Pity the shy writer, book clubs in prisons, failed dreams making a magnificent memoir and more:
Ben Myers writes about an increasingly common problem for writers who want to throw up at the thought of reading in public—what to do in the age of promote, promote, promote? “The Public Role of the Private Writer” in the Guardian UK
Writer Naseem Rakh spent her 50th birthday meeting with a prison book (more…)
“At work, you think of the children you have left at home. At home, you think of the work you’ve left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself. Your heart is rent.” – Golda Meir
I suspect that it’s easier to find authentic novels about the difficulty of being a daughter or son than down-and-dirty tales about being a mother. Great books about being the child of bad parents, evil parents, and crazy parents abound. Rarer are books about the authentic experience of being a mother that don’t explain away negative thoughts moments after putting them on paper. er
I understand this. We writer/mothers fear judgement. What in this world is less revered than a bad mother (and thus the shelves of novels and memoirs devoted to recovering from them.) But how soothing it can be to learn that one is not alone in experiencing the ambivalence of mothering—and that feeling does not mean doing. Inside thoughts that pop up even as one murmurs soothing words to a screeching
Does violence at home have a throbbing beat for a backdrop and erotic sex burning up the house? Eminem might think he’s presenting a case against domestic violence, but with lines like these:
“Just gonna stand there and watch me burn
But that’s alright because I like the way it hurts”
pouring from co-star Rihanna’s beautiful lips as her liquid kohl-rimmed eyes show us how caught in erotic fascination she is, we see one long rationalization about how two people caught up in alcohol and sex flame out to a passion-soaked burn.
That’s the song your kids will be humming and dancing to while they watch a glamour-drama of domestic abuse amidst love gone wrong.
After watching Eminem’s “Love The Way You Lie” video, I wonder if it’s meant to warn women from bad boys, or if the message tells us to be more understanding girlfriends, and thus rescue our tortured battering boyfriends. Certainly Eminem shows himself as an alarmingly appealing, if dangerous, (more…)
Books, books, books!! Libraries in danger, great reviews of perhaps great books, cartoons and contests:
The library system in Camden New Jersey may shut down. This is an awful harbinger that should force us to speak out and offer support. One suggestion I offer authors is joining the “Authors for Libraries” program of the Association of Library Trustees by offering a small amount of financial support and a quote. (Your book title and cover will be featured.)
So, on the topic of reading, books, and libraries: a compendium of book reviews which could topple my already over piled ‘to read’ pile”
In the Boston Globe, Caroline Leavitt’s review of Color Blind: A Memoir by Precious Williams starts:
“To understand “Color Blind,’’ you must first wrap your mind around the (more…)
My dear friend and neighbor, Linda, sent me this rubber duck, which she made into a duck reading my book. Reading Duck oversees the bathroom and cannot be moved. If he left the room, my sense of safety would be shaken.
This morning I drank coffee from my Stephanie mug—the mug I bought the day I shook virtual hands with my literary agent (named, um, Stephanie.) I was in Rhinebeck visiting my sister—which made the entire episode extra special—and flying on the wings of love, I drifted into a gift shop where I saw this mug:
Being that my agent is French and we’d just had a conversation as smooth (more…)
A Guest Post by Tayari Jones
(Randy Susan Meyers’ note: the following post,originally published on Ms. Jones blog in August, was the inspiration for my post “ReadingAcross the Racial Divide.)
In the last few years, black writers have been speaking out about double standards in the world of publishing. Among these are Martha Southgate’s NYT essay, “Writers Like Me” and more recently, Bernice’s MacFadden’s Black Writers in A Ghetto of the Publishing Industry’s Making. In these articles, both writers (who also are novelists) put into a public conversation the issues that black writers have been complaining about for years– like why is that stories about black folks that are written by white folks get so much traction. (The Help, The Secret Lives of Bees, Little Bee, etc.) How come books about us by us are not thought to be “universal”? Why are black faces on the cover of a book thought to be so alienating? At this point in the gripe session, I break out my favorite oh-no-he-didn’t moment– when someone asked me what percentage of my work is “black” and what percentage is “human.”
I have no quarrel with Southgate’s and MacFadden’s insightful observations and strident calls to action. These issues are very important and must be discussed. What I am starting to wonder is whether or not this is a battle that (more…)
Literary misogyny, how the Grateful Dead exemplified moral marketing, a live map of what books folks are buying and …
I’m showing my prejudice here, but I loved this smart post by Editorial Ass on the difficulty of writing and reading books written in present tense. (I tend to be less drawn to reading present tense books.)
Leah Stewart writes about literary misogyny on Caroline Leavitt’s excellent blog. (Warning: tracking the number of reviews of male writer’s vs. female writer’s books in local and national papers can lead to unremitting depression.
Niche Marketing for books can be an interesting way to promote, and the topic is well-covered by the ever-helpful Alan Rinzler.
Content first! The Grateful Dead band knew how to market in a way that emphasized the importance of first having a good product.
Switching agents can be awesomely scary. What is the mannerly way to do it? And how? Allison Winn writes a terrific post that includes her own experience. Wish I’d had this back when I went through it.
Harsh tough-love words on when queries and books are ready for sending out from Jane Friedman, such as the 75% rule: compelling queries have a 75 percent request rate.
A pithy synthesis of the Wylie-Amazon-Publishers dustup by Kathy Crowley in Beyond the Margins, as well as an excellent (though sad) piece by Nichole Bernier on the difference between writing about the death of a dog and experiencing it.
What’s being bought where? The UK based Book Depository (free shipping world-wide!) has a live map showing where and what is being ordered world-wide. Sort of like a reality show for book buying. Good post in the Guardian UK.
Life Hacker presents five favorite book recommendation sites.
Agent Nathan Bransford asks readers of his uber-popular blog what they think of acknowledgements in books.
“But it really happened.”
I was in an adult-ed writer’s group when I first heard this. I’d watched the woman speaking become tenser and grimmer as members of the group—gently and with compassion—suggested that the gruesome events on the page could be presented in a manner more conducive to engaging the reader.
She listened for only a few moments—sadly, this group did not have a ‘be silent while being critiqued’ policy—before unleashing, accusing the group of everything from indifference about sexual assault on children, to ignorance about how children really thought (this in response to our collective idea that 4-year-olds did not speak like 30-year-olds.) She shook as she lectured us on the horror of incest.
True that. Everything she said about her pain and suffering was true—but it still didn’t work on the page. My social services hat went on and I reacted to (more…)
By Chris Abouzied
A friend of mine recently said she hoped readers would view her latest novel as literary, not “plotty.” By that, I think she meant she hoped no one would discount the artistry in her work just because it served up a sexy story.
Hearing plot being pitted against artistry always rubs me the wrong way, but I had to admit she had a point. No one was going to say, “The son sleeps with his dead father’s mistress?! A literary star is born!” Plot, for whatever reason, seems to be on a par with skeletons in the physiology of literature— (more…)
What grabbed me?
The Wall Street Journal tells us how The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo got its’ cover. And for more cover coverage, Betsy Lerner introduces the nomenclature “Massengill Covers” into book lingo. Then there is this: Conservative vs.: Liberal Women’s Book Covers. Bonus: Publisher’s Weekly covers book cover trends.
Men famed and not admit their biggest screw-ups and mistakes on the Good Men Project.
NYT reports that Amazon says eBooks sales tops hardcover sales.
Eleven most over-rated things Mark Juddery is pretty interesting in his analysis of baseball, Star Trek, astrology and more.
Author and oft-reviewer Steve Almond takes the NYT to task for “trashing my new book” Rock and Roll Will Save Your Life and more. Steve’s a brave guy—perhaps he will next look at the number of men’s books vs. women’s books reviewed by the NYT and Boston Globe.
Agent and writer Nathan Bransford offers a reassuring Top Ten Myths About Our E-Book Future.
I’d have included Boston Globe reporter Stephanie Ebbert’s post Think of the Children even if she hadn’t mentioned my book and even if it wasn’t on a multi-writer blog to which I belong (Beyond The Margins) for the questions it asks: how do readers and writers cope with children in danger?
And in the life sometimes goes the right way department, a headline in USA Today reads: Openly gay Lutheran pastors to be welcomed to church roster.
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