Thursday, August 28, 2008

gasping for air (or hope)

Fans of literary fiction, how do you do it?

After several hours of reading brilliant, perfect short stories, I want to lock myself in a closet and never come out.

No doubt the world is as grim, blank, lonely, and despairing as they all say… But goodness. (Hey, that’s a thought. What about goodness?)

Researching literary journals and magazines might not be the most fun ever. Hence my mud-sucking-at-shoes reluctance to send my story out… But, hey, I committed. And it’s going somewhere, come Sunday.

Before then, I have a few more magazines to read through… maybe I’ll meet my match? I look at my story. My story looks at me. We heave to.—jl

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 08/28 at 07:18 PM
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Tuesday, August 26, 2008

five days to go?

Progress report:

The story’s as good as it’s going to be. I still think that it’s too simplistic, or too quiet, or too something, but Mom, my sounding board, has insisted that it’s fabulous the way it is. Since that means I don’t have to bother with any more revision, that’s fine with me.

My cover letter so far is: a choice of seven opening sentences. (Or, to be more accurate, the second halves of seven opening sentences. No idea what that first clause should be. Somehow Publish this! sounds a little too strong. Even with a please tacked onto the end.) And then I have another sentence for the next paragraph. Oh, and my closing tag: “Sincerely.” Classic, brief, and it gets the job done. So that’s the letter.

The trickiest bit is determining where the story should go. I’ve narrowed down my list: forty, then to thirteen, and now to four. That’s the main thing I have to work on: studying their styles and deciding which is the best fit for my story.

Important though all this is, it reminds me again and again that I’m not really a literary short story writer at heart. I love my little story, I really do. I know I want to publish it. But sitting at my desk and reading the tiny print in the Writer’s Market guide makes me want to scrape my brain out with a spoon.

Meanwhile, my novel’s characters go outside to play badminton, and my protagonist is spouting brilliant lines by the dozen—lines it takes me hours to think of for her. And now she’s coming up with plenty, all by herself. But if I go nearer to my window to listen (maybe with pad and pen to take notes, since she’s saying really funny stuff, I mean, laugh-til-you-can’t-breathe funny), my short story gets anxious, and drags me back to my desk and my lists, my decisions, my fragmented cover letter, and alllllllllll that tiny print.—jl

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 08/26 at 07:26 PM
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Wednesday, August 20, 2008

a few thoughts from under the rock

Weird? Well, probably so. Writers are not like other people. It’s a lie to try to pretend we are.—Heather Sellers

This itch for authorship is worse than the devil and spoils a man for anything else.—E.A. Robinson

Flat country seems to give the sky such a chance.—Dodie Smith

I think that my social skills are deteriorating. Not that they were ever superstrong to begin with… (That’s not really fair. I promise that I do have friends, really great friends: a small group of amazing women who, I am convinced, will change the world.)

No, it’s the let’s-charge-out-into-groups-and-talk-with-everyone-and-be-the-Queen-of-Chit-Chat! attitude that I’m lacking.

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Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 08/20 at 04:53 PM
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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

trial by story

I busied myself with a verbal dustpan and brush.—Hugh Laurie

So, that short story? The one I’m sending out on my birthday? I’m a little upset with it.

I fished it out of a file folder last Wednesday, and it skidded to a stop at the edge of my desk. Sat up and began swinging its feet, fixing me with a wicked little gleam in its eye.

It said, So. I’m back.

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Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 08/12 at 06:13 PM
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Monday, August 04, 2008

let’s drink a toast to monday mornings.

So I have this mug that I absolutely adore. I found it at a neat store in St. Louis called English Living. (You’re shocked, of course, that I would even consider going in, anglophile that I am…) There was another mug that said DREAM., but I’ve been dreaming, and there’s something lovely about Monday morning’s coffee in a mug that exhorts you to BEGIN.

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Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 08/04 at 07:04 PM
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Friday, August 01, 2008

the whirlwind that was july

The Future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.—C.S. Lewis

Okay, so the second half of that month flew by.

In the middle of the month, I spent quality time in St. Louis, hanging out with a former roommate and watching My Fair Lady at the Muny theatre. A fabulous show on a gorgeous night, and it was so great to catch up with Laura! I hadn’t seen her in months, and there were many, many stories to tell.

Then our family went to another wedding at a gorgeous chapel in St. Louis, which was a great chance to get dressed up (I don’t exactly do my hair for a day of writing!) and catch up with family.

Then an impromptu visit to Nashville, followed by the exciting upheaval of my older sister moving back home. She’s coming back to get a second degree at a nearby university—graphic design! I’m so thrilled!! She has a fabulous eye for painting and photography and design, and I can’t wait to see what she does with her art classes. We’re thinking of basically turning this house into a studio—two writers and a graphic designer? Could life be more fun?

And then, this past weekend, my parents and I flew to Minnesota to visit with some of the best relatives ever. We stayed up late talking, got caught up on everyone’s travels (as well as Adrienne’s wedding photos), and had a great time. It felt like an honest-to-goodness vacation, and I loved being north again.


my mom with two gorgeous cousins! hannah and maddie

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Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 08/01 at 04:53 PM
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Tuesday, July 15, 2008

the exquisite joys of peoplewatching

People themselves alter so much, that there is something new to be observed in them for ever.—Jane Austen

I am writing this from a coffee shop in Saint Louis, where I’m trying to get a lot of work done. Rewrites are definitely underway for part two of my novel: I’m trying to completely rewrite ninety pages of mediocre first draft, while adding to my original cast and crew. I’ve found a new sub-villain, a buffoon, two terribly arrogant men, and a cynic. Very fabulous characters, and they all have a lot to say.

So. Plenty on my writing plate. And today I need to rewrite two scenes, have to get them done… but the real, living, breathing, tangible, audible people around me are so fascinating that I abandon my imaginary characters, drop my pen, and let their words and actions catch my attention.

It’s amazing what you’ll hear and see when you give yourself over to peoplewatching. Perhaps it’s my profession that makes it endlessly amusing… I’m tempted to cast half the people I see into my novel. Their mannerisms, laughs, turns of phrase… I almost can’t help using them.

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Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 07/15 at 03:42 PM
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Wednesday, July 09, 2008

bring out the mittens

Last Saturday, I went to a gorgeous outdoor wedding for my cousin, and, unknown to me, a local mosquito convention. I was a smiling, happy guest at the wedding, and a buffet line at the convention, for twenty-eight of the county’s hungriest.

I’d say it’s high time for winter.—jl

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 07/09 at 03:46 PM
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Monday, July 07, 2008

inspiration

There is nothing but God’s Grace. We walk upon it; we breathe it; we live and die by it; it makes the nails and axles of the universe.—Robert Louis Stevenson

A few Sundays ago, in church, I heard something strange during the quiet parts of the service. From a few rows behind me came a steady pulse of click-whoosh, click-whoosh, click-whoosh.

I had no idea what it could be, and I fought the urge to turn around and scan the congregation like a five-year-old. As I listened harder, I realized it was an oxygen machine. By now it had my full attention—not that it was very loud, but its rhythm settled in my head and grew there, like a mental itch. Click-whoosh. Click-whoosh. Click-whoosh. It filled the spaces in the vicar’s reading of Romans.

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Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 07/07 at 09:29 PM
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Thursday, July 03, 2008

untitled

By a name / I know not how to tell thee who I am. —Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Something I didn’t expect from the wedding: the amount of time I would spend talking about writing. I guess it’s natural: I knew half the people there, and after we said “Oh my gosh the service was beautiful and Jon looks so happy and Adrienne is so gorgeous and she’s getting married can you believe it!!!” they would ask about writing. And what really surprised me—though I don’t know why—was the amount of times I was asked about what my title would be.

Sigh. My title. I have no idea what the title of this book should be. It’s been a thorn in my writerly side for a long time now, as I have made lists of over a hundred possible titles, and all of them were rubbish. And since I mercilessly judge other books according to their titles, I know mine has to be good.

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Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 07/03 at 03:37 PM
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Wednesday, July 02, 2008

the wedding album, part two

I wish you all the joy that you can wish.—Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice

Wedding stories continued…

6. The cakes. Here’s an unabashed plug for the wedding cakes (they had three): Each one tasted eyes-closed heavenly. No Styrofoam-dry cakes at this reception! The guests I polled raved about them, just as we had been raving for months… The bakers at La Bonne Bouchée and The Cakery are geniuses. If you are near Saint Louis, go check them out. Try the Four Flavor Cake and the Strawberry Black Forest at La Bonne Bouchée, and get the Confetti Cupcakes from The Cupcakery (run by the same folks as The Cakery). They are sublime, and I promise you’ll love them.

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Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 07/02 at 03:17 PM
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Tuesday, July 01, 2008

the wedding album, part one

Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you! —Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice


the wedding bouquets

I could go on and on about the wedding, how much fun it was, how wonderful, how perfect everyone looked, how happy Jon and Adrienne were (and are!)… but superlatives are boring to read, even if they are easy to write. So here are some wedding moments, for a glimpse into the wedding weekend…

1. Pottery. The bachelorette party: we painted pottery at a nearby place called Pottery Hollow, and had a great time choosing colors and being amazed at how creative the other bridesmaids were. Oh, and note the fabulous wedding weekend t-shirts!


the maid of honor and the bride, with their pottery creations

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Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 07/01 at 03:06 PM
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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

aftermath

Well. We’re still alive: we made it, we made it, we made it. And it was a lovely day. Adrienne and Jon were both glowing—they looked so, so happy. Saturday passed in a blur, and truth be told, I still feel a bit blurry around the edges…

But, no, I didn’t cry, sob, bawl, or in any other way create a ton of moisture in the front of the church. Surrealism and sheer joy mixed for a strange cocktail that kept me grinning all day.

I can’t believe it’s all done! I hardly know what to do with myself. So I’ve been reading for hours, gazing at the walls, and sleeping late. (Although, I haven’t been perfectly lazy. Yesterday I had a baking fit and transformed nine cups of leftover reception fruit into two pies. Lattice-top blueberry: fabulous. Crumb-topped strawberry: not so fabulous.)

Needless to say, forming sentences is a little tricky just now: writing isn’t really going to happen until next week, at the earliest.

More wedding stories to come…—jl


isn’t she beautiful, beautiful, beautiful? lucky you, jon.

Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 06/25 at 04:27 PM
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Thursday, June 19, 2008

round and round the rugged house the langefeld family raggedly ran…


kristen got in last night—her bridesmaid dress hanging in the one place we could find for it

Well, we’re going mad as calmly as we can…

Everything comes down to these last few days—bachelorette party tonight, decorating and rehearsing and rehearsal dinner tomorrow, and then everything wedding on Saturday. Both of my sisters are veteran bridesmaids, but this is my first saunter down the aisle, and I’m half-convinced that I’ll trip. And what do you look at as you come down the aisle? It sounds like a dumb concern, but I have these visions of myself with a cheesy grin on my face, or trying to wink at Jon, or wave to my cousins… But I guess I’ll hear all about proper bridesmaid etiquette tomorrow.

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Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 06/19 at 10:32 AM
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Sunday, June 15, 2008

five pre-wedding reactions

1. the allergic reaction: the three-day aftermath from what should have been a routine salon visit. Pain and blisters are a bad combo. Half a week later, my face is still a little messed up, but it should be good by the wedding. Yikes.

2. the inappropriate reaction(s): the reply I got from the clerk at the department store. I pushed the silver necklace I got for my bridesmaid dress across the counter; she asked about the occasion. I gave my quick “younger sister getting married, super excited, can’t believe it’s next week” speech. And then she told my parents and I stories about how, in her country, younger sisters would never get married before the older sisters.

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Posted by Jenn Langefeld on 06/15 at 03:16 PM
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