Friday, June 27, 2014

Entry # 218 - "Surviving & Thriving from Workshop Feedback"


2014 At Tinker Mountain - Hollins University
Often when I get home from a workshop and look through peer review comments on a draft, I feel overwhelmed. Having recently returned from a week at the Tinker Mountain Workshop, I am once again faced with the question of how to begin my revision process. Sometimes I spin around for weeks or months deciding where to begin and what to do.
A Beautiful Campus & A Great Group of People
Joni B. Cole, has a wonderful book on the topic: Toxic Feedback: Helping Writers Survive and Thrive (2006) that I have found useful in thinking about the revision process. One of the topics she addresses is what to do with the feedback you get from others. 
In her section, Tips for Processing Feedback, she offers these useful suggestions:

Be Open - In a workshop setting – listen thoughtfully and curb your desire to defend your work.  You may - in your heart - disagree and that’s okay, because the ultimate decisions about your work rest with you.

Resist the Urge to Explain - Remember that readers can only work with what’s on a page – so you need to know where it’s not working.

Little by Little -  “It is easy to get overwhelmed when processing feedback, especially if you try to take it all in at once.”  Cole suggests that writers sift through all the comments once then put them away and select one of those things to focus on for the next revision.  “For example: it your plot is slow and main character shallow – on your next draft move your plot forward and tackle the character issue on a next draft.”

Ignore Feedback -- until you’re ready for it“The value of feedback, and then putting it in your mental lockbox as you push forward, is that this allows your unconscious to quietly process the outside information in a way that informs your writing in sync with your instincts –without slowing you down.”

Try Out the Feedback - For example:  “If your main character isn’t likable, write a scene inside or outside the story that shows him doing something endearing. Even if you decide not to use the scene, this is a great exercise in character development. No writing is a waste of effort."

Give Yourself Time - If you can’t tell if you’re making things better or worse, Cole says, --- "STOP! Take a break. Take a walk. Start something new. Let your subconscious work on it again." You should be able to see when feedback is useful to improve your vision for the work.  If it’s not helping, wait a while and come back to it.

Cole makes a strong case that after finishing a draft and subsequent revisions writers need to find a suitable reader for the work. A suitable reader is rarely someone who loves you unconditionally, but instead, the suitable reader is someone who gets what you’re doing, and who is willing to give thoughtful, insightful impressions; someone who reads carefully and who understands the struggles writers face, but who has sufficient tact to be honest and perceptive; someone who is not inclined to be unkind.

Cole's book is a gold mine of useful insights. Processing feedback effectively means being receptive to hearing a variety of opinions, but filtering it all through your own writer's lens. 


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About Jan Bowman
Winner of the 2011 Roanoke Review Fiction Award, Jan's stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, Best American Short Stories, and a Pen/O’Henry award.  Glimmer Train named a recent story as Honorable Mention in the November 2012 Short Story Awards for New Writers.

A recent story was a finalist for the 2013 Broad River Review RASH Award for Fiction, another story was a 2013 finalist in the Phoebe Fiction Contest; another was a 2012 finalist in the “So To Speak” Fiction Contest.  Jan’s fiction has appeared in numerous publications including, Roanoke Review, Big Muddy, The Broadkill Review, Third Wednesday, Minimus, Buffalo Spree (97), Folio, The Potomac Review, Musings, Potato Eyes and others.   She is working on two collections of short stories while shopping for a publisher for a completed story collection, Mermaids & Other Stories.  She has nonfiction publications in Atticus Review, Trajectory and Pen-in-Hand. She writes a weekly blog of “Reflections” on the writing life and posts regular interviews with writers and publishers.   Learn more at: www.janbowmanwriter.com  (note: homepage under revision right now) so visit blog: http://janbowmanwriter.blogspot.com





Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Entry # 217 - Interview with Dr. Eric S. Mondschein, Author of Life at 12 College Road

Dr. Eric S. Mondschein is an author and education consultant. He has taught law and education, worked for the US government, published and edited numerous articles and books, directed an award-winning program for the New York State Bar Association, and served as advisor to an international NGO in Haifa, Israel, on external affairs, government relations, security, and analysis of human rights. His book, Life at 12 College Road is published by Something or Other Publishing and is available on Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com. He currently resides in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York with his wife, Ginny.  They have two grown children Adam and Emily, a son in law, Kamal, daughter in law, Yaani, and grandchildren, Annie, Nate and Eli.
Jan:   Tell me about your new book, Life at 12 College Road. Why will readers enjoy reading it?
Eric:   Life at 12 College Road is a collection of thirty-three “real life” short stories that, when taken as a whole, paint a mosaic of a time and place both familiar and distant. Each story can be read and enjoyed on its own, and each provides a different glimpse into the world of growing up in 1950s and 60s America. We all have memories—those that make us smile or laugh, others that bring anger or tears, and some that we’d just as soon forget. But those memories help to make us who we are today—and in some ways, who we will become tomorrow. While reflecting upon my past to write the book, I found that it was not the major earth-shattering events that were truly significant for me. Rather, it was the small things, many long forgotten until recently, that deeply touched me. The book is not really so much about me as it is about those feelings and emotions that we all at one time or another share; feelings of joy, happiness, sadness, anger, fear — and yes, loss — that each of us, in our own yet similar ways, do inevitably encounter. And if their retelling can help the reader connect with similar moments from their lives, then it was worth the time and effort in my writing Life at 12 College Road and their reading it 
Jan:   What inspired you to write this particular book?
Eric:   I am glad you asked this question. I had not intended to write this book at all.  I was on a mission to write an adventure/action thriller and was attending a writer’s retreat in Maine several years ago to do just that. But as fate would have it, I had decided to take a break, as I was just not getting anywhere and take a short nap. I was either dreaming, or it was during that period of time just before awakening that the idea came to me.

I recalled sitting at the dining room table where I had shared Sunday dinners with my family growing up. As I sat at the table, I realized the other three chairs had been tilted forward so that their ladder-backs rested against it. They were obviously no longer of use. And it was then that I remembered what had been bothering me: I was alone. You see, my mom, dad, and younger brother have all passed on without me. They are exploring new worlds and I have been left behind. Heck, even my dog is gone. It was that realization, those memories, which formed the impetus for me to write Life at 12 College Road.  So I put my novel on the shelf and proceeded to write this book. I may in time get back to the novel, as every once in while I think I hear the characters trying to talk to me.

Jan:   Why do you write?

Eric:   First, no one makes me write. In professional positions I’ve held over the years, I have been required to file reports, write memoranda, even treatises, but I was never required to publish law-related articles, write poetry, or Life at 12 College Road. I wrote those because I wanted to.

It certainly was not because I had nothing better to do. The time spent away from family and the activities that were sacrificed along the way attest to that. It was more often a feeling of being compelled to write. Not for others, although most writers do want people to read their work, but to feed a need or a desire coming from within.
Through this writing experience, I have come to recognize, dare I speak a universal truth, that even in the solitude of writing, we are not truly alone. Our memories of loved ones, friends, and those we admire are always with us, some closer to the surface of awareness than others, but they are there nonetheless. And if we are really willing to listen, they have much to offer.

Jan:   What do you need in order to do your best work?
Eric:   On one level I need the peace, quiet and solitude of just being alone. On another, I need to feel compelled not by others, but from within to write, whether it is a poem, a random thought or the monograph I am currently co-authoring with a friend, Ellery (Rick) Miller Jr. on sexual harassment and bullying, or the sequel to Life at 12 College Road. 
Jan:   As you aspire to improve as a writer where do you begin?
Eric:   I read a lot. I read newspapers. I read professional journals, magazines, short stories and novels in as many genres as I can. From fiction to non-fiction, historical, adventures, thrillers, science fiction, children’s stories to yes, even romance. Never thought I would say that, but I read Phyllis Edgerly Ring’s Snow Fence Road, and thoroughly enjoyed the story, the plot and the characters. The more I read the more I learn about writing. What works and what frankly does not. My parents were both prolific readers and would often share what they were reading during dinner and encouraged my brother and I to read. I also had a professor in College who told us “if you want to write you have to read, read, read.”
Jan:   What writers do you read?
Eric:   As I indicated I read a lot and in many genres, but I must admit I have truly enjoyed reading books by Dean Kootnz, John Sanford, Gary Pulsen, Dale Brown, Robert Ludlum, Clive Cussler, W.E. B. Griffen, and Wilbur Smith. And as a young boy I loved Ian Flemming’s James Bond books and Herald L. Goodwin’s Rick Brandt Science adventure stories.
Jan:   What is the best advice you ever received and what advice have you chosen to ignore?
Eric:   As it relates to writing, the best advice was to “read, read, read” and the advice I chose to ignore was that I probably should not try to write.
Jan:   When you review your work over the past couple of years what do you notice?
Eric:   The first thing I notice is that I think that I have now found my voice.  The second is that my writing is still evolving and improving, and will most likely continue to do so. At least I hope so. I also have learned so much working with other writers and attending writing workshops and just writing more and learning to accept criticism. That one I am still trying really hard to learn.
Jan:   Finally - What question do you wish I had asked?
Eric:   When you are not writing what do you like to do?  And my answer is that I truly enjoy being with the love of my life, my wife, Ginny. I also like being with my son and daughter and their dear families.
Jan:   How can readers buy a copy of your book and contact you? 
Life at 12 College Road is available on Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com. For those who live in upstate New York you can also pick up my book from Northshire Books Saratoga Saratoga Springs, NY and The Bookstore Plus Lake Placid, NY.
Life at 12 College Road
The Bookstore plus  http://www.thebookstoreplus.com
If readers are interested in some of my other works I invite them to visit my website at:      http://www.ericmondschein.com

Additional Notes on this Author:   Dr. Eric S. Mondschein is an author and education consultant.  He has a Doctorate in law and education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  He has taught law and education at the undergraduate and graduate levels of education.  He has worked for the US government in various capacities, published and edited numerous articles and books in various areas of law and education and written and managed numerous grants from the private and public sectors.  He directed an award-winning law-related education program for the New York State Bar Association from 1980 through 1994.
 
From 1995 to 2006, he advised the governing board of an international non-governmental organization in Haifa, Israel, in the area of external affairs, including government relations, security and provided analysis of human rights situations in selected countries throughout the world in general, and in Iran and the Middle East in particular. He also served as the citizen representative of The Post Star editorial board, which won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. His book, Life at 12 College Road is published by Something or Other Publishing and is available on Amazon.com and Barnes&Noble.com. 


He currently resides in the Adirondack Mountains of upstate New York with his wife, Ginny.  They have two grown children Adam and Emily, a son in law, Kamal, daughter in law, Yaani, and grandchildren, Annie, Nate, and Eli.
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About Jan Bowman
Winner of the 2011 Roanoke Review Fiction Award, Jan's stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, Best American Short Stories, and a Pen/O’Henry award.  Glimmer Train named a recent story as Honorable Mention in the November 2012 Short Story Awards for New Writers.

A recent story was a finalist for the 2013 Broad River Review RASH Award for Fiction, another story was a 2013 finalist in the Phoebe Fiction Contest; another was a 2012 finalist in the “So To Speak” Fiction Contest.  Jan’s fiction has appeared in numerous publications including, Roanoke Review, Big Muddy, The Broadkill Review, Third Wednesday, Minimus, Buffalo Spree (97), Folio, The Potomac Review, Musings, Potato Eyes and others.   She is working on two collections of short stories while shopping for a publisher for a completed story collection, Mermaids & Other Stories.  She has nonfiction publications in Trajectory and Pen-in-Hand. She writes a weekly blog of “Reflections” on the writing life and posts regular interviews with writers and publishers.   Learn more at: www.janbowmanwriter.com  (note: homepage under revision right now) so visit blog: http://janbowmanwriter.blogspot.com



Friday, June 6, 2014

Entry # 216 - "Online Journals Are The Future"

Small online journals are a growing trend nationwide. As costs associated with print journals continue to increase, online journals that feature a range of online work: poetry, fiction, nonfiction, humor, podcasts, music, art and videos are the future. Although there are hundreds out there looking for new writers and interesting materials, two such journals that have distinctive styles are examples of this trend: The Atticus Review (east) and A River and Sound Review (west).


Dan Cafaro, Editor & Publisher, and Zoe Henry, Managing Editor of Atticus Review produce an interesting cutting edge weekly journal.  http://www.atticusreview.org

And a river & sound review  Founder, Mgr. Editor, Humor Editor & Live Show Host, Jay Bates and Poetry Editor & President of Operations, Michael Schmeltzer produce a journal that features irregular live podcasts and remind one of A Prairie Home Companion on steroids.    
www.riverandsoundreview.org
http://www.riverandsoundreview.org/Staff/Whoswho.htm



My recent interview with Michael Schmeltzer and Jay Bates appears this week in the weekly interview section of Atticus Review.  
http://atticusreview.org/dogs-of-glory-and-reading-for-pleasure-an-interview-with-jay-bates-and-michael-schmeltzer/

While Michael and Jay's responses are edgy, funny, even over the top, they are entertaining. Check it out. Tell them I sent you. Feel free to comment and even send some of your best work to them. The worst you could get is a "no".

Jay Bates (Founder, Managing Editor, Humor Editor & Live Show Host) grew up an innocent in Puyallup, WA during the 1970s and '80s.  He was so innocent that when a girl asked him in the 8th grade if he was a he was a virgin, he said, "No, I'm a Taurus."  As a grown up, he teaches English and writes fiction, humor and sub-par doggerel poetry.  Beyond that, he has been known to use a Sharpie to correct the language on the "Ten items or less" signs found at the grocery store. He still makes his home in Puyallup with his wife, son, daughter, and dog, a yellow Labrador retriever named Ulysses. His work has appeared in The Southeast Review.

Michael Schmeltzer (Poetry Editor & President of Operations) is ready to rumble. Some journals publish his poems (Natural Bridge, Mid-American Review, etc.), many others do not (you'll come around Georgia Review). Most recently he has placed in contests held by Bellingham Review, Water~Stone Review, and Third Coast.  His honors include four Pushcart Prize nominations, the Gulf Stream Award for Poetry, Blue Earth Review’s Flash Fiction Prize, and the Artsmith Literary Award. If you want him to like you, mention any of the following: The Hunger Games, cosplay, writer/director Darren Aronofsky, Final Fantasy, Silent Hill, or simply call him pretty; he's vain like that.   
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Looking for Superman in Scotland - Jan Bowman -2013
About Jan Bowman

Winner of the 2011 Roanoke Review Fiction Award, Jan's stories have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, Best American Short Stories, and a Pen/O’Henry award.  Glimmer Train named a recent story as Honorable Mention in the November 2012 Short Story Awards for New Writers.



A recent story was a finalist for the 2013 Broad River Review RASH Award for Fiction, another story was a 2013 finalist in the Phoebe Fiction Contest; another was a 2012 finalist in the “So To Speak” Fiction Contest.  Jan’s fiction has appeared in numerous publications including, Roanoke Review, Big Muddy, The Broadkill Review, Third Wednesday, Minimus, Buffalo Spree (97), Folio, The Potomac Review, Musings, Potato Eyes and others.   She is working on two collections of short stories while shopping for a publisher for a completed story collection, Mermaids & Other Stories.  She has nonfiction publications in Trajectory and Pen-in-Hand. She writes a weekly blog of “Reflections” on the writing life and posts regular interviews with writers and publishers.   Learn more at: www.janbowmanwriter.com or  visit blog:  http://janbowmanwriter.blogspot.com