This is a reminder that there is still time to register for my Power Writing and The Plot Thickens workshops in Monroe, Washington on October 24th.

I've been teaching since 1991 and over the years have developed a lot of classes and workshops. The Power Writing workshop is one I’ve taught all over the country to fiction writers, memoirists, editors, and journalists. It’s a workshop I’m especially proud of because it will change your approach to writing as the day progresses. Lots of hands-on exercises that will help you energize your sentences, boost your powers of observation, and prove the powers of figurative language. There will be a special focus on nailing sensory descriptions and details.

Then in the afternoon we’re going to talk about plot. You’ll learn about the three-act structure on which stories are based, the underpinnings of fiction, with an emphasis on plot points so that you’ll see stories, including films, in a new light. The information is also relevant to memoir writers. Let’s not forget and subplots, because we’ll discuss those too—how many you need, why you need them, and how to braid the whole plot together.

And, of course, you’ll be able to apply these insights to your own stories. As a developmental editor I’ve learned that most writers have great ideas. However writers too often blow the deal with plots that don’t launch with enough pizazz, or have enough twists, reversals, and surprises, or endings that conclude the story with resonance.

Besides the fact that the information is helpful, we're going to have fun. Generous handouts will be included.

Cost is $80.00 for both workshops and your response would be much appreciated. To Register: Contact Lisa Stowe at 425-923-3844 or email lmstowe@yahoo.com. Mail checks and contact information to PO Box 213, Index, WA 98256. Space is limited and pre-registration is required.

Gloomy skies. Someone asked me on Facebook about we talked about last night at Blackbird Wines. We talked about the practical aspects of the writing life--that you need to be tough, because it's a tough business, that you need to dip into the river of language every day, and that if your writing is bogged down, you probably aren't having fun with it. The writing part of you isn't the accountant part of your personality--it's the part of you that remembers what it's like to jump in the ocean waves or sail homemade boats in a puddle. Now, are all aspects of writing fun? Goodness no, of course not--not revising and not waiting for a publisher to give you a go-ahead on your manuscript....but the main aspects are.


"Writing is one of the most easy, pain-free, and happy ways to pass the time in all the arts. For example, right now I am sitting in my rose garden and typing on my new computer. Each rose represents a story, so I'm never at a loss for what to write. I just look deep into the heart of the rose and read its story and write it down through typing, which I enjoy anyway. I could be typing "kjfiu joewmv jiw" and would enjoy it as much as typing words that actually make sense. I simply relish the movement of my fingers on the keys. Sometimes, it is true, agony visits the head of a writer. At these moments, I stop writing and relax with a coffee at my favorite restaurant, knowing that words can be changed, rethought, fiddled with, and, of course, ultimately denied. Painters don't have that luxury. If they go to a coffee shop, their paint dries into a hard mass."
- Steve Martin

"The question authors get asked more than any other is 'Where do you get your ideas from?" And we all find a way of answering which we hope isn't arrogant or discouraging. What I usually say is "I don't know where they come from, but I know where they come to: they come to my desk, and if I'm not there, they go away again.'"
-Philip Pullman

Sky still dark here and I'm up early, working on my book proposal. Just wanted to remind people living in Portland that I'm going to be speaking tonight at Blackbird Wine Shop at 4323 N.E. Fremont at 7 p.m. I'm going to talk about avoiding rejection and keeping your sanity and sense of humor while writing. As I just typed this I realize what a tall order this is....
Keep writing, keep dreaming.

Clouds are breaking up, heater in my office is on, feet are covered, and the seasons they go round and round. Just spent 3 hours working on my book proposal and I'm still so excited about this book.

Just a little gripe for a moment, then I promise to be charming....or something not grumpy. I was looking up some info and ran across a review of my new book in which the reviewer complained about my use of gender as in I used Man vs. Man to describe a common plot structure. Now, I've been a feminist for a loooonggg time, probably longer than the reviewer. Attended many Women Studies classes and believe in women/chick/girl power equality in all its permutations. But when it comes to copyediting and style standards, often the publisher weighs in on how they want gender to be depicted. Four of my publishers did not want me to use "he or she" type references because they're simply awkward. In fact, in one book in the introduction I expressly told readers I was using "he" as a shorthand for both male and female. But in this the 21st century is this all still necessary? Can't we understand that we don't need to think in terms of gender, but instead in terms of humanity and not get our hackles up about every little thing?

Here's today's writing tip: Commit on a daily basis

A first draft of a memoir or novel runs about 80,000-100,000 words. So do the math. Then come up with a daily or weekly number of words that is meausurable, doable, but at the same time stretches your abilities. And here is where the math is irrefutable: the more words you commit to each day, the faster your story will get written. National Novel Writing Month happens each November and thousands of writers sign on to commit to 50,000 pages in a month. And they pull it off.

But back to you. If you write 1000 words a day, 7 days a week, it will take you about 100 days to write a novel. If you write 1000 words, Monday through Friday [or five days total] it will take you 140 days. 500 words a day, five days a week and it will take 280 days. A page a day [250 words] will take you about 400 days to write a novel. Then comes editing and rewriting. Do the math and commit.

I'm up before dawn working on a new book. I was in Manzanita over the weekend teaching a workshop and basking in the glories of autumn and hanging out with writers. I drove home yesterday from the coast and the day was so golden and fine that it still lives in me and I'm filled with the colors of this season, scarlet, gold,russet,pumpkin, amber, lemon, persimmon.

Writing can take you to the deepest parts of yourself and along roads of discovery that you never dared imagine. Writing is also is a wonderful occupation, but in all honesty, it’s scary as hell. I suspect that all writers are afraid. Of sitting in a room, alone, with a cold-eyed computer screen blinking as accusation, “What are you doing here?” Then there are the maddening times when you’re wrestling with a poem or story, and you can’t describe a thing, and it’s flat and vapid and stupid. You swear you’re going to lose your mind before you get it right and decide that you must be crazy to write at all. Crazy because you spend hours struggling to find perfect words to fit perfect places, while you fight off your doubts and grapple with your need to be flawless.

So you sit down to write and find that you’re scared. Of starting, of trying, of putting your bruised heart on the line and words on a page. But I believe that we can quell this fear, put it beside us like a sleeping dog, and write despite our fears, our doubts, our cowardliness.

You must be wondering, if writing is such a pain, why bother? The answer is easy: because writing is good for us. It deepens us, strengthens us, teaches us how to be honest and patient and loving. Writing is both a practical skill and a way of connecting to ourselves and a bigger source. Becoming a writer will unleash our creativity, and in turn, creativity brings meaning to our lives. It all adds up to something wonderful. . . . .

I’ve been teaching writing and creativity classes for years, and I’ve watched my students apply writing to their simplest or noblest desires and seen the transformation that follows. I’ve heard hundreds of students read a piece of their history or some precious invention for the first time in front of the class. My students begin by apologizing, explaining that what they’re about to read isn’t good, that they’re new to writing, that they haven’t had enough time to work out the kinds. Sometimes I think if I could collect all these apologies, they’d be tall enough to topple a skyscraper. The class is forced to sit patiently, squirming through their stumbling confessions, and then the room becomes still and church-like and words start spilling into the air. There’s a sort of collective that follows when they finish reading and something subtle shifts inside all of us. I wasn’t raised Catholic but I imagine that the absolution that follows these readings is a little like going to confession. Good for the soul. Cleansing. Revealing. I’ve noticed that even if we hate the student’s writing, we like that he or she had the courage to write it anyway.

Writing makes your life better because you get to speak your truth and turn a discriminating eye at this weird planet and tell other people just how you see things. Most people who write regularly, who make writing a crucial component in their existence, like themselves better than when they’re not writing. It’s really pretty simple. I know it words because it worked for me. If you write regularly—not matter what the subject or format—you’ll shift your muddled worries to clarity, your vague hopes to reality, and your denial to crystal truth….

But how do we get out of bed each day, calling ourselves writers and settling ourselves into that sacred spot where words come forth? Instead of putting off our dream, we write anyway. We write no matter what’s going on in our lives. We write despite our cowardly heart rattling loud enough to shake our bones. We write despite distractions and agonies. We write when our family or the ghost of Mrs. Schultz, our third-grade teacher, looms at our shoulder and whispers that we’re no damn good.

Then we write some more. Then we set some goals and eventually stuff our precious words into an envelope and mail it to a cold-hearted stranger. And return home from the post office and do it all over again. Until we die. Because writing feels so good when it flows, when you’re on a roll. And it brings meaning into our lives. Really. Because once we conquer our fears, writing is about the best legal fun there is. It’s right up there with sex and dancing, standing high on a mountain, or playing with children who belong to someone else. From Writing Out the Storm, Jessica Page Morrell

Glorious blue skies again and I'm feeling virtuous since I vacuumed and washed my car and then dropped it off for minor repairs and maintenance. As I was walking home I spotted little white flags marking off a neighbor's lawn. They said "Invisible Fence." So here's the writing prompt: What is the invisible fence in your life? What about your character's life?

Be well, keep writing.

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. ~William Wordsworth

“Journals capture my ideas, my emotions, the smell of the mowed grasses, the taste of a wildflower lemon stalk, the images from the farmhouse porch on a cool spring morning. My farm journals do the same; they record my feelings about a spring storm on peach blossoms or the fear of invisible diseases growing on my grapes. Writing and farming share a common tie—neither is done well by using formulas. Good stories are not based on recipes, a juicy peach cannot be grown by following “how to” books.”
David Mas Masumoto

Skies so blue they'd break your heart. Really. I'm having sort of a problem today--I've had a big writing breakthrough and cannot stop writing/dabbling, feeling full of wonder and inventiveness. But alas, I have a deadline for a client so must rein in and slip into my left brain/problem solving editing mode. Perhaps I should buy a hat/cap just for editing....No, that won't won't work because then I'll have hat hair......but ooh man, these writing days are worth all the revising and the tribulations that come with writing book-length projects. You know what I'm going to say before I say it: Keep writing. Keep dreaming.

Calling all writers,
There is still time to sign up for my Show, don't tell workshop happening this Saturday , October 10 in Manzanita. I've been teaching since 1991 and over the years have developed a lot of workshops--but this particular workshop is one I'm especially proud of because it will change your approach to writing as the day progresses. Lots of hands-on exercises that will help you expand your powers of observation, imagination, and language. There will be a special focus on nailing sensory descriptions,
how to turn small moments and events into scenes and developing a narrative arc through details. Besides the fact that the workshop rocks, we're going to have fun. And what's not to like about a day in charming Manzanita?
Contact me for more details, including the availability of a scholarship. Jessica 503 287-2150

A publishing opportunity:
The Choosing America Project is looking for true short stories (1,500 to 4,000 words) that express the essence of being an immigrant in America, gripping human interest stories that will reflect the diversity of the American immigrant experience, past and present.

The final goal of The Choosing America Project is to create a series of short films directed by a variety of directors who will choose from the pool of stories they are now collecting. For more details, please go to the project's website www.choosingamerica.com.

Golden autumn afternoon here in Portland and I just crossed off an editing project from my to-do list. Whew. Here is another event that came via my in box for Portland area residents. Sounds intriguing and helpful.....
The Portland State University MFA in Creative Writing Program presents:

THE WRITER/EDITOR RELATIONSHIP

A conversation between Joshua Kendall, Senior Editor at Viking/Penguin in New York, and Tom Bissell, fiction and nonfiction writer and professor in the PSU Creative Writing MFA program

Wednesday, October 21, 2009
4 p.m.
SMU 327

Free and open to the public
As a senior editor at Viking/Penguin, Joshua Kendall has worked with such writers as Ron Carlson, Stewart O’Nan, Andrew Sean Greer, and Donovan Hohn, recent recipient of the Whiting Award. Additionally, Josh has taught fiction writing at The University of Iowa, The Aspen Writers’ Foundation, and Eugene Lang/The New School, as well as having served as a contributing editor at The Paris Review. Raised in Tacoma, Washington, he currently lives in New York City .

Tom Bissell, who recently joined the PSU faculty, is the author of Chasing the Sea, God Lives in St. Petersburg, and The Father of All Things. Early next year he will publish Extra Lives: Why Video Games Matter.

We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.
Woodrow Wilson

Gloomy, glowering skies here today. From my in box:

FROM WAGONS TO WORDSTOCK:
150 YEARS OF OREGON POETRY

Portland, Oregon – September 2009: In celebration of Oregon’s Sesquicentennial Anniversary, esteemed literary journal Poetry Northwest and the Oregon State Library have released a list of 150 outstanding poetry books – one for each year of our statehood. These books range in style and subject matter, and poets both well-beloved and newly emerging are represented, from William Stafford to Michael McGriff. Each nominee has a connection to Oregon, whether the poet grew up in Madras or writes about the rain. The list will be published online as a service to libraries, schools, and citizens. Oregonians can access it online at Poetry Northwest (www.poetrynw.org).

Poets from the list will honor the Sesquicentennial with readings at the 2009 Wordstock, the annual literary festival in Portland, on October 10 and 11, 2009, on the Mountain Writers Stage. The Mountain Writers Series sponsors readings, workshops, and seminars with local as well as national and international writers, and serves as a hub in the Oregon poetry community. Among the Wordstock readers will be Lex Runciman, Donna Henderson, Carlos Reyes, Mary Szybist, Matthew Dickman, Jessica Lamb, and Maxine Scates. A full schedule of Wordstock readings, including the Poetry 150 List, can be found at www.wordstockfestival.com.

To create the list, Jim Scheppke, State Librarian, and David Biespiel, editor of Poetry Northwest, solicited nominations from Oregon authors, as well as from the general public. The response was overwhelming. Oregonians wrote in large numbers with lists of their favorite books, and their nominations created a diverse list of Oregon’s best poetry. The State Library had previously released the Oregon 150 Booklist, which included works in children’s literature, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as poetry. Mr. Biespiel recognized that poetry had a strong community in Oregon and merited its own list, and so Poetry Northwest spearheaded the collaborative effort.

While the list cannot possibly include every poetry book published in or about our state, it provides a foundation for reading and a valuable resource for Oregonians. Because citizens and readers made the nominations, the list is unique from scholarly anthologies. Its creators believe that public engagement has shown the importance of poetry in the lives of citizens. According to Mr. Biespiel, the community has come together in support of the state and of literature. The result, he says, is “a spectacular civic achievement.”

Poetry Northwest: 4232 SE Hawthorne Boulevard, Portland 97215. 503-236-0615 poetrynw.org

The Oregon State Library: 250 Winter St. NE, Salem 97301-3950. 503-378-4243 oregon.gov/OSL

Mountain Writers Series: 2804 SE 27th Avenue, #2, Portland 97202. 503.232.4517 mountainwriters.org

# # #

There's a great post at Larry Brook's blog, Storyfix from James Frey. One paragraph especially made me giggle:

"Did you notice, when you told your mother or father, sister, brother, or friend that you wanted to be a writer, the shocked, hurt, bewildered expression on their faces? Spouses, upon hearing the news, often get ill or take to the bottle. Some start packing."

Skies are a fabulous blend of clouds and suncast and blue. Looks like it might be a wet day.

From my Division of Good Works:
I'm giving away a scholarship to my Show, don't tell workshop on October 10 in Manzanita. If you know someone who would like to attend, please contact me. Also, it's just a smokin' workshop--will change the way you write and think about writing as the day goes on.....

And of course, keep writing and keep dreaming.

From my Division of Shameless Commerce:

There is still time to join my Show, don't tell workshop in LOVELY Manzanita on October 10. Hours are 10-5:30. Cost is $75. I've been teaching since 1991 and this is one of my workshops that I'm most proud of because I watch the participant's writing move up to a new level as the day progresses. And it's fun. In fact, it smokes and you can also squeeze in a stroll on the beach....and I'm always game for wine afterward. Contact me at jessicapage at spiritone.com

"I wanted to be a writer so much that the idea of failing at it was almost unbearable to me, and so I really didn’t tell people as I grew older that I wanted to be a writer—you know, because they look at you with such looks of pity, and ask what you’ve published—whatever, I just couldn’t stand that. And so I didn’t really tell people." Elizabeth Strout

Woosh I have a lot of email these days. Found something I want to share.

A student writes from Paris where she’s staying for a year: How do I capture this place? Just returned from the Vosges Mountains and wanted to thank you for all your suggestions on travel writing. Every idea is helpful! One of the things that has stayed with me that I heard you say once was that you look at life as a tourist and write through those eyes. Everyday holds something if we just remember to look for it. I'm trying to find a way to organize and best compile travel notes I should be taking during this year here. I haven't done enough of it and your mention of it brought it home that I really need to.

Merci beaucoup,____

Dear______; If I were you I'd pay attention to the small things around me. Notice how the air feels and smells, the temperature, the trees, the way women walk in the street. Colors, always colors. And architecture. Look up. What color is the sky? How do the natives react to weather? Think back to your first days there and what struck you as vastly different from the U.S. Pay attention to how holidays are different, the quality of light in all its seasons, art, objects, food, and people you'll never see here. Notice what the French do for comfort, how their homes are decorated and arranged, how the French react to political news, the sounds of the night, the street, the countryside. How do the seasons change? Who attends church? Where do the children play?

Go to cafes and public places and write. You might also try selecting a single thing that you're going to pay attention to in a single day--water in all its forms, the color red, scarves, bread, laughter, bicycles. Pretend you're a detective, a spy, a woman of mystery, a gypsy.

I believe that all writers must carry a notebook around at all times and eavesdrop on the world. We need to gather, scavenge, and record what we witness via the senses so that these remembrances can show up in our writing. Live with awareness. Sketch even if you're no good at it and jot down interesting bits of dialogue, snatch the moment when a person whose clothes or face or voice intrigues you. Hope this helps and since I'm here in Portland writing and editing away, please live large for both of us.
Best, Jessica

"For a long time now I have tried simply to write the best I can. Sometimes I have good luck and write better than I can." Ernest Hemingway

Writing Prompt:
Happiness smells like_________________________.

The skies they are a changing since a new weather pattern arrived yesterday, pushing away the relentlessly sunny and perfect autumn weather. I’m hoping that I’m over my flu and here’s wishing that you all avoid it.

I was leafing though my notebooks yesterday and realized that I have fallen behind in transferring words for my word list into that document. If you’re new to this blog, about three years ago I started a word list after I edited my book Between the Lines. While reading the final drafts I realized how many times I’d relied on my favorite words and how I need to use more of my vocabulary. So as I go through life, I jot down words I want to use more often. Now, sometimes these are words I already use, but this habit reinforces their appeal and serves as a constant reminder that I’m looking for language with pizzazz.

Tsunami, balk, bamboozled, fantastical,nefarious, flinchy, chumpy, dimwitted, clob, vim, limn, clabber, raffish, poppycock, tattletale, piffle, gimcrack, numinous, lustral, grog, higgledy-piggledy, jibber jabber, dovetail, verboten, and in honor of the late William Safire, nattering.

Oh, and I just used jibber-jabber in the preface for the book proposal I’m working on. Keep writing, keep dreaming.

Clouds pouring into town as our lovely weather is fleeing to make way for reain. From my inbox:
We've got new articles posted at Author (www.authormagazine.org)

Editor Erin Brown takes a hard look at the query letter. For most writers, it is the introduction to the publishing world (that is, how most writers introduce themselves to the publishing world) and Erin wants to make sure you put your best foot forward.

Jennifer Paros reflects on the true nature of genius, inspired by Maurice Sendak's description of Spike Jonze, director of the much anticipated film adaptation of Where The Wild Things Are. "He's not afraid of himself," said Sendak. "He's a real artist and lets it come through the work."

And Editor-In-Chief Bill Kenower encourages us to take our eyes off the prize that is publishing and focus on the process of writing. Not only is it the true reward, but it is the only way to produce the sort of book you would want to publish in the first place.

Have come down with the incredibly evil flu that is circulating our region, so my observations on life will be dull this week, since they're made from my sick bed. So here's a writing prompt:

If I were . . ..
If I were incredibly wealthy I would . . . .
If I could live anywhere I would . . . .
If I were the most beautiful woman in the world I would . . . .
If I never had to work again I would . . . .
If I could change the world I would . . . .
If I could start over I would . . . .
If I had all day to write I would . . . .
If I were living my dreams I would . . . .
If I wasn't afraid of anything I would . . . .

WRITING PROMPT

The biggest difference between men and women is__________________________.

The marine layer is burning away and another day of toasty temperatures is predicted. Happy second day of autumn to all.

According to the Writer’s Almanac: “On this day in 1806, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark returned to St. Louis from their westward expedition to the Pacific Coast. They carried with them the first tentative maps of the American West and the most detailed journals ever kept of an exploratory expedition, with notes on the events of every single day of their journey. Their report of what they discovered filled Americans with excitement about the West and launched a flood of expansion across the newly purchased Louisiana Territory.”

There has never been a tale or journey that has so sparked my imagination like Lewis and Clark’s extraordinary trek. I like to imagine them in the deep woods at night, blackness all around, hunkered near their campfire and makeshift maps, studying the stars, debating the next day’s ventures. In the background is the song of a river and creaky, rustling night sounds of unseen animals. There is a dog sprawled near the fire, the smells of food and wood smoke, the tired ache of bodies used up from a day’s excursions.

December 16, 1805 (Fort Clatsop)
“The Winds violent. Trees falling in every derection, Whorl winds, with gusts of Hail & Thunder, this kind of weather lasted all day. Certainly one of the worst days that ever was!…Several men complaining of injuring themselves…” -Captain William Clark.

It seems to me that what we can learn from these adventurers is write it down, write it down.

"Using a first-person narrator is simply a matter of hearing the voice inside yourself. The character is already in the author, I think. The challenge is not to allow the ego of the character to dominate the story. I remember something the creator of the Bonanza series once said. He was asked how he created such a successful television series, and he said he created characters [that] an American family felt comfortable inviting into their living room every Sunday evening. It's a great line." James Lee Burke

I am remiss. Or is that the correct way to use remiss? Surely someone out there in blogland can correct/inform me. However, I am posting this in the dark of night, since we are in the last hours of summer (it's 9 p.m.) to remind you to check out Pimp My Novel and an especially fabulous entry,The Ten Commandments of Blogging. Words to the wise for bloggers everywhere. Bravo!

In the beginning, ease into writing until you're used to writing as way of life. Don't be afraid to tackle what you don't know, that's what research is for. And don't ever balk at rewriting. It's a crucial part of the process. Nothing comes out perfectly the first time. Writing is done in layers, and rewriting deepens those layers.
Give yourself credit for writing; be kind to yourself. It's hard to write, and it takes a lifetime to get where you're going.
~ Sharleen Cooper Cohen

Drizzly morning here in Portland. Too bad since my dahlias are toppling over as if they’re laughing so hard they can’t stand up, and I need too stake them for their own good.

On Monday night I had a book signing at Powells and answered questions from the audience. One young man asked me about using my writing notebooks. He keeps lots of journals so I mentioned that at least once a year I go away and read my notebooks, combing them for ideas and they’re like discovering a treasure-filled cave. Sometimes I cannot believe all I write and record. I use them to practice language, jot down words for my word list, dreams, inspirations, quotes, poems I write early in the morning; outline book projects, and for writing exercises that I write along with my students. I should have mentioned to him that I also read through my current notebooks regularly and whenever I feel stuck or doubt myself, I just page through a notebook and there is proof of my creativity.

This past week, although I didn’t leave home, I read through about a half dozen of my notebooks—in fact, I read through them twice. I needed to decide on the next book I’m going to write and I knew that what I wanted to say to the world by writing a book would be there. And it was. Sort of magical. My agent likes the idea too and we see it as a bridge book for the next project I'm planning. I’m going to start working on the proposal on Monday and I’ll keep you posted. And I always sort of scoffed at the short stories and poems I jot down—saw them more as practice, rather than something I want to publish, but after this week I changed my mind.

Keep writing and keep dreaming.

I like to keep the world in touch with what my friends and students are writing and getting published. With that in mind,here's a note from über talented Steven Anderson. His writing is quirky, funny, and classy, but in a non-traditional classy way. As in the real deal confidence of say, Humphrey Bogart.

Dear friends, family, comrades,

I wanted you to know my novel Besserwisser is now available on the Amazon Kindle Store and Smashwords as a multi-format ebook.

Besserwisser is about an American slacker in Munich who pretends to be a top Fulbright scholar and gets more attention than he bargained for. There's lots of dark humor, a rowdy plot and imposters exposed despite their best efforts.

Besserwisser (German for "upstart know-it-alls") is lighter and wackier than much of my writing and a good fit for digital formats. I'm hoping you'll take the time to check it out. It's only a few bucks. You can sample much of the book without having to buy.

I'm going solo on this one, so I'd love it if you'll help me spread the word.

Amazon Kindle is the fastest growing ebook reader and is also available on the iPhone. Smashwords lets you download the book in over ten formats, so there's always a way to read even if you don't have a proper ebook reader. Besserwisser is also available on Scribd, a fast growing document-sharing website.

Take care and keep in touch,
Steve

PS: This book contains content that may not be suitable for young readers 17 and under.

If the links above don't work, here are full links:

Amazon Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/Besserwisser-ebook/dp/B002NU5LCW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1251999472&sr=1-1
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/sfanderson
Scribd: http://www.scribd.com/SFAnderson

Skies are a glorious shade of last hurrah-of-summer blue. NPR is reporting that the release of Ted Kennedy's memoir, Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol and the new Oprah Book Club pick, is a big boost to the publishing industry. What a difference a year makes. And on October 5th the Huffington Post will launch a new Books section under the leadership of editor Amy Hertz.

And for short story fans you can read Marian Pierce's story, The Grocery Store Cart at Portland Monthly. Marian won the Wordstock prize for her story, so a big congratulations is in order.

I never had any doubts about my abilities. I knew I could write. I just had to figure out how to eat while doing this. - Cormac McCarthy

File this under "who would have thunk?" I was just sorting through my mail and read an article that a friend sent me from The Wall Street Journal: They're No Bodice Rippers, but Amish Romances are Hot. The covers all feature a beautiful young woman wearing a bonnet with a pastoral setting in the background and the sales numbers are impressive. An excerpt: "Most bonnet books are G-rated romances, often involving an Amish character who falls for an outsider. Publishers attribute the books' popularity to their pastoral settings and forbidden love scenarios à la Romeo and Juliet. Lately, the genre has expanded to include Amish thrillers and murder mysteries. Most of the authors are women." You can also read three excerpts from novels at WSJ.com.

Morning skies are smothered in clouds. I'm going to start posting writing prompts here from time to time, but to get things started I wanted you to know about three blogs that have great prompts going on. If you know of more, pass them on. So check out: totallyoptionalprompts, easystreetprompts, and threewordwednesday. Keep writing because it's more fun than most other parts of life.

Dusk is settling in and in the distance I can hear geese honking. I saw several V-formations pass by today, although surely it's too early for migration. There is a huge pond about a mile away, where they gather and are fed bread and snacks by walkers and totter around fat and obnoxious.

For years I've assigned various writing prompts to my students and workshop attendees when we gathered. Here is one, based on Rebecca by Daphne duMaurier. The first line of her novel begins: Last night I dreamt I went to Manderly again. The first line of your story begins: Last night I dreamt I went to____________again.

Try it.

As a writer, I need an enormous amount of time alone. Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials. It's a matter of doing everything you can to avoid writing, until it is about four in the morning and you reach the point where you have to write. Having anybody watching that or attempting to share it with me would be grisly. - Paul Rudnick

Blue skies this morning and my talk last night at Powells was lots of fun, although the joint needs some air conditioning....but what's not to like about being surrounded by thousands of books?

My Facebook experiences are already yielding great results. I want to let you know about a blog for self-employed artists/creatives funding your bliss by Dmae Roberts. Here is part of her bio.

"For 25 years, Dmae Roberts has made a living producing and writing award-winning radio programs and stage plays. She has successfully navigated the non-profit world to fund her artistic projects and created an independent business as a freelance writer and producer. Funding Your Bliss highlights some of her experiences and offers helpful hints and success stories from her own life as well as others in creative class professions." I was scrolling through the various interviews and info--it's a treasure trove folks, and she also links to this Writer's Digest
article Ten Questions Writers Must Ask Before they Quit Their Day Jobs.

Keep writing, keep dreaming.

Question for writers out there who are working on fiction: What is your protagonist hiding and what is he/she most afraid of?

Clouds obscuring the sky this morning. I love reading a good travel writer for a bit of armchair travel, and the September issue of Smithsonian magazine features six travel writers' dream assignments. The writers are Susan Orlean, Francine Prose, Geoffrey C. Ward, Caroline Alexander, Frances Mayes, and Paul Theroux.

Here are the first two paragraphs of an introduction to the series by Jan Morris: “Now that nearly everyone has been nearly everywhere, it might be thought that travel writers have lost their purpose. In a way they have. Only the most spectacularly perilous journey is nowadays worth writing a book about, and a public almost surfeited with TV travelogues rarely needs to be told what foreign parts look like.

Ah, but what they feel like is something else, and in a profounder sense the best travel writers are not really writing about travel at all. They are recording the effects of places or movements upon their own particular temperaments—recording the experience rather than the event, as they might make literary use of a love affair, an enigma, or tragedy….”

Woke up much too early so sky is still the color of soot. Yesterday I set up a Facebook account and will be adding a profile and other items to my Wall soon. My friend Stacey has been after me for ages to do this, but I have always protested that it's a big time suck. Guess what? It's a big time suck.

Anyway, I wanted to recommend Steve Almond's article on salon.com Glen Beck is the Future of Literary.And you thought the New York Time's Bestseller List was unattainable? Read it and weep.

Diana Page Jordan gave Thanks, But This Isn't For Us a terrific review at her blog. Thanks Diana--much appreciated.

Blazing hot afternoon here in Portlandia. I just ran across this essay on another blog and had to put up the link, because it's hilarious....and oh so true.
Publish and Perish
By ELIZABETH ROYTE
Published: October 23, 2005
"For any writer, the publication of a book, labored over for years, is an exciting event. But excitement is a fleeting emotion, and the business of publicizing the book, so that it sells and the author can earn out his advance, quickly displaces any initial euphoria. The writer then embarks on a tortured journey toward acceptance of the fact, several months after publication, that his book isn't going to vault him into the empyrean of fame, or even improve his life. At the intersection of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross's stages of grief and Stendhal's stages of love, the contemporary author trudges along a predictable path that can only be described, in hindsight, as self-induced misery."

Cloudless skies this morning and another day of hot weather is predicted. Just a reminder from my division of shameless commerce (to borrow a phrase): I'll be reading from my new book, Thanks, But This Isn't For Us, A (Sort of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing is Being Rejected and chatting about the writing life. Or should I say, how to keep your sanity amid the writing life, at Powells on Hawthorne at 7:30 on Monday night (September 14).

Skies are overcast with temperatures heading into the 80s again. According to The Writer's Almanac, today is the birthday of editor, author, and essayist Cyril Connolly who said, The true function of a writer is to produce a masterpiece and no other task is of any consequence.

Also, my audio interview at Author magazine is now available. In this interview I talk about common mistakes I notice in manuscripts and how to avoid them.
Keep writing, keep dreaming.

Overcast skies again this morning. I’ve been thinking about the whole idea of mentors lately, especially since the brouhaha over President Obama’s going-back-to-school talk to kids. I’ve rarely witnessed such crazy behavior as lately when the hate mongers like Glen Beck, Monika Crowley and their ilk keep voicing their consternation and comparing him to Hitler. And then there is Steve Anderson the pastor of the Baptist church in Arizona who has called for the president’s death. It would seem that if there is any morality in this organization this man should lose his job for his violent rhetoric. So I’ve been in one of my what-the-heck-is-this- country-coming-to-moods? And knew that if we elected a black president the shit would hit the fan and all the racists and haters would emerge. Meanwhile, Americans need to rise up and say enough is enough.

But I’m going to stop my rant and I want to quote something from Obama’s talk: "Every single one of you has something you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide. Maybe you could be a good writer--maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper--but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class."

The speech goes on to list a host of professions after President Obama's tribute to writers: "innovator or an inventor," "Senator or a Supreme Court Justice," and finally, the traditional favorites, "doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer."
But did you notice that writers came first?

I wish, I wish when I was a girl that I had more mentors. Someone who noticed my passion, my talents, but mostly my doubts and I’m-not-good enoughs. I think my life would have been far different. I was thinking back to my years in a small northern town and my love of ice skating. I skated every day in winter. Sometimes twice a day. When it was twenty or thirty below and I couldn’t feel my toes and the sky was black and glimmering like a diamond field, because out on the ice you’re kind of free and wild and unsure all at once. I could skate backward, I could stay on my feet, I could skate fast, but I didn’t have a special aptitude for skating. I was just a sort of athletic kid who possessed fair balance—most of the time.

Often on returning home from school I’d hang out in the driveway at the side of the house and practice until dusk fell on those hard, freezing winter afternoons. And I practiced Olympic-type moves---balancing and swiveling on one foot sort of things. The driveway ice was a bumpy, treacherous and the ice equivalent of potholes. I was alone. The sky was as purple as a bruise. But I never really mastered any of those steps, I never really became ballerina graceful—not like the picture in my head.

It was only about 10 years ago that I realized that the reason I never progressed as a skater was that I never had a teacher or mentor. In fact, as far as I know there were no professional skaters in our town. However, for years I carried a kind of inner failure that I hadn’t done better. The girl in me never realized that I needed instruction, guidance, a kind word—not just a kid alone on a cold night struggling to scrap together a performance without any instruction or help.

So thanks to Obama and every other adult who lends a guiding hand. If you’re a writer find a mentor. If you cannot find one, read books on craft. And for all the hate mongers who are poisoning our country, I curse you with a serious case of frostbite.

Paige, the six year old in my life failed to reach home by bus on her first day of first grade today. When I called at about 3:45 to chat with her about her new teacher, Mrs. Glove and first grade happenings, I heard hysteria on the other end of the phone line. Trouble is, that Paige, like many bright children whose souls or intelligence or whatever you want to call it, is/are too big for their small bodies, has a serious case of anxiety. We’re talking really serious.

As in on Sunday we were at a farmer’s market. It started to blow and rain. The sky was the color of soot meets The Wizard of Oz tornado scene. Paige, sensibly clad in her new LLBean raincoat and carrying her red and black ladybug print umbrella started freaking out. We retreated to a canopied area where great jazz was playing, the aromas of food were permeating, and Paige was melting down. I pointed out: “Look around. Don’t you notice that nobody else, not even the kids are crying?

Trembling, she surveyed the crowd. “Nobody’s crying.” she agreed.

“What do you think that means?

”I don’t know.” Lips quivering, large brown eyes spilling tears.

“It means there is nothing to be afraid of. It’s only rain. It’s all in your head.”

“Can we go now?

With no options since she was frozen in terror, I left her in the hands of her older sister ("It's only water, like the shower) for a few minutes so I could quickly dispatch with my necessary forays in buying veggies. Yesterday I delivered her home and she immediately stuck to her mother like a bur (if you’re not familiar with burs you should seek one out because they are a really apt simile) and started trembling about the first day of school. So the next hour or so was about cajoling, assurances, distractions, and choosing the perfect outfit.

So when she hopped on the wrong bus it wasn’t good. This is a kid who is afraid of rain and lives in Oregon. Many phone calls and walkie-talkie bus driver communications later she was discovered in her pink dress with cherries and pink Converse and was driven back to the school. When I talked with her later she knew she belonged on bus 5 and that Mrs. Glove was having a baby and she had received an award for already knowing how to read. Sigh of relief.

Whenever I have endured or accomplished some difficult task -- such as watching television, going out socially or sleeping -- I always look forward to rewarding myself with the small pleasure of getting back to my typewriter and writing something. ~Isaac Asimov

Skies are overcast, but the sun is going to break through and warmer weather is on the way after a weekend of gloom and rain. I was just listening to Obama's talk to kids returning to school and thinking about how it is time for people of decency and common sense to talk back to all the hate speech and bizarre rhetoric that is choking the air waves.

Meanwhile here is a thought on writing:
“A successful book is not made of what is in it, but what is left out of it.” Mark Twain

It strikes me again how many works of fiction end with a character’s death… The use and reuse of death as an ending points to the inevitable resemblance between the arc of story and the arc of an individual existence rising and falling. It indicates, among other things, how elemental form is. Joan Silber, The Art of Time in Fiction

Art has given me everything I have wanted or needed. Peter Small, author Stitches, illustrator

Skies washed over with clouds and the roofers should be here any moment. Yesterday they left soon after arriving because the wrong shingles were loaded up onto the roof. I'll be leaving home today.

But I wanted to point you to Kay Kenyon's blog. She just posted a segment from my July column in my newsletter, The Writing Life. If you don't receive the newsletter, please contact me. As for Kay, she's a science fiction author and her novels include Bright of the Sky, one of Publishers Weekly's Best Books of the Year 2007,A World Too Near, City Without End,concluding with Prince of Storms (Jan 2010).

Kay is also chair of the Write on the River conference which is held each May in Wenatchee, Washington, perched along the Columbia River. If you want to visit a town that feels like stepping into the Old West, this is the place. Fabulous architecture.

Also, I checked out her post excerpted from my newsletter and had that oh-so lovely "I wrote that" pride....Keep writing out there.

Overcast skies and it's 7:20 and a crew of roofers have just pulled up in a rattly- looking red pickup. Which means that soon it will sound as if a herd of elephants is at war overhead (my office is on the second floor). So if I'm noticeable in my absence in the next few days, it's because I've abandoned ship. Is it just me or every year when you hear about the hundreds of acres in California being devoured by flames don't you wonder if they're going to run out of places to burn down?

Meanwhile, a question for any readers who are tech savvy. Deone Kohler featured my Powells.com blog post at her blog--oh the world of cross-blogging--and then informed me that she cannot link to my blog in her Google reader. Does anyone know why? If so, please email me at jessicapage at spiritone.com.

Oh, and Mediabistro is reporting that Storm Large is going to portray Gretchen Lowell, Chelsea Cain's serial killer in a marketing campaign for her upcoming novel Evil at Heart. I recently saw Storm's one-woman show, Almost Crazy at Portland Center Stage. She is freaking amazing--sort of a triple threat since she can sing, act, and write. And she's hot.Yeesh.

Keep writing, keep dreaming.

Overcast skies this morning. I've sometimes gone for days, weeks, months without watching television, but this past week have watched a lot of the coverage on the death of Ted Kennedy. It seems that his enduring lessons are service to others, compassion,and perseverance.

Since I was a girl I've read biographies of people who overcame difficult odds or struggles, and have always been inspired by the human spirit. It's always a good idea when you're aiming high--to be a published writer--to study the lives of people who have made a difference. So read about your literary heroes--how did they do it, how did they spend their days, how did they bounce back from rejection?

Today is the birthday of one of my writer-heroes, the late Molly Ivins. She is the featured writer on The Writer's Almanac today and in part it says: "Her fiery liberal columns caused a lot of debate in Texas, with newspaper readers always writing in to complain. One time, she wrote about the Republican congressman from Dallas: "If his IQ slips any lower we'll have to water him twice a day." It generated a storm of controversy, and the paper she wrote for decided to use it to their advantage, to boost readership. They started placing advertisements on billboards all over Dallas that said, "Molly Ivins can't say that … can she?" She used the line as the title of her first book (published in 1991).

She went on to write several best-selling books, including Shrub: The Short but Happy Political Life of George W. Bush — which was actually written and published in 2000, before George W. Bush had been elected to the White House. Ivins later said, "The next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please, pay attention."

Molly Ivins died of breast cancer a couple of years ago, at the age of 62. She once wrote: "Having breast cancer is massive amounts of no fun. First they mutilate you; then they poison you; then they burn you. I have been on blind dates better than that."

Molly Ivins once said: "I am not anti-gun. I'm pro-knife. Consider the merits of the knife. In the first place, you have to catch up with someone in order to stab him. A general substitution of knives for guns would promote physical fitness. We'd turn into a whole nation of great runners. Plus, knives don't ricochet. And people are seldom killed while cleaning their knives."

And, "The thing about democracy, beloveds, is that it is not neat, orderly, or quiet. It requires a certain relish for confusion."

Everybody has a life of their own. You have to find your secret life. Find the life which you have and nobody else has, and write about that. The things that you know, and nobody else knows. John Mortimer

Clouds moving in here and rain is supposed to be on the way.

I wanted to thank Bill Kenower, the editor of Author magazine for interviewing me yesterday. I’ll let you know when the interview goes live on their site. And if you’re not aware of it, Author magazine, sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Writer’s Association is a treasure trove of insights and advice on the writing life.
Thanks too to Powells.com for allowing me to blog over there this week. My last post contains a list of books every writers needs on his or her bookshelf.

A quick fyi: If you’re interested in being a published writer it’s always wise to pay attention to publishing trends. A good source is publishing trends.

Keep writing, keep dreaming.

Dark is descending and still so hot I haven’t opened the windows—just call me a wimp, but after I watered (extensively) and deadheaded a whole flower bed (a much underrated and oh-so satisfying task might I add) I’ve been sequestered indoors in my house of fans. –uhm as in devices that move air, not people who think I’m wonderful. Sigh.

Thanks so much to the Orlando Sentinel for posting a link to my blog at Powells.com. And if you don’t read the Powells blog, baby, you’re missing out.

Lovely azure skies again and things are heating up. I'd like to send a thank you to the long-deceased Willis Haviland Carrier, the father of cool, or inventor of air conditioning.

Still blogging at powells.com so check it out.

But here's information I wanted to pass along from Alimentum, a gorgeous, gorgeous food magazine:
Alimentum announces its first Poetry Contest
Submissions open September 1st 2009
Deadline December 1st 2009
First prize $500 and publication for a single poem. Two second prizes of publication. Final judge internationally renowned poet Dorianne Laux.

RULES: Submit up to 3 unpublished poems related to the subject of food or drink. No simultaneous submissions. No SASE. Winners will be contacted and announced on our website March 1st, 2010. $15 entry fee includes a one-year subscription. Snail mail only:
Alimentum Poetry Contest, P.O. Box 210028, Nashville, TN 37221.
Note: Our regular poetry-reading period is closed this fall. All contest submissions will be considered for publication.

Fiction & Nonfiction
Regular submission reading period opens September 1st 2009

Please note new address for submissions.

Writer Guidelines:

We're seeking fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry all around the subject of food. Submissions accepted via snail mail (no response without SASE). Five-poem limit on poetry submissions. We do not consider previously published work. Simultaneous submissions accepted. Please allow one to three months for response.

Address your submissions to fiction, non-fiction, or poetry editor.

For submissions:
Alimentum
P.O. Box 210028
Nashville, TN 37221

"For all those whose cares have been our concern,the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die." Senator Edward M. Kennedy

An excerpt from Thanks, But This Isn't for Us is at Maria Schneider's blog, Editor Unleashed. It's a great resource for writers and thanks Maria for featuring my book.
Keep writing, keep dreaming.

You blows who you is.
Louis Armstrong

Glorious cloudless skies this morning. I'm blogging at powells.com this week. Check out my posts.

Gorgeous morning with endless blue.

Next week I’m going to be blogging at Powells.com. I’m going to weigh in from the nonfiction side of things, and from my vantage as a developmental editor and writing instructor.

But I’m also talking about my origins as a writer—and how all writers need to write from their fears and passions, and connect to the images that have been seared into memory. For example when I was six my grandfather died suddenly of a heart attack. Before that, I, along with everyone around them, recognized that grandma and grandma were sweethearts—as in hand-holding-take-a-‘nap’-in-the-afternoon-fierce-spats-romance. So when he died in his early fifties it was a big shock to all of us and what I remember most from his funeral was the sight of his daughter’s necks. I was seated behind them in the church pew of our lovely Lutheran church and their heads were bent low with weeping and their necks were exposed and as tender and vulnerable as anything I’ve ever seen, like roses drenched in rain.

Grandpa was a hunter and trapper and fisherman—fly fishing before it was all the rage. I can still remember the silhouette of him and my dad against a northern forest, long fishing lines sweeping the skies, a river bright with rapids. My grandparents’ back porch was lined with his trophies. As in a yawning darkness of Musky heads and fox heads and grinning skulls and a primal smell of stuffed bodies before you could dash outside into the real air….scared the bejesus out of me.

So explore your memories and the aspects of life that won't leave you alone.

If you’re interested in a realistic view of politics and the media, you might want to check out Media Matters. I’m particularly grateful that the writers there are pointing out that the thugs who are disrupting the town hall gatherings this summer resemble the Swift Boaters of the 2004 election, and that once again, the media is sitting back and allowing them to get away with their tactics without doing their job of researching who is paying for all this and what insurance companies have to lose if health care reform takes place.

Just for the record: I would LOVE it if the government would pay for my health care and health care meets government sounds as sexy to this self-employed writer as say, champagne and caviar, high count Egyptian cotton sheets and room service, or chocolate and raspberries. {Please substitute your own food combination/luxury fetish}. And also for the record, I own no weapons unless you count the memos I send to writers, but I appreciate David Sirota’s recent Salon.com essay where he explains that gut-toting jerks aren’t protecting their rights, but threatening the rights of others. “Yes, the gun has been transformed from a sport and self-defense device into a tool of mass bullying.” He sensibly suggests that politic gatherings should be gun-free zones, just as our schools and stadiums are. And maybe the people that complain about all the government intervention in our lives should stop driving on the government-built roads and shouldn’t send their kids to the government-built schools, or visit the libraries, etc.etc. So of course we cannot live without the government providing services—it’s the reason for government, to protect the weakest among us, to provide quality of life for all. End of rant.

Keep writing, keep dreaming.

Overcast skies this morning and temperatures much cooler. I’m trying to get myself organized to have a productive day—the Working Class Acupuncture clinic is having a yard sale and I’m going to donate some items so I need to gather them.

Meanwhile, since there’s still another month of summer and you might be heading to the beach for a long weekend, here’s a delicious list of mysteries you might have overlooked at NPR. I used to read a lot of suspense/mystery titles. As I was working on my books, Between the Lines and Bullies, Bastards & Bitches I realized that I wanted to use a wider variety of books as examples, so deliberately started reading a wider array of fiction.

In fact, for both of those books I read 100-200 novels in order to formulate and fine tune my concepts. And along the way I mostly stopped reading suspense. I was thinking about this and I realize that my tastes have changed and I was looking for a different kind of drama, but also that the whole genre simply seemed sort of stale to me. Too many of the mystery writers that I once loved didn’t seem to be treading new ground or upping their games. I also read George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice fantasy series and it was hard to find a suspense writer who crafted stories with such thoroughness and imagination. (You might want to check out his website and blog—and oh joy! they’re casting the actors for the HBO pilot. I cannot wait…..) But now, looking at this list of intriguing mysteries, I realize that it’s time to revisit the genre and find new authors.

A few clouds are moving across an azure sky and cooler weather is promised. My new book Thanks, But This Isn't For Us, A (Sort of) Compassionate Guide to Why Your Writing is being Rejected is now on sale. You can buy it here or here or order it from any book store. I'd appreciate your comments on the book and again thanks to all the writers I've worked with over the years--it's been (mostly) an enormous joy. Oh, and tomorrow night I'm going out to celebrate the new addition to my family, er, book case. I'm thinking champagne.......
As always, keep writing, keep dreaming.

Pale, pale skies this morning and the heat gods are about to open a can of whup ass on us.

I meet a lot of writers who are looking for agents or trying to break into print with a manuscript. Most don't have contacts in the publishing world and some writers believe they can still get published by sending a manuscript to a publishing house--which is pretty much an impossibility these days. One place to start is to read the blogs and interview of good agents. One of the best interviews I've run across is Jofie Ferrari-Adler, an editor at Grove/Atlantic interviewing Molly Friedrich. It's at Poet & Writer online.Molly is a goddess among agents and I strongly suggest that if you don't have an agent and want one, to read the interview because it's packed with info on the publishing biz.

Here is the final question and answer of the extensive interview:
Is there anything you haven't accomplished that you still want to?

"No. I just want to always be in the game. I want to work for at least another ten years. I don't want to retire when I'm in a walker. The reason why this is such a great job, first of all, is that I've been able to work around my children and my life. I have been able to call my hours my own to an unusual extent, in a way that would not have been possible if I stayed at Doubleday. But I have a very highly developed work ethic. I work really hard. What is extraordinary about this business is that we get to be more interesting than we would otherwise be. Because of our work. That's really important. In other words, we do go to dinner parties, and we do meet interesting people, and reading remains and will always remain a great common currency. It's fantastic to work in the world of ideas, and great plots, and the great insights that are given to us by writers. I don't ever want to be far away from that. And I won't be. I refuse. I feel deeply privileged to be in this business. So what if it's changing? I'm not going to change as quickly as it changes—there's room for troglodytes like me. And I'm never going to rest on my laurels. Because if you aren't always excited to get something in that is fresh and new, then you shouldn't be in this business. If you're just going along like a hamster in a wheel, then you've lost the pure white heat that makes this business so much fun. And it should be challenging. That's what separates the great agents from the good agents."

A glorious morning here in Portland with skies somewhere between shades of Alice and Brandais blue. I never knew about Alice and Brandais, but lately I’ve been musing about the sky and the color blue and how I’ve run out of descriptors for this summer, the various shades in the heavens and our weather. But then I just learned my favorite shade of green is called celadon, so it’s time to get more precise because you gotta practice what you preach. For writers who want a huge palette of colors to choose from, you might want to bookmark this page.

Temperatures are heading into the 90s again and we’re supposed to hit 99 on Wednesday—naturally I’d planned a little soiree in my back yard. It might be time to whip up another batch of gazpacho.

But I digress—I wanted to announce that NPR is running another 3-Minute Fiction Contest. The first sentence must begin “The nurse left work at five o’clock.” While you're at the NPR site you might want to check out the previous winner and entries.

Keep writing, keep dreaming.

It's a soft, soft night in Portland and from my window comes cricket song and the distant hum of traffic. I've had one of those puttery, quiet days that we all need from time to time to catch up with ourselves and slow the heck down...gardening and the farmer's market and a nap and cooking and long phone calls spent lying on my back, imagining the other person's reality.

Here's a note from the talented Cathy Lamb that I wanted you to know about:
On July 28th, Henry's Sisters and Almost Home my two new books, hit the shelves...

Henry's Sisters is about three sisters and a specially-abled brother named, Henry. The sisters are ordered to return home to Trillium River, Oregon, to help their she-devil mother, River Bommarito, recover from heart surgery. Sounds simple, but Isabelle Bommarito is busy burning her bra and thong on her patio while naked at her Pearl District loft and recovering from her most recent blow. Cecilia Bommarito is in the midst of a mind-numbing divorce and ends up watering her ex-husband's Corvette, and Janie Bommarito, a best selling author of graphic crime fiction, a lover of the classics, and a sufferer of obsessive compulsive disorder is hiding out in her houseboat on the Willamette River with her lace doilies resisting all requests to return home.

The story is also about River's refusal to discuss the children's harrowing childhood, a grandmother who believes she's Amelia Earhart, giant - sized cupcakes, a bakery on Main Street, a cosmic twin-link between Cecilia and Isabelle, a rebellious daughter who changes religions monthly, spaghetti nights, a dirty trailer, overcoming poverty, forgiveness of self and others and, of course, Henry, the only person everyone adores all the time.

Almost Home is a short story in an anthology. In the first scene, our main gal, Chalese, is climbing on a roof with her best friend. Why is she climbing on a roof? Because she wants to spy on her ex-boyfriend through the skylight, how dare he have a date so soon after he dumped her? She didn't even like him anyhow. Both ladies are dressed in black, head to foot, and have night-vision goggles. Perhaps they have had one too many daiquiris. All goes well until they actually crash through the skylight, landing on the island counter. "Almost Home" is about having too many secrets, a past that catches up, a children's book writer, a Hollywood screenwriter, and an always pregnant sister. It's about living on a beautiful island with many pets, making "Wild Girls Jams and Jellies," small town island living, a manly man named Aiden, and taking a dare to live with laughter and gusto.

I hope you like both books. As usual, you can find them at Powell's, Barnes and Nobles, Borders, Amazon, etc.

I will be speaking on Thursday, September 3rd at Cedar Hills Powell's in Beaverton at 7:00 about both books. I would truly love to see you there.

I met Cathy years ago when I first started teaching and always knew she'd be published. Besides being talented, she's funny and deep, and real.

Siren screams are zigzagging through the air and the skies are a kaleidoscope of clouds. For you Twitter addicts out there (you know who are) you’ve just got to read Laurel Snyder's terrific Salon. com essay, Addicted to Twitter. “So I quit cold turkey, spent a few days offline completely, in a kind of self-imposed intervention, which only reinforced my awareness of my addiction. In the morning, my need to touch the computer was nearly overpowering. I forced myself to read the paper (the actual paper). By evening, it was easier, and my husband and I went on a date (an actual date, with actual beer). By the next day, I felt freer, saner. Distance really helped.

But now, I’m unsure of how to proceed. My Twitter addiction isn’t quite like a drinking problem. I can’t just abstain altogether. I can’t keep the computer turned off.”

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."

-Dr. Howard Thurman

Can I just be cranky for a moment? Or is the word bitchy?

I've always winced when I heard parents emote in saccharine tones "good job" to their kids for every time they pumped their chubby little legs on the swing or picked up a Lego. I don't know--this phrase just bugs the heck out of me and always sounds so freakin' insincere. So I was just sitting here writing, in love with the glowering sky with about 18 layers of clouds, when I heard a simpering "Good Job" from below my window. Feeling sorry for the kid, I peeked out at a young man with two little fluffy dogs who was praising them for stepping off the curb. Okay, back to writing and minding my own business.

From my in box for Portland-based writers (man, this sounds like fun!):
Sledgehammer Writing Contest

Writers to your marks. Get set. Shatter!

(Your writer’s block, that is.)

For the second year running, the Sledgehammer Writing Contest innovatively incorporates a scavenger hunt with a team competition and a prize package worth thousands of dollars—oh, and did we mention there’s a 36-hour time limit?

Noon, Saturday, August 29–11:59 p.m., Sunday, August 30

All ages welcome. Registration is open now through start time.

Find out more and register at www.sledgehammercontest.com.

Last night it rained and rained the sound as familiar as my breathing. Woke up to a fresh, wet world, more rain, and skies are still overcast. I’m trying to catch up on projects and put my office back into order. Of course we won’t get into how I’m about three years behind in filing and paperwork. Make that four.

A few notes for writers:
The latest Author magazine has an article by the editor Erin Brown—Top 10 Ways to Increase Your Chances of Getting Published. Practical advice.

And here’s more practical advice from Julie Powell, the writer whose blog was turned into the movie Julie and Julia.(which by the way, made $20.1 million in the first weekend):

"I think you always have to keep your eyes on the prize in terms of writing about the things you are passionate about, writing about the subject matter that you really love. If you get too concerned with branding and getting the links and making sure that enough people know me—getting away from writing about what you want to write about as well and clearly and evocatively as you can—you might publish a book that way, but you won't turn into a writer. The writing always has to be at the center."

If you read this blog you know that I worry a lot about the state of journalism these days—so much is at stake if we don’t have investigative journalists around to keep us informed and if people stop reading newspapers and credible news sources. The current brouhaha over health care reform is a great example of our need for accurate information. Of course, it’s hard to guess at where the right wing shock troops who are doing the corporations dirty work are getting their so-called information. A simple fact check will prove that there are no death panels in the health bill, although there certainly are policies at health insurance companies that could earn that title. In fact you can find a story about the death panels on NPR.org since it was covered on Morning Edition today.

On to good news…..Recently Advertising Age reported that ad revenue is expected to increase in newspapers across the county and there’s more good news from Editor and Publisher in their list the 10 That Do It Right. The article includes the reasons why these newspapers are thriving in tough economic times:
Las Vegas Sun
Sioux City (Iowa) Journal
Briefing (Dallas, Texas)
The Post-Star (Glens Falls, NY)
East Bay Express (Emeryville, CA)
Star Tribune, Minneapolis
St. Petersburg (Florida) Times
The Daily Independent ( Ridgecrest, California)
New Times (Phoenix)
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Clouds looming over the skies this afternoon and it’s starting to rain and the wet ground smell is glorious and should be made into a perfume. Well, I think I’m finally rested from the 40th annual Willamette Writers Conference. If you’ve never attended a writer’s conference, you should. But expect lots of buzz, energy, ideas, and information being slammed at you. In fact, expect the place to be crackling with energy. Expect to be inspired, amazed, and possibly exhausted. So pace yourself, have a plan, create the perfect pitch, be friendly and sincere, and dazzling if you’re that sort.

I chatted with people this year that I think you should know about and wanted to send a thanks to: Charlotte Cook, publisher of Komenar Publishing of Walnut Creek, California. Charlotte’s funny, real, and knowledgeable. If you ever have an opportunity to attend one of her workshops, do so. Then there was Deb Werksman the editorial manager of Sourcebooks, Inc. They publish a variety of titles and are based in Conneticut. We chatted at my book signing and she bought my The Writer’s I Ching book and she’s kind and smart and accessible. Then there were Jeff and the oh-so friendly Deborah Herman. They sell nonfiction, particularly inspirational titles. I caught up with the irrepressible and always-looking forward Julie Fast. We talked about her latest ventures, the current reality of publishing and e-books, and her new interns. As always, she gave me ideas on how to manage my career and to bite off life in large gulps. On Saturday I met Melissa Hart who besides being bubbly (but in a good way), adorable, and stylish is also whip smart. That day I also chatted for awhile with agent Angela Rinaldi about the nonfiction market. She called many of the book pitches and proposals she hears these days “google ideas” meaning a reader can simply google the information on-line and doesn’t need to buy a book for answers. More to think about.

And thanks too to Katherine Wagner who came down to attend the conference from Vancouver B.C. and brought her sister from Ottawa. We met at a workshop I taught in Vancouver B.C. a few years ago. I so enjoyed talking with you and hearing about your life and passions. And do expect some emails from me nagging you to get on with your writing. Thanks and good wishes to the many students I ran into, the kind members of Willamette Writers who asked how I was doing since my accident. And Chelsea Cain’s keynote address at the Saturday night banquet was witty, captivating, and made everyone in the room imagine that they too could land a multi-million dollar deal if they stick to their writing practice, no matter what, and write the book they want to read.

You know the drill: keep writing and keep dreaming.

Gorgeous indigo skies this afternoon and temperatures in the mid-70s this week. Last Thursday I returned from camping in the Cascades to a familiar gray palette here and then the day just got better as a box of my new books arrived from Tarcher and the mail brought the new The Writer magazine with a review of my new book, Thanks, But This Isn’t for Us by Melissa Hart. She ended the review with this note: “But she never lets the reader forget that amazing writing, far from being romantic and mystical, is hard work. It involves hours of solitude, multiple revisions, the humble acceptance of critiques from first readers, and—if we’re lucky—the skills of a bad-ass editor.”

On Thursday I unpacked most of my camping gear, tossed a few loads of wash into the machine and started getting ready to speak at the Willamette Writer’s Conference. The conference was more fun that I anticipated—I met lots of lovely writers and saw students and clients from years ago, my workshops went well, and my new book sold out. Sunday was spent on yard work, a visit to the farmer’s market and stores for provisions, and finally storing all the camping stuff. I woke this morning and answered e-mails and since I haven’t been home for a week or so, vacuumed, swabbed the decks, watered flower beds, and made this place feel habitable again.

And by the time the dish washer and wash machine were humming and the kitchen floor was clean, I realized that the prickly feeling I’d been experiencing for the past few weeks is the need to be firmly entrenched in my writing routine again. Now, I’ve been making notes and plans for a book and while I was walking down to a lake last week the first sentence to a book popped into my head. I knew if I spent time away from my concerns that this would happen, and I also know that once I find that first sentence, the rest will follow.

But back to that prickly feeling—it means I’m ready to rise before dawn every morning and work on a book and focus my thoughts around it, improving it, and bringing it into being. It’s the same feeling I get around New Years come January, when I don’t want to eat another cookie or attend another party or shop for another gift—I want to haul out the tree and decorations and clean out the refrigerator. And once all the Christmas geegaws are gone and the tree is tossed onto the curbside and the needles have been vacuumed away, I can return to the routine that sustains me. The barrenness of my surroundings in January is always calming—the clean slate with fewer distractions. So I’m done with summer’s siren call and I’m ready for autumn and working on a new book. I’ll keep you posted.

Meanwhile, thanks to everyone who attended my workshops and bought my books at the conference. Keep writing and dreaming.

White washed over blue skies and temperatures expected to only hit the mid-80s. Thanks to the weather gods for the new front arriving in our region.

Recently a friend was seeking an agent for her terrific first novel and ran across an agent that asked for an exclusive. As in don’t submit your manuscript to anyone except me for a specific period of time. I tend to believe that agents that demand exclusive rights before you sign with them are a waste of time/and or have grandiose ideas about their importance in the publishing universe. And lo and behold literary agent Janet Reid agrees with me. And her blog describes her as “An agent filled w/ the kind of dripping, salacious badassness that usually comes from the mind of Quentin Tarantino"--Jason Roer so you gotta love her. I hope that if you’re looking for an agent that you’re reading the blogs of people like Reid and other agencies. While you’re at her blog I strongly suggest you peruse her query letter checklist.


Meanwhile, I finished reading Richard Price’s Lush Life and want to give it a big thumbs up and recommend it to any writer who needs to tighten their dialogue or make it sound more authentic. Haven’t you noticed how all the writers who worked on The Wire are amazing? It’s the story of New York detectives caught up in a murder case and has one of the best characters depicting grief that I’ve run across in storyland. Now I need to read Clockers.

More words to add to my word list (and some of them courtesy of Richard Price): scrum, tweety, riffle, bookoo, bamboozle, judder, gibber, chittering, amorphous,jittering, judder. Man I love onomatopoeia.

I’m heading up to a mountain lake to work on a new book concept. Keep writing, keep dreaming.

"The only thing that keeps us from floating off with the wind is our stories. They give us a name and put us in a place, allow us to keep on touching." Tom Spanbauer

Blue skies again this morning and a gradual cool down is coming through here this week and it might stay below 90 today. Hallelujah. Two things from National Public Radio. As I was driving to a friend’s house for dinner on Saturday night I listened to James Wood, a book critic for The New York Times and author of How Fiction Works discuss the winner of NPR’s Three Minute Short Story. You can read Molly Reid’s story Not That I Care at their site.
Second, about 16,000 listeners responded and voted for the Top 100 Beach Reads:
1. The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling
2. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
3. The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini
4. Bridget Jones's Diary, by Helen Fielding
5. Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen
6. Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, by Rebecca Wells
7. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams
9. Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, by Fannie Flagg
10. The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver

11. The Time Traveler's Wife, by Audrey Niffenegger
12. Life of Pi, by Yann Martel
13. The Joy Luck Club, by Amy Tan
14. The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien
15. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
16. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
17. Bel Canto, by Ann Patchett
18. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
19. Middlesex, by Jeffrey Eugenides
20. Water for Elephants, by Sara Gruen

21. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
22. The Bean Trees, by Barbara Kingsolver
23. The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, by Alexander McCall Smith
24. The World According to Garp, by John Irving
25. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
26. The Prince of Tides, by Pat Conroy
27. Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel
28. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman
29. The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler
30. Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer

31. A Confederacy of Dunces, by John Kennedy Toole
32. East of Eden, by John Steinbeck
33. The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant
34. Beach Music, by Pat Conroy
35. One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
36. Rebecca, by Daphne Du Maurier
37. Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card
38. Lonesome Dove, by Larry McMurtry
39. The Thorn Birds, by Colleen McCullough
40. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, by Michael Chabon

41. Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett
42. Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
43. Interview with the Vampire, by Anne Rice
44. Cold Mountain, by Charles Frazier
45. Empire Falls, by Richard Russo
46. Under the Tuscan Sun, by Frances Mayes
47. The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
48. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, by Tom Robbins
49. I Know This Much Is True, by Wally Lamb
50. Murder on the Orient Express, by Agatha Christie

51. Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott
52. The Stand, by Stephen King
53. She's Come Undone, by Wally Lamb
54. Dune, by Frank Herbert
55. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows
56. Love in the Time of Cholera, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
57. Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll
58. Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov
59. The Godfather, by Mario Puzo
60. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith

61. Animal Dreams, by Barbara Kingsolver
62. Jaws, by Peter Benchley
63. Good in Bed, by Jennifer Weiner
64. Angle of Repose, by Wallace Stegner
65. Snow Falling on Cedars, by David Guterson
66. The Old Man and the Sea, by Ernest Hemingway
67. The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
68. Breakfast of Champions, by Kurt Vonnegut
69. Cat's Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
70. The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler

71. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
72. The Hunt for Red October, by Tom Clancy
73. Cold Sassy Tree, by Olive Ann Burns
74. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
74. Bonfire of the Vanities, by Tom Wolfe [tie]
76. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte
77. Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon
78. The Shell Seekers, by Rosamunde Pilcher
79. Prodigal Summer, by Barbara Kingsolver
80. Eye of the Needle, by Ken Follett

81. Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck
81. The Pilot's Wife, by Anita Shreve [tie]
83. All the Pretty Horses, by Cormac McCarthy
84. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, by Stieg Larsson
85. The Little Prince, by Antoine De Saint-Exupery
86. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy
87. One for the Money, by Janet Evanovich
88. Shogun, by James Clavell
89. Dracula, by Bram Stoker
90. The Unbearable Lightness of Being, by Milan Kundera

91. Presumed Innocent, by Scott Turow
92. Franny and Zooey, by J.D. Salinger
93. The Secret History, by Donna Tartt
94. Dead Until Dark, by Charlaine Harris
95. Summer Sisters, by Judy Blume
96. The Shining, by Stephen King
97. How Stella Got Her Groove Back, by Terry McMillan
98. Lamb, by Christopher Moore
99. Sick Puppy, by Carl Hiaasen
100. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson
I’ve read most of these books, how about you?

Skies are Robins-egg blue and the high today is only supposed to be only 88. Cannot remember when it was below 90 around here. My new book, Thanks, But This isn’t For Us was written to help writers, especially beginning writers avoid rejection. Here’s an excerpt from chapter one:

“Remember, began with tension and immediacy. Make readers feel the story has started. They want to be in your world, not be told about it. Don’t preface—plunge in.” Jerome Stern

Dear Wannabe a Published Writer;
This isn’t a book about false promises or cheery u-rah-rahs. This book will never claim that anyone can write a best seller or become a billionaire just by typing away, or even that writing is the greatest joy, because after all we cannot forget about dancing, chocolate, and sex. Rather, it’s written by a Demon of Harsh Reality and meant as a hefty dose of reality along with encouragement to keep trying, to keep learning. Because writing is a craft and it can be learned.

When you’ve never been published it seems that all you want to do is break into the publishing world by finding an agent or editor who will believe in you. But actually what editors and agents are looking for is writers who can break out. This means instead of a book hanging out in the midlist category or in obscurity, it somehow stands out and leaps into the spotlight. So breakout equals buzz, pizzazz, mega sales and a book being called a “must read.” When a book breaks out it is infectious, popular and imitated. Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and Alice Sebold’s The Lovely Bones and Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park are examples of breakout novels and Running with Scissors by Augusten Burroughs, Prozac Nation by Elizabeth Wurtzel, and The Glass Castle by Jeannette Wells are examples of breakout memoirs. This happens for all sorts of reasons including good reviews, being picked for Oprah’s Book Club, being blurbed by a celebrity, but mostly because enthusiastic readers and booksellers spread the word about a book.

So what does this mean to an unpublished writer? It means your manuscript must be impeccable and you’ve got to think big. You need to write a compelling story, which is quite different from typing a manuscript. Lots of people can type, but not everyone can tell a story. You need to write stories that haunt readers about characters or real people they cannot forget. You want the reader to be excited about it the moment he starts reading your first words. You want him to act when he reads your book by telling all his co-workers at the agency or publishing house about your manuscript. So it’s all about buzz.
First Impressions

Let’s start at the beginning of your tale and talk about making a kickass first impression. Your story openings are like a job interview and if the words on the page entertain, you get the job. If they don’t, somebody who writes better gets the job.

The best openings of a story, novel, or memoir are contagious—they make the reader yearn for more because you’ve commenced your story by choosing the best words at the best moment to launch the events that will follow while raising questions that demand answers. After all, you’re writing for an editor, a highly discerning reader. Editors are word people. They are connoisseurs who love the written word; appreciate delicate language, carefully crafted sentences, and refinement.

Along with a knack for crafting beautiful language, your first paragraphs need to set the tone for the story to come. Especially in these days of blogging, dashed-off emails, and self-publishing, it’s important to strive for perfection. As in strutting-the-red-carpet-at-the-Academy-Awards-first impression. And your opening needs to have the impact of a starlet draped in a strapless gown and diamonds or a debonair actor in a crisp and oh-so sexy tux. It needs to dazzle and assure the reader that you can handle what follows. It needs to make a promise about the kind of story that will follow.

Promises, promises
Your opening words contain a promise to your reader: Read these pages, and I’ll transport you to a world based on your expectations, where the story events will deliver an emotionally-satisfying experience. And the unfolding events in your novel must be appropriate for the genre or type of story that you’re writing.

This works for memoir also. When a reader opens the first page of a memoir he wants to read the truth about the author’s dramatic experiences. Your opening promises that the true events of a life are fascinating and possibly horrifying. Now, your story might be a bare-assed expose′ of squalor and debauchery with your skinny-necked stepfather starring as the true-life villain. Or it might be luminous and uplifting tale of endurance, or a life story that lies somewhere in between. No matter your approach, your first words telegraph that this story will make a reader laugh, cry, and ponder truths about the human experience.

On the other hand, when a reader opens a novel he’s signing up for a pack of lies. You, the writer, are the liar and your reader is the sucker who is going to buy all these lies, hook, line and sinker as the old saying goes. It’s part of the contract that you and the reader are agreeing to. Your opening promises that you are going to tell the sort of lies that the reader specifically wants to hear. This logic is fairly simple because each genre has a built-in audience and your opening winks a come-on at that audience like a saloon girl in the Old West.

If a reader plunks down $24.95 for a fantasy or science fiction novel, he expects fantastical elements and interesting explorations of themes that perhaps cannot be explored in a story that’s based strictly on realistic elements. Of course some sci fi stories are set in today’s world because lots of chilling truths can be told about this world, especially about ecological nightmares or technology unleashed. So your opening can start in a galaxy far away or just down the street, but your opening promises that imaginative ideas will be explored.

Likewise, suspense novels are always about a crime and a criminal eluding capture. Besides the classic detective story, there are subgenres such as espionage, psychological suspense, romantic suspense, police procedural, courtroom procedural, whodunit, and cozies. Each type has varying degrees of violence and grit, but all are a thrill ride. And the opening must present a world in which all hell is about to break loose.

If you’re writing a romance, in the opening pages love will be in the air, as the lovers collide, usually appearing at an inconvenient time. In a romance, readers expect to deeply delve into the hero and heroine’s psyches, want to watch the blossoming romance falter and fizzle before it finally blooms, and want all other aspects of plot—even if it is set on another planet in the distant future—to rank secondary to the romance. But all this is promised in an opening that opens with just the right note.

An emotional opening prepares the reader for a heart-rattling journey, just as a philosophical opening promises a thoughtful exploration of themes, an action-packed opening promises a bronco-breaking ride, and a quiet beginning usually promises an intense exploration of characters’ lives.

So start with a specific promise about the story within and then, drumroll please, keep the promise.