I got this online and you can certainly go to the site to see more, but I thought I’d share!  Kinda cool, huh?  I’m very excited to go and check it all out!

HIP HIP HOORAY!

My new editor at Bella Books and I put the finishing touches on TOASTED and sent it off to production.  It’s on track for its August 15, 2009 release!

I’ll get the cover art up as soon as I have a copy (I haven’t seen it myself yet).  And I hope to post an excerpt soon.  Stay tuned.

It’s a little ritual I have:  to take a day near the end of April of beginning of May, stock up on chocolate and skim milk and read a mystery from start to finish.  I started the practice decades ago during college.  I’d finish my last exam but because I worked with housing, I couldn’t leave until everyone else went home.  So I’d take a new pack of Oreos and a gallon of milk to my room and crawl into bed and read.  Sometimes I’d read several books in as many days.  These days, I’m lucky to get in one.  But it’s a treat.

So this year I read Stieg Larsson’s The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.  I never plan ahead what I will read on the magic day–I just go to my shelf and pick the book that calls to me from my “I’ll Read This Someday” shelf.   I knew only my mother liked it (she’s a pretty good book recommender), that the author had died young just after delivering the manuscript to his publisher, and that it is the first of a trilogy (evidently he delivered all three to his publisher before he died).  Oh, and it’s been an international sensation.

Well, I certainly liked it well enough to read the whole thing in one day.  It’s written as many popular thrillers are–with quirky characters cast into a strange land, with cliffhanger endings at the end of most chapters, with private troubles and local social troubles and humanity-level troubles all intermingling.  That’s all stuff I strive to do in my own books.  I’m alway happy to see how someone else does it.  And I loved his characterization–such a varied group of people, each depicted in strong ways.  I don’t want to give too much away by talking about it–but studying how he brought people to life as quickly as he did was useful to me.

***  Mild spoiler alert.  I don’t tell you anything about the mystery plot but I do mention some of the events of the book, so if you don’t want to know anything, don’t read any more.

***

*** 

The only thing I didn’t like was the level of sexual violence against women in it–the graphically represented stuff.  Now take that with a grain of salt, oh readers!  I’ll just remind you all–I’m a terrific wimp.  I have a very strong reaction against this sort of thing.  Even network television flips me out.  I know bad things happen and it’s even okay with me if they happen in books and movies and television.  But I’m the sort who like to have suspense built and then suggestions made.  Probably because I grew up watching Alfred Hitchcock movies which still are some of the scariest things ever made.  Suggestion engages my imagination.  Graphic representation just freaks me out.

But that’s me and not most everyone else on the planet, I know.  And as that sort of thing goes, this novel is mild.  I will read his next book one day, but I wouldn’t move it to the top of my list.

A lot of folks haven’t heard about this yet and a lot of others are looking for good sources to find out more about what’s going on with Amazon’s exclusion of adult titles from the sales rankings and its effect on gay and lesbian books.  Here’s some of the best I’ve found so far, so I thought I’d share (source:  the Lambda Literary Foundation website).

LLF Statement on Amazon Controversy

April 13, 2009–In response to the recent uproar over Amazon’s deranking of “adult” titles and its effect on LGBT books, Board President Christopher Rice has released this statement:

“Lambda Literary Foundation applauds the diligent work of writers, bloggers and activists in calling attention to this deeply distressing turn of events. I have seen my first novel stripped of its sale ranking by this apparent computer glitch so I join other writers who are baffled to the point of anger. I take great solace in the quick mobilization of our community in response to this apparent marginalization of LGBT books; the grassroots power of the Internet has been placed on glorious display for all to see. Over the next few days, we at Lambda Literary will be monitoring the situation very closely. Amazon is one of our nation’s largest general book retailers. In their commitment to creating and sustaining technological advances in the publishing industry, they have laid claim to the future of book distribution. As such, they have a pressing responsibility to create an unfettered exchange of stories and ideas. If a quick and decisive response to this problem is not forthcoming within the next few days, we at Lambda Literary look forward to leading a sustained and impassioned dialogue on this issue, which will seek to harness the energies that have been released by our community’s admirable response.”

Hear Christopher Rice discuss Amazon on NPR’s All Things Considered.

See related articles at The Advocate’s website.

A young friend told me I had to check out this book for a new take on recording life.  I can’t stop re-reading it.

Maira Kalman’s The Principles of Uncertainty.

You may not recognize her name, but I’m willing to bet you’d recognize some of Maira Kalman’s art if you checked out her website or her visual column “And The Pursuit of Happiness” on the New York Times blogsite (where I believe this book originally appeared in monthly segments).  Her Presidents’ Day piece on Abraham Lincoln takes a subject that many of us think of as a dull assignment for a listless middle school essay and makes it sing with beauty and meaning.  Which is what her book does as well with the things many of us take for granted.

Kalman opens this memoir of a year with, “How can I tell you everything that’s in my heart” next to a painting of a dodo and further musings on extinction.  It’s hilarious, touching, and true.  She shows how the stuff of everyday life contains magic.  Even if you feel that you have no drawing ability (like me, though I love to do it anyhow), this book will inspire you to look more carefully at life.  Plus you get the bonus of studying her art.

Great inspiration for journalers, memoirists, and folks who just want to look at their worlds with more curiosity and appreciation.

I confessed the other day to being a huge American Idol fan.  No matter what happens with the voting and the performers, I love the show.  Sure, parts of it annoy me sometimes (I suspect that’s true of all Idol fans), but overall, I love knowing that two nights a week there will be something fresh on television that isn’t so violent or scary that my sleep gets disturbed.  Not even the worst contestants in the early rounds of auditions freak me out as much as some of today’s crime dramas.   There’s a reason I write “contemporary cozy” mystery novels–I’m a wuss.

Anyhow.  About Adam Lambert.  The wonderful New York Times article last Sunday explored the impact of his sexuality on voting and–more interestingly (if anything can be more interesting than Adam Lambert)–about the radical shift in public consciousness regarding sexuality.  Some people wonder if a gay contestant can win American Idol.  Others wonder if his sexuality matters at all in the “post-Neil Patrick Harris era.”  No longer is coming out sudden death to an entertainment career.  We can all thank Ellen Degeneres for that.

All that’s important, of course, but what Mr. Lambert offers his audiences goes beyond further discussions of sexuality and changing attitudes.  I think his performances fascinate for a different reason:  when he performs, he lays it all out.  He decides what he’s going to do and he commits.  Creativity yanks the reins from caution and steers those performances down some very risky roads.  Whether I like his renditions or not, I can’t help but stand up in my living room and scream “yes!” from the depth of my soul because here is someone–gay or not–who is just all-out going for it!  All by himself.  No band members or team or cast surrounding him.  Just him doing his thing.  For a few minutes, I get to watch a person courageous enough to let all the scary “what ifs” come alive in front of the whole world.

And I ask myself, when was the last time I had even a few minutes that unconscripted by caution?  

When I feel all the unrealized potential start to rumble around in me, as uncomfortable as it makes me, I’m glad.  It’s still alive in there.  It deserves to kick up a fuss.  I need to listen with less fear.

Everyone–gay and straight–lives with parts of ourselves closeted.  Creative yearnings we dare not express, risks we can’t muster the nerve to take, life paths we long to explore but can’t because it would upset someone else.  Folks like Adam Lambert stand as role models to all of us.  Perhaps not models as popular as Danny Gokey, youth pastor and young widower with a shining attitude.  But models all the same.  Fortune favors the brave, as Paula Abdul tried to say during her comments in last night’s show.  I don’t think most of us live our lives like we believe that.  I know I certainly don’t!  And when I see someone doing it–at least, doing a much better job at it than I–I stand up and cheer.  

And later, aftering dialing in my vote, I sleep soundly.  With excellent dreams of tomorrow.

Well, I did it!  I promised I’d try to read and comment on four books in four weeks–books that would bring some new life and new perspectives into my writing life, and perhaps into yours too.

Actually, it was kind of fun.  And it helped me have something to talk about in addition to American Idol (yes, I love it).

So, I think I’ll keep it up.  You’ll hear more as the Spring goes on.  But if you have suggestions for books on writing (or that apply to aspects of writing and creativity) that you’ve enjoyed, I’d love to hear about them!

How did I miss this book for so long?  Have you missed it too?

It offers breath-taking wisdom on the meaning of life, choosing hope in the face of suffering, dignity, and humor.  It also offered great material for a writer considering how to enrich characterization.

Viktor E. Frankl’s tiny book, Man’s Search for Meaning, first appeared in 1946.  Though it tells the tale of his experiences in concentration camps (four!), it uses those experiences to call each of us more fully into ourselves and into the significance of our own lives.   Barely 150 pages, the book illuminates Frankl’s experiences and the theory of human psychology he developed as  a result of them.   These theories offer encouragement to all of us.  For instance, Frankl claims that often it is a ”difficult external situation which gives man the opportunity to grow spiritually beyond himself.”  He urges people to view life’s difficulties as calls to develop inner strength.  “One could make a victory of those experiences, turning life into an inner triumph.”

It might sound dull, to say this book is both memoir and treatise on psychology, but I found it anything but.   As a person interested in human spirit and spirituality, I resonated with the idea that all people must strive “to find a concrete meaning in personal existence.”  As a writer, it gave me oodles to think about in terms of character development.  Because I write mysteries that include a lot of social drama (even though might seem humorous to readers, it often isn’t to the characters!), my characters–Lonnie Squires especially–are often asking themselves how they are going to endure the painful circumstances of their lives.  Frankl helped me understand that for most people, it’s discovering a Why that helps them endure the How.  Good food for thought for everyone suffering social oppression.  Heck, good food for thought for everyone.

I like to read more than one book at a time.  Unless it’s fiction.  I can only read one novel at a time, but I can have several nonfiction books, art books, books on creativity going at once.  They all mix in my head in terrific ways.  And for the last several weeks, even as I’ve been looking at my other Spring Breezes books on writing, I’ve had the great pleasure of looking at Lynda Barry’s What It Is (Drawn and Quarterly 2008).

“Looking at” describes the experience more than “reading.”  Perhaps “absorbing” is an even better word for my relationship with this book.  It’s almost indescribable.  Barry does with images–collage, painting, lettering–what we normally see people trying to do with words.  She wonders about things like memory and creativity and what images are and where it all comes from within us.  She gives terrific lessons for how to write in more effective and meaningful ways.  And she gives it to you through your right brain.

I felt the book moved through three basic parts:  her musings on the big ideas behind creativity of all kinds, her writing instruction, and a section reproducing some of her notes from her own writing process. 

Some years ago (how many?  I can’t remember!) I had the great experience of taking a one-day workshop with her and it changed my writing forever.  I use a technique or two I learned from her at some point in nearly every workshop I lead.  If you ever have a chance to take a class with her,  do it!  In the meantime, check out this book.

This week I checked out Bill O’Hanlon’s Write is a Verb:  Sit Down.  Start Writing.  No Excuses.   Cincinnati:  Writer’s Digest Books, 2007.

A lot of “how to make yourself sit down and write” sorts of books exist out there and  more than a few grace my own shelves.  No matter how many of them you’ve read, liked or disliked, O’Hanlon’s book is worth a look for three big reasons.

First, his approach is not to tell you what you should do to make your writing life more energetic and prolific.  Instead he tells you how to figure out for yourself what will work for you, your personality, your lifestyle, your habits and context and fears and so forth.  Makes a lot of sense, given that O’Hanlon’s “real” job is as a therapist.  Though he’s clearly also a writer, with more than twenty published books under his belt.  So, if you’re up for working out your own plan–and doing the little bit of honest assessment of your life and personality required along the way–you’ll get a lot out of it, I think.

Second, the book comes with a DVD which has some nifty and worthwhile stuff on it.  A video of an hour of O’Hanlon’s workshop.  Sure, it mostly repeats what’s in the book, but I’m a firm believer in multiple learning styles in every person, and I know that reading material and watching material puts that stuff in at least two different places in my brain.  More stores to draw information from in the future.  The DVD also includes four of O’Hanlon’s podcasts and I liked them well enough to head to website to see if I can find more.  Finally, the disc includes all of the worksheets from the book so you can actually print them if you want to.  Multiple times.  As one who never fills out in-the-book worksheets, I thought this was terrific.

Third, and perhaps most important (and so congratulations to all of you who read this far!) is the information on approaching editors and agents and how he packages it.  Most of us have heard of the importance of good marketing information in any book proposal we write.  Well, O’Hanlon spells out exactly what this means and how important it is.  He calls it “platform.”  How can YOU help market the book–and how many people can you reach?  Don’t have your own podcast?  Consider putting one up.  Haven’t had media training?  Maybe you should get some.  And if all that sounds too much too tackle, O’Hanlon gives some creative and surprising suggestions for using the contacts you have–that you may not even have thought of as “contacts”–to build the platform agents and publishers so desperately want to see in a potential book.  This alone was worth the price of the book to me.

Check out O’Hanlon’s website too.