by Christopher Slater

The start of the school year brings about a lot of changes for me. I have much less time for blogging, vlogging, writing, critiquing, etc. That time gets taken up by grading, lesson planning, research, preparation, and helping my own child with his homework. Despite this, it can wind up being a remarkably insightful time for me as a writer.

My interaction with students and faculty bring me lots of new ideas and concepts for stories, characters, and even life in general. This week had me realize something that I used to think was limited to just teenagers, but I believe that it impacts writers a lot as well: we compromise to protect a certain image.

One of the most frustrating thing that a teacher experiences is when we know that a student is intelligent and capable, but they will not take advantage of their abilities. I see this a lot in my creative writing lessons because they are not part of a graded course, so students are less inclined to put forth the effort. I always have a few students that do not want to put the thought into an assignment or answer that they could. They are capable, but they are oftentimes concerned about their reputation.

They are afraid that if they show that they can be thoughtful and creative that it might ruin their image of being a class clown or that others might think that they are a nerd. It has held back some great talent, and it is a frustrating trait that I thought might exist only in middle school. I was wrong.

Writers are often writers by hobby more than by profession. This creates a situation very similar to that of middle school students. You have a professional reputation to protect, and knowing that someone might connect your writing with your profession may force you to compromise some of your ideas or plans for your story. I have been guilty of this on many occasions.

The question is, should it? In an ideal world, a writer should be able to express their ideas without their art impacting their professional image. Of course, I don’t have to tell anyone that we do not live in an ideal world. I am not talking about extreme cases here. I am talking about language used in the writing or perhaps some character traits. So where do you draw the line? Where do you decide that you need to compromise your art in order to protect your professionalism? Should you even consider such a thing?

My thoughts on this depend upon your profession. Some professions and employers don’t care if you write a book with some foul language and some unsavory characters. There is little connection with your profession and your hobby. In that case, don’t compromise if you can avoid it. Other professions have little separation. What you do at any time is seen as a reflection of you as a professional. When that is the case, it is time to compromise, and keep that in mind as you write.

I am certain that several people just said some of those words that I would recommend avoiding in some people’s writing. I’m sure that the word “sellout” is flashing through several people’s minds.

First of all, I am writing this for amateur authors, not professionals. If you are an amateur, you have to worry about keeping food on the table. Practicality has to rear its ugly head now and again. Secondly, compromising some of your ideas can lead to a better final product. If you force yourself to rethink your approach to your story, you will often come up with some ideas that you wouldn’t have even considered before when you were hooked on your original idea. Being forced to compromise can be a bridge to new approaches and a better final product.

Life isn’t always fair, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be fruitful!

For over 24 years, R. Kelly has been accused of sexually assaulting girls and women. The Time’s Up movement has had enough and are calling for corporation to cut with the singer — RCA Records, Ticketmaster,  Spotify and Apple Music, just to name a few.Time is seriously up for the singer.

After #MuteRKelly went viral yesterday, the singer responded with a statement  to BuzzFeed, “R. Kelly supports the pro-women goals of the Time’s Up movement. We understand criticizing a famous artist is a good way to draw attention to those goals — and in this case, it is unjust and off-target.” Then, in one of the worst analogies ever, Kelly claimed the criticism is an “attempted public lynching of a Black man who has made extraordinary contributions to our culture.” He also added, “Since America was born, black men and women have been lynched for having sex or for being accused of it.”

Clearly, Kelly is deeply delusional and Me Too founder Tarana Burke clapped back in the classiest way. According to NPR, the activist said, “This is not a lynching. You know, we are only a week out of the national monument to lynching being opened in Montgomery, Ala. and the history, and the reality of lynching in America is so, so painful and so real. This is not a public lynching. This is a call for public accountability.”

She continued, “So what we’ve seen in the last six months is a wave of accountability happen where corporations have stepped away from men, even if in the short term, to have authentic investigations into allegations. We have seen 24 years of allegations leveled against R. Kelly, and he has gone unscathed. So what the letter does is join the #MuteRKelly campaign, that was well on its way already, and joined the chorus of Black women around the country who have been saying we want some accountability. Those things have to be interrogated. And I think at the very least we need to see corporations step away from them until we have satisfactory investigation into these allegations.”

via Me Too Founder Tarana Burke Lays Into R. Kelly For Comparing Himself To Black Men Who Have Been Lynched — The Rickey Smiley Morning Show

What I had to face, the very bitter lesson that everyone who wants to write has got to learn, was that a thing may in itself be the finest piece of writing one has ever done, and yet have absolutely no place in the manuscript one hopes to publish. THOMAS WOLFE

via The Bitter Lesson for Writers — Advice to Writers

INGRID THOFTA quick note before today’s guest: Our very own Jenn McKinlay just won “RT Magazine’s” Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Love and Laughter for her book, “About a Dog.” Congrats, Jenn!Back to our regularly scheduled program…It’s a thrill to welcome today’s guest, Roz Nay, to the blog. Roz is the author of the debut…

TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2018

Roz Nay Won’t Be a Secret for Long!

INGRID THOFT

A quick note before today’s guest:  Our very own Jenn McKinlay just won “RT Magazine’s” Reviewer’s Choice Award for Best Love and Laughter for her book, “About a Dog.”  Congrats, Jenn!

Back to our regularly scheduled program…

It’s a thrill to welcome today’s guest, Roz Nay, to the blog.  Roz is the author of the debut novel, “Our Little Secret,” a book garnering awards and accolades across the globe.  Released in Canada last year and now available in the U.S., “Our Little Secret” won the Douglas Kennedy Prize for Best Foreign Thriller in France last May, and it’s been nominated for the Arthur Ellis Best First Crime Novel, a national Canadian award.  Featured on “Entertainment Weekly’s” Must List, the novel also earned a rave from “The Washington Post” and starred reviews from “Library Journal” and “Booklist.”

The book is a twisty, suspenseful tale of high school love and what happens to sweethearts as they grow older and embark on new lives.  It’s a page-turner that will keep you guessing until the end.

INGRID THOFT:  The seeds of “Our Little Secret” are planted in the high school romance of the two main characters, Angela and HP.  What made you decide to use that as the jumping off point for the story?

ROZ NAY:  I think because of the years I spent working as a high school English teacher. I used to watch the clever girls graduate and wonder what their lives would become. They had so much potential – everything was in front of them. It’s a powerful time. Then, in my twisted little mind, I wondered what would happen if a gifted girl ended up in a life she didn’t feel she deserved. How would she use her cleverness then?

IPT:  The book centers on the complicated relationship between Angela, HP, and his eventual wife, Saskia.  Did you prefer writing one character’s arc more than the others?  Inhabiting one character more than another?

RN:  I tried to make all the characters different – and differently flawed. HP was fun to write because he was so easygoing, and a lot of his lines are things that have come directly out of my own husband’s mouth. Saskia was fun because I wanted to make her the kind of woman to whom readers would react in really distinct ways. Some readers can’t stand her; others champion her. But ultimately, Angela’s arc was the most enjoyable to write. Hers was the first voice I heard, and that voice is the reason I wrote the novel. It all began with her. I found her kind of delicious to inhabit, which is perhaps something I should be more worried about.

IPT:  Don’t be worried!  Enjoying the dark side is the hallmark of a good mystery/suspense writer!  I’ve heard from our mutual friend, Chevy Stevens, that you don’t write your scenes in order.  Can you tell us more about that?

RN:  I think with this book, I was writing scraps of scenes in total chaos, grabbing time when I could. I wrote “Our Little Secret” at a time when both my children were very young, and the writing was patch worked in among all the demands of new motherhood. I was always sure of Angela’s arc and wrote pieces of that first because she was driving the narrative. Now that I’m working on my second (and third) book, I’ve developed a more structured schedule and I tend to write more chronologically to the plot. But with “Our Little Secret” it was a gong show. It’s amazing it ever got finished.

IPT:  What has surprised you most about being a published author?

RN:  Mostly the fact that I’m a published author! That fact alone is astonishing. It’s been a big, fast year full of book adventure. I was surprised that I got to go to Paris alone for a week, which felt like an entirely different planet. These days I’m surprised every time someone stops me in the street to say they’ve liked the book. Strangers reading my work! That’s a really big deal when you think about it. And to get such a groundswell of support, too, from well-known writers (yourself and Chevy Stevens included) who want to help the book along is quite the lovely surprise.

IPT:  Is there a wannabe book lurking in the back of your brain, something you would write if you didn’t have to consider agents, editors, and fans?  A romance?  Non-fiction?

RN:  I’d like to write a kind of Bridget Jones-y romantic comedy. I always thought if I ever got a book together, it’d be humour I wrote, but I seem to have strayed early to the dark side. I’m also quite interested in YA… I enjoyed writing the first half of “Our Little Secret” where everything was teenaged and idyllic: I wouldn’t mind spending a little more time in that world again. Mind you, Chevy Stevens is hoping I’ll write a sequel to OLS starring only HP. She has her reasons.

IPT:  I bet she does!

Roz will be here today answering your questions and is giving away two copies of “Our Little Secret.”  Just comment to enter the giveaway!

“Our Little Secret”

They say you never forget your first love. What they don’t say though, is that sometimes your first love won’t forget you…

Angela Petitjean sits in a cold, dull room. The police have been interrogating her for hours, asking about Saskia Parker. She’s the wife of Angela’s high school sweetheart, HP, and the mother of his child. She has vanished. Homicide Detective J. Novak believes Angela knows what happened to Saskia. He wants the truth, and he wants it now.

But Angela has a different story to tell. It began more than a decade ago when she and HP met in high school in Cove, Vermont. She was an awkward, shy teenager. He was a popular athlete. They became friends, fell in love, and dated senior year. Everything changed when Angela went to college. When time and distance separated them. When Saskia entered the picture.

That was eight years ago. HP foolishly married a drama queen and Angela moved on with her life. Whatever marital rift caused Saskia to leave her husband has nothing to do with Angela. Nothing at all. Detective Novak needs to stop asking questions and listen to what Angela is telling him. And once he understands everything, he’ll have the truth he so desperately wants…

Roz Nay grew up in England and studied at Oxford University. She has been published in The Antigonish Review and the anthology Refuge. Roz has worked as an underwater fish counter in Africa, a snowboard videographer in Vermont, and a high school teacher in both the UK and Australia. She now lives in British Columbia, Canada, with her husband and two children. “Our Little Secret” is her first novel. Follow her on Twitter @roznay1 and on Facebook.com/roznay1.

POSTED BY JUNGLE RED WRITERS AT 11:32 PM

via Roz Nay Won’t Be a Secret for Long! — Jungle Red Writers

Headkrack is defending Issa Rae and everyone that is trying to go against her for something she wrote in her book.

Headkrack is defending Issa Rae and everyone that is trying to go against her for something she wrote in her book. Nearly 3 years ago Issa wrote a book and an excerpt from it talks about why Black women should date Asian men. People are just now seeing it and very upset.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets/follow_button.8e64fb971a1b22efbf633db166113ae6.en.html#dnt=false&id=twitter-widget-0&lang=en&screen_name=TheRSMS&show_count=false&show_screen_name=true&size=m&time=1525235929820

Issa is a comedian and a lot of the comments in her book are satire. Headkrack mentioned that people are fake woke and don’t get her comedy. Meek Mill is also allowed to move around the country as long as he sends in his itinerary. The same judge that wants to go against him is allowing it.

via Explanation Of Issa Rae’s Controversial Comments For Fake Woke People [EXCLUSIVE] — The Rickey Smiley Morning Show