Bucket List for Writers

Bucket List

Do you remember the 2007 movie "The Bucket List" starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman? The title is derived from the slang term "kick the bucket" meaning "to die." In silent Western movies a character would fall down kicking over a bucket. That was the signal to the audience that he had died.  Many people have written their personal bucket list of things to do before they die just like in the movie.

In recent weeks in the United States a young woman, Brittany Maynard, has made news by writing her personal bucket list. She has an untreatable, painful brain tumor and death is in the immediate future. She has moved to the state of Oregon where the right to die act is legally practiced. She has selected November 1 as her date of death. In the past few days, she checked off the last thing on her bucket list.... a trip to the Grand Canyon in Arizona. I wish her well in her journey.

A bucket list is different than a to-do list. The latter has things on it like: buy soap, return library books, buy gas, and register for writing class. It is meant as a reminder of tasks you wish to do today. A bucket list is a reminder of things to fulfill but on a grander scale (play at Carnegie Hall versus practice recital pieces). It includes goals you wish to accomplish, dreams you realistically want to fulfill and life experiences you desire before you die.

Writing a bucket list forces you to think what you really want. Some items may be materialistic but most are adventures or goals you set for yourself. It is a plan for your future. It is a blueprint for where you want to go and what you want to do. It gives clarity and focus to your life. To me, it makes me think about what I will work hard to make happen, places and people I want to see and challenges I want to tackle. It is realistic.

I know I will never be a ballerina (I am five feet tall and in the later part my 60th decade) but this doesn't diminish my desire to enjoy number four on my list: another performance of Russia's Bolshoi Ballet. The first time I saw them perform, I cried I enjoyed it so much. The BL solidifies my number three desire to spend two weeks in Paris. I do not want to play the piano at Carnegie Hall but I do want increase significantly my playing skills to better understand and enjoy music. These are legitimate items on my bucket list.

We, as writers, can benefit from a Bucket List aimed at our writing. Some goals for me to put down may be to finish the novel I started five years ago; send more query letters to different agents regarding my newly finished nonfiction book; learn to spin wool so I can write an article for the weaving magazine; refine what public libraries I want to visit to do research for a new idea I have for a different nonfiction book; and clean out my writing files! Thinking about what I want to accomplish versus what I have to accomplish gets me excited and motivated to check things off my BLW (Bucket List, Writing).

Your BLW is probably entirely different than mine. Yours may include finding a writers' retreat for the summer of 2016, winning a writing contest and trying your hand at Goth novels. Who knows? You know. You know what your heart is beating toward and where your brain is heading. Write down a BLW,frame it and put it on the wall in front of your computer. Put on the teakettle or coffee pot and get busy.

Bern, Switzerland

Granddaughters

Tulips in Holland

The Bible , A Source For Writers

Kathy Cooney Dobbs

Allegory, parable, poetry,
dialogue, discription, characterization;
Plot, narrative, conflict; and the resolve thereof.
Writers can glean much about writing from what
some call the greatest book ever written, the greatest story ever told
 - the Holy Bible.

The treachery and heartbreak of Good Friday
gives way to the glory of Easter Sunday and the Risen Lord.

Green Tea & The New York Times

Kathy Cooney Dobbs

    Yesterday after church, I had the pleasant experience of sitting in Starbucks drinking a refreshing glass  of  iced green tea while casually reading through my two favorite sections of The New York Times - Book Review , and Arts&Leisure.

    I don't often read print editions of the newspaper, I primarily  read articles on line now, most often The Spokesman-Review and Los Angeles Times. But having the paper in my hand with its  newsprint smell and inky feel reminded me of how important reading the daily paper once was to me, especially the Sunday paper. Turning actual pages, seeing the layout, perusing each headline.
 

    Statistics show print media is struggling , subscriptions and readership are down.  Many reasons are cited , not the least being the immergence of the internet .  But yesterday while browsing the paper ,  I thought how newspapers  once provided fertile ground for  young writers to hone their skill. Learning to work with an editor, rewriting and editing a story, and the pressure to  meet a copy deadline.  I thought of my own long ago days when I was one of those young writers just out of college , and was hired to write feature  stories for a community newspaper in Southern California. The editor  stressed what my journalism instructors did about writing a news story, the importance of five W's and H - Who, What, Where , When, Why and How.   

    The same  can be helpful for other genre's as well. In the telling of any story , fiction or non-fiction the reader is wanting to know who the story  is about, what is their purpose , where are they, when is the time frame, why did the characters act like they did,  and how any conflict is resolved. 

    Prior to the internet  and 24 hour cable, Newspapers were a primary source providing  news and other information for the average person;  Crime stories, society, sports, politics, obituaries, opinion, food, theater, advertisement.

    In yesterday's New York Times I found many articles informative, and interesting,  including Laemmle's List: A Mogul's Heroism , a biographical sketch by movie critic, Neal Gabler about Carl Laemmle, a founder of Universal Pictures and East Meets West, Over Cocktails - a history and recollection of vanished Chinese nightclubs. I was surprised to learn during its heyday in the 1940's, the Forbidden City in San Francisco billed itself as "the world's most famous nightclub" which often included celebrities like Bob Hope and Lauren Bacall in the audience. Then there were the Display ads touting Broadway shows, an upcoming movie release, and the American Ballet Theater.

    I discovered drinking green tea and reading The Times makes for a happy union, and rediscovered the pleasure of reading the Sunday paper - something I plan to do more often.



 

Maria von Trapp and The Sound of Music

     I was 14 the summer of 1965 when my brother, Walt and I visited our cousins  Shauna, Kevin and Kim in Seattle. The five of us thought it a special occasion when our  Grandmother Cooney took  us  to a  matinee  one afternoon at a downtown theater to see the movie The Sound of Music . I became  totally immersed in the  story of a young  Postulant who leaves the Abbey to care for a widower's young children, teaches them to sing, falls in love with their father, and together they thwart the Nazi's and escape wartime Austria. To this day The Sound of Music is one of my all time favorite stories.   For years I wanted to emulate  Maria von Trapp, not that I could ever sing a tune, but admired her faith and character.  I already  knew a little about her as my grandmother had shared  what a good storyteller she was after attending  a tea  in her home state of Iowa where Maria von Trapp was the guest speaker. Grandma said Maria was full of joy, a  gifted writer,  and wonderful storyteller.

     It was in  the 1950's Rogers and Hammerstein brought the story of Maria and the von Trapp family   to Broadway with their hit musical The Sound of Music,  based on Maria Augusta Trapp's  memoir of the Trapp Family Singers,   published in 1949.  It was later  adapted for the movie screen ,  starring Julie Andrews as Maria, and became one of the most successful box office musicals of all time. Through the years  The Sound of Music  remains popular with audiences,  as indicated by its DVD sales.

     Who of us can't sing along with at least one of the songs from that great musical score:

Climb every mountain, ford every stream, follow every byway til you find your dream, or

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings , these are a few of my favorite things

     and  from the title song:

The hills are alive with the sound of music, with songs they have sung for a thousand years. My heart wants to sing every song it hears. My heart wants to beat like the wings of the  birds that rise from the lake to the trees. My heart wants  to sigh like a chime that flies from a church on a breeze, To laugh like a brook when it trips and falls over stones on its way , To sing through the night like a lark who is learning to pray. I go to the hills when my heart is lonely. i know I will hear what I've heard before. My heart will be blessed with the sound of music - And I'll sing once more.

     Oh ! to write lyrics like Hammerstein !  That would be grand.

                                                       

     I wonder though, how many know Maria von Trapp continued to write after the success of her first book. One of my favorites, titled Maria was a Christmas gift to me in 1973 with the inscription, May the pages of your life always unfold moments of truth, love, anger, despair, and reach the heights of Heaven itself. Love, Mother

    I include my mother's inscription because it dawns on me that not only storytelling and lyrics are important to us as writers, but the writing of inscriptions, too. Their meaning,  and what they tell about the person writing the inscription, and to whom they're writing. In 1973 I was a single young woman embarking on my career in the newspaper business, enjoying life but sometimes  confused about the direction I was taking. My  mother's word were to give me hope and encouragement.
   
    Other titles written by Maria von Trapp are Yesterday, Today, and Forever (copyright 1975) and When the King Was Carpenter (copyright 1976). A favorite of mine this time of the year is the TRAPP Family Book of Christmas Songs (copyright 1955).  Maria von Trapp writes a lengthy introduction where she highlights the importance of Christmas, explaining many of its longtime traditions i.e.  the Advent Wreath, The Creche, Mistletoe and Ivy, and the Christmas Tree. The Christmas Tree she writes, seems like the prophecy of Isaiah come true: The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree,... to beautify the place of my sanctuary (Is 60:13).  It, too is a symbol of Christ as the Tree of Life.

     We know about Maria Augusta Trapp and the von Trapp Singers today  because Maria chose to write about her life and family, their music, and  adventures they shared.  While not all of us can be Maria von Trapp or experience the escapades she and her family entailed , and probably will never have our life portrayed on Broadway or the big screen by the likes of Mary Martin or Julie Andrews we do have our own unique story to tell , so never underestimate the power of your words,  and what they might mean to one who  reads them.
   

   *** Trailer for The Sound of Music  - Academy Award winner for Best Movie 1965

*** For more information about Maria von Trapp visit http://www.trappfamily.com/story/maria

Olympians and Writers

The 2012 Olympics start today with soccer games. The official start and opening ceremonies are Friday, July 27, 7:30pm on NBC and other stations. (You can get an app for your iPhone or iPad to watch thousands of hours of coverage.) The games are a favorite of mine. Every two years, I sit glued to the TV in awe of these uber athletes and marvel at their years of dedication to their sport. They train hours habitually. They have to be chosen to participate in the Olympics by a committee, event personnel or by excelling via timed trials. Those steps to qualify to compete in the Olympics are certainly the bulk of the experiences necessary to be considered an Olympian. In addition to being a runner, swimmer, pole vaulter, skier, skater or gymnast, once chosen, thereafter you are always known as an Olympian. As such, you have status granted to few no matter what place you finished. Winning any medal is considered generally to be unobtainable for most of the Olympians. Participating is the real prize.

The parallels of athletes to writers seem to belong together like snow in North Dakota in December. We all can mentally visualize what an athlete of Olympic caliber goes through. The hours of usually solo training demanding concentration, learning, practice and education are immense. So too is a writer who has his book published. We are “Olympians of literature” says Sarah Allen, British blogger (sarahwithjoy.com).

1  1.    Athletes study the correct way to exact the perfect performance. Writers take classes and read books on how to accomplish their craft.

2  2.    It takes years of practice and honing skills to be even considered for trials for the Olympics. The same holds true for writers. A writer never submits his first draft. Each person needs to hone his skills through trial, error and repetition of skills gained in order to succeed.

3  3.  Athletes and writers experience rejection and even in some instances consider themselves failures while training/writing and entering competitions.

4  4.    There are no short cuts in either endeavor.

5  5.   The swimmer logs hours daily in the pool, a skier on the slopes or a diver on the high board. The writers logs hours a day seated in a chair. All are alone in their attempts at success.

6  6.    The athlete turns to others for critique while authors are subject to the whims of editors. Both are wise to accept suggestions offered to them.

7  7.    Both sets of people need strong, dedicated hearts and persistence.

8  8.    Many experience second, or third place; all know the anguish of finishing last.

Obviously there are differences too:

1. Writing is a controlled environment. It is always a comfortable temperature with a bathroom near by. Not so in most sports. The snow is cold, the tennis court hot, the wind is blowing, the start of the race is delayed, the rain is falling, all affecting the athletes’ performances.

2. A writer does not get hurt physically. An athlete may spend months or years healing from surgeries or injuries sometimes caused by errors of others.

3. Writing has rules like sports but it has a soft criteria for “perfection,” for a “10.” A best seller is a “10” in my scoring; a place on the NYT best list of the week is also a ten. Winning a local or state writing contest also qualifies. But is my written piece perfect? There is no specific criteria for perfection in writing unlike pole vaulting, high jump or a swim race.

 “The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat,” said Jim McKay on ABC Sports. But, is that true? To me the biggest correlations between athletes and writers are that if you write only so you can be published, you will be disappointed. If you train in your sport to only win a gold medal once in four years, you will be disappointed. In writing as in sports, success is defined by you. If you write and are happy with your results, you have a “10.” If you learn your sport whether to compete or enjoy the activity, you have scored a “ten." We are all winners. 

As for me, I will not be writing during the last week of July and the first week of August. I will be glued to my TV watching others strive for perfection and podium status. I will appreciate all those athletes who don’t medal but have risen high enough in their sport to qualify at such an exalted level of competition. I will never win a Nobel prize for literature, I probably won’t have a book reach the NYT best seller list but I will have the joy in my accomplishments when I finish editing a draft for the tenth time and say, “This is good” even if I never submit the piece of writing. But I will turn handstands.