Saleema Nawaz's Blog, page 14
January 15, 2013
writing links open in my browser
Time is running out for me to finish my 2012 update. I’ve been strictly informed that January 15th is the cut-off date for wishing people Happy New Year or posting best-of lists or year-in-review lists. So I guess that’s happening tonight.
In the meantime, here are some things I’ve been reading:
Lena Dunham interviewed by Miranda July for Interview Magazine. Some of my favourite parts of this interview are where she talks about what it was like growing up with parents who were artists.
Cynthia Newberry Martin's inquiry into good sentences for Brevity i.e. the novelist’s perennial question as she beats her head against the keyboard: does every sentence need to be great? (The answer is that they at least need to be very good.)
Related to the last: Michael Cunningham’s New Yorker Letter From the Pulitzer Fiction Jury: What Really Happened This Year. (In case you didn’t hear, in 2012, there was no Pulitzer Prize awarded for fiction.)
Nova Ren Suma "On Chasing Ambition and Being a Girl and a Woman." This post resonated with me so much, especially lines like the ones quoted below:
I think more needs to be written about women and ambition. Or maybe it’s already out there…perhaps I ought to say I’d like to read more about women and ambition. If you know of any good books or articles, send them my way, please.
In the meantime, here are some things I’ve been reading:
Lena Dunham interviewed by Miranda July for Interview Magazine. Some of my favourite parts of this interview are where she talks about what it was like growing up with parents who were artists.
Cynthia Newberry Martin's inquiry into good sentences for Brevity i.e. the novelist’s perennial question as she beats her head against the keyboard: does every sentence need to be great? (The answer is that they at least need to be very good.)
Related to the last: Michael Cunningham’s New Yorker Letter From the Pulitzer Fiction Jury: What Really Happened This Year. (In case you didn’t hear, in 2012, there was no Pulitzer Prize awarded for fiction.)
Nova Ren Suma "On Chasing Ambition and Being a Girl and a Woman." This post resonated with me so much, especially lines like the ones quoted below:
I have and want one thing, and I’ve been single-minded about it since high school: I write. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, to the detriment of everything else.
I think more needs to be written about women and ambition. Or maybe it’s already out there…perhaps I ought to say I’d like to read more about women and ambition. If you know of any good books or articles, send them my way, please.
January 14, 2013
warm January weekend
The unseasonably warm weather is giving me an unreasonably joyous feeling of impending spring. It’s eerie, but I’ll take it. I finished my second-ever knitting project, this seafoam cowl in seed stich, just before New Year’s, and it’s too warm to wear it…but I’ve been wearing it anyway.
I finished something!
Another weekend came and went without any writing, but I was happy that I at least had a chance to finish (finally! after an unrelated reading distraction) the excellent Malarky by Anakana Schofield.
Read it!
It’s really a stunning novel, and like many novels that end up wowing me, it gave me a few ohhh, you can DO that! moments. Namely, the voice shifts between sections from first person to a close third and back. But it’s not in the least confusing, and the novel benefits from having both at the disposal of the writer. Highly recommended!
It felt like a quiet weekend, but it was really full of visits with friends and family. On Friday night, we got to try la Salle a Manger, thanks to my brother-in-law and his wife who were visiting from Australia. They took us out to celebrate our wedding, which they weren’t able to attend. The food was yummy, the champagne was even better, and the company was warm and welcoming. When D’s brother toasted us, I almost cried. Maybe it was the champagne, but my heart was that full that night.
Smokestacks on a Saturday night.
Saturday was brunch on the go and an intense afternoon nap, followed that evening by a friend’s lovely birthday dinner (I walked a different way and found myself disoriented along the overpass, pictured above, just a few blocks away from places I know well.)
On Sunday, V got excited to make chocolate-chip pancakes, which she managed with minimal intervention (just D helping with the stove), and they were delicious. More visiting with friends that afternoon (including a walk to Chinatown for steam buns) and in the evening, it was just cozying up on the couch and hanging out on Twitter while watching the Golden Globes and Girls.
A beautiful light installation in Old Montreal.
Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead! My goals this week are to catch up on email, spend time with friends, and maybe maybe get back to that story I started a few weeks ago.
I finished something!
Another weekend came and went without any writing, but I was happy that I at least had a chance to finish (finally! after an unrelated reading distraction) the excellent Malarky by Anakana Schofield.
Read it!
It’s really a stunning novel, and like many novels that end up wowing me, it gave me a few ohhh, you can DO that! moments. Namely, the voice shifts between sections from first person to a close third and back. But it’s not in the least confusing, and the novel benefits from having both at the disposal of the writer. Highly recommended!
It felt like a quiet weekend, but it was really full of visits with friends and family. On Friday night, we got to try la Salle a Manger, thanks to my brother-in-law and his wife who were visiting from Australia. They took us out to celebrate our wedding, which they weren’t able to attend. The food was yummy, the champagne was even better, and the company was warm and welcoming. When D’s brother toasted us, I almost cried. Maybe it was the champagne, but my heart was that full that night.
Smokestacks on a Saturday night.
Saturday was brunch on the go and an intense afternoon nap, followed that evening by a friend’s lovely birthday dinner (I walked a different way and found myself disoriented along the overpass, pictured above, just a few blocks away from places I know well.)
On Sunday, V got excited to make chocolate-chip pancakes, which she managed with minimal intervention (just D helping with the stove), and they were delicious. More visiting with friends that afternoon (including a walk to Chinatown for steam buns) and in the evening, it was just cozying up on the couch and hanging out on Twitter while watching the Golden Globes and Girls.
A beautiful light installation in Old Montreal.
Wishing everyone a wonderful week ahead! My goals this week are to catch up on email, spend time with friends, and maybe maybe get back to that story I started a few weeks ago.
January 13, 2013
2012 round-up, part one
So much happened this year that I wanted to write about it. Looking through my photos, I was overwhelmed by just how MUCH happened. In a way, I'm not surprised, looking back over these blog entries, to read me writing over and over again about how busy I felt. I'm also not surprised by the long stretches of silence. Blogging definitely fell by the wayside for part of the year.
I remember the energy and enthusiasm I was feeling last January. I was full of ideas and eager to get started, but I knew I still had to finally start editing my novel based on the notes I'd received on January 20th. But I was postponing. And the day I vowed to finally start (right here on the blog!) I ended up falling and breaking my wrist.
It hurt a lot, and I wish it hadn't happened, but one of the upsides was the way I discovered (though, really, I already knew) how much I could rely on my boyfriend (now husband). He took care of me when I needed it, and even when I resisted it, and when I was probably less than 100% delightful to be around.
I spent most of my birthday at the orthopedic clinic, where I think I ended up crying because I really needed to get a form filled out to send to HR to accommodate my time off of work. (Eventually, I did manage to get the form, in one of many subsequent visits.)
Cast, cake, and candles.
In March, D and I went to visit L in Niagara Falls, where she graciously hosted us and acted as tour guide to that unique, kitschy town. I'd been wanting to go for a long time, but especially after reviewing Falling by Anne Simpson, which is set there.
Windblown by the water.
Clifton Hill
The mesmerizing whirlpool.
Mid-March brought the sap, so we went out to the Eastern Townships for sugaring off with friends and family.
Sugar on snow. (It almost looks like writing, doesn't it?)
Maple sugar bliss.
A few days after that, my cast came off, and I was able to get into my editing in earnest. Then, at the end of March, D proposed and I said yes! We went for an amazing meal down the street at Lawrence, where I had oysters for the first time, and Baked Alaska, which I must now forever maintain is a romantic dessert.
Delicious (and beautiful) oysters at Lawrence.
Later that night, we stopped by my knitting circle
(where I'd been planning to go before the surprise).
Then began the major endeavour of planning a wedding in three months. (Because, why wait?) I chose a dress in one weekend, with the help of several groups of trusted advisors.
Saying yes to the dress.
After pinning down a few key details and sending out the save-the-dates, I had to finish my new draft of Bone and Bread. Then I went into a flurry of wedding planning and organizing. There was a lot of caffeine, as well as some heart palpitations.
Sewing dozens of bunting banners for my wedding.
My bachelorette was dinner, a drag show, dancing, and karaoke, followed by a long walk home in the wee hours.
As ringmaster, minus cape.
The wild bunch?
A fun night out in the Gay Village.
The bachelorette was planned for two weekends before the wedding, since before the big day I also had to pack up and move out of my apartment of seven years. This was a huge endeavour that also involved purging a ton of clothes and other items.
Goodbye, bathroom!
Set-up for the last gathering at my old apartment (books already mostly packed).
A view facing the other direction, packing in progress.
So that was the first six months of the year! All in all, it was probably the busiest, most exciting, wonderful, painful, and challenging times of my life.
I remember the energy and enthusiasm I was feeling last January. I was full of ideas and eager to get started, but I knew I still had to finally start editing my novel based on the notes I'd received on January 20th. But I was postponing. And the day I vowed to finally start (right here on the blog!) I ended up falling and breaking my wrist.
It hurt a lot, and I wish it hadn't happened, but one of the upsides was the way I discovered (though, really, I already knew) how much I could rely on my boyfriend (now husband). He took care of me when I needed it, and even when I resisted it, and when I was probably less than 100% delightful to be around.
I spent most of my birthday at the orthopedic clinic, where I think I ended up crying because I really needed to get a form filled out to send to HR to accommodate my time off of work. (Eventually, I did manage to get the form, in one of many subsequent visits.)
Cast, cake, and candles.
In March, D and I went to visit L in Niagara Falls, where she graciously hosted us and acted as tour guide to that unique, kitschy town. I'd been wanting to go for a long time, but especially after reviewing Falling by Anne Simpson, which is set there.
Windblown by the water.
Clifton Hill
The mesmerizing whirlpool.
Mid-March brought the sap, so we went out to the Eastern Townships for sugaring off with friends and family.
Sugar on snow. (It almost looks like writing, doesn't it?)
Maple sugar bliss.
A few days after that, my cast came off, and I was able to get into my editing in earnest. Then, at the end of March, D proposed and I said yes! We went for an amazing meal down the street at Lawrence, where I had oysters for the first time, and Baked Alaska, which I must now forever maintain is a romantic dessert.
Delicious (and beautiful) oysters at Lawrence.
Later that night, we stopped by my knitting circle
(where I'd been planning to go before the surprise).
Then began the major endeavour of planning a wedding in three months. (Because, why wait?) I chose a dress in one weekend, with the help of several groups of trusted advisors.
Saying yes to the dress.
After pinning down a few key details and sending out the save-the-dates, I had to finish my new draft of Bone and Bread. Then I went into a flurry of wedding planning and organizing. There was a lot of caffeine, as well as some heart palpitations.
Sewing dozens of bunting banners for my wedding.
My bachelorette was dinner, a drag show, dancing, and karaoke, followed by a long walk home in the wee hours.
As ringmaster, minus cape.
The wild bunch?
A fun night out in the Gay Village.
The bachelorette was planned for two weekends before the wedding, since before the big day I also had to pack up and move out of my apartment of seven years. This was a huge endeavour that also involved purging a ton of clothes and other items.
Goodbye, bathroom!
Set-up for the last gathering at my old apartment (books already mostly packed).
A view facing the other direction, packing in progress.
So that was the first six months of the year! All in all, it was probably the busiest, most exciting, wonderful, painful, and challenging times of my life.
January 11, 2013
this post is about shoes
What a busy week it has been, but a lovely sort of busy, what with seeing friends and making plans and singing and knitting and crossing so many things off of the to-do list (though it still seems to keep getting longer). Writing acknowledgements (yes, I forgot at least one person’s name…eeep), proofing jacket copy, almost needing to send out a search party for the page proofs (the post office promised Monday, and they arrived Wednesday…not sure what I paid all that extra money for), making efforts to speed along payment for freelance work in 2012 (several thousand dollars worth…sigh), and moving through lots of beginning-of-term stuff at the day job.
I had a little bit of time for fun, too. My mother-in-law continued her wardrobe purging spree over the holidays, and I returned home with even more wonderful pairs of shoes to add to those I’d been given earlier. As promised, I took pictures of this amazing vintage windfall. (A few pairs not included…a comfy Italian pair of black loafers with criss-cross laces I’ve left at work, and a pair of brown, lace-up suede booties that were by the front door when I found the five minutes necesary to do this.)
I can tell the gold ones will be great for a night out, the cute pink ones with the bow are Kate Spade, the black patent ones have already been essential (I’m wearing them even as I write this). The white peep-toe ones with the green accent are probably my favourites, but they will have to wait until spring as I doubt I own a pair of tights without holes in the toe! The green ones I wasn’t excited about until I tried them on and they turned out to be fabulous. And the amazing black lace-ups in the middle are Yves St-Laurent! I’m too lucky for words. And I hope this will make it easier for me to let go of some of my existing pairs of shoes...
Composedly gleeful about vintage shoes.
I had a little bit of time for fun, too. My mother-in-law continued her wardrobe purging spree over the holidays, and I returned home with even more wonderful pairs of shoes to add to those I’d been given earlier. As promised, I took pictures of this amazing vintage windfall. (A few pairs not included…a comfy Italian pair of black loafers with criss-cross laces I’ve left at work, and a pair of brown, lace-up suede booties that were by the front door when I found the five minutes necesary to do this.)
I can tell the gold ones will be great for a night out, the cute pink ones with the bow are Kate Spade, the black patent ones have already been essential (I’m wearing them even as I write this). The white peep-toe ones with the green accent are probably my favourites, but they will have to wait until spring as I doubt I own a pair of tights without holes in the toe! The green ones I wasn’t excited about until I tried them on and they turned out to be fabulous. And the amazing black lace-ups in the middle are Yves St-Laurent! I’m too lucky for words. And I hope this will make it easier for me to let go of some of my existing pairs of shoes...
Composedly gleeful about vintage shoes.
January 9, 2013
writing: "considerably less magic" (more work)
This is exactly, exactly how I feel about writing in the morning. I almost never have the chance to do this anymore, and I certainly can't afford to get too precious about when or how I get my writing done, but whenever I have a day off, this is what I like to do. No conversation, no jarring interaction with the world outside my head. There is definitely a spell that can be broken in travelling from that liminal dreaming space to the wide awake world of other people.
A conversation between George Saunders and his editor on Slate that seems to me to be a great illustration of how the best editor-writer relationships can work, as well as a pretty fascinating peek at how a Saunders story comes together (including showing his editor all the edited-down cut parts).
An interview with Zadie Smith on the Rumpus, which is partially a follow-up to her amazing short piece on joy in the NYRB. (In her interview with the Rumpus, she mentions she only writes short, memoir-like pieces like this about once every ten years, so it's worth checking out.)
Some remarks from the Rumpus interview that struck a chord:
I guess that makes a novel a sleight-of-hand that only takes 5-7 years to master..?
A conversation between George Saunders and his editor on Slate that seems to me to be a great illustration of how the best editor-writer relationships can work, as well as a pretty fascinating peek at how a Saunders story comes together (including showing his editor all the edited-down cut parts).
An interview with Zadie Smith on the Rumpus, which is partially a follow-up to her amazing short piece on joy in the NYRB. (In her interview with the Rumpus, she mentions she only writes short, memoir-like pieces like this about once every ten years, so it's worth checking out.)
Some remarks from the Rumpus interview that struck a chord:
"I think constant feedback is not a very healthy thing for a writer, one way or another."
"...reading is a magic thing. But writing, I actually feel, is considerably
less magic. It’s a lot of work and a lot of daily grind, where reading
is a true pleasure."
I guess that makes a novel a sleight-of-hand that only takes 5-7 years to master..?
January 7, 2013
on gratitude and anticipation
Today is my last day to finish up writing the acknowledgements for
Bone and Bread
, a task I've been postponing because how on earth can you thank everyone who helped you over a five-year period?!
Short of listing the name of every single person I know, it's hard to think of how I'm going to avoid leaving somebody out. There are the people who read pages. The people who listened. The people who have been cheering me on all along. The people who live far away but whose few emails a year I cherish dearly.
....Okay, I've sent it. And I hope that everyone in my life knows how much they have helped me, just through their friendship alone.
A couple of amazing things happened over the past week or so. The Montreal Gazette featured me as one of the Stars to Watch in 2013 and also included Bone and Bread in a look ahead at anticipated books in 2013. Having my photo in the paper twice in the same day is pretty much guaranteed never to happen again, so I felt compelled to blurrily document it for posterity:
(I love these pictures of me...both taken at different times around my old apartment in Mile End. Gazette photographers, in these cases John Kenney and Dave Sidaway, are really something.)
The Afterword (aka pretty much the best Canada national news outlet literary blog ever) also featured Bone and Bread as one of 13 most anticipated books of the first half of 2013. Being listed alongside all of these amazing writers, including Andrew Pyper and especially Lisa Moore, was enough to make me almost, well, swoon.
And Alexandra Yarrow, Ottawa librarian extraordinaire, mentioned it as an upcoming release she's looking forward to on her savvy blog Only Connect, too. This international list has so many books I'm looking forward to, too, that it makes me blush (and, okay, grin) to see Bone and Bread there along with the new Kate Atkinson and Lionel Shriver novels.
AND...Bone and Bread was also included in illustrious company in this spring preview list of "the books we're waiting for" at the 49th Shelf (aka essential CanLit central). This list in particular includes a number of new-to-me authors and titles I'll be adding to my to-read list.
I should say that I'm sure at least part of the reason it has made these online lists is because of the striking cover, so thank you to Alysia Shewchuk for her design (I found out who it was!) and because of Anansi's stellar reputation in publishing really excellent books. I'm so lucky my novel found a home there.
One of the nicest things about all this is that it lets me share what is so often a hidden or invisible process. I'm finally finishing this big, exciting project (which is thrilling for me simply for being done, even if nobody buys it or reads it or likes it), and it's so lovely to have these little signposts out in the world that say, I'm a writer! Really, I am! And this is what I've been doing! A number of people who know me only through my day job have been sending kind notes or coming up to me to say they heard about my book in the newspaper and asking when they can buy a copy.
And besides all of that wonderful advance notice of the book last week, as if it wasn't enough to put me over the moon, I also received a wonderful email from a writer whose opinion I value very much, who had some very kind things to say about the novel, including the sort of things that made me feel as though she understood exactly what I was trying to do. It's the kind of email that makes me feel like even if nobody else likes it, I won't mind all that much. This is the second such email I've received (almost nobody I know has read it!), and it means more to me that I can properly express here.
So it was a wonderful week for writing excitement, and I'm glad that it coincided with the finish line (I think!) of the process. Now back to regularly scheduled programming. (That is...more writing?)
Short of listing the name of every single person I know, it's hard to think of how I'm going to avoid leaving somebody out. There are the people who read pages. The people who listened. The people who have been cheering me on all along. The people who live far away but whose few emails a year I cherish dearly.
....Okay, I've sent it. And I hope that everyone in my life knows how much they have helped me, just through their friendship alone.
A couple of amazing things happened over the past week or so. The Montreal Gazette featured me as one of the Stars to Watch in 2013 and also included Bone and Bread in a look ahead at anticipated books in 2013. Having my photo in the paper twice in the same day is pretty much guaranteed never to happen again, so I felt compelled to blurrily document it for posterity:
(I love these pictures of me...both taken at different times around my old apartment in Mile End. Gazette photographers, in these cases John Kenney and Dave Sidaway, are really something.)
The Afterword (aka pretty much the best Canada national news outlet literary blog ever) also featured Bone and Bread as one of 13 most anticipated books of the first half of 2013. Being listed alongside all of these amazing writers, including Andrew Pyper and especially Lisa Moore, was enough to make me almost, well, swoon.
And Alexandra Yarrow, Ottawa librarian extraordinaire, mentioned it as an upcoming release she's looking forward to on her savvy blog Only Connect, too. This international list has so many books I'm looking forward to, too, that it makes me blush (and, okay, grin) to see Bone and Bread there along with the new Kate Atkinson and Lionel Shriver novels.
AND...Bone and Bread was also included in illustrious company in this spring preview list of "the books we're waiting for" at the 49th Shelf (aka essential CanLit central). This list in particular includes a number of new-to-me authors and titles I'll be adding to my to-read list.
I should say that I'm sure at least part of the reason it has made these online lists is because of the striking cover, so thank you to Alysia Shewchuk for her design (I found out who it was!) and because of Anansi's stellar reputation in publishing really excellent books. I'm so lucky my novel found a home there.
One of the nicest things about all this is that it lets me share what is so often a hidden or invisible process. I'm finally finishing this big, exciting project (which is thrilling for me simply for being done, even if nobody buys it or reads it or likes it), and it's so lovely to have these little signposts out in the world that say, I'm a writer! Really, I am! And this is what I've been doing! A number of people who know me only through my day job have been sending kind notes or coming up to me to say they heard about my book in the newspaper and asking when they can buy a copy.
And besides all of that wonderful advance notice of the book last week, as if it wasn't enough to put me over the moon, I also received a wonderful email from a writer whose opinion I value very much, who had some very kind things to say about the novel, including the sort of things that made me feel as though she understood exactly what I was trying to do. It's the kind of email that makes me feel like even if nobody else likes it, I won't mind all that much. This is the second such email I've received (almost nobody I know has read it!), and it means more to me that I can properly express here.
So it was a wonderful week for writing excitement, and I'm glad that it coincided with the finish line (I think!) of the process. Now back to regularly scheduled programming. (That is...more writing?)
January 3, 2013
the art of the elegant review
For all that we ("we") decry the lack of quality criticism in Canada, there have been and continue to be people who have written some really stunning reviews.
In a Facebook exchange with an old friend, I mentioned that an old acquaintance of ours had always reminded me of Zenia in The Robber Bride , or rather, that when I read the novel, Zenia reminded me of her. Something about chaos, I wrote, or falseness.
But then I wondered how accurately I was remembering the book (the acquaintance, well, I'm not sure it matters how well I remember her), so I looked it up and found a review by Joan Thomas, who is a lovely person as well as an amazing writer. She was a books reviewer and columnist for the Globe and Mail and the Winnipeg Free Press for many years, so the quality of the review was no surprise --- and yet it was. It's so good.
Her piece in Books in Canada is not some kind of boldly negative exposé (that's at least what some people (not me) mean when they wish we had more "real" reviewing), but an insightful and elegant take on the novel in light of Atwood's oeuvre. Plus it has lines like this:
And this is just slipped in there...mere throwaway lines in the middle!
Granted, most newspapers can't spare the column inches for lines like these if they want to cover even a fraction of the worthy books to write about, and Books in Canada no longer exists. There are not many forums remaining for mid-length and long reviews in Canada. (Though I happily await correction or elaboration on this point.) I suppose it could be what the internet is for now, though as a forum I think it lends itself a little better (for the most part) to brief reviews, star ratings, Likes and +1s. (My love of the internet in helping to point the way to wonderful new books probably requires its own post.)
I'm happy that Joan is busy writing novels instead of reviews, but I know that books sections everywhere are poorer for it. For that matter, I'm happy and grateful for all writers and readers who take reviewing seriously.
It's time-consuming, it's almost thankless, it's difficult, and there are always going to be people who disagree. We're so lucky that fearless books columnists are doing this day after day, week after week!
Hug a critic, if you see one.
In a Facebook exchange with an old friend, I mentioned that an old acquaintance of ours had always reminded me of Zenia in The Robber Bride , or rather, that when I read the novel, Zenia reminded me of her. Something about chaos, I wrote, or falseness.
But then I wondered how accurately I was remembering the book (the acquaintance, well, I'm not sure it matters how well I remember her), so I looked it up and found a review by Joan Thomas, who is a lovely person as well as an amazing writer. She was a books reviewer and columnist for the Globe and Mail and the Winnipeg Free Press for many years, so the quality of the review was no surprise --- and yet it was. It's so good.
Her piece in Books in Canada is not some kind of boldly negative exposé (that's at least what some people (not me) mean when they wish we had more "real" reviewing), but an insightful and elegant take on the novel in light of Atwood's oeuvre. Plus it has lines like this:
Every sober-sided history is at least half sleight-of-hand: the right hand waving its poor snippets of fact, out in the open for all to verify, while the left hand busies itself with its own devious agendas, deep in its hidden pockets.
And this is just slipped in there...mere throwaway lines in the middle!
Granted, most newspapers can't spare the column inches for lines like these if they want to cover even a fraction of the worthy books to write about, and Books in Canada no longer exists. There are not many forums remaining for mid-length and long reviews in Canada. (Though I happily await correction or elaboration on this point.) I suppose it could be what the internet is for now, though as a forum I think it lends itself a little better (for the most part) to brief reviews, star ratings, Likes and +1s. (My love of the internet in helping to point the way to wonderful new books probably requires its own post.)
I'm happy that Joan is busy writing novels instead of reviews, but I know that books sections everywhere are poorer for it. For that matter, I'm happy and grateful for all writers and readers who take reviewing seriously.
It's time-consuming, it's almost thankless, it's difficult, and there are always going to be people who disagree. We're so lucky that fearless books columnists are doing this day after day, week after week!
Hug a critic, if you see one.
January 2, 2013
December 31, 2012
holiday winding down
I've been a little quieter here than I'd planned, partially due to a bad cold that snuck up right on time for the start of my vacation. Boohoo. It hit my husband, too. But it was a good excuse for staying inside and watching movies and reading and sleeping in and all those other things that are a good part of a vacation, too.
There was some frivolity.
Orange and white chevron and striped nails.
There was a very necessary haircut.
There were page proofs to review.
Commas to move and chocolates to eat..
But probably the most exciting things I've managed to do on this vacation is work on a new short story. I'd love to finish it before the new year really takes hold.
You also may have heard that we got a record snowfall in Montreal.
It helped encouraged the hibernation.
So I'm off to scribble down some resolutions. How about you?
There was some frivolity.
Orange and white chevron and striped nails.
There was a very necessary haircut.
There were page proofs to review.
Commas to move and chocolates to eat..
But probably the most exciting things I've managed to do on this vacation is work on a new short story. I'd love to finish it before the new year really takes hold.
You also may have heard that we got a record snowfall in Montreal.
It helped encouraged the hibernation.
So I'm off to scribble down some resolutions. How about you?
December 20, 2012
The "Next Big Thing" thing
Ariel at The Jane Day Reader kindly tagged me for this blog meme that has been going around everywhere, and since my novel is technically still in progress (the page proofs arrive Monday….wheeeee), I answered these questions about it. This was fun to do, though, so I think when the book actually comes out, I might take this down and do it again for one of my other in-progress projects. (Which I fondly imagine I’ll be further along in by then…) It is epically long, though…so you’ve been warned.
1. What is the working title of your book?
The working (and indeed, the actual) title of the book is Bone and Bread.
2. Where did the idea for the book come from?
The novel grew out of a then-unpublished short story that was later published in my collection Mother Superior. I wanted to start a novel and this particular story, which kept growing and growing, seemed a natural choice. I felt like I already knew a lot about the characters and their world and their backstories, and I wanted to know what would happen to them. It’s also the story that people ask me about the most often --- usually to complain that they wanted to know how things turn out for the sisters. (As complaints go, it’s a pretty gratifying one...especially now that I have an answer in the form of a novel.)
3. What genre does your book fall under?
I would call it literary fiction, though I’m starting to realize that this is not necessarily a recognizable genre to the general reading public. So…fiction! Sometimes when people want more information than this, I say “family drama” (?), but I don’t think that’s really a proper genre either. I guess, technically, I have three generations of characters so maybe I could push it and say "family saga," but since it is all set in contemporary or close-to-contemporary Montreal and Ottawa, I probably can’t get away with that either. Let’s go with fiction.
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
This was super fun to think about! Maybe the girl who plays Zooey Dechanel’s best friend, Cece, in the New Girl?
Hannah Simone as Sadhana?
The
internet tells me her name is Hannah Simone. I could definitely see
her as Sadhana. Oh, and Hannah Simone is Canadian! Awesome. And the amazing Lisa Ray could be Beena:
Lisa Ray as Beena?
It was challenging to find a photo of Lisa Ray where she doesn’t look like a complete goddess (even the ones where she’s recovering from cancer), but this one is a passable take on Beena (not that Beena isn’t pretty — she is — but her self-image is not the best and she’s not the least bit glamorous). And not that this picture isn't beautiful, too...it's just a little less va-va-va-voom.
Both of these Canadian actresses are of mixed origin, too. Coincidence? Beauties!
Of course, a lot of the book depicts their childhood and adolescence, so some child actors would have to be involved, too.
I would choose Sarah Polley to play Mama in the early section of the novel. She radiates the right kind of pale luminosity and humour and depth and preternatural wisdom. (Well, she does!)
Sarah Polley as Mama?
Mama is supposed to have reddish hair rather than blonde, so I chose a pic where Polley's hair is on the darker side.
For the male characters in the novel — Papa, Uncle, Ravi, Quinn, Evan — I’m really not sure. Aaaaand...I’ve probably gone on about this long enough.
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Trying to make sense of her sister’s sudden death at 32 from complications of anorexia, Beena Singh returns to Montreal with her teenage son Quinn in order to delve into the history of their unusual upbringings.
Oh my gosh, that was hard -- and it leaves so much out.
6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
This book was represented by my agent, who placed it (to my great, ongoing delight) with House of Anansi.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I shudder to calculate this, as it feels like I have been working on this novel forever. I technically started the novel at Banff in May 2007, and I finished a first draft in April 2010. Three years!! But my short story collection came out in 2008, so I didn’t end up spending that much time in 2008 working on it. So…somewhere between two and three years. I should also say that I also radically changed and reorganized the novel from what it looked like in that draft. The core of the story has never changed, but I have written (and discarded!) a lot of extraneous material.
It was interesting for me to realize that the final version of the novel is very, very close to what I had originally planned in a notebook in my residence room in Banff.
8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I think it would probably be safer to trust this assessment coming from somebody else. There is so much that I’ve tried to put into the novel, but I’ll have to wait and see what readers are able to take away from it. I know the kinds of books I would like it to resemble, and those are ones where the author’s vision is wise and compassionate and the characters are deeply human and believable. The Birth House by Ami McKay, Annabel by Kathleen Winter, and The Girls by Lori Lansens are three such books that come to mind.
I don’t know if it is at all similar to these books, and I certainly wouldn’t presume to say so, but some of the novels I was reading at different points before and during writing it included Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping, Barbara Gowdy’s The Romantic, Catherine Bush’s Claire’s Head, and Michael Winter’s The Architects Are Here.
9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
In terms of where the original short story started, I think it began with the realization that both anorexia and pregnancy interrupt menstruation, and that struck me as an interesting parallel: in one case, you have growth and life — and in the other, it is a matter of shrinking and death. Right away, I could see these two sisters in my mind’s eye: one getting bigger and one getting smaller. The first line of the short story -- My sister and I stopped bleeding at the same time -- popped into my head and I picked up my notebook and started writing.
10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Well, I tried to keep in mind that I wanted to write the sort of book that I like to read. There is some mystery and suspense, as well as (what I hope is) a nuanced portrayal of sisterhood and parenthood. I also like to think it has something to offer on the subject of families. There are a lot of families out there that don’t look like the so-called norm. In fact, I think there are far fewer “normal” families out there than we’re used to imagining. The ones that have been passing as normal are full of secrets and repression and estrangement. This is certainly true in my own experience, at least.
The novel is set in contemporary Montreal and Ottawa, so I think that for Montrealers or Ottawans or even for people who just hold these cities in their hearts, this might be an extra dimension in which the novel can be enjoyed. I always like seeing the places I live reflected in the books I read.
The meme charges me to tag more people to do it, and it was a challenge to find people who haven't done it yet. But here goes: Celeste at Celeste Parr's My (Beat)ing Heart, Teri at Bibiliographic, Alice at rapunzel's hair, and Anita at Henrietta & Me. If you'd like to do it, too, tag yourself in the comments! (And if I've tagged you and you don't want to do it, well, that's okay, too.)
***
Rules of the Next Big Thing
Use this format for your post
Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress)
Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.
Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:
What is the working title of your book?
Where did the idea for the book come from?
What genre does your book fall under?
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
1. What is the working title of your book?
The working (and indeed, the actual) title of the book is Bone and Bread.
2. Where did the idea for the book come from?
The novel grew out of a then-unpublished short story that was later published in my collection Mother Superior. I wanted to start a novel and this particular story, which kept growing and growing, seemed a natural choice. I felt like I already knew a lot about the characters and their world and their backstories, and I wanted to know what would happen to them. It’s also the story that people ask me about the most often --- usually to complain that they wanted to know how things turn out for the sisters. (As complaints go, it’s a pretty gratifying one...especially now that I have an answer in the form of a novel.)
3. What genre does your book fall under?
I would call it literary fiction, though I’m starting to realize that this is not necessarily a recognizable genre to the general reading public. So…fiction! Sometimes when people want more information than this, I say “family drama” (?), but I don’t think that’s really a proper genre either. I guess, technically, I have three generations of characters so maybe I could push it and say "family saga," but since it is all set in contemporary or close-to-contemporary Montreal and Ottawa, I probably can’t get away with that either. Let’s go with fiction.
4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
This was super fun to think about! Maybe the girl who plays Zooey Dechanel’s best friend, Cece, in the New Girl?
Hannah Simone as Sadhana?
The
internet tells me her name is Hannah Simone. I could definitely see
her as Sadhana. Oh, and Hannah Simone is Canadian! Awesome. And the amazing Lisa Ray could be Beena:
Lisa Ray as Beena?
It was challenging to find a photo of Lisa Ray where she doesn’t look like a complete goddess (even the ones where she’s recovering from cancer), but this one is a passable take on Beena (not that Beena isn’t pretty — she is — but her self-image is not the best and she’s not the least bit glamorous). And not that this picture isn't beautiful, too...it's just a little less va-va-va-voom.
Both of these Canadian actresses are of mixed origin, too. Coincidence? Beauties!
Of course, a lot of the book depicts their childhood and adolescence, so some child actors would have to be involved, too.
I would choose Sarah Polley to play Mama in the early section of the novel. She radiates the right kind of pale luminosity and humour and depth and preternatural wisdom. (Well, she does!)
Sarah Polley as Mama?
Mama is supposed to have reddish hair rather than blonde, so I chose a pic where Polley's hair is on the darker side.
For the male characters in the novel — Papa, Uncle, Ravi, Quinn, Evan — I’m really not sure. Aaaaand...I’ve probably gone on about this long enough.
5. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Trying to make sense of her sister’s sudden death at 32 from complications of anorexia, Beena Singh returns to Montreal with her teenage son Quinn in order to delve into the history of their unusual upbringings.
Oh my gosh, that was hard -- and it leaves so much out.
6. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
This book was represented by my agent, who placed it (to my great, ongoing delight) with House of Anansi.
7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
I shudder to calculate this, as it feels like I have been working on this novel forever. I technically started the novel at Banff in May 2007, and I finished a first draft in April 2010. Three years!! But my short story collection came out in 2008, so I didn’t end up spending that much time in 2008 working on it. So…somewhere between two and three years. I should also say that I also radically changed and reorganized the novel from what it looked like in that draft. The core of the story has never changed, but I have written (and discarded!) a lot of extraneous material.
It was interesting for me to realize that the final version of the novel is very, very close to what I had originally planned in a notebook in my residence room in Banff.
8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
I think it would probably be safer to trust this assessment coming from somebody else. There is so much that I’ve tried to put into the novel, but I’ll have to wait and see what readers are able to take away from it. I know the kinds of books I would like it to resemble, and those are ones where the author’s vision is wise and compassionate and the characters are deeply human and believable. The Birth House by Ami McKay, Annabel by Kathleen Winter, and The Girls by Lori Lansens are three such books that come to mind.
I don’t know if it is at all similar to these books, and I certainly wouldn’t presume to say so, but some of the novels I was reading at different points before and during writing it included Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping, Barbara Gowdy’s The Romantic, Catherine Bush’s Claire’s Head, and Michael Winter’s The Architects Are Here.
9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
In terms of where the original short story started, I think it began with the realization that both anorexia and pregnancy interrupt menstruation, and that struck me as an interesting parallel: in one case, you have growth and life — and in the other, it is a matter of shrinking and death. Right away, I could see these two sisters in my mind’s eye: one getting bigger and one getting smaller. The first line of the short story -- My sister and I stopped bleeding at the same time -- popped into my head and I picked up my notebook and started writing.
10. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Well, I tried to keep in mind that I wanted to write the sort of book that I like to read. There is some mystery and suspense, as well as (what I hope is) a nuanced portrayal of sisterhood and parenthood. I also like to think it has something to offer on the subject of families. There are a lot of families out there that don’t look like the so-called norm. In fact, I think there are far fewer “normal” families out there than we’re used to imagining. The ones that have been passing as normal are full of secrets and repression and estrangement. This is certainly true in my own experience, at least.
The novel is set in contemporary Montreal and Ottawa, so I think that for Montrealers or Ottawans or even for people who just hold these cities in their hearts, this might be an extra dimension in which the novel can be enjoyed. I always like seeing the places I live reflected in the books I read.
The meme charges me to tag more people to do it, and it was a challenge to find people who haven't done it yet. But here goes: Celeste at Celeste Parr's My (Beat)ing Heart, Teri at Bibiliographic, Alice at rapunzel's hair, and Anita at Henrietta & Me. If you'd like to do it, too, tag yourself in the comments! (And if I've tagged you and you don't want to do it, well, that's okay, too.)
***
Rules of the Next Big Thing
Use this format for your post
Answer the ten questions about your current WIP (work in progress)
Tag five other writers/bloggers and add their links so we can hop over and meet them.
Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:
What is the working title of your book?
Where did the idea for the book come from?
What genre does your book fall under?
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
