<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Legacy Editorial Consulting]]></title><description><![CDATA[Articles]]></description><link>http://www.legacyeditorialconsulting.com/blog/</link><copyright><![CDATA[Copyright Legacy Editorial Consulting]]></copyright><generator>hds cms</generator><item><title><![CDATA[Another kind of ring]]></title><description><![CDATA[  The other day, my husband asked me what I would do—something totally out of character—if I could have a kind of secret double life. He said he’d moonlight in an English rock band. I was stumped.  

  After some strenuous thought, I tentatively said that I’d be an Olympic gymnast. Visibly bored, he argued, “But you couldn’t   moonlight   as an Olympic gymnast. It’d have to be your whole life. What would you do, like, part-time?” Eloquently I said, “Oh,” before falling silent. Then I had it—“A model!” I cried. “How fun would that be? Getting made up all the time and scoring a ton of free clothes.” A little shallow, sure, but I was relatively happy with my choice.   

  Then, a few minutes later and completely without warning, I knew what I would do: “Wait, wait!” I exclaimed. “Forget the model thing. A professional boxer. That’s what I’d be in my secret part-time life.” He looked startled, then impressed. “Nice,” he said, nodding. I smiled, poking at my bicep.  

  It was a silly, fun little conversation, and I gave it no more thought until just now. But don’t our bizarre, completely unrealistic (I’m 5’4 and 110 pounds…I’d get pummeled in a boxing ring!) double life choices say something about us? Maybe my incredibly driven, responsible husband needs an outlet where he can just let go and have fun. And maybe I need a break from my sedentary ways; maybe I’d like to do something completely physical, for once, and feel strong and powerful in the process. Interesting, and maybe, just maybe, the cues we needed to develop some new hobbies :)  

  What would you do in your secret part-time life? And what might that say about your “real” life?  

]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 20 Oct 2008 01:35:18 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.legacyeditorialconsulting.com/blog/anecdotes/another-kind-of-ring/</link><guid>http://www.legacyeditorialconsulting.com/blog/anecdotes/another-kind-of-ring/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Reclaiming my literary voice]]></title><description><![CDATA[  After a long hiatus, I am finally back at work on my novel. By the time it’s finished (I’m predicting April—there it is, I’m accountable!), it will have been almost ten years in the making. Ten years. It had better be pretty darn good, no?  

  What I want to talk about, though, is the awesome—in the almost spiritual sense of the word—feeling of returning to my own writing. How strange is that? Isn’t anything I write “my own”? Yes and no.   

  Over the last two years, I’ve accumulated something around sixty published bylines, in addition to press releases, website copy, and other marketing materials floating around in the world. While I’ve made it my practice to never write anything I don’t believe in (read: support, take pride in, claim ownership of), there is something inherently different about reclaiming my own literary voice. And ultimately, I think that knowing who I am as a fiction writer will only improve my magazine and newspaper writing, my marketing writing, and even my relationships with clients.  

  Who are you as a writer, a reader? And if you’re in the position to hire writers, what do you hope to see in their work?  

]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:57:56 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.legacyeditorialconsulting.com/blog/novel-progress/reclaiming-my-literary-voice/</link><guid>http://www.legacyeditorialconsulting.com/blog/novel-progress/reclaiming-my-literary-voice/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[&quot;To name things is to tame them.&quot;]]></title><description><![CDATA[  That’s a line from Tim O’Brien’s wonderful and eccentric   Tomcat in Love  , and it coincides with a discussion recently held in one of my MFA classes. In fact, our compulsion to match names to things and experiences is a topic that writers and philosophers have been discussing for thousands of years. So my question—does O’Brien’s Thomas H. Chippering have it right? Is to name a thing to rob it of its wild and unknowable   thingness  ? Or is it, instead, our only way of holding onto that essence? (And might that be the same thing, anyway?)  

  It may sound silly—but this is the question at the heart of what we as writers do. We gulp our coffee or sip our wine and lean into our keyboards, grappling for the word, the phrase, the sentence that will finally, cathartically, do justice to something real. Here’s why I think we do it: We are (consciously or not) terrified of losing the experiences of our lives to the fickleness of memory. We search so hard for the right words—we write books, tell stories, sing songs—because in the telling, the experience lives. And so we have, too.
  
  What do you think? Why do you read or write? And what have you read that comes closest to matching the experience of living?  

]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 20 Oct 2008 00:28:09 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.legacyeditorialconsulting.com/blog/writing/to-name-things-is-to-tame-them/</link><guid>http://www.legacyeditorialconsulting.com/blog/writing/to-name-things-is-to-tame-them/</guid></item><item><title><![CDATA[Hello, and welcome!]]></title><description><![CDATA[  So, it's been almost 18 months exactly since I took the first steps toward starting this business...and I must admit, I had doubts at first about whether or not I had a businesswoman lurking inside me. Professionally, I have always considered myself first to be a writer, but I now realize that the inherent qualities that make a good writer--instinct, discipline, drive, passion, dedication--also are crucial to being a good businessperson.   

  The latest addition to the dream, this blog will be a place where I'll share with visitors, friends, and, of course, past, current, and prospective clients the experiences that are shaping this business. And myself, in the process.  

  Thanks to Alex Rodriguez, at Horchata Design Syndicate (www.horchatadesign.com) for working so quickly to adapt the site for my new additions--and creating such a beautiful site in the first place. He's awesome, and anyone needing web design work should check his company out.  ]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 06 Oct 2008 19:48:00 +0000</pubDate><link>http://www.legacyeditorialconsulting.com/blog/home/hello-and-welcome/</link><guid>http://www.legacyeditorialconsulting.com/blog/home/hello-and-welcome/</guid></item></channel></rss>