Studio Blog
Looking back to a very specific memory of one of my early encounters with the dreaded block reminded me that sometimes sitting still is what shakes you free from it’s frustrating grip.
After being asked to write a poetry assignment to summarize my life thus far, I asked my teacher where I should begin. At the ripe age of 11 I believed that I had already developed into a fairly complex character and trying to condense that into a few stanzas seemed ridiculous. My teacher responded, “Begin by accessing your earliest memory.”
It took me a while to try to put some of those earliest memories in any sort of chronological order, but one flash back kept crossing my mind:
There is a spot at Disneyland, next to the spinning tea cups, with a small round pink door with the words “W Rabbit” engraved on a gold plate. I remember going back to that same door and taking a picture every year. At first it was always by myself, but later it became a family affair with my siblings joining in on the fun. I can recall feeling like the White Rabbit’s door was the perfect size for me and one day I would have a door just like that.
As the years passed, I noticed the door felt smaller and smaller. As it shrank in my eyes it held less intrigue and mystique to me. I thought back to a few months earlier, after a recent growth spurt, I could barely fit my 11-year-old awkward and gangly body on the front step.
My dramatic and nostalgic self decided to write on the subject of out-growing a childhood fantasy. And yes, to write something like this now may come across melodramatic, but at the time the realization that I was growing up was a Judy Blume-size awaking.
I would suggest finding a peaceful place to reflect, listen to an old song that may trigger past memories or go into whatever environment that will lend itself to deep pondering. Once you grab hold of a memory, remember how it made youfeel (lonely, happy, frustrated, embarrassed). In my experience, feeling nostalgic and really examining those past emotions has helped me put my mind into perspective, usually breathing in new life to my writing or way of thinking.
Announcing the winter edition of the Writer Enrichment Program! As you may know, the Writer Enrichment Program includes a webinar series, one-on-one chats with in-house editors and access to a group where you can collaborate with other Writer Enrichment Program writers. Head over to Studio News in the forum for even more information on the program and how to apply to participate.
Thanks!
The Demand Media Studios Team
1. Where do you currently reside? Is it covered in snow like the rest of the country?
I live in Huntington, WV. We've had a pretty snowy winter, but right now (knock on wood!) we are snow-free.
2. How long have you been a Community Moderator? What’s your favorite part?
I became a Community Moderator in April 2010. I enjoy answering questions and helping others, especially newer writers.
3. How would you spend your ‘ideal day’? What would you do?
My ideal day...hmmm. This is something that changes all the time, but right now it would consist of a lazy early-summer afternoon spent on a hammock in the shade, with a great book and an endless supply of sweet tea.
4. What is the last book you read? Did you like it?
I'm currently reading "Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke, and it's excellent. I usually have two or three books going at once, so I'm also re-reading "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield -- it's one of my favorites.
5. What did you want to be when you were 12 years old?
A scientist, a librarian and a writer. I'm no good at math, so the science thing went out the window pretty quickly!
6. What’s one thing most people in the DMS community probably don’t know about you?
I'm an unrepentant geek. I love video games, science fiction and fantasy. I actually wrote a fan letter to Carrie Fisher when I was 12 (but never got around to mailing it).
So there you have it!
If you see Jacqui in the forums be sure to give her some kudos of your own.
Stay tuned for the next installment of 'Meet Your Moderator' coming soon!
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Five Breakout Topics:
Winter Weather
Blackberry Playbook
Verizon iPhone
Nokia and Microsoft
J. Paul Getty, the renowned American industrialist, was a believer in the ability to reset his brain. He did this by completing a simple exercise called cross crawling. Cross crawling is exactly what it sounds like: you just get down on the ground and crawl like a baby. But to effectively re-balance your mind you must make sure your opposite hand and knee strike the ground at the same time. This diagonal action re-balances the two sides of your brain, and helps you recover from those ever-feared "brain farts.”
Some doctors are recommending a similar exercise that should give you the same effect without causing such a stir when you are crawling around your cubicle.
Begin by taking hold of your right earlobe with your left hand and your left earlobe with your right hand. Then bend your knees into a squatting position and then slowly staighten you knees back to a standing position.
My Attempt:
To save myself from embarrassment, I performed my re-balancing exercises from the comfort of my own home. I attempted both rituals twice, once by myself so I could really focus on what I was trying to accomplish and then a second time for my sister to capture on camera for documentation.
After a long commute home, I hoped the exercises would clear my cluttered mind. I began with the crawling exercise which, at first, felt more like a yoga core workout than a brain teaser. After I was three-quarters of the way across the room, I recognized the definite challenge it was to perfect the cross-crawl. I’m not sure about how well my mind was rebalanced but it did give my mind a relief while trying to focus on the correct technique.
As for the ear lobe squat, in the end, I just felt sort of dizzy. And yes, maybe the reason I felt dizzy was because I had just crawled a 5K but either way it didn’t seem to do much for me. I suggest trying one routine or the other instead of attempting both at the same time. I plan on giving the ear lobe squat a second chance on a later date.
Other variations of the cross crawl can be found on http://headbacktohealth.com/Cross_crawl.html. This will give you the chance to find the cross crawl that will work for you.
Grant applications are being accepted from February 1 – February 7, 2011.
In honor of former Copy Chief Jessica Thompson, we’d like to extend the range of the grant guidelines. We are pleased to announce that February’s Grant is open to applications around charitable ideas. We’ve read some amazing applications and would like to remind you that you can submit one project three times. The guidelines and application are in the Help section of your Resource Center.
Five Trending Topics:
Five Breakout Topics:
Winter Weather
Blackberry Playbook
Oscars
Writers gather for a session at the Writer's Digest Conference in New York
Editor's Note: We're at the Writer's Digest Conference in New York with the winner of our guest conference pass, Heather Brautman. Heather has been writing full-time for Demand Media Studios since 2009 and leverages her education and experience to specialize in technical articles (she holds a M.S. in technical writing, M.A. in public relations and communications, and a B.A. in writing/English). Read her initial thoughts about the conference in her first post.
"The second one isn't finished yet." Kenneth Kraus of West Orange, New Jersey has just kicked off a session at the Writer's Digest 2011 conference by telling me this, and he's not talking about home additions, bottles of Coke Zero or even two cats battling a mouse into submission. He's talking about novels. In my super-writer-brain, I could therefore conclude if he's talking about a second one, it means there's a first. Ken Kraus has two novels. Would you be surprised if I told you I met people this weekend who have three? Four? Eleven? Inside of them, waiting to come out and be exposed to the world.
As I walk through the halls here at WD11, I am overcome. I am overcome by the people who are here with a dream. For some, it's as simple as coming, talking, and making it happen. But for others, the ones who are talking to me and are fragile and scared but HERE, I am overcome by their perseverance and courage.
I'm overcome by the stories. There's a man here talking up a book about him walking from Boston to San Francisco in early 2008 collecting the country's thoughts on the presidency in a journal to give to the incumbent. One of the presenters, Janet Reid, said "Write what you feel is powerful." The sheer strength in that room could have made an American Gladiator even out of this noodle-bodied writer.
And I was physically, mentally and even psychically overcome at yesterday's Pitch Slam. Imagine a speed dating scenario (seriously, with the three-minute bell and everything), then imagine the people sitting at those tables hold the thing you want the most. Maybe it's a book deal, maybe it's a cure for your child's cancer, maybe it's James Spader. They have it. And you have three minutes (actually 90 seconds) to make it yours. It's hot in there. It's loud. Some of the agents aren't paying that much attention to you. People are pushing, shoving, complaining, and tweeting (which, strangely, is not a quiet activity). You have three minutes. Go. Go get your dream.
Since I wasn't ready to pitch a book idea, I used the time to sit down with as many agents as I could and ask them a question or for a piece of advice. Most were friendly, though a few looked at me like, "If you're not pitching, what are you doing here then?" I felt bad for them (I've actually DONE speed dating and by a quarter-way through, you're wishing for a needle to the eye). My face STILL hurts from the smiling. But I was mostly looking at the other writers. I was coaching on my new friend as she had a semi-panic-attack waiting to pitch her book. (And she scored four out of four, so go girl!) I am secretly thanking the quiet guy who pointed out that I had a little bit of lunch in my teeth, though I'm not-so-secretly cursing the 20+ people I talked to before him. I'm wide eyed with wonder with the amount of dreams, hopes and desire in that room.
It was a bloodbath. While I don't think anyone was harmed in the making of this WD11 (ok, actually not true, the very first day, an old man passed out flat as a board on one of the doors, making a noise louder than a gun shot -- PS, he's OK!), that pitch slam wall left the walls smeared. People walked off that battlefield dragging a limb, hunched over, rivules of shedded sweat stinging their eyes. I went back in a few times to grab who I could -- no writer left behind. Then we all went out for what turned into several glasses of my new friend Prosecco and toasted their success. No matter what happens with their novels, they did it. They overcame.
So, as I get ready for the last sessions of the conference, I'm overcome with happiness to have been dropped -- even for just a weekend -- into the presence of such people. It's inspiring and invigorating and empowering all at once. I could not be prouder of a group of people in the world, and I hope to see them all in a Barnes and Nobel "best-seller" table soon.
Anna (DMS staff editor) and Heather (DMS writer) take a snack break at the Writer's Digest Conference
Editor's Note: We're at the Writer's Digest Conference in New York with the winner of our guest conference pass, Heather Brautman. Heather has been writing full-time for Demand Media Studios since 2009 and leverages her education and experience to specialize in technical articles (she holds a M.S. in technical writing, M.A. in public relations and communications, and a B.A. in writing/English).
To win the pass, we asked writers to tell us the #1 reason they wanted to attend. Heather's submission--a 48-line epic poem in rhyming couplets--blew us away for its sheer creativity.
Heather hails from North Carolina, and presented us upon arrival yesterday with this bag of roasted peanuts, a local specialty.
Without further ado, I give you her impressions of Day One:
“What are you pitching today?”
Within two hours of my checking into the Sheraton New York Towers, this question will have been asked of me no less than 20 times. When I started getting looks at my response of “.500!,” I knew I was in some serious waters. Obviously, I mixed up my batting and pitching and all that “sports stuff” that I have no idea about. But let me tell you, pitching is one serious thing here at the 2011 Writer's Digest Conference.
I am competitive about exactly two things (if sports don’t count, and only if euchre and ping pong counted as sports anyway). One, that my cat is the cutest cat ever. And two, my writing. All my life, compliments on my writing have been more important than my looks, education, anything. So when DMS announced its contest for the Writer's Digest conference pass, I wanted to WIN. And when I did win, I felt a little overwhelmed, but ready to get inspired.
Within five minutes of sitting down at table for the first speaker of the conference today, I was not only inspired, but perspiring. All around me, people were asking about pitching. Not lobbing, not slamming, not swinging, and certainly not batting. Pitching. People were here to do some serious pitching and not a Nolan Ryan among them. As I looked around my table waiting for the speaker, I noticed I was seriously out of my league. Like, not even “send her down to the minors AA league,” but “stop sullying the uniform, step away from the plate, and have a hot dog on your way to the parking lot” out of my league. A lady at my table had a big stack of index cards with a photo, name and personal information of every agent who would be at this conference in a pile in front of her. And she was doing some major studying.
It’s okay though. I learned I was coming here exactly one week ago. I didn’t have it in mind to do anything but soak up the inspiration. Being around other writers is, at least for this writer, a huge motivation. I work from home full-time. I chase my cat and try to make her talk to me but it doesn’t (always) happen. Within three hours at the conference, I’ve talked to so many people and if this snail could be any further out of her shell, it would violate the DMS no-adulty-stuff guidelines. And guess what? I’ve never been an autograph hunter or fame crazy (on the record, I have not crossed paths with James Spader YET, so at any point, that statement could be invalidated). But meeting three of the DMS head staffers has been the coolest thing. I’ve never been in a “faceless” work situation before. So when I walked up to the table and saw “The REAL!” Remi, Anna and Yury, it was kind of the coolest thing ever. I’ve seen/heard them in webinars. Definitely seen their forum posts. But I got to see them in action. Recruiting more DMS writers. Chatting about life.
In the few hours I’ve been here, I’ve already had New York pizza (which puts my current hometown of Raleigh to shame), a diner-style grilled cheese sandwich (see pizza) and am currently eating a New York brownie with TWO KINDS OF CHOCOLATE CHIPS. I swear, I’m not just here to eat my way around the Big Apple. Actually, now I’m embarrassed that you may be worried I’ll have to buy two plane seats on the way home. In fact, I fully admit that one of my most-anticipated things coming here was the fact that the hotel was .96 miles (yes, I counted) from the flagship NYC Hello Kitty store. I loaded up (why did my parents say stuff like “Please remember you only have one carry on flying home?” as I was getting ready to come?) and even managed tosnag a pack of “I Heart NY” playing cards for my “everywhere I go” travel collection.
But enough of the eating and buying. Tomorrow is a full slate of meetings, lectures and the great Pitch Slam. For someone as shy and hermit-like as myself, I picture a massive free-for-all of the 400+ attendees and poor 50 or so agents. But you know what? I may be outta my league, and I may not be “pitching” a no-hitter here, but I kind of feel like a Grand (Pitch) Slam is coming my way. After all, DMS had the confidence to pick me, so I’m not about to let them down. Clear the plate, I’m stepping up to swing.
