The Truth About Writing

The truth about writing, according to Beth Mende is that ...

"No one is asking, let alone demanding, that you write. 

     The world is not waiting with bated breath for your 

     article or book. Whether or not you get a single word 

     on paper, the sun will rise, the earth will spin,

 the universe will expand. Writing is forever and always a 

     choice -- your choice."

Yes, it's our choice to write or not. If we do write, we better be passionate about it and gather the courage to do it right, which for many writer means rewriting and rewriting. One famous writer said, " I don't write. I rewrite."

So, believe in your choice, have courage, rewrite and rewrite. Let your willpower create a magical manuscript.  The truth is that you can do it, if you have the willpower and determination to do it. And take William Zinsser's advice:

“Believe in your own identity and your own opinions. Proceed with confidence, generating it, if necessary, by pure willpower. Writing is an act of ego and you might as well admit it. Use its energy to keep yourself going.”

Linda Sue Park Loves Poetry

Linda Sue Park was featured in the “Living” section of our Sunday newspaper, the “Democrat and Chronicle.” If you still have the paper, it’s worth saving. It’s interesting, informative, and very honest. What will you discover about her? Well, that of course depends on what you already know.

If you know very little about her, you should know that she was the winner of the 2002 Newbery Medal is Linda Sue Park for her book, A Single Shard, published by Clarion Books. Winning that award is like winning a Pulitzer Prize or an Academy Award. I put her in the same category as those winners: simply amazing people who are truly gifted.

A Single Shard is about life in a 12th-century Korean village where a twelve-year old boy, Tree-Ear, learns pottery and comes of age. I am not used to reading historic novels, but I enjoyed this thoroughly researched and lyrically written novel, full of suspense, hurdles, and fascinating imagery. It was a worthy choice for the Newbery Medal.

When I joined Rochester Area Children’s Writers and Illustrators, I met Linda Sue Park. She’s an active member of the group, and I wondered what she was really like. I had met other famous people like Jackie Robinson, Art Buckwald, Vincent Price, Bob Costas, Jean Fritz, Steven Kellogg, Buffalo Bob, and Hopalong Cassidy. (And I've written a poem about wanting to meet Charlie Rose that was featured during Poetry Month by poet Jayne Jaudon Ferrer on Your Daily Poem.) So, I hid my awe of her on first sight. It turns out that she is a highly professional writer and very helpful to the members of RACWI, and she loves poetry. Isn’t that how many prolific writers become interested in writing? I know Judy Blume did.

The first piece of writing Linda got published was a haiku in a children's magazine. At the time she was nine years old:
In the green forest 
A sparkling, bright blue pond hides. 
And animals drink. 
(Trailblazer magazine, Winter 1969)


She was paid a dollar for the poem. For Christmas, she gave the dollar to her father. Dad framed the check. Linda Sue Park has never outgrown her love for poetry. Even when she writes prose, it is very lyrical in nature.


In the newspaper, it says that Linda once met a boy named Daniel who read A Single Shard 62 times. 


Do I have a story like that?


I once saw a young lady circle all the tables at Rochester Children’s Book Festival for over an hour, and she could only buy one book. She bought Waiting to See the Principal and Other Poems. Now I write poetry with her in mind.


Check out Linda’s website at http://www.lindasuepark.com/.               

You won't be disappointed. It has a unique style, just like Linda Sue Park.

NPR’s Gregory Orr

I discovered to my delight the following quote in the poetry quote section of YourDailyPoem.com, which is run by poet Jayne Jaudon Ferrer. It’s a great site, rich in the poetry experience. You have to give the poetry that she selects a poetry try—that is, poeTRY. That’s where I found what NPR’s Gregory Orr has to say about reading poetry. What he says is a big reason why I love poetry so much…

Whenever I read a poem that moves me, I know I'm not alone in the world. I feel a connection to the person who wrote it, knowing that he or she has gone through something similar to what I've experienced, or felt something like what I have felt. And their poem gives me hope and courage, because I know that they survived, that their life force was strong enough to turn experience into words and shape it into meaning and then bring it toward me to share. The gift of their poem enters deeply into me and helps me live and believe in living. ~Gregory Orr, from "The Making of Poems," broadcast on NPR's All Things Considered, 2/20/06I 

Acts of Random Rudeness

Treat everyone with politeness, even those who are rude to you - not because they are nice,  but because you are.  ~Author Unknown

I decided to sit in my peaceful car and drink my flavored coffee in front of my favorite Hess Express. As I sat there, a very large man was in his car  with his family carefully eating chicken wings and dropping them out the window to the asphalt below.


I kept thinking, "How rude! Where did he grow up? What kind of an example is he for his family? Who does he think cleans up after him? How beastly!"


I tried to muster up the courage to confront his actions. (Did I tell you he was a monster of a man?) I realized that if I said anything, he might pound me in the asphalt right next to the chicken bones. So, here I am writing about it for the choir. For sure, I bet you strive to live neat, pleasant lives and don't create paths of chicken bones along your journey. I am all for that.


At Hess or the Post Office I might be the guy holding the door for you as you rush to buy your coffee or mail your letter. The world needs a little more kindness and thoughtfulness.  I have some favorite clerks in the Post Office because they are cheerful and friendly, while doing a rather tiring job.  Nevertheless, my mailman isn't one of my favorite postal workers. If a workman is parked near my street mailbox, he writes a note and saves the mail for the next day, which seems to be more work than jumping out the truck, taking a few giant steps, and actually delivering the mail. 


Yesterday a neighbor was having a totally new driveway put in and there were a number of construction trucks parked next to the curb. Once again we didn't get any mail, as well as three other neighbors. Our mailman could have chosen to go for a short walk and deliver to all four houses, but he chose not to do so. Did he think that would build good will toward the Post Office?


I really don't understand it when others are unwilling to go out of there way to do the right thing, whether it be about chicken wings or delivering the mail.   

Written In Stone

This is another piece of writing that came across the Internet. I've seen it before, but I still like it. It's written in capital letters, and it is screaming good advice at you about friendship. If you're working on stone, maybe it's easier to write in uppercase letters. And thanks ahead of time to the friends that drop by and read this.

STONE  
TWO FRIENDS WERE WALKING  
THROUGH THE DESERT   . 
DURING SOME POINT OF THE 
JOURNEY, THEY HAD AN 
ARGUMENT; AND ONE FRIEND 
SLAPPED THE OTHER ONE 
IN THE FACE  

THE ONE WHO GOT SLAPPED  
WAS HURT, BUT WITHOUT 
SAYING ANYTHING, 
WROTE IN THE SAND  ,  

TODAY MY BEST FRIEND  
SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE  . 

THEY KEPT ON WALKING, 
UNTIL THEY FOUND AN OASIS, 
WHERE THEY DECIDED 
TO TAKE A BATH  

THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN 
SLAPPED GOT STUCK IN THE 
MIRE AND STARTED DROWNING, 
BUT THE FRIEND SAVED HIM. 

AFTER HE RECOVERED FROM 
THE NEAR DROWNING, 
HE WROTE ON A STONE:  

'TODAY MY BEST FRIEND 
SAVED MY LIFE'  

THE FRIEND WHO HAD SLAPPED 
AND SAVED HIS BEST FRIEND 
ASKED HIM, 'AFTER I HURT YOU, 
YOU WROTE IN THE SAND AND NOW, 
YOU WRITE ON A STONE, WHY?' 

THE FRIEND REPLIED 
'WHEN SOMEONE HURTS US 
WE SHOULD WRITE IT DOWN 
IN SAND, WHERE WINDS OF 
FORGIVENESS CAN ERASE IT AWAY.     

BUT, WHEN SOMEONE DOES  SOMETHING GOOD FOR US, 
WE M UST ENGRAVE IT IN STONE 
WHERE NO WIND 
CAN EVER ERASE IT' 

LEARN TO WRITE 
YOUR HURTS IN 
THE SAND AND TO 
CARVE YOUR 
BENEFITS IN STONE.

THEY SAY IT TAKES A  
MINUTE TO FIND A SPECIAL 
PERSON,     

AN HOUR TO  
APPRECIATE THEM,        

A DAY  
TO LOVE THEM,  

BUT THEN,  

AN ENTIRE LIFE 
TO FORGET THEM.  

SEND THIS TO 
THE PEOPLE YOU'LL NEVER 
FORGET.       

For Jessica

Debra Ross in this week’s KOA newsletter for Rochester ended her newsletter with the following, and this is what she wrote:

"Recently, the New Yorker had a front-page piece about a study that purported to show that having children does not, on average, increase happiness. There has been a lot of debate about this since that article was published. Last night, I came across this true gem of a blog post from a writer named Jennifer Lawler. Here's part of what she has to say:

Only an academic would undertake a study like this, defining happiness as something along the lines of “satisfaction with life” and “feeling rewarded by your work.” If there’s an occupation more likely to make you feel incompetent and unrewarded than being a parent, I have never heard of it...If you weren’t an academic, you might define happiness as the experience of being fully alive. To know grace, and despair, and the kind of hardness you have to learn to stand against; to watch your family fail you when you need them the most, and have your ex-husband look around, shrug his shoulders, and hold out his hand to help you up again.

The essay is simply beautiful, and made me look at the entire question a new way."

Debra is right. This essay on a blog drew over 240 responses the last time I checked. It’s certainly worth reading. Thank you, Debra Ross, for sharing. The connection is below...

http://jenniferlawler.com/wordpress/?p=747

A Pile of Books

Wish I wrote it...

Books to the Ceiling

By Arnold Lobel

Books to the ceiling,
books to the sky.
My pile of books are a mile high.
How I love them!
How I need them!
I'll have a long beard
by the time I read them.