Review: "Olive Kitterage" by Elizabeth Strout

This novel unfolds through 13 portraits of people living in a small town on the coast of Maine. A large, brutally honest, no-nonsense retired math teacher, Olive sees her fellow townspeople mainly as nincompoops, ninnies, and dopes, and blames others for nearly all of her life's discomforts.

Widowed at 74, Olive slowly awakens to herself. Through her losses and disappointments, she begins to notice both the emptiness and the beauty of her days.When she finds tentative love in the arms of a man she would have barely tolerated previously, my heart flooded with joy.

How had I come to care about her so much? Terrific writing, full of nuanced, perfectly chosen details. Rich in surprises, suffering and smiles, this book deserved the Pulitzer prize. (As a slow writer, I was gratified to find credits for the stories go back to 1992).

What was the joy about? At any age, each of us carries the possibility of growing up. Any of us can discover a deeper way of experiencing ourselves, our relations and our world. So let's not wait.

Contests.

I've entered plenty of contests, but I never win anything.

Oh, yeah, except a hand-beaded necklace at the opening of the Suquamish Tribe's Bingo Palace.

Today I entered a first 500-words contest at KidLit, sponsored by Mary Kole, literary agent. She very cleverly required entrants to post links, thus this blog posting. It's such a good idea, I shall have to find a way to steal it.

My Fabulous Friends

Last night was a delicious evening, celebrating my friends' creative successes:

1. Artist Bridget Young (whom I first met as a teaching colleague in the 90's) has reshaped herself as a comic with a hugely loveable persona: The Realtor Lady. Last night at Bainbridge Performing Arts, Bridget was not only hilarious, she made it look so easy, to get up in front of a sold-out audience of 250+ and be Herself.

Many sides of herself, actually, including trailer trash, drunken east coast uppity bitch, scary creepy potential serial murderer. All with such wit and heart you fell in love with all of them.

Bravo, Bridget! You deserved that standing-O! You inspire us to make what we can, be who we are, and revel in it.

2. Paundy opened in a tight set of Paundiliciousness. This Kitsap band is magical, delightful, weird, unique, splendid, and just plain fun.
There's a reason they call it "playing" music, and Paul Burback, Andy Miller, Tony Dattilo, Chad Channing, Drew McCabe, and Justine Jeanotte totally get that.

These wizards cook up a musical feast, bending genres and trading instruments, toys and hats. Paundy mixes and matches rhythms and grooves like a plaid-and-paisley outfit from ValueVillage (which sometimes makes it a tiny bit hard to dance to). I am blessed to know them, and even get to sing and play along as Special Guest on occasion.

Check out their sounds on myspace.  Next stop, European Tour! You will rock them. And they will not be the same.

Thanks to Bridget and Paundy for their generosity: the fundraiser made over 2k for Habitat for Humanity.

 3. To top off the night, a bunch of us headed to IslandVibes at Pegasus, a tiny bar/dancefloor on Bainbridge Island. Friends Heather Wolf-Smeeth, Sean and Caitlin Matteson created this weekly event that looks like a scene, tastes like a scene, drinks artisan brews like a scene, and dances like a scene. DJ Seanchaí gave us massive world music love to shake our bones upon. Heather and Caitlin did not STOP once, not that I could see. Thanks for creating this space and opportunity for all us rural homies to get our groove on.

check out the IslandVibes facebook.

Wow, and this is only January. Looking forward to more joy with friends this year!

YA Winter Wish List

Ok, so I've been lazy. Not really. Been polishing my soul, singing a lot, editing the preview of my WIP (work in Progress) for my Twins of Tessar fans (thanks!!!)

It is not lazy to laze this time of year. It's WINTER. Time to lie around under a cozy blanket (NOT a snuggie!) dream big dreams, read Twilight (yes, for the Very First Time), watch quality movies, and think warm thoughts.

Due to an insanely busy couple of years, I am behind in the fiction world. Winter feels like a great time to catch up. I'm collecting favorite YA novels, especially those that have "breakout" appeal to adults (as sometimes I behave like one of those).

Here's a few that others have recommended:
THE HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire (The Second Book of the Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins
John Green’s PAPER TOWNS
The Mortal Instruments (4 novels) Cassandra Clare
Story Time by Edward Bloor
Soulless by Christopher Golden
Noughts & Crosses series by Malorie Blackman
Unwind by Neal Shusterman
The Faerie Series by Holly Black
The Compound by  S.A. Bodeen
Flash Burnout by L.K. Madigan


Leave a comment and let me know your favorite breakout YA novel...

NaNoWriMo: the good, the bad and the ugly.

The good (grrrreat! even):
Today I crossed the finish line on my NaNo novel. It has a tentative name "Twins of

Tessar: Gift of the Gods," a real live plot, characters, some great moments, and plus I recieved a shiny new sticker to put on this blog.

The bad:
It's not done. All the characters are at the mark, get set, Go! to the climax. but the action and emotion of said climax are yet to be written. And somehow that exhausts me. Nay, it even depresses me.

The ugly:
After finishing I visited a few writer's blogs. people I've met at conferences. People who all seem to be fabulous at keeping up with the writing and illustrating and marketing-making and blogging and selling and doing book tours and etc.

They inspire me, yeah sure, but they also make me feel sick. Like I will never keep up, I will never climb on top of this thing and ride it like a rocket into the stars. I will never be done.

and then i realize -- 
oh yeah. if i am done, i am dead.

the point is:
be gentle on myself.  love the baby steps. AND take a moment to celebrate the big ones (50,000 words in a month!) geez!

NaNoYes

My second novel is whizzing by: 32,023 words in just 19 days.

My first novel took almost 15 years:

• 6 months to write the first draft
• 10 days at a writer's conference with a famous author (the excellent Bruce Coville) only to learn that I didn't know the first thing about writing a novel, and was arrogant to not read all the other books in my intended genre
  
• 1 year to break draft 1 into 4 books
• 4 years to have a baby and get a new job or three, edit the darn thing, and attend lots of other writer's conferences, only to learn that writing is not that easy, and requires persistance.
• 6 months to send manuscript to many editors and agents, only to find that I still didn't know how to write well enough
  
• 6 weeks in 1999 writing 6 short stories at a prestigious writer's workshop (Clarion West) and also with my favorite author, Ursula K. LeGuin, only to learn that "writing is hard."
• 10 YEARS of not writing and then writing 6 MORE DRAFTS, in between renovating an old farm and raising kids and working full-time, there is a book.  Self-published for now (long story), but an actual, physical book.

I can't begin to calculate the difference, in joy, in ease, and yet writing a novel is STILL HARD.

The moral of this tale: if you are crazy enough to stick with something, it actually gets easier.

Write a 50,000 word novel in one month = insane

...but "nanowrimo" is what I aim to do. So if I am quieter here than I'd like, it's not for lack of wacky bloggerisms that clutter my brainwaves. It's that every ounce of juice I have must - be - funneled - into the blasted book. I've written 11,875 words so far. And I will not admit defeat!

Here are some interesting writer's peptalks in support of insane nanowrimoers

Follow my progress at the nanowrimo site