Inspiration found in "Words from a Bear"– a documentary film about Scott Momaday

 

“I think that we're constantly redefining the human condition. And that is, as far as I can see, the writer's subject. What is it to be human? What is it to be human here and now?”– N Scott Momaday

For this post, I wanted to share some inspirations from Scott Momaday. I'm returning to a film I watched that was presented by the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in early February in Elko, NV. This documentary film is about the life and art of Scott Momaday, titled Words from a Bear.

You can watch it here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyOJIrQvkZY

This film made me cry with its adept handling of beauty and the long obstacles in the life path of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and poet N. Scott Momaday. He is best known for “House Made of Dawn” and a formative voice of the Native American Renaissance in art and literature.

I've been creating pairs of books that when read together shine new light on each other. For the book House Made of Dawn, I would pair the novel Home by Toni Morrison. Try reading these two books back to back and ask yourself what you understand differently in each book because of what the other book tells in story. 

Excerpted from an article in The Guardian 1/29/2024

·       “Scott was an extraordinary person and an extraordinary poet and writer. He was a singular voice in American literature, and it was an honor and a privilege to work with him,” Momaday’s editor, Jennifer Civiletto, said in a statement. “His Kiowa heritage was deeply meaningful to him and he devoted much of his life to celebrating and preserving Native American culture, especially the oral tradition.”

·       House Made of Dawn, published in 1968, tells of a second world war soldier who returns home and struggles to fit back in, a story as old as war itself: in this case, home is a Native community in rural New Mexico. Much of the book was based on Momaday’s childhood in Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico, and on his conflicts between the ways of his ancestors and the risks and possibilities of the outside world.

·       “I grew up in both worlds and straddle those worlds even now,” Momaday said in a 2019 PBS documentary. “It has made for confusion and a richness in my life.”

·       Like Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, Momaday’s novel was a second world war story that resonated with a generation protesting the Vietnam war. In 1969, Momaday became the first Native American to win the fiction Pulitzer, and his novel helped launch a generation of authors, including Leslie Marmon Silko, James Welch and Louise Erdrich. His other admirers would range from the poet Joy Harjo, the country’s first Native American to be named poet laureate, to the film stars Robert Redford and Jeff Bridges.

·       “He was a kind of literary father for a lot of us,” Harjo told the Associated Press during a telephone interview on Monday. “He showed how potent and powerful language and words were in shaping our very existence.”

Poetry Reading for all ages and Common Reads Event at the Truckee Library April 3, 5-7 pm

Truckee Library invites you to a special event Poetry Reading for all ages to celebrate the Nevada County Reads program and the beginning of National Poetry Month on April 3, 2024 from 5-7 pm.

The Truckee Library Celebration of Gratitude poetry reading will take place on Wednesday, April 3rd, 2024, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at the Truckee Library. The event will feature a poetry reading by June Saraceno and Karen Terrey. Each poet will share poems on the theme of Gratitude and offer a short writing prompts for all levels of experience. 

June Sylvester Saraceno is the author of the novel Feral, North Carolina, 1965, and three poetry collections—The Girl from Yesterday, of Dirt and Tar, and Altars of Ordinary Light. She is director of the low residency MFA program in creative writing at the University of Nevada, Reno at Lake Tahoe.

There will be time for socializing with the poets and a Q&A during the reading. The library will provide light refreshments for all who attend. The event is completely free and everyone from our community is encouraged to attend! Free copies of this year's book are available at all Nevada County Library Branches.

Nevada County Reads is an annual county-wide reading event, during which our entire community is invited to read, discuss, and engage together around a common book. Each year since 2005, the Nevada County Library and Nevada County Superintendent of Schools have joined with community partners to present this opportunity for Nevada County to build a stronger community through shared reading.

 

Our 2024 Nevada County Reads selection is Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude by poet Ross Gay, a collection of poems that explore the beauty and joy of being alive in a world which is tragically affected by the passage of time. This year's NCR period is presented in partnership with the Nevada County Arts Council. A month of poetry celebration will culminate with a free, in-person discussion and audience Q&A with Ross Gay on April 13, 2024 at 5:30PM at the Center for the Arts in Grass Valley as part of the Sierra Poetry Festival.

Ross Gay is the author of four books of poetry: Against Which; Bringing the Shovel Down; Be Holding, winner of the PEN American Literary Jean Stein Award; and Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, winner of the 2015 National Book Critics Circle Award and the 2016 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award. In addition to his poetry, Ross has released three collections of essays—The Book of Delights was released in 2019 and was a New York Times bestseller; Inciting Joy was released in 2022, and his newest collection, The Book of (More) Delights was released in September of 2023.

Don’t miss this opportunity to hear some of the finest poets in Nevada County and to celebrate the power of gratitude in our lives. For more information about Nevada County Reads 2024 and other related events, please visit the Nevada County Library website at www.nevadacountyreads.com.

 

Are you ready to submit your work? Strategies from our 3rd session of Literary Submissions and Publishing Workshop Series

“No one avoids writing like writers.” ― Jane Friedman, The Business of Being a Writer

“Writing was the only thing that populated my life and made it magic”. – Margarite Duras

Our third of three sessions for this workshop series was this past Tuesday, 2/27. Don't worry if you missed it - this is an annual workshop! Reach out to me for more details.

We hosted three diverse and experienced authors sharing their knowledge on submitting work, editing and translating, publishing, and developing author platforms and marketing. To become familiar with these authors' work, you can read their work that I've referenced below and check out their books and other work available.

Diana Whitney writes across the genres in Vermont with a focus on feminism, motherhood, and
sexuality. Her first book, Wanting It, became an indie bestseller and won the Rubery Book
Award in poetry. She was the longtime poetry critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, where she
featured women poets and LGBTQ+ voices in her column. Her essays, op-eds, and book reviews
have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Kenyon Review,
Glamour, and many more. Her anthology, You Don’t Have to Be Everything: Poems for Girls
Becoming Themselves, was released by Workman Publishing to critical acclaim, won the 2022
Claudia Lewis Award for the best poetry book of the year, and became a YA bestseller.

 

You can read about and order her newest book of poems Dark Beds published by June Road Press and even listen to her read a few poems here. And here is her article in the New York Times 2018 titled Dementia's Gift: Facing Cancer without Fear

In 2014, Marianne Porter earned an MFA in Creative Writing, Sierra Nevada University
(currently University of Nevada, Lake Tahoe). Her 89,000-word travel memoir, ADRIFT
ACROSS EUROPE, 1973-’74. Two Best Friends, Five Backpack Diaries, 154 Days, has been
accepted for publication by Pegasus Publishing.

A writer of diverse forms, Marianne’s poetry, fiction, and non-fiction has been published in
various magazines and venues, including Freeflow Institute, Pure Slush Publications, Entropy&,
and Clover: A Literary Rag. Her short story “A Weekend with the Parents. 1970” earned
Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train’s Dec 2017 Family Matters contest. In March 2016,
her personal essay titled, “Five Things I Remember About Rape” appeared online in Jennifer
Pastiloff’s “The Manifest-Station, On Being Human.” She also writes occasionally for Moonshine Ink.

 

Shaun Griffin’s soulful poetry and engagement with Nevada communities make him one of the
state’s most well-loved literary figures. He is the author of This is What the Desert Surrenders,
Bathing in the River of Ashes and Woodsmoke, Wind and the Peregrine, among others.
Recurring themes in his poetry; family, landscape and work for justice in the larger
world; Griffin’s editing also adds to his literary legacy, specifically his editing of Torn By Light,
poems by Joanne de Longchamps. Likewise, his translations of Emma Sepulveda’s poems have
allowed her work to be enjoyed by an increasingly wider audience. Both de Longchamps and
Sepulveda are members of the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame.

 

You can read about his newest memoir coming out March 15th by Southern Utah University Press in the Reno News & Review Griffin’s other works include Anthem for a Burnished Land: What We Leave in This Desert of Work and Words; Bathing in the River of Ashes; The Monastery of Stars; and Because the Light Will Not Forgive Me: Essays From a Poet. 

 

He hosts a radio show on KWNKradio.org the first and third Sunday of the month at 5 pm. All shows are on the station website and Spotify (KWKN - A Writer's World).

Writing Prompts to ask yourself as you assess strategies for submission:

1. Why do you write?
2. What do you write about?
3. What is your unique perspective?
4. What needs and emotions do you cater to or go after?
5. What is your message?
6. Who is your audience?
7. Which planks do you currently have and which ones would you like to add to your
platform as a professional writer?
8. Set your goals for this month, this year:

Are you ready to send out your writing for submission? As a writing coach and editor, I'm available to help with revision, manuscript edits, and strategizing the right places to submit your work.

Two local authors land memoir publishing contracts with She Writes Press: session 2 of 3 in the Literary Submissions and Publishing Workshop Series

This week in the second of three sessions, we talked about the nitty gritty of publishing a memoir and getting it accepted by a hybrid press for publication (She Writes / Spark Press). This process involves writing a book proposal, including a synopsis, chapter summaries, and book comparables. Sue Norman recommends writing the book proposal earlier in the process, and closely reading Brooke Warner's detailed book on writing a book proposal. Brooke Warner also has a TED talk on this subject. Sue  gave us some specific tips also for finding comparable titles. She used Amazon to find books no older than 3 years that either competed with her book concept or overlapped in audience and interest. Her book will be published late summer 2025. Congratulations, Sue!

Both Bridey Thelen-Heidel and Sue talked about working diligently with several editors at developmental editing stages and the benefits of being "coachable" writers. They also both credit being in a supportive writing group for helping them write and develop their stories.

We then spent some time looking at what parts of an author platform you might want to develop as a writer to expand your public visibility as a writer. Bridey built a website and managed her new blog for about a year or two before her book was accepted for publication. Even as a well-known teacher/writer in her community, she needed to expand her platform in person and online. I recommend you check out her blog since she was able to use that as a springboard to win an award for her writing as well as gain followers.

 

Bridey applied to present a TEDx talk in S Lake Tahoe and successfully wrote and performed last October. Through this process she has connected with another community for spreading the word about the video that supports her memoir. She also performed in a play in NYC with similar themes to her memoir and that community is another networking opportunity. Here is Brooke Warner on how to land and write a TEDx talk

 

As these writers spoke, it became clear to me that the book is not the only goal, or the end of the project. The book becomes another plank in the platform that allows a writer to become a speaker at events, conferences, a teacher at workshops, another step towards the next vision of how we see ourselves as writers.  What are your goals?

3 Takeaways from our Guest Authors: Literary Submissions and Publishing Workshop 1 of 3

In last night's first session of this 3-part series on Literary Submissions and Publishing, we heard from three guest authors about their process towards publication of memoir, craft, YA, fiction, and poetry.

Suzanne Roberts started off the workshop with her story of how she found her editor and publisher through University of Nebraska Press. Almost Somewhere: 28 Days on the John Muir Trail was published by Bison Books. She talked with the editors about how they could represent more feminist authors in their line of books offered. Ten years later, she has brilliantly re-released this memoir with a new Afterward, Discussion Questions for book clubs, and more photographs of her original  hike. Her tip is to consider a University Press and seek out one that publishes the niche of your manuscript.

 Lindsay Wilson presented a rundown of the nitty gritty for submitting work to literary magazines. As an editor himself of a few different magazines, and currently editor of The Meadow, he shared the editor's eye view of submissions: "Keep a love for the process of writing separate from publishing. Ultimately, it's about the craft."  The Meadow's reading period is August 15 - Jan 15 each year, accepting poetry, fiction, and non-fiction.

Our evening closed with the warmth of Kim Culbertson talking about her path to publication of YA novels, an adult novel, a few other creative projects, and her latest craft book 100 Word Stories: A Short Form for Expansive Writing. She asked us "what book would bring you joy to write?" Kim is a teacher at heart, and calls the 100 word short stories "small, bright things". 

Pick up a copy of these writers' books and feel good about being a citizen of literature. On February 13th, we have our next session of the Literary Submissions and Publication workshop series. You can read the details here and email me to sign up at tangledrootswriting@gmail.com