My inspiration doesn't flow on a poetry wavelength, but I want to post this Marge Piercy poem which always hits home for me and applies to this week's blogging prompt.

For the Young Who Want To, Marge Piercy

Talent is what they say
you have after the novel
is published and favorably
reviewed. Beforehand what
you have is a tedious
delusion, a hobby like knitting.

Work is what you have done
after the play is produced
and the audience claps.
Before that friends keep asking
when you are planning to go
out and get a job.

Genius is what they know you
had after the third volume
of remarkable poems. Earlier
they accuse you of withdrawing,
ask why you don't have a baby,
call you a bum.

The reason people want M.F.A.’s,
take workshops with fancy names
when all you can really
learn is a few techniques,
typing instructions and some-
body else's mannerisms

is that every artist lacks
a license to hang on the wall
like your optician, your vet
proving you may be a clumsy sadist
whose fillings fall into the stew
but you're certified a dentist.

The real writer is one
who really writes. Talent
is an invention like phlogiston
after the fact of fire.
Work is its own cure. You have to
like it better than being loved.

However, along with my thesis and the rest of my classes, I'll be working on applications to MFA programs this semester. Not because I want the diploma to frame, as I think my science-major friends will laugh at me even with that kind of recognition of my moxie (what a good word).

I get into a good program that offers me a full-tuition waiver and teaching assistantship with monthly stipend and health insurance. Having finished Step Dance over the summer, I agonize over my query letter and send it to agents off a diligently-made spreadsheet of possibilities. As I go through my first inspiring and successful year at __ University, one agent agrees to take on my book.

“My coworkers think this kind of romance is too radical for teenage girls, but I disagree,” says my ideal agent. “I think this is going to be the sleeper hit of the summer.”

Of course, success doesn't matter to me. I'm above it. It's a good thing, too, because as I'm preparing to finish my M.F.A., Step Dance still hasn't sold. One more novel is finished and in a drawer in my agent's desk, another in its second draft on my computer. What do I do now? I've been working part-time at Barnes and Noble for the past four years. I remember my first manager, belly like a bowling ball under a plaid shirt, still “writing a novel,” the same novel, and annoying his entry-level employees by promenading up and down the aisles and not doing any work. Has my life really been leading up to that? Long-avoided student loans loom. A few days after graduation, when my friends and family have gone back to their real lives—though maybe by then I have a someone who stays—I call my agent. “I'm sorry,” is the first thing she says.

I keep writing, keep working at Barnes and Noble. During her quarter-life crisis, an old friend quits her job and asks to sleep on my couch for a few weeks. Late at night, like we've always done, we dream about the store we'd open if we could—sometimes a wine shop, sometimes a bakery, a bookstore, a cafe, and, our favorite, a combination of them all. “If we could? We can. Let's do it,” I say. Her stepfather's an asshole, but an entrepreneur and independently wealthy. “We'll write up a proposal and get him to back us.”

We do it and for the first time I feel like I'll be satisfied with my life if my hopes of being a Writer never come to pass. A few months after our cafe-bakery-bookstore with Friday night wine tastings is open, my agent calls. Two editors are interested in Step Dance and are starting a bidding war.

I get a six-figure, two-book deal and beautiful cover art to boot. Step Dance gets limited popularity, but a cult following, which is always better. The sequel gets some more notice and wins a Lambda award for Childrens/Young Adult Literature and is a finalist for the YALSA Margaret A. Edwards award. I find success matters more once someone else says I deserve it. Writing is still the best part of the day. Making cookies is a close second.

Journey

It is on the New York Times Bestseller list, but the title is only an embellishment to the cover, because most books nowadays seem to have that claim italicized on the front.

The cover artist has done a beautiful job. The cover is drawn, but edited to look glossy and fuzzy so that exact features of those pictured are indistinguishable. A profile view of a female with dark hair pulled back in a bun is sitting on a couch, resting her head on her hand, pen between her fingers. She is holding up a book, reading it. A coffee table is in front of her with magazines strewn about, and a vase sits in the center of the table. The flowers are pink, drawing attention to color in an otherwise ivory room. Behind the couch, through an archway, viewers can see the next room over. They see the back of a man, his hands spread over a white grand piano. The words “The Writer and the Pianist” appear at the bottom of the cover, embossed, in lower case font.

The book first appears on a table at Borders, under a sign that reads “New Arrivals”. Two women walk by the table, one noticing the cover. “Oh; I’ve heard of this one,” she says, and discusses reviews with the other woman. She decides to buy it.

Critics publish their reviews in a newspaper column. One critic says, “A compelling story with elegant language. If she spelled ‘realize’ with an ‘s’, and ended ‘defense’ with a ‘ce’, we’d never know she wasn’t European.” Another says, “I really tried, but I just couldn’t get past the first chapter. The language is gaudy and tries way too hard to sound like something it’s clearly not. Spend $7.95 on coffee and a bagel instead.”

A wife tells her husband about the book, claiming it is an excellent read. She says the title quickly, too quickly, and her eavesdropping teenage son hears “Pianist” with a dropped second syllable and a missing ‘t’. He eagerly tells his friends, and they venture to the bookstore together in search of newly released erotica. They are disappointed to find that their friend misheard the end of the title, but one of the boys buys the book anyway. He likes the story, but doesn’t tell anyone.

Friends of the author are horrified to find that she published under that ridiculous penname after all. No one believes them when they say that they know her, that she is their friend, and that this name isn’t really hers. The author’s photograph is missing from the “About the Author” section of the book; in fact, so is any useful information. The section simply indicates where the author lives, where she graduated from college, and that this is her first publication. She declines interview after interview, so her friends are out of luck, unable to associate themselves with someone published.

One copy of the book is stolen, stolen by a young girl with too much make up. It is her first time stealing anything, but she does not have the money for the book, and she owes too much money in library fines to borrow it. She reads it once, twice, thrice, and then again and again after that. She carries it with her until the pages are bent and the cover is worn. The story inspires her to create her own.

Cristina

Fight the good fight

First, I was walking with a mission
Although
it was an aimless directionless mission
it was my mission and it bulstered me up
I was righteous with my task
My belly burned with hunger and fulfillment
Purpose

Coming across a young man
Wth grey hair and a conscientious heart
I stopped to let him preach to me
About saving people from torture
From the comfort of my own home
From the comfort of my bank account
For ten dollars a month

And I forget how much time has passed
Since I looked him in the eye
I am staring across the street at a news woman
And her cameraman.
I hope I look good and noble
Talking to this man with a cause
And think to make a mental note
To call, to say
Dad check the news on channel 4
I might be on it.

Then I finally do look him in the face
And realize
Its my turn to talk
And I stand there frozen
Caught as though I was
Clipping my toenails on
on the floor of his room
Staring out the window
I might have crawled through

This conversation is becoming
A cracked rubber band
Baking in the heat of its own importance
How odd to talk about money and torture
And long hours standing on the street
Without water or food, in the sun
It must be torture
And yet, I reject him
I shake his hand and walk away
Fight the good fight.

Mills alum boasts successful book debut

Okay...here goes nothing! Hope you ladies enjoy!

Alumna author gets Frosted
The Campanil
September 20, 2020

In 2010, Kelsey Lindquist graduated from Mills College with a degree in Creative Writing. Next week she'll return to campus for her 10th Reunion, bringing along copies of her debut novel, Frosted, to be shared and sold at the Reunion Literary Salon. Lindquist also plans to donate ten signed copies of Frosted, along with a fraction of the book's proceeds, to the Mills English department, as a way of thanking the professors who she says got her where she is today.

"This book wouldn't exist had it not been for the incredible guidance, and the patience, support, and encouragement, of my professors and colleagues at Mills," Lindquist said. "The very least I can do is give back just a little bit of what they gave to me."

Frosted, which hit bookshelves on 5/15/20 (ten years to the day after Lindquist's Mills graduation), combines several themes one wouldn't normally expect to see all in one book, including adoption, airplane phone chats, and cake decorating. Lindquist said that each component of the book reflects some aspect of her own life, so that the book tells her story in a round-about sort of way.

"All of the characters are totally fictional, and so are most of the events, but everything is based off of something important to me," she said. "A lot of the characters are based off of people in my life, and the events come either from things that really happened to me, things that I wish would happen to me, or things that are completely random, like my favorite TV shows."

The book was published by MacAdam-Cage Publishers in San Francisco, a small publishing house whose aim is to take new works, ones that haven't been seen by eyes other than the author's (and perhaps some family members or mentors) and help them see success on the market. Lindquist interviewed for an internship at MacAdam-Cage the summer before her senior year at Mills, but ultimately took a position elsewhere. However, "The mission of MacAdam-Cage stuck with me, especially in a time when the publishing industry was hit so hard by the recession, because it's a place where they find success in the most unlikely of places."

"We see so many interns and prospective interns come through our doors that it's impossible to keep track of them all, or to stay disappointed for very long when one of them leaves us," said MacAdam-Cage Assistant publicist Melissa Serpa. "But it's so nice to know that even if they don't stick around, that interns remember us, come back later, and get published themselves."

In its first four months on the market, Frosted has sold roughly 20,000 copies, Lindquist estimates. She hopes sales will have doubled by the end of this year. The books she plans to donate to Mills are particularly special, she says, because they were taken out of the very first batch of advance reading copies that were sent to her. She pointed out her signature at the bottom of the Dedications page, underneath the names of her immediate family members and the Mills professors who she says helped her become the writer she is today.

"See, I signed it right there for a reason," she said. "These guys are the ones who made this book possible, and by signing off on the dedication, I'm signing off on my dedication to them, in a way." She laughed. "A little corny, I know, but that's just how I think."

"She gives us way too much credit," said one Mills professor, who wished to remain anonymous. "True, we helped her here and there along the way while she was, but ten years later, here's a book she wrote herself. I give her full credit, she deserves it. She still doubts herself at times, but has to be confident in the fact that she deserves this."

Lindquist has allowed herself a few months to rest and reflect since the publication of Frosted, and is now in the beginning stages of writing her second novel, a memoir about her summers spent with family on Santa Catalina Island as a child.

"It's something totally different, yes," she said. "But I like to keep things interesting!"

Hrrumph.

I am not sure what I am doing on this thing. Anyway, here's my response to our assignment. No one else has posted one, so I hope I'm not missing anything. I'll just be daring and toss it out into the neterverse... or whatever they're calling it now.

3

2

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-Hit it!

Here is the latest interview with the author Anna Star who has just debuted with her bestselling novel, Submerged. Submerged tells the story of Louise Cunterblast, a newly wed farm girl who is kidnapped from her comfortable home by the insidious Lord Don who locks her away in his den of debauchery. Will Louise remain loyal to her husband or will she succumb to the machinations of Lord Don? Star’s novel tells an exciting tale of mystery, intrigue, temptation and redemption!

What inspired you to write this exciting book?

When I began writing this book, I had just graduated from college. I wrote it during my breaks from manning the soft serve machine. Ever since I was a little I wanted nothing more than to be a published author. I had no clue it would be like this.

Describe your childhood. How has it influenced your writing?

My writing has always been very influenced by my childhood. I grew up in the sparsely populated desert town and had always longed for adventure as a child. Like most girls I always fantasized about being held prisoner and deflowered by a villain. This book is for all women who felt the same way.

A lot of my characters are inspired by real people I met in real life. For example, I based Lord Don on a school bus driver I had during junior high who had this lustrous mustache. This mustache was the basis for Lord Don’s character.

What kind of difference do you hope your writing will make for your readers?

I have always been concerned with the young girls of today. They are so preoccupied with beauty and fame that they fail to be prepared for all the dangers in everyday life. I hope that the girls who read my novel will learn a lot of important lessons about life. Especially things like not talking to strangers, even if they are handsome.

What do you plan to do next, Anna?

Writing this novel was a lot of hard work, so I’ll be taking a brief vacation to recuperate, concentrating my efforts on impoverished children of the developing world.

A day's observations

I'm prospecting
for glass in my backyard

I been at it an hour
and I've filled up a bowl,
small chunks of some
former tenant's broken
mirror (I can’t tell

if I'm cleaning up karma or collecting bad luck)

My hands move methodically
through the black dust
and redwood hair, around
golden tufts of grass
that make this California

(I've discovered single-direction
swipes are more productive
than a back and forth)

Though 6-ft square seems
clear of present danger
next week's wind will say that I'm not done

(By the time the square is 10-feet wide, the Asian
family next door
has torn down and reconstructed a fence.)


I'm Shelly and I'm glad to be working with you. Time to shake off our fears and get our feet wet.

lets see if I am doing this right

Well ,first to say what an amazing first class. I was so inspired listening to all of the different genres and goals. I really didn't have a clue how I was going to do my thesis or what period I wanted to focus on. My life has been rough and I write creative non fiction but I have always been trying to find a balance so that the truth in story doesn't create pain for the reader.

I decided to do my Senior Thesis as a one woman show. Something I have been wanting to do ever since I saw my drama teachers incredible one woman show. I was blown away and at the same time I thought to myself, someday I am going to do that. It is an interesting thing to write and perform a one woman show because you have to become on stage all of the characters. Which for me will mean becoming my mother, father, brothers, and son. Oh yeah and little Suki and big Suki. Crazy!!!!!!! But what I am most excited about is what came to me in my 4am writing session after class was that I have to make them human. I have to include the funny and fun experiences as well as the traumatic. So I hope that the final project will be phenomenal. But the process of re-humanizing my family has been something I have needed to do for along time. I have been getting closer. I have been forgiving and compasionate. But I think writing it and acting it out will really be transformative.

I hope everyone is as excited, terrified, and elated as I am. The only thing I am sad about is that we meet as a whole group so little. But that is going to make coming together all the more exciting.

P.S. Cathy, Bonne has been trying to hook us up about Scarology. You blew my mind with what you read and if what Bonne said about you wanting to get involved is true I would feel so f-n honored to have you work with us. So email me sukiseattle@aol.com