No Longer a COVID-19 Virgin

After avoiding catching COVID-19 for over five years, both my husband and I assumed that we were among the lucky few who were immune. At least, until this latest strain hit us like a bus two days after Easter. We’re finally coming out of it after more than two weeks. I’ve barely done a thing except sleep! In fact, my browser is still open to the countless “to-do’s” from the day I came down with symptoms. Anyone else out there who’s escaped the virus until now, watch out! Several other “COVID virgins” I know have finally been bitten by the bug. It’s no fun, but at least now we have vaccines and Paxlovid.

How to Keep Writing in a Commodified World

A few weeks prior to my COVID collapse, The Writers Circle hosted an event with three esteemed literary agents. We started with a discussion of what the agents were looking for and how they work with their clients. Then came time to pitch—ten minutes each, for those who signed up, to talk about their creative projects with the agents one-on-one.

While several people had great responses and even requests for partial manuscripts or “fulls,” some received blunt, discouraging feedback. The emotional fallout of those conversations landed in my inbox over the following days. I did my best to encourage, support, and sympathize. I, too, have received countless rejections in my career! But some of these writers were brand new to the process. They lacked the thick skin necessary to protect their tender literary hearts.

In general, I try to discourage pitching too soon. First, industry norms require a detailed proposal for memoir and nonfiction, and a well-polished, completed manuscript for fiction. Even with all that, rejection is inevitable. The numbers speak volumes. Of all the manuscripts that a publisher receives, only 1-2% are published, and that’s after a writer has successfully landed a literary agent who can get that manuscript onto the publishers’ hands in the first place. (According to some sources, the odds of that are even lower.)

It can come as a shock when one starts trying to sell one’s creativity. Writing is a craft and an art, but publishing is a business—and a particularly brutal one, given that its core commodity is extremely personal work created by generally very sensitive personalities. We slave over our words for months and years. Our stories are crafted from our bodies and blood, as if they were our children. We see in them all the power and beauty that should move the world.

Even if your work truly is brilliant, the publishing world may not see it that way. It’s a business of trends and bottom-lines, like any other. Successful authors I know have shared their unexpectedly good timing and sheer luck with awe. For them, things fell into place. For countless other writers—many of at least equal merit—not so.

In a culture where value is measured by money and fame, even the very best writers and artists often fall short. Does that mean that we should stop working? Or, worse, adapt our work to meet the perceived parameters of what is hot, saleable, trendy? (For what it’s worth, the agents on the panel discouraged our writers from writing to the trends, since by the time you get that trendy story finished, the trend will likely have come to an end.)

In Hindu philosophy, there are six enemies of the mind. Among them, desire, ego, and envy are all evils that I suffer every time I allow my attention to drift toward success and away from my work on the page. So I try to tamp them down, try to shut out all distractions, and home in on the words before me until they become pictures and people and emotions in my mind. And subtly, suddenly, I am immersed in a life that is as alive in my imagination as the world that has faded away.

Those moments are why I started to write in the first place. To fully experience another life, another time, another place, another worldview, and to make it mine. Writing multiplies the one life we are given into countless more, and it gives us the grace to know that we have fully lived.

If you find yourself struggling with rejection, with fear of rejection, or simply with the human tendency to put the cart before the horse, try to come to your work with this objective in mind: Just write. Don’t worry about publishing or pitching. Don’t imagine your book on the shelves at your favorite bookstore or your big book tour or your rave reviews. Before any of that can happen—if it ever does—you simply have to write. In fact, the work of writing is the only thing you have any control over.

All you have to do is pick up a pen.

Refer a friend

Modern Greenland: Reclaiming Its Inuit Past

When I began researching The Thrall’s Tale, I found myself drawn strongly toward Greenland’s ancient proto-Inuit past, particularly the prehistoric Dorset and Thule cultures. There were many stories and legends that I longed to explore in my work, but I understood that living, breathing people in contemporary Greenland and elsewhere in the Arctic understood those ancient stories far more than I ever could. I had no right to tell their tales when they could and should speak for themselves.

In the sudden spotlight of today’s discomforting politics, this article about the reclamation of Inuit traditions, including facial tattoos, drumming, and shamanism, highlights the vitality of traditional culture in Greenland, even after generations of colonialization and cultural suppression.

I recall a demonstration of “traditional” Greenlandic dance and music when I was there which consisted of young people dancing in rounds to an accordion—cheerful, but clearly influenced by colonial Danish rule. It wasn’t until an old man came forward with a round, flat drum, a qilaat, that the performance echoed with authenticity.

In fact, the charming Netflix comedy, North of North, about a contemporary Canadian Inuit community, briefly mentions some of this. And it’s just been renewed for Season Two. Check it out.

Happy Book Birthday to AKMARAL

I cannot believe my novel is a year old. It’s been a very busy year filled with lots of celebrations. Here’s a little video of some of the wonderful moments. Thanks to everyone who made this book launch amazing!

Yes, I still long for more readers and reviews. PLEASE spread the word and ADD YOUR OWN REVIEW on Amazon, Goodreads, or wherever you share your favorite books.

Creative Writing Prompt: Write Your Own Obituary

I had the privilege of moderating a panel at the Montclair Literary Festival last weekend which included author John Kenney and his new novel I SEE YOU’VE CALLED IN DEAD. In it, the protagonist Bud is an obituary writer who, in a moment of personal crisis, compulsively writes his own obit and, because he can, clicks “publish.” Yes, the book is about death and dying, but it’s much more about learning to live.

I don’t usually read humorous contemporary novels, but this one deepened with every page. By the end, I had truly been on a journey with Bud that affirmed life’s most important aspects: friendship, love, and finding meaning in every day.

PROMPT: Write Your Own Obituary

OK, no one wants to think about dying, but we all know that, sooner or later, every one of us will. This exercise pushes you to imagine the words that will memorialize your life, hopefully at a ripe old age when all your hopes, dreams, and accomplishments will have been realized. If that feels too up close and personal, try writing the obituary of a fictional character—one of yours or one that you’ve appreciated in someone else’s work.

As the narrator in Kenney’s novel puts it:

“I realize, at first glance, that the idea of writing one’s own obituary while still alive may sound morbid. It’s not, though. I promise you. It’s a needed reminder of who you are, of what truly matters. Because it’s your life and there’s still time to write it. Before I have to.”

AKMARAL: a nomad woman warrior of the ancient Central Asian steppes must make peace with making war

4.7 stars on Amazon | 4.27 stars on Goodreads - PLEASE ADD YOUR OWN REVIEW!

“A crackling novel”—Publishers Weekly | “A gripping saga”— #1 bestselling author Christina Baker Kline

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