Kristin Bair O'Keeffe: Writer. Mom. Teacher. Traveler.

Me & David Foster Wallace: Common Ground

You know, I've never read David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. I've also never read Brief Interviews with Hideous Men or A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again.

The one DFW book that I bought with every intention of reading was Consider the Lobster and Other Essays. But no, even when I got that one home, I didn't read it.

To be perfectly honest, I've never read anything that DFW wrote. He's one of those super-intense writers that I have to be emotionally, psychologically, and soulfully ready for...so far, that time hasn't come.

Despite that, I've always known who DFW was. (Sadly, he committed suicide in 2008.) I knew the world considered him to be a brilliant writer. I knew he took chances in his work. I knew he was edgy and passionate about words, had a cult following, usually had long(ish) hair, and took good photos.

What I didn't know was that, like me, DFW wrote in his books. I don't mean he wrote in the books that HE wrote. I mean he wrote in the books he bought and read. You know, the books that he put on his desk, bedside table, and in his bag. He scribbled, made notes, and circled words he either didn't know the meaning of or wanted to know more about. And the cool thing? His books (along with his manuscripts, etc.) are now in a collection at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin. So you can actually see them both online and if you happen to be in Austin, in person.

Some cool words DFW circled in his books?

ort

suint

valgus

More? Absolutely. See them here.

While you're bopping about the DFW collection, check out his notes on Christina Stead's The Man Who Loved Children and Cormac McCarthy's Suttree. (DFW even doodled glasses and a mustache on McCarthy's bio photo. Hee hee.)

Since I get a lot of grief from folks for writing in my books (one reader recently sent me a note that said I treat books like a whore in a naval yard...yikes), I'm loving the fact that DFW did it, too. It's a vital part of my writing process...and I don't believe books are this THING, this OBJECT, to be revered and honored...set on a shelf to be eyed from afar. I believe books are supposed to be read, used, reused...however that works for you.

Remember, it's the story housed in the physical book that is important...not the actual pages or the covers. It's okay to make the pages part of your writing/artistic/life process.

I repeat, it's okay to make the pages part of your writing/artistic/life process.

My message?

Break spines.

Doodle in your books.

Daydream while you doodle.

And yep, go on...write in your books.

8 Things I'm Thinking About Right This Very Second

A little something for everyone:

• If Vice President Joe Biden didn't say "this is a f'ing big deal" to President Obama, I'll say it for him. This healthcare thing is a f'ing big deal. Bravo! Standing ovation! Kudos! Cheers! It's about time.

•  Beyond The Margins -- This is my new favorite go-to online pub about writing. The writers are funny, passionate, experienced, and diverse. Check it out. (Lots of them are on Twitter!)

• Steve Almond's new book ROCK AND ROLL WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE (Random House, available April 13, 2010). Almond makes me laugh no matter what work of his I'm reading, so I'm looking forward to this one. (Great for all you music fanatics out there.)

• My hometown of Pittsburgh as a new literary Mecca. The New Yorker says so in "The Hills Are Alive."

• THIRSTY is featured on fREADO right now. See "The Story Behind the Book" on the fREADO home page. (This is a cool way to check out a new book.)

• Cool new ways publishers are marketing books: The Algonquin (hotel) in New York City is not only offering Kindles and Nooks to their guests (free of charge), but it has also formed a partnership with Harper Perennial. HP will provide new titles and classics to the hotel every month and will be hosting author signings & book events at the hotel. (I want to stay there!)

• David Foster Wallace's books (WRITTEN IN!) -- I am not alone. DFW used to write in his books...just like me. Love it.

• Christina Katz--a good friend, a spectacular writing colleague, and an amazing author/teacher/mom/person. Check out her current project, The Prosperous Writer. Sign up for her motivating, informative weekly newsletter.

What are you thinking about right now?

I Am Supposed To Be (blogging, cooking, Twittering, cleaning, visiting...) But...

There's a long, long list of things I'm supposed to be doing...a list that includes but is not limited to:

• blogging (I'm here, I'm here...promise)
• cooking (oh, not good at this one...ever...but right now...just plain awful)
• answering emails (WAY behind on this one)
• Twittering (bits & pieces)
• cleaning (I know, I know, I have an ayi here in Shanghai...really, I don't have all that much to clean...but I still have to clean my office...and other stuff when she's not working)
• visiting (friends...need to catch up with a number of them)
• sleeping (important, I know)
• and...

BUT...and this is exciting news...my mojo is back and I can't stop working on my second novel. I've been breathing, dreaming, daydreaming, and working the hell out of this story. It feels goooooood.

What? You didn't know my mojo was missing?

Oh, gosh, was it missing! To catch up, read this.

And then you'll understand why the heck I'm so excited and happy to be obsessed with this novel of mine.

(brief pause for the "my mojo's back" dance...)

hip swing, shimmy/shimmy, hip swing, shake

So yes, this post is brief, but the lesson?

When the mojo's moving, move with it.

As I've said before, I'm a big believer in working your arse off on your writing all the time, but I'm also a big believer in moving with the mojo.

That said, back to the manuscript.

And one more time...

hip swing, shimmy/shimmy, hip swing, shake.

Come on...do it with me.

hip swing, shimmy/shimmy, hip swing, shake

THIRSTY & Self-Promotion at the Shanghai International Literary Festival (ssshhh, secret revealed)

Last Saturday, March 7, I did a session at the Shanghai International Literary Festival about self-promotion and social networking for authors. It was a full house; I had a blast yakking about all the ways there are for writers to connect, share their work, learn about others' work, and open their writing worlds; and since the 7th, two audience members have friended me on Facebook and two others have made their maiden voyages on Twitter.

Success. People got it. Took my words to heart and reached out.

Now for the secret...one of the things I admitted during my session is that I've got a love/hate relationship with all this social networking and self-promotion stuff. 75% of the time, I love reaching out...chatting with readers and writers all over the world...sharing links to pertinent info (and links to irrelevant but fun info as well), and talking books. 25% of the time, I just want to be left alone in my 23rd floor apartment in Shanghai to write. I want to say, "Sssssshhhhh, I'm in writerhead" (or when I feel REALLY sick of it all, "PISS OFF!")...and then, yep, quietly face the page...alone.

Of course, I'm hesitant to admit this love/hate relationship out loud. We're really not supposed to. I'm pretty sure that's in a rule book somewhere.

But I've always hated rule books. And other people's rules. So there, I've said it. Out loud. Most of the time I love reaching out, but sometimes I hate it. Sometimes I feel completely smothered by all the contact.

What's the answer?

A small hut in Borneo? With no electricity and no Internet? 

Mmmmm, a lovely idea, but a tad unrealistic. (Besides...I know me. I'd get lonely and start saying things like, "Wow, I wish I could Twitter.")

So I've decided that balance is a more viable answer. I'm learning (slowly) how to manage my time on Twitter, Facebook, my blog, and the blogs of others. And I'm writing my own rulebook. Here's what I've got so far:

Rule #1: Admit when I'm burnt out & in need of a break.

Rule #2: When Rule #1 moves into play, take needed break (preferably before breakdown...break should not be ).

Rule #3: Do not turn on Internet when writing creative stuff--novel, memoir, etc.

Rule #4: Do not turn on Internet when writing creative stuff--novel, memoir, etc. (Some rules are worth repeating.)

Rule #5: Before shutting down at night, I must close all but seven tabs on Firefox (my blog, the THIRSTY website, Facebook, Twitter, Typepad, Constant Contact, and Google Reader). No more of this keeping 30 tabs open. Too much browsing. Too much reading. Too much, too much, too much.

Rule #6: Take 1 weekend day off every week. Completely. No work. No writing. No Tweeting. No Facebooking. In fact, except on special occasions, don't even turn on the computer. (This will be hard for me.)

So that's where I am. How about you and your relationship with all this stuff? Love? Hate? Some combo? And how do you manage it all? (suggestions welcome)

Shanghai International Literary Festival: Shameless Self-Promotion

Tomorrow (Sunday, March 7, 12:00) I'm giving a talk at the Shanghai International Literary Festival. If you're in Shanghai, come on down to M on the Bund...where all the cool, hip, smart, in-the-know readers/writers are hanging out.

Details?

Here ya go:

“Hi, My Name Is___”: Shameless Self-Promotion & The Art of Social Networking for Authors

Sunday, March 7 (12:00 - 1:00)

It used to be that an author could write a book, publish it, and then draw her curtains while a publicist promoted it to the reading world. Not so anymore. Today when an author gets a book contract, a publisher asks: Do you Twitter? Are you on Facebook? Do you have a newsletter? A website? A blog? How many hits do you get a month? And more. (Translation: How are you going to promote your book?) Come along for the ride as debut novelist & seasoned social media dame Kristin Bair O’Keeffe (Thirsty, Swallow Press, 2009) explores the art of shameless self-promotion and social networking…and shows you just how much fun it can be.

A Writer's Vacation: Can You Disconnect?

For the last eight days, I was in Borneo...breathing in this:

And sinking into that:

And taking in lots of this, too:

Now keep in mind that for weeks before we left Shanghai, I'd planned to work during our vacation. I'd planned to Tweet, Facebook, blog, continue to connect, and yep, even get some work done on the session I'm doing at the Shanghai Literary Festival this weekend.

But, alas, I forgot to take my travel adapter along, and believe it or not, the resort did not have an adapter that fit the three-pronged plug of my computer cord.

The result? I couldn't work.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT??????????

Nope, I couldn't work.

This was, at first, panic-inducing. "What do you mean I can't work? I have to work." My stomach coiled up in knots.

But after a few days of this:

 

And that:

I realized how much I needed NOT to work. Since the launch of THIRSTY back in October, I've been moving at lightning speed. Brain in overdrive. Body in overdrive. Soul in overdrive.

I needed to disconnect, and I'm pretty sure the great gods of travel adapters knew this and conspired to leave me, truly, wireless.

What happened?

I quieted down inside. That idgy feeling in my belly of "I'm not doing enough to get the word out about THIRSTY" and "How do I get THIRSTY to more readers?" went away. I relaxed. I chilled out. I played. I got centered.

And then?

The same thing that always happens when I allow myself some breathing room happened: I started to write in my head.

Tra-la-la. I was writing in my head. Waking from gorgeous, wacky, wonderful dreams with full sentences and scenes. Staring at the ocean and learning something new about the characters in my second novel.

It was glorious.

Now that I'm back in Shanghai, I'm trying to hold onto that feeling. That tra-la-la-ing. And the wisdom of knowing that I when I push a little less, more happens.

Flow.

Women Rock Wednesday: Sara Teasdale (American Poet)

When I was young--really young, like 11 or 12--I discovered a volume of Sara Teasdale's poetry at the Bethel Park Public Library. Gosh, I loved those poems...so much that I read them over and over and over again. Out loud, to myself, to the tree in the backyard, to my best friend. I even copied them by hand in my journal.

Teasdale was this cool woman & amazing poet who wrote all about love and longing, romance, kissing and moons, being misunderstood, girlhood, womanhood...all the right stuff for a middle-school girl hitting puberty.

At that point in my life, I already knew I was a writer so for a while Teasdale served as a guide, a guru, but mostly she was the first female poet I'd heard of who wasn't Emily Dickinson (though I loved her, too). I needed her...a woman poet who wasn't afraid to express herself.

"Feel!" she shouted in her quiet, 19th-century way.

One of my favorites?

Here ya go...

Advice to a Girl

No one worth possessing
Can be quite possessed;
Lay that on your heart,
My young angry dear;
This truth, this hard and precious stone,
Lay it on your hot cheek,
Let it hide your tear.
Hold it like a crystal
When you are alone
And gaze in the depths of the icy stone.
Long, look long and you will be blessed:
No one worth possessing
Can be quite possessed.

Women Rock Wednesday: Kathryn Stockett, Author of "THE HELP" (Have you read it?)

This week, author Kathryn Stockett rocks my Wednesday.

According to my Kindle, I'm 29% of the way through Stockett's first novel THE HELP. Yes, yes, I know it's dangerous to tout a novel too loudly before being 100% of the way through, but even if the rest of THE HELP turns out to be the worst drivel ever written (and of course, it wont'),this book deserves to be touted.

Kathryn Stockett has wowed me...with a story that winds tighter and tighter the further I read, with three female characters who make me cringe and laugh out loud at the same time, and with language and images that stick with me.

Listen to this...

"The houses all be small, but every front yard's different--some scrubby and grassless like a baldheaded old man." (Kindle location 363-64)

"There are ten rooms downstairs and one with a stuffed grizzly bear that looks like it ate up the last maid and is biding for the next one." (Kindle location 679-80)

"If I'd played Mammy [in "Gone With the Wind"], I'd of told Scarlet to stick those green draperies up her white little pooper." (Kindle location 1022-23)

See what I mean? I'm laughing out loud all over again just typing up the quotes.

Have you read THE HELP? What do you think?

Project Kindle, Post #5 (...Ah, Competition)

Can a writer/book lover read books on a Kindle...and enjoy it? That's what I'm trying to figure out. Every Friday, I post a vlog (video blog) right here about my Kindle experiences during the week.

This week?

Note-taking on the Kindle, and of course...the new competition. Enter...iPad.

Travel Tuesday: Writing the Far-Flung Life (Shoe Leather Express)

Whenever I asked my mom for a ride when I was growing up and she couldn't (or wouldn't) swing it, I always followed my initial question "Can you take me to _________?" with the inevitable "Well, how am I going to get there?" (often accompanied by a whine and a preteen foot stomp).

To which my mom always gave the same answer: "Shoe leather express" (in other words, start walking).

Back then, that often meant that I walked to my best friend's house via the trolley tracks, the mall via the road that went past our church, and the swimming pool along one of the most commercial streets in our town. Along the way, I learned a lot. I always knew who was getting ready to have a yard sale, where the best wild blackberries grew, and how to avoid the biggest potholes. The long, solitary walks also helped me learn to pay attention...to the little things...to the aspects of a place that helped to tell its story.

So while my mom had no idea that one day I'd be living on the other side of the world writing about my far-flung life and helping others learn how to do the same, her solution to my travel woes--Shoe Leather Express--has become an important part of my writing process.

Whether I land in a new place or a place I've been many times before, I always put on my most favored, mostest comfortable walking shoes (in my case, Keens...those are my "winter" Keens [above] and my "summer" Keens [below]) and start walking.

During my first two years in China, I estimate I walked 1.75 million miles (give or take a few). In Shanghai, I walked on major thoroughfares, down old lanes, and through funky neighborhoods. I walked through the panda reserve in Chengdu, wandered about the Muslim quarter in Xian, and hiked on the Great Wall. Along every step, I paid attention to smells, colors, sounds, and the old woman selling knobs of ginger on the corner. I noted what I saw up close and what I noticed in the distance. I noted facial expressions and gestures. I gathered bits and pieces for the stories I would tell.

Sure, sometimes walking is not the easiest mode of transportation. (In Bali, I ran into so many not-so-friendly dogs, I ended up toting a big stick, and in Vietnam, dodging the scooters is not always fun.) But walking gets you up close and personal to people, food, language--the essence of a place.

So my advice to far-flung writers?

Next time you're deciding how to get from your hotel to a museum or your B&B to the beach, skip the taxi or the shuttle. Take my mom's advice and go for the Shoe Leather Express.