The Audio Series: Meera Lee Sethi

Our audio series "The Authors Read. We Listen." is an incredibly special one for us. Hatched in a NYC club during BEA week, this feature requires more work of the author than any of the ones that have come before. And that makes it all the more sweeter when you see, or rather, hear them read excerpts from their own novels, in their own voices, the way their stories were meant to be heard.


Today, to celebrate Day 6 of the Mountainfit Blog Tour, hosted by CCLaP (and organized by moi), Meera Lee Sethi will be reading an excerpt from her book. Meera is a curious human being about whom you already know too much. In 1998 Meera moved from Singapore to the U.S. and began falling in love with science slowly and inconveniently, while earning degrees in the humanities. Any errors of fact or judgment here were committed by her; any beauty has been borrowed from the people, land, and birds of Sweden. Her current internet incarnation is under construction, but many previous versions of her are still online for the finding.

Click on the soundcloud link to experience Mountainfit as read by Meera:






The word on Mountainfit:

In 2011, a tiny bird observatory in far western Sweden found itself hosting its first American volunteer, and Meera Lee Sethi found herself exactly where she wanted to be: watching great snipe court each other under the midnight sun and disturbing lemmings on her way to find a gyrfalcon nest. Mountainfit is an ecological field notebook, a keenly observed natural history of the life that sings from the birches, wheels under the clouds, and scuttles over the peat bogs of the Swedish highlands. And it is a letter, in 21 jewel-like parts, from a well-read and funny friend. Meera’s vigorous, graceful prose communicates a wry understanding of how utterly ordinary it is to long for more out of life—and how extraordinary it can feel to trust that longing. Meera's intent was to create a book small enough to fit in your pocket and read on the train to work in the morning. It is that. But it's also large enough to contain a mountain or two.
*lifted with love from Goodreads

Indie Spotlight: Banango Lit

A few weeks ago, as I was searching the internet for places to pitch the books I work with, falling down the rabbit hole of blogger and lit journal's sidebar link after sidebar link after sidebar link... I happily stumbled across Banango Lit. A fairly young literary blog, and even younger lit journal, Banango's got their sight set on the future of literature, and I eagerly await the awesomeness to come.

Check out this guest post by co-creator Rachel Hyman, as she gives you the Banango backstory from birth to baby steps to the next big bite:

The Birth of a Lit Journal

I like to think of Banango as a seed. A seed that has germinated over time, flowered and borne fruit we couldn’t even envision when we planted the thing. This metaphor is probably bad; Banango is better.

In the beginning, there was Banango Lit. The blog was first birthed in early summer 2011, long before Justin Carter and I ever met in person. We first came into contact as editors on the Poetry by Emily Dickinson project that Steve Roggenbuck had started. We liked what each other were doing, shared a bunch of interests around contemporary lit and poetry, and started the blog as a fun project to encourage our own critical thinking around those same topics. One of my first posts defended the artistic legitimacy of flarf as a poetic method; one of Justin’s first posts was about Steve himself, actually.


Reading backwards, the shroud of inevitability covers everything that followed. Both Justin and I found our place in online (and IRL) literature communities. We kept blogging, reviewing things that we liked and that people sent us. We interviewed people. We brought on other writers, like Diana Salier, Matt Margo, Jackson Niuewland, Wallace Barker. I appreciated (and still do) having a space for critical inquiry on my own terms. That’s been one of the best parts of everything Banango: it’s self-led, and I do it because I love it. Not because I’m obliged to.

Sometime in winter 2012, we got the idea to expand our online presence to a lit journal, Banango Street. It just seemed like a logical step after doing the blog and learning more about the type of creative work that Justin and I are drawn to. We still struggle to define it, but Justin and I are very aligned in our aesthetic preferences. I think the best Banango Street poems (and stories) create atmospheres unto themselves. They’re poems that break us (and themselves) in interesting ways; that take dives from the highboard and then try to jump back upwards and fall into the water at the same time.

The first Banango Street issue, we published a lot of our friends, which is expected. That’s who we knew at the time. We’ve released five issues now; with each successive one, there are fewer and fewer contributors I can tag on Facebook, which I take as a good sign. We believe we’ve made strides in the caliber of work we’re publishing. And I love the chance to showcase art on the cover and interior, and now within the issues themselves. Banango Lit has been around for longer, and it’s definitely my baby, but I feel really proud of what we’ve done with Banango Street in its short lifetime. Justin and I have a lot of ambitions for what we want to do with the journal.

And then that brings us to the third expansion in the Banango brand. Starting in 2014, we’re going to publish echapbooks (tentative name: Banango Editions). It makes a lot of sense as a next step: we know what we like, we know good people, we’ve build up an audience who trusts our ability to put out good material, and this allows us to expand the scope of what we do. I’m excited for the chance to get out longer works to people.

So in the end, Banango is a lot of things: a brand, a platform, a community, an empire (on good days), and a bunch of people who are passionate about all things lit. Keep an eye out for Banango developments on Facebook and Twitter. We’re always looking for more reviewers and contributors for the blog, so shoot us an email at banangolit@gmail.comif you’d like to get involved! 

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Rachel Hyman was born in Chicago and currently resides in Detroit. She is the head editor of Anthology of Chicago and co-editor of Banango Street. Rachel is the author of two chapbooks, Such Phantom and Until All The Blues And Greens Reveal Themselves Each Dawn (NAP). Other writing has been published in Red Lightbulbs, Untoward, the Rumpus, and HTMLGIANT.

Jeremy C. Shipp: 5 Question Blog Tour

I'm always game for a little blog tour action so when I saw Jeremy C. Shipp's request to take part in his, I couldn't pass it up. He was looking for people to ask him 5 questions, and I knew we could have some fun with it, especially since I had 20 doozies as part of the Would You Rather series.

This Bram Stoker Award nominated author dabbles in bizarre fiction, creates adorable plushie monsters, and tweets about attic clowns and yard gnomes.

Back in 2010, I reviewed Jeremy's Cursed, a cute bizarro tale that I recommend as an intro for anyone who is considering giving the genre a go, and for those who like their horror without all the scream but with plenty of creep.

Without further ado, the 5 questions:

1. Would you rather have one giant bestseller or a long string of moderate sellers?

Much like my cats, I would prefer a long string. I don't really see myself as a mainstream writer. I have a cult following of sorts, and I like it that way.

2. Would you rather write a book without using conjunctions or have every sentence of your book begin with one?

A book without conjunctions wouldn't be so bad, especially if my POV character were a robot or a snobbish talking parsnip. Snobbish talking parsnips never use conjunctions.

3. Would you rather have everything you think automatically appear on your Twitter feed or have a voice in your head narrate your every move?

Both of these things already happen.

4. Would you rather read naked in front of a packed room or have no one show up to your reading?

During the naked reading, can I still wear a top hat? I feel a bit vulnerable when I'm not wearing my top hat. Yeah, I'll do the naked reading. I always read naked anyway. Doesn't everyone?

5. Would you rather write a plot twist you hated or write a character you hated?

I'd choose the latter. Many of my characters are assholes who I would hate to interact with in real life. But they're still fun to write.  

Jayme K's Would You Rather

Bored with the same old fashioned author interviews you see all around the blogosphere? Well, TNBBC's newest series is a fun, new, literary spin on the ole Would You Rather game. Get to know the authors we love to read in ways no other interviewer has. I've asked them to pick sides against the same 20 odd bookish scenarios. And just to spice it up a bit, each author gets to ask their own Would You Rather question to the author who appears after them....

Jayme K's

Would You Rather

Would you rather write an entire book with your feet or with your tongue?

My tongue—I feel like that would be far more impressive.

Would you rather have one giant bestseller or a long string of moderate sellers?

A long string of moderate sellers. Having a bestselling novel doesn’t mean shit nowadays. Snooki had a bestseller. Consistency, to an extent, shows value.

Would you rather be a well known author now or be considered a literary genius after you’re dead?

A well-known author now. What’s the point of being considered a genius if you can't be around to celebrate it?

Would you rather write a book without using conjunctions or have every sentence of your book begin with one?

Christ… Probably the latter.

Would you rather have every word of your favorite novel tattooed on your skin or always playing as an audio in the background for the rest of your life?

Well, Stephen King’s ITcontains well over 5 million words—so I’m going to have to go with the second option.

Would you rather write a book you truly believe in and have no one read it or write a crappy book that comprises everything you believe in and have it become an overnight success?

That’s a very good question. As much as I believe that writing for one’s self should come first and foremost, I think I would have to go with the ‘overnight success’, if only because that could lead to greater opportunities and would simultaneously prop me up a soapbox that I could use to denounce the book as trash.

Would you rather write a plot twist you hated or write a character you hated?

A character I hated. You can kill a character off or, if you’re more generous, make them redeemable.

Would you rather use your skin as paper or your blood as ink?

Blood freaks me out. Even though I’d run out of room quickly, I’d rather use my skin as paper.

Would you rather become a character in your novel or have your characters escape the page and reenact the novel in real life?

That’s catch 22, isn’t it? The characters I generally write about tend to be horrible people. In the case of Disorderly, I’m either damning myself to cannibalism or allowing my lead character to kill and eat people in the real world. I’d rather not be the perpetrator, so I’ll go with the second one.

Would you rather write without using punctuation and capitalization or without using words that contained the letter E?

I’d nix punctuation and capitalization.

Would you rather have schools teach your book or ban your book?

I’d like my book to be handed out in kindergarten classrooms across the country.

Would you rather be forced to listen to Ayn Rand bloviate for an hour or be hit on by an angry Dylan Thomas?

I stand with Rand.

Would you rather be reduced to speaking only in haiku or be capable of only writing in haiku?

Speaking in haiku—the latter would royally fuck up my career path.

Would you rather be stuck on an island with only the 50 Shades Series or a series in a language you couldn’t read?

If I were stuck on an island with the 50 Shades series as my only reading material, I’d likely become depressed and possibly suicidal. I’ll take Russian, Turkish, Bolivian—anything. Hand me a German encyclopedia. The 50 Shades books would be the last thing on my list.

Would you rather critics rip your book apart publically or never talk about it at all?

Literary criticism is a weird thing to me. It’s one thing to not like a book due to its content, but entirely something else to tear it apart—especially in the case novels. It’s just too vast to properly critique without inserting personal bias. In this instance, better negative than non-existent.

Would you rather have everything you think automatically appear on your Twitter feed or have a voice in your head narrate your every move?

Easily, an internal narrator. Who would ever want to be that exposed?

Would you rather give up your computer or pens and paper?

Pen and paper. Although giving up the computer might be better for my health.

Would you rather write an entire novel standing on your tippy-toes or laying down flat on your back?

Hm, I’m going to say laying down flat on my back. I would at least be able to prop my laptop up on my chest that way.

Would you rather read naked in front of a packed room or have no one show up to your reading?

Both sound like an absolute nightmare, but given the fact that I’m an attention whore—I’ll go with the first option.

Would you rather read a book that is written poorly but has an excellent story, or read one with weak content but is written well? 

The former. To put it in cinematic terms, you can only watch so much of Barry Lyndon before you find yourself questioning if it’s even worth the time to finish.

And now see Jayme's answer to Lavinia's question from last week:

Would you rather draft work in a busy bustling cafe with lots of chaos to draw inspiration from or would you rather be isolated in a log cabin with no interruptions at all?

I would much rather be isolated. For the life of me, I can't concentrate at all in a cluttered or noisy environment.

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Check back next week to see what Isaac Marion would rather, 

and see his answer to Jayme's question:

Would you rather be forced to kill off the main character’s pet or child when writing a novel?

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Jayme K. is the author of the novel Disorderly, as well as numerous short stories, essays, and poems. His work has been published by UnHollywood, Before Sunrise Press, Underground Books, Miracle E-zine, Nostrovia! Poetry, Your Daily Subvert, Moon Project, and Flash Fiction 365. He lives in Boston.

Eat Like an Author: Lavinia Ludlow

When most people get bored, they eat. When I get bored, I brainstorm new series and features for the blog, and THEN eat. And not too long ago, as I was brainstorming and contemplating what I wanted to eat, I thought how cool it would be to have a mini-foodie series where authors share the things they like to eat. Photos and recipes and all. And so I asked them, and amazingly they responded, and I dubbed it EAT LIKE AN AUTHOR. 

Last week, we debuted a recipe from Nick Antosca.


This week, Lavinia Ludlow is dead set on covering all of her bases.

Laphroaig Cask Strength, served neat

Sure it’s about double the price of ordinary 10-year, but during those early wintery/springy/summary/fall-y mornings when you just need something to entice you out of bed to hit the computer/typewriter/tablet/what-have-you, Laphroaig Cask Strength scotch really gets the creative juices pumping.

Block of raw Ramen and accompanying meat-flavored seasoning packet 

When you just don’t have the time to step away from your writing binge but you need sustenance, break open a packet of Ramen and season to taste. Works great when you’re traveling and you have no access to a stove, microwave, or source of water. Finish off with a Gu packet to keep you powering through those all-day drafting sessions.

Candy and Red Bull 

Make every day Halloween by keeping mountains of assorted candy readily available. Makes a great distraction from those frustrating writer’s block lulls. Stock your fridge with a case of Red Bull for an extra sugar and caffeinated kick in the ass to get your writing back on track. 

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Lavinia Ludlow is a musician, writer, and occasional contortionist. Her debut novel alt.punk can be purchased through major online retailers as well as Casperian Books’ website. Recently, her sophomore novel Single Stroke Seven was signed to Casperian Books as well. In her free time, she reviews independent literature over at places such as Small Press Reviews, The Nervous Breakdown, American Book Review, and Plumb Blog. She hearts all indie writers, musicians, and artists and hopes you do too.

CCLaP: Four Sparks Fall

You know what day it is?

It's four sparks fall release day!

Today marks the birth of another CCLaP title. This one, a debut by Florida author T.A. Noonan, is a special one for us. Our first Adult/YA crossover title with an experimental format to boot, readers young and old can count on finding something to take away with them.

Sixteen-year-old May Florence is a budding poet who is about to join Louisiana's most elite boarding school. Her brilliant but reserved twin sister, Susanna, isn't. But the truth is, they've been drifting apart for some time, their relationship barely sustained by shared friendships and mutual envy. Now, as Susanna watches May prepare to leave her behind, she must reconcile what she thinks she knows about herself and her sister with the secrets they've been keeping from one another -- or risk losing her closest friend forever. four sparks fall is the story of two young adults searching for love and acceptance in Baton Rouge, a city as complex as the people who inhabit it. At once confessional and speculative, analytical and numinous, T.A. Noonan's debut novella is an affecting coming-of-age story for readers of all ages. 

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four sparks fall is the kind of book you can gulp down in one sitting:

Just ask Kate, who found it very hard to walk away from it while reading. 

Or Tanya, of Book Loving Hippo, who raves about how well written it is.

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While not usually a fan of side-by-side alternate narratives, Noonan smoothly flows between the unique dialogues of Susanna and May while weaving in journal entries that help to shed some light on the tension that has built up between the sisters. four sparks fall deals with very real teenage issues - sexuality, body image, and deep dark secrets - in a very adult way. 

You can now purchase a lovely, hand-made hard edition of four sparks fall on CCLaP's website. (or download a free PDF there for review, too.)

If you thought you weren't a fan of YA fiction, think again. 

Drew Reviews: The Preservationist

The Preservationist by Justin Kramon
2.5 Stars - Recommended Lightly
Pages: 336
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Release: October 10, 2013

Guest review by Drew Broussard 

The Short Version: Julia, a college freshman, mostly keeps to herself - there was a terrible accident the year before, for which she feels responsible, and her life has somewhat shattered because of it.  But her roommate likes to gossip and she meets a charming, if quiet boy in her music class and so she gets along pretty well - until she meets Sam, a man who works at a lunch place off-campus.  No one is quite who they seem and none of them will ever be the same after that fateful fall semester...

The Review: I really wish I didn't have to bring up Gone Girl in relation to this book - but I feel like that is, unfortunately, our lot as readers for the next few years at least.  That book, for better or worse (and I'd pick the former), has established itself as the surprise-blockbuster that now everyone wants to copy.  Which is not to say that this book copies it - but I don't know that we'd be reading The Preservationist without Gillian Flynn having found such success.  That said, the double cross and the unreliable narrator - especially in mysteries - are tropes as old as time, so maybe we would.  But it feels undeniably a kindred spirit and I think (again, for better or worse) this book suffers for the comparison.

First of all, it's written in that breathless style of modern thrillers - Dan Brown and Michael Crichton fans know what I'm talking about, with the short chapters that end with a cliffhanger that basically forces you to keep reading. There are three points of view here - Julia's, Marcus', and Sam's.  But Marcus only gets a few chapters to himself and most of the time he just seems a little weird - so I don't think it's a stretch to call Julia and Sam the main characters.  Things mostly flip back and forth between them and it's not hard to tell from the very get-go that something is definitely not right with Sam.  But then you also start to wonder if something is not right with Marcus.  And then there's even a further possibility dropped into the mix - and, I'll give Kramon this, the tension sure does rise.

I'm going to try to avoid spoilers - especially since this is an advance review - but it's hard to talk about a book like this, that depends so much on plot, without at least making overtures towards a few things.  For example, I think Kramon could've put together a stronger book had he not fallen back on clichés and tropes at the end - if he'd, instead, followed up with the "....no, it couldn't be" possibility that he drops in our laps midway through and then ignores/gets bored with.  Because there's very little that is 'original' about this book.  These characters are all pretty stock-and-trade in today's fiction - down to the stupid main character, at whom you want to shout things like you would at a movie screen.  She does that level of stupid stuff.
Of course, here's the catch: this book is set at a rural college in central PA.  And, not to be terribly rude or anything, but I know plenty of people who went to rural colleges in central PA - and some of those girls, as freshmen, might well've done exactly what Julia does here.  Take that as you will, I suppose.

But anyway the thing is, even the quirks of characters like Sam feel highlighted, capitalized, drawn with the big brush.  I not only didn't care about any of them, particularly, but they did nothing to try and make me care about them.  The dialogue is flat most of the time, without any affect, and the quirks / Things That Happened in their pasts seemed almost entirely unnecessary, other than to provide Background and Explain Some Things About The Character In Question.  Look elsewhere for characters - the issue with this book comes down to plot.

Again, I'm not going to really go into things, plot-wise.  I'd rather be a good sport, especially considering the book's only just coming out now.  Did I flip through it pretty damn fast towards the end?  I did.  But did I feel anything, at all, when I put it down?  I did not.  I barely remember the characters' names and I finished the book less than an hour ago - that's how quickly it's all fading from my mind (and not due to any degenerative illness that might someday make me an unreliable narrator, although thank you for your concern).

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.  My issues with the writing aside, the book reads at a gallop and the end does get your heart racing a bit as the pot boils over.  But I just can't find anything that particularly distinguishes this book from any other in the genre, in any way.  By the time the subterfuge is revealed, you're pretty much saying "I told you so" and the book devolves into 75 or so pages of "now how's this all going to play out?" action - and your opinion of the book will most likely rely on whether or not you're looking for such a simple diversion, or if you're a fan of the genre anyway.

Drew Broussard reads, a lot. When not doing that, he's writing stories or playing music or acting or producing or coming up with other ways to make trouble.  He also has a day job at The Public Theater in New York City.

Drew Reviews: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
5 Stars - Highly Recommended by Drew / The Next Best Book
Pages: 352
Publisher: Quirk Books
Released: 2011


Guest review by Drew Broussard 

The Short Version: Jacob Portman grew up wanting to believe in the odd stories his grandfather told - and after he finds his grandfather murdered in a vicious fashion by a terrifying creature, he does.  It's just that everyone else now thinks he's crazy.  After he manages to convince his parents & therapist it's a good idea, he goes to visit the Welsh island where his grandfather grew up an orphan - and discovers the truth behind his grandfather's stories.

The Review: There is something marvelous and terrifying about old pictures.  You see it on Tumblr all the time nowadays - but even back when it was just flipping through an old photo album in a dusty attic, there's always that possibility of stumbling across something strange.  It might just be your parents when they were your age (which is weird enough, let's admit) but it could be something more interesting too, like a peculiar item or a vaguely magical/eerie moment caught forever on the emulsion.  That's part of why digital photography can never quite match proper negatives - a lack of that feeling like you caught a single moment through some kind of magic, as opposed to just being able to do it whenever you please.
But I digress. 

Ransom Riggs' strange and peculiar and wonderful debut novel is all about those photos and the moments they can inspire.  The collection here, scattered throughout the novel, of "[unaltered] authentic, vintage found photographs... with the exception of a few that have undergone minimal postprocessing" is enough to stimulate anyone whose imaginations may've been piqued by something like The Mysteries of Harris Burdick in their younger days - and Riggs clearly goes to town, imaginatively.  The titular 'peculiars' are a great twist on mutants/magical individuals and Alma Peregrine's similarities to Charles Xavier should be taken as a compliment and not a brush-off.  Seeing them, though, is perhaps what's most exciting about the book.  You're allowed to imagine them, still, because you're only looking at the image for a moment before flashing on to the next page of text... but that sepia-toned glimpse allows your imagination to color inside the lines, as it were, instead of just going crazy.

Speaking of not going crazy: Riggs doesn't get too carried away in the telling of this story, despite his evident joy in the writing/creation of it. This story is measured and told with... not restraint or stateliness but a proper, steady pace.  I was so impressed that he didn't try to rush any parts of it and instead introduced things all in due time, allowing the reader to get comfortable before adding something new to the mix.  It takes about a third of the book to even introduce the title character - but the mystery and the world that Riggs presents in that first third are fine in and of themselves.  We're in America, we see an 'ordinary' (ish) family, and there's a real question of whether or not Jacob can be believed.  When we discover (no spoilers, it's pretty obvious just from the jacket copy) that he can be believed, it's like pushing open a door to the outside - the world suddenly expands, in a very natural (albeit frightening and confusing) way.  And as Jacob comes to understand this new world, so does the reader and it all feels very organic and lovely.  Names for the peculiars and their enemies and their abilities - terms like "wights" and "hollows" and "ymbrynes" - are introduced and then defined and then clarified and none of it feels overwhelming.  It's some really exceptional world-building.  

There's also - and I mention this in relation specifically to some of the other things I've read of late and to my BookClub's last discussion (of this book) - a really interesting look at a time in our past that is still so important.  To consider the parallel of the Nazis and these monsters who hunt the peculiars... it's a dangerous trap and Riggs, for the most part, steers clear of it, only explicitly laying it out once or twice.  But I really find that it struck me in a powerful way, whereas these sorts of parallels often don't.  The idea that everyone believed Jacob's grandfather meant the Nazis - and he did, he certainly, to some extent did - when he talked about fleeing from monsters in his childhood... but that he really had this other set of monsters he fled from... there's a psychological depth that can be plumbed here, if you're so inclined.  If I was still in college, I might write a paper about it - that sort of thing.  But I can assure you, I expected nothing of the sort - in terms of intellectual engagement - when I picked this book up.  Bravo.

Rating: 5 out of 5. There are some lags in the plot and the initial arrival in Wales takes a little long to gear up (the introduction, for example, of the delinquents on the island... kind of unnecessary) but they were little bumps in the road.  The story is magnificent and the design of the book, right down to the marvelous red hardcover with Ms. Peregrine's name on the cover and including every single picture - it's a delightful object as much as it is a delightful novel.  I'm so thrilled that it's to be a series and I can't wait for book two.  

Drew Broussard reads, a lot. When not doing that, he's writing stories or playing music or acting or producing or coming up with other ways to make trouble.  He also has a day job at The Public Theater in New York City.

Indie Spotlight: Julie Weinberg

We always say hindsight is 20/20. It's only in looking back in time that we can clearly see the poor decisions we made and play the woulda-shoulda-coulda game with ourselves. "I should have spent more time on..."; "Had I known, I would have done x instead of y"...

In today's Indie Spotlight, author Julie Weinberg looks back at the way she marketed her first book I Wish There Were Baby Factories - a fictional comedic version of her wish to have a baby, leading her on a real life five-year quest through infertility, genetic testing, failed adoption and more. It's a laugh-out-loud compelling debut novel with a voice that has often been compared to Erma Bombeck. This is an essay Juli wrote, detailing her journey to publication and the pitfalls for first time indie authors:

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The inspiration for my book was simple.  Getting inspired to successfully market the book, on the other hand, has proved a much more difficult quest.

My passion to write didn’t come about until I achieved my very first career goal.  When I was in the second grade, a local paper published my first, forty-six word “essay” about what I wanted to be when I grew up:  a stay at home mom.  Back in the 70s that was a pretty polarizing theme so somehow a seven-year-old’s dream became newsworthy.  It wasn’t until many decades later, after my stay at home mom dreams came true, that I switched my focus to writing.

My debut novel chronicles my tumultuous journey to becoming a stay at home mom while trying to balance a stressful, fast paced political job.  Originally, the goal of the book was simply to preserve a part of our family history.  I just wanted to get down on paper the story of all I went through to start a family so my kids would know beyond the shadow of a doubt that they were both loved and wanted from the very beginning. 

So in between soccer practices and homeroom mom duties, I wrote a book.  Well, I thought I wrote a book, but it turns out an impressive sounding fifty thousand words only qualifies as a pamphlet in some literary circles.  When I found that out, I knew I was destined to find even more nefarious secrets lurking about to smother my writing dream.

I didn’t find out until it was too late that publication of the book (which was ten years in the making) occurred about a year too soon.  Among my duties as a self-published author I also would be required to (or hire someone else to) design a website, create a blog, tweet regularly, maintain a “strong presence” on facebook, find out what maintaining a “strong presence” on facebook meant, self-promote, market, self-promote and market some more. 

I should have submitted the book for professional reviews as soon as I finalized the manuscript.  I should have been planned a fabulous “launch party” with food and an open bar so all my friends and family could buy the book on one day, boost sales, and be pressured into writing the all important Amazon reviews on the spot.

While I had a personal Facebook page to reunite with old friends, I never tweeted nor linked up (or in) in my life.  Constantly posting “fun facts” or relevant current event tie-ins about my book seems onerous—both on me to come up with ideas and to my friends who are sick of hearing about the book.  While I now have close to 300 Linkedin business acquaintances, I wonder if they would have accepted my invitation if they had known marketing a book to them motivated the request.

Maybe if I had signed with an agent it might have gone better.  But getting an agent proved just as hard as getting a traditional publisher to look at the manuscript.  Unless I knew someone (which I didn’t) or knew someone who knew someone (ditto) I was officially on my own.

When the goal was simply to record a family history, none of that mattered; but now I find myself becoming the tiger mom to my book that I had tamed for my own children.  I let them choose their own path to happiness.  Success for the book, on the other hand, has morphed from merely getting the words bound onto paper to selling thousands of copies. 

Because I know absolutely nothing about it, stepping into the marketing side of publishing feels overwhelming.  Writing the book never felt like a chore, never felt scary, never kept me up at night wondering if I should give it up because of a bad start.  “If only I had known!” plays through my mind now each time I discover something I should have done eons ago to ensure the success of my book.

But, we live and learn.  Sales have been slow given the zero-percent effort previously afforded to marketing and I’ve accepted that. After all, it took about twenty years to realize my first dream so I can be patient and spend the next twenty working on my second.

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Julie Weinberg left behind the calm of her childhood upbringing in Overland Park, Kansas when she followed her dream to live, work and breathe politics by attending American University in Washington, DC. Never looking back, she worked as a lobbyist on Capitol Hill before jumping ship to state politics with the Maryland General Assembly.  Her K-12 education policy expertise helped her in the political arena and eventually as a mom, too. An avid Baltimore Ravens fan and dedicated soccer mom, Julie and her family live in beautiful Potomac, MD. 

 For more information about Julie Weinberg please visit: http://julieweinbergbooks.com or connect with her on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Julie-Weinberg

Lavinia Ludlow's Would You Rather

Bored with the same old fashioned author interviews you see all around the blogosphere? Well, TNBBC's newest series is a fun, new, literary spin on the ole Would You Rather game. Get to know the authors we love to read in ways no other interviewer has. I've asked them to pick sides against the same 20 odd bookish scenarios. And just to spice it up a bit, each author gets to ask their own Would You Rather question to the author who appears after them....

Lavinia Ludlow's 

Would You Rather

Would you rather write an entire book with your feet or with your tongue?

My tongue? Oh god, no. Just thinking of all the paper cuts sends shivers down my back. Is Siri an option? Ha, kidding. I’ll always be an Android at heart.

Would you rather have one giant bestseller or a long string of moderate sellers?

Neither. I don’t feel my “narrative voice” will ever belong in the giant, moderate, or bigger-than-a-micropress industry. There’s something very comforting about that because there are so many amazing micropress writers out there doing pumping out amazing work. I’m proud to be a part of the community.

Would you rather be a well-known author now or be considered a literary genius after you’re dead?

           

See previous answer. Besides, I often use Bay Area lingo in my writing and my stories contain unconventional non-mainstream content. I don’t believe anyone will ever see work containing my language or choice content as “literary genius.”

Would you rather write a book without using conjunctions or have every sentence of your book begin with one?

           

I don’t already do both gratuitously?

Would you rather have every word of your favorite novel tattooed on your skin or always playing as an audio in the background for the rest of your life?

Neither. I’d still want to adore and hold it on a pedestal (Arthur Nersesian’s Chinese Takeout).

Would you rather write a book you truly believe in and have no one read it or write a crappy book that comprises everything you believe in and have it become an overnight success?

I’ve written and am currently writing content that will never see the public eye. In the past, I’ve just been lucky to have had a small press (Casperian Books) that has believed in my first two works, and given me the opportunity to publish in the indie market. As for overnight success, see answers to questions #2 and #3.

Would you rather write a plot twist you hated or write a character you hated?

I hate characters that I write constantly. Don’t we all? Plot twists are harder because I would feel as if I had little control over the situation; however, I would still have complete control over how the characters would respond so I think I could spin both a despised character and plot twist.

Would you rather use your skin as paper or your blood as ink?

It’s not normal for people to do both?

Would you rather become a character in your novel or have your characters escape the page and reenact the novel in real life?

Going to sidestep directly answering this question because I’ve always thought (and maybe this is narcissistic), it would be so cool to sit down and have a conversation with some of my most intense antagonists. As writers, we give these characters life, but they pretty much run the show after that, so I feel I could gain a lot of insight in just sitting down and having a cup of coffee with a few of them. Scary thing is they’d probably spend a lot of time criticizing my choices and grammar in my writing so I think it could make for a hilarious situation.

Would you rather write without using punctuation and capitalization or without using words that contained the letter E?

imagine all the time and headache we could save without punctuation as a necessity i already dont dot my is or cross my ts when handwriting stuff that letter e is super important although i suppose im off the hook when it comes to esigning my name

Would you rather have schools teach your book or ban your book?

Both. I had some amazing teachers in middle and high school who still taught books on the banned list.

Would you rather be forced to listen to Ayn Rand bloviate for an hour or be hit on by an angry Dylan Thomas?

Anything but the bloviating.

Would you rather be reduced to speaking only in haiku or be capable of only writing in haiku?

Not a fan of haiku. I detest it actually. Too restrictive.

Would you rather be stuck on an island with only the 50 Shades Series or a series in a language you couldn’t read?

Not a fan of 50 Shades or any book series, really. I think I’d rather be stuck on an island with Pabst Blue Ribbon. And that says something.

Would you rather critics rip your book apart publically or never talk about it at all?

Rip me apart. I have no “safe word.” Tell me I’ve been bad, and what I’ve done or am doing wrong. I want my writing to grow, not live in my own stunted universe. I feel I’ve learned a lot from the criticisms of my debut novel, alt.punk, and I have been applying that to my new works, especially Single Stroke Seven.

Would you rather have everything you think automatically appear on your Twitter feed or have a voice in your head narrate your every move?

Since I already have the voice in my head blaring at all seconds of the day, the Twitter thing could prove to be a little interesting. It’d raise a lot of eyebrows, that’s for sure.

Would you rather give up your computer or pens and paper?

Easy. Computer. I still draft everything with college rule lined paper and a mechanical accounting pencil. This makes for a nightmare when I have to transition everything to a word doc but I feel handwriting my drafts forces me to commit and worry about revisions later. It’s just so easy to take things back when they’re on a computer screen.

Would you rather write an entire novel standing on your tippy-toes or laying down flat on your back?

The latter. Writing in bed while passing in and out of sleep produces some of the most interesting results.

Would you rather read naked in front of a packed room or have no one show up to your reading?

Would everyone at this reading be naked as well?

Would you rather read a book that is written poorly but has an excellent story, or read one with weak content but is written well? 

Best question ever to close out this series. There are such amazing narrative voices out there and I am drawn to great similes, metaphors, and presentation of such simplistic scenes and plots, so definitely the weak content but written well. And “written well” does not mean the narration is grammatically correct and all the moving pieces make sense. The most hard-hitting and impactful writing, I’ve found, is the stream-of-consciousness writing when a character/narrator just goes off in the heart of his/her conflict, and does not worry about making perfect sense or being appropriate. To me, that’s great writing. 

and here is Lavina's response to Andrew F Sullivan's question from last week:

Would you rather write YA books or experimental poetry for the rest of your life? 

YA Books. I think they have a stigma that they're Goosebumps books or Babysitter Club books, but I believe writers have a lot of space to explore in that genre, and can definitely introduce great works into the world through that medium.  

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Check back next week to see what Jayme K would rather

and see his answer to Lavinia's question:

Would you rather draft work in a busy bustling cafe with lots of chaos to draw inspiration from or would you rather be isolated in a log cabin with no interruptions at all?

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Lavinia Ludlow is a musician, writer, and occasional contortionist. Her debut novel alt.punk can be purchased through major online retailers as well as Casperian Books’ website. Recently, her sophomore novel Single Stroke Seven was signed to Casperian Books as well. In her free time, she reviews independent literature over at places such as Small Press Reviews, The Nervous Breakdown, American Book Review, and Plumb Blog. She hearts all indie writers, musicians, and artists and hopes you do too.