Apparently, it’s March. I feel like we just started this year. And yet it feels like it’s been going on forever. It’s wild.
Part of it, I know, is that my life has been like a load of clothes in a dryer: just everything tossed about under intense heat. The good news is that the cycle is just about over. But there’s always dirty laundry, so.
I had some pretty well-defined goals for this year and in preparation for the year. I was going to have my business plan complete, my website updated, blogging at least twice a month, reviving Tennis With Attitude, writing a book proposal. All of this and more. However, there’s been a slight hiccup.
While I was supposed to setting up a schedule to start the year off with the bang it would need to be in order to do all of this, something else happened. I decided to leave my 15-year marriage. All I’ll say now is that it wasn’t an easy choice, but it was the best one available. It was also the rightest one. Yeah, no, that’s not a word.
But this choice was all-consuming for the first part of this year, to say the least. I’m still getting physically and emotionally settled, to the point where I can start to even approach the goals stated above. And because of these recent personal changes, it does appear that some rebranding is in order and this is daunting. My TWA blog was never done under my real name, but my journalism career is mostly bylined by a name I’d rather never use again. My website, for Pete’s sake. So it’s going to be weird. But I’m going to figure it all out and I would like to do it this month. Stop laughing.
One of my goals that have been calling out to me has been about my fiction writing. What fiction writing, you’re saying. Oh, the fiction I write and then shove it under my bed and forget about it. That fiction. You wouldn’t know it from my body of work, but my first love is fiction writing. I wrote a short story (at about 2,000, that’s the shortest I get) late last year and submitted it. It was rejected about three weeks later, but it was a step.
Another big step I took this year was participating in a virtual open-mic and I actually read my fiction work out loud! Before I continue, please support Galleyway if you can. Camille Wanliss is an amazing writer and created this space for people of color to write together. It’s a beautiful thing. For its fifth-year anniversary, Camille held a virtual event for writers to read what they’ve been working on, and wow. So many amazing writers out there who you’ve never heard of. Yet. I’m excited on your behalf, that you’ll have the chance to read them one day. Like I said, I read also and I didn’t pass out from nerves, so that’s a win.
What I’m Reading
I just finished Neil Gaiman’s “American Gods” and wow. Yes, it’s an ambitious story and well-told but it’s made me think about my work. Specifically, whether it’s OK to have characters in your stories that serve no real purpose. Every person in the book that Shadow touches plays a real role in the unfolding of the story. And we’re not talking about just a few people. This book is over 500 pages.
I have a work in progress with a character I’m on the fence about. If I’m honest, she’s in there for my amusement because she’s a crossover character from one of my short stories. I thought it’d be a nice touch, but only as a callback to another piece. Ultimately, she’s not central to the plot, the character’s development or even as those deus ex machina-type roles. Still, it’s fun scene — I think so. So I don’t know. I so admired the way Gaiman didn’t waste a person or a word in this book that I’m feeling deep shame over this character.
Anyone else throw in characters that aren’t necessary just for giggles? I’m trying to think of one book I’ve read that I enjoyed where rando characters were just tossed in and out and coming up short.
What I’m Listening To
One day, the answer to this question will be music, new and interesting music that has nothing to do with my weekly PlyoJam sessions. This is not that day and I am still obsessed with podcasts.
Two this week that I’ve been thinking a lot about: “Through The Cracks” coming by way of WAMU. Journalist Jonquilyn Hill (would not be surprised at all if that was a West Indian name) takes us to the failures that led to the disappearance of eight-year-old Relisha Rudd from a shelter where her family was living. I’d heard about this case before, but this was the most exhaustive look so far at the history and the institutions involved with her disappearance. The most unusual aspect of this case is that Relisha had been missing for nearly a month before
The most obvious (and only) answer to many is that her family failed her. This is fair and true, but Hill, through the format of this podcast, argues that there were several factors at play. I don’t want to spoil it for you, but she’s right. The school system dropped the ball. The city-operated shelter in the D.C. area allowed a person with a criminal record to work at this shelter — when he shouldn’t have been. Hill, I think, is asking us to weigh all these factors equally. The reason I enjoy this podcast is that she makes a compelling case, and presents us with a panoramic view of this story, which I love to see in journalism. But I have to admit that the most recent episode gave me pause. Again, no real spoilers here, but Hill considers the role of Shamika Young, Relisha’s mom, in this case, and, unlike in other episodes, she pulls her punches. At the end of the day, the parents are the main people responsible for the care of their child. And Hill is going to have to issue a heckuva final episode to make a clear case for why that might not apply here. But I’m definitely going to hear her out.
The other podcast I’m enjoying is not true-crime related! I know, right? “Business Wars” from Wondery is a look behind the scenes at the business rivalries that have played out in public over the years. There are about 50 seasons (slight exaggeration) of this show, but I jumped right in to Mattel vs. Hasbro because I’m a child of the 1980s. Wondery podcasts are sort of known for using imagined dialogue to paint a picture and it mostly works here. But especially for this season, I’m kind of fascinated that toy companies … take it so seriously? The other thing that blew me away was that I was not only a child of the ’80s, I was a Jem girl. You know, Jem, who’s fashion contagious! Outrageous! Jem is my naaaame, no one else is the same, Jem is my name! Jem! OK, so I was a Jem girl and it turns out that Mattel found out Hasbro was planning a rocker doll and that’s how Barbie and the Rockers were born. I definitely remember Barbie and the Rockers and to my nine-year-old-ish brain, I knew it was a bite-off of Jem. But apparently, the Rockers made enough noise to push Jem aside. And now that I’ve listened to this podcast, it’s answered the question I’ve had for years: With everything that’s getting a reboot these days, why not Jem? Because Mattel is cutthroat, I guess. Also, for the record, I don’t want a reboot of Jem or of anything from the 80s and 90s. Let’s maybe make new things!
All right, I’ve read this graph and it appears that I really have a lot of childhood trauma around Jem. So I guess I need a deep breath and a different season of this show. Hm, one of the most recent ones is about Estee Lauder vs. L’Oreal. See, the test of this podcast will be to make me, a person who last bought perfume in the 90s, care about this catfight. We shall see.