Helping the Syrian Refugees

I don’t normally do things like this, but my friend Ariel Ricker is currently in the area where refugees are fleeing. She was first in Turkey, helping out with refugees leaving and is currently in Greece, helping when refugees arrive. She is working with others to put together care packages–food, clothes, shoes, and other necessities. She’s told me the refugees are no longer even allowed to bring one bag of belongings, so they are literally arriving in Greece with nothing.

I’m sure many of you have seen the photos of refugees who have not made it. But for those who have reached the shore, there is still a lot that can be done to help.

If you are in that region, this is the website of an organization she’s working with where you can find out what refugees need and where you can drop items off: Care Packages for Syrian Refugees.

My friend is also personally going into stores, and buying food and supplies, but her financial resources are not limitless. If you are in the US and would still like to help her, you can go to her GoFundMe page. The money donated there will help her with basic housing and necessities so she can stay there as long as possible to help, and the rest will go towards helping the refugees.

I know some folks like to donate through larger organizations, others prefer something more direct. I have seen the posts from my friend, the photos of what she's seen and who she's met, so I know she is there and doing the work.

If you have a few dollars and have been looking for a way to help, I’ll hope you’ll consider donating to my friend. If you can’t, please spread the word.


Related to this, she is also a journalist and writing articles on the situation: 

Giving aid to Syrian refugees heading to Greece

Searching for Sabrina

2015 isn't done yet, but it's had its share of ups and downs for me.

I've been a teacher for nearly five years--July would have been the 5-year anniversary of my starting my teaching job. But things happened and basically, the school closed. It was the sort of thing that was out of the hands of the campus administration, but my life went from prepping for a new quarter of English and psychology courses, teaching the first week and settling in, to waking up on a Sunday morning in April with a new email me informing me the campus (and all the other campuses for this college) was closing. 

So I was suddenly without a job. It was sort of shocking, but in some ways, well timed. It had been a fast-paced school, a new bunch of students every quarter (100 or so new names and faces, four times a year), and very little time to catch my breath or focus on other interests.

I'd struggled for a long time to get back in the habit of reading for leisure, or writing, or crafting. I often didn't have the energy, and when I did, I often didn't have the motivation or inspiration.

I felt like I was losing myself.

Without the daily grind of teaching, and being lucky enough to be in a home situation where I could take a few months off, I figured this was a good opportunity to rediscover what makes me happy.

I start the job search in earnest in September. I gave myself the summer to focus on finding my joy, so I've been writing and making jewelry, and decorating trinket boxes, even doing a little painting and trying to get back in the habit of drawing.

It's kind of glorious. I get sleep, I have more control over my daily schedule, and I feel like I found Sabrina, finally.

The Chosen One*

*But only if male, cisgendered, and white.

[It's been a while since I last posted and I have no excuse. I'll sum it up as LIFE and leave it at that.]

Instead, here's what I want to talk about: The Chosen One trope.

It occurred to me today that often, when this trope is used in a story, it refers to a male protagonist. Usually young (10-18), always--as far as I can recall--heterosexual cis-gendered, and frankly, usually white.

The kid learns that their normal life is a fraud/to keep them safe/about to change irreversibly, and they have been chosen to defeat a great evil. Harry Potter was far from the first, and nowhere near the last.

It's not to say girls/women can't be protagonists or heroes, but more often, they seem thrust into the role through circumstances. Katniss just wants to protect her little sister. Sabriel just wants to find her father.

What I do find more is the role of female protagonist as "Not like the other girls." You see it a lot in romantic comedies. Debra Messing's character, Cat, from The Wedding Date: not the first woman to hire Dermot Mulroney as a date, but the first to make him fall in love. Katherine Heigl's Jane in 27 Dresses is like many women in her love for weddings and desire to help friends, but she's the only person to make James Marsden's Kevin see the love and romance is weddings and marriages.

It feels like a way to simplify their characters. Why, out of all the other women these men meet, are these the ones who get through to them? Why, they aren't like other women! Of course! How aren't they like other women? Uh, well, they sing? You know what? Just trust us on this.

But that's not the only place. You can find the trope in fantasy books as well, but they take a different approach.

Alanna is the only girl who wants to be a knight in Tortall and poses as a boy to do it, and later, Kel is the first girl to become a knight since it was allowed through royal decree. Daine, in the same world, is the only Wild Mage. October Daye is a changeling who has one foot in the fae world and one in the human world, the first person to really befriend the Luidaeg, who doesn't like anyone. Cat and Beatrice in Cold Magic have their own special (slightly spoilery so I won't mention specifics) traits that set them apart from everyone else in their community.

But rather than being called Chosen Ones, and beyond their special something that separates them from other women, they are heroines through the choices they make and the circumstances of society around them.

It makes all of these characters even more complicated--sometimes they make the wrong choices and have to deal with those consequences. Sometimes they want to do one thing, but the rest of the world is working against them because other forces have their own motivations and goals. The characters are complex and the worlds are complex.

On the one hand, it'd be nice to see more female Chosen Ones. But maybe the answer is more to get rid of the Chosen One trope for males. One of the fan theories (almost canon? actually canon?) that's always intrigued me is the idea that Neville could have been the Boy Who Lived. He was born around the same time, his parents suffered because of Voldemort, and if Voldemort had thought it was him and gone after his family, the books might have turned out differently in some very interesting ways. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy in terms of the villains choices, but how could it have been different if there wasn't the label of Chosen One hanging over Harry's head?

Anyway, those are my thoughts today. I'll try not to wait so long to post again.

Books/Series referenced:
Harry Potter: The Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling
Katniss: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Sabriel: Sabriel/Abhorsen by Garth Nix
Alanna: The Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
Kel: Protector of the Small series by Tamora Pierce
Daine: The Immortals Quartet by Tamora Pierce
October Daye: The October Daye series by Seanan McGuire
Cat and Beatrice: The Spiritwalker Trilogy by Kate Elliott

Cake or Death: Con Edition

I have recently found out about a great organization that has set out to help sci fi and fantasy fans of color attend SFF conventions: Con or Bust.

From their "About" section: Con or Bust is a non-profit "whose mission is to increase racial and ethnic diversity in the production of and audience for speculative fiction. Con or Bust isn’t a scholarship and isn’t limited by geography, type of con-goer, or con; its goal is simply to help fans of color go to SFF cons and be their own awesome selves."

Con or Bust has been around 2009 as a response to Racefail09, which was about the lack of characters of color in fiction, and whether non-people of color have the right, responsibility, and/or ability to write COC. Reactions were varied, and many of them were passionate, some angry or defensive, but it broke wide open the discussion.

A side issue was the dearth of POC sci fi and fantasy writers. Linked to that was the lower numbers of convention-goers who were POC.

So Con or Bust decided to do something about it. Since then, they have made it possible to make donations, and also hold an auction (full of awesome stuff!) in order to raise funds that are then used to send fans of color to various SFF conventions.

The auction for this year opens on February 10, and closes on February 23. (Keep in mind timezones, folks).

Some of the offerings:

A poem written for you/about by Jane Yolen. (Yeah, that Jane Yolen!)

A custom, handspun, handwoven scarf, your choice of color

A custom, Police Box bag or laptop/iPad case

A manuscript critique up to 10,000 words by Lynne M. Thomas, or a fiction critique up to 10,000 words by Yoon Ha Lee (who also has a short story collection Conservation of Shadows available as a separate bid)

Pillow cookies from one person (cookies wrapped in brownies, anyone?) and a New Orleans care package from another

Books, many many books (including The Spiritwalker Trilogy by Kate Elliot with a copy of "The Secret Journal of Beatrice Barahal"; multiple series by N. K. Jemisin; the Newsflesh series by Mira Grant; signed ARCs of A Natural History of Dragons and The Tropic of Serpents; an illustrated, hardcover, gift edition of Stephen King's The Shining; and many, many more).

This is only a sampling of the auctions on the first two pages. The auctions for this year are already up to page 4.

So please, take a look, ogle the wonderful, and get ready to bid on the 10th, and/or spread the word about an organization doing a lot of good.

White Privilege

The past handful of days, the concept--and reality--of white privilege has been bouncing around my small corner of the internet. It's been even more prevalent for my friend and fellow writer, Xen.

As a response, he posted this reference guide for dealing with white privilege when you encounter it. He says it so well, I got his permission to post it here, so I hope and encourage everyone to read it and to think about their own behaviors and the privilege they might be benefiting from without even realizing it.

Xen Sanders on 'white privilege':

A handy-dandy reference guide on what to do when offering advice regarding white privilege and how to deal with it in society:

1. Look in the mirror. Are you white?***

2. If the answer is yes, please sit down, observe a respectful silence, listen to what people of color are trying to tell you, and remember that you are not in any way, shape, or form qualified to advise on this subject. If you think you are, please see step three.

3. Google "white privilege." Educate yourself about what it is. Do not get defensive; do not automatically assume it cannot be you because you just don't like the idea. You are not being attacked right now. You are not an awful person. No one thinks you're horrible. No one hates you. And no one is calling you a racist for enjoying white privilege, so don't worry about that, either; let's get past that right now and work past that defensive knee-jerk reaction. If you see signs of white privilege in your life, it doesn't mean you're a racist at all. It just means society subconsciously favors you, and you've never even been aware of it. That can change, but please don't expect sympathy or congratulations for realizing your privilege.

4. Look in the mirror again. Still white? Yeah, that's not going to change. That's okay. There's nothing wrong with being white, just as there's nothing wrong with any other color. What can change is you, and how you respond to the people of color--if any--in your life. It is never okay to tell people of color how they should feel about race issues. I'm sorry, it's just not. It's never okay to presume to speak for us, either. We are intelligent, well-educated people. We can speak for ourselves; the harder matter is actually getting people to listen when it doesn't impact your life if people who aren't like you don't enjoy the same privileges you do, and when sometimes listening involves an uncomfortable and embarrassing level of self-analysis. Also? You don't have to shout louder than we do to be an ally. Sometimes the best you can do is listen, ask questions, and try to empathize, even though you can never understand because it's not a life you've lived. We wouldn't expect you to. But we do expect you to realize that--that you do *not* understand what it means to live life in the role of a person of color, and no amount of advocacy will change that, and any claims that you "get it" are false and offensive.

Check your privilege. Check yourself.

Show a little respect, and we'll be happy to give it back to you.

***If the answer to #1 is "no," disregard #2-4, and just do your best to educate, advocate, and not bite the heads off your white friends if they need to be told over and over and over again because they're just not getting it.

Here's the link for his post: Xen Sanders' facebook status on white privilege 

And here's his website: Xenarchy

Saying Goodbye to the Year

I usually try to come up with resolutions when the new year rolls around, but the more I think about it for 2014, the more it seems like a futile endeavor. My resolutions always end up the same: write more, read more, edit this or that, send out queries, focus on my health and try to lose some weight, build better habits and try to get closer to some of my life goals.

All very general in recent years, because the years would pass by without nothing achieved (or not enough) when I had more specific resolutions.

This year, I am not going to worry about resolutions, promises to myself to do X or Y.

This year end, I have spent New Year's Eve day spending time with my aunt, watching "Frozen" with my mother, crafting a gift, listening to music, talking with friends online, and shortly, a bit of writing on a story I began earlier in the year.

Tomorrow, I will spend more time with family, rest and relax, grade, and edit.

I want 2014 to reflect these two days, full of obligations and enjoyment, and balancing between the two. A year where I have time to rest, but also to have fun, and to get projects done that are just for me, as well as complete projects with and for others.

Happy New Year, and happy writing.

Great Advice for NaNoers

Robin LaFevers (author of Grave Mercy) has some great advice for writers who get stuck and the usual methods are just not working. Some tips are meant to prepare for the writing (so you have all the tools at hand), others are tips to help you just get the words on the page.

Post is here: Frog Marching The Muse

Also, she has chapter one of the sequel to Grave Mercy, available on her website: Dark Triumph.

Read, write, and for those of you doing NaNoWriMo, good luck making your word count goals.

Gorgeous!

In that funny way that anyone who has googled a single specific fact and found themselves, hours later, in the most random and unexpected places can attest to, I have discovered this wonderful artist: Alberto Seveso.

Drops of ink in water, and the results are paint drops floating upwards, silk, fabric coiled about itself with a sensuousness that goes beyond... just beyond.

Go. Look. See.

A Year in the Life

Cross-posted from Red-Inked Leaf, my editing blog:

Up until this past year, I have edited numerous manuscripts. Some I have seen nearly from beginning to end, others only in fits and starts, some only a few pages. Such is the life of a writing group member.

Writing groups are a great way to gain experience as an editor, seeing how different people write, and different people to react to being edited. But it is a far cry from editing a manuscript from first read to final release.

Purple Haze took about a year from when I first received the manuscript until it was released into the wild. It's the first book I've edited with Savant Books and Publications, so in part, I wanted to take my time and see that I did it right. But I also needed to find the balance between writing my own work, teaching college-level English and Psychology, and editing nonfiction freelance (along with some weekly volunteer work, a vague semblance of a social life, and a year full of a number of health issues).

The first step, after an initial read-through, was to decide whether to edit a chunk of chapters and send those to the author, then do another chunk, and so on; or to edit the whole manuscript and send that. We opted for the former, running on enthusiasm and a desire to jump into it.

As I made edits and suggestions, I sent those out, and George edited them and sent them. I held off on my second round of edits, though, until I had gone through the whole manuscript. Then we started the process again.

At first, the focus was bigger ideas--content, plot, characterization. As those were edited, our focus narrowed to smaller issues, until it was line edits: grammar, punctuation, sentence structure.

It took about three or four rounds of "edit, send to author" before we felt comfortable passing it on to the proofreaders. At that point, we also starting working with the cover artist on the cover.


Now we are in the post-release marketing stage. So below is the press release of Purple Haze. Please read, and I hope you get the book, and pass along the description. Happy reading!

Savant Books Announces the Release of George Hudson's New Novel, "Purple Haze"

Savant Books and Publications LLC, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, announces the release of George Hudson's novel of past and present murder and intrigue, "Purple Haze."

Savant Books and Publications LLC, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, announces the release of George Hudson's novel of past and present murder and intrigue, "Purple Haze."

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

George Hudson's "Purple Haze"

PRLog (Press Release) - Jul. 26, 2013 - HONOLULU --

A skull discovered in a lake leads FBI investigators Bryan Langston and Joe Mallory on a dangerous search for answers to a thirty-year-old unsolved murder. What they don't know is that there is someone still alive who will do whatever it takes to keep the truth buried, even if that

means killing again.

George Hudson was born in East Tennessee in 1947, into a family of seven other siblings. His life was deeply impacted by the Tennessee Valley Authority and by the lakes throughout the area in which he was raised. He has been a lifetime educator, teaching history in the public schools in Tennessee for thirty years. George also taught as an adjunct professor of history and is presently teaching at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. In his writing, he intersperses bits of history about the area to add local color and sentiment. He and his wife, Gail, live in Chattanooga.

"It's exciting to finally have this book available for all to read," says Hudson. "'It has been an untold story in my imagination for a long time."

"Purple Haze" by George Hudson - 274 pages - 6" x 9" Trade Book - Color Softcover. ISBN 9780988664050. Suggested retail price $16.95. Released in July 2013 by Savant Books and Publications, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.

This book is available from the publisher, printer and Amazon.com at

http://www.savantbooksandpublications.com/9780988664050.php

from Savant Bookstore Honolulu at

http://www.savantbookstorehonolulu.com

and directly from Amazon.com at

http://www.amazon.com/Purple-Haze-George-Hudson/dp/0988664054/

Savant Books and Publications LLC is a publisher of enduring literature and media for the 21st Century. For more information visit www.savantbooksandpublications.com

First Book Release as Editor: Purple Haze by George Hudson

I've mentioned a few times that I have been editing for a local publisher. It's been about a year since I first met with the senior editor and founder of Savant Books and Publications. I've gone through the interview, the training, the waiting for a manuscript, and the lengthy process of editing an unfamiliar story and working with a new author (in the midst of teaching, and for a time, editing someone else's psych dissertation).

Well, I am stoked to announce (though I am keeping the squeeing to a minimum), that today marks the release of my first edited work with Savant: Purple Haze by George Hudson. You'll be hearing more about it over the next few months, but I hope you'll take some time to check out the description. You can buy it directly from Savant, or through Amazon.

Purple Haze is about a murder investigation set in Tennessee. A skull is found in a lake, and a thirty-year-old mystery is brought to the surface...

Purple Haze