Tayari's Blog: August 2009
August 31, 2009
Katrina: The Blood Dazzler
Four years ago, this week, Hurricaine Katrina devastated New Orleans and this entire nation. In this video Patricia Smith reads from her award winning poetry collection, Blood Dazzler.
2 Hours. You Can Do It.
A good friend and lovely writer called me yesterday in tears. She's an adjunct professor at several local universities. She teaches a class here, a class there, and a class somewhere else, all just to make ends meet. "When am I supposed to write?" She asked.
My answer to her is really simple-- 2 hours a week. I know that seems like not enough time to do anything, but it is. It's not enough time to finish your novel or book of poems in record time, but it's enough time to keep you moving toward your goal. Consistency is key. Carve the time out the way you would make time for a yoga class. Or, if you are a people pleaser: Carve the time out the way you would if it was something for someone else. Then, find a place to work. You can use your own home, but if you have a lot of people to answer to, leave your cell phone behind and go to the public library for two hours a week. If you can't do that, maybe you have to transform your lunch hour on Monday and Wednesday to your writing hour. (And to be real-- in lieu of watching True Blood and The Real Housewives of Atlanta, you can write your book. Let NeNe and them babysit your family while you handle your business.)
Two hours is not so much time that you would need to reorder your life, but it is enough time to keep your project alive. It's enough time that you won't be discouraging yourself by saying "I'm not getting anything done!" (A vicious cycle: You get depressed because you're not working,and then you don't work because you're depressed.)Also, I believe that once you hit your stride with the two hours a week, the story (or poem) will sometimes ask you for more time, and you will find a way to provide it.
August 28, 2009
Thank You Senator Links
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August 26, 2009
Poolside Recs?
So, me and my friend Vickie, are taking a vacation-- a Mediterranean Cruise to be exact. This will be my first real vacation in more than ten years. I know that I travel all the time, but the closest I have come to a vacation is going away to work a novel. The key word there is "work" and if it's work, it ain't a vacation.
Our sail date is in about two weeks and I want to gather up a couple of books to read by the pool. Although I love ToMo, I am not in the mood for a close re-reading of Beloved. Chillaxing with a sangria, I want to read something juicy! My summer time tastes leans toward mystery and thriller. Romance, not so much. (I think this because having never murdered anyone, I am not struck by how unrealistic the mysteries are. When it comes to romance, I have a little bit more experience, if you know what I mean.) I'm also down to read zany memoirs.
I have only one book on my list, so far. That's HOLLYHOOD by Valerie Joyner because I love her book trailers! What else should I take with me?
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August 24, 2009
The R-O-X-A-N-N-E Links
August 23, 2009
Is That Why You Can't Talk?
An off-the-cuff status update on facebook has given me a whole new level of respect for the writers of memoirs. Yesterday, I wrote "Tayari is thinking of writing a memoir." And this was true. I was thinking about it. Just turning the idea over in my head. Most of the responses were positive, although one person begged me not to give up on fiction. Then two other people put their two- cents in. MY PARENTS.
My mom said "wonderful" at first. My father joked that as the daddy, he gets to make final edits. (I knew he was only half kidding.) And then a couple of days later, my mom sent me a txt that I should wait until after she is dead. (Another half-joke.) And this is about a book I haven't even decided to write yet!
It's funny how much just a little bit of (friendly, joking, why-do-you-have-to-take-everything-so serious) family pressure can freeze a person up. All I could think was how glad I am that I am already through with my new novel. Although it isn't really autobiographical, the notion of parental displeasure is a real creativity killer.
It's a hard place to be in. You want to write with honestly and truth, but you don't want to hurt anyone you love. Also, you really have no idea what is going to upset them. A couple of years ago I wrote what I thought was a charming little memoir essay for the New York Times, but everyone involved was not as charmed by my remembrances. It wasn't a big deal, but that incident knotted my stomach a little bit. I had somehow managed to offend when I hadn't even known myself to be on sensitive ground. I can't even imagine the landmines buried in the territory of a book-length memoir.
Of course, all this got me to thinking about the really candid memoirs I have read. Take for example Sue William Silverman's Because I Remember Terror, Father, I Remember You or one of my all time faves, The Only Girl In The Car. I can't imagine how these women would have written if they were worried about anything other than the truth. Somehow they managed to shut out all the voices.
Sometimes, I can tell when my students don't feel brave enough to tell the real story. Their work has a certain distracted quality. Reading it reminds of the feeling you get when you are talking to on the phone to someone who sounds really weird. Finally I ask the person, "Is there someone else in the room? Is that why you can't talk?"
August 20, 2009
Adorable Links
August 19, 2009
Notes From The Mountain
My buddy, Alex, has written up his reflections on our three-day junket up to Bread Loaf. Here are mine—in the same format.
1.
This is the fourth or fifth time that I have gone to Bread Loaf. The first time was in 2003 (at long last) as a fellow—an award given to new writers within a year or so of their first books. I remember being a little bit scared, worried that people could tell that I wasn’t quite of this world. By “this world” I mean the mostly white, really ambitious, buzz-wordy universe. Mostly there was no need for me to be so worried. Everyone was scared, but for different reasons. In the visits that follow, I go as a slacker. Maybe I offered a one hour class, but mostly I hung out. This time, as last time, I go to keep Natasha company. To hear her reading.
2.
Alex and I have a fun drive up. We’re good friends and we’re good together. I have a new complicated hairstyle, which he compliments me on. In the car, we work on our private language of friendship. We invent new sayings. The three hour drive from his place to the mountain seems to take nine, but we get there. Natasha and Randall Keenan are walking up the sidewalk in front of the yellow clapboard buildings. I jump on the brakes, hop out of the car and give squealing hugs.
3.
Alex goes to lots of craft talks and readings and learns things. But for me Bread Loaf is always about the people. Alex gives breathless reports of all that he’s gathered and tucked away in this busy mind. I ask him if my hair is okay.
4.
Bread Loaf is a place where you can see people you haven’t seen in ten or fifteen years. People you didn’t even know were still writing. It’s a place where people try and give it another shot. It’s also a place where you see the people you see all the time on the circuit. At Bread Loaf you can see people that you’ve only met on the internet.
5.
The mosquito situation is unbelievable.
6.
When I say “young” writer I don’t mean age. There are a lot of young writers up on the mountain. Dolen has just gotten her galley in the mail. I can feel her excitement rolling off her skin in electric waves. Other writers were at that sad moment when you realize your first book isn’t going to solve your problems. Still others, on the brink, were wearing lucky boots or special shirt for ten minute meeting the agents and editors. It’s like speed dating, but you feel like your life depends on it.
7.
I say to Natasha, “I think I may be aging out of this scene.” We’re at a restaurant off campus because we need a little quiet and a little adult food. We are doing last minute revisions to her new poems. She says, “Probably.” We order a really good bottle of wine.
8.
On Monday night, Natasha reads from her new manuscript. We over-dress a bit, giving a little extra with the shoes. When she steps to the podium, Dolen and I scream and stamp our feet like we are at a concert. Reciting, Natasha’s in familiar territory, investigating history, but these poems are tonally different than the elegiac pieces that made up Native Guard. These new verses ask pointed questions. She doesn’t let anyone off the hook. These poems grab you by the throat. You can see the intensity on her face, in the space between her eyes when she pronounces the words. Natasha is the real thing.
9.
The nest day, Alex and I get back in the bucket to drive back. We laugh a lot, sing Mariah Carey songs, and trade stories. I tell Alex that he seems like an elder statesman these days. He doesn’t say how I seem. When I get home, I feel like I have been gone forever, but it's just been three days. Waiting for me in front of my door is my manuscript, marked up by my friend, Renee. I am eager to see what she thinks, but I am too tired to even open the envelope.
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The Writing Life
August 15, 2009
On My Way Up The Mountain
Just a quick post to let y'all know that I will be off theblog for a few days. I'm on my way to Vermont to
I am NOT taking my laptop, so I probably won't be able to post photos until I get back.
See you on Wednesday.
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August 13, 2009
Sister-Act Links
Progress?
Well, I suppose this is a happy ending. Remember the drama 
surrounding the whitewash of the cover of the YA novel, LIAR? If not, here is a recap in 140 characters or less: Main character is a black girl, but Bloomsbury put a white girl on the cover. After being questioned by readers, the author spoke out, the blogosphere and twitterverse joined in. Bloomsbury insists the whole thing was a big misunderstanding. (Since the character is a liar, who's to say that she's not just pretending to be black? Hence the image. #fail.) Now there is a new cover! (Yay, right?)
Micah, the main character of Liar, is dark and wears a short natural haircut. But the new cover girl for LIAR looks like Corrine Bailey Rae!
This is where things get tricky. Twenty-five years ago, many African American parents, librarians, and readers would be concerned that dark-skinned black girls feel marginalized by the prevalence of images of light-skinned girls. (And let us not forget that Alice Walker writes so lovingly of Their Eyes Were Watching God because Janie was the first dark-skinned heroine she had ever read about. And then, Alice Walker gave us Celie, Nettie, and Shug. This representation issue is real. It's not just talk.) But now, since Bloomsbury took the cover situation to the next level by putting an actual white model on the cover, the new cover (which triggers my inner Pecola Breedlove) is considered to be a victory.
But seriously, this who situation has been very distressing to me. As a brown-skinned kinky-haired black woman who reads and writes about the same, I feel very disrespected as a reader, a writer, and a human being.
August 11, 2009
Great Things Are Happening...
..to people who read this blog!
In addition to the MFA classes I teach at Rutgers-Newark, I have had the pleasure of leading workshops with writers who are not enrolled in a formal degree program. Although we work together only a short period of time, the classes really connect and keep in touch. I am so very happy to share with you some very good news from two of my former workshop participants:
Karen L. Simpson has found a home for her novel, Acts of Grace. Karen brought excerpts of the novel to the Callalloo workshops and I knew that she was on to something. Despite the high caliber of the work, the road hasn't been easy. She tells the whole story on her blog. .
Tinesha Davis is also publishing her first novel! She brought excerpt of Holler At The Moon to the Jenny McKean Moore workshop at George Washington University, to the utter deilght of her classmates. Well in November, we'll have it in our hot little hands.
Congratulations, Ladies. I love myself a happy ending.
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Travels & Rambles
Cantankerous Links
August 10, 2009
Dwayne Betts in DC Tonight
I know that I am a bit immoderate about my affection for R. Dwayne 
Betts. That said, I want to encourage everyone in DC to come to his reading and signing at Busboys and Poets tonight at 6:30.
I went to the post office today to pick up all the mail that accumulated while I was in Virginia. Amid the catalogs, bills, etc. was my copy of Dwayne's book. I tore open the envelope. As soon as I pulled it out, A Question of Freedom became the star of the whoe post office. You would have thought it was a newborn baby! Everyone wanted to hold the book, thumb through the pages, and write down the title. I know everyone is so gloom and doom about the future of reading, but that post office was full of regular folks and they were all digging Dwayne's book. And even I was so hypnotized by the writing on the first couple of pages that I didn't even notice my tax refund check! (That's serious.)
If you go to the event at Busboys tonight, send me a cameraphone pic!
August 08, 2009
Leaving Town Links
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August 06, 2009
When Your Friend is Suddenly Large
I actually started this post just based on the cover of I'm So Happy For You by Lucinda Rosenfeld. I just loved the orange of 
the dress and how the fingers-crossed gesuture worked with the title to let us know exactly what this book is about. The plan was to post the cover and let that stand in for today's blog entry. The head line would be "Best Cover Ever" or something like that. But then, I poked around to see what the book was actually about and it motivated me to post in a little more detail.
I'm So Happy for You is a about a friendship that is wrecked when one of the friends starts to get all the good things that the other friend wants. Of course the "good things" are all sort of lame markers like a pretty house, a nice fiance, pregnacy, etc. (YAWN). But the root issue is worth thinking about.
What do you do when you and a friend are working toward the same goals and your friend suddenly blows up?
Here is how I almost lost a friend due to my own stupid insecurity. I have a friend who got sort of famous in the field. I wasn't jealous of her, but I felt sort of intimidated by her success. Before things started going so well, I used to call her all the time. When I shopped for shoes, I would send her a cell-phone picture. What do you think? Too slutty? But when she started hobnobbing in high places, I felt silly doing these things. I started to worry that what used to be BFF behavior was now a bother-- a distraction from her fabulous life. So what did I do? I withdrew.
Keep in mind that your friend is under the impression that she is the same person she always was. She's wondering why you aren't calling. She's thinking maybe you don't care anymore what she thinks of your shoes. Also, factor in this: if your friend's life in changing rapidly, she needs her girlfriends now more than ever. This is no time for you to get insecure and flake.
Remember, you're friends because you care about each other. It has nothing to do with your resumes.
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The Writing Life
August 04, 2009
Do It Yourself Links
I Had No Idea I Was So Passionate About This
There was drama yesterday in the twitterverse about an organization that offers to help writers with the MFA application process—for $335. The virtual feathers flew! I went over to the website to see what all the noise was about. My take: I don’t think it’s a good idea to pay someone to whip your writing sample into shape for your application. I am not saying that you shouldn’t have someone look it over and accept feedback, but I do not encourage you to hire an MFA expert. Here’s why.
You want to find an MFA program that’s right for you, and your work. Abramson Leslie Consulting highlights the fact that all of their consultants are graduates from Iowa Writers Workshop. As many people know, this program is thought to be the best in the country. Whether it is the best or not, it is not the only program in the country and it may not be the right program for you. (Sandra Cisneros said she hated it.) You need to let your work find a good home for itself; if that is Iowa, so be it. If it’s not, that’s cool, too.
I think of this like love. Let’s say that someone offered to make you over in such a way that would lead to you being attractive to a Certain Person. Let’s say for the sake of this post, that this was even possible. So, once you have been accepted by the Certain Person is it going to be a good match, really? When you take off the wig and the mask? When you start speaking in your real accent? You need to be in a program that wants to work with you in your true voice. If the way you WRITE isn’t accepted by a particular program, do you think YOU will be accepted?
This is not to be naïve. I know that there are benefits to having the right pedigree. I am not one to downplay privilege and benefits. And yes, it never hurts to be associated with a hard-core hegemonic institution like the Iowa Writers Workshop. I have been to Bread Loaf and it seems that nearly everyone crossed paths before at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Iowa, etc. (However, I think this is as much a matter of socio-economic class than the pull of the actual institutions.)
This said, let us not lose fact that the MFA is an educational process. I got my MFA at Arizona State University—not exactly a name-droppy place. But I learned so much studying with Ron Carlson. I won’t say he made me a writer, but he helped me take my work to the next level and I will be grateful to him for the rest of my life. ASU was the right program for me. I don’t know if I would have written the book I wrote had I been at Iowa or Columbia or Wherever the Hell. (I was a Ph.D. student at The University of Iowa for three years in the early nineties and I can say, unequivocally, that those were the very worst years of my life. Just writing this has made me upset. Seriously. It may cost me my writing day.)
But to get back to my original point, don’t pay someone to help you fit into the mold of a particular program. If you want to go to school, get your team together and let them vet your manuscript. Pick a school because you want to work with their faculty. Choose a part of the country that won’t leave you isolated and depressed. (Ask me about trying to get my hair done in Iowa City. Ask me about trying to go on a date.) Go somewhere where you are wanted, where the faculty shows enthusiasm for you and your work. Talk to students at the school and see if you dig them. You want to go somewhere where you will be nourished as person, which will noursish you as a writer.
Maybe it’s just me, but I think that my sanity is worth so much more than to be able to coo over cocktails, “When I was in the Workshop….”
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The Writing Life