Elizabeth Dutton's Blog, page 6

give it away, give it away now

The good folks at Goodreads are helping me give away copies of my lovely novel, Driftwood.

To enter, click HERE. It is just that easy! Get a novel, rave about it in reviews, you know, the usual. I am going to try and get the publisher to include some cool treats in with the book.

Get on it, people! Viva that printed word!

middle path

 

 

I have always written. It’s all I want to do. And when I clear out the noise around me and stop absorbing all the garbage and hype and pressure around what I do, I feel better.

It is easy to get caught up in watching eagle-eyed for book reviews. It is easy to take even the slightest comment personally. I never take the good stuff personally, oddly enough. It is easy to be worried about contracts and agents and sales and visibility. That’s the way the world swirls around us.

I have to keep reminding myself that I will write even if no one ever gets to read it. I honestly doubted anyone aside from those closest to me would ever get to read Driftwood. I didn’t think it would see the light of day, the printed page. Of course, it could be a huge flop and I could go back to wishing that it never made it out of my Dropbox account. We shall see. But I write. I am writing another novel. It is important to me and I am being careful with it. It’s a little owlet that I am nurturing and helping to get stronger and one day it is going to shriek across the night sky. I may be the only one to hear it, but that just isn’t the point. There will be more after that and I will keep it up with no regard to BookScan rankings or blogs or reviews. I honestly don’t care if they all live in my Dropbox account forever.

I still write poems. Some I share, others I don’t. The truth is that I am a terrible introvert who forces herself to put on a game face every single day. It exhausts me. What energizes me and builds me back up is playing around with words, descriptions, stories. I live in my head.

I am rambling about all this because tomorrow I go out of town to record Driftwood as an audiobook for Audible. As I was packing up my bag, I started to get nervous and scared. What if this is all horrible? What if I am horrible? Then I started to worry about not having an agent. Without one I was feeling devalued, invalidated. That brought about worries about readings and being in public and being judged and reading reviews…

So I stopped. I stopped and silenced it all. I reached back to the core truth: I write. No matter what. And the noise isn’t important. None of the trappings are important. My words are important because they are important to me. I get my value from myself and the loving people around me and the satisfaction of creative endeavors.

This is a fun ride and I will not lose sight of that. Truth is, all of us are on a pretty fun ride (even when it seems exactly the opposite) and we have to hang on to that.

Deep breath.

 

xo

 

city of angels

I will be reading at Book Soup in Los Angeles on November 15 at 5 p.m.

Should you find yourself in the Southland, please stop in to hear me say bad words and hand out cool stuff.

Bring friends. Tell your neighbors. Entice your co-workers. Invite strangers. (No Kardashians, please).

See you there!

xo

it is real

The advance copies of Driftwood are in. I can actually hold it in my hand. This is fantastic.

Also: look for me in the November issue of The Gloss, a monthly insert in the Irish Times.

Also also: I head into the studio next week to record Driftwood for Audible.

Also also also: I am reading at Green Apple Books in San Francisco on November 13 and at Book Soup in Los Angeles on November 15. Other dates and venues may be squeezed in. We shall see. But those who turn up will get cool little gifts.

Also also also also: I love you all.

xo

p.s. This is my 100th post on this here blog. Go get yourself an ice cream to celebrate! I am going to get some sleep.

sneaky snake

Right now, I feel trapped in an eddy in a wide, rushing river. Overwhelmed. Panicked. But then I stop and think about how good all that energy around me feels, even the scary shit. It is the process. It is what makes us alive.

I have so many thrilling plans and opportunities in my life right now. I have a novel that I love coming out in a couple months. I have a trip out to Sweet Home California to share said novel with friends and strangers alike. I have another novel in the works, cooking away in my brain that will be a serious, aggressive literary punk rock shift for me and I am excited. I have a job I really love, sharing knowledge about writing and literature and critical thinking and the very navigation of life itself. I have students this semester who are so brave and curious and have no idea the genius of which they are capable. I have the five sweetest, most rascally dogs on earth. They bring me endless joy. I have quite possibly the finest roster of family and friends attainable.

At the same time, the current whips around and changes direction and I find myself scrambling for the surface. I am dealing with personal issues and traumas going back decades that are finally forcing their way to the surface for resolution. And it’s about time. Like we see in the page from the sublime Be Here Now by the beautiful Ram Dass above, “YOU CAN’T RIP THE SKIN OFF THE SNAKE. THE SNAKE MUST MOULT THE SKIN. THAT’S THE RATE IT HAPPENS.” The universe unfolded as it should and now was the right time for this skin to be shed. I am gaining incredible clarity and strength thanks to a brilliant therapist and a lot of hard work. Everything happens at its own rate.

Unfortunately, a relationship I thought could have been forever, could have been the staying kind, the permanent kind, dissolved like excessive cotton candy in rain at exactly this same time. Sweet and charming at first, then perhaps a little much, then the deluge began and it disappeared. I did the best that I could and all that is left behind is a sticky mess (that would be me, I suppose). I loved him, deeply, and am thankful for those glowing moments like light through the tree leaves, dappled and sweet and fleeting. It is sad, of course, but it is the process.

Here’s the thing: I thought I was thisclose to 100% happiness. But that is an illusion. If we try, we can always find something that is missing. The truth is that we have 100% happiness in us all the time. It’s all about perspective. It’s all about appreciation. And it’s all about letting things go and continuing with forward motion. It’s all about patience and letting the snake shed its skin on its own timeframe. You can’t force nature (read some Jack London for confirmation of such) and you can’t force this human existence. It is brief. Enjoy it.

Which brings us to:

awesome:

Electricity

Clean water

Indoor plumbing

Air conditioning

Kitchen appliances

The Internet

Dogs and their unconditional love

Family whose love makes me want to burst

The new garbage can I got for the kitchen that has somehow simplified life

Really good pens

Coworkers who’ve become dear friends — such serendipity

Therapy

Having a family that will circle the wagons

The scary and happy anxiety of impending readings

Strong support networks

Tokyo Milk perfumes

Getting ready for Halloween

Naps

Not giving a damn and not hurting anyone in the process

Solving puzzles

Forgiving

Compassion when it feels impossible

non-awesome:

So much violence

Lack of Scottish independence (but without violence…so far)

Getting swindled out of almost $600 by those I thought better than that

Very angry people

Basically, the whole NFL

The addicted mind

Gender-inequity (especially among creatives, but that is a whole other post)

Insomnia

Remember, I love you all.

xo

too kind

 

Rejoice! Library Journal has given Driftwood a STARRED review! And boy, is it ever a good one! Check it:

 

*Dutton, Elizabeth. Driftwood: A California Road Trip Novel.

Skyhorse. Nov. 2014.

256p. ISBN 9781629144993. $24.95. 

Clem (Clementine) Jasper is a 27-year-old trust fund kid whose father is rock music royalty. A middle child, Clem drifts aimlessly through her days. When her dad dies at 58 of complications from a heart attack, her life takes an unexpected turn. Little sister, Dena, gets the Matisse, big brother, Simon, gets the guitars, and Clem gets…a stack of sealed letters that will take her on a road trip through California, visiting places her father wants her to see. He reveals his reasons for each destination in the missives, instructing Clem to open them on a specific schedule. Against her mother’s wishes, Clem embarks on the life-changing journey and learns more about her father than she ever knew—or ever wanted to know. VERDICT Dutton’s fiction debut is a stellar, thought-provoking novel about life, death, California, music, and more. Clem is a wry narrator, and the dialog is sharp and refreshingly realistic (F-bombs!). Born and raised in California, Dutton is well qualified to describe the various locales, and her renderings are poetically descriptive without being overdone or cloying. If you’ve never been to California, you might feel like you have visited after reading this creative and unforgettable story. For connoisseurs of singular fiction.—Samantha Gust, Niagara Univ. Lib., NY

 

Nice, huh? NOW will you buy it and read it when it comes out?!?

 

xo

go west, old crone

I am BEYOND thrilled to announce that I will be reading from and signing copies of Driftwood at Green Apple Books in San Francisco on November 13.

You are RSVP for the event via Facebook HERE.

I will have special treats (souvenirs, novelties, party tricks…) for those attending. And I am sure there will be an epic after-party somewhere that one wouldn’t want to miss.

PLEASE join me there to celebrate this book, to celebrate books in general, to celebrate reading, to celebrate reading in a UNION shop, to celebrate San Francisco and California and love and humanity.

See you there!

 

xo

 

p.s. – there is also an LA gig soon after this one. More to come with that.

the dulcet tones of my voice in your ear

 

I am often told that few people like the sound of their own voice. I am one of those who cringe when I hear my voice played back at me. I also cringe at photos of myself, so perhaps there are overall esteem issues at play here.

Anyhoo, my voice will soon be available to millions of people. My novel, Driftwood, will be available through Audible as an audiobook when it is released in November. I think I am the one who will be reading the book. If not, I really hope they get James Earl Jones. That’s my first choice. Or maybe Richard Simmons. Or Cydni Lauper. Or a robot.

That reminds me of when I was a child and my brother and I came home from school one day while my grandmother was showing our house to prospective buyers. (The house was on the market — she wasn’t just trying to sell it out from under us all, but that would make for a pretty good story). My brother and I walked in the front door and heard a digitized voice. My brother, all of about 7 years old, got wide eyed and looked at me with the most incredible look of excitement and joy.

“Grandma got me a ROBOT!!!” he glee-whispered.

Because, of course, that would be the most logical conclusion. Occam’s Razor and all that. Grandma must have stopped by the robot store and picked up a robot. That’s just what you did in the mid-80s. Everyone who was anyone had a robot and my brother was sure he was about to join those ranks.

We crept into the living room and found my grandmother sitting with an older couple. The man wore a baseball cap that said “WWII VET” on it and held his fingers to his throat.

“Well, hello there!”

My brother’s robot was actually a veteran with an electrolarynx, most likely due to throat cancer.

We sat and chatted with the couple for a bit, then excused ourselves to go outside and play. We got the basketball and began to shoot hoops. I was sure my brother was disappointed in not having a robot to call his own. Instead he said, “Man, I am so glad that guy didn’t hear me call him a robot. He would think I was an asshole.”

My brother was such a good little dude and he has grown up into a really good man.

Maybe he should be the one to read the book for the recording.

cover me

Driftwood has a cover. It is as lovely as the content.

I am having a hard time shifting gears and attempting to tackle the sales/promotion aspect of all this. I am the worst salesperson around. I don’t like pressure or conflict. I don’t like manipulation or bothering people. I just want to keep working on my next novel (which is coming along swimmingly), write the occasional poem, spend time with my sweetheart, hug my dogs, listen to music, cook good food, live life.

Book promotion is reminding me of my time at Mother Jones magazine. I was the “Special Projects Manager,” which was terribly fun. I worked with the ad department and set up concerts and such. I dealt with some circulation things. I also spent most weekends at festivals (solar power, sustainability, peace, music, etc. — even Woodstock ’99) handing out copies of the magazine and selling subscriptions. My sales approach was too laid back: zero pressure, all genuine smiles. To increase sales, I brought along interns who hustled the magazine into homes all over. My soul stayed intact.

In semesters when I teach business communication now, I cringe when we get to sales letters and all of the manipulative techniques we are to employ. I feel like I am spreading the evil word, creating corporate attack dogs. I wind up teaching the students how to see through a lot of marketing, sort of pulling back the curtain on the Great Oz. Ah, well.

This brings us to Driftwood. I really want people to read it when it comes out. I think a lot of people will really like it. There are a few problems, though. In order to publicize the book (so that people know it exists and will read it), it needs to be labeled and categorized. It occasionally gets put into the “Young Adult” category, which it is not. I am no Umberto Eco, but I am not writing for teens. I don’t like labels. For art or people. Then there is the promotion that so often feels shameless. I am supposed to visit book blogs, infiltrate them, and then suddenly mention my book when the time is right. That feels disingenuous. How can I let people know about the book in a genuine, real way? Word of mouth, perhaps?

The universe unfolds as it should. I am not going to sweat it. Those who need to read it shall read it in good time.

Now, it wouldn’t be a post without an awesome/non-awesome list, so let’s do this:

awesome:

that video going around of the old guy dancing

when people are excited about life and the world

feeling so loved as to feel safe

intelligent and funny co-workers

matte eye shadow

transformative moments

having a working automobile

this moment right now

non-awesome:

the pain of war

the poetry of the now-resigned poet laureate of North Carolina

humidity hair

minds closed by fear (psst…there’s nothing to be afraid of)

waning women’s rights

Let’s end on an upbeat, shall we? Think of the things that make your heart feel full. Know that you are one of the things on my list.

xo

the this and the that

Some cool things:

My novel, Driftwood, comes out on November 4. You can pre-order it here.

THIS video right here.

sunny days

stargazing and figuring out which star is which

baseball season, once again

trees in bloom

 

 

 

There are too many cool things to waste time on the things that aren’t so cool.

xo