June Writers' mags

In the June issue of Writer's Digest there's a terrific interview with the very funny (and successful!) Christopher Moore. In addition to offering some good advice, Mr. Moore talks about staying in touch with readers through his website. The magazine ties that in with an article on connecting with your audience using the web, signings, and interviews.

The Writer takes a look at writing for children, from the very young through middle school. They have chats with Elizabeth George, Alice Adams and Rick Moody. I most enjoyed an exploration on using the second-person voice -- maybe you will, too.

Both of these magazines are on the current display shelves here at Phoenix College.

Sit Down and Write -- or not

Okay, so I dragged my feet and didn't get into this class for summer. PC is offering it again in the fall, with Jimmy Berlin as instructor. Since I want to use the time to write sonnets -- off-beat, somewhat violent sonnets -- it might be just as well to wait until fall. I know Jimmy will enjoy the project.

I blame my foot-dragging on the heat. Everyone I know, everyone in my life, and that includes me, everyone is griping. Full bore hard core griping. It wears me down. Even writing here, in a peaceful, non-judgmental bluemoon world, I hear the gripe choruses in my mind. I've got to get away.

By the way, this is the day/night of a Blue Moon; the second full moon in a month. I really feel like I should find some way to recognize such an unusual event, but that bank may be empty. We'll see after work.

Classes at Phoenix College

I'm going to enroll in the Topics in Writing: Fiction: Sit Down and Write, which is a 5 week summer class that meets online. I don't write fiction, but generally the intent of these kinds of classes is to keep people writing. The instructor for this session is Connie Flynn and she's just terrific.

The challenge and the beauty of this class is that it provides you both a motivation and an expectation to write each day. I've taken the class once before and it worked wonderfully; I wrote both on the project I'd set out to do and side projects that sprang up from the interaction of the students. I'd say of the 20-some students who registered, about a dozen were very active in sharing work, commenting on work, and posting side projects.

Another class being offered this summer is also a Topics in Writing: Fiction, but it's the quite frightening Draft a Novel in 30 Days. I knew a woman who went through this last fall, and after it was over, I saw her focusing on math courses a lot. But truly, she enjoyed the course and completed the challenge of 50,000 words. Sometimes I'm very glad I can't write fiction.

I just found a list...

It's dated 3/5/07, and it contains the names of four literary magazines and four poems. The poems were submitted that day to those magazines. I found the list while cleaning up my desk at work (a shock to those who know me) and it was lost in a stack of problems I'd been sidestepping.
Besides the magazines and titles of poems, the list reminds me of one other thing...it's been since March that I sent anything out. I have perfectly fine essays and a new poem or two that might be due for a foray, but the excuses for not sending them away are legion:
a. I'm a working mom, and my son's needs come first;
b. It's been a crazy semester at the library with two associates retiring;
c. I really, really hate rejection;
d. I'm dreadfully lazy. Really dreadfully lazy.
e. I'd have to stalk through the essays again, seeking out lines like (c) and (d) and running them through with an adverb spike.
Still, we are into the (somewhat) slower days of summer, when hiding inside in front of a keyboard is always a better option than risking the Phoenix sun. There's hope. Tell you what, I'll do it if you will. Double dog dare.