Any writers out there????

[Chicken Salad]

I wrote a book review about The Millionaire Next Door that got into the Dollar Stretcher (when it was still only the e-zine - it's still out there on the Web site). THEN it was picked up by Investors' Business Journal and the Colorado Journal of Extension. There is NOTHING like seeing your work in print, but I never quite figured out how to get somebody to pay me to do it.

I started a book about parenting that my computer ate (which I think it was poetic justice and will be included if I ever resurrect it)(this was back when all we had were woodburning computers). For now, the irony is all I have.

Jajika, Annie Dillard IS amazing. See also Natalie Goldberg's Writing Down the Bones and Escaping into the Open: The Art of Writing True by Elizabeth Berg.

I live in Frederick, MD - about an hour from DC.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
When I used to teach (college biology classes) and students would come to me with trouble writing papers -- and lemme tell you, it is amazing how few writing skills some college students (seniors even) can float in with -- I used to tell them the most useful thing anyone ever told ME. Which is pretty similar to the above.

"Editing is far, far easier than creating, for many people. So sit down and write a lousy, bad, terrible, crappy paper. Make it deliberately miserable if that's what it takes for you to get the bones typed out. Then go pphhththttt at the computer screen, scroll back to the beginning and convert it into an organized structure in sensible English, which generally turns out to be not too much trouble at all by that point."

Second-best piece of advice I ever got: you want to write? Then write. Doesn't matter what. Write SOMEthing every single day. No excuses. No oh-this-isn't-good-enough-I'll-wait-til-I-have-a-better-idea. Just do it.

Really

Pat

 

[Chicken Salad]

Quote:
When I used to teach (college biology classes) and students would come to me with trouble writing papers -- and lemme tell you, it is amazing how few writing skills some college students (seniors even) can float in with -- I used to tell them the most useful thing anyone ever told ME. Which is pretty similar to the above.

"Editing is far, far easier than creating, for many people. So sit down and write a lousy, bad, terrible, crappy paper. Make it deliberately miserable if that's what it takes for you to get the bones typed out. Then go pphhththttt at the computer screen, scroll back to the beginning and convert it into an organized structure in sensible English, which generally turns out to be not too much trouble at all by that point."

Second-best piece of advice I ever got: you want to write? Then write. Doesn't matter what. Write SOMEthing every single day. No excuses. No oh-this-isn't-good-enough-I'll-wait-til-I-have-a-better-idea. Just do it.

Really

Pat

Henriette Anne Klauser says you have to write, write some more and then write right on past your Inner Critic. I think she was the one who suggested doing Morning Pages...writing 3 pages when you wake up before anything else.

 

[Jajika]

Quote:
See, ya never know..great lesson and congratulations.

 

[SpottedCrow]

My best friend lives in the Frederick area...Middletown actually...she now says "Warsh" like Wash the Cah...it's all over for her...LOL

I have an excerpt from my NaNo story on my Blog...if anyone's interested. That's my Business blog...
http://howlingcaterpillars.blogspot.com/
I have two on my Myspace blog:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?f...n=FABB8943-87BC-45FA-83DE07520B07BD3F98154193

 

[Jajika]

I still believe the best way to cure "tuche in chair" phobia is to take a class, join a workshop or a writers club, like mine--California Writers Club. Smartest thing I did to encourage me to write this book.

Thanks for the book tips...there are some very impressive folks on this post. It is so great to find you all. Chicken lovers and writers. How cool is that!

For those who only know my moniker, here are the facts:

Geri Spieler
181 El Carmelo Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94306

www.gerispieler. com


Taking Aim at the President,
Chronicles Only Woman to Ever Shoot At a U.S. President

The legacy of 1960’s and 70’s America holds much more than baby boomer memories of self discovery and youthful rebellion. The political frustration and activism of the era outshadows anything that came after it. Some of our most beloved cultural leaders died at the hands of fellow Americans during that crucial time, making it a period that was as dangerous as it was inspirational. The enclosed book reveals the life and fate of a woman whose story embodies the fascinating and frightening underbelly of America’s cultural revolution.

In TAKING AIM AT THE PRESIDENT: The Remarkable Story of the Woman Who Shot at Gerald Ford (Palgrave Macmillan/ PUB DATE: Jan 12th, 2009/ Hardcover/ 0-230-61023-4), author and investigative journalist, Geri Spieler, chronicles the life and dives into the mind of would-be assassin, Sara Jane Moore, the only woman in American history to fire a bullet at a U.S. President, and the only one arrested for committing this level of crime to be released from prison.

After 30 years of contact while Moore was behind bars, Spieler paints a vivid personality assessment of this suburban housewife who was far from the profile of a skilled assassin, yet was still able to shoot at Ford on September 22, 1975.


• How breakdowns in communication between local and federal authorities nearly led to Ford’s murder. For example, police had actually apprehended Moore the day before the shooting, confiscated her first gun and then let her go;
• Her exclusive interview with President Ford about the assassination attempt in which he stated how turf battles and power struggles amongst government agencies lead to communication problems and raise the risk of threats to our security;
• Moore’s role as an FBI/San Francisco Police Department informant and how it might have contributed to her deciding to try to kill Ford; and
• The turbulent 1970’s, and the infamous Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO).


This is far from a typical biography. Spieler’s relationship with Moore spanned an incredible three decades, beginning when the newly imprisoned Moore requested to meet Spieler in prison after reading an article of hers in a local paper. From that point on, Spieler gained unprecedented personal access to a mind that is rife with ambiguity, cunning and a chilling ability to manipulate.

Spieler’s one-on-one experiences with Moore, combined with years of independent research, deliver an intimate psychological portrait of a housewife turned double agent, at the same time granting readers a rich snapshot of the 1960-70s, one of America’s most turbulent eras of cultural and political awakening.

Geri Spieler is a journalist who has written for the Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Westways and Forbes. She lives in Palo Alto, CA.

She will be available for television, radio and print publicity in San Francisco on January 12th and 13th; New York City on January 15th; Washington D.C. on January 16th; and Charleston, West Virginia on January 19th. Along with Spieler, Sara Jane Moore’s brother, who has agreed to appear anonymously; her neighbor and childhood friend, Robert Turkelson; retired SFPD officer Tim Hettrich, the person who actually apprehended Moore at the scene; and former San Francisco Chronicle photographer Gary Fong, the only person to take a picture of Ford wincing when the bullet whizzed past him, are also available for interview.

Happy New Year

 

[bargain]

Hi, I write short stories, mostly unpublished. I actually had an article published in a gardening magazine and got money for it.....whoo hoo and used the money from it to buy our first chickens and material for our first chicken house..... Most of my materials has gone through period purges and has helped start several fires in our woodburner stove.....HA!

Now that I'm a full time farmer with little leisure time, the idea of writing gets further and further away.....I recently retired from full time "paid work" which involved sooo much writing and I thought I'd have time in the evenings, but with animal care, canning, coooking, freezing, starting veggies, making bee hives, doing all the homesteading things, keeping the fire burning, sewing...,,,,, when?

Thought of writing a book - quasi auto biographical but who would want to read the saga of someone who moved from an office job to a homesteading life? But I still have so many story lines run through my head.

Now that you've called this question, maybe I should set aside about 20 minues in the morning for notes or poems or something......I used to have a very lengthy web site on AOL with some of my better writings.....Just went there and found out no more home pages....as these have been shut down....Oh well.

 

[Jajika]

Quote:
"would want to read the saga of someone who moved from an office job to a homesteading life?"

Who would want to read a book about a man with a difficult relationship with his father?" Beach Music by Pat Conroy

There is nothing anyone can write today that has not been written, so forget being original in your idea. What is original and can never be duplicated is the way YOU write it. Your experience, your point of view.

How many million books have been written about the Civil War, water, deserts, Marilyn Monroe, Lady Di, on and on and on. Your experience of writing short stories, getting involved in work, then getting back to the earth is interesting...no one has lived your life.

 

[SpottedCrow]

A lady on the other BYC wrote a book about how her hubby ditched her and she had to start over and she moved down the beach and got chickens and she and her daughter grew up...
The title is Still Life with Chickens.
It's a very good book and she's made a sequel.

 

[Chicken Salad]

Quote:
That book's hilarious and poignant. Do you know the name of the sequel?