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First heard on Bones and I can’t get it out of my head. So so so good.

I’m finishing one aviation article, working hard on another, juggling edits for the upcoming second edition of “Beers of the North” and doing research (some reading, lots of emailing) for the next chapters of the work-in-progress. On March 1st I am determined to have enough to go back to full time working on it so I can have a good package to send to the agent by the end of the month.

Sometimes, good music is the only thing that keeps all of this sane in my head.

(This song is called “Kandi” by One Eskimo but it is Candi Staton’s voice you hear with the female solo. The song originated with Patsy Cline.)

…..then you should know that I am doing a monthly author newsletter!

When I spoke with Lauren Cerand last summer, one of the things we discussed was creating an author newsletter. I’ve been thinking about it since, unsure how to do it in a way that is unique and valuable to readers. I want to keep curious readers up on my work-in-progress (as well as other occasional articles and essays I complete), but also use it as a way to convey all kinds of other things that I find of interest and want to share.

So, starting in March, I will be issuing a monthly newsletter that includes not only the WIP update, but also links to things I find online in the areas of exploration, history, biography, science….well, you get the idea. (And maybe a book or two that I think are worth checking out.)

You can sign up for the newsletter here, (or in the upper right corner of the blog). I hope you will trust me to make this project well worth your time.

[Post pic is a hint from my WIP!]

The most frustrating aspect of the freelance writer life is the pitch. There is a lot of pressure built into crafting the perfect pitch letter. (Long enough to explain the idea but not too long as to run-on plus it has to include your qualifications as to why you should be the one to write it and it has to have a hook and it has to explain why the publication you are writing is the right place to consider it and it has to be short and to the point or they dump it without reading.) (This letter is inherently nerve-wracking and very nearly vomit-inducing but we do it anyway.)

Once you finally get a letter that you think (hope, dream) works, you email it off to an editor and….you wait. You wait forever. You can’t nudge the editor for at least a month because to do so earlier might make you seem needy. You want to be aloof; you want to be confident in your ability to write that article you want…..to not annoy the editor you have never met because if they get annoyed at you they will probably trash your pitch letter and you will have burned a bridge that never existed and all hope for ever writing for that publication/site will be gone forever. (At least that is prevailing wisdom.)

So. You wait.

And the thing is, most editors never even respond. The pitch disappears into the ether and you never know if it was read by the editor (or even an assistant). Maybe it disappeared into a monumental slush pile or maybe someone’s email changed or maybe the editor just decided to delete every single email he/she had pending because they can do that and no one would ever know.

The point is, most of the time you never hear anything back at all and so you never know if the pitch was wrong or the subject was wrong or your qualifications weren’t good enough or the stars just weren’t in alignment. After a month you send a cautious email and you hear nothing back from that either. (Really, you hear nothing.) And then you have to decide to send that pitch out again (maybe another editor at the same publication or a different set of publications altogether?) or should you completely rewrite it? And how many times do you send it out before you decide it’s a dud?

How many times do you try the pitch?

All of this is to say that longreads had a great piece the other day on the public pitch; the idea of throwing out your idea to editors via social media and seeing what response you could get. The thought is that this takes a bit of power back for the writer (who has the idea in the first place). Of course it doesn’t work unless you have enough editorial contacts via social media to be heard but there is a part of me that finds this very appealing.

I wish I knew for sure I was in a position to pitch via twitter and be heard. (Honestly, I might already be there to a certain degree.) At least I know that someone would see my pitch if it went out that way as opposed to the current method which frankly (for me anyway) is 100% not working. (Same pitch sent out to 8 different editors at different publications over 2 months and only one tepid reply with a promise to send it on to other unnamed editors who…..never replied.)

The big concern in the public pitch is that a more established writer will see it and steal your idea. The longreads piece addresses this and yeah, it’s something I’m thinking about. On the flip side, I think it’s fair to say that I am a writer who knows more about Alaska aviation (and has better Alaska aviation contacts) then pretty much anyone else, so while someone could steal it, they couldn’t bring to it the experience that I can. Plus, I’ve already written a book about Alaska aviation which proves my qualifications and that has to count for something.

Please tell me it counts!

(The pitch is not a memoir about AK aviation as my book is but it is about a certain aspect of Alaska flying.)

So, thinking about my pitch this week and what might be wrong with it (or if nothing is wrong with it). I’m going to send it out again next week to a whole new slate of publications. I have a really good hook – a great hook she writes, while keeping it vague – I just need for someone read it who wants to run a piece on the serious [deadly] consequences of this mythic level of adventure that is found in Alaska. Most importantly, it is about the people trying to rewrite one particular deeply entrenched myth and save lives in the process.

It’s all about flying – and hopefully not dying – in Alaska. It’s a good idea, I promise. Give me a shout and I’ll tell you all about it. (In one page or less, of course!)

Noviolet Bulawayo is a Zimbabwean writer. In this passage from her essay in 1914 Goodbye to All That: Writers on the Conflict Between Life and Art, she writes of how the 2010 arrest of Zimbabwe artist Owen Maseko blew her out of her “writing slumber”.

Still, I am not yet at ease with my writer self and, while I am enrolled in a reputable creative writing program, the fact that I have not published a single word means, at least to me, that I do not have the license to claim that writer self. I remember that for a while I resist calling my work in progress a novel, and whenever I am pressed to talk about what I am working on I call it a “thing”. So much goes into naming and calling, and for me the word “thing” makes my project more approachable and less intimidating — after all, I have not written a novel before, so who am I to speak about writing “novels”?

All this is to say that the 2010 arrest of Owen Maseko finds me at the very, very beginning of my writing career and looking to make sense of myself, a novice trying to find footing. But of course life certainly does not always knock on your door to check if you are ready before entering with its sacks of challenges. When the arrest of Owen Maseko comes to my door, it is the first force that shakes my slumbering core.

More on Noviolet Bulawayo at her website. She is….really really something.

First 2016 resolution: stop writing posts that are the tiniest bit close to being of a controversial nature. I just don’t have the patience for the comments or the tweets anymore. More importantly, I don’t have the desire to devote the time to even thinking about them.

Lesson learned. Other folks can fight the fights.

Other writing resolutions for 2016:

1. Essay on the first female pilot in Alaska. Her [short] flying career is pretty remarkable. I’ll be visiting the archives at the Museum of Flight in Seattle this month to get a lot of the info I need. I hopefully already have a home for this one and will have it written by mid-February if all goes as planned.

2. Essay on the effort to make Alaska’s aviation environment safer and combat the pervasive (and deadly) bush pilot myth. This one is only in the pitch letter stage right now as I can not justify requesting interview with folks unless I know it has a home. I’ve sent out 7 pitches, gotten one turn down, one “I’ll pass it along” and heard nothing back from the others. Such is the life of a freelancer, but I’ll keep trying.

3. Essay on French Canadians in New England. This draws on the history of my father’s family who immigrated from Quebec in the late 1920s. It combines family stories with the history of French Canadians in the region. I’m actively working on this and know where I want to pitch it – which I won’t say because I don’t want to jinx it. More on this if it sells.

4. Essay on my great grandmother and her 3 sisters because their stories are just all too different and too crazy. I’m still researching some facts on this one; aiming for this summer to have it ready to pitch somewhere. (No idea where as of yet.)

Last year I wanted to write and pitch an essay a month (and did pretty good at that) but this year, with the cosmic ray book taking precedence, I just can’t pursue that sort of schedule. (Or, I think I shouldn’t.) I have 2 chapters done, the 2nd one is with my agent right now to get her thoughts. I have a ton of research coming my way on the book (277 pages from Princeton this week!) and want to be able to give it my full attention and write this book. The big goal, of course, is to get a contract.

2016 could be a really big deal for me professionally; even more of a life-changer than signing with the new agent last year.

I keep reading articles that say the blog is dead and then I keep reading blogs because I like them. It could be that there are only a couple of dozen of us out there all reading each others blogs and everyone else is happily hanging out on twitter, tumblr,etc. etc., but I like a blog….I like reading someone’s thoughts on a book or a movie or more and getting a little bit of insight into the life of the person writing it.

It’s a peek at other worlds (just a little peek), and it keeps me going back for more.

But the whole New Year thing makes me look at my own blog (along with every other blasted aspect of my life), and think about how it can be improved. I am sure that readers of Map of My Dead Pilots or my articles in Alaska Dispatch News come by here and are mystified by reading book reviews or family history posts, but it’s the kind of thing I’m into (along with Alaskan aviation and, because of the work in progress, mountain climbing, cosmic rays and archival research). From time to time I think that maybe I should limit the blog content more and just put up reviews or only some kind of reviews but then I see something or hear about something and want to mention it and I end up with the same all-over-the-place blogging that I’ve always done.

(Except now with more mountain climbing, cosmic rays and archival research. There’s going to be a lot more this in 2016, I promise.) (And yeah, I’m still figuring out how to explain the cosmic ray stuff.)

But one thing I do think I can do more of is not wait until I have some bigger, longer blog post to go up here and instead post those occasional interesting things I come across so that my blogging itself can be more regular (I really slacked off over the last few months), and I can ditch the habit of leaving “blog this” notes to myself all over the dining room table. (Serious 2016 Resolution: DITCH THE ENDLESS PIECES OF PAPER IN MY LIFE.)

To wit, I got some books and movies for Christmas and here are some thoughts:

1. Page One: Inside the New York Times. This is an incredibly well done documentary, a fascinating peek into newspaper journalism in general and the NY Times in particular. My husband found himself surprisingly riveted and we both left as devoted fans of David Carr (who sadly passed away this way). I already have a subscription to the NY Times for access to the archives (for the mountain book) but I also added Carr’s book to my TBR list over the next couple of months.

2. A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness sounds like a straight-up paranormal thriller with some romance tossed in. It has sold a zillion copies and I wanted to read it because of the history aspects (a mysterious book is found in the modern day Bodleian Library at Oxford which sets all the action in place and brings a witch and vampire together and could mean the end of the world….). It is SO MUCH FUN! A big huge look into tons of history (Harkness is a historian) and I’ve already read book two (from the library) which sends them main characters back to Elizabethan England so it was all Kit Marlowe and Walter Raleigh and the School of Night and on and on. Talk about fun reading—I’m all over book three this week.

3. Woman in Gold is the story of the Klimt painting that the Austrian government claimed was legally willed to the state museum by the owner but her descendants successfully proved in court was actually stolen by the Nazis during WW2. Helen Mirren tears this one up – her emotions are both intense and controlled…she can make you cheer or cry just by looking at the screen. Again, though, it’s the history that blew my mind here and how it got so twisted. “We are keeping this painting for Austria,” the officials argue and their willful ignorance of how it was stolen from Austrians is infuriating. Spoiler: the good guys win.

4. Louise Penny. Read every single book by her, whether you are a mystery fan or not. She creates characters and setting like we all wish we could; I can’t get enough. (Her latest is on my nightstand right now.)

5. More.To.Come.

In preparation of my year in review post, here’s a look at what I got done in November & December:

1. Reviews to Booklist for Wild By Nature, This is an Uprising, The Alaska Retreater’s Notebook, Until We Are Free, Sex in the Sea and Eruption.

2. Reviews of Starflight and Shadows of Sherwood submitted to Locus.

3. Several articles submitted to ADN, one ran in November and one in December. One was revised for possible January and one should have run but got lost going back and forth between my editor and I which is a bummer (and some lost dollars for me as it was about Christmas and can’t run now).

4. Send a cold pitch letter to several national magazines for a piece I’m working on about aviation safety in Alaska and the people involved in changing the current attitude up there. I was turned down by one publication, got a semi-hopeful response from another (the pitch was being passed along to another editor which is something….). After the holidays, I’ll be sending the pitch out to a few more magazines and see about follow-ups to the ones I haven’t heard from.

5. Ed Rickets From Cannery Row to Sitka, Alaska was released on November 27th. I’m happy about this book both for Shorefast Editions and for my own essay on the boat trip with Ricketts, Joseph Campbell and Jack & Sasha Calvin.

6. My holiday shopping/recommendations article for teens went up at The Seattle Review of Books and [hopefully] gave some folks some good ideas. I highly recommend checking out the Seattle Review site; they are really doing some wonderful literary reporting and reviewing.

7. And…..I sent the revised first chapter on my work in progress to my agent and she liked it, so I’m off to the races on chapter 2 and all the rest. There will be much more about the book and my research for it in 2016 and in the year end post!

October was….interesting. I got some things done which was important but even more so I had some pretty substantial conversations that got me thinking about how to get even more things done. What I have to do in November and December is a wee bit daunting but not really. I just have to keep my eye on the prize and I’m going to be just fine. This is a pretty exciting time for me, and I hope that I keep feeling this way well into 2016.

1. Reviews submitted to Booklist for lots of books: Fast Into the Night (memoir by woman dog musher in AK), We Are All Stardust (collection of interviews with scientists around the world), Last Volcano (biography of one of the first volcanologists), Lust & Wonder (new memoir by Augusten Burroughs) and Drawing Blood (memoir by Molly Crabapple).

2. Reviewed An Inheritance of Ashes by Leah Bobet for Locus.

3. Had one article run in ADN, submitted two others that will hopefully run this month.

4. Attended the Pacific NW Booksellers Association tradeshow for four days in Portland. Spent a ton of time with good friends from AK, talked about books with all kinds of folks. Picked up a couple of ARCs I’m very excited about from Matt Ruff (Lovecraft Country) and Samantha Hunt (Mr. Splitfoot). Also delighted to see Jim Lynch’s new book (Before the Wind) is due next spring and look forward to reading that as well.

5. Reviewed final edits (and thus finished this one up!) on an essay in the upcoming Alaskan book Ed Ricketts From Cannery Row to Sitka, Alaska.

6. Sent out several emails to archives across the country on the mountain book. Still waiting to hear back from Columbia University, Princeton and Washington University in MO, but so far what I’ve gotten back is quite heartening. So many people are helping me pull information together on this book; it’s so much appreciated.

7. Drafted pitch letter to go out to national magazines for an article on Alaska aviation and the dangerous power of myth. I would have had this done but there is one last statistic I need to get and with Halloween, I set it aside. It was finished up last night though, so will go out today/tomorrow to Men’s Journal, Outside, etc.

8. Spoke for over an hour to my agent on the first chapter of the book. I need to change the narrative voice a bit and put myself more into it, but this is all manageable and honestly, I was pretty pleased with her critique. It was helpful advice and I’m set now for what to do on the Introduction and second chapter as well. The next two months are all writing — SO MUCH WRITING – but writing that I am very excited about and capable of doing.

2015 is just the year that keeps on surprising me in the most delightful ways.

Last weekend I was in Portland, OR at the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association annual tradeshow and then under a wicked essay deadline for an upcoming project, sooooo I fell way behind here. But I’m back now with a look at September and how things came together in a big way for my 2015 resolutions.

1. Three book reviews submitted to Booklist: The Girl in the Red Coat (a novel), the memoir Chick in the Cockpit and City of Thorns about the largest refugee camp in the world.

2. Submitted a review of the new Cinderella story Ash & Bramble to Locus. (Whatever you think this book might be, you’re wrong. Really looking forward to spreading the word when my review runs.)

3. Two pieces in AK Dispatch News including one I am quite proud of on the de Havilland Otter. (It garnered some excellent emails and comments, all most welcome.)

4. My first review on Alaska books, Find the Good by Heather Lende, ran in the Seattle Review of Books. This is a new venue for me and there will be more there – next up is a piece on books for MG & YA readers (beyond AK) for December. (Holiday shoppers take note – I’m going to try and fit as much in this one as possible.)

5. An essay on pilot Russ Merrill, who went missing in 1929, ran in Narratively. (An accompanying illustration by Marc Pearson is above.)

I now have three paying venues for book reviews: Booklist, Locus and the Seattle Review of Books. There is no high pressure with any of these; no commitment to a column, etc. But I have regular gigs for books that I love reading and writing about and it’s all good. The Seattle Review is especially huge for me as it will be a chance to share Alaska books with an audience Outside, something I’m always trying to do. We’ll see how this develops in 2016.

I have a phone call scheduled with my agent this month (she is out of town for a few weeks) and some comments on the first chapter which she has had a chance to read. I’m still doing massive amounts of research for it, but there is plenty to be done writing-wise as well. And there is a query letter I am working on for a magazine that I think I have a shot at. Last month was lost to me for a few life reasons (I was sick, my husband had to go out of town suddenly for a family illness, there was some logistical planning for PNBA where I manned a table for Shorefast Editions, etc.)

But all in all, September = very good month for me. Now…I can’t wait to tell you about October!

First let’s, bask in the restoration of the mountain’s original name of Denali, shall we? So happy about this – so so so so happy!!!!! (I took this picture from the window of an Alaska Airlines flight that was captained by an old friend; he gave us the “Denali tour”. It was awesome – perfect day to see forever.)

Now, moving on to what was accomplished this summer on a personal level, here’s what I did in July & August:

1. For Booklist, I reviewed Boundless, Jimmy Bluefeather, Jewel (memoir by author of the same name), White Eskimo, Howl, Greening Death and What We’re Fighting For Now is Each Other. (Whew! That was a lot!)

2. For Locus, I reviewed the Twinmaker series by Sean Williams, Hollow Boy (the new Lockwood & Co book) by Jonathan Stroud and The Girl at Midnight by Melissa Grey.

3. I have several articles pending with ADN, (lots of things are delayed due to coverage of the President’s visit), but the biggest one that ran was a piece on the four companies who operate on Denali. It was in the Sunday supplement for the paper, “We Alaskans”, which is the first time I’ve made it in there.

4. An essay was accepted and edited for Narratively – it should run sometime this month.

5. Editing on our upcoming book from Shorefast Editions: From Cannery Row to Sitka, Alaska.

6. And a lot of conversations and emails for my current work-in-progress. The biggest accomplishment there was that I completed the first draft chapter and turned it in to my agent early in August. There is still a lot of research I need to do but I’ve been getting a lot of leads and pretty amazing results so far. This month I’m working on the second chapter which includes some geography/history of Denali and I’m able to do that without the kind of archival access I will need for later chapters. The biggest thing for me on this project is momentum; I can’t lose sight of the goal which is a very good book about a small but significant and interesting and tragic piece of history.

All in all, this summer has been one of the most significant for me writing-wise in a long long time. I have to stay on top of it all and keep my priorities in order but I’m sure I’m not the only writer with this issue. I also have to stay off the damn internet – I think one of the things I will do this month is sign up for Freedom and just accept that I don’t have the willpower otherwise.

1. I am trying to understand how my life has been complete without the “Gilmore Guys” podcast in it. I can not explain why I love The Gilmore Girls so much (I’m sure many people would go on about the writing or acting which is true); I just know that I do. I have written many things while this tv show in playing in the background. Now I must listen to the podcast and embrace the love in a whole new way.

2. I just added Sarah McCarry’s About a Girl to my wishlist based on this bit from the School Library Journal review:

This edgy, smart, and challenging title combines mythology, punk rock, science, a quest, feminism, art, dreams, and the power of stories and storytelling with unforgettable results. The well-developed cast of characters is racially and sexually diverse. The emphasis on the importance of female relationships—as family, as lovers, and as friends—is a welcome exploration of the many levels of intimacy.

3. My article just ran on the investigation into the June multiple fatality plane crash in the Misty Fjords National Monument near Ketchikan. It’s going to be a long involved investigation which is likely not a surprise to anyone but in light of all the breathless demands for what went wrong that so many news reports ran, I felt like I needed to write this. Partly based on my own thoughts about this crash, I’m putting together a series of articles about different types of pressure on pilots that I hope to have run next month.

4. I think you can understand that why my day job involves writing about plane crashes, watching The Gilmore Girls becomes all the more critical to my well being.

5. I just finished reading The Lost City of Z and I’m very glad I am not an obsessed explorer.

6. On yesterday’s agenda was contacting Columbia University to inquire about a possible graduate from the 1920s. Of these small research questions, a whole book is created.

7. I wish I could convey the degree to which Field Notes have become integral to my writing life. I have a general “To Do” notebook for everything in my life. I have a “Research Notes” book for the work-in-progress. I have a “Genealogy Notes” book for mysteries to follow-up on associated with my long-running family history project. I’ve got one for random notes/things I’ve heard that interest me/things I’ve seen I don’t want to forget/things that might be something but I’m not sure what just yet. I’ve got one for Shorefast Editions. I’ve got one for Resolutions to improve my life. And I’ve got the pocket calendar to tell me where I need to be and when and what I’ve accomplished.

I love them all.

8. Now reading The River of Doubt about Teddy Roosevelt in South America, plus the second in the Twinmaker series by Sean Williams as I prepare for the upcoming release of the 3rd book and my review of them all for Locus and….a book for Booklist. Also a lot of stuff about mountain climbing in Alaska. I am writing so hard on this book. I am really trying to make something great.

In college I wrote a senior paper on the USS Indianapolis which became famously sunk and lost in WWII resulting in the largest recorded shark attack in history. I exchanged letters and phone calls with over 60 of the ship’s survivors (the 47 letters I received are on file with the Indianapolis Historical Society). There were many elements of the Indianapolis story that intrigued me, not the least of which was that it was relatively unknown at the time I was researching it. I couldn’t believe the US Navy lost a ship only to be found by sheer luck or that our history would so effectively lose such a compelling story. (Really – largest recorded shark attack in HISTORY. How do we forget that?) The survivors were, every single one, rather surprised that I would write about them for a college project. It turned out to be a turning point for me and revealed that more than anything, I love to research and write about what is lost.

My grandmother used to pray to St. Anthony when she (or anyone she knew) lost something. (The joke in our family was that she prayed to him so much she called him “Tony”; as they were on a first name basis.) I think a lot about lost houses and lost beaches; the lost places of my childhood. I can’t even drive past the house I grew up in without seeing myself running to my grandmother’s house around the corner through a vacant lot that is a 7-11 now. Everything I knew when I was 10 is changed so much it is as if it never existed at all.

The past few days I have been going over an article on missing aircraft in Alaska. It’s kind of weird, but even when pieces of an aircraft are found, it can still be listed as missing. A certain percentage of the aircraft must be recovered for it to be listed officially as an accident. So small pieces of debris are just evidence of something gone; but not proof that it ever existed at all.

There’s probably something poetic in there somewhere….I’m still not sure how to say it that way though. (I’ll be writing about these airplanes a lot more than just this article. There’s more to tell than fits in 1,000 words.)

In the past couple of years I have spent my time with newly found family photographs, uncovered unbelievable family stories (and the hits keeping coming in that front), made contact with someone with information on a long lost mountain climber and paged through the NTSB reports on aircraft gone missing from decades ago.

And I tried twice to drive past the house I grew up in. Chickened out both times. (And I’m not sorry about that.)

There is an unexpected pattern to my interests these days and I’m very mindful of that. Patterns should not be taken lightly; even when you aren’t consciously creating them.

[Post pic from 2012 – 75B was, once upon a time, one of the aircraft we flew at the Company.]

Incredibly frustrated.

I am so tired of being contacted by freelancers hired to write about Alaska aviation for major publications even though they are not pilots, know little (or anything at all) about aviation and have no knowledge of aviation in Alaska. I answer their questions, I’m very polite, I’m indeed quite helpful but I’m tired of it. I’m tired of being good enough to serve as an information source for people who know practically nothing on this topic but not good enough to be hired to write for these publications myself.

Sometimes, I wish this was not my topic of interest. Frankly, sometimes I wish I did not write anything at all. Once upon a time I was on track for a career in airport management which came with the expected host of local and office politics. But still…I went to work, I did my job and I went home and didn’t think about it until the next time I went to work. There is something appealing in that, in just not thinking about your job for hours at a time. With writing it’s always with you, even when you dream.

I’ve got to find a way to deal with this frustration and focus on my writing. There’s got to be a better way to approach what I want to do with my time (with my life) then what I’m doing now.

Last weekend I attended the Chuckanut Writers Conference in Bellingham, WA. I went into this with absolutely no expectations--no search for connections, no networking, no intention to attend a pitch session with a publisher or agent. All I wanted to was to listen to the faculty (all of whom sounded interesting) and maybe through the sessions and presentations find my way around some issues with my current projects.

Here's the thing--I have not been writing like I should. It's very hard to juggle creative writing and job-writing. I have spent a lot of time reviewing and working as a journalist over the past few years since The Map of My Dead Pilots went through its final edits & was published. I wrote a lot of short things since then, some essays and a short story, but the next book has been a problem. I've been floundering for no good reason, so I decided to attend Chuckanut and see if I could gain some much needed perspective (and possibly direction).

In addition to attending all the presentations, which were alternately funny, thoughtful and endearing, I also attended sessions at each appointed time. I attended novelist (and magazine editor) Brian Doyle's session on finding ideas even though I already know what I want to write about. I attended memoirist Claire Dederer's session on language in memoir even though I have already written a memoir. I attended a panel discussion with novelist Jim Lynch, nonfiction writer Bruce Barcott, historian David Laskin and science writer Thor Hanson about research even though I have spent years in archives and libraries. I attended Laskin's session on writing personal narratives on family history even though I was not certain this was something I wanted to write and, finally, I attended Barcott's session on writing Op-eds even though I had never thought about writing one.

And here's the thing--I got a lot out of this conference. I got some very useful tips, some points to ponder, some ideas to follow-up on. I spent some serious time thinking about what was said around me, chatted with some interesting people and came to grips with all the questions that have been mucking up my work.

I got myself centered if that makes any sense. I figured out what I am supposed to be doing and, just as important, what I am supposed to be writing.

My only complaint about the conference is a common one for such events--some of the faculty was less available than others. It was clear to me early on that if I wanted to speak to any of them, even just to extend a compliment, I was going to have to approach them whenever I saw them and not wait around as they could be gone. So I did just that and ended up having some great conversations and, very surprisingly, getting an amazing offer of assistance on a short project (I asked for advice, I got a lot more). Everyone was nice, it's just that some of them weren't there too much. Keep than in mind when you attend a conference.

I'm going to write a bit more specifically about some of these writers and their work in the coming weeks because I want to recommend their books and articles and share some notes I took. Bottom line though, this was sort of life-changing for me and one of the more valuable experiences of my writing career.

From a conversation posted yesterday at Tinhouse between authors Lidia Yuknavitch and Kate Zambreno:

LY: Can contemporary women writers achieve literary or artistic legitimacy? On whose terms? Toward what end? This is a question that troubles me, or a question I think should be endlessly troubled...

KZ: It troubles me too. Although I can't speak for all contemporary women writers, just myself. This new idée fixe of mine--to be taken seriously as a writer--also, to someday write a truly great work, and then I will be taken seriously. But--I don't know if I will know if a work is great, perhaps that's not something I can decide or know as the writer, and perhaps these ideas of greatness or genius are oppressive terms anyway, about approaching perfection or success, when I've always been more interested in failure.

And what does that even mean--a serious work? Sometimes I feel exquisitely that if I never wrote about femininity or feminism, about emotions, especially depression and anger, never wrote from the first-person, I would be taken seriously as a literary writer, but I keep on returning to these themes in the work. I mean, there are certainly some contemporary women writers that achieve a great deal of literary legitimacy and recognition, and occasionally in the mainstream, and I think many are incredibly deserving. But I have absolutely no misconceptions that American trade publishing is a meritocracy, and in my opinion most of the important work being written in the United States today is happening in the small press, sometimes at a very micro level, and this is because the demands of the market, especially for the massive audience of women readers, are not the best recipe for prickly and urgent literature.

The question of "what is serious work" is what really captured my attention in this exchange as it is something that I think about quite frequently with my own work. In writing about aviation I am generally always serious--it's a serious topic--and yet I do not think as a literary writer of aviation I am taken very seriously. I don't mean that people dismiss my research on this subject but rather that when writing about something perceived as technical, it is easy to dismiss an author as other than literary.

Basically, writing about aviation is considered by some as more the nuts and bolts of writing and not the MFA-type of indepth analysis that literary writers appreciate. (And I won't even get into the issue of being a woman who writes about a male-dominated field.)

As a reviewer, I am granted far more respect as serious when reviewing nonfiction for adults then writing anything about YAs or children. This does not surprise me, although I wish it did.

I have felt in the past few months, that aspects of my writing (as a reviewer) have been deemed worthy of easy dismissal by others. This has left me disappointed in those who passed such casual judgements. I do not agree with their definitions of "serious" or how one must write to be deemed worthy of the title "serious writer".

It's a term that is best expressed in the eye of the beholder, I think. Just as so many other subjective terms are.

(And for the record, how anyone could deem Zambreno or Yuknavitch as anything less than serious is impossible for me to believe.)

I was tagged a couple of times for this tour and had to turn down the invites, but my pal Sarah Stevenson emailed me recently & the timing was perfect. Here is Sarah's post all about her young adult writing which I highly recommend. She also helps me wrangle the crew at Guys Lit Wire, keeps this site in ship-shape condition and basically is a truly lovely person & good friend. Now onto the questions!

1. WHAT AM I WORKING ON?

I've been struggling for a bit on my next big creative project. I write a lot for my day job, all of it on Alaskan aviation topics. I have been concerned both about writing on this too much for another book and not leaving the topic as it is what I know so well. In some ways, I've been stuck. (Not blocked.) To break out of this, I'm working on essay length pieces, all of them circling around the topic of the Alaska bush pilot myth. I hope when I am done that they will fit together well, but I've decided not to worry about the whole so much anymore and focus on the parts. This has freed me up quite a bit.

2. HOW DOES MY WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS OF ITS GENRE?

As I"m a nonfiction writer mostly, I don't really fit into the "genre" issue as such. Comparing my work to other aviation writers, I think that I'm more personal--I can't help but make aviation a personal subject. I am also less interested in what happened (although I think that's important) than in why. I am endlessly intrigued by why people make the choices they do, whether they live in the present or are part of history. I hope by unpacking the bush pilot myth I can separate myself even more from other aviation writers by looking at the darker side of a long held aviation (and adventure) myth.

3. WHY DO I WRITE WHAT I DO?

It's what I know.

I am pretty much only happy when, to some degree or another, I am writing about what I know or what personally matters to me. This is not only Alaska aviation, nor do I want it to be only Alaska aviation. I am also deeply interested in my family history and slowly moving forward on some projects in that area as well. Again though, it is what I know.

4. HOW DOES MY WRITING PROCESS WORK?

Process is a big problem for me. My husband and I have our own business (aircraft leasing) and we work from home. We are always around each other, always working on many different things. Then I have my freelance journalism job for Alaska Dispatch and I'm always working on a couple of things for that, either by writing or interviewing or researching. My creative work gets bounced aside ALL THE DAMN TIME.

I hate that.

One of the biggest struggles I have is to make creative work a priority. When it happens, it happens at night (I've always been a night person) and with familiar television in the background (all seasons of Gilmore Girls currently). I have a notebook (Field Notes) with me for notes all the time and I believe strongly in taking notes. I have a composition notebook where I keep bigger research notes and images that strike a chord. All of this, in bits and pieces that make little sense to others, is part of my process. Mostly, I just keep trying to move forward.

5. AND THE OTHER PART OF THIS QUESTION, HOW DOES MY WRITING PROCESS NOT WORK?

I don't get enough done. I get scared. I get tired. I give up too easily. All the things that writers say about not getting the job done, are true for me. I believe very strongly that writing is not hard work; I come from people who knew hard work their whole lives. I've loaded airplanes at 20 below zero and I know that is hard work. But writing is very frustrating work and I let it frustrate me far too often.

PASSING THE TORCH, OR WHO'S NEXT:

I completely forgot about this bit. Partly inspired by Kelly Fineman's downsizing posts, I have been on a tear recently going through the house for a massive neighborhood garage sale. We are having it tomorrow and this week in particular has been about scouring closets, pouring over bookshelves and pricing like a madwoman. I put this post together but completely forgot the asking others to participate bit. I point you to Sarah's recent post again and also, delightfully, to Kelly's many writing posts. My friend Gwenda Bond has also done the Writing Process Post thing and it is good reading.They will inspire you I'm sure.

I'm going to attend the Chuckanut Writers Conference later this month seeking some inspiration & general writerly thoughts as I ponder several pieces I'm working on right now.

I think this will be a good thing. There are no plans for "networking" or "making connections". (Don't need to pitch anything, don't want marketing advice, don't want an agent talk.) I just want to listen to some authors and gain some new perspective.

I'm glad those are the only reason I'm attending. Sometimes (most times) thinking about the business of writing really sucks all the happy out of the creative bits (at least to me). But the writing part, that I'm really looking forward to.

Jenny D. posted several entries on her blog a couple of weeks about about the indexing of of her upcoming book Reading Style: A Life in Sentences. (I'm quite excited about this one; always intrigued to delve into the writing subject especially from a writer whose work I enjoy.) Here's a bit of what she has to say on the subject:

Indexing has an incredible allure for me. I have been marking up references on post-its and sticking them in the margins of the proofs; this morning I consolidated the individual entries into alphabetical stacks, then began typing in one letter at a time (Word will alphabetize once I type in entries, but I need to do it letter by letter so that I can keep track of which individual entries to consolidate - if you typed them all in higgledy-piggledy, you would end up with a good deal of subsequent reformatting still needed).

Probably nobody but myself and perhaps a copy editor or two will ever look closely through the index, but I like the way it presents an alternate route through the book, with each letter of the alphabet - in this case of this sort-of-memoir - representing a kind of self-portrait in miniature.

Via a link from Jenny, there is more on indexing from David Lull for his upcoming book on Robert Frost. He has many links in his delightful entry, all again on the allure of indexing.

We had to redo the index for The Flying North before Shorefast Editions reissued it and it was both a frustrating and interesting process. The page numbers had obviously all changed with the new design and we added some footnotes that caused further adjustments plus the original index was a bit crazy. For example, it seemed odd for a book on Alaskan aviation to have an entry for "Alaska". (Needless to say there were dozens of page numbers listed for it.) Plus some of the people in the index were exceedingly insignificant and appeared only in passing mention. Anyway, it was redone and I must say one does put their own perspective into a chore like this; it truly becomes how you see the book in a way, and a personal vision does take hold.

I do find it interesting that you can hire someone to do your book index for you. I can understand wanting to save time this way but can't imagine contracting out for such a personal aspect of your work. And I don't see how a computer could do it either. Often a word would appear on a page in passing - or a name that could be both a person and place. And there are some aspects of the book you don't think of as entries unless you are immersed in the work itself and know the context. For me, the index was one of the more intimate aspects of writing and editing; it's sort of the heart of what has been put on paper.

(We were convinced in the end that Jean Potter, who wrote The Flying North, could not have done the book's index. It did not read like her at all and likely was done by the publisher.)

While googling "indexes" I came across this interesting analysis of a Willie Mays biography and its problematic index. Much of what is mentioned here is what we found initially in The Flying North. This of course brings me back to Jenny D.'s blog and this look at "The Letter S" from her index. Of course that raises the real point of this blog entry which is that Jenny's book sounds great and I'm really looking forward to reading it.

This is part of a very brief passage in A Drive Into the Gap and I've been thinking about it a lot since I read it last week:

On some level, most novelists write fiction to create order our of chaos. When you shape a fictional story, you can tie every loose end, fit the round pegs comfortably in circular holes. In a novel the author can create a world that makes sense.

The non-fiction writer often does the opposite. He starts with the assumption that the true story he wants to tell conforms to a logical narrative. Instead he discovers that there are always motivations that are incomprehensible. That people act irrationally. That memories are imperfect. The non-fiction writer uncovers the chaos hidden beneath the orderly surface.

There was a very big part of me that desperately wanted to make A Map of My Dead Pilots fictional. I wrote parts of it that way at first, or tried to. but the truth kept beating me down and forcing its way into the narrative. At one point in the final manuscript I do tell readers how I would have rewritten one small story if it is was fiction; how I would have made it a happily ever after.

Truth is so messy. I don't think some novelists realize that. Truth is just impossible to accept sometimes. Guilfoile writes that "...there are always motivations that are incomprehensible". This is the question of why behind every pilot error aircraft accident. I'm still trying to understand some from 1929. I look at accident reports and wonder, "Why did this pilot take this chance that killed him?"

Two weeks ago a pilot crashed in Alaska and died along with three of his passengers. The final Probable Cause report is likely a year away but I know we are never going to understand why he made the final decisions that led to the crash.

Truth is so messy. In a novel I could tell you what he was thinking; what all of them were thinking. As a journalist, as an nonfiction writer, I can only tell you what happened and then lead into the chaos with me so we can both try to find answers together.

My writing life is just crazy right now. Last week I submitted an essay to a site I admire, sent off a proposal for a short essay to a magazine and finished my October column. I also had a couple of articles run on Dispatch (all AK flying of course) and reviewed one book for my November column and another for December. I got an email off to an author whose book I want to write about in Dispatch (just heard back from him last night) and emailed another author to get a look at her book for my annual December feature on books for curious readers at Bookslut. (She's going to give me a look at a copy when I am in SE AK next week.)

And, with the exception of some final tweaking, I finished my presentation for the AK Historical Society Conf on the 26th. (That's in Haines, which you reach by ferry from Juneau and it will be fabulous.)

What I'm reading:

Women Aviators by Karen Bush Gibson, The Civil War in 50 Objects by Harold Holzer and Smithsonian Civil War: Inside the National Collection. All of these are for my November column which is nonfiction of an American history persuasion. All are very interesting and reader friendly and I hope more people will think of NF for teens after reading about them.

What I'm Reviewing:

Among Wolves by Gordon Haber & Marybeth Holleman and Owning the Earth by Andro Linklater, both for Booklist.

What I'm Writing:

A post for the Bush Pilot Blog at Alaska Dispatch about Happy Endings (a photo book on aircraft wrecks where everyone lived); another on a flying day trip out of Fairbanks, another on pilot error and what it means as far as being a good or bad pilot. (This is tricky but it's a huge problem in AK.) Plus a couple of other things that I may or may not get written before leaving for Haines on Monday. (I'm waiting on the Probable Cause report on a crash from a while ago so I can cover that but it's been slow in showing up.)

And finally (!) my next book, of course. Still on Denali, still on science and mountaineering. Still really wishing I could write a different ending for this part then the one history has handed me. Sigh.

There was company over the past couple of weeks and many planned events and planning of events and a trip and meals (so many meals!) and, well, company stuff. It always upsets the careful apple cart when there are people to-ing and fro-ing about and in the midst of it there were articles to turn in, a project with terrifyingly close deadlines and the mechanics of the business my husband and I run which involves a lot of reading and editing contracts these days.

In all of this I have a felt a bit like I am losing my grip.

That is not a suggestions that I'm losing my mind, but my grip. I have a careful list of professional commitments on a daily basis --write for this, research that, review this, submit that--and when I fall behind on any of it the whole list starts starts to spin out of control. Today I began to write a new list and then quickly shook my head as it kept going and going and going.

I started doing laundry just so I could get some feeling of accomplishment. (The laundry needed doing anyway, so it wasn't a waste of time!)

The quickest thing was to review The Rocket Man by David Darling for Booklist so that was done. I have another book to finish reading and reviewing by the 20th (The XX Factor by Alison Wolf) and four (!) on deck by the 3rd. (I'm pretty much all about reading for Booklist over the next two weeks for obvious reasons.)

I also finished my September column (which has turned out to be historical fiction) and then set aside for the next day or so the books I'm ready to review for October. These two are In the Shadow of Blackbirds by Cat Winters (a surprise on so many levels, both creepy and smart and powerfully places readers in an overlooked period of history) and Queen Victoria's Book of Spells, edited by Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling (LOVED it - so many great stories here to write about!)

I'm currently reading two books for October - The Waking Dark by Robin Wasserman (barely started and it's already creepy as hell) and The Clockwork Scarab by Colleen Gleason (a couple of chapters in and enjoying the characters very much). This column must be written by September 20th. I would actually prefer it be done sooner so I can focus on November (nonfiction) and there is some major busy-ness at the end of the month that will slow me down so I know I can't dither now.

I will be at the Alaska Historical Society conference in Haines the last weekend in September to present on Jean Potter (author of the AK aviation classic The Flying North, originally published in 1945). (SOOO much to share on this!) (Soon, promise!) And then it is on to PNBA in Portland in early October because I am a small press publisher now and shall be letting the many wonderful Pacific NW Booksellers know all about that. (More soon, more soon....)

So yeah, no dithering over the next six weeks.

The other two books I hope to review this fall are Play Pretty Blues by Snowden Wright and Dwelling in Possibility by Howard Mansfield. Harper might be sending me another book on houses and living that is a potential fit for a dual review with the Mansfield - we'll see. But I'm aiming for November and December for submittals for these two, both to Bookslut. (These are very different books - a novel on Robert Johnson and a meditation on the concept of home and "the soul of shelter" but I'm loving them both - great books.)

So where was I?

Oh yes, losing my grip. I have four articles to write for Alaska Dispatch over the next couple of days (totally doable) and a couple of emails to get out on others as well as some research to do. I'm also waiting on a Probable Cause report from a 2011 crash for an article and a Preliminary Report for a second that I want to write about as well. I'm still finding my way at Dispatch - I feel sometimes like I need to write strictly as a journalist, others as a columnist or blogger and only a few times does the finished piece feel sincerely like "me". I have to remember how long it took for my Bookslut column to come together and be patient; nothing about good writing is ever easy.

And yeah, my writing. A scientist/mountaineer who died in 1932 and an aviator who died in 1929. Both of them mapped portions of Alaska, both of them live forever as names on modern maps. Neither of them has a grave as each was lost in the purest sense of the word. They are the framework for the mountain book; everything else comes from them. So I plug away at who they were and what they did. I just wish I had more time to be with them these days.

More than anything, those guys are why I really need to get a grip. I don't want to lose sight of them as I try to catch up with everything else.

In the midst of the research hibernation the YA issue of Locus came out and I am pretty stunned to have my name on the cover. Talk about a bucket moment; I've read Locus for years (years!) and never thought I would see my name there. I don't just want to marry this cover I want to carry it around and flash it at the world. "Look how cool I am! I'm on the cover of Locus!!!!" (And yes, Bradbury is there too - both of us on the cover.)

I really enjoyed writing this piece because of the opportunity it gave me to write good things about a lot of books. I was able to mention books I've reviewed already and enjoyed (like Radiant Days by Liz Hand and The Book of Blood and Shadows by Robin Wasserman) and a lot books I'm looking forward to (upcoming ones from Cherie Priest and Libba Bray and Laini Taylor and Gwenda Bond and man, could I go on and on and on :)

This is just a moment made of awesome that I can't stop grinning about.

In the endless discussions swirling around the litblogosphere (and twitter) about books and bloggers and publishers and authors, one thing has been very clear to me: authors need to take control of their marketing online and off if they really want to see their books succeed. This is not to suggest that publishers aren't willing to pony up time and money to usher books into the world - some are doing this big time as well all know. But for most authors, you have to wade into the increasingly confusing blogger/publisher world and into the bookseller world and in the library world and, if you are lucky, into the radio and newspaper and magazine world* if you want your book to make it. The tough part about all this (other then the doing of it) is that you have to find a way to stand out from the zillions of others who are doing the same thing. That's where Kate Milford's Kickstarter project comes in.

Milford wrote a very fun and original MG fantasy called The Boneshaker (an urban fantasy/steampunk hybrid that took place in a rural setting influenced by American folklore and some Bradburyesque moments), that I enjoyed very much (along with a ton of other people). A companion novel, The Broken Lands, is due out this fall (set in Coney Island!!!) but Milford wanted to do something a little extra, both for her readers and to generate a bit more excitement about the upcoming release. So she initiated a Kickstarter project to self publish a novella about the characters in The Boneshaker that also relates to The Broken Lands. The project winds down this week and it is funded but Milford has plans for extra dollars so be sure to support her if you can (and you get to read The Kairos Mechanism!)

What intrigues me so much about Milford's project is that it's out-the-box. It's all about writing something new (good for authors), providing something tangible to supporters (good for readers) and also does bring some attention to her upcoming book. But rather than blog "I have a book coming out! I have a book coming out! I have a book coming out!", she's telling everyone about a new story and inviting them into the creation process. As all of her books/stories are interrelated, this project also allows fans to learn more about the world they have only seen the smallest bit of in The Boneshaker. It's a long view Milford is sharing, and a firm promise to keep writing that she is making.

I love big picture people; they give me hope for the future.

I'll be talking to Kate Milford next week during the Summer Blog Blast Tour but wanted to give her a shout out now so there is still time for her Kickstarter. Very very cool!

*And if you wrote a narrative nonfiction title about aviation in Alaska then you are also talking to aviation museums. Really.

[Post title is quote from the Kickstarter!]

Jenny Davidson on finding your way as a writer:

I am pretty sure I really am going to stop writing novels, by the way; I don't have the resources of time and attention to do it properly, and it then erodes my pleasure in other things I should be enjoying more, namely my core mission of reading and writing about books and generally living in the world of words and ideas.

And Theodora Goss takes stock:

When you're a writer, the cure for whatever ails you is always writing. (Someone quote me on Goodreads. That's the secret, in good times and bad: keep writing.) To figure out, or remember, who I am as a teacher, a writer, even simply as a person. To act out of that knowledge, rather than out of stress or anxiety.

My writing path is leading me again, surprisingly, to the Last Frontier. I didn't expect this. I watch reality tv and the notion of the Last Frontier is both sad and silly. But then I remember that frontier is what we make it and so I settle down and write again. The other day I found this will looking for the meaning behind the word "frontier". It's a Levis commercial but I love it. And it is exactly what I know frontier to be.

Stuck in the minutia of conference planning (it will be wonderful but right now I am so down deep in the itty bitty details that I could very well lose my mind), and rising early for hikes through the woods (literally) with my son's forest discovery program, I find myself falling ever further away from any sort of writerly life. This happens to everyone from time to time (I even washed dogs today - could my life be any more pedestrian?) but it rocks me away from any sort of reality that is not about the mundane. It's hard to remember you are indeed a writer when the most important thing at the moment is sorting laundry and paying bills.

I don't want to forget the things I have to write - or what it means to write. And days like this I wonder how so many others could remember all the things they wanted to do and what their mundane moments were like.

[Dorothea Lange, changing the world, photo by Rondal Partridge, Farm Security Administration 1936.]