Make It

Chicken Sausage: Yay Or Nay

I'm a fan of chicken sausages. What's not to like? Granted I'm much more of a savory person than a sweets person. I'll gladly take a piece of cheese or a taco over a cupcake. Still, chicken sausages have alot going for them. You get all the salty meaty goodness of traditional sausage in your pizza/pasta/hot dog bun without the high levels of fat and sodium from pork. It's a win all around.

Matt thinks differently. He says, and I quote, "If God wanted chickens to be made into sausages, he would have made them pigs." End quote.

So where do you stand on this defining question of our time? Chicken sausage: yay or nay?

(Photo credit)

"She" Or "I"

    I'm not gonna lie, y'all. I'm struggling with my current work-in-progress. For my last book, I had difficulty with the plot, but the setting, the themes and the general tone came very naturally. I'm having the complete opposite problem now. I've plotted about 70 percent of the book, but I'm having alot of trouble with all of these other things that take a book from just a collection of words to something with emotion and symbolism and resonance.

    A very basic problem is the question of whether to write in first person ("I said") or third person ("she said"). I think alot of new writers write in first person because it seems easiest. I wrote THE MERMAID'S DAUGHTER in first person and completed an entire first draft, sent it off to some readers, only to have them come back to me with, "You're not writing a character here. You're writing YOU." So I switched to third, a very tedious and slow process of manually changing every verb and article, and in the process was able to go back and write with some distance.

    I started this book in third, but had some of my critique group partners recommend that it be told with first. I could definitely see where they were coming from, so I repeated the tedious process of switching over (only the rough draft of the first few chapters this time) and have proceeded to the 30,000 word mark. But I'm not sure if it's working.

    For one thing, I've mentioned that this is a retelling of Rapunzel. So my narrator is a 17 year old girl who has spent 7 years locked in a tower and isolated from the outside world for something to do with her hair (you won't find any spoilers here). Writing in first person means that not only does her dialogue have to accurately reflect her mental and emotional state, but so does everything else. We're seeing this world through her eyes. So I have to filter everything through her viewpoint. I imagine her room in the tower having parquet wood floors, and I described them in this way in an early draft. But as a critique group member said to me, does this girl even know what parquet means?

    But I like things like describing setting in detail. I like investigating the nuances of interpersonal relationships and the subtext of what a person says versus what they do. But if my narrator is blind to all these things (especially in the beginning of the book), this takes away some of my arsenal. Yes, it's a challenge to accomodate this, but I'm not necessarily writing the book to be challenged. I'm writing to be published. And to be published, I need to write my best. I'm not sure yet if telling the story through the eyes of my emotionally stunted narrator is the best way to do this.

 

This Is Great

 

Via DesignSponge this morning, a pilot video (they're hoping to get picked up by a network) of a proposed reality show about the behind the scenes work at Spruce Upholstery in Austin. This is so amazing. I hope it finds a home ASAP because I want to see the next episode!

Boyfriend Watch

When I moved from San Diego to Alabama the summer before 9th grade, I kept my (analog) watch on California time for about six months. I just wanted to hold on to a little piece of my former life for as long as I could, even if it meant I had to subtract two hours from the time everytime I checked it.

That watch was a green Swatch. Other watches have come and gone, but ever since my last one - a leather strapped one with a gold face - broke about a year ago, I haven't worn a watch. Instead, I use my phone. It's practical but it's kind of boring. I want a statement watch, as much a piece of jewelry as a functional object, and I found one I loved on a post on Coquette a few weeks ago. The price tag is certainly out of my budget, but sharing it here with all of you is the next best thing.
Behold, the boyfriend bracelet watch by Coach, which actually has some pretty cute accessories right now. Would this get really cold in the winter, I wonder?

Bentwood Chairs

In keeping with my desire for more traditional furnishings, these bentwood chairs with cane seats would do just fine. $150 for the set of four on Craigslist (Toledo) right now.

I'd probably sell two and hope to make back some of the investment, since I like the look of one armchair at each end of the dining table, with four armless chairs in between.

Sofia's Sofas

Sofia Coppola is one of those people who seems to inspire intense reactions. When it comes to her movies, people either love ("Oooh, didn't you love how Marie Antoinette gave us a snapshot of the day to day lives of French royalty?") or hate ("The Hell!? Nothing happened in that movie!"). Then there's that whole (she ruined the) Godfather III business, but I haven't seen any of the Godfather movies, so it's a moot point. Count me firmly among the lovers. Not just of her films, but of her personal style, her design sensibility, her apartments. Her apartments! Specifically, her sofas.

I spend a rather ridiculous time on the internet looking at sofas. They're a little bit of an obsession right now. Mostly because our own sofa is pretty sub-par. It has character, but it's a ratty old vintage thing and I haven't really given it the attention it needs.

So I look at sofas online and dream about overstuffed down cushions, having enough space for Matt and I to both stretch out, and piling tons of friends on it for a movie night.

And Sofia has the best sofas.

This photo, of her NYC apartment, is the one that started my obsession with English roll-arms. A George Smith is out of the question (they easily run $6 - $10k), but Restoration Hardware has, what could be considered, a more reasonable alternative.

I'm also kinda digging this graphite velvet Cameron sofa from Room and Board, which is even more affordable than the one from Resto.

And then there's the white linen sectional, in Ms. Coppola's Paris apartment.Totally different feel, but equally chic and relaxed. I also love the peek deeper into the apartment beyond (French doors! Moulding on the walls! Bentwood chairs! Peonies!).
In looking at photos like this, it makes me sort of rethink my own design sensibilites. I adore how classic each of these apartments are. The individual elements are timeless - glass topped coffee table, bentwood chairs, black framed photos - and they're combined in a way that is very modern and fresh.

I want more of this in my life. I want more classic, veering on traditional, pieces, less mid-century modern. Sigh. I'll get there one day, right?

The Self-Publishing Revolution

I've mentioned before that elements of self-publishing appeal to me. Given my interest in design, marketing, and social media, and an entrepreneurial background, the idea of publishing and promoting my own work doesn't seem that initimidating, it actually seems pretty accesible. And did you know that when it comes to e-books it's even easier than self-publishing print copies? It is absolutely free to upload an e-book to the Amazon digital store. But is the audience there?

Self-publishing success story, JA Konrath, blogged about how many of the Top 100 Sellers in several of the Kindle stores on Amazon are by self-published authors. An excerpt:

Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Fiction > Horror > Occult
50 out of 100 are self-pubbed.

Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Police Procedurals

15 out of 100 are self-pubbed.

Kindle Store > Kindle Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Thrillers > Technothrillers

36 out of 100 are self-pubbed.

Now, I'm not a guy to jump to conclusions, but it seems to me that some indie authors who aren't named J.A. Konrath are doing pretty well on Amazon.

Yes, many self published authors are doing well, but I would guess that many of these readers are older, middle class males and early adapters of a technology that has only been available for a few years. The demographics are important to me because my work skews younger and female. Does that audience own a Kindle?

The answer appears to be, not yet, but soon.

So while I don't think that it makes sense for me to self-pub TMD right now, it could be something to consider in a few years if it remains unagented and unsold. And this is something I am keeping in the back of my mind as I work on my new novel. It's a sci-fi, and though it's intended to be YA, with a female protagonist, it's also the kind of work that could have crossover appeal to an older audience. Maybe the kind of audience who owns a Kindle?

There are a few success stories. Karen McQuestion, has had success with YA and MG e-books sold in the Amazon store. And YA author Neesha Meminger blogged this week about the exciting potential for e-books in a publishing landscape that seems to value the "sure thing" and doesn't take a chance on quieter or more controversial works.

I sold Shine in 2007. My current project, a contemporary, realistic YA with elements of humour and romance is, according to editors, "too quiet," "too commercial," or it "won't stand out."...In any case, no one said the book, or the writing, wasn't good. In fact, most of the editors it was sent to expressed how much they enjoyed reading it, and how "on the fence" they'd been regarding acquisition. So, as *readers* they enjoyed it...This tells me a couple of things: 1) in the minds of the editors who read the book, it was a fun read, but they were afraid it wouldn't sell enough for them to justify acquiring it; and 2) there's nothing wrong with the book. It did not get acquired because, based on the opinions of a handful of editors, it would not sell as well as they'd need it to. It was not a "hot" property. It was not the NEXT BIG THING.

I encourage you to read the whole article. For now, my goal is still to get a literary agent, be published with a major house, and to be able to take advantage of all the resources and exposure that would provide. But blog posts like this let me know that getting rejections from agents and publishers doesn't have to be the end of the story.

Similar But Not The Same

Similar concepts for a book cover interpreted in two very different ways. Zadie Smith is one of my favorite writers (I even named my protagonist in TMD after her, using her birth name of Sadie) and I've been hearing really good things about Danielle Evan's debut story collection. A new favorite in the making?

I completely prefer typography covers to the photo-heavy ones that seem to dominate the YA section. These just look timeless and classic to me. They'll never look dated.

No Thank You

Totally not into the new GAP logo. Blech. (via Brand New) ISO50 is holding a contest to see if their readers can come up with something better.

On What Is Deemed Worthy Of A Book Deal

So last week, this big story out of Duke University went viral. Basically, a female student made an in-depth PowerPoint presentation ranking the, um, performance of 13 members of various Duke athletic teams. The presentation which was only intended for a small group, got on the internet and the rest is history.

As soon as I saw it on Jezebel, I read the whole thing (obviously), then I thought, this girl is going to get a book deal. Sure enough, by the next day several producers and agents had contacted Jezebel to get her contact info. (Note: language on links is NSFW)

I'm not even jealous. She's a good writer and it was obviously a subject matter that held my attention enough to read the entire thing. (Not just for entertainment value. It's a sort of weird sociological  snapshot of this very privileged, insular, Southern world. And the casual racism is both disturbing and completely unsurprising) But I can't help but feel, well, depressed at the entire situation.

I thought about this again this morning when I read Garance Dore's blog post of her recent experience in Paris getting an invitation to a masquerade ball at Karl Lagerfeld's house. As I read, smiling at her account of hearing other people talk about this major party she'd been left out of and then cheering with her when Carine herself stopped by to extend a personal invitation, I thought, again, this girl is going to get a book deal. She's charming, she writes well, and she knows how to tell a story.

As far as I know, Dore does not have a deal for any fiction books, but I hope I am eventually proved right, again. If only to provide some much needed balance on the bookshelves.