SANDRA PARSHALL is a well-known name among Sisters in Crime, including the Guppies Chapter. Her first book, THE HEAT OF THE MOON, published by Poisoned Pen Press in 2006, won an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. Her latest mystery, BROKEN PLACES, received a starred review from Publishers Weekly, who praised it as “Excellent … a suspenseful tale distinguished by its sharp prose.” I am delighted that she has agreed to share some of her writing experiences with BIRTH OF A NOVEL.
SANDY CODY: What prompted you to become a writer?
SANDRA PARSHALL: think it’s a genetic defect, something I was born with. (Unfortunately, no one seems to be searching for a cure.) I can’t recall a time when I didn’t want to create stories. I remember writing on lined pulp-paper tablets when I was very young. I had a vivid imagination, in which I constantly dwelled, and probably half of what came out of my mouth was pure fantasy. I adored books and always knew I wanted to write them. Where this love of books and writing came from is a mystery, because I grew up in a household of non-readers. We couldn’t afford to buy books, in any case. The library saved my life and introduced me to the larger world.
CODY; What part of writing do you find most satisfying?
PARSHALL: Capturing emotion in words on the page, making the reader feel it. For me, fiction is all about feeling. The plot and action – the crimes in a mystery and everything that happens as a result – have to be driven by the characters’ emotional needs.
CODY: What part do you find most difficult?
PARSHALL: Capturing emotion in words! Human emotion is such a complex thing, the end result of a multitude of influences and experiences throughout a person’s life. It’s amazing that anyone is able to convey that complexity, yet the best writers do. I’m still learning and aspiring.
CODY: What comes first for you? Characters? Story? Setting?
PARSHALL: I can’t separate character and story. I imagine a character in the context of his or her story, not as a person who could be slotted into any plot. Characters come with their stories already written. I have to uncover them and write them down. In the same way, characters fit into certain settings and wouldn’t work anywhere else. All these elements come as a package.
CODY: I know you are a great lover of animals. Do you feel that understanding non-humans gives an extra insight into human behavior and, thus, helps with creating believable characters?
PARSHALL: Well, you can certainly learn a lot about manipulating people by observing a cat. I think other mammals feel most of the same emotions people do – love, hate, jealousy, anger – but they’re much more open about it because they don’t have the same constraints on their behavior that we do. The great value of animals in fiction is that they can be used to illuminate the human characters. The way a person relates to animals shows you something about that person that you might never see in his or her dealings with other people.
CODY: Your second novel, DISTURBING THE DEAD, takes a look at the Melungeon culture, something many of us know little about. Could you tell us something about that?
PARSHALL: The Melungeons are one of several groups of people in Appalachia called “tri-racial isolates” by sociologists. They’re believed to be descended from shipwrecked Portuguese sailors who moved inland and intermarried with Native Americans, white settlers, and in some cases escaped slaves. Because their skin was dark, they were discriminated against, their land was taken away from them, and they were driven far back into the mountains. A hundred years ago distinct Melungeon communities existed, but that’s no longer true. Many Melungeon people remain in the mountains, though, and in recent years the Melungeon Heritage Association has promoted research into their history and fostered pride in their unique cultural background. I don’t pretend to be an expert on the subject, and I urge anyone who wants to learn more to visit www.melungeon.org.
CODY:. Tell us about your upcoming release.
PARSHALL: I chose the title BROKEN PLACES because it’s a story about people who have been broken by life, people who have watched their dreams vanish. The two murder victims, a husband and wife, came to the mountains as young idealists working in the antipoverty program in the late 1960s. When their term of service was over, they stayed on, convinced they could help the poor people of the area improve their lives. They accomplished little beyond making a lot of enemies with their activism, and Tom has no shortage of suspects to investigate when they’re murdered. The prime suspect is an old friend of Rachel’s, a famous cartoonist (his strip is called Furballs and features his own cat and dog) who recently moved to Mason County to escape the threat of a scandal. Tom and Rachel’s lives and relationship are further complicated by the return home of the murdered couple’s daughter, Lindsay, a former girlfriend of Tom’s who not only wants to see Rachel’s friend arrested but is also determined to reclaim Tom’s affections. Rachel has secrets she will share with no one, including Tom, and her efforts to protect those secrets from Lindsay’s probing lead her directly into the killer’s path.
CODY: What other projects are in the works?
PARSHALL: I’m working on another Rachel Goddard/Tom Bridger book in which murders are committed in a most unusual manner – so unusual that it’s not easy for Tom to convince people the deaths are actually murders. Rachel will be very much involved, of course, and sometimes at cross-purposes with Tom.
CODY: What other authors do you especially admire?
PARSHALL: I love Erin Hart’s writing and I’m eagerly awaiting her third book, FALSE MERMAID, in March. I look for Thomas H. Cook’s new novel every year and would be sorely disappointed if he skipped a year. John Hart, after only three books, has become one of my favorite writers. I love Laura Lippman, Louise Erdrich and Edna O’Brien. My longtime favorites are Flannery O’Connor, Carson McCullers, and Isak Dinesen.
CODY: What do you do when you’re not writing?
PARSHALL: I love taking pictures. I’m a long way from being an expert, but my DSLR camera is my favorite toy, and when I have it in my hands no one is safe. I’m a birdwatcher and a gardener. And I watch entirely too much television, mostly crime-related programs like The Closer and Dexter and Durham County. Oh, and I read!
CODY: Do you have a set schedule for writing or do you squeeze it in whenever you can?
PARSHALL: I come to the computer after breakfast every morning. Like a lot of writers, I can get sidetracked by e-mail and other distractions. But theoretically, writing is my first priority.
CODY: What refreshes you creatively.
PARSHALL: Reading a wonderful book. Sometimes I get so stuck in the sludge of my own words and thoughts that I almost forget good, clear writing is possible. Reading something that’s beautifully crafted gets me back on track and gives me a goal to aim for.
Thanks, Sandra, and good luck with BROKEN PLACES.
You can learn more about Sandra Parshall and her books at: www.sandraparshall.com
There is an enduring theory that a difficult childhood is essential fodder for novelists. It holds that the best storytelling comes from an unconscious desire to confront and conquer the lingering fears of the powerless child hidden deep within every writer’s psyche. Author David Morrell, for one, freely admits he has used the abandonment and abuse he experienced as a child as the catalyst for his many successful thrillers, among them FIRST BLOOD, the novel that spawned the Rambo movies.
Of course, not every writer claims to have had an awful childhood. Many will protest that their upbringing was pleasant, or even idyllic, and dispute that it’s necessary to have been traumatized in order to write successful books. But the truth is, nobody’s life is trouble free and, for some of us, our secrets may be buried so deeply that we, ourselves, don’t realize they are there. For those writers in denial, it may be that the perfect worlds they create are actually idealized versions of their lives. If you probe deeply enough into any novel that has done the essential task of presenting conflict in the form of obstacles the protagonist must overcome, you will, no doubt, find the enduring issue that haunts its creator.
For me, that issue is loss. My father died when I was an infant, and that most fundamental of losses would shape my character in many ways, not all of them good. For example, I was well into adulthood before I realized I had wasted far too much time seeking substitute father figures to fill the void in my life. My reluctance to let go of bad relationships because I was so afraid of losing any potential source of love had been even more harmful.
Lo and behold, fear of loss, and the lengths to which a person will go to avoid losing whatever is important to her, turned out to be the main theme of my first novel. I’m now currently at work on my second and, once again, it’s becoming clear that coming to terms with loss will be one of the challenges for the main character.
In THE SUCCESSFUL NOVELIST, David Morrell’s wonderful guide to writing fiction as an art and a career, he calls the process I’m so obviously engaged in “fiction writing as self-psychoanalysis”. Even though I wholeheartedly agree with the truth of that insight, at the same time, I never want to forget that my main purpose in writing is to engage and entertain, hoping all the while to achieve the ultimate goal: that my reader will experience the same transcendent connection and revelation that my favorite books have given me.
So, although I now realize that one of my motivations for writing is to reveal my hidden demons to myself, it remains even more important to me to write for my potential reader. My most enjoyable fantasy is the one that envisions my book in the hands of the person who will, between its covers, discover their own secret fears.
So, tell me, what are you afraid of?
Linda Wisniewski is an award-winning journalist and a writing teacher whose work has appeared in numerous publications both in print and online. Her first book-length publication, a memoir, Off Kilter: A Woman’s Journey to Peace with Scoliosis, Her Mother and Her Polish Heritage” has been praised as “energetic, thoughtful, courageous”, “beautifully written” and “a heart-felt journey from despair to empowerment and hope”.
Linda’s and my paths have crossed at various writers’ functions, always to my pleasure, due in large part to her down-to-earth, sometimes irreverent, sense of humor. I was delighted when she agreed to answer some questions about her writing life for the readers of BIRTH OF A NOVEL.
SANDY CODY: What prompted you to become a writer?
LINDA WISNIEWSKI: In elementary school, I won a loaf of Monks Bread in an essay contest about: bread! (It was quite cliche. The first sentence was “Bread is the staff of life.”) All my life, I’ve kept a diary or journal, but I was over forty before I thought seriously about becoming a writer. I was asked to write articles for a pharma trade journal. Soon after, I discovered Writing from Life, a book by Susan Albert, that inspired me to try life writing.
CODY: What part of writing do you most enjoy?
WISNIEWSKI: I’d have to say “the Writing Life,” i.e., meeting other writers like you, networking about the art and craft of it. I also love having big chunks of time to work on a story or essay, alone in my study that looks out on the woods here in Plumstead Township. With a nice cup of tea and a scented candle, Native American music on iTunes…
CODY: What part do you find most difficult?
WISNIEWSKI: Since I’m naturally interested in people, it’s tough to go into that study, close the door, and be alone with my computer or pad and pencil. Getting past the laundry room, Facebook, and email, and actually sitting down to write is by far the most difficult aspect of being a writer for me.
CODY. Tell us something about Off Kilter and how you came to write it.
WISNIEWSKI: The book began with an essay, “My Body My Self” which was published in Mindprints literary magazine and nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2003. One of my teachers suggested I expand it into a book. That was so daunting a task, I laid it aside and continued writing and publishing short memoir pieces. Three years later, I found I could tie them together using my scoliosis, or spinal curvature, as a metaphor for my life with its twists and turns and frequent adjustment to relieve pain.
CODY. In your memoir, though your affection for your family comes through, you don’t shy away from the parts of family life that we sometimes gloss over. How has your family reacted to the book?
WISNIEWSKI. As you might expect, not with total pleasure, but the unpleasant parts are what made me who I am today. I believe strongly in sharing what we overcome, so others with similar backgrounds don’t feel so alone. It appears that my family is passing around one copy, so it’s taking them awhile to react. However, the few who have commented say it is either a) too depressing or b) divulges too many secrets or c) very good. The cousin who picked c is my favorite.
CODY. You begin Off Kilter with a quote from Eudora Welty. Why did you choose that particular quote?
WISNIEWSKI: “The events in our lives happen in a sequence in time, but in their significance to ourselves they find their own order…the continuous thread of revelation.”
I love this because she says exactly what happened when I decided to put my essays into a book. They came together by that “thread of revelation” connecting them: my scoliosis and my off kilter life. Though this quote begins chapter one, and the chapters are roughly chronological, I weaved back and forth through time to illustrate the adjustments I’ve made, thus putting them into my own kind of order.
CODY: What other writers do you admire?
WISNIEWSKI: Carol Shields, the Canadian short story writer, for her clarity. Every word is necessary. Suzanne Strempek Shea, a Polish American writer whose work brings me back to my origins, and whose sense of humor is a delight.
CODY: You also teach writing. Does teaching makes you a better writer?
WISNIEWSKI: I don’t know…It definitely makes me a better teacher. Almost every class results in me revising what I present to the next one.
CODY: Do you have any other projects in the works?
WISNIEWSKI: Currently, I’m working on my first novel. My family tree has been traced back to a woman born in 1778 in what was then the Austrian Empire. I’m drawn to her story, what little I know of it, and I’ll be traveling to the area where she lived, near Krakow in what is now Poland, in June of this year. And next month, I’ll be presenting a workshop on “Writing Our Cultural Traditions” at Stories From the Heart, a conference of the Story Circle Network, in Austin, Texas.
CODY: How do you refresh yourself creatively?
WISNIEWSKI: Good question! Something we writers forget to do, I suspect! Walking outdoors, yoga practice, meditation, and reading lots of very good literature. I also belong to two wonderful organizations, the Story Circle Network, http://www.storycircle.org and the International Womens Writing Guild, http://www.iwwg.org/. Attending their conferences every year has introduced me to great teachers and mentors, new writing friends and fresh techniques to sharpen my skills.
Linda C. Wisniewski, M.S.L. 
Memoir workshops and presentations
I recently attended the annual conference of the International Coach Federation in Orlando (I’m a certified Lifecoach). I sat with two men whose ideas on how to choose a coach were different from mine. I kept quiet as they agreed that clients choose based on the letters behind a name. Finally, they asked what I thought.
“I disagree with both of you,” I said.
One man was delighted that I disagreed. The other attempted to get me to agree with him. It’s like reading a book, each reader finds what pleases him or her. An author can’t please everyone.
Frequently, my fellow blog mates and I disagree. For example, they all choose a book by reading the first page while I read a page halfway into the story. My theory is that good writing must be able to maintain itself well into the story.
Suppose you pick poorly. Do you continue reading because you believe in completing what you start? Or do you put the book down and admit you made a bad choice? Do you read farther?
The matter of publishing a first novel has changed a lot over the last ten years. We writers must concern ourselves not only with writing stellar prose, but in promoting ourselves and our work long before we receive that dreamed for acceptance call or e-mail. In fact, to even hope to receive that call, we need to make our presence known somewhere out here in cyberspace. That seems to come easily to my Cyber Generation university students, but can present a real challenge for some of us, especially if we are “of a certain age.” But I’m here to tell you, the cyber age offers exciting benefits that we cannot afford to miss even if we’ve left our university days behind.
The social networking opportunities available to us as writers are truly mind-boggling. We can find like-minded writers, potential agents and publishers, and future readers with the click of a mouse button. Joining social networking cites such as Facebook (facebook.com) and LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/)is one good way to network. If you want to flex your writing muscles a little more, a blog (yes, not unlike this one) is an excellent writing space to make for yourself. If you create your blog with fellow writers, it doesn’t have to be too much of a time drain . . . and it’s fun! Just ask any of my Birth of a Novel compatriots. And you don’t need technical expertise. Just check out wordpress.com or blogspot.com and get started.
I routinely suggest that serious students in my Writing for Children class form critique groups after our semester ends. One talented group I taught a few years ago did just that and eventually expanded their meetings into a very impressive group blog. Kudos to Frankie Mallis, Donna Gambale, Janine Leaver, and Sara Kankowski. Called The First Novels Club (http://firstnovelsclub.blogspot.com/), their blog focuses on writing the young adult novel. Their fun blog, including author interviews, book reviews, and contests, have caught them some real buzz. Publisher’s Weekly picked their blog up after they provided terrific coverage of a star-studded YA book signing in NYC. And their recaps/parodies of Vampire Diaries were passed along to Kevin Williamson, the show’s creator/writer/producer. He tweeted that he loved the recaps and suddenly traffic to their blog skyrocketed.
Frankie Mallis says: “I think the key here is we’re reaching our intended audience well. We’re all young adults (more or less) who love young adult literature and write young adult novels and we write our posts in a way that is fun, catchy and informative. Plus we post the things they want to hear. . . . We think outside the box as much as we can, and we’ve been steadily gaining followers.”
Another blogger I know has transitioned from her own blog on running and motherhood to a paying blogging gig, all the while expanding her network of readers who are no doubt eager to read the nonfiction book she’s writing on the same topic. If you’re not quite ready to make the leap into full time blogging this year, at least become active on other writers’ blogs. Following a few blogs regularly and offering comments is a good way to get your feet wet and learn what works and what doesn’t in the blogging world.
Of course, using the Internet to search for potential agents and publishers is invaluable too. My fellow bloggers regularly read up-to-the-minute info on the publishing market via http://publishersmarketplace.com. Agent and publisher searches are so much simpler now! So is understanding what’s going on in publishing without actually being part of the publishing scene in New York City.
I also recommend JacketFlap (http://www.jacketflap.com/index.asp) as a terrific resource for children’s writers. You can network with thousands of authors, illustrators, librarians, agents, editors, publicists, and publishers. Best of all, they claim to have the world’s largest database of information on children’s book publishers and it’s all easily searchable… and free.
The Birth of a Novel blog has already published some fabulous advice on making writer-ly resolutions for the new year/new decade. Let me add one more to that list: make this the year you truly embrace the cyber-possibilities of being a writer in 2010!
The beginning of a new year is a time for anticipation, for looking ahead, but I can’t resist a backward look. Since books play an important role in my life, I turn to my reading journal. Yes, I keep a journal of the books I read, partly to avoid getting halfway into a book, only to realize I’ve already read it. But, even more important to me is the pleasure I get from going through the list, book by book, and recapturing the emotions and insights engendered by each. I count a total of 49 titles. Some were better than others, but I can honestly say there’s not one I’m sorry to have read.
I began the year with Geraldine Brooks’ People of the Book. The last book that I completed in 2009 was Dai Sijie’s Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. I didn’t plan it but there are striking parallels between these two seemingly different books. Both have at their heart an awareness of the importance of books in the lives of those who love them.
Brooks traces the journey of a single manuscript from its beginnings in medieval Spain to a museum in twenty-first century Jerusalem and tells a story depicting the extraordinary lengths to which people will go to preserve a book and, with it, their heritage. At the end, one character sums it up saying: “. . . to be a human being matters more than to be a Jew or a Muslim, Catholic or Orthodox.”
Sijie tells the story of two young men deprived of books when they are sent to the country to be re-educated during China’s Cultural Revolution. One character describes the reaction of a young girl who is exposed to the words of a great writer for the first time: “He touched the head of this mountain girl with an invisible finger and she was carried away in a dream.” What reader does not identify with that?
Some of the books between those two were: Willa Cather’s My Antonia, a classic that holds up over time and multiple readings, as does Dicken’s A Tale of Two Cities. Both of these were selections by one of my book groups. That same group decided (for a reason none of us can remember) to read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I somehow missed this classic as a child so my impression of Alice was more Walt Disney than Lewis Carroll. Of all the books read in 2009, this was my least favorite, a surprise since I usually enjoy children’s books and had looked forward to reading this one. There was one delightful section where Carroll was obviously having a grand time playing with words but, over all, I found I had no patience for a world with no rules. Maybe if I’d read it as a child I would have felt differently–or maybe if I’d read it with a child snuggled against my side and giggling. Still, I’m glad I read it; the time spent was not wasted. No one else in the group enjoyed the book either, but we had a lively discussion and laughed a lot that evening. Who could ask for more?
As great as the pleasures of reading (or re-reading) old favorites is the fun of discovering new writers. Blog sister Sharen introduced me to Naseem Rakha’s The Crying Tree, a stunning book, at times painful to read as it chronicles the debilitating effects of anger and the redemption that occurs when you let it go. Another sister of sorts (a Sister in Crime), Elizabeth Zelvin, wrote Death Will Get You Sober. Liz is a psychotherapist who used her knowledge of addiction and recovery to create characters who are flawed, funny, vulnerable–and totally believable. And, for pure fun, there was Salsa with Me, by fellow Avalon author, Roni Denholtz. The minute I saw that title I knew I had to read the book. A new writing friend, Penelope Przekop, allowed me to read her about-to-be-published Centerpieces. This was probably the most original book I read all year. Imagine brothers Vincent and Theo Van Gogh reincarnated as vampires and participating in modern-day Corporate America. Don’t be fooled by the premise. Centerpieces is a serious book, a thoughtful and intelligent look at two disparate value systems. Another book I thoroughly enjoyed was Mary Pat Kelly’s Galway Bay. In telling the story of the Great Hunger and one family’s journey to “Amerikay” Kelly evokes the journey of all emigrants and makes us see the commonality in diversity that created the dream we call America. And I can’t leave out my own 2009 release, By Whose Hand. It’s vanity, I know, but such a thrill to read the story that began as a tangle of ideas in my head as a “real” book.
The book I started in the old year and finished in the new one was Jacqueline Winspear’s Among the Mad, a worthy bridge to a new decade. I always enjoy the Maisie Dobbs novels, but found this one particularly engaging. As always, Winspear deals with the lingering and sometimes invisible effects of war–any war.
All in all, 2009 was a good year, full of surprises, laughter and tears, and, judging by the look of my TBR stack, 2010 will be another.
What am I reading now? I just started Colors of the Mountain by Da Chen. I’ve only read the first chapter and, already, I’m hooked–and wouldn’t have it any other way.
Happy reading.
We’re entering a new decade. It doesn’t seem possible that 10 years have come and gone since the Millennium, but here we are, ready to launch into the year 2010. With the New Year come the traditional resolutions. While many of us will set personal goals (losing weight, eating healthier, etc.), those of us who are writers may want to set out with new perspectives and attitudes.
Write. This first goal is the simplest and yet hardest. Simply write. It seems I can always find a hundred excuses for NOT writing. But in the end, if that’s who we claim to be — writers — then that is what we must do — write. It doesn’t have to be long. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Commit to 10 minutes a day. Write a page of your novel. At the end of 2010, you’ll have 365 pages, a bonafide book!
Have confidence. This one is tough for me. Like many writers, I’m a tad insecure about what I write. Is it good enough? Will readers enjoy it? The truth is, we have to believe in ourselves and our talents. Since we’re still in the Christmas season, I’ll quote from the little girl in the movie “Miracle on 34th Street” who wanted a house. She kept repeating, “I believe. I believe.” We need to do that, too, knowing that what we write is not only good enough, but probably better than most.
Set goals. Along with the first two resolutions, write down WHAT you want to accomplish, and BY WHEN. In other words, by January 31st I will have 25 pages of my book written. By December 31st, 2010, my book will be completed.
Reward thyself. When you finish a chapter, give yourself a pampering gift. A box of chocolates. A massage. A new book you’ve been wanting to read. (But don’t let that “reading” distract you from “writing.”) It’s a way of telling yourself, “Job well done!”
Finally, be thankful. Even if you break any of these writing resolutions, you’re still a writer. So be thankful, not only for the gift to touch, inspire, uplift and heal hearts, but to begin anew. Each day is a new beginning, not just January 1st. Writing is a miracle that can happen every day. Rejoice in it! And with that in mind, Happy New Year to all those who so faithfully follow our blog!
Whenever I’m asked about my favorite writer, I instantly and instinctively say Charles Dickens. I say “instinctively” for a reason: my earliest comprehension of what it means to be a writer came from reading Dickens. Whenever I reluctantly closed the cover of one of his books, I was once again in awe of the power of words to transport me away from my everyday life. This was never more in evidence than during my family’s annual December reading of A CHRISTMAS CAROL which, for us, took place in the searing heat of the South Australian summer.
In those days, long before I understood what it takes to create a great story, I cared nothing for the craft behind it, or even realized that such a thing existed. All that mattered to me was that, within the pages of their books, Dickens and his fellow authors offered a magic carpet ride out of my stifling and boring hometown to other, vastly more appealing places and times.
Now, as I struggle to weave my own story ideas into a transcendental tapestry, I have come to appreciate Dickens’ talent and craft in equal measure. As it happens, there could be no better example of his mastery of the latter than A CHRISTMAS CAROL in which four Ghosts conveniently and cleverly supply the inciting incidents that move the story forward, as well as all of its other equally essential structural components.
With its dire warnings, Marley’s Ghost foreshadows Scrooge’s likely fate. The Ghost of Christmas Past provides us with his back story. Christmas Present reveals both Scrooge’s defining conflict – his meanness and consequent alienation from humankind – and the current woes of the world around him, in particular the exploitation of impoverished children. And, finally and satisfyingly, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come instigates old Ebeneezer’s ultimate transformation and redemption.
This year, I will read A CHRISTMAS CAROL yet again. The snowy vista that now lies outside my window is far more in harmony with Dickens’ vision of the season than the dusty, red landscape of my childhood. Yet, when his magical ability to carry me away with his words joins force with all their visceral associations in my heart and memory, I will be spending time not only in Victorian London, but also in a little suburban house in South Australia where, despite the heat, Christmas was everything Dickens thought it should be.
Two weeks ago, I had an accident; I fell head first down the concrete steps into my basement. During the five hours I lay there, I realized that my unfinished book was unimportant. What was important was the way I lead my life. My daughter calls me “The No Matter What Lady.” No matter what I stick to my schedules. When writing a book, having a schedule helps when the unexpected happens. Unable to write new chapters at first, I added two weeks to my deadlines but I didn’t abandon them. Thanks to God, Advil and Arnica, I am healing and my mind is once again in full gear.
Writing a novel demands creative thinking. My creativity arrives in fits and starts. And that is how I write — in fits and starts. Some writers write three hours every morning but authors, unlike writers, create and that cannot be scheduled. I am an author. An author is a person who makes an original something or whose profession is making up stories written into books. A writer is any person who writes — even letters or a diary or e-mails. Nearly everyone is a writer, only some of us are authors.
Writing nonfiction on issues that have been surveyed thoroughly is easier for me than authoring my own ideas for fiction. I find being an author requires using resources. Aids, such as deadlines, help. One of the aids I use is a sheaf of blank sheets of paper and pencils in spots everywhere. So if I am watching TV, the pile of blank papers next to my chair says that I am not using my creativity.
What aids do you use?
This time of year the world seems filled with extra light. There are candles in my windows. And in my neighbor’s window, a menorah–more candles. The shops are full of decorations in every shape, color and configuration imaginable and most of the decorations feature light in some form.
Thanksgiving is just past and, already, we’re knee-deep into preparation for Christmas–or Hanukkah–or–Kwanzaa–or–Ramadan–or (some holiday unknown to me, but precious to someone). Mid-winter is a time of holidays, each with a distinct set of customs and a unique manner of observance. Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa are celebrated with special meals and the giving of gifts. The food served and the gifts given vary according to the tradition being honored, but in each they are chosen to remind celebrants of a common heritage. Ramadan follows the opposite path by observing the special time with fasting instead of feasting. And yet, even in this completely different tradition, there runs a common thread. All of the holidays involve at least some level of introspection. Underlying all the festivities, all the customs, both merry and solemn, there is an awareness of the need for understanding, a call to examine our innermost selves.
Many of our celebrations throughout the year involve light (colored lights, candles, crackling logs, fireworks) and this is especially true of those that come in midwinter when night falls so quickly. Maybe it’s because these holidays are so close to the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, and we feel a need to light the darkness. Are our candles really symbols of the light we find when we seek within and our need to proclaim it to the world? I feel sure that they are and it occurs to me that this need to proclaim is akin to the force that compels writers to write, painters to paint and composers to compose. It’s the artist’s need to illuminate, to direct a beacon that shines so brightly we cannot fail to recognize and then to proclaim the common humanity that lies beneath our differences.
So let’s all light candles–millions of candles of diverse size and shape and color–to celebrate our commonality. And the darkness will vanish.
