Jennifer Griffith's Blog, page 30

Racism, Sexism, Ageism…Fatism?

Jolly Fish Press has been piece-by-piece releasing clips from the video interview we did in July. This one below is my take on what it’s like to be fat in our culture.

There’s racism. Ageism. Sexism. Is there “fat-ism?”

Having gone up and down the scale through five pregnancies, it’s been something not unfamiliar to me. So I ask: do we in our culture take people less seriously if they are overweight? What kind of self-esteem issues do our young people (as well as adults) have when their weight falls outside the norm? Does the government’s standard “BMI” represent what is true ideal weight or are they way off?

Here’s the video where I talk about some of this and how it comes up in BIG IN JAPAN.

Jennifer Griffith talks about social issues in Big in Japan

Is “fat” still a bastion of intolerance? Leave a comment.

The Wayback Machine and Haunted Cell Phones

My kids have been watching hours and hours of “Rocky & Bullwinkle” this summer, and I couldn’t be prouder.

By far my favorite segment is Mr. Peabody and Sherman, where the world’s smartest dog takes his affable boy Sherman on trips back through time in his WABAC Machine (Wayback) to see improbable events in history. I guess I love the Fractured Fairy Tales, too. And Boris and Natasha. Okay, well, all of it. It’s hilarious. Where did they get that awesome narrator, I ask you?

Well, allow me to take readers of this blog on a little trip down memory lane by use of the wayback machine and introduce you to my cell phone.

Takes you back, doesn’t it?

It’s not a bad little phone. I’ve had it for years and years, and it costs me about $5 a month to use it. I just recharge its minutes once a year, and I’m set. It sends and recieves phone calls and texts. Not a “Smartie Phone” (as Dan calls them on “The Good Guys“) but it works fine, and you can’t shake a stick at the price.

Until now.

On Saturday I was walking through WalMart, and somehow it synched with someone else’s phone. Or got infected. Or possessed. It now thinks it only speaks Spanish and wants to receive a lot of texts for someone called Amber. I don’t speak Spanish, or read it much, so I can’t figure out how to teach it English again.

Anyway, to soothe my pain, I guess I’ll plunk down and watch an episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle with the kids. Did you hear they’re doing a Mr. Peabody and Sherman movie? It supposedly comes out in Fall of 2013! Very fun.

Which reminds me, I got a fab review of BIG IN JAPAN on Amazon. I totally loved this line: “Books this good get made into movies.” Sweeeeet.

Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Beautiful

If you’re old enough to remember the ’80s you probably remember the Pantene shampoo commercials where the model flips her hair and says, “Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful…” and I don’t remember the follow up. It was something along the lines of, “Hate me because I have better hair than you, drive a nicer car, got into an Ivy League school, have a better looking boyfriend,” etc. Pretty much anything annoying and narcissistic.

Well, today I have to say, don’t hate me because of anything but this:

Shared a table with Dale Critchlow, aka “Lyle” from Napoleon Dynamite, at my book signing at The Preston Citizen in my hometown of Preston, Idaho. Great guy, we had a nice visit.

Recognize Lyle? Imagine him with a gun, a schoolbus and a cow. He was signing autographs and taking photos with anyone who wanted a snapshot (which of course included me) during the annual sidewalk sale they have during Rodeo Weekend.

I’ve had my brush with fame now. Feeling pretty awesome.

How Do I Say That? — Japanese Pronunciation Guide

I had a fabulous time at the book launch the other night at Weller Book Works in SLC. Thank you, thank you to the family and friends who came and supported me at the event. It was a fun night!

Also, I must say it’s PRETTY AWESOME to hold the hardcover book in my hot little hands and sniff the inky pages. Wow! Thanks a million to Jolly Fish Press for all they’ve done. It’s real. And it’s digital for Kindle and Nook!

While I was taking questions, insightful reader Teri Harman asked me how to pronounce several of the names in the story. (She’s been reading already!) I decided to add a pronunciation guide here and to give it its own link here on my website. To answer her question, the champion’s name, Torakiba, is pronounced “Tor-ah-kee-bah,” and the Japanese girl’s name, Chocho, is pronounced with long o for both o’s.

I’ll post the following, and if anyone has any specific questions about how to pronounce a name or a word, leave a comment and I’ll try to respond with a spelled-out response. Thanks for reading!

 

Pronunciation Guide

 

            Japanese pronunciation is very simple. Pronounce each vowel syllable separately, even when they are paired. The pair makes the blend. For instance “ai” is pronounced “ah-ee” but when slurred becomes the long I of English. The letter “r” is more of a tongue flap, as in Spanish. Vowels are pronounced as follows:

                                    a – ah

                                    i – ee

                                    u – oo

                                    e – eh

                                    o – oh

The letter g always makes the hard g as in gag. The letter j always sounds like j in jump.

Texts from my Future Self

Gary and I were watching this webTV series a few weeks ago, just a couple of episodes so I don’t know how it ends (it got a little edgy for me).

Anyway, in it, the ever-darling Shiri Appleby is in a lame relationship. She is in the process of inventing a smart phone app that lets a person send texts to the past. She knows it works because she starts getting texts from herself–from some point in the future. Her texts tell her to break up with the jerk, etc.

I was thinking, if I could send texts to my past self, what would I send?

Hmm. I guess they’d mostly be, “Don’t eat that!” and “Put down the third piece of coconut cream pie and step away from the Little Debbie Cakes,” and “The whole bag of red licorice is not the serving size!”

Then there’d be the category of, “Don’t get that perm,” and “Don’t cut your own hair.” Or the shopping missteps corrections of ”Don’t buy those elastic waistband jeans,” and “Not those shoes!”

I guess the dating doesn’t need to be covered, since it all ended up so happily and I ended up with a guy who will stay up late nights watching Hulu dating shows. Not that tragic.

Freedom!

On the 4th of July I met with all the Stewarts for the annual Stewart Family Gathering. We were in Utah and my youngest uncle (just a few years my senior) and his wife (same age as my husband–that’s a big Mormon family for ya) and a cousin (just a couple of years older than my oldest son) were going to Provo for the Freedom Run 5K.

Now, I did the Freedom Run 5k last year, and my dad reminded me that after it was over I vowed it was the last steps I’d take at an accelerated pace in my life.

That was a lie, it turns out. I’ve actually been trying to keep up with my running since then. (Me! The girl who hid in the back of Mary Bingham’s Oldsmobile during the track meet to avoid having to run 100 meters.) Bowing to pressure from the real runners, I signed up. My main goal was to not be *slower* than I was last year.

Yippee! Goal met. I shaved 2 minutes off my run time from last year, which isn’t much at all, as I was just one bracket higher than the “walking pace” people and those pushing wheeled vehicles. Yes, strollers did pass me by. Whatever! And no, I’ve never experienced a runner’s high, and I finally realized why: it’s because they call it a runner’s high, not a jogger’s high. My speed can barely be considered jogging.

Anyway, there’s a writing lesson I’m taking from all this. I’d gotten a little bummed about my working manuscript. I’m going back through to edit it and generally make it less of a chaotic mess. But each successive rewrite might only shave two minutes off its time–e.g., make it 10% better. That’s okay. The point is, it may be incremental improvement but it’s moving in the right direction and I haven’t quit running. I believe in this project, and I’m going to wrestle it into readability.

I’ve heard it said that just the act of *finishing* that novel puts a writer in a better position than 95% of other writers. I’m not in some competition with other writers. Like in that Freedom Run I’m only in competition with myself. I’m just hoping each successive edit is better than the last, and that each novel is better than its predecessor. Improvement. That’s what what I’m aiming for.

Oh, and I did like getting the cool, spinny “finisher” keychain. I should make myself one for when I finish this novel. Maybe everyone who finishes should.

Interview!

On Saturday I was in Utah for family things and Jolly Fish Press’s super fun staff snagged me and brought me in to the Provo Library after hours. We did an author interview they videoed and will be putting on the book’s website. Interview! The questions were fun, like what’s sumo all about, and what’s the main character like, and how is being fat still a bastion of discrimination in our culture. The interview is slated to go up when the book site goes live–hopefully the week of launch (just three weeks out or less! Wow!)

I’d prepared some, but unfortunately more thought probably went into what shoes and dress I should wear than what I should say. That strategy has served me poorly in the past, too, like in the 8th grade when I spent all week thinking about what I should wear to the regional spelling bee and then got out on the FIRST word. First word, first kid out in the whole region. Nice. But I looked cute in my grey linen Gunne Sax dress with the white lace bib collar and the pink strand of pearls. I hope I didn’t sound like a discombobulated lobotomy patient.

If I did, at least my shoes looked cute. And my dress. That was cute.

 

Guest Blogger–Christopher Loke, Executive Editor

Super cool guest on this blog today! Christopher Loke, Executive Editor for Jolly Fish Press is here today to tell us what it takes to make a book happen! For anyone who is in the writing process (at whatever point–from pre-writing to final edits to post-published) this is some good info. Enjoy.

The Making of a Book

The idea of writing a book to many Americans is simply popular. By popular, I really mean this: Everyone wants a piece of it. The thought of seeing your book in a bookstore, or signing at a book event, or being famous—yes, famous—is a very lucrative one. But unfortunately, being a published author is one American Dream that most writers only dream about and never succeed. Why? Because finishing a book is not an easy, smooth journey. Because to start writing a book is quite easy, but to finish it is a feat as high as Everest.

 

It took me six years to write The Housekeeper’s Son, and during those six years I never once dreamed of signing at an event. All I focused on was finishing the book. My story needed to be told and I must complete it. I must do every character justice. I must make sure it is never abandoned. I must, I must, I must. And it was those musts that really kept me going to the finish line.

 

Most writers have a dilemma of losing interest in their books halfway through writing them. They seek greener pastures, dreaming about new ideas and how those ideas are better and more enticing than the current book they are working on. I know this all too well, because like most writers, I find myself faced with the same temptation every time I write. But I also have this inner voice, this Jiminy Cricket, that never fails to nag on me to focus, focus, focus, to an extent that I have come to discipline myself. Never start something new until you finish what you are working on. Simple as that.

 

Here’s what I think when writers come up to me and tell me how they have three or four books that they are writing: They are wasting their time, because the chances of them finishing any one of the projects on time—or at all—is nil. Flash forward ten years later, they’ll still be telling me about their more-than-one writing projects—and in most cases, they will be the same projects they’d started ten years ago.

 

Another thing that forms in my mind when I hear a writer speak of his multiple ongoing writing projects: They have not found a story that they love yet; they have not honed down a plot from start to end. And when I have such thoughts in my mind, I will have also lost all interest in any book this writer has to write. Without first loving your own work to finish it, you can never convince anyone to read it. That’s just my opinion—and most of the time, I’m usually right.

 

When I write, I simply do not edit. I just write. In my world, there is no writers block, there is no need to wait for the right time and day and month to write a paragraph. I just write, because I consider myself a craftsman, a master of my ship. Words are my tools, and I am here to write a book as well as an architect builds his building. During the writing process, I am most concerned about the plot, the story, and my characters. I create dialogues, settings, appearances and emotions. I build tension with meticulous pacing. I create a narrative that works, a style that is appropriate. I never doubt myself. I never think twice about what I write. I just write. This is how I roll, and it’s been working perfectly so far.

 

What happens when I finished writing? Ah, the grueling process of editing commences. This is the time when you are required to trim the fat and pay attention to plot holes and such. Most people consider the editing process discouraging and daunting. But I consider it a cleansing process—every human needs it, every book requires it. But before you start editing, make sure you give your manuscript a rest for at least a week or two. Go play ball, or hang out with your family for a while. And when you are ready to jump back into the game, make sure you are mentally and emotionally ready to chop, cut, and slice. As murderous as it sounds, editing is my most favorite process, because this is the time when I can actually polish my work to perfection.

 

Now, editing is only overwhelming when you don’t have a clue about what you are doing. What are you looking for in your own work? If you don’t know where to begin, then sit down and list out a few things you want to catch when you are editing. Then go through each chapter looking for those things, either on individual rounds or collective rounds. Here are some of the things I look for when I edit:

 

Inconsistencies of characters.
Are there any plot holes?
Inconsistencies of setting and time.
Style and writing.
Overall content, narrative, and pacing.

 

Then I trim the fat and make sure every word is there for a reason. No fluff.

 

In the second round of edits, I look for syntax, which basically means grammar, sentence structure, spelling, and accuracy. This whole editing process can take up to a year if you are too careful—I encourage you to. The more you edit, the better your work will be. Don’t be afraid to trim what needs to be trimmed. Even if the paragraph, or the entire chapter, is your favorite. It’s not what you like or not that matters anymore; it’s what moves the story along.

 

That’s all I do when it comes to writing. I write, I rest, I edit, I polish. Repeat after me: I write, I rest, I edit, I polish. Now memorize it and make it happen.

 

From the mouth of Tim Gunn: make it work, make it work, make it work.

 

The Housekeeper’s Son by Christopher Loke

 

Christopher Loke, executive editor for Jolly Fish Press, has made a splash in the writing world with his powerful and touching novel, The Housekeeper’s Son. This novel explores how far a mother can go for love. The answer? Murder. The Housekeeper’s Son is available as a hardcover and ebook through all major online retailers and a local bookstore near you. Follow Mr. Loke on Twitter and Facebook for updates on his signings and events.

The Great Indoors

So I’m sitting here on a leather recliner in the mountains in an air conditioned cabin that has a chandelier. No, really. A fancy one that could be at a posh hotel’s lobby in another life. The bathroom sinks have a swan motif on the faucet that echoes the swan motif on the light fixture. There’s a ‘love tub’ in the master bedroom. Yes, with two pillows and jets.

I thought it was going to be a back to nature experience. But it’s more like back to “copper backsplash behind the tiled counter top beside the built in double oven” experience.

Ahhh. This is so much better than being in nature. (For writing, I mean.)

I like being outside. It’s great. But for a writers retreat it’s honestly great to have lovely pine trees just outside my mullioned windows that I can see from the comfort of being next to the big screen TV. (Which is turned off, I assure you, until we watch another Austen film tonight.)

Thirty women, four days, more quiet than you could even imagine from a group like this. When it’s over, I’d like to do a page count or a word count to see if we can gauge the overall productivity of this.

Three years ago at the ANWA  retreat, I came in need of a new project. I’d finished one and was ready to start fresh. I had about six ideas I was juggling, trying to flesh out in outlines. The one I settled on (to my tremendous surprise) was Big in Japan, a story of an accidental blond sumo wrestler in need of a girlfriend. That week in a much-less-posh cabin netted me about 20 pages of the beginning of the manuscript.

So far, since yesterday I’ve edited about 50 pages of my current WIP. Ideas for fixes to the plot are just popping up and onto the pages. It’s pretty exciting! And tonight we’re having homemade spaghetti. The thing was a screaming deal at only $95 per person for the whole week. No, seriously. If you’re not in ANWA and you qualify to be in it, what the heck is stopping you?

Okay, now back to my stolen art and emeralds. Bye, gang. See you when I’ve finished my 100-page edit goal.

Retreat!

I’m so excited! This week is the annual ANWA Writers Retreat in the cool country of the mountains of Arizona. This is my fourth year attending. We’re staying at a nice cabin, about 30 of us, shutting out the world and just writing. Last year I used the 3 days away from the responsibilities of home to complete a rewrite of BIG IN JAPAN. This year I’m planning to plow through 100 pp of my rewrite of my art novel.

It’s great to be with like-minded people, to be around women who totally understand the obsession to immerse in a laptop screen and simply type words upon words hour after hour.

I hope all the women who go this year accomplish their retreat goals–and that they set them high!

Plus, since it’s 111 degrees here, I hope we get a reprieve from this infernal heat. Bleah. Seriously? 111 degrees? Come ON. Bring on the monsoon season, already. Send us some rain!