The Power of the Critique

As a writer, showing someone else my work can bring feelings of terror and pride. I may be second guessing what I wrote, frustrated with the storyline, or proud of my brilliant phrasing. As an introvert, it is stepping outside my comfort zone to share my work, even after years of writing and in a comfortable and familiar critique group. So much of writing comes from within, revealing corners of ourselves. We work in solitude, but writers can be egotistical enough to think their thoughts deserve an audience.

A first audience should be a critique group. The first time submitting to a critique group can be devastating. Writers want to tell their tales in the way they want to tell them. Hearing this or that isn't working can feel like bullets to the chest. We writers can feel indignation, shame, horror, we wonder why we put up with this abuse. We hate these people who cannot grasp our vision and may insist these people are wrong.



The thing is, those people who are picking apart your chapter are doing you a huge favor.  These are other eyes on your pages, assessing what speaks to them, what isn't working, what is. It can hurt. Hearing something is missing when you poured your entire heart out on a page is hard, but it can also be valuable feedback to dig deeper, write better, get to the meat of the story and grab the reader.

Writing is from the heart, but there is a myriad of ways to execute it, and some are definitely better than others. If you want to be better, you have to be critiqued.

Be brave. Be strong. Get critiques and let them simmer past the emotional reaction.

And keep going. Write better.

Book Review: Orphan Train

I just finished "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline. It was the Fox Cities Read this year, and although I missed her talk during the Fox Cities Book Festival (www.foxcitiesbookfestival.org), I could tell why this story was chosen.

It was a compelling story of a new immigrant child semi-orphaned and sent to the west on an orphan train. There weren't enough details on the train, except for Dutchy, who we get to love again and again.

The book had a dual POV style, set in the past to show the orphan adventure against a modern day foster teen. I didn't much care about one in the beginning, but it became important in the end and worth sticking through it.

The beginning half of this book is extremely promising and engaging, and may propel readers to the end, which is satisfying in a way that makes you glad to shut the pages of the book.

Fox Cities Book Festival - Linda Sue Park

In the years I was away from the Fox Cities, they started an annual book festival in April. This year's events kicked off a week or so early with a visit from Linda Sue Park, Newbery medal winner and author of many children's books, including "The Single Shard" and the fascinating book she was promoting, "A Long Walk To Water."

Image from www.lindasuepark.com

The book is based on the true story of a boy who ran from war in Sudan, becoming one of the "lost boys." He trekked hundreds of miles to Ethiopia, where he lived in a refugee camp for 10 years before going to America. 

Now he is going back with a purpose, to bring water to South Sudan. He chose to go back to his country and live in a hut with no electricity and miles from an iffy water source to bring machinery to drill for clean, safe water. 

I always admired Linda Sue Park's ability to make other countries and cultures accessible with her books. Turns out her presentations are even better. I only wish I had $15K to buy one of these wells to bring clean water to the people of South Sudan. Although if you visit her website, she describes ways to help with The Iron Giraffe Challenge.

Like most authors, she set aside time for questions, describing how it felt to win the Newbery Medal. She explained how every book was special to her and she couldn't pick a favorite. She talked about her inspirations and her passions, like sports. 

Being a Cubs fan helped prepare her for the life of a writer, she said. Following a losing team inspires great confidence and hopefulness at the beginning of the season, only to get your heart broken every year. She compared it to getting rejections after writing a book, then poor sales after first publication, then even poorer sales after second publication. 

These days she is faring better than the Cubs, but she is putting money where her mouth is. Linda Sue Park and her husband sponsored one of those wells in South Sudan. 

I am thankful the Appleton Library arranged this visit, but wish they had arranged for book sales on site. I would have bought "A Long Walk to Water" and had it signed in this rare opportunity with a medal winning novelist. 

Walking Old Paths, Seeing Those Same Old Trees

For several years, I was doing a lot of freelance writing. I wrote articles and blog posts for various companies, and I made a pretty good hourly wage that was directed into my PayPal account. I mostly used that money to buy plane tickets and shoes. One of my clients paid for me to attend an international writing conference. It was a good life, but it also had its frustrations.

I got tired of the hustle of finding new work all the time and wanted to spend more of my creative energies on writing fiction, so I accepted an editing position at a local company that hired remote workers. It was a bit of a paycut if you look at hourly wage, but the work was steady and I still worked at home. I have a 401K, vacation time and a paycheck that goes to my checking account, which unfortunately goes to groceries and bills rather than Zappos and airlines. 

I had thought I would freelance on the side, but I haven't, until now. 

I've been getting emails from one of my old haunts. They are making changes for writers. I wonder if they are making things easier, better, taking out the hustle, perhaps. I still have accounts at several hubs for work, and picked up an article that I was particularly passionate about. 

I spent a Saturday afternoon writing this article that should have taken me less than an hour. The actual writing and research was easy, it was a subject I know well and had a lot to say. I had to check guidelines that changed in the last two years and find the format for references. I felt completely drained after sending it off, and remembered feeling like that every single day. I waited weeks for that article to be reviewed, which was new. That company used to have a quick turnaround time. After three weeks, I nearly gave up, and then I got an email with a lengthy rewrite request, one that would compromise the integrity of the article. And then I remembered that annoyance too. 

I don't like to burn bridges. I like to keep all doors of opportunity open, in case I need an escape route, but I am pretty certain I won't be opening the freelance writing door again unless an amazing new opportunity falls into my lap. Those old clients were great for me once, but they are not a fit anymore. I've seen those trees, I've walked that path, I remember now why I moved on. 

Book Review: Thirteen Reasons Why

I have seen some of my writerly friends complaining about not having a book that grabs them lately. It is a perennial problem that happens with every reader. You go through ups and downs of reading quality.

"Thirteen Reasons Why," by Jay Asher cured that ill for me for about a week. This book grabbed me and demanded all of my free time.

The book starts out with good guy Clay receiving a set of tapes from post-suicidal classmate Hannah Baker. It seems Hannah has arranged a list of people who get these tapes, and they are instructed to then pass them along to the next person. The details of this arrangement are sketchy and sometimes test the limits of what kids would actually do, but the compelling desire to understand why Hannah chose to take her life, and how this all snowballed together overrides.

Details are handed out like treats, with associations coming together and the interconnection of people and events mimicking the "snowball" event Hannah speaks of in her narrative. Although we all know how it ends for Hannah, Asher manages a satisfactorily hopeful leave to this novel.

Spring!

Nothing makes a Wisconsinite happier than 

sunshine, blue skies, and melting snowbanks 

at the end of another long, dark winter.

Hello Spring. 

It's about time you got here. 

Book Review: Crossover

Crossover, by Kwame Alexander is the winner of the 2015 Newbery Book Award. Like last year’s winner, it is written in verse. It seems kids like reading books in verse these days. I think they like reading short chapters and few words….like text messages.

It isn’t true poetry, or verse, but the text is definitely interesting. The reader is engaged in real time with what is happening, sometimes in staccato during basketball games. I love this book for its energy and its diversity. The main character, Josh, is black, the son of a famous basketball player.

The story is about competition between the twins (seems to be a theme with this year’s ALA award winners. The Printz Award was given to a book about twins being divided by life.) One twin gets a girlfriend and becomes distracted. The other is jealous. There are also serious health problems going on with the father.

This is heavy stuff for middle school readers, but it is handled with finesse, with words bouncing like a basketball on the court. This was an enjoyable read for me, and one I think my reluctant middle school reader would embrace.