Sophfronia Scott, Author Writing, laughing, and loving

My Essay in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers

May 3, 2013 | Publishing, Writing | Permalink

381980_10152224179426564_2095287436_nLook what arrived in the mail last week! These are my copies of my latest book, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Writers. I have been a contributor to this popular series of books in the past (Chicken Soup for the African American Woman’s Soul) but recently a new publisher, Amy Newmark, purchased the brand and she has revitalized it and the look of the books in a smart, thoughtful way. I was honored when Amy and I connected and she asked me to write for this new project. What’s it about? The subtitle, as any good subtitle should do, says it all: “101 Motivational Stories for Writers–Budding or Bestselling–from Books to Blogs.” You’ll find my essay, “A Change in Direction,” on page 30 in the “Facing My Fears” section. I hope you’ll get it, enjoy it, and be inspired!

The book’s sale date is May 21, but you can pre-order it on Amazon now. Thanks, and let me know what you think of it!

Cheers,

Connecting by Heart at Writers Conferences

March 12, 2013 | Publishing, Writing | Permalink

AWP_imageI’m back from spending several snowy days in Boston for the AWP Annual Conference & Bookfair. Next week I’m traveling to Ohio to teach at another writers conference, at Columbus State Community College on March 23. These trips aren’t easy when you consider the time away from my family and the expense they require so why do I do it? Because I like to show up in the world as a writer. Dan Kennedy, a well-known marketer in the entrepreneurial world, says to succeed in most endeavors you have to “be somewhere and be somebody.” For me that means showing up as the author Sophfronia Scott, reading my work, and teaching as much as possible.

For you, it could be the process of answering the questions most writers have: “How do I get an agent? How do I get an editor interested in my work?” Honestly, you can send queries until your computer breaks down–and that can be a start–but nothing beats meeting an agent or editor in person and making a sincere connection,  not just pitching your book.

AWP stands for the Association of Writers & Writing Programs and their gathering is the largest literary conference in North America. Last week’s session drew 12,000 writers, editors and exhibitors from schools, literary journals, and presses large and small. The conference also features hundreds of panels and readings. When I first saw the program, it was so thick it made me want to lie down and take a nap. I was exhausted just considering my schedule.

But that kind of thinking happened because this was my first AWP Conference and I momentarily had forgotten there were:

  • specific aspects of publishing or writing I wanted to learn
  • people I want to see or meet.

I didn’t have to do or attend anything else that didn’t fit in with these two points. So, with this focus in mind, I had a terrific time because I saw friends, met lovely social media contacts in person, and had great conversations with the editors of literary journals I admire.

litmagsphotoHere’s a sampling of the journals I picked up or discussed at the conference. Some of these, such as AGNI, Hunger Mountain, Poetry, and Tin House, I already subscribe to. Others such as the Kenyon Review, the Indiana Review, Creative Nonfiction and the Missouri Review are journals I’d heard of where I want to submit work. Others were discoveries: Moon City Review, Lake Effect, Santa Clara Review. Online submission processes make it easy for writers to send work to tons of magazines sight unseen. However I prefer to send work to journals I know and admire. I want to hold the publication in my hands, leaf through the pages, read samples, and talk to the editors. The conference allowed me to do that.

Will this mean my work will be accepted automatically? No. But we have started a conversation–one I hope will continue as I continue to write and submit work. The editors will get to know my writing better as I hope to know their journals better. This is so much more agreeable than writing and submitting into a void.

67360_10152154820281564_587930578_nI’ll write more about my experiences in coming days, but for now two highlights of my conference:

  • A student reading and then socializing with my beloved fellow writers from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
  • Introducing a dear friend who happens to be a prize-winning writer, to one of my Harvard classmates who happens to be an editor at a top literary journal. There’s nothing better than helping others make great connections.

I encourage you to decide who you want to be as a writer and do your best to surround yourself with friends (yes, friends, not just networking contacts) with whom you can share support and connections. It might make you a more productive writer. For my part, I’m certainly a happier one! 

Here’s to your excellent writing life,

 

When Words Fail a Writer

February 9, 2013 | Publishing, Writing | Permalink

The last time I wrote in this space I reported completing the rough draft of my next novel. That was December 5, 2012, and I was looking forward to reviewing the year past and honoring the work I’d completed over the year as well as that of my clients who published books as well. Then, nine days later, an armed gunman entered the halls of my son’s school, Sandy Hook Elementary, and blew apart our world.

My son’s godmother lost one of her sons, a little boy we loved greatly and whom Tain referred to as his “godbrother.” Our grief was and is unspeakable. I continued to repeat those words in the ensuing days as we fielded a torrent of calls from the media, some from former colleagues asking me to write about the event. “I have no words,” I told them. There I was, just about to celebrate a year of writing more than I’d written in the previous six years and suddenly it had all stopped. I had no words.

This grief is still fresh. We are less than eight weeks out and still trying to find this supposed “new normal.” However, I am grateful and surprised to feel the words returning. It began with a light shone unexpectedly at the end of December, right before I was scheduled to return to the Vermont College of Fine Arts for winter residency. I received an email from the author Gerald Duff. I had written a review of his novel, Blue Sabine, in the new issue of the literary journal The Mid-American Review and he had just read it. He wrote:

“I want to thank you for your wonderfully perceptive review of Blue Sabine, your insight into what I tried to do in the book, and your taking the time to think deeply and write so gracefully about another person’s work. You have got the goods, to put it simply, as a writer and critic. And I’m looking forward to reading your fiction. Given what I see here in your ability to fathom human intent, desire, failure and triumph, I know that what you put into your fiction will reverberate and shine.”

It took me a moment to realize, to remember, Mr. Duff was talking about me. I had been on a path before the morning of December 14–a path taking me on a glorious exploration of my abilities as a writer. In the midst of my own grief and helping our friends through theirs that path seemed a world away, irrecoverable. Suddenly here was help, like bread crumbs on the road, to show me I could find my way back to it again. And sure enough, the words are beginning to return, little by little. It will take time to see what these words become.

Until then, right now, I will honor the work done in 2012: the novel completed, the short stories and essays written, two published and one receiving an Honorable Mention in the Glimmer Train Fiction Open, and my appearance as a contributor in O, the Oprah Magazine, More Magazine, the New York Times.com and Numéro Cinq. I also say congratulations to clients and students of mine who have published or are about to publish:

Parker_ManagingtheMoment_coverNEW.indd markmaioccabook BeTrueRich7EM-300x218 Wilmabook

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Managing the Moment: A Leader’s Guide to Building Executive Presence One Interaction at a Time by Lisa Parker is being published this spring. Lisa was a private book coaching client and a student in my Self-Publishing 101 class.

What’s Your Rate?: How to Buy a Home and Secure Your Financial Future at the Same Time by Mark Maiocca came out last summer. Mark was a private client.

Be True Rich: 3 Simple Keys to Live Your Good Life Now by Katherine C.H.E. is newly published. Katherine attended my Writing Books That Change Lives Workshop.

Living Happier After: 20 Women Talk About Life After Divorce by Wilma Jones. Wilma also attended the Books That Change Lives Workshop.

If you would like assistance with your book project, please know I probably won’t take on any new clients until the spring. You may still send inquiries and get on my waiting list if you think you’ll be ready to go then. I hope you and I will be blessed with many, many, more words as the year goes on, and that we will continue to create work that will change lives.

Best wishes,

 

The Next Big Thing: What I’m Writing Now

November 24, 2012 | Writing | Permalink

[UPDATE: The draft of this novel is done! I mailed it to my VCFA advisor today, December 5. I'm actually looking forward to the revision process. For now, though, I'll celebrate with my usual chocolate reward. Cheers, Sophfronia] Right at this moment I’m about ten days away from completing the first draft of my next novel. It’s an exciting, scary time, but I’ve learned that when fear steps in the best thing you can do is share it. So when my fellow Vermont College of Fine Arts writer Sion Dayson, author of the forthcoming novel When Things Were Green, asked me to participate in a blog chain of writers talking about their works-in-progress I seized the opportunity. Not all writers like talking about what’s on their screen or in their notebooks, but I believe there comes a time when it can be helpful if only to remind myself that the story running through my head is real.

This series, in which each writer has to answer 10 questions, also attracted me because I get to “tag” five other authors so they too can share their work and meet new readers. I love that because I’m all for making connections. So, here we go…

What is your working title of your book?

The Affairs of Midnight

Where did the idea come from for the book?

For the longest time I’ve had a quiet obsession with Choderlos de Laclos’s novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses, originally published in 1781, and all the film and stage versions made from it. I finally realized I was simply fascinated with these characters and wanted to know more about why they behaved so scandalously. I decided the only way I could answer my questions would be to write my own version.

What genre does your book fall under?

Because my novel takes place in 1940s Harlem I consider it historical/literary fiction.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?

Funny you should ask! I originally wrote the story as a screenplay. I had Denzel Washington constantly in my mind as I wrote the lead character of Valiant Jackson who is Valmont in the de Laclos version. At various times I pictured Halle Berry, Angela Bassett and Lynn Whitfield as the Madame Merteuil character, Mae Malveaux, and honestly, though you may not know her, I’ve always had my friend Leslie Lewis Sword (left) in mind for Elizabeth Townsend, the Madame de Tourvel character. Leslie has been my muse throughout this whole process. She arranged readings of the screenplay in both Los Angeles and New York and encouraged me to pursue the novel. I’ll eventually write a stage version as well because the work was so well-received by the actors in the readings, many of them Broadway actors such as John Eric Parker that I would love to give them the opportunity to bring the story to life in their unique ways.

What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

Most people know the story of Dangerous Liaisons so I usually just say the book is “an African-American version of Dangerous Liaisons set in 1940s Harlem.” But if I had to summarize solely by plot I would say my novel is about a man who has toyed with women all his life, but finally loses his heart to a woman who proves there can be good in the world for him—including love.

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

It will be represented by an agency, possibly the same one that sold my first novel, All I Need to Get By to St. Martin’s Press but I haven’t made that decision yet.

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

I’ve had several false starts, but this entire draft has been the focus of my current semester at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. I’ll complete the draft with my last writing packet and that is due in December. So the answer is about six months.

What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Love by Toni Morrison and Fortune’s Rocks by Anita Shreve. Both authors have greatly influenced me in my development as a writer.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

As I said earlier, I’ve had the idea percolating in my head for a long time, but it really took off when I met my friend, Leslie Lewis Sword, at a theater producing workshop in New York City. She’s a gorgeous woman to begin with, but there is just something about her vibrant energy that I recognized as similar to many of the women in the story. I loved her energy, loved her, and I wanted to write the screenplay for her. The novel naturally followed because it is my genre of choice and there were so many details that I couldn’t go into with a screenplay that I saw so clearly in my mind. It’s been satisfying putting it all into a book.

What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

I think we’re all fascinated by the inner workings of love. Whether we realize it or not we are studying love when we follow the Petraeus affair in the news, when we watch a soap opera, when we read romance novels, when we read about fatal attractions in the newspaper, and when we see romantic comedies at the movie theater. I believe the interest goes beyond the physical, but that doesn’t mean I ignore the physical because that’s a huge part of this story as well. However I think my readers will be interested in being that fly on the wall as they watch how my characters love and what happens to them—how they change because of that love.

And now, introducing…

I’m happy to have you meet these wonderful writers and I hope you’ll check out their works-in-progress as well:

Breena Clarke, a dear friend and former colleague (we were at Time magazine together), is a fabulous writer and can tell the tale of having her debut novel, River, Cross My Heart chosen as an Oprah Book Club pick.

Katherine Scott Crawford hails from that fine tradition of southern women writers. She’s also an accomplished weaver of historical fiction. We’re both studying for our MFA at the Vermont College of Fine Arts and her novel Keowee Valley has just been published.

Bren McClain is a Facebook friend and another southern writer whose novel tells the story of a woman whose relationship with a mother cow teaches her about life—but I’ll let her give you the details!

I met Jolina Petersheim via Twitter and she caught my eye because she’s one of the most positive tweeters out there. She too is writing her take on a venerable classic, The Scarlet Letter, so we have a bit in common.

Natalia Sylvester is a novelist and freelance journalist whose debut novel, Where We Once Belonged, goes to press in 2014. Her articles have appeared in Latina, Writer’s Digest, and The Writer magazines.

Message for tagged authors:
Rules of the Next Big Thing

***Use this format for your post
***Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress)
***Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them. Be sure to line up your five people in advance. (Note from Sophfronia: FYI, I’ve seen these posts run with only three or four tagged writers.)

Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:
What is your working title of your book?
Where did the idea come from for the book?
What genre does your book fall under?
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Include the link of who tagged you and this explanation for the people you have tagged.

My Essay in Numero Cinq

September 15, 2012 | Writing | Permalink

I have an essay, “White Shirts,” published this week in the online literary journal Numéro Cinq. It’s about a walk with Lena Horne; it’s about ironing; it’s about my dad. It’s about a lot of things! I am delighted, excited and just plain giddy. Please read and comment on the site at this link. While you’re there enjoy the whole issue. Every piece in Numero Cinq is gorgeous and well-chosen by the amazing author Douglas Glover. I hope you enjoy the piece and I can’t wait to hear what you think.