Lily Iona MacKenzie's Blog, page 56

Ann Patchett’s Truth and Beauty: A Mixed Bag

I have mixed feelings after just completing Ann Patchett���s memoir about her friendship with Lucy Grealy, a poet/memoirist/essayist who died at 39 from what appeared to be a drug overdose: Truth and Beauty: A Friendship. Grealy was diagnosed at age nine with a rare form of cancer that is often fatal. It caused the doctors to remove her jawbone. During her remaining years, she went through 38 surgeries. Various doctors attempted to restore her jaw and implant lower teeth (which she didn���t have) so she could chew properly. As it was, she was limited to eating only very soft food.

On the one hand, Patchett does a great job of resurrecting Grealy in this book, an attempt, I���m sure, to keep her friend close by, even though she was dead. Patchett had saved most of Grealy���s letters over the years, and she intersperses them throughout the narrative, giving readers a flavor of Grealy���s thinking and writing. Patchett also captures the intensity of their friendship���they really seemed more like sisters than good friends���from the time they became roommates at the Iowa Writers��� Workshop.

In spite of being disfigured from her many surgeries, Grealy seems to have had considerable charisma and loved being among people and partying. She was a flamboyant social animal who lusted after men, sex, and life. Patchett appears to have been more subdued and grounded, offering stability to her friend that she didn���t have herself. It appears Patchett even was something of a mother figure, especially in the sections where she describes carrying the 100 lb Grealy from taxi to apartment after her various hospitalizations.

While I���m impressed with Grealy���s heroic response to her terrible fate and with Patchett���s apparent commitment to her friend, I also am interested in the writing life that���s captured here. Both had residencies at prestigious places, such as the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Yaddo, and Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies. They shared their struggles for recognition and success, each achieving fame in her own way, and they were a central part of the NY literary scene. So it���s a book well suited to other writers.

However, Patchett���s memoir makes it sound as if Grealy���s friends were her only family, and we rarely hear any mention of her actual family���s response to her. As a result, Patchett comes across as equally heroic as Grealy in her devotion to her friend. But I wanted to know more about how Grealy���s situation impacted Pachett emotionally, but there���s very little self-reflection here. I also am puzzled by the title Truth and Beauty, both very abstract words that tend to idealize this relationship and seem far from the nitty gritty reality of it.

There seems something cancerous at the core of this friendship Patchett describes that hasn���t quite been diagnosed or resolved, neither by the book nor by Patchett herself.

 

 

 

 

 

Filed under: Links Tagged: Ann Patchett, cancer, iowa writers workshop, Lucy Grealy, memoir, poetry, truth and beauty, writers, writing

I’m delighted to introduce author Karen Hulene Bartell, PhD:

Please introduce yourself and tell us something about your books.

My name is Karen Hulene Bartell. I���m the author of Sacred Choices, Belize Navidad, Sacred Gift, Sovereignty of the Dragons, and Untimely Partners, as well as a motivational keynote speaker, IT technical editor, wife, professor emeritus of Soochow University, Taipei, Taiwan, and the University of Texas at Austin, and all-around pilgrim of life.

I write the kind of books I want to read: spooky, but not gory; romantic, but not graphic.

What genres do you write in?

That���s a quirky question for me. I���ve tried writing in numerous genres. My bread-and-butter job is an IT technical writer, so I���ve written every kind of whitepaper, manual, and press release there is. I started out writing cookbooks, but, when I lectured at the universities, I wrote college textbooks. I���ve written children���s books and time-travel books, but finally I���ve found my ���voice.���

My favorite genre is multicultural, offbeat love stories steeped in the supernatural that lift the spirit.

How did you come to write your first book and how long ago was it?

My first cookbook was The Best of Polish Cooking. I wrote it thirty years ago, and, according to my publisher and Publisher���s Weekly, it���s still a ���best seller.��� I wrote it for three reasons. I knew I wanted to be an author. Someone had advised me that cookbooks were an easy way to break into the market – at that time, before recipes on the web took over. I loved cooking (then), and enjoyed experimenting with ethnic dishes. Plus, I had a Polish boyfriend at the time, who I wanted to impress ;)

When you sit down to write a new story, do you know what the ending will be before you start or does it evolve as you write?

I���ve never yet known what the ending will be. I start out with a vague idea of the plot. Then, as the characters develop, the story evolves. Many times, characters write their own scenes. They just ���happen.��� Once, a character���s wife came to me me in a dream, advising what to write.

Are you a self-published author?

No, my publisher is Pen-L Publishing, but how they became my publisher is a funny story. After trying to get Sacred Spaces published for several months, I decided to self-publish it. I uploaded it to the web on Sunday afternoon. On Tuesday morning, it occurred to me that I���d sent the manuscript to a publisher several weeks before. Thinking it was the polite thing, I emailed them saying not to bother reading it, that it was published. After many back-and-forth emails, later that same day, they suggested that I divide into two books, Sacred Choices and Sacred Gift, and they offered me a five-year contract for as many books as I could write. (Follow-up note: Sacred Gift, the sequel to Sacred Choices, is being released in April.)

Which is the hardest part about being an author ��� the writing, the editing or the marketing?

The hardest part of writing is the marketing. IMHO, 95% of ���writing��� is marketing. I write because I���m called. I love it. It simply flows. Editing���s second nature to me, but marketing is something I���ve had to develop. Scratch that. It���s something I���m learning as I go.

If you could vacation anywhere in the world, where would you choose and why?

If I could vacation anywhere, I���d go to Spain. It���s ironic that you ask! For our upcoming twenty-fourth anniversary, my husband surprised me with a trip to Spain next month. (Inside information: Spain will be the setting for my next novel. Working title: Christmas in Barcelona.)

Do you have your own website?

I do:

Web site: http://www.karenhulenebartell.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarenHuleneBartell

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KarenHuleneBart

Amazon Reviews: http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Choices-Karen-Hulene-Bartell/dp/1940222311/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1395776381&sr=1-1&keywords=sacred+choices+bartell

Amazon Author���s Page: http://www.amazon.com/Karen-Hulene-Bartell/e/B000APG0Q8/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

Sacred Choices on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21814556-sacred-choices?from_search=true

Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/611950.Karen_Hulene_Bartell

My Goodreads Blog: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/611950.Karen_Hulene_Bartell/blog

Are you working on a new book at the moment?

I���m putting the finishing touches on Sacred Gift, the sequel to Sacred Choices.

Everyone���s gifted, but some people never open their package.

Synopsis:

Angela Maria Brannon, the adopted baby from Sacred Choices has come of age. Because of her connection with the Aztec goddess Tonantzin and Our Lady of Guadalupe, she has a special gift. Able to communicate with the afterlife, she helps souls both in this world and the next to forgive and progress.

Because of Angela, her birth-mother Ceren comes full circle with her past, tying in with Develyn���s future. Develyn, the survivor of a botched abortion, hears God���s call, slowly transitioning from Goth Girl to postulant. Esteban���s earthbound spirit is liberated, allowing him to move on. Judith tears off her defensive ���Band-Aid��� of busyness to forgive herself, come to terms with her aborted child, and reconcile with the child���s father. Pastora recognizes her concealed gift and its potential.

Located in the Texas Hill Country, along San Antonio���s River Walk and Mission Trail, Sacred Gift features eerie encounters with spectres, analemmas, and solar illuminations with both religious and astronomical significance. Kissed by the divine and grazed by the ungodly, Sacred Gift proves there���s ���more in heaven and earth than is dreamt of….���

 

Filed under: Links

Guest Post by Blanche Day Manos: Mystery, Murder, Mayhem

Mystery, Murder, Mayhem

Why would a mild-manner retired kindergarten teacher turn to murder and mayhem in her golden years? Maybe it���s because being an author has been a lifelong dream. But why, you may ask, would her chosen genre be such a violent one? Actually, in a cozy, most of the violence happens off stage, so to speak but there���s a more important reason: I love reading and writing cozy mysteries.

A writer has to be, first of all, a reader. It all began with Nancy Drew, many years ago. From The Secret of the Old Clock, I was hooked on mysteries. Then, of course came the popular television series, Murder, She Wrote. I just had to try my hand at writing a Jessica Fletcher type book.

A friend, Barbara Burgess and I came up with the idea of a mother and daughter sleuth team. Barbara and I both had supportive moms who were inspirations for our writing. We both had Cherokee ancestry. We were brought up in rural areas and writers are supposed to write about what they know, right? Throw in some legends, two women with a healthy dose of curiosity and a penchant for mystery, place them in a hundred-year old farmhouse in a small Oklahoma town. Stir in a romantic interest or two and that���s a recipe for our cozy mysteries. We named the younger sleuth Darcy and her mom, Flora. We named the town Levi.

We got to know Darcy and Flora. We liked sitting down and having coffee with them around the old wood dining table. We admired their courage and determination and empathized with their human failings. So, we couldn���t just leave them in Levi after The Cemetery Club���s rousing finish. That���s how the second book, Grave Shift came about.

After the first two books, we had some questions we wanted Darcy and Flora to answer, questions about their own family and happenings in the long ago past. Best Left Buried was the ultimate and natural result.

Every writer knows that writing is a way of life, a flame within that will not be quenched, a dream that keeps growing. So, after Darcy and Flora, I launched out into a new series with a new protagonist set in another small Oklahoma town. Moonlight Can Be Murder grew out of a lot of ���What Ifs.��� What if a slightly past middle aged woman came back to her hometown after forty years absence, found her uncle dying, inherited a Victorian house and stirred up an old hornet���s nest? Well, you can see that this premise could not be ignored.

With a mystery writer, there���s always another possibility just around the corner, a long ago legend, a mysterious disappearance, or a question without an answer. This retired kindergarten teacher doesn���t plan to rock gently into her sunset years. I plan to liven up life a bit and what better way than jumping headfirst into a mystery?

Blanche Day Manos is a retired kindergarten teacher who makes her home in Northwest Arkansas after being an almost-lifelong Oklahoman. When she isn���t busy cooking up the next round of murder and mayhem, she enjoys her grandchildren, painting, playing the piano, and, of course, that most relaxing pastime, reading.

The Darcy and Flora cozy mysteries are available at Pen-L.com, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com. Her blog site is BlancheDayManos.com and she invites you to drop in for a visit.

Filed under: Links

The Mystery of Language

I see a relationship between impressionism, some kinds of abstract paintings, and the poetry I want to write���of just suggesting something. Giving only enough information/detail to set the readers��� imagination working. I don’t want everything spelled out. I want mystery in my poems (and my prose)���new worlds.

I love this Rothko quote: “Mark Rothko, painting his stripes in Greece, was asked: ���Why don’t you paint our temples.’ He replied: ‘Everything I paint is a temple.���”

I’d like to think that everything I write is one. There seems some evidence for the idea that we are changed by the things we create���actually shaped by them. Ralph Ellison shares this idea. He says the novels we write create us as much as we create them.

My husband and I got into a discussion of poetry and our different approaches to it, his training being in new criticism, mine in more contemporary work. He recognizes that I���m onto something Melville was alluding to in Moby Dick���the gap between language and what it tries to depict…how language organizes and creates our way of seeing.

After this conversation, we looked at some poems I had written recently, and he was reading them differently. This time he was able to grasp what I was doing. We talked of how our training can shut us down, put blinders on us. He said, “Joseph Brodsky believes language has a life outside of us and uses the writer.

I agree. I think it’s true that in the beginning was the word. Language is absolutely mysterious in its relationship to humans and the things it touches.

 

 

Filed under: Links Tagged: joseph brodsky, language, Mark Rothko, mystery, new criticism, poetry

Marketing Madness!

Publishing a novel has forced me to embrace the world of social networking. From it, I���ve discovered a whole other culture that I haven���t experienced before.

For a few years, I���ve lived on the periphery of Facebook. I started a Facebook page awhile back and friended (a word that didn���t exist a few years ago) a handful of people, not understanding what was required of me in this new environment. Mainly, I felt like a voyeur, reading others posts, though they weren���t aware of me lurking in the shadows. I didn���t know then about ���liking��� posts and leaving an imprint. I felt more comfortable staying on the sidelines as I often do at large gatherings. I���m an observer. I like to watch people and maintain my privacy.

But if I wanted to connect with people I had friended and find new friends, I had to make a shift. Luckily, my Facebook savvy stepdaughter enlightened me on what���s required in order to have a presence in that space. So she added me to Binders Full of Women Writers, as well as Binders and Book Marketing. Since then my publisher has also created a group his authors that I am part of.

Of course, I went overboard at first. I thought I had to gather a herd of friends and began requesting anyone who was acquainted with one of my actual friends to become mine as well. That meant I had tons of posts each day screaming for attention. There was no way I could handle that load. So I finally learned how to hide many of the posts that weren���t invigorating. How many casseroles and cheesecakes can one person make? Now I spend the majority of my time in the groups I���m part of because we have more in common, and I���m learning things from their posts about writing and publishing.

Twitter? I���m still a novice on how to tweet and follow others without ending up with a meaningless bunch of twips (my word). There���s definitely a learning curve and more information than I could possibly follow in one day far less a week. How does one keep up with all of these social-networking demands? At the moment, I���m feeling overwhelmed by it all and wonder how others manage to keep their writing lives going at the same time as they are marketing their books.

Filed under: Links Tagged: facebook, friends, marketing, publishing a novel, tweets, twitter

Trusting Ourselves as Writers

���I write to make sense of my life.��� John Cheever

I���ve been reading Blake Bailey���s Cheever: A Life, and it���s been extremely illuminating in many ways. John Cheever, considered one of the best 20th Century short story writers, struggled at times, as most writers do, to trust his impulses in creating short stories and novels. Many of his works first appeared in the New Yorker, and for much of that time, William Maxwell, long-time editor at that magazine, was both his good friend and editor. This relationship eventually became a problem for them both.

Maxwell, a fine writer himself, wore blinders when his writers attempted to move beyond the traditional realist fiction that he favored. At a critical time in Cheever���s life and career, Maxwell refused to publish any Cheever stories that didn���t fit into this narrow groove, causing Cheever to doubt his craft. He somehow managed to regain his equilibrium and found publishers who were interested in his deviations from the naturalistic mode. But because Maxwell had so much power to influence his friend, it was difficult for the latter to break away.

He eventually did, but Cheever���s evolution reminds me of problems I also faced while enrolled in San Francisco State���s Creative Writing Program. Like him, I ran into teachers/authorities who didn���t encourage my fabulist tendencies, urging me to focus on the mainstream story. I wrote about this experience in the following blog:�����What Is the Real Story?��� http://www.nowwhatmfa.com/guest-articles/

As I mention there, ���As writers and teachers, we need to be more aware of the range we have available to us so we don���t limit our own or others��� imaginations.��� I also quote Eudora Welty who wisely has pointed out that ���Writing is such an internal, interior thing that it can hardly be reached by you, much less by another person. I can���t tell you how to write, no more than you can tell me. We���re all different from one another even in the way we breathe. Writers must learn to trust themselves.���

I���m grateful that Cheever fought back and eventually did trust his own voice, a distinctive one that still inspires short story writers from all traditions. Making sense of one���s life requires us to explore new modes and find alternative ways to express our discoveries.

I would love to hear from others who have had similar experiences. Even better, I would like to hear from writers who ran into those rare teachers who could help the writer find his/her unique direction.

 

 

 

 

 

Filed under: Links Tagged: Blake Bailey, fiction, John Cheever, New Yorker Magazine, short story, William Maxwell, writing

Reflections on the Oscar Feeding Frenzy

Okay, I admit it. I joined the Oscar feeding frenzy on Sunday night and got my yearly fix. I���m not going to criticize the MC whose name I forget (which I guess is a form of criticism). And I���m not going to argue that Boyhood should have won best picture because I haven���t yet seen Birdman. But I am going to reflect on the ceremony itself and what it symbolizes.

I think many of us watch these awards because we are hungry for ceremonies. A lot of people don���t participate in the traditional religious scene, me included. So Hollywood���s annual parade of its stars functions as a kind of religious event where we praise the gods of mammon, but somewhat covertly. For a short time, we can identify with these silver screen gods and goddesses, some of whom win the big prize, Monsieur Oscar, for transforming themselves in their various roles. They offer us the illusion (delusion?) that we too could have a similar transcendent experience. But our deities have clay feet and are there to be seen, seeking plaudits and money and fame.

I approach these evenings, as I think many of us do, with anticipation. Will our favorite movie and actor be recognized for their achievement? Will the excellent acting and directing move us? Then why do I usually feel deflated when it���s over? It���s not because I don���t want the event to end. It���s because the ceremony feels empty. It doesn���t have the kind of foundation that an actual religious rite does. Too much depends on these fallible men and women providing us with meaning. And, of course, they fail. But next year I’ll be in front of the TV again on Oscar night, hoping something magical will actually happen.

 

 

 

 

Filed under: Links Tagged: birdman, boyhood, mammon, movie starts, oscars

Calling All Writers!

Authorpreneur: How to Build a Business Around Your Book by Nina Amir – Mini Review Tour & Giveaway Contest![image error]

Writers rarely are able to support themselves on their book sales alone. Therefore, they need to find other sources of support. Nina Amir, who wrote Authorpreneur, believes that writers need to become skilled recyclers of their published material, whether fiction or non-fiction, so they can supplement their earnings doing something they love: writing.

Most writers are already familiar with on-line marketing and technology. They have had to become acquainted with these tools in order to sell their books. But their skills don���t need to end there. Nor does their income need to depend only on book publishing.

As Amir says, ���If you want to support yourself as an author, write a��book for the purpose of making money from related products and services. Write a book because you want to build a business around your book. Whether you write fiction or nonfiction, consider how to turn your book into a business.��� This requires thinking like an entrepreneur.

If you want to discover how to extend the reach of your published books, read Authorpreneur. In it, Amir outlines the many ways to exploit one���s knowledge through a variety of activities.

Another one of Nina���s ebooks, The Nonfiction Book Proposal Demystified, will be on a mini tour during the month of March. Don���t miss the launch on the Muffin on March 4.

Click on this link to win a copy of Authorpreneur:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/4221b3a8123/” rel=”nofollow” data-raflid=”4221b3a8123″ data-theme=”classic” data-template=”” id=”rcwidget_8wjabh79″>a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ebook:��85 pages

Publisher:��Pure Spirit Creations (October 22, 2014)

ASIN:��B00OT67PPO

Twitter hashtag:��#NinaAmir

Authorpreneur: How to Build a Business Around Your Book����is available as an ebook at��Amazon��(http://www.amazon.com/Authorpreneur-Build-Business-around-Your-ebook/dp/B00OT67PPO) and��Smashwords (https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/487071)

About the author:

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Nina Amir, author of How to Blog a Book, The Author Training Manual, and 10 Days and 10 Ways to Return to Your Best Self, transforms writers into inspired, successful authors, authorpreneurs and blogpreneurs as an Inspiration to Creation Coach. She moves her clients from ideas to finished books as well as to careers as authors by helping them combine their passion and purpose so they create products that positively and meaningfully impact the world. She writes four blogs, self-published 12 books and founded National Nonfiction Writing Month, aka the Write Nonfiction in November Challenge.

Amir holds a BA in magazine journalism with a concentration in psychology, has edited or written for more than 45 publications producing hundreds of articles, and has had her work published in five anthologies. She has self-published nine short books, including the popular workbook How to Evaluate Your Book for Success and 10 Days and 10 Ways to Return to Your Best Self. She is the former writing and publishing expert on the popular radio show, Dresser After Dark, hosted by Michael Ray Dresser, which has approximately 80,000 listeners per month. Amir also speaks and writes about self-empowerment, human potential, and practical spirituality.

 

 

 

 

 

Filed under: Links Tagged: authorpreneur, authors, nina amir, publishing

A Message for All Writers!

I came across this Charles Simic poem and believe it’s speaking to us writers. Of course, I’m sure it has multiple meanings. What do you think?
��
The White Labyrinth
��
There is one waiting for you,
On every blank��sheet��of paper.
So, beware of��the��monster
Guarding it who���ll be invisible
As he comes charging at you,
Armed as you are only with a pen.
And watch out for that girl
Who���ll come to your aid
With her quick mind and a ball of��head,
And lead you by the nose
Out of one maze into another.
Filed under: Links Tagged: charles simic, poem, poetry, writers, writing

Calling All Writers!

I came across this Charles Simic poem and believe it’s speaking to us writers. Of course, I’m sure it has multiple meanings. What do you think?
��
The White Labyrinth
��
There is one waiting for you,
On every blank��sheet��of paper.
So, beware of��the��monster
Guarding it who���ll be invisible
As he comes charging at you,
Armed as you are only with a pen.
And watch out for that girl
Who���ll come to your aid
With her quick mind and a ball of��head,
And lead you by the nose
Out of one maze into another.
Filed under: Links Tagged: charles simic, poem, poetry, writers, writing