Lily Iona MacKenzie's Blog, page 55

Five Posts to Write Right Now

lilyionamackenzie:

For writers who need inspiration!

Originally posted on The Daily Post:

No matter how long you’ve been writing, some days, it feels like inspiration just won’t come. If you’re stuck on what to write next, or just want to try something new, take a crack at one of these post ideas.

1. What does Utopia look like to you?

Every single day around the world, there are protests, elections, and burgeoning grassroots campaigns all resulting in a step forward, or a step backward, depending on who you ask. Many people devote their lives towards creating a better life for their children and grandchildren, letting their vision of the future guide their present.

Yet everyone’s vision of the world they’d like their children, metaphorical or not, to inherit is very different. What type of world do you strive to create in your day-to-day life? What actions can we take to improve the lives of others? What’s a cause that’s important to you? Tell…

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Birthing a Novel

The publishing date for Fling! draws nearer (July 1), and today my manuscript arrived with the final editing suggestions marked. Since the novel has gone through numerous drafts, the editing is light, mainly copy-editing things.

But the road to this moment has been a long one. When I reviewed my notes for Fling!, I was amazed to discover I had started working on it in 1999. When I first began, I had hoped to write a lyrical novel a la Virginia Woolf. But my husband called my attention to a review of another Canadian writer���s book, Barbara Gowdy���s Mister Sandman. When I read of her comic sense, ���both inventive and tough,��� I realized again how much I wanted to and can write in this way. But I also had resisted it because the style seems limited to certain topics. It���s difficult to write beautifully and be funny, and I was letting my desire for beauty inhibit the progression of what later became Fling!

I was particularly taken by how Gowdy steered her story between fantasy and probability, between caricature and portrayal, between broad, cruel social comedy and a sympathetic understanding of thwarted and unhappy people. It gave me hope that I could do something similar but in my own unique way.

In a short story I had written then, I got close to this type of vision. It was great fun to do, but it scared me because it got out of control. By that I mean it slipped out of the ordinary way of seeing into something else. At the time I wondered if perhaps it was my own perverse, bizarre self I feared. But my husband embraces it and encouraged me. He loves that kind of humor. But at the moment, I was torn between this tendency and my more conventional style. I love things that are a bit mad, strange. Over the edge.

That���s one reason why writers like Roberto Bolano appeal to me. He writes realistically, but his work always has echoes of something else running through it. Something elusive that, as a reader, I can���t quite grasp. His narratives aren���t exactly dream-like, but they also aren���t mired in quotidian details. And he has a wonderful wit.

So it���s interesting for me to review how Fling! evolved. My notes show how the writer is so intricately interwoven into her work. I was not only unearthing my characters as I wrote, but I also was excavating myself. I would love to hear if other writers have had similar experiences.

Filed under: Links Tagged: Barbara Gowdy, Mr. Sandman, Roberto Bolano, writing a novel

Interview with guest author Andrea Cumbo-Floyd

Andrea Cumbo-Floyd is a writer, editor, and writing teacher who has written The Slaves Have Names: Ancestors of my Home about the people who were enslaved on the plantation where she was raised and about her journey to get to know them. She and her husband live and thrive at God’s Whisper Farm at the edge of Virginia’s Blue Ridge. You can read more of her work at her website���http://www.andilit.com.

��������������Who are your literary influences or inspiration?��

I could go on and on here, but I’ll just list a few���Marilynne Robinson, Kathleen Norris, Tracy Kidder, Octavia Butler, A.S. Byatt, JoAnn Beard, and so many more.

��������������What have people most liked or found most meaningful/funny/creative/ challenging about your book?

In��The Slaves Have Names,��readers have taken hope, I think, in finding the stories of enslaved people because those stories are so rare.�� We have a few slave narratives, which everyone who REALLY wants to know about the experience and history of slavery should read, but we really don’t have much beyond that. So several readers have told me they appreciated hearing what I could find about the people enslaved at the plantation where I was raised and also my attempts to imagine their lives when the facts gave out.

��������������Why do you write?

It’s something that many writers have said, of course, but I write to know what I think, to understand why I feel the way I do, to clarify my own experiences.�� I also write because I don’t know how not to.



��������������As a result of publishing your book, what have you learned about yourself and/or the writing process?

Oh goodness, I’ve learned lots of things.�� I realize I was impatient with getting��The Slaves Have Names��out. I could have taken more time to edit, to get the cover just right (although I love the cover my husband designed), to get the marketing plan in place a bit more.�� But I’m usually one to act fast and then deal with the consequences���good or���so this is no different.

I’ve also learned that despite the fact that I KNOW that my book cannot appeal to all people, I am still quite disheartened by bad reviews.�� So I”m learning to not read those unless I’m in a good head and heart space.����

��������������Where do your characters come from?��Since I write largely about the history and legacy of slavery, my characters often are historical people whom I am trying to uncover.�� Or in the case of the YA novel I’m editing now, most of the characters are loosely based on people I know or have researched. But for one���Moses���he walked into my imagination a fully-formed person; still, though, he is much like I imagine my 3x great-grandfather James Henry Cumbo being.



��������������What does your writing space look like?… like do you have a crazy mess of a desk full of notes and post its? Or is it a quaint chair at a coffee shop?��

I have just moved into my new office, which was the summer kitchen here at our 210-year-old Virginia farm.�� I sit where the cookstove was, and my desk is placed where I imagine the enslaved woman who cooked in this kitchen stood.�� I have three windows and the original door still hands directly across from my chair.�� It’s made up of five vertical boards and three wide boards to hold it together.�� The original latch is still there.�� It’s a peaceful, rich space, and I treasure it and all the stories it carries in itself.



��������������What���s the hardest part of writing or publishing?


For me, getting to the page is the hardest.�� I will exude a tremendous amount of energy to avoid getting started. I haven’t quite figured out why that is yet, but I find that when I actually start, the writing is not that hard.�� Editing is hard but drafting comes pretty easy for me . . . if I can just get myself to start.



��������������What writing mistakes do you find yourself making most often?


Well, I keep forgetting that starting is hard, so there’s that.�� I also tend to rush the editing, and that’s never good.�� I’m trying to rectify those habits of mine.�� In terms of mistakes in the writing, I still can’t get “its” and “it’s” right as I draft, and the right uses of “lie,” “lay,” “laid,” etc still baffle me.�� That’s why I hire an editor. :)��

��������������How would you like your books to change the world?



What a great question!�� I would like for my books to help people see that they can look at the history and legacy of slavery with open eyes and open hearts and find healing and magic there.�� We are so afraid of this history, so ashamed, too.�� But until we will see it, we cannot heal from it.�� So I hope my books help people see.



��������������Where would your dream book signing occur?


I want to say that I’d love to sign books at Powell’s or the Strand bookstores, and of course, I would be so honored. But what comes to mind now is a dock overlooking some body of water���maybe a lake here in Virginia���with people sipping something delightful, eating locally-grown and rich snacks, and enjoying an evening together while I signed.����
Filed under: guest authors Tagged: Andrea Cumbo-Floyd, slaves, virginia

What’s in a Name?

I���ve been thinking today about names and how they inform our lives. When we���re born, our parents select a name for us that starts us on our journey. It might have some mythical weight to it, like Adam or Naomi. In that case, we���re already embedded in an archetypal story. The Biblical Adam makes me think of a male archetype, one who is grounded in masculine stereotypes of responsibility and obedience. With Naomi, there is another Biblical connection. A woman whose life is filled with strife, she is fortified by Ruth her daughter-in-law.

It���s never clear how much or how little our names influence our future or the story of our lives, but in my case, I was named after my mother (my first name). My second name Iona is an island off the coast of Scotland that has mystical connotations. It also was the name of a woman one of my uncles was dating when I was born who also had dark eyes and dark hair. Did this stranger have an impact on the person I am today?

Since I don���t know the stranger, I only have the island to speculate on. After hearing Carl Jung speak of our number one and number two personalities, the number one being the persona we show to the world, the number two expressing our more invisible inner self, I have considered Lily to be my number one personality and Iona my number two. But what does that mean? My number one helps me to interact socially. It���s the extroverted self I use when teaching or conducting union business or even interacting with friends. But my number two, Iona, is the self I write from. It���s the part that embraces certain aspects of a more spiritual life, though not in the organized religion sense. I meditate most days from that dimension. I also embrace my dreams as Iona. And it���s why I insist on using my full name, Lily Iona MacKenzie, rather than just Lily MacKenzie. I am all of the above.

But by having Lily for my first name, I was immediately in competition with the original Lily, not a comfortable position for a daughter. Luckily, my mother chose to be called by her second name, Barbara, reducing some of the conflict. Still, I knew that my name wasn���t really my own. I was sharing it with another family member. Yet at times I didn���t want to be identified with the person I was sharing it with. It meant I wasn���t setting off on my own path, as Joseph Campbell might say. Rather, I was picking up on my mother���s, a crooked road that already had footprints on it. I wanted my own.

Eventually, I found it. But I still stumble onto my mother���s at times. When I notice myself having difficulty following directions, I���m wearing my mother���s shoes. When I feel fogged up and unable to follow logical reasoning, I���m inhabiting her world. There are many other instances as well, too many to innumerate here, the point being that names have meaning, whether they���re our own names or our characters. And it���s important to be conscious of the impact they have.

Filed under: Links Tagged: iona, joseph campbell,

Interview with guest author Janet K. Brown

Thanks to Janet Brown for being my guest.��Following is an interview I recently had with Janet.

How do you come up with book titles?

With Victoria and the Ghost, I named it for my granddaughter. It was never changed. With my devotion book, Divine Dining, my publisher changed it. I had titled it My Way or God���s Way. He thought it was too long & needed to be catchier.

With the new book, Worth Her Weight, I started with two other working titles. The first one was Higher Power. The second was Liberty for Lacey. My critique group suggested using a title with something about self worth. With their approval, I came up with Worth Her Weight since it involved a food addiction with my heroine overweight to begin with. Pen-L Publishing did not change that one.

As people learned about your book, what unexpected things happened along the way?

Most readers, so far, identify with Lacey���s food addiction. Since I���ve lived with the problem all my adult life, I was surprised to find a couple who said, ���That���s not realistic. No one can eat that much food.��� Boy, do I have news for them!

Why do you write?

Because I must. That���s the simplest, most straightforward answer. If you can give up writing, you weren���t meant to write. I can���t give it up.

Why do I write what I do? I consider my writing as a ministry. I type while God dictates.

As a result of publishing your book, what have you learned about yourself and/or the writing process?

Many years ago, I published my first short stories. Publishing a book, now three books, is like a dream come true. If I never do anything else with my writing, I feel so blessed to have lived my dream.

Since publishing, I have learned that the process is much harder and takes more patience than I ever thought possible.

At what moment did you decide you were a writer?

In ninth grade, my English teacher gave me a rough time. My essays and book reports had more red marks than a child with measles. Near the end of the year, I asked her why she picked on me more than anyone.

She said, ���Because, Janet, I see promise in you that I don���t see in others. I want you to work harder.���

I was hooked.

What does your writing space look like?��

I converted our formal living room into my study. We put French doors on it to close it off because it stays messy. I have my old piano and my mother���s love seat in the room. I have a curio cabinet, a book shelf loaded with books, and two file cabinets. One desk holds papers and my printer. The computer desk has the monitor and lots of papers. Above my desk is a picture of Texas bluebonnets, and the other side has a plaque that reads, ���Lo, I am with you alway. ���Jesus.���

How do you start a novel/story?

I have an idea.
I start writing until I���ve finished a rough draft of about 3 chapters.
Then, I draw an amoeba-shaped picture to plan the big things that I want to happen including the ending. (As far as I know at that point.) This website shows you what I mean by an amoeba-shaped picture and how it evolves:��http://4rvreading-writingnewsletter.b...
I interview thoroughly my main characters and do a brief interview of secondary characters.
Then, I go back to writing. I write without editing the whole rough draft until I add ���The End.���
Then, it���s reread and edit about 4-5 times over.

What feeds your process? Can you listen to music and write or not… can you write late at night or are you a morning person… when the spark happens, do you run for the pen or the screen or do you just hope it is still there tomorrow?

I write best in the morning when everything is quiet. I have been known to jot down notes, or even dreams, when I come across things to include in a story.

Where do your ideas come from for stories/books

Everywhere- from what happens to me, from what happens to others, to what I read in the paper or see on TV. A story is around every corner.

How much time do you spend writing each day?

It varies. When I���m in heavy promotion time, I do well to get in an hour a day. When a book is coming together and that spark you were talking about is alive, I might write four-five hours a day. I do try to write something every day to keep my head in the story.

Here is Janet’s bio and her book information:

Janet K. Brown lives in Wichita Falls, Texas with her husband, Charles. Writing became her second career after retirement from medical coding.

Worth Her Weight will be the author���s debut inspirational women���s fiction, but it makes a perfect companion to her recently released��Divine Dining: 365 Devotions to Guide You to Healthier Weight and Abundant Wellness. Both books encompass her passion for diet, fitness, and God���s Word.

Worth Her Weight marks Brown���s third book. Who knew she had a penchant for teens and ghosts? She released her debut novel, an inspirational young adult, Victoria and the Ghost, in July, 2012.

Janet and her husband love to travel with their RV, visit their three daughters, two sons-in-law and three perfect grandchildren, and work in their church. Find her at http:/ /www.janetkbrown.com,��on Twitter at https://twitter.com/janetkbrowntx,��on Facebook ��http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Janet-K-Brown-Author/143915285641707, and by e-mail: Janet.hope@att.net.

How can a woman who gives to everyone but herself accept God���s love and healing when she believes she���s fat, unworthy, and unfixable? Can she be Worth Her Weight?

LACEY CHANDLER helps her mother, her sister, her friend, and then she binges on food and wonders is there really a God?

BETTY CHANDLER hates being handicapped and useless, so she lashes out at the daughter that helps, and the God who doesn���t seem to care.

TOBY WHEELER loves being police chief in Wharton Rock, but when the devil invades the small town, he can���t release control.

Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTotxQGtGn0

This inspirational women���s fiction is available now at http://www.pen-l.com/WorthHerWeight.html

And on Amazon:��http://tinyurl.com/kkw94b6

Barnes & Nobel��http://tinyurl.com/lk7cn4f

��

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Reveal Character Through Setting – Wednesday Prompts and Inspirations

lilyionamackenzie:

Great advice for all writers

Originally posted on writertales:

Listen. How many sounds do you hear?

Open your eyes. What surrounds you?

Breathe. What smells linger in the air?

Touch what is before you. Describe the surface.

Taste. (I���ll wait���. Head into the kitchen, nearest coffee shop, or vending machine, and get yourself a cup of coffee, tea, or snack.)

Now place yourself in the setting of��your novel.��Where are you? What time of day is it? What year is it? What season have you selected? Who is near you? What surrounds you? What does the air smell like? What surface are you touching? What do you��feel? What can you hear? If there is food near, what does it taste like?

Building your setting with these tools helps bring your writing alive for your reader. These tools allow your��setting to become an active player. But to use them��to reveal character, it is crucial to include those things that are important���

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Timing: Giving Birth To a Novel

I���ve completed another novel. It didn���t come fully formed like Athena from Zeus��� forehead. I���ve been working on parts of it for years, but in the past few months it has solidified and taken its final shape. As is often the case for me, it took awhile for the main character���s voice to fully emerge. It���s a little like a partial birth, if there is such a thing. Legs and arms came first. Eventually the rest followed.

The central character Tillie is the younger version of the main actor in Freefall, a work that I hope to see published soon. Freefall���s Tillie is 60 with the heart of someone much younger. Like her older self, the young Tillie is quirky and precocious and loves to wander. The working title for the new novel is Tillie: Portrait of a Canadian Girl in Training. For those who don���t know about the organization, Canadian Girls in Training actually exists, and I joined it for a while when I was young.

Of course, attending meetings was an excuse to get out of the house at night.��But the real training happened on my way to and from the church where we gathered. We smoked all the way there and back. We played white rabbit, a ���game��� that involved ringing doorbells over and over and then disappearing. We raided gardens. And we also visited the local park where the boys were hanging out. I learned many useful things during those excursions.

And I���ve learned a lot from writing this novel. It can take years for a character and a story to emerge. It���s not unlike raising a child: there are developmental stages, and each one is important. So though at times I despaired that the work would ever cohere, it did. And it was worth waiting for.

Filed under: Links Tagged: Canadian Girls in Training, fiction, novel, novel writing, writer, writing

Launching a Book for Publication

Though I already experienced what it was like to publish a book when my poetry collection All This��came out in 2011, each work offers its own peculiarities. Partly it���s the difference in publisher, so I have to learn what Fling���s producer wants of me. But it���s also the difference in genre. Fiction is another animal. While poetry has a more limited audience base, fiction appeals to a wide range of readers. Consequently, in some ways, the novel has to be packaged differently. What ends up on the cover needs to stimulate a potential reader���s imagination and to seduce him/her into buying the book.

Preparing a manuscript to be launched is a little like getting ready for trip into outer space. We don���t know till we take the journey what to expect. So much is out of our control and dependent on who is driving the process���the publisher/editor. In a way, the actual writing is the easiest part. We���re left alone in our solitude to create a world that never existed before. But it���s the second birth midwifed by the publisher that marks it as a bona fide book.

Kimberly Pennell of Pen-L Publishing has been shepherding me through this process. She sent me a mock up for a cover this week. I expressed my reservations about it and created one of my own, trying to convey in mine that it needed to be as colorful as the characters and the settings. I also wanted it to suggest a fling, something in motion, even an odyssey. I included some text that gives a little insight into the narrative: “a madcap journey of an aging mother and her adult daughter from cold protestant Canada into the hallucinogenic heart of Mexico’s magic.” These words come from a blurb that Lewis Buzbee wrote for the back of the book.

Kimberly picked up immediately on what I was hoping for to represent my novel���s contents and returned two possible covers, each of which I loved. I had to make the difficult choice of one, but I���m hoping I might be able to use the second one at some point for another novel. With a little tweaking the cover quickly was resolved.

Next was the ���teaser��� for the back of the book, a brief synopsis that will intrigue someone enough that s/he will buy it. This process took several emails back and forth until we were both satisfied with the results.

And so it goes on, this birthing of a creation that depends on so many variables for it to have a successful launch.

Filed under: Links Tagged: Kimberly Pennell, lewis buzbee, Mexico's magic, Odyssey, Pen-L Publishing

Recommendation of an excellent Fiction Southeast article on the writing process

Dear Readers

I recommend that you visit this page for a very insightful discussion on the writing process: http://fictionsoutheast.org/when-the-work-calls-you-to-it/.

Let me know what you think!

Filed under: Links Tagged: fiction southeast. writing process

The Mystery of Identity

Identity intrigues me. How are identities formed? How much is innate? How much is nurture? How much is beyond these terms?

Identity is on my mind today because I met a man for the first time who is the son of one of my oldest male friends. He had contacted me a couple of years ago when he first learned his actual last name. He began researching on the Internet and discovered I had written an article about his father, a well-respected Canadian artist. He had never met the man. He had never seen his picture. All he had was information his mother passed on, in addition to my lifetime experience as one of his father���s closest friends. We had met in the fourth grade, and during a spin-the-bottle game at a party, we each for the first time kissed someone of the opposite sex.

What amazed me during our meeting today is not just the physical resemblance of the son to his father, but he also had a beard as his father did. Also, his facial expressions and gestures made me feel at times as if I were in his dad���s presence. But he also shares his father���s love of the wilderness���both are mountain men types, able to spend lots of time alone in that environment. None of this was learned. It appears to have been inherent.

It makes me wonder just what role destiny plays in our personality development. Are there some things we can���t avoid in our personal evolutions in terms of the person we turn out to be?

Filed under: Links Tagged: destiny, identity, personality, personality development