Book Notes and Writing News from Around the Web

Here are some notes and news I thought you all might be interested in....

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Khaled Hosseini's new novel, And the Mountains Echoed, comes out May 21st. I have no idea how he's going to top The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, but if anyone can do it, he can.

I absolutely loved Beth Hoffman's Saving CeeCee Honeycutt so I am counting the days until May 28th when her second novel, Looking for Me, comes out.

And June brings both the heat and the chills with two creepy novels  - Joyland by Stephen King and Always Watching by Chevy Stevens (whose novel, Still Missing, continues to haunt me years later!)

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Want a hilarious look at the writing and/or cleaning process? Check out Nathan Bransford's post, "How to Do Your Chores in 12 Easy Steps."       

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Two great posts on Writer UnBoxed - 

"Clawing Our Way Back to the Creative Center" by Robin LaFevers talks about having to disconnect from the real world in order to connect to her writing.

"The New Era of Self-Publishing" by Allison Winn Scotch is a great post about how she, a traditionally published author, is considering self publishing her next novel. The discussion that follows  in the comments of her post is civil and thoughtful.

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This actually has nothing to do with writing but since it's on author Joshilyn Jackson's blog, I'm counting it. Besides, it totally cracked me up - "The Third Piece of Unsolicited Advice Drops." 

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Looking forward to any - or all - of those novels? Going to check out any of the links? Is there anything you've come across lately that you'd like to share in the comments? 

Motivational Monday

WALK INTO A BOOKSHOP AND YOU WILL SEE BOOKS THAT YOU LOVE AND BOOKS THAT YOU HATE, BOOKS THAT WERE WRITTEN THREE WEEKS AGO AND BOOKS THAT TOOK THIRTY YEARS...BOOKS THAT WERE WRITTEN IN SPLENDID ISOLATION, BOOKS THAT WERE WRITTEN IN STARBUCKS. SOME OF THEM WERE WRITTEN WITH ENORMOUS ENJOYMENT, SOME FOR MONEY,  SOME IN FEAR AND LOATHING AND DESPAIR.

THE ONLY THING THEY HAVE IN COMMON IS THAT

THEIR AUTHORS FINISHED THEM,

SOONER OR LATER.

(Nick Hornby)

My current WiP is a tease. It runs away from me when I try to pin it down. It whispers and giggles as it darts and ducks around corners. It hides in the crawl space over the garage. It hunkers down with the tortoises, growing a hard and impenetrable shell of its own. It slams doors and yells that it hates me. I am convinced it will be the death of me. Or at least the death of the little sanity I still possess. 

And yet, I don't give up. I chase it. I play with it. I pet and soothe and feed it chocolate and cheese. Both my WiP and I know it wants to be caught. It wants to grow and improve and excite and entertain. It wants to be finished. It needs to be finished. And I am the only one who can do that. And I will.

This week, let's get closer to finishing something, anything. Let's not give up. 

Home Work - Every Day Fiction

If you're looking for a nice, sweet Mother's Day story, you won't find it in "Home Work" up at Every Day Fiction. No, it's not about zombies or giant spiders (although, that's not a bad idea. Maybe next time....) 

It's about a girl with a heartbreaking homework assignment, a homeless woman who wears a sombrero, and the moment you learn to let go of what you so desperately wish you had in order to make room for what you might need. 

I hope you enjoy reading about Page and "Betty" as much as I enjoyed writing about them.  

The Mother of All Days

I don't have children - unless you count the tortoises and, really, we all know who's keeping an eye on whom - but I'm very excited for Mother's Day this Sunday, May 12th because my story, "Home Work," will be up over at Every Day Fiction (EDF)!    

Since we have some new friends here at TSR who might not be familiar with EDF, here's a little more information - 

For writers:  it's a great market for flash fiction. They're open to pretty much all genres. The editors provide excellent constructive criticism, regardless of whether or not they accept your story. The readers vote and comment, giving the writer instant feedback. There's also an opportunity for your story to be included in an anthology, made into a podcast and, well...just go ahead and check out the Submission Guidelines for all the details. 

For readers:  you can sign up and get a story delivered to your inbox every day. You never know what genre it will be, so it's always a bit of a surprise, but I've read some great writers at EDF who I might never have stumbled across otherwise.  

Check out May's Table of Contents for all the upcoming stories - including mine! - and also to see what the editors are looking for during the next few months.  

Brotherly Love - One Forty Fiction

When my sister and I were kids, and we'd argue or tease each other, one of the adults would say, "Sisterly love in action." Yeah, well that was nothing compared to what happens in my Twitter story, "Brotherly Love" up at One Forty Fiction. 

Hmm, maybe my sister should read it to see how much worse it could've been....

Motivational Monday

I SEE YOUR LIFE AS ALREADY ARTFUL,

JUST WAITING AND READY FOR YOU

TO MAKE IT ART.

(Toni Morrison)

I love art. I love to look at it, to learn about it, to understand it. I practically minored in art history in college. And yet I always consider myself one step - or more - removed from actual artists. I can't draw, I can barely paint a room (you should see my office) and my greatest sculptural achievements are the worms I crafted out of Play Doh for my five year old nephew.

(Now, I know a number of you are saying - as my husband often does - writing is art. Yes, it is. No argument there. It's just not the same, to me anyway, as actual physical art I made with my own hands.)

A few months ago, I found - buried under other papers - the newest adult community education catalog with the collage class I had marked when I first noticed it. The class I marked...but never registered for. It started that next week. Before I could come up with my usual excuses - and in the spirit of the Year of Yes -  I registered right away.

And you know what? Among the scraps of art paper, the old stamps, the ephemera, the glue, the beads and the buttons, I found my niche. I found a new way to layer, to craft and to create, to tell a story. I loved it! When the class was done, I was determined to keep going on my own. I made a list of supplies I'd need. I already had paper scraps and glass tiles and beach-combing finds. I had the support of my husband to make a mess. So...that's as far as I got. And I have no idea why. Okay, that's not true. I just didn't make the time to do it, to play, to lose myself in the joy of creating. I let doubts and fears and household chores get in my way. It's safer to stick with what I know, to stick with words. 

But we are all artistic beings, and I bet most of us have more than one way to showcase that. If you're not sure how, go experiment! Build Lego houses, take photographs of your dog (or tortoises!), bake an unusual flavor of cupcake. (Ahem! Make a collage, maybe?) Let us know how it goes.   

The 2013 A-Z Blogging Challenge Reflections Post

This was my second year participating in the glorious craziness that is the A-Z Challenge. I think I enjoyed it more this time around, possibly because I knew better what to expect.

I had a theme again, and I prepared a chunk of posts ahead of time, both of which freed me up to visit more blogs. That's one of my favorite parts of the Challenge - being reminded how many talented and creative and passionate people are out there in the world - writers, photographers, craft people, artists, travelers, teachers, soon-to-be retirees, librarians. 

The comments and Followers on my blog increased - thank you all! I visited a ton of blogs and left lots of comments and added a number of new blogger buddies to my blogroll and email list. 

Now, how do we keep the momentum going? Okay, not at that rate - do you know how much coffee I'd have to drink? - but where we keep regularly writing our own posts, and making a point to visit each other and comment so we know for sure our words are not floating out there unheard and unread? How do we do this and keep our own writing and our own lives going strong? 

I don't know about the rest of you, but about halfway through the Challenge, I was feeling a bit burned out - I was missing the oomph I had in the beginning. Any ideas on how to keep more of that initial enthusiasm? Is there something we could put into the Challenge itself - a halfway mark giveaway? - to give everyone a fresh bump around the letter M or so?

A huge thank you to Arlee and all the Co-hosts and Minions for all their hard work keeping us going and on track!