To be writers, we must write. The old a– in chair dictum is still true, though a lot of us now like standing desks. Despite the fact that most of us write into an electronic device, writing still takes place in real time and physical space.
When I turned my life upside down and shook it like an Etch-a-Sketch, I lost the writing spaces that I had so carefully crafted. I said good-bye to my Christine de Pizan desk at the school, my standing desk at my mom’s apartment, my bilateral workspace built from Elfa components in the tiny house. I also said good-bye to my routine, my writing circle that kept me on task, and my lovely drawer of colorful paperclips and post-it pads. Even the weeks in my calendar now begin on the wrong day.
I exchanged a host of distractions and time-swallowers for another set. It no longer takes me thirty minutes to run an errand in traffic, but it takes me that long to walk to the grocery store. People no longer phone me out of the blue to ask a question about their story or get my advice on local print shops. Now, I’m writing it all in an email. Now, I’m cooking (if you can call it that) for my mom instead of shipping her down to the dining room in The Home.
All this has me thinking about essentials. What does it really take to write? And I think this question is as individual, as intimate, as our inner personhoods. When we write, we go deep into our own psychologies, our own special longings and emotional baggages and inherited quirks. Some of us crave order. Some of us thrive in creative messiness. But along that spectrum, there are a thousand variations. I want to be able to get my desk orderly, but I love a messy bulletin board. I totally mistrust a narcissistic bulletin board where the notes, cartoons, and inspirational bookmarks are all lined up.
Some people want to curl up in a cozy chair with a pen and paper. Some of us have to have a long work space. I am one of these. I say it’s because of all my research books, but I think it also has to do with my inner need to see the big picture, to feel that I’m in control of the whole situation.
Then there’s time. The Italian is tempo, which in English speaks of rhythm and repetition and pace. I like that because that, too, is what we must have. Not only time to write but time that is predictable, that we can anticipate, and that, for goodness sake, returns again and again. Too many people get a flash of inspiration and write furiously for half a day and then not again for months.
We must be able to control time, at least to a certain extent. For that we have devised schedules, calendars, to-do lists. Which ones we like—which ones work—depends, once again, on our personalities and our core needs. Actually, all these time management systems are like diets. They all work if you use them consistently and for long enough. They don’t work when they don’t address our inner, psychological needs.
As writers, we have a host of options to approach both time and space. So since I’m in the throes of “rewriting” my writing routine, I thought it would be fun to have a call-in session where we explore various ways that writers have found to nest and to control time.
I hope this will be the forerunner of a series of these type calls on topics of interest to writers. This first one is free. Later, we will charge an affordable fee to raise money for the Village Writing School.
We are taking the first ten who sign up here. The date is Thursday November 2nd from Noon – 1pm CT. After you sign up, we will send you simple instructions to call in for free with either your phone or computer.
I’ll be throwing out a lot of options which you might not have considered but which might be just what you’re looking for. Cool writing spaces in tiny places. Time management at the level of the month or the minute. Many ways to carve writing out of both space and time.
Write On!
Alison
As I prepared to leave for Italy, so many people asked me: what will happen to the Village Writing School? But if you’ve seen our catalog, with workshops scheduled all the way through February, you know the Village Writing School is going strong.
For six months before I left, the Board and I worked diligently to make sure the school had a runway and a great momentum. When I told Alice French, Board member and Co-Founder, that I was planning workshops for six months, she said, “You do that and I’ll create a catalog.” If you haven’t seen it yet, you can see it HERE. It’s awesome. (Give it a few seconds to load.)
I always said, “I am not the Village Writing School. Our teachers, our attendees bring their talents and energy and passion and experience. I just unlock the door.”
So I’m not worried about what will happen to the school while I’m in Italy. I’m more worried about what will happen to me while I’m gone. Our people are my tribe. That’s why I FaceTime into every workshop, Chats with the Editor, and many Writers’ Nights Out. Keep in mind that for Writers’ Night Out, I have to get up at 1 a.m. because Italy is seven hours later than Arkansas. But I do it because I believe in the importance of a writing community. That has been one of the cornerstones of the VWS since the beginning. I can’t imagine not seeing Alan and Carol, Debbie and Greg, Alice and Gene and . . .
Here I am joining in for a toast at Writers’ Night Out, where I’m really just a little too big:
In this discussion, there’s a munchkin on the top shelf:
There’s a ton of administration work done via email—writing press releases, answering questions, etc.—and I still do a lot of that. I’m working on the spring/summer workshop line-up now. I’m also trying to think of ways that I can contribute to our programming and to the support and inspiration that we have to offer writers and those who are about to begin writing.
I always said I was 60% writer and 40% teacher. (And I encourage you to put percentages to YOUR passions because that is very helpful in seeing if you are honoring the most important ones.) So, I’m working with a consultant to create a call-in program where we discuss a writing topic. Since I am right now in the throes of creating a writing routine after throwing all the pieces of my life into the air like confetti, it’s appropriate that our first topic of discussion will be “How to Craft a Writing Routine.”
I’m not pretending to have all the answers. So this discussion will be about the various ways authors have managed their time and space. Everyone from Stephen King to . . . well . . . me.
I will announce the time and date next week, look for it. I hope you will think about joining us as I am excited about some of the material I have to discuss, including a “system” designed by our own Alice French (amazing how her name keeps coming up). This call is something that anyone, anywhere can call in to, so those of you who are too far away to attend a workshop can totally join me for this.
The Village Writing School is rocking because of planning. Creating a writing routine is all about planning. And what about your writing? Do you plan for it? Long-term. Of course we all plan to do it. But do we plan on how to do it? Planning is what gives your writing a fighting chance to thrive. Planning is what makes a book launch a real LAUNCH.
I hope you’ll join us at many of the VWS workshops and events either in person or online. I can’t tell you how much the Village Writing School means to me, and I urge you to discover our high-quality instruction and laid-back friendliness for yourself.
Write On!
Alison
As creatives, we often imagine a life in which our art comes first, where the environment, the schedule, our friends–EVERYTHING fuels our creative energy, and we turn out massive amounts of beautiful work. Whether we dream of a Walden Pond cabin or a Soho loft, many of us can imagine a radically creative life. I recently shared the news with you of some major changes I am making in my life: moving to Italy with my 89-year-old mother and tiny dog in order to write my next novel. So come with me on a journey as we seek a radically creative life. Imagine . . .
Day One
You arrive at your charming Tuscan apartment where your landlord gives you the keys. He is a pleasant soul who speaks no English and, for some reason, can’t understand your Italian. Yet you are able to convey that you wish the apartment had a full-sized refrigerator rather than the little under-counter one, and he gallantly offers you a new one he has in storage.
But when she sees the apartment, your mother is appalled. “I’m not staying here. It’s about to fall down. It’s not safe. I’m going to a hotel.” But you will not take her to a hotel, so she goes to bed and covers up her head after throwing her cane on the floor in a little hissy fit.
The driver you hired to deliver you from the airport takes pity on you and takes you to a furniture store where you buy your mother the nifty electric recliner you chose last time you were here when you envisioned her sitting by the window with the beautiful Tuscan view. You also order a wardrobe for your clothes as your brain is spinning as to how you can possibly make these two rooms work since the front one, with the kitchen in one end, is mostly full of a monstrous sofa. You buy a microwave because your mother believes it to be a necessity and the crux of a civilized life.
The driver hauls the recliner back. She hates it. You stop and get food, pizza which even you think is tough. She hates it.
In your jet-lagged exhaustion, you lay awake and try to figure out how to arrange the apartment. You want to use the long table for a writing space. You want a full-size refrigerator. There is a bright flash in your head. Maybe an idea or perhaps the precursor to a stroke. Get rid of the sofa that takes up half the front room and which your mother says is the most uncomfortable thing God ever made.
Day 2
You and your mother are living out of your carry-ons because you dare not unzip the huge suitcases until the wardrobe arrives. There is no where to unfold them and you envision your stuff exploding out with no where to put it. But your three huge suitcases are alike and you’ve packed your things with your mom’s. She is appalled that she can’t have her house shoes, so you gingerly insert your hand in each suitcase and feel around, but it is hopeless.
The apartment that looked so cute when you were here with your 20″ suitcase now looks crammed with decorative items. You pile knickknacks and excess kitchen clutter outside in the garden. You take down the huge, very realistic nude that causes your mother to shake her head. She is convinced she is in the last circle of hell. And where is her Chapstick?
The landlord comes and you break the news to him that you really don’t have room for the monstrous sofa hide-a-bed and could he take it away? He is stunned and explains to you with gestures that he will have to take the thing apart to get it out the door. You smile sweetly with a look you hope conveys your complete confidence in his ability to pull this off.
He sighs and gets tools. Indeed, by the time he is through, the thing is in 20 pieces. Then he brings you a full-sized refrigerator to replace the apartment one. He has stored this new refrigerator in the cellar below your apartment. Extremely narrow, turning stairs lead down to an arched door about five feet high. Watching him and one other man bring up the refrigerator distracts you for a while. He loads all the bric-a-brac you piled in the garden into the microwave box.
Your dog is constipated. No wait. She’s not.
Your mother is so pleased to be rid of the sofa, she agrees to go out to dinner. But the restaurant you hoped would be open is not. The other one within walking distance for her won’t open for another hour and a half. You’re both exhausted. The little shop where you once bought salads and veggies and the most amazing green beans now seems to have nothing but pizza. Your mother is convinced you are going to starve her to death. And where is her nail file?
Day 3
Miraculously, the wardrobe is delivered at 8:30 a.m. You immediately unpack to excavate the house shoes, Chapstick, and nail file, stacking both beds full of stuff. Then you realize you have no hangers. You walk to the store you expect to have hangers. They have ironing boards and clothes pins and all manner of clothing paraphernalia. But no hangers. The young woman tells you that you must go to the Lego Store. You know exactly how far that is. You sigh.
At the Lego Store, which seems to have nothing to do with Legos, you buy hangers and cardboard storage boxes. Paper towels, washcloths. You can’t haul it all. You buy a rolling bag. You stop and get very expensive restaurant food to take home.
Your landlord is there, reversing the refrigerator doors, plastering over holes left by a shelf he had to move to put the refrigerator where you wanted it, rehanging the shelf over your workspace. Suddenly there is a crash in the back room. Your mother has let the back of her recliner hook under one side of the open window and as she raised the back, she lifted the window off its hinges. It is a beautiful thing, solid oak frame, and pretty sturdy because it did not break when it hit the tile floor. The landlord cannot understand why the window should suddenly jump off its hinges. Your mother murmurs to you what happened. You don’t want to tell the landlord, but finally you do because he is so agitated that he can’t figure it out and also because he is looking at you both as if you might be a pair of witches.
He leaves. You bring out the restaurant food which your mother declares to be “good but weird.” You consider this progress. You hang up all the clothes, assemble the storage boxes and sort stuff. The refrigerator is humming. You will write, you tell yourself. You will . . .
When I started the Village Writing School, people wanted to know why a writing school was needed when you can “learn anything” on the Internet. And my mom asked me every day. “Why don’t you just learn Italian online?”
It’s true. You can learn anything online. There are great apps to learn Italian. Just as there are blogs and classes and MUCH information on how to write a novel. So why did I take weeks out of my life and haul my mom and dog all the way to Florida to study with Antonella at the West Palm Beach Language Institute? And why should you consider a live writing workshop versus online material? A few reasons:
- That face-to-face human teacher. A great deal of learning comes from the personal experiences of the teacher. Stephanie Storey had a terrific powerpoint recently when she taught at the Village Writing School, but her anecdotes about the experiences of her writer friends opened up the publishing landscape in a way that her organized material did not. Because Antonella, who is from Rome, leaned back in her chair and laughed as she told me that to split the check at a restaurant is to say, “We make in the way of the Romans,” I’ll never forget that phrase.
- Networking. It’s everything. I now have new connections in Italy all the way from Rome to a neighboring village of Certaldo, where I will live, because Antonella got on the phone and told her friends I was moving and that we must get together. When writers network, they share connections as well, and one of those could be worth gold to your career.
- Accountability. Yes, you can take writing workshops online and yes I could get Italian apps. I have paid for Rosetta Stone in German and I have the Michel Thomas course in German and I have Duolingo for German. I have a word-a-day German calendar and the Bible on tape in German. I don’t know any German. I started many times to spend thirty minutes a day, etc., but I was never disciplined enough to put that before the many things that came up. But when Antonella piled PAGES of exercises into my hands and said, “Now tomorrow we can go over your answers,” I did them. Because she was invested in me and I didn’t want to disappoint her. Because I had sacrificed time and money to be there and how dumb not to take advantage of the opportunity.
- A plan. If all the Italian you want is to order a meal and ask for the bathroom, you can certainly do that online. But I had a longer outlook. And for that, I needed the dreaded grammar. Grammar is like a grid into which you plug the vocabulary you learn.With writing, you can take a workshop online on building character. You can learn to write dialogue. You can read blogs that attempt to explain narrative tension. But it’s a scattershot approach, and how do you know what you really need to study? That’s why for the Village Writing School, I wrote a curriculum and named it Everything You Need to Write a Beautiful Story. I laugh when I say I teach in five Saturdays everything I learned getting an MFA in Fiction, but it’s close to the truth. And in those workshops, I can vary the speed of the presentation to work longer on the elements that seem to be difficult to that particular group. Or I can meet later one-on-one with someone who is struggling with a concept.
- Relationships. Antonella and I went to dinner more than once—always to Italian restaurants belonging to her friends. We met for coffee the morning I left, as Irma bore down on Florida. We’re making plans to connect in Rome in November. In the meantime, we’ll be FaceTiming, as I continue to study with her from Italy.
At the Village Writing School, we’re also about relationships. Friendships, even romances, have begun at our events. Writing groups, mentoring, volunteering together, open mics—all are opportunities for a writer or wannabe writer to connect with his tribe. Now of course, we are introverts, so you might say that you visited and didn’t suddenly find a friend. It takes time. Antonella and I were together two hours six days a week for seven weeks. And we both were open to forming a friendship. Part of the mission statement of the VWS is “to promote a vibrant literary community.” A community. A place to belong.
I love the Italian Duolingo app and I continue to play with it. I read writing blogs and take an online workshops from time to time. But I don’t think the internet can ever replace a human being with information to share with another human being in a two-way interaction that includes laughter and, if possible, tiramisu.
How about your own experience? What has worked better for you?
– Alison
Writers. We’re bold. Risk-takers. Adventure seekers. Never afraid of the knotty problem.
And all this without ever leaving our chairs.
But for a while I’ve wondered: what would happen if I brought into my real life those same elements? Where would I go—who would I be, if I could?
“What if Life,” Willa Cather said, “is meant to be our sweetheart?” If Life itself were my lover, how would I embrace it, caress it, nurture it?
For decades, like most of us, my life was circumscribed by the people I loved. A husband, two handicapped parents, a very old dog. It felt very bold when I moved my RV to Eureka Springs, Arkansas and began spending a few days a week up there to begin the Village Writing School. It felt very audacious (and took massive arrangements) to make my first solo trip to Europe and be gone three weeks.
But within a few months, I lost my dad, my dog, and my husband, though he didn’t die but simply decided to change his life. In one swipe of a cell phone, my world opened up, and though I didn’t have the details in that moment, I heard the hinges creak as the gate swung wide.
Where would you go if suddenly the moorings were cast off? What would you do? Would you cling to what security that remained: your dear friends—God bless them—your house, your stuff, the work you do that gives you real satisfaction?
Or would you push off, decide that if you are the hero of your story, your story will be about challenges, growth, adventure, about your becoming the best you can be? An elopement with Life. A total reboot.
Well, not total because I’m a writer to the core, will always be a writer, and not just a writer but a specific type of writer. I write historical fiction set in those pivotal years between 1300 and 1600. I love to ponder those times and what they mean to us today, how those centuries shape us even now in ways we don’t see.
And so, I have longed for more connection to that past. For years, my bucket list included:
- Living in a house built in medieval times.
- Living in a culture that values that history and in which such awareness is part of the whole social consciousness.
- Learning to see the world differently through being able to speak another language.
These were the things that I thought I would love to do, even as I saw no possible way to do them.
Then came the opportunity, but so late, and I thought: am I too old to learn a language? Is it selfish to drag my 89-year-old mom to a foreign country? Am I willing to divest myself of my treasured possessions? And most especially, am I smart enough to get through this mound of paperwork to move a puppy into the European Union?
I almost melted down in the three months of sorting and selling. I’ve just completed several weeks of Italian language study in Florida. Learning Italian is almost the hardest thing I have ever done, second only to my first historical novel in which I had no idea what I was doing. But after nine months of planning, it’s about to happen.
On September 19, my mom, the puppy, and I will move to a medieval town in Italy. I plan to spend the winter finishing my novel about the 14th-century writer Boccaccio who lived there.
And what have I learned so far that’s of any use to anyone—especially a writer? Two things.
- Examine fully and seriously the longings that your own writing has ignited in you. Do you want to make a trip, learn Latin, explore the paranormal, take up fencing? Do it. It will bring you closer to your writing, your characters, yourself.
- Inhabit your life fully. One of the consequences of giving up the routine and familiar is that you can no longer operate on autopilot. Your senses rev up and you revel in new experiences, new acquaintances, new toppings on your pizza. Life, indeed, becomes your sweetheart.
But that could happen without your ever leaving home if you gave to the street outside your house the same loving attention you give to the streets in your writer’s imagination. If you focused on this moment’s experience—be it the new coat of paint on your neighbor’s mailbox or the lizard on your deck—with eyes of appreciation and wonder at the miracles of both nature and our collective human creativity.
You don’t have to do something as drastic as I did to reboot your life. You can do it by bringing more awareness and a little risk into your day so that all the fun is not on the page. That, I’m convinced, will make our future pages better and more authentic.
Eudora Welty said, “I am a writer who came of a sheltered life. A sheltered life can be a daring life as well. For all serious daring starts from within.”
As we find our stories both on the page and in our own reality, let us reboot and embrace Life.
I dare you.
I’m embarking on a something new, I would deeply appreciate it if you would join me as I share it on my Facebook page and Twitter feed.I’ve packed a bag for you:
Thank you.
Alison
In my last article, I talked about hiring an editor. Today, I want to talk about working with an editor on conception rather than after-the-fact editing.
When I began to work with my editor, I expected her to cut some history and perhaps rearrange some scenes. But, though she was complementary of the writing, characters, etc., she believed that, since the story had certain elements of a thriller, it would need to BE a thriller. But I didn’t write it as a thriller, wasn’t sure I wanted it to be a thriller, and so, was undecided on what to do. Thrillerizing it would basically mean rewriting half the book.
Meanwhile, I was becoming more excited about my new novel about the Italian writer Boccaccio.
I write historical fiction, teach creative writing, and direct the Village Writing School. I believe stories have the power to connect us to our histories, one another, and our best selves.
I was days away from coming to Italy to work on his story. So I suggested to the editor that we simply put the previous manuscript on hold and focus on this new one. I suggested that I run my first several scenes by her to get this thing off on the right foot.
I see this as a great experiment. CAN I write a book that I LOVE that can be published in New York? I don’t know the answer to that question today. Over and over I am assured that it’s not a question of my writing but of the type of book that the big houses are looking for from debut novelists.
I came on my trip and began to write faster than I ever have. I sent the editor 35 pages. She read through it (not editing) and we FaceTimed. She loved the character and voice but said it was beginning too slowly and reading like a travelogue. We brainstormed Boccaccio’s life, and she said that the plague of the Black Death was the thing his story needed to revolve around.
Now the interesting thing is that she, of course, is looking for drama and salability. I am looking for authenticity in the character’s journey. I thought about it all that night and decided that, if you lived through something that horrific, indeed, you would divide your life into before and after. You would be changed. Evidence of this is found in the many scholarly articles analyzing the effects of the plague on Boccaccio’s greatest writing.
So I wrote a new beginning, a couple of pages. I wrote a scene for the modern story that will run consecutive with Boccaccio’s. Again, we FaceTimed. She asked me questions about Boccaccio’s life, about the modern character and what was at stake for her. I did most of the talking. But then she took what I said and underlined the potential in it. “Start with that.” “Bring that out more.”
So far, I can report that I am happy with the process and the progress, though I also realize that a time may come when our paths diverge. I do want to be published by a big house, but if she says, “Now bring in a giant lizard,” I’ll have to opt out. I don’t think that will happen. It’s also possible that I just will never be able to truly see into what she wants. But for now, I’m optimistic.
I have learned that this is how many “bestselling” authors proceed. They are under huge pressure to produce and don’t have time for a massive rewrite. Of course, they are not as transparent about the process as I have been with you, and these editors even sign confidentially agreements not to divulge who their clients are. So, at least I’m in good company, LOL.
If you’re interested in running your ideas by a former big-house editor, you can check out the editors I listed in my last article. This is far less expensive than a full manuscript edit and just might get you off on the right foot so that you don’t have to have a full edit.
Meanwhile, it’s fun to kick around ideas with someone who used to acquire manuscripts for these big publishers. It’s an education to see how they think.
And you get to talk about your book with someone other than your mom.
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