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: Shifting narratives. And last chance for CLEOPATRA’S MOON!

First off, this is the last day to leave a comment to win a copy of Vicky Alvear Shecter’s fabulous novel CLEOPATRA’S MOON (Arthur A. Levine Books). Besides the giveaway, she’s written a wonderful guest post full of writerly wisdom about how to adapt November’s National Novel Writing Month to suit your needs. So go forth and comment!

On a related note, with NaNoWriMo around the corner, I’m feeling a twinge of nostalgia: It was two years ago that I started THE LILY MAID as a dare to myself. I’d always wanted to write a novel, but it seemed ridiculously improbable. After all, I’m trained as an artist and a designer, not as a writer. The writing I did was to support visual projects: illustrated books, card decks, iPhone apps. I thought NaNoWriMo would be a great way to get this fiction writing bug out of my system: “See, you can’t write a novel. Now go back to what you do know and love: Illustrated books.”

Little did I know what I was getting into. Or that I’d be transforming my life and career.

Jump forward almost two years: I’m now heading into the final revisions of THE LILY MAID which will hopefully be submitted to publishers in early 2012. It’s come a very far way since that initial (and admittedly awful) first draft of 50,000 words which I completed in November 2009. Still, there was something about the story, characters, and process which enthralled me enough to keep going despite the steep learning curve awaiting me. To keep working at it.

And I’m so glad I did. You know those dreams where you discover a room in your house that you didn’t know existed before? And the room is impossibly large and beautiful and magical? That’s what writing THE LILY MAID feels like to me.

Since November 2009, I’ve written and revised many, many thousands of words to construct a 110,000 word novel. I’ve workshopped various chapters at various venues including the Sackett Street Writers Workshop and the Historical Novel Society conference. I’ve had instructors and beta readers tell me, “Keep going. You’re not crazy to write this book.” I’ve gained amazing critique partners who have helped me along the way with their no-punches-held feedback and insightful comments. I kept writing. And in time I became more confident as a novelist. More confident in the choice I’d made to pursue fiction writing as a career path. As a result of this, I made the incredibly difficult decision to change literary representation for my fiction writing. As delighted as I am with my new agent, I adore my previous agent who was instrumental in my creation of DOOMED QUEENS and THE LOVER’S PATH. But because of THE LILY MAID, I’m no longer the author I was. My personal narrative has shifted.

The latest reflection of my shifting narrative is an unexpected one. After four years at our current location in Brooklyn, Kris Waldherr Art and Words is moving four blocks away to new, spacious, and appropriately Victorian digs at the end of the year. We weren’t planning to move, but the new space—a four floor Victorian house—is so stunningly beautiful we couldn’t resist. It’s simply one of the most beautiful spaces I’ve ever been in: stained glass, wood-burning fireplace, a garden and more. My new studio will comprise most of the top floor—an atelier surrounded by trees and sky.

As much as I’ve loved having my studio in a street-level storefront, my new space feels more appropriate for all the writing I’ve been doing. Here’s the other strange thing: the house looks like one I described in THE LILY MAID. In the book, the house is inhabited by a famous artist and his wife and is famed as an example of Arts and Crafts style. Life imitating art.

The house description from THE LILY MAID:

Applewood Grange looked smaller inside than it did from the outside—more like a farm house than a grand manse. Though it was empty of most furniture, it didn’t feel empty. First off, it was beamed in the busy Tudor fashion of dark wood against plastered walls the color of bleached sunlight…. As I looked around, I decided that the daytime showed the drawing room at its best. That was because its windows overlooked the river and trees beyond, making it seem as though the house was suspended within wood and water.

To the back of the drawing room awaited a wide stairway, which led upstairs. At the top of the stairs, sunlight welcomed us from a large window placed at the top of the landing. Tucked underneath the window was a built-in oak bench, adorned with several mismatched cushions and a handy selection of books. A door rested sharply to the right of the landing….

If Dulac’s studio at Primrose Hill was a cabinet of curiosities with so many artifacts and decorations that they overwhelmed and dazzled, his studio at Applewood Grange was closer to a monastic cell. Like the drawing room, it was humble in the Tudor style with low ceilings and white-washed plaster walls. The floors were lined in rough hewn oak planks, unlike downstairs. Though the room wasn’t terribly large, it was also infused with light, as the stair landing had been—the furthest wall from the door featured four diamond-paned windows…. I imagined that in summertime the sun would be less overwhelming because the trees would be heavy with foliage.”

I’m a bit stunned by how quickly this has happened, but it feels organic in retrospect—a reflection of my shifting life narrative from artist to novelist.

Right now I’m overwhelmed with logistics since we’ll be moving our living space (and several thousand books!) at the same time. As you can tell from the above photo of our new space, we’ll be in transition for a while. Rest assured, there will be a last salon at the “old” space in December to close out the old and welcome the new—I’ll announce the date in November. In time, I plan to have salons at the new space, but it will be more intimate. And yes, there will be absinthe and a fainting chaise.

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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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Creativity Friday: Completing the Sacred World Oracle

And then there were none—none cards, that is, to be finished in the Sacred World Oracle. Here’s a first look at the four remaining cards.

The Sacred World Oracle celebrates the beauty and diversity of the earth and its creatures, utilizing myth, folklore, and nature to offer wisdom and guidance. It was created to offer you a simple way to access the wisdom of the natural world, just as humans have done since time immemorial. And now it is complete. All the files—art, text, and design—for the SWO are off to U. S. Games Systems, who will be publishing The Sacred World Oracle soon. In the meantime, you can try a three card reading with the SWO here. Enjoy!

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Publishing Monday: Piles o’ books!

I was very amused this morning to come across this at GalleyCat. It’s a post linking to photographs of books in media companies—from Flavorpill to the Village Voice. Some of the books are essential for business. Others were sent for review but will never be read—a veritable slush pile of the published.

I guess it’s no surprise that I’m not alone in possessing semi-artistically arranged piles of books in my workspace. For the record, here are two of my recent piles. I’m sure you can tell by their titles that these are all for my novel THE LILY MAID. And yes, that is a Tim Gunn bobble head doll. It’s autographed too. These days, I’m all about making it work!

On a related note, I’m about to jump in head-first to revising the rest of THE LILY MAID. My agent and I have agreed on an end-of January deadline for me to complete my next draft for reasons that are too soon to reveal. As things stand now, I’m about 2/3rds of the way through. Sooo, to make this goal doable, I’m streamlining my life until this novel is safely finished. I’ve planned several writer’s retreats. I’ve cut back on gallery hours and events. I’m turning down lunch dates and other extra-curricular activities. I’m also tying up loose ends on other projects such as the Sacred World Oracle (which is just about finished). My lovely beta readers have been placed on alert.

The reality is that book deadlines require me to go into my “cave*”. Much as I want to do everything, I realize it’s not possible for me to do so right now. Nor do I want to, frankly. I’m adoring writing THE LILY MAID. More importantly, I’m at the stage where it’s emotionally distressing not to be working on it.

So here’s to the final marathon. May I have lots of gaterade along the way and no shin splints!

* Phrase courtesy of the lovely Christy English, author of TO BE QUEEN.

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