Smart advice on the creative life...

I am linking here to Neil Gaiman's commencement address to the 2012 graduating students at The University of  the Arts in Philadelphia, partly because I want to have it to refer back to when I need a pep talk. If anyone can give a pep talk to creative people in these crazy times it is Mr Gaiman. So many things he says, I found myself nodding along to: philosophies that underpin my own approach, ways of doing things that I have learned by the doing, advice that it never hurts to be reminded of. I love that he says he learned to write by writing. This is what I believe too, and sometimes my faith in this has been shaken by other writers, or teachers of writing (who I guess have a vested interest in rattling this belief) who disagree. I suppose it might not be true for everyone, but it has been true for me. The more I write, the more I understand what I need to do. The better my stories have become. I guess if I showed you my early stuff you would see the difference, but then I would have to kill you.

Gaiman also talks about writing the things you want and need to write, not just for the money you have been offered to write them. If the money side of things falls through all you will have to show is something that means nothing to you, that you don't care about. If you write something you care about , whether you get paid or not, you will still have something you are proud of to show for your efforts. I have tried to write things just for a payday and they turn out rotten. I know better than to try now.

And I am most guilty of worrying, when I should be enjoying the moment. Sure, my 'moment' isn't anywhere near what Gaiman's 'moments' have been. I've never had all those award nominations, or wins, the long line of eager fans waiting patiently for a Gaiman signature, the invitations to prestigious events, interviews, TV appearances etc .... but I've had good things happen and I struggle with the idea of stopping to smell the roses. If I stop the world might move on without me. But what is the point of doing this if you can't get pleasure out of the happy results of your own creative efforts.

I like that he says he didn't know that certain things were going to work, their success never inevitable in his eyes; I like that he says make mistakes - Coraline after all, was the result of a misspelling; I like his idea of making your goal a mountain and only choosing to do things that take you closer to that mountain - of course the problem with this analogy is whether you can always tell whether certain steps will take you closer or not - it's better, I suppose to take a wrong step then take no steps at all. I like that he talks of the upheavals in the creative world with excitement not fear. And I like that Melinda Szymanik, children's author does have things in common with the Rock God of Writing Neil Gaiman. His faith is my faith.

There are other pearls of wisdom in Gaiman's address and if you are a creative person I urge you to watch it and take notes. And go make good art!

what to expect when you're an expectant elephant...

So while you are figuring out your fabulous answers to my Author-in-residence competition questions here is some other stuff.

I spent the last three days writing and then polishing a scene in Jack the Viking 2 which I am now going to cut. Still, nothing is wasted - I shall squirrel it away with my other nuts for use at another date. It was rather graphic and a bit gruesome but very thrilling. I should have known something was up as I kept polishing and polishing but I couldn't seem to move forward with the plot. When my writing is stalled it tends to be because the scene I am moving through is not what I should be writing. My brain has figured this out but sometimes it takes a while for it to filter down to my conscious: this does not work -lose it and move on. I am a little annoyed though as I want to be making more progress than I actually am. Unexpected things still keep cropping up and I have other demands on my time in the near future and I really want to have this done. More hours in the day will make no difference. I have enough hours in the day, I just don't seem to be able to use them as I should. I am beginning to feel like a mama elephant - I have been gestating this story FOREVER and wonder now if I will ever give birth.

And things keep arriving that change my life. Just little things. This career thing I have been working on for the past ten years seems to be gathering some momentum and almost developing a life of its own and I have had three surprise invites to participate in bookish events in the last ten days. I also had an email forwarded to me this morning about some unsolicited (?) overseas interest in one of my books. I know the drill with these things - initial interest (A) rarely translates into actual action (B), but I figure you can't get B without some A happening so I am going to allow myself a brief splurge of excitement over this. I can't lie: it was exciting to see the actual email from the foreign editor. Soon I will go back to normal, but for a little while I will indulge myself.

Here are some pictures from my evening event last Wednesday. Just in case you were wondering.

Am I your school's author-in-residence?

Call me crazy but I am running this competition. I'm kinda excited because how cool is it to have a school excited about authors. And if the school is excited, the students will be excited and if the students are excited then everyone wins.

and then there was this that put a smile on my dial. Kind of a bucket list thing I guess to have a book of mine mentioned in the much venerated New Zealand Listener (Made with Love May 12-18, 2012).

of course just cos it happened doesn't mean its coming off the Bucket list. I enjoyed the experience so much I hope it happens again.

A Mind for Murder - AWRF: A review...

today - mother's day, after a breakfast of pikelets made for me by my middle child (excellent job Geneva, thank you) I hied myself off to the big smoke for an hour of discussion on the levels of violence in contemporary crime novels with, sensibly enough, crime novelists Greg McGee, Paul Thomas and Peter James, with Craig Sisterson as Chair. It is my lone Auckland Writers and Readers festival event this year. I wish I could have gone to more. Actually I wish there were more I wanted to go to. Last years Wordy Day out filled with YA writers was terrific. I felt sad it wasn't being repeated this year. Okay, I had wanted to attend the gala opening, but thursday is already enough of a stretch for us as a family without adding in an event which is, no matter how interesting or relevant to my writing life, still an indulgence. The Friday session with Eoin Colfer and Emily Rodda was appealing but 5.30 on a Friday is when I give a big sigh of relief that the rushing around for the week is over and I can pour myself something ruinous and dress in comfy trousers that should not be seen by the public at large. Enough said. So sadly it came down to one. I was not disappointed although lord knows I have been disappointed in the past. I always come away from these things with mixed feelings, uncertain about what compelled me to go in the first place, unsure what I am taking away. There are no insights about writing or the writers life that I have not heard before, even if they have been expressed in fresh ways. And if I want this kind of info I can tap my way to  a Titanic's load of epithets, advice and homily's online. I confess, while I do read some crime fiction, including by NZ authors (both women - one of whom was in the audience today) I hadn't read any of the participants books so I wasn't going as an ardent fan. But I am interested in this genre, both as a reader and a writer, and I am interested in the process of giving a talk and being a participant in a panel session. I want to do more of this in the future. I wanted to be up there today. I fancy their job.

Props to Craig Sisterson who was a great chair. I have seen some doozies in the past, even from some of NZ's most luminous spheres literary lights lites lights. Being intelligent and/or a writer doesn't make you a skilled chair. Greg McGee (aka Alix Bosco) replaced Jennifer Rowe (aka Emily Rodda - how appropriate for crime writers to have an alias)who had to head home due to illness in the family, and while McGee was interesting I missed the chance to have a female perspective on crime writing, especially as the issue of misogyny in the genre was raised. Today's discussion wended its way from the levels of violence in crime thrillers, the need for crime novels to explore the social connections that drive crime, through the elitisim of literary writing (and the presence or absence of a plot and what this signifies), how serial killers don't make the best antagonists in crime writing (although Hannibal Lecter would argue there are always exceptions), the importance of opening lines, first pages and last lines, how science and television are driving crime fiction away from the cosy mystery end of the spectrum and toward violence. There were anecdotes. I enjoyed the grumble about the snobbery of the literary writing community toward crime fiction. It definitely isn't just children's writers who feel this then?

As with any of these talks I always think of questions to ask as I slide in to the driver's seat for the drive home. Is a rise in graphic violence an attempt by authors to keep their novel novel and fresh? After all if crime novel's reflect society, how many different societal forces can there be driving crime? Is crime writing easier to sell overseas? Is it easier to sell overseas if its more graphic/ technologically up-to-date/ deviant? Did all the panellists have links to police or specialists working within crime or forensic detection to support their writing (as Peter James definitely did)? I guess I need to up-skill as a literary event participant so these questions turn up when I still have a chance to ask them.

Being me was actually fun ...

It was all go on Wednesday. I rested yesterday but today I'M BACK!!! I have pinched this fab link from Maureen Crisp. On the other end of that link John Yoeman answers his own question - Is it worth being an author? I agree with Dr Yoeman. This is one of the things I said on Wednesday night at the 'Evening with Melinda Szymanik' event (it's still weird referring to myself in that way). Writing is hard and more often than not, any tangible rewards fall well short of the effort put in. But that's not the only reason I do it. Being a writer (amongst a few other things) is who I am. Its an un-extractable, indivisible component of me and I cannot schuck it off any more than I could function without my brain or heart. There are times when we are not on speaking terms, my writing self and me, but we always kiss and make up and move on.

I said some other things on Wednesday night as well, such as how I will miss Maurice Sendak, whose fighting words "I refuse to lie to children" and his suspicion of the 'innocence' of children have informed my own writing. "Where the Wild Things Are," has had a major influence over my picture book stories, that successful blend of magic and realism, those hints at the dark edges of childhood, those questions. I talked about other influences, about growing up in a New Zealand too young still to have much of a children's literary tradition. I began my reading journey when Margaret Mahy and Maurice Gee and Joy Cowley were just getting started, before Fleur Beale or David Hill had published their novels. I read a diet of US and UK books for children and I have often worried to myself that my books aren't New Zealand enough. But I don't think I need New Zealand place names and icons to reflect our society and culture. I am a Kiwi, I was raised here, and the way I write demonstrates my kiwi values and beliefs and attitudes. You can't take my nationality out of me or my books. I talked too about the influence and importance of librarians and teachers. Their advice and encouragement helped me as a child and today's librarians and teachers do the same. We need them to be, and remain, passionate. How can we help them?

I talked about Kate de Goldi's lovely image of 'gnawing the bone', the bone being the issues we return to time and time again in our writing, and how my bone seemed to be predominantly composed of family. I have a lovely family and I appreciate how lucky I am but not everyone is that lucky and I think books need to reflect and explore that. I talked about my new books and how the family bone got chewed all over again in both of them.

I took the day off yesterday. I'd worked very hard at being me on Wednesday. It was a bit nerve-racking not being able to hide behind any other speakers, or take a back seat to the main event. I was the main event. I felt like I hadn't had enough time to polish my talk. My brain wasn't quite firing on all cylinders but somehow it all came together. Lots of lovely people came to hear me talk. And they said nice things to me and about me. And despite my nerves and wishing I could have been more prepared I enjoyed myself. Being me was actually fun.

In book news, I talked yesterday with one of my lovely publishers about illustrations for a brand spanking new picture book by me. Very exciting. Colour me happy.

And cos I love y'all here are some more lovely links to edumacate you on this hairy business we are a part of - something to include on your blog or website, and in defence of authors (this one was on Ms Crisps blog a while back and like a chump I missed it).

I love being the centre of attention, except when I'm the centre of attention...

Tomorrow I am the feature speaker at an event that is pretty much all about me. So, I find this a little weird. I mean, its just me. Just a suburban housefrau, office girl, girl friday. An ex-irish dancing, dog-walking, wife, mother, sister, daughter and friend. A card carrying library, NZSA, Storylines, Kiwiwrite4kidz, and SCBWI member; semi tech savvy, secretly nerdy and over educated. I blog, read the newspaper and wish children's books appeared more in the news. I like the colour black, I don't like to drive and I was born here. And I've written some books for children. Okay, its true - I've spent a lot of time writing, thinking about writing and thinking about all the processes involved in writing. I read a lot about books, and other writers. And I read books too. I keep tabs on changes, developments and trends in publishing and children's literature. Oh, and I have a lot of opinions. And did I mention I've written some books as well? Novels and picture books, one of which won a NZ book award. And I write short stories too. So maybe it isn't that weird after all. I can't wait to find out what I'm going to say.

Finding time to write...

My grand plan recently has been to stop thinking (and consequently worrying) about what is happening in the publishing world because a) I can't control or change whatever is happening, b) its irrelevant if I'm not writing, and c) it is beginning to give me a headache, and I have decided to focus on my writing. A very sensible option when you call yourself a writer. Of course that whole 'man plans, God laughs' epithet then comes in to play. I keep thinking next week (pick a week, any week). Next week I will have all this free time and empty hours not earmarked for events, family commitments, housework, research for my research paper, filing company tax returns etc.. and I can just hunker down over my lovely little lap top and go hell for leather, head down, bum up, and finish this sequel I have been wanting to rewrite since Adam was a boy. God is indeed laughing at my expense - in fact laughing so hard there are tears in his/her eyes. Things just keep cropping up. Things I wasn't expecting. Good things that tie in to my writing. Things that teach me new skills and/or help promote my name/brand. Things I like to do or know I should do. And look, there they go, those lovely empty hours, winging away like dreams or birds.And I sit here contemplating the reality that 'life is what happens when you're making other plans.' Of course my urge to write is even greater having had an epiphany (yet again in my favourite thinking place under a stream of hot water in the shower) about my rewrite. Holey moley it will be good if only I could get it down on paper the way it looks and feels inside my head. So maybe this waiting has had a benefit in allowing me to have this revelation about improving the plot-line. Okay so maybe its better things go this way. Then again, will there be a point at which I should start saying 'no'? And how will I know when I've reached this point? Or will somebody just kindly supply some extra hours in the day and a wee energy boost to get me through them...