Category: Writing

Fall Literacy Festival

I have been invited to read at Harding University’s Fall Literacy Festival this Thursday, September 12. This is a celebration of literacy that happens every year when faculty, students and guests share their writing. I am honored to have been asked to read in the past and always feel as nervous as an ingenue on opening night.

Other readers invited from the White County Creative Writers group are Christine Henderson and Debra Wantulok.  Both are accomplished writers, holding awards from recent Arkansas Writers Conference and White County Writers Conference.  They each will be reading a piece from their award-winning works. As will I.

This event is open to the public and if you love literacy and enjoy listening to readings from both established and emerging authors, come to Harding University Heritage Center, 7:00 pm Thursday.

For more about Christine and Debbie visit their sites: Christine Henderson and Debra Wantulok

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Wonderful Writers’ Weekend

“You become a writer by writing. If you write, you are a writer. This is true of no other profession in the world.” So said Susan Kaye Quinn at White County Creative Writers Conference in Searcy, AR yesterday.

I so concur. In fact, just a few hours earlier, I had said to the group, “Don’t you dare say you’re not a writer just because you haven’t been published.”

Of the crowd gathered in the Heritage Center at Harding University, several were there for the first time, some write family stories that will never see publication, and at least one came “to see if he could be a writer.” The others were more seasoned writers, there to learn more about what they love to do, to see old friends and be supportive of the newcomers.  A highlight for all the writers is the contest awards luncheon.  One first-timer, who had not even entered a contest, commented, “That was so exciting!”

A couple of years ago, we decided to add a Writing 101 component to the conference to benefit the newer writers and to refresh everyone on the basics of the writing craft.

This time it was my turn, so I spoke on “How to Improve Your Short Story … going from B- to A+”. Some of the items I covered were:

1. The benefits of belonging to a critique group.

2. Read your prose and poetry aloud to check for errors.

3. Show something of the character of the time and place of your story.

4. Be aware of being too wordy when you are telling or showing the reader something about your characters. (Kidding! I just used 18 words when 3 would do.)

5. Don’t explain your jokes (as I just did).

6. Don’t over do . . . anything . . . ever.

Susan Quinn, author of several teen and young adult novels, is an excellent speaker who shared with us words of encouragement and support as well as writing and story-telling tips. Her afternoon presentation included information about indy publishing and the e-book market. For more about Susan and her exciting (and clean) books go to www.susankayequinn.com.

Tommy Hancock, our third speaker, has a vast amount of knowledge about a re-surfacing genre, pulp fiction. If you don’t think this genre is returning to the markets, just look at the list of super heroes in movies and books today. Many are knock-offs of the pulp heroes of the early Twentieth Century dime novels. Even those of us who will never read or write in this genre were captivated with his presentation.  For more about his pulp publications visit prose-press.com

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The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

There is no blurb on the back cover of this book to indicate what the plot is about. The inside flap says:

“The story of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is very difficult to describe. Usually we give some clues about the book on the back cover, but in this case we think it would spoil the reading of the book. We think it is important that you start to read without knowing what it is about.”

John Boyne, who wrote this book in 2006, was right. It is probably impossible — or at least difficult — for this to happen now, since some of the reviews I have seen contain a spoiler. But just in case, I’ll not joint them in that.  I think this book would have held me even more spellbound if I had not known the gist of the story before I read it.

The story is seen through the eyes of a naive 9-year-old boy. (Though this isn’t a book for 9-year-0lds.)  The point of view is excellent and the voice is great. Though the narrative is in third person, Boyne stays exclusively with Bruno’s (the boy’s) point of view. The reader sees and knows only what Bruno sees. Sometimes, because we’re older and have a certain knowledge of history and human behavior, the reader understands what’s happening before Bruno does.  And then we want to say “Awww,” with a sigh because, bless his heart, he is just so innocent.

There is a movie, made in  2008, with lesser-known (to me, at least) actors. The Americanized spelling of “Pajamas” is used. I haven’t seen it, but probably will.  The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is a unique tale. I have never seen anything like it described in the “Seven (or Twenty or Fifty) Most Used Plots.” I highly recommend this book for the discriminating reader and writer.

John Boyne is a successful writer living in Dublin, Ireland. You can learn more about him and his work at www.johnboyne.com.

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Spring Break!

Spring Break! Magical words for school children, for teachers and even for parents — anyone and all who have a chance to get away from the normal school day routine. At the Education Cooperative where I work, Spring Break is a blessing and a perk. The schools are closed, so are we. (This is not so during the summer months.)

Last week, conversations at work were about SB plans — Disney World, Crystal Bridges, trips “home” to family, work in the garden, paint the house.

The first days of my break have been filled with rest and reading. I have slept late and napped in the afternoons. During my waking hours, I finished reading Pride and Prejudice. Yesterday, when I had a dream about being at work in my pajamas and falling asleep at my desk, I decided maybe I had stretched this rest thing a little too far.

Tomorrow, I will leave for a Writer’s Retreat in Piggott, Arkansas. The home where Ernest Hemingway and his wife Pauline lived with her parents while he wrote A Farewell to Arms, and the barn converted into his writing space, sits at the edge of this small town. The Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Educational Center hosts writers’ retreats and several other special events throughout the year.

BFF Pat will pick me up and we will spend the three-hour trip talking. We may get it all said by Saturday afternoon when we trek home, but then again, maybe not.

My goal for this retreat is to learn from mentor Rob Lamm and other writers present and to work on the edits of my almost-finished-novel-in-progress, An Ordinary Day. And maybe some of the Hemingway genius will rub off on me and I will write that ‘one true sentence.’ Rest, read, write — my choices for this week.

To all my readers blessed with a Spring Break — enjoy!

For more information on H-P Museum and Educational Center visit hemingway.astate.edu

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Working for the Critics – a guest blogger

Guest blogger today is Steve May. Steve is a missionary, a pastor, and a writer.  He’s also my son.

Working for the Critics

Early reviews of some of the books we now consider classics.

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman: ”Whitman is as unacquainted with art as a hog is with mathematics.” –The London Critic, 1855

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck: ”Will appeal to sentimental cynics, cynical sentimentalists…Readers less easily thrown off their trolley will still prefer Hans Andersen.” –Time Magazine, 1937

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë: “The only consolation which we have in reflecting upon [this book] is that it will never be generally read.” –James Lorimer, North British Review, 1847

Absalom, Absalom! by William Faulkner: ”The final blow-up of what was once a remarkable, if minor, talent.” –The New Yorker, 1936

If you write for the critics or work for the critics or preach for the critics, you’ll end up frustrated and disappointed. Critics often fail to recognize greatness, even when it’s under their nose.

That’s why we must memorize — and learn to live by — Paul’s words: Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God? Or am I trying to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ. (Galatians 1:10)

To find out more about Steve May and Project Brasil or to subscribe to his Monday Memo, visit www.stevemay.com.

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