NYC Trip Report (Part 1): Mark Fowler, Rights Of Writers, and The Center For Fiction

Not sure how many of you used Inkspot or subscribed to Inklings back in the early days of the Web (whoa, that sounds so ANCIENT now, doesn't it?) but one of my columnists was Mark Fowler. Mark did the ASK THE LAWYER column. SOOOO great to finally meet Mark in person.

Mark is an attorney at Satterlee Stephens Burke & Burke LLP, and also blogs at RIGHTS OF WRITERS: A Blog About Writing And The Law.

I strongly advise you to check out Mark's blog, which has a ton of great info for writers. Mark says he is also open to suggestions about topics he should blog about, but says that he's unable (for legal reasons) to answer questions that are specific to your own situation e.g. individual advice.

Mark is also on the board of The Center For Fiction, the only nonprofit in the U.S. solely dedicated to celebrating fiction, working every day to connect readers and writers.

Anyway, check out the view from the floor where he works:

THANK you, Mark, for taking the time to get together!

Children's writers and illustrators on Second Life

For those on Second Life, I have an area on the London School Of Journalism space orb devoted to resources for children's writers and illustrators. Many thanks to Jilly Kidd for her generous donation of ad-free space!

After I took the screenshot above this morning, I dropped by the Milk Wood Writers' Dash to see who was up and writing already. The Milk Wood events are for ALL writers, not just those who write for children:

If you're on SL, feel free to add me ("Inkygirl Omizu") as a friend. I have landmarks to both of the places above in my Profile Picks.

Learning about rondeaus from Robert Lee Brewer

Was fascinated by Robert Lee Brewer's description of rondeaus today, so decided to step up to the challenge and posted two. Here they are:

==========

I HOLD MY BREATH

I hold my breath as I check mail
Wait for the cruel words to impale
my fragile writer soul so low:
it shudders, rails against the blow.
Yet I will triumph, I'll prevail!

I start again, revise & quail
as my poor baby soon sets sail
into the ether, tidal flow -
I hold my breath.

An answer comes: they like my tale
but want some changes ("do prevail!")
so back to editing below
and next month I will let it go...
and hold my breath.

===========

OH RONDEAU WOE

Oh rondeau woe afflicts me now
as angst and sweat drip from my brow
and once again I wonder why
self-torture so appeals to my
twisted need to figure how.

Because this form does not allow
straying from the path, I vow
to master it before I die
Oh rondeau woe.

I grit my teeth and on I plow
trying to find rhymes somehow,
but my syllables go awry
I curse the French then start to cry
so to this form I do bid ciao...
Oh rondeau woe.

NaNoDrawMo, NaNoWriMo, PiBoIdMo and PAD

Call me crazy, but I've always loved creative challenges. During the month of November, I'm going to be participating in:

NaNoWriMo: I've been doing background and outlining of my cartoon-illustrated middle grade novel, Vampire Zombie Squirrels From Outer Space, and it's finally time to start writing it. I may not reach 50,000 words, but that's okay. I figure it'll be fun to try, and if I finish the first draft before hitting 50,000 words, that's also okay. Call me a NaNoRebel, but quality is more important to me than quantity in this case.

NaNoDrawMo: Just found out about this drawing challenge from Jeff. The goal: 50 sketches/drawings in a month. I figure I need more sketching practice, so this is a good excuse.

PiBoIdMo: Picture Book Idea Month. The goal: to come up with 30 picture book ideas in 30 days. I'm counting on at least ONE of these ideas being good enough to turn into a picture book mss that I can submit to publishers, along with storyboard sketches.

November PAD: Poem-A-Day Chapbook Challenge. The goal: 30 poems in 30 days, with a daily topic prompt from Robert Lee Brewer. I'm a closet aspiring poet and have even sold a few poems in the past. The whole insta-poem aspect of PAD is creatively liberating, I find.

What about the rest of you? Anyone doing one of the challenges above?

Morning writing session in Second Life

I haven't written about Second Life in a while, but wanted to post this screenshot of the writing session I participated in this morning. Don't know about the rest of you, but I always find it motivating to write while others are working hard around me...one reason I've always loved working in university/college libraries.

My avatar, hard at work

Lacking the time to regularly visit a university library, however, I use Second Life instead. Popped in for an hour this morning for a "Writers' Dash" in the Milk Wood Writers' Colony (hosted by Virtual Writers) where we write for 15 minutes on a word that is announced at the beginning of the dash (prose or poetry) then exchange what we wrote with others.

It's fun, writing in RL while your avatar writes in SL in a gypsy camp with other writers, the sounds of typing all around (manual typewriters as well as laptops and writing by hand) as well as birds singing in the trees. Some of us are also prepping for NaNoWriMo next month, and have our virtual books hanging up the trees, already displaying wordcounts (all read zero words at this point, of course :-)).

I'm "Inkygirl Omizu" on Second Life. Hope to meet some of you there!

If you're a writer wanting to learn more about Second Life, do visit Writers In The (Virtual) Sky. To find out more about Milk Wood and Virtual Writers, see Virtual Writers.

Blog Highlight: Beyond The Margins

Beyond The Margins is a group blog for a group of writers who met, taught, and workshopped through Grub Street, a nonprofit creative writing center in Boston. "We have published novels, short fiction, poetry, newspaper and magazine articles, and our backgrounds and careers run the gamut from social work and medicine to journalism, law, graphic design, and metalwork."

Check out BTM for some great writing tips as well as insider publishing info.

We debunk the myths of freelance writing, deliver book reviews and interviews with authors and editors and agents, and take humorous looks at the craft, the industry and ourselves.

Today's post: To Blog Or Not To Blog: Authors Online (hey, and I'm mentioned in it! :-))

URL: http://beyondthemargins.com

Banned Book Week, Cheryl Rainfield's challenge, & #SpeakLoudly

It's Banned Book Week, an annual event celebrating the freedom to read. 

Held during the last week of September, Banned Books Week highlights the benefits of free and open access to information while drawing attention to the harms of censorship by spotlighting actual or attempted bannings of books across the United States.

Cheryl Rainfield (author of SCARS) made a great post recently about Banned Book Week and issued a challenge:

It's Banned Book Week: Speak Up and Pick Up A Good Book!

I hope you’ll consider buying (or borrowing) and reading some of these banned books–and sharing them with others. I hope, too, that you’ll speak out about book banning–write a post about it, share your thoughts on FaceBook or Twitter.

As Cheryl pointed out recently on her blog, you might be surprised at some of the books on the ALA's list of Top 100 Banned Books list (past decade): Harry Potter, for instance. But it's true.

I'm going to go through this list and make a point of reading as many of these banned books as I can.

I feel very lucky to have grown up in an area where books were never banned, but some children aren't as lucky. I'm also naive enough to still be shocked by the depth of ignorance shown by adults in modern-day society, like when an associate professor condemns books like Laurie Halse Anderson's brilliant SPEAK as "soft core pornography."

You can follow the #SpeakLoudly discussion on Twitter.

Find out more about Cheryl Rainfield and her book SCARS at http://www.cherylrainfield.com/.

JoNoWriMo+1.5

From Jo Knowles on the JoNoWriMo Livejournal community site:

Inspired by NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), JoNoWriMo+1.5 is similar, but allows writers 2.5 months to complete a project(s) of their choice. On September 16, participants will state their goals, and then for the next 2.5 months we will work on those goals together. Our challenge ends on midnight, December 1.
On official check-in days, I will make a post to the group and ask everyone who has signed up to leave comments and report their progress so far. These dates are:

October 14
November 11
November 25
December 1—OUR FINAL CHECK IN! PARTY!!!!! :-)

On these days, we ask that no one else make an individual post so that the check-in post is easy to find. PLEASE REMEMBER: This community is set up for members to post their questions, ask for encouragement, share their progress, and cheer on others. We are here as a supportive community only. This is not a competition in any way.

For more info, sign up at JoNoWriMo+1.5.

Promote A Friend's Book! It's Random Acts Of Publicity Week (Sept.7-10, 2010)

The creation of Darcy Pattison, Random Acts Of Publicity Week is a week where everyone is encouraged to post a review of a friend's book on Amazon, Goodreads, Library Thing, or elsewhere online. WONDERFUL idea!

To those of you who aren't on Facebook, I've posted what Darcy said at the end of this post.

If you DO participate and post a review of a book somewhere during the week, feel free to use this badge of honor I created this morning specifically for the event:

I've also created a bit.ly shortcut, http://bit.ly/RAPweek, which points to Darcy's Facebook page about the event.

From Darcy Pattison:

September 7-10, 2010
2nd Annual RANDOM ACTS OF PUBLICITY WEEK

WHAT? I always promise myself that today I’ll write a review of my friends’ books and actually post them on Amazon or Library Thing or GoodReads or somewhere. But do I? No. That’s about to change! We're going to help publicize our friends' books during the Random Acts of Publicity Week.

...Why? I know how wonderful it is to see new reviews on Amazon of one of my books. I know that it’s better to give than to receive. During the Random Acts of Publicity Week, I vow to put these two things together and give friends some support for their books.

Why this week? We all know that the holiday shopping season is when people buy things, including books. Especially books! We want our Amazon pages and other publicity in place before that season starts. So, September is a great month to help others by reviewing their books and doing other Random Acts of Publicity.

How? See darcypattison.com each day of this week for tips on helping publicize your friends' books.

Who? Anyone and everyone can join in this week of paying-it-forward.

Nonfiction Childrens' Writers Critique Group seeks new members

From Inkygirl reader Deborah Amadei :

I am starting up an online Nonfiction only childrens' writers critique group. The following categories are eligible: magazine articles, PB, middle grade, as well as proposals for middle grade nonfiction.  We have our own google group, which is  by invitation only. Starting the end of September/early October I will post  the first  invitation  to submit.  I will be requesting submissions every three weeks  (one week for submission and two weeks for the critiques. ) For now I will limit submissions to a maximum of 10  pages.
If you are interested please e-mail me with a writing sample, which should include their categories to d_amadei@hotmail.com.
Best,
Deborah Amadei 

Time Management Tip

It's often not so much about finding time to write as MAKING time to write.

Um...

But don't give up reading THIS blog, of course.

:-)

Morning Pages

Helia Phoenix has a great post about Morning Pages. In case some of you haven't heard the term before, Julia Cameron proposed the exercise in her book, The Artist's Way, where you write three pages of stream-of-consciousness every morning.

Read more about this in this Write For Your Life post.

My interview on Ink Spells, by Susan Kaye Quinn

Many thanks to middle grade author Susan Kaye Quinn for interviewing me for her blog, Ink Spells, as part of her Art Appreciation Week. I enjoyed meeting Susan at the SCBWI conference, where I also found out that she has a ROCKET SCIENCE background!

For those not familiar with the site, here's a description:

Ink Spells talks about books for kids ages 8-12 who are advanced readers. Finding books kids love, that spark their curious minds, but still let them be kids, well . . . Ink Spells is all about that. Smart Kids. Smart Books. What's not to love?

Never too late to find writing success

I found out about Mary L. Tabor through a recent blog post by Jane Friedman. Mary published her first book after the age of 60, and Jane's Q&A with Mary is full of fascinating insights.

Not only did Mary's writing success come later in life, but blogged her second book on Sex After Sixty.

Blog highlight: Rachelle Gardner's Rants & Ramblings

If you're not already following Rachelle Gardner's blog, you should go add her site to your RSS feed RIGHT NOW.

Not only is her blog a great glimpse into how a literary agent operates, but Rachelle's site is packed with fantastic advice for writers.

Blog highlight: Between Fact & Fiction, by Natalie Whipple

Natalie is a YA writer, and her blog is packed with great inspiration and tips for writers. Love the emphasis on positive thinking, and her sense of humour runs through all.

Natalie is holding a contest right now, challenging writers to make her laugh in 150 words or less. Rewards include critiques as well as drawings; see the rules in this entry.

Visit her blog at:

http://betweenfactandfiction.blogspot.com/

Versatile Blogger Award

Thanks to Lydia LeRoy-Williams for giving me The Versatile Blogger Award!

Here are the rules:

• Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.
• Share 7 things about yourself.
• Pass the award along to 15 bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason! (In no particular order...)
• Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award.

Here are seven of the most random things about myself I could come up with:

1. I have a love-hate relationship with the squirrels in my garden.

2. I painted a tree on my office wall.

3. My first writing mentor: Lee Wardlaw Jaffurs (Lee Wardlaw back then). I will always be grateful to Lee for her encouragement and advice.

4. I don't mind spiders but despise centipedes.

5. I dislike clothes shopping.

6. I attend virtual writing sessions on Second Life (I'm "Inkygirl Omizu" on SL).

7. I have Ray Bradbury's autograph.

Next, here is my list of the fifteen outstanding blogs YOU should visit:

1. Cheryl Rainfield

2. Claudia Osmond

3. Adrienne Kress

4. Nelsa Roberto

5. Megan Crewe

6. Christina Farley

7. Jo Swartz

8. Hélène Boudreau

9. Mahtab Narsimhan

10. Marina Cohen

11. Patricia Storms

12. Author2Author

13. Okay I cheated because #12 actually has

14. five authors contributing to it

15. which is one over my limit. :-)

Blog Highlight: Ink Gleanings

The subtitle of Ink Gleanings is "Harvesting Tips For The Writer's Life." In each post, Katie writes about what she's reading, writing, and a thought about the writing process. You can also find Katie on Twitter at @katiereads.

Bluestocking Blog: Lessons Learned at a Writing Conference

I've always appreciated those who post about what they've learned at writing conferences. The author of Bluestocking Blog recently wrote about the main lessons she learned at the event, and her post includes some excellent advice.

Click to read more ...

Blog highlight: Literary Rejections On Display

Rejection always hurts. I'm skeptical of writers who claim that rejections don't bother them at all. No matter how experienced you are, I can't help but think that a rejection -ANY rejection- has got to sting at least a little. Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm saving all my rejections (paper and digital) for any particular project so I can roll them out to encourage other writers WHEN that project gets published. I certainly appreciate hearing about other writers' rejections -> success stories! I've been gradually collecting these types of successful author rejection stories on Inkygirl. One great place to find other writers' rejections is Literary Rejections On Display. The author of this blog prefers to remain anonymous, but describes himself/herself as follows: "I am a published, award-winning author of fiction and creative nonfiction--but whatever. In the eyes of many, I am still a literary reject." URL: http://literaryrejectionsondisplay.blogspot.com

Click to read more ...