Seressia Glass: Blog Me

Seressia October 23rd, 2006

“I would write of the universal, not the provincial, in human nature…. I would write of characters, not of characteristics.”

-Ellen Glasgow Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, in her posthumous autobiography, The Woman Within

This is something that I try to do when I write, writing of the universal.  My books feature characters of different ethnic backgrounds, but predominantly black.  I write the stories that I do, multicultural and interracial, because I want people to understand that we’re all the same color in the deep of the night, that we all yearn for someone beside us that loves us completely, honestly, and passionately.

That what the characters in a romacne should be about.  It shouldn’t matter what their heritage is, their religious background, or their family philosophy.  What should matter is the story, the journey of that character to find the one whom makes them complete.  Put the book down because it’s badly written, not because of the people on the cover.  You might be surprised adn discover that they live and laugh and love just like characters in other books.

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Seressia October 17th, 2006

TWO WEEKS TO GO!  YEA!

Not sure about the signing schedule yet, but I’ll be sure to post it here.  To read an excerpt and for ordering information, please click here.

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Seressia October 10th, 2006

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist nor understand. For all one knows, that demon is simply the same instinct that makes a baby squall for attention.”

–George Orwell, author and essayist

I pick writing quotes that resonate with me. (I saw another from E. L. Doctorow that I liked, but really, this isn’t his blog.) This quote especially rings true right now, so I’m going with it. I readily admit that I’m a pantser, one of those people who let my mind wander through the mechanics of pressing the letters on the keyboard or pushing the pen acorss the paper with all the delicacy of the proverbial bull in the china shop. Most of the time this works for me, and I feel it makes my characters actual people whose lives I peeked into, not some etheral manisfestation of my imagination.

Then comes the drought. You know, when THE MUSE gives you the silent treatment, and no amount of flowers, chocolates, or tequila will make her talk. When washing, drying, and folding has more appeal than stringing a sentence together. When plucking eyebrows is prefereable to plot points. When you know that you have to get the damn thing done, but damned if you know how.

(For reference, see my Fourth of July holiday from 2005, here.)

The drought doesn’t last long, thank goodness. I suppose this is where the muse transforms into the demon that George mentioned. Actually, there are days when I think my muse is an angelic-faced dominatrix with a heart-shaped paddle. Even now I can hear her laugh when I think I have one hundred pages to write in thirty days. Of course, that could just be my edgy side trying to come out. Or my inner two-year-old, throwing a tantrum.

But the drive to write always returns, much like the chili special. To continue the metaphor, the words simply spew across the page in an uncontrolled, burst of brain cells. By the time you write the end, you feel as if you’ve just recovered from pneumonia: drained, but so very glad that it’s done.

And then comes THE REVISION LETTER!

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Seressia October 3rd, 2006

“Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.”

- Gloria Steinem in Publisher’s Weekly, 1983

There are many things that I know I’m not good at.  For instance, you won’t see me zipping into scuba gear in this lifetime, not even for research purposes.  There are things that I do that I feel guilty for doing.  Like the large bag of Lay’s potato chips or that third margarita.

And then there’s writing.

Writing is one of those things that, when it’s going good, it’s better than any drug, sexual stimulation, or epicurean delight.  When the words flow, it’s easy to forsake all others including the laundry, the lover, the pot pie burning in the stove.  When the words flow, I am convinced that this is the ONE THING that I’m good at, what I’m meant to be doing, and to heck with anyone who says anything different.  It is the thing, like Gloria Steinem says, that I don’t feel guilty for doing.

Watching InuYasha, well, that’s another thing altogether.

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Seressia October 3rd, 2006

NBC.com - Heroes

Are you watching?  If not, you should be.

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