State of My Reading and Writing World

In which I ponder many things: the state of the world, reading and writing historical fiction, reviews, book coaching, and more. It's a short one.

Transcript

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Hi, everyone. It's been a tough week. And it's not over yet. I am going to try my very best, not to talk about politics, but what's going on in the world does have a way of affecting one's creative life. I don't think I'm alone in being easily and distracted and flitting from project to project. I'm still getting things done. But I'll always think of this week. When I looked back at my personal production during it. When I read the pages I've edited or the work I've critiqued. So, yes, no interview today. Just a few reflections on my writing life and what I've been reading, writing and thinking about. First. It's NaNoWriMo national novel writing month. I've been doing that since about 2010, so 10 years, not always very actively. Um, and I've tended to use the opportunities either to finish up a manuscript or to edit one, which is what I'm doing. Right now. I'm using NaNoWriMo is a bit of, a bit of a spur to edit the third volume in my orphans of Tolosa trilogy. It's titled voices in the mist and it's supposed to be published in March. Have I done as much as I'd hoped so far. No. And I'm getting distracted easily. As I said, There's so much tension in the air. It's hard to see the act of polishing words on a page as worthwhile. It's passive. Compared to getting out on the streets to protest and raise your voice for whatever it is you think is right. And here I sit. Sequestered in my little. Writing studio. So, yeah. But, you know what. Writing is important. I say that not because I think my writing is particularly important, but I'm judging by my response. To reading. Reading other people's words. There's nothing that compares with the feeling of sinking into a story. Of being able to make connections and live through other people's experiences. It's so important to me that I cannot imagine not being able to read, not having books lined up, waiting for me to correct their spines and. And just enjoy them or click on them in my Kindle or whatever. I have just. I have been reading a lot and it's been extremely restorative to do so. Restorative and also revealing. I interviewed Stephanie Dre last week. I hope you've had a chance to listen to it. It was a great conversation. Anyway, when at the time of the interview, I hadn't quite finished reading her long and beautiful book. The women of Chateau Lafayette, which I think is also coming out in March. Um, I was very happy to have an advanced copy to read. And I'm also kind of glad I had more to read after talking to her. Not only because I then had her insight. To add to it. But because I had I had a reason to escape. To those three time periods every evening, before sleeping on the run-up to the election. And I finished it when I woke up in the middle of the night, sleepless the day before the election. On top of the fact that the stories she tells are gripping and the entire book is a tour de force of storytelling and writing. It all felt hauntingly relevant. Diving back into the history of three different Wars when people were fighting for humanity, for what they believed in. And terrible things were happening all over the place. It kind of puts what we're going through today into rather stark perspective. Pandemic unrest. Uncertainty. Economic difficulties. Everything like that, even. So we're not facing anything that's anywhere near as terrifying as what the women in Stephanie's novel faced. But to be here at all to not buy this time. Be able to agree on the common decency that allows each person, no matter their gender, race, religion, nationality, immigration status, or whatever. To enjoy life in peace and harmony and feel protected. It feels like the ultimate self-destructive arrogance. So many have gone before us to guarantee our rights and we argue over tiny points of law. So that we can justify excluding classes of people from them. It just makes no sense to me. I said, I wouldn't be political, but life is politics. No matter how hard you try to get away from them. In fact, the other novel I'm devouring and nearly finished with is Ellen Mira polls. Her sister's tattoo. This too. It goes back to a war time and civilian actions during it. With the protests of the Vietnam war, which of course I'm old enough to remember. And the actions of the police then as she describes them in the book, Mirror really frighteningly the actions we sometimes see. Now that again, it chills me to think we've not gone on from there. At that time, it was mostly truncheons and tear gas. Now we have pepper spray and water cannons, and non-lethal projectiles. It makes me sick to think about it, especially because people who go out there. Are bravely exercising their right to peacefully protest, something they believe is wrong or unjust. At least the vast majority do. Of course, there's always a few. Spoilers. Anyway. Elon's book is beautiful by the way. Everyone should read it seriously. I guess in part to get back to. Writing and reading in historical fiction. Is that. Reading historical fiction. Isn't just necessarily about escaping to a gentler time. It's about taking us all there, revealing the humanness of everything that happened and giving a reader who's willing. Willing to be engaged by it. Some perspective on the world today. And I'm not just talking about that old cliche that people who are ignorant of history are bound to repeat it. Cousin, the historical fiction. It's not just learning about history. It's not just what happened. Historical novelists, make a good faith attempt to figure out why and how and get inside of the minds and hearts of the people to whom history happened. Yes. Authors see their characters and eras through the lens of today. That's unavoidable. But that's also part of finding the universal in human experience at any point in history. It's been a tough week in other ways, too. I got my first one star review for the Paris affair. I know, I know don't read reviews, especially bad ones. It didn't bother me that much though, because clearly the book just wasn't for that particular reader. Nonetheless when people write scathing reviews, I think they forget that an author is a human being who has done something extraordinary, whether it's to your taste or not. I've read plenty of books that I did not finish because they weren't for me, but I would not review them because they were probably someone else's taste. But that's me. I tend to look upon book reviews as ways to recommend reading. I loved others. Not as a way to discourage people from reading what I didn't find so enjoyable. However, I absolutely support the right of anyone to offer their opinion about a book. It's something all authors must face. When we dare to send our words into the universe. Like a public figure, not being able to cry, slander or libel when a commentator says something, they don't like. They put themselves out there. They must face the consequences. So must we. In my current self-employed day job, I'm a book, coach and editor. And that was the other rough thing that happened this week. I did a manuscript review for someone who's first chapter I'd read a year ago. It was from a very beginning writer and there were lots of problems with it. Problems. I've been trained to identify and have experience with coaching people through. I believe I'm never unkind when I comment on writer's work. And I always try to offer constructive suggestions about how to go on about. How things could be fixed or what the writer could look into to get a better idea of how to, how to tackle something. Cause I think it's brave just to attempt to write a book and it's an accomplishment. Just to get to the end of a complete manuscript. Cause. A lot of people can't do that. It's a very, very hard thing to do. But. Despite my best efforts to be helpful yet honest. My integrity as a coach at stake, I will not lie. Or pretend. This author took umbrage with my work. No. I do understand. No one likes to have someone point out what's wrong with something they've worked on for a really long time. But if someone you respect or who is a pro is reading your work before you send it out into the world. Where it might get its share of one star reviews. You're lucky. Because writing stories. Can be fixed. People can learn to be better writers. I've been working on my writing and welcoming, constructive feedback. Since I first started trying to write books 17 years ago, I think. And I love helping others. I love seeing the light bulbs go off as they conquer. Things that they couldn't do before and hone their craft. It's really, really gratifying. I think what people don't always understand is that there's a difference between being a good writer and being able to write a good book. You can be capable of crafting beautiful sentences. Have turns of phrase that are a joy to read. But write a story that doesn't work for other reasons. Reasons that go beyond what's on the page to the structure itself to how you make time pass. To how you move your characters through space and time and make their motivations and their journeys clear and meaningful to a reader. Through an entire book, length manuscript. As I said, it's hard to do. But much of it can be learned if you're willing. In a stroke of irony, perhaps this week, I also finished creating a PDF. With a lovingly annotated list of my favorite books on writing and craft. It took a long time because I went back and I couldn't help it. I started reading each one, remembering what it is they gave to me as I was learning how to write a book. And I'm still learning. Everything can always be better. By the way, if you want a copy of that PDF. You can just go to my. My editing site, which is at Suzanne Dunlap edits, all one word, run together.com. So it's S U S a N N E D U N L a P E D I T s.com. Go to that website and sign up for my email list. You'll get an email with a link where you can download that list for your own. Enjoyment. And I'd always love to hear what your favorite writing books are too. So feel free to share those with me. Among all these, one of the gems I rediscovered. Was Danny Shapiro's still writing. Although, I don't have her years of experience teaching the people I work with prove what she says. And I just have to read this quote from it. But of the students I have taught it is not necessarily the most gifted are the ones most focused on imminent literary fame. I think of these as short sprinters. Who succeed? But the ones who endure, who are still writing decades later. On that note I will end with writing is an endurance game. It's a willingness to accept criticism and learn from it game. It's often a lonely game. But everyone who plays it with integrity and heart wins in some way or other. Anyway. Thanks for listening to my rambling rant on guy Fawkes day. Until next time.