Raise your hand if you’re a writer and want to be a published one. Keep your hand up if that goal seems more unattainable than at first you’d imagined. Hard, isn’t it? Those who have reached this particular pinnacle cite it as among the hardest work they’ve ever done. Many have attempted to reach the summit, found the climb too steep, too long, or both, and fallen by the wayside. Afraid that might also happen to you?
One who has made the ascent and lived to tell about it is the gifted writer, Mary DeMuth, author of numerous novels, non-fiction books, and a recently published memoir, Thin Places. I’ve not read much of her non-fiction, but I have read her fiction, and I can tell you her themes run deep and touch core emotion, wringing it out almost past endurance before delivering (always) redemption and hope. As for her memoir, well—I dare you to find another more gut-wrenching in its honesty.
What was Mary’s secret to publishing success? No secret, actually. In fact, she wants you to know and tells all in her latest e-book, The 11 Secrets to Getting Published. I found it to be a straightforward read, easily digested in bite-sized morsels. It’s thorough and chummy, and I especially appreciated her wisdom regarding 10,000 hours and the myth of multi-tasking. But what made the read totally worthwhile? The samples of a salable synopsis plus three query letters (all of which landed contracts). Bonus!
Interested in knowing more? Mary’s offering a free copy to the winner of a drawing on this blog. To enter, simply leave a comment before August 11, or answer my poll. Either way, your name will be entered in a drawing for Mary’s book.
By the way, whatever’s blocking your ascent, Mary has ideas to help you overcome. So even if you don’t win here, you may want to consider buying her book on Amazon. If publication is your goal, it could be among the best three bucks you’ve ever spent.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
The Help, book review
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard about The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Maybe you’ve read it. Me, I’m on the tail end of the wave. When The Help first hit the scene, I checked it out from the local libe, read just enough to know it was a keeper, and turned it back in to await its arrival in paperback. Then I bought it and tucked it on my shelf to save for a start-of-summer treat.
Talk about worth the wait.
Set in Jackson, Mississippi in the early ‘60s, The Help follows the lives of three Southern women: Aibaleen, dignified and devoted, a nanny/cook/housekeeper who possesses a secret ability to write; Minny, feisty and opinionated, a cook bar-none who stoically endures her husband’s abuse; and Miss Skeeter, privileged yet awkward, the daughter of a genteel cotton farmer who longs for change. When Skeeter’s best friend conspires to build Aibaleen her own segregated toilet—part of her “Home Help Sanitation Initiative”—it’s the catalyst that propels Skeeter out of her ambivalence into action. What begins as a naïve hope eventually births a daring mission—to write a book written from the colored point of view, revealing the truth of what is means for black to serve white. The project catches the eye of a hard-boiled New York publisher. And the stories Skeeter unearths, in all their contradiction and complexity, usher in change—in ways no one could have imagined.
The Help is one of those books as compelling for its literary excellence as for its content. From a writerly perspective, it’s hard to fault this well-crafted novel. Its description is richly drawn, and each narrative voice distinctive, compelling, pitch-perfect. Plus, Stockett’s impeccable research results in a character-driven novel that’s as page-turning as a thriller.
But the real beauty of The Help is what it’s about: not race, ultimately, but humankind. The best line—which sums up the whole story—is when Skeeter sees that the book she’s writing is not merely about a colored person and a white person relating to each other. We are just two people, she realizes. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I’d thought.
If you haven’t already done so, move The Help to the top of your list. Read it. Savor it. Allow yourself to be shocked… ashamed… moved. Consider afresh American race relations, with all its ongoing setbacks and successes. Though as a people we still have far to go, you’ll appreciate what’s been achieved and those whose sacrifice helped to achieve it. You’ll never take such gains for granted again.
Talk about worth the wait.
Set in Jackson, Mississippi in the early ‘60s, The Help follows the lives of three Southern women: Aibaleen, dignified and devoted, a nanny/cook/housekeeper who possesses a secret ability to write; Minny, feisty and opinionated, a cook bar-none who stoically endures her husband’s abuse; and Miss Skeeter, privileged yet awkward, the daughter of a genteel cotton farmer who longs for change. When Skeeter’s best friend conspires to build Aibaleen her own segregated toilet—part of her “Home Help Sanitation Initiative”—it’s the catalyst that propels Skeeter out of her ambivalence into action. What begins as a naïve hope eventually births a daring mission—to write a book written from the colored point of view, revealing the truth of what is means for black to serve white. The project catches the eye of a hard-boiled New York publisher. And the stories Skeeter unearths, in all their contradiction and complexity, usher in change—in ways no one could have imagined.
The Help is one of those books as compelling for its literary excellence as for its content. From a writerly perspective, it’s hard to fault this well-crafted novel. Its description is richly drawn, and each narrative voice distinctive, compelling, pitch-perfect. Plus, Stockett’s impeccable research results in a character-driven novel that’s as page-turning as a thriller.
But the real beauty of The Help is what it’s about: not race, ultimately, but humankind. The best line—which sums up the whole story—is when Skeeter sees that the book she’s writing is not merely about a colored person and a white person relating to each other. We are just two people, she realizes. Not that much separates us. Not nearly as much as I’d thought.
If you haven’t already done so, move The Help to the top of your list. Read it. Savor it. Allow yourself to be shocked… ashamed… moved. Consider afresh American race relations, with all its ongoing setbacks and successes. Though as a people we still have far to go, you’ll appreciate what’s been achieved and those whose sacrifice helped to achieve it. You’ll never take such gains for granted again.
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