Betsy Amster at Willamette Writers Meeting May 1st

Next week is the monthly meeting of the Portland chapter of Willamette Writers. On May 1st, Betsy Amster, editor and literary agent, will be speaking. I've been told by two author-editors that this is a presentation not to be missed.

From the Willamette Writers announcement and website:

Betsy Amster is president of Betsy Amster Literary Enterprises, a literary agency in Portland. Before opening her agency in 1992, she spent ten years as an editor at Pantheon and Vintage. She has been described in the Los Angeles Times as "a dogged prospector of�literary talent" and celebrated in the American Society of Journalists and Authors newsletter for her "no-nonsense style and whimsical sense of humor." Her clients include Dr. Wendy Mogel, author of the New York Times bestseller "The Blessing of a Skinned Knee" (Scribner); Mary Higgins Clark Award winner Sandi Ault, author of "Wild Indigo" (Berkley Prime Crime); MacArthur fellow and urban farmer Will Allen, author of "The Good Food Revolution" (forthcoming from Gotham); Portland pastry chef Kim Boyce, author of "Good to the Grain" (Stewart, Tabori & Chang); and many other writers.

All Portland meetings are held at the Old Church, SW 11th and Clay (1422 SW 11th). Doors open at 6:30 pm; the speaker or panel starts at 7 pm. Meetings are free to members of Willamette Writers and students; guests of WW members are $5. Non-members pay $10 to attend meetings. Refreshments are served.

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Rejuvenation

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Yes. I needed to be at the coast. I need to be at the coast more often.

Last week someone asked me how often I needed to be at the coast. My answer was that I didn't know, but plan to find out.

It was relaxing. Restorative. I slept and read and went online and walked, walked more, walked more at one time than I've been able to do for a while for one reason or another. And slept and sat and watched the water.

I came home last night ready to face the week. Ready to face another round of appointments and jump back into writing and asking for help instead of digging out my Wonder Woman cape again.

There are a lot of pictures I uploaded to Facebook. This is just one. One of my favorites. It was nearing sunset on the second night and it shows the Twin Rocks well, the sky, the water. It's mystical and magical. And it makes me happy to look at it.

More to come.

Today I ordered "The Mindful Writer: Noble Truths of the Writing Life," by Dinty Moore. I ran across it in a magazine I bought while I was at the coast and it looked perfect for right now. I'm looking forward to getting it.

I also ordered a Feng Shui "Good Health" jade charm thingy.

Writing and health and possibility.

I will be back at the coast with my partner in mid-May. And I may also have a day trip with a friend to the coast in May.

I think I've been missing the beach.

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Re-charge Just Ahead

Tolovana Beach 4/14/12 by Dot


Last Saturday I dragged myself to the beach. I know: poor me. Right? But I almost didn't go. I had a list of excuses why I shouldn't go and the cost of gas was only one. I dismissed each excuse as it came up and took myself by my lapels and forced myself into the car and headed to the sand and water and, surprisingly, very little wind.

It was perfect. I needed to be there. I needed the walk on the beach. I didn't really need to few blisters on my feet - but they will heal; they're small. And  they appeared after walking an hour on the sunny beach and wading in the water; no problem.

The air was clean. The ocean and the seagulls masked other sounds. The sun was not too bright, the wind was just enough to keep everything fresh, and the water in the air and around my feet refreshing.

And on Friday, I get to do it again. Except this time I will be staying for a couple of days. Just me. At the beach. In a little part of a house I'm renting which has a full frontal ocean view with nothing but dune grass and sand between me and the water. And a fire pit I think.

Me and the second half of Stephen King's "11/22/63", my laptop, a bottle of wine, some good food from New Seasons and/or Trader Joe's. I'll sleep and write and read and sleep some more. And sleep. Lots of sleep. If I get more nice weather, I'll walk on the beach. "Nice weather" doesn't mean a total lack of moisture in the air - it just means not heavy winds or rain. Drizzles and breezes are allowed; I'll have my rain coat and a couple of changes of clothes.

Recharge. That's what I'll do. It's been a bumpy couple of weeks and tomorrow night I'm interpreting the world premiere of a stage adaptation of "Anna Karenina." One of my characters is Anna. Three days and two nights at the beach.

Prescription for Writers

Okay. So some people might think, huh? What is this?

I guess I shouldn't call it a prescription because I am in no way a medical provider. But the prescription comes from a medical provider.

One thing that I would say all writers have in common is that we do a lot of sitting. Maybe no more than the average person (whoever that may be, I know, the "average" person is a mythical standard we're all held to). But we do at least our fair share of sitting. Or most of us. I'd love to see some creative ways writers deal with the sitting.

Elevated desks. Hydraulic desks which can be raised and lowered as desired or needed, from sitting level to standing level to fit ball level to, whatever. Or voice to text software which lets you walk and write your novel at the same time.

But, in general, I'd say that writers sit a lot.

So - this video is for us. It's not just for writers, of course. Receptioninsts. bankers, tax accountants, telemarketers, video relay interpreters, and so on. For anyone who sits a lot, really.

I really like this video - in style, information presented, attitude, and method. Good information.



. And I love the 23 1/2 hours.... Yes.
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Hours Turn to Days Turn to a Week

So here I am one day short of a week since my last post. I hadn't noticed. It was an intense week in an emotional kind of way. Also a crossroads for a health decision, as a result of the incident last fall; and the consulted specialist's recommendation is not what I was originally told nor what I hoped.

Then this morning I showed up somewhere and bumped into someone I haven't seen for a couple or three weeks. He commented that he's been checking in here and following my writing. Except that I haven't been writing much recently.

And I said, true, I haven't posted here. But I have been writing.

See, he and I had a long, nice conversation a couple of months ago. About writing and life and experience and knowledge.

And starting a blog. Setting up a website. Which he wanted to do.

So this gentle man's greeting and noticing brought me back to here.

To writing outside of assignments.

To the space outside of the thoughts and concerns of this week.

And the writing class is now officially over.

Thank you.
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Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

from THe Creative Penn: On the Importance of Persistence

. Tips For Writers: On the Importance of Persistence
by Joanna Penn on April 7, 2012

If you shop in the Amazon bestseller list for Thriller and Mystery (like I do), you’ll see a number of Michael Wallace books there. Michael has several great books with the Amazon thriller imprint, Thomas Mercer, but it hasn’t always been this way. Today he shares some of his journey with us.




The importance of persistence


I could wallpaper a room with rejection letters.

If I printed electronic rejections I could wallpaper two more rooms. Altogether, I have collected more than 1,500 rejection letters from magazines, publishers, and agents. In fact, I’m still collecting rejection letters, even though my indie novels have sold roughly 80,000 copies and I have paired my indie career with a more traditional contract through Amazon’s Thomas Mercer thriller line. My book, The Righteous, has been ranked as high as #5 in the overall store on Amazon UK and as high as #20 in the US. Nevertheless, my agent recently shopped my World War II thriller and while I had some publisher interest, I also had editors give me those dreaded “I like this, but. . .” responses.


...

Click on The Creative Penn title at the top of this post to read the rest of Michael Wallace's journey.
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WOW! Women On Writing Blog: Open Letter to Friends of Authors

Post deleted at oiginal author's request.

Go to WOW if you'd like to read the article and the included letter; worth the click!

A Quick Check-In

I just passed the halfway mark in Ariel's Spring Intensive. And I have managed to post something every day. Some are very rough and short, some have potential for development into submittable stories.

I'm writing every day, as well as giving and getting feedback.

After 12 days I will have a decent momentum which I hope to maintain. I probably won't keep up the same pace due to interpreting a play this month and another one next month. But I think I have a rhythm if I keep it on my radar. Even if the daily pace wanes a bit.

No. There I go again. Even if all I do is a quick write/free write, I must write something every day. which, yes, it will be easier after the May play.

Excitement Isn't Always the Best Measurement of Do-ability

A couple of months ago I learned about an upcoming project. It's related to a couple of my personal and professional interests and I was excited.

I said "Yes, I'd love to be involved!" And so I was.

In the planning stages.

In phone meetings and an in-person meeting.

And then it was getting close to the action time and I was looking at my schedule.

Obsessing on my schedule and trying to figure out how I was going to be able to fit in one more thing.

I was determined.

I wasn't sleeping well.

I wasn't writing much and pushing deadlines when I did.

I was juggling sleep and swimming/walking and writing and, of course, work. Along with the other necessary life aspects: food, laundry, gas in the car, etc.

And trying to figure out my schedule.

Then someone gave me a wake-up call. Someone I talk to weekly but I hadn't told her about the project. The very exciting, time-consuming, far away, how-do-I-add-it-in project. And I told her.

I wasn't deliberately not telling her, it just slipped totally out of my mind when I met with her.

Until last week.

Oops.

So we talked.

I thought about it.

I looked at my schedule.

And I knew that I let my excitement decide that I could do this. I want to do it and that's good. But I can't.

I was able to find a replacement and will still do some consulting. I will be there on opening night and closing night.

But I needed to back out. So I did.

Tonight I'm finding that my anxiety has disappeared. I'm more relaxed. I finished my Intensive Workshop writing assignment before the last minute and even got my feedback to other writers done.

And I'm breathing easier.

I can support the project without being in a whirlwind of impossible timelines.

Yesterday I had to let go to take care of me.

And today I know that was the best decision. .