Bookworm

Reverb 10 | Day Two | Writing

Prompt: Writing. What do you do each day that doesn't contribute to your writing -- and can you eliminate it? [Leo Baubata]

I'm wrestling with this one a bit.  Leo is a writer, so it makes sense that this would be the type of thing he would ask himself regularly.  I am not a writer by trade, so should I be asking this about my professional work?  About my favorite hobbies/avocations?  Or should I quit wasting time and answer the question?

Most of my daily activities do not contribute to my writing.  I choose not to upend 90 percent of my existance in the service of my writing, therefore I am not sure anything will change with regard to this in 2011. 

I do enjoy writing.  I tweet, I blog, I write email to friends, I write stories that become part of my scrapbook pages.  Writing a book would be on my bucket list, if I had one.  I would like to work at home as a writer and photographer, but my deep desire for stability and the ability to support my family will likely keep me in my current profession until retirement age. 

If writing a book is important enough to me, at some point it will rise to the surface.  I will become as engaged with writing that book as I currently am with scrapbooking and writing will become my predominent passion outside of work. 

Reverb 10 | Day One | One Word

Reverb 10

December 1 | One Word.
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?

Document (v.)

Earlier this year I chose the word "document" as my word of the year after reading a blog post on Ali Edwards' site.  This was to be the year I finally started scrapbooking pictures and stories about our lives. I've filled three scrapbooks, taken two online classes, and subscribed to another site that offers continuing inspiration and design education. This continues to feel like very important work to me.  These stories have value and will continue to have value, even if just to me.  Since my daughter is an only child, she will not have siblings to fill in the gaps of half-remembered childhood Christmases.  I want these scrapbook pages to do that for her.  This hobby pulls together my love of writing, photography, and creativity -- I am completely enraptured.

Live

The downside to doing a lot of documenting this year is that it is time-consuming and my time outside of work and other responsibilities is limited.  In 2011 I want to make sure I am not turning down opportunities to make memories, live my life, and spend time with loved ones simply so I can retreat to my den and create in solitude.  I am such an introvert and cherish my quiet time.  But my little girl is growing up and these are precious days to spend in her company while my husband and I are still high on her list of preferred playmates.  I want to answer "Yes," more often when she asks, "Will you play with me," or "Can I hang out with you?" 

Writing Technique

Stray Questions for: Paul Collins - Paper Cuts Blog - NYTimes.com.

I construct my books in a bridge-building fashion: I create the beginning, then the end and then I write inwards toward the middle.

Counting Down to NaNoWriMo

"November 27: American Wrimos celebrate the true meaning of Thanksgiving by gathering together with friends and family, wolfing down a huge meal as quickly as possible, and then ditching those friends and family to hide in the bathroom with a laptop." [From Chris Baty email to NaNoWriMo 2008 participants]

This made me giggle. 

Yeah, I'm having Thanksgiving at my house this year and family visiting nearby the day before and for two days afterward.  So, I'd have to get way ahead of the game by then in order to make it.  One of these years I will write 50,000 words. Hmmm, that sounds self-defeating.  Let's try, This year I will try really hard to write 50,000 words in November!

Just musing. . .

I haven't been journaling much in recent years.  I've been blogging a lot, which in some ways doesn't require you to dig as deep or confront emotions.  I'm definitely out of the habit of writing in a deep meaningful way on a regular basis. 

I think in the past year or so, this was exacerbated by not wanting to write much about the failing and loss of a significant person in my life.  I wrote a little last summer, felt the urge to write at the time of her loss (but repressed it, almost like a boo-boo that you don't want anyone to touch) and I am just now writing about this person's funeral, which took place in January. 

I just finished reading a sad, but achingly lovely memoir by Elizabeth McCracken.  It would be disingenuous of me to say that the memoir inspires me to make lemonade out of my lemons of grief, but it's always been a secret, someday project idea to write a historical novel with my family member informing the main character.  We'll see.  Maybe I should get really brave and have that be my NaNoWriMo project this year.  If I do a historical novel, I can do research ahead of time.

On Writing

"Paper has more patience than people." ~ Anne Frank

Writers on Writing series

I just read a column that referenced a "Writers on Writing" essay and I was reminded of how much I enjoyed reading them as they came out.  This link links you to the search results page on the Times site, if you're interested.

:-( Brijit.com ceases operations

"Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we’ve run out of money, and can no longer afford to pursue our vision of adapting great long-form content for a short-form world, at least not as a stand-alone company. As recently as yesterday morning, we thought we had the funding in place to continue our work together. But as it turns out, we don’t. I’m sorry to share that we are ceasing publication of Brijit, at least for the time being, and possibly for good. Beginning today, I’ll be blogging at here, and will keep you up to date on our status. I’m still working hard to find a home for Brijit and our community of smart readers, listeners, watchers, and writers." [Brijit blog]

Why I Enjoy Brijit (and response to Barbara Kay piece)

What makes Brijit worth reading?

• Brijit abstracts and reviews nonfiction content -- from newspapers, magazines, a few top tier blogs, radio, and television -- in no more than one hundred words.  It also rates the piece from zero to three "dots" (including half dots), with three dots being the best.
• Brijit reviews some content that isn't available online for free.  This is helpful if you're trying to decide whether to pick up the newest New Yorker or New York Review of Books, or can even help you target the choicest pieces in your slithery stacks of O magazine and Entertainment Weekly. 
• You can subscribe to RSS feeds for individual sources or particular subjects.
• The red, white, and black design is crisp and the interface is clean with a few Web 2.0 touches (for example, you can click to open or close the top headlines on the main page without a page refresh).

What if I want to write for Brijit -- how does it work?

1. Register as a writer.
2. Choose an open assignment (but make sure you can access the content first). Most assignments can be claimed by up to three individuals; a few sources call for only two submissions and one source (The Onion) calls for as many as five.
3. Read the article, listen to the audio, or watch the video.
4. Write the abstract, include relevant tags, and choose your dot rating.
5. Submit your work prior to the deadline.
6. The Brijit editors choose the best submission, edit it, and publish it on the website.
7. You can (obsessively) check the status of your submissions within your profile pages, haunt the main page for a familiar headline, or (for the more Zen among you) simply wait for the congratulatory email telling you of a published abstract.
8. Writers of published abstracts of print sources earn $5 for each; published abstracts of audio and video broadcasts earn $8.  Brijit pays by PayPal or check once a month.

Response to Barbara Kay's article

Yesterday I read an article on canada.com by Barbara Kay, who expressed her distaste for the competitive nature of writing abstracts for Brijit.com.  Her son, Jonathan Kay, gets a thrill from competing against a few other writers (in one particular case, a co-worker) for the prize of getting an abstract published, whereas Kay "shuddered at the very thought of exposing myself to such humiliation," and began talking about gender differences with regard to competition. 

1. First of all, presumably most people aren't making a game out of it the way Jonathan did (although it is very satisfying when your abstract is chosen).  Therefore, in most cases no one but you and the Brijit staff know when your lovingly crafted abstract was not the chosen one. So, really, how humiliating is that?
2. Also, we live in a world where, for better or for worse, we all find ourselves in competition for places on a sports team, for acceptances to the college of our choice, or for our dream job.  I can't imagine a safer environment than the Writers Area of Brijit.com to embrace a little private humility (when someone else writes a better abstract) and deserved, earned pride (when yours is selected and hits the front page). 
3. You can even benchmark yourself against the most successful writers to try to improve your skills.  Brijit is really an English major's dream -- you can get paid for reading and writing.
4. Kay calls the pay scale "nugatory".  Sure, most of us wouldn't be able to afford to work full time for this rate of pay or with this degree of uncertainty.  But perhaps there is sufficient benefit if you think of it differently.  Writing for Brijit causes someone to read, listen to, or watch high quality nonfiction, and hone his or her skills of critical thinking, synthesis, and concise writing.  And, if the skill is sufficient, some extra cash can be had (which is no small thing in the current economy).
5. Finally, Kay states: "Just as most war gamers are male, I bet this Brijit website has been inundated with male “reviewers” and very few women writers." I'm not privy to the overall statistics, but she might be surprised to know that, as of today's date, five of the top ten most prolific and successful writers on Brijit are women.

[Disclaimer: I am a Brijit writer.  But even if I wasn't, I'd be reading the content on the site.]

NaNoWriMo, Day Eight

I fell off the wagon, y'all.  I chose to watch television Monday evening instead of make my quota and haven't touched it since.  I might make an attempt to create a structure/outline for this thing and work on it some more over the weekend. Or I might, more fruitfully, pull out some other items and work on them instead. 

What I have noticed is that I do very much like the habit of writing every day (probably one of the most commonly given pieces of writing advice).  I'd be very pleased if I could find a space for this habit, either on my lunch break or before bed and on the weekend. 

Here is my annual rationalization for not "winning" NaNoWriMo (that's what they call it when you reach 50,000 words): With a full time job and a small child, I really don't have a lot of time available for this.  And I found out rapidly that I just don't seem to have enough to say about these characters, these characters that both are and are not my childhood friends and me.   But, I'm pretty sure that the 7,551 words I've reached so far is the most I've ever written for NaNoWriMo.  So, maybe I'll make miniature goals -- it would be nice to hit 10,000 words at least.