Need Inspiration? Take a Shower!

I have had more plot problems solved in the shower than I can count. The entire premise of my current work-in-progress was hatched while shampooing my hair. I had a different book mapped out - characters sketched, outline written, key scenes done - but the book was too depressing to write.

Then, under the warm spray of the shower, comes an idea that invigorated my work….a completely different character with a completely different problem, but under the same theme. It was brilliant.

And it came from the shower.

I hear the shower is equally inspiring for other writers. Maybe it is inspiring for people in other professions, but I don’t ask them about their processes. If accountants discover budget holes in the shower, they don’t talk about it much.

What is it about a shower? They are comfortable places. We are isolated from the rest of the world, unless you have a baby or toddler in the room. Even then, the water muffles the sounds (not that I ever let a baby cry while I took a shower….without calling out comforting words from time to time from behind the refuge behind the curtain. Hey even busy moms get dirty.)

Maybe it is the repetition and lack of thought put into a shower. It is so routine, it has become the subject of punch lines…..lather, rinse, repeat. This routine frees our minds to think deeper. The isolation gives us a lack of interruption.

Hmmmm, too bad my laptop isn’t waterproof. I could get some serious work done in there. 

10 Great Reasons to Read

#10 – You can do it anywhere. Whether you read a paper book, or on an e-reader, tablet or phone, books are very portable. Bring one along to pass the time while standing in line, riding in the car or sitting through study hall. Don’t read while driving though;)

#9 – Reading relieves stress. The act of reading is relaxing and an escape for the mind.

#8 – You can visit far away places without leaving home. Stories take place everywhere and anywhere. Perhaps even on Mars.

#7 – You can travel in time. Stories capture a moment in time. Read about the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, Tudor England or the Civil War.

#6 – Books make you ask “what if?” by taking you places that never existed, with people or things that only happen because of the author’s imagination. 

#5 – Books can make you feel less alone. If you have a problem, there is probably a character with the same problem. Read about people like you.

#4 – Discover people who are not like you. Learn more about what it is like to be Amish, a runaway slave in the Underground Railroad, or a German princess who becomes the Empress of Russia.

#3 – Reading gives you interesting things to talk about. Readers are exposed to a variety of people, places and ideas. This gives them plenty to talk about.

#2 – Learn to write better. The act of reading helps improve spelling, grammar and vocabulary just due to exposure.

#1 – There is something for everyone. If you don’t like reading, you may not have found the right genre yet. Learn more about yourself by finding out what books you like to read. Perhaps you like an adventure tale, or historical fiction, fantasy or biographies. There are thousands of subjects and oodles of authors penning their stories for you to discover.

Happy reading!

Philippa Gregory Does YA

Philippa Gregory is one of my favorite authors. “The Other Boleyn Girl” brought Anne Boleyn alive in another light, through the eyes of her sister Mary.

History became a very real setting while I read that book. I never thought about Anne Boleyn’s family, or knew how steamy it was in the royal court of England. I read a few of Gregory’s other tales, and was impressed with her grasp of historical characters and her ability to tell their stories in a believable and engaging manner. Too often historical fiction reads like a history lesson. Not so with Gregory’s character driven tales.

I was over the moon excited to hear Gregory has written some books for the YA audience. Finally we get to see some real princesses, and not the kind created by Disney.

“Changeling” is the newest in the Order of the Darkness series, authored by Philippa Gregory for the YA audience and scheduled for release at the end of May. 2012. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like there is a princess in there, but a girl accused of witchcraft and sent to a nunnery in Italy in 1453. She meets Luca, a boy who is cast out of his religious order, but involved in a secret mission from the Pope to find evil.

I can’t wait to read it. 

Book Review: The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner
James Dashner
Delacorte Press (2009)

My teen recommended this book to me. I could not wait to get my hands on a book that so enthralled my kid, he got in trouble for reading it in class.

I can understand his love for “The Maze Runner.” This is the book for a preteen/teen boy. All the characters but one are male, and the token female character is in a coma for half of the book. They are left to live in a maze inhabited by deadly mechanical monsters called Grievers. The boys are called Gladers, named after the gathering area inside the maze with high walls that close at night, keeping them mostly safe from the Grievers. The boys create a society, with jobs and strict rules about order. They also invent their own street language, allowing these teen boys to swear while the book retains a PG rating.

The main character, Thomas, arrives in the Glade confused about his surroundings and ambitious about his role in it. The girl arrives the next day and becomes a catalyst for change. Her arrival, Thomas’ ambition and the change makes some suspicious of Thomas and others sure he is the key to solving the maze.

It is unclear what is so special about Thomas, why he can do and discover things more experienced boys haven’t in two years in the maze. His character is likeable for his compassion and his determination, which make the reader believe Thomas could be the boy to solve the maze before the Grievers destroy all of them.

The pace starts out as a slow jog through a mist of confusion and ends in a gallop toward a new cloud, presumably addressed in the sequel, “The Scorch Trials.”

Summer Reading List

A cold, rainy day in April is as good as time as any to create a summer reading list. The last of my long list of library requests came in today. It is "Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman" by Robert K. Massie. I requested it in January. Now that I hold this tome in my hands, I can see why I had to wait so long. It is 500 pages with small, compact type. Although it is a new book, the library gives patrons a month with this one rather than the usual 14 days. I will probably need a month. I read relatively slowly.

It looks good though. I only read the cover copy, and the readability of the voice and tone made the massiveness of this book instantly more manageable.

Before I start reading that, I need my summer reading plan. These are the books I have on my summer reading list. Many of them are YA. This list is a work in progress and I am looking for more suggestions!

The Year the Swallows Came Early by Kathryn Fitzmaurice

This book looks filled with imperfect characters with a theme of forgiveness. It is hard to forgive people who have wronged you, especially for an 11 year old girl whose father has gambled away her future. Molly O'Neill at HarperCollins suggested this book in an interview about great middle grade fiction. http://www.dystel.com/2012/04/everything-you-ever-wanted-to-know-about-middle-grade-the-finale/

Divergent by Veronica Roth

I am not a fan of dystopian worlds. Well, that is not always true. I did like the Hunger Games trilogy. I have heard that level of buzz about this book. Seriously. I am going to read it just to see what the fuss is about. Stay tuned to hear my thoughts on it when I get to it. 

Lullabies for Little Criminals (P.S.) by Heather O'Neill

This was recommended to me by my favorite Canadian reader. It sounds like an extraordinary book about a child of two teenagers, half orphaned, coming of age in a haze of drugs, foster care and juvenile detention. 

Middlesex and The Marriage Plot and possibly The Virgin Suicides 

I need to catch up on these lauded tales from Jeffrey Eugenides.

What is on your summer reading list? Please share. I need some more ideas. 

The Elevator Pitch

When you tell people you have a book coming out, they tend to ask you what it is about. Then I have to explain the people I made up and the problems I forced on them while trying not to sound like a lunatic.

This is something I have avoided for some time. Although my critique group is intimate with the story, and one or two of my more forgiving and indulgent friends who let me talk out story problems have a vague idea, everyone else has no idea what this book is about. My own mother did not know until last week. When I finally told her, she asked me why I wrote about that, which I immediately took as criticism.

So I am working on my elevator pitch. This is one or two lines that sums up the story and gives the hook. It has to be well rehearsed and quick, in case an agent from the Andrea Brown Literary Agency walks onto your elevator and you have two floors to make her drop to her knees and beg to represent you.

"Divided Moon" sold before I got the chance to ride many elevators in New York City. Not that I would really stalk the elevators used by editors and agents. The Andrea Brown Literary Agency doesn't have an office in New York City. Now I have to write my elevator pitch to explain to my friends and family what I have been doing in obscurity the last five years.

Here is what I have:
"Divided Moon" is about arranged marriage in America. The main character is the 15-year-old daughter of Hmong immigrants. What her parents think is normal is not even close for a teenage girl who grew up in America.

Yeah, that needs some tweaking.

If my editor happens to be reading this, I promise to work on those other things too, right after I nail this elevator pitch. I still have to tell my brother about the book.

Premier Post

Hello out there! Is there anybody watching? Posting on a blog for the first time is something like a Pink Floyd song. If you are too young to know who Pink Floyd is, look them up on YouTube. It will be worth your time. Comfortably Numb is what I am hearing in my head right now. No, I am hearing it for real, because I had to check YouTube to see what comes up if you search Pink Floyd. Good stuff, right there.

If you are viewing this blog, you must be a very good friend or have a keen interest in publishing. I signed a contract this very day with Solstice Publishing to hand over my first YA novel, "Divided Moon." It is exciting and terrifying at the same time. I worked on this novel for years and have come to love it with an intimacy only a novelist who has revisited scenes 1,000 times can know. It truly is like handing over a baby, except that baby has grown to become a pretty cool manuscript that just might find its wings.

Enough about that, (buy it at Amazon), what do you think about the penny? Canada has recently stopped making the penny. I didn't know they HAD a penny, and I have been there numerous times. Wisconsin is not far from Canada. Just a little trip across the border.

Do you think the US should follow suit? It is true that the penny costs more than a penny to make, but each penny is used multiple times. ( http://www.snopes.com/business/money/pennycost.asp) . Still, I don't use many pennies. They just clutter the bottom of my purse and get annoying if you need multiple pennies to buy stuff. They are easy to save though. Maybe we need a penny savings campaign that will make us all rich in 20 years or so.