The final cover art and galley for my young adult fantasy novel, Emerson Page and Where the Light Enters, are off to the printer. I’m now shoulder-deep in marketing and promotion of the book. Are you interested in reading it and being an early reviewer on your own blog or on Amazon? Do you know someone else who might be interested? Please send me an email. I’d love to hear from you!
Tag: writer
In the pause: Whispers in the night—how our books speak to us as writers
A few days ago, I mentioned that I was having trouble writing Emerson‘s second book. Last night, I just decided to tag along with her to see where she was going, what she was doing, and who she was with. I didn’t expect or ask for anything. I just stayed quiet and listened. I was helped by the idea of a dæmon in The Golden Compass; Lyra’s dæmon sometimes hitches a ride on her shoulder to join the adventure. I did the same with Emerson.
It’s odd what your characters will tell you when you just listen to them. I found out Emerson’s birthday is January 1st, that there are now hundreds, maybe even thousands, of people who are looking for the same treasure that she seeks, and that her travels take her not to one place in Book 2 but many places. There’s some romance, heartbreak, and loss. She will be plunged into memories she would rather not see but are vital to her pursuits and her destiny. There are portals hidden in plain sight. The line between the physical world and the world of the mind is blurred to the point where they’re really no different at all. Time and space are much more fluid than we imagine them to be.
So today, I’m putting my ear to the ground, closing my eyes, and listening intently to the adventures Emerson has taken. I imagine her now, much older and wiser, entertaining a woman (me) who just showed up at her door and asked to hear the story of her life. She has a lot to tell me. She just needs some time.
In the pause: A lesson in writing from Terry Prachett—just tell yourself a story
“The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” ~Terry Prachett
I’ve been having trouble writing Emerson’s second book. I have a pile of index cards I shuffle around, but the truth is I’m nervous. I’m stalling. The first book was such a heavy life, but ignorance was bliss. I had no expectations of it except to write it down as truthfully as I could. I had been thinking about it for so long (5 years) before I started writing it that its scenes and words were well-etched in my mind.
This time is different. I feel more responsibility to get it right, to stay honest to what I created in the first book. I don’t want to let down Emerson. In my procrastination and stagnation, I found this quote from Terry Prachett. It made me feel a little bit bolder and braver, less cautious and concerned. There will come a time for refinement and revision, but that day’s not today. Today, I’m just letting Emerson tell me her story.
In the pause: How fantasy writing helps us understand reality – a lesson from Dr. Seuss
“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living; it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.” ~Dr. Seuss
Escaping through books is a valuable exercise whether you’re a writer, a reader, or both. When we let go of the world we know and enter into another world, that distance gives us greater perspective. We breathe a little easier. Our muscles relax. A little distance, a short escape, can help us see more clearly and act with more purpose.
If you’re wrestling through a challenge right now—personal or professional—take a break. Read a book, preferably one that has absolute nothing to do with the challenge you’re trying to manage. Let the dust settle and let your mind go somewhere else for a while. You’ll be surprised by what appears.
In the pause: Sometimes, a tree is a door, and other things you learn as a writer
Sometimes, a tree is a door. This is a picture of the tree outside my apartment building. It has a doorknob attached to it. Naturally my writer brain wondered what would happen if I turned it and what secret world it concealed. So obviously, that’s somehow going in the second book in the Emerson Page series. Inspiration is everywhere. It’s our job to use it.
In the pause: Write your stories now
“I like stories where women save themselves.” ~Neil Gaiman
Screw patience. Do what makes you happy now. If someone asked me how I got to the point I am in my life now, as a person and as a writer, my answer would be “I’ve always been my own savior.” I’ve never expected anyone to fix anything or do anything for me. I don’t want or wait well. All I really know how to do is roll up my sleeves and get to work. Sometimes that work is with other people like my experience in theater, and sometimes that work is on my own like sitting down to write my book. Some call it feisty, others call it fiery, and I call it building a life I love.
Our time is so precious and so short. It flies by despite our efforts to slow it down. Every day matters. Don’t bottle yourself up or tell yourself , “Someday, I’ll do what I love.” Do it now. Some day is today, every day. I promised myself a long time ago that I wasn’t going to die with the music, or the books, still in me. I was going to live and write out loud. However improbable my book seemed, I was going to find a way to get it done. And I did. You will, too. Keep writing.
In the pause: Making a writer’s life on the streets of New York City
In New York City, I find inspiration on every corner. My novel is set on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and deep below the streets of New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Central Park, and the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History figure prominently into the story and serve as powerful settings for the events that unfold for Emerson and the other characters. This weekend, I walked through areas of the Upper West Side that inspired bits of dialogue and the actions of the story. I could feel them as I walked down those streets. I could see scenes play themselves out. Being a writer is the best virtual reality system there is—all of a sudden the world becomes a stage and you create every detail of the players who move through it. I wonder what stories are still waiting for me on those magical streets.
In the pause: Write and live like you’re running out of time—another lesson from Hamilton
“Why do you write like you’re running out of time?” ~Aaron Burr, “Non-Stop” from the musical Hamilton
Sometimes the best thing you can do with your neuroses is accept them and work within them. I think that might be the secret to life.
Hamilton has a way of teaching us so many lessons, about history, economics, and life. There are many ways to describe Alexander Hamilton and I think there is one that stands above all others—non-stop. Something in him knew his life would be short; he had seen so much loss at such a young age. He understood how fleeting life can be. He wrote and worked and loved and lived like he was running out of time because he was. We all are.
I’m not suggesting that this is the only way to live. I’m not even suggesting that it’s a good idea to focus so maniacally on what we’ve lost as Hamilton did. I just know that this is how my mind works. I see time ticking by and do what I can to make the most of it because I can’t make it slow down. This is what keeps me moving forward, especially in times of difficulty.
I’ve never been good at waiting and biding my time. No one I know would ever call me patient. I sit for 18 minutes a day meditating, and that’s about what I can handle. I don’t dwell on things I try that don’t work out—and that goes for baking a pie to landing a job and everything in between. I learn from my experiences and try something else. “Netflix and chill” is never going to be a phrase I embrace (and by that I mean the clean version, friends). I wish I could; I just can’t do it and be happy. And I like to be happy so I embrace my work, my friends, and my curiosity. Those are the things that matter to me.
We’ve just got this one life, and no one is ever going to find a way to manufacture more time. Time is the most equitable resource on Earth. We all get the same 24 hours. Let’s use them in ways that mean something to us. Hamilton certainly did.
Wonder: How writers can handle rejection
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” ~Theodore Roosevelt
As a writer and an artist, I get rejected every day in one form or another because that’s what happens when you put your work out into the world every day. Critics are everywhere. I am still inspired to keep going because I create the work I want to read. I write the stories I most wanted to believe in, and that belief is a shield and a sword against any rejection. All artists in every medium need that belief.
If you’re struggling now to get your work out into the world or dealing with rejection on any level, keep these words from Theodore Roosevelt close to your heart. They help me keep my head up and my fingers tapping on the keys.
Wonder: Write one word at a time
“There’s only one way to write a book: one word at a time.” ~R. Edward Freeman
It took me two years to write my book, Where the Light Enters. Books have a long life, in their creation and, hopefully, in the hearts and minds of readers. Two years can feel like a long time to work on one single project. Even at my most frustrated times, I was determined to push through and finish. During that process, I often thought about my professor, mentor, and friend, Ed Freeman, the author of many books that have influenced how I see the world and my role in it, as a writer and as a business person. In every moment, all I had to do was write the next word. That mantra helped me keep going.
You might be in the middle of a project now. Maybe you’ve been working on it for a long time. Maybe you feel like you’re spinning in circle, going nowhere fast. These are the times that require more attention, not less. These are times when we must double down, not run away. I know it’s tempting to chase the next new thing. I know the exhilaration born of a new start and a blank page. Don’t quit now. Don’t throw in the towel. Resist the urge to run. Sit. Breathe. And see what happens. Let your drive to tell a story as honestly and clearly as possible be greater than your fear of falling short. Just take it one word as a time.
Christa Avampato 