An Ex-expatriate's Musings on Writing, Teaching, and Travel

Ten bits of advice writers should stop giving aspiring writers

2012-01-23T14:14:00.000-08:00

I've been moving away from these platitudes in my workshops, especially "show don't tell." It's hard to not give platitudes when students are looking for a lifeline or at least a place to start, but I'm trying not to, especially as a reflexive response:

http://nihilistic-kid.livejournal.com/1732344.html

Prime Number 17: Review of Xu Xi's Access

2012-01-20T06:58:00.000-08:00

Prime Number 17 is out! Make sure to check out all the offerings, as well as my review of Xu Xi's Access: Thirteen Tales here:

http://www.primenumbermagazine.com/Issue17_Review_Access.html

And check out the TOC here:

http://www.primenumbermagazine.com/Issue17.html

Review of My Name is Mary Sutter

2012-01-16T11:48:00.000-08:00

My Name is Mary Sutter by Robin Oliveira

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My Name is Mary Sutter is a beautifully written story that is very much of its time, yet the desires of the characters transcend that time. Mary Sutter wants to be a doctor more than anything else in the world, yet in an era when women did not (and often could not) become doctors, Mary must give up much to achieve her goal. Oliveria doesn't shy away from the realities of war--not surprisingly the death count is high, but in the end her beautiful language and strong storytelling allow her compassion and hope for her characters to transcend the reality of the Civil War. I'm looking forward to Oliveira's next work.

View all my reviews

Into This World available for pre-order!

2012-01-10T06:46:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to announce that my novel INTO THIS WORLD is available for pre-order from Engine Books at http://enginebooks.org/IntoThisWorld.html!

The answering machine picked up after the fourth ring. "Are you my father?"

On the day Allison Morehouse walks off her job, her sister Mina calls from Korea, frantic and in tears. Determined to discover the truth about her adopted sister, Allison flies to Seoul, yet Mina—and Korea—are nothing like Allison imagines. Over the next three months, Allison and Mina will unearth thirty years of family secrets—and Allison will discover in Mina the sister she never embraced and in herself, the stronger woman she can be.

This story of sisterhood, betrayal, and a tangled history of love and deception will carry you halfway around the world and deep into the hearts of two sisters whose fates were shaped by a long-lost love and the lies it spawned... and the history of a country and a man they never understood.

What are you doing with your life? Part 2

2012-01-01T08:18:00.000-08:00

I'm thankful for so many inspiring people in my life who remind me to not fall into a rut and to dream big:

Lorraine Johnson, my mother in law, who climbed Mt. Kilimajaro for her 60th birthday.

She's the tiny woman in the pink hat. And a few days before she was dancing up a storm at her birthday party. See that post here:

http://sybilbaker.blogspot.com/2011/09/what-are-you-doing-with-your-life-part.html

Here's a photo of me and Row out with friends when we lived in Korea--probably Fall 2006. Then:

Now: Ryan is living in Thailand, with no desire to return to the States. Silvia (the gal at the end) was the inspiration for Lucy in my first novel THE LIFE PLAN. She unfortunately is no longer with us, having died in 2009--but she was a close friend who lived life to the fullest and had no regrets. Liz (the gal with the glasses) moved to Kabul and has been a free lance journalist for years, focusing on women's issues. She's living in the country side in Afghanistan now. You can see her discussing Afghanistan in 2010 here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd_IC8OhW6c

She has an essay on Afghan women in prison in a book available (paper or ebook): Land Unconquerable Lives Contemporary Afghan Women. Heres the link:

http://www.amazon.com/Land-Unconquerable-Lives-Contemporary-Afghan/dp/0520261860/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325436195&sr=8-1

I've known Beth and Todd since the late 1980s when I was living in Boulder--they met through me and my then boyfriend. I was a bridesmaid in their fabulous wedding in 2002. Last summer they gave up their jobs, sold their house, and downsized dramatically so that they could embark on a 12 cities in 1 year tour. They planned to live in a different city for one month and report on it.

Here's their website:

http://12cities1year.com/

Unfortunately in November Beth was diagnosed with breast cancer and they had to return to Denver for her to begin treatment. They plan to resume their travels when they can. She and Todd also have personal blogs (he made my book trailer for THE LIFE PLAN and films a lot of roller derby) that they often update

http://bethpartin.com/

http://toddbradley.com/

booktrailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RVu8VbHEbY&fmt=18

I'm thankful to these people (as well as many other friends and family) as 2012 starts. They remind me to dream big and enjoy life to the fullest.

Rebecca Skloot on why she teaches structure

2011-12-19T07:29:00.001-08:00

Anyone who studies with me or takes a fiction class with me knows I focus a lot on structure. Rebecca Skloot seems to take the same approach, even though she teaches CNF.

Rebecca Skloot on structure:

Any student who has ever studied with me would think, “Ugh. Structure, structure, structure; that’s all she talked about.” My philosophy is, once you understand what structure is, then you can talk about characters and narrative arcs and how to fill in the story. But for me, structure can just completely make or break something.

From:
http://www.theopennotebook.com/2011/11/22/rebecca-skloot-henrietta-lacks/

Yale Writers' Conference!

2011-12-19T07:11:00.000-08:00

There's a full page ad for the new Yale Writers' Conference this summer from June 12-22. This is a great opportunity to meet and work with some of the top writers in the States (Tom Perrota, Julia Glass anyone?).

I urge all of you looking for a conference this summer to check it out:

http://www.yale.edu/summer/writing/index.html

A blog worth checking out

2011-12-18T15:16:00.000-08:00

I've been enjoying the blog Perpetual Folly by Prime Number editor and writer Clifford Garstang. He gives reviews of the weekly New Yorker stories and also compiles the "top" magazines to submit your work to (according to Pushcart Prizes). Here's an example of a post here:

http://perpetualfolly.blogspot.com/2011/12/tips-for-writers-target-your.html

The blog's main page is here:
http://perpetualfolly.blogspot.com/

Long Time No Post

2011-12-05T06:31:00.000-08:00

I realize it's been a month since I last posted. I wanted to a few times but with the new blogger format couldn't figure out how to log into my own account!

Lots of news these days, but here are a few highlights:

Engine Books is having a Christmas book sale and book club sale. Remember books are always a great Christmas gift! For anyone who loves short stories, don't pass up Patricia Henley's Other Heartbreaks: Stories:

http://enginebooks.org/sale.html

My linked collection Talismans (released one year ago) is available from C&R Press on Kindle and as a paperback. If you order directly from the website you'll get free shipping:

http://www.crpress.org/index.html

Love the cover photo of Talismans? Well the talented photographer Sarah Hadley took that photo. Her image of Awnings won first prize in the cityscapes category and will be shown at the Palais de Glace Exhibition in Buenos Aires in 2012.

Please check out her beautiful photography here:

http://www.sarahhadley.com

Thoughts and musings to come!

Patricia Henley's Other Heartbreaks: Stories

2011-11-08T05:37:00.000-08:00

Fans of Patricia Henley’s short stories and novels will not be disappointed with her latest, Other Heartbreaks: Stories available from Engine Books. This stunning collection chronicles characters engaged in struggles with relationships, faith, friendship, and community. Henley’s prose shines--there isn’t a bad sentence in the whole collection. Her stories feel fresh, never overly plotted or predetermined, and many will surprise you with their compassion and honesty, in their redemptive power for the characters and the reader.

This would be a great Christmas gift. You can of course but the book (or download it as an ebook) from Amazon and Barnes and Noble, but it's even better if you order directly from Engine Books here:

http://enginebooks.org/OtherHeartbreaks.html

William Gay in the millions

2011-11-06T17:31:00.000-08:00

Tennessee writer William Gay in the Millions as part of the post 40 bloomers series

http://www.themillions.com/2011/10/post-40-bloomers-the-stories-of-william-gay.html

Some Meacham pics! Fall2011

2011-11-01T12:31:00.000-07:00

From my buddy George Conley, after the CTC Reading, before Winder Binder at the new German Brew Pub on Frazier

Rowan and poet Earl Braggs

Kevin Wilson and me--ack, do I have neck wrinkles or what?

Chattanooga writers Aubrey and Catherine

Poet Alex Quinlan and CNFer Catherine Meeks

Poets Emilia Phillips and Gaylord Brewer

Read all about it: Meacham Workshops start tomorrow!

2011-10-26T10:27:00.001-07:00

There's a great write up on the Meacham Writers' Workshop in today's Times Free Press. We're getting a lot of great writers including Kevin Wilson and Jane Bradley on the prose side. A bonus pic of my handsome hubby as well!

You can read it here:

http://community.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/oct/26/meacham-features-ny-times-best-seller-wilson/?Community-Downtown

For information about the Meacham schedule look here:

http://www.meachamwriters.org/schedule.htm

Hope to see you there!

Short Story up at Prime Number

2011-10-20T05:20:00.000-07:00

The latest issue of Prime Number is out and my story "The Spiritual Age of Machines" is in it. Here's the opening:

"I wasn’t manorexic, as my wife asserted. I was simply trying to live forever. Or at least until 2029 when, according to The Spiritual Age of Machines, humans will be able to download their brains into computers."

You can read the story here at http://www.primenumbermagazine.com/Issue13_Fiction_SybilBaker.html

Even better, look at the whole issue: http://www.primenumbermagazine.com/Issue13.html

Guest blog post on linked story collections

2011-09-27T07:51:00.001-07:00

I'm the guest blogger for September over at Hunger Mountain. I have a post about linked story collections which includes the genesis of my own linked collection, TALISMANS, and some recommendations for those interested in delving deeper into the genre.

You can read the post here:

http://www.hungermtn.org/linking-story/

What are you doing with your life? Part I

2011-09-15T07:31:00.000-07:00

Obviously William Purkey was thinking of my mother-in-law Lorraine when he penned the famous (if not now cliched) saying:

“You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching,
Love like you'll never be hurt,
Sing like there's nobody listening,
And live like it's heaven on earth.”

Here's Lorraine on her 60th birthday (yep 9/11/11)

Saturday she leaves Jo-burg for a week hike on Kilimanjaro.

What are you doing with your life?

Interview with Victoria Barret at Psychology Today

2011-09-12T03:50:00.001-07:00

Great interview with Victoria Barrett at Engine Books at the Psychology Today blog.

I thought she did a good job of defining literary fiction especially in relation to submission guidelines, as I always have problems defining it for my students:

"I think people misunderstand the term "literary" when we editors specify it in submission guidelines: They think it just means "good." But it has a specific connotation, if not a dictionary definition. It was taught to me by Kevin McIlvoy and Robert Boswell (who I'm sure got it somewhere, though I don't know where) as this: The story of everyday life made worthy of art."

You can read the entire interview here:

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/one-true-thing/201109/victoria-barrett-launches-literary-press-act-faith

Monomyth and Flash Fiction

2011-09-06T05:43:00.000-07:00

For those of you interested in the craft of fiction, http://flashfiction.net/ is one of the best places to go. Even though their focus is flash fiction, most of what they say can apply to "regular" length fiction.

Recently they ran a series on the monomyth, how it applies to flash, and then applied it to James Joyce's "Araby." I'm using the monomyth in my Western Humanities (the Odyssey and all that) and I've used it in my novel writing class, but it didn't even occur to use it for short fiction until I saw this series. V. cool.

The latest post is one on endings, something I find hard to teach and yes, write.

I urge you to check out http://flashfiction.net/ regularly--you'll learn a lot about writing.

Engine Books Novel Prize

2011-09-03T08:41:00.000-07:00

I've had nothing but great experiences with Engine Books and I know the other authors on their list say the same. So it's very good news for writers and readers that Engine Books has started a novel prize--deadline is March 10 2012.

You can read the details here:

http://enginebooks.org/prize.html

Andrew Scott on Rejection

2011-09-01T07:44:00.001-07:00

Great post by Andrew Scott at Beyond the Margins on rejection.

After more than 416 submissions, Scott's short story collection was published by Press 53--in other words, he's a success story.

Here's another tidbit from his post:

"After six years and 252 submissions, one of my stories was accepted for publication, but not in a literary journal."

I think my fiction students have no idea what the numbers game is like with this stuff, and I think if they knew they might never write a word again. Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

Read the whole post at Beyond the Margins here:

http://beyondthemargins.com/2011/09/try-try-again-rejection-and-persistance/

"Women Who Smoke" in Prime Mincer

2011-08-24T14:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, you need to buy this one (from Amazon)--look how gorgeous the cover is:

http://primemincer.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/full-cover1.jpg

I'm all about that shade of green these days. It's my color--I bought a painting by William Gay this summer that sits above my office computer and most of that painting is that same green, as is the cover for my new novel.

My contributor's copy is arriving any day now, but it was cool to see that I knew a few people in the issue--KB Ballentine, who lives near Chattanooga, and Adam Tavel, a VCFA grad who was here for our Summer Conference a few years ago.

I read the story at one of the Meacham conferences, so you can listen to me read it on Itunes for free--it's the story for March 2010.

http://www.meachamwriters.org/writers/sybil-baker.htm

Here's the link to Prime Mincer's website.

http://primemincer.wordpress.com/

New flash fiction piece up at Matter Press

2011-08-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

When I finished INTO THIS WORLD in February I decided to take a break from big writing projects while I figured out what to do with the manuscript. When I saw that Engine Books was publishing Patricia Henley's collection, I sprinted to their website, checked out their philosophy and submission guidelines (people *always* check out and follow the submission guidelines) and thought (hoped!) they would be a perfect fit for the novel. I sent Victoria Barrett, the editor, a query letter, she wrote back asking for the full manuscript and the waiting period began. I didn't send the manuscript out to anyone else because Engine Books was my first choice, so as I waited to hear from them, I knew I needed to start on some new writing projects as a diversion.

I was burned out from writing a long sustained work and decided to turn my attention to playing with a (for me) new form. The result is a bunch of drafts of mostly flash nonfiction pieces that I need to revise and polish before sending out, a shorter story (about 2,500 words) which was picked up by Prime Number for their next issue, and this, my first flash fiction piece which came out today at the amazing Matter Press, which has published pieces by a lot of great writers including Myfanwy Collins, who--small world--has a novel coming out with Engine Books in spring 2012. Chad Prevost, one of the editors at C&R Press, publisher of Talismans, has also published there.

Check out my piece and all the other great pieces that they've published (including those by Chad Prevost, Myfanwy Collins, and coming soon--Michael Martone).

Agamemnon's Wife Speaks From Hades

http://matterpress.com/journal/2011/08/23/agamemnon%E2%80%99s-wife-speaks-from-hades/#more-784

And the journal:

http://matterpress.com/journal/

How to be a Faster Writer

2011-08-21T17:53:00.000-07:00

via Edit Torrent

http://www.slate.com/id/2301243/

Janet Reid on Types of Rejection

2011-08-19T09:39:00.000-07:00

Agent Janet Reid wrote on rejection in her blog the other day. The upshot is, if you're a writer, no matter where you are in the process, rejection is a part of life.

I was a journalist for a few years and an editor at my college paper. One summer I interned at a Richmond newspaper and every time I sent an article in to my editor I'd get it returned with more red than than the original piece. I became a masochist and learned to appreciate what criticism can do--at least this editor took the time to tell me my articles were bad so I could get better. I became thick skinned, which has served me well with my fiction writing. I have yet to meet a writer, no matter how "successful," who hasn't had to deal early and often with rejection.

My advice for dealing with rejection: In your personal life surround yourself with people who love you and think you're wonderful no matter what your writing is like and try not to have too many people around who do the opposite. Don't expect or need that unconditional love from editors, publishers, readers, or agents--they will reject you for all kinds of reasons in all kinds of ways.

You can read Reid's post on the many types of rejections writers face here:

http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.com/2011/08/please-respond-only-if-interested.html

6 reasons your plans to move abroad might not work out

2011-08-18T07:11:00.000-07:00

I lived in Korea for 12 years and had planned to live there even longer--a great job stateside and my father's terminal illness called me back "home." That said, I thought this article had some good points and was funny--if a bit exaggerated. For example, I was never spit on in Korea and was treated pretty well there--as a foreigner. I studied Korean off and on for years as well, and as the article says, it's three times as hard for English speakers to learn (my Japanese classmates breezed through). I think it's great to live abroad at least for a while if you can--it just broadens your horizons--but here are some things to think about as well:

http://www.cracked.com/article_19363_6-reasons-your-plans-to-move-abroad-might-not-work-out.html

Real Life Advice--for queries, writing, job apps

2011-08-16T08:41:00.002-07:00

Yes, I teach at a university, but I still agree with this post and Janet Reid's follow up advice:

The rule of thumb here is: give the most weight to the advice given by people actually DOING the work you want to do or making the decisions about your work.

In other words:
for queries listen to agents.
for writing listen to editors.
for job applications listen to the people doing the hiring.

The original post is here:

http://bookendslitagency.blogspot.com/2011/08/real-life-advice.html

Cover for Into This World

2011-08-12T07:43:00.000-07:00

I'm on the road and hope to post some photos of Possum Valley Arkansas soon. Until then, I've got exciting news. Victoria at Engine Books is super organized--she's already got the cover designed for Into This World which is coming out in Aug. 2012. I'm really excited to be included in such a strong line up of books and writers. Check out all the Engine Book covers here:

http://enginebooks.org/blog/?p=185

And here's a sneak peak at the cover for Into This World. I love the green.

Hong Kong 4

2011-07-31T19:21:00.000-07:00

In reverse chronological order--night on the town, party on campus after student reading:

So many writers, so many books

2011-07-30T02:09:00.001-07:00

Big night on the town last night--dinner, drinks on yet another rooftop, jazz. Here is the crew at dinner at Kin's Kitchen--so many books here! Read the ones you haven't yet, I will!

From top left to right: Junot Diaz, James Scudamore, Xu Xi, Sybil Baker, Shawn Wong, Marilyn Chin, Lau Kin Wai

Bottom left to right: Robin Hemley, Ravi Shankar, Madeleine Thien, Luis Francia

Hong Kong 3

2011-07-27T23:56:00.000-07:00

More Hong Kong

2011-07-25T18:04:00.001-07:00

Hong Kong first two nights

2011-07-23T20:14:00.000-07:00

Of course it's impossible to do the skyline justice, esp. with my basic camera. Here's a few photos of a night on the town with the other visiting writers as well as a few other miscellaneous photos. Will try to do better with photos in the next few days. Here's the link to the residency program:

http://www.english.cityu.edu.hk/mfa/

The residency is just starting. Met the students yesterday and classes start tomorrow--I'm looking forward to it. I've enjoyed meeting the other writers and hanging out with them. Being here reminds me how much I miss being in an international city and meeting people from all over. It's great to be reminded how large the world is.

In no particular order:

View from the bar Ozone:

Read!
The swimming pool at the CU of HK (which is connected to a huge mall!)

Writers books on display at the CU of HK library

Engine Books publishing Into This World

2011-07-13T15:06:00.000-07:00

Big news--my novel manuscript INTO THIS WORLD will be published by Engine Books in August 2012. The novel is about two sisters, one an adopted Korean, and the secrets they discover about their family. Much of the novel takes place in Korea, in the late 1970s up to the Kwangju uprising in 1980 and then 30 years later in 2010.

Engine Books is a new boutique fiction press that has started off with a bang. This year they are publishing Debra Monroe's celebrated memoir ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF NORMAL and her novel SHAMBLES and National Book Award finalist Patricia Henley's OTHER HEARTBREAKS.

Check out Engine Books website. They are having an Indie-pendence Sale on their books through July--get them while they're cheap and hot.

www.enginebooks.org

Week in Linden

2011-07-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

Last week, we had a wonderful time at our friend Madalyn's cabin by the Buffalo River in Linden, Tennessee, which is in Perry county about an past Nashville toward Memphis. I got a lot of work done (there was no internet at the house and I don't have a smart phone) and did some neat walks near where we stayed in in a few parks. We had our 5th anniversary dinner in downtown Linden (about 5 minutes from the cabin) and also went to Lobelville to hear what was offered for "Music on Main'--and Lobelville was even smaller than Linden.

I was also able to stop and visit William Gay. We sat down for an interview, which I worked on after in the cabin. Talking with him is always transformative for me. On our way back I bought one of his paintings (he paints haunting landscapes) which I'm putting in my office.

Rowan did even more outside stuff and read Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and Critique of Judgment. You know, the light summer beach reading we all do.

Anyway, below are some pictures from the trip. I was surprised how invigorating is was just to change venues for a week. I hope to go back again. Thanks Madalyn!

Downtown Lobelville:

The "Music on Main" in Lobelville:

Linden:
Anniversary dinner:

The cabin:
Rowan on the Buffalo River:

Author Talk with Xu Xi at Asian Cha

2011-06-27T07:18:00.001-07:00

My author talk with Xu Xi has been linked at Asian Cha, a cool online literary magazine. Check out the journal and the link to our talk here:

http://asiancha.blogspot.com/2011/06/author-talk-xu-xi-and-sybil-baker.html

Finding your subject Part II at Book Trib

2011-06-20T11:03:00.000-07:00

My second post for Book Trib was out a few days ago, on finding your subject. Thanks to Patricia Henley for this advice--her latest short story collection will be coming out from Engine Books this fall.

http://booktrib.com/2011/06/finding-your-subject-part-ii-%E2%80%94-write-your-obsessions/

Thoughts on the New Yorker summer fiction issue?

2011-06-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

Those of you who've read the New Yorker's fiction issue (most pieces are subscription only but you can read George Saunder's story for free see http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/) I'd be curious about your thoughts. Here are mine in brief.

1. George Saunders "Home" --this was my favorite story in the issue. I tend to like Saunder's stuff generally, and this one for me, did not disappoint for the usual reasons in his portrayal of a broken America.

2. "Asleep in the Lord" Jeffrey Eugenides. Since this story deals with a young "lost" American in Calcutta, this story was right up my own alley--and yet, while there were some great descriptions and scenes, it didn't quite pull together for me.

3. "Above and Below" Lauren Groff. A story about female protagonist English grad student who "runs away" from society after her boyfriend dumps her and (spoiler) years later seems to have re-connected to the world by having a baby--really? Again? Please, no more disconnected English grad student stories. Please.

4. "The Aquarium" Alexander Hemon. This essay about a father with one healthy daughter and one very sick one was heartbreaking and insightful. Worth reading.

5. "Trading Stories" Jhumpa Lahiri. This essay seemed familiar almost from the get-go, and then I realized it was basically the text of her keynote address at AWP 2011 in DC. So she got paid a lot of money to give the speech at AWP, then basically polish the piece for another nicely paid essay for The New Yorker. Must be nice to get away with that kind of double dipping.

Would love to hear your thoughts on these pieces.

Teaching News

2011-06-13T07:06:00.000-07:00

I'm really excited to be on the faculty for the low residency MFA program at City University of Hong Kong. I'll be flying to Hong Kong at the end of July for a week for the summer residency. I'll be with an amazing group of writers and Junot Diaz will be the Distinguished Visiting Writer this summer. The students come from all over Asia, and I can't wait to meet them in person.

This program is the first (and only) low residency MFA in Asia and the only program to work on Asian writing. I'm so happy I got my MFA from Vermont College, but if this program had been around when I was living in Seoul I probably would have done this MFA instead.

check out their amazing website here:

http://www.english.cityu.edu.hk/mfa/

Author talk with Xu Xi at Daily s-Press

2011-06-07T06:50:00.000-07:00

I'm excited that my author talk with writer Xu Xi is up at Daily s-Press.The conversation ranges from themes like fiction generally, teaching creative writing, and the general state of things for writers today. You can read the whole discussion at

http://dailyspress.blogspot.com/2011/06/author-talk-xu-xi-and-sybil-baker.html

Guest Post at Book Trib

2011-06-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

My first of five guest posts Finding Your Subject Part 1: Trust Your Material is up at BookTrib

http://booktrib.com/2011/06/finding-your-subject-part-i-%E2%80%94-trust-your-material/

Remember you can also sign up all week for a free copy of Talisman!

This and that: readings and book giveaway

2011-06-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder, the VCFA 30th anniversary reading is tomorrow from 10:30 to 3 at the Comedy Catch off of Brainerd Road (with a long break for lunch)--I'll be reading second, at around 10:45 or so, but please stay for as much as you can--lots of great readings are in store. Go here for more information:

http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_201580.asp

Second, 10 copies of Talismans will be given away at booktrib and I'll be guest blogging that week as well. Look forward to posts about how to find discover what to write about, recommended linked short story collections, all about my book cover, and a conversation with Summer in the South author Cathy Holton. Drop by and sign up to win a free copy!

http://booktrib.com/

Seoul--a great city

2011-06-02T17:28:00.000-07:00

My friends in the States who have never been to Seoul or Asia, don't understand why I love the city. It's hard to explain unless you've been there. I'd much rather go to an Asian city than a European one for a vacation--but that's me. Anyway, here are 50 reasons why Seoul rocks:

http://www.cnngo.com/seoul/life/50-reasons-why-seoul-worlds-greatest-city-534720?hpt=hp_bn10

Cathy Holton's Summer in the South

2011-05-31T15:34:00.001-07:00

Cathy Holton does it again with her latest novel of a "northerner" trying to understand a death mystery, her relationships with two men, and the South in general. Summer in the South incorporates some historical fiction and a murder mystery with a woman in her late twenties trying to come to terms with her own mysterious childhood. Fans of Holton will appreciate the Southern culture portrayed in this novel as well as Holton's trademark humor (although it is more subtle than in her earlier work). Highly recommended.

You can visit her website (and enter to win a free copy) here:

http://www.cathyholton.com/

New Talismans Review--here

2011-05-23T10:15:00.000-07:00

Nice words from Lavinia Ludlow on Talismans here:

http://plumbblogdotnet.wordpress.com/2011/05/22/reviews-of-talismans-by-sybil-baker-and-sherry-narcotics-by-nina-marie-gardener/

Book Review: alt.punk

2011-05-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

Hazel, the narrator of Lavinia Ludlow’s novel alt.punk is a heroine for our times. She’s smart, funny, and neurotic. She’s trying to change her life but clings to old alliances and patterns even when she knows they’re destructive. For example, Hazel’s mother criticizes everything Hazel is (not married and overweight at 110 (!) pounds) and does (quits her okay job to travel with her boyfriend’s punk band), and yet Hazel still visits her family on holidays, answers her mother’s calls, and even calls her mother in times of crisis. Hazel is also a germo-phobe, which means she sees the world as dangerous and life threatening. Her own skin is peeling off because of her Clorox obsession to keep this threat at bay. And yet Hazel’s own awareness of her obsessions, her humor, and her sometimes extreme attempts to find her own place between the stultifying extremes of the American corporate world and the equally oppressive punk scene is what keeps the novel from getting bogged down in gross sex, mind-numbing and self-destructive drugs, and scenester rock-n-roll. alt.punk navigates this world successfully, and while most characters don’t change (like in life), Hazel courageously tries to accept and work with her neurosis, as well as find her way both outside and within the polarizing extremes she has inhabited. Ludlow is a strong and assured writer, and a subplot of Hazel’s own attempts to write and publish a novel offer some humorous meta-moments on the nature of novels, editing, and publishing. Highly recommended.

Support indie presses and buy the book directly from them--you can buy the book here:

http://www.casperianbooks.com/catalog/1-934081-29-9.html

To MFA or not MFA?

2011-05-18T09:57:00.000-07:00

Frankly, this conversation has suffered from the either/or logic fallacy for years--either MFA programs are good or they're worthless. It still amazes me that this topic can still generate so much attention (check out the comments to the article if you don't believe me). If you want to get an MFA*, get an MFA (although I strongly advise not going into debt doing it). If you don't, then don't.

Here's the latest on Salon:

http://www.salon.com/books/laura_miller/2011/05/17/mfa_programs/index.html

Travel Writing workshop for GWA

2011-05-12T08:19:00.000-07:00

I'm putting the final touches on a talk/workshop I'll be giving for the Georgia Writers Association May meeting this Saturday May 14. I was there a few years ago when The Life Plan came out, and I'm looking forward to returning. Here's the info for anyone who is in the area and wants to learn more about travel writing (both fiction and non fiction):

When

Saturday May 14, 2011 from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM EDT

Add to my calendar

Where

KSU - Social Science Building 2036 Please Park in WEST PARKING DECK. CAMPUS MAP
KSU Mail Stop #2701
1000 Chastain Road
Kennesaw, GA 30144

Details on the talk and directions are on the GWA website, which you can read here:

http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=i6byw7bab&oeidk=a07e3fbrufb350b89cc

VIDA updates

2011-05-11T09:37:00.002-07:00

I've been following more than a few conversations/follow ups to the infamous VIDA post on number of women published in lit mags vs. men. See my previous posts here:

http://sybilbaker.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-are-few-women-writers-being.html

and here:

http://sybilbaker.blogspot.com/2011/02/why-i-have-no-desire-to-read-franzens.html

Here's an update on some other posts/comments on this ongoing conversation:

VIDA's Response to the count

http://vidaweb.org/response-to-the-2010-count

The New Republic:

http://www.tnr.com/article/books-and-arts/82930/VIDA-women-writers-magazines-book-reviews

I appreciate the following two publications (one an online CNF flash journal, the other an up and coming literary press) addressing the issue and making a commitment to be publish more women

Brevity:

http://brevity.wordpress.com/2011/04/14/fourth-genre-and-the-second-sex/

Engine Books: Where are the Women--Updated

http://enginebooks.org/blog/?p=28

and writer Kevin Wilson commits to reading more women writers this year, too. See his post here:

http://wilsonkevin.blogspot.com/2011/05/vida.html

In a few weeks I hope to post my own analysis of this year's reading patterns--I have not consciously commmitted to reading more of any one/thing, so it will be interesting to see what I come up with.

There are of course many more posts about this subject on the internet--just google to fine more.

Some recent author interviews I've read

2011-05-06T12:41:00.001-07:00

Steven King's interview in The Atlantic (and you might want to check out his short story as well):

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/04/stephen-king-on-the-creative-process-the-state-of-fiction-and-more/237023/

Edward P. Jones

http://therumpus.net/2011/05/it-gets-you-through-the-rumpus-interview-with-edward-p-jones/

Chris Mazza:

http://therumpus.net/2011/05/the-rumpus-interview-with-cris-mazza/

George Saunders:

http://bombsite.com/issues/1000/articles/4996

And the Jennifer Egan interview I wrote about a few posts ago.

http://www.thedaysofyore.com/jennifer-egan/

Have you come across any other illuminating author interviews?

Betsy Lerner: Writing (and life) is/are not fair

2011-04-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

Rebecca Cook was the first person who told me about Betsy Lerner and how much she loved her book on writing called The Forest For the Trees. I read an updated version of the book last fall and enjoyed it. Betsy used to be an editor but is now and agent and her blog is worth reading.

Her post the other day was in response to a writer lamenting he didn't think it was fair that he couldn't earn a living from his writing. Here was part of her response:

I said that no one invites you to write, no one cares if you do, and that it is against the world’s indifference that you create. If you are lucky enough that the world loves what you write, then perhaps you will be among the few who make their living writing. The rest of us get up at dawn or write all night, or write on vacations, or quit for years and hate ourselves in an even more special way.

You can read the entire post here:

http://betsylerner.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/i-know-youre-gonna-leave-me-but-i-refuse-to-let-you-go/

Jennifer Egan's advice to writers

2011-04-24T17:11:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad has been "The King's Speech" as Jonathon Franzen's Freedom has been "The Social Network." Freedom had so much fanfare and acclaim when it was published last fall, and not that Egan's novel also didn't also draw attention--but I think many were surprised when she has won many of the major book awards including the Pulitzer and theNational Book Critics Circle Award. As I've mentioned on this blog, I just don't have a desire to read Freedom--everything I've read about it just tells me it's not my cup of tea--when I have stacks of books that I think will be my cup of tea waiting to be read. So, I can't compare the merits of Freedom vs. Goon Squad because I haven't read Freedom. What I will say is that I after some prodding (people I knew kept recommending the book to me) and resistance (what, another New York hipster novel?), I read Goon Squad and came away feeling that the hype is deserved. It's an enjoyable, deceptively complex work that has stayed with me since reading it.

I came across this interview with Egan where she details the years it took her to improve her writing and I think it's worth reading for all aspiring writers. At the end she gives her advice to writers, which we've heard often: read and write a lot--and to not be afraid to write badly, yetthis advice I believe can't be repeated enough. Here's the excerpt, but you can read the whole article here: http://www.thedaysofyore.com/jennifer-egan/

Do you have any advice for young writers?

My advice is so basic. Number one: Read. I feel like it’s amazing how many people I know who want to be writers who don’t really read. I’m not convinced someone wants to be a writer if they don’t read. I don’t think the problem is that they need to read more; I think they might need to readjust their life goals. Reading is the nourishment that lets you do interesting work. To be reading good things. I feel that you should be reading what you want to write. Nothing less.

The second thing is, I feel like getting in the habit of it is huge. I guess that was my one accomplishment of those two years [with the first failed novel]— making it a routine is a gigantic part of it.

One corollary of that— and this is probably the most important thing for me— is being willing to write really badly. It won’t hurt you to do that. I think there is this fear of writing badly, something primal about it, like: “This bad stuff is coming out of me…” Forget it! Let it float away and the good stuff follows. For me, the bad beginning is just something to build on. It’s no big deal. You have to give yourself permission to do that because you can’t expect to write regularly and always write well. That’s when people get into the habit of waiting for the good moments, and that is where I think writer’s block comes from. Like: It’s not happening. Well, maybe good writing isn’t happening, but let some bad writing happen. Let it happen!

I mean, when I was writing The Keep, my writing was so terrible. It was God-awful. My working title for that first draft was, A Short Bad Novel. I thought: “How can I disappoint?”

So, just write and be happy that you did it. You stuck to the routine. You’re kind of holding the place so that you’re present for when something good is ready to come.

And then it’s all about rewriting. Re-visiting, re-visiting and re-writing. I think it’s a mistake to be too precious about one’s words. I feel the same way about the criticism. You’re not going to break! It’s pretty tough to stick it out, to do this. So, get used to it! People are going to not like it. Okay! You’ll live. So, it’s bad. Okay. You’ll live! They said ‘no.’ You know what? Everyone gets said ‘no’ to a thousand times. If that is really something that you can’t tolerate, this may not work.

Perseverance.

Yes, that is huge. That is my biggest gift.

Writing Short Stories vs. Novels

2011-04-23T08:13:00.001-07:00

As many of you know, I teach fiction writing at UTC--mostly short story workshops but every year or year and a half I teach a novel writing workshop. That workshop was in response to 1) the underwhelming experience I'd had with novel writing guidance in the literary world and 2) the idea that short fiction writing is somehow "training" for novel writing. Number 2 particularly bothers me because it manages to denigrate the art of writing the short story. It suggests that writing short stories is easier or lesser or even less demanding, which is hardly the case. To me if this logic is applied, then why doesn't everyone take poetry workshop for years in preparation for the short story?

I received this comment again recently-- that perhaps students were not ready (either in life experience or ability) to take a novel writing class, and that their energy focus on taking short fiction workshops in preparation for the novel later in life. While of course one can learn much about novel writing when writing short stories and vice versa (hint: in both forms mastering writing scenes is key), the differences are still different enough to require (in my mind) different approaches in instruction. And, some people who find themselves struggling with short fiction workshops end up thriving in the novel class.

To that end, here's an article from a short story writer defending the form (via Jamie Quatro):

http://patriciaannmcnair.com/2011/04/21/pbr-and-rejection-slips-gina-frangello-on-why-the-short-story-a-conversation-among-writers/

Conference on Southern Literature starts Tomorrow

2011-04-13T06:28:00.000-07:00

The Conference on Southern Literature, held once every two years, starts on Thursday April 14 and goes through Saturday April 16. Chattanooga is lucky to host what is one of the top southern conferences--a cast of thousands will be here to discuss, well, yes, Southern Literature.

I've been teaching a course on contemporary southern lit this semester so that my students could more actively participate in the conference. We read The Known World (Edward P. Jones), Serena (Ron Rash), Lark and Termite (Jane Anne Phillips), In Country (Bobbie Ann Mason), Bastard out of Carolina (Dorothy Allison), Dream Boy (Jim Grimsley), as well as a bunch of short stories by other visiting writers.

It's going to be an amazing three days--if you're in the area, it's not too late--you can pay for one day or all three. Students get an amazing rate on this as well.

Here's the website for schedule and registration information

Hope to see you there!

On writing and jealousy at The Rumpus

2011-04-04T10:38:00.000-07:00

At The Rumpus, there's a great answer to a letter writer who at 31 (!) is jealous because some of his/her friends/colleagues/acquaintances have big book deals. Here's part of Sugar's answer regarding fame vs. writing:

"Your cause is to write a great book and then to write another great book and to keep writing them for as long as you can. That is your only cause."

Later, "Sugar" (of the column) does a great critique of the jealous person's sense of entitlement:

"A large part of your jealousy probably rises out of your outsized sense of entitlement. Privilege has a way of fucking with our heads the same way a lack of it does. There are a lot of people who’d never dream they could be a writer, let alone land, at the age of 31, a six figure book deal. You are not one of them. And you are not one of them because you’ve been given a tremendous amount of things that you did not earn or deserve, but rather that you received for the sole reason that you happen to be born into a family who had the money and wherewithal to fund your education at two colleges to which you feel compelled to attach the word “prestigious.”"

If you ever feel twinges of jealousy toward other's successes, this is a must read. I have to add, as Sugar does, that that twisting bitter jealousy is self-destructive for yourself, doesn't help your writing, and can harm your relationships. Read the whole Q&A post here:

http://therumpus.net/2011/03/dear-sugar-the-rumpus-advice-column-69-we-are-all-savages-inside/

Other Heartbreaks for pre-order

2011-03-29T05:48:00.001-07:00

Patricia's Henley was one of my advisors at Vermont College and we've stayed in touch over the years. I wrote about her novel Hummingbird House in an essay on expat lit for The Writer's Chronicle in 2005. I'm excited that her new collection of short stories is available for pre-order. Here's what Patricia sent:

Engine Books is a hot, new, small press out of Indy with writer and editor Victoria Barrett at the helm. In October Engine Books will publish my 4th collection of short stories, OTHER HEARTBREAKS. Engine Books is accepting pre-orders beginning today, with a special deal for book clubs. Here's a link to the pre-order page on the Engine Books website. Please pass this on to anyone you think may be interested.

http://enginebooks.org/OtherHeartbreaks.html

I'll be ordering mine very soon!

New articles

2011-03-28T18:02:00.000-07:00

I surprisingly enjoyed Jennifer Egan's A Visit From the Goon Squad a "novel" (because it's also like a linked collection) that recently won the National Book Award. It appeals to me much more than Freedom.

One of the best reviews I've read of it is in the London Review of Books here:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v33/n07/pankaj-mishra/modernitys-undoing

Their reviews put the NYT Book Review to shame. And speaking of Anis Shivani takes on the NYTBR in a strong post here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anis-shivani/death-new-york-times-book-review_b_840371.html

MTSU and Meacham

2011-03-23T05:14:00.000-07:00

I had a great time Monday reading with Kevin Wilson at MTSU. It was my first time on that campus, and I had no idea has the largest undergrad student body in Tennessee (I'd assumed it was was UTK).

I was impressed with the students and enjoyed talking with them (one had interviewed William Gay, who was at our last Meacham).

This is the third time I've heard Kevin Wilson read, and he's always great (and funny). His novel The Family Fang will be out by Ecco in Aug. 2011--I'm looking forward to reading it. His short story collection Tunneling Through The Center of The Earth is also availalbe from Ecco.

Gaylord Brewer, a professor at MTSU, organized the reading. His latest book of poetry is out from Red Hen Press--Give Over, Graymalkin. I'm reading it now and really enjoying it.

Gaylord and Kevin were both visiting writers at Meacham last spring. It's hard to believe that Meacham will be starting tomorrow. Lot's of great writers as always. You can check it out here:

http://www.meachamwriters.org/schedule.htm

Another review of Talismans

2011-03-19T11:26:00.000-07:00

A great review for Talismans by Jodi Paloni is up at Contrary Magazine. The opening paragraph starts:

In Sybil Baker’s linked story collection, Talismans, readers simultaneously experience the emotional and geographic territory of Elise’s world as she navigates loss and pursues connection–from girl to woman and from small-town Virginia to Southeast Asia. While each story represents a key moment in Elise’s life, the collection shows her evolution over two decades. Herein lies the beauty of the story cycle form.

You can read the rest here:

http://contrarymagazine.com/2011/03/talismans-sybil-baker/

Japan and my own degrees of separation

2011-03-14T13:11:00.000-07:00

A few days before the earthquake/tsunami disaster in Japan, I was in an email exchange with my brother who lives with his wife in Turkey. Both are professors at Ankara’s Middle Eastern Technical University, their MIT. Derek said Ozgur (an educational psychology professor) was in Japan for three weeks for a special training program. One of Ozgur’s research areas is how people respond to trauma, and her focus was on how Turks responded to an earthquake there in 1997. She was in Japan for a three-week course in Disaster (i.e., how Japan trains people to react in times of earthquakes, etc.) with the plan to implement similar strategies in Turkey.

Only later during the first day of the earthquake/tsunami did I remember Ozgur was in Japan. I sent Derek a frantic email asking how she was doing (assuming that since she was in Japan she might not be able to respond if I emailed her directly). Derek said Ozgur, luckily, was in Kobe (the south) and was not affected. She is scheduled to fly back on Sunday, and that plan has not changed.

Ozgur is the closest relative/friend in Japan, but I soon realized that, thanks to reconnections through Facebook, I knew more. First is a friend from Korea who lived down the hall from me in the mid/late ‘90s. We’ve posted occasionally on Facebook since, and he has even invited me to stay with him and his wife (who I met way back then) in Osaka. He posted on FB that they were okay, but worried about possible radiation, especially because they have a young son. Then there’s my best friend from high school whose post noted her firefighter boyfriend had just flown out to help with rescue efforts. Later that night I saw his team mentioned on the ABC news. I remembered another guy on FB—a friend from my first years in college who had friended me a year or so ago—is living in Japan. I checked his page and saw many posts from people wondering how he and his family were doing. He lives in the Tokyo area, so would be much more affected by the quake. A friend of his posted saying my college friend and his family were okay although they did have a lot of broken dishes.

Next are my own memories of Japan, which I visited five times. It was the first country I went to after I moved to Korea for a four-day weekend in 1996 in Fukuoka and Nagasaki. We were so naïve that we arrived with a stack of Korean won with the assumption that we could exchange it just like US dollars. This was before there were ATM machines and few places took credit cards. We finally found a Korean Exchange bank to change our money into yen. I returned to Fukuoka for a visa fun a few years later,another time to Osaka and Kyoto to check out the temples and went twice to Tokyo. The country is so expensive that I only spent a few days there each time. My best friend (who was the inspiration for Lucy in The Life Plan) lived in Okinawa, where her breast cancer was misdiagnosed, resulting in it not being discovered until it was Stage IV. By the time I could visit her, she was too sick to see visitors, so I never went.

The last time I was in Japan was in spring 2002. My then-husband had just moved there—we had some crazy scheme that he’d go to grad school there and work while I kept my cushy university job and would live with him 4 or 5 months of the year during my breaks. I visited him and the new apartment he’d rented outside Tokyo. It was larger than the usual 6 to 12 Tatami-mat places I’d seen before—with a bedroom, a tiny eating area, and a kitchen. I remember there were those cool sliding doors with rice paper and dark paneling that you associate with Asian homes. It was a nice place that he’d organized well, buying used furniture—low tables, no chairs, just cushions. He had a nice new futon and comforter. But I’d recently discovered he’d been cheating on me for several years, and I couldn’t think of the place without wondering who would be sleeping on that futon while I was in Seoul. So I filed for divorce and never saw the apartment again.

A few degrees farther from me are my friends in Korea and their connections to Japan. One of my friends there has many Japanese musician friends, and I’m sure he’s worried about them. Korea is only a few hours away from Japan, and many Koreans are living there or know people living there.

I think about how Japan was probably the most-prepared country on the planet for this kind of disaster, and yet there is no way to prepare for what has happened. I think about Ozgur training for a disaster that happens while she is there. I think about how, once again, I’m reminded that I can’t conceive of all the terrible things that can happen in the world, and that one day, my degree of separation from it may be zero.

Why do you write?

2011-03-11T10:46:00.000-08:00

I always enjoy Betsy Lerner's blog The Forest Through the Trees. Here's today's post:

Why do you write, why do you write, why do you fucking fucking write. No one cares. No one is waiting. There is no soundtrack, no young men, their legs flexed with sinew, no field of green slick with slugs. Who cares if you find terza rima, or sonnets or villanelles. You can fill hundreds of notebooks and lose them on trains, planes, in Courtyard Marriotts without a courtyard where you rent a three way and get bored bef0re the cum shot. You think about it all day long waiting for a cab, you think about it all night long writing in your underwear, a pack of smokes, a glass of watery gin with lime rinds sucked dry. You will not take a long walk on the beach, you will not binge on orange food, you will not see a Liam Neeson movie you have seen ten times no matter how desperate you are. You will not stumble around in your rented room as if you have a brain injury, you will not change your clothes, you will not open a can of soup the last tenant left behind with crusty opener slick with snail snot. You will remember something you can’t remember. You will stop yourself from starting something. You will touch yourself until you cannot cry. You will not write. No writing allowed. Writing publishable by death.
Process, anyone?

The original post is here: http://betsylerner.wordpress.com/2011/03/10/still-i-look-to-find-a-reason-to-believe/

A Visit With the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan

2011-03-07T04:52:00.000-08:00

I finished Jennifer Egan's A Visit with the Goon Squad last night and have to agree it lives up to its hype. It's another one of those works billed as a novel but is really more of that novel/linked story hybrid. I think this novel through stories form is really coming into its own. One of the best "new" books I've read in a while.

If anyone else has read Egan's book, I'd like to know your thoughts.

Lake Titicaca and Peru

2011-03-02T08:45:00.000-08:00

My last post inspired me to search for old trip photos. Here are some photos from that Peru trip from the summer of 2001.

This is a band I heard in Lake Titicaca:

This is me at Machu Picchu:

Me with Gourd vender in Cusco:

And Lake Titicaca:

Floating Islands in Lake Titicaca

2011-02-28T05:33:00.001-08:00

I love traveling. This article reminded me of the trip I took to Peru about 10 years ago (has it been that long?). I've been there--I've even slept there--the floating islands of Lake Titicaca. The island had no electricity and as we walked back to our sleeping quarters (we slept with a family on the island), one of the women asked me (in Spanish, which was not her native language either) if our moons was as big as theirs? That line made it into Talismans, although a Vietnamese girl asks it. I've always loved that line.

Another review of Talismans

2011-02-24T18:47:00.000-08:00

This ones up on Ray Zimmerman's blog--a nice write up. You can read the review at:

http://znaturalist.blogspot.com/2011/02/talismans.html

Emerging Stars in Fiction and Poetry on Huff Po

2011-02-17T09:00:00.000-08:00

I'm part of a group of 20 emerging writers in video book readings on Huff Po

Click here for the whole group

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anis-shivani/video-book-readings_b_822987.html#s239803&title=Harmony_Holiday_reads

Click here for my spot but please check them all out!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anis-shivani/video-book-readings_b_822987.html#s240951&title=Sybil_Baker_reads

Why I have no desire to read Franzen's Freedom

2011-02-12T09:15:00.000-08:00

First, every positive and negative book review I've read of the novel convinces me it's just not my cup of tea. The story doesn't interest me. It sounds insular.

Anis Shivani writes a critical review of Freedom, calling it overrated. One of his criticisms is that its attempt a social realism failed. He has a pretty interesting discussion of realism in general in the review. You can read it at

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anis-shivani/jonathan-franzen-freedom-overrated_b_819103.html

At the Vida website, Percival Everett reviews Freedom, and this review also confirms my suspicions of why I suspect the novel is overrated and WHY the numbers Vida posted are the result not so much of lack of women submitting or not being able to handle rejection, but more of this:

"It has taken me a while to get to my real point, but here it is, rather abruptly. I do not believe that apparent authoritative literary voices of validation would ever make such a grand claim about a novel written by a woman. I say this because I believe there are many novels by women that are about the same sort of world as presented in Freedom. Sadly, the culture usually calls these books domestic or family sagas. Are the novels of Anne Tyler, Marilynne Robinson and Mona Simpson any less white and middle “American” than Franzen’s? They are certainly at least every bit as literary and arguably better written, whatever that means. And they do not suffer the needless verbosity of Freedom. Were a woman to use so many additional words, the prose would be called floral or poetic or maybe even excessive.

"I cannot recall a novel written by a man that was described as domestic, as if the male life within a family and household necessarily transcends the bounds of the family home, means something more profound about life itself perhaps. I have had conversations with young women writers about their fear that their novels will be considered “Chick Lit”. They are concerned about whether their titles will doom them to the category. What is the male equivalent? “Rooster-Lit?” “Dick-Lit?” And who fits the category? Who would want to? There used to be “tough guy” fiction, “hard-boiled” fiction, but somehow those are not pejorative. It’s little like the way that the culture has no male counterpart to the term slut. I suppose the closest thing is stud, but that’s not such a bad thing in most circles, however sad that might be.

"It goes to the larger question about how women writers are viewed and treated on the American literary landscape. As I mentioned at the onset, I live a rather isolated artistic life, away from that world, so I’m no good source for statistics and verifiable claims about anything. But my friends at Vida, an organization of women writers, were kind enough to supply me with their numbers, numbers that I will not recite here. Except to say that my biggest wonder is how it is that, with women being seventy percent of the book buying audience, women writers receive only twenty percent of book review attention. Read that previous sentence again. I won’t get into the language of reviews and discussion of books by women, because of my own ignorance, my admitted lack of travel though the book world. But much of the language is so ubiquitous that even I can’t miss it."

Read the review here

http://vidaweb.org/freedom%E2%80%99s-just-another-word-for-nothing-left-to-lose

and part 2 of women and publishing

2011-02-10T13:45:00.000-08:00

On the book publishing side I've been lucky to be with two solid small presses.

Casperian Books is run by a woman, and publishes a variety of fiction by men and women (although they do have more male authors)

C&R Press is run by two guys--and 6 out of 13 poetry books are by women (this includes the latest De Novo winner Elizabeth Knapp although her book isn't out yet.) And I'm their first prose publication--yes they're starting off with a girl! Impressive

Why are few women writers being published

2011-02-10T13:34:00.000-08:00

in many magazines?

It's disheartening to see the latest round of statistics that show women still under-represented in the top tier journals in almost all areas from books being reviewed to stories published.

You can read the summary here at Slate:

http://www.slate.com/id/2283605/

Or the actually survey and its telling pie charts here:

http://vidaweb.org/the-count-2010

Now, take that information and chew on this--at the AWP conference last weekend in DC, it seems that ratio of men to women is the opposite. From my informal guesstimates, I'd say at least 70% of attendees were women and 30% were men. (And we're not even getting into discussions of race--one of my friends doesn't call it the "Average White People's" conference for nothing). One assumes that most of the people attending the largest academic literary are aspiring writers.

What's going on? I'd really like to know.

Two articles on linked collections

2011-02-08T17:56:00.000-08:00

I think Talismans is closer to a novel through stories than a linked collection, although I don't think it's worth quibbling about. Here are two articles on linked collections worth reading:

http://www.themillions.com/2011/01/the-long-and-the-short-of-it-linked-story-collections-bridging-the-divide.html

http://cathyday.bigbigweb.com/2011/02/06/linked-stories-workshop/

Off to AWP, book signing Friday at 2 at C&R Press tablle

2011-02-02T06:11:00.000-08:00

I'm off to AWP tomorrow morning. For those of you going, I'll be at the C&R Press table from 2-3 available to sign copies of Talismans. Stop by and say hi, if nothing else.

I hope to see some people I haven't seen since the last time I was at AWP in Chicago two years ago, check out a few choice readings and panels and catch up with one of my best friends who lives in the area.

I grew up in Fairfax, VA, about 15 miles outside of DC. For a few years in my late 20s I lived in Courthouse, just a few subway rides from Georgetown. That is the area Kat, from my first novel, THE LIFE PLAN lives with her husband Dan. In TALISMANS, the first group of short stories take place in Northern Virginia--I imagined the suburbs Elise and her mother live in to be mostly small ranch homes, small and aging compared to the new, big houses going up. A lot of the houses near my elementary school were like that. In the novel I just completed, the family is military and lives in a modest house in Springfield, where some of my friends who went to my high school lived.

It's guess it's not a surprise that my characters start off in that area and leave as I have done. My next novel though I'm pretty sure I will base in Chattanooga (with the protagonist going to South Africa). I've lived here long enough to start writing about it.

Fellow writers, what determines the place you write about?

Top Five Sentences--evah

2011-01-26T08:10:00.000-08:00

From Slate:

In his new book, How to Write a Sentence and How to Read One, literary critic, legal scholar, and New York Times online columnistStanley Fish offers readers a guided tour through some of the most beautiful, arresting sentences in the English language. As an introduction to both sentence craft and sentence appreciation, it is—in novelist Adam Haslett's words—"both deeper and more democratic" than Strunk & White's Elements of Style, celebrating everything from brief epigrams to twisty, rambling digressions.

Fish describes how he carries sentences with him "as others might carry a precious gem or a fine Swiss watch." Accordingly, Brow Beat asked Professor Fish for some of his favorite accoutrements, and he offered five from across three centuries:

You can read his top five sentences here:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2011/01/24/stanley-fish-s-top-five-sentences.aspx

Another Review at Chapter 16

2011-01-23T13:29:00.000-08:00

A review of Talismans is up at Chapter 16. Here is the opening paragraph:

Talismans is a series of short stories that, not unlike photos in an album, work together to tell a larger tale. Written by Sybil Baker, an English professor at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, these brief snapshots center on Elise, the daughter of a church organist and a Vietnam vet, whose early suburban life is a quagmire of sexual experimentation and social unease. With no connecting tissue between them, the stories in Talismans are jarring and powerful, as certain episodes in Elise’s life are thrust to the fore, and the reader is left to fill in the gaps.

You can read the entire review at:

http://www.chapter16.org/content/going-native

Short review of Talismans from Midwest Book Review

2011-01-22T17:23:00.000-08:00

I can't figure out how to link to the website's review of the book, but they also posted it on Amazon.

"When you don't know someone you have a close connection to, you do everything you can to understand. "Talisman" tells the story of Elise, a lost daughter of a Vietnam veteran who visits Southeast Asia in hopes of gaining some semblance of understanding of her father, to gain understanding of where she came from. "Talisman" is a remarkable and thought provoking read, highly recommended."

BTW--that's the only review of Talismans on Amazon. Those of you who have read it, please put one up!

Talismans in Galley Cat

2011-01-19T06:33:00.000-08:00

Talismans got picked as an upcoming attraction in Galley Cat's New Books section:

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/talismans-secrets-oscars-coming-attractions_b20946

Bolano on Literature and Exile

2011-01-17T06:06:00.000-08:00

An example of a great long sentence (even in translation):

"He got on the train and didn't get off until Paris, and, after living in Paris for a few months, he got on a plane to Mexico, and when the fateful or happy—depending on how you look at it—year of 1984 arrived, Mario was still living in Mexico and writing poems in Mexico that nobody wanted to publish and that may rank among the best of late-twentieth-century Mexican poetry, and he had accidents, and he traveled, and he fell in love, and he had children, and he lived a good life or a bad life, a life in any case far from the center of Mexican power, and in 1998 he was hit by a car under murky circumstances, a car that drove away while Mario lay dying alone on a street at night in one of the outlying neighborhoods of Mexico City, a city that at some point in its history was a kind of heaven and today is a kind of hell, but not just any hell—the special hell of the Marx brothers, the hell of Guy Debord, the hell of Sam Peckinpah—in other words the most singular kind of hell, and that's where Mario died, the way poets die, unconscious and with no identification on him, which meant that when an ambulance came for his broken body no one knew who he was and the body lay in the morgue for several days, with no family to claim it, in a final stage of development or revelation, a kind of negative epiphany, I mean, like the photographic negative of an epiphany, which is also the story of our lives in Latin America."

Read the whole essay here:

http://www.thenation.com/article/157695/literature-and-exile

Why I love Small Presses

2011-01-14T05:29:00.000-08:00

This was a nice post from blog called Small Press Review:

"Just a quick note on one of the many reasons why I love small presses.

A few days ago, my friend and publisher Martin Shepard of the Permanent Presssent me a few books he thought I might like. One of them was a novel that was published in 2007 and sold about 400 copies. A subsequent novel by the same author, Marty explained, only sold 140 copies. Yet Marty and his wife, Judith, decided to go ahead and publish a third novel by the same author. In Marty’s words, “Hey, if you like a writer, no reason to give him or her up just because sales are almost non-existent.”

As someone who’s spoken to a good number of editors and agents (and who reads extensively about the publishing industry), I can say with complete certainty that I’ve never heard anyone associated with a major publishing conglomerate say anything even close to what Marty said in his brief note. He publishes books because he loves them — and loves sharing their work with the world — not because they might make a buck or two.

To me, this is what the small press movement is all about."

You can read the original post here:

http://smallpressreviews.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/why-i-love-small-presses/

Article at Expat Women about travel writing

2011-01-10T10:38:00.001-08:00

This isn't part of the WOW blog tour, but I do have an article up at a website called Expat Women on Travel Writing. Here's the beginning:

Why Your Own Experience May Not Be Enough

When I first moved to South Korea to teach English in 1995 (those were pre-internet days), I would write long letters home to my parents detailing the mystifying and fascinating world of "exotic" Asia. My parents would share those letters with friends or other relatives, and invariably people would say that I should write a book about my experiences living abroad.

You can read the rest here:

http://www.expatwomen.com/travelers/travel-writing-6-tips-to-make-it-better-sybil-baker.php

Last but not least: Final blog tour stop & giveaway

2011-01-07T08:28:00.000-08:00

Well, all good things must come to an end, and this is the last post of my blog tour for Talismans. The gals at WOW were great and always on task. Today's blog post is on Novels vs. Short Stories and there's one last book giveaway!

Here's the beginning:

When you start a new project, do you know if it will be a novel, short story or essay? Do you start out with a specific genre in mind for your piece, or do you start writing and see where the piece will take you?

When I have an idea or an image for a new piece, I usually know if it’s going to be a short story, novel, or an essay. Essays spring from some experience that I believe works better as nonfiction—they explicitly explore ideas and events that I don’t want to fictionalize. Short stories usually come from a character or conflict that I see as focusing on one event or issue—what Poe calls the unity of effect or impression. When I have a character whose journey will be layered and long, then I have a novel.

Read the rest of the post here:

http://dfmil09.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/novels-vs-short-stories-guest-post-with-sybil-baker-and-book-giveaway/

Thanks to everyone who followed me on the blog tour--I hope to hear from you if you read Talismans and have any comments or questions!

Q&A at Musings from the Slushpile and book giveaway

2011-01-05T06:13:00.000-08:00

Today I'm at Musings from the Slushpile. Once again there's a book giveaway. Here's the beginning of the Q&A:

Talismans is not the first novel you’ve weaved your experiences into. In your debut novel, The Life Plan, your characters also travel to a vastly different culture. You have been to thirty countries. That’s amazing to most of us, I think. Would you say your travels are what inspire you to write? To share the experience or is it something else?

Actually, I started writing stories in the first grade and have been writing ever since! Even before I moved abroad, I was always interested in how a place affects characters. I wrote about alienation in suburbia and often placed my characters in the south (my family is southern). The first four stories in Talismans take place in Virginia and reflect that suburban alienation. Living abroad and traveling expanded the things that I am interested in writing about. As my website says, because of my travels I’ve become interested in the allure and alienation of American travelers and expatriates.

I love traveling and I love writing, but even if I couldn’t travel, I’d still write, and vice versa.

What inspires me to write is having a story in my head that I can’t shake. Because I lived abroad for so long, my stories often integrate experiences from my travels.

Read the rest of the interview at:

http://blog.juliealindsey.com/julie-lindsey/writer-wednesday-welcomes-author-sybil-baker/

Talismans Book Review and book give away

2011-01-04T11:32:00.000-08:00

When The Life Plan came out this blog Misadventures with Andi was part of my blog tour in April 2009. Today I'm back--or rather Andi reviews Talismans and offers a giveaway. Check it out here:

http://www.misadventureswithandi.com/2011/01/sybil-bakers-talisman.html

Kristen Nelson's yearly stats

2011-01-03T06:55:00.000-08:00

Agent Kristen Nelson has presented her yearly stats regarding sales, queries etc.

Please note that out of 36,000 queries, her agency took on 9 new clients. That's the realities of the publishing world. You have to have a thick skin. See below:

http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2010/12/year-in-statistics-2010.html

Shelf Unbound review/write-up

2011-01-02T09:11:00.000-08:00

Shelf Unbound is a gorgeous indie book review magazine. Talismans has a nice review/write up there on p. 56 of the January issue. You do need to subscribe to it (or get the hard copy), so I can't give a link to the review. But if you're interested in the magazine, you can subscribe to it (and others) through Zinio, a cool service that allows you to download magazines. Here's the link to the Jan Issue of Shelf Unbound and getting a subcription:

http://www.zinio.com/browse/publications/index.jsp?productId=500600395

Podcast interview today at Nia Promotions

2010-12-30T06:28:00.000-08:00

Today I'm on a podcast interview starting at 10 am over at Nia Promotions. We chatted a lot about how Talismans came to be as well some of Elise's motivations in the book.

http://www.niapromotionspodcast.com/index.html

Update:

here's the specific link

http://www.niapromotionspodcast.com/1/post/2010/12/talismans-by-sybil-baker.html

and there's another book giveaway if you comment by Jan 6th!

JA Konrath "You Should Self Publish"

2010-12-29T07:06:00.000-08:00

JA Konrath's blog A Newbies Guide to Publishing is a must read for those who are interested in publishing and promotion. I haven't read his blog in a long time but happened to go there today. As usual, Konrath is ahead of the curve with predictions.

He is now changing his advice about self publishing--which he was against until recently. But with the Kindle and other ebook readers available, the publishing (and profit) model has changed for him.

Read the details here:

http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2010/12/you-should-self-publish.html

Interview and book giveaway at The Writers Life

2010-12-29T05:36:00.000-08:00

Today I'm interviewed at The Writer's Life. I talk about favorite places I've been to and the process of writing Talismans. There's also a book give away--you're eligible if you leave a comment.

http://carolineclemmons.blogspot.com/2010/12/sybil-baker-on-talismans-and-free-book.html

Travel Writing

2010-12-28T06:08:00.000-08:00

For today's WOW blog tour post, I'm at women write travel. I (no surprise) write about travel writing. Here's the beginning:

"Like many people I know, I love to travel and I love to write; however, those two don’t necessarily have much in common.

When I’m traveling I’m not writing much. Instead I’m trying to enjoy the experience and process what is happening around me. I often make little journal entries when I’m traveling that only note where I was at and what I saw. For example, when I was on a travel safari in South Africa and Botswana, I wrote down all the animals and plants I’d seen and where, but little else. I was having too much fun talking to the other people on the trip or participating in activities."

Read the rest here:

http://www.womentravelblog.com/index.php/2010/12/women-travel-writing/

Interview at Words from the Heart

2010-12-27T07:28:00.001-08:00

And... today I'm interviewed at Words from the Heart and yep--a chance for another copy of Talismans if you comment.

http://contemplativeed.blogspot.com/2010/12/interview-with-sybil-baker.html

Resource for writers

2010-12-27T07:13:00.000-08:00

This week I'm a guest blogger on a very cool writer's group bulletin board called Post-A-Note. You have to sign up to be a member, but for any writers looking for resources and a community of writers, this is worth checking out.

http://longridgewritersgroup.net/

Talismans postcards

2010-12-22T00:00:00.000-08:00

In today's WOW blog tour I talk about making book trailers and postcards to help promote your book.

You can check it out at:

http://amomentwithmystee.blogspot.com/2010/12/guest-blog-sybil-baker.html

These are two of the three postcards that Sebastian Matthews made for me in support of Talismans. He's a great writer and collage artist. For more of his stuff visit his blog at http://3bythefire.blogspot.com/

And if you want a postcard leave a comment here and I'll email you for your address to mail one to you!

Today I answer The 5 Ws

2010-12-21T13:44:00.000-08:00

Today is a short stop at Words by Webb for my Talismans blog tour where I answer the "5 Ws." Find out who inspired me to write, where I'd like to go on my dream trip, where my writing spot is, and others!

http://jodiwebb.com/news/5ws-with-sybil-baker/

Book Review of Talismans

2010-12-20T12:48:00.000-08:00

Today as part of my WOW blog tour there is a lengthy book review of Talismans at Colloquim.

http://www.jhsiess.com/2010/12/20/talismans/

Finding a Talisman at momcentric

2010-12-17T16:44:00.001-08:00

Still on the road, so only now have time to post my WOW blog post from yesterday.

The topic is on Finding A Talisman in which I discuss coming up with the title of the collection. Here is the beginning:

"One of the hardest parts for me as a writer is finding the right name for the short story or novel I’m working on. I’m sure some writers get a lot of enjoyment trying to find just the perfect name for their essay, poem, or story. These are probably the same people who love searching for the perfect baby or pet name. I’m not one of them. For me giving titles are often more like childbirth—something I’d like to get over as quickly and painlessly as possible."

Read the whole post here:
http://www.momecentric.com/2010/wow-authors-2010/guest-post-sybil-baker-finding-a-tailisman

Blog Tour updates and more Talismas Giveaways!

2010-12-15T10:53:00.000-08:00

I'm blogging from New Orleans--on a vacation trip with my husband and mother-in-law. She's visiting from South Africa and has always wanted to go to New Orleans, and we were happy to oblige! It's a balmy 50 degrees here--cold for Nola but with the cold front still holding on in Chattanooga, we'll take it.

Yesterday I had a blog post at Books Books the Magical Fruit, on my guilt over not reading for pleasure as much as I'd like to.

http://booksbooksthemagicalfruit.blogspot.com/2010/12/guest-blog-giveaway-sybil-baker.html

There's a free book giveaway until Dec. 17th, so please leave a comment at the blog to be eligible.

Today I've got a post up on Musings from the Slushpile on "Novels vs. Short Stories." Here's the first paragraph from the post:

"I expect most writers trying to “break in” to the publishing industry wonder at some point if they should be spending their time and energy writing short stories or novels. On the one hand, short stories can take relatively less time to write, and therefore are less of an investment. There are many places to submit short stories (I recommend the website www.duotrope.com as a submission resource), and while competition is still very stiff, publishing a short story might seem more doable than getting a novel published."

There's also a book giveaway at musings from the Slushpile--leave a comment to be eligible!

http://blog.juliealindsey.com/julie-lindsey/short-stories-vs-novels-by-sybil-baker/

Today's blog tour at Writers Inspired: Short Stories vs. Novels

2010-12-13T07:14:00.000-08:00

Today's post at Writers Inspired is about Short Stories vs. Novels, and yep, there's another book giveaway!

Make a comment and you're eligible for the book.

Here's the opening to the post:

Runners often identify themselves as either sprinters or marathoners. They may do both, but are usually better at one or the other. The same is often true for writers—some like Alice Munroe, Flannery O’Conner, and Donald Barthelme did their best work in the short story form, others like Toni Morrison, Philip Roth, and Cormac McCarthy seem to be particularly suited for the novel. Of course some writers like William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, and F. Scott Fitzgerald were gifted enough to write masterpieces in both forms.

Check out the rest here:

http://writerinspired.wordpress.com/2010/12/13/short-fiction-vs-novels-and-book-giveaway/

Guest post: How to Promote Your Book at The Write Spot

2010-12-10T06:25:00.000-08:00

Today my blog post is on How to Promote Your Book. I'm certainly no expert but I do have experience promoting The Life Plan and now Talismans, both books from small presses. Here's the article:

http://www.the-write-spot.com/2010/12/how-to-promote-your-book.html

Blog Tour dates

2010-12-09T07:18:00.000-08:00

Blog Tour Dates: Come and join the fun!

December 6, 2010 Monday
Sybil Baker will be chatting with WOW! Women On Writing at The Muffin. One lucky commenter will win a signed copy of Sybil's new book!
http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com

December 7, 2010 Tuesday
Interested in travel writing? Sybil shares her experience atWriting Come Hell or High Water.
http://bethiswriting.com/

December 8, 2010 Wednesday
On Colloquium, author Sybil Baker shares her experience writing a linked short story collection.
http://www.jhsiess.com/

December 9, 2010 Thursday
Don't miss a guest post from author Sybil Baker and a chance towin her latest book Talismans!
http://www.momecentric.com/

December 10, 2010 Friday
Sybil has more information to share with us! Come on over to Anne-Marie Nichols' blog The Write Spot and read all about it!
http://www.the-write-spot.com/

December 13, 2010 Monday
Which do you like to read more: short stories or novels? Which do you like to write more? Sybil Baker, author of the novel The Life Plan and a linked short story collectionTalismans, stops by with her opinion. She's also giving away a copy of Talismans!
http://writerinspired.wordpress.com/

December 14, 2010 Tuesday
Don't miss the chance to chat with author Sybil Baker today onBooks, Books, The Magical Fruit. You also have the chance towin a gift for yourself or a loved one...Sybil's latest book Talismans!
http://booksbooksthemagicalfruit.blogspot.com/

December 15, 2010 Wednesday
Sybil Baker stops by with the long and short of fiction writing, as well as a copy of her latest book Talismans for a giveaway!
http://blog.juliealindsey.com/

December 20, 2010 Monday
Don't miss a review of Sybil Baker's linked short story collectionTalismans and a chance to win a copy!
http://www.jhsiess.com/

December 21, 2010 Tuesday
Stop by Words by Webb when author Sybil Baker answers the 5Ws and has her latest book Talismans reviewed.
http://jodiwebb.com/

December 22, 2010 Wednesday
Sybil Baker, author of Talismans, stops by to share her secrets for promoting your book.
http://amomentwithmystee.blogspot.com/

December 28, 2010 Tuesday
Learn about travel writing from Sybil Baker at Women Travel. In Sybil's latest book, Talismans, her main character travels the Far East searching for clues of her father.
http://www.womentravelblog.com/

December 29, 2010 Wednesday
Join the fun today! Stop by for an interview with Sybil and a chance to leave your questions and comments for her. Also, a lucky someone will win a signed copy of Sybil's bookTalismans!
http://carolineclemmons.blogspot.com/

December 30, 2010 Thursday
Don't miss an audio interview with Sybil Baker and a chance to win a copy of her latest book Talismans!
http://www.niapromotionspodcast.com/
Here are all the dates for my blog tour. I'll be posting reminders each day though for that day's blog--SLB

January 4, 2011 Tuesday
Happy New Year! Stop by Misadventures with Andi and read a review of and enter to win Talismans by Sybil Baker.
http://www.misadventureswithandi.com/

January 5, 2011 Wednesday
Julie Lindsey interviews Sybil Baker, author of The Life Planand her newly released short story collection Talismans. Stop by for fantastic writerly advice!
http://blog.juliealindsey.com/

Book Giveaway at Colloquium!

2010-12-08T06:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday's Book Launch/Signing went really well--there was a good crowd, and it was great to see so many people supporting me and C&R Press out there. Thanks especially to David at Winder Binder, Katie Christie, and Chad Prevost of C&R for making it happen.

Today's blog tour post is on Writing a Linked Short Story Collection. I write about the good and the bad of it.

Here's a snippet from the post:

"Neither fish nor fowl, linked collections bring the structural and logistic headaches of both short stories and novels. You have to make sure each story stands alone as its own independent piece as well as fit in to a larger narrative arc. With a short story collection, you might spend some time trying to decide the order or arrangement of the finished stories, but you don’t have to worry about how each story connects to tell a larger story. And with a novel, you might think about chapters and how they build to tell a story, but you don’t have to make sure each chapter has its own unity as a stand-alone piece."

If you comment in the comments section you become eligible for a free copy of my book! So please check it out at http://www.jhsiess.com/2010/12/08/guest-post-sybil-baker/

Today's blog tour post is on travel writing

2010-12-07T05:07:00.000-08:00

Please visit http://bethiswriting.com/ for my post on travel writing. Here's the beginning:

"When I first moved to South Korea to teach English in 1995 (those were pre-internet days), I would write long letters home to my parents detailing the mystifying and fascinating world of “exotic” Asia. My parents would share those letters with friends or other relatives, and invariably people would say that I should write a book about my experiences living abroad."

You can read the read the rest at Beth's blog titled "Writing Come Hell or High Water."

http://bethiswriting.com/2010/12/07/special-guest-post-with-sybil-baker-2/

Talismans Blog Tour begins!

2010-12-06T05:06:00.000-08:00

My blog tour for the release of Talismans begins today. For those of you who don't know what a blog tour is, basically I "tour" different blogs, writing about different topics or answering questions about writing. In the next few weeks I'll be writing about travel writing, novels vs. short stories, the meaning of talismans, and others. I hope you'll take a bit of time to write and comment on th blogs. For many of them you can win a book if you comment in the comments section!

The launch of the tour begins today at Women on Writing

http://muffin.wow-womenonwriting.com/

Today I'm answering a few questions about writing a linked story collection. I'll also be checking comments as the day continues.

See you there!

So you want to write a novel

2010-12-05T19:10:00.000-08:00

Next semester I'm teaching a novel writing course. Their first assignment is to watch this:

So You Want to Write A Novel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9fc-crEFDw&feature=player_embedded