Faith in Revisions

There is a great article in Poets & Writers, called Revision as Renovation, by Benjamin Percy. It's definitely worth a read. He draws parallels between revising and home renovation. And, while I knew the article was about the importance of revision, I couldn't help but focus on these paragraphs:

"I had sold my novel, The Wilding. My edi-
tor at Graywolf Press, Fiona McCrae, told me how excited
she was about the manuscript, but wondered if I might be
amenable to some changes. Of course, I said. What did
she have in mind? 'How about let’s start with the point of
view?' she said. 'Might we shift it from first to third? And
in doing so, with the freedom afforded to the characters,
perhaps we could add five interlocking plotlines all com-
ing to a head at once?' The book had good bones, in other
words, but it needed some renovation."

and then this:

"It took me a year to rewrite The Wilding, to change from first to third person, to free up those characters and braid together their stories. And when I handed it in to Fiona in March 2009, she said . . . 'Fantastic. Exactly what we wanted. Now, would you mind cutting several of these sub-plots? And maybe we could add another in a female perspective? And while we're at it, how about let's rethink the ending?' And, and, and."

All I could think was, "Wow! An editor acquired a book that needed ALL that revision? She waited a year for revisions, and then asked for more?" I was left shaking my head in wonder. As a writer, all I could think was how amazing, validating, affirming it is to know someone has that kind of faith in your work; that much love for just the idea of what you're writing! That's the kind of excitement and enthusiasm you want for your writing!

I'm grateful to articles like these because most authors don't know what it's like for other authors. We are an isolated bunch, but reading others' experiences gives us great insight into our own, and to the industry in which we are investing so much time, energy and heart, with no promise of any kind of return, save for our love of the craft.

Importance of YA

I love this audio interview with S.E. Hinton (thanks to Mitali Perkins for the link!), author of The Outsiders, and Patrick Henry Bass, senior editor of Essence magazine. Ms. Hinton was one of the authors who made me want to write YA lit, by the way, when I was thirteen. I especially love the part in this audio where they talk about the fact that Hinton was one of the first to address class, i.e. she was writing about the tension between the "greasers" and the "socs" when most authors of her time were writing about prom kings and queens -- and how that hasn't changed all that much today . . .

The "White Mind"

ETA: the link to O'brien's article should work now - sorry about that.

Here's an interesting post on the concept of "White Mind" (as relates to children's writing/publishing) by Anne Sibley O'brien. The article is in the current issue of the Bulletin of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators.

Here's a quote:

"We belong to a field full of well-meaning people who care about children. If asked, most would surely agree with poet Lucille Clifton (Some of the Days of Everett Anderson) that “the literature of America should reflect the children of America.” I have never met an aficionado of children’s books who I can imagine wanting those books to misrepresent, marginalize or render invisible whole groups of our nation’s children.

So how can it be that in 2010, this is where we find ourselves:

• The percentage of published children’s books featuring characters of color is far smaller than - perhaps less than half - the percentage of people of color in the U.S. population, and the majority of these books are still created by white writers and illustrators.
• Many of the most popular book series, particularly in fantasy, have no significant characters of color at all.
• Cases of “whitewashing” book jackets, of editors requesting that an author erase a character’s ethnicity so that a book “can reach a larger audience,” of booksellers or librarians passing on certain titles because “our community doesn’t respond to those kinds of books,” suggest an assumption that white readers won’t respond to characters of color."

 And then this:

"[White Mind is] part of the explanation for how scores of thoughtful white writers could create so many books with no significant characters of color, or how so few manuscripts by and about people of color get accepted. It’s one of the reasons why our children’s book conferences and conventions are overwhelmingly white, and why I might walk out of a bookstore or library with a stack of picture books, not even noticing that not a single one of them starred children of color.

From writing and illustrating to hiring publishing staff, editing and marketing to selling, buying and reviewing, White Mind affects children’s books today. Unless we become aware of and develop strategies to directly challenge these patterns, white norms will continue to prevail." [Emphasis hers.]

The article reminds me just a bit of Peggy McIntosh's brilliant essay, "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" but is specific to children's publishing. Worth a read.

The Power of Images and Words

I woke up this morning to pouring rain and a family running around in stealth mode as they prepared for Mom's Day. H took the kids out and I sat down at the computer for some leisurely surfing with my tea and breakfast.

First video I saw was MIA's Born Free. Holy Wow. I wish I had been more prepared. My gut was churning, and I was trembling for at least an hour afterward. Take that as a warning if you plan to watch the video. It is intense. Violent. MIA flips stereotypes upside down by showing US forces rounding up redheaded young males and taking them into the desert to pick them off one by one in a sort of "redhead genocide". Disturbing, to say the least. And kind of eye-opening, too. I'm sure it will/does challenge many viewers' assumptions and associations with certain images and representations.

I wandered around afterward, searching for ways to get back to that leisurely space I was in pre-MIA-video, and it struck me how privileged I am - to know that my kids are safe. That I can sit at my computer and leisurely surf while eating breakfast. That I know I'll wake up tomorrow and celebrate with my family. What a jolt to be reminded that these are considered privileges and not rights. Basic human rights.

I didn't know what to do with myself because I was a bit of a mess with those images still fresh in my mind. So I started tidying up, a trick I learned from my mother who was always a bit of a mess :). And my eyes lit upon a video the hubs brought home - Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak, by Lance Bangs and Spike Jonze. I popped it in. The images of trees, the silence of Connecticut in the winter, the colour of leaves in the fall, the love between siblings and friends and family, and the connection with animals were soothing. Reminded me of the fragile, but persistent struggle for Life to prevail, even in the harshest of circumstances.

I thought, too, of what a gift words and images can be - what a soothing balm they often have been. Bringing me off ledges and surrounding me in warmth and safety. Sometimes tearing me down and other times building me up.

There were many poignant moments in the video, but here are a few quotes from Sendak's interview in Tell Them Anything You Want:

About Where the Wild Things Are, "I knew, I knew, I knew it would cause a lot of trouble. And my editor knew it and all she did was encourage me. 'Go for it, go for it. Don't worry about anything or anybody'."

About his editor, "Her name was Ursula Nordstrom. She made me who I am. She gave me a book every year. She kept me working. I mean, can you imagine mentorship from a publishing house? She intended that I should be an important illustrator. She knew I could be. I had bad habits, I never went to art school, I drew in a clumsy fashion, but she could see beneath that."

"It's not true that I write books for children because I have this adoration of childhood. No. It's a peculiarity of mine that I do this. What I do is peculiar, but it's all I can do."

"Having children takes talent, like any creative thing you want to do - if you want to be good at it."

"When I was gay, the world was extremely unwelcoming and it was very different. And it was something you hid...I missed out on a lot of fun... When I was young, I was worried that that knowledge, were it to come out, would ruin my career."

"I did some good books, which mostly is an isolationist's form of life--doing books, doing pictures. And it is the only true happiness I've ever, ever enjoyed in my life. It's sublime. To just go into another room and make pictures. It's magic time, where all your weaknesses of character and all blemishes of personality and whatever else torments you fades away...it just doesn't matter. You're doing the one thing you want to do and you do it well and you know you do it well and you're happy."

"I think what I offered was different, but not because I drew better than anybody, or wrote better than anybody, but because I was more honest than anybody."

"And in the discussion of children and the lives of children and fantasies of children and the language of children, I said anything I wanted. Because I don't believe...that there's a demarcation - 'well, you mustn't tell them that and you mustn't tell them that.' You can tell them anything you want. Just tell them if it's true. If it's true, you tell them."

Being Effective

A few weeks back, Girls Write Now hosted a fantastic guest at one of their workshops - Katie Orenstein of the Op-ed Project. She's a wonderful speaker - witty, clear, engaging. She spoke about some of the reasons women might not contribute to the Op-ed sections of newspapers like the NY Times, the Washington Post and other large scale distribution newspapers. Here's a summary of the problem according to the site:

"The op-ed pages of our nation’s newspapers are overwhelmingly dominated—80% or more—by men. Because the op-ed pages feed all other media, the under-representation of women here perpetuates and exaggerates the under-representation of women in larger ways. For example, men are:

• 84% of guests on influential Sunday morning political talk shows on TV
• 85% of Hollywood producers
• 85% of nonfiction books on The New York Times best-selling
• 85-90% of radio producers
• 83% of congress

In short, public debate all but excludes half the population."

Interesting stats, no? Says quite a lot about how far we still have to go in the push for equal representation--on oh-so-many fronts.

One of the (other) interesting things Katie said during her presentation that really stuck with me, and that I think is applicable to blogging and many other things as well, is that she learned a hard lesson after one particular piece she wrote about Sex and the City. She realized, after the onslaught of letters and emails she received (from unhappy readers) in response to the piece, that she had quite possibly alienated four out of five of her readers. And that's when it struck her that perhaps it was more important to be effective rather than right.

True in so many areas of life - from blogging to receiving feedback on one's writing, to dealing with friends and partners, to communicating with children and teens... One of the things I try to keep in mind when I'm in the heat of the moment - when I'm angry and passionate about something (whether it's with my spouse, kids, friends, on the blog, whatever) or when my buttons have been pushed and it's hard to see beyond my own indignation - is that my goal is not to vent, it is to be effective. To grow, to push for change, create awareness and help build some sort of connection.

Thanks, Katie, for reminding me of the difference, and for spotlighting an important area more women can become active - an area that can help shape the world around us to reflect the sets of values and priorities of an entire population, not just a select few.

Writers Say...

Great notes from writers (taken from these top ten lists):

"Don't sit down in the middle of the woods. If you're lost in the plot or blocked, retrace your steps to where you went wrong. Then take the other road. And/or change the person. Change the tense. Change the opening page." -- Margaret Atwood

"Never worry about the commercial possibilities of a project. That stuff is for agents and editors to fret over – or not. Conversation with my American publisher. Me: "I'm writing a book so boring, of such limited commercial appeal, that if you publish it, it will probably cost you your job." Publisher: "That's exactly what makes me want to stay in my job." -- Geoff Dyer

"Have regrets. They are fuel. On the page they flare into desire." -- Geoff Dyer

"Do it every day. Make a habit of putting your observations into words and gradually this will become instinct. This is the most important rule of all and, naturally, I don't follow it." -- Geoff Dyer

"Never ride a bike with the brakes on. If something is proving too difficult, give up and do something else. Try to live without resort to per­severance. But writing is all about ­perseverance. You've got to stick at it. In my 30s I used to go to the gym even though I hated it. The purpose of ­going to the gym was to postpone the day when I would stop going. That's what writing is to me: a way of ­postponing the day when I won't do it any more, the day when I will sink into a depression so profound it will be indistinguishable from perfect bliss." -- Geoff Dyer

"The first 12 years are the worst." -- Anne Enright

"Write whatever way you like. Fiction is made of words on a page; reality is made of something else. It doesn't matter how "real" your story is, or how "made up": what matters is its necessity." -- Anne Enright

"Description is hard. Remember that all description is an opinion about the world. Find a place to stand." -- Anne Enright

"Imagine that you are dying. If you had a terminal disease would you ­finish this book? Why not? The thing that annoys this 10-weeks-to-live self is the thing that is wrong with the book. So change it. Stop arguing with yourself. Change it. See? Easy. And no one had to die." -- Anne Enright

"Try to think of others' good luck as encouragement to yourself." -- Richard Ford

"Fiction that isn't an author's personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown isn't worth writing for anything but money." -- Jonathan Franzen

"It's doubtful that anyone with an internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction." -- Jonathan Franzen

"The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it's definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it ­honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter." -- Neil Gaiman

All the top ten lists are worth a read. Some are just laugh-out-loud hilarious :D. Check 'em out.

The Fabulous Olugbemisola, Part Two

Here is the rest of my interview with Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich. Again, make sure you check out her book, EIGHTH GRADE SUPERZERO, and check out her website for info about appearances and booksignings!

NM: I especially loved the family scenes in this novel. Whether it was Reggie's family (refreshing to see a *functional* working class black family!) or Charlie and his mom, or the folks at the shelter who were another sort of family. The sibling rivalry between Reggie and Monica was particularly right on the mark - I have a younger brother and we were very much at each other like that, but with this current of fierce loyalty underlying it all. Did you draw upon your own family experiences for these scenes?

ORP: Heh! Thank you. I loved writing the family scenes, and had a lot more that just couldn't fit. My sister and I didn't have the kind of relationship Reggie and Monica had. I have a couple of friends who did...Monica and Reggie were so much fun to write. In the earliest incarnations, Monica was even more of an antagonist -- she and Donovan even teamed up on occasion!  I really loved exploring how both siblings were struggling with image and identity, and how they bonded in that struggle, while always remaining wholly themselves (I hope).

 

NM: That's always the struggle for me, too - making the characters as true to themselves as possible.

 

Tell me about the election. I'm thinking you were probably writing or revising SUPERZERO around the last US election. In fact, you've even mentioned Obama in the novel. Did the US presidential election influence the way you wrote about the election in the book? In what ways?

ORP: I definitely added a few things in later drafts to refer to the election. I think that at a couple of points I tried to allude to the sense of hope/change that emanated from a lot of the response to President Obama's campaign, and some of the opposing ideas that come into play when we consider the role of goverment and politics in our lives. The concept of moral courage came up a lot for me during the election, and that did fit in well with the themes in the book...There were a couple of sarcastic references as well...and the now-President's path was very familiar to me, I've known many young men and women in similar situations, etc.

 

NM: I really like that term, "moral courage." I think it sums up a lot of what I struggle with on a daily basis. And yes, the election in '08 really brought much of that to the fore.

 

I recently did a school visit for readers around the target age for SUPERZERO's readership and couldn't help but recommend it to them. What do you hope young readers will walk away with after reading this story?

ORP: Oh, thank you, Neesha! I think that I hope that those readers might think a bit about who they are, what they stand for, and how that's expressed in their lives on a daily basis. That there are many ideas of heroism, and sometimes that "still, small voice" is the most heroic one. There is one moment in the book that I believe is Reggie's most heroic, and I think it might not be the most obvious.  I believe that there has to be room, in any idea of activism, or any sort of forward movement, for the baby steps, the whispering voices, the quiet thinkers, for taking a few steps backward. And for all of us who come hard sometimes, and soft at others, to know that we don't have to fit into anyone's, even our own, boxes.
 

I hope that readers know that I am writing to them from that place in myself that is both broken-hearted and beautiful to that same place in them; that I'm hoping that we meet and are transformed in some way together. That we're all imperfect, self-conscious, want more, don't even know what the questions are sometimes, much less the answers...and we can all get beyond ourselves, even in very small ways, to make a difference in this world.

 

NM: That answer brought tears to my eyes. Especially the part about, "don't even know what the questions are sometimes." One thing I've learned and know is absolutely true is that there are no absolutes. That everything is as right as it is wrong and most of the time, I don't *really* know which category things fall into. Especially when I think I'm right *grin*.

 

And now, the classic: What's next? Not just what book are you working on now (that too), but where do you see yourself as a writer in, say, ten years? What are you writing? Still MG fiction? Why or why not? 

 

ORP: I'm working on a YA manuscript right now, it has slight touches of fantasy, and deals with themes of grief and guilt, which might be my last in that genre. I have many younger MG and chapter book ideas waiting to be worked on, and one of these days I would love to develop the skills to write a picture book. I have a multiplatform/multimedia project that I started years ago, exploring the lives of girls around the world at different turning points in their childhood and teen years.  For years I've been interested in some of the opportunities to make meaning using digital technology. I will always be teaching in some way; I love it, and am looking forward to a couple of school writing workshops that I have coming up in both early childhood and teen classrooms and libraries.  In my teaching, I love looking at multiple ways to 'write' and create, and reflect; sometimes using arts and crafts techniques, drama, discussion, memoir...just thinking about it is fun!

 

NM: Thanks so much, Olugbemisola!

The Fabulous Olugbemisola, Part One

Today, I am thrilled to feature part 1 of an interview I did with the wonderful Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, author of EIGHTH GRADE SUPERZERO. I read SUPERZERO and just fell in fast, tumbling love with each of the characters. It is a book full of heart and insight, written with warmth and compassion. And Ms. Olugbemisola is a fierce, quietly powerful force to be reckoned with. Here is part one of what she has to say about writing, her process, the '08 election, SUPERZERO, family, and spirituality...

NM: What was the "nugget" that you started with for this novel?

ORP: I started this novel as part of an application for a workshop with Paula Danziger. It was the night before the thing was due, and I needed to come up with three pages, fast. The image of a ten-year-old Reggie in bed, with the covers pulled up over his head, because he was afraid that a bug was going to crawl into his mouth, was the very first image that I had for this story. Whenever I say that, I realize that it sounds nothing like that book it became! But the character was there.

NM: Wow, what a powerful image! And that initial feeling is exactly what I got from the opening chapters. You captured those anxieties so well.

There are parts of the novel where I feel, intuitively, you would have gone a bit more radical. I think I recognized those parts because I have them in my own novel - areas where I would absolutely have gone in with my feminist, anti-racist self and run amuk, but had to rein myself in, either because of feedback from trusted sources, or because I knew I was pushing it. Am I right in this hunch? If so, could you point to parts where this might've happened?

 

ORP: I think that there were definitely times when I *wanted* to make certain points, and I did hold back because I had to make sure that this book was Reggie's story. I think that especially with a first-person narrative, it can be easy to make the character's voice your own. And I tried that sometimes in the beginning -- Reggie used to also have an older, disaffected brother named Marcus, who spoke in speeches and was usually saying the things that I thought. (Marcus's struggle with racism, my cynicism during the election) I also struggled as an author with thinking too much about how *I* would be perceived by this book. I worried that it wasn't weighty enough, and that it would be dismissed as lightweight, etc. etc. blah blah blah. But then I really had to come to terms with how ridiculous I was being -- either I wanted to tell *Reggie's* story, and be as honest as I could be about it, and connect with those young readers who are/know/could be Reggie and his friends, or I wanted to make it all about me. Instead of writing fully as an adult looking back on childhood days, I had to access who I was at 13 (not who I'd wish I'd been, or thought that I was then), who my friends were, who the 13 year-olds that I know and see are now...Of course, I am writing with the benefit of experience and hindsight and perspective, but I had to make sure that I worked to get out of the way and ask myself at every point if something was *really* part of the story, something that was true to the characters, or was it just something that *I* wanted to say, to wedge in somehow because I thought it would make me look a certain way, or because I was trying to create an opportunity to put me on the page. Humbling work. The most gratifying response recently has been from my sister, who's just reading the book in its entirety now, and said "This doesn't sound like you at all!"

 

NM: What a fantastic answer. I so relate to the "not weighty enough" worries and wanting to inject my current sensibilities into my character's thoughts and actions. It's such a fine balance! 

 

What made you write this novel in a young male voice? And how was that experience? Would you do it again?

 

ORP: I really just started with that character, at that moment; I didn't plan it. I would not have expected to write a book with a male MC, and definitely never planned to. Once I started, though, that was it. It didn't seem right to just change him to a girl, which a couple of people suggested. Now that I've thought about it a little, I don't know that I'd do it again. I suppose it depends on the characters that come to me. But I'm definitely a little self-conscious about it now.
 

NM: Well, Reggie certainly rang true for many folks, including me, so I'm glad he stayed a he :). 

 

I love books that explore spirituality. Tell me a bit about your decision to incorporate themes of spirituality and religion into 8TH GRADE SUPERZERO. Were you worried about it at all?

ORP: I did worry that it would be rejected because of that, and I did submit to my editor, Cheryl Klein, because I thought that, from her blog posts, that she wouldn't dismiss it out of hand for that reason.  And I worried that Christians would think that I should have made Reggie a Christian, or something like that. But it was not a part of the story that I ever considered taking out. It was a part of Reggie's life and person. And it was a part of the lives of so many young people that I'd taught or worked with over the years, in a variety of ways.  They had such great questions, interesting ideas, and always introduced fabulous discussions while we talked about books, daily life, TV, etc. that related to faith and spirituality; it was clear to me that these themes were important parts of their lives in myriad ways. I wanted to 'give back' in a way, to the young people who trusted me enough to share their thoughts on spirituality and faith, because we were able to have those discussions lovingly, and respectfully, even though we each often held different beliefs.

 

NM: I hear you. I've had so many wonderful conversations with young people about religion and spirituality. They are definitely asking the questions and searching for answers - particularly in a post 9/11 world where religion seems to have taken such a front seat in media and political forums.

Thanks, Olugbemisola! 

 

Readers -- stay tuned for part 2 of this interview! And pick up your copy of EIGHTH GRADE SUPERZERO now. Seriously.

Letter from An Afghan (American) Woman

I read this wonderfully enlightening note on a listserv I subscribe to and just *had* to get in touch with its author. I am reprinting it here, with permission from the writer, Zohra Saed.

Here is a bit about Zohra from her website:
Zohra Saed was born in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. She learned to walk in Tehran, Iran. Zohra spent her childhood first in Amman, Jordan and later in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia before her father brought his family to Brooklyn. She is a poet, academic, and editor.

And here is her very thought-provoking post . . .

Okay, I have to bring this up because I've gotten into too many conversations with women "writing for" Afghan women and referring to us as Afghani. What is this odd little "i" at the end?

Let me clarify why I feel tense whenever I hear the term "Afghani" used by well-meaning friends (okay, maybe they don't want to be friends with me. Maybe they just want me as their sounding board to fact-check their story that is about an "Afghan-I-" woman. They will usually not know that I think these things inside my little round head).

When you use the term "Afghani" it means that you do not really know us, Afghans, very well and that perhaps a few newspaper clippings have intrigued you. Perhaps you heard a few stories, but really when it comes down to it -- you really wouldn't know a Pashai from a Kandahari from a Mazari. etc. But you'll just ride the elevator with me telling me all about your Afghani experiences. (Please, please--this doesn't mean Afghans know themselves any better or each other for that, but please...at least we don't ride elevators telling one another how well we know what Afghans think or would do under so-and-so situation).

When you use the term "Afghani," it means that you do not know that our currency is the Afghani (well, I haven't used an Afghani since I chewed one up when I was a year old in Jalalabad, but you know, even if I grew up with dollars, I wouldn't refer to myself as the currency of the place I was born in).

I suppose us 'Ghans use the term Afghani as well, but we get dirty looks from each other just the same. Usually we use Afghani to describe things, not people. Like "Did you get some Afghani bread at the Afghani store with the Afghani carpets everywhere?" But we would never say, "Hi, I'm Afghani Zohra, how do you do?"

So, please, at least write more than newspaper headlines and understand our nuances.  This is not to boast that Afghans all know their nuances, we're so varied from one another, and so many years of war and scatterings have kept us from knowing ourselves. But at least we would never attach that gangly "I" at the end of Afghan because we are Afghan, not like-Afghan, which is what the "i" connotes.

I have made a big issue out of this, but I must share it with you, my sisters. Please . . . in the love of global sisterhood, at least name us properly. Give us some nuances, some texture.

Love
Zohra, the brutish/brooding Afghan(American)

Adichie on The Danger of a Single Story

I saw this link on Facebook some time back, then again on Mayra Lazara Dole's blog. It's a video featuring Nigerian author, Chimamanda Adichie, on "the danger of a single story"--nineteen minutes long, but *fantastic*. She's funny, honest, and spot on in her insights.

Rejects

I love reading rejection letters of people whose books went on to amazing success. It's just something I take great delight in. The other night, I read one of Ursula K. Leguin's:

"Ursula K. Le Guin writes extremely well, but I'm sorry to have to say that on the basis of that one highly distinguishing quality alone I cannot make you an offer for the novel. The book is so endlessly complicated by details of reference and information, the interim legends become so much of a nuisance despite their relevance, that the very action of the story seems to be to become hopelessly bogged down and the book, eventually, unreadable. The whole is so dry and airless, so lacking in pace, that whatever drama and excitement the novel might have had is entirely dissipated by what does seem, a great deal of the time, to be extraneous material. My thanks nonetheless for having thought of us. The manuscript of The Left Hand of Darkness is returned herewith."

*Hee* There's a whole list of rejections received by now famous authors, here. I particularly love the fact that Madeleine L'engle was turned down *29* times for A WRINKLE IN TIME. Well, I don't love that she was turned down so many times--I love that she was immensely successful in spite of being turned down 29 times.

I did get one letter saying that my writing was "sub-par" (yes, that one stung), but mostly I remember getting oodles of those, "Neesha Meminger writes really well, but..." letters during my search for agents and editors. Seeing LeGuin's letter made me go digging through my own pile of "declines" during SHINE subs, and I found this one:

"As promised, I read SHINE, COCONUT MOON by Neesha Meminger at my earliest convenience. I appreciate how Samar is struggling with her identity and Indian descent--I just signed up a book about a girl struggling with similar issues in [Asian country] in [historical time frame]. But Samar's struggles don't seem to be in the service of a larger plot or narrative. The early part of the book is mostly focused on [particular characters] so there's no real sense of how this will be Samar's story. And then the grandparents seem to come out of nowhere. Throughout, I really didn't get any sense of direction..."

The letter goes on for another couple of paragraphs, but it was good to read again because it reminded me, yet again, how subjective this business is. When my (amazingly gifted and talented) editor acquired SHINE, she totally "got" it. She sent me about two pages of revision notes (this is not a lot of revising for those who aren't familiar--it is not uncommon to get 10-15 pages of single-spaced notes--which is what I was expecting), and we had only one round of revisions. None of the revision notes addressed any of the above concerns, by the way.

My story clearly didn't work for that particular editor. S/he just didn't like it. And that is absolutely okay. I wouldn't want to *have* to like something I didn't like, either. But reading these letters helps to put things into perspective as you continue submitting work and receiving feedback. This goes for anything in life, not just writing. More and more, I am convinced that believing in oneself and persistence are the two main ingredients that make up a successful [insert career choice or life passion here].

This is why it's SO important to hone that inner voice that tells you to stick to what you *know* is true. And to not make changes that don't align with your vision for your work. But to incorporate the ones that do.

It's a reminder for all of us to keep pressing on, and to believe in that little voice that just knows.

"Damned" Post: Part 2

In the comments of my last post, Laura Atkins, Children's Book Specialist and former editor for Lee & Low Books (and brilliant essayist), left a link to this article by Jacqueline Woodson, originally published in the Horn Book. I thought I'd read the first few paragraphs while breakfast was cooking, but I could not get up. I was riveted by the beauty of language and honesty of emotion in her words. Breakfast subsequently burned. For anyone who wants to write from an experience not their own, or anyone who is trying to express why they're skeptical of others writing about their experience--and what would make it better--this is a must read. Here is a small excerpt:

"At conferences, I am often asked to speak about my experiences
as a writer. I talk about the early days, about what propelled me
to write certain books. I talk about my friends, my goals as a
writer, my home life, even my pets. Invariably, there is the ques-
tion and answer period. Invariably, there is The Question. Al-
though it is phrased differently, it always comes. At every confer-
ence, at every adult speaking engagement, at my breakfast table
at the Coretta Scott King Awards, at my dinner table at the
Newbery/Caldecott, even at book signings. How do you feel about
people writing outside of their own experiences? How do you feel about
white people writing about people of color?

More than the question, it is the political context in which it is
asked that is annoying. As our country moves further to the right,
as affirmative action gets called into question, as race related bi-
ases against people of color soar, as the power structure in our
society remains, in many ways, unchanged, why, then, would a
person feel comfortable asking me this question?

When I asked my white writer friends how they answer this
question, I was less than surprised to find that none of them had
been asked. Why was it then that white people (because I have
never been asked this by someone who was recognizably a per-
son of color) felt a need to ask this of me? What was it, is it, people
are seeking in the asking? What is it about the power structure our
society was built and remains upon that leads a white person to
believe that this is a question that I, as a black woman, should, can,
and must be willing to address?"

Woodson then goes into her own experience of writing from another's perspective:

"I have just finished the final draft of a novel, If You Come Softly,
about the love affair between two fifteen year olds. In the novel,
the boy is black and the girl is white and Jewish. As I sat down to
write this novel, I asked myself over and over why I needed to
write it. Why did I need to go inside the life of a Jewish girl? More
than the need, what gave me the right? Whose story was this? And
the answers, of course, were right in front of me. This, like every
story I’ve written, from Last Summer with Maizon to I Hadn‘t Meant
to Tell You This to From the Notebooks of Melanin Sun, is my story.
While I have never been Jewish, I have always been a girl. While
I have never lived on the Upper West Side, I have lived for a long
time in New York.  While I have never been a black male, I’ve al-
ways been black. But most of all, like the characters in my story, I
have felt a sense of powerlessness in my lifetime. And this is the
room into which I can walk and join them. This sense of being on
the outside of things, of feeling misunderstood and invisible, is the
experience I bring to the story. I do not attempt to know what it
is like to come from another country. Nor do I pretend to under-
stand the enormity of the impact of the Holocaust."

The whole essay is lovely, heartfelt, and on point. Go read it.

Blogfest 2009 Continues!

As I mentioned in a previous post, Simon & Schuster is doing their Blogfest 2009. Here is a sneak peek at some of the questions I've answered so far:

What made you start writing?
A: I started writing to give voice to those who couldn’t find the words themselves – to write myself and those I loved into existence in a way...

Have you ever just wanted to give up?
A: Yes, many times. Maybe even on a daily basis. And as soon as I make the solid, no-turning-back
decision to quit...

If you could have any super power, what would it be?
A: I would love to go back and visit my ancestors, and to actually be able to live in their time for a short, definite period. So much of who we are and where we are is because of the decisions the people before us have made...

How has writing affected your daily life?
A: Writing has always been a life raft for me. It is a form of expression that is as necessary as breathing. It allows me to...

Go visit and comment -- and please share your own experiences!

Writers On Writing: Sherman Alexie

So this will be my final Writers On Writing entry. And I'll be winding this blog down for the next few weeks so that I can enjoy what remains of the summer of 2009. I will pick it back up mid-September-ish.

This one is pretty long, but fascinating all the way through. Sherman Alexie on winning the National Book Award, being diagnosed as "brain damaged" as a child, leaving the rez to go to an all-white high school, wanting to be a pediatrician, and being in love with a lesbian. He also talks about being seen by other kids as an apple--red on the outside, white on the inside. Obviously, there are other versions of this analogy: coconuts, bananas, oreos . . .

Enjoy, and have a great summer, everyone!

Writers On Writing: Jeanette Winterson

I found the video for this quite annoying, but the audio--OMG. Jeanette Winterson is amazing. She talks about the importance of art in the midst of what might be considered more "urgent" matters, like terrorism and war...

Writers On Writing: Octavia Butler

I love this video because there's Octavia Butler at a panel where ALL of the other panelists are white and male. And she is not giggly, or girly, or deferring to them in any way. She is outspoken, opinionated, funny, and engaging. Awesome.

Writers On Writing: Ntozake Shange

Here's Ntozake Shange, author of FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENOUGH. I love when she says, "The challenge was not to be surprised by the vitriol that accompanied [my work]..." (emphasis mine).

Writers On Writing: Junot Diaz

Junot Diaz talks about writing culture, sci-fi/fantasy as a genre, hyper-masculinity, violence against women, intra-nerd hostility and representing Dominican culture. "What matters to me as an artist is to look at the things that culture doesn't want to talk about," and I love when he says that even though he is committed to writing the Dominican diasporic experience, his is "one tiny voice among ten million voices."

Writers On Writing: Nikki Giovanni and Sonia Sanchez

Here is part one of a candid conversation with Nikki Giovanni and Sonia Sanchez where they talk about poetry, activism, politics, art and community. It's slightly dated (Tupac was still alive at the time of its taping), but still worth watching. They are interesting, have a lot of combined wisdom and experience between them, and just plain fun...

Writers On Writing: Naomi Shihab Nye

Here's Naomi Shihab Nye on creating a "habit" of writing and making writing a friend...