Léna is also a Regional Manager for Writopia Lab whose mission is to foster joy, literacy, and critical thinking in kids and teens from all backgrounds through creative writing.

"Well, the question is, what do you want to believe? Do you want to live in a world where things are possible, or in one where they aren't?" Cin, Edges.

Monday, February 22, 2010

CHAPTERS (preview)

It's time for me to make the first of many Lit.Life announcements: Girls Write Now's reading series, CHAPTERS, starts this Friday night at the Center for Fiction, 17 East 47th Street. Meg and I, and some other fabulous mentee/mentor pairs will be reading our four minute pieces. Our guest speaker/writer is Dolen Perkins-Valdez, author of the new novel Wench. I am so excited! Come and join us from 6PM until 8PM for a truly inspiring evening! (It was going to last years event that triggered me to volunteer with Girls Write Now - maybe it will for you too!)

Today is Monday and Mondays are centered around writing. I know, every day is supposed to be like that, but Mondays are particularly sacred. If I focus myself, it sets the tone for the whole week. AND I meet with Meg, my mentee from Girls Write Now.

I usually write from the comfort of my bedroom, laptop perched on my tummy, but with the constant lure of the internet, and my new found social networking skills, I am getting less and less work done. It used to be that Starbucks was my downfall - I am the introverts extrovert - I love chatting with people and am distracted by my neighbors. So I can't seem to win - cyber-social networking AND real human interaction keep me from being in the flow with my novel.

But today I went to a Starbucks a little farther downtown than usual, and I must say I had some success. My only friendly banter was with the barista. I wrote 1500 words before I needed to stretch my legs and move on. Then I went back to the Starbucks in my neighborhood to meet with Meg and it was GAME OVER. In the hour before she came, I couldn't resist talking to the people next to me, chair dancing, and connecting to the internet to check out what was going on in that world, over there. Oh well.

Meg and I practiced reading our piece out loud. We wrote it together during a game of "hot notebook" - I gave her a prompt, and then we passed the notebook back and forth every five minutes. Meg tends to turn everything she writes into fantasy, and while I love fantasy, my artistic sensibilities lean toward realistic fiction. So we came up with a really fun, quirky piece - we tried to cross genres but then completely went fantastical, and had so much fun in the process! We had to edit A LOT to get it down to a mere four minutes, and we took turns reading two or three sentences, finding a great rhythm together.

But Meg - we didn't talk about what we are going to wear! Should we go Goth?

18 comments:

  1. Ahahaaa! Definitely goth! Lots of black eyeliner and ripped black tights and all that. Of course we'll have to dye our hair black too...

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  2. My friend Wendy and I have a writing date late Fri afternoon -- but I'd really love to come. If I came in late would that be OK?

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  3. Yay Meg! And Courtney - better late than never! We would love to have you there - and Meg - you are going to love Courtney's book, POSITIVELY!

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  4. I totally know what you mean, as I'm currently in my favorite coffee shop and simultaneously chatting with people in person and online--both at once! I wonder if we could brainstorm ways to maintain focus and to keep our writing time sacred . . . Also, wich I could attend CHAPTERS--might be a difficult commute from Portland since I haven't yet acquired my personal jet :). Hope it goes great!

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  5. Sacred writing time - yes! But we're a lot a like - need that social stimulation to help the rest of it manifest. It really helps when I'm not particularly in the flow (like today) to be in communion with other writers like you!

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