Linda Urban's Blog

So. Risk.
The idea is that when we know the spine of our work and our Big Why for writing, we're ready to challenge ourselves. To take risks.

Now, the risk may be different with each project, but I'm willing to bet that underneath it all there is one consistent risk that you take over and over, one that is related to your spine as a writer.

I know that was true for the friends that I emailed with about this topic, and it was Jo Knowles who expressed it best. Now Jo, in case you don't know, is...

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So, we talked about challenge in relation to form here and here.
And we talked, too, about the spine of the work and the spine of the writer (the Big Why that keeps you writing).

I'd like to go back to challenge and risk for this post, because two of the friends I chatted with after my first challenge post wrote to me about the challenge for writing deep emotion. Both of these women are smart and honest writers. Both of them are kind and sincere people. And both faced the challenge of gettin...

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Yesterday, Sara Lewis Holmes and I talked about establishing a formal challenge for yourself when constructing a work of fiction -- how such a challenge can serve as motivation, can underscore the spine of the book, and can structure the work in such a way as to make it manageable. Here's that conversation. And if you're not sure what I mean when I say spine, I'm using it in a particular, Twyla Tharpian way, which you can find explained here.

There were tons of interesting comments in the tr...

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Okay, you say, isn't just showing up and putting words on the page challenge enough?

I think that for some of us, just getting the story down is pretty challenging, so I'm not going to discount that for a second. But I also think that focusing on that challenge is also what can be debilitating for many writers. Sometimes we get too wrapped up in it.

Sometimes it helps to have another challenge to focus on.

Like when I take my kids to the local candy shop, Delish*. They want everything in the ...

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Just a quick follow-up.
The Burlington Bookfest was wonderful. Fun and funny and great to see so many people who care about kids and books. You may already have seen this photo on Jo and Kate's blogs, but I'm posting it anyway, because it is a great reminder for me of the day, and because my hair looks good.




That's Kate Messner, Jo Knowles, and Julie Berry seated. Me and Tanya Lee Stone are standing. You can tell that Tanya is the seasoned pro amongst us. She's the only one wearing color a...

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Are you still thinking about spines and challenges? Good. Keep thinking. We'll talk more about that soon. Today? Just a little current event.

If you live anywhere near the Burlington Vermont area, take note. This weekend is the Burlington Book Festival at which there will be a bucketful of children's authors and illustrators, including Jo Knowles, Tanya Lee Stone, Julie Berry, Kate Messner, and me all speaking on a panel. We'll be talking about writing for kids -- the craft, the busines...

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So, we've got these two things to hold onto now.
1. Our own writerly spine. Our Big Why. Our Reason for Writing.
2. The spine of the work. That little hold-in-your hand notion that we can return to whenever we're feeling lost.

Feeling good?
I'm glad.

Because once we've got those two things firmly in our grasp, it is time to jump. To take risks. To try something wild and new and frightening.

What that is, only you know.

For some of us, frightening is in the content of the work. The subject matter, th...

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Yesterday, I posted about finding your own spine as a writer -- your Big Why, your reason for doing what you do, that thing which keeps you upright and centered.

The concept of the spine comes from Twyla Tharp's book The Creative Habit. She's a dancer and choreographer, Ms. Tharp is, and she uses the metaphor of the spine to think about the organizing principle around which a particular dance is centered.

Listen, here's what she says (page 142-143 if you want to follow along in your hymnal):
Th...

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This summer I taught a revision workshop at The Pacific Northwest Children's Book Conference. I covered all the nuts and bolts stuff, but I began the workshop by asking each participant to consider her spine.

Not her backbone (except maybe metaphorically), her spine -- the thing which centers her as a writer. That which holds her up. Her "Big Why" for doing what she does.

See, conferences -- even nurturing conferences like this one -- can bring out the competitor in us. We can hear about this p...

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I am listening again to Granny Torelli Makes Soup on my iPod. (I don't have music on there. It is all recorded books.) I am noticing how this book, half of which takes place in one location, Rosie's kitchen, balances the static setting with tons of zippy, zingy, action-y verbs. Here, I'm going to pull out the book and show you what I mean:

"She reaches in the freezer, snatches some chicken, flips it into the microwave, zaps it to defrost. Seizes the big red pot, fills it with water, tosses i

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