I've put this off long enough and it's time for me to add a blog to my writing resume. I've looked at so many other blogs to get an idea of what to write, how to keep it all fresh, and I'll admit, I'm intimidated. However, after listening to Mandisa's song, Good Morning (see link) I'm ready to attack this new version of me.
So, as you can see from above, I'm here to talk about living the writer's life. Good things have happened recently ... my second story was accepted by Larks Fiction Magazine. I just can't say enough good things about Daniel Pool, the editor. He writes a compassionate, just and honest rejection letter, sends specific directions as to how to revise, and is prompt in his responses. If you're another budding writer, I really suggest you submit to Larks (see link) in order ease into these icy waters of putting your work out for the world to read. If you're just curious, go read the ezine. Especially watch for Quentin Pongratz's stories, verrry interesting.
I suppose some background about how I started this journey is in order. Not that I'm any kind of expert on writing, just that turning to this career change is wild, crazy and invigorating. I was finally able to leave the 9-5 employee world (fist pump!) and follow my avocation, genealogy. Taking all the stories and ideas I had gleaned through many years of research and trying to write them up was like being entombed in a concrete cell. A journalistic approach, fictionalized family saga, autobiography, straight factual non-fiction, I had no idea how to begin to get out.
There's a community college not far, Carroll Community College. While there's no degree program for writing, I enrolled in the 3 semester creative writing workshop sequence hoping to get some direction. The concrete cell changed to a glass one where I could see my way out and then to a barred one where I could reach out of it, and now I have a huge list of the stories I want to tell. Admittedly historical fiction was not the class favorite but no matter, I learned about developing the story, character, sensory imaging, and found within myself exactly what kind of writer I wanted to become. The other thing I gained from this ... I know how much I totally love the learning environment. The breaks between semesters are agony now, and I might just have to consider going for an MFA. For vanity's sake, nothing else. Is that crazy or what?
So now I'm using two writer's websites for more workshopping of my stories. Truthfully, it remains to be seen if this will be a collection of connected stories spanning the generations of this family or a novel. The short story format is a difficult one, especially when in my mind they are all layers of the onion. I think I'm moving toward a book of stories a la I Remember Mama (that was a TV show in the 50's, taken from a memoir book of short stories). I now have a dozen stories written, two of which have been distributed electronically, and ten in revision status. And a list ... oh my, the length of this list! ...
There you have it. The first blog, the first world debut, of Claire Englewood. Hopefully a year from now you'll hear about the release of my first book. In the meantime, please keep coming back. I'd love to exchange moments of rejection, acceptance, writer's block, the whole shebang or should I say Big Bang of being a writer with you. See you next Friday, after my first week of the spring semester.
