The Zook Book Nook Reading List

Some like a laugh, some like a cry, and some like a rush of adrenaline.

Here at the Zook Book Nook, I like a thought-provoking read.

So I present to you my "work-in-progress" list of my favorite literary works that have enriched my mind and soul. (I will keep adding to it over time.) They may have made me laugh, cry, or jump out of my chair, but they've also given me so many thoughts to reflect on and grow from.

I hope you'll find this list of insightful books useful on a cold winter day when snow-bound or on a hot summer day when home-bound in the AC.

Top Favorite Books at Zook Book Nook

1. ??? (I'm still undecided on my all-time favorite book; the rest of this list is in no particular order; however, I want to say this spot for my favorite book once I figure it out)
2. The Pillars of the Earth - by Ken Follett
3. World Without End - by Ken Follett
4. The Shack - by William P. Young
5. Memoirs of a Geisha - by Arthur Golden
6. Anna Karenina - by Leo Tolstoy
7. Fahrenheit 451 - by Ray Bradbury
8. The Hunger Games - by Suzanne Collins
9. Lord of the Flies - by William Golding
10. Life of Pi - by Yann Martel
11. The Time Traveler's Wife - by Audrey Niffenegger
12. The Lovely Bones - by Alice Sebold
13. The Glass Castle - by Jeannette Walls
14. The Namesake - by Jhumpa Lahiri
15. The Witch of Blackbird Pond - by Elizabeth George Speare
16. Island of the Blue Dolphins - by Scott O'Dell
17. to be continued

Back in Time

Thank you Stasha (@NorthWestMommy) for your wonderful Monday Listicles and Bits of Bee for choosing this week's awesome topic of ten things quotable!

I kind of, sort of, maybe miss teaching in a classroom.
I miss creating quizzes.
I miss taking my sword and slashing through incorrect answers.
I miss wondering what I did wrong as a teacher when students failed my quiz...

My sword these days is still my pen.
My quizzes these days challenge me more than they do my 4 and 2 year old daughters.
And I still wonder what I could do better so my children succeed and triumph over moments when meltdowns are bound to happen.

To relive my 'glory days' as a teacher, I have decided to create a quiz for you today using Monday Listicles topic of 10 Things Quotable!

Except I have a problem, my mind is a little spent these days.
So I'm going to take it easy and rely on the 80's. Those were easier days as I was only a child.

Do you remember those great feel-good movies from the 80's?
I do.

Just pulling up memories of E.T. and Sixteen Candles makes me feel like a kid again.

Well, let's see how you do on my quiz!

More Than One Identity

"The child goes through the full-time mother like a dye through water: there is no part of her that remains uncoloured."

Rachel Cusk in "Aftermath"

Published in Granta, Spring 2011

In the blogosphere, it's an all-too-common statement we hear from blogging mothers:

I lost myself in motherhood.

I know I did. Not just after my first was born. But also after my second came into the world.

The Mother Lit List

Motherhood and Writing! 

That's what my blog is all about, so naturally I have many books about it.

Today is Day 3 of getting my blogging grove going! 

Here's a list and short review of the ones on my bookshelf! And stay tuned, next week I will be interviewing some of these editors/writers here on my blog!

1. Milk & Ink - Eros-Alegra Clarke and her editorial team (Jordan E. Rosenfeld, Tomi L. Wiley, and Nina Perez) have created an anthology of such amazing, diverse pieces that ties together blood, milk and ink and what these mean for mothers. I felt as if I was stepping into the shoes of so many different mothers while reading this book, it was hard to put it down!

2. Call Me Okaasan - This is one of the books that inspired me to create The Motherhood Muse. Reading this book was an experience that took me across the globe, forward and backward in time. Suzanne Kamata unites mothers by giving us a treasure that shows how motherhood is a journey we share no matter the culture or country.

3. Nature and Other Mothers -I love how Brenda Peterson's writing in this book connects women with the aspects of nature through the lens of a mother and the feminine body. These essays tugged at my imagination, kept me awake at night, and have helped me develop my perspectives and understandings of mothers and nature.

4. Between Interruptions -Have you discovered Cori Howard's The Momoir Project yet? Her anthology, website, digital workbook, and more have aided me to become a better writer mama! This anthology is an exceptional collaboration of some of the most talented writers I have ever read.

5. Mother Reader - This is the first book I read about mothers and writing, and it truly is a collection of the essential writings on motherhood. Edited by Moyra Davey, the Mother Reader combines old and new voices across generations and time. It has been a book at the foundation of my reading about mothers and writing.

6. Mothers - This is the book I carry with me in the car, because each story takes time to read, think about and comprehend. Katrina Kenison and Kathleen Hirsch have created a body of work that brings every emotion of the spectrum to the surface when reading these stories.

7. the essential Hip Mama - Ariel Gore has two books on my shelf (see #12) and both are fantastic reads. This book was fun to read, because it was different, hip yes, but also hilarious and touching. Each piece is like a snapshot into a mother's life that holds a spark all on its own.

8. A Cup of Comfort for New Mothers -After connecting with several authors in this book via blogs, I purchased it at a bookstore and have enjoyed reading these tender moments shared by so many. Colleen Sell has an amazing set of authors in this book, and although the book was published in 2009 I have seen some of these writers grow so much as mothers by reading their blogs. I have learned a lot along the way!

9. Milk and Tides - Margaret Hasse's book of poetry opened a whole new world for me. I have only a few books of poetry on my bookshelf, and Milk and Tides is chosen over and over again. When I read "Marking Him" I cried and held the book to my chest for a long time. Her poems reach out to all mothers with words that magically transform the reader.

10. Creating a Life -Corbin Lewars has written a rare book of pure honesty about being a mother and a woman. It helped me to understand life on different levels while teaching me that hope is shared by all.

11. MotherMorphosis -I read Caroline Poser's book in one day (which isn't easy to do when you've got little ones running around), but I couldn't put it down. These vignettes shine with details of motherhood that I don't always think about or even see in myself. I was so inspired after reading this book that I wrote and wrote and wrote for a long time!

12. The Mother Trip -My second Ariel Gore book and one that I read when my first daughter was still a baby. This book really threw me for a loop, it is very different, thought-provoking and painted the realty of motherhood for me that I hadn't heard or read anywhere else. I'm glad I read it; many parts of it have stayed with me all this time.

13. The New Yorker Book of Mom Cartoons - Okay, so I know this book isn't full of essays, short stories, or poetry, but I love it so I had to include it here. These little cartoons offer comic relief for me during those hard mommy moments when I feel like screaming. I just open this book at random, get a laugh, and then I get a grip and continue on.

I know there are several more books out there on motherhood and writing, but these are the ones on my shelf. Please share with me the books that are on your shelf!

The Motherhood Muse

I'm excited to announce a new website I've created:

The Motherhood Muse

This new website offers a literary magazine on motherhood and nature (sign up for our free e-newsletter to receive the first issue free!), a blog, writing contests (with monetary prizes!), and more! We're also on Facebook and LinkedIn, so come join our community!

If you sign up for our free e-newsletter by November 1st, not only do you get the first issue of the e-Zine free but you'll also have a chance at winning a $15 starbucks gift card or a prize package of items from our boutique. *See our blog for hints at how to increase your chance of winning!

So please check out The Motherhood Muse website and blog today!!

I will still be writing here at my Zook Book Nook blog; however, during the next three months I will probably be spending more time writing on my new blog.

Thanks for checking out The Motherhood Muse today!

A Book Lover's Surprise

A BOOK MEME from Other Stories

Now that summer is ending I thought I would take a gander at the books I've read and loved. My toddler inspires me with her love for books. I'm curious what books you have read and love, so if you'd like to do this meme here are the directions:

BBC Book List

Apparently the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

Instructions:

1) Look at the list and make those you have read bold.
2) Star (*) the ones you LOVE.
3) Italicize those you plan on reading.

1. Pride and Prejudice – Jane Austen *
2 The Lord of the Rings – JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre – Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series – JK Rowling *
5 To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee (I read this in high school, but I don't remember it)
6 The Bible (I’ve read about half of it.)
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four – George Orwell (I got through the 1st third and stopped)
9 His Dark Materials – Philip Pullman
10 Great Expectations – Charles Dickens (I tried but didn't get past the first chapter)
11 Little Women – Louisa M Alcott *
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 – Joseph Heller
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare (not the COMPLETE works; I'm curious who has?)
15 Rebecca – Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit – JRR Tolkien
17 Birdsong – Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye – JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife – Audrey Niffenegger*
20 Middlemarch – George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind – Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby – F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House – Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace – Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited – Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment – Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath – John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland – Lewis Carroll*
30 The Wind in the Willows – Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy*
32 David Copperfield – Charles Dickens (I tried but didn't get past the second page)
33 Chronicles of Narnia – CS Lewis (I’ve read the first book, but not the whole series.)
34 Emma – Jane Austen
35 Persuasion – Jane Austen
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner – Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin – Louis De Berniere
39 Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden*
40 Winnie the Pooh – AA Milne
41 Animal Farm – George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code – Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney – John Irving
45 The Woman in White – Wilkie Collins
46 Anne of Green Gables – LM Montgomery
47 Far From The Madding Crowd – Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies – William Golding
50 Atonement – Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi – Yann Martel*
52 Dune – Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm – Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility – Jane Austen (a high school read needing to be read again)
55 A Suitable Boy – Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind – Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities – Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time – Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men – John Steinbeck
62 Lolita – Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History – Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones – Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo – Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road – Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure – Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary – Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children – Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick – Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
72 Dracula – Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett*
74 Notes From A Small Island – Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses – James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar – Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons – Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal – Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair – William Makepeace Thackeray
80 Possession – AS Byatt
81 A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens (the only one I read all the way through)
82 Cloud Atlas – David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple – Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day – Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary – Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance – Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web – EB White
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven – Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90 The Faraway Tree Collection – Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupery*
93 The Wasp Factory – Iain Banks
94 Watership Down – Richard Adams
95 A Confederacy of Dunces – John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice – Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers – Alexandre Dumas
98 Hamlet – William Shakespeare *
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – Roald Dahl*
100 Les Miserables – Victor Hugo

Wow, only 33 books I've read. I'm in shock. Here I thought I was a well-read bookworm. It appears I have a date with the library to do some catching up. Ah, where to begin? I think I'll check out #83 first.

Some of these in bold I've read so many times I have lost count. I like knowing a book so well I can share ideas from it with my children. But some of these I've read I don't recall very well, so once I read the remaining 67 books maybe I'll get back to them ;)

What book will you be reading next?

Upcoming Writing Contests

1. The Mom Writer's Literary Magazine recently announced the prompt of their Spring/Summer 2009 First-Line Writing Contest:

When I finally had what I'd wanted for so long, my first emotion was . . .

To enter this contest, your story must be 700 - 1,200 words, on any topic starting with the above prompt, with a $10 entry fee. The deadline is September 13th, so there is plenty of time to chew this prompt over!

The recent winner of the fall/winter 2009 contest was Kimberlee Esselstrom, who wrote a story titled Gibberish! It's a very moving story, so I recommend reading it!

2. Smashwords and Editor Unleashed are hosting a free entry Flash Fiction 40 Contest!

Cash prizes will be awarded to the top 40 entries with a publication credit in an ebook anthology. Grand prize is $500, and the other 39 winners will receive $25 each.

Deadline: May 18th - June 14th (post your story on the Editor Unleashed forum
Criteria: 1,000 words or less Flash Fiction

3. The New Esquire Fiction Contest
Your story must be based on one of the three following titles:

• "Twenty-Ten"
• "An Insurrection"
• "Never, Ever Bring This Up Again"

Criteria: 4,000 words or less Fiction

Deadline: August 1, 2009 (submit electronically)

Prize: $2,500 and publication in Esquire

4. There are still some contests open that I posted about in March, so click here to read about more contests you can enter!

I hope you decide to enter these contests! Good luck :)

The Future World of Writing

Today is the final day of Earth Month here on my blog!

The green and blue hues of my writer-mama world have been described in my April musings. My observations and questions of how writing and motherfood relate to Earth have helped me think about our future.

It is both fun and fearsome to imagine the future 50, 100, and 500 years from now. What does the future paint for writing, books, writers, mothers, storytelling, literature, libraries, and more?
Electronics, technology, the Internet... these are the suns of our future, with everything revolving around this core in a huge network system. Below are some of the ways our world of writing is changing today and in the future...

• Already trees are passed over for becoming pages in a book as digital forms, like ebooks and Kindle, become the trend. Children in school today are definitely used to reading text on a computer monitor and many of them don't seem to mind it.
• As distance education (taking classes online) becomes more prevalent, libraries work harder to keep up with the information provided on the Internet. Articles, references, data, books, and more are uploaded daily.
• Journals and magazines upload articles free to the public after a certain period of time passes.
• Newspapers switch to electronic versions only.
• Publishing companies accept submissions via email only.
• Writers won't need to use their hands to write with a brain-computer taking their thoughts and recording them for the writer.
• Literature may be translated into digital virtual worlds, where the reader may read and experience the literary work with all five senses at the same time.
• Writer-mamas will have more time to write from the assistance of household robots that do the dishes, wash the clothes, and vacuum the house.
• Storytelling will occur between individuals in several different countries who connect online.

These are just some possible images of our future in regards to writing and literature. How do you see our world 50, 100, or 500 years from now? Will libraries have a 'closed' sign on their doors? Will every aspect of our lives run on the Internet?

I just stumbled upon a New Writing Universe that comes with a Writer's Guide for those interested in learning more about the future of digital literature.

What do you think?

Hot Tamales and Glittery Drinks

So I've only been drunk once in my life. I enjoy wine (not beer or martinis), but I've never felt the desire to get drunk, except once. Like any typical college girl, I decided to finally figure out what all the hype was about on my 21st birthday. Skipping an evening out with my rowdy sorority girl friends, I asked my three organic chemistry lab partners to join me at Nick's English Hut after we finished creating a form of Aspirin. The lab took us over five hours to do since I broke a $180 flask half-way through and we had to start over, so obviously I had to treat my three lab buddies to some drinks eventhough it was my birthday.

My three lab friends knew it was my 21st and that I intended to experiment with the drunk sensation, so they ordered me a pitcher of beer, a shot of some sort (it was green and red and had the name 'turtle' in its title), and another drink with lots of glitter in it. I took it all in and within two hours I was back home, opening the passenger door, falling onto the street with my legs still in the car, giggling and claiming I had a volleyball game I had to be at within the hour. My amazing best friend took me inside and put me to bed, helping me six times during the night when I got sick and couldn't make it to the toilet, and cleaning the toilet for me in the morning! At some point during the night I shouted to her that I was hot, hot tamales, before I sank back into drunken sleep.

The next morning I awoke and made it to my fungi lab with a face that was literally green. My Berkeley-hippy professor actually asked me why I was a pale shade of mold. Pretty embarrassing, but I survived.

Why didn't I get drunk before turning 21? I was baffled; not really. Once was enough for me. But I am perplexed why I lacked a rebellious streak about me when I was in high school and college? All of my friends got drunk all the time, but I was the one who volunteered to be the designated driver.

I have never been a rebel (unless you count living in the rainforest by myself for two years as an act of rebellion, but for me it was a normal, easy thing to do that didn't involve extra courage or fearlessness on my part; it was simple and fun; I wanted to get away from a fast, crazy, technology-filled, materialistic world, so I went to live in hut for awhile).

The only time the desired-rebel part of my writer-mama shadow is allowed to come out is when I am writing about a character that has traits of people I've known in my past. Their rebellions, their freedoms, their choices all come through in my writing; I don't know if I envy them or fear them. I don't consider my lifestyle to be that of a wallflower; I am pretty liberal, laid-back, and adventurous, but I don't see myself as fiesty, rowdy or the life of the party.

Trying to put myself in the shoes of a rebel is not easy to do since I've never really experienced that set of mind. I can try to fake it in my writing, but it seems so obvious to me that my words show that I've never really done some of these things.

Young adult novels today are full of extreme experiences to draw the reader in (e.g., alcoholic friends, abusive parents, drug-addicted siblings, rape/incest/teen pregnancy, murder, abandonment, etc). I've read numerous award-winning books, and they all have at least one of these topics in the story. It's depressing, but I wonder if more and more adolescents are relating to this material.

When I was in high school the hot topics were sex and booze, but now it seems like these topics are light and the heavy ones in the award-winning novels today are the ones publishers want to see.

My little experience with the light topics is certainly more than my experience with the heavy ones, so as a writer I struggle with writing stories that teens relate to on such deep (depressing) levels. Is my main character in my young adult novel too simple, too boring, because he faces different types of challenges instead of experiencing acts of rebellion in his life?

Well, I may be simple and down-to-earth, but this is what makes me happy. I'm certainly looking forward to having my first glass of wine once my baby is born (after I've pumped or nursed), but one glass is enough for me. I just hope that the simplicity and down-to-earth approach of my writing for teens can interest them and make them think.

In the meantime, I look at my daughter and wonder: Will she be a rebel one day? Will she grow up among peers who experience abuse, alcoholism, drugs, rape, murder, etc? Will she want to read about these experiences in books? Will she be content to experience an act of rebellion once or will it become a habit? Will she look at me as a softy, boring mommy or as an adventure-seeking mommy who just has no interest in getting drunk?

A Round Writer-Mama

Yesterday I took my toddler on a date to a bagel bakery for lunch. After I ordered our Tuna Melt on multigrain, the young man behind the counter asked me how many days overdue I am with my baby. When I told him that I still had a few weeks to go his chin literally dropped and he said, "No way." Others have told me that I'll be sure to have my baby early, if my stomach expands anymore in the horizontal direction then it will be the center of my sense of equilibrium. Two days ago someone asked me if I was expecting twins! No, just one baby, but pretty much all of my weight gain with this pregnancy has been in my belly carrying my baby!! At the doctor's office yesterday I saw a woman who was at 40 weeks and my belly looked like a gigantic beach ball compared to her soft round oval. Amazing how every woman's body during pregnancy takes on a different shape, but we all share one thing in common, roundness!

A writer-mama can relate to roundness or the circular shape in more ways than just the expanding belly during pregnancy, the cute round tummy of a toddler, or the curves of our bodies as we get older. Circles are also commonly found in literature. While other shapes aren't described as often, writers and storytellers have used circles for many years.

Here are some of the ways I've come up with for how we use circles in our writing:

1. Circle of Life: birth - life - death - rebirth
2. Literature Circles: a circle of writers discussing a piece of writing
3. Universal Truths: the essential truths of humanity found in all literature
4. Circle Plot Structure: ending a story back at the beginning
5. Ripples in a Pond: a character/an action and its effects
6. A Quartered Circle (in fourths): represents earth, water, air, and fire (the elements)
7. Yin Yang (polarity): light/dark, male/female, positive/negative, good/evil
8. Revolutions Around a Center: sun, soul, spiritual beliefs
9. Encompass/Encircle : the meaning of a surrounding shape as a detail (e.g., a river around a village, fenced in, surrounded by a ring of family and friends, a ring on a finger, etc)

When I am working on writing a story I sometimes get lost in the details of the plot, the dialogue, or the character description, but taking a step back to view the piece as a whole helps me to look at it as a piece of literary writing. What meanings, truths have been central to the writing? What imagery does the writing as a whole bring to mind? Some times I find that I've used the image of a circle effectively and it helps to tie the writing together.

How have you used the image of a circle in your writing? Have you used the idea of trinity behind a triangle in your writing?

Shrek and Other Heroes

My daughter Ayla can't get enough of Shrek. Her 30 minutes of television a day is always Shrek. Despite having 100s of different toys in her playroom, Ayla always chooses her Shrek figures (Shrek, Fiona, Donkey, Puss, etc) that we got for her off of eBay (they were the 2007 McDonald's kid's meal toys). She makes Shrek and Fiona kiss. If Ayla farts, she says "SHREK!" and giggles, because he passes gas in the movie. At bathtime she says "Shrek," because he takes a bath in mud. Ayla tries to pull ear wax out of her ear whenever she sees a candle. When my daughter is not feeling well the only thing she wants to do is curl up in my lap and watch Shrek. Shrek is her hero. And I wonder how long it will last until a new figure takes his place in her eyes.


Although my memory doesn't stretch back to when I was a toddler, I can remember the many characters from books that I treasured as a child. I had several favorite books that I read over and over again for many reasons, not just for the character. But a few books I cherished had characters who became my heroes/heroines...


My Father's Dragon (by Ruth Stiles Gannett) starring Elmer Elevator inspired me to be an explorer through his adventures on Wild Island.

Little Women (by Louisa May Alcott) offered not just one heroine but four for me to look up to and admire. While Jo March was probably the one I wanted to be the most, because she was a writer, I liked all of the girls and hoped to be like them one day.

Island of the Blue Dolphins (by Scott O'Dell) gave me a heroine, Karana, who taught me courage and strength by living alone on an island for 18 years.

The Witch of Blackbird Pond (by Elizabeth George Speare) was read so many times by me that the pages of my book are held together by a big clip now. Kit Tyler defied societal norms and faced the challenges of a new environment, which inspired me to seek out my own destiny.

Pride and Prejudice (by Jane Austen) taught me a lot about different characters and how a hero or heroine may arise from an unusual family or lifestyle. Elizabeth's intelligence and humility taught me how I wanted to live my life.

Clan of the Cave Bear (by Jean M. Auel) is the story of a woman named Ayla. The fact that my husband and I named our daughter after this character probably says it all. I've lost count of the number of times I have read this series. Ayla is a very unique heroine because of the time period of the books. Her bravery, strength, intelligence, and compassion have inspired me through out my life.


Well, looking back over this short list I can see that I've mostly noted my heroines, but as a girl growing up I think this is who I related to and looked up to the most! I am looking foward to seeing what characters my daughter seeks out in literature and how they help her grow and develop into the woman she'll be one day. For now, her preference is Shrek and I'm grateful he makes her laugh, even if it's because Ayla finds his odd behaviors humorous!

Who are your literature heroes/heroines? How did they guide you in life?

Pink or Blue: How Does Your Writing Reflect Your Gender

My series on writing and thinking outside the box awhile back brought to my attention that the majority of my writing is focused on females. As a mother and daughter, I feel more confident writing about females. As a new mother, I find I am even more in-tune with my feminine side from the experiences of pregnancy, birth, nursing, and nurturing my little one. But where's my imagination? Where's my dedication to all children and young adults? What's truly stopping me from trying to write from a male's perspective? Why not write for both genders?


As a writer striving to work outside of the box, I also need to question my characters. Are their descriptions, actions, personalities, etc gender-biased or have I tried too hard to eliminate bias that the characters no longer seem real?


These questions remain unanswered in my mind, but they do cause me to study my characters in more detail.


After reading Memoirs of a Geisha while living in Japan, one of my first comments to a friend who had just completed the book too was "I can't believe it was written by a man." There are numerous books that have been successfully written about characters of genders opposite of the authors. I'd like to know how they got inside the minds of their characters so well.


As a mother of a daughter and a second daughter about to make her entrance in 10 weeks, and as a sister to an older and younger sister, my day-to-day experiences with males is much less. Thus, my understanding of males is perhaps weaker. I certainly learn a lot from my husband! And he is quite a fine representative of the male gender! But if I want to write stories that include main characters who are males, I need to develop a better understanding of their lives.

What steps do you take to learn more about males and females for your writing?

Figures, Figure Eights, and Figurative Language

No, my daughter did not consume a ton of figs this morning for breakfast; however, she does love prunes and usually eats 5-6 during a meal! Instead, it was catching a glance at my very 30 week pregnant figure this morning in the glass door as I let our dog outside that made me think about shapes and circles and cycles. Although I'm grateful that we don't have a full-length mirror in our house, I am glad that the reflection of my baby bump this morning stimulated me to reflect on my daughter Ayla and my soon-to-be-born baby.

Only 20 months have passed since Ayla was born, but I wonder how well my memories will come back to me when I have a newborn in my arms. Cycling around the figure eight with my toddler and newborn, I wonder if I will do it all better the second time around. As I watch my daughter run, dance, and read, I get excited thinking about observing our second child grow and develop. In particular, I'm looking forward to participating in our child's language development. Ayla is learning several new words each day, and I love teaching her not just words, but meaning, sentence structure, relationships, and more.

Figurative language is something I always considered to be at a school-age level, but now I find myself using figurative language to teach my daughter the English language.

We laugh over "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers" and stomp to "The cat sat on the mat with a very fat rat." We listen for trees that groan and she giggles when my stomach growls. We color a sun like a ball of fire. We eat ice-cream cones as tall as towers. Snow crunches under our boots. Bubble wrap pops in our hands.

I've never had so much fun with figurative language! When she settles down to take a nap and I escape into my writing chair, I continue on with the course of figurative language. It adds depth and style and color to my writing.

Some of my favorite figurative language pieces paint more than just a pretty image, they evoke a sense of depth and emotion in them:


From "The Way Back Home" in When the Wild Comes Leaping Up (by Beth Powning)

1. "the wasp raised its wings; they quivered, translucent as age-ambered parchment"
   
2. "toad-soft floury skin"
   
3. "a rock covered with a shawl of green moss... it was dense and soft, unspringy, like the matted hair of an ancient pony"

From Teaching a Stone to Talk (by Annie Dillard)

1. "the ants with their leaves look like a wide fleet of sailing dinghies"

From In the Country of Grass by (Terry Tempest Williams)

1. "traveling for a naturalist, into unfamiliar territory is like turning a kaleidoscope ninety degrees"
   
2. "zebras...become animated heat waves"

What are some of your favorite pieces of figurative language? How does figurative language shape your writing and your communication with children?

Literary Magazines for the Writer-Mama

Many magazines have come and gone in times of economic hardship, but fortunately they leave a lasting impression by their lingering websites or lasting hardcopies. While researching various magazines for the writer-mama I have come across a few that continue to produce and some that have gathered cobwebs. Below are four magazines and their descriptions that are in operation today and produce fantastic literature!




Mom Writer's Literary Magazine - http://momwriterslitmag.com/

This magazine offers writers and mothers a place to find inspiration from reading literature about motherhood and children. From poetry to stories to interviews, MWLM reaches every type of writer and reader. In addition, they have writing contests and blogs that encourage a writer-mama to pursue her passion of writing.



MotherVerse - http://www.motherverse.com/

Writer-mamas will find this literary magazine a source of cultural pieces that span the entire world while maintaining at its heart the experience of motherhood. Fiction, poetry, essays, reviews and more make up the bulk of this magazine. Mothers have at their fingertips a comprehensive list of resources that will help them pursue answers to their questions. Meanwhile, writers will find numerous writing workshops available to them.



Women on Writing WOW! - http://wow-womenonwriting.com/

This e-zine for writer-mamas contains the type of information and advice that helps the writer-mama to improve her writing. The articles in each issue provide insightful ideas that help the writer in this increasingly competitive market. The information in this ezine comes from and reaches not only writers but also editors, publishers, agents, and every type of reader.

Literary Mama - http://www.literarymama.com/

I recently found this one and am still exploring the contents of its website! The works of literature produced by writer-mamas in this magazine are exceptionally written yet very personal and approachable. Their blog appears to be as equally well-written, so I'm looking forward to exploring it as well.

So far these are the magazines I have found for the writer-mama that continue to be in operation, for which I am very grateful since they bring inspiration and understanding to me as a writer-mama! I hope other writers and mothers will find these magazines to be as helpful to them as well!