February 05, 2010
A Writer's Guide to Being Snowed-In
When news of an imminent snowstorm hits, ordinary people prepare. Some anxious awaiters visit the home & garden store to buy calcium chloride for the sidewalk. They gas up the snow blower and place the shovel within reach of the front door. Others head for the grocery store to stock their shelves with bread, bottled water, heat-and-serve soup, hot chocolate, and perhaps a little something to spike it with.
But we writers are not ordinary people. Rather than waste our time gathering sidewalk treatments and rushing for staples, we do something that feels perfectly natural to us. We rush TO Staples. Or Office Max or even Target -- whichever is nearest -- for all we need is a couple of packs of printer paper, some fresh ink cartridges, and maybe a new pen.
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Posted by Judy at 03:11 PM | Comments (13)
January 29, 2010
Fat Plum's Book Boot Camp is Back!
What is Book Boot Camp? It is an intensive six-week workshop designed to take your work in progress from mediocre to marketable!
To quote yesterday's Publisher's Lunch, the newsletter of www.PublishersMarketplace.com, it read, "Even in the digital age, the power of meeting face-to-face cannot be underestimated."
While this quote was in reference to attending the London Book Fair, the writer was correct. Face-to-face meetings can be a powerful way to impact your writing.
Book Boot Camp's small group sessions offer writers targeted feedback specific to individual writing projects with a focus on improving the manuscript, taking it to the next level. Constructive, targeted suggestions cover content, editing, and marketing concerns.
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Posted by Judy at 09:08 AM | Comments (0)
January 06, 2010
New Year's Resolutions
Today, the doorbell rang at 12:40 PM and, to my surprise, my new oven was being delivered early. The delivery was supposed to arrive between 1:00 and 4:00. Ordinarily, I would have expected it to show up at 5:00 or even be postponed until tomorrow. So this was great! I hoped this promptness was a sign of how my new year would proceed -- shorter waiting periods, increased productivity -- you get the picture.
While I chatted with one of the delivery men about the broken oven being a great excuse for going out to dinner instead of having to cook tonight, the other man fell silent. He was reading something hanging on my kitchen wall. He chuckled and said, "I like Dad's number three the best." It was then I realized just what he had read.
A little too early on January first, my teenaged daughter pulled out a piece of bright yellow poster board and a big pack of Sharpies(TM). At the top of the poster, she wrote in jaggedy, angularly artistic letters: Unbreakable Resolutions. She proceeded to create a bulleted list of five points for each family member and then added a column for the family as a whole, titled "Everyone." Under this category, she listed chores and responsibilities that generally fall on me, so I was quite happy to see that list evolve.
Once the poster was fully and colorfully decorated, we each had five "unbreakable" blanks to fill. "My first one is easy," I told my daughter. "Write 'EXERCISE'." She laughed and scribbled it in beside the number one.
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Posted by Judy at 01:35 PM | Comments (17)
November 26, 2009
A First-Timer's View on Cooking a Turkey
Happy Thanksgiving to all, and to all a... Wait, I'm mixing my holidays here. And I shouldn't be because Thanksgiving is one of my most treasured days of the year. It's full of warm gatherings, family, friends, and fun. And best of all, the year's most delicious, delectable food!
I'd like to share with you today an essay I wrote about the first time my husband and I took on the challenge of preparing Thanksgiving dinner. The piece originally appeared in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review several years ago (but don't worry because all publication rights have reverted back to me). This is one of my favorite stories to tell.
The Turkey's Wingless Flight
by Judith Burnett Schneider
A few problems arose with our decision to spend the Thanksgiving holiday at Mom's vacation condo in Florida. My husband and I would miss the family, for certain. But they could use the extra elbow room at the table. More critically, we'd miss our mothers. Without them, who would cook the Thanksgiving turkey?
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Posted by Judy at 10:27 AM | Comments (2)
October 27, 2009
It's NaNoWriMo Time!
You might already know that NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month (http://www.nanowrimo.org), a time when writers all over the world join in a writing frenzy during the month of November. The goal: To write a 50,000 word novel in just 30 days. Sound crazy? It is, but it's also addictively motivating!
This upcoming November 1st will be my fifth NaNoWriMo kick-off day when I stuff my laptop into my bag and head to the nearest Panera Bread to write. I stay as long as it takes to get in my required 1667 words that will serve as the day's quota.
"Not writing fiction," you say?
I say, "Who Cares?" Join NaNoWriMo today and make some serious headway on your nonfiction book, articles, essays, memoir, or even your outline.
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Posted by Judy at 09:58 AM | Comments (14)