Sarah Guillory's Blog, page 6

Don't Turn out the Light


Artwork courtesy of the
American Library Association.It’s that time of year again: Banned Books Week, the one week out of the year that we throw a harsh light on those who would try to keep others in darkness. Those who want to project their prejudices and fears onto others. Those who want to hide the books.
Last year I wrote about how we should celebrate our right to read. This year I want to talk a bit about how my students are doing just that.
I teach sophomore English, and for the past few years, I’ve assigned Fahrenheit 451. I read the book myself when I was a sophomore in high school, and it had a profound effect on me. If you haven’t read it yet, you should. I recommend it to everyone. It’s a scary picture of what might happen if the book banners win, if books are indeed outlawed because of our fear of offending someone. It’s also a reminder that it is up to us to keep literature alive. In Bradbury’s world, books were not initially outlawed. It’s just that people stopped reading. They spent too much time getting offended and not nearly enough time listening.
The world is a scary place, and I understand that many parents want to protect their children from it. I get the need to shield children from the ugliness that life sometimes brings. But in doing so, we are also shielding them from its beauty. And while it is the parents’ prerogative to stand between their child and the world, it is not their job to monitor the morals of everyone else.
When we ban books, what we are doing is telling those who received comfort from those books that they are wrong. They are wrong to find beauty in something ugly. They should be ashamed of their feelings, their desires, their connection to something others view as sinful or shameful. We teach them to be silent. And when we do this, it is we who are wrong.
It is admiral for adults to want to stand between children and the world and become a shield against the darkness. But if I’ve learned anything about the dark, it’s that it creeps around our strongest fortifications, crawls into the gaps, finds a way through the keyhole.
Light is the only thing that chases away darkness. Literature is that light to many people. It’s that light to me.
It girds readers against ignorance and oppression. It comforts us and shows us we aren’t alone. Above all, it teaches hope.
Because in the end, we can’t protect those we love from the world. We can only make sure we’ve helped them to find their strength and to discover that hope.
One of the questions I asked my students after they’d read Fahrenheit 451 is which book they would memorize. If, like Montag, they were the one source of survival for a book, which one would they want to save at all costs? In looking at the books some of my students chose to memorize, to keep alive when all others may have been lost, you’ll see that each one holds a mirror up to life and reveals its ugliness, its darkest places. But in the end, each one gives us hope.
And hope is the strongest of shields.
 
Here are just a few of the books my students named:
The Bible (This was the most common response. The Bible is full of violence and war, of humans being at their worst, but in the end, there is hope.)
A history textbook (This was mentioned a couple of times. Students wanted to memorize the truth in order to gird themselves against lies.)
A Tale of Two Cities (Plenty of death here, but also love and sacrifice.)
The Fault in our Stars (Beautiful but harsh, am I right?)
The Hunger Games (Children killing each other for entertainment – not exactly Dick and Jane, is it? And yet it speaks to so many.)
Fahrenheit 451 (Just when hope seems buried, it rises from the ashes like a phoenix.)
1984 (This is the only one in the list that doesn’t end with hope. But that makes it the scariest of them all. The student wanted to memorize it as a warning – what would happen if we lost our hope altogether. The thought is chilling.)
To learn more about Banned Books Week and how you can celebrate your right to read, visit the American LibraryAssociation.

Sneak Peek of RECLAIMED!

Read the first four chapters of RECLAIMED now!

RECLAIMED Pre-Order Giveaway!

My Countdown



  Reclaimed releases in just over a month, and while that thought often induces flailing and random hand flapping, more often than not, it just makes me really excited.
I know many of you have already pre-ordered the book. THANK YOU SO MUCH! It means a lot that people are excited and ready for Reclaimed to be released. If you haven’t yet pre-ordered, it’s not too late. Reclaimed is available in both paperback and e-book. The buy links will be at the bottom of this post.We have some amazing prizes for those of you who pre-order the book. Just send an email confirmation of your pre-order to shcpreorder@gmail.com. This can simply be a screen shot of your receipt (minus your credit card info).The first prize we're giving away is a signed poster of Reclaimed!We will choose 25 random winners from the email confirmations. And as more pre-orders come in, we’ll be giving away even more amazing prizes. (While I can’t divulge the secrets yet, trust me, you’re going to want to get in on this giveaway.) Once new levels of prizes are unlocked, you remain eligible as winners will be picked using a random generator.Good luck!Amazon         Barnes and Noble        IndieBound

RECLAIMED Playlist + Blog Tour

RECLAIMED comes out next month and I couldn't be more excited! (I typed that in Chandler's voice, by the way.) This book has been my heart since I started writing it in 2010, and I can't believe that I finally get to share it with the world.

Last month I was part of the Authors are Rockstars tour with the awesome Katelyn over at Kate's Tales of Books and Bands, where she featured the RECLAIMED playlist. Check it out now, then tell me what you think!

Also, I believe there are still a couple of spots left for the RECLAIMED blog tour if you are interested. There are no ARCS left, so unless you already have one, the review portion of the tour is out. Fill out the form if you want to participate!

A Life of Passion

My creative writing class
from last year.I’m very fortunate that I get to spend my life pursuing my two passions: teaching and writing.
They are similar pursuits. They're both stressful. Both sometimes require patience and occasionally a little outside help in the form of an adult beverage. And both require a person to pour in love and hard work and then let go and see what happens. See, no matter how hard I work on lessons, the results are up to my students. How much they learn, how well they perform, have only a small amount to do with me. If I do my job correctly, they won’t need me eventually.
But it’s delayed gratification, because I don’t truly get to see the results until years later.
This is writing. Writers pour their hearts and souls into a manuscript, but it will be years until they see those results. And once they have let the book out into the world, it’s out of their hands. It’s up to the readers then, who will hopefully see the detail, feel the nuances, climb inside the world and inhabit, just for a moment, a world that was born out of passion.
Teaching and writing can be frustrating. There are times when you aren’t sure if what you are doing is worth is. But those moments are brief. It is in the action that I am truly satisfied. It is when I’m discussing literature with students that I am the happiest. It is when I am cuddled up with coffee and revisions that I am most content. It isn’t the accolades or recognition or milestones that do it for me – it is simply the doing.
It is this life that I want for my students.
I want to teach my students to think, to examine, to create. I want my students to spend their lives seeking knowledge, whatever that may look like. I hope to teach my students to want more out of life, not to simply exist, but to live, and to live in the way that they choose.
Above all, that’s why I teach - because I want my students to have choices. I want whatever they do in life to be a result of a choice, not a lack of options. If they want to dig ditches, I think that’s great, as long as they have chosen that rather than been forced to do that. That makes all the difference. I teach so that none of my students will look back and realize they couldn’t pursue their passion, whatever it was, because they lacked the skills. I give my students the tools to succeed in college so that if they don’t go, it will be because their passion lay in another field, not because they couldn’t get in. I want my students to find their passion and chase it down. I want their lives to be full of the things they love. I want them to wake up each and every day and feel just as happy, just as lucky, as I do, because they aren’t existing, they are living.
Above all, I teach and write because not doing so isn’t really an option. Because I love learning new things and lighting a fire in others. Because sometimes my skin can’t hold the words in any longer. Because my passion drives me to do so.
May yours do the same.

Giveaway winners!

Thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway as well as those who helped spread the word. The winners are:

Vivien and Becky!

They've already been contacted, and the books will be headed their way shortly. If you didn't win, know that Send me a Sign by Tiffany Schmidt and both Freefall and Live Through This by Mindi Scott are available now. You should probably go get them right now. I'll wait.

Also, though Reclaimed doesn't release until October 15th, you can pre-order from BARNES AND NOBLE, AMAZON, and INDIEBOUND.

Kirkus, Blurbs, and Free Stuff - heck yeah!

I’ve been sitting on some pretty exciting news for the last couple of weeks, and I finally get to share it!

Reclaimed got its first journal review! From Kirkus! They said its “nature-inspired metaphors add depth” and called it "intriguing." You can read the full review here, but let's just say I am thrilled that they liked it. And still a little in shock. But mostly thrilled.

Blurbs are a nerve-wracking experience. You know someone is reading your book and you pray that they like it and you pray even harder that they like it enough to say so. RECLAIMED was fortunate enough to get blurbs from two AMAZING authors whom I admire and respect.
 
Packed with atmosphere and surprises, Reclaimed is one of those rare books that kept me guessing throughout and inspired an immediate reread.-Mindi Scott, author of Freefall and Live Through This

RECLAIMED broke my heart, changed my mind, and I couldn't turn the pages fast enough.
-Tiffany Schmidt, author of Send Me A Sign
 
So in honor of this exciting news, I’m giving away a copy of Freefall by Mindi Scott and Send me a Sign by Tiffany Schmidt. (Believe me, you want these books. They are both incredible.) I’m also giving away two annotated ARCS of Reclaimed. If you aren’t sure what I mean by annotated, it means I will leave you notes in the margins giving you insider information. It’s sort of like pop-up video for books. (And I just showed my age.)

Prize #1 Prize #2


 
The contest ends August 8, 2013, and is open to US residents only. (Sorry!)
 
Use the rafflecopter below to enter.a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sticker Drafting

I had a conversation on Twitter the other day about motivation and rewards, namely my use of stickers. Everyone seemed interested in this, so I thought I’d blog about it. Jessica Spotswood posted one a few months back. You can read hers here.
I started using stickers several years ago for marathon training. When I train, I always type up my mileage schedule on a calendar so I know what I will be running every day until race day. I have to do this, as I have to mentally prepare myself for twenty milers. I’m not a spontaneous person. I can’t just go out and run twenty miles. Physcially, yes. But running long distance is extremely mental, and I have to know in advance that I will be running it so I can think about it and form my plan.
Anyone who runs marathons knows the taper is the most horrible, nerve-wracking time in a runner’s life. For those who don’t know, the taper is the time period (usually 2-3 weeks) before a marathon where you decrease your mileage in order to rest your body so that it will be able to run the marathon you’ve been training for. The taper messes with your mind. I have a tendency to get a cold during this time. I worry that I am resting too much. I get antsy, I check the weather channel hourly, I worry that I won’t be able to hit the time I’ve been training for.
So I started using stickers on my training calendar. I give myself a sticker every time I do the run as it is scheduled. The great part about this is that nothing looks so wonderful as a month filled with stickers. Then, when I get nervous and full of doubt during the taper, I can look back at the calendar and know that I have done my part. I have trained properly. I am ready for this race.
When I started writing consistently several years ago, I wrote 1k a day. I didn’t need any gimmicks to do this, as it was something mentally I knew I would do. Running taught me discipline, and I was pretty good at hitting my word count. Some days I wrote more. Some days I wrote less. But I always aimed for 1k, and books were written and revised just fine.
But this spring I needed to draft a book pretty quickly. I wrote the first book in a planned trilogy last year, and a lovely friend suggested it become book two and I write a new book one. She also gently suggested I get it finished by May. It was March.
I teach high school English, which means that when I get home after a long day’s work, I’m tired. Very tired. I write every day, but I was going to have to write more every day if I was going to get this book finished. I needed to hit 2k every day, and since I had trained myself to do 1k, I knew I was going to need more motivation. In the form of stickers.
They worked. I earned a sticker when I hit 2k for the day. There were days where I wrote 1500 and didn’t think it would be possible to get 500 more. But the thought of having a hole in my calendar kept me writing. On the days when I began to doubt, when I began to hate the draft with the fire of a thousand suns, I looked at my row of stickers and felt better. I could fix anything that wasn’t working later. I just had to write something to fix first. And I didn’t want to break my streak.



I’m not always a fan of fast drafts. I believe that great art takes time. But my drafts are always rough, whether it takes me five months or five weeks. My stories come out in the re-writing.
I spent five weeks using stickers to motivate me to hit my word count, and at the end of five weeks, I had 84,000 words and a finished draft.
Whether marathon training or drafting, the stickers help me log consecutive days of work and are reminders of the preparation I've put in, enabling me to toe the starting line on race day. Because in the end, writing a book is a marathon, not a sprint, and those weeks of drafting get me ready for the real race – revisions.
Now if I could just get someone to man my aid station of revision refueling essentials: coffee and Twizzlers.

CHARCOAL AND HOT CHOCOLATE

My friend and fellow Louisianian Irene Rose recently released her NA debut, Charcoal and Hot Chocolate. Check it out!  
College life is a breath of fresh air for 20 year old Ellie Baylor, a painfully shy but beautiful art major. She has her canvas and charcoal and that's more than enough. Her choice to go to school far from home and the watchful eye of her strict parents seems like the perfect thing for smooth sailing into an easy life. But when River Daniels, a charming artist with eyes the color of hot chocolate, asks her to join him in a project for class, Ellie may get more than just an A. She might find out how to live.
Here are the links!

Goodreads:  Twitter: @authorrosebud   Facebook:    Kindle/Amazon:     Nook/B&N:    Kobo:    Blog:

BEA in Pictures

I know this BEA post is late, but that's because it took me a week to recover! New York City was amazing, but I came home exhausted. And excited. And already making plans for next year.   
This is me on Wednesday. See how happy I am? That's because I am holding an ARC of RECLAIMED for the first time. It was surreal. And it made me forget the honking, screaming, f-bomb screeching experience of trying to catch a cab at La Guardia.
 So I didn't take a lot of pictures, but most of the ones I took are of buildings. Being married to a builder does that. This is the Jefferson Market Library, where the Teen Author Carnival was held. It is a gorgeous place, and I really enjoyed the panels.  

 
The lovely Dahlia took me for my first ever macaron. It was glorious.

     On Thursday night I had dinner with all my Twitter friends, who are even better in real life.   I did my first ever author signing on Friday. I was a little nervous as the time neared, but once it started, I was too busy to remember nerves. I signed gorgeous posters of RECLAIMED, and two lucky winners received ARCS. I also got to meet the lovely Virginia, Steph, and Trisha Leigh, among others. Chatting with my Twitter friends was seriously the highlight of my trip.   This is the post office. Seriously. I had to mail all of the books I picked up at BEA, and I was looking for a little blue sign, hoping I didn't walk past it. Yeah, this building isn't exactly subtle.
 This is my fabulous editor Danielle. She is the reason RECLAIMED will be out in October, after having found it during WriteonCon. She is even more amazing in person. There were lots of hugs. 
 And giggles. I probably laughed more on this trip than I do in a normal month. Megan kept me in stitches and high fives the entire time, and the adventurous Kelsey flew in for 24 hours. Seriously. She is that awesome.
Saturday night was spent in the company of amazing friends and show tunes. The lovely Jessica took us to a bar where we sang (well, they sang, I croaked) songs from Les Mis, My Fair Lady (Megan's cockney accent is sublime), and Sound of Music. If you ever want to feel inadequate, sit between Kelsey and Jessica while they are singing. Seriously.      I spent my last day in Brooklyn, eating pumpkin pancakes and enjoying Prospect Park.  
And the books. I wish I could curl up in my office and not come out until school starts in August.    But more than the places I saw or the books I grabbed, BEA was a wonderful trip because of all the people I met, laughed with, and hugged.And the macarons. The macarons were pretty great.