Faculty Voices: Phyllis Root

I am writing this on Atsokan Island (a name that means  storyteller) in Rainy Lake in early September. I have come here with eleven other writers to write, critique, eat, swim, canoe, take saunas, and just plain be in a beautiful spot. Some combination of us has been gathering on this lake for a week each summer for twenty years or so.

Some years I come with plans to put words on paper. Some years I am the person who claims I am writing while I sway in a hammock or paddle around the island. And in a way, I am writing, even though I might have nothing tangible to read at any of our evening critique sessions.

For years on the island where we’ve gone in previous summers, the composting toilets required turning at the end of our week, a noxious job that often involved the application of Ben gay under our noses and a plunge in the lake afterwards. We lined up by the steps to the hatch on the hillside underneath the outhouse to take turns shoveling, and time after time the next person in line would snatch away the shovel from the person doing the turning, insisting, “You’ve done enough now. It’s my turn.”

For most of the year I write only in the company of my cats. But I come to the island because the care and feeding of a writer (at least this writer) also requires time to rest, relax, dream, do nothing for a while but let the clouds drift past and listen to the ducks peep and call. And to be with people I love and who love me. And who don’t let anyone shovel more than her share of shit.

Gifts from the Hamline MFAC Community

I hate shopping. The canned holiday music and newspaper ads this time of year nearly send me over the edge. But when I sit back with a strong cup of coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in the evening, I am grateful for the gifts I have received from the many people in my life who support my sometimes euphoric, sometimes neurotic writer's life. I couldn't survive without them. A special shout out today to the supportive Hamline faculty, students and alumni.

On Sunday I finished up the last of my Hamline student packets for the semester. Every student I have worked with over the years has given me the gift of their passion and creativity. They have trusted me with their deepest work. They challenge me to respond more clearly, to articulate what I believe can help make their creative and critical writing stronger. They teach me by introducing me to new stories and characters. Thank you. Thank you.

They introduce me to new subject matter, too, like tapping into dreamwork to create stronger stories, using Jewish myth or the art of burling in historical fiction. Or like Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock, who managed to write pieces for NPR while completing her first semester at Hamline, they also write about their world. Check out this one on how Bonnie' small town in Colorado is the first to give all of its residents free regional bus passes. http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kunc/news.newsmain/article/1/0/1736171/Regional/Residents.in.Lyons.Get.Free.Bus.Passes">

I believe we learn from every type of writing we create and read. Lucky me.

All of us students and faculty have until January 7th to rest and prepare for the stimulating residency and reunion of kindred souls. I can't wait.

Writing cheer to all. CRM

To Write Daily Or To Not Write Daily

I’ve been reading Writers On Writing, A collection of Essays by Writers. Two stand out for their contradiction.
Carolyn Chute, author of four novels, (her first, The Beans of Egypt Maine was a critical, yet controversial success) says:

“I am an unmarketable person. I can’t teach writing or make a living in any public way, as I get confused when interrupted or over-stimulated. So, my only income is from novels. I make about $2 an hour. This should explain the absence of dishwasher, clothes dryer, running hot water, electricity, health insurance and other such luxuries.

Writing is like meditation or going into an ESP trance, or prayer. Like dreaming. You are tapping into your unconsciousness. To be fully conscious and alert with life banging and popping and cuckooing all around you, you are not going to find your way to your subconscious, which is a place of complete submission. It takes me three days of complete boredom and no interruptions to calm myself enough to get to that place."

Walter Mosley, famous and acclaimed author of over thirty books, including, the Easy Rawlings mystery series, says:

“If you want to be a writer you have to write every single day. The consistencies, the monotony, the certainty, all vagaries and passions are covered by this daily recurrence. It doesn’t matter what time of day, and there’s no time limit on how long you have to write. Some days it might only be a few minutes, other days it might be a few hours. The important thing is that you breathe and dream your writing every single day or it will lose its life.

Nothing we create is art at first. It’s simply a collection of notions that may never be understood. Returning every day thickens the atmosphere. Images appear. Connections are made. But even these clearer notions will fade if you stay away more than a day.”

Mosley is a commercial and financial success with a plethora of novels behind him and in front of him. He is a good and admirable writer. Chute is not as well known, she lives quietly and poorly in the woods (with her also “unmarketable” husband) yet she is just as committed to her process and her personality. She is poor, but she is honest. She is a good and admirable writer.

Is it possible to be a writer who is a little of both? Can we write daily and also not-write daily? Is every writer a walking contradiction?

Letting Go

I am dropping in as a guest today, grateful for all the stimulating posts this semester. I appreciated Ron writing about letting go of details, trusting the iceberg holding the story up. Anne and Lisa wrote about letting go of articles that tell us which genres are selling and thus what we should be writing. Kelly wrote about letting go of pre-ordained structure and using elements from all aspects of our lives to deepen our stories.

I am working on letting go - of time. I hoard time. I plan my writing times every day, like if I get in so many hours I can control the outcome. And then I get an email - picture book publication delayed yet again due to illustrations not ready. Another email that editorial decision about one of my projects will be coming soon. I wait. And I wait.

But I must write. I can't live if I don't write. But how to write without anxiety about the outcome? When Anne and I presented on the writing life at a residency a couple of years ago, she said something like, “If I am only happy on the days I get a contract offer or a great review, I am looking at one unhappy life.” Can writers be happy when outcomes are so dependent on waiting and wondering?

Yes. Yes. We can be happy if we're putting words on paper. We can be happy when we get an insight that only comes from the writing, not the talking about the writing. We can be happy sharing with other writers or reading a great book. We can be happy closing down our computers and trusting that the words will be there again, even with the deadline of a Hamline packet due tomorrow and tomorrow.

Be happy. Let go. CRM

The Writer's Dilemma and Shoes

Okay, forget writing and let’s get down to what’s really important for a moment. I have to go to an event this weekend – a potentially stressful event where I may need an extra boost of confidence. Usually whenever I sign a new book contract I treat myself to a pair of shoes. Currently I have no book contract, however I am still excited about my work-in-progress, and my editor is encouraging (sad to say no more contracts with a partial novel anymore). My dilemma: do I buy these new platform shoes that would match my black dress perfectly and also give me some extra height for a particular event even though I cannot afford them and I have no book contract to sign? Would buying them jinx my contract or would it be a good luck omen?

These are the worries of the freelance writer. Treat or no treat? When to celebrate? Bad luck or good luck? Frivolity or practicality? I can spend all my energy either talking myself into it or out of it, when really if I just get back to my novel all these anxieties about shoes and stressful events will fade away! Writing is almost always the answer to everything.

Tax Time

I woke this morning thinking it is time to do my taxes…. oh the horror! When I was in graduate school I learned one of the biggest tax tips of my life—SAVE EVERY receipt and DEDUCT EVERYTHING! If you make any money from your writing, all that you spend on it can be deducted.

So for what it’s worth I thought I’d share my rudimentary system of doing taxes:
I take every receipt from 2009, which I have collected in a large manila folder in the bottom of the desk drawer (this is the most important step—really save every receipt, even the ones you don’t think are deductible--you can always figure out later if they are!) This includes every book, every tube of paint, every pencil, every toner cartridge, every bus or plane I took for a reading or speaking gig, every meal I bought while on that trip, every art museum I visited or play I saw (I get huge inspiration from art, plays and movies for all my work), etc….

All those receipts get dumped on the floor and I start organizing them in five piles labeled: Office, Art, Books, Printing/Copying, Postage, Travel, and Research. I add them up on my handy calculator. Then I write what I make from my three sources: Teaching, Royalties, Speaking and School Visits, and figure what percentage of the itemized receipts is to be deducted from each income earned. I add and subtract all those numbers, along with deductions from my home office/studio (1/4 of rent or mortgage plus 1/4 of utility bills, which goes against my royalty earnings). Then, the easy step, I bring those numbers to my magic accountant, and hold my breath while I wait for him to do the rest. He is so worth his fee, and his fee is also deductible.

So to recap: SAVE EVERY RECEIPT, DEDUCT EVERYTHING, and GET AN ACCOUNTANT!

You'll find me under a pile of receipts now…