Tayari's Blog: July 2008
July 31, 2008
If It Ain't One Thing, It's Another
This is usually a pretty up-beat blog, but there is a lot of woe on the internet today.Okay. Here we go. In no particular order.
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Category:
Travels & Rambles
July 30, 2008
Brigdes Over Troubled Waters
Are you halfway through a project and sort of feeling all alone, adrift in a sea of half-way-though-ness? Trust me, I know the feeling. To get to the other side, I have a suggestion for you. Warning: It’s a little bit warm and fuzzy, verging on the touchy-feely, but it really worked for me.
Here’s the idea: Right now, today, WRITE YOUR ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS as though your book is all finished and being published tomorrow. The purpose of the exercise is not so that you can fantasize about what it would be like to have your book coming out; this is a time for you to take stock of all the people who have helped you along the way. It’s easy to feel all alone out here and forget that lots of people are pulling for you.
Take your time with it. Thank people that you don’t even talk to anymore. Don’t do the negative spin. For example: “Special thanks to my ex, who taught me everything I will ever need to know about betrayal…” That is not in line with this assignment. Instead, thank that loser for how supportive he was when he first met you. But don't call him a loser. This is an attitude-banishing endeavor!
Craft the document. Make it beautiful. This is no time for a laundry list. Imagine that you are telling the world how much your support group means to you.
Okay, once you have written your acknowledgements, write a letter or send an email to someone on the list and tell her thank you. I recommend that you thank someone who won’t be expecting a thank. Don’t choose your partner or your writing group. Do something special for the laundrymat lady who always says “Hey there, book writer! Hurry up! I need something to read.” Or what about the secretary at your job who looks the other way while you score extra paper and padded envelopes to help you make submissions. Try taking it way back and giving a shout to somebody who encouraged you when you were just a little tyke scribbling around. Remember, just as that person encouraged you, you can actually encourage that person by letting her know what she means to you!
For kicks, here are my acknowledgement pages from Leaving Atlanta.
Posted at 04:58 AM | Comments (0)
Category:
The Writing Life
July 29, 2008
Folks Who Read This Blog Are On a Roll!
Whoa. To say "good news" is an understatement.
If you've got good news, I want to hear about it!
Posted at 09:35 AM | Comments (1)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
July 28, 2008
For 60 Million, And More
Toni Morrison has dedicated a memorial to the men and women whose 
lives were damaged by slavery. The memorial is a simple one, an iron bench. This bench is the first in ten which will make up the "Bench By The Road" project.
One of her favorite sites for a bench would be in Oberlin, Ohio, a stop on the Underground Railroad near her hometown of Lorain, she said. While a number of museums dedicated to black history have sprung up around the country since 1989, as well as much new scholarship about black history Ms. Morrison said she liked the idea of an “unpretentious” bench for its simplicity and accessibility.“Well, the bench is welcoming, open,” she said. “You can be illiterate and sit on the bench, you can be a wanderer or you can be on a search.”
The rest of the article here.
Thanks to my daddy for sending the link.
Posted at 12:10 PM | Comments (1)
Category:
Current Events
Some Links, Just In Case...
Not to be a pessimist, but the computer guy is coming to look at my machine and I have a baaaad feeling that he is going to take it away. I figured that I should post my links etc. now while I still can.
Posted at 10:27 AM | Comments (2)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
Let Us Tweet!
I've had my Twitter account for about a year or so, but haven't 
really figured out what to do with it. For those of you unfamiliar with Twitter, it's a website where you can enter a couple lines of text. The prompt question is What Are You Doing? I could sort of see how it was a neat idea, but then I couldn't quite get the point. Everyone in the blogosphere was into Twitter for a while, but the whole thing felt a little bit pet-rock, if you know what I mean.
But for the last couple of days, I have been updating my twitter with the progress I am making on my writing. I put it over there and not here on the blog because everyone in our blog community isn't writing a novel and it's hard to imagine that people would be all that interested to know that I wrote so much today I had to refill my inkpen. (Although this was a happy little milestone.)
Then I had the idea that any of us that want to, should use twitter to track our progress. We can all be twitter friends and send encouragement, and just to sort of keep each other going. You can tweet anything you want-- word count, problems you meet along the way, celebrations when you finish a chapter, a poem, a stanza, whatever!
Here's my twitter page. Feel free to "follow" and I will add you and I'll follow you back! (Get started with Twitter here.)
Posted at 08:50 AM | Comments (1)
Category:
The Writing Life
The Brand Name Issue
Yesterday, an essay in the NYT really bashed writers who drop brand names in thier work. I read it in total 
agreement. After all, it is pretty irritating, for me at least, to read a line like "She closed her Burberry umbrella, grateful that the mud had not marred her Jimmy Choo slingbacks." When I read something like that, I feel the way I do when people brand-drop in real life.
This morning, I sat down to work on my new novel and I found myself dropping brand names ALL OVER THE PLACE. I mention seven brands in a twenty-page chapter. How can that be? The issue I am facing is that these twenty pages place in a drugstore and a hair salon. I don't think I can refer to the items in this space without using thier brand names.
An example: My characters are in a store (for the ATLiens in the house, it's the SupeRx that used to be in Greenbriar). Dana and Chaurisse are nearly caught by the shoplifting. The manager almost tipples a display of Sea Breeze. (Should I have said "astringent?") Chaurisse girl has stolen a can of Slim Fast. (Should I have said liquid diet meal?) What about S-Curl? That is just so much more specific than "hair texturizer." (You must visit the S-curl website.) Dana is stealing "Dexatrim and Trojans." Doesn't that have more kick that "diet pills" and "condoms"?
Thoughts? Can I get a pass if the brand names are not fabulous, just informative?
July 27, 2008
LushLame Life
I’ve been taking good care of myself for the last couple of weeks. I can’t decide if I am taking care of myself because the writing is going well or vice versa. Did I tidy up my writing area to get myself to write, or did I do it because I was ready to write? Can’t decide, but here are some of my rituals that have me waking up each morning really ready to do my thing.
Right now, all the drama in my life is on the page. Lame as this may sound, it’s working for me.
July 26, 2008
Saturday Afternoon Reading
Posted at 01:55 PM | Comments (2)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
Street Life
I was tootling down 6th Ave this afternoon and I stopped to look at the used book tables that stretch for a full three blocks in the West Village. And what did I see? My baby! Leaving Atlanta!
Posted at 01:36 PM | Comments (1)
Category:
Living For The City
July 24, 2008
Boo! Hiss!
That sucks.
Posted at 07:02 PM | Comments (2)
Category:
July 23, 2008
Shelley E.'s Excellent Adventure
I wasn't the only one who spent the summer at a colony. Shelley Ettinger is up at Staltonsall Foundation for the Arts for a month-long retreat. She was kind enough to take time out to send us this report.
by Shelley Ettinger:
My fellowship at the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts colony 
outside Ithaca, NY, is almost over. It's been a wonderful experience. Every summer the foundation offers a monthlong residency to 15 New York state artists in three sessions; each session has one prose writer, one poet, one photographer and two painters/visual artists. Applications can be downloaded from the foundation's website.
The colony provides just about everything you need to be freed from daily cares and open your mind to let the creativity flow. Each resident artist has a lovely private apartment with bedroom, living room, bathroom and balcony or patio; in addition the writers have a desk/work area, the photographer has a darkroom, and the painters each have a big studio full of natural light.
Posted at 12:27 PM | Comments (0)
Category:
Guest Bloggers
mid-week linkage
Posted at 11:25 AM | Comments (1)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
Indiana Review 2008 Fiction Contest
I am the judge of the 2008 Indiana Review fiction contest, so I 
really urge you to enter. You can find the guidelines on their terrfic website. The entry fee is $15 and the deadline is October 15.
And speaking of Indiana Review. You may remember that fun Q&A with editor Abdel Shakur about the special issue all on funk. Two things: 1) The issue is out now. 2)Every Wednesday of this month there is a trvia giveaway contest on the Indiana Review blog. Today's entry hasn't been posted, but keep clicking.
July 22, 2008
Tuesday Reader
Posted at 10:07 AM | Comments (3)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
As New Edition said: Is This The End?
One of my writing "rules" is turning out to be just a guideline. I have always thought that writing is best when you don't know where the story "is going." I go on and on to my poor students about how when you know the end, you aim for it and the reader can see it coming.
Well, I am about two thirds of the way through with my novel and I felt that I can't go any farther without knowing how things are going to work out. (I could make a really annoying analogy regarding romance, but I'll restrain myself.) Anyway, I did something I have never done. I called my friend, Joy, and bounced around possible endings. We talked it through and I came up with an conclusion that feels both interesting and true.(That's the tricky part. Many interesting endings just seem false and real-seeming endings are often just lame.)
The point is that I am writing a story while under the impression that I know "where it's going". Weirdly enough, I feel okay about it.
When I wrote Leaving Atlanta, I didn't know how the book would end. (I did get an inkling about Rodney's fate about a month before it happened.) I wrote The Untelling feeling as worried as Aria herself about the way things were going to work out.
So what does this mean? I'm not sure. I'll keep you posted.
July 20, 2008
Sunday Summer Links!
Posted at 11:01 AM | Comments (1)
Category:
The Writing Life
At Home, At Last
I'm back home from Blue Mountain Center. (As I was leaving, there was a beautiful sunrise.) It was a very nice retreat, but I am glad 
to be back in my own apartment. Since I have been home, I have been thinking quite a bit about what I can do to my home more conducive to writing. My apartment isn't all that fabulous, but since I live in the NY area it costs me a LOT of money to live up in here, so it only makes sense that I should be able to use this space for my writing. The first order of business when I got in was to clean and brighten up my writing space. (Results above!)
Once I got things tidied up, I tried to figure out what would make the place more encouraging. I have a hard time taking satisfaction for my accomplishments. (To do a little amateur psychology on myself: I think this comes from the way I was brought up. As the daughter in a fairly typical black family, the thinking was that "she'll be fine", meaning there was no need to pay special attention to what I was up to. When I did accomplish things, the general vibe was "we never expected anything less from you." It's a weird combination of pride and indifference.) This said, I have little practice in really celebrating my achievements.
So, what could I put in my writing room to remind me of what's going right? About ten years ago, I was in Jewell Parker Rhodes's living room where I saw all of her book covers beautifully framed and hung on the wall. She said her husband gave them to her. I remember thinking "When I have a book, I hope someone will get my covers framed for me." I never occurred to me that I could (or should!) do these things for myself. Yesterday, I walked over to the local frame shop on the corner and dropped off my book covers and also a poster. I even splurged on the nice matting.
It's a small step in the right direction. Maybe I'll find my degrees and frame them, too. (Truthfully, I have no idea where they could be.) It's okay to be proud of myself, right?
On Monday, I plan to hit the ground running, picking up where I left off at the end of my retreat.
I have a feeling that I am not the only one out there has trouble really celebrating what I have achieved so far. Let's all do *something* this week to reward ourselves for how hard we've worked. If you feel like it, tell us about it in comments.
Posted at 10:01 AM | Comments (2)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
July 16, 2008
In The Mood For Links!
Posted at 05:38 PM | Comments (0)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
Support PEN's FISA Lawsiut
I've just received a message from Francine Prose, the president of PEN American Center:
This week, the ACLU is taking out a full-page ad in a major national newspaper expressing our disappointment over this abandonment of Constitutional principles. The ad will print the names of tens of thousands of Americans who believe in the Constitution and want Congress to hear us loud and clear: next time, stand up for our rights.I have signed my name, letting Congress know exactly how I feel about them selling out our right to privacy. You can sign your name to the ACLU’s newspaper ad, but you have to do it no later than 6 pm today. Signing only takes a minute. When you do, let people know in comments.
This is important.
Posted at 10:00 AM | Comments (1)
Category:
Current Events
July 15, 2008
Getting Ready for the Wrap-Up
Well, the votes are in. Everyone seems to think that I should move forward with the manuscript rather that look back through the pages I 
have already written. I tried, but I got all jammed up. I revisited the paged, added some paragraphs, fixed a little something here and there. I feel better about the chapters. I reordered them. But I haven’t moved forward. Well, that’s not exactly true. I took a couple of baby steps. (5 pages or thereabouts.)
I am not sure what this is all about. Maybe am just refilling the well. I wrote those 53 pages like I was on fire. The words came pouring out and maybe I have just run out, a temporary condition, I’m sure.) Or It could be about the fact that I am ready to get back home to my own bed. (And my own phone. This cell phone ban is freaking me out. Phone Friends, I MISS YOU!) I also miss my life. I miss my friends. I have already set up lunch dates, happy hour gatherings, and even a spa day for the moment I get back. I guess it’s good that at the end of a residency--4 more days--I am just ready to go home.
But back to the writing. I am ready take inventory for the time spent Blue Mountain. Although sixty or so pages isn’t the 100 I’d hoped for, it’s been a good run. I accomplished more in these four weeks than I did all last school year. When I get home, I am going to dedicate myself to fixing up my writing room and getting into a rhythm. It doesn’t make sense that I have to leave home to get my work done. I have to learn how to get inspired wherever I am.
(Photo on the left is of a water lily. I snapped it on an 11-mile canoe adventure.)
July 11, 2008
Summer Page Burner
The Untelling has been listed by The Root as a "Summer Page 
Burner". Since I am out in the wilderness, I can't really keep up with the internet like I usually do. Vickie Beene-- BNH's 2nd Biggest Fan-- was kind enough to let me know about it.
You can see the full list of summer recommendations, here. And, (ahem), you can leave comments on The Root!
Blast From The Past
Michael Fischer brought this to my attention, a 2002 Mississippi Public Broadcast interview with "first-time author", Tayari Jones. I remember this taping. I was so young and nervous. Watching it gave me a little boost. I was thinking, "I remember that young lady."
July 09, 2008
Great News
for members of this blog community! You folks are amazing!
Got good news? Let me know. We want to include you in the group-hug!
Posted at 10:05 AM | Comments (0)
Category:
Back OR Forth?
As you all know, I have been plugging away at my new novel here at Blue Mountain Center. Progress has been good. I am happy and very grateful. I had been feeling stalled on the novel and being here has allowed me to dive back into that realm.
I sent my three chapters to a friend, just to show her what I was up to. She’s a terrific reader and pointed out some serious issues with the work I have done. Mainly that the voice is sort of off. This is a pretty significant problem. (She also gave praise. I don't want you to think she's a hater. She's not. She rocks.)
It’s not so surprising since I am writing the second half of the novel in a different character’s voice and it takes a while to sort of hit my stride. The question is this: Should I rewrite the first 50 pages in an attempt to solidify the voice now, or should I just keep going and let the voice firm up as I go along? I usually learn toward the second option as my thinking is that I don’t know enough about the character to know her voice yet. But then, there is a part of me that wants to do it right and that part of me wants it right, RIGHT NOW.
(I generally advise students to just KEEP GOING. It is easy to get stuck revising the first chapter for all eternity. I know this, I know this.)
Truth be told, I am hyper aware of my page count. (I was so proud of myself last week!) I have this fantasy of leaving here with 100 pages. But should I let this crazy compulsion to make “progress” motivate me to do rack up pages at any cost?
Oh, I just don’t know what to do. So what I have done for the last two days? I have eaten cookies, taken a hike, photographed a deer, given advice, eaten more cookies.. But written NOTHING.
July 07, 2008
SITTING PRETTY
I just wanted to make a public thank you to everyone who heard my cry for hair and body products. Well, actually, I just asked for hair stuff, but you wisely deduced that a region without pink oil, probably isn't equipped to handle chronic ashiness. So right you were. As you can see from the photo, I have two bottles of pink oil. I think I will leave one in the common cupboard. The next sister that comes here will be soooo grateful.
Posted at 11:43 AM | Comments (4)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
July 04, 2008
Mid-Point Progress Report
Well, this is officially half-way through my residency at Blue Mountain Center. Two weeks down, two to go. I am happy to report that I am making some good progress here on my novel. I am trying to figure out the best way to report. There is always word count, but that doesn't really get to the heart of the effort. But I guess we have to work with what can be measured. So here goes:
Words: 13,571
Not bad at all.
July 02, 2008
Lovely Day Links
Here are a few interesting things on the web these days:
a lot like playing spades.)Posted at 09:22 AM | Comments (0)
Category:
Travels & Rambles
Around the World in A Day
I am very excited to report that I am going to address FEMRITE, a Ugandan women's writers organization on July 17-- and I don't even need my passport. The US State Department, which extended the invitation, has arranged for me to take part in a teleconfrence. The theme of the event is "Telling The Unfmailiar Story" with an emphasis on using contemporary literature to talk about history. I hope that I will be able to get some photos emailed to me from the Ugandan side of the conversation. More details to come!
July 01, 2008
Have You Found Her Video?
You might remember a few months ago when I read "Have You Found Her" by Janice Earlbaum and I dug it. (And remember when we read together to benefit Girls Write Now?) Well, I thought I had just kind of read the book, dug it and moved on to dig other things. Well, today I saw the book trailer. It's so good! Who knew Janice was so talented? I meant I knew she was talented, but who knew she was sooooo brilliant? Go look at it. Janice plays ALL the roles!
So now, I want to make a video. I really really really do. But, uh, maybe I need to go finish the book? So on that note, I am signing off.
Posted at 10:01 AM | Comments (1)
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