I can write. I can spell. I just can't write, hear, think and speak at the same time.

Lately, I have been one tired, stressed and very pre-occupied writer. Here's how I know.

Preteen son pops his head into my office. I don't even turn in my chair. This is what I hear him asking: "Mom, what are band books?"

Me, staring at screen and cursing the words which are stubbornly resisting my efforts to corral them into place, an activity in which we've been mutually engaged for five hours: "Uh, I don't know. Books about bands?"

Son, sounding perplexed: "So can I read one?"

Me, momentarily grateful this can be solved with a quick click to an online bookseller: "Sure, how about the Beatles?" I finally turn to look at him.

Son, looking at me as if I have lost many thousands of brain cells since breakfast, which I may have: "No, a banned book. B-A-N-N-E-D. I saw a poster at school that said 'Read a banned book this week.' "

I know about the long, sorry lists of banned books and challenged books. I know that this is Banned Books Week. I know I can explain this to my son, an energetic and curious reader. I want to have that conversation. I want to tell him ten or a hundred things about banned books and let him know about libraries and book stores holding events to mark the occasion.

But I'm tired, stressed and pre-occupied. So I give him a two sentence summary and offer a simple link. Then I wonder why, in a school which (thankfully) displays a Banned Books protest poster, he hasn't already heard this from a teacher. Then I yawn and look back at my screen. I once read that creative folks perform better after a nap. Might be a good idea to test that theory.

Friday Fridge Clean-Out. Links for Writers: September 17th Edition

+ The Wall Street Journal, is morphing constantly of late, and among dozens of other changes, the paper is launching a stand-alone weekly book review section.

+ I once came up with 236 cooking- and food-related idioms for a magazine article assignment back in the 1990s (which, sadly was killed; or should I say it got put on the back burner?). But that was just a list. Smithsonian magazine tackled the origins of a dozen food idioms in this piece; and some of the comments will lead you to more.

+ In this piece at Slate, Jack Shafer makes a case that, “Books are being replaced by reading,” and aside from whether that’s good for reading, he laments the passing of the weighty physical and mental importance of the physical book.

+ Will the 99-cent literary essay catch on?

+ For those who write about the motherhood experience, take a loot at Milk and Ink.

+ And finally, check out Douglas Copeland’s “A Dictionary of the Near Future” in the New York Times, for fun gems like: “KARAOKEAL AMNESIA - Most people don’t know the complete lyrics to almost any song, particularly the ones they hold most dear. (See also Lyrical Putty),” and “LYRICAL PUTTY - The lyrics one creates in one’s head in the absence of knowing a song’s real lyrics.”

Have a great weekend.

Guest Blogger Jennifer Gresham on The Alien Interview: How to Get a Scientist to Speak Human

Jennifer Gresham is a poet and the author of the popular blog Everyday Bright, focused on personal and professional fulfillment (and occasionally fascinating science). She also holds a PhD in biochemistry, and has had a long career in the Air Force, where she continues to work as a reservist and consultant. Her duties have often included writing, and along the way, she's developed an ear for a good scientist interview.

Please welcome Jennifer Gresham.

In my first job as the head of an optical microscopy group, my supervisor asked me to attend a meeting at Lawrence Livermore National Lab. Despite listening very hard and asking a few basic questions of those near me, I couldn't even determine the topic of the discussion, much less the recommendations. These were scientists talking about what they did day-in and day-out, but to me, the words were completely alien. I drove home in tears.

Back in February of this year, the New York Times reported that based on their own metrics, readers were more likely to share articles about science than almost any other topic. As writers, that's good news, because there's so much exciting science that goes unreported. But even if you only write fiction, knowing the details behind the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria on gym floor mats or how inspectors catch nuclear proliferators can open up novel story lines your readers will love.

The tricky part is not finding scientists willing to talk to you, but getting them to talk intelligibly.

When I was ultimately tapped to be the Chief of Corporate Communications for the Air Force Research Lab, I knew what I was up against. I'd have to devise questions as elegantly as a scientist’s experiment if I wanted good results. Here are a few tips I picked up along the way to transform even the most alien interviews into an engaging conversation:

- Play “dumb”: Many interviewers prep their subjects by asking them to “speak as if they were chatting with their grandmother.” Unfortunately, this often only results in them spelling out acronyms. Asking your subjects dumb questions early in an interview can release your subjects from what Chip and Dan Heath, authors of the book Made To Stick, refer to as the "curse of knowledge." I once interviewed a scientist who was working to enable hypersonic flight. After two questions where I'd gotten a lot of talk about scramjets and an absence of oxidizers, I interrupted to ask "What does 'hypersonic flight' really mean anyway?" He was taken aback (since I was in the Air Force), but his answers after that were, thankfully, more geared towards the lay person.

- Begin with the personal: I spent a lot of time with tribologists, whose far-reaching work on lubricants for everything from satellites to fighter jets was often overlooked by the mainstream media. But the best story came when I happened to ask the lead scientist, who had immigrated to the US from Russia, about his experiences in graduate school. He told me a fascinating story of how he transformed his skills in coating technology to produce beautifully colored spoons and glassware to support his family after the fall of the USSR, and ultimately escape the mob. I couldn't believe I'd never thought to ask about his history in the four years I'd been working with him. Now I try to begin with these questions to add the more interesting human element from the get go.

- Break the rules: Most writers don’t share their questions with their subjects prior to an interview for fear of getting stilted, stock answers. But when inquiring about subjects that may extend well beyond what you learned in your high school science class, it’s also easy to miss the best material simply because you don’t know to ask about it. John Ohab, whose popular blog Armed with Science began as a podcast, found that allowing his interview subjects to submit five questions they wanted to answer reduced stress and made them more comfortable. For the writer, these answers likely won’t be quotable gems, but they will provide insight into what the subject feels are the most important and interesting points—providing a platform you can jump from with your own questions. Just be sure your subject isn’t guessing as to the purpose of the interview, or the submitted questions might be too unrelated to be useful.


- Ask "so what" until you get the right answer: Most scientists understand the value of their work in the context of the scientific community, not society, so it can be hard to pull out the impact (and interest) of their work. It might feel a little rude, but don't be afraid to ask your subjects why you should care about their results. I once invited a young scientist at an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle conference to tell me about his work. He focused on the resolution benefits of a new camera he helped develop. I asked him, “So what? What will intelligence personnel do with the improved resolution?” To him, better resolution was simply…better. It wasn’t until we’d gone through this kind of exchange five times that he revealed the real game-changer was the weight savings, which allowed the Air Force to collect more data by adding more sensors.

Writing about science can be intimidating, and while you may never need to write a pure science piece, the time may come when you will want to talk to a scientist about something you want to incorporate into your work. If you follow these tips, you can at least be confident you won't drive home in tears--and your readers won't be shedding any from boredom.

Wise words about not producing enough words

Once, writer Richard Hoffman, whose two workshops during my MFA program triggered a big surge in my craft, counseled me this way, when my father was dying and I was worried that my writing output was declining: "Life first, writing second."

I took his advice then, put down my pen and my overly rigid expectations of myself for a few weeks. I came through the other side, ready to produce new writing again, richer I think than if I had forced myself to keep to a normal schedule.

Now, I find myself coming back to Richard's advice again. I've been across the country for two weeks at my mother's hospital bedside, and I've been struggling (but managing) to keep up with my students and teaching obligations, and to turn in contracted, assigned writing projects. But I've also been struggling, and not managing, to continue to produce a thousand or so words a day for new memoir and essay pieces.

Richard's words come back to me and I have to remind myself of their wisdom and the gift of freedom they gave me four years ago. I may be absent from my usual output (and from the blog) for a while longer, but I have come to realize that unless I take on Life first, writing second – then what would I, as a nonfiction memoir and personal essay writer, have to write about anyway? Unless I attend to life as it unfolds, what could I possibly have to say that might matter to anyone else's life?

While I'm still away (in several ways), I invite you to skip through the blog archives, especially to the posts where I've passed on more of Richard's wise words about writing here and here. In comments, maybe you can also share your own ideas and experiences about how you manage, or don't manage, to write while in the middle of personal crises.

Can we write the *right* dialogue in creative nonfiction?

In my Rutgers class this week, we're discussing writing dialogue in creative nonfiction pieces. One topic is how to deal with the issue of whether you've gotten the words right -- especially someone else's words which appear between quote marks -- and how to define what right means in creative nonfiction dialogue. Sometimes my writing life and my teaching life dovetail in unexpected ways.

Last night I was doing research for an essay in which I wanted to quote a celebrity. It was something he had once said while on stage and the clip has been shown numerous times on TV, as well as on YouTube and zillion websites. I thought it would take me only 2 minutes, and at first, it did.

I pulled up the video footage from the original broadcast, on an official YouTube channel, wrote down what I heard and figured that was that. Then I wondered. What I'd written just seemed a little too grammatically correct. What he'd said was clearly not scripted, and what I'd transcribed didn't sound as spontaneous as he appeared to have delivered the lines. I listened a few more times, but I still *heard* it the same way.

So I went searching for a written transcript of the event, which took longer, but finally found three different, credible sources. Guess what? All three had a slightly different version of what he'd said. One matched mine, the other two did not. Yet all conveyed exactly the same gist of his words, the meaning was clear and identical in all three versions...but the exact words were not.

Did it matter?

It made me think about how we creative nonfiction writers (not media reporters) record and then later write dialogue. We strive hard to get it "right". We agonize. We use everything at our disposal to not only get the words onto the paper we believe others said, but to be sure the meaning is clear too. Sometimes, the latter trumps the former. But in the end, we usually have only our faulty memories to fall back on. And even when we have more, it's still not an exact science.

Consider my little investigation. There was a video and audio recording. Those who had first transcribed it to written words were experienced reporters. And yet, who was "right"? The audio, even on the original clip from the broadcaster who first aired it, was just the slightest bit fuzzy. Maybe because when performers speak into the mic instead of singing, they hold it at a slightly different angle. Also, he was rushed and sounded out of breath after just finishing a long song and dance routine and was wiping his face with a towel. I'll bet if I asked someone who had been in the audience what he'd said, I'd get a different "quote"too.

All the time, I learn something new about writing and about how we nonfiction writers go about reconciling the need to be truthful with the human error built-in to the enterprise.

I used the version which I felt most matched the tenor of the performer's message. That's often the best we can do.

Eat Love (sometimes Pray and Argue): The Personal Essay

Yesterday, my mother and I had chicken for dinner. Hers was plain broiled with a side of steamed mixed vegetables. Mine was a grilled chicken wrap from the cafeteria. I spread a towel across her hospital bed, laid out my wrap and fries, and if I concentrated only on the conversation, for brief interludes it felt a little like being at the kitchen table, something I'm missing while away from my family.

Which is my slightly convoluted way of introducing my essay this week over at YourTango, on the many merits of eating together as a family -- not occasionally, but daily.

"My husband and I, and our two sons, ages 12 and 16, eat dinner together every night. As a family. At the table. TV, computers and texting not allowed. I have it on very good authority that this will enlarge our kids' vocabulary, boost their test scores, help them stay drug- and stress-free and even, paradoxically, trim waistlines (the author of that study obviously hasn't had my lasagna).
That all sounds super duper terrific, but none of the supposed benefits are why we do it. We eat together because it feels right. For that half hour, we ignore the outside world. We talk, sometimes argue, laugh and plan both trivial and important stuff. We look one another directly in the eye and speak out loud, often in full sentences, with no abbreviations. Emotions, not emoticons."

You can read the rest here.

Friday Fridge Clean Out: Links for Writers – August 6th Edition

August in New Jersey. Does "HHH" mean anything to you? Here, it's shorthand for hazy, hot and humid. Did I say it's hot? And humid, as in 80 percent humidity? Hope it's nicer where you are. Here are this week's links, shorter than usual. Because it's hot. And humid.

►All in one place, links to the Greatest Magazine Articles ever, including Frank Sinatra Has a Cold, Consider the Lobster, and so many other classics of literary journalism (via Dinty Moore).

► Continuing on the theme, Joe Tone gives us six of them, re-imagined for the digital age. Example: "Frank Sinatra Has a Cold. What it Would Look Like Today: @GayTaleseEsq RT @OldBlueEyes: I'm feeling kind of sniffly. Think I may be coming down with something."

► Do you feel like you're always on, as a writer? Linda Sienkiewicz does.

► An indie bookstore in literary Brooklyn might not be the best example of the health of the rest of the industry, but it's still pretty interesting to peer into Greenlight Bookstore's ledgers. And, isn't the place gorgeous?

► Today's the last day to enter for a free copy of the memoir The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry (Kathleen Flinn). Go to last week's Friday Fridge post and leave a comment by midnight tonight.

► Finally, that's one way to create book buzz, or maybe two: (1) Hire folks to make it appear they are loving the experience of reading your book (in public), and then (2) garner coverage for the stunt. I ain't criticizing. Book publicity is hard.

Have a great weekend.

Personal Essay Writing and the Heavy Construction Connection

I love reading the comments others leave, not only because I enjoy knowing that something I posted here connected with other writers, but also because I usually learn something. Like this gem, left by Lisa McKay, on a recent guest post from Candy Schulman. Lisa’s comment about Candy’s description of the essay writing process hit the bull’s eye for me. She wrote:

“Amen, especially the part about the number of revisions it can take to polish a 1000 word essay. Very occasionally complete essays are ‘gifted’ to me. More often they take weeks to construct - sometimes the process feels like working to build a bridge from both banks of the river simultaneously. Thanks for your post.”

Thank you, Lisa M.

Of memoirs and meaning. (Or, not)

I'm sort of living deep inside a client's manuscript this week, editing and thinking very carefully about it, so I knew blogging time would be scant. I was, however, planning to write something here today about the value of a truly nuanced literary memoir, one which delves deep into the writer's life, told from the long-lens perspective of someone who has looked back with real curiosity, who has processed the meaning and metaphors of the important themes of his or her life and experiences.

But then I read about this book deal, and decided, nah, I got nothing. Know what I really hate about publishing "news" like this?  They even use the old term "memoirs" with an s. Sigh.

Friday Fridge Clean-Out: Links for Writers, July 30th Edition (+ a book give-away)

►Over at The Awl, good reading for those who love copy editors, those who have worked as copy editors, those still working as copy editors, and those who, like the writer, have been there/done that and don't want to again. (Phew, 150 comments!  And who said copy editing is boring?)

►I hadn't ever thought about publishing anything on Scribd, but after reading about Hyla Molander's experience (via Jane Friedman's There Are No Rules blog), it makes me wonder.

►For writers curious about opportunities to supplement income and/or build a small portfolio of online freelance pieces, MediaShift looked at one editor's experience at a hyper-local news site. 

►I've loved the writer Beth Kephart since reading her memoir A Slant of Sun, about raising her developmentally challenged son, a decade ago. So I was happy to recently discover her blog, and this short but oh-so-true post for memoir writers, about how we remember.

►Today is the 75th anniversary of Penguin Books, and to help celebrate, the publisher asked bloggers to help them give away some books. I'm happy to oblige, because hey, where would we readers be if not for that little penguin on the spines of all those books we read as kids?  If you'd like to win a copy of Kathleen Flinn's memoir, The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry (about her year at a venerable Parisian cooking school), leave a comment on this post only (and be sure there is a way for me to contact you via email if you're chosen). Comments for the give-away will close on Friday, August 7 at midnight.

Have a great weekend.