ROW80 2014, Round 1, Week 3

This week I spent a lot of time socializing, saying goodbye to some of my friends in the Portland area, and some time editing, and that's about all I felt I really had time for.

Despite the fact that I've consistently been falling short of my goals so far this round, I'm not ready to reevaluate my goals yet. Now that I'm going to be more or less stable for the next few months (and have many fewer friends in this part of the state), I'm hopeful that I can get myself in gear, buckle down, put my nose to the grindstone, [insert other diligent-worker metaphor here], etc., etc.

Even so, I did get *some* of my goals this week accomplished (or partially accomplished). Behold!

A year and a month

Today marks exactly one year and one month since I began freelancing and writing full-time. Since I have no interview to post today, I thought I'd spend some time reflecting over my progress. What have I accomplished in that time? (Obviously will not be an exhaustive list, just the highlights.)

Business Development

• Learned how to use Twitter & now have over 1,100 Twitter followers (plus over 700 followers for my pseudonym)
• Began working with two fabulous business coaches: Jim Newcomer of Balance Breakthrough Coaching; and Jackie Babicky, author of Better, Smarter, Richer: Seven Business Principles for Solopreneurs 
• Narrowed my business focus down to editing and writing coaching
• Am only a few days' consistent traffic away from 1800 hits/month on this blog - WOOT!

Trista Cornelius article published

My latest (and probably last) VoiceCatcher article is up on their site today. In my interview with Trista Cornelius - writer, artist and college writing instructor - we talked about what can happen when creative people don't create, the fear involved not only in putting one's work out there but also in creating it in the first place, and the faith in oneself needed to pursue one's dreams.

Click here to read "Leap of Faith: A Conversation with Trista Cornelius."

Writing prompt 13

Today's post contains this week's writing prompt and a ROW80 update.

Prompt
Write a story in three paragraphs about a person - real or imagined - who is either wise but not smart or smart but not wise.

ROW80 update
In last week's update I laid out seven priorities (in order of importance) for my life and work. Even the act of creating that list was helpful to me. Beyond that, I think the list will help me make decisions on daily basis about the order in which I do my work. Hooray!

And now it's time to revisit my goals for this round of ROW80.

Market research: Inaccurate Realities & Writing prompt 10

Fair warning: today's post covers a lot of ground. Not only did I go hunting for another literary magazine to review, but I chose one with an upcoming themed submission deadline to inspire this week's writing prompt. And finally, there's also a ROW80 update. I've used bold headings so you can skip ahead to whatever interests you most.

Market research
Inaccurate Realities

• Brand-spanking-new online and print quarterly publication. First issue scheduled to be released October 2013.
• Paying market - currently offering token payment of $15-25 per story.
• Specialize in short (2K-5K words) speculative fiction stories for young adults.
• Submission guidelines don't say whether they accept previously published work, but I tracked them down on Twitter & they said they do accept it so long as the rights have reverted back to the author. Simultaneous subs okay. Only one sub per issue, but can sub to more than one issue at a time.
• Submissions accepted via email only, and only in the body of the email (no attachments).
• If accepted, they get worldwide first print & electronic English-language rights and exclusive rights for one year.

Celina Wigle article published

 My latest VoiceCatcher article is up on the site today! This one features Celina Wigle: poet, improvisational spoken word artist, post-partum doula, nanny freelance ghostwriter and editor, and possible dominatrix-in-training. Really, this woman is amazing.

Click here to read "Fearless: A Conversation with Celina Wigle."

Liz Prato article published

My latest article for Voicecatcher, a feature on local writer, massage therapist and writing teacher Liz Prato, went up today. Woot!

Click here to read "Persistence is a Virtue: A Conversation with Liz Prato."

Diane English article published

A couple of months ago I had the pleasure of talking with Diane English, one of the founders of VoiceCatcher, about the birth of that journal and organization. Today the article about that conversation has gone up on their website.

Click here to read "In Dreams Begin Collaboration: A Conversation with Diane English."

ROW80 update

1. Be a ROW80 sponsor.
Ugh. Totally failed last week at checking other people's blogs, commenting, and writing my own post. I blame life. Will do better this week.

But on the bright side, my guest post, "You can't get there from here," went up today on the ROW80 blog. Woo hoo!
 
2. Write my chapter of the chain story I mentioned in this post. 
Still waiting for it. Still not ready to write it when it does come.

3. Do three public readings.
On Friday I attended the second Fridays on the Boulevard open mic at The Attic Institute and was chosen to read. Woot! I read "Like a Woman in Love" and this other, short poem that originally appeared, untitled, in a post on my World Citizen blog:

Book recommendation, ROW80 check-in

Before I do anything else, I want to recommend the book Wedlocked by Jay Ponteri. In a nutshell, it's a memoir about a man who suffers from depression and feels a lack of connection both with himself and with his wife and ends up having emotional affairs with other women.  I finished reading it this week. It's incredibly sad, but also incredibly interesting and, in a way, hopeful. It offers a model for being truly honest with ourselves and others...which perhaps is a bit ironic, since the narrator admits to lying so much to himself and to his wife.

I will admit that I probably wouldn't even know about this book were it not for the fact that I used to work with Jay. Regardless, I maintain that it's an incredibly worthwhile read, especially for those who wish to write honestly and openly about their experiences as human beings, especially those experiences with which our culture is intensely uncomfortable to the point of deafening silence.

What I'm saying is that this book has inspired me to write creative non-fiction again and to be honest with myself and others about my feelings and experiences. There is no greater gift.

Okay. Now here's my progress on my ROW80 goals this week:

Robin Schauffleur interview published

Just a quick note to announce that my interview with Robin Schauffler is up today on the VoiceCatcher.org website.

Click here to read "Starting Conversations: An Interview with Robin Schauffler."

Settling for straightforward

Finally I realized that the reason I wasn't writing this post--the reason it's a day late--was because I wanted it to be brilliant and deep and intensely interesting to everyone. I wanted to find something to write about that would sing straight into your soul and change your life. No pressure, right?

Instead I'm settling for a very straightforward ROW80 update. Sorry.

1. Be a ROW80 sponsor.
(a) I checked in on my assigned participants on Monday and Thursday, left comments on their blogs, and even went back to see if they'd responded to my comments. (Most of them did.) Success!
(b) One of my sponsor duties is to write an inspirational blog post that Kait Nolan, our fearless leader, will post on the ROW80 blog sometime during this round. Post written and approved! Kait informed me it'll be posted May 3rd. Woot!

2. Write my chapter of the chain story I mentioned in this post.
N/A - story has not yet come to me (thank goodness). If my luck holds out, I won't have to turn my attention to this until May. Fingers crossed. And toes. And eyes. And cilia.

3. Do three public readings.

A fool in April

It's Day 1 of Round 2 of A Round of Words in 80 Days, and I'm already behind.

What were my goals again? Copied & pasted from my last post:

Goals for Round 2

1. Be a sponsor! =*D I mentioned this a couple weeks ago. Very excited.
2. Write my chapter of the chain story I mentioned in this post.
3. Do three public readings. Two are already scheduled. Third one will probably be an open mic.
4. Continue to try to get more involved in the local writing community: attend more readings, go down and check out The Attic Institute, participate in a writing group.
5. Continue to write monthly articles for VoiceCatcher.
6. Focus on my pseudonym's novel.
7. Try to stop trying to do too much. [Emphasis added.]

Oh, man. This is going to be a tough one. My to-do list for today had 19 items on it. I got nine of them done--10 counting this blog post--and a bunch of other stuff that wasn't even on the list. I seriously need to learn to prioritize.

And at the time I originally posted the above list, I'd forgotten about one more goal: apply for writing fellowships/grants as part of my strategy for making writing pay.

And it's a "secret" goal of mine to get back to those five short stories I was working on last round after I finish up my pseudonym's novel next month. "Secret" meaning I'm pretending it's not a goal, but it really is.

Try to do too much? Who, me? Naaaahhhh... o_O

Update at six minutes to midnight: 11 items on today's to-do list accomplished. Just finished checking in on my assigned ROW80 participants and commenting on their posts. Go, me! *weakly raises fist in air, then collapses into bed*

Carrie Padian article published

Just a quick note this morning to announce that the VoiceCatcher article about Carrie Padian is up today. Yay!

Click here to read "The Heart Part: An Interview with Carrie Padian."

Willa Schneberg article published

As you may recall from my blog post "On working with an editor," in November and December I interviewed and wrote an article about Portland poet, ceramic artist, photographer and psychotherapist Willa Schneberg for VoiceCatcher, a local org dedicated to supporting women artists and writers in the Portland/Vancouver area.

The article is finally published! Click here to read "Capturing the Essence of Things: A Conversation with Willa Schneberg."

On working with an editor

YYAAAAAYY!!! *twirly dance twirly dance twirly dance* It is SO AWESOME to be working with an editor! I love it!

So I've started volunteering for VoiceCatcher, which so far has been a great experience. I've agreed to interview past contributors to the journal--both artists and writers--and write one article per month for the blog based on those interviews. One interview/article per contributor.

My first assignment was to interview and write about Willa Schneberg, who is an amazing person and whose website you really need to check out. Anyway, when I was done with the initial draft of the article on her, it ended up being a little over 1600 words--eek! Obviously too long, but I didn't know what to cut out. Everything I'd written seemed important to me. If I were on my own, I would've had to set it aside for a while or make random guesses about what other people might find less compelling than other bits.

Feel the fear and do it anyway

Today I did some developmental editing work for a couple of clients, and my interactions with them over the last couple of days have reminded me what a terrifying thing it can be to share one's work, especially with a stranger. I know that all my writing--whether fiction, poetry, or creative non-fiction--holds clues about my inner self, and that makes it risky to share.

An extreme example: I took a creative non-fiction writing class in the spring, and every week we had to turn in two pages that we'd written that week. Except we didn't just have to turn it in to the instructor; we had to read it aloud to 2-3 of our classmates. So terrifying! I was producing some really raw, vulnerable stuff, and it was hard enough to let someone else read it, much less read it aloud in front of people whom I didn't know well or at all.

Fall 2012 VoiceCatcher is out

Three reasons to care about the new issue of VoiceCatcher, an online literary journal, that just went live today:

1. "VoiceCatcher is a nonprofit community that connects, inspires and empowers women writers and artists in the greater Portland, Oregon and Vancouver, Washington area."
2. This is their inaugural online issue (they were a print journal previously), and it's a BEAUTIFUL issue that includes some amazing writing.
3. My creative non-fiction piece "On Voice" is in it. =*D

Here is the link, for your convenience: http://voicecatcherjournal.org/ Happy reading!