Writing – Page 3 – Britt Skrabanek

On Being Humble and Reworking an Entire Book

writing with cats — Dang! Mom’s ignoring us again for that white contraption we’re not allowed to sleep on. We’re so much cuter…what gives?

Writing a book isn’t easy. It’s a commitment unlike any I’ve ever known.

You need a creative idea, a decent handle on language, and time management skills to actually write the thing. Because it ain’t gonna write itself.

You’re showing vulnerability to the world, because every piece of fiction is the author’s soul in written form. You’re putting bits and pieces of your life out there—your weaknesses, your past, your intimacies.

Some will understand what your soul is saying, some won’t.

Every day you wonder whether or not you should keep going.

Am I contributing anything to society? Do I really want to spend Sunday cooped up in my pajamas madly typing away while my cats beg for my attention? Does any of this matter? Is it really worth the sacrifice?

Yes, it is. Because while others dream of writing, you’re doing it.

Writing’s not all rainbows and unicorns…believe me. It takes dedication and love. It also means being humble, knowing that you are always learning and that nothing will ever be perfect.

For some time now I’ve wanted to revisit a work I published two years ago, Everything’s Not Bigger. Of the three books I’ve written, it’s the only one set in modern-day and it’s also my underdog.

Ask any actor, director, writer, dancer, or painter if they return to an old piece of work and most of them will say…Hell, no! That work, for better or worse, is dead to them.

So, I did the crazy thing. I went back—naturally, I cringed a lot—and after a major overhaul, I feel much better about my work.

I did some little things, like revising the description, cleaning up the chapter layout, and adding a Note From the Author at the beginning to touch on the inspiration for the book.

Major things involved a faster-paced beginning as well as chucking some scenes that were dragging. My characters were in dire need of body language during some of the heavy conversational moments, aka “beats”. After two years of blogging and a third novel, you can bet I did some grammatical polishing along the way.

And, my best typo I found must be shared…face to face was fact to face. Dude, WTF? 🙂

Today Everything’s Not Bigger is officially being rereleased on Amazon.

For those who already purchased it, you should be able to go to “Manage Your Content and Devices” (formerly “Manage Your Kindle”) and choose “Update Available” next to the book.

I know my good friend, Tim Dittmer, covered some Amazon issues with updated content when he rereleased his fantastic novel, The Valley Walker. (P.S. If you haven’t read this yet, it’s only $0.99 right now and totally worth your time.)

If the available update is not showing up for you, you might have to delete the damn thing and redownload it.

That brings me to my next piece of news…Everything’s Not Bigger will be totally free on Amazon next weekend…12/5-12/7. (Don’t worry, I’ll remind you then.)

As a writer and the insane human that I am, I know that I will never feel completely satisfied with anything I do. But remembering to stay humble, to give new life to something you left long ago, can be a beautiful thing.

I’ll leave you with a snippet from Everything’s Not Bigger. This is the non-date scene, when the main character, Jaye, agrees to go on a walk with a handsome fellow she just met in Prague. The non-date rules include no food, no candlelight, and no flirting.

Naturally, these non-date rules don’t last long.

He covered her eyes with his hands, but she wiggled out of his embrace. “What are you doing, Milan?”

“It’s part of the surprise.”

Jaye returned to her position and he replaced his hands.

“A little warning next time would be nice, Milan. Otherwise you come off as a kidnapper.”

He guided her forward with his chest, and she fought off the surge of lust charging through her body. His warmth electrified her like nothing else. She was acutely aware of every inch of him through their thick coats.

“How much longer are we doing this charade?”

“A few more steps, princess.”

His mild insult made her smile. Coming from him, she didn’t mind. It was all in good fun.

“I’m going to uncover your eyes, but you can’t open them yet.”

“Yes, sir.”

Milan rustled around in his coat pocket, then stepped in front of her. Her back instantly felt cold.

She perked up at the familiar sound of a wrapper.

“Open your mouth.”

Jaye thought the bit was peculiar, but did as he instructed. She smelled it before it landed on her tongue. Chocolate.

“You can open your eyes now.”

The chocolate melted on her hot tongue, its decadence gracing her taste buds. Luminosity reflected in her eyes as they lifted open.

It was a breathtaking sight.

They stood in between a far-reaching row of crystal shops. Bohemian glass competed with the moonlight, shining ferociously, instilling awe and brilliance in the antique windows. Jaye chewed the bittersweet morsel, sea salt sprinkled dark chocolate encompassing a creamy caramel.

It was the most incredible treat she’d ever tasted. It was the most incredible sight she’d ever seen.

Exquisiteness for all senses occurred effortlessly, leaving her overwhelmed and speechless. She roamed in a daze, in a chocolate trance, seduced by the sparkling display of beauty.

“This is what you wanted to show me?”

“Just think—you tried to stop me.”

Jaye turned around and cocked her head. She hadn’t wanted to surrender to him. Too many untrusting encounters had left a cold soul, a skeptical fortress dominating each pleasurable experience.

“Hey, thanks.” She reached her leg out and tapped his shin with her boot.

He mirrored the gesture. “Hey, you’re welcome.”

Meditations in the Cold

My first fall in the Northwest has been a breathtaking sight.

The city has been overthrown by nature, its busy streets hushed by crisp colorful blankets of leaves from the army of trees commanding every block.

People wade through the crunchy mounds, smiling even on their way to work, thinking about crashing into one of the many piles just as they did when they were young and free from responsibility.

But, unlike the intense autumn I knew in the Midwest, all of this happens slowly here.

Each leaf flutters down from its branch with purpose, almost as if the leaf is taking its time to decide exactly where it wants to land. Whenever I spot one of these leaf performances, I stop and watch until it finishes its dance. Then, I smile and proceed.

To walk inside any of Portland’s forested communities, one can’t help but escape from the concrete, buildings, and congestion only minutes away.

Adding autumn and a Japanese garden into the mix enhances this magical experience.

Last Saturday Mr. H and I went to the Portland Japanese Gardens in the late afternoon. It was our first visit to the gardens and we hoped to catch some impeccable fall scenery.

Many of the trees were already bare and at first we felt disappointed that we had missed the best part of the season.

But as we walked, we slipped into a meditation, and silently absorbed the transition of the garden from the liveliness of fall to the solitude of winter.

Too often we lock ourselves inside when the cold takes over. We don’t know what to do, we feel anxious or sad, perhaps we’re already dreaming of spring.

But, we’re missing it.

This is a time of turning inward…to reflect on life, to explore the mind. It’s not a time of laziness, it’s a time to strengthen our spirits.

When we step outside, we can take a cue from nature. Things change—sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly—and we should not only adapt, we should be a part of the beauty around us.

So what? It’s cold…take a walk.

The Blog Revamp

Well kiddos, it’s that time again. I changed my blog up!

But, Britt. Didn’t you do that earlier this year too?

Yep, unfortunately I’m that crazy.

Here’s the thing. I noticed my current blog theme was popping up all over the place on WordPress, and my suspicions were confirmed when I saw that it was a trending theme. So I went back to an old theme I used before and jazzed it up with the fancy featured posts slider on the home page.

The long hair profile shot is long gone. Cuter social media button icons are hanging out on the upper left instead of the right.

Other than that, I spent WAY too many hours on my day off debating over font size, color, and widget placement. For those who have changed their blog theme before, I know you feel me.

But I think the finished product turned out pretty rad.

So, voila! Take a look around.

Also there have been a few reviews coming in for my most recent novel, Nola Fran Evie, over the past month. I wanted to quickly share a fabulous 5-star review that made me giddy this morning.

Grab it on Amazon or Amazon UK

I enjoyed Nola Fran Evie by Britt Skrabanek very much. The obviously talented author has spun a tale that caught my interest from the start. Before opening the first page I thought this was going to be ‘chick-lit’ and I probably wouldn’t like it, but I was so wrong.

I enjoyed ‘A League of Their Own’ so I expected something similar, but this story was much more. Women in the 40’s and 50’s were not supposed to be independent, willful and athletic. Nola, Fran and Evie were all those things and at the same time women who touched me in a surprising way. I would love to know each of them.

The author created characters that were so different one would think they could never get along much less become so dependent on one another’s friendship, but that’s exactly what happened.

I won’t go into details of the story because this book should be enjoyed by readers in their own personal way.

I highly recommend this story to readers who enjoy a good story that will leave you thinking about the characters long after you put the book down.

I want to thank you all for your awesome support with my writing. It’s not an easy path to take, but you guys definitely help me keep going.

We writers say it all the time, but please remember…reviews are like gold for us Indies. If you like a book, please take a few minutes to leave a little something.

It truly goes a long way.

Hope you’re all having a gorgeous week!

Secret Single Behavior (SSB)

Today we celebrate Hermit Day. (Don’t worry, I didn’t have a damn clue there was such a thing either.)

But my friend Eli over at Coach Daddy, who is clearly cooler than I am for knowing about this random holiday, told me all about it. For the second time he invited me to participate in his monthly 6 Words challenge, a fun project where he asks friends and strangers to dish out a cute little sentence based on a prompt of his choosing.

Now we writers love, love, love to elaborate on a topic for hundreds, sometimes thousands of words—meaning six words is kinda cruel. But it’s also a fun challenge so of course I agreed to do it.

The prompt…October 29th is Hermit Day, how would you spend an ideal day all to yourself, in six words?

Over eighty of us played along this time…wowza! (Be sure to stop by Eli’s to check them all out.)

Obviously writing and reading is something I do most of the time when I’m in hermit mode. Those books don’t write themselves.

But Eli caught me at a time when I was feeling rather mysterious, during my blogging and social media hiatus in September. Naturally, I gave a coy response.

I’m hanging somewhere in the middle at #39 with the following…

Secret single behavior, I’ll never tell.

For those who aren’t diehard Sex and the City fans like I am, there’s a really fantastic episode where Carrie Bradshaw discusses Secret Single Behavior (SSB).

This is the thing you often do when you’re all alone. It’s top-secret because it’s probably so weird that you don’t even want your own spouse to know about it.

Well, Mr. H and I are going on almost a decade of marriage so we don’t keep secrets from one another. Although he knows about my SSB’s, I perform these odd habits as they are intended to be performed. Totally alone.

Eli thought my Hermit Day response about SSB was intriguing and figured that my readers would too.

So, embarrassing as it is, I’m going to reveal one of my SSB’s on one condition—each of YOU needs to reveal an SSB in the comment section below.

Obviously this blog is a public place and while I’m all for a healthy sexual appetite, let’s keep it clean, people. The more random, the better.

As promised, here is one of my typical SSB’s…

Dancer's Pose Natarajasana — Aphrodite the cat says: “Ah, crap. Hausfrau’s back.”

MEET HAUSFRAU

Some years ago Hausfrau was a brilliant term coined by Mr. H when he kept walking in on me at the end of my SSB ritual of cleaning the holy shit out of our apartment.

There’s dance music blasting, a bright bandana on my head, dusty stretchy pants, and a mad look in my eyes. The cats stay far, far away from me, usually in a dark corner of the closet praying I don’t vacuum their furry butts.

When I clean, I get down. I get totally focused on a cleaning project and I don’t stop until it’s done. I don’t answer the phone, in fact I don’t even think about the outside world.

If I’m stressed or anxious, sure I meditate, practice Yoga, or hit the trails. But sometimes you just have to clean the hell out of an inanimate object to feel on top of the world. It works like a champ every time.

For those of you who are still following this blog after my SSB reveal, I have one more thing to add. Earlier this year I completed one of the greatest accomplishments in Hausfrau history.

I organized and cleaned my bobby pin container.

Well, folks. I shared one of my SSB’s…your turn!

The Totem Pole Quest

On July 28th I was sent on a quest by fellow Kiwi blogger, Gallivanta from Silkannthreades. A totem pole quest.

For real?

Yep.

She dedicated a post to me in honor of the release of my third book, Nola Fran Evie. But the dedication came with a proviso…I had to locate a totem pole by Chief Lelooska somewhere in Portland.

The only clue Gallivanta provided was that a replica of the totem pole stood 7,000 miles away in Christchurch Airport, New Zealand. (Who knew?!)

And so I began my quest.

Totem Pole, I'm comin' to get ya! — Totem Pole, I’m comin’ to get ya!

HE WHO CUTS WOOD

Like any modern-day hero, I used my trusty compass, the Internet, to search for the totem pole. I wore a smug look on my face as I let Google do the work for me from the comfort of my home.

But, I couldn’t find its exact location.

However, I did step into the world of Chief Don “Lelooska” Smith, a great man who was given a great name at the age of 12—“He Who Cuts Against Wood with a Knife”.

And cut against wood with a knife is what he did…all his life in beautiful Oregon. The man carved thousands of masks and over a hundred totem poles, including the one I was hunting with the replica in New Zealand, until he died of cancer in 1996.

So, what’s with the New Zealand connection?

During the 1959 Oregon Centennial Exposition, the intricate pole was carved from cedar to honor Oregonian soldiers who participated in Operation Deep Freeze, a famous multinational series of exploratory missions to Antarctica during the late 1950s.

The base for Operation Deep Freeze was Christchurch Airport.

(And, you silly things never thought you’d learn anything on this blog.)

I was frustrated that I couldn’t find where the totem pole was today in Oregon and began to think that I was failing my mission. As I’m not the quitting type, I kept digging and digging and digging online, which eventually led me to…

THE OREGON ZOO???

Aha! I found you, Totem Pole!

Ecstatic, I called the zoo to plan my heroic visit. After weeks of online research I imagined staring proudly at the totem pole, and how I would gleefully show Gallivanta that I had completed the totem pole challenge in less than a month.

But…the totem pole wasn’t there.

I panicked. Surely the zoo didn’t get rid of this exceptional piece of tribal artistry that had been living there for decades. Surely not!

I talked to one person, then another person, and yet another person until I found Wayne, the mighty project engineer. He said…

THE TOTEM POLE’S IN THE SHOP

Last year the Oregon Zoo began a major transformation to create the Condors of Columbia, which opened in May, and Elephant Lands, a project I’m very excited about which is opening in 2015. This expansion will quadruple the space the elephants inhabit, drawing on more than fifty years of research and science-based care to build a natural environment to honor the animals.

Come on, who doesn’t love elephants?!

During this time, the pole underwent a hefty restoration process—repairing cracks and rot, as well as painting, cleaning and detailing the carving. It was an intense team effort led by Lelooska’s brother, Chief Fearon “Tsungani” Smith, assisted by zoo volunteers, and overseen by the Lelooska Foundation.

This totem pole’s kind of a big deal.

Wayne and the Oregon Zoo were excited to hear about my totem pole quest and were generous to bring my husband, Mr. H, and I to the zoo when the totem pole was back in action.

It was finally happening. Now at the end of September, I was coming to the end of my quest. I was beaming with pride, eager to see the elusive totem pole I had chased for two months.

Then, I did something so typically Britt…

I BOTCHED IT

I went on the wrong day, before the pole was resurrected.

Good one, Britt!

I know, I know. But, we made the best of it and enjoyed a leisurely stroll through the zoo.

The bear and I had matching outfits. — This bear and I had matching outfits.

This goat trio looked like they were posing for an album cover.

bobcat in cave — This bobcat let us hang out in his cave.

I skipped the carcass feeding. But Mr. H seemed satisfied.

THE OOPSY CONFESSION

The following Monday I sheepishly admitted my mistake to Wayne from the zoo. He was nice enough to pat me gently on the head and invite us back for another visit when the pole was actually there.

Then finally…

TOTEM POLE SUCCESS!!!

This is truly one of the best zoos I have ever been to and I look forward to Elephant Lands opening next year. A big thank you to Wayne and the Oregon Zoo for being so awesome during the totem pole quest.

Gallivanta, you stinker…totem pole quest COMPLETED! 🙂