Becoming a "Finisher:" Using a Deadline to Silence the Inner Critic

Knowing I'd be one of the last TeachingAuthors to blog about first draft fears brought its own fears: would I have anything left to share that my brilliant co-bloggers hadn't already discussed? Jeanne Marie kicked off the series by sharing four specific ways she deals with her own tendency to be "a serial starter." Esther gave us a whole slew of ways to get to THE END, along with some inspiring quotes to tack up in our workspace. Joanne talked about her love of first drafts and her sneaky way of getting past her inner critic. And Mary Ann reminded us that first drafts are supposed to "stink." Having low expectations can be a great tool. :-)

I hope my co-bloogers' posts have already given you, our readers, encouragement and inspiration. However, I'm relieved to see that none of them shared one of my tricks for overcoming first draft fears:  A DEADLINE.

I've found that deadlines work best for me when there's some sort of associated accountability and/or consequences for not meeting them. One of the reasons I was so productive during my two years at Vermont College had to do with the monthly deadlines. I might never have finished Rosa, Sola without them. But out here in the real world, it's sometimes difficult to create deadlines with real sting. Fortunately for us novelists, there's a deadline-oriented opportunity just around the corner: National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Every November, writers around the world take on the challenge of completing a 50,000-word first draft in 30 days. NaNoWriMo isn't for everyone; last year I heard some negative buzz about it, everything from "no one can write anything good that way" to "real writers don't need gimmicks." Despite the negative hype, there have been a number of NaNoWriMo success stories, including bestselling novels that started as NaNoWriMo projects. One of the most recent is the adult novel The Night Circus (Doubleday) by Erin Morgenstern. The book was released less than a month ago (on September 13), and according to the NaNoWriMo blog of September 28, it had already made it to the New York Times bestseller list. The Night Circus has also garnered an impressive list of starred reviews, (you can read excerpts of those reviews on the book's Indiebound page) and has sold foreign rights to over 30 countries.

Morgenstern talks a little about her NaNoWriMo experience in an interview at Writers Unboxed, saying:

"I started doing National Novel Writing Month in 2003. I failed miserably that first attempt but reached 50k in 30 days the next year, and it became a really good exercise for me — writing without stopping to be overly self-critical and having the magical pressure of a deadline."

I'm not surprised Morgenstern was helped by NaNoWriMo--it offers lots of structure, feedback, support, and accountability via a website, forums, and live events. However, since November is a bad time for me, I've never actually participated. Instead, I created my own pseudo-NaNoWriMo events, first with a group of my fellow writers, and then later on my own. I blogged about those activities here before. They were key to my finally finishing my young adult historical novel last month.

By the way, if you're a picture book writer, there are some comparable events for you, such as Picture Book Idea Month (PiBoIdMo), which, like NaNoWriMo, takes place in November, and National Picture Book Writing Week (NaPiBoWriWee).

I don't have plans for any marathon writing sessions any time soon, but I continue to be inspired by weekly deadlines I set with my writing buddy. If you missed my post about that process, I encourage you to check it out here.

And be assured, this isn't our "final word" on the subject of silencing the inner critic. Last but not least, April will close out the topic on Friday. I'm looking forward to reading what she'll add to the discussion. If you have any tips to share, please post them as comments below or email them to us at: teachingauthors at gmail dot com.

Finally, I just found out that today is World Teacher's Day. Hurray for teachers everywhere!

Happy writing!
Carmela

Yearning for Spring

Where I live, spring is washing in and out like waves on Lake Michigan’s shore. We enjoyed a few gorgeous, warm days, but right now, I hear thunder, and it’s snowing. Again. The sleet that pelted us yesterday hasn’t even melted. We’re keeping the bird feeders full for early migrants; so far, we’ve seen yellow-rumped warblers, ovenbirds, and brown creepers. Crocuses popped up on the sunny front hill and promptly wilted in the cold. Now scilla is poking through the snow, along with the first hellebore shoots. Spring in Wisconsin makes us appreciate (and long for) warm, sunny weather.

In the meantime, we’ve still got more National Poetry Month to console us, inspire us, and entertain us. Here are a few poetic things that have kept me going this month.

Moon, Have You Met My Mother? The Collected Poems of Karla Kuskin. I started reading a few poems from this collection each night at bedtime because I love her sense of humor. I found myself waking up in the morning (and sometimes even in the middle of the night) with ideas for my own silly poems. Now I’m reading it through again, paying more attention to structure and language. What fun!

Jama Rattigan’s Poetry Potluck Series includes inspiring interviews with poets, recipes, and (of course) poems.

Laura Purdie Salas and Susan Taylor Brown are hosting a weekly online book club with poetry participation called Write After Reading: Living the Life Poetic, based on the book Writing the Life Poetic: An Invitation to Read and Write Poetry by Sage Cohen. The conversation alternates between their blogs.

While I haven’t attempted the Poem-A-Day Challenge, I have had a pretty productive month so far. Maybe by this time next year, I’ll be brave enough to follow in April’s footsteps. And here comes May with more exciting children’s book-related events:

Children’s Book Week is May 2-8, 2011. I’ll be celebrating it with a reading at the Mukwonago Community Library on Wednesday, May 4, at 10:00 a.m.

National Picture Book Writing Week ("NaPiBoWriWee") is May 1-7, 2011. Write 7 Picture Books in 7 Days!

Remember that today is the last day to enter the giveaway for Gretchen Woelfle’s new middle-grade novel, All the World's a Stage: A Novel in Five Acts. See Jeanne Marie’s post for details.

Happy spring!
JoAnn Early Macken

Learning from a (Picture Book) Master...

Hurrah for writers everywhere currently engaged in this month’s Picture Book Marathon, courageously writing a picture book a day.
And Hurrah for writers everywhere currently engaged in writing a Picture Book period.
Contrary to popular thought, the picture book format is – NOT – for sprinters, whether on a daily, monthly or even seasonal basis.
Mem Fox said it best: “Writing a picture book is like writing War and Peace in Haiku."

When it comes to writing a picture book, I share many of my fellow TeachingAuthors’ practices.
I type out model texts.
I read picture books non-stop, first as a reader, next as a writer.
I read picture books aloud to myself, listening for the necessary rhythms, the essential lyricism.
I read picture books aloud to children, paying careful attention to where their interest builds, where their interest wanes.
Ann Paul’s Writing Picture Books (Writer’s Digest, ’09) and Sandy Asher’s Writing It Right! (Institute of Children’s Literature, ’10) anchor my shelves of writing books.

Though two years new now, SCBWI’s Master Class On Creating the Picture Book with this year’s Laura Ingalls Wilder Medal Winner Tomie dePaola also holds a prominent place on my bookshelves. The American Library Association award honors an author or illustrator, published in the United States, whose books have made a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children. Tomie dePaola’s works include Strega Nona (Prentice-Hall, 1975), Oliver Button is a Sissy (Harcourt, 1979) and one of my favorites, Nana Upstairs and Nana Downstairs. Wilder Award Committee Chair Megan Schliesman praised the author/illustrator as “masterful at creating seemingly simple stories that have surprising depth and reflect tremendous emotional honesty. They have resonated with children for over 40 years.”

Hosted by SCBWI Executive Director Lin Oliver, the 70-minute Master Class DVD offers an up-close-and-personal conversation that serves as a how-to for anyone creating this singular format, in words and/or pictures.
(Teachers, please note: the DVD is an inexpensive and swell way to bring this well-loved author to your classroom!)
I love how Tomie dePaola distinguishes between “an illustrated story” and a “true picture book” – one in which the young reader remembers the story just by looking at the pictures.

Visit the SCBWI website to hear an excerpt, learn more and (hopefully) purchase for but $14.95.

Happy Picture Book Writing, whether marathoning or not!

Esther Hershenhorn

P.S.
NaNoWriMo Participants: take a look at the SCBWI Master Class on Writing the Novel for Young Readers with Richard Peck!

Writing Workout

In the SCBWI Master Class on Creating the Picture Book, Tomie dePaola addresses the need for writers to be economical in their writing. However, the writer needs to include enough words, or even better, the right words, to offer the illustrator the opportunity to both bring the story to life and include his or her vision.

Select a picture book you’ve never read. Ask a friend, colleague, fellow student to cover the text with colored paper. Now tell yourself the story, aloud, from the cover forward, using only the illustrations.

Who claims the story and what is it about? Where is the story set? What’s happening, scene after scene? How does the story build? What’s the resolution?

Next, turn that telling into words you choose and order.

Compare your telling to the book’s text, noting the economy of the actual text’s telling as well as any differences in viewpoint, tone, voice and concrete details.

Celebrate Spring!

Posted by JoAnn Early Macken

For me, winter is a long, solitary season. My only contacts with the children’s book world are online and in occasional meetings with my brilliant writing group. Even writing sometimes feels like (gasp!) drudgery. At last, along with wildflowers and migrating songbirds, children’s books are bustin’ out all over. Apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein, but truly, children’s book lovers have reasons to celebrate.

In spring, with travel less risky, schools open doors to visiting authors. What joy! My spring school visits with enthusiastic students remind me of those first glorious warm days when everyone abandons a jacket on the playground.

This year, May 1-7 marked the first annual National Picture Book Writing Week. What fun! I wrote one on an airplane, a couple at my desk, and several in the backyard. The stories are all dreadful, but I have something to work with. Yippee!

I spent Tuesday, May 5, at the 54^th Annual Convention of the International Reading Association in Minneapolis. I strolled through aisles between wonderful books, rubbed elbows with enthusiastic teachers, stood in line for autographs of amazing authors, and shared my thoughts about writing poetry. Wandering through the convention center, I recognized Susan Marie Swanson signing her award-winning book The House in the Night and Jacqueline Woodson, author of many award-winning books of her own.

I turned a corner and found Phyllis Root signing copies of her adorable new picture book Flip, Flap, Fly.

I bumped into Kimberly Willis Holt, who contributed to a Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market article I wrote about writing fiction inspired by real life (a future Teaching Authors topic, thanks to a reader request).

I met Laura Purdie Salas for a quick conversation and recognized a dedicated poet and teacher.

The teachers who attended my workshop ("Write a Poem, Step by Step: A Simple, Logical, Effective Way to Write Poetry With Your Students") plunged right into the process. A few shared snippets of their work. Many said they were surprised and pleased by the results. I was pleased, too, but not surprised. As the IRA Mission explains, teachers are always looking for new ways to advance the quality of literacy instruction. These teachers, from elementary, middle, and high school, diligently wrote their own poems, step by step, so they could understand the method inside out and use it to help their students write poetry. Writing is work, and here you can see every teacher hard at it.

On Saturday, May 9, I met Kevin Henkes at the Council for Wisconsin Writers Annual Awards luncheon. My nonfiction picture book Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move received an Honorable Mention (the thought-provoking Mousetraps by Pat Schmatz received the main award) in the Tofte-Wright Children’s Literature category. Kevin Henkes received a Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to children’s literature. He spoke about his creative and publishing history and read hilarious, heartfelt letters from young fans. To quote his Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse, just about all I can say is “wow.”

In spite of the dismal economy, school budget cuts, and upheavals in the publishing industry, readers still read, teachers still teach, and writers still write. Although Children’s Book Week is officially May 11-17, for everyone who loves children’s books, every day (especially in spring) deserves a celebration. Hooray!