Bloggers Unite for Patry Francis

From the "I'm glad there are people in the world like this" file:

Today more than 300 bloggers are featuring Patry Francis.

Her debut novel THE LIAR'S DIARY is out, but she's also, as M.J. Rose says:

"putting all her energy into a brave and successful fight against cancer right now. Sure books matter, but other things matter more. Which is why we're all buzzing for Patry who is putting all her energy into a brave and successful fight against cancer right now. Life sucks. Buy the book. Now. Please."

Read Patry's blog about her fight here.
Read a Backstory about the book here.

Watch the video here:

The Brief Wondrous Life of of Oscar Wao

Just finished Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of of Oscar Wao. (I'm a fan of Diaz's short stories from his collection Drown. Each story packed an emotional punch in the gut.) At first, I was put off by the footnotes in the novel, since it seems a gimicky technique--show-offy, too clever--at least in other works I've read. But the footnotes--from the narrator-- work here. They fill in the history of the Dominican Republic in a witty way, and it's part of the narrator's style to impart the background that way. (The first footnote: "For those of you who missed your mandatory two seconds of Dominican history...") No kidding. It's shameful how little I--like most Americans-- know about the DR.
This tale is masterfully structured, too, with multiple perspectives from the past and present, DR and New Jersey. The Brief Wondrous Life of of Oscar Wao passes the "still thinking about it long after I finished reading it" test. Good reading.

Now THIS is a book signing

The author spoke to a packed auditorium at the library. The local independent bookstore, The Open Book, was on hand selling his books--selling a LOT of them. After a glowing introduction from the director of the library--who had clearly read and loved the book-- the author spoke about the backstory of his novel, the setting, the inspiration, and how several of his characters were based on family members. When he read from the novel for half an hour, audience members--old and young-- were attentive, tittering and nodding, some of them following along in the books in their laps, their fingers moving along sentences. When the author took questions-- dozens of hands went up-- discussion ensued for another half an hour. A book signing followed. The line of people snaked across the auditorium, waiting to talk with the author.
Stephen King? Pat Conroy? James Patterson? Dan Brown?

Nah. Tommy Hays.

Tommy is now a famous author around these parts. His novel, THE PLEASURE WAS MINE, was chosen as the first book for our community's "Amazing Read" program. You've probably heard of the "One City One Book" movement--from Chicago to Salt Lake City to Seattle.

If last night's kick-off reading was any indication, the Amazing Read is already a success. Certainly, organizers have done an awesome job of promoting this community-wide program.
There are a dozen or so events lined up for the next several months, including:

• a staged reading of THE PLEASURE WAS MINE at a community theatre
• a public reading in spanish
• a contra dance
• radio interviews
• extensive newspaper coverage
• a county council proclamation
• Alzheimer panel discussions (The nonfiction handle of the book is Alzheimer's; the protagonist struggles to care for his wife who has the disease)
• And-- cool, cool, cool-- through sponsorship funds, the library PURCHASED and GAVE AWAY more than 400 copies of the book.

A writer's dream.

I'm Glad There Are People in the World Like This...

As Aretha Franklin says, Rescue Me

Hidden in the "Pet" section of my local paper comes this article: ("Unwanted pets get taken for a ride to keep them alive.Volunteers run a interstate 'railway' to save animals facing death here")... about an incredibly passionate group of folks who have started The Global Rescue Welfare League, or GROWL. They have formed an "underground railroad" to transport animals from overcrowded "high-kill shelters" where they face euthanasia, to shelters where animals are adopted. One of the things they do is organize a network of volunteer drivers who transport animals [in short one-hour trips] from overcrowded shelters to families who want to adopt pets. See more pictures of the rescued ones...
Learn more, donate, volunteer:


The Global Rescue Welfare League is an all volunteer organization which was started to help raise awareness in regards to all the homeless animals all over the world. It is our mission to help save as many innocent animals as possible while raising awareness about altering (spay and neuter) and responsible animal ownership. GROWL is directly involved in pulling animals from high kill animal shelters, coordinating volunteer transports to safety in rescues, raising funds for animals in need, educating the public on the importance of spay/neuter and assisting individuals in finding their ideal furry family member.

Batleby the Scrivener...NOT

After reading about it in the NYT magazine, I tried Scrivener, "a word processor and project management tool created specifically for writers of long texts such as novels and research papers." You can download a free 30-day trial on this website. I did. I gave it a whirl, but no chemistry there. I did appreciate the bells and whistles-- letting you keep and organize clippings, links, video clips, notes (on "notecards" on a "corkboard,") but in the end it seemed I was doing more process than content. I know there's a learning curve, but...I actually like using real notecards...doodling, coloring, flipping them around, posting them on my real door. I use color coded highlighting in my regular ol' Word in my drafts [ green means good stuff buy maybe not in this paragraph; yellow means this needs scrutiny; blue means delete this tomorrow with a fresh eye, etc.] Not that I'm a luddite...I love technology and the digital age... but I also like working with my hands and the actual physical act of occasionally writing by hand or scrawling on a flipchart or arranging notecards, stimulates my creativity. So when it comes to Scrivener, in the words of Melville's Bartleby: "I would prefer not to, sir."

Snow Show

Snow is rare enough around these parts to be a treat...cancelling school and meetings and delaying work. I fill the bird feeders. My backyard is transformed overnight, elegant in white...a mantle of snow on the roof, the trees draped in formal finery, the ice glistening like jewels.

Dust Of Snow

The way a crow
Shook down on me
The dust of snow
From a hemlock tree
Has given my heart
A change of mood
And saved some part
Of a day I had rued.


Robert Frost

Tips and Clips File

As a former newspaper reporter-- I wrote obits and features, covered council meetings and politicians--I know newsrooms are cynical, noisy (and, until recently, smoky) places. But you can't help but notice the fourth estate is looking a little shabby with all its biased coverage. More and more hard news or "investigative" pieces make no bones about including opinion or subjective interpretation. Example: "A meager crowd of bored people who appear ready to bolt" at a political rally with no mention of HOW MANY people [estimated by a police officer, for example]? And who said they looked bored? And all of them were ready to bolt?
One of the best things about The Wire this season is the focus on the Baltimore Sun, and the sad fact that coverage of complex issues--like drug addiction-- deserves nuanced reporting. From MediaBistro:

Which is Better at Covering Drug Addiction, The Wire or The Baltimore Sun? (STATS)
Maia Szalavitz: As The Wire brings a fictional version of the Baltimore Sun to life, the real paper recently "exposed" abuse of the new addiction medication, buprenorphine. But as it turns out, HBO's dramatic series does a far better job of examining the complexities of addiction than what appeared to have the factual power of a real journalistic investigation. WaPo: Baltimore Sun's Wire portrayal fuels a hot debate.

And from the NO S%$!T, SHERLOCK file:

Hillary-ious: Press Bias Against Female Candidates (Inside Higher Ed)
"On the average," writes author Erika Falk, male candidates each "had twice the number of articles written about them as did the women, and these articles were on average 7 percent longer... In addition, the coverage that men received was more substantive (regarding issues) and its content was less tangential (e.g., about physical appearance or family) than was the coverage of women."

Author to Author: Quinn Dalton

The Writing Room, a local program I direct for writers, presented a seminar yesterday: “Pitching and Placing Your Writing,” with Quinn Dalton. The pitch: "Appropriate for writers of all levels, this three-hour seminar covers the steps necessary for writers who are ready to send out their fiction and nonfiction for publication." It was a great crowd, attentive, with lots of questions. (And they bought every copy of Quinn's book, Stores from the Afterlife, that we had on hand.) Quinn, who drove down from Greensboro, NC, was a real champ. She is, as I explained to the crowd when I introduced her, one of the hardest working writers I know.

Quinn's books include a novel, “High Strung” (Simon & Schuster), and two short story collections, “Bulletproof Girl” (Simon & Schuster) and “Stories from the Afterlife” (Press 53). “New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2006,” includes one of her stories.

Here's an article I wrote about Quinn for the Greenville Journal:

Quinn Dalton is downright sly when it comes to writing: “I’m like a teenager looking to sneak out when it comes to writing. I do it when I get the chance. I’m looking for the opportunity all the time and if it turns out to be 15 min, I’ll take it. That said, some days I don’t get a window at all. It’s OK—you get to do a lot of writing in your head, too, thank goodness.”

At 36, Dalton has written a novel and short story collection, both of which were published by Simon & Schuster. A third collection of short stories, "Stories from the Afterlife," was published in November by Press 53. Dozens of her short stories have appeared in literary magazines. Her essays and articles have appeared in publications such as Poets & Writers, The Writer magazine, and Media Bistro. She is equally savvy when it comes to new media; her name regularly appears on literature blogs across North America.

How does she do it? Dalton, who lives in Greensboro, NC with her husband and two young daughters, keeps several projects—nonfiction and fiction—going at once. “If I get stuck on one thing I can turn to something else,” she said. “The nonfiction I write is usually centered around business articles or writing craft—I find nonfiction isn’t that difficult because you have a point to make. With fiction, long or short, you don’t necessarily know what the thing will become. So in that way it’s harder because you have to have faith. With a novel, I think it’s more of a day-to-day relationship. You have to show up every day. But the work doesn’t disappear if you decide you need to take a break.”

Dalton will be in Greenville to lead a seminar, “Pitching and Placing Your Writing,” for the Writing Room on January 13, where she plans to share strategies about sending work out. For example, she keeps a list of publications to target her submissions. “I send to magazines that have a shorter response, less than three to four months. I avoid magazines that object to simultaneous submissions. From there, the page length of my submission and the times when magazines are accepting submissions narrows down the list further. I tend to send a story at least four to five places at one time.”

There’s a crucial point to keep in mind when submitting articles and essays, as opposed to fiction, she said. “When you pitch nonfiction, you’re pitching an idea. You have to identify the outlet--magazine or broadcast, for example--and the journalist/editor who will be most responsive, and angle the pitch to their needs. It’s not easier, but I think it’s more straightforward than placing fiction.”

Dalton also reminds writers their work doesn’t stop upon publication. When her collection, “Stories from the Afterlife,“ was published by Press 53, she discovered the small, literary publisher in North Carolina was “more hands on, face-to-face, and in general, more fun,” than working with a large publisher. “Don’t think I wasn’t thrilled to debut with a big house (Simon & Schuster), because if that hadn’t happened, no small press would have been seeking me out. But I have enjoyed feeling more like an equal with my publisher, and figuring out what we wanted to do together rather than having it dictated to me.”

“New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2006” includes a story from Dalton’s “Stories From the Afterlife.” Such an honor is thrilling, Dalton said, “Especially because the editor who selected my story, Allan Gurganus, is a writer I especially admire.”

Watching, reading

My household has been chosen as a "Nielsen" household. They're sending along booklets for us to faithfully! We promise! fill out so we can help determine what rocks on the tube. We'll probably skew their data. But how cool to be able to report our favorite show is:

THE WIRE
Which is back as of last night, thank God. It's the best thing on TV--"Dickensian" seems to be the term thrown around a lot, but I think it's apt.

30 Rock is probably heading into reruns b/c of the strike, but you can get the first season on Netflix. It's a hoot!

And shocking-- I shocked myself here-- by warming up to a show that features high school football (yeah, I know, ick to that) but Friday Night Lights is surprisingly good and pretty addictive. Netflix it.

I'm reading the Best American Short Stories 2007 edited by Stephen King. Haven't finished it yet, but I can definitly see the influence of "the King" in these selections.

Build the Room...and They Will Come

This also appears over on A Good Blog is Hard to Find.

My little town is growing up.

Last night, I attended a screening of a film at my local community theatre --not a movie at the multiplex!--but a a feature-length film produced and directed by Jeff Sumerel (a Greenville, SC native). To My Great Chagrin, a documentary about the comedian/performer Brother Theodore, has been selected by the Museum of Modern Art to have its World Premiere at their Opening Night of the 2008 Documentary Series in February, but we saw it here first.

Yep, she's got legs-- my town. Legs donned in hose and heels. Tonight starts the second annual French Film Festival featuring six award-winning French films. Also, Spam-a-lot is coming to our local performing arts center. And did I mention we are home to The Open Book, the largest independent bookstore in the state? Our museum has a permanent Wyeth collection. Our visual arts community and cool downtown galleries kick butt. There's a natural waterfall downtown--historical Cherokee trading center-- with a pedestrian bridge that's truly breathtaking; stroll across it most days and you'll hear people expressing their delight in several different languages. We've got a symphony and a ballet and the Handlebar, which regularly showcases the best indie bands around. And we have the Reading Room, a reading series, featuring regional authors.

And now, we have a writing program.

THE WRITING ROOM began two years ago with blind faith and gut instinct. I felt certain there was an untapped literary community in the Upstate of South Carolina, and, boy, was there. Without an area MFA program or university writing program, writers really had little in the way of workshops, or camaraderie. And we have some award-wining authors in town--such as Ashley Warlick and Scott Gould--who also happen to be fantastic teachers. So I approached the Emrys Foundation board, a local arts nonprofit, with a proposal to sponsor The Writing Room, and they--bless them--agreed.

In the fall of 2006, The Writing Room was officially launched and began offering writing workshops with a balance of craft discussions, writing exercises, and feedback. Our workshops are held at various locations, all donated spaces, in board rooms, conference rooms, university and high school class rooms, and businesses. Our goal? To build a community of writers who want to learn more about the craft of writing:

"If you’ve never written…we’ll get you started. You may even have an idea for a story, an essay, a novel, a poem, a children’s book…and want some guidance. If you’re an experienced writer… you’ll feel right at home. You’ll find attention, professional criticism, and inspiration.Everyone will find camaraderie. Our goal is to improve your writing and develop your style."

Our fiction workshops filled. There were waiting lists. We began to offer playwriting, creative nonfiction writing for children and young adults, poetry, and screenwriting. Our workshops are small-- no more than a dozen people. The workshop tuition allows us to pay our writing teachers a decent amount. (That's another goal: to pay writers what they're worth.) We offer one-day seminars on a variety of topics as well. Karin Gillespie's Saturday seminar for us last year on writing query letters was a huge success.

It's hard to believe The Writing Room is now offering a fourth round of workshops and seminars. Beginning in January, we’ll offer workshops for fiction and nonfiction writers. We’ll kick things off with a terrific one-day seminar on January 13, “Pitching and Placing Your Writing,” featuring award-winning North Carolina writer Quinn Dalton. For the second time, we’re offering a spring weekend screenwriting seminar.

We've got more planned for the spring, and perhaps on into the summer. Which reminds me--fellow authors--if you've got a book signing in the Palmetto State or you think you might be swinging in our direction, and you have an idea or two for a seminar you could lead, drop me a line. We'd love to have you join our community of writers. We're building a big room.

Picks and Pans

The Golden Compass is one of my favorite fantasy novels. Not since I read A Wrinkle in Time (in fifth grade) or 1984 (in high school) have I felt so transported into a "parallel" world. Too bad the movie felt rushed and jumpy, and if I hadn't read the book, I'd still be lost somewhere in the Arctic Circle. If you haven't yet read the novel-- or the His Dark Materials trilogy-- I'd skip the film.

Reading right now: The March by E.L. Doctorow, about Sherman's march through the South. I'm a great admirer of Doctorow's ability to weave skillful, moving portraits of historical figures-- who appear as fully-realized characters-- in his fiction. Or, as Publisher's Weekly puts it, his "gift for getting into the heads of a remarkable variety of characters, famous or ordinary."

I also recommend The War Of Art for any writer (or artist). Written by screenwriter and author Steven Pressfield (Legend of Bagger Vance), it's the testereone-charged, kick-ass version of The Artist's Way by Julie Cameron.

Soul Feed

My flowerbox has gone from high summer:



and hunkered down to cool-season annuals:


I leave you with an instant soul feed: reading Whitman's Leaves of Grass.

To think how much pleasure there is!
Have you pleasure from looking at the sky? Have you pleasure
from poems?
Do you enjoy yourself in the city? or engaged in business? or
planning a nomination and election? or with your wife and family?
Or with your mother and sisters? or in womanly housework? or
the beautiful maternal cares?