I share so much of me here and elsewhere, but for the past two years I’ve been sitting on something that is deeply personal.
A few months ago I tweeted: “Someday I’ll write about this.”
I’m speaking at the Midwest Writers mini-conference today. The organizers originally expected around 25-30 attendees, but 100+ signed up. Why so many more? Annie asked if it had anything to do with me. (That was nice of her.) But I’m sure it doesn’t. You give a free writing conference and supply it with donuts and they will come.
Since there are so many attendees, I decided to forgo the killing of trees and just share my bits of wisdom here:
A kick in the pants
On editors
Exploiting aspiring writers
Getting an agent
Blogging build a writing career
Books I recommend-
ON WRITING
Self-editing for Fiction Writers
ON GETTING PAID TO WRITE
I’m not famous.
I don’t need a corral for folks to line up in to buy a book and have me sign it. I don’t need blank cards for me to sign in case a student doesn’t want to buy a book, but still wants my autograph.
But when I was speaking at a The Check Your Label Symposium at IU’s Kelley School of Business I had both.
As a kid you dream about the day someone will ask for your autograph. In preparation you practice. You recall the Reds player you saw signing baseballs atop the dugout. His wrist flashed across the baseball and a signature appeared. A looping, swooping, signature that assured the ball would never be hit…
This morning I caught author Katherine Paterson on the Bob Edwards Show. She lived in Japan and talked about the use of white space by Japanese artists. The artist intends the viewer to fill in the space with their own imagination.
Patterson told Bob that she incorporates this into her writing and said something that really resonated with me…
“Every reader is my co-author.”
I’ve come to appreciate this because a funny thing happens when you write a book…someone reads it (hopefully). And when they read it and then they tell you about it, sometimes you’re left wondering if they read the same book that you wrote.
Awhile back two interviews of me came out on the same day. One was in Ball State’s newspaper and the other was in a newspaper in…
Annie’s cousin Steph sent me this with the title “Marketing for your next book.” I have no idea what this is, but I’m considering paying Swedish broadcasting fees anyhow.
…
It’s strange not being able to read a book that you’ve written or even your name. But such is the case when I received the Korean translation of “Where Am I Wearing?” in the mail.
A lot of folks have worked on the book, but few have spent as much time with it as this translator. I would love to sit down and have a chat with them to see how they went about translating “fella” and “undercover underwear buyer.”
I suspect Korea was interested in the topic because they had a thriving garment industry in the 1960s which is anything but thriving today. Need proof? Inventory the clothing labels in your closet.
This…
John Mayer makes weird faces while he’s riffing. When asked about it, he said something like, “I thought I was making a cool face.”
Obviously there is a divide between the mental perception of oneself and reality. With that said, here are some photos of me taken while speaking at Menlo High School near San Francisco.
…
So a video clue was supposed to go up today in the Where is Kelsey contest. But the thing is, today was my only free day in San Francisco and I wanted to take in the sights. And tomorrow I’ll be flying all day. And…well after that I’m out of excuses, so I’ll get a video clue up on Friday. To make it up to you, I’ll have Harper – the world’s cutest baby – make a guest appearance.
Deal?…
“I made a deal with my muse. I leave her alone and she leaves me alone.”
– poet and author Wendell Berry on the Diane Rehm Show today
Writing turns me on.
No, not like that you perve. Okay, maybe I should restate that.
I have a writing switch that I turn On and Off. When it’s on I search for narrative threads. I scan for details. I probe. When it’s off I just kind of fumble through life a victim of my scattered brain. It would be great if I could just leave the switch on and suck all the meaning I could out of a trip to the grocery, but that would be exhausting.
I would lean over the food conveyor thingy and stretch to see the checkout lady’s shoes. You can…
Thanks to Monmouth College TV for sending me this bit on my recent visit.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MnNHx4eok4[/youtube] …
