Doesn’t “Scott” look marvelously creepy?

I do a lot of events, and most of said events usually include a question and answer session at which I am asked a question something like this:

What do you think of Twilight/Harry Potter/vampire books/fanfic/The Downfall of Literature?

I get the feeling most people expect me to launch into some kind of tirade about how they suck and are diminishing the grand world of books for one and all, but they are bound to be disappointed.

You see, I’m what you could call a catholic or voracious reader, a person who will peruse the shampoo bottle or the Penny Saver as long as it’s covered in words.

Somewhere along the line, I got hooked on reading.  Not just by Dickens, Alcott, Wilder and Brontë, but by the lesser goddesses of literature…V.C. Andrews, Francine Pascal, and Ann M. Martin, to name a few.

I don’t have any problem with books that get people hooked on other books.  In fact, I would rather someone read 29,252 Sweet Valley High SuperSpecials (if only!) or Dollenganger monstrosities or Twilight/Miley Cyrus crossover fan fic and never encountered a word of Austen or Colette than never learned to love reading at all.

Books can be gateway drugs, my friends.  I saw my brothers become voracious readers thanks to a nerdy magician named Harry.  I watched my English as a second language, indifferent-to-books-on-a-good-day mentee get reeled into the wide world of YA by issue novels of questionable quality.  After all, who am I to tell someone what they can or can’t enjoy?

My own reading habits are not always high-brow or impressive…in fact, I could (and probably should) write a whole blog post about my love/hate relationship with women’s magazines.  I’m never going to apologize for loving me some series romance, fan fiction, or celebrity memoir.  And neither should you.

Ever feel curious about the oh-so-prolific painter of the fabled Sweet Valley High covers?  Here’s a great pic of Jimmy at work via The Dairi Burger. Is it wrong that I really want to commission a piece of SVH-style art from him? 

Tonight I had the pleasure of speaking with the North Metro Area Writers’ Meetup on the idea that leaning into your unique voice, purpose, and path can bolster a writing career. In my experience, when you stop thinking like a supporting character and start accepting a leading role in your writing life, interesting things happen.

Ordinary Jerrica...or Holograms Lead Singer Jem?

Too often, we’re fed the line that writers merely have their ear to the floor, that they’re glorified secretaries taking dictation from finicky muses.  I’m never going to claim that writing isn’t (freaking) mysterious, but I do think that it’s too easy to discount ourselves in the process.  Instead of railing against the unfairness of there being approximately three story ideas ever, none of them original, we would do well to lean into what we bring to the table.

Maybe our Brooklyn childhood and WPA political schooling taught us to look out for detail about the poor immigrants who make the machine of the United States go (Betty Smith).  Maybe our brother shot us in the eye and taught us to see things slightly askew (Alice Walker).  Maybe we want to bring a bit of magic into the world (Frances Hodgson Burnett).  Each of these authors tackled the coming-of-age story, but they did it so uniquely and with such beautiful difference that we will always view them as individuals.

Along with many writers I know, I’m thinking a lot about My Next Step.  What do I bring to the table?  What do I suck at?  What can I live with?  What perspective is unique to the enthusiastically vestigial Southern Californian history nerd with the scarred-up roller derby knee and the obsession with the everyday details of history?  At times like this, I lean into the possibility of Erin-as-protagonist, secure that at the very least, I’m in good company.

Notes from my first edit of The Heroine's Bookshelf. It was bad, people.

There are lots of things I never anticipated when I hit “send” on the manuscript I named and renamed silly things like “Fabulosity Squared” and “All-Around Documentness” just so I could get. through. writing.  Enough to fill another book entirely.

A three-event week, for example, mere days before the six-month anniversary of The Heroine’s Bookshelf.*

An amazing invitation that I’ll talk about later.  A really personally satisfying rights offer that will be disclosed in its good time.

Imagine my surprise when yesterday I was congratulated by one, two, then three other authors at the Englewood Public Library’s annual Meet The Faces Behind the Books Fair.  I was clueless, but gracious.  And then confused, but not for too long.

You see, the congratulations of my much savvier colleagues were followed by confirmation that The Heroine’s Bookshelf is one of three finalists for the non-fiction category of the Colorado Book Award!**

*jaw drops*
*blink*

I didn’t write my book for recognition.  I wrote it as a thank-you to the books that helped me get through life for so long and that still bolster my mood and my confidence on down days.  I wrote it because I couldn’t find the book I longed to read on my own shelf.

Recognition?  That’s a bunch of sprinkles on top of the cherry that’s already on top.  Completely unexpected…entirely satisfying.  On June 24, I’ll be in Aspen feeling nervous and excited for my own chance at recognition and the other nominees.  Until then, I’ll work on getting this jaw closed.

*which anniversary is tomorrow, and shall be celebrated apace!
**as announced on their Facebook page this Friday

Last night I had the pleasure of doing a book talk at Littleton’s Bemis Public Library…and was pleasantly surprised by a room full of early, engaged, and extremely bookish women who spanned 15 and 85 or so.  They listened intently, asked killer questions, and were altogether lovely to spend an evening speaking with.

As usual, I learned much more from them than they did from me.

One of the women told me that she’s a member of Friends of the Library and that she derives great pleasure knowing that her contributions of time and money keep the library open. She remarked that even in an age of Kindles and closing book stores, it means a lot to her to have a library where she can meet with likeminded people, check out books, and contribute to her community.

Her comments really made me remember what I love about libraries.  Libraries are our gathering places, our public spaces, our portals to something that is bigger than us but part of us. Libraries are run by gracious, hardworking, often underpaid staff members who must remain invariably patient and tolerant of their patrons, their budget restrictions, and the challenges that come with their ever-changing profession.  They’re patronized by people of all ages, ethnicities, gender identifications, religions, and political persuasions.  They belong to us, and they’re here because of us…reluctant readers and friends of the library alike.

Maybe it’s because it’s National Library Week, but I find myself getting verklempt just thinking about it.  Truly, madly, deeply — I love libraries.

When people hear that The Heroine’s Bookshelf deals with “classic” authors and books, there are two normal reactions:  the thrilled intake of breath…or the heaving, miserable sigh.  You know the one.  It’s the sigh that says “oh, GOD, here we go again.  She’s going to force a bunch of dowdy, out-of-date, unreadable yet somehow supposedly relevant trash down my throat.”  You can almost hear the death rattle.

To this I usually say something like “RELAX!  Books can’t bite!”, which is true.

But there’s more to the story.

This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force. - Dorothy Parker

Blame terrible high school English teachers or The Academy or what you will, classics have a bad reputation these days.  Somehow, over time, living books got thrown in the vast garbage dump of memory, acquiring all of the sour non-appeal of books unread, unwanted, and unloved.  And while I have a teensy-tiny problem with the idea of naming an entire group of books “classic” while leaving another set of books entirely out of the equation, I don’t think classics are half bad.

Yes, this is coming from someone who read Jane Eyre for the first time at the tender, too-young age of 8.

But it’s also coming from someone who is frustrated with the status quo.

The accepted definition of classic seems to go something like this:

Old + Boring + Critically Acclaimed + [bonus points if written by a man] = CLASSIC

Yeah.  Not so much. Who says a book has to be old and boring to be classic?

I propose that we reverse the paradigm…shake things up a bit…give credit where credit is due.  I’d like to reframe classic as something that matters and excites.  After all, that’s how I think of my favorite books.

In the world of Erin, CLASSIC = Timeless + Fearless + Engaging.  This paradigm looks for relevance and signs of life.  It also renders books such as Thackeray’s Vanity Fair (a supposed Classic we are all told we must read and love) non-classic, while elevating a book like Jacqueline Susanne’s deliciously trashy Valley of the Dolls to Classic status.  And I’m at peace with that.

So…what do you think of my formula?  Can a classic be new, “trashy,” or non-canonically accepted? Let me know.

If you’ve read The Heroine’s Bookshelf, you’ll know that I come from San Diego, CA. I never felt self-conscious about my speaking voice until I started my first year at Smith College in Massachusetts (I shall leave out the period of time I lived in Germany, which was another kind of speaking anxiety altogether). When I got to Smith, I didn’t just hear a bunch of new accents…I realized I had one, and that it had a kind of class/intelligence implication to some of my schoolmates and teachers. I started to feel really nervous about the sound of my own voice, even though I’ve always been a big talker.

A decade later, I’m a bit more accepting of my voice. I’ve worked hard to eliminate “like” from anything but casual conversation. Cue many opportunities to speak. From book clubs to conferences to groups of interested parties (I just did a really fun workshop at the Boulder Writers Meetup and am thrilled to have been invited to speak to the Denver/Boulder Jane Austen Society tomorrow) to interviews (this just in from Blackstone Audio…a conversation with the narrator of my book, Tavia Gilbert), I am called upon not only to say something, but to have something to say. And I find that I really like it.

In a way, this is all about layers, self-confidence, and security. Speaking to a group is just as thrilling, terrifying and instructive as writing, and I always learn something about myself along the way. Something else I’ve learned, though, not only from a career of counseling and training clients, is that effective speaking is also about listening, so don’t be surprised if I ask you some questions during my talks.

I guess I never realized that I might have something interesting to say!

This is a mere sample of the wonderful prizes donated by me, my amazing guest bloggers, my venerable publisher HarperCollins and the very generous and fabulous Blackstone Audio.

And physical and audio books aren’t the only literary treats to come…not by a long shot.

What can you do to spread the heroine love?

Share with your friends on Facebook (just go to the event, click “I’m attending,” and then click “Share”)

Tell your friends on Twitter with this shortened link: http://ow.ly/3LlqA

Download pretty gifs, logos and more to share with friends on your blog or website.

Invite friends to Heroine Love on Goodreads!

Okay, back to writing, scheming, and planning to make this the best event ever.

12 book bloggers… 30+ literary prizes…One swoony month of Heroine Love!

Join The Heroine’s Bookshelf for Heroine Love Feb 1-18
Celebrate literary heroines with guest posts from 12 amazing book bloggers
Win audiobooks, autographed copies, and more every week day
Qualify for a Grand Prize Pack on Feb 18…just enter a weekday giveaway!

Featured Bloggers

30+ prizes were donated by yours truly, my fabulous guest bloggers, HarperCollins, and Blackstone Audio!

YOU know.

I was very honored when the estimable Boulder Book Store invited me to speak to book clubs at their annual book club event.  I arrived very nervous and breathless and then listened in heaven as book reps from Hachette, Random House, and Macmillan spoke about their favorite book club picks.  The book store staff was also able to weigh in, and the list was both esoteric and completely tempting…I had to keep myself from running away immediately to bury myself in books, never to emerge again.  I reconsidered, but it was hard.  (Complete lists below)

I also had the pleasure of speaking briefly to the group and pointing out a few of my picks.  I told them about my book club guide and my standing offer to appear via Skype or in person at any book group who asks me…and I was rewarded by a really warm and lovely reception.

One of the fabulous things Mandy, the event coordinator and head of the BB’s fiction book club, was able to do was solicit anonymous questions from the crowd related to book clubs.  These included “How should our group deal with overbearing members?” (Mandy’s hint:  use humor and come to a group code of conduct) and “Should someone in the group have read each book we select?”  (Head buyer Arsen’s answer:  sometimes.  His group selects only 1/3 of their selections unread.)  I loved how the event really addressed the realities faced by book clubs before pampering them with free books and book chat galore.

On my way down, I caught a photo of something that made ME grin from ear to ear:  The Heroine’s Bookshelf in the #2 slot on the store’s list of Boulder Best Sellers!  I was told that it was at #1 for several days before falling to the #2 slot.  WOW.  Was not expecting that.  Was not expecting that at all.

The Books

Boulder’s Book Club Bestsellers:

• Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery
• Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout
• Cutting for Stone, by Abraham Verghese
• The Healing of America, by T.R. Reid
• The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows
• People of the Book, by Geraldine Brooks
• Little Bee, by Chris Cleave
• Half Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls

Recommendations by Randy Hickernell, Sales Representative, The Hachette Group:

• Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace
• The Good Sister, by Drusilla Campbell
• The Cradle, by Patrick Somerville
• The Girl She Used To Be, by David Cristofano
• God is Not Great, by Christopher Hitchens
• Girls in Trucks, by Katie Crouch

Recommendations by Ron Smith, Sales Representative, Random House:

• Commencement, by J. Courtney Sullivan
• The Bolter, by Frances Osborne
• One Day, by David Nichols
• After the Fire, a Still Small Voice, by Evie Wyld
• Mr. Toppit, by Charles Elton
• The Glass Room, by Simon Mawer

Recommendations by Jeff Cope, Sales Representative, Macmillan:

• Wolf Hall, by Hillary Mantel
• The Three Weissmans of Westport, by Cathleen Schine
• One Good Dog, by Susan Wilson
• Valeria’s Last Stand, by Marc Fitten
• Skippy Dies, by Paul Murray
• Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen

Recommendations by Erin Blakemore:

• Emily of Deep Valley, by Maud Hart Lovelace
• A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick
• Russian Winter, by Daphne Kalotay

Recommendations by Christine:

• Let The Great World Spin, by Colum McCann
• Brooklyn, by Colm Toibin

Recommendations by Digs:

• Storm of the i, by Tina Collen
• Neurosis & Human Growth, by Karen Horney
• The Republic of Plato, translated by Allen Bloom

Recommendations by Arsen:

• The Lemon Tree, by Sandy Tolan
• Old Filth, by Jane Gardam
• New World Monkeys, by Nancy Mauro

Recommendations by Mandy:

• The Mountain Lion, by Jean Stafford
• Undercover, by Beth Kephart
• The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak