A New Journey

Well, I got a yes. Not for a book, but for something I’d wanted to do since the mid 1990’s. I applied for, and got into an MFA in Creative Writing program at Fairleigh Dickinson University! My focus will be in Young Adult and Children’s Literature.

I already started the program this past July. I spent ten days on campus- in a dorm with a really tiny bed…but that’s another story. Those ten days were the best in my writing career. Spending ten days in a deep dive in writing and books with so many like minded others was an incredible experience. Being able to take deep dives into the craft of writing, whether each others work, or within a text we were reading has already paid off in how I’m reading mentor texts, and editing my own work.

The best part was the people I met, from different parts of the country, and having come to the US from other parts of the world. It was such a joy to meet them all, and I miss them already. The hardest adjustment after was knowing that I’m not going to see some of them until the Winter session, next Summer session, or maybe not again. They were an amazing group, and I can’t wait to see them again!

The Mansion at FDU, where we had all our classes

Reading my own writing to so many other writers was a bit intimidating.

Some of us went out for ice cream on a night we had off

My group discussing each others response to a prompt we’d gotten a few days before.

Four of the six flights of stairs most of us hiked up a few times a day…

A Podcast and a Book

Buy at your LOCAL BOOKSTORE

A began listening to the Book Smitten podcast back in July, or so. I’d heard they were going to be reading and writing for Ann Whitford Paul’s Writing Picture Books as a group, and listeners would do the assignments in the book along with them, with one caveat: You’d be doing it with a totally new picture book manuscript that you’d write as one of the assignments early on in the book!

Yeah, I was as excited as you are! It was like a class I’d be taking, with class happening about once per week, then you’d have a week to do the new assignments!

I’d already read the book a few years before, but I didn’t do any of the writing assignments- I know, bad student, bad teacher.

Well, life happened while listening, and I fell a few episodes/chapters behind…okay, I fell five episodes behind, but I’m slowly catching up, I guess.

My manuscript? I like it, a lot. BUT, I really like tweaking it, or trying new changes to it based on the writing assignments. And, I really like listening to Book Smitten discuss their changes, and what worked, and didn’t work for them. It’s almost like a class discussion, which, really, is another post for another day.

If you’re a writer, I highly recommend Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul, and listening to the Book Smitten podcast while doing it! And, if you need the book, please buy at your local book store! Thanks :)

250 Word Story

I’m working on my story for Susanna Leonard Hill’s 12th Annual Holiday Writing Contest. I opened a blank file on my laptop, and jotted ideas, rejecting them as I went, until I found a good one.

The topic has to center around a winter holiday, or solstice, AND be told in under 250 words, with a plot and all, in a story that children will like.

maybe…maybe not…

I wrote it out in one sitting from the quick outline I made. All 670 words. Yeah, 670 words. I’m gonna have to cut out…hold on, doing mathy things…420 words!

I mean, okay, it can be done. I guess. I love the idea for this contest. So, yeah, I’ve got a couple weeks to get that done. When it is, and the entry is ready to go, I’ll post it here for all to read, and hope it’s liked! Plus, you know, make it a story, more importantly, that I like.

Still At It

It’s been a while since my last post in March for Vivian Kirkfield’s #50PreciousWords contest. I ended up getting an honorable mention! That’s the second year in a row I’ve gotten on honorable mention. Maybe next year will be the year!

Since March, I stopped working on the adult fantasy. I ended up cutting out the last 20,000 + words, and have written a few hundred more here and there. I wrote, and have since worked on, a flash fiction piece that I’ve submitted to a few places, all ending in rejection, though one was a positive rejection. I’ve also been rejected on a few different picture book manuscripts.

But, that comes with the territory. I’ve only gotten rejections, but that’s bound to change, and can only change if I keep working, and keep submitting.

I restarted The Right to Write by Julia Cameron, got to about a third of the way through, but am taking a pause. Sometimes her writing bothers me- she comes across as full of herself, and I can only take it in small doses. I do like her prompts, though. I do recommend reading the book and doing ALL the prompts as you go!

I’ve been listening to the Book Smitten podcast as they read Writing Picture Books by Ann Whitford Paul, discuss the chapters here and there, and follow each assignment as the podcasters write a picture book manuscript. I’ve been doing the same, working on a new manuscript, but have fallen a few episodes behind. It’s amazing how much getting back to teaching can throw my routine into a loop.

I’m still reading A Swim in a Pond in the Rain by George Saunders with a reading group. The discussions we have each month are extremely valuable! The book focuses on Russian Authors, and a select few short stories by them, but we also work towards translating this to picture books.

I’ve been reading The Poetry and Short Stories of Dorothy Parker as well, examining her poetic style, and slowly making the attempt to move my poetry into a more formal style- well, any style really. I have yet to examine her short stories as my reading group has been doing with A Swim by our dear friend George (not really, but it’s how we feel!).

What have you been up to lately? Let me know in the comments!

My #50PreciousWords Entry

This is my official entry for the Amazing Vivian Kirkfield’s #50PreciousWords Contest:

Goofy Gophers Golfing

by Erik Ammon

38 words

Fore!

Thwack!

Ball soaring,

bouncing to the green.

Nice shot!

Putter, please.

Plink…

ball rolling…

rounding.

Yes!

Wait!

Wait what?

That’s the wrong hole.

Ugh!

That’s Ralphs place!

Ralph!

Don’t dig on the greens!

Sorry!

Here’s your ball.