University Square Food Court. Really?
Posted: December 12, 2009 Filed under: .UW campus., .writing havens. Leave a commentI was surprised.
When I had to kill some time before an office opened on East Campus Mall, I was forced into the University Square Food Court for warmth (next to Lucky Apartments on the corner of University Ave. and N. Murray St.). Now, when I think food court, I think gross, ugly, and overcrowded. Shockingly, this food court was spacious, and modern but comfortable. Large windows provide natural light and a view of students walking below. The color scheme is warm and inviting with splashes of green, orange, red and brown–reminding me of Echo Canyon in Colorado.
court colors like echo canyon
A number of restaurants line the south side of the court (Quiznos Sub, Stir Fry 88, Nori Japan, and sbarro). The rest of the space is occupied by sections of wood, tile, and carpet flooring. There are dividing walls to break up some of the noise, flat screen TVs hanging with various facings, and a jumble of shiny black tables and green chairs.
When you’re developing a setting for a story, the smell of fresh breadsticks, or the sizzle of a hot pan remind you to add sensory details. Because the court is one, open space with a high ceiling, voices travel and gather together as a humming sound. A problem I suffer through with smaller coffee shops is the conversation that gets too close to me and becomes a complete distraction. In this space, single voices are indistinct, drowned by the echoes of the masses.
There’s a section in the middle of the room with comfy chairs. You can find outlets underneath some of the cushioned bench-seating that lines the wall, and there’s free wireless internet! And if I want a drink, I can head over to bubble island, bubble tea (also part of the food court). Hours are 11-11 Mon-Fri and 11-9 Sat & Sun.
Surprisingly, I found this to be a good place to write!
Snow Day!
Posted: December 11, 2009 Filed under: .creative writing., .the writing craft. Leave a comment-Writing is like a snow day.
On Tuesday morning the sky was a dense, grayish-white. It looked as an ice cube does when compact, solid, and ready to fall from the tray. The sky cracked open and the shavings of that cube came down. As day became night, heavy flakes were still falling outside, covering the painted blue of my front steps.
-This is how writing often begins for me. An idea builds in my mind, filling my head with thoughts that flow, drifting from somewhere untouchable.
-Those thoughts of what to write become something real and surprising—a story.
I was working on a paper when my housemate burst into my room (or tried to, since my door sticks). She jumped up and down on my creaky floor as if it was a trampoline. “Snow day! Snow Day!” she was yelling. As quickly as she had come she was gone, spreading the news.
-The writing comes, not caring if the hours it takes were meant for sleep. There is too much excitement for any other activity.
In a flurry of jubilation, my six other roommates and I threw on our winter mittens and hats. And with little regard for our lack of snow pants, we ran outside into the white!
-You work at the process of writing: choosing words, structure, and putting them in the compacted form of a story.
One of my roommates yelled, “Snowman!” so we began rolling the snow, placing, gathering, packing it into a form.
-Because you reach challenges, the writing turns into something different from what you had intended, taking on a new design.
Our snowman was not growing into a snowman, however. We failed at the proper shape. The bottom, body and head clumped together as one large being. And suddenly, he had a sloping, trailing tail. This was no snowman; this was Jabba the Hutt (Star Wars).
-You follow after the words wherever they want to go.
So we turned Jabba into one side of a snow fort and proceeded to duplicate him on the opposite side of our snow-covered yard.
After a couple hours of shoveling the accumulation from our neighbor’s yard into our own, building up the sides of the fort, and lying exhausted on beds of ice, we were soaked, cold and ready to go inside. But before we reached the porch—and the end of our revelry—someone threw a snowball!
-The story nears its conclusion and surprises you, lasting longer than you had expected and ending how it sees fit.
Some neighbors from a house behind us—ones we had never met—wordlessly challenged us to a snowball war. We spent the next hour in childish ecstasy! Cars became trees for hiding behind. The road was an empty no-man’s land. And buses were the common enemy, inviting a volley of packed powder from each side. The battle raged.
-You strip the story of its dragging parts and what’s left is a piece worthy of remembrance.
When our neighbors finally surrendered, aware of their lack of a base compared with our fortress, we trudged up our steps and into the house. While we shed wet clothes, a smell of mint and cinnamon reached our frozen noses. A pot of flavored hot chocolate was waiting on the stove, ready to warm the numbness of our stiff fingers. We each ladled up a mug. Then we huddled together on our living room couches, laughing at the children we had become.
Heart’s Blood
Posted: December 3, 2009 Filed under: .book reviews. Leave a comment
In this recent novel by Juliet Marillier, Caitrin is a young woman determined to escape. When her father dies and abusive relatives take control of her life, Caitrin abandons her home for an uncertain future. Desperate to avoid her relatives’ grasp, she seeks a position as a scribe. The employer, however, is Anluan, a temperamental chieftain of Whistling Tor—a fortress known for its haunting mists and spectral appearances. Tasked with solving a hundred-year-old family curse, Caitrin must learn to trust those who would be friends, and perhaps something more. And maybe, with some guts, a little luck, and some magic, the people of Whistling Tor will be able to make right the wrongs of the past.
If you haven’t yet experienced Juliet Marillier’s writing, you’re truly missing out. She is most known for her first novel, Daughter of the Forest, as part of her Sevenwaters Trilogy. But since then, she has continued to write amazing, historical fantasy based on the folklore and mythology of a number of cultures.
This newest book, Heart’s Blood, lives up to the high standards I have come to expect in her writing style. If I don’t care about the characters in a story, they will fade from my memory and that book will become one among many that I’ve read. With Marillier’s characters, I can’t get rid of them! They follow me everywhere, intruding beyond their own story into mine. I care about them so much that I have never been able to lengthen out a reading of one of Juliet Marillier’s novels. She writes one sitting reads. One sitting of hoping, laughing, possibly some tearing up, with an occasional loud outburst of surprise!
When I see she has a new book to be released, I have to cross that day off of my calendar. Even if I attempt not to, I always gravitate toward the bookstore on that date.
And, her books are far from being cast as sappy romances solely for the female sex. Her plots are complex, mysterious, thrilling, and filled with action as well as romance. Wolfskin, told from the male perspective of a Norse warrior, became my brother’s favorite book after I suggested he read it.
For anyone who enjoys a heart-pounding, character-driven fantasy, Juliet Marillier is a definite yes!
Publishing Your Work: Don’t Submit That Yet!
Posted: November 23, 2009 Filed under: .miscellaneous., .the writing craft. Leave a commentYou have it in your hand, and you’re about to mail it. Or, it’s in your email, and you’re about to send it. But please, don’t submit it yet!
When submitting your work to be published, there are some things you should know . . .
- The Right Publisher
– If you have written a serious memoir of your life, don’t send it to a Science Fiction/Fantasy publisher. Find the right avenue for your piece of writing.
- Cover Letter
– If you have met an editor before, remind that person of where you met and what you had discussed at the time.
– Include something that stands out about your piece. Why is it a good sell for the current reading market?
- Don’t Exaggerate
– People who are looking at submissions can tell a boast before their eyes have finished scanning the page. Don’t compare your writing to bestselling works. You will only induce whoever’s looking to roll their eyes and sigh.
- Don’t Cheat
– Submitting your piece to multiple publishing houses or venues at the same time is a bad idea. Why should one editor take the time to look at your work when another editor has already accepted you?
- Enquire
– If it has been some time since you have submitted something, you may politely enquire as to the status of your work. But, keep in mind that editors receive multiple, unrequested submissions every day. They can’t drop what they’re doing in order to immediately satisfy you. You are not their first priority.
- Formatting
– Generally, whoever you’re sending your work to should have information on how they want you to submit. Always look at these guidelines first.
– A publisher will usually ask for a physical manuscript if it’s a longer piece. Printing is expensive and just adds one more step to getting your writing published.
– When you send a manuscript, it should be double-spaced, 12 pt. standard font, on white paper, unbound, and anything meant to be in italics should be underlined instead.
– Don’t forget to add a running head with your name, the title of the piece, and the page number!
– Include a short summary of your manuscript (less than four pages).
- Be Professional
– Check, and recheck for grammatical errors, especially in your cover letter. Don’t use an informal tone. An editor won’t take you seriously.
- Contact Information
– If you are currently at a temporary address, make sure to include permanent contact information, if only an email address. Your work may lay unread for some time. If some intern finally picks it up, loves it, and wants to contact you but your information is outdated, you’ve missed your shot!
Only after you have checked off all of these things may you even consider pushing that button or stamping that package. Don’t send writing that you’ll just get back!
Dairy Queen
Posted: November 10, 2009 Filed under: .book reviews. Leave a commentOriginally, when I heard people talk about the book Dairy Queen, I thought: Why is this so interesting? Yes, ice cream cones dipped in fudge are delicious, but I wouldn’t want to read an entire book about them. Well, I finally found out that this story is not about a food chain. It’s about a girl who lives in Red Bend Wisconsin.
Fifteen-year-old D.J. Schwenk thinks she is a cow. Not that she has four stomachs and an issue with methane, but that she acts, and is treated, like a cow. For years, she was okay with doing most of the work on her dairy farm without being thanked, but then Brian (quarter back for the competing high school football team) came along and told her that she was just like the cows she milked, doing everything she was told with no thought of how hard it was or of what she could be doing. To make herself out to be less of a stock animal and more of a human, D.J. tries out for the male football team at school, even though her family isn’t so supportive. Her home is overshadowed with secrets and always seems to be one day away from falling apart. While dealing with her family trait of not saying things that should be said, D.J. must also face her growing crush on a guy who may never reciprocate.
Now, when I found out that the author, Catherine Gilbert Murdock, is not from Wisconsin, I thought: Oh great, another book about how Wisconsinites love cheese and we all have cows grazing in our back yards. But once I started reading, I found the book to be surprisingly realistic in its depiction of a small, rural community. There are farms and pickup trucks, but there are also suburbs. Even if I had not experienced some form of farm life, I would still love D.J.’s character. When she realizes something new about herself, that she’s like a cow, she dwells on it like any normal person would, but she also does something about it. By trying out for the football team, she chooses to face her problem and do things her own way!
What makes this book special is D.J.’s hilarious, self-deprecating humor. She’s blunt about how she sees herself, to the point of awkwardness. And, she brings with her all of the ridiculous drama that plays out in the mind of a teenager. Don’t attempt to read this book in public if you can’t handle the stares of strangers. Generally, People stare when they see someone laughing alone.
As D.J.’s life continues in a sequel called The Off Season, she must take up even more responsibility and finally open the door on some of those family secrets. And then, in the newly-released closing book of the series, Front and Center, D.J. will have to realize that she is so much more than a cow, and there are people that see her as confident, beautiful, and ultimately, a person they want to know.
word laundry 