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

Twin Ports Art: Piszczek's Superior Zentangle Pieces and Other Things To See TODAY

One of the first places I showed my art locally was in the showcase at the Superior Public Library. As a regular visitor to the library there I am ever conscious of the various artists displayed there. For the month of December Esther Piszczek is the featured artist, a small variety of works offered for public consumption. If you frequent the Superior Library, do take a few minutes to check out the various artists who occupy this cozy little space.

As an active maker, Esther has made connections in a variety of circles which are especially active this time of year. What follows are several places where you can find her work alongside a variety of others'. Still need to find gifts for the people in your life? Here are several places worth checking out today. 

(Zentangle designs here from Esther P's display in the lobby of the Superior Library.)

Saturday, December 16, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Fitger's ART on Tap—Holiday, Fitger’s, August Fitger Room, 3rd Level, 600 E. Superior Street. This new addition to the holiday art and craft scene is organized by Sally Cavallaro Designs. Local artists, (including Eshter's Zentangle-inspired art.)

Saturday, December 16, 11 a.m.-2 p.m., Handmade Holidays, Free Family Art Day, Duluth Art Institute / Lincoln Center, 2229 W. 2nd Street. "Anyone is invited to drop-in for make-and-take art projects."

Saturday, December 16, 12-5 p.m., Handmade Holiday Market, Duluth Folk School, The Lincoln Park Craft District, 1917 & 1924 W. Superior Street.

"30+ local vendors including pottery, jewelry, art, apparel, kombucha, stationery, skin care, and more with a FREE gift wrap craft station. Brought to you in association with Duluth Pottery and Duluth Made."

If you've never been, the Superior Public Library is located at 1530 Tower Avenue just past Belknap.

EdNote: You can see some of my own paintings at the following locations in Superior.

At Goin' Postal you can see works by a wide variety of artists while shipping packages via UPS, FedEx or U.S. Postal Service. It's a pretty good deal. I have more than a dozen pieces there on display. Goin' Postal is located next to the tracks on the 800 block of Tower Avenue.

Art on the Planet shares the former Dunbar Building with Wine Beginnings on the 1300 block of Tower Avenue. It's a cozy space crammed with arts and crafts. There's plenty to see, whatever the price range you wish to spend within.

"Dogs of War"

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Engage it.

More Local Art Seen: An Elephant and a Souptown Exhibit

Jonathan Thunder was selected as this year's artist to decorate Elephant Rock in Lincoln Park. The Native artist has been turning heads lately. Here are several photos from the project. It would appear this is going to be a tradition. In my efforts to locate Elephant Rock I discovered that we also decorated the rock last year year as well.

Tools of the Trade

Here's a video of Jonathan Thunder talking about the project from the DNT. And here's Adam Swanson's rendition from 2016. It would appear that whoever named it Elephant Rock was apparently on to something.

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SOUPTOWN
There are numerous local venues for emerging artists to place their work on public display. One of the first places I showed a few of my Dylan paintings was in a display case at the entrance of the Superior Library. It might be that are interested in finding a space to share your work. This is a small space but heavily trafficked. Here's what is on display during the month of October.

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Mark your calendars: Kathy McTavish's Chance at Tweed on Thursday, and Goin Postal Show Friday. Three new artists in the mix: Elizabeth Kuth, Adam McAuley and Eric Dubnicka. Plus all the usual suspects. All good.

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Get into it.

Book Talk Tomorrow Evening at Superior Library

In mid-September, T.J. Lind and I held our launch party for The Red Scorpion at Goin' Postal in Duluth. Tomorrow evening from 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. at the Superior Public Library. Big thank you to Nora Fie.

The promotional signage states that we will be discussing the writing process, electronic publishing and our eBook, The Red Scorpion.

Since the launch six weeks ago our fledgling ePub house N&L Publishing has produced two additional books that are now available on Kindle and Nook, Unremembered Histories and Newmanesque, which I may be reading from in addition to our talk.

Here's an overview of some of the things we'll cover tomorrow evening:
Overview of how the presentation will go.
The status of ePublishing today.
Roots of The Red Scorpion.
How TJ & I met.
How N&L Publishing came to be.
Things TJ has learned through the DECA program and this project.
A synopsis of The Red Scorpion.
And few thoughts about the writing life.

Based on how much time we have, I will probably read a few sections from the book or a short story from one of the other books.

The books are all available on Kindle and Nook, and will soon be available on Mac's iBook platform. One of my favorite parts of Amazon.com, where Kindle books are sold, is the manner in which they cross-promote other products. If you buy books there you will see, "Customers who bought this... also bought this." It is gratifying to see that The Red Scorpion has received positive reviews there, the recommendation of Unremembered Histories is already recorded here. "Customers who bought The Red Scorpion also bought Unremembered Histories.

Another favorite part of online bookstores for me is the Reviews section. Here's a nice summary from one reader of the book we'll be talking about tomorrow:

This short book is a good mystery/suspense/science fiction thriller. It is carefully crafted and realistically portrayed (with life lessons taught). If you like an adventure/anthropology story (a mixture between the "The Hardy Books" series and Indiana Jones), Newman has written one for you. His depiction of character interaction (between friends, at school, in a family) is true to life. Set in both Mexico and Minnesota, within a time-frame of about 60 years, the Red Scorpion generates a balanced and varied sequence between action, mystery, suspense, and life at a normal pace. Very well done!

For what it's worth, we printed a limited run of 50 books for sharing at these two events, so if you are not yet part of the eBook revolution, you might wish to attend to purchase the paperback.

Meantime, may your day be filled with adventure, marching forward with your eyes on the prize.

Art Events Tonight

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, the Superior Public Library will be hosting a Love Your Local Artist open house tonight. The public is invited to meet and greet with the artists whose work has been displayed monthly out in the lobby. It also gives the artists themselves a chance to meet one another. The community is invited to meet the artists and see some of their work up close and personal. (Pictured at right, a portion of the February 2010 display case featuring paintings and drawings by Ed Newman.)

In addition to the Superior event there is also an art opening at the Snoodle Ceramic Studio, similarly centered on the love theme. "Love at the Snoodle V" will feature a batch of local artists in various mediums sharing work around the theme Glow in the Dark. If you can't make it tonight, Love at the Snoodle V will be on display throughout the month of February. (In case you're not sure where the Snoodle is, it's down near the Duluth Zoo on Grand Avenue and 71st Avenue West.) Tonight's Line up: 5:00-6:00 open Gallery, 6:00- 6:30 Puppet Show, 6:30-7:00 Fire Spinners, 7:00-8:00 Robi Meyerson, 8:00-10:00 the GRRRL Band

Last night I found it gratifying to learn that the son of a friend keeps wanting to return to Goin' Postal to see my paintings. Not sure if he is an aspiring artist, but it could be a clue that elementary school kids might have to become my target fan base. If their parents would give them a bigger allowance, maybe I can cover the cost of my art supplies.

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Spread the love.