Suzanne Alyssa Andrew's Blog: The PROCESS blog, page 19

Circle of Stones Reader Giveaway

Dear friend,

I really appreciate your support for my debut novel, Circle of Stones. As a special thank you I’m running a giveaway on Instagram and Twitter.

Post a picture of the novel with the #CircleofStones hashtag on Twitter or Instagram between now and September 14 for a chance at a gift bundle of CanLit books courtesy Dundurn Press, and a selection of fine stationery from the Paper Place.

I wish I could give each of you a gift, but it’s exciting to leave some of this to chance! One post from the Circle of Readers will be randomly selected on September 15 to receive the gift. The rest of the posts will be greeted with my warmest enthusiasm.

Many thanks, and happy reading!

Suzanne

Today’s prompt is all about illusions, of which characters...

Today’s prompt is all about illusions, of which characters can have many. Dark Circle Writing Prompts. A lo-fi, pen and ink series. Follow to join the circle #DarkCirclePrompts #dark#writingprompts #writing #writinglife#creativeprocess #inspiration #ideas #horror#mystery #gothic #goth #penandink #ink #writersofinstagram #amwriting

One of your characters is carrying one of these around. What...

One of your characters is carrying one of these around. What happens? Dark Circle Writing Prompts. A new occasional and lo-fi, pen and ink series. Follow to join the circle. Say of what you see in the dark. #DarkCirclePrompts #dark #writingprompts #writing #writinglife#creativeprocess #inspiration #ideas #horror#mystery #gothic #goth #penandink #ink #writersofinstagram #amwriting

Dark Circle Writing Prompts. A new occasional and lo-fi, pen and...

Dark Circle Writing Prompts. A new occasional and lo-fi, pen and ink series. Join the circle. Say of what you see in the dark. #DarkCirclePrompts #dark #writingprompts #writing #writinglife #creativeprocess #inspiration #ideas #horror #mystery #gothic #goth #penandink #ink

The vulnerability of submitting

In the spring of this year I had the tremendous pleasure of writing a guest post for Sarah Selecky’s popular writing site. 

Read it here with Sarah’s lovely letter of introduction.

Or see the full excerpt of what I wrote below:

I’m at my desk, working. There’s an email chime. I’m on deadline for a freelance project but I can’t help but look. My novel manuscript is on submission for the very first time and I’m excited. This email could be news.
I open it and scan through. It’s a respectfully written rejection. My brain says okay, it’s early days, there are still lots of other publishers to hear from, rejection is a big part of this whole thing. My brain says deadline! You need to get back to work.
I scan the rejection one more time. Maybe I can learn from this, my brain says. And then something happens to my hands on the computer. My fingers start to redden—at first a blush, then red streaks up my arms, as though an electrical jolt from the keyboard is burning my skin. I feel the familiar prickly heat of an allergic reaction. There’s no getting back to work now. I need to stop, head downstairs from my attic office, run cool water over my arms and take an antihistamine. By the time I do the red welts have spread from my arms down my torso, to my chest. To my heart.
My body is smarter than my brain. My body has found a way to express what I’m telling myself not to feel.
As writers we’re told rejection is part of the job. Get used to rejection. Everybody experiences it. It’s no big deal. Don’t take it personally. Don’t let it bother you. Suck it up. Ignore it and keep going. Get over it. Set boundaries. Remember your writing is not you. You have to have a thicker skin. You have to toughen up. You have to pay your dues. Be cool. If you can’t get this work published put it in a drawer, and try again with something else.
These are all easy things to want to believe. Caveats and notions to get you through it. But they’re also business-like mantras designed to separate your head from your heart and to minimize the vulnerability involved in submitting your work.
When we downplay our feelings about our writing, do we also devalue it?
If we think creative vulnerability is a problem, here’s a solution: tell yourself not to care so much about your work. Don’t get excited about it. Put less energy in. Spend less time writing and stop fretting so much about editing. Submit less, or not at all. Slowly choke yourself off from the process and shut it all down. You’ll find the disappointment, frustration, shame, anger, confusion and anxiety is all gone. But so is all the magic.
What if, instead of approaching submitting our work from a grim, stoic place of emotional deprivation, we let ourselves care—deeply, and passionately, and respect every little piece of the process as vital, no matter what it is?
Then we can recognize and acknowledge how excited and hopeful we are to submit our work, and maybe scared too, to send it out, all by itself—and give it a kind, careful send-off.
Then, if along the way something doesn’t work out as we’d hoped, we’ll feel whatever we’re feeling and do whatever we need to do—punch a pillow, shout, swear, weep, call a friend, go for a walk, dance it out. Maybe we’ll pick up our darling, dust it off and straighten it up a little more before we send it out again, each time treating our work with gentle care, until it starts to gain respect and attention from editors and readers, too.
Because if we write and edit from the gut, only to flick the emotional switch to off when we submit, what happens when we meet success? If we’re closed, we’ll devalue it and downplay it. But if we stay open through the whole process, from the first word we write on the page through multiple drafts and edits and through the entire submissions process, when the day comes when our work is finally accepted we’ll be able to fully enjoy it as a sweet culmination.

Get angry with your work

I’m all for gentle compassion when it comes to my own work, and for a long time my life’s trickiest lesson was about not being too hard on myself. But there is a point, I’ve realized, in which you can go too far the other way.

If something’s not working, there’s no point in continuing to approach it with gentleness in the hope it’ll magically get better.

Sometimes as a writer or artist of any kind you have to get angry, have a hissy fit, yell at your computer screen, tear the pages in half. You need to do whatever it takes to unleash the fiery torrent of passion that will help you find your way around whatever’s blocking you so you can get to the molten core of whatever it is you’re working on. That core is the truth of your work, and what people will respond to. 

I was reminded of this when re-reading Twila Tharp’s The Creative Habit: “The tantrum, judiciously applied, is a great wake-up call… throw a tantrum at yourself. Anger is a cheap adrenaline rush, but when you’re going nowhere and can’t get started, it will do.”

(Just make sure you apply this directly to your work, certainly not to other people!)

(Image: Strokkur Geyser, Iceland, by Matthias Hauser)

Staying on at Taddle Creek magazine!

Since January, 2015 I’ve had the tremendous pleasure of working with the Taddle Creek editorial team as a guest associate editor. I had a great time soliciting, reading and considering new poetry and fiction for the Summer, 2015 issue and I’m happy to tell you I’m staying on as the associate editor!

The summer issue launched in June and features new fiction by some of my favourites, including Suzette Mayr, Lana Pesch, Lauren Carter and Andrew MacDonald, along with poems by JonArno Lawson, Stevie Howell, Farzana Doctor, Tara-Michelle Ziniuk and Stewart Ross.

The wonderfully light (but macabre) cover art, “Invasion at Sugar Beach” is by Ian Phillips.

I can’t wait to start reading for the upcoming issues! 

Circle of Stones book launch

Photos from the April, 2015 book launch party for Circle of Stones, by photographer Mike Lewis.

The Monarch Tavern

Onstage with Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer

Another shot from the interview

Books for sale

Signing!

With Grace O’Connell

With Aimee Hindle

With Robyn Bright

Happy author!

Circle of Stones reader gifts

To celebrate launch party week for Circle of Stones I’m spending five days promoting gifts for the novel’s readers.  

Gift #5: The Goodreads book giveaway

Enter to win one of five copies of the novel in this giveaway, courtesy Dundurn Press.

Gift #4: The sample chapter!

Read the first chapter of the novel. If you made it to the launch party on Wednesday night it’s what I read, if not, enjoy it now.

Gift #3: The launch party! With mini cupcakes!

Party! April 15, 7 to 10 p.m. at the Monarch Tavern. What a fun time to celebrate the book together, do a reading and sign some books. 

Gift #2: The annotated map

Follow Nik’s journey and explore the real places where fictional scenes in the book take place, on Vancouver Island, Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal.

Gift #1: The book trailer

Find out what Circle of Stones is about and why I think you’ll enjoy reading it.

Book display at the launch party. Photo: Dundurn Press

Interview: The author with Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer at the launch party. Photo by Samantha Haywood

Circle of Stones events

The book is out and it’s time to celebrate! Come join me at these upcoming events to hear readings and interviews, get your copy signed and have some fun!

Circle of Stones Book launch party

Wednesday, April 15, 7 to 10 p.m. Monarch Tavern, Toronto

With special guests: Music by Las Venus Skyway (Evan Sue-Ping), interview by Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, literary tarot by Liz Worth and welcome by Conan Tobias. 

Authors for Indies Day appearance

Saturday, May 2, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Bloor West Village Book City, Toronto

With my desert island reads! Books by Haruki Murakami, Etgar Keret, Rivka Galchen and Maggie Helwig.

Pages Unbound Festival: What Women Write panel

Friday, May 8, 9 p.m. Randolph Theatre, Toronto

With Zoe Cormier, Sarah Henstra, Heather O’ Neill and moderator Zoe Di Novo.

Rowers Pub Reading Series

Monday, June 8, 6:30 p.m.

With three other authors TBA.