Hello,
I’m going to blog this one in a few paragraphs I hope and not because I don’t have enough to say (for some of you I have too much) but because I it’s about what I write, have written and is working on now.
I talk-write-about writing so you may ask, “Okay then, what have you written other than shopping lists? Since you have so much to say on the writing life.”
I do have a list of projects I’ve written believe me; I didn’t say all of them were Hemingwayesk, but they were written, then rewritten, rewritten, rewritten….I started off more than twenty years now beginning with short stories; one of them was titled, Never Eat a Dead Lobster, which was part comedy and part action/adventure story, a fun read if I say so myself. I wrote all kinds of short stories from humorous, to crime, to horror. The lobster story was even accepted for publication by a now defunct magazine I can’t remember the name of though I kept the acceptance letter for years.
I gave in to the need to jump from short stories to novels for two reasons: first my short stories were getting longer and secondly, those long short stories were getting to be mostly about crime and mystery with action tossed in. My first full length novel was called White God and I mentioned it in my first blog. It’s the story about DEA agent Jack Abrams who’s sent to the jungles of Peru to bring back his former partner Elvy Wyatt who’d been exiled there. Wyatt does a Captain Kurtz (Apocalypse Now) among Peruvian cocoa leaves growers. This novel was all action and adventure that included traitorous agents sent to kill, a terrifying jungle, crazed drug lords, chases and shoot-outs; it was so much fun to write and to read even now, though I find a thousand things that I can improve in the novel I couldn’t see as a beginning writer all those years ago. After White God I wrote a novel introducing a Boston police detective. Both novels and all the stories I’ve written for that matter, involve a lot of research which I do enjoy and it of course makes the work immediate, real, just better so no story can really do without it these days or at any time I believe.
Now, I’m writing the second novel in a mystery/crime trilogy featuring New York City detective Owen Story. The first novel is titled White God and the second is titled Beyond the End. I wrote a short story that featured Owen that appeared in the on-line magazine 3rd Degree.
Have I had any of my projects officially published so that if you by any chance wanted to could go out and buy it at Barnes and Nobles? One answer: no, you can’t. A better answer; I keep trying to get them published (never give up) and I could self-publish: the best answer; I keep writing what I love regardless of it all because I love the characters and stories I’ve created. I don’t wake up at 4:00 a.m. for nothing I do it because for an hour I can fall into that magical hole of a life that is Detective Owen Story’s world that’s full of adventure, trials, tribulations, interesting and outrageous situations, death-defying feats, mind-blowing circumstances in his world so far removed from my everyday world (thank goodness) but it's one I created, it’s the one thing I can do and I wouldn’t give it up. I feel terrifically blessed to be able to write for myself sometimes it’s all I can ask for.
If you have any thing you would like to tell me or ask, I’ll really appreciate it so please e-mail me at my new e-mail address: matwrite1@hotmail.com.
Until the next time God willing,
Lori
Friday, September 29, 2006
Friday, September 22, 2006
Hello,
When you need to write, write, whenever and wherever you can.
I woke at 4:00 a.m. to write and so did Dan Brown of The-You-Know-What so I’m in good company. As a matter of fact at his official website: www.danbrown.com, he is quoted as saying “If I'm not at my desk by 4:00 A.M., I feel like I'm missing my most productive hours”. We’re all grateful he’s so productive, it eventually creates great reading for us, for me though, I feel tired at this time yet I know it’s the best time for me too. So I sit on the couch with the house silent except for the house sounds and I manage a page and half before its time to exercise, get the kids up and get on with the rest of my day.
To find the time—no--make the time to write, so that we create a work of physical heft, something of weight that can be read from top to bottom, paged through, used as a door stop if need be, content whatever you want, believe in, know (don’t know) love can be a tremendous undertaking in itself. As ninety-seven percent of us writers know becoming a full-time writer is not just a dream, but a fantasy and is the world of only three percent of published writers and we know who they are, yet even for full-time writer’s; life, dare I say it? Gets in the way and has to be attended to so you work the writing into your real life. J.K.Rowling at her official website: www.jkrowling.com was asked, “How many hours a day do you spend writing?” Ms. Rowling replied, “Anything from ten minutes (with a new baby…) to ten hours.” Those ten minutes can be all we’ll get to write that scene, flesh out the new character, it sometimes can be enough and in Ms. Rowling’s case, her ten minutes add up to great books.
So you’ll take that ten minutes to write and for me it can be while my kid is going over his spelling list or taking down a character note while I’m waiting at a red light. Sometimes I get more than ten minutes, an hour after I’ve done all my projects at work, twenty minutes to scribble a paragraph while my kids play ball in the park, write anywhere and everywhere. And writing is not just the physical act of putting pen to paper writing is also the thinking process, mind-mulling-process, ruminating that you must find the time to do and it’s just as important as putting pen to paper or fingers to computer keys. T.C. Boyle writer of Talk Talk at www.tcboyle.com puts it beautifully on his April 25, 2006 news posting, “The news is that I haven't yet begun the new novel. I'm still creeping through the indecipherable notes, brooding, tugging at my beard, awaiting the propitious moment and the infusion of my brain and soul with the radiant light of conception.”
Mary Higgins Clark said it pretty well: “When my children were young, I used to get up at five and write at the kitchen table until seven, when I had to get them ready for school. For me writing is a need.” It’s like that for us too, I know it is, so write whenever you can, make the time, five minutes, fifteen hours, find it, create it, steal it, just do it, feed that need—write.
If you’ll like to comment, I look forward to it or would like to e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail.com.
See you next time God willing,
Lori
When you need to write, write, whenever and wherever you can.
I woke at 4:00 a.m. to write and so did Dan Brown of The-You-Know-What so I’m in good company. As a matter of fact at his official website: www.danbrown.com, he is quoted as saying “If I'm not at my desk by 4:00 A.M., I feel like I'm missing my most productive hours”. We’re all grateful he’s so productive, it eventually creates great reading for us, for me though, I feel tired at this time yet I know it’s the best time for me too. So I sit on the couch with the house silent except for the house sounds and I manage a page and half before its time to exercise, get the kids up and get on with the rest of my day.
To find the time—no--make the time to write, so that we create a work of physical heft, something of weight that can be read from top to bottom, paged through, used as a door stop if need be, content whatever you want, believe in, know (don’t know) love can be a tremendous undertaking in itself. As ninety-seven percent of us writers know becoming a full-time writer is not just a dream, but a fantasy and is the world of only three percent of published writers and we know who they are, yet even for full-time writer’s; life, dare I say it? Gets in the way and has to be attended to so you work the writing into your real life. J.K.Rowling at her official website: www.jkrowling.com was asked, “How many hours a day do you spend writing?” Ms. Rowling replied, “Anything from ten minutes (with a new baby…) to ten hours.” Those ten minutes can be all we’ll get to write that scene, flesh out the new character, it sometimes can be enough and in Ms. Rowling’s case, her ten minutes add up to great books.
So you’ll take that ten minutes to write and for me it can be while my kid is going over his spelling list or taking down a character note while I’m waiting at a red light. Sometimes I get more than ten minutes, an hour after I’ve done all my projects at work, twenty minutes to scribble a paragraph while my kids play ball in the park, write anywhere and everywhere. And writing is not just the physical act of putting pen to paper writing is also the thinking process, mind-mulling-process, ruminating that you must find the time to do and it’s just as important as putting pen to paper or fingers to computer keys. T.C. Boyle writer of Talk Talk at www.tcboyle.com puts it beautifully on his April 25, 2006 news posting, “The news is that I haven't yet begun the new novel. I'm still creeping through the indecipherable notes, brooding, tugging at my beard, awaiting the propitious moment and the infusion of my brain and soul with the radiant light of conception.”
Mary Higgins Clark said it pretty well: “When my children were young, I used to get up at five and write at the kitchen table until seven, when I had to get them ready for school. For me writing is a need.” It’s like that for us too, I know it is, so write whenever you can, make the time, five minutes, fifteen hours, find it, create it, steal it, just do it, feed that need—write.
If you’ll like to comment, I look forward to it or would like to e-mail me at: matwrite1@hotmail.com.
See you next time God willing,
Lori
Friday, September 15, 2006
Hello,
To write what you don’t know is essential for most writers, a joy and a pleasure it makes us get up at 4:00 in the morning to put pen to paper, but to write what you don’t know takes one essential ingredient and for me (you as well) is research and a lot of it. Research I can’t do without, it’s the bricks and mortar, the foundation that I build the beautiful, mysterious and sometimes bizarre-house-of-a-story upon.
I believe that to tell a great story today, research makes that possible, its sixty percent of the pie, twenty percent is having a wonderful story and the other twenty is being a great storyteller. Not only is research unavoidable, you can make doing it easier by welcoming it into your writing because it only aids in giving your story “believability” and real life, the hall marks of a story the reader cannot stop reading. We love a well meticulously researched story don’t we? Think Michael Crichtonhttp://www.crichton-official.com/ one of the best writers/researchers, whose novels consistently make the New York Time bestseller’s list. When reading his work for instance, Jurassic Park, the information that he presents is so viable at its scientific level it’s without a doubt the bedrock of the story that it makes you believe creating a dinosaur is so easy, we loved him for it and kept reading because he then tossed in his storyteller hat and gave us rampaging dinosaurs, children in peril and death defying rescues. Or think Brad Metzler http://www.bradmeltzer.com/ the author of The Tenth Justice. I listened to an interview Mr. Metzler did on http://www.npr.org/ regarding the research he compiled for his newest novel The Book of Fate. Mr. Metzler’s book features a former president, so not only did he interview a former president, George H. W. Bush, he shadowed him, watched him live his life after being the leader of the free world so that he could make sure his character in his novel was not only believable but real; now that’s doing research.
I enjoy research because I find that people can be very helpful, want to be helpful, especially police departments. When I began researching my novel You Don’t Know Me, I had to learn about the New York City Police Department http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/nypd/home.html. The department has a very good website that lists its information, profiles of each bureau, the commissioners and even crime statistics and when I found I needed more information I contacted their Public Information service out of the office of the Deputy Commissioner and they are wonderful at answering questions or leading you to where you can get the answers you need.
Nothing of course beats a great story in itself but I don’t think any deeply developed story, a winning story, can be complete without a fair amount of research even a personal one about your dentist you’re going to describe the dentist office, the magazines he has scattered in the waiting room, the sounds of the drills, the smell of Novocain, when you add as much “real” as you can to a story the easier it is for the reader to relate to it and the characters. As readers, most times, we love the details it makes us fall into the world you’re creating and hopefully fall in love with your writing for a lifetime. If you want to e-mail me on Writing, please do at shabazzlm@hotmail.com.
See you next weekGod willing,
Lori
To write what you don’t know is essential for most writers, a joy and a pleasure it makes us get up at 4:00 in the morning to put pen to paper, but to write what you don’t know takes one essential ingredient and for me (you as well) is research and a lot of it. Research I can’t do without, it’s the bricks and mortar, the foundation that I build the beautiful, mysterious and sometimes bizarre-house-of-a-story upon.
I believe that to tell a great story today, research makes that possible, its sixty percent of the pie, twenty percent is having a wonderful story and the other twenty is being a great storyteller. Not only is research unavoidable, you can make doing it easier by welcoming it into your writing because it only aids in giving your story “believability” and real life, the hall marks of a story the reader cannot stop reading. We love a well meticulously researched story don’t we? Think Michael Crichtonhttp://www.crichton-official.com/ one of the best writers/researchers, whose novels consistently make the New York Time bestseller’s list. When reading his work for instance, Jurassic Park, the information that he presents is so viable at its scientific level it’s without a doubt the bedrock of the story that it makes you believe creating a dinosaur is so easy, we loved him for it and kept reading because he then tossed in his storyteller hat and gave us rampaging dinosaurs, children in peril and death defying rescues. Or think Brad Metzler http://www.bradmeltzer.com/ the author of The Tenth Justice. I listened to an interview Mr. Metzler did on http://www.npr.org/ regarding the research he compiled for his newest novel The Book of Fate. Mr. Metzler’s book features a former president, so not only did he interview a former president, George H. W. Bush, he shadowed him, watched him live his life after being the leader of the free world so that he could make sure his character in his novel was not only believable but real; now that’s doing research.
I enjoy research because I find that people can be very helpful, want to be helpful, especially police departments. When I began researching my novel You Don’t Know Me, I had to learn about the New York City Police Department http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/nypd/home.html. The department has a very good website that lists its information, profiles of each bureau, the commissioners and even crime statistics and when I found I needed more information I contacted their Public Information service out of the office of the Deputy Commissioner and they are wonderful at answering questions or leading you to where you can get the answers you need.
Nothing of course beats a great story in itself but I don’t think any deeply developed story, a winning story, can be complete without a fair amount of research even a personal one about your dentist you’re going to describe the dentist office, the magazines he has scattered in the waiting room, the sounds of the drills, the smell of Novocain, when you add as much “real” as you can to a story the easier it is for the reader to relate to it and the characters. As readers, most times, we love the details it makes us fall into the world you’re creating and hopefully fall in love with your writing for a lifetime. If you want to e-mail me on Writing, please do at shabazzlm@hotmail.com.
See you next weekGod willing,
Lori
Friday, September 08, 2006
Write what you Know? Don’t You Dare.
If I wrote what I know, I’d never read what I’d written, it would be boring What I know is boring: how to put together an entertainment center: use a good set of pliers. How to set up a screenplay: use Final Draft. That Meryl Streep is a great actress: watch her movies. That Toni Morrison is an awesome writer: read. Some of the things I know.
What I don’t know and for the most part (for some of them) I don’t want to ever know but I’m eager to imagine and write about: how long it takes to dig a hole to bury a body in the winter’s old dirt of the Minnesota woods. What its like to ride in an armored car full of money; terrifying you think? How long does it take for the Macy’s Day parade to end? What it’s like being a spy. What it’s like living in New York City. What it feels like to almost drown in a lake or even in your own home; the living room for example. What its like being a DEA agent and going on a raid. What it’s like being a man. How many homicide detectives are assigned to a New York precinct house?
The list can go on for miles but the thing each has in common is that they’re not boring; at least not to me. They get my blood flowing. They put the ink on the yellow legal pad one page at a time, hopefully. I can’t imagine writing what I know, it takes no imagination to put together the place where my television will sit, but it takes great and colorful megawatts of brain power, a kaleidoscope of thoughts, suppositions, questions, what ifs, anything goes, nothing can’t be done, try this out, find this out, go for it, let it flow, just write it—a great big world-chewing-imagination to write what I love which is the stuff I don’t know. There is no other way for me; thank goodness
If you would like to give me your take on Writing please e-mail me at: shabazzlm@hotmail.com
Until next time,
Lori
If I wrote what I know, I’d never read what I’d written, it would be boring What I know is boring: how to put together an entertainment center: use a good set of pliers. How to set up a screenplay: use Final Draft. That Meryl Streep is a great actress: watch her movies. That Toni Morrison is an awesome writer: read. Some of the things I know.
What I don’t know and for the most part (for some of them) I don’t want to ever know but I’m eager to imagine and write about: how long it takes to dig a hole to bury a body in the winter’s old dirt of the Minnesota woods. What its like to ride in an armored car full of money; terrifying you think? How long does it take for the Macy’s Day parade to end? What it’s like being a spy. What it’s like living in New York City. What it feels like to almost drown in a lake or even in your own home; the living room for example. What its like being a DEA agent and going on a raid. What it’s like being a man. How many homicide detectives are assigned to a New York precinct house?
The list can go on for miles but the thing each has in common is that they’re not boring; at least not to me. They get my blood flowing. They put the ink on the yellow legal pad one page at a time, hopefully. I can’t imagine writing what I know, it takes no imagination to put together the place where my television will sit, but it takes great and colorful megawatts of brain power, a kaleidoscope of thoughts, suppositions, questions, what ifs, anything goes, nothing can’t be done, try this out, find this out, go for it, let it flow, just write it—a great big world-chewing-imagination to write what I love which is the stuff I don’t know. There is no other way for me; thank goodness
If you would like to give me your take on Writing please e-mail me at: shabazzlm@hotmail.com
Until next time,
Lori
Friday, September 01, 2006
Writer's Conference. Who was There? Who was Not?
Hi,
This pass weekend I attended my first Writer's Conference in two years. It was held in Columbus Ohio and you know, it was nice, better than I expected. The writers, agents and editors were the nicest people which was a surprise to me, as a matter of fact the attendees were so nice, it was commented on. Did I get a lot out of the conference, information I could use when submitting to agents or editors at publishing houses? Yes, I did. Was there the smell of desparation in the air? With a room full of dying-to-be-published writers? Of course. Did I make useful contacts in the business? Possibly; though I believe where the agents and editors are concerned they encourage every writer who consulted with them, who grabbed them in the bathroom or who sat next to them at dinner to take their card and submit their precious baby to them; it's one of the points of the conference after all. You don't get a no from any of them--it'll probably come later--this is understandable, even acceptable, but right then and there as you stand in front of that smiling agent who hands you his card, there's the hope.
So I came away from the conference feeling good about myself and my writing, motivated. Sounds all good right? Yet, there was one fly in the ointment. Just one. This fly, a large fly now that I think about it, was pointed out to me by Lyn Walden an African-American writer of interacial thrillers, as she befriended me during the conference's lunch offering of beef stroganoff and brownies. Ms. Walden pointed out that inspite of the fact that she enjoyed the good speakers and their interesting topics, everyone of them were white and most of the attendees were also with a few African-American faces breaking up the color scheme along with a few other people of Asian ethnicity that could be counted on one hand, two fingers. We discussed the possibilty that the price of the conference--which had gone up from the previous year--wasn't affordable for most people and this is of course a valid point. But what about the speakers, the presenters? Where was their diversity? When you think about it, there are so many agents, editors and pubishers out there who contribute to ethnic diversity by publishing or taking on a diverse list of writers especially in the face of today's small world, it seems backwards not to include those writers, their point of view, their advice, even wisdom at a writer's conference where writers come to confirm they are not alone at any time in the world. As I think about it now I imagine my conference holding a panel featuring Evelina Chao, the Chinese-American novelist and her point of view of getting published and if her background was a help or hindrance. Or a session on How to Promote Your Book by someone such as Colin Channer a writer from Jamaica and the techniques he finds useful depending on his audience or his need to grow an audience.
I know what you're thinking. If attendees of the conference with diverse backgrounds don't go to writer's conferences in the first place, why should you need a diverse group of speakers or presenters? Because 'we are writers ' is my answer. As a writer I want to know everything I possibly can, seeking knowledge is the key and the best knowledge comes from those who are different from me, who have lived a life differnt from mine, who've had wider range of experiences; some I can't imagine, and when I listen to these people tell their stories it's as if my writing muse writes them down and files them away to be pulled out, looked over and possibly use depending on the story "I have to write" when its time for the story to be born.
I can't imagine a better place than a writer's conference to find these different worlds as an encouragement to all writer's, to titilate their need to know and to expand their world of possible stories because isn't this what writing is all about?
Until next time,
Lori
Hi,
This pass weekend I attended my first Writer's Conference in two years. It was held in Columbus Ohio and you know, it was nice, better than I expected. The writers, agents and editors were the nicest people which was a surprise to me, as a matter of fact the attendees were so nice, it was commented on. Did I get a lot out of the conference, information I could use when submitting to agents or editors at publishing houses? Yes, I did. Was there the smell of desparation in the air? With a room full of dying-to-be-published writers? Of course. Did I make useful contacts in the business? Possibly; though I believe where the agents and editors are concerned they encourage every writer who consulted with them, who grabbed them in the bathroom or who sat next to them at dinner to take their card and submit their precious baby to them; it's one of the points of the conference after all. You don't get a no from any of them--it'll probably come later--this is understandable, even acceptable, but right then and there as you stand in front of that smiling agent who hands you his card, there's the hope.
So I came away from the conference feeling good about myself and my writing, motivated. Sounds all good right? Yet, there was one fly in the ointment. Just one. This fly, a large fly now that I think about it, was pointed out to me by Lyn Walden an African-American writer of interacial thrillers, as she befriended me during the conference's lunch offering of beef stroganoff and brownies. Ms. Walden pointed out that inspite of the fact that she enjoyed the good speakers and their interesting topics, everyone of them were white and most of the attendees were also with a few African-American faces breaking up the color scheme along with a few other people of Asian ethnicity that could be counted on one hand, two fingers. We discussed the possibilty that the price of the conference--which had gone up from the previous year--wasn't affordable for most people and this is of course a valid point. But what about the speakers, the presenters? Where was their diversity? When you think about it, there are so many agents, editors and pubishers out there who contribute to ethnic diversity by publishing or taking on a diverse list of writers especially in the face of today's small world, it seems backwards not to include those writers, their point of view, their advice, even wisdom at a writer's conference where writers come to confirm they are not alone at any time in the world. As I think about it now I imagine my conference holding a panel featuring Evelina Chao, the Chinese-American novelist and her point of view of getting published and if her background was a help or hindrance. Or a session on How to Promote Your Book by someone such as Colin Channer a writer from Jamaica and the techniques he finds useful depending on his audience or his need to grow an audience.
I know what you're thinking. If attendees of the conference with diverse backgrounds don't go to writer's conferences in the first place, why should you need a diverse group of speakers or presenters? Because 'we are writers ' is my answer. As a writer I want to know everything I possibly can, seeking knowledge is the key and the best knowledge comes from those who are different from me, who have lived a life differnt from mine, who've had wider range of experiences; some I can't imagine, and when I listen to these people tell their stories it's as if my writing muse writes them down and files them away to be pulled out, looked over and possibly use depending on the story "I have to write" when its time for the story to be born.
I can't imagine a better place than a writer's conference to find these different worlds as an encouragement to all writer's, to titilate their need to know and to expand their world of possible stories because isn't this what writing is all about?
Until next time,
Lori
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)