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Wednesday Musings April 5, 2006 April 19, 2006 May 3, 2006 May 24, 2006 June 2006 August 2, 2006 What to do when you have a 600 plus page
novel, and you are relatively unknown? The split also caused a problem with the
format. The original version alternated between first person (Faye’s
point of view) and third person (Neecey’s point of view). Since, most
of Neecey’s story has been told, I have to rewrite the remaining
chapters. How do I do that? Hmmm? Well, while I gnaw on that problem,
I will finish up novel number three and get it out. (I want to gush
because I simply love this new novel and hope you will too.) Cris
Thank you for your patience. July was a horrendous month. One of my
sisters has AIDS and developed PCP pneumonia. Her lungs were not
receiving sufficient oxygen. Twice she had to be placed on a ventilator
that forced oxygen into her lungs. At one point, her condition was so
critical that the doctor asked us what our wishes were as far as
resuscitating her again. We wrestled with the decision whether to
resuscitate or not. Fortunately, for us, our sister was able to make
her wishes. Thankfully, she overcame this episode and is now in an
extended care facility. Cris This is a busy traveling month from Dayton to Chicago to Las Vegas to Sacramento. I am also transitioning from full time employement. Hopefully, in July I'll have the musings back on track and the website current. Please be patient and visit again. Cris It has been a hectic two weeks. California State Employees are
struggling to get decent wages from a governor who has not listened to
their cries. Why is it that we often think that State Employees are
lazy or indifference? Fact is, in California, many State Employees have
huge workloads and are paid much less than private sector and other
public sector employees. Strange. California is touted as the sixth
richest economy in the WORLD. Yet, the ratio of workers to
citizens is
less than states with lower economies. As a research analyst, I spend
many hours digging for data, investigating government official, tracing
the money-line, pushing paper, crunching numbers, attending meetings
and, after all that, coming home to a family that tends to be needy.
Thank God for insomnia. After the world is quiet, I write. So, I say
all of this to apologize for the lateness of this musing. Cris The controversy surrounding Kaavya Viswanathan's novel, How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life is old news. It was on my last Wednesday Musings' reading list and, yes, I have scratched it. Even when it is revised, I doubt I will read it. It has lost its appeal. No, longer is it a phenomenal story by a young girl who commanded $500,000 book deal but a book "influenced" by another author. Now, I feel an obligation to confess to my readers, that I too have been “influenced” by other writers. Most notably, if you have read SilkyDreamGirl, you probably recognized Dickens' exaggeration of character and moments. In Neecey's Lullaby I most admit that I ran to the shelf often for Crime and Punishment steal Dostoevsky lack of emotion for moments in Neecey's Lullaby. You have probably noticed that Zora Neal Hurston, Toni Morris, and Paula Marshall, Charles Johnson, John Wideman, Earnest Gaines, The Brother's Grimms, Andrew Lang, Anne Sexton, Pablo Neruda, and a whole bunch of other writers are skating across my pages. Sometimes, the flow of words--the majesty rhythm of a writer’s voice--influences my style. Sometimes, I get so lost and confused trying to find the right word for the right moment, that I most read classic novels. (Right now, Herman Melville is helping me with my next novel.) The greatest form of flattery for a writer, I think is to have other writers admit that you influence them. Yet, I think it is a betrayal to the Art to lift words and passages and claim them as your own. I do not know the truth behind the story of Ms. Viswanathan and her novel. (Katie Couric pointed out that she did not really explain the similarity.). I have Confessed to many classmates, friends, family, any stranger on the street, that my very first novel was a rewrite of Sula. I was so proud that I had written such a fine book. I gave the manuscript to a friend and she came back laughing her head off. At her suggestion, I reread Sula. In the end, I was embarrassed and the manuscript was shredded. Writing is a tough business. It's lonely, often boring (because of the research) and when the initial deal is made, a new writer or one who has not written a break out novel, earns less than a Sacramento secretary. I hope someday, my writing influences someone. I hope I can help them with their writer's block. I hope they read and see a particular word or frame that jump-start their writing. Most of all, I hope they give me proper credit for my passages. Truthfully, I doubt sister-girl would be as forgiving as Megan McCafferty. Until next time, here is my book list for the next two weeks. Moby Dick by Herman Melville. Cris
If you live in San Francisco, please check out Alexander Book Company and the wonderful Bernard Richards. He made my appearance there memorable. The store is a cozy number in the heart of downtown. I am sending him a special snail mail. Remember snail mail, those small white envelopes, written in the best penmanship, and often three or more pages long. Those letters were crammed with news and tidbits and brought joy, laughter, tears, and sorrow. Those letters pulled the Gulf of Mexico up to the Canadian borders, looped California around to New York, and compacted the whole world into a tight rectangle. Those letters were often saved, tied with ribbon, and stored in a special dry tin. Twenty-five years later and those white envelopes turn yellow and crinkly from so much handling. But that was long before the internet and the dispassionate words that have no inflection and very little voice. In my place of business, email has caused more private wars than the back-biting rung climbers who lack the warmth of a dime stamp. I had a co-worker who warned me never to put anything in email that could come back and bite me. So, I edit my emails to the bare minimal. Careful that my words will not be misconstrued or not overly emotional. I do miss snail mail. Collections of letters often appeared in print after a writer died. Those letters often discussed a writer's method, process, and madness. On another note, I need to read. I want to read. When will I find time to read? Reading, I find, frees my brain. Reading is as important to my writing process as pen and paper. Could that be the cause of the four- year-gap between my novels. Yes! So, I have vowed to read more and therefore write more. My spring list of books includes: Push by Sapphire
Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings : Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life by Tyler Perry The Covenant with Black America by Tavis Smiley (Editor) What's a Black Critic to Do?: Interviews, Profiles and Reviews of Black Writers by Donna Bailey Nurse Life Is Not a Fairytale by Fantasia Barrino This weekend I will be at Wordstock in Portland, Oregon. Come on by. Cris
I am home after participating in Story Week, an annual event hosted by the Fiction Writing Department of Columbia College, signing books at Borders on 95th Street, and dining with a small book club in Bolingbrook, Illinois (you women really need to come up with a name for your club). In Sacramento, a large crowd attended the reading at Borders on Fair Oaks. So many people brought their small children that my friend, Marjorie, read to the children while I kept the adult entertained. Thanks, Marge. All of the groups had similar questions about my writing process, especially after learning I work a full-time job and have a husband, two sons at home, a cat, a dog, and a house that has a comfortable shabby look (a little to organized but if you want to curl up on my furniture, it's okay.) Truth is I find writing extremely difficult. I need quiet. Quiet in this house does not exist until around 10 p.m. when everyone in my household retires. So, when this side of the world is asleep, I write with no interruptions. At times there is nothing going on in my head so some nights I find myself researching things like folk tales, peanut butter chocolate cake, my great-great-grandfather. Anything to keep from screaming because the words are not flowing. (I also do not want to wake the dog.) Again, writing is not easy. It is like pulling a wedding together. The right word, the right series of sentences, and the proper placement of paragraphs. Then you have those small pesky details (grammar) to handle. Hopefully, when the agent walks the novel up the aisle and presents it to the publisher, nothing unravels. New commitments are made and the union is a joyous one. Yet things do unravel. Writers do want to add a line here, a word there, rewrite the middle, the end, the whole blasted book. Often I read a paragraph and go what was I thinking? That not what I meant to say! Okay, enough musing for this week. Maybe next week I will explain why I should have spent more time reading than writing last year. Or maybe you have a question for me. Email me at crisburks@crisburks.com, or if you are in San Francisco on Friday, April 14, join me at Alexander Books at 12:30 p.m. I will be the one reading from Neecey’s Lullaby. Cris |
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