Our Home, Too by Schim Schimmel

By Kate Phillips

 

        Some writers have writing spaces without windows so they aren't distracted when they work. I cannot write under those conditions.

        My desk does face a wall, but it's next to a window overlooking the lawn and a few trees. I also have a birdfeeder next to an evergreen tree so I can see not only the birds darting to and from the feeder, but those waiting their turns sitting on nearby branches. In a snow storm, the cardinals and chickadees decorate the tree beautifully for the holiday season.

        On the remaining wall space, I have lots of artwork. Mostly framed photos of nature cut from coffee table books or drawings from books I love. I buy second copies of these books, usually used, to cut up so I can enjoy the artwork every day instead of only when I open the books.

I discovered one of my favorite artists, Schim Schimmel, years ago when I stumbled across his notecards in a gift store. They were astonishing nature paintings that juxtaposed water and outer space so you got the feeling that everything is a part of everything else. (Copyrighted artwork so I cannot include pictures with this post.)

My favorite notecard is titled "Arctic Dreams." Three baby seals are lying in the foreground on the ice that seems endless around them. The one in the middle is on its back, flipper in the air almost waving while two adult seals swim in the nearby ragged-edged slash of open water that is painted outer space black complete with the Earth, moon, Saturn, a comet, and a thousand stars. It is, to me, the picture of infinity. When I look at it, I'm transfixed, transported, and entranced.

        While the original costs more than I will be able to afford until I write a best seller, I wanted a larger copy of it. I searched for and found a partially battered used copy of Our Home, Too by Schimmel which includes many of his paintings including my favorite four times larger than the notecard. The original painting is 36" x 54". I think if I owned it, I would fall into it like Alice into Wonderland.

Among many others that I feel drawn to are "Conception" which has a large shaft of sunlight illuminating the water/outer space where nine dolphins are swimming surrounded by stars and "Between Two Worlds" with elephants, giraffes, and a rhino roaming the plains of Africa next to a coral reef complete with Clown fish as whales and dolphins swim above them all.

In the introduction to the book, Schimmel writes: "…I found myself wanting to say something about what we were doing to the planet, show people what we were losing. I began to see that everything on this planet is interrelated, that every action we take has far reaching consequences. The concept of planetary interdependency became the central theme permeating my work."

Schimmel's central theme inspires me. I see things differently—twisted, but in a good way.

 

What art inspires you?

Writers' Memoirs on Solitude by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Dorothy Gilman, and Rick Bass

By Kate Phillips

 

As a reader, I always love finding books that appeal to me. As a writer, I am twice as pleased when the authors also provide Masterclasses for me within their books.

            Masterclasses take place when performance artists or musicians work one-on-one with students. Writers don't generally have this option, but I have found some books to be Masterclasses for characters, dialogue, backstories, plots, settings, voice, and/or creativity.

 

            I don't just love to write, I love to live a writer's life—and read about other writers' lives. We all need solitude to do our work, but how do we find it and where?

 

 

One bestselling example is Gift from the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh, as she wrote:

           

"I began these pages for myself, in order to think out my own particular pattern of living, my own individual balance of life, work and human relationships. And since I think best with a pencil in my hand, I started naturally to write…"

 

Lindbergh transports her readers to a shore they may never have visited, but can picture perfectly. Collecting seashells—Channeled Whelk, Moon Shell, Double-Sunrise—and her thoughts, she shares insights she could not have had so easily at home with her five children and busy social life married to the famous Charles Lindbergh.

 

 

Dorothy Gilman also traveled away from her home to write. Sometimes her trips were research for her popular Mrs. Pollifax series with CIA plots based around the world. With her sons in college, along with other reasons, she moved from New Jersey to a small Canadian coastal village.

As she wrote in A New Kind of Country:

 

"This is about living in a fishing village in Nova Scotia, and it's about living alone, and about being a woman alone…but this is not about myself, not really. It's about discovery. We're collectors, each of us, for all our lives, collecting years, illusions, attitudes, but above all experience, and to me it seemed very simple: I wanted a different type of experience."

 

From the back cover: And so she began her life again, discovering talents and interests she never realized were hers…and most of all, understanding the untapped part of herself, almost as if it were a new kind of country, to challenge, explore, and love.

 

How brave to leave everything familiar and live with élan.
 

 

  

Rick Bass, author of Winter: Notes from Montana, and his artist girlfriend, Elizabeth, wanted to find their ideal artist's retreat in the West.

 

"…a place where Elizabeth could do her painting and where I could write (separate studios, of course, because we both like to work in the morning); a place near running water, a place with trees, a place with privacy…[but] we were so damn poor, defiantly poor, wondrously poor—but not owing anyone anything, and in the best of health—we were looking for a place to rent..."

 

After scouring several western states, they found caretaking positions in "a wild, magical valley up on the Canadian line over near Idaho. Yaak…wasn't really a town—there was no electricity, no phones, no paved roads—but a handful of people lived there year round."

 

In a place where the community gathers at the Dirty Shame Saloon, bears and elk roam, and cutting enough wood for the winter without cutting yourself means the difference between life and death, Rick and Elizabeth found not only their artist's retreat, but their home and happiness.

 

Where do you find solitude?

The Art of Description by Mark Doty

By Kate Phillips

 

            When Cheryl came up with the idea of this blog about eight months ago, I had no idea what we were really getting into. We spent weeks talking about it, researching how to set one up, studying other blogs, making decisions about the look of ours, naming it, and discussing timing and topics.

 

            Then the Big Day arrived—we started posting. Cheryl, working hard again, set up a Facebook page as well and we were off!

 

            After six months of blogging, here's what we have gotten into:

 

 

Fun!

 

It's just plain fun to have the freedom to write about favorite topics. I love sharing experiences and highlighting books that have helped improve my writing in hopes they will help others do the same. As writers, we need all the support we can find. Writing is hard work, but it is a wonderful calling. This blog let's us celebrate writing and writers.

 

 

Expanding My Horizons

 

I'm always on the lookout for new topics for my posts. For example, I was pleased to find so many TV shows featuring writers and authors that I am working on my third list of ones to watch. Before this blog topic, I never would have guessed there were so many quality programs.

 

I am reading different genres for inspiration including poetry as poets use inventive language and imagery that inspire me to do the same. In the writing classes I recently attended, the teacher was a published poet. Her command of language, her turns of phrases, and her combinations of images illuminate moments in time or tell entire stories in powerful and memorable ways.

 

I also discovered The Art of Description: World into Word by the writing teacher's favorite poet Mark Doty. It's an intriguing and insightful guide to appreciating not only poetry, but language and "sonic texture". As an avid reader, I have an extensive vocabulary, but it isn't always apparent when I'm writing. This book reminds me to stretch for dynamic words, not settle for mundane ones.

 

 

Improving My Writing

 

My decision to have a hard word count of no more than 500 per post (except the Gift Book List) and the weekly deadline have made me a better writer. The truth is: the more you write, the better you write—and keeping things brief means making every word tell as prescribed in The Elements of Style by Strunk & White (page 23 of the Third Edition). Being accountable to a writing partner as well as our blog's readers has made me a more disciplined writer, too.

 

 

Becoming Braver

 

I will admit I was scared, terrified really, when I published my first few posts. What if no one read the blog? What if there were negative comments? What was I going to write about next?

 

Happily, we do have readers, especially on Facebook. The comments have been positive and/or helpful. And I'm not always sure what I am going to write about next, but that's part of the joy of blogging.

 

If you blog, let us know about your sites.

Fwd: 90-Day Novel Update 3

By Kate Phillips

            Despite the excellent support and insights of Alan Watt, writing a novel is proving even more difficult than I thought. However, I am following through.

 

            The story I started to tell had too long a timeline so big changes had to be made in my plot. Characters and dialogue have also been challenging. A first-time novelist has lots to learn so Watt's gives his readers an extra week to work on the first act, if they need it, which I did.

 

            A first rough draft is daunting, but breaking it down to 500 words a day (or 750, 1,000, 1,500, or more) is what makes it possible. I've found that writing scenes rather than trying to write the novel from beginning to end works better for me. I just need to get the story down on paper. In truth, it helps when I remind myself no one else is going to read this draft.

 

Remember to be kind to yourself if you do not, or cannot, meet your word count every day. My job's editing and printing deadlines make it difficult to work on any other projects for ten days each month. The important thing is to keep writing.

 

           It's gratifying to see the pile of pages grow, but I find myself drawn to editing, rewriting, and polishing these pages instead of writing new ones. Now is not the time to do any of that. I need to let go of "perfection" and just write the story.

 

This project takes up a lot of time and concentration. If you are planning on following Watt's 90-Day Novel plan, know that you will have to make sacrifices: less TV, reading, socializing, etc. However, you gain confidence, a sense of accomplishment, a greater appreciation for all authors, and a sense of community as you join their ranks.

When I hit my stride on good days, words just pour out. Other times, it's a struggle to make my word quota. The reality is that every day I write is a good day. I am living my dream. I have overcome my own resistance (it's easier to not write than to write) and defeated the naysayers—and you can, too.

Writing is hard work. No way around that, but if it's what you want to do, it's worth the effort.

As support is essential, I also recommend The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield. I find reading his insights get me writing everyday. I simply flip open to any page and read until I cannot wait to pick up my pen or get to my keyboard to work on my novel and other projects.

Pressfield's thoughts on "The Artist's Life" is posted in my Writer's Crate as it is so inspiring. I wish he had put it on the first page of his book instead of the last as it reinforces my belief in myself and my writing goals.

 

 

How are your 90-Day Novels going?

 

My next update will be posted on April 1.

Robert Fulghum's Books

 

By Kate Phillips

 

As a reader, I always love finding books that appeal to me. As a writer, I am twice as pleased when the authors also provide Masterclasses for me within their books.

            Masterclasses take place when performance artists or musicians work one-on-one with students. Writers don't generally have this option, but I have found some books to be Masterclasses for characters, dialogue, backstories, plots, settings, voice, and/or creativity.

 

             Robert Fulghum's voice is unmistakable. Most famous for his book All I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, he has written many more including It Was On Fire When I Lay Down on It, Uh-Oh: Some Observations From Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door, and Maybe (Maybe Not): Second Thoughts From a Secret Life.

 

 

The author writes about his life as a series of funny and sometimes sad anecdotes which cover his childhood adventures through his careers as a working cowboy, professional artist, folksinger, bartender, parish minister, teacher, and amateur philosopher. He has been a part of the tragic and triumphant moments in people's lives and shares them with his readers in poignant detail. These short tales make you laugh, occasionally cry, and always illuminate our humanity.

 

As a minister, Fulghum officiated at many weddings—over a thousand, in fact. My favorite story of his begins on page 9 of It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It.

 

As he states,

 

"…I always look forward to marrying again, because most wedding are such comedies.

Not that they are intended as such. But since weddings are high state occasions involving amateurs under pressure, everything NEVER goes right…"

 

He then goes on to tell the "quintessential wedding tale. One of disaster. Surprisingly, it has a happy ending, though you may be in doubt, as I was, as the story unfolds."

 

It's hilarious! 

 

The author has a way of making many things funny: holiday stress, family secrets, obsessions, and even funerals including a surprisingly funny story covering the battle between a "Band of Brothers" and an acerbic widow over the service for a VFW member in Uh-Oh starting on page 173. His buddies and his wife loved the man in their own ways, but did not agree in how to honor him.

 

Whenever I find myself in need of a laugh or a change in perspective, I randomly open any of these books and dive in. You may find the author climbing trees, wearing a beanie while walking to work with a briefcase to observe other's reactions, playing a favorite game of making up occupations with newly-met seatmates doing the same on airplanes, or relating the real biographies of the unremembered people behind famous inventions and songs.

 

His delightful observations about love run through these books so it's no surprise he wrote another book entitled True Love: Stories Told To and By Robert Fulghum. In his book Uh-Oh, he had suggested he would love to hear other people's tales of love. This book contains some of the letters he received recounting stories of best friends, soul mates, love affairs, and the kindness of strangers. Again, the stories are a combination of funny and sad showcasing the beauty of love in all its forms.

 

If you enjoyed these books, Fulghum also wrote From Beginning to End: The Rituals of Our Lives and What on Earth Have I Done? Stories, Observations, and Affirmations.

Cookbook Memoirs

By Kate Phillips

 

            In many families, recipes are handed down through generations. My family is known more for its readers than its cooks which may be the reason I gravitate towards cookbooks that are also memoirs.

           

            My favorite cookbook memoir is Confessions of a Closet Master Baker: A Memoir—One Woman's Sweet Journey from Unhappy Hollywood Executive to Contented Country Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado, sister of actress Sandra Bullock. However, you can only buy it as a used book. While the original title seems more true to the author's outlook, it's been repackaged as My Life from Scratch: A Sweet Journey of Starting Over One Cake at a Time. Take note: the recipes cover more than cakes.

 

            This book is more memoir than cookbook as there are no photos, but the stories preceding the recipes are amusing, poignant, and full of good baking tips. Gesine writes as beautifully as she bakes sharing family traditions, nostalgic childhood memories, and the importance of pastries to her dying mother. Then there are her hopes about her new business, funny and serious baking disasters, and stressful behind-the-scenes goings on when she produced Hollywood projects.

 

Instead of working lunches and dinners at fancy LA restaurants, the author now rises at 3:30am to begin her 15-hour work days at her Vermont bakery. She starts each day heading for the laundry room to find clean clothes stating, "I don't care that our clothes never make it from the intertwined dance of the dryer to the smooth folds of the dresser drawers anymore." (Wonderful words to live by!)

 

She notes, "I do care about cake. There really aren't any new ideas in baking; it's the same confectionary plot again and again, perhaps in different combinations. But everything I bake is a story worth retelling."
 

 

 

While the writing isn't as polished, another favorite is The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl by Ree Drummond. You may have heard of her through her award-winning web site or her Food Network TV show.

 

The book begins with an introduction to Ree, how she met her "Marlboro Man", and all the changes in her life now that she is married and raising four children. She went from being a foodie in an urban life to a country wife where eating out is an exception—and there is no pizza delivery. Luckily, she loves to cook.

 

Her cookbook has tons of photos so readers can see what the dishes look like at every step. This is especially helpful for inexperienced cooks.

 

What makes it even more accessible are the short introductions to the recipes—sometimes funny, sometimes personal, and sometimes encouraging in case they look daunting. In between the sections of recipes for Starters, In the Morning, Dinner, Supper, and Sweets are longer essays on the delights of motherhood, family life, gardening, ranching, horses, and dogs.

 

If you ever dreamed of getting away from it all, here is a glimpse of the life you might lead and the feast you can enjoy there.

Essie Summers' Books

By Kate Phillips
 

 

            Once I realized people wrote books—they did not just magically appear on my childhood bookshelves—I knew I wanted to be one of them, but no one I knew wrote for a living. As I had no idea how authors came to be, I looked to books for information and inspiration.

 

At a used bookstore, I came across No Orchids by Request and Sweet are the Ways by Essie Summers. These books are delightful stories about heroines who are writers, one at a newspaper and the other a copy editor and freelance writer until her first two books are published.

 

Through fictional and fortuitous fate, they each end up moving to cottages where they could write—my dream life! The newspaper writer is given a cottage by a family friend. The author buys her cottage. She also describes her writing routine and the dedication it takes to become published.

 

 

There are more writers in other Essie Summers' books: In Daughters of the Misty Gorges and So Comes Tomorrow the leads are all authors; in Season of Forgetfulness, he is the author, she works for a publishing firm; and in My Lady of the Fuchsias, she writes, he illustrates. Other books with writing characters include The Kindled Fire, Goblin Hill, Through All the Years, Where No Roads Go, and Beyond the Foothills (my favorite).

 

Extended families, including three or four generations, are central to these novels. A majority of the characters are voracious readers. Books are almost characters, too, sitting and stacked in most rooms. The adults read aloud to children in front of fireplaces and quote favorite writers in conversations. These are charming romances with enough reality and conflict to keep readers engaged.

 

Settings include working sheep stations, nearby lakes and mountains, picturesque villages, and cities like Christchurch. Essie Summers' beloved New Zealand becomes a travel destination for her readers.

 

Now I knew it was possible to be an author because even though these characters were not real, they lived writing lives as did Ms. Summers who wrote and jotted all her life, but, due to family responsibilities, was "late" to the publishing world. However, she still wrote 56 books starting when she was 45, as well as an autobiography, The Essie Summers' Story. She wrote for Mills & Boon starting in the 1950s then later for Harlequin.

 

Romance publishers have provided woman writers opportunities they never would have had otherwise. The early authors were well educated and good, solid writers. True, there are romance novels that are not well-written or well-plotted, but there are also a great many fantastic ones.

 

While romance novels are not held in high regard by some people, consider that women buy the majority of books and the majority of them can be classified as romances. It's not a genre to be overlooked or mocked.

 

As one Essie Summers' hero says to the heroine when he discovers she writes romances, "I don't know that I have anything against love."

 

I know I don't.

 

What novels helped you see how authors live and work?             

The 90-Day Novel by Alan Watt Update 2

By Kate Phillips

 

I'm now on Day 35 of the 90-Day Novel project.

 

Days 7-28 follow the same pattern as Days 1-6 that I wrote about in my first 90-Day Novel Project post. Author Alan Watt shares his thoughts and insights on a variety of topics then asks his fellow writers to answer two or four open ended questions, spending five minutes on each question.

 

 

Watt addresses problems some—or most—writers face as well. He also provides support to strengthen his readers' resolve to finish their novels. On Day 7, he states, "We are uniquely qualified to tell our story. Everything we need to know to resolve the dilemma at the heart of our story lies within. Our job is to maintain a spirit of curiosity." On Day 8, he continues," If our hero is at peace at the end, be curious about where he is not at peace in the story. If he's willing to share intimacies at the end, be curious about the secrets he is keeping within the story. This gives him a dramatic arc. It gives him somewhere to go."

 

On Day 13, Watt shares, "Story structure invites our subconscious to organize a host of disparate ideas into a coherent narrative that leads to a transformation. We are seeking to imagine a story that becomes bigger than we are, where we step back with wonder and say, 'Where did that come from?"'

 

On Day 15, readers are also assigned to read Alan Watt's novel Diamond Dogs. On Day 22, readers look at a story structure analysis so they can see how Watt's prompts, thoughts, and insights apply to a novel. He welcomes readers to start working on their novels after Day 22, but recommends waiting until Day 29.

 

In 28 days, I'd only answered the assigned questions. However, I put a lot of work into my novel's characters, backstories, plot, subplots, and settings.

 

After Day 28, there are writing assignments, but no more prompts and questions. Watt switches to support and cheerleading. On Day 34, he says, "Even if we don't understand why it's being written, we can trust that when we've completed our first draft we'll begin to see patterns that will lead us to a more specific understanding of our story."

 

On Day 35, Watt notes, "Expecting too much too soon can be a fatal mistake. Of course we should strive for excellence, but excellence in the first draft involves dancing with the muse, not self-flagellation…"

 

What a lovely goal: dancing with the muse. It sounds so much more fun and easier than writing.

 

Trust in the process. Get your story down on paper. That's what matters.

 

What I most love about this book are Alan Watt's thoughts and insights. He takes you at your word that you want to be a novelist and that you are willing to put in the work. He is a mentor sharing what it takes to complete a novel successfully with those ready to write their own.

 

How are your novels coming along?

Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed

By Kate Phillips

 

As a reader, I always love finding books that appeal to me. As a writer, I am twice as pleased when the authors also provide Masterclasses for me within their books.

            Masterclasses take place when performance artists or musicians work one-on-one with students. Writers don't generally have this option, but I have found some books to be Masterclasses for characters, dialogue, backstories, plots, settings, voice, and/or creativity.

 

 

 

            I read Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life From Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed because of the numerous and glowing reviews it received—and I want to add another one here as her voice is true and clear and echoes within me.
 

            Strayed's story is sad, then tragic, then transformed. She is a strong woman who has dealt with adversity, made mistakes, learned from them, moved on, and, most importantly, kept going and kept writing through it all as chronicled in her bestseller Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. 
 

            Parts of her life story are also told as she answered letters from people seeking help from Dear Sugar through an online advice column at The Rumpus website. "Radical empathy" is how Steve Almond, the first Sugar, describes Cheryl Strayed's style in the Introduction. And it is. She jolts people with her takes on their situations by sharing her life experiences and brilliant insights.
 

            Strayed doesn't shy away from answering letters concerning difficult topics as she has had to deal with them since she was born into a home filled with domestic violence. Her father beat her mother starting just days after they were married. When the author was three, her paternal grandfather started molesting her and continued until her father left the family when she was six. Her mother worked hard to support the family. Still her children didn't have a lot, except when it came to love.
 

            Unexpectedly, her mother died of lung cancer at 45. Strayed was only 22. Grief swamped her, then multiplied as her stepfather and siblings scattered. However, she still had her mother's love within her as she set off to live her own life.
 

            It is this love that shines through her answers to people in need of support, guidance, or a kick in the pants. She suffers with them; dwelling on their situations for days at times in an effort to not only connect with them, but to write advice that will open them up to possibilities and different perspectives.
 

            Whether you have experienced the specific problems of the letter writers or not, we all have to deal with love or the lack of it, friendship, identity, finances, addiction, sex, jealousy, betrayal, violence, loss, and death. Sugar's answers, as penned by Strayed, are universal truths given to individuals.
 

            As a writer, I especially related to the letter Sugar received from a writer who can't write which appears on page 53. Strayed's experience of writing her own book—the story she couldn't live without telling—and advice to writers alone is worth the price of this book, but you get so much more.
 

It is Strayed's voice that captures readers. She is talking directly to each letter writer: concentrating on her; sharing with him. Strayed opens up and writes from the very depths of herself. It's painful, joyful and, most of all, hopeful.

 

What authors' voices speak to you?

Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson

 By Kate Phillips 

 

            I loved Harold and, of course, his purple crayon from the first time I read his story by Crockett Johnson, a wonderful nom de plume for David Johnson Leisk. Not only is the Harold series a delight for children, it is also a terrific life guide for adults.

        In the books, Harold has all kind of adventures. He travels comfortably in his footed pajamas accompanied by only his imagination and a purple crayon.
 

Once he chooses what he wants to do, Harold draws his own path. He only appears in profile either looking at what he is drawing or back at what he has just drawn. He decides who or what he wants to meet along the way and, with help from the crayon, they appear—although there are a few surprises along the way.
 

In the first book, Harold goes for a walk. He finds a spot he thinks is perfect for a forest so he draws a tree. It turns out to be an apple tree. To guard the apples, he draws a dragon which ends up frightening him. As he backs away with his hand shaking, he accidentally draws wavy water and then finds himself in over his head. He saves himself by drawing a boat and sailing until he made land. Finding himself hungry, he draws a picnic. And then…well you can read the rest for yourself.
 

His adventures continue with a trip to space, the circus, and his own fairy tale including a king, a witch, a fairy, and a flying carpet. What an amazing life!
 

I love that Harold decides what he wants to do and then does it. When things turn out differently than he plans, he quickly improvises. He never loses his focus. And he always achieves his goals. It made me wish my own purple crayon worked as well as his.
 

Being a writer is the next best thing.
 

I can, but don't, wear footed pajamas. With a pen and paper or a computer, I can follow my imagination along a path of my choosing, mostly. As novelists know, some characters have minds of their own.
 

Writing is more difficult than crayon drawing, but just as freeing when you are writing for yourself. (Of course, there has to be a paying job to stay afloat. If it is in the writing field, you will have assignments that may or may not interest you, but your style can shine and your technical skills can improve with each one. If it isn't a dream job, use that as a motivation to keep writing.)
 

The last two qualities are the tough ones for me. I need to work on having absolute focus on my writing projects and career as well as achieving my goals.
 

I have a purple crayon in a ceramic mug along with my pens to remind me of how I truly want to live.

 

 

What children's books inspired you?