books and maps

What if you could travel along the time-space continuum (something like that) and visit a planet stuck in another time dimension? Say, Tudor England, with King Henry VIII on the throne? On a distant moon: ancient Rome or Renaissance Italy. Of course, you would have to be careful where you end up and you’d want to stay clear of the action, but it would be a heck of a vacation. If this is already a novel please do tell me the title. I recently had a fantastically frightening dream about a little boy who had been secretly injected with superhuman powers at birth (complete with terrifying side effects) but a friend informed me that this sounded a lot like “Heroes”.

Tom and I went to Maine this weekend (planet earth, current dimension) to see family and visit the Emerson Bookstore which sadly is going out of business. They have an amazing collection of maps and prints: Tom bought old maps of Maine fairly littered with the name Libby (yeah, we liked that) and another that marked the property of R. Libbey – his many-times-great-grandfather. I bought some books from the folklore/mythology section because that’s how I roll these days. You can learn a lot from a person by seeing what shelves they gravitate toward in a bookstore.

Still reading a lot – I’ve mentioned The Magicians, which I loved. And I’ve been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 7. The musical episode, “Once More with Feeling,” is just brilliant.

more beasts, still glorious

I went back to the MFA today, yes I did. I wandered through the song exhibit again (“why, hello Mr. Bowie”) then strolled through Renaissance Italy, ancient Egypt, 16th century Chinese furniture and beautiful ceramics: “cups with boy, chickens, peonies,” “box with a beetle, scorpion, toad, centipede and snake,” “brush holder with auspicious symbols.” I found myself back in the kimono-lined Japanese luxuries room, and paid another visit to the Buddhist temple room, dimly lit walls patterned with the flame-like shadows of stone gods. Back down the hallway of glorious beasts, with that creamy blue lapis lazuli paint that I could get lost in.

I took a break in the echoing Sargent mural gallery, sat beneath a mural of a bow and arrow wielding centaur and ate an incredibly loud apple. I was reluctant to leave. Lacking inspiration can make me feel curiously empty, depleted. This helped bring balance.

Today I didn’t take my camera, but on Saturday this lion was kind enough to sit still for a portrait:

glorious beasts at the MFA

I give a lot of well-meaning advice to writers who are suffering from a lack of inspiration. I have had a similar malaise for the past couple weeks. So, what’s a writer to do with her malaise? I went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

I haven’t been to the MFA for a full day trip by myself in years, not since my first blog post. I visited the usual suspects: European old masters, Greek mythology dramatically rendered on canvas and in stone. Not to mention The Daughters of Edward D. Boit by John Singer Sargent. I’ve seen some of these paintings so many times that it was like meeting old friends.

There was an Egyptian tomb on display, with pots of kohl and necklaces of blue-green faience, red carnelian, amethyst. In this sculpture the women carry ducks by their wings, a symbol of control over chaos. Could this be the purpose of the entire elaborately assembled tomb – control over the chaotic and unknown world of death and the afterlife?

One of my favorite exhibits was “Glorious Beasts in Persian Painting” – half a dozen Persian works alongside paintings by Conley Harris. Bold sea blue and sunset orange and gold leaf swirled together. Harris even used a 16th century technique of using ground minerals, like lapis lazuli, in his paints. There were miniature paintings from Iran: precise brushstrokes and animal faces peering out from clusters of intricately detailed leaves.

I get a little choked up sometimes if something is really beautiful, and I also like to chat with the guards (they seem bored) and I wander around for hours. Alone, you can linger as long as you want. Even though I’ve seen some of this stuff before, something different gets to me every time. After the “Glorious Beasts” hallway I headed upstairs to the Japanese gallery and was blown away by the colorful kimonos, the sketches and paintings, the Buddhist temple. Again I met Aizen, King of Passion (multi-armed and angry looking…I’m still convinced that he will blink his third eye one of these days) who transforms worldly gain into the desire for enlightenment.

Another special exhibit was “Seeing Songs” – art inspired by music, be it the sound of music, the act of performing, or the notes on the page. There was a bank of 30 television sets on which 30 Italian superfans sang songs from Madonna’s Immaculate Collection (this was oddly riveting to watch) and an arresting photo of Big Band audience members caught in a rapture that you might see in any concert today. Not to mention a selection of Herb Ritts photos of music megastars - including my personal favorite.

Late, feet aching, I met printmaker Albrecht Durer’s “Melencolia I”: an artist in his study, suffering his own sort of malaise. Apparently melancholy was considered the “essence of creativity” in Durer’s time. Regardless, I’m feeling better after my MFA trip. It’s not that this has given me insight into my Nano book or anything so concrete as that, but it’s filled me with hope. If someone can sew those amazing kimonos or create those fantastical beasts with swirls of paint, then I must have another book in me.

Guest blog: Nancy Werlin

Today I have a very special blog post: an interview with YA author Nancy Werlin. Nancy is the author of many acclaimed YA novels, including a finalist for the 2006 National Book Award, Rules of Survival and one of my personal favorites, The Killer’s Cousin. Her most recent novel, Impossible, was chosen as School Library Journal Best Book of 2008, a Booklist Editor’s Choice for 2008, and a Kirkus Reviews Best YA book of 2008. I’ve been lucky to hear Nancy speak at conferences and further pleased and honored to meet her.

Do you have any writing rituals (time of day, place, food you eat, music you listen to)?

I seem to pick up a different routine every few years. Nowadays I like writing at a cafe. There’s a place called Peacuddy’s a short walk from where I live, and I’m also fond of Panera Bread. A writing day in the cafe begins in the morning with a large coffee, and then I order lunch (soup and salad are best), and if I’m still there around three, it’s time for a latte and possibly a treat.

I need to begin writing in the morning in order to think well. Since I fit writing in alongside a regular job (as a technical writer for a software company, three days a week), I don’t write every day. I actually get pretty angry when I hear some writers say that you’re not really a writer and are not really committed unless you write every day.

What is one question you wish an interviewer would ask you?

Ask me about love! (And you didn’t ask me to answer my own question, Alisa – so I won’t, not really. I doubt I could answer in a straightforward way, in an interview-ish answer sort of way, anyway.) But love is what I’m working on, these days, in my writing. My last novel, Impossible, was about love and family. My next, Extraordinary (due out in September, 2010) is about love and friendship. And soon I’ll get started on the new work, in which I want to think about love and forgiveness . . .

And faeries. There have to be faeries. I don’t really know why faeries feel so right to me these days, but they do.

Name a book or author who inspired you to write.

I’m a broken record on this one. It’s JANE EYRE by Charlotte Bronte. My favorite book since I was a teenager, my touchstone. This book is so alive. It deepens and reveals different layers upon every re-read. I probably will never write a book as moving and emotional and meaningful as JANE EYRE, but I plan never to stop trying.

JANE EYRE is of course about love, isn’t it?

Thank you, Nancy, for taking the time to answer my questions! (Note to self: be careful to word questions perfectly when you send them to such clever writers.) I wish you continued success and inspiration…and, of course, faeries.

Nano book, reading binge

I received feedback from my agent about my Nano book – Aces! I’m thrilled (and darn lucky, I know) to get feedback so quickly.

The consensus: I have a lot of work to do, but the book is worth working on. This is fantastic news. However, the funny: I fooled myself into believing that I had written a full draft. True, it was short. True, the ending was an open-ended cliffhanger. But since I didn’t know what would happen next, well, that must be the end of the book, right? Not true. What I have here is only half of a book. I still have to figure out the second half, and fix a whole lot of stuff. This is daunting, but I’m focusing on the positive: I’ve got something worth working on, all thanks to Nanowrimo!

As for my reading binge, I’ve finally picked up The Magicians by Lev Grossman and it is amazing. It’s been touted “Harry Potter for adults” – while the main character does go to magic school, it’s a very different take on the experience and truly wonderful in it’s own rite. 

I have to read as much as possible, watch some good movies and find some inspiring music – any recommendations are welcome! – before I return to my Nano book. I’ll keep you informed of my progress, of course.

Castle-dwellers

For me, a recent anniversary of sorts: on a January day years ago I boarded a plane to Holland, where I stayed for a semester during my sophomore year of college. For about four months I lived in a 14th century castle owned by Emerson College and converted into dorm rooms for some 70-odd students (yeah, we were pretty odd). I had never been out of the country before, and getting on that plane was one of the best (and bravest) things I’ve ever done.

In my application essay to this program I described the trip as “a novel waiting to be written”. I feel a little guilty that I haven’t written that novel, yet. Did I mention that this was a haunted castle?

I certainly feel an urge to write about it as a way to reclaim that part of my life, to make it mine again through the written word. But I’m not a memoirist. I only write about real life if it’s been effectively transformed into fiction. Still, details about the castle crop up here and there: A weeping willow. Ivy on a brick wall. A white bathtub in Paris.

I wonder if there is a castle-book waiting inside of me. Something that blends fact and fiction enough so that no one will be able to see which parts are real…with the exception of some of my fellow castle-dwellers.

back to work

Now that I’m back at work at Simmons, I’m reflecting on what I think was a successful writing “retreat”. It’s impossible to judge the quality of the writing I did – but at least I wrote. Completed a revision, just as I had set out to do.

There were a lot of things that made this break a success. I want to thank Tom for being patient when he came home to find me with that crazed-author-stuck-in-house-all-day-with-revision gleam in my eyes. Also, for getting me tea when my voice vanished. Thanks to Anna for joining me for writing day, which was fun and a great brainstorming opportunity. Thanks to Mom and Val for giving me a break from writing, luring me out of the house with promises of food and good company (both promises fulfilled). Thanks to Roxanne for enjoying long, long naps as I clacked away on my computer. And as for computers: thanks to Tom’s old desktop to being there for me when my laptop gave me the finger, and thanks to my new little netbook for saving the day when Tom’s desktop did the same (am I tech-cursed or what?). Thanks to Lauren for indulging in numerous writerly phone conversations over the past couple weeks – I’m lucky to have a writer friend to whom I can dish my darkest fears and concerns about my work in progress.

Lastly, thanks to all of my co-workers at GSLIS. It makes it a lot easier to come back to work knowing that I get to see your smiling faces again.

tweeting up at ALA

The American Library Association mid-winter Conference was in Boston this year, so I met up with my YA chums on Saturday and we toured around the exhibit hall. We spent most of our time in the Children’s/Young Adult book section, of course. It was fun to wander around and check out all those new releases (so many amazing books…) and I picked up two ARCs. How great is this cover for Donna Jo’s new book? And My Life with the Lincolns immediately got my attention. I find the Lincolns fascinating.

I had lunch with some of the bloggers from The Enchanted Inkpot, and we talked about books and writing and all that good stuff. I met authors and Inkies Nandini Bajpai, Marissa Doyle (The Bewitching Season), Deva Fagan (Fortune’s Folly), and Ellen Booraem (The Unnameables). My own Anna Staniszewski is also an Inkie, and we were joined by middle school librarian extraordinaire, Sarah Chessman. Anna and Deva and I talked about how we write the books that we wanted to read when we were younger; an intense discussion ensued involving unicorns, dolphins, and - a combination of the two – narwhals. Bliss! My twelve year old self would have been thrilled.

After lunch and some more exhibit-wandering (we did A LOT of walking) we went to a special “tweet up” event of YA book lovers (all of us twittering, I suppose). I met a whole bunch of librarians, agents, editors, bloggers and writers. I tried to pretend that I’m not a shy person and I walked up to people and said hello. I met the founder of New Moon magazine, which was so cool! I didn’t take enough photos, but here are Anne and Anna (they are in my writing group) chatting with author Jo Knowles (Jumping off Swings) at the tweet up.

We YA people know how to party, it’s the truth. In fact, I met and spoke to so many people that I woke up the next day with no voice whatsoever. It was all worth it!

just hit send…

This evening I sent my newly revised Nanowrimo book to my agent. Poof. Just like that. Well, not quite poof - there was a long pause before I hit “send.”

Ideally he’ll read it and tell me that it’s worth spending time and effort on, that there’s something worthwhile here, and he’ll give me some ideas for a revision. Worst case scenario, he’ll tell me that it’s just not working and that maybe I shouldn’t pursue it. I would prefer the first scenario.

The weird thing is that I really have no idea what I’ve sent to him. After all that reading and tweaking, it was difficult to look at the book objectively. But that’s just one reason why agents – and other readers, in general – are so valuable to this process. They offer perspective and feedback that can help you transform your book.

And so begins the other part of the writing process: waiting and, more importantly, READING! I took two more books out from the library tonight, to add to the pile. I couldn’t help myself. I’ve been so focused on writing that I haven’t spent much time reading (though I did read Block’s Pretty Dead last week, which I enjoyed). Now it’s high time for a reading binge!

Check out my most recent interview, along with a nice review: http://renees-reads.blogspot.com/2010/01/kings-rose-by-alisa-m-libby-review-and.html

cut, cut, cut

Okay, yesterday I flaked out, intentionally: instead of reading my revision I went out to dinner and a movie with my sister. Badness! But she assured me that today I would be super productive, out of guilt. I think she was right.

Today I read my entire 64 page, single-spaced work-in-progress. I am now eating chocolate and peanut butter. Yes, these two things are deeply related. I’m still trying to gauge how I feel about this book. There are things I really like about it, and other things that need a lot of work. Tomorrow I plan to focus on the first 20 pages or so, and I hope to cut a lot of stuff.

In the first full scene of this draft, we meet our main character wandering through a witchy store in Salem, Massachusetts. I enjoyed writing this scene: describing the store, the items for sale, the decor, the items that intrigued my character. I got the idea for this scene – the springboard for the entire novel, really – while walking around a similar store in Salem this past October. I was enjoying my surroundings and I got to thinking about people with extrasensory-type perception. And I thought, what if someone with some special perception looked at you and could see into you, see stuff that you didn’t want them to see? Or better: stuff that you didn’t even know was there? I gave these thoughts to my character, and they come up in this scene.

So why am I telling you all of this? Because I think this scene needs to be cut. In fact, I think the whole opening needs to be condensed, so that I can move the meeting of our two main characters up earlier in the manuscript. It feels weird, of course, because that early shop scene was my first glimpse into this character. Can I really get rid of it? Yes, of course I can. Thank goodness. That’s the whole point of revision. Nobody needs to see that early, rough stuff. It might get you where you need to go, but that doesn’t mean you need to keep it.

This is where I am now. Part of me feels a bit hesitant, worried about what kind of mess all of these cuts will make. And another part of me is mentally sharpening a pair of scissors, ready and willing to trim away whatever I don’t absolutely need. Hopefully the cutting will help me discover the novel that I’m attempting to write.