Month: March 2014

Writers – Watch Those Epigraphs

 

The-Art-Of-The-Epigraph-largeI love quotes. I collect them like some women collect shoes, only mine aren’t organized in a closet. They’re scattered everywhere: in notebooks and in e-files; cluttering my desk like bits of verbal confetti; on slips of paper in my coat pocket (my yoga teacher prints them out for us to take at the end of class.)    I haven’t stencilled one on my living room wall yet, like a good friend of mine has, because then I’d have to pick a favorite.

I love quotes so much I post one a week on my Facebook author page, and, like many other writers, I generally pick one to start every novel I write.  I’ve done it for years.

Last week I received an email from Penguin Publishing. “Had I,” the editor asked, “Obtained permission for the epigraph I’d selected for The Art of Getting Stared At?”  The epigraph in question reads:  We should not feel embarrassed by our difficulties, only by our failure to grow anything beautiful from them. Alain de Botton.

“I didn’t know I needed to,” I responded.  I assumed the short quote fell under the terms of fair use.

I assumed wrong.

Okay, not completely, unequivocally wrong, but potentially wrong if the epigraph was ever questioned.  And publishers run from the phrase ‘if it’s ever questioned’ like a cat running from hot water.  In fact, the issue of using epigraphs is an extremely grey area. And publishers don’t like grey either  (unless it pertains to shades thereof, and they’re the one responsible for publishing the shades thereof book).

Basically, as the Penguin editor explained it to me, they treat each epigraph on a case-by-case basis because there are so many variables (writer/editor Jane Friedman has written an excellent, more detailed, blog on this: http://janefriedman.com/2012/01/23/permissions/)

In my case, I was asked to contact Mr. de Botton and request permission to use his quote. De Botton is an extremely successful writer (Status Anxiety; The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work are two of his many titles), philosopher, and TV presenter.  My anxiety around the pleasures and sorrows of my own work started to ratchet up.  Would my email hit his spam folder? Be set aside by a publicist or a gatekeeper? What if my request was passed to his publisher? What if de Botton simply didn’t get back to me?  All legitimate concerns and given the fact that I had a deadline, I was a little concerned.

But I wouldn’t know until I tried, so I fired off an email. Less than thirty minutes later, I had an answer from de Botton himself (and he lives in the UK so it was early evening when he received my note which made the quick turnaround all the more remarkable).

“I would be delighted,” he said. “How very kind.”

Not only did my anxiety float off like a dandelion seed on the wind, I was left feeling that I had done Mr. de Botton a favor, when, in fact, the opposite was true.  He was being extraordinarily gracious and generous to me.

Thank you, Mr. de Botton.  Your response was a reminder to be grateful, something you’ve spoken about before.

“Rather than getting more spoilt with age, as difficulties pile up, epiphanies of gratitude abound.”  Alain de Botton.

Spring Starts Inside Too

vernalEquinox I don’t know about you, but I’m so ready for spring.  And this week marks the day – Thursday, March 20th – when the hours of light and dark are equal.  The vernal equinox.   Here on the west coast of Canada, that means the days are getting longer and light levels are rising.

In many cultures, the spring equinox is observed as the start of the New Year.  It only makes sense. Birds are nesting and starting families.  Trees are leafing out.  New beginnings are everywhere.

I’m in spring mode in the garden and in my office.  Outside, I’m pruning the fruit trees. Inside, I’m editing (which really is another form of pruning) The Art of Getting Stared At.   I’m sowing seeds:  flats of basil and tomatoes and peppers for the garden, as well as some ideas I expect to form another short YA for Orca Book Publishers.  I’m also giving some love (in the form of a ruthless overhaul) to a few old favorites that haven’t had a lot of attention lately – one bed in my herb garden, and an adult paranormal novel I may upload and release on my own.

New beginnings are a wonderful thing.  Happy spring everybody.

DaffodilsonBirchHill

Writing Books or Blowing Glass, It’s All a Process

 

photo910We spent a few days in Seattle last month and one of the highlights was visiting the Chihuly Garden and Glass Museum at Seattle Center. Dale Chihuly is something of a phenomenon in the glass world. His blown glass –everything from single bowls to massive sculptures and chandeliers in complex shapes and dazzling color combinations – is shown around the globe. Some of it remains in private collections, but much of it is displayed in places like the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, England, and in the lobby of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.  If you ever watched the 1990’s sitcom ‘Frasier’ psychiatrist Frasier Crane had a Chihuly piece on display beside his fireplace too.

Chihuly has faced many challenges in his life (the death of his father and brother while he was in his teens; a head on collision as an adult that left him blind in one eye) and, like most artists, he’s not without his critics (who debate whether his work is art or craft; who criticize his move to hire others to blow the glass after a body surfing accident left him unable to do the heavy work). But Chihuly presses on, coping with his limitations, and ignoring the naysayers and critics.  His job, as he sees it, is to show up and simply do the work.

The museum visit was inspirational. It reminded me that whether you’re creating a beautiful glass sculpture, a full-length novel, or a four course dinner, the real reward is in the doing.

Some pictures from our museum visit and some quotes from Dale Chihuly:

 

chihuly

 

 

I never actually consider what I am, nor do I reflect much on what I’ve done, nor do I think too much about what I will do.

 

 
P1010091

 

My well of inspiration never runs dry. Just working with the materials seems to bring forth the ideas.

 

 

 

 

 


P1010111

 

I can’t worry about how the world will be received. People will respond in many different ways. If you could record the reactions, there would be tremendous variation.

 

 

 

 

 

P1010130

 

 

I can’t understand it when people say they don’t like a particular color. How can you not like a color?

 

 
P1010137

 

I want my work to appear like it came from nature.

 

 

 

 

P1010124

 

 

Spontaneity is the one element I most strive for in my work.

 

 

 

 

P1010101

 

 

I think all artists have to overcome criticism. Most artists who are successful, somebody’s there waiting to give you a hard time. I tend not to read a lot of the reviews.

 

 

 

 

P1010128

 

Yeah, you have doubts. But you don’t want those doubts when you’re making the work. If you have doubts about work while you’re making it, it’s hard to make it. So you have to have some kind of vision about what you’re trying to do, and then while you’re doing that, you have to be very confident.

 

 

It doesn’t make any difference to me if the work is called art or craft or design. To me, the best of chihuly-museum_01everything is an art form. A movie can be wonderful art or it can be poorly made and purely commercial. If it moves people in some way, that’s what’s important.

 

 

 

 

Just take things as they come. We’ll see how this works out. It’s like a lot of good things. If you follow your heart, sometimes you get lucky.

P1010136

 

My March Reads

1888860_10151992389321295_1814062724_oIt doesn’t happen often, but yes, we do get snow on Vancouver Island.  Ironically, the last couple of times we’ve had any real accumulation, it’s been near the end of February when the snowdrops are in full bloom.  This time was no different. As well as snowdrops, the buds on my plum trees were swollen and pink, just days from opening, and the crocuses were poking out of the ground too.  I was downtown when the flurries started and some of the tourists arriving from south of the border grumbled and shivered as they waited in line for cabs.  This is nothing, I wanted to tell them. You should see what the poor souls in Winnipeg are dealing with. Out there, the ground is so frozen city officials are telling residents it might be June before it’s completely thawed.  But it was too chilly to talk. So I pulled on my toque, whipped out my gloves and picked up my pace. Once my downtown business was done, I had important things waiting at home: Team Sheltie wanted to romp in the snow. I had a fire to build. And I had books waiting to be read.

Beside the Bed: The One That I Want by Allison Winn Scotch

On the Kindle: Love in a Pawn Shop by Bonnie Edwards

At the Gym: Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein

Books Read to Date 2014: 22