WRITE EFFORT Realized!

Last weekend, I completed my first full course of WRITE EFFORT: Creative Writing Through a Buddhist Lens. Yes, it was exciting to work with a wonderful group of writers. I see you Kate, Beth, Lizzy, Fred, Doug and Jonathan! Yes, I loved working with the fine literary organization Beyond Baroque, especially Emmitt Conklin. Yes, I loved integrating Buddhist thought with the craft of storytelling.

But what I really loved were the stories that came about. We are filled with an incredible amount of ideas and themes and characters. Inside each and everyone of us is at least one book. However, I think we need effort, mindfulness and concentration--elements of the Buddhist Eightfold Path.

It will be hard, there will be suffering (The First Noble Truth), but one can persevere.

Greater in battle

than the man who would conquer

a thousand-thousand men, 

is he who would conquer just one--

                                     himself.

                                 Buddha

                                           Dhammapada 

                                  VIII; 103

Literary Again

I'd been updating my CV. A great way of documenting my work was to go through this blog. It was wonderful seeing my posts from the last 10 years. I'd grown a lot. When I started this blog, there was no financial meltdown, I had a new novel coming out--things change.

At some point, I stopped focusing on literary stuff and opened it up to all sorts of stuff.  I was exploring my world, I guess. I wrote on my blog less--as I had other writing projects that took up my time. 

Now, I think I should just focus on the writing. And go back to looking at the world purely through a literary lens. 

Literary is back.

Hope and Inpiration at Jury Duty

Last week, I had to be at the Van Nuys courthouse by 10am to report for jury duty (JD).  I've done JD many times.  I was usually assigned a courthouse in downtown Los Angeles.  The drive into the San Fernando Valley on a weekday morning was not something I looked forward to.  However, I wanted to do my civic duty.

I brought stuff to read.  I brought my laptop to the jury waiting room.  I'm doing rewrites on some creative projects.  The work never seems to be ready.   

I was prepared for a long and dreadful day.  Then I saw a stack of New Yorkers.  I used to be an avid reader (when my boyfriend subscribed to it).  I hadn't been with him in many years, but always enjoyed an issue when I saw one lying around, say in a doctor's office. 

On this day, there was a stack of them.  Thanks to the kind soul who left New Yorkers around for jurors to read--Good Housekeeping was not something I would have picked up for reading material.
 

I believe that things happen for a reason.  If sending me to Jury Duty was the only way the Universe would get me to read the April 29, 2013 issue of the New Yorker, I offer prostrations to all of the Gods in Heaven.  I stumbled across John McPhee's "Draft No. 4," which can be previewed here. 

The article basically talked about getting the first draft done of any writing and how the fourth draft usually looks like the most presentable.  It was this letter to his daughter, that inspired me.

Dear Jenny:  The way to do a piece of writing is three or four times over, never once.  For me, the hardest part comes first, getting something--anything--out in front of me.  Sometimes in a nervous frenzy I just fling words as if I were flinging mud at a wall.  Blurt out, heave out, babble out something--anything--as a first draft.  With that, you have achieved a sort of nucleus.  Then, as you work it over and alter it, you begin to shape sentences that score higher with the ear and eye.  Edit it again--top to bottom.  Chances are that about now you'll be seeing something that you are sort of eager for others to see.   And all that takes time.  What I have left out is the interstitial time.  You finish that first awful blurting and then you put the thing aside.  You get in your car and drive home.  On the way, your mind is still knitting at the words.  You think of a better way to say something, a good phrase to correct a certain problem.  Without the drafted version--if it did not exist--you obviously would not be thinking of things that would improve it.  In short, you may be actually writing only two or three hours a day, but your mind, in one way or another, is working on it twenty-four hours a day--yes, while you sleep--but only if some sort of draft or earlier version already exists.  Until it exists, writing has not really begun. 

Meeting Jeanette

I met Jeannette Winterson, a true icon of mine. She came to Skylight and I had the honor of introducing her at her very first reading in Los Angeles. I read her novel The Passion some years ago, and it stuck with me. It wasn't until later that I discovered that she was a lesbian or that her work had been snubbed by some of the literati in her country (She's never won a major prize in her country). She has no problem attacking a literary male hero like Henry Miller. She called out the sexism in Mr. Miller's life, like using his girlfriends to prostitute themselves so he can sustain his life as a writer.

There were two things that she said that really meant something to me:

1. Trust the chaos. Writing can be an emotionally wrenching experience. Sometimes you just don't know which way is up in a story. That's ok.

2. This is your time. She said we can change alot about our selves. We can change where we live, what we look like (including our gender), but there is one thing we can't change: the time we were born. This is the hand we were dealt. We can not change the time we're living in.

This resonated with me, because I do think I was born in a rich, textured time (1968) and currently live in interesting (not necessarily the best) times. My time on earth is what I get to leave behind for others to read.

I'd been writing about the 1980's alot...great! It reinforced that I'm writing about what I need to be writing about.

Rush!

One week from today I'm going to be giving a draft of my short story collection to my agent. This book, tentatively titled "Laconic Messages of Love and Other Stories," will have eleven pieces that I'd been working on for years. About four of them are published, but most have never seen the light of day.

Of course, there is always that one story that won't allow itself to be finished. It feels like I'm nearly done. But I've been saying that for weeks.

I won't let myself even think about how hard it is to sell a short story collection, particularly now in this publishing climate. All I can worry about is getting this mother done!

Literary Move

The Promising Reading Series Moves to Skylight Books


(Los Angeles) The Promising Series is the only reading series in Los Angeles that exclusively features Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender writers. A goal for the series is to celebrate established authors and introduce the next generation of writers who will explore the GLBT experience.

“The Queer Voice is more important than ever,” said Series Curator Noël Alumit. “In America, gay rights has become a polarizing issue. In other parts of the world, you have gay men who are being executed in the Middle East and lesbians being raped in South Africa. Those of us who can speak, should.”

With the unfortunate closing of A Different Light Bookstore in West Hollywood, The Promising Reading series has moved to Skylight Books in Los Feliz. “A Different Light Bookstore gave a lot of queer writers a launching pad,” said Noël Alumit. “I was saddened with its closure. However, Skylight has always been supportive of queer writers and was kind enough to host the series and support its goals.”

The next reading will be held on Friday, June 5th 2009 at 7:30pm.

The reading will feature:

Cheryl Klein’s first book, The Commuters, won City Works Press’ Ben Reitman Award and was published in 2006. Her novel Lilac Mines was published by Manic D Press in 2009. For more of her writing and blogging, visit http://www.cheryl-klein.com/.

Raquel Gutierrez is a community based performance writer and cultural activist. She is a co-founding member of the queer performance art ensemble, Butchlalis de Panochtitlan, and has written their first play currently in production called The Barber of East L.A., commissioned by a humanities initiative at USC that enabled the troupe to work with Luis Alfaro. http://www.raquefella.com/

Scott Turner Schofield’s first book Two Truths and a Lie (Homofactus Press) was a finalist for two 2008 Lambda Literary Awards, and made the 2009 American Library Association's Rainbow List. His latest performance, “Becoming a Man in 127 EASY Steps,” plays at Highways in Santa Monica June 12-13. http://www.undergroundtransit.com/

Orlando Ashley is an actor and comedian embarking on a literary career in Los Angeles.

The Promising Series will take place on Friday, June 5 at 7:30pm. Skylight Bookstore, 1818 North Vermont, Los Angeles, CA 90029, (323) 660-1175