For my money, the hardest part of writing a book is figuring out where to end it. With my first book, The Redheaded Stepchild, it took me nearly two years to figure out an ending. The book was chiefly about the complicated relationship I had with my ex-stepmother, and even when that relationship was over, it wasn’t really over in my mind, so pinning down an ending was difficult. Even though I could pinpoint our last interaction, it still didn’t feel like “the end” in my mind. So I did what any writer does when they don’t know how to end a story: I picked an ending, and I went with it.
I’m working diligently on the last chapter of my current work in progress, Portrait of Woman in Ink: A Tattoo Storybook, but I can’t for the life of me figure out how to end it. Why? Because this last chapter is the chapter about me, and I don’t know this particular story of my life ends. For those of us who write autobiographically, or semi-autobiographically, as my case may be, endings are unbelievably hard to write. What’s keeping from finishing my book is the decision to either wait to see how my story shakes out, or just make something up.
What do you think? Is making up an ending cheating? Or do I pick an ending and go with it?
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It’s another Six Sentence Sunday, and happy summer to y’all! Today, we meet Jenna, the main character of the first story in Portrait of Woman in Ink: A Tattoo Storybook. Jenna is getting ready to get a tattoo with her father and sister, and is reflecting on her complicated relationship with her mother.
Jenna was a spitting image of her mother, especially in this photo, but the similarities ended there. Her mom just didn’t get her, and never had. She didn’t get why she’d want to go to college when she could marry her high school boyfriend and settle down in the picturesque Ozark hills. Jenna thought those days had passed long ago; maybe it was why her mother was the only one in the photo who actually looked like she fit in the era they were simulating, who didn’t look like she was wearing a costume. If it weren’t for the fact that she looked so much like her mom, she might’ve second guessed her parentage. But not her father… he got Jenna, so much that he’d sacrificed his marriage to their mother to keep the kind of closeness they’d always shared.
Thanks for dropping by! Be sure to check out the other talented peeps at Six Sentence Sunday and drop them a line, too.
Leave a CommentIt’s another Six Sentence Sunday! (I’m late on my post – my bad. Better late than never.) Today I’m sharing another snippet from Portrait of Woman in Ink: A Tattoo Storybook. In this chapter we meet Anna, a grad student still grieving the loss of her mother.
On the wall across from her, the family picture they’d taken when she was ten still hung on the wall: her handsome father, her beautiful mother, and one grinning, chubby ten-year-old in the middle. Catching her breath, she still couldn’t get over how beautiful her mother had been.
Still, she reminded herself, her mother had been beautiful because she was so image conscious and had such a distorted view of her body that she’d purged everything she ate for years. Staring at the picture, Anna could see the line from her mother’s dark makeup, the makeup she used to hide her sallow skin tone, permanently jaundiced from all the vomiting. She had eventually died because she wanted so badly to be beautiful. It was why Anna rarely wore makeup and her father constantly told her she was perfect just the way she was, with a few extra pounds and a low-maintenance hairdo.
Stay tuned for next week!
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Authors are constantly finding new ways to use other media to increase the reach of their books, so I am trying a new little experiment, based on some inspiration from Small Demons. I made a list of all the songs referenced in The Redheaded Stepchild and compiled them into a Spotify playlist. I was kind of surprised when I finished, because when I look at the playlist, it really is a pretty great reflection of the story. I noticed a pretty sharp trend in the genres (I was raised in the sticks, after all), and because I am a huge nerd who likes pie, I created an executive-friendly statistical chart.
If you’re not on Spotify, I recommend it, despite the occasional tampon or laundry detergent commercial. If nothing else, to listen to the soundtrack to The Redheaded Stepchild, of course! Enjoy.
Click here to get the soundtrack.
Leave a CommentOh hi! You came to see me, but I am over on my Buddy McPal’s L.M. Stull’s web site today, where I talk about beating writer’s block and minimizing that to-read list with exercise. Go check it out if you’re so inclined.
Leave a CommentOh, hi! You came to visit me, but I am over at Ola Mae’s today where I’ve written a guest post that has nothing to do with writing, but is still cool nonetheless. Sewing is one of the primary ways I distract myself from nurturing my literary dreams, and my friend Kristen’s blog always gives me new and exciting ways to distract myself, so I figured I’d give back.
Go check it out if you’re so inclined.
http://www.ola-maes.com/2012/05/pearl-snap-sundress.html
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Today I have the distinct privilege of hosting my new author friend, Denise DeSio for a little chat. A while back, I got a glowing review for The Redheaded Stepchild on Goodreads – the first one from someone I didn’t know. This kind soul was Denise DeSio, and I figured that if she liked my book, odds are I would like hers, too. It did not disappoint in the least; I can honestly say it’s probably the best book I’ve read this year. We began chatting back and forth about our books, our writing processes, and the ridiculous heat of the Southwest, so today’s just a little continuation of this chat. I was anxious to get an interview going with DeSio, and I welcome her today!
KH: You mentioned to me that you didn’t even know you were writing a book until you threw the characters of Ricky and Eli into the mix. What did you start out thinking you were writing?
DD: I started out doing what I always do with my emotions, putting them to the page. I’m not the type to cry on anyone’s shoulder.
KH: How long did it take, from the first word you wrote to publication, to complete Rose’s Will?
DD: I started writing in September of 2001 and got published in September of 2011.
KH: Why did you choose to go with 48fourteen as your publisher?
DD: 48fourteen’s submission process is respectful of an author’s work. They ask for 3 sample chapters, provide an online form to fill out with room to add unsolicited comments, all of which they read in a timely fashion and deliver a personal response to the submission. They were about to open a new eBook division when I submitted and offered to feature Rose’s Will on the launch. I liked the idea of being a big fish in a small pond, but most of all I really appreciated their sense of commitment to the process. They were also very good about negotiating the contract.
KH: In Rose’s Will, Glory is what you might consider a late-in-life lesbian, after a conventional marriage and children. What kind of message do you think Rose’s Will has for late-in-life lesbians?
DD: Glory is in her mid-twenties when she enters her first lesbian relationship, so yeah, maybe a bit of a late bloomer. I didn’t intend to convey a particular message about that, but if you want a message, here it is: Everyone has the power and the right to fully explore life at any age. We come through this way only once and there is absolutely no reason to be constrained by fear and narrow minded beliefs. So, go for it.
KH: Rose’s Will is a perfect example of how we continue to seek our parents’ love and approval long after childhood, no matter what they do to us. If you could say anything to someone dealing with parentally-inflicted childhood scars, what would it be?
DD: The first and most important thing to say to people who have been wounded is to validate the experience. After that, support whatever way they choose to deal with it. Instead, we often urge adult victims of childhood abuse to let it go or move on, as if that’s all it takes to solve the problem, even when the physical abuse turns to verbal abuse in the adult relationship.
KH: God, the gay gene, writer’s block. Which of these is real?
DD: <Laughing!> I’m going to have to choose writer’s block.
The whole god thing seems no less a myth than Santa, Tooth Fairies and Unicorns. In Rose’s Will, Eli, my Bulgarian Holocaust survivor is an existentialist/humanist. He is one of the most moral characters in the book.
As for the gay gene, I’m not a scientist but I don’t think it’s a gene. I do think that A) sexuality is fluid, B) there might be a physiological component, and C) even if we choose not to play the “born this way” card, no government or religion should regulate love. The world would be much more pleasant if we put our energy into improving the well-being of humanity instead of policing affinities.
KH: What’s your next great project, and when can we expect to see it?
DD: I can’t decide whether I want to edit the novel I wrote for NaNoWriMo last November or edit my Tenants Straight From Hell series. The novel is kind of heavy and TSFH is horrifying and hilarious. I guess I’ll see how I feel after the move. We just bought a house today, so for the next two months I’ll be re-nesting. I’m hoping to have something ready to go by the end of the year, but look for the release of the print version of Rose’s Will in the next couple of months. My publisher just finished re-formatting it.
KH: And finally, if you could have any superpower, what would it be?
DD: I probably would have said something entirely different 20 years ago, but right now I’d like to zap politicians with a truth serum. I’m seriously sick of their lies and I am dreading this election year. It doesn’t mean I’m not going to vote, though. DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF BECOMING SO DISGUSTED THAT YOU DON’T VOTE! There truly is such a thing as the lesser of two evils.
A big thanks to Denise DeSio for giving me an interview right in the middle of house shopping. You’ll hear me talk more and more about Rose’s Will, but if you haven’t picked it up yet, do it. Today. Or when you get paid next, whatever. It is a recent winner of the Reader’s Choice award for general lesbian fiction, an award well deserved. I’d tell you more of my opinion of it, but I think you get the point. You can always check out my Goodreads review of it as well.
BUY ROSE’S WILL for KINDLE
BUY ROSE’S WILL for NOOK
BUY ROSE’S WILL TO READ ON YOUR PC OR LAPTOP (use PDF file)
BUY ROSE’S WILL for ALL OTHER DEVICES (PDF, MOBI, EPUB)
LOOK FOR THE PRINT EDITION THIS SUMMER!
Like Denise on Facebook! http://facebook.com/ReadMyBooks
Tweet me up at @Topbee
Follow her blog at www.DeniseDeSio.com
It’s the end of April and I’m getting closer and closer to getting Portrait of Woman in Ink: A Tattoo Storybook ready for showtime. Today’s six is from one of the stories from this collection.
In this story, we meet Kasey, a young woman in denial about the aggressive nature of her mother’s cancer, a denial that takes the form of trying to give her another grandchild, thinking it will restore her will to live.
Kasey’s birth mother had only been thirteen when she became pregnant, and her birth mother’s aunt (whom Kasey had lovingly referred to as Murr for years) had stepped up to take care of her, become her mother in the loosest definition of the word. Murr was a lot easier to say than “Great Aunt,” and lot less awkward than calling her by “Grace,” her first name. Kasey watched her through the glass, seeing tears of what Kasey hoped was joy (but could have easily also been from one of her increasingly frequent coughing fits) collect in the wrinkles on her face, creasing starkly as she laughed watching her grandson dance in front of the fire. Hopefully he wouldn’t take after his father and think the fire was a toy.
“Is Gracie really going to get a tattoo with you tomorrow?” Shannon asked, her bottom lip shivering in the cold air.
“She says she is, so she better,” Kasey shrugged.
That’s all for now! Be sure to check out all the other talented peeps at Six Sentence Sunday. We all toil away in obscurity; this is just one way we get our names out there.
Leave a CommentThe blogger behind the B’Tween Prose young adult book review blog gave The Redheaded Stepchild a thoughtful review this week while I was working in Miami and trying to find any spare minute to hit the beach.
Be sure to pop over and check out the review, and leave a comment or two on the blog. Book bloggers are the lifeblood of our community!
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