Maryann McFadden'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 and 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.

 

 

Maryann McFadden writes novels about woman who need time and space to make difficult choices due to changes in their circumstances, relationships, and within themselves. Each woman finds a different path to solitude, not always comfortably, meeting kindred spirits along the way.
 

Thoughtful and well-written, McFadden's stand-alone books all take place near the sea or a lake. These settings play important roles in the books.
 

The Richest Season features two women at different stages in their lives—one who needs care and one who needs shelter. A cottage by the sea gives them both comfort as they make life and death decisions.
 

In So Happy Together, the lead character is a mother who always wanted to be a photographer. Through a summer class, she ends up photographing Cape Cod. Her avocation brings the settings alive. The light, the scenery, objects, and people are all described in brilliant detail so the reader can see the shots she is taking while feeling both the wind and the sand as she walks around looking for the right light and compositions.
 

The Book Lover is a triple duty book as the lead is a first-time author. She works hard to get her book into the hands of readers through bookstore readings and visiting with book clubs--making friends and falling in love along the way. Budding authors should take notes on all the work it can take to get your books noticed.
 

These books have happy endings, but not always conventional ones. The settings stay with you—especially if you dream of time away by the sea.

 

             

What authors have provided Masterclasses for you?

 

I-Team series by Pamela Clare

    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 and 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.

 

           

            Pamela Clare writes historical and contemporary novels including the I-Team series which follows the lives of the reporters writing for the Denver Independent.

 

 

            The I-Team started in the story Heaven Can't Wait published in the book Catch of the Day. Five books are now in the series (Extreme Exposure, Hard Evidence, Unlawful Contact, Naked Edge, and Breaking Point) each highlighting one main character, and an e-book, Skin Deep, following up on a secondary character, but the whole cast appears in every book.
 

While the newspaper office is their base, the characters drive throughout Denver, live in different apartments, and visit political offices, the police station, a jail, a museum, cabins in the surrounding mountains, an Indian reservation, and Mexico. Clare uses not only visual descriptions, but distinctive sounds, fragrances, foods, and ambiance to create you-are-there settings.
 

The dialogue is terrific. Work discussions are professional—usually. The dialogue changes when the female characters are talking amongst themselves or the male characters are bonding with each other. Conversations between the romantic leads are intense, sometimes outrageous, and often funny.
 

Backstories are key to the success of these books. Each character lives according to her reactions to her deep backstory that is revealed throughout "her" book. The plots are tight and provide a lot of suspense as the investigations lead the reporters into danger. The men they meet, also shaped by their own in-depth backstories and jobs, are often in conflict with the reporters. Happy endings are in realistic doubt due to circumstances and the characters' outlooks on life.  

 

(PLEASE NOTE: There are adult situations and violence in these books. Also, an excerpt of book six in the series was posted on the author's blog. It is more graphic and violent than the books I reviewed here.)

 

 

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

By Kate Phillips 

 

When I discovered Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones, she made becoming a writer seem possible—a lifeline when I didn't know any writers and no one I knew really supported my dream to become a writer.

 

 

Among all of her excellent advice for writing and creativity, Goldberg suggests using inexpensive notebooks so you feel "you have permission to write the worst junk in the world" in them using pens that allow you "to feel the connection and texture of the pen on paper". Many years later, I still use spiral notebooks that I "can fill quickly and afford another" using "fast-writing pens because your thoughts are also much faster than your hand".

 

These simple directives from Goldberg freed me from my fear of the blank page. I now had permission to write junk just as long as I wrote enough to fill a notebook every month. As it turned out, the more I wrote the less junk was in my notebooks.

 

I had a goal I could achieve, but I had to go on a quest to find the "perfect" pen and notebook to achieve it.

 

 

 My perfect pen turns out to be a Pilot V Ball with the tinted barrel so you can see the ink sloshing around. I write in blue or black ink with the fine nib which moves quickly across the page. I edit with the red pen with an extra fine nib.

 

I LOVE them! However, in the last year I have uncapped a couple of new pens from the boxes of 12 I order only to have black ink explode all over my hands and anything else nearby. Not sure why, after years without any problems, this is happening. It has not dampened my enthusiasm; I only buy the blue and red pens now and carefully open the black pens I already bought over the sink.

 

After trying out many brands, I found the 80 Sheet College Ruled Composition Book #730000 made by Fay Paper Products, sold in six solid colors, to be the notebook for me. When the chain drug store where I bought them stopped carrying them, I called the company directly, told them my story, and they let me buy a case. I was now a writer for the long haul!

 

My supply is dwindling—only enough for maybe one more year, but I like to be prepared—so I wanted to buy another case. To my dismay/horror, the company is out of business. (I'm sorry for all the employees. Thank you for your excellent work.)

 

I love these notebooks. I find them comforting, familiar, and sturdy. Now I have to go on another quest to find the next best thing.

 

Amazing how such simple tools can mean so much. And I have learned my lesson: I have ordered enough pens to last me for years; I request them as gifts; and I am spreading the word about them in hopes they become so popular they won't be discontinued. (This is not a paid endorsement. I just love these pens.)

 

Fun with Six-Word Memoirs(R) edited by Larry Smith

By Kate Phillips 

I have fun writing very short pieces based on the book Not Quite What I Was Planning, Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure edited by Larry Smith, Founding Editor of Smith Magazine.
 

If you can't think of anything to write on a given day, write about you and your life using only six words. I know it doesn't sound like you can say a lot, but you really can. For examples, visit www.smithmag.net, home of the Six-Word Memoir® project.

 

 

The genre has become so popular, there are three more books available: It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure, I Can't Keep My Own Secrets: Six-Word Memoirs by Teens Famous & Obscure, and Six-Word Memoirs on Love and Heartbreak by Writers Famous and Obscure all edited by Larry Smith.
 

I have shared this tip with all the writers I know. It's addictive and, best of all, gets you writing. Some of my friends and co-workers now make sure to include Six-Word Memoirs® in conversations and emails. It's also a wonderful exercise for people of almost any age to engage in while sitting around the dinner table, during long car trips, or just to sum up relationships or situations at work.
 

It's essential to provide yourself with inspiration so you can stay at your desk—or wherever you write—until you have finished your project or met your daily goals. That's how your writing dreams come true.

 

 

Have you tried writing Six-Word Memoirs®?

The War of Art by Steven Pressfield

By Kate Phillips 

         

There are numerous writing books I have found helpful, but the one that turned me into a true professional is The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield. This book concentrates on overcoming Resistance so you will write whatever you dream of writing. Other books help you get started or improve your writing, but this one motivates you not only to begin, but to keep going, and to finish novels and other projects which is what makes you a professional writer.

         

My copy is filled with underlined sentences, circled passages, and marginalia. On days I don't feel like writing, I pick this book up, open to a random page, and read until my writing drive kicks in. This routine hasn't failed me since I bought the book a few years ago.

         

I believe in The War of Art so much, I have two copies—one on my desk and the other readily available in my reading nook where I occasionally write. I often wonder how much farther along I would be as a writer if I had found this book when it was published in 2002.

         

I also recommend reading "Writing Wednesdays" at StevenPressfield.com. On April 7, 2010 he wrote:  

"To have a practice, you must have a space. But it is the practice that makes the space. The daily application of intention, the seeking of excellence over time saturates the studio with power and energy."

         

Give yourself that power and energy—write!

          

 

Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life's Work by Steven Pressfield was published recently. I recommend it, too.

          
Has The War of Art by Steven Pressfield inspired you?