Comments on: Being Able to Write: Lessons from Other Writers, New and Well-Seasoned http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/ K.G. Schneider's blog on librarianship, writing, and everything else Sun, 20 May 2012 03:37:16 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.1 By: kgs http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/comment-page-1/#comment-2017 kgs Wed, 24 Jan 2007 05:24:38 +0000 http://www.freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/#comment-2017 Another member of the Librarians with MFA Club! Cool beans about both the writing and the library school. Another member of the Librarians with MFA Club! Cool beans about both the writing and the library school.

]]> By: Alexis M. http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/comment-page-1/#comment-2016 Alexis M. Tue, 23 Jan 2007 19:29:42 +0000 http://www.freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/#comment-2016 Hi, I too am a writer and a librarian in training at Dominican University in River Forest, IL. In addition to library school, I intern at a library, am writing a nonfiction book, and write personal essays. Check out one of my personal essays at <a href="http://www.freshyarn.com." rel="nofollow">http://www.freshyarn.com.</a> I love your points about writing because I also have an MA in writing and think that the two fields go well together. Alexis Hi,

I too am a writer and a librarian in training at Dominican University in River Forest, IL. In addition to library school, I intern at a library, am writing a nonfiction book, and write personal essays. Check out one of my personal essays at http://www.freshyarn.com. I love your points about writing because I also have an MA in writing and think that the two fields go well together.

Alexis

]]> By: Roy Jacobsen http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/comment-page-1/#comment-2015 Roy Jacobsen Sat, 26 Aug 2006 02:05:22 +0000 http://www.freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/#comment-2015 Thanks for posting the great advice. I need to start doing a better job of saving versions of the articles I've been writing, and your post inspired me to take a closer look at versioning in Word. For off-site storage, I really like Mozy. It's free, it's pretty much automatic, and it has plenty of storage space for my document files (2 GB). If you use this link to sign up, you get an extra 256 MB storage, and (full disclosure) so do I: <a href="https://mozy.com/?ref=HR8NNM" rel="nofollow">https://mozy.com/?ref=HR8NNM</a> If you don't want to use that link, just go to www.mozy.com. Call me a very satisfied user. The peace of mind is priceless. Thanks for posting the great advice. I need to start doing a better job of saving versions of the articles I’ve been writing, and your post inspired me to take a closer look at versioning in Word.

For off-site storage, I really like Mozy. It’s free, it’s pretty much automatic, and it has plenty of storage space for my document files (2 GB). If you use this link to sign up, you get an extra 256 MB storage, and (full disclosure) so do I: https://mozy.com/?ref=HR8NNM

If you don’t want to use that link, just go to http://www.mozy.com. Call me a very satisfied user. The peace of mind is priceless.

]]> By: Peter Mansfield http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/comment-page-1/#comment-2014 Peter Mansfield Tue, 14 Mar 2006 04:10:46 +0000 http://www.freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/#comment-2014 Thanks for the advice. I place great emphaisis on the outline (point 7) and spend ages making sure that my first and last paragraphs are tighly linked. In the past I found that I started with a good idea, got sidetracked and came out with a weak or unsubstantiated conclusion. Outlines make for structure. Thanks for the advice. I place great emphaisis on the outline (point 7) and spend ages making sure that my first and last paragraphs are tighly linked. In the past I found that I started with a good idea, got sidetracked and came out with a weak or unsubstantiated conclusion. Outlines make for structure.

]]> By: Nienke http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/comment-page-1/#comment-2013 Nienke Tue, 14 Feb 2006 18:26:46 +0000 http://www.freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/#comment-2013 I seem to read the same tips over and over (and yet they don't sink in). Your version was fresh. Thank you. I seem to read the same tips over and over (and yet they don’t sink in). Your version was fresh. Thank you.

]]> By: kgs http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/comment-page-1/#comment-2012 kgs Fri, 03 Feb 2006 01:29:19 +0000 http://www.freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/#comment-2012 Could I change that to "Homework is a lonely, dispiriting endeavor?" Or even "Reading Sebald is a lonely, dispiriting endeavor?" (I'm going to form a Survivors of Sebald support group.) I think it's a rollercoaster for most of us who haven't seen our work published. I love to write. I do. I love squeezing words, the way as a child while baking cookies I would press a cold stick of butter with my hands until it squeezed out between my fingers in new shapes. I love sentences. How could I not? Sentences are so wonderfully versatile: short, long, twisted, straight, funny, sad, curvaceous, pointed. I love paragraphs, almost as good as sentences (though I still love sentences best of all). I love the shape of things on the page, and the measured accumulation of pages, like layering tiramisu. I love revision, vorpal sword in hand. But a writer wants to be read. That's where the pain comes in. I pick up a literary journal and read that it had 700 submissions last year. That's invigorating (sharpen the pencil and on I go!) and it's dispiriting (why would they publish *me*?). So that's where the writing friends come in, like the time my favorite library boss (an engineer, who was slightly baffled but charmed by librarians) caught me crying head-down on my desk because I had a crown put in the back of my mouth and was sure everyone could see that I was no longer a woman with a full set of flawless teeth. Actually, in some pictures, you can see that crown glinting, if I'm smiling broadly enough, but he didn't say that. He said I could smile with confidence. I dried my tears and went forth. That's what I was talking about: getting enough strength to marshall through the uphill process of getting published, knowing no one has perfect teeth. Could I change that to “Homework is a lonely, dispiriting endeavor?” Or even “Reading Sebald is a lonely, dispiriting endeavor?” (I’m going to form a Survivors of Sebald support group.)

I think it’s a rollercoaster for most of us who haven’t seen our work published. I love to write. I do. I love squeezing words, the way as a child while baking cookies I would press a cold stick of butter with my hands until it squeezed out between my fingers in new shapes. I love sentences. How could I not? Sentences are so wonderfully versatile: short, long, twisted, straight, funny, sad, curvaceous, pointed. I love paragraphs, almost as good as sentences (though I still love sentences best of all). I love the shape of things on the page, and the measured accumulation of pages, like layering tiramisu. I love revision, vorpal sword in hand.

But a writer wants to be read. That’s where the pain comes in. I pick up a literary journal and read that it had 700 submissions last year. That’s invigorating (sharpen the pencil and on I go!) and it’s dispiriting (why would they publish *me*?).

So that’s where the writing friends come in, like the time my favorite library boss (an engineer, who was slightly baffled but charmed by librarians) caught me crying head-down on my desk because I had a crown put in the back of my mouth and was sure everyone could see that I was no longer a woman with a full set of flawless teeth. Actually, in some pictures, you can see that crown glinting, if I’m smiling broadly enough, but he didn’t say that. He said I could smile with confidence. I dried my tears and went forth. That’s what I was talking about: getting enough strength to marshall through the uphill process of getting published, knowing no one has perfect teeth.

]]> By: Jane Yolen http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/comment-page-1/#comment-2011 Jane Yolen Thu, 02 Feb 2006 23:57:37 +0000 http://www.freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/#comment-2011 I agree with everything you say except that "writing is a lonely, dispiriting endeavor. . ." For some of us, writing is a pleasure even when it is hard, keeps us going in times of personal travail, makes us better than we are in real life, and fills us with great joy. --Jane Yolen I agree with everything you say except that “writing is a lonely, dispiriting endeavor. . .” For some of us, writing is a pleasure even when it is hard, keeps us going in times of personal travail, makes us better than we are in real life, and fills us with great joy.

–Jane Yolen

]]> By: kgs http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/comment-page-1/#comment-2010 kgs Thu, 02 Feb 2006 20:36:43 +0000 http://www.freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/#comment-2010 I also saw "killing your darlings" attributed to Faulkner and Nabokov. Maybe it was the title of a talk they all attended at some writers' conference? My handbook of quotations is mum on this quote... will need to do more research later. Yes, I have loads of webspace. I am pondering setting a Windows cron job that secure-ftps documents up to the Web. I also saw “killing your darlings” attributed to Faulkner and Nabokov. Maybe it was the title of a talk they all attended at some writers’ conference? My handbook of quotations is mum on this quote… will need to do more research later.

Yes, I have loads of webspace. I am pondering setting a Windows cron job that secure-ftps documents up to the Web.

]]> By: Sandy http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/comment-page-1/#comment-2009 Sandy Thu, 02 Feb 2006 20:16:55 +0000 http://www.freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/#comment-2009 As far as "offsite storage"- if you don't like mailing it to yourself, you can probably store it wherever this document resides. I've kept all sorts of junk in with my [fossilized] webpage- things I was saving, things I was moving from a US machine to a UK one, etc. As far as “offsite storage”- if you don’t like mailing it to yourself, you can probably store it wherever this document resides. I’ve kept all sorts of junk in with my [fossilized] webpage- things I was saving, things I was moving from a US machine to a UK one, etc.

]]> By: Stu Savory http://freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/comment-page-1/#comment-2008 Stu Savory Thu, 02 Feb 2006 18:21:14 +0000 http://www.freerangelibrarian.com/2006/01/24/being-able-to-write-lessons-from-other-writers-new-and-well-seasoned/#comment-2008 Besides the outline, I find it useful to have a timeline. This is for e.g. detective stories. It enable me to keep track of who could have known what,when. I just use an Excel spreadsheet for this, each row a character and the columns are events along a timeline. Anybody else do this? Stu Besides the outline, I find it useful to have a timeline. This is for e.g. detective stories. It enable me to keep track of who could have known what,when.

I just use an Excel spreadsheet for this, each row a character and the columns are events along a timeline.

Anybody else do this?

Stu

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