Listening exercise
NPR: Stop reading and start writing
Talk of the Nation with Neal Conan, April 17, 2007
Walter Mosley, author of 25 books, gives tips, tricks and practical advice
for stalled writers in his new book, This Year You Write Your Novel.

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Vocabulary:
to have a suggestion
Lamont
cash
half a pint of whiskey
Bobo's Liquor Emporium
Ragman
at least
a quart's worth
mourning
to keep on writing
to click
to lose momentum
Easy Rawlins
Fearless Jones
mystery
to distill everything one knows about s.t.
aim
to be expressed in its title
among many other things
to advise
to wait for inspiration
practical questions
narrative voice
plot
story
blog
to lay out a timetable
to take s.t. very seriously
to keep oneself from writing
to lose the thread of a novel
to go back to s.t.
time and time again
vacations
dental crisis
dentist's office
toothache
to keep on with your story
in that sense that
the first draft
the conscious self
to create
the unconscious self
ideas, notions, thoughts
second draft
all this stuff there
would-be writer
flawed
to hang in a gallery
to rework
to rewrite
"Here's where the real work begins."
to get lost
arcs of various stories
to go along
accumulation of stories
at least as many...as...
relationships
geometric structure
we're not going to promise you
to save
to resolve
California
to be on the air
outline
necessary
advisable
to prepare to write
J. K. Rowling
preparatory work
to depend on
structured
to figure out how to
fiction
to get all one's thoughts together
intuitionists
to discover
it's the simplest thing possible
to raise a question
not necessarily in that order
revelation
to make s.o. want to read more
to separate (things) out
automatically
to contain the potential for
the element of surprise
voice
thick
to get a cold (when) traveling
to press the cough button
studio
New York
bureau
to get a caller on the line
Vito
Carson City, Nevada
to be a huge fan of
correctional officer
Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned
to teach literature
inmate students
to have a profound effect on
to teach the conventions
content
effective
as a tool to teach
material
Laurence Fishburne
lead character
Socrates Fortlow
content
to take a bite out of s.t.
literary, entertainment value
to have a great impact on s.o.
to explore
creative writing
world literature
a bunch of
assignments
to appreciate
a black man out of prison
educator
editor
No, Sir!
I'm actually
I have to get in
e-mail question
D. P. Lundy, Seattle
specific reason
arbitrary
Octavia Butler
in the middle of the night/day
whatever is the best for you
put your butt in the chair and write
Hillary
Michigan
poetry
recently
to come across
memoirs
isolated
I was wondering
to make x out of y
to have s.t. somewhere in the room
to refer to s.t.
metaphorical
to be in/on your mind
to have one's name
every once in a while
you might want to go look at s.t.
to follow
to guide one along
to find a new path
to tie oneself down to s.t.
that may not work for you
to propel one forward
suggestion
to find oneself trying to rewrite
the present
to change and grow
since then
I couldn't go anywhere from there
to treat
published memoir
in some respects
pedestrian
dialogue
to speak like ordinary people
people look for themselves
transcendence
a guy, woman
in a situation
scrambling eggs
to fall down and skin one's knee
to have trouble walking
to identify with
to bring s.o. to a further level
to be above human experience
to touch one's humanity
the novel is in the details
to get lost in details
in order to
physical details
history
to pick out
major
development
to interact
can afford to put in your novel
to choose
temptation
comment
to overemphasize thought
physical
to move forward
movement
emotional life
psyche
emotional
intellectual
powerful
emotionally
to set s.t. in a time period
The Three Musketeers
cavemen
35,000 years in the future
to address
Ray Bradbury
Fahrenheit 451
some far future
to burn up books
science fiction
old period pieces
to feel old
universal qualities to
unconsciously
to speak to people
from now
to develop a character
engaging
to unfold
to get oneself in a battle with Homer
convocation
Virginia Tech University
tips for how to...
Akila
Louisville, Kentucky
inspirational writer
one day I sat at my table
to be admitted to a hospital
span
to visit his past
in (on) his deathbed
a little short for a novel
to make s.t. longer
to be missing s.t.
to go through a major transition
to start off at one place in their life
to end up at another place in their life
transcendence
to go through
in detail
city
to leave a will for your children
whoever is alive
to leave a journal
if I were to die today
Aaron
Aurora, Colorado
who claim to V
like myself
to procrastinate
to get one's butt into the chair
to tackle one's story
real material
to rise up from
unconscious parts of you
frightening
somebody who is very close to them
to back away from s.t.
issues
psychological
emotional
to have to do with fear
to keep people from Ving
to get deeper and deeper into it
breakthrough
that urge to
you will not have procrastinated at all
extraordinary
to write out a will
to leave various things to various people, organizations
kind of wonderful
that's what came to my mind
Pat
Richmond, California
a great unpublished writer
tragic life
unsaid
undone
painful
poetic
erudite
the conversation that I would have liked to have had
as a response to her journals
to exist
for other reasons
to take bits and pieces from
unique
to be weighed down by the 13 boxes
put the blank piece of paper in front of you
episodes
I don't see that.
to discover your path
in your own writing
Anthony
primarily
perfectionist
when it comes to
from the top
stopping point
scene by scene
all-encompassing view of the novel
E. M. Forster
spongy prose
little tiny changes
to get it all down
to comb very matted hair
to get rid of, to keep
to see s.t. published
the least likely person to have that information
we all came to it from different ways
to join a writing workshop
connections
to know different people
agent
to get a novel published
almost definite
letter of inquiry
Writer's Market
to charge you money
should be wanting to
to make money off of you
Dylan
with us from
Oregon
to be really busy in one's life
to come up with
pretty neat ideas
often
to lose the thought
can't really go back to it
digital voice recorder
essentially
to tell a story to oneself in the car
to revisit
recording
to write it down
at that point

to have a fleeting thought
brilliant
to go away
to violate the first rule
to write a novel by speaking it
I have nothing against that
genius
brilliance
depth
discovery
what happens is, is that...
so much deeper into yourself than...
along that way
to be as far away from s.t. as you were on the first day
conscious moment of brilliance
digging, deeper
pedestrian and transcendent
to let s.o. go
I did indeed.
a character with a cough
toward the end of a rewrite
to insert
had I been writing it as a first draft
how closely you read the book
to suffer through a cold

Listening comprehension and thought questions:

1. a. What does Mosley mean when he says, "You don't have the time to wait for inspiration"? b. Why does he think people often use "lack of inspiration" as a reason for not writing? c. What happens if you don't write every day, according to Mosley?
2. Describe the "two people" that "do the writing" when you write a novel.
3. Describe what happens after you finish the first draft, according to Mosley.
4. Describe the difference between "story" and "plot", according to Mosley.
5. What is one of the benefits of learning how to write a story?
6. What is a "correctional officer" (the host calls it a "correctional educator")", and what did the host, Neal Conan, think it was at first?
7. a. According to Mosley, what two things are people looking for in a novel? b. Does it matter which order they come in? Explain.
8. To what ethnic group do you think the caller named "Akila" belongs? What are two ways to make a good guess?
9. According to Mosley, if you follow his advice, about how long will it take to finish the first draft of your novel, and how long will it take to completely finish the novel?

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