Points of Claire-ification

Embrace the Fall

2012-02-10T00:23:00.000+09:00

I'm in Sapporo, my favourite city in Japan, and possibly the world for the next few days. Happy!

...

In my first Japanese winter, I discovered that they don't do much with the snow here. Sure, they shovel it, but they don't do that whole salting thing like in the US. And I think they only snowplough when the snow gets too tall for people to be able to go to work. Japan would collapse if people couldn't get to work. In this country, typhoons aren't cause for days off. Heck, after last year's earthquake, people tried to continue working, but the whole 20-shakers-in-an-hour made it so they gave up.

Anyhow, I walk everywhere here. The Thursday school I take a bus to, but it's still an 8 minute walk to the bus stop, and then and 8 minute walk to the school. My first year, the snow started in November and the last snow was in May. Seven months of snow/ice. Slip, slip, slide. I spent that first year being really tense, always convinced that I was seconds away from falling.

Then, one day on Death Trap Road (story for another day), I did fall. One of those slowed-down affairs where you know from the start what's happening and it takes forever to happen. Of course, Murphy's Law was in fine form that day. Noone was around when I started falling, but the second before I hit the ground, someone appeared. A kid. One of my students. The only student of 400 who laughed every single time he saw me. Yup, that kid would have to be the one to see my fall.

For the rest of the winter, I was even more afraid of falling. I got to the point where I wouldn't go anywhere that didn't require going. I would never go to the library or the supermarket unless I was at my main elementary across the road from them. When I got home, I wouldn't set a toe outside until work the following morning. If I discovered, on a weekend, that all I had in the house was eggs, then I would have an omelette-filled weekend.

I didn't fall again until the next winter. We live on an evil brute of a hill. I can avoid using it when I go to the office, to my junior high or to the tiny elementary, but it's a straight shot for my main elementary. Any other road would add 15 to 20 minutes to my route. After this second fall, a thought occurred to me.

I'd been as careful as I could be, and I'd still fallen.

From that day, I threw away the concept of not falling. It's not that I'm convinced I'll never fall again. This year's cartoonish, run-on-the-spot-then-fall fall proved that it still happens. It's not that I don't worry about falling. It's not that I don't care that I might. And I no longer worry that falling makes me look like an amateur snow-walker. Yesterday morning on my way to work, I saw one of my 7-year-old students leave his house. He took two steps and fell flat on his face.(He was fine. Got back up, and kept walking.)

Every winter, there exists a possibility that I might fall. Whatever I do, no matter how hard I try, I may fall. It's not in the realm of things I can control.

I've got two options.

I can lock my knees off, worrying at every slip. I can sequester myself in my house. I can take little Mini Me steps and spend twice as long tip-toeing around.

Or I can risk falling every now and then.

Priority: Writing - Work

2012-02-08T22:09:00.002+09:00

In my current position, as a government employee in Japan, I'm not allowed to receive remuneration for anything that doesn't count as part of my job. Sadly, that means writing. It got me to thinking about how I prioritise writing. So over the next couple/few/several weeks, I'll be posting on how, when and what writin takes priority over.

WORK

My job has a time limit. I have a maximum of 5 years. That leaves me less than a year and a half. I know how publishing works. Even if I got an agent tomorrow, I would probably not being seeing money in hand for a novel within that time span. So right now, this remuneration issue would only arise with short work. (I've already devised a solution. Charity. I mean re they really going to stop me from earning money for a needy cause?)

So, it's not much of an issue for now, but it got me thinking about the future.

When I took this job, I had no intention of receiving remuneration elsewhere. I decided to 'go pro' in 2008, after my first Nano, and after having lived in Japan for a few months. Now, I know I want to write (and sell) novels, I can't see the point in taking a job that won't allow me to do that.

Some people will make the bird in hand argument. How can I sacrifice the job I know I could have for the possibility of one that might never come? It's true, that is a sacrifice. On the other hand, let's say I take that job and then I get a book deal with a small advance. What do I do? Quit my job when the publishing company sends me a thousand-dollar check? Risk my job on the hope that no one in my HR department reads YA? Refuse the book deal? (*laughs a little* *cries more*)

I just don't see the point of putting myself through that stress. So, I've decided that unless it's absolutely unavoidable - I'm living Garbage Pail Kids' style - then I'm taking a job that will let me have other work.

Job type
Seeing writing as a priority, type of job is also important. I've been spoiled be starting out on my writing career as an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) on the JET (Japan Exchange and Teaching) programme. There are days when all I have to do is sit there. I use zero brain power many days, so my brain is only to happy to perform when I need it. I only work 7 hours a day. I live less than an hour's walk from all my schools. I have oodles of free time.All of these combine to say this: there has never been a better time for me to be a writer. There probably will never be another time this perfect. (Until I can support myself on my writing alone.)

It would be considerably more difficult for me to writeif I held a job which didn't allow me a lot of free time and/or ate up all my brain power. I don't know how easy it will be to swing these requirements, but you can bet I will try.

That's how and when I'm prioritising writing over the day job. How about you?

Wow, in the saddest way

2012-02-06T22:00:00.000+09:00

Recently, I called a friend to tell him happy birthday. He wasn't home. I made small talk with his mother for a while, because she loves me to pieces. (I seem to have that effect on other people's mothers.) She asked if I was home. Then she asked about my marriage (SNARF) and I asked her where she'd invented this husband, and if he was cute!

Just before she hung up, I told her to wish her son happy birthday on my behalf. And she said, "Oh, yeah!"

I wish I could say this was an isolated incident, and that it shocked me. But I can't, it wasn't and it didn't. I have only known this guy for a decade, give or take a couple months, and he doesn't talk much about his childhood, but it's pretty clear he's never had anyone.

He's the kind of kid who never did well in school, because noone cared if he did homework. He was always on the street, because noone cared if he came home. To this day, he still lives a life of just crashing whereever, because his parents don't bother to make any room for him (although they do for their other kids), and he'll never be in a position to own his own anything.

And he's always in some kind of trouble. Especially when I - as one of the few people who gives a chinese noodle - am overseas. Now, I'm not saying that a family that forgets (to the point that you wonder if they actively try) a person's existence gives them the right to be and do whatever they feel like. But it just got me to thinking.

What must it be like? To have noone on your side? To know that people care about everybody but you? To be the one who never has a present under the Christmas tree? To be the one crashing on a floor, while everyone else gets a room and a bed?

It has got to hurt. Like no other hurt I can think of.

My mother and I (like maybe half the women in the Western world) have a supremely complex relationship. Yet, my mother has never once forgotten my birthday. She's always checked on homework. She micro-manages my life despite my best efforts. (Seriously, she still manages to get in some poking about from the other side of the world!)

As a mother myself, I am made entirely of SUCK. And even I remember my son's birthday.(Helps that it's on a holiday. lol)

And, it's not just his mother. It's everyone.

So today, I'm praying for all the people who have noone. I'm praying for all the people that suffer from someone else's cruelty, intentional or not. I'm praying for their strength, and that they find love and understanding. I'm praying that someone reaches out just when they need it.

I'm praying that someone somewhere remembers their birthday.

School is now in session

2012-02-03T21:05:00.001+09:00

Every now and again, I notice the differences in Japanese schools and the schools in Barbados. Quite a few of these differences probably carry over to your education system as well, so I thought I'd share a few of them.

The System

Japan- kids mandatorily start school at 6. Elementary school runs until 12 (6 years). Middle school goes until 15(3 years). High school goes until 18 (3 years).

Barbados- we start school at 5. Primary school runs until 11(6 years), but can be shorter if you're smart. Secondary school runs until 16 or 18, depending on which school you go to.

The student's roles

Japan- Having been here for 3 1/2 years, I realise that we treat our kids like babies in the West. In Japan, the 6th years at elementary school are responsible for lots of things. The kids walk to school in little groups, led by 6th years. And the 6th years lead "souji" teams, as well. (More on souji in a moment.)

At middle school, the kids have even more responsibility. Like when we went on the school trip, each group of students called up the people at the place they were going to on their "free research day", something I feel the teachers would have done back home. Students take the attendance and come write it on the staff room board. (They do this in elementary school, as well.) Sports teams practise on their own, with the coach/teacher in charge passing through sometimes.

I wonder if I'll ever get used to students just walking into the staff room. The procedure is this: knock on the door, say who you're going to, and go. The students can also take keys for the locked rooms from the staff room. If you allowed Western teens access to locked rooms en masse, you'd probably elevate the teen pregnancy rate.

Barbados- The student body is less communal. Because our island is so centralised, we all get to school however we can. Some of us take the bus, some are driven. Very few live within walking distance of their secondary school.

Teens can not just walk into the staff room. I can count the times I went into the staff room at my secondary school. If you need something from a teacher, you go to the door, and someone will ask you who you're waiting for. If there were any sorts of trips, or anything involving the business community, that was organised by the teachers, with the exception of some older students. If anyone ever had any keys to anything, even for a minute, they were one of the "trusted few."

Studies

Japan- One thing I don't think I'll ever get used to is the changing timetable. In middle school the timetable is different every day, every week. Some days are 5 period days, some days are 6. And there's a 10 minute break between classes.

Also, Japanese students (in my town/prefecture) do fewer subjects. Nine, by my count. The same nine are studied from beginning to end of middle school. And, it seems impossible to be kept back a year until at least high school level.

Barbados- We have a weekly timetable that only changes in special circumstances. When one period ends the other begins. The luxury of breaks between classes is a university thing. Depending on the school, there are 7 or 8 periods per day. And students can study as many as 13 subjects. Also subjects change as you advance. Like you might have a class like "Guidance" in your first year. And Technical Drawing will appear as an option around the 3rd year.

Teachers

Japan- Even though the students have greater roles, the teachers also have more responsibility. Like if a student shoplifts, even when not wearing uniform, the store will often call the school. Teachers are not purely academic leaders. At middle school, every teacher is responsible for a club activity or sport. They are also each members of different groups, like the social group that organises the staff outings.

A major difference from the West is that the fact that academics is out of session does not mean that school is out, and therefore teachers are NOT ON VACATION. Club activities run pretty much every day of the year, including Sundays for some clubs.

Teachers are kind of like a 3rd parent. Unlike the West, where a teacher may meet a student's parents at an academic parent-teacher consulation day, the teachers in Japan, especially in the countryside, know the parents by name. At my middle school, they know the parent's jobs, the home situation, other brothers and sisters, even if they're at other schools. At my tiny elementary school, the teachers know all the kids grandparents! Weirdly, I know most of them now, too.

One final element of teaching life is transfers. The Japanese system has this weird way of randomly transferring people. In the teaching system, you can expect to be transferred every 3 to 10 years. You'll be transferred within your prefecture. In my prefecture, that means it's possible to end up working 4 hours away from where you live. This means lots of uprooting or living away from family. Like I said, this one isn't limited to teachers only.

Wa

Wa is the Japanese concept of harmony. There are two things within the school system which, I think, exemplify this concept. Firstly, there's club. In middle school, every student is required to join a club. Clubs can be sports, or things like band. You can only really be a member of one club. They all meet at the same time, an hour or two (or 4) after school. In the West, you can be a Girl Guide (Scout), on the school paper, on the soccer team, etc. In fact, big name colleges look for it.

Then there's souji. Souji means cleaning. In Japan, the students are responsible for cleaning the school. I could see a collective law suit if we tried this at home.

Uniforms

This one last category is one that Barbados has in common with Japan, but I've included it because in most countries, uniforms are reserved private institutions.

So there you have it, some of the bigger differences between school here and school in the West. How did your school life differ from these?

Being thankful

2012-02-02T19:59:00.001+09:00

You've heard me complain recently about the cold. Every year, we drop below -10 C and stuff that was never meant to freeze, freezes. What gets me through the winter? The knowledge that no matter where you are in Japan, the weather sucks at some point in time. So when the "Southerners" are dealing with 40 degrees C (100s F) and 80 % humidity, the weather is less miserable up here in the frozen North. There's usually only 1 unbearable week for me. Whereas my friends who aren't suffering so badly right now, have months of "I showered 47 seconds ago, why am I covered in sweat?"

I've also taken to being generally amused by winter. Apart from the washing machine/ frozen kitchen lake incident, I laugh off whatever winter throws my way. So this morning when I found snow on the INSIDE of my front door, and one of my teachers said "Oh, yeah it was really windy," I laughed that off. (There are so many things in Japan, that could only exist in Japan. If everybody had doors like this in most other countries, thieves would make a killing!)

When I was leaving home, I struggled to open my door, because two feet of snow had fallen overnight. I laughed that off, too. Normally, I shovel any snow I see right away. If I don't, then the old man opposite my neighbour will shovel it. And then the old lady opposite me, will lay a guilt trip on me for "making" an old man shovel my walkway. But today, I had to hurry since Thursday is the mountain school, the only school that requires me to take a bus, and therefore be at a bus stop at a particular time. (Of course, when I got home, my walkway had been shovelled- presumably by the old man.)

In the country, Japanese roads don't have sidewalks. There's a painted white line that says, this is the edge of the road, and people are meant to walk inside that line. Needless to say, there was no white line today. Even though the entire neighbourhood (minus me) was outside shovelling the road, there was nowhere for me to walk but in the middle of it. When I got to the traffic light, I stood behind a car. I couldn't walk on the inside of it, because of snow, and I couldn't walk around it, because of oncoming cars. I laughed that off too.

The bus was late. You probably don't understand what that means, but you could set your watch by Japan's transportation system. Every bus stop has a time listed on it, and the bus will get there at that time. Not before. Not after. If the bus is early, they drive slower, to lose the time, before they reach the bus stop. And today, the bus was 15 minutes late. I laughed that off.

As, I boarded the bus, I thought, today is crazy. Iwate prefecture's side of the mountains (The Pacific Ocean side) is colder, but less snowy. The Akita prefecture (Japan Sea) side is snowier, but usually not as cold. In fact, the coldest place on Honshu (main island of the Japanese archipelago) is in Iwate. Weird, because we are not the northernmost prefecture. Anyhow, I jokingly made a mental memo to the snow.

Dear Snow,

You're on the wrong side of the mountains. I mean what were you thinking, 2 feet in Iwate?

Wading through it,
Claire

And then I saw the news tonight. In Akita, on the other side of my mountains, there was 5 FEET OF SNOW overnight, AND AN AVALANCHE which killed 3 people.

How's that for perspective? Tonight, I'm sending condolences to those families. And I being thankful for the crazy ice palace that I live in. The snow is always whiter on the other side of the mountains, but you can never truly know the disadvantages of all the bad things that didn't come your way.

Still cold

2012-01-30T20:00:00.000+09:00

Hey honeys,

I hope you've missed me :)

The reason for the disappearing act is that it's still cold. Like -16 Celcius (3.2 Farenheit). INSIDE. I'm now at the point where all but one of the running water outlets in the house are frozen. (Toilet bit the dust this morning.) I've given up on cooking since there's no water in the kitchen. I don't wash clothes since I've no intention of turning half the house into a skating rink again.

By the time this cold snap is over, it will have been 14 days in a below freezing house. I've only got to make it to Saturday when we get up to a fabulous 2 degrees Celcius! YAY!

I'm sorry, but when it's this cold, it's really hard to think about anything else. It's Monday, that's what's on my mind.

Un-ashamed

2012-01-23T20:25:00.000+09:00

It amazes me how often people are ashamed of things over which they have no control. Like bodily function. I thought about it today in the bathroom at work. You know how, when you're in a public bathroom, you don't want anyone to hear a single noise. Here in Japan, they'll go as far as flushing the toilet while they use it, so you can't hear. Or in some cases, Japan's complicated toilets, there are buttons which make a flushing noise, or better yet, play music.

This particular toilet unfortunately doesn't sing. It just has the most complicated bidet system known to man.

This shame doesn't just stay in the restroom. It's all around.

When your legs stick to the plastic of your chair and make a funny noise when you get up
When a girl first gets her monthly visitor
Diarrhea (Gastroenteritis is interesting in that people will freely talk about food coming back up one end, but not about it running out the other)
The first time you let one rip (belch or fart) in front of a new friend or significant other
One time, a coworker was ashamed about how little urine he put in the urine container for the medical

These things are all natural and happen to everybody or a majority of people. But it's not even just in the physical. We're ashamed of many other things that we can't change.

People are often ashamed of they best they can be because it's less than what someone else can do. Some people are ashamed of getting a B grade, even when they try their hardest. Some people are ashamed when by the efforts they make at something creative or technical or academic. I was ashamed today at the gym, when a senior citizen "ran laps around me" on the treadmill.

I think the most common thing that people are ashamed of is failure. When your effort isn't good enough, or it doesn't measure up to someone else's. But it's just like it was with the physical, everybody goes through these things. Everybody has something they wish they were better at. Additionally, many of the people you compare yourself to, are good now, because they were once bad and pressed through it. They once failed in the most epic of ways, but knew that success lies on the sunny side of Mt. Failure.

There's no shame in being human. The only shame is in not trying to be a good one.

It's Monday, that's what's on my mind. (And yes, I did think through the bones of this post over a Japanese squatty potty. Brings new meaning to "brain in the toilet.")

I took this picture in a bathroom at the 8th station on Mt Fuji. (Seriously!) Apparently, Elvis drops his pink, frilly shorts to use a squatty potty and a cat cheers him on. The air is pretty rare on Fuji.

Sumimasen - The Japanese art of apology

2012-01-20T21:00:00.000+09:00

Spend 5 minutes in Japan and you'll hear it.

Sumimasen.

It's the most common form of apology. More polite than "gomen" used with friends and children. Less formal than the complex "moushi wake arimasen."

For a Westerner, it's shocking. Japanese people are always apologising. And when you live in this culture, you're expected to apologise in the same way as well. If you have an accident on your personal time in your personal car, you're expected to apologise to your boss. When you leave work, you apologise to the people you've left behind. Almost any time you walk up to a colleague, your conversation starts with a "sumimasen."

Sometimes, this causes some cultural problems. People are resistant to apologise, especially when it's not their fault. Even more so, when they are not sure there's a fault to be had. Once, I had to apologise for getting to school at 7.32, for a 7.55 departure for a trip!

It's taken me almost 4 years to realise that sumimasen is not about blame. When I first started watching anime, 4 months into my stint in Japan, I only understood a little Japanese. But even with my little, I'd listen to the Japanese, and read the English subtitles, and laugh. That's not what he said! After a while, I remembered the intricacies of subtitling (around 72 spaces and 4-6 seconds per subtitle). I also spent time trying to explain words like "gaman" and "ganbatte" (posts for another time) to friends and family. As opposed to French and Spanish and Italian, where English speakers had the same experiences or often were familiar with them (ex siesta), Japan operated under a completely different set of rules. It is often impossible to translate in a strict "this Japanese word means this English word" sense.

Sumimasen sometimes means "Excuse me," calling someone's attention. But even when it's the apologetic sumimasen, it doesn't always mean you've done something wrong. It may mean that you've done something that puts yourself ahead of your colleagues (bad in Japan's harmonic society). It may mean that something you did inconvenienced someone else, whether or not it's your fault. It may even mean thank you, in the sense of, "oh, you shouldn't have." I later found out that the reason I had to apologise for being "late" for the trip was that there's an unwritten rule, that you get to these things 1/2 hour early, and when I wasn't there, it caused other teachers to worry. (Sadly, this kind of thing happens a lot, because I have no idea of the unwritten cultural rules.)

I hope that gives a little insight into Japanese language and society. If it doesn't, then there's only one thing left to say.

Sumimasen.

We love what we're not

2012-01-19T21:44:00.001+09:00

You're probably sick of me droning on and on about the fact that I'm watching Gilmore Girls :) I'll try and be better about it next next week. But today, I was thinking about why I'm so into it.

I'm witty. Hang around for more than 10 seconds and you know that my brain makes all these crazy leaps, that make sense after you've seen them, but never before. (Like yesterday's post about Monsters Inc. and writing.) But what Lorelai and Rory are that I'm not, is subdued, controlled. They've always got a witty comeback, and they choice to use it, rather than the easier response of shrieking, talking too loudly, or saying, "WHAT?"

I'm a lot of things, but I'm not controlled. And I'm definitely not subdued. I'm a funny person - in person, if not online - but my humour is more like a less irreverant Katt Williams, than like Juno. Humour jumps (loudly) out of my mouth as fast as it jumps into my brain.

So one thing that I really love about Lorelai and Rory, is that dry humour. That ability to just drop a one-liner and leave it alone. That's so not me. And I love it for that.

I don't think this is some earth-shattering revelation or anything. But I hear, especially in the YA world, lots of talk about people needing books about people like them. It's not always the case. Sometimes we need stories about things we're afraid to be, or would never do in a million years. Sometimes we want to read about people who we could never be like in a million years. It's okay to wish we were different sometimes.

Sometimes we love what we're not.

(PS, Sorry if I'm too philosophical this week. I'm in a cloud and can't seem to find my way back to practical earth. :( )

A writing lesson from Monsters Inc.

2012-01-18T21:00:00.000+09:00

If you haven't watched Disney/Pixar's Monsters Inc. yet, you might want to go do that before you read this post. Go on, I'll wait.

In Monsters Inc., the scary beings that live in closets and under the bed really do exist. But they don't walk around scaring kids for the fun of it. The energy of screams is used to power their city. In recent times, children are becoming less and less frightened, and so everyone is worried about the future of energy. (Seriously how does Pixar do these films with deeper meanings like that?)

One day, a little girl accidentally slips into the monsters' city. Hilariously, they are more afraid of her than she of them, thinking that she's a contamination. Her being in the city brings about an incredible discovery. She laughs and everything shortcircuits. The monsters have never seen anything like it.

How's that for a writing lesson?

Remember that old school thought that people had to be Drunk, Drugged, or Depressed to write? We don't take it that far these days, but we do bend ourselves over backwards sometimes. At the end of the day, if you're sadt, don't think it's your only option for generating a result.

In the same way that the power grid couldn't handle the little girl's laughter, there is tremendous energy in our happiness. If things are hard, take a break. Do something you really enjoy. Your writing won't suffer for you being happy. According to Sully, the main character in Monsters Inc., "Laughter is ten times more powerful than Scream."

Go ahead. Enjoy yourself. I dare you.

This post was inspired by a post by Elana Johnson. SURRENDER, the second book in her dystopian series, will be out soon.

Like a girl, but not

2012-01-17T21:23:00.001+09:00

Thanks for the "warm" comments yesterday. You might notice my neighbour also commented. It's not that it's terribly cold here; there are colder places. It's just that our houses have NO INSULATION WHATSOEVER. You can't really expect to live like that in -10 Celcius. Anyhow today was a much better day in general.

I mentioned yesterday that my Complete Series of Gilmore Girls and Dawson's Creek arrived. I was so psyched that I also mentioned it on Facebook and Twitter. A friend from back home tweeted back:

@ClaireDawn Dawson's Creek & Gilmore Girls??....u r such a girl!!!

6 hours ago

And I am. I live on girly shows like this. I love Gossip Girl and Desperate Housewives, and back in the day I was all over 90210 (although when I saw a rerun the other day, I realise that it was incredibly bad.)

And that's not the only girly stuff I do. I LOVE PINK. I mean like it's a part of my soul or something. My PC is pink. My cell phone is pink. My camera is pink. One of the two pairs of heels I have in Japan is pink. Lorelai said something on the second episode of Gilmore Girls that really encapsulated me and the pink. Her cute, furry alarm clock didn't go off and she woke up late. She said, "I really need to stop buying things just because they're furry!" That's me and pink. So many completely impractical purchases happened because of the pink.

I also love Disney. I love all the Princesses and Princes. I've seen Tangled in 5 languages.That pink cellphone I mentioned? It's a Disney phone. (Japan is uber-cool for even having such a thing.) My ring tone is Part Of Your World (Little Mermaid). My text tone is Aloha E Komo Mai (Stitch). My alarms are The Best Thing I Never Knew I Needed (Princess and the Frog) and He's a Pirate (Pirates of the Caribbean).

So, there are a few things that I do more girly than the girliest.

But in other ways, I'm totally a tomboy.

I never wear make-up. My hair always looks like something built a nest in it. I avoid skirts like the plague (getting better about this). I'm not a fan of chocolate or cheesecake or ice cream. I hate shopping unless it's books or movies. I love guy anime. (You know the fight-y type.)

In short, I'm really girly until I'm not. What my friend said on Twitter reminded me of a point that I keep coming back to again and again. You can never assign a whole stereotype to a person. There will always be some points of departure. It's a good lesson to remember for life and for writing.

How about you? How are you a girly girl or a manly man? How are you not?

24 hours from Hell and Heaven

2012-01-16T20:00:00.000+09:00

There aren't any words to describe the last 24 hours, so I'm going to just tell you what happened.

Last night, I turned half my house into an ice rink! I guess it was kharma's way of getting back at me for grumbling about the cold last Monday.

It all started when I attempted to wash a load of laundry, forgetting that you only do laundry at midday in winter. I boiled water and defrosted the drain and the washing machine hose like a good girl. But apparently, I didn't defrost it well enough, and it overflowed into the shower room (toilet rooms are usually seperate here) and the kitchen.

Needless to say, I was pissed. I'm pretty sure it would be illegal to rent this house to anyone in most other winter countries. I mean, have you ever heard of someone defrosting their washing machine? And normally, I'm fine with the cold, but I'm tired of things breaking and freezing, that weren't meant to break or freeze.

I needed to vent. I tried calling a few friends back home, but they were all unavailable. I think that's the straw that broke the camel's back. I wasn't angry at them. But you can't guarantee anyone's availability but your own. I went into recluse mood. I switched off Facebook, all my IM programs, Skype, my cell. I decided I didn't need anybody at all.

As for the kitchen/ shower room, I had two choices, I could go trying to clean it up in the night and get frostbite, or let it freeze overnight, and defrost/mop in the morning. Y'all know which one I chose.

I woke up in a generally bad mood. I entered the shower room through the side door, bypassing the kitchen, and defrosted enough of it to be able to shower. Then I went to the mini mart for breakfast, because cooking while standing on a sheet of ice sounded like asking for trouble. Then I went to the office and talked my coworker's ear off.

I really, really, really didn't want to go to the municipal gym this evening. I only went because exercise helps bipolar disease, and last night's funk could easily slide into a depression. I walked into the training room and they were playing Madonna's "4 Minutes!"

Y'all don't even know how much of a change that is. The gym normally plays what I call 80's Dance Fab. My favourite track on the CD they're stuck on is Sinitta's "Cross My Broken Heart" (1987).

Seriously, she's wearing a unitard-dress. Oh 80's!
(Random fact: She dated Simon Cowell as a teen!)

Anyhow, someone must have bought the town a new CD, because I ended up working out to JT, Rihanna, Gnarls Barkley, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Pussycat Dolls and more. And, as I was the only one in the gym, I was totally belting them out between sets.

To top it off, one of the ladies from my English class, works there, and she gave me a ride home. (Normally have to take a taxi.) I'd only been home long enough to set up tomorrow's Hip Hop Dance class outfit to defrost (again, not kidding) when the postman knocked. (My doorbell is also broken. Sheesh, what isn't wrong with my house. lol.) He was bearing gifts. My birthday and Christmas presents to myself. The Complete Series of Dawson's Creek and Gilmore Girls!!! I'm such a 90's child.

I hope your day goes well! I'm off to hang with Rory and Lorelai.

Caribbean Context - Corporal Punishment

2012-01-14T02:55:00.001+09:00

A Jamaican friend and I got to talking about corporal punishment, ie, spanking, lashing or, as we say in Barbados, licks. In the Caribbean, we're firm believers in "Spare the rod, spoil the child."

The Old School

There's an African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child." In my parents' time, Barbados, Jamaica, and probably some of the other Caribbean islands also lived like this. You had to be careful that no adult that knew you, saw you do wrong. Say you were supposed to be walking home, and what you're actually doing is climbing the mahogany tree in the gully in your school uniform. Then Maisie from by the shop sees you. Licks.

It's moving away from that now. I never had it like that growing up, but there are parts of Barbados where it still happens. I think there are 2 main reasons it's disappearing. First, there's the concept of "you can't do x-y-z to my child." I kind of hate this concept, because half the time it's just teaching the children to be rebellious (that parent who tells her child not to write the teachers' lines, etc.). The second reason is that "village life" is disappearing. Once upon a time, you'd know everyone within a 1/2 hour walking distance. Now, that happens less and less.

School

I speak under correction, since I left Barbados 4 years ago, and I'm going on my childhood, at least for the primary school system. In primary school, all teachers can administer corporal punishment. I'm not sure what the rule is, but all the regular teachers in my primary school only did lashes in the palm with a ruler. The headmistress had a strap (leather belt), but you had to do something pretty deviant for that to come out. I remember that when someone got the strap, it was an event. We'd all be gathered outside listening to count the lashes.

In secondary school, the rules are stricter. I think you have to be a senior teacher to administer corporal punishment. At my secondary school, only the head and deputy head ever did. At 2 of the 3 schools I taught at, I can think of cases where senior teachers did as well.

There is one instance where I don't support corporal punishment. There were, when I was growing up, teachers in primary school who would lash for academics. That was a great motivator for those who could do better. But for those who were academically challenged, it was just an eternal sentence. There was one teacher (at another school, where my best friend went to lessons) that was legendary for it, but I think it's pretty much died out now.

Parents

Most parents in Barbados and Jamaica still believe in lashes. This section is probably going to sound like some sort of human rights violation to those of you who grew up in non-physical-punishment countries. But here goes nothing.

A few parents will settle for a smack of the hand, but as a child grows older, that becomes less effective. There are 3 types of parents that continue on the corporal punishment route: any belt, any thing, special belt.

The any belt parent, I think, is self explanatory.

The anything parent is a special breed. This parent or grandparent, usually female, will use anything that comes to hand. They'll lash a child with a newspaper, a bedroom slipper, a curtain... If it's small, has a blunt edge and is found in a house, it's fair game.

Then there's the special belt parent. This special belt may have a name, and it's own special place in the house. Special belt parents seem to take joy in sending the child to get the belt. It's the worst psychological dilemma. You already know the lashes are coming, and now you have to be the instrument of your own un-doing.

Another thing that I'm not sure happens outside the Caribbean/Black families is per-word lashing. As a parent quarrels about whatever you've done, they punctuate each word with a lash. You-lash-think-lash-you's-lash-a-lash-big-lash-woman? Lash-coming-lash-home-lash-all-lash-hours?

As for "abuse". There's a line. It's just a lot further than where a lot of other developed nations think it is. Rest assured though, if your mother is routinely disciplining you, you don't even want to make the joke about calling police. That will not end well.

I realise that all of this sounds terrifying, like Caribbean women are all running around with chair legs, ready to knock their child unconscious, but that's not the case. I don't know how to explain it better except to say that our systems are just different. Honestly, I prefered the lashes to the "deprivation" tactics that I got later on - grounding, allowance restictions and the like.

Where did your parents and your society stand on corporal punishment? (I suspect the West Indies may be the last stronghold in the West.)

It's too cold to blog when...

2012-01-12T20:15:00.001+09:00

You know it's too cold to blog when...

Your dirty dishes freeze together.

You forget an apple in a bag for a month and it doesn't go bad.

You keep water in the kettle to boil in case you need to defrost the faucet.

You have to defrost the washing machine drain before every use.

The fridge is warmer than the inside of the house.

You forget to put your gloves back on after your shower and your hands go numb before you even get out of the house.

You have to defrost your towel and the clothes you intend to put on before you shower.

You have to shoulder-ram the shower door open.

Your suitcase freezes to the floor of the entranceway and you have to chisel it off to get out of your house.

You keep your toothpaste and deoderant in the fridge to avoid freezing.

Sorry about yesterday's lack of blog. I'll be up and running for sure next week, when I go back to school and have internet in a room with a temperature above 0 Celcius.

PS. These have all happened, but a few are from last year. So far this winter, I haven't had to defrost the washing machine, or put the deoderant in the fridge. Random fact: It's colder in my house on mornings than it is outside!

Shop and Sing - TTT

2012-01-10T23:30:00.000+09:00

Time Travel Tuesday, and today I'm taking you back in time with videos shot in supermarkets.

Everyday America, Sugarland, 2007.

Jizz in My Pants (NSFW, language), Lonely Planet, 2008 . It's only about 1/3 of the vid in the supermarket, but I couldn't leave them off the list! :)

Haven't Met You Yet, Michael Bublé, 2009 (My fave supermarket video!)

Gonna Get Over You, Sara Bareilles, 2011.Who doesn't want big hair and a leather jacket after that?

Any more supermarket vids that rock?

PS, If you hear about a black chick incarcerated for having a dance party in a Japanese supermarket, please call my mother. Thanks!

Talent Don't Cut It

2012-01-09T22:23:00.001+09:00

I recently read over at Natalie Whipple's about when you're bad at something, and I wanted to deal with the flip of that situation: when you've got a natural talent.

I have a talent for foreign languages.

In my early years of secondary school (11-14), I was not a big fan of foreign languages. It was just another thing that the oppressive school system made teenagers struggle through. In fact, I was so opposed to languages that I dropped Spanish at the first opportunity.

Then I went to Martinique, a French Caribbean island. Suddenly French was not just conjugations. It was Montagne Pelee, and beaches at St. Anne. It was poutine and chi chi. It was reggae by Ruffneg and pop by Vanessa Paradis. It was hilarious tales of discovering that last night's dinner -lambi- was actually conch. It was my friends Glawdys, Ingrid, Cecil, Cindy, Thierry and Stefan. It was a living breathing thing. What I couldn't make heads or tails of before, suddenly turned into something so elemental that I soaked it up just by walking through it, like perfume sprayed into the air.

I ended up studying French for 11 years, all the way up to the end of university. I also picked Spanish back up. Then I did Italian for lack of a Japanese course. And then of course, I moved to Japan, and it became fairly neccessary to speak some sort of Japanese. Every time I start out with a new language, a certain basic bit of it just flows into me. That's talent.

But talent isn't the only thing.

Think of the story of the hare and the tortoise. The hare has a natural talent for moving quickly. The tortoise, sadly, does not. On talent alone, the hare wins the race, any way you slice it. But hard work, practice, and determination can overcome a lack of talent.

And just because you're talented doesn't mean you can breeze through. I recently watched a clip where Beyonce joked that she's a workaholic who doesn't know how to take a day off. Now when we think Beyonce, we probably don't think workaholic. We might think, "Dang, if I had vocal cords like that!" But it just goes to show, talent isn't everything.

Back to my languages, I don't really work at them. (Except Japanese- an absolute demon to learn as a native English-speaker.) I can walk into France or Spain or Italy, and get by just fine. I can buy food, and find the places I want to go to, and even make friends with whom to discuss lofty topics like the last Harry Potter movie. But I know that I don't quite speak at the right level of politeness (especially in Japanese), that I make the occasional grammatical mistake and sometimes my vocabulary is missing a word that I need. I'm not "interpreter-level." I could get there, with some work. I just choose not to.

The point of this epic is this: don't rest on your laurels. You can get pretty far on talent alone. Heck, if you're talented enough, you might even be able to play with the big kids. But you won't ever live up to your real potential without putting in the work. Decide what's worth it, which things you really want to go for, and GO for them.

'Cuz talent alone? Just don't cut it!

S'Monday. That's what's on my mind.

Year of the Sparkle Dragon: Be a better bipolar

2012-01-06T21:52:00.000+09:00

I'm bipolar. We've established this. I say it a lot on here. Y'all are probably sick of hearing me say it. (Sorry!)

Last year was a weird year. I spent the latter half of 2012 mildly depressed, i.e., not actually sad, but miles from happy and with no particular drive to do anything. I'm still trying to work my way out of that funk. The problem with being mildly depressed is that you don't have energy for anything above bare minimum. I go to work, do as little as possible, come home, eat, blog (sometimes) and hop in my bed. Extra-curricular stuff like writing, and studying doesn't happen. Too much effort.

This year, I want to start moving forward again. That means I need to get out of the depression and try for smooth sailing.

HEAD-SHRINKER

No offence to anyone in the psychiatric profession. I just really love this term. I want to shrink heads too! Erm, right. Step 1 of the plan was to go back to the doctor. For about 8 years, I've been off meds and off shrinks, dealing with my bipolar on my own. There are two reasons for that. I have this weird thing about being dependent - which in a weird twist is why I've never done any drugs (outside alcohol and one cigarette). Secondly, the doctors never got my meds right. I was always more manic, and I was beginning to feel like the meds were going to get me killed.

Going back to the doctor is easier said then done. I'm in Japan. Native language: Japanese. I could either go to a "nearby" psychiatrist, and have my sessions in Japanese, but who wants to try and think in their 5th language when they're supposed to be relaxing? Or, I could go to Sendai, 300 km away and either $100 US on the bullet train, or a 4-hour ride on the local (one way). I chose Sendai and made a vacation of it.

Being the most indecisive person in the world, I went to both English-speaking shrinks I could find. Now I have to cut one off, and I feel strangely like I'm dating two guys. The shrink visit(s) went well. And I now have meds again. And have to go back to Sendai, every 2 weeks (for now, because there's no way I can sustain that long term).

It's too early to tell if the meds are doing their job, but I think I'm finally on the right track.

DIET

I was reading up on ADD the other day - yes, I read psych books for fun - and the author talked about a case where a guy wanted to join the military, but they wouldn't let him while he was on the meds. So the doctor taught him how to try and manage his ADD with a combination of diet, exercise and therapy. That started me researching. Could there be a bipolar diet too?

Turns out there are foods that seem to be better for keeping bipolars level.

Omega 3 fats - supplements, mackarel, salmon, anchovy, herring, tuna (not more than 3 times a month for tuna because of high mercury). This is perfect for right now, in the land where they'll eat anything out of the sea. Seriously, I expect to hear that it's coral for school lunch, any give day.

Spikes - Avoid caffeine, sugars, refined carbs, and alcohol. Basically anything that's going to be absorbed into your system fast and burned off even faster. These instabilities can spike your moods too. I'm most worried in this category. I can not escape rice in this country. I'll just have to try and make it up by avoiding rice when I'm at home, and eating more of the fish stuff. Also, I'm torn about the alcohol bit. I'm not a big fan of drinking and I've already told you guys I don't get drunk, but I hate feeling like everybody's doing something and I'm not allowed to. Anyhow, I haven't had a drop for the year. (We're what, 6 days in?) I'm also a little worried about green tea which is free at school, and which I normally drink all day to keep warm. It's a mild stimulant, so hopefully that will be okay. I'll try to stick to fruit and veggie juice mixes when I'm home. We have these amazing mixes out here, 16 veggies and 5 fruits- they taste awesome and are super-healthy. Wish the rest of the world would get on that.

Magnesium - Dark green leafy veggies, salmon (again - yay!), legumes, whole grains (difficult to find here) and supplements.

EXERCISE

Exercise is a natural anti-depressant. As much as you may hate going to exercise, after you're finished you feel happy and somehow refreshed. (Even when you're soggy and stinky!)

Exercise reduces the stress hormone cortisol, helps establish good sleeping and eating patterns, raises energy levels, releases endorphins, raises serotonin levels, increases brain cells in the hippocampus AND improves self esteem. How can you go wrong?

I just got a 3 month membership at the municipal gym. (50 bucks, Baby! Perks of living in the middle of nowhere.) My mission this year is to try and get in 3 workouts a week.

SLEEP

One way to combat bipolar disease is to try to keep things level and even. We saw that with the sugars, and now with daily routine. It's best for bipolar if you get 7 or 8 hours a night. I'm a terminal insomniac, but my new meds make me sleepy as hell, and since I've been taking them I get 10 hours, whether I like it or not.

BE OPEN

Like I said, y'all have heard a million times that I'm bipolar. But as open as I am here, I'm really secretive about it in my real life. Power of the "anonymity" of the internet. I'm really uncomfortable talking about my bipolar live and in living colour. And most of my close friends don't get it anyway.

BUT it's a part of my life. There is no cure. This is me forever. If they're going to be here, they have to deal with it. And if I'm going to survive it, I have to deal with it.

I find it ironic, as I look over these, that being a good biploar is mostly being a healthy human being. Eat well - avoid alcohol and caffeine and refined sugar. Exercise regularly. Sleep well. That's how I'm trynna be a better bipolar in 2012. Hopefully I can keep it up all this year and beyond. Thank you guys for being so supportive all this time.

(PS, I have conjunctivitis. Sometimes I feel like the world's sickest healthy person.)

Year of the Sparkle Dragon: Read Less

2012-01-05T20:30:00.000+09:00

Surely that's a typographical error? What writer wants to read LESS?

Me.

The pressure.
Last year, I signed up for the 2011 Reader Challenge on Goodreads. 100 books I declared. The year started off badly. I was home in Barbados for Christmas. And who has time for books when you have to see all your friends, and your entire family, and eat all your favourite foods, and go to all your favourite places, and you've only got 3 weeks to do it? Then I didn't start right when I got back, because it was really hard coming back, and I was homesick something fierce.

I spent most of the year playing catch up. Even when I'd caught up, I was playing "get ahead" because I knew that October is always bad at work, and November is nano, so there aren't any guarantees.

I finished the year with 116 books. Honest truth is that I appreciated all of them. Even the "bad" ones. What I didn't enjoy, I learned from. And I also learned from the ones I loved. But I never want to feel like someone's forcing books down my throat again.

Quality over quantity
This is not about the quality of the books. There are more great books published in a single year than I could read in a lifetime. It's about the quality of my reading experience. People experience books in different ways. Lots of people talk about "seeing" the characters and events. Me? I'm not a visual person. If you don't show me the character in a movie or on a book cover, I will never see them. How I experience books is difficult to explain. It's like I live them. Like I'm there.

[Warning: there's a Twilight: Eclipse/New Moon spoiler in this paragraph.]
It's like the things I read about skip all the basic forms of sense, and go straight to the destination. For example, when you feel pain, something usually happens outside your body, and the nerves convey that to your brain/nervous system, and your brain/nervous system tells you to feel pain. (Forgive me if the science is wrong here, just follow the concept.) Remember Jane from Twilight? How she can make people feel pain without a stimulus? That's how reading is for me. There's no external, everything happens inside my brain.

Because the story is so deep in my brain, it's difficult for me to come out of a book. I lose track of everything. I don't hear things, see things, and people always walk up and shake me and scare the frizzles out of me to get me attention. "Wait, wha-, who, where am I?" At the end of a book, as I've been so "intimate" with these characters, they stay with me for a while. In my brain, the plot continues. The story plays out in different ways. I was so deep in Elana Johnson's POSSESSION that I was literally incapable of following any other story's threads.

When I've got this arbitrary quota working with, I have to force myself out of one world and into another. I think I lose out on enjoying the previous story as much as I could, and I don't immerse myself in the new story like I should.

The habit
The more I read, the more I read, the more I read. 5 books in January, 10 in March, 12 in May. It's addictive. When I train myself to pick up another book promptly, then I can't NOT pick one up - unless it's a completely inappropriate time, like 4 am.

On the surface, that sounds like a good thing, but everything else gets sacrificed. I could wash the dishes. Or I could read. I could plan my vacation. Or I could read. I could write that email I've been meaning to send. Orrrr I could read.

Writing
Sadly, even writing gets sacrificed. Reading counts as developing craft. It's easy to tell yourself that there are worse things. At least this is industry-related. But getting stuck in any one stage of the craft, no matter how useful that stage, is a hindrance in the end. Like me having a million first drafts and no completed novels. A writer should read, but a writer should also write.

Secondly, writers are connected to their creations. It's hard to form those connections when your head is full of other people's worlds and other people's characters. It's like trying to sing a lullaby while standing in front of the speakers at a rock concert. This year, it was really hard for me to get into nano. I blamed all sorts of things, but maybe it had something to do with the fact that I read 3 books in the first week of November.

I want to take my writing up a level this year. Reading is going on the back burner. If you're wondering what that means, I've set myself a goal of 52 books this year. What are you reading this year? Any goals?

PS, If you're on Goodreads, look out for me. I'm Claire Dawn.

Year of the Sparkle Dragon: Write More

2012-01-04T21:19:00.000+09:00

It's the Year of the Sparkle Dragon. I don't know why, but I can feel it's a year for big things. All this week, I'll be going over goals I've set myself for the year.

Goal #3: Write More

Last year was the Year of Living Write, and a lot of incredible things happened. I presented 2 succesful workshops at the Japan Writers Conference. I was included in a non-fiction anthology which raised funds for earthquake relief. I also had a short story-in-verse selected for inclusion in Tomo, a YA anthology to be released March 10, 2012.

I didn't however, make the progress I'd like in the novel-writing sphere.

Existing novels
Last year, I made it my goal to take a novel through the full pre-query process. Write, re-write, edit, critique, rise, repeat.I didn't get it done, so that mission carries over to this year. Actually, I have two first drafts I want to polish. My last nano MS stars a bipolar MC, and I think that premise has the best hook of all my first drafts, so I want to polish it.

Then there's MS2, my only speculative fiction. You may remember me ranting about how bad it is. Turned out, I'd never actually re-read it. And I did while resting the last nano. The delivery still kind of sucks, but it's got a great premise, and there's like half a plot- about 49.9% more than any of my other stories.

So my mission for the year is to run them both through a couple of drafts.

New novels
I still haven't managed to write a first draft outside of nanowrimo yet. Hopefully, I'll get to that this year. This is a sub-goal, though. I know I'm capable of turning out a first draft, so I'm giving priority to things I haven't been able to do yet.

Conference
Speaking of things I can't do...

In 2010, I lined up a conference in the US. Then I lost my passport, and couldn't go. I swear the minute I cancelled it, I found the passport.

In 2011, I lined up a conference in the UK. I was supposed to leave on March 20th. The great North East Japan earthquake happened March 11. Guess where I live. That's right, North East Japan! When the 20th rolled around, there were still no trains, and we had a gasoline shortage as well. I cancelled my trip and figured I'd leave the seats for people who really needed to get out. Plus I was afraid of not being able to get back.

2012? Third time's a charm?

I'm 90% sure I'm going with a UK conference. The vibe I'm getting is that the US will ask me to fit into their world, and that the UK will love me for being Barbadian. That's an oversimplification, and hopefully I'll get to explain in detail some day.

This conference is also a good reason to have a polished MS ready. In fact, the conference isn't really worth it without a polished MS. I mean, I'm sure I'll get a whole lot of fantastically informative lectures, but I can poke about the internet and find most of that for free. And I can go to the Japan Writers Conference, for under $500 including travel and accomodation. If I go to a conference, it's for the opportunity to make connections, and to get feedback on my work. (The UK conference lets you submit the opening of your novel for critique, and you get a one on one session with 2 agents/book doctors of your choice.)

Submit
By the end of the year, I want to look at submitting a novel-length manuscript. I haven't submitted so far because my work hasn't been ready. But I'm beginning to wonder if my work stays "not ready" so I always have an excuse not to submit it. If I manage to acheive the other points in this post, then I should be able to bring myself up to submission stage. I've been stagnating at the same point of the writing game for way too long.

That's all she wrote! Any writing goals for you guys in the Year of the Sparkle Dragon?

Year of the Sparkle Dragon: Study More

2012-01-03T21:18:00.001+09:00

It's the year of the Water Dragon in Chinese philosophy, and I've declared it the Year of the Sparkle Dragon: our year to shine! This whole week, I'm going over my goals for 2012. I've thrown the word resolution out the window, in favour of the more active "goals."

Goal #2: Study More.

Studying was not on my list of goals for 2011. 2011 was The Year of Living Write, so it was focused on writing. This year my focus is more all-encompassing, because I'm taking over the world - er, that's not right - because I'm drawing to the end of my tenure in Japan.

Japanese
Y'all know I'm a language-aholic. Japanese is the 5th language that I can get by in. I'm sure I don't have to tell you, that it's a doozy of a language. It's got a Subject-object-verb structure ( English is Subjevet-verb-object). It's got particles, which follow words to tell their purpose in a sentence. It's got counters. The way you say "2 chickens" is different from the way you say "2 trees" is different from the way you say "2 cars." There are 3 writing systems. Hurts my head just to think about.

When I first came, I jumped into Japanese with my usual gusto, but I burned out some time last year or late 2k10. Japanese is the language that made ME not want to learn any more languages. (That may change after I get Japanese out of my system. lol)

This year, one of my new neighbours has decided to take the kanji kentei (kanken). Kanji is the Chinese writing system that the Japanese have adopted. You know, the one where one character represents one concept or one word. 木 is tree, 気 is spirit, 黄 is yellow, and 危 is danger. Because I'm crazy, I signed up too. In kanken, I have to know the readings (pronunciation), the meanings and the stroke order (order in which you write the lines of a kanji). That may not sound hard, but all 4 kanji I've used as examples can be pronounced as "ki", and they all have other readings as well.

We're doing Level 8 (for 3rd graders, 8-9 year olds), but since I'm crazy, I'm tempted to keep going until I've covered all the Joyo kanji (1945 characters). The highest level of kanken tests 6000 characters.

TEFL
By the first week in February, I have to decide if I'm sticking with this job until next year August, or if I'm done this year. I'm 95% sure I'm staying. That means I'll have 5 years experience in teaching English as a Foreign Language. There's a decent chance that I'll want to come back to this field. After all, it provides opportunities to live in non-English speaking countries. Heaven? Yuppity-yups!

This program accepts a wide range of quals, but many other posts worldwide ask for TEFL qualifications. An opportunity came up to do a course at a discount rate, and I took it.

The 4 other languages
Japanese is killing my other languages. I have not come up with a plan yet, but language is use it or lose it. One of my best friends here was Bolivian (he's since returned to Bolivia) and sometimes I'd be having a convo in Spanish, and a Japanese word would just jump in. Ditto my French conversations. And since I barely knew Italian to start with, I have to dig that from the recesses of my brain.

It's becoming more and more obvious that I need to make a conscious effort to keep my languages from dying. I haven't come up with a plan as yet, other than the possibility of foreign language blogs, but I will make one this year.

You may notice that I've only mentioned 3 other languages. The fourth? English! When I was in school, I was a grammar guru. Two years in a US college almost killed me, but I got really good at American grammar as well. Now, I can't remember where commas go, my spelling sucks, and I regularly forget words. This is the year I give in and buy myself a Junior English (the grammar guide practically all primary schools use in the Caribbean) or some other grammar guide.

I won't mention any writing-related studies here. You'll see them tomorrow in the Write More post. How about you guys? Any studyin goald for 2012?

Year of the Sparkle Dragon: Save More

2012-01-02T20:58:00.001+09:00

Hello, hello, hello. Since the last time I've been here (yesterday), I've decided it's the year of the Sparkle Dragon. I made a comment about it being the year we sparkle on facebook. And in Chinese astrology, it's the year of the Water Dragon. (Technically, Chinese New Year doesn't start for a while, but Japan does this weird thing of observing Western New Year AND embracing Chinese astrology.) So anyhow, it's the year of the Sparkle Dragon.

The first thing on my list of goals is:

Save More

My financial situation
I make 300,000 yen a month. I can afford to be this open about what I make because everybody on the JET program makes the same money. And if anyone in the world wanted to find out how much that is, all they would need to do is find a Japanese embassy or government website, phone number, official.

How much is 300,000 yen worth? When I first came to Japan, 3 1/2 years ago, 105 yen was a US dollar. Now, the yen is holding fairly firm while everyone else's money drops through the floor (except Australia, it seems). We're up to 79 yen a dollar. (GBP 179 -> 123, CND 90 -> 77, EUR 139 -> 102.) With everything in such a state of flux, it's hard to say what it's "worth". That said, my monthly salary used to be just shy of $3000 US, now it's around $3750. I make almost $1000 more in exchange rate alone.

There is one final consideration to be made when it comes to my salary. The US value may have gone up, but I don't live in the US. I live in Japan. I make my money in yen, and I spend my money in yen. The prices here have remained mostly constant. So if I struggled to have left over money before, I will still struggle to have left over money now. But of course, if I can find something to save, it's worth more. What used to be $100 US, is now $125.

(I keep talking in US because the Barbados dollar is tied to the US, ie, we have a constant exchange rate.)

Shopping
You can only save what you don't spend. Really every discussion on saving is about spending. Amazingly, lots of people (*waves from the audience*) don't really analyse their spending habits when they try to save. Fail waiting to happen? That's what she said! ;)

I'm pretty bad about impulse buys. But I live in the back-bush of Japan, 600 km out of Tokyo, 300 km away from a really major city. My last in-town shopping spree was at the stationary store! There's not much else to spend random money on. (Let's ignore my $30 "One Piece" pencil sharpener.)

Where I fail (massively) is online. I spend a lot of time online - on the blogosphere, on twitter, in my emails - and it's way easy, with credit card info saved in my brain, to just buy stuff. My biggest issue is books. All of you awesome people write/reccomend awesome books. And it is virtually impossible for me to buy 1 book. Book shipping prices used to deter me, but now that I have a Kindle, and Book Depository for free shipping of non-Kindle titles, I've got nothing to lose but my paycheck.

Late in 2011, I devised a new system: Shopping Cart Fridays. If I find out about a book that I ABSOLUTELY HAAAAAAAAVE TOOOOO REEEEEADDDDD, then I slip it into the Shopping Cart. On Friday, I swoop by the shopping cart (and my Goodreads TBR), decide how many books I can afford and buy them. Why Friday? Because it's my busiest day, so I don't have time to faff around on Amazon, which means I'm less likely to buy random stuff which hasn't been through they Shopping Cart trial.

Travel
In 2009, I was in 9 countries. Even I can't afford that. There was a month where I ate ramen for dinner every day. So not kidding. In 2010, I decided I wasn't going anywhere, for the sake of saving, but still managed to eat through the same amount of money. I guess I switched from bein frugal in Japan, and travelling externally to just traipsing up and down Japan. I'm beginning to get this under control by finally getting over (mostly) the need to be at everything. And by having a semi-budget.

Budget
I can crunch numbers, but I'm not one for living off a sheet of paper. So what I've done, again in the last few months of 2k11, is to think out how much I need, and withdraw that money at the beginning of the month. Then I divvy it up into 4 or 5 weeks. Each Friday, I open up a stack. It's not written in stone, that if I'm out of money early, I can't access more. But the perk of this system is that I can see down to weekly spending if I'm doing well or poorly, and it's easier to adjust than on a monthly system.

End result
I plan to go to a conference this year, which will eat a couple thou. And I plan to go home, for another couple G's. Other than that, I hope to save lots of money. I'll say $125 US, for starters, every month, but I'm really hoping it's more than that. Especially, since this is my last full year at this guaranteed salary.

Sure I'll succeed though. It IS the year of the Sparkle Dragon!

2012 Goals

2012-01-01T20:00:00.000+09:00

California has finally dragged it's lagging butt into 2012, so Happy New Year to all my Westerners!

Last year, I was really hoping to make a difference in my life, so for the first time in maybe ever, I made resolutions. This year I'm dumping the word resolution in favour of "goal". Why? Resolution is "a firm decision". If you make your mind up to do something, that's a resolution. No wonder New Year's resolutions don't make it all through the year. A resolution is a thought, not an action.

Goal on the other hand, is about the end point. By thinking in goals, I automatically change how I go about what I'm doing. And a goal, unlike a resolution, tends to be intrisically measurable.

So, here are my goals for 2012, Year of the Dragon. I'll be back later in the week to get into the details of each of them.

1. Save more
2. Study more
3. Write more
4. Read less
5. Be a better bipolar

What about you? What would you like to acheive in 2012.

2011 goals in review

2011-12-31T23:30:00.000+09:00

This year, I actually made some resolutions. Before moving into 2012, I wanted to review how well I've done with them.

A quick recap
1. Save money.
2. Advance my WIP every month.
3. Take a novel through the full pre-query process.
4. Read one book a week.
5. Vary my reading
6. Review every book I read.
7. Give away a book every week.

1. Er, yeah. Pro: I've saved more money this year than in 2010. Con: It's still not that much.

2. While I did write a lot more, I did not advance a WIP every month. On the other hand, I did complete a few shorts this year, and had one non-fiction piece appear in an anthology. My fiction will be out in an upcoming Japan YA anthology in March.

3. Lol. Still have not completed an edit, or had a full critique or anything. Maybe this year.

4. Finally, a category I dominated. Not only did I read a book per week, I finished the year on 116 books!

5. I made a real effort to vary what I read
-   76 books were Young Adult
-   10 books were Middle Grade
- 11 books had MCs of colour
-   8 books were Chick Lit
-   5 books were classics
-   1 book was a picture book
and some randoms.

6. I did a fairly good job of reviewing most of the books I read. There were a few I didn't review, because I felt pretty middle of the road about them.

7. I did not give away a book every week. But I did, considering the October Insanity, manage to give away 52 books. 1 PER week. I hope that the winners all enjoyed their books.

Here's looking forward to another fantastic year. I'll be back soon with my 2012 goals.

Happy New Year folks!

PS, It's already the New Year in Japan. I've been up to the temple and rung the gong. And also I've already fell off the road into a snow-covered ditch, because who can tell where the road ends and where the ditch begins under all that snow. Off and running :)

We wish you a Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T07:06:00.001+09:00

(KFC uses that song to advertise here, and when I teach the kiddles, they're all like, "Ooooo, the Kentucky song!")

Merry Christmas honeybunches, and a rip-roaring New Year from Claire-dolf and Risu, my taxidermied squirrel. (No, I did not do that to him. He was in the office when I got to Japan. Do to my former neighbour's April Fool's antics, he now lives in my house. And no, I didn't off my neighbour for sneaking him into my shower through the window.)

For those who don't celebrate Christmas, enjoy your holiday season. And be safe. We all know how crazy this time of year can be.

When's the last time you wrote?

2011-12-22T21:00:00.000+09:00

Some writers swear by writing every day. The venerable Stephen King, for example.Other writers, countless others, worry about how long it's been since they last wrote a word. I think, before considering either of these cases, we need to look at what exactly writing is, and what our writing processes are like.

Writing is, at it's most obvious, stringing words together, and recording them somehow - pen and paper; keyboard and hard drive, etc. But I don't think that's all writing is.

Plan
Some people are true pantsers. They have an idea and sit down and start telling that story, just like that. For the majority of us, that's not the case. Many writers are plotters. They produce plot arcs and character arcs before they start to write the story. They write down all the characters' motivations and conflicts and setbacks. They know the high point of the action, and all the complications that will pop up.

Some of us lean towards pantsing, but we still have to do a bit of development before the words start to flow. Maybe a character sheet, a general idea of the plot. Me, I'm most comfortable thinking it through. I get to know my characters in my head, and have a vague idea of the story line. I think a story through for months, or even years. Sometimes I write other stories while I'm thinking. But even if I'm not physically getting words out on paper, planning is writing, whatever route you take.

Research
If your book stars a chef at an Italian restaurant, and you go out once a week, and try a different dish, that's research. If you take a class in Italian cooking, that's research. If you read Italian cookbooks or look up recipes online, that's research.

Reading books by others in and outside of your genre, can also serve to get the creative juices flowing, as well as keep a writer au fait with what's out there. It's all research.

Edit
After you've planned what you're doing to some extent, you'll probably write the book. To the non-industry ear, the word 'write' sounds like it's all about adding new words. But according to E.B. White, "The best writing is rewriting." The editing stage also counts, despite the fact that it may not push your word tally forward.

Once again, process comes into play. Most authors let a book rest a bit, so they come at it with fresh eyes. After that, the paths diverge again. Some authors, sit down with a printed copy of the manuscript, and use a complicated set of hieroglyphics to show where the plot drags and what should be switched around. Some did a lot of mini-edits while they wrote, so at this point they check for consistency and dive into smaller edits. So far, my editing process seems to consist of re-reading, and then doing nothing while the book re-arranges itself in my head. (NB, I still have not completed an edit. )

It's all writing
I personally, can't write every day, in any form. Heck the only thing I'm sure I've done every day of my life, or even of the last year, is breathe. I know that we can be hard on ourselves when we haven't written in a while. But, if thinking it through and character charts and re-reading all count as writing, then you're probably not doing too bad.

Don't stress yourself if you find that you haven't put words on paper for a whole week, or month, or a few months. Writing is comprised of many different stages. If one isn't working for you write now, dive into another. Having trouble drafting? Then daydream. Not feeling very creative? Edit. None of the productive side going your way? Read. The only thing you need to be careful of is not to get stuck in the same stage, or avoid any one stage. (Having four complete 1st drafts and no complete 2nd drafts, I know a thing or two about this.)

If you can, write - in any form- every day. If you can't, just don't stay away too long.

When's the last time you wrote?

Building Character: Fat Chicks

2011-12-21T21:00:00.000+09:00

In this series, I hope to look at giving depth to your characters. No character trait exists in a vacuum. Today I'm looking at the implications of writing a "fat chick."

Locale

What is fat? It very much depends on where you are. Scientifically speaking, I'm obese. At home, in Barbados, I'm thick, which is a good thing. In the US, I'm fat. And in Japan, I'm Godzilla. Where is your character located? Is she fatter than the average person there?

Race

Black girls tend to be a little bit bigger than white girls. Asians can acheive a miniscule-ness undreamed of by the rest of us. Is your character big for her race? Or just big in general? Is she the only black girl in a school full of Asians? Is your character used to being fine by Western ideals, but when she moves to Japan finds herself suddenly humongous? (ORCHARDS)

Reality vs. Perception

Is your character actually fat, or is she just convinced she is? (The DUFF)

Attitude

How does your character feel about her size? Does it hold her back in everything? Does she go out and conquer the world anyhow? (WILL GRAYSON, WILL GRAYSON) Is she perfectly happy with her size? (THIS BOOK ISN'T FAT IT'S FABULOUS.)

Clothes

Clothes can be the bane of a fat person's life. Nothing fits right. Lots of fat people hate shopping because you always have to dig around and find the 5 styles that are available in your size. That is, if you can even shop in a regular store.

How big is your character? Decide her exact weight and height. If you're not modelling her off someone you know, find a picture online or in a magazine if you can of her size and shape. Does she need to shop in specialty stores? What's her relationship with clothes? Does she wear whatever, because nothing looks good? Is she always deluding herself and stuffing herself into clothes that are a little (or a lot) too small? Has she given up on her frame in favour of accentuating something else? Eyes, hair, feet? (IN HER SHOES) Is she a fashionista who knows exactly what colours and styles to wear to be the sexiest she can be?

Sophie's got style. (ANASTASIA)

Health

In women's fiction, and in extreme cases in YA and MG fiction, the character's size might cause health problems. These can range from smaller issues like sore feet and being out of breath after climbing two flights of stairs. Or they can be more serious. Like having diabetes, or being at risk for it, etc.

Boys to Men

How does your character's size affect her relationship with guys? Do men overlook her? Is she one of the boys? Do guys go for her crazy confidence? Does she love 'em and leave 'em? Is she afraid to have sex because it involves baring all? If she's an adult, how have the years of her relationships with guys affected her?

Every day life

When your character gets past a certain size, that trickles into every day life. Maybe she can't fit in airplane seat/seatbelt. Maybe she prefers to stand in buses because some of her will trickle into the neighbouring seats. Maybe she doesn't go with her friends to the beach, because she'll have to wear a swimwuit. And she doesn't hang when they're being active, because she's afraid her fitness level will embarrass her.

Universal things may also embarrass her. Like if there's a squeaky chair, a skinny chick sits in it, and thinks, "ha! the chair made a funny noise!" Our fat chick sits in it and thinks, "Oh my God, I'm so fat now that even the chairs are protesting." Some fat chicks take care about how much they're seen eating in public. They may develop issues with skinny friends who can eat everything.

What it doesn't affect

Unless your fat chick is so tangled up about her weight that she's given herself a complex, or she is so large as to not fit through some doorways, it doesn't affect everything. When she's hanging out with her girls or her boys, having a laugh, she's not a fat chick. She's just a girl, like any other. If she's a no-nonsense CEO, nobody cares that she's fat, they're just trying not to screw up and get they're heads chewed off.

It's important not to try to bring in character size, or any other trait for that matter, where they have no implications.

I hope that if you're writing a fat chick now or at some point in the future, this post will help.

Technotronic -TTT

2011-12-20T22:46:00.000+09:00

I haven't done a Time Travel Tuesday in forever, but while I was poking about youtube looking up tunes for last week's "child of" series, I came across these two, and I couldn't resist. 90's forevaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh! :)

Technically, Pump up the Jam is a 1989 song. It's the song which made House popular, being the first House song to acheive mainstream success in the US.

Move This (1992) was Technotronic's next big worldwide hit. Not bad for a little band from Belgium.

Don't you just want to shake/move/pump something?

My Next Thirty Years

2011-12-19T17:33:00.000+09:00

I spent the last week celebrating my 30th birthday by exploring the essence of me. It was an interesting experience. I think in writing it down on paper (or typing it out on the keyboard) I came to understand a little better who I am. I highly recommend you try some day to think about the word and concepts that make up YOU.

Feel free to go back and check out the posts if you missed them. But here's a quick summary.

I am a:

Child of God
Child of Fate
Child of Regret
Child of Dreams
Child of Love
Child of the World
Child of Extremes

I'd like to thank everybody who stopped by and read, commented, and/or left warm wishes. You guys make an important contribution to who I am.

I may the only woman on the planet in this boat. But I'm loving 30. I may have made a mess of lots of things, but I've accomplished some some crazy sherbet. And so I'll leave you with my theme song for the next year (maybe the next decade).

Thanks again for indulging me.
Merci!
Gracias!
Grazie!
ありがとう！
Obrigada!
Wandanamaru!
谢谢!
Danke!
Dank u!

(Random side note: when I search Wandanamaru, half the results that come up are on my blog. Funny that. Also, it's Telugu, a South Indian dialect, in case you wondered.)

Child of Extremes

2011-12-17T23:30:00.000+09:00

For the entire week, I've been celebrating my 30th birthday with posts about the essence of me. Today, I'm sharing the extremes of Claire Dawn.

I am a child of extremes.

I used to say I have two speeds. On and off. That's still true, but I think it doesn't illustrate the situation well. I can be all the way to the left - to the left, or I can be all the way to the right. Or I can just stay in the middle. Love. Hate. Indifference.

Miley- 7 things

I know that does not seem different at first glance. But it really is. There are some things I love- can't get enough of, won't pass up if I get the chance. There are some things I hate - won't go near even if you threatened my Specialty Kit Kat collection. And if it's not in one of those two categories, I don't care about it at all.

I just wanna feel something.

Living like this is flipping exhausting. Think about in terms of the original on and off example. Love and hate are both "on", full power. It's like not being able to walk. Just running or standing still. And it makes it impossible to live like anyone else. I obsess about things or I don't care. A sad example is how I "turn into" my boyfiends. Like, when my boyfriend was a fireman, I knew all the fire trucks (some by the sounds of their sirens) and which ones were stationed where. I always knew which watch was on duty. And I passed by the stations so often, dropping off food for my ex- and his workmates, that the Fire Chief saw me empty-handed once and joked, " I didn't know you came without food attached".

Bad Day

This should make me very certain of everything I feel. No such luck. Just because something is loved today, doesn't mean I won't be completely indifferent tomorrow. Because I hate it now, doesn't mean I will care at all tomorrow. Movement from extreme to the other is rare, but it can still happen. And it's not just love and hate either. It's who I am. I'm either an angel or the devil incarnate or noone at all. I'm an artist or a scientist.

Bitch- Meredith

I wonder if my fickleness has to do with being bipolar. It's hard to tell. Maybe bipolar affects all of me, every day, but I'm not keen on using it as a Get Out of Jail Free card. So I wonder where my bipolarity ends and my wonky personality begins.

Just the Way it Is - Bruce Hornsby
I spent the first hour of my birthday explaining bipolar disease to one of my best friends. Again. It's hard to explain because it's not about logic, it's about emotion. People who "understand" either feel it or accept that it can be felt. And people who want to define it through logic, don't.

Hot an Cold

Another of my best friends will often ask, "But why do you feel sad?" Most people have moods dependent on their surroundings and experiences. They don't just wake up wanting to die. That's the thing about this disease, there is no why. Well, maybe a chemical imbalance in the brain, but that doesn't seem to satisfy people as a reason.

It Happens

- What's the matter?
- I'm miserable.
- Why? Nothing happened.
- Nothing has to happen, my brain works differently than yours.
- But you have all this great stuff going on? I don't get why you're sad. *

* conversation goes into infinite loop
* paraphrased from a million actual conversations I've had

Paint it Black

Somewhere along the line, depression got tied to sadness. It would be so much easier if that was all it were. Depression is less sadness and more "low everything". Being convinced that there's no good left in the world. That all the colours are gone. That there's no good left in you. That everything you touch turns to mush.

Erika Jo- I break things

The flip, and "perk", of the drowning sensation of depression is mania. Just like depression isn't really sadness, mania isn't really happiness. The easiest way that I can think of to describe it is the mad scientist laugh. You know that laugh that all the bad guys have in cartoons. It's not really happiness. It's 1 part mirth, 2 parts high, 7 parts thrill-seeking and 10 parts being convinced you're invincible.

It's wild exhiliration. It's like jumping out of a plane. But the trouble with freefall is that if you don't pull the parachute cord in time, you hit the ground hard. Plus, in the invincibility of mania, you can do a lot of things that have consequences after you land (back to normal) or crash (back to depression). Maybe you've maxed out all your credit cards. Or cheated on your partner. Or quit your job. Mania is fun, but it's not true happiness, and the aftermath sucks.

Apart from doing stupid things, mania also involves not doing sensible things. Maybe you didn't quit your job, you just didn't go for a while. Maybe you stopped calling your boyfriend. Or you ignored your responsibilites. Or you haven't paid any bills. Or you haven't slept for more than an hour straight since last week.

Are the extremities of my life a result of my manic-depression? Or of my personality? Are they the same thing? Should I just accept it? Should I fight it? How much slack should I cut myself? I don't have many of the answers, but I do have a few. I know I don't want to hurt for no reason. And I don't want to hurt the people that matter for no reason. And I don't want to feel delirious. Or miserable. Or numb. Just regular happy. And regular sad. Maybe some day I'll have that.

For now, I'm a child of extremes.

Child of the World

2011-12-16T23:30:00.000+09:00

All week long, I've been talking about the pieces that make up the flawed character you know as Claire Dawn. Today, I'm talking about my multiculturalism.

I'm a child of the world.

Rude Boy - Rihanna (Barbados, also went to school with my little brother)

I was born and raised in Barbados. That's where I lived for the first 18 years of my life. Maybe I don't act like that now, traipsing around the galaxy, but like anything in the formative years, Barbados is a big part of who I am.

Can't Let My Love Go - Allison Hinds (Barbados) and Shaggy (US/Jamaica)

I think the way I do because I am. Even though I'm theoretically a minority, I'd never really felt it, growing up in a majority-black country. I lean towards the kinds of things Bajans tend to lean towards. My diet, the things I say, the music and movies I like, the way I think, all influenced by being Bajan. And I'm proud to be from the itty-bitty rock that's had more than it's share of influence on the world. (Rihanna, rum, grapefruit - the world would be a much different place without us.)

Sak Pasé - Krosfyah

Even though I love my fab-tastic country and wouldn't give it up if you paid me in Twizzlers, I started travelling at a young age. I think I went somewhere at 6 months, but I can't remember where. As a toddler I did New York and Venezuela. And I spent half my childhood in Puerto Rico- Barbados is expensive, Puerto is not. Back when airfare was cheap, Bajans would go over and do their Christmas shopping.I've been to Puerto Rico 5 times. I love going new places and things being different. Also, the fact that I was obsessed with planes didn't hurt. I think I've been to 17 countries.

Où Est la Vraie Vie - Raiponce (Tangled. In English, it's When Will My Life Begin, but I like the French version which asks, Where is the True Life.)

I studied French and Spanish in secondary school. But that's not where the fascination started. I dropped Spanish like a maggot-filled cereal box, after only 2 years. In 3rd form (8th grade), I was failing French. I decided to go with Alliance Francaise to Martinique in an attempt to get a passing grade. I fell in love with Martinique.

Joe le taxi - Vanessa Paradis (I loved Johnny Depp's partner before he did. She was 14 in this vid. Also I heard this on my first trip to Martinique and it stuck in my head, becoming one of the things that made me love France.)

It suddenly occured to me that French was more than a thing that my drony old teacher went on about. It was a life and a culture. It had people and music.I've never failed a French or Spanish language test since. (French and Spanish Lit classes are another ballgame.) I've been to Martinique 3 times, and it's firmly cemented as "my French heart".

Gitana- Shakira

I regretted dropping Spanish almost immediately. What's done is done. You can't change it. But you can change the future. After I returned from my two years in the US, I wanted to enter university at the University of the West Indies (UWI). I'd been studying Management in the U.S. Three of my close friends were in the Management programme at UWI, and I'd heard them complain about group projects. Invariably, every group always had one person who never got it, or one person who argued with everybody, or that one chick who could never come to group meetings because she was having her hair/nails/armpits did.

Ven Conmigo - Christina Aguilera.

So I decided I didn't want to do Management. The other two subjects I did at A Levels (think Harry Potter's NEWTs) were Computing and French. I'd barely made it out of Computing with my life the first time around. There was no way I was going near it again. French then. But nobody in the Caribbean does a first degree in just one language. To increase the possibilty of finding a job they combine it with a minor in Management (not happening) or double major with Spanish. Problem was, I didn't have a Spanish qual. Easily fixed. I applied to do CXC Spanish (think Harry Potter's OWLs) got a 1 (highest grade) and went to UWI as a French and Spanish student.

Juanes - Mala Gente

Best. Decision. Ever. Spanish at UWI took me to another of my favourite countries, Colombia. It's an awesome country, but it gets a bad wrap. By this time, I realised that I loved traipsing around, jumping over international borders like they were cracks in the pavement. And it was also apparent that languages come to me fairly easy. I learned Spanish basics in school, but for the next 7 years, I learned all my Spanish on TNT.

E Raffaella È Mia - Tiziano Ferro (Italy)

I wanted someone to pay me to go somewhere, because I couldn`t afford to just faff off to another country for as long as they`d let me stay. I made this comment one day and discovered the JET programme, a way to teach in Japan. And that is how I started learning Italian. Confused? Me, too. It was one of my crazier moments. I attempted to sign up for a Japanese course and when there was none, I randomly signed up for Italian. Some day, I will get to Italy. Even if I have to swim there.

Tonari no Totori (from the Ghibli movie)

Japan was a fluke for me. I want to travel, I said, and an application to come here fell into my hands. Thank God it did. I love this place. I love my town. I had the best day at school- the 6th grade sang me Happy Birthday, and I had Birthday Lunch with the 3rd grade and then the whole staff ate cake in our honour (another teacher's bday is today).

Hanamizuki - Hitoto Yo (This song was written for September 11. A couple was in a tower and when the guy figured out he wouldn't live, he said to the woman go on and live and love. Don't mourn forever.)

If countries were men, I'd be Elizabeth Taylor. My heart is torn in so many different directions. I love so many places in so many different ways. I can't even imagine staying in one country for the rest of my life. Maybe at 40 it will seem more feasible.

Somos el mundo.

Right now, I'm a child of the world.

Child of Love

2011-12-15T23:30:00.000+09:00

Holy puddle-jumping barnacles, Batman! I am 30!!! Happy dance! Well I would, if I weren't so stuffed. I had dinner like a hobbit. First Dinner was compliments the chicken place, and at Second Dinner the pizza guy made me steak- which is clearly not on the menu. :)

Also, Facebook.

お誕生日おめでとうございます。クレアの毎日がたくさんのしあわせと元気であふれますように!!!!　

Translation: Happy Birthday! I wish your every day is filled with happiness and health.

And this:

Claire...u are just so wonderfully weird...and u know i truly wish u the best...u are a person that really deserves it as u are so naturally kind hearted. Happy happy birthday....joy and success will be urs x

Apparently today was also "try your damnedest to make Claire cry". Oh well.

Also, 2 really cool things. Japan is 13 hours ahead of Barbados, so with a little time zone fandangling, I have a 37 hour birthday :) And, with my traipsing up and down the world, I've been responding to wellwishes in 4 languages. You know that just made my day! (Apparently, I don't have enough French-speaking friends, so my 2nd language was dormant today.)

--
This whole week, I'm looking at the essence of me. Today is the perfect day to look at love.

Remember in yesterday's post about dreams, that society isn't very forgiving of adults who dream? Well, it's the same with some views of love.

I believe in Prince Charming. I don't think he's perfect. Heck, I don't even know what perfect is. But I think he's fantastic, and so amazing that even when you hate him, you still love him. And I think that Prince Charming is personal. It's not that a guy has to be Prince Charming for the whole world, he just has to be Prince Charming for you.

A lot of people will think that's childish. But those people that got lucky enough to meet their soulmates and make a life with them, probably can't imagine it any other way. For them, Prince Charming is real. That's not to say that you don't have to work hard at making a relationship work though.

Apart from Prince Charming, there's another issue with being a woman who believes in love. For thousands and thousands of years, women were oppressed. In lots of places, we still are, and sometimes even in "the civilised world," we're discriminated against. (I don't think that's as true in Barbados, but that's a post for a future Caribbean Context.) Anyway, somewhere in there, women decided enough was sufficient, as they say at home.

So women fought. They fought for the right to vote. And later, they fought for the right to get out of the kitchen. Wanting a "Vivimos felices y comimos perdices" (living happily, eating partidges or the Spanish equivalent of Happily Ever After) seems like a betrayal. It feels like there's pressure from the society at large, but I think a lot of women put pressure on themselves as well. How can I dream of being married, and staying at home and raising kids in the face of all the bras burned?

Truth is, it's hard to find a balance between home and work. It's not easy being mother, wife, worker bee. But it can be done. Wanting to love and be loved is a normal human desire. And a lot of women don't stop to think that men want this too. Wanting love is not a betrayal of the fairer sex.

I believe in the power of love. I can't say that it triumphs over everything. But it triumphs over a lot. I can't say that everything in the world is because two people fell in love. But a lot of it is. Love dulls pain. It lends strength. It makes people better, bigger than they are. Love is greater than the sum of its parts.

How can I say all this as a single woman? Maybe you think I'm just saying it because I am single. Maybe you think I've forgotten how difficult it is to have a relationship. How much compromising is involved. All the things you don't have to deal with when it's just you? Maybe you think I'm idealising it, because I'm not there.

But I'm not. I have a realistic view of relationships. And yes, my views on love are influenced by the fact that I'm not hanging off a man's arm. But in a good way, I think. I can't help thinking that Cinderella had her step sisters, and Snow White had the Evil Queen. After the struggles, there has to be something great coming.

Haven't Met You Yet

Having a man/husband doesn't define me. That doesn't stop me from dreaming about it. I want to wake up next to someone. I want a shoulder to cry on, and someone who's brave enough to cry on mine. I want someone to share the laughter, because a lot of my life is spent laughing. My face hurts many a day from over-laughing. I'm sorry if that goes against what some women believe, but I want to share that bond.

Maybe that's silly. Or crazy. But I'm a silly crazy person.

And I'm a child of love.

(Not to be confused with a love child - where did that term come from anyway? Are children born in marriage not born of love?)

Child of Dreams

2011-12-14T23:30:00.000+09:00

I'm turning 30 tomorrow and I'm celebrating with a week of posts about the essence of Claire Dawn. Also, lots of Disney in today's post. Guess when Walt Disney's birthday was. Yup, December-borns rock!
(Aso thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday yesterday when I miscalculated the date. Just because I'm happy about being 30, doesn't mean I'm not senile.)

I'm a child of dreams.

I suppose if you stop to think about it, all writers are. I mean where would all those intricately crafted worlds and plots and characters come from, if not dreams? And apart from that, we have to dream hard to get those stories out there. I mean, writers get shot down more than short guys with crossed eyes and bad breath. (No offense to short guys with crossed eyes and bad breath - I'm just saying.) Still we push on, because we're dreamers.

Society doesn't like dreamers. Sure, Western society claims they do. One of the latest Disney productions, even goes as far as to say it outright. 'Go, live your dream.' But we all know the reality. How every waitress in Hollywood is a wannabe actress. And every guy at the open mic couldn't land a record deal. And every aspiring writer is just 'another one of those people who think someone is interested in what they have to say'.

True, there are rewards out there for dreamers. Just look at the A-listers' paychecks. Society loves A-listers. They drool at the tidbits falling off Will Smith's and Charlie Sheen's and Kim Kardashian's tables. Yet, they conveniently ignore that you don't start on a list. Before you make it, you have to dream. Even if it's just a little. Even Eminem says that's where he started.

So this weird dichotomy arises where people love those who dared to dream. And love to hear how many millions they made last month. But when your dream is sill just a cloud floating by-y-y, they laugh and call you crazy. Or smile and nod and don't say the 'c' word out loud, even though they think it.

Silly rabbit! Trix (and dreams) are for kids. Little girls can swoon all over the place singing about Prince Charmings and wearing tiaras. Little boys can want to grow up and be astronauts and cowboys and superheroes. You're supposed to outgrow dreams the same time you outgrow the tiara and the cape.

Adults are business people. They do what is necessary and don't have time for frivolous things like feeling like this is their place in life. They're too busy paying bills for that.

And you, as an adult, should be the same. Flitting about the place thinking about something that may or may not make you money, now or ever? That's childish. Doing a job you feel lukewarm about, making money, investing and saving, marrying a decent person and having 2.5 kids- that's the adult thing to do.

Dreamers don't work like that.

Dreamers have these pictures in their minds. Things the way they could be. That's not to say that every adult doesn't have dreams of the way the wished things were. But they will write it off, as a secret something they can only enjoy in their head. Dreamers feel like they have to follow the call.

Personally, I don't seem to really do long-term dreams. I wanted to be a scientist when I was little. Poking around, figuring out why things are the way they are sounded ideal for the ever-curious baby Claire Dawn. Then I came to understand how much of science was really boring and repetitive and that went right out the window.

For years I've tried to stay at the intersection of Imagination Boulevard and Practicality Way. I've gotten into fields (the military, tourism, teaching) which society respects, and which pay decently and where I can do something a little off the beaten path. But the repetitive part gets me and I don't last long. I never last long.

I don't know if I ever will. Maybe I'm meant to spend my whole life running behind whatever scent my nose picks up on the wind. Maybe I'll drag myself back to psych some time, and it will kill the part of me that loses interest in life. Who knows?

I want to be a writer. I can not promise that's forever. I've never really been good at forever. Loving something today has never meant I won't feel indifferent to it tomorrow. But I feel that if I'm going to anything for the rest of my life, writing is definitely my best shot. I've already been doing this with a semi-professional mindset for 3 years - which is like 15 in Claire-years. I think it's because I can be completely different in every book. Hopefully that will be enough.

I don't know if I can make it as a writer. Or how long I'll want to. For me, the only important part is that it's what I want right now. So despite everything, I hope I make. If nothing else, a rabbit can dream, can't he?

If I dream, I might make it. If I don't, I'm definitely going nowhere. It starts with a dream.

I am a child of dreams.

Child of Regret

2011-12-13T20:00:00.000+09:00

I turn 30 on Tuesday (edit: Thursday- because I apparently can't count), and in my own honour, I'm exploring the many facets of me. Have fun! Also Happy Belated Birthday to Elana Johnson, who wrote my fave book of the year, POSSESSION, and who's just all-around awesome. And now you know why. (Cause December-borns ROCK!!!)

I don't do regret.

(Happy Birthday Taylor! December-borns ROCK!)

That sounds heartless, and probably confusing, given the title, but there's a reason. The concept is that if you live right in the first place, then you have no reason for regret. But that's more concept than reality. I live wrong pretty often. And I problem spend more time living in the middle of the road than on either side of the fence.

The other major reason I try hard not to do regret is because I'm manic-depressive. I can get into a depressive funk without any reason at all. And worrying about the past does not help matters.

But there is a lot that I regret if I stop to think about it for a minute. And I carry my regrets deep in my soul. I dropped Spanish in 2nd form. I was 13. And I regretted it at least once a week until I was 21 and decided to do a Spanish O'Level and take Spanish at university. I regretted dropping a subject for 8 years! I mean, it makes sense looking back - languages and cultures are my life now - but 8 years???

There are a lot of split second decisions that I carry with me as well. An unfortunate side effect of the manic half of being bipolar is poor decision-making. The frequency with which I do stupid stuff, you'd think I was getting paid for it. My poor decisions have led to my questionable sexual past, and to a few life-threatening situations.

I hate a lot of what I've done. I can't believe I've been that person. I can't believe that I sometimes still am. But I try not to hide from my past. Because I did those things and I take responsibility for what I've done. I hope that the things I've done, and the pain I've cause to my loved ones and myself will be worth something some day.

And I try not to push away what I've been through, because it's made me the person I am today. And most days, I think that's a good person. But if we're being honest - and we always are here on PoC- sometimes I live in the past. I carry most of the bad things with me. And I wish I didn't feel like I am just the sum of my mistakes. But sometimes I do.

I am a child of regret.

Child of Fate

2011-12-12T21:14:00.000+09:00

In honour of me turning 30 on Thursday, I'm exploring the very essence of me. So for the next week or so, I'll be writing (and musicking) about the things that make Claire Dawn.

I had to do a Career Day-esque presentation at my tiny school. It was basically me telling the kids all the jobs I've done. I figured they asked me because Japanese people tend to stay in a job for all their lives, so I've worked more places than the average Japanese person. But then, who was I kidding, I've worked more places than the average Westerner. 9 jobs in 6 fields and 3 countries? Blew the average outta the water.

I've been:

a caterer/waitress with the family catering business
a sales clerk in a department store
an officer cadet in the military
a supervisor/interpreter in a call centre
a tour guide/co-pilot/translator in a submarine tour company
a teacher in 3 schools in Barbados and 4 schools in Japan

One of the kiddles asked how I came to work on the sub. I told them it was a fluke. I'm claustrophobic. I wasn't trying to work on a submarine. I'd applied to a bus tour they operated and when the boss saw I'd been in the Coast Guard, she thought I'd be perfect for the sub. And so I got a job I hadn't applied for. A job I hadn't even thought about doing before the minute it fell into my lap.

About 2 minutes later another kiddle asked how I decided to come to Japan. Er, another fluke? I'd been on campus after graduation hanging out in Student Affairs, wishing aloud that someone pay me to travel, and one of the staff handed me an application to the JET program.

"You're a child of fate!"

I can't remember if it was a kiddle or a teacher that said it. But it struck me that I didn't look or apply for most of the jobs I've done. I obviously didn't apply to work in the family business. My Dad worked at the department store so that just happened. Ditto for the military. I was sitting at my university when a teacher friend called and told me to get to her school NOW with my resume. The only job I can say that I really went looking for was the call centre one, and that's because I needed money to buy stuff for coming to Japan.

That's not to say I'm completely passive - sitting around waiting for stuff to happen either. My mother was grumbling at me the other day about the way I do random courses in randomness and never have cause to use them. I'm a certified event planner, for example. And I did a year of Italian because I couldn't find a Japanese course. I never decided to be an event planner. But the way I live, I can't say that I won't be in a job where I need those skills.

Lots of people will think that, at 30, I should have a plan. I should know if and when I'm leaving Japan. I should know what job I'm moving into next. I should be preparing for it. I'm about to start an TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course. I figure I might as weel get qualified alongside the 3 1/2 years experience- just in case I want to stay here, or move into this field in another country. And I wirte, because some day I want people to read my work. Other than that, who knows?

Like I said, I'm not passive. It's just - how to put it?- I open the door and the universe comes sweeping in. All I can do is be prepared for it. Make myself the best me I can be. Yes, the submarine job fell right into my lap, but I got it because I'd been in the military before. I had to be qualified to take the opportunities. Apart from the first 2 jobs of course. It's hard to be underqualified as an 8-year old sandwich crust cutter/ carrot-peeler.

So that's a part of my essence too. Seize every chance I can to learn something new. Maybe some awesome position will open up in Italy with 2 weeks notice. And, oh whaddyaknow, I randomly speak Italian. It's hard work being lucky, but someone's gotta do it.

I'm a child of fate.

Child of God

2011-12-11T21:00:00.000+09:00

I'm turning 30 this week! YAY! I don't know why I'm so excited about that, but I am. In honour of me (tooting my own horn all over the place this week), I'm thinking about the very essence of me. So for the next week or so, I'll be writing (and musicking) about the things that make Claire Dawn.

I don't mention God or religion a lot on my blog. Part of it is about not making people uncomfortable. Part of it is that I don't really want to attract the random people who troll the web ready to jump into religious, political, or some other argument about their beliefs.

It's weird to me. Years ago, a lot of freedoms that have come about, even to the point of being taken forgranted, weren't in place. Things have advanced leaps and bounds for women and Black people and gays.

But they've taken a u-turn in some areas. Somehow, religion, which was once a given- diverse or otherwise- has become a topic people are afraid to broach.

But no matter how often I mention it here, or how bad I am at it, I'm a Christian.

I'm not saying that you have to believe what I believe. One of the things that seperates Christianity from it's ancestor, Judaism, is the concept of being chosen versus choosing. But I believe. And that's a big part of me.

I am a Child of God.

Caribbean Context: Homosexuality

2011-12-09T16:00:00.000+09:00

Disclaimer: Someone somewhere will read this and get up in arms, and want to argue with me. I'd just like to say these are not my views, just the situation as is in Barbados and some of the other Caribbean islands.

This is my second time living outside Barbados. When I was in Connecticut, I was in the military, so clearly, "no homosexuals" there. So this is my first time living in a community (the foreigner community, not the Japanese one) where being homosexual is often considered a right. It's not considered one in Barbados.

Barbados is a Christian nation. Sure, we've supposedly got 120 denominations of different religions represented on the island. And we're the home of the oldest synagogue in the Western Hemisphere, but we are still very Christian. There isn't really any seperation of Church and State. They've recently started having multi-denominational celebrations, but chances are if there's any sort of blessing of national significance it will be done by an Anglican or Catholic priest.

We're also an island that's 95% Black, ie, our ancestors were slaves. Christianity was beat into us over hundreds of years. Literally. At the same time a lot of the often more liberal African culture was killed. As a result, we uphold the Christian ideal - one man + one woman = family. Or at least, we uphold it on the surface.

On the other hand, we are somehow accepting. Most people wouldn't be cool with a couple of guys walking down the street "pulling tongue", but if they did it in the privacy of their homes, the feeling would be something like, "Well, as long as he don't come to me with that." It's still a country that being gay can make a scandal when the news breaks. And being gay still defines gay people. They're gay first and anything else after. People still very much stereotype gays. "Look at he! So girly. I know he was like that, ever since." And it's still a pity when someone "turns" gay. "She's such a pretty girl. What a pity."

But, I must also point out that while we don't actively acknowledge people's right to be gay, we don't denounce it in the ways that many of our neighbours do. There are a few slurs that we use, but we're not all screaming "bun out a chi-chi" (burn all gay people) like the Jamaicans. In fact, among the other islands of Caricom, Barbados is known as a gay man's paradise. Things that people would get beat up for in the other islands, Bajans will just roll their eyes, mutter under their breath and move on.

It goes without saying that gays don't get any special rights under Barbados law. In fact, the act of "buggery" - man on man sex - is illegal in the law books. Although, England's ultimatum to the entire commonwealth (no financial aid unless you legalise- which pisses me off because how are you going to just pee on a country's autonomy like that?) may change that soon.

So there's the situation as it stands with regards to homosexuality in Barbados and the Caribbean.

Character Building: Body Issues

2011-12-08T23:30:00.000+09:00

I was sick last week, and 2 weeks before I had the government medical exam. Both of these got me to thinking about physical issues. We all have them. Here are some that you can use with your characters.

Esteem Issues

If you're writing YA like me, or Women's/Chick Lit (as I hope to some day), then body issues can be a big deal. For females, breast size and butt size are probably the biggest issues. I see breast size issues a fair deal in YA. For guys, I'm not sure what the biggest physical issue would be. I imagine that it's anything that makes a guy feel "uncool" - gangly limbs, stick-y out-y ears, etc. Remember, people can get obsessed about the weirdest things too. We all know people who freak about something we consider tiny.

Here are a few issues, you might give your characters:

Breast size - like I said, a common issue.
Butt size - especially among Blacks and Latinos, who like a big butt, and among Asians, who may like a small one.
Other sizes - noses, mouths, eyes, ears, hands, fingers, toes, etc - too big, too small, too long, my thighs are too big
Shapes - a body part that is shaped funny, like my little toenails stick straight up in the air
Unevenness - one foot/breast/ear/eye/etc is bigger/longer than the other

When you've decided on your character's insecurity, be sure to follow all the threads. For example, my thighs are to big, so I hardly wear shorts. Now, if you're writing a character who hates her thighs, you don't need to say she doesn't wear shorts, but you probably won't write a whole bunch of scenes parading her around in Daisy Dukes.

Also, be sure to sprinkle in the insecurities. You don't want your character to sound to whiny. And if you have a lot f characters with a lot of far-fetched issues, it may seem contrived.

Physical Issues

In addition to body issues, there are also issues which are purely physical. For example I have bad veins, so anything involving needles takes an inordinate amount of time, and I end up like a pin cushion.

Obviously, there are huge physical issues you can inflict upon your characters- disabilies, diseases, etc. But there are smaller problems that people face. Here are a few physical issues that your characters might have to deal with:

Bad veins
Heightened/lowered sense of sight/hearing/taste/smell/touch
Sensitivity to... -I'm sensitive to electricity. When we did the medical exam EKG, I could feel the current. I get shocked by walls and doors in winter. People can be sensitive to all sorts of things.
Migraines/headaches
Various aches and pains
Colour Blindness
Tone deafness
Proneness to colds/ gastro/ throat infections
Allergies

Some physical issues will affect a character every day - like colour blindness, others -like my bad veins- only matter in a specific set of circumstances.

The physical is a huge part of your character. Make sure that you don't overlook or underpaint it when building characters.

Following the threads

2011-12-06T14:55:00.001+09:00

As a result of my illness I missed the chance to shake my butt at the boss.

See, there was a kindergarden presentation I was supposed to be at on Saturday. I was busy being sick, sore and sleepy, so I couldn't go. And the kids, along with my colleagues, did the hokey pokey. They put their bottoms in, they put their bottoms out, they put their bottoms in and they shook them all about. Including at the Superintendant. I can't believe I missed the chance. I mean, how often can you shake your butt at your boss without consequence?

While I was sick, I totally did not remember anything about the hokey pokey. I didn't remember until my colleague reminded me. Then I was kind of pissed because my stupid stomach had affected all of these things. My hands still hurt from the drip. My joints were sore for some reason unbeknownst to me. And now, I'd missed shaking my butt. None of these things were a given seeing as the problem started with my stomach.

Lots of things in life are like this. Threads are woven and connect to other points in unexpected ways. When we write, we have to think about these threads. Let's say you write a hearing-impaired teen MC. How does that connect to other points?

On the most obvious level, she has trouble hearing. She has to ask her friends to repeat things. What happens when we get a little less obvious? Maybe she likes concerts, because the music is way up loud and easy to hear, and all her friends have just as much difficulty deciphering one anothers words over the din as she normally does.

What happens when we follow this thread all the way out to the least obvious ends? Well, this is a teen, right? So she may be self-conscious. Maybe she doesn't like people to see her hearing aid and so she always wears her hair down. Maybe she hates the beach, because she either has to take out her hearing aid to swim, or keep the ability to hear and just sit on the sand.

Of course, there are cautions. Take care not to follow this thread out to ends which don't connect. In other words, there are some things that are not affected at all. There's no reason a hearing impairment would affect a love of art. To extend this point further, it's a mistake to think that your big important concept HAS to affect everything in the main character's life.

Also, be careful of assuming that some ends are mandatory when they're not. We've all seen the "flaming gay." I know he exists. I've met him. Does that mean that every gay is a flaming gay? Certainly not. There are uber-manly gays. And gays who are feminine in a more-girly-less-faaaaabulous sort of way.

Finally, remember that you are the God of the universe in your book. You need to know how the threads connect and all the places those threads weave into. Your readers don't need to know. In fact, not knowing some of the threads can make it feel more real. After all, we can only partially explain the actions of people we know in real life, selves included.

Theory of Relativity

2011-12-05T20:19:00.001+09:00

I am sick. This time it's gastroenteritis - some of you might call it stomach flu. I had to get a drip on Thursday. Loads of fun when you consider my freaky veins. I ended up like a pin cushion. Anyhow, two things happened which got me to thinking.

The first was on Friday night, when I went outside in 2 degrees Celsius (34-ish Farenheit) and rain to buy a drink. When I opened the door and saw the rain, I thought "What if I catch the cold?" Then I almost laughed. A cold? What's a little sneezing when you haven't consumed anything more singificant than apples and bread in 2 days?

Then there was Saturday morning. I woke up hungry. So I boiled 1 egg. It took like 5 minutes to eat the whole thing, but I did. And I almost danced for joy. The only reason I didn't was because I thought it might upset my stomach. A single boiled egg, but in that moment it could have been the Jack Daniel's steak at TGI Fridays.

Everything's so relative. Any other day a cold would have derailed me, but right then, it was nothing. Sometimes the bad things aren't really that bad.On the flip, every day there are so many little things that we do that we don't stop to appreciate. There's just no way we could live like that.We can't stop to smell every single flower any more than we can blow off the bad things every day.

But I can do it for one day. Today.

Today, I'm blowing off my sucky/non-existent plotting, my dislike of description, my editing inability, and the fact that it's taken me this long to take a couple baby steps in the writing world.

Today, I'm happy to have a nice, loud VOICE, characters that jump off the page, 4 complete MSs in various stages of revision, the awesome guys and gals in my critique group and SCBWI Tokyo, and you amazy-wazy lovey-dovies that read this blog.

Agents are people too - A la Mary Kole

2011-11-29T23:30:00.000+09:00

Today is the final day of the lessons I learned / remembered at the SCBWI Tokyo Mary Kole event.

5. Agents are real people too.

Tokyo is not the smallest branch of SCBWI. It's probably not far from though. And it's got to be one of the most functional for it's size. I think the Mary Kole event might be the biggest SCBWI Tokyo event that I've been to. There were about 40 of us.

I say that to say this: going to an event with us is a very personal endeavour. I wasn't one of hundreds or thousands. I was one of 40. At lunch and dinner, I was one of 8 and 12. It meant I got a lot of opportunity to interact with Miss Kole.

At meals, we didn't talk about publishing at all. We talked like an old friend had come to visit. We talked about food. And travel. And growing up. And things to see and do in Japan and Hong Kong. More than ever before an agent become something more than a voice on a podcast, a name on a website, or a face in a 2 x 4 pixellated square.

Realistically, we all know that agents have lives outside publishing. They have things they love and hate. Families. Hobbies other than reading. But we're writers. What does realism have to do with anything? So often we forget the people side, and we think of agents as just another cog in the publishing wheel. As the evil step-mother who's just looking for a reason to lock our manuscript away in a tower somewhere.

Thing is, if agents are real people, (and they are) then they've got some things in common with us. This industry we're in is a tough one. It's always been, but it's getting tougher. And if they're in it, that probably means they love it as much as we do. If they're reading queries, that's not because writing rejection letters makes them giggle like Pee Wee Herman. It's because they want to find a gem, fall in love, laugh, cry, have an adventure, discover a new world. It's because they want to give those same things to the rest of the world.

Thanks to Mary Kole for reminding me.

And thanks to all the fantastic people who keep this industry running like a well-oiled machine. To the agents *raises imaginary champagne * Thanks for keeping it real.

Weird and random

2011-11-28T23:30:00.000+09:00

My computer decided that the back of the monitor will have a magnetic spot now. My brother says some computers have this, and I'll be bugging the computer manufacturer to see if that's normal for my model as soon as the West wakes up.

(EDIT: Both my bro and the computer types think it's normal, but it still gives me a cool toy that freaks people out. Also, if it explodes, I've documented it and put it on the internet. Proof in the internet pudding, and all that jazz.)

Anyhow, I showed my colleagues at work, we spent half the afternoon playing with it.

A Barbados dollar stands on its edge.

Even with the laptop open...

It can even hold up my keys.

And play with magnets we did.

Monfret (the lappy) decided I had a few screws loose.

Don't run with scissors!

Sorry I'm out!

Que Chan (the dog) wonders at the magic of the floating can.

Apparently Monfret has the same musical tastes as my neighbour.

Then Monfret started playing with the utility knife. It's all fun and games until someone loses an eye.

Que Chan to the rescue!

Oh, and the magnetism isn't the weirdest thing. This is:

(Look at me bing all scientificky. :) Also, I apparently have a stronger accent when I film. Oh, and ignore the screaming children - we're next to a day care.)

That's right, my computer turns my camera on! Freaky!!!

Oeuvre

2011-11-24T23:30:00.000+09:00

Weird how yesterday's title was in Japanese, and today we're in French.

Oeuvre in French means work, like a work of art. In English it can be used to describe the entire life work of any creative person.

A long, long, long time ago I complained (possibly on this blog, but maybe even before I'd started blogging here) about a certain NYT best-selling artist whose characters all felt the same. I didn't mind them all having the same religion and the same body type. But I hated that they all had the same 2 or 3 hobbies, and the same fairly rare familial relationships. I felt like all the books were clearly the author inserted into different plots.

Recently, for the first time since I was in secondary school, I started reading multiple standalone books by the same author. And as I read, I realised that there were things that linked the books. Sometimes, it as a type of character, or a type of premise, or even a setting. Sometimes it was a theme. Sometimes it was so intangible that I couldn't even figure out what it was, even after 3 of 4 books by an author. And I realised that I loved it.

I realise now that it depends on how you look at it. If you LOVE photography, you may be thrilled to bittles everytime a character's hobby is snapping candids. But if you hate it, or even if you're lukewarm about it, it may grate on your nerves.

Things that are important to authors make their way into stories. Obviously, just look at the number of main characters who are writers themselves, or love books or poetry. But everything that you include in more than one story is a risk. A risk you take of alienating some readers. And endearing others.

It's important enough that it's worth some consideration as writers.

What common thread(s) do you want your stories to have?
What issues are important to you and how can you highlight them? (Ex. featuring more "other" characters.)
If you've completed more than one novel, even in first draft, re-read and see what keeps popping up.

For me, it's settings outside those well-known by Westerners. Barbados, Japan, and one dystopian setting based on India. Death is also a theme for me. So far noone's died in this year's nano. I'm shocked! Foreign languages surprise me by making an appearance in every book. In all but one novel, there have been multiple cultures featured.

I try hard to change the type of character every book. But I'm liking the type I'm writing this nano, and on the last inter-nano effort, so I may stick close to that in the future. I'm pretty good about changing jobs, and since I write YA, what my characters want to be when they grow up. I avoid characters who are writers, except in one book where it's a plot point. I think everyone's hobbies are different. And I've never checked it, but I think the characters of different books don't even share the same story-telling quirks. (I write mostly first person.)

I think the essential question to ask yourself when there are similarities in your oeuvre (planned or otherwise) is this:

If 75% of the people that read my last book were going to be pissed aout me including this again, would it still be important to include it?

Juunin Toiro

2011-11-23T22:00:00.000+09:00

Here in Japan, there's a saying 十人十色 (juunin, toiro) - ten men, ten colours. Ten people will act in ten different ways.

But there are a few- as there always are- in the writer community who believe that their way is the only way. Not just for them but for everybody. You absolute HAVE to plot your novel. You CAN'T plot your novel or it will be stilted. You MUST write every day, no matter what. You SHOULDN'T write if you really don't feel up to it.

For me, there are few rules that can be applied universally in writing. But recently, I've been thinking about one...

I've done and won Nanowrimo every year since 2008. I owe a lot to Nano. I completed my 1st first draft in Nano. And my 2nd. And my 3rd. And I'm hoping to complete my 4th by the middle of next week. In addition to which, I "became a writer" because of Nano. I've always written, and I've always had the "I may write a novel some day" spirit. But only after Nano, did I make the decision that I was going to produce books.

Also, I kind of owe this blog to nano. It was during Nano that someone pointed me to Nathan Bransford's blog. That lead me to Natalie and Marsha. And as I ran around the blogosphere commenting and interacting, I felt like I needed a space of my own. At the time, I had a Japan blog, a philosophy blog and a weight loss blog, but I needed a space where my writer friends would want to come. And so Points of Claire-ification happened.

Even though I love Nano, some time after last Nano, I realised that if I was to be a serious writer, I couldn't very well turn out first drafts only in November. So I made a couple (unsuccessful) attempts at novelling early this year. I'm working on it. Add to that the fact that Nano is only for first drafts. I mean there is an Edit month as well, but I believe that's in December, when I'm out of energy from Nano, and trying to sew back together my shambles of a social life. Plus editing productivity is a lot harder to measure.

And every year, Nano gets worse for me. My first year, I wrote pretty consistently clocking the required 1667 words almost every day. The second year, I took a week hiatus, and had to play catchup. Last year I wrote 30,000 words in the final week. This year's Nano has been painful. I started the book I planned to write, an tsunami-earthquake YA, and I just couldn't get it to stick. Then I started another novel, about a girl hell-bent on losing her virginity, and that wasn't working either. Finally, I started the novel I'm working on now- possibly around a week late. Once again, it's the final week, and I've got 30,000 words to go.

Thinking about how much Nano has done for me, and how well it used to work, I wonder how some writers can swear one path is the best for everyone. I'm just one writer, and the path that used to be perfect for me, is now barely semi-okay.

There are very few universal rules in writing, but one of them is this:

Take the path that works for you.

And, if that path stops working, find a new one.

十人十色

You Pick the Agent- A la Mary Kole

2011-11-22T19:35:00.000+09:00

There's something aspiring authors often forget in the agent search. You're the client, and technically the agent works for you. I'm not saying that to go on some kind of a power trip. It's just that because of the huge imbalance between the number of aspiring writers and the number of literary agents and because of the fact that you have to go through an audition, the agent-author relationship often looks skewed towards the agent. At least from the outside looking in.

Any colour - so long as it's black (Henry Ford)

Skewing the author-agent relationship can result in an "any agent will do" mentality. The truth is any agent will not do. An agent who reps only crime and horror will not work for your YA romance.And being happy with any agent is how people get tricked by disreputable people posing as agents.

The Mary Kole connection

In her presentation, "Slushpile Secrets," Ms Kole touched on the process of choosing an agent. But even before I arrived, the Agent Day reminded me that it's not just "any agent". Meeting Ms Kole was an amazing experience for me, but I know I will probably never query her. Why? Because I think I may write novels for adults at some point. And Ms. Kole doesn't reps adult.

If my query list was made up of "agents of awesome" as opposed to agents who are a good fit, then it would have all the agents who have amazing blog and twitter presences: Mary Kole, Janet Reid, Nathan Bransford (even though he's no longer an agent- he's that awesome). None of these are actually a fit.

Eenie meenie

So what should you consider when thinking about who to query?

1. Look inside yourself.

What genre do you write? What tone do you write with? Who's your audience? Do you have any desire to write something different at any point? The key to making a match is knowing who you are as a writer.

2. What do you need?

Would you appreciate someone who's very editorial? Should your agent call you for a birthday? Do you prefer all online correspondance, or would you like a phone call once in a while? What help do you need, if any building your career? Big agency? New York (/London)?

3. Keep your eyes open

Think of this as a passive sort of research. It's simple. Make notes every time a potential agent crosses your path. If you're hanging out at WriteOnCon, and there's an agent on a panel that reps what you write, but you've never heard of him/her, make a note. If you read a book, and it's absolutely awesome, and you think "when my book grows up, it's going to be just like this one," make a note.

4. Research and compare

It's relatively easy -especially in the case of US agents- to find lists of exactly what agents are looking for. But huge genres are not the only things to consider. Just because an agent reps paranormal doesn't mean your paranormal is right for them. Just because your book fits with that agent, doesn't mean your styles will mesh.

You should match agents up to all the things you considered in sections 1 and 2. It's okay if an agent misses on a few - compromise is a part of life- but you may want to rethink querying someone who only lands in the same place for a single category. Finding out a lot of these things will take some effort. Connecting with agents and/or their clients on social media, attending conferences or workshops they give, using agent-finding resources on websites and in books, reading their clients' work, etc.

It's a long process looking at all this information, so I recommend that you start before you're ready to query. Keep a book or computer file with agent names. Record if they're a "perfect match", what things don't gel with you, what agencies they work with, and anything else that jumps out at you. At this stage you really don't need to think about submission requirements unless they are going to be restrictive, like mailing a printed manuscript across the world, might be problematic.

5. We're all in this together
(Any day I get to quote HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL is a good day. Just sayin. )

At the end of the day, remember this is a partnership. You do have to "work for" your agent. You will submit things to her. He may push you so hard you think you'll break. She may give you back editorial notes with so much red ink you'll feed like you've bled all over them.

BUT

They will (or should) do it for your sake. All those things and many more.

Pick an agent that works for you.

The trouble with alarm clocks

2011-11-21T20:00:00.000+09:00

When I was little, my parents woke me up. It was a bad thing and a good thing. A bad thing because if I didn't when called it would often devolve into getting poked and prodded. But a very fortunate thing because I always woke up.

As an adult, I beacame responsible for waking myself up and starting using alarms. This was when I discovered a weird fact about myself. An alarm will only work for so long. When I hear a sound long enough, I stop noticing it. After a while of the same alarm, I stop waking up.

There were 2 solutions I could think of. I could find a sound so annoying or startling that it would continue to wake me up. I tried that for a while. I woke up. But I'd be in a bad mood half the morning. The second solution was to keep changing alarm tone. These days I use my cellphone, and I change the song the alarm plays every few months.

My whole life is like this. I can stick with something for a while, although it drives me crazy. But in time, I need to reach for a new something. Nothing is forever in my world. That's why I switch jobs the way I do. Why I love travelling and living in other countries. Why my dream changes with the wind direction.

Sometimes I love the way that this allows me to live outside the box. Other days, I despise the way it means being a "Jack of all trades, master of none." That, I guess, is the trouble with alarm clocks.

Caribbean Context - What is it?

2011-11-18T23:00:00.000+09:00

Talking about the differences between the US and the rest of the world got me to thinking about own little neck of the woods. The Caribbean.

What exactly is the Caribbean?

If you're not from the Caribbean, I'm sure you have a relatively defined answer. One that probably involves lots of islands and sparkling blue sea and maybe a coconut tree or two. But for Caribbean people the answer is a lot more complicated than that.

Islands in the Caribbean
Not all of the Caribbean is islands, and not all of it is in the Caribbean Sea. (Yay for misnomers!) For example, the Caribbean coasts of Colombia and Venezuela consider themselves a part of the Caribbean. And Barbados, my island, is not actually in the Caribbean Sea. The island chain seperates the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. That island way out to the right (east) that looks like it's too cool for school? That would be Barbados, entirely surrounded Atlantic Ocean. Of course this gives us the random distinction of being the first "major" port after you sail west from Africa. Doesn't matter now, but it mattered a heck of a lot in slave days.

The most interesting has got to be Guyana, which is neither an island or in the Caribbean Sea. I think it only identifies with us because it's the only English-speaking country in South America. That brings us to another important factor...

Language
There really aren't words to describe how language seperates the Caribbean. The only other place where so many "major world laguages" are spoken by different countries is Europe, and while Europe may have it's seperatist moments, they are nothing compared to the Caribbean. They are islands which flat out DISAPPEAR from maps. San Andres is a Colombian island southeast of Jamaica. It doesn't exist on this map. I'll give Jack his jacket and admit that San Andres is only 26 km square, but St Barts is only 21 km sq and is pictured. (Caveat: St. Barts is also not an English speaking island, but Dutch. I'm guessing it's pictured because it's actually in the chain.)

Additionally, it's a pain in the butt to get to islands which speak a different language. Barbados is a hub. I can fly direct to any of the English-speaking islands, but heaven forbid I want to get to get to Martinique- it's a puddle-jumping nightmare. Let's not even get started on those Colombian islands. Barbados - Venezuela/Miami - Bogota - San Andres/Providencia/Santa Cantalina. Even if we knew they existed, there's no way in hell we were going.

This language barrier apparently also works in reverse. When I was in Colombia, I always had to show people where Barbados was on a map. Then they'd be shocked and exclaim, "It's so close!" Seems Colombian maps don't picture some of the islands either.

Mother country
This also ties in with language. If a person in mainland France says they're going ot the Caribbean, they mean Martinique, Guadeloupe, or Saint Martin. If a Dutch person says it, they mean Sint Maarten, Saba, St Barts, St Eustacius, or the ABC islands.

Caricom

Caricom stands for "CARibbean COMmunity". It started back in 1973, which wasn't that long after the founding nations gained independence. It (along with CSME- Caribbean Single Market and Economy) work mostly like the European Union. The major theory behind it, is that we are itty-bitty teeny-weeny yellow polkadot islands, and we're not going to get very far on our own. I don't know how sucessful we are at acheiving the goals of Caricom. There is a lot of time spent grumbling over who's in charge and which territory is getting the short end of the stick.Anyhow...

Most of the time when I say Caribbean, I mean the member states of Caricom.

Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas [Sometimes not. Bahamas acts more American than Caribbean most days.]
Barbados
Belize [Sometimes not. Being in Central America, there isn't that much actual interaction with Belizeans.]
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Haiti
Jamaica
Montseratt [Sometimes not. Still a British colony]
Saint Kitts and Nevis
Saint Lucia
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago

Apart from Caricom, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Martinique, and Sint Maarten/Saint Martin are often included when I talk about the Caribbean.

And now a random video from "TODAY" where they visit Barbados. He only makes one mistake (the bit about carnival - Crop Over IS our carnival). The hotel he's at is the highest-end hotel you can stay at. As in Tiger Woods got married there - trust me you can not afford it. (If you can, feel free to donate to a starving writer - me!) But the hospitality is lengendary everywhere.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Reading by Design

2011-11-17T21:33:00.001+09:00

Correction: In last week's post about writing foreign settings, I said the presenter Ann Slater was part Nepalese, she's actually part Tibetan. Sorry Ann!

A couple weeks ago, the YA highway's Field Trip Friday pointed me to a post from a writer who writes LGBTQ characters. She admitted looking back over the books she's read recently and and noticing that not many of them had a LGBTQ MC. A similar thing happened to me at the beginning of the year, when I discovered The Colorful Chick Lit challenge. The basic requirements were to read between 4 and 12 chick lit books with MCs who were person of colour, ie not white. I'm not a big chick litter, but when I found the group, I realised that even though I had read at least 50 books last year, I could count the number of non-white MCs on one hand. That wouldn't really do, especially since I've never written a white MC.

How it happens

It's really easy as an avid reader surrounded by avid reader friends to just read the recommendations you get from them. And when your as active in the writers' online network as I am, it's almost a full time job just reading the books your friends wrote. It's quite possible to fill your days with fantastic books, but never touch on topics that are important to you.

We fight together
(That's the name of a recent theme song from one of my fave anime.)

So how do we combat this issue. It's simple really. Decide what kind of books you need to read, and how often you can commit to them. So far this year, I've read 11 books with non-white MC's. Two years ago I discovered TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, and I decided to embark on a mission to read the classics that I've never read. I've only read 3 this year, and I'm currently reading Wizard of Oz in between everything else.

12 books is not a lot in the grand scheme of things. But it's still 12 that I would not have read if I had not made a conscious decision to do so.

What to look for

I'm reading :minority MC's and classics, but there are lots of other things you might want to choose from. Like Robin Talley, the author I mentioned earlier, you might want to read more characters like your MC. You may want to read more books in the genre you write, or in genres that make brief appearances in your narrative. You may want to read authors that are really strong in elements of writing where you are weak. The plotting in Inheritance, the final instalment of Eragon, taught me so much (and makes me want to hide myself from every keyboard and pencil so that I might never again be tempted to put down a story).

While reading

It's fine to read passively, and just enjoy the book. But you might want to read a book every once in a while like you would a text book. Think about what works well, and what doesn't. Look at the plot, characters, setting, theme, quotable quotes, anything you can think of. You can make notes, or just soak up the lessons.

There's nothing that says you HAVE TO read by design, but as an author, you've got so much to gain from it.

Finally, to Asiamorela, an apology.

For a "wordsmith," I'm really awful at conveying what I mean. In Tuesday's post, I was not saying that places outside the US have monocultures. I can't believe that I wrote in a way that that meaning could be construed, after all I'm from a little island that's often stereotyped. And I've been all over the world, so I know the diversity. And I live in Japan, which has got to one of the most stereotyped countries by Western people.

Rather, my point was three-fold. Firstly, despite the rich, developed cultures, there seem to be more unifying threads in many other countries than in the US. You'd be hard-pressed to find many similarities between a New Yorker and a wannabe starlet in LA. But in the sprawling Caribbean, made up of so many nationalities, the Barbadians in the southeast have a crap ton in common with the Jamaicans in the northwest.

Secondly, people outside the countries do often point to certain things and say, that is French, that is Spanish. Whether or not everyone in France eats croissants, they're considered a French thing. I don't know if there's an American equivalent. For example, you might say that the hamburger is American, but most people don't think of America when they eat it. People almost invariably think of Japan when they eat sushi.

Also, America's a baby compared to Asia and Europe. Living together for thousands of years is immensely different from a few hundred.

Sorry for not conveying my meaning better. .

PS, Dianne, I was trying to be nice. I see the same thing in Japan. Everyone here is convinced Hawaii is it's own country. But at least they have the excuse that noone else in the world speaks their language.

Why the US may not be ideal for international writers

2011-11-15T18:57:00.001+09:00

The third thing I mentioned learning from the SCBWI Tokyo event is that the UK may be a better fit for me. Put differently, it's more that the US is probably a bad fit.

One of the writers in attendance, a Kiwi I believe, asked about books with international settings (and presumably also international characters). Ms Kole said they tended to be a harder sell, and that they had to have a reason to be set overseas. My initial thought was to rebel against what she was saying. I'm Barbadian. What more reason do I need than that for setting a story in Barbados? But then I tried to calm down and think of what I know about the US. And not just in book terms.

I lived in the US for 2 years. I've been to 17 states, D.C., and Puerto Rico. In the past 3 1/2 years I've lived nextdoor to 5 different Americans. I think I know more about America than the average international Joe. Heck, there's a possibility I know more about America than the average American Joe - lol - but I won't push that claim.

Here are some theories as to why the US might not be looking for international stories.

So many stories

What is American? It's easy to point at certain foods or things and say that is French or Italian or Japanese or Indian. Some countries in Asia and Europe (Italy for example) are technically younger than the US, but they've been developing their culture for thousands of years, and it's resulted in great similarities even over vast land areas like China and Russia.

In the US though, the majority of the population (or their ancestors) came over from an already developed culture. They retained much of that culture. Through hundreds of years, these cultures become more and more watered down, but they still exist.

The US doesn't need to go to Taiwan for Taiwanese stories. There are lots of Taiwanese Americans.

50 countries

I'm not generally very politically minded, but even I know that when you look at the way states operate, it's much more like how whole countries operate in the rest of the world. Take for example driving laws. Many of the "big countries" like England have treaties with Japan so that foreigners living here just sign a few pieces of paper to obtain a Japanese drivers' license. Americans can't do that. The reason I've heard is that each state makes it own driving rules and driving tests, so there is no standard of what an American driving licence really is, so the Japanese can't evaluate it.

Because the states are so different from one another, not just politically, but geographically, culturally, racially, etc, there is a tremendous variety of stories available in the US.

International centrestage

The US is at the centre of the international stage in many fields, but possibly none more so than entertainment. The most well-known movies are Hollywood productions,and most of the famous singers, authors, etc, are American. One repercussion in story world is that American stories ARE international stories, because the whole world now knows that culture. And if the whole world is interested in America, why should America be interested in anyone else? Popularity is almost never a two way street.

Sheer numbers

There is a ridiculous number of authors in the US - a number which multiplies hundred- maybe thousand-fold when you consider aspiring authors. With all of those stories vying for attention, there is less space for those who're not from within the US, especially when they're telling unfamiliar tales of unfamiliar places with unfamiliar characters.

Independence

From the very way the US was formed, certain rights and concepts became engrained. One of them was the concept that the US could and should always stand on it's own two feet. It shouldn't need to take in anything from anywhere else. It results in a fierce American pride that often causes other countries to hate America. (I'm just telling the truth. Don't shoot the messenger.)

As Stephanie Perkins' points out in ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS, there are way fewer works translated into English than is the case with other languages. There are lots of reasons for this, but I think it's partly to do with the US reluctance for other stories, or the branding of external settings as "artsy" or "not mainstream" or whatever else.

I'm not saying that any of these things is in and of itself a bad thing. Nor am I angry at the US for doing them. (Although I still hate to hear "offer only available in the US.") The US - and anywhere else - is well within their rights to only care about their own people. It's just something that makes it a little harder for me and people in a similar situation. I even thought about making my stories more American-friendly. For many reasons, I doubt I will. But that's a story for another day.

Sometimes you won't make sense

2011-11-14T21:43:00.000+09:00

My brother's birthday is in November. Which means it's kind of the one month of the year I can't neatly avoid conversation with him. (I talk to him in December too, but one of us is always home and one isn't, so that conversation is usually "hi" and hand the phone back to Mummy. Somehow we've avoided being in the same country at the same time for 4 of 5 years now.

Why should I want to avoid my little brother, my only sibling? Because we are so different that if we didn't both look ridiculous like our parents I'd swear one of us had been swapped at birth. Probs him, I'm a lot like Daddy. lol.

My brother is an engineer. He makes complex-sounding technology for Intel. I'm pretty good at sciences but it bores the wits out of me. I'm a linguist and my brother has zero interest in foreign languages. I love travelling. If I have my way, I'll be swapping countries every few years until I'm too decrepit to do it anymore. My brother emigrated from Barbados. But only to the place where our grandfather and his family lived. And he's settled right in and is never going anywhere else. I'm a dreamer. My brother is nothing if not practical. I see something I buy it. My brother is the kind of guy that could rationalise not buying toilet paper. ( He will argue he's not cheap though.)

I told my brother I'm thinking of getting a Mac. I'm writing this post on my Sony Vaio (Monfret), which is my main computer. I also have a Onkyo netbook (Junpei), which is primarily for travelling. It's small and light, but has the memory and speed of a 900 year old woman. For Brother dearest, aka Scrooge, there is no possible reason anyone not working in computers should need 3 of them. Heck, he works in computers and only uses two. And that's only because he's assigned one for work.

He asked why I'd need a Mac. I told him that I wanted a seperate computer just for writing. That way, I keep all the other crap off it. And when I turn on that computer, I'm writing. I'm not going on the internet. I'm not watching vids. I'm not tweeting. If I'm home, Monfret will probably be serving a support role, just in case I need to do anything of those things. If me and the Mac are out, I'll just do without until I can get to another computer.

Why does it HAVE to be a Mac? It doesn't have to. But it would make the move to Scrivener (the Mac word processor that's very talked about in my writer circles) easy. And back up seems to take care of itself better. And it has a lower crash rate than many other comps.Although, as my bro pointed out, not the lowest. And frankly, 3 portable Windows computers makes even less sense than 2 windows comps and a Mac.

If having the Mac will make writing easier, and lessen distractions, then it's worth it. Writing comes second only to loved ones. And sometimes, not even to them. So I'm willing to do whatever I can to make it happen.

The convo with my bro, and the follow-up email with a link to a new laptop recommendation (not a Mac) reminded me of something I've known for a long time. Sometimes we don't make sense to the people outside our niche population. A non-alcoholic may not understand why an alcoholic friend can't just come to their party and not drink. A fit person might not understand why a friend in a weight loss program can't eat one slice of cake for her birthday.

It's easy to get annoyed or flat-out angry over it, but just remember if we've got different destinations, we should be taking different paths. Don't worry about it. The important people will put up with your quirks and love you anyway. And the un-important people don't matter. If you're not making sense to people outside your field, then you're doing it right.

Does anyone else have close friends or family that "don't get that writing stuff"?How do you handle it?

PS, if important people refuse to put up with your quirks, you can always hide from them in time zones which make it impossible to call other than weekends. When it's 10 pm in Japan, it's 5 am in the Western edge of North America, where my brother lives.Way convenient. :)

Setsuden

2011-11-11T21:18:00.000+09:00

The March 11th Tohoku earthquake was of such a magnitude that they've resurrected a word which seemingly hasn't been used since the Kanto earthquake of 1923. Daishinsai (大震災) means 'big shaking disaster'. I think it's the perfect word. The disaster was not the shaking itself. I remember only a few reports of structures which collapsed from the quake itself. The bigger issue in the short run was the accompanying tsunami, and in the long run the radiation from the Fukushima plant.

One far-reaching side effect of the Fukushima plant being offline is setsuden. Setsuden (節電) is energy conservation. With the Fukushima plant down and another plant damaged (I'm not sure if it's back online yet) the energy production of East Japan has taken a serious hit. And West Japan uses a different frequency of electricity so we can't share without converting it.

The entire of East Japan has been on setsuden since March to avoid spontaneous blackouts. Sometimes it's like the whole world's gone dim. Most government offices have taken out half their lights. Some elevators and escalators are turned off. Stores don't leave their signs on overnight.

But I kind of wonder how long you can keep it up. I mean it doesn't take that much to not use lights. But one has to wonder if the powers-that-be are just going to dig a giant graveyard for all the escalators and elevators. There doesn't seem to be that much effort to find a short term solution.

And winter is coming. This country uses a lot more fuels in winter than electricity, but the average kerosene heater still uses electricity. How will the grid hold up when we're all trying to stay warm at the same time?

On the flip side, it makes me wonder. East Japan is getting by on some fraction of the energy it used before. Which makes me think of all the things that we really didn't need to be wasting electricity on in the first place. Like the flashing lights in the drink machines. They used to flash all day, presumably as a marketing technique to draw your eye to the machine. Since setsuden, most of the machines only light up when someone is purchasing something.

I hope the end of setsuden comes soon. I hate worrying constantly about which will be the day it's too much and the power goes off. In all likelihood it will be a day when it -20C in my house. But I hope that when we return to "normal", that we won't stop the energy conservation methods we've picked up along the way.

You already know - Dialect - A la Mary Kole

2011-11-10T21:49:00.001+09:00

The story I was working on before I started trying to polish up my critique entry for the Mary Kole event is called LIE DOWN OR PASS. It's been on hold since then, but I fully intend to get back to it after nano. Torment me if I don't.

I don't know if it's "purpose-work" as we say at home, but I try something new every WIP. LDOP is my 6th novel attempt. (I'm ignoring all the ones which didn't make it past 5,000 words.) I've heard a million people say in a million ways, that you should let go in your first draft. I've always tried to keep editing to a minimum, but I've reined in my Barbadian-ness. This time around I decided to write the story exactly as if I was telling it to a fellow Bajan. I would think about understandability for foreign audiences later.

Then the Mary Kole opp came up. I could have a one-on-one critique, a first page critique and a query critique. I decided to go for all 3, but I thought it would be a waste if I sent the first 150 words of my 2500 one-on-one as my first page. So I decided to send the most recent thing I'd worked on.

I do not know what I was smoking.

As I said, I know I need to tone down the dialect to work for international audiences. And I fully plan to, before I ever offer that book up to the Query Powers That Be. If I had not been convinced of the need to think about the dialect included and the way it's introduced, Mary Kole's cold read convinced me.

The book starts with a group of teens playing dominoes. In Barbados, dominoes has it's own vocabulary that can be almost indecipherable, even to other Bajans if they don't play dominoes. I watched Mary stumble over every other word. Even where the words were recognisable, they sometimes took on a different meaning. She couldn't comment other than to laugh. I couldn't do much other than laugh with her and at myself.

Most people don't dive in to a hot spring. They stick in a toe. Then the sit on the edge. Then they sit on the ledge so they water comes up to their chests. Then they ease right down to their shoulders. That's how dialect should be, especially if it's a dialect that's completely unfamiliar. On the other hand, you have to be careful not to baby your reader. Let the words explain themselves if they can. And don't add your detail too slowly. A few drops sprinkled in at the beginning, with progressively more, until by the end, the book has gone local. But not in the scary incomprehensible sort of way - it's still acting like there's company around.

The same is true of any world details that are unfamiliar. Yesterday we touched on multicultural settings, but the concern also arises in speculative fiction where you have to introduce your reader to the world.The trick, I think is to always keep the reader in their depth, but never make them feel like they're in the kiddie pool.

Do you write in dialect or use niche slang? How do you encorporate it?

JWC Recap: Setting your story in a foreign country

2011-11-09T19:18:00.000+09:00

At the Japan Writers Conference, Ann Tashi Slater did a presentation called "Setting you story in a foreign country( and a few thoughts on getting it published)." I presented on writing multicultural YA, so I was interested to see where we converged and where our opinions were different.

One of the things I didn't concentrate on in my presentation (50 minutes is not really that long) that Ann highlighted was research. Research is important in any novel where you're not writing what you know. No matter how big or small the unknown factor is.

She used a Michael Ondaatje interview by William Dafoe as an opener.

WD How does research lead to invention and where does it get in the way of invention?

MO That’s still a very difficult thing to know. You can always f[redacted] up by having too much research. You can paint yourself into a corner by finding out everything about 1926. Or you can hear someone on a bus say something that happened to somebody, and that’s enough to keep you going for 50 pages. It’s difficult to know what’s right and wrong. The kind of research I do, as a result, is quite intentionally random.

In my opinion, one of the perks of random research is that you get to find out things off the beaten track. Like if you look up Shania Twain on youtube, your first dozen hits are probably all her superhits. But if you start at one of those superhits and click around in the sidebar, you might end up at a lesser-known song, like UP, which you would never have found using a typical research method.

Ann pointed out the research methods she used in her novel, set in Darjeeling - she's part Tibetan. Her grandmother was still living in Darjeeling. She was getting older every day, and Ann said she knew a day would come when she wouldn't be there any more. So she spent some time there and did some interviews. She also went through photographs, letters, and diaries - things you may not have much access to if you don't have a family in. And she read lots of books which helped her focus her trip.

As for the nuts and bolts of setting in a foreign country, it's also important to integrate story and setting. You don't want to write every detail you know. That was something that I warned against in my presentation too. You risk writing a glorified travel guide if the multicultural elements are too much stronger than all the other story elements. Filter details through the pov and plot. Setting should influence the story, but it shouldn't bend it into pretzel shapes.

Ann also pointed out the importance of getting the details right. If you set a story in a Japanese junior high school and then had the kids bring lunch, that would pull me right out of the story. [EDIT: Other than the big cities] there are very few places in Japan where students don't get school lunches up until the end of JHS. Also, let Google be your friend. How you do this is up to you. Maybe you want to stop every time you have a question. Maybe you'll just insert a marker (I use hash tags) and come back to it. But the fact is that it's so easy to get information these days. Time and cost are much less of an issue in working with a foreign setting. Why not take advatange of that?

Is anyone working in a setting which isn't the same as where they live or where their main market lives? How are you doing it?

You already know - Plot - A la Mary Kole

2011-11-08T20:35:00.000+09:00

Last Monday, I mentioned the Mary Kole Agent Day event that I attended in Tokyo (Yokohoma, Kanagawa if we're being technical). I also mentioned 5 things I learned. Today, I'm talking about thing 2: You probably already know the answer to your question. And there will be follow-up posts on this as well.

I'm not going to get into much about what Ms Kole said in my one-on-one critique. Something about that doesn't feel quite kosher. But there is one thing she said that I feel I can share.

I went into the critique excited. I couldn't wait to find out what THE Mary Kole thought about my work. But then she made a comment and I had to restrain myself from laughing. Not because I thought she was wrong. Or because I'd finally snapped. Because I've got that very same critique at SCBWI creative exchanges. And I make that same critique of my work myself. In fact, I make it so often, that some of you may know my fatal flaw without having ever seen my work. And I don't suppose THE Mary Kole would be worth her sauce if she couldn't pick up on what everybody and their dog has already noticed.

My characters are real. My voice is well-defined (and occasionally overbearing). But even a team made up of Sherlock Holmes, the KGB, the CIA, Angela Landsbury, Scooby Doo, Miss Marple and Encyclopedia Brown couldn't find my plot. Yes, it's that bad.

(My words, not hers, or my SCBWI colleagues'.)

As she spoke, I just nodded, because I was being a good little critiquee. But I couldn't help thinking, "I came here for this?" Here was this incredible opportunity to present my work and hear from the other side of the desk. One of my critique partners just signed with her agent through a face to face event. And I don't delude myself that I'm anywhere near query stage. You guys know that. It's just that this was a massive opportunity. And I wasted it.

The lesson to be learnt here is that if we sit and contemplate, we may already know where our issues lie. It would profit us more to fix the things we can fix on our own and to ask for help when neccesary. In critiquing, and of course in life, we should be presenting our best wherever possible. Putting forward a product that in our mind has no flaws.

There's a central tenet of learning (both knowledge and skill acquisition) that many people forget or ignore:

The student has to play an active role.

We have to take ourselves to a certain level before the teacher/expert/sempai can take us any further.

I know what is wrong with my stories. I know that I need to find a way to fix it. I am going to my best to get that sorted out before I move forward. Anything else is a waste of time. Opportunities are all around, and I don't want to keep throwing them out the window.

Do you know what's wrong in your writing? Have you tried to fix it? Are you past the point that you can do it on your own? Have you tried peer or professional critiquing?

*Sempai is a Japanese word, meaning senior, literally ahead of colleage(s)

Me and my money go Mm-mm-mm

2011-11-07T20:55:00.000+09:00

Hey guys! It's Monday, time for another edition of Monday on My Mind. Today on my mind, my relationship with money. I have a horrible relationship with money. But not, I suppose, in the way people normally have horrible relationships with money.

I come from a "doctor-lawyer-bank manager" culture. Put simply, if you have the means to enter one of the high-flying professions it's what you should do. I went to the top school on the island. People automatically expect me to be the top of everything. If I wanted to be a hairdresser, that would be a "waste" because I could do "better".

Thing is I don't care about money. I can't do something I'm not enjoying no matter how much it pays. When I'm not loving life I feel like I'm always 2 seconds from jumping off a bridge. This leads me into the noble pure-hearted territory of only doing things I'm inclined towards.

Unfortunately it also leads me into the territory of not saving a cent. There's always something that I can buy to help me love life. And money sitting in a bank account is nothing but a number on a paper. $100 in the Amazon store is 10 stories that will keep me smiling for at least a month - and if I'm lucky there'll be agem in there that I'll read for years to come.

Weighing the present against the future is also an issue for me. I daydream about the future a lot, but in a fuzzy, abstract way. It's hard for me to do practical things for that fuzzy, abstract future. Like I can save to go to a conference in a year's time, but I can't just save for a rainy day.

It can be stressful, living the way I do. I work for decent money. But there are some months where I cut it pretty close. There have been a few months where ramen was the food of choice. I needed to do something, and in order to squeeze it out of that month's paycheck, I had to cut all the corners. Heaven forbid I ever have to do anything that will involve more than 1 month's pay.

I stress myself a lot more than I need to over money. I can stress over money that I won't need from years. You'd think that would make me save it. You'd be wrong. Sometimes I wish I could live in a world that didn't involve money. A world where I could happily go to work and my employer or someone else would take care of the bills, and all I'd have to do is show up.

There are a few good side effects of my relationship with money. Not being attached to it, I'm more likely to give it away. If a friend is in need, and I have it, and it's not doing anything, then I don't mind giving it away. (I'm just being honest here, but even saying that feels a bit boastful.) I'm not materialistic.I focus more on the doing than the having. I don't assign values to myself or others based on money. I don't have loans, because I hate money hanging over my head, and generally prefer not to have something, than to have to think constantly about how to pay someone back.

Still, I know I need to whip my money relationship into shape. At this rate, the only way I'll ever own a house is to win the lottery. Although, if we're being honest (and we always are here at POC), I'd rather own a ship and travel the world.

How about you? How are you with money?

Almost English

2011-11-04T19:07:00.000+09:00

Look at my babies, writing in English. I didn't help any of them. I didn't even know they were doing this. (You'd think someone would have told me, seeing as I'm in this country to assist with ENGLISH, but oh well. Happens more often that you'd think.)

The 2nd years wrote about their dreams. I love this one. Although this kid never takes charge of anything and I really can't see him even trying for town council, but here's to hoping!

We don't teach cursive at school, but all the best English students use it. This kid is next year's Student Body President. They start the student body year in the middle of the school year, so that when high school entrance exams roll around, final year students can concentrate on them.

I love when my kiddies go off the beaten path. Especially here where the beaten path is so important.

Made. of. Win.

Another top student. I think they learn the cursive at cram school.

This girl learned the cursive from her mother. She did a speech about becoming a cancer researcher. You have no idea how depressing it is to listen to the story of how her grandfather dying of cancer changed her life for weeks, and weeks, and weeks.

The 3rd years wrote poems. I forget the name of this form. Japanese has a zillion different types of poem.

I have one kid who is absolutely addiction to the football/soccer player, Messi (Messhi in Japanese). It's random because noone pays any attention to soccer here, other than cheering Zac Japan and Nadeshiko Japan (boys and girls nat. teams) at World Cup time.

If you're every in Japan in summer. 40 degrees Celcius, or about 100F, with 80-90% humidity, then you get this. I'm almost glad to spend half the year frozen. Almost.

I love the dreamers.

Yum! Made me hungry.

This is the best poem in the English language by a Japanese person in the history of the world. And I really believe it coming from this kid, too. lol.

Give it time

2011-11-03T20:55:00.001+09:00

I'm in Japan on a programme called JET- Japan Exchange and Teaching. The basic concept is this: they bring foreigners from all over the world to teach their native languages or promote international relations or assist with sports. We come here and share our cultures and eventually go home and take Japanese culture with us.

Because one of the objectives is for us to go home, there's a maximum time you can be on the programme. 5 years. This is my 4th. Which is why I'm always on about my next move these days. But all of that is background. Today , I'm thinking about re-contracting. Every year around this time we receive recontracting papers. It seems different prefectures/ cities will require different attachments to the recontracting papers, but for me it's really simple. Two statements, essentially "I'm staying" and "I'm going" and I just tick the relevant box.

Every year, no matter my thoughts and feelings, it's hard to put that little tick mark on the paper. To the point where one year I handed it in the day (in February) it was due. Even though I'd decided before I got the papers that I was staying. One consideration that keeps me ticking "stay" year after year, is that I feel there's more and better to come. And I haven't been wrong yet.

1st year

My first year was a whirlwind. I was on the other side of the world in a country where (miraculously) I couldn't make myself understood. Remember I spoke 4 languages then. Being incomprehensible is right up there with growing a second nose in my mind. Also, Japanese people are some of the most polite people you'll every meet. And they're really warm. Up to a point. There's a threshhold that you can't cross until you're a part of the group. And I wasn't going to acheive that status in a year.

Add the fact that this was my Asian debut. I'm from a country on the other side of the world, right at the bottom of the list of developed nations. There was no way I was getting over here without the free ticket provided by my contracting organisation and the JET programme. And being a traveloholic, I couldn't resist discoverin Asia. I found myself in 9 countries in 2009- mostly during my 1st JET year, and extending into my 2nd.

I'm totally going to pretend that my devastation over my crumbled relationship had nothing to do with it. And you can pretend to believe me. :)

2nd year

I started discovering foreign friends further afield- up to a couple hours North and South, and spent pretty much every weekend "jetsetting" to other prefectures. My neighbour at the time, P, joked that I didn't actually "live" in Iwate on weekends.

The English conversation class my previous neighbour, C, had started late in our first year got into full swing, and we built a bank of acquaintances in town, and in the neighbouring city. But, as P loved to say, "Everyone in Japan is friendly, but noone's your friend." It's weird to have these people that you can go out and hang with, but noone to just call and chit chat when you're bored.

3rd year

I decided to get something new from the programme by running for AJET. It's basically like student council but for JETs. I had sme amazing opportunities meeting with the bigwigs at CLAIR (yes the organisation that administers JET is a synonym with my name- it makes for some interesting jokes - Oh, Claire's paying?) , and officials from the misitries of Foreign Affairs, Internal Communication and Education.

Things really changed at school towards the end of this year as well. Japanese companies and government departments make transfers every year. Since the school year starts in April, I've seen 4 sets of transfers. Which means I've been working for my Board of Education and at my schools longer than most of the other staff. Hierarchy is really important here. And even though I technically will always have the same rank as when I came, I'm a sempai in lots of ways. My schools include me in everything. Now, when memos go around the school, they always leave one on my desk- before they'd skip over me. They invite me to all the after-parties. When they pass things around that all the staff have to stamp that they've seen it, there's a space for my stamp now. They even invited me to come cut the lawn with the PTA this year. Never have I been so glad to be allergic to cut grass. Ready-made excuse. lol.

Of course the highlight (or lowlight) of my 3rd year was the earthquake-tsunami. You can't not bond with people after you live through something like that together. It's not as many as some people claim - especially since the quake happened at the end of the school year and some people's contracts were up anyhow - but some foreigners did leave Japan afterwards. I don't blame them. Until you've felt the Earth shake for 5 minutes, and once every 5 to 15 minutes for the next 2 days, you don't have a clue what it's like. But I think Japanese people respect the ones who stayed through it. Especially here in Iwate, one of the 3 prefectures which was hardest hit and which is still recovering.

4th year

My 4th year started in August, but already the changes are wonderful. People in my town are so much friendlier to me. They no longer ask how much longer I'm staying, they just come over and start talking. Every time I go somewhere, there's a kid screaming, "Ah! Kurea-Sensei da!" (Look! It' Claire Sensei!) During the town festival, I was right there mingling with my neighbourhood group, like I'd always been there.In my town, I'm almost a "regular person". You have no idea how big that is as a foreigner.

Another big thing that happened this year, is that I went to one of my teacher's house. Japanese people don't have friends over. They'll prefer to meet up at a neighbourhood restaurant or park or the library. So I've never been to anyone's house other than my host family. You have to be really "close" to go to people's houses.

2 weeks ago, I started hanging with the "reggae crew". I've always known where the reggae bar was in the city next door, but my predecessor had some bad experience there. He never went into depth about what happened, but I've just never gone because of it. And then a Jamaican friend took me, and I exchanged phone emails with a girl that was there. (Somehow the fat chicks always gravitate towards me- like there's a universal Fat Chicks Unite campaign- it happened again today. I suppose it must be hard to be fat in a country with one of the world's highest anorexia rates. ) She invited me to an event at the bar, and then last weekend we all went out- the Master (owner of the bar), a DJ guy, and the 5 of us girls- to an event with DJs from Jamaica. It was great., sitting around the table in a breakfast restaurant chattering at 5 am. It's one of the "friendliest" moments I've had with Japanese people.

And then there was today. I've lived in this prefecture since August 2008, and I'd only met one Spanish speaker. He used to be my best friend in Japan. The only reason he's not is because he moved back to Bolivia. I go to a meeting today, for an internationl event we're having. And I meet 5 Spanish speakers. I spoke more Spanish today than Japanese or English. It's crazy to me, because they're all long-timers and they've all been here the entire time I have. One even lives on my train route. And I have never so much as seen a single one of them.

Time

I feel a little like Pocahontas. Every time I think I'm sure of something, something new appears, and I just can't wait to see what's waiting just around the riverbend. I don't think I can really say I've been truly unhappy here. Hard to tell being bipolar and all. But it just keeps getting better and better. Looking back, if I'd left at y time, I would never have experienced z.

So much of life is like that too. Even when you're not aiming for something. Who's to say that there wasn't something really awesome in front of you, 2 seconds after the point where you turned around and went home. I guess you can't really worry about that. If you did you'd be second guessing every single decisions you had to make. Kinda like I do.

I guess when the issue of time really comes into play, is in the instances where you have a goal. When you're waiting for things to go your way, and doing your absolute best to get there, and sometimes, it feels like you won't ever get there. There's a point when giving up starts to make more sense than going on.And you personally have to weight the decision for yourself. I just ask that you remember that you could be right on the brink. If you were to get what you want today, would everything you've gone through up to now be worth it? If you think the answer's yes, then maybe you should keep at it.

5th year

I'm 99% sure I'm going to take the 5th year if it's offered. I have no idea what it will bring. I can only hope that it's as great as the first 4.

"Today is where your book begins, the rest is still unwritten." UNWRITTEN, sung by Natasha Bedingfield.

JWC recap: Synaesthesia

2011-11-02T23:59:00.000+09:00

Another one of the presentations at the recent Japan Writers Conference was “‘A noir, E blanc’: How Synaesthesia can Work for You as a Writer” by Li Jiang. It was a craft workshop, so I don't really think it would be interesting to just tell you what we did. Rather, I'd like to talk about the concept behind the presentation.

Just in case you didn't know (and I didn't) synaesthesia is basically when a sensory detail of one sort invokes sensory detail of another sort. In the French poem, "A Noir, E blanc" used in the title of the workshop, the writer is talking about the vowels invoking colours. In other cases visual details can invoke auditory reactions, or vice versa. And inanimate details like the days of the week can take on personalities. Technically synaesthesia is an involuntary reaction (seen in 1 out of 23 persons), but Li Jiang asked us to harness the concept by listening to pieces or looking at pictures and freewriting the stories that came to us.

Knowing how many of my writer friends listen to music as they write, and who prefer a certain song when they're writing certain scenes, I wonder if most writers - or even most artists- aren't synaesthetes. The fact that psychadelic drugs can also induce synaesthesia and knowing the connection between artists and drugs, also strengthens this belief.

But synaesthesia isn't a given for all of us. I have zero response to many visual stimuli. Stuff fades into the background for me. It's why I love bright colours. Other colours just disappear. And music, while it will elicit emotion, doesn't drive me to think of specific stories.

Using the pieces that Li Jiang presented (visual art and music) and writing short stories off them was a challenge for me. I don't think mine were as good as some of the other people who presented theirs. Maybe they'd get better if I practised opening those sensory pathways more often. I think synaesthesia can be a useful tool for any writer. By 'forcing' synaesthesia, an artist is able to access details, stories, characters that they couldn't before. And with practise, I suppose, you could look at a scene, and know a character's entire life story, their motivations, and their flaws.

Wait a minute, I already create instantaneous stories for people on the street, and instantaneously see things in the now triggering huge catastrophic events in the future. I used to think it was some sort of ESP, but the predictions never pan out.

Maybe I am a synaesthete after all.

Are any of you synaesthetic? (Now that I know the word, I sort of love it.)

The Social Media Difference- A la Mary Kole

2011-11-01T20:32:00.000+09:00

Yesterday, I mentioned the social media difference as one of the things I "learned" at the SCBWI Tokyo Mary Kole event. Today, I'll be telling you why.

I left my hotel way early, since I was totally convinced I would get lost. Of course, I was right. After I'd giving up on going in one direction and turned back to pick another route at the intersection, a taxi drove past. I only saw a blonde head before the taxi stopped. I was pretty sure that this person was going to the same event as me, but I didn't want to stake out the cab, so I toddled along, trying to watch out of the corner of my eye and see which way this person went. Then I saw the Regional Advisor for my SCBWI branch, Holly. She greeted me and the person from the cab, who, it turned out, was Mary Kole. Then she introduced us.

And Ms Kole said, "Oh, Claire from Twitter!"

I'm pretty sure my jaw hit the sidewalk. Then bounced down the hill. Then splashed off the pier. THE Mary Kole knew who I was! Because of Twitter.

Not all of us can afford to go to a conference these days. I'm lucky in that I make a decent salary, and don't have a lot of bills. (And suck at saving and have slightly warped financial priorities.) Once upon a time, a conference would have been the only way to make a connection to write in the "personalisation" section of your query, if you include one.

These days, you can read an agent's blog or follow them on twitter. Many US agents, especially in YA, have some presence in cyberspace. (Unfortunately, it's a lot less common in the UK.) You can read their blogs. You can subscribe to their Twitter feeds. That in and of itself is great. But there's also that slight possibility, that you'll write a blog post that will attract an agent's attention. Or leave a comment on their blog or someone else's that will cement you in their mind. And it's even more likely on Twitter with it's volume restriction and conversational nature.

That's not to say an agent will sign you strictly because they've heard your name before. But we do what we can to stand out. 99.9% of that standing out should really happen in your manuscript. But it can't hurt if a part of the other .1% percent is your awesome social media presence.

5 things I learned at Agent Day with Mary Kole

2011-10-31T21:53:00.002+09:00

SCBWI Tokyo hosted Mary Kole, Literary Agent with Andrea Brown Literary Agency and the force behind kidlit.com. It was an incredible day all around. I had a blast, and I learned a thing or two as well. Here's a quick look at some of the things that came up- some were reminders and some brand new.

1. Social media really does make a difference.

2. Half the time, you already know the answer to the question.

3. Maybe the UK is a better fit for an international writer.

4. You're the one picking the agent, and not vice versa.

5. Agents are real people, too.

I hope to be able to recap these in depth in the coming weeks.

It's Monday and that's what's on my mind. (That and the fact that I had an amazing time at a reggae event with actual Jamaican DJs last night, and got in to my house at 5 am. Two Sundays in a row my bed was a stranger. I'll have to fix that this weekend.)

Kids got talent

2011-10-28T18:46:00.000+09:00

Every year, schools from kindergarden to universities in Japan have a school festival. At kindergarden and primary school it's called "Gakushuu Happyokai"- Presentation of Learning. From Junior High up it's "Bunkasai" - culture festival.

The festivals differ at each level. But one of the basic tenets is "look at what we can do".

Last weekend was the bunkasai at my junior high, and here are some of the talents of my kiddles. I was amazed by the amount of English running wild.

The Bunkasai poster - a collage of Post-It size pieces. The slogan on the yellow sign says, " Gateway, let's advance to a new future."

Some colour by numbers that I did with the Special Ed.

The 2nd years' crafts.

The 2nd years had to do a PR poster. This one is about saving the environment.

I LOVE this! Starting below the exclamation point it says, "Makeruna Nihon!" It means "Don't Surrender, Japan." Almost cried at this one.

One of my best English students' in the 2nd year.

She also won the District area dental poster competition. The slogan is 80 years - 20 teeth. (Older Japanese people have really bad teeth, so there are education campaigns from Kindergarden up.)

Another entrant who drew with an English slogan.

This is another of the PR posters. This one for club activities.

And another.

This is a PR poster for literacy/libraries.

And this one is for the band.

This is for setsuden. It says "Setsude shiyou, Mirai no tame ni." Let's conserve energy, for the sake of the future. Since the March 11 earthquake, my part of Japan is on "Setsuden" - energy conservation measures.

Don't my babies rock?
(PS, is it just me or can the average Japanese draw/paint way better than the average Westerner? )

Scaredy Cat - Publishing

2011-10-27T18:47:00.000+09:00

It's the final Scaredy Cat post. Today I'm talking about some of my publishing fears.

NEVER PUBLISHING

I'm afraid of never being published. I think it's a legit fear for all aspiring writers. But I still think I'm kind of unique in it. See, I'm not really that worried about not getting an agent or a publisher. And I know that sounds ridiculously egotistically when so many awesome writers out there struggle/have struggled with getting a foot in the door.

But the fact is that I have a niche that isn't being catered to. When most people submit, they are competing against thousands or millions of others in their genres. I have no idea how many people write Caribbean contemporary YA, but I've never seen any. Which means I'm possibly competing with like 10 people. But more probably 0.

Even after 3 first drafts, I still don't have a polished manuscript. Sometimes it's really really hard to actually go after things, even if I really want them. This is how I only do things that come naturally. And how I've failed/nearly failed every class that ever required me to study. So my biggest fear in this area is that I will just never complete the full publication-worthy manuscript process.

BEING SUBSTANDARD

Another reason I have difficulty getting further than the 1st draft is the fear that I will suck. I write all my first drafts in nanowrimo, which recommends ignoring/ embracing the suck as you gleefully race through 50,000 words in 30 days.

I don't feel that freedom on a second draft. I constantly see how bad it is. I get stuck in a loop on the same bit, or I just stop writing altogether.

Combine this witth the fact that I feel like the Caribbean YA market is wide open, and I'm worried that I'll put something horrible out there and my name will be attached to it forever, and I'll have to move to Mars to hide out.

AGENTS & EDITORS

Man, I have so many agents and editors related fears. Even though I'm not the sort of person that is naturally agressive to other people, I'm terrified I'll say something online that will majorly offend someone and get me blacklisted for life. I don't feel I can come back from that. I mean, I can't really say, Oh yes, I grew up in Barbados and live in Japan, but I'm totally not related to that other writer who's also named Claire and insulted an agent horribly.

I'm also worried about not holding up my end of the deal. Agents/ editors trust writers to play a certain role, and then they take it from there. What if I suck at directed editing? What if I can't come up with big picture changes requested? What if I can't get to the desired results?

DEADLINES

Beastly creatures. I literally don't work well with them, and don't work well without them. If you give me a deadline, I feel like it's breathing down my neck every time I think about the project. No matter how far off it is. Like I might think, I want to apply to an MFA program in September 2012. That's almost a year from now. Yet every time it crosses my mind, I'll hear the ticking clock.

That's because come August I will probably not have lifted a finger towards that goal. And it will be a mad dash to the finish which will result in me sending good (rather than great) work at 7 minutes to the absolute deadline.

On the other hand, things often just don't get done without a deadline. If you say in a big mystical fuzzy way. "Claire, can you write me an article on YA literature set outside the UK/US/Australia?" I'll tell you sure. And every now and again, I'll say to myself, Self, you should probably get cracking on that article. And it will take way longer than it should. And you'll probs not be very happy with me.

As much as I hate them, I've started to ask for deadlines for the things I care about. But this writing world runs on the back of deadlines. How on earth am I going to survive in it?

LACK OF LOVE

I'm one of those people who believes in mushy Disney ideals. It was worth it if one person in the world loved it. (I mean that figuratively - pretty sure publishing companies wouldn't be very happy if only one person loved it.) But I still prefer to affect somebody more than the money. I'd be happy if people would come up to me and say, "Thank you, Claire. Your book really made me feel [insert feeling here]."

I'm afraid that won't happen. I'm afraid that everyone will read my work and feel lukewarm.

NEVER GETTING OFF THE GROUND

While I don't really care about money (look how I'm arguing away my own advance before I've even queried), I know that there's a bottom line. I'm worried that I won't sell enough to break even. That this market of Caribbean teens all through NYC, Florida, London and of course the Caribbean, is all in my head. Or that they're broke. Or that they'd rather read the US/UK stuff they've grown up on. And we've all heard what happens to authors who don't sell. Change of name or of profession.

FRIENDS AND FAMILY

I don't measure myself in money or prestige. But other people do. And while they may not be judging me, I'll feel like they are. If all my friends can go on cruises, and I can only afford a weekend in the beach house that's a 5 minute drive from where I live, that will hurt. I'm afraid of someone ever saying to me, "You could do so much better if you'd let go of this writing thing." I'm afraid that they'll mean well, and it will break my heart, just as much as I'm breaking theirs.

So those are the publishing fears foremost in my mind at the moment. How about you? Do you have any publishing fears?

JWC recap: Aliens

2011-10-26T14:46:00.000+09:00

Two weekends ago was the Japan Writers Conference. I'm going to be highlighting some of the presentations that I attended.

DEVELOPING PLAUSIBLE ALIENS by Dale Thomas ( who writes as Alex Sivier)

I'll be honest, I went to this presentation because my presentation had been in the same room right before. But I'm glad I stayed. I probably learned the most for the conference at this presentation.And even though Dale was talking specifically about aliens, I felt like you could use his guidelines in developing any society/creature you imagine.

Dale talked about how we're fascinated with a bi-pedal humanoid structure, but really there's nothing innately special about it. It's just that's what we look like. While I'm obviously not a believer in Evolution as a creation theory, I could see how evolution theory would make sense in creating races on another planet. For example, giraffes developped long necks in response to trees being tall. Wouldn't it make more sense for the aliens to develop because of their environment?

He also spoke of different types of selection: natural, sexual, kin, etc. (At this point, he made the hilarious comment that "Peahens like big tails!") In sexual selection, weaker/less pretty individuals die off, because noone chooses them as a mate, and this is how the species becomes stronger and prettier. How does your alien race evolve?

He also spoke of diversity in alien worlds. Earth has at least 3 racial categories. Further to that, all of those have subsets. On top of which, there are continents and countries. People look differently and act differently. Yet, pretty much every alien planet in Star Trek sports one race who all look alike and all revere the same things.

But it's not just humans that need to be diverse. The planet should also be diverse. Different locales should have different traits. Plants should be diverse, as well as animals.

Dale also touched on the biology of changing the scale of creatures. It got a little technical here, but I'll keep it simple. (I only understood it simply.) Certain traits are dependent on surface area, and some on volume. Like heat loss, is all about exposed surface area, but heat generation is about volume. (Think about how skinny people are always cold.) So if you shrank a human down to the size of your finger, then they'd have to eat constantly to generate enough heat not to die.

Also, when you double length, you quadruple surface area, and end up with 8 times the volume. So if you make something twice as tall, then its weight distribution and it's weight are affected. But weight is a volume factor, so it's now 8 times as heavy, but it's feet are only 4 times the area. Chances are this creature would fall over or have some kind of arthritis or something.

Dale divided literary (and screen) aliens into 5 categories:

1. totally human
2. modified humans (think Superman)
3. modified animals
4. bio-inspired
5. totally alien

His parting comment stuck with me. Showing a collage of good and bad facets of human society, he said something to this effect, "Alien culture should have things to be proud of and ashamed of."

Does your writing include imaginary races or societies, alien or otherwise? How do you go about constructing them?

My JWC prezzies

2011-10-25T16:04:00.000+09:00

This year's Japan Writers Conference was held in Kobe City. I was really psyched about this year, because I was scheduled to present TWO topics.

My presentations were:

Into the Melting Pot: Writing the Multicultural YA

and

Brick by Brick: Building your blog

The MCYA (I so want to make a remix of the song YMCA with that) presentation was interactive. So the attendees worked to come up with their own definitions and lists.

First we defined multicultural YA. This is my definition:

Multicultural YA is literature marketed for a teen audience where two or more cultures interact.

Why I went with this definition:

- not specifying that the interaction had to be in the book included books written wholly in one culture, but transposed into another- like Harry Potter.
- not saying that the cultures clashed, included situations where a protagonist is doing fine with balancing the cultures
- by specifying the word culture, I felt like I excluded stories about different races where race and/or culture plays no role.

There were two main premises of the presentation:

1. Multicultural stories are about differences and similarities. As you research and as you write, you need to consider how things are the same for the protag as in the culture you're writing for. And you also need to consider how they're different. From a YA point of view, some things you might want to consider are school, free time, family, after-school activities, styles, pop. culture, body image...

2. Writing a multicultural story is about balancing multicultural elements against all the other elements of the story. Too much muliticultural and you're a travel guide. Too little and you're a regular story which happens to live in one country, but which has no ties, and could move to another country at the drop of a hat. As you decide where on the multiculturalism vs. story graph you want to fall, then you also have to decide if to include things which would be familiar universally (like sushi in a Japanese story), touristy (like going to Tokyo Tower) or everyday things that are less familiar (like specialty KitKats).

I felt really confident about my blogging presentation. I've been doing this blog for 2 years, and I've earned quite a few friends and professional acquaintances through it. If I'm qualified to talk about anything, I'm qualified to talk about blogging basics. Thank you guys for the role you've played in that.

I was surprised to find the room almost full when I got there. I'd specifically applied to do a blogging workshop because I knew that noone else here does them, and because I love blogging. I did not expect the majority of attendees to come.

I started out with WHY you should blog. I gave all the reasons you hear everywhere, along with a few often overlooked, but really important to me: motivation and support, feedback, and a chance to write. Then I got into the nitty gritty of how to set up a blog: hosted vs stand-alone, money and tech issues (not deeply), and what should be in your side bar or your tabs.

In the final section of the presentation, I looked at content - how often, how long, audience, tone, etc -and comments/ traffic/ followers.

I wrapped it up with a few words on cashing in on your blog, professionalism, being obnoxious, and the fact that if you don't like it, then you should find another social media outlet. A bad blog is worse than no blog, IMO.

Once again, I was surprised by the response. People came up with almost 15 minutes of questions to ask. And that was only because I stopped them so the next presenter could set up. Afterwards people kept coming up and thanking me and saying they'd never thought of some things I'd mentioned. Someone asked a social media question in a subsequent presentation, and was directed to me as the resident "expert"! Even after the conference the next day, a lady came up and asked me if I'd done the blogging presentation. She'd had to work on Saturday and said her friend had told her she'd missed a good one. I've even gotten emails telling me about things people have adapted on their blogs or asking more questions.

And the best vote of confidence is that I've been asked to re-package both presentations: the multi-cultural one as an article, the blogging one as a longer presentation for a workshop.

2 more reasons why I need to work harder on bringing a novel to market.

Big thanks to the attendees of JWC for being such a fantastic audience, and to the conference organisers for giving me the opportunity. Tomorrow, I'll offer a round up of some of the other presentations at this year's JWC.

I break trains

2011-10-24T22:56:00.001+09:00

The winner of INSANITY!!! Day 5 is Katharine Owens!

Lucky you! You can mail the name of your book choice and your address at muchlanguage (at)gmail(dot)com.

I'd like to say a big thank you to all the participants. You guys are awesome, and I loved your responses all week. With nanowrimo next week, and vacation (and Kindle giveaways) in December, I think it's the last INSANITY!!! for the year, but stay tuned, you never when some more INSANITY!!! might jump into the picture.

So, this weekend I had a crazy, crazy 48 hours which involved working both days and partying both nights, with a total of 4 hours sleep in 3 instalments. lol.

Saturday night's party mission started out pretty interesting. I leave the teacher's staff party in the City North of my town the minute it's finished to race to the station for the last train (one disadvantage of living in Japan's backbush is the private line with last trains at 9-something). I hop on the train, and we make it 2 stops South. Then the driver comes over the intercom. I didn't catch all of what he said - partly because he's speaking keigo, the super-formal and totally different form of Japanese, partly because I'm half-asleep - but I did catch these bits: "train before us", "oil", "tracks", "slip". And I think I don't want to know any more than that. The important thing was that we were delayed at the station until they figured out how to solve the problem.

Perfect for me, since I already know my weekend would not involve much sleep, I curl up and get to it. An HOUR later, I wake up to a conductor (who hadn't been on the train when I went to sleep) asking me how far I was going. I should be suspicious. I'm too busy being sleepy.

I can't get back to sleep. But it doesn't take them long to announce that they've given up moving the train tonight, and they're going to put us in cabs to our destinations. Whatever is up must have been pretty bad for them to put me in a cab for a journey that takes over an hour by car. When we get into Morioka, the meter is over $200 USD!

This is not the first time I've had a rail fail. Last year, the train had to stop for a while because of mud on the rails. And it took 2 hours for the usually 1 hour trip. But my best rail story happened 2 years ago.

I'd gone to a goodbye party for a friend up North. I live on the North border of Iwate, so I'm closer to the next prefecture (Aomori) than I am to my prefectural capital. But my train line runs out to the East coast oof Aomori and he lived on the West, so it took some doing to get there. Nonetheless, I get there and we have an awesome weekend. A little too awesome as it results in a friend breaking her arm. Btw, hospitals have business hours here. It's hell to find one open on a Sunday.

So after all of that mess, I'm in Fujisawa later than I meant to be, and I decide to hop in the minivan with some people that drove from Tokyo. They have to pass through my prefecture on the way back. I figure I'll just have them drop me off at the expressway exit in my town. But then it turns out the Tohoku expressway splits and half goes East, while the other half heads West. I'm on the wrong bit. So I call a friend who lives in the town where they merge and ask if I can crash there. I do, and she even drives me to the train station in the morning. I think that's the end of my travel adventure.

Snicker.

In the morning I get on the train, and we make it to the same station we got stuck at on Saturday night - a mere one stop short of my destination. I realise that we're stopped a lot longer than usual. Then I see driver dude get out, and jump off the platform in front of the train!

He goes into the station talks to the attendant, and the attendant comes out and looks under the train. They talk for a while, before he gets back on the train. We won't be moving any time soon. There is A HUMAN TOE under the train, and they have to wait for the police to come and investigate it.

Of course, my first thought is that my Japanese is horrible, and I completely misunderstood. There's a teacher from the elementary on the train. I ask her. Yes, he said human toe.

To this day, I have no earthly idea how this dude saw a toe while he was driving the train. Nor do I know what the resolution was because the teacher called the school and the Vice Principal came and picked up me and the 2 teachers on the train.

Real life is so much stranger than fiction. I'm a train-breaker. Now you know. It's Monday and that's what's on my mind.

INSANITY!!! Day 5- Grab bag edition

2011-10-21T13:22:00.000+09:00

It's the final day of INSANITY!!! and what a week it's been (ridiculous amounts of overtime on my end- for a teacher anyhow). But before we get into today's prize pack, let me announce the winners for Day 3 and Day 4. Also thanks guys, for your thoughtful comments on yesterday's post.

Day 3 winner is....

Iffath! (so not attempting to figure how to write the heart at the beginning of your name. lol)

And the Day 4 winner is...

Asiamorela!

Shoot me a mail at muchlanguage(at)gmail(dot)come with your real names and addresses.
......

It's 13 hours past midnight JST, but it's like I always say, It's never too late for INSANITY!!!

Since it's the final day (and I doubt I'll have time for another INSANITY!!! before next year, we're going out with a bang.

6 BOOKS UP FOR GRABS

Yes, you read that right. 6 books: the most I've ever given to a single person at once. (shudders to think of the next INSANITY!!!)

The books I have pictured are some of my faves for the year.

Chasing a semi-friend across the country, Lillian and Josh explore their almost-relationship. This book struck a chord for me because it lived on the line between friendships and "more".

The only reason I picked up this book was because I follow Beth's blog. I'm not a sci-fi fan, and I was convinced I wouldn't like it. I'm glad to say I was wrong. ACROSS THE UNIVERSE sent me on a mission to find more character-driven sci-fi.

I found FAIRY TALE FAIL purely by accident.The name pulled me in, and I'm glad it did, because I got a great book, and an awesome tweep (twitter friend) out of the deal. FTF is an adult book for people like me, who still love a fairy tale, and would rather live in that world than the real one.

I don't know what to say about WASTED, except that the concept still haunts me. A boy decides to flip a coin and abide by whatever it decides. Deep stuff.

I can not even put into words how much I love this book. I've spoken about my uncomfortable relationship with sex before. What I love about this book is the way it deals with sex. Often, we see YA with beautiful relationships involving sex, and almost as often it is the root of some evil. But it's rare in YA that sex just is. And sometimes, that's the way it is.

Now if you've been counting, you'll notice that's only 5 books. No, my brain isn't that fried from school festival preparations. The 6th book is WINNER'S CHOICE. $20 US limit and available on Amazon (for the US and Pakistan) or Book Depository (for everybody else).

To win:
I've been saying it all week. Today you win by sending me your list of 10 books for the 100 books every writer should read.

Rules:
Open internationally
To everyone, follower or no.
Open until SATURDAY 11.59 pm EST
The winner will be announced on Monday if I wake up after my crazy weekend. lol.

Good luck!

INSANITY!!! Day 4- The October Edition

2011-10-20T00:00:00.000+09:00

The winner of INSANITY!!! Day 2 is...

#6...

Sana!! (Also very interesting and detailed comment.)

I really enjoyed all the comments to this post, and as a YA writer, I think it's a treasure trove of things to write about. :)

So I'm supposed to write a "Scaredy-Cat" post every Thursday. I missed last week due to the cold, and my 4 presentations. But I'm back. Today's fear:

GOING HOME

This probably sounds crazy, but I'm afraid of going home. There are lots of reasons, and I'd like to share them (brutally) honestly with you today.

BEING A MOTHER

All my Super-Mummy readers are probably puzzled by this. If I go home it means being a mother to my 7 year old son. It's weird to admit publicly that I'm scared of that, because Mummy's are supposed to be invincible creatures that will overturn 10-ten trucks to free their babies. That's not me.

Somehow, for the majority (if not all) of my son's life, my parents have been his main care-takers. For the first 3 years, I was in university. Then I was working 2 jobs and had no car- which involved a crap ton of ungodly hours, including getting home at 1 am two mornings a week. Then I moved to Japan. I considered bringing him, but from a practical standpoint, there are 2 things in the way. The fact that my house is sub-zero (celcius) for half the year. And the fact that he doesn't speak Japanese.

Additionally, I kind of don't feel very motherly. My nature is such that I'd rather do fun things than practical things. If money weren't an obstacle, we'd be gallivanting all over the world. It's probably not the best idea for a child to spend every year in a different country because his mother felt like. This sort of attitde extends in less disruptive ways to everything in my life. I don't feel very adult. I don't act very adult. I don't know what that will do to a child.

Finally (for this point at least), I struggle with being a single mother. For a million reasons, I believe in the institution of marriage. And from a practical standpoint - namely that I suck at being practical- and an emotional standpoint- I still feel guilty about a child out of wedlock- it's a hard thing for me to handle.

FAMILY

I've gotten very used to living on my own. I make my own hours. I leave crap where I feel like. I I've gotten used to my mother nagging me for an hour max and then hanging up the Skype and going to sleep.

All of that will change when I go home. Thanks to the way I live, I'm in no position to be on my own. Especially when you factor in not having (and not really wanting) a car, and single parenthood. And I really don't want to deal with the "joys" of living at home again.

NOT MEASURING UP

The unfortunate side effect of going to the top school on the island is that most of my friends have masters and PhDs, are doctors, lawyers, chartered accountants, and make a boatload of money. I, on the other hand, am a broke teacher (for now) with a BA. I love my friends, and I know they love me back, but sometimes, it hurts to think about who they are, and how far they've gotten in life.

Out here (or in any other corner) of the world, I don't have to think about it.

AWESOMESAUCE
Don't get me wrong, I know I'm amazing. (And modest.) I know lots of people think that me speaking 5 languages is cool. And wish they could have seen 6 continents as well. And that living in Japan is a dream lots of people will never acheive. And I know that even though I'm not very far along on my writing journey, I've published a few shorts and that's something.

But I'm not at all traditional. Being here allows for that. Being home doesn't really. It just reminds me how short I fall by tradtional standards...

Today's giveaway is the October Edition- a collection of YA novels released this month.

Carmen, a teen violinista, aims to win violin's most prestigious prize, while trying not to fall in love with the competition.

Mary usually has her feet firmly on the ground, but after everything in her life starts going wrong, she decides to try things she never would have. She decides to fly!

A re-telling of Tristan of Isolde: Izzie a young witch means to set up her girlfriend, but accidentally uses a love potion on herself and falls for Tristan.

To win:

JUST COMMENT.

Rules:

Today's giveaway is open until 11.59 pm EST on Thursday.
Open internationally.
Followers only.

Don't forget, the only chance at tomorrow's crazy grab bag, is to send a list of 10 book for the 100 books every writer should read.

INSANITY!!! Day 3- The Other Edition

2011-10-19T00:00:00.000+09:00

The INSANITY!!! Day 1 winner, according to random.org, is...

Entrant # 4...

Sidrah!

Congrats, Sidrah.

In literature, there's a certain type of character that appears more often as the protagonist. In YA, that's a white, female, who's at least fairly fit and heterosexual. Any MC (and to some extent it also applies to secondary characters) who doesn't fit that norm is Other.

There's a lot of talk, especially in YA circles, about our responsibility to write the Other. I think writing stereotypical Other characters or ones you're not passionate about is worse than no Others at all. Before you write an Other, think about what that will really mean.

How does being Black/ Asia/ LGBTQ/ fat/ short/ developmentally-challenged/ academically-challenged (etc) affect your character? Go deep, don't just think about the surface ways. What does being fat mean for going to parties? What does being Black mean for college choices? What does being gay mean for which countries a character dreams of visiting?

Today, for INSANITY!!! Day 3, it's the Other Edition. Up for grabs, some of the books I've read this year featuring an Other MC.

One of the best things about this book is that Hanna's (the MC) struggles with who she is aren't the main focus. Because not every Other character spend s all day thinking about their Other-ness. She's half Finnish and half-Black, but the strange, paranormal goings-on in her town in the American South are the bigger issue.

This book is as multicultural as they come. About a Muslim girl, torn between not letting her school friends know that she's Muslim in the midst of all their post-911 issues and really enjoyng many of the facets of her Muslim heritage. Also, it's set in Australia.

Marcelo is somewhere on the autism spectrum. This is the story about a boy who sees the world in a different way, but is being forced to interact with it.

To enter, tell me in the comments:

WHAT TYPE OF OTHER CHARACTERS WOULD YOU LOVE TO SEE MORE APPEARANCES FROM IN (YA) FICTION?

Rules:
Open until Wednesday, 11.59 pm.
Open to everyone - international and non-followers as well.

Don't forget the only way to win on Friday is to send me your 10 books every writer should read.

INSANITY!!! Day 2- Issues in YA edition

2011-10-18T00:00:00.000+09:00

When I was in secondary school, a group called MADD released a calypso called Saturday Night. MADD is known for it's comedic tunes. but this one was a lot heavier than usual. It was about a 15 year old boy and his 13 year old girlfriend. They go to a fete (party) and someone steps on his toe (or was it him stepping on someone's toe). They almost fight but a friend holds him back. The guy waits for him outside the club, and it turns into a bloodbath.

A section of the public got up in arms over the song. They ragged on the relationship between the boy and girl. And the "glorification of violence". And some of them said that it should never be on the radio because things like that don't happen.

I wondered where those people lived. Yes, Barbados is a tropical paradise, but we have crime too. And we definitely have teens engaging in sexual relationships. I was a teen at the time. I'd seen it with my own eyes.

Here in Japan, I do a huge detailed medical every year. It's mandatory for every government employee. They test things I don't even understand in English. But they don't test for AIDS. My neighbour last year says it's because Japan likes to pretend there isn't any here. Same deal with homosexuals. Ask the average Japanese citizen, there are no Japanese gays. I know way too many gay foreigners with Japanese boyfriends to believe that.

What do these 3 things have in common? For me, they are reminders: Just because you pretend something doesn't happen, doesn't make it any less true.

Every once in a while, someone- a parent, a school board, a committee- will try to ban a YA book on the grounds of some horrible circumstance in the book. I don't like the circumstances any more than they do, but the fact is that these things happen. And people need to know that. And the people they're happening to, need support.

Today, I'll be giving away two books.

Jay Asher's Th1rteen R3asons Why- I feel like this book affected me more than any other book. Ever. It deals with the aftermath of a suicide, and highlighted one thing above all else in my mind: you never know how bad someone else is hurting.

But i Love Him by Amanda Grace (Mandy Hubbard)- What I loved about this book was the reverse chronology, aimed at stopping the reader from judging the protagonist who is abused by her boyfriend.

To win simply comment and tell me:

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST ISSUE TEENS FACE TODAY?

Rules:
Open until 11.59 pm EST Tuesday
Open internationally to followers and non followers alike.

Don't forget to send your list of 10 books every writer should read to enter the Friday Grab Bag.

INSANITY!!! Day 1- The Elana Johnson packet

2011-10-17T00:00:00.000+09:00

Today's my anniversary, folks! 2 years for POINTS OF CLAIRE-IFICATION. I'm so happy you guys have supported me. And to thank you, we'll be having INSANITY!!! this week. All week long, you can stop by for daily giveaways! Be sure to check the rules at the bottom. Each day's drawing closes at 11.59 pm EST.

Also, the only way to enter for Friday's grand grab bag is by sending your list of 10 books for 100 Books Every Writer Should Read. So, get to thinking about your lists. And good luck.

Today, amazing Elana Johnson is joining us.

----------

Hi Elana! Welcome to POINTS OF CLAIRE-IFICATION. I loved POSSESSION. (Myreaders may be sick of me saying this by now.) Can you tell us whatsparked that novel?

I’d beenwriting for about four months when the idea for POSSESSION hit. I’d justfinished reading my first dystopian novel (UGLIES by Scott Westerfeld), and Ididn’t even know what “dystopian” was, but I knew I wanted to write a novel inthe genre.

So I got busyfiguring out what dystopian was, and then I started drafting POSSESSION. Iwanted someone who didn’t want to be bossed around, and who was searching forwhat they believed in. Vi and my brainwashing society evolved from that prettyauthentically.

POSSESSION is literally“Goodies” vs “Baddies”. For me the names brought back memories of playingwith my brother as a kid. Lol. They turned out to be one of my favourite thingsabout the novel, though. Using these names made the book not only about controlvs freedom, but the overarching theme of what is good and what is bad, andwhether anything is completely good or bad. What made you go with thesimplicity of goodies and baddies?

For exactlythat reason! I wanted my MC to really think about what is good and what is bad,and why. Are things good becausesomeone else tells you they are? I wanted Vi to be able to critically look atwhat she’d been told and then decide for herself, without labels. And “good”and “bad” are the most simplistic labels, and often we have justifications forwhat we believe is good and bad, but in POSSESSION, Vi didn’t. So I wanted herto examine the things in her life from the most basic perspective.

I have to admit that I’mwearing a little thin for YA love triangles. So I was refreshed by theVi-Zenn-Jag relationship. Vi is sure of who she wants, but she’s not sure thatis where she should be. How did you go about building this intellectual (asopposed to the usual emotional and angsty) love triangle?

I’m with you.I think sometimes the love triangle detracts from the real plot. I was hopingto make the relationships between Vi and Zenn, Zenn and Jag, and Jag and Vimore plot-based instead of a romantic sub-plot, which is sometimes what we see.So maybe that’s how? (Ha! I wish I knew for sure!)

Normally, I’m not a fanof endings (writing or reading them), and they’re especially hard to do indystopian where you have to balance out the implications of the bad in thegood. But the way POSSESSION wrapped up was bone-chillingly perfect. Howdid you go about crafting that culmination? Did you always know where the storywould end? How did you drag my soul out and leave me literally unable toenjoy another book for days?

I’m so glad tohear you say that. The end of POSSESSION came to me as I was writing it. Idon’t outline or even really know where the story is going until I get there.

So as I waswriting the climax, I realized where this had to go to be complete. To beauthentic. To make sense for the rest of the book. And that’s the ending that Iwrote—almost feverishly.

From there, Ihad to go back through the first 46 chapters and make sure that everything inthem was leading toward this (in my mind) perfect ending I had just written.That’s where the real work was.

I’m thrilledyou couldn’t enjoy another book for days! That’s a huge compliment for anauthor, and while I sometimes wish POSSESSION ended differently, I know it endsthe exact right way.

Tell us a little aboutyour publication journey. How did you connect with Michelle Andelman? WasPOSSESSION your first attempt at novel-writing?

Ah, mypublication journey is a long and winding road. POSSESSION was my third writtennovel, and the second one I queried. So I have one shelved novel and about 10more that aren’t even worth opening to work on.

I connectedwith Michelle through a cold query and invitation to read my book. Sherequested it, read it quickly, and wanted to know what else I had on my harddrive.

After a fewmonths of back and forth, revisions, and phone conversations, we signedtogether. She sold my book very soon after that, and I love working with her.

You’re a part of theawesome-ness of WRITEONCON – which might just be the most amazing thingto happen ot YA writers online in EVER – can you tell us a little about that?

WriteOnCon isthis amazing beast that has sort of taken on a life of it’s own. It started wayback in 2010, when I was doing a series of “pay it forward” events on my blogto celebrate my book deal. I’d asked my blog readers what I should do for July,and the fabulous Casey McCormick commented, saying she had an idea she wasn’tsure about.

I jumped onthat, and basically forced her to tell me her idea—which was an onlinechildren’s conference. From there, we assembled a team, contacted agents andeditors, and held our first conference in August 2010.

This pastyear, we basically did the same thing, bringing on The Reading Room, a graphicdesigner, a web person, and a team of forum experts. It’s amazing the storieswe hear from people who’ve made a connection from WriteOnCon. It’s an amazingthing to be a part of. (Big shout out to Casey McCormick, Lisa and LauraRoecker, Shannon Messenger, Jamie Harrington, Dustin Hansen, Nikki Katz, andCarolin Seidenkranz!)

Finally, most of myreaders are writers. Any advice for those of us still in the pre-query,pre-deal, pre-pub stages?

Never give up!Never surrender! (That’s from Galaxy Quest, BTW, a fabulous movie.)

No, butseriously, don’t. Work harder. Write another novel. Polish it; make it the bestyou can. Send it out. Write more. The only way you’re sure to fail is if youquit. But success? Success could be just around the corner.

Thanks so much Elana for joining us, and being fantastic in general!

----

So today, up for grabs we've got Elana's debut novel POSSESSION, as well as 2 books Elana recommends:

To win, tell me in the comments:

WOULD YOU RATHER CONTROL OR BE CONTROLLED?

Rules:

Open until 11.59 pm EST on Monday

Open internationally

Open to followers and non-followers alike

I have not forsaken thee

2011-10-13T23:56:00.002+09:00

Hi Honey Suckles,

This is just a quick note to let you know I still love you all. I was out of town at a work conference for two days. When I came back, I 'd contracted a "not-cold", and had to resort to drugging myself to sleep last night, I'm still hopped up on Conta-C. Tomorrow night, I head down to Kobe where I'll present two workshops at the Japan Writers Conference. My workshops are "Into the Melting Pot: Writing the Multicultural YA" and "Brick by Brick: Building Your Blog".

Wish me luck!

Don't forget INSANITY!!! is next week. Every day there will be opportunities to win 2 or more books. But each contest will only be open for until 11.59 pm EST the day of. We start out Monday with an interview with the amazing Elana Johnson. Also, a heads up, the only way to enter the Friday contest will be by submitting a list for the 100 Books contest. So get to thinking about the 10 books you'd recommend every writer read. And yes, if you've already submitted a list, you are also eligible to win.

C u next week!

Purple Hat Theory

2011-10-10T20:14:00.001+09:00

The winner of the UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER is Shari Green!

Congrats, Shari!

There was a chain mail that made the rounds a couple years ago. There are several versions of it, but it was about a female's view of herself, and it went something like this.

Age 3: She looks at herself and sees a Princess.
Age 15: She looks at herself and sees an Ugly Sister (Mum I can't go to school looking like this!)
Age 25: She looks at herself and sees "too fat/too thin, too short/too tall, too straight/too curly" - but decides she doesn't have time to fix it, so she's going out anyway.
Age 30: She looks at herself and sees "clean" and goes out.
Age 40: She looks at herself and sees "I am" and goes wherever she wants to go.
Age 55: She looks at herself and reminds herself of all the people who can't even see themselves in the mirror anymore. Goes out and conquers the world.
Age 60: She looks at herself & sees wisdom, laughter and ability, goes out and enjoys life.
Age 70: Doesn't bother to look.
Just puts on a purple hat and goes out to have fun with the world.

I like to think I've skipped a couple stages and hit the purple hat early. Despite who I am now, I wasn't the Princess type as a kid. I didn't do the Ugly Duckling bit either. I was wildly confident in my looks as a teen. I'm not a mirror person. There are days when I leave the house without looking in the mirror.(Dear God, I am so backwards!) I've decided that if I'm going to be doomed to have bad days, I might as well have fun on the good ones.

Or at least that's what I tell myself.

The other day a girlfriend of mine hailed me up. She lives a couple towns over, but we make a supreme effort to hang because we're both from Caribbean islands. And it's great not to have to rein in the way I think or the things I say because people won't understand. Anyhow, she asked me if I had any books to loan. I kind of loathe that question. Books are like air to me, so I own a zillion of them (these days more on Kindle than physically) but I read mostly YA. And maybe YA is catching on among adults in the UK and US, but in the Caribbean it's still very much, "What are you doing in the children's section?"

I guess it doesn't just apply to books either. If a 20 year old CHOSE to be a virgin, many people would think of that not as a commitment to her ideals, but simply as being immature. It might have to do with African tradition and the reverence for what is over what could be. Or a leftover from slavery, where there wasn't time to indulge in things not practical. But the fact is that certain things are adult. And all adults should do them. By extension, certain things are NOT adult, and adults should not do them.

Theoretically, as a disciple of the Order of the Purple Hat, all I needed to say to my friend was, "YA is what I like." Instead, I started to reason why I liked it. And the thing is you can't argue a subjective topic objectively. And even deigning to argue made me feel like I was agreeing with my friend that YA was somehow of less merit and that I should spend more time in books directed at my age group and with more literary merit. That's not how I really feel. Although it is an insecurity that I have. And one that I suspect a lot of children's and YA writers, if they're being honest, also share.

We've all got something that we're royally insecure about, some way in which we feel defective. One of mine is the fact that I'm not an adult in anything other than the fact that I'm over 18 (or 20 or 21 as the case may be) . Sure, I've got some adult traits, but just the ones I've always had. I was very mature as a child. I just don't feel grown up now. I feel like I'm a 6 year old walking around the house in Mummy's high heels. ( Unholy hell! I think I'm an emotional Benjamin Button!) Most days I'm fine with that, and I wear it almost as a badge of honour. I put on my purple hat and do what the heck I feel like. But there are days, and not as few as I'd like, where I'm absolutely terrified that someone will find out who the real me is. And they'll revoke my right to be an adult. And they'll put me in a cardboard box on display in the zoo, with the label "Pretend Grown-Up".

Deep inside I know. The true sign of adulthood- of maturity- is not being what every one else thinks you should be. Even the air-head cheerleaders in every 80's high school movie can do that. No, the true sign of adulthood is being the adult YOU were meant to be.

So I guess the only question left is this:

Are you wearing your purple hat?

It's Monday. That's what's on my mind.

Scaredy Cat - Same song over and over

2011-10-06T23:35:00.000+09:00

First a reminder:

I'll be celebrating my 2nd blogiversary on October 17th. And where there's Claire and celebration, there's INSANITY!!! (That's not me going over my exclamation mark quota again. They're part of the name.)

What's INSANITY!!!?

It's a week of contests. 2 or more books up for grabs every day. And man, do I have some books for you guys!

-------------------------

Anyhoo's, it's the month of all things Hallow, and even though my country doesn't celebrate it, Japan is big on all the visible aspects of American holidays. So, in honour of the creepy crawlies, I thought I'd share a few things I'm afraid of. First up: Staying in one place.

I change my mind a lot. Or rather, change my heart. I'm not driven to do things by what I think about them, but by how I feel. My biggest fear is picking something that I like at the time, and getting stuck with it when I stop liking it, or having to NOT like other things because I chose that one.

This has lots of effects in the real and practical world.

JOBS

Behind Door number 1 is employment. Even though I'm fortunate enough to always find employment within weeks of deciding I feel like being employed (yes, there are times when work seems like it should have gone out with the old millenium), I'm never anywhere near having a career. Like I teach right now. This is my 5th year of teaching. But I never think of myself as a teacher. And when I leave next year or in 2013, I doubt I'll go back into teaching. The same when I worked on the sub. I didn't think of myself as a tourism professional or a submarine copilot, it's just what I was doing to pay for the fun stuff.And because it's kind of fun to be a submarine co-pilot. And as a submarine co-pilot, you kind of always have the coolest job of all the people in the room. lol.

But some day, I'd like to be able to say, "I'm a [something]" and not " This is what I happen to be doing right now. "

Somehow, I can't make that decision. Well no, that's not really true. I know I want to be an author. And I have another job title in mind that is even less attainable and more far-fetched than that. (It's so ridiculous that I'm even afraid off saying it here, where I bare my secrets all the time.) It feels great to have made that choice, but authors tend to need dayjobs. And I'm really not inspired to make a career out of one.

Which leads me to Door number 2...

EDUCATION

I love learning, and being in school, and debating in classes and all that. ( I don't like assignments in general though. lol) But society (and my mother) has this thing about there being like a point to education. I can't just go to school for fun. Especially not at Masters' Level. People kind of expect you to put a Masters to work and stuff.

Which means I have to figure out what job I want to do before I can head back into the classroom. Every couple of months, I change my mind about what I'm going to study: Translation, Linguistics, French, Spanish, French AND Spanish, Caribbean Studies, MFA Creative Writing (which pretty much always wins in yearning, and always loses in practicality and the fact that the Masters is supposed to find me a day job, not promote the writing "whims"), etc.

And that all gets tied up in Door number 3...

COUNTRY

Here's where it gets freaky. Normal people want to live in one place. And maybe visit a few others. Claire wants to live in a new place ever 2 or 3 years. Seriously the US Military life is looking so ideal right now. Except I haven't been out long enough to forget the things I hate about military life in general. And about the US Military in particular.

I've got a max of 2 more years on this job. As I don't intend to be anywhere forever, I think I'll move on from Japan when I'm done. But I don't know where I'll go. I've got this thing about Brazil. Since World Cup 2014 AND Olympics 2016 are both there. And I think that's the first time that's ever happened. And it just sounds like a 2 year party to me. There's also France, and all the rest of Europe, French Canada, and South America. Notice how none of those places speak English? lol. I kind of hate tying myself to just one language. I know that sounds pretentious, so I don't admit it alot. And I like mulitilingual people around me. One of my best friends in Japan would have these trilingual arguments with me, thoroughly confusing everybody around us. I'd be pissed (clearly, I was arguing) but it was great!

RELATIONSHIPS

Another casualty of my INTENSE desire for something over a super short time, followed by paying no attention to it, is relationships. My friends are used to it. I have a number of "best friends". And I'll be close to one for months on end, and then we'll hardly speak while I'm close to someone else. Boyfriends are not so happy with this arrangement.

Also, because I know how I am, I am superscared of eliminating possibilities. So I've turned down 9 marriage proposals. Some of them were from pretty cool guys too. It's just that for me marriage is all she wrote. Til death (or slow poisoning) do us part. And I know my feelings change. And what if they change and I can't imagine never being able to choose someone else? So, I just don't put myself in that situation.

And there you have it, my biggest fear: staying in one place. Stay tuned for more Scaredy Cat next week.

(The title is a quote from one of my fave movies, HARDBALL staring Keanu Reeves. He asks: What's he listening to? G: Same song over and again. )

Nano!!!

2011-10-05T22:15:00.000+09:00

Nano, nano, bo-bano,

Banana-fana fo-fano,

Fee-fi-mo-mano,

Nano!

It's October! Which means next month is November! WOO!!! HOO!!!

Okay. Now that I've used my yearly exclamation mark quota (as if that will stop me, MUAHAHAHA) let me explain to those of you who are confused.

November is nanowrimo. It stands for National Novel Writing Month. It's international these days, but Innowrimo sounds like a disease so they suck with 'nano'. Nanowrimo is a novel-writing challenge. 50,000 words. 30 days. The principle, according to founder Chris Baty's book NO PLOT, NO PROBLEM is that the only thing standing between you and your novel is a deadline.

I'm a firm believer in 'to each his own' so I won't swear that nano is the best thing ever for EVERY writer. But it is the best thing to happen to ME.

I got this fuzzy idea about novel-writing sometime in my teen years. (Thank God that computer crashed. My novel attempts were painful.) The furthest I got on my novelling path pre-Nano was 15,000 words. I've already mentioned that my attention bounces around like a kangaroo on Speed. When I came to Japan, a French Canadian friend of mine introduced me to Nano. Who would have thought that all the way out in backabush Iwate, Japan there'd be 4 English speakers jumping into a writing challenge?

So I wrote and wrote and wrote. Sometime around the 20th, I took a break, and lost several days time. And then wrote insane amounts for the last dew days to 'win' within minutes of the 11.59 November 30th deadline. Even after 3 successful nano's, that's still my M.O. Last year was particularly bad. I missed the start for no particularly reason. Then I caught up, and fell behind again by Nov 7. I wrote 14,000 words on the final day. lol.

Why do I love Nano?

1. Commitment is not my thing. I get bored spending 3 years in the same country. There's no way a first draft is going to hold my attention for months and months.

2. It's more exciting to figure it out as I go. I do a minimum of plotting. Every nano, I jump in with some characters, a few traits, and a premise. If I know too much about my characters, the bore me. I need to get to know them the same way I get to know real people, by hanging out with them. If I study them from notes like a history textbook, they feel just about as interesting. Ditto for plot and everything else.

3. The support system is amazing. If you spend a lot of time in the publishing blogosphere and Twitter, then you know the amazing network that is the writers world. Now imagine that sort of network 24 hours a day with forums. SWOON.

4. I started out with nano. This blog exists because of nano. That's where I first heard mention of Nathan Bransford, and hanging on his blog is what made me start this blog with writing as one of it's focal points. As a result of this blog and the people I met through it, I decided to go for publication- not in a whimsical, some day sort of way, but in a 'I have to do this or it will break my soul' way. Nano will always hold a special place in my heart for being the thing that converted me.

But there is one reason that I love nano, above all the other reasons.

I have NEVER COMPLETED a first draft outside nano.

If you, like me, want to write, but have never been succesful at staying committed to a novel - or you have a premise that you'd like to develop no strings attached - or you just like to jump in head, feet or bum first - come join us.

My username is muchlanguage. Add me if you're in.

100 Books - Win a Kindle!

2011-10-04T22:29:00.000+09:00

Remember how I failed to give away a Kindle at the beginning of September? Well, they say everything happens for a reason. At the end of the month, Amazon announced new Kindles and price-cuts on all but the DX (my Kindle). So....

You may also remember that I'm trying to compile a list of 100 Books Every Writer Should Read.

QUICK SUMMARY and RULES
1. Please send your list of 10 books every writer should read to muchlanguage (at)gmail (dot)com.
2. You don't have to, but I'd love if you included nationality in your email. If you do, I'll use that info to tabulate the number one book for Brits v. Americans vs. Australians, etc. (This hinges on your nationality being represented by at least 5 people.)
3. Please spread the word on twitter, your blog, facebook, in person, etc.
4. Please comment when you spread the word. There is no limit to the number of entries you can receive for spreading the word.
5. I'll accept lists until December 31, 2011 (11.59 pm EST as usual). I have less than 200 respondents, I may extend that.
6. I'll compile the list in early January (or a few weeks after I've stopped accepting lists) and draw 2 winners: One from the people who sent lists, and one from the people who spread the word.

ANYONE CAN WIN: New and improved!
Originally, I was giving away the top 5 single volumes from the list.

But now...

If the winner is in the US/can fandangle a US address: you can win your choice of:

the Kindle Touch 3G

OR

the Kindle Keyboard 3G

OR

the original prize of the top 5 single volumes from the list.

If the winner is not in the US:

the Kindle Keyboard 3G

OR

the original prize of the top 5 single volumes from the list.
(Go grumble with Amazon about the Touch not being available for the rest of the world. In fact, if the Fire was available universally...)

If the winner is in Pakistan or one of the other few countries Amazon can't send a Kindle to:

the original prize of the top 5 volumes from the list.

(So long as Amazon, Book Depository or Japan Post will mail to you, I will send it.)In case you're lost right now, here's the bare essence.

2 Kindles up for grabs.

Send me a list of 10 books every writer should read, you're entered to win Kindle 1.

Spread the word, as often as you feel like, and leave a link at the bottom of this post, you're entered to win Kindle 2.

Of course, if you've already spread the word or sent a list, those entries are still eligible. Thanks for helping! And remember, any time you want to get back to a 100 Books post, cllick the linky ----->>>

PS and Edit. Any book counts, just not writing craft. If you think every writer should read the Kama Sutra, then write that.

Story Land

2011-10-03T18:47:00.001+09:00

Friday, September 23rd was a holiday here: Autumnal Equinox. I had just gotten back from Tokyo with my school trip. And I had to work (yes, on a holiday) for the Kindergarden sports. So when my neighbours/colleaguse asked what I was doing after sports, I said:

I'm going to read some books, watch some movies, and sleep.

I meant to do that on Friday afternoon, and for the rest of the long weekend. It's been a little over a week and I'm still doing it.

I get up on mornings at the absolutely last possible minute, get ready and go to work. I sit at my desk and read galleys (books before they've been released. One of my fave things about reading on the comp is that it looks like I'm doing work) until I have to teach. Then I teach a class or two, read some more galley, go home, eat some dinner, watch a movie, read a book, sleep.

I spend an absolute minimum of time on the internet. I don't make any of my work stuff any more complex than it has to be. And even so, my perception of work these days is that it's the amount of time until I can get back to Story Land.

Eventually, I'll probably need to return to the real world. Maybe. But for now, living in Story Land is perfect. :)

It's Monday, and that is, strangely, what's on my mind.

Giveaway 35

2011-09-29T18:42:00.000+09:00

Remember how I said I wasn't giving away books in September?

Well, Oops, I did it again.

Blame Beth Revis, author of ACROSS THE UNIVERSE. She said that Michelle Hodkin's THE UNBECOMING OF MARA DYER was unputdownable. Which made me curious, because books are rarely unputdownable when people say they are. And life is hectic right now, I just didn't have time to read the whole back. So I decided to check out a few chapters.

2.15 am, meet Claire. Claire, 2.15.

I will tell you the truth. I started following Michelle's blog a long time ago. Ether shortly before or shortly after her book deal was announced. And when the summary of MARA became available, it didn't do much for me.

It was so vague.

From Michelle's Blog:

Mara Dyer believes life can't get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can't remember that killed her friends and left her strangely unharmed.

There is.

She doesn't believe that after everything she's been through, she can fall in love.

She's wrong.

Creepy, but vague.

And then, I heard her editor talk about it, and it was still creepy, but less vague, and I wanted to read it. But not in a "give it to us NOW, your horrible Hobbitses. We wants it it NOW" sort of way.

And then release day came, and Beth started gushing. And since the Kindle fairies had already deposited my pre-order (I read all new releases by bloggers I follow), I picked it up.

MY TAKE:

I understand now why summaries are vague. It's hard to explain MARA without telling the whole story.

There are elements of mystery, romance, and paranormal. And don't worry if you're not a fan of "teen paranormal romance". It's not that kind of book. It's more in the sense of "Holy Crap, my jewelry box just spoke to me in the voice of my dead grandmother! Time to up the meds, Doc!"

There's a creepy edge to the entire book. Something happened with Mara and her friends. They died, she didn't. And from that moment, things never quite add up. Her Mom, a psychiatrist, is convinced it's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. But there's always a vibe that it could be more.

Also, the ending is a doozie. Beth warned that I wouldn't see it coming. So I was extra vigilant. Still blindsided.

And I loved the pop culture references to The Eye of Sauron and Gryffindor, etc.

I can't wait for the next book.

And I couldn't NOT give it away.

TO WIN:
Tell me: What paranormal thing/creature/experience would(or does) creep you out the most in your real life?
Open internationally, followers only.
Open until Wednesday 11.59 pm EST.

(PS, My bloggiversary's coming up. Get ready for INSANITY!)

Dating Yourself

2011-09-28T22:33:00.130+09:00

Back when I talked about my YA Pet Peeves, one of the things I mentioned was the fact that so many MCs have fave bands and books from a million years ago. I theorised that they did this either to pay homage to their fave bands and people, or to avoid dating themselves. It seems that back in August I promised a post on dating your work. It also seems I didn't write that post. But looky-look! I'm here now! Yay me!

DOES IT EVEN MATTER?

People jump through all sorts of hoops not to date their work, but I can't help wondering how much it really matters. When is the last time you bought a book that was more than 5 years old, but less than 20? What percentage of your recent book purchases were published between 1991 and 2006? I've read 79 books this year, 2 were fiction published in that period. One was THE BOOK OF LOST THINGS by John Connolly, the other THE BAD BEGINNING by Lemony Snicket. 2% of my reading this year was fiction between 5 and 20 years old.

DRAWBACK OF GENERICS
Is this trend of leaning towards "the book for all times" hurting literature for future generations? Literature from the 1800's is a snapshot of what it was like to live at that time. But there are so many books today with no mention of current artists, tv shows, pasttimes, etc. If they analyse YA contemporary works 100 years from now, what will it say about today's teens? They all loved Wuthering Heights and The Clash?

REALISTICALLY SPEAKING

I've heard a few arguments about the number of teens who DO happen to love The Beatles or Led Zeppelin or Patti LaBelle or Journey. There are two things to be careful of when making that argument.

I can think of more books where the teen's favourite book/artist etc, is from before my time, than books where the teen's favourite artist is current. I might be wrong, but I don't feel like that's representative of the real situation. I'm not saying that sort of teen doesn't exist. I'm saying that teen probably doesn't exist in anywhere near the proportions we see in YA.

If something is going to be overwhelmingly present in YA, it should at least have the decency to also be overwhelmingly present in real life. Like paranormal romance, where a girl falls for an 'unattainable' guy, but attains him anyway. Or the love triangle where a girl has an entire trilogy to debate between two guys. These trends are both annoying, especially when they're not done well, which is way too often. But even if I hate them, I know that the majority of teen girls probably do have a crush on someone they consider unattainable. And they probably do dream of two amazing guys fighting over them.

And that brings me to the second point, stuff gets old. If 50% of the YA contemp books that come out next year have MCs who love Justin Beiber, that will be annoying. Despite the fact that it's quite possible that 50% (or very much more) of REAL teen girls love JB.

So, I don't think reality is a good enough excuse in this case, but that's just my humble opinion, based on the 2 points I gave. Also, I'm not American/British, etc, so it is quite possible that in an American JHS/SHS or British secondary class of 15 girls, there are 10 who love really old bands and books. I've only got widespread experience with Barbadian and Japanese teens, and it's quite possible their norm of liking contemporary stuff is not the norm in other places.

If, however, you still want to avoid dating your novel, here are a few quick tips for doing so.

ARTIST vs SONG

If I mention Bug-a-boo, we're talking Destiny's Child, circa 1998. But if I say Beyonce I could be anywhere in a 15 year range.

ESTABLISHED ARTIST

Another consideration is to use an established artist who's cracked the top 10 more than a few times. If you use an artist who's only got one hit song, you're never sure they won't be a 1 hit wonder.

FAKE IT

If you're really afraid of your work being dated, you can make stuff up. Invent a band, or a book, or a social networking site.

BIG PICTURE

If you're afraid that specificity will date you, stay as vague as possible. One warning about being vague though, it has to fit the voice/character. No teen would say "I logged on to a social networking site, to update my status." They'll say Facebook or Twitter or Blogger. A teen wouldn't say, "We jammed to the latest hot up-and-coming emo band." Not unless they hated or were indifferent about emo. Or there were too many emo bands to keep track of. (And if that's the case, why not just fake it?)

TECHNOLOGY AND SLANG

When I was born, the World Wide Web did not yet have any applications to the public. Since then, the internet has rolled through several things that were the "hotspot" of communication.

When I was a kid, it was email. I didn't get an email address until I was 16, back in 1998. But it was still kind of pointless because most of my friends didn't have one, and the phone was still a more common way to chat. I think Geocities was also the 'ish' back then.

In 99'ish, I made the transition to Instant Messenger (AIM, Yahoo, MSN). Then there was social networking, hi5, myspace.

2007ish, I finally dragged myself onto Facebook. And I've only joined Twitter this year.

In that same time period, we've moved from two-way pagers to cell-phones to smart phones.

Ditto for slang. If you think slang changes fast in your corner of the world, you want nothing with the Caribbean. We use BOTH British and American slang. And we adapt slang from reggae and calypso songs. And then there are words that just pop up everywhere. When I was a teen, everything was "sick". You could dress sick. You could dance sick. You could get on (act) sick. The new word these days in Barbados, is "jones". It's a verb. Hell if I know what it means- lol - but every now and again I'll again I'll see on facebook, "We was jonesing all day yesterday."

Technology and slang are both liable to change in a blink. But I think it's unrealistic to avoid technology in this day and age, and I think that books with no slang at all (especially in YA) are stilted.

So how do you insert them in a way that won't make your novel completely unreadable by next year?

Leave out the nitty gritty. Don't talk about the interfaces, the concepts stay mostly the same. So if facebook flies off into the sunset on the back of a pteradactyl, noone's going to freak out that your MC used facebook to say something. On the other hand, if you get into description minute details of whatever technology's going on, then it'll draw attention to the technology. Ignore this, if it's your aim to draw attention.

Sprinkle it in. Pick a few things, and spread them throughout the book. You know how weird it is reading Ye Olde English, if you try to include every piece of slang, so that your dialogue is EXACTLY like it would be in real life, then it will probably be fairly indecipherable or sound ridiculous in a few years time. Remember when rappers did that "-izzle" thing, and everybody was, "in the hizzle fo' shizzle my nizzle?" Man, I can't even type that without laughing.

How do you feel about dating yourself? Does it matter to you? If it does, how do you avoid it?

PS, Every time I write "dating yourself" I keep remembering that time Mr. Bean took himself out to dinner. lol.

How I interview

2011-09-27T22:25:00.107+09:00

Some amazing authors have passed through and sat on the virtual couches here at Points of Claire-ification. I've even had an agent and a publisher stop by and answer my questions. As a sempai blogger (ie, one who's been around longer than some others), I'd like to share my interview process. Now, I'm not saying that anybody has to do it this way. This is just how I do it.

'Hot' contacts

In this case, the word 'cold' refers to doing something with little or no prior preparation. For example, if I stuck a script in your hand, and gave you a minute to read through a page, and then told you to read for the part, that would be a cold reading. You haven't had time to familiarise yourself with the script or get inside the character's head.

I've never heard the word 'hot' used in this context before, but I'm linguist. I make shiz up. By my logic, a 'hot' anything then, is where you've done a decent amount of prior work.

The majority of my interviewees are bloggy-friends. People whose blogs I read every day, and usually comment on. I feel like I know them, and they, at a bare minimum remember my name. 'Hot' contacts are easier, because a writer's time is limited, and they are more likely to grant an interview to someone they 'know.'

Cold contacts

I don't do cold contacts very often. My showcasing books and authors is a very personal thing. If I'm following a blog from back before an author even sells a book, I feel connected (in a totally non-stalkerish way) to that author. And I want to do everything to let the world know they've written something, and to go buy it. Whether or not it's something I'd normally read. Case in point, the hilarious Tawna Fenske and MAKING WAVES.

So I don't make cold contacts willy-nilly.

When do I make cold contacts? If I read a book, and I feel like it's something I've never seen before (FIRELIGHT by Sophie Jordan). Or something I identify strongly with (FAIRY TALE FAIL by Mina Esguerra) . Or it's ouside what I normally read, and I'm shocked to find I like it (CASSASTAR by Alex J. Cavanaugh). Or it totally shakes my foundations so hard (SORTA LIKE A ROCKSTAR by Matthew Quick). And I have to share it.

How I contact

For hot contacts, I've used everything from private messages on Twitter to emails to leaving comments on blogs. If I'm used to bantering with the author on Twitter on their blog, than those routes are fine. If not, I write an email, reminding them who I am, giving them blog stats, and asking them if they'd like to do an interview/giveaway.

For cold contacts, it's got to be a letter. So far, I've only used email, but I'm not opposed to hard copy. Like the cold contact, I give blog stats, and ask if they're interested in an interview/giveaway. And of course, I preface that with an introduction.

I try to ask authors at least a month ahead of when I'd hope to publish an interview. Authors are busy people.

What I ask

One of the reasons I really prefer to contact people I know, is that I like personalising interviews. Like zombie dogs for Carrie Harris, the jam-packed lifestyle of Holly Thompson, historical research for Dianne K. Salerni, HBMs (Hot British Males) for Stephanie Perkins.

I try to acheive a similar personalisation for cold contacts too. Which means cold contacts are a lot of work. Reading their blogs and websites. Looking at the books they've written, and sypnopses, and reviews.

This also means reading the author's books where there are available. Because I like to ask specific (non-spoilery) questions about the book.

Since this blog's audience is mainly aspiring authors, I ask about publication journey, agent, choice to self-pub, etc.

I firmly believe that interviews shouldn't be transposable. I shouldn't be able to use my template for Lisa Descrochers to interview Amy Holder.

I like to think I ask the questions you'd ask if you could talk to the author directly. If there's something that I haven't been asking, but you'd really like to know, then tell me. Because that's the point of the interview: to introduce my readers to an author/book I adore. Many times, I already know the answers (I've been stalking - er - following some of these people for years), so it's definitely not for my benefit.

The mutual benefits of interviews

So you know that you know the HOW, let me just spend a minute telling you WHY.

Firstly, the benefits to authors. I interview authors because I absolutely love them/their work, and I want to spread the word. So the author's getting a free advertisement. Also, I always do a giveaway with an interview, so the author is getting a sale. In an ideal world, the winner of that book is also talking about it to others, and selling more books.

Obviously there's also benefits for me. I think having authors, agents and publishers appear here raises the quality of my blog. I might still be a complete nutmonger, but I'm a nutmonger who spoke to Beth Revis. I think giveaways generate excitement, especially since I'm the only blogger I know who guarantees that if there's a way to ship to your country, from either Amazon or Book Depository, you're elegible to win. (Caveat being unless the writer or their publisher is doing the shipping.)

Any other questions about interviewing? I've done around 15 interviews for this blog, and while that doesn't make me an expert by any stretch of the imagination, I can tell you a thing or two.

Sometimes I wanna go home

2011-09-27T10:18:00.000+09:00

Last week's school trip was A for Awesome-frikking-sauce! Despite the hilarious episode of walking 200 m to from the restaurant to the theater through a TYPHOON, and the school nurse almost blowing in the bay, and me and a hotel staff member having to save her, and her freaking out and not wanting to go outside ever again, and her holding me arm in a death grip while we finally made our way to the theater. lol. Good times!

Lion King musical was fab! And it occurred to me mid-musical that I've never been to a musical in English, unless I was working in it. For some strange reason, I've only seen musicals in Japanese. I need to go to Broadway. (And to think I lived in Connecticut for 2 years - how did I NOT go to Broadway?)

And the next day we went to Tokyo Disney. The highlight for me was Mickey's Philharmagic. But I love fairy tales, so just breathing Disney air turns my brain to mush. Then I realised there are only 4 Disney Lands in the world, and I've been to the 2 in Asia, the 2 Westerners hardly get to see... In my strange twisted brain, that means I HAVE to go to the other 2.

But I digress.

While the school trip was fun, there were several times I made mistakes that made me feel very aware of the fact that I wasn't Japanese.

First off, the pre-departure meeting at school started at 7.40 am. Actual departure was at 7.50. I figured I'd aim for being 10 minutes early not to stress myself. At 7.26, I got a call from one of the other teachers.

T: Where are you?
C: On my way, by the station.

I thought nothing of it, and just continued on my merry way to school. When I got to school at 7.32, the Vice Principal RIPPED ME A NEW ONE.

VP: You are late! You need to be here at least 10 minutes before so as not to cause people stress. Today is a special day. You can't be late today.....

Then on the first morning in the hotel in Tokyo, I was determined not to be late, so at 7 am, I was at the restaurant door for breakfast. None of the other teachers were there, so I gave the restaurant dude my breakfast ticket, and headed over to the buffet.

I was halfway through my breakfast when the principal walked in. The Maitre D' pointed him to a table with a reserved sign on it. Soon after two more teachers joined him, and they all just sat there waiting for the others. I felt like a complete cow.

Noone had said anything about all of us eating together or waiting for the rest to turn up. But that was the Japanese thing to do. In fact, in both cases I'd screwed myself over by thinking like a Westerner and not like a Japanese.

You see Westerners think for themselves. When I thought about what time to go to school, I thought about what time would get me there without ME worrying. When the Vice Principal ate me alive, he was talking about what time would get me there without THE GROUP worrying.

And it's not just that. My Vice Principal is a lot more vocal than Average Japanese Dude. He (and my old lady neighbour) will tell you if you're wrong, but most people won't. I have no idea what's expected here half the time. For all I know, I'm committing major faux pas, all day every day, and noone is telling me.

Sometimes it feels like it would just be so nice to go home.

Home where I know what is right and wrong. Home where I know what is good and bad. What is acceptable. What is late. What is expected. Home where I can read the newspaper. Where I can understand everything on tv. Where I can read signs. Where the bookstore has mostly books in a language I can read without a dictionary. Where I can participate in poetry slams.

I love it here but sometimes I wanna go home.

It's Monday (in the West, at least), and that's what's on my mind.

Introducing Cover Drive

2011-09-22T21:34:00.000+09:00

A little over a year ago, 4 teens from my home island, Barbados created a band. They called it Cover Drive. "Cover Drive" is a type of hit in the game of cricket. Cricket looks a bit like baseball, only the bat is flat, and held downwards. Cover Drive became known for their covers of popular songs in their "Fedora Sessions"

The first Fedora Session

A cover of Kesha's Tik Tok

Bruno Mars The Lazy Song

Wotless by Kes (from Trindad and Tobago)

And, of course, being Bajan, they had to cover Rihanna. Rude Boy.

All that talent couldn't stay undiscovered for long. They were contacted by Sony after their FIRST youtube upload. While they were in talks with Sony, they were also contacted by Polydor, a UK division of Universal Music. They chose to go with Polydor, because they wanted to stay true to their Barbadian roots, and they felt that might not happen in the US.

This is their first single, LICK YA DOWN. It debuted at no. 9 in the UK.

I'm so proud to be Bajan. Rihanna, Shontelle, Livvi Franc, Hal Linton, and now Cover Drive. And only 166 square miles.

Looking forward to big things from these guys.

Sorry this isn't a real post - Tokyo

2011-09-21T23:54:00.000+09:00

I meant to write a real post today- although I've forgotten what about- but it didn't happen for two reasons.

Firstly, I'm in Tokyo and I've travelled with my Japanese netbook. The keyboard is pain to type on, and the layout is in Japanese, which is fine until I try to press a symbol key. Please forive any strange spellings and punctuations.

Secondly, I'm on the school trip and the days are seriously long. It's almost midnight and I jst got in. (Kiddies went to sleep at 10 though.)

So, in lieu of actual post, I'm going to give you a round-up of my day.

The students split into groups today to wander around Tokyo/tour places/ do shopping. Most of the teachers had the day free. I'd have just lounged in my room- it's Tokyo, not Timbuktu. I think I've been here more than I've been to NYC- about 20 times,but who's counting?

Now all of this would have been fine, had it not been for the typhoon. Seeing as the other teachers seemed hellbent on me actually doing something, I wondered off to Shinjuku. I know that area really well, because it's where the newbies stay when they come in.

When I was leavng the hotel, I forgot to ask where the trrain station was. I hate looking lost more than I hate being lost. (Yes, I'm a man in girl's skin.) So I refused to turn back and ask where the station was. I just picked a direction and started walking. After about 10 minutes, I gave up and went into a convenience store.

Me: excuse me, where's the nearest train station.
Attendant: Next door.

Lo, and behold, there's a train sign not 50m from the convenience store exit. I swear they put it up while I was in the store!

I went into the subway. Figured out which line it was. Figured out which colour was the right line on the map. And then promptly read the wrong line. Went down to the platform. Got on a train, all the while wondering why it didn't say the station I thought it should. Got to the end of the line. Wondered where the heck I was. Only to hear'...departing for Shinjuku from track...'

Essentially, I got to Shinjuku purely by accident.

Bought a movie ticket for the only movie I hadn't already seen that I might like watching: Green Lantern. In an evil twist of fate, it was actually in English! I don't think i've ever seen a movie in English here. I watched the last two Harry Potters in Japanese. The Twilights in Japanese. Princess and the Frog in Japanese. Cars 2 in Japanese. Kung Fu Panda 2 in Japanese. And I go to a movie I'm lukewarm about and it's in English. Go frikking figure.

I had an hour and a half to kill before the movie so I nipped across the street to the bookstore. This is why I love Shinjuku. Huge cinema directly across the road from the biggest Japanese bookstore, which also boasts an English section. The only ting that would make it better is an anime parade down the road that seperates them :)

By the time the movie was over, the typhoon was starting up. I grabbed a Subway sandwich and then attempted to take the subway home. Only problem: I have no idea how I got to Shinjuku. As none of the lines looked familiar, I decided to use a different line, that would stop at a station almost as close to my hotel. But when I got there, I had no idea how to get back to the hotel.

I peeped at a map, but all Japanese maps suck, so I just kind of guesstimated. I suppose a random perk is that I found HOOTERS. I need to go there sometime, because the Japanese are notorious for NOT having hooters, so I ned to see the waitresses. :)

The typhoon was going at a good clip by now, and on the 15 minute walk to the hotel, I succeeded in semi-destroying my umbrella, and soaking myself from the waist down.

An hour later, after a near futile attempt at drying my skirt, we loaded into buses to go to dinner and the Lion King.On the way, we amused ourselves watching people get blown down the street. And we marvelled each time an umbrella met an untimely death. After a while, people stopped trying to use umbrellas. You were getting soaked anyway, and the umbrellas were just getting broken.

We passed the theater first. The theater and the restaurant hotel are literally back to back. It took us two seconds from the bus to the hotel door, but that was enough to be almost-drenched. We had dinner in a high-end restaurant. Japan has the dubious distinction of being one of few places where hamburger could be served as high-end.

Afterwards we walked around the corner to Lion King. The school nurse and I went last. One minute she's next to me, the next she's blowing towards Tokyo Bay with me and a hotel staff member chasing her down. We had to drag her back into the hotel and wait until the wind died down a little. Then I had to use my immense powers of Japanese persuasion to convince her out the door. (You'd be scared too, if you almost blew all the way to Australia.)

Lion King was awesome! It made me re-decide that I need to see something on Broadway. They had this ridiculous rule about taking pictures- I don't mean during the show, I get that- but even before the show and at intermission. Sigh.

When we came out, the typhoon was all over, and it was back to the hotel, put the kiddies to beddie-bye, and teachers' de-brief. All in, great day.

Off to rest up. Tomorrow is Tokyo Disney!

(In case you wonder about the typhoon, I don't think work is ever cancelled for them, although school might be - teachers still have to go though. I'm not sure, because that's one perk of the frozen North. In more than 3 years, we've only had one anywhere near.)

Beachbody on Writing: Succeed

2011-09-20T23:00:00.017+09:00

DECIDE. COMMIT. SUCCEED.
Beachbody motto.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've talked about the first two words in the motto: DECIDE and COMMIT. Today I'm going to talk about the final concept.

SUCCEED

What is it?
Success is not a universal definition. It is different things to different people. Back in school days, success was a passing grade for some people and an A+ for others. In professions, the definitions can vary even more widely. What makes a successful lawyer? For some people it's assets: house and car, for others it's prestige: partner in the biggest firm in the region, for others it's big name cases or track record or always having more demand than you can respond to.

What makes a succesful writer? There are so many facets of writing success and I can't think of a single writer who has it all. A writer who is popular with kids and adults, literary readers and commercial readers, has produced dozens of books, gets 6 figure advances, is always requested for school visits, does an interview with a talk show King/Queen twice a year, wins awards, speaks at conferences, entertains, educates, persuades, whose books will be/ are read a hundred years after publication, whose name everyone in the world/Eastern Hemisphere/ Western Hemisphere/the Americas/Europe/and so on knows, whose books are all made into movies etc. Can you think of a writer who has all that?

I can't.

You have to define your own success. What is your ultimate goal? Better yet, make a ranked list. Is the most important thing an award decided by a 10-person committee, or the popular vote decided by sales? Will it mean the world to you to know your book is translated into 17 languages. And more importantly, if these things don't happen, will it imply failure?

It's easy to always be chasing something in the writing world. There's always some milestone you haven'treached. And if you aren't careful, you'll never be satisfied.

You'll never succeed.

It's not an equation
When my brain first started formulating these posts, it zoomed in on DECIDE and COMMIT. The motto was pretty self-explanatory on the SUCCEED part. You decide, you commit, you succeed. But that's only true in the widest of parameters.
You decide to get fitter. You commit to getting fitter. You succeed in getting fitter.

TRUE.

But just because you decide to have a Halle Berry body, and you commit to having a Halle Berry body, it doesn't mean you're going to have a Halle Berry body.
If your decision is that specific, bear in mind that there's going to be a lot of hard work in there. And there may be external factors that make it impossible. If the bones in your calves are bigger than Halle Berry's thighs, no amount of exercise is going to change that.

It's the same with writing. If you decide you're a writer and your sit your butt in your special chair at your special desk and spend an hour every day but Sundays clacking away on your dedicated laptop, it does not necessarily mean you'll see the success you want to. If you decide to write a book and you commit to writing a book, you'll succeed in writing a book. Getting an agent and a publisher is subjective, committing to them as goals holds no guarantees.

It takes time
When you succeed at what you're going for then the formula has worked. You decided and committed, therefore you succeeded. You can't un-succeed from that point. Conversely, if you decide, and you commit, and you don't succeed, the formula hasn't failed you. It just hasn't worked YET.

There are a million and one stories about people who didn't succeed immediately. There are those who submitted for 20 years before they got a bite. Some were picked up on their 16th manuscript. Some manuscripts were rejected 50 times, before landing a deal. The end result in all of these is the same. Success.

I guess the only thing I can say here is that when you're on your 49th rejection, you just ask yourself, is the possibility of success worth this commitment, even in the face of all the failure?

If the answer is yes, you keep going.

You're not guaranteed to get what you want. You're never guaranteed success. If you were, would it even matter? But what you are guaranteed, is that if you stop committing, and give up, then you CAN'T succeed.