‘MOUTHS OF OTHERS’ GUEST LIZ PRATO’S TEN RULES FOR SUCCESS

The first Mouths of Others guest speaker series event held on Nov. 7 was informative, inspiring and delightful, featuring Portland-based author Liz Prato.

Following the presentation in the Visual Arts Theatre, Prato graciously gave The Advocate a separate interview. 

She is the author of “Volcanoes, Palm Trees and Privilege: Essays on Hawai’i”. She also has written a “Baby’s on Fire” short story collection and various other works.  

During her slide-show presentation at MHCC, Prato described visiting Hawai’i as a child. She describes the islands as majestic, complex and divided. In “Volcanoes,” she parallels the difficulties imposed on Hawaiian natives by colonialists who stole their land during the 1800s, the importance of their own culture, language and values with the difficulties she faced herself as her family dwindled. (Prato was adopted and her family fell apart.)

It was a balm of sorts for her to write, and was “a painful book to write, with the parts about her family being the hardest,” she explained to the Mt. Hood audience.

Prato encouraged students and answered their questions about writing and getting published. “My essays helped my research,” she said, defining the word “essay” and exploring its origins in the following manner: French: essayer – to try, attempt; Latin: exagium – a weighing.

She writes to prove and explore, and, in writing an essay, the essay works itself out. Writing the essays revealed what she should write, she explained.

Other helpful hints Prato gave for students who want to write, in order: 

1. Be patient – patience and knowledge give you authority as a writer.

2. Be passionate – If you are passionate about your work, someone else will love it. Write about your interests. 

3. Appeal to your audience – If writing about politics, appeal to public policy. If you’re good at music, use music in your writing. If you enjoy comics and drawing, write comics, etc.

4. Research is an ongoing process that takes time. You may want to read a lot of pages to put one sentence together. It is important to back up your statements. Utilize libraries and the internet. Check footnotes and bibliographies in the backs of books, and/or scroll to the footnotes and references on a web page. Look for statistics and primary documentation. A treasure trove of information may be gleaned in this manner and can uniquely shape your writing.

5. Don’t second guess yourself.

6. Setting deadlines – It is important to set deadlines until the accomplishment is achieved.

7. You may want a good writing assistant

8. Choose a publisher according to your literary style.

Fielding questions afterward, Prato told students she prefers small publishers due to her nontraditional, somewhat experimental writing format.

As for her personal approach, she said when writing, “it’s easy to get distracted, so I give myself rewards – i.e., a bubble bath.’’

Her ideal place to write is somewhere quiet, like an airplane, especially en route to her favorite place, a romantic restaurant/bar in the Poipu resort area on the island of Kauai, in Hawai’i, with her favorite date: her husband.