KaBooM Writers

The KaBooM Writers Notebook: Our Blog

Where Preparation Ends and Real Learning Begins

By Susan, February 8th, 2010 | Click to Comment

Members of KaBooM enjoyed a lively session during LexArt’s Arts Showcase Weekend on Saturday. We talked about forming and sustaining a writing group, setting goals, writing grant proposals, and taking on a publishing project. The group of hardy souls who braved a wintry morning asked smart questions and brought great energy to the discussion. We had a wonderful time!

Yet amidst the rich conversation and advice about starting something new, a companion idea pulled up a chair.

No matter how carefully we plan, a new project means acting before we fully know what we’re doing. It’s wise to gather information and plan carefully, but preparing to launch something new is not the same as learning how to do it. That happens only when we take the plunge.

There’s a limit to what we can anticipate. Situations we don’t expect will arise, surprises good and bad will appear, and we can’t iron out all the details before we begin. This isn’t exactly a revelation, but it’s easy to lose sight of when we’re doing all we can to prepare for a new endeavor.

The intention to bring something new into the world entails meeting its unknown challenges, whatever they will be. Perhaps the best advice is to have a support system of insightful people who care about the outcome. A group of friends to help deal with the obstacles keeps us moving down the road.

Comments (0) — Categorized under: Creativity, Events, Susan Christerson Brown — Tags: Meeting New Challenges

KaBooM Panel Featured During Arts Showcase Weekend

By Jan, January 31st, 2010 | Click to Comment

Join KaBooM this Saturday, February 6, at 10 a.m. at the Carnegie Center, when the members of the group discuss the challenge of “Wearing Two Hats: From Writer to Publisher.”

When KaBooM began to plan an anthology to honor the group’s tenth anniversary, we first took an inventory of what we considered our strengths: plenty of pieces of writing to choose from, editorial experience, familiarity with book design, and artistic talent.

However, we also knew that we wanted to design a new kind of anthology: high quality in appearance and in content; original in its approach; affordable to produce and to purchase; and usable by writers, teachers of writing, and students. And we had limited financial resources to contribute to the project.

Join us as we discuss the process of moving from concept to product, including seeking and writing proposals to secure grant funding, designing a book that takes advantage of both letterpress and offset methods, learning to sew individual books signatures, and creating a media presence. We’ll answer your questions about forming a group and carrying out a publishing process as well.

Our panel will end around 11:45. At noon, plan to stay to hear our friend, poet and Accents Radio Program host Katerina Stoykova-Klemer as she presents a workshop titled “Bigger than They Appear: How to Write Very Short Poems.”

These programs are offered as part of Arts Showcase Weekend. The weekend is organized by LexArts and is designed to encourage local citizens to discover ways to cultivate their creativity year-round. Please visit www.lexarts.org for the latest information. All events are free!

P.S. Stay tuned for additional information about the Writers’ Retreat we’ll offer at the Carnegie Center on Saturday, February 27.

Comments (0) — Categorized under: Events, Jan Isenhour — Tags: grant proposals, KaBooM group presentations, writing group process

Clearing the Mind for Creative Work

By Susan, January 25th, 2010 | 1 Comment

Lately I’ve rediscovered the value of morning pages, a tool that Julia Cameron describes in The Artist’s Way. The idea is to write three pages in a journal upon waking, spilling whatever comes to mind in stream-of-consciousness writing without analyzing, censoring, or questioning whatever finds its way to the page. You just keep writing without pause.

What usually happens for me is that the disarray of daily life comes out, with its untended details and unresolved issues. Beneath those are the more substantial concerns, which show up too. The emotional leavings of recent events filter through, self-doubt makes regular appearances, and there are the perennial issues that appear again and again in different contexts. Everything gets put on the page and released as the pen keeps moving.

As a result, my mind becomes clearer. Without the low-level noise of background thoughts it’s easier to concentrate. In sweeping out the clutter of concerns, creative space opens up. Morning pages don’t count as getting my writing work done, but they help clear the way for accomplishing what I want to do. They don’t even have to be done in the morning to be effective.

Morning pages are one way to empty ourselves in order to make room for creative work. What ways have you found to open the space within for your writing?

Comments (1) — Categorized under: Creativity, Susan Christerson Brown — Tags: Morning Pages, The Artist's Way

Unclenching my fists

By Gail, January 19th, 2010 | 1 Comment

By this third full week of January it’s just about time for my annual re-setting of those freshly minted New Year’s resolutions full of good writing intentions — the ones, that is, that don’t seem to be gaining quite the purchase in the soil of my daily routine I’d wanted them to.

In fact I’m reminded again of why I swore off old-style resolutions years ago. Gritting teeth and screwing courage may see me through a tough temporary patch but they aren’t long-term strategies that endure. Just try holding a clenched fist for two minutes; okay, try one. It’s exhausting. And there’s not much you can get done with a clenched fist. One of my favorite quotes is from Aldolfo Perez Esquival, recipient of the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize: “We cannot sow seeds with clenched fists. To sow we must open our hands.” While he was talking about social justice and not writing, I am struck by his image of a fist clenched so tightly that the hand is useless for productive labor. As a habitual fist-clencher, this image has power for me.

So instead of trying to force myself into writing habits that I’ve heard work for other people, my goal this week is to ask myself questions that help open to discovery: what does work, today, in my particular circumstance? How can I move from “fitting my writing in” to giving it a place of honor in my day? And what seeds can I sow to nourish my developing discipline?

Comments (1) — Categorized under: Gail Koehler, Setting Goals —

Writerly Resolutions for the New Year

By Susan, December 29th, 2009 | Click to Comment

This week between Christmas and New Year’s is a potent time for figuring out what we’ve learned from the past year and preparing to move forward into the new one. Plans, ideas, challenges–what do we focus on for our creative goals, and how do we set priorities for seeing them through?

Writers need to be both artists and worker bees. We need vision and inspiration, and we also need good tools and work habits. For help with both, here are a couple of excellent websites:

Lisa Sonora Beam writes about Goal Setting for Creatives, with pictures of her own gorgeous planning journal for inspiration.

On Zen Habits, Leo Babauta has a terrific post about cultivating new habits. He also introduces his new site dedicated to helping with keeping those resolutions for the new year, called 6changes.

May you have a happy, inspired, and productive New Year!

Comments (0) — Categorized under: Creativity, Setting Goals, Susan Christerson Brown —

Creative Listening and the Winter Solstice

By Susan, December 21st, 2009 | Click to Comment

The turn of the winter solstice is upon us—hallelujah! We’re reaching the farthest extreme of how short the days will grow, and how long the nights. The return of the sun begins, even with winter yet to endure.

It’s a season of grand celebration and then hunkering down. Not a bad pairing. I’m glad for the holiday lights that see us through these darkest days, but once they’re put away I welcome the most introspective time of the year.

Holly 1_1

As the world grows quiet, it allows the deep listening needed for creative work. Ideas and images have a chance to surface. The subtle stirrings of the imagination have room to take shape.

To prepare for those fertile days, it helps to consider what we’re listening for. What are we processing from the world around us? What is within us that seeks expression? What are we challenged to interpret? How will we act on what comes to our attention?

For the next few days, try to frame the question you want to ask about where your work is going. Then when things settle down after the holidays, listen for the answer.

One of the questions for me has been, “Where is the energy in my writing life, where is it leading me, and what form do I want to be working in?” Ok, that’s three questions. No matter.

What kinds of questions are you asking?

Comments (0) — Categorized under: Creativity, Susan Christerson Brown — Tags: Creative Cycle, Winter Solstice

Celebrating the Book

By Susan, December 20th, 2009 | Click to Comment

Here’s a picture of all of us at the book party on December 6. The cake that Mary made, decorated with the tree from our book cover, is in the center. Thanks to the many friends who celebrated with us and made it a great day!

Lynn, Mary, Jan, Gail, Pam, Susan, and Leatha

Comments (0) — Categorized under: Events —

Reading Out Loud

By Lynn, December 14th, 2009 | 1 Comment

On December 6, we presented When The Bough Breaks to the public with a reading and a celebration at the Carnegie Center. I had forgotten in the midst of publishing, sewing, and marketing the book how wonderful the written work is. Each of us read five minutes and each of us made the work new again.

Words weigh more when read out loud. When reading silently to yourself from the page, you hear your own voice, your own incantations and prejudices. But when the author reads, you hear her intent, her emphases and pauses and, hence, her meanings, as her voice feels its way from word to word, stone to stone through rapids, over falls, along placid streams, into reflecting pools.

It felt as if I was hearing these poems and stories and essays for the first time. So, it seems, we begin again. I left that celebration brimming with good cheer. What a joy again to be part of this enterprise. What gladness at our individual and collaborative triumph. What gratitude for the reading public who appreciate this book, this venture, this claim.
Lynn

Comments (1) — Categorized under: Lynn Pruett —

Getting Back to Writing

By Jan, November 30th, 2009 | 2 Comments

Over the long weekend I closed out one writer’s notebook and prepared to begin using another. For me this process involves leafing through the pages of the filled book, looking for nuggets that might be left behind and eventually forgotten.

I was surprised to see that my old notebook, begun in early summer, is mostly filled with notes from KaBooM meetings. Here’s a to-do list, made as the manuscript neared completion. Here’s a list of questions to take to Larkspur Press, followed by a set of instructions on how to hand sew book signatures.

Here are thoughts for blog entries, made when our web site was fledgling. Here are ideas for the panel discussion we led at the Kentucky Women Writers Conference, and the descriptions for two workshops we’ll lead this winter at the Carnegie Center.

It’s a rich history of the process of creating and then taking public When the Bough Breaks. I’m glad to have it. Problem is, there’s more note taking than writing, more listing than generating.

This, I see, is the rhythm of a writer’s life: writing, then bringing to fruition, followed by reflecting.

I also see that it’s time to get back to writing.

Comments (2) — Categorized under: Creativity, Jan Isenhour —

Making books, making meaning

By Gail, November 24th, 2009 | Click to Comment

One evening last week, several members of KaBooM led a Lexington Girl Scout group in the how-to of handmade book craft. We showed them When the Bough Breaks, certainly. But because our time was short and these young women deserved an opportunity to make their own books as places to set words to paper, one of our goals was to provide them a chance to make something beautiful they could take home. Soon, ten sets of hands were running fingers over paper choices; wrestling with bulldog clips and paper awls; pulling thread through beeswax; and enjoying success with Japanese binding—a technique very different from what we used for our anthology, but one just right for first-time book makers.

Bulldog clips hold multiple pages firm as they are worked into a book.

Coating thread with natural beeswax before sewing.

Of course we wanted them to take away more than just beautiful handmade books. We told them that publishing can mean many things, as setting words to one sheet of paper and presenting them as a gift to someone special is one way that writing moves out into the world. You have the ability to do this, we urged these young writers.

Scoring the cover folds with bone folders and rulers.

We made sure they knew that before we began our own project, we didn’t even know what we needed to learn to ensure our anthology became reality. Nonetheless here we are, at a particularly exhilarating part of the journey to print.

Book makers displaying the visual aspect of the evening's success.

What we took away was less physically tangible than the crafted objects they proudly displayed in this group picture. That evening my pockets were full with the energy in the room, the shared delight in accomplishment, the heartfelt appreciations. Since then I’ve reflected that the fierceness of purpose I took away has far more to do with the making of meaning than of making only a pretty object. The books we make are fine work because the freight they carry matters deeply to us. That, of all they took from our time together, is what I most desire those young writers remember and take to heart.

Comments (0) — Categorized under: Gail Koehler —

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