Simplicity September: In Clutter

One of the benefits of being a writer is that you can work from anywhere, right?

But that’s not 100% true, is it? Your environment affects your ability to write. When the kitchen is too messy, I can’t sit at my desk and write. When there’s too much clutter on my desk, I can’t focus on the screen in front of me. And when I leave for a retreat, I subconsciously think about some of the stuff left at home — whether it’s stuff that still has to be fixed/maintained/cleaned/etc.

Over the years, this drive to hold on to things has also cost me money, be it in storage fees or not wanting to sublet when I’m away for over a month because of the things that would be left behind.

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Decluttering is about both stopping the flow of unnecessary things into the house, and also culling the things in your house so that only what is useful is left. It’s not an instant process, though. I have only this summer gotten rid of a stack of VHSes (some still in plastic wrap!) and given away a DVD/VCR combo. I still have a ways to go.

Today, and going forward, I challenge you to relook at what surrounds you. Do these things make you happy, or weigh you down? (Consider that every knick knack is one more thing you have to dust, and five less minutes of writing, talking to a loved one, etc.)

I know in your closet, there is a pair of pants that are your “I hate these pants and only wear them on laundry day.” Give them away. Spend more time in the pants you love.

“Simplicity September” is a series of posts designed to focus on simplifying and refocusing. See the previous posts here:

Simplicity September: In Writing
Simplicity September: In Relationships

Simplicity September: In Relationships

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Writing is time intensive, and so what and/or whom you spend your time on becomes that much more precious. So as the summer winds down and we all go back to work, school, etc., it seems a good time to stop and think about what and who is important in these coming months.

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But first, let’s talk about Facebook.

There are two types of Facebookers — those that “friend” everyone they’ve met, and those that “friend” only the people they would invite into their home. I try to limit my personal Facebook to the latter category (though I do have a much more open Facebook Page), but still there is no way for me to keep a close relationship with 200+ people. (Dunbar’s number says the limit is closer to 150, though even then, I can’t tell you how 150 people in my circle spent their summer.)

Some of my friends are hardcore users, and some are not. And I wonder if we begin to feel a false sense of closeness to people that update more frequently. Afterall, is closeness based solely on knowing what that person did over the weekend, or does closeness require more of a deeper, emotional exchange?

So take a minute and ask yourself:

Who do I want to have a closer relationship with?
How can I reach out to them, one-to-one?
How can I make more room for them in my life? (Yes, this might mean that you have less time to look at the posts of someone you went to elementary school with twenty years ago and haven’t spoken to since.)

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an email to write to a close friend.

“Simplicity September” is a series of posts designed to focus on simplifying and refocusing. See the previous posts here:

Simplicity September: In Writing

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As part of my MFA program, I’m currently working with a mentor on a fantasy YA novel.

One thing about semester deadlines, is that it forces me (somewhat of a pantser) to really think about where the novel is going and how I’m going to get there. So to simplify the drafting process, I’ve laid out the following for myself:

The Pitch
I wrote out the story as if I was pitching it in a query letter. I wanted to get down, in two paragraphs, what I want the novel to be, what drives my main character and what she needs to accomplish before she faces XXX consequence.

Needs/Motivations
I asked myself the following questions, and wrote a couple sentences in response to each:

What does Raina (my protagonist) want emotionally? Physically?
Who or what is stopping her from achieving this goal? Why?
How will she try to get what she needs?
Will she succeed or fail?

Finally, as this is a fantasy and I am generally a novel-length contemporary writer, I started a new page for World-Building Details. I outlined some things that Raina can do that others can’t, and also the places where she is deficient because of her status. I also left myself questions to explore later — either through the novel or to continue thinking about as I draft.

This story weaves together a cannon of previous works, and so that also means that as I fill out these questions and build my world, I am considering how what came before affects my story. In weaving the previous works with my own, there has to be something that my manuscript illuminates, adds, or forces the reader to think about in a different way. As I answer the questions above and build my world, I think about how my story’s world will work alongside and against the previous cannon.

“Don’t Haunt This Place” Birthday Giveaway

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My birthday is coming up, and to celebrate I’m giving away three copies of Don’t Haunt This Place.

The blurb:
Seventeen-year-old Amanda has just learned that she’s pregnant by her crack-dealing boyfriend. Estranged from her family and most of her friends, the pull of the drugs, Billy, and her old way of life is strong. But she can’t do to her baby what her mother did to her. She has to find a way to break the cycle.

The disclaimer:
It’s not Amanda’s birthday. But this is one of the pieces that I’m happiest about writing this year, so it seemed a good way to celebrate!

To enter, follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Do You Have A Paper Back-Up?

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I’ve been thinking about ways to make more physical/mental/emotional space, partially inspired by some of my favorite minimalist/simple living blogs:

Becoming Minimalist
Be More With Less
Slow Your Home
The Minimalists
Mnmlist

Now that almost everything can (or is) housed on someone else’s servers, do you still keep unbound paper copies of your published works? Is a paper back-up required if you can download/buy the ebook?

Authors, how are you handling this?

What I’m reading now:
As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child & Avis DeVoto by Joan Reardon

Writers As Cultivators of Gender

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Between Wendy Davis’s filibuster, the severing of Tor’s relationship with James Frenkel and the general sociopolitical climate, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about gender.

But first, a quick note on the difference between sex and gender. You are biologically a sex. If you are born with two x chromosomes, you are female. Born with an xy, and you are male. But one performs a gender. You enact what it means to be masculine or feminine.

In gender theory, you’ll find two major camps – essentialists and constructivists.

An essentialist view of gender holds that women are innately born to nurture. They are creators. Men are innately born to command. They are destroyers. They perform their gender not because they’re told to, but because it is who they are. (But then, one asks, is a woman who doesn’t feel motherly no longer feminine?)

A constructionist view of gender says that gender roles are constructed by society. Society – in the form of culture, media, parenting, etc. – tells girls that they should like pink, and boys that they should like blue. Culture says that men are protectors, and women need to be protected.

It may seem like it comes down to nature vs. nurture, and one might say, “Well, it’s probably a bit of both, isn’t it?” And then that would be that.

But the problem is that an essentialist view is extremely limiting to both genders. And a constructionist view means that we — writers — as culture producers, have a responsibility to look at how we portray both men and women.

I don’t have answers. But I think it’s worthwhile to ask yourself:

How do gender norms inform my writing?

Am I trying to reflect the current experience, or write the world as it should be?

Can I avoid didacticism and tell a good story, while being aware of the way my characters fit into a larger social narrative?

What I’m reading now:
As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child & Avis DeVoto by Joan Reardon

Editing A Character’s Backstory

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I just started reading As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child & Avis DeVoto, which was compiled by Joan Reardon.

The letters are collated in a way that the reader feels a cohesive arc. Julia and Avis first “meet” through a letter sent by Julia to Avis’s husband, and they then bond over their fondness for a good (non-stainless steel) kitchen knife. They subsequently work together on bringing what we now know as Mastering the Art of French Cooking to publicaton. Reardon acknowledges that the reader is not seeing every letter between the two women, and that their correspondence lasted well beyond the publication of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. She also acknowledges that she omitted some letters in order to give both women equal weight in the book.

In the letters, we learn a bit about Julia’s politics and worldview, but we’re still focused on the main arc: a growing friendship based on culinary pursuits.

This editing of backstory is necessary in fiction as well.

A character’s backstory must be relevant to the main plot, or illuminate something the reader doesn’t already know about the character. Backstory can be used as foreshadowing, but not everything a writer knows about their character needs to be revealed to the reader.

Take a look at your current work-in-progress, particularly if it’s in first person POV. Are there unnecessary ‘letters’ that can be edited out?

What I’m reading now:
When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle
As Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child & Avis DeVotoby Joan Reardon

Thoughts on “Book Publishing’s Big Gamble”

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I was forwarded Boris Kachka’s New York Times op-ed, Book Publishing’s Big Gamble, this morning and am curious to hear your thoughts.

I think he raises several valid points, and I know that while someone in children’s publishing can look at a manuscript and tell you why Philomel might be a better fit over Razorbill, I do think the general reading public would have a much harder time distinguishing the two imprints.

Does this matter, though?

I think so, in terms of sustainability for traditional publishing. Teens, for example, aren’t a homogenized whole, and wouldn’t be better served by one (or five) homogenized entities that are competing for the same mass market.

That said, in terms of the article, I wouldn’t liken Amazon’s KDP to a packager, though it may be fair to say that digital ebook arms of literary agencies could find themselves acting as packagers, who distribute through KDP.

I also don’t 100% agree with “We could use more gatekeepers.” I think what he really means to say is, “Readers need to be able to see the individual gates the contain a particular imprint.”

What do you think? Do you follow a particular imprint from the big five?

Does Your High School Social Status Change How You Relate to YA Now?

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I’ve been reading When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle, and it’s making me think about how I relate to YA characters based on my own experiences in the high school hierarchy.

In high school, I was neither extremely popular nor extremely unpopular. I had friends that I would sneak into clubs with to go dancing, and friends that I went to Youth Group with. I had friends in AP classes, and friends in general classes. My friends and I were people that didn’t adhere to one particular label, which had its advantages and disadvantages. I was probably in every parent’s sweet spot — not getting picked on, and not bullying others.

When I read YA though, it is sometimes more difficult for me to identify with the instantly popular character. Popular with a dark secret? Yes – I can get on board with that. Pretty on the outside and troubled on the inside is interesting. It has layers. It becomes more relatable to the teenager in me, who floated between groups but at times felt the distance for not being so easily defined as a nerd, jock, popular girl, good girl, bad girl, etc.

One would think that I’m saying that I only relate to high school experiences in YA that match my own. But on the other hand, when I read Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, I always think, “God, this is the high school experience I wish I had lived!”

What do you think? Is YA segmented into books for the popular crowd and books for the counterculture? (Marketing-wise, I would say yes — but does that really relate to who reads them and why?) Do you relate to YA characters that match your high school experience, or do you prefer to relive high school in a different way through YA?

What I’m reading now:
When You Were Mine by Rebecca Serle

Children’s Books About Freedom

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Happy Fourth of July, my fellow Americans! (And for those of you who are not, I hope you have a great Thursday regardless!)

If you’re looking for some children’s books about freedom — be it a personal freedom, or the fight for America’s freedom — might I suggest:

Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson – Isabel, a thirteen year old slave, fights for personal freedom during the American Revolution.

Independent Dames: What You Never Knew About the Women and Girls of the American Revolution by Laurie Halse Anderson, illustrated by Matt Faulkner

Nothing But the Truth by Avi – A look at the power of nationalism in the media, and how one teen’s use of the Star Spangled Banner has far-reaching consequences. (Would love to talk in the comments about how you felt about the protagonist by the end of the book!)

Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Kadir Nelson – A beautifully illustrated depiction of Harriet Tubman’s work on the underground railroad. Painted with a style that embraced the romanticism of Tubman’s own time.

What are your favorite books about freedom? Comment below to have them added to the list!

What I’m reading now:
One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia