Writing & Reading: Pass It On

file000880964107The other day I caught the tail end of an NPR story highlighting research that says, despite the ease and frequency with which teenagers interact on social media (adding new layers to peer pressure), “parents are still the most powerful influence when it comes to…values.”

The story is talking about teen drinking and smoking and deserves a listen. But, that isn’t exactly why I bring it up.

Something psychologist, Susan Lipkins, says during the show stuck with me and can be applied in how we nurture writers and readers at home as well:

“I ask parents, when I speak to them, I say ‘OK, so there was a car accident; what did you do? Did you stop and help? Did you call 911? Or did you just pass by and say; boy I’m glad it’s not me?’ That’s a very mild example of how we teach our kids what to do.

Actions speak louder.

Writing

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Surely my daughter has seen me spend too many hours at the computer, heard me tell of a story accepted or turned down, listened to me talk of the Grandmas and Grandpas I teach who write their stories. She’s heard me sigh when the writing wasn’t working; speak of hope when it was. Witnessed how I’ve kept at it and–on many days–enjoyed it.

So last weekend when I mentioned that Cricket Magazine–her magazine–was running a poetry contest, she jumped at the chance to write her own poem. Literally. Jumped up and grabbed a pad of paper and a pencil and wrote her first poem, “The Art I like.”

Then, she typed it on the computer and signed it, and we submitted it. This isn’t the first thing she’s written (she was on a spree for a while churning out picture book after picture book of stories…master of her muse), but this is the first piece she’s sent out into the real world. It was pretty cool, putting a stamp on that envelope.

Reading

IMG_0486My son isn’t into writing the stories, but he’s very much into reading them. Considering how we don’t have cable and at least one of us can be found with face in book during the day, I’m not surprised. What has caught me off guard is that he also likes to rate his books.

I review books. I’m a grown up; grown ups write reviews. I suppose I’ve even mentioned it once or twice in passing conversation. But since he really doesn’t like writing, I never thought he’d craft his own.

Then, after buying him several of James Patterson’s Middle School books through my Kindle account because he loved them, plowed through them, asked for more, I got an email notice from Amazon saying my recent book review had “gone live.”

It had been months since I’d reviewed anything. Confused, I opened the email and saw his rating, his words, about one of his favorite books, Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life.

5 stars
Title of review: Awesome
“It was very good and a good ending. I have read it 3 times before.”

For a half a second, I considered taking it down before anyone wondered why this review read so differently from any of my others oh-so-important formal reviews. But then, I stopped myself. For crying out loud.

He took initiative without any direction from me. He made a point to click the link at the end of the book that let him write his honest opinion about a book he appreciated. He’s done it two more times since then.

Parenting is never easy; half the time I am quietly begging for the burning bush or a tablet inscribed with ten commandments of good moms and dads (or something like this post from Amy Shearn about the 12 ingredients for a good parenting day), because I have no idea what to say or how to lead.

Then, I look around. I take a photo. I keep it as evidence that, sometimes, you don’t have to say a thing. You just do; you just open the door, pave the way, and your kids will follow.

Writing and reading. How do you pass it on?

Books Lining Up in the Queue

I cleared my plate of a few writing obligations recently. I keep talking about “that novel,” and my son thinks it’s time I deliver. He has high hopes that, when this book sells big, I will buy him a Hummer.

IMG_1094I tried to explain the reality of publishing, like first I have to finish the book and then I have to secure an agent who woos an editor who convinces a publisher who puts it on the shelf and we all cross our fingers and by that time maybe he’d be a lawyer and he could buy me a Hummer. Or, at least a new pair of boots.

Still, he would not be swayed. And, between him and my daughter, who drew her version of the book’s cover–eyes to the right–along with an encouraging note, I realized there’s no more messing around. I cleared my plate so I could get busy with revisions.

And, for the most part, I have.

I’ve spent more nights a week with the draft in the last two months than I did all last summer. Even if I don’t have big jumps in word count to show for it, this draft is expanding. Maturing.

What else is expanding is my TBR list of books (you thought I’d say waistline…that’s a post for another day).

Reading fuels the writing in one way or another, through creativity or inspiration or even good old fashioned mojo passed on from one author to another through the pages of a book. I’m excited to dig into five soon-to-be-released books by some of my favorite authors.

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THE MOON SISTERS by Therese Walsh
March 4, 2014

(from Amazon) This mesmerizing coming-of-age novel, with its sheen of near-magical realism, is a moving tale of family and the power of stories.

Read an excerpt from the book HERE. Take her Moon Sisters Personality Quiz to learn more about the characters. Then, stop back by the blog on March 26th for a Q&A with Therese that includes a book giveaway.

41SKzKiGmBL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_ONCE I WAS COOL by Megan Stielstra
May 13, 2014

(from Amazon) With storytelling chops honed over a decade of performances at Chicago’s 2nd Story storytelling series, these insightful, compassionate, gutsy, and heartbreaking personal essays explore the messy, maddening beauty of adulthood with wit, intelligence, and biting humor, tackling topics ranging from beating postpartum depression through stalking to a surprising run-in with an old lover at the symphony while on ecstasy.

You can hear Megan read one of her essays in this podcast interview with Willy Nast and Karen Shimmin on All Write Already. I dare you to listen and NOT pre-order her book.

51i+Ha3CFmL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_CHASING THE SUN by Natalia Sylvester
May 20, 2014

(from her website) Andres suspects his wife has left him—again. Then he learns that the unthinkable has happened: she’s been kidnapped. Set in Lima, Peru, in a time of civil and political unrest, this evocative page-turner is a perfect marriage of domestic drama and suspense.

I love reading about Natalia’s road to publication on The Debutante Ball. She recently posted about first lines in novels and how much they change from the seed of an idea to final draft. She also blogs about life and writing on her website. Read this post, Found Letters From My Past Self. Put this book on your list, too.


EVERYTHING I NEVER TOLD YOU by Celeste Ng

June 26, 2014

Everything I Never Told You - Celeste Ng

(from her website) Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet . . .
So begins the story of this exquisite debut novel, about a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. . . . Everything I Never Told You is both a gripping page-turner and a sensitive family portrait, exploring the divisions between cultures and the rifts within a family, and uncovering the ways in which mothers and daughters, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives struggle, all their lives, to understand one another.

I’d like June to come early, and not just because the weather’s been mean around here. Celeste Ng is another of my favorite authors whose work online I have loved and bookmarked more than once. She’s a contributor on Fiction Writers Review and has an essay out in the Glimmer Train Bulletin this month, where she talks about how her experience as a teacher guided her decision to tell the story through an omniscient narrator. Word on the street is she’s presenting at the Muse & Marketplace Conference in May. I wish I lived closer to Boston.


EVERGREEN by Rebecca Rasmussen

July 15, 2014

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(From her website) It is 1938 when Eveline, a young bride, follows her husband into the wilderness of Minnesota. Though their cabin is run-down, they have a river full of fish, a garden out back, and a new baby boy named Hux. But when Emil leaves to take care of his sick father, the unthinkable happens: a stranger arrives, and Eveline becomes pregnant. She gives the child away, and while Hux grows up hunting and fishing in the woods with his parents, his sister, Naamah, is raised an orphan. Years later, haunted by the knowledge of this forsaken girl, Hux decides to find his sister and bring her home to the cabin. But Naamah, even wilder than the wilderness that surrounds them, may make it impossible for Hux to ever tame her, to ever make up for all that she, and they, have lost.

Set before a backdrop of vanishing forest, Evergreen is a luminous novel of love, regret, and hope.

I read Rebecca’s debut novel, THE BIRD SISTERS, set in Spring Green, Wisconsin. She writes with a keen eye on setting: place is as important a character as the protagonist. I can’t wait to discover what unfolds in EVERGREEN’s “vanishing forest.”

What’s lining up on your reading radar? Or, should I ask how your revisions are coming along?

Closet Reading

I received an email recently from an editor wanting to publish a short story of mine, “The Wurlitzer.” Even more exciting was the fact that the story is to be published in an audio version, not print. I love hearing authors read their stories, though I hadn’t considered recording myself reading mine.

I scoured a very detailed document explaining the ins and outs of DIY recording, including how to upload the file and a list of ideas for creating a sound-proof studio. There was mention of coat closets and reference to “hardcore” journalists and umbrellas! You’re intrigued, right?

While I cannot reveal all the secrets, I will say that I take editors’ suggestions seriously. I surveyed all of our closets and found the perfect one: my husband’s, which sits in the far upstairs corner of the house. The only slight issue was that his closet is really semi-converted attic space, meaning a series of shelves full of various items, one rod of hangers and shirts, and temperatures that fall well below my comfort zone.

But, we writers are a desperate sort. If we must confine ourselves to reading aloud among shoes and old blankets in bitter cold temperatures to an audience of sweaters and laundry baskets and a jar full of change, so be it.

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Just don’t forget the hat.

(Publication date and links to come.)

What are you reading these days? Or should I ask, Where?