Vixenwriter

The Banned Books Week site at the ALA.org says this:

“Intellectual freedom can exist only where two essential conditions are met: first, that all individuals have the right to hold any belief on any subject and to convey their ideas in any form they deem appropriate; and second, that society makes an equal commitment to the right of unrestricted access to information and ideas regardless of the communication medium used, the content of the work, and the viewpoints of both the author and receiver of information. Freedom to express oneself through a chosen mode of communication, including the Internet, becomes virtually meaningless if access to that information is not protected. Intellectual freedom implies a circle, and that circle is broken if either freedom of expression or access to ideas is stifled.”

There’s never been any major discovery, no great invention created until a question was asked. It’s that quest for knowledge that makes humans human. It’s what’s so beautiful about us – we want to know.

When I go into the library with my children, I’m telling them learning is important. That asking questions is central to having answers, to filling their souls with things that get them through from the names of the planets to some quote they’ll never forget once read in a book that will change their lives in small or large ways.

When I say, “I think you’re a bit too young for this book, let’s choose another that might be a bit better,” I’m making choices for MY child without taking away choices for someone else’s child. I’m telling my children that they are important to me. When they read a book and they come to me and ask questions, when I struggle but give them honest and hopefully age appropriate answers, I don’t make knowledge illicit, I create boundaries. In short, I’m doing my job as a parent. It’s not the library’s job to shape my children’s minds, it’s mine as their mother. It’s not my next door neighbor’s job – a woman who has vastly different values from my own and values I wouldn’t choose to teach my own children. So I respect her right to teach her children her values but I don’t respect it when she tries to get Harry Potter removed from the school library.

Freedom of expression is the cornerstone of American democracy. It’s the first amendment to our constitution. It’s part of our national identity and history. I care about censorship because I care about knowledge. I care that your values are your own and my values are my own. I care to make my own choices about what to read and what my children read and I don’t care to let anyone else make those choices.

I care because trite as it may seem – knowlege is power and as Trinity says to Neo in the Matrix – It’s the question that drives us.

The following books were the most frequently challenged in 2007 (taken from the ALA site):

The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom received a total of 420 challenges last year. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. According to Judith F. Krug, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, the number of challenges reflects only incidents reported, and for each reported, four or five remain unreported.

The “10 Most Challenged Books of 2007” reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:

1) “And Tango Makes Three,” by Justin Richardson/Peter Parnell
Reasons: Anti-Ethnic, Sexism, Homosexuality, Anti-Family, Religious Viewpoint, Unsuited to Age Group

2) The Chocolate War,” by Robert Cormier
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Violence

3) “Olive’s Ocean,” by Kevin Henkes
Reasons: Sexually Explicit and Offensive Language

4) “The Golden Compass,” by Philip Pullman
Reasons: Religious Viewpoint

5) “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain
Reasons: Racism

6) “The Color Purple,” by Alice Walker
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language,

7) “TTYL,” by Lauren Myracle
Reasons: Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

8) “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” by Maya Angelou
Reasons: Sexually Explicit

9) “It’s Perfectly Normal,” by Robie Harris
Reasons: Sex Education, Sexually Explicit

10) “The Perks of Being A Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky
Reasons: Homosexuality, Sexually Explicit, Offensive Language, Unsuited to Age Group

Off the list this year, are two books by author Toni Morrison. “The Bluest Eye” and “Beloved,” both challenged for sexual content and offensive language.

Good gracious people are busy trying to shove their viewpoints down my throat by making only theirs available for me and mine to read.

The most frequently challenged books are books for children. When I was a kid, reading was a way to escape into another world, to hear a different voice, to learn something and sometimes to hear a voice like mine and be comforted by that.

To challenge a book isn’t to simply say, “I belive this book is bad or wrong” it’s to say you believe your perspective should be enforced for everyone else and that is where the danger lies and that is why librarians are so important to us all because they are the first line of defense against those who seek to limit the choices of everyone because of what they don’t like.

One of the authors I read the most and who had such a great (and comforting) influence on me is Judy Blume. Interestingly enough, she’s also one of the most challenged authors on the list year after year.

Judy Blume’s books tell kids their opinions are important and meaningful. Her books tell kids they matter. They deal with things we’re not supposed to talk about or feel but we all do. In Are You there God, It’s Me Margaret? my girlish self read margaret talking about getting the handsome boy for her dance partner, about getting boobs, about what to believe in and why – and I knew I wasn’t alone. Every time I read her books as I got older and faced new things in my life, she kept assuring me through her books that asking questions was all right. That *feeling* things was all right.

That’s such a huge gift for any author to give and I admire her greatly. It pleased me to no end when my boys devoured the Fudge books and now that I have a daughter, I can’t wait to share Margaret and Blubber with her. True, YA is so much more honest and raw these days than it was when I was my childrens’ age, which is wonderful (and also why they’re also on the challenge list too).

At base, if the story of two male penguins at the zoo hatching an egg offends you, don’t read it and don’t buy it for your children to read. But I don’t find offense and it’s none of your affair if I want to check it out of the library for my children to read. There are enough problems in this country affecting children, getting all het up about what is in the library for OTHER PEOPLE to read is just a waste of time.

The last week of September every year is declared Banned Books Week by the ALA. This is the from official description from their website (can be read in its entirety thruogh the link above):

BBW celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one’s opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them. After all, intellectual freedom can exist only where these two essential conditions are met.

So from now until October 3rd, I’ll be observing BBW here at my blog as I’ve done the last three years and I hope you all will too in whatever way you can.

Cynthia Eden is one of my favorite authors as well as being just truly one of the nicest people in the biz. I devoured her story in When He Was Bad so when I saw she had another antho coming out with Shelley Laurenston (another favorite) I was all over it.

Laurenston’s dragons lead off the anthology and I have to say up front that I’m not really a dragon shifter fan. Very few authors can make it work in a way I really enjoy and Shelley is one of them. In Can’t Get Enough Laurenston gives us more of her fabulous dragons, this time with Ailean (the slag, the wicked, depending on who is talking, LOL) and Shalin the Innocent. As usual, while Laurenston creates a sexy hero, it’s her heroines who just leap off the page and Shalin was tough and funny and all kinds of grumpy, defensive, smart, cranky and the perfect fit for Ailean.

Cynthia Eden has the sweet spot in the middle with Spellbound. The witches in Serena’s coven are being murdered and she’s got no other choice but to summon the big bad, um assasin. Wonderful chemistry, great worldbuilding details, well done! I need to start bugging her to see when she’ll be expanding on that world because I want more.

Noelle Mack anchors the closing spot with Turn Me On – an unusual take on paranormal I haven’t seen before featuring light and energy and an interesting mix of innocence and age old wisdom all at once.

I got my cover for RELENTLESS, which comes out from Berkley Heat in May of 09 and takes place after Undercover, in the same world but it’s not a sequel (although you get a glimpse of Ash, Sera and Brandt it’s very brief)

I can’t say enough about how much I love this cover. It’s got a feel to me like those vintage French erotic postcards. I love how well it echoes off the cover for Undercover with the font choice and the pretty fillagree stuff too.

(THE CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED – WINNERS WILL BE NOTIFIED VIA EMAIL – Thanks to everyone who entered here, at LJ, myspace and Maverick authors too!)

So today what should appear on my doorstep but bound ARCS of Undercover! Yay!! So verra pretty and I do love the cover so much.

A sexy debut exploring an erotic future universe of passion, danger, and deceit…

On the battleground or in the bedroom, one woman and two men fight for dominance in a bold, new, and excitingly different direction in erotica…

As a lieutenant of the Federation military, Sera Ayers is accustomed to giving orders, not taking them. Now she must obey the one man she can’t stand—and can’t stop thinking about.

With the enemy Imperialists gaining ground, a covert team is assembled by Ash Walker. Ten years before, Sera had lovingly submitted to Ash’s dominance in the bedroom. But when he was forced into a political marriage, she refused to play mistress. His marriage now over, Ash wants Sera on his team—and back in his bed.

The third team member, Brandt Pela, has an elegance to match Ash’s savage sexuality. And when their undercover plan requires Sera to pose as Brandt’s lover, it ignites a passion among the three of them more dangerous than their mission.

(You can read an excerpt at my website as well)

Anyhoodle – I’m going to be doing some contests to win them and I’ll do it in two contests so you’ll have more than one chance to win!

It’s relatively easy – This is an ARC contest for my first big NY release – my first single title and the intent of an ARC is to get readers and reviewers talking about the book – so essentially what I’m asking people to do is talk about the book – review it at your blog or at your reader group or review site between mid October up until December 2 when the book releases (not that you have to talk about it every day, LOL, but you’d have that window to find a time to pop your review up). I’d like for the winners to send me the link with their review and agree let me quote it here and at my website (with proper attribution, natch)

Anyone who’s entered one of my contests of his sort knows it’s not a requirement that you love the book! (although of course I’d prefer that, LOL).

THE RULES (please read carefully) All you need to do to enter is reply to this post and tell me where you’d be talking about the book if you win (urls are always helpful if you mean your blog!). I’ve got a limited amount of ARCS so I’ll choose winners based on my supply.

I’ll announce the winners by Noon September 24 – please include an email so I can notify you and get your mailing address!

Good luck!!

Disclaimer thingy: THERE IS NO ONE TRUE WAY with writing. Don’t let anyone tell you that. There is only what works for me and what works for you. So read the following with that understanding. we all do this differently.

I was thinking about process earlier today and about how my writing process had changed over the years. It used to be that I wrote, tinkered, wrote, tinkered. I edited a lot as I wrote. It worked for me because in the beginning I didn’t have deadlines and I subbed with fulls so it wasn’t a problem.

Over time though, I began to write on deadlines and sell on partials, which meant my time had to be managed differently to meet my obligations. I frequently had different projects at different stages going at once (so I’d be writing a book and then I’d get a revision note on something else or first or second round edits on yet something else, etc). So in January of this year I decided I’d stop going back in process and editing as I went. I decided I’d force myself to power through and deal with edits in my second draft stage. Anything longer than a novella and I’ll make notes as I go but I won’t let myself adjust over and over unless it’s totally necessary to the story arc or pacing.

I gotta say, despite some painful, headdesk moments with first drafts, it’s worked exceptionally well for me. When I wrote Relentless I had several really agonizing writerly moments of doubt. But I made myself keep writing and when I finished and began the second draft stage, I realized the book was better for me powering through. The story was better than I’d imagined as I had my “ohmigod this book is the biggest piece of suck to ever hit sucktown” moments. I had my notes and my edits for the second draft so that when I smoothed and sent the third draft to crit, I was able to streamline the process and apply the crit and create a final draft I was totally proud of. And in the end, I think Relentless is the best thing I’ve written in a really long time.

I’ve come to realize, for me anyway, the heart of any book and the writing of it is all about the epiphany moment. You can’t rush it, tinkering and going back won’t bring it sooner (and sometimes it delays it). Writing a book is technical, yes. You have a framework of any story. Pacing, the heart of who your characters are and why they do the things they do. But it’s sort of shadowy and like pulling teeth in certain places until you reach the stage where you suddenly *get* your characters. You understand why they are who they are and things loosen and the writing is different. Easier in many ways because you’ve connected with the story in a way you hadn’t before. You will inevitably get stuck here and there and feel you suck, but once you have that “AHA!” moment and the book is in technicolor, you’ve hit your stride and it makes sense in a way it didn’t before.

Once I have the “OH!” moment I can easily adjust what I wrote before when I do my second draft but no amount of going back and tinkering will bring that moment any faster. I’m convinced it happens when it’s supposed to happen in each story. Sometimes early, sometimes later.

It sounds mystical and I suppose to a certain extent is is magic in the way that the writing process is magical on some level. But writing is work. You have to sit your butt in the chair and do it even through the hard parts, the dark parts when you don’t know what the hell is going on or how to make the book better. Sometimes you write and in the second draft you might just delete the whole thing. But going back for more than a little touch interrupts the flow and it encourages you to dither around in the first half when you need to just write the book and THEN you can go back.

Who knows what I might try next year! Whole chapter outlines? Um, probably not, LOL.

So today started off with a rejection which, oddly enough I wasn’t overly upset about. But then quickly after that I got a note that my editor had read Relentless and loved it (relieved slump) and then I got the cover.

Oh.
My.
God.

This cover is so incredible I’m seriously in love. I can’t wait until I can show it to you.