Arts

Rainbow Snippets: Spoken For

Books, Fiction, Other Relationships, Writing

Happy Saturday! My kids are at the Teen Book Festival, getting their books signed by authors. They went with a group from their school. I’m a little envious that they’re meeting a few of my faves today!

Meanwhile, I’m busy plowing through the last of my stack of books for review. I’m taking the summer off to regroup and decide how I want to handle book reviews in the future. Stay tuned.

My snippet today is still from Nightsong. Val and Izzy have been on their way to pick up an unusual patient, and they’re passing the time listening to a Christian radio hit that wasn’t quite about Jesus. Six lines of dialog.

“You learn something new every day,” Val quipped. “I grew up on that shit. I still like some of it, and this song is so great. Made even better after the guy singing it came out.”

“He’s gay?” Not that Izzy wouldn’t have guessed, given that it was a man singing longingly about sucking off another man.

“Nah, he’s bi.” She grinned at Izzy’s arched eyebrow. “And spoken for, unfortunately. Wonder if it’s the guy from the song?”

“Hopefully.” Izzy chuckled. “Why’s it bad he’s taken? Since I know you have no interest, were you planning to call the station in hopes of setting me up with him?”

“Shut up. I’m not that bad. Am I?”

“You are. But I love you anyway.”

Rainbow Snippets is a safe and welcoming space for LGBTQIA+ authors, readers, and bloggers to share 6 sentences each week from a work of fiction—published or in-progress—or a book recommendation. Feel free to join in!

WIPpet Wednesday: Class time

Fiction, Other Relationships, Writing

Happy Wednesday! I seem to have picked up that head cold going around, but I’m finally feeling mostly better today. I need to find my focus again to finish some books for review and a couple of editing jobs.

Last night, my kids sang the national anthem with their school chorus at the local ballpark. If we’re friends on FB, you can see the video. And yep, that’s my 13yo you can hear because he’s loud. The next 5 weeks are the busiest we get aside from production week for the school musical. The rest of the track meets, three concerts, two dance recitals, two school ceremonies, one band competition, the teen book festival, and a partridge in a pear tree. Oy!

On to the WIPpet. I’m snipping some more of Cian (as if anyone needed a reason to like him more). He’s a dance instructor, and here, he’s with his students doing warm-ups. Note: Only girls typically wear ghillies for Irish dance. Boys wear split-sole jazz shoes (unlike in other traditional dances, where men wear ghillies too/instead). I’ve referred to both types collectively as soft shoes here, as the students are of more than one gender.

WIPmath: 5/17 = 17 – 5 = 12 sentences.

Cian Toomey led his students through their warm-ups and stretches. This class was a group of seven-, eight-, and nine-year-old beginners. He counted for them, using a gold-topped cane to visually mark time for the class. In their line, they practiced their steps to the beat he kept. They were all in soft shoes, and their feet landed in muffled thuds. Without his hearing aids in, Cian felt rather than heard the difference against the wood of the studio floor.

“Good, good!” He both spoke and signed to them. This class only had one deaf pupil, unlike his intermediate group. Cian felt that regardless of how many students needed him to sign, he would do it anyway. By the end of their first year, his hearing students picked up not only skill as dancers but a significant amount of ASL as well. He tried to do it in a way which didn’t feel forced, simply a natural consequence of seeing him do it.

Like what you read? Be sure to check out the other entries and add your own. Just post a bit of your WIP, connect it to the date, and link up with us. Many thanks to Emily Witt for giving us this space. Happy reading and writing!

Blog Tour & Review: Naming Rites by Gary Boelhower

Books, Reviews

About the Book

Title: Naming Rites

Author: Gary Boelhower

Release Date: May 16th 2017

Genre: Poetry

Goodreads

Synopsis

Gary Boelhower’s third collection of poems explores the ways we are named and branded with multiple identities, a clay vessel molded and imprinted from the inside and the outside by those who know us or think they do, by wounds, worries, stones, and nicknames, by place and absence, by teachers and traitors. Boelhower dares to name the body’s blows and pleasures and how they are celebrated in solitude and connection. His language soars with ecstasy and burrows into hidden places in the soul. His lyrics tell how the world’s pain lodges in the cells and how the fragrance of summer stars opens an aperture to healing. Boelhower is winner of the Foley Prize from America and the Midwest Book Award for his second collection Marrow, Muscle, Flight.

Purchase Links

Amazon US | Amazon UK

Review

This collection offers a wide range of subjects. I immersed myself in them because I couldn’t stop reading. Each section is different, offering another view of both the simplicity and complexity of life. There are poems about coming of age, discovering love, self-acceptance, and social justice. They might be best summed up as divided into two types: revealing and healing.

The poems I’m calling “revealing” are about exposing the human condition or peeling back the layers on our own identities and shortcomings. Those I’ve termed “healing” are refreshment for the soul and a reassurance that we are loved and there is good in the world.

There are a lot of themes about love, honesty, gratitude, and hope. The first section is probably my favorite. It’s highly sensory and speaks of both the rough and gentle sides of growing up in a rural community. I say “probably” because it’s difficult to settle on one set of poems that I liked better than another nor on a specific poem which stands out as my favorite.

I love when a book of poetry can so thoroughly draw me in and provide an engaging, sensory experience. While I understand that poetry may not be everyone’s cup of tea, these are worth reading. I ended up going through them quickly, both for reviewing and because I didn’t want to put the book down. However, now I want to go back through and read them more slowly and carefully, savoring them.

It’s difficult to capture in a single review just how much I loved these poems. All I can say is that they took me through a full range of emotions, and I’m a better person for having read them.

For beautiful words, a sensory experience, and the refreshment of my soul, this gets 10/10 fountain pens.

Excerpt

IN THE SILENCE

footsteps crunch on the cold snow

heaven’s full of falling mercy

the big arms of the pine

spread in prayer shawled in white

the whole everyday machine muffled

if everyone could say their name

in such silence we might hear

each one might send their small swirl

of hopes and prayers

spiraling out like sufi robes

in the dervish dance

and we might all

hear each other’s hands rise up

and we would know the one world’s song

all our rituals are attempts at listening

all our songs a preparation

for emptiness when our words

have all fallen away because we know

we are all whirling together

wherever you are however you do it

notice how we are all whirling together

in the great round dance

on this tiny rock with fire in its soul

through the grand galaxies

spinning with mercy and wonder

About the Author

Gary Boelhower’s poetry has been published in many anthologies and journals. His second collection of poems published in 2011, Marrow, Muscle, Flight won the Midwest Book Award. He was awarded the Foley Prize in poetry from America magazine in 2012 and a career development grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council in 2010. His recent nonfiction books include Choose Wisely: Practical Insights from Spiritual Traditions, and Mountain 10: Climbing the Labyrinth Within,(co-authored with Joe Miguez and Tricia Pearce). His third collection of poems, Naming Rites, was published in April by Holy Cow! Press. Gary teaches courses in spirituality, ethics and leadership at The College of St. Scholastica where he is a professor in the Theology and Religious Studies Department.

Giveaway

WIN a copy of Naming Rites and Marrow, Muscle, Flight by Gary Boelhower

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rainbow Snippets: On the Radio

Books, Fiction, Other Relationships, Writing

Happy Saturday! It’s been a great week here. My kids’ school participated in the local competition for the National High School Musical Theater Awards and walked away with multiple honors, including Outstanding Musical Production. Four of the high school students were selected to compete for a shot at the national competition in June.

On a much smaller scale, I’m still plugging away at my various projects. My paragraph above may give away a clue about why so much of what I write is music and/or arts-driven. I’m continuing to snip from Nightsong this week, part of my Notes from Boston series in which the performing arts feature heavily. Last time, EMTs Izzy and Val were sent to pick up a dinosaur skeleton. Here, they’re on the way. With no other emergencies to worry about, Val’s got the radio on. The song referred to here is central to the plot of the first book in the series. 6 (very short) paragraphs, mainly dialog, instead of 6 sentences.

Some song with a guy singing about what sounded like a hell of a blowjob came on. Izzy glanced at Val, who shrugged.

“What are you listening to?” he asked.

“It’s like an off-brand Top Forty.” She snickered. “They used to play this one on Christian radio, but now it’s a mainstream hit because it’s definitely not about the Good Lord.”

“I can hear the lyrics. Did you just say this was on Jesus Radio?”

Val laughed harder. “Yes! It was popular in the spring. Pretty sure no one had a clue.”

“Oh, I’m pretty sure they did.”

WIPpet Wednesday: On the surface

Writing

Happy Wednesday! We’re entering another round of performance season, so my schedule is full of concerts and recitals. Not to mention that my older one is running track this spring, so that means practices and meets.

Yesterday, I posted that I’m stepping away from book reviews for a bit. It’s become more than I can manage right now and is contributing to my stress. I don’t think I’ve read many books just for fun in the last couple of years, and I miss it.

Meanwhile, I’m continuing to work on multiple projects. My former missionary short story and Drumbeat are my priorities. Jamie and Cian finally got their act together and let me know why they don’t like each other (boils down to stubbornness and misunderstandings, but with good reasons behind both—what they have in common is being fierce advocates for what they believe is right). I’m continuing to post snippets from that, since I’m about halfway done with the first draft. Note: I didn’t write their signed conversation in ASL syntax because it doesn’t make for smooth reading.

WIPmath: 5/10/2017 = 10 + 2 + 1 + 7 = 20 sentences.

Cian slid into the seat beside Gemma, and she took his hand and squeezed it. They struck up a conversation, but Cian kept glancing over at Jamie, which made him uncomfortable. He wanted to leave, but it felt rude to do so when Cian had only been there a few minutes. It would be obvious Jamie didn’t want to be around him. Not that sitting there with no idea what to say to him was any better.

He caught Brandon telling Cian something about Jamie’s band, but he missed the rest of the exchange or why Brandon had explained. Jamie didn’t care. He went to take a sip of his drink and realized he’d finished it already. On the verge of going to the bar for another one, Jamie paused at the hand on his arm. It was warm, and the grip was firm but not unpleasantly so.

“You don’t have to go,” Cian said, his soft, lilting accent making the words sound almost teasing. His bright blue eyes twinkled, and Jamie caught a glimpse of Cian’s hearing aids. They were custom designed to look like silver snakes, twisting up and over his ear. Jamie liked the way they looked on him, though he would never say so.

Jamie nodded at the bar and signed, I was going to get another drink. You want something?

Cian looked surprised, but he acknowledged Jamie. Water, please.

The conversation had been almost friendly, but Jamie knew it was all on the surface. He twisted away from Cian and made his way to the bar to order their drinks.

On reviewing, burnout, and needing time off

Books, Reviews

This post is about exactly what the title implies.

I’ve been reviewing books, either for other blogs or my own, for about three years. It hadn’t been something I considered doing, but I was asked to join a website. I loved it. I had a brief break when my spouse was sick and I ended up behind. Aside from that, I was reviewing as many as 10 short stories, novellas, and novels per month. Sometimes more, sometimes fewer, but that was my average.

Last year, I branched out and began reviewing for blog tours. This was good for the same reason as reviewing for a website: There’s a buffer between me and the author. I hate to say this, and it’s not a reflection on all authors. But as a reviewer, this provided me an out if I didn’t enjoy a book or found that it had triggering content. I could briefly explain to the tour manager or the moderator of the review blog and leave it at that.

During that time, I began accepting books on my own for review. This has been both good and bad. On the one hand, a lot of what I get is stuff that’s not mainstream. Also, I love being able to support authors who can’t pay for a tour or don’t work for a publisher who does. I’ve had some excellent books cross my path, many of which I probably would’ve overlooked.

Unfortunately, there are also a lot of drawbacks. For one thing, I’m not anonymous and never have been. I don’t have a line of defense between myself and authors. In addition, I’m an author and editor myself, which can create a conflict of interest.

In the last six months or so, despite the fact that my reviews are always honest and generally positive, it hasn’t always ended well. Some authors haven’t been pleased even when I’ve given them a favorable rating if my words don’t glow. Others have harassed me via private message to demand I finish their book, even when I’ve been clear that the content either isn’t to my liking (and wasn’t what I expected from the blurb) or was upsetting for personal reasons.

Although I’m sure some people would then tell me I need a thicker skin, there are reasons why that’s both ridiculous and not something I want. I do not want to be a less sensitive person. It’s part of what drives me as an author. Aside from that, all I can say is, “No kidding.” Why do you think I want to get out of doing this? Obviously it’s taxing and anxiety-inducing; why would I want to continue?

For me, the biggest reason to put book reviews on hold is the conflict of interest. Amazon has strict rules about whether you “know” the author of a book and not reviewing if you’re published by the same house. This is an issue for me in building a readership for my own work. If I choose to enter an open call for a publisher’s anthology—a good way to meet other authors and get my work seen—I either have to use a pen name or stop reviewing all books from that publisher on Amazon. (Note: I don’t use my current legal name to write, but it was once my legal name, and I don’t hide my “real” identity.)

In addition, I can risk losing my writing community from providing negative reviews. I’m not talking about threats of “blacklisting.” I mean the interpersonal aspect. Hard feelings can develop which are difficult to move past. This is the very last thing I want to do because I support the work of my fellow authors, especially those who are independent or with small publishers.

So, I’m stepping back for a bit. I’m taking a break to regroup and decide if I want to accept individual requests after I return. I may decide it’s worth the risk, or I may not. Other options include rounding up a few others like me and forming a review collective so I’m not alone, or only accepting requests from publishers* or other go-betweens. I have yet to decide.

In the meantime, I have several books which I agreed to review already**, so I will provide those. I may also review books I have in waiting on my Kindle that were not from requests, just stuff I picked up for fun.

Until then, you can check out my other posts, mainly about writing or my WIPs. Happy reading and writing!

*I currently have a couple of publishers I’ve worked with, and I will continue to do so if the authors are interested.

**I have six books. If yours is on my list and I’ve already confirmed it, you will get a review. I’m not backing out.

Rainbow Snippets: Spoken For

WIPpet Wednesday: Class time