Capicu Poetry Open Mic with Bonafide Rojas & Chango Bi - Nov. 20th!

Back at home base in Williamsburg Brooklyn with the November installment of the Capicu Poetry Open Mic, featuring some of NYC's most dynamic urban talent and music by DJ Sambarella.

Friday, November 20, 2009
Time: 6:30pm - 11:00pm
Location: Notice Lounge
Street: 198 Union Avenue
City/Town: Brooklyn, NY

Featured Poet: Bonafide Rojas
Poet, musician and author of "Pelo Bueno: A Day In The Life Of A Nuyorican Poet" (dark souls press, 2006). Also featured in HBO Def Poetry Jam (2004).
Bandleader/vocalist/guitarist for the band The Mona Passage, a collective experiment of puerto rican & dominican musicians who challenge the status quo on what music is Puerto Rican & Dominican.

Featured Artist: Chango Bi
A multi-media visual artist and co-founder of the Collective Soul artist collaborative based in New York City

The Capicu Poetry Open Mic
Doors Open @ 7 PM
Notice Lounge & Cafe
198 Union Avenue (between B'way and Montrose)
Williamsburg Brooklyn NY 11211
Right across from the 90th Precinct

$5 Cover
18 & Over
Casual But Neat

G Train to Broadway
J train to Lorimer
This Show Is Sponsored by Futuvision and Platinum Mic Studios

Jim Lehrer on the Media Today

Gore Vidal: Profile of a Writer

Junot Díaz and Jamaica Kincaid Read at the 92nd Street Y

All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in NaNoWriMo

All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in NaNoWriMo
By Jason Black

I'm ashamed to say that I didn't write my first novel until I was 35 years old.

I tried to write when I was in high school. Stories would come to me, and in my head they seemed so grand and epic, yet they inevitably fell flat on the page.

I'd begin with all the enthusiasm and zeal in the world, but three pages later I'd be at the end.

Poof.

Done.

I'd shake my head and wonder where the heck my story went, because there was nothing grand or epic left in those three pages. I had no idea how those "real" writers sustained a story not for three pages, but for 300.

I decided it must be a gift you have to be born with, so I gave up.

That's what I'm really ashamed of.

But I was wrong.

It's not something you're born with, any more than you're born knowing how to walk or speak or use a spoon. My problem wasn't some lack of genetic ability. It was that I didn't know the fundamental law of fiction.

Twenty years later, a friend convinced me to try NaNoWriMo.

I decided to write a fantasy novel based on a role playing game I had run for some friends several years back.

I told those friends, and one of them gave me the best pieces of advice ever. "Remember to show, don't tell."

Maybe it was luck.

Maybe the stars were aligned.

Maybe I was just--finally--ready.

But whatever the reason, that simple edict guided me on a 30 day, 300 page romp of a fantasy novel that in the end bore almost no resemblance to the story I thought it would.

The bliss of redemption has never tasted so sweet.

Showing, as it turns out, is the secret to sustaining a story for as long as you want. When I was younger I had been telling, not showing. Showing is also the secret to making the story interesting and compelling for the reader. "Show, don't tell" is the fundamental law of fiction.

This year is my fifth NaNoWriMo.

Over the past four years, I've learned an awful lot about the practicalities of writing a novel: The subtleties of different point-of-view choices. What it means to have an inner character arc to go with your outer story arc, and how to tie the two together. How to write so as to create mysteries for your reader, rather than to destroy them. The value of conflict in every scene and across the entire plot. The "Hero's Journey" structure. How to balance protagonists and antagonists. How to create compelling stakes.

And on and on and on.

But what I've learned most of all comes back to that advice from my friends. Show, don't tell. At the end of the day, writing is always about "show, don't tell." Every piece of writing advice out there is, at heart, just another manifestation of that one fundamental law.

Or as master short story writer Anton Chekov put it, "Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass."

Guest blogger Jason Black is a freelance book doctor working with aspiring novelists to help their work escape the slushpile. He writes about effective techniques for creating great characters at http://www.plottopunctuation.com/blog Click here and may be found on twitter as http://www.twitter.com/p2p_editor.Click here

NaNoWriMo: Celebrating 30 Days of Pure Literary Lunacy

Celebrating 30 Days of Pure Literary Lunacy
By Michael P. Geffner

November, for a ton of writers all over the world, is National Novel Writing Month—or what easily could be called 30 Days of Pure Literary Lunacy.

It’s nothing less than a maddening exercise that requires you to type until your fingers are raw, your eyeballs glaze over, and your mind is numb.

"The ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output,"reads the official website. "It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly."

Or, as some would say with a weak chuckle, die trying.

Now, for the record, let me say I’ve never participated in NaNoWriMo. I’ve never even thought about it. In fact, I haven’t aspired to write a novel since my early 20’s, when I thought—no, I was convinced—that I was the next Hemingway or Camus or Faulkner.

That said, I must admit I absolutely adore the concept: forcing you to write a 50,000-word (175-page) novel from November 1st to midnight, November 30th—an utterly frenetic period of creative energy.

It can’t help but bring to the surface so many great qualities a writer needs to develop a life of it: discipline, commitment, and the perseverance to finish something (How many stories have we all heard of unfinished novels?).

I also love the sense of community it inspires—the shared joy, the shared pain, the shared fear that you see all over the online writing networks, as well as on places like Twitter and Facebook and Myspace and YouTube.

Let’s face it: We writers live mostly a lonely, solitary existence.

We lock ourselves in rooms.

We hide in quiet, shadowy corners.

We write within the darkness of our souls and lost in the fog of our imagination.

So it’s a beautiful thing that something exists out there that gives us this one chance to feel like we’re doing something together and chatting about it every step of the way.

I celebrate this glorious experience, as well as have infinite respect for those brave souls who have voluntarily entered the belly of the NaNoWriMo beast.

To those continuing to feverishly bang away trying desperately to hit that 50K, good luck!

I'm with you in spirit.

Best always and stay positive,

Mike

NaNoWriMo: Taking It Up Several Notches

Taking It Up Several Notches
By Jocelyne Allen

I started my first NaNoWriMo with my head stuck in the armpit of a Japanese businessman.

Working in downtown Tokyo and living on the east side equals a long commute, and I had the misfortune of being on one of the busiest commuter routes in the dense city.

So each morning, I shoved my way into an already full train, hoping only for a strap to hang onto. Sitting was never an option. With my face literally pressed against someone’s back or chest or (worst case) armpit, my options for the next hour were rather limited.

Then November came and gave me something to think about other than whose elbow was in my kidneys. As white-gloved station attendants crammed people in suits into my train car, pirates and cats fought armies of petticoated girls in my head. Arriving at my desk, I ignored the stack of papers waiting for me and frantically pounded away at my keyboard, trapping the armies on a virtual page before they slipped away. And then after a ten-hour workday, the same routine in reverse, only it was the laptop in my one-room apartment that took the beating.

Excited eyebrows up the moment I saw the word count trip up over 50,000. High fives and gold stars to me and that was the end of that. Except that the pirates shanghaied me. A hundred thousand extra words later, they set me free. And the result is a book called You and the Pirates, published this past September by The Workhorsery.

NaNoWriMo is harder this year without the long, boring commute--maybe all the bad breath and armpits were an inspiration to me. But updating my word count on the NaNo site still gives me the same glee. Focusing on how many words I write rather than the quality of the words lets the story slip out of me. A story which apparently includes a town where soap flakes fall like snow.

A Japanese translator based in Toronto, Canada, now after a decade in Japan, Jocelyne Allen actually gets paid to read comics (and turn them into English). Her first novel, You and the Pirates, was just published by Toronto press The Workhorsery (www.theworkhorsery.ca Click here). This is her second time taking on the NaNo challenge.

Billy Collins on the Struggle of Writing

MLK's Wisdom

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." - Martin Luther King Jr.

The NaNoWriMo Stories

How to Succeed at NaNoWriMo Using Endurance Training
By Christy Goldfeder

I trained for and competed in a sprint triathlon (½ mile swim, 14 mile bike ride, 5k run) a couple of years before I took on NaNoWriMo. For some crazy reason, I thought that competing in an endurance race at the crack of dawn would be easier than writing 50,000 words. That’s how powerful the fear of the blank page was for me – and can be for many writers.

But while writing 50,000 in 30 days sounds like an impossible feat, in reality it is much easier than you think. All you need to do is break it down like you would if you were training for an endurance event such a triathlon.

1 – Break it down: When you divide 50,000 words by 30 days, you’ll see that you need to write about 1667 words per day to meet your goal. If you’re a professional writer, how often do you write a 1,500 – 2000 word piece? You probably crank out a few of those per week. Ok - maybe with NaNoWriMo you’re writing 50% more than you usually end up writing in a week.

With my sprint triathlon training, I figured out that I would have to run 2-3 miles a few days a week, swim ¼ mile a few days per week and bike 10 – 15 miles a couple days a week. And I still needed to have some rest in between workout sessions.

2 – Create your blocks or “bricks”: Block out your writing time so that you know you can get it done. I prefer to write in the early mornings when I’m writing longer pieces. Setting your alarm clock for an hour earlier than you usually get up can give you that quiet time that you need to do your work. Or, if you’re a night owl, set up some late-night writing time.

When I trained for the tri, I doubled up my workouts – for example, swimming at 7:00 am and running at 7:00 pm. By the end of training, I would double up workouts into bricks – e.g., running, then swimming – so that I’d get use to switching sports. Doubles and bricks are tiring, but they helped me get my miles in and still have two days off to recover.

3 – Plan for “recovery” days: There may be times when you know you won’t be able to write during the month of November. If you want to take Thanksgiving Day off, just make sure that you can get those words in some other day. If you plan to write more words earlier in the month, you’re more likely to meet your 50,000 word quota by the deadline.

Remember, the beauty of NaNoWriMo is that you don’t actually have to publish your novel by the deadline – you can take a few months to edit and turn it into a work of art.
The other benefit is that after writing consistently for 30 days, you might just find yourself with a new good writing habit.

So don’t be afraid to write freely and just see what happens in your novel when you participate in NaNoWriMo – enjoy it, have fun, and remember that it’s just a game.

Guest blogger Christy Goldfeder is a copywriter working with professionals to grow their businesses through clearer marketing and online strategies. She’s also a holistic health counselor empowering busy people to easily lose weight and gain more energy without stress or struggle. She writes about nutrition and wellness at http://www.liveadeliciouslife.com.Click here Follow her on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/christyi Click here

I Dare You
By Nancy Lichtenstein

Go ahead, I dare you. Sign up for NaNoWriMo and write a novel in a month.

Put aside the fact that it seems like an impossible task…it IS impossible and yet I’ve done it twice, and I have two kids, a full time job, a side career as a freelance writer, and a chronic illness. In fact, it’s precisely because it’s impossible that it’s life changing.

You will see thousands of people sign up for Nanowrimo in the days leading up to November (on the slight chance that you haven’t heard of it yet, it’s National Novel Writing Month, where you pledge to complete the first draft of a 50,000 word fiction manuscript in 30 days; for more information go to www.nanowrimo.org.

Scores of your friends will sign up for it and get started with the best of intentions, fueled on enthusiasm and big dreams. More than one third of them will drop off in the first couple of days, making excuses and saying they’ll try again next year. By the second week, that number will double. If you make it to the end, it truly is a remarkable achievement.

I’m not patting myself on the back for having done it; every one of you could do it too. All it requires is sitting in front of your keyboard and writing 1,666.67 extra words a day…whether you feel like it or not. There are days when this is easy and other days where you’ll sit there typing stuff like, “I hate this story. I hate these characters. I hate myself. I should have become a dentist—I hate dentists.” (Interludes like this are allowed in the rules as long as the majority of the writing is actually on topic.)

The benefits you get from finishing are countless. It’s a trip of discovery that I want you to experience firsthand, but trust that you’ll come out of it believing in yourself like never before. Before Nanowrimo, I was one of those people who put her dreams on the shelf to be “realistic.” Afterwards, my real life changed.

Completing National Novel Writing Month gave me, a suburban mom, the courage to walk into New York Fashion Week (not the friendliest of climates) like I owned the place, hang out with TV stars and interview top designers; this was a big dream of mine and one I believed would NEVER come true, but after Nanowrimo, it was cake.

There’s still one major dream that hasn’t come true yet—publishing a novel. Last year, I was one of the ones who wimped out. It was the worst year of my life personally and I told myself I just didn’t have it in me to do this on top of everything else I was dealing with.

Now I realize that it wouldn’t have been an added burden, it would have been freeing. What could I have done in the past 12 months if I’d done Nanowrimo first? I don’t know, but this year I’m going to find out. Meet me in the winner’s circle on November 30. Go ahead, do the impossible. I dare you.

Guest columnist Nancy Lichtenstein is a freelance lifestyle writer, music journalist and fashionista. She's a frequent contributor to LA Story, a go-to girl for fashion, music and decorating questions at Associated Content, and a two-time NaNoWriMo winner.

NaNoWriMo: It's All About Falling in Love
By Aline Martins

Writing a story is all about falling in love.

I first heard about NaNoWriMo three years ago through a friend, and though I loved writing, I could never believe that you could put yourself under such pressure just so a book could be born in the world.

So, I avoided participating, left it aside, and instead took as many writing classes and workshops as I could on writing and creative writing.

The fact, is, I am a storyteller, just as my grandmother was. I tell stories in hospitals, at parties and camps, and in the school in Brazil where I teach English.

I thought, "I can tell a story, I am perfectly able to write one too!” But I didn’t know that writing was the hardest part. While different ideas for books constantly float around in my head in my head, when it came to writing them down I found that I am a Procrastination Queen.

Every time I planned to start writing, I would sabotage myself and find the perfect excuse to start doing it later.

Tip: Don’t ever expect the elves to come during the night and start your book for you.

It was October 25th when my friend convinced me to take part in this year’s NaNoWriMo; I immediately began freaking out. I had the story in my head, a good beginning, quite good end, but what about the storyline and plots?

I had only five days to get organized.

I turned to a NaNoWriMo Brazilian forum for help.

I found out I had much more to start than a lot people had, and soon I was organizing a NaNoWriMo kick-off party.

This was the best thing I ever did.

Tip: If you can go to the meet ups and write ins, DO IT! There is nothing better than meeting likeminded people.

Suddenly, it was November 1st. And during the first couple of hours, I managed typing 2,000 words! It was at that moment that I knew I was in love, completely in love with my story, with NaNoWriMo.

It was the morning of the second day, when, very excitedly I told my mom of my achievement, “Mom, I already wrote 4,000 words!” She replied: “We are having pasta for lunch."

Tip: Sometimes we must not listen to what people say.

Today, here I am, getting to 12K out of the 50K expected before the end of November.

I'm not sleeping much, trying to keep up with my jobs as a teacher, translator and NaNoWriMo storyteller.

But it's all well worth it. I am very, very happy. I've finally fallen in love.

Tip: KEEP LIVING, KEEP BREATHING, KEEP WRITING! (This one is for me, so I don’t forget it, but I’ll let you use it)

It is all about falling in love.

Guest blogger Aline Martins is a self-described "dreamer" who lives in São Paulo, Brazil. Her NaNoWriMo user name is Ayslin1 and her blog, The Hectic Attic, can be found at:

http://hecticattic.com/
Click here