Scott Elliott guest blogs on BOOK TOURS WITH KIDS – Part 1

Hi everyone! Hope you are having a great summer with kids in camp, coming home sun-warmed and tired and sleeping soundly through the night.  We are judging the Fellowship entries while we are on hiatus from Salons and let me tell you – there is some stiff competition this year!

Meanwhile – we are thrilled to welcome a terrific novelist, Scott Elliott, who lives and teaches in Walla Walla, Washington.  Scott is the father of two boys and two books, Coiled in the Heart and Temple Grove: A Novel.  Click here for his bio.

Take it away, Scott—

Is it a good idea to go on a book tour with two boys, aged two and five?

Probably not.

Nevertheless, my wife Jenna and I recently hit the road with two red-headed, fun-loving, mischievous imps we happened to have around.  I’ve long described the experience of having children in one’s thirties as a descent back into the tumultuous emotional zone you’ve worked your whole life to leave behind. As soon as you feel yourself standing on solid adult ground blessedly free of such swings you look at your life’s clock and say, “better have kids”  and embark on the wildest, emotional swingiest ride of your life. There are occasions during certain confluences of child raising madness when one looks to the sky and says, why… why?  balanced with times of such beautiful tender reawakening to the world and its wonders that one struggles to find words for such sweet perfection. Both states intertwined.

Rather than have me hit the road alone, we decided to morph an early summer vacation with a small Pacific Northwest book tour for my new novel Temple Grove, which is set on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State.  The tour took me to some wonderful independent book stores in Western Washington and Oregon. I started on my own at Annie Bloom’s Bookstore in Portland, and the family went with me from Walla Walla, where we live, to Olympia (Orca Books); Seattle (Elliott Bay Book Company); Bellingham (Village Books); on up to Vancouver, B.C where I read at a tribute to Joyland Magazine at the Railway Club.   

Going on a book tour puts one in touch with one’s own day-to-day persona to a greater degree because you also begin to think about what your authorial persona ought to be. This persona may be a little different from who you are.  Fiction grants you license to tap into selves who are not you—who may be more extreme in different directions—to go into very adult and complex zones, sometimes verging on, or squarely within, our capacity for depravity. So, the fiction writer’s persona in readings may be pulled by the material away from the more accessible, friendly self your friends and family are used to seeing.

We decided to keep the readings and time with children separate, though we did plan to have the boys come see daddy read at least once….

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Ghost writing, blogging, and writing a novel in a year

As writers who have to support little hungry mouths, we are (well, like everyone else) always searching for a way to make money.

So what about ghost-writing?

Articles like this one from the BBC, make it sound so easy - write two or three books a year, put your kids through private schools. Live in a fancy house. Meet celebrities who love you. Done.

Of course, no one knows who you are.

But why do we write, exactly? I mean, none of us can stop, right? Whenever we think to throw the pen out the window we are haunted by ideas, gripped by the fear that we have tossed away our talent. When our PTA asks us to write for the newsletter we squirm, as angry as the doctor who is asked to "just take a quick look" at this weird blister-thing on Sybill's back during a Fourth of July barbecue.

We want to be read, and really, we want to be paid for our work.

So how important is it that people know we are actually the author of that work?

Interesting question, isn't it? How would you feel if you wrote a whole book and it became a best seller -- but then some dipstick actor who could barely focus thoughts into a verbal sentence, much less in an email, gets credit for writing that fascinating book and gets to talk to Oprah, Ellen, and Jon Stewart about how gripping their story was to read. Would the money be enough to keep you satisfied?

If it's just about the money, why aren't we all writing creative ad copy? I can find a million job offers for blogging about random things. Here's my position on this:  do whatever day job you have to do to keep your kids fed and your rent paid, but leave time for your own creative work.

Ghostwriting can leave you drained. Yes, you are using your craft (writing) to earn a living. But you are also asking your inner artist to draw a picture that did not rise from your own soul.

Writing is of two parts: the story is the art, the writing is the craft. A great novel has both, and both belong to the author.  Ghost-writing is a good way to pay the bills, but don't let it be the only writing you do. Make time for your own story, even if it's not as marketable as Angelina's.

Better still: make something up. Write a story that has not yet been lived.

If you can't find time to work on your own creative stuff, then you have to give something up.  You can't (and shouldn't) give up your kids. You probably should exercise a little and leave at least a few hours for your spouse and for eating and sleeping and, let's be real, a few hours for detox with your favorite addictive TV show. But what you can give up is a day job that makes you feel like you are writing without actually letting you write. You can stop pretending your low-paying blogging job is really what you want to be writing, and instead you can take a stupid-mind-numbing job where you are being paid GOBS of money and then you can take that extra money to hire a sitter so that you can actually work on something creative.

And if you just yelled at this post, then maybe you are secretly happy at what you do and you need to JUST ACTUALLY WORK ON YOUR NOVEL. Here is a kick-in-the-pants blog (warning: really colorful language) I found to help you write a novel in one year.

Good luck & get to it.

Inspiring article - read it and WRITE.

Had to share this inspiring article by Shawn Vestal, sent over by our newest advisory board member, NYC-based literary agent Renee Zuckerbrot.  Shawn's debut collection, Godforsaken Idaho, was published earlier this month--check out his wonderful essay on The Quivering Pen (link below).

Did this ever happen to you? I will admit, I was frantic about my writing while I was pregnant the first time - thought for sure that I had to make it all happen in those speedy nine months.

Follow this link for some wonderful inspiration: "My First Publication as a Father" by Shawn Vestal.

And write something wonderful today - even if it's only a paragraph. Make something happen.

How to balance a creative career and an active family life

I was asked to guest-blog on Kidville's blog on the topic of balancing a creative career and parenting responsibilites, and I share with you the post. One day, perhaps we will also be fancy here with images and so forth. But for now: stay creative. Balance your life. Please comment on their blog in response to the tips - let them know this is a topic of interest in the virtual world!

And - we at Pen Parentis extend heartfelt strength to the families suffering in Boston. As New Yorkers with offices a block from Ground Zero, we get it. Gather strength from your loved ones, and remember that writing can also be therapeutic.

Announcing a winner

Like most of the rest of the world (at least the ones who still have electricity) I have been following the Olympics.  It has been brutal to watch the few judging glitches: Japan regaining a few points in gymnastics and bumping the Ukraine down a notch, or the Greek racisim disqualification bumping people up ("I got this Bronze thanks to someone else's racism.") or this newest badminton fiasco.

Having just awarded a Fellowship (results posted here), I can tell you - judging feels like the heaviest weight. Not just the back-and-forth gut-aching feeling of watching the USA gymnasts celebrate unexpected gold on split screen with the Russians and their unexpected loss. But also the knowledge that hundreds of armchair critics are narrowing their eyes, wondering why this one, not that one. Prizes do matter. They give you energy, they tie you to history. They are the world's approval of your somehow otherwise ridiculous decision to devote yourself to something that will never earn you a zillion dollars...

Michael Cunningham (a mentor and ex-writing teacher of mine) summed it up beautifully in his New Yorker piece recently (there's a Part 2) -- he was on the Pulitzer committee and even there, the choices were nearly impossible. Everyone has talent. Everyone has at least one spot where you want to tell them "oh, couldn't you have just gotten this one thing a little better?" But it is your job to make that choose and so you so. In the end of it all, you feel like they are all your children - you are so proud of them all, despite their flaws. It's strange how connected you become.

Here is why we at Pen Parentis strictly adhere to blind judging--I can't imagine if we, like those judges, knew where the entries were from and what the life story of the athlete/writer was as we tried to value their work.

Really, isn't a few sentences by a formerly illiterate 40 yr old as much of an accomplishment as twenty lovely pages by a trust fund kid who just finished an all-expesnses paid ride to Harvard?

When you judge quality, you aren't judging the process.

Maybe we should. Maybe there should be medals for "achievement" in sports - and in writing.

But actually, no. Everyone has a struggle. Even that trust-fund kid has to get his head around reality and put words on a page. Discipline is universal. Those kids at the Olympics all had to work to get on that team. And so it is with us. If our story is waiting in the slush pile of some editor's desk, we are already in the running. We have already jumped the first hurdle - now we are in the race.

Keep running, folks. Just keep running.



Wanted to add - Books Ahoy! was a grand success thanks to you people. I want to warmly thank our authors who all read beautifully, Bluestockings Books, FaceArt by Melissa, Church Street School for Music and Art, our fantastic volunteer staff including the lovely Arlaina Tibensky and Kaitlin Sancoucie, and I'd especially like to thank The Lilac for hosting. We had 176 people attend the event. That's just...olympic.  Thanks to all who came. Photos here: www.facebook.com/penparentis.

Freelance Writing with Kids, Pros & Cons

Cons of Freelance Writing with Kids

•  Children interrupt: whether intentionally or not, if they are around, they will need you every 5-10 minutes, or when they're older, every hour. And when they are not there, often you'll catch yourself wondering what they are doing. Or worse, school calls. Your writing may reflect these constant breaks. Good writing requires solid concentration.

•  Freelance writing involves networking, client meetings, administrative tasks, research trips and an extraordinary amount of phone and internet time. Many of these tasks will take you away from home, especially for interviews or live reporting. Will you get a sitter? Have day care? What if your kid has a fever on the day that Paris Hilton has finally agreed to sit down with you?

•  Have you ever tried to have a phone conversation around a child? It’s like a beacon instructing them to ask for things, climb you, spill something, kick their sister, or otherwise demand attention. Try adding a frustrated young childless editor on the other end of the line, who really would rather be having a martini, and you’ll see the biggest difficulty about trying to freelance write with kids.

•  Pros of Freelance Writing with Kids

•  It’s writing. For a living. You get paid to string words into sentences. That’s the best reward.

•  Your time is flexible. You can make yourself available to volunteer at a school or recess or to chaperone a field trip, or take a yoga class just to recharge. You can usually pick up the kids whenever they need it, even on those stupid half-days, and you can ferry them to the next event, taking calls during the 45 minute ballet class. As long as you meet your deadlines and the work is good, clients generally won’t care when the work is accomplished. 10pm – midnight is golden time in my house.

•  Your child will see you as a good example. Children absorb everything you do, and watching you work will teach them about work ethics, time management, and yes, the importance of writing. Your career will become intertwined with their daily life. Easier than trying to explain that their spelling homework is important because…it is.

Still ready to forge ahead? Good. The most important thing is to plan your days. Schedule everything possible on times when the children are not around so that when they are, you don’t find yourself waving them off as you take a phone call or reply to “just this one” email. Let your phone take messages for you. Schedule a time to reply to email. You’ll be under deadline anyway, so adding a few more alerts on your calendar should feel quite natural.

Most importantly: don’t forget that freelance writing is still writing and it will suck your precious creativity: don’t expect to put in eight hours on an article about the six things you should never wear for an author publicity shot and still have energy to write a chapter of your new novel. Add to this the fact that your kids need you to be “always on” and you’ll see the dilemma. And yet, people do it all the time. 

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