Two Years of Book Group
Two years ago I started a book group, with the help and encouragement of some friends. The advantage of starting a book group is that it runs the way I like book groups to run. Not to say that my book group is perfect, but I like it and attend every month.
We have read a fun variety of books, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, young adult, classics, and recently released. And two years later, to my surprise, people are still coming.
List of books we have read and discussed so far:
- April 2013: The Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
- May 2013: The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
- June 2013: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
- July 2013: These is My Words by Nancy Turner
- August 2013: Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielson
- September 2013: Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
- October 2013: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch
- November/December 2013: The Christmas Sweater by Glenn Beck
- January 2014: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
- February 2014: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
- March 2014: Picture Book Month
- April 2014: The Life of Pi by Yann Martel
- May 2014: The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
- June/July 2014: Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz Ryan
- August 2014: Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
- September 2014: Divergent by Veronica Roth
- October/November 2014: A Bend in the Road by Nicholas Sparks
- November/December 2014: Poetry Month
- January 2015: Sorcery and Cecilia or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
- February 2015: What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
- March 2015: Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
- April 2015: Sailing Alone Around the Room by Billy Collins
How the book group runs
Someone volunteers to host (or if no one volunteers, I recruit). That person chooses the book, either one with a book group copy at the library or one with at least a few library copies available. Everyone who wants to reads the book does so. (It’s an open invitation book group, so anyone can attend, and you’re not required to read–we’ve had been 3 and 15 people at every book group.) The hostess holds book group at her home (or at mine, if her own is not an option), leads the discussion, and normally provides some sort of treat. There’s also some socializing at the beginning and the end, but we always spend a decent chunk of time on the book.
Image Credit: Evan Bench via flickr, Creative Commons license
Breastfeeding Mama, at the Tempe Community Writing Contest
Question:
What do breastfeeding, Aztec fire rituals, family history stories, and porcupine quills have in common?
Answer:
They are all in my new essay titled “Breastfeeding Mama,” which won first place for adult nonfiction in the 2015 Tempe Community Writing Contest.
The History of the Essay:
I originally wrote this essay in January 2012 and submitted it to a writing contest. It sort of worked, but sort of didn’t. It then went through a number of further revisions. I even over-revised it to the point of ruining it. I took over a year off from the essay and then rewrote it, and started submitting it again.
The Essay’s New Home:
This year was the first time for the Tempe Community Writing Contest. The contest was a collaboration between the Tempe Public Library and Arizona State University. There were three categories of writing (fiction, poetry, and nonfiction) and three categories of people (adult, college student, and teenager). Almost 200 people submitted, and my essay was a co-winner for the Adult Nonfiction category.
Last night they had a reception at the Tempe Public Library, and winners got to read selections from their pieces. My husband counted, and there were about 80 people in the audience. And everyone laughed at my writing. Which actually made me very happy, as it is a humorous essay. It’s when you write a humorous essay and people don’t laugh that you need to worry. You should also worry when people throw tomatoes at you. But there were no tomatoes in the library. Only cookies. And (perhaps unfortunately) no one threw any cookies at me.
Read the Essay Online:
The book of winners published by the Tempe Library is available for free online: Tempe Writer’s Forum Volume 1. My essay starts on page 57 of the pdf.
(If you’re interested in reading the honorable mentions, they are available online as well.)
Content warning:
There are both breasts and babies in this essay, both of which are known to make some people feel supremely uncomfortable.
Original heart image by skyler817, Creative Commons license
The Great Author Photo Debate of 2015
It was a Sunday night. I’d spent 2 hours editing and cropping possible author photos, and I had 6 that I liked. And honestly, I hadn’t the least idea of which photo I should use–I was too close to the project, sick of staring at my own teeth.
So I decided to crowd source.
On Monday morning, I posted the following to Facebook. My husband reposted it to his page and to Twitter.
Responses poured in, and since I’d posted it as Public, plenty of people I’ve never met voted. And everyone had opinions. I compiled the results in an Excel file.
217 people voted. 64 people (29%) voted for more than one photo.
The final votes:
But despite the votes, I still wasn’t sure which photo to choose.
After all, I never said I would choose the photo that had the most votes. And photos 4 and 5 had a close number of votes, with some things making me lean towards photo 5 (several editors from a publishing house and someone who arranges author visits both put photo 5 down as their top choice). Also, it wasn’t the best poll from a scientific standpoint, as people could see what others had voted and it may have subconsciously impacted some people’s decision. (I intentionally didn’t do an official Facebook Poll, because then people could constantly see the final count, instead of just what the last few people had voted.)
In a helpful move, one of my friends gave me some pop culture advice.
He told me “Blue Steel.”
Oh, yes, from the film Zoolander. Is it really possible to choose the best Ben Stiller, especially since the photos are so drastically different?
Also, he sent me this amazing clip from the film Ten Things I Hate About You. You can skip to about 36 seconds in.
The real question, then, is if I wanted to be pensive or thoughtful.
As many people pointed out, different photos create different meanings, and impact the way people will interpret me as an author. But there was a diversity of interpretations for any given photo.
I decided to do a test and see what the photos looked like on the web.
I turned to Twitter, since I have a small audience and followers don’t get a notification when you switch your photo.
Photo 4 on Twitter:
And when it’s shown smaller:
Photo 5 on Twitter:
And when it’s shown smaller:
Both photos looked good on Twitter. But in the context of a social media site, I preferred Photo 4.
So despite the fact that I am going to make 47% of respondents unhappy, I’m going with Photo 4. However, I plan to use Photo 5 if I ever need an alternate photo.
My other photos are awesome too. For instance, the turquoise background photos look really good when they aren’t cropped into a headshot, so I will surely use them for something.
Thanks to everyone who participated in the Great Author Photo Debate of 2015!
A New Fairy Tale Party Game for Teenagers and Adults
I threw a happily ever after activity last night for a group of teenagers and adults. I spent a while searching online for the perfect fairy tale party game, but none were to be found, so I created my own, based on Disney versions of fairy tales. You can print out all the components you need to play it for free.
The Fairy Tale Party Game
Description: Create new fairy tales by mixing up characters and story elements in this free, funny, fairy tale party game that can work for large or small groups. Now Rapunzel can marry Prince Eric and defeat a mythical bear. Ursula can find her own happily ever after by fighting evil princess Aurora and marrying Simba, the lion king. The possibilities are endless!
The Background: Fairy tales have a handful of essential parts–a protagonist, a love interest, a villain, and then in regards to plot, there are a few core elements. I’ve simplified 12 Disney versions of fairy tales into these elements.
Fairy Tales used (Disney versions): Rapunzel, Brave, The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Frozen, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Mulan, Lion King, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, the Princess and the Frog
Who can play: This game is specifically designed for teenagers and adults, but could be simplified if you wanted to use it for younger children.
Number of players: 4-30. There are 6 presorted packets of fairy tales–you can use some or all of them. Group sizes could range from 2 to 5 players. We played with 4 groups of 2-3 people each. If your party or activity has more than 30 people, you could print off multiple copies of the packets–each group is bound to create an original fairy tale.
Game Play: Each group receives a packet containing six characters and twelve plot elements. The group chooses three of the six characters, assigning one to be the protagonist, another to be the love interest, and another to be the enemy (note that traditional roles can be ignored–Jafar or Mother Gothel could be the protagonist). Next, the group selects six of the twelve plot elements in order to tell a new story with these characters. The group chooses an order for the story elements. Minor adjustments to the plot elements can be made in order to improve the story.
After about fifteen minutes, each group shares the new story with everyone at the party. Stories will range from funny to surprising.
Preparing the Game:
Print the first file, Fairy Tale Game File 1 Labels on card stock. I used two colors–one for the types of characters, and another for the plot elements. Tape the characters and plot elements on the wall in order.
Print the second file, Fairy Tale Game File 2 Game Pieces. This is all the game pieces, already organized into mixed-up groupings. Put each group’s papers into a manila envelope of folder.
Have tape handy, and have each group tape their new fairy tale to the wall once it is completed.
The Plot Elements
Before starting the game, I read an example of a normal Disney fairy tale, showing how it fits in the standard plot structure. Here’s the example of Rapunzel’s story from Tangled:
Protagonist: Rapunzel
Love Interest: Flynn Ryder
Enemy: Mother Gothel
Inciting Incident: [Protagonist] leaves her tower with [love interest] as a guide.
Fun and Games: [Protagonist] and [Love Interest] make friends with all sorts of hoodlums at a not-so-friendly tavern called the Snuggly Duckling.
Turning Point: People chase [Protagonist] and [Love Interest]. They fight enemies at a dam, and they barely escape!
Rising Action: [The villain] tries to convince [the protagonist] to give up.
The Night of Despair: [The love interest] betrays our [protagonist] for money and, heartbroken, [protagonist] returns to her tower with [the villain].
Final Battle and Victory: [The love interest] returns and is injured by the [villain]. [Protagonist] is willing to give up her freedom to save [the love interest]. [Love interest] cuts off [protagonists] hair and [the villain] falls out of the tower.
Note: this six part plot structure is inspired by Blake Snyder’s book on screenwriting, Save the Cat.
Variations:
- Mix up the fairy tales in new configurations.
- Add “Write your own plot elements” or “Choose your own protagonist” papers for each group.
- Print them as cards rather than large papers for the wall.
In the works: I’m looking at turning this fairy tale party game into a card game, which would be nice and compact. I will update when and if I can make that happen!
Original castle image: lapidim via flickr, Creative Commons license
A New Science Fiction Comedy Short Story for Valentine’s Day
Sometimes we take Valentine’s Day too seriously. As a remedy, I’ve decided to post a short story I’ve written on my website.
It’s science fiction–set on Earth, but centuries in the future.
It’s a comedy–because the things that speak to us most deeply (like romance) should never be taken too seriously.
It’s about kissing–and even better, first kisses.
Oh, and did I mention teenagers? Because when you are young, you feel deeply, and that makes for interesting stories.
Without further ado, my science fiction, comedy, short story, Case Study #237: Teenage Ethical Dilemmas.
12 Months of Writing: 2014, A Year in Review
Yesterday morning my almost-four-year-old daughter came up to me and asked, “Mom, are you working on your dream?”
I was editing a story in my green binder, which she recognized as my writing binder. The day before we had listened to the song “I’ve Got a Dream” from Tangled and my daughter had asked me, “Mom, what’s your dream?”
I explained that my dream was to have my name on the covers of published books. And then I told her that if you want a dream to happen, you don’t just sit around. You work for it.
That’s what I’ve been doing during 2014: working on my dream. I read the book The Power of Habit and learned how to create habits. I forced myself to focus, to output words when I had no motivation and no inspiration (which was probably 3 days out of every 5). When I found myself truly stuck on one project I would switch to another project until I figured the first project out: I knew that I couldn’t let myself stop writing. I kept a daily writing journal to keep track of my progress.
There were days where I didn’t write a thing, and days where I eked out a mere hundred words. I intentionally gave myself a day of rest once a week, where I did not actively work on my goal. But most days I spent at least an hour writing, and many days I spent more than that. Throughout the year, I sacrificed all sorts of things so I could write: movies and TV shows I wanted to see, books I wanted to read, activities I wanted to attend, and other hobbies and interests that I love. I sacrificed sleep and relaxation. But it was worth it.
Here’s what I accomplished during 2014:
- Wrote approximately 135,700 entirely new words. That’s around 550-600 double-spaced pages.
- Revised a 140 page novella (4 additional drafts).
- Wrote the first draft of a young adult fantasy novel.
- Wrote the second and third drafts of a 500 page adult steampunk novel. This was a brutal task.
- Deleted over 30,000 words.
- Wrote and revised 6 short stories, ranging in length from 750 to 9000 words.
- Received 20 rejection letters from publishers and magazine editors. (I tried to constantly have at least 3 short stories and essays out on submission.)
- Received 2 acceptances. My short story “Daughter of a Boto” received third place in the Meeting of the Myths contest. Another story, “Three Wishes,” will be published in a digital anthology next year.
According to my writing journal, I spent about 521 hours working on writing over the course of the year. That’s 1.4 hours a day—less than an hour and a half every day.
I’m now much closer to my dream. And 2015 looks like the perfect time to spend another year writing.