Vacation Time

Why is it so hard to leave for a vacation? I'm trying to pack up the motorcycle for our two week road trip, and although I could really use a vacation, I'm feeling like I shouldn't be going anywhere. For one thing, I haven't made a great deal of progress on the first submission, which is due a scant week after I return (I can just see the late nights and early mornings the first week of August has in store for me!). The laptop is coming with me, as it did last year. At least I shold be able to fit in an hour or so of writing a day.

Anyway, here is the route: tomorrow we'll end up somewhere in New York state, on our way to Lake Placid, where we arrive on Wednesday. Thursday we do a larger group ride on Thursday through the mountains in New Hampshire, ending up in Mount Washington. Friday we'll make our way back across the border and spend two nights in Quebec City. Sunday it's Canada's capital, Ottawa for a couple of days (dinner with Khendron, I hope), then along the Trans-Canada Highway to Iron Bridge to visit relatives on R's side. Back down through Manitoulin Island--taking the Chicheemaun across to the mainland, landing in Tobermory. Spending the weekend with some friends at their cottage on an island in Lake Huron, and then home by the end of the month. It should be a good unwind with some time to read, write, and relax. Not sure about knitting projects. I guess I should take one along but I can never decide which one. Birch is probably a good choice, since I've been on a birch vacation, so it is only fitting that I vacation with birch. I'd like to have it by the fall - maybe in time for my birthday in late September.

Photo credit goes to Patrick LaFreniere, who took this photo at Mount Washington Observatory in August 2006. Source: http://www.mountwashington.org/photos/journal/index.php?month=08&year=2006 .

Using the Timer

Yesterday I mentioned that one of my tools is my timer. Today Bug asked me to write about it, so here goes. That there in the photo is my timer. I use it when I'm having difficulty getting focused, usually in conjunction with the Unschedule. Usually, I set it for 45 minutes. When I push the green start button, that marks the beginning of 45 minutes of uninterrupted work on whatever project I have chosen. That means: no phone calls, no e-mail messages, no switching to another task. If I allow myself to get interrupted, I have to start over at 45. When my 45 minutes is up I can either keep going or take a break. I also mark down the beginning of the 45 minute period on my unschedule, and then mark it as over when the timer goes off (if I choose to stop). That way I can record 45 minutes of quality work. At the end of the day, I can add up how much focused work I've managed to accomplish. If I decide to continue writing when the timer goes off, which I often do, since getting started appears to be the main hurdle, then I might re-set the timer for another 45 minutes or less. Just as frequently, I take a break to get a cup of tea, do a row or two of knitting, check e-mail, or make a phone call or two, and then get back to work -- of course, I set the timer again and make a note on the unschedule.

Sometimes, if 45 minutes seems too long, I'll go for 30. I began using a timer years ago. It helped me to realize that I don't need hours and hours of time in order to get something done. Two or three 30-45 minute periods of uninterrupted work in a day can be amazingly productive. When I was writing my philosophy book, I was completely committed to the timer. For a year, I put in about 3-4 timed periods of writing a day, varying in length from 30 minutes to an hour. As a rule, I made a point of not working any longer than 5 hours (of uninterrupted time) in any given day, and never went more than 20 hours a week (usually less). It took me about 8 months to write a book using that method. I've used it to keep me working through each submission period for the MFA.

I've gone through several different timers -- I used a countdown sports watch for many years. Right now, I'm using a simple digital kitchen timer with an "hour" button and a "minutes" button. If you want 45 minutes, you just hit the "minutes" button 45 times. It also gives you a single beep warning at 10 minutes to go, and again at 5 minutes to go. I use the same thing to time my meditations and my yoga sessions. When we're sailing and I'm cooking on board, I use it to time that. We've also used it to keep track of when to change the person on "watch" during night sailing. When it's not operating as a timer, it's a clock. It runs on a single AA battery. I take it with me when I travel. I can't speak highly enough of my timer. I love it.

My Writer's Toolbox

I have made a quasi-commitment not to complain, in the hopes that pretending to go with the flow might result in actually learning to go with the flow.

The weekend was rough (that is an observation, not a complaint). I had to go through the requisite meltdown that appears to have to precede the possibility of getting started on MFA writing. It's all part of the ritual - the knot in the stomach, the random and unpredictable spells of weeping, the low-level sense of dread, the strong desire to hide under the covers when morning comes. Thankfully, I am through it now. I have reclaimed all of the wonderful tools that I used to keep me on track last time:

1. the unschedule
2. the reverse calendar
3. yoga
4. using my timer (I don't think I've talked about that one)
5. early mornings
6. morning pages
7. tea
8. meditation
9. knitting (for breaks)
10. regular reminders to myself that all is well
11. Other writer bloggers (e.g. Bug, My Basement Years)
12. R when he's not in fix-it mode

Tonight I've actually made some progress on the writing portion of my next submission. And that feels really good. And I'm making a bit of headway with the craft essay outline, or at least I've got some ideas for it and I've been bouncing them off my mentor, who is open to correspondence between submissions and is full of wonderful writerly wisdom that he disperses with generosity.

Radio Doc: It's a Wrap

I just did the last takes of the conclusion of the radio documentary at the local bureau of the CBC this morning. Insetad of going all the way to Toronto, we called in and talked to each other over the airwaves. We had a really good draft, but the ending was all wrong. So during the residency, I put it on the back burner to simmer away. And sure enough, when I went back to it with fresh ears, and ending presented itself to me. This morning, we did about seven or eight takes, which are sure to give the producer enough with which to piece together a solid ending.

The documentary will air in the fall when the new season of Outfront starts. It's loads of fun to make a radio documentary. If you've got an idea, make a pitch.

Proud Sister

One night in Cambridge, as we were attempting to choose the right bottle of wine to celebrate Bug's birthday, I mentioned that my younger brother is not only a wine expert, but also has an entertaining and informative wine blog. He blogs but intermittently, but whenever he does, I am always completely charmed. So go check him out. You will learn a bit about wine and other things. And he's a lot funnier than I am, as his latest entry, "Commuting in an Introvert's Paradise," will attest. Good one, little bro'!

Fiction and Memoir: What's the Diff?

Bug posted earlier about her class on first person narrative. It was for the fiction students, so I was at the non-fiction genre seminar at the same time. I wonder, however, whether the same lesson would apply to memoir and personal essay writing, or whether the fiction writer who is using a first person narrator would need to do anything different from the non-fiction writer? Is the difference internal to the craft/narrative or is it solely in the relationship between the narrative and the "real world"?

This semester, we have to write one craft essay instead of eight craft annotations. My topic is on the merging of fiction and memoir. The spanner in the works with respect to the non-fiction aspect of memoir, as far as I can see it, is that it is based on memory as opposed to research about the facts. So there is a lot more room for disconnect between how it really happened and how it is remembered.

My first objective is to see if there is a difference from a craft perspective. Does a work of fiction posing as a memoir read just like a memoir (or need to, if it is a good one?)? Do memoirs employ significantly different narrative techniques from fictional narratives? Is there a relevant distinction to be made between the truth and the facts?

If you have anything to say about these questions, chime in, chime in!

Residency Reminiscences

Okay, my title has two words over eight letters. But don't let that fool you into thinking that I plan to disregard all that I learned at the MFA residency. As a memoirist, I cannot strike the word "reminiscence" from my vocabulary (there I go again) as easily as all that. I think it earns its weight.

The residency was amazing and inspiring. The women in my group (you know who you wonderful women are!) are so fantastic that just being around them all day for eight days is inspiring. They're the ideal community. If for nothing else, I appreciate the residencies for the time I get to spend with these truly special people (including blog buddies Bug, FC, and Repeater).

The seminars were on the whole helpful. Between an excellent non-fiction genre seminar and great advice on mine and others' manuscripts in workshops, I have finally absorbed the importance of separating the narrator of a first person narrative from the character she is narrating about, even when that character is herself. As Vivian Gornick says in The Situation and the Story, the narrator has to be wiser, stronger, and more in command than the character at the time of the action. I can't wait to take that into my writing. I think that each residency serves up one transformative idea that I can take into my writing. Last time, it was the idea of thinking in terms of personal essays instead of a sustained, book-length memoir. How liberating. And this time, it is the difference between myself as a character and my narrative persona. They don't need to be one and the same. In fact, the narrative will be stronger if they are not the same.

The other big lesson for me was the whole idea of "writing up to your reader." Again, I've heard this before, but this time, it stuck. Assume your reader is a little bit smarter than you are (not so much smarter that they can't be bothered to read you, but smart enough to "get it"). Let them figure it out. This is a tough one for me because, as an academic, I have a tendency to spell out everything and repeat my main points often. Can I merge these two writing styles into one? We shall see.

My new mentor is serious about writing. One of the best aspects of this low residency program is the opportunity to change mentors every six months. This gives us a chance to develop different sets of skills as each mentor has a particular sensibility and approach. This one is no nonsense, smart, and detail-oriented (like, "take that comma out" and "there should be a colon here" -- that level of detail).

The open mike readings get stronger and stronger each time. I love that -- watching everyone's writing flourish and improve.

What else? The weather. Stupendous. My accommodation. Outstanding.

Let the writing begin.