POST ALERT: Life on Purpose--What to do When Dreams & Goals Fizzle by Kristen Lamb

 From Kate's Writing Crate...

 

          As I read posts I like on other blogs, I’ve decided to add Post Alerts to this blog so others can read them as well.

          I recommend Kristen Lamb’s post “Life on Purpose—What to do When Dreams & Goals Fizzle” on the WarriorWriters blog (warriorwriters.wordpress.com/) dated February 9, 2015.

           Highly motivating!

           Feel free to let me know about posts you love on other blogs.

Reads for Writers: Smooth-Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’m recommending Lisa Kleypas’ series about the Travis family: Sugar Daddy, Blue-Eyed Devil, Smooth-Talking Stranger, and the yet-to-be-released Brown-Eyed Girl. (It's now been released and Brown-Eyed Girl is NOT worth reading--a disappointing end to this enjoyable series.)

The head of this wealthy dynasty is self-made successful businessman Churchill Travis who has four children: Gage, Jack, Joe, and Haven. He demands a lot from his sons—hard work, successful careers, and business ownership. He leaves the raising of their daughter to her mother even as Haven tries to compete with her brothers.

I always recommend reading books in order to see the growth in characters and relationships. It's important in this series as a crucial character from book one plays a big part in book two.

Also, while the end of Sugar Daddy is especially romantic, I preferred the more in-depth plots in books two and three as well as many insightful asides. Ella, the lead female character in Smooth-Talking Stranger, is a writer so this is my favorite book in the series. Jack is a character introduced in Sugar Daddy who readers got to know much better in Blue-Eyed Devil.

          In Smooth-Talking Stranger, Jack Travis lives the good life: he works hard at the property management company he owns and plays hard—sports, hunting, and dating beautiful women who know the score.

          Ella Varner, bespectacled, cute, and petite, is not one of those women; however, her estranged younger sister, Tara, is model-beautiful and the mother of Luke, a newborn she claims was fathered by Jack. Tara, unable to cope with the baby, abandons him at her mother’s house. The mother in turn calls Ella, the responsible one in the family, to deal with the situation. If she doesn’t, her mother threatens to call the authorities—which is how Ella ended up four hours from home waiting for Jack Travis in his company’s reception area with a fussy baby.

          Jack knows he is not the father, but he admires Ella’s loyalty to her sister and nephew. He appreciates her humor and intelligence. And while she does not look like his usual girlfriends, she still captures all of his attention. He has finally met his match, but knows his usual moves won’t impress Ella.

          Ella is a bright, witty columnist who writes an explicit and hilarious relationship column for a national magazine. (See examples on pages 104 & 164.) She lives with her boyfriend, Dane, who owns a green energy company. They have a comfortable relationship, but he wants nothing to do with babies even on a temporary basis. Now Ella needs to relocate her life until all the details can be worked out with whoever is Luke’s father.

          Ella’s life has not been easy. “To my mother, Candy Varner, everything was an emergency. She was a shock-and-awe parent, the ultimate drama queen. But she had covered it up so adeptly that few people suspected what went on behind closed doors.” (page 2)

Tired of his wife’s tirades, her father left a few years after Tara’s birth, never to return, leaving a gap filled by Candy’s parade of new boyfriends and then a stepfather who tried to molest Ella and Tara. Candy didn’t believe that and blamed her daughters when he left. With a shared background of abuse and continued demeaning comments from their mother, the sisters grew up and went their separate ways to break free from this destructive cycle.

          “Neither of us seemed able to be close to anyone. Not even each other. Closeness meant the one you loved the most would cause you the most damage. How did you unlearn that?” (page 68)

          As an adult, Ella became independent and self-supporting. Then Luke appears in her life. “I had never been so wanted or needed by anyone on earth. Babies were dangerous…they made you fall in love before you knew what was happening. This small solemn creature couldn’t even say my name, and he depended on me for everything. Everything. I’d known him for little more than a day. But I would have thrown myself in front of a bus for him. I was shattered by him.” (page 81)

How much of an effect will Luke have on her relationships when he becomes the center of her life—especially after her sister returns?

To Jack, Luke is part of Ella’s life. Used to caring for his niece and nephew, Jack is adept at caring for a baby. Jack is also thoughtful and funny. He's determined to have Ella in his life and Dane out of hers.

Ella knows Jack is serious about her. “…I was aware of a new kind of power, a seductive power, over someone who was stronger, worldlier, more unpredictable, more testosterone-fueled than any man I’d ever known before. It was like sitting behind the wheel to test a race car. Scary and exhilarating all at once, especially for someone who had never liked to travel fast.” (page 216)  

The book ends with a twist on Ella’s relationship column and a beautiful tribute to a marriage license—the power of words leads to a happy ending.

Does Writing Make You Happy?

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          Lots of people say they just want to be happy, but they don’t get too specific beyond that. If writing makes you happy, then write. Simply fit it into your schedule every day.

          Tawna Fenske, who writes the blog “Don’t Pet Me, I’m Writing”, wrote four books in one year that all went on to be published. Her biggest writing secrets: while she does have a fulltime job and a family with pets, she doesn’t have cable TV and knows how to multi-task. (See her post dated January 20, 2015.)

          When I was working long hours at corporate jobs, I kept scraps of paper nearby so as ideas came to me I could scribble them down. Scrap paper I could turn over easily was much less noticeable than a notebook—and no one read my stuff.

          While I do have ideas at random times, my muse only shows up when I am working—and that means uninterrupted writing time. Now that I write and edit for a living, I don’t have a set writing schedule for my personal writing, but I do write every day. My professional writing assignments have deadlines so I have to schedule time around those dates as well as all other aspects of my life.

Without hard deadlines, I’m not always as driven to complete personal projects. (See my post dated November 5, 2012.) Life does get in the way—unexpected illness, appointments, chores, errands, responsibilities, going out for fun, etc. However, writing needs to be on that list!

To make sure I write every day, I keep pens everywhere and a small notebook in my purse, a regular notebook in my book bag as well as one next to my bed, in my office, in my car, and, just in case, one in a drawer in the bathroom. I have no excuses not to write down ideas or sentences that come to me that can lead in new directions or to new projects.

Even if you can only write for minutes at a time between caring for children, cooking, laundry, caring for elderly relatives, and working outside the house, write. When you have a little more time, flip through your notebooks for inspiration so you don’t waste a minute trying to think of a topic. Just write.

Make the most of your writing time however long or short that might be. It will all add up in the end. Every word you write down is part of a life-long love letter to yourself—and that should make you happy.

Reads for Writers: Bill Bryson's Shakespeare: The Illustrated and Updated Edition Provides a Masterclass

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

As a reader, I always love finding books that appeal to me. As a writer, I am twice as pleased when the authors also provide masterclasses within their books.

Masterclasses take place when performance artists and musicians work one-on-one with students. Writers don’t generally have this option, but I have found some books to be masterclasses for characters, backstories, plots, settings, voice, and/or creativity.

          I love books—hardcover or paperback—but some books are more physically beautiful than others. Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare: The Illustrated and Updated Edition is one of the beautiful books.

          The glossy, heavy stock paper pages are filled with full color photographs, paintings including the Cobbe portrait of Shakespeare identified in 2009 but not without controversy, documents, woodcuts, drawings, and sketches not to mention Bryson’s entrancing prose and entertaining facts like:

Shakespeare produced roughly one tenth of all the most quotable utterances written or spoken in English since its inception. (page 151)

He coined—or, to be more carefully precise, made the first recorded use of—2,035 words, and interestingly he indulged the practice from the very outset of his career. (page 148)

                    and

Although he left nearly a million words of text, we have just fourteen words in his own hand—his name signed six times and the words ‘by me’ on his will. (page 24)

That juxtaposition just adds to the mystery of Shakespeare’s life.

While organized chronologically, Bill Bryson’s well-researched book is written as a captivating guided tour of Shakespeare’s life, historic London, and the rise and fall of the theatres. Shakespeare’s companions and competitors all have roles as well. Who would the man be without his time, place, and contemporaries? Not to mention his published works. Given all the facts, it’s difficult to imagine where the English language would be without Shakespeare.

Shakespeare’s plays might have been lost…had it not been for his close friends and colleagues John Heminges and Henry Condell, who seven years after Shakespeare’s death, produced a folio edition of his complete works…Heminges and Condell were the last of the original Chamberlain’s Men. (page 202)

          No one knows exactly how many First Folios were printed…but all or part of three hundred survive. (page 211-212) Shakespeare never entirely dropped out of esteem—as the publication of Second, Third and Fourth Folios clearly attests—but nor was he reverenced as he is today. After his death, some of his plays weren’t performed again for a very long time. (page 217)

          For any writer, being recognized and read nearly 400 years after death is astonishing—and deserving of celebration in such a gorgeous and engaging book.

Reads for Writers: By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from The New York Times Book Review edited by Pamela Paul

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          We all want to know more about our favorite authors and writers. What inspires them? What are they reading? What books don’t they like? Who are their literary idols? Which authors would they invite to a dinner party? And which three books would they take to the proverbial deserted island?

          By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from The New York Times Book Review Edited and with an Introduction by Pamela Paul, editor of the Book Review, answers these questions—and many more.

          Sixty-five authors, writers, and others with literary lives answer a variety of questions giving fans and other writers not only insights but reading recommendations. If you like a certain author, does it follow you will like whatever he or she reads? It’s fun to find out.

          I have read books and pieces by over half of the writers. Naturally, I read their interviews first.

I loved learning Pippi Longstocking inspired Anne Lamott to become a writer. (However, Amy Tan found Pippi too cheerful.) And that A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle, changed Lamott’s life. (Mine, too.) It’s also Dan Brown’s favorite book of all time. He highly recommends What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell who highly recommends Lee Child who plans on reading Emma by Jane Austen next. (That surprised me.)

          I have not read Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg, but her favorite childhood character is Meg Murray, the heroine of A Wrinkle in Time. Sandberg highly recommends books by Michael Lewis, as does Malcolm Gladwell, and she most wants to meet JK Rowling—whose book The Cuckoo’s Calling Gladwell chose not to finish.

          This book is a great version of “Six Degrees” usually of Kevin Bacon, but this time with writers.

          I also like knowing more about where others write. However, only four writers had their answers published:

Carl Hiaasen: The first thing you see outside my office is a doormat that says: LEAVE…Inside, my so-called work space looks like it got tossed by burglars. (page 26)

John Irving’s description on page 31 sounds to be the most efficient and comfortable with two tables, a computer in a far corner, a couch, and a chocolate Lab for company.

Sylvia Nasar’s office is very neat and colorful also with a Lab for company—see page 50.

And PJ O’Rourke’s is a mess—see page 102.

Some of the other writers included in this book are: David Sedaris, Neil Gaimen, Mary Higgins Clark, Colin Powell, Junot Diaz, John Grisham, Dave Barry, Katherine Boo, James McBride, Jhumpa Lahiri, Donna Tartt, Ann Patchett, Michael Connelly, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Chang-rae Lee, and dozens more.

While all of the answers to the following question were enlightening, this one made me laugh aloud:

If you could meet any character from literature, who would it be?

Isabel Allende: Zorro, of course. If possible, at night and in bed, with the mask but not the whip.

      

          Good to know--as are all the revelations and recommendations in By the Book.

The Mighty Pen

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

 

          I’m sitting in my office watching the Unity Rally in Paris. Looks like more than a million people including other Europeans, Africans, Australians, Americans, and from many other countries and different religious affiliations have gathered together to show they are unified against terrorism. Some have flags, others placards with “Je suis Charlie” as well as listing the names of journalists imprisoned and murdered elsewhere, and still more carrying pens and pencils—reminding us all that the pen is mightier than the sword.

           Remembering that words are powerful, that cartoons are powerful are important lessons. Writers and artists play essential roles in civilization. We capture what is happening—the good and the bad—for generations to come.

          The Nazis gathered art and burned books to erase and control a culture. Books and art are touchstones. Most of us have not seen the “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo Da Vinci in person, but we all know about it as well as Van Gogh’s “Starry Night”. And who can’t recognize the Peanuts characters by Charles Schultz?

          Writers and artists can also change civilizations:

Where would we be without the Constitution and The Bill of Rights?

Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe changed America.

Charles Dickens’ depictions of the poor in England helped end the horrible conditions at orphanages and poor houses.

Journalists ended a presidency.

Political cartoonists make us think.

         

When writers tell the truth, reveal it to readers, there are repercussions. Even in fiction, truths are revealed. Once seen, truth is difficult to forget.

We are free to write what we wish. Not everyone is so keep writing.

Thank you to all the police departments and the members of the Armed Services that protect us and our freedom. They put their lives on the line every day. Thank you for your service. We respect and honor those who died bravely doing their duty. Freedom is not free.

 

Out of Routine

 

From Kate’s Writing Crate...

          The holiday season has ended. Company has come and gone. I have visited and returned. Now I need to get back into my regular routine, but I haven’t done so yet.

          I just realized I have a post deadline tonight at midnight. How could that be? Knowing I had lots of company and holiday plans, I wrote six posts in advance. Six weeks have gone by? Didn’t feel like it, but the time did pass and I now have nothing ready to post.

          This is a funny situation for me as I am a procrastinator by nature—except when it comes to writing deadlines for my assignments and this blog. I plan ahead. I interview with time left to write the articles. If something falls through, I can replace the piece last minute, too. And I write my posts days, sometimes weeks, ahead. I don’t miss deadlines—which is why I’m amazed to find myself with so little time to prepare my post.

          This week, I wrote in my notebook; I wrote on the back of an envelope; I even scribbled on the inside back cover of a book I was reading, but I didn’t write any posts.

          I have a list of topics for my posts sketched out for  the next five weeks, but instead I’m writing about not writing my post for my post. Heck of a way to start a new year.

          I lost track of time—easy to do this time of year—but no excuse.

          Routines are essential for me to accomplish my writing goals. Out of routine: Out of sorts. Out of time.

          Back on track next week!