Writing Salon Mistress Muses

What I Know about Writing - by Jenny Strauss

 This post is another in our weekly series, "What I Know about Writing."  These short writing exercises were done within a 10 to 12-minute time limit, for a Daily Write Round Robin class. They are raw writes, not revised.

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Jenny Strauss is a native San Franciscan who grew up with hippies and gurus as a die hard liberal. She was kicked out of high school at 15 for extreme truancy. Of this she is proud. She does not, however, want her two children to follow in her footsteps. She is currently working on a memoir/novel -- two books in one, weaving tales of her 1970s childhood among hippies, self-actualization junkies and wealthy suburbanites with a dystopian fantasy story about a girl, not unlike herself, who takes a stand against a society hell-bent on demonizing fat people. Jenny was most recently published in an online anthology, which you can read HERE.

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Dawn lived in a dilapidated house on the train tracks with cockroaches and an old time radio that was always turned to classic country. When the train went by, the whole place rattled. It was comforting. Just like the yellow peeling wallpaper and haze of smoke from her parents' cigarettes. Her dad looked like an old man, a wino or a train hopper. Her mom wore house dresses and hacked when she coughed.

That's one thing I know about writing.

The girl who gave me the gold unicorn necklace pretended to like me. She was rich and lived in a special development behind a gate. I felt special when I got invited over to her house on Halloween. She knew I was on a fast. She knew I hadn't eaten in months. She knew I wanted to fit in, she must've. She would have sensed it. Did she know that I'd stay home and give out candy for her while she went to a party? Did her parents know she would ask me to do that? Did the unicorn necklace, tiny as it was, make up for her abandonment? I ate all the candy. Transgression that would haunt me.

That's another thing I know about writing.

How to Find Time to Write - by Jess Wells

Hi Folks,

Here's another installment in our 9-week series featuring posts from our teachers on the topic of "How to Find Time to Write."

Jess Wells’ favorite literary moments including winning a San Francisco Arts Commission Grant for Literature and a standing ovation (years ago) from 500 naked women at the Michigan Women’s Music Festival.  Between the two, she’s published a dozen books and promises herself just five more years of day-jobs before full-time writing.  Among the workshops she teaches at The Writing Salon are “How to Write with a Full-Time Job”, “Writing Historical Fiction” and “Powerful Short Stories.”

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Finding the time to write is one of my favorite topics: I teach a course here at The Writing Salon on that very issue.  But now it’s time to get personal, and share some of what I do, myself, to save time:

I refuse to garden.

Honestly, I consider gardening one of life’s most frustrating wastes of time. Pull the weeds out, they grow back. Trim the bush it needs trimming again. It’s as endlessly demanding as dusting. As dishes. Monotonous, repetitive.   I know there have been great writers (Vita Sackville West, for instance) who loved their gardens (and yes, she had legions of gardeners but she was out there supervising, weeding, cutting, feeling guilty when she wrote and let the garden go, feeling guilty when she gardened that she wasn’t writing.)  But every single time I get out there with the clippers and the rake I remember that I’m not winning this battle; that it will never, ever be over.   I feel trapped like a hamster on the wheel.  It’s not like painting the walls where you finish it and you’re done for a couple of years.  Gardening is endlessly demanding like having children except that flowers don’t love you.  Gardening is like having fussy porcelain figurines except that they’re always on the verge of dying/breaking from your negligence and then they die because they do.

What I Know about Writing - by Amy Yuen

 This post by is another in our weekly series, "What I Know about Writing."  These short writing exercises were done within a 10 to 12-minute time limit, for a Daily Write Round Robin class. They are raw writes. No revising was allowed.

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A proud native San Franciscan, Amy Yuen is a writer and editor. She earned an MFA from California College of the Arts, and is an alum of the Voices of Our Nations Arts Foundation VOICES workshops. 

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Show up. Even when you hate it, at least treat it like a job and clock in. It’s like exercise. The more you work out that part of your brain/soul, you’ll loosen up more, get more attuned to your sensibilities, and be open to what’s already in front of you.

Writing is suicide prevention, that’s what Janice Mirikitani said once. At times, it has been like that for me, especially when I was learning to trust my voice when I started writing. When I was trying to block those critics—imagined or otherwise—who said, Who the hell are you/give up, you wannabe/you aren’t smart enough/artistic enough/white enough/middle-class enough/well-read enough. Writing has allowed me to make the silly thing that’s not worth anyone’s time come alive and count in this world.

Kudos to Student Sue Granzella!

 

A few days ago teacher Alison Luterman forwarded this email on to me, from student Sue Granzella:

Hi, Alison!

 

I took the personal essay/memoir class with you last spring. I wanted to let you know that I just found out yesterday that I won 2nd place in the Memoirs, Ink writing contest! How crazy is that?! I submitted a piece that I wrote while taking your class --- the one on loving baseball, twisted up with my husband's cancer diagnosis. I can't quite believe it! 

Thanks to Kathleen McClung and you, I feel like I have a decent foundation in the elements of memoir writing. Without confidence gained in your class and Kathleen's, there's no way that it would have ever occurred to me to submit anything. Heck, I didn't even know that there IS such a thing as writing contests!

Anyway --- thanks much! I'll send you the link to the piece once I've signed the paperwork and written up a blurb. Thank you for your help and support! 

Sue Granzella

How to Find Time to Write - by Julie Bruck

Julie Bruck's third poetry collection, Monkey Ranch, will be out in the spring of 2012. Her work has appeared in many Canadian and U.S. magazines, including The New Yorker, Ploughshares, and Ms, and new work is forthcoming in The New Yorker. A Montreal native, she has lived in San Francisco since 1997. Her website: www.juliebruck.com

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Writers don't have enough time. They make it. How they do so is a matter of temperament, and this is a report from only one individual (at least, that's my disclaimer, and I'm sticking to it).

Whatever else I'm working on,  I like to keep starting fresh drafts. A  looser writing practice and the slow work of revision inform and nourish one other. When time is short, adding constraints can help to start new work. So, in addition to praising the inventors of the pencil, lined paper, and the electric pencil sharpener, I tip my hat to the engineer who dreamed up automatic locks:

New fiction inspired by Occupy Wall Street - Salon.com

There are thousands of stories in Zuccotti Park and the Occupy rallies nationwide — in the lives of the protesters, the financiers who pass through them every day, in the tourists and onlookers who visit and perhaps find themselves changed.

Read all four fiction pieces here:

via www.salon.com

What I Know about Writing - by Rachel Wong

This post by Rachel Wong is another in our weekly series, "What I Know about Writing."  These short writing exercises were done, within a 10 to 12-minute time limit, during a Daily Write Round Robin class. They are raw writes. No revising was allowed.

Rachel lives and works in San Francisco. Since writing isn't what currently pays her bills, she notes that she is "able to pursue it purely for all the pleasure, frustration, love, sweat, and tears that it might entail."

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I make things up in writing.

Okay, I don't really have a brother, or scars on my wrist, or a management consulting job in New York. I didn't have a conversation with Obama at a picnic the other day.

Write On the Sound Announces Winners for 2011 - Edmonds, WA Patch

he Write on the Sound Writers’ Conference Steering Committee have announced the winners of its 2011 Writing Contest.

Our Memoir Class teacher, Kathleen McClung won first-place for her piece, Message in a Bottle. Congrats, Kathleen! (That's Kathleen in the middle of the photo.)

Read more about the contest here: via edmonds.patch.com

Note: Kathleen's next 5-week class, Intro to Memoir Writing, starts on Nov. 12th. And if you'd like to read her memoir piece, here it is:

Josh Mohr's New Novel Is OUT!

This announcement just in from our San Francisco 9-week Fiction Workshop teacher, Josh Mohr:

My new novel, Damascus, is officially published and out in the world.  I'm incredibly proud of it and hope you'll take the time to check it out. Indie publishing is often an uphill battle to find an audience, so I truly appreciate your support.

Here it is on Powells.
And on Amazon.
Or directly from my publisher.

Thanks,

Josh

 

http://www.joshuamohr.net/

"The chief enemy of creativity is good taste."
--Picasso

How to Find Time to Write - by Britt Bravo

Hi Folks,

Here's another installment in our 9-week series featuring posts from our teachers on the topic of "How to Find Time to Write."

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Britt Bravo is a blogger, podcaster, and blog coach for artists, writers, entrepreneurs and do-gooders. She's also a big vision consultant who loves to help people find and express their calling. She began blogging in 2005 with the launch of her personal blog, Have Fun * Do Good, and has been blogging for herself, nonprofits and businesses ever since. In 2007, The East Bay Express named her the Best Podcaster/Blogger Most Dedicated to Social Change.  You can learn more about Britt at brittbravo.com

Do you want to post more on your blog this fall, but aren't sure how to find the time?  Here are 12 tips to get you going:

The Writing Salon All-Stars » Lit Crawl | San Francisco

The Writing Salon All-Stars » Lit Crawl | San Francisco

Location: The Women's Buliding-Audre Lorde Room

Date/Time: Oct. 15th, 7:15 - 8:15 pm

A showcase of some of the exciting fiction that has been produce in Writing Salon fiction workshops.

What I Know about Writing - by Sarah Scott

This post is another in our weekly "What I Know about Writing" series. These short writes ("exercises") were written, within a 10 to 12-minute time limit, during a Daily Write Round Robin class. They are raw writes. No revising was allowed.

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Sarah Scott says that she "lives and breathes food and, fortunately, makes a living at it as a chef and culinary consultant in the Napa Valley." She has one cookbook under her belt, The Wild Table, co-authored with Connie Green, and another one in the scribbling stage. She has been taking classes at the Writing Salon for so many years she has lost count, and is also a member of a "legendary" writing group (an inside joke, folks). Website: www.sarahscottchef.com  and Twitter: sarahscottchef@twitter.com

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I know that writing, for me, has been a lifesaving process. The times when I couldn’t speak or could hardly admit my feelings, writing allowed me to let them flow out, like bursting a swollen wound and easing the pressure to allow the healing to begin. Writing  allows me to be honest with myself, first and foremost, and reveals truths I didn’t know when I started. It gives me words to then speak to others that are true and clear.

The Millions : Swedish Poet Wins Nobel Prize

Eons ago, when I was but a fledgling writer enrolled in a creative writing MFA program with an "emphasis in poetry," I took a workshop or two with Robert Bly, who has translated much of Tomas Transtromer's work. I fell in love with Transtromer, and through all my many household moves over the last almost-40 years, from apartment to apartment and house to house -- always purging and letting go of more books as I went along -- I never relinquished my first Transtromer book. It's still here with me, still on my bookshelf after all these years.

Tomas Transtromer, the 80-year-old poet, became the first Swedish laureate since 1974. The Nobel committee gave Transtromer the award “because, through his condensed, translucent images, he gives us fresh access to reality.” He is the first poet to take the $1.5 million prize since Polish poet Wisława Szymborska in 1996. The Associated Press called Transtromer a “perennial favorite,” and indeed he has ranked high in the betting odds in each of the last several years. The AP also noted that Transtromer suffered a stroke in 1990 that left him half-paralyzed but that he has continued to write. A number of collections of his poetry have been published in translation.

Read full article here:

via www.themillions.com

Now that I've got my master's in writing ... I'm not writing! - Since You Asked - Salon.com

Dear Cary,

I'm a reasonably happy, reasonably successful 28-year-old woman. Since moving to Chicago from Ann Arbor, Mich., five years ago, I've done fairly well as a personal trainer at an upscale health club. I've got a great apartment, good friends and a wonderful boyfriend with whom I live. This past June, I earned my master's in writing, finally attaining the knowledge and experience I thought I might need to change careers and pursue writing full time. Though much of my background is in fitness, my plan has long been to stick with training only until I could secure a writing job or switch to training part time and writing freelance. My friends, my family and even my professors have been enormously supportive of this plan.

Now, nine months later, the question I've come to dread is, "How's the writing going?" The honest answer, which I always -- albeit begrudgingly -- supply, is that it's not.

Read Cary's full post here. It's a good one!:

Now that I've got my master's in writing ... I'm not writing! - Since You Asked - Salon.com

Litquake presents “That’s My F*cking Stool!”—Writers at the Bar (3)

Hi Folks,

Just wanted to let you know that our San Francisco fiction workshop instructor, Josh Mohr, will be part of this LitQuake reading on Sunday, Oct. 9th:

Readings from Alan Black, Jack Boulware, Beth Lisick, Joshua Mohr, Missy Roback, David Henry Sterry, Frances Stroh. Free admission!

Click here for more info:

via www.facebook.com

How to Find Time to Write - by Louise Nayer

Louise Nayer's latest book, Burned: A Memoir(2010) was listed as one of "Ten Upcoming Titles" in Oprah Magazine, was a finalist for the USA Book News Award and won the 2010 Wisconsin Library Association award. She has done numerous readings and talks across the country, including interviews on NPR.

links: www.louisenayer.com
http://www.facebook.com/louise.nayer
http://louisenayer.blogspot.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/LouiseBNayer

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Octavia Butler said, “Forget inspiration. Habit is more dependable.” 

Writing can be done anywhere and at any time. In my house in Buffalo during grad school I turned a tiny storage area into my writing room and wrote there for at least one hour every day. One long window faced a huge oak tree.  Sometimes words came to me(then poems) in the middle of the night, and I always had a pen and paper by my bed and a tape recorder as well where I caught words in the middle of the night like catching lightning bugs in the Long Island summers of my childhood. Even when you have a full-time job, children and/ or an elderly parent to take care of or endless other commitments, time can be carved out. 

When my daughter, Sarah, was born, my good friend, Frances, and I spelled each other a few hours a week in North Beach. It was precious, solitary time for both of us to put pen to paper. One of us went to a café while the other watched both babies. Later, when Laura was born, two years later, my husband always encouraged me to keep up the writing even with two small children and work. Monday nights were deemed my “writing night.”  I didn’t take phone calls.  “Mommy, Mommy” my daughters said at first but soon learned it was my sacred writing time. I often wrote until 10 p.m.

Pick one night, morning or afternoon a week and X that evening on your calendar. Let nothing get in the way(except a dire emergency) and tell all your friends and family about your “time.” Also, carve time at work. I would often steal moments while students were taking tests, or at a library presentation. I always carried a pen and pad—ready for the muse. Riding busses, the BART, or even driving with a tape recorder on—can be writing time. Just like a lot of things in life(sex and exercise for example) the more you do it, the more you’ll want to do it. Always have a pad and paper since computers don’t always behave.

When I was working on my memoir I would say, “1000 words today.” I forced myself to stay at a café or at the computer, sometimes two cups of coffee later, until those words were written. Make yourself a prisoner of your own creative expectations and hold yourself to it.

This May I stopped teaching full-time and now take the BART to the SF Grotto where I write at least two days a week. Some days I don’t want to go—my backpack is heavy—I haven’t prepared a good lunch—the house needs to be cleaned—I need to think of more ways to make money—but I go anyway. Then the words spill out.

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NOTE: Louise will be teaching a one-day workshop on Oct. 22nd in San Francisco: Selling Your Writing - Persistence Pays Off.

Writing Under the Influence -- of Ibuprofen - Pat MacEnulty - Open Salon

What are your ideal writing conditions? Virginia Woolf advocated for having a room of one’s own. Some people prefer writing in a coffee shop. Other writers have an office in their home. Some people like to go to a residency away from the distractions of their day-to-day lives. I know a woman who rents a hotel room. Ideally, we would feel rested and refreshed as we sat down with our laptops or our notebooks. Nothing would interfere with the free flowing of the muse. But life so rarely gives us the ideal.

To read the full essay go to Pat's blog on Open Salon:

via open.salon.com

What I Know about Writing - by Shannon O'Mara

Shannon O'Mara, a Writing Salon regular, gave us this stunningly succinct bio (!): Shannon lives in SF and is one cynical S.O.B. 

Her post was originally a 10-minute daily write done for the Daily Write Round Robin class that she was in. The write has not been changed or revised.

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What I know could fit on the head of a pin.

What I think- well, probably you couldn't have enough rolls of butcher paper to contain my expansion on thinking. I know that wouldn't help anyone wanting to write.

I don't mean to be secretive. I can't share process. I can't because I have no idea what goes on, where it comes from. Sometimes it's meandering, sometimes it's surgically precise. Most of the time it feels labored, yet it feels unnatural if I don't write. But sometimes things come out that I call Scary Toss Offs, which I've been told I need to re-name- Natural Gems, or something like that.

I know that watching things unfold is gorgeous. The sight of seeing something where there was once nothing- letters become volumes, disjointed quirks become character, connecting dots makes a story. Sometimes looking at a whole piece I forget that things start from nothing, and I need to remind myself about that fact.

Quote for Writers

"Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about. It is this genuine caring, and not your games with language that will be the most compelling and seductive element in your style." — Kurt Vonnegut