Author: Carly Allen

Tis the season of giving! Sometimes even though our hearts are feeling generous during the holidays, it can be a little difficult to find the right gifts to give our friends and family. When you are deciding what presents to give this year, remember that literature is one of the greatest gifts you can give! It may seem like a bit of a cliché, but I’ve come up with six reasons why books make the best presents!

1. There’s something for everyone! There are books written on millions of different topics in millions of different styles. You are sure to find something that aligns with the preferences of everyone on your list. Even people who claim not to be readers will enjoy learning more about what interests them.
2. It prompts people to read more. Many people don’t read not because they don’t like to, but because they aren’t required to, and it’s something that gets overlooked in their day to day lives. When people receive books as gifts, they are more likely to pick them up and get reading! Maybe your gift will even get them in the habit of reading more often!
3. They are the gifts that keep on giving. Books teach us lessons and provide us with memories that will last a lifetime. Everybody can learn something from every single book they read, which is an awesome thing!
4. Books are fun! Reading is a form of entertainment, and it’s a great way to travel through time and space on a budget. You can ride a broomstick with Harry Potter, explore the roaring 20’s with Nick Carraway, and solve mysteries with Sherlock Holmes. Everyone loves adventure, and literature never fails to provide it.
5. It’s an escape from technology. Digital media has become an essential part of our lives and it’s hard to imagine living without it. Giving someone a good old-fashioned paper book is an excuse for them to turn off the devices that demand so much of our attention.
6. Reading relaxes. Becoming completely absorbed in reading is a great way to unwind. And who doesn’t want to curl up in with a good book in front of the fireplace in these cold winter months?

Literature is a great gift for the holiday season. Stop in to Writers & Books and we can help you find the perfect book for everyone on your nice list!

November is over, and for most people that means becoming busy with hectic holiday schedules, but for those who participated in NaNoWriMo, it means they finally get a chance to breath!

National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) is a yearly writing project that challenges writers across the globe to write 50,000 words or more in one month! Obviously this is a great feat, so here at Writers & Books we are incredibly proud of our two staff members who participated in NaNoWriMo! Sarah Brown and Emma Lynge took on the challenge, totaling over 119,000 words! Early in November, we asked them what their goals for NaNoWriMo were, and we followed up with them to see how it went!

What was your word count as of November 30th?

Sarah: 50,870! I actually finished November 27th, after a huge push during Thanksgiving. I made it!

Emma: My wordcount as of November 30th was 68,159. It seems like a lot, but keep in mind, I started the month off with half a novel already.

Is your novel finished and do you have any plans for it?

Sarah: It’s a complete story—for now. Of course there are edits and revisions to make, but that last line I wrote was always where I intended for the story to end. I’m absolutely taking a break from it at the moment, but I still find myself thinking of the characters and the story and wanting to come back to them. I know I’m not done with them for good!

Emma: I’ve got about three fourths of “The Midnight Game” written, and then the last scene. It’s almost done, but not quite! I’m definitely going to keep working on it—I’m in a better place with it now than I’ve ever been. But I’m definitely going to take a bit of a breather before pushing forward!  

Was there ever a point where you felt like quitting?

Sarah: Definitely. It was hard in the beginning to get started and realize I had a month of it left, but the real challenge came for me in the middle. I got really sick for a while during the month, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep up with it and take care of myself. Then I just realized I was using being sick as an excuse to give up when I should be using it as a way to push myself forward! So every time I couldn’t sleep because I felt crummy, I just wrote instead. It actually ended up helping me get ahead.

Emma: Oh boy, you better believe it. On November 18th, I opened up my laptop to keep writing only to see that I had somehow lost four days’ worth of work. I generally keep the document open the whole month—telling myself that it’ll always be up in case I have a flash of inspiration—which, looking back, is probably not the best idea. Even though I set my Word program to autosave every five minutes, something didn’t save right, and I lost about 6,000 words. It’s probably why I don’t have a finished novel at the end of the month, but I think NaNoWriMo is all about being proud of the work you’ve actually done, and not beating yourself up over the goals you didn’t meet. I only got through it by telling myself that I’d write the scenes better the second time around—which I think I did!

There are a number of NaNoWriMo forums and inspirational tools online. Have you taken advantage of any of them?

Sarah: Nope—not a single one. I haven’t even been on the NaNoWriMo website this month. Most of my inspiration came from asking my friends for a random word or place, and then making myself incorporate them into the novel. How else would “Taco Bell,” “tractor”, “hamster”, and “hedge squid” fit into one story?

Emma: Since I bend the rules all the time and things like word count are kind of secondary to me, I tend to be a solo flier when it comes to NaNoWriMo. I did have a great support group this time, though—having both Sarah and my boyfriend also participating in NaNoWriMo made me want to cheer them on and also pushed me to write harder.

Did you ever scrap a significant amount of your novel? If yes, how did you make up the word count?

Sarah: No. Not saying I still won’t once I go back in for a more thorough revision, but most of my quick edits were adding major chunks of words to make the story line up better.

Emma: Well, I guess I did scrap some stuff, though not on purpose. On the day of the disaster where I lost 6,000 words due to a save error, I was in the middle of a pretty crucial scene that I’d been worried about writing for a long time. I actually think losing it and then having to re-write it from scratch helped the quality of writing—because I’d already written it once before, I was less nervous about how it would turn out and I think that helped me loosen up and get into the flow of writing better. Ultimately I never actually caught up and finished my novel, but I’m proud of the words that I did get down!

At what point did you formulate a plan for your novel? Did you stick to it?

Sarah: In the beginning when I was creating a lot of the character and the world, I knew exactly the scene to end it all with. While I was writing from the beginning, I kept thinking of more scenes for the end as well, and eventually I reached a point in the middle where I knew the next bunch of scenes until the end, and then it was really easy—that’s why I could finish early!

Did you ever find that you digressed from your original plan or did you tend to stick to it?

Emma: I think the biggest goal that I accomplished this November was actually planning out my whole novel. I started the month knowing a lot of general things about the second half and a couple specific scenes here and there, but I didn’t have a step-by-step plot yet. Now I do, and even though I didn’t actually finish it, I know exactly how the rest of it is going to play out, which is huge for me.

What have you learned about your writing habits through this process?

Sarah: I have learned that I absolutely should not also try to edit as I write. In the beginning of the month, each day I would sit down to write by starting with editing the work from the day before. This took an insanely long amount of time and caused most of my stress with writing. Once I quit doing that, I could easily write my word count for the day in two hours usually. Also, at the beginning of the month, a good friend challenged me to “write the worst novel” I could, and I took that to heart. The hope was that it would help me not worry about making it the best novel it could be and would focus on just getting words out everyday. It worked, in its weird way, and I’m finding the results aren’t actually that bad at all, but fun and quirky. Overall, I learned that I can write so much better when I am not thinking about the quality of my writing. Ironic, isn’t it?

Emma: I’ve learned that, with this book at least, I’m very dialogue-driven. A lot of times I would find myself ONLY writing the dialogue of a scene, in order to go back in later and fill in the rest of it. I usually consider myself a setting-driven writer, but when speed is required, dialogue carries the day.

Will you continue to make writing a habit?

Sarah: Of course! I don’t really have an excuse not to anymore, since now I know for a fact that I can write when I don’t have a single idea. I think writing that much every day is not going to become my writing habit, but I know how much I can push myself with my writing now, and there’s no going back!

Emma: Of course! The other goal that I’m proud of this month is that I actually did get a significant chunk of writing done every day. It feels great! I might not do as much writing every day, but I definitely think this is a good habit to keep up.

How did you manage the time? Did you have to sacrifice other aspects of your life?

Sarah: I pretty much stopped having a social life or doing much of anything besides work and writing.  This was partly due to being sick as well though; it worked in my favor. It was a struggle, but I was willing to get through it for the month!

Emma: It was a lot of just forcing myself to write when I had even the tiniest chunk of time. Waiting for my pizza to come out of the oven? Write. Driving to errands with my mom? Write. Can’t get to sleep? Write. And the other aspect was really making writing a priority above other things. Do you really have time to watch that movie tonight? No, you’re still a thousand words short for today. Although I’m definitely going to try to keep up with writing every day, it will be nice to have some more breathing room!

What were the best and worst parts of NaNoWriMo? Would you do it again?

Sarah: The worst part was struggling with writing daily. There were quite a few days where it made writing not very fun, and that was really hard to get through as someone who has loved writing my whole life. At the same time, it was valuable to truly realize the extent of what it means that writing is work, and that it takes a lot to write every day and keep at it. The best part is that I wrote over 50,000 words in less than 30 days!!!!  I learned more about what kind of person I am through seeing my dedication to continuing, and that I might even be a better writer when I have no idea where I am going. Without a doubt, I would do it again, many times over.

Emma: The best part of NaNoWriMo for me is that no matter how much you actually get done at the end of the month, there’s this huge sense of accomplishment in what you’ve written.  That, and having other people there cheering you on! The worst part is, of course, having writer’s block and then feeling the time crunch. Despite that, I’d definitely be willing to do it again next year!

What advice do you have for people who want to participate in NaNoWriMo next year?

Sarah: First, tell people about what you are doing! I periodically posted Facebook updates on my word count, and the overflow of comments and support I received was really heartwarming and helped get me through. Honestly, there were days where the only thing getting me to keep writing was being able to post my word count afterwards and feel proud of that.

Second, find out what works for you and shut the rest of it out. If it’s writing at a certain time only, or planning it a certain way, or if you can’t reach the word count every day but you’re still writing regardless, then wonderful! Perfect! Stick with it, and don’t worry about anything else. Find what gets you through and don’t stop! At the end of the month, it’s you and your story, whatever you have of it, and you’re the only one who can make it work.

And most of all, just keep going!!!

Emma: I would just say to keep in mind that there is no such thing as total failure. Not in writing—not ever. Even if you don’t “win” and get the full 50,000 words, you’re still exercising your creativity and you have more than you started with.

You can read excerpts from Sarah’s and Emma’s novels in the links below!

Sarah’s Sneak Peak!

Emma’s Sneak Peak!

The Writers & Books staff has a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving, but literature is definitely high on our list! A few of us looked back on our reads from 2015 and compiled a line-up of books that made our year a little more interesting! Enjoy!

This summer I read Wait Till Next Year, by Doris Kearns Goodwin, a memoir about growing up a baseball fan in New York City. Usually writing missives on, for instance, the Founding Fathers, this book is a much more personal story about her own love of baseball, and how the sport was (and still is) interwoven into her relationships with family members and friends. For any baseball fans out there, I highly recommend it. It doesn’t matter if you were never a NY Dodgers fan, which she staunchly was (trust me, as a Yankees fan, I know)… the book is a love story to the 50s and 60s, to a way of life, and to a national pastime. Nostalgia pulled heavily on me for this one – my dad grew up near NYC, also a big baseball fan, so many of her stories rang familiar.

The following blog post was written by Sally Bittner Bonn, Director of Youth Education at Writers & Books.

 

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.”

—Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

 

I spent the summer re-reading the Harry Potter books. All 4,100 pages. I had decided that because we were offering a SummerWrite Hogwarts Academy class that would completely take over Writers & Books for an entire week, with around 60 devoted Harry Potter fans ranging in age from 8-16—and during which I would be making several appearances as Minerva McGonagall—I should probably brush up by re-reading the first book, since it had been many years. But once I finished the first book, I immediately picked up the second. And when I finished that I opened the third. I gained momentum as I went, and my re-reading of Harry Potter became an unstoppable force, of which I enjoyed every minute.

I was surprised—and quite pleased—at how much I had forgotten, because I was able to make many discoveries, as if for the first time. I had completely forgotten everything that happened once Harry entered the chamber of secrets. I had somehow even forgotten the whole mystery surrounding Mad-Eye Moody.

I am a slow reader, and therefore never re-read books. I had actually reread Harry Potter books 1-4 before the 5th came out, so the fact that this was go-round number three with the first four is not unremarkable. Couple the fact that I am a slow reader with the fact that I am a parent of a young child—a child who has more needs than most of his peers—and with the fact that I run the youth programs at Writers & Books, and with the fact that I am a writer myself, and my reading life can look pretty dull. Many nights I fall into bed, pry open a book, read a couple paragraphs, or if I am lucky, read a couple pages, and I am out.

But not so with Harry Potter. I would find every free minute I could for reading. Waiting for my son’s bus to arrive home in the next five minutes? I was reading. Eating breakfast? I was reading. Sautéing onions? I held the wooden spoon in one hand stirring distractedly and with the other hand held the book open to my page as it lay on the counter. I’d open the book at every moment I had the chance and think just one more page, which would turn into two, and then ten and then several chapters. I found myself saying to my son, more frequently than usual, “Just a second, honey.” I almost felt guilty but decided that a mother as role mode who was reading constantly is not necessarily a bad thing. I would get into bed as early as possible at night and sometimes read for hours.

I originally started reading the Harry Potter books after the first three had been published. As the last four were released (they all came out before we had our son) my husband and I would take turns reading them. We would buy one copy only—as soon as it came out—and then make the near-impossible decision of which of us would get to go first. Once we even decided to alternate chapters—I would read a chapter, he would read a chapter. Except it would always turn out with one of us saying, “Oops, sorry I read 3 chapters instead of just one. Can you hurry up and catch up?!” We only did that for one book and needless to say it wasn’t the best system. It worked out better when one of us would read the book in its entirety and then pass it to the other. We had an agreement that whomever was reading the book was exempt from all household responsibilities: cooking, cleaning, laundry, carrying on conversation during mealtimes… Whichever one of us was reading, we read and read. We plowed through chapters and would usually devour the 600-900 pages in a week’s time. It was like a holiday for us when each book came out.

I was working part-time at Borders when the 5th book came out and I worked the midnight release party. All things considered it was a relatively mellow night. The best part of it was that our manager bought the book for all the staff who worked late that night.

I’ve never seen the movies. On principle. For one, I didn’t want to see someone else’s interpretation of the characters, the places. I wanted to keep my own vivid pictures in my mind alive (of course it is pretty much impossible to completely avoid coming across images from the films at this point in time). Second of all, and almost more importantly to me, the fact that a book series could capture the attention and imagination of so many people of all ages across the globe was so inspiring to me, I didn’t want to let a movie take over that attention. Not that I could stop the millions from watching the films, but I would be one dissenter, quietly boycotting the movies for myself. My son is seven, and when he is ready (AFTER he has read the books of course), if he wants to see the films, I imagine I will watch them with him. I have been so adamant with our son that when he is ready for the books we will read them to him, versus him reading them on his own, that I am afraid that out of pure defiance he will refuse. I so want us to read the books with him, that I have vowed to myself to stop speaking about it!

One of the things I find so remarkable about these books is the fact that they place the ordinary and the extraordinary side by side. Muggles and wizards. There is magic happening all the time, and the muggles don’t even know it. What if there is some truth to that? That magic is happening all around us all the time and we have no idea. The tales are spun so expertly that it is as if we get to actually enter them. We are right there as Harry takes off on the broom the first time, and each time after. We are there having tea and politely declining cauldron cakes in Hagrid’s cabin. We are there at number 4 Privet Drive, as our relatives infuriate us, as we win silent battles with them. The books give us permission to exit our own reality and enter another’s, as if we were diving right into the Pensieve.

These books are escape, yes, but they are filled with wisdoms that connect the magical world to our own muggle existence. We find our own Dumbledores to revere. We remember Neville’s past when we are unsure about someone else’s behavior. We think of Sirius when we might at first fear someone. And we learn to be more compassionate human beings. We memorize latin spells. We eat candy with funny names. And we remember to laugh, thanks to Fred and George, because in the most grave times, laughter can be the best medicine.

I am grateful for this additional journey through the world of Harry Potter, visits to Hogwarts and the Forbidden Forest, encounters with Luna and the Weasleys of course. I am also grateful because rereading Harry Potter has made me notice little moments where I can make more room in my life for reading. I might think I have nearly no time at all, but I have learned I can sneak moments in, to delve into the fictional world of other characters, to visit new places, to gather new perspectives, to make new friends, all through the pages of a book. Now that’s what I call magic.

 

Welcome to November! Snow is beginning to brew on the horizon, and Thanksgiving and Christmas are fast approaching. It’s a hectic month for all, but some fearlessly dare to make it even more chaotic. November is also National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. Many brave writers take on the challenge of writing a total of 50,000 words—that’s about 1,667 words a day, for thirty days! Here at Writers & Books, we love supporting those writers who take on this intense task, especially when two of them are our very own staff! Sarah Brown, our Literary Operations Fellow, and Emma Lynge, part of our front desk staff, have both decided to be part of NaNoWriMo.

They’ve spared a few minutes from their frantic writing to answer a few questions about their journey so far!

 

Have you ever done NaNoWriMo before?

Sarah: Nope! I’m a first timer. In the past I’ve always been too busy with school to sit down and write over 1600 words a day for the entire month, but now that I’ve graduated I decided that this was the year to jump on board. I started the month without a single idea or concept planned out but felt really up to the challenge to make something happen during the month.

Emma: I’ve done NaNoWriMo in some capacity every year since 2011—although I almost always come to the table with a project that I’ve previously worked on and want to finish. In some respects that makes me a big fat cheater, but I’ve always thought that NaNoWriMo is more about getting people to actually sit down and write than rules-lawyering. In fact, my novel this year is actually the same novel I worked on in November of 2013, which was also the only year that I came into the month starting a novel from scratch.

 

Does the fast-paced, constant daily writing style work for you?

Sarah: Yes and no. I would be lying if I said I hadn’t really struggled with it at times, taking hours and hours a day to reach my goal word count. Despite that, I’ve met or surpassed the 1600 words every day so far! It’s early in the month of course, but I’m hoping it will only get easier once writing this much becomes a real part of my daily routine. Luckily I have a great support system of people who are really encouraging me to write and keep at it! Overall, I’d say it works for me in the sense that I’m producing a lot of material, which is sometimes all you can ask for as a writer.

Emma: I think NaNoWriMo is good for writers because it gets us back into the swing of writing every day, even when we might not feel like writing. I don’t know if I could keep up writing this much every day, all the time, but I think it’s important to break the idea that real writers only write when inspiration strikes. It’s a creative endeavor, but it’s also hard work, and it’s important to develop that work ethic.

 

What time of day do you write best?

Sarah: Anytime when I have at least a few uninterrupted hours in a row. I tend to be a night owl, because there’s less to distract me, but that’s not really easy to do when I have to work in the morning. So it usually turns out being the late afternoon into the evening. Or really whenever I can!

Emma: Any time of the day except the morning. Other than that, I’m all over the place! Usually most of the words get written in the late afternoon.

 

What’s your strategy?

Sarah: I’m relying on my stubbornness to get me through the month. I don’t let myself stop writing for the day until I’ve written at least 1600 words. Some people write less during the week and more on the weekends, but I just know I’ll get stressed if I get behind. I am determined to finish, and that somehow has become my strategy. It’s working well so far!

Emma: Well, I initially set my wordcount-per-day at a slightly higher limit of 2,000 so I could give myself a couple of safety days towards the end of the month, but that’s been surprisingly difficult to keep up with! I usually try to write as much as I can past the 1,500 daily minimum. At this point I’m also involved in revising what I’ve already written from 2013—so even though I came into the month with 43,000 words down, I’ll still keep just as busy as everyone else!

 

Does your novel have a title yet?

Sarah: Ha! It doesn’t even really have a plot yet. Nor do I know my main character’s first name. When I said I came to the table with nothing, I really meant it.

Emma: It does indeed! It’s called “The Midnight Game.”

 

Can you tell us a bit of what it’s about?

Sarah: The protagonist is a photographer, a really devoted single father, and an extremely eccentric human being. He’s really quirky and fun to write because anything weird can happen and it’s extremely fine with him. It’s set in a little town, and the neighborhood and neighbors in general are going to play an important role I think. Like I said, I don’t have a ton decided for certain yet, but I definitely have some ideas I’m playing around with and a picture of where I want things to end.

Emma: “The Midnight Game” is a mystery novel set in a small, sleepy town in Upstate NY. The main protagonist, a sixteen year old girl named Ren Hatcher, is a self-proclaimed daredevil and thrill seeker who stumbles upon something bigger than she can possibly imagine, and in turn learns a few things about the uncertainty that comes with growing up. Meanwhile, the life of a cheerful real estate agent named Frederick Reed is turned upside down—ever since coming into contact with the abandoned house at the edge of town, he has been losing time, waking up in strange places, and experiencing nightmares—or are they memories? It’s ultimately a spooky story about the things that really happen in a small town when the lights go out.

 

What’s your biggest writing distraction?

Sarah: Probably music, honestly. Sometimes, music is awesome and helps me focus really well and get a lot done. Other times, it distracts me and I want to sing along and then I don’t get anything done. I’ve tried all types of music too, and it’s always the same story.

Emma: Definitely Facebook, tumblr, and other social media. Luckily I installed some anti-procrastination extensions on my browser, so it limits the amount of time I can spend on those websites per day. Other than that, it would have to be my dog. It’s hard to write when an 80-pound yellow lab puppy wants to climb onto your lap!