words – Page 3 – Abigail Mumford

reading style

May 25, 2012May 23, 2012 abby mumford

earlier this week, i received an email from a coworker’s brother.

said coworker has been out of the country visiting that brother and i’ll admit it, my heart stopped when i realized who the email was from. i was so nervous to read the letter (because it could only contain bad news, right? why else was he contacting me?), i processed only about every fourth word of the email. i was skipping and searching and looking for the bad news.

it took about three read-throughs until i understood the gist of the email, which was that there was plane trouble in amsterdam and coworker would not be back to work thursday, but rather friday.

phew.

but the way i read that email got me thinking, because i’m normally a very through reader. i don’t often skim, as i like to savor the words and the worlds and the characters and the stories i’m reading. even work emails. i don’t want to miss anything important.

that said, i did find myself skimming through a series recently. a very popular series that i never should have read and never would have read if it wasn’t to satisfy my curiosity as to why EVERYONE was reading it. the writing was bad, the characters flat, and the situations disturbing (to me at least), but the first book ends on a cliffhanger and i’d made it that far i had to know what happened next, so i read the second one, and hell, i’d read that far, i might as well finish the dang series.

it wasn’t worth much more than a quick read through because a lot of what goes on is repetitive and if you breeze through, you won’t miss anything, which only reinforced my decision to read without paying much attention. i don’t like that i did it because everything i read (good, bad, mediocre) is a learning tool and i fear i raced too fast through that lesson.

(don’t make me go back through it again! nooooooooo!)

have you found yourself skimming through anything lately or do you take your time when reading? or perhaps you’re a constant skimmer and so you re-read things in order to make sure you digest them properly? why do you skim? or if you’re on the other side, why do you rarely skim? do you like skim milk? how about skim boarding? how many other ways can i use the word skim?

writing

FWIS: literary heroes

May 2, 2012May 2, 2012 abby mumford

FWIS (from where i stand) is a monthly feature i’m doing with jessica corra and bria quinlan. all three of us are YA writers in different places in our journeys. (check out their links for this month’s FWIS from their points of view.)

today’s topic: literary heroes

it turns out, i’ve already written a post about my writerly heroes. that post means a lot to me and i stand by every word i wrote, but i originally wrote it in november of 2011 and since then, i have two more additions to the list.

THE GRACELING by kristin cashore. the world building and character development and plot twists are so intense and real and fantastical and it makes you want to dive into the story (or at least i did). the third book in this “series,” BITTERBLUE came out yesterday and i went to see her speak last night. her story about how she writes her stories (by hand!) and how she plots first and hears the voices second, well, it was encouraging. i could see a little bit of me in her.

and then i said exactly what i wanted to say at the exact moment i had her attention (while she was signing my book) and that in and of itself was a minor miracle because (a) see the title of this blog and (b) i get very tongue tied in the presence of celebrities. i was able to tell her thanks for her words — both written and spoken — and that they’d meant the world to me.

and the final addition is: laurie schnebly. i wrote about her last month and i feel the need to mention her again. her class and her wisdom and her energy wormed its way through the interwebs and into my brain and lo and behold, i’m now 6K into my new WIP, but more importantly, i’m having FUN.

those are some of my heroes (well, in the writerly world). now it’s your turn. how about YOU tell ME some of your writerly heroes? or everyday heroes? or favorite superheroes?

feelings

informational interview

April 27, 2012April 21, 2012 abby mumford

it turns out when you speak to a professional about their job, you learn something.

the last two comments (one by adriana and one by prgrmr42) are in and of themselves poetic and isn’t that the beauty of the conversation? of poetry? it speaks to us in “hints, suggestions, implications” not to mention imagery, emotions, and experiences.

i think this is what i’ve been doing “wrong” all these years. i’ve been reading poems too literally. i’ve really only studied poetry when in school, so i suppose my pavlovian response is to read to come up with an answer that’s acceptable by the teacher instead of feeling the words, drinking them in, and repeating them to see how i perceive the poem. no one else, just me. me and the words.

now that’s a duet i can get behind.

and now that i’ve been freshly enlightened, i need me some poetry to read! suggestions welcome.

general

guest post: internet

April 17, 2012April 10, 2012 abby mumford

i LOVE it that you come here to read my words, but today, let’s have a look at some of the awesome that’s available in other areas of the interwebs. (don’t worry, all but one of these are short and sweet and worth the click.)

close the door by aidan donnelley rowley

what’s your new dream by lindsey leavitt (warning: long.)

day 8 by adriana kirilova

one of the cutest things you’ve ever seen from tahereh mafi’s tumblr

on inspiration by bria quinlan

caffeine in art form from tumblr

a chinese translation from k.marie criddle

the engineering of a wish by kristen munson

advice on not giving up (framed as writerly advice, but valid at any point in your life) by tawna fenske

day 3 by adriana kirilova

do you have any favorite sites i should visit?

writing

FWIS: freedom

April 4, 2012April 2, 2012 abby mumford

today’s topic: FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDOM.

(sorry, i can’t see, hear, or read that word and not picture the end of BRAVEHEART.)

so what does freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeom have to do with writing? well, as proposed by jessica, she wanted to know “what’s bugging you lately? what’s on your mind? what do you REALLY WANT TO TELL EVERYONE?”

what i want, what i really really want to tell people is how excited i am about this class i just took. it was an online class (recommended to me by bria) called plotting via motivation. the teachings of the class made so much sense to my brain + the teacher of the class was wonderfully supportive and funny and generous with her time and advice.

the reason i’m so jazzed up about the class (which ended on friday 3/30) is because over the course of a month (the length of the class), i wrote an entire plot for a book. the plot may be skeletal, but the bare bones are all i need. i’m not sure if i’m even going to write this book, because after all, i picked the idea on a whim. it was just one i used to practice. i had to start with a new idea so that i’d learn the proper way to plot from conception to ending. i’ve saved all of the lectures and homework and worksheets and you bet i’ll be referring to them over and over again and again.

i had begun to feel overwhelmed and confused by the act of writing, by the act of what i wanted to write, and so i had stepped away from my own words to spend some time reading those of others. i realize now that was my own brand of procrastination, but this class has snapped me back into shape!

it’s good to be back.

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