After reaching a certain milestone birthday, I decided to start giving myself a present. This present went beyond new yarn that may never unravel from its skein, or boots that I may only wear a handful of times before donating to charity.
One year I decided to be less judgmental. Another year I decided to focus on avoiding gossip. As I get a handle on one thing, I add something else. I never master it completely, because all humans are imperfect, created with an array of flaws which makes them susceptible to free will. I can keep trying, and for the most part I do.
For 2016 I decided I would take on six things that terrify me. (If I'm being perfectly honest, the thought of making this list alone takes me to the outskirts of Anxiety Attack Land.)
Some of these might not seem that scary on the surface. Consider however that with each birthday that creeps up on me, I experience a little more social anxiety. Things that never bothered me before are suddenly problems of epic proportion.
Speaking of terrifying...let me introduce you to my favorite Doctor Who villain, the weeping angels.
What terrifies you? Will you challenge yourself to try something terrifying in 2016? Let's talk about it in the comments section below.
A couple of days ago, I read an NPR article about the word girl in book titles. The article discussed how publishers promote books by comparing them to other books. While they were talking about the title, comparing books is a tactic authors should consider using when shopping their books around to agents and publishers.
Jane Friedman, Co-Founder and Editor at The Hot Sheet, Columnist at Publishers Weekly and Instructor, Media Studies at University of Virginia, agrees when it comes to comparing your books to other authors in a query letter, "This can be helpful as long as you do it tastefully, and without self-aggrandizement. It’s usually best to compare the work in terms of style, voice, or theme, rather than in terms of sales, success, or quality."
As you can see, the list covers a wide range of genres including, but certainly not limited to, cozy mystery, horror, historical fiction, and young adult. The use of 'girl' in the title is hardly a new trend (Pioneer Girl, anyone?), so why does it work?
"I have talked to other crime writers that have been urged by various professional people in their life to put the world girl in their title," Crime novelist Megan Abbott said in the NPR interview. She went on to say the use of 'girl' in the title isn't about the content, but instead is a kind of shorthand letting others know what to expect.
Maybe it's because, as Cyndi Lauper said, Girls Just Want to Have Fun?
Over the weekend I revamped one of the stories in my largely unpublished short story collection, Haunted Women of the Appalachians, which is still in an editing loop the size of the High Roller Ferris Wheel in Las Vegas, for the WV Writers annual writing contest. The NPR title has me rethinking the story's title. Maybe I should add "girl" to it and see what happens.
What do you think? I'd love to hear your theories in the comments section, below.
