Charlotte Rains Dixon

Why Write a Book Proposal?

I attended a party over the weekend, where I was introduced to a couple of other writers (we already have plans to do Happy Hour together, we had so much fun).  But one of them asked me, "You mean people still have dreams of getting their books published?  Are any books even being published these days?"

Yes, ma'am, they are.

When I looked up statistics on how many books are being published a year, I came up with this statistic: in 2009, 1,02,803 books were published, according to Bowker, an industry analyst.

Um, in my world, that's still a lot of books.

And if one of those books is a work of non-fiction, the way you sell it is through a book proposal.  Odds are really good that even if you have your entire non-fiction book finished, an agent or editor will ask for a proposal.  I know this because it has happened to friends and clients of mine.

Which is why I'm all about writing a book proposal.  Because why not do what agents want in the first place?  And besides, the really cool thing about a book proposal is that its like a plan for your book.  So when you've finished the proposal, you know everything about the book: its structure, its content (down to chapter by chapter synopses), its flow.  And, guess what else?  You also know everything about where the book fits in the market and how you are going to position it.  So on the off-chance that the publishing world doesn't see the brilliance of your book idea and you decide to publish it yourself, you're all set.

Either way, its a win-win.  So what are you waiting for?

Oh, you don't know how to write a book proposal.  Well, the good news is that I do, and I'm once again offering my class on it.  Not only that, I'm offering crazy fast-action bonuses if you act now: a whopping $170 off the price and a one-hour coaching session to the first five who sign up. 

But.  (You knew there was a but.)

These enticements expire soon.  The crazy $170 off the price of the class expires at midnight, August 17th.  That's this Wednesday.  And your chance to nab a coaching session ends at midnight on August 24th. 

The other cool thing is that the class begins at the end of September.  Because I know we're all still in summer mode and don't really want to think about learning and writing and doing--that is September back-to-school energy, for sure.  But if you buy now, you get all the bonuses and the great price break.

So, check it out here.  You know you want to.  Oh, and by the way, if you have any questions about book proposals, ask them in the comments and I'll answer.

 

Photo by mordoc.

My Grandfather, the Author

My grandfather, who died before I was born, was an author. 

I didn't know this until yesterday.

Not only that, he marketed his book himself, and wrote some pretty awesome direct mail copy to sell it. (You can see some of it in a brochure he wrote in the photo above.) If he were alive today, he'd be an internet information marketer, for sure.  He'd be harnessing the power of the interwebs with gusto!

Jesse Lewis Rains was a doctor, first in Grangeville, Idaho, then Oakley, Idaho, small towns which are still really, really small towns.  I know, I've been to both of them.  My grandfather was a doctor and a Presbyterian.  Nothing wrong with that, right?  Well, if you lived in small towns in Idaho there was.  Because in every small town across the west you'll notice one thing--a Mormon church.  In some of those small towns, the Mormon church is the only church in town.

Thus the problem with being a Presbyterian doctor.  Since my grandfather was not Mormon, nobody would use his services.  So off to Seattle they moved.  Specifically, a small town south of Seattle called Foster, currently the location of the sprawling Sea-Tac mall.  (When I was a child, they razed the houses in the area in order to build the mall and we combed through the ruins.  All I remember is my aunt finding quite a treasure trove of bottles, which she collected, in the detritus). 

But apparently, even being a doctor wasn't enough.  He wanted more.  This could be the mantra of the entire lineage of the Rains family, myself included: more!  And so he did what any self-respecting human desirous of more does.  He wrote a book.  His was called Profitable Practise: A Service Book For Physicians, and told doctors how to charge more for their services.  

Jesse's copy would probably convert fairly well today.  Here's a sample:

Yes, indeed! Profitable Practise tells you not only how to treat your patient and receive due renumeration for your services--it also tells you how to make your patients feel so grateful to you that they will "boost" for you and send you other patients.  And why not?  Why shouldn't you get a legitimate return from your practise?

This sounds remarkable similar to many of the internet marketing courses I study today, all of which sound the same theme--we deserve to get paid handsomely for what we do.  (And, for the record, I'm not mocking it, because I share this belief for all of us.)

I found my grandfather's book in a moldy old cardboard box I'd hauled out of my Mom's house last year, in the crazy months when my sister and I cleaned out 70 years of accumulated stuff before she died.  Yesterday I finally finished sorting through the papers I brought home from her house.  They are now at least safely confined to protective plastic tubs and stowed in our storage unit.

It was so amazing to me to learn that not only was my grandfather a published author, he was a inveterate writer.  In the box were piles of old torn files, which held several more handwritten manuscripts he apparently intended to publish.  I didn't have time to go through them all, but one of them caught my attention.  He was writing a manual on sex advice!  On one piece of paper was written the following, which I suspect he planned to use for his advertising copy:

You only go through life once!  Why not make the most of it?

I really wish I'd known my grandfather, but he died long before my father even met my mother.  However, having his books and papers allows me to get to know him through the medium I know and love the best--writing.

And what could be better than that?

Oh, and by the way, I've not even begun to delve into the writing from my Mom's side of the family.  My grandmother Hoho, who died when I was three, wrote in a journal every day of her life and I happen to have 50 years worth of her journals in my possession.  To say nothing of every letter anyone ever wrote my Mom, including the ones from her various suitors during World War II.

I love that I have this amazing legacy of writing from both sides of my family.  But my question is: what do I do with all this material?  It seems so vast and overwhelming to me.  Suggestions?  Have any of you ever dealt with written material from your family?  I'm all ears.

Guest Post: Authors Blaze Social Media Path

This is a guest post from my new Nashvillian friend Leisa Hammett, an amazing author, speaker, and disability advocate.  She dragged treated me to a five-mile hike on Sunday at Shelby Bottoms on a glorious Nashville day and we discussed blogging, writing and life.  More on that in a future post.  For now, enjoy her take on Social Media.  And visit her blog!

Social Media. Why bother? If you are a writer in this millennium and even more importantly, a book author, to not be doing social media is to be a dinosaur. Jus' sayin'. And even if you are not a writer but own a business or offer a service, social media is fundamental to your marketing program as well. (If I could grab some of my beloved nonprofits by the collar and shake this important message into them, I would.) Social media is not just time-twiddling Facebook fluff. It truly works in communicating your message and grooming loyalty and drawing in patrons and earning consumers. If you doubt--trust me. (And Facebook is not all fluff, either.)

So, my eyes are perpetually fixed on successful authors who are using social media to promote their work. Susan Gregg Gilmore--Looking for Salvation at the Dairy Queen and the forthcoming The Improper Life of Bezellia Grove--is a superior example of working it to spread her message.

Last September I reviewed here Building a Home with My Husband by Rachel Simon, another writer to watch. In an e-blast from Simon, I received the following delightful and most clever video of her book.

Bravo! And, yes, an excerpt from yours truly's review is embedded. Rachel also has a new novel expected out spring or summer 2011. Like her books Building a Home with My Husband and Riding the Bus with My Sister, Rachel's latest book either weaves into or directly focuses upon issues affecting those with disAbility. The author's sister has an Intellectual Disability and is the subject of Riding the Bus with My Sister , which was also made into a Hallmark Hall of Fame  movie starring Rosie O' Donnell and Andie McDowell.   

Hats off to Simon and especially newcomer (albeit not-so-new now) and trailblazer Susan Gregg Gilmore for clearing a path in this new terrain of must-do social media for writers and authors and others.

Why You Need A Book

In the most recent edition of my newsletter, The Abundant Writer, I wrote a feature article called 7 Simple Steps to Write Your Book.  (For those of you who don't subscribe to the newsletter, there's a spiffy little box on the upper right-hand corner of this page.)  I based it on the new free report I'm working on.

But the thought occurred to me this morning that perhaps I should remind you why you need a book.  Because, in this day and age, everyone needs a book, whether it is an Ebook or good old-fashioned hard-cover book.  Why?  Let me tell you:

1. Instant credibility

2. Your book is your business card

3. Source of authority

4. Personal satisfaction

5. Share an important story with the world

6. Accomplish a lifetime goal

7.  Communicate with clients

8.  Boost income

If I had more time, I would go into each point in detail.  However, I am at the moment in Nashville, and constantly and happily getting distracted by friends and clients.  It's a tough life...However if there is enough interest, let me know and I'll expound on each of these points in future posts.  Y'all know how much I like to expound.

So what do you think?  Do you long to write a book?  Yearn to hear more about the benefits of writing a book?  Want to know how in the hell you write a book in the first place?  Do tell. Comments are open.

A Very Glittery Book Review

*Note: after you read the review, please scroll down to the end of this post and answer the question I've asked.  Thank you, beloved readers.

Waking Up in the Land of Glitter

by Kathy Cano-Murillo

I've followed Kathy Cano-Murillo for quite some time on her crafting blog and lately her writing blog.

Why?  Because she is a person who knows herself through and through and puts that self on the page (and the canvas) over and over again, without fear of what others think.

Man, do I ever admire that.  It takes real courage just to be yourself, so much so that I believe it is our most important emotional and spiritual quest in this life.  (And, by the way, this topic seems to be the subject of nearly every piece of fiction I write, Emma Jean's Bad Behavior included.)

I've read about Cano-Murillo's craft product launch (glitter and paints and other cool stuff) and her excitement over the release of her upcoming novel.  So, of course I jumped at the chance to review said novel.  (Note to the FTC: yes, I accepted a free book to write this review.)

Here's my test of a good book: whether or not it passes the Lunchtime Reading test. Since I work alone, and at home, I eat lunch in my kitchen, and there's always a stack of magazines in there that I'm trying to catch up on--O, The Food Network magazine (love that thing, even though I hate cooking), People, Outside, Poets and Writers, Shambala Sun. I love buying magazines and lunchtime is when I read them.  If I have a really great book, I shun the magazines and read my book instead.  But it takes a lot to drag me away from my magazines.

Waking Up in the Land of Glitter is a sweet, fun book that I gobbled up in a couple lunch-time readings.  And a few nights lying in bed.  It takes place in Phoenix, and is the story of Star Esteban, a young woman who is a bit, how shall we say this, ditzy.  She works at her family's restaurant, which sounds like the most fabulous place on earth, a cafe that sells amazing Mexican food and Margaritas, plus an art and event space, but she really longs to be an artist.  Because she is, um, scatter-brained and undisciplined, she never fully commits to her art.  Up until now. 

Along the same lines, she never fully commits to the man who loves her, Theo Duarte, until early on he gets sick of her shenanigans and ditches her.  Then things get worse. Because of an act of vandalism Star commits on a drunken evening (it sounds worse than it is) her family tells her she can no longer work at the restaurant and has to make her way on her own.  So now she is job-less and boyfriend-less.  And then the glitter shows up.  Over three hundred pounds of it, ordered by mistake (she thought she was ordering 3 pounds).  And somehow she has to find a way to use it and pay for it before her family finds out.

Enter Crafty Chloe, the local TV crafts expert, and Star's best friend, Ofie, an obsessive crafty of hideously ugly knicknacks.  Together they hatch a plan to make centerpieces for the Crafty Olympics.  But first they have to learn how to get along...

Like I said, its a fun read.  And honestly, who would have thought you could create a plot for a novel around glitter?  Only Kathy Cano-Murillo.  I had a few quibbles with the writing here and there (I'm a writer, I'm highly critical), particularly the author's habit of dropping in huge chunks of narrative backstory.  But the charm and verve of the story more than made up for that.

So if you are looking for a novel to pass your own version of the Lunchtime Reading test, give Glitter a try.

*And now for the above mentioned question: a couple weeks ago I wrote a blog post asking readers for reccomendations on books.  Would you like me to compile this list in a post before I leave for Nashville this week?

Bonus question (I just thought of this one): What is your version of the Lunchtime Reading test? 

What's Your Favorite Book?

I have a reason for asking the question in the title.

I've been going on and on about how I'm re-organizing my office, down to sorting through the oldest papers. And the work continued this weekend.  I'm down to a box of old CDs to sort, which I'm not entirely sure what to do with, and a pile of papers and notebooks and files which constitutes all the info I've collected to write my Ebook.  Pretty cool, huh?

But here's the coolest thing.  I sorted through my books and came up with three boxes of them to sell.  I used to have a really hard time getting rid of books, whether by giving them away or selling them.  I wanted to hang onto every book I've ever laid hands on.  And if you could see the overflowing book shelves in practically every room in my house, you would think I had.  But it finally occurred to me that by letting go of books, I was actually allowing more to flow into my life.  And also that letting go of them allowed someone else to read them. 

So I've come to peace with periodically sorting through books.  And luckily for me, here in Portland, we have Powell's books, the biggest bookstore in the country, which also buys books.   When you sell them your books, they give you the option of either taking what you've earned in cash or in a book credit.  If you choose the book credit, you get more. 

Now, let me tell you, many's the time we've taken books to Powell's when we were so broke we didn't have any choice but to take the cash.  But this weekend, when we took books in to the warehouse to sell, I was able to choose the book credit.  So...wait for it....I now have a book voucher worth $144 in books to spend at Powell's.

I about passed out with joy when they told me.

I've been collecting some titles that I really want to read--a couple new novels, one called Angelology and another called The Irresistible Henry House, and there's a new book on writing a novel in six months by John DuFresne.  Okay, so that's a pretty good list.  But I may get to Powell's and decide none of those look good.  And I'd like to bring home some juicy non-fiction, too.

I want more titles to peruse, a long, long list to ponder and think about and take with me so that I can pull books off the shelf and think hmmm, yes, or ick, no.  So help me out here, will you?  Tell me your favorite books.  They can be classic or contemporary, fiction or non-fiction, written by male or female authors.  I love books in the self-help and spiritual genres, but really, I'm game for anything.   Send me one title or a dozen, I'm not picky, just lay 'em on me.

I can't wait to read what your favorites are.

Sunday Afternoon Style

I'm re-reading Richard Goodman's book, The Soul of Creative Writing.  I'm reading the book because I'm going to interview Richard next Saturday morning, as part of his appearance at the Writer's Loft, so it is something that I had to do.  And now I'm glad I followed my instincts and told my partner Terry that I would happily take on this job, because all of Richard's books are excellent (you should also check out French Dirt).

Earlier today, I re-read Richard's chapter on style.  This is the first chapter of the book, and it is called The Music of Prose.  In it, he makes the point that "the sound a writer makes on the page is music."  Goodman says that we, as humans, are innately musical "for the simple, profound reason that we have a heart."  All of us live with the steady rhythm of our heart beating within and thus come by music naturally.

Goodman then goes onto cite different kinds of musical prose: lyrical writing, comedic writing, detective fiction, and government writing.  (Don't get the wrong idea here, when he says government writing, he is talking about the likes of Thomas Jefferson.) Goodman talks about how an essential aspect of music is rhythm, and in writing, rhythm comes from sentence structure.  Varying sentence structure is a key way of creating a rhythm for your writing.

I've seen this over and over again with some of my student's work.  I often start out reading manuscripts and writing the same thing over and over again--"Vary sentence structure!"  One of my favorite students wrote a whole manuscript in the same cadence over and over again, using the same structure for every sentence: subject-verb-object.  I probably wrote that phrase, "Vary sentence structure!" a hundred times when we first started working together.  But she was an eager student and soon got what I meant.  She revised the book and went on to sell it to a national publisher last year.

Goodman references the famous point made by Eudora Welty, that when we read, we hear the words in our mind, almost as if someone is speaking them to us, and he says, "To be conscious of the music in your writing is merely an acknowledgment of how we read, of how we absorb words." Good writers "hear" their style as much as anything and this is one reason why it is a good idea to read your work out loud.  This facilitates getting the rhythm of our work deeply inside us, inside our minds and hearts, because, really, this is what it is all about.

Book Giveaway

One of my faithful readers, novelist Heather Justesen, is having a wonderful week full of giveaways over at her blog this week.  Check it out here.

Heather is the author of the newly-released, The Ball's In Her Court, and she's got another book coming out this summer.  Gotta love that.  Here's a brief summary that I snitched from her website (in the interest of promotion, I don't think she'll get too upset with me):

She's got a great job, a loving group of family and friends and basketball skills like you wouldn't believe, but Denise DeWalt's life is far from perfect, and she's about to come face-to-face with a past she hoped to leave behind forever.

Twenty-six-year-old Denise thinks she's come to terms with her childhood in the foster care system, but when her old nightmares return, Denise realizes that she must deal with her past once and for all if she ever wants to move on to a brighter future with Rich, the only man who can see past her former life. As Denise's search leads her closer and closer to the one person she hoped she'd never have to face again, she begins to realize that her future depends on just one person--herself.

This emotional and inspirational love story proves that life is full of unexpected twists and turns--especially when it comes to facing your demons, fighting for love, and finding happiness for the future

Review: The Future That Brought Her Here

The Future That Brought Her Here

by Deborah Denicola

Before we get started, I want to make one thing perfectly clear, just in case the FTC happens to be reading my blog (stranger things have happened, but not many).  I have an ulterior motive in writing this review: I got a free book to do so.  Gasp!  I know, I know, shocking but true, review copies of books are given out so that writers can read them.

Okay, that taken care of, let's get started.  This memoir by Deborah DeNicola is about a spiritual quest.  The author found herself plagued by strange visions (a room she was in completely changed itself to a previous incarnation) and intense spirits, for lack of a better word, who made her life somewhat of a living hell with their antics.  But, ultimately, this turned out to be a good thing, as it set in motion a journey through many mystic and mystery traditions, including goddess worshiping and the gnostic gospels, and consultations with psychics and channelers.  Denicola, a poet, also set off on journeys to sacred sites in Israel and Europe.

DeNicola's background in poetry clearly shines through in her lyrical descriptions and beautiful flights of fancy.  Her accounting of her quest for spiritual answers in incredible in its detail.  Since I can't generally remember what I ate for lunch the day before, I'm amazed at the recall DeNicola has about things that happened years ago.  I don't mean this as a criticism--rather; I'm envious.  I presume she kept a meticulous diary.  And even with that, the level of detail is impressive.  I keep what I consider a somewhat obsessive diary and I still wouldn't be able to recount my every thought from years ago.

Impressive as the detail is, I also consider it the main drawback of the book.  At times I longed for a glance at the bigger picture because being inside DeNicola's head for the constant play by play of her quest was sometimes exhausting.  Upon occasion, I longed for a step back to ponder what all of this might mean. 

That being said, the book is well worth reading, particularly for those with an interest in New Age and spiritual topics.  There's a lot of interesting history and information here, on a wide variety of topics, sometimes all on one page!  Deborah DeNicola has written quite a fascinating memoir.  Here's a bit more information on her, in a blurb provided by her publisher:

Deborah DeNicola is the author of five poetry collections and she edited the anthology Orpheus & Company; Contemporary Poems on Greek Mythology. Among other awards she won a Poetry Fellowship in 1997 from the National Endowment for the Arts. Deborah has been a recipient of many writing colony residencies. She also teaches dream image work and mentors writers online at her web site www.intuitivegateways.com. To purchase a copy of The Future That Brought Her Here and receive up to 20 bonus gifts, please visit: http://www.thefuturethatbroughtherhere.com/bonusoffers/

Holding My Breath

So, my novel is now being read by an agent.  I do not want to jinx this, so I'm not going to say anything more than that, and I know that y'all have lots of important things to worry about, but if it crosses your mind, say a teeny little prayer, or think a good thought for me, will you please?

Overcomers Book Blog Stop

I am interested in overcoming adversity.  Also overcoming sloth, gluttony, laziness, and pride.  I think those are four of the seven deadly sins, no?  (Does anybody actually remember what the seven deadly sins are?)  I struggle with overcoming all of these bad traits on a daily basis.  Or at least weekly. 

So when Nikki Leigh offered me the chance to be a blog stop on the Overcomers book tour, I said, hell yeah.  I can get on board the Overcomers wagon, despite the vaguely sexual ring to the title,  and write a post about it that will totally inspire people.  To begin with, let's define overcome.  Here are some of the words that I found on my Mac thesaurus (which is way better than the Microsoft thesaurus  by the way.  Waaaaaay better.  Just sayin'.):

beat, conquer, trounce, thrash, rout, vanquish, overwhelm, overpower, get the better of, triumph over, prevail over, win over/against, outdo, outclass, worst, crush; informal drub, slaughter, clobber, hammer, lick, best, crucify, demolish, wipe the floor with, make mincemeat of, blow out of the water, take to the cleaners, shellac, skunk.

Um, those are awesome words, verbs all, and I welcome you to use steal them and use them whenever you want.  I especially like the verbs trounce, thrash and vanquish.  I have learned to vanquish fears about getting my novel published.  Nice sentence, the verb really pumps it up.  But we are not here to discuss verbs today, we are here to discuss this new book.  Here's the deal: when you order the book you get over 85 free gifts. 

Just in case you don't have a clue what the book might be about after reading the post (and I can't say I blame you), I've compiled some interviews and excerpts for you.  We begin with some information from the book's introduction, written by publisher Lynne Kippel:     

At one point in my life it seemed like everywhere I looked, I saw tragedy. My brother, both of my parents, and a dear friend were all battling cancer at the same time. Other friends were losing jobs and fearful about the prospects of finding new work. The evening news was full of financial scandals, plant closings, kidnappings, and war.

As I sat in the sun on my front porch in March 2009, I wished I had a book to send to my brother to read during his chemotherapy treatments - something to remind him that he was not alone and to encourage him to fight for his life. I wanted a book that could give him hope, inspiration, and encouragement on every page.

Due to a series of miracles, the book you are now reading is my wish come true. In a very short time a team of wonderful people came together to create this book with just one purpose: to encourage you, the reader, to overcome whatever obstacles are lying in your path to happiness.

As you read the stories in this book, you will find real life tales of remarkable courage, strength, and perseverance.  You will be inspired, entertained, and uplifted. Some of the stories will make you laugh. Some of them will make you cry. All of them will make you proud of the power of the human spirit. 

You will find this a book of diversity. There are many authors, from many walks of life. However, they all share a common bond. They triumphed over tragedy and gleaned wisdom in this process. While this is not a religious book, there are stories full of faith, of many kinds and flavors. It is funny how in your darkest times, faith often becomes your brightest light.

All of the contributors to this book want to encourage you to hold tight to your belief that a better day will come. It is their sincere desire to pass along what they’ve learned through their own trials, to make your journey easier.

I hope that you wear this book out by highlighting meaningful passages and bending down the corners of the pages you want to read over and over again. There is true wisdom in these pages that can help you feel strong, brave, and hopeful.

May you be blessed by this book and inspired to overcome!

Lynne Klippel
St. Peters, Missouri
September, 2009

And just to whet your appetite, here is another excerpt from the book.  This one is from  Charlon Bobo.  I'll be honest here, I chose the excerpt because first of all I like Charlon's name and second I like her photo.  I think Charlon and I could totally be buds:

One Woman’s Empowering Journey From Fragmented Child To Conscious Entrepreneur
Charlon Bobo

As strange as it even seems to me at times, the lessons of my childhood journey are applicable to every aspect of my life, including the everyday operations of my soulful business. As a conscious entrepreneur, I pull from this experience often to guide me. I’d like to share with you the five key lessons of my pilgrimage.

1.    Protective mechanisms are in place whether or not I realize or acknowledge them. I don’t always understand why a project fails to materialize or a serious prospect seems to change her mind. I do know there exists an over-arching structure and order that conspires on my behalf to bring about my highest personal and professional growth. Whatever that wisdom, I can trust it absolutely.

 

2.    My ”story” doesn’t define who I am. I am a vibrant business owner who grows every day, and occasionally stumbles and falls on my bum! Because I constantly create myself anew, nothing from my past can effectively define or imprison me. I consciously choose to “bring my best game” to every day and know that’s enough.

 

3.    Innate wisdom effortlessly guides me to the most opportune time to take action. When in doubt, I do nothing until ultimate clarity presents itself. Although daily action is a crucial component in accomplishing my goals, I can also watch nature and use Her guidance to positively influence my actions. Nature provides a silent, fallow season – winter – to turn inward to rest and restore. Using this model, I reap the most benefit from my efforts. Smart living requires me to balance action with equal inaction.

 

4.    My history doesn’t determine my level of success. I can accomplish any lofty goal I imagine regardless of any perceived limitations. The past doesn’t dictate my future. I gift myself the pleasure and freedom to envision a life of my design. Family-of-origin, childhood circumstances, real or perceived impediments, lack of skills, none of these compare to the capacity of the human spirit to realize dreams.

 

5.    I choose victimhood or empowerment every day with my words, thoughts, and actions. We do not control the actions of others and yet we may be drawn into their drama. Like cast members of a play, energetically we agreed to these roles to teach AND learn. No matter my external circumstances, my responses can only come from one of two places: damage or abundance. I choose abundance.

 

May you be profoundly blessed by reading my story and take from it any value that forever nourishes your soul.

From Overcomers, Inc.; True Stories of Hope, Courage and Inspiration. To get your own copy and receive dozens of bonus gifts go to http://www.overcomersbook.com/booklaunch

Wise words, and there are more in the book itself.  So check it out.

Guest Review: A Sudden Country

And now, while I am on vacation, I have a guest post for you.  It is from my dear friend Paula, one of the most voracious readers and excellent writers I know.  I trust her opinion and you should, too.  Be sure to check out her bio at the end of the review. 

A Sudden Country               

Karen Fisher

Random House

13.95 Trade Paperback

I really love good historical fiction, “good” being the operative word. It’s not so easy to find. There are many historical novels that are, as far as I can tell, historically accurate but dull, dull, dull, totally predictable, written in such a plodding style that it takes a reader with far more patience than I to get through them. Then there are historical novels that are real pager turners but so lacking in historical accuracy that even a casual historian like me is put off by glaring errors. So when I run across a book like A Sudden Country, I savor every page, can’t wait to see what happens next but hate it when I see I’ve almost reached the end. Where the heck was I when the book was published in 2005?

In the opening paragraphs James MacLaren, sick with smallpox himself, treks through the snow carrying his one surviving, very ill child, trying to reach medical help. The bitter cold, his desperation and exhaustion leap off the page. Then we meet Lucy Mitchell. She’s just given birth to a daughter and is greeted with the news that her husband is thinking of taking the family over the Oregon Trail. Her pain at leaving the home she’s made and cherished, her foreboding that she will loose one of her five beloved children along the trail and her lack of choice in the matter is a knife twist to the gut.

This beautifully written book tells the parallel stories of Lucy Mitchell, reluctantly traveling the Oregon Trail with her family and James MacLaren, once a successful “gentleman” of Hudson’s Bay Company, trader, and mountain man. Lucy is grieving the loss of her home and the life she’s always known. James mired in sorrow for the beloved wife who has deserted him and the death by small pox of his children. Tracing the man he believes has stolen his wife, James finds that man driving a wagon for the Mitchell family. At this point, James and Lucy’s stories merge.

The beauty of the land she is traveling through is not lost on Lucy but neither is the hardship. She dutifully and capably tackles every chore set before her, carefully monitoring and instructing her three older daughters and little son while nursing her baby. But her sadness at leaving the old life behind and her disappointment in her husband’s subtle ineptitude creates a growing distance between husband and wife.

James, realizing he has, however unintentionally, deprived the Mitchell’s of a driver, reluctantly helps them along the way. But his search for Lise, his lost wife, never ends nor does his mourning lighten. How James and Lucy find the courage and strength to go on to a new reality makes wonderful reading. This book is lyrical, almost dream-like in places; yet it makes so very real the difficulty, the brutal reality, the beauty and wonder of the grueling journey westward.

Reviewed by Paula Harris

Contest Winner!

I've been running a little contest this week to give away a free copy of The Midnight Disease.  Today I chose the winner in a most scientific fashion--I wrote the names of the people who commented on pieces of paper, and had my daughter choose.

So, drumroll please....

The winner is....

Heather Justesen!

Heather's new book, The Ball's In Her Court, has just been released and it looks like a good one, so you should hop on over to her blog and check it out.

Heather, email me your address and I'll get the book in the mail to you just as soon as I return from vacation.  

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Announcing...Bookstrumpet

You may have noticed my periodic call for people who would like to become contributors to a new book review site.   I am pleased to announce that the new site is live and ready to roll.  Here's the site url:

http://wordstrumpet.typepad.com/bookstrumpet/

This is only the very modest beginning.  Expect more to come, with additional reviews from a roster of fabulous reviewers and essays about books and interviews with authors to come.

So go check it out.  And if you decide you want to be involved, email me!

Literary North Carolina: Carl Sandburg

This is a photo of Carl Sandburg's home, Connemara, in Flat Rock, North Carolina, which is south (I think) of Asheville, not too far, and is apparently now a retirement community.  I can see why--it is quite beautiful and peaceful and charming.

I never knew that much about Carl Sandburg, except for the "fog creeping in on little cat feet" poem, and, of course, he was pretty much a household name when I was growing up.  But he was a social activist all his life, and a musician and a poet and biographer of Lincoln.  He won two Pulitzer Prizes.

He married his wife Paula in the 1920s and she could well have become a typical wife of the era, not doing much except supporting her husband in his endeavors.  However, she became interested in raising goats and she was the one who instigated the family's move from Michigan to North Carolina, because she wanted more room to raise goats.  And I love this--she became a world-renowned expert on goats.  The farm today still raises goats.

The Sandburgs had three daughters, only one of whom married and had children.  The other two lived with their parents all their lives.  One of them had epilepsy back in the day when nobody knew how to deal with it, and the other was mildly retarded from being hit by a car. 

But what a place to live--the house perches at the top of a green hill that flows down to a pond and Sandburg loved to hike the trails around the house.  On his 87th birthday he partook of his favorite kind of exercise besides walking--lifting an Adirondack chair above his head multiple times.  The house is full of books--thousands of volumes--which are all being painstakingly taken care of, down to preserving his bookmarks in them.    Sandburg's other love was music, and that is much in evidence in the house also, with his grand piano and guitars.  Also many stacks of old magazines.  My kind of place!

Connemara is well worth a visit if you are in the area.

Literary Asheville: Thomas Wolfe

This is a photograph of Thomas Wolfe's grave, which is in Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina, where I happen to find myself today.  Turns out that North Carolina is a state with an amazing literary heritage, claiming authors as diverse as Wolfe, Carl Sandburg (more on him later), O Henry, and tons of others. 

But Thomas Wolfe grew up in town, and wrote about it in Look Homeward, Angel, and You Can't Go Home Again.  His work was all autobiographical and people familiar with Look Homeward, Angel, will recall the boarding house in the novel.  It was based on the house he grew up in.  (Do I have any photos of it?  No, of course not, because I forgot to take any.  I still can't get used to having my camera with me.)  But you can see the website here.

Its a pretty snazzy spot, complete with visitor's center that has exhibits and a movie and lots of books you can buy.  The only way you can get into the house is to take a guided tour, but at $1 it won't break you.  However, the annoying tour guide might.    Could we have a little bit of humor, people?  And not be quite so certain that the miscreants you have to guide about the house are going to touch the precious Wolfe artifacts?

Anyway, Tom was 6'4" and when he first wrote about Asheville everyone hated him and was royally pissed.  But then, eight years later, he returned and because he was famous everyone fawned over him.  He was quite a handsome man, but he never married because he was in love with an older married woman, Aline Bernstein.  And alas, our Tom died young, at age 38 from brain tuberculosis.  He was actually on a tour of the west and spent time in Portland before falling quite ill in Seattle.  And then--get this--he had to be taken back home via train, a journey which took 4 days, much of which he spent unconscious or delirious.  He died a short time later in Baltimore.

I am really fascinated with Tom's mother, Julia, who ran the boarding house he grew up in.  Because Asheville was a resort town, the boarding house was really more like the B and B's of today.

Julia was quite the business woman, and because she grew up poor, once she got a taste of making money, she just wanted to earn more.  She sort of turned her back on poor Tom, the last of her brood, because she was busy waiting on her clients and plotting ways to make more money.  She added on rooms to the house willy-nilly in order to have more to rent out and worked the boarding house until her death in 1945, eight years after Tom.

Today the house is surrounded by downtown Asheville, with a Renaissance hotel looming in front of it and some sort of huge building under construction to the north.  It reminds me of a short story I once wrote in which an artist starts adding on rooms to her house because she believes the carpenter she hires is magical and makes good things happen in her life.  Many years in the future, the house is a tourist attraction along the lines of the Winchester Mystery House and the entire city has grown up around it.

The other place we visited was Carl Sandburg's house, but I'm too tired to write about it tonight.  Oh, and the cemetery where Wolfe is buried is very close to the grounds of the Highland Hospital, where Zelda Fitzgerald lived while F. Scott was out in California, writing screen plays.  She died there in the fire that destroyed the hospital.  The way they identified her body was by the single slipper of hers that remained under the bed. 

And on that cheery note I will end this post. 

Elizabeth Gilbert's Thoughts on Writing

So, I'm currently finishing up reading Eat, Pray, Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert, which has been on the best-seller list for quite some time.  I generally don't read bestsellers.  It is the anti-authoritarian streak in me, or perhaps more to the point, the I-don't-want-to-do-what-everyone-else is doing streak.  My family knows the best way to get me to do something is to ask me not to do it.  And if someone tells me, "You'll love this movie," or "You should read this book," forget it.  Won't do it.

In the case of Eat, Pray, Love someone did tell me to read it, but it happened to be someone whose opinion I trust.  Thank you, Candace, for insisting.  And be aware that you are the only person in the last dozen years whose advice on reading I have taken.

I'm glad I did.  Eat,Pray, Love is a wonderful book, charmingly written, and it came to me just as I've been renewing my spiritual quest.  It is a memoir about the year Gilbert spent traveling, specifically, four months in Italy, four in India and four in Bali.

Today the thought occurred to me that I might check out Gilbert's website.  It is fun to spin around and waste a few minutes on, but I really loved were her thoughts on writing.   She writes as charmingly about writing as she does about travel and spirituality:

"I believe that --if you are serious about a life of writing, or indeed about any creative form of expression--that you should take on this work like a holy calling.  I became a writer the way other people become a monks or nuns.  I made a vow to writing, very young."

I love that.  It makes me feel better about the long days I spend at my computer.  I love this, too:

"As for discipline, it's important, but sort of over-rated. The more important virtue for a writer, I believe, is self-forgiveness.  Because your writing will always disappoint you.  Your laziness will always disappoint you."

It is a good essay, well worth reading.

Oprah Chooses Ken Follett

It feels obligatory to write a post when Oprah chooses a new book for her book club.  As if she doesn't get enough publicity already.  But Oprah's choices are often odd and interesting.   And all of us novelists and would-be novelists know its a long shot....but we still fantasize about Oprah choosing our book.  Other, normal, people fantasize about Brad Pitt or George Clooney.  Novelists fantasize about Oprah.  What a world.

At any rate, her highness has chosen and the author is... Ken Follett.  Though the author is best known for his thrillers, this month's Oprah book is Pillars of the Earth, which is apparently about a village in Wales in the 12th century and is reputedly Follett's favorite of his own books.   You can read the USA Today article about it here.

Last week I went to an event called Women and Words or maybe it was Women and Writing.  It was the opening event of Wordstock, a book festival here in Portland, and it featured two authors who had appeared on Oprah.  One of them, Janet Fitch, was a bona-fide Oprah author, since her book, White Oleander, was an Oprah pick.

The other was Carole Radziwill, who wrote What Remains, a memoir of her life with Tony Radziwill, niece of Jackie O and cousin to John F. Kennedy Jr.  The memoir centers on the death of Tony and JFK Jr. and his wife within the space of a few weeks.   

What interested me was the two women's wildly different reactions to her highness, the O person.  Janet Fitch, California dowdy beside New York hip Radziwill and the South Africa adorable Alexandra Fuller (author of Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight) praised Oprah to the heavens.  I'd have to kill her if she didn't, because Oprah made her career.

But Radziwill was New York cool about it all and said that Oprah only wanted to talk about the Kennedys, when really, her book was about a lot more than that.  And really, it was all just so declasse.  Okay, okay, she didn't say that, but she implied it.  And she later redeemed herself with a story about the most annoying person in the world, Jerry Seinfeld, appearing on David Letterman and how rude he was about the fact that his wife is being accused of plagiarism.  (I know, I am one of only two people on the planet who dislikes Jerry Seinfeld, and since I've never met the other person could he or she please contact me?)

I rarely watch Oprah because I rarely watch TV and I tend to forget that it exists and hence never turn it on, but I do like Oprah and I do read O, her magazine.  And I am of the Cormac McCarthy school when it comes to Oprah books--c'mon, get off your high horse and accept that she's done more for reading than anybody else in the last twenty years. 

McCarthy earned my undying affection (just don't make me read his books) when Oprah chose his novel The Road and he agreed to go on her show--breaking a years-long policy of not talking to the media specifically because he appreciated what she has done for the industry.

So take that, New York hipsters.

And, by the way, I am making a solemn vow at this very moment, here and now: when my novel is published I am not going to diss the publishing industry.  I am not going to be so cool and above it all that I can talk about how awful the industry is and so forth and so on.  C'mon folks, there's about 50,000 of us who would gladly stand in your shoes, without all the whining.

Doris Lessing: List of Books

Just found this link with an extensive (she's prolific) list of Doris Lessing's books.  You can access it here.

A God Is Nominated

This is a good week for us literary freaks, what with Doris Lessing winning the Nobel Prize for Literature today, which you can read about in my previous post here, and the National Book Award Nominations being announced yesterday.

So, let's just cut straight to the chase here--Denis Johnson was nominated for Tree of Smoke.  Have I mentioned that the man is a god yet?  Well, he is.  Tree of Smoke is the definitive Vietnam novel that you didn't know you were waiting for.  I've got the heavy tome waiting for me to read by the side of my bed.  I've read the first few pages of it, and the way the man writes is pretty amazing.

You can read a little more about him here, and the NYT review of his book here.

Plus, I think he lives in Idaho and that automatically qualifies him for coolness.  No, the state is not only home to white supremacists.

And now, for my National Book Award brush with greatness moment.  When I was working on my MFA, I got Brad Watson as my mentor.  He is the author of The Heaven of Mercury and the story collection Last Days of the Dog Men.  It is customary at brief residency MFA programs to have a meeting with your mentor to discuss what you will be working on for the semester.

Well, moments, and I do mean moments, before I had my meeting with Brad, he got a phone call telling him that he had been nominated for the National Book Award. 

Now is that a brush with fame moment or what? 

Not sure what Brad is doing now, but I'm hoping he comes out with another novel soon.