The Ugly Truth: Cover Reveal and Playlist

It’s here! The follow up to Abbys story in Swimming Sideways with Seth’s story in The Ugly Truth.

The Spotify Playlist for The Ugly Truth:

1. I Was Wrong (Robin Schulz Remix) - A R I Z O N A

2. Heartbeat - Haux

3. Forever Lost - God is an Astronaut

4. Always - Tyson Motsenbocker

5. Ayahuasca - Vancouver Sleep Clinic

6. On the Train Ride Home - The Paper Kites

7. Mass (Re-Imagined) - Phoria

8. Body - SMYL

9. All Time Low - Jon Bellion

10. You Deserve Better - James Arthur

11. Luna - Ebb & Flod

12. Cold Desert - Kings of Leon

13. Waves - Dean Lewis

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This Writer Reads

Stephen King wrote that “books are a uniquely portable magic,” and he also said, “If you don’t have time read, you don’t have time (or the tools) to write.” This wisdom speaks to me on so many levels, therefore I have always made time to read. So far this year, I’ve read thirty-eight books (I’m proud of that number since I surpassed my Good Reads goal by 20 books already. I may have undershot it a bit when making my goal). Right now, stacked on my nightstand are Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi of which I am about 25 pages into, and then Markus Zusak’s Bridge of Clay which is next. I will definitely hit at least forty reads by the end of the year (and prove I need to increase my Good Reads goal next year).

To give you a sense of my reading choices:

I’ve read both of Rupi Kapur’s books of poetry as well as The Darkness Between Stars by Atticus Poetry. I’ve delved into The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert and was entertained by both Tehereh Mafi’s Shatter Me and Somaiya Daud’s Mirage. I’ve read four duologies, trilogies, series from Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty Trilogy to Sabaa Tahir’s A Reaper at the Gates (An Ember in the Ashes #3) Veronica Roth’s Carve the Mark duology. Then I’ve read some older Lavyrle Spencer romance novels and some dark who-done-its by Ruth Ware and Jo Nesbo. The point I’m hopefully making is that I read a lot of different kinds of genres by a variety of authors. Maybe that will help frame my perspective when giving you my top books I’ve read so far this year (in no particular order).

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green - while not my favorite John Green book (Looking For Alaska is my favorite btw) - was a wonderful story that really put into perspective the struggles of someone with anxiety and compulsive disorder. This was very eye opening for me and one of the reasons I read. I want my world to increase. Turtles All the Way Down did that in wonderful John Green fashion.

A poignant story that explores struggle.

Sleeping Beauties by Owen and Stephen King was a really interesting look at gender roles. The timeliness in conjunction of the #metoo movement really made this book relevant in the best King fashion. The coincidence of reading this book while I was working with students on a unit about perspective as it relates to themes of social injustice, specifically with race and gender, felt a bit like the universe was speaking to me. The book is too long to use in the classroom setting, but we did talk about it (because I’m always talking to my students about what I’m reading).

Coincides nicely with the #metoo movement and gender studies.

Confession: I am embarrassed to say that I had never read The Great Gatsby by  F. Scott Fitzgerald until this year. As I was working on my own novel Swimming Sideways, Abby’s English Teacher was making her read it (weird it was a book I hadn’t read, but it HAD to be that book for some reason). I thought: I better read it, and OMG, it rocked my world! The themes are on point. I’m so glad I added this classic to my “read it” pile.

A wonderful classic and a quick read.

I worked with a teacher many years ago who suggested I read Carolyn Mackler’s The Earth My Butt and Other Big Round Things. I never got to that one (though it is on my shelf waiting to be read) but I did read Infinite In Between. It was good. While I might have given it one less than five stars because the ending felt a bit rushed to me, overall, this was such a creative and interesting take on four characters. Mackler’s development of them was excellent, and I ended up sucking this book dry so quickly I got brain freeze!

Loved this coming of age story with heart.

Leigh Bardugo is my writing hero on so many levels. I devoured the Grisha Verse series (and it is excellent and creative) but it is nothing next to the Six of Crows series and Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) is fantastic. It is like Bardugo took Six of Crows #1 and shot it with steroids to create Crooked Kingdom. These characters walk from the page and asked me to be a part of their troop Character development, which Bardugo does so well, is one of my BIGGEST turn ons as a writer. One of my favorite series ever - hands down.

Kissing in America by Margo Rabb was one of those books that I didn’t know anything about and hadn’t heard anything about so I just randomly selected it based on the cover. It sounded cute; I opened it up and started reading. Here’s the thing, I didn’t expect the exploration of grief and the heartfelt coming-of-age story. This story hit me where it mattered, in all the right places of my heart. Granted, I was going rounds with very fresh grief of my own when I read it, so that might have skewed my perspective. Another Confession: I’m a crier. It isn’t difficult to get me to cry when the moment is poignant, but this novel got me to sob. The character development was fantastic. I LOVED it!

LOVED this story: coming of age with adventure, heartbreak and love.

Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood by Trevor Noah was a recommendation from a friend. I picked it up and am so glad I did. This is an excellent story and I texted every one of my English Teacher friends and said: We have to teach this book! It’s funny, it’s relevant, it’s heartfelt (yes, I cried) and it’s necessary. One of my top books this year.

This book made me laugh and cry, sometimes at the same time so I had snot bubble out of my nose.

Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates was another recommendation. On the cover of the book, Toni Morrison is quoted with “This is required reading.” So I walked into the book initially with a deer in the headlights feeling that this was going to be way over my head. Ten pages in, as Coates writes this letter to his son, I was sure I wasn’t smart enough to read it, but I kept going, and I’m so glad that I did; I’m better for it, I hope. Coates wrote: “A writer and that is what I was becoming, must be wary of every Dream and every nation, even his own nation. Perhaps his own nation more than any other, precisely because it is his own.” This book made me sob and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. In the push to open my eyes and increase my world, this book did that tenfold. I agree that as Americans we should read this book.

This book opened my eyes in a way they hadn’t seen before.

The premise of I am Still Alive by Kate Alice Marshall intrigued me. I purchased the book not knowing what to expect. As I began reading, I really liked the way in which she used time as a function of the story because it was about time. Our lives are boiled down to the essence of time and how we use it on so many levels. Initially, I didn’t like the protagonist because she was such a “victim,” but then Marshall flipped the script on me - surprising me -  and I loved her. This is one of my favorites this year!

I enjoyed this book so much. It surprised me.

Jeff Zentner is coming out with a new novel in February of 2019 which I am looking forward to reading, and The Serpent King is actually a couple of years old. I finally had some time to read it this year, and I was blown away. First, his teenagers were on point. Second, the prose was perfect. Third, it made me laugh out loud, but then I also sobbed my heart out. A talented writer, I think, is one who is able to make characters come alive in a way that makes a reader think they’ve made new friends. I find myself wondering how these characters are doing long after I finished the book. It’s an excellent examination of that question about parental influence on personal perspective of not only the world but of self. Read this one.

Empathy is Our Superpower!

I’m struggling.

I posted that the other day to Facebook and a bunch of friends reached out, commented and said, “You can do it!”

Struggle is always a writing thing, and goes without saying, but I’m struggling with understanding something else (which I’ll get to a bit later in this post). I’m working on the new WIP (Work-in-progress) which, as a story, is a difficult one to tell. It is about a character’s personal struggle. As I’m writing, I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of personal strife.

Each of us faces the symbolic mountain. (FYI: this is literally the Ko’olaus on the the island of O’ahu).

The struggle for me as an author is often in the bond I create with the characters as I learn who they are. The character comes to life, becomes a real face, with a real history and their experiences often opens my eyes to the authentic world where my own perspective is challenged and shaped. When I’m in the darkness with a character for an extended period, I live the struggle with them, but I push through it because I can feel the necessity to tell the story in every beat of my heart.  

Struggle is a human experience, one that we all of share in a myriad of ways. It is a common language.

But then again, maybe not.

Without over politicizing it (I’m trying to focus on the humanity) when one of the most impactful world leaders - while at a political rally - mocked the experience of a woman who shared her troubling experience drew me into a dark place. When I was able to set my feet back on rational soil, I wondered if he’s ever had to struggle? Are there people on this earth who have never experienced the pain, the adversity, the difficulty of floating in the pool of trials and having to climb out of it? Has he ever grappled with abuse, inequality, grief, rape, racism, mental illness, addiction, physical disabilities or a myriad of other ways that humans face mountains? How could he not, after all; the struggle doesn’t differentiated does it? And he’s human. Right? Then again, this isn’t the first time the man - or others in varying positions of power - have trivialized trauma or attempted to flip the script to marginalize groups, dehumanize their experience, or categorize behaviors to negate their import.

Then I realized: it’s about EMPATHY.

My daughter and her best friend as they say goodbye to one another as they head off to college.

Empathy is the means with which we identify with those who struggle. It is the grace we show our fellow human beings, and that which makes us act in service to one another. It is the way we connect.

Ultimately, we tell stories because we seek connection. Happy stories, sad stories, hardship stories that overcome odds, love stories. When my father died, others told me their stories of losing their loved one as a way to empathize with my experience. I’m a sucker for the sports vignette when watching College GameDay or E:60 where I’m often moved to tears because the stories showcase struggle and the empathy attached by others. It is our nature to seek connection, and it is in the struggle where that often takes place.  

I wish I had an answer for those who lack the empathy needed to understand the struggle others face. Politically, we can answer that at the polls, but in everyday life, those of us who can, I suppose, need to continue to serve, to provide grace, and to connect. Whether that’s through telling stories, delivering sandwiches, working at a soup kitchen, volunteering at church, offering a hot meal, spending time with the elderly, volunteering for a campaign - it is our empathy that is our superpower.

So I will continue to struggle to tell this WIP’s Character’s story, even if it is difficult, and climb the mountain with him.

The Writer Hoard

I was sitting at breakfast with my family the other day - family with whom I don’t often get the opportunity to visit since we live so far apart - and they were telling stories. This is one of the joys of being with my family who talk a lot and loudly, laughs often, and enjoy the space we share. Around the table were three aunts, two uncles, and a cousin (also a writer) and my daughter. As usual, the stories were family tales of grandparents and great-grandparents, times when our parents or the cousins were small, and funny anecdotes that we’ve heard again and again but never get old. Eventually, my aunt Susan turns to Mike - my writer cousin - and I and observes, “Nothing is safe with you two around, is it?”

My cousin Mike and I. Check out his website and work (here)

Nope.

Here’s a truth about writers: we are collectors. At first, I think about The Collector in the Marvel Universe, or maybe a librarian with beautifully arranged artifacts and books. These images - for me - conjure a romantic notion of what it might be like as a writer. For example, it might be sitting down at a Parisian Cafe and penning into a leather-bound notebook a gorgeous list of things to remember (ever read A Moveable Feast by Hemingway? If not, your next assignment!). I like this image.

But hoarders of information is probably a more apt description.

How I imagine the info hoard in my mind might look, but I do think there would be labels. Definitely labels.

We collect, and collect, and collect stories, facts, tidbits of information, moments, impressions that may or may not be useful. Our minds are filled with boxes and boxes stacked one on top of the other with only enough room for little pathways for our memory to traverse. But ask a writer, and chances are every one of those mind-boxes contains very important memory bits that we are (probably) going to need one day.

Truthfully, those boxes may never get opened, and should probably be gleaned - But dammit! You never know when that little sliver of information might come in handy!

So be forewarned! If you know a writer, chances are, everything is being stored: the who, what, when, where, why, how, impressions and tone. Then we’ll file it in our mind hoard, into a box that may or may not get opened. I guess you’ll just have to read our work to see if you notice any interesting tidbits and similarities, but I promise (what’s that disclaimer after the movies?) this story is fiction, and any similarities between a real person and the fictional work is unintentional.