Last week, I was invited to contribute a guest post to the blog of Linda Sienkiewicz, a novelist, award winning poet, short story writer, and visual artist. We are MFA buddies, having completed the same program. My post is about fitting something fun into one's writing life.
Here's an excerpt.
Thinking of writing as work is great for discipline, meeting deadlines, taking ourselves seriously, and convincing loved ones that what we’re up to all those hours at the keyboard is not a fling at fancy.
But it doesn’t inspire much joy, like fun does. What do you find fun in your writing life?
The kind of fun you discovered when you first started writing. Remember that, back a few years, or a few decades?
...Having some fun with your writing life can provide a needed diversion from your main writing project, and help rekindle the joyful fun of writing and being a writer in the world...It may also enhance your craft skills and return you to the big project renewed.
You can read the whole post here.
> My well-read friend Chris led me to BookDrum, where one could spend hours. The beautifully rich site offers a panoramic experience of all that surrounds a book. I'm not explaining it very well. From the site: "..companion to the books we love, bringing them to life with immersive pictures, videos, maps and music." Plus author background, film notes, reviews, summary, setting info, glossary, more. Visit. Click on a book (classics to contemporary). Don't look at the clock.
> Vaughn Roycroft on "Surviving the Full Force of a Manuscript Critique" at Christi Craig's blog.
> Lee Gutkind at the New York Times Draft blog, on "Three R's of Narrative Nonfiction."
> Jenny Rough contemplates writers, perseverance, struggle and faith.
> California Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera , with a Poem for Newtown, "Little Ones We Carry You" (and several response poems), at the University of California/Riverside news site.
> Meghan Ward on "20 Great Places to Publish Personal Essays."
> BookPatrol with a great graphic and the good news that America's largest libraries are growing.
> Annie Evett on why it's a good idea to keep calm and just keep submitting. I like her math.
> I knew I wanted one for myself, but I'm not completely sure for whom I bought four more copies today of Anne Lamott's slim new book, Help, Thanks, Wow: The Three Essential Prayers. Like this interviewer, I'm attracted I guess to the idea of an irreverent approach to the simplicity, and power, of praying as a personal, possibly idiosyncratic act.
> Reminder: Don't let your writing year end without creating at least a few entries -- on paper, in your head -- for your personal 2012 * I Did It List* (which I explain in the post immediately prior to this one).
> Finally, for some levity, a compilation of poorly worded, proofread-by-dummies, hilarious or embarrassing real headlines over at Freakonomics.
Have a great weekend, and good wishes for those celebrating holidays.
