How Long Does It Take?

I am delighted to kick off our next TA series on the topic: "Answer a writing question I often get from readers or my students."  I have done very few author visits since I am in the classroom with my own 4 and 5-year-old students during the school day.  So, I asked my students if they had any author questions for me. Here’s what they said:

- How do you make the pictures?  How do you make the words?

- How hard does it take?

- How long does it take to write the words of a book?

- How long does it take to make the whole outside of the book 

         and how was the outside of the book made?

- How long does it take to make all of the pages?

- How do you write the words like this?

- How do you write a whole book?  Would it take 20 hours?

- Does the illustrator and the writer have to draw what looks 

        like the writer wrote?

- So, what stories do you do on those books?

Overwhelmingly, the students asked about process and more importantly about the amount of time it takes to write and/or create a book. 

 Interestingly, I think many writing-curious adults wonder the same thing. So, I am going to tackle this as a teacher and as an author.

As a teacher, the most important thing I teach about writing is that it is a process, not a product. That it is a joyful habit filled with delight. 

We recently had a professional development in which writing was looked at by many of my colleagues as an unpleasant necessity of life, a task to teach unwilling children, steps to impart in a lesson. When writing is taught as a task, it lacks the element of time.  Why would you want to engage in an unpleasant activity over a sustained period of time?  Better to suck it up, push through to the end, and complete the obligation.  It makes my heart hurt.  Probably the biggest disservice is to the revision process.  In school, we destroy future writers by demanding that writing should be revised almost immediately after the first draft is written.  It wasn’t until I became an author that I understood the magic of the revision process and how time away from the words helps the writer see the repetitions, poor use of words, leaps in logic, and holes in the story.  I had been trained from a very young age to leap into revising as a tedious process that one had to complete to get to the end.  Let’s stop doing this to new writers.  Let’s give them the gift of time and pleasure.

As an author, this question is a bit more nuanced and complicated.  All authors have their own process.  I usually begin with a theme that I want to explore (same as my process as a visual artist).  Then I develop a “what if” these characters were faced with “that”.  From the “what if” emerges a story.  I often sit on this developing story while it simmers, stews, and swirls around my brain sometimes for days, months, or possibly years.  Sometimes I write it down and try to find the story although it often evades me when I do this. When I use this method, I usually run it past at least a couple of critique groups a few times and then past a couple of critique partners before sending it to my agent for her notes.  This can take weeks or months. More recently, I think on it, dream on it, and let it marinate until it’s ready to burst out onto the paper/screen.  Sometimes if I’m lucky, the story that jumps out is intact. If this is the case, I usually show it to one or two critique partners then send it off to my agent for notes.  This process can take as little as a few days to a week, before the manuscript is ready to go on submission. Recently I had a conversation with a writer at a retreat who adamantly stated that they hated writers who brought their untouched first draft to critique sessions without having reworked it several times first.  Clearly, they have a different process and didn’t take into account the time the story spent in my head before it poured out in one attempt. Time is irrelevant during the creative process.  There is no right or wrong.  There is only what is right for the writer/artist in their authentic process.

Time plays a part in the querying process.  This can be excruciatingly long and is often not fruitful. I have manuscripts that have been on submission to various editors for a few years.  Sometimes we get feedback/rejections within the first couple of weeks and sometimes the submission process drags on.  For an author there seems to be no rhyme nor reason.  I am often amazed at the randomness of it all and rejection is an agreed upon part of this lifestyle.

The question of time also comes into play in the actual production of the book after the manuscript is sold. I believe the norm is 2 years for a picture book. The manuscript for Hello, Little One was sold in 2018 and the publishing date was in 2020. The manuscript for Egyptian Lullaby was sold in 2018 but the publishing date was not until 2023.  Sometimes the length of time changes according to the availability of the illustrator.  Generally speaking, the production time of the books is more predictable than the creative time of the author before the sale.  

Process over product cannot be measured by time.

By Zeena M. Pliska

author of 

Hello, Little One:  A Monarch Butterfly Story

Egyptian Lullaby

Chicken Soup For the Soul For Babies - Say Thank You? (But Why?)

Chicken Soup For the Soul For Babies - A Gift For Me? (I Want It!)

click here for www.zeenamar.com

3 Insights Into Improving Writing Productivity

Our current series is about beginning a new writing career or jump-starting a stalled one. Carla shared 5 things she wished she’d known when starting out as a writer and JoAnn talked about coping with a lull in her enthusiasm for writing. My post today focuses more on the latter, but I think it's also of value to beginning writers. Before I get to that, I'd like to share two bits of news:

• The revised edition of my middle-grade novel, Rosa, Sola, (originally published by Candlewick Press) is now available in both ebook and paperback, and includes a new "Discussion Questions" section for classroom use. I'm currently sponsoring a Goodreads giveaway, which I invite you to enter on this Goodreads page or via the widget below:  

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Rosa, Sola

by Carmela A. Martino

Giveaway ends October 05, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

• Also, for those of you who live in the Chicago area: it's not too late to register for my class on "Finding Your Writer's Voice," which begins Tuesday, September 13, at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn. See my website for details. 

Now for today's post.

Like JoAnn, I’ve been stalled in my writing lately. The problem started back in April, when I was sidelined with a repetitive stress injury to my dominant hand. The injury has not only interfered with my ability to type and to write longhand, but it has also caused me to lose my enthusiasm for writing. Fortunately, though, I'm currently leading a small, private class on Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. The timing of the class is perfect, as it’s helping me examine my writing process and the causes of my current lack of productivity. Here are three insights I’ve been led to recently, via Cameron’s book and other reading I’ve been doing:

1. “In order to do something well we must first be willing to do it badly.”

These are Cameron’s words in The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity (Tarcher Books), but they convey a concept I've found in other books on writing and creativity--think the “sh**tty first draft” in Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird (Pantheon Books). Elizabeth Gilbert also touches on the topic in her book Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear (Riverhead Books) when she talks about the necessity of accepting imperfection if we want to lead creative lives.

I’ve always been a perfectionist, and now that I’m a published author and a writing teacher, part of me thinks that I should be able to produce a polished draft right off the bat, with little or no editing. And when I don’t do that, I feel like a failure. So I was shocked when, in Big Magic, Gilbert confesses to publishing a novel she’d written without revising a major flaw that her beta readers had pointed out. I listened to the audiobook, so I can’t quote Big Magic directly. But I did find an interview in The Guardian where Gilbert is quoted as saying:

“Perfection murders joy. You cut yourself out of the game before you even start. You cut yourself out of the game because you’ve decided it’s never going to be as good as your ideal.”

I also found the following image, which I’ve printed out and posted in my office as a reminder that I will always be a beginner. I’m hoping that trying to keep an open, “Beginner’s Mind,” will help me overcome my perfectionism.

found here with caption "Image Source: Facebook user Elizabeth Gilbert"

2. If I can’t “find” time for my writing, I need to “make” the time.

My students often complain about not having enough time to write, and lately I’ve been using the same excuse. Julia Cameron addressed this recently in a blog post:

"Most of us think, 'If only I had more time, then I would work.' We have a fantasy that there is such a thing as a 'good' creative time, an idyll of endless, seamless time unfolding invitingly for us to frolic in creatively. No such bolts of limitless time exist for most of us. Our days are chopped into segments, and if we are to be creative, we must learn to use the limited time we have."

That's how I worked on this blog post, in little segments of time stolen between physical therapy appointments, lesson planning, household chores, etc. If I can make time to blog, I can make time for my own creative writing, too.

When I explain this to my students, they often reply that they can’t just sit down to write. They need to feel “inspired.” But, as M. L’Engle says in Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art (Crosswicks):

“If the artist works only when he feels like it, he’s not apt to build up much of a body of work. Inspiration far more often comes during the work than before it, because the largest part of the job of the artist is to listen to the work, and to go where it tells him to go.”

3. My attitude has a profound effect on my productivity.

It’s not enough for me to “make time” for my writing. I need to bring the right attitude with me when I sit down to write. I’ve shared before about how research is showing that happy people tend to be more productive. But this is a lesson I need to constantly remind myself of.

In an excerpt from The Artist's Way posted on her blog, Julia Cameron says:

“Over any extended period of time, being an artist requires enthusiasm more than discipline. Enthusiasm is not an emotional state. It is a spiritual commitment, a loving surrender to our creative process, a loving recognition of all the creativity around us. 

Enthusiasm (from the Greek, 'filled with God') is an ongoing energy supply tapped into the flow of life itself. Enthusiasm is grounded in play, not work. Far from being a brain-numbed soldier, our artist is actually our child within, our inner playmate. As with all playmates, it is joy, not duty, that makes for a lasting bond.”

Hmm. There’s that word again: JOY.

For years I’ve been signing my posts here with “Happy writing!” I think I need a more expansive catch phrase. What do you think of this:

For more joy and inspiration, head over to this week's Poetry Friday round-up at The Poem Farm.

Carmela

Tips to Start (or Restart) Your Writing Career

It seems the learning curve for a writer begins with the first word we intentionally write and continues every day as we pursue the dream of being an author.  I’ve been thinking about what I wish I’d known-or understood better when I first began.    

Every writer’s journey is different.  We all have different jobs and family responsibilities.  We all write in different genres and have different gifts, talents and interests.  We all have different coping skills when faced with critique and rejection.  There are so many facets to being a published author that it is like talking to a young couple expecting their first baby:  They don’t know yet what they don’t know and there is so much to learn.   

Here are a few things I wish I’d known when I first started writing.

1.  Start somewhere.  Anywhere. 

You don’t need to know exactly how you are going to handle every page of a manuscript when you begin.  Just jump in anywhere.  You can make it all work together later. 

2.  Don’t confuse you as a person with what you write. 

Writers need a thick skin to endure rejection.  Editors and agents will reject your work-and it isn’t personal.  There are a thousand reasons why they reject a manuscript and it doesn’t necessarily mean that your manuscript isn’t good.  Often you will not know why your project has been rejected.  Remember that a rejection of your manuscript is not a rejection of you as a person.

morguefile.com

3.  Understand the purpose of a critique group.

There are two kinds of critique groups.  One is a group that only makes you feel good no matter what.  The other is a group that will help you get published, even if they tell you things you don’t want to hear.  Certainly you hope your group will tell you what they love about your manuscript, but the most helpful group can point out places in your manuscript that needs some work.  When others don’t love your manuscript like you do, that is when you need that thick skin mentioned in number 2.  Listen to their opinions, but in the end you decide what is right for your own story.  Remember that a critique of your manuscript is not a critique of you as a person.

 4.  Your story is told only through the words on the page.

Your manuscript has to be self-sufficient.  If you have to verbally explain to someone all the backstory they need to understand a section in the manuscript, then it doesn’t work.  A writer crafts a story (either fiction or nonfiction) that will be read, not explained ahead of time.  A story is told ONLY through the words on the page.

morguefile.com

5.  Publishing is a business.

This is a hard one to learn.  Most of us grew up loving books.  The idea of one day seeing our name on the cover of a book is a dream we hope comes true.  Writers are passionate about books and telling stories.  For most of us it is about the love of reading, and books, and the craft of writing.  It takes a while for some of us to accept the reality that writing books published by traditional publishers is a business.  Authors write manuscripts.  Publishers take manuscripts and turn them into books to sell.  The harsh reality is that although everyone who works for a publisher loves books, publishing houses must make money.  Therefore, they usually won’t offer a contract on a book unless they believe it will make money for them.  As authors, the sooner we learn this the better.

morguefile.com

For those of you who want to start (or restart) writing books for children and young readers, it is never too late and never too early. 

You can do it.   

Carla Killough McClafferty 

Enter (HERE)  to win an autographed copy of Amy Cattapan's middle-grade mystery Seven Riddles to Nowhere (Vinspire Publishing). The giveaway is open to U.S. residents only and ends August 31. That happens to also be the day of Amy’s Facebook Launch Party, where you can win lots of other great prizes, including a copy of Carmela's own book, Rosa, Sola.

Out-and-About: Chicago's Printers Row Lit Fest!

This past Saturday’s and Sunday’s Chicago Tribune Printers Row Lit Fest continues to be the Midwest’s largest outdoor literary festival.

Think 125,000 book lovers of all ages roaming five city blocks of tented and tabled booksellers, author readings and panels that spanned every genre and format imaginable, signings for authors published traditionally, digitally or any way you can think of, cooking demos, poetry slams, a group read-aloud of Peter Pan to support literacy and the Peter Pan Kid Lit stage that overflowed with storytellers. All on a hot, hot (did I mention it was hot?) early June day without one forgiving breeze from nearby Lake Michigan.

Once again I presented my workshop Oh, the Places You’ll Go! – Writing for Children in TODAY’S Children’s Book World. Everybody, or so it seems, wants to write a children’s book and I truly delighted in welcoming and grounding newcomers to the Children’s Book World. The possibilities today are infinite and believe it or not, opportunities abound. Opportunities such as Lee and Low’s New Voices Award, Simon and Schuster’s Spoonfuls of Cheerios Contest and the U.K.website Smories, on which children read your stories aloud and visitors vote monthly. All one has to do is write, read and connect!

I especially delighted in my workshop’s follow up session: Show, Don’t Tell – Four First-time Chicago-area Children’s Book Authors.

The SRO crowd learned first-hand from the panel of four authors pictured above: from left, Sherri Duskey Rinker, Kate Hannigan Issa, Michele Weber Hurwitz, Allan Woodrow and me. (How nice that Sheri’s husband David is a professional photographer.)

Each author shared a few singular concrete details of his or her particular writer’s journey – the surprises, the thrills, the rewards, the Reality, from which attendees could glean insights, information, and best of all, heart and hope.

Sherri Duskey Rinker’s picture book Good Night, Good Night, Construction Site (Chronicle Press), illustrated by Tom Lichtenheld, is the book most editors warn writers they never want to see: a bedtime story written in rhyme! But Sherri knew and held strong to her belief: her young son lived and breathed trucks and there wasn’t one truck story appropriate for a bedtime reading. Sherri wrote the story while working full time as a graphic designer. She did her homework, targeted 14 or so likely publishers, sent off her well-worked manuscript and struck gold with Chronicle. The book appeared on the NY Times Best Sellers List last week; a now-agented Sherri just sold her second rhymed picture book.

Kate Hannigan Issa advised writers to pay attention to the Universe and all it delivers on a daily basis. Kate worked hard to stay focused on whatever project she chose to write. Even when an SCBWI Bulletin article about receiving misdirected mail and emails for Iowan author Kathryn Hannigan brought a first invitation from the publisher of Blue Marlin to submit work, and then a second arrived while Kate was working on an SCBWI-Illinois newsletter story about a fellow Blue Marlin author. The third time Kate knew she needed to respond, submitting The Good Fun! Book, a text about the idea behind the neighborhood help-the-community children’s projects she’d passionately orchestrated with fellow Hyde Parker Karen Duncan.

Michele Weber Hurwitz , author of the middle grade novel Calli Be Gold (Random House/Wendy Lamb Books) proudly revealed she had several unsold, agent-turned-back novels on her laptop’s hard drive before she wrote Calli Gold’s story and earned the interest of four agents! And even while the manuscript was being read and considered, Michele continued to revise, utilizing responses her agent shared. Writing a novel’s hard work that demands perseverance, determination and pluck.

Allan Woodrow’s two words of advice? “Be brave!” he told writers. Writing a novel had always been on Allan’s Bucket List. So he finally did what anyone wanting to pursue any passion does, be it plumbing or writing: he enrolled in classes, he studied writing, he read children’s books and he made sure he wrote every single day. His children were finally at that early chapter book series level that 3rd and 4th graders love, a reading level Allan knew from his advertising and marketing day job and more important, a reading level that accommodated Allan’s voice and singular humor. The Rotten Adventures of Zachary Ruthless is the first of a four-book series, sold by his agent to HarperCollins.

Chicago Tribune Culture Critic Julia Keller had shared in her May 29 column E.L. Doctorow’s sentiment in placing writers center stage. “Books are written in solitude. And they are read in solitude. But in between, there must be noise, and lots of it. There must be bass drums and trumpets and slide trombones. Balloons and confetti. Fireworks and floats. Marching bands and dancing bears. Because if authors want their books to be read, the release of those books into the world must be public events. Ideally, a book launch ought to be like Cleopatra on her barge: majestic, incredible, eye-catching…”

Lucky me to be out-and-about at the Chicago Tribune’s Printers Row Lit Fest Saturday to cheer on Sherri, Kate, Michele and Alan as they sailed off to long-awaited applause, their brand-new first-time-ever children’s books held high for all to see.

Esther Hershenhorn