August 18th, 2010%
Certain thoughts, words, expressions, or moments may need to be written. You decide why or why not. Your relationship with your thoughts becomes your journal. It’s going to be dysfunctional. Get over it.
Only mean people judge themselves because they hate themselves. Seriously, get over it.
Old journals are useful tools for writers because they help us remember how to:
- Use language to express thoughts and feelings at different ages
- Understand how language is influenced by mood
- Notice patterns of comprehension within different phases of a relationship
I’ve gone back to my journals to get ideas on how to make characters and situations more artistically dysfunctional, not autobiographical.
July 19th, 2010%
Tin House Summer Writer’s Workshop with Charles D’Ambrosio made me wish that everything I sent out prior to the workshop gets rejected. I don’t want to win contests or get anything published.
I want it all back because I know three new things:
- What I need to fix
- How I need to fix it
- What I’m doing well
Fixing it won’t be easy. I’ve got a lot to learn, test, edit, read, and re-write.
I’m also a little afraid of killing my short stories with craft. Some well-written stories die a slow death in the name of craft. Asphyxiated by the lack of characters, consecutive scenes erase each other like waves which can seem pleasant, but then you realize, nothing really happened because all the characters are dead or never existed.
As a result of this workshop, I understand my responsibilities to the reader so much better.
July 13th, 2010%
Agents want to discover new voices and target publishers/publications who will buy it. Writers want agents to lock and load their best work. Where are the readers in all this?
In today’s Tin House Summer Writer’s Workshop panel, Sarah Burnes, Amy Williams, and Renee Zuckerbrot said they read a lot of query letters that aren’t uniquely targeted to them. They are business savvy readers who expect writers to know themselves and their work. The best way to prepare for this serious relationship is to develop relationships with other readers.
Readers are the only ones who can help me understand what I’ve written. Therefore, I want to get as many opinions as possible. Writing is the art of communication, not the art of intention. I don’t write for readers, but I become responsible for knowing how readers respond to my work if I want to get it published.
