Caroline Bock's Blog: Caroline Anna Bock Writes, page 2

NEVER QUIT!

Never Quit!  That's what my fortune at the Chinese restaurant said tonight.  Not quite a fortune, but a command I try to live by.

I drew the right fortune cookie.  This past week, I had one of those weeks -- I taught two upper level communication classes at The City College of New York; gave a speech on writing fiction for young people that is "ripped from the headlines," to 50 or so wonderful young adult librarians in Suffolk County; and wrote a daily "guest editor blog" for the inspiring website she writes (check out my blog entries... from "what we talk about when we talk about Titles" to rejection letter immunity!).

In between it all, I was chief cook and bottle washer in the  personal lives of an active 12-year-old (stressed from three days of state testing) and a 6-year-old (with a packed social calendar). I squeezed in some thinking (in the car)  and creative writing (early in the morning)  on a new idea and checked in regularly on my elderly dad (lunch time). So, I had to laugh when I got this fortune. I don't have time to even consider quitting. It's not an option.  And most of all, I like my life -- it's my good fortune!!
Truly, the author of LIE.

Astrology and the Writer

I am a skeptical believer when it comes to all things
astrology.  What does that
mean?  I read my horoscope
religiously.  I have even had my
���chart��� done  -- by the insightful
and thoughtful Madam Lichtenstein. 
But even so, I question how much is in the stars and how much is in
ourselves when it comes to the creative sphere.  
In trying to figure this out, this week, I interviewed Madam
Lichtenstein aka Charlene Lichtenstein, author of HersScopes, now in its ninth
printing with Simon and Schuster, and creator and writer of the must-read
astrological blog Madame Lichtenstein���s Cosmic World at
www.thestarryeye.typepad.com.  
Which astrological
sign is the most creative?  Please
make it my sign: Scorpio. 
Every sign has a certain level of creativity.  For example: Libra in the social sphere
--creativity through beautiful things; Sagittarius --more international and
cosmopolitan; Taurus ��� might be inspired  food or food writing in particular; and with Scorpio in the
area of passion and intensity. Something mysterious should inspire the Scorpion.
 
Okay, I���ll take
that. You are disciplined
and prolific with your blog,  have
you ever faced writer���s block?  Do
you have any advice? 
Don���t force the writing process. Sit down and try free
thinking automatic thinking.  Just
write anything.  But of course,
there are some days that are more conducive to writing than others  
For me stress adds to
writer���s block.  Is there something
that you would suggest to alleviate a writer���s stress?  
Aromatherapy.  Citrus.  Grapefruit or orange energize and
activate the brain. 
 Going back to your
comment about days that may be more ���conducive��� to creativity --  as a woman there are always times of
the month that are more productive creatively, but I don���t think you mean that,
do you?  
Not exactly  --
but I believe what you are speaking about the ���void of course moons.���  You can be more creative during the
void of the moon.  What is the
���void of course  moons?���  The moon changes signs every couple of
days and at one point it will go through  ���tunnel��� one side into the other.  Those are not great times for decision making.  Those times signal the strong
possibility of  cloudy thinking, of
the propensity to focus on wrong things. 
But it���s a great time to focus on other things, especially in the
creative fields such as writing.   I have a chart of the ���void of course moons��� on my
website.  
When do you write? 
With HerScopes, I found that I wrote much better in the
middle of the night. I would work all night: 11 o���clock I would sit down  -- and I���d write until 5 o���clock in the
morning ��� in those moments of supreme quiet.  
Speaking of night
time writing, I noticed on your website that the moon as a symbol in astrology
may be an important one to writers?  I always think of a T.S. Elliot line about ���bleeding between
two lines��� when I think of the character of the writer.  You have your real life and then you
have your created space in the world that is of your writing ��� so writers
naturally bleed between two lives. 
For example, if you are writing your memoir you are writing your life
and leading it at the same time. 
The moon has this duality ��� and it could be related more closely to
writers.  
Do you do readings
for writers?  Should I get my Tarot
Cards read?  My chart updated? 
 Yes, I do it
all!  Tarot Readings. Charts.  See my website for details.      Your astrological
writing has been described as honest, insightful, but also a bit ���biting��� or ���snarky.���  Would you agree?  
I hope it���s fun to read ��� I like to have fun with it ��� I
even like being a little spicy too. 
Though people take astrology seriously, and so do I.  I can be very analytical.  I believe I have this kind of writing in
me because I have a mixture of Scorpion and Sagittarian energy in me.  
Last question: in
preparation for the week ahead, what do the stars tell us?  
Horoscope for the Week of April 23, 2012 Starting this week, as the Sun enters Taurus and conjuncts
lucky Jupiter, the cosmos unleashes a chain of fortuitous events that are bound
to have long term implications for us. Not a moment too soon!  Don���t
accept anything except first class. You will traveling on this particular dream
for a while and will need more leg room. 
(reprinted from Madam Lichtenstein���s Cosmic World ��� for more details on your
sign go to thestarryeye.typepad.com)  
I wonder if it���s the right time to start a new piece?  The stars seem to say so!   Are the stars in your writing
plans?
Truly, the author of LIE

SIX WORD MEMOIR

This isn't new--the Smith Magazine Six-Word Memoir-- but I was needing to get out of the box of my head, and I wrote one yesterday, and posted it on the Smith Magazine site . Since it's only six words, here it is:
Write, Write, the yowling of desire.

Do you have a six word memoir? Must be six words. Post it, here, there. 
--Caroline

Where Does a Writer Start?

Where does a writer start? 
This writer starts with two things: 
The question WHY? Eventually, upon analysis, I���ve learned that my initial
why.  My curiosity. My questioning
myself and the human condition ��� leads to what English teachers call
���theme.���    
How, in the 21st century, in Long Island, New York, can a group of suburban teens���turn on people who lived among them? Strangers, but not strange. Two brothers who weren���t bothering anyone���just because they were not like them? And why did no one������parents, teachers, coaches, notice anything? Why did none of their wide circle of friends say: this is wrong?  What is the nature of hate and prejudice in the 21
century? These are the questions my character struggle with in my 2011 young adult novel, LIE.
 
With my 2014 young adult novel��� Before My Eyes ��� three intertwined stories ��� but also inspired by the why. Why did no
one see what was going inside with these three fragile teens���especially one
who is going through a psychic break���and who has so easily bought a gun?    
The second thing I start with is:A character.
A voice in my head. A sense that something is
going to happen to this person���I���m not sure what, but I���m going on a
journey with him or her. It may end well; it may not. It may end unsettled���in a
question because  my characters are complicated.
Ultimately, these novels end.
Yet life remains complicated, so I am starting a new novel; one I am aiming for adults, since our lives, these days, are more complicated than ever. STAY TUNED.

NEW SHORT FICTION - THE CRITIQUE GROUP in the ABUNDANT GRACE Anthology

THE CRITIQUE GROUPby Caroline Bock 
We
talk about giving birth and menopause, about celebrities we would jump in bed
with if we had the opportunity, about being married forever from one of us, and
not having a date in eighteen months, shit, maybe more��� and about your
grandmother: How is she? Her home in Chevy Chase is being sold. Ninety years
old, and my parents have decided that she can not live alone anymore��� the
unreliable furnace and those long flights of stairs leading to all those
unopened rooms. We gather closer to her, the youngest among us, and urge her to
write more, about her grandmother, about what matters and what terrifies. What
we think to ourselves: How did we find one another? How lucky we are��� four
women poised between twenty-nine and fifty. What we say aloud: We should meet
more often. We drink more wine, weep, scream, howl, beat our fists against one
another, laugh gulping for air, a certain power in us to write about anything. And
he always arrives late, slick with sweat, riding his bicycle on even the
coldest of nights, changing the pheromones in the wide-open room. When he says:
Did I miss anything? We say: We haven���t even started.
                    -----------The Critique Group was included in the new anthology, ABUNDANT GRACE published by Richard Peabody and Paycock Press in December, 2016, and featuring women writers in the Washington DC area. My fiction selection is one of the shortest in this amazing collection. Praise be to Richard Peabody for including it. Copies of the anthology can be purchased at  http://www.gargoylemagazine.com/paycock .

NEW SHORT FICTION - "BEHEADED"

A year or so ago I was watching the evening news and saw an image that filled me with anger and despair. The result was this piece of short or "flash" fiction entitled:  "BEHEADED," which was just published in the wonderful online literary journal, FICTION SOUTHEAST . 
Here is a link to this new short short:
http://fictionsoutheast.org/beheaded-2/  


Thank you for reading!
Caroline

FREE GIVEAWAY of LIE. BUILD BRIDGES, NOT WALLS.

https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/dc0b0e41ef82d209
What is this? A mini-sweepstakes for LIE, my critically-acclaimed (*starred* reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, School Library Journal and more)young adult novel.
Why now? Today, Thursday, April 14, Donald Trump, GOP candidate for President of the United States, is having a political rally in Patchogue, New York on Long Island. What happened there, in 2008, a horrendous hate crime, the murder of Marcelo Lucero inspired LIE.
I wrote LIE to understand why this could happen in a town so near where I lived at the time. 
I write to understand. I write to build bridges, not walls.
Enter for a chance to win a copy of LIE. It's only two copies, LIE is widely available these days in public libraries, but if you haven't read or heard of my young adult novel (appropriate for ages 14 and above and adults), I thought it timely to do a FREE giveaway. The link is live only through April 16th:
https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/dc0b0e41ef82d209
Peace. Caroline

FREE GIVEAWAY of LIE on AMAZON

https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/dc0b0e4...

I'm having a mini-sweepstakes for LIE, my critically acclaimed young adult novel (appropriate for teens ages 14 and above and adults), in honor of Donald Trump visiting the town in Long Island, NY that inspired LIE, and where the horrendous hate crime/murder of Marcelo Lucero, which is the inspiration point of the novel took place.

My new motto is: I write to build bridges, not walls.

Read LIE, and through Friday, April 16 enter to win a free copy. Here's the link again at amazon:

https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/dc0b0e4...

Peace.

Caroline

Lie

STORIES THAT BIND - ELIZABETH STROUT -

I���ve been reading a lot of work this past month by Elizabeth
Strout , known most famously for her novel-in-stories Olive Kitteridge.  The three works
I���ve read seem to blend into one book. In the last that I read, My Name Is Lucy Barton, her new novel,
one of the characters, a writing teacher tells her, ���We all only have one story
to tell,��� and she goes on to say that we tell it, in many different, over and
over and that���s okay. I felt this way with her recent work. It was all one
story.    I began this journey without a plan; picking up the O. Henry Prize Stories 2015 collection
and discovering her short story, ���Snow Blind.���
A rural, small town. A tightly knit family, the Applebys, and a terrible family
secret. One of the children, Annie, ultimately does leave the small town,
almost miraculously, becomes a star of screen and stage, but even she cannot totally
leave behind her small town family and her history. I found a link to the story
here: http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/stefg/article1509841.ece  
I learned soon after reading this masterful short story that
her novel, The Burgess Boys, was
being made into a HBO mini-series, and realized I hadn���t read this book. It���s
the story of two brothers, both lawyers, one more successful than the other in
New York City.  Along with their
sister, who never left their small town in Maine, they harbor a deeply-held
family secret. When the nephew does something stupid and terrible in the
hometown, all breaks loose between the siblings. However, ultimately, (no
spoilers here), the ties of the siblings to one another and to their history in
that Maine village bind them to one another more than to anyone or anything
else.    
I then thought: I must read her new novel. In My Name Is Lucy Barton, the main
character, nicknamed ���Wizzle��� by her mother is very ill. She���s in a New York
City Hospital (what I take to be Cornell Presbyterian, though it���s never named.
There is a view of the famously art deco Chrysler Building and having spent a
lot of time there in recent years, I can imagine the view of the building,
glistening, in my mind���s eye). Her mother on her first visit to New York City,
and the first visit between them in years. Staying at her sick bed for several
days, the mother tells story after story, of people from their Illinois farm town
and their impoverished life together. In many ways, My Name is Lucy Barton is a story about how stories heal us. 
But at the end of my reading I thought: Can we never move
far away enough to leave our family, our hometown, our dark family secrets, no
matter how we try to re-make ourselves? The answer for the characters in these
Strout stories is: no. We are bound to our family, our siblings, our towns. This
is the essential story that gets told again and again in these works by Strout. 
Have you ever spent time with an author and felt you knew
their story?
-- Caroline
PS you can always spend time with my newest young adult novel: BEFORE MY EYES!

Stories We Read, Stories That Bind

I’ve been reading a lot of work this past month by Elizabeth Strout, known most famously for her novel-in-stories Olive Kitteridge.
Olive Kitteridge

The three works I’ve read seem to blend into one book. In the last that I read, My Name Is Lucy Barton, her new novel, one of the characters, a writing teacher tells her, “We all only have one story to tell,” and she goes on to say that we tell it, in many different, over and over and that’s okay. I felt this way with her recent work. It was all one story.

I began this journey without a plan; picking up the O. Henry Prize Stories 2015 collection and discovering her short story, “Snow Blind.” A rural, small town. A tightly knit family, the Applebys, and a terrible family secret. One of the children, Annie, ultimately does leave the small town, almost miraculously, becomes a star of screen and stage, but even she cannot totally leave behind her small town family and her history. I found a link to the story here: http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/p...

I learned soon after reading this masterful short story that her novel, The Burgess Boys, was being made into a HBO mini-series, and realized I hadn’t read this book. It’s the story of two brothers, both lawyers, one more successful than the other in New York City. Along with their sister, who never left their small town in Maine, they harbor a deeply-held family secret. When the nephew does something stupid and terrible in the hometown, all breaks loose between the siblings. However, ultimately, (no spoilers here), the ties of the siblings to one another and to their history in that Maine village bind them to one another more than to anyone or anything else.
The Burgess Boys

I then thought: I must read her new novel. In My Name Is Lucy Barton, the main character, nicknamed ‘Wizzle’ by her mother is very ill. She’s in a New York City Hospital (what I take to be Cornell Presbyterian, though it’s never named. There is a view of the famously art deco Chrysler Building and having spent a lot of time there in recent years, I can imagine the view of the building, glistening, in my mind’s eye). Her mother on her first visit to New York City, and the first visit between them in years. Staying at her sick bed for several days, the mother tells story after story, of people from their Illinois farm town and their impoverished life together. In many ways, My Name is Lucy Barton is a story about how stories heal us.
My Name Is Lucy Barton

But at the end of my reading I thought: Can we never move far away enough to leave our family, our hometown, our dark family secrets, no matter how we try to re-make ourselves? The answer for the characters in these Strout stories is: no. We are bound to our family, our siblings, our towns. This is the essential story that gets told again and again in these works by Strout.

Have you ever spent time with an author and felt you knew their story?

....Caroline
P.S. another stories that binds: Before My Eyes