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

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.

Project Kindle, Post #6 (The FINAL Episode)

This...is...it. 

Do I love my Kindle? Can I read books on my Kindle?

Watch and see.

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.

Project Kindle, Post #4 (...Getting Dangerously Close to Love)

Wow...I didn't know I could do THAT with my Kindle!!!! Watch out...I'm dangerously close to falling in love.

Women Rock Wednesday: Joyce Carol Oates, Author & (Now) Adventurer

In recent weeks, I've been struck by the fact that after almost 50 years of marriage, her husband's death, and an excruciating widowhood, author Joyce Carol Oates fell in love, remarried, and is now enjoying a new, much more adventurous life.

Why am I so struck by this?

Simple. I'm excited for her. I mean, here's one of the U.S.'s most talented, most prolific authors rediscovering the world at 71 (yep, she's 71 years old). How cool is that?

Whether by choice or necessity, Oates is out of her comfort zone...looking at the world and herself in new ways. What a great reminder to women that we're never too old or too set in our ways to forge new paths.

If you Twitter with me, you've probably seen me link to the January 15, 2010 article in the Wall Street Journal that elucidates Oates's transformation. Here's a bit:

Since then, she [Oates] says, her writing habits, hobbies and outlook on life have changed. She has started going on mountain hikes with Mr. Gross, who loves the outdoors. Last year, the newlyweds moved into a large two-story home filled with colorful contemporary paintings, mobile sculptures and Mr. Gross's photographs of African fauna and temples and palaces in Tibet. Ms. Oates, a confessed homebody who hasn't traveled widely overseas, said she plans to join her husband on some of his adventures.

Sure, some may ask, "Why does she need a man to rediscover the world? After 50 years with one husband, couldn't she have done some discovering on her own?"

My response?

Who gives a hoot? Whatever leads us to new places in both our interior worlds and the exterior one is worth the ride. If it's love, great. If it's tacos, great. If it's some crazy urge to scale the highest mountain in the world, great.

Bravo to Oates. Enjoy.

Extra Tidbit for Writers: Oates has just finished writing a 400-page memoir that deals with her husband's death (February 2008). From what I read, this was not an easy book for her to write, and she says (which I love and agree with wholeheartedly), "It's very clear to me now—as I'd always supposed—that we can't really choose what we write about in any passionate way: the material chooses us."

Travel Tuesday: Writing the Far-Flung Life (Finding Your Own Chicken Man)

When you're writing about a far-flung life, your job is to get readers to see what you see. Remember, many readers have never been to the place or had the experience you are describing...and many never will. So...lure them in. 

How?

The #1 Way to Lure Readers In...

• Write About The Things That Interest You: Don't worry about trying to figure out what readers want to know. Follow your own heart...your own eye. If you're intrigued, your readers will be intrigued. If you're not intrigued, readers will close your book/article/essay halfway through and not pick it up again. Horror of all horrors.

(Example: If you're traveling in Milan, Italy, you may be captivated by the spires on the Duomo. Lots of folks are. If so, dig in and have at it. But maybe you don't give two hoots about the spires [or anything else] on the Duomo. Maybe you're more intrigued by the wacky folks who like to get the 1.22 million pigeons in the piazza to land on their heads for photo opps or the cranky old woman who sold you a strawberry tart. If that's the case, write about the pigeon people or the cranky old woman. Forget the Duomo and its spires.)

As for me, I'm rarely intrigued by the "big stuff." Sure, Shanghai's Oriental Pearl Tower is cool and interesting, and yup, the World Expo is coming to our fair city in May, but I'm drawn to smaller moments. Like the Chicken Man! He's one of my favorite characters in my neighborhood, and just this morning, my daughter and I ran into him on our street. (Okay, okay, I admit it, we were out looking for him...as we often are.) We were lucky enough to happen upon him just as a customer was picking out his chicken. Check it out.

The Chicken Man on the left. A discerning customer on the right.

"How about this chicken?" says the Chicken Man.

"No, I like this chicken," says customer, taking matters (and a chicken) into his own hands.

"Why does this crazy laowai (me) follow me around Shanghai taking pictures of me?" says the Chicken Man. "She must have thousands of pictures of me now."

And the Chicken Man kills and defeathers the chicken right there and then.

I tell ya what...he's good at it, too. He can kill and defeather a chicken faster than I can pick out a package of drumsticks at the grocery store.

This is the hard part...friends looking on.

Ta-da! Dinner!

WRITERS CHALLENGE: I haven't yet written a formal piece about the Chicken Man, but I know that eventually he will work his way into an essay or memoir. Your challenge this week? Find your own Chicken Man. In whatever place you're writing about, choose a person who intrigues you. Then write about him/her. A paragraph...a page...whatever it takes to see him/her clearly.

Project Kindle, Post #3: Infatuation

Spent lots of time this week hanging out with my Kindle in Shanghai. We went to a meeting on the Bund, had tea at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, cuddled in bed, and lots more. People are talking and the tabloids are asking, "Are you becoming a couple?"

Not quite yet, but...

Travel Tuesday: Writing the Far-Flung Life (Definitions)

Okay...since I'm going to be yakking with you every Tuesday about how to write about travel and a far-flung life, I figure I better start with a couple of key definitions. That way, all you writers interested in writing about your own far-flung lives will be on the same page with me.

Here goes...

DEFINITIONS

far-flung life

• a life in which you travel to different places on a regular basis (ex: I'm an American. My husband is from Ireland. Our daughter is Vietnamese. We live in Shanghai, China. We get around.)

• a life that jolts you out of your comfort zone

cultural spelunker

• one who arrives in a new country (state, city, etc.), looks around at unfamiliar people & places, smiles, & digs in

• fearless explorer (or perhaps explorer despite fear)

• one who is compelled by odd smells, strange glances, dark alleyways, wacky foods, cultural conundrums, language barriers, & so on

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (I'm anticipating...)

Q: Do I have to travel out of my home country in order to have a far-flung life?

A: Nope. Everyone's definition of far-flung is different. Perhaps you travel from Chicago to Japan twice a year...yep, that's far-flung. Perhaps you divide your time between Montana and New York City...yep, that's far-flung. Or perhaps you stick close to home but cross into a neighboring county twice a week...yep, that's far-flung (as long as--and this is the key--the journey throws you out of your comfort zone in some significant way).

Q: Do I have to be an expat like you?

A: Oh, god, no. If you travel & get out of your comfort zone, you qualify.

Q: Is cultural spelunker a real term?

A: It is now. I made it up.

All set?

Good. Spend the week thinking about your far-flung life and meet me back here in a week.

Happy travels.

Project Kindle, Post #2

Can a writer/book lover read books on a KINDLE...and enjoy it? That's what I'm trying to figure out during PROJECT KINDLE. Every Friday until I do, I'll post a new video on this blog.

This week I talk about three things:

• registering your KINDLE
• form
• function

(Ooh, and oh yeah, you get to find out what book I downloaded first!)

Do you KINDLE? Watch and weigh in.