When Do You Read Most?

I've been wondering about novels and timing.

Is this a busy time for you? Is summer slower and easier on your schedule, or even more packed than the school year?

Perhaps it doesn't make a difference, if you don't have school-aged children, though summer vacations are always nice. :-)

The reason I ask is because I was talking with someone about plans for a publicity effort for my novel. We both speculated that September might be better than August, because of that pre-semester rush that happens in the first two weeks of August.

So what I would love to know from you is:

Do you find that you read more at one time of year than another? Are there certain months in which you tend to be too busy to read?

Good Comes Even Behind Bars

I'm so glad I wasn't planning a post for this morning.

I went to go check out the blog of Kym McNabney, my newest follower.

She works with a prison ministry, and today she has posted a testimonial letter from a man in prison named Clifford to a class full of children. It's worth sharing.

I hope you enjoy it--it's uplifting to see someone trying to help children avoid his mistakes by reaching out, even from a jail cell.

The Human-Whisperers

I can promise one thing to anyone who becomes a published author, whether by hook, by crook or by Nook. (Heh heh.)

There are going to be surprises along the way, and the first year is going to be an emotionally-turbulent period.

I've been through some real highs and lows surrounding the publication of my first series, The Saddler's Legacy. This is normal--I don't think I know a single writer who would tell you that her experience as a debut author was predictable and boring.

Today, I realized how important horses have been to my writing journey over the last year.

I don't own horses, but my daughter is an equestrian vaulter, which means she does gymnastics on horseback. She belongs to a team, and so twice a week we go to the stables and I lunge the horses while she and her team mates vault. My lunging (driving the horses in a circle around me at the end of a long line) allows the coach to watch the vaulters' form and spot them in case of any slips. Lunging the horses requires my full concentration. The horse must not "break" from one gait to another unless I tell it to do so. If a vaulter is standing on a horse's back, the vaulter balances according to the horse's gait. A horse that drops from a trot to a walk can throw off the vaulter. Literally.

When I go to the stables with my daughter, I get out in the open air, away from my computer, away from deadlines, away from the worries and pressures of the introverted writer's life. I concentrate on simple but important tasks: picking out a horse's feet, putting on tack, warming up the horse on the lunge line. I don't have time to think about me. I'm too busy watching the horses, assessing their moods, making sure they're feeling OK before the children get on. When I feed a horse his carrot after a job well done, I'm not distracted by anything. I'm watching the pure pleasure on the horse's face and feeling the joy of caring for that horse.

I'm not sure why someone ever called a book "The Horse Whisperer." Those of us who spend time with horses know that the most important whispering isn't done by the humans.

It's done by the human-whisperers, with their big eyes, fuzzy muzzles, and long manes.

My life over the past year would have been poorer and less balanced without my human-whisperers.

Have any animals helped you through the stresses of life? I want to know their names!

:-)

Transposing: When Characters Change Places

I'm a fan of a cappella choral singing. I love the sound of voices in harmony. But every now and then, I hear an a cappella arrangement that I do not like at all.

I recently had an epiphany about this dislike for some a cappella songs, especially a few I've heard in church. I was listening to a Christian radio station (a rarity for me, as I prefer classical) and I heard a song I knew. It was a song I have always hated to sing in church--a truly obnoxious a cappella arrangement. To my surprise, I discovered that in its original version, with instruments and a different vocal sound, it's quite a good song.

So why was it bad, when transposed into an a cappella arrangement? Because when many church musical arrangers change an instrumental, poppy song into an a cappella piece in 4-part harmony, they ALWAYS put the melody into the soprano line.

This sounds really, really awful when the original song featured a melody in a lower key, sung with the radically different vocal quality of an alto or a baritone. The warmth and subtlety of the original alto or baritone melody disappears into a shrieky, high, repetitive soprano line in the new a cappella version. (And I'm one of those shrieky sopranos, so I know whereof I shriek.)

Writing can also involve acts of transposing. In the third draft of my current work in progress, one of my major tasks (other than complete rewriting) has been taking certain characters out of scenes and substituting other characters in their "roles." For example, in one scene, a character held another character at gunpoint to keep him from doing something foolish in a moment of desperation. I had to change out the characters in that scene, so male character A holding the gun became male character B holding the gun, even though the third character (on the wrong end of the gun) did not change.

Wow, was that an eye-opener! Had I used character A's lines and behavior, it would have been a travesty--like writing a baritone line into a soprano melody. Voice matters, in writing or in singing--one voice is not just as good as another for any given line.

Instead, I had to envision how character B would perform the same function in a completely different way. Even my husband had a comment on the transposition when he read the scene, having read both characters in the part. He said: "I envisioned what character B would look like when he did that, and I think you should make this small change."

Transposing is not common--it's rare for writers to need to substitute one character for another in a scene. Have you ever had to transpose one character for another in the same basic scene? Or, have you realized that you've written a moment that was completely out of character for one of your fictional people? Did you notice it yourself or did someone else have to point it out?

The Best Writing Book You've Never Read

I tried to get off easy this week with my Fourth of July pictures, but my conscience wouldn't let me skip the real post I had intended for this week.

A series of events led me to purchase Jeffrey Overstreet's

Through a Screen Darkly

from Amazon. This is a 2007 release, so I'm a little late with my review! But you can still purchase this book online from various major booksellers. (I don't know him--this is not a paid promotion. :-)

This will probably be the best nonfiction book I read this year.

Jeffrey Overstreet writes a beautiful series of personal essays on his experience of watching movies as a Christian moviegoer. And he was the movie reviewer for Christianity Today, so he's seen a few movies in his time.

The opening of this book was so moving and well-written I was surprised by my gut reaction to it. This is a book for everyone who cares deeply about faith and art, and how the two mix. You know all those blogs about whether Christian writers "should" write this way or that way, or whether such-and-such is immoral in inspirational fiction? This book is a profound but gentle invitation to consider these issues, as a believing moviegoer or as a writer of faith. Overstreet takes us through his own experience and what it means to watch secular films with an eye to God's glory, even when a filmmaker may not have been conscious of those elements in his work.

Here's why I call this a writing book, and one I would recommend to all my writing friends.

Overstreet meditates on the power of story, and character, and how the spiritual effect of a movie depends on how an event is portrayed, not so much the event itself. I loved his point that many hero movies never portray the consequences to the villain's family when the hero kills the villain. (In Fairer than Morning, I wrote a scene in which the heroine considers the real implications of the death of a 'bad' character, which is exactly the kind of thing Overstreet means.)

Readers and moviegoers, Through a Screen Darkly will remind you why certain novels or movies changed your life, and why watching a film can be a deep spiritual experience. Overstreet will also give you a great list of films for your "to-watch" list.

Writers, Through a Screen Darkly will make you think deeply about your writing and its purpose. It will energize you with the power (and oddity) of some of the stories that have proven to be unexpectedly moving on film. If you're ever feeling discouraged or doubtful about the power of story to change lives, this is the book to pluck from your shelf.

And if, like me, you are part of Overstreet's generation, you will love it even more as he takes you back to your childhood as a moviegoer.

(Review policy: As many of my friends and readers know, I don't review fiction on my blog because of potential conflicts of interest. I do occasionally review nonfiction, as I have here, or discuss the technique in a novel as a praiseworthy example of good craft.)

Photos: We All Celebrate the USA!

What are you wearing for Independence Day? Got a t-shirt? Got a cute child in an outfit? Ever dressed up your pet? My favorite 4th of July attire is the tricornered hat I wear to the grocery store each year. I love the way it makes people smile.

Photos of Book Launch Party Posted

I'm so excited about the beautiful photos of my book launch party from Sarah Gaylor Photography!

To see them, come "Like" my Facebook Author page by clicking the link below.

Several of us wore historical costumes, and the Otterbein Singers performed music by Ben Hanby, the hero of the second novel in the series, Sweeter than Birdsong, which will come out in February 2012. In addition, we were honored by the attendance of the Mayor of Westerville and the President of Otterbein College.

Click here to see the photos