The Girl I Mean To Be

My love for The Secret Garden is no secret. It is one of my favorite books of all time. I loved the movie. I saw the musical 3 times when I lived in London. While it takes on many themes, at it's simplest it says: "We can help others grow" and that is something I truly believe.

I was listening to one of my Pandora stations the other day. The one I only listen to when Tyler is not in the house because I realize not everyone can listen to 5 hours of showtunes at a time. A song from The Secret Garden musical came on: The Girl I Mean To Be.

I know a lot of people who read this blog write young adult fiction. And maybe some of you write women's fiction, I'm not really sure. But, when I listened to this song, I thought it encapsulated a lot of the kinds stories I like to read and write for both young girls and women. The heroine's journey, so to speak. It is a song about finding a place and about becoming the person you mean to be. I realize it might be a little cheesy, but I thought you might like to hear it. And I apologize but the only rendition I could find was a strange video on Youtube.

I hope you'll take a listen:

The Girl I Mean to Be

Lyrics by Marsha Norman
I need a place where I can go
Where I can whisper what I know
Where I can whisper who I like
And where I go to see them
I need a place where I can hide
Where no one sees my life inside
Where I can make my plans
And write them down
So I can read them
A place where I can bid my heart be still
And it will mind me.
A place where I can go when I am lost
And there I'll find me.
I need a place to spend the day
Where no one says to go or stay
Where I can take my pen and draw
The girl I mean to be.

Where I'm At

It seems like lately I've been telling random stories on this blog and haven't really delved into the heart of things. Ya know, this 'writer's journey'...

But it occurred to me that some of you may be curious.

I was at a local restaurant when there was a very strange incident. We were sitting down to dinner and something came hurling through the open window. Tyler was whacked square in the back by a full Poland Spring water bottle. He was not hurt in any way. But as soon as it happened, two people in the restaurant took off running after the kids who had thrown it. One of them returned, out of breath, and said he couldn't catch them. The other guy, the waiter, came back, called the police, and offered Tyler a free glass of wine. The whole thing was utterly ridiculous.

Why am I telling you this story?

This incident led me to my current work in progress. Working title: Here Now. The main character came to me after the incident. And the story has absolutely nothing to do with getting hit by a water bottle in a restaurant. It just alerted me that things can happen in an instant. And they can be over so quickly, it's like they never happened in the first place. And therein lies a story.

So that's where I am at.

If you're working on a creative project, what are you working on? What inspired the idea?

If not, I don't want you to feel left out. Can you answer me something? If you could only eat one kind of cheese for the rest of your life, what would it be? Sharp white cheddar for me.

I'm Looking For A Critique Partner

Much to my dismay, my writing group dismantled last year. While I was fortunate enough to have a few of the old members read drafts of my completed manuscript for feedback, it seems we can't all get it together to make it a regular thing.

So, I find myself in search of a critique partner. My search begins here. I'm asking all of you lovely people to help me out. Let me know if you are interested or if you know someone who may be interested. Tweet it, blog it, whatever you like.

Here's a little bit of what I write and what I'm looking for:

I write women's fiction. I read everything, but this is what I read obsessively: women's fiction, literary fiction, and contemporary young adult literature. I'm afraid you won't find me very helpful if you write genre fiction or middle grade, but I do spend 40 hours a week writing for pre-schoolers so, yeah, there's that. I am very focused on writing for and about women and or teenage girls. It's just the kind of character and audience I know and understand best.

I would love to work with someone who writes literary or contemporary fiction, either adult or young adult. We can work online, skyping, e-mailing, morse code, whatever works best.

I'm open to working with a small group. Probably no more than 3 or 4, just to be positive that we can devote the attention to one another's work.

I hope this isn't overload of information but I just wanted to get it out there. So, please, please, please, will you be my writer friend? (Well, most of you are already my writer friends, but let's take this relationship to the next level) Or will you pass it along to your writer friends? Thank you!

Comment here or e-mail me at thistooblog (at) gmail (dot) com

A Blog, A Book, and A Contest

I've been meaning to tell you all about a blog I really like and a contest that made my eyes bug out of my head.

First: Allison Winn Scotch's blog Ask Allison. It is a wealth of information about the publishing industry from a writer's point of view. She covers everything you could ever want to know. And I have learned a lot from her blog.

Second: this upcoming contest. A guaranteed query and 1st chapter read by her agent, Elisabeth Weed. No worries about getting lost in slush. No feelings of if only they would read that first chapter, I know they would want my book! If you write adult fiction, particularly women's fiction, and you have a completed manuscript and you're ready to query, you are positively loony if you don't run out and buy Allison's new book The One That I Want and become eligible to enter this contest. Good luck!

The Controversy of Women's Fiction

After reading this brilliant post by Mary Sharratt at My Friend Amy's book blog it really got me thinking about women's fiction. It brought up a lot of questions: Why are women's issues only relevant to women? Why do women read books about men but rarely do we see the opposite? Why are most books categorized as women's fiction either frowned upon for being frivolous chick lit or criticized as 'misery lit' for taking on weightier issues?

When I finished my novel, I had no idea that it would even be categorized as women's fiction. I had no idea what this genre meant. The only thing I knew was that a man would not want to read my novel. So I immediately stripped it of what I thought might be its original classification: literary fiction. Ya know the 'serious' fiction. The real thing.

Yes. That example right there...that's what some would consider a serious problem.

Or is it?

As I begin to pitch agents and I study this genre, I am very happy to position my novel this way. Ya know why? Women read these novels. They crave them. This means that publishing houses want them. And bookstores want to sell them. This genre is relevant. This is what I call the real thing.

Do I wish more men took these novels seriously? Of course! Do I think Mr. Putlizer and Mr. National Book Award might want to throw these writers a frickin' bone once in a while? Heck yes!

But right now, I'm just thrilled to know that people are actually reading them. And I'd prefer that these readers have a vagina. Because they're the ones actually going out and buying books.