Went to a speech by Anne Lamott tonight. It was magical.

That’s saying a lot coming from me, because Anne is extremely political, and I’m extremely political, and we are on opposite sides of the fence.

But it didn’t matter tonight.

She was sharing her life, her craft, and her ideas (even the political ones), and she related it all in a down to earth manner – as if, like she said, we were all sharing a cup of tea around her kitchen table.

She talked about grace.  Not the religious kind of grace, but the grace people receive or find when they’re willing to give up control and take a step back from  their pre-conceived ideas – those little life-moments when you can just enjoy “what is” even when “what is” isn’t what you were planning on.  (Talk about a wonky sentence.)

According to Anne Lamott, you need a lot of that kind of grace when you write – especially if you write fiction.  And I’d have to agree.  You can’t always see where you’re going in a story.  You can’t know that anyone else will like it.  And you give up large chunks of your life to write it.  So you have to find peace in the process.  You have to give yourself permission to enjoy the mundane and everyday life of it.

If you ever get a chance to hear Anne Lamott, I hope you will get a ticket and go.  In the mean time, I hope you’ll enjoy her books.  Bird by Bird should be on every writer’s shelf. It includes excellent advice on writing and some great observations on life – all written with Anne Lamott’s humble attitude and funny sense of humor.

Have a wonderful weekend.  I’ll be posting a writing exercise on Saturday or Sunday.  And I promise that next week I will post about music and writing.

All the best,

Mary

Some of you are at the Romantic Times convention, which I’m not attending this year, though it’s closer than it’s ever been to where I live (what was I thinking?)  I’d like to close out the Spring Fling 2010 chapter of my life by sharing a few writing tips I picked up over the weekend, some of which I’ll implement.

From the Julia Quinn and Cherry Adair Q & A panel:

Have an ending date for your book, complete and polished.  We tend to not think of writing as a career and work at it “whenever.’  I cannot think of a “real” job where this would be allowed to happen.

From the Cherry Adair workshop:

• Get into the scene as late as you can and get out as early as you can.
• Keep track of where your characters are on and off the page.  When a character returns to the page, he was doing something during the missing time, and when he leaves, he’s going to do something.  Don’t let him hang out in a vacuum.
• Know what the point of a scene is.
• Write your character’s back story as a short story, part of her character development.  Add it to the story piece by piece, and strike out what you’ve used from the short story document.
• Deliver no more than three emotional slams to the heart of your main character.
• Keep a calendar of events that happen in your story.
• Characters falling in love should be a conflict to the story.

From the Blythe Gifford Author Branding workshop:

• Name one thing you’ve been complimented on by a review or critique group.
• Name three things you always write about.
• What is it about your genre that calls to you?
• What’s different about your work than others in your genre?

From the Nancy Perra Perseverance and Perspective workshop:

• Move forward no matter what.
• Bring back the feeling that made you go beyond what most people do (write a book.)  Write it down.  Keep it in your heart.
• Keep perspective when it comes to rejection.  Sometimes it’s no more than being in the right place at the right time.

And the most important writing tip I learned (from Cherry Adair)

Write the Damn Book!

Tomorrow, Mary and I are attending a speech by someone who has written several damn good books.   Anne Lamott will be speaking at the Grant, MI Fine Arts Center, a thirty minute drive from my house.  One of us, or both, will report on what we learned.

Until then, stay safe,

Cheryl

This past weekend, Mary and I attended Spring Fling, Chicago North RWA’s biennial conference.  It is an awesome, first class event with keynote speeches from headline authors Julia Quinn and Cherry Adair.  Two themes struck me, one obvious and the other more subtle but powerful.

Persistence pays

Maybe because it’s the message I needed to hear, but persistence and following your writing dream was mentioned in more than one workshop or speech.  I heard tales of fifteen, seventeen and more books written before the first sale.  Of never giving up and honing your craft and having faith in yourself amidst the changes in the industry, innumerable rejections and the grind of putting your heart into a story that may never see a bookstore.

I also heard stories of THE first sale.  Of reinvention.  Of hope. It renewed my hope and spurred me to recommit to my craft.

How can you do it, as well? Nancy Perra encouraged us to bring back the feeling that made us go beyond what most people do (write a book).  To cling to those moments, write them down and keep them in your heart.

Paybacks are awesome

The generosity of fellow authors has always amazed me, but I was blown away by the undercurrent of continual giving I saw and experienced at Spring Fling.  Never turn down the opportunity to help another writer, Julia Quinn said during her keynote speech at Saturday’s lunch.  It was never more evident than through fellow headliner Cherry Adair, who not only shared her hilarious stories, but her time, spending three hours teaching attendees in an impromptu workshop and generously offering to sponsor a writer to the 2012 conference.

Hats off to the volunteers, the presenters, the editors and agents who gave up so much time.  Hats off to the attendees, who offered each other encouragement, camaraderie, and a unique synergy only found at writers conferences.

Generosity is more awesome

I’ll be back tomorrow with tips I learned (and will put in practice) but before I go I have to boast on Mary’s behalf.  At the last minute (Wednesday, I think) we decided to donate a gift basket to raise money for Literature for All of Us in a silent auction held Saturday.  Mary put together an awesome basket of binders, folders, a bulletin board, clips and  other organizational items.  She called it “Black and White and Organized All Over” and it sat next to me on the back seat during the drive to Deerfield.  Bids on the baskets and donated critiques started at $25.00.  Imagine our surprise when the first bid on our basket was $200.00!!

Mary's winning basket

People, we didn’t pack an iPad in the bottom!

I’m not sure, but I think the Writers, Like Me basket had the highest bid, and I feel immense pride that our (Mary’s) efforts contributed so much to a great organization.  Kudos to Chicago North RWA for sponsoring the auction, Literature for All of Us for the work that they do, and especially to the bidder for her generous offer.

Take care until tomorrow.

Cheryl