Colleen's favorite reads of 2009

This year, I'm extremely thankful for a wealth of terrific reading material.

I've read a lot of great books in 2009, but over on the blog Writers Read, I'm discussing some of my favorites for this year.

Check it out and let me know, have you read any of these books? What did you think? And if not, what have been your favorite reads of 2009 (so far, at least)?

(You know, besides Joni's A Little Bit Wicked and my Beneath Bone Lake? ;)

Photo: Burgess Meredith, from "Time Enough at Last," a.k.a. the best episode ever of The Twilight Zone

thanks

The Thankful Writer

Now that I have your attention... this Thanksgiving, I'm pushing aside gripes and worries about contracts, reviews, revisions, and the economy to give thanks for the blessings the writing life has bestowed. I'm thankful for the family who support my efforts, the sharp eyes and good will of my critique partners, and the cameraderie of writing buds.

I'm grateful to have found an agent who not only stands up for me but pushes me to take time and risks, for the editors whose thoughtful suggestions and enthusiasm have made me want to work my tail off, and the readers who vote with their wallets to keep me gainfully employed, recommend me to their friends, and write me sweet notes on occasion.

With its ever-changing challenges, the writing life keeps me on my toes and never offers me a chance to grow bored or complacent. Inspired to always strive for better, I continually feel pushed to - and sometimes beyond - my limits. I feel as if I'm doing the work I'm meant to do, and I'm proud of what I'm producing.

I'm thankful, too, to be living in a place and time where creativity is valued rather than stifled, where women's voices matter. Where individual's voices matter, no matter what the writer's ethnic heritage, socioeconomic background, or education level.

Finally, I'm thankful for the supportive community of writers, along with a community of readers hungering for the next great story.

So what aspects of your writing life are you most thankful for this year?

"My cockeyed Valentine to Japan" (3 Questions for Wendy Tokunaga, author of "Love in Translation")

Japan and Japanese culture have been major influences on the life and writing of Wendy Nelson Tokunaga. She signed a two-book deal with St. Martin’s just as she was beginning the MFA in Writing program at the University of San Francisco in 2006. Midori by Moonlight came out the following year with terrific reviews, and Love in Translation hits bookstores next week. From the press kit:

After receiving a puzzling phone call and a box full of mysteries, 33-year-old fledgling singer Celeste Duncan is off to Japan to search for a long, lost relative who could hold the key to the identity of the father she never knew. This overwhelming place where nothing is quite as it seems, leading her to ask: What is the true meaning of family? And what does it mean to discover your own voice?

So I have to start by asking, Wendy, how did you discover your voice as a writer?
I’d always written stories as a child and even published my own magazine (I think I had three subscribers!). When I was a teenager I plunged into songwriting, playing bass guitar and singing in my own bands. I didn’t start writing fiction until I was in my forties, inspired by colleagues at a technical writing job I had who wrote fiction on the side. I decided to take a creative writing night course at a community college and began writing short stories. Over the years that led to a few published stories, then many stabs at novel writing and then finally a two-book publishing deal.

How did you come to this particular story? Or did this story come to you?
This novel is my cockeyed valentine to Japan, a place I have both adored and abhorred over the years and a place that has had a huge impact on my life. Japan and Japanese culture have been my muses. My first novel, Midori by Moonlight, is about a Japanese woman who finds herself in California. Love in Translation is about Celeste, a Californian who finds herself quite unexpectedly in Japan on a search for a long, lost relative who may hold the key to the identity of the father she never knew. The novel is also about the power of music, another force in my life. I met my Japanese husband when I put out an ad for someone to translate my song lyrics into Japanese. Subsequently he ended up helping me record a demo of my songs with me singing in Japanese. In the book when Celeste, a fledgling singer, learns to sing a Japanese song her life changes in ways she never imagined.

Now that you've hit your stride as a novelist, what do you love and hate about the process?
My favorite part of writing is revision and my least favorite is writing new material. I find it excruciating to write a rough draft, just to get the bare bones of the story on paper, no matter how clearly the story may be outlined and in my head. This is when my inner critic is the most vocal and I must fight with her constantly. The most pleasurable part is when I can revise, sculpt, and polish the prose and also experiment with adding elements and cutting others. This is when I read my work aloud, which I find fun and very helpful, in attempting to get the prose sounding just right.

Click here to read Chapter One of Love in Translation. And look for it in bookstores next week. Here's the trailer...

Best. Pie. Ever. Happy Thanksgiving!

If I'm gonna gain weight (I baked two, heaven help me) then I'll feel much better if everyone else does, too, so I'm sharing our family's very favorite pumpkin pie/cheesecake recipe. Shamelessly ripped from the old classic Great Home Cooking in America (c. 1976 from the editors of Farm Journal - so it has to be good).

I defy you not to love this.

Festive Pumpkin Pie

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
3/4 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
3 eggs
1 c. canned pumpkin
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 unbaked 9" pie shell, edges crimped high
1 c. dairy sour cream
2 tblsp. sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream together cream cheese, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and cloves. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Blend in pumpkin, milk, and vanilla. Pour into pie shell.

Bake 45-50 min. or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean.

Blend sour cream and sugar. Spread over top of pie. Return pie to oven 3 to 5 minutes or just until topping is set.

Chill before serving. Loosen your belt!

A Tip from Twain: Revision

As all you NaNoWrMo folks (and others) finish up manuscripts, here's a great tip from the great beyond to help guide you with what may be the most crucial phase of the writing process.

You need not expect to get your book right the first time. Go to work and revamp or rewrite it. God only exhibits his thunder and lightning at intervals, and so they always command attention. These are God's adjectives. You thunder and lightning too much; the reader ceases to get under the bed, by and by.
- Samuel Clemens, a.k.a. Mark Twain, from a letter to Orion Clemens, 23 March 1878

Have a great Thanksgiving week, everyone!

Sunday groove: Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself"

"I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles.
You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fiber your blood.
Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you."

Walt Whitman printed 795 copies of Leaves of Grass in 1855.

About two dozen sold.

Seven Deadly Sins of Dialogue

When I'm reading contest entries that fall short, one of the biggest pitfalls I encounter has to do with dialogue. I'm also most at a loss when commenting on this area, which is definitely more art than science. Here are a few things I do know. Since I'm crabby because the dumb dog woke me up way early , they are totally unfiltered for politeness.

Deal with it. ;)

Dialogue should never be:
1. Dull.

"How are you, Alphonse?"
"I am fine, Susie. How are you?"

You're not out to transcribe banal, everyday chit chat. We can all hear that at home. Any dialogue on the page should serve the plot and/or characterization.

2. Stiff.

"I must say, Sue, you are looking especially fetching today in your pretty, red sweater."
Susie's smile turned to a frown. "I am surprised at you, Alphonse. I never realized you were a drug fiend."

Note the overuse of names as a form of address, lack of contractions, use of complete sentences, and bizarre, language that's out of sync with your story's time period.

3. Expository (used solely for the purpose of giving the reader information, especially when it's info the characters already know.

"As you may remember from our high school days together, Susie, I have a rare condition called vocabulus anachronistis, whose major symptoms manifest themselves in bizarre language choices, wolfish eye-goggling, and repulsion of the opposite sex."
"And you may remember, Alphonse, last October's restraining order is still in effect, and my violence-prone daddy's still on the police force."

4. Unintentionally hilarious.

It's definitely not cool when the writer isn't in on the joke.

5. A literal transcription of natural speech (complete with all the "ums," "ers," stammering, and pointless asides.)

Great dialogue is zingy, deep/clever, and makes you wish you could express yourself so well in the heat of the moment. Since the majority of writers I know are introverted nebbishes at heart (no, I don't mean you, personally, of course!) dialogue gives us a chance to shine!

6. Homogenized.

If your book's Harvard-educated philosopher sounds exactly like 82-year-old Daisy from the corner sub shop, you've got yourself a problem.

7. Stupid.

Readers should not be gagging at the cliches, rolling their eyes at the obviousness, or thinking of filing sexual harassment charges against your story's hero.

If you're having trouble with your dialogue, try reading it aloud without the story's narrative, listening to actual human beings talk (eavesdropping in stores, restaurants, and coffee shops is a critical writers' skill), and reading/studying plenty of good books to develop an ear for it. I won't lie to you - a lot of writing dialogue is inborn talent, but you can and will get better at it if you make an effort. And quiz yourself about whether you've committed one of these seven deadly sins.