Review: REVENGE OF THE RED CLUB

A long time ago, Judy Blume wrote a book that changed a lot of girls' lives....

The girls in my sixth grade class passed it around like it was contraband, for none of us had ever read a book that talked about our developing bodies and PERIODS!

The book attained an instant cult following, not just because of the content, but mostly because of the masterful way Judy Blume tapped into the difficulty of being a girl entering puberty.

Fast forward a few decades, and Judy's masterpiece now has a worthy successor: REVENGE OF THE RED CLUB by Kim Harrington.

The story of Riley Dunne, member and leader of her school's Red Club, which started as a private support group for girls with their period, including the use of a locker with an emergency supply stash, REVENGE OF THE RED CLUB is equal parts inspiring and entertaining.

At first you think Riley attends the most "woke" school ever, but as is so often the case in society, that veneer is much thinner than the girls realize. 

Suddenly the Red Club is shut down, and when the school's girls are subject to sexist and demoralizing dress codes, they know it's time to fight back.

What I loved most about this book is the way Kim Harrington imparts important information, not only about questions girls may have about their bodies, but how they must demand control over their bodies. Sexism is dealt with in a straightforward, and sensitive way.  And while there are some conflicts between the girls, they aren't stereotypical or simplistic.

Mostly, I love the idea of kids, their parents, and teachers having real and important discussions about how old mindsets can hold girls back.

When I finished the book I hoped every principal buys a copy for their school and starts their own Red Club. 

Surely if one had existed in my elementary school all those years ago, we wouldn't have been slipping Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret to each other in the hallway.

This book deserves to be read by everyone!

Want to know more about Kim Harrington?

Visit Kim's website HERE

Writing by Notecards

As a primary caregiver to seven school-age children, I often find it difficult to carve out the time I need to write. Luckily, I've found something that works for me. (Of course, what works for me may not work for you.) I'll share it, in the hopes that some of you might find it helpful for your drafting process.

Where once I would write in a pantsing only format and then figure the story stuff out in revision, I've changed that quite a bit - but not completely. I think I wasted quite a bit of time in my early years by only pantsing. I mean, I love pantsing, but revision was arduous, and often frustrating. I'd regularly cut, rearrange, or rewrite thousands of works in order to make a somewhat cohesive story. (Still working on that.)

With all my stories though, I now begin with a vague idea of a character and location. Who are they? What do they want? Why? What's stopping them? What will they learn? How will they grow?

Once I have those questions somewhat figured out, I take a stack of blank notecards and write a summary sentence or two on each. Then, I order and reorder them as I see fit for the story. I ask lots of "what if" questions as I fill out the cards and I don't always use each card. This process has helped me immensely.

It's so much easier for me to carry notecards and a pen (every retired educator carries a pen) and write bits here and there than it is to tote my laptop to the dance studio, or tennis practice, or piano lessons. I did that for several years. Sometimes I still do, but not nearly as frequently. When I have quiet time later (usually midnight) I can pants away with my notecards by my side!

Suffice it to say, if you have a busy life full of kids and all their activities and are trying to write a whole book, carry a few notecards and pen with you. I'll bet you can still feel attached to your manuscript and feel like you're making progress, and hopefully, you'll discover what I discovered.

Notecards keep me moving forward with the story, and the fun of "free-writing" within that notecard framework allows me to write fewer wasted words.

Good luck and keep writing!
Rob

Writers, Don't Be Jerks

We’ve all been at that SCBWI workshop where are the crazy lady who looks like she hasn’t bathed
since CHARLOTTE’S WEB was written, is rambling on about how George Soros and the Vatican
are plotting to make all the bees go extinct.

Unfortunately, I’m not making that up, and she was sitting right next to me.

I was annoyed she took up so much instruction time, but given last week on #writingtwitter, I’m
reminded of a deeper annoyance: 

Not all writers are crazy. 

Um, make that… Not all writers are certifiably insane, talking-to-walls-and-seeing-Elvis-at-
truckstops, crazy. 

Last Friday was a full moon, and #writersdontbejerks became a hashtag on Twitter. I made it. It’s a
thing.  

Nobody should have to say this! 

And don’t be crazy, and don’t insult agents online. And don’t use the #MSWL hashtag of all things,
no matter how hilariously Godawful your magniloquent rant is (he calls agents “magpies”) repeatedly. 

Don’t be creepy, either. Ha ha ha, did you hear the one about the writer who slid a manuscript
under the bathroom door at an SCBWI conference?*

EWW! You're supposed to WRITE the next Fatal Attraction, not act it out.

I’ve spoken to this agent. She’s empathetic, funny, super-sharp, someone you want in your corner.
Do you really think she’s going to rep you after you’ve creeped out all her friends by being a weirdo
stalker? 

What’s the problem? More agents for me? 

Agents know how to get through their slush pile, but they still don't deserve to be treated badly. What
these non-competitors are doing is discrediting us all. 

Seriously, how do you live in a country with FREE healthcare and let yourself get like this?

Writing is a lofty goal, and publishing is a very opaque industry. Most people are kind, but a lot of the
business rules skew secret and counter-intuitive. And to the publishing process is very non-linear.

“Revise? If you’re actually talented, that first draft should be good enough. 
When are you getting published?”

“Oh no no no. That agent rejected your book. It isn’t good. You’re no good. Don’t query it any more
and stop writing books!”

I’ve given up trying to explain to civilians. 

Since declaring my intention to become an author, I’ve received… less than exuberant support from
family and friends. 

I’m never getting an MBA or an MIS; and instead I’m going to write kids books in my free time! Whee! 

When I didn’t stop writing as people had asked, the confrontations got more heated. The little digs
became bigger and nastier.  Work isn't supposed to make you happy, and I was delusional to think
otherwise.

It's not that I'm ungrateful for my experiences in Big Four management consulting and as a software
project manager. But I am very aware that this often high-stress job isn't my life's purpose.

And while Women In STEM!™can be a great feminist role model to girls... I'm pretty sure that only
works if these women are happy.

I'm only happy if writing is part of my daily routine. It's not that complicated.

But how badly non-writers perceived me truly didn’t register till after I got hit by the truck, and
mentioned to a doctor about writing books. His reaction: 

“WRITE? You think you’re that Harry Potter chick or something? Stop stuttering, re-learn Salesforce
and try to keep that JOB!”

Let's get real: "I was studying for the CPA exam!" (or whatever other professional goal that would
make a ten-year-old horribly depressed about their future adult life) would never have elicited
such venom.

What that doctor didn't realize was that in the immediate, peeing-glass-shards-and-struggling-to-
remember-how-to-spell-my-name aftermath of the accident… I missed an email from a Pitchwars
mentor interested in my manuscript. 

For the record, this is the same manuscript that’s gotten me a request for a full and a generous
scholarship to a Highlights Foundation workshop. The same writing skills that got me selected as
a Cybils Panelist. 

But, it didn’t matter then, and it doesn’t matter now. 

I’m fortunately no longer literally sitting next to Ms. Insect Conspiracy. But the Land of the Unpublished
and Unrepresented is vast, and she and I both occupy that zip code.  And to outsiders, we might
well be two peas in a pod. Even Ransom Riggs (way more my idol than J.K.) was an unpublished
nobody once upon a time. 

But writers giving screechy stump speeches in the coffee shop about aliens, and flipping out on
Twitter… realize you become the face of ALL writers. We're striving for what many people would
consider a dream job; we need to show we've got what it takes.

Clean up your act. Your passion will sustain your career as a writer, but you need
presentation to get yourself in the door.

Our eccentric little group looks only as good as our weirdest member.

12 Literary Quotes to Motivate and Inspire

At the start of a new year, we are all looking for a little inspiration, setting new goals, and hoping for the motivation to carry them past January. One of my favorite places to find inspiration (and get a metaphorical kick in the pants) is in literature. And sometimes movies. Or TV. But someone's writing those, too, so we'll count that as lit for now!

I used to keep manila folders stuffed with my favorite quotes. Now I save them to pinterest, post on social media, or tuck them away in my Evernote files for later reference. Sometimes I just highlight them on kindle or iBooks with the intent of going back to reference them later.

A few years back, I reclaimed my kids' toy room (they're teenagers and beyond!) and converted it to a writing room with the intent of filling the space with inspiration, mementos that represent my personality, and intriguing, motivating or inspiring quotes. I'm lagging a little behind on putting up the quotes. My hope is to eventually carve out enough time to plaster them on my slightly unfinished and more than slightly cluttered writing area. In the meantime, I'll share a bunch of them here. Maybe you'll scribble one or two on a sticky note. Or better yet, post them in your own writing space!

Feel free to pin or post these! What are some of your favorite quotes?

Don't Let Fear Ride Shotgun

Over the past month or so, I’ve stumbled across several things rather serendipitously. Things I didn’t know I needed until they were right there in front of me. One of these was the audio version of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic. I’d read the hardback when it first came out, but for whatever reason, I decided it was time for a re-read.

Early in the book, Ms Gilbert shares a long list of fears that can hold us back creatively—you might be afraid you’ll be rejected, afraid there’s no market for your work, afraid your work isn’t important enough to matter, afraid it’ll all be a giant waste of time and effort, afraid of being a one-hit wonder, afraid of being a no-hit wonder, etc., etc. 

Another thing I came across was Nina LaCour’s Keeping a Notebook podcast—in particular, the episode called “Pressure” (May 20, 2019). In that episode, Ms LaCour speaks of the tremendous pressures that can interfere with our writing – pressure to finish a novel, pressure to write a compelling enough or commercial enough story to get an agent or a book deal, pressure to please a publishing team or readership, pressure to make a sustainable living from writing. These pressures struck me as being very close relatives of fear.

Now, I’ve never thought of myself as a particularly fearful person, but I was stunned at how many of these fears and pressures resonated with me. As I spent time in some end-of-the-year reflection, I recognized that for me, most (all?) of the things that get in the way of a joyful and productive writing life – including my all-time favorites, self-doubt and procrastination – come down to fear. 

This could be depressing—so many fears and pressures seem to come with creative living, like some sort of cruel package-deal. But hallelujah, all is not lost. In Big Magic, the long list of fears is followed up with a fantastic road-trip metaphor – basically, when you begin a new project, it’s like you and Creativity and Fear are going on a road trip. Fear’s going to come along, because hey, it always does, but it has to sit in the back, and only you and Creativity get to make decisions. Fear might get a voice, but it doesn’t get a vote, and it absolutely never gets to drive.

I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions, but last week I found myself journaling about intentions. (Intentions sound kinda like resolutions in disguise, so go figure...I guess I made a resolution, lol). I’m in the early stages of a new project. It’s scary. As always, I have doubts that my unorthodox writing process will work, and yes, I sense the pressure to meet expectations (my own and others’). But I'm excited, too, eager for the discoveries to come--maybe even accompanied by the occasional moment of magic. So my intention is to trust -- trust myself and trust my process, and simply show up day after day, telling the story that's calling to me. 

I’m going to keep that road-trip image in mind for this journey. No doubt, Fear is coming along for the ride, and that's okay. Trusting myself doesn't mean I'm not afraid. Being brave is about being scared and doing the hard thing anyway. (But I swear, if Fear doesn't keep quiet in the back seat, I may have to find a way to toss it in the trunk for a few miles!) I think it’s going to be a great trip. :-)

What gets in the way of writing or creative living for you? What helps you be productive and enjoy the journey in spite of the challenges?

Review:A Time Traveler's Theory of Relativity

One of my all time favorite books is the Newberry Award winning A WRINKLE IN TIME. I loved it

as a kid. I loved it as an adult. I read it to my students. I couldn't find a book to match it - until now!

Author Nicole Valentine has done what I thought was impossible and has written as stunning book that captures the wonder of physics, time, and sacrificial love in a whole new story. This is a book you'll want to share with everyone.

Twelve-year-old Finn has seen tragedy in his life. His twin sister drowned when she was three and Finn's mother left the family without explanation. Finn longs for stability and finds it in his physics books and his best friend, Gabi.

Everything changes when his grandmother tells him about the family secret - the women in their family are time travelers. And they need Finn's help. Finn sets out on a journey across centuries and through worlds to rescue his mother and sister. In the end he learns that love is his greatest weapon and time is truly relative.

I won't give away spoilers because part of the joy in reading this book is all the delightful plot twists. Valentine not only has a firm grasp on the physics behind time travel, she also know the nature of middle grade kids. Her characters are vivid and real. I love that Grandma has a boyfriend! And her story pacing is perfect. Each twist at just the right moment.

Readers will love this book and writers need to study it as a lesson in excellent storytelling.
If there is one book you need to pick up this year - it's A TIME TRAVELER'S THEORY OF RELATIVITY. 
Now get yourself to the bookstore!