Work in Progress: Not Failing Better*, but Simply Failing

And not failing—I’m not writing in favor of failure! But I have been thinking lately about the idea of doing new things that we may not be excellent at right away, things that will shake up our brains and push us into new territory. For me, this happens to be mental territory—despite my secret fascination with non-fiction accounts of Everest/K2 expeditions gone disastrously wrong, I don’t see a trip to Nepal in my future. I don’t like physical suffering, and when the going gets tough, I immediately want to sit down and eat some Junior Mints.

But tough mental going might be doable. I’ve recently become involved in something that involves words—so that seems comfortable and familiar—but this activity uses words in a very different way than I’m used to (no, not competitive Scrabble), and in a way that’s interestingly uncomfortable for me. Sorry to seem so secretive, but it’s all so new and seems fragile—like the way I feel when I’m thinking about a new novel idea, as if one wrong comment might bring the whole structure down. So I’m keeping this to myself a little longer.

Since I’ve been launched into this new, humbling, hard-for-me environment, I’ve had the kind of new insights that have startled me with their clarity, and my mind—pushed off its familiar path—has produced some interesting connections, so much so that I think I have the germ of the next novel. And just to prove how differently I’ve been thinking…I HAVE THE TITLE OF THIS NOVEL, and even my picky husband had to admit that it was an amazing title.

I know the evidence of the title is so powerful that no further proof is needed, but just to show that the universe can be helpful, yesterday a childhood buddy who has nothing to do with creative writing posted a link on Facebook to this article about the dangers of perfectionism. This article was written for parents of kids who are competitive skiers (I had no idea that was a sizeable audience!), but this paragraph resonated with my current state of mind:

“Though perfectionists often achieve a high degree of success, they often don’t fully realize their ability and achieve true success because of this profound fear of failure. Why? The only way to attain true success is to risk failure, yet perfectionistic children are often unwilling to take that risk. Though the chances of success increase when they take risks, the chances of failure also increase. For example, the only way to ski their fastest may be to ski a really straight line, but there's always the chance of hooking a tip or not being able to hold that line and sliding low on a turn. So perfectionistic children hover in a “safety zone” in which they remain safely at a distance from failure, for example, they are solid top-ten finishers, but are also stuck at a frustrating distance from success. They know they can be really successful, but they just can't understand why they can't get there.”

Change “skiing” to “writing,” and change “children” to “writers,” and redefine “success” to “emotional honesty,” and I’d say this piece could easily appear in a writing magazine. Definitely worth reading the whole thing.

Go forward today (or tomorrow)…uncomfortably.

*Samuel Beckett: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.”

Events!

Notable events for writers looking to connect with other writers and hone their craft:

October 1: Leesburg First Friday (through the Writers Center), Leesburg, VA
Demystifying the Mystery: Tips on Writing Crime Fiction with Marcia Talley

Please join award winning mystery author Marcia Talley as she gives us practical tips on how to ratchet up the tension in our novels, whether they be mysteries or not.

For more information: http://www.writer.org/Page.aspx?pid=299&cid=1&ceid=26&cerid=0&cdt=10%2f1%2f2010

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October 6 through October 16: Virginia Literary Festival, Richmond, VA

The Library of Virginia Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of the Virginia Literary Festival. Taking place from Thursday, October 6 through Saturday, October 16 and anchored by the popular James Rivers Writers’ Conference and the elegant Virginia Literary Awards, the Virginia Literary Festival celebrates Virginia’s rich literary resources with a ten-day series of events taking place at venues throughout the metropolitan Richmond area.

The festival’s events are broad and geared to both readers and writers, with book talks, writers’ workshops and much more.

Click here to read the press release about the Virginia Literary Festival, and visit http://www.virginialiteraryfestival.org/ for the festival’s Web site.

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October 16: F. Scott Fitzgerald Literary Conference, Rockville, MD

This annual conference “hosts workshops, salons, discussions and readings, and the presentation of the annual Award for Outstanding Literary Achievement.” Alice McDermott is this year’s honoree, and workshops include:

Flash Fiction, Kirk Nesset
Nonfiction: One Day in the Life of a Literary Agent, Shannon O’Neill
Narrative Nonfiction: How to do it and why it’s Important, David Rowell
Creative Fictional Characters with Skin, Stacy Barton
The Journey to Finish a Novel, Deanna Frei
From DIY to Independent Publisher: Mixing the Art & Commerce of the Poetry Book, Amy Holman
What does a Successful Article Query Look Like? Lisa Schroder
Fiction: Potomac Review Editors Speak: How to Get Out of the Slush Pile, Zachary Benavidez, Lynn Stearns, Will Grofic

For more information: http://fscottfitzgerald.wordpress.com/

What I'm Reading: The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter

I’m only about a third of the way through The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers, but I’m finding so much to admire that I have to write about it. Part I is like an Edward Hopper painting come to life, and this locale is as precise as it is Anyplace. The loneliness and yearning seep from the pages leaving this reader rather breathless and sad and feeling deepened in some profound way.

The book is an excellent model for any writer who wants to learn how to:
--manage shifting points of view
--create atmosphere
--create setting
--choose vivid details
--write superb physical descriptions
--write flawless sentences that nevertheless don’t draw too much attention to themselves
--capture the ineffableness of music in words
--use dialect
--create distinct and varied characters

And, of course, what an amazing title! (She said jealously.)

Plotwise, it’s a very quiet book, yet there’s such a sense of fragility that right now I don’t want to look up any websites and accidentally find out what’s going to happen to this collection of misfits. I’ll just note that McCullers was only 23 when this book was published, and Tennessee Williams wrote that she “owned the heart, and the deep understanding of it, but in addition she had that ‘tongue of angels’ that gave her power to sing of it, to make of it an anthem.”

And the Literary Journal Subscription Goes to...

…Christine H. of Wellsboro, PA, who chose to receive one of my favorite journals, The Gettysburg Review. Congratulations!

Speaking of literary journals, you can get $10 off a new subscription to The Paris Review (and read a compelling review of the new issue) at Maud Newton’s blog.

dirtcakes: Exciting Journal Inspired by the UN Millennium Development Goals

Here’s an interesting journal/venue that was recently brought to my attention by founding editor Catherine Keefe. The current calls for submission are intriguing:

dirtcakes is a triannual journal of creative nonfiction, poetry, art, and photography dedicated to exploring themes suggested by the UN Millennium Development Goals to end extreme poverty by 2015. "The Hunger Issue" was published in June 2010.

dirtcakes is an edited blog café to follow projects large and small aimed at ending poverty.

dirtcakes welcomes work from both emerging and established writers, and is devoted to presenting work in both its language of origin and translations.

dirtcakes pays its contributors funds gleaned from recycling cans and bottles.

dirtcakes remembers Haiti, the nation from which the title is derived; dirtcakes are what mamans make when there’s no food.

dirtcakes is a movable community sponsoring readings, art shows, instruction in the arts, and events to help give voice to good works.

Read more about this ambitious and inspired journal at the website: http://www.dirtcakes.org/

You can submit your creative non-fiction, poetry, and visual media here, but be sure to notice the current call for submissions (deadline October 1):

What We Want: "School Me" Fall, 2010
Dedicated to UN Millennium Goal 2: Achieve Universal Primary Education.
Teach us something. We’re looking for words and images exploring all facets of education. What’s the most important thing you ever learned? Who taught you? What have you tried to teach? Why? What did you first learn? What lessons stayed with you? What didn’t look like a typical education but taught you more than any class?

The next call sounds equally interesting:
Winter 2011: Girls Will Be Women
Dedicated to UN Millennium Goal 3: Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women
What is gender? What is equality? What does it mean to “empower women?” The word “empower” bears within its meaning an inherent giver. Who permits woman to have or to lose power? Does equality mean the same?

ISO Ekphrasis in Fiction and Formal Verse

Speaking of “ekprhasis,” as guest writer Deborah Batterman was on Thursday, here’s a call for submissions for a special issue devoted to ekphrasis (and formal verse):

SOU’WESTER, a literary journal founded in 1960 and housed at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, is now accepting poetry and fiction submissions for a special issue, “Ekphrastic Fiction and Formal Verse.”

--Plenty of brainy folks from Plato to present have defined and redefined ekphrasis. What we want to investigate are its possibilities as a gesture/element/device in the work of contemporary fiction writers. Whether your piece contains an ekphrastic moment or entails an overall ekphrastic response – we want to read it.

--We define poetic form as an adherence to or interpretation of the kinds of patterns that shape poems. We love poems that follow the prescribed structure and we love poems that reinterpret, reinvent, or just make up a structure. In that spirit, send us your sonnets, pantoums, villanelles, kwansabas, bops, and sestinas. Send us your blues poems, your luc-bats, ghazals, and any of the other types of formal verse we don’t have space to list.

Writers whose work is accepted for the issue will be asked to write a brief (100-150 word) statement about their understanding of ekphrasis in contemporary fiction or form in contemporary verse. To submit, please use our online submission system. Info can be found at:http://www.siue.edu/ENGLISH/SW/submit.html

Happy Birthday, Scott!

Yes, today is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s birthday, so break out the bathtub gin and raise a glass. In honor of one of my literary idols (have I ever mentioned how much I adore The Great Gatsby?), I’ll buy one lucky, random reader a subscription to a literary journal of their choice (within spitting distance of the $30 range).

Simply send me an email by Monday, September 27, 5 PM EST, that includes:
Your name
Your address
The literary journal you’d like to receive
Please use the subject header: SCOTT
My email address: lesliepietrzyk AT gmail DOT com

The fine print:
*I really do mean “literary journal”: don’t try to get a subscription to Cat Fancy from me—though I’m intrigued that the current issue is running an article promising you can “teach your cat to perform amazing stunts using treats and clicker training.” Amazing? Really?

*If your journal choice is way too expensive, I’m sorry, but I’ll have to let the random finger of fortune move elsewhere…we’re not made of money over here

*I’m in charge here, so all of my decisions are final (wouldn’t this standard wording solve a lot of contract disputes?)

Speaking of Fitzgerald, I recommend this article in The New Yorker about putting together Gatz, the 8-hour show in which actors read the entire text of The Great Gatsby.