Inspirational Storymakers Keynote, Martine Leavitt

I have known Martine Leavitt for some time now. She's the most gracious, and kind person you could ever meet. Martine was my WIFYR Conference instructor for 2 and 1/2 (the half is a long story) workshops, including two years ago when I got to be her assisstant. She's smart, well prepared and I just wanted to soak in all that knowledge. I'm trying hard to incorporate what she taught me, from emotional and concrete desires and objective correllative to metaphor.

Martine also encouraged me to keep writing and believe in my gift. That means more than I can say.

Last weekend as the LDStorymakers conference keynote speaker, Martine shared her personal experiences with writing.

Martine has seven children, and says she used a trick of putting them in the tub with lots of bubbles and writing as she sat on the toilet seat.

"I couldn’t write to a certain word count, or a certain number of pages. Nothing could be guaranteed. But I needed to write myself soul-fed and happy. I discovered that I didn’t need to write a lot to be happy, I just needed to write something good. I found that even a single perfect, beautiful sentence with perhaps a fresh and compelling image, could make me feel nourished and ready to take on the burgeoning masses."

Exactly. I, too, need to write to feel soul-fed and happy. I recently listened to part of a Q&A with David Archuleta on lds.org. He described not understanding his feelings until he began to sing. When my feelings confuse me, I write them out until they make sense.

Martine spoke of how each writer has different needs. Like Virginia Woolfe, she wanted time and a place of her own. But writing while seated at the edge of a child-and-bubble filled tub taught her "to write spare and taut, to write each word as if it were special, precious, to write a sentence that nobody else in the world had written."

Just as she was asked to teach at Vermont College of Fine Arts, a part-time position that would give her the time she craved, Martine was also asked to serve as Relief Society president, a very busy LDS church position where she would work closely with the local bishop and be responsible to administer to the needs of all the women in the local congregation. As she did for her children, Martine again sacrficed her precious time.

Martine told us that her time in church service taught her love, an emotion that she poured into her next incredible book, MY BOOK OF LIFE BY ANGEL. She says, "It was a small book written with great love. As it turns out, learning to love better was something I needed more than time."

I came home after the keynote to very unexpected news that made me weep. Which made me all the more grateful for these words from Martine: "The very things that appear to be obstacles may be the very thing we need to make our first book or our next book the best book we can write."

It isn't so much that I think of my life trials simply as future book material. It's much more than that. I can only write that which I am. Martine's books are full of hope, goodness, compassion and light simply because that's who she is. Martine is someone who chose to take her life experiences as a mother, a single parent, a student, a teacher, and a woman of faith, and learned to craft not only one perfect sentence, many quite perfect books, but also to write a life. The audience, seeing the result of effort combined with love, gave her a standing ovation. Martine touched our hearts and inspired us. I hope to emulate her example both in my days and in my writing.

Elements of A Stand-Out Novel

A recent Query Tracker blog post by Rosie Genova quotes agent Michelle Wolfson: “I challenge you to make me fall in love with your work.”

That’s quite a challenge.

During a WIFYR Boot Camp Workshop, writer Ann Dee Ellis spoke of her conversation with conference editors. Ann Dee indicated writers often don’t understand just how special a book has to be in order to get published.

What, in your opinion, makes a book stand out?

Great voice?

A unique and interesting setting?

An action-filled plot that keeps the reader wondering what happens next?

The trilogy I’m currently reading has all three. Great voice that’s easy to relate to, characters so interesting I’ll miss them when the book ends, a setting I’m fascinated to learn about, and action that keeps me wondering.

Think about what you’re reading now. What made you pick this book? And what keeps you reading it?

Then go polish your manuscript until it shines. 

I also recommend a great post by David Farland on kicking your writing up a notch. http://www.davidfarland.com/writing_tips/?a=363

 Originally posted on the wifyr blog http://www.wifyr.com/blog/2014

Rate Your Skill at Critique

It's interesting how we go to Writing classes and workshops, pay for pitch sessions, all for the opportunity to hear feedback, including criticism, on our work. Talking with someone about critiques, I realize I used to be too nit-picky. (My apologies to you who had to deal with my comma-Nazi former self.) I hope experience has taught me to criticize less and help more.

 

Here are the questions I posted on the WIFYR blog as ways to evaluate how well we do in the critique setting, both for giving and receiving advice on our writing.

 

Are you open to advice that can improve your work? As much as we'd all like to hear our work is wonderful, we only improve when we are willing to listen to ideas that make good writing better.

 

Do you listen rather than argue? When others critique you, stay quiet and give them a full chance to talk. You don't have to agree, but chances are you can still learn from their ideas. In a group critique, pay attention when it's another's turn. You can learn a lot from others' work, too.

 

When critiquing, are you positive and kind?  Having your writing critiqued has been compared to holding your firstborn child up for scrutiny. The author or illustrator has put weeks, months, or years of effort into his/her work. Start by saying something good, and then tread gently.

Are your comments helpful and selective? Overly harsh critiques are a sure sign of the inexperienced writer. Learn to choose which comments to make, and don't rail on every flaw.

 

No one enjoys criticism, but these techniques can help turn your critique into a positive experience that can move you one footstep closer to publication.

I had to add that last bit because of the cool photo I got of my daughter's footprints (barefoot was not my idea) after it snowed.