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How A Dollhouse From The Jazz Age Is Inspiring My New Novel

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I just started draft four of my newest novel.

And it’s an excellent reminder that when you sit down to do the work, the muse meets you there.

The story structure is in place and my excellent writing group composed of two pro editors confirmed it’s solid. This draft will be all about going deeper with the characters and refining the POV and backstory for each of them.

Here are the main players:

Martha Fitzgerald at 15—You may remember 10-year-old Martha from The Cat, the Cash, the Leap and the List.) She’s still Martha, she knows what she wants and is determined to get it. She wants to be a grown-up already. And an artist. But now, her hormones have kicked in and threaten to overcome her innate good sense.

It feels a bit risky to use the pre-pubescent character from my middle grade novel for this book—which is shaping up to be either young adult or just plain adult. (This will be a book for you instead of your middle graders.) But I’m respecting my initial instinct. I wanted to write a novel inspired by the movie Rushmore (directed by Wes Anderson) but with the main character as a girl who goes to Waldorf School instead of a boy who goes to an exclusive prep school. When I started imagining the story and the character, I immediately knew it was Martha.

Mateo Alano—Mateo is the new music teacher at Martha’s school, and the subject of her hormonal surge. But his intentions couldn’t be more honorable, even if he doesn’t always know the best way to deal with Martha. He plays guitar and hails from Spanish. Does any young woman stand a chance?

Evelyn Shepherd—Evelyn is a new teacher too. She teaches handwork: knitting, sewing, crochet and the like, which is an important part of the Waldorf curriculum. And she befriends Martha, who’s acting as her assistant this year. Evelyn is still very young, just twenty-five. And her professional and personal boundaries are not yet fully developed, to put it kindly. She admires and cares about Martha, and tries to keep her out of trouble, but ends up being the cause of Martha’s broken heart.

I’ve really been struggling to come up with a title for this book. But yesterday after working on Chapter 1 of the new draft, a word dropped out of the sky and straight into my head that is helping me understand Martha more and that I believe will guide this draft: Pastiche.

Martha is imitating what she thinks adults are like. And, as a budding artist, she’s imitating the style of those she admires. She needs to come into her authentic self, and her authentic age.

I’m thinking Pastiche is the title of the book. 

Which lead me into some research on art and artists for Martha imitate. 

And here’s who I found: Carrie Walter Stettheimer (1869–1944) who created an amazing replica of the Manhattan apartment she shared with her feminist sisters (one was a painter and one was a writer and they all eschewed marriage) and that served as a salon to Jazz Age luminaries like Marcel Duchamp, Carl Van Vechten, and Georgia O’Keeffe.

There was already a gigantic dollhouse in the story, but this is helping me see how Martha got the idea and what types of things swirl around in her head.

I’m now down a beautiful rabbit hole and can’t wait to see where it all ends up. You can read more about the Stettheimer sisters here.

Season 4, Episode 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

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Season 4 begins! This time we’re tackling one of the most beloved series of all time: Harry Potter. We’ll look at the global story structure for each book using a four-act structure, and we’ll do a breakdown of a favorite scene using the 5 Commandments of Storytelling from the Story Grid. We’ll also be nearly constantly interrupted by a preschooler and cap off each episode by defining a literary term you’ll want to know.

You can also listen using any number of podcast platforms and apps including Spotify, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.

Show Notes:

Season 4, Episode 1: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

Things we mention (or forget to mention) that you should check out:

This post was lovingly sponsored by our Patreon supporters (you can become one too!). 

Wake, Pee, Meditate, Write

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Wake, pee, meditate, write.

This is my morning routine lately and it’s working. Mind you I have to wake up at about five a.m. to make it happen so I have the time to myself.

I wake up, resist the urge to check my phone, pee, resist the urge to check my phone, make myself a cup of fake coffee (roasted dandelion root tea — don’t ask), sit down on the couch, resist the urge to check my phone (sometimes unsuccessfully), and then meditate for about ten minutes. I use an app called Insight Timer. It’s free (unlike Headspace) and has both guided meditations and a simple timer so you can meditate on your own. (My favorite teachers on the app are Tara Brach, Sharon Salzberg and Jack Kornfield.)

When my meditation is over, my fake coffee is ready to drink and I open the computer, resist the urge to check email (sometimes unsuccessfully), and work on my current novel until it’s time to wake up the kids for school. By the way, this time it’s a novel for grown-ups. Not sure how that happened. The story is kind of like the movie Rushmore, but if Max Fisher was a fifteen-year-old girl who goes to Waldorf school. I’m super excited about it. But I’m sure that will flip-flop to boredom or straight-up terror soon.

Until then, I’m sticking to this morning routine that helps me feel like my day is on the right track. Hope your morning routine is working for you as well. If not, I’d encourage you to try something different.

Books & Podcasts that Helped Me Through 2018

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I read a lot this year.

Largely because I spent a good deal of the year exhausted and reading was one of the few things I had the energy to do.

As some of you know, I have type 1 diabetes — the autoimmune kind. It’s very well controlled (meaning I’ve devised a lifestyle and eating habits that may look like a lot of work to some, but keeps me happy and healthy).

Unfortunately, having type 1 means that you have a higher risk for two other autoimmune diseases: celiac & thyroid disease.

I can’t really say when it started, but my energy had been declining for awhile and by August I couldn’t actually manage to stay awake by about four o’clock in the afternoon. And I was gaining weight for no good reason (other than being too exhausted to exercise, of course). And my hair was falling out — not in huge clumps or anything, but some seriously alarming shedding was happening.

Anyway, not one to live in denial or suffer through, I got a work-up and found out my thyroid function was low and I had the antibodies that indicated Hashimoto’s disease, which is an autoimmune disease that causes low thyroid function.

(I swear I didn’t start this post intending for it to be a downer! Hang on!)

Happily, I got a great naturopathic doctor who specializes in this sort of thing and I’ve been working with her to set myself to rights. My energy is mostly back these days and boy do I appreciate it.

And, like all bad things that have ever happened to me, plenty of gifts emerged as a result.

One of those gifts was taking the time to read and listen to things that filled me up and inspired me — both in my career and at home.

So here’s a few of the books I read and podcasts I listened in 2018 to that helped me rethink some things and make some changes for the better. Maybe they’ll do the same for you in 2019.

Books

Nonfiction for self-improvement:

*Steering by Starlight by Martha Beck
Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin
The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin
Running Down a Dream by Tim Grahl

*This book is pure magic and you should read it immediately.

Nonfiction for Creativity: 

Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon
Be the Gateway by Dan Blank
The Artist’s Journey by Steven Pressfield
Do the Work by Steven Pressfield
Perennial Seller by Ryan Holiday

Fiction

Landline by Rainbow Rowell*
Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

*My new contemporary writing hero. I read other fiction this year, but reading Rowell has changed the way I write so she’s the only one I’m including.

Podcasts

Akimbo by Seth Godin
#AmWriting with Jess & KJ
Happier with Gretchen Rubin & Elizabeth Craft
Tara Brach’s podcast
Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness (from Queer Eye!)

I’m so looking forward to 2019. I’ve got a lot of exciting things coming up, like finally getting my first novel out into the world and helping other writers launch their books. In January, I’m launching a group coaching program for writers who need to create an author platform and I can hardly wait.

See you after the turn of the page.

What Does it Take to Get Big Things Done?

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How long does it take to learn how to motivate yourself to get things done?

In my case, about forty-two years.

I don’t mean that I haven’t been able to get anything done until now. I can unleash a can of whoop ass on a project with the best of them. But, until a few months ago, I wasn’t really clear on why I can sometimes get a big thing done with no drama and other times I set goals that go absolutely nowhere.

I’ve read tons of advice on how to be more productive and reach your goals. Sometimes the advice worked for me and sometimes it didn’t. It was always extra frustrating when something that worked for someone else didn’t work for me.

Then, a few months ago, I was working on developing a quiz for one of my book marketing clients. She sent me an example of the type of thing she was looking for. It was The Four Tendencies Quiz by Gretchen Rubin. The Four Tendencies is a framework (and a book) that looks at your innate style of meeting expectations.

The Four Tendencies are:

Upholder – Upholders have little to no trouble meeting expectations whether external or internal (and sometimes have a lot of trouble understanding why other people can’t).

Obliger – Obligers have seemingly endless power to get things done for others, but struggle with goals that are only for themselves.

Rebel – Rebels pretty much give the middle finger to all expectations — both external expectations and internal. Unless they really want to do something, they are unlikely to do it.

Questioners – Questioners have to know the why before they act. They are good at meeting inner expectations because they’ve already answered their own questions, but they struggle with outer expectations until they get answers.

I took the quiz and learned that I am an Obliger. This was not necessarily earth shattering. I knew that I sometimes (okay, nearly all the time) put my own needs last. After all, I’m a mom with two kids who runs her own business. Kids and clients come first.

But what I didn’t realize was how I could use this information about myself to further goals that are primarily internal.

When I thought about it further, I saw that all the times I’ve done something really big or really hard, I was motivated because of it’s impact on other people.

Example #1: When I quit smoking (over twenty years ago) I did it because it was very clear my then boyfriend (now husband) and I needed to quit and I realized he was far more likely to quit if I’d already done it. And that was all I needed. I quit cold turkey and Ben quickly followed.

Example #2: I wanted to be a writer my entire life (seriously, since grade 2) but I didn’t actually get off my ass and start writing until I had a baby girl at age 30 and I realized if I wanted her to have the guts to follow her dreams I needed to show her it was possible.

Example #3: When I learned I had type 1 diabetes I starting managing the shit out of it and taking immaculate care of myself because I had a daughter and I needed to be my best for her.

Example #4: When I wrote my first novel for kids, it was because Nora (who was six-years-old at the time) was literally project managing me. I’d write a chunk, read it to her and she say “That’s good, Mommy. Now go write some more. I want to know what happens.”

All this probably sounds lame to non-obligers. Why not just do things for yourself? But Rubin says these tendencies are innate. And if that’s the case, it only makes sense that capital-N-Nature would need a big chunk of folks who were focused on the greater good. Those are obligers. That’s me.

It’s not that I have a poor self-esteem and live for others. It’s just that I only have so much time and energy and I’m wired to meet my obligations to other first. My personal priorities take a back seat.

Which is why this framework is so helpful for me. (Rubin says Obligers have the most to gain by learning their tendency.) When I have a goal that’s personal, I just need to make it bigger — to create some external accountability. And now I can easily identify so-called productivity tips that won’t work for me — particularly those of the “just do it” variety.

So, I’m embracing my Obliger identity by creating accountability beyond myself for the things that matter to me. It’s how I’m getting my writing done — I have a fantastic writing/editing group and we meet every 2 weeks. And it’s I’m getting the podcast done — I’m doing it with Nora, it’s good for our relationship and people are expecting to hear new episodes. Writing and podcasting are both things I want to do for myself, but in order for them to happen I have to make it more of a community thing.

In that spirit, I’ve created a group coaching program which will start in January where I’ll work with a small group of writers to help them finally get a good, evidence-based marketing plan together and start executing on it. (And it won’t be just for Obligers, thanks to Rubin, I now know how to coach for all the Four Tendencies.)

So, that’s my big revelation for the year. And I feel well-armed to make some resolutions for 2019 that I can actually keep.

The Mommy’s Pen Podcast – S3, E5: Joan d’Arc

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Season 3 is continues! We’re combining Nora’s passion for history with Sue’s passion for story structure — giving you a historical story and pointing out the structural elements that make it compelling.

You can also listen using any number of podcast platforms and apps including Spotify, Breaker, Pocket Casts, Radio Public, Stitcher, and Google Podcasts.

Show Notes:

Season 3, Episode 5: Joan d’Arc

Nora tells the story of Joan of Arc whole breathing like Darth Vader. Sue points out the 5 commandments of story telling and there’s even a special guest appearance by Moana/Alma.

To look at the story structure, I’m using what Shawn Coyne calls the “Five Commandments of Storytelling.”

Here are the five commandments:

  • Inciting incident – An exciting thing that kicks off a story
  • Progressive complications – a series of events that make the story more, well, complicated –these can be either negative or positive
  • Crisis – a question that must be answered by a choice being made
  • Climax – what happens when the choice is made
  • Resolution – the ultimate results of that choice

Things we mention that you should check out:

  • Our mailing list! Sign up today and you’ll get cool subscriber only perks like bonus material and artwork, including an advance copy of my forthcoming novel, The Cat, the Cash, the Leap and the List.
  • Shawn Coyne and the Story Grid. There’s a whole story grid universe: website, book and two podcasts: The Story Grid and the Story Grid Editors Roundtable.
  • If you want to learn more about Joan of Arc, you can start with this book: Joan of Arc: The Teenager Who Saved Her Nation.(That’s an afflicate link, by the way.)  I can only assume this is where Nora read about it because we have this book checked out from the library right now.

This post was lovingly sponsored by our Patreon supporters (you can become one, too!).