Out & About Without the Baby

Posted on by Beth Hull

with baby

When you’re out and about WITH the baby, strangers smile at you. Or, rather, they smile at your baby, and you smile back because otherwise it’s just kind of awkward. It’s not like the baby regularly smiles back. Plus, even if you look like hell, you’ve got a twenty-pound excuse on your hip or in your shopping cart, and it’s an automatic pardon for wearing a sweatshirt with snot tracks all over it.

without baby

But when you’re out and about WITHOUT the baby, people ignore you. You’re ready to smile & answer questions about how old he is, or whether he’s talking/walking/doing magic tricks yet, because you’re accustomed to interacting with people in the grocery store or Target or the library or…okay, those are the only three places you go. But nobody looks back at you. You’re in an invisibility bubble. Because honestly, what’s interesting about a frumpy, slightly overweight woman who looks too tired to give a damn?

Home Library Challenge

Posted on by Beth Hull

How many times have you looked at the books on your shelf and thought, I should really stop buying books until I read the ones I have? If you’re like me, you think this all the time. I’ve expanded it to include, “I should really stop borrowing stacks of books from the library until I read the ones I have,” because I keep those library scanners going.

We’ve got a fairly largeish built-in bookcase (thanks Dad), and I’ve limited the books to fiction, other than the highest shelf and the lowest shelf (assorted classics in matchy-match binding on top; cookbooks (shudder) and gardening and some college literature anthologies on the bottom). So, my challenge:

I WILL READ – OR ATTEMPT TO READ – ALL THE BOOKS ON THAT BOOKCASE.

Do I need a timeline? It’s a big bookcase. But I have read a lot of them…at least half, I think. Well, let’s just see how far I can get by the end of the year, shall we?

I’m not going to finish each one, because frankly, there’s quite a bit of Kerouac. Each book will get a chance, though, of fifty pages (and that’s being darn generous, I think, because nowadays I’ll happily set a book down if it doesn’t hook me in the first five).

I’m also not going to re-read books which I have already read.

I’m also not reading the same books twice just because we have two different copies and/or editions (hello Bloomsbury Harry Potters, nestled next to their Scholastic kin!).

Some parenting and other nonfiction books have been lazily added to the bookcase. These do not count toward the challenge. They are only there because I don’t feel like carting them down to the basement (to the nonfiction bookcase) while holding a heavy baby in one arm. That sounds a bit dangerous.

YES, to answer your incredulous question, I HAVE SEPARATED MY READING MATERIAL BY GENRE. It comes from working in a bookstore. Or maybe it comes from being me.

les livres!

5 Reasons Why Writers Shouldn’t Drive

Posted on by Beth Hull

Woo! Back from my Social Media Blackout. It was very refreshing. While I’m happy to be back and check in with people, I’m coming away from this with a definite desire to set more limits on my social media use.

A comment a writer friend made got me thinking of…this. Blech. Let’s just jump in, shall we?

1. Fictional Worlds I.

You may think the writer present, noting details about her surroundings. This happens on occasion. But writers are often off in alternate realities. Another time, another place. With other people. Figuring out a plot issue, or having imaginary conversations with talkative characters (SHUT UP!). Suddenly the writer has missed several turns. She finds herself somewhere in Canada when she was trying to get to the corner store (in California) for chocolate.

2. Fictional Worlds II.

There is another, more secret kind of fictional world experienced by that of the writer (indeed, of any daydreamer). That of the fame and fortune that will, of course, inevitably be given the writer upon completion of her book. Imagining various scenarios in which she will be interviewed, how she will spend her humongous paychecks, where in Italy she plans to buy the villa – these thoughts are known to especially distract the writer whilst she drives to whatever mundane location happens to be on the day’s itinerary.

3. The Big Idea.

Ever have a sudden bolt of inspiration that just MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN? I have. Usually when I’m drifting off to sleep, taking a shower, or driving down the highway. It’s pretty easy to deal with. You stop what you’re doing, grab a pen and paper, and jot down the big idea (or super important rhyming couplet, as was a recent case for me). When driving, this is very important: PULL OVER FIRST. Sometimes pulling over isn’t possible. In which case you’re stuck either a) trying to fumble for a pen and paper and write something legible while driving 70 miles per hour (NOT RECOMMENDED), or b) repeating the bit of dialogue (or rhyming couplet) to yourself over and over until a proper pull-over place is found (NOT FUN BUT BETTER THAN DYING).

4. Words.

Words can be a problem. Specifically, for me, certain traffic directives can either totally get on my nerves, and/or provide more than a years’ worth of imagined debates. Take, for instance, SPEED LIMIT 25 WHEN CHILDREN ARE PRESENT. It’s so ambiguous! Where do the children have to be, to be considered “present”? On the street? Behind the fences at the school? In their houses? In my car? Also, if you see a child, you slow to 25, I was told. What if the 25 mph zone continues for quite some time but there are NO other children? Can you speed up again? People frequently do. My latest beef with that particular directive is I’m trying to grammatically figure out if I have to slow down when there is only one kid. Child. Singular. Or if I have to see two kids (children, plural, as the sign says) before I must slow to 25. Either I’m distracted by the words themselves, or trying to convince an imaginary traffic cop, judge, or my sheriff brother of why I did the right thing. (Lest anyone think I’m an irresponsible driver, let me assure you: if I see a kid, I slow to 25 until I’m all the way through the school zone, end of story. I just like to argue with myself…and the people in my head.)

5. The Thoreauian Desire.

Sometimes I’ll be in the middle of a project, or trying to work out a  plot problem, and I just know that if I could get away for a couple days and have total solitude, I could get the thing figured out. It’s sometimes a real danger that on a solo trip to Target, I might take the freeway by mistake and wind up in a nice hotel two towns over with my cell phone turned off. This hasn’t happened…yet. Cancun is also a real possibility. I bet there are margaritas there.

(Total sidenote: Does anyone else ever feel like a total cheater when referencing classic novels they have not, and never intend to, read?)

Friday Five, the Whatever Edition

Posted on by Beth Hull

1. I have read oodles of good books lately, some of which were described in my last post. And there are more on the horizon! If I ever am not holding a book, little Maverick probably won’t recognize me.

2. “Little” Maverick is growing up! He’s got three little teeth nubs (very sharp), he’s crawling like a big boy (i.e. not “commando” style anymore), and he’s pulling himself to stand up against pretty much everything: me, the coffee table, his sister, our cat, the sliding glass door, his crib, the toilet…. I look at him and I look at Z, and I can’t believe he’s going to grow up, that I’m not going to be able to control him pick him up and cuddle him whenever I feel like it.

DSCN7319

And Maverick makes me giggle with the tried and true “pull all the toilet paper from the roll and bunch it on the floor” move.

3. Inspired by friend/fellow writer/health coach Jamie Weil, I made a vision board! Now, vision boards fall under the heading of “really cool creative things I could do to put off writing.” (Keeping vision boards company are things like character collages and detailed maps of fictional settings. And blog posts (see #5, below)). But I was feeling burnt out and overwhelmed with everything going on, and I have all these goals. So I got out some boxes of craft supplies and went to work. I’ve got family, healthy lifestyle (eating and exercising), and writing on there. There is no chocolate cake, because, unfortunately, chocolate cake does not support my goal of choosing foods that make me feel good in the long run.

4. Going along with the vision board & healthy eating, I made it through 21 days in a row of eating vegetables at lunch and dinner! And even though I accomplished my goal of 21 days, the habit carried through, and I ate vegetables with both of those meals yesterday. It feels great to succeed at something.

From habitforge.com

From habitforge.com

5. Despite that success, I’ve been feeling like I put the “suc” in success these days. Everywhere I go on the webternetz, I’m feeling insecure and like I have nothing good to add to conversations, and I’m really seriously considering giving up this blog because I haven’t been enjoying it. I love you all, I truly do. It’s just an added pressure lately, to come up with something to say that I don’t wholeheartedly hate. (And doesn’t sound like whining. Like this. See?!) This means it’s time for another Internet Blackout! The rules: I get 30 minutes per day to check email over the course of the next two weeks. No blogs, no Twitter, no Facebook. It’ll be tough but I think I’ll be mentally healthier for it. And my house might be cleaner, too. The Internet Blackout will commence tomorrow, and I’ll be back (maybe!) on Friday, February 22nd.

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On the Reading Horizon

Posted on by Beth Hull

Sort of unwittingly, I’ve accumulated a small mountain of books to read.

In no particular order. My brain doesn’t work orderly these days anyway.

  • Keeping the Castle, by Patrice Kindl. For everyone out there who is sad Jane Austen has finished writing books because they would like more Jane Austen-type stories, maybe with some extra, laugh-out-loud funny bits, this book is for YOU. I just finished it, and while it didn’t grab me immediately, the wacky names and endearingly humorous-but-naive main character kept me going.
  • Gidget, by Frederick Kohner. This one’s for research. Have yet to crack it open.
  • The History of Surfing, by Matt Warshaw. If this gigantic book did not cost $50 and take up so much space, I’d just buy it and save the poor people at the library the trouble of transfering it back and forth for me. It weighs about as much as a truck or a nine-month-old baby. I reserve it from another library branch, take it to my car with the library’s dolly (kidding), take it home, then read through the first quarter or so, and renew, renew, renew until it’s time to turn it in again. Such fascinating information! Such glorious photographs! Such a weighty tome!
  • Odd Girl Out, by Rachel Simmons. This book is has invaluable insights into girl bullying, or, as Simmons calls it, “relational aggression” among girls, plus a chapter on cyber bullying and another section on “sexting,” both of which scared the pants off me (but not in a sext-y way, get it? UGH).
  • Orchards, by Holly Thompson. I was talking with Helene Dunbar about novels in verse and she recommended this one. It’s about a half-Japanese, half-Jewish girl who spends a summer with family in Japan after the suicide of one of her classmates. (And girl bullying is involved! The connections! Amazing!) (Also, finished Orchards just before posting this. It was marvelous.)
  • Surf Mules, by G. Neri. More research. YA male POV. Didn’t grab me in the first few pages, but I’m going to give it a chance.
  • Through the Ever Night, by Veronica Rossi. I cannot wait for this one! With all the others in my queue, this one will be dessert.
  • Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline, by Becky A. Bailey. Recommended by PB Rippey. Looks very good. Like so many on this list, I want to read it NOW.
  • Invincible Summer, by Hannah Moskowitz. Another recommendation by Helene. YA male POV. Looks angsty, but in a good way.
  • Stick, by Andrew Smith. I finally had to tell Helene to cease and desist on the book recommendations, because my bookcase runneth over. Well, I haven’t told her that yet, but if she makes any more recommendations, we’ve got a full house. NO VACANCY.
  • The Good Braider, by Terry Farish. Another YA novel-in-verse, and historical, and I’m kind of afraid to read it because it deals with some heavy issues (heavier than teen suicide tackled in Orchards, above? Mayhap – part of it is about the main character’s journey from war-torn Sudan…”exploding shells” mentioned in the inside flap. I’m nervous).
  • Scratching the Horizon: A Surfing Life, by Izzy Paskowitz with Daniel Paisner. I hope to be pleasantly surprised by this one. The one surfer autobiography I’ve looked through so far was incredibly disappointing.
  • Girl in the Curl: A Century of Women in Surfing, by Andrea Gabbard. This one’s going to be really good, I can tell just from flipping through it. The organization isn’t exactly clear to me yet, but the photos and brief bio information about some of the surfers is priceless.

If you have book recommendations for me, I thank you so much but this is not the time! I should be finished with these sometime in February, so we’ll talk then.

And I mean February 2014.

(Also, yes, that’s Maverick’s tiny hand disrupting my beautiful display of books in the featured image above.)