"Even though we love publishing as an art, we very much know it's a business too.  And that is we do our jobs right and get a little lucky, that great art can be great business." -- Chip Kidd, award-winning book designer. 

I found this as part of a wonderful interview post on GalleyCat (a must-read publishing site for anyone interested in the intersection of business and art). It's smart.  It also makes me think what makes a business -- and what destroys a business, and in doing so may destroy art too. What destroys?  Free destroys. Free downloads for example, especially if they are illegally obtained. But even if the downloads are legal, even if the artist is giving away his or her work

( I make exception for short term promotional giveaways), I think, in the long run, this free giveaway of creative work erodes the value of all the published worked out there. If we, as writers, want to keep our business and our art vital, we need to be paid for it.

Where does this mini-rant come from? -- reading posts on various writers' sites, lamenting that they must self-publish, that no agent will represent them or editor "buy" their books that, at the end of day, few people will pay even minimum for their books, and that they must give them away for free.  If you are determined to self-publish, or to published with a digital vanity press, and there is a value you put into your writing, ask your potential readers to understand that value.

I want to shout out that it is a business, one that is changing, but one that cannot survive with the word "free download" attached to it. 

I like Chip Kidd's thought a lot -- great art can be great business.  It's going up on the wall next to my desk.

That said, buy a copy of my debut novel -- LIE.

Truly, author of LIE.

I am a skeptical believer when it comes to all things astrology.  What does that mean?  I read my horoscope religiously.  I have even had my “chart” done  -- by the insightful and thoughtful Madam Lichtenstein.  But even so, I question how much is in the stars and how much is in ourselves when it comes to the creative sphere.

 

In trying to figure this out, this week, I interviewed Madam Lichtenstein aka Charlene Lichtenstein, author of HersScopes, now in its ninth printing with Simon and Schuster, and creator and writer of the must-read astrological blog Madame Lichtenstein’s Cosmic World at www.thestarryeye.typepad.com.

 

 

Every sign has a certain level of creativity.  For example: Libra in the social sphere --creativity through beautiful things; Sagittarius --more international and cosmopolitan; Taurus – might be inspired  food or food writing in particular; and with Scorpio in the area of passion and intensity. Something mysterious should inspire the Scorpion.

 

 

Don’t force the writing process. Sit down and try free thinking automatic thinking.  Just write anything.  But of course, there are some days that are more conducive to writing than others 

 

 

Aromatherapy.  Citrus.  Grapefruit or orange energize and activate the brain.

 

 Going back to your comment about days that may be more “conducive” to creativity --  as a woman there are always times of the month that are more productive creatively, but I don’t think you mean that, do you?

 

Not exactly  -- but I believe what you are speaking about the “void of course moons.”  You can be more creative during the void of the moon.  What is the “void of course  moons?”  The moon changes signs every couple of days and at one point it will go through  “tunnel” one side into the other.  Those are not great times for decision making.  Those times signal the strong possibility of  cloudy thinking, of the propensity to focus on wrong things.  But it’s a great time to focus on other things, especially in the creative fields such as writing.   I have a chart of the “void of course moons” on my website.

 

 

With HerScopes, I found that I wrote much better in the middle of the night. I would work all night: 11 o’clock I would sit down  -- and I’d write until 5 o’clock in the morning – in those moments of supreme quiet. 

 

I always think of a T.S. Elliot line about “bleeding between two lines” when I think of the character of the writer.  You have your real life and then you have your created space in the world that is of your writing – so writers naturally bleed between two lives.  For example, if you are writing your memoir you are writing your life and leading it at the same time.  The moon has this duality – and it could be related more closely to writers. 

 

 

 Yes, I do it all!  Tarot Readings. Charts.  See my website for details.     

 

I hope it’s fun to read – I like to have fun with it – I even like being a little spicy too.  Though people take astrology seriously, and so do I.  I can be very analytical.  I believe I have this kind of writing in me because I have a mixture of Scorpion and Sagittarian energy in me.

 

 

 

I wonder if it’s the right time to start a new piece?  The stars seem to say so!   Are the stars in your writing plans?

Gene Fowler was a screenwriter during the Golden Era of Hollywood. Today, we’d have to modify his quote to read “staring at a blank screen.” But the idea is the same. We struggle as writers. The screen stays blank. We wish for blood. Worse yet, we have no one else to commiserate with except other writers (thank goodness for she writes). We obsess. I obsessed about the title for my debut novel and even changed it after it was sold to St. Martin’s Press.  

 

My novel was originally titled: L.I.E.

......the rest of this article can be found at www.shewrites.com  -- where I am the guest editor all week!!  This is an amazing website dedicated to building a community online for women writers.  Check out the rest of my article on "What We Talk About When We Talk About Book Titles" at www.shewrites.com.

I will return to my poem -- "Idiot Box" -- next week!!

Truly, the author of LIE.

I loved the Hunger Games-- both the movie and the books -- though my female protagonists must work hard to be as brave, as defiant Katniss Everdeen. Are the ones you write or imagine as powerful as Katniss, or let's say, more conflicted?  My female characters seem always to be powerfully conflicted, struggling for answers, for truth. The voice in my poem, "The Idiot Box," is of a  girl, one close to my heart, struggling to understand her childhood world.  As promised, I've reprinted the opening and added the next section. Let me know what you think as this poem unfolds.  It's all in honor of National Poetry Month.  More to come on "The Idiot Box" in upcoming days.  Truly, the author of LIE.

My father called it

the Idiot Box

like it was a nickname, or

term of endearment.

I was twelve.

He called me

Toots, a nickname,

a term of endearment.

Sometimes,   

Ignoramus.  

T.V. was always the Idiot Box.

                       *

The Idiot  Box:

knobs, broken off,

a pair of pliers plucked the channels.

The Idiot Box:

black and white,

rabbit ears,

sculpted wire coat hangers

caught the signals.

The Idiot Box:

a Buddha on a woman’s

long dresser, my mother’s dresser,

along the wall in the living room,

bowed to a pair of plaid easy chairs,

and a burnt orange couch.

In front of The Idiot Box:

my mother

peed

through

the bottom of her wheelchair

and was taken away,

a bad puppy,

out of sight.

            *

Truly, the author of LIE.

Teenage dystopia.  Zombies.  Mommy Porn.  LIE -- ?? Some days I think that I should  just combine end-of-the-world, fleshing-eating, ebook x-rated fun -- and write that book.  Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled with the response from readers and critics that I have received forLIE,my contemporary, realistic, young adult novel about the impact of a brutal hate crime.  But at the same time, when one glances at amazon's "top 100" list -- and what writer doesn't occasionally?-- or, the NY Times Book Review, and try as one might, like a gambler, one compulsively runs down the scores, I mean the bestseller lists, one has to think: do I jump on that writing bandwagon?  Thing is I loved the Hunger Games -- read the entire series.  I plan to see the movie this Friday.  I watch "The Walking Dead" and cheer --for zombies. I am debating whether to read the mommy porn -- several hundred pages of hot, steamy sex sounds exhausting. By the way, if you haven't checked, the top bestsellers on amazon are the Hunger Game books, Walking Dead books and the 50 Shades series...   So those are the thoughts before the school bus arrives, as I ponder what to write next. Any thoughts out there on trends in books these days?  Truly, the author of LIE. 

I was raised by a single parent – a father, which I think makes me think and write about men differently than a lot of writers. One recent result:  I’ve written a young adult novel with strong male points of view.

 

Inspired by real events, LIE -- (St. Martin's Press, 2011) -- has two main characters – seventeen-year-old Skylar and Sean. LIE is about the aftermath of a brutal hate crime, about a group of white teen attacking Hispanics for “fun” and everything going terribly wrong. Moreover, it’s the struggle of Skylar and Sean to break from their friends, their community and tell the truth -- or lie.

 

Writing both a male and female main characters was a challenge --  and had me thinking a lot about what makes teens different.  What makes them act? What are the morals and ethics that they each respond to -- or reject? There are ten distinct first person voices in LIE. In addition to the teen voices, there are three fathers as a well as a high school coach, struggling along with the teens about the consequences of this hate crime.

 

In LIE, it soon becomes clear that the words and actions of the fathers have strongly influenced the actions of the teen boys. These teenagers, even more than the girls, are looking toward the men in their lives as guiding forces. The fathers stress sports over all else. They want to “win,” at all costs for their sons, in sports and in life. One father’s bitter and angry prejudices about race are juxtaposed against the idea of “winning” i.e. for one group of people to “win” another must “lose,” and so his son, Jimmy, a Scholar-Athlete, leads a group of his peers in a so-called “beaner-hopping” spree against Hispanics, which turns terribly wrong.   

 

Growing up, my father spent a lot of time talking about life, about history, about the world and current events to his four children. He was not at all a religious man, but he thought a lot about what was right in the world and what was wrong in the world, and all the gray parts in between. He was also a big, tough-talking guy from the Bronx. But what he said to me and to my younger siblings was this, “Think before you act. Think of how what you’re doing affects you and think about how it affects others.” Admittedly, he probably said it more colorfully, but I knew what he meant and it informed my moral core to this day. I am a writer because of my father, Morris Blech, who is still going strong at 81-years old.     

 

I urge mothers, fathers as well as their teens to take a look at my critically-acclaimed novel: LIE. Let me know what you think of the male characters, about the fathers and sons. 

Truly, author of LIE

available everywhere books

and ebooks are sold.

When I procrastinate with my writing, like I am doing today, I often read poetry.  I stumbled on this Christopher Smart poem at www.poets.org... it's on his cat, Jeffrey, and was written in the 18th century.  I believe in the power of cats, and it seems Mr. Smart does too.  They are essential, especially to this writer, proud owner of the 22-lb lover-boy of a cat, Shelton.   Here is a fragment of a fragment from the great Christopher Smart that renewed me:

...For he keeps the Lord's watch in the night against the adversary.

For he counteracts the powers of darkness by his electrical skin and glaring eyes.

For he counteracts the Devil, who is death, by brisking about the life.

For in his morning orisons he loves the sun and the sun loves him.

For he is of the tribe of Tiger.

Truly, author of LIE. 

available everywhere print and ebooks are sold.

Names are hard.  I had a seasoned journalist ask me this week, how did I decide what to name my characters?   There are ten distinct first person characters in my novel, LIE, and about ten additional secondary characters. 

I said I had to create the characters first, and then name them.   He pointed out that we name babies before we know them.   So I've been thinking of this. 

The difference between parents and writers and giving names is that when you're a writer you can create the character, the inner life, the psychological turmoil, the hair and eye color, whether they have bad breath or not, before you name the character -- and if you don't like any of this, or if you don't like the name, you can change it.   Upon reading my young adult novel, a few readers have remarked that the teenage boy's names feel old-fashioned -- Jimmy and Sean -- and in fact both are named after their fathers.  Jimmy is someone trying to prove himself to his father.  He does this through sports -- and through the hateful actions against Hispanics.   I wanted him to have a name that reflected his father, and to be all-American, hence he is James Seeger, Jr.,  or Jimmy, the  popular Scholar-Athlete to all his friends.   I wanted the father, James Seeger, to be filled with rage, bigotry and hate and to reflect that back on the son.  I wanted an unbroken circle, the apple not to fall far from the tree.  These characters practically named themselves.

However, when you have a baby, and you hold him close, you don't know much about this baby, even the hair or eye color can change from birth.  You may have an idea about the name, you've researched some, discarded the one that is the name of your high school nemesis, been told that it would be nice, so nice, to name the baby after your husband's  great-great grandmother. The fact is: you are totally unqualified, still in a fog from a 14-hour delivery, to name a baby, much less remember you're own name.  Yet, you are commanded, by the nurse, to fill out a birth certificate, to name him.  You think of all the names you've writen down, hope that one will work.  Even more so,  hope that this name will bestow good--   that he will go strong and smart and make a difference in the world.  When he kicks his swaddling blanket off, you notice, again, his big feet.  These are the feet that have been kicking you the past few months.  For some reason, that reassures you enough to name him. 

Or, if she smiles at you, less than a day old, the nurse will tell you it's gas.  But you know it's her trying to tell you her name.  You hold her mouth to your ear.  Is she, this new born baby, trying to whisper her name?  You smell her baby smell: milky and musty,  as if that will give you a hint.  I held my daughter this way -- and she spit in my ear as if curious to my reaction.  I laughed, and I swear, so did she.  Of course, she could have no other name than the one my husband and I gave to her. 

So maybe it's not that different -- at the start.  Maybe the only difference is that a writer can with a few clicks change a character's name, adjust the inner life or physical description to match, if they must, if the character insists upon it. 

But once you give a name to a child, it's his or hers, even if they go to great lengths to change it, which people rarely do --  it's the name your mother and father gave you.  You're running from something if you change that name, you have something to  hide.   Help!   Why do I feel a new character coming on? 

Am I onto something with names?

This post is dedicated to Michael and Sara, may they grow tall and strong, may they run fast, may they be curious about the world and be kind to others, and to themselves.      Truly, from the author of LIE.

    

I put together this totally biased writer's resource list based on groups that I have actually participated in (many on line and free or at low cost) for the talk I gave today at the  Plainview-Old Bethpage Public Library reading/reception event for LIE, and I thought I'd share it.  

But first, I have to LOUDLY THANK two extraordinary women -- Gretchen Browne, director of the POB Library and, especially, the fabulous young adult librarian Heather Grecco who helped organize the event (yes, that's Heather and me in the picture). The reception was warm and inviting.  Ages 6 to 80 were represented, and I believe everyone found the talk interesting (my 10 ten myths about the writing process, and top 10 'truths'  -- more about them in later blogs!).  

I distributed the following short list, which I thought I'd share with all of all you.  if you have resources that you use to help you write, let me know!

RECOMMENDED WRITING RESOURCES: This is by no means a comprehensive list, but represents groups that I have participated in or taken classes with over the years—  Long Island Children’s Writers and Illustrators (LICWI) -  a very inclusive Long Island group meets once a month at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue, and features group critiques of children –young adult work.  Editor visits.  Very reasonable annual membership.  www.licwi.org.  Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators – (SBCWI)  National organization for children’s writers, I’m a member of NYC chapter with monthly seminars, annual winter meeting in January in NYC offers critiques, workshops and panels.  www.scbwi.org.  Hofstra Continuing Education (adult education writing classes year round and a well-run Summer Writers Institute on Long Island).  If you are an aspiring children’s writer, try a class with Brian Heinz, very worthwhile. www.hofstra.edu/ucce/summerwriting.edu.

 Figment: Write yourself in.  A community to share writing – no fee to join.  Teen orientated.  Educator section too.  Find interview with me on this site!!   www.figment.com.  Book Country – new site to read, explore, review and write fiction – no fee to join.  Run by Penguin Group, a major publisher.   www.bookcountry.com.  SheWrites  (for women writers only).  Terrific site -- no fee to join.  As they note, they re, “premiere destination for women writers, providing services and support for women at every stage of their writing lives.”  Lots of free information, sharing here.  Also writing classes for a fee offered on line.   www.shewrites.com.  MediaBistro (on-line and in NYC,  www.mediabistro.com):  daily free email on the media business,  plus some excellent short-term writing classes.  Class with D.B. Gilles on screenwriting is very worthwhile.   He has a new book: The ScreenWriter Within – I highly recommend it.  Publisher’s Lunch –  daily free email on the publishing business.  Key info for serious aspiring writer about what books have been sold by what agents to what publisher’s, what books optioned by film or television, and the scope of the deals.   A subscription component of the site gives more details on deals.   www.publishersmarketplace.com.

Top Writing Competition for High School students:   The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards for grades 7-12.  Top award for high school students in the country for writing.    Dramatic scripts, Flash Fiction (1,300 words), Personal Essay, Poetry, Science Fiction, Short Story are among the categories.  DEADLINE for Northeast regional:  JANUARY 6, 2012.  Regional and national winners.  Scholarships for winners.  More at www.artsandwriting.org 

Very short list of my bookshelf about writing include: Bird by Bird by  Anne Lamott about the creative process;  Immediate Fiction by  Jerry Cleaver, a complete writing course in one book; and The Practical Writer from Inspiration to Publication edited by Therese Eiben and Mary Gannon on the staff of Poets &Writers Magazine.   Also, Poets&Writers Magazine and its website are essential resources.

I'm sure there are more out there, this is only my 'short list,' so if you have some, let me know.