I guess I’m on a J.D. Salinger kick right now. I went to the movies this weekend and saw this trailer for an upcoming documentary about the author and just wanted to share. I hope you guys are as excited as I am! 
“Goddamn money…
“Goddamn money. It always ends up making you blue as hell.”~J.D. Salinger from Catcher in the Rye
Happy Father’s Day!
Hi everyone! Just wanted to wish all the fathers and father-like figures a Happy Father’s Day today! I especially want to thank my own grandfather for helping raise me and for always keeping me laughing. And a special wish for my father, wherever he may be–I hope he knows how much I love him, how I think of him every day and am grateful for even the short amount of time we had together. I love you.
Both my dad and grandpa together! And that wild child is me
Writing Tips I’ve Learned
This weekend is my last one here in New York and I wish I could say I was spending it doing really cool things like chasing down every Mr. Softee truck and eating pretzels from street vendors till I puke. However, I’ve found myself inside doing homework and working on my final piece for the program. I’m pushing myself with both the content and quality of my writing, so today’s post will be short so I can save my energy for the piece. I’ve accumulated a list of writing tips from each day of class and decided to share a little bit of what I’ve learned for all my fellow writers out there.
1. Make a schedule. If you wait for inspiration to strike, you’ll be waiting forever. Pick a few hours a week that you can devote to writing. Even if you sit and stare at a blank page or screen, eventually something will start to flow and even if most of it isn’t very good, you may write one great sentence that you want to expand upon later.
2. For creative nonfiction writers, treat yourself as a character to be toyed with. Be honest about your thoughts and perceptions of other people and yourself. If you are honest, you’ll earn the readers’ trust.
3. Always remember to trust your readers’ as well. It’s not always about the words on the page, but rather, the words you’ve left out. Trust readers to fill in some of the facts for themselves. Not every moment must be captured explicitly. In other words, “pluck the strings for your reader, don’t give them the whole orchestra.”
4. Choose your endings wisely. Do not keep writing unnecessarily after your point has been made. This comes across as over-explaining and makes the reader feel as though you do not trust them to understand the message your story carries. Again, do not make your reader feel they haven’t been trusted.
5. Let different voices into the story. This is especially helpful for creative nonfiction writers, as it is easy to get caught up in our own internal monologue during a piece. By letting other characters speak, we can enrich our stories and create more enjoyment for our readers.
6. There is a difference between tension and surprise. Surprise is when both the reader and the characters’ do not know what is about to happen. Tension is when the reader knows what will happen but the characters’ do not. Creating tension is a good way to engage a reader.
7. Pace your story. Take the necessary time to develop your ideas. Do not rush to the punch line. Your audience will be disappointed from lack of build up (which can be accomplished by tension, as mentioned in #6).
8. When starting to submit pieces of writing to publications such as literary contests and magazines, don’t be alarmed by rejection. It happens. Just because you have been rejected, does not mean you are not a writer.
9. There will be plenty of people that find flaws with your writing and do not like it. On the flip side, there will always be someone out there who does enjoy your writing. Even if that person is just your mom.
10. Trust yourself. You will get criticism from editors, but for the most part, you have the last say in what is published. If there is something you feel cannot be changed, stick up for what you want. It is your art that you are putting into the world. Don’t put something out there that you are not proud of.
11. And lastly, the writer you are now may not be the writer you will become. Just as we change throughout our lives, so does our writing. There is not “one shot” when we have the chance to become writers. Unlike athletes, who have a prime age in their life when they can become professionals, as writers, we have many opportunities. Don’t give up.
“We tell ourselves stories…
“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.”~Joan Didion from “The White Album”
Grand Central (On the back of a MetroCard)
Yesterday, a friend from my writing program and I went uptown and had to take the subway. When we came back downtown, we went to a diner for something to eat. As we were talking, she mentioned that the MetroCard she used for the subway had a poem on the back. Being that we’re both writers, this was very exciting news. She searched her bag, pulled it out and handed it to me. And right on the back of the card was a poem by Billy Collins (whose poems I have posted many times here). I was thrilled and knew I had to share it. It was such a beautiful surprise to find poetry in the most unlikely of places. (Click the image to enlarge it!)
Writing In New York
It appears that after two weeks, I’ve gotten into a routine of sorts here at the writing program at NYU. I wake up in the mornings and have breakfast while doing homework, head to class for the afternoon, have a bite to eat between five and six when I usually do my very best to socialize with the other kids, and then each night I attend a reading (by a poet or fiction or nonfiction author) at the Lillian Vernon Creative Writing House on 10th street. I return to my room to continue doing homework (did I mention there’s a LOT of homework?) until I find myself so useless that the bed is the only thing that will have me.
By falling into a routine, I’ve been able to manage the new environment I’ve thrust myself into. The consistency of a schedule is something I rely on when other things still feel foreign—like the thousands of unrecognizable faces I pass every day on the street or the infinite number of restaurants on each block or the lack of open space—or any space at all, just by virtue of living in the city. Whenever I experience big change in my life I tend to fall into routines that frame my days in order to give them structure and keep me focused. It’s important however, to not get too obsessed with routine and always feel free to keep it flexible. Maybe a better way to describe the routine of my days is to refer to them as guidelines. Yes, that seems to be more fitting and much less stifling.
Which reminds me that I’ve learned through experience that it’s possible to become comfortable just about anywhere. Before arriving, I was terrified to live in a dorm, thinking it would be claustrophobic. After the first night however, I realized it wasn’t so bad, even if the mattress was uncomfortable and the bathroom smelled funny. I needed a place to rest my head at night and that’s what my room has become. Oh, and the place where I get all that damn homework done.
And I don’t even mind all the homework to be honest. It’s pushing me to develop a critical eye and my skills as a writer quickly and intensely. Because the program is so short—only four weeks long–we have been submerged into the writing world since our first day. Unlike my usual way of approaching new things–by easing my way into them, like dipping my toe into the cool water of the pool on a hot summer’s day—there was no choice but to dive straight in to this program. With all the money we’re paying to be here, there’s not a minute to waste.
I’ve been exposed to such a great amount of talent, both in its quantity and quality. My professors are both published writers who have proven that people do make a living as a writer (as hard as that is to believe) and who push my classmates and me to work toward our potential. The authors that I hear read each night also prove writing can be a successful career path, which is encouraging to remember in a world that just doesn’t seem to have the time to appreciate their art. These authors’ readings have been equally educational as inspiring and I can’t express my gratitude enough for those who have taken time out of their schedules to read for all of the students in the program. The advice and insight I have learned from them is invaluable.
However, the talent isn’t just from my professors and the authors I hear. They are only a small portion of the talent I witness each day. Most of it comes from my fellow classmates and writers who have also chosen to embark on this crazy journey to become part of the writing community. I am constantly impressed by the insight my classmates have on pieces we read for class and the discussions we have about these works. I am even more impressed that they WANT to talk about the work. Their passion and eagerness to learn is admirable and again, I can’t express my gratitude for the people I have shared my classes with, who have helped me grow as both a critic and a writer even in these first two weeks. On the first days of class, I felt nervous about sharing my opinion for fear that others would disagree and somehow make my opinion wrong. Now, I feel comfortable sharing my opinion even if others disagree. I am finding my voice and sticking up for what I feel strongly about. No professor can teach that. It has to come organically, and by virtue of being thrown into this writing world, I’ve had a quick turn around time to develop this skill.
The program ends next Thursday, which feels unbelievable to me as it seems I have just arrived. As I try to absorb as much as I can in the next week, and continue working my butt off (remember all that homework?) I can’t ignore what has brought us all together—teachers, students, and authors. Our desire to write. Our desire to be happy. Sure, writing can be extremely frustrating at times but like the author Adam Haslett said at last night’s reading, “The only thing worse than writing is not writing.”
