Quotation of the Week: Rebecca Makkai
“One of the first difficult lessons that I had to learn as a writer was to push my characters into doing really inappropriate things, whether it’s a criminal act in this really extreme case, or just saying something that a normal person would keep their mouth shut about, or forcing a confrontation. In everyday life we act really politely and we don’t always say what is on our mind and we don’t always get ourselves into messes. But you have no story unless you’re willing to push somebody to the brink. You find the moment where the character says something they wouldn’t normally say or does something they wouldn’t normally do. They go over that line and you have a story.”
–Rebecca Makkai
Source: This terrific, extensive interview in Trop. (FYI: We have a Q&A w/Rebecca right here on this site, too.)
Monday Markets/Jobs/Opportunities for Writers
Friday Find: Hot Freelance Tips from Kelly James-Enger
The primary concerns of the Practicing Writing blog focus on the craft and business of writing fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction. But you’ve probably noticed that freelance writing is something of an overlapping concern here. Speaking personally, I’ve been trying to sustain a part-time freelance practice alongside my “creative” writing AND my “day job” for the past several years, and lately, I’ve been trying to take a good hard look at how I can improve it.
All of which is by way of explaining why I’m so pleased to learn that Kelly James-Enger, another contributing editor for The Writer magazine, has published a new book: Writer for Hire: 101 Secrets for Freelance Success. And to help introduce it, Kelly is featuring a series of “Hot Freelance Tips” on her Dollars and Deadlines blog. (She was also kind enough to arrange for me to receive a complimentary review copy of Writer for Hire.)
But wait—there’s more! Kelly has agreed to provide another free copy of her new book to one lucky Practicing Writer. All you need to do to be eligible is to read the Hot Freelance Tips and come back here to comment on this post. Please tell me (and Kelly) something you’ve learned from the tips, something they make you wonder about, or something that simply “speaks” to you when you read them.
We’ll collect comments until through next Friday (May 11), and then the trusty random number generator will do the work of choosing a winner. Thank you for playing along!
UPDATE: The random number generator has selected CAROL J. ALEXANDER as the giveaway winner. Carol, please email me with your mailing address and I’ll get it to Kelly ASAP. Thank you all for participating–I enjoyed (and agreed with) your comments, and I’m sure that Kelly appreciated them, too.
Thursday’s Work-in-Progress
Remember a few weeks ago when I outlined some of the assignments and projects that were on my to-do list? Remember how several of them had May 1 deadlines?
Well, this week, I’m happy to report that every deadline was met.
This week has also brought the publication of my latest micro-essay, “Comprehension,” which found a lovely home with Hippocampus Magazine. (If you haven’t already checked out the anniversary celebration on the Hippocampus site–replete with daily giveaways–go take a look.)
And over on Fiction Writers Review (FWR), Short Story Month is in full swing. I’m proud to have led this month’s “Stories We Love” posts with some thoughts about Jack London’s “To Build a Fire.”
Finally–and in case you missed it–this week I’ve also announced which title(s) I’ll be giving away as part of my participation in the FWR Collection Giveaway Project. I’m happy to see so much early interest.
P.S. This week also brought my birthday. Check out the delightful illustration my niece included with the card she gave me.