24th February, 2010 by Christina - 4 Comments
Normally I avoid getting personal here on Stacked and have been walking this fine line trying to write a post in which I share a few food-related books with you. Bear with me.
Now, Veronicais in Taiwan right now, and she posted this photo of panda cookies. And OMG! I want to eat a panda cookie right now! I believe the appropriate Internet speak for this is “nom.”
About ten years ago, my mother and I went to Taiwan and they have these absolutely incredible red bean and sesame seed things–little fried up balls that are seriously the BEST THING IN THE WORLD! Veronica offered to bring me back something, and I was all “balls, bring me back balls.” Then I realized how inappropriate that sounded and gave her this really long winded explanation of what these things were because I have no real name for them. Apparently they’re best when warm and probably won’t travel well on her flight back. But you can get them here in Chinatown or Flushing. Yay!
Over the years various food related health issues have come up for me and the list of what I’m able to eat has gotten smaller and smaller and smaller. Suddenly it’s no more panda cookies and “Hey, Veronica, can you read this list of ingredients in Mandarin for me?” Some people react as though I’m being melodramatic about what I can and cannot eat. Maybe I am. But I’ve found that playing it safe makes me mentally healthy because I’m not always nervous that I might get sick again.
The hardest part hasn’t been changing my eating habits and choices. Yes, it’s still a learning process–what food is okay, what is not–but I’ve learned an incredible amount, discovered foods I’d never have thought of eating, and have made some stunning meals. I still make mistakes but hey, lesson learned. The hardest part is getting other people to understand when foodie culture is currently so popular.
Tomorrow night I’m attending a reading by Cathy Erway at Word Brooklyn. Cathy’s book, The Art of Eating In, came about after she decided to stop eating at restaurants and instead learned to cook all her meals for the course of two years. She blogs at Not Eating Out In New York, and New York is filled with a wide variety of amazing food that people want to go out and try. She too found difficulties in getting other people to understand what she was doing, even losing a boyfriend in the process. I’m hoping her book talks a bit about how she got her friends and family to accept and support what she was doing.
The problem with going out to eat or even over to a friend’s is that you just don’t know what has been put in the food. Even if you tell them you can’t eat X, Y, or Z (and in some cases, all three!) they just aren’t going to read labels as carefully as you are or realize what a spice mix is actually made of. Did you know that if you’re lactose intolerant (no milk for you!) you have to be careful about what bread you eat because some brands use whey which is a milk byproduct? Or that soy sauce has wheat in it to act as thickener? It’s not to say people aren’t supportive or accommodating, just that they aren’t as diligent or aware as the person with the problem.
But it doesn’t have to be a problem. Not unless I make it one. I have a friend who very gladly brings her own food to dinner parties, another who eats before going out. For all the things I can’t eat, I don’t feel at all deprived. Sure, occasionally something like panda cookies beckon to me, or a whiff of pizza makes me a little wistful that I can’t just grab a slice on a jam-packed evening. I don’t feel deprived because it’s really not about what I can’t eat. This isn’t a diet to loose weight where I have to be restrictive. It’s about choosing to be healthy and making that a lifelong process–building good habits and finding joy and creativity in what I can eat.
Recently a friend stated that, “People get insecure about others’ healthy habits.” It’s not about me, it’s about them. Suddenly my choices in how to be healthy become crazy, weird, or fads–not because they really are, but because others can’t imagine changing what they eat so drastically. They’re not comfortable when faced with different choices that they don’t fully understand.
Yesterday, I made a request on Twitter for book suggestions about Ayurveda. Ayurveda is a lifestyle despite it often being categorized as something more akin to “Chinese Medicine” or “that weird new age holistic crap,” as one friend put it. It’s one of those weird trends when viewed from the outside. From what I know about Ayurveda, it’s more about learning the personal quirks to your own body and finding a balance to how you live–what you eat included–to make you a healthier person. And that’s healthier in all ways–mentally and physically. For me, it’s another avenue to explore in getting to be my healthiest self and where my choices are not based on fear of becoming ill again.
With my Ayurveda request, Stephanie (manager of Word) suggested that Susan and Jen at Breath Books in Baltimore might be able to help me. Within seconds, Susan, who has been on her own Ayurvedic journey (again, someone willing to get personal on the Internet) replied with the suggestion of starting with Ayurveda: The Science of Self Healingby Vasant D. Lad. It would have taken so much trial and error finding books on my own that are filled with information I can trust.
It’s difficult learning who you can trust. After practicing tai chi in college, I moved to New York and found that most classes were taught by someone with two or three years class experience of their own. That is something I find in swing dancing and yoga as well–people who are relatively good at something that other people know nothing about choosing to teach. And this is really dangerous–in all three activities a person can get hurt very badly when the teacher doesn’t know better. Rather than try out class after class, I went to my multi-decades trained, kung-fu teaching uncle and asked if he had any connections or advice for my finding a knowledgeable tai chi teacher in the city.
Learning to break bad habits, to eat better and wisely, it’s all a long process and probably never ending. Not knowing where to start can be scary, especially when the changes we choose to make affect us in such big ways. Changing my eating habits isn’t about hopefully tacking on a few years at the end of my life, it’s about making the quality of my life NOW better. Part of that comes with finding out who I can trust–who is knowledgeable enough to guide me without imposing their own bias or fears on my choices. It means wading through overwhelming amounts of books to figure out which author is a good teacher. So many times I’ve read a book thinking I learned great new things only to find people in that field think the the author was misleading and misinformed.
When we are new to something, it’s easy to see how we can be led astray and why our friends think our new choices are ridiculous. Changing their thinking to be more in line with mine isn’t going to happen, all I can do is plod along asking for advice, read a book where I can, try things out, and hopefully continue to feel better. And maybe our friends will decide we’re weird, that they love us anyway, and then figure out how to make panda cookies we (i.e., me) can actually eat.
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10th February, 2010 by Christina - 4 Comments
Well, folks, it’s official. Last week I opened an email asking me to be a panelist at the 2010 Book Blogger Convention (BBC) here in New York.
Truth be told, I was originally not planning on going. Book Expo America (BEA), the main event, recently moved from being a weekend event to being held during the week and BBC was scheduled to fall on the final day of BEA–a Friday. Despite living here, taking time off of work to attend the events just didn’t work too well for me. It’s not that I didn’t want to go, it just didn’t seem practical.
Michelle from GalleySmith contacted me to ask if I’d be interested in joining the “Writing and Building Content” panel. So I told my boss that I’d be taking a day off on May 28th and then sat down to reply to Michelle that I’d be thrilled to participate.
Regardless of niche, there are some absolutely incredible amazing bloggers out there–people who have fine-tuned a voice and style to their writing. Reading their works, I often feel humbled. It’s so flattering to be asked to share my process and advice. We’ll be discussing how we found our voice, developing unique content, technical aspects of writing, focusing content, and other writing related topics.
I’ve been writing since 1996 when I covered high school sports for the local newspaper and blogging in some format or another since 2000. Yup, I was one of those early bloggers who remembers the scandal of Dooce being fired when it happened and not when she reminds us of it. Through blogging I worked up the nerve to enter a short story contest and won second place.* Eventually, the various iterations of blog became a magazine for swing dancers after a lengthy article I wrote on the use of technology as an educational tool had no home (the only publication at the time having recently closed its doors).
Over the recent Christmas holiday, I went through a number of boxes in my parents basement filled with various bits of junk and papers from high school and college. Among everything else, I found two papers that had completely changed my perspective on what writing could be versus what we were taught it had to be.
The first was from my senior year English class in high school–an empowered rant about the parallel feminism in Antigone and A Doll’s House. For the first time I realized the power of expressing yourself through writing rather than the formal and formulaic style of essay taught in classrooms. The teacher wrote the following at the end:
This was a super paper, Christina; you’ve definitely saved the best for last. The content of this is exemplary. Would you mind if I made a copy of it as an example?
The second was the essay portion of a final exam in college. At the beginning of the semester, we’d been assigned a book each on a different historical figure and had to write up a brief account of their life for this essay in class. It was a surprise too, most people hadn’t bothered to read their book or had long forgotten the contents. Being in class at the end of the exam, there was no last minute reading crunch or scan through as we wrote. I lucked out in being assigned Queen Elizabeth, who I was mildly obsessed with at the time. When it came time to write the essay, I adopted a very informal tone, wrote in the third person as an obnoxious ”valley girl.” Most people bombed the essay portion while I pissed most of them off by throwing off the curve. What struck me was the professor’s note stating that while doing the same in other classes would not fly, he appreciated reading something unique among a number of bland samey-samey essays.
Neither essay was particularly well written. They were by no means bad, but looking back on them both, I realize they could use a vast amount of improvement. What is important was the confidence the reactions to them both garnered. Those essays and the guidance of an inspiring creative writing teacher have gone a long way in how I’ve approached developing my own writing over the past decade.
*If you have a moment to grab me at BBC, the story is hilarious–sort of my go-to party story because it’s funnier in person. Slightly horrifying too since it really happened to me.
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25th January, 2010 by Christina - 9 Comments
Today I have decided to do a terrible thing. In the scheme of things, it’s not particularly bad, but it does break the trust of a relationship.
I have actively decided not to return a book to the library on time. And someone else is waiting for it.
The book is a bit obscure–it not like Elizabeth Gilbert’s latest, Committed, which had a waiting list of 78 people when I reserved it (if not more, I just know 78 people were ahead of me). And, to make matters worse, I already extended checkout of the book–the first time because I had checked out too many books to handle while traveling over the holidays and the second because I just wasn’t finished.
My reading has been a bit lazy this past month and with a hundred pages left, I didn’t think it would be a problem to extend the checkout period one more time. Except someone else decided that they too would like to read about the history of walking and added Wanderlust by Rebecca Solnit to their reserve list.
Wanderlust’s checkout period ends for me tonight. Those few pages should be manageable, however, regardless of whether or not I returning it tomorrow morning or Wednesday morning (I have yoga tomorrow night and won’t be anywhere near the library), I’m still stuck paying a fine. Early on in my reading, I considered buying a copy, but further on feel it’s one not necessary to my collection. A dollar or two in fines is negligible compared to the $23.99 should I actually buy it.
I’m not particularly pleased with what I’m doing. If I were on the waiting end of the book, I wouldn’t be too happy with someone hanging onto it longer than their allotted time and forcing me to wait, nor would I be pleased if I were the library having to deal with the late return and fining process (which, while I will pay immediately, isn’t always paid by some patrons). It’s an inconvenience to all other parties in order to accommodate myself because it’s not that I forgot when I had to return the book; I am choosing to delay return.
People like me, who decide we don’t ever do this are messing with how the organization of lending books operates. I’m curious as to what other people think of my bad behavior and what one should do if they need an extra night to finish a book past the original return date (we can just ignore that fact that I’ve continually put off finishing Wanderlust during the two checkout periods I’ve had it in my possession).
Would you hang on to a book to finish it? Or would you return it and attempt to check it out to finish later?
How wrong is it for me to break the rules this way? It might not be a huge deal if one person does this occasionally, but what about when lots of people do this–some occasionally and others regularly?
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21st January, 2010 by Christina - 3 Comments
I have a secret.
It’s not a super secret, just something that I don’t share too often.
I was part of a sorority. This fact sometimes surprises people. It surprises me. Going into college the idea of joining a sorority had no appeal to me, but by the time my sophomore year rolled around, I decided it would be a good way to meet people and make new friends. After a year I quit. Nothing against sororities, it’s just that being a part of one was not for me.
The sorority was Alpha Delta Pi. I tell you this because in a moment I’m going to share something that would make the fact easy to deduce. During rush, some of the sororities would talk about famous women who were sisters. So often they focused on the singers and actresses and beauty queens. Occasionally an author would be mentioned. In this particular chapter of ADPi it was the beauty queens I most heard about. But the one that I was most impressed with was Danica McKellar…you know, Winnie from The Wonder Years. What impressed me was not that Winnie was my sorority sister but the fact that she went to UCLA, majored in mathematics, and graduated suma cum laude. Here was a sister who had brains to go with her beauty–brains have to be worked for, unlike the temporary gift of youthful beauty. Brains were why we were all there* attending classes and able to join the sorority in the first place.
I don’t think I’ve really thought about Danica since that year. I really had no reason to. The other day however, she popped right back into my consciousness resulting in a mixed reaction. Should I be proud or dismayed with her?
For Christmas, I was given a $50 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble. Normally I flock to the classics as they are in public domain and often sell for a few dollars; $50 goes a long way. But my mind was elsewhere and I’ve been thinking for awhile that it might be time to start relearning all the math that I was never particularly good at to begin with. During my visit I went upstairs to the Science section and was horrified. Of the large area covered with shelves, 75% seemed to be filled with how-to guides for getting into college and LSAT prep books. The remaining 15% was divided among biology, physics, math, psychology, and nature. Physics for example was relegated to five rows of shelves taking up a space of approximately four feet high and three feet wide.
Apparently the applause for walking across a stage in an evening gown that I experienced in college held true as an adult. People do not care to think and grow their mind. Looking over at another wall, there were more books on Sudoku than there were on biology.** This isn’t to discount other types of books–just as much learning can come out of fiction. But it was sad to see so many shelves dedicated to self-help, calendars, and bartending guides. The Science section was also by no means empty of people. It was, however, empty of women.
So, back to Danica. Facing forward among the math books was Danica’s smiling face. Here she was trying to encourage young girls to develop an interest in math, to see that girls CAN excel in the subject and that it is interesting. The book was called Math Doesn’t Suck and even has a corresponding interactive website. Most of the books in the section were geared towards number theory and advanced concepts in calculus. What I was looking for is almost textbook-like–a beginner refresher to math. I don’t even remember how to add fractions or do long division so these other books weren’t going to help me.*** However, there is one thing holding me back from picking up the book, much less buying it, was the subtitle: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your Mind or Breaking a Nail. Really Danica? I’m so disappointed.
I do appreciate what she’s trying to do as mentioned on Wikipedia (emphasis mine):
The book has been favorably reviewed by Tara C. Smith, the founder of Iowa Citizens for Science and a professor of epidemiology at the University of Iowa.[17] In an interview with Smith, McKellar said that she wrote the book “to show girls that math is accessible and relevant, and even a little glamorous” and to counteract “damaging social messages telling young girls that math and science aren’t for them…“
But how is a tag line about breaking a nail–the superficial beauty–important in any way to math? How does that line not perpetuate the idea that girls are only interested in looking pretty rather than smart and concerned with more global issues? Having not read the book and from what little I know of Danica, it’s unfair to judge it by the tag line and the flowery imagery inside which was possibly added by some marketing genius at the publishing house. The premonition of what I’d find should I read the book isn’t helped by user reviews on Amazon (the book does receive many more positive than negative reviews by the way):
I also found the presentation to be rather degrading to women–implying that “girly” sidebars and drawings of pencils with flowers on them are somehow necessary to coax enthusiasm for math out of a woman.
The flowers don’t make or break the content, but there seems to be an assumption that the only way to engage and interest pre-teen girls is with flowers and glitter and pink. This theory may be correct to some degree (as commenters argue), but I think that we as a society perpetuate this idea by saying things like, “but little girls like shopping!” And these notions are reinforced–little girls do like shopping because it’s an image that has been compounded upon with each toy commercial and cartoon they watch that starts to designate things into boy and girl categories. There’s some truth to the stereotypes–a girl can be interested in pretty things and shopping while still being smart, but it would be nice for once to see a different approach that didn’t rely on the same tactics over and over as they don’t seem to be working.
But maybe they are working. Maybe word problems about shopping rather than about trains is the answer. Just because I don’t like it–am insulted, am horrified–doesn’t make it wrong. It doesn’t make it right either and I’d like to see different approaches made. It seems oxymoronic to present math this way, but in the end, if it does inspire and encourage girls to want to explore math and the sciences, than doesn’t the good outweigh the bad? After all, I’m just as guilty of presenting myself as a smart and pretty woman.
In the end I wandered over to the fiction section and purchased two works by Fanny Burney that I’ve been wanting to add to my collection (and only seem to be available on Oxford Press). The experience of being the only woman in that tiny little collection of science books was disheartening. I’d love to see more girls interested in science. After a successful year in freshman biology and regularly struggling with math, I eventually abandoned science classes and spent my time time in the art wing of high school. As much as I love all that art and literature has given me, my one regret is that I had not tried harder at the time in other subjects as my growing fascination of physics is stunted by my limited understanding of the building blocks.
Just as joining a sorority simply wasn’t for me, there are certain types of books that aren’t for everyone. People have unique tastes and interests. There is no right or wrong, but I’d also love to one day go into a bookstore and see just as many people (especially women) flocking to the science books as they do to the latest self-help memoir or literary bestseller.
*Not so kind observation of mine: the school I went to did have its accomplished students–however, the running “joke” was that people were there to get their MRS degree. In other words, to meet a spouse. Many of my classmates were engaged to be married just after graduation, more often than not with the female half thinking she’d be a stay-at-home mom. There is nothing inherently wrong with that decision, but there is something wrong when that decision is based on cultural cues and what you’re SUPPOSED to do rather than what is right for you.
**I’d like to note as well the small number of actual books available on specific topics–shelves were labeled with catch-all umbrella terms. So, for example, if you were looking for books on genetics, they would be housed with books on anatomy under the biology heading.
***Danica’s other book, Kiss My Math, has a much stronger title and focuses on pre-algebra. Written for young girls or not, it’s a place to start seeing as my only other option seems to be digging around used bookstores for old text books.
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8th December, 2009 by Christina - 5 Comments
Last night saw the completion of all my Christmas decorating. I brought home my tree, let it settle, and then went to town decorating it.
In every apartment I’ve lived in on my own, it’s just been too small to set up a tree and last year all my ornaments were in a box in my parents basement. This was the first year that I got to decorate a tree on my own and it was bittersweet. Part of me was so excited to have my own tree and the other part of me wished that decorating didn’t involve just me and Mannheim Steamroller but rather some Ben & Jerry’s, Bing Crosby, and my family. So I started to cry and called my parents to tell them I missed them.
One of the songs that I heard while decorating my tree was Josh Groban’s “I’ll be Home For Christmas.” Already a sad song, this version is inter-cut with audio clips of soldiers telling their families they loved them and wishing them a Merry Christmas while they are stationed far from home.
Times are tough this year with so many people out of work and the…whatever it is…going on in the Middle East. No matter your thoughts on Christmas, this time of year can bring out something in people–something good and kind. Everywhere you turn you can hear a bell ringing for the Salvation Army or see a table collecting coats and food.
Dale Evans once said that, “Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.” While we don’t always practice that, maybe we should get in the habit of doing so.
This week we invoke the Christmas Spirit and encourage you to give a little more with the 2009 Stacked GIVING Guide. This list is about organizations that help people learn to read, provide a child with their first book, help bring a traveling library to remote desert villages, or a send a novel to a soldier. This is just a small list of all the organizations that could use your help.
Christmas isn’t about the gifts we receive or give to our families; it’s about bringing people together and helping to make the world a happier place by offering a helping hand and a smile where we can.
Afghan Women’s Writing Project helps give a voice to the women of Afghanistan who are often barred from schools, computers, and Internet access. Novelist Masha Hamilton started the Afghan Women’s Writing Project after a visit to Afghanistan in 2008. She saw that Afghan women were quickly losing their independence so she set up a website where teachers and writers in the U.S. could mentor female Afghan writers online and post portions of their firsthand experiences of life under the Taliban.
Books for Soldiers is a soldier support website that ships books to deployed soldiers and soldiers in VA hospitals. Through the site, donors are matched with soldiers who have created a “wish list” of books, movies, and music, as well as pen-pals and toys to give to local children.
Book Aid International puts books into the hands of the world’s most disadvantaged readers. The organization works in 18 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Palestine, providing over half a million books and journals each year to libraries, hospitals, refugee camps, and schools. Book Aid International is also a sponsor of the Camel Mobile Library Service, which lends more than 7,000 books to nomads in Kenya’s impoverished North Eastern Province.
First Book is an international organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. They provide an ongoing supply of new books to children participating in community-based mentoring, tutoring, and family literacy programs. Since 1992, First Book has distributed more than 40 million books to children in over 1,300 communities around the country.
Literacy Partners is the NYC-based adult and family literacy organization serving adults ages 16 and older. The group’s mission is to teach adults to read, write, and do mathematics in teacher-led, tutorial, and family literacy programs staffed by volunteers and professionals. For thirty years, they have been teaching thousands of New York City adults in free classes the basic literacy skills that are essential to a full life as individuals, parents, and citizens.
Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic is the nation’s educational library serving people who cannot effectively read standard print because of visual impairment, dyslexia, or other physical disability. Their mission is to create opportunities for individual success by providing and promoting the effective use of accessible educational materials.
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20th November, 2009 by Christina - No Comments
As I mentioned in my earlier post, last night I attended In The Flesh–the erotic reading series hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel* at Happy Endings for their 4th anniversary.
Lately, I’ve been going to a number of readings, and I’m always surprised by how different they all are. There’s the elegant intellectualism of Center for Fiction, the humorous Lady Jane’s Salon, and the college-student hipster vibe of Michael Mejia’s Writers House. I prefer readings at bars and centers because they seem to really be about the writing and celebrating the author. On the other end of the spectrum is the bookstores who still have a diverse feel–the sterile teeny-bopper fandom of Barnes & Noble versus the die-hard fans sitting in cozy backrooms (or basement if you are at Word) of their independent shops.
In the Flesh, after one visit, might have just become my favorite of the reading series I’ve attended so far in New York. Rachel and I emailed a few times after I mentioned on Twitter that there seems to be an abundance of general and genre specific book blogs out there, but none focusing on erotica. It’s got a similar problem with the reverse stigma that comics have in the literary world–for some reason, it doesn’t really count.
Back in college, I somehow was branded the “Samantha” of my group of friends. New episodes of Sex and the City were still premiering on HBO and while I was the one not getting laid, I was the one not afraid to talk about sex or to visit the sex shop for Christmas grab-bag gifts. While I didn’t know what to expect of the event, it certainly wasn’t the giggling awkwardness that came from my naive yet slutty sorority sisters of the south–remember, you’re still a virgin if you only do anal. Some things I’ll never understand.
What I wasn’t expecting was something a little more akin to the burlesque shows I’ve been frequenting. The after work crowd of 30 and 40-something out for the entertainment of a reading. Maybe it comes with the territory of unabashed sharing that is erotica, but these women can perform. Abiola Abrams shouting out her joy and confusion at the whore/not-a-whore conundrum that was inevitable a few generations after the sexual revolution where double standards still prevail or Desiree up there in her pearls fantasizing, and getting off, to the hot flight attendant, to Tess Danesi flipping on a vibrating something-or-other as she began.
There was nothing sleazy as the reputation of erotica and porn tends to connotate. These women offered writings about women strong and proud of the sexuality–enjoyers and participants of sex. Where there was submission it was about learning and enjoying a fetish, quite different from the acceptable “if she’s moaning it’s okay” rapes that happen all too often in romance novels, the setting a place where sex and sexuality are dangerous.
Although most of the audience mingled exclusively with friends during the breaks, there was a feeling of comradery that is absent from other readings. At Writers House this past Wednesday, I felt out of place amongst the little groups of hipsters while at In the Flesh my arriving alone didn’t exclude me from the laughter and cheering of the giveaways (particularly the 24-karat gold vibrator that everyone insisted go to the virgin).
My favorite of the readings for the work itself came from Lily Burana–a former stripper now married to an Army officer. Her account of bringing her husband to a strip club sounded familiar to a friend’s going-away party where the men were apathetic–just there to be out of the house–and the dancers despondent. Our little party of swing dancers spent the evening discussing which of the dancers on the bar had the best rhythm before calling it quits and heading out to a jazz club for our own, peppier, dancing.
*V. jealous of Rachel. How can you not love a reading series that provides you with cupcakes decorated with a Molly Crabapple illustration of the hostess?
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12th November, 2009 by Marcelo - No Comments
Word count: 23,169. Almost halfway there!
When you first start the NaNoWriMo journey, the first few days are filled with excitement and newness. You’re creating characters and setting, introducing plots, and writing out those first few critical scenes that you’ve been thinking about in your head for the past week. But as time wears on and you leave those eye-grabbing opening scenes and start delving deeper into the story, what seems like a killer plot filled with memorable characters becomes plodding, slow, and muddlesome, and before you know it you don’t want to write anymore about these boring people.
What you do with this moment is what separates the real writers from the hacks. The real writers persevere. They slog through the slow bits word by word if they have to, dragging their story kicking and screaming through every hackneyed phrase, every bland cardboard cutout of a character. The real writers understand that this first critical draft is about building a skeleton on which your finished novel will sit. The important thing (and this is the crux of the NaNoWriMo philosophy) is that you keep moving forward, keep writing one word after the other until you get out of the slump. Never mind how it reads now, never mind how good or bad it is, eventually you will get to a scene you want to write and the whole thing will speed up all over again.
What got me through this slump both this year and last year was the core idea I was writing about. Novels aren’t like short stories, they can’t rely on the kinds of single plot points and thought experiments that short stories excel at. A novel has to be a slow burn, a long form story with a long form idea that needs all that time and support to grow and bloom. The idea needs to be broad enough to support its length and breadth, but not so broad that you don’t know where in the hell you want to go after you write the single scene that’s been in your head for the last year. It was enough for me to say “just keep writing it, one word after the other, you need this to get from A to B.” And sure enough, once I hit B, the words spilled out faster and faster, and I was back on track.
I’m about to hit the halfway point. According to past experience, I still have one or two slumpy bits left in the process (I can already feel the next one coming), but by the time I hit 40k the words will spill out of me like they desperately need to be put down. The threads of my plot will find places to weave themselves together, the characters will do things I don’t expect that make me squeal with delight, and the broad idea’s premise which I have waited so long to state will finally bloom.
…I hope so, anyway. Still have to write everything in between first.
(Pictured above: my workstation, which is tricked out for my day job, sound editing, but makes for fine writing. This picture is pretty old–I’ve since updated to one of the Apple chiclet keyboards and moved the desk into a different room, but it gives you an idea of my conditions).
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4th November, 2009 by Christina - No Comments
A few Sundays ago, I headed over to the Brooklyn Public Library Central Branch to pick up a few books I had on reserve. Ran over might be a better way of describing it as Sunday hours are weird. In my head I kept remembering 1 pm and arrived with just enough time to spare so that I could grab the books and check out.
Except it turns out they open at 1 pm. Not close.
This left me with some time to enjoy what looked to be one of the last beautiful days before a super cold winter finally settled (this thought was wrong too) and after people watching the farmers market across the street, I turned back to a delightful sight. Loads of people waiting for the doors to open!
I have these grand ideas for what I want my library experience to be–they are something similar to the library of some 17th Century aristocrat that you might see in a movie. That ideal has never exactly been the case. For reality I want cozy but with unlimited resources.
Instead, what I get seems more akin to a mausoleum–dusty smelly books being ignored by the people who are only there for the free wifi or as a place to hang out. There are some events although I’ve never noticed them going on but I do occasionally hear the echoing intercom announcements. When waiting in line to checkout there seem to be mostly families with children’s books and a small handful of adults checking out books or DVDs. Among the stacks other people are there to answer a cell phone and I feel like the only one browsing for an interesting book to read. As electronic books grow in popularity, I wonder how much more the library will change.
Change may be inevitable, it just often seems to be done out of necessity rather than pro-active thinking. As much as I want my library to be a space where people come for their love of books, it’s just not going to happen. I’d rather see libraries taking steps to adapt new technology and expand their role in the community beyond book clubs and lectures.
Rik was recently telling me of the YOUMediaCenter at the Chicago Public Library. If libraries must veer from the traditional quiet halls, this is the direction I’d like to see it going; encouraging self exploration in learning, creating, and socializing.
Kids can easily find a place to read, do homework, socialize with friends, play games, or spend time on popular sites such as Facebook and MySpace. And they can take part in a variety of free digital media workshops where they can explore the creation of digital photography, fan fiction, graphic design, digital video and music production, and game design. A separate recording studio lets kids express themselves through music and the spoken word. ~ schoollibraryjournal.com
The library is encouraging teens to be active in their community by using the library to be with their peers through the use of natural curiosity for learning. When well funded, a library can provide opportunities for expanded learning by looking into technology that won’t be found in the home.
As much as I’d love for libraries to fit perfectly into the dream-image of my own preferences, it’s not practical. Starting with teens and children, libraries should be working towards interacting with new media to create a new model of operating rather than plodding along as is only to find they are behind the times and with little funding to catch up. It requires time and innovating thinking, but is the most likely way for them to survive.
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30th October, 2009 by Christina - 11 Comments
A few months back, my mother and I had discussed going through my old children’s books and donating them to the library. We never actually did it as my last visit was cram packed with things going on.
So the new plan is to go through the books when I visit for a week over Christmas, weed out any scribbled on or torn books, and donate the rest.
However, not all libraries accept donations for their shelves and I’d like to see the books go to a worthy home: children’s hospital, literary program, some sort of books-for-the-poor program, etc. The problem is, each time I look online to find an organization, I end up with national groups. Some of them sound AMAZING! and the perfect home my old books–places like Project Night Night and Books For America. There are just too many books–it would require a very large box and a lot of postage to ship them anywhere.
It’s really important to me that the books find a home where they can easily make it into the hands of children–the Salvation Army would sell the books (and then to anyone, not just kids who need them) and schools will be closed for the holidays (nor do I think they really need my collection of Dr. Seuss and the Babysitters Club).
I still plan on checking in with the library and calling Fletcher Allen Hospital to see if their children’s wing could use them. But in the meantime, if anyone has suggestions for organizations to look into–or more specifically, places in Vermont in the Burlington area–I’d greatly appreciate your ideas!
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29th October, 2009 by Marcelo - 2 Comments
When I was in film school I wrote a feature screenplay for class. When it was done I printed it out and held it in my hands. It was about an inch and a half thick and spanned 118 pages. I felt more accomplished than I ever had before. It was the single most complex thing I had ever made with my mind. The feeling that “I wrote this” made me beam with joy.
For years after that class I longed to feel that sense again. Even if my work would never be made into a real film, I wanted that feeling of endeavor, of hard work made real, of accomplishment and creative fulfillment. I started new ideas for screenplays, even got a decent way through a few of them. But something always snagged it up. Something always got in the way, whether it was work, my personal life, a new hobby or need, or a new creative idea supplanting the old one. Those creative ambitions were completely unfulfilled…until last year.
I don’t exactly remember how I got the idea to participate in National Novel Writing Month last October. I think it started with the idea for the book appearing in my head through a mixture of real-life occurrences, random free associations, and books I had been enjoying at the time (particularly the work of Haruki Murakami). At some point NaNoWriMo entered the conversation and I decided to do it. It was, I think, the week before. So it wasn’t something I had been planning for months. With the first few chapters outlined in my head I set off on November 1st and started.
The goal is simple–write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Published novels are actually more in the 80-100K range, but 50,000 is a good target, especially for people who aren’t professionals. The point of the exercise is not to write The Best Book Ever, but rather to write something–ANYTHING–that’s 50,000 words long. You can tire of your characters, kill them off and bring in new ones, twist the plot around however you like, and write the most convoluted piece of crap you’ve ever laid eyes on (many participants do this, trading plot twists and ideas like Pokemon cards and derailing their novels accordingly). The point is not to write something good, it’s to finish what you start. So many creative endeavors never get out of the initial planning because the inertia to put something down is so great. NaNo enforces only the inertia and not the content, and expects that along the 30-day journey your characters will begin speaking for themselves, doing things you never thought they’d be doing, and that your story will find its way out and develop on its own.
All this and more happened to me as I wrote my first ever novel last year. I started with a basic premise and a very broad outline. By the time I was done I had written entire characters, story arcs, and themes that I had no idea I wanted to include. I had explored places I didn’t think I was going to explore. And I had finally–FINALLY—discovered that sense of real accomplishment again. When I was in school it took a deadline and the threat of a failing grade to get me to finish what I started. The 30-day window substituted for those pressures and made me get off my butt and finish. It felt good. It felt GREAT. And now I’m back for more. November is a tough month to write in because of Thanksgiving and the preparations for Christmas and all the things that crop up. In addition, I have a job that’s significantly more time consuming than my job was last year. But to help me out I’m ditching the “fly by the seat of my pants” model and doing quite a bit of prep work beforehand, making sure I know where my story is going so that my time can be spent writing towards an established goal than figuring out what that goal is.
The neat thing about NaNo is that there’s a huge community of budding writers who are all participating too. You can add “writing buddies” on the website and follow their progress and cheer them along. There’s a forum to discuss plot ideas, world-building, anything you need to help you get done. There are chat rooms where writers conduct word sprints, mad dashes to write as much as possible without interruption for 10-15 minutes at a time. And there are even regional events all over the world where participants can come together in real life and meet each other and support one another.
Jean-Luc Godard once said that the best way to critique a movie was to make your own. For avid readers, NaNo is an extension of that principle. It’s a truly illuminating experience about the wonders and pitfalls of the creative process. What’s great about NaNo is that they make it as easy as possible. It’s a really supportive environment to throw caution to the wind and finally finish what you may have started years ago. There’s no obligation to be good, there’s no obligation to even be publishable, there’s just you and your idea and 50,000 words waiting for you to write them down. You don’t have to be a pro, you don’t even have to prepare (my friend Megan started late, caught up, wrote a 50,000 word novel she won’t go back to, and feels great about it).
For more information about National Novel Writing Month and to join up, check out the website (and feel free to add me–MTeson–as a writing buddy). You’ll be glad you did. I’ll be back weekly to update you on my progress and to pontificate about whatever goes through my mind during the process.
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