Summer news

Summer is officially here and I look forward to my paid work slowing down and the expansion of my writing life. I’ll be spending much of my summer vacation doing a writing retreat.

I’m currently working on my third novel and am at the 100 page mark. Still so much to write, to understand, to develop. It’s good to have large swaths of time opening up.

And what of the second novel? Well, it’s done, and I’m still shopping it around to agents and am hopeful I’ll find one soon. I have to admit, this is not my favourite part of the writing life. Writing is enlivening. Promotion can be an interesting challenge. Touring is totally fun. But shopping it around? Bleh. I’ve developed a multitude of coping strategies for rejection; I could write a book about it!

And there is some news about Stealing Nasreen, the first novel. It’s been two years since it was published, but the story is still getting some attention.  I just read at Proud Voices at Pride Toronto (the photo at the bottom is courtesy Salma Akbar) . And the novel has just been reviewed by Feminist Review: http://feministreview.blogspot.com/2009/07/stealing-nasreen.html .

And, I still delight in receiving e-mails and Facebook wall posts from happy readers (keep them coming! Reading them is Rejection Strategy # 28).

Proud Summer

It’s June (almost!) and with the Inside/Out festival being done and the weather getting warmer I start to think about Pride festivities.

I’ve been attending Toronto Pride since 1994. I’ve walked in the Pride Parade and  marched on Dyke Day nearly every year. This year, Trans Pride will happen for the first time ever in Toronto on June 26th, a wonderful addition to Pride weekend.

I’m very excited to be part of Pride’s literary line-up, Proud Voices, curated by Susan G Cole.  If you are in town, come and listen to my reading on Saturday June 27th at 4pm. For more details:  http://www.pridetoronto.com/press/proud-voices-reading-series/

falling in love again

I grew up without pets, with the exception of a guard dog named Rover when we lived in Zambia (and I was too young to remember him). I didn’t miss them, pine for them, ask my parents for a guinea pig, parrot or dog.

When a previous roommate of mine insisted on getting a cat, I relented, but was convinced I would have no part of it. Within a couple of days I was won over by the kitten. A year later, I added a second kitten to the household, a runt of a litter who reached out of her Humane Society cage to tap me on the arm. Soon, I realized I was allergic to cats after all, and bringing the new one home just added to the dandery air.

When that roommate and I moved on, I agonized over leaving behind my kitty, but my sinuses were glad. For weeks I had dreams in which I’d forgotten to feed her, or left her outside to freeze or perish in various nightmarish ways. I’m happy to say that my old roommate has nurtured both cats into their old ages.

Later, a previous partner insisted we get a dog. Eventually I relented, convinced Iwasn’t going to have any part of it. Well, you know the rest. She (the ex-girlfriend) and I split up and unfortunately we (the dog and I) parted ways.

Since then, I’ve thought about getting a dog and never managed it because I didn’t really have the lifestyle to support all the walking and poop-picking-up required of a pooch.  And then I became a self-employed therapist and writer, and found myself at home alot of the time.

So I insisted on getting a dog. My partner, luckily, has relented. I sit here writing with a dog at my feet (she’s just fallen asleep after licking every drop of honey out a kong–yes, that  might sound x-rated to some of you, but I assure you it’s not). She’s been with us for 5 days now.

Maggie is making me wonder about loving an animal, and how this adoration will make it into my writing. People say that having a child changes the way one writes, but I haven’t heard this said of pets. I recall that in Stealing Nasreen, it seemed really important that Nasreen have a cat named Id, who watched over her behaviour. Id was a companion, but also a witness.   I wonder now if Maggie will make her appearance in a future novel, perhaps as a dog who loves a woman who loves her back.

on becoming a Facebooker

Some time ago, shortly before Stealing Nasreen was due to be released, a friend suggested I get on Facebook so that I could better promote the novel. She’s younger and hipper than I, so I took her advice. Still, I was skeptical, and resolved to use the social networking tool only for bookish stuff. I wasn’t going to become addicted, or post inane ’status updates’ about what I had for breakfast.

I slowly grew my friends list, created a Stealing Nasreen group page, and began to post event pages for the various readings I was doing. Sometimes people I didn’t know would friend me, and in fit of virtual social butterfly-ness, I accepted them. I figured I could maybe interest them in my book, anyhow. Other times, people I didn’t know would contact me for media interviews, to share fannish feedback or invite me to read at events. I began to feel closer to people I liked but didn’t get to see very often. It was all going pretty well. I was giddy about Facebook then, and tried to recruit everyone to join: “You hear about events your won’t hear about on e-mail. You’ll sign petitions, quickly mobilize protests, connect with your cousins!!”

But then I noticed that something else began to happen on Facebook when I passed the 300 friends mark. I think that’s when it happened. You maybe know what I mean. Suddenly, the news feeds got clogged with notices from people I’d  never met or barely could remember from grade 2. I started to RSVP “maybe” to everything I got invited to (which in Facebook-land, means “um, no”). On my birthday, I received lavish salutations from strangers. Everyone and their sister (who I’d also friended) shared their “25 things” with me.

Today, I have 687 friends. I still use Facebook to promote my book and other people’s books and events. I’m still connecting to friends, family, and fans and hearing about stuff I wouldn’t have over e-mail. But I feel more jaded now when people friend me. I hope they won’t post too much. I pray they won’t complete every quiz about what kind of superhero, philosopher or sea animal they are. I wonder how to cull the list.

Is this just the evolution of Facebook membership? That it all gets a little less interesting and perhaps too crowded over time? Does everyone develop Facebook fatigue? Maybe I should just take a little break from it for awhile.

If I do, I’ll make sure to put that in my status update.

CBC’s Featured Reader

Cool! I’m CBC’s Featured Reader today! http://www.cbc.ca/canadareads/bookclub/readers.html

 

Hope you’ll check out some of my favourites…

Travelling, creative resistance and retreating

Hey it’s been a busy March! I panelled and performed in New York at the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective’s Annual Literary Festival, lectured and read at Ottawa’s Carleton University (my alma mater), facilitated a workshop and read in Guelph at the re-launch of “Saturday Night: Untold Stories of Sexual Assault in Guelph” and tonight I head to St. Catharine’s to speak to a pop culture and queerness class. A ton of activity and travelling in one month.

One question I’ve been mulling over this March is the role of critical fiction as creative resistance…in other words, what are the ways in which fiction can challenge stereotypes, ways of being, and the status quo through story, narrative and voice? And how does a writer do this lyrically versus pedantically?

Both Stealing Nasreen and my second novel contain themes and writing that challenge society’s norms…but it’s interesting…as I wrote them, I didn’t think too much about these issues. It was only in the editing process that I thought critically about the work–it was more an unconscious process. Still, the politics came through, perhaps because they are there even in my unconscious world…and maybe it’s a good thing to avoid thinking too much during the creative phase of the work, or else I might get too self-conscious and bogged down by my own thoughts…

I’ve got more travelling coming this week…I head to Del Rio, Texas on Saturday to visit family and to do a mini-writing retreat. I look forward to Tejano culture, palm trees, a comfy bed, a sense of belonging in a home away from home and writing…just writing without much  distraction beyond Priya the dog.

IWD at Carleton University

I’m heading to my alma mater Carleton University, to take part in a few events on March 18th, in celebration of International Women’s Day/Month:

12:30-2:30pm, I’ll be giving a talk called: Queerly South Asian: Reflections on writing, psychotherapy and identity in real life and fiction in 409 Southam Hall. Free and all welcome!!

2:30-3:30, visit to a School of Social Work class.

4:00-5:00, Wine and cheese at the School of Social work for staff and alumni.

New York

I’m excited to be heading to New York City this Saturday March 7th for the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective’s 6th Annual Literary Festival. The theme is “Stranger Love” and I will be participating on a panel of writers, talking about sexuality, race and gender in South Asian writing. 

Here are the details:

4:15–5:30pm
Passing Strange: Race, Gender and Sexuality

Panelists consider how their writing reimagines raced, gendered, and sexual identity in unconventional ways.

Abha Dawesar (Family Values, Penguin India 2009)
Farzana Doctor (Stealing Nasreen, Inanna 2007)
Chandra Prasad (On Borrowed Wings: A Novel, Atria 2007)
Moderated by Svati Shah (Postdoctoral Fellow, Duke University)

at The New School
6 East 16th Street (at 5th Ave), 9th Floor
New York, NY
FREE

Later the same evening, I’ll be reading from Stealing Nasreen at:

Closing Night Reading
From dating on Craigslist to undiscovered family histories, South Asian women share their own writing on the theme of “stranger love.” Featuring Fawzia Afzal-Khan, Meena Alexander, Abha Dawesar, Farzana Doctor, Minal Hajratwala, S. Mitra Kalita, Yesha Naik, Amy Paul, Bushra Rehman, Zohra Saed, and Purvi Shah.

at Bar 13
35 East 13th Street
New York, NY
$5 at the door

Hope to see you there!

For full schedule, go to www.sawcc.org/events

on keeping the faith…

This week, a friend passed on a link for TED.com, the place where you can find videos of 18 minute talks on a variety of subjects. I watched Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, speak about ”A different way to think about creative genius” and was entralled, inspired, excited.  

I’m currently working away on my third novel. I’m figuring out the characters, sorting out some possible plots, wondering where (and if) it’s  going. This work, whatever or wherever it is, is undeniably in a very embryonic state. It’s easy to feel mounds of self-doubt, to hit the delete key too often and to question whether I have another novel in me.

So Elizabeth Gilbert’s talk came just in the nick of time. I won’t summary it–it’s best you listen to it yourself.  But I will say that I’ve had some of the experiences she describes. Creativity and inspiration come in fits and starts, and can feel otherworldly, and I like it that way. The rest of the time, like Elizabeth, I sit at my computer, show up for my job, and wait patiently to hear voices that will guide me through the story. And usually, if I remain open to it, and perhaps even ask nicely, it does.

Starting again…

I was shopping at Multiple Organics today, my favourite local grocery store. I saw a couple of friends and we chatted about writing. One asked me how Novel #2 is going, and I replied, “Still tinkering”.

This past week, I completed revision #10, fixing typos, adding description, cleaning up prose. I told her this and she ordered me to stop. Put it aside. Leave it alone for now. Start something new. “There will be time for more revisions when you work with an editor,” she persisted.

I remember when I was in this place with Stealing Nasreen, back in 2006. I had sent out multiple submissions, created a new ending, and continued with edits. Then one day, it was time to move on. I don’t why it happened that day, and can’t recall how I started, but I did start  New Skin (which at the time, I was calling “Mistake”). It was strange starting fresh, getting to know my characters, finding out who there were and what they’d do. I watched the page count grow.

Half-way into New Skin’s first draft, a book deal for Stealing Nasreen arrived and I put New Skin aside, at the publisher’s recommendation–I had revisions for the first novel to focus on and needed not to be distracted by the second. Somewhat sadly, I said farewell to Ismail and Celia of New Skin and got reacquainted with Nasreen, Salma and Shaffiq. 

Then, a few weeks after Stealing Nasreen’s release, I turned back to New Skin. At this point I felt polyamourous; I was talking about Nasreen at book launches, while further developing Celia. I was answering questions about Shaffiq, and writing dialogue for Ismail. This busy ‘intimate life’ has continued for the last year and a half. Add to this the further complexity of a brand new relationship with four strangers who have been visiting my imagination over the last couple of months–characters from novel #3. I’m still not sure who they are, but they won’t be ignored. 

Today, after listening to my friend’s wise words, I am putting aside New Skin. I’ve just sent the manuscript to an agent, and will wait. I know I’ll return to it again, when the time for edits comes.

Meanwhile, I have a date with four new friends…