books

An Adventure in Books

February 13, 2012 by admin

Have you seen The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore yet? What the heck is that, you ask?

This magnificent short film stands head and shoulders above its fellow Academy Award nominees for best animated short film. With no dialogue, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore provides a sweet, touching, and entertaining tribute to books. Click on the link above, and you can watch it for free! If you’ve ever gotten lost in a book, you will love this movie.

In an odd timing synchronicity, I saw this film the day after visiting Poe Elementary School here in Houston. Poe is revamping its school library and as contributors, we were invited to come for coffee and to see its progress. We were told tales of moldy books, some of which had racially insensitive content, being removed from the shelves and replaced with a wide selection of everything from Dr. Seuss to The Adventure of Hugo Cabret.

Wandering among the books, I couldn’t help but reflect back to my childhood, and how the library became my favorite place in the school. My parents, married as teenagers, didn’t have college degrees, but I remember them both sitting on the sofa in the evenings after dinner, noses buried in books. In our home, piles of books traveled from and back to the library on a routine basis. Some books were read by several household members and discussed, sort of an in-home book club. On Saturday mornings, when doing my cleaning chores, I would have the vacuum cleaner in one hand and a book in the other. The house was never clean, but by God, there were books to read! Even now, though macular degeneration has taken my father’s eyesight, he revels in audio books.

How would I have known I was a writer if I hadn’t grown up with such easy access to books?

These days, if I want to read something I download it onto my iPad, but my visit to Poe reminded me how special libraries, especially school libraries, are. Budget cuts are making it more and more difficult to keep these libraries stocked. Poe is no exception, and they are continuing their fundraising drive, which is far from over.

I think about how different my life would have been without books and the way they showed me a bigger world. School libraries are — or can be — a great equalizer, feeding young minds hungry to learn, and potentially lifting people out of poverty. It troubles me to think that some young people will never know the joy of books reflected in The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, only because there are few books available to them. If you think this is hyperbolic rhetoric, read this. Or this. Or this.

Visiting Poe Elementary, I was reminded how far a small donation can go in an arena such as this. Many people are looking for charities where their donations won’t get lost in the shuffle of a big organization with lots of administrative fees to support the cushy lifestyles of their CEOs. Your local school library is one of those places, where you can see tangible evidence that your contributions have made a difference. If you love books, fantastic flying books or otherwise, won’t you consider sending a few dollars to your local school library? Visit one nearby, and watch your contributions work their magic. Doing so will leave a lump in your throat and a spring in your step. I guarantee it.

A Book for Us Quiet Ones!

January 31, 2012 by admin

It sounds ironic, but I started to read Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’s Stop Talking by Susan Cain in order to feel less alone. For all you outgoing people out there, we Innies do like people — we just prefer solitude or one-to-one contact to large groups. I haven’t yet finished it, but I’m already excited enough to share it!

I’ve been quiet my whole life. My kindergarten teacher described me in a report card as “withdrawn.” I’m not sure we saw this as a negative — to my parents’ credit, I never felt that way, at least. The teacher wanted me to join in with the class, but noted that I preferred to play alone. As a writer, I continue to crave solitude, and I tend to “disappear” in big gatherings.

We are often given the message that the lone wolf is synonymous with guys like the Unabomber — not a self-esteem builder. At times, people misinterpret my quiet nature as being arrogant or stuck-up. When I have nothing to say, I just keep my mouth shut! By the same token, when I do talk, I expect people to pay attention because I don’t like to waste words.

Cain notes, however, that those of us who are quiet often prefer, as I do, to express ourselves in writing. We may be far more willing to disclose deeply personal information online that we would never talk about in person. Check and check!

As I read this book, I am part of an online writing group called Blooming Late on She Writes. I’ve mentioned the group here before in other contexts, but as a refresher, we’re a group of over-40 women who are dedicating ourselves to writing. We’re a lively bunch, and I am constantly inspired and engaged by these fine writers. I’ve been lucky enough to read some of their books (I’m still going down the list) and am excited by the overall high quality of the work.

We’re working on a promotional project. We’re looking at ways as a group that we can get the word out about our writing to build readership of our blogs and books.

What does this have to do with Cain’s book? What I’m finding is that group collaboration works well online, and Cain agrees. We’re still feeling our way through this project, but the combination of bouncing ideas off of one another — and then retreating to time alone to reflect on them — is producing some exciting results. While we’re in the infancy of the project, I’m seeing tremendous potential for our group that I doubt would happen if we were all in a room together.

As writing and publishing has changed, I have often wondered if I have become obsolete. What Cain’s book reminds me, though, is that in this strange new world behind a computer, I may have an advantage. I can embrace my quiet nature with pride. More and more, I find myself connecting with people online and doing the networking I could never do well in person. Hubby and I have both met people in person as a result of some of these connections, and that’s exciting, too!

Cain suggests that companies are now starting to understand that some of us work better if we have quiet spaces to retreat to. We don’t all work well as a big gang in a room, constantly surrounded by people. She cites Steve Wozniak of Apple as an example, and I think that many of our computer experts are leading the way in demonstrating that true innovation is often made alone, and not by committee.

If you have been “made wrong” for being quiet, or if you have an introvert in your life whom you struggle to understand, you’ll enjoy this book.

How Do I Get Started?

January 25, 2012 by admin

A reader asked me recently, “How do you get started as a writer?’

When I get a question like this, I think about the times when I didn’t know how to begin. How does anyone begin to act on their dreams? Many times people told me, “Just write,” but that wasn’t helpful. There are so many questions layered in that single question, things like: “Could I really do this?” “I want to write (paint, take pictures, act) but who do I think I am?” “What if I’m never any good?” “What if people don’t like my work?” “What if I never make money at it?” The list goes on and on.

When we ask how to begin, though, we’re also asking for someone to open a door and invite us in. We’re asking for help, one artist to another. We want encouragement. And, of course, we want specifics. So, here are a few:

Study, and that doesn’t mean go back to school (though it could). Study the works of others who have similar concerns or styles as you. Ask yourself, “What do I like about this work? What don’t I like?”
Find out what’s meaningful to you. In the case of the reader who inquired, she already has a subject in mind, but some of you don’t know what to write about. What excites you? Angers you? Keeps you up at night? Chances are, whatever affects you emotionally is a good subject.
Find books that open your creativity. For me, the classic is The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. When I ran across this book in 1997, I had no idea how it would change my entire life. Not only did I start writing spontaneously within three weeks of doing the exercises in the book, but I also learned to quilt, started taking photographs, and decided to travel more. Other people have their favorite creativity books, but this one is mine.
Let go of wanting to be perfect. Your first efforts won’t look good, and they shouldn’t! Be willing to write badly. I’m still a humble student with a great deal to learn.
The secret to writing, and to all of life, is to revise. Though my blogs tend to be off the cuff, my books are not. They go through a lot of changes along the way. Recently I was going through my late mother-in-law’s art, and I was struck by how many drawings she made of a subject before she made the actual painting. With each drawing, she made changes sometimes so subtle that I had trouble figuring out the differences — but she was looking for a particular look and feel, and she explored until satisfied.
Find people who do what you do and connect with them. If you’re a writer, join She Writes or Red Room or some other online writing group. She Writes has sub-groups within it, so if you’re a blogger, join the blogging group. If you can find a local critique group that you enjoy, all the better.
Now, after these other steps, I can say it: just do it. Spend some time each day writing, drawing, or whatever you’re inspired to do. You may not have a lot of time, but start with fifteen minutes. If you write a paragraph a day, you’re still writing. Over time, as you gain confidence, you’ll get creative to find more time. The more you practice, the more you learn.

I hope this is more helpful than “just write.” I hope this inspires you to begin. Fledgling artist, I am opening the door to you. Come inside sit down, and have some cookies. You are welcome here.

Blindsided by Being Bright-Sighted?

January 17, 2012 by admin

I like a book that makes me think, even if I don’t agree with everything the author has to say. Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking has Undermined America is one such book. In it, author Barbara Ehrenreich, best known for Nickel and Dimed, points out the various ways that the positive thinking movement actually causes problems.

She begins by describing her bout with breast cancer and her frustration at finding a place to express her grief. In fact, at one point she gets lectured about her attitude as she tries to get information on the downside of treatment. She tells the story of one woman who freaked out whenever she felt angry or scared because she thought that she was feeding her tumors by feeling this way. She doesn’t want to look at the bright side of any potential “gifts” of the illness.

I haven’t had cancer, so I can’t tell anyone what to think or feel about it. However, I have had a long illness that was a gift to me. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t frustrating and at times infuriating to be sick, but I did see the gift over time, and I’m sorry she hasn’t had that experience. I will agree, though, that we all need to have a place where we can grieve, and even rage when we have to, without having someone try to cheer us up. Once we do that, we are better able to cope with the difficulty at hand.

I think she’s more effective when she starts talking about the workplace. I had a greater understanding for what was happening in the office of my last corporate job. Our director was constantly reading motivational books and demanding that his managers do the same. While this may sound like a good idea in theory, it was really a set-up to make sure that no one complained or brought problems to management’s attention for fear of being labeled “negative.” This sets up a scenario where a corporation stretches the limit of legalities because no one is putting the breaks on — something we have certainly seen in recent years with the burst of the housing bubble.

Ehrenrich’s premise also may explain the current backlash against the unemployed and underemployed — and in particular, an odd lack of compassion toward the working poor espoused by so-called religious people. Herman Cain said in his campaign that the unemployed needed to blame themselves. We blame joblessness on attitudes, ignoring the mass outsourcing that has occurred over the past several years, eroding opportunities. We’ve actually heard politicians state that poor children need to be exposed to a work ethic, ignoring the fact that the working poor are some of the hardest-working Americans that we have. If they change their attitudes, these politicians say, they’ll be more successful.

Still, we can benefit from certain aspects of positive thinking. I used it to heal some of the chronic negative thought-loops that went on in my head when I was younger. Sometimes, to do that, we have to fake it to make it. Studies show, for example, that smiling actually helps us feel better. We can watch comedies when we need a laugh. We can exercise and eat well, creating hormonal balance that helps us find joy. We can surround ourselves with people who love life.

It’s a balancing act, to allow all of our feelings, including the so-called negative ones, without letting them run our lives. Although Ehrenreich doesn’t mention this, I think when we label anger, fear, or sadness as “negative,” we set ourselves up for problems. What we feel is not the problem…it’s how we respond to those feelings. If we accept and allow those feelings to be there without shame, they will move through us and out, often leaving us with greater power and clarity.

While I think that Ehrenreich misses the boat to some degree, I enjoyed reading the book and am grateful to her for the food for thought.

One Thing Leads to Another

January 16, 2012 by admin

This morning, as I sat down to look at blogs and create my own for the day, I couldn’t pull up the Internet. So, I got up to power cycle the router and decided to go ahead and shred some old tax returns while I was waiting. I went upstairs to shred and discovered that the shredder was full, so I had to get a box to hold all the confetti.

Mondays are often like that, where I start out with the best intentions, but as one thing leads to another, I end up scratching my head wondering what happened.

When hubby and I decided to start traveling, we didn’t know that one thing would lead to another. We hadn’t planned on leaving Houston. I’ve lived here for 30 years, hubby for longer. The more we saw the world, though, the more we asked ourselves where we want to live. Here we are, a few years later, planning a cross-country move.

You may have noticed a change in the look and feel of this blog. Here, too, one thing leads to another. In my case, “A Woman’s Nest” didn’t exactly fit the daily goings-on of this blog. It sounds so nurturing, and there is that side of me, but I need to feel the freedom to express all parts of me. We women at midlife are less “nice” and more “real,” so I felt a little constricted.

I’ve also mentioned being part of the Blooming Late group on She Writes. Last year I joined, then got involved in regular posting, then started making suggestions to our leader, Samantha Stacia. One thing leads to another, and now I’m handling the group’s administrative functions when she’s not available. We’re also working on a project so that we can better promote the many fine writers in the group, which led me to some research, which led me to fellow Texan Kristen Lamb‘s wonderful book, We Are Not Alone: The Writer’s Guide to Social Media…and then to these changes that you see.

One thing leads to another…who knows what will happen next? I think that’s part of the fun, don’t you? Any “one thing leads to another” experiences that you want to share?

The War of Art: Winning the Inner Creative Battle by Steven Pressfield

January 10, 2012 by admin

First, I must apologize to the blogger who brought this book to my attention. I read a number of blogs and did not note where this recommendation came from. If you’re out there and happen to read this, let me know and I will give you proper acknowledgement. In the immortal words of Texas Governor and Presidential wannabe Rick Perry, “Oops.”

***

With this blog, I hope to encourage women, especially those of us who are 50+, to go for our dreams. For me, that means writing my books, but yours may be different. When I share information, even if it’s aimed at writers, I think it may work for a broader spectrum of people. I think that The War of Art by Steven Pressfield is one of those books. It even seems natural, after writing last week about my current weight loss journey, to discuss The War of Art next…yes, I think it can help with weight loss, too.

Let’s face it. Regardless of our dream or vision for our lives, we will have challenges. We get on the scale and see a plateau. We work hard on a book and struggle to find a publisher or, if we self-publish, struggle to find readers. My late mother-in-law Jenny, a fine artist, gave up on trying to display her work and ended up making it only for herself.

Steven Pressfield also had his share of disappointments and even disasters as a writer. A film he made with great pride and excitement bombed. He was left in the lobby of an agent who had sent him out to wait, then forgot about him…and that happened when he was in his 40s, after years of having manuscripts go nowhere.

Yet this author of The Legend of Bagger Vance and other novels persevered. Not only did he succeed, but in The War of Art he tells us wannabes how to persevere as well.

The first phase of the book talks about Resistance. Often, when we are working toward a goal, we will find ourselves struggling to meet it. We get busy doing other things. We run out of money. We decide that our work sucks and we shouldn’t bother. Pressfield would argue that whenever we find ourselves straying from that goal, we are encountering our Resistance. Often that resistance gets stronger as we get closer to our goal.

Think of it, ladies. For those of you who have given birth, isn’t there a moment toward the end, just before that beautiful child comes into the world, where you say to yourself something like, “I can’t do this!”? It happened for me as my daughter was starting to move into the birth canal. I announced that I couldn’t give birth, and I was ready right then for the C-section. She came out a few minutes later. Though this metaphor is mine, I think the ultimate creative process — birth — carries within it these elements of resistance that Pressfield writes about.

Writing about weight loss last week, I mentioned my fear of success. Someone asked me recently, “Why do we do that?” What a great question! Pressfield discusses the fear of success at length in his book, a culprit for many a creative person. I cringe at the ways I’ve sabotaged success over the years — sending out queries with typos, not following up on leads, not accepting help that was offered.

So what’s the answer to the question of “Why do we do that?” I have no idea. If we want to handle our resistance and fear, though, what if we tweaked the question? Let’s switch the “why” to “how,” and we may be on to something.

“How do we do that?” We stop writing. We eat the whole darn pie and give up on our diets. We fill our lives with food/drink/sex/work and all other manner of methods to avoid doing what our souls would have us do. Then we can move on to, “How do we NOT do that?” This is what Pressfield’s second section is about.

The second section is a blueprint for professionalism. For a writer who deals with periodic discouragement such as myself, it means getting butt in chair and writing, even if we think it sucks, and especially if we think it sucks. If we’re going back to school, signing up for the next semester can give us a moment of peace. If we want to lose weight, then taking a walk or preparing a lovely but healthful meal helps us stay on track. We listen to our fears, our pain, and our desire for self-sabotage, but we make a decision to do the opposite. In other words, we, in the words of Dr. Phil, behave our way to success. When we do the work that our soul needs, we feel nourished inside. Easy? Hell, no. But I think of a song by Tim McGraw in which he sings, “Temptations may come, that ain’t no sin. You get stronger every time that you don’t give in.”

In part three, Pressfield gets more spiritual. He points out the mysterious thing that happens when we do what our soul longs for. Something happens. The story we struggle with starts to open up and characters start telling US what they’re going to do. After several weeks of a plateau, our body’s metabolism suddenly kicks into gear and we start losing weight. We want to sign up for that conference that we can’t afford, and we end up getting a scholarship or benefactor to help us pay for it. Our wishful thinking alone doesn’t bring about change, but our longing combined with action creates opportunities.

I read The War of Art during a time of deep self-doubt. As I’ve worked on Blood and Loam, a novel that pushes every button I have inside of me, I wanted to quit. Pressfield reminded me that it’s just my resistance, and the more powerful the resistance, the more I need to finish. Oh, yeah, that again! So I sat down and went back to work…and I will finish the novel. If I need a little help, I’ll just go read The War of Art one more time.