Let's Start a Mutual Admiration Society

This morning, I ran into a coworker who goes to the same place I do for physical therapy and massage. Apparently, my physical therapist told her that I was one of the bright spots in her day. I was completely flabbergasted! It was excellent to hear, especially because her impact on my life (my stress, and my physical pains resulting from said stress) has been life-changing.

I told my coworker that she was also filled with 100% awesome, because she is. And because she is, she told me of something that I can only give her credit for. She mentioned that she and a friend established a "mutual admiration society." And, as a result, she and I established one right then and there. I suppose I have one, of sorts, with my physical therapist too.

In addition, a student contacted me to let me know that I had reignited his passion for school and research. And I realized how people can touch one another in small ways, every day, sometimes without even knowing it.

I started thinking about friends I really admire. And authors I admire. Especially those who reignite my passion for life, writing, and other things.

So here's a list of a few. I will also be tagging them on this post, in case they want to pass the baton to others (and keep the admiration going!):


Angelica R. Jackson - An excellent writer and critique partner. She also runs an annual auction, Pens for Paws, to raise money for Fat Kitty City, a no-kill animal shelter. How cool is that?

Alison Kemper - Like Angelica, as a crit partner, Alison really helped me hone my craft. And, she's also a librarian! Her debut novel, DONNA OF THE DEAD, is forthcoming.

Erin Kellison - Erin gave an excellent workshop at a local writers' meeting. She's super nice, and really knows her stuff. Her most recent novel, SOUL KISSED, is now available for purchase on Kindle, Nook and Kobo. And, she also has a book in the Dark and Dangerous Box Set, which releases tomorrow, October 17!

Gini Koch - A whirlwind of greatness--and also gives excellent workshops. She writes everything--including supermodel aliens and ghosts in retirement homes. Her newest book, ALIEN RESEARCH, will debut in December.

Eliza Green - An author kind enough to let me in on some knowledge of Irish culture! Her debut novel, BECOMING HUMAN, can be found here.

FeakySnucker - Another fellow writer/librarian who makes me laugh hysterically. She also agreed to be interviewed on my blog (forthcoming).

Jennifer Baker - An excellent writer and friend--and one of the sweetest people I know. She also writes flash fiction at Femme Fatale.

T. Michael Martin - Wrote THE END GAMES. Excellent writer and vlogger with an awesome YouTube channel.

And this is only the tip of the iceberg. I'll likely do a follow-up post with other names. So, happy Wednesday, all, and be sure to spread some love.

Who do you admire and why? Who helps you reignite your passion? Feel free to comment.

Conserving Brain Energy...Odds are, We'll be All Right

There's nothing like the common cold to help with perspective. When I perused my new novel pages written pre- and post-illness, I found something surprising. Post-illness--they were (at least from a line-edit standpoint) relatively flawless. But pre-illness, when my brain was tired and stretched to its maximum capacity--it was like Forrest Gump wrote my pages.

This got me thinking. As writers, we are constantly encouraged to keep our butts in those seats and write often as humanly possible. And for the most part, this is correct.

But there is a breaking point. Things constantly pick at our brain every day--work, job, kids, family, traffic, government shutdowns, lions, tigers, bears, oh my. The Internet (and Facebook) are particularly good at this. Each thing takes a piece and doesn't give back. So by the end of the day, your brain is only running on about 15% capacity--because the other 85% got left behind with all the other stuff.

This post from Kathleen McCleary on Writer Unboxed says it best, and epitomizes the importance of taking long breaks. She had to take three months off from writing before inspiration struck again. Even when she was asked to produce another book right away.

*Gasps* I hear from some of you. "Missed opportunities," you whisper. I know. Because it wasn't all that long ago that I would have said exactly the same thing.

But not chasing after every little thing doesn't equate to lost opportunity. In reality, it's the opposite. Constantly running around is what really breeds those missed chances--because you're so worn out and so ragged that you can't function enough to capitalize on the opportunities that do come your way.

So, relax. Conserve that brain energy. Take that break, especially if your mind and body urge you to. Rest. Play. Live. Experience. Nothing will fall apart. Nothing will blow up. Odds are, things will be all right, as this song from the Barenaked Ladies states so well:

Sure things go wrong, but I’ll take my chances
Odds are long, so why not play?
(full lyrics are found here)

Elysium: The Dangers of Relying on World-Building Alone (Beware of Spoilers)

I'll have to admit, I was excited when I saw the trailer for Elysium. Very cool premise. A select group of rich people live on a utopian, heaven-like space station called Elysium, while the rest are stuck on Earth, with high pollution, sickness, overpopulation, and poverty.

But when I saw the movie, I realized that's all it was. A premise. NPR movie reviewer, Linda Holmes, says it best: "One of the great threats to any film is that the people who are making it live too much inside it. Just as you learn to navigate a city without looking at signs, they learn to navigate the world they've built so well that they forget to make it comprehensible and important for people who have just arrived."

Because building a world is not the same as building a story. Elysium establishes a set of rules, and then forgets about them in order to flesh out the plot. About three storylines are running at any given time--and they get so tangled that they often negate one another. Such as (beware of spoilers):

• The citizens of Elysium seem to have no compassion for those on Earth. Wouldn't some assist the people that come through looking for help? Certainly not every one of them are rich, self-centered bastards.
• Why give Matt Damon's character radiation poisoning when his would-be girlfriend also has a sick daughter? Only one of these is needed to establish the objective of trying to get to Elysium and get healed.
• And then there's a guy with a samurai sword set to kill everyone and everything. He's probably the most two-dimensional guy in the whole movie, and he's the one they decide to keep around (even after they explode his face off and bring him back to life so he can kill the more plausible, more layered villain).

This is something I have to be very careful of in my writing. It's not enough to create a fantastical world with really unique things in it. It's more important to give the story cohesion, realistic motivations for the characters, and real obstacles for them to face. There has to be a reason for everything to fit together the way it does.

So, when you're looking at the stories you've written, be sure that:

• Your protagonist's motivation is related to the setting you've created--and the protagonist is affected by it in a realistic and plausible way.
• You've deleted story layers that don't belong (even if you love them really a lot).
• Your world "rules" maintain consistent throughout the story.
• Your secondary characters have a bigger role than just standing in the world they've been created in. What are their motivations? How do they affect your protagonist?

As Linda Holmes says, "However important the point you want to make, you rise or fall on what happens on the stage you've built, not on how immersive an experience that stage creates."

Housekeeping...

This week, in lieu of a post, I'm doing a bit of housekeeping to make the blog a bit more user-friendly. More than one person has told me they're unable to leave comments, and I'm also looking to install some better, more sustainable share buttons (Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, etc.).

Comments on this post (assuming they show up) may be used for testing purposes until I can figure out a way to get things working.

If you have suggestions on things to try, please send them to my email: writerlibrarian (at) gmail (dot) com. I may also consider a switch from Blogger at some point (recommendations?).


For funsies, here's a little ditty from Kurt Vonnegut:



Have a great week, everyone!

Don't Be Afraid to Bomb

Right now, among the fiction I'm reading (ENDER'S GAME, which I love, plus a Baby-sitters Club prequel called THE SUMMER BEFORE), I'm also reading a great nonfiction book by Teri Hatcher (of Desperate Housewives fame) called BURNT TOAST. The title comes from how her mother always ate burnt toast instead of throwing it away, and it offers a metaphor for how so many women settle for leftovers.

I eat "burnt toast" all the time, and have for most of my life. But I'm learning that not only does it hold me back, it gives me a paralyzing fear of failing. I anticipate failure, sometimes before I even begin.

As writers, we know this all too well. Especially when rejections come in. But later on in Hatcher's book, a surprising revelation: failure is a good thing. Probably the best of things. Because it leads us toward greatness.

Recently, Billy Crystal was interviewed on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. He told a beautiful story that illustrates the importance of not being afraid to bomb.

I love what Jon Stewart says. "Enjoy the silence." (I guess Depeche Mode was onto something.) Because here's the secret. Sometimes, when I think I've bombed, it's all in my head--an interpretation of what I think happened, based solely on my past experiences.

So the next time you "bomb," ask yourself if the consequences are really as bad as you think they are. Some of the rejections I've gotten have given me the best feedback. They offer stepping stones toward where I want to be.

Don't let burnt toast charr your path. Acknowledge its presence and don't let it intimidate you. As Hatcher says, "It's about weathering the small challenges that we encounter every day." See it as a way to somewhere else rather than a measurement of your perceived limitations.

THE MURDER COMPLEX, by Lindsay Cummings

Lindsay Cummings' book THE MURDER COMPLEX doesn't come out until next year, but the premise was so intriguing that I couldn't wait to feature it. See below:

Your mind is not your own...

Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.

The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?

Lindsay also answered a few of my questions:

Your website bio states that you started writing due to some medical issues. How many years did you devote to honing your craft, and can you tell us more about your journey toward publication?

I've always been a writer, since I was little. It wasn't until I graduated high school in 2009 that I really took it seriously. I got really sick with Chronic Fatigue issues. I had lots of surgeries in a row, and I ended up laying in bed almost all day every day, because I lost all my energy and health. My dad, a double amputee, was 19 when he lost his legs. He turned to writing in a journal. I went back and looked at that journal, and I saw how much writing helped him. I ended up doing the same thing he did....and suddenly, I felt like I was free from the depression and stuff that came with my health issues. Ever since then, writing became my dream. I studied it, went to conferences, and worked my butt off until I got an agent, and it went on from there. It's still a lot of work...but so worth it.

Such an inspiring story--and I'm glad writing provided a good outlet to help you heal. I love the premise of THE MURDER COMPLEX. Where did the idea originate, and what do you want your readers to take away when they're finished with it?

I want readers to feel fearless when they're done reading it. The idea came from me being sick, and feeling trapped in a world where I couldn't escape. The murdering part came from a newspaper article!

You've also written an MG book called THE BALANCE KEEPERS. Great premise in this one too. I'd like to know more about the 11-year-old protagonist--did he come to you fully formed or did you flesh him out while writing the book?

The Balance Keepers is SO much fun! Albert Flynn, the main character, sort of came half-formed. While writing the book, he developed little quirks and favorite phrases, and I really started to love him!

It definitely looks like fun, and it's great when characters flesh themselves out that way! I love the design on your website. What do you recommend to aspiring writers wanting to build an online platform?

Hafsah at Icey Designs made it. She's a rockstar designer!!! Be yourself online...people are drawn to authenticity.

Good advice! What are some of your current projects? Will THE MURDER COMPLEX have a sequel?

The Murder Complex is a 2-book series. It also has a novella that goes with it....a prequel story! :)

Be sure to get a copy of THE MURDER COMPLEX for yourself by clicking below! To find out more about Lindsay, click here.

REALITY BOY, by A.S. King

I had the privilege of seeing A.S. King's keynote during Backspace last May. Her speech was inspirational, truthful, and it brought me to tears. This post from the Backspace Forum gives a sample of her sly wit and keen observations.

If you haven't read her books yet, they're amazing. Next on my TBR list is ASK THE PASSENGERS. It's about a girl who asks her most personal questions to the passengers in planes flying overhead. King also wrote EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS, a 2012 ALA Top Ten Book for Young Adults, the 2011 Michael L. Printz Honor Book PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ. Her newest book, REALITY BOY, doesn't come out until October, but Little, Brown is offering an early large sample to download, available Sept 10th. 

Gerald Faust knows exactly when he started feeling angry: the day his mother invited a reality television crew into his five-year-old life. Twelve years later, he’s still haunted by his rage-filled youth—which the entire world got to watch from every imaginable angle—and his anger issues have resulted in violent outbursts, zero friends, and clueless adults dumping him in the special education room at school.

Nothing is ever going to change. No one cares that he’s tried to learn to control himself, and the girl he likes has no idea who he really is. Everyone’s just waiting for him to snap…and he’s starting to feel dangerously close to doing just that.

In this fearless portrayal of a boy on the edge, highly acclaimed Printz Honor author A.S. King explores the desperate reality of a former child “star” who finally breaks free of his anger by creating possibilities he never knew he deserved.


You wrote your first book in 1994. What was the first book about, and how has your writing evolved since then?

My first book was about top secret things because I plan on stealing the main idea from it in the future some time. But for the most part, it was awful. I liked to think that my writing has evolved by becoming not-as-awful.

No doubt it has! Your website bio states that you took 15 years and seven novels to get published. What kept you motivated throughout this process?

I’m stubborn. Also, I wasn’t thinking about getting published. I was thinking of writing books and creating stuff. So, it wasn’t like the ultimate goal was really relevant. Or maybe the ultimate goal isn’t publishing. Maybe the goal is just writing a good book. I still have to motivate myself daily in order to do that. Some days I snack more than write.

An excellent point. Some aspiring writers focus so much on publishing, the writing sometimes gets lost. And snacking is definitely universal.
I love that the protagonist in REALITY BOY, Gerald Faust, is a former child “star.” What inspired this, and what kinds of strategies do you use for character development?

I am not a TV watcher, so TV things interest me in a kind of innocent way. I am ignorant, I guess. What interests me is human beings, so in the case of Gerald Faust—not a star, but a reluctant and infamous accidental reality TV celebrity at age 5—I wanted to know what it was like to be him at sixteen and how he’d adapted. What is it like for a kid who acted out on a TV show [that he never wanted to come and film him] to grow up as “that kid?” When I write, I don’t really have any strategies. I write a first draft as it comes to me never knowing where my characters will take me. Then, I revise until all of the wrong stuff is cut out and the right stuff is added in.

Sounds like a good process. You wrote a touching personal essay called "The Boy Who Won't Leave Me Alone" for the anthology DEAR BULLY. If given the chance, what would you tell girls going through what you did?

This goes for girls and boys. (I don’t think people know how often this happens to boys. It happens a lot.)

I would tell any victim of physical sexual harassment that what’s been done to them has nothing to do with sexuality, but only to do with power. I would tell them that the term “sexual harassment” isn’t something to be ashamed of or scared of, no matter how many people don’t take it seriously. When it leaves bruises on your skin or involves uninvited touching, it is abuse. Deal with it accordingly. Tell people who can help make it stop. I know this is difficult in a society where judges often punish victims of sexual harassment. I know this is difficult in a society that is happy to rattle “boys being boys.” (Why don’t they say that when guys do something awesome instead?) But if you speak, your voice will be a brave voice and it will, eventually, if you continue to speak, stop the harassment.

I will also add, for the future you: if this affects your self-esteem, self-worth or confidence, look around for places where you can help. Joining forces with V-Day really made me feel empowered and it allows me to help others and spread a message of intolerance toward sexual violence.

It's a shame our culture doesn't often support victims of sexual abuse and that it isn't always recognized in both genders. I just joined the SARV Taskforce, an organization devoted to helping prevent sexual violence, in the hope that I can help spread that same message.
Of all of your novels, which is your favorite, and why?

I never felt I was allowed to pick a favorite and I’m not sure I can. I think the stock answer is: The book I am working on is always my favorite book. I have favorite lines, though. “The world is full of assholes. What are doing to make sure you’re not one of them?” from EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS or “I'm sorry, but I don't get it. If we're supposed to ignore everything that's wrong with our lives, then I can't see how we'll ever make things right.” from PLEASE IGNORE VERA DIETZ. REALITY BOY has a line about nature that I love, but I’ll make you find it rather than tell you. Hint: It’s during the waterfall scene.

Excellent lines, and an excellent interview! Thanks so much.

Be sure to snag A.S. King's books for yourself:

Get the free preview:

  Or, pre-order the full book:   Or, choose from her other amazing titles: