Glenda Bailey-Mershon

WRITE WITH ME! Study Hall, Monday, May 25, 2015

Hey there! Hope you’re set and ready to write this morning–or whenever you can schedule it today. You know that saying from Eleanor Roosevelt–“a woman is like a tea bag, you never know how strong she is until you put her in hot water”? Well, you could say the same thing about writers. So the laundry is piled up, the landlord is at the door, the kids are screaming, and your favorite soap is on TV. Tough titties! (I always liked that saying–it reminds me of Julianne Moore and her Viking bustiere in–oh, wait, I digress, and this posting is about NOT digressing!) So throw in a load, slide a post it under the door to the landlord, sit the kids down with popcorn and a movie, and TIVO that soap Opera–then sit down and write! You can do it!

And you can hold me to it, too. I’ll be traveling today, but you can bet I’ll be looking for Wi-Fi spots throughout the day, where I can stop, check in with you in the comments section, below, and write for a bit before the Yorkie and I get back in the road. I’m on a deadline for a lit mag submission, so I’ll be working in my short story, entitled “Clemmie’s Bouquet.”

Happy trails to you!

Love, Glenda

Saint George, SC, USA

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Glenda Bailey-Mershon

Glenda Bailey-Mershon is the author of the novel Eve’s Garden (Twisted Road, 2014), the story of three generations of Romani women surviving in North Georgia, USA, during the 1960s. She is also the author of Weaver’s Knot: Poems (Finishing Line Press, forthcoming 2023) and other poetry titles, including sa-co-ni-ge/blue smoke: poems from the Southern Appalachians (Jane’s Stories) and Bird Talk: Poems (Wild Dove). A founder of the nonprofit, Jane’s Stories Press Foundarion, which presents the Clara Johnson Award for Women’s Literature, she edited four of their anthologies, the latest being Bridges and Borders, featuring immigrant women writers.

11 responses to “WRITE WITH ME! Study Hall, Monday, May 25, 2015”

Tricia E. Bratton

May 25, 2015

thanks for the inspiration! Just finished writing my blog, it is 10 a.m., and I now vow to work on my story, today!

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Glenda Bailey-Mershon

May 25, 2015

You have a head start over in England, Tricia–brava! This morning before hitting the road I’m finishing up the polishing of a short story and getting a packet ready to mail to a lit mag. Bon voyage, everybody, in your writing journey for the day!

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Mama Pajama (Miriam)

May 25, 2015

argh! you’re absolutely right, Glenda – I need SO MUCH to remember to put the whole world on hold and just take the time to do what I do. I can’t even tell you how many stories i have going on in my head that never see the light of the page…it makes me sad. 😦 I was supposed to have a meeting at 10am, but here it is 10:15 and I think she’s a no-show. if I start now, I’m sure she’ll come bursting through the door, so I’ll give it another few minutes, then make with the post-it note, the movie for the kid, put on my Viking bustier, and give myself up to creativity for at least…30 minutes.

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Roberta Bear

May 25, 2015

I’m w/ Mama PJ–was up & rarin’ to go about an hour ago, waited for my sister to wake up so I could get on to dictating, finally said the heck w/ it, then got stuck in endless issues w/ my laptop and the internet.
Finally ready to reread and get on w/ what I wrote last Mon.–beginning of YA not-me account of not-me girl trying to re-make herself (a little of me) in mid-1950s SF Bay Area (definitely me).

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1. Glenda Bailey-Mershon
  
  May 25, 2015
  
  You can do a lot in thirty minutes, Miriam. Write a great first line. Fid just the right word, Make a quick outline. Heck, you can do that while someone’s banging on the door.
  
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2. Glenda Bailey-Mershon
  
  May 25, 2015
  
  Yay, Bobby! Circle the good parts, jettison or fix the bad, and keep moving! We’re waiting for that book.
  
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Roberta Bear

May 25, 2015

Cleaned up the first 4 pp and added 2 more today. Don’t want to stop, but read somewhere you should stop while you still have something to say, so it’s easy to get started again. Until next week!

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Glenda Bailey-Mershon

May 25, 2015

In the motel and off to dinner. Then I’ll come back and try to finish editing the short story.

Roberta, I think you have to find the rhythm and routine that works for you. Some people like to leave mid-flow with maybe a note about where to begin tomorrow. I like to write by scene or section and complete one section draft per sitting. That’s what I did this morning. Now I’ll go back and re-read and see if there’s more polishing to do. There’s a hundred ways to do it. Try it all till you get a good flow going, I say! See you later.

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Glenda Bailey-Mershon

May 25, 2015

Jane, does washing your floors help you start with a clean conscience? I have another friend who can’t write if there’s dirty dishes in the sink.

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mrscrotty

May 26, 2015

4 pm, after I get the floors washed. Because dogs. Looking forward to it. Just came back now, hours later after forgetting to hit send. Wrote for 45 min., had to work again. Next time, going to write in a notebook. Typing is fun but forces me to write in a more constrained way.

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Glenda Bailey-Mershon

May 26, 2015

Yeah, some people really need the physical connection with each letter as it forms. Again, you have to find your way, your rhythm, however it works for you. I can write poetry longhand, but not prose. Has something to do with the word flow, I think. In poetry each letter can be more deliberate for me, whereas prose is about keeping up with the thought process, at least on first draft. Second draft, different story. There, I like the whole physical interaction with the paper, the pen, the consideration of each word and sound in a manuscript. Nothing better than a day spent with a manuscript, a favorite pen, a cup if tea.

Good work, everybody! See you next week!

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