A liminal state

Lately I feel as if I’m caught betwixt and between, stuck in a liminal state.

Anthropologist Arnold van Gennep defined the concept of liminality as “in-between situations and conditions that are characterized by the dislocation of established structures, the reversal of hierarchies, and uncertainty regarding the continuity of tradition and future outcomes.”

My, Arnold, you do have a way with words.

Frankly, this is always a liminal time of year for me.  The semester is over, but my grading isn’t done.  Spring is clearly ending but summer hasn’t begun.  I’m transitioning from a world structured by my day job to a world without structure.  Pile onto that the fact that I’ve just finished a draft of one novel and must begin a draft of another, and the sensation of being stuck between one state and another is complete.

I’m not complaining, per se, but grappling for an explanation as to why I feel so very, very blah.  My attempts at grading have been desultory at best.  Rather than dive into that new novel, I’ve distracted myself by writing a piece of flash fiction that, in all likelihood, makes no sense.  It doesn’t help that it’s been raining and raining and raining.

This will pass.  That’s the great thing about liminality.  It’s a period of transition.  Temporary.  Fleeting.  I will submit my grades.  Summer will come.  I will travel (to Spain, New Orleans, Seattle, Boston, and England to name a few) and I’ll frolic in a world of unfettered writing time.

But, for now, for today, I’m stuck.  I wallow, my only companions dislocation, reversal, and uncertainty.

Stranger than fiction: ancient shoes

Did you know that the world’s oldest evidence for shoe use comes not from preserved footwear but from human toe bones?

Well, it’s true.

Preserved sandals or other ancient footwear don’t appear in the archaeological record until around 9,000 years ago (from a site in California).  This is because biodegradable materials tend to preserve poorly.  Recently, though, physical anthropologists have speculated that we may be able to determine when humans began wearing shoes indirectly by examining their toe bones.

People who go barefoot develop stronger, more robust toes than those who wear supportive footwear.  Archaeologists have found a decrease in the size and strength of toe bones among Homo sapiens in Europe and the Middle East around 30,000 years ago, suggesting it was at this time that they began to innovate new footwear technologies.

Eat your heart out Christian Louboutin!

Here’s the article from National Geographic if you want to know more.

Food for thought: Granola

Homemade granola may be the perfect food — sweet, salty, crunchy, fruity, and healthy (though not, alas, low calorie).  It’s also relatively simple to prepare, more a concept than a recipe.

This is nourish-the-writer-brain food and makes a saliva-inducing start to the day or a good energy boost in the afternoon.

My favorite kind of granola (and the “recipe” I share here) is one with lots of seeds and nuts in it.  I don’t give quantities because this is a fluid recipe — add as much or as little of your favorite ingredients.  You will need access to a good bulk-food section or health food store for some ingredients.

Start with an assortment of seeds and nuts – I use pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, almonds, and cashews – but you can add or omit whatever you like.  Mix in proportions that prioritize your favorites.

Mix the seeds and nuts with oats and puffed rice to give the granola some body.

Prepare a dressing of 1/2 cup canola oil, 2 tbs good quality maple syrup, 1/4 cup honey, 1 tsp vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt.  Whisk this together and pour it over the nut, seed, and grain mixture.  Stir well to coat everything.  If you’ve really made a big batch of granola, you might need to double the dressing.  The mixture should be damp, but not dripping.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Turn the granola mixture out onto baking sheets, spreading thinly and evenly.  Bake the granola for 30-40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes until well toasted, crispy and golden.  It’s important to set a timer and stir regularly so the toasting is even and nothing burns.  Use the time between stirs for writing sprints on your current novel or short story project.

Once the granola is well toasted, turn it all into a large bowl and mix with the dried fruit of your choice.  I usually include dried cranberries and dried golden raisins, but you can put in whatever you prefer.

If you have the strength, it’s best to let the granola cool before diving in…but if you can’t wait, I won’t tell

The best way to serve this granola is on top of some good plain yogurt with a drizzle of honey.

Bon appetit!

Paradise Lost, and found

I’ve just returned from a weekend in San Antonio at the Paradise Lost writing workshop and I thought I’d share some thoughts on the experience (for some photos, go here).

Paradise Lost is organized by Sean Kelley and geared towards folks who’ve already attended a longer workshop (such as Viable Paradise or Taos Toolbox).  The goal of Paradise Lost is to provide a space in which people who are starting to have some success but are not yet full-fledged pros can hone their craft and share ideas.  In this, it succeeds.

The workshop spanned 3 days, which were fairly evenly divided amongst lectures by pros (this year’s pros were John Joseph Adams, Jay Lake, and Steven Brust), small group critiques, free time for writing, and social time.  It was an excellent balance, providing opportunities to learn, relax, and get to know cool new people.  I left this workshop feeling sated but not burned out.

The lectures, particularly those by John Joseph Adams and Jay Lake, were very career focused.  It was fascinating to hear an editor’s take on submissions, querying, slush, rejections, and the like.  John also encouraged those of us who consider ourselves novelists not to turn our backs on writing short fiction.  He pointed out short fiction is a great way for novelists to stay in readers’ sights during the long wait between books, to experiment with ideas that don’t lend themselves well to long form, and to increase our odds of getting nominated for awards (there being more short form award categories).  This really hit home and inspired me not to give up on short fiction.  Thanks, John!

Jay Lake talked a lot about social media, conventions, and productivity.  His big take-home seemed to be that you really need to do what works for you.  If you don’t feel comfortable tweeting, then don’t.  If you hate writing a blog, then don’t.  If you’re too shy to be the center of attention at cons, then don’t feel you have to try.  One topic he touched on was the pros and cons of getting on con panels.  I’d always figured this would be a Good Thing in terms of career development, but Jay wisely pointed out that you have to think about why you want to be on the panel, whether you’ll have anything valuable to say on the topic, and whether you’re enough of a “competitive talker” to have your voice be heard (or, if you are a competitive talker to be self-aware enough to know not to completely dominate the discussion).  I really appreciated the nuance of his advice.

Steven Brust was the final guest at the workshop, and his advice tended towards the writing side of the equation.  In particular, he offered some really clever tricks for getting unstuck, some ways to use POV to solve problems with plot and description, how to use cliche to your advantage, and some insights on using theme to move your story forward without hitting the reader over the head with it.

Best of all, though, were the great people I met — most of whom were previously strangers or faceless “voices” on the interwebs.  I love connecting with other writers, and this group was uniformly nice, talented, and fascinating.

San Antonio was also a perfect spot for a workshop like this — the Riverwalk was just outside the front door of the hotel, offering plenty of easy options for eating/drinking — all of which were happy to accommodate big groups.  All in all, it made for an enjoyable and productive weekend.

Paradise Lost is a recurring event, so if you think you might be interested, you should consider it for next year.  Once applications open, I’ll post the link here, and I’m happy to answer questions in the comments.

Paradise Lost (part II)

Well, a crazy busy week and a half of end-of-semester madness caps off with a rush to the airport, papers trailing behind me as I slam the cab door and tell the driver, “La Guardia.  No, JFK.  Right. JFK.”

I’m off to Paradise Lost in San Antonio, the grass-roots offshoot of the Viable Paradise Writing Workshop, a retreat dreamed up and planned by graduates, for graduates.  Three days with a bunch of awesome writers, exchanging critiques, listening to advice and lectures from John Joseph Adams and Jay Lake, and – I hope – drinking plenty o’ beer in the summer sun.

I’ll try to post some updates while I’m away.  In the meantime, keep calm and carry on.

Because the end has come

…the end of the semester, that is.

33 research outlines to read and grade.

1 “midterm” exam to write (e.g. a pre-finals exam).

2 review sessions to prepare.

And that’s just for tomorrow.  What happens during Finals Week shall not be spoken of yet, because speaking of it means thinking about it, and that means tears.

One day at a time.  Light at the end of the tunnel and all that bullshit.  And, yes, I know it’s even harder on my students.

At least I have a writing date to look forward to this weekend.  In the meantime, I enter the end-of-the-semester meat grinder.  See you Friday, hopefully bloodied but unbowed.

Sunday on the sofa

Well, the title kind of says it all.

I’ve got exams to grade, and we have people coming over to dinner, but I just can’t seem to bestir myself towards productivity.  This is the second to the last week of Premier League soccer, so, naturally, most of the morning was spent on the sofa, huddled around the laptop cursing and screaming and drinking lots of tea.

It’s ridiculously beautiful out today and I did manage to go for a run–good thing, too, because I’d skipped out on my Wednesday cardio session.  So, I narrowly avoided having to write SHAME in huge block letters across my exercise chart.  Whew   Seriously, though, the Healthy Me campaign is going great.  I’ve lost 3lbs so far, which might actually be too much too fast, so I’m in the happy position of being able to increase my calories rather than decrease them.  Sweet timing, since I’m making this for desert tonight.

Since I finished up the current draft of ABSENT earlier in the week, it’s time to turn to a new project while I wait for reader feedback and let things percolate.  Next on the docket is continuing to draft UNDER THE BRIDGE, a dark urban fantasy set in the Pacific Northwest.  I got encouragingly positive feedback (plus some great suggestions) on the first three chapters of this when I workshopped it in Dallas a few months ago, so I’m psyched to really dive in and hammer it out.  It’s all outlined and ready to go.  Stay tuned

Well, hope you are all having a pleasant Sunday with plenty of couch time.

Kisses!