October Challenge: Get Out of The House

Have you ever noticed yourself saying "Today, I write" and then you decide to do dishes first, then watch that movie you've got by the TV, and catch up on laundry, then you have to make dinner... and before you know it, you've gotten sidetracked and written nothing?

Or, have you ever found yourself thinking you ought to write something, but not knowing what? So, instead of parking in front of your notebook/computer, you wander around the house doing other things. You're waiting for inspiration to hit, right? No use in sitting down before you know what you're going to write about.

I've found, time and again, that writing at home isn't always as productive for me. So many distractions and other things to do that, despite my best intentions, I don't get as much written as I planned to - or, I don't get anything written.

This month, in honor of the writing marathon on the 20th, my challenge to you is to get out of the house and do your writing somewhere else. Like the writing marathon, your job is to go someplace public, sit down, and get your pen a-moving. Before you start, set a time requirement. It can be as short or long as you like, but you have to continuously write during that time.

If you're the type of person who has a bunch of story ideas written down, this is the perfect time to take some with you and spend your writing time on those. Not inspired? Too bad. Start by describing your surroundings if you like, but you have to be writing.

There are a ton of places that can work for this exercise. I'm partial to coffeeshops, fast food restaurants, or a picnic table on the riverwalk. Back when I still worked in the kitchen, sometimes I'd sit at the bar when my shift was over and do a few pages in my notebook. Pick whatever place seems appropriate and comfortable to you. However, on behalf of frustrated waitstaff everywhere, please do not pick a busy restaurant for your writing time.

Now, if you've got friends who write, you get bonus points for going out in a group. Just make sure you all are actually writing, not just chatting. You all can even do some writing marathon-style sharing after you've written for the designated time(s).

Also, you should feel free to write at many different places during one "marathon." Spend fifteen minutes at a coffeeshop, then fifteen at the bookstore next door, then fifteen at the bar across the street. Maybe see how much distance you can cover, 'cause we all could stand to walk a bit more, right?

All right, got your notebook? Got your pen? Car keys? Good. Now, go.

New Blog

"I know we've all been saying forever how we needed a space (virtually or in reality) to share our writing and keep the momentum going from our old Keppy-run workshops. So, here's a space."
-Lydia

After everyone got their bachelors and scattered, it's been tough keeping in touch with all the neat people from school. However, it's about to get much easier. Lydia's set up a group blog for the gang, and I'm looking forward to seeing it get going. Check it out: http://pueblodiasporawritersalliance.blogspot.com/

September Recap

This month was all about taking risks and I think I did pretty well in that regard. I submitted five different pieces for publication, went to a variety of get-togethers (even a few where I hardly knew anyone who'd be there), and accepted the job of Head Editor of The Hungry Eye. Not to mention the fact that I've officially decided to write a creative thesis. Scary.

The biggest discoveries were how hard it is to submit multiple pieces at a time and what it's like to get out more. Submitting: yeesh. It was definitely more work than I had imagined, even to just decide which piece should go where. I think the next time I set submission goals, I will make sure to have all my pieces ready before I even start researching markets.

Then, over the month, I've gone to more dinners, parties, etc. than I have over certain years (or so it seems, anyhow). Whew. I'm glad I pushed myself to get out of my comfort zone and I had fun spending a little more time with certain people, and eating good food, etc. However, now that the semester's in full swing, I think my socializing is going to drop off. Being social takes up a lot of time, and I need to devote that to other things, like homework.

So, in the end, a whole month of deciding to do things, not despite, but because they were outside of my comfort zone was a pretty productive month for me. Some things got pushed to the side - I still haven't revised the chicken heart story yet - but a lot of other things came out that wouldn't have otherwise. A good month for me.

Now tell me, how was it for you? Did you do anything that really made you squirm?

Neil Gaiman Clip

Hey gang, you should hop on over to D.B.'s blog and watch the video clip she has there for the weekly prompt. Gotta love how Neil introduces the poem - one of these days, I can only hope to be able to say something like that: http://coloradomysteries.blogspot.com/2007/09/prompt-of-week_24.html

Let the Rejection Fest Begin!

"Dear Writer: We appreciate the opportunity to read your work, but unfortunately this submission was not a right fit for _____. Thank you for trying us.
Sincerely, The Editors"

A couple of weeks after my first submission I get my first rejection. A nice generic form letter. I like the tone of "It's not you, it's us." Hey, at least it wasn't a personalized letter of the sort Jenny longs to send ("At least your mother would like it").

Last year, Jenny proposed a challenge: get three rejections. We had a year to do it, and those of us who did were promised baked goods. I managed to get two acceptances - Apollo's Lyre and The Hungry Eye so Jenny brought cookies to my housewarming party.

A couple people took issue with the challenge, "Why do you want people to get rejection letters?" However, that was missing the point. The point was to try for publication. Since the odds for most writers are that most of what they submit won't be acccepted, rejections were proof that you had submitted something. Besides, an acceptance counted as two rejections, so acceptances were still valuable.

This year, Jenny issued the same challenge. Now I've got one rejection on my tally sheet and more to come. I'm thinkin' brownies.

Another good thing about being rejected is the ability to submit to http://www.rejectedq.com/. Of course, they want five rejection slips included with your submission, so you best get cracking.

At Least My Challenges Are Only Monthly

A guy named A.J. Jacobs decided to devote a whole year to a challenge in order to write a book: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20910659/site/newsweek/page/0/

What's the most difficult thing you've ever done in the name of writing? Any plans for a year-long challenge in your future?

What's So Great About Books, Anyway?

Both this semester and last spring, the topic of technology and/vs. text is a recurring one in Katherine's class. Last spring, she proposed the idea of framing a composition class where the class's primary text would be MySpace. A fist fight nearly broke out between those who were in favor of the idea and those who thought it would be a terrible corruption of everything they held near and dear. The general sentiment was, if it's in a book at least it's worthwhile. MySpace is a free for all filled with junk, how can that be as valuable as a Norton anthology?

On Thursday night we played with Visual iX, a Bedford produced CDRom that takes you through elements of visual literacy as a way of analyzing things like advertisements and photos in the Newspaper. It's all about things like the way color, shading, layout, etc. go together to make a visual argument. Certain people in the class were resistant. "This is all well and good, but students still need to know how to sit down and read pure text."

Why?

In these discussions, we keep skipping over the fact that text itself is technology. Granted, it's not cutting-edge since we've had it for a few centuries, but it was created for the same reasons other communication technology was created. The only reason the Sumerians created cuneiform instead of movie cameras was the limits of their technology. Let's face it, the whole point of text was to accurately record events in real life, right? Text is ultimately limiting.

With text we miss things like voice intonation and rhythm, facial expression, and body language. Granted, when we read text, the author can indicate these things, but it's a translation rather than the real thing. Then you look a film and there it is, no translation. So, in respect to mimicing reality, isn't film a superior medium? But, students need to know how to read text!

I admit to playing devil's advocate here. While I love movies and TV, if I absolutely had to pick between film and books, I'd pick text. When you get right down to it, while film comes closest to recreating reality, it's also a passive medium. We sit and watch and everything is presented to us as long as we keep our eyes open. Reading, on the other hand, is active. We have to work to pull the narrative off the page and in a way, we are creating the text ourselves. Besides, books are portable and need no batteries.

Also, an average movie is an hour and a half/two hours. It takes far longer than that to read the average novel. Okay, not if you're one of those freaky speed-reader people, but that's an exception. It takes a few moments to look at a painting, hours to watch a play, minutes to check your e-mail, etc. Comparatively, books are the most labor intensive.

So, is the real reason students "need" to be able to read text simply because reading text requires more discipline and work than other mediums? When it comes to academia, is the biggest reason we value reading because it's hard?