the glories of proofreading

I've been dragging through a very busy week at work. We're in the final phase of production of this issue of the magazine, which is a quarterly. Lots of proofreading, editing copy (again and again) to fit the design space, and frantically calling for photo credits, double checking factoids, and the like.
We've done pretty well, considering that in terms of workflow, pretty much everything that could happen to push the production train off the rails has happened. The computers wouldn't talk to each other. Everyone had a different version of the page-layout program. The server hated one of our computers, we just couldn't figure out which one.
The good news is we're almost finished with this issue and it looks good. The bad news is that we get to put another issue out in half the time it took to put this one out. It's not that I can't imagine doing that--I've put out larger books every two weeks, and we actually have 6 weeks for the next one--but ironing out all those crazy computer problems will make the difference between meeting our deadlines and not.
I've got an Echo column due by Tuesday. Have the idea, sort of writing it in my head. We'll see if it pours out the way I intend, or if I have to go back to the drawing board and write it out before it gels.

send me into the game, coach

I'm working with a creativity coach. The writer I mentioned a few days ago, Eric Maisel, trains creativity coaches, and his trainees need people to coach. So I'm getting to get advice from this person, for free.
I'm willing to look into my creative "issues" with someone outside my immediate circle at this point. I get stuck at really predictable points in the writing/marketing/etc. cycle, again and again. I've discovered some of my places that need work through my day job, but feel like I need a little push for those deeper, more long-term goals that seem to elude me, like conceiving and creating a book proposal.
It's free, so I feel like I have nothing to lose. I'm ready to play this "game" at a higher level.

baby's shower

Scooter's daughter was EXTREMELY pleased with the shower. We were, too. Everything went off without a hitch. Only a few folks in attendance, but we had a great time and laughted a lot.
Well worth a weekend of not much writing. :)

Saturday Adventures with Scooter

I actually did do some writing yesterday, if cutting-n-pasting most of a query letter for one magazine into another very similar query letter for another magazine can be considered writing. I’m going to send it, despite the fact it’s going to a magazine in Hawaii about profiling a scientist who works there, and I’m in Arizona.
There were quite a few preparations for the baby shower yesterday. My partner (who henceforth shall be known as Scooter, one of her more obscure nicknames) wrapped a million and one small gifts for the baby-boy-to-be. I prepped the cameras and offered moral support. Scooter is currently making cake and topping. I’m drifting in from time to time to take out the trash and wash off the mixer blades after licking them.
We stopped by the local friendly neighborhood homo-bar last night for an hour, and had a surprisingly good time. We had dinner there—it’s one of the few gay bars in Phoenix with decent food—and just sort of hung out and people-watched until the smoke drove us out.
One fellow brought in his baby dachshund. Everybody, including me & Scooter, were making over little 10-week-old Chelsea. I have no idea why anyone would bring their puppy to the bar, but maybe it’s a good way to make conversation—if this fellow had been a lesbian, he could have had the phone number of every woman in the place, ours included.
Back to writing. I’m still stuck on what to write about next. I have an Echo column coming up, not too worried about it yet, although I should start cooking up a topic. I have several other ideas I’m in love with, but no place to take them on a date (i.e., I can’t seem to find a magazine that I feel I could send a query to on that topic). It occurred to me yesterday that if it’s so dang simple for me to write a column, why the heck don’t I focus on selling columns to magazines and newspapers, or *a* column (and self-syndicating it). So far, the reasons I came up with are:

--I hadn’t thought of it that way before.
--I want to write narrative nonfiction, which can be done in a column, but not in your typical 750-800 word one.

So I guess I'll be doing some more muddling whilst we celebrate the baby’s impending arrival.

bus-time reading

I'm riding to work on the bus, partially because I'm cheap and don't want to pay for a tank of gas every 4 days. (Which tells you it's a mighty commute, because the ol' '96 Camry actually gets pretty good mpg.) So I use that time to read and write in my "writing" journal.
The journal's become just about the only journal I write in. It helps to be a captive audience. If I'm to judge from my fellow riders, the acceptable activities on the Valley Metro buses in Phoenix are to
1. Read a large fiction book
2. Sleep (not a good idea if you're only going a couple of miles, but some people try it)
3. Talk very loudly to other passengers about the shelter they live in, the 12-step program they're working, or their spiritual paradigm (which is not the terminology used)
4. Watch the world go by.

So any way, this journal and these books. Zoning out on the bus is actually an excellent time for me to fish for ideas. I always used to get my best ideas in the shower or on the run, neither of which was especially conducive to capturing the ideas on paper. Bus-riding for inspiration actually works pretty well. I've also actually composed a couple of humor columns for Echo (the magazine I used to edit; it seems everyone who has ever worked there maintains some sort of connection to it) this way.
I've been working my way through Eric Maisel's Deep Writing on the bus over the past week. It's one of his earlier works on the creative process, but brief enough to pick up and put down without losing the thread of meaning, and interesting enough to try and actually follow his suggestions. For an atheist Jew psychotherapist who's written more than 30 books, he actually sounds like a fun person in his books. This book follows five fictional writers (from the angst-ridden chaotic twentysomething novelist to a computer geek avoiding his dissertation) as they move through writing things that matter to them. At first I found the use of fictional characters in an instruction book sort of annoying, but now he's drawn them so well I find myself itching to find out what they do next. I suppose that's the whole point.
I got a couple of books yesterday and today on structure and organization by Dave Fryxell. I need it. For someone with a degree in journalism and as much experience as I have, I can't talk story structure worth crud sometimes. I keep getting mired down in articles where I over-research to the point of having TOO MANY points of view. Anything that helps me focus these things, so that they aren't giant PR omnibus articles that say everything about a subject, and nothing, is good.

The other book I've read consistently on the bus over the last couple of weeks is Lost Woods, a compilation of previously unpublished work by naturalist Rachel Carson. My mother had a copy of Carson's The Sense of Wonder and The Sea Around Us (probably a first edition) when I was little, and I always loved Carson's style and sense of rhythm. Her essays, even ones she wrote fo the US Fish & Wildlife Service, read like poetry, not prose. Simply amazing.

Ok, enough. We'll see what Friday brings; that's usually my day to plot the weekend's reading and writing activity. However, my partner & I are planning her daughter's baby shower this weekend, so I have a feeling my creative efforts will center on videotaping the event and finishing the preparations! :)

more introductions

I suppose I should talk a little bit about what this blog is about, now that I've decided upon a focus.
All Over the Map is an online journal of my writing life. I've been writing for publication for 22 years. I'm 36; yes, I got started early. I'm currently the managing editor of an alumni magazine for the university in the city where I live, and I'm trying to build up my freelance writing practice.
I've been working on the freelancing part for most of those 22 years I've been writing professionally.
I feel like I'm at a crossroads with my writing. I developed a style very early on that tends to be very witty, but often only surface-level satisfying. I'm sort of burnt out on my own style. I want to take my writing to another level--a deeper, more nuanced level.
My current job has forced me to evaluate my knowledge of nonfiction writing as I've worked with other writers. I feel as if I've learned a lot in the 8.5 months I've been there. However, I still have a long way to go, particularly where structure and storytelling are concerned.
I want to share what I'm doing with my writing, the resources I'm finding helpful, and how my writing life is an integral part of my whole life.
I hope you'll join me for the journey.

welcome to my blog

I have never done a blog, but I've been writing rambling journal entries for a long time. I write a column for a magazine I edited for three years called "All Over the Map," and like a blog, I pretty much write whatever the hell I want to in it, which is typically rants or humor, or sometimes ranty humor for variety.