself from waiting with the following semi-productive activities:

1. Cleaning my office. Well, sort of. There was one point where I thought I might buy some (needed!) office furniture, but now I’m waiting on that too. I guess I’m waiting to see if my book sells for so much money that I can buy a mahogany desk or something, though I suppose that finery would actually be lost on me, since at the moment, my desk is an ANCIENT computer table I bought at a thrift store in the late 1980s. Seriously, this thing is so old that it has a cut-out hole where the stack of continuous paper was supposed to feed to the dot matrix printer. I’ve gotten my $10 worth, by golly!

2. Researching my new novel idea. That was a nice way to fill time until it started to feel like “filling time,” and I decided I should actually get busy with some WRITING and use some of this fabulous research. That panicked me, so no more research. After all, why become an expert on the year 1900 if I decide that idea’s not for me?

3. Writing things I don’t normally write. I tried writing a short, punchy, 750-word personal essay that expanded into 5000 words. Then I tried writing a 1500-word essay that expanded into 5000 words. Then I tried writing a 5000 word essay that came in at about 5000 words. So…I guess I know my essay-writing niche now.

4. Writing some humor pieces…because my life feels so hilarious and zany right now and I just love to laugh-laugh-laugh about it!

5. Freaking out at all these alien writing forms and retreating back to an old short story that I’ve been thinking about revising for oh, two years, and finally revising it. That actually felt good because I was able to cut out about five pages, bringing the story significantly closer to…you guessed it, 5000 words.

6. Deciding that as fun as it was to revise an old short story, I shouldn’t race out and revise ALL of them—so I started some new short stories. One I finished, and the other is in progress. Writing them was fun (though I’ll note that the one I finished was supposed to be 5 pages and ended up at 22), so clearly I miss the long form.

7. Which leads us here…I finally started writing what might be a first chapter of a new novel. We’ll have to see. But after all this time and all these projects and after becoming such an expert “waiter,” I’ll have to note that this is the first time this summer since packing up my other novel and sending it out into the world that I don’t feel anxiety-ridden and totally stressed out. Maybe it’s true: writing has to be—and actually is—its own reward.

Note: This doesn’t mean I don’t jump every time the phone rings, fingers crossed for the sound of shriek-with-happiness-good-news!

Regrets...I Have a Few

I regret that I sounded so shallow in yesterday’s post, as if I only waste time by looking at funny cat pictures. Actually, it’s important to note that I also waste time by looking at these beautiful (and intellectually deep) photographs of the universe

Where Are the Women?

Don’t get me wrong. I love the PEN/Faulkner Foundation: the award for writers, the Writers in the School Program, and the reading series…basically, everything they do and all they stand for. So I’m pleased yet distressed to announce the line-up of readers for the 2008-2009 series; there are some excellent, not-to-be-missed writers coming to town. Details are on the website.

But.

But what I immediately noticed on their brochure were the names of SIX female writers…and THIRTEEN male writers. Funny, because what I’ve noticed when I’ve attended these programs is that the audience is always at least 50 percent women, and usually significantly more than that. Why, why, why is it still so hard for women writers to get some attention from the official gatekeepers?

The Rough World of Academia

Anyone who has ever applied for an academic job will appreciate this list of “suggestions” for search committees.

Internet: Friend or Foe?

I find that the internet is a major distraction when writing, whether it’s a useful distraction (with a few clicks on the keyboard, I can research exactly how my character would make those shortbread cookies she’s in the kitchen baking) or a more demonic distraction (check out these funny cat pictures!) And it only took about half an hour of observing my pattern to notice that my tendency to “need” the internet coincided exactly with a moment when my writing turned hard…which, of course, is the time when you most need to sit there and let something come to you.

So, yes, the problem has been acknowledged…but what’s the solution? Unfortunately, my willpower to escape the internet’s siren song is very weak, so I’ve tried a number of ways to break free:

1. I turn it off and choose some arbitrary amount of time to stay internet-free (usually two hours or so). This can work for a while, though there’s some white-knuckling as the clock ticks down, and it seems as though I always find some “reason” to hop back on before my time limit is up: “But I really, really, really need to know NOW what an average time for a high school girl running a 5K on a cross-country team might be.” Sure, maybe I need to know that info eventually, but looking at it NOW means risking getting distracted by random emails from my neighborhood listserve about whether it was a coyote or fox sighted running around…and, of course, the cat pictures.

2. I go to work at the Alexandria library (which I wrote about here). This can be helpful especially if I have work to do on paper instead of the computer (since the library has free wireless). It’s a very intense place (though last week I heard someone snoring steadily for about 45 minutes…but it was quite INTENSE snoring), and the aura in the study carrels is that this is a place of sitting in your chair and working—no breaks. The problem there is that I have to drive to the library and back (30 minutes or so) and then when I return home to my computer, I spend a giant block of time catching up on all the “important” things I’ve missed. So, the net result of time wasted on the internet is probably about the same.

3. Here’s my latest solution, and I think it will work as long as the weather stays nice. I have an old. old, old laptap, bought cheaply many years ago with no features whatsoever (i.e. no wireless). Lately, I’ve been taking that old dinosaur outside to my deck and writing out there. With a clunky laptop balanced in my lap, the urge to get up and walk around is stifled, and the only distractions are the lovely yellow butterflies flitting about the trees. Oh, right…and the internet upstairs on my other computer. But because my environment is so pleasant, I really don’t jump up to check out the cat pictures as much as I do when getting online is a matter of a click or two. The only problem with this approach is that the path into the house leads through the kitchen, so there may be more snacking involved. Oh, and the battery runs out after about two hours (told you it was old, old, old).

So I’m set until winter, but once it gets cold, I need a new solution. Any suggestions? I’m open to anything that works…let me know!

Essay Contests for High School Students

Here are two essay contests for high school students:

The annual John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest invites high school students from across the nation to write an original essay about an elected official who has demonstrated political courage. The contest is a companion program of the Profile in Courage Award, named for President Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage, which recounts the stories of eight senators, the obstacles they faced, and the special valor they demonstrated despite the risks.

Winning essayists will receive awards totaling up to $8,500. The first-place winner will be invited to accept the award at the Profile in Courage Award Ceremony hosted each May by Caroline Kennedy and Senator Edward M. Kennedy at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. To encourage student leadership and civic engagement, the nominating teacher of the first-place winner will receive a John F. Kennedy Public Service Grant for $500.

The window for entries is September 1, 2008, to January 10, 2009. For important information about entry requirements and submission information and deadlines, visit the website

**********************************************************************************

Enter the 2009 Girls Gone Great Scholarship Essay Contest
You have a voice, you have great ideas, you contribute, you have hopes and dreams…and, WomanTalk Live wants to hear all about it!

Tell us how you are a girl gone great and be eligible to win a $1000 scholarship and much more! Girls Gone Great is a scholarship essay contest for young women in MARYLAND entering their junior or senior year of high school in the Fall of 2008.

How to Enter
Step 1: Your essay should address each of these questions:
1) How are you making a difference in your community?
2) Why is making a difference important to you?
3) How do your actions support your vision for the future?

Your essay should be 800 words or less, single-spaced in 12-point font and checked for grammar and spelling. At the top of your essay, be sure to include your name, what high school you attend and what grade level you are, your home address, a phone number where you can be reached, and your email address.

Step 2: Submit a reference from someone who is not a family member. At the top of their reference, they should include:
• The name of the girl gone great they are supporting
• Their name, mailing address, phone number and email address
• What their relationship to you is
• How long they have known you
• And, most importantly….what makes you a Girl Gone Great?

Step 3: Submit your essay and reference in a Word Document attachment and email it to GirlsGoneGreat@yahoo.com

The deadline for submission is midnight, Friday, October 31, 2008. When your submission is received, you will receive a confirmation email within 2 days.

All essay submissions become the property of WomanTalk Live and excerpts from your essay may be read on WVIE 1370 AM during the months of November and December 2008 and January 2009. In addition, excerpts from your essay may be used on the WomanTalk Live website or in printed materials. The WomanTalk Live 2009 Girl Gone Great will be announced on January 15, 2009.

More details on the web site.

Poets, Beware

Here’s a chilling story about poet Stacey Lynn Brown, who had VERY bad dealings with Cider Press Review, the press that picked her manuscript as the winner of its contest. I’m not sure which is the most frightening aspect of this long, sad tale: when the editor of the press asked to be hired (for pay) to design the poet’s new website or the fact that the previous year’s “winner” also didn’t end up with a published book.

There are always two sides to every story, so the press’s response is also included. But…no-brainer to me, and I feel sad that the exciting occasion of having a first book published has turned into this for this poor poet.

As for the rest of us—as always, don’t enter contests willy-nilly. Do your research and make sure your book is going to a place that will do it well, a place you will be proud to be associated with for your whole writing career. Don’t fall prey to exorbitant fees for poor prizes (i.e. $25 to enter and possibly win $100). And, as seen here, don’t be afraid to speak up when you’re getting screwed.

(Link via Chicks Dig Poetry.­)