The Bin

Book Reviews: Mastering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy by Michael Garron

Hello, readers and writers. I can’t really say “good day” or anything similar today. For those of my readers who live in California, you’ve probably heard about the Carr fire by now. Unfortunately, that fire has reached the largest city near me and some family members have already had to evacuate, so my stress levels are pretty high right now. The good thing is that my parents and I are not in any danger right now and the family members who have evacuated have found somewhere to stay. That’s why I feel safe, despite the fire, to share another book review with you. Today, the review is for Mastering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy by Michael Garron.

You might remember Michael Garron as the author of another book I have reviewed on this blog before, Emotional Intelligence. While Emotional Intelligence discusses how you can read your emotions and those of people around you and then use that information to interact with others successfully, Mastering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is about learning to overcome those emotions which are self-destructive: depression, anxiety, anger, etc. In this book, Garron provides the reader with everything they need to initiate cognitive behavioral therapy, from a detailed description of the practice to positivity exercises to approaches individualized for specific emotions/conditions like those listed above. It’s more than just a how-to book; it explains in-depth why you should do something, how it can help you, and any possible downsides.


Image retrieved from Amazon

As with Emotional Intelligence, this thoroughness drags down Garron’s writing at some points in Mastering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. In particular, I feel that it takes a long time to get to the heart of the matter—using cognitive behavioral therapy to help manage emotional issues/conditions—because a lot of time is spent in the beginning explaining what cognitive behavioral therapy is. Readers need this information in order to understand what this process is and how it works, but I still got bored at points trying to get through what felt like repetitive information.

Once the book really gets started, though, it’s a quick and easy read while still providing the necessary information.  I think that the chapters on anxiety and depression will prove especially helpful for writers. Working professionals and artists overall, including writers, notoriously have issues struggling with depression and anxiety. Mastering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps to identify the reason(s) for these problems and gives step-by-step instructions on how to restructure this thinking which are still flexible enough to personalize for the individual’s situation. Better yet, Garron addresses different kinds of anxiety when so many people forget that it is not a one-size-fits-all sort of mental illness.

As someone who has suffered from depression, anxiety, and anger issues, Mastering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy proved to be a particularly interesting book for me. My bouts of depression can be crippling and my anxiety prevents me from fully functioning on a daily basis; my anger issues, while embarrassing, are easier for me to handle and don’t interfere quite as much with my life. Before this book, I had never really heard of cognitive psychology or cognitive behavioral therapy. However, after reading about it in Garron’s work, I think that cognitive behavioral therapy might able to supplement the control I’ve gained through anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication.

That brings me to a point which almost immediately annoyed me in this book: it cast these sorts of medication in an incredibly negative light. The points that Garron makes about medication are valid; after all, it does mess with the chemistry of the brain, which is why they can help people with these conditions. Nevertheless, Garron highlights more of what’s wrong with these medicines than what is right with them. In the rest of the book, he does so well to emphasize that results may vary and that everyone needs to personalize the cognitive behavioral therapy to work best for them, but I feel that that attitude is absent when he discusses anti-depressants and similar medication. In fact, his bias against them, while not violent or shame-inducing, seems pretty clear when I read this book. I just wish that he had provided a more balanced view of medications as he does with everything else.

Overall, Mastering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy by Michael Garron is a very helpful guide for those looking into therapeutic ways to address their emotional and mental health problems. Garron tries and covers all of the major mental illnesses and emotional control issues as well as a variety of ways to deal with them using cognitive behavioral therapy. Be cautioned, though: Garron emphasizes, time and time again, that this approach requires a lot of effort on your part and will require investigating emotions and memories that you don’t necessarily want to relive. You also cannot do this alone. You must include a fair third party—a friend, family member, therapist, etc.—to get a full view of your actions and any connections you may not have been able to make on your own. This process is not a passive approach to your problems, and this book is not a passive read; in order to get the full benefits from it, you must give it an honest effort. Also, don’t assume that it will work for you or work overnight; it will take time and, in the end, it might not be for you and/or you will need additional professional help.

You can buy Mastering Cognitive Behavioral Therapy by Michael Garron on Amazon.

Do you know of any books I should read? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com and let me know!

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Book Reviews: Napoleon Bonaparte by Adam Brown

Happy Thursday, readers and writers! My apologies for the long absence. The good news is that I’m being kept busy with plenty of work; the bad news is that I’m being kept busy with plenty of work. Fortunately, I’ve still been able to set aside some time for reading, and today I have a new book to review for you: Adam Brown’s Napoleon Bonaparte: The Biography of a Leader Who Changed the History of France (Including the French Revolution).

As the title suggests, Napoleon Bonaparte details the life and death of the French emperor and military savant Napoleon Bonaparte. Brown follows Napoleon from his early years in Corsica and rise through the ranks of the French military to his exile and death. In his in-depth examination, Brown explores Napoleon’s less-than-glamorous upbringing and early failures as well as his shining victories and infamous decline. No stone is left unturned, no secret kept buried.


Image retrieved from Amazon

Napoleon Bonaparte provides a thorough, comprehensive account of a political figure who has been both revered and despised. As a history fanatic, I was excited to start this book and learn more about Napoleon. In that respect, this book did not disappoint. Like most people, I knew very little about Napoleon’s personal life before Brown’s work. I only had a rough idea about his contributions to the French Revolution and his controversial time as the Emperor of France. This book taught me about Napoleon’s childhood, his relationship with his parents, his difficulties as a poor academic at a nobleman’s military school, and how he came to know his first wife, Josephine. I was fascinated, to say the least.

I especially enjoyed how Brown covered Napoleon’s death. There is much debate over this event, mostly whether Napoleon was poisoned. In most history books, readers only get one perspective on the matter. In Napoleon Bonaparte, Brown presents all the possible theories. He explores each argument, the good points and the flaws, and states the most logical possibility while allowing readers to come to their own conclusions.

For the majority of the book, Brown’s writing style helped to keep my attention and made the book go by fairly quickly for a purely historical/biographical tome. He utilizes an informal, conversational tone rather than the dry, formal tone which is common to academic and historical pieces. It felt as though I were talking to one of my favorite history teachers about one of their favorite time periods. Brown is clearly excited about the subject of Napoleon, his effects on the world, and the French Revolution, and this excitement translates into an energetic read.

However, this energy did sometimes lead to rambling, particularly in the accounts of the parts of the French Revolution in which Napoleon was not directly involved. Mind you, everything which Brown covers in the book is important for understanding how Napoleon rose to the top and why he was motivated to do so. Nevertheless, I felt that too much time was spent on such things as encounters between the First Coalition and the French Republic before Napoleon enters the scene. In about the first quarter of the book, parts of the French Revolution without Napoleon take up so much space that I sometimes forgot that I was reading a book about Napoleon specifically rather than the history of the French Revolution overall.

I was also rather disappointed that the author did not provide a bibliography of his resources at the end of the book. I’m a stickler for facts and double-checking sources, not to mention I just have a never-ending thirst for knowledge. That’s why, when I read historical books, I love being able to follow the information back to the original source if I can. Of course, some sources the ordinary reader simply has no access to, such as primary sources like letters and even some secondary sources like older books. Regardless, I would still like to know that I could check into the source if I wanted to.

All in all, Napoleon Bonaparte by Adam Brown is a must-read for history lovers, especially if you’re fond of French history, historical leaders, and/or the French Revolution. While I wish that the book had listed its sources and been more focused, it is an interesting read and taught me a lot.

You can buy Napoleon Bonaparte by Adam Brown as an eBook or in paperback on Amazon.

Do you know of a book I should read? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com and let me know!

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Book Reviews: Emotional Intelligence by Michael Garron

Happy Sunday, everyone! Ready for another Manic Monday tomorrow? Me neither. Who really wants to deal with the start of a new week? The stress, the anxiety, the insanity, it’s all but impossible to handle our own emotions, let alone deal with anyone else’s. And yet that’s exactly what we must do, day in and day out, if we want to be successful in our work lives, social lives, and personal lives. It’s this sort of mania which has led me to bring you a book especially on dealing with emotions today: Emotional Intelligence: The Complete Guide to Improving Thoughts, Behavior, Relationships and Social Skills (The EQ Book) by Michael Garron.

Emotional Intelligence discusses just about everything one can think of in regards to emotional intelligence: the advantages and abilities a high EQ (Emotional Quotient) can give you; how you can develop your EQ; managing self-awareness and relationships; reading body language; collaboration and conflict management; building trust and accountability; the pitfalls of low EQ; and so on. This book provides you with all the information necessary for understanding what EQ is and what it can do for you as well as tips for improving your EQ and what you should avoid in order to keep your EQ sharp. At 318 pages, it’s a thorough and complete guide to the issue of interacting with your emotions and the emotions of others.


Image retrieved from Amazon

This book covers a wide variety of topics. In addition to the information mentioned above, it also discusses meditation, mindfulness, journaling, the issues of multitasking and how to avoid them, and examples to go along with each concept. In fact, I think that Garron could have easily grouped some of the chapters together and expanded upon them to make multiple books rather than one long guide. That may have made for an easier read, too, and people wouldn’t be so intimidated by a nonfiction guide over 300 pages long.

Still, the thoroughness of Garron’s writing and research is one of the biggest strengths of this book. Unfortunately, it’s also one of its biggest downfalls. Garron often uses a lot of words to describe very simple concepts. Garron also becomes repetitive at points, and this combined with the verbose writing style lost me many times. However, the information is useful enough that I pushed through any confusion or boredom to get it all, even re-reading multiple sentences to ensure that I understood it all.

The examples Garron provides really helped me understand most of the concepts better. I particularly latched onto the example given for the “attachment” concept, most likely because I saw myself in it. (I have a bit of a hoarding issue…she says as though it’s only a small problem.) Everyone will find at least one example they can relate to in this book, and so I’m sure that everyone can mine some nuggets of wisdom from Garron’s advice.

Writers will find Emotional Intelligence to be a surprisingly useful guide, at least the part on non-verbal cues and reading body language. That section discusses such things as physical signs that people are experiencing a particular emotion, i.e. happiness, sadness, anger, anxiety, etc. These lists of signs, I think, are handy guides for writers who have a hard time being able to show a character’s emotions rather than telling them. Some of them are obvious—I found the happiness signs to be rather self-explanatory—but they are still good to refer to when you find yourself using the same sorts of gestures and body language for an emotion time after time.

Overall, Emotional Intelligence by Michael Garron is a helpful read for those looking to become more empathetic and gain better control of their emotions. For those of us with more extreme emotional issues—for instance, I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder—it might be more difficult to apply the book’s advice in real time, but practicing the techniques outside of real-life situations might make these situations easier to handle when they do occur. Keep in mind that this guide is not a light read and it necessitates more than one reading, both to ensure you understand it fully and to continue to grow your EQ as you get older. However, it will be worth the extra time in the end once you see all your relationships—work, social, and with yourself—and your life in general improve.

You can buy Emotional Intelligence by Michael Garron as an e-book or in print on Amazon.

Do you know of any books I should read? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com and let me know!

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Orphaned Characters and Dysfunctional Parents in Children’s Books

Happy first day of summer, everyone! Since Father’s Day, one subject has been prominently on my mind: parents. More specifically, parents in children’s books. After all, these genres seem to treat the child/parent relationship rather…well, not always badly, but there’s almost always a hint of sadness, loss, or anger underneath it all.

Why do so many protagonists have horrible–or no–parents? Where are they? Where did they go? Why are some of them so nasty when they are around?

This phenomenon has existed since before children’s literature was children’s literature. Fairy tales and folk tales, for example, were not always meant for children. In fact, anyone who knows the original fairy tales and not just the Disney-ized versions will know they were pretty darn dark. Yet these stories are also where we get the trope of the orphaned or poorly-parented child. Look at some examples:

  • Hansel and Gretel – in the original tale, their mother had died and they were, in fact, living with their father and stepmother. The stepmother forced their father to get rid of them, and it was not until the stepmother was gone that the children and their father lived happily ever after.
  • Snow White – everyone knows that the stepmother is the main villain in this tale.
  • Cinderella – there’s a wicked stepmother and, depending on which tale you read, her father is either dead or oddly very uninvolved.

Image retrieved from GalleyCat

The list goes on. Fairy tales are not the best places to be a parent. More modern children’s books are not much better:

  • Anne of Green Gables – Anne is an orphan.
  • The Wizard of Oz – Dorothy is an orphan who lives with her aunt and uncle.
  • Harry Potter – much like Dorothy, Harry is an orphan who lives with his aunt and uncle.
  • Percy Jackson – while not an orphan, Percy is the son of a god and a human; his human mother is there and his human stepfather is in the first book, but Percy’s birth father is largely absent and his stepfather is horrible, both as a parent and a human being
  • The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe – Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are all sent off into the country because of the war, away from their mother.
  • Matilda – Matilda’s parents are abusive jerks that don’t care about Matilda at all.

Clearly, the trope is prominent. But why?

One reason can be to increase the tension and emotional effects of the stories. Nothing tugs at the heartstrings quite like an orphan struggling to deal with the absence of his/her parents. An orphan or a child with bad parents can also feel isolated and lash out, which also increases the tension of a children’s book.

Another reason could be the lack of restrictions and guidance for the protagonists. They have to figure things out for themselves, at least for the most part. They must learn for themselves what’s right, what’s wrong, and what their limitations are. Some of the children have alternative adult figures to help guide them, like Harry Potter has Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley and Percy Jackson has Chiron, but room is still left for children to grow on their own.


Image retrieved from EW

A final reason which seems to apply more to modern children’s literature than, say, classic fairy tales is that the trope forces readers to rethink the image of the “traditional” family. When you don’t have parents or your parents are incompetent, you tend to form close bonds with “substitute parents”: grandparents, aunts and uncles, adult siblings or cousins, teachers, neighbors, adoptive parents, etc. Some children create surrogate families with other children. These bonds are no weaker than the bonds within a traditional family. Harry Potter’s bond with the Weasley family, Percy Jackson’s bond with Annabeth and Grover, Matilda’s bond with Miss Honey, none of them are “traditional” but they fulfill the children’s desire for a complete family.

The single-parent family is also put in a better light with this trope. For Percy Jackson, his life is better when only his mother is raising him without the toxic influence of his first stepfather. Hansel and Gretel live happily with their father after their stepmother is gone. Stepparents often get the short end of the stick in these stories. However, it’s worth noting that Percy’s mother adds a positive influence to his life with her new, loving boyfriend, so that’s not always the case.

As writers, we usually try to avoid using tropes. They’re seen as cliche and played-out. Regardless, there’s always a reason for their overuse. We might still need these tropes to perpetuate certain themes or we might not. The trick is, when we decide that we do need them, to present them in a way which does not seem cheesy or worn-out to the reader.

What do you think about this orphan trope? About tropes in general? What are their purposes, and do we need them anymore? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Book Reviews: Invisible Me by H.M. Irwing

Warning: The subject of today’s review, Invisible Me by H.M. Irwing, contains sex scenes, sexual situations, and foul language. If you are under the age of 18 or do not wish to encounter such content, proceed with caution.

Happy Friday, everyone! After starting last weekend on a PSA about suicide prevention, I think it’d be best to usher in this weekend on a much lighter note. What better way to do that than to post a new book review? Today’s review will be on the supernatural romance novel—or perhaps it’s more accurately called sci-fi romance—Invisible Me by H.M. Irwing, an author whom I have reviewed multiple times on this blog.

Freddie Lynch, known to many as “Fatty Leech,” has struggled with weight issues for a long time. She’s unused to any attention from boys (or men), and her best—and only—friend is the equally-ostracized Kyle Lykin. Yet there’s only one boy whose attention she really wants: Edwin Carr, Kyle’s “hotter-than-hot” cousin. The problem is that he never seems to give her the time of day, not to mention he’s engaged. In one last desperate attempt to change Edwin’s mind, Freddie makes herself a diet shake, the first step to trying to lose weight quickly. Too late she realizes that she has accidentally mixed her shake with the newest concoction brought home by her father—a chemist—from work. Now, instead of just being invisible to the opposite sex, she’s invisible to everyone. Literally.


Image retrieved from Amazon

After a year of trying one potential cure after another, Freddie has all but given up on ever being seen again, but that won’t stop her from enjoying her eighteenth birthday. She is now legally an adult and can enjoy all the freedom that comes with that status. Or can she? How can she go out in the world when there’s nothing more to her than floating clothes? How can she live a real, normal life outside of the Internet? The answer to her dilemma may just be a day away…but with new opportunities come new obstacles, and love always finds a way to complicate things further.

As a fan of speculative fiction in general, this concept caught my interest immediately and kept me invested in the book until the very end. I’d best describe it as a mix of a coming-of-age story, a romance novel, and The Invisible Man. Many themes could be read into Irwing’s use of invisibility in this story—a young adult establishing their identity, the ugly duckling theme, the soul-sucking anonymity of social media—but I cannot go into any of these without giving away too much of the plot. However, I can say that the obvious lesson that diet shakes are not the way to miraculous (or healthy) weight loss both amuses me and hits especially close to home for me.

With a woman rather than a man becoming invisible, even more humor and risqué moves are available to the protagonist, and Irwing does not disappoint. From Freddie marching around in her birthday suit to the banter exchanged between her and Kyle, this book proved to be very funny at times. Of course, that doesn’t mean it’s just some parody or satire; the angst, the grief, the regret, and the love which define both Freddie’s and Edwin’s lives balance the narrative’s tone out nicely.

Edwin, Freddie, Kyle, and even Freddie’s father all prove to be very interesting characters. From a literary perspective, they somewhat play a mix of different stereotypes: Edwin, the borderline-insane and grieving man and unbelievably handsome hunk; Freddie, the sassy but still self-conscious chubby girl; Kyle, the awkward, not-to-hot best friend; and Freddie’s father, the grieving workaholic. Still, they each develop into more three-dimensional characters than I had expected, particularly through their relationships. While the story focuses on Edwin and Freddie’s relationship, I actually grew more intrigued by Freddie’s relationships with Kyle and her father. Their dynamics are real and fun and serve as a good break from the sweet-but-tumultuous romantic interactions between Freddie and Edwin.

Unfortunately, the writing in this book could use a lot of work or at least a lot of editing. I noticed missing commas, missing or misused capitalization, missing words, and some brief moments in which the narration switched between first person and third person. The concept kept me interested in the story, but these errors did serve as a distraction. Still, these mistakes are easily fixed with another round of edits, so this issue might be resolved in future editions.

Overall, Invisible Me by H.M. Irwing is a fun, light read. There are some sexual scenes and certainly sexual tension, so younger readers probably shouldn’t read it, but adult readers who like romance novels will want to check this book out. The writing should be further edited, but otherwise it is a good break from heavier reads which will make you laugh while you also share in Freddie’s struggles. Once you start, you won’t want to finish until you find out what in the world has happened to Freddie Lynch and how in the world it could be undone.

You can buy Invisible Me by H.M. Irwing on Amazon. Also be sure to check out the author’s website for information on this and Irwing’s other works.

Do you know of a book I should read? E-mail me at thewritersscrapbin@gmail.com and let me know!

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Suicide, Depression, and Reaching Out

Happy Friday, readers and writers. Normally on Fridays I post something fun and light-hearted. Today, however, there’s a crucial topic that should be covered first: depression and suicide.

As you might have heard, beloved TV personality Anthony Bourdain committed suicide. Earlier this week, Kate Spade, a prolific American fashion designer, and Ines Zorreguieta, sister to Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, reportedly took their lives as well. Unfortunately, these are just high-profile examples of a very prominent issue.


Anthony Bourdain, 61
Image retrieved from Raw Story

In the United States alone, there is an average of 123 suicides per day, amounting to 44,965 deaths by suicide per year. A report from the CDC also indicates that suicide rates in the United States have risen by more than 30% since 1999. Global statistics from Suicide Awareness Voices of Education (SAVE) indicate that there is one death by suicide every 40 seconds, suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for those 15-24 years old, and depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide.

So, why am I discussing this on a blog about writing? First of all, it’s very important to spread awareness of this issue. I think the statistics alone speak to that. Second of all, writers and other creative types are no strangers to depression and suicide. The following is just a small sample of the long list of writers who committed suicide: Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Ernest Hemingway, Anne Sexton, Hunter S. Thompson, Gerard de Nerval, Arthur Koestler, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Cesare Pavese, and Yukio Mishima.


Kate Spade, 55
Image retrieved from CNN

The third, and perhaps most important, reason is that I have suffered from depression and know many people who also suffer from depression. I’ve never wanted to take my own life, thankfully, and I don’t know if any of my friends or family members with depression have thought about it, but it’s always a major concern when it comes to depression, like a Dementor looming over your shoulder, just waiting for the most opportune moment to give you the Kiss. (Please excuse the Harry Potter reference; J.K. Rowling really hit the nail on the head with the Dementor/depression metaphor.)

Suicide is preventable. The problem is that many people who have these thoughts do not get the help they need. Often, they suffer in silence due to the social stigma surrounding mental illness. We are made to think that any degree of mental illness is a weakness or our own fault–most times, it’s considered both. Asking for help is also seen as a weakness, as a sign that we are incapable of taking care of ourselves. No matter how you look at it, society has influenced us to think that we cannot reach out for help or even let on that something’s wrong because we will be shunned.

Maybe that’s why the people who kill themselves are usually the ones we least expect. They don’t want other people to know that they’re having problems. They don’t want that “crazy” or “weak” stigma attached to them. As a result, they don’t get the help and support that they need, even if loved ones would be more than willing to provide it.


Inés Zorreguieta, 33
Image retrieved from news.com.au

How can we help our loved ones with this problem? Really, all we can do is be there. We have to show them that we love them and will support them no matter what, and we have to let them know that they will not be ostracized or judged for having problems. Let them know that reaching out for help, whether it’s from a therapist or just a sympathetic ear, will not make them weak. Most importantly, if something feels off, our loved one is behaving abnormally, or our loved one disappears for a while, we need to trust our instincts and reach out to them. We can’t just assume that they will work it out or that it can wait for another time. If we do, there might not be a next time.

Obviously, we can’t always stop this from happening. Humans have free will and will do what they want to do or what they feel they have to do, and sometimes pressuring someone to open up too much will do the exact opposite of what we’re aiming to do. Still, we can be there and offer all the love and support that the other person is willing to receive. Sometimes that’s enough, especially when many people demonstrate this sort of support for the person.

If you struggle with depression and/or thoughts of suicide, know that you are not alone. I know it can be hard to reach out, especially if you feel stigmatized because of your issues. I know that depression can make it hard to feel as though you can open up to anyone or that anyone will even care, but someone out there does care about you.

Finally, if you are contemplating suicide or you suspect a loved one is considering it, please visit the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline to get help and resources for getting through this difficult time. Also, if you have already survived an attempt or you have lost someone to suicide, there are resources on the website to help you handle the trauma.

My apologies for starting off the weekend this way. I promise to have more light-hearted material up in the next few days; this issue is just very important to me and I want to make sure that people know that they can get and give help.

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

An Explanation for My Absence from This Blog

Hello, everyone! Long time, no read…or write. Two weeks, almost. It’s been quite a busy few weeks for me, and now that I have a moment to breathe, I thought I would just explain my absence.


Image retrieved Memegen

Part of my absence is due to the school year wrapping up. My creative writing portfolio was due last week, and a week from tomorrow (Wednesday) my end-of-year essay is due. So, yeah…cue the panic attacks. Fortunately, next year I will be focusing solely on my Master’s portfolio for school, so hopefully that won’t be quite as chaotic (although no less stressful).

Another part of my absence comes from work. I had some notably large projects due the past couple days, and now I have a steady stream of smaller projects coming in. Don’t get me wrong, I’m incredibly grateful for the work. (Keep it coming, please!) It just makes updating this blog a little more difficult and sporadic.

Another significant reason is medical. As I’ve discussed before, I have chronic migraines. Thursday and Friday, I was hit with particularly bad migraine attacks and was bedridden. I couldn’t even sit up without excruciating pain and nausea, let alone write.

Of course, there have also been the typical issues like family and clingy puppies to deal with. Those are just easier to shut out than the others. (Although I would love to be able to get my dog Bubba to sleep before 3 or 4 in the morning–I’m working on it!)

So, those are some of the reasons for my absence the past several days. While I’m still incredibly busy, I have plenty planned for this blog as well and hope to initiate these plans soon, including updating you on my Vistaprint promoboxes for April and May!

For now, I have messages to catch up on and an essay to write. Keep on writing, and hopefully I’ll be back with more support, advice, and distractions very soon!

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Are Bookstores Dying Out?

Riddle me this: can you name an independent bookstore in your area? How far from you is the closest Barnes & Noble? To be honest, I cannot even answer the first question. I know there’s a small bookstore–used books, I believe–on the drive to my PCP’s office. I don’t even know its name. The closest Barnes & Noble is about 16 miles from my house. If there are any other bookstores nearby, I don’t know about them. This raises an interesting question: are bookstores dying out?

I’m sure that my American readers at least remember the closure of the Borders bookstores back in 2011. Today, it seems, Barnes & Noble is struggling as well. The corporate giant Amazon has stolen many of this classic bookstore’s customers, and not without reason. Amazon is, overall, more convenient than traditional bookstores. After all, you can shop from home, get a hold of some indie and harder-to-find books not offered at brick-and-mortar stores, and you can buy a lot of other necessities and luxuries while you’re at it. But is Amazon the only reason for the decline of stores like Barnes & Noble? Certainly not.


Image retrieved from Tyler Shores

First of all, Amazon is far from the only mega-store that includes books in its inventory. Every physical Target store seems to have books as well as those found on the website, and Walmart recently entered the eBook industry by teaming up with Rakuten Kobo. (To be honest, I don’t really find the latter a big threat, considering the pathetic book display at my local Walmart.) Of course, none of these hold the same sort of weight as Amazon, but they are contributing factors.

Second of all, eBooks and audio books have changed the game. Yes, eBook sales are not holding quite as strong as when they were first introduced. However, audio books are on the rise, especially thanks to services such as Audible. Both formats have made electronic book consumption much more convenient than buying books at a physical store or even ordering physical books from online stores. Why wait a couple weeks or even a few days for a book that you can instantly have on your phone, tablet, or computer?

Finally, and perhaps the saddest factor of all, is that people just aren’t reading as much as they used to. I’m not sure about other first-world countries, but the United States has certainly hit an all-new low in regards to our disinterest in books. In fact, a recent Jimmy Kimmel segment showed that no American they asked could name even a single book truthfully or with any confidence in their answer. (Maybe it was just camera shyness, but it does illustrate the current reading crisis in the United States.) However, a recent study from Pew Research Center reveals that 1 in 4 American adults admit to not having read a book in the past year.

To be fair on that last cause, it probably isn’t just disinterest which has caused this decline in reading. As the study points out, many factors such as education level, race, and economic status also play a role. These factors also point to a larger cause of the decline in both reading and the survival of bookstores: the economy.

Economic disparity and hardship cause potential readers to spend less on books. Let’s be honest, even the most diehard book worms are going to choose food and shelter over books, if it comes down to that. An opinion article from The New York Times has also suggested that mega-stores like Amazon are crushing the life out of bookstores like Barnes & Noble with their lower prices, which are only meant to lure customers in so they will buy non-book products from them as well. The worse the economy gets and the more one-sided the competition gets, the more likely bookstores are to go out of business.


Image retrieved from The Mercury News

Do I really think bookstores are dying out? It’s possible. I personally shop more at Amazon than at Barnes & Noble. (Although, when the price is lower, I need a specific edition, or I just want the bookstore experience, I certainly go there.) I’ve even found myself buying directly from publishers more often than traditional bookstores. The times, they are a-changin’, and it’s getting harder for bookstores to keep up.

Do I think that their death is an inevitability? At this point, no. Nostalgia has begun to play a huge part in shopping habits lately. Hopefully, that will be enough to send people back to their favorite bookstores. (Unless their favorite store was Borders. Unfortunately, those people are out of luck.) The push to buy locally might also give bookstores a boost. Only time will tell. Until then, the entire bookstore industry will be on the rocks.

What do you think? Are bookstores doomed? Are they being crushed by the economy and corporate giants? Or can bookstores make a comeback? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Writers on Writing: Yiyun Li

Happy Manic Monday, everyone! I think the best way to start this crazy week is with some words of writing wisdom from another well-praised author. Today, I want to switch gears to Chinese American writer Yiyun Li.

Yiyun Li is a novelist and short story writer, winner of such awards as the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the California Book Award. In 2010, she was named one of The New Yorker‘s 20 under 40 and a MacArthur Foundation fellow. Her best-known works include her short story collections Gold Boy, Emerald Girl and A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and her novel The Vagrants. For more information, be sure to check out Li’s Wikipedia page.


Image retrieved from Writers Write

The reason I’ve chosen to focus on some insight from Li is twofold:

  1. My Master’s program just read and discussed The Vagrants.
  2. I had Li as a professor for a short story literature class when I was getting my Bachelor’s degree at UC Davis.

One of the most striking elements in Li’s writing is her characters. They’re raw, real, and all a little bit ugly yet, somehow, relatable. That’s why I think it would be a good idea to focus on how she views the development of good characters:

Writing fiction is this kind of staring, too. You have to stare at your characters, like you would a stranger on the train, but for much longer than is comfortable for both of you. This way, you get to know characters layer by layer, until any dishonesty is stripped away.

–Yiyun Li

This quote, part of a longer article comprised of several writers’ advice, presents an interesting perspective on character development. It suggests that characters are not just constructs of our minds. Rather, they have a sort of life and consciousness of their own. They can lie to us, hide their pasts from us, and mislead us about their stories; it’s only by watching them and spending an inordinate amount of time with them that we can find the truth and write the real story.

Admittedly, as I type this, it sounds a little crazy. After all, characters are fictional. They shouldn’t have lives of their own because they aren’t real. Of course, there’s a reason that a lot of writers joke about being bombarded by the voices inside their heads. (Or, during writer’s block, the voices in their heads not speaking to them.) But is there any validity to this approach to character development?


Image retrieved from Writers Write

Many people would argue that the characters they create are composites of many different people they know, that they are based on historical figures, or, in some cases, that the writers are the characters. These claims might be right. All writers, I think, slip some traits of friends, family, bosses, etc. into characters, even if it’s subconsciously. However, does that mean that we don’t “stare” at our characters to get to know them better? Do we just passively put together some traits in the hopes that a realistic character will come out on the page?

I cannot vouch for every writer, but I lean towards Li’s way of thinking. Our characters may be an extension of ourselves, historical figures, or people we know. Still, that does not mean we don’t have to get to know them. Personally, my stories evolve the more time I spend “observing” my characters. My current fantasy WIP has been in the tube for years, and it’s only thanks to the time I’ve spent with the main character that I finally know in which direction the story needs to go.

My only problem with Li’s assertion is that it implies the characters begin as strangers. While logically that should be the case, I never feel that way with my characters. Even new characters feel very familiar to me. It’s a bit like when you make friends as a child; you have a lot to learn about them, but from the first moment you play together, it’s as though you’ve known each other your whole lives.

Either way, I doubt that most characters pop up fully-developed in the writer’s mind. It takes time and patience to get to know them. Often, it takes multiple drafts of one story to figure out who they really are. Even then, even after publication, you might find yourself returning to that story in future years and realize that you had a character entirely wrong. If they do appear to you fully-developed, you’re either very lucky or have the brain of a super computer with Artificial Intelligence. In the latter scenario, you might have something bigger to worry about than character development. (World domination, anyone?)

What do you think about Li’s insight? Do you have to “stare” at a character in order to get to know them better? Or should you be able to understand them rather quickly? Are they strangers when you first think of them? Or do you have the nagging feeling that you’ve met them before? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Update 11/25/2022: This article and other pieces of my writing, from The Writer’s Scrap Bin articles to original stories and poetry, can be found on Vocal.


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011

Clever Covers: Combining Artistic Vision with Marketability

Don’t judge a book by its cover, that’s what we’ve always been told, but we do it anyway. Why lie? Covers draw our eyes, pique our curiosity towards those books, and, in theory, give us an idea of what we will encounter inside. They depict the books’ artistic visions and boast their best qualities in an attempt to attract readers. But what is artistic is not always marketable and vice versa. Writers, designers, and publishers will, at one point or another, clash over how the covers should look. The question becomes: is it possible to make a cover that matches the writer’s vision and will satisfy the publisher’s need for marketability?

To be honest, I don’t think it’s possible to be perfectly satisfied with a cover. It’s possible to compromise and come up with a cover that everyone is comfortable with, but it’s rare that everyone is 100% happy with it. After all, we repeatedly come out with new editions of books with new covers (often by new artists). The re-releases refresh the book’s commercial appeal and sometimes drifts more towards the writer’s vision, although just as many times they drift away from this vision.


Different covers, same book.

Image retrieved from The Fox is Black

Sometimes the writer’s artistic vision wins, sometimes the designer’s artistic vision wins, and sometimes the publisher’s bottom line wins. In a perfect world, everyone involved would reach a compromise which keeps all of them semi-happy. Yet we do not live in a perfect world, and the publisher typically has the final say.

When the publisher gets what they want, the cover might be marketable but clashes might also occur. The most recent example I can think of is Terry Goodkind’s reaction to Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme’s cover design for Shroud of Eternity, which Goodkind called “laughably bad” and “sexist”.

Now, I could say a thing or two about Goodkind choosing to publicly shame Lecouffe-Deharme, but that’s best saved for a post about the illustrator/writer relationship in particular. What I want to point out here is that Lecouffe-Deharme worked according to direction he was given by the publisher. The publisher had to approve the cover. And, in the end, Goodkind didn’t think that the publisher-approved cover matched his work. Such is the risk when trying to design book covers. It’s beautiful and marketable but sacrifices the writer’s visions.

Sometimes, though, the stars align and the perfect book cover comes along. The other day I saw such a cover for a beloved dystopian classic.

As I am apparently behind the times, I just recently came across an eye-catching design for a Fahrenheit 451 cover from 2013. This cover, designed by Elizabeth Perez, has a spine made from a matchbook striking paper surface and has a match within the front cover. It’s an incredibly potent representation of the main message of the book. Not only that, but the simplicity of the design portrays enough mystery to draw the reader’s attention, thus making it marketable.


Image retrieved from Buzzfeed

Clearly, self-published writers have a very different experience with covers. Self-published writers don’t have publishers hijacking the book and its cover design. However, that also means the writer must track down a talented artist and create an acceptable cover themselves. This could involve countless revisions (and, often, a lot of money). Then, if readers don’t react well to the initial cover, the writer must start the process all over again. The balance between artistic vision and marketability is as tricky to maintain for self-published books as for traditional publishing; the problem is that the writers must carry most of the weight themselves.

Is it possible to find a happy compromise for covers? Of course. Many writers, publishers, and artists are so perfectly matched that the result pleases everyone. Most of them are matched well enough that they at least find the cover acceptable, even if it’s not their vision of a perfectly artistic and marketable cover. Still, some people are not so lucky. As with most things in life, someone has to give. Unfortunately for us, it’s usually the writers. Nevertheless, if we persevere and communicate with the publishers and/or artists, we can create a cover which we are proud to have on our books.

What has been your experience with book covers? For those who have been traditionally published, did you have difficulties agreeing with your publisher on a cover? Or were they willing to take your vision into account? For self-publishers, did you have a hard time communicating with your cover artist? Did you have to change the cover after release as a result of reader feedback? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!

 


Designed by Stephanie Hoogstad circa 2011