We’re approaching New Year’s, and we’re also approaching the 2 year anniversary of GWP! I launched the blog in January 2007, just as my first book (Only Child) hit the shelves. Since then, I came out with a second one and started a proposal for my third. As GWP friends know, this latest book proposal (still in progress!) has been a long journey, and not always so smooth. I’ve been wanting to compile a “lessons learned” post, to share some of the process with GWP readers who are similarly working on book proposals — or aspire to — cause really, friends don’t let friends figure out how to write books alone.
So speaking of said journey, yesterday I was listening to a talk by Buddhist teacher Tara Brach while on a walk in Riverside Park and she said something so true. At the time of the talk, Brach herself was working on a book. Writing, she was finding, involved a lot of “self.” And sometimes, what she needed was for that self to just get out of the way, so she could remember what mattered most, and what mattered first, and what needed to be said.
One thing I find helpful when “self”, or ego, or the internalized voices of critics (or however you define the obstacles that come from a mind that likes to work overtime, as so many of ours do!) is the “toggle” effect: Some weeks I’ll be going strong in my thinking and writing around the proposal, then I’ll hit a point of self-doubt. So I’ll give myself a break for a day, or two days, or three, and then come back to it again. When I’m in the book writing stage, I find it far more helpful to show up to the page consistently, every day. But when I’m in the conceptualizing phase, sometimes I just need to give it–and me–a mental rest, and just focus on other things (like all my consulting projects, for instance, which pay the rent). It may sound obvious, but sometimes it’s the obvious that’s the easiest thing to forget.
Lots of you I know are writing books while working other jobs (like, say, being a professor! or, addendum, a MOM) that demand your attention. What helps you stick with a writing project through its (and your) ups and downs? I’d love to hear.
(And gratitude to Virginia for introducing me to talks by Tara Brach!)
It happens every time this year. The pile of books that publishers have sent me unsolicited in the hopes for a review stares me in the face, creating a sense of guilt. Though I know that all publicists send books out widely as part of their general marketing strategy, I always feel, well, bad if we don’t end up reviewing a book that nevertheless looks fantastic. The book just sits on my shelf.
by Sabrina Jones
, by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot
, by Jane Roberts
, by Elizabeth Gregory (a very personal subject over here right about now, ahem!)
! It’s been the hopper for a while but is coming soon, we promise. A personal aside: As a PhD and an aspiring Mama, of course I loved this one.
I have a mysterious helper when I type these days. Sigh.
This morning I heard the most inspiring talk from one of the most inspiring women I know, Miss Jacki Zehner. The talk was sponsored by 
My apologies for the quiet day over here. I’ve been scrambling to get ready for my trip this week — first stop, Iowa! For anyone in the vicinity, here’s where I’ll be, and what I’ll be talking about:
) and Renee Cramer (author of, among other things,
At the gracious invitation of the wonderful and savvy Renee Cramer (see her prescient GWP post, 
After months of slugging through false starts on a sample chapter for my next book proposal, months of promising my agent I’d have it ready by the end of the month, and feelings of writerly delinquency in spite of hours of hard work, I have had a writing breakthrough. Friends have asked what I credit it to, so that I can learn from it for next time, cause I have no doubt there will be a next time. Writing life just works that way. I’ve been thinking about this, and wanted to share what I’ve learned with you. Here’s what I attribute the breakthrough to:
With all the pre-election hoopla over here across the pond, I seem to have missed this gem by Alison Flood at The Guardian the other week, when she asked 
Two fast things that make me smile: One, this photo of Marco shaking the lulov on Sukkot (thank you, Segalls!) and two, this poem from Visala, age 13 and a student at 
We had an interesting inquiry from a reader about recommendations for female-friendly MFA programs. We were wondering what our readers thought–have any of you been in MFA programs that you would especially recommend? 