Nikki Giovanni likes my book!!!

Nikki Giovanni, renowned poet, activist, distinguished professor, healing voice, says:

The marriage of historical confidence with creativity brings forth the first novel by Carleen Brice. Orange Mint and Honey makes use of the oldest of relationships: mothers and daughters. Looking at the plights of love, forgiveness, understanding and redemption brings to this first novel a fresh and unique feel. A wonderful jazzy exciting read.

Wow. There are no words for how honored and thrilled I am.

Spiritual guides

In Orange Mint and Honey, Nina Simone watches over Shay, acting as a a straight-talking Glinda the Good Witch guiding her toward her truth. Nina and Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Dinah Washington, Bessie Smith, Mildred Bailey and Etta James are Shay's spiritual mamas, their wise words and soulful melodies the only guidance she ever had.

While I wrote Orange Mint, I kept a framed picture of Zora Neale Hurston above my desk. She wears a cool black fedora and looks down at me--guiding me toward my truth. Don't believe me? The agent I signed with for Orange Mint manages Hurston's estate.

Literary Denver and N2 update

Denver has always been a good place for readers and in the last few years has become a great place for writers too. We've got a great library system. The Tattered Cover Book Store and many other great indie book stores. Lighthouse Writers (where I'm pleased to say I just joined the board of directors) and Cafe Nuba (it's hot and it's black!). Local agents and book promotion experts. It's a happening scene.

Update on N2 (for newcomers, "novel 2"): We had a rough month, as I predicted we would. After getting feedback from my critique group, I overreacted (as is my bad habit). I thought if A, B and C need to be changed, well then I also have to change X, Y and Z. I started a whole new rewrite. Luckily for me, it wasn't working. N2 pushed back. N2 wanted me to love it as it was. Finally, I heard N2's cries and stopped. I went back to my original version and saw that I could make small changes to improve things my group pointed out without trying to force poor N2 to be something it wasn't. And N2 and I are back in love again.

Got blurb?

Trying to get blurbs for Orange Mint and Honey. So far, of the ones I've contacted directly (my editor and agent are also contacting folks), two writers have nicely declined to read it because they have their own deadlines to meet, and one writer has agreed to give it a shot. Not a bad ratio. And an acquaintance has offered to send it to an actress she worked for a few years ago (an actress I love!). Same acquaintance owns a production company and has expressed interest in the film rights! I heart film rights!

Red sky at night

We've been having some beautiful sunsets, but the strange light, swirling clouds and strong winds make this Midwestern girl a little worried about tornadoes. Still the honey-colored glow through the windows draws us out into the yard to watch.

No-air Fridays

Update on yesterday's post: I'm inside at the computer, but not with the air on. Since it's just me on Fridays and since I'm going to be in one place all day, I'm using a fan (cost: 1/2 cent per hour).

The heat is on

Summer has roared in like a lion, because it's Africa hot here. Texas hot (thankfully we don't have the Texas humidity). Cactus hot. Coloradans still aren't used to this. A few days of heat and we start to become unglued. Lots of folks here don't even have air conditioning in their homes because there was a time when you didn't need it. Our house was built in 1951 and didn't have air, but a few years ago we installed central cooling and I've thanked my lucky stars for it every summer since.

My plants aren't ready for the heat either. Even the ones the garden centers call "sun lovers" and "heat lovers" aren't ready for temps in the 90s at this altitude. So we give supplemental water and hope everybody can hold on for the next 6 weeks or so. We clip the roses as soon as they bloom and bring them inside to enjoy because otherwise they'd just fry.

The forecast is for 90+ weather for the next few days. I'll be inside behind closed blinds with the air on. Which is good. Inside at the computer is where I need to be. I'm feeling the heat in more ways than one. I made a big mistake: I "took some time off" from writing after I turned in the first batch of pages to my critique group. Getting back to it is so hard that it makes the time off not even worth it. As Walter Mosley says in This Year You Write Your Novel, "If you skip a day or more between your writing sessions, your mind will drift away from these deep moments of your story. You will find that you'll have to slog back to a place that would have been easily attained if only you wrote every day."

Better get to slogging....

Pub date!

Look for Orange Mint and Honey in a bookstore near you on February 26, 2008 or pre-order today!

Channeling the Grandmothers

In my next novel, the sisters' grandmother plays a magical role in bringing them together (one was put up for adoption). I'm working on the first scenes the grandmother appears. Before she died, my mother gave me her mother's and her grandmother's wedding bands. I pulled them out of my jewelry box to call up the grandmother's spirit. I'll wear them while I write.

This is my father's mother. I'll see her this weekend during our family reunion. Ancestors, known and unknown, are important to the characters in my book. I'm looking forward to connecting with my own family this weekend. It'll be good for me and for my book.

I had no idea

Reading The Ethicist column in the Times Magazine today I discovered something: clothes donated to charities in this country are often sold to middle men who sell them in Africa. In pictures in the newspaper, there always seems to be at least one person wearing a t-shirt with an American corporate slogan or slang phrase. I always assumed these clothes were given to charities who gave them to people who couldn't afford them. Not always so.

The Ethicist quotes the executive director of the International Labor Rights fund saying that the used-clothing trade "has contributed to the decimation of local garment industries, and therefore contributed to unemployment in Africa." Of course, an exporter of used clothing argues that selling used clothes actually helps the world's poorest people. But next time I give clothes to a charity I'm going to ask where they go. This site has more information.

Where do ideas come from?

A Canadian author has sued NBC Universal and director Judd Apatow claiming they ripped off the premise of the hit movie Knocked Up from her book of the same name. (You can read the whole story here.)

Hmm. Sounds fishy. However, there might be another explanation. I recently pitched my agent a book idea I got last summer. About a week after I sent the pitch, my agent emailed me a blurb from Publisher’s Lunch about a nonfiction proposal making the rounds of NY editors with the exact same premise. And the other writer is from Denver. No way he knew about my idea (I didn't tell anybody), and I swear I never heard about him and his idea. So what happened? My agent chalked it up to something in the water (more like the dry air).

But I often think that ideas are just floating around out there waiting for someone to snag them. The other Denver writer and I snagged the same idea. Maybe Apatow and the Canadian writer did too...or maybe she got screwed by Hollywood? Stay tuned....

The cover is done!

It's a most exciting thing to see the cover of a new book! Just seeing the title in print blows me away. A little story about the title: Orange mint tea figures prominently in the book and the characters sweeten it with honey.

In a key scene the mother, Nona, says, "It’s always possible to add sweet to the bitter.” I knew that scene was the key to the title, but Orange Mint Tea as a title was boring. So I turned to my friends Marisol and Rob, and they come up with Orange Mint and Honey. So simple and right in front of my eyes.

Go Denver Sister-Writers!

"Boldfaced Lies," a self-published first novel by Charlene Porter has been nominated for a NAACP image award. The book deals with issues of race and identity in Denver when the Klan reigned supreme. You wouldn't think of the Klan having much of an influence in Colorado, but it did. (A former coworker of mine from a wealthy local family even shared that her grandfather was a member.) You can read a great article with Porter here.

Kim Reid's memoir, No Place Safe, will be out in October and she's already agreed to do a Pajama Chat here at that time. Stay tuned for more!