Moving Out Of Your Writing Box (Writing)

You are undoubtedly a certain kind of writer. You are a crime fiction writer or a screenwriter or a novelist. And this is what you end up writing 90 % of the time. This is not a bad thing. It is wise, as the writing books tell us, to specialize.

However, every once in awhile, it is good to move out of that writing box and do something that you don't normally write. But please understand, I am not suggesting you become a fiction writer if all you do is write articles for magazines such as Woodworking Today.

Like everything in life, it is good to get out of your usual routine and maybe write about something that initial doesn't sound like something that appeals to you, or writing in a fashion that is slightly foreign to you.

Recently I did two things that are totally unlike my present day writing - I entered a contest and wrote a creative non fiction piece for it.

Both of these terrified the hell out of me, as does anything new and unfamiliar. But man was I pleased when I had completed it. Usually I pump out 800-1000 word articles and essays. And while this is never an easy feat, I couldn't believe how hard it was to write the minimum requirement of 2000 words. It took me two and a half days, much longer than I usually spend on anything outside of book entries or edits. And there were times when I thought I would not be able to complete it. My abilities as a creative person would fail me and I would be stuck at 1259 words and nothing else would come to me. Ever.

But I did it and it was one of my favourite days in my writing career, and that's why I wanted to tell you about it. It feels good to do something scary.

I don't care about winning the contest. I am just thrilled that I took the chance and entered - something I would have never done before now.

So today, after I finish this entry, I am going to sit down and think of the things that I would like to do or try, but have been afraid to start. I think it's time to put aside my "to do" list and start crossing off items on the one entitled "to don't."

To Market, To Market (Food)

I have come in search for yellow tomatoes, but I momentarily forget their importance upon entering the market. The overwhelming crush of exotic fruit, tender meats and full-bodied condiments takes over my senses and I am swept away by planning long-range meals for each item I see - plump chicken breasts accompanied by a pomelo salsa, fresh beet bread served alongside roast tomato soup, and perhaps some homemade herbed fish cakes. One rule to follow before heading to the market - have breakfast first or you will be walking around like a sap with a Carousel Bakery peameal sandwich in one fist and a breaded veal sandwich from Mustachios's in the other.

Most Saturday mornings, I can be found here at the St. Lawrence Market along with the other foodies. I am not here as early as the city's chefs, and I have not come to shop for just this evening's dinner party like most of the couples here. I am in for what you call the long haul. I come and shop for ingredients that I may not use tonight or even for the week. My cupboards brim with bran pasta, canned cherry tomatoes and anchovies rolled into perfect circles awaiting rest atop of a pizza, but I cannot resist the allure of the fresh and new of the market each week, and so, I come home with bags in hand and hope that my fellas don't mind me taking over the kitchen for the next 4 hours.

~~~

Today I saw the most beautiful little Italian eggplants. So small and elegant. This is how eggplants should be - shiny, dark purple bocconcini-sized pearls. I was tempted to string them, to bring them home and hand them.

And my yellow tomatoes are here! I am so excited! If you have never had them, I urge you to give them a whirl. They are subtle and quite un-tomato-y, yet add so much oomph to a meal. I got mine from Sovereign Farms, as I do every year. But to my surprise, a lot of vendors carry them now, in the cherry version as well. And for the first time, I saw orange cherry tomatoes two vendors over. That is on my must-have list for next week. But for now, I am going to savour my yellow fellas. My first dish will be Cajun catfish with yellow tomato and red onion salsa. I'll let you know how it turns out.

My favourite last stop is always Domino's. They are downstairs in the very back corner.

Located at the north end of the lower level, Domino's specializes in bulk food, including a wide variety of candies, nuts, grains, flour, coffee, spices and other foods sold in bulk.

The description above (found at the Market's website) emphasizes their bulk goods, but it is their canned goods, pastas and condiments that draw me into their store every week. And their prices are excellent. Today, I just picked up youth mix and Italian tuna in olive oil, which sounds rather ordinary and awfully dull, but the youth mix was so incredible that it was gone by the time dinner was on the table ("This is the best mix I've ever had!" the judges cried) and three cans of this exquisite, tender, but meaty tuna was only $3.49.

It doesn't get any better than this.

Driven to Email Distraction (Writing)

Part of being a writer entails email. There are conversations with editors about story ideas, pitching to magazines about upcoming topics, and applying for positions at various publications. It becomes a part of the job that you accept, and like most, eventually get pretty good at it.

But then there's the part no one tells you about. The part where a work email intermingles and swishes around with every other email that you receive. In one day, you can receive a multitude of tasks and requests that may or may not need your attention right away. The forwarded joke from your in-laws. The person that your friend told to email you about a mutual friend. The writing newsletter that has an upcoming contest that you may or may not enter, but haven't decided on yet. The Land's End email confirming your order but that you left out your inseam length and they cannot fulfill your order until you do so.

And so it goes.

Fast forward to three months later or six years later and you will have what everyone else has - a billowing Outlook that cries out to be tended to, but the task is too overwhelming. You'll take care of it tomorrow. Or when you have more time.

Eep.

This is the bane of the writer's existence. There are good days, where you get a lot done. Then there are those when you have 67 messages in your Inbox and can't see your way out.

I have found through my writing career that it is best to look at it this way - one thing (email) at a time, one day at a time. It is the only way to get through it all, without losing your mind and your patience.

I have tried various methods and organizational tools and really, it just comes down to do a little bit each day and accepting that there will always be more mail than you can handle. I'm sure that there are organizational gurus out there that will tell you that they have the method that will take care of everything, but you would have to spend a lot of time and money to make that happen. And the end result will be the same. So save yourself a lot of cash and energy:

- One thing (email) at a time.
- One day at a time.

The Great Escape (Books)

Reading for me is not about escape.

You always read in interviews or memoirs that a person read to escape the world around them. For me, it has always been to learn more about the world, to investigate, even if I have been reading fiction.

And that’s why I usually lean towards non-fiction.

Though during the time of writing my book, it was fiction that saved me. I read as salvation. To get away from the facts, from the monotony of writing and rewriting something that had been with me for five years. And so I too escaped. Into some of the best books of my life.

I thought you might want to give them a try too. And for whatever reason you are reading, I wish you a pleasant journey.

Books I’ve Read So Far This Year

The Year of Magical Thinking
Joan Didion

Somerset Maugham: A Life
Jeffrey Meyers

Play It As It Lays
Joan Didion

Escaping Into the Open: The Art of Writing True
Elizabeth Berg

Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
Chuck Klosterman

The KGB Bar Nonfiction Reader
Edited by Mark Jacobs

Everything Bad is Good For You: How Popular Culture is Actually Making Us Smarter

The Lovely Bones
Alice Sebold

Lucky
Alice Sebold

The Book of Lists: The Original Compendium of Curious Information – The Canadian Edition
David Wallechinsky, Amy Wallace, Ira Basen & Jane Farrow

Library: An Unquiet History
Matthew Battles

The Brooklyn Follies: A Novel
Paul Auster

Adultery: A Novel
Richard B. Wright

Books On My Bedside Table

New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer
Bill Maher

Natasha and Other Stories
David Bezmozgis

Re-Reading Popular Culture
Joke Hermes

Saturday
Ian McEwan

Global Vegetarian Cooking
Troth Wells

A Year in the Life (Intro)

Welcome.

This is an attempt to document my days as a full-time writer.

As of December 2005, I left my job after almost a decade and all sources of security, in order to embrace the writing life 24/7. I had no idea what to expect as I had never had the full day to write before. All articles, columns, essays, features and reviews were written between jobs, events, and dates. This is how most people I knew wrote - I know because they were sitting across me on the subway furiously writing in their notebook, or beside me in the waiting room at the doctor's office. I noticed this, in the short glances that I took to look away from my palmtop, as I madly tried to finish a column to deadline.

This is my story of leaving everything I knew behind in order to complete my book and jumpstart my writing career full-time.

Thanks for reading.

Stephanie