this woman’s work

You are browsing the archives from 2007 September.

I’m running around like a headless chicken. I’ve got a networking meeting and then a fun networking meeting. (One for work, one for creative work.) I hope I’ll have something to write about the second. Then tomorrow we leave for our press trip, which looks like it’ll be non-stop fun fun fun (read: hectic). I’ll be skipping most of the amusement park rides ‘cuz of my still screwed up neck. (Damn.)

I talked to this fellow Rosh Hashanah celebrator (only she does it right and I just make honey cake) about where I am with this whole book dealie I’m working on and she gave me two thumbs up to head in the direction I’m heading in. It’s the obvious direction but I’m terrified and don’t really want to go there. One anonymous comment doesn’t even ruffle my feathers but add ‘em up and it’s scary. Even the comments I got on my Salon piece — mostly good (some of them even great!) but it was still horrifying. I think it must be like walking around in your swimsuit for a beauty competition. I mean, all those people just sitting there looking for flaws because it’s their job and all those other people doing it because it’s entertainment. And then when you’re up there you’re thinking, “Shoot, is the double-sided tape on my butt coming undone???” It’s just horrifying. I kept trying to push the personal away away away and it keeps coming back.

I guess I can only write the way I write and it’d be stupid to try to force a style on myself that I don’t really love or understand or have much practice in. (I mean, I love to read it but I’ve never gotten the hang of writing it.) I guess what I do write is usually personal, right? I mean the stuff that gets the most play clips-wise. It must be what I’m good at so that should be what I do. Plus I love to write it — I love it even when I hate it and right now I’m kinda hating it. Personal narrative (sounds so much better than the self-centered “memoir”) is such a joy for a mindf*cking writer like me. But sometimes I wish I could do dispassionate but thoughtful journalism. Damn.

Me and Leslie are fond of saying, “Writing is for suckers.”

Plus I’m just stuck on this naming chapter (I still think it’s the right chapter to start with). I can’t find the main thread to hold it all together.

So that makes me want to write a little bit about writing the Textured piece. For that essay I knew I was going to use doing Madison’s hair as the thread because it would give me the chance to do a few things:

• Personalize it (this isn’t a lecture about hair, it’s an illustration of my learning process);
• Organize it (the whole thing would be contained within our daily session so I wouldn’t be tempted to sprawl);
• Introduce some concepts gently (like some of the terms);
• Make for easy segues (for example, our babysitter’s comments).

And I think it worked pretty well. I could see the whole essay before I wrote it although I made big changes as I went (particularly after the editor got back to me).

I’m not seeing the same lay-out for the naming piece yet. I think I haven’t really nailed all I want this chapter to say so I can’t find a progression. I guess I have to keep brainstorming it until I can see how to turn it into a narrative. I’m also kinda getting hung up on word count, which is a mistake because word counts make me nutty.

Yeah, writing is for suckers.

L’shanah tovah in one hour and forty-six minutes here in Columbus!

Over at the Textured essay the very first comment is from our wonderful former babysitter who is quoted in the piece. She’s so great!!! (And if you need a really wonderful, trust-worthy, hard-working handy person and live locally, lemme know and I’ll hook you up with her! Her main focus is housekeeping, just in case you need someone to come over and help you keep your domicile sparkling!)

Which is exciting. I’m all about turning my head without pain. I’m crazy like that.

Mostly I’m updating to see if this goes to my Facebook feed (’cuz I have yet another plugin).

But given the date, seems like I don’t have much reason to complain.

I wanted to write a little bit about structuring the Textured piece for Brain Child because I’m thinking about it as I struggle with this sample chapter and chapter outline but they’re hoping you’ll bring your discussions over yonder. I’m trying to think of something to say to kick things off. If you’d like, I’d love you to go read it and then comment at their comment page. I’ll be checking in there to respond to stuff.

Next a work-work-work update (i.e, a Smart Cookie update):

• This time my postcards got some hits to the site. I knew that the campaign was about long-term pay-off so I wasn’t surprised when the first batch got no (as in ZERO) hits. If I hadn’t been prepared I would have been disappointed and discouraged but I knew that I was counting on a snowball effect. Anyway, getting some hits from the second has been great and I added some services to a sidebar on my portfolio page because that’s the place people are clicking, too. (They’re skipping the “about” page some so if any of you are working on biz sites, I’d make note of that. It surprised me because I always read the “about” pages!)
• I’ve all of a sudden gotten a bunch of almost work (people who want to meet to talk possibilities) and a little bit of new work — emphasis on “little bit.” Again, I started this in March so that’s six months of pounding the pavement. Most of the work I’ve gotten I either got from online connections — mostly from this blog — or its consumer work. I think it’s taken this long because I chose to start in the spring and summer is slow slow slow and also because I didn’t really know what I was doing for the first three months.