Archive for the ‘writing’ Category
who’s afraid of the NaNoWriMo wolf?
Not I!
Date of death: 11/29/2008
Time of death: 4:32 pm
Official word count: 50,017
Amount of editing required: Let’s not talk about that now.
A celebratory evening with P, 1408, a warm fire, and cioccolata calda:
Priceless.
Thank you all for your support this month and always!
********
Be sure to come back tomorrow for a *fabulous* book giveaway and guest post by Diana Spechler, author of Who by Fire!
what else have i been writing?
By now, you all know I’m doing NaNoWriMo this year, right? Writing a 50,000 word novel in a month? You can keep up with my word count over there on the sidebar; so far, I’m keeping up a good pace even though the election threw me off just a bit. No worries, though, since I plan to make up for it over the weekend.
[Have you seen President-Elect Obama’s website, Change.gov? There’s even a blog!]
But what about other writing? It’s been a while since I shared links of other things I’ve written around the Interwebs, so here is a short list for your Friday reading pleasure (and please remember that your “stumbles” through StumbleUpon, comments, and other spreading through social media are *very much appreciated*):
- White Truffle Fair in Alba, Piemonte at Italy Magazine: “Tartufi bianchi from Alba are arguably the most famous and most desired in the world–one was sold for €95,000 in 2005–and the wines and cheeses of the Langhe area in Piemonte are internationally loved as well.” Read more…
- Chestnut Festival in Emilia Romagna at Italy Magazine: “Chestnuts have been an important part of northern and central Italian cuisine for centuries, particularly in poor families and especially in times when access to other food products was compromised.” Read more…
- Craziest Name Changes at LegalZoom.com: “In July 2008, a New Zealand court stepped in to change the name of 9-year-old “Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii” because her name “makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap.” This case was unique because the name was changed from the unusual to the more conventional. Usually, it’s the other way around.” Read more…
- To Laptop or Not to Laptop in the Law School Classroom at About.com Law School: “It may be hard for current college and law students to imagine, but back when I started law school 10 years ago, whether or not to use laptops in the law school classroom wasn’t much of an issue. We also walked five miles to school in the snow–each way–but that’s a story for different time.” Read more…
- Purple Tomatoes May Fight Cancer at TomatoCasual.com: “Scientists in England have created a tomato they say may be even more healthy than the traditional red variety.” Read more…
Thanks so much for reading!
Remember to check out Mary’s recipe for apple butter (one of my favorite substances on the planet) at The Flavors of Abruzzo for this week’s La Buona Cucina Americana!
Buon weekend!
NaNoWriMo is back! are you in?
But first, I want to thank everyone *immensely* for the birthday wishes! It was a lovely weekend made even lovelier by all the fabulous, happy thoughts coming my way. Grazie mille!
And now, the winner of a free, signed copy of Justin Catanoso‘s My Cousin the Saint: A Search for Faith, Family, and Miracles from the commenters on my blog is:
Leanne of From Australia to Italy
Congratulations Leanne! I’ll be in touch!
Now, on to the NaNo stuff.
I’ve gotten several emails asking whether I’m going to be doing NaNoWriMo again this year. So I’m making it official here and now:
Yes, yes I am NaNo-ing, and you can find me here:
bleedingespresso
For those of you who don’t know, NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. It’s more international than national, but it *is* all about writing a novel–or at least 50,000 words throughout the month of November.
Last year, I got up close to half that mark, but sadly, haven’t worked much on those 21,000 words since. So here’s my question to you: should I bend the rules of NaNo and continue that story, or should I start anew with a whole new idea (yet to be thought of)?
In some respects, I’m excited to get going on something new and interested to see where it takes me, but then, well, last year’s characters have been running around in my head lately too, and I’m wondering whether they don’t have more to say.
But on the other hand, they could also say things in, say, January and make room for new faces, no?
Can you tell I’m a Libra? Balancing, weighing, difficulty deciding….
So what do you think? How about an excerpt of last year’s unfinished novel, so you know what, and who, we’re talking about? Here are the first 450 words or so:
——–
“All I want is a coffee…strong, bitter, small!” yelled Saliha Abu Al-Fadl, her deep brown eyes glaring at the only man who could give her what she wanted.
It felt good to shout. She couldn’t remember the last time she had done it.
Nearby Salvatore Amato’s head was pulled from an article on military spending. He sought out the raised voice. Behind him to his left, was, as he expected, a damsel in distress. Always a sucker for such a thing, he folded the Philadelphia Inquirer under his arm and rushed, as much as an 83-year-old man can rush, over to the coffee counter.
“Excuse me, can I help?” he said as much to the woman as to the barista.
The woman wearing a burkha turned around and looked straight into a pair of coal black eyes framed by bushy white eyebrows and a rather pronounced nose. She glanced down and took quick note of his dark grey suit, white shirt, and black tie with small white crosses on it.
He topped off the look with a black derby, white band of course, that made her think of the old American gangster films. Her son, an increasingly famous movie producer, had sent her hundreds of his own favorite movies so that she could share his passion while learning English.
And now this animated gangster was waving a wooden cane back and forth at the young man behind the counter.
“She’ll have an espresso doppio,” said Salvatore. A smirk sneaked out from underneath a wild white mustache as he turned to Saliha. “My kind of woman,” he said as he looked into the woman’s pools of espresso for eyes and added a wink for good measure.
Saliha looked to the man behind the counter, hoping that the stranger had spoken the correct words. The coffee on the plane from Iraq had been watered down and weak, and she needed something much stronger to get through the day ahead.
“Well that’s all she had to say,” said the barista and turned away. He slammed the metal container holding the last brew hard against the end of the drawer that holds the old grounds.
“They have a strange language at these shops,” Salvatore said. “You may speak perfect English, and complimenti, it seems like you do, but it certainly doesn’t help you get a coffee here.” He took a black handkerchief out of his jacket pocket and wiped his forehead clean of the sweat that had formed on his walk over.
“Thank you sir,” Saliha said and turned back toward the counter to await her first coffee on American soil. As the machine hissed and gurgled, she could no longer contain her anticipation. Her lips curled into a broad smile that only she knew was there.
———-
So what do I do? Start anew? Continue? Help!
meet the newest about.com guide!
When my mom came to visit in June, she brought my “good” jewelry that I had left behind. One item was my law school ring, pictured at left, which I actually only got because my grandmother begged me to let her buy it for me as a graduation gift.
I told her I wouldn’t wear it much, but she didn’t care. She just wanted me to have it.
So I agreed, and then I saw how much they cost. Yikes!
I couldn’t possibly let her spend that much on a ring (think law school ring versus household bills for a couple months–on a fixed income), so I told her the price was half of what it was, and I chipped in the rest. By the way, she passed away two weeks after I found out that I had passed the bar exam in October of that year, and I’ve always felt she waited to hear the good news (which, incidentally, arrived on my 25th birthday) before leaving us.
When I saw the ring this summer, I was reminded of all that surrounded it–my grandmother; her love, support, and generosity; my many years of hard work; and lots and lots of stress overcome–so I decided to wear it. Seeing it there on my hand every day reminds me of where I’ve been, the love and support I’ve had and continue to have, and also what I’ve accomplished.
And it feels darn good.
A couple weeks after I started wearing it this summer, I saw an opening at About.com for the Guide to Law School. Ah, law school . . . been there, done that, and confident that I could write about it and help others like me who had *zero* frame of reference for what they were about to encounter, I applied.
Literally a few hours later, I was thrust into the About.com “training,” which is really a several-week long interview process during which applicants put together a site hoping to be chosen at the end.
Well they picked me! You’re now reading the personal blog of the About.com Guide to Law School.
And yes, I continue to wear my ring. Since my grandmother passed away, I’ve thought of her every day anyway, but now I feel just a little bit closer too.
Do you have a good luck charm?
what and how do you write?
Over the past couple years, quite a few readers have asked me to talk, er, write more upon my writing process.
There’s really nothing magical about it, I don’t think, but I do promise that I’ll write something more in-depth sometime soon to give you an idea of how I work on both freelancing assignments as well as budding novels.
In the meantime, though, I’ve filled in this writing style meme from Janie’s Colloqium, and if you’re so inspired, please do the same, and let me know you did so in the comments!
1. Do you write fiction or non-fiction? Or both?
Non-fiction to pay the bills right now, but I dabble in fiction on the side. Remember NaNoWriMo? I’ll be doing it again this year. Paul of Crazy Like Whoa has jumped the starting gun by a few months, but won’t you join me in November?
2. Do you keep a journal or a writing notebook?
I have many journals from over the years, dating back to when I was, oh, probably 14 years old or so. I don’t write in my journal nearly as much as I should though.
As for a notebook, I keep a little one in my bag at all times just in case things strike my fancy, but in all honestly, I’m a scrap of paper kind of gal. Mostly backs of bus tickets. Have tons of them. All over the place.
I do, though, use regular-sized notebooks to write down all my research for nonfiction projects–I don’t rip anything out to file it, so I have several notebooks full of research for assignments over the years. Kind of a professional journal, I guess.
3. If you write fiction, do you know your characters’ goals, motivations, and conflicts before you start writing or is that something else you discover only after you start writing? Do you find books on plotting useful or harmful?
I would say I know some of those things some of the time, but never all of those things. I usually have a basic plot in mind, but, as happens with many fiction writers, my characters often surprise me. I find plotting ahead of the time can be helpful, but not necessary and definitely changeable.
4. Are you a procrastinator or does the itch to write keep at you until you sit down and work?
Ooh, I’d have to say procrastinator considering that I’ve started a few novels now and haven’t finished any. Lots of ideas though! In my head, on paper, everywhere but, you know, in the computer.
With my work assignments, I’m much more disciplined. Thank goodness.
5. Do you write in short bursts of creative energy, or can you sit down and write for hours at a time?
Both have happened, and both are lovely and well-received.
6. Are you a morning or afternoon writer?
I’m much more productive in the morning than in the afternoon, which is why I hate when I have to run errands in the morning. It’s *very* difficult for me to get my concentration back after going “in giro” all morning.
I’m also great later in the evening, from 9 pm on, but since that’s when P and I have time to hang out, I don’t usually write then unless he’s out with the boys or extra tired.
7. Do you write with music/the noise of children/in a cafe or other public setting, or do you need complete silence to concentrate?
I usually have the TV or music on, but I can work just as well in silence. Idle chatter, though, annoys me, and I’m not sure I could write in a cafe. I used to have a horrible time trying to study among people in college and law school, if that was any indication.
8. Computer or longhand? (or typewriter?)
Mostly, nearly all computer, but if I’m out and about and the mood strikes, I’ll longhand it.
9. Do you know the ending before you type Chapter One? Or do you let the story evolve as you write?
So far I haven’t known any of the endings, and perhaps that’s part of my problem….
10. Does what’s selling in the market influence how and what you write?
In my nonfiction writing, of course, because I do a lot of topical stuff. For fiction, I write what I feel like and I figure I’ll let my (as yet to be found) agent sort it all out.
11. Editing/Revision – love it or hate it?
Honestly? Kind of love it. I rather enjoy perfecting things in general, so it’s not surprising to me how much I enjoy perfecting my words. I find it challenging, exhilarating even, to pinpoint exactly the way I want to express what I’m trying to say. The pleasure I find in finding the right word is really indescribable. How’s that for irony?
So, what and how do you write?
Michelle Kaminsky is an American attorney-turned-freelance writer who lived in her family's ancestral village in Calabria, Italy for 15 years. This blog is now archived.
Calabria Guidebook
Recipes
