Monday, October 31, 2011

I had a dream last night


Happy Halloween friends. I hope those of you who celebrate it had a blast this weekend: ate just enough candy, made the perfect number of bad decisions. I love Halloween and I tend to get really into it (more about that here) so naturally I went big.

For my costume this year I was half black swan, half white swan. It seemed like the way to go since I've spent so much time either dancing or feeling insane this year (not homicidal though, don't worry).  The costume was a hit.

I kept in character by keeping my toes turned out and oscillating between being sweet and evil on Saturday night. I had a little Black Swan moment when some nice man asked me what my novel is about.

'Ugh," I said, shutting it down 'can we talk about something else?'

Now if those aren't good self-promotional skills, I don't know what.

Does anyone like discussing their book at parties? I'm fine writing about the book, or talking about it when I'm prepared but off the cuff at a party with a stranger? I'd rather read him my teenage diary.

How do you feel when people ask you that question?

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

owner of a lonely heart




Everyone who has worked in publishing knows what authors really want. 


To be loved. 

Writing is an incredibly lonely business. You don't need to necessarily be a loner to be a writer, lots of writers I've known have been fantastically social, the very life of the party. But there must be a side of you that loves solitude, the relishes the thought of retreating into your own mind for hours at time, with only your own voice and perhaps those of your characters echoing in your ears. 

Then one day you find you want to share what you have done with the world, to release into the wild what you have been laboring on in secret. You hope people will be moved or inspired, worry they will horrified or scandalized by your words. But God dammit, one way or another you want them to care. 

One thing the old model of publishing was great at (in the best cases) was making a writer feel loved. At least in the beginning when everything was shiny and hopeful. Publishing would bring you in and introduce you to a kindly editor with an office full of beautiful hardcovers, a publisher whose good suit hid his protruding belly, a sleek, hard-eyed, enthusiastic publicity director perhaps. All of these people were going to be there for you in this vulnerable time. But unless your book became enough of a success to keep the party going, the bloom faded fast. And then just like that, the you would themselves back where they started. Alone with your words and your thoughts and God forbid, your awful sales track. 

And if there's anything lonelier than a published author, it's a self-published author. 

Are we all alone out there? 

Monday, October 24, 2011

the mother of all role models




Are we all destined to become our mothers? Readers, I should be so lucky.

My mother turns sixty today and since lists are a little tradition of mine around here; here are five things that make my mom the best woman I know.

Her Beauty 


My mom is stunning. Regularly admired by my girlfriends (and hers) for her amazing skin and long legs, she's something of a dead ringer for Jamie Lee Curtis. I'm proud of the fact that my mom has stayed so fit all her life and though I'm not one to judge anyone for indulging in a little plastic surgery, that she's aged naturally and beautifully. But what I admire more than her looks themselves and what has benefited me more directly as her daughter, is her attitude about beauty. She's one of the most elegant dressers I know but has never put an undue importance on clothes; she appreciates the fact that looking good can be important to one's confidence but she always made it clear to my sister and me growing up that other things like being smart and kind, were much more important. I never once heard her complain about her looks or call herself fat and so I have always been appalled at that ugly habit some women have of talking smack with each other about their bodies. She's never once criticized my looks either (some outrageously inappropriate preteen fashion choices notwithstanding), understanding that the world is hard enough on a girl about that stuff without her mother adding to the chorus.

Her Passion


One of the traits I share with my mother is that neither of us are capable of doing anything halfway. If we're going to bother to do something, we're going to want to be good at it. My mother and I don't really do hobbies in the lighthearted way that others do. From her tennis game to her cooking to her dogs (she does agility and nose work trials with their two German Shepherds), she goes full force at everything she does. I can always tell when my mom has set her eye on a goal and I always know she'll get it.

Her Grace

My mom has excellent manners. Not the white glove kind that make everyone else feel a little guilty about their lack of manners but the authentic kind that put everyone around her at ease. I don't know that I've ever seen her be genuinely rude to someone and she's always made the innumerable friends, boyfriends and stray acquaintances my sister and I brought around feel welcome (no matter how dubious those choices). She's an engaged listener and thoughtful conversationalist. You know how some people listen only insofar as their planning their rebuttal? My mom never does that.


Her Strength and Compassion

I group these last two together because after a very difficult year, I have come to understand that the one ultimately means nothing without the other; and my mother has more of both than anyone I know. It's only in the last few years that I've really come to see this clearly. In watching her support her father through his last painful year of life and support her sister and the rest of our family through his death, I saw not a new side to my mother (in my heart I suppose I always knew it was there) but a perhaps under-appreciated side of her. My mother with her calm nature is a wonderful balance to my father and I, but beneath her gentleness she's made of steel. My mother, like her affable but formidable father, has a strength that is quiet but runs deep. She has the strength to do what's right, even if it will cost her dearly. My family has been dealt some serious blows in this past year and sometimes I worry that my mother bears the brunt of it, shoring up the rest of us the way she does. It is a lucky thing to admire the character of one's parents the way I do. And when I think of what it means to be a mother, to be at the very center of a family with all of the courage and inevitable sacrifice that that entails, I can't think of anyone who could do it better.

I could go on but I'll end here by saying that if I can only hope to turn out like my mom. If everyone had a mom like mine, surely it wouldn't cure all the world's ills but I'm pretty sure it would cut them in half at least. I'll end with a poem that both my mom and her father loved and one that speaks to the rare kind of strength so present in them both.

Abou Ben Adhem


Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An angel writing in a book of gold:— 
Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said
"What writest thou?"—The vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answered "The names of those who love the Lord."
"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still, and said "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men."

The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

Monday, October 10, 2011

revisionist history




I'm smack in the middle of reading The Paris Wife. I'm enjoying it so far, the premise is intriguing and the author's voice is quite easy to cozy up to which is just what one needs on a rainy Seattle night (see: all of them). For those who don't know, The Paris Wife is told from the (imagined) perspective of Earnest Hemingway's first wife Hadley Richardson. It takes place in 1920s Paris which is not a hard sell for this reader, regardless of the subject matter.

The genre is extremely popular but I'm of two minds on historical fiction. On the one hand, being a person who doesn't love doing research, I admire the lengths these authors go to get the details right and it seems like a brave thing to take such a well known figure as Earnest Hemingway and start putting words in his mouth. On the other hand, I can't help but feeling like it's taking a bit of shortcut (albeit a clever one) to write a novel based on an existing story, especially one which will automatically have a big audience as this one does. I think this particular book could stand well enough on its own merits but I find I get most excited reading it when I think oh, there's Gertrude Stein! There's Ezra Pound! Did it really happen that way? All a function of the genre.

So is historical fiction cheating or is it raising the bar on the already daunting task of creating a compelling novel?

revisionist history




I'm smack in the middle of reading The Paris Wife. I'm enjoying it so far, the premise is intriguing and the author's voice is quite easy to cozy up to which is just what one needs on a rainy Seattle night (see: all of them). For those who don't know, The Paris Wife is told from the (imagined) perspective of Earnest Hemingway's first wife Hadley Richardson. It takes place in 1920s Paris which is not a hard sell for this reader, regardless of the subject matter.

The genre is extremely popular but I'm of two minds on historical fiction. On the one hand, being a person who doesn't love doing research, I admire the lengths these authors go to get the details right and it seems like a brave thing to take such a well known figure as Earnest Hemingway and start putting words in his mouth. On the other hand, I can't help but feeling like it's taking a bit of shortcut (albeit a clever one) to write a novel based on an existing story, especially one which will automatically have a big audience as this one does. I think this particular book could stand well enough on its own merits but I find I get most excited reading it when I think oh, there's Gertrude Stein! There's Ezra Pound! Did it really happen that way? All a function of the genre.

So is historical fiction cheating or is it raising the bar on the already daunting task of creating a compelling novel?

Sunday, October 9, 2011

every day I'm...




Friday was an exciting day for me. My book went out into the world on its merry digital way and I did a guest post for Betsy Lerner, which would be cause for celebration all by itself. Hers is one of my very favorite writer/ publishing blogs and the commenters were very supportive and asked me some pretty entertaining questions about publicity. 

I fet a little spent by the end of the day. It took me years to write the book and polishing it and pulling together for ebook and internet publication has been a lot of work. The whole thing makes me want to take a nap. This is something I have seen with many authors I've worked with over the years, their book goes on sale and they feel like they've just finished running a marathon and don't they deserve a break? This is of course compounded by the fact that most writers (even the ones with enviable three books deals and movie tie-ins) still hold down day jobs, have families etc. Even for traditionally published authors who have the support of an entire staff, it's never been more incumbent upon them to push their own work. Gone are the days when authors could send their work out into the world and then return to the cave to continue writing. 

Now there is aways something you could be doing to promote your book, writing op-eds and blog posts and tweeting and Facebooking. Is it overwhelming? Hell yes but at least it gives you something to do with all of that 'oh my God what if no one buys my book?!' energy. Something other than calling your publicist five times a day. 

Do you feel empowered or overwhelmed by the hustle? 

Friday, October 7, 2011




Big news today! I've been dancing around it over at the Gloss: talking about how disappointments can work in your favor and about how I 'm halfway through my list and it's time to go big or go home.

So what is this all about? Well, as I had the immense pleasure of announcing in a guest post on one of my favorite blogs today and on my second home the Gloss, I am publishing my first novel as an ebook and running it in serial on the Gloss each Friday.

It's an idea I had a couple of months ago when I was brushing my teeth. I remember thinking 'wait that's a great idea! No, wait. That's a terrible idea, it will never work.' But then I caught myself, I know that voice of doubt too well by now. I went straight to work and told three of my publishing buddies before I could talk myself out of it.

After many years of writerly solitude penning novels I loved very much but shared with almost no one, I've discovered through blogging just how good it feels to actually have my work reach readers. Every single time that someone comments on one of my posts or tells me in real life how much they like my work, it makes my day.

Is this how I imagined the publication of my first book? No. I imagined frenzied phone calls between my agent and an editor to strike a deal, making the rounds at the publishing house to which my book had been sold, giving the eager young publicists a knowing smile. Instead it's been a quiet process: an editor friend did my copy-editing, a tech-savvy pal helped me format it and a half dozen industry buddies helped serve as a mini think tank for decisions on the cover and the title.

It's been nice to watch it come together and mostly I think it just feels good to do something other than wait, wait and wait some more.

So, no more waiting. You can follow it on the Gloss or you can buy it here.

I'm feeling good dear readers, like maybe I'm the master of my fate after all.

Sunday, October 2, 2011

I am the captain of my soul




I finally got around to watching Invictus tonight. If you haven't seen it, go rent it immediately. I'm a sucker for any movie where sports serve as a metaphor for life and there are myriad reasons why this movie is amazing that I won't go into here, Matt Damon's thighs are the least of it.

The movie is named after the poem Invictus, a favorite of my father's and a piece of writing that gives me chills every time I read it, let alone hear it spoken in Morgan Freeman's unmistakably mellifluous voice. The movie depicts both Mandela and the rugby captain drawing strength from the poem in their time of need.

I was reminded of something essential about my craft that is easy to lose sight of in this fast-paced digital world of ours: that the right words, said in the right way can inspire greatness.

Was there a poem that carried you through?