Shh...it's a secret blog hop

Welcome to the next stop on the "Shh...it's a secret" blog hop. Participants can share a story about a secret pact they have made, a friend they are close to, or a close knit group that has helped them through hard times.

The Pub Pact (or the Anti-Saloon League gets some sense)

Welcome back to Warwickshire, long-lost cousin!

I’d been dreaming of going to England since the day Mom read me the story of Lucy Pevensie hiding in a wardrobe and landing in Narnia. Not only was England magical, but also, according to my Dad, our ancestral home. Though my Webster ancestor left Warwickshire for Connecticut in the 1600s, I was certain that going back would feel like arriving home. It would be a struggle to get there, of course. As the youngest of five, I knew college alone would be financially difficult for my family, and studying abroad? That would be above and beyond—something I’d have to make happen for myself. For seven years I worked a string of terrible jobs, from Avon lady to foam-head carnival character to janitor to discount store cashier. My college study abroad experience, I believed, would be my Cinderella-at-the-ball experience.

What a starry-eyed kid I was.

My college friends who’d spent a semester abroad before me gave me lists of things you couldn’t buy there (back in the pre-Internet era). I loaded up on Reese’s cups, a giant jar of Jiff and some favorite toiletries and considered myself ready.

I hadn’t prepared at all for the possibility that culture clashes would be deeper than a British dislike of peanut butter. My rudest awakening was discovering the program I’d joined, run by a consortium of Christian colleges, would be plopping us into a secular school—one with a culture built around pub crawling.

Social lubricant or demon drink?

I was old enough to drink in the US and well above legal age in Britain. But having grown up in a teetotaler household and spending 3.5 years on a dry campus, I found the idea of binge drinking a bit scary. And as hard as I’d worked to get to the land of castles, cathedrals and magic wardrobes, pub crawls weren’t high on my list of great ways to spend your time and money in England. This left me at total loss of how to not die of loneliness while my classmates went off to get wasted most nights of the week.

Fortunately, I wasn’t quite so alone. I soon discovered that about half of the other American students in our group of 18 weren’t that keen to binge drink. We quickly banded together to make the most of our time abroad actually traveling beyond the strip of pubs near campus. We shared the task of researching hostels and bus schedules, and had some great daytrips and weekends away together.

Early on, it became clear we all took our faith pretty seriously. Soon we were debating American Christianity’s taboo on drinking and whether it’s actually Biblical. Back home, there didn’t seem to be much room for debate on the topic, so it was really refreshing to re-examine my upbringing in light of another culture and try to find some middle ground between total abstinence and total debauchery. Visiting pubs to try local craft brews with a plate of bangers and mash or shepherd’s pie became as much part of the group’s identity as trying a variety of church services and praying together.

While my naïveté took a serious beating during that semester, my study-abroad buddies helped me not just survive, but change, grow and thrive.

image credits:  castles.org; realbeer.com
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The "Shh...it's a secret" blog hop is in honor of the recent release of Poetry Pact volume 1. Blog hop host Angela Felsted is offering awesome prizes to those who participate in the hop and/or help promote the anthology. Click HERE to find out more.

Want to join the blog hop? Sign up here:

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Why women can't have it all (writer's edition)

Recently I've seen a number of people link this thoughtful article from The Atlantic Monthly: "Why Women Still Can't Have It All." It's quite long, but very thorough and worth the time to read.

The author argues that women "having it all"--that is, having a stellar career and a fulfilling family life--remains unattainable for a number of reasons that she explores in depth. But overall, it's because American culture hasn't changed deeply enough. To rise to prominence in a career, male or female, you are expected to sacrifice all your time, creativity and energy to work. Give family greater prominence and your commitment to your job is suspect.

As I hear increasingly of the productivity expectations for today's authors, I can see that writing is increasingly becoming less of a family-friendly career choice than it used to be. Besides all the marketing and social media responsibilities, today's authors are also supposed to produce multiple books a year. Family time is increasingly squeezed. Produce less and you'll likely need to make other un-family-friendly decisions, like taking a day job, in order to make ends meet. I also can't help but notice that many published authors I know are single, childless or empty-nesters--and I don't think it's just a coincidence.

What do you think? Is it still possible to be an author who puts family first and how?

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Things I wish I didn't love

I know everyone has their guilty pleasures. Here are a few of mine, things I sometimes suspect might not be the best things to love.

Horses

I live in Philadelphia. In an historic row house. With a back yard that's approximately 18' x 30'. And yet I still have dreams of owning a  palomino quarter horse mare, a dark bay Morgan gelding, a sweet sorrel Welsh pony (for my daughter of course).  In the city, boarding horses costs as much as a mortgage and riding lessons as much as renting a studio apartment. Not exactly in the budget.

Dr. Who

The longest-running science fiction television series is painfully slow to become available in the US. And because the earliest episodes were so cheesy  (versus the awesome recent incarnation), people over thirty think you have terrible taste for liking it. And Daleks do look like salt and pepper shakers, so they don't seem that scary to most Americans, either. Rarely are problems solved with violence, another apparent sign of "lame factor." The science is bogus, too, but dang is it FUN. And wonderfully Anglo-centric.

Spider Solitaire

Two-suit Spider Solitaire is the most addicting game ever. The fact you can undo moves means you can replay the same game dozens of times and waste hour upon hour. And yet, nothing relaxes me quite as much as finagling those cards into perfect order.

Rotating the stock

I always put the new stuff in the back or on the bottom--sheets, silverware, dishes, you name it. I picked up this weird habit from working retail from age 15 to 21. It was a way to ensure the older products moved; the principle at home is that it ensures even wear of your belongings. Every fork is used, not just the same six. But this system makes it take longer to put anything away. And yet I can't stop. I mean, the system works. After nearly fourteen years of marriage, I've only had one set of wedding-gift sheets wear out. 


Your turn. What are some things you wish you didn't love?

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Event vs. scene: avoiding middle muddle

There are a number of reasons a novel's middle becomes muddled during the drafting phase. One can lose the protagonist's "throughline"--that is, his or her desire or need that fuels the story action. Or perhaps a secondary character elbows out the protagonist and POV suddenly shifts. Most likely, however, the directions a story could go seems infinite and both plot and subplot sputter out or spin wildly out of control.

You might handle middle muddle by trying to write through it. But it's likely you'll write a whole lot of uninteresting garbage you'll have to jettison later. Better to pause for a time to do a little planning.

In Beginnings, Middles and Ends, Nancy Kress recommends making some key decisions before you delve too deep in drafting your novel's middle.

Start by listing all the events that happen to all the characters from the beginning to the end. This might include things going on simultaneously in different places. It might help to make your list in columns by location or main actor. Throw in anything that's interesting and relevant to moving the story forward, keeping in mind the protagonist's throughline (goal, driving desire).

Now, mark with a highlighter all those events that occur somewhere other than in the POV character's presence. You will have to figure out how to let the reader know about these events--an act of discovery will be needed in scenes to cover offstage events.

Once you've adjusted your list of events for point of view, you'll need to whittle it down further. Which events actually merit being dramatized into scenes? Might an event need multiple scenes to fully dramatize it? Might it better be handled in exposition? Some seemingly pivotal events might get the most dramatic bang when handled indirectly in a reaction scene. But you absolutely should not spend time trying to dramatize every last event that happens, only those that are interesting.

Kress's rule of thumb is that scenes you give the most attention should relate directly to the throughline. A story can often be sharpened by concentrating its events and emotion into the bare minimum of scenes. Some of the "stage business" of getting characters from here to there can still come into play, but these details are best digested by your readers if throughline-related changes occur at the same time. Characters might argue during a car trip, the heroine might uncover surprising information eavesdropping while waiting for her date to arrive at the restaurant.

So, to sum up, prepare for your middle by deciding every story event--what happens to every character in every place during the story's timeframe. Then organize the events into the minimal number of dramatic scenes (and narrative summary scenes) that keeps the protagonist's throughline front and center.

Do you struggle with story middles? What things have bogged you down? What tips have helped?

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Trapped

Have you ever felt trapped? Maybe you've had a clingy friend who tried to cut you off from other friendships. Or perhaps a crush on someone who's already attached. Or you're stuck in a job you hate because you need the insurance or tuition benefits. Maybe its a toxic relative you can't seem to escape. Perhaps a story idea has invaded your brain you but you can't yet organize or even articulate what it's about, but it won't let you get anything else done.

In her latest YA suspense novel ALTERCATION, Tamara Hart Heiner delves into one teen's experience feeling trapped. Jaci Rivera, the heroine of PERILOUS, is caught between criminals who want to hurt her and well-intended government officials whose attempts to protect her may prove too little, too late.

The FBI promises Jacinta Rivera and her friends that they are safe. Jaci wants desperately to believe them, but weeks of hiding from their kidnapper, alias "The Hand," have left her wary. Hidden from the public eye in an FBI safe house, Jaci must reconcile both the mysterious disappearance of her father and the murder of her best friend.

A betrayal lands Jaci back in the grasp of The Hand, shattering her ability to trust and leaving her to wonder if she will ever piece together her broken life.

See Shannon O'Donnell's review of ALTERCATION at Book Dreaming.

The paperback of ALTERCATION is available here and the e-book here.

On every day of her blog tour, Tamara will randomly select one person who made a comment on that day's blog. The winner will receive an ebook copy of either PERILOUS or ALTERCATION. There's just one catch: there must be at least ten comments on that day for Tamara to do the giveaway.

Leaving a comment also gets you entered into the PRIZE DRAWINGS. This won't be random; it's cumulative. Every comment you leave counts as 1 point. If you are a follower on Tamara's blog, you get 1 point. Every time you tweet or share on Facebook about the tour, it's one point. She'll even add it up for you; just include Tamara on the tweet @tamaraheiner or on Facebook @tamarahartheiner.

You could win:
THIRD PRIZE: 50-page critique of something of your choice (if you're not a
writer, a $5 amazon.com gift card)
SECOND PRIZE: lot of five YA books
FIRST PRIZE: $20 gift card to Amazon.com

Fabulous, right?


Tell me about a time you felt trapped. Did you simply endure until help came, or did you fight to get free?

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Finding brain space (and a winner!)

I won't torment you finger-crossing, breath-holding entrants in my anthology giveaway. Let's cut to the chase.

Heidi Willis

is the winner of  Poetry Pact volume 1!!

Thanks to everyone who entered. And note that the Kindle edition is now available for just $2.99. All proceeds go to Direct Relief International, a global aid organization.



Finding brain space

In the past year or so, I've struggled with an inner world that sounds a bit like this:

laundry - train - how many characters is too many? - school bus - out of aluminum foil - how do you document this version of Joyce's Ulysses? - veterinarian appointment - ADHD - printer jam - 1703 merchant costume for social studies project - Ezra Pound estate - ironing - prayer - elevator scene - weed and mulch - does Turkish have a possessive case? - choosing gratitude - blog commenting - dentist appointments - advertising deadline - back cover blurb - playdates - squirrel - baby shower - moldy shower curtain - curtain styles in the 1960s - Beatnik poetry - poetry anthology - Duotrope e-mails - another birthday party ?! - dinner with "the girls" - weight gain - parenting through puberty - date night - dying neighbor - homonym errors - book trailer - fleas - wedding present - friend's divorce - abiding in Christ - evil candy-filled vending machine - stroke or no stroke in chapter 11? - dog's arthritis ...

If I were to go through the list with colored markers, I could pretty quickly identify what thoughts are consuming most of my brain space (job, household management, kid) and which ones are barely registering (hello neglected hubby, extended family, poetry writing).

As I've been reading up on "executive skills" to help my daughter become less scattered, I've had to come to grips with my own strengths and weaknesses. My girl has a very poor "working memory"--the ability to hold and quickly draw on practical information--yet mine is excellent. I rarely write lists, believing I don't need to. But the more I keep adding new information to my mental lists, the more noisy my brain becomes. Soon that "excellent working memory" becomes more of a handicap than an asset. So much is in my head, I can't easily articulate my needs so others can pitch in. I get more and more overwhelmed because I've made my memory my master.

And you know what else? I have no brain space for aesthetic pleasure, creativity or long-term planning and dreaming. And this, friends, is no way to really live.

I've been able to help my daughter tackle her morning, after school and bedtime routines with fewer reminders and nagging by simply creating lists and incentives. As she successfully completes tasks and moves a magnet or pushpin from the "to do" to "done" column each day, she earns songs for her MP3 player. She's doing great, I'm yelling less. And best of all? I don't have to remember what she needs to remember.

In fact, remembering less feels so good, I want to start doing it more often in other areas of my life. At the office, I've made more use of spreadsheets and the "tasks" function in Gmail.

I'm keeping a journal in my purse for note taking. I've also looked into the Kindle apps store, and I think I'll download calendar and address book apps so I no longer feel the need to hold so many dates and phone numbers in my head.

Creativity requires breathing space in your brain. If you find yourself frequently stuck, or simply not writing much at all, consider how you might clear some mental clutter.

Is yours as crowded as mine? How might you clear some mental space?

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Shh...it's a secret!

To celebrate the release of Poetry Pact volume 1, the awesome Angela Felsted (anthology contributing editor) is hosting a blog hop that will run June 27-29.

In this hop, participants can share a story about a secret pact they have made, a friend they are close to, or a close knit group that has helped them through hard times. Post on any of the three days.

Angela is offering a host of awesome prizes, too. Click HERE to find out more.

Won't you join us? Sign up here:

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for a chance to win the anthology Poetry Pact Volume 1.

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