Happy Wednesday everyone and welcome to the Daily with Sillstein here on anchor. We're going to begin with Stephen King on writing a memoir of the craft I'm going to be wrapping up this book and then I'm going to touch base a little bit on the writer's devotional 365 365 inspirational exercises ideas tips and motivations on writing. I'm also happy to report that The Daily with Sillstein on anchor has sponsorships now and I've been working on some so if you can please download my Sponsorships, I have two different ones Support the page write a review and if you can donate if you are able to it would it would mean a lot And I would like to keep bringing you this podcast doing different things and I wouldn't be here without you guys support So I appreciate any support you can give and please check out all the episodes on the Daily with Sillstein on anchor And I'm so happy to be here now for today as I said I start on the author's corner and Books I recommend for now. I want to stick to just writing books Stephen King on writing a memoir of the craft is a book I highly recommend you get Then there is the writers devotional by author Amy Peters and then there is a book that's going to be coming out Hopefully sooner than later.
I don't mean to put him on the spot by author AJ Brown is going to be on writing So be looking out for that and in the meantime also check out AJ Brown All of his books are available. I think through Amazon I think also on several other platforms, but please check out author AJ Brown and hopefully his Writing book will be out also because there's a lot that he a lot of insight that he's going to be sharing and shout out to him and stitch publications, but all right Let's get back to and hello to you AJ Brown and all anyone that's listening And like I said, this is soviet Stein here on the Daily with Sillstein on anchor And I'm going to start with page 231 and if I repeated this I do apologize I kind of step away from in from the Stephen King on writing and then I get lost since to where I left off So my apologies of this is repetition now The last thing I think we discussed was about I think I left off on page 230 and I think I did begin 231 trying to see here All right, so we're going to start with this He says on page 231 I'm often asked if I think the beginning writer of fiction can benefit from writing classes or seminars The people who asked are all too often looking for a magic bullet or a secret ingredient or possibly dumbbells magic feather None of which can be found in classrooms or writing reach or writing retreats or at writing retreats No matter how enticing the brochures may be as for myself I'm doubtful about writing classes, but not entirely against them. So here he gives a recommendation I think I did kind of go over this, but I'm going to go ahead reiterate in tea core hence boils wonderful tragic Comic novel each disease. There is a description of a writer's colony in the woods that struck me as fairly as fairy till perfect Each attendee has his her own little cabin where he or she supposedly spends today writing at noon a waiter from the main lodge brings those fledgling Hemingways and catheters a box lunch puts it on the front front stoop of the cottage very quietly puts it on the stoop So it's not to disturb the creative trance of the cabins occupant one room of each cabin is the writing room And the other is a cot for all that important afternoon nap or perhaps for reviving bounce with one of the other attendees That's what he says in the evening all members of the colony gather in the lodge for dinner and intoxicating conversation with the writers in residence Later before roaring fire in the parlor marshmallows are toasted popcorn is pop wine is drunk and the stories of the colony Attendees are read aloud and then critique this is what he says to me The sounds sounded like an absolutely enchanted writing environment I especially like the part about having your lunch left at the front door Deposit it there as quietly as a tooth fairy deposits a quarter under a kid's pillow I imagine it appealed because it's so far from my own experience Where the creative flow is apt to be stopped at any moment by a message from my wife that the toilet is plugged up and would I Try to fix it or a call from the office telling me that I'm in imminent danger of blowing yet another dental appointment at times Like that.
I'm sure all writers feel pretty much the same no matter what their skill and success level God if only I were in the right writing environment with a right understanding people I just know I could be penning my masterpiece and we'll be right back and Welcome back to the daily with still sign here on anchor and he says here. He leapt off I could be penning my masterpiece. We continue with Stephen King on writing a memoir of the craft in truth He says I found that any taste routine interruptions and distractions don't much hurt a work in progress It may actually help it in some ways It is after all the dab of grit that seeps into an oyster shell that makes the pearl not pearl making seminars with other oysters And the larger the work looms in my day. The more it seems like and I have to Instead of just an I wanna the more problematic it can become one serious problem with writers workshops Is that I have to become the rule you didn't come after all to wander lonely as a cloud experiencing the beauty of the woods or the grandeur of the mountains You're supposed to be writing damn it If only so that your colleagues will have something to critique as they toast their Marshmallows there in the main lodge when on the other hand making sure the kid gets to his basketball camp on time Is every bit as important as your work in progress.
There's a lot a lot less pressure to produce What about those critiques by the way? How valuable are they he says not very in my own experience in my in my experience? He says sorry a lot of them are madingly Big I love the feeling of Peter's story. Someone may say it has something a sense of I don't know there's a Loving kind of you know, I can't exactly describe it.
That's what he says here other writing seminar Jimmy's include I feel like the tone thing was just kind of, you know, capture a poly scene pretty much stereotypical I love the imagery because I could see what he was talking about more or less perfectly That's another example and instead of pelting these babbling idiots at least that's what he says here with their own freshly toasted marshmallows Everyone else sitting around the fires often nodding and smiling and looking solemnly thoughtful in too many cases The teachers and writers in residence are nodding smiling and looking solemnly thoughtful right along with them seems to occur Too few of the attendees that it you have a feeling you just can't describe you might just be I don't know kind of like my sense of it It is maybe in the maybe in the wrong class Non-specific critiques won't help you when you sit down to your second draft He says and they hurt certainly none of the comments above touch on the language of your piece or its narrative sense These comments are just when offering no factual input at all at least that's what his opinion says also daily Critiques force you to write with the door constantly open and in my mind that sort of defeats the purpose What good does it do? What good does it do you to have the waiter tiptoe soundlessly up to the soup of your cabin with your lunch and then tip To away with equal so let's sit just soundlessness If you're reading your current workout every night or handing it out on Xerox sheets to a group of would-be writers who are telling you they like the way you handle tone and mood But want to know if dolly's cat you one with the bells on it is symbolic the pressure to explain is always on And a lot of your creative energy a lot of your creative energy is it seems to me is therefore going in the wrong direction You find yourself constantly questioning your pros and your purpose when what you should probably be doing is writing as vast as a Gingerbread man runs getting that first wrap down on paper while the shape of the fossil is still bright and clearing your mind Too many writing classes make wait a minute explain what you mean by what kind of by law So that's what he says on this section. We'll be right back with more and welcome back to the daily here on anchor We are covering the book Stephen King on writing a memoir of the craft happy Wednesday everyone and we left off where it says Writing courses and seminars to offer at least one undeniable benefit This is what Stephen King says in his book in them the desire to write fiction or poetry is taken seriously For aspiring writers who have been looked upon with pity or by their friends and relatives You better not quit your day job just yet as a popular line usually delivered with a hideous Bob's Your uncle grin. This is a wonderful thing He says in writing classes if nowhere else it is entirely permissible to spend large chunks of your time off in your own little dream world Still do you really need permission and a hot pass to go there?
You need someone to make you a paper badge with a word writer on it before you can believe you are one He says God. I hope not and this is just his opinion. He says that so he moves on to say Another argument in favor of writing courses has to do with the men and women who teach them There are thousands of talented writers at work in America and only a few of them I think the number might be as low as five per cent can support their families and themselves with their work So always some grant money available What is grant money available, but it's never enough to go around as for government subsidies for creative writers pairs to thought tobacco subsidies Sure research grants to study them all the totality of unpreserved Bull sperm. He says of course creative writing subsidies never most voters would agree I think with the exception of Norman Rockwell and Robert Frost America has never much reverb her creative people as a whole we're more interested in commemorative plates from the Franklin Mint and Internet Reading cards and if you don't like it.
It's a case of of and if you don't like it It's just tough because that's just the way things are he says Americans are a lot more interested in TV quiz shows Then in the short fiction of Raymond Carver Now he does suggest this the solution for a good many underpaid creative writers is to teach what they know to others I do apologize this last part got cut off So I'm gonna continue where I left off the solution for a good many underpaid creative writers is to teach what they know to others This can be a nice thing and it's nice when beginning writers have a chance to meet with and listen to veteran writers They may have long admired. It's also great when writing courses or writing classes lead to business context He says I got my first agent Maurice Crane courtesy of my sophomore comp teacher The noted regional short story writer Edwin M homes after reading a couple of my stories in EH 77 a comp class emphasizing fiction Professor Holmes asked Crane if he would look at a selection of my work Crane agreed But we never had much of an association. He was in his 80s Unwell and died shortly after our first correspondence. I can only hope it wasn't my initial batch of stories that killed him yet So you don't need writing courses or seminars any more than you need this or any other book on writing he says Walkner learned his trade while working in the Oxford Working in the Oxford, Mississippi post office other writers have learned the basics while serving in the Navy working in steel mills Or doing time in America's finer crossbar hotels.
I learned the most valuable and commercial part of my life's work Wow, washing motel sheets and restaurant tablecloths at the New Franklin Laundry and banger You learn best by reading a lot and writing a lot and the most valuable lessons of all are the ones you can teach yourself These lessons almost always occur with a study door close writing class discussions can often be until intellectually Stimulating and great fun, but they also often stay far afield from the actual nuts and bolts business of writing Still, I suppose you might end up in a version of that Sylvan writers Colony and East is East your own little cottage in the pines complete with word processor fresh disk What is so delicately exciting to the imagination as a box of fresh computer disk or realm of blank paper The caught in the other room for that afternoon nap and the lady who tiptoes to your stoop leaves your lunch And then tiptoes away again. That would be okay I guess you got a chance to participate in a deal like that I'd say go right ahead you might not learn the magic secrets of writing there aren't any aren't any bummer Huh, but it would certainly be a grand time and grand times or something. I'm already in favor of he says So we'll be right back with more on Stephen King on writing a memoir of the crap here on the daily with Stillstein here on anchor and my apologies for the last interruption and Welcome back to the daily here on anchor happy happy Wednesday As we discuss Stephen King on writing a memoir of the craft. We've been going over it for a while now We did several excerpts that I worked on I talked about the toolbox that he mentioned the different things that advice that he gave And if you have not listened to these please take the time to download them here on anchor they're available and Just go back and look through the shows we've done and you'll get the tips that I read about On from the books Stephen King on writing a memoir of the craft and if you have not gotten your copy of this book Please be sure to get that, you know, he did advice, you know, you don't really need, you know As long as you read and write he did give those tips And there's more that we could cover from this book and I'll probably go back to it, too But I hope you have enjoyed the the section of what I've covered for Stephen King on writing a memoir of the craft I hope you'll take the time to Go over the podcast go over everything and and try to you know see what advice best fits you I like I love it because it's very direct but the key thing that he always says it's important to read It's important to write and find a quiet space Not that there's anything wrong with you going on a writing retreat or whatever it is that you do But he those are that's the advice he gives and it's it's up to you what you decide to do and I hope that that has helped you So I really appreciate you tuning into the daily with sillstein to listen for with this book Stephen King on writing a memoir of the craft A book I recommend and now I'm gonna go back to touching base on the writer's devotional 365 inspirational exercises ideas tips and motivations on writing by author Amy Peters and here As I said this book is dividing it divided into different days first day She has Monday writers on writing an introduction writers on writing Tuesday motivation Wednesday writing class like a writing prompt we Thursday is editing and Friday biography She always has some type of quote or saying from some writer or personality and she goes really deep into that now I wanted just to go back and also she also has Saturday books to read and Sunday writing prompt now Because I think I covered up to seven or I'm gonna try I'm gonna go into the see here I don't know if I did week eight I may have something to start Probably I'm gonna start on week 11 So today of course, it's already Wednesday, but I'm gonna start with week 11 writers on writing and this is the book 365 inspirational exercises ideas tips and motivations on writing the quote that I'm gonna read real quick is Monday writers on writing when a man is in doubt about this or that in his writing will opt and guide him if he asks himself how Will how it will tell a hundred years hence and this is from Samuel Butler?
So let's read Victorian novelist Samuel Butler would be interested to know that his books have stood the test of time They are very much alive and well both online and at brick and mortar bookstores more than 100 years after his death He wrote the popular utopian satire. Okay. I see the tell us. I sorry Erud von and the way of all flesh both of which remain in print as as do his translations of Homer's the Iliad and the Odyssey It's not imperative that you're writing be relevant in a hundred years.
You may be keeping a journal of personal thoughts I may not be interested in publishing or in its longevity However, Butler made a key point if you write for publication It's interesting to consider what the value of the writing will be in the future since We don't have a crystal ball It isn't easy to determine the value of writing and its future impact Although Butler had a pretty sure bet with his translations of classic works works like the Greek poet Homer's instead of looking forward 100 years look beyond the next five or ten and ask yourself the question does my work touch on universal themes that will remain relevant And we'll be right back with him here on the daily with siltstein here on anger and Welcome back to the daily with siltstein here on anchor and now we're moving on to the next section Tuesday motivation Do it every day make a habit of putting your observations into words and gradually this will become instant This is the most important rule of all and naturally I don't follow it and this is by Jeff dyer and this is from week 11 from the book by Amy Peters the writer's devotional And this is what she would says on it one of the first benefits You'll drive your derive from creating a daily a daily routine for your writing is a loosening of your writing style after only a few weeks You'll find that you're less inhibited and that you're better able to develop more natural rhythms with your language a daily Writing schedule will also increase your Confidence in your ability to write each time you sit down to write it will it will one hopes become easier and more enjoyable Writing daily will also help you be a better judge of your writing and help you be a more effective Critic of your own work because of the continuity of your work And you'll be able to read through your writing and distinguish what makes your writing better from one day to the next as the works Glide by I mean as the weeks glide by you'll likely see a huge improvement in the quality of your writing author Jeff dyer May joke about not following through on his writing routine, but in reality. He believes in it personally I'm a very prone. I'm very prone to the I can't be bothered attitude to life, but this brings no contentment on the contrary It ends up Goating me into action into bothering so even though he says that do it every day make a habit of putting your Observations towards and gradually this will become instinct This is the most important rule of all and naturally I don't follow it He does to some extent so that's what it kind of saying the opposite and sometimes this motivates you by saying that you don't You'd actually do and as far as the writing is concerned because he's saying you know These are the tips that I'm giving you and set up a daily routine of loosening your writing style And this will give you a better flow of your writing So that's pretty good advice here on this writer's devotional And then we're just gonna cover Wednesday writing class and here It's just if you want to work on it a type of high cool or type of writing that you may want to write It says write a high cool about your favorite season high cool are short points of sent 17 syllables The syllables are divided among three lines five seven five Here's a classic example of this form written by Matsuo by show a Japanese haiku master who lived in the 17th century winter solitude in a world of one color the sound of the wind To the season and write three lines describing it try to incorporate one word about color also feel free to deviate from the 575 rule that's just a guideline to which you need not strictly at here So here, you know, you can you know work on a high cool We have in our poetry class through the coffee house writers have done that and I will share that when I'm up for our next Daily podcast I will bring my haiku and read it to you guys But if you want to focus on the writing class one and want to share it You can call in and I will read your poem or you can just send it to still writer 07 at gmail and give you a shout out on the show along with your haiku So hopefully like I said Call into the podcast of the daily with those down here on anchor or email me at stillwriter 07 at gmail.com and I will send a shout out for your haiku point again This is from the writers devotional of the 365 inspiration or exercises ideas tips and motivations on writing by author Amy Peters And we'll be right back with a wrap up. Thank you And now we're back to the wrap up here on the daily with Sills Stein here on anchor I want to thank everyone for tuning in to the podcast I appreciate all the support that I received through the daily with Sills Stein here on anchor We have like I said sponsorships now for the podcast.
You could also support the podcast It's all on on my page for the daily with Sills Stein here on anchor Please write a review through iTunes or anchor or Spotify wherever you see you can critique or write a review. Please do. I hope that you do if you have not Vid become a follower of the of the our podcast Please go ahead and download our episodes listen to them And I hope that you like what we're doing or like what I'm doing If they send me an email to Sill writer 07 at gmail.com and I hope that you will tune in download and keep supporting the podcast I also hope to bring you more author news author interviews and try to connect with those authors of books that I've covered I know it's stretching it too thin But I hope to bring you way more authors to come and share their new books editors new writers and and editors on editing for January Hopefully and also try to get authors that I've had books on you know I don't think I could get Stephen King to come to speak to the show that would be a dream of course But you never know but um, there's also um, you know, Amy Peters the writers devotional if you're hearing Hopefully you can come to the show to tell us about your wonderful book because it's really been for me very Exciting and it's helped so much with everything and of course Stephen King He's on his own platform and all the other authors and indie authors and all authors that have come here And those that have not that that would like to come please make sure to send me a message And I would love to have you here on the daily with Sillstein here on anchor I appreciate all the support my new thing for author news is I'm going to be doing excerpts for chasing clarity I will be Sharing more of my excerpts, especially chasing clarity from time to time with the additional daily podcast that I have You'll you'll be able to listen to them and also I'm going to be keeping my ebooks for 99 cents all through January 2nd After January 2nd, they'll go back to their $1.99 or $2.99 on the Kindle versions So if you have not purchased any of my books through a digital form They will be 99 cents all through January 2nd and then my paperbacks. I'm ordering more You would like your own copy.
Please send me a message through Sill Rider07 at gmail.com or through my Facebook author Sylvia Stein and or contact me through the podcast I hope that you guys enjoyed the wrap-up of Stephen King on writing a memoir of the craft I have more to share later on on that book, but for now I've wrapped up that book I I'm gonna finish up with a writer's devotional 365 inspirational exercise ideas tips and motivations on our next show on the week I covered and then start a new book for the writer's devotion or me for the writing tips I haven't decided which one yet, and I will give you that announcement hopefully on my next podcast I hope you all have a great one work on your haiku and if there's anything else I hope that you will call us and let us know or call me and let me know here on the daily with Sill Stein on anchor Thank you for all the support and have a happy Wednesday. This was Sylvia Stein for the daily with Sill Stein on anchor join us again