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Well, here we go.
Mr. Bill Wolfe, that cool dude who reads only women's fiction and lives to tell the tale on Read Her Like an Open Book, tagged me (oh, the secrets, the secrets) on the My Writing Process Tour Blog. Bill, who keeps us guest bloggers honest, reviews incredibly interesting books, teaches for a living, and opines, but always kindly, is a tough act to follow. Equally tough is his tagger,
Caroline Leavitt, whose inspirational story and stories (and blog) have been integral to the lay of my land for years.
(I've previously written about Bill
here and Caroline
here and many elsewheres.) And now, here I stand, with questions to answer, pondering my capability.
I begin:
1. What are you working on? I am currently doing a final round of edits to a young adult novel that will launch from Chronicle Books in 2016. When that is done later this weekend, I'll return to two new projects—an adult novel and a book of nonfiction. Both are in the early 4,000-word stage, so inchoate, strange, and internal that I suspect I won't be able to describe them even after (if) they are done. They are projects designed to keep my mind whole, more than anything else, or as whole as this cracked vessel will ever get. In between, when feigning greater sanity, I'm writing white papers and news stories for clients and reviews and essays for the
Chicago Tribune and the
Philadelphia Inquirer. Oh, and a lot of student recommendation letters.
2. How does your work differ from others of its genre?I always think this is a question best left to the critics—though I hate to presume that any critic anywhere will have time for such a Beth Kephart conundrum. I guess the answer, for me, has something to do with that old cliche of staying true to myself (hey, if Tim Gunn can say it on national TV, I can say it in Beth land). I'm not interested in bending my work to meet the expectations of our time (whatever they are) or to fall in line with trends. I write what is urgent, what intrigues me. I write to find out what might happen next, a small and increasingly daring enterprise.
3. Why do you write what you do?Because I can't help it. Because I get obsessed with some historical event (the Berlin wall, the Spanish Civil War, Florence after the flood), some force of nature, some sound in my head, something someone said, some trouble. Because the only excuse I have to think about it longer is to begin to write a book. Otherwise, in my dim and insufficiently capacious brain, all is fleeting. And because I think that what we write has to matter in a broader way. We live in perilous times. I want to understand them. I want my stories and my work to lead others down inquiring paths. I also want my readers to think about language in new ways, and so I write what I hear in my twisted head.
4. How does your writing process work?It rarely does work. Most of the time I'm doing my day job. But when I find patches of time I hunch my shoulders, draw out a pen (literally), sit on the couch where the depressed cushion suggests I should each less chocolate, and get going. When I'm writing I am living inside a fortress of books and newspapers (on some days the research is my favorite part). When I'm writing there's a happy buzz inside my head, except when the writing isn't working, which is an astonishingly large chunk of the time. Boy, I can write some really bad stuff. Boy, I can go off on tangents. But, hey. Nobody sees that, at least in the beginning. Nobody but me and my chocolate bars.
For the next stop on the blog tour, I nominate Kelly Simmons,who is not just a terrific, funny, compassionate, hardworking writer, but a starred writer, too, and a dear friend. (Kelly also knows where the best V-necked turquoise T-shirts live in the local shop, and she will join you in the consumption of six-ounce shrimp at the drop of a dime; she also forgives (I think) your poorly typed text messages; finally, I wish to add that, when you are walking together down Sugartown Road, the boys in the cars all stop for her, the Kelly Phenom.) Kelly's third novel (for adults, people!),
One More Day, was PW announced days ago. It will be published by Sourcebooks next fall. I've read a few pages here and there. Ladies and gents, get ready for Wow.
By:
Beth Kephart ,
on 7/24/2012
Blog:
Beth Kephart Books
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I wanted to find a pair of cowgirl boots for my friend Caroline Leavitt, to thank her for making room for me on her roost today, but the best I could do was this sign, photographed in Nashville four years ago, which sat (you'll have to believe me) right near a cowboy/cowgirl boot store. Why I didn't think to photograph the boots themselves is beyond me. What is not beyond me, at this moment, is gratitude. For Caroline's friendship. For her own talent. For conversations we have had in public and in private as we both journey through this writing life. I don't even know how Caroline got an early copy of
Small Damages, but she had one. She's in the midst of writing a brand new book, and she made time to read it. Then she asked me excellent questions, the kind of questions one who knows another well can ask.
I answered them all here.Among the things we discussed is how much I love Philomel, and how I made my way to this great place to begin with. I extract a small fraction of our conversation below, but hope you will visit Leavittville for more.
Philomel is exquisite. At Philomel I have a home. There I have never felt like a fringe writer, a secondary writer, a marginal, will-she-please-fit-a-category, we’ll-get-to-you-when-we-get-to-you writer. Michael Green, Philomel’s president, is a most generous person, and correspondent. Tamra—beautiful, intelligent, thoughtful, embracing—approached the editing of this book, the design of its cover, and the preparation of it for the world with the greatest care, and in the process we became great friends. Jessica Shoffel, a wildly wonderful and innovative publicist, wrote me a note I’ll never forget after she read the book and her devotion to getting the word out has been unflagging, sensational. The sales team got in touch a long time ago and has stayed in touch. And on and on.
But no, I never knew I would shine. I don’t think of myself as a diamond or a star. I never think in those terms. I just keep writing my heart out. And when you are collaborating with a house like Philomel, when you are given room, when your questions are answered, when you are given a chance, there are possibilities.
I read. A lot. As a reviewer and writer, it's part of perfecting my craft. I once had a student ask me how many books I've read in my lifetime. (Hey, I'm not
that old!) I couldn't even begin to come up with a number. But I'll make a guesstimate: I usually read between 10 and 15 books a month.
So last week, when I noticed the #1daybook hashtag on Twitter, I had to find out what all the fuss was about.
Looks like it started over at
Reddit when someone posed the question: What's the best/most unusual/longest/most enthralling book you've read in a day?
It got me thinking. What's the best book I've read in a single day? What book has kidnapped me, held me for ransom, and refused to let go until I closed the back cover?
My answer:
Pictures of You by
Caroline Leavitt. She had me on page one, and by the time I finished a few hours later, I was a blabbering book reader, tugged in multiple directions by conflicting emotions. I felt such a connection with Isabelle, the photography, the sense of place.
I think about that book often, pull it from the shelf and reread snippets - a snapshot of descriptions and characters - that beg to be read once again.
It takes a special book - and writer - to create that sense of empathy with readers. And Caroline's words and story formed that bond for me.
What's the best book you've read in a single day?by LuAnn Schindler. When she's not reading, she's writing about Nebraska at luannschindler.com.
I knew Dear Reader was a happening place months ago, when I was invited to stand in as a guest columnist for Suzanne Beecher. Dear Reader is where a book-reading community gets built, where book clubs find their inspiration, and where conversations gather speed and force. For
my own guest column, I wrote about the young people I've met in my time as a young adult novelist—the passions they stir and the things they teach, the many ways that I am hopeful for and with them.
It was a special opportunity, and so I did something I've never done before—offered all six of my young adult books (
the seventh,the Seville-based
Small Damages, won't be out until next summer) as a summer giveaway. And oh, what a response we have had. I've heard from school principals and librarians, grandmothers and moms, fathers and grandfathers, uncles and aunts. I've heard from young writers and young readers, students on the verge of college and students on the verge of applying to master's degree programs. I've received notes from all across the country and all around the world. Many readers have asked for YA books featuring a male teen; I'm
6,000 words into writing one of those. Many described their particular passions, their favorite books.
I had originally thought that I would give all six books to a single winner, sweepstakes style, but as I read these notes through and considered the huge volume of mail, it occurred to me that there were some very right and particular titles for some very particular readers. Here, then, are the winners, with the lines or thoughts that triggered my own "I have just the book for them" responses. Please know, all of you, that I read and considered and valued and had a very hard time choosing winners. I hope you'll look for books that sound interesting to you and let me know what you think.
Undercover, my first young adult novel, about a young, Cyrano-like poet and her discovery of her own beauty, to 14-year-old Kyla Rich, who wrote,
"My 12-year-old sister and I love to read. .... you can never read too much, especially with how much you can learn from reading: Learn about the world, about scholarly things that you'd learn in school, or, sometimes, about yourself. I never really knew why I read so much or why I liked it but, as I read your Dear Reader, I realized why. I read to understand, to know beyond myself. Exactly what you said in your Dear Reader. I guess that might be another reason I write. My sister and I are writers, unpublished of course, and we write to craft the kind of books we like to read, to give someone joy, to help someone, maybe even start a craze. We write for even that ONE person who likes our books, even if it is just one. At least someone cares enough to read." House of Dance, about Rosie's quest to find a final gift for her grandfather (and her discovery of a wonderful cast of ballroom dancers), to Patricia Corcoran, who wrote,
"I'm 63 years old and have read for as long as I can remember. Except for when I was growing up, I didn't read Young Adult books. I don't know why, but I didn't. About 3 years ago, I started reading them and thoroughly enjoy the ones I've read so far. I have 2 grandchildren, Gregory who is 9 and Emily who
Beautiful review for Lisa Scottoline’s SAVE ME in Sunday’s New York Times Book Review by the incomparable Caroline Leavitt.
“Save Me” isn’t just about a devoted mother protecting her bullied child. It’s really about one brave and determined woman who finds the means to save herself.
Between meetings, I sat at a client's office with the March 14 issue of
Newsweek on my lap, studying its remarkable center spread: "150 Women Who Shake the World." "They are heads of state and heads of household," the story begins. "Angry protesters in the city square and sly iconoclasts in remote villages. With a fiery new energy, women are building schools. Starting businesses. Fighting corruption...."
The pages that follow tell stories—feature heroines—we women can be proud of. Chouchou Namegabe is here, honored for her radio documentation of an epidemic of rapes in Congo. Sharon Cooper, for her studies of the brain development of trafficked girls. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, as Africa's first female head of state. Salma Hayek, for her worldwide travels on behalf of maternal health. Valerie Boyer, for her fight against eating disorders. Amy Gutmann, from my own University of Pennsylvania. Shakira for her Barefoot Foundation, started when she was just 18 (it says here) to open schools in Colombia, Haiti, and South Africa. Mia Farrow for not letting us forget Darfur. Elizabeth Smart, the kidnapping survivor who has become an advocate for victims. Rebecca Lolosoli of Kenya, who "persuaded women in her village to start a business selling their intricate traditional beadwork to tourists. Then she encouraged them to form a separate village as both a tourist attraction and a refuge for victims of domestic violence and girls fleeing female genital mutilation or forced marriage."
Get this issue, if you can. Look at what women can do—at what happens when they stand up on behalf of others and seek a greater, calming good. And then, if you have a moment, check out page 79. That's where my friend Caroline Leavitt's book,
Pictures of You, is featured as a Jodi Picoult Pick.
I was thinking about Caroline Leavitt when I found these boots in a Lambertville store. But I've been also thinking, lately, about the un-anticipate-able nature of the writer journey, how little we know when we journal our first free sentences or write our first poems or say to someone,
I'll be a writer. I knew nothing; I knew no one; I know but a few things; I love who I know. I couldn't see it coming, all the way back then, could not imagine now.
I only knew: I cannot live without the strut and sound of words.
A few days ago, Caroline Leavitt, the extraordinary, award-winning novelist, hilarious Facebook chronicler, and truly generous soul asked me questions inspired by her reading of
Dangerous Neighbors. I had to clear the grateful tears from my eyes before I answered. Please visit Caroline's site (where many authors are featured; you should be visiting anyway) for
the conversation in which I answered, among other things, stunning questions like this one:
The novel meditates on what it means to have “dangerous neighbors” or to feel lost in a new country (or new way of being) where everything is so rapidly changing. There is also the sense that Katherine wants ownership of her sister in terms of loving her. She wants to keep that world small, even as the world around her--and her sister's world--are expanding. In the end, despite the losses in the book, Katherine actually finds surprising connection and hope. (There’s a spectacular few scenes of her carrying a stranger’s baby all over the Centennial.) Even though this novel is set in 1876, the whole idea of dangerous neighbors is remarkably current to me. Would you agree or is this simply my own interpretation speaking?And please read
here, for my thoughts about Caroline's upcoming novel,
Pictures of You.
Caroline Leavitt has written nine novels for adults, four books for children, numerous essays and short stories, and her work has earned her comparisons with writers like Anne Tyler, Sue Miller and Jane Hamilton, yet she admits that it still takes her many, many drafts to figure out what her stories are really about.“I have no idea how it happens,” she says, “but what I always strive for is that
If I brought just one ARC home from the BEA—the glorious
The Report (Jessica Francis Kane)—I was to have traveled home with two ARCs from the ALA convention. The first, Caroline Leavitt's
Pictures of You, did in fact make it into my bag. The second,
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, was delivered to me at the Egmont USA booth by a fashion-runway-worthy Jill Santopolo, only to be snatched by an eager reader when I oh-so-briefly turned my head. I had to wait until yesterday, when another copy of the ARCs arrived by mail, to read this book that Jill had loved so much. It had made her cry on the train, she said. She had thought that I might like it.
She was right, as Jill so often is.
Between Shades of Gray is an important book—a story that captures the terrifying deportation of a Lithuanian family by the Soviet secret police. Along with tens of thousands of others, 15-year-old Lina, her younger brother, and her educated, lovely mother are packed onto trains and sent toward the bitter cold of Siberia; their father, meanwhile, is sentenced to a prison-camp death. What will survival look like? What will kindness look like? Who is to be trusted? The losses will be great; in an author's note, we learn that more than a third of all Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians were killed during Stalin's ruthless genocide. Goodness, however, also prevails, for Lina is strong and she is faithful—losing and gaining, falling in love, making a record of the life she is living through drawings and words.
Simply and compellingly told, endowed with an honorable and serious purpose,
Between Shades of Gray is the sort of book that wakens new knowledge in is readers. Knowledge of a terrible time, absolutely. Knowledge about the great capacity of the human heart: that, too.
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I will have to check this out.
Lovely treat this morning, to read both you and Leavitt. I just discovered her Pictures of You this summer, and now I see she is a knitter as well. Unlike some writers' blogs which make me frantic about sales and marketing and publishing, and which I am now avoiding, you both inspire me. Lovely.