Pam Webb

a writer's journey as a reader

Archive for the category “Books”

05 Nov 2013
10 Comments

High Praise for Low Tech


Cover of "Six-Figure Freelancing"

Cover of Six-Figure Freelancing

Last month I had the pleasure of a lunch excursion of write-minded people with at least three different local writing groups being represented. Some of those at the table I knew and others I was glad to make acquaintance.  I hope we bump into each other while attending local and regional writer to-dos.

While it’s always a delight to mingle with other writers (because that gosh-it’s-lonely-in-the-garret thing does get tiresome after a time), it’s even more of a delight when the writerly get together involves eating and gnoshing with a known writer. In our case our writer-in-the-dining was Kelly James-Enger.

Kelly owns an impressive vita. A former lawyer, she’s also served a term as a contributing editor for Writer magazine, and has racked up some amazing credits such as:

  • written and published hundreds of articles appearing in over fifty national magazines
  • authored/coauthored/ghosted 12 books.
  • speaker at national writing conferences
  • blogger focusing on making money as a freelancer
  •  being a dedicated mother of two busy kids!

As much as I learned about the business side of writing from Kelly, my biggest take away was her lo tech savvy.

She and I share this nerdy joy of NEO. Not Matrix Neo, but the odd little wants-to-be-computer someday NEO. At first glance it resembles an overgrown calculator. At second glance it makes you wonder why a person would want to use it. At all.

Take a look at its amazing features:

  • no internet
  • no printer capability
  • no word processing
  • no large screen
  • no thumb drive save

I know–it’s a list of no nos. Why bother with such a low tech device?  That’s the beauty of it–it’s so low tech that it produces high results.  You know how easy it easy to fire up the laptop, iPad, MAC, whatever and go in with great intentions. Before long it’s rabbit trail time as social media is checked, updated, and read, meaningless research extranvagas commence, and general time wasting occurs.  The WWW really stands WhattaWastedWorktime. NEO won’t allow you to go there.  It can’t.

I first learned about NEO a few years ago when I offered to teach Creative Writing one semester. However,  computer labs at the school were not that readily available at that time.  I decided to get creative (desperation does this at times) so we could really get some writing done. By means of a grant I earned the use of a classroom set of NEOs. This proved to be a better solution than I initially thought. My students would practically squeal with delight when I announced “Grab your NEO.” Everyone had a dedicated NEO and they would merrily plunk away their stories and download them into my designated school folder on my laptop and I would print them later. I miss my NEO days. My former NEO students fondly reminisce about those days of low tech.

Unlike iPads and computer labs, there are no worries of diligently watching and waiting to sneak up on students sneaking in email messages, games, shopping, and stupid stuff.  NEO is happy to be low tech enough to simply take in words, m’am, just the words. It’s too humble to try and be pretentious.

So, after lunch I waited around by the fireplace lounge while I waited for the MEPA to arrive and whisk me away for some shopping. I happened upon Kelly who had also decided to take advantage of the quiet fireside setting and was diligently working on one of her many projects. She graciously allowed me to hang out with her and we had a great chat session about writing, being moms, and being busier than we know is better for us.  That’s when I noticed her NEO.  Expecting an iPad, or MAC, or even something really nifty because Kelly is after all, a writer who has made the magic six figure income, and would naturally use the best tech in her craft. Sha-zam was I shocked when I found a NEO propped up on her lap.  Even more amazing was her confession on how she  prefers her NEO for those times of serious writing. There is a lesson in this, I know there is.

Before you rush out to purchase your own NEO, I have to deliver the sad news that they are no longer going to be produced. Perhaps this is a rumor.  Perhaps I should check out Snopes and make sure.

At any rate, I recommend finding a NEO for those times when you need to just get the words down, when you simply need to focus. High tech has its place.  DO NOT even think about taking away my iPhone at this point. iPad maybe–but that’s another blog.

For now I’m all about  giving a High Five for the Low Tech NEO. I wonder if Kenau ever tried one out.

Posted in creativity, education, reflections, Teachers, technology, time management, writers, Writing and tagged , ,
02 Nov 2013
2 Comments

NaNo oh oh


November is such an incredibly packed month:

  • post first quarter grades
  • plan second quarter lessons
  • parent teacher conferences
  • vote when applicable
  • Thanksgiving
  • No Shave November

oh oh somewhere in there is NaNoWriMo

If I were truly a dedicated NaNoian this should have been my first NaNo post. Well, not wanting to be too crazy this year, I’ve decided not to NaNo in 2013. I have previously NaNoed and have the completion certificate hanging on the wall. I even have bounced the manuscript out to a couple of editors and agents.

This year, however, instead of something new I shall continue with my vow of completion commitment. No more new starts until finishing half-started projects–umm, those of merit.  Some projects should keep on hibernating for both our sakes.

Yes, I am intent on finishing the middle grade historical novel I’ve been working on for the last ten years. I know, that’s an awfully long time, especially when in just a month’s time I cranked out a YA novel a couple of years. Contemporary fiction , I’ve discovered, is so much easier than writing  middle reader historical fiction. researching for a historical novel is one big onion of peel and write. As soon as I peel back one layer of information another layer is revealed.  Yes, peeling historical onions do make me cry. Getting facts straight, setting up proper verisimilitude, along with creating catchy characters, scintillating setting, and convincing complications, conflict, and climax is tough stuff. At least for me. I’m determined to finish this odyssey of a pioneer tale I started, especially when I’ve had an agent express interest.

Sooo, Na No not now, but thanks for the invite. This year my RSVP box is checked “next year, perhaps.”

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Posted in Blogging, Books, creativity, reflections, Teachers, time management, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged , , , ,
25 Oct 2013
4 Comments

Oh Willa–Your Pioneers!


''The Song of the Lark ''Oil on canvas, 1884

”The Song of the Lark ”Oil on canvas, 1884 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As I continually research my own pioneer novel-in-progress, I return to favorites for inspiration.  Having reread most of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House of the Prairie series, I am moving on to more grown-up fare such as Willa Cather’s Midwest trilogy of My Antonia, Song of the Lark, and O Pioneers!

Cather’s writing continually surprises me with its subtle acuity. She follows the nineteenth century omniscient style of narration that is no longer in vogue, yet as I read her seamless insights into each character, I realize I am easily visiting each character’s thoughts while still in the scene. That’s art.  It adds so much more dimension to the reading  that I find myself slipping from third person limited into omni in my own writing. *Sigh* Maybe I shouldn’t be reading Willa Cather–at least until I get my manuscript’s revisions tidied back up.

In that regard, unless you have your own concerns about being overly influenced while writing your own pioneer epic, I suggest rereading or experiencing Willa Cather’s O Pioneer!

Cover of "O Pioneers!"

Cover of O Pioneers!

Why?

It’s good stuff.  Really good stuff. Setting, for instance.  Turn to page 97 of your Random House Vintage Classic version and feast:

(Part III: Winter Memories: I)

Winter has settled down over the Divide again; the season in which Nature recuperates, in which she sinks to sleep between the fruitfulness of autumn and the passion of spring. The birds have gone. The teeming life that goes on down in the long grass is exterminated. The prairie-dog keeps his hole. The rabbits run shivering from one frozen garden patch to another and are hard put to it to find frost-bitten cabbage-stalks. At night the coyotes roam the wintery waste, howling for food. The variegated fields are all one color now; the pastures, the stubble, the roads, the sky are the same leaden gray. The hedgerows and trees are scarcely perceptible against the bare earth, whose slaty hue they have taken on. The ground is frozen so hard that it bruises the foot to walk in the roads or in the ploughed fields. It is like an iron country, and the spirit is oppressed by its rigor and melancholy. One could easily believe that in that dead landscape the germs of life and fruitfulness were extinct forever.

Personification, alliteration, imagery galore, tone, diction–it’s a banquet of literary delight.  Cather dedicates this full exposition to set up how this coldest of seasons affects the characters.  Steinbeck did much the same in Grapes of Wrath. Remember the turtle scene?

Sometimes I think we forget the importance of slowly revealing the story in our pressing need to “let’s get on with it” plot modernity mentality. Yet, there is an absolute pleasure in immersing oneself in the cadence of well-placed and balanced words.

Oh Willa–your pioneers keep singing to me of your prairie love through your song of fields, seasonal cadence, and your indelible tribute to those who left their mark upon the land.

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Posted in America, Books, Literature, Reading, reflections, reviews, Words, writers, Writing and tagged , , , , ,
11 Oct 2013
9 Comments

How Not To Write Now


 

Writers, yes you. Why are you reading this post? Wait, don’t go quite yet. While you’re here you might as well avoid that write now feeling a bit longer.

 
Write now?

 
Yes, write now. I should be, and you should be writing right now instead of avoidance tactics. Oh yes, they exist. Beats me why I will suddenly germinate 50 + 1 excuses to avoid sitting down and getting down to business. It’s really no excuse that I have excuses because I have plenty of motivation. Look at this incentive list:

 

  • The novel is almost finished.

 

  • My writing group likes it.

 

  • A New York editor critique it favorably.

 

  • An agent from the same conference asked for sample chapters because she has clients looking for this genre.

 

  • I still like the manuscript, even after years of research, rewrites, and still more rewrites.

 

So why avoid writing right now?

 
Because…
I have to eat breakfast and since I’m really craving granola to go with the new lemon vanilla Greek yogurt I just bought I need to make a fresh batch and while I’m waiting for the granola to bake I might as well scrub the stove top, the Faberware pot, the sink, and start the dishwasher. I should check the woodstove–might need a poke or a new log. I should sweep up around the hearth, maybe sweep in general. I’ll get these papers out of the way, wait these are bills–I should sit down and pay these. But first I should check the granola.

 
Before you tsk at my total lack of discipline I did fire up the laptop with good intentions.

 

But, you know how it is…

 

Emails have to be checked, lesson plans filed, the classroom website updated. Check the granola again.

 
So–
The morning has slipped into early afternoon, which is not my best time of creativity, since I am a morning energy person. I best take a nap and recharge the mental batteries.

 

Two hours later…

 

The MEPA brought home a new batch of movies from the library and I haven’t spent much time with him today. He wants to know how the novel is progressing. Right now? Yes, I should write now.

 

P.S.

 

Later that night…

 

Five chapters roughed in (what revision number is this again?) and I squeezed in a movie. It’s amazing what a little fresh granola can do for the creative muse.

 

A bowl of granola.

A bowl of granola. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

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Posted in Blogging, Books, creativity, food, reflections, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged , , ,
25 Sep 2013
2 Comments

There is no rhyme nor reason to poetry…


at least according to some of my freshmen.  I can understand their point. Who wants to study grammatically incorrect phrasings and try to make sense of what they are talking about when you are doing all you can at trying to get a handle on whether it’s “A” day or “B” day and what lunch you have (“ummm, first lunch on “A” day or was that “B” day?). But we’ve made a commitment to Common Core and it’s full speed ahead.

Cover of "Dead Poets Society"

Cover of Dead Poets Society

Actually, I’ve always been a proponent of poetry.  I’ve brought cowboy poets into the classroom, Beatle songs, clips of Robin Williams doing his crazy wonderful teacher in Dead Poets Society, and provided recipes for poems.  I had football players writing love poems and entering contests, mud boggers writing sonnets about their trucks. We’ve explored performance poetry through Taylor Mali’s incredible YouTube videos and we’ve participated in a packed-out community program of youth performing their own poetry.

Common Core though, I’ve noticed, has dented my zing. I’ve been having students prepare for their SBAC (I should know what that means) by writing up reaction paragraphs to each poem as a means of them practicing their critical thinking skills. There is nothing wrong with understanding and recognizing how, or what, or why the poem works, yet poetry is so different from prose. It should encourage the soul to sing. I’m afraid in my zeal for my students to do well on their tests by getting their writing skills up to stuff I’ve lost my way towards my original goal of greeting me with “What’s the poem today?” with that anticipation of a new flavor to relish.

Hmm, some Walt  Whitman and Song of Myself might do it…

Cover of "Song of Myself (Shambhala Centa...

Cover via Amazon

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Posted in creativity, education, Literature, Poetry, reflections, Teachers, Uncategorized, Words, Writing and tagged , , , , , , ,
20 Sep 2013
6 Comments

The Morphing of the Omni Narrator


Right now we are toughing out poetry with my freshmen. *sigh* “We study poetry because oral storytelling came before the written language came into existence, plus many of the elements we study in poetry exist in fiction–you know, like imagery, diction, syntax, metaphors, analogies–so get to know poetry and you’ll understand and enjoy fiction that much more.”  And the question? (Jeopardy music, please)

Why do we study poetry?

Returning to the anticipated second quarter…(quick, quick, I’m losing them)

Once I get to short stories in the curriculum it’s pretty easy sailing, since my students are versed in plot, characters, setting, and such. Theme sometimes throws them; however, point-of-view gets them pondering. For instance, trying to explain the omniscient narrator is tricky these days. Back when, I used to say, “The Omniscient narrator is a lot like God–you know, everywhere and knowing everything about everybody.” I’m getting less comfortable about using that analogy in such a forthright manner.  I still believe it’s a valid analogy, yet don’t want to offend any of my students.  Let alone get the ACLU or other NSA types coming after me.

Cover of "The Long Winter"

Cover of The Long Winter

Another problem with trying to explain the omniscient narrator is that the old-fashioned version of the narrator filling into the details has changed into something quite different. For instance, I recently reread The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder (don’t snicker, it’s a great read, besides it’s for research–really) and Wilder includes in the story what’s happening to the town’s people and to Almanzo and Cap who are all caught up in a grueling blizzard, in an inclusive fluid manner.  I rarely come across this type of narrative style today. As Bob Dylan once said, “Times they are achanging.”

In the last few years I have noticed a trend where the omni narrative is now designated as separate chapters.  This at first proved quite annoying because the point-of-view kept changing. One chapter would be one character, the next a completely different one.  I felt like I was juggling characters to the point of wanting to run an Excel sheet to keep it all straight.

The last few novels I’ve read have run this narrative style, and every new book I’m pulling from my suggestion list and review newspapers seem to be pandering this new style. I keep checking them out though.  I’m either getting used to this new kaleidoscopic style of story-telling or I’m so starved to read I’m willing to put up with it.

Here are some examples of recent titles with the switch-hit character changing technique. Enjoyable reads all, but fret and nuisance, doesn’t anyone write in the old-time omni narrative style anymore?

http://www.goodreads.com

http://www.tumblr.com

http://www.tumblr.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Any thoughts, Book Boosters?

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Posted in Books, Literature, Reading, reflections, reviews, Writing and tagged , , , , , ,
05 Sep 2013
3 Comments

Sippers, Dippers, and Flippers


Now that it’s back to the 5 to 9 world of teaching (yes, 5 am to 9 pm–hi, ho, hi, ho work is all I know), I’m reflecting a bit on my splurge of reading over the summer.  I ever so did try to balance my reading and writing, but I admittedly succumbed to reading way more than I intended [see Writing Goals *lol*].

My reading proved to be rather eclectic and I found myself segmenting my choices into three distinct categories:

Sippers: Books I tend to read at night before falling asleep. My mainstay sipper has been Da Vinci’s Notebook. Unfortunately this is an abridged version so it does not have any illustrations. However, it still captivates my attention and I find myself sticky flagging all sorts of amazing insights. This man’s genius is truly astounding. Quotes of note:

The natural desire of good men is knowledge.

I obey thee. O Lord, first because of the love which i ought reasonably to bear thee; secondly, because thou knowest how to shorten or prolong the lives of men.

Good literature proceeds from men of natural probity.

It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end.

(And this is just 30 pages into the observations section. I need to read painting, anatomy, flight–and there’s more yet to explore! I may be sipping on this all year.

Dippers: These were titles I didn’t read cover-to-cover, only reading a page here, a section there, relishing a line or two, but not feeling the urge to sit down and absolutely, positively read it. This is the type of book to prop behind the cereal bowl, or lunch plate or pass the time with in the bookstore while waiting for the MEPA to finish selecting the perfect card for his sister. A fave dipper this summer:

and then we come to the major reads section, those books that I couldn’t put down, the ones where I meant to read a couple of chapters and return to writing. Uh huh.

Flippers: Flip. Flip. Flip. I’m flying through these books because–

A. The writing is soooo good I can’t stop reading

B. The storyline is amazingly riveting

C. I’m grooving on the combination of good read, soft breezes, comfy hammock

Titles that were so flipping wonderful:

These both claimed an afternoon each. And of course I had to read the sequel, and the other books in the series. And then write up my GoodReads reviews. Whoosh, there go those writing goals…

How was your summer reading? Did you also sip, dip, and flip?

Posted in Books, Libraries, reflections, time management, Uncategorized, writers and tagged , , ,
01 Sep 2013
8 Comments

Writing Goals *lol*


  1. Trying to create and stick to the writing goals I created earlier this year is like trying to  free throw a basketball into a Dixie cup 300 feet away. Or if you substitute “goals” for “deadlines” in this choice quote, it’s the same idea.
    I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by. Douglas Adams English humorist & science fiction novelist (1952 – 2001)
    Actually there is no subsequent number of reasons of why I Laugh Out Loud when it comes to setting writing goals. It’s ridiculous that I even try. Every June once school is out I say, “Wow! I’ve got all this time to get some serious writing done now. Hah! and double Hah!! It’s summer, baby–time to play in the sun, get those house projects done, squeeze out some fun. Oh yeah, writing goals…
    I started out well. My basic goal was to get at least two projects sent out to an editor/agent/publisher every week.  It lasted about two weeks.  I tried this goal because I did manage to do so at one point in life.  I had about 20 projects floating out there in publishingland limbo at one point.  I was playing the odds that at least one project would make it.  Kind of like Charlie and the Golden Ticket syndrome (all I need is one to get me in!) Unlike Charlie who had to eat chocolate to obtain his ticket, I had to either paste on stamps or hit sent. Neither option proved tasty, but as I recall I did have a couple of projects get greenlit for publication which resulted in some greenbacks. I probably bought a chocolate bar to celebrate.
    After Labor Day weekend I return to teaching, which means not so much time for writing.  The two-project-a-week writing goal went to the wayside. I did get two projects published (with payment), so it looks like the results were the same. Even though I’m resuming my day job maybe I can squeeze in the goal of one project submitted somewhere to somebody once every other week.
    Hmm, that whoosing sound seems to becoming louder.
    I’m going for the chocolate. Golden ticket or not.
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Posted in Blogging, creativity, reflections, Teachers, time management, Writing and tagged , , , ,
27 Aug 2013
5 Comments

Greedy or Needy?


With school about to start I’m ignoring some areas of my life  (housework: wow, is that dust thick or what) and going into overdrive in others (library browsing:l’ll take that one and that one, and this one too). I can easily ignore cleaning, cooking, gardening, even writing knowing I have only a week or so left to read at leisure

Reading at leisure. That grand and glorious luxury of picking up a book anytime during the day or night and divulging in a session of indulgence. I’m on a zero pressure schedule currently. At least for now. After September 3rd I begin the nine month marathon once again and my leisure time gets yanked, oh so cruelly, away and becomes dry docked until further notice.

So, is it greed or need that I’m currently reading five, or is that six, books at present?

  • The Notebooks of Da Vinci–inquiring minds must know
  • Miners and Travelers Guide by John Mullan–research
  • The History of Idaho Territory–research, but Idaho is an underrated state
  • Edna and John–a love story of sorts from the 1860 Idaho Gold Rush days
  • Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde–been on my NTR list for some time now
  • The School of Essential Ingredients by Erica Bauermeister–fave librarian ET handed me this and said “read this” and so I am–I forcibly have to stop myself from reading it so I can get at least a little something done it’s so good!
  • Oh, then there is the assorted magazines like my newest Writer and stack of freebies one of my writer group cohorts passed my way.

So the prognosis is? Well, self diagnosis is that I’m leaning towards reading for my current writing project (fictional novel set in the Idaho Gold Rush days), but I’m slipping in some goodtime reads (although Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde is not exactly Mr. Goodtime). Reading my Need-tos and slipping in my Greed-toos–isn’t that similar to a bite of beans along with my chocolate pudding (who says dessert must wait?)

Anyone else out there try to find a balance between Need to Read and Greedy Reading? As long as we are reading it’s all good, right?

Posted in Blogging, Books, reflections, summer, Teachers, Uncategorized and tagged , , , ,
26 Aug 2013
3 Comments

BookSneezing: Jesus, My Father, the Cia, and Me


When my review journal closed up shop I suddenly felt like Linus when Lucy grabs his blanket away: “Aauugh–I need my review books!” Fortunately more and more publishers are realizing the value of promoting authors through review opportunities. This is where BookSneeze comes in. Odd name, but it got my attention. Like most review platforms, a person fills out the application, gets accepted, selects a book, reviews it, and then posts it. Oh, and the disclaimer statement:

Disclaimer

I received these books for free from the publisher through the booksneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commision’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

My first BookSneeze selection is:

Jesus, My Father, The CIA, and Me
You have to admit the title is catchy. It’s also a bit misleading. This isn’t a memoir about how a hardened CIA agent finds Jesus, or is even about the radical transformation of a born-again spy, instead it is a fascinating account of how the author coped with having a father who happened to be a CIA agent. Jesus provided the glue that kept the author from flying apart during his dysfunctional childhood, although the author didn’t realize it until he was an adult.
Writing with candor, Ian Cron provides a glimpse into that secret life of being a spy kid, although Cron didn’t find out about his father being a CIA agent until his mother pulled him aside when he was a sophomore in high school. Unfilled question blanks about his father began to get answered, but it didn’t necessarily help the bonding process. The biggest problem in the author’s life was not having a CIA agent for a father; it was having an alcoholic for a father.
Sometimes we go on a search for something and do not know what we are looking for until we come again to our beginning. –Robert Lax
This quote at the beginning of the book provides the nucleus, for the author was on a quest for his father’s approval throughout his life; however, this quest also became a search for who he was as a person.  This is a truly mesmerizing chronicle of the author’s journey of trying to understand his father so that he may understand himself. Throughout the havoc of growing up with an alcoholic parent we also see how a mother’s love provided an anchor, how friends provided support and diversion, and how mentors provided counsel until healing, forgiveness, and acceptance finally occurred.The author has a talent for weaving in levity while relating the pain of his circumstance. The only downside is that sometimes there were continuity lags as the author switched from the present to flashbacks. Overall, the book is well-written and a recommendation for those interested in overcoming difficult childhoods or for those who are curious about what it might be like to be a real “spy kid.” While this is non-fiction, I can’t help but think it would be an intriguing novel. And yet, if it were a novel, some would no doubt find it a little difficult to believe. However, as they say: the best stories are always the true ones.
Posted in Blogging, Books, reviews, Uncategorized, writers and tagged , , , ,

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