More good news! He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not is a finalist in the main stream with romantic elements category of the Cleveland Rocks contest. The contest is sponsored by the Northeast Ohio chapter of RWA. Final placement will be announced in June.
Tag Archives: writing
DIY MFA
As anyone who knows me will attest, I am a lifelong learner. If I had known when I was in school that being a scholar was a valid career choice, I totally would have done it (history or religion). But as things are, I have two jobs, a day job for which I’ve gotten a master’s and professional accreditation (that’s as far as I can go as a PhD would make me overqualified) and my job as an author. I really, really want to advance my knowledge in the craft of writing, but I really have no desire (nor the time or money) to get a traditional MFA.
So, to that end, I’ve created my own course curriculum, based on books and DVD and online courses I want to take in my areas of focus (general craft, historical fiction and romance). I have no idea how long this will take me to complete, but I will do regular updates here to share what I’ve learned, give you an update on my progress and give myself a method of accountability. I plan to use what I learn as I write my next several books (I have a few contemporary love stories in mind and at least two historicals. I’ll be using my alpha/beta readers, critique partners and future agent as the criticism part of an MFA.)
I know I won’t end up with a piece of paper at the end of this, nor will I will able to add to the letters behind my name, but I should emerge from all this learning as a stronger writer, and that’s the whole point.
If you want to come along this journey with me, all of these sources are available to anyone, either from Amazon, or in the case of the Great Courses or Lawson Writer’s Academy, on their respective web sites. I have no idea what order I’m going to do things in, but you are welcome to journey along with me. In fact, I’d love to be able to discuss these books along with you.
Here’s my course of study:
(List updated 09/30/16. I’ve added more and crossed out those I’ve already completed as of today.)
General Craft:
- Building Great Sentences (The Great Courses)
- Writing Great Fiction: Storytelling Tips and Techniques (The Great Courses)
- Nail Your Novel (Book by Roz Morris)
- Writing Characters Who’ll Keep Readers Captivated: Nail Your Novel (Volume 2) (Book by Roz Morris)
- Writing plots with drama, depth and heart: Nail Your Novel (Book by Roz Morris)
- The 12 Key Pillars of Novel Construction (Book by CS Lakin)
- The Short Fuse Guide to Plotting Your Novel (Book by Connor Goldsmith)
- Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for Crafting a Plot That Grips Readers from Start to Finish (Book by James Scott Bell)
- The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life (book by Noah Lukeman)
- 45 Master Characters: Mythic Models for Creating Original Characters (book by Victoria Lynn Schmidt)
- A Writer’s Guide to Characterization: Archetypes, Heroic Journeys, and Other Elements of Dynamic Character Development (book by Victoria Lynn Schmidt)
- Story Structure Architect (book by Victoria Lynn Schmidt)
- Story Engineering (book by Larry Brooks)
- Story Physics (book by Larry Brooks)
- Page Turner (book by Barbara Kyle)
Writing:
The Architecture of the Historical Novel (In-person course with Larry Brooks – HNS USA 2015)Attitude & Altitude of Historical Novel: (In-person course with Larry Brooks – HNS USA 2015)- Writing With Emotion, Tension, and Conflict: Techniques for Crafting an Expressive and Compelling Novel (Book by Cheryl St. John)
- Elements of Fiction Writing – Conflict and Suspense (Book by James Scott Bell)
- Self-Editing for Fiction Writers (book by Renni Browne and Dave King)
- How to Capture Your Reader in the First 10 Pages (Lecture by Michael Hauge)
- Writing Screenplays that Sell (Book by Michael Hauge)
- Story Fix: Transform Your Novel from Broken to Brilliant (book by Larry Brooks and Michael Hauge)
- Diving Deep into Deep Point of View (Lawson Writer’s Academy – Course instructor: Rhay Christou)
- Digging Deep into the EDITS System (highly recommended for a unique perspective on editing) (Lawson Writer’s Academy – Handouts Available for Purchase)
- Advanced Deep Editing: A Master Course (Lawson Writer’s Academy – Handouts Available for Purchase)
- Writing Body Language and Dialogue Cues (Lawson Writer’s Academy – Handouts Available for Purchase)
- Empowering Characters’ Emotions (Lawson Writer’s Academy – Handouts Available for Purchase)
- 30 Days to a Stronger Novel (Lawson Writer’s Academy – Course instructor: Lisa Wells)
- The Hero’s Journey,
Parts I& II (DVD by Michael Hauge) - The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (book by Christopher Vogler)
- The Virgin’s Promise: Writing Stories of Feminine Creative, Spiritual and Sexual Awakening (book by Kim Hudson)
- Save the Cat (book by Blake Snyder)
- Writing the Other: A Practical Approach (book by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward)
- The Secrets of Storytelling: How to Write Compelling Stories (Webinar by Jerry Jenkins)
- The Story Toolkit: Your Step-by-Step Guide to Stories that Sell (Book by Susan Bischoff)
Romance Specific:
- On Writing Romance (Book by Leigh Michaels)
Writing Romantic Comedies (Lecture – Michael Hauge)- Writing Romantic Comedies (Book by Billy Mernit)
- Old RWA conference workshop handouts
How To Sell Romance Novels On Kindle (Book by Michael Alvear)
History/Research:
- The Other Side of History: Daily Life in the Ancient World (The Great Courses)
- Daily Life in the Ancient World (The Great Courses)
- The Story of Medieval England (The Great Courses)
- The Information-Literate Historian (Book by Jenny L. Presnell)
From Reliable Sources: An Introduction to Historical Methods (Book by Martha C. Howell)- The Craft of Research (Book by Wayne C. Booth)
Historical Fiction Writing: A Practical Guide (Book by Myfanwy Cook)- How to Write and Sell Historical Fiction (Book by Persia Wooley)*
- Medieval Underpants and Other Blunders (book by Susanne Allyen)*
- Writing Historical Fiction: Advice for the Digital Age (book by Marilyn Weymouth Seguin)
- Get Started in Writing Historical Fiction (book by Emma Darwin)*
Non-fiction
- The Non-fiction Proposal Demystified (Book by Nina Amir)
- The Short Fuse Guide to Book Proposals (Book by Gordon Warnock)
- Step by Step Pitches and Proposals by Chip Macgregor
The Business of Writing/Marketing
- Authorpreneur: How to Build a Business Around Your Book (Book by Nina Amir)
- The Author’s Guide to Marketing (Book by Beth Jusino)
Getting Published in the 21st Century: Advice from a Literary Agent (book by Carly Watters)- How to Market a Book (Book by Joanna/JF Penn)*
Business for Authors: How to be an Author Entrepreneur (Book by Joanna/JF Penn)SMART Social Media for Authors (Book by Chris Syme)- Guerrilla Marketing for Writers (Book by Jay Conrad Levins)
- Opening Up to Indie Authors (Book by Debbie Young and Dan Holloway)
- Green Light Your Book: How Writers Can Succeed in the New Era of Publishing (Book by Brooke Warner)
- Online Marketing for Busy Authors (Book by Fauzia Burke)
- How to Get Publicity for Your Book (Book by Natalie Obando)
- Red Hot Internet Publicity (Book by Penny Sanseivieri)
- 52 Ways to Sell More Books (Book by Penny Sanseivieri)
- How Authors Sell Publishing Rights (Book by Helen Sedwick and Orna Ross)
- Successful Self-Publishing (Book by Joanna Penn)
- The Naked Truth About Self Publishing (Book by Dorien Kelly)
- Author Identity: Build Your Brand, Sell More Books, Change the World (Book by Angie Mroczka)
- Let’s Get Visible (Book by David Gaughran)*
- Library as a Discovery Platform (IBPA Webinar)
- Wherever Books are Sold: How to Convince Huge Chains to Sell Your Books (IBPA Webinar)
- Audiobook Marketing Tips & Tools (IBPA Webinar)
- Book Marketing with Internet Media (IBPA Webinar)
- Sell More Books with Less Social Media (Book by Chris Syme)
- Talk Up Your Book: How to Sell Your Book Through Public Speaking, Interviews, Signings, Festivals, Conferences, and More (Book by Particia Fry)
- Public Speaking for Authors and Creatives (Book by Joanna Penn)
* Indicates I’ve started this book/course
What do you think about my DIY MFA program? Is there anything you would recommend adding? Have you read any of these books/taken any of these courses? Will you be joining me for all or part of this journey? If so, which part(s)?
2015 Goals
Last year I was pretty darn ambitious with my writing goals and it nearly did me in. So this year, I’m keeping it simple:
- Write at least one book – I’m planning on writing another historical fiction after I get this one edited and finished. As I’ve found another woman no one has written fiction about (that I can tell), I’m not revealing who she is until the book is done. But I can tell you this: she survived the French Revolution and went on to run a business empire in an age when women did not dare set foot in the work force. Her name survives on her product today and chances are good if I said it, you’d recognize it right away. I’ve also got two contemporary stories fighting for prominence in my head, so if I get the time, I’ll write one of those.
- Write a short story to submit to an RWA anthology – I never thought I’d do this since I generally can’t write short, but there’s a historical romance that’s been slowly piecing itself together in my mind and I think I know the plot now. I wrote the first part a few weeks ago. It’s set in 1920s Chicago smack bad in the middle of Al Capone’s mob. The story guidelines are 5,000-7,000 words, so we’ll see if I can get it done in time for the March deadline (along with editing and going on vacation).
- Continue to blog once a week – That’s here, plus my monthly post over at Spellbound Scribes and posts over at Femina Aequalitas whenever I can (I have to get to doing those more regularly!) Oh, and we’ll have a special guest here at Through the Mists of Time later this month. I’m very excited because she’s a pretty well-known historical fiction writer.
- Attend conferences and speak as possible – I’m planning to attend the 2015 Historical Novel Society Conference in Denver in June, as well as Sirens (also in Denver) in October. Right now I also have a tentative speaking engagement at Webster Groves High School in February.
- Continue social media – I’m on Twitter and Pinterest all the time, just found Instagram (follow me as Nicole Evelina), and I’m on Facebook about once a week. That’s about all I have time for. I may add some more, but that’s good for now.
Is there anything you’d like to see on this blog this year? Anyone want to guest post? I’m up for suggestions!
2014: Year in Review
Hi everyone! I emerged from the writing cave yesterday with a first draft of my next book weighing in at 107,000 words. It’ll get smaller as I edit it, but that’s two weeks away.
For now, I thought it would be a good time to look back on 2014.
Favorites
Moment: Meeting Deb Harkness and my WISH sisters at Hedgebrook Second place: Meeting Elizabeth Gilbert
Book: Tie between Shadow on the Crown by Patricia Bracewell and Mortal Heart by Robin LaFevers
Blog Post (on this blog): There were a lot but these two rise to the top: General: Hell Yes, We Need Strong Female Characters and Historical: The First Black Friday, 1869 – Stocks, Not Shopping
Memory: Getting the words “write” and “create” tattooed on my right wrist
Music: Book writing music: The score to Belle, composed by Rachel Portman. General music: Wrongchilde’s Goldblooded.
Quote: “Historical fiction writers are just as qualified to write about the past as historians, if not more so.” Deb Harkness
Unexpected Occurrence: Joining the Romance Writers of America. Never thought it would happen, but I’m so glad I did it. Oh, and connecting with Sarah Kennedy, Patricia Bracewell and Nancy Bilyeau via the Historical Novel Society was pretty cool, too.
The Year of “Bloom”
On January 1 of this year, I declared it the “Year of Blooming.” While I didn’t bloom publicly like I expected to, it was still an appropriate choice for the growth and confidence I gained this year. The goals I outlined were (and progress actually made) were:
- Delivering book 3 and another non-related book I’m working on to my agent by the end of June. I did this. Book 3 is still in a first draft that needs work stage, but at least I’ve got my ideas down on paper. The non-related book was He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not, which went to her on time. I also delivered 80% of a non-fiction book and its proposal, which I haven’t talked much about because…reasons. I’m still hoping you’ll see it someday. I just have no idea when.
- Finally being able to announce when Guinevere book 1 will be available to the world. I really shouldn’t have made this a goal because it’s out of my hands. I still don’t have any news here, but please know I haven’t given up on making it happen.
- Researching and beginning writing another Celtic era historical fiction novel. This was put on hold in favor of the 19th century American novel I just completed.
- Attending the Sirens Conference with several of my writer friends in October (and possibly speaking there if I can come up with a topic and get it approved). I decided not to do this because of lack of funds. But I was able to speak at the Lit in Lou festival here in town, so I consider that a win.
- Finding balance in my life between my day job, writing and all the other demands of life. *snort* I don’t think writing three books in one year along with working a full-time job is considered balance according to any definition.
- Getting healthier so that I can have more energy to devote to the things I love. Not so much. See above.
- Being more active on Facebook. (I’m already on Twitter all the time.) This kind of happened. I scheduled weekly posts all year on Facebook, although with as much as they monkey with who gets to see it and who doesn’t, I really wonder about the value.
- Traveling for research (cross your fingers that I’ll have an announcement on this soon) for book 3 and my current non-related book. Travel for Book 3 didn’t happen, but instead I got to take a week-long creative writing class from Deborah Harkness at Hedgebrook, which honestly, was way more beneficial. I did get to travel to Chicago to research He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not and I will share some of that with you as soon as the book gets a contract – whenever that may be.
- Continuing to find new ways to use this blog to reach out to Arthurian/Celtic fans, book lovers and writers. Honestly, I’m not sure what I had in mind for this one. I didn’t do a lot of Celtic topics, but there were a few that came out of the non-fic book.
Writing
If I have learned one thing this year, it’s that trying to write three books in a year while holding down a full-time job is INSANE. That’s not a feat I aim to repeat again. At least not until I can write full-time. But it is really mind blowing to think that one year ago today, those three books didn’t exist; all I had to my name was the three Guinevere novels. Now I have:
- He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not (romantic women’s fiction)
- The non-fiction book
- A first draft of the 19th century strong political woman book (histfic)
Reading
Goodreads told me that I read 70 books this year, but that doesn’t include the five I’ve finished since they put out their tally, nor does it include the 30 something research books I used for the non-fic and the 19th century book. So my total is more like 100. How did I do it? A lot of audiobooks (sometimes two at a time), along with reading every spare moment. That’s about it.
Blogging
I know I was a little sporadic in 2014, especially toward the end of the year, but I’m coming to realize that when I’m focused on finishing a book, blogging is just going to have to take a back seat. I love you guys, but there is only so much of me to go around. BUT, I’m hoping the quality of content I give you weekly in between will make up for it. WordPress did this silly little year in review thing for my blog, so here it is in case you want the details: http://nicoleevelina.com/2014/annual-report/.
So I think that’s about it. Is there anything else you want to know about my 2014? I’ll be back tomorrow with another blog and several more this week, so stay turned!
Happy New Year. Let’s make 2015 the best yet! I love you all!
How Many Words Does it Take to Wear Out a Writer?
Hi. This is me right now.
Why?I just wrote 7,876 words – in 12 hours. Because I’m crazy like that. And because Summer Heacock was hosting a writing marathon on Twitter. (She wrote 20,000 words in two days and finished her MS! Go congratulate her.)
So, no formal blog post this week. Actually, I may not be posting anymore this year because I’m really pushing hard to get my current MS done. So if you don’t hear from me for a bit, that’s why. I’m holed up in the writing cave creating some historical juiciness for you. But on the other hand, if something strikes me and I feel like blogging about it, I will.
Oh, I’m up over at Spellbound Scribes tomorrow, too, (luckily that post is already done) so I’ll reblog that.
In January, I’ll be participating in the annual No Kiss Blogfest. That means in the new year, you’ll get a preview of a sexy scene I’ve written that does not involve kissing (hence the name). I’ll have to change the name of my MC so you don’t guess who the book is about, but I think you’ll like what I’ve written.
In case I don’t blog before, Happy Holidays (whatever you may celebrate) and Happy New Year!
This Writer’s Life
I don’t have a source for this image. If anyone knows it, please contact me or put it in the comments so I can attribute it.
I received an interview request from Webucator: Expert Instructors Blogging last week to help celebrate National Novel Writing Month. They are going to share my answers with their students and I hope you can benefit from them as well.
What were your goals when you started writing?
Writing is an innate thing for me. I started writing when I was a little girl, simply because I wanted to tell stories. I can still remember typing out my very first story (one whole page!) on a typewriter, years before computers became the norm. Throughout my school years, I wrote several stinkers and one that was actually pretty good, never having a clue that I was honing skills for a future career. That was the last thing on my mind. Even up until a few years ago, my goal was just to tell the stories that were in my head.
What are your goals now?
My current goal is to get my first book published. (I’ve completed several, both in historical fiction and women’s fiction/smart, sweet romance.) After that it will be to continue to be able to share my novels with the world. But that’s just the distribution, behind it all the goal remains the same: tell the stories that are desperate to get out of my brain. If I didn’t have writing, I’m sure I’d go insane (although the current state of sanity is questionable at best).
What pays the bills now?
I work in the marketing department of a health care system, handling internal communications. I’m a certified business communicator, and one of two writers in our department. That means when I’m not novel writing at night, on weekends and vacation days, I’m doing business writing. It’s not a bad thing to have your entire life be writing, but it can be exhausting!
Assuming writing doesn’t pay the bills, what motivates you to keep writing?
The voices in my head! Seriously. I’m one of those crazy writers who hears her characters and when their story is ready, darn it, they want out and they let me know it! Beyond that, it’s a passion for writing and a certainty that this is what I was born to do. The world may not know it yet, but I do, and I’m going to keep telling stories until one finally catches on. I have no doubt that it will happen. It may just take time.
What advice would you give young authors hoping to make a career out of writing?
Write every single story that comes into your head. The more you write, the better you get. And write the stories that appeal to you, not what seems to be popular at the time. If you’re going to see a book to publication, you will read it dozens of times, so it needs to be something you really care about, otherwise you’ll get sick of it and that will show to the readers. Plus, it takes so long to write and traditionally publish a book, that if you chase a trend, chances are good that it will be over by the time you try to sell your story.
Read as much as you can, both within you genre(s) and outside of them. Note what works and what doesn’t. Over time, you’ll find yourself “reading like a writer,” which means you can’t just enjoy a book like you used to; whether you realize it or not, you’ll be mentally dissecting both the good and the bad to try to figure out why you did or didn’t like something. And that’s how you learn. Don’t discount the bad books; oftentimes, they teach you just as much as the amazing ones.
Once you’ve finished a draft of your novel, celebrate – this is something few people accomplish – but also realize you are far from finished. You’ll go through several rounds of edits before your book is ready for an agent or editor to see it. Take advantage of beta readers and consider hiring a professional editor. Their critiques may hurt your ego (some have made me cry), but after some time, you’ll realize your writing (and your skill) benefits from honest feedback.
Finally, don’t give up. Writing professionally is a tough business, full of rejection from agents, editors, critics and readers. There are days where it seems like everyone but you is announcing successes. But the only way your turn will never come is if you quit. Just keep writing. If one book doesn’t make it, write another, and another if you have to. On the tough days, it can help to remember why you started writing in the first place. Chances are good it wasn’t for money (the blockbusters really are rare). Remember your story and your characters. You have a duty to them to tell their story, to keep going. And once that story is done, there will be another to which you are bound. Writing isn’t so much a choice, as it is a responsibility – to your stories and to yourself. Treat it with the same respect you would any other job or commitment. That’s what separates the pros from the hobbyists.
Do you have any other questions for me? Thoughts about what I’ve written? Please share them in the comments below.
Treatment of Female Characters by Male Writers of Historical Fiction
Mary Magdalene by Georges de La Tour (Source: Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)
I’ve been thinking about the subject of this post for quite some time now, and I’m hoping that all of you can offer some recommendations. You see, I’ve really been trying to diversify my historical fiction reading by including books written by men. After all, if I preach about female equality, I should exhibit equality in my own reading, right?
Here’s the problem: I can’t find any male historical fiction authors I like. (Tyler, I haven’t read your book yet, so I’m not including you in that statement.) I’ve tried a variety of male authors (whom I won’t name out of respect for them and those who like their books), and my dislike of their work boils down to one of two things:
- I don’t really go for military history, so that rules out a lot of male authors who concentrate on that part of history.
- Out of the stories I’ve read, nearly all portray women in a negative light.
I’d like to focus on that second point for a moment. The stories that I’m referring to at best treat their female characters as afterthoughts, cardboard props to fawn over their male heroes (my what a big sword you have), and at worst (and more commonly) portray them as prostitutes and/or victims of the male characters. I’ve read the female-character-as-prostitute trope so many times in male authored books that I wonder if I need to write a book called,”Healers, Mothers, Craftswomen and Estate Managers: Other Roles to Give Your Female Characters.” A prostitute can serve a very important role as one who has access to all sorts of information from a variety of types of men, and who can slip in and out of both the respectable areas and the underworld, so I can see why giving that profession to a character could be useful. But that’s not generally how I’ve seen her used in books written by men. Many times, the prostitutes serve no real purpose to the story other than to give the male characters someone to physically and sexually abuse, often graphically. It’s as if the scenes are some sick fantasy of the author (which I hope they are not), they think this is how readers expect women to be portrayed in history, or maybe it’s just lazy writing. (See my friend Shauna Granger’s post on sexual violence as lazy writing.)
There is no faster way to sour a book than to abuse a woman or an animal for no reason (and rarely is there a good reason). There is one male author in particular who is wildly successful, and whose book I enjoyed immensely until there were multiple gratuitous scenes of abuse of women and animals. I think he was trying to show how sick and twisted one of the male villains was, but I can think of at least a dozen ways that could be done that wouldn’t have involved such needless violence. (Not that I’m saying that I’m a better writer, just that there are other options.)
I realize that throughout most of history, women had little power. But that is no excuse for continuing to reinforce the woman as victim trope. Yes, women were (and still are) brutalized, raped and murdered as part of war or even just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If this is important to the plot and accurate to the time period, by all means it should be included. (One of my books has a fairly lengthy section where the main female character is raped and tortured, but it is traditional to the mythology and serves a larger purpose in the overall plot.) What I have trouble accepting is when such things are used without apparent purpose or just because the author can.
Sometimes I wonder if this portrayal of women is due in part to the gender roles people were raised with. Boys are supposed to like war and fighting and girls are supposed to care about relationships and love, therefore that’s what we focus on when we write. (Although there are a few female military history novelists whom I’ve heard are very good.) It’s also possible that men may feel the need to show how macho or heroic their male leads are by making the females look or be subservient by comparison. Another possibility is our schooling and popular history has enforced the “male as hero, woman as servant role” and these authors are just repeating what they know. However, we live in an age where contrary information (biographies of female leaders, studies of historical gender roles, especially women’s) is easily accessible if one looks, so the latter should no longer be an excuse. Actually, none of these should be valid excuses.
In a world where both boys and girls, adults and children can enjoy the exploits of a boy wizard called Harry Potter (written by woman), shouldn’t it be realistic to expect that as a woman, I can enjoy historical fiction written by a man without feeling the need to defend my entire gender afterwords?
I’m sure this does not represent all male historical fiction authors and that’s why I even brought it up. Please tell me in the comments if you’ve read and/or can recommend non-military historical fiction written by men that has some well-rounded female characters. I would love to be able to write a follow-up post declaring that I’ve found a few I like.
PS – I also realize some female authors are guilty of doing the same things with their characters. But I’ve been able to find plenty who aren’t, which has not been my experience with male authors.
A Peek Behind the Creative Curtain or Why You No Blog?
Image by Allie Brosh http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html
I’m currently making my way through Justin Kleon’s books Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work. Both are so inspirational and I highly recommend them for anyone in any sort of creative discipline. Anyway, in the later he talks about sharing your process with others, letting your fans peek behind the creative curtain, so to speak. That’s always been one of my aims for this blog, so I thought I’d give you a little insight into what I’ve been doing to get my next book into motion:
- In the last 2.5 months, I’ve read 15 research books cover to cover and written countless pages of notes.
- Those notes have become my very detailed 25-page, 15,000 word outline.
- Which I will turn into a 90-100K book over the next 2-3 months. I’m aiming to write about 1,000 words a day.
- Then I will let it rest for a few weeks, edit it several times and then let my lovely crew of beta readers beat it up.
- If all goes well, it will be on submission by late spring.
No pressure, right?
I should also have a new book review up on Historical Honey soon as well as an article on the Historical Novel Society’s site. Will send links when they are up. In November, I’ll be reviewing Robin LaFevers’ Mortal Heart for Sirens (by the way, my next book is a perfect fit for the 2015 conference theme of rebels and rebellion, so you’ll probably see me speaking there), and in December I’ll have two reviews for ebooksforreview.com, my latest book reviewing venture.
So if you’ve been wondering why I’ve been a little scattered and not quite as consistent with my blogging lately, this is why. (Remember, I don’t write full-time, yet!) Plenty more news to come and I’ll try to give you a real blog post next Monday. Love to all!
PS – I kind of want to create a new blog category for Do All The Things, since I seem to always be doing all the things.
Meeting Elizabeth Gilbert: a Joy and an Inspiration
Elizabeth Gilbert (left) and a very excited me
I’m popping my head out of the research cave to share with you an amazing opportunity I got this past week. Last Tuesday, I had the good fortune to meet author Elizabeth Gilbert as part of her book tour for The Signature of All Things. (If you haven’t read it yet, go, go, go! It’s historical fiction that is so lush, you really feel like you’re there with the characters. Plus, it’s unique to all the other nineteenth century novels out there – I promise you’ve never seen these characters or settings before.)
I first encountered Elizabeth like so many of us, with Eat Pray Love, which had a profound effect on my life, albeit one I can’t really put into words. But how I really came to love her was through her TED talks on creativity. (Here’s are the first on creative genius and the second on success, failure and the drive to keep writing). Both of them made me cry, in a good way, out of pure joy at encountering someone who spoke directly to my artistic soul. Then I read The Signature of All Things (I’m about ¾ of the way through – had to give it back to the library, but now I own it!) and knew she was an author I’d stick with long into the future.
Elizabeth is no less wonderful in person than she is on the Internet. She has the rare gift of being both a fantastic writer and an inspiring, engaging and entertaining speaker. And she’s so human. I found myself in tears (it had been a very trying day anyway) several times while she spoke, nodding my head, thinking, “Yes, yes. This confirms that I’m meant to be a writer.” I’ve included below a recording of her opening remarks and reading from The Signature of All Things. (Not sure why it didn’t give me a proper thumbnail. The video really is there, I promise. Sorry if the sound is low. This is the best I could do.)
Even if you don’t watch that, you may want to see her answer to a fan’s question about where she gets her inspiration. I missed the beginning of her answer, but she started with “Are you ready to get freaky?” and proceeded to explain how she believes ideas are always floating around looking for a home (which is my theory as well. I believe our stories choose us, not the other way around):
Other highlights of her talk/Q&A:
- Even though Eat Pray Love was such a huge success, she was not an overnight phenomenon. She was three books into her career before she quit her day job.
- She recommends writing every day and using a kitchen timer for whatever time you can allot yourself, even if it’s only 15 or 30 minutes. She doesn’t work based on word count because “you might right one word one day that’s a really important word, but a thousand the next and end up having to delete them all.”
- She will be continuing in historical fiction (yay!). Her next book is set in the theatre world of 1940s New York. (Love that already!)
- She is still in touch with everyone mentioned in Eat Pray Love, except for Richard from Texas, who passed away three years ago. But they were close friends to the end and she spoke at his funeral.
- She talked about the word focus and that it comes from the Latin word for “fire.” The idea is that when people sit around a fire, they inevitably end up all staring into the fire. She emphasized the importance of making sure you have a fire at the center of your narrative to keep your reader’s attention.
- Her biggest tip for anyone is to follow a path of curiosity, because that spark of questioning will lead you to your passion in life.
- She also talked about how you can tell more truth in fiction than in memoir and many times you end up doing it without even realizing it. She said that while memoirs are true, they are a matter of “making a piece of art out of what happened,” rather than showing you a raw diary. They are by necessity, very polished versions of the truth. In fiction, you can let the more raw versions of yourself out.
- Her sister is MG/YA author Catherine Gilbert Murdock.
When she was finished speaking, Elizabeth was kind enough to personalize the already autographed books and sign copies of other books people brought along. I had her sign my copy of Eat Pray Love as well. While she was doing that, I got to talk to her a bit about being a writer and she noticed my tattoos and wanted to see what they said. When it was my turn to get a picture taken, she put her arm around me and said, “oh, you!” in a favorite aunt sort of way. It was a wonderful, uplifting experience that went a long way toward refreshing my well of creativity and hope, which was running a bit dry.
I’m really amazed by the kindness and graciousness of the three authors I’ve been fortunate to meet so far (Alyson Noel, Deb Harkness and Elizabeth). They strong women in their own right and wonderful examples of how to interact with your fans. I hope that I’ve internalized what I’ve learned from them and will be just as pleasant to my fans someday as they are.
If nothing else, they’ve all taught me some important lessons: 1) success is possible, 2) don’t ever give up, 3) it may take time, but it will happen.
Have you ever gotten to meet a famous author? If so, who? What was it like? If not, who do you want to meet?