Hurrah! I have a second article up in Mental Floss.
This one is about forensic facial reconstruction, when they scan the skeletal remains of a famous historical person and make a 3D model of his or her face. For example, here’s Richard III:
See what Santa Claus, Queen Nefertiti, Bach, and others looked like.
Click here to read 10 Facial Reconstructions of Famous Historical Figures.
I am a fan of Mental Floss, so I’m thrilled that they are running an article I wrote … about stilts!
In France in the 19th century, an entire town lived on stilts. Stilt jousting is a real thing—an entire tournament in Belgium is devoted to fighting on stilts. Then there’s powerbocking, an extreme sport that has popped up (pun intended) around spring-loaded stilts. Other people work on stilts, and it’s so dramatic. I mean, check out these stilt fishermen in Sri Lanka.
Hardcore, no?
I wrote a guest blog post at Superstition Review’s s[r] blog about getting stuck on writing fiction. Here’s a sample:
Lately, I’ve been getting stuck while writing short stories. I’ll be working on a promising idea with a good set-up and characters, and suddenly I’ll hit a wall. I simply won’t know how to make the story work. What do I do with this thing? I’ll think. What happens next?
This is a lonely feeling. After all, if I, the writer, don’t know what happens next in the story, who does?
The Internet is not helpful. Do a search on this topic, and you’ll get advice like, “Try a prompt. Where does your character like to go on vacation?” But this problem I’m having is more than just plotting. It’s about figuring out meaning.
I’m really enjoying reading the comments the blog post is getting. Nice to know I’m not alone in struggling with these craft issues.
And while we’re at it, check out my previously published short story in Superstition Review called Rabble of Butterflies.
Dani Burlison asked me to be part of The Next Big Thing Blog Hop, where writers with literary blogs talk about what they are working on. So read on to learn about my novel!
Ten Interview Questions for the Next Big Thing:
What is your working title of your book (or story)?
Right Back Where We Started From
Where did the idea come from for the book?
I had this idea of three generations of women moving through time and influencing each other’s actions without knowing it. Sort of a “sins of the mother are passed down to their daughters” kind of deal. Everyone in the book is a kind of Gold Rusher who wants something for nothing, and this unwieldy ambition dominates their lives and has consequences on other people.
What genre does your book fall under?
Literary fiction
What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?
From the pitch letter: “When Sandi Sanborn tries to abandon her past to become a Hollywood star during the Great Depression, she’s followed by a family history of failure and lost fortune that, no matter what she does, will not go away. ”
Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?
It is represented by the Carol Mann Agency in New York.
How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
Too long. I worked on it in fits and starts at first because I was intimidated about writing a novel.
Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?
Hm. Sandi, the main character, is a redhead. I’ll go with someone like Kirsten Dunst. She seems like she has range, and occasionally she has red hair.
What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
This question leaves me stammering. I really don’t know.
Who or what inspired you to write this book?
The above-mentioned idea. Also, I was interested in California, and how it’s a place that tends to repeat its history. We haven’t had just one Gold Rush, we’ve had dozens in different forms and success rates—dot-com booms, real estate booms, Hollywood, spirituality gurus, on and on. It’s a state of gold rushers, and maybe we’re a nation of gold rushers, too, and I wanted to explore what that means.
What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?
Here’s another line from my pitch letter: “The book a fast-paced story involving a metamorphosing house, hallucinatory talking birds, 1930s radio shows, conspiracy theories about president Warren G. Harding, a race riot at a boxing match, and at the end, one giant earthquake.”
Thanks Dani!
I have a short humor/satire piece in Defenestration this morning. It’s inspired by toy shopping over the holidays.
Check it out: The Lil’ Richy Einstein Play-a-Majig.
Hey check it out! I have a new article in the January issue of Writer’s Digest.
“If Walls Could Talk” is about lessons I learned from visiting the houses of Mark Twain, Jack London, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and other famous writers.
Check out more about the January 2012 issue of Writer’s Digest here.
[Alfred Cheney Johnston: Woman hands, 1920s]
Last month, I had the pleasure of reading at one of San Francisco’s best literary events, LitCrawl, the ultimate event of LitQuake. I read with the Bang Out Literary Series, run by Amick Boone and Kevin Hobson, along with Sarah Ciston, Diana Aehegma, Ali Lawrence, and Steffi Drewes. I had a great time. If you haven’t gone to LitCrawl, you should check it out next year.
My short story “Hand To Mouth” is up on the Bang Out site, along with all the other work we heard that night. It’s a dark little tale about a hand fetish gone wrong.
That’s a sentence I never expected to write.
Here’s an excerpt:
The volar of her hand was small and tender, as soft as a piece of sponge cake. I watched it make an appearance as she handed me the change, the leafy green bills covering the delicate lines that were etched there.
It is strange that her hands affected me so much. Her castellated fingers jutted as strong as turrets from the slender branch of her wrist. Later, when I came back for a second coffee, I watched her write something on a clipboard, her wrist jerking with the effort, her fingers swooning around the pen. I noticed the veins, blue against her flesh, and imagined them surrounding her, drawing blood up to the tied knot of her head.
My days were consumed with nebulous visions of her hands stroking and caressing and touching, and it became intolerable for me to think of them like that, naked as a peepshow for all the world to see. And not only that, she flaunted them …
Read the rest of “Hand To Mouth” here.
And if you want to see me read in person, come on out to the Word Pirate’s reading in Healdsburg tomorrow.
My writing group, Word Pirates, is reading at 7 p.m. on November 14 at Center Literary Cafe in Healdsburg. A whole reading just for us! Come check it out.
Busy, busy, busy. Not only do we have a new baby under 2 months, but Kyle has a new job. On Monday he starts at MobileIron in Mountain View. It looks like a great company, plus he’ll be able to telecommute from home most of the week. We’re going to convert a shed in the backyard into an office so he can have a distraction-free work place.
I’ve been back to work for several weeks now and am getting the hang of things again. Yesterday I read at Why There Are Words in Sausalito. Here I am reading a chapter from my novel:
Why There Are Words takes place every second Thursday of the month at Studio 333 in Sausalito. It really is one of the best reading series around. I’m glad I was able to be a part of it.
Hey, check it out! I have a short story up in LitnImage. It’s called Flatten, Poke, and Blow. Excerpt:
Judith’s parents’ barn is full of wooden spools. There are dozens of them wound with rope as thick as tree branches. Being in the barn is like being inside a giant sewing kit.
Our moms told us to play out here because it is Judith’s birthday and they’re setting up for the party. I know Judith from Sunday school. Every week after church, our parents take us to brunch at Adele’s diner, where they put paper umbrellas in our Cokes. Judith and Julie, our parents always say. Judith and Julie.
“My boyfriend is this one,” Judith says.
Read the rest here.
