Time: A Poem

I’ve been obsessed with time for a long … time (see what I did there?) and I’ve spent a lot of … time … trying to visualize what “time” would look like if it were a 3D object.

Most of my thoughts come down to… a sphere. In space.

Because I could, I asked MidJourney to make me a sphere in space, and…

This was the closest I could get. It’s a cool image, but not exactly what I see in my mind.

I also asked ChatGPT/Dalle3 to imagine what time would look like as a 3D object, and I have to admit, this is pretty cool:

Anyway, here is what I wrote a couple years ago—time envisioned in poetry.

Time

She is young, wrinkles, joints
patience
She is old, tight curls and excitement
At once a child and a mother and a grandmother
At once renewed and running out
At once beautiful
worn grace hope fatigue
scarred growth weakness
strength fear fierce
She is all of her at once

Writing Tips (Sometimes): What If I Do It Wrong?

You’ve probably heard a few horror stories in the last few years of writers getting called out for various choices they made in their stories. Words like “sexist” and “racist” and “problematic” get thrown around like rice at a wedding. Authors get canceled. Doxed. They quit writing.

In nearly every instance I’ve seen, the responses are severely overblown. Writers are human and they f up. There are very few instances in which doxing, canceling, or public humiliation is necessary. Most writers don’t mean to, and if they did, well, they probably don’t give a shit what you think of them. And their families certainly don't deserve the impact of mob justice.

Recently, I received my first review in which someone disagreed with me ideologically.

It was three stars and it read:

“Well written, but DROP THE WOKE PRONOUN GARBAGE!🤮🤮🤮🤮 That is what kept it from getting a five star.”
(You can find this review on Google Play.)

My reaction? To laugh.

I’m going to keep up my woke pronoun garbage because I think it’s important. It normalizes treating people with respect.

Now, a review like this is of course far from being doxed or publicly humiliated. And while I’ve made the choice to keep writing and publishing despite this potential risk, it doesn’t mean I don’t occasionally become afraid that something terrible could happen, if someone took enough offense to my work that they roused a mob to punish me for the things I wrote.

It’s a real fear. And I don’t think it’s completely unreasonable.

It’s also a common fear. I’ve been to a lot of workshops on writing diverse characters, and this fear inevitably gets brought up. 

“What if I do it wrong?”

Most facilitators carefully sidestep this question. But I have some thoughts.

Thought #1:

You might do it wrong.

But I think part of a writer is being brave. It means recognizing that we are making our art and our ideas out available for other people to read and consume. And sometimes we have to push forward, even when it scares us. So be brave.

Thought #2:

If you’re afraid of something you’re writing, then why are you writing it? This is a super important question. If you’re white and want to write Black characters, why? If you’re able-bodied and want to include disabled characters, why? If you’re cisgender and want to write transgender characters, why?

Then assess your reasons.

A few things to be wary of:

• Saviorism. Feeling like you are responsible for “saving” or “rescuing” people who have less privilege than you is dangerous and problematic.

• Obligation. If you are doing it because you feel like you have to, this is inauthentic and you risk writing characters and situations that do more harm than good.

• Moral superiority. If you are doing it because it makes you feel like a better person… you’re probably not the better person you think you are.

A few good reasons:

• Because you want to. Maybe you think a particular identity or ideology is interesting and you want to learn about it. Cool. Do your research. Explore the concept. Learn.

• Because it’s accurate. People are diverse! Ideas are complex! Black & white isn’t real! If you want your world and your characters to reflect that, awesome. Do your research. Write inclusively.

• Because you give a shit about making a difference. Great. Do your research. Make a difference—but make sure you’re making the difference you want to make!

Thought #3:

Build a process. If you think that your reasons for exploring difficult and diverse perspectives and concepts are authentic and good, then the next step is to build a process. Research. Learn. Explore. Revise. Be willing to take feedback. Be willing to change your mind about things.

Build a process to help you ensure you've taken the necessary steps to the best job you can. And, if it still ends up wrong, be willing to apologize honestly and with true remorse.

I remember (this is embarrassing to admit, btw; please forgive me for my past idiocy) a few years ago, I was working really hard to expand the representation of my characters. And I wanted to start including non-binary and trans characters in my work. I didn’t really know how, so I created a character who was referred to as he/him but had a female name. Unfortunately, this character was a sort of villain. When someone pointed this out to me, I changed it immediately. Their point was that I had unintentionally framed trans people as “bad” through this representation. Which was exactly the opposite of what I wanted.

So I fixed it. That character became cisgender and I found other ways to include positive representations of nonbinary and trans characters in my work.

Luckily, I hadn’t published yet, so fixing it was easy, and I didn’t perpetuate the harm I could have.

If you mess up, fix it! And listen when others tell you their thoughts. You don’t have to agree, but hearing them will help you expand your understanding of the world.

Which leads me to my last thought (well, technically, I have a million more thoughts, but I think this email is long enough lol).

Thought #4:

Don’t be a silo.

One of the biggest traps, in my opinion, is never bothering to seek opinions or learn about the experiences of others.

Read widely. Meet new people, IRL and virtually. Think about stuff. Take online classes. Learn. However learning works for you. And not just stuff you’re already interested in, but try to find ways to expand your knowledge of the world and others.

The more we understand about the way other people live and experience the world, the more we know about the wide range of thoughts and beliefs held by others, the better our characters, situations, concepts, and representations can be.

Don’t be afraid. You got this.

A Meandering Life: A Poem

Over the last few years, I’ve read a lot of craft books and attended a lot of workshops. And many craft books and workshops come with exercises!

This poem came from an exercise in which the instructor instructed (that’s an example of polyptoton!) us to imagine ourselves as an image. I’ll be honest, I don’t remember which book or workshop this poem came from. All I remember was that I was supposed to write 500 words of prose about myself (so probably from a book/class on memoir/personal essay and I’ve read/taken quite a few of those), but I thought that sounded boring so I wrote a poem instead so I could say I “did” the assignment, and then I went and worked on fiction for the rest of the time I’d allotted for the exercise.

Anyway, whenever I think about myself from an imagery perspective, I almost always come up with a field or a forest, a stream or a wandering path. So it’s not surprising that this is the poem that arose.

A Meandering Life

When I think of myself, I think of
wandering
meandering
wending and weaving
a relaxed stroll
drifting along
a wide open sky
field stretching out
waving grass
quivering aspen leaves
a winding river
babbling bubbling cheerful
and long
a lifetime
I accept this

Selling Books In A Digital World: Video!

I have presented this workshop a few times, most recently for the Maryland Writers Association back in February. I recorded and posted it on YouTube, so anyone could watch it. Of course, my real life presentation was better, but I did my best with this one.

It’s long, lecture length, and was a good practice session for me.

One of the things I’ve noticed giving workshops on marketing over the years, is a lot of people want a “quick fix” to how to market their books. But there really isn’t any such thing. Sure, you might get lucky with something you try. But most of us need a plan that aligns with our business, goals, and personality, and so it’s best to start thinking about the way we spend our hours and dollars strategically.

My main goal of this workshop is to help writers start thinking strategically about selling books. We can’t do everything all the time, so we should focus on doing the things that are going to have the most impact for us and be the most enjoyable over time.

Writing Tips (Sometimes): Sussing Out Subtext

Have you ever heard the word “subtext” in the context of a story? It’s one of those words people like to throw around when they’re talking about literature, but not everyone understands it the same way.

When I think of subtext, I think of it as an underlying message or theme—something that isn’t explicitly stated in the text or by the narrator, but that hovers around the edges as a potential conclusion based on the things that are explicitly stated.

There are lots of ways to include subtext in a narrative, but first I want to point out that some people see subtext whether it’s there or not. They are always drawing conclusions from things—even conclusions that you didn’t intend or disagree with!

This is fine! It’s part of the process of writing and reading. You write a story and bring your perspective into the creation. But when a reader consumes a story, they bring their perspective to the story as well. And sometimes this means reading into things in a way you didn’t intend.

But say you want to include subtext, and you want it to be pretty clear to the reader what you mean, even if you didn’t say it outright. How do you do that?

Focus on the gaps.

The empty parts of the story are key to subtext.

• What does the character not say?

• What does the narrator avoid mentioning?

• What do you know about the story that the reader doesn’t?

There are a lot of specific techniques to achieve this. For example, symbolism. Maybe the color red (or any color) is frequently incorporated into the story. The character is constantly noticing red things—roses, shirts, barns, bricks. Red represents anger and passion. None of the characters or the narrator says it outright, but repetition a specific symbol can help direct the reader’s attention toward a concept that isn’t actually stated.

Use the setting. 

People associate ideas, moods, and all kinds of things with the weather, making it a great way to add implicit ideas to your narrative.

For example, perhaps you have a cheerful, optimistic character, but the weather is always bad. Snow, rain, storms are constantly happening in every scene. This creates a contrast, that perhaps the cheerful optimism showed by the character are less true than the character thinks.

This is also a great way to...

Incorporate an unreliable narrator.

An unreliable narrator is a narrator who is lying or uninformed about the truth of what’s going on. Unreliable narrators can be extremely engaging for readers, who may notice inconsistencies or irregularities that the main character doesn’t notice or ignores. This is a tricky tactic, but when well done, can create an interesting and engaging story. Famous examples of unreliable narrators include American Psycho, Fight Club, and Lolita.

Let silence fall.

While there are many more ways to weave subtext into your narrative, the last one I am going to mention is silence. 

In music, silence (or rests) is just as important as sound. It’s is the balance of emptiness and fullness that makes music—after all, no one likes to listen to incessant noise or endless nothing. It’s the same in storytelling: what is not said is just as important is what is said. 

What aren’t your characters saying? What do they avoid thinking about? What is your narrator neglecting to mention?

If you want to use subtext in your tale, remember that you have to trust your reader to pick up on them. It’s okay if they don’t, but it’s important to not be too overt or obvious. Otherwise, it’d just be text, and not subtext. 😄

Sometimes, it’s better to leave things unsaid.