Anna's Blog
The Novelist’s First Duty
May 20th, 2009I’m guest blogging today over at ReadingGroupGuides.com. Stop by to read my post on the novelist’s first duty and my late grandpa. I loved writing it, even though it made me cry every single time I went through it for proofing. Oh, love those baby-related hormones!
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Happy Mother’s Day!
May 10th, 2009Anyone who’s looked at this blog or this webpage even briefly will know that my life as a writer is pretty much inextricably tied up with my life as a mom. I was pregnant with my daughter when I had the dream that inspired Twilight of Avalon; now I’m 6 months pregnant with my second baby as the book is actually released. But it’s more than that. For me, motherhood just cracks my heart open, makes me feel everything, experience every moment of every day a hundred times more intensely than I did before. And that includes what I feel when I write. I’m certain that if it weren’t for these amazing little beings in my life I’d never tell the stories I do.
So to celebrate, I wanted to share my two favorite recent mothering moments (one for each child):
The other day the house got very quiet, which as any of you out there with a 2 year old will know is generally a Bad Sign. But when I found Bella she was sitting in front of my computer happily typing away on my keyboard. She looked up at me and said, “I’m writing a book just like Mommy does!” She really did say those exact words. She’s such a cutie.
And I’ve just this week reached the stage where I can see and feel distinct little knees and feet sliding across my stomach and popping through my skin when the baby kicks. Yep, pregnancy: as unique a blend of the utterly miraculous and mildly creepy as you could ever hope to find.
Happy Mother’s Day to all you wonderful mamas out there! And especially to my own mom, without whom I would never have written Twilight of Avalon, either. She really deserves her very own blog post–but I promise you it was no accident that she was the other key player in that long-ago dream that inspired the book!
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Book Launch Pictures and Thank-You’s
May 8th, 2009The book launch on Wednesday evening was absolutely lovely. Thanks so much to everyone who came out, asked such great questions, and bought copies of the book from the great people at Labyrinth Books. Thanks also to everyone at the Princeton Public Library, to my publicist, Kelly Bowen, and to my fabulous editor, Danielle Friedman, for making the trip to Princeton to be here in person.
A couple of pictures:
Here I am, officially signing a copy of Twilight of Avalon for the very first time. Thanks, Shahla!
And here I am with my wonderful dad, who gave an absolutely brilliant reading of the Twilight of Avalon prologue. I really should give him his own separate blog post sometime, but in brief my dad was the one to encourage me to write in the first place, bought me my first computer, and was with me every step of the way as I figured out how to bring a story to the page. Thanks, daddy! This day would definitely never have come if not for you!
I spent Thursday in NYC with my editor and publicist filming an author interview to be posted on the Simon&Schuster website. I’ll be getting the finished product in a couple of weeks, and I’ll be sure to post it here. For now at the close of this exciting week, thanks so much to everyone who has visited this site, read this blog, bought copies of Twilight of Avalon, and expressed excitement either to me or elsewhere on-line. It’s utterly amazing to be able to share this first chapter of Isolde and Trystan’s story with you!
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Book Launch
May 6th, 2009Tonight at 7:30 pm is the book launch event at my local library. If anyone is in the Princeton area, stop by to hear me talk about Twilight of Avalon and to hear my sweet dad (whom I dedicated the book to) read the prologue–I’d love to see you!
I’ll post pictures from tonight as soon as I can, but for now here’s a photo of the beautiful flowers my agent sent. Aren’t they stunning? He’s so nice. And I’m so incredibly lucky he took me on nearly two years ago, now! Thanks, Jacques!
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Happy Book Day!
May 5th, 2009Twilight of Avalon is officially published as of today!
To celebrate, I’m guest blogging over at historical-fiction.com. Stop by to read my post on how Twilight of Avalon fits in with the original Trystan and Isolde legends.
I also have an interview posted over at History Buff, the lovely author Michelle Moran’s blog.
Thanks so much to both of you for hosting me!
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Historical Tapestry
May 2nd, 2009I’m blogging at Historical Tapestry today. Drop in to see my post on Why I Love Arthurian Stories. And thanks to everyone over there for inviting me!
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In Stitches
April 29th, 2009So, I don’t mean to complain, but isn’t there something unfair about being 6 mos-and-still-throwing-up pregnant and having a kitchen accident that requires stitches in your thumb? Not that the accident was not entirely my own fault. I’ll spare you the details, but . . . yep, unquestionably, undeniably, my own clutzy fault. Still.
I wish I could at least say that I’d paid careful attention to what the doctor did in the interests of adding realism to the descriptions of battle wounds being stitched up in my books. But no. Since I’m, you know, 6 mos-and-still-throwing-up pregnant I was mostly focusing on . . . well . . . anyway, I made it! I didn’t throw up, faint, or cry! So that was good.
Other bright sides:
- Since our insurance is through the university, I was able to go to the campus clinic and avoid the emergency room. And everyone I saw was so, so nice. I love living in a college town.
- Poor Bella was pretty worried about my having been hurt and having to go somewhere she couldn’t come along or see what was happening to me. (The poor baby told Nathan, “I’m sad I lost my mommy.”) But after dropping me off she and Nathan went home to wait for me to be done. They said healing prayers together, and Bells told Nathan, “Mommy will appreciate it.” They’re so sweet.
- It’s my left thumb that got cut, which since I hit the space bar with my right hand anyway, is the only finger I don’t need to type. It’s probably a sign of a warped mind that I minded the accident and stitches a good 90% less once I realized I’d still be able to write every day.
- And my stitches are scheduled to come out the same day that Twilight of Avalon does! That made me smile.
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Simple Pleasures
April 3rd, 2009A few nights ago we had our first spring thunderstorm–and the first thunderstorm we’ve had that Bella has been both awake and old enough to really be aware of what was going on. She was a little freaked out by the whole thing, so we huddled up with her on the couch watching the storm through the living room window and Nathan talked about what thunder and lightening are–or as much as you can talk about it with a two year old, anyway. And after a bit she started to get excited about it all and would say, “That was a pretty good one!” with each boom of thunder or lightening flash. We turned out the lamps to see better so that the only light was from the jagged bolts crackling across the sky–and it was a magical time, a perfect time. One of those times that makes me say to myself, Remember this.
I absolutely love that about being around a toddler all day: the way it makes you slow down, see the whole world through new eyes, take pleasure, joy even, in the simplest of everyday happenings.
So I could draw some neat parallel about how my girl’s example made holding the first finished copy of Twilight of Avalon I’ve seen all the sweeter today. But honestly? I’m not sure I would have needed any coaching from Bella at all to just sit and rub my fingers over the cover and turn the pages and breathe in that wonderful new book smell.
Words I wrote. In print. With a cover and a spine and an ISBN and my picture on the back.
I don’t think I even need to tell myself to remember that moment.
So any aspiring authors out there–anyone who’s sending out queries and facing the inevitable rejection after rejection–don’t give up. You’ll get there in the end–and when you do, I promise you’ll say, It was all worth it!
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Things That Go Bump in the Night
March 23rd, 2009My last post got me thinking more about the similarities between pregnancy and writing–about how remarkably alike it feels to bring a baby into the world and to publish a book. This is not, I realize, an especially original idea. The whole “book as baby” metaphor has been used since Jane Austen called Pride and Prejudice “my own darling child,” and I’m sure long before then. But what I was thinking about specifically was how similar the process of growing a baby during the 9 months of pregnancy feels–to me, anyway–to the process of writing a book.
I mean, first you have the hideously queasy-sick first-trimester period. For me that is exactly what writing the first, say, 30,000 words of a novel is like. Before I start, I always have this fantasy that this time, I will just sit down and start writing and get it right on the first try. I never do. I always grope and feel my way and have lots and lots of those days I mentioned in my last post when the writing feels like crossing the Gobi Desert on roller skates while herding cats. And then I hit what my (very patient) husband likes to call the “30,000 word crisis,” when I realize that 70% of what I’ve written is going to have to be cut, tossed in the garbage, and rewritten from scratch.
But really, though, that’s a good thing–because it means I’m finally getting a handle on the book and on who these characters of mine really are and what this journey that they’re on is all about. Not that I can see it fully, yet–but there are glimmers here and there. It’s like those first little sporadic flutters and kicks you start feeling mid-way through the second trimester. Those moments of startling realization when you say to yourself, “Oh, my goodness, there really is a tiny growing baby in there.”
And then both with a book and a baby, things really start to take off. You start to really be able to plunge into your story, have your characters start talking to you and totally surprise you with what they have to say–just as you begin to get a sense of just who this little person inside you might be as you feel them grow.
And what surprised me most about being pregnant with my girl was just how much I felt I could sense about her personality–and how right I turned out to be, once she was born. Basically she was and is exactly the little person I was expecting. Except for one minor detail: she was, well, a girl instead of the boy I’d been sure she’d been going to be.
It’s just the same for me with a book. I can be sure I know exactly what I’m writing about. I can think I know my characters like I know myself. But really, it’s only when I actually finish writing that first draft and type “the end”–when I actually hold that tiny, red-faced little baby in my arms–that I let out a breath and say, “Oh, so that’s who you are.”
And then a whole new journey begins.
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Who Wouldn’t Wanna Be Me
March 20th, 2009Pregnancy-related nausea usually ends after the first trimester. That’s how it went when I was pregnant with my girl. Bad for the first twelve weeks–and then it stopped. This time around? Not so much. I’m at nineteen weeks, now, and the sickness just seems to have unpacked its suitcase and settled in for a good long stay.
I wouldn’t mention this–no one wants to read the Endless Nausea Chronicles. (Although it does have its kind of funny moments. Like, my two year old girl has by now learned the phrases, “Mommy’s not feeling so well,” “Mommy needs to lie down,” and my absolute, utter favorite, “Mommy threw up in the trash can!”)
But last night lying in bed I started thinking about how pregnancy is not unlike writing a book. You can throw yourself a bit of a pity party about the 24 hour “morning” sickness. The backaches. The headaches. And so on down the line. But then if you step back and think about all the couples out there who struggle with infertility, all the women who would give anything, suffer anything to be in your shoes . . .
You think about what a privilege it is to be allowed to carry and grow this tiny little life inside you for nine months . . . and you think, How could I possibly ever complain?
Writing a book is a bit like that. At least for me. There are days when it’s not as much fun as others. Days when the writing just feels flat and uninspired and reaching my daily word-count goal seems like crossing the Great Gobi Desert on roller skates. While herding cats. Days when I realize that multiple chapters are going to have to be ripped out and written again.
But then I step back and think about what an incredible privilege it is to get to tell these stories. As my job, no less. How amazing it is that I get to live with these characters in their world for a few hours every day–have them talk to me and make me laugh and cry and totally surprise me with what they have to say. And, well, how could I possibly ever complain?
Tags: writing
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