Episode 4: Finding Light with Abigail Shepherd

Abigail Shepard, a senior at Newton High School, discusses her writing experience and her book "Finding Light" on the Cup of Creativity podcast. She has taken creative writing classes and has had her poetry published in class anthologies. Abigail shares that she got the idea to write her own book based on an imaginary character and has been working on it. She reads a paragraph from Chapter 1, introducing the main character named Boo. Hi, welcome to Cup of Creativity in the Library Lounge, a place where writing doesn't have to suck. I am your host, Kendra Face, and today I am here with Abigail Shepard, the author of Finding Light. We are going to be discussing her latest work, her writing process, and possibly sharing some tips for aspiring authors. But before I continue, I do want to give out a couple of shout outs. The first one is to the Wichita Advanced Learning Library. That is 711 West 2nd Street in Wichita. I would like to shout out to Prairie Market and Deli. They are in 601 North Main Street in Newton. They were amazing helping us organize a fundraiser. Third, we have Norm's Coffee Bar, also in Newton on Main Street, where we actually host our P&P Writing Society every first and third Saturday from noon to three, in case everybody wants to show up. And then finally, I want to do my pitch about, of course, FaithPublishing.org. So my passion project. We have the Writing Society. We can edit. We can proofread. We can help organize your writing. And we're hoping to have some workshops come up in the future. So be sure that you stay with us for that. But you know what the next time is. It's time for our mantra. And so this time, instead of me saying it, I recorded my 6th Hour English 2 class. And I think that they said this with tons and tons of enthusiasm. So without further ado. Daily mantra is. Daily fear. Daily brain. Daily struggle. Daily road. Daily business. Huzzah. Daily mantra is. Huzzah. It is huzzah. All right. All right. Listeners. Let's move on. All right. Let's get down to business. Abigail. Yes. Welcome. Thank you. Yay. Abigail Shepard. You are a senior at Newton High School. And tell us a little bit about what you've done. As far as like writing experience. Sure. Okay. I've been in Ms. Faith's creative writing classes multiple years. So I've had some of my poetry published in class anthologies. And then last year, I got the idea in my head that maybe I could write my own book based on an imaginary character that I made up on a family tree. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. 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And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. And so I've been doing that. Yeah. Well, do you want to read a little? Yes. Yay. I will read the first, like, paragraph, almost. Okay. Chapter 1, Arrogance. Once upon a time, there was a boy named Bonchkabooski. But that's really hard to write out all the time, so we'll call him Boo. While his mousy brown hair and scrawny bills gave him an ordinary appearance, people thought he was strange because his behavior was far from ordinary. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. He liked to keep to himself, talk to the dogs, and play with his friends. Let's talk a little bit about the process. You were in one of my creative writing classes. My listeners, just to let you know how psycho bonkers crazy I get. The first quarter, we always focus on poetry and word choice and phrases and such and such. Then by the second quarter, we're focusing more on storytelling. I usually have students have, I don't know, they have to have a couple pieces ready for contest two. I remember you were so stressed out. You were so stressed out because this wasn't done. I'm like, don't rush it. It's going to be fine. It's going to be fine. Talk about how you put things together. We would have brainstorming sessions. We would draw all over the whiteboard. We would brainstorm. We'd throw pillows. We'd rearrange pillows. Talk a little bit about your creative writing process. I think I'd like to start by just putting a disclaimer out there. If you are writing anything, you know, poetry, magazine article, a short story, a long story, a series, whatever you're writing, a TV script, any kind of writing, don't put a timeline on yourself because it'll stress you out. I tried to put a timeline on myself. I kept trying to make my deadlines, which, you know, there were no deadlines. I would just set them myself and be like, I need to have this done by this time or it all is going to fall apart. Nothing fell apart. Everything worked out. I got it all done with major help from Ms. Faith. Couldn't have done it without her. So just don't do deadlines. I don't work well with deadlines. And that, you know, that could also be a personal thing. But the whole process was I had no idea what I was doing. I don't think either of us really did. It was very much a futz around and find out kind of experience. I used a lot of the whiteboard in the space classroom. I had an entire notebook of scribbles. And, you know, I used slideshow presentations that had picture collages. I had story arcs. I had flow charts. I had pyramids drawn. I had random paragraphs. I had all sorts of things, scraps of paper from who knows where glued in there. And it was very much all over the place. Where was I going with this? Oh, your creative writing process. Okay. Yeah. I work in scribbles. But. That's okay. That's okay. So what's your scribbles? When do you find time to write? Oh, gosh. Because you had to be really secretive. So not only did you write the story, you also did all the illustrations. And both you and I had to keep our mouth shut about this book. Right? So we had to be really, really sneaky about when you were going to write things or when we would meet up to, you know, to talk about character development or, you know. What ended up happening was for most of the year, I think, I would ask my parents, hey, can I stay late after school? I'm working on creative writing homework with Ms. Faith. So I wasn't technically lying. I was very careful because there's that thing of, like, if you're going to tell a lie, make it as truthful as possible. There you go. Yeah. So most days, that was usually my writing time. And sometimes I wouldn't even write. I would just be rambling about who knows what. Sometimes I'd be scribbling. Sometimes I'd just be laying on the floor staring at the wall. But it was just a lot of after school time in the classroom, just trying to come up with something. Some of it I did do at home, but I had to be careful with that because when I start writing, I'll just get into this head space where I forget everything around me. And I had to be careful of that because I had to be aware of where my parents were all the time. And there were a few moments when it almost fell to pieces. I was writing a lot on my personal laptop, and I would leave my tabs open when I closed my laptop because I was just, oh, no one else is going to be on it. There was one time when my mom was like, oh, can I borrow your laptop? Yeah, sure. And then I realized I had those tabs open. And I called my older sister in a panic because she was involved. She was borrowing it too. And I said, Elizabeth, you know my password. You have to log in and close out all my tabs before mom gets to the computer. She's like, okay, I got it. Because she was one of the only people that knew about it. So there was that. And then there was one time I was working on one of the illustrations at the kitchen table because I was home alone. And then my dad came home too soon, and he walked into the kitchen, and he was like, oh, what are you painting? Nothing. Nothing at all. Nothing. Carry on. Do you see? I'm just doodling. That's awesome. So there were a few slip-ups. But it was mostly spurts of writing after school, in the middle of class sometimes if there was breaks between lessons. Middle of the night I did a lot of late-night writing because that's when it was quietest and easiest to not be interrupted because everyone's asleep. Yeah. So I think those were my major times. I know for me, like I am a shotgun approach, right, as you already know. My classroom and workspace is all over the place, just like my brain. And if I'm thinking of something, I write it down. I put it on my phone. I will email it to myself. I will do such and such. And so, yeah, when I wrote my first book, I did it all via sticky notes. I had like a 15-minute break in the morning. I had a 15-minute break in the afternoon. I tried to squeeze in something during lunch. Yeah, it's kind of crazy. I had notes everywhere. What is – I'm going down my list here. Actually, what's the most surprising thing that you learned about yourself when you finished this? I learned that I'm actually capable of doing something like this. Before I got into the process, it was just an idea of, oh, yeah, I like to tell stories. And, you know, someday I might write them down somewhere and just keep them to myself. But it never crossed my mind that I could publish something and share something with everyone else. And that was something that I learned I can do that. And even if I don't think it's good enough or I don't think I'm brave enough, I just – I have it in me to commit to something and put it out there anyway and get into that mentality of, oh, but what about this? Or what about this? And make excuses for things. But I still have that power in me to say, I don't care, do it anyway. Make excuses. It doesn't matter. Do it anyway. Just do it. Yeah. Nike. Uh-huh. There you go. There you go. And I'm not athletic, so. So out of that, so you kind of probably gained some confidence. What do you think is, like, the best part about being a writer? Because a writer gets – hi, you know and I know writing gets a bad rap. It's difficult. It is. The spurts of inspiration, because there would be times when I would get so inspired and I'd write for hours on end, and then I'd put it down and I wouldn't touch it for like two months. That happened over the summer when all I worked on was the illustrations because I just couldn't write. I couldn't think of anything. And it is difficult, but I think the best part is knowing that you are leaving trails of yourself all over the world, and so many people can access that. And they don't even have to know you, and they might not get it. It's just knowing that you have left Easter eggs of yourself in life. Right. And I did that a lot in my book, and some people might not get it. Like some of my characters, one of the main characters, Tallulah, is based on my mother. Right. And that was so hard to keep that a secret. Because I just wanted to ask her, like, oh, Mom, what do you think of this? Or what do you think she would say in this situation? So there's that. And, you know, both the other characters is based on my cousin. And, you know, there's bits of me in every single one of them. And not even characters, too. In Tallulah's house, I described a couch that I had growing up. It was my childhood couch. Right. Or, you know, certain smells that I would love as a kid, or places that I would go, or memories that I have. It's just knowing that I can leave parts of myself for other people to experience, and maybe someone else will get it. Yeah. So do you think you're going to write another one? Hint, hint. Or how about this? How about I rephrase it? What do you think is going to be your next writing challenge? Maybe that will be a little easier. Well, I thought I was going to do another big story. And I started about three. Multiple ideas, multiple brainstorming sessions. I started about three books. I can't get anywhere with them. So I'm going to try something new. I submitted this in a school assignment. I don't know if you saw it yet. I want to try writing a book of poetry. I have plenty of poetry. Right. I just want to compile them all together, get them in one place, and try that. Because, yeah, I've written poems, but it's never been a collection of them. Yeah, yeah. And I feel like that would be really neat to try that, because I can tell multiple stories through, like, 20 lines. Yeah, exactly. Because you don't have a lot to tell a story. Yeah, I would agree. I could do it in five words if I really tried. Yes. What is it, the six-word story? Yeah. Those are so hard. They're so creepy. Yeah. I read one that was, like, it was, like, one of those limited-word stories, and it was a pair of baby shoes. Yes, never-been-worn. Yeah. And I was like, oh, man, that hits you. I always want more. Right? I'm really greedy. When I see that, I'm like, I need more than just six words. You can't just leave me hanging. No, but I think that's even more fun, because then what if someone else builds off of it? Exactly. Yeah, yeah. Oh, my gosh, this is super. What, I guess, what kind of tips do you have? I know I'm kind of jumping around a little bit. Again, don't set deadlines for yourself, unless you're an actual professional. It couldn't be me. But, you know, try not to set deadlines for yourself. Give yourself some grace. Right. Especially if it's your first round, even if it's not your first round. If you have written, like, 50 books, still give yourself some grace. You need patience to be a writer, because it's not going to get done in one day. Preach. You can't build a mountain in a day. And, you know, sometimes it's just not going to work. Sometimes you think, oh, I have this great idea, it's going to be so wonderful, and it just won't work on paper. It just won't fit together, and that's okay. Because maybe something else is going to work way better that is going to just hit the jackpot. It's going to be so much better. And so it's okay that not all your ideas are going to work, because others are really going to work, and it's going to feel even better. It's like a bonus. Ooh, that one worked way better. Talk about, we've said it's a process. Talk about, like, editing. Oh, man. So, you listeners, by the way, Abigail is the one who named my editor voice Janice. Yes, it's a whole thing, Anna. It is a complete, yeah, I would agree. I would agree with you completely. So how does editing, how does that work? Or, like, maybe, like, we could talk about that, and then maybe also bring up, like, what was the most frustrating part? I struggle with verb tenses a lot. Verb tenses are not sexy or exciting. No, they're not. But they're so needed. So, so needed. Editing isn't exciting. And, well, okay, sometimes it can be, because you realize something that, oh, I messed up there, but wait, I can make it so much better. Right. So there are good bits. Overall, it's going to be, what's the word, not strenuous, tedious. It can be, yeah. It can be tedious. Depending on what you're writing, it could be a really long process, but it's, words are failing. I know. It's a day. It's okay. It's okay. So, verb tenses, what do you think is, like, the biggest challenge? Being patient. Being patient, yeah. The process. Something that you'll know when it's done, because there were, I don't know, I can't remember if you used this in a previous episode, writing a book is like having a baby. It is like having a baby. Because you're going to, it's going to come to you, and you're going to be like, oh, my gosh, it's so exciting. It's going to be wonderful. You go through the process, and you think, yay, it's coming, Braxton Hicks contraction. Right. You're going to have that when editing. You're going to think, yes, it's done, it's happening, get excited, people. Nope, it's not, womp, womp. We have to. I didn't know I missed the grr word right there. Yep, you're going to read through it so many times that you're going to get sick of your own work, but that's okay. Right, right. That's why we need peer review, because then someone else can get sick of your work. Yes. You're going to read through it, and every single time, or it's going to feel like every time, you're going to find something new. How did I miss that? It's because you're going to go blind to your own mistakes. Yeah, right, forest in the trees kind of thing. Yeah, because you know what you were writing, so your brain is going to correct it to be that, but it might not. Like you might have misspelled something, and it's just been there the whole time, and you don't know it. Hello. Do you think that you've grown as a writer going through this process? I'd like to think I have. I've definitely learned how to use verb tenses. I got way better at correcting that as I went. But I think I learned how to write not depressing. I don't know how else to phrase it, but when I first started writing, it was really depressing. A lot of my poetry was really dark. I would say a lot of peers, or even just younger people, or people that, you know, oh, I can't write because I'm only depressed, or I can't write because I'm feeling happy, or, you know, or if I write this one book or if I write this one poem, that's going to define me. And that's not necessary. It's a scary leap, but I don't know. You aren't what you write. If I write a poem about, and I have done this, I wrote a poem about a really low point in my life, and I thought, oh, my gosh, you know, I'm writing this on my school Chromebook. This school is going to flag me. They're going to trail me with therapists. I'm going to get sent to somewhere. You aren't what you write. Because you write about a specific moment in your life when you felt a certain way or you thought something really oddly specific, that doesn't mean that's how you are all the time. All the time. Right. Because you can't be. I would agree. You can't put yourself in a box like that. Okay. I've got some bonus questions. Oh, gosh. I know. It will be good. These are super hard for me to answer. Oh, I saw the first one. Do you have a favorite book, or can you name, like, your top five? I actually love talking about this because it depends on the season, right? Okay. If it is summer, I love Gone with the Wind. Oh, yeah, yeah. And The Outsiders. Oh, I love The Outsiders. If it is winter, I love Little Women. This is great. This is great. It's a whole thing. I do this with music, too. It depends on my mood. It depends on the weather. No, I think that makes perfect sense. Yeah. I love classics. Like I said, Gone with the Wind, The Outsiders, Little Women, the Harry Potter series, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Little House on the Prairie series. I love that one because my mom read it to me and my siblings growing up. It was wonderful. But I cannot say that I have an ultimate favorite because you've got to ask me, like, every hour, and it will be different. Yeah, and we haven't read them all. Exactly. And currently, my favorite is A Fall of Marigolds. I forget the author, but that was such a good book. That was a really good book. Okay, so here's my other bonus one. Are you ready? It's the dinner question. If you could have a dinner with any writer, living or dead, who would it be? I don't know. I think these are hard. I think that these are really, really hard. You know, my answer, again, my answer would change hour to hour, and right now it's going to sound like such a basic, cliche answer, but it's the truth. I would love to have a coffee chat with Charles Dickens because hear me out, right? Okay. Hear me out. I know it's cliche. He wrote, I think it was Oliver Twist. Wonderful book, super famous, popular guy, and then he just flopped. Yeah. He wrote, like, three or four books, and they all flopped. He just couldn't get back into the groove. And out of that slump of frantically trying to meet a deadline and needing something to write about, that's how we received A Christmas Carol. Right, right. And I would love to talk with him about how that felt because I'm in a slump right now. It will not last long. It will not last long. Oh, I'm sure it won't, but I would just love to know what that was like because I'm sure it was incredible, but also so difficult, and I want to know what it was like for him specifically. Well, I think he also, I know that he did a couple of things. So, like, I know Great Expectations is one of my favorite novels from him, and he wrote it in episodes, and so he would only release it, like, two chapters at a time. And I'm like, oh, that's pretty good. I'm like, that's pretty, that's exactly right. And so I'm like, you could buy yourself some time. I don't know what's going to happen in chapter three. I'm just going to upload this one. I totally have something planned. I'm just saving it. I don't have something planned. I procrastinated. Exactly. Exactly. Oops. Okay. All right. Here is my food for thought. That's my nice little, my segue, right, for our listeners. Why should they be writing? Because it's liberating. There is, writing is leaving gifts of yourself for other people to read and experience and maybe relate to. And there's, Ms. Faith has said this in class before, there is nothing more rebellious than reading and learning. Yes. And that's, writing is almost a form of that. You're learning how to communicate your thoughts in a different format other than talking, and you're sharing that with other people, and other people will be rebellious by reading it. Exactly. And it's so freeing to get that, whatever that is, out onto paper and see it just all splayed out on a piece of paper and say, that is my thought, that is part of me, and now it's over there, and I can share it with other people, and it won't stress me out as much. That happened with me. Sure. And that might not be with everything you write, but it all circles back to the freeing feeling of knowing that I created something and I can share it with people. Yeah. Yeah. Some people might really like it. You never know. You never know. Yeah, you are the expert in you. I don't know what is in that brilliant brain of yours unless you tell a story, right? Yeah. So, listeners, I will conclude with that. Your food for thought is write, because writing does not have to suck. Writing does not have to represent everything that you are at one particular moment, and you get to share yourself with the world. So without further ado, cheers to you, and happy writing. Cheers.