Book Review: Once Upon a Time, There Was You

Many years ago, I read a book by Elizabeth Berg that I didn't enjoy and I've been avoiding her books ever since. After reading Once Upon a Time, There Was You, I've realized that was a mistake and I'm excited to read her extensive list of other works.

In this book, Berg captures that particular angst of being an eighteen-year-old girl lucky enough to be overprotected and loved by her parents. It will be years before Sadie understands she was lucky. For now, she is just desperate to get her life started and have it belong to her.

The novel alternates third person narratives, allowing the reader to identify with each of the three main characters: Sadie and her parents, John and Irene. When Irene resolves to have a conversation with her daughter in which she finally just listens, the reader is both frustrated by her and heartbroken for her when she fails, launching nearly immediately into a lecture.

The age range of these characters makes it appealing for a broad audience. You don't have to be eighteen if you remember being eighteen; you don't have to be a parent if you've had one. The peripheral characters are also expertly drawn, giving other examples of how people figure out how to love and be loved.

At one point, family friend Henry becomes aggravated with how hard Sadie is on her parents:

"Oh listen, Sadie. You know who does it right? You know who does loving right?"

"Who?"

"Nobody."

And that's the main message of the book. We may not do it right, but most of us are trying.

Book Review: Shelter

I intended to read the first few pages at the Barnes and Noble cafe, but this sucked me in for the whole first chapter.

The crises that begins this family drama is followed by a series of blows it seems impossible for one person to withstand. This is a fast-paced page turner that explores the way we are damaged by the past and whether we can find the strength to change.

KindleScout Anniversary Sale

Just over a year ago, my novel Finding Charlie was selected for publication by KindleScout.

This month KindleScout is celebrating its 2nd anniversary with a sale on over 200 titles currently supported by the imprint.

All KindleScout books, including Finding Charlie, will be available for 99 cents until April 3rd.

It isn't like Charlie to stay out all night without calling, but maybe Olivia doesn't know her little sister as well as she thought. 

When Charlie vanishes without warning, the people who love her are worried sick. Even if the law considers her an adult at nineteen, Charlie's still the baby of her already broken family. Older sister Olivia is determined to figure out what's happened. She finds a lost cell phone, an abandoned car and a shady boyfriend she's never met before. And he's not the only secret Charlie's been keeping.

This disappearance feels uncomfortably familiar, reminding Olivia and her father of another loss years before. But this will be different, Olivia swears. Charlie's coming back.

Top Five Reasons to Join a Critique Group

1. Find your tribe
Finding a group of people who spend their energy doing the same thing you do can make you feel less alone in what is otherwise a pretty solitary endeavor. When I'm forgetting to make my writing a priority, it's often my fellow writers who motivate me. And when I'm bummed out by an agent rejection or a bad review, they're great emotional support.

2. Trade wisdom
If you're rubbish at commas, make friends with the Punctuation Nazi. Offer something in return. Maybe you are really great at plot organization or dialogue or designing book covers or Kindle formatting. Maybe you have great contacts: reviewers, graphic artists, advertisers. When we share skills, it makes us all better.

3. Learn which advice to take
Everyone has an opinion. If you take on every suggested edit, it will no longer be your story and it may not even make sense when you're done. Think of the horse designed by committee. Wait for the advice that resonates, that hits on something you had a sneaking suspicion wasn't working. Pay extra attention to suggestions that are repeated by multiple group members.

4. Find your own mistakes by critiquing others
It can be hard to see your own work objectively. You're just too close to it. Sometimes it's easier to identify an issue in someone else's work and then apply it to your own.

5. Get a thicker skin
If you plan on submitting to agents or self-publishing where reader reviews determine sales, it's helpful to ease your way into listening to criticism. Your book will not be universally liked. Don't let it hurt your feelings. I like to read Amazon reviews of my favorite books to remind myself that anyone can get one-starred.

There are more than five reasons to join a critique group. What are your reasons?

Transitioning from Traditional to Self-Publishing

Somewhere between the successful release of my best-selling debut, Monsoon Season, and the lackluster release of my second novel, A Long Thaw, I began to feel like the publisher I was working with just wasn’t the right fit for me.

Getting out of the contract without an agent was a bit tricky, but I did it and I re-released A Long Thaw on my own. The process has been exciting, giving me complete control over how the book is promoted and getting immediate feedback regarding sales.

Since A Long Thaw was previously traditionally published, it's already been professionally edited and vetted by a standard gatekeeper, which hopefully will help give it that little extra bit of credibility in the sea of self-published books. All I had to do is find the cover, which I love.

I’ve always imagined A Long Thaw as a modern interpretation of the old prince and the pauper story. Abby and Juliet are cousins who, until the age of ten, live the same privileged, sheltered lives in a big Irish Catholic family. When Juliet’s parents divorce, her mother moves across the country so that she no longer has that safety net. The cousins reconnect in their twenties and the book deals with the ways we are changed by our experiences as well as the ways we are unchangable.

As a writer (and human being), I am endlessly fascinated by issues of identity and family dynamics, by the nature vs. nurture debate. These are things that inevitably find their way into my fiction.

Book Review: Fates and Furies

It is both shocking and reassuring when I read the reviews on Amazon for a book like this and see that there are actually people with the nerve to leave one star.

Yeah, the nerve.

This may not have been the best book I've ever read (though even those books have been one-starred), but Lauren Groff did not make the National Book Award finalists by accident. Who are these people who one-star a book because they were disappointed by the ending or they didn't fall in love with the main character, or they didn't get the point? They're certainly not writers. There are 201 one-star reviews. It's mind boggling.

The opening of this novel is so beautiful. That first page is what made me take the book home. Usually, I do extensive research before investing my time in a book. For this, I read the opening, closed the book, and set it in the "to buy" stack.

The book is divided into two main sections: the first is Lotto, the second is Mathilde. The reader gets to see their love story from the perspectives of each. The first section drags in places and Lotto comes off as arrogant but deeply loyal. You get the sense that this union has its share of dysfunction, but it's real. Mathilde's section sheds new light on events that seemed somewhat pointless in Lotto's. The second part is much darker and makes you wonder if these people ever really knew one another. The way events are retold from another angle is so well-done.

Criticism that it's pretentious because of its many high-brow literary allusions and it's focus on affluent white people is accurate if those things bother you. But that's what three-star reviews are for.

NaNoWriMo 2016

Image courtesy of National Novel Writing Month

Today, my Facebook feed began with a status update memory from this day last year: "NaNoWriMo starts today so if anything big happens (terrorist attack, celebrity death, congress passes a bill), someone better email me."

Oh, yeah. I should be writing.

Writers know November is the month we hunker down and try to crank out 50,000 words. We commiserate online with other writers at the NaNoWriMo site or on other social media. We update our wordcounts daily. Last year, I topped off at 30,000 words. I consider that a win, even if it is shy of the stated goal. In the year since, I've added another 15,000. My personal goal this year is to finish it.

November is always a tricky month because of Thanksgiving. This year, I have family coming in from out of state so I know those days will be lost. But this year will be especially hard for those of us following the presidential election. I don't really feel like I can cut myself off from news the way I did last year. In many ways, NaNoWriMo won't totally start for me until the ninth.

If you're a NaNo writer, connect with me on the site. I'm katie78.