Liz Prato Archives - Christi Craig

July 11, 2019July 11, 2019

On Walking & Writing

I just finished reading Antonia Malchik’s A Walking Life. I took my time with this book, partly because I was traveling a lot in between reading and partly because this book is full of places where one should pause, reflect, return.

Walking & Writing, image of woman leaving footprints in the sand.

In one particular section, Malchik writes about the importance of leaving our footprints behind. She quotes author Robert Macfarlane who says, “To make an impression is also to receive one.”

Then, Malchik herself hits on something I can completely relate to:

Where our feet land leaves a story for those who can read it….

This week I met with a writing friend for lunch, and we talked about parallel experiences as writers. We each started a story years ago that was left dormant until we were ready to pick it up again, ready to finish it and send it out and share it with others.

In a few days I will also bring a summer session of Flash Nonfiction II to a close, a class where stories are thrown down on the page (or tossed up on the screen) in quick succession, some just skeletons of a story, others an essay to which the writer has returned. “This is one I wrote back in my twenties,” one writer said. And the story is still presses on her today.

What I am reminded of in all of these experiences–in walking, writing, and returning to an essay we had set aside, is that we are easily frustrated because these things take time. I have to park a mile away from work and am irritated that the walk inside will take me 10 more minutes; I write a novel only to leave it unfinished because I am not yet ready; I return to an essay time and again in hopes I might finally discover what I really want to say. In everything, purpose and ideas flitter in and out of focus. All that remains some days are quick steps from here to there, scratches of notes, puzzle pieces still in play.

But (and this isn’t a new idea), none of this energy is ever wasted.

In the early pages of Malchik’s book, she says “Walking is often described as an act of faith. . . . It is closer to an act of trust….” I say the same of writing. Faith and trust in the process is nurtured in time, in community, in willingness to return.

So we keep on keeping on, through bits and pieces, through marathon manuscripts. To that I say, Good. Because your story matters.

If you want to learn more about A Walking Life, watch for my author Q&A with Antonia Malchik soon.

If you’ve written your book and you’re ready to take the next step and send it out, Hidden Timber Books is hosting another author workshop: Nail Your Query Letter with Liz Prato, author and editor. Your query letter gets your foot in the door with publishers and agents. Join Liz online for tips & techniques Saturday, July 27th, 11am Pacific.

Learn more about the workshop and register HERE!

February 14, 2018February 13, 2018

Remington Roundup:
First Drafts, a Book Festival, & Forest Avenue Press

I’m fresh off of teaching my online course, Flash Nonfiction I, and spending four weeks with an awesome group of women writers, so this week I’m recalibrating, recalculating, & settling back into story ideas and studio time. And, I’ve curated a fresh collection of links for this month’s Remington Roundup on first drafts, your next book festival, and Forest Avenue Press.

First Drafts

It feels like ages since I’ve written anything entirely new and of worth. Even after leading a group of writers through writing prompts and first-draft exercises, the pull at the back of my throat when I consider the blank page brings pause as my pen hovers over my notebook.

So I am especially grateful to folks like Allison K. Williams, Brevity’s Social Media Editor who posts often on Brevity’s blog. I love every word she’s written lately, all of them wise: on getting down to the work, on celebrating tiny successes, and yesterday’s post on first drafts.

As a writer, no-one wants to let our weak sentences out into the world before we’ve muscled them up and trimmed them down. But there’s value in a a sloppy, disorganized, poorly written first draft. It’s not a failure, it’s a necessary first step. It’s barre exercises before ballet, scales before singing, charcoal on newsprint before oil on canvas.

I’ve never taken ballet and I’m not much of a singer (though I do like to torture my kids with a little operatic tune once in a while), but man do I know the sloppy, disorganized first draft. The key to remember is that these early pages are always perfect in their own right.

A Book Festival

For all you writers and readers and general literary world lovers, you will want to check out the UntitledTown Book and Author Festival in Green Bay happening April 19-22, 2018.

Sign up for their newsletter, because (while they haven’t posted the full schedule yet) you’re guaranteed a whole weekend of *free* gatherings and activities.

Last year they hosted Margaret Atwood and Sherman Alexie (left, with me!) for their big Saturday night event. I bought my VIP ticket as soon as I could–okay, the big event isn’t free but it’s well worth your money–and sat just two rows back from literary greatness. I can’t wait to see who they bring to Green Bay this year!

Plus, among the long list of anticipated workshops and readings, I’ll be teaching one on Flash Nonfiction: The Art of the Short Essay and participating on a panel about The worst writing advice I ever got. I’ve marked my calendar and booked my hotel. If you go, shoot me an email. I’d love to see you!

Forest Avenue Press

Today in particular is a big day if you’re a novel writer with a manuscript at-the-ready. Forest Avenue Press opens up for submissions from now until March 14th. They’re on the lookout for novels that “subvert the dominant paradigm.”

We are intrigued by genre mashups, especially those with magical elements; our fall 2018 title, The Alehouse at the End of the World by Stevan Allred is a comic epic set on the Isle of the Dead in the fifteenth century. That being said, it’s quite possible that we might fall in love with a contemporary, non-magical novel.

If you’re a long-time reader here, you will recognize some of the books Forest Avenue Press lists in their publications: Liz Prato’s edited anthology of short stories The Night, and the Rain, and the River, Ellen Urbani’s Landfall, Michael Shou-Yung Shum’s Queen of Spades. Their catalog continues to grow with stories that dig deep and impress, and I’m honored to participate on the committee of readers for them again this time around.

So click here, read more, and Submit!

December 30, 2015December 30, 2015

Spotlight: 4 Author Interviews from 2015

In a time when so much divides us–religion, politics, and even something as simple as distance–books bring us together. We write them; we read them; we discuss them. And much can be learned from a good story, fact or fiction. One of my favorite aspects of blogging on a regular basis comes in sharing a good book with you, many times through author interviews.

Below, I’ve highlighted quotes from a few of my favorites, as the authors and/or their books touch on themes to which I’m particularly drawn: connection, compassion, and grace.

1. Margaret Noodin (WEWENI) tells us what inspires her most in writing poetry:

I am inspired by the systems all around us – water systems, forest systems, the way swamps evolve over time, all of the life that constantly changes and recharges everything that is connected. I suppose, ultimately, all the old stories about “mishomis-giizis” and “nokomis-dibiki-giizis” (the sun and the moon) are at the core of it. The fact that all of this life is happening across vast distances and inside tiny molecules reminds me of the way we put sounds and meaning together to make words that allow us to actually communicate ideas and perceptions to one another. None of this is new, but taking time to notice all the influences of the universe certainly leads me to write.

2. Ellen Urbani (LANDFALL) offers perspective on the tiny accidents in life that carry us along our journey and are reflected in the stories we tell:

I believe in the possibility of almost anything, and I have seen it come to pass in my whole life – not just my writing life – that the strangest and most unpredictable string of circumstances leads to an outcome I can best describe as miraculous. Albert Einstein said, “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous,” and if I could bring myself to believe in a God that would be a convenient theory. But I’ve long suspected life is not so simply explained. (And I don’t suspect for a minute that Einstein did, either.) Instead, like the esteemed man, I believe in mathematical probability, and in the environment’s tendency toward patterns and order, and in the verifiable fact that highly unlikely things happen in the natural world every day. Call it magic. Call it coincidence. Call it signs or God or karma or science. Regardless, it has been my experience that if we live with our eyes wide open and our hearts in the right place, if we shoulder life’s hardships without allowing them to hollow us, and if we learn from our mistakes and follow the clues they carve for us, we often land on precisely the path upon which we need to stand.

3. Shann Ray (AMERICAN COPPER) speaks on compassion when asked about the dark characters in his book and how they reveal truth and beauty:

Mentors, revision rounds, and more and more reading all develop surprises in me that are triggered by each character. All this helps me try to generate a multi-layered foundation of compassion for each of them. Human complexity has such refreshing beauty. Even our evil, though it is deplorable and it harms us so very much, can with grace become a conduit toward the most profound truths of love and humanity. We see it all over the world: The Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa, the restorative justice practices in Colombia, the reconciliation ceremonies led by the Cheyenne over the Sand Creek Massacre, and the Nez Perce over the Big Hole Massacre. Love is quieter, but I believe, more powerful in the end.

4. Liz Prato (BABY’S ON FIRE) shares an important piece of advice for anyone writing stories:

“What story would you tell to a dying person?” I might be paraphrasing, but I remember this as something Tom Spanbauer said. You would want it to be worth their limited time, right? It doesn’t matter if you make them cry, or laugh, or think of life in a new way—whatever—you want your writing to provoke genuine emotion. Surprise, even. That’s the best we can do—surprise each other, surprise ourselves, with the quality of mercy and grace.

Happy New Year! Here’s to another 365 days of writing, reading, and taking time to notice the compassion, grace, and connection in stories all around us.