Thoughts on Writing: Love and Letting Go

In the final part of author Molly Burnham's* top six Thoughts on Writing and Mindfulness we end on a positive note. 

In this post Molly shares why loving what you do and letting go of it when you're done is an essential part of the writing process.  Like the rest of her wonderful points, these last two are something every writer should take the time to reflect upon next time you're worried about an agent rejecting a manuscript or even what a young reader will think when they crack open the front cover of your next book.

5. Love
I like to spend time loving what I do and reminding myself that I do love it. I'm in awe that I live during a time of peace, that I learned a craft, and that I have the time to write. It's easy to get down-hearted and sad. I get that. I feel that way, and then I remember that I just love writing. And I'd do it no matter what.

Why should anyone else decide for me my experience with art? I'm the only one who gets to decide that. It might be one of the only things I have control of.

Speaking of which...


6. Letting Go
Seriously hard, but I practice letting go every day-even with a book sold.  I let go of thinking that I have control over anything. My books might do well, or they might not, I might have a difficult day writing, or I might have a smooth day, there's so little I can control.

So let go of control and see where the adventure takes you.


Thanks again to Molly for sharing these helpful tips to help us sustain the writing life. If you missed either of Molly's previous posts you can read part one Connecting and Routine and part two Demons and Distractions here.

*Molly B. Burnham graduated from Hamline in 2010. Her first book, Teddy Mars Almost a World Record Breaker came out March 2015. It will be followed by two more Teddy Mars books. She lives in Northampton, MA with her husband, two kids, and a dog. She tries to be mindful, but is remarkably unsuccessful most of the time. Luckily she learns a lot from her failures.

To learn more about Molly and her writing please visit her website.

Thoughts on Writing: Demons and Distractions

I hope you enjoyed Tuesday's post by Molly Burnham* - If you missed it, be sure to read it here for some great advice on seeking connection and developing a writing routine.

Today we're continuing to look at Molly's top six thoughts on Writing and Mindfulness by journeying to the dark side of the writer's life. Keep reading to find out how to fend off your inner demons and manage those ever-present distractions.


3. Demons

Keeping the demons at bay is always important. The demons I’m talking about are: Fear, judgment, criticism, will I make the deadline? Will I ever have something to write about? etc. That's where mindfulness really comes in handy-just quieting those stories and getting back to the work of writing. 

Another demon that pops up is that only earning a living from my writing makes me a real writer. I am lucky to be married to an artist so we have a lot of conversation about earning a living from art, and how difficult that is in a capitalist society. I think having these conversations are really good because through them I realized that no matter what I would keep writing because I just like writing. Once I took off the "earning a living” from my plate, I became more open and free with my writing. 
I also practice affirmations around writing. I focused on writing easily and writing with joy-as opposed to something like "I earn a lot of money from my writing" because that seems ridiculous. Notice this affirmation is not funny, so I have to work on that.

I also practiced mindfulness by reminding myself that writing is not a separate experience from my life, but is part of my life. I will grow as a person because I write and engage. I remind myself that this is my life and I am not someone else. All I can do is live this life, mindfully writing and sending work out, taking part in classes, without an attachment to outcome. I can forget the outcome and stay in the present. By doing that I was able to focus more fully on my writing and the story I wanted to tell. 

Lastly, I decided that I was not allowed to compare myself to others. They get to live their lives and I get to live mine. When that comparing demon arises, my mindfulness practice notices it, and I let it go. I remind myself that this is my life as Molly Burnham and I am here to learn as much as I can about Molly Burnham and no one else. Let other people travel their life. We will all feel happiness, and struggles, but they will come at different times to us all, so stop comparing yourself to anyone else.


4. Choose Your Distractions
I'm married to an artist who also works a full-time job. We know we have limited time with our art, so we keep our lives simple.

We don't go away on vacations a lot (because we need to be home making art). We don't go out a lot or watch a lot of TV (because we need to make art). We don't have a garden that needs a lot of our attention (because we need to make art). These are things that would need our attention, or to put it another way, would take attention away from our art. 

These are different for everyone, but try to find a way to simplify your life so writing can become your focus. If my art was a vegetable garden then that is what I should pay attention to. This is also true for Facebook, twitter, etc. There are so many ways to make our brains move from our art, so many distractions, so only choose the ones you really want. This doesn't feel sad or anything, it feels really right. It feels like I'm in control.


We'll have Molly's final thoughts on mindfulness and writing up on August 18th. You won't want to miss her take on Love and Letting Go as an author.


*Molly B. Burnham graduated from Hamline in 2010. Her first book, Teddy Mars Almost a World Record Breaker came out March 2015. It will be followed by two more Teddy Mars books. She lives in Northampton, MA with her husband, two kids, and a dog. She tries to be mindful, but is remarkably unsuccessful most of the time. Luckily she learns a lot from her failures.

To learn more about Molly and her writing please visit her website.

Thoughts on Writing: Connecting and Routine

Welcome back after our Summer MFAC Residency!

We've got a lot of news to share about The Storyteller's Inkpot, starting with new types of posts!

We'll still have our regular publication announcements, Meet the Grad features, and general blog posts, but we'll also have a featured topic each month that our community of Hamline bloggers can engage with. August's topic will be revision, one of the most critical (and challenging) skills for any writer to master.

To start things off, author Molly Burnham* has offered to share her top six thoughts on Writing and Mindfulness with The Storyteller's Inkpot. Her post was simply too good to giveaway all at once, so we'll be breaking it into three parts.

This time Molly talks to us about how connecting with others and establishing a solid routine can help you break free from a writing (or revising) rut.

1. Connecting
The first year out of grad school sucked. It was really hard. Really.

I was revising what I had worked on at Hamline, but it felt like I was spinning my wheels. This led me to apply for a weekend away with Stephen Roxburgh that focused on Editing for Writers. It was a very interesting retreat about looking at our work with distance so we can edit it as writers.

I felt this was important because in the two years I spent at Hamline I hadn't grappled with this issue-my writing was still very fresh. I was creating, but I needed to learn more about what to do after I had a book. How do I work with a whole draft?

I found that for me it was important to connect with kids. Not only because I write for them, but because I have fun with them. I needed some fun that first year out of grad school!

When in doubt, focus on one element of craft that you need help with and find people to help you. Really good people-like Hamline people if you happen to live close to them.

2. Routine
The other thing I did was to establish a routine for my writing. I woke up at 5:00 am so I could write before my kids woke up. I was working and needed to have that time. This was not easy, but I really liked it (and got the idea from a Hamline faculty member who recommended the book From Where You Dream by Robert Olen Butler).

As I said, getting up that early was not always easy, so I had this little phrase I'd say that went like this:

"I'm the kind of woman who gets up at 5:00 in the morning to write. That's the kind of woman I am." 

It would make me laugh but was also a positive affirmation. I find positive affirmations are so important. (A lot like mindfulness). 

Choose affirmations that have a bit of humor to them; it really helps.


That's it for today, but check back on August 13th for Molly's thoughts on Demons and Distractions!

*Molly B. Burnham graduated from Hamline in 2010. Her first book, Teddy Mars Almost a World Record Breaker came out March 2015. It will be followed by two more Teddy Mars books. She lives in Northampton, MA with her husband, two kids, and a dog. She tries to be mindful, but is remarkably unsuccessful most of the time. Luckily she learns a lot from her failures.

To learn more about Molly and her writing please visit her website.

Publication Interview with Molly B. Burnham: Teddy Mars, Almost a World Record Breaker

Trevor Spencer, illustrator
Katherine Tegen Books
March 24, 2015 

Please describe the book.
Teddy Mars feels invisible in his huge family, especially because of his little brother Jake, a.k.a. The Destructor. Teddy loves The Guinness Book of World Records, and the pigeons that live next door. He does not love Grumpy Pigeon Man who owns the pigeons. But when life gets to be too much, he moves out into a tent in his backyard, and he winds up working for Grumpy Pigeon Man. With the help of his friends, Lonnie and Viva, he plans to break the perfect record, until his little brother destroys that idea. In the end he reconciles himself to his family, and they prove to him that they truly see him.

As the story progressed from inception to copy-edited version, what were the major changes? How did those changes come about? When did you first begin work on it? When did you finish?
I started this book my first semester when I was working with Ron Koertge. I wrote about twenty pages then put it away until the last residency. After graduating, some time passed, and then I picked it up again. I finished it and revised it over the course of a year. I sent it out to Tina Wexler, who loved it but had more revisions she wanted before she sent it out. That took a few months. The two biggest changes to the book were that it first started as a book in free verse. Ron pointed out that there was no reason it should be in verse, and so I turned it all into prose. The second change was that the original book took place over the course of a year, but when the book was bought, and they wanted it as a series and asked for two more books, they asked if I could truncate the action so the three books could all take place over one year.

What research was involved before and while writing the book?
I researched pigeons. We do live next door to a bunch of them. I also keep a number of copies of The Guinness Book of World Records beside me.

Did you ever workshop this story at Hamline?
Yes, my last semester at Hamline with Anne Ursu and Eleanora Tate.

Did you discover and fall in love with any books while in the MFAC program?
A million, too many to name.

Without naming names, tell us who your first readers are (e.g., live-action writing group; online writing group; editor; agent). When do you share a piece of writing?
The first draft of Teddy Mars I took to a week-long workshop with Stephen Roxburgh and Carolyn Coman. They were the first people to read the whole thing. The second Teddy Mars book (which I’ve just finished copy edits on) was first read by my editor, Maria Barbo, and my agent, Tina Wexler. I think I’m a pretty private writer. A lot of time, I keep work private because I’m sorting it out myself, and I’m trying to listen to my own heart tell me what the book is about. I’m trying to get better about this and share more easily, not only because I’m used to putting work out to people from our program, but also because I’m teaching a writing class and forcing them to share their writing. I see how valuable it is. Sometimes I think I keep it to myself because my life is so full of opinions from other people—kids, partners, newspapers—that I just want a little time with me. But I could be fooling myself.

Where do you do most of your writing?
I have a small room in our house that my husband built for me. I need quiet when I write so I can hear all the voices in my head. And I think I’m like Virginia Woolf—a room of my own is important. So much of my life goes out to others. As everyone in my family knows, if I was in a café I would end up watching the people, listening to their conversations; I would never get any writing done. This is why I’m always placed facing a wall if we go out to dinner. Otherwise it’s too distracting.

Do you remember the first book you loved?
I loved many books, but I will say for a picture book, Bread and Jam for Francis and middle grade, Tuck Everlasting.

*

Molly B. Burnham is a June 2010 graduate of the Hamline MFAC program. She lives in Northampton, Massachusetts. To learn more about Molly and her writing please visit her website.

Alumni Voices: Molly Burnham

Touchstones

I write funny stories…or at least I try. I don’t think of myself as funny and I don’t think most of my friends do either. I’m a pretty sincere person. I get easily caught up in the plagues of the world: civil rights, poverty, education, global warming. And all through the lens of children, which makes me even more depressing to hang out with, and basically means I have to work hard at my funny stories.

For Christmas my kids were given the cast recording of Matilda, which is absolutely amazing. But it’s up there with all the plagues that melt my heart. I can’t say it’s funny. There’s certainly a lot of humor in it, but there’s lots of sadness, even more than the book. The music is brooding and tragic and builds to these outrageous crescendos that break my heart (Miss Honey really brings tears to my eyes). The whole thing is too brilliant for words. My kids play it over and over and over again, and no matter how many times I hear it, I listen happily.

As fun as it is, I started to become even more brooding and tragic than usual, and my writing followed along like a good little dog (not like my dog Pepito who pulls terribly when he’s on the leash but some imaginary, well-behaved dog I like to call Josie). Anyway, after repetitive listening to Matilda my main character ended up in the hospital with memory loss, all his bones broken, and his marriage in ruins, and he’s only ten! You don’t want to know what happened to the rest of the characters.

I admit, I had not realized until this moment the power that outside influences had over my writing and in turn, over me. Luckily, besides being fairly morose, I am one of those people who like to have touchstones beside them when they write. My touchstones are books that have some magical essence that is similar to what I am working on. Not exactly the same but close enough to give me a little pick-me-up when I need it the most, like when the box of chocolates is empty.

For the series I’m working on now I always have a Junie B. Jones book (doesn’t matter which one because they’re all hilarious), any of Louis Sachar's Wayside School books (because they’re all brilliant), and any Roald Dahl book because even though the musical version of Matilda is brooding and tragic, that book and all his books have a bounce that is unmatched by anyone else (in my opinion).

These books are beside me so that when I forget I’m writing humor, and get lost in my brooding and tragic side I can open them, read a sentence or two anywhere, and be brought back to the place I need to be. I don’t copy them, but I draw some remarkable strength from them.

I’ve learned that other authors are my touchstones—teaching, guiding, and helping to tell my story through all the distractions of the world (and I know there are lots of those, and most of them really stink!).

I’ve also learned that I need to be bloody careful about what I listen to or take in when I’m writing a book. The good news is this realization totally cuts down how much I watch General Hospital or The Voice, which totally breaks my heart. And I’ve finally learned to listen to Matilda only on weekends when I know I’m not going to get any writing done anyway, so I can cry my little vocal chords to their hearts content.

Can’t help asking: What books do you keep on your desk? How do they help you?

***

Molly Burnham is a July 2010 graduate of the MFAC program. Teddy Mars Almost a World Record Breaker, the first of three books she has under contract, will be published by Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins in December, 2014. Molly lives in western Massachusetts.