Ready or Not, Here We Are: Brian Matuszak Shares His Experience with NaNoWriMo 2018

Brian Matuszak in engaged conversation before
addressing NaNoWriMo troopers.

If you've been a writer for any length of time, you are undoubtedly familiar with annual National Novel Writers Month, a.k.a. NaNoWriMo. I'm not sure why it's in November, other than perhaps because Novel and November share the same first three letters (and in the same order.) .

To help local wannabe novelists get motivated for this year's undertaking, the Lake Superior Writers invited local writer/performer/humorist Brian Matuszak to share insights from his grand fling in 2018. The actor, teacher and playwright is also a public speaker who knows the first rule of public speaking: Don't be boring. He also knows, and exemplified the second rule of public speaking, which is, "It's better to speak ten minutes too short than two minutes too long."

The meeting began with Jessica, a librarian staffer since 2012, introducing Brooks Johnson, Vice Chair of the Lake Superior Writers, who introduced the speaker after reminding everyone of the benefits of being a member of Lake Superior Writers. On December we will reconvene here to see what we learned during this 30 day sprint.

We were also informed of an upcoming workshop with Alice Marks titled "Clean Up your Manuscript!" which will take place on November 16 from 9 a.m. till noon at Peace Church, 1111 No. 11th Avenue East. The three hour session is designed to help writers declutter their work and help them avoid the most common mistakes writers make.

Brian's talk could be titled "My Experience." Like a lot of us, the idea of participating in NaNoWriMo is intriguing, and was something he considered several times in the past. Last year, after his wife and daughter wearied of his years of saying, "I'm gonna do this someday," he caved in and made the plunge. (Thirty days is a longer commitment than the Polar Ice Plunge that takes place in these parts each year mind-winter, but less likely to kill you.) Matuszak noted that "Writers don't talk about writing. They write." (Source: a line from "Throw Mama from the Train.")

(I will interject here that the talk was well-crafted, and well-delivered. He's much funnier than me and makes it look effortless. There were no stitches showing in the seamless storytelling, as far as I could tell.)

So, getting down to the basic objective, we were told that the aim is a 50,000 word novel in 30 days, which when parsed is 1667 words a day. The aim is not to produce a masterpiece. It is to produce 50,000 words of copy that can, after surgery, be shared as a novel. (After the Alice Marks workshop, you may even be able to transform it into a masterpiece.)

Matusczak is an expressive speaker. 

The biggest challenge is to get real about the objective. Perfectionists will drive themselves nuts. Just write and keep writing. You have the rest of your life to edit. The key for him, he said, was this: "It didn't have to be good, just done."

Brian shared that he didn't have an outline or even a plan other than the concept and an ending. His concept involved time travel, inspired in part of Back to the Future. (Other good time travel flicks worth seeing include Peggy Sue Got Married and 12 Monkeys.

The first day felt like a burden until he realized that he did not have to make something great. The pressure to produce a marvelous manuscript will suck the joy out of your month-long misadventure. Once he got past this hurdle, he said it was like opening a spigot and the stream of words poured out like a firehose.

The writing should be fun, he said. The editing is the work.

He kept track of his word count each day, and noted that the NaNoWriMo website also has a place to plug in your daily word counts. In the end, if you succeed, you'll get a certificate. You can also buy a NaNoWriMo T-shirt.

After his talk there was a Q&A which produced a few additional insights. Matuszak is already an early riser and writing each morning was something he could do fairly easily. If, however, he was unable to complete his daily target he brought his laptop with him for the rest of the day and would write in a variety of spaces and places whenever he had a few undisturbed minutes.

When asked about the plan for his story he reiterated, "I had no structure, no plan other than how it will end."

It definitely produced in him a sense of accomplishment.

TODAY is Day 3 of NaNoWriMo. If you're doing it, congrats. I commend you. I'd also be interested in hearing more about your experience at the end of the month. What did you write about? What did you learn? You can share those comments here or email them to me for a future blog post.

If you need a little luck along the way, read yesterday's blog post about our Clover Man friend. I believe $30 will get you a 4-Leaf Clover pendant like this one. (Includes shipping.)

Related Links
https://www.nanowrimo.org/
NaNoWriMo: Who Cares If You Don't Win

Lake Superior Writers Panel Gives Authors Insights to "Get It Write"

Photo by Peter Lewicki on Unsplash

Saturday morning the Lake Superior Writers hosted an interesting panel discussion to help writers gain insights about what people in various occupations do and know. We all know what it's like to read a story in which the writer reveals he doesn't know something his readers do. It may not happen often, but when it does it breaks the spell.

The aim of this two-hour session at the Superior Library was, in part, a myth-busting session designed to help writers avoid getting it wrong. The four panelists included a news reporter, librarian, IT security expert, and a local entrepreneur. A judge had also been lined up but that fell through. Nevertheless it was a very good experience.

Jenna Kowaleski of the Lake Superior Writers welcomed us, thanking the many folks who made this happen including our host the Superior Public Library. Kowaleski also reminded us of a number of upcoming events which you'll also find by following the Lake Superior Writer group on Facebook.

The four panelists, representing for occupations, were as follows.
IT Security Expert Ryan Anich, a security analyst at Essentia.
Journalist Brooks Johnson from the Minneapolis Star Tribune
Librarian Leslie Mehly from the Superior Public Library
Entrepreneur Kelsey Roseth, an Ad Agency Owner

EdNote: These are notes only, an to capture the ideas being conveyed. Sometimes written verbatim and sometimes an interpretation.

Ryan Anich, IT Security 

Q. 1. --Describe what an average day looks like for you. 
Kelsey: Many creative, joyful moments like the brainstorms on Mad Men. Getting it wrong: much is not sexy. 90% of day is emails, process management, meetings, boring stuff.
Leslie:  There's no average day. It varies. Sometimes we have issues. Leveraging begging skills to get people to do things for no money Varies from placid to someone wielding a knife in the bathroom.
Brooks: Some days are calm, sometimes someone is wielding a knife in a library. Breaking news requires a lot of knocking on doors and follow up. Find information, then how to make it interesting. A lot of hurry up and wait, and other times just hurry up.
Ryan: – Typical day involves wearing numerous hats, from dealing with foreign hackers to helping get new equipment online. It’s not like in the movies where you have someone looking at a screen at three a.m. in a dark room.

Q: 2. What was something you didn’t anticipate in your career?
Kelsey: 12-16 hour days…. Working inside companies… feel connected to the community. Thought she was leaving that when she left journalism.
Leslie – Was told she would have to climb the ladder by moving around a lot. Got attached to the community here and this is more valuable… Identifying community needs takes time and loves Superior. Not interested in leaving area.
Brooks: Most journalists are small and medium sized papers, not CNN or Washington Post. Surprise: When you write a story you still live in the community. Relationships important. Need thick skin when make mistakes… held accountable for what you write.
Ryan: You don’t know everything no matter how skilled you are. Must get into all facets to a certain degree… Code has to be integrated to the whole.

Brooks, the Reporter

Q.3. What does the media get wrong?
Leslie: Librarian tropes—librarians love cats. Also, “It’s A Wonderful Life” where Mary became a librarian and never married.
Brooks: Trope that somewhere out there Hunter S. Thompson is writing. Modern journalists are nerds. Stay away from the extreme.
Ryan: IT people do support the Mountain Dew epidemic. Day to Day work is not just magically there. Must do a lot of reading and researching.

Q.4 What does the media get right? 
Brooks: Night of the Gun is a good look inside the industry
Leslie: The Public, a film about the homeless taking over Cincinnati library
Ryan: IT introversion is fairly accurate. Most stay inside their cubes.
Kelsey: Cities & Strangers. It's truthful.

Q.5. Good fiction is in the details. Can you share some details that can be incorrect in what I do? Kelsey: Entrepreneur stress is relevant.
Leslie: Surprised at the digital divide. People who want 25 books and have no idea where their card is.
Brooks: The daily miracle—a one ton roll of blank paper to be printed. Multiple layers and levels before it reaches print. Many eyeballs before it goes out. You are a cog in a machine.
Ryan: Thick levels of sarcasm and passive/aggressiveness.

Q.6. What is the role of technology in your daily lives? What resources do you use? 
Leslie: Tech dependent. Computers and internet down, and we’re unable to do anything.
Brooks: Able to do his whole job on an iPhone. Uses Slack, a messaging app. Has 8 apps open at any time.
Ryan: Internet is a need for anyone today.
Kelsey: 200+ Passwords All clients have different technologies Software for everything…

Librarian Leslie (L) and Kelsey the Entrepreneur

Q.7. You all interact with people quite a bit. Any memorable conversations you've had that you did not expect? 
Brooks: Used to write questions before … now more of a conversation. Be human first and a journalist second. Lots of interesting people, places never expected.
Leslie: Patrons at the forefront. Constantly problem solving. Often people have been five other places without getting answers. Invaluable being there to help. She told a story of a person trying to send money to son in jail out of state. Exceedingly complicated. You are here to serve.
Ryan: Working with legal and HR departments… enforcing legal matters related to copyright. Other situations where they become the evidence-gatherer for criminal matter.
Kelsey: Surprised at the number of conversations in which people want to eliminate people from seeing their content, discriminating. Through FB you can decide who sees or doesn’t see. On the positive side I've learned so many weird and whacky things that were very interesting. Guy who was fascinated with moths.

At this point there was a ten minute break in which we were given an opportunity to write questions directed to specific individuals on the panel.

Q. How do you respond to the perception that libraries are outdated. 
Leslie: They are not. So many things in this world are digital now… The Digital Divide is real. DO A Books and reading important. There's still a demand and a need.

Q. What's the best approach for working with sources?
Brooks: Research first. Be transparent. Say who you are and what you are doing. Who, what, -- the more you know about what you want, the better. Scripts sometime help. The more ready you are the better.

Q. A journalist was denied a service because of something she wrote. Is this an issue for journalists?
Brooks: It can happen if you’re a food critic. Sometimes people call us out. If you act with professionalism and fairness, it's not going to happen too often.

Q. When a story breaks what is process? 
Brooks: A lot of times reporters get a lot of leeway. A lot of stories happen on weekends on the squawk box. “If it bleeds it leads," is a saying in this business. People are drawn to the blood, but you (as a journalist) have to keep things in perspective.

Q: How do you see the future of privacy and security?  
Ryan: Kelsey brought up a good point about manipulation in advertising online. Your privacy is gone at this time. Your personal preferences are pretty much in a pot of gold for people who know how to use it. Your day-to-day activity is logged and used.
Kelsey: Info that is hidden is not hidden to Google

Q: What is the best writing guide you have come across?
Brooks: Advice I received from an editor: “Just tell me what you’re going to tell me.”
Othe books various panel members suggested:
Draft #4 by John McPhee
On Writing, by Stephen King
Bird By Bird. Anne Lamott
The Writing Life by Annie Dillard
Ryan: Dark Reading (online)
The Talent of the Room

Maddie Cohen Talks About the Ebb and Flow of Her Career as a Writer

Last Saturday afternoon I attended an event at the Duluth Public Library in which successful writers shared insights from their career paths on how to make money by writing. It was a surprisingly rewarding hour-and-a-half, for which I am grateful to Lake Superior Writers for assembling. I was also grateful to Facebook for having sent a reminder an hour beforehand while I was driving in to town. (Social media isn't all bad.)

One of the panelists was Lake Superior Writers board member Maddie Cohen whom I reached out to for this interview.

EN: Let's start with Lake Superior Writers. I see that you are on the board for LSW. How has being on Lake Superior Writers helped you in your writing career?

Cohen is on the board of
Lake Superior Writers

Maddie Cohen: Lake Superior Writers (LSW) has been a fantastic resource. I've met other writers-including some other freelancers-who I now turn to when things get stressful in my work. It's nice to talk to people who understand the ebb and flow of freelance writing.

I've also joined a few writing groups through LSW, and I've gotten some work through the people I've met in the organization. For instance, I proofread the content of a member who ghostwrites financial materials.

EN: Your website introduces you as a writer, editor and content strategist. I like how concise and specific it is. How did you come to choose this specific writing niche?

MC: Carving out my niche was a process of trial and error. Initially I intended to proofread and copyedit fiction, but I came to realize I preferred working on marketing materials and blog posts for corporations. I now write and edit content for a number of companies, and help some of my long-term clients develop content calendars.

What I like most about this niche is that the content has got to be--in your words--concise. My strengths lie in simplifying complex topics.

EN: I'm guessing there were people in the room Saturday who may have been surprised to hear that you make 4K to 7K a month. How long did it take from the first Fiverr assignment to reach this level today?

MC: My income took off when I substantially increased my rates in the spring of 2017. I was taking on more projects than I could handle and needed to manage what was coming in. It took me about two years on Fiverr to achieve this, but I could have done it sooner if I'd had the confidence to charge more earlier on.

Now I'm on Fiverr Pro, a "premium" version of the platform where freelancers are vetted and charge a minimum of $100 per project. With my current fee structure on Fiverr Pro, I make between $50 and $150 per hour depending on the project scope.

Fiverr, however, only accounts for about half of my total income. I also work with clients independently: a hospital, a law firm, and a travel marketing company, among others. These "anchor" clients give me steady work over email each month. More often than not, I'm so busy with these clients that I have to make my Fiverr profile invisible in the search results.

EN: For people who don't know what Fiverr is, can you briefly explain?

MC: Fiverr is an online marketplace where "sellers" (freelancers) list specific services, and "buyers" (clients) hire them to complete projects in their area of expertise. Buyers pay immediately-the site takes a 20% cut, but the commission doesn't bother me because I don't have to chase down late payments-and the platform holds the funds in escrow until the service is completed.

EN: You also do social media consulting. How did that evolve? And what are the biggest mistakes marketers make when using social media?

MC: Social media consulting allows me to combine my skills-writing and photography-into a single service. At one point I was shooting portraits and managing my writing business, and a client recommended that I consider social media strategy so I could make money writing and capturing photos. Now I've done social media for businesses ranging from restaurants to bookstores.

The biggest mistake one can make when using social media? Posting too frequently, or at the wrong time. As much as social media emphasizes "authenticity," you've still got to be strategic. There is definitely a formula for driving engagement and building a following.

EN: In one of your blog posts you mention that the freelance life is feast or famine, so you have to set money aside when you have it. What kinds of things do you do to increase or slow down your workflow?

MC: Fortunately, the last unplanned slow week I had was in November 2016. I followed up with some of my long-term clients during this time, and a few projects fell into my lap. Freelancers should always reach out to their existing clients when they're underbooked--chances are, someone will have work available.

Lately, I've been grappling with too many projects. I increased my rates again, which is one way I like to manage the amount of work that comes in, but I also hope to take a few days off soon to compensate for a recent chaotic period. To slow things down, I let clients know when I'm too busy. Projects are rarely as "urgent" as people say they are.

Balance is key to maintaining a steady workload. On the rare occasion I work 12 hours straight, I'll reward myself by taking the next day off. When I'm on a tight deadline and log a 60-hour workweek, I'll make a point of cutting myself off after 20 hours the following week. These are some of the strategies I rely on to take back control of what is often an unpredictable work schedule. By doing so, both the busy times and the slow times feel deliberate.

* * * *

Need a competent and responsible Freelancer? You can find Maddie through her website at www.maddiecohen.com

Full House Enriched by Powerful Readings at Beaners Spoken Word Open Mic

Last Thursday I attended the January Spoken Word Open Mic, a monthly event that takes place  at Beaners Central, the 3rd Thursday of every month. Hosted by Tina Higgins Wussow, who weaves a trivia contest throughout the evening, the event features writers and all genres of written work. As further inducement to come, the win is half price on these special nights.

Writers from all kinds come to read, and often there is someone takes the stage who has never read their poems or stories in public before.

When I arrived Thursday the parking lot was jammed, something I'd never seen before for a poetry night. The street parking was also maxed as well,  so it was curious. As it turned out, the mob was gathered for Liz, a candidate for city counsel I believe. But even after the Rally for Liz thinned it was an exceptionally healthy crowd, from the stage to the windows in the other room.

After welcoming everyone, Tina announced that the theme of this month's trivia contest was "wood." During the course of the evening we were asked questions about what state produces the most matchsticks, which state produces the most toothpicks, what country has the longest wooden bridge in the world, what country has the oldest tree, along with questions about beavers and termites. It's multiple choice, so you can guess your answers if totally blanked out.

But the writers present were there to read, and it was an excellent crop, because as many as a half dozen were there as a final practice event in preparation for Gut Instinct, an event in Ashland in which winners of a writing competition were invited to read their stories. So, we were treated to some mighty fine memoir excerpts, stories and poems.

Tom Kanzar read first, sharing a story about an incident in the South Pacific during the Second World War. A typhoon sank a ship and the brave seaman of the Tabor searched for 36 hours to find survivors. Kanzar, a wiry older man, wore a Stetson cocked at an angle and took a Sinatra-esque pose. He said that he sees it as a performance in which the object is to become someone else.

The second reader, David, reads a section from his non-fiction memoir, a memory from the first grade. It began, "The kid that lives next door is the one and only guest who is not a blood relative at your birthday party..." The story segues to an incident in school that pummels you like a volley of punches.

Zomie followed, offering up two whimsically titled poems, Why the World Needs More Georgia (O'Keefe) and After the Endoscopy, After Which You Looked Into My Guts and Found Nothing. This poem was written in an effort to redeem a bad experience, a poem about fortitude in the midst of the system.

I recently produced a piece of flash fiction titled The Gladiator that I wanted to share. When I heard some of the other readers I realized the importance of practicing your work before you read. A little rehearing helps strengthen one's presentation, a lesson I need to remind myself of before my reading.

At least a half dozen readers had come as a warm up for Gut Instinct. The readings included a terrifying first person excerpt from a novel about mountain climbing, about hiding in a crevasse waiting out a storm in a ten day storm with the tensions over tough decisions vividly outlined; a memoir about memories of New Mexico; a piece  about tea and relationships; a wonerful story about teen angst that began, "In the middle of January Willen still hadn't figured out how to talk to girls. Even if he failed, trying was the right thing to do.

As a writer/reader myself, I get impressed by and take pleasure in beautiful sentences, and there were plenty of these Thursday. Chris, who teaches English as a second language at UMD, read an autobiographical piece about a camping trip. The poem converged into this one wonderful line: "And you realize it's this vulnerability you've been searching for all along."

Marie Zhukov of the Lake Superior Writers, shared a powerful non-fiction essay about being mugged and its subsequent events with the intriguing title, Book Signings Can Be Hazardous To Your Health.

A fellow named Kevin shared three short, heartfelt poems: 1. The Lonely Mop Bucket 2. Music of the Universe 3. What Is Art? and a young woman name Cheyenna took the stage for the first time in her life to read a pair of poems as well.

Keynote presenter Jayson Iwen took the stage along with a UMD student, Mollek Adju, who hails from Tripoli in Libya. Dr. Iwen, who teaches at UWS, is himself a writer and poet with experience teaching English and writing. Interestingly, he lived in Beirut from 2004 to 2006 where he organized, publicized and emceed the first postwar public open mic reading series in Lebanon, a series that led to ongoing readings at the Blue Note Café.

For this particular evening Iwen and Adju read from the recently published Lighthouse for the Drowning by Jawdat Fakhreddine. There was a tragic beauty in these poems. Adju read a portion of a section in Arabic and Dr. Iwen read his English translation. There were so many great lines that served as containers for profound thoughts.

The process of translating the work to English was intriguing. A literal word-meaning translation would be produced by his assistant, and then Dr. Iwen would craft this so as to be culturally accurate and parallel to the intent of the writer. The themes reminded me of the longing for homeland expressed in Psalm 137.

This latter portion of the program was so rich that I must save it for another day.

Best to you in the week ahead and cherish it.

A Visit with Duluth Author and Pilot Eric "Shmo" Chandler (Part 1)

The Northland has long been famous for its natural beauty, and followers of this blog by conclude that we are also rich in the arts as well. We seem to attract more than our share of artists, writers, poets, and photographers. The One River Many Stories project last year brought a whole batch of storytellers and artsy folk together around a single theme... unsurprisingly related to our region's natural beauty.

Writing, though, is typically a solitary occupation. Whether slugging it out on an old Underwood or a MacBook Pro, or scribbling longhand on lined paper, writers are generally soloists. They do, however, benefit from sharing their work with others and getting feedback. Hence, no community of worth is without its writers groups.

Here in the Twin Ports we have the Lake Superior Writers. As with every other kind of interest, the writers also have a social media component now,  Facebook community. It was here that I came across a posting by Eric Chandler that peaked my interest. Upon further investigation of his Shmotown blog I took an interest in what he's doing, impressed at the documentation of his journey as a writer here, his goals, his failings, his spirit... and his passion for the craft. On top of all that he's a pilot and a poet as well.

Many Northland writers hibernate in the winter, and the long winters can be quite enabling for us. Shmo, on the other hand, is also passionate about the winter outdoors opportunities here, embracing cross-country skiing as voraciously as his love of the written word.

This is part one of an interview. We met for the first time a couple weeks back. He said he likes to write in a manner that is natural, "the way you tell a story in a bar." He has two short books -- Down In It and Outside Duluth -- and is working on a third.

EN: How did you come to take an interest in writing?

Eric Chandler: I wrote a little cartoon book when I was a kid about a superhero I invented. My parents were entertained and showed encouragement. That’s it in a nutshell: People showed me encouragement at different points in my life when I wrote.

In the fifth grade, I wrote a dramatic nonfiction account of how I cut off the tip of the middle finger on my right hand. I stuck it in a door hinge and managed to get several pages out of that for a school writing project.

In the 8th grade, my English teacher, Mr. Dave Foley was a marathon runner who also wrote for running and skiing magazines. I skied my first cross-country ski race that year with my dad. My teacher said I should write about it. When I did, he helped me publish it in a magazine called Michigan Skier. It was the first thing I ever got published.

I wrote in a journal off and on throughout my life. In my 20’s, I started writing a letter and shoving it in with my Christmas cards. People thought it was funny. Encouragement.

I wrote a story in 2002 about training for cross-country skiing and submitted it to a writing contest at Skinnyski.com. I won and they sent me a handheld GPS unit, worth quite a bit of money. This was shortly after we moved to Duluth in 2002. A little later I wrote my first piece for a magazine (Silent Sports Magazine). They sent me a check. Financial encouragement. I wrote my first published fiction in 2009 and my first published poetry in 2013.

Small positive boosts got me into this game. So, all the people who encouraged me only have themselves to blame.

EN:  How did you become a pilot?

EC: I liked building model airplanes as a kid. I watched Baa Baa Black Sheep on the TV starring Robert Conrad. My dad took me to Oshkosh to see the airshow when I was young. I still remember the P-38 Lightning that flew overhead. I was good at math in high school, so I thought building airplanes would be fun. I looked around for schools where I could get an Aeronautical Engineering degree. I ended up at the US Air Force Academy. While there, at the end of the Reagan era, I learned they needed pilots so much, they waived the need for perfect eyes. This allowed me to go to Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) after I graduated in 1989. I got my pilot wings in the US Air Force in 1990. So I flew airplanes instead of building them. A year or two earlier or later, and my eyes would’ve prevented me from going to UPT. Life turns on small events.

EN: Your first two books are Down In It and Outside Duluth. They are quite short but capture your third interest. Care to elaborate how the outdoors became a passion of yours?

EC: My parents raised my sister and I to lead active lives outdoors. It’s probably the greatest gift they gave me, other than a stable home. My dad worked for the US Forest Service and my mom was a dietician. It was a nice way to grow up living with people trained in the outdoors and how to lead a healthy life. I ran and cross-country skied with my family. I skied as soon as I could walk where I was born in northern New Hampshire. My dad and I hiked all 48 “Four Thousand Footers” in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. We backpacked and camped outside. I hunted for ruffed grouse and deer with my dad. I raced the mile in track in the spring, cross-country running in the fall, and cross-country skiing in the winter. I was the NH state high school champion in cross-country skiing in 1985 and helped my team win the state championship that year also.

My dad’s job in the Forest Service took us all around the country to small towns with ready access to the outdoors. I lived in six different places before I was 18: three places in NH, one in MN, and two in MI. I was just up the road in Two Harbors for a couple years in the 70’s during that Minnesota stretch. I got to see a lot of the outside world growing up. Endurance sports also helped me explore the world between my ears.

Now, as I age, I return to the same activities like a salmon to the river where it emerged. I find great comfort continuing to do the things outside I learned to do as a kid: hike, run, ski, and bike. I do the Birkie and Grandma’s Marathon most years. Almost because I have to, like a compulsion. Kind of like writing.

* * * *
In addition to being a member of Lake Superior Writers, Eric also an active member of the Outdoors Writers Association of America and the Military Writers Guild. He is slated to be the featured speaker this week at Beaners' Spoken Word Open Mic from 7 - 9 p.m. Thursday, January 19.

TO BE CONTINUED