Read Like You’re Standing in a Buffet Line of Steaming Hot Books

 "Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere." ~ Mary Schmich

We all have a preferred genre as readers, and whether you follow the advice of your gut, guru, accountant, agent, or publisher, as writers, it’s advisable to stick to one genre as well. Unless you’re Silvia Moreno Garcia, who transcends being pigeonholed and leaps between gothic horror, noir, fantasy, and historical works with curious acumen. Wouldn’t it be fun to nail each genre like she does? Placing your butt in a chair to write every day would never be boring. Genre blending isn’t new, but jumping from one category to another is especially difficult. But if you do it well, fans may follow you across categories, and even if we must write in one genre to please our fans and audience, we can still read across genres and media.

“If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re misinformed.”

~ Mark Twain

Read like you’re standing in the buffet line at the local steak place, and make sure your plate is a heaping rainbow of Jello salad, pickled beets, pasta salad, and creamy potato salad. Sure, you can omit the mealy off-season tomatoes, but don’t forget the soup. I’d argue that your literary feast should be just as varied, with newspapers, magazines, writer’s articles, a smorgasbord of fiction and nonfiction books, and maybe even advertisements or horoscopes. I mean, you never know where you’ll find inspiration.

“Newspapers are horror happening to other people.”
~ Nadine Gordimer

Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I like to read paper books and news that smudges your fingers and is damp on the sidewalk after the rain. The print needs to be gray to the point of vanishing like invisible ink, and the paper needs unrolling and recycling. God help me, sometimes the newspaper arrives inside a plastic bag. I’m eco in many ways, but this is my literary sin. Besides, what would we put in front of the litter box if not for a newspaper?

Reading the Star Tribune’s Science and Health section (which is sadly no longer inside the Star Tribune) offered random scientific data to plump my alien character from my debut novel, The Levitation Game. Did you know birds have a molecule behind their eyes that may allow them to see the Earth’s magnetic field? Thanks to a timely article about the mystery of bird migration, my character, Dob-Dec, became fascinated by how Earth’s avians navigate long distances, and don’t get him started on those eye molecules. I don’t read many nonfiction books, but I love birds, and reading Jennifer Ackerman’s The Genius of Birds also feathered the nest of my alien character. Weird, right? Before writing and publishing my novel, I worried I couldn’t create an alien genius like I imagined otherworldly visitors to be. So, I made a slightly dim-witted alien smarter than most humans, and a bird book helped me do it. Birds are so intelligent! Who knew that being a bird brain was a compliment?

Now, I’m writing a book about green witches, and scientific newspaper articles about iconic Sequoia trees, green burial, and the symbiosis between plants and humans are all fodder for my tree-hugging coven.

“Read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river.” ~ Lisa See

I’ve even found ideas inside recipe books. I studied several books on modern-day witchcraft while researching my upcoming novel, The Savannah Book of Spells. I bought the book Witchcraft Cocktails by Julia Halina Hadas for research purposes only. Okay, maybe for me as well. I mean, cocktails are already fun and delicious, but imagine infusing them with ritual and magic, too? My witchy characters agreed with my philosophy, and a new chapter was born. My witchcraft research taught me much about helpful flowers, plants, herbs, trees, and crystals. Here are a few natural items that might help writers:

~ Borage The beautiful blue starflower can help you feel at ease, process information, and express yourself. Add the dried flower to incense and herbal blends, or carry it as a talisman.

~ Mugwort When brewed into tea, the magical plant can help you remember your dreams, and writers often use dreams to enhance their writing. Without first dreaming about levitating over my bed, leading to a (strictly nocturnal) city-wide power failure before collapsing into my sheets, I never would have written The Levitation Game.

~ Mint Have you heard of this exotic herb? It’s associated with money, prosperity, and communication.

~ Birch Witches use this tree for creativity and writing. The thin bark resembles paper, and a good witch/writer uses it for writing spells. I know what you’re thinking. Is there a spell to attract good reviews? You’ll have to do your own research to find out.

~ Labradorite It’s the stone for intuition, communication, and mental clarity. Writers might want to keep this stone on their writing desk. But if the stone doesn’t help your alertness or clarity, you can always return to the well-used coffee plant! Witches love it, too.

Of course, I find inspiration and intel in almost every book I read, and I mark the passages or write notes on my iPhone when I discover bookish treasure. I don’t want to forget a character quirk like in Emily Jane’s character-driven and humorous book, On Earth As It Is On Television, where a woman puts bacon on everything, including cupcakes. After reading Isabel Allende’s adventure-filled City of the Beasts, I knew I had to write a novel about the mysteries of the inner Earth someday since she created such a vivid underworld. Benjamin Percy did such an out-of-this-world job with the space portal science in his book, The Sky Vault, that I think he may have stumbled into one and met Albert Einstein before popping back out. Trust me, if you’re writing a book about portals to another dimension, you must read his book.

“Birds have wings. Humans have books.” ~ Unknown

As writers, we know we need to read like it’s our part-time job, and broad is better. By reading a buffet of books, you might acquire a mysterious molecule that works like a light sensor, clarifying your work. Words will stick to your brain, and inspiration will surely wing its way straight into your writer’s cortex. If you’re ever feeling stuck or uninspired, open a random book, fortune cookie, bathroom stall magazine, or flyer for a free car wash. Crane your neck to a flogo (airplane advertising banner) and see where it takes you. After all, books and such really are a portal to another literary dimension. If you don’t know how literary portals work, don’t ask me; ask Benjamin Percy. 

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“Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary.” ~ Edgar Allan Poe

The danger is past,

And the lingering illness

Is over at last—

And the fever called “Living”

Is conquered at last. 

~ Edgar Allan Poe

"I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.” ~
Edgar Allan Poe

While reading the historical fiction novel, Mrs. Poe, a book that reimagines the real-life affair between Poe and Poet Frances Osgood, I became curious about Poe’s death in 1849. Turns out, Edgar Allan Poe couldn’t have written a better story about a mysterious death, than the reality of his own. Shortly before he died, he disappeared for six days, was found lurking outside a tavern wearing somebody else’s ratty clothes, deliriously called out for a man he supposably didn’t know called Reynolds, before he finally succumbed to an unknown illness days later in a hospital. Was he stricken with Rabies? Or struck down from the effects of alcoholism? Oddly, the leading theory indicates he was a victim of Cooping, a voting scam perpetrated by rascals that kidnapped men, often dressing them in numerous costumes, before forcing them to vote for their preferred candidate over and over. Poe was found outside a tavern on an election night, after all. The world will never know the truth, but the grisly writer must be thrilled to have his demise surrounded by intrigue to this day.

As a writer, I can relate to the tortured personality of Edgar Allan Poe. I have always felt life’s barbs keenly and told my husband to put death by a thousand cuts upon my tombstone. But was he really that tortured? Or was it defamation? I learned from the book that after Poe’s death, his foe Rufus W. Griswold, besmirched Poe, and forever altered histories imagining of Poe’s personality. But certainly, after reading the opening poem, he really did feel a certain amount of despondence about the roller coaster of publishing and life.

When I die, I want a granite bench for a gravestone with a stack of carved, stone books and perhaps, a seashell sitting on top. And maybe, I’ll have an epitaph that urges visitors to bring a cocktail and sit down to read one of my books to me as I lie beneath—forever listening. 

"You've got to make your life count, now!" William Shatner

“Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.” ~ Edgar Allan Poe

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Books and Interbeings

“Sometimes your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes your smile can be the source of your joy.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

If you looked at a book, would you notice the trees, rain, sunshine, and clouds in it? The late Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh emphasized the interconnectedness of everything in this world and how deeply objects like a chair or an apple are connected. Hanh coined the term interbeing, which means this because of that. A book is linked to rain and clouds because, without the rain, there would be no trees to produce paper for books. You could take this thought further and think that, without books, there would be no authors like me!

Luckily for the environment and the trees that grow among us, we don’t need paper to read books anymore. Even so, I still read 99 percent of my books in paperback. I like to buy used books. It’s still too satisfying to hold a bound book full of untold mysteries, along with the beauty and feel of an embossed and compelling cover. And don’t forget the papery smell as you turn the feather-light pages.

Hanh considered objects and people, rivers and trees, and everything, including the earth and the stars, to be a miracle of existence, since numerous causes and conditions had to meld perfectly to produce the world and its inhabitants that we know and love. Maybe if humans realized how interconnected we are, we could put aside our partisan disagreements and care for each other and the miracle of life.

And do as Hanh suggests: when you are drinking your favorite roast at Starbucks, sipping Jasmine tea, or, like me, curling a stiff Aviation gin and tonic, remember you’re drinking a cloud!

I finished my third novel, Artlet Abrams and the Ancient Apple Tree! Hooray! I'm recovering from foot surgery. Boo. Look to your inbox for my next newsletter on Monday, August, 17. And remember, if you've read and enjoyed Chorus of Crows, don't forget to tell somebody and leave a review! 

"People deal too much with the negative, with what is wrong. Why not try and see positive things, to just touch those things and make them bloom?" ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

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Get Your Word Juices Flowing

Joe Walters from Independent Book Review asked his subscribers to send their favorite writing hack, or tips. I replied, and my response inspired today’s post. I figured that you might be curious about what motivates me to write or inspires my story telling, when there’s no looming deadline or boss to appease. Here’s the scoop… Writing is often as simple as putting my butt on a chair, and opening my computer, even when I don’t know what comes next with my story. Without a 9-5 job, or a time clock to punch, who cares how long I let my laptop sleep? My cat cares. Hana loves it when I pull my laptop snug against my abdomen. That’s exactly the kind of challenge she lives for, and she must wedge herself between me and my keyboard come rainbow bridge or high water. I begin by editing what I wrote the day before, to insert myself in the scene. Sometimes inspiration quietly arrives, and when I reach the end, I keep going. If words are elusive, and I can only spit up a strangled sentence or two, I go back even further and edit again. Instead of always be closing, my motto is always be editing. Although I wish I could be a tough salesman like Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross. I’d certainly sell more books! But what happens when I’ve finished editing and words still won’t breach the ether? If all else fails, I take a book and go for a walk where there are towering trees and a lot of benches to sit and read upon. Inspiration can’t resist a good bench. Distraction attracts words. But don’t forget a notepad or a phone to collect wayward ideas. If you don’t write them down, the ether will slurp them back into the literary stew. Research. Live. You can’t write if you aren’t living well. You need to be out and about, learning from experiences, letting happy accidents happen, listening to the conversations of strangers, and traveling out of your comfort zone. Specific book research counts as writing time in my book. And sometimes it is okay to sit on your couch and read several witches’ grimoires to help fuel my upcoming book The Savannah Book of Spells. Or to research archeology online like I did for The Levitation Game. But being a couch potato won’t help you become a better writer. Living will help. Get out there. Of course, it helps to love what you do. I’ve met so many wanna-be writers that quit. It takes passion and perseverance. The longer you’re in the writing game, the better you’ll be. And I’m lucky that creativity is my cornerstone. Gosh darn it, I just love to make things, whether it’s snapping a pretty photo, sewing a new pillow cover, painting a drum (this summer’s task) cooking up a mean squash noodle soup, or whipping up a heroine on a quest to find the elusive Garden of Eden like in my work in progress, Artlet Abrams and the Ancient Apple Tree. Writing should be fun! Just do it!  “How vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.” ~ Henry David Thoreau Discover my author website! Read Chorus of Crows!

Potatoes and Peru

My trip to Peru was fraught with exhaustion, and physical and mental unease. But also, moments of astounding beauty. Wherever drinking water attracts serious side eye, I’m wary of uncooked anything, which was served in abundance. Sigh. The altitude was another obstacle. I’d never breathed air that thin for more than an hour or two. So, ten days between 10,000 feet and 15, 000 feet felt daunting. Plus, did I mention I’m basically a weakling with chronic fatigue? But I did it. I kept up with everyone else, even though on the inside, I was dying. I took Pepto Bismol, but overall, remained gut stable. I preserved, and as luck and prayers would have it, I didn’t miss a thing—except the San Pedro ceremony or plant medicine that resembled Ayahuasca. 

If you’ve ever thought about visiting Peru, please do! The Andes mountains are rugged and beautiful, the people and ceremonies are a rainbow-colored visual treat, and Machu Picchu is a surreal world wonder.

Here’s what I learned in Peru:

There are over 3,000 kinds of potatoes grown in Peru, in varying colors, shapes and sizes. One of my favorite memories was wandering the farmer’s market in Pisac. The smells! Oh, and the splayed and goose bumped, about-to-be-chopped chicken feet. I saw the biggest watermelons on earth. And piles of purple, orange, red, and brown wiggly potatoes. Oddly enough, mostly because of the uninspired meals served at my hotel, I hardly ate any potatoes.

Women and men wear wide brimmed wool hats, like in a western movie, to keep their heads dry from the constant mountain mist and rain. It’s cold in Peru. Dress accordingly. Better yet, go in the summer season.

There are two circuits at Machu Picchu, and you’ll only be able to choose one. Stay in the misty and magical town Machu Picchu Pueblo below the site and go in twice. We traveled six hours round trip on an exhausting route from Pisac, which wasn’t even close to Machu Picchu. And I was never able to wander amongst the ruins.

If you’re planning to try sacred and hallucinogenic plant medicine, like the San Pedro cactus, keep in mind that you may be sick afterwards for quite some time. It could derail your trip with very little reward. That’s why I didn’t do it. 

Often, first-time Alpaca mothers abandon their young, and the babies were like cuddly, uber-soft, adorable orphans bouncing around the mountains. But don’t worry, they are nursed into adulthood by the people of Peru. Did you know there are four camelid species in Peru? Alpacas, Llamas, Vicuna, and Guanaco.

Don’t forget to see Lake Titicaca, and all the other sites beyond Machu Picchu. I didn’t see all of the sites I wanted to see, but because I had an action-packed itinerary, I didn’t think it would be a big deal—until after I’d flown so far and spent so many soles. Make sure you’re booking the right trip to match your interests and culinary tastes. Ask questions and do your homework.

Eat your soup. The vegetable quinoa soup is delicious! They grow quinoa in Peru and it melts in your mouth like fresh noodles.

I experienced a ceremony that will enhance a chapter of my upcoming book, The Savannah Book of Spells. Everyone in our group thought about purposeful wishes and goals while we held sacred coca leaves, then we blew our desires to the surrounding mountains in three strong huffs. The leaf spoils were added to a pile of cookies, beads and objects, along with mystery items that we unwrapped, each with a special meaning to the people of Peru, like corn or herbs. After the ceremony, the pile of herbs, trinkets and leaf spoils were wrapped and later, buried. That sounds like something my green witches could do.

Buy handicrafts from the locals. What a riot of color! I bought a small stuffed alpaca and tied the colorful and free friendship bracelets I received during the trip around its furry neck. The souvenirs and memories of travel you acquire will live on in your heart forever. Just like Peru.

"If no man could become rich in Peru, no man could become poor." ~ William Prescott

"This book is unsettling in the best way, slow, atmospheric, and deeply human." ~ Frank Rojas

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The Secret Life of a Spammer

 

The morning sun turned the curtains over the sink a gossamer orange like butterfly wings, as Leo grabbed his thermos and raced to the front door. He twisted the doorknob but stopped. He’d forgotten his book. Where did he leave it? His feet pounded the floor, and his dog barked as he backtracked through the living room and into his bedroom, grabbing his copy of Pride and Prejudice, before racing outside, down the street, and into the throng of morning commuters. Leo stopped and waited at the corner of Hellfire and Gates. The air sizzled with humidity. The smell of fermenting garbage floated on the breeze.

After a minute, a dusty bus belched and wheezed to a stop, cracking the door. As passengers rushed to board, a woman bumped him in the shoulder with her duffel, and another man stepped on his foot. But as long as Leo had a book to read during his commute to work, he didn’t care about a thing. He boarded and took a seat, smushed between a woman with a tiny dog and a man with an oversized briefcase. Leo began to read.

As the sun rose above the buildings near his home, Leo wiped the sweat from his forehead and drifted into the world of Jane Austen, and when he lifted his head to look out the smudgy bus window, instead of the city, he saw the cool and crisp English countryside. Leo smiled.

Hours later, his fingers grew tired from hastily typing messages into the comments of random blogs and sending spicy emails. He knew the words were misspelled and crude, but did anyone really read spam emails and comments anyway? Besides, if people clicked the links after he’d written such disgusting fodder and misspelled almost every word, they deserved what they got, right? Spam work was tedious, and guilt gnawed at his heart as he inserted the link for his company’s squeaky sex doll website over and over and over into the thousands of websites of random authors and businesses too dumb to install spam filters. He hated his job, but if AI took over, he would be obsolete. What would he do then?

Leo took a sip from his coffee cup and eyeballed the stack of books that sat on his desk. What if instead of typing vulgar messages, he wrote passages from his favorite books? Leo grabbed book after book from his desk, and for hours, his fingers flew over the keyboard, and he had no time to fix his mistakes...

…and Miss Bingleybegan abusing her as soon as she was out of the room Her manners werepronounced to be very bad –a mixture of pride and impertinence:she had no conversation,

…and now you comeover like a walking atomy with a rat,s tail at your wig

…The moths will fly out andclimb into the projector beam,so that the film will be obscured byfluttering shadows

…after a very well-cooked lunch in which the Yorkshire puddinghad melted in his mouth and the apricot tart had been so perfect thathe ate it all,Mellers smoking his cigar by the brightly burningfire the while hail gusts banged on the window

…where the thickest fought,the victor flew;The king’s example all his Greeks pursue.

…surprised.And presently Lady Droitwich began to do amusing things as well as saythem

…olonel Fitzwilliam entered into conversation directly,with thereadiness and ease of a well-bred man,

...“My dream! My dream! Even now it cometh topass! Help! Help!”The man drew the woman away from the skeleton and closer to thetrembling rock.”Even the dead come forth!” she wailed.

Ha! The previous and flawed sentences were torn, word for word, (then deleted and marked as spam) from my website. I begin every day by deleting unpublished spam comments from my author website. I only recently figured out how to manage them more effectively. Imagine my surprise when I noticed that they were botched lines from classic literature! It was and is still rancidly annoying, but intriguing, nonetheless. Po! Po! Away! Away!

But don't go yet, read this heartwarming and starred editorial review of Chorus of Crows at Independent Book Review! It's the best darn thing to happen to me as a writer. Look to your inbox for my next newsletter on May 18. And greetings from Peru! Be sure to check out my blog for upcoming photos. 

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Chorus of Crows Caught a Stared Review!

I received a heartwarming, stared review from Independent Book Review! Whenever I get kicked in the gut by bad reviews, I’m going to reread this review, over and over, and hopefully persevere. 

Please take a look!

 Read my stared review at Independent Book Review!

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