Category: Posts

Just saw Dominique Browning give a talk and reading at The Manor in West Orange.  The event is part of MKA’s week-long book fair extravaganza run by Scholastic.  Tonight’s event was especially cool because the tickets were donated to the teachers by the parents.  So, we were all able to go and soak in the atmosphere of this beautiful place while dining on scrumptious appetizers and main course and a delectable apple dessert.

Dominique lost her job.  She seems part of a rather big trend out there.  A successful journalist (or other profession) who has lost her job–in this case due to the demise of the magazine market–and as a result sits down to write a book about the bad thing that happened to her.  And yes–it is comforting to read these books.  But, I am struck how these books are a bit light on content.  And big on packaging and catchy new philosophies of life easily said in two or three words like, Browning’s “Slow Love” concept.  She was funny tonight.  I did enjoy her.  In fact, I liked listening to her. She has a great sense of humor and a cool reading voice.  I was just struck, is all.  Just struck by our current publishing world.  By the facebook and twitter and blogging and book tours authors go through while striving to get their word out. As I listened to Browning speak and thought about all she was doing to make her new book a bestseller in this new publishing climate,  I thought of Laura Munson a lot.  I am Laura Munson’s friend on facebook, and I read her blog These Here Hills sporadically.  And, I am somehow hyper aware of the efforts Munson has to make to “sell” herself beyond merely the one great book she wrote.  Which is, by the way, a great book.  That everyone should go and read.  Immediately.  It’s called “This is not the Story you Think it is”.)  I think HER book is higher on substance than Browning’s new “Slow Love” book.  By a longshot. Perhaps because Munson wrote it NOT as an established writer, but as a writer who was yet to have a book published.

But back to Dominique.

At the end of the night, I went up to have my newly bought copy of her book signed by her. I was conscious of what I might say to her when it came time to stand over her while she signed.  The other women in line had been laughing with her and telling her about their gardens (she likes to garden) and about their houses (she likes houses).  Listening to their chatty laughter,  felt like they were all part of a very elite home and garden club.  And, when I got up there, I just handed her my book and stood silently while she signed.  When she was done, she looked up, handing the book to me.  “Thank you so much!” I said.  “You’re welcome!” she replied.

And I thought that if anything, I had just given her her one “slow love” moment of the evening.

Played trivia tonight with some friends from work.  We had done it during the summer and were delighted and surprised to learn that this trivia game also went during the fall and winter months.  Now we have something to remind us of the summer in October!  The weird thing is, it’s all a little off.

Sure, the same guy reads the trivia questions and we still fill out the same sheets for six rounds of trivia that go from 8-10:30 p.m.  But, our carefree days of summer are gone.  Our days are now filled up by work. With cares and details and thoughts of tomorrow.

So, it was a great feeling for me to give myself this two and a half hours of trivia.  Yes, I had school work to do.  But, there is something about the slow and steady progression through the ten questions of a trivia round that is grounding.  It is literally like a kind of zen.  My mind slows to focus only on the ten questions at hand. Who just released an album this week?  Where are George and Martha Washington buried?  Or what number is neutral on the PH scale? The stresses of the day fall away.  My teammates and I converse, throw answers around.  We lose ourselves in the gentle plodding routine of filling out our answer sheets.

And slowly the night moves toward the end of the round.  But I feel renewed and calmer. Like more spaces have been created in my brain.   It may not be summer, but for a few hours on a Tuesday night I was given a dose of what our summer nights felt like, only two months ago.

Out and about in nature today!  I went to Pyramid Mountain with some friends.  We joined a meetup group that advertised a hike with time to stop and do art halfway through.  My two friends and I tagged along and they had each brought sketch pads.  When we stopped, we sat for an hour to sketch and giggle and take in the colored leaves and the sun filtering through.

 

http://blogs.targetx.com/hbu/DawgTracks/2009/10/fall_foliage.html

I am a jealous person.

Lately, I have found that jealousy is one of the best things to get my off my duff and to get me to do something.  Something usually related to writing.

Why is this?

There’s nothing more motivating than seeing a friend or even a stranger’s accomplishment and thinking, “Damn, I should have done that!” or “Damn, why aren’t I that good?!”  Nothing like a little good old-fashioned envy to get me into my writing seat.

There was a time when I used to feel badly about this tendency within me.   Indeed, in some aspects of my life, this jealousy can be pretty harmful and destructive.  But, I’ve come to see that jealousy as motivator to get work done is as good an incentive as any.

Take this case in point.  Here I am, blogging after being away for over a week.  What brought me here?  Well, the free time, yes.

But, if I look more closely, it was viewing a colleague’s recent published column.  Her column was marvelous.  Beautiful.  Funny. Whimsical.  Poetic and heartfelt.  And, it was in a very well-known journal.  One I don’t even have visions of writing for.  Completely off my radar.

Nothing sends me to the computer to type like the thought that I have been woefully squandering my time.  And that I should be writing.  Because someone else out there has already done it.

Is this lame?  Shallow?  Impure of motive?  Sure!  Is it entirely human?  Yes.  And entirely effective?  Yes.

It’s times like these when I see that someone else got the prize–a prize I wanted.  And someone else out there had the guts and the persistence and the chutzpah to cut through all of the writerly bullshit that we all deal with–and write.  And put it out there.  And, for better or for worse, I get my butt in the chair and for a few brief moments, I am all focus.  My goal is clear.

And so I sit here now.  For a little while.  Until the little green-eyed monster and I join forces again.

400 words.  Those were the guidelines for my first magazine article.  And, indeed, they served to cut through my writerly anxieties about writing the great American novel or the great American short story.  The requirements were clear.  Keep it short.  Don’t over do it with the flowery language.  Get the story done.  No one wants to read more than this–at least not for the particular story I was doing for the magazine.

A few years later, that length, 400 words, is my litmus test for a brief, well-focused story.  If the article goes beyond, I know that I am being wordy.

400 words also is just what I need to get myself writing.  To jumpstart myself through the haze of not producing.

So, here, I offer you 400 words: as a concept and as a literal length of an entry in a blog.

Brevity.

Getting the story done.

Cutting it down.

Making it readable to the reader.

Done in an hour.

Moving forward.

And in fact, the best 400 word entry for today’s blog post is 179 words.