I’m really excited to let you know I’ll be talking about young adult books and about my book, Where the Light Enters, on the Lit to Lens podcast. We’re recording at the end of this month and then it will publish shortly after that. I’m thrilled to talk about this wonderful genre and the impact it has on our young people’s lives.
Tag: books
Wonder: Writing my second book about Emerson Page
“We read to know we’re not alone.” ~C.S. Lewis
This is also the reason I write. A few days ago I mentioned that I was in a bit of a writing funk and now I know why. With my book, Where the Light Enters, I created a whole cast of characters set in a whole new world. Now that I’ve finished the first manuscript, I really missed them the way I miss people I love when I don’t see them as often as I’d like. It’s strange to think that we can invent something that gives us that kind of emotion, but we can. I guess it is a great blessing and curse of our imaginations.
And so today I started sketching out ideas for Miss Emerson Page and the enormous task she takes on at the end of the first book. I don’t know where she’s heading yet, how she’ll get there, or who she’ll meet, but I do know this—it’s wonderful to see her again.
Wonder: Looking fear in the face and writing anyway
Yesterday I started a scary process: writing query letters to agents. My fingers hovered over my keyboard, shaking. What was so hard about presenting my work and asking someone to consider representing me? Good old-fashioned rejection.
And then I reminded myself that every letter, every book, every play that’s ever been written is done in the exact same way – one word at a time. So that’s what I committed to write. One word followed by another followed by another. Letter by letter, I got there and wrote my first one. And so it begins…a little scary, a little trying, and ultimately, hopefully, worthwhile. Emerson deserves to have someone fight for her story.
Wonder: It’s just the wind and shadows
This is a story for all of you who are on the cusp of the unknown: maybe you’re starting a new job or leaving an old job, starting a relationship or leaving one, moving to a new city or home, or embarking on a new project of some kind.
My boss is reading The Winnie the Pooh collection of stories to her daughter. In one story called “Don’t Be Scared, Piglet and Roo!”, Piglet and Roo, two of the smallest characters in the cast, hear scary noises and see scary shapes at night. Her daughter has read this story many times and as soon as Piglet and Roo show signs of being scared, her daughter calls out “Don’t worry, it’s just the wind and shadows!” And it is. And eventually Piglet and Roo learn that. When boss was telling me that story, I thought about how often our minds go to that place, how often we’re afraid of things that we don’t need to be afraid of. It is the perfect metaphor for being afraid of the unknown.
Don’t be afraid. Let’s go out into the unknown together, support one another, and see what we find. The wind and shadows won’t be so scary as long as we aren’t alone in our journey.
Wonder: Narrative’s soul
“Specificity is the soul of narrative.” ~Judge John Hodgman
I’m using part of this long weekend to get back to writing. Emerson has been waiting for me for a few months while I traveled, moved, and got my life set up again in a new place. So today I dust off those cobwebs and look at her life and trials with new fresh eyes to begin the next and final round of edits.
As I take up the task of these edits, I’m reminded of what it means to literally create the soul of a character. Not a hollow shell with a name who faces challenges in a setting, but a living, breathing soul whom you root for, who conveys her emotions in a way that is visceral. You hurt when she hurts. You cry when she cries. You smile when she smiles. You win when she wins.
The only way to do that is to get specific, to place the reader right into her mind and her heart. That’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s always fun to do the impossible.
Wonder: Latest draft of my novel, Where the Light Enters, is complete
After several months, I’ve finally finished the latest round of handwritten edits for my novel, Emerson Page – Where the Light Enters. Once I get them all transcribed, I’ll finally have a version that I can work on with an editor before beginning the journey of submitting it for possible publication.
Writing a book is a long and winding road, and I am so happy and grateful to be traveling this route. I remain very grateful to so many of you who always support my writing and creative projects. We may write a book one word at a time, but it takes a village of support to keep going.
I can’t wait to introduce you to Emerson and take you into her world. She has taught me so much already, and I’m sure the best is yet to come.
Wonder: How to rediscover the light
“Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness, and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.” ~Anne Lamott
Anne Lamott is one of my very favorite authors. I like her sass, crankiness, and craziness as much as I adore her poetry and poignancy. Her thoughts on faith are particularly inspiring. I’m not a religious person. I don’t go to any kind of house of worship (except to see art and architecture), and I don’t consider myself to be of any denomination. I do believe in the goodness of people and the wisdom of the universe. I do believe we are all connected and the very best we can do on this plane is to take care of each other.
Sometimes life leaves us shaking our heads. It leaves us confused and bewildered. Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do people who behave badly often seem to skate by unscathed? Why is there violence, cruelty, loss, narcissism, and on occasion, massive disappointment? I don’t know any of those answers, though I do know this: the light returns. Always, always, always. The scene that the light illuminates is undoubtedly different after any kind of major emotional event, and it will be seen.
I often hate the mess of life. It can leave us gutted and uncomfortable. In those moments, I sit. I breathe. I listen to the beat of my heart. I remind myself that all over the world every living being is experiencing that same rhythm of life, whether they know it or not. If we can tune our senses to that oneness, then I find that we can bounce back from anything. Braver, wiser, and with more compassion than ever. We become the light.
This just in: A Christmas Carol and how art transforms tragedy into triumph
I am so deeply committed to the arts in any form for one simple reason: it is the one vehicle we have to take any circumstance, be it joyful or tragic, and turn it into something that can inspire anyone who comes in contact with it. One of my favorite examples of this is A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens.
Dickens’s tale makes him synonymous with Christmas. He grew up in dire circumstances, going to work in a factory at age 12 in order to support his family because his father had been jailed for debt. His early personal experience with poverty fueled his passion to use his writing to speak for people who couldn’t speak for themselves. Originally, he wanted to create a political pamphlet about poverty in Victorian England and instead decided to write A Christmas Carol because he felt it would have “20 times the impact of a political pamphlet.” He was right that it would have more impact. What he didn’t know is that it would remain in print for 172 years (and counting!), and become one of the most beloved texts and multi-media traditions of all-time.
So this Christmas, whether you’re listening to holiday music, reading a book like A Christmas Carol, or watching a holiday movie, let’s take a moment to recognize that the tough times we experience have the potential to be turned into something beautiful that could inspire people and help them persevere.
This just in: Reading Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates while traveling
Reading while traveling has always been special to me. While I’m learning about other cultures, books help me see how much I have to learn about my own home. While I was in Sarajevo and Budapest, I read Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates. It is a tough and necessary read, especially for Americans who aren’t black. While I will never truly understand what it means to be black in America, I do want to understand as much and as best I can. This book forced me to wake up.
I live just north of Howard University, where Coates went to school and where his father worked for many years. After reading this book, I see Howard in a new light. That is sacred ground for its students because for many, their time there is the beginning of them feeling fully accepted and respected by those around them.
Coates talks about the constant pursuit by black Americans to work twice as hard to get half as far as whites in America. He talks about The Dream and The Dreamers, and how neither are fully accessible, much less possible, for many black people in America. He talks about the constant message we send to black youth—when dealing with storied institutions here, keep your head down, your mouth shut, and your eyes and ears open for danger. This book, and its truths, broke my heart
I will fully admit that I cried through much of the book, out of sadness, embarrassment, and anger. 250 years on from the end of the Civil War and still, it rages on in the streets all over this country. I had hoped the book would wrap up with ideas of how to solve the struggle. It didn’t. And maybe that’s the point. We can’t erase history. We can only learn from it and use it as context to frame the situation currently at-hand. Coates wrote this book as a guide to taking the first step on the journey, not a guide to get to some pre-determined destination.
With this book, I have more awareness and understanding of the anger and fear felt by the black community, especially in light of the year we’ve had. And that’s a start.
This just in: Welcome to Night Vale
I went to Sixth & I last night to see Linda Holmes interview Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, the creators of the podcast and new novel, Welcome to Night Vale. Night Vale is a small southwestern town where every conspiracy theory is true. There’s much you can read about the podcast – how it was started by two theater artists in a Brooklyn apartment, that there were only 52 downloads in the first month, and that the creators are flat-out shocked by the success of this off-beat, quirky, and confounding story that’s filled with equal amounts of tenderness and weirdness.
What you haven’t heard, because it has to be experienced, is the overwhelming joy that the loyal fans feel toward this story, these characters, this town, and its creators. The cheers and applause never stopped at the event last night. The laughter literally rang through the rafters of Sixth & I, the warmth between the audience and the authors was palpable, and I’ll never forget it. This is what story told with authenticity and love can do. This is what happens when we build from the heart and not for the wallet. (Night Vale refuses to take money from advertising and instead relies on donations, merchandise sales, and revenue from live shows.) It’s an example of how art done right has a powerful impact on the soul. All of it makes me happy.
Christa Avampato 