The Creativity Connection Newsletter

Creativity Connection offers information, encouragement and inspiration to writers and independent publishers.
In each 20-page issue of Creativity Connection, you get:

• how-to articles on writing
• profiles of writers and publishers
• updates on great workshops, conferences, and online courses for writers
• letters from the greatest readers any newsletter every had
• reviews of publications and books of interest to writers
• tons of marginal humor!

You can have Creativity Connection mailed to you four times a year for just $18. For details and a sample copy, contact editor Marshall J. Cook at mcook@dcs.wisc.edu.

 

Samples from a recent issue:

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From the "Why Writers Write" column, where writers share their experience of writing.

Susan Arthur: “I can tell myself the truth.” (3rd in a series)

Why do I want to write? I don't know. I love to read but that's not a reason. I'm fond of eating too, but don't like to cook all that much. When I do write, on a good day I fall into it and am somewhere else rather than knee deep in unwashed dishes (what an image - doesn't make you want to eat at my house, does it?). On the other hand, I can get that feeling from other work I do. I'm a visual artist, and that place is essential to working, at least some of the time. The best "why" I've got is that I feel like I can tell (myself) the truth. As I know it. More or less. Somebody might actually be listening. And I really love stories. I'm an absolute beginner and need all kinds of help.

Three writers that have influenced me:
T.C. Boyle - He's fun and he's dark. His writing moves fast. I have a clear sense of his characters. He's a wise ass with a great vocabulary. I like his short stories better than his novels. Well, I've only tried one novel and couldn't stick with it, but I have liked his short stories.
Milan Kundera - Although it's been a while since I've read him, he makes me wish I could read the original [publication in] Czech. He shows the structure of his writing as well as the story, sort of the way some architects are working now, displaying the materials and the bones of the building. All exposed beams and hardware. He has made me gasp on occasion.
Michael Dorris - For Yellow Raft, Blue Water, and for that character, story, and style. He made it seem effortless. The Broken Cord was pretty good too, although not fiction. His other stuff wasn't as good, IMHO.
Louise Erdrich - For Love Medicine. See Michael Dorris for why. Except add: I felt like I was the main character (the narrator). I know I'm past three, but I'm also fond of late 19th-early 20th century fiction.

Susan Arthur wrote this for the online course How to Write Compelling Fiction. (To learn more about our online courses see the online courses section of the web site.)

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From the same issue, a recent book review:

Savage super-sleuth saves Superior
Lake Effect, Mike Savage, Savage Press, 2002, 254 pp pb, $11.95.

The real hero of Lake Effect is the lake. Sure, Dave Davecky, Mike Savage’s SuperCop with attitude, performs enough feats of daring-do to make you believe you’ve seen a motorcycle fly. But it’s Lake Superior that really comes through in the clutch, twice rousing Davecky to action and then saving his hide just in time for him to nab Little Willie Horton’s killer.

The adventure revolves around a plot to drain Lake Superior to create a waterfront resort in Tempe, Arizona. FALSIES (Finns Against Lake Superior Import and Export Schemes) and Professor Don Cameroon hope to thwart the plot by clogging the pipeline with fast-breeding, genetically altered zebra mussels. Davecky must track down a stripper named Crystal Cathedral, with help from Clara, a gorgeous enigma whose ministry involves picketing Superior’s most notorious strip joint with signs reading “Ex-strippers for Jesus” and “Ex-nudes against lewd dudes.”

Okay, it sounds a trifle over the top. But Mike makes you want to believe it all in this his third and best-yet Lake Superior Mystery (following Burn Baby Burn and Something in the Water). Mike knows and loves his town, Superior, Wisconsin, his bike, a red Honda VFR with Yoko Ono custom carbon fiber mufflers, and his protagonist, a loner who knows everybody but is close to nobody. By the time you finish this book, you’ll know and love them, too. Lake Effect is due out in May.

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