Yanking Weeds

Every heard the saying, “Can’t see the garden for the weeds?” Revising a story is a lot like pulling weeds:

• Not fun to think about
• Easy to put off
• Necessary
• Not to be taken lightly—mustn’t yank carelessly or you could pull out something good.
• Hard work—gotta dig down and get to the roots, or the problem will persist
• And like pulling weeds, once you get started, ripping out all those unwanted/unnecessary weeds/words is satisfying—even fun, sort of... And, the end results make it all worthwhile!

The International Reading Association’s “Engage/Teacher to Teacher blog”  declared September 5-9th Revision Week. The postings are all there, ready and waiting for you to read and be inspired. Click back through postings from that week you'll find teaching tips from Newbery Honor winner Cynthia Lord, a podcast from Kate Messner (Real Revision), "5 Questions With” by Ruth Ayres and Stacey Shubitz (a.k.a. the Two Writing Teachers), among other revision-themed features.”

Now pull on those gardening gloves and let's get after it!

Super Tomato Timer

What Inspires: 60-minute Kitchen Timers That tomato-shaped 60-minute kitchen timer perched on the spice shelf fills me with hope for the future…

Back when I was a teen, along with my mother, I was addicted to old movie—especially those all afternoon long Saturday and Sunday movie marathons. Weekend mornings we often went straight from our beds to the couch where we’d spend much of the day—sometimes late into the night—lounging in our comfy jammies watching movies—so many great movies; so many relaxing weekends.

Alas, relaxing weekend often found us scrambling Sunday night to finish chores, laundry, homework, housework… (Somehow, my brother, whose movie taste was different from ours, managed to skip out on our movie fests and the Sunday night hurry hurry scurry freak outs…go figure?) Then one weekend my mother had a brilliant idea: Let’s set the KITCHEN TIMER! At commercial breaks, news intervals, movie bits we’d seen and didn’t care if we saw again, we’d set the timer for a set number of minutes-depending. Then we’d jump up and race around doing chores until DING!

Mom’s Kitchen Timer Method (KTM) worked. We both, separately, still use it when we have chores we’re not crazy about doing. Yuck, tedious jobs like closet culling, file sorting, and spring cleaning, are so much easier to start when you know you can walk away after, say, 5 minutes… (okay, maybe not 5 but 20 works.) And it’s amazing what you can accomplish when you’re racing the timer.

As brilliant as KTM was, I thought it was worth trying with my kids since cajoling, begging, bribing, and misleading didn't. “Time to clean your rooms,” I’d say. “We’re going to play a game of pick up toys,” I’d say. “I have a fun idea, let’s dust!” Feeling quite clever, I pulled out the happy red tomato timer. “10 minutes,” I told Max and Lexi as I set the tomato ticking. “Let’s see how many socks we can sort in 10 minutes.”

“NO! NO! NO! crying and squealing they begged and pleaded, “NOT the Timer! Please, No. Not that…” No clue why. It wasn’t as though they’d be zapped with an electric current when the time dinged. (although it’s not a bad idea…)

I hadn’t thought about KTM for a long time, probably since my kids were little. But a recent discussion by my writer’s group prompted by C.J. Omololu’s Write in Ninety Days (or Less) blog posting:  has most everyone clicking ferociously to make daily 1000 word deadlines. In her post C.J. notes that writing that many words isn’t so much, in fact it only takes 1 or 1 ½ hours a day.

I’m not writing a new novel draft, nor do I plan to climb aboard the 1000-words train. I primarily write picture books, which if 1000 words, are considered way long. And, I'm revising, which also doesn’t fit the 1000 word goal. But both of those do fit the 1 ½ hour goal. How much progress could I make at 1 1/2 hours every day/7 days in every week? I didn't figure it out, but I did start singing songs from The Pajama Game...

I don’t have any trouble e-mail for 1 ½ hours a day; or talk on the phone for hours; or fiddle around various blogs, Facebook pages, and internet sights. Nor, as old habits die hard, is it difficult to watch TV or movies, or read a good book for 1 ½ hours a day. In all of these case that 1 ½ hours is often longer, and rarely intended. In truth the time I spend doing all of those others is often the reason I don’t “find” time to write.

I’m reverting to good ole’ Mom’s KTM. Right now, that happy tomato kitchen timer is ticking off the minutes I am committing to writing this blog posting. After it dings. I’m getting up, going potty, getting coffee and setting it for 60 minutes. Those 60 minutes will be devoted exclusively to writing. No excuses, no interrupitons. And hopefully another 30 after that.

No, I do not expect to spend the rest of my days having my every movement dictated by Tomato ticks and dings.  But for now, if that’s what it takes to keep me on task and on track, Come on Kitchen Timer—DING!

P.S. I had planned to upload a photo of my adorable Tomato Kitchen Timer, but times up!

Fighting the Hard Fight

What inspires: Fighting the Hard Fight! (Especially when it's one many want to ignore because “it’s not my problem...") Sister-Writer-Friend, Marilyn Bennett, and Rev. Gil Caldwell, collaborationist in Truth in Progress,  a multi-media project dealing with issues of race, sexual orientation, and religion are taking to the road:

The FAIR is FAIR in Montana Tour begins Saturday, September 17, 2011, in Billings, Montana.

FAIR is FAIR is a six-city tour through the state to organize support for relationship recognition.  Truth in Progress has joined forces with the ACLU of Montana to organize this mother of a road trip which begins in Billings on Saturday, Sept. 17 and ends in Helena on Monday, Sept. 26. Gil, Marilyn and TIB videographer will be on the road with Ninia Baehr, LGBT Advocacy Coordinator for the ACLU of Montana. A host of events, including public presentations, clergy meetings, conversations with members of the Montana Two Spirit Society and the African American Studies Program at the University of Montana are scheduled. Click here to see detailed schedule for each city.

Click here to find out how you can support the tour. Every dollar counts!!!

Equality and Fairness is every human's right and the lack thereof is every human's “problem to solve." Visit  TRUTH in PROGRESS and follow the FAIR is FAIR TOUR on Facebook!

Have the Courage to Love What You Love

What inspires: Courage It's 11:25 am in Jakarta and mid-day here is melting into a new day on the other side of the world, in New York, where it is 12:25 am on the 11th of September, 2011. As the dawn of the 10th anniversary of the World Trade Center Attacks approaches it's impossible to not to remember that day. Who would even want to? Remembering is the reason today. As I type, a Jakarta' friend's son, whose uncle, his father's brother, worked in the World Trade Center and was lost that day—lost because there was no final phone call or physical remains to bring closure—is sleeping a few final hours (or not) before rising to take part in the 10th Anniversary Memorial. Zubin is one of those selected (by lottery) to read names of victims of those attacks.

As this day of remembering dawns, my thoughts are with those memorializing September 11, 2001. But NOT to remember the attack—as though anyone who witnessed it could forget—it's a day to memorialize, and especially, to remember the people, as Zubin is helping to do. The people who lost their lives. The people who lost their loved ones. And the people who came together to help, to care, to give on that day and long after—even now.

The New York Times website includes Artist’s Respond to 9/11 videos. In one, choreographer Bill T. Jones talks about surviving, guilt, coping and about how World Trade Center tragedy changed him as a person and an artist.  It’s worth listening to, especially as we go on with our lives while right now today, yesterday, tomorrow, in so many parts of the world, others are coping with the aftermath of tragedy—both human-inflicted and natural: hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, fires (which, although somehow more acceptable, are no less devastating). Toward the end, Mr. Jones shares what has become his truth: Have the courage to love what you love.

It takes courage to live. It takes courage to create. It takes,it seems, even more courage to allow others the same freedoms we expect for ourselves. Remember together today, on the anniversary of the World Trade Center Attacks. Remember and take Courage.

On Being Bad

What Inspires me: Going "Jake" In Art & Soul:  Notes of Creating, artist Audrey Flack recants a conversation she had with fellow artist,  Jimmy Ernst, in 1983. Jimmy begins by saying:

"I'm doing bad work . . . there's hope."

Audrey: "I did bad work for a year when I began doing watercolors again after a break of twenty years."

Jimmy: There was a time when it was not held against artists to show bad work. It was expected in terms of their development...."

For some reason being bad, doing bad work isn't' expected any more, nor  is it accepted as "part of our development." not by us, the creators, and definitely not by others.  We are supposed to be good--preferably excellent--or remain invisible until we are good. But how can we ever get to good if we won't cut ourselves some slack?

"I think you have to be bad before you get to be good," Jake Gyllenhaal said in a Jan, 2011 interview in August Man Magazine.

I'm with Jake. He was speaking about acting, but his words can be applied to just about anything. Take writing. Wouldn't it be easier, less confining, decidedly more fun (and a little naughty) to let ourselves go "Jake" and write IT--whatever IT is, and how ever IT comes  just  spew it out. Dare to boldly go where we try to keep ourselves from going...bad.

How does this apply to our characters?  What if we let them go "Jake" and be bad before they get to be good?

Hmmmmm... Could be interesting--which, anyway you read it,  is way better than boring, staid, predictable, safe... But oooooh bad is scary and sometime ugly and messy and  icky...what if someone should see it? What will they think of me??????

Dare we? Dare we allow ourselves, our work, our characters to  Just. Be. Bad. Really Bad. Stinking rotten lousy bad.

There's really only one way to go from there, right?

Go Jake!