Jennifer Griffith's Blog, page 27

The Genkan

My husband has been reading my novel BIG IN JAPAN this week. Bless his heart! What a good man I married. And I have to admit that every hero in every book I write is just a different incarnation of my good, good man.

So, what’s been interesting as a bystander to his reading is every once in a while he’ll pop up with a question about the story. Today it was, “So, everyone just leaves there shoes somewhere? A big place or what?”

“The genkan,” I said, and then explained.

Different size houses have different size genkans, but it’s basically an entryway, about 3 ½ feet square in the place where I lived. There’s a cement floor on the same level as the outside stoop. A step up, about 18” (if I remember right), is the main level of the house, with its tatami straw mats as flooring.

Since tatami wears out pretty fast, being straw and all, it’s preserved best by not wearing shoes on it. So, everyone is expected to take off their shoes in the genkan. Most of the time slippers are provided to wear in the house. (But sometimes I just wore my socks or tights.)

There’s a bit of an art to the act of entering a house. It’s almost like a dance. Step into the genkan. Turn around and face the door again. Step backwards up onto the tatami, catching the heel of the shoe on the lip of the mat, flicking it off as you lift your foot. Then, repeat with the other shoe, turning around and sliding the feet into the waiting slippers. Finally, you stoop down and straighten the discarded shoes so they aren’t in a messy jumble and you have a neat genkan area (also so another person doesn’t trip.)

It’s a smart idea. We might get new carpet (as soon as my interior painting project is done), and when we do, I am thinking about implementing it here at our house. Not that I’ll be able to get anyone to comply…

Meanwhile, I wonder what question my reading husband will come up with next.

The Candy Phone

The other night I went to dinner with some writing friends, the local ANWA ladies. All ages of women were there, from my mom’s age down to just a little older than my oldest son. It’s a fun group.

As we horked down our cheese enchiladas, Danni (age 18~) told us she sends/receives about 300 texts per day. Shazam! “Are you kidding me?” I whipped out my fancy, fancy phone, “Do you know how long it would take me to key in 300 texts on this model? A month.”

Danni took it from me and looked at it with eyes of love. (Bless her.)

“A candy bar phone! I love these!”

I’m sure she saw someone with one back when she was in elementary school.

She punched the keys and then said, “Why is it in Spanish?”

Good question.

Takes you back, doesn’t it?

I regaled them with my story of how about six months ago when I was in WalMart and walked past this cute little Hispanic girl, my phone suddenly beeped. I looked down at it, and it no longer displayed in English. All Spanish.

Plus it thought my name was Amber.

Literally hours of messing with the buttons and using the far extent of my six Spanish classes I took at night in 7th grade netted me no change in display. I’d given up, assuming it was Spanish and I was Amber forever now.

My sister in law Julie, who was also at the party, said, “Well, if I want my phone fixed, I always just hand it to a young person.”

Chantel, who was sitting next to Danni offered to take a look at it.

Nope. No fixie.

Danni the Texting Wonder took a whack at it.

“I can’t find it. It’s not here. That is so weird.” I was sad, but not surprised. I mean, I’d done my darnedest to figure it out—for six months. “Wait. Wait! Wait. I got it! I got it. Look!”

Danni flashed me my phone.

It was speaking English again!

It was back. My cute little candy bar phone is now a smartie phone once again. Well, as smartie as I need it to be.

Good times. Tech and me. We are like this.

Post Office Frowny Face

I hate going to the post office. Have I ever mentioned that? It’s not that our local PO has a long line or is a long drive away or is an unattractive building. Just the opposite on all counts. It’s never more than a 7 minute wait. It’s a 5 minute drive. Easy parking right outside. Attractive 1930s mural painted by someone in the WPA (I think. Well, that’s what I remember hearing.) And the employees are very, very nice. I like them a lot.

But I hate to go. It’s irrational. I have a package for a dear friend who got married, and I’ve needed to mail it to her since August, folks.

Nicht gut, as they say in Stuttgart. And probably in Vienna, which I recently mistook on Twitter for Venice and asked a new Viennese follower of mine how the flooding was in Vienna. He gave me an emoticon wink and said, “Don’t you mean Venice?”

Super duh.

I think it stems back to when my kids were littler. I built up an irrational terror of the place. They had all these postal products–colorful bubble packs, Disney stuffed animals, other kid-attractive-nuisances–all at reaching level of any child. And if a kid touched them they automatically disintegrated and I had to purchase these [overpriced] items.

Plus, the place used to house the Forest Service upstairs. And there was an elevator. And my kids knew it. So if we were going to the post office, we had to budget an extra half hour for the elevator alone.

Sigh.

Now I’m just me going to the post office, but it still puts my heart into palpatations.

Ridiculous.

Like my good, dear grandpa said to himself near the end of his life (in a little note-to-self written on the inside flap of his checkbook) “No whimping!”

And yet I’m such a whimp.

Sorry, Auraelia, dear. Your wedding gift might be yet another month late.

Library Meet and Greet

Last night was the monthly “Author Meet and Greet” at our local public library. A couple of months ago Joyce Wellbaum got in touch with me through another one of the “Friends of the Library” ladies who I ran into when I was in the gift shop after Preschool Storytime. (My youngest daughter and I try to hit that every week. I love it! Stories, playing, a craft, what could be better?) Next thing I knew, I was on the schedule for November.

It’s kind of anxiety inducing to try to think up something to say if you’re the featured speaker for a whole hour of something. Thoughts like, “How could I possibly be interesting to someone, let alone a group of over a dozen, for a whole hour.” Then, yesterday, my husband reassured me that he still found me interesting after 16 years, so that comforted me to an extent. (Which, by the way, is a total perk of being married to the right person. And reciprocally, I have yet to find him dull. Well, there was this one day, New Year’s Eve of 2007, when I asked him and his brother to hold off on talking about mining just for a few hours, and they did, bless them. They do love talking about mining to an unnatural degree.)

So, there I was, 6 p.m., with my stack of books for security, and my big poster of Big in Japan. I wore my boots, the fabulous ones, and steeled myself for the scary.

But it wasn’t scary! Not at all! Lots of friends came, with friendly smiling faces. I read a passage from page 45-48 (selected sections) out of Big in Japan–the part where Buck first sees the sumo ring and the most unexpected thing happens. Then I just took questions for about 40 minutes. Everyone had questions about Japan, mostly. Cultural questions, language questions, some sumo questions. I told them to take everything with a grain of salt, since my experience in Japan was uniquely my own, and I saw the whole thing through my 21 year-old “Waaaahow, totally awesome cooolnesssss” filter that I had at the time (and possibly still do). All I could do was answer what my own perception was.

There were several interesting questions, and I had a chance to tell some Japan stories. Those are fun to relive. Here’s one I told, to illustrate the cultural difference:

I had a friend who was a teenage girl. We were talking about fitting in and standing out. Out of curiosity I asked, “Would you rather be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond.” To my surprise, she looked panicked, and finally responded, “I just want to be a regular size fish in a regular size pond!”

This, to me, illustrated a lot of the cultural standards of the country that are so foreign to us as Americans, where it’s rugged individualism we celebrate instead.

Many thanks to the Safford Library for the chance to ramble on for an hour about sumo and Japan and my book and stuff. And many thanks to the good friends who came out to support me. Mmmwah! You’re the best!

Upcoming Stufffffff

“Life moves pretty fast.”

Name that 80s movie.

I’ve got a ton of stuff going on too, and it’s making life speed up. I like things slow.

On Saturday I’ll be in Mesa, AZ, at the Latter Day Cottage signing books from 10-2 for the WUFC Fundraiser to help raise money for Serena Freewomyn to pay for her cancer treatment. It’s my first signing in the Mesa area, and I’m excited to see everyone there. It seems like a lot of really fun authors are going to be signing. Good times!

The next thing coming up soon is the Library Meet ‘n’ Greet next Wednesday night. Yay! I love to meet and I love to greet. They’ve asked me to give a little presentation, and so I hope I come up with something that’s not a crashing bore. If it is, I give my full permission to snore aloud.

Here’s the article for that: http://www.eacourier.com/lifestyle/local-author-to-speak-at-library-meet-n-greet-on/article_d9f6cffe-2890-11e2-8e2d-0019bb2963f4.html

See some of you soooooon! Yay!

TKE in SLC: Best Case Scenario

Even after Friday night’s friends-and-family bash at the Barnes and Noble in Layton, I was still a nervous wreck about going to Salt Lake City for the signing at The King’s English. I’d seen pictures of the store and knew it was in a really, really cool bookstore–like the kind you see in a fabulous dream. It is a house converted into a book haven. Every inch of wall space is covered with books, and extra divider-walls have been added to add books. It’s a dream come true. And kind of intimidating. Important authors have signed there. Famous ones. People I’d go all fangirl on.

Nerves, baby. Nerves.

Still, I must not have been too anxious because I was able to eat a fabulous dinner at the restaurant across the street: Tony Caputo’s. It was an Italian deli with what amounted to the best bologna sandwich I’ve ever eaten. Drenched in olive oil and balsamic vinegar? Can I get another one of those, please? Mmmm. And the pasta salad on the side had everything in it. So delicious. Plus I bought exotic chocolate from their vast collection of imports). That helped the nerves some.

Steeling myself against irrational fears, I slathered on a new coat of lipstick and jaywalked to the bookstore. If nobody came, that’d be fine.  After all, what was the worst that could happen? I’d be alone in the bookstore, and worst case scenario I’d spend the equal of my annual income on books, beautiful books.

But instead, the best happened! It was so truly amazing!

First, my husband’s family came out in force. Gary’s cousin Les and his wife Stacey came. I haven’t seen them in forever! They’re delightful. They were followed by Aunt Shauna. And cousin Amy and John and Whitney. Family! It’s times like these when I know I married into the nicest family imaginable. Lovely, amazing. The best.

Then, fellow JFP author Teri Harman (who just won the Creative Frighting Contest, congrats!) sashayed in with members of her book group. They’d read Big in Japan for their selection this month. I got to sign their books and, unfortunately, only visit for a second. Dang it! They were so great to come all that way! Mmwah! I blow them a kiss. The perk for them, I know, is that they were in The King’s English bookstore. And Teri brought her mom. What a lovely person, I must say.

Next came more friends–friends from days of yore! A couple who I haven’t seen for 13 years, but great friends. And, to add to the reunion joy, they’re still planning on having their daughters marry our sons. Bonus! So glad to know this.

To my huge surprise, a guy I went to junior high with came in next. My mother had lived in France with his mom during college, and so that was another bonus. Great to catch up.

My favorite cousin Becca came in and had me sign her book a second time, and she gave me the update on her darling baby. It just made me sad that I don’t live closer to the whole Stewart family because I just get these annual snapshots of the babies as they grow up and I don’t get to see them on a regular basis. Sad! She reminded me that after she read Big in Japan, she had dreams of sumo wrestlers for weeks.

Another friend through Jolly Fish Press, Terron Jones (who has an epic fantasy series slated for release June 1, 2013, BEHOLDERS) came with his wife and three boys. What darling boys. And his wife is awesome. Why aren’t they selling their house in Utah and moving into the house next door to me so she and I can be friends? That’s what I want to know.

With fellow JFP author Terron Jones and two of his sons at The King’s English. He will be signing there before we know it!

There were other people there, people I didn’t even know, who had read the article in the Deseret News and came to buy the book. It was pretty flooring.

So, all my fears happened to be unfounded. This time. But perhaps, like my friend Louise always says, “It’s a good thing I worried! Because if I hadn’t done all that excellent work of worrying, things might not have turned out so well.”

Good friends. Feeling so grateful in this Thanksgiving month.

F&F at B&N in Layton

So…I am updating the look of this website. I like doing this about as much as I like decorating my house: one on a scale of one to ten.

What I *do* like doing is what happened on Friday night–a booksigning at a stores with completely fun staff  (who liked my boots) and where cool people showed up and talked to me, long lost friends appeared, family came and hugged me, and some people even bought books. !!!

On Friday I was at the Barnes and Noble in Layton, Utah. My mom and I went together (I’m so glad she could go!) and we had a hearty dinner at Arby’s (have I ever mentioned my complete addiction to horseradish sauce? It’s unnatural.)

Proof!

The B&N staff seated me at a table near the front door. It was Friday-Night-Date-Night with lots of foot traffic, and sharing my table was the lovely and amazing Lisa Mangum with her new book After Hello. It was fun to see her again. We met last February at the ANWA Conference, where I learned that Lisa is a fellow Disneyland devotee, so I knew we could be friends. I just read her first book, The Hourglass Door, a few weeks ago–in fact I listened to it on CD read in Lisa’s voice, so it was like I painted my daughters’ room with Lisa, actually.

The coolest part was getting to see family and friends, though. The minute I arrived, who should appear but Elsie Park, my lovely and creative author friend with her darling blue-eyed baby. Elsie writes medieval stories, but she’s also a beautiful mother and home-maker. I admire that so much.

As for family, besides mi madre, my favorite cousin Kara came in with her three cute little girls, and my three favorite Aunts–Mary and Kass and Lora–came. And my favorite cousin Chris came with his wife Natalie. He claims Buck from Big in Japan is based on him. My other came in with her kids, too. They disappeared into the belly of the store and looked for kid books. She is training them well!

Then I got to see an old friend Ron, who brought his wife and three kids. Ron and I worked together on a campaign (oh my goodness!) TWENTY years ago this fall. It was so totally fun to see him and catch up and see his kids and … yeah. Great! So fun!

And then my friend from ANWA, Andrea came in with her sister-in-law. Andrea was with me at the ANWA retreat at this old church converted into a cabin in the desert in Arizona on the retreat week when I wrote the first chapter of Big in Japan. She was with Buck at the beginning!

Totally way lots more fun than redesigning a blog. Thanks for going with me, Mom!

Now Available: Big in Japan!

Now available at Barnes and Noble and Amazon:

Big in Japan, the story of an accidental sumo wrestler.

Big fat Texan Buck Cooper is invisible in his crummy job and non-existent love life–until fate takes him to Japan, where everything changes!

Jennifer Griffith

 

 

 

 

 

 

REVIEWS:

“I don’t just like it I love it. A novel everyone from middle aged cowboys to adolescent girls are sure to love.” –Eric Bishop

“I purchased the full book off of reading a sample. By the end of the day, I was half way through the story, caught up in the 300 pound main character, Buck, who joins his parents on a business trip to Japan. Buck is the perfect awkward unsung hero, but his quirks are endearing, and his character very relatable. Great humor throughout as well, some serious thought-provoking events, as well as a sweet romance. Really, everything rolled into one. ” –Heather B. Moore, award-winning author

“Griffith gives us a different picture of Japan than most of us have previously seen. This is not the cherry blossoms and tea houses version, but the crowded shops, strange food, political maneuvering, and grunginess of that country’s national sport. Murder, blackmail, and danger create an intense plot that will keep many readers on the edge of their chairs or burning the lights far into the night. Though there is a nice romance included in this novel, I wouldn’t assign this one to the Romance genre. It’s more high action sports drama. It’s also a study in human ethics and has a broad appeal to men as much, perhaps more, than to women.”         –Jennie Hansen, Meridian Magazine

“In ‘Big In Japan,’ Griffith weaves a delightfully entertaining tale of change, bravery and true love in the life of a lonely young man trying to overcome an austere and challenging environment. … Readers will be engaged as they follow the tragedies and triumphs of an endearingly kind and honest young man in the ‘Land of the Rising Sun.’” –Deseret News

 

Deseret News Reviews BIG IN JAPAN

The Deseret News, a Salt Lake City newspaper with a circulation of… a BUNCH, has reviewed BIG IN JAPAN.

The review posted about 20 minutes ago. I’m all breathless. I’d heard there was a call for a review, and I knew the Deseret News’s policy of not letting anyone review a book if the reviewer knows the author. So this made me a little nervous. No, a lot.

What would a reviewer think of the book? I mean, yeah, I’ve had reviews on Amazon and Goodreads and Barnes and Noble by people I didn’t know, and a few bloggers have read and reviewed it. But this was the first review in a major newspaper. How anxiety inducing could that be? I ask you!

Drum roll, please. Here’s the link! Clicky, clicky, please!

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865565582/Book-review-Big-in-Japan-tells-tale-of-Texan-becoming-a-sumo-wrestler.html

Tidings of Comfort and Joy from the Writers Conference

At the end of February I attended the annual ANWA Writers Conference in Mesa, a nice place to be in February. I think the agents from Denver and NYC were loving the weather, as was the editor from Utah. It was a balmy 68.

Other good things happened there. One, I got to wear my *awesome* new boots. Do I love my boots? Yes, I do. Like Pete the Cat loves his white shoes, I love my boots. They are power-boots. They make me 4 inches taller, and I like that.

Besides the boots being fun, there was the first annual BOB Contest, which stands for Beginning of Book. As a girl who has a lot easier time coming up with the first 500 words of a novel than the last 84,500 words, this contest was a peach. There were lots of categories to enter, and yippee for me I received 2nd place in speculative fiction for the beginning of my novel Pandora. Yeah! Oh, and there was a cash prize, which I immediately sank into buying more books.

But the best part of the conference was the classes.

One was taught by the author of Arizona’s “One Book Arizona,” like a “book of the year” for the state. Conrad Storad writes fun nonfiction for kids, mostly about the ecology of the desert. Storad gave a how-to on read-alouds. (This info came in handy last week again at Reading Under The Stars.) He said to read a bit, then stop and discuss, to use additional visual aids (but not too many that they distract) and to vary the voice. It also helps if you choose a book that has a refrain that kids can chant along with when it repeats itself. Great info for moms too.

Another class that really resonated with me was the class given by Dave Eaton. He taught us mere mortals the secret ins and outs of SEO (search engine optimization) and how to trick Google into listing our own websites at the top of a certain search. This class was gold, honestly. And he gives the seminar to anyone who signs up. I’ll link it here soon!

My favorite class (hands down) was given by Matt Peterson. Matt had spent the last few years (since the big bummer economic year of 2008) working as a free lance tech writer. Tech writing was actually what I majored in at college, but I never realized how marketable a skill tech writing actually is. DUH. Matt gave us a step by step of how to set up an LLC, sign up for an online payment system, and how to make a bid on a website where companies solicit bids for free lance writers to write up blogs or ads or any other kind of online content. He said there’s so much work out there he didn’t mind telling all of us about it, and that any of us who were writers with an iota of talent could be raking in the cash if we wanted to.

I was sitting next to my good friend Megan, and we looked at each other, our eyes popping out of our heads. What the heck! We could be making actual MONEY as writers? Who knew! We were about panting when the whole class ended.

And of course, neither of us has done anything about it ever since.

However, the class’s message has been an ongoing comfort to me. All these years I’ve figured I was the butt of that old college graduation joke, “Q: What did the English major say to the Engineering major? A: Do you want fries with that?” BUT NO! No longer! I now know that should anything happen that I need to give up my glamorous life as a laundress and kid chauffeur, with a little novel writing on the side, I could actually ramp up and bring in an income without having to wear a shirt that says SONIC embroidered anywhere on it.

This is comfort. This is joy.

(And this is where you can register for next year’s ANWA Conference.)