We’re taking a little detour on the weekends now to share some of what we’re up to with our writing (when we’re not here) and what we’re into with our reading (around the web). We’ll also pull back the curtain a little to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what went into a piece.

We hope you enjoy this little diversion and encourage you to share your own posts and picks in the comments.

Happy writing! Happy reading! 

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Lisa J. Jackson

What I’m writing: Registration opened last week for The New England Crime Bake mystery writers’ conference. I’ve been writing a lot of e-mails to registrants and updates to the committee (I’m the conference registrar). It’s a lot of fun and the conference is 50% full.

I have a YA novel started that I’m excited about, tentatively titled “Gramps.” The idea has existed for a while, but my trip last week allowed me to reconnect with the main character and the story (takes place along the Atlantic coast).

What I’m reading: I just finished a fabulous (to me) book called “Sail Away Ladies: Stories of Cape Cod Women in the Age of Sail” by Jim Coogan. I’ve always been drawn to the sea – there’s just something calming and invigorating about it – and while vacationing last week on Cape Cod I found a local historian with a few books about the area. This book has 12 stories based on journals and accounts of women who sailed with their husbands and fathers in the 1800s. I’m amazed at the strength and perseverance they had and the stories gave me ideas for my fiction.

Diane MacKinnon:

What I’m Writing: I’m starting to rewrite my novel (again) and I’m doing some writing prompts and creativity exercises to generate ideas for another project. I have a bunch of writing books and I keep choosing random writing exercises from different books. It’s been a really fun way to get some writing in and eventually I’ll look back at what I’ve written and see what the themes are.

What I’m Reading: I just finished my third book by Brene Brown. You can check out all her books here. She’s totally amazing and her books are well written. She delivers a lot of great information with a lot of humor and great stories. The only fiction I’m reading right now is The Magic Tree House series, which my son and I listen to in the car. Each story (there are at least 50) is set in a different time and place and it’s been fun to hear how the author changes the dialogue to signal different settings. For example, my son recently told the babysitter “night is almost upon us,” after we listened to “Christmas in Camelot.“

Jamie Wallace:

Another week has flown by and Memorial Day is bearing down upon us like Hercules from The Sandlot - slavering and slobbery, bringing heat and humidity and wistful thoughts of autumn. (At least for me. Can you tell I’m not a summer person?)

What I’m Writing: I’m starting to write some of the “foundation” documents for my relaunch of Suddenly Marketing. I’m working on my perfect customer persona, mini manifesto, and so forth. This project is at least three years in the making, so I have many (many!) pages of notes to review. It’s been an odd trip down memory lane as I read through things I wrote in 2010 and think either, “Man, what was I thinking?!?” or “Wow. Nothing’s changed.”

I also managed to find time to write a post for my Suddenly Marketing blog – another (I hope) inspirational piece about some of the most common challenges people – especially artists of ay kind – have with marketing. Here’s a quick excerpt:

Here’s the thing – in my heart I am an artist, and as the stereotype suggests, I have a built-in aversion to anything that resembles commercialism. I’m not going to go too deep into all the misguided beliefs that are wrapped around my unease about selling and asking people for money. (That’s a post for another day.) So, how, you may ask, did I wind up making my living as a marketer and, more importantly …

… what the hell does my epiphany have to do with how YOU feel about marketing?

Everything.

If you are an artist, a writer, or a creative in any other sense of the word (spiritually, artistically, entrepreneurially), it’s probable that you are saddled with the same misconceptions and discomforts about marketing.

You can read (or listen to!) the rest of How to love marketing (even if the very word makes you cringe) over at Suddenly Marketing. (And, yes, I did edit the picture of the dolphin to include a line from one of my favorite books.)

What I’m Reading: Once again, time to read for pleasure was scarce this week, but I did manage to squeeze in a few posts from my favorite writing blogs:

• The Hook and the Hitch by @demianfarnworth – A gem of a flash fiction piece that he later uses to illustrate some copywriting techniques
• Episode 9: Defamiliarization [podcast] by @bradreedwrites – If you missed it, please check out my glowing review of Inside Creative Writing
• How to Get Things Done (A Flowchart) via @99u - a tongue-in-cheek diagram that made me giggle
• 21 Great Reasons to Keep Blogging by @craigmcbreen -  I especially love 3, 8 – 10 and 21.
• 25 quotes on writing & creating like your cash flow depends on it by @NikkiGroom – Because, who can resist a good quote?

QUESTION: It’s a holiday weekend here in the U.S., and like when extremely bad weather is forecasted, crowds swarm to grocery stores. Talk about your strategy when it comes to needing to go to the grocery store before a bad storm or when a holiday looms.

Lisa J. Jackson: I remember the dread I used to feel when I worked a corporate job and had to battle the grocery store on my way home from work. It was never fun to go from traffic-laden streets to people-filled aisles. From long lines at street lights to long check-out lines. My strategy is avoidance: I try to do my shopping on an early morning in the middle of the week. There have been times, and all I can do is laugh at myself, when I’ve needed something, 1 little thing like ketchup for cheeseburgers, and I’ve had to join the masses. Or when the weathermen say a bad storm is approaching and power outages are likely, I don’t race to the store for milk and eggs (with a power outage anything in the fridge is at risk), but instead I go to the store for ice for my coolers (to keep the milk and yogurt chilled), peanut butter for sandwiches, and fruits.

When I have to go with the crowds, I make sure to (1) have a list to avoid wandering the aisles, (2) have no more than eight items on the list to use self-checkout or the Express lane, (3) park away from the store entrance for easier egress, and (4) make sure to have double the time it would normally take for a quick trip to the store available.

Julie Hennrikus: I live with my cat. No kids. No husband. So emergency shopping, provided I have enough cat food, can happen in a CVS if I need it to. What I do try to do, on holidays or weather emergencies, is to cook something that lends itself to several meals. For Nemo, I made a fierce chicken pot pie. This weekend, I will be spending time with my sister and her family. A plate of brownies, and calico beans are on to do list.

Diane MacKinnon: My strategy is to try to get to the grocery store when it opens, before the crowds get there. But if I have to go to the store when it’s crowded, it doesn’t really bother me. The Market Basket near me usually has a lot of registers open so even when it’s crowded, check-out doesn’t take long.

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Jamie Wallace: I was actually interviewed on this topic by the Boston Globe for a quick piece they did on procrastinating storm shoppers just before a big snow storm hit. As you can tell from my quote in the article, I don’t really have much of a strategy. Though I usually have the basics on hand as a matter of course (I have a nine-year-old daughter, so I’m usually pretty on top of stocking the pantry), a storm warning is more likely to send me scuttling to make sure that my Kindle is charged and my booklight has batteries. I could live on Saltines and bottled water for a few days if I had to, but I wouldn’t want to have to go without something to read!

photo: M. Shafer

Deborah Lee Luskin: I’m glad I read this, so I know there’s a storm coming! Between my laying flock, my freezer, and my CSA (in its second week), I’ve got plenty of food and a house full of books. I just have to remember to fill some buckets with water so I can flush if the power goes out for a long time.

Wendy Thomas: When the kids were younger, I had to make sure we had plenty of food, formula, diapers, and wipes in the house *every* time they predicted a bad storm. These days, now that the kids are older and have learned how to fend for themselves, I just make sure we have enough food for the animals and then I fill my water bottle and set it next to a book that I’ve been dying to start.

I just finished reading Brene Brown’s books. Dr. Brown describes herself as a qualitative researcher and a storyteller. She interviews people and listens to their stories and analyzes what they tell her about specific topics and then comes up with different theories based on that analysis.

I love reading the results of her studies and I love reading about the studies themselves.

Recently I heard Dr. Brown speak and she backed up every claim she made with evidence from her research. I so admire that.

But, it’s hard to be creative when you’re trying to back up everything you write with evidence.

Maybe that’s why I’m so much more comfortable with writing nonfiction.

Yet I have a longing to write fiction. It’s been with me since I was a child and I want to honor that longing—I know it’s not going away.

And Brene Brown’s research shows that creativity is a necessary part of a “Wholehearted” life.

One of the things Brene found in her research (from The Gifts of Imperfection) was that there’s no such thing as “creative people and non-creative people. There are only people who use their creativity and people who don’t.”

I found this very encouraging. My creativity is there, I’m just not used to using it all the time—and I can practice!

The other statement that came out of Brene’s research on creativity that I found compelling was this one: “If we want to make meaning, we need to make art.”

I want to make meaning, we all do. So it’s okay to create art (not just nonfiction.)

After reading all this research, I’m now giving myself permission to take my time finding a new creative writing project. Since I finished and submitted my short story at the end of April, I’ve been floundering, feeling like I’m wasting time because I didn’t immediately dive into a new project.

“Wasting time” is only one way of looking at it. “Feeding the muse” is another way to look at it. Or, “preparing the ground,” as it’s gardening season.

Some ways I’m trying to develop my creativity:

• By using writing prompts daily,
• By writing “Shi***y First Draft” at the top of every new document (on the advice of Anne Lamott in Bird by Bird),
• By writing with an audience in mind made up only of people who love me and love whatever I write. (It really takes the pressure off.)
• By doing other creative projects that have nothing to do with writing (like calligraphy, which is technically writing, but you know what I mean!)

In just a couple of weeks, I feel more creative than I have in a long time. I’m waking up in the middle of the night to write down ideas and phrases that seem to come out of nowhere.

What do you do to develop your creativity?

[I should note--new takes on old favorites are very tough to pull off. But an excellent example of a wonderful retake is Pirates running at the A.R.T. right now. An 80 minute Pirates of Penzance--very faithful to the spirit of the source material, but a completely new take on it.]

Though the playwright is the writer, a director is a storyteller in theater. Again, these are broad strokes (actors, dramaturgs, designers, they all help shape a production tremendously). And so a director will become one of my trusted storytellers in the collaborative world of theater.

I have been thinking about my TBR pile, which is enormous. There are some books on the pile that sounded interesting. But most of the books? Either recommended by a trusted source, or written by a trusted storyteller. The author could be trying something completely different, but I’m in. I will take a leap. I have been thinking a lot about plot, and about characters, and the balance needed to tell a good story. But the storyteller is what really matters.

Am I alone in this? How do you chose your books? Do you have favorite authors who immediately go on your list? Who are some of them?

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J.A. Hennrikus is the Executive Director of StageSource. She is a mystery writer. Her short story, “Tag, You’re Dead” was published in Level Best Book’s anthology THIN ICE, “Her Wish” is in Level Best Books’ DEAD CALM, and “The Pendulum Swings, Until It Doesn’t” is in BLOOD MOON. She is a social media fan, and tweets under @JulieHennrikus. She wrestles with allusions of athleticism, is an avid theater goer and a member of Red Sox nation. Her website is jahennrikus.com

Two.

One was a letter sent in to the station complaining about a pro-hunting piece I’d aired years ago. More recently, a listener complained about a piece I wrote about wearing recycled clothes.

That I can remember these listeners’ complaints practically verbatim but can’t remember the details from the hundreds of listeners who’ve emailed me with kudos tells me how much harder it is to hold on to praise. It also tells me how penetrating anger can be.

There’s no question: I hit a nerve, causing two listeners to hit their keyboards and spit venom at me. I tell myself that’s good, that I ‘got to them’ and isn’t that the purpose of writing? Maybe. But it burns.

In retaliation, I’ve parsed these letters and found gaping holes in logic and grammar, and located the places where they’ve misunderstood what I said, misrepresented it, or simply disregarded it. I’ve worked over my poison-pen replies (never written, never sent), and churned and burned in anger and disdain. In time, however, the anger dies down, leaving me to wonder why it is that criticism smarts in far greater proportion than praise.

I’ve received a thousand-fold more praises for my work, but I’ve given them less attention. Why is that? Why is it that I give negative sentiment more weight than positive feedback?

The only answer I can come up with is: That’s the way I’ve been trained.

And if it’s just a matter of training, then I can be retrained.

The need to retrain myself, to really pay attention to what my readers and listeners have to say became apparent when Into the Wilderness came out. Strangers wrote me personal letters, sent me emails, told me their stories and sought my advice. That experience taught me how wonderful it is to reach an audience I’m only vaguely aware of while I’m head down at my desk, trying to channel my thoughts into words against deadline. As a result, I vowed that when I read something that moved me, I’d send the author a note.

I also vowed to thank readers who’ve taken the trouble not just to read what I write, but to tell me about it – tell me what I wrote made them think or feel, maybe how it gave them hope or inspiration. And I’m no longer speaking of praise just for my radio commentaries, or my novel, or my newspaper columns, but also about the feedback I get from this blog. I’m generally and genuinely overwhelmed and overjoyed by the replies to these posts.

Ultimately, what thinking about my disproportionate reaction has been to criticism versus praise has shown me is that I must reverse how I respond to the two and give more attention – and more acknowledgement – to praise.

photo: M. Shafer

Deborah Lee Luskin is a novelist, essayist and educator. She lives in southern Vermont.

A Reader’s Dilemma
Credit: http://inkygirl.com/

I’ve suffered from this – there’s no unseeing what has been seen!

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NaNoIdMoAdMo
Credit: http://inkygirl.com/

Writing challenges are great, but let’s be careful!

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Why we keep notepad and pen by the bed! Credit: http://inkygirl.com/

The voices never stop talking to us.

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Lisa J. Jackson loves working with words in her own work and with businesses. She also loves New Hampshire and is focused on completing several 5Ks in 2013 as a way to get off the couch consistently. You can connect with her on LinkedIn, Biznik, Facebook, and Twitter. 

We’re taking a little detour on the weekends now to share some of what we’re up to with our writing (when we’re not here) and what we’re into with our reading (around the web). We’ll also pull back the curtain a little to give you a behind-the-scenes look at what went into a piece.

We hope you enjoy this little diversion and encourage you to share your own posts and picks in the comments.

Happy writing! Happy reading! 

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Lisa J. Jackson: I’m away on vacation this week, exploring “the Cape”. It’s been quite enjoyable and relaxing (once I convinced myself I didn’t *have* to do anything except fun stuff). I haven’t been online much (yay, I can cut the online umbilical cord!) Amazing that I’ve been a lifelong New Englander and never explored the Cape until now. On Tuesday morning there were 2 rain clouds in all of New England — guess where I was? Yep, right under them. Ah, well, it’s vacation.

What I’m writing: I’ve enjoyed getting back to journal pages and exploring my thoughts. I’ve had a lot of downtime and quiet time, and there’s something about sea air that rejuvenates my soul. I have notes for new story ideas written down, and I’ve written a lot in my planner – steps to achieving goals.

What I’m reading: I brought a copy of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine with me. It’s been fun to read short mystery stories. I’ve heard writers and authors say they can’t read in their genre when they are writing, but I think it’s like catnip for my muse. So many twists and turns for her to play with so when it comes to my stories, she can surprise me. I’ve also (finally) finished the novel  ”Precious Blood” by Jonathan Hayes. Definitely dark, and the main character is a medical examiner, so, well, you don’t want to read it while eating.

And this post caught my eye and is worth the time if you’re seeking to build an audience: 12 Ways to Delight Your Social Media Community & Audiences.

Or if you’re considering starting a blog, here’s a post with 5 top tips for Starting Your Business Blog.

I hope you’ve had a great week and have found ways to get your writing projects done while also enjoying some personal reading time.

Jamie Wallace: Hello, fellow writers! Happy Saturday.

Work has been a little wonky this week, but managing to keep busy with some website copy for an architect and continuing revisions to a B2B ebook. I haven’t managed any personal, creative writing other than my morning pages and a column I’m working on for next week’s paper. Mostly, I’ve been focusing on continuing to work on some critical business development projects. I’m working with a lovely coach (who I’ll write more about soon) and starting to really unpack where I’m going next with my marketing business. I’m pretty excited, especially because part of what I’m going to be doing will be geared towards writers. Finally!

What I’m Writing:

This week I posted another seriously from-the-heart post on my marketing blog. I wrote Do you know why you do what you do? after several disparate things clicked into place in my head and told me a story about the importance of knowing – really knowing – why you do what you do. The post was a little bit of a departure for me because it came out in a series of fragments that are loosely connected. I’m wondering if that was because I’ve been thinking a lot about creating a series of linked short stories. Perhaps my subconscious brain picked up on that vibe and tried to replicate it in some way in the blog post. I don’t know. What I do know is that I definitely got a little emotional on the recording.

What I’m Reading: 

Though I’m still working on Alice Hoffman’s The River King, I also picked up and began reading the first short story in a book that’s been on my bedside table for longer than I care to admit, Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clark. I’m becoming very interested in the idea of writing short stories, so I’m looking for good examples to study. (If you have any recommendations, I’d love to hear them!)

In addition, I enjoyed a few great blogs posts:

• 101 Tweetable Quotes For Authors by @AuthorMedia
• Kindle Singles and Why You Want One by @brooke_warner via @shewritesdotcom
• 6 Tips to Grow Your Twitter Followers by @DanielSharkov
• Your Platform is Not a Stage You Stand On  by @DanBlank

photo: M. Shafer

Deborah Lee Luskin: Finished another chapter of Ellen! And started the next! Recorded a commentary on Tuesday that was broadcast on Wednesday. All reading this week was work-related research, and free time was spent with visiting children. Bliss.

QUESTION: What did you enjoy reading as a kid? Was it the comics in the Sunday paper? Pop-up books? Hardcovered? Floppy covered? What leaps to mind as a fun read when you were a wee little lad or lass?

Lisa J. Jackson: Funny – the first thing that comes to mind is Sunday comics but only if I had Silly Putty so I could transfer some of the images onto the funky dough and them stretch it and play with it. For some reason that still makes me giggle. I particularly liked Garfield and can remember being able to make him shorter and fatter and giving him funny expressions when I had the Silly Putty. Second thing that springs to mind is comic books. I really enjoyed the small paperback stories with all the pictures. I had a super-hero spurt and enjoyed reading about all the individuals who each had a unique power. I think it went a long way to letting me know it was okay to not be part of the ‘in’ crowd. Fun question!

Diane MacKinnon: When I was 11 I was placed in an accelerated readers group at school, and we had to read Pride and Prejudice, which I hated: I told my mom it was about a woman and her four daughters and all they cared about was getting married–boring! We also had to read Jane Eyre, which I loved! I’ve read it many times over the years and it’s still one of my favorites. I’ve also reread Pride and Prejudice with a more mature outlook and found it’s not boring at all. Fascinating, in fact. Other favorites from my childhood are Harriet the Spy, by Louise Fitzhugh, The Good Master, by Kate Seredy, and all the Nancy Drew books. I used to read all my brothers sci-fi/fantasy books, such as The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and basically anything that anyone left lying around.

Wendy Thomas: Like Diane, I got placed in an accelerated reading program called Jr. Great Books when I was young. It gave me an appreciation for the classics at a very early age (which is is one of the reasons why I think I was *the* only person in my High School class who truly enjoyed The Scarlet Letter.) When I think about my favorite books that I liked as a young child, there are many – Sad, Mrs. Sam Sack – the story of a woman who thought her house was too small and how she finally learned to appreciate the space that she had. The Little Mailman of Bayberry Lane – a charming animal story with a wonderful surprise ending and The Happy Birthday Present where a boy makes the most beautiful gift for his mother.

When I got a little older, Misty of Chincoteague  was the first of the many horse books I read. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Chitty, Chitty Bang Bang, Bambi, The Shoe Shop Bears. Rascal, and Born Free (hmm, look at those early nature memoirs) were some of the other books that also held magic for me within their covers. Like it is today, when I was a kid, you’d never find me without a book in my hands or one waiting for me in my backpack. While in school, I worked, was on school sports, and participated in school Government, but somehow, I still always found time to read.

Julie Hennrikus: I loved (and still love) series. I read Nancy Drew, and some Hardy Boys. I loved books by Beverly Cleary, and the Encyclopedia Brown books. And I remember some books, but not the names. I remember a series about kids who lived in a bus or a train? And Harriet the Spy, of course. Roald Dahl. And Archie comics. I am thrilled that I am moderating a panel on YA literature at the New England Crime Bake this fall. Should be a great opportunity to discover new books, and make some recommendations to the young readers in my life.

Jamie Wallace: What I remember most about reading as a kid is the sheer volume of books I consumed. Each week, my mom would bring my sister and I to our public library, a venerable old building with ivy climbing the walls and an ornate wrought iron gate at the door to the children’s room. From the very first, I loved the smell of the books and the experience of pawing through them one at a time, shelf after shelf. Mostly, I read fantasy and science fiction. JRR Tolkien was an instant favorite (I read the Lord of the Rings trilogy for the first time when I was in third grade), as was Peter S. Beagle (I must have read The Last Unicorn a dozen times). I read every book Anne McCaffrey wrote in her extensive Pern series. I read L. Frank Baum, Roald Dahl, and Shel Silverstein. I read The Wind in the Willows, Misty of Chincoteague, Julie of the Wolves, and Island of the Blue Dolphins. I read Ursula LeGuin’s Earthsea books and Madeleine L’Engle’s Wrinkle in Time series. I read E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, Stuart Little, and The Trumpet Swan. I read George Selden’s The Cricket in Times Square and Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth. Each week, I came home with a huge LL Bean tote bag filled to the top with new adventures. My appetite was insatiable, my thirst for story unquenchable. I miss those long days of doing nothing but reading. I do not know if I have ever come closer to bliss.

photo: M. Shafer

Deborah Lee Luskin: Oh, so many books! I was a lonely kid, so the characters in books were my best friends, starting with Are You My Mother, to Charlotte’s Web, Mr. Popper’s Penguins, Doctor Doolittle, Beverly Clearly books, The Borrowers, Nancy Drew. And then came the Victorians: Arthur Conan-Doyle, Charles Dickens, Charolotte Bronte, Thomas Hardy and Jane Austen. As I teen, I read all of Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe mysteries, and Regency Romances, historical fiction, anything steamy I could get hold of. I miss those days of reading all day and long into the night!

The winner, chosen by Random.org, for The Other Typist is: Kristin (#8).

Congratulations and please let us know what you think of the book.

Please send your mailing information to me at wethomas@gmail.com (the email through this website doesn’t work for me)

]]> http://nhwn.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/friday-fun-favorite-reads-from-childhood/feed/ 16 nhwn Lisa J. Jackson Diane MacKinnon, MD, Master Certified Life Coach wendy-shot hennrikus-web2 headshot_jw_thumbnail photo: M. Shafer http://nhwn.wordpress.com/2013/05/17/friday-fun-favorite-reads-from-childhood/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/LiveToWrite-WriteToLive/~3/BQSIq2YpWz0/ http://nhwn.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/run-dont-walk-to-listen-to-inside-creative-writing/#comments Thu, 16 May 2013 07:31:08 +0000 Suddenly Jamie (@suddenlyjamie) http://nhwn.wordpress.com/?p=6948 ]]>

If you’d like, you can listen to this post.

I am a writer, but I am not yet the writer I want to be.

I have had very little in the way of formal training. I do not have a college degree or an MFA. I have taken a few, scattered writing courses (most recently a class on writing fantasy at the wonderful Grub Street in Boston), but mostly I’ve cobbled together random bits and pieces – like a magpie collecting shiny things to adorn its nest.

Though my journey has followed a somewhat circuitous path, I believe that I have made progress. From a seven-year-old scribbling in a notebook that I pilfered from the supply closet at the bank where my dad was a VP, I have evolved into someone who makes her living with words – crafting content for my marketing clients, writing a column for my local paper, and even occasionally penning a feature piece for a regional magazine.

But, I am still not the writer I want to be.

I ache to write fiction, but as a single mama workin’ this gig, I can’t easily afford time to play in the speculative and financially unstable world of fiction. The writing that pays my bills takes precedence. Making time to practice and study the craft of fiction is a challenge for me, to say the least.

Enter the power of the podcast.

Those of you who’ve been hanging around here awhile already know that I am a huge and unabashed fan of audio books. If it weren’t for audio books, I’d probably only manage to read a handful of novels each year. But with Audible in my pocket, I am able to “read” while I walk, drive, do the dishes, run the vacuum, etc. It’s a beautiful thing.

Podcasts are another audio format that allow me to connect with content while I’m doing something else. I have been listening to several marketing podcasts for a while, but only recently decided to investigate writing podcasts. Long story short, I struck gold with a brand new podcast called Inside Creative Writing.

Brad Reed is the writer and educator behind this podcast. As a frequent podcast listener, I can be a bit of a critic, but this guy is doing a fabulous job. His shows are highly informative, entertaining, and actionable. I frequently pause in my walk to jot down a note so I don’t forget what he’s said about a particular technique or insight. He has put a lot of thought into his format – alternating one-man shows with interviews and always including a couple of closing elements – “Wise Words” (inspirational and thought-provoking quotes) and a writing assignment (not a prompt, but an assignment on applying the techniques discussed in the show). His production quality is great, his show notes are thorough, and he even has a way for listeners to participate in the show by leaving him a voicemail with a quote for the Wise Words segment, which he then edits into the actual show. (You can hear my debut appearance in Show #8.)

Can you tell I’m a bit of a fan?

The thing is, we’re only eight shows into this podcast, and I have already learned SO much. Reed covers topics in a way that is clear and non-threatening. He makes great use of examples to bring each of the concepts and techniques to life. He isn’t afraid to take deep dives on a topic, making sure you – as the listener – really have a chance to fully absorb and process the idea. Also (and this counts in my book), he’s a really nice guy. I emailed him a quick note of appreciation and wound up having a very pleasant email chat. I can tell that Reed is doing this with his community firmly in mind.

I really can’t recommend the show enough. I was talking to a group of writer friends earlier this week about our favorite writing resources – the go-to books, blogs, and magazines that help us get a handle on what the hell we’re doing. All the usual suspects came up, but then the conversation took a turn as one of the writers sputtered, “They’re all great, but I never have time to read them!” Too true.

I subscribe to Poets & Writers. It’s an excellent magazine (probably one of the very best on the topic of writing). I always learn something when I read an issue, but – like my friend – I can’t always find time to read them. As a matter of fact, I have four unread issues sitting in a pile next to my desk right now. I feel guilty and frustrated and a little defeated when I think about how long those magazines have been sitting there, waiting for me to find a few minutes to crack their crisp covers. Alas, I don’t see that happening in the near future. However, the Inside Creative Writing podcast is filling that gap in my education quite nicely. I can honestly say that I am learning as much (if not more) about good story writing by listening to Reed as I would poring over the pages of Poets & Writers. (And, that’s saying something!)

I guess the most telling thing I can say about how much I like the show is this: I’m willing to pay for it.

In the most recent episode, Reed invited listeners to become supporters by making a voluntary donation to help offset show costs. He called it the “public broadcasting model.” I immediately went to www.insidecreativewriting.com and clicked the “Donate” button. I plunked down $36 – what I might pay for a year’s subscription to a quality, writing magazine – and was happy to do it.

After all, I can certainly forego a few lattes in the name of becoming the writer I want to be.

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Jamie Lee Wallace is a writer who also happens to be a marketer. She helps her Suddenly Marketing clients discover their voice, connect with their audience, and find their marketing groove. She is also a mom, a prolific blogger, and a student of voice and trapeze (not at the same time). Introduce yourself on facebook or twitter. She doesn’t bite … usually.

Which, is sometimes a good thing and other times it’s not.

When this book arrived, I sighed. I have sooo many books to read in my to-read pile (can you relate?) but still, the book size (trade paper) and the cover art got my attention.

The Other Typist takes place in 1923 and is the story of Rose Baker who is a typist in a police station. IT is her  job to record criminal’s confessions.

I turned it over to read the back:

“Get ready for the year’s most fascinating unreliable narrator…”

Huh?

And then there was this little beauty by Alice LaPlante author of Turn of Mind:

“Eerie and compelling … a riveting page-turner… Don’t start this novel at night if you need your beauty sleep – you’ll stay up to all hours devouring its pages.”

Another review made reference to the book as a “page-turner” a phrase so overused in book reviews as to make it meaningless.  A few alarms went off in my mind – yeah right, is what I basically thought.

Even though I was busy, even though I had tons of work to do, I opened the book and read a few pages. I just want to get the feel of the book, I told myself.

That night Marc made dinner and I continued to read.

My nightly Criminal Minds (we only get basic cable and so Criminal Minds is pretty much all we watch) fest was ignored as I sat in my chair and read.

I stayed up late to keep reading.

The next morning, I got up early to read before I started my work.

Yes. It is that good.

So what makes this book so literally page-turning?

There are several things.  This book is definitely not a one trick pony. First of all, the main character, Rose, grabs your attention on page one and then she drills a hole into your brain and stays there. You can’t help but think about her after you’ve put the book down. Like a thought just out of reach, impossible to solidify, you keep thinking – what is it that is wrong with Rose?

There’s just something not quite right about her, but what? Because it’s a narrated story from Rose’s point of view, you are privy to her thoughts and so you are in the driver’s seat right beside her as you see the inevitable train crash coming.

But you can’t do anything except hold on tight because Rose doesn’t see what is so very clearly in her path.

Another page-turning aspect? The writing, my Lord, the writing is sublime. Here’s an example:

“So I was surprised one day when Odalie emerged from the interrogation room and exclaimed, “He is just absolutely the law itself, isn’t he?” As we were not in the habit of making conversation, I looked around to see who she could possibly be talking to. The days were getting noticeably shorter by then. We were headed into the long black nights of winter, and although it was only four o’clock, outside a cloudy sky was already turning from ash to soot. And yet inside the office there was still something vital, the peculiar sort of kindling that comes from human activity buzzing away in the falling dark of dusk. The electric lights still glowed, and the office thrummed with the sounds of telephones, voices, papers, footsteps, and the syncopated clacking of many typewriters all being operated at once. It could very well be day or night, outside for all anyone cared: at that exact moment, everyone was quite busy, absorbed in what they were doing. And there was Odalie – still standing in front of her desk, facing me, her question (rhetorical though it was) still hanging in the air unanswered. I looked up at her and I remember – I remember this image quite clearly – the bare electric blub that dangled above her cast a perfect shimmering halo around the crown of her head, a perfect corona of light caught in the sheen of her silky black bobbed hair.

“Yes,” I stammered after a while. “The Sergeant is an excellent man.””

So much is packed into this paragraph. We are privy to Rose’s thought process as she struggles to respond to a simple statement. We become incredibly uncomfortable for her, as she stumbles to figure out social interaction.

Please what is up with this chick?

There are so many more examples of this extraordinary writing that this book is worth the price for anyone to read just for its literary excellence.

And then there is the story. You’ll be reading along and a clue, a bit of stunning information is brilliantly dropped into the story as casually as if someone were commenting on the weather. There were several places where I had to go back to reread a passage.

Did it really say what I thought it said? Are you kidding me?

Using the book-review-overused, but yet, in this case, very apt turn of phrase, this “page-turner” will constantly gnaw at you. The Other Typist will seep into your brain. You will think about the book when it is in your hands, and you’ll be wondering about Rose and Odelie when it is not.

In short, go out and read this book. You will not be sorry.

Now for the fun part, the publicist has agreed to send a copy of The Other Typist to someone from this blog. Leave a comment below and a winner will be randomly selected and announced on this Friday May 17th. (US addresses only)

Note – I have not been compensated for this review. All of the opinions are mine.

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Wendy Thomas is an award winning journalist, columnist, and blogger who believes that taking challenges in life will always lead to goodness. She is the mother of 6 funny and creative kids and it is her goal to teach them through stories and lessons.

Wendy’s current project involves writing about her family’s experiences with chickens (yes, chickens). (www.simplethrift.wordpress.com)