What I've Been Reading: 4 Recent Favorites

I think I'm going to declare the year 2017 my year of reading voraciously. At the beginning of the year, I set a goal to read 45 books for the year. This was a little lower than the previous year's goal because for the first time in years *sob* I didn't hit my Goodreads goal in 2016. But last week I actually hit my goal already. Woot!

Part of the reason I'm reading so much, beyond the fact that it's my favorite thing to do, is that, as many of you know, I've cut out so much of my online and smartphone time. Those gaps created have been filled in with more reading time--a happy switch I have to say. But that's left me with so many books that I want to tell you about and not enough time to blog fully about them all, lol.

So today I thought I'd give a quick rundown of what I've been reading lately and loving.

The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn

I heard about this one first on the Modern Mrs. Darcy podcast and I knew I had to have it. I love a foodie book, but I was intrigued by the premise of this one--taking a group of women who didn't feel confident in the kitchen and showing them simple ways to cook without complicated recipes and a lot of fuss. Now, I consider myself a pretty experienced cook since it's a hobby of mine, but I still learned a ton of things in this book. For one, I've been holding my chef's knife all wrong! All this time. I had no idea. But beyond the cooking tips, I loved hearing about each woman's individual story and experiences. I listened to this one in audio and then had to buy the paperback too because I wanted all the little tips and simple recipes given.

About the book:

The author of the New York Times bestseller The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry tells the inspiring story of how she helped nine others find their inner cook.

After graduating from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, writer Kathleen Flinn returned with no idea what to do next, until one day at a supermarket she watched a woman loading her cart with ultraprocessed foods. Flinn's "chefternal" instinct kicked in: she persuaded the stranger to reload with fresh foods, offering her simple recipes for healthy, easy meals. The Kitchen Counter Cooking School includes practical, healthy tips that boost readers' culinary self-confidence, and strategies to get the most from their grocery dollar, and simple recipes that get readers cooking.
 

Someday, Someday, Maybe by Lauren Graham

Yes, by that Lauren Graham of Gilmore GIrls fame. This is a fictional story about an actress in New York trying to make it in the nineties. You can definitely hear Graham's voice in the story and you get the sense that though it's a fictional tale, she's using a lot of personal experiences to flavor it. I thought that added a level of authenticity I'm not sure I've read in other books with actress heroines. This one was very upbeat and fun. Sometimes I wanted to yell at the character because her self-esteem is so shaky at times and I just want to give her a rah-rah, don't-sell-yourself-short talk, but she's very likable and endearing. There's a slight romance thread in the book but don't expect a spelled out ending for the romance. At the end, it was one that I kept turning the pages because I was hoping for an epilogue. Sadly, no epilogue, but the journey was worth it. A breezy read.

About the book:

From Lauren Graham, the beloved star of Gilmore Girls and Parenthood, comes a witty, charming, and hilariously relatable debut novel about a struggling young actress trying to get ahead―and keep it together―in New York City.
 
It’s January 1995, and Franny Banks has just six months left of the three-year deadline she set for herself when she came to New York, dreaming of Broadway and doing “important” work. But all she has to show for her efforts so far is a part in an ad for ugly Christmas sweaters, and a gig waiting tables at a comedy club. Her roommates―her best friend Jane, and Dan, an aspiring sci-fi writer―are supportive, yet Franny knows a two-person fan club doesn’t exactly count as success. Everyone tells her she needs a backup plan, and though she can almost picture moving back home and settling down with her perfectly nice ex-boyfriend, she’s not ready to give up on her goal of having a career like her idols Diane Keaton and Meryl Streep. Not just yet. But while she dreams of filling their shoes, in the meantime, she’d happily settle for a speaking part in almost anything—and finding a hair product combination that works.
 
Everything is riding on the upcoming showcase for her acting class, where she’ll finally have a chance to perform for people who could actually hire her. And she can’t let herself be distracted by James Franklin, a notorious flirt and the most successful actor in her class, even though he’s suddenly started paying attention. Meanwhile, her bank account is rapidly dwindling, her father wants her to come home, and her agent doesn’t return her calls. But for some reason, she keeps believing that she just might get what she came for.
 
Someday, Someday, Maybe is a story about hopes and dreams, being young in a city, and wanting something deeply, madly, desperately. It’s about finding love, finding yourself, and perhaps most difficult of all in New York City, finding an acting job.

Around the Writer's Block by Rosanne Bane

I learned about this one in an RWA workshop and immediately had to go out and buy it. I suffer from writer's block at some point in almost every book and it's a huge source of stress for me. This book breaks it down and gives a simple system for setting up your brain for success so that you avoid burnout and blocks. SO HELPFUL. I've read a lot of books and articles on this topic, but this one really resonated with me. I loved all the science and explanations, and I found the system she suggests very intuitive. Highly recommended to my fellow writers.

About the book:

Discover the tricks that your brain uses to keep you from writing—and how to beat them.

Do you:

• Want to write, but find it impossible to get started?

• Keep your schedules so full that you don’t have any time to write?

• Wait until the last minute to write, even though you know you could do a better job if you gave yourself more time?

• Suddenly remember ten other things that you need to do whenever you sit down to write?

• Sabotage your own best efforts with lost files, missed deadlines, or excessive self-criticism?

The good news is that you’re not lazy, undisciplined, or lacking in willpower, talent or ambition. You just need to learn what’s going on inside your brain, and harness the power of brain science to beat resistance and develop a productive writing habit.

In Around the Writer’s Block, Rosanne Bane-- a creativity coach and writing teacher for more than 20 years-- uses the most recent breakthroughs in brain science to help us understand, in simple, clear language, where writing resistance comes from: a fight-or-flight response hard-wired into our brain, which can make us desperate to flee the sources of our anxieties by any means possible.

Bane’s three-part plan, which has improved the productivity of thousands of writers, helps you develop new reliable writing habits, rewire the brain’s responses to the anxiety of writing, and turn writing from a source of stress and anxiety into one of joy and personal growth.

Hamlet's Blackberry by William Powers

Yes, I'm still obsessively reading books about digital life and the effects devices have on us. : ) But I'm sharing this one because I think it's one of the most readable ones yet and focuses on the philosophical side instead of the hard science side. Powers lays out the problems and struggles so many of us are having with focusing and feeling constantly busy in the digital age, then he pulls seven philosophers from history to examine how they handled radical shifts in technology. (Because we're not the first generation to have to deal with that kind of radical shift--think of when written language was developed, when the printing press was created, when radio and TV were invented). It was really interesting seeing how insights from philosophers of the past absolutely can be useful today in dealing with our own technology revolution. Then at the end, Powers gives practical idea for how we can better live in our digital worlds without losing our minds. (Also, even though this book was published 7 years ago, it's still just as relevant today.)

About the book:

A crisp, passionately argued answer to the question that everyone who’s grown dependent on digital devices is asking: Where’s the rest of my life? Hamlet’s BlackBerry challenges the widely held assumption that the more we connect through technology, the better. It’s time to strike a new balance, William Powers argues, and discover why it's also important to disconnect. Part memoir, part intellectual journey, the book draws on the technological past and great thinkers such as Shakespeare and Thoreau. “Connectedness” has been considered from an organizational and economic standpoint—from Here Comes Everybody to Wikinomics—but Powers examines it on a deep interpersonal, psychological, and emotional level. Readers of Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point and Outliers will relish Hamlet’s BlackBerry.

That's all I've got for you today. What have you been reading?

Putting My Angsty, Panicked 2015 into Perspective and Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

One of the books I was able to read on my vacation was Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love). I've seen this book everywhere because it's a bestseller and I was curious. The end of last year was not a fun few months for me. I was tired, burnt out, physically stressed (turned out I had a bad Vitamin D deficiency causing some of that) and had a book that was fighting me HARD. Almost every book fights me at some point, of course. But for the first time in my career, I had talks with my agent about "maybe I need to scrap this book altogether and push back release dates." That was a scary thing for me. What if this book is inherently broken and I can't do it? What if I screw up my whole book schedule? What if? What if? What if?

But after a number of panicked, I-can't-do-it episodes over a few long weeks, I was able to take a step back with the help of my hubs, my friend Dawn who was reading chapters as I wrote/rewrote them and encouraging me, and my agent who was supportive regardless of which path I was going to choose. I realized it wasn't about the book, it was about me. I'd run myself into the ground. I wrote 300,000 published words in 2015 (which means about 450,000 words if you count rewrites and edits). And I hadn't taken many breaks. I had slacked off on reading and personal time. And I was taking things way too seriously. I'd become a version of the "tortured artist." Ugh.

So at the start of this year, I knew I needed to make changes. I did not want to go through that again. This is one reason why you've seen so many posts over here about planners, productivity, organizing, and digital detoxing. I knew I needed a better plan this year and to be more strategic about how I spent my time. I set goals for the year, made a business plan. And one of my main goals was to rediscover the fun and joy in writing. After doing this professionally for years, I'd let my love and passion for writing become a grind. It used to be my escape, playtime, and now I was dreading it. No good.

And so I was already on this path when I picked up Big Magic, but it reiterated so much of what I was going through and hammered home the point that there is no glory in being a "tortured artist", that it's okay to play and have fun with my writing, and to not take things SO DAMN SERIOUSLY. Yes, work hard to write the best story you can, be a professional, but don't put so much pressure on the work because the creativity will just shut down. I had to get perspective. At the end of the day, I'm writing a sexy romance that will hopefully engage and entertain people. I am not curing cancer. If I mess up, the world won't come crashing down. And I have editors and people who will tell me if I got it wrong and help me fix it anyway. In other words, Dear Me, Get over yourself. Perfectionism will kill you.

So it was a good time for me to read Big Magic. I needed to hear a lot of it. Now, I will give that caveat that the first part of the book had a lot of woo-woo about the muse and ideas having wills of their own and attaching to people and such. I'm too scientifically-minded, so that part isn't my jam. I almost put down the book because, though I respect her view, the woo-woo wasn't relevant for me. However, I'm so glad I kept reading because the rest of the book held a lot of gold. I did a lot of underlining. So instead of going into things more, I'll leave you with some quotes. And these aren't the only ones I underlined. There's that much good stuff in this book.

On dealing with fear (and its friend perfectionism) holding you back:

"This is why we have to be careful of how we handle our fear--because I've noticed that when people try to kill off their fear, they often end up inadvertently murdering their creativity in the process." (pg. 24, Big Magic)

"You must learn how to become a deeply disciplined half-ass. It starts by forgetting about perfect." (pg. 166, Big Magic)

On not being surprised when it's hard:

"of course it's difficult to create things; if it wasn't difficult, everyone would be doing it, and it wouldn't be special or interesting." (pg. 117, Big Magic)

"Frustration is not an interruption of your process; frustration is the process." (pg. 149, Big Magic)

On not defining yourself by what people think of your work:

"I can only be in charge of producing the work itself. That's a hard enough job. I refuse to take on additional jobs, such as trying to police what anybody things about my work once it leaves my desk." (pg. 123, Big Magic)

"And what if people absolutely hate what you've created? What if people attack you with savage vitriol, and insult your intelligence, and malign your motives, and drag your good name through the mud? Just smile sweetly and suggest--as politely as you possible can--that they go make their own f**king art. Then stubbornly continue making yours." (pg. 123, Big Magic)

On knowing the painful stages of your own process (I related to this SO MUCH.):

"'Ah,' I learned to say when I would inevitably begin to lose heart for a project...'This is the part of the process where I wished I'd never engaged with this idea at all.'...OR: 'This is the part where I tell myself that I'll never write a good sentence again.' OR: 'This is the part where I beat myself up for being a lazy loser'....Or, once the project was finished: 'This is the part where I panic that I'll never be able to make anything again.'" (pgs. 146-147, Big Magic)

On creativity and not focusing on the outcome:

"'Why should I go through all this trouble to make something if the outcome might be nothing?' ...'Because it's fun, isn't it?' Anyhow, what else are you going to do with your time here on earth--not make things? Not do interesting stuff? Not follow your love and curiosity?" (pg. 259, Big Magic)

I could go on, but you should just grab a copy for yourself if these quotes resonate with you.

Has anyone else read this? Have you ever had a book come along just exactly when you needed it?

A Writer's Block Breaker: 30 Songs For 30 Chapters

As most of you know, I'm slightly obsessed with books on the writing craft. And a few weeks ago, I was poking around in Barnes and Noble (as you do) and picked up the book Now Write! Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror: Speculative Genre Exercises from Today's Best Writers and Teachers  (Edited by Laurie Lawson) to flip through.

Now, I write romance, so you may be wondering what would make me pick up a book about speculative fiction, but I like to expand my horizons. And there are things to be learned from other genres. Plus, I love horror and may one day pen something with some scary stuff.

Anyway, this book is filled with short essays (1-2 pages) on different topics: World Building, Plotting, Creativity, etc. and at the end of each essay are writing exercises. (Hence the title Now Write!)

And I've only read a handful of them thus far, but it's turned out to be a great book already. And one of the exercises I read last night got me moving in all kinds of creative directions. This exercise was by Diego Valenzuela in an essay titled "The Constant Writer: How To Plot An Entire Story In Minutes and Never Run Out of Ideas"

I won't go into the whole essay because you should buy the book. But the exercise he suggests is so much fun and oddly effective at sparking ideas. So here it is:

Put your playlist on shuffle. Write the numbers 1-30 for your 30 chapters and then label each chapter with the song title that comes up. Then use those titles to help plot/spark ideas for your story.

I read it and was like--sounds interesting but how could that work? So, of course, I tried it.

Here's what I got with my own playlist:

Pretty cool, yeah? Especially that near the "black moment" time in a book I have Live and Let Die, Don't Know What You Got Till It's Gone, and Walk Away. And then the last chapter is a song about goodbyes. 

But these are my songs that I'm already familiar with, so I decided to try a variation. I put on Spotify's Coffee House station and did the first 30 songs of that. And look, I ended up with a road trip book! And I kind of got a story idea from it. How awesome is that?

Then I was chatting with my friend Julie Cross and she did it. And when I looked at her list, I thought--hey she has a sci-fi space novel! Daylight, Extraordinary, Come Fly With Me, Defying Gravity, Radioactive, 93 Million Miles...

So yeah, you've just lost the next hour of your life because I bet you can't resist. ;-)  If you do one, feel free to post it in the comments. I love seeing other people's lists.

5 Muse Abusers: How To Protect Your Creative Flow

Photo by CortneeB (click pic for link)

So January was one of the most exciting months I've ever had because my debut came out. Having a dream come true is pretty surreal. But January also turned out to be a tough month because beyond going through the  The 5 Emotional Stages of a Book Launch , I found myself with writer's block.

Now, many will say writer's block doesn't exist. It's just fear or your subconscious telling you that you've made a wrong turn. Yes, maybe. Any mine was probably a little of both, but that didn't make it any less real, lol. I have a book due in March and literally had a month where I didn't move forward more than one chapter--scary stuff.

Thankfully, *knocks on wood* I've seemed to moved past it over the last week and a half. I'm getting about 1k a day in, which is not going to break any speed records, but is steadily moving forward. I'm a little past 50k with the goal of a 90k-100k book by the end of March.

But anyway, this has me looking back at January and wondering what went wrong. Why did I get so blocked? One of the reasons is because I'd hit the middle and I tend to get stuck at the halfway point in every book, but what made this block so long?

And I realized I pretty much beat the ever-loving crap out of my muse in January. Our creativity is a lovely, strange thing filled with ideas as fragile as soap bubbles. We have to guard it, feed it, and cultivate it if we want it to continue to serve us. 

But there are parts of this writer life that can stomp on that lovely, fragile thing and drain it. And launching a book happens to involve a lot of these. 

So what are the muse abusers and what can you do about them?

1. Negative feedback 

This one is a catch-22 because we need feedback and solid critiques to grow as writers. We need other eyes to give us unbiased opinions. However, that negativity can also stifle our creativity. It pushes in those ugly things like self-doubt and insecurity. Maybe I can't write. Maybe I should give up now. This is unfixable. I'm a hack.

What to do: Get yourself critique partners that know how to give constructive feedback. Not just--I hate this or this totally doesn't work--but people who have the ability to tell you why it doesn't work (i.e. your character is not sympathetic or this creates a plot hole.) If you're in a group where people get mean or sarcastic, leave it. That's not helpful. And if you're published, stop reading the bad reviews. This is a lesson I had to learn the hard way last month. When you read reviews like "at least she can spell" (yeah, that was one of mine), your muse pretty much flips you off and tells you it refuses to work in a hostile work environment.

2. Sucking your muse dry

We're supposed to blog and tweet and write guest posts and newsletter articles and and and... Well, all those things take some level of creativity. Now, I've been writing a blog post every weekday for almost three years. That hasn't hurt my muse because it sort of acts like my "morning pages" where I get the brain in gear. BUT, last month when I kept up my normal blogging plus added 1-2 guests posts daily Well, that drained me. I'd finish the second or third blog post that day then open my WIP and stare. I'd used all my words and energy already on something else.

What to do: Find the balance that works for you. If blogging daily effects your writing, cut back. Do Anne R. Allen's once-a-week slow blogging. Writing has to come first. And if you're releasing a book, plan ahead for your blog tour. Stockpile guests posts when you're not actively drafting a project. 

3. Scaring the life out of your muse

Putting pressure on your creativity can work in one of two ways. Some people thrive on that pressure--a tight deadline gets their juices flowing. Others (like me), it works the opposite. Here's my brain: Oh shit, this book is due in two months and if I can't write such and such words each day, I'm going to FAIL. And what if this book isn't as good as the others? And what if I let those people who love this character down with his story? And what if this is the first time I can't finish a book? *taps forehead* Yep, it's a scary place in there. Needless to say, all those thoughts left my muse cowering in a corner.

What to do: Be aware of the pressures, then ignore them. Pretend like you're writing for fun only. Worrying isn't going to get anything accomplished; it will just make things worse. And remember that you will hate every book you write at some point. In every book you'll think--this isn't good enough, this is never going to work, I hate these characters and this was a stupid idea. It will pass.

4. Trying to please everyone

I'm a people pleaser by nature. I want everyone to like me even when I know that's not a realistic goal. And that sentiment applies to my books. But if I try to hold in my head "I hope my agent, editor, every reader on the planet loves this", I only overwhelm myself and my muse. Look at reviews on any book and you'll see opposing viewpoints. I've gotten everything from "this is so mild it shouldn't be called erotic" to "this is the hottest book I've ever read." Luckily most reviews fall on the latter, but it just shows that everyone is coming at your book with a different pespective.

What to do: Write for YOU first. Draft the story that you want to read. These are your characters in a world you created. What do you want to see happen next? Worry about your editor and your ideal reader when you're revising.

5. Starving your muse

Sometimes we get so focused on getting the writing done, that we forget to feed our creativity. We expect the well to keep producing without us replenishing it. And I know I'm guilty of this. I get obsessed with "working" and I feel like I don't deserve a break because I have so much to do.

What to do: Take time out to refill the well. Read for pleasure. Take a walk. Go somewhere other than your laptop. People watch. See a movie. Play with your kids. Take a few hours with the sole purpose of getting nothing accomplished. Inspiration doesn't take kindly to demands, let it out to play sometimes.

Now we'll see if I'm able to take my advice the next time around, lol. 

So how about you? Have you experienced writer's block? Has your muse ever flipped you off and taken a vacation to Aruba? What do you do to nurture your creativity?