Why publish?

My dear friend Jeni challenged me with some questions after my previous post.  I often think of Jeni as the epitome of a critical thinker.  Perhaps it's because she's a nurse.

Anyway, her question got me thinking right away and I felt I needed some room to compose an answer.  So, here goes.

From: dakotalizzie.wordpress.com

Jeni's question:  Does the place where the joy and love of writing come from not satisfy enough?  Or is there a time when it needs to be shared?  I am guessing it is like things in our lives when we want and need some recognition?

Which took me first of all to the question of why I write.  I came up with several reasons, some admirable and some not so much.  Certainly, there are times when I write for myself.  This is usually in the form of journaling when I don't understand something about myself, my life or other people and I need to write it out.  I don't usually share this with other people.  It's more of a mental health exercise, although it sometimes leads to writing to share.  My blogs may sometimes come out of this kind of place, although I'm always aware that the blog will be read by others and so I often delete certain things or even entire ideas that I don't want to be public or that won't interest anyone but myself.

Mostly, though, what I write is meant to be read.  I'm not sure if this is because I'm more of an introvert or because I'm a slow thinker, but I love the format of the page for communicating with others.  It may be argued that we read to find and understand ourselves.  I have repeatedly had the comforting and encouraging experience of reading a sentence, story, poem or book which so perfectly described the world or myself in a way I would never have put together on my own.  I hope that my writing does this once in a while.  I had the supreme compliment once from my good friend Katie, who was dealing with the passing of her grandfather-in-law, that she felt I was there with her because she was reading one of my books at the time.  I am so glad she told me.  That, in a nutshell, is one of the best reason I write.

Publishing and the desire to be published is different and yet, maybe not entirely.  Publishing is business and money and a certain amount of fame and or recognition (although for most this amounts to very little).  I'm sure that not all of my reasons for desiring publication are honourable, but I think some of them are.  Publishing is the way a writer connects to a reader.  Self-publishing allows for some of this, but without self-promotion, it won't necessarily get to anyone.  I loath self-promotion, and yet I do it in the hopes of connecting to a reader.

Traditional publishers have connections to readers.  Some of them promote for you, or at least with you.  It is also an affirmation that my writing is worth reading.  I can't deny that I struggle to write sometimes because I doubt it's a worthy occupation.  Apparently I'm not alone in this feeling.  Stephen King wrote "I think I was forty before I realized that almost every writer of fiction and poetry who has ever published a line has been accused by someone of wasting his or her God-given talent.  If you write (or paint or sculpt or sing, I suppose) someone will try to make you feel lousy about it, that's all."  From On Writing.  I don't even need someone to tell me this.  I already think it on my own sometimes.

Who needs another novel?  Especially one of my novels, which really aren't that important.  I need more novels and more people to make sense of things for me through each confusing and overwhelming stage of life.  If I can share this experience with my writing one day, I feel that the pursuit of publication is valid.           

Rejection Letter

A page in my journal of rejection letters.

Every so often, I forget how difficult it is to deal with rejection letters and wonder why I haven't been sending out my writing.  I become motivated and send out everything I've written, expecting that this time things will be different.  I've been writing for even longer now, I must be ready for publication.  A few weeks of hopeful expectation passes and then the rejections letters begin.

Mostly, rejection letters are form letters.  When I started sending things out, I used snail mail and I collected these letters in a notebook.  Now, I can save my postage most of the time and send my writing via email.  But, other than than, the process is the same.  Write a cover letter, send out what you think is your best work and wait in hopes of being accepted.

Today, I received a rejection with notes.  This response to my submission was optional.  I opted to hear the truth.  It was brutal.  While I greatly appreciate the time it took to reply to my work, I can't help but wonder if it could have been tempered with something good.  Perhaps this is hypocritical of me, but as a teacher, I know how important it is to look for the good in student's work while gently suggesting a bit of improvement.  It's so easy to focus on the negative.  Now, I'm thinking this story is beyond help.  Perhaps I should never have ventured outside my genre.

I'm trying to encourage myself with Julia Cameron's advice.  "And so, in order to be a good writer, I The Right to Write, p. 23).  She also says "The best and rarest criticism is constructive, and very few people know how to give it. . . "All (a writer) needs to find (their) stride . . . is encouragement and safety.  This does not mean that aesthetics go out the window.  It means, however, that we need to take the time and the space to discover our own aesthetic, and that does not happen when we get involved with instant cup of soup criticism and art by consensus." (p. 177).
have to be willing to be a bad writer.  I have to be willing to let my thoughts and images be as contradictory as the evening firing its fireworks outside my window."  (

So, perhaps the reaction of not wanting to send out any more writing is a healthy one.  Cameron calls it "Containment".  I'll let this batch of submissions run its course and allow myself to forget the sting of rejection until I'm ready to try again.  I am tempted to post the rejected story here, however.  I don't think I'll be able to send it out again.  It's tarnished now by the impressions of others.  I'd love a bit of advice here.  

A Short History of Serialized Writing

Jo-Anne Sieppert Design

I was recently invited to apply to write for channillo.com, which is an online serialized writing site.  It was the invitation that grabbed me.  What, somebody wants me to write for them?  After another long spell of rejections, I was intrigued.

In the back of my mind, I had a memory that several classic writers started by publishing their longer works as short excerpts in local newspapers or magazines.  Now that I’ve signed up to serialize my work Taking Comfort, I’m curious to know how many of my favourite writers went the serial route.

Charles Dickens was the first author who came to mind.  A quick search reveals he published at least six of his novels in this form including Little Dorrit and Our Mutual Friend.  It was a way to allow the middle class to access novels, which were generally too expensive, by spreading the novel into 1 shilling chapters over time.  Without the whole novel to give the big picture, the single chapter had to encapsulate an engaging beginning and ending and leave the reader in such suspense that they would spend another hard earned shilling to read the following chapter.

Henry James published The Ambassadors in serial form through North American Review.  Lucy Maud Montgomery originally intended a seven-chapter series about a red-headed orphan for a newspaper series, but instead, it became into Anne of Green Gables.  Louisa May Alcott wrote An Old Fashioned Girl in serial form for the Merry Museum Magazine as well as many other thrillers which she published under pen names.

I was hoping to find Jane Austen amongst the serialized writers, but unfortunately, the technology was not yet available during her time.

 

A more modern example is Stephen King who purposely wrote The Green Mile in a serialized form so that readers could not skip to the end and ruin the suspense!  He also wrote The Plant as a serialized story in lieu of Christmas card.  (Love it!  May have to try thisJ)

So, with these literary giants in mind, I decided to give it a try.  Will my chapters be intriguing enough to keep readers wanting more?  The Channillo website is based on monthly subscriptions, and as my novel is already finished, I intend to release it as quickly as possible to keep the suspense from killing anyone.  The great thing about the site is, you can also read other authors in many genres, while you're waiting for the next chapter.

It’s a new concept, but it’s given my novel Taking Comfort new life.  I finished it several years ago, but wasn’t yet ready to release it to the world.  It’s been sitting in proof form in a drawer for almost two years.  If nothing else, I’ll have a completed book at the end of this adventure.  If you'd like to give it a try, here's the link Taking Comfort

Taking Comfort

Cover by: Jo-Anne Sieppert

Taking Comfort is the story of four unique young women in 1993.  Mallory is confident and beautiful but seems to exude a hardness of heart.  Sybille is popular and good; not the type to have a baby at sixteen.  Her sister Kate is a shy, mousy girl with only one real friend and Theresa spends her summer at camp, miles away from her attention-seeking friends and controlling mother.  One of these girls becomes pregnant, but the reader is kept in suspense until the end of the book.

 

The story is written as a book from a mother to her daughter.  Cara has never learned the details of her conception or her family, but her mother has decided the best way to share all of this information is through a book.  Taking Comfort gives the other side of being sixteen and pregnant.

The idea for this book came to me shortly after my daughter was born.  I was 28 at the time and I started doing the math to see how old my daughter would be had she been born when I was 16 or 17.  I started remembering life at that time and imagining what it would have been like.

veggietales.wikia.com

  

At the same time, I was listening repeatedly to the Veggie Tale story, Esther: The Girl Who Became Queen.  Somehow the idea of picturing Bible characters as vegetables made me start thinking about what these stories would look like today.

This unusual marriage of ideas resulted in Taking Comfort.  You can start reading it today in serialized form at Channillo

Good To A Fault Book Review

This is my second time reading Good To A Fault.  I rarely reread books, but I remembered enjoying

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this one and recommended it to my book club.  I’m so glad I did.  This is definitely a book worth rereading.

Endicott starts her novel in the midst of chaos – a car accident between a single woman, Clara Purdy, and a family living in their car, Clayton, Lorraine, Darlene, Trevor, baby Pearce and their mother-in-law, Mrs. Pell.  Through the guilt of responsibility for the accident, Clara takes on more and more responsibility for the Gage family.  So much so, that she has Clayton, the children and Mrs. Pell move into her home while Lorraine begins cancer treatment.

Clara, after a brief and unsuccessful marriage, has been single most of her life, most recently moving in with her parents to nurse them through their last days.  She comes to find meaning and purpose through taking care of the Gage family, and grows particularly close to the children. 

Having never been a parent before, Endicott describes the searing pain and inexpressible joy of Clara’s new life as a parent with exquisite insight.  A few examples:

“Instead she went into the bedroom and picked up the little baby, the new one, the morning dew.  The baby quieted immediately, holding her hand, his other arm clinging to Clara’s neck, his body conforming to hers, his head warm against Clara’s face. 

Mine, she thought.” P. 31

“It was impossible, being with these children.  After four days of it Clara was exhausted by their clatter and the grime that attended them, and their easy assumption that she would do everything for them.” P. 44

“The headlights were not working properly.  When she parked at the drugstore she saw the car reflected in the glass front: her headlight was burnt out.  The complication of getting the headlight replaced was so overwhelming that she had to lean against the car door for a moment before she could get the children out to come trooping in with her, parkas over their pajamas.”  P. 241

“Her head hurt with the effort of not thinking how stupid she had been to take all these people on, how bad she had proven to be at all this.  But there was no way to get out of it.”  P. 215

The book is set in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where I lived for ten years.  Endicott also lived in Saskatoon and the details in her descriptions of the setting put me right back in the City of Bridges.  Also, I’m pretty sure I met the same curmudgeonly used book store owner she describes on p. 131.  “He thought she was rich because Clary looked after them now.  It made her laugh, secretly, and he saw that, and yelled at her some more:  “You don’t read!  You haven’t read a book in your life.  Bookstores are going out of business all over – you think you can sit and watch TV and that’s all it takes.  You walk around in a bookstore and by osmosis, you’ve read something!”

My favourite chapter was 27, called Wellwater.  Here’s a taste:

“The fresh jug of ice water dewed, pearled, on the rolling table.  The water-women must have been around.

‘May I have a drink of your water?’ Paul asked.

‘How can you, a priest, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?’”

So whimsical and yet it so perfectly shows this odd relationship between a woman in a hospital being visited by a priest she never would have known if she hadn’t been sick. 

I try not to buy books.  I use the library as much as possible, but this book is worth buying.  You need to read it more than once.  It’s just incredibly well-written and has so much to say about the complications of trying to be good.
I can't help quoting this summary by Bill Robertson in the Saskatoon StarPhoenix  "As Jane Austen taught readers two hundred years ago, a few families in a small community are just the thing to write about."  

Taliban Shuffle Book Review

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My first career choice after high school was to be a journalist.  Specifically a foreign correspondent.  Looking back, I think this was largely inspired by  The Zion Covenant book series.  John Murphy, one of the main characters, was a foreign correspondent to Europe as the Nazi party rose to party.  I liked his grit and dedication to the story.  I wanted to travel and learn about the bigger world.  But after a year of journalism, I faced the fact that I would never be able to interview people while they were in the grips of grief.  Walking up to a new widow or orphan to demand how they felt about their recent crisis seemed too heartless.  I switched my program to professional writing and then eventually went into teaching.  I think it was the best choice for me, but I still wonder sometimes if I missed out on some adventures.  Reading a book like The Taliban Shuffle confirms that I have missed out on some great things about the journalism field, but also that it wasn't the best fit for me.


Kim Barker tells the story of her own experiences as a journalist in South Asia from 2004 to 2009 with humour and insight.  She does an incredible job of describing a world and culture so different from ours in North America.  Reading news pieces and seeing footage on T.V. or the internet is always out of context of the big picture. Barker spent years in these countries while most other foreign workers spend only six months.  "Many consultants traded places every six months and then promptly repeated all the mistakes of their predecessors." (284)  She has this reflection on conflict in South Asia "At some point, I realized the horrible truth -- the United States and its allies could win every single battle in Afghanistan and blow up every single alleged top militant in Pakistan, but still lose the war." (298)

Despite the serious nature of her subject, Barker offers frequent comic relief.  I think this is probably a necessary antidote to all she saw and experienced.  In fact, Barker frequently refers to her time in Afghanistan as either a love affair or an addiction.  In spite of surviving bombing, corruption and hopelessness, it took some effort to tear herself away from this crumbling country.  I think the relationships she describes explain why.  Here is one of my favourite stories about her friend/driver/translator/fixer, Farouq:  "Leaning against the tape, Farouq interviewed an Afghan, who said he was supporting all the candidates, hedging his bets.  It was a typical Afghan survival strategy, and Farouq started laughing.

"'Why are you laughing?' interrupted a hepped-up, sunglassed Afghan security guard, stepping in front of Farouq.  'I will call someone and have you taken away.'

"Farouq, never one to step down from a confrontation, looked at the man.

"'I'm just doing my job.'

"The Afghan guard swatted my notebook and shoved Farouq.

"'I will kill you,' he said.

"This was how Afghans interpreted DynCorp protocol for dealing with laughing.  The guard told us to go away, but we couldn't move.  Finally Karzai walked out into the bleachers, talking on his cell phone, and everyone grew quiet, even the Afghan security guard.  (In another example of how complicated Afghanistan is, this violent exchange caused Farouq and the security guard to become lifelong friends.)  Karzai urged the crowd not to participate in fraud."  (26-27)

The movie version of this book staring Tina Fey is more overtly funny and, out of necessity, heightens and abbreviates Barker's experience.  Still, I think it's an excellent film.  Just make sure you read the book as well.  It's well worth your time.

Book Review: Vienna Prelude

I was slightly embarrassed by my answer at a recent book club meeting to the question "What was

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your favourite book as a teenager"?  This is a great question, but all I could remember reading was Sweet Valley High and Flowers in the Attic.  Of course, I read the books assigned to us in English class, but none of them were favourites.  But when I returned home, I looked over my bookshelf and remembered another favourite series that I think redeems my teenage reading choices.  I was inspired to reread the first and my favourite in the series to see if it was as good as I remembered.

Vienna Prelude is the first book of The Zion Covenant series.  It is set mainly in 1936 Vienna and tells the story of Elisa Lindheim, a violinist with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.  Elisa is beautiful, talented, Jewish and largely unaware of the Nazi threat in Europe.  When she returns to Berlin at Christmas, she is shocked and disturbed by the changes to her home and the devastating threat to the Jewish people.  When she tries to escape with her father to the Tyrolean Alps, he is taken by the Nazis and she is left to travel alone with no way of finding him.

As a teenager, this book developed a great interest in World War II and its causes.  I believe it was my first introduction to Historical Fiction and I was inspired by the fictional stories to learn a great deal about the historical world around them.  As an adult, the writing holds up and I was once again swept up into the romance, intrigue and daring situations.  The story is told from many points of view which gives a realistic picture of the complexity of war and what caused the Nazi party to come to power.

I recommend this to any fan of historical fiction or to readers who just enjoy a really great story.