Author: Susan Coffin

The Glory

Surprise!

Susan Coffin

Yes, that’s Surprise in the literal sense!

It all started late last year when I was participating in a book launch at Copperfield’s Books for Water, an anthology published by Redwood Writers. After I read my short story, “The Wrong Address,” a woman came up to me, asked for my email address, and said if I heard from her it would be to adapt my story into a play. I was flattered she liked my story, but I forgot about the incident after a few days.

Well, about a month ago, my boss came to me and said he’d received an email from a Hilary Moore asking for my contact information because she wanted to make my short story into a play.  I had been surprised when my story was accepted into the anthology because it had been rejected by several magazines, but the email from Hilary was even more surprising! After she told me the mission of the Off The Page Reader’s Theater is to showcase local writers, I accepted with pride.

The last few weeks I have been walking on air in anticipation of event happening on April 24, 25, and 26, 2015.   I have shared the news and the event flyer (to the left) on Facebook, as well as published the information in the Redwood Writer. Don has told all his family and friends about the play, and many loved ones will be attending.

On April 25, Don and I will go out to dinner with family and then enjoy the play together. I can’t wait.

This success truly has taken me by complete Surprise! I feel more inspired to take charge of my writing life and continue putting words onto paper. In fact, just a week ago, I entered a short story, a psychological thriller, into a local writing contest. I am not much on contests, but I thought this might be kind of fun.

I have been able to cut back on the overtime at work and am taking advantage of the time to continue writing my novel in progress. I would also like to write some more short stories, as I believe I write better shorts than I do novels.

Someone suggested that I think about putting together a collection of short stories for publication.  I could do that, but I would want them all to be published elsewhere. I have four short stories that have been published, so that’s a good start.

Finally, I want to encourage all my writer friends and acquaintances to be proud of all writing successes and to continue writing.

Happy Writing all!

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End of Year Musings

Susan Coffin

Today I was amazed to discover a new follower of The Write Life, since this blog had been stagnant since April. In fact, I seldom blogged this year, and did not write as much creatively as I usually have in the past, because I often forgot the important concept of BIC.

What is that, you ask?

Butt in chair.

In order to get anything written, I have to pull out the chair, sit down, and write. It doesn’t matter if I use a spiral notebook and pen, a typewriter, or word processor on a computer. My job is to construct words into sentences and paragraphs to create scenes for a short story or novel.  

I have to set time aside, or simply decide on a whim that writing is more important than anything else I might want to do at that moment. It’s not difficult to set aside time after work to go into my home office, close the door, and write.

In September of this year, I went to Ireland for 14 days with my cousin, Tammy. We stayed in bed and breakfasts most of the time and used public transportation and our feet to get around. We started in Dublin and traveled the coast to Dingle, Galway, Bundoran, and Belfast. After this, she spent a week alone on the Antrim Coast, and I rode the bus back to Dublin to catch a plane home. Our trip was amazing! I spent quality time with Tammy, lived the Irish culture for two weeks, and returned to the United States with plenty of new material for writing.

This last year I also rejoined my old critique group, which has been a godsend. I have been, and still am, motivated to work on my novel. I enjoy reading my writing cohort’s work, as well as sharing my perceptions of both the positive and the negatives of their work. Their feedback on my writing is invaluable, and they all have something special to offer in support of my work.  Some of the writers are published, but all of them are excellent critique partners.

Thanksgiving was fun, Halloween was spooky, and Christmas was joyous. The only things missing from the holiday season were the Dicken’s Fair in San Francisco and the Christmas Salon for the Redwood Writer’s Club, but we could not fit either in this year due to other commitments.

Now, we are days away from 2015 and a fresh start, as it happens every year. What are my New Year’s resolutions?

None. Absolutely none, because I don’t believe in making resolutions because I never follow through.

Okay, there is one, but it’s not a plan, but a reality: I will set aside that time to write, and I will write.

I. Will. Write.

What about you?  What are your plans for 2015?

Happy New Year, all!

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Grandma’s Coffee Grinder

Susan Coffin
Krups, who I often called K, was my best friend for twenty some-odd years. From the day we met, we were inseparable. The whir of her bladed heart made me smile as she ground aromatic java beans.  Some evenings when I’d call on her for some much needed Hazelnut or caramel decaf, she would happily comply. K didn’t just hand me perfect coffee, but she made sure my flax seed and almonds were finely chopped just the way I liked them.

Then, one day a few months ago, K died. No warning, no goodbye, she just didn’t wake up one morning. With tears in my eyes, I broke the news to Don.  In an effort to soothe me, he suggested we ask his friend Cuisinart in the fill K’s  now vacant spot.

“I can’t,” I said, wiping my eyes. “It’s too soon.”  

The truth was, I had found K dead less than ten minutes earlier and needed time to grieve.

As I wallowed in grief, Don came up with another suggestion.  “Hey, what about your grandmother’s old coffee grinder?

“Huh?”  I said, not sure what he was talking about.  

Then, my gaze fell on the old crank coffee mill—Goodwood, or G.W. for short—that had been living on the countertop for several years. G.W. had never moved or made a sound, and he certainly never complained about all the attention K got.  

That same morning after I laid K to rest in the recycling bin—I knew she wanted her parts donated—I put G.W.to the test.  I loaded his portal with fresh coffee beans and cranked the handle, around and around, smiling as he revealed his deep bass voice.  He worked hard to produce a good java.  However, because  he was older and a bit cranky, it took him awhile to get the job done. 

Now, as I sip a cup of café mocha borne from G. W.’s hard work, I smile as I realize he has proven to be a wonderful friend. Over time, his joints have loosened a bit and he is a bit more spry, always eager to grind my beans to perfection. Too bad him and K never noticed each other when she was alive. They would have made perfect companions.  
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Goodbye 2013 and Hello 2014!

Susan Coffin2 Comments

Even though I believe in reviewing the previous 12 months on the eve of the New Year, I am not big on making resolutions. If there is anything I have learned is that putting off until tomorrow what I can do today leads to nothing but premeditated resentment. Why? Because all I do is put off, put off, and then put off until the end of the year comes and that project remains undone. What do I then do? I beat myself up.

Lately I have experienced that premeditated resentment when it comes to my writing. I have spent too much time saying I would write that story tomorrow when the plot is clear in my head, or finish the umpteenth draft of my query letter for my novel when I know I can get it prefect. That’s plain silliness because these type of resolutions are not based on planning, which is healthy, but on fear that the product of my creative outlet is not, or will not be, good enough. The only way to combat that type of fear is to write the story and get it submitted now and to revise that query and get it out to agents now.

NOW is the operative word.

When I was a kid and would come up with excuses not to do homework or chores, my sweet little mother used to say, “there’s no time like the present” and her infamous “don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” Of course, back then I thought those words wee adult nerd-speak, but today they are golden nuggets in my memory. Believe me, there will be no more New Years resolutions for me.

So, in 2014 I plan to…..

Just kidding.

Happy New Year everyone!

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Dry Spell

Susan Coffin

I don’t have writer’s block, I just have been living a dry spell. I can write if I want to because I have plenty of words inside, but I just haven’t been sitting my butt in the chair enough. The bottom line is I have been finding other things to do instead of writing.

Occasionally I have been line editing my novel and I’m almost done, but I’m stalling. Thinking the novel was ready I sent it out on query several times, but then decided that I’d missed too many errors with sentence structure, missing words, and other silly typos. It’s definitely time to finish the editing and get it out to agents again.

I still have some short stories out there on submission, but two have been rejected. Ideally, I need to keep submitting my stories to different markets until they are accepted or there is nowhere else to send them.

I love writing but I have not been making the time for it.  The only way to do anything is just to do it and not make excuses. Time to start writing again.