Insecure Writer's Support Group

Yup, I've finally done it: I've joined the IWSG, the Insecure Writer's Support Group, a large blog-hop group that airs our fears and insecurities around writing, in hope that we can help each other get over it and keep writing.

And what a great time to join: just as NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) kicks off. Nothing like being challenged to write 50,000 words in 30 days to bring out our insecurities. At least, my insecurities, at least this year. Because frankly, I've not been a very convincing author this year. I've taken pretty much the whole year to do a couple of rounds of edits on Death By Trombone, Book 2 in the Pismawallops PTA murder mystery series. And that from an MS (written during NaNo two years ago) that really wasn't THAT bad. [I suppose my next post will need to be about the agonies of editing. Or else about my utter failure as a marketing genius. Lots to be insecure about, now that I think about it.]

During that same period I managed to draft less than 40,000 words of a 3rd Ninja Librarian book, too. Not a very impressive output.

I have lots of excuses. I can sit around and make excuses. Or I could sit here and beat myself up: "You call yourself a writer? Writers write, you fool!"

Or I could sit down and enjoy the process of producing another draft in 45 days (I give myself 15 extra for the extra 25-30,000 words it takes to make a full-length novel).  I can also remind myself that since the beginning of the year I've posted 34 flash fiction pieces (for another 34,000+ words) and a bunch of photo essays. Sometimes you have to back away from what you think you should be or do, and appreciate what you did do.

I think I'll ignore my insecurities and enjoy NaNo. If you want to join me on the ride, I'm Nanning (I just made that up) under the highly imaginative name of Rebecca Douglass.

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BookElves Giveaway!

The new BookElves Anthology (Volume 2!) is out, and we are doing a Goodreads Giveaway! Be sure to check out the new book, and enter the giveaway by following the link below.

And if you can't wait for the giveaway, order a copy now:

Amazon.com ebook 

Smashwords ebook

Apple iBookstore

B&N ebook

Paperbacks: 

Createspace shop (paperback) 

Paperbacks will be available on Amazon soon!

Goodreads Book Giveaway

BookElves Anthology Volume 2

by Jemima Pett

Giveaway ends November 26, 2015.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

Children's Classic Series: Sue Barton

 

The Sue Barton nursing series, by Helen Dore Boylston

When I was a kid, I absolutely loved the Sue Barton books. They were already horribly dated even then; the first book in the series was published in 1936. That apparently only increased their mystique, because when Sue talks about the wonders of the old operating theater in the hospital where she trains, it is a room that harks back to the Civil War era or thereabouts--truly medicine in a different era. Even as a child I knew that neither medicine nor a nurse's training were like Sue experienced, but the stories remained, for some reason, utterly engaging.

Not that they made me want to become a nurse (though I know more than one woman who was influenced in career choice by Sue and by Cherry Ames, another nursing student whose books I never read but may yet). I think I was just fascinated by the historical setting (which of course wasn't "historical" when written) and possibly the sense of Sue as both grown-up and yet somehow easily related to by a kid.

That creates space for more thoughts on the age of protagonists in children's books. For the most part, we do expect the heroes and heroines of middle-grade fiction to be children themselves. Yet there are plenty of stories like these, including some being written today, that feature older protagonists. In some cases (think Harry Potter), the character begins a series as an 11-year-old and grows up. In other cases--as with Sue Barton or the more recent Boston Jane books by Jennifer L. Holm--the main character is at least on the cusp of adulthood when the series begins. Clearly it can be done, and I think it's not just the adults who enjoy the stories that trace and entire life.

But the move can be tricky, too, and in today's world such books often end up being more "YA" than "middle grade." Tamora Pierce's wonderful fantasies begin in many cases with children, but end with grown women, or mostly grown, who are making decisions and acting on them in adult ways, if you know what I mean. Yet because the series begin with books about 11-year-olds, they remain in the children's section at the library (Sue Barton gets married and bears several children, but does it, like Anne Shirley, without ever, apparently, having sex).

What are your thoughts on book series for kids that follow the main character on into adulthood? Which do you love now? What did you read as a kid that featured adult characters?

If that question doesn't do it for you, there is another whole area for thought about gender roles in classic children's books--maybe I'll ask that question tomorrow!

I have been re-reading the series by finding the books in the library, physical or digital (plus one that is on my shelf, picked up at some long-ago book sale). Neither the publisher nor the author really gives a hoot about my review, as the author died in 1987 and the books are out of print.