Oh, I love research too! The reason I do it as I'm writing instead of first research, then write, is that if I did all the research at the beginning, that's all I'd ever do. I'd turn into a library hermit.

So for a long while I thought I didn't have what it takes to be a writer.

Yes. I felt the same way for too long. I hate that.

Well, we all know how I feel about the concept of a One True Way. If I pay any attention to that credo, I am definitely not a writer.

Oh, wait. I am a writer. And I was a writer before agent and publication and whatnot. And I'd still be a writer even if none of that had happened.

I love research, BTW, that's the old history tutor in me, but I sometimes do too much and frustrate myself by bogging down. For Famous Flower, I spent two weeks and about a hundred bucks on books, photos and whatnots on the construction and layouts of Victorian playhouses in London. Turned out to be about a page and a half of info in the manuscript, max.

I figure the researching is kind of like icebergs -- you know most of it isn't going to show, but it gives the writer the overall background for how the characters mindset is going to work....

Got this from a friend today. Of no use to me, obviously, but I thought a few folks around her emight find it interesting:

Call for Submissions: Mamaphonic

Do you have a toddler seat strapped in the back of the tour van? Do you write poetry while the baby naps? Have you discovered that becoming a mother has changed not only your daily life but the content of your creative work?

Mamaphonic is an anthology of writing about mothering, the creative process, and reciprocity within the artistic community. The book will include confessions and conversations about the true, exhilarating, entertaining, and difficult aspects of remaining creative while raising kids.

We are seeking literary first-person nonfiction essays of 2,000 - 4,000 words. Queries are encouraged. We are interested in hearing from mothers participating in all aspects of art, writing, music, puppetry, performance, film, photography, independent publishing, or any other creative endeavor.

We are seeking diverse views on subjects such as: children as muses, how an artist's daily life is changed after becoming a mother, how women balance their work and creative process with motherhood, and the specific influence of parenting on career trajectory and expectations. Although we are primarily concerned with the positive influences motherhood can have on the artistic process, we are also interested in the challenges motherhood brings to the working artist and how those challenges are met and overcome.

Edited by Bee Lavender and Maia Rossini and published by Soft Skull Press (http://www.softskull.com), the book will also include a compendium of practical resources for working artistic mothers. Compensation includes $50 and two review copies. The deadline for submissions is September 1, 2003.

Please forward this message extensively.

Hard copies can be mailed to:

Mamaphonic c/o Hip Mama PO Box 28870 Seattle, WA 98118

Email queries and submissions:

submissions@mamaphonic.com

>[link]

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That ball scene that I waxed rhapsodic about how I couldn't wait to write it? It's turning out to be the toughest, slowest write I've had in a long time. And I know exactly what the problem is. Normally I don't so much see scenes as hear them--they come to me as dialogue, with appropriate action as needed. This one, at least in the beginning parts I'm struggling to write now, is almost all visual. It would film beautifully. But when I try to translate those images into words, they come out all dry, clinical, and mechanical. And it's frustrating, because the stuff in my head? Beautiful. I just haven't figured out a way to pin its essence down in words yet.

The essence--maybe that's it. Maybe I'm overdescribing, and I need to find a way to narrow down to just the most critical, evocative details. But it'll have to wait for tomorrow.

I'm not a writer, Susan, but I've actually been thinking about physical description some recently because I've found that it's rare for it to really work for me. One of the things that makes me think "oh, this is good" is when I can actually see a scene - I don't have a very visual imagination.

Anyway, one of the things that I've found really tends to get ahold of me is movement, action, though not necessarily in a run-and-jump kind of way. Showing a charactering doing something will give me more of a mental image of them in one sentence than a paragraph of purely physical description, which I personally will tune out.

Anyway, idiosyncratic I know, but if you're interested.

Home from a long night in the hospital.

Susan, have you considered giving us the scene through the eyes of different characters, rather than as straight narration?

Lucy seeing Miss Whozis Hyphen Whatsis twirling around in a gown of an awkward colour for Miss W-W, but knowing it would look wonderful on Lucy; someone tipping a glass of iced punch or whatever in a corner somewhere; vignettes, through the character's eyes, or characters' eyes, depending on who is dominant in the scene.

Or would that really not work here?

Well, the whole novel is in Lucy's first-person POV, so not really an option.

But when I try to translate those images into words, they come out all dry, clinical, and mechanical.

Shitty first draft, Susan. Honestly. Get it down, then get it good.