Great Reads Friday: Seal Woman by Solveig Eggerz

Solveig Eggerz was born in Iceland.  "My ancestors wrote when they had time," she says. "The older they got, the more they wrote. My great-great grandfather, Friðrik Eggerz, a farmer and a protestant minister, wrote his autobiography when he was in his eighties, a book that documented 19th century Icelandic regional history; my grandfather, Sigurður Eggerz, twice prime minister of Iceland, wrote plays and essays. My father, Pétur Eggerz, a foreign service officer, wrote fiction and non-fiction until the day he died at age 80." Solveig has worked as a journalist and professor of writing and research. She has lived in Germany and now resides in Alexandria, Virginia.  As my Great Reads feature returns, I'm so happy to be able to share with you her book, Seal Woman - this week's Great Read!

In the rubble of post-World War II Berlin, artist Charlotte flees her past and everything she's lost by responding to an ad calling for strong women who can cook and do farm work in Iceland. But painful memories and ghosts follow Charlotte as she struggles to make a new life in a raw and rugged landscape. This debut novel celebrates the twin powers of storytelling and art as ways to reassemble the fragments of Charlotte's broken self and move her-and everyone she loves-toward peace. This novel won first prize for fiction from the Maryland Writers' Association.

What do readers say?

"Solveig Eggerz brings to life post-war rural Iceland and wartime Berlin in this character study that weaves the reality of Charlotte's difficult and tragic life with the Icelandic myths and magic of her adopted country. A book that recalls the genius of Isabel Allende, the author tells the story of a German woman fleeing her country and her past to build a new life in Iceland. With vivid descriptions of the beautiful yet bleak Icelandic environment, readers learn of Charlotte's strength even as she battles the memories of her past. This page-turner will appeal to anyone who enjoyed reading the Icelandic sagas, Isabel Allende, or about World War II and Iceland. " - P.B.

Visit Solveig Eggerz' website to find out more!

Or buy today from Amazon.com!

The Stages of a Writer's Career, Part 1: Finishing Your First Novel

Well, my writing blog has been on hiatus for the past few weeks, and now that it's back I thought it might be fun to take a broad look at the life and career of a novelist.  Just like any other career path, writing has certain stages of evolution - rungs on the ladder to fame and fortune (or so I keep telling myself!).  The following isn't based on any scholarly work or expert opinion, it's just a few observations of myself and others.  I hope you find it helpful!

Stage One: Finishing Your First Novel

Deciding to be a novelist is a little bit like saying, "I want to be a mountain climber," and then running right out to tackle Mount Everest!  There isn't a lot of middle ground.  We don't usually say, "I want to be a mountain climber; I think I'll start with that hill over there!"  No, typically we say, "I want to be a novelist," and then sit down and attempt to churn out a 300,000 word volume of painfully personal material, trying to make it both entertaining and literary.  Or maybe that was just me.

So where does that leave us? 

Challenges - One of the biggest challenge that I've found with trying to be a writer is that no one can really teach us how to do it.  I mean, we can (and should!) learn grammar and punctuation, story structure and characterization, how to phrase action scenes and how to handle exposition.  But the truth is we don't know how to write until we actually sit down and do it - and do it a lot.

Another challenge is that when we first start to write we don't know if we're any good.  Writing can be a fairly painful exercise.  What if we're terrible at it?  What if all this suffering is for nothing? 

And last but not least is the subject of motivation.  It can be very difficult to stay motivated, to push through the rough parts of your book - the parts you don't want to write - and keep working at it.

Helpful Hints - When it comes to writing, there are no easy answers, no cure-alls, no tube of magic cream that says "apply to forehead and become a genius writer!"  (And believe me, I've looked!)  But there are a couple things that you may find helpful:

Learn your craft.  Okay, it may seem like I'm contradicting myself here!  Didn't I just say "no one can teach you how to do it"?  Yes, it's true, I did.  However, what I have found time and time again is this: knowing your craft will give you something to fall back on when the writing gets hard.  Or when your muse has gone off to play someplace else, leaving you bereft and alone at the keyboard, staring at an unmoving cursor.  So buy some books, take some workshops, find some good writing blogs (ahem!), etc.  Learn your craft and write, write, write.  You'll be happy that you did.

Figure out where and when you write best.  Every artist is different.  Our work looks, sounds, and reads differently from one another.  It makes sense that our production habits will be as unique as we are.  Personally, I write best either in a busy public place or sitting in the big chair in my living room.  A friend of mine can't write in a coffee shop, but she can write while watching TV, which is something I've never been able to do (and yes in case you're wondering, I am totally jealous of her!).  So don't think that you have to chain yourself to your desk; maybe you need to chain yourself to a lawn chair, or lie on the floor of your dining room.  What works for you? Wherever you're happiest writing is probably the place where you're going to get the most work done.

Find a writing buddy.  When I was trying to finish my first novel, the thing that saved me was having a "writing buddy."  Somebody to crack the metaphoric whip and ask me, "Where are your new pages?" on a weekly basis.  It's interesting how much can be accomplished when someone's demanding it!  So consider finding a writing buddy, or an accountability partner, or a critique group.  This may not work for everybody, but give it a try and see if it helps.

Next week we'll look at Stage Two: Trying to get published for the first time!

What kind of challenges are you facing (or did you face) in finishing your first book?

Introducing Movie Monday...er, on Sunday!

Happy Oscar Day, everyone!  Yes, the Academy Awards are finally here, and we can all gather 'round the merry twinkling of our televisions, basking in the glow of Hollywood's brightest stars.  It's hard to believe that the first Academy Award celebration was held almost 82 years ago, on May 16, 1929.  It wasn't televised then, because television hadn't been invented yet!  And the winners had already been announced (on February 18th), so the nominees weren't on pins and needles, waiting to see if their name would be called at the right moment. 

A lot has changed, but the way I hear it, the golden statuette itself is still very much like those handed out over eight decades ago: a knight with a sword, standing on a reel of film.  They were sculpted out of solid bronze by George Stanley.

(Pictured left: the statuette given to Edwin J. Burke for his screenplay adaptation of Bad Girl.  Oh, that Oscar...he's just as handsome as ever, isn't he?)

Well, we all celebrate the Academy Awards in our own way.  Some of us throw parties and circulate hor d'eouvres; some of us pile onto the sofa in our jammies with popcorn at the ready; some of us dress up in Oscar de la Renta and walk the red carpet.  (What, you've never done it? But you must, darling, you must!) 

Personally, I've decided to celebrate by starting a new feature on my blog: Movie Monday.  I'm going to watch every movie that has ever been nominated for Best Picture.  Not all at once, of course!  My idea is to watch a year's worth of movies every week.  Yes, it will take over a year to work through the entire list, but oh, the movies we shall see!  That places we shall go through the imagination and talent of 80+ years of film makers. 

Now, I have to warn you, there are one or two (or three or four) movies that I haven't been able to find yet on home video.  But thanks to the miracle of modern technology, most of these classics are available for viewing, and view them I shall!

Next Monday (March 7), we'll kick this off with the three pictures which were nominated on the very first year that the golden Mr. Oscar was handed out. 

So, who are you rooting for this year?