Random Thoughts on a Friday

1. Sometimes having a migraine is good for you. In my case, I had a massive headache yesterday and when I lay down to rest a bit, I got the most brilliant idea for a new story! A day later, the idea is still a good one so I know it will “take.”

2. Sometimes letting go of your ego is good for your work. Since my last book was published three years ago, I’ve written five complete manuscripts, two of which have gone out on submission and failed to spark enough interest to be purchased. My pride was bruised, admittedly, and I only wanted a third book published. But now I want an awesome book published, not just good but great. I want to break out and be noticed, not merely “acquired.” Therefore I will not rush this book to my agent but take the time to craft it and if she thinks it needs more work, then I will do that.

3. Sometimes putting cocoa powder in the mix is good for your muffins. While baking banana nut muffins for a co-worker (and Mo), I added several tablespoons of cocoa powder (the unsweetened kind not hot chocolate mix) and they turned out yummier than ever! This happens to be fantastic recipe that I got from Saffron Hut's blog. Here's the link so you can make them yourself. Don’t forget to add cocoa! And be generous with the nuts.

Borders bookstores closing

News of Borders filing for Chapter 11 is nothing surprising to the publishing industry now but 3 years ago when my books were coming out, there was not an inkling of trouble with the company.

Borders in Westwood (near UCLA) was the first store where I signed stock of LOVE, MEG. I was so nervous and excited to see my books on the shelf! Mo and I searched on-line first to see where the books were around here and then we set out with pen and camera in hand. The very first time it took me forever just to get up the nerve to talk to a manager and say, "Hey, those are my books, do you want me to sign them?" I think we walked around the store for about half an hour first! But they were so nice and eager to slap the "Autographed copy" stickers on them. It was a huge thrill for me.

I always had a soft spot for Borders over Barnes & Noble for the simple fact that they stocked my books in more of their stores than B&N did. Also, they hosted a really nice signing for me at their West Hartford store when ALL ABOUT VEE came out. The manager, David, was amazing and kind and did everything he could to make it a success. When we ran out of books, he promised to order more that I could come in and sign before I left for the west coast - and he did!

Borders was also a better place to strike up conversations with other customers. For some reason, the stores I went to attracted readers who liked to talk about their favorite books. B&N customers were more business-like - either in and out with their purchases or hanging out with a coffee and earbuds in.

I'll miss Borders and I'll miss their managers. I hope the ones I met on both coasts fare well in this business, regardless of where they decide to stay.

Axioms I love spoken by real people

"Nothing ever starts on time." - my dad, John Purtill

As kids, my brother and I would get frustrated with my father's inability to leave the house in a timely fashion to arrive at events *before* they began. Now that I'm older, I realize he's right: most things (theater, meetings, weddings, etc.) rarely start when they are scheduled to so why bust your butt to get there? And if that's not true and you're a few minutes late, so what? It's not the end of the world.

"No one wants to do their job." - my friend and manager, Adam Peck

When Adam told me this years ago, I didn't get it but soon - especially after living in LA for a while - I did. It's not that people are lazy, it's just that they don't want to do the jobs they were *hired* to do. They want to do someone else's job, which is the job they really want (assistants want to be producers, clerks want to be managers, and everyone thinks they can be a writer!). I try to be aware of this myself when I don't do something: is it because I can't or because I want to be in someone else's shoes?

"Most people are thinking about themselves." - my husband, Maurice Jordan

After parties, I have a bad habit of analyzing every single thing I said ad nauseum. Maurice reminds me that, unless I ran around naked with a lampshade on my head, the likelihood of anyone remembering anything I said is super-slim. Why? Because they're all thinking about what *they* said at the party. Let's face it: when you're talking to someone, it's very rare for you to be thinking about them, isn't it? You're waiting for your turn to speak. You're thinking about something to say or an excuse to get away or what you can eat next. Well, so is that other person! Once you realize the truth of this, it makes parties and meetings so much easier.

A confluence of blogs

First thing you should know about me is that I'm a Gemini (birthday's in May, start thinking about gifts now) so I have two very distinct sides to my personality. Each of them is represented by my blogs: my author blog which is this one if you couldn't tell and my dancer blog, which is www.fitballet.blogspot.com, where I talk about dance and training and post videos to help beginners.

Never have the two blogs met until now. This morning, I was reading a review of a dance movie called "A Beautiful Tragedy" on the blog, Dance Advantage. The movie is about an anorexic dancer in Russia named Oksana. The reviewer wrote about the documentary's unflinching look at ballet in Russia, where dance is taken very seriously. The dance world is notoriously stringent about weight and size yet it's accepted as a given while anorexia in the modeling world is condemned.Which brings me to this sad article from CNN.com about the death of model Isabella Caro. She was on an anti-anorexia billboard in France and even wrote a memoir called, "The Little Girl Who Did Not Want to Get Fat" about her battle with the disease from a young age.

Then, back in my writer world, I got a Google alert about an ALL ABOUT VEE mention. Here it's part of an article titled, "YA Fatphobia" in the upcoming issue of The Horn Book, which is a literary resource for teachers and librarians across the country. My novel is very positively mentioned and included among a handful of YA novels that portray plus-size characters in a positive and healthy way (thank you, writer and reviewer Kathryn Nolfi!).

And one more article from CNN.com, an interview with actress Ginnifer Goodwin ("Big Love"). She's beautiful, isn't she? She has gorgeous skin and a great career and yet, she seems to have an unhealthy attitude toward food and dieting. I know this interview is supposed to show how healthy she is but honestly, she's in the same world as my character, Veronica May. Except where my gal accepts her weight and lives beautifully, Ms. Goodwin seems to see weight as a constant battle in her life, not so very different from Ms. Caro or the Russian ballerina, Oksana. And yet, she's being portrayed as someone with a balanced life. Sorry, Ms. Goodwin, but you're just as anxious and obsessed about weight as every other actress in Hollywood.

All of these articles in one morning! And this was on top of reading the sobering statistic that 2 out of every 3 Americans is overweight or obese. No wonder! We have the worst attitudes toward food and disease and we label people and food "good" or "bad." None of these people need to make weight-loss resolutions: they need to make acceptance resolutions.

Random Thoughts on a Christmas Morning

As I sip coffee from my special Christmas cup and contemplate the Christmas movies to listen to while I bake cookies this morning, I'm reminded of several things, a primary one which is I need to have breakfast *before* I cook or else I will nibble all the dough.

1. Sometimes the best holidays are the smallest ones. This recession-bordering-on-depression has taught us big lessons about living more frugally and Christmas should be no exception. I've been guilty of extravagance in the past - once when I got my very first real job out of college and the second time when I got my big job at the network - but what came of it? Sure it was fun to be able to buy whatever I wanted for people but they didn't love me or the day any more than when I was more discreet with my purchases.

2. Sometimes the best traditions are the ones you didn't grow up with. I loved putting up stockings with my parents and brother when I was a kid. I loved midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. I loved watching "It's a Wonderful Life" a million times. But in LA, we've had to create our own traditions. We watch our own versions of Christmas movies ("Die Hard," "Home Alone," Christmas Vacation," plus the usual suspects, "A Christmas Story" and "Miracle on 34th Street"). We have sushi for Christmas Eve dinner (when we're a tad more flush). And at the end of the day, we'll walk around the empty city in search of a Starbucks or Coffee Bean that's open.

3. Sometimes it's okay to do nothing on Christmas Day. There is so much pressure to do/go/buy, to visit friends and family, to attend parties and special events, to give, to receive, to be in the Christmas spirit when, in fact, you may need to do the complete opposite. A little hibernation, a little coffee-and-reading, can be the best thing to recharge your batteries and get you in the mood for the start of a new year. Who says you can't celebrate your friends and family next week instead?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone~

The latest autograph seeker is...

For the writers, musicians, artists, actors and all others who have received the odd autograph requests, here is one more. Just got it today.

KOLEKCJONER AUTOGRAFÓW, AUTOGRAMM SAMMLER,
COLLECTION AUTOGRAPH, COLLEZIONISTA AUTOGRAFO,
COLLECTION AUTOGRAPHE

Knurów, 12 December 2010 r.

DEAR MS. C. LEIGH PURTILL !!!

My name is Marek Wegorzewski and I am 27 Years old.

I live in Knurów in Poland.

I am interested with the books very much.
I like read Your books.
I congratulations You many successes in life.

Since 1992 I am collecting photos with autographs from very
important people all over the world. My collection is an
enormous, about 12000 autographs. In my collection I have photos
with autographs famous actors, singers, painters, drivers, football
players, athletes, politicians, journalists and many persons.

It is possible to send me a photo with Your autograph or
autograph Ms. C. Leigh Purtill.

Thank You for You help and I am sorry for my broken
English!

Yours faithfully !


Marek Wegorzewski
ul. Ulanow 11c/11
44 194 Knurow
Polska / Poland
Europa


Personally, I like the exclamation marks after my name.

The authentic voice

You know it when you read it: the genuine voice of the narrator, the characters whose dialogue pops off the page because it's so realistic, the prose that describes a summer day exactly the way you imagined it.

That's the authentic voice. That's the voice every writer strives to find when she starts a new story. When people talk about hearing their characters talking in their heads, they're listening for the voices that sound real to them.

You also know the inauthentic voice, the one that's trying too hard to sound cool and ends up desperate, the one that describes that summer day in the most pretentious $100 words, those characters who would never in a million years tell each other how they met in an actual conversation.

When you're an adult writing YA, you tread a fine line. Teens know when an adult is talking down to them, when prose and dialogue are dumbed down so they "get it." They also recognize the author who really doesn't know what teens sound like. Hint: not all teenagers swear every other word or use "like" all the time. They don't all talk about clothes and boys and sex. Lots and lots of them have cogent thoughts; lots and lots of them know what "cogent" means.

No matter what genre you're writing or how old your narrator is, it's tough to get the voice right. I am currently in the middle of a rewrite and I have changed the main character's voice dramatically. Where she used to sound very young adultish, now she sounds like an adult who is young. There is a big difference. The former made her appealing to a much younger group of readers; the latter gives her voice resonance that should appeal to a much broader group, teens and adults, I hope.

Since every book needs to be rewritten (although some not as massively as this one), I wasn't surprised to find I needed to take a closer look at my narrator's voice. Now I believe she's more authentic, more real to readers, and hopefully someone they will be able to relate to better.