I took courses on poetry in college a few years back but hadn't thought too much about being a poet because I knew I wanted to write prose fiction. That is... until I discovered and fell in love with verse novels like Home of the Brave by Katherine Applegate, Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga, and Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai.
The year 2020 was tough on a lot of people, me included, so when it came time to think about the new year, 2021, I decided to keep my resolution(s) simple but worthwhile. This is when I came up with my "year of poetry" goal. I figured I wanted to write a verse novel, like the ones I'd read, but I did some other things as part of my year of poetry. I spent the past year reading as many Middle Grade verse novels as I could, and I started a poetry blog---a place where I can practice short poetry. I professionally published two poems this year, one of which was read from outer space. (lol) I also attended several poetry readings (mostly virtually) and attended writing workshops, including one about writing and revising Middle Grade verse novels with the amazing Rajani LaRocca (author of the verse novel Red, White, and Whole) and Chris Baron (author of verse novels All of Me and The Magical Imperfect)! I've made a lot of New Year's resolutions in my day, but I think this is one I will always remember. Maybe because it was so open? Maybe because I did so many cool things related to poetry? Either way, I finally consider myself a poet! I call that a successful resolution. What resolutions have you made? What resolutions will you be making for next year?
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About two years ago, I read Amanda Rawson Hill's Middle Grade debut: The Three Rules of Everyday Magic. It's one of those books that spoke to my fifth grade heart, and which I plan on sharing with my kids someday. Amanda Rawson Hill has done it again with her debut Picture Book, but this time she spoke to my child, teenage, young adult, and maturing heart. The truth is, the older I get, the more I want my mom and dad with me. That's not to say I had a bad relationship with them when I was younger, but I remember many times in my life when all I wanted was for them to "get lost." I wanted to "get out of the house," and "be with my friends." I pretended not to like my dad's kisses and hid the fact that I was inhaling my mom's smell when she hugged me.
I visited China after graduating from college, and I felt like my Dad was with me because when he was fighting the war in Vietnam, he got to go "on leave" to Hong Kong. So I grew up with him telling me about the crazy landing strip with water on both sides and the beach where he and a buddy went for a swim. I moved a state away in hopes to discover myself but instead, I said things like my mom and did things like my dad. It used to bother me. Why couldn't I be me without them? But over time, that feeling turned from anger and frustration into heartfelt gratitude and longing to be even more like them. Basically, you can find me in Amanda Rawson Hill's new book. I'm always looking for my mom and dad... in everything I do now. I look for them in my book collection, in my baking skills, and love for traveling. I find them when I get mad or sad. I find them when I'm scared but, thankfully, they are (as my mom reminds me all the time), a "phone call away."
Maybe it was coincidence (which I don't always believe in, by the way), but the moment I learned about and started thinking more about what it would be like have beta readers for my WIP (Work In Progress) was the moment a local author asked me to beta read for her.
I thought, "This is great! I can experience what it's like to be a beta reader before I ask others to beta read for me." I'm a big believer in doing things you expect others to do for you. This might come from my teaching experiences, but I never (for example) assign my students to do something that I, myself, as a student wouldn't do and/or haven't done. But before I share with you my first time beta reading experience (and give some advice!), let's make sure we're on the same page. What's a beta reader? Beta readers (according to my understanding) are test-readers, people who read your WIP before you submit for publication and/or self-publish (etc). Think of it this way: Let's say you ask your mom to read your WIP. If she's like my mom, she might read a few chapters (or the whole thing) and then say, "It's great, sweetheart!" or "It's cute! I'm proud of you!" As nice as these things are to hear, they're not usually helpful. They don't help you see the "real" reader's experience. They don't, essentially, help you know where you need to revise. Getting advice from parents, family members, or friends is often a risky thing because they don't want to say something "too critical" about the story. They have a relationship with you, and they don't want to put that relationship in jeopardy because they told you they didn't like your book. Enter in the beta reader. These are "good readers," but usually people you don't see on a daily basis. They can give you a better sense of what your story is doing well (or not well), what questions they have (confusing parts), and give you encouragement. How to beta read When I agreed to beta read, I shouldn't have been as nervous about as I was. After all, part of my job as an ESL writing instructor is to give constructive feedback on what the writer has done well and what I think would make the draft better. I'm a tutor, as well, so this gives me additional experience in coaching writers. But reviewing an entire book?! That sounds really difficult! I thought about it, and, well, I guess I have some experience in that, too. I mean, I read books, and I often give a star rating and write a "review" on GoodReads. Still... I wanted to do a good job, so I reached out to the Writing Community on Twitter, and here's a helpful blog someone gave me: BEST PRACTICES FOR WORKSHOPPING I read that and felt a little better about beta reading, so I dived into it. My beta reading experience I don't know why, but I always figured that when I asked someone to beta read for me, I'd begin by printing out chapters or chunks of my book and giving to them in a three-ring-binder. I envisioned myself hole punching and creating a package covered in smily stickers and a thank you note. I'd make several copies of the manuscript and mail them out readers who agreed to review my book and give me feedback. (I suppose I got that image from my workshopping days in college-- not the smily sticker part, but the having a physical copy of the draft part. We always printed out our poems and short stories for others to review.) But that's not what the local author gave me. She used (and paid for) a program called BookFunnel, which allowed me (as the beta reader) to open the large book-length document on my phone/electronic device for free through Play Books. When I accessed the document, it had a disclaimer that told me what the local author was looking for (something she wrote herself) and how long I had until the document went away. It makes sense. It's like that moment I tell my students that when it comes to adding page numbers to your word document to "let the computer do the work," and select the insert page numbers option, rather than counting and typing in your page numbers. Instead of copying and hole punching and compiling little notebooks together, let technology do the work! So that was the first thing I learned about beta reading. (Probably obvious to many of you, but still...) The second thing I learned about it was how to convey my thoughts about the book to the author. For this, I again turned to the Writing Community and asked Twitter. I asked if I should comment on each scene or chapter or an overall review of the book. The answer? Whatever works for you! As I read, I decided to take notes (via google docs) for most of the chapters and then compile my thoughts in a long letter-type email to the author. I started out by telling her that I'm sorry if I sound like a teacher (because that's what I am), but these are the things I liked about the book and these are the things I'd suggest to change in order to make it more engaging to me as a reader. And then, I attached my notes. The email was received well. Compiled advice Overall, I enjoyed my beta reading experience. If I were to do it again, I might look at my personal schedule a little more seriously because her beta reading timeline overlapped with my essay grading times, so it was challenging to read the entire novel in (essentially) one week. I asked for more time over the weekend, which she gave me, which leads me to my compiled advice for those of you considering to beta read:
As I mentioned, I'm not quite ready to ask for beta readers. But I'm glad I had this experience because it gave me a "taste" of what I will be asking others to do for me, allowed me to see how the beta reading process works, and allowed me to test out (and challenge) my reviewing skills. If you have a book you'd like beta read, if you write MG or YA, consider me. I'd love to have more experience in it. For the past three years, I've shared what I read over the summer. It all stems back to Papa Stephen King who said that reading was a sure way of improving your writing. In his book, On Writing, which I highly recommend, he gives his list of recent reads, not to brag or anything. Just to show you how wide and diverse his reading is. Well, my list isn't super diverse, but something I've been trying to do is read newly released titles in the genre I'm writing in (MG). This has been really helpful in seeing what kinds of things are being picked up. Also, it's really fun to find said-debut-authors on social media and let them know that I'm reading their book! I feel like I'm friends with authors of some of my favorite books. I'm amazed at all the great literature out there for this age group and can't help wish these books had been around when I was a kid. Okay, so without further ado, here is what I read this summer:
This year I did a couple different things. 1) I did the #MGSummer reading bingo, which you can see in the photo above that I finally got my bingo! 2) I gave myself a summer of re-reading. I was having a moment of why-do-I-write just before the summer, so I gave myself permission to kindle that fire for writing by reading some of my favorite books, so in my list below, I've mark the ones I re-read with a *.
I'll admit that I don't have a very diverse list this year. I like reading fantasy, YA and MG. Plus, who can say no to David Tennant reading the How to Train Your Dragon series, which I love! I don't usually listen to audiobooks, by the way. I don't have anything against them; I just don't have opportunities to listen to them like most people. My commute to work is actually really short; however, Hubby and I took a drive to California just at the end of the summer, so that's when we listened to the audiobooks together. He listens to a lot of audiobooks because he does travel a lot for work. Without further ado, here is my Summer 2018 list of books (starting with most recently completed):
This summer has been great for reading! Like I wrote last year, I believe reading is an essential part of becoming a successful writer. And of course summer, isn't the only time I read. Heavens no! But I find that I get the most reading in during the summer when I'm not teaching and going to school, etc., so I feel that it's a good idea to report and/or share my reading successes in the summer.
It's been especially rewarding this year as I've participated (for the first time!) in our library's summer challenge. If you read 1,000 minutes, you earn a free book. I used to think it was just for the kiddos, but then I asked, and the librarian told me adults can participate it in, too. So I did. And I got a free burrito from Cafe Rio when I hit my 500 minutes and, of course, that free book at 1,000 minutes. I believe it's good to read a variety of things, as Stephen King taught me, but I also believe it's important to read what you want. I mean, yes--- I earned a degree in English Literature. I actually like Crime and Punishment, A Farewell to Arms and Animal Farm, which are the kinds of books you probably expect someone like me to read all the time. But at the same time, it's better to read something than nothing at all because you're embarrassed about showing others what you're reading. It's like I've been trying to keep face, to make everyone believe or see that I only choose books that are intellectual, adult, and/or portrayed as classic literature. About a year or so ago, I finally decided that's rubbish. Who cares? I'm going to read what I want, and who cares who sees me doing it! So I've been reading a lot of young adult, which, actually, a lot of adults pick up these days anyway. I've tried have a variety this summer, but not as much as I should, but hey! I was reading. And I totally went over the 1,000 minutes of reading. Easy! Here's the list:
I love books so much that when I watched the new Beauty and the Beast yesterday for the first time, I cried when Belle walked into Beast's library. (Not even kidding!) I was telling my friend who I went with, that it just brought my childhood dreams to life! Today I want to talk about littering and other acts of kindness. What do I mean by that? Well, keep reading and find out! I went grocery shopping today. I haven't been in a while, and I think that's true for everyone who lives in my neighborhood. The lines for the checkout were pretty crazy, but instead of getting frustrated, I decided to enjoy the AC (it's starting to get hot already!) and read my book while I stand in line. Yes, I brought a book to the grocery store! Don't you? Before I pulled it out of my purse, though, a magazine cover caught my attention. It was a picture of Emma Watson, probably my favorite rising actress ever! I was still floating from my Beauty and the Beast experience and decided to read the article while I waited to pay for my groceries. That's when I noticed the guy standing behind me. All he had was a 6 liter bottle of root beer and a package of strawberries. "Go ahead of me," I told him. I defiantly had more than him, and I wasn't in any particular hurry. He seemed surprised and hesitated for a moment, like he wanted to say, Wow! Are you sure? He said thank you, though, and moved ahead of me. There were still two other people ahead of us, so I don't know how much of a difference it made, but he seemed to think so. I started reading the Emma Watson article and didn't notice that the guy who was now in front of me had put one of the dividers on the belt for me so I'd know that it was okay to start unloading my groceries up there with his bottle of soda and strawberries. "Oh," I said. "I didn't notice..." "I wasn't going to interrupt your reading," he said grinning from ear to ear. I ended up putting the magazine down because I knew it would, soon, be my turn to check out, but I watched this guy in front of me. Maybe he had always been kind, but he seemed to go out of his way to talk to the cashier and bagger, which most people don't do. (I know--- I was a cashier for 3 years before my mission.) I wondered if he was "spreading" the kindness that I had given him. This is where littering comes in. In the magazine I picked up, I read about Emma Watson and one of the amazing things she's doing right now. She's putting books in subways for people to find and read. (Watch video below).
Spreading a bit of love. Is that what I did at the grocery store? Is that what we do when we write honest stories? I like to think so. I like to think that's my number one reason for going through the hell that writing sometimes is. I hope that someone somewhere will feel something in one of my poems or (someday) books. They'll learn something about the kindness that exists in this crazy world. So I will keep reading. I will keep writing. I hope you do the same. Over Thanksgiving and Christmas, I read all 5 of the Percy Jackson books:
I didn't know that I'd like them so much, but I do! So much that I put my copies of them (which I got for Christmas) next to my Harry Potter series. Why I waited so long to read them? I don't know. After I finished, I said to Hubby, "You'll like them!" And then I got an idea. The next time I was at the library, I picked up the audio book for #1 and brought it home with me. Hubby sometimes does a lot of traveling for work. He listens to the same audio book series that he's had for forever. It's good, I guess. I listened to them on our way to California for our honeymoon. But it's the same thing. And, these books are so much more fun! I told him my idea, and he agreed to try the first book. A week later, he asked about the 2nd book. "Can we get the audio book for that?" We got him a library card. He hadn't been in the building since he was in elementary school, which boggled my mind! Before I knew it, he had gone through the entire series, too. It was great because we instantly had inside jokes. We talked about the characters, our favorite moments...! So much fun! Then it was Hubby's turn. He asked if I knew that there was another series with some of the same characters: The Hero's of Olympus:
We took a trip to the library together. He got the audio book of the 1st book, and I got the hardback copy of it. I tutor, so it makes more sense to have the book, which I can read when I'm not with a student. Later that week, I found Hubby in the office listening to the audio book, and I realized that he was just two chapters behind. I decided to listen in until he caught up. We ended up listening (almost) to the entire book together. For the 2nd book, Hubby got ahead. He had a long trip for work, and I had a bunch of grading that had to come first before reading. He finished it before me, which drove me crazy because I wanted to know what would happen, but (of course) I didn't want him to tell me. I wanted to read it myself. I got book 3 first. And I finished before him! Just barely. Now we're both on book 4. We're listening to it together to start. I'm hoping I get my grading done quickly next week so I can finish before him. The race is on... I hope that someday I'll be able to create a book/series that will cause my readers to race and enjoy! I think it was Stephen King who said that reading is a great source of inspiration! I'm inspired. Reading is an important part of a writer's life. My experiences with books motivate and influence my life as a writer. Stephen King in On Writing says, "You cannot hope to sweep someone else away by the force of your writing until it has been done to you" (pg. 141).
I had an extra long summer this year. I finished teaching at the end of May and didn't go back to work until this week, almost the last week in August. My friend, who also teaches, had half that break, so I consider myself lucky and have, therefore, had a lot of time for drumming, writing and reading. It's been heavenly! At the end of Stephen King's incredible book about writing, he gives a list of all the books he's read over the "past three or four years," just to show us how diverse his reading is. He's setting an example for us newbies to follow. He says, "Write a lot and read a lot" (pg. 293). That's solid advice, so for my first time, I've compiled a list of all the books I've read this summer. I haven't done too shabby. Here's the list: (and in the order I completed them)
I'm trying to continue my reading streak as the semester gets going. I'm trying to manage my classes better so that in the late afternoons and quiet evenings I can read like it's summer. Stephen King said: "If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or tools) to write. Simple as that" (p. 140). Happy reading and happy writing! Post originally published 6/4/15 Actually, I hate horror. I hate gore. But Stephen King is my best friend. He really is. At least, it feels like it now that I finally read his book, On Writing. The first half is a memoir. He basically says (and I'm paraphrasing), "Look, I don't know how people become famous authors. I just know my story." He goes through and talks about his life, where and how he first started writing, etc. The second half is solid advice on writing. He knows what he's talking about! And he makes it interesting! Here are 5 things I've learned about writing from my new best friend, Stephen King: 1. To be a successful writer, you HAVE TO read a lot! Here's a quote: "If you don't have time to read, you don't have time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that. Reading is the creative center of a writer's life. I take a book with me everywhere I go, and find there are all sorts of opportunities to dip in. The trick is to teach yourself to read in small sips as well as in long swallows..." 2. Every story starts with a "what-if" question. "What if vampires invaded a small England village? ('Salem's Lot) What if a policeman in a remote Nevada town went berserk and started killing everyone in sight? (Desperation) What if a cleaning woman suspected of a murder she got away with (her husband) fell under suspicion for murder she did not commit (her employer)? (Dolores Cliborne) What if a young mother and her son became trapped in their stalled car by a rabid dog? (Cajon) These were all situations which occurred to me while showering, while driving, while taking my daily walk-- and which I eventually turned into books." 3. Avoid adverbs. (These are the words that modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs and usually end in _ly.) "I believe," Stephen King says, "the road to hell is paved with adverbs, and I will shout it from the rooftops. To put it another way, they're like dandelions. If you have one on your lawn, it looks pretty and unique. If you fail to root it out, however, you find five the next day... fifty the day after... and then, my brothers and sisters, your lawn is totally, completely and profligately covered with dandelions..." 4. For the first draft, write with the "door shut." "With the door shut, downloading what's in my head directly to the page, I write as fast as I can and still remain comfortable. Writing fiction, especially a long work of fiction, can be a difficult, lonely job; it's like crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a bathtub...The great thing about writing with the door shut is that you find yourself forced to concentrate on story to the exclusion of practically everything else. No one can ask you 'What were you trying to express with Garfield's dying words?' or 'What's the significance of the green dress?' You may not have been trying to express anything with Garfield's dying words, and Maura could be wearing green only because that's what you saw when she came into sight in your mind's eye... you are less apt to slack off or to start concentrating on the wrong thing... being wonderful, for instance, instead of telling the goddam story." 5. Write for the "Ideal Reader." "Do all opinions weigh the same? Not for me. In the end I listen most closely to Tabby (Stephen King's wife) because she's the one I writer for, the one I want to wow. If you're writing primary for one person besides yourself, I'd advise you to pay very close attention to that person's opinion... And if what you hear makes sense, then make the changes. You can't let the whole world into your story, but you can let in the ones that matter most. And you should...." Yep. Stephen King is my newest best friend. I'm only sorry that On Writing is the first and only book I've read of his. But, it's exactly what I needed right now to get my butt in gear. Publishing fiction has been my life long dream. I have the tools. I have the advice. Now it's time to get to work. My door is shut for now, but I'll let you know when I've got something, and you can bet that my best friend will be proud of me, for I won't be using adverbs, and I'll be thinking and focusing on story not theme and writing for that Ideal Reader. I don't want to sound like Reading Rainbow or anything, but if you're a writer (or hope to be), On Writing by Stephen King is the book for you, and you can make the master of horror your best friend, too. |