Today's blog will be short, because there are award winning magazines and articles to read.
The American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME) named the 2007 winners of their annual competition. Every year they chose top magazines in various circulation categories, best feature, best design, best essay, best photography, best investigative reporting, best photo journalism....well, you get the idea.
So rather than bore you with my unworthy little blog today, let me point you in the direction of the winners. Read magazine writing the way it should be done. I recommend reading the best essay by Michael Donohue in the Georgia Review: "Russell and Mary."
Please click on the following link where you will find the list of winners and links to the various magazines and articles. After reading these offerings, it is awfully hard to settle for the slap dash efforts that pass for journalism elsewhere.
http://www.magazine.org/Editorial/National_Magazine_Awards/Winners_and_Finalists/
And don't just read the winners, read the nominees -- little old Field and Stream has some impressive writing. Enjoy!
Wednesday, May 2, 2007
Happy Dancing Today
If you feel the earth shake, never fear, it is just me doing my happy dance.
I have several reasons today to be shaking my tailfeathers and most are related to writing successes. Not often do the planets align to give me several bits of good news in one day. Maybe it was the full moon, but I saw two of my writings posted online and two editors sent emails today to say, "Yes! I WILL buy your submission."
Happy Dancing! Happy Dancing!
My review of the fun and charming liturgical mystery The Alto Wore Tweed by Mark Schweizer is posted at Gumshoe Review: http://www.gumshoereview.com/php/Review-id.php?id=532
The author published through St. James Music Press, so the book may be difficult to find other than from his website: https://www.sjmpbooks.com/
Mark Schweizer and his protagonist Hayden Konig have such wonderful humor and I can't remember the last time I laughed out loud at a book. Portions of The Alto Wore Tweed had me laughing till I cried. And it is a first in a series with delightful titles like his most recent The Bass Wore Scales.
The Gumshoe Review is a delightful site to explore. It has many more books to recommend and the staff loves to discuss mystery in all of its many sub-genres.
My second piece of good news in print appears in the Home Forum section of The Christian Science Monitor. One of my essays that slipped easily from my pen and was my favorite from the moment it began to come together is online at: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0502/p19s01-hfes.html and is in the Monitor's print edition, too.
I have enjoyed working with this organization and its editors for several years and never fail to get a thrill out of seeing my work published in such a respectable and respected market. (The editor let me know today that she has accepted another essay for the Home Forum section, so more happy dancing!)
It seems like I rarely go very far from home to find the inspiration for an essay. For this "Pirouette of Man and Machine," I only ventured out to the road in front of my home to watch the road crew perform their ballet. It is a little different perspective on the road construction that usually elicits frustration and slow traffic.
I could go on and on singing the praises of this day. But I have assignments to work on. Nothing gets the endorphins pumping like a deadline.
Hope your day is filled with as much good news.
I have several reasons today to be shaking my tailfeathers and most are related to writing successes. Not often do the planets align to give me several bits of good news in one day. Maybe it was the full moon, but I saw two of my writings posted online and two editors sent emails today to say, "Yes! I WILL buy your submission."
Happy Dancing! Happy Dancing!
My review of the fun and charming liturgical mystery The Alto Wore Tweed by Mark Schweizer is posted at Gumshoe Review: http://www.gumshoereview.com/php/Review-id.php?id=532
The author published through St. James Music Press, so the book may be difficult to find other than from his website: https://www.sjmpbooks.com/
Mark Schweizer and his protagonist Hayden Konig have such wonderful humor and I can't remember the last time I laughed out loud at a book. Portions of The Alto Wore Tweed had me laughing till I cried. And it is a first in a series with delightful titles like his most recent The Bass Wore Scales.
The Gumshoe Review is a delightful site to explore. It has many more books to recommend and the staff loves to discuss mystery in all of its many sub-genres.
My second piece of good news in print appears in the Home Forum section of The Christian Science Monitor. One of my essays that slipped easily from my pen and was my favorite from the moment it began to come together is online at: http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0502/p19s01-hfes.html and is in the Monitor's print edition, too.
I have enjoyed working with this organization and its editors for several years and never fail to get a thrill out of seeing my work published in such a respectable and respected market. (The editor let me know today that she has accepted another essay for the Home Forum section, so more happy dancing!)
It seems like I rarely go very far from home to find the inspiration for an essay. For this "Pirouette of Man and Machine," I only ventured out to the road in front of my home to watch the road crew perform their ballet. It is a little different perspective on the road construction that usually elicits frustration and slow traffic.
I could go on and on singing the praises of this day. But I have assignments to work on. Nothing gets the endorphins pumping like a deadline.
Hope your day is filled with as much good news.
Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Regain the wonder
Five days a week, I work in a library shelving books. It is the perfect job for observing people's behavior. One constant source of entertainment is the kids.
Most of them are naturally fearless and curious and ready to try anything. I've plucked two-year-olds from the upper shelves where they have climbed while their parents' backs were turned. They delve without hesitation into fantasy and think nothing extraordinary about dogs talking and cats wearing hats. They soak up new experiences like sponges and are constantly hungry to learn and do and try.
Nothing is beyond their realm of possibility. The books written for children draw upon that "what if" and "it could happen" and "why not" way of thinking.
When did we outgrow the wonder of this world? When did we lose that sense of adventure, that curiosity about everything around us? When did we learn to resist change rather than embrace it?
Steven Pressfield wrote in his book The War of Art that "Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance."
For me as a writer, one of the most difficult aspects of my work is to write. The physical act of putting butt in the seat, hands on the keyboard and mind to the task. Instead I will surf the Internet, answer emails, do the laundry....but I resist doing what will give me the most pleasure and yes, the most pain.
I have a couple of successful ways to overcome that resistance -- at least toward writing.
1. Give myself permission to write whatever I want for 20 minutes. Timed writings. I put my fingers on the keys, close my eyes and just start typing whatever comes into my head. I don't stop typing for that time period. I don't correct, I don't edit, I don't censor. Its freedom and ultimately freeing. And the best part, many times I have the nugget for an article or an essay hidden among the jibberish. I'm always amazed at where free thought takes me.
2. When all else fails and resistance has me by the throat. I turn to the children's department at the library and read. I usually begin with Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin. A Dr. Seuss book frees my fearful spirit, as does anything by Shel Silverstein.
Recently while assisting the librarian with children's story time, she read my new favorite: Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp by Carol Diggory Shields. Anyone who can rhyme those multi-syllabic names and describe those mighty lizard beasts dancing has my respect. And gratitude.
Because once I've forgotten about responsibilities and reality and immersed myself in the world of cows that type and dinosaurs that dance -- there's nothing stopping my creative.
Isaac Newton may have been right about "an object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by another force." But I bet he didn't think of kid's literature as a 'force' to start the creativity ball rolling.
Next time you resist doing what you know you really need to do, want to do -- check out a kid's book. It is liberating.
Oh, and while you're at the library -- thank a librarian. They love it.
Most of them are naturally fearless and curious and ready to try anything. I've plucked two-year-olds from the upper shelves where they have climbed while their parents' backs were turned. They delve without hesitation into fantasy and think nothing extraordinary about dogs talking and cats wearing hats. They soak up new experiences like sponges and are constantly hungry to learn and do and try.
Nothing is beyond their realm of possibility. The books written for children draw upon that "what if" and "it could happen" and "why not" way of thinking.
When did we outgrow the wonder of this world? When did we lose that sense of adventure, that curiosity about everything around us? When did we learn to resist change rather than embrace it?
Steven Pressfield wrote in his book The War of Art that "Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance."
For me as a writer, one of the most difficult aspects of my work is to write. The physical act of putting butt in the seat, hands on the keyboard and mind to the task. Instead I will surf the Internet, answer emails, do the laundry....but I resist doing what will give me the most pleasure and yes, the most pain.
I have a couple of successful ways to overcome that resistance -- at least toward writing.
1. Give myself permission to write whatever I want for 20 minutes. Timed writings. I put my fingers on the keys, close my eyes and just start typing whatever comes into my head. I don't stop typing for that time period. I don't correct, I don't edit, I don't censor. Its freedom and ultimately freeing. And the best part, many times I have the nugget for an article or an essay hidden among the jibberish. I'm always amazed at where free thought takes me.
2. When all else fails and resistance has me by the throat. I turn to the children's department at the library and read. I usually begin with Click, Clack, Moo: Cows that Type by Doreen Cronin. A Dr. Seuss book frees my fearful spirit, as does anything by Shel Silverstein.
Recently while assisting the librarian with children's story time, she read my new favorite: Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp by Carol Diggory Shields. Anyone who can rhyme those multi-syllabic names and describe those mighty lizard beasts dancing has my respect. And gratitude.
Because once I've forgotten about responsibilities and reality and immersed myself in the world of cows that type and dinosaurs that dance -- there's nothing stopping my creative.
Isaac Newton may have been right about "an object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by another force." But I bet he didn't think of kid's literature as a 'force' to start the creativity ball rolling.
Next time you resist doing what you know you really need to do, want to do -- check out a kid's book. It is liberating.
Oh, and while you're at the library -- thank a librarian. They love it.
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