Grab a Notebook

By Ginny Padgett

 I started a nonfiction book project in 2014 based on experiences and interviews with 15 people once a month for a year. I’m still not finished writing it. When I take excerpts of it to workshop for feedback, sometimes they are met with astonishment by some of the respondents (also from workshop). “How can you remember our conversations and the details of our meetings so accurately? You have a great memory!”

I was flattered by their accolades, but there is a simple, mundane explanation. As soon as I returned home from each encounter, I made strategic notes to jog my memory when I was ready to write. If something in our discussions struck me as important enough to me to use as a direct quote, I jotted down key words. Not only could I remember the quote I wanted, but that often provided enough spark to reconstruct the whole exchange, bolstering interest with dialogue while fleshing out the action. I don’t think I have a better than average memory. Notes, and perhaps practice from journalism school, were the trick.

As time elapsed, I came to see diarizing an event has personal benefits as well. While writing my manuscript, it occurred than more once that these notes and recorded dates jump-started memories I needed to calculate and navigate everyday life.

Mindfully now I record outings and appointments in my calendar with details…and don’t delete them as tasks accomplished. “What was the name of that movie we went to last month?” “Where did you find that tray?” “Where was that cute restaurant we stopped at on the way to Baltimore?” “When’s the last time I saw the dermatologist?” I can find the answer to these kinds of questions in a jiffy. It doesn’t make for world peace, but sometimes it does make my life easier, tidier or evokes a smile when I look back and find a happy time spent with friends and family.

Fortunately, notetaking is easier than ever since the smart phone in your pocket is packed with more technology that the 1960s space-race effort. Snap a photo. Use the voice recorder to make notes for yourself. Ask your companion or interviewee if you may record a chat about an interesting subject. Immediacy is primary to getting it down right for nonfiction.

I realized another plus. Keeping notes on events, behaviors and deportment, environment, conversations can be prompts for plots, characters, settings, and dialogue for fictional writing. Take notes and see where they lead.

Newspaper Writing and Reading

By Ginny Padgett

I am a proud 1975 graduate of the University of South Carolina’s School of Journalism. At that time, it was ranked as one of the five best journalism schools in the country. Today, I am unsure of its specific national ranking but know it continues to be recognized for its excellence.

Even though print journalism was not my chosen concentration, I learned how to craft a story for newsprint, conduct an interview and ask questions from the floor at real news events, know the laws and ethics concerning freedom of speech, and realize the responsibility of becoming a member of the Fourth Estate.

In recent years, due to instant news via electronic means, newspaper readership has fallen to a point of near extinction. News is always happening. Our world is shrinking. We demand the latest information. We have the technology to make that a reality.

TV, radio, and social media outlets embraced this demand and rose quickly to supply it. Commerce saw the trend and identified a vast money-making market. Now billion-dollar conglomerates present news more as entertainment. Their networks dole out 20-second sound bites and conveniently packaged segments that fit tidily between commercial breaks. We have 24-hour TV news channels, talk radio, Yahoo news, FaceBook news, independent webcasts, and entire channels that spin the news to line up with your point of view, just to name a few.

However, since November newspapers are experiencing a strong comeback. Some papers are citing nearly a 200% hike in subscriptions. In fact, I have subscribed to two national newspapers during the last three months; I access them on my laptop and smart phone – the best of both worlds.  This spike proves there is still a need for good old-fashion journalism.

To make sense of our rapidly changing world, we need solid reporting from trustworthy sources. We need in-depth coverage of stories that impact our lives. We need good investigative reporters who have a detective’s gut, a bulldog’s tenacity, and a knack for clear communication. This is the kind of reporting that is strong enough, valuable enough to be distilled for use on the air waves, as well as in regional and local newspapers.  

Subscribe to a reliable newspaper today. Keep serious journalism alive.  

Get Your Elevator Pitch Ready

By Ginny Padgett

When I went to my first writers’ conference in 2010, I learned about an Elevator Pitch, which is a one- to two-minute description of your manuscript that can be delivered during the span of an elevator ride and will capture the interest of an agent or publisher, if you were to find yourself in such a situation. I thought that scenario was not likely for me.

Nevertheless, by 2015, I had a project, manuscript, and Elevator Pitch in hopes of somehow becoming published. That spring I helped arrange a writers’ conference, and after it was over, I practiced my pitch on two regional agents who represented my genre. One was politely interested and gave me her card and said I could contact her; the other was mildly interested and said to take my time, polish my manuscript, make it the best it could be, and send it to her. I felt encouraged.

That fall, I organized a series of instructional webinars with industry professionals on varied subjects for the membership of South Carolina Writers’ Workshop. In October, our speaker was an agent of a friend of mine whose topic was “How to Get Published.” We logged on early to do a technical check, making sure all our equipment was working. After we were set to broadcast, we had 15 minutes before the webinar was to begin, and the agent asked, “What are you working on?”

I was astonished when my Elevator Pitch rolled off my tongue with no hesitation and with enthusiasm. When I was done she said, “When you’re finished writing, go to my website, follow the instructions carefully for submission, and send me your manuscript. I think I could sell it.”

Then I was dumbfounded. Who would have thought I could arrest the attention of a nationally recognized agent in Texas from my bedroom in Columbia, South Carolina? (Another writer-friend sold her work to a New York agent at a baby shower in Camden, South Carolina.) So get your Elevator Pitch ready. It’s true. You never know when you’ll need it.

                                                                                

Instructional Opportunities Sponsored by SCWW

By Ginny Padgett

SCWW will present a four-part webinar series beginning September 12. Go to www.myscww.org/ to register. The fee for each webinar is payable when you sign up. After reserving your spot, only 25 are open for each webinar, log on the day and time of your selected webinar. There is no charge for September. Subsequent sessions are $20.00 for SCWW members and $25.00 for non-members. Rebroadcasts will be available if you’re unable to attend on the specified times.

Here are the topics and presenters.

September 12, 10:00-11:00 am - “First Pages: Solid Beginnings that Hook Readers” by Jane Gari, SCWW; video teaser: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3sLlxqufSsUWklJbmdtRi1ncTg/view  

October – “Embrace Your Backstory: How to Leverage Your Uniqueness and GET NOTICED in a Noisy World” by Lynda Bouchard, agent at Booking Authors Ink 

November 13, 10:00-11:00 am – “The First Time Novelist: Letting Editors In" by Joseph Gartrell, free-lance editor 

December 9, 4:00-5:00 pm  – "What a Query Means to Me- First Glance Impressions of a Query" by Jeanie Loiaocono, President of Loiacono Literary Agency

 In addition, the Camden Chapter of SCWW will present “First One Word and Then Another: A Creative Writing Workshop” on Saturday, September 26, 9:00 am-1:00 pm; $20.00 for SCWW members, $25.00 for non-members, lunch included. Go to www.myscww.org/ to register. The Camden Chapter has worked hard on this event, and I’m sure it will be worth your time. I hope you’ll be able to attend and support our Camden sister.   

FYI, Bob Strother, Kim Blum-Hyclak and Carla Damron will be at Books On Broad, our local independent bookstore after the 9/26 workshop at 2:15 PM  to sign books. 

Intensive Workshop at Rock Hill

By Ginny Padgett

Next Saturday, April 25, is the ninth annual Intensive Workshop presented by the Rock Hill Chapter of South Carolina Writers’ Workshop. Each year the workshop has grown in number and strength. Last year after attending, our own Fred Fields reported it was the best deal going, $5.00 for day-long quality instruction and lunch. I plan to be there. Register now. It’s not too late.

To sign up and get details on the Intensive classes and instructors, go to http://www.rockhillscww.org/. 

Join Us!

By Ginny Padgett

This blog site is the domain of Columbia II, a chapter of the South Carolina Writers’ Workshop. During the three years I served as president of the organization, it was my joy and privilege to foster two new and successful chapters, Columbia III and Sumter.

Recently, I have been involved with the formation of another SCWW chapter in the Beaufort area. This week I received a call from the leader of the fledgling chapter. She asked, “My prospective members wonder why we’re paying dues to SCWW if I’m doing all the work of organizing a chapter?” My answer included these points.

• Liability insurance – This is the most important advantage for groups to become SCWW chapters. If something were to happen at a chapter meeting, SCWW insurance would cover the damage.
• Website support and information: http://myscww.org/
• Market yourself and your work through the SCWW website
      Work: http://myscww.org/members-published-works/
      Member website and blog site: http://myscww.org/members-websites-and-  blogs/
      Speakers Bureau: http://myscww.org/speakers-bureau/
• Monthly e-newsletter
• Exclusive opportunity to be published in SCWW’s annual anthology, the Petigru Review
• Discounted reading fee for Carrie McCray Memorial Literary Awards
• Discount on conference registration - Our conference has been ranked as one of the top ten in the country.

Most of all, we’re a network of writers, novice and established, who come together regularly on a local level to critique each other’s work and provide a means of accountability. In addition, we share information that will further us on our journey toward publication and support each other in that common endeavor.

There are 18 chapters across the state, and the Board is looking into the feasibility of forming virtual chapters for those members who reside outside SCWW areas. If you’ve wanted to find an environment to nurture your creative growth, consult the website for a chapter that best accommodates you. http://myscww.org/chapters/  Don’t see one in your locale? Email me. We’ll start one.  ginnypadgett@att.net

South Carolina Writers’ Workshop Website Improvements

By Ginny Padgett

The SCWW website has some great advantages for members beyond general information and conference registration. Recently in accordance with member requests, new pages and a number of improvements were made.

Members’ Published Works Page (http://myscww.org/members-published-works/):  This page isn’t new but it's been upgraded. A slider feature continually rotates books so all work is visible, regardless of when it was posted. (At the present time, only five books are sliding, however that technical glitch should be rectified within the week.) Also on that page there is now a button to find work by genre. If you have work to add to this page, go to the web address above and follow the guidelines. Note: While work continues on this page, the guidelines are not visible. However, they may be found on the Quill Bulletin Board. Issues are available on the website for reference (http://myscww.org/category/quill/).  Please follow the guidelines carefully. 

Members’ Websites and Blogs (http://myscww.org/members-websites-and-blogs/):

This page is not new or improved. If you’d like to add your information, follow the guidelines on this page.

SCWW Blog (http://myscww.org/category/blog/). I bring this page to your attention because this is where our Cola II Blog Vote Winner goes each month. The innovation on this page is content. In the past, blogging responsibility was handled mainly by SCWW Board members. This year there is an emphasis on posts from the general membership and outside guests.

Speakers’ Bureau Page (http://myscww.org/speakers-bureau/): This is a new page where members may offer their services to speak to groups based on the author’s area of expertise. If you’d like your information to be included on this page, the guidelines are available on this page. Note: It is most important to follow the guideline closely.

SCWW Board of Directors Meeting Minutes (http://myscww.org/board-of-directors-meeting-minutes/): This is another new page to keep the membership abreast of the workings of the organization.

Not a SCWW member and your interest is piqued? Join us. There’s a website page for that too: http://myscww.org/join-us/. 

23rd Annual SCWW Conference

 By Ginny Padgett

“Writing for Publication” was the theme of the one-day symposium hosted by SCWW on Saturday, October 26 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. There were about 65 attendees who enjoyed presentations from seven industry experts: Holly McClure, agent-author and owner of Sullivan Maxx Literary Agency LLC; Betsy Teter, founder of Hub City Writers Project; Cindi Boiter, author and Editor-Publisher of Jasper Magazine; Shari Stauch, marketing specialist and creator of Where Writers Win; Aurelia Sands of Deer Hawk Publications; along with our own McKendree Long and Fred Fields. Professional critiques were offered for purchase at the website. A dozen or so attendees and spouses gathered afterward at the Flying Saucer for author readings, door prizes, conversation and conviviality.

By all accounts it was a successful day even though it was a pared-down event. I heard words like “focused,” “informative,” enjoyable” and “professional.” We owe a round of applause to Kia Goins, 2013 SCWW Conference Chair, for organizing a day of sharing and expanding.

SCWW Columbia II won the Chapter Submission Challenge; Laura P Valtorta took Second Place in the Individual Category. The 2013 Petigru Review made its debut. The anthology is available at the website and soon to come to Kindle.

Save the date for next year’s conference: October 24-26, 2014, Hilton Myrtle Beach Resort. Beginning in January, keep an eye on the website for details: www.myscww.org/conference/  

  

Call to Action for SCWW

 

By Ginny Padgett

For those of you who are unfamiliar with our workshop’s origin, we are a chapter of South Carolina Writers’ Workshop (www.myscww.org). All persons over the age of 18 are welcome to visit any chapter and become members of SCWW. The dues are $52.00 per year. Membership fees go toward activities and programs like paying liability insurance for each chapter meeting, maintaining the website where you may share your published works, website and blog page, contests, annual anthology and a nationally recognized writing conference.

Last October, SCWW presented one of its most successful conferences – ask the agents and editors who were faculty for the weekend. Unfortunately the economic climate of the past few years has steadily eroded conference attendance at Myrtle Beach. Even observing the tightest of budgets, for the first time in 22 years the organization ended the year in the red. There just weren’t enough participants to meet expenses. Many writing conferences and other artistic endeavors have been eliminated in the last two to three years. Sadly ours is not an uncommon dilemma these days.

Beginning in January, a fund-raising campaign was launched, including donations by individuals, philanthropists and corporations (including an on-line auction organized and executed by Michelle Johnson of Corvisiero Literary Agency), and has netted about $4,000.00. That amount covers one-third of the deficit. SCWW needs your help in the following ways:

• Pay your dues on time. All membership fee are due on January 1, 2013, unless you became a new member in 2012.
• Make a tax-deductible donation. Your contribution will be recognized on the website (www.myscww.org/sponsors/). Here is the address and suggested levels of giving or use PayPal at the Donate button at the bottom of the SCWW home page.

SCWW Donations

4840 Forest Drive

Suite 6B, PMB 189

Columbia, SC 29206

$25.00 – Friend

$26.00-$100.00 – Benefactor

$101.00-$200.00 – Sponsor

$201.00-$350.00 – Diamond Sponsor

$351.00-$500.00 – Platinum Sponsor

$501 and up – Angel

·        Contact a business or individual who supports the arts to ask for a financial donation or contact SCWW President Ginny Padgett (ginnypadgett@att.net) with pertinent information or ideas. Separate categories of giving apply to this group.

The SCWW Board of Directors is working tirelessly to resolve this deficit. Please join the effort. For 22 years SCWW has supported writers and their dreams. Now it’s your turn to lend a hand to SCWW.

The MFA's Place in Publishing: An Opinion

By Ginny Padgett

I’ve been perusing the November/December, 2011 issue of Poets & Writers magazine. I am astonished to find the numerous ads for MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) programs displayed here – one on nearly every page. Before reading this widely regarded resource, I was aware of one of today’s trends, namely to become published in the traditional manner, an MFA is the way to go. It made me think.

• Is academia the force behind the publishing business these days?
• MFAs are very expensive. Is that making writing an elitist’s profession with an elitist attitude?
• What literature, innovative concepts, and unique points of view might we be missing from those writers who cannot afford to go to graduate school?
• Would William Shakespeare or Charles Dickens get published today without an MFA entrée? Both were men of the people – far from academia – who dealt in the drama of every-day life.
• William Faulkner considered himself a Mississippi farmer. In fact, in a 1956 interview in The Paris Review, he said, “There is no mechanical way to get the writing done, no shortcut. The young writer would be a fool to follow a theory. Teach yourself by your own mistakes; people learn only by error.”
• Flannery O’ Conner was a recluse from Milledgeville, Georgia (even though her bio says Savannah).
• Does this raise other points you’d share as a comment to this blog? I’d really like to hear other thoughts. Pardon me. My egalitarian sensibilities are showing.

Once again, I suppose the debate goes back to “art is in the eye of the beholder.” Unless we’re writing for monetary gain (in which case get an MFA), the reward from our creative pursuits may be the personal satisfaction in quelling the need for self expression.

Welcome, 2012!

By Ginny Padgett

I’m sure it’s been a busy holiday season for you, no matter your religious persuasion. Holidays have an underlying benefit that may not be readily perceived or not often considered. Holidays force us to change up our routines, to see family and friends that may not be in our daily loop, to decorate our homes for the season and temporarily change our surroundings. At this time of year we may reassess our priorities and make resolutions to improve ourselves during the year ahead.

And here is my point. I challenge myself and you to give ourselves permission to luxuriate in writing every day. When I say, “write,” I mean the entire creative process – not just the act of putting words on paper. Sometimes when I write, it looks like I’m sleeping. I could be thinking about what my characters will do next or a plot twist, or maybe just listening to them talk. I am frequently surprised by what they say. This quiet attention helps me know them better.

We have hectic lives with many demands. In the day-to-day melee, I’m guilty of letting my writing slip to the bottom of the to-do list. Right here, right now, I am saying that I’ll keep my writing current in 2012. I’m telling you in hopes you’ll hold me accountable, and I’m asking you to join me in this pact.

The Power of the Written Word

By Ginny Padgett

Last week I attended my mother's family's Christmas get-together. There are six siblings; their parents have been gone for over 35 years. This year their number was down by one very important member. Their baby brother lost his battle with brain cancer earlier this year.

Before the meal, my mother read a story she had written about an incident from their childhood. As I looked around the room while my mother read, her sister and brothers nodded in agreement and interrupted once or twice with exclamations of veracity. Their rapt attention told me they had been transported to another time and place.

Applause and lots of hearty thanks punctuated the conclusion of my mother's reading. When she said she had copies for her siblings, they were delighted. Hers was a gift that was the right size, color, and appreciated in a different way by each recipient.

We write, write, write to perfect our craft...to reach our goal of publication...to have an impact on the world. This experience reminded me that all writing matters, not the size of your audience.

2011 SCWW Conference Review: My Perspective

By Ginny Padgett

October 21-23, 2011 was the date of the 21st annual SCWW Writers’ Conference. As SCWW President, Conference Co-Chair and conference volunteer, I have a behind-the-scenes perspective on the conference.

As the conference ended on Sunday, I heard enough feedback to say with reasonable certainty that it was a good one. Many conference goers told me that this year's was one of the best, citing our excellent faculty. We have Carrie McCullough, Conference Chair, to thank for that - along with just about every other detail pertaining to planning this event.

The conference wouldn’t have been as successful without the efforts of Kia Goins, Conference Co-Chair, and Kim Blum-Hyclak, Silent Auction Chair. They worked like Trojans to make Conference 2011 an enjoyable, informative, seamless and financially-viable endeavor.

Then there are the 20 volunteers that gave up a good portion of their conference time to insure that attendees and faculty were comfortable and on time to their specific sessions and appointments. This was accomplished with smiles and enthusiasm. In addition, there were many unnoticed chores shouldered by these members.

After the last session on Sunday morning, a 19-year-old man stopped to pass on his thanks to SCWW and our annual conferences. He said he had been attending them since he was 15 years old and owed his writing career to SCWW.

Later, I asked an attendee as she was leaving if she'd enjoyed her weekend. She paused at the door, placed a hand over her heart and with a blissful expression sighed, “I have been inspired.”

Here’s a quote from an email I received Monday morning following the conference. “I sat beside a writer from NY Saturday night and I asked him how he discovered our conference. He found it online, a site that reviewed conferences in the USA and ours was listed as NUMBER ONE!”

Also, I spoke with an attendee the next day who said, “I am busy putting to work some of the things I learned this past weekend. I expect better results than I’ve had.”

And lastly, I received this email from Sorche Fairbank of Fairbank Literary and 2011 faculty member.

I want to extend a quick and heartfelt thanks once again for inviting me to be a part of your conference. I participate in six to eight conferences each year , and while I almost always enjoy them and find them worthwhile, it's been a long time since I've been to one that left this much of an impression on me. It was top notch all around, both for presenters and for attendees. Truly, not many conferences have such heart and soul, professionalism, and value. Your selection of speakers/agents/faculty was fabulous (even I left energized!), the attendees were open to suggestions and very eager to learn, there was a feeling of respect and excitement over being in the world of books and writing -- and none or very little of the doom and gloom that is present at so many conferences.

So from my perspective, the 2011 SCWW Writers’ Conference was a brilliant success.

The Devil’s in the Details

By Ginny Padgett

I’ve never understood that adage, “The Devil’s in the details.” I think details are important, especially in fiction writing. When an author enters into an unspoken contract with her reader to suspend belief while engaged with her story, she should reciprocate with verifiable details (or in the case of fantasy, consistent details) to transform imagination into reality.

I am reading Scott Turow’s, Burden of Proof. Early on in this long novel, he tells us about a woman who has recently worked in her garden (100 or so miles west of Chicago) in early spring to tidy up the gladiola foliage left behind from last summer’s growth. It ruined the entire story for me because gladiolas totally die back by fall, even here in the much warmer climate of Columbia, SC.

This made me distrust the entire world Turow created, much of which revolves around trading futures on the stock exchanges, resulting grand jury proceedings and the pursuant court case. The plot is framed on the inner workings of financial markets and legal maneuverings, and if I’m going to slog through these specifics, I want them to be accurate.

Turow broke the contract between him and me. I think less of him because he seemed to think I wouldn’t notice that he didn’t do his homework when he added details to develop this character. The growing season of gladiolas is a minor detail in this book of 515 pages, but it was enough for me to reclaim my suspended belief.

I guess that’s how I came to be known as the “detail person” in our critique group. Maybe it’s my training in journalism that makes getting the facts right so important to me, or maybe it’s just my personality. In any case, I think, “Successful fiction writing is in the details.” I challenge you to get them right. Does that make me the Devil?

A Man and His Passion

By Ginny Padgett

Recently HBO aired a remake of Mildred Pierce as a mini-series, starring Kate Winslet. Many of you will recall the 1945 Joan Crawford version. During the credits I noticed the movie was based on a novel. Since I had mistakenly thought this script came from an original screenplay, I was curious about the author of the original work. Quick research yielded more surprises.

James M. Cain, the author of Mildred Pierce, (the first ever block-buster novel) wrote several other novels that were made into big movies: The Postman Always Rings Twice, Double Indemnity, and Serenade. In addition, I found a collection of his short stories entitled The Baby in the Icebox and Other Short Fiction, which I checked out from the library.

His introduction to this book of short stories was more interesting to me than his fiction. His father was president of Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. The younger Cain graduated from that college at seventeen, after which he spent the next four years drifting from one job to another, including teaching grammar at his alma mater. One day in 1914, “out of the blue…he heard his own voice say: ‘You’re going to be a writer.’”

He was not successful at first, but he was committed and kept writing. He enlisted in WW I, came home and spent three years as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun, and began to work on his first novel. After three drafts, he threw them all away. While he was writing a column for the “Metropolitan” section of the Sunday World, his short works were published in the Atlantic Monthly, the Nation, the American Mercury, the Bookman, and the Saturday Evening Post. When the World folded, Cain went to the New Yorker magazine where he was very unhappy.

Upon the advice of his agent, he accepted a job as a screenwriter at Paramount Studios and moved to California. He was let go after six months: another failure. However, he decided to stay on the west coast and try to make it as a free-lance writer.

He found his voice and his characters in California, and he enjoyed his highest success as a novelist during the 1930s and ‘40s. Eventually, his work fell out of favor with the public and critics. He moved back to Maryland in 1953 and wrote twelve more novels – but only five were published before his death in 1977.

James M. Cain is my new hero because he never stopped writing, even when it became unprofitable. He felt that “those who can write must write.” I’ve adopted this as my personal motto. In addition, his experiences speak volumes to me about determination and passion.

I leave you with his quote about the practice of writing, recorded during the time he was working on his memoirs just before he died. “It excites me and possesses me. I have no sense of it possessing me any less today than it did fifty years ago.”

A Writer’s Holiday Gift

By Ginny Padgett

Even though I consider myself a veteran writer, I have just been published for the first time under my own name in the Petigru Review, SCWW’s literary journal. So I guess, technically, I am considered a newbie in the writing/publishing game. I use the word, “game,” as euphuism for an artless business driven by the greed for cold cash.

I attended my first writers’ conference in October, and this is my ‘Aha Moment:’ I may be writing in the wrong genre. How can I tell? The answer seems to me that no one has yet bought what I have previously written. The story snippets I heard during a slush-pile session made me realize I may not be a story teller. Perhaps I’m more of an observer/reporter. Whatever the designation, I claimed myself a writer. Discovering my self confidence was worth the price of the conference registration.

Recently Janie Kronk sent out some words of wisdom to our chapter email group from a writer who knows his stuff. Probably most of you have seen this, but this is my holiday gift to those reading our blog and wondering if they are writers, if they could be writers, if they should try to be writers. We can all use the encouragement and inspiration all year long. Happy Holidays!

Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through. - Ira Glas

Mr. Peanut: A Book Review

By Ginny Padgett

I must say Adam Ross’s Mr. Peanut goes against all the advice from experts we aspiring writers hear for crafting a first-time novel, and I am hopping mad. I want to know who Ross had to sleep with to get this trash to market and reviewed by the New York Times.

Here’s the list of some of the transgressions I noticed:

• Two stories told side-by-side and then too conveniently dovetailed by an unbelievable turn of events. (The implausible storyline includes Dr. Sam Shepherd, whose wife was murdered, a real case from 1954. He was convicted for the crime, went to jail for ten years and was then released, all the while maintaining his innocence. In Mr. Peanut, when released from prison, Shepherd becomes a police detective and is assigned to investigate the suicide, or possible murder, of the wife of David Pepin, one of Ross’s main characters. The Shepherd and Pepin murder stories are juxtaposed for our enlightenment or entertainment.)
• Rambling descriptions of Hawaiian terrain, climbing a mountain, convoluted feelings, etc., go on for pages and halt the forward progress of both stories.
• A flashback at the end of the novel that sheds no insight into characters or events is so lengthy it becomes a mini-chapter…just hanging there.
• The Mobius strip, a mathematical object of optical illusion, is mentioned ad nauseam as an element in works of art; is the basis of one of David Pepin’s video games he is developing for a flourishing market; and is the name of the private detective hired by Mr. Pepin. I enjoy symbolism, but this use struck me as overkill. In addition, Mr. Peanut, the Planter’s Nuts icon, and the actual nut also carry significant weight as symbols throughout both stories. I felt like I was being hit over the head with the hammer of Mr. Ross’s less than subtle images.

On top of all these annoyances, this is the most misogynistic piece of ‘literature’ I have ever read. If one is to suspend belief to buy into this story, the reality is all men fantasize, dream, plot, and sometimes carry out the murder of their wives.

The New York Times reviewer wrote this about Mr. Peanut, “…story that reads like a postmodern mash-up of Tolstoy’s Kreutzer Sonata, Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and one of James M. Cain’s noirish mysteries.

How can this “…dark, dazzling and deeply flawed novel that announces the debut of an enormously talented writer” get published? Maybe I could understand it better if this were the fourth or fifth book from an established author.

Mr. Peanut seems to prove my theory that all you need to become a successfully published, well regarded, best-selling author is a good publicist. I regret I wasted my time reading this collection of words. I hope Adam Ross will renew his prescription for ADD medication before he attempts another book.

Why Write, Indeed?

By Ginny Padgett

This blog spot is a great resource for aspiring writers, full of good counsel and information. Today I’d like to share a different kind of advice that has been balm to my frayed creative nerves. The source is Dan Albergotti, one of the submission judges for the 2007 Petigru Review. I hope this will bring you the sigh of relief I heaved when I read this.

Albergotti observes, “To present your own writing for the world’s judgment is…an act of courage…The only true gauge of you work lies in your own mind and heart. And if you give too much credence to publication and awards as indicators of your artistic achievement, you risk squelching that one true measure – that critic inside yourself who really knows the score.”

He goes on to cite an essay, “Why Write?” (The Cincinnati Review, 2.1, Spring, 2005), written by his teacher and mentor, Alan Shapiro. “Recognition through publication and awards is ‘like cotton candy: It looks ample enough until you put in your mouth, then it evaporates. All taste and no nourishment.’(106)”

Alborgetti cautions the aspiring writer about the danger of being too critical of her work. Again, this part really spoke to me regarding my sense of failing at my chosen art. “Do not succumb to that sense of failure. It is a natural feeling, but it is not true. If you ignore it – if you continue to write regardless of publication or public approbation or immediate personal satisfaction – you will not be failing. That ‘deepening sense of failure’ is what success feels like.”

Bless you, Dan Albergotti! These words helped put my fingers back on the keyboard and, in some strange way, gave me the courage to submit my work for publication again.

I want to leave you with this amazing fact. In her lifetime, Emily Dickinson saw only TEN of her 1600+ poems published. Write on, my friends.

Literary Impotence

By Ginny Padgett

I have an embarrassing condition…submission anxiety.

I revealed my secret to a couple of my fellow workshoppers, and they seemed amazed. “That’s silly,” one said. “You NEED to have at least 1,000 rejection slips before you can consider yourself a real writer.” “Just do it!” was the advice of another. “How can you read a sex scene aloud to us and be too shy to send a submission for publication consideration?”

Perhaps this is a silly situation. I am fairly confident in my wordsmith skills, in my ability to create realistic characters and vivid settings, and in making transitions for a good flow.

On the other hand, I get bogged down in descriptions, too much detail, and backstory dump. These stumbling blocks derail the progress of my story. Herein lies the crux of my writing dilemma, I think. Could my focus on the craft of writing be covering up the fact that I haven’t found the story I need to tell? Or maybe I have and haven’t found the magic balance of theme, plot, story line, character, and setting. I may need one of Shakespeare’s witches with bubbling cauldron to make this divination, or…

Should I follow Dr. Faustus’ Plan for Success?
Would a 12-step program help?
Talk therapy?
Keep writing and buy stamps and manila envelopes?

I know which option is the only answer, but I wish there were an easier way to overcome my literary impotence, brought on by submission anxiety and writer’s block (Yes, I suffer from that one, too!). Aaah…if only there were a little blue pill to painlessly pump up my inept ramblings and push them out as published works.

Is It Art Yet?

By Ginny Padgett

Recently I saw a docu-drama based on the life of Georgia O’Keefe. Her Svengali cum husband, Alfred Stieglitz, delivered a line that stopped the action for me, complete with bells and red flags. He said, “It’s not art until someone rich pays a lot of money for it.” Of course this line was said tongue in cheek, but it started me thinking.

My thoughts went to writing and publishing. Is the same true with the literary arts? I was still mulling over this question when a week or so later at our workshop there was a discussion about this very subject.

The conversation went like this. Some modern writers have become millionaires from their book sales, but some of these books are like potato chips…not good for you but you can’t put them down. On the other hand Mayo mentioned he was reading Lolita. Although he found the subject matter distasteful, he relished the beauty of the written word and envied Nabokov’s mastery.

Of course, art, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. But after giving this is-it-art question some thought and listening to others, here’s where I stand.

I believe art happens when one has an idea that is meaningful to him and strives to convey the impact of that thought or feeling through his chosen medium. I also believe that when one creates art, our collective consciousness is enhanced, elevated, edified. Furthermore, when one practices his art in community with others, like we do at workshop, I believe we inspire each other, and our experience is greater than the sum of our parts. Because of this experience, we don’t need a multi-million dollar contract or even to be published in a small literary magazine to consider what we do as art.

I think this a high calling to which we have responded. We ply our art without an eye to a generous benefactor. We write because we love it; we have a point to make; we have something we want to get off our chests. For whatever reason, we use words as painters use colors on canvases. Perhaps there is no better art than the pursuit of it. So write on, comrades in ink. Let’s make some art!