Rod Miller's Blog, page 36

Road Work.

Last year my workshop schedule wrapped up with a couple of good ones—the Idaho Writers League annual conference and the Kanab Writers Conference. Both those places have had me on the roster more than once, and it has always been a pleasure to participate. This year’s calendar is so fresh you wouldn’t want to step in it, but there are already a couple of entries. 

In March, I’ll be in southern Arizona for the Tucson Festival of Books. This extravaganza draws more than 100,000 book lovers and is supposed to be good fun. I am looking forward to being there and presenting a session titled “More than L’Amour: Writing the West in the 21st Century.”

A month later, it’s Colorado Springs for the Pikes Peak Writers Conference, where I’ve been asked to present three workshops to the writers who will assemble there. It, too, is a large gathering with a good reputation—rated among the top ten writers conferences by a leading magazine—so I hope I don’t spoil it. More invitations may arrive, resulting in more workshops and other events on my calendar. I hope so. Going on the road and hanging out with writers and readers is always enjoyable.

“A Book of Verses underneath the Bough…

…A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread – and Thou.” Those immortal words from The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám capture the eternal place of poetry in love affairs. And for all you cowboys and cowgirls out there, that’s something worth thinking about. So stretch your hatband a little and consider a book of verses for a Valentine’s Day gift—it’s coming sooner than you think. May I suggest Goodnight Goes Riding and Other Poems. Granted, they’re not exactly love poems. But what cowgirl or cowboy doesn’t love horses. And cows. And rodeo. Branding. Outlaws. Cowboy hats and boots. And all kinds of other Western things we all know—and love.Right now, for a limited time, for all you pixel-peepers who read on those battery-powered gadgets, Pen-L Publishing has marked down the Kindle edition of Goodnight Goes Riding and Other Poems to just 99 cents. Less than a dollar. A mere pittance. This lower-than-low price for a book of verses will probably leave enough jingle in your jeans to buy a jug of wine and a loaf of bread to go with it.Order up a copy for your Valentine here: http://www.amazon.com/Goodnight-Goes-Riding-other-poems-ebook/dp/B00O88XQCE/(But it may be best not to let on how little you paid.)

Lies They Tell Writers, Part 10: Getting Published Should Not Be Your Goal.

Some people will tell you—in writing workshops, classes, conferences—that getting published should not be your goal. That you should write for the love of it, and not worry if what you’ve written is ever read by anyone else.There may be some merit in that point of view if what you’re writing is a personal or family history meant only to be left as a legacy. Other than that, I don’t buy it. Why would you write if not to be read? That seems to me to be the whole point. If you’re not read, are you even a writer? I don’t think so. There are those who say the sheer act of writing makes you a writer. How so? Compare it to, say, an interest in plumbing. Sure, you can play around with pipes and wrenches and fittings all you want. You can even take a course and get a certificate in plumbing. You can buy all the tools and equipment. And you can take a lot of enjoyment and personal satisfaction from it all. But until someone hires you, and pays you, to pound on their pipes you are not a plumber. Not really. I don’t see writing as all that different. Putting words on paper is the beginning of being a writer, not the end. Because if those words aren’t published, aren’t made available to other eyes, they might as well not exist.

“Old Rivet” goes barefoot.

Cowboy Poetry recently lost one of its guiding lights with the death of Don Kennington. Don was a fine writer, a fine reciter, and a fine cowboy. And a fine human being by any measure. Don and his brother Phil were sources of inspiration and information when I first thought to write poems, and were unfailing in the kindness and assistance they offered me. I suspect others feel the same. While Don penned a passel of outstanding poems, I would venture to guess his most popular is “Shoeing Old Rivet.” I saw Don recite it many, many times—usually at the request of the audience—and it never failed to bring tears to the eyes of most in attendance, because the poem is so darn funny you laugh till you cry. Unlike the rhyming punch-line jokes so many reciters try to pass off as poetry, “Shoeing Old Rivet” is an ongoing stream of humor, wit, wordplay, and clever turns of phrase embedded in a story with real depth and meaning hiding behind all the funny. I’m sure we’ll be hearing “Shoeing Old Rivet” recited by others in days and years to come. But as far as I’m concerned, Old Rivet will go barefoot from now on, as no one else will be able to tack shoes on that horse the way Don did.

More stuff hot of the press.

The new issue of Ranch & Reata magazine just landed in my mailbox. If you haven’t seen the publication, it’s well worth a look. It’s big, it’s colorful, it’s beautifully designed and, being a print publication (with an online version as well), it really is hot off the press. Among the offerings in this issue is a story I wrote about photographer Kevin Martini-Fuller. For 30 years he has made portraits of cowboy poets at the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, and several of those portraits accompany the article—including the faces of my friends Doris Daley, Yvonne Hollenbeck, Paul Zarzyski, and Gail Steiger. The story also covers Kevin’s cowboy poetry exhibit all the way across the sea in France. And, of course, there’s a lot more to enjoy in the new issue of Ranch & Reata, including an article by Hal Cannon about the multi-talented songwriter, poet, writer, and man-of-many-hats Andy Wilkinson. Andy has long been on my short list of people I would like to know.Find out more about the magazine here: www.ranchandreata.com.

Hot off the press.

The second issue of the new online magazine, Saddlebag Dispatches, is now available. Boss editor Dusty Richards and his crew have assembled an impressive array of fiction, history, photography, and essays on the American West, so there will be something for every taste somewhere in the more-than-100 pages.On page 82 is part two of my serialized long short story, “The Passing of Number 16,” in which the big bad Wolf threatens young bareback rider Tanner Lambert, and Deputy Hugh Morgan shreds another toothpick. New to this issue is the first installment of a column Dusty asked me to write for the magazine, “Best of the West,” in which I sing the praises of the best writer among all the classic cowboy poets. That’s on page 102. You can get to Saddlebag Dispatches here: http://www.saddlebagdispatches.com/campfire.html. And be sure to invite all your friends to take a look as well.

We Come Bearing Gifts.

The holiday season is upon us, with celebrations of many kinds, from Christmas to Boxing Day to Kwanzaa to Hanukkah to Saturnalia and so on.While there is much to celebrate and reflect on this season, there is also a crassly commercial aspect to it all—the hectic race to give and receive gifts. My contribution to all the commercialism is the suggestion that there is no finer gift than a good book. Books have shelf life. The recipient can enjoy it now, and later, and later yet again. Books don’t spoil, dry up and blow away, wilt or wither, crash, lose power, fade, or otherwise lose their luster. A good book can bring hours of enjoyment—not only to the owner, but to others it is shared with, as well. There are books for every age and every taste, on every subject and for every interest. A good book is engaging and involving, and, by its very nature, interactive. Reading stretches the imagination and grows gray cells. It can be a solitary or a social activity. Using a book requires nothing but light—no batteries, no assembly, no wires, no tools. A book is portable—you can take it with you and use it almost anywhere and everywhere. As you go down your gift list, consider a book for every name you find. And, to sum up with a self-serving, greedy, avaricious suggestion, check out the books at www.writerRodMiller.com. Somebody, somewhere, might like one of them. If not, there are plenty of alternatives. So, by all means, give good books.

Lies They Tell Writers, Part 9: Writing is a Compulsion.

If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone say “I write because I have to” I may well find myself living among the privileged two percent. Being something of an idiot, I don’t know what they mean when they say that. It sounds as if sitting down and making words appear on a monitor is a compulsion. Or an obsession. Or an addiction. Or some other irresistible urge related to a disorder of some sort. And if they didn't write, they would suffer some horrible sort of withdrawal. For me, writing is enjoyable. I do it because I want to (and when I want to, unless I am on deadline), not because I have to. When I don’t want to, I don’t. And I and don’t feel slighted or guilty or get the shakes or anything else unpleasant as a result.  And that makes sitting in a chair for extended periods of time and tapping away on a keyboard and staring at a glowing window with the alphabet crawling around on it like so many little ants tolerable. Otherwise, it could qualify as a torture. Although I can’t speak from experience—not being the addictive type—it seems to me that writing because you “have to” in order to satisfy some imagined (or, perhaps, real) compulsion is nothing more than going through the motions. And going through the motions is no way to write well.Or live well, for that matter.

Cowboy poetry goes to college.

A while back the people at the University of Utah Division of Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning tracked me down and asked me to develop and teach an introductory course on writing cowboy poetry. I agreed before they had a chance to realize the error of their ways.Wednesday evenings from March 25 through April 29 (2015, of course) from 6:30 to 8:30, I will be watching (and, I hope, helping) the participants who show up wrangle the alphabet into words, words into lines, lines into stanzas, and stanzas into poems.What could be more fun? If you’re within driving distance of the University of Utah Continuing Education campus in Sandy—or can afford the airfare from elsewhere—join us for adventures in poetry. I’m looking forward to going back to school and learning a thing or two. And, teaching a few things as well. 

Lies They Tell Writers, Part 8: Don’t Worry About Grammar and Spelling.

On more than a few occasions, I have heard people say before an audience of aspiring, and even accomplished, writers, “Don’t worry about grammar and spelling. The editors will fix that. Just tell your story. Get it out there.”It could be that will work with some editors, sometimes. But I am more in keeping with Baxter Black’s view that an editor’s job is to keep you from getting published. And, to further that notion, the first thing editors look for when they pick up a manuscript is a reason to toss it in the trash and get on to the next submission. It’s not that editors are mean. But they are busy and overworked and haven’t the time to wade through a lot of amateurish writing—whether it be poor spelling, bad grammar, awkward syntax, a lousy plot, awful characters, dumb dialogue, or whatever. They haven’t the time to waste.But writers do. And, in our case, that time isn’t wasted. We ought to be concerned enough about our work that we want to get it right. And getting the little things right is often an indication that the big things will fall into place as well. Not always. But often enough to make it worth the effort. Sew, sea that you’re spelling and stuff is rite wen your righting.