CLEOPATRA’S MOON giveaway: And the winner is….

…. Congratulations to Indigene! An e-mail will be sent to you with information for claiming your copy of Vicky Alvear Shecter’s CLEOPATRA’S MOON. I know you’re going to enjoy this wonderful novel!

In other notes, it is snowing—SNOWING!—in Brooklyn this afternoon. Below is a view taken during my walk to the new house. This is the earliest snow I can remember in my twenty-plus years of living here. Is a long winter upon us?

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Creativity Friday: CLEOPATRA’S MOON Giveaway! And NaNoWriMo advice from author Vicky Alvear Shecter

I’m so excited that my amazingly talented and cool cousin Vicky Alvear Shecter is my guest for today’s Creativity Friday. Vicky is not only the author of two nonfiction books, ALEXANDER ROCKS THE WORLD and CLEOPATRA RULES, but also a novelist. Her first novel CLEOPATRA’S MOON (Arthur A. Levine Books) has recently been published to rapturous reviews from The Wall Street Journal, EW.com, Publisher’s Weekly and many other venues. From the L.A. Times review:

Eyes ringed with kohl, her lithe body draped in a tunic, Cleopatra VII has been memorialized ad nauseam in numerous art forms, from paintings and opera to film and a seemingly endless string of books. The reason is simple: The last queen of Egypt was an exotic blend of power and beauty whose brief life came to a tragic end when she committed suicide with the help of an asp. Now her only daughter, Cleopatra Selene, is getting the historical fiction treatment in a beautiful new novel for young adults….”

Whenever Vicky and I get together for family gatherings (alas, she lives in Atlanta; I live in Brooklyn, so it’s not often enough) I love talking about writing and publishing with her. She’s smart, funny, and wise as well as totally inspiring. Last time she was in New York, our conversation swerved from Dante and Beatrice to literary agents to gothic doubling in JANE EYRE. Oh, and we also kvelled about our daughters—but that’s to be expected, right?

With National Novel Writing Month beginning November 1st, I asked Vicky if she had any advice to share. In her post, she suggests how to reframe NaNoWriMo so it’ll work for your writing goals. But wait, there’s more: we also have a giveaway of CLEOPATRA’S MOON to one lucky blog commenter. Information on how to enter below!

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With NanoWriMo just around the corner, I must confess: I couldn’t do it. I tried, I really did. Several times. I’m amazed at writers like Kris who can do this, and do it well. [Note from Kris: "Do it well"—well, that's a matter of opinion. ] I’m especially eager to read The Lily Maid which I know she jump-started with NanoWriMo.

It took me a while, though, to learn to reframe my inability to “do” NanoWriMo and see it, not as a failure, but as an acceptance of my individual process. It forced me to pay attention to how I worked, which was very valuable. What I discovered was that scenes “unfold” in my mind—almost like mini-movies—which I then write down, editing as I go.

No amount of forcing or staring at a blank screen can “make” these cinematic scenes appear. They do not come to me on demand. Instead, they often percolate up while I’m walking. So when I’m moving, I’m usually “writing” and when I’m writing, it’s thanks to the walking. (Sometimes driving too, but I probably shouldn’t admit that.)

Learning about and accepting my process gave me the freedom to really sink into the sensory experiences of my scenes, which I found very important in writing historical fiction. Beyond “seeing” the scene, I wanted to feel it, hear it, smell it and taste it.

So, for example, when I had my protagonist, a young Cleopatra Selene, meet with the Priestess of Isis, I wanted to capture the entire experience sensorially—hearing the droning chants of priests and jingling of sacred sistrums; tasting the tangy-yeasty bite of ritual Egyptian beer; smelling the metallic-sweet scent of blood from a sacrifice; seeing the Priestess painting a magical symbol in the sand with a blood-smeared brush and so on.

I love historical fiction for its ability to take me to another place and time, so I wanted to evoke that sense for my readers as well.

So if you are preparing for NanoWriMo, good luck. But if you discover that it doesn’t work for you, don’t despair. Turn it into an opportunity to examine what DOES work for you and then…well, do THAT!

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Vicky is generously giving away one copy of CLEOPATRA’S MOON. To enter, leave a comment here by midnight EST October 28; for a second entry, tweet or FB this link. Winner will be chosen by random and announced on this blog on Saturday October 29th. Sorry, US and Canada mailing addresses only.

More about the book: CLEOPATRA’S MOON is about the only surviving child of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony. Based on real events and individuals in history, it tells the story of a young woman determined to carve her own future after the tragic loss of everything she’s ever known and everyone she’s ever loved.

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Publishing Monday: Gaian Tarot giveaway winner—and a talk from Jennifer Egan

First off, congratulations to Sally! You’ve won a copy of Joanna Powell Colbert’s luminous Gaian Tarot. Sally wrote:

What a beautiful deck. It’s great to read about the creative process behind it.”

I heartily agree. I loved the Gaian Tarot’s compassionate and expansive view of humanity—how embracing it is of all cultures and experiences. The art is truly lovely too. I especially thought the accompanying guide book was wonderfully written and very well organized. I’m finding Joanna’s tarot philosophy to be similar to mine, especially in regards to viewing the numbered minors as organic developments of a suit’s energy.

Sally, an e-mail has been sent to you with information for claiming your prize. And many thanks to Joanna for sharing her wisdom and creativity with us on my blog! As I mentioned in my interview with Joanna last week, the Gaian Tarot is now available as a trade publication from Llewellyn Worldwide as well as in a limited edition format. To learn more and try an online reading, visit the Gaian Tarot website.

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In other news, I was fortunate to attend the 11th annual National Book Festival last week. The National Book Festival is organized and hosted by the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. With over one hundred stellar authors participating, it’s a veritable harvest of publishing goodness. I was fortunate not only to attend the very glamorous opening reception (which was held in the stunning Great Hall of the Thomas Jefferson building), but to also hear some of my favorite authors speak about their books: Dave Eggers, Toni Morrison, Sarah Vowell, Gregory Maguire, and others.

Recent Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Egan (A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD) was especially inspiring on the subject of writing fiction, a subject very dear to my heart—her words really resonated with me. Here’s a few of the many things she shared during her nearly hour-long talk. Bear in mind these are a bit paraphrased from my hastily scribbled notes:

On her reasons for writing: “Everyone advises you should ‘write what you know.’ Why do that? I write to escape to another dimension.”

On plotting a novel: “My subconscious is way smarter than I am. Writing is how I access the unconscious part of myself. I trust it to reveal the story.”

On writing A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD: “To tell this story, I had to use different narrative structures. I’ll do whatever it takes to tell a story.”

On a related note, here are the three rules she ultimately decided upon to structure GOON SQUAD:

1. Each chapter had to be about a separate character.

2. Each chapter had to have a different setting.

3. Each chapter had to stand alone as a story.

On the wisdom of story: “The story itself leads you to the place you need to go.”

On fiction: “The job of fiction is to raise questions.”

After hearing Ms. Egan speak, I was inspired to deviate from my LILY MAID-related “all-Victorian-all-the-time” reading list to read A VISIT FROM THE GOON SQUAD. It’s really wonderful—a true tour de force of narrative structure and extremely memorable characters. It swerves dazzlingly in time from the San Francisco punk rock scene of the early 1980s into the present; and finally into a future New York City strangled by social media and global warming. While some have derided the chapter composed in PowerPoint as a gimmick, I thought it worked well.

I know there has been discussion whether GOON SQUAD is a novel or a clever collection of interlocked short stories. To my mind, it’s both. While each story stands on its own (as Egan intended), there’s a sense of elegiac loss permeating the book that ties everything together novelistically. Ultimately, GOOD SQUAD is a bittersweet Proustian meditation on the ravages of time. Highly recommended.

• Filed under The Novel, art and words, be-mused, creativity, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, publishing, the world around me | No Comments

Creativity Friday: Win a first chapter and query critique from me… and a goddess giveaway

One little-known fact about me: I am a book query goddess. (And modest too. ) I’ve helped several authors rock their queries and opening pages to get that all-important agent interest. So if you’ve ever wanted help with your’s, you’re in luck: I’m happy to announce I’ve donated a first chapter and query critique of a literary or historical novel to Read for Relief.

What is Read for Relief? It’s a writing community to aid victims of Hurricane Irene. Besides myself, there are numerous goodies on offer—everything from book packages to full manuscript reads and beyond. Living here in Brooklyn, we were very lucky that Irene only sideswiped us. But many were not so fortunate. So I hope you’ll go forth and bid!

In other news, to commemorate the release of the Goddess Tarot Android app, a contest to win a free Goddess Tarot app and THE BOOK OF GODDESSES e-book is taking place here. To enter, head over to Deb’s blog to learn more. Please feel free to share—and have a great weekend!

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Publishing Monday: Congrats all around!

A quick round up of recent publications by three of my favorite colleagues:

1. My cousin Vicky Alvear Shecter’s book CLEOPATRA’S MOON was just published by Arthur Levine Books. CLEOPATRA’S MOON is a young adult historical fiction novel about the only surviving child of Cleopatra VII and Mark Antony. Based on real events and individuals in history, it tells the story of a young woman determined to carve her own future after the tragic loss of everything she’s ever known and everyone she’s ever loved. It’s garnering some much-deserved rave reviews:

“This novel has romance, drama, heartbreak, and adventure…Shecter writes about the world of ancient Egypt and Rome with wonderful detail, making it come alive…A fantastic read with some valuable history.” — School Library Journal

“Fascinating historical novel…Cleopatra Selene proves a stalwart heroine, and the novel’s atmospheric setting and romantic intrigue are highly memorable.”—
Publishers Weekly

“The historical context and characters are well drawn…makes for intriguing storytelling…a romantic and exciting story.” —
Kirkus

2. The trade edition of Joanna Powell Colbert’s long-awaited Gaian Tarot is finally available from Llewellyn Worldwide. Joanna created the Gaian Tarot to speak directly to the hearts of those who practice an earth-centered spirituality. Though the deck has been available as a collector’s limited edition, I’m pleased that the Gaian will now be available to the world at large. I know how many years Joanna has worked on this project—a real labor of love.

3. Finally, Susanne Dunlap, author of IN THE SHADOW OF THE LAMP, THE MUSICIAN’S DAUGHTER and other wonderful historical fiction novels, has branched into iPhone development with several colleagues. Their WordWit app from Ballpoint, Inc. pairs misused words with their evil twins, explains them clearly, and provides entertaining examples from literature and the media. It’s also beautifully designed. A delicious mixture of reference app and game app, WordWit will get people interacting with words in a whole new way. I was fortunate to try the app in beta format—fun and totally addictive. Download WordWit from the App Store.

Congratulations to everyone! But wait, there’s more: In September, I’ll be interviewing Vicky and Joanna about their newest publications. I’m really looking forward to learning more about their creative processes. Plus there will be giveaways of CLEOPATRA’S MOON and the GAIAN TAROT courtesy of Scholastic Books and Llewellyn Worldwide.

• Filed under art and words, friends and colleagues, giveaways and raffles, iPhone apps, publishing, retail therapy, reviews + press, tarot and oracles | 6 Responses