The Importance of Continual Learning

Posted by Joanne Huspek

Writing is a singular activity. It’s a solitary obsession. Sitting down to write a story or an article or a novel is not a team sport. The writer, like any artist, takes what I call are the little poofs of inspiration out of his mind, tempers and tests and does the fandango with it, before finally placing the art in a spot where others can see and experience.

We writers feel an inexplicable urgency to get the words out, sometimes with success, others not at all. Sometimes the work is solid, but needs a gentle, guiding hand. Other times, it needs a cattle prod and a machete.

Just because writing is singular doesn’t mean you have to do it alone. In fact, writing is such an encompassing task, I would recommend not flying solo. Since writing can be such a lonely business, it’s important to reach out for help in honing your craft. Even if you have an advanced degree in literature (I don’t), there is an importance in constantly learning.

I am not so full of myself that I believe my stories spring from my subconscious ready for an agent and a three-book deal.

It’s helpful to network with other writers. Some might even offer help by way of beta reading or critique. (Writers are busy and I wouldn’t ask; but if someone offers, I’ll probably take them up.) Even if they don’t offer personal critique, the writers I know have offered me a wealth of information on the skill of writing.

The fledgling writer should seek out classroom situations, whether traditional or not. There are always places where you can take classes, like colleges and even some community ed programs. But even if you have no time (like me) for a regular class room schedule, join a local writers group or an association where members will offer critique.

If you can’t make it to a class room, there’s a wealth of information online. Online classes offer the freedom of working at your own pace, while keeping you on a schedule that’s easy to manage. Thanks to the local president of the RWA who turned me on to the site, I joined Savvy Authors. Savvy Authors is one useful web site, featuring articles, contest leads, and classes and workshops. I’ve been in the Donald Maass’s The Breakout Novelist Workbook Workshop since the beginning of the year. I’ve had the book and the workbook for ages; it took the online class to provide the impetus to actually do the exercises. There’s plenty of critique and ideas, coming from writers from all over the globe.

In the past, I’ve also taken Jeremy Shipp’s classes online (Twitter @JeremyCShipp), and I would highly recommend taking it. So, I don’t write in his genre (mystery/fantasy/horror), but I’ve successfully applied his exercises to what I was writing, so successfully that I’ve used my exercises to spawn bits of other stories. I also enjoyed the class so much, I took it twice.

The amount of information out there is staggering. No matter where you turn for guidance, no matter which classes or workshops you take, there is always a value in education. As writers, we alone shoulder the responsibility for our growth and advancement.

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Novel Update: Virtually Yours Forever

Posted by Joanne Huspek

Somehow, I have managed to carve out six entire days of writing in the last week.

I’m not exactly sure how this is possible. I’ve spent the last two and a half months running around southeastern Michigan like a headless chicken. But look, today is August 24, and our summer rush’s days are numbered. Pretty soon, we’ll be back in a peaceful, nearly coma-inducing rhythm and we can catch our breath.

As for writing, it helped to have the husband in San Francisco for four of those days. Once I got into a groove, and after he returned, it was fairly simple to keep up the forward momentum. I retired each day for a few hours of diligent editing.

Most of the story is already there. I wrote Virtually Yours Forever during NaNoWriMo last November, after spending a summer devising plot lines for my sequel. I opened the file up for the first time in late July. The first week of August was spent mapping out scenes on color coordinated 3″ x 5″ index cards.

Of course, this meant first having to construct color coordinated 3″ x 5″ cards, because in this modern age, office supply stores are loathe to carry them. While there, I also snagged a pretty notebook – on sale – in order to further map out my plot and characters.

I have to say, it’s kind of a mess. VY4ever is 30 chapters long, and with seven major characters, it’s a gargantuan effort to keep everything straight. When I write during NaNo, I write like a crazy person. I don’t self-edit, I don’t look back. I just want to get the words down and worry about the execution later. As with the first book, I spent each day in November writing from one character’s point of view, which gave me a lot of material until Thanksgiving.

(The bride and groom’s wedding is scheduled for November 29. Between the 22nd and the 28th, the Virtual Mom world begins to unravel.)

Well, such a frenzied pace shows in the writing. It took a week of reading the first draft before I figured out what I wrote. During the excavation, I noted some pretty interesting and twisted dialogue I’d completely forgotten about. This edit is all about weaving the individual stories together. Then it’s off to my Editor for Life, and he can figure out the gaping holes or inconsistencies.

I’m old-school, so looking at two open Word files on the same computer screen drives me crazy. Add to that mess my 3″ x 5″ cards littered all over the living room floor. After three days, I had confetti everywhere, and I’d lost two pens and one fine point Sharpie. I was certifiable and my eyes were permanently crossed. It occurred to me (in the dead of night) to highlight what I’d used in the old draft, after placing it in the new so I wouldn’t get lost.

Yesterday, I made it to Chapter 15, meaning I’m halfway there. Halfway there in six days. I can only hope I can make it the rest of the way in six more, but that would be tempting the fates. It’s best if I tell myself now that it’s not going to happen, and pray that it might.

(I don’t know what I’d do if I had to work under real deadlines. As it is, my ED is a little behind on the last project I sent him, so all in all, we’re probably even. That’s what counts.)

I’d like to be able to tell you that VY4ever will be ready for release next spring, but that, too, would be tempting the fates. But I’m working on it.

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SQUEE! Novel Rocket Contest News

Posted by Joanne Huspek

A few months ago, I submitted the new and improved (although not quite perfect) Finding Cadence into the Novel Rocket Contest. Win or lose, an edit was part of the contest.

I didn’t figure to win. Let’s face it: I never figure to win. Anything. It’s not in my genetic makeup. In order for me to win anything, the stars have to be in perfect alignment, my cholesterol level has to be low, my butt has to be smaller, and, oh…my manuscript has to be flawless. None of these things apply to me – as the recent Powerball winner can firmly attest – so I enter contests for the sport of it. And to learn from the experience.

Imagine my surprise when I opened the results in my email inbox. (I knew I didn’t win. Had I won, there would have been YOU WON! in caps in the subject line. And a glittery background with shooting stars and smiley faces winking at me in the body of the email.) No, I didn’t win, but the comments from the editors caused me to SQUEE.

“This is good. Really good. Publishable good. I don’t know if the rest of the manuscript is as good as this, but if it is, you’re ready to be agented if you’re not already. I love your voice, your literary style, your descriptions and the story. It’s got it all. The competition this year is so steep. The steepest I’ve seen in any contest I’ve ever judged. Several of you are publishable. Some I could see sitting on the NYT bestseller’s list. Really. Of course there are some not so great entries too but you’re not one of them. It was an honor to read this. I don’t have a whole lot to offer you but even if you don’t take the category win, know it was very very close and you’re really close to that contract I’d think. The only overall advice I’d offer is to maybe run this through a copy-editor if you can afford it or a good grammatarian (probably not a word, but you know what I mean) if you can’t. Thanks for submitting. So good and I’m a tough one to please.”

So said Judge Number One from the Novel Rocket Contest. Then I opened up the file from Judge Number Two:

This has the makings of a lovely story, but it’s not quite there yet. A couple of questionable word choices early on didn’t bode well; excessive telling/explanation makes it wheeze soon there after.

I like the story. I like the musical references (including the character’s name), the depth of emotion, the layers of meaning. The characters are believable, the descriptions are vivid, and the situations are wholly realistic. The problem is a certain excess in zeal. While reaching for a lofty word or perfect phrase, it tends to want to tip over at times.

You’re a skillful writer, but it seems you’re trying too hard. Just let the story out slow and easy. I know you can do it, because you’re close to doing it now.

Judge Number Two was a little harder on me, but I can’t disagree. I have decided without a doubt that Finding Cadence is my breakout novel. While I love Virtually Yours and the characters of my Virtual Moms, and I love the story with Oaks and Acorns (and Acorns and Oaks and Darlings for Clementine, the companion books), these are light, fun, happy stories. They are entertainment.

Finding Cadence is much, much more than that.

I’ve been toiling over it so long, I can see where my story has transcended entertainment. (I know you might think I’m full of myself but) I can see this particular novel reaching toward art.

Of course, it’s going to need a lot more work.

Every edit, every beta reader, every contest and competition is a tool toward that end.

Guess it’s time to get off my momentary cloud and get back to it.

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When You *Hate* Your Characters

Posted by Joanne Huspek

It’s hard to believe (since life is throwing more hard balls at me, especially now), but I’m working on the sequel to Virtually Yours, which I’ve tentatively titled Virtually Yours Forever (or VY4ever). Sorry, no tentative covers…yet.

A week ago, when I first opened the file and poked around, a few things occurred to me. One, this is a damned good story! (Okay, I’m highly prejudiced, but…) There’s no secret in the sequel since we know all of the characters, and the Big Reveal at the end might be considered cheesy, but I’m liking the roads where I have taken my characters. It’s four years later, and plenty has happened.

(If you’d like to read the synopsis, wander over to my page “Novels” and check it out. Or I could put a link in here. I did!)

The other thought that came to me is that I really, really, really (I know, adverb overload. Danger, Will Robinson.) like these characters. I hadn’t really thought about them or their plot twists since I penned the first draft during the November 2011 NaNoWriMo — too many things going on in my Real World. But opening the file and working on their story lines is like visiting with your high school best friend after thirty years of absence. (I would know about this, since I’ve lived it. Hello, Bonnie!) Even though a lot of time has passed, you pick up right where you left off.

It’s easy for me to write about friendly people who might have character quirks that make them not so amiable. It’s very difficult to write about the truly heinous and do a good job at it. I’m struggling with my bad guy in Finding Cadence. I’ve made my attorney, John Sloane, stereotypically bad. Ruthless. A womanizer. Shrewd. Heartless. The kind of shyster that would make Gordon Gekko look like a choir boy. He’s so bad, he’s like a cartoon character lawyer. The third pass editing, and I’m trying to figure out ways to give Sloane redeeming qualities while still conveying to the reader what a rat he is.

But as we know, every good story has a bad guy. Even my fun-loving story about the Virtual Moms. Readers need to cheer for the underdog, and to *hate* whoever stands in their way in their quest for happiness. I’ve spent the last few days wondering who I could make a villain. It would have to be someone completely unexpected, and there are several characters I could choose from. Coincidentally, this article landed in my email box today, a listing of the 50 most hated characters in literary history.

It’s an interesting list, but I’m not sure I would agree. I mean, really. The Twilight girl and guy? They may annoy, but I don’t hate them. Similarly with the current novel I am struggling with, 50 Shades of Gray. Ana Steele grates on my last nerve (something like a group of giggling 14-year-old mall rats), but I don’t hate her.

The closest I came to hating a character was Ben Bailey in t. greenwood’s This Glittering World. I love t. greenwood, but I found this man’s morals to be completely lacking. I nearly threw the book down in disgust, several times. However, Ben proves himself a stellar (albeit seriously flawed) man in the end.

(Amendment: Tom Booker in The Horse Whisperer. Not the Tom Booker of the Robert Redford movie, the one in the book. I was so angry when I finished the book that I vowed to never see the movie, and I haven’t. Tom Booker is the Bill Clinton of literature in my book. Yeah. I don’t like Bubba either.)

All of the authors on the “most hated” list must have liked their characters. A little? You think? How could they not? Authors take a seed of an idea, nurture it, and eventually give birth to a full blown story. Hating your characters might make for a very tedious and grueling workout at the computer.

In the end, I’m not sure I could write about a character I hate completely. I write because I love to write. It’s my hobby, it’s my creative outlet. I have to enjoy myself or I couldn’t do it.

The trick is to find some sort of balance, a vein of redemption in your *hated* character.

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When “I Can Do That” Meets Cold, Hard Reality

Posted by Joanne Huspek

I might be a writer, but I spent a good portion of last week at the Ann Arbor Art Fair, in the Michigan Silversmith Guild booth. Why? Well, in addition to creating worlds in my head, I also enjoy making things with my very own two hands. I’ve always been this way, even as a child. What started out with paper and pen and paints evolved to pottery, crochet, knitting, sewing — any art I could produce. These days I’ve taken my love of rocks and stones and beads and dabbled in jewelry making, so I guess that makes me a jewelry design artist.

Art fairs are good for many things, and the Ann Arbor Art Fair is the biggest and the best. There’s entertainment; there are talented artists. There’s more junk food (and in Ann Arbor, non-junk, organic, tree-hugging food) than a person needs. Since Michigan hasn’t had a state fair in years (budget cuts), this is the summertime venue.

The Guild has a huge booth, and there are more than enough people around to man it and to do demonstrations. There are even enough to help booth sit those who have traveled to Michigan on their own, who are in the booth all day long with no assistance or back up.

I personally enjoy people watching, and I did a lot of it under the shade of mature trees lining the walk to the U of M School of Education. Just within earshot. I couldn’t tell you how many people tripped over the uneven curb in the sidewalk, leading me to wonder about how they walk otherwise or how they drive. I wonder about those who whiz by quickly with hardly a sideways glance. Do they not like pretty things? Don’t they appreciate art, or were they dragged by their spouses? I size up those who linger, or who study every item in the case as though searching for a hidden message or a personal treasure. When they come away with their purchase, are they as moved to own the piece as much as the artist was who made it? I wondered about the people who stopped by my demo, who didn’t want to give it a try at all, and those who were instantly enamored by something as simple as making a wire ring.

I’m constantly amazed at those who slide by without purchasing, the ones who confidently announce (just under their breath) “I can do that!” Inside, I think, “Okay, sister, go ahead and try.” My jewelry features many pieces that are wire wrapped — wire wrapped on chemmies, if you know what I mean. I don’t call my jewelry business Twisted and Wired for nothing. It took many hours of practice and workshops and a strong belief in “I can do that” before I could do what I do today.

Although I might be proficient at weaving wire and twisting a simple medium into something artistic, there are some jewelry skills I can’t do well. Soldering, for one. I’ve burnt more metal to a crisp than I would like to admit to. I’m only mediocre at sawing. And chainmaille? Let’s not even go there. I couldn’t do it if a gun were pointed to my head.

It’s a similar case with writing and writers. Many people can “write” – I write. There’s a wide range of writers and writing. There’s something for everyone, and with hard work and lots of practice, everyone can be a writer.

I can remember working on my first manuscript as though it were yesterday. (The subsequent WIPs have been just as grueling, that’s why.) I started out with my pen and notebook thinking “I can do that.” Yes, I was full of myself. I learned that writing a book isn’t easy at all. It was a long, long road to “The End” (family, day job, every other interruption you can think of) but never once did I think I couldn’t finish. It was just going to take me a little more time than a normal writer. (Now, between the first draft and the first edit – one year – I nearly threw the book into the garbage, but that’s another story.) I know what I like to do, I know what I want to do, and I know with guidance and classes and careful critique, I’ll be able to accomplish what I want to do.

A writer’s reward for “I can do that” are those magic words “The End.”

In a way, I like the “I can do that” mentality. You think so? Make it happen. Make it happen despite the odds, or because of them. Be prepared to fall down, to make mistakes, to tinker with your baby, to cut it in half if you have to. Be prepared to suffer in your defeats as well as to revel in your victories. The art is what will overcome the obstacle of cold, hard reality.

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Blog Tour with Simon Lipson, Song in the Wrong Key

Posted by Joanne Huspek

I’m proud to host this tour today! I’m reading Song in the Wrong Key by Simon Lipson, a wry look at one Englishman’s life.


Michael Kenton is a middle-aged man living in middle-class comfort with wife Lisa and daughters Millie and Katia. Drifting complacently towards retirement, Mike’s world is turned upside-down when he is thrown unexpectedly onto the career scrapheap.

While Lisa’s career sky-rockets, Mike slobs around in his track suit playing guitar, rekindling his teenage love affair with pop music. Knowing Lisa wouldn’t approve, he plots a secret ‘comeback’ at a grimy Crouch End bistro where music executive Ben, desperate and out of time, asks if he can enter one of Mike’s songs into the Eurovision Song Contest. With nothing to lose, Mike focuses on Eurovision but quickly finds himself staring down the barrel of low level fame. His crumbling marriage now page five news, he must choose between his musical dream and mending his broken family, a task complicated by the re-appearance of ex-love of his life Faye.

A laugh-out-loud comedy about love, family, friendship and Euro- tack by acclaimed stand-up and comedy writer Simon Lipson.

Simon’s Bio

Simon Lipson was born in London and took a law degree at the LSE. After a spell as a lawyer, he co-founded legal recruitment company Lipson Lloyd-Jones in 1987. In 1993, Simon took his first tentative steps onto the comedy circuit and has since become an in-demand stand-up and impressionist across the UK, as well as a regular TV and radio performer/writer. His broadcasting credits include Week Ending, Dead Ringers, Loose Ends and Fordham & Lipson (co-wrote and performed own 4 part sketch series) on Radio 4; Interesting…Very Interesting and Simon Lipson’s Xmas Box on Radio 5 and And This Is Them on Radio 2. He is also an experienced voice artiste who has voiced hundreds of advertisements as well as cartoons and documentaries. His first novel, Losing It, a thriller, was published by Matador in 2008. Simon is a columnist for Gridlock Magazine (www.gridlockmagazine.com).His next novel, Standing Up, will be published by Lane & Hart in Autumn 2012. 

www.songinthewrongkey.com

www.simonlipson.com

http://www.facebook.com/simon.lipson.3

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Song-In-The-Wrong-Key-Simon-Lipson/140280092721031;

Twitter: @SimonLipson

www.simonlipson.blogspot.co.uk

Buy links – paperback and Kindle:

Amazon.co.uk: http://amzn.to/xaosKp

Amazon.com: http://amzn.to/yo7bpY

My show, The Accidental Impressionist, is on at the Camden Fringe 20 – 23 August @ 8pm. Everyone welcome! Details and tickets here: http://j.mp/JDPBnu

Guest Post

Chicklit, Manlit, romcom, women’s fiction. Aaargh! A PR asked me recently to classify Song In The Wrong Key and I struggled for specificity. For a start, by plumping for one, you necessarily exclude others, and I want my book to be as widely read as possible. I hope both men and women will find it enjoyable; it should appeal just as much to people aged 20 as folk in their dotage; it’s funny (I hope!) so will hopefully tickle those who like to laugh; and it’s romantic so might make you shed a tear or two. See? It’s for everyone!

The book is about a man whose life implodes when he loses his job; his marriage crumbles and his family life is jeopardised. Serendipitously, he is offered a late-in-life opportunity to revive the musical career he abandoned as a young man when he opted for something more sensible. It’s about family life, real people, relationships and redemption. And a few other themes besides. How the hell do you boil all that down to one simple classification? Well don’t ask me. In the end, I told the PR to label it ‘contemporary humorous fiction’. Only time will tell if that’s a horrible mistake.

It seems to me that specifying genres can be unhelpful to the aspiring author. And, for every major genre, there appear to be hundreds of sub-genres that merely complicate the issue further. I was hugely chuffed when Song In The Wrong Key – following a KDP promotion – hit number one in three Amazon charts. These were, in no particular order: Non-fiction > Arts & Entertainment > Music;Non-fiction > Self Help & How To Guides > Health, Mind & Body > Relationships;Humour > Love, Sex & Marriage.

Non-fiction?Self-help?Health?Where the hell did these come from?Humour, love, sex & marriage was the only one that applied in its entirety. The other two were partially or wholly inapplicable.As it turns out, each of these sub-genres run deep, so being at the top was a minor feather in my cap, regardless of the fact that my book didn’t belong there. But as a potential book buyer, I’d have been mildly cheesed off if I’d been looking for a how-to book about testicular self-examination and found a ‘humorous contemporary fiction’ book at the top of my search.

Anyway, here’s hoping everyone reads my book regardless of its classification. Then I can look forward to the film, TV serialisation and £12m three book deal. Sorry, maybe that falls under ‘fantasy.’

Posted in people, rewriting, womens literature, writing 2 Comments

Using Pinterest In Your Writing

Posted by Joanne Huspek

It is honestly too hot and uncomfortable to do any “serious” writing, so I’m filling the void with fun.

Writers, especially lazy ones like me, need all the help they can get. Believe me, I’m a huge fan of tools in the writer’s toolbox, the more the better. I’m inspired by pretty little notebooks, pens in peacock and pink, and color-coordinated 3″ x 5″ index cards. I’ve tried spreadsheets, graphs, and time lines. I’m a pantser, but I know my best work does not come from the top of my head; the more it rumbles around, the better. And I’m tactile. I can’t outline, not until after the first draft is complete. I need to see; I need to pick up and move my scenes, which is why color coordination and cards work best for me.

It was in April when I received an email from the BookBaby web site, extolling the virtues of Pinterest as a writing tool. At first, I shook my head. Pinterest?

Now, I am very slow to warm up to anything Internet. I was once an inhabitant of an Orange Bubble social media network, which was hard to navigate.  It was by sheer luck that I made any friends there at all. It took me forever to figure out Facebook, and once I had, the format changed, so it took even longer to figure out the new Facebook. And let’s not even talk about Twitter. I get it now, but I was a Twitter bumpkin for a year or so, before careful coaching by one of Twitterati’s most famous felines (@littlefluffycat). On the information superhighway, I’m driving around blind and in the dark, which is both dangerous and stupid.

I’d received an invitation to Pinterest months before, took a quick look,  couldn’t figure it out, and beat a hasty retreat. My friends love the place. I like pictures of my favorite things as well as anyone else does; I just couldn’t get into it. Boards? Why?

After the BookBaby article, I gave Pinterest another spin around the block. A light immediately flashed above my head, just like in the cartoons. I could use the pin boards to map out my novels!

What has happened in the last few months (because I’m so busy, who has time to devote more than a minute a week to this project?) is that I’ve created boards for each of the two books I’m working on now, plus the book (Virtually Yours) that has already hit the virtual bookshelf. I’ve populated the boards with the actors I’d love to see play my characters, the settings of the novels, and anything else I can think of.

What I’ve found is that just by visiting my boards, I’m motivated to write. I can see parts of my novels playing out before my eyes. My WIP is not just thousands of random words – which, incidentally, is really hard to keep track of in your head – but the stories I’ve felt a need to tell.

I don’t have hundreds of boards, just twelve. In addition to the writing boards, there is a travel board, one for food, and two for novels I’ve read and/or loved. And a vision board, because I’ve been meaning to do that for years, using photographs and poster board (it’s in my sewing room, waiting for me to buy rubber cement), but just never got around to it.

In case you want to check out my boards:

My Pinterest.

Posted in editing, music, violin, writing, women, life, NaNoWriMo, people, rewriting, womens literature, writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments