It's Hard not to Hate You

This week's reading includes It's Hard Not to Hate You by Valerie Frankel.  This was on the new shelves for non-fiction at the library and I had mixed feelings going in - unleashing your Inner Hater is not really in keeping with my philosophy about life.  On the other hand, it's pretty funny.  And then I got to the part about writerly hatred, and I fell in love.  She talks about the opposite of schadenfreude - instead of feeling pleasure at other people's misfortune, we feel misery at other people's successes.

I don't know a single writer that doesn't feel this at one time or another. Frankel writes:

The rich. The thin. The beautiful. I’ve got no problem with them. If the world’s wealthiest, hottest woman walked into my office and asked for a cup of coffee, I’d get it. But if she said, “Guess what? My first novel just hit the New York Times bestsellers list!”?

Hate. She could get her coffee in hell.

I went online and bought the Nook book right then and there.  And I think it's funny that I read this during World Fantasy Convention weekend, where between all the air kisses and back-slapping and genuine happiness for others, there's a good deal of jealousy and cattiness and gossip.  It's part of the package.  Writer A is jealous of Writer B, Writer B is jealous of Writer C - it doesn't end.

On the other hand, I've been reading a lot of Brad Warner's Zen Buddhist books lately, and one of the principle tenets that I'm working on embracing is that there is no other.  When I look at you, I am seeing myself look out of your eyes back at me.  Hating a successful writer means hating myself.  And there is no self, which makes it all the more futile.  I'm on a Brad binge - four books in six weeks - so more on him later.

You can read more about Valerie Frankel and writerly hatred here.

You can read Brad Warner's blog here.

Writing spots

This past week I have written in Starbucks, Panera's #1, Panera's #2, the UNF library 4th floor, the UNF library 2nd floor, and from the comfort of home.  Unfortunately the comfort of home is oft disturbed by senile!cat's yowling or kittens!knocking things over, hence Starbucks, Panera's, and UNF.  I did try to write at Barnes and Noble, but the cafe was jammed and this store doesn't have any other seating.

Going to Starbucks or Panera's isn't necessarily good for my waist line or wallet, but it's been good for productivity.  I've been writing about 1,000 new words a day on teen mystery 2 as well as revising earlier chapters.  The manuscript is due on Dec 1 and I'm very confident about getting there, especially with this coming week off from the day classes.  But I did promise to write 2 other stories due on Nov, so I foresee more passion tea lemonade in my immediate future.

I don't usually wear headphone when I'm writing in public because what's the fun in that?  Eavesdrop, baby!  Great for picking up lines of dialogue or new views on the world.  This is from a conversation overheard while clothes shopping:

Woman #1:  You can't wear that jacket with teal pants.  They won't approve.
Woman #2:   Who is they?
Woman #1:  The people who wear clothes that match.

In other news, senile!cat is meowing right this minute because she knows I'm trying to post.  Everyone say hi to Leia!

Writing spots

his past week I have written in Starbucks, Panera's #1, Panera's #2, the UNF library 4th floor, the UNF library 2nd floor, and from the comfort of home.  Unfortunately the comfort of home is oft disturbed by senile!cat's yowling or kittens!knocking things over, hence Starbucks, Panera's, and UNF.  I did try to write at Barnes and Noble, but the cafe was jammed and this store doesn't have any other seating.

Going to Starbucks or Panera's isn't necessarily good for my waist line or wallet, but it's been good for productivity.  I've been writing about 1,000 new words a day on teen mystery 2 as well as revising earlier chapters.  The manuscript is due on Dec 1 and I'm very confident about getting there, especially with this coming week off from the day classes.  But I did promise to write 2 other stories due on Nov, so I foresee more passion tea lemonade in my immediate future.

I don't usually wear headphone when I'm writing in public because what's the fun in that?  Eavesdrop, baby!  Great for picking up lines of dialogue or new views on the world.  This is from a conversation overheard while clothes shopping:

Woman #1:  You can't wear that jacket with teal pants.  They won't approve.
Woman #2:   Who is they?
Woman #1:  The people who wear clothes that match.

In other news, senile!cat is meowing right this minute because she knows I'm trying to post.  Everyone say hi to Leia!

Congratulations to Lt. Ross!

Congratulations to Lt. Gary Ross and his partner of 11 years, Dan Swezy, on their impending nuptials.  They will be getting married tonight, just after midnight, on the day the military officially changes its policies about gay and lesbian service members.

The military still has a ways to go - gay and lesbian partners of military members will not have full benefits the way heterosexual partners do - but this is a huge leap forward, and long overdue.

It's All in Your Head

One of the tricks for beating procrastination is to have a lot on your to-do list.  This way, if you're procrastinating on one thing, you can be busy accomplishing something else.  This week I'm procrastinating on starting YA mystery 2, which must be turned in on Dec 1. I am all heeby jeeby about committing myself to 5 weeks of 1,500 words a day for the first draft in addition to the 5 classes I am teaching this term. So instead, I've been getting short stories out the door, and writing a grant proposal, and doing copyedits on book 1.

But I reached the lowest point of procrastination two days ago, when I cleaned the refrigerator. You know things are desperate when I'm cleaning the refrigerator.

Things could be worse.  Truman Capote worked for 19 years on his unfinished novel Answered Prayers and then died. Ralph Ellison worked for 40 years on his second novel and then died. Writer's block or severe procrastination?  You decide:  It's All in My Head, by Jessica Winter.

Happy Friday to you, and may your weekend be most excellent!  I hope you don't have to clean your refrigerator

Weekend news

Spent most of the weekend at the fabulous UNF-FWA Writer's Conference.  Thanks to all 127 attendees who came to my workshop on character arcs and my fabulous critique group of 9 fiction writers and those who bought my books.  Excellent, excellent conference and it was great to be part of it for the second year in a row.

Very sad to hear about the SEAL deaths in Afghanistan, however - I can't even read the news stories without tearing up.

And very irate to read about the gay men married in Massachusetts 7 years ago, they've lived together 19 years, one of them an Australian citizen, the American suffering from AIDS, and now the federal government is trying to boot the Australian out of the country using the Defense of Marriage Act to say he can't have permanent residency.  If the Australian leaves, who will take care of his husband?  And if the husband goes with him to Australia, who will cover his extensive medical needs?  So ridiculous.  SF gay married couple loses immigration battle.

Happy Release Day!

Happy Release Day to this new anthology!

Very happy to be in it with Laird Barron, Rick Bowes, and other fine writers.

Read more about it indiebound.org