tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-75530551905996148382024-03-14T05:29:04.337-05:00Goodbye, day job!Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-6534592812572008782016-08-17T13:21:00.000-05:002016-08-17T14:42:21.418-05:00My Self-Publishing Adventure: Part IV<style>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Even though some writers subscribe to the Romantic notion
that an artist should create without wasting any thought on business, you gotta
eat. If you don’t earn any money from your art, you’re likely to need a day
job, which leaves little time and energy for creating. Better to treat your craft like a business from the beginning, including spending time, effort, and cash on marketing and publicity.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some squirm at the thought of self-promotion, and it <i>is</i> hard. But don’t you want to reach
an audience? Don’t you want lots of people to read your book (watch your film,
listen to your music, admire your painting)? If not, that’s great—if you’re
writing a journal that you don’t want anyone else to see or if you destroy your
paintings once they’re done because they’re too private to share, that’s up to
you. But like many, I want to share my thoughts and ideas and characters with
readers.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’ve related <a href="http://goodbyedayjob.blogspot.com/2011/07/its-business.html" target="_blank">before</a> how a
chance conversation with author Sue Bartoletti made me re-think of writing
as a business. The lesson has stuck.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Those of us fortunate enough
to have a good agent can leave a lot of the business end of things to her (or
very occasionally, him). A traditionally-published author also has the publisher to take on the production and some
(from just about none, up to a lot) of the marketing and publicity.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Not so the indie author, who is forced into making business decisions, something that many of us aren</span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span>t used to doing. This is, for many, enough of a hurdle to keep them from trying indie publishing, even when (like me) the author has an expert giving advice and taking care of a lot of the process.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I had a
lot of up-front expenses associated with <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Orpheus</i>
(see <a href="http://goodbyedayjob.blogspot.com/2016/07/my-self-publishing-adventure-part-ii.html" target="_blank">this post</a></span><span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">for a breakdown of what they
were). <span class="commentbody">Lara, my agent, presented me with options for
each of the services she helped me find. Since fees for all the options
covered a wide range, I’m not going to say how much all this cost me—you
can spend a lot less than I did, or a lot more. Expect to go into four figures,
up to five, for high-quality work.</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Is
this expensive? Yes, it is. But it’s a business, just as a KFC franchise is a
business. And considering that a KFC franchise costs </span></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">between $1,250,000 and
$2,530,000, I feel like my much, much smaller investment in <i>Orpheus </i>was money well spent.</span></div>
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<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of my added expenses was
getting a review from <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kirkus Reviews</i>.
You have to pay for their review of an indie book, but this doesn’t guarantee
it will be favorable. They allow you to choose whether or not to publish
their opinion, and rumor says that at least 90% of the time, the author chooses
not to do so—<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Kirkus </i>is notoriously
tough! This was another financial risk, but it paid off: <i>Orpheus</i> received a <a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tracy-barrett/the-song-of-orpheus/" target="_blank">glowing review</a></span><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">!</span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span><br />
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span class="commentbody"><br /></span></span>
<span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span class="commentbody">For more on the business side of writing, see <a href="http://kriswrites.com/2011/12/14/the-business-rusch-traditional-publishing-and-its-suppliers/" target="_blank">this article</a>.</span></span></div>
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Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-23951116046466137042016-08-10T09:30:00.000-05:002016-08-10T09:30:13.375-05:00My Self-Publishing Adventure: Part III<style>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As I said in my most recent <a href="http://goodbyedayjob.blogspot.com/2016/07/my-self-publishing-adventure-part-ii.html" target="_blank">post</a>,
my agent provided a lot of pre-publication advice for my debut indie book <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Song-Orpheus-Greatest-Greek-Myths/dp/1535144505/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1470838880&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><i>The Song of Orpheus</i></a>, helping me find a copy
editor, a formatter, a cover artist, and a book designer. She’s providing
assistance in post-publication, as well. Publicity and marketing takes expertise, and I have very little expertise in that area. So I decided to hire a publicist.</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’ve used publicists twice in the past and haven’t been too happy
with them. There’s no way to measure results, so I don’t know if they were
effective, but honestly, I don’t think they did anything I couldn’t have done
myself. (Which isn't all bad; I didn</span></span><span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span></span>t</span></span>
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--></style><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span>
<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">and don</span></span><span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">’</span></span>t</span></span><span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">—</span>
have time to beat the bushes, so having them find outlets saved me time. But I wanted more than time-saving, so I kept looking.) When I met and liked, and then heard good things about, a third publicist, I
asked Lara to check out her company. Her report was very positive, so I signed with
<a href="http://www.jkscommunications.com/" target="_blank">JKS Communications</a> to spread the word about <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Orpheus</i>.</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’ve been really, really happy with JKS. They’ve
dug up all sorts of opportunities I would never have thought of and didn’t know existed,
and they’re quick and responsive when I have questions or issues.</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Of course, I have to pay for anything to do with publicity
and marketing, including the fee to JKS. I told them how much I had to spend, and they
tailored a campaign around that. I’ve also paid to send books to reviewers; for
a paid review in Kirkus (more on that in the next post); for a launch party
with beautiful and delicious cookies, wine, etc.; for travel/lodging
at events.</span></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUKKAWcW3RKoA1Mprpjkca_RyYeBDasUTIhr3VhasxS7YHXX4ZKOLbeFg61wpRIXYyYLNV_OkWmXIQwKPnzZPap6JYzrTHxJbSJxrLIhoNZwd31dDsYlkTId6agvYO2hzAx3ytbpunlK8r/s1600/orpheus+cookies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUKKAWcW3RKoA1Mprpjkca_RyYeBDasUTIhr3VhasxS7YHXX4ZKOLbeFg61wpRIXYyYLNV_OkWmXIQwKPnzZPap6JYzrTHxJbSJxrLIhoNZwd31dDsYlkTId6agvYO2hzAx3ytbpunlK8r/s320/orpheus+cookies.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hand-decorated cookies from <a href="http://dulcedesserts.com/" target="_blank">Dulce Desserts</a>!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span><span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Is it expensive? Yes, but it’s part of
the cost of doing business and I know it’s what I have to do.</span></span>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Next post: More on the business side of indie publishing</span></span><br />
<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span></span></div>
Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-47626615987603888402016-07-27T10:00:00.000-05:002016-07-29T17:37:08.779-05:00My Self-Publishing Adventure: Part II<style>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of the big changes in self-publishing in recent years is
the birth of what’s called “agency-assisted self-publishing” (there’s a good
explanation of this term in <a href="http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/the-evolving-literary-agent-what-savvy-writers-need-to-know" target="_blank">this article</a>
from Writers Digest, and a follow-up <a href="https://janefriedman.com/the-value-of-agent-assisted-self-publishing/" target="_blank">here</a>). (In every case that I’ve heard of, including mine, this is an option only for writers who are
already clients of the agency providing the service. There may be exceptions, though.)</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">In this scenario, the agent provides assistance in many of
the aspects of self-publishing that normally get taken care of by the
publisher. In my case, these were: copy editing, formatting, and cover. My agent,
Lara Perkins, sent me a list of copy editors, formatters, book designers, and
cover artists with their fees and areas of expertise, and her experience with
them. I wasn’t bound to her recommendations (in fact, I tried to sign the copy
editor who had done a brilliant job with <a href="http://www.tracybarrett.com/king_of_ithaka_98220.htm" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">King of Ithaka</i></a>, but she was unavailable) but I was glad to have them, because,
really, what do I know?</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One thing I did know was that I really wanted to follow her
advice as to cover artist—<a href="http://www.joecepeda.com/" target="_blank">Joe Cepeda</a>, who did the gorgeous cover of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Esperanza Rising</i>. His sense of color,
motion, and light would be perfect for my book. I was so lucky that he had the time and interest to create the cover for <i>The Song of Orpheus</i>.</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span><span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The deal we have is that Lara collects her standard
commission <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">after</i> I’ve earned back
what I paid out for the above services.</span></span>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’ve also taken on some additional expenses that do not have
to be met before she takes her commission. More on these next week.</span></span></div>
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Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-42443013127149563822016-07-20T10:00:00.000-05:002016-07-20T11:45:42.587-05:00A new (ad)venture!<style>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After <a href="http://www.tracybarrett.com/works.htm" target="_blank">twenty traditionally-published books for young readers</a>—by
pure chance, they’re a nice round ten nonfiction and ten fiction—I recently
self-published my twenty-first, a retelling of some little-known Greek myths
with the title <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Song-Orpheus-Greatest-Greek-Myths/dp/1535144505/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1468778726&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Orpheus Speaks: The Greatest Greek Myths You Never Heard</i></a> (from now on, just <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Orpheus</i>). </span></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Song-Orpheus-Greatest-Greek-Myths/dp/1535144505/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469033037&sr=1-1" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYt9Bq2vHRmwbSizL2ep9Mzv_9grBNG81WeZMfX1io7MaYUM6HzkaAXoSj2oGvr9J1TQZtNZ_BkN8g87cqtUQKiG1gvl-oLRSc_X7ezox1YNaF76g4RGo8LeH3EDkbd7ZkxW58ruYQ1zsF/s320/orpheus+cover+highres.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Song-Orpheus-Greatest-Greek-Myths/dp/1535144505/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1469033037&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Ta-da!</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"></span></span><span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’ve never said I would never self-pub. I did say, though,
that I wouldn’t do it unless I could do it right. So what do I mean by
“right”?</span></span>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">First, the book had to be good, as judged by someone other than myself. My wonderful agent, <a href="http://www.andreabrownlit.com/agents.html" target="_blank">Lara Perkins</a>, is a terrific editor,
and she thought it had promise. Before submitting it, though, she suggested a whole slew of edits
to what I originally sent to her. I went through several more drafts before she
thought it was ready to go out.</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Several editors seriously considered the manuscript. None of them wanted to publish it, but many were complimentary
and considered it for a while before passing on the project. (Their reasons for
passing on it varied, but appeared to boil down to fear that it wouldn’t sell
enough copies to justify the expense.)</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Second, it had to appeal to a relatively narrow niche of
readers. I can’t begin to imagine how to market a general-interest book, but
marketing for a book like <i>Orpheus</i> can be targeted to various groups. I already
have a good relationship with many of these groups: organizations involved with
Classical studies, as well as teachers and librarians.</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Third, every aspect of the finished product had to be done
by a professional. I’m a professional in only one area of all the various tasks
required to create and market a book: writing. The editing, copy editing, cover
design, cover art, formatting, and marketing and publicity had to be farmed out
to qualified professionals. The last thing I want is a book that looks, feels,
or especially reads as amateurish.</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lastly, self-publishing had to change. There had to be a way
that someone with expertise in only the writing part of the process could put
out a quality, professional book without going broke.</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Next post: How I went about accomplishing numbers
three and four.</span></span>
Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-69259176047785480882014-05-14T06:00:00.000-05:002014-05-14T09:24:28.074-05:00ValidationEarly in the days of this blog, I wrote a <a href="http://goodbyedayjob.blogspot.com/2011/05/four-fears_18.html" target="_blank">post</a> about the four areas of concern I had about leaving my day job. No. 3 was the "Psychological" area, where I said in part that<br />
<br />
<span style="color: black; mso-themecolor: text1;">"at all but the most
abysmal jobs (and my job is far from abysmal), you get strokes. You do
in writing too, but writing is also a lot about rejection—rejections
from agents and editors, bad reviews, critical emails from readers. Will
they hurt more when I don’t have the comfort of students saying nice
things to/about me, and colleagues telling me I do a good job?"</span><br />
<br />
Of course I've been nervous about the first review of <i>The Stepsister's Tale</i> and my nerves weren't helped when I learned that the first one came from <i>Kirkus</i>, since they're notoriously difficult to please.<br />
<br />
When I read it (and you can too, <a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/tracy-barrett/the-stepsisters-tale/" target="_blank">here</a>) I got momentarily lightheaded with relief. They not only said very nice things but also gave it a star! For those of you outside of this business, a star is great, since some libraries and schools automatically buy a copy of every book with a starred review.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK05Cfk7O4QBgJD8ExWsA432Y4Ff02yMu_tYG4fenSsvt-dml763CatnYpgSkjLcd7XLlVwQLq1Tc1Xx-tQWoisMFC4bYNUXW65SeHzSgMa2NdyaRjBHzGlMMRUE4SvL1DXSZ7GcNCVB1n/s1600/stepsister+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK05Cfk7O4QBgJD8ExWsA432Y4Ff02yMu_tYG4fenSsvt-dml763CatnYpgSkjLcd7XLlVwQLq1Tc1Xx-tQWoisMFC4bYNUXW65SeHzSgMa2NdyaRjBHzGlMMRUE4SvL1DXSZ7GcNCVB1n/s1600/stepsister+cover.jpg" height="320" width="208" /></a></div>
<br />
To celebrate, I'm giving away five signed copies of the ARC along with some modest but fun Cinderella-themed swag on May 21, one week from today. All you have to do to enter for a chance to win one of them is comment on this post. I also ask that you write an Amazon and/or Goodreads review after you read it. U.S. and Canada only, please!<br />
<br />
Thanks for sharing my excitement, friends!<br />
<br />Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-42634994982608289982014-04-14T06:00:00.000-05:002014-04-14T07:17:49.736-05:00The Writing Process<style>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Thanks to <a href="http://www.hollyschindler.com/" target="_blank">Holly Schindler</a><a href="http://www.hollyschindler.com/" target="_blank"> </a>for tagging me in this blog hop!
Here are my answers to the questions all the participants are answering.</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">What am I working on?</span></i></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I’m frantically trying to get a draft of a new book in shape
to send to my editor by May 1! The working title is FAIREST: THE STEPMOTHER’S
TALE, and as you can probably tell, it’s a retelling of Snow White from the
point of view of the stepmother. In my telling, she’s not a witch, and in fact
is Snow White’s ally. It’s set in the early twelfth century and weaves in
druids, the King Arthur legend, the Crusades, and all sorts of fun stuff.</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How does my work differ
from others in its genre?</span></i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjovQENd-9702OWGEvEe7kZWp_gqXQvheTPN05OqBvOI2TF67OEmvLSMfaBmfztswyFgBjFB9oJk-oBw3jFN6p55xQSE5j7ALuL0jLYQVfbODxTWdd1BYegJz1q8-fhx96KSa7_3MeI8T2R/s1600/stepsister+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjovQENd-9702OWGEvEe7kZWp_gqXQvheTPN05OqBvOI2TF67OEmvLSMfaBmfztswyFgBjFB9oJk-oBw3jFN6p55xQSE5j7ALuL0jLYQVfbODxTWdd1BYegJz1q8-fhx96KSa7_3MeI8T2R/s1600/stepsister+cover.jpg" height="200" width="130" /></a></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">There are lots and lots of retellings of fairy tales. In
fact, the working title of my next book (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stepsisters-Tale-Tracy-Barrett/dp/037321121X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397146508&sr=1-1" target="_blank">THE STEPSISTER’S TALE</a>) was “Yet
Another Cinderella Retelling.” What I like to do, though, is to explore the
person normally portrayed as the villain and portray her (so far, both of them
have been female) in a sympathetic light. There are always two sides to a
story, you know!</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Why do I write what I do?</span></i></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Beats me. It just interests me!</span></span></div>
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<span class="commentbody"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">How does my writing process
work?</span></i></span></div>
<span class="commentbody"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I
usually circle around something for a while and then write in spurts. Once the
well has run dry, I walk and think and ruminate and suddenly several scenes (or
at least one scene) will pop into my head. Then I write and write. If I force
it, nothing happens. Well, I do write something, but I wind up deleting it the
next day, which sucks. So I don’t write unless I’m pretty sure what I’m writing
will be at least partially usable.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="commentbody"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Be sure to check out the three writers I tagged to answer the same questions!</span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span class="commentbody"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><a href="http://www.jbwarren.ca/" target="_blank"><b>Jane Warren</b></a> has an MFA in Creative Writing
from the University of British Columbia and undergraduate degrees from
University of Calgary (BEd) and McMaster University (BPE). She has published
two-dozen short stories and poems in literary magazines in Canada and the UK
and has served on the editorial collectives of literary magazines. Currently she
lives in the Netherlands where she works as an editorial consultant. </span></span><br />
<span class="commentbody"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="commentbody"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b>Vicky Alvear Shecter </b>writes both fiction and nonfiction set in the ancient world. Her recent <i>Cleopatra</i></span></span><span class="commentbody"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><i><span class="commentbody"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">’</span></span>s Moon </i>tells the story of the daughter of Cleopatra. </span></span><span class="commentbody"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Her
creative nonfiction book about Egyptian mythology</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—</span><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Anubis Speaks! A Guide to the Afterworld by the
Egyptian God of the Dead</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">releases October
2013. </span>She blogs at <a href="http://historywithatwist.blogspot.com/2013/09/anubis-answers-why-did-ancient.html" target="_blank">History with a Twist</a>.</span></span><br />
<span class="commentbody"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></span>
<span class="commentbody" style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>Renee Gian</b> </span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span id="yiv0858611584yui_3_13_0_1_1397197894778_34727" style="background-color: white; color: #464646;">has
been an ice cream server, a mannequin model (you know, those people who stand
perfectly still in store front windows while you make faces at them), a French
teacher, a Latin teacher. She is now currently a middle school art teacher in
Cairo, Egypt where she lives with her son and a menagerie of cats. She also
still spends a great deal of time imagining, but now she writes most of it down
in the form of picture books and middle grade novels. She blogs at <a href="http://www.worddisco.com/" target="_blank">Word Disco</a>. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span class="commentbody"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span></span>
Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-53738162875664094962014-04-09T13:20:00.000-05:002014-04-09T13:20:20.688-05:00Another Ending
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<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">One thing I swore to myself when I quit my day job was that
I wouldn’t be one of those people who told her work friends, “Don’t worry—we’ll
still see a lot of each other!” and then drop off the earth.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Years ago, I formed an organization of non-tenure-track
faculty at Vanderbilt whose purpose was mutual support, which mostly involved
getting together for a beer once a month and telling horror stories about the
administration. We called ourselves “LWA” (Lecturers With Attitude) and our </span></span><span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“</span></span>meetings</span></span><span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">”</span></span> were well attended, with anywhere from six to ten people at a time. Even after I quit teaching, I continued to call regular monthly meetings.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Numbers started falling off this academic year, and then I
was unable to call a meeting for a few months due to writing deadlines and a move, but
now that I’m settled in the new house I proposed a meeting last week. We’ve
moved away from the university neighborhood and are on three wooded acres. Yes,
it’s idyllic, but it feels awfully removed from people I used to spend a lot of
time with, so I was happy when half a dozen said they’d come.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span class="commentbody"><span style="mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">As it turns out, only one other person came, and she’s
someone I see weekly anyway at a different social event. We had a great time
and wound up staying for dinner, but on the drive home I came to the conclusion
that LWA had run its course. Whether it’s because as founder my regular
presence was necessary for it to flourish or because the turnover in lecturers
meant that I didn’t know anyone new to invite as long-timers moved on, the
group has clearly been on life support for a while.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span class="commentbody"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">So I pulled the plug. I was doing more listening
and sympathizing than sharing of war-stories, and of course I can (and
will) continue to see many of the attitudinous lecturers individually. Still, I’m a bit blue, I think
more because the end of this group signals another end of that former life. The
new life is great, don’t get me wrong—but change is always a bit unsettling.</span></span><br />
<span class="commentbody"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span></span>
Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-70335411990819688392014-04-02T15:15:00.000-05:002014-04-02T15:15:04.221-05:00Scheduling Reading TimeIf you had told me at almost any time in my life until now that I'd actually have to schedule time to read, I would have questioned your sanity. But that's exactly what has happened.<br />
<br />
I thought that one of the benefits of quitting my day job would be more time to do things like reading. What I didn't count on was that in the past, reading was often a reward for a hard day at work. I'd tell myself that for every lesson planned, every stack of quizzes corrected, every afternoon spent in a meeting I'd allow myself a chapter or two of the book I was in the middle of reading. And of course, usually that chapter or two stretched into three or four.<br />
<br />
I still have hard days (I'm currently revising a novel and having to wrestle with more than the usual number of problems, a short week after moving and unpacking and trying to organize a new space), but now they're of my own choosing. I can postpone the revisions as long as I want, right? I don't have to agonize over the perfect word, instead settling for an okay one. So why should I reward myself for something self-imposed?<br />
<br />
The upshot is that I'm starved for reading, but every time I crack open a book I've been looking forward to, something pulls me away. But writers have to read, just as painters have to go to galleries and musicians have to go to concerts.<br />
<br />
No more. Starting today, I sit and read, with no electronics within reach, for a solid hour. AT LEAST.<br />
<br />
It started off well, with a lovely middle-grade novel called <a href="http://hollyschindler.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-junction-of-sunshine-and-lucky-1st.html" target="_blank"><i>The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky</i></a> by Holly Schindler. I'm nearing the end, and I might just go over my allotted hour to see how the story of Auggie and her grandfather turns out.Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-90241278526884009422013-09-25T06:00:00.000-05:002013-09-25T06:00:01.499-05:00Epiphany<style>
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As I stood in the shower this morning mentally piecing my
day together, I realized that instead of looking for free chunks of time into
which I could shoehorn some writing, I was looking for gaps in my writing time
into which I could shoehorn everything else.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s all—sorry it’s not more profound, but it was a nice
moment.<br />
</div>
Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-17792528213740528082013-09-18T12:33:00.001-05:002013-09-20T11:23:37.321-05:00Tip o' the DayWhen doing a revision late in the game (i.e., not the first or even the second or probably even the third revision), I<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">’</span>ve discovered that if I print out my manuscript to look as much like a book as possible and read it on paper, I catch global problems (contradictions, weak story arc, lack of character development, etc.) much better than if I read it on-screen yet again with it looking like a typescript: double-spaced with ragged right margins, etc. I figured out how to format like a book after some trial and error and am sharing this knowledge with you today. These instructions are for MS Word (from Office) on a Mac; if you have some other program, you're on your own.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">1. Open your document (duh). Notice that at the top of
the screen you have a row of words headed by the symbol of an apple, followed
by “Word File Edit” etc. I have no idea what the technical term for this is but I refer to as the “Apple row.” <i>Ignore
this row until Step 11 below</i>. Right above your document is another row headed
by the symbol of a house, followed by “Home Layout Document Elements” etc. This
will be referred to as the “Home” row.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">2. Enter Command-A to highlight your entire manuscript,
which will turn blue as soon as you do this. If at any point from here through
step 11 the blue disappears, enter Command-A again so that the entire ms. is
highlighted.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">3. On the “Home” row, click on Layout. In the Page Setup
section on the far left, click on Orientation and then on Landscape. Don’t exit
the Layout menu. (If you do exit it, just click on Layout again.)</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">4. In the Margins section, change all the margins to
0.8.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">5. In the Text Layout section click on the down-arrow
next to the little box that has two columns outline in green. Click on the word
“Two.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">6. Click on the word “Home.” A new set of choices
will appear. In the bottom row of the Paragraph section, there are four buttons
that show left-justified text, centered, right-justified, and full-justified.
Click on the button on the far right of this group of four, the one that shows
full-justified text.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">7. In the font section, choose a typeface that looks
like a standard book font but that isn’t what you’re currently using. Even a
subtle change between what you currently use and something else will make a
difference. I usually choose Book Antiqua.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">8. In the font section, change the type size to 11 pt.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">9. In the typography section, check the box next to the
last option, the one that has AV with little arrows above and below the
letters (sometimes it won</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">’t let you check that box. I have no idea why, and it makes very little difference. This is just fancy-schmancy stuff known as </span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">“kerning”</span>)</span>.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">10. Click on “Home” to close the ribbon.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">11. <i>In the Apple row</i>, click on Format and then on
Paragraph. In Line Spacing, click on the box with the up and down arrows (it will
probably say “Double”) and click on “Exactly.” Then move to the box to its
right and enter 14 pt.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"> While you</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">’</span>re there, make sure there's a check in the box next to </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">“Don't add space between paragraphs in the same style.” C</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">lick </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">“OK.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">12. At this point it doesn’t matter if the text is
highlighted in blue anymore. Click on Edit in the Apple row. Hover your cursor
on “Find” and then click on “Replace.” A dialog box will open on the left.
Click the cursor in the first box and type ^t (exactly like that, no spaces, no
capitals). Click the cursor in the second box and hit the space bar five times.
Click on “Replace all.” Click on the “X” near the top of the dialog box to
close it.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">13. If you want it to look even more like a book (and also
save a piece of paper or two) make sure that there are no huge gaps between the
end of one chapter and the beginning of the next one. I do this by searching
for the word “Chapter” and seeing if there’s a huge amount of white space above
it. If there is, I backspace until the new chapter starts at the top of the
previous page.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Now you’re ready to print. If you don’t want these
changes to be permanent<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">, don’t save the
document</i>. Leave the document up until you’ve finished printing and then
exit without saving. It will revert to the shape it was in before you made all the formatting changes.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">To print double-sided like a book, click on File in the home row.
Click on Print. Click on Copies & Pages. Click on Duplex Printing &
Margin. Click on Duplex Printing. Click on Short-side stapling (Top). Click on
Print.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-font-kerning: .5pt;">Et voilà!</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-84621135618880812922013-09-04T06:00:00.000-05:002013-09-06T10:45:30.436-05:00Tag—I'm It!<span style="color: white;">,,,</span><br />
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--></style><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">My friend Jody Casella writes one of my favorite <a href="http://www.jodycasella.com/" target="_blank">blogs</a>
about writing and life and the writing life. She</span><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">’</span>s also days away from the launch of her debut novel, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Thin-Space-Jody-Casella/dp/158270435X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378261657&sr=1-1" target="_blank"><i>Thin Space</i></a>. I'm dying to read this one, especially after its starred <a href="https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jody-casella/thin-space-casella/" target="_blank"><i>Kirkus</i> review</a> (seriously, read that review</span><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">—doesn</span></span><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">’</span>t it sound amazing?)</span>. Jody has tagged me in a Children’s Author
Blog Hop, meaning that I answer the same four questions that she did in her
<a href="http://www.jodycasella.com/2013/08/childrens-author-blog-hop-in-which-i.html" target="_blank">post</a> and then tag three more YA authors to do the same, kind of like a writerly
chain mail.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">The questions and my answers: </span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><b>1. What are you working on right now<i>?</i></b></span>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">I’m writing the first draft of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mirror</i>,
a retelling of Snow White, while revising <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The
Stepsister’s Tale</i>, a retelling of Cinderella
<span class="commentbody">(my twentieth book for young
readers!)</span>. Harlequin Teen will publish <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Stepsister</i> in July, 2014, and <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mirror</i> is due out a year later.</span><style>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;">I’m also revising a totally different kind of book with the
working title <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">The Icarus Complex</i>.
It’s about Clancy Edwards, a teenage girl who’s being smothered by her overprotective father
and boyfriend. Her mother died in a skydiving accident when the main character
was six, and her father owns a skydiving center. Clancy busts out of this smothering in a dramatic way.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">This idea came to me when I
w</span>as pondering how to use skydiving in a story, preferably a Greek myth
retelling set in the present, and Icarus seemed a natural. I wrote the draft for
<a href="http://nanowrimo.org/" target="_blank">NaNoWriMo</a> last year.</span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj56kPFbHb0kWSl0O2tv7O5-J8rZI-SXPZeLl6HWtn0TVa68KBzppFS_IlWZn9h7M9JDudr4pgpNVtWG8zTuCaplAqSf7xuA_NNmA3x6pOC-OfzLbIZ2oULf-oNzeTBVU-cIMtcIOqYpwEl/s1600/freefall2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="116" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj56kPFbHb0kWSl0O2tv7O5-J8rZI-SXPZeLl6HWtn0TVa68KBzppFS_IlWZn9h7M9JDudr4pgpNVtWG8zTuCaplAqSf7xuA_NNmA3x6pOC-OfzLbIZ2oULf-oNzeTBVU-cIMtcIOqYpwEl/s200/freefall2.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">That's me!</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>2. How does it differ from other works in the genre?
</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">In both of my fairy-tale retellings, things aren’t
quite the way we’ve been led to believe in the traditional stories. Cinderella isn’t as good and virtuous
and put-upon as her supporters have claimed—she’s the typical kid in a blended
family who finds it hard to fit in with her new step-family and thinks that she’s being mistreated. In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Mirror</i>, the stepmother isn’t a witch and
is actually Snow White’s ally. I'm having lots of fun with <i>Mirror</i>, weaving in Crusades and druids and all sorts of cool stuff.</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>3. Why do you write what you do?</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwosc6ZyDEOHCgT0aGGHUdyu5dPl0EVBmKy_cMtg51XrhZSDERuy9IUU2RuRU5pdX6gveBjFrzLaKSV8KFRnXfggU2T6D6CL14PkauPruUZ6ZzQ3hwePDBvsTB1soFyRaJFAWv1tDltqDS/s1600/DARK+OF+THE+MOON+pb+cvr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwosc6ZyDEOHCgT0aGGHUdyu5dPl0EVBmKy_cMtg51XrhZSDERuy9IUU2RuRU5pdX6gveBjFrzLaKSV8KFRnXfggU2T6D6CL14PkauPruUZ6ZzQ3hwePDBvsTB1soFyRaJFAWv1tDltqDS/s200/DARK+OF+THE+MOON+pb+cvr.jpg" width="136" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Like many people, I</span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">’</span>ve always wanted to travel to the past, but until someone invents a time machine, historical fiction is the best way to do that. An author who does careful research and writes compellingly can transport a reader to a different time.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.tracybarrett.com/king_of_ithaka_98220.htm" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWG069rP1WmY86IT0TpniIiejC7MVNB0Ez0Wz_PxelXTh_gdOEMgDneLf4CV8sbQVzGi4C07R45gO6daHP-wZUmtbdRnZq8X4i-4xs0ZqsFYcPlmIa_SLCPWC23mwUXcHwwHx_0tOYaY8A/s200/KingOfIthaka+no+tagline.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">I also love examining <a href="http://flavorwire.com/191562/required-reading-10-great-literary-spin-offs/11" target="_blank">familiar stories</a> from an unfamiliar point of
view. My first experience of this genre was <i>Grendel</i> (John Gardner) and I love <i>The Wide Sargasso Sea</i> (Jean Rhys), <i>Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead</i> (Tom Stoppard) and other. Recent favorites are <i>March</i> (Geraldine Brooks) and <i>The Penelopiad</i> (Margaret Atwood), which gave me the seed of an idea for <i>King of Ithaka</i>, the story of Homer<span style="font-family: inherit;">’</span>s <i>Odyssey</i> from the point of view of Odysseus<span style="font-family: inherit;">’</span>s son, Telemachos. <i>Dark of the Moon</i> is the tale of the Minotaur as told by the Minotaur<span style="font-family: inherit;">’</span>s sister, Ariadne, and his killer, Theseus.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>4. What is the hardest part about writing?</b></span><span style="font-size: large;">
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Middles! E. L. Doctorow famously said that just as when
you take a drive at night you need to know where you’re going, you need to know where you’re going
when you’re writing, but that in both cases you don’t need to know every tiny turn in the
road. The farthest you need to see ahead of you is as much as you can make out in your
headlights.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">My headlights sometimes dim and sometimes lead me down
dead-end streets, and then I have to turn around and figure out where I am and how to get back on track. I have a lousy sense of direction, and when I get lost while
driving I panic with the irrational fear that I’ll never reach my goal
and will drive around in circles until my car runs out of gas, and I get
that same feeling in the middle of every book. I just have to remind myself
that so far I’ve always made it, and this time won’t be any different.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I hope. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Update: <a href="http://historywithatwist.blogspot.com/2013/09/oh-hello-again.html" target="_blank">Vicky Alvear Shecter</a>, author of wonderful fiction and nonfiction set in the ancient world, has responded to her tag! Read her post <a href="http://historywithatwist.blogspot.com/2013/09/oh-hello-again.html" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">I</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">’</span>ve tagged three authors to continue the chain</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">—I</span></i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">’</span>ll let you know next week if any of them have the time to participate!</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i><span style="color: white;"><span style="background-color: white;">,,, </span></span></i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span>Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-22667385180450322672013-07-17T10:24:00.002-05:002013-07-17T10:45:18.610-05:00Tweaking the Treadmill DeskI've been using my treadmill desk for a while and have been very happy with it. I don't know if it unleashes creativity, as some have claimed, but it sure doesn't hamper it, and it feels good not to sit all day.<br />
<br />
I had thought that I wouldn't want to move my laptop from desk to
treadmill desk and back again every time I switched workspaces, so I bought a remote keyboard and mouse and hung a monitor in front of the treadmill. There's no such thing--yet--as a remote monitor, so I attached it by a long cable to the laptop, which I left on the regular (non-treadmill) desk across the room. (You should probably look at the photos <a href="http://goodbyedayjob.blogspot.com/2013/01/walking-to-work.html" target="_blank">here</a> to see what I'm talking about.)<br />
<br />
For a while, all was well. <br />
<br />
Then a few weeks ago I started having problems with the remote keyboard and mouse. The cursor would freeze up occasionally, and when I typed, sometimes nothing would appear on the screen for a long time and when it did, the text was garbled and full of repeated letters. I thought maybe the signal was weak this far from the laptop, so I moved them right next to each other and tried again. Same problem.<br />
<br />
This is a highly rated and reasonably priced system, and when it started doing this I re-checked its <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Combo-Keyboard-920-002553/product-reviews/B003VANO7C/ref=cm_cr_dp_qt_hist_one?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addOneStar&showViewpoints=0" target="_blank">reviews on Amazon</a>. There aren't many 1-star reviews, but almost every one of them references this issue.<br />
<br />
Plus the monitor has never been satisfactory. It isn't the monitor's fault; it's the fault of being connected to the laptop by fifteen feet of cable. This made it fuzzy, and while the text was perfectly legible, the lack of clarity was irritating.<br />
<br />
And while I had carefully figured out how high the keyboard should be, I must have miscalculated, and it's too low. I've avoided carpal tunnel syndrome and similar ailments despite years of marathon typing and marathon knitting, and I don't want to risk messing up my wrists.<br />
<br />
The upshot: I ditched the remote hardware, found a shorter cable that eliminates the screen fuzz, and moved the laptop over to the treadmill. I set in on a book to raise it to the correct height, which took a few tries. The <i>Oxford Classical Dictionary</i> is a wee bit too high. The <i>Chicago Manual of Style</i> (I know it's available on-line; I prefer the print edition, okay?) is a wee bit too low. The Sansoni Italian-English dictionary is just right. And to think that I almost left it behind in the <a href="http://goodbyedayjob.blogspot.com/2012/03/stripping-office.html" target="_blank">office-book culling</a>!<br />
<br />Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-26486661007135926782013-05-11T08:11:00.000-05:002013-05-11T08:11:58.858-05:00One year! What did I learn?<style>
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</style> Yesterday was the day of Vanderbilt University’s
commencement, 364 days after the same event in 2012 that I count as my last day
working at a day job, and one year + 364 days after I started this blog. We
live close enough to campus that a lot of families park on our street, and all
morning I watched young people in robes, carrying their mortarboards,
striding down the sidewalk in the drizzle. I know how most of them
were feeling—excited, eager to see what’s waiting for them, hoping they’re prepared for
the next phase.<br />
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In my first, awkward post here, I wrote, “<span style="color: black; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-themecolor: text1;">I know I’ll feel a sense of loss</span>” when I’m no longer teaching.
Well, I was wrong there. Maybe if I hadn’t been so busy, that sense of loss
would have crept in, but . . . no.</div>
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<br /></div>
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So what else did I get wrong?<br />
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I think I underestimated the sense of isolation I’d feel. My
husband the sailor goes away for weeks or a month at a time (note to burglars:
large son, yappy dog, and alarm system are still here), since the sailing isn’t
so great in Nashville. So I go a little squirrelly. I’m more sociable than I
realized, I guess. I need to have face-to-face human contact every day; a
friendly supermarket checker is fine, but lunch with a friend is better.</div>
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<br /></div>
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And the trials of being in business for myself have thrown
me for a loop. I can’t go into details, but I’m having a little, um, payment
issue. I’ve hired a lawyer, but they’re ignoring him as much as they’re
ignoring me. I’m starting to think that I’ll never see the money that’s owed
me. This burns me up, but I have to remind myself that these things happen in
business.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I discovered, to my surprise, that I don’t have to be as
regimented as I thought was necessary. If I don’t take Tuesday off, I can trust
that I’ll take another day. If I don’t walk on the treadmill for the amount of
time I set for myself, it won't break the habit to the point where I'll suddenly stop using it at all.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I’m still feeling out how to make myself and my writing more visible.
Luckily, my new publisher is very proactive with publicity, and I’m hopeful
that I’ll be doing more conferences and school visits when the pub date for
that book is close.</div>
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<br /></div>
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I haven’t done many of the extra-curricular activities I had
lined up. I did take a short photography course, but it was a dud. I’ve
traveled a bit more than usual, and next fall will take a non-working vacation
during the school year—a first since I was in kindergarten!</div>
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<br /></div>
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Everything else is working out just about as planned. And
that’s the important thing—planning. If you’re contemplating leaving your day
job, the best advice I can give you is to start a new file on your computer and
every time you think of something that you wish you had time for—whether it’s associated with your writing or a new activity you’d like to try—and periodically
update it. I bet you’ll find, as I did, that a pattern will emerge, and you’ll
see a form and direction of your new life. You’ll be able to step out of the nine-to-five world and into being your own boss with
a minimum of fuss.</div>
Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-25998501363328075402013-03-27T06:00:00.000-05:002013-03-27T06:00:06.548-05:00Finding a Rhythm<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<![endif]--><span class="commentbody">It’s hard to break the habit of thinking in the pattern of
the academic year, whose calendar ruled my life from when I was five years old until last May. When someone says </span><span class="commentbody"><span class="commentbody">“year,” m</span>y first thought will probably always be “August through May,”
and although TGIF shouldn’t mean anything to me now,
it</span><span class="commentbody"><span class="commentbody">’</span>s still a relief when the weekend rolls around.</span><br />
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<span class="commentbody">I have to get adjusted to a more fluid
rhythm, one where neither the academic nor the solar calendar rules. Right now I’m in limbo on a few projects. My agents have sent out </span><span class="commentbody">a manuscript, but so recently that there’s very little chance of hearing
back about it any time soon. I’ve completed and revised (several times!) a nonfiction
project, and now I have to leave it alone and try not even to think about it for as long as I can stand it, until I
read it over one last time before declaring it ready to be read by someone I'm not related to. So I'm twiddling my thumbs.</span><br />
<span class="commentbody"><br /></span>
<span class="commentbody">This period of waiting isn't marked on my calendar. It's not a spring break I knew was coming and could plan for. Next year it might happen earlier or later, or not at all. And this is something to adjust to.</span></div>
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<span class="commentbody">So I’ve written and scheduled a few
posts for the blogs that I contribute to regularly. I’ve caught up on articles that looked interesting enough for me to bookmark them, but
that I didn’t have time to read until now. I’ve read the most recent Newbery winner (meh) and skimmed some books about fairy tales, looking for nuggets I can use. I’ve started putting together PowerPoints and handouts for presentations I'm doing next month and this summer.</span><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span class="commentbody">All of it is productive work, and I know I'll be glad to have those blog posts in the "bank" when their due dates roll around, not to mention the presentation materials. I just have to get used to grabbing these opportunities when I can and not think of them as time that I should have spent writing.</span></div>
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<br />
<span class="commentbody"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span></span>Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-42250216158923777102013-03-20T12:30:00.000-05:002013-03-20T12:30:24.654-05:00It Worked!<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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I’ve been itching to post this for a while, but couldn’t
until it became official. This is from the deal section of today’s Publishers
Marketplace:
<br />
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<b><span class="yiv1271980390apple-style-span">Author of ANNA OF
BYZANTIUM Tracy Barrett</span><span class="yiv1271980390apple-style-span">’s THE STEPSISTER</span><span class="yiv1271980390apple-style-span">’S TALE, a retelling of the classic
Cinderella from the stepsister</span><span class="yiv1271980390apple-style-span">’s perspective, in which beauty, romance, and
happily ever after aren</span><span class="yiv1271980390apple-style-span">’t quite what they seem, to Annie Stone at Harlequin Teen,</span><span class="yiv1271980390apple-style-span"> in a two-book deal, by Lara Perkins</span><span class="yiv1271980390apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/dealmakers/detail.cgi?id=24272" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span></a></span><span class="yiv1271980390apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="yiv1271980390apple-style-span">and Laura Rennert</span><span class="yiv1271980390apple-style-span"><a href="http://www.publishersmarketplace.com/dealmakers/detail.cgi?id=874" target="_blank"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"></span></a></span><span class="yiv1271980390apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="yiv1271980390apple-style-span">at Andrea Brown Literary Agency.</span><span class="yiv1271980390apple-style-span"></span></b><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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(Yes, I have two agents—the Laura and Lara mentioned above. And they have an intern named Laura.)</div>
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I’ve been working on both <i>The Stepsister’s Tale</i> and the
novel that went out on Friday for a long time. Both were basically complete but in serious need of revision, but
what with the day job and my position at SCBWI, I couldn’t hunker down and do
what was needed in any kind of concentrated fashion. Nor did I have the
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Well, as of <a href="http://goodbyedayjob.blogspot.com/2012/05/goodbye-day-job.html" target="_blank">May 11</a>, I’ve had the time to do both. My agents sent out another manuscript
on a submission round last Friday, and I have a non-fiction manuscript and another novel
(my NaNoWriMo <a href="http://goodbyedayjob.blogspot.com/2012/11/nanowrimo-last-one.html" target="_blank">project</a>) nearing completion.</div>
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Laura had given me some excellent editorial comments on an earlier draft of <i>Stepsister</i>, and before it went out on submission Lara went through it page by page with comments, suggestions, and queries that made all the difference. I dug in and revised over and over. I lost track of how many drafts I did—drafts that I would have loved to do before, if only I’d been able. And it has
paid off.<br />
<br />
Do I wish I’d gone to full-time writing earlier? Honestly,
no. For most of my time at Vanderbilt, I loved my job. For the last few years,
I liked it. I never hated it—never even disliked it. But when the time came, it
was the right decision both personally and professionally.
<br />
Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-84731792679447329102013-01-30T06:00:00.000-06:002013-01-30T06:00:07.750-06:00Treadmill Desk Benefits<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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So I’ve been using my <a href="http://goodbyedayjob.blogspot.com/2013/01/walking-to-work.html" target="_blank">treadmill desk</a> for about a week now (I’m
typing this while walking). Here are some unexpected benefits, in addition to
the ones I was expecting:</div>
<ul>
<li>It chains me to the computer, because it’s enough of a pain
to get it stopped and started again that I’ll say, “Whatever, I’ll just go
another 15 minutes before I quit for the morning.”</li>
<li>It’s making me stick to a schedule. I decided that on the
days I go to the gym (three days a week, when I can), I’ll do a two-hour
session on the treadmill. On the days that I don’t—two two-hour sessions. There’s
no way I’m going to do it in the evening, so I get it done early. At least so far.</li>
<li>I get pleasantly tired but not exhausted, so I sleep better.</li>
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<br />
Am I being more productive? Yes, but I don’t know if that’s
because of the aforementioned chaining to the computer, or to the neuroscience
that <i>seems</i> to indicate that sitting clamps down the creative side of your brain. Think about
it—lots or people pace when they think, right? Lecturers stand, and often move,
when lecturing. Good teachers move around the room as they teach. OK, some of
that is to make sure their students aren’t on Facebook, but it also seems to
liberate the brain.
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<br /></div>
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One scientist pointed out that our hunter-gatherer ancestors
had to be creative the whole time they were moving in order to survive: “If the mastodon goes that
way, Urk should go this way and head it off,” “Hey, this rotten milk tastes pretty good with that spoiled grape juice!” “The seeds under the bird’s nest
grew better than the others—I’ll try putting bird poop on all of them next spring.” Once they could finally sit down at the campfire, their
brains took the opportunity to grab some much-needed rest.
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<br /></div>
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So it’s possible that we’re hard-wired to think better when
we walk. It couldn’t hurt, anyway, so I’ll keep on doing it and let you know what
happens.</div>
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Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-7229700270331311452013-01-23T06:00:00.000-06:002013-01-23T09:06:48.857-06:00Walking to Work<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
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I’m writing this while walking at .5 mph. It’s taking a bit of
getting used to, but after all, it’s my first attempt at using my brand-new
treadmill desk.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This is something that’s intrigued me for a <a href="http://goodbyedayjob.blogspot.com/2012/03/treadmill-desks.html" target="_blank">while</a>.
Over the space of a few months I downloaded various sets of instructions, wrote
to people who used treadmill desks, and kept up with the research, the most recent of
which (by the first promoter of the concept, Dr. James Levine of the Mayo
Clinic) concludes that you shouldn’t try to do more than two hours on, two
hours off. Phew.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Hey, I just took my
sweater off! Must be doing something, even at this speed!</i>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wound up tossing out the plans I had downloaded since
they were all based on desktop computers, and I no longer had one, a casualty
of leaving the day job. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: right;">
</div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS6ZfaAVepNJlSkUSOVNJ0iPhBGUDlqLiaPxULR90TAllKC2rLOZqavVFXw2emjfvyXbUQ3swwjCp2BIwL1g__z9aDVIAdhnhG9OsZ2nVwxSEvdPgSNX1cQdBgpattxYwpEpfJPsM02s_B/s1600/DSC_0935.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS6ZfaAVepNJlSkUSOVNJ0iPhBGUDlqLiaPxULR90TAllKC2rLOZqavVFXw2emjfvyXbUQ3swwjCp2BIwL1g__z9aDVIAdhnhG9OsZ2nVwxSEvdPgSNX1cQdBgpattxYwpEpfJPsM02s_B/s320/DSC_0935.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not much room here</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
As I contemplated where the treadmill would fit in my already crowded study, I
realized that no matter what configuration I came up with, it was going to be a pain to move the laptop and its cables and wires from one spot to
another, and I'd probably find lots of excuses not to do it, so I decided to go remote instead. I purchased a wireless keyboard and
mouse and resurrected a flat-screen monitor from the attic.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">I already forgot I
was walking. According to the timer on the treadmill, that took nine minutes
and twenty seconds.</i>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I bought a plain-vanilla treadmill at Play It Again Sports, which we brought home with a small trailer rented at U-Haul. A passing neighbor helped us get it in the house and we set it up next to
the twin bed that serves as the emergency sleeping space for those escaping a
snoring spouse.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3rqkG9fm7Wp79gYOOggPPaL8cA4tcwMgCRzYvb3V_IcG04-YfageN-tUyyvrXmvfluKGrk9zHf6Bk7VpsBFphg4LIrhu_1QCM4HaIPco_tA5MDO1mmNtl52xQLwm1Aq0hfUds2sp967nW/s1600/DSC_0945.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3rqkG9fm7Wp79gYOOggPPaL8cA4tcwMgCRzYvb3V_IcG04-YfageN-tUyyvrXmvfluKGrk9zHf6Bk7VpsBFphg4LIrhu_1QCM4HaIPco_tA5MDO1mmNtl52xQLwm1Aq0hfUds2sp967nW/s320/DSC_0945.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Good help is hard to find</td></tr>
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<br /></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi18b2pKXtUk4ZpZh8aKI2XqiUo4MNzVZOBclruxJhTDGG29nsbsGV_s1KQeuvdUZYTnfPBqMfuutttjHj_HRxaOBnTfEN39ZU8xvIADlFa7nEneyPxOaD3_FalnNrGfh6siBr12aGpQyop/s1600/DSC_0940.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi18b2pKXtUk4ZpZh8aKI2XqiUo4MNzVZOBclruxJhTDGG29nsbsGV_s1KQeuvdUZYTnfPBqMfuutttjHj_HRxaOBnTfEN39ZU8xvIADlFa7nEneyPxOaD3_FalnNrGfh6siBr12aGpQyop/s200/DSC_0940.JPG" width="133" /></a></div>
Then a trip to Home Depot, and we returned with a white
shelf and some metal brackets. We (by which I mean Greg) attached the brackets
to the shelf, which then rested on the handles of the treadmill, and we (by
which I mean me) ran tie-wraps through the holes in the brackets to strap it down, inserted some
shims to level it, and voilà—step one was complete.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Just upped the speed
to .6 mph without noticing any difference in ease of writing.</i>)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next came the monitor, which we hung on the bookcase <a href="http://goodbyedayjob.blogspot.com/2011/05/qed-it-pays-to-plan-ahead.html" target="_blank">I had purchased for practically nothing</a> when Borders went out of business.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The last item was a book holder so if I’m not working on the
computer I can walk and read.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Total cost: under $300.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWCMPj67BEE1GWwyEzsjUojZ4U5tkf_itLJHTLF-QSn6A4zIDPJyDElQRVYrN23aNyPk_qYn0uCESIbjHyUcMr_wc-VIg6RJEt1XOiKAgUUH6WZLGbcNLwD6keM_hzQ9NSvMRY_zOZ171n/s1600/DSC_0949.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWCMPj67BEE1GWwyEzsjUojZ4U5tkf_itLJHTLF-QSn6A4zIDPJyDElQRVYrN23aNyPk_qYn0uCESIbjHyUcMr_wc-VIg6RJEt1XOiKAgUUH6WZLGbcNLwD6keM_hzQ9NSvMRY_zOZ171n/s320/DSC_0949.JPG" width="214" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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If it works out, I might upgrade the monitor, and given what
I paid for the treadmill, I imagine I might have to replace it at some point when it quits working. But for now, this is just fine.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">(<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Now .7
mph.</i>)</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-21499223037938203082013-01-02T11:55:00.001-06:002013-01-02T11:55:31.461-06:00The New Year, For RealI'm totally unprepared for the new year. Up to now, I've always made resolutions in the fall, because ever since I was in preschool, lo these many years ago, September (and then August) was the start of the year. A year ran from the fall to the spring. And now, I have to join most of Western humanity in recognizing January 1 as the first day of the year.<br />
<br />
For the last two or so decades, my "new year" resolutions have mostly had to do with trying to sandwich writing and day-jobbing together: see more of my friends, take some time off, finish ms. X while making revisions on ms. Y.<br />
<br />
Seeing the friends takes a bit more effort than it used to, but I think I'm doing okay. I've been pretty strict about the time off, even during <a href="http://goodbyedayjob.blogspot.com/2012/11/nanowrimo-last-one.html" target="_blank">NaNoWriMo</a>. As for productivity--my agent has one project out; a second is close but might need another tweak or two, depending on said agent's thoughts after seeing the latest revision; I'm struggling with the last half-chapter of my NaNoWriMo project (it seems so obvious that it clunks); and I've made a good dent in a new non-fiction work. So that makes four in various stages of completion, and I think I'm doing okay here too.<br />
<br />
All I can come up with is to get more of an on-line presence. So here I am, blogging, and I will do my best to tweet (still haven't warmed up to Twitter) at least once a day.<br />
<br />
Seems kind of feeble, though. Any ideas?Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-22756942731959247102012-12-05T06:00:00.000-06:002012-12-05T06:00:15.073-06:00Eggs in Two BasketsIt's been a while since I had a guest post, so I'm extra thrilled to have this one from Claudia Mills. We met at a children's book festival in Missouri and have been cyber-friends ever since.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><br /></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfH_Ln8GwBt-h3_G_KgieDzPApnmF5z83ULhc9sgDGqiqEPnO5HfYnBfw33FpK8DCsQCw76wzZBiaiC8BDLRjrjbIPYPpXe_ARP5JGjHEmaJm4tak_ozbWb_o8RuwFqQvuTKfwzp414pWN/s1600/claudiamills.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfH_Ln8GwBt-h3_G_KgieDzPApnmF5z83ULhc9sgDGqiqEPnO5HfYnBfw33FpK8DCsQCw76wzZBiaiC8BDLRjrjbIPYPpXe_ARP5JGjHEmaJm4tak_ozbWb_o8RuwFqQvuTKfwzp414pWN/s1600/claudiamills.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The
thing I like best about having a day job in addition to my writing career is
the comfort of not having all my eggs in one basket. Here I’m thinking not so
much of monetary eggs, but of the kind of eggs that entitle one to brag or boast
or at the least to give oneself occasional comforting pats on the back. Because
I am both a children’s book author and a philosophy professor at the University
of Colorado at Boulder, I can pat myself on the back as either one, especially
if I’m slogging through discouragement in the other.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Kelsey-Reading-Franklin-School-Friends/dp/0374374856/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354292884&sr=1-1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMJHEIy4U7mIcaqgxV9SWpOcpPDkRadEB8zQRUxkifRalnPoN2deU5Enul-ZxHhK2COyuflvrvwgu8QZAq476DeS8thwqhVsMv5TxXXvMJFkNUkMudp9H3rniWc_tbRPL98BvOEppYvUlN/s1600/claudiakelsey.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">If I get
a snarky review of one of my books, I can tell myself, “Well, I’m a tenured
professor of philosophy, so there!” And if I get a snarky teaching evaluation
from one of my students, I can tell myself, “Well, I’m the author of almost
fifty children’s books, so there!” I always have an excuse at the ready for why
I’m not more famous or successful in either profession. For although I’ve had a
good double career, all things considered, I’m languishing in my academic
career at the Associate Professor level (where Full Professor is the best), and
in my writing career I’m definitely what’s known as a “midlist” author. No gold
seals of major awards emblazon the front covers of my books; no bestseller
lists carry my name. But, hey, for someone who has to balance the demands of
two careers (plus, for a couple of decades, the demands of a family) I’m doing
pretty darned well.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mason-Dixon-Disasters-Claudia-Mills/dp/0375872744/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354292947&sr=1-1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_TA55qXanT5aQPyR6UVa5aS37JveE9R4PDD-E3m8IATrMDFhTsg9_5zMmWhrQ5bqHN85dmx7o4hgb05THgdI6m6Lgq2CaLY36UliiVkiLaQFIcqm5pW1vd1WqyiVeQUu5NzjY5IhwPLl7/s1600/claudiamason.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">The
thing I like least about having a day job is wondering if I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">could</i> be more successful as an author if
I devoted my whole heart to my writing. <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Would</i>
I win the Newbery then? <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Would</i> my
books be read by millions of children? I’ve written a heap of books while
writing just an hour a day, so quantity hasn’t been a problem for me with a
part-time writing schedule. But would I write <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">better</i> books if I had lovely meadow-like expanses of time
stretching before me each day? I don’t know. I certainly don’t think I’ve ever
cut any corners on a book, ever dashed something off just to get it done under
a tight time constraint. My books have always been as good as I could possibly
make them. But would I be able to make them better if I had more time to dream
and “moodle” (as Brenda Ueland calls it in <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">If
You Want to Write</i>)? Perhaps.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Zero-Tolerance-Claudia-Mills/dp/0374333122/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354292995&sr=1-1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ_cnHj4fMITKqkrdQddH-u96XXV95WalyiTi4HnjN9cYXheGduq3zkG5pcIASd0XCtLr04F8k-GNVS4_NDz10ktuZ7M95DRi0GSJlZczxIqaVGQ60JszAZl2C6SdpXI6oZbQLJjQFBTEP/s1600/claudiazero.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Yet, looking
at the lives of my friends who write full time, I have to say that most of them
are not luxuriating in lovely meadow-like days. With pressures to earn the
money that my day job provides me, they spend much of their time at school
visits, self-promotion, and other tasks of the writing life that are decidedly
not dreaming or moodling, not to mention writing. Still, those activities –
time spent with children, teachers, and librarians, time spent networking with
other writers – might help me to grow as a writer. Plus, they can be fun
activities in their own right.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fractions-Trouble-Claudia-Mills/dp/1250003369/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1354293037&sr=1-1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVaFE4uJgvjqdOZuyn83d9EkJ3qkuiwkAcF_1tAmma6aYykjDxSe30DRTRBelfH2FtOtItICoFHzprQoHgCQXpfV8nwfluRm04dmqALsRbrf2gQxTq6tlQ6uZCpJXiwNn9ohjGgedpQguC/s200/claudiafractions.jpg" width="134" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">So . . .
if I thought I could write not more books but better books by quitting my day
job, I’d be terribly tempted. But what if I gave my writing my all, and I was
still a cheerful, striving midlist author and not the Next Great Thing? Without
even a self-congratulatory excuse to make myself feel better? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">I’d give
up having eggs in two baskets if I could have better, fresher, altogether more
gorgeous eggs in my writing basket. But would I? I know the only way to find
out is to try it and see. Maybe, one of these days, I will.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: small;">Claudia Mills is the author of over 50 books for young readers,
including picture books (<i>Ziggy’s Blue-Ribbon Day</i>), easy readers (the ten
books of the Gus and Grandpa series), chapter books (<i>Fractions =
Trouble!</i>, <i>Being Teddy Roosevelt</i>, <i>How Oliver Olson Changed the World</i>),
and middle-grade novels (<i>The Totally Made-Up Civil War Diary of Amanda
MacLeish</i>, <i>One Square Inch</i>). Recently, <i>How Oliver Olson Changed the
World</i> was named an ALA Notable Book of the Year, as well as a Blue
Ribbon book by the Bulletin from the Center for Children’s Books and
finalist for a Cybil Award. Claudia, who holds a Ph.D. in philosophy
from Princeton University, also has a full-time position as a professor
at the University of Colorado at Boulder and has published many
scholarly articles on ethical and philosophical themes in children’s
literature<span style="font-size: small;">. V<span style="font-size: small;">isit her <a href="http://www.claudiamillsauthor.com/" target="_blank">website</a> and her <a href="http://claudiamillsanhouraday.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">blog</a>.</span></span> </span></div>
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Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-37352641484092138042012-11-28T10:28:00.000-06:002012-11-28T10:28:09.347-06:00NaNoWriMo (last one!)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo88fz9FTHtJCTyczaWlFsBQGh9EAdg5suuruwvYrrXU7ZKUIQ1_L-S39RuumAlVtKyRr5Ps2uPNA01OW0XTOIUFlGJD9WxbI47YCuCrN_R1u1lynNs6N-YNTNYQ0aPKNzLcPMMg2MqndS/s1600/nanowrimo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo88fz9FTHtJCTyczaWlFsBQGh9EAdg5suuruwvYrrXU7ZKUIQ1_L-S39RuumAlVtKyRr5Ps2uPNA01OW0XTOIUFlGJD9WxbI47YCuCrN_R1u1lynNs6N-YNTNYQ0aPKNzLcPMMg2MqndS/s1600/nanowrimo.jpg" /></a></div>
I made the 50,000-word challenge, working on a YA novel centered around skydiving, with the working title of <i>The Icarus Syndrome</i>. I haven't quite finished the novel, although I know where it's going. I also haven't re-read it. I think it's a great big steaming pile of<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">—</span>well, garbage, I guess I have to say<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 200%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">—</span>but I won't know for sure until I've let it sit for a while and force myself to read it.<br />
<br />
I'm in serious awe of anyone who can hold a day job and do this too.
It's been consuming all my time and a great deal of my attention for
four weeks. I've learned a great deal about my own writing process as well, but I'll have to ponder that for a while too before I can define exactly what that is.<br />
<br />
This novel may never get published, but I can always look on it like a music student playing scales: I learned a lot that I can later apply to actual performance.<br />
<br />
What kept me going through this wrenching procedure was reminding myself
that if I wasn't going to be serious about this writing thing, I had no
business quitting my day job. Either I'm a writer or I'm not. Time to
put my money where my mouth was. I don't know whether I'll ever do it again, but at least this time, it was worth the time and effort.Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-52892912359260153532012-11-21T06:00:00.000-06:002012-11-21T08:12:09.031-06:00NaNoWriMo: What I've Learned So Far<center>
<img src="http://www.nanowrimo.org/widget/LiveParticipant/writingtracy.png" /></center>
<br />
1. Even though I end each day thinking that I'm all writ out and these 2,000 words are the last I'll ever write, somehow the next day I wind up writing 2,000 more.<br />
<br />
2. The parts that I have the most fun writing are the parts that require the least editing the next day. Yes, I know you're not supposed to edit during <a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/" target="_blank">NaNoWriMo</a> and I haven't really edited, meaning I haven't done a read-through of what I've written since November 1 (see counter above!), but I do start off each morning by going over what I wrote the day before to give me a springboard for the new day. And I quickly saw that the skydiving parts are a lot more fun to write <i>and</i> a lot better than the non-skydiving parts (you can see a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TARBYYHd64" target="_blank">video</a> of my recent jump, if you're interested).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc13C2NgR6gwTYfC12bF7D5diPOHZ0pE8KRrr-b6UCOUwOaQxhVjuA3kWFZ8Unot3fUfgQ-uFADZ91Vy3Iel4kDhVxoow742BrYdi2jbLfXmhZrPYfbwkDrXMDr_DbGDOA5doUnp57FcV_/s1600/DSC_9390.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc13C2NgR6gwTYfC12bF7D5diPOHZ0pE8KRrr-b6UCOUwOaQxhVjuA3kWFZ8Unot3fUfgQ-uFADZ91Vy3Iel4kDhVxoow742BrYdi2jbLfXmhZrPYfbwkDrXMDr_DbGDOA5doUnp57FcV_/s320/DSC_9390.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
3. My typing has improved radically! (I know; big deal, but I find it interesting.) Spellcheck has very little to do these days.<br />
<br />
4. If I take a day off, it's hard to get back in the groove the next day. Hmmm. Maybe, despite all my protestations, there's some truth to this "write every day" thing.<br />
<br />
5. Writing full-time is <i>hard</i>.<br />
<br />
<br />Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-2142562867502465372012-11-14T21:24:00.001-06:002012-11-14T21:24:28.311-06:00NaNoWriMo Week TwoEveryone says that Week Two is the hardest. The NaNoWriMo site even says that in Week Three you'll be singing and in Week Four you'll be saying hallelujah. Or something like that. I'm too tired after dragging out 2,000 words one by one all day to look it up. I quit at exactly 24,000.<br />
<br />
It really <i>is</i> okay if it sucks, right?Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-19707905165349045792012-11-07T07:45:00.000-06:002012-11-07T07:51:45.247-06:00NaNoWriMo: Checking In<center><img src="http://www.nanowrimo.org/widget/LiveParticipant/writingtracy.png" /></center><br /><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Like many of my friends</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—</span>and more than 200,000 people around the world</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—</span>I</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Day 1 (Nov. 1) started with 1,695 words already written, and it took me HOURS to write the 305 I needed to fill my quota. I panicked; how could I hope to write 2,000 words the next day</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—and the day after that, and the day after that, and the day after <i>that</i></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">—</span></span></span></span>if 305 were so hard? The worry seriously disrupted my sleep. Well, plus the knowledge that I was signed up to jump out of an airplane over the weekend (different post for a different day).</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Day 2: I wrote a bit over 2,000 words in six hours. OK, so it</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Tms Rmn","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">’</span></span>s do-able, but will I do nothing but write for the whole month? No research, no going back to fix something that was keeping me stuck? I know a six-hour day is a short work day, but I usually figure that research takes up about half of my time and the actual writing takes up the other half. This novel isn</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Tms Rmn","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">’t historical fiction, so a lot less research than usual is required, but still it could easily turn into a 10-hour day.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Day 3: Jumped out of a plane in the morning (and it <i>was</i> research!); wrote 2,000 words by dinner (made by supportive husband). Huh! Maybe I <i>can</i> do it!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Day 4: Done by noon. Made an amazing dinner to celebrate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Day 5: Tuesday. Hmmm. Conflict. Months ago I took a <a href="http://goodbyedayjob.blogspot.com/2012/07/independence-day.html" target="_blank">vow</a> not to write on Tuesdays (three of the above-mentioned days off, the other two being Wednesday and Thursday of Thanksgiving Week). And you know what? I woke up yesterday (Tuesday) morning with lots of ideas, itching to write them down.But on the theory that my creativity flows better when I take a break from it, I resisted the lure of the manuscript all day, jotting down </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">just </span>enough of the ideas that came to me so that when I hit it again this morning, I'll have a launching pad.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">NaNoWriMo has worked its magic; it </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">got me back in the writing groove, just like it</span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "Tms Rmn","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Tms Rmn"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">’</span></span>s supposed to do</span>. Kind of like the skydive: the anticipation is a lot scarier than the actual thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span>Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-36402217416421353702012-10-31T06:00:00.000-05:002012-10-31T07:18:07.732-05:00NaNoWriMoAs my writer friends know, "NaNoWriMo" isn't the faux-Indian name of a summer camp. Formally, it stands for "National Novel Writing Month," but for me, it means "Your Bluff Has Been Called."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nanowrimo.org/" target="_blank">NaNoWriMo</a> is a challenge that encourages participants to write an entire 50,000-word novel, or 50,000 words of a novel to be completed later, in November (why, oh why did they choose a 30-day month, and the one with Thanksgiving in it)?<br />
<br />
The point isn't to write deathless prose. The point is to get something on paper that you can then edit into deathless prose. Every day, you upload your work in progress to the site and your word count gets recorded. It's on the honor system; obviously, you could pre-write a novel and upload bits of it every day, or you could type <i>Moby-Dick</i> into the site (there's an option to encrypt your work) and no one would be the wiser. But since there's no prize aside from bragging rights and no way to police it, there's no real reason to cheat.<br />
<br />
For years I've said, "Gee, sounds like fun, and I'd do it if the day job didn't take up so much of my time." Well, now I don't have the day job. As I said, my bluff has been called.<br />
<br />
So I've signed up. And it starts tomorrow.<br />
<br />
My goal: to write every day, excluding Tuesdays (<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7553055190599614838#editor/target=post;postID=1298020722768205004" target="_blank">my day off</a>), and Wednesday and Thursday of Thanksgiving week. Hmm. That makes three days off in a row<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">—</span>guess I'll have to add the Tuesday before Thanksgiving back in. Okay, that's 25 days, so 2,000 words/day.<br />
<br />
I have a rough idea of what I plan to write, including a one-page summary of the main plot points, characters' names, etc., and even 1,695 words written, which means that I have a bit of a leg up tomorrow.<br />
<br />
I'm not very competitive with other people. Once during a marathon Hearts game my siblings refused to let me sit out any hands because they knew that if I was playing, neither of them would come in last; I just didn't care enough about winning to pay attention to what cards had been played. But I <i>am</i> competitive with myself. For instance, I always hesitate a long time before increasing the weights I use when I work
out because I know I'll never allow myself to drop back down if they
turn out to be too heavy. I'm also hesitant to start a double-crostic puzzle because I've finished every one I've ever started. I know that someday that streak will end, and that will <i>kill</i> me.<br />
<br />
So with that attitude I'm pretty sure that I'll hit 50,000 words by the end of the month.<br />
<br />
The question is: Will any of it be worth saving?<br />
<br />Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7553055190599614838.post-74651675168936303612012-10-17T06:00:00.000-05:002012-10-17T06:00:16.176-05:00A Benefit of *Having Had* a Day Job<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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For a long time I had to juggle a lot of things: a family, a
day job, volunteering, and writing—first a doctoral dissertation, then books
for young readers. In the process, I discovered something:</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<i>“Organized” is an adjective, and like many adjectives, it’s
changeable. “To organize” is a verb, and like many verbs, it’s something you
can choose to do.</i></div>
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<br /></div>
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It irritates me when people say, “Oh, I
wish I were organized like you,” as though it were something you’re born
with (maybe some people are—I certainly wasn’t!) like being tall or left-handed. Not true; I’m living proof. I realized that in order to be able to do all the things I wanted to do, I couldn’t afford not to organize my life. Choice: don’t organize and give up writing, or organize and have the time to write? Simple. I organized. This decision served me
well in the dissertation years and then when I began my real
writing career. It’s become a habit, and even though I have more time at my
disposal now, it’s one I adhere to.</div>
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<br /></div>
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Even though I’ve ditched the day job, I still have a
time-consuming volunteer position as <a href="http://www.scbwi.org//" target="_blank">SCBWI</a>’s U.S. Regional Advisor Coordinator. It’s been more time-consuming than usual lately, as I’ve been
taking in and processing RA grant requests. But I’m still finding time to write,
because I formed the habit of organizing years ago, under day-job pressure.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My top tips for how to organize a writer’s life:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkw9PZ8kHZOhxN_bsiP_7mMSnH51k0q3kYw-Vmo6PbypJMu-0TBpGBKDlpTQ-8TrHtCA1gztj2KhlhmRJGldg3EuPsMk-zVwQw7NBwW67O5vca3nOPxbYMskTsv0x9hY0GyW9lYYC4pGWM/s1600/study.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkw9PZ8kHZOhxN_bsiP_7mMSnH51k0q3kYw-Vmo6PbypJMu-0TBpGBKDlpTQ-8TrHtCA1gztj2KhlhmRJGldg3EuPsMk-zVwQw7NBwW67O5vca3nOPxbYMskTsv0x9hY0GyW9lYYC4pGWM/s200/study.JPG" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Everything I need is in reach</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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1. Have a dedicated writing space, whether it’s a tiny
computer shelf or a luxurious studio (still pining for that one). Do all your
writing, research, cogitating, communicating, etc. in that spot. In an earlier post I said that I never wrote my children’s
books at my day job, and never brought day-job work home. (Well, rarely.) Set up your
spot so that you don’t have to move from it to get your work done. That way you won’t wonder what you did with something—it’s right there!</div>
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<br /></div>
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2. Don’t write notes on easily lost post-its or little scraps of paper.
I have a white board next to my desk so I can turn and scribble something down
without interrupting the writing flow. During writing breaks I copy those
notes into the appropriate file on my computer.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
3. Have a backup system. Back up all your files, all the
time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
4. Respond to emails immediately, or at least make a start on a reply. If I don’t, I forget them. But if it’s a sensitive topic
or one that you need to think about, save your reply as a draft. I don’t put the recipient’s address in the draft so as not to send it
prematurely. Seeing that I have a draft waiting to be sent is enough to remind
me to finish it and send it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTV9dv4mKfR43eQm9FgVIGBvyExuYTnOB0aKfShlIn6AUi64FLXYr7AM3kPVtM7yITvW73OpA19WRC2hBWobspXviBkSMWvgC0bjOcnY2wbS41-LOHxp2js7QZ-agNyyCgBnOvzJDm2mI4/s1600/study2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTV9dv4mKfR43eQm9FgVIGBvyExuYTnOB0aKfShlIn6AUi64FLXYr7AM3kPVtM7yITvW73OpA19WRC2hBWobspXviBkSMWvgC0bjOcnY2wbS41-LOHxp2js7QZ-agNyyCgBnOvzJDm2mI4/s200/study2.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I just swivel my chair to see this</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
5. Label things. You’ll forget what they are if you don’t, I
promise. This set of office mailboxes that I rescued from the trash at the day job is one of my favorite things, and the slots where names used to be are perfect for labeling each cubby’s contents.<br />
<br />
6. Get rid of dead wood. This is what my math teacher used to say when simplifying fractions, and it makes a great deal of sense. Why poke through a lot of stuff you’ll never need in order to find something? Both on-line and in real life, excess stuff just gets in your way. You can always keep it—just get it out of sight.</div>
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<br /></div>
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7. Lastly, remove “being organized” from your vocabulary,
and add “to organize”!</div>
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<![endif]-->Tracy Barretthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17668453323039794253noreply@blogger.com2