Reading List for 2013

It's two hours away from 2013 here in Alabama, but I thought now would be a good time to go ahead and start laying down my reading list for the new year. My goal is to read at least 52 books in the new year. I've also decided that this will be the year I read all of Charles Dickens' works. I've already read Hard Times and Bleak House in 2012, so those I'll omit from my list for 2013. I've read some of the books on my list in previous years, but a large percentage are new reads for me.

My list so far...not in any particular reading order:

• The Bronte Myth by Lucasta Miller (Nonfiction read recommended by professor Jenn Lewin)
• The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
• David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 
• Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (recommended by author Susan Mccallum Smith)
• City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare (YA)
• City of Glass by Cassandra Clare (YA)
• City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare (YA)
• City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare (YA)
• Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare (YA)
• Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare (YA)
• The Face of a Stranger by Anne Perry (recommended by author Susan Mccallum Smith)
• Me Funny by Drew Hayden Taylor (essays)
• The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy
• Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
• Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens
• Sojourner Truth: A Life, A Symbol by Nell Irvin Painter
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• A Jane Austen Education by William Deresiewicz (Nonfiction read recommended by professor Jenn Lewin)
• The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell
• Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
• Lady Susan by Jane Austen
• The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi (YA)
• Jane Austen by Carol Shields (biography)
• The Running Sky by Tim Dee
• The Dark Angel by Meredith Ann Pierce
• The Chickasaws by Arrell M. Gibson
• Kingbird Highway by Kenn Kaufman
• The Oxford Book of Irish Short Stories edited by William Trevor
• The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie by Muriel Spark
• The Girls of Slender Means by Muriel Spark
• What the Robin Knows by Jon Young
• Bird Sense: What It's Like to be a Bird by Tim Birkhead
• A Dangerous Mourning by Anne Perry
• Defend and Betray by Anne Perry
• Moonstone by Wilkie Collins
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis
• In Cold Blood by Truman Capote
• The Odyssey by Home
• The Iliad by Homer
• The Aeneid by Virgil
• Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (YA)

...more to come.

Revisiting childhood reads

I've been thinking about books that I enjoyed reading in my early teenage years. I've decided to go back and read those books again (as a mother in my thirties), and see if I enjoy them as much now as I did then. Also, I wanted to note any subtleties that I most likely missed back then.

Today, I reread Gary Paulsen's The Night the White Deer Died, a YA novel published in 1978. I read it in 1994 (as a thirteen-year-old). Here is a synopsis on the back of the Random House edition:

    An Indian brave stands poised to shoot a white deer drinking from a pool of water in the moonlight. It is only a dream--a recurring nightmare that haunts fifteen-year-old Janet Carson--but it is a dream that will change her life forever.
    
    Janet, one of the few Anglo teens in the New Mexico art colony where she lives with her mother, feels isolated and alone. For some reason, she is drawn to Billy Honcho, an old, alcoholic Indian who begs for money from her. As they get to know each other, the meaning of Janet's nightmare grows clear, and Billy becomes the brave in her dream.

When I read this novel as a kid, I don't remember being repelled by the fact that a fifteen-year-old girl ends up falling in love (with the idea of) a fifty-something year old man. It doesn't so much repel me now as it shocks me that it didn't repel me back then. I suppose the main idea of the novel is accepting that which seems unacceptable, but I can see how it could come across as borderline pedophilic...even though Billy, the older man in the novel, never physically touches Janet, it seems odd that Janet's mother allows her to be courted by a man of that age (and an alcoholic). I'm not sure how the modern publishing world would view this book, but I have a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't make it on the shelves in 2012.

I haven't read any of Paulsen's other YA books, but I plan to in the future. He has won the Newberry Honor Medal for three of his books, among other honors.

Next up on my list of YA books from my teenage years are two of Scott O'Dell's books: Sing Down the Moon and Island of the Blue Dolphins, Avi's The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, and I'm still working my way through Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden.

Hard Times

**UPDATE**
I finished this book a little before Christmas, and I loved it. Something that stood out to me in the novel is that it doesn't take place in London. In fact, there aren't any scenes in London, which I found surprising. Perhaps Dickens wanted some space from the city after writing Bleak House. I was disappointed with the death of one character, who I won't name, and I really wish his fate had been different, but someone had to die, I suppose. While it had elements of humor, the tone of Hard Times was much darker than Bleak House (in my opinion), and the ending was bittersweet, rather than happy. I'll be moving on to Oliver Twist next....

This week I'm reading one of Charles Dickens' classic novels, Hard Times, which was written after Bleak House (one of summer reads for Sewanee SOL). I'm not too far into the novel, but I've already discovered some glorious lines that only Dickens could pull off.

"He [Mr. Bounderby] had not much hair. One might have fancied that he had talked it off, and that what was left, all standing up in disorder, was in that condition from being constantly blown about by his windy boastfulness." (p.38, Hard Times, Bantam Books, 1981)

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

When I was a young girl, my grandmother used to read fairy tales to me--not the Disney versions of Cinderella, Snow White, and The Little Mermaid, but the real deal--those tales by the Grimm Brothers and Hans Christian Anderson.

The only childrens' book I remember my grandmother having other than those fairy tale books, was The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. She later bought the movie adaptation of the book, and I used to watch it when I visited and it was too cold or rainy to be outside. I read the book as a young person, but I recently decided to revisit the book. All of the mystery and fascination that it brought me as a child was still there when I read it as a 31 year old mother of two. It's a beautiful story that I hope to share with my kids in the near future (before they see the movie version).

Read The Secret Garden for free on Project Gutenburg's site.

Blue Christmas

Christmas is less than two weeks away, and while I've been doing the typical holiday things--shopping, decorating, eating too many sweets--I have to admit that this holiday season is a bit of a bummer for me and my family. My Grandfather, who was 85 years old, passed away on Thanksgiving Day, and the holidays just won't be the same without him--this year or ever. 

I got the call around 11 pm the night before Thanksgiving. Granddaddy was in the hospital and was going to have a major surgery. I arrived at the hospital a little after midnight and stayed for the next 12 hours, waiting for news. It was bad when it came. Surgery would be performed, but there was a big chance that it wouldn't be successful. It wasn't. Granddaddy died at 4:07 pm that same day. My Grandmother, and the rest of the family, was heart broken. Grandmother and Granddaddy had been married for 62 years, but it wasn't long enough. I'm thankful for the time that I had with my Grandfather. He was a great man, and a splendid gardener. I'll never be the gardener he was, but I hope to carry on the tradition of growing things that was his legacy. Love you, Granddaddy!  

Learn with Oxford University Free Podcasts

As much as I would love to, attending Oxford University isn't (and never has been) a realistic desire. But I've found the second best thing: free online lectures from Oxford U. on a variety of subjects (especially literature).

Here's a link to the main lecture series page, so enjoy!

Southern Stew: A Childhood Memory

Chicken stew was a common meal at my grandparent’s house, as was goat stew, and on occasion, rabbit stew. When I say stew, I really mean a thick version of soup. Grandmother would boil a whole chicken, pull the meat from the bones, and mixed it with canned crushed tomatoes that had been put up earlier in the year, onions, corn, potatoes, and season it with salt and pepper. The goat and rabbit stew was made the same way, the only difference being the meat used.

In general, I liked chicken stew, though I would pick out a bone occasionally, which would make me squeamish for a few seconds. My fear was that I would swallow a tiny bone and choke to death on it. There was nothing like chicken stew and saltine crackers to chase away the chill of winter, though.

I was less keen on goat stew. My grandfather would call someone he knew who raised goats, and together they would slaughter the goat for the stew, before my granddad would bring the meat home. The goat meat was dark and tougher than chicken, and it didn’t taste as good to me. On one occasion I found what I thought was a goat hair in my bowl. After that, I avoided eating the stew. I could deal with the fact that I was eating the meat of a young goat, but I couldn’t deal with that goat’s hair ending up in my mouth.

For a short time, my grandfather kept rabbits for eating. I don’t have any memories of him slaughtering the rabbits, but I remember eating rabbit stew. The rabbits he kept looked like pet rabbits, and were kept in cages in the barn. There were few animals that I didn’t love, so I was naturally drawn to the barn to spend time with the rabbits. My grandmother warned me to keep my fingers away from their cages. They would bite me if they got the chance, she told me on several occasions. Why would cute fluffy rabbits bite me when I loved them so much? I just wanted to stroke their smooth, soft coats. I was just gaining confidence when one of the red-eyed demons bit my index finger, drawing blood. Jerking my hand back, I looked for something to wrap around my injured finger to staunch the blood flow before my grandmother came back to check on me. Glancing around, I saw a crate of old glass soda bottles, a few of which were broken. I had found material for the lie fabrication that I was forced to make. Grandmother would probably spank me if she knew I had disobeyed her, so I would tell her I had cut my finger on one of the soda bottles. Surely the cut would’ve looked similar. There was no reason for her not to believe me, at least that’s what I told myself. I had learned my lesson anyway, so there was no need for me to be spanked over it. I kept my distance from the rabbits in the future. They looked all soft and fluffy, but now I knew what they were capable of. I just hoped that I didn’t have rabies. That seemed to be the general fear about being bitten by anything that wasn’t a pet. 

Granddaddy’s rabbits were for eating, so I figured I was probably safe. Being bitten by one made me less remorseful about eating rabbit stew. Not that I blame the rabbit for biting me now. I would’ve bitten me too. People automatically assume that animals have no sense of their doom, but maybe those rabbits knew more than we gave them credit for.

YA fiction word count

For anyone writing YA for their novel, this is what Writer's Digest has to say about word count (which surprised me, pleasantly):

YOUNG ADULT

Perhaps more than any other, YA is the one category where word count is very flexible.

For starters, 55,000 – 69,999 is a great range.

The word round the agent blogosphere is that these books tend to trending longer, saying that you can top in the 80Ks. However, this progression is still in motion and, personally, I’m not sure about this. I would say you’re playing with fire the higher you go. When it gets into the 70s, you may be all right—but you have to have a reason for going that high. Again, higher word counts usually mean that the writer does not know how to edit themselves.

A good reason to have a longer YA novel that tops out at the high end of the scale is if it’s science fiction or fantasy. Once again, these categories are expected to be a little longer because of the world-building.

Concerning the low end, below 55K could be all right but I wouldn’t drop much below about 47K.

To read about word counts in other genres from Writer's Digest click here for full article.

Done!

I've passed the 50,000 word mark for my NaNoWriMo novel, Feather Lore, and I've just about decided that the first draft is complete. I'll begin editing this week, or next, and see where I can go from there.

This was my first year participating in NaNoWriMo, and I'm really proud of myself for passing the 50,000 word mark by day 19. In spite of having the flu last week, I managed to write everyday. Writing the draft was the easy part. Now the real work begins.

NaNoWriMo is in full swing!

Yesterday was the first day of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). I was up at midnight to get started, and finished 1,669 words before heading to bed at 1 a.m. In total, I completed 7,282 words for my first day, which I felt was a pretty good start.

While I won't be writing as much today, I will get more words in by later this evening. I hope to have somewhere between 10,000-15,000 words completed by the end of the day. That's the plan, but we'll see.

Gearing up for NaNoWriMo

Update:

So far, my week has been spent plotting and researching in preparation for my NaNoWriMo novel. I've been naming and developing characters, while reading books about birdlore. I have a rough chapter by chapter synopsis for the whole novel, but it certainly isn't set in stone.

Check my progress starting November 1st on my NaNoWriMo profile page.

National Novel Writing Month is almost here!

It's that time again! Time to write a novel in 30 days, starting November 1st. Sign up here to participate.

Fifty Shades of ...Oh My!

While I was in Sewanee this summer, one of my classmates (who shall remain unnamed) mentioned a book that had swept readers off their feet. The title of this sensational book is Fifty Shades of Grey, which it turns out (much to my dismay) is one of three books in the Fifty Shades Trilogy. When I bought the first book, I had no clue that it was part of a trilogy. I probably wouldn't have started reading it in the first place, had I known. I read the Hunger Games trilogy this past spring, and the Twilight series before that...and the Harry Potter books before that. I'm not big on trilogies or series.

It wasn't until I had begun to read Fifty Shades of Grey that I figured it out. Great, now I have to buy two more books. So, naturally, I went ahead and bought the other two. One of my biggest pet peeves (for myself) is starting a trilogy (or series) and not finishing it. I was stuck. I had to read all of them. So, I did just that...in 4 days.

The first book was shocking, to say the least. I mean, I've read romance books before, but jeez. E.L. James takes erotic romance to a whole new level, at least for "vanilla" readers like me. I also have to say that I was a bit disgusted when I read Christian Grey's dirty secret, but because I vowed to read it all, I trudged on. After reading through the third book (almost 2,000 pages later), I breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't bad. The kinky sex wasn't as bad as I expected it to be, and the plot wasn't entirely ridiculous. For romance, I'd have to say that I enjoyed the read(s). There are enough sex scenes in the span of these three books to make most readers exhausted by the time they reach the end of the trilogy. I'm still deciding whether that is a good thing or a bad thing.

For those (average readers) thinking about diving into this trilogy, get ready! It was quite the experience.

The Joy of Writing

It's easy to forget that writing can be a joy. When I started writing creatively, it was only for the love of writing. I had no ambitions of being published or winning writing contests. I wrote for myself. I wrote because it made me happy.

Then, something happened. Something changed me.

Many of my grad school classmates (MFA students) were already published authors, and I felt left behind. I felt as though I wasn't working hard enough. So I began to take online creative writing courses in addition to my grad school courses. I spent hours reading books on craft and style. My head started to spin, and I knew that my motivations had become skewed.

Writing no longer brought joy. It brought anxiety and doubt. Would I ever be published? Should I just quit writing altogether? These were the questions that plagued me on a daily basis.

I started entering writing and poetry contests like mad, and I would often be unable to sleep awaiting the results. I won many of the contests that I entered, but when I didn't win, I would be crushed. I had become obsessed with contests and began to neglect the YA novel that I had spent months drafting. I was stalled at 30,000 words (into my novel), so I concentrated on 300 word flash fiction pieces instead. They were my excuse for not working on the novel.

After months of exhaustion and endless anxiety, I decided that something had to give. I came to the conclusion that if I wasn't writing for fun--first and foremost--there was no point. I would end up drowning myself in self-doubt if I continued on the path I had been on.

A few days after this revelation, I got an acceptance email for 4 of my stories to be published in an anthology by a small, independent press out of Nebraska. In my restlessness, I had forgot that I had even submitted my stories to them months earlier. It was a small victory, but a small victory is victory, right?

So, this November, I will officially be a published writer (creative writer, that is). I wasn't forced to resort to self-publishing. I was chosen by editors who liked my stories enough to publish them. It made me feel as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. The burden carried by the unpublished had been taken off my back, and my vision finally cleared. I can now write for the sheer joy of it--and that's what it's all about.

Now that I'm back...

My Sewanee summer ended at the end of July, but I still had writing to finish up until a few weeks ago. Now that those weeks have passed,  I must get back to writing.

Don't get me wrong, I've been writing a page or two every week or so, but that just isn't going to cut it now that I don't have graduate school work as an excuse. We started back to homeschooling our kids this week, but I really can't use that as an excuse either. Ok, enough said about that.

I've decided that I will take up the "paragraph a day" challenge if I can't do any better with my writing. I should be shooting for 1,000 words per day, but I'm not holding my breath with that goal. It's something to work towards, but I'm not feeling up to it yet.

Even though it's old news, I still have to remind myself that writing is hard. It's work...and if it was easy, everyone would do it. I must repeat this to myself at least once a week. It does a writer good...really, it does.

I have started writing a few pages, here and there, for the memoir that I have planned. I know that this particular project will be a long time in the making, but I have to get started...even if it's just scratching a few lines here and there or taking notes. One of the most important things that I learned this summer (in John Jeremiah Sullivan's workshop) is that some writing requires the "iceberg effect." 80% of the work is research, and only 20% will make it into the piece. So, I trudge on....

Online writing communities

One of the best ways to write consistently is to join an online writing community. Many of these sites have daily/weekly/monthly writing competitions that encourage writers to keep up their (writing) chops. These sites are also a great way to receive feedback from other writers/readers.  

The sites listed below have free and paid memberships:

• WDC (Writing.com)
• Writer's Cafe
• Scribophile
• Flickspin
• The Next Big Writer (requires paid membership)
• Writer's Network
• Author Nation
• Protagonize 

Summer in Alabama

Yellow grass crunches underneath my flip flops. The old folks are all talking about rain. They're saying what I'm thinking now as I listen to the crunching under my feet. It's too dry outside. The heat is almost unbearable, even to a veteran like myself. Thirty-one years seems like plenty of time to adjust to summer weather in Alabama. I'm beginning to believe that a lifetime isn't long enough.

I can't contemplate how my ancestors survived in the heat and summer draught before the days of air conditioning. Most of my ancestors were farmers. Draught means minor inconvenience to me, but it would've meant a loss in income and possible starvation to those that came before me.

Two zucchini and one cucumber plant make up my micro garden. I can sense how the plants suffer in this heat, and even though I water them twice a day, their leaves are still shriveled and less productive than normal. I can't imagine large scale farming in this heat wave. It's too depressing.

Yet somehow my great-great-great grandparents, great-great grandparents, great grandparents, and grandparents survived and prospered through the draughts, despair, and doubts that came with farming the dry dirt in Alabama. My life and living aren't dependent on the rain, but the living of modern farmers may be. I pray for rain for their sakes, as much as I pray for it to ease my physical discomfort. Rain brings relief and life to the dry landscape. I sit waiting--expectantly--as I watch the sky.

A Paragraph a Day

Think you don't have time to write? Here's a writing challenge that everyone has time for. 

Write a paragraph each day. It doesn't matter whether it's fiction or creative nonfiction. Construct the best paragraph you can using 3 or more sentences. An average paragraph ranges from 50-250 words. Keep a notebook for your paragraphs or open a word document for your daily paragraphs. Paragraphs can later be expanded into longer pieces.

Writing at least one paragraph per day keeps the creativity flowing, and is manageable for any schedule.

Hear audiobooks online for free

http://archive.org/

Visual Annotations for Classic Reads

Found this site, which offers visual annotations on certain classic reads. Book Drum...check it out!

The Momoir Project: Moms write memoirs

The Momoir Project: Writing Classes for Moms. Check it out here.

Writing for the sake of writing

It's easy to get discouraged as a writer. Some of the questions we ask ourselves on a daily basis: Will anyone ever read my work, or will it be constantly rejected by publishers? Will I be forced to self-publish in order for others to read what I've written? Does anyone care about what I have to say?

If we as writers dwell on these questions, we will never get anything written at all. So, I've decided to set all of these unanswerable questions aside. I've decided to concentrate on what really matters: the craft of writing.

When it really comes down to the heart of the matter (in my case, that is), we should write because it makes us happy. It gives us a sense of fulfillment. It helps us understand who we are and how we relate to the world around us. It isn't about publication (or it shouldn't be), and it isn't about money. It's about the love and passion of writing.

I feel like the snobs of the literary world ruin the thrill of writing for those of us without agents and publishers. Who are they to tell us that our work isn't worthy? Many literary critics aren't even writers. They're readers. So what do they really know about the craft of writing, unless they've studied the craft themselves?

I have a B.A. in English and I am currently working on my M.A. in American and English literature, but that doesn't mean that I have the right to slam someone else's work because it doesn't suit my personal tastes. A degree doesn't necessarily qualify a person to critique.

If you write, write for the love of it. Write because you must. Write because you can't rest if you don't write. Forget the critics. Forget the publishers and agents. Your writing is all you, and no one has the right to tell you that you aren't good enough. Work hard. Keep learning. Keep reading. Keep writing, in spite of how you feel or what others think or say. Write for the sake of writing, and you'll find peace.

Shimmering Images

I've had this book for a little over a year, and I really liked Norton's approach to writing memoir. She's an advocate of free writing, which is a great exercise for any type of creative writing. This book is small and easy to read, unlike some of the other memoir writing books I've read. If you're a memoirist (or aspire to be one), this is a great resource.

New beginnings

Although I've been reading and writing most of my life, I've never blogged about my two interests together, so I thought now is a good time to start.

Reading is such a vital part of the intellectual lifestyle, whether you're a literary geek or just an average Joe. Writing is almost as vital, whichever form it happens to take in each individual person. I write for the love of it, while many write out of necessity.

Both pursuits can become a journey, which is what this blog is about. My journey with reading and writing, and how these interests have changed my outlook on life, love, and everything in between.