I started my writing career as a gun for hire. I was paid to write news stories and newsletters, proposals and presentations, even employee benefits manuals.
At first, I was terrified, worried that my style--my writing voice--would be ridiculed. After all, I wasn’t being paid to write like F. Scott Fitzgerald. I was supposed to persuade a prospect to buy a product or help an employee choose a health plan. it soon became clear that this type of writing was a collaborative process and I began to enjoy being the one to put that first draft together, 
to shape its structure. I also enjoyed that I was usually the last person to edit the piece, putting a final sheen on the words. It was a challenge, but one that became easier the more I wrote.
The lightbulb really went on for me years later when I began to study fiction and realized that while I was writing marketing materials for corporations, I was also telling a story, providing a “narrative” and a “call to action” for the reader.
When StoryStudio came along, it seemed natural that we would help business writers tell their stories better too. Some of the same techniques that we use to teach fiction and creative non-fiction help our business writing students be more confident and creative with the words they have to write for work.
In our upcoming one-day class, Business Writing Fundamentals, we start the day with some creative writing to loosen up our muscles. Then we work on strategies for efficiency and tools to make us more persuasive in our writing.
It’s a pretty fun class and it does a great job of slaying the demons that haunt us when we write at work.
Business Writing Fundamentals is on Monday, February 22. Oh, and did I mention we do lunch!
Where have all the deadlines gone?
In the two years, seven months, and 21 days I’ve been working on my novel I learned to excel at the art of deadlines. Write 1,000 words a day, revise pages 76-89 by Friday, and do not even THINK about going to the bar until Chapter 15 is done. After all, weren’t we taught in class to keep our eyes on the page, set small goals and achieve them? Personally, I found the idea of finishing the novel too overwhelming to think about, once you peak behind that curtain and set eyes on the little wizard (or me in my bathrobe at 3pm) the horror cannot be ignored.
I kept my nose firmly to the grindstone: research Masquerade Balls in 1811, chart out the characters, chart out the costumes, chart out the food?? Fix the ending, fix the epilogue, change the maid’s name to something more French…I did it all, and then one day I looked up from my desk and I was finished.
Now every writer knows that no novel, short story, poem, letter to your mother for her birthday, is ever truly finished. There is always more tweaking to be done, more feedback to obtain, and certainly there is a better word out there than “sultry,” I must get the thesaurus out right away…
But obsessive-compulsiveness aside, the novel was done, finished, ended, complete, terminated (oops, still thumbing through the thesaurus). I had set my very last deadline and reached it; I printed out all 386 pages, sat down at the kitchen table and gazed upon them.
For two whole days I was elated, I had finished my book! And then a writing day came along and there I was at my desk, twirling a half ground pencil around my ever anxious fingers. Now what? Edit more? Start something new? Take up tennis? No, it was worse than that…now I had to sell it.
Where do I start? I had been focused for so long on just finishing the novel that I couldn’t conceive of doing anything else, and that’s when it hit me: the same tools I had used to write the novel, I would need to sell it.
First and foremost, research. What is my market? How do I find an agent? How do I write a query letter? Conferences are a good place to start. In 2008 I attended the RWA Chicago-North Spring Fling and received a large list of agents in my genre, along with attending several workshops on the writing business that have been immensely helpful. (Don’t forget: StoryStudio has a couple publishing seminars coming up in February and March!) Publisher’s Marketplace and The Association of Author’s Representatives are also invaluable tools for finding agents that are looking to sell your book, and Nelson Literary Agency has excellent info about writing great query letters on the FAQ section of their website.
Secondly, don’t lose your creativity: Have fun with it! I created a website ((http://www.jenniferanncoffeen.com) to have something extra to send to agents, and I do my best to add something fresh and unique to each agent query I send out. Check out the agent’s bio or blog to find out more about them. Do you have something in common? Perhaps a favorite book or love of fine cheeses?
And third, keep setting deadlines (Thank God!): Following the advice of other StoryStudio writers I now split my writing days in half. The mornings are spent writing away on my next book while the afternoons belong to marketing. I set firm goals for myself and keep a list of what needs to be done next.
I am (slowly) learning to take selling my book just as seriously as writing the book. It worked the first time right? And who know, maybe one day I’ll look up and my book will be--gasp!-- sold.
I’ve been paying a lot of attention to landscapes lately. Maybe it’s because of autumn and that heavy wave of introspection it always brings. Maybe it’s because I’ve been in three states this month after not taking a vacation for a reallllllly long time. Two weeks ago we were in Colorado, nestled in the mountains and I was fascinated by the changing light. 
The days of full sun were bright, offering up clear, clean air that we breathed in hungrily on hikes. The last two days we awoke to gorgeous snow-covered peaks and a steady stream of flakes while the sky alternated between bright blue and snowy gray. The changing weather and the sturdy views were peaceful. We were very calm. (Although, the nightly visits to the hot tub may have had something to do with that!)
I came back to the studio excited to be home and it sounds kind of sappy, but I love being greeted by the adobe and green painted walls.
I miss the art hanging on the wall and like being used to seeing old friends day after day, too much time away from them leaves me ungrounded.
Can space really do all that?
We had dinner the other night with our friends Katie and Victor. (Katie’s new novel comes out in April and she’ll be at the studio to talk with us about it.) It was quite the treat because although I often see Katie for “writing dates,” it’s rare that our spouses get to hang with us. We met at Victor’s new restaurant, The Cellar (He’s the chef/owner of Stained Glass restaurant in Evanston too.)
The Cellar is only a few months old and the minute we walked in, it felt like home. Wood beams traverse the high ceiling, couches and tables grace the dining room. There are wine racks as art against one wall facing a bar with beautiful handcrafted wooden mirrors behind it. We sat for a couple hours talking about everything and nothing. A particular topic was the difference between Wrigley Field and Cellular Field, the way each stadium offered a different experience. (My focus was on the bathrooms!) Victor’s restaurant is that kind of place. You come for a beer and a bite to eat but the food is interesting--complicated and simple at the same time--and the atmosphere says, “stay, hang for a while.”
I’d always hoped that it was this same feeling that folks got when they walked into StoryStudio. Not only because we want to be that break from the world; but because we know how important space, setting, atmosphere truly is in stories. Eudora Welty’s essay, “Place in Fiction” is one of the best known and consulted on the issue. Contemporary writers in the news like Cormac McCarthy make place a vital character and our own StoryStudio writers are consistently evoking “place” in their work.
We’ve been rather interested in this topic lately and put together a great one-night class that Molly is teaching in Spring 2010, ”Writing the Land” will focus on the potential of setting in our stories.
I guess the lesson is to pay attention to where you are; it says a lot about who you are.
It was during the six-hour car ride on the way home that it happened. Four days in Ohio eating turkey, catching up with the cousins. Even running with the with the early morning shoppers on Black Friday (don’t even try and explain that one). It had been a nice holiday, the first I can remember in a long time that didn’t involve an absurd amount of worry and rush.
In fact, it was such a nice break that I even forgot to obsessively check the studio email and voicemail for a whole two days. Can’t remember that last time that’s happened. I didn’t even remember the messages until we were in the car, probably somewhere in Indiana. 
I had spent the bulk of the ride staring out the window at the flat farmlands of the midwest and singing (very badly) to a 70’s station we found on the radio. Scenes and voices and possibility floated in and out of my imagination; fleeting glimpses of stories and characters I had started work on earlier in the year but had all but abandoned in order to focus on other things.
And there, in the middle of the Indiana Tollway they were coming back for a visit. And it was lovely.
Now it’s Monday morning and I’m trying desperately to hold on to those imaginings, willing myself to remain in that state of bliss and calm. StoryStudio has always been my saving grace in that respect. Just being here in the studio is like being wrapped in a huge hug of artistic permission. This is the place where you’re supposed to stare off into space or ignore the ringing phone so you can keep typing.
And while the class term is winding down, I’m already looking forward to an incredibly busy Spring 2010 term with special guests visiting, a beaux arts party, author and agent panels, and the exciting first few days of a new term, when you never know who will walk in the door.
But if you see me off in the corner looking like I’m sleeping with my eyes open, don’t worry. Just enjoying the voices in my head.
I’m all for new beginnings. Didn’t have a great summer? No worries, you get a clean slate right after Labor Day. Fall is my favorite time of year. The weather is lovely and for some reason, trees losing their leaves is somehow romantic. But here in Chicago, what really is exciting, is the line-up of literary events.
The next few months prove to be a whirlwind of amazing interviews, lectures, book publications and literary events. Here is a not-very-scientific list. If you know something that’s coming up, by all means, share the news! To get you started, here’s what we know so far about places to Listen to Words, and Use Your Own:
*First off, if you want to know where your taxes are going, take a look at the amazing programs happening at the Chicago Public Library. They’re hosting the Granta Chicago celebration and that’s where Writers on the Record is recorded.
On Monday, September 14: Granta’s Chicago issue celebration starts with Audrey Niffenegger and Aleksandar Hemon and Maria Venega. Granta, the British publication, decided to focus on all things Chicago. If I wasn’t busy starting the Fall term at StoryStudio, I’d be in the front row.
* Wednesday, September 23: Victoria Lautman interviews Richard Russo at the Chicago Public Library. Victoria’s on a roll with these three additional interviews coming up:
Thursday, October 22 --- Sherman Alexie War Dances
Thursday, November 19 --- Audrey Niffenegger Her Fearful Symmetry
Thursday, January 14 --- Ha Jin A Good Fall: Stories
Find out more about Writers on the Record, and listen to past interviews, at: www.victorialautman.com. 
* I already told you about Lorrie Moore. But you really have to check out the listing for the Chicago Humanities Festival. I’m planning on boring you with my past adventures at Festival lectures. But for now, take a look and buy your tickets. Most programs are five bucks.
Closer to home, I hope you’ll check out what’s happening at the studio and definitely plan on joining us for events like the Write-a-Thons and the In-Town Writers Retreat.
Is it me, or can you feel the energy thrumming!?
