HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I wish each and every one of you a very wonderful, healthy, prosperous and cheerful 2008.

Journey at a word's notice

I relish research. That’s a confession. It’s one of many aspects of writing I love getting lost in. There’s something exciting and adventurous about exploring a word or a phrase or a reference and suddenly finding yourself in new territory: rediscovering ideas, concepts; tracing their origins; charting the passages between one place another; creating connections and making these new places your own---anything that broadens the horizons.

For example, when putting together an early draft of The Snowing and Greening of Thomas Passmore, I used the word ‘flamenco’ to suggest a style of dancing that takes place in one scene. Though only intended as a passing comment, the moment I wrote it I wasn’t sure if it was really appropriate or not, and whether I could leave it in or not, and so, before I could say ‘Burke and Wills’ or ‘Dr Livingstone I presume’, I'd reached for the reference books and was engaged upon a major expedition that I haven’t yet returned from.

My trusty two volume Shorter Oxford English Dictionary noted the first recorded use of the word ‘flamenco’ in the English language as 1896 and identified a connection with the Spanish for ‘flamingo’ (which made a kind of sense with the bird’s ‘bright scarlet plumage, long and slender legs and neck’). It also noted that it’s a ‘Spanish gipsy style of singing or dancing’. However, my Australian Concise Oxford Dictionary made the more popular qualification that the word derives from ‘Flemish’ (and a belief that gipsies were Flemish in origin). Regardless of this, I’d begun browsing now and couldn’t help but notice a few convenient definitions for the word ‘flame’, which was sitting comfortably nearby in both books:

• ‘The condition of visible combustion’;
  
• ‘A bright beam or ray of light’;
  
• ‘A burning feeling or passion’;
  
• ‘The object of one’s love’;
  
• ‘To move as or like flame’;
  
• ‘To kindle, inflame, excite, animate’.

All this was good stuff and felt relevant to the way the story was heading at that time, but I hadn’t learnt much about the nature of flamenco dance---the rhythm, the gestures, the mood, the music----and so I left the books behind and set sail across Google.

Three days later ... well, I won’t take you through the initial stages of the journey, but from many sites I visited along the way I learnt this form of dance grew from song, and that the songs originally recorded tales of the oppressed and the under-dog, and that the passion and the fire and the mournfulness were all an integral part of flamenco and had been through the centuries, and that the song was often accompanied by guitar. The site http://www.answers.com/topic/flamenco was a particularly useful place to visit and a fine staging post to other sites, such as http://www.flamenco-world.com/magazine/about/que_es_flamenco/indice11112004.htm . The more I discovered, the more I wanted to listen to flamenco music, to click my fingers and shout “Olé” along to the tune of it, to eat paella and tapas, olives and soft cheeses, and to spend time in Andalusia. And some of that I’ve done, and some of that I’m yet to do.

Went to see Gala Flamenca perform in Melbourne a few weeks back, on tour from Spain. They were stunning, colourful, fiery, passionate, mournful, seductive, entertaining, and left me feeling content that I’d taken a closer look at the meaning of the word ‘flamenco’ when I was working on that early draft, even if it was only a word to use in passing. Olé!

This excerpt is taken from a film by Carlos Saura, which I haven't yet seen, and which I only discovered whilst putting this post together (another journey), but I'll be looking to get hold of a copy now. Thought it was a nice example and I hope you enjoy.

Wireless: Life Doesn't Rewind Across The Universe (Second part in the trilogy)

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Available in bookstores August 2008

Of A Sea Lion

I’d fully intended this post would be about the books I’ve read recently, and started getting my thoughts together on this, when these best laid plans went happily astray. Life got in the way.

Jogging along the beach this morning, I came upon a sea lion. At first I thought he was dead, because he was flat out and because we occasionally get dead seals, stingrays and fairy penguins washing up, particularly after a storm, and because he wasn’t moving. So it goes. However, although he mightn’t have been feeling crash hot, he took a deep breath as I looked at him and he blinked an eye to get rid of the flies swarming his face. Beached, injured, dying perhaps, but still alive. A magnificent beast from a different world and a sight to behold.

It’s put everything else out of my head today and reminds me how much I enjoy living close to the sea where such things occasionally happen. More than this, it also reminds me of what I find important in the stories I enjoy reading and writing: where the extraordinary rises to the surface of the ordinary (so that what is extraordinary seems ordinary, and what is ordinary seems extraordinary). At one extreme, it’s why I enjoy the surreal diversions in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-5, Laura Esquivel’s Like Water for Chocolate, or Murakami’s novels, and, at the other end of the spectrum, why I enjoy Tim Winton’s stories so much.

To my collection of such experiences, I’d love to add something my son witnessed a few months back: a killer whale (very rare in these waters) leaping into view a hundred metres off the lighthouse and then diving again. Or the pod of dolphins my wife watched one afternoon. But I can claim the occasion a New Zealand friend was staying with us and saying how she’d never seen a kangaroo in the wild, when one went hopping down the street a few seconds later (the first time we'd ever seen one so close to the house). However, and just to prove there’s an urban equivalent to these moments, I’ve held onto the memory of something I observed when I was in Melbourne last year: a blind woman---dark glasses, white cane tapping the pavement in front of her---wheeling a bicycle at her side. It stopped me in my tracks, and I waited to see if she’d mount the bike and start pedalling down the street, tapping the cane in front, but she never did.

I’ll never find out the rest of her story, although I wonder about it sometimes, but I was able to follow through on the sea lion. As soon as I reached home, I phoned a wildlife emergency number, and within fifteen minutes they’d returned the call to let me know that a vet had previously been called out to look at him, that they suspected he was suffering from a hernia or a tumour, but that they’d continue to check up on him. Later, I’ll head back to the beach to see whether he’s still there or has found his way back into the sea.

C'est la vie.

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Sarah Beth Durst - Author of "Into the Wild" & "Out of the Wild"

Welcome to “Up Close & Personal.” For every interview I will be introducing a literary personality discussing her views and insights, as well as upcoming literary events around the world.

Today’s interview is with Sarah Beth Durst. She's the author of Into the Wild a great twisty ride novel through fairy tale. A twelve-years old Julie has a secret under her bed, and has grown up hearing about The Wild, the dangerous world of fairy tales, from which her mother, Rapunzel, escaped. Into the Wild is a fun read. A twisty ride through fairytale.

"Out of the Wild" is sequel to "Into the Wild" coming June of 2008

Into the Wild is available now from Razorbill / Penguin Young Readers

EI: Would you share some early insight into who you were as a teenager with your readers? What were you like as a teen? Please tell us more about Sarah Beth Durst -- the woman behind the author.

SBD: As a teen, I was shy, insecure, and my hair looked like a poodle. (I mean, my haircut looked like a poodle's haircut. It wasn't actually in the shape of a dog. That would be odd.) But other than basic hair issues, I was happy. I was (and am) a rather fiercely determined optimist. So I skipped the whole teenage-rebellion thing and actually had a rather good time in high school. (No one likes middle school, of course. I don't trust anyone who liked middle school.)

EI: Do you express your inner self in your writing or do the personas you create exist only in your imagination?

SBD: Little bits of me leak into all my characters, I'm sure, but by the end of a few drafts, the characters begin to feel more like very close friends rather than aspects of me.

In terms of actual personality, the character from INTO THE WILD who I think I am most like is the protagonist's best friend Gillian. When Gillian is told that a deep, dark fairy-tale forest has spread over her hometown, she doesn't think, "Oh, no, what a disaster. Life as we know it is over." She thinks, "That's awesome!!!" I would definitely react like that. And then I'd probably get eaten by Little Red Riding Hood's wolf or something.

EI: What is your response to the public perception that writers’ creative insight and energy is frequently the product of personal conflict?

SBD: I don't think you need to have a Dickensian childhood or an angst-ridden adult life to be a writer. Everyone has issues and obsessions that show up in their stories, of course, but I don't think writers need to be or have been miserable in order to be productive. For me, the happier I am, the more I write (and the converse is also true: the more I write, the happier I am). I think writing is more about joy than pain.

EI: What would you like to say to writers who are reading this interview and wondering if they can keep creating, if they are good enough, if their voices and visions matter enough to share?

SBD: Of course you're good enough. Of course your voice and vision matter! Shut off that voice in your brain (I recommend loud music or a nice pep talk) and go write. The more you write, the better you'll get at it. It's like any other art -- the more you practice playing the piano, the happier people will be to hear you play.

And if, still, no one wants to hear you play, there's value in continuing anyway. Writing is good for the soul. Better than chicken soup.

EI: Many writers describe themselves as "character" or "plot" writers. Which are you? And what do you find to be the hardest part of writing?

SBD: I think character and plot come at the same time for me. I start with a person in a particular situation, and what they choose to do both defines who they are as a character and what the plot of the story is. I can't separate out Julie (from INTO THE WILD) as a character from her plot choice to brave the fairy tale to rescue her mom.

As far as the hardest part of writing... absolutely the first draft. I find first drafts to be very, very painful because they can never be as good as what you picture in your head. After the first draft, subsequent drafts are much better because the story feels like it's improving, but that first draft... I try to slog through it as quickly as possible, which leads to scenes with phrases like "and then something cool happens." After I'm done with the first draft, then the real writing can begin.

EI: Are you armed with notebook and pen at all the times? Do you always carry your laptop or PDA with you to write?

SBD: Yep, I always have a notebook in my purse. Or at least a stray scrap of paper. I don't carry my laptop everywhere because I honestly write best at my own desk with all my papers and books and everything around me. I always wish I were one of those writers who could hop from cafe to cafe... I'm not a cafe-writer, though. I eavesdrop way too much for that. I sit there wondering about strangers’ lives instead of working on my story.

EI: Do you let anyone read your manuscript, before you send it to your editor or agent?

SBD: Only my husband and a few very close friends.

I trick myself into writing first drafts by promising myself that no one will ever see a word of it. It's only when I reach the final draft that I feel ready to share it.

EI: Was there anyone who really influenced you to become a writer?

SBD: Every book that I've ever read and loved has influenced me. Every time I close a good book, I think, "I want to do that." Some books that inspired me (and continue to do so) are ALANNA by Tamora Pierce, DEEP WIZARDRY by Diane Duane, JACK THE GIANT-KILLER by Charles de Lint, and BEAUTY as well as THE BLUE SWORD by Robin McKinley.

EI: Now let’s shift gears here for a second... Can you share with us some of the challenges you faced to publish your first novel “ Into the Wild?” Is there anything about you that you would do differently, knowing what you do now?

SBD: One of the hardest parts about the road to publication is that there isn't a very clearly marked road. It's not like other careers where first you are a assistant then you're promoted up through the ranks to senior whatever. You have to find (or make through sheer stubbornness) your own road, and that can be both difficult and stressful. I am not sure what I wish I'd done differently, but I can tell you one thing that helped: asking questions, doing research, attending book signings and events and talking to authors... basically learning as much about the business as I could.

EI: What was the inspiration for your novel ? What is your response to the public perception about your creative insight with your book?

SBD: I have always loved fairy tales. Back in high school, I had the idea: wouldn't it be cool if fairy-tale characters were walking around right here and now? What would they do? What would they be like? I was pretty sure that Rapunzel would own a hair salon, and that idea lingered until I started writing INTO THE WILD.

Public response has been wonderful. It's been so fun getting emails from people and talking to people who read it. (If you're curious, you can see some of the official responses on the Reviews page of my website: www.sarahbethdurst.com/reviews.htm)

EI: How much of Julie Marchen & her mother is planned out in your head? How do you know where you will go next with their characters? What was your biggest challenge in creating them? 12. How did you develop these characters? Did you work them out in advance, or did they evolve as you wrote the story?

EI: It would be nice if characters sprung out of my head full-blown like Athena from Zeus's head... On the other hand, that always sounded kind of painful. Seriously, though, Julie, Zel, Boots, Gillian... all of them evolved over the course of many, many revisions.

SBD: What is a typical work day schedule when you are in full writing mode? Would you tell us a little about your process for editing, revising, and novel development? How long did it take you to write ‘Into the Wild’ including the time it took to research the book?

I try to write every day including weekends. It's not necessarily the same time every day or even the same length of time, but daily is key. If I don't write for a couple days, I find it very slow and difficult to start back up again.

I started INTO THE WILD in 2000. I worked on other things as well, of course, but I really believed in this novel so I kept coming back to it.

EI: What about writing for young adult appealed to you?

SBD: It's what I love to read. I read much more middle-grade (MG) and young adult (YA) fiction these days than I do adult fiction. I like the worldview. I like the optimism. I like the themes of coming-of-age and underdog-triumphing-against-tremendous-odds that are prevalent in this age range. I like that you can have humor, adventure, and depth all in the same novel.

EI: Do you feel more pressure, feel insecurities or are you able to separate all that from your own creative process?

SBD: Every story I write, I always hit a point where I think it's doomed, I'm doomed, we're all doomed, doomed, and doomed. And my husband always gives me a wonderful pep talk, and then I sit back down at the computer and in a little while, everything's fine and sunshiny again. Sometimes we joke that he should simply record his pep talk so I can play it back whenever I need it.

I don't think I'll ever be able to fully separate out those feelings. I care too much about writing to not feel anxious about it. I want desperately to tell great, exciting, fun, rich, wonderful stories, and I think you always feel anxious whenever you want anything desperately.

EI: What's next for your fans?

SBD: The next book will be a sequel to INTO THE WILD. It will be coming out next summer from Razorbill / Penguin Young Readers. I'm really, really excited about it.

EI: Ms. Durst, thank you for contributing to my blog. It has been a pleasure for me to get to know you, and your work a little better. Would you like to end your interview with a writing tip or advice for young aspiring writers?

SBD: Write what you love, and don't give up. Also, take all advice with a grain of salt. No one really knows what they're talking about. Myself included.

Thanks for interviewing me!

To learn more about Sarah Beth Durst, please visit her at:
http://www.sarahbethdurst.com/
http://sarahbethdurst.blogspot.com/
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=123798284
http://classof2k7.com/authors/sarah_beth_durst.php

Cornerstones of writing

Over at The View From Here, Mike is running a competition. He's in the process of posting a three-part interview with Helen Corner of Cornerstones Literary Consultancy, and is offering a prize for the best answer to the question: What do you think the four cornerstones of good writing are? This got me thinking and playing around with a few ideas, and of course it's always a challenge to know what to include and what to leave out when you're limited to four observations. How to prioritise? Why choose one thing and not another? Anyway, I had a go, and I've enjoyed the process if only because it's forced me to articulate my thinking about something that's an essential part of who I am. So here they are (rip them apart or suggest alternatives in the Comments box below, but put an entry into the competition at The View From Here too):

ENJOY. Write because you’re passionate about writing and because you get an addictive kick out of shaping ideas and images and stories from the written word ... and from the silences created by the absence of the written word. Hopefully, such passion will sing and dance and grieve and shout from every word that’s written, which in turn will infect and affect the reader. Furthermore, try and discover all the reasons you want to write, and be wary if fame, fortune or revenge appears in any great measure.
READ widely (and wildly). Read everything, from ancient literature to contemporary literature; read the good, the bad and the ugly; read newspapers and graphic novels and poems and plays and telephone directories and bus tickets; read other people and read yourself (and call it observation, if you like); read the weather, read politics, read the critics. And be critical: of what you read and how it’s written, and of what you write or choose not to write, of how people think and communicate and fail to communicate. Read and be critical of language and form and convention, and what works at a given point in time, and what doesn’t work, or no longer works, and why.
SHOW, don’t tell. This may well be an over-stated cornerstone, but it makes it no less true, no less significant. If I were to have anything tattooed on my forehead (in mirror-writing of course) it would be: llet t’nob ,wohS . The most obvious of lessons, but the hardest thing to maintain.
KNOW that there are no new stories, only new ways of interpreting and retelling old ones. I find this a liberating and empowering cornerstone of writing, because instead of struggling to invent a unique sequence of events that will force characters to interact in a unique way, I can focus instead on the telling of the story. I believe it’s important to know that it’s okay to borrow the basic dynamics of an idea from history or folklore or fairytales or whatever, from Shakespeare or Sophocles or whoever, because all storytellers build on borrowed stories. Stories reflect our cultural heritage and, whilst they often seem to end up in similar places (in terms of the resolution of conflict, and the growth of characters, or the view that’s presented of the world we’ve created for ourselves), it’s the adventure and the path we take towards each of these places that should be the most unique, interesting and compelling part of the journey.

PS. In searching for an image of Billy Shakespeare and Smiley Sophocles for this post, it struck me that dear old Will's portrait bore an uncanny resemblance to Marcel Duchamp's 'Mona Lisa with a Beard (L.H.C.O.O.Q.)', which is why she too appears here.

Upcoming Author Events: Watch My Video Central....... Coming soon!

Marley Gibson - Author of Sorority 101

Welcome to “Up Close & Personal.” For every interview I will be introducing a literary personality discussing her views and insights, as well as upcoming literary events around the world.

Today’s interview is with Marley Gibson, writing as Kate Harmon. She's the author of "Sorority 101" a must-read book for everyone who dreams to be in the sorority. "Sorority 101" is about three girls with true friendship and their bond of sisterhood.

EI: Would you share some early insight into who you were as a teenager with your readers? What were you like as a teen? Please tell us more about Marley Gibson -- the woman behind the author.

M. GIBSON: Wow. . . as a teenager, I was a northern-born girl growing up in the deep south. I was your typical band geek, and then, eventually a varsity cheerleader. I was in the Honor Society and Who’s Who and all of that, but I was really into school spirit and participation, event planning and being in every club imaginable. In the summer between my freshman and sophomore year, I was diagnosed with bone cancer, which I was treated for and beat. It certainly changed my outlook on life. . .not that I didn’t appreciate things, but fighting a disease that could possible leave you with only one leg is a lot more eye-opening than who’s dating who and who’s not speaking to what person.

EI: Do you express your inner self in your writing or do the personas you create exist only in your imagination?

M. GIBSON: Good question. The answer is both. That’s not a cop-out, but how can you not express your inner self when you’re opening up emotions and pouring words onto a page? But I do love creating characters and deciding what they’re like, what their challenges are, what they look like, etc. I wrote eleven (11) manuscripts before my sorority series sold and a lot of those characters are very real and 3D to me. I tend to put expressions of myself into my stories, like what I like to eat, drink, music I listen to, etc. Write what you know, right?

EI: What is your response to the public perception that writers’ creative insight and energy is frequently the product of personal conflict?

M. GIBSON: I haven’t really experienced that perception yet, but I do know of other writer friends who have run into that. You know, life is full of personal conflict and conflict is what fuels fiction. So, if people want to bring their insight and energies into their writing, I have no problem with it. It’s all in the execution. As a fan of reading, I’m just looking for a compelling story that keeps me turning the pages.

EI: What would you like to say to writers who are reading this interview and wondering if they can keep creating, if they are good enough, if their voices and visions matter enough to share?

M. GIBSON: Well, I say. . . anyone who wants to write and feels they have characters in their head and a story to tell. . . quit talking about it and thinking about it and just sit down and do it! You never know what you’re capable of until you try it. Everyone has a voice and a vision. Some people just express it in writing. Others through song, or dance, or painting, or in working with old people, or taking care of little animals. I believe we’re all creative and have the ability within us. It’s honing so much about honing your craft and practicing and just doing it!

EI: Many writers describe themselves as "character" or "plot" writers. Which are you? And what do you find to be the hardest part of writing?

M. GIBSON: I am a plotter allllllllllll the way. I can’t start writing a story until I can see it in my head, from start to finish, like a movie – from opening to closing credits, complete with full orchestration and soundtrack. Seriously. At that point, I write an outline or synopsis and then just start writing. I type about 100 words per minute, so once I can fully visualize my story, I just get it out of my head as fast as I can and then go back and polish, straighten and tighten to make it better. The hardest part of writing? Well, I think for a lot of people, it’s just giving yourself permission to sit at the computer and do it. I know too many people who are hesitant to write—although they have stories—because they’re afraid of what other people will think. Who cares?! Write for yourself. Write for the pure enjoyment of it. Write because if you don’t, you’ll explode. For me, the hardest part of writing is believing that my ideas are sellable. But then, I plow forward on them anyway.

EI: Are you armed with notebook and pen at all the times? Do you always carry your laptop or PDA with you to write?

M. GIBSON: Oh, you know it! I have about three notebooks of various shapes that I keep with me at all times. When I’m working on a story, I keep my AlphaSmart Neo with me. I have a flash drive that I carry with me everywhere that has everything I’ve ever written on it. You never know when you can pull a scene from a five year old manuscript, spruce it up, and add it to the work in progress. I have to say that I’m constantly thinking of ideas, directions, new characters and am always testing out dialogue in my head. I know. . . I sound like a crazy person!

EI: Do you let anyone read your manuscript, before you send it to your editor or agent?

M. GIBSON: Sure. . . I think you have to. I have a very solid, trustworthy critique partner, whom I’ve known since 2002. We started out on this whole writer’s journey at the same time and experienced some of the same pitfalls and successes. She sold her series a year before I did, but I was just as happy for her than had I sold. And the same thing for her when I sold. We have similar voices and the same warped sense of humor, so we’re able to help each other out. I also have some trusted readers who’ll just read through and give me their overall impressions and not a line-by-line critique. When you work on a manuscript, your eye can become married to it and you can skip over typos, grammatical errors, and missed words. I think it’s essential to have fresh set of eyes on it – especially before submitting to an agent or editor.

EI: Was there anyone who really influenced you to become a writer?

M. GIBSON: I would say my parents encouraged me to be creative. Whether that was playing the piano or trumpet as a teenager or doing advertising campaigns in college or writing marketing and public relation pieces in my professional career, they always stressed that I use the talents given to me to the best of my ability. I always excelled in English and Writing classes, so I think it’s only natural that I fell into writing as a beloved hobby.

EI: Now let’s shift gears here for a second... . tell us what is the premise of your book ‘Sorority Rush Begins?’ which I understand will be published by Puffin Books in summer of 2008? Can you give us a sneak peek?

M. GIBSON: Just a correction on the title. . . “Sorority Rush Begins. . .” is my marketing line for the series. The first four books in The Sisterhood Series are Rush, Pledge Class, Greek Week, and Spring Formal – all with A Sisterhood Novel after the title. The books are set on a fictional college campus in central Florida, steeped in rich, Southern tradition, and are centered on three very different heroines, each going through Sorority Rush for different reasons. Rush and Pledge Class will be released simultaneously in May 2008 in a push for the series.

EI: Can you share with us some of the challenges you faced to publish this first novel ‘Sorority Rush Begins ?” Is there anything about you that you would do differently, knowing what you do now?

M. GIBSON: My challenges in getting published were before this series idea. I had come close with a couple of chick lit manuscripts and then a romance I had written, but lines went under and it just wasn’t in the cards. Also, I was with my first literary agent and two and a half years into trying to sell. I felt I needed to shake things up a bit, so I signed on with a new agent who thought I should take a stab at the Young Adult market. Again, we came close with a manuscript, but it didn’t sell. In January 2006, a publisher came to my agent (because of her reputation in selling YA) and asked if she had a writer who could write a proposal for them based on three heroines all going through Sorority Rush. My agent knew me and my voice well enough to know that 1) I was in a sorority in college and 2) I could do this quickly and get it back to the editor. I came up with a three-book idea with three heroines and submitted it in early February. By March 16th, we had the deal. What I know now that I’d do differently? I wouldn’t have wasted so much time with an agent relationship that wasn’t working for me. But then again, everything happens for a reason, right?

EI: What was the inspiration for your novel? What is your response to the public perception about your creative insight with your book?

M. GIBSON: As I said, the original concept for the series was my publisher’s. Both of my editors were/are sorority girls and they really wanted something that focused on the sisterhood and philanthropy that the national sororities provide. I, of course, drew upon my own college experiences, but then again, that was a thousand years ago (LOL!), so I talked to some friends who were just out of college and studies their sorority experiences. I hope that I’ve weaved the two together nicely in the books.

EI: How much of your characters is planned out in your head? How do you know where you will go next with them? What was your biggest challenge in creating them?

M. GIBSON: These are common questions, yet not easily answered as it will vary from writer to write and even from story to story. I like to see my characters as 3D figments in my imagination before I start writing. However, as I begin writing, sometimes a character will decide “hey, I want to do fill-in-the-blank” and I realize that might be best for the story. Other times, I know exactly the journey I will take them on. As for how I know where they’ll go next? Let’s just say I have an overactive imagination and love playing “what if.” I’ve always been the type of person that people watches and tries to come up with a back story. Like, the other day, my husband and I were sitting in traffic and this woman walked by us with the gargantuan bucket. The rest of the way home, I had come up with not only what she had in the bucket, but why she had it, where she’d gotten it, where she was going with it and how much she paid for it. Nonsense? Perhaps, but a lot of fun. I honestly have to say I have never had a problem creating characters.

EI: How did you develop these characters? Did you work them out in advance, or did they evolve as you wrote the story?

M. GIBSON: In developing the characters, I knew the publisher wanted three heroines and I thought it would be more realistic to have them from very separate backgrounds. The first girl, Roni, is a Boston Brahman who escapes her Beacon Hill, Harvard-bound life to go to a state school fifteen hundred miles from her hands-off, aristocratic parents. The second girl, Jenna, is a bubbly, fun, cute girl from Atlanta, who grew up in a house full of kids, but she is battling a disease that makes fitting in sometimes difficult. Then, there’s Lora-Leigh, a native of Latimer (my fictitious town), who wants nothing more than to get away to NYC or LA for fashion design school, but because her father is Dean of Students at Latimer, she can’t escape the city limits just yet. I planned these girls out in advance, but, of course, as I’ve been writing, they are evolving. . . just like people evolve as they get older. It’s a lot of fun to see what each girl is going to pull on me! LOL!

EI: What is a typical work day schedule when you are in full writing mode? Would you tell us a little about your process for editing, revising, and novel development? How long did it take you to write ‘Sorority Rush Begins’ including the time it took to research the book?

M. GIBSON: First of all, I have a full-time, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. job. When I’m working on a story, I will bring my AlphaSmart with me and work over my lunch hour and then I’ll go to work in my writing room at home after work. Because of my speed in typing, I can get about 1,500 words done in an hour. So, when I’m in the blood fever of writing, if I can get 1,000 words per day done, then I’m golden. To me, it’s all about staying on schedule and getting things to your publisher (or agent) in a timely manner and when they ask for it. As for writing Rush, I did an initial draft, then a re-write and a round of copyedits. I started working on Rush last year and it took about eight months from first draft to final copyedits. I don’t know if this is typical or not because this is the first book in the series and we really worked hard to make sure it had the right feel and tone to it. Also, it was my first time working with an editor. I researched pretty quickly, but it was mainly reading back copies of my sorority alumnae magazine and talking to my friends fresh out of college. The research on this one really is an example of write what you know. People who went to The University of Alabama (like I did) will definitely recognize the layout of the campus of Latimer University.

EI: What about writing for young adult & teens appealed to you?

M. GIBSON: I think there are a lot of opportunities in writing for teens that you don’t necessarily have when you’re writing for adults. Teens are growing and developing and always learning, so it’s easier to have a naïve character that needs to go on a personal journey towards a particular goal. Not that you don’t do that in adult writing, but I find the innocence of my YA characters to be a lot more fun and challenging in terms of crafting and forming them. I still read and write adult stuff and would love—one day—to publish some of my adult fiction. We’ll see!

EI: Do you feel more pressure, feel insecurities or are you able to separate all that from your own creative process?

M. GIBSON: I’ve never really felt pressure in my writing. From day one of writing, I put myself on a very strict schedule, always giving myself a “deadline,” so that when that magical day came that I got an editor, I would be able to produce on time for them. The only pressure I have is on me to get it done. I believe every writing goes through insecure phases, especially when you’ve been through a few years of knocks, pings, and rejection from the publishing industry. But you have to remind yourself that it’s a business and it’s not against you personally. You have to get back on that horse and go to the next project. Insecurities will creep into you head if you allow the elves of self doubt to tell you stupid crap and you listen to them. That’s why you have your close circle of trusted friends you can go to when those insecurities hit. You share them with those people, let them build you back up, and hand you tissues to dry your tears. You don’t blog about it or shout it out to the universe. . . you just deal with and then get back to work. It’s like that in any career you have, especially where you’re putting yourself out there in such a creative manner.

EI: What's next for your fans?

M. GIBSON: Oooo. . . I have fans? Exccccccccccellllllllllent!!! In 2008, there are four books in The Sisterhood Series. I hope people who read the first couple will not only love them, but will buy the following ones and then request more books in the series from my publisher. I would love to be able to write these characters all the way through their college graduation. How fun would that be?!?! People are welcome to visit me online at my website at http://www.marleygibson.com, where they can e-mail me, or visit my group blog that I do with six other amazingly talented YA authors, http://www.booksboysbuzz.com.

EI: Ms. Gibson, thank you for contributing to my blog. It has been a pleasure for me to get to know you, and your work a little better. Would you like to end your interview with a writing tip or advice for young aspiring writers?

M. GIBSON: My tip is if you really want to write and create and express yourself, then don’t talk about it, do it! Thanks for letting me do this! 

http://www.marleygibson.com/
http://www.marleygibson.com/home.htm

GOVERNMENT HEALTH WARNING: This Post Almost Becomes Political

There are days in the summer, during January and February, when the thermometer sizzles past 43, 44 degrees Celsius, and there's little that can be done except wilt and wait. These are days to shut the windows and blinds, to prevent as much heat from breaking into the house as possible, to attempt anchoring shade cloth around the garden or watch hopelessly as tree fruit and vine fruit is scorched to useless. These are days when the clamour of the fire siren makes everyone draw a deep breath and peer towards the horizon for that tell-tale belt of smoke.

Whether at work or home, there's little that can be done except dream about paddling along the beach and splashing through the surf, and maybe swimming or snorkelling for an hour or two ... once the northerly has dropped, once the fierceness of the heat no longer prickles your skin and makes you feel you might spontaneously combust if you stay out too long. There's little that can be done except sit still and drink iced water and wait.

We wait for the doctor. We wait for the change. And we learn to listen for it, to know when it's arrived.

Some people call it 'the doctor', some people call it 'the change', but we're lucky here, along our stretch of coast, that we can almost rely on this most delicious respite at the end of such days. Invariably, with late afternoon or early evening, the hot desert winds from the north will abruptly pause, turn and meekly surrender to a fresher, cooling breeze that skips across the Southern Ocean from the south-west. And people start calling out: "The change has arrived," or "The doctor's here," and strangers smile at one another again. It's time to open the blinds and the windows, to grab a chair and sit outside with a cold beer or white wine (or vodka and ice with a twist of lemon), and chat and breathe again. Later, couples and families might be seen wandering along the beach in the dark, splashing through the surf, playing ...

I am not a party-political creature, but this is the way I felt last night when the federal election result was announced.A federal election affects the national psyche, creates a state of tension, anticipation, anxiety. But the change has arrived---it's over---and everyone can get on with their lives again. Phew! Relief!

S. A. Harazin - Author Of "BLOOD BROTHERS"

In lieu of a personal photo, S.A. Harazin has supplied us the book cover of “Blood Brother” instead.

Welcome to “Up Close & Personal.” For every interview I will be introducing a literary personality discussing his views and insights, as well as upcoming literary events around the world.

Today’s interview is with S.A. Harazin, author of Blood Brothers. The author lives in Georgia and worked as a nurse in a hospital for many years. S.A. Harazin has written a page turner novel of friendship, family and the world of teenage parties and drug use. It is a compelling stories told in diary entries.

EI: Would you share some early insight into who you were as a teenager with your readers? What were you like as a teen? Please tell us more about S.A. HARAZIN -- the woman behind the author.

S.A. Harazin: I was assistant editor for the school newspaper, and the historian for the Future Teachers of America. I had an after school job at the hospital as a nursing assistant. If I had time during breaks, I would do my homework. My grades were average. I did not read much. I did not have time between working and school.

EI: Do you express your inner self in your writing or do the personas you create exist only in your imagination?

S.A. Harazin: The personas I create exist mostly in my imagination, but a small part of them comes from my inner self. My main character, Clay, in ‘Blood Brothers,’ works as an orderly in a hospital and does things I would never have done—like sneak into a treatment room to see what is going on or pretend to be a doctor so he can get lab results. Of course, the stakes are high for him so he has the motivation to do these things.

EI: What is your response to the public perception that writers’ creative insight and energy is frequently the product of personal conflict?

S.A. Harazin: I think this is true for me. I write about subjects I care about and from life experience.

EI: What would you like to say to writers who are reading this interview and wondering if they can keep creating, if they are good enough, if their voices and visions matter enough to share?

S.A. Harazin: If you keep writing, you get better and better. You develop a voice and a style. You can get into the writing zone and sound fresh and unique. It takes time for most of us to develop our craft and our voices.

EI: Many writers describe themselves as "character" or "plot" writers. Which are you? And what do you find to be the hardest part of writing?

S.A. Harazin: I am character driven. In the first draft of Blood Brothers, my two characters were entirely different but became best friends because they loved to bike and were planning a cross-country trip. The plot developed as the characters made their choices.

The hardest part of writing for me is facing the blank page—getting the first draft written. I also have a problem with focusing. I easily get off track with a story and write in the wrong direction.

EI: Are you armed with notebook and pen at all the times? Do you always carry your laptop or PDA with you to write?

S.A. Harazin: I have a paper and pen with me at all times. I do not carry my laptop with me.

EI: Do you let anyone read your manuscript, before you send it to your editor or agent?

S.A. Harazin: I share a manuscript with two or three trusted writer friends before I submit it to my agent.

EI: Was there anyone who really influenced you to become a writer?

S.A. Harazin: Writing is part of who I am—even though I spent years and years in another career. A writer friend, Ronder Thomas Young, actually convinced me to submit my first novel manuscript when she referred me to an editor. I probably would never have submitted without the push.

EI: Now let’s shift gears here for a second... . tell us what is the premise of your book ‘Blood Brothers?’

S.A. Harazin: After a hard day at the hospital, Clay goes to Joey’s house and finds him hallucinating. They fight, and Joey hits his head. Joey is admitted to the hospital, and it seems as if he is all right until he lapses into a coma twenty-four hours later—before he has a chance to tell what happened before Clay arrived. Clay tries to find answers.

EI: Can you share with us some of the challenges you faced to publish this first ‘Blood Brother?” Is there anything about you that you would do differently, knowing what you do now?

S.A. Harazin: The challenges were mostly with the revisions—trying to find the emotional core of the story and understanding why characters acted the way they did.

I am not sure what I could have done differently. I needed time for the story to grow, and I think I needed more life experience. I do wish I had more formal training as a writer.

EI: What was the inspiration for your novel? What is your response to the public perception about your creative insight with your book?

S.A. Harazin: My initial inspiration came many years before I wrote the first word. I was at work one night in ICU taking care of a kid who was in very critical condition. I would watch his family and friends visit. I never knew anything about the kid, but I could feel the pain of his parents and friends. I never forgot.

Blood Brothers started as a short story told from the viewpoint of the nurse. This was published in Mediphors, A Journal of Health Care Professionals. Later, I rewrote the short story as a novel and told the story from the viewpoint of a seventeen year old.

I have been happy with reviewers’ response to the book. I hope that teens will relate to the characters.

EI: How much of Clay & Joey is planned out in your head? How do you know where you will go next with their characters? What was your biggest challenge in creating them?

S.A. Harazin: I knew their main characteristics, but I did not really know them until I had written a couple of drafts. I never knew where I was going next with the characters—they took over the story. There were scenes I did not want to write. There were things I did not want my characters to do or say, but I finally gave in.
The biggest challenge was understanding the female character, Michelle. I did not really like her. It took me a while to develop her. Originally, I tried to keep her off stage for most of the novel, but that was not working. She was needed.

EI: How did you develop these characters? Did you work them out in advance, or did they evolve as you wrote the story?

S.A. Harazin: They evolved as I wrote the story.

EI: What is a typical work day schedule when you are in full writing mode? Would you tell us a little about your process for editing, revising, and novel development? How long did it take you to write ‘Blood Brothers?’ including the time it took to research the book?

S.A. Harazin: I write everyday whenever I have a chance and late at night. During the day, I help my husband run his business.

I wrote the first draft of ‘Blood Brothers’ in fourteen days during the summer of 1999. It took me years to revise the novel. I would some times put the novel away for a while and work on something else. I did not need to research, but I verified some things with medical and police experts.

I received an offer on the book in June of 2005. I did two large revisions for the editor and three more minor ones. Most of these revisions involved clarifying the plot and developing some of the secondary characters through the flashbacks.

EI: What about writing for young adult & teens appealed to you?

S.A. Harazin: I love reading young adult books , and I am around teens a lot. It feels natural to write for teens.

EI: Do you feel more pressure, feel insecurities or are you able to separate all that from your own creative process?

S.A. Harazin: I feel pressure because I am a slow writer. I wish I could create faster.

EI: What's next for your fans?

S.A. Harazin: I have another novel under contract from Delacorte. It is still in the first draft stage.

EI: Thank you for contributing to my blog. It has been a pleasure for me to get to know you, and your work a little better. Would you like to end your interview with a writing tip or advice for young aspiring writers?

S.A. Harazin: Thank you!

My advice is to keep reading, writing, and rewriting. Take the time to develop your voice and style. Write something unique, something you feel passionate about. Write something only you could write.

To learn more about S.A. Harazin, please visit:
http://www.saharazin.com/
http://classof2k7
.com/authors/sa_harazin.php
http://classof2k7.com/interviews/authors/sa_harazin/
http://medwriter.livejournal.com/

Following the Pied Piper

Although these posts pop up at casual, weekly intervals, there's a been a fair bit happening in Blogdom recently. It might seem quiet and relaxed here, but it ain't quiet out there. Busy, busy, busy. And that's not a whinge, because it's all good stuff. Good, busy stuff. The net is working overtime at networking.

Following the Grand Opening of my website (see last post), I was delighted by the number of links made to it and sing THANKS to everyone who created a connection. I must say a particular "Thank you" to Mike French, who very generously not only posted a comment about it on Go! Smell the flowers, which attracts a phenomenal 15,000 hits a month, but also (having received a good deal of recognition and a number of awards for his own blog The View From Here) gave this PaperBooks blog a Be The Blog award. Thank you, merci beaucoup, gracias & diolch yn fawr.

None of this, however, leads me into what I'd originally intended posting about this week. But, in acknowledging that, I'm lead (through an interesting obversion) into what I'd intended posting about this week: The Pied Piper of Hamelin and Black Juice.

The Pied Piper was one of my favourite stories when I was a kid, and I recall having 'rewritten' it on a couple of occasions (in what might have been a juvenile recognition that there are few new stories, only new ways of telling old ones). The notion of someone playing a music so powerful that every living thing might follow, coupled with the idea of good triumphing over bad, were concepts I found appealing. Along with the touch of magic, and innocence masking wisdom, arrogance masking greed ... all that and more. In some versions the piper returned the children to Hamelin once he'd received payment for ridding the town of its rats, and in some versions he didn't: his revenge was absolute. These are the ingredients of folk tales and sometimes appear in stories I enjoy reading as an adult.

This perhaps is the reason I enjoy Margo Lanagan's short stories. I posted a comment a few weeks back about her Red Spikes anthology, and have followed this up by reading the superbly titled Black Juice. This time, though, I thought I should try and articulate a little more fully what it is about her writing that appeals. (Maybe, through recognising what we like in someone else's writing, it's possible to begin recognising what shapes our own writing.)

For sure, there are elements in some of her stories that might ordinarily turn me off, and it's probably because of this that I'm keen to identify what it is that makes me carry on reading. They can, at times, appear abstract to the point of making me feel obtuse, but, in part, it's the slightly disjointed feel that she creates when she positions the cosily familiar into these abstract scenarios that engenders their enchanting dream-like or nightmarish quality. Thus, in Singing My Sister Down, we have many of the trappings of a family picnic and a holiday outing set within the macabre situation of the narrator's sister being gently sung to her death as she sinks into a tar-pit---the punishment she meekly accepts for a crime she's committed. Because I often think visually, Lanagan's stories put me in mind of Chagall's paintings (where lovers are depicted floating through the air and houses may have eyes), or those of Hieronymus Bosch.

One of the interesting elements in both anthologies of stories is the sense that the reader's expectations are being challenged in every respect, from use of language to conventions of genre. Whilst it's easy to pull out labels like 'fantasy' or 'speculative fiction', this would be unwise with many of these pieces, for the author seems to delight in leading you towards one place and then letting you discover you're somewhere else, less comfortable, altogether ... like being in the middle of a tar-pit. And I love that about her work. However, like the best poetry, it's the way she uses and plays with language that really hooks my attention and leads me along. The thread which holds all these stories together and unfies them in their respective anthologies is the delight that Margo Lanagan obviously takes in naming things: objects, emotions, places, people, experiences. We discover accordions known as the House of the Three and the House of the Many, monsters by the name of yowlinins, an elephant called Booroondoonhooroboom. And even here, her etymology straddles the familiar and the unexpected, so we're left, as readers, feeling haunted at times by some of her word choices, sometimes guessing what the words suggest, but definitely taking notice of the music of the sounds and definitely being lead on by the tune of each story. Like good poetry, this writing makes me feel that, whilst I might not always be absolutely sure where I've ended up, the journey is always interesting.

Update: I am Back!

Since my last entry in August and being offline for several months I have received numerous emails from readers and authors who wondered if I dropped of the face of the planet or... if I had given up on my commitment to my readers.

Well... It is always good to be missed! Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement, and for taking such an interest. Knowing that what I do matters to someone else is important to me.

A lot of things took place when I was offline. Now... I still got tons of emails to read and comments to moderate and I have not even started.

Well... at the risk of sounding cliché the business of life sometimes interferes with the pursuit of living! But I am back now. Truthfully, I get a jolt from being a conduit for authors’ to express themselves through media more freely and unfiltered than a critic might be able to do. I’d like to give my authors the opportunity to connect more directly to their audience which makes a difference.

Hopefully this approach offers a different and maybe fresher perspective. I sincerely hope that my recent sabbatical has not disrupted that evolving process. I truly want my readers to know that I do value their participation, and that I eager to reestablishing contact.

At the end of the day the reader wants to know more about the person being interviewed, and less about a critic’s opinion. These days everyone thinks he’s a critic with something to say…

To all of you, who have been engaged in the process -- thank you. It has been a pleasure to have exchanged ideas with you. You have been a great source of inspiration. My sabbatical has given me newfound enthusiasm and commitment for broadcasting your creative accomplishments and insights. Going forward I am determined to see Myspace.com/eijohnson, Up Close & Personal, Totally YA and A View from the Top continue to evolve. I like to think that it serves our community of authors and readers in a unique way

Please check in to see the next installment of my interviews, which will be posted starting November 5th, 2007.

GRAND OPENING: www.paulburman.net

"So there I was, having scrambled over a couple of razor-capped fences to get into the ftp site, standing next to cgi bin (whatever that is) with a folder of html under my arm and my pockets spilling jpeg and gif images all over the place, when I felt this megabyte hit into my software ..."

Didn't think it was going to happen. It very nearly didn't. But it has.
The website is finished and uploaded: http://www.paulburman.net/

Talk about blood, sweat and tears, it took more than a megabyte of sanity, that's for sure. But it's there.

Think I'm transforming into a computer geek!

For the last three months or so, I've been trying to learn how to build a website.  My brother gave me a manual and a program he hadn't used, and I've been working my way through the thing trying to fathom it out.  But every time I began to get the hang of the process, I'd get caught up in doing something else for a few weeks and would forget all the key steps by the time I came back to it again.  And then I had problems with obtaining an Australian domain because Australian regulations prevent having a com.au or net.au unless the applicant is a listed business ... and there are regulations and tax implications for listed businesses that suggest it wouldn't, at this point in time, be A Good Thing for me to do, but A Silly Thing instead.  (I looked into .com and all the rest, but it appears that people register domains and then do nothing with them, because these domains are identified as taken even though they're not active on the internet.)  However, I think I'm almost there.  I took a long run up yesterday and made a massive leap from working with jpeg images to gif images and, with it, everything began working the way I wanted it to.  Click.  Wow!  (What's happened to me?  The things I get excited about these days!)  Think I've got a domain name registered, but have to wait until start of business tomorrow to find out, and then I hope to launch a suitably author-like website.  And then ... and then ... and then I might actually get back to writing again.

The word

George Orwell tackled it in Nineteen Eighty-Four (in 1948) and Sir Humphrey Appleby was a master of it in Yes, Minister (circa 1980), but Newspeak or Bureauquackery is still with us in 2007. However, maybe its days are numbered. The Victorian Department of Education, who hitherto have been a major sponsor in the promotion of Eduspeak (as they refer to it), have now withdrawn their support. In fact, they are running a Jargon Busting competition this month to identify and expunge Eduspeak, even though someone in the Department is still dreaming up project and division titles such as the Thinking Forward Design Teams Pilot Project and The Innovation and Next Practice Division (responsible for organising that even more tautological "new innovation initiative").

Whilst I get a kick out of playing with words and watching them perform little tricks, I don't get too precious if other people abuse them somewhat, because they're amazingly resilient mites after all and are determined to have the last laugh. It does concern me though when, as with Newspeak, people try to enslave them into serving a particular ideology or try annihilating them when they resist.

Supporting their resistance are the authors of the website Weasel Words, which is well worth a visit and which may well bring a smile to your lips. It was here that I discovered the following description of an Arts conference: ‘... remapping cultural globalisms from the south is a conference project about the remapping of global orders, histories and cultural production from the perspective of a critical matrix positioned geographically south and outside the dominant hegemonies of European and North American traditions. This conference is positioned at the very edge of the politics of difference. The postcolonial space is a site where the experimental cultures of the periphery converge to define new modalities for cultural inclusion. The Conference functions as a set of dialogues between civilisations, in a project that begins with the assumption that the margins are redefining and transforming the worlds of the centre ... The Conference will move beyond the closure and limits of current definitions that continue to divide and separate, whilst engaging with the possibilities of new convergent positions and space of shared cultural experience and knowledge. Global multiculturalism is a key logic of the cultures of the future.’

Having mentioned Yes, Minister, it's only fair that I (almost) finish this post with a quote from Sir Humphrey before taking myself off to enter the Jargon Busting Competition in the hope of scabbing $50 from the Department of Education.

Sir Humphrey Appleby: Minister, the traditional allocation of executive responsibilities has always been so determined as to liberate the ministerial incumbent from the administrative minutiae by devolving the managerial functions to those whose experience and qualifications have better formed them for the performance of such humble offices, thereby releasing their political overlords for the more onerous duties and profound deliberations which are the inevitable concomitant of their exalted position.

In the beginning was the word.

Long live the word!

Interview

As noted in the last post, Mike French interviewed me recently for THE VIEW FROM HERE . The interview is now posted, so be my guest ... or rather, be Mike's guest and visit:

http://mike-french.blogspot.com/

Mike's blog is an interesting blend of book reviews, discussions about writing (including his development of The Dandelion Tree), art work, and now interviews. No more words needed here. Go visit.

Books, blogs, blokes and blondes

Guess I should fess up before anyone gets too disappointed that, whilst this post has something to do with books and blogs, it's really got nothing to say explicitly about blokes or blondes. It's just that, when I was thinking about a catchy title for this little beast, the four words melded together, and then I tried saying them fast, and then repeating them fast ten times, and then backwards ... and by the time I'd amused myself doing this sort of thing for an hour or two they'd sort of grown into the title of the post, and there was little I could do about it.

Seven weeks after starting the latest round of edits on The Snowing and Greening of Thomas Passmore, I think I'm almost done. Problem is, though, that after a break of four or five weeks, I'll see things I want to refine further. And will keep on doing this until I'm told I can't do any more. Hopefully, when the printed book is in my hand I'll be able to stop and won't feel inclined to scribble out words, replace paragraphs, etc. Maybe I just need to lock myself back into the next project.Have been a pretty tetchy reader of late, and reluctant to stick with books that don't grab me early on. Either this, or I've just been unlucky in what I've picked up. Couldn't make headway with Burning Bright (see 16/9/07) and didn't persevere; it felt like it was a Young Adults book (which I often enjoy) but mis-pitched at adults. Something didn't work for me. So I was a little concerned that a collection of short stories that was written and pitched for the YA market, and which had been highly recommended by a school librarian, might also leave me feeling short-changed.Margo Lanagan's Red Spikes is a Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year for Older Readers and, as my librarian friend noted, is "seriously weird". However, it's seriously weird in the best kind of way, and I couldn't help but see parallels between what Margo Lanagan does (with the subject matter and her use of language) and everything I enjoy about Angela Carter's short stories. It may well be aimed at the Young Adult market, but these stories have a much broader appeal than that. What I like most is that they seem to take our dreams, rip out the innocence we might associate them with and transplant them with something more enduring and sinister. Quite fantastic---in every sense. I took this anthology with me when I went to Robe, South Australia, for a short break recently, and it helped make the holiday a delight.STOP PRESS: In Googling Margo Lanagan to see if there's anything else I MUST include, I note there is: she has a blog. So click away. I also note---and no prizes for me here---the comparisons with Angela Carter have already been well and truly established. Must get hold of Black JuiceWhite Time next. and Apart from this, I've also been interviewed recently by Mike French for his blog The View From Here. I discovered Mike's blog in July (see Comments 30/7/07) and the approach he was taking to get The Dandelion TreeThe Snowing and Greening specifically) for his blogsite and this will be appearing soon. Watch this site. published. He generously extended an invitation to interview me recently (about writing generally and That's all for now, folks! Almost. But, if you haven't already done it, try saying fast, ten times: books, blogs, blokes and blondes. And then say it backwards.

How silly.

Print on demand

Perhaps it's because of the weird way my brain works (or doesn't work) that I've come to associate, at some point in the past, the term 'Print on Demand' with daylight robbery. In terms of the structure of the phrase, it seems closely related to such strings of words as 'Stand and Deliver' and 'Your Money or Your Life.' Whether it's simply the result of such word association or because I misunderstood something about it the first time I heard it mentioned, I've come to think of 'Print on Demand' as a Bad Thing.

I assumed the notion of being able to print off a single copy of a book was part of some dastardly plot hatched by computer nerds to undermine the time-honoured traditions of the publishing industry and, consequently, would make the industry even less interested in investing in new writers. I imagined that instead of having a print run of 2,000 or 5,000 or whatever, the idea was that a slice of a book could be accessed via the internet and, if someone wanted to read it, then they'd type in their credit card details and would have access to printing off a single copy through their own printer. The ideal solution for those heretics who refuse to embrace e-books! And if not exactly this, then I imagined it was something to do with bookshops no longer carrying stock as such and having a hole-in-the-wall ATM (or ABM) instead: swipe your card, choose your title, and wait for your book to be dispensed.

However, it seems that this is not the case and that I need to curb my imagination and that Print on Demand is in fact a Good Thing.

I was reading a back issue (spring 2007) of The Author recently and came across an illuminating article ('One small step') by Linda Bennett, who knows a good deal about the topic. Through this I learned that POD allows books to be printed (at printing houses) in small numbers amongst batches of other titles, and that most of the ramifications of this are positive:

• allows publishers to run specialist titles because they don't have to invest in large print runs, which is good news for publishers and good news for specialist authors;
  
• keeps titles in print because small orders can be more easily filled;
  
• more rapidly responds to customer demand (if the warehouse is empty, it's not a matter of having to wait for enough backorders to justify a large print run) so fewer sales are lost;
  
• may create efficiences that allow publishers to invest in additional titles and new authors.

It's been an interesting few months in this respect. Working towards getting The Snowing and Greening of Thomas Passmore published (though not necessarily through POD) has led me in lots of different directions. Writing this blog and reading other blogs and chatting with other writers and kicking into Facebook and constructing a website (more on this another time) are all activities I had no idea I'd be involved in a few months back. It's been a steep learning curve at times, but the view's worth it.

Recent Reads

Have just about managed to get to the bottom of the pile of books I've been wanting to read or needing to read for a while. Tracy Chevalier's Burning Bright kept getting pushed to the bottom of that pile, simply because other priorities took over, but I've finally made a start on this. William Blake apparently features in this story, which has made it something to look forward to because I've always been a fan of Blake. However, how it stacks up against Girl with a Pearl Earring will be interesting. It must be a tad nerve-wracking writing the next book after one has been so successful. No wonder Harper Lee decided to leave well alone after To Kill a Mockingbird.

Revisited Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut Jnr and still rate it as an all-time favourite. But also had a look at three Australian titles in the hope I could find one for a Literature booklist.BYPASS The Story of a Road by Michael McGirr is a delightful, humorous non-fiction account of the Hume Highway, which stretches from Melbourne to Sydney (or Sydney to Melbourne, depending which state you're from). It's a travelogue in a sense and put me in mind of Bill Bryson---but grittier. I'm not sure why it matters that Michael McGirr is an ex-Jesuit, but he mentions it himself and so does everyone else when they talk about this book, so I mention it too. I suppose this piece of information adds to our understanding of the man who's undertaking this journey and the stories that he uncovers and relates along the way. It's a nice touch citing bumper sticker slogans as epigraphs, and I found myself flicking through the book to read all of these in one go. (For instance: 'Your Carma Just Ran Over My Dogma'; 'The Older I Get, The Better I Was'; 'This Is No Time For The Present'.) Haven't finished Bypass yet, having decided it's not for The List but will keep it on hand as something to dip into and enjoy between other books.

I probably wasn't in the right frame of mind for picking up The Rose Notes by Andrea Mayes, and gave it a couple of sessions but then gave up. Didn't feel like persevering. Found the narrator's voice a little too measured and old and intrusive, but I wasn't feeling patient at the time so may well have misjudged it. (Gave the book to someone else and they enjoyed it!)

The absolute gem of these three, however, and the book that I knew was going to be on my list before I'd read 20 pages is The Patron Saint of Eels quote the blurb, Noel Lea 'longs for a time when life was less complex and unexpected magic seemed to permeate the ocean town and its people. When spring rains flood a nearby swamp and hundreds of eels get trapped in the grassy ditches ... he and (oldest friend) Nanette encounter the vibrant Fra Ionio and get more magic than they bargained for.' It's certainly a magical tale. by Gregory Day. Every once in a while there's a book that's worth giving up sleep for, that leaves you itching to carry on reading and that you know you're going to want to come back to read a second time at least, and this was one of them. To And with that, back to the editing.