Jennifer Jensen's Blog

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

If you celebrate Christmas, you know that memories of Christmas Past are as much a part of the season as the anticipation of Christmas Day. We love to tell the Christmas stories of our childhood, of college trips home, of the small and large sacrifices of early-married years, of our children’s escapades.

As writers, take a few moments this week and record the Christmas stories that only you can tell. Was there a time your family exchanged only homemade gifts? A Christmas trip with special memories?

Use your skills and make your Christmas memories well-written stories. Describe the smells, sounds, activities. Include dialogue as best you can, true to your memory but enjoyable to read, too.

Writing your Christmas stories makes it possible to hold onto them, both for you now and your children and grandchildren later. Print them and pass them around before next Christmas. Encourage other family members to do the same, whether they are writers or not.

You may enjoy buying Christmas novels by other authors (I do), but a treasury of your own stories is priceless.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

I have a picture book challenge enticing me, centered around a steam engine in Indiana. I’m trying out different scenarios, possible plots and ways to involve a child’s imagination. But underlying it all are the rhythms and sounds of a train.

Chug-a-chug-a-chug-a-chug. Clang, clang! Whoosh!

What child can resist the joy that such words bring? Or what adult, for that matter?

Recreating a sound by spelling it out is called onomatopoeia (on-nuh-mah-tuh-pee-a). The resulting word may become part of everyday language, such as clang or swish, or may be written out as if for the first time, such as smoosh.

Children’s writers use onomatopoeia constantly. But even in adult fiction, it brings a sense of immediacy, of being there and hearing the sound yourself. Which of each pair brings a moment to life better?

• “He told her to be quiet.” or “He shushed her.”
• “He heard the machine.” or “He heard a slow whish-whirr.”
• “Her brakes needed repair.” or “Her brakes squealed.”
• “They heard the glass break.” or “A tinkle and crash came from the kitchen.”

Take some time to play with sounds and words. The exuberance will come through in your writing.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

If your Christmas (or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa) season is anything like mine, keeping to your writing schedule is impossible. I’ve already simplified what I can, but I still have gifts to mail and cookies to bake, not to mention the fact that the tree has been up for a week and still isn’t decorated.

Write, you say? When? And with whose brain?

With my thoughts running in multiple directions at once, it seems impossible to focus on a story idea. There’s no time to let it simmer, to ponder possibilities in the shower, to explore different what-ifs.

But there is time for some freewriting. I can grab a few moments sometime during the day, curl up with a mug of cocoa and my trusty notepad, and write for my own enjoyment. I can play with new words to an old song or try to describe the sound of sleet hitting my windows. I can vent about the furnace breaking down (last Saturday) or reminisce about my teenager’s kindergarten ornaments.

Without the pressure of deadlines or goals, this writing time becomes time for me. Time to let go of my to-do list, time to relax, time to have fun with words and thoughts. I stay connected with my muse and return to real life rejuvenated. It’s worth every stolen minute.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

A friend moved when our daughters were 11, and we gathered every summer to stay connected. When the girls grew older and the friendship waned, we kept ourselves going with annual “Moms’ Sleepovers.” But last summer passed without our schedules matching.

So Sue and I had our sleepover in November, but not just for the weekend. I arrived Thursday night and we gabbed until late. She went to work early Friday morning, and I spent the entire day writing.

I revised a short story, wrote a character sketch, brainstormed plot points for my novel, and read and took notes on research material for an article. The house was quiet, the fridge was mine, and I didn’t have to answer the phone if it rang.

When Sue arrived home, we picked up our reunion for the rest of the weekend. But I had already accomplished a week’s worth of writing, plus had time to relax with a book and no responsibilities. It worked so well that we decided to do it every 3-4 months.

If you’re having trouble finding time to write, try making your own retreat. You’ll find some get-away ideas at my Create a Writer’s Retreat article. If you don’t have the money or blocks of time for those, I’ll be posting an article soon about writer’s retreats at home.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

I sent off my query letter, synopsis and sample chapters for my book this week. The agent’s website had detailed information about what they wanted – nothing unusual, nothing I hadn’t expected.

But when I composed the query letter, I found myself stuck. What exactly was different about it? How do I “position my project against what has been published in the same vein?”

The story is a children’s chapter book for 2nd-4th graders. The main character faces a verbal bully as well as a sudden shift to homeschooling. She is age-appropriate, there is humor, she solves her own problem. The story fits right in with other chapter books.

What could I say about how it is different? That she is a middle child, instead of youngest, oldest, or only? That her pet is a guinea pig instead of a cat or dog? That the homeschool setting is unusual? Other than homeschooling, it didn’t seem all that different. My objective was to write a book that fit in, not that was tremendously unusual.

In the end, I left the whole idea out of the query letter completely. But it’s made me wonder if it’s really a strong enough story. And when I find myself thinking about my next project, the characters and the plot, I’ll determine what will make it different before I write the whole book!

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

I was scheduled to attend the Big Sur Children’s Writing Workshop this weekend thanks to my Indiana Arts Commission grant, but their registration process had a few glitches and they had no room for me after all. After dealing with the disappointment, I set out to find a conference or workshop to replace it.

It wasn’t as easy as I expected.

First, because I’m paying for it with grant money, it needed to be a comparable workshop. Second, I’m moving overseas in July, so a June conference would be extremely difficult.

The Highlights Founders Workshops on non-fiction and magazine writing looked interesting, but weren’t compatible with my fiction-oriented grant project. Typical weekend conferences didn’t give me the hands-on work that I wanted. The Iowa Summer Writing Festival isn’t until June.

I finally called Highlights to ask about a novel writing workshop in May which seemed geared to beginners. They answered questions and even had the instructor call me personally. The workshop is actually geared for people like me, who have been writing a long time but have yet to publish a novel. Total costs are about the same as Big Sur, so I’ve spent the last few days writing and rewriting the application.

It took some asking and looking to find the workshop that would meet my writing goals and match my schedule and budget, but I did it. Take the time and you can, too.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

Holiday gatherings can be delightful, stressful, or both, and they usually put a crimp in your writing time. But one of the perks for a writer is to sit back and watch your family members interact. Whether it’s Thanksgiving, Christmas or Hanukkah, football games or birthday parties, spend some time sitting quietly in a corner and observing.

In my family gatherings, I can watch one person hover in the background, twisting her earring. Another person’s voice relaxes with each glass of wine. A friend gives a nervous giggle throughout each story she tells. Another friend has a horse laugh which ends in alternating deep chuckles and shrieks as she tries to catch her breath.

During football games, one person is shouting at the TV (don’t we all know someone like that?), while her spouse sits quietly munching on chips and suddenly screeching for a touchdown.

My family is scattered across the country, so when we manage to all get together, I can listen for accents, dialects, and figures of speech. I can pick out little mannerisms: running a finger around the rim of a glass, absently scratching a spouse’s back, a sideways wink when telling kids a story.

Sure, these are all things we can pull out of our memories or find in a people-watching session at a café. But with a variety of people gathered right in front of you, take advantage of it! Then use those details (no other identifying characteristics if you want to stay on speaking terms) to enrich your stories.

And if you’re looking for more ideas to jumpstart your fiction, check out Fiction Story Ideas: True Stories, Fiction Story Ideas: News Events, and Fiction Story Ideas: Pictures.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

Some of my favorite writing gifts have come for birthdays or Christmas, but others have come at odd times through the year.

Various family members have added to my writer’s library with books such as Steven King’s On Writing, which I love, and Nancy Lamb’s The Writer’s Guide to Crafting Stories for Children, which is excellent for children's writers.

I bought my own laptop, but my husband has used printer ink cartridges and my favorite purple pens as stocking stuffers, and my son gave me his Microsoft Office 2003 when he moved up. Check out Great Gifts for Writers for more ideas.

More than anything else, though, my absolute favorite writer’s gift has been my husband’s understanding and support, both emotional and financial. He gave me the tuition money for that first Institute of Children’s Literature course years ago, and I am lucky enough now not to have to contribute a full-time income to the family. I have a part-time job and I have to hold to a tight budget, but between us, I can afford the time to write fiction. (Fiction being the slave-wages stepchild to non-fiction.)

We both realize it’s a long term investment, that my small successes will lead to bigger ones, that a novel-writing career can be slow to start, and that the satisfaction is worth the sacrifices. But my family’s encouragement, rather than grudging acceptance, is priceless.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

Why is it that half the words my characters say are clichés? And if not clichés, then just overused, blah phrases?

Probably because I type fast (I used to do medical transcription), I try to keep up with my brain, and my brain runs on overdrive.

When I’m writing straight description or narrative, I tend to choose words more carefully. My verbs tend to be active without extra thought: a child never walks through leaves, she stomps, crunches, swishes or twirls through them. That comes almost automatically.

But dialogue is a different story. Characters tell each other things like, “I waltzed right over and told him off.” Or, “I was flying down the highway with the top down.” I guess that isn’t so bad if my character talks that way, but some of them don’t. Or shouldn’t. And most of the time, any character will be more interesting, not to mention more witty or humorous, if he is more original.

See, there I go again: not to mention!

And when I get lazy in my character’s conversations, sometimes it does creep over to the narrative and description. It takes extra scrutiny after the first or second draft to find and circle all the clichés. And I still don’t find all of them. “Flickering flames,” “tears ran down her face,” and “laughter turned to silence” are some of the recent ones my critique group caught.

Editing is great, isn’t it? Which is why I’m a writer, not a speaker!

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

It’s past the middle of October, and if you want to write a 50,000 word novel in the National Novel Writing Month program in November, it’s time to get going!

If you’re a plot-driven writer, now is the time to be working out major plot points, diversions, red herrings, conflicts and the climax. If you’re a character-driven writer, now is the time to really get to know your characters: write vignettes from each character’s background, write scenes that let them interact with each other before the start of your actual story.

Helps and hints:

• Try turning off your internal editor for several writing sessions – remember NaNoWriMo is the time to write freely, not edit.
• Clear your calendar. Schedule doctor and dentist visits for later, or do them now. Tell your book club you can’t meet this month. Plan to skip the movies, parties, and football games.
• Clear your mind. Now is not the time to agonize over career shifts, next year’s family reunion, or where to go on vacation.
• Get help at home. Stock up on freezer dinners. Assign basic chores to the kids and live with the results. Buy the Thanksgiving pies this year. Consider hiring someone to clean if Thanksgiving really must be at your house.

Let us know if you’re doing NaNoWriMo, and when it’s done, let us know how you did. If you wanted to do it but can’t this year, consider another type of fast writing for later. And good luck!

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

I remember how I struggled with the first assignment for the Institute of Children’s Literature course. I had the story in my head, but it was difficult to get it onto paper. Intimidating. Painstaking. Gut-wrenching.

I still feel that way sometimes, but in general, it’s so much easier now. Some of that is learning to turn off the internal editor for the rough draft, to not worry about the perfect opening until I have the gist of the story down.

Some of it, though, is simply having more experience writing. The more stories I write, the easier it gets to put on paper the movie that’s playing in my head. The more I write for deadlines and word-length limitations, the easier it is to write tight. The 200-plus newspaper articles I wrote over a three-year period helped my fiction writing more than I ever expected.

So if you’re a relative beginner, write all you can. Write a paragraph of description every day. Write 1,500 word stories. Write 500 word journal entries with a purpose. Keep writing and soon you’ll be looking back, amazed at how far you’ve come.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

As I look at the three and a half shelves filled with writing books, I realize that Writers Digest Book Club has gotten me into trouble. For those who don’t know, Writers Digest Book Club is a mail order plan just like any other, except that if you pay for the books when you order them, you don’t owe any shipping.

It was easier and cheaper than going to my local bookstore, and here were all these writing books just waiting for me. So of course I bought more than I have time to read, but here are some of my favorites:

• 78 Reasons Why Your Book May Never be Published & 14 Reasons Why It Just Might by Pat Walsh (read my review here)
• Between the Lines: Master the Subtle Elements of Fiction Writing by Jessica Page Morrell. Beautifully written – a chapter gives you enough to think about for several days.
• Revision: A Creative Approach to Writing and Rewriting Fiction by David Michael Kaplan. More than just editing, revision is re-seeing. Deep and very good.
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, and
• On Writing by Stephen King. I can’t help it – I love to read how other writers write, plus how they got started, and what advice they give.

I’ll start a discussion on favorite writing books. Stop by and add yours to the list!

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

Young Adult novelist Madeleine L’Engle died on September 6, 2007. She was one of my favorite YA writers, although I didn’t “discover” her until I was an adult. A Wind in the Door was the first one I read, hooking me immediately and leading me to A Wrinkle in Time, A Ring of Endless Light, and many others. She was 88 years old. I was sorry to hear of her passing, and she will be missed terribly in the children’s book profession. And I am glad to hear that the publishers are re-issuing the five books in the series that began with A Wrinkle in Time.

On the other hand, I knew that fantasy author Robert Jordan was ill, fighting a rare blood disease, but he was still young and had many more books to write. Besides, he had to finish the Wheel of Time series so we wouldn’t be left hanging, not knowing what happens to Rand Al’Thor. So somehow it was still a big shock when I learned that he passed away on September 18, 2007.

I sorrow for him and his family, wishing that he could have beaten the disease, and at the same time I am glad that he was working on the last volume, A Memory of Light, before his death. It is plotted, resolved, and mostly written and on his computer. Jordan’s wife, Harriet, worked alongside him throughout the Wheel of Time series, according to his blog at Dragonmount. She will be sure the story gets through the publication process and out to Jordan’s fans.

So a sad farewell to two beloved authors is in order, as well as a re-reading of A Wrinkle in Time, and anticipation of A Memory of Light.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

I removed my contact lenses the other night and read on the sofa for a while without my glasses (I’m old enough that it’s easier that way). But I didn’t bother putting my glasses back on as I wandered into the kitchen for snacks, or even outside to enjoy the cool air.

The evening turned into an unexpected experiment in sensory details. With normal vision, I focus on the task at hand, on the obstacles to get around or the visual reminders of unfinished chores. Until that blurry evening, I hadn’t noticed the way the outside floodlight comes in through the dining room window. I hadn’t noticed that the cushion and the carpet are almost the same color. I hadn’t noticed the small rustlings in the bed of daisies in the evening, or how loud the car two houses down was until I tried to block it out to hear those small rustlings.

So go ahead and try it. Take your glasses off and see what you notice when objects are fuzzy blobs. Close your eyes and notice the sounds and smells that usually pass unappreciated. Listen to the sound of footsteps and breathing in your house - can you tell who it is without seeing them?

Spend the extra effort to include these sensory details in your fiction. For more ideas, read Use All Five Senses.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

As I fill out the application for the Big Sur Children’s Writers Workshop, I once again feel grateful and very lucky to have the funds to go (assuming I’m accepted). The only reason I can is because I heard about the Indiana Arts Commission Grants several years ago and was encouraged to apply. I received that one, and received a second grant this year which will pay the tuition, plane fare and other expenses of the conference.

If I hadn’t heard about the grant by word of mouth, I’d still be sitting here wishing, and I’m probably not the only writer in that position. So I’ve started a series of articles about state grants and will go from there to other grants available to fiction writers. Some are for established, critically acclaimed writers, and others are open to “emerging” writers – those of us who are in the somewhat early stages of our careers.

In general, your application does need to show a track record of writing, whether it’s short story publications, conferences attended, and/or awards that you’ve received. Something to show that writing is not just a whim and that you’re working to improve your craft. So build those credits and even enter a few contests. Meanwhile, read Applying for State Art Grants” and follow the links to your state.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

We write because we need to, because we have a story to tell. And because we love telling stories, we also love reading them. Would you consider spending a bit of time helping those who can’t read stories to still enjoy them as much as we do?

An organization called Bookshare.org believes that “that people with print disabilities should have the same ease of access to books and periodicals that people without disabilities enjoy.”

They also believe that access to books should be plentiful and inexpensive, so they’ve started a community-based project using volunteers to scan books in an OCR format (copyright use is approved) and provide them by subscription to print-impaired people—blind, visually-impaired, dyslexic, etc.

Why Bookshare? First, because the focus is on providing a huge number of books, they use a synthesized voice (which actually sounds pretty decent) as opposed to professional narrators, and a large volunteer force. Subscribers can listen to the books on their computer, print them out in Braille, or enlarge the font size and either print or read from the screen. Another plus is that the digitized format is searchable—it’s hard to do research with an audiobook.

What can you do to help? The easiest and most fun is probably the step between scanning and distribution: validation. Bookshare.org needs volunteers to read the scanned book and check for errors. You don’t need anything but access to a computer and the internet, and a love for reading. They’d like to have an hour a week, but they’ll work with you and your time constraints, as well as your reading preferences.

Interested? Check out www.bookshare.org, and thanks in advance for your help.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

I have always been a voracious reader, but through my years as a writer, I read a little differently now. Some stories grab me and I don’t notice flaws, some I’ll put up with, and some are enough that I don’t feel compelled to continue.

I’m reading a story now that falls into the latter category. It flips between three characters, sometimes together, sometimes apart and writing letters to each other. It’s a format I have enjoyed in other books, and the author has great characters, fully realized, with depth and backstory and complications. The dialogue is good, the narrative is well done. But . . .

But she’s covering a lot of years in one book, and I simply don’t get enough time with each character. The letters back and forth are sometimes long and chatty and give me a feeling of being there, but sometimes are brief catch-up letters that only tell me what’s happening instead of letting me get involved. And as a reader, I want to get involved! Other scenes are in narrative with great dialogue and tension, and I am pulled in emotionally, but then we never get back to it. The next scene will be a month or two later with a recap of what happened.

This isn’t the first book I’ve read like this—some have been written by famous authors who just condense things too much for my tastes. I think for the most part, readers want to be pulled into the story, to be living it along with your characters, not kept at a distance. So as you write, keep this in mind and give your readers a chance to be part of the story.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

Calling all romance novelists! Entries are open for Gather.com’s “First Chapters Romance Writing Competition,” and the contest is free.

The process is fairly simple:

1. Join Gather.com (a social and sharing network) if you haven’t already. It’s free.
2. Polish and prepare your manuscript according to guidelines.
3. Submit your first chapter to the romance writers’ group, and send the first two chapters to a contest administration site, all by August 22, 2007.
4. Invite other people to join Gather, read chapters, and vote.

Other guidelines:

• You cannot have published a full-length book in any genre (subsidy publishing doesn’t count).
• You must be over 18 and living in the United States.
• Your chapters should be 2,000-5,000 words, your completed manuscript cannot exceed 100,000 words.
• Your romance should be “between a man and a woman, which captures the joy of falling in love,” any setting, no erotica.

What happens then? There are several rounds of voting and elimination, with the winner and runners-up announced on October 30, 2007.

All the specific details are included in the guidelines. Be sure to click on the bottom links – not all information appears on every page. Good luck to all romance writers, and for those who write in other subjects, it looks like other competitions are planned.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

For some reason, I am fascinated with National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and fast writing in general. I find myself browsing the blogs of people who have done it, both successfully and unsuccessfully. The programs intrigue me. Entice me. Could I do it? Would I succeed or fall flat on my face? And what about my other life responsibilities?

Part of me says no way, I don’t have the stamina. A part of me wants the challenge.

Several years ago, I signed up for “Survivor Writers,” a Yahoo Group where, you guessed it, writers got kicked off every week. Not for strategic purposes, but if we didn’t meet the stated writing goal of 7 pages per week. (Mine was actually a “mini” group - the real “Survivor Writers” had to do 15 pages a week.) It wasn’t much, and I had to know where my story was going to get it done, but it served its purpose. After about four weeks, I had finished the rough draft of my middle grade novel.

The Survivor Writers group no longer exists (or if it does, it’s hiding from me - someone please let me know!), but I found NaNoWriMo, Book in a Week, and a team project in Australia. There’s even a MAD Challenge with the absolutely crazy writing goal of 10,000 words in five hours! You can read more about them in Fast Writing, or check out National Novel Writing Month by Victoria Anisman-Reiner, who actually did it last year and the year before.

Unfortunately, I don’t think this is the time for me to tackle either NaNoWriMo in November or Book in a Week in any month. I’m doing a final edit on my chapter book, and then I’ll be tackling a major re-write of my time travel novel before I send it out again. And fast writing programs are meant for new writing, not editing. But in the meantime, I’m still fascinated with the idea. You may hear from me about it next year!

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

As I browse through the Writing Fiction pages of Suite 101, as well as through the other writing sections, I am amazed at the diversity and wealth of knowledge there is spread between all the different writers. Some of us write children’s or fantasy or mystery, some write literary short stories, some have a series of novels published. We have agents and editors within our numbers. Together, we can provide more help for aspiring writers than a single person writing all the content.

Katherine Swarts has written a great article, “Naming Your Story,” which made me think about titles in a way I haven’t before. I wrote “Creating Characters that Live” about writing character sketch scenes to get to know your characters, while Karen Lotter uses imaginary interviews. There are numerous articles about settings, plot and dialogue, but they are all from different angles and will provide different nuggets of truth for you.

Over in Resources for Writers, you’ll find help with organization, time management, marketing, and career goals. Grammar and publishing articles can be found there as well as in Editing and Publishing.

As Suite 101 writers, we generate article ideas from what we have experience in, what’s on our minds at any given time, and what we’ve researched as journalists. But both novice and experienced fiction writers know that there are more topics to discuss than there is time to do it. So if you have a question that hasn’t been addressed in an article yet, ask it on the discussion boards - you’d be surprised at how many people have the same question! (To start a discussion, scroll down the Discussions page and click on the "Start a New Discussion" link.)

Happy Writing!

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

I love reading historical fiction, and when it’s well done, I learn a tremendous amount from it. And since the best things to write are things you enjoy reading, I’ve tried my hand at it. So I leaped at the chance to attend the “Writing History” SCBWI workshop, spending the entire two days with Carolyn Yoder, editor for Calkins Creek Books and historical editor for Highlights for Children. I’ve never spent an entire conference with one speaker, and the focus it gave was fantastic!

We discussed the importance of setting, that a great story needs to be “anchored in time and place,” whether it’s for children or adults. Accuracy in historical fiction is crucial, to the point that the research (and quality of research sources) is no different than for non-fiction. In fact, the number one reason Carolyn Yoder rejects a manuscript is that the bibliography isn’t complete enough.

We talked about fatal flaws such as the lack of connection to the bigger world and overdone plots (she gets way too many similar war-era stories: one parent dead, sibling problems, starvation, amputation all rolled into one plot, no matter which war).

We discussed emotion and tension, dialogue, and language that sings. We dissected children’s books that work, such as Joyce Moyer Hostetter’s novel, Blue (Calkins Creek Books, 2006), and Selene Castrovilla’s By the Sword (Calkins Creek Books, 2007), a non-fiction picture book that reads like fiction. And of course we got great specifics on what Yoder is looking for in both the magazine and book market, as well as critiques and one-on-one time with her.

We had been split into critique groups prior to coming, so in addition to Carolyn’s wisdom and advice, we had time to review long sections of each other’s novels. That, plus a two-hour writing break which most of us used instead to relax our tired minds or to brainstorm with new friends, was another crucial component of the conference.

I came away with a good idea of how to fix the major flaw I see in my historical time-travel novel, and three new writing buddies with whom I will share critiques in the future. I also realized I have an immense amount of additional research to do to add to the flavor of my historical period, but I returned home pumped up and ready to go.

If you’d like some nuggets from the conference, read Historical Fiction Settings or Historical Fiction for Children. An article on Historical Research Sources is coming soon. Write on!

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

After a pins-and-needles week, I got the grant! I had received e-mails from writer friends who had also applied for an IAC grant, saying that they didn’t win one. I hadn’t received the rejection e-mail, but no acceptance e-mail came either. Maybe it had to come by postal service because of the forms to turn back in? I spent the week swooping to the mailbox as soon as the carrier left. Nothing. Then the unexpected e-mail: Congratulations! You have been selected to receive . . . .

Once I was done squealing and jumping around the house, I zapped cyberspace messages back to my friends and finished packing for a Writing History conference in Illinois. I don’t remember an awful lot of the 2-hour drive—my mind was busy with what this next year would entail.

I applied for the grant to finish a humorous chapter book for young readers and to attend several particular writers conferences. I also included plans to teach creative writing workshops at middle and upper-elementary schools in areas where the schools and/or the PTOs can’t afford author visits. And I guess the panel liked it! (Yes, I’m still grinning and bouncing in my chair.)

Now I need to write a letter to my congressmen saying thank you, print, sign and send in all the forms, and decide what writing sample I want to send with my application to the Big Sur Children’s Writing Workshop. And somehow, someway, get myself settled down and back to work.

Good luck on your own projects, and if anyone has good news, start a discussion and post it so we can cheer you on!

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

In February, I applied for an Indiana Arts Commission grant. In April, I attended the panel discussion where the decision-makers review each grant application. Unfortunately, it took place on a Tuesday morning, when I teach a music class, and this year I was early on the schedule. I arrived just after they finished discussing mine.

Knowing from past experience that I would learn from hearing other reviews, I stayed for the rest of the morning. It’s amazing the things you can pick up.

I heard about applications with no public benefit (required), very poor writing, poor planning or lack of understanding of what the writer’s project would really entail, or that didn’t fit the category. I also heard that early-career writers are welcome to use the money for writer’s conferences, that conferences and workshops need to be a good fit, that self-published fiction isn't worth diddly-squat, and that they don’t really feel like paying to upgrade someone’s computer.

Now, however, we’re all waiting to hear who will be awarded the grants. I went to the website where, unlike previous years, they had a link to listen to a recording of the panel discussion.

To hear four or five people talk about your work is a experience we should all go through, whether the comments are good or bad. These are people who don’t know me, who don’t know what else I have written, who have never seen the rougher drafts of my two writing samples. One thought the sample of my current project was “spot on,” that I nailed the dialogue of an eight-year-old, etc. Another thought that same project needed a lot of work, that I need to show sooner what the story is truly about. Only one panelist commented on my plan to teach writing workshops at schools in low income areas, but she loved the idea.

I was encouraged listening to them. It was like my critique group in a way, but more like a group of editors than people who are rooting for me. And again, I have to take what they said and decide for myself what to change. But they gave me a perspective I don’t usually get, and I’ll re-read my story with their comments echoing around it.

If you have the chance to have a group (not just one reader) critique your work, take it. And if it’s for a grant, all the better. I’ll let you know the results of this one.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

We’ve traveled from Indiana to my native Oregon for my parents 50th anniversary party and family reunion. I knew I wouldn’t get any writing time on the last hectic day of work and packing, and I was too exhausted to write during our flights or airport layovers. But I thought that I’d snatch a few minutes to write yesterday.

Wrong.

Between helping my parents with last minute chores, grocery shopping for the crowd staying at the old place, and then greetings with my brother and sister and their families, there was not only no time, there was no inclination.

And yet . . .

I was writing, just not sitting at the computer or with paper and pen. I kept myself aware of the sharp mountain air as we went for a walk; the entranced nieces and nephews as my brother told stories; the tones in my sister’s voice as the children helped her set up their tent; the laughter and remember-whens as we carried on four conversations at once; and the stories themselves, even a few episodes I had long forgotten.

Now all I have to do is find time to jot them down, but I do have one advantage. My body is still on Eastern Time and I’m waking up at 5 and 6 in the morning (I’ve got to go to bed earlier!). So I have at least an hour of quiet and calm before the hordes wake up, youthful shrieks rend the air, three-way conversations start up again, and the aunts and uncles begin to arrive. I’m off to write—what about you?

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

Wow! My first week as a Feature Writer for Suite 101 has put my writing life and the rest of my life out of kilter.

Balance? What balance?

I’m researching article ideas, getting and keeping fiction writing discussions going, trying to finish the preparations for my parents 50th anniversary party (and figure out packing and travel logistics), help the last teenager at home study for finals / do yard work here / look for a job, and somewhere in all that, my critique group is meeting on Monday and I’m not ready!

So it’s back to the basics:

• What are the personal things I need to take time for that set me up for success through the day?
• What are the things that have to get done no matter what? (We do need to eat, after all, and the cupboards are pretty bare at this point.)
• Schedule high-priority blocks of time to write. Short or long, every little bit helps.

Within all of that, I’m trying to set priorities in my writing. Today is for my blog and then my fiction (and grocery shopping). Brainstorming and research on other articles will have to wait. And I’m here talking to you, so as soon as this is posted, I’ll sit down and concentrate on editing the first four chapters of my current children’s book project. One big help is that I’m in an editing phase, not the gut-wrenching part of getting a story out of my head and onto paper. So when I have (make!) time, I can get into it pretty quickly.

If you’re in crisis mode for a short period of time, you either need to set writing aside for a bit or go through the same prioritizing that I’m doing. If you’re in a long-term, finding-time-to-write phase, “Be a Time Efficient Writer” and “Someday I’ll Write that Bestseller” have some great ideas for you.

Posted by Jennifer Jensen

As fiction writers, we have many quirks that only other writers can understand. We stay up until all hours writing and re-writing, crafting the best characters we can or finding just the right plot twist. We play movies over and over in our heads until we know just how the dialogue should sound. We have the freedom of working our own schedule, but also the isolation of working alone. And sometimes we get strange looks for muttering to characters who only exist in our heads!

I started writing more than 20 years ago (beyond childhood poems and journals) with a course on Writing for Young Readers from the Institute of Children’s Literature. I published several short stories, but it wasn’t until six or eight years ago that I got really serious, and in the last two or three years, it’s been taking over my life! (Check out my profile for publication details.)

Writing for Suite 101 has required me to stay focused on keeping a bit of balance in my life. I’m exited to be the new Feature Writer for Writing Fiction now, but balance will be more of a struggle. I currently have four short stories out at children’s magazines, a middle-grade novel waiting for a publisher’s response, a humorous chapter book undergoing final revisions, and in June I’ll find out if I will receive an Indiana Arts Commission grant. It’s a busy time, and I wait eagerly for the mail each day!

What are you working on? Short stories or novels? Children’s or adult? Literary, mainstream or genre, and which genre? Let’s start building a community of writers—go to the discussion board and tell us what your current projects are. And don’t forget to subscribe to the RSS feeds for articles, blogs and discussions - you don’t want to miss a thing!