Face Your Fear Friday - Episode 3

Welcome back to Face Your Fear Friday. This week's entry will be short and sweet as real life offline is getting cramped for time. 

Every Friday, as we slide into the weekend, I issue a challenge that even the more frazzled writers can at least identify with, if not execute.
This week's challenge is simple. Again, I repeat for your multitasking parents/writers, 
S-I-M-P-L-E...

Just answer the following two questions-

1. What's one aspect of the writer's craft that you've yet to master, and are working towards this year?
For me, it's being able to rediscover the joy of writing, without the pain of drafting and rewrites make me a neurotic pessimist, which I'm really not at my core, though lately I have to hit rock bottom to realize that.

2. Name one book that normally is not your thing, yet read it anyway, but liked?(NOTE: What you were FORCED to read in school doesn't count, that's a unique pressure few of us want to relive)

For me, it's "The Thirteenth Tale" by Diane Setterfield. Well, I actually listened to the audiobook, but it's a top notch production in its own right, and for writers who know me well, this was the ONLY way I'd experience this book the first go round, and  I want to experience again, this time on the page, but like my writer friend Kelly told me recently on her blog, "Books are books, no matter what the medium."

I agree with this, if only in part to ease my own guilt, but as craft books and experienced writers will tell you often, there are times when reading on the page, opposed to listening to the audiobook or even the e-book isn't the same.

Writers say all the time they notice things in print they don't on computer screens when they edit books, so doesn't the same apply to reading books, too? But truth be told, if not for audiobooks, I'd have enjoyed few stories in the last three years.

I personally need to combat this problem, because for me it is a problem, not all the books I want to read are available in audio form, and I do have a restrictive feel when I read books on the page, because trying to mime craft from it is not a particularly helpful, never mind joyous experience. A feeling that wasn't always there.

 Craft books aside, I read for escape and solace, and I don't find picking authors apart all that entertaining, and that mindset has ruined the reading experience for me, at least at this point and time. I'm trying not to be so absolute in my thinking, since some struggles do improve and lessen with time.

If you grapple with this literary tug of war as I do, please share in the comments below, if you're the only one among your posse of writer friends who has this problem, I URGE you to comment below, because I'm there with  you, I really get it because I'm there myself, know you're not alone.

You have until April 27th, 2012 before comments are closed. Thanks to all who commented in last week's challenge, and I hope comments increase this week.


UPDATE (4/27/12): Commenting Closed.

Animal Fantasy Awareness (T.A.A.'s going Back to Basics!)

Some time ago, my writer friend and "Comrade in Revisions", Kelly Hashway, posted on her blog something she shared with me in private 


She's unabashedly a YA writer. 


Those who read my Critter Chat with Kelly in January know she began her writing career in different realm form where she's heading now. Between various sales of her work in magazines, her first major release was a picture book, "May the Best Dog Win" inspired by her daughter (pre-K at the time of this post) who asked her to write one, and the rest is history--for that book, anyway. She later went on to collaborate with her illustrative sister, Heather, on her self-published effort, The Perfect Puppy, and more recently, Santa Bunny. Heather also did the cover art for "The Imaginary Friend" her two part short story now available for free* at Amazon.com (Price of Free may be subject to change).


Kelly's work has appeared in various magazines and anthologies, and we each have a story in the anthology "Trunk Stories." 


But as I said at the outset, Kelly's found her new home in the world of YA with the first two books in her trilogy, TOUCH OF DEATH AND TOUCH OF, currently slated for publication in January 2013 and July 2013 respectively (Pub Dates are subject to change so please follow Kelly Hashway's blog for any date changes).


I'm happy for you, Kelly, there's nothing like the feeling of finding where you belong and are most happiest. True for anything in life, but especially for writers who have to endure decades of apprenticing to start their careers.
Be it a magazine piece, memoir, nonfiction, novel or poetry/story collection.


Those who follow my blog know I struggle with writing my own stories for the YA audience, a skill that I know will serve Kelly well, but what you may not know is she landed her agent with a middle grade novel, which is my specialty, but the current market for debut middle grade fiction is struggling, even more-so for folks like me who are more at home with animal fantasy, than anything with a dystopian or edgy and dark bent. 


Aside from wishing I could write YA, I also longed for finding my own tribe of readers, not just writers of animal fantasy, and not just paranormal.


As many of you T.A.A. faithful may have noticed, I haven't written much on genre-specific issues nearly all writers of animal fantasy face.


I mean my blog's named, "Talking Animal Addicts" and yet I've kind of deviated from the core message of my blog, and there are really two key reasons why-


I Didn't "OWN" my love of the Genre
There are many posts I wrote to tackle this subject that I never posted or completed because I had doubts of the impact my passion could have.


Envy Delayed My Progress
That pretty much speaks for itself.


But no more. Like Kelly, and many writers before me, I need to embrace my niche, rather than feel shame from it, that's vital for all the writing I do, and those of your who also blog know full well what I mean.


So, consider this statement a follow-up to my intro post when I began Talking Animal Addicts in December 2010-


I started this blog to protest the myth that only preschoolers like animal fantasy, and unite other like-minded writers who know all too well as I do that stigma attached to these stories, especially as an unproven brand name author, but the stigma also comes from educators and parents, other writers (Even those we love and respect), even some publishing insiders who argue that kids are demanding more books with more contemporary, or reality-based plot lines.


Maybe there aren't millions of us, but there are more than the average person might think, especially among the non-parents or writers who aren't easily in tune with their "Inner Child" and/or interact with children on a regular basis. and I think part of this is the fear we have of divulging our passion for animal fantasy, since the first thing people will say is "That's a hard sell, especially for non-famous author." 


Whether this is true of every case or not isn't the issue here, the real issue is for those of us who proudly write the books we love to band together, and shout to the world, "We're not crazy for reading or writing books about or featuring talking animals!"


Okay, maybe not shout it at work, or outside your kid's high school (Or anywhere people who know you will hear...) but it's important to remind yourself why you do what you do. It keeps you honest, if not always sane.


I felt strongly there needed to be an outlet for these writers, a sanctuary even, where their passion would not get made fun of, but meet like-minded writers, that span the ages and stages of writers worldwide.




I want T.A.A. to become that safe haven, and will get back to more animal fantasy related posts in the coming weeks. If you have any ideas, feel free to share in the comments below. I urge all you writers of animal fantasy out there to let it rip in the comments below.


Tell your writer friends to find T.A.A. on Facebook and Google+.
Eventually T.A.A will have its own Twitter Feed, but for now you can follow my separate Twitter Feed here.


Remember, "We're not just for preschoolers anymore" We're for readers and writers who love what we do, and eventually people will see that reflected in our stories, instead of thinking "We're just trying to ride the copycat wave of Charlotte's Web, Redwall, and Watership Down." 


Some people do that. No question. 


I'm not one of those people. 


Anyone whose read my work, even people who normally don't read or particularly like animal fantasy, have told me this, a writer can't ask for a better endorsement than that (Well, a paycheck would be nice, really, but that's a topic for another time).


Until Tomorrow, 
May the Fantastic Fauna Be With You