Focus (Writing)

So it seems to me that I have figured a few things out.

I am meant to write for the rest of my days. Food and cooking loom large in my life and I like to comparmentalize.

Having seen the light recently, I am going to change a few things around.

This blog is going to be about my life - writing and the daily things that occur. Food, although I'm sure it will be mentioned, will remain at either my magazine pan or through my articles. And things that I adore will continue to be reported at the knack.

This here - writerscramp - is where I want to come to write about writing and life and how the two intersect.

I have created a bento box of my interests, I know, but it's what makes me happiest. That, and writing.

Stay tuned for more from the writing front. And more frequent entries.

I'm on a roll.

Are You There, Blog? It’s Me, Stephanie (Writing)

It’s been a long time since I checked in. I feel guilty about it, like I’ve been neglecting this part of my life that I really enjoy. But writing has taken over - writing to deadline, writing on assignment, writing for money.

I know. It’s a dream come true. And I’m not complaining, but it has been so all encompassing that I have neglected a few areas of my life, this blog being one of them.

It’s weird to be so out of balance when I am working from home. After all, you would think that I could fashion my whole day however I like. Theoretically this is true. But rarely does it happen that I manage to engage in all of the areas of my life. Usually I am able to juggle 3 or 4 things in a day but that might mean I don’t get around to doing the other 3 or 4 things that need attention as well.

I just finished working at the film festival and while it was great fun and a needed break from my writing routines, it was exhausting. I managed to write throughout the festival but just barely, just enough to get my work to my editor’s on time before falling asleep to visions of Zach Braff and Christian Bale. After the festival, I caught up on opening the mail of the past three weeks, grocery shopping, laundry, and a thousand emails that had gone unanswered while I was at the box office at 7:30 a.m. amidst freshly popped popcorn for the films showing before 9 a.m. That took a couple of days. Meanwhile, assignments piled up as did my library books, emails and calls to be returned.

Now that the festival is long gone, I have resumed my old routine of getting up early and getting to work, but after working all day at the computer, I am still behind, panting to try and catch up.

After the middle of the month, it will die down. Most of my deadlines will be over, at least for a little while and I will be able to breathe again.

In the meantime, I am trying to enjoy this time of working hard. At least I am liking the stories I am working on and the editors have been great. These assignments are all for new magazines so it could have been a nightmare so far and other than the time pressure to get everything done and in one time, it’s been fun.

It’s just like with actors and job offers – no matter how hard you try to spread things out, it all comes in at once.

So I’m going to make it my mission to just take it all as it comes and work until it’s done. Also, I’m thinking that the impetus of all of this might also make me do more in the time I have, because after the festival was over, I was so grateful to have my days back to write and not just little pockets of time to cram my energy into.

So I’m off to write and work and try and do just one more thing each day, even though I don’t think I have the time. It’s a wonky experiment I know, but it’ll be fun. Plus, I can write and tell you all about it afterwards.

pan magazine (Food)

Food is a big part of my life, and hence, a big part of this blog, so it seems only right that I mention my new food website - pan magazine - that I have started with my good friend (and former editor - you might know him from WRITE magazine) Chris Garbutt.

We wanted a place to talk about food and tell a story, the way we wanted to tell it. So we started pan and hope that you will enjoy the personal accounts of our encounters with food.

If you wish to submit something, please see our submission guidelines. And if you have a story you want to tell, write us. Chances are we want to hear about it.

(The site will be available as of September 1st)

2050 (Writing)

Recently I had to look up some book titles coming out next year. I went to a book search engine, typed in the type of book I was looking for and then sorted them all by release date. Because you can’t specify which date you want, it takes you to the date furthest into the future.

So here I am, in front of my computer in August of 2006, and all of a sudden it is 2050 and Mary Higgins Clark is publishing another book.

First of all, my shock of being thrust into the future so quickly took me aback. And then it started to sink in. Mary Higgins Clark has a book coming out 42 years from now. Like black holes and the vast expanse of the internet, it took me awhile to really comprehend the concept.

Mary Higgins Clark is writing so much that her books can be published and republished that far into the future. Wow. I have something coming out in 2008 and I thought that was advance planning.

And this got me to thinking about my own work – I hope to still be publishing by then.

Huh. Imagine that.

It is strange how you just concentrate on the day-to-day business of what you are doing and all of a sudden, someone brings to your attention how much time has passed.

It was just recently that I figured out I’ve been writing and publishing for a decade. That was fast. And I have something coming out not only this month and next month and next year, but 2008.

Suddenly, 2050 isn’t that far away after all.

Location, Location (Food)

The man that I love and live with recently told me of his fondness for linguistics and learning about different language trends and traditions. He said that a person’s locale determines not only how they talk, but what they talk about it.

He’s absolutely right. The same can also be said for food.

A lot of times during the summer months, I don’t feel like cooking. My appetite changes and instead of chicken stews and mashed potatoes, all I want is fresh seafood and green salads. So I graze and drink a lot of liquids and then as soon as September comes, I can be found standing at the stove creating thick soup, ratatouille and succotash, roast chicken, lamb and hearty beef chili.

But it is not just the heat that has me a bit bummed about food. It’s my grocery store. Don’t get me wrong – I am blessed to have a store that is not only reasonable but offers fresh ingredients from Korea, Japan and Sri Lanka. It’s just that I am tired of it.

See, when you cook and eat a lot of meals at home – and now that we are both writing full-time at home, we do – you tend to go through a lot of food and well, shopping at the same store might not mean the same recipe over and over, but it does mean most of the ingredients remain the same.

So this week I am venturing out. I don’t know where yet – I still have a little research to do – but I’m going to find us a new home, I mean grocery store. To use at least for a little while. Come September, I will be at my usual haunt picking up black-eyed peas, lettuce, diced tomatoes, chicken, squash, pita, hot sauce and the like. But in the meantime, I’m going to try on a new store for size and see how it fits.

Something tells me it is just what I need.

The Encyclopedia I Just Can't Get Enough Of (Books)

I am in the midst of completing my last lesson of an intensive non-fiction writing course that I want to do every week for the rest of my life - it is that good.

This last lesson focuses on structure and really emphasizes giving great thought to the structure and format of your work.

With my book, I planned on one thing and it became something else. Something better. And I couldn’t have planned on that, no matter what materials and grid paper were available to me.

My first one was very research-based so it came in huge waves at various points and so, I jumped from crest to crest, letting it take me away. It was a joy, but by book’s end, I knew the next one would be a much more structured affair – something with a beginning, middle and end.

And so far it is. So far.

So, with this lesson, I have been investigating different ways to present your work – chronological, alphabetical, themed chapters, etc.

But never before have I been so impressed by both a book’s structure and content than Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life.

This is one of those books that you hold even when you aren’t reading it, because it just brings you so much joy. I can’t stop telling people about it, reading entries from it, begging friends to read it and promising that they will love it as much as I do.

I am what you might call an Amy Krouse Rosenthal evangelist.

Because she has done something so incredibly bright – I can’t stop thinking about it:

She went out and wrote a biography about herself in encyclopedia format, A-Z, and while it is all about this woman whom I never heard of before and whom you learn the most intimate details about, she manages to make it a non-egotistical venture AND her name is not a part of her book’s title.

She is smart AND funny, a simultaneous feat that is near to impossible for mere mortals, and I could read 22 volumes full of her life’s details. Make that 220.

I think about her all the time and now, when I am considering what to make for dinner, I actually say in my head – “Would Amy like Chinese broccoli?.” Throughout the day I might wonder “Would she enjoy the movie Three Kings? Does she use an electric toothbrush? Does she have a childhood toy atop her desk?

She is a woman I would love to have as a friend in my life, one of those fun people who you are constantly telling friends and family about. She loves books and buys them for friends when they invite her over – who DOES this? She is many things, but she is neurotic in a completely logical (and hysterical) fashion. This is just one example (yes, I am trying to get you hooked):

ESCALATOR

One would think that by this point in my life, I would have outgrown the feat of getting my shoe caught in the escalator.

See also: Anxious, Things That Make Me: Fears

And this brings me back to structure. A.K.R. has taught me to go for what is fun for me, not what I think people would like.

And that’s why my next book will appear in a series of bubblegum wrappers, complete with the pink dusty stick of chewy goodness, whose flavour lasts just as long as you can walk to the garbage and throw out the wrapper. No, wait! Don’t throw it out! See, I wrote something on it! It’s funny. No, really.

Maybe I’ll just sign up for an extra lesson or two.

p.s. - When I was trying to convince my friend Chris to get the book, he asked me if I was reading it in book fashion (front to back) or flipping around all over the place. I was stunned. What do you mean? It’s a book, a story of her life. It is not chronological, yes, but it is alphabetical. Who would bound around like that? I was astonished he could think about flitting around the pages.

A day later I came to see how someone could. But not me. I stand in front of the subway door that will open in front of the exit I need to get me where I want to go. I don’t want to waste time walking down the platform, stopping and looking up for the sign of where to exit, holding up people like me who have planned out their route.

Chris and I are still best friends. And I applaud his ability to think of reading the book out of sequence. He makes perfect poached eggs, is running a 10K in a couple of weeks and is much more adventurous than me. He can teach me a lot. A.K.R. too.

Stranded (Observation)

Today we were without internet – for the whole day. It has happened before and though it only happens intermittently, I find that it causes within me, a kind of adrift helplessness that worries the cat and leaves the man whom I live with and love staring at me for long periods and then asking, “Are you okay?”

I should be all right. After all, I wrote longhand for years. I can read and do research without the net. Well, at least I thought I could. But then I tried. Sure, I could read my books for review, but any research I wanted to do would've taken forever without the net. Ten years ago I could have managed, but not now. I've been spoiled.

So I started to make notes, but really, I just wanted to get my work done - on the computer. So I sat.

And I stared at the cat.

And stared.

And wondered what the hell to do.

Getting up, just wanting to do anything at all, I found I had a sudden surge of energy that I didn't have 10 minutes ago. It was the lightbulb going off - I suddenly had all of this time where I didn't have to do work, couldn't do work, so now what was I going to do with my time. Just sit there?

No way.

I made a pot of spicy chili. I cleaned the bathtub. Then I went at my desk, clearing out all of the mounds of paper that had been piling up. See, I’ve been spending this last while working my ass off, writing to deadlines each day. So the pile of paper I knew was only temporary. And I would rather be writing to deadline everyday than have a clear desktop. However, my usually tidy desk was quite a sight. It was nice to attack it fully and feel like I had the time to really go through everything.

And in going through the pile, I saw how many ideas I have come up with the last month or two – I could seriously write for the rest of my days and not run out of ideas. That’s awfully comforting.

So, while I panicked internally about not being able to email and do my research that can only be done on the internet, I accomplished a lot.

Huh. It’s too bad that it took the net not being available for me to realize that.

And I’d like to say that this will happen on a more regular basis, that I will take stock each day, do the things that matter most, not get tied down by my laptop. But let’s be honest. We’re conditioned. We’re addicted.

And I don’t mind all that much.

Because I can email and make chili at the same time.