The Open Door

I'm often struck by the idea of privacy, and its frequent absence in our constantly media connected world. It's an underlying theme in my novel Perception, and lately I've had the opportunity to question some real life issues with our expectations of privacy.

Last year a law passed in the state of Florida that prohibits educators from discouraging a parent from bringing an outside party to an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting for his or her child. I won't unpack all the particulars, and this isn't a post about our education system in the US or our services for people with disabilities. Of course parents should be able to bring advocates to meetings. But that protection also extends to the media. If a parent chooses, she can bring the local news team, have them record the meeting, and broadcast it publicly. And the educator can't show an emotion that could be construed as discouraging.  

You may ask, "If the educators don't have anything to hide, why would they care?" My concern isn't with the educators or the parents, but for the child.

I post photos of my kids on Facebook, and I've even put a few on my blog. At some point, they may not appreciate that, and there's not anything I can do to take it back. When they're teens, molding their own Internet-public images with pictures, videos, and words, they'll have to live with the consequences of how they choose to represent themselves. Because if they act publicly, and someone else shares their information, there's nothing they can do to take that back, either.

In the past two days, five people I encountered in real life said to me, "I saw Son #2's [insert photo-worthy accomplishment]! That's great, tell him congratulations." I didn't post this information to the Internet, and neither did my husband. I didn't even get a notification through social media that I had been tagged in said event and photo album. It's a great thing, and I'm proud of him. I'm not remotely bothered that my friend chose to share this information. But what if it had been something I didn't want public? Or something he didn't?

Future employers and friends may be able to see with one click a full biography of my kids' lives, not of their making. Big Data scares me worse than Skynet.

While I was picking up my kids from school yesterday, I watched an adult yell animatedly at the child in her care. (I was in the car with my windows closed, so I did not hear what she said.) I wondered if I pulled out my phone, videoed the exchange, and showed it to her, how she would feel. Would she be proud of words and actions? Would I have been in my rights to take that video and upload it, as an example what a screaming parent looks like? And how would it affect the child, to have that moment immortalized?

Should children have a right to an expectation of privacy? For my hypothetical child with an IEP, should a parent have the right to expose her child's disability and the comments made by a team of people about her, to the world via the local news, even if her intention was to fight for that child's rights?

Like a friend of mine says weekly, I'm glad All the Things--Internet, Mobile Phones, etc.--weren't around in this capacity when we were teenagers.

Music for today: Every Breath You Take by The Police

Manuscript Music

This week the lovely Leatrice McKinney at Info Dump a la El is hosting Pitch Slam: Battle of the Bands!  In addition to pitching novels, each day this week we're rocking Pitch Slam Twitter Parties. Today we're sharing our writing playlists. 

My YA novel PERCEPTION is about a boy with a rare liver disorder who spends one wild night trying to forget his disease and exposes disturbing new neurological symptoms instead. Grounded, wanted by experimenting doctors and government informants, and falling for the girl who snitched on him, he faces treatment as a lab rat or freedom while sacrificing recovery. 

Here are some of the songs on my Perception Playlist!  

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday is a blog hop created and hosted by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to connect and encourage writers. Please visit their blogs to join in the fun!

Click here to buy it locally through Indie Bound

WHAT I'M READING

This week I'm reading Cherry Money Baby by author and agent extraordinaire John M. Cusick. I'm really enjoying Cherry's distinctive voice and the authentic family relationships.

WHAT I'M WRITING

I'm 5,000 words in to the shiny, new WIP! It's taking more research than I'd expected, which has kept me from moving as quickly as I'd like. But my main character--this girl is something else. I just hope I can keep up with her. I'm even more crazy about her than I was when I started with my last MC. My goal is to have the first draft finished before my boys are out of school for the summer, and for now that seems feasible.

WHAT INSPIRES ME RIGHT NOW

My friend and critique partner Angelica R. Jackson has amazing news! Her book Crow's Rest sold to Spencer Hill Press, with a release date of May 15, 2015. I can't wait for this book to make it out into the world, and I am so happy for her. Seeing her take this next step on her journey inspires me to keep up my own persistence and writing fortitude. Congratulations, Angelica!

And on another front of CP news... Since I started writing seriously, I've been looking for a local critique group. I have many amazing critique partners, including Angelica, who I've met at conferences and through the Internet. But we're spread out across the country. I'm greedy, I know, but I want more. I want more CPs and betas, with an in-person perspective. The existing writing groups in Jacksonville mostly focus on adult books, so through the SCBWI, I'm starting a local children's book critique group. We're still in the planning stages, but I'm so excited about what's to come.

WHAT ELSE I'VE BEEN UP TO

It's been far too long since I went to a concert, and that will be remedied tomorrow night. Local Natives are playing here on Thursday. I've been counting down the days. They have a soulful, indie style with beautiful lyrics. Here's an example of the images they create, from the song Heavy Feet:

Powder in your hair
Staples in your jeans
Fireworks in the water
You were holding
A styrofoam cup
Held between your teeth
Telling me how you're going to outlive your body

You can check out their latest album Hummingbird here.

I can't wait to see what the rest of you are up to this week!

What's Up Wednesday

What's Up Wednesday is a weekly blog hop hosted by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk. Please check out their blogs to join in the fun!



What I'm Reading

A few years overdue, I just finished Maggie Stiefvater's Forever. I've said it before, but Stiefvater is an amazing writer. She has a talent for fleshing out characters and writing multi-sensory descriptions. But the highlight of this trilogy is the love story between Sam and Grace. I'm glad I finally crossed the ending to this series off my TBR list.

What I'm Writing

This week I'm polishing my query, short pitches, synopsis, and the opening chapters of my YA novel Perception. This whole process should have me anxious and nervous, but I'm actually just excited to get it out there and start work on my next project. These new characters won't quit bugging me, and I'm ready to meet them on the page.

What Inspires Me Right Now

Speaking of those pesky new characters--on Monday I met with a lawyer friend to discuss a multitude of family law topics for research on my new manuscript. I didn't want to hinge my plot on legal situations that weren't plausible, and as it turns out, I have several different avenues to explore with my main gal. I am so ready to find out where she'll go, and how she'll get herself out of sticky situations!

What Else I've Been Up To

This weekend my nephew got married. My husband and my youngest son were both in the wedding, and it was beautiful. The bride is a wedding and event planner, so you can imagine just how spectacular it was. I was so grateful for the time to be together as a family, celebrating. But I also left with a secret emotion simmering below the surface. Weddings used to fill me with joy and hope for the future, but this time....I felt a little sad.

I'm hopeful and happy for the newlyweds, but I can't help thinking about how time seems to speed up when we get older. My niece's children are the young and wiggly kind who can't sit still in church. Her husband asked, sarcastically, if I missed having children that age. I'm glad mine are older now, but I felt sad because that time of angelic faces and delightful squeals just doesn't last, and I'll never experience it as a parent again.

My sister-in-law has one in college and a junior in high school. The older one? She was the flower girl at my wedding. I'm happy and excited for both kids as they make that transition into adulthood, with all of the promise it holds. But they remind me that if I blink, my sons will be in those same places, and these days of loving Harry Potter and building Lego sets will vanish like the unpredictable smiles and wonder of the little ones.

Okay, okay, enough melancholy for one day. Back to the polishing trenches! I look forward to seeing what you fellow blog-hoppers have been up to!

Music for today: Wake Up by Arcade Fire

What's Up Wednesday

I am so thrilled to join What's Up Wednesday for the first time! WUW is a weekly blog hop developed by Jaime Morrow and Erin Funk to help writers connect with each other. If you'd like to join, too, please drop by Jaime's blog to add your post to the list!

What I'm Reading...

Buy it here

I finished Holly Black's The Coldest Girl in Coldtown a few days ago. It was amazing. It was so crazy good that I had to wait before starting something new, because I just wanted to think about how she pulled it off.

In this market, surely people said No One could sell a vampire book right now. And Holly Black just laughed and said, "Watch me. I'll write the best vampire book you've ever read."

Her characters are believable and flawed. They remind you of people you know. And ultimately this isn't a book about vampires; it's about how people react when they're hurt, and the double-edged swords of revenge and mercy.

After a two day grace period, I started Jonathan Maberry's Fire & Ash, the conclusion to the Rot & Ruin Series. I'm enjoying it so far, and I can't wait to see how he pulls it all together.

What I'm Writing...

The WIP went to beta readers this week. I'm excited and nervous for so many reasons. I can't wait to hear the feedback, and I hope that they agree that it's time to send it out into the world. I know that next step is full of highs and lows, but I'm positive that this book is THE ONE. I also can't wait to get all my research in a row and start drafting my next novel. The drafting is my favorite part, so that might be the most exiting horizon in my immediate future.

What Inspires Me Right Now...

Every morning when I take my kids to school, I pass this abandoned neighborhood. It was slated to start before the recession hit, but no homes were ever built there. This little snapshot reminds me everyday of the next WIP, and I'm loving the thought of building my characters' world. I also felt super creepy stopping to take pictures, but I'm afraid that things might turn around, and they may actually start cleaning things up soon.


What Else I've Been Up To...

Well, my old blogging buddies may have noticed a few changes here on the website. I officially made the switch from my Blogger title Unavoidable Awkwardness to my own domain. (www.ladennison.com) I've also been working on my church's website. I'm learning more about the techie side of things little by little, and I'm hoping I'll be able to put this knowledge to good use here and elsewhere on the Interwebs.


Thanks so much for putting this together, Jaime and Erin! I can't wait to catch up with everyone!

Music for today: Here Comes Your Man by the Pixies

Falling Flat

I recently read a popular book by an award winning author. It was terrible.

I'm choosing not to name the book, because I realize that my opinion is just that. But that experience, the one of having high expectations for a book and having them fall utterly and completely flat, has affected me as both a reader and a writer.

As a reader and book consumer, I feel gipped. The money and time I spent on this book could've gone to an awesome debut book, but this one grabbed my attention because of the hype. Sometimes a great concept just isn't enough. I couldn't relate to any of the characters, the relationships all felt forced and fake, and every problem was solved easily and unbelievably.

As a writer, I wondered if an author reaches a status of success in which editors hold back the red pens. If this had been the author's debut novel, would it have been published at all? Or are my feelings just a matter of subjective taste, like so much of the industry seems to be? Goodreads ratings range from mostly four stars to a hand full with one star; the latter nearly all agreed with my assessment. But I've also found books that I loved with those outlier one star ratings, too.

As I move forward to the next stage with my work-in-progress, I'm trying to take that to heart. This industry is subjective because of widely varying tastes. If I find a few people who love this one, and are willing to take it on, great! And if not, I'll just write better next time with the lessons I've learned.

Music for today: Out of the Black by Royal Blood

Apples to...

We constantly make comparisons. To describe. To explain. To just make sense of the world.

This week, I've wondered if perhaps we doth compareth too much.

Instance #1: I'd finished reading Sarah J. Maas's sequel to Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight. I enjoyed it, and I felt the pacing and character development were stronger than the first. (See? Already comparing, this time apple to apple.) Then I tried to describe the series to a friend. "It's a lot like Kristin Cashore's Bitterblue," I said, because I knew she'd read that series. And suddenly, my enthusiasm for Crown chilled. The similarities struck me, and suddenly Crown didn't feel as fresh. I was thrilled with it when I put it down; why did I have to ruin it by comparing it to something else?

Instance #2: I'm three books in to Jonathan Maberry's Rot and Ruin series, and last night I watched the mid season premier of  The Walking Dead. The husband and I were asking the normal sort of questions, primarily why don't the jawless zombies attack? If the brain controls their movements, wouldn't they still attack, even without arms or jaws? I mentioned how in Maberry's zombie world, it's related to the reflex of the jaw muscles. Of course this brought to mind comparisons between Maberry's main character Benny, who is just a little older than The Walking Dead's Carl. But the more striking contrast between the two is the emphasis on religion in the world of Rot and Ruin. I like how different the two worlds are, but I also wondered if Kirkman will eventually address those same religious issues, and how I will feel about it when he does. Again, comparison left me feeling less connected with both stories, rather than more.

Instance #3: I've just started reading Maggie Stiefvater's The Dream Thieves. Stiefvater's prose is magical, and I read her books in equal parts a writer studying craft and a reader searching to connect with a great story. In only a few chapters, she's weaving these unbelievable metaphors: 

He always said Ronan differently from other words. As if he had meant to say another word entirely -- something like knife or poison or revenge -- and then swapped it out for Ronan's name at the last moment. 

[The leather bands] tasted like gasoline, a flavor that struck Ronan as both sexy and summery.

The Gray Man hated his current rental car. He got the distinct impression it hadn't been handled enough by humans when it was young, and now would never be pleasant to be around.   

...the buildings tired but tidy as library books.

So you see, Stiefvater's vision is amazing. Similes and metaphors grace nearly every page. I'm truly glad that none were left on the cutting room floor, and yet... sometimes they slow down the narrative. It feels wrong to complain about too much of a good thing. But I guess maybe I'd find these descriptions even more precious if they were more rare.

My goal for the rest of the month is to step back and see things as they are, on their own merits.

Music for today: Love is Blindness by Jack White