On Writing: Writing Despite Illness

Jane Friedman hosted a guest blog in 2017 by Audrey Berger Welz.

An author with Parkinson's Disease and a survivor of an abdominal aneurysm, Ms. Welz shared how chronic and acute physical events intertwined with her writing.

Ms. Welz wrote How I Used Writing to Survive. An excerpt:

I was very proud of how I was dealing with [Parkinson's]. Emily and Bess melded into the Circus of the Queens after my husband had asked me who the queens were and I couldn’t come up with an answer. It also slowly became a full-blown adult novel and it grew and grew as I wrote and rewrote until I fell in love with my own pages. Then in just a second my world changed. Like a tsunami crashing its way to shore with all the force and destruction it could muster, an undiagnosed aneurism exploded in a major abdominal artery as my novel was nearing completion.

... While in my coma I saw my novel written out word for word. It was in a triangle surrounded by a circle and encompassed by a square. I used it to draw out every ounce of strength in me. Even though I couldn’t move, talk, and could barely see, I would recite passages in my head trying to communicate with the doctors that I was the same girl who had written this beautiful book. Though now disabled, my brain was intact, and I wanted to live. I was worth saving and I needed to hold my finished novel as a book, in my hands.

The Camel and the Scorpion is a book inspired by true events. It is the story of #StrongWomen - Caroline, Lydia, Anna - who spoke out for a good world despite their personal challenges. 



Image credit: “Life of Nichiren: A Vision of Prayer on the Waves” by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese, 1797–1861), Japan via The Metropolitan Museum of Art is licensed under CC0 1.0

On Writing: Tips for Author Blogs

Thanks to Women Writers for retweeting a nutrient-rich 2016 article by Katie Rose Guest Pryal: Tips for Author Blogs.

Ms. Pryal's introduction to her tips:

Here they are, in order of importance: (1) create relationships, (2) entertain your readers, and (3) sell books.

The first rule is, by far, the most important. (Most of) Your blog posts must have as their main goal to create relationships with your blog readers.

Whether you are writing blog posts on your own blog, writing guest posts on someone else’s blog, or “microblogging” on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, your primary goal had better be to create relationships with other people.

If you are simply spamming people to “buy my book,” then you are driving readers away from you. You are failing at social media, and worse, you are being annoying.

Repeat this to yourself every time you sit down to write a blog post: “My job is to create relationships with my readers.”

As an introspective sort, I both welcome Ms. Pryal's tips and feel trepidation about them.

But I'm committed to sharing my book with as many readers as possible.

Consequently, I must show the same courage in reaching out to people as Caroline, Lydia, and Anna do in The Camel and the Scorpion.




Image credit: “Girl in the Dunes” by Jozef Israels (Dutch, 1824–1911) via The Metropolitan Museum of Art is licensed under CC0 1.0

On Writing: When a Book Doesn't Fit Into a Genre

“Woman writing” by virtusincertus is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Every agent and publisher I queried about The Camel and the Scorpion took a pass on my book, probably because it is a hybrid.  It doesn’t fit neatly into one genre, such as women’s fiction or political thriller. As a result, I believe the agents and publishers assumed the book was unpredictable, and sales would be too.

In hindsight, I understand their reluctance. I, too, crave predictability in fiction if there are major stressors in my life. I want to escape into a specific genre, say, a legal thriller by John Grisham. I need to know that Grisham’s primary character will be an attorney, a major crime will be committed, and the perpetrator will be brought to justice.  Knowing those things brings the world back into balance again.

But what if my life is purring along, and all the dragons have been slayed?  Predictability is the last thing I desire.  I seek expansion and genre-bending books that burst from their red-ribboned packages.  Books like Benjamin Percy’s “Red Moon” or Shirley Jackson’s “We Have Always Lived in the Castle.” No doubt, it is harder to market and sell books that fail to be shoehorned into a specific genre. But that doesn’t mean authors should stop writing them and challenging the status quo.


For another perspective, consider author Leah Kaminsky's 2016 article, On Being Genre Fluid, in Women Writers, Women's Books