These days, libraries are so much more than physical books. Librarians don’t just find books or make reading recommendations (though they’re still great at that), they also make a wide variety of important resources available to their entire community. And you don’t even have to go to the physical library to access them–much of those services and resources are available online, both on library websites and through apps on your phone, computer, tablet, or e-reader. Libby (by Overdrive) Libby is essentially the digital version of your library. Once you create an account using your library card number, you’ll have access to thousands of e-books and audiobooks you can read immediately from your phone, computer, and even your Kindle or e-reader. You can search for a specific title or author in a specific format, or browse through genres and librarian-curated guides like new releases, kids’ classics, books by Black authors, queer stories, and more. The app was created in June 2017 and is the most popular library app, likely because of its wide selection and its simple, clean design. In less than six years, over one billion books have been checked out through the app. In fact, the billionth title checked out through Libby happened on January 21 of this year (An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lepena, if you’re interested). Much like the physical books in the library, your library system has a specific number of digital copies available of each e-book or audiobook it offers, so some popular titles might not be available at a moment’s notice. But never fear–on Libby, you can put titles on hold just like you would at your library, and the app will let you know about how long you’ll have to wait for that book and will notify you when it’s available. In fact, notifications are one of the best parts of using a library app: Libby will notify you when the due date for a book you’ve checked out is coming up (so you can re-check it out if you need to), and if a book you were searching for has been added. It’ll also keep track of what you’ve previously borrowed, and you can make personal book lists, like “TBR,” “favorite middle grade,” or whatever you want! Pro Tip: If you’re as big a book nerd as the staff at Wildling, you know that sometimes you hear about a great book and you simply must read it right now! In that case, may we recommend belonging to multiple library systems (the author of this post belongs to five *humble brag*) so that you’re more likely to find an available copy of what you want when you want it. The app is available for Android, iOS and Windows devices. Hoopla Hoopla is another popular library app that offers e-books and audiobooks, but it also offers thousands of graphic novels and comics, music, movies, and TV shows. Some of the newest, most popular music albums (like Taylor Swift’s Midnights) or TV shows are available on Hoopla, and just like all the other library apps you love, they’re all free. Hoopla also offers something called “BingePass,” which gives you days of unlimited access to online content like The Great Courses, the Highlights collection, Kidz Vidz, storytime videos for kids, and more. Hoopla also offers “Kids Mode” so parents can feel totally comfortable letting their kids browse the vast selection of music, TV, and movies. Kanopy If Hoopla isn’t available from your local library, there’s a good chance that they offer access to Kanopy instead. Kanopy doesn’t offer books, but it’s specifically for videos. Through Kanopy, you can stream over 30,000 classic and indie movies, documentaries, and television series. So get downloading! Remember those times when your doctor’s appointment was taking longer than expected or you got stuck at the DMV and you cursed yourself for forgetting your book at home? Thanks to library apps, as long as you have a phone with you, you’ll never be without a book to read or an album to listen to or a movie to watch. Library apps are free, easy to use and access, and full of hours of entertainment and information.
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The number of bookish podcasts out there truly seems infinite. There’s a podcast for the whole book spectrum, from writing to reading to marketing, and more. It’s comforting to know there’s something out there for you no matter what you’re looking for, but it can feel a little overwhelming at the same time. Where do you even start? Well, we’re highlighting some of our favorites in three categories: book recommendations, the craft of writing, and author marketing.
Book Recommendations
The Craft of Writing
Author Marketing Information
Well, there you have it! Use these recommendations as a jumping off point because this list just scratches the surface of the bookish podcast land. And please let us know about any of your favorites that we didn’t mention here. We’re always looking for new bookish podcasts to listen to!
written by Grace Ball 
“Father, I did not know you were there, in the kitchen,” I said.
“I see,” he responded. “Well, Sarah, I have just come in from the garden. I do not know why you did not see me.” Yikes! Wow, that’s some seriously bad dialogue. You know the saying about porn? “It’s hard to define, but I know it when I see it.” Yeah, that’s bad dialogue. Bad dialogue can absolutely, single-handedly ruin your book. Getting a grasp on writing organic dialogue is one of the most important things a writer can do for their craft. But how do you spot bad dialogue? And how do you write organic dialogue? Contract.
People almost exclusively use contractions in speech unless it’s for emphasis. “I don’t know where your hat is,” might escalate to “Dude, I DO NOT KNOW where your hat is!” But in regular, ongoing speech, it’s better to err on the side of contracting than to separate out all your “do not”s.
Don’t say their name.
This is probably the biggest offender we see in new authors’ unedited books. People don’t say each other’s names! Again, unless it’s for emphasis, people literally don’t say each other’s names when they’re speaking to each other. Why would they?
In the above example (silly, I know), Father calls Sarah Sarah and Sarah calls Father Father. Sure, it’s only a two-line exchange, and we don’t know what might be going on around them. But say they’re alone. Why would Sarah need to say “Father”? Who else might she be talking to? She’s probably even looking at him. And further, Father certainly doesn’t need to say “Sarah,” as he’s directly answering Sarah’s question. Again, emphasis changes how we speak. “I don’t know where your hat is,” might escalate to “Sarah! I SAID I didn’t know where your hat is!” In a tender moment, a character might say another’s name. But in general, skip the name-calling. We “‘we” being the characters and the readers) all know what’s going on here. Skip dialogue tags when possible.
“Hey,” I said.
“Oh hey, what’s up,” Emily responded. “What are you working on?” I asked curiously. “Just painting,” Emily answered. She waved her paintbrush and giggled. “Ah,” I said. “That’s cool,” I added. Ugh, I’m exhausted just writing that example! Reduce dialogue tags so your readers don’t get exhausted! Of course, dialogue tags can be crucially important for making a dialogue exchange clear. However, they are also criminally overused in amateur writing. When dialogue happens in real life (I think we just call that “talking”?), it happens quickly. For your reader to perceive your dialogue as organic, it helps if it can be read quickly. Dialogue tags slow down your dialogue. They’re clutter. They almost never bring new, true meaning into your book. Cut dialogue tags you don’t need—for example, if two characters are talking back and forth, you can seriously limit your dialogue tags, as it’s as simple to keep track of those conversations as it is to watch tennis. Even when you’re writing scenes with bigger casts, you can limit dialogue tags. Cut a dialogue tag and opt instead to include some body language that augments the dialogue. Cut a dialogue tag and add some inner monologue. Cut a dialogue tag and trust your reader to be able to follow. Even with a cast of several characters, if two are talking back and forth for several lines, you simply don’t need dialogue tags. Trust your reader! They aren’t stupid. They’re actually probably quite skilled at reading. So trust that they can follow what’s happening even when you don’t label every single word. Mess up.
You know what humans definitely don’t do? Talk good. Haha! Short of a highly skilled professional public speaker, humans no talk no good. We say dumb shit. We mess up and keep going. We mess up and stop and start over! We start a sentence and halfway through we forget what we were saying.
People don’t talk in complete sentences, not really. We speak in bursts. In linguistics, they aren’t even called “sentences,” because they’re different; they’re called “utterances,” and their rules are different. None of your characters should be speaking in complete sentences all of the time. It’s just not realistic! Write your characters messing up. Especially in emotionally charged moments, your characters won’t be speaking perfectly. It shows their humanity if they talk dumb when mad, just like us. Write each character to speak differently.
People speak differently. All people, even similar people, speak differently. By writing each of your characters to speak differently, you make their speech more organic—and you make your character fuller and more convincing at the same time!
Some people stutter a lot. Some people use big words because they read a lot. Some people use big words because they want to sound like they read a lot. Some people don’t talk often. Some people never stop talking. Some people are interrupters; some people wait for an opening. Some people have accents; some people have speech impediments. Some people speak quickly and energetically, off the cuff, while others are more measured and plan carefully. It’s been said (by someone, idk who) that you should be able to tell who in your book is speaking without any dialogue tag at all, just by looking at how they speak. Like much writing advice, this is an excellent guide, but don’t take it literally. You can’t make every single utterance reflect a whole personality. But generally, readers should be able to notice differences in characters’ speech patterns. Read it aloud.
The only way to truly evaluate if your dialogue sounds organic is to read it aloud to yourself or to someone else. When the words come out of your mouth, they should feel natural. You’ll notice really quickly that you need more contractions, that your lines are too stilted, that your characters all sound the same, when you start reading aloud.
Dialogue can make or break a book. A book with a weak plot or theme can be literally held aloft by its characters and their dialogue. Artful, realistic dialogue is the hallmark of a skilled author. So do your work and make sure that all your characters are speaking organically and authentically to themselves. written by Christina Kann We'll keep this short and sweet, because we've already wasted so much of our time on Twitter.  We're ditching our Twitter account.
When Elon Musk bought Twitter last year, the Wildlings thought to ourselves, "Ah, another megalomaniac billionaire buying a platform we all use for his own personal clout. Yeah, that happens in late-stage capitalism." When he started laying off his security and content moderation staff, we were like, "Ummmm okay Elon, how are we handling security then??? Who is making sure Twitter is a safe space?" He has now given us our answer: No one is making sure Twitter is a safe space, because it's not. In April, Twitter "quietly rolled back a portion of its hateful conduct policy that included specific protections for transgender people," according to CNN. "Twitter also removed a line from the policy detailing certain groups of people often subject to disproportionate abuse online, including 'women, people of color, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual individuals, and marginalized and historically underrepresented communities.'” Wow! Ouch. The entire Wildling staff is on that list. Moreover, Wildling has always been committed to nurturing safe spaces for writers from all walks of life to develop their craft. Unlike Twitter, Wildling particularly aims to work with writers from marginalized groups and uplift their voices. Twitter is coming for our allyship and our identity. They are no longer protecting us, our authors, and our community. So we're out. Please connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or through our mailing list. 
It's Library Week! Not only that, but today is Library Workers Day, so please celebrate with us by giving our chat with Nico D'Archangel, library technician and chair of the Virginia Library Association's LGBTQIA+ Forum, a listen.
Grace Ball 00:23 Welcome to How Do I Book? by Wildling Press. We like to chat about book writing, book publishing, book marketing, and of course, book reading. We're trying to help new and experienced authors develop their craft, widen their perspectives, and learn to get a little wild every once in a while. I'm Grace and I am so stoked, because, in case you haven't heard, today is Library Workers Day. And in fact, it's Library Week, all week long. So the celebration will continue. But today we're celebrating by having a little chat with the one and only Nico D'Archangel, who is a library technician at the Richmond Public Library and currently the chair of Virginia Library Association's LGBTQIA+ Forum. So, Nico, thank you so much for joining us. Nico D'Archangel 01:17 Thank you for having me. Grace Ball 01:18 Yeah! Alright, so before we get started, Nico, what are your pronouns? Nico D'Archangel 01:22 My pronouns are he/him, please. Grace Ball 01:25 Nico, would you mind just letting our listeners know a little bit about yourself? Nico D'Archangel 01:28 Sure. I've got experience in archives, interlibrary loan, use services, and circulation so far, but of course, it being a library, there's always more to learn. And I'm very much an activist for accessibility in libraries, as well as making sure libraries are safe places for both queer and BIPOC staff as well as patrons. Grace Ball 01:49 Yes, thank you so much. That's awesome. So just a little bit of context for our listeners, Christina and I had the opportunity to connect with Nico at the Queer and Trans Author Expo event here in Richmond. And we've basically wanted to be your best friends ever since. So I'm super excited to get to talk to you today! So let's get into the interview. Nico, how long have you been with the Richmond Public Library? Nico D'Archangel 02:21 I've been with Richmond Public Library for four years. I started out part time in the children's department here at Main. And then a few months in, I got snagged over to the West End branch. And I got full time over there since then. Grace Ball 02:36 Awesome. That's cool. What kind of led you down this career path? Nico D'Archangel 02:40 No joke, I literally wanted to be a librarian since I was in the second grade, I just absolutely loved reading. Grace Ball 02:44 That's so cool! Nico D'Archangel 02:46 I would help out my school librarian, like making sure all books are in order--they've got to be alphabetical, Dewey Decimal. I just thought it was the best thing ever and absolutely loved reading. And so I started off volunteering at my local library and working my way up, worked in my college library, worked at this library, this part of archives, because I grew up with my dad doing genealogy. And so that's very tied to history and libraries. It's the best thing ever. And one of these days, I will get my master's degree so that I can earn that capital L in librarian. Grace Ball 03:19 Oh, yeah. Man, I know you'll do that. So it sounds like your position, at least with Richmond Public Library, has kind of changed a bit over the years. I'm interested to hear kind of what that transition looked like. And if you could describe a day at work four years ago versus what a day at work now kind of looks like. Nico D'Archangel 03:39 Sure I can do that. Whenever I was hired in the children's department, I was their nights and weekends person. And so I'd be coming in when most of the main staff was getting ready to go home, and then I'd have the late shift, three or four hours at a time, rarely saw anybody. Just got to have fun playing with the books, looking at the new things that come in. I wrote pretty often for the blog in the early days, because I'm like, I'm sitting here, there's no shelving I can do. There's nothing else, so I'm gonna read this book and I'm gonna write about it kind of thing. Today, though, it looks very different from the full time. First thing in the morning, we always get there roughly an hour before we open, do our registers for the day, we print off a holds list. So that's the items people have requested in the last twenty-four hours that are at our branch. And so we go through the whole building trying to find all these books. The list can be anywhere from two to fifteen pages long, depending on the day. Grace Ball 04:36 Wow. Oh my gosh. So do you kind of have an idea of what your day is going to look like before you go in? Or is it a bit of a mystery? Nico D'Archangel 04:44 If it's coming back after a holiday we know it's going to be busy. If it's a really nice day outside we don't have as many people coming in. So one of those rainy, drizzly days we get a lot of families coming in. The West End branch has like a little puzzle and Lego table. Parents will bring their kids in and they'll spend forty-five minutes to an hour, if not all day there, instead of going to the park or whatever, on a Saturday. We get the outside book drop in the morning, before we open and again in the afternoon, just before we close. And as we start off the day, we've got a desk schedule. And so like, usually no more than two hours at a time on the desk. But the desk can consist of answering the phones, helping patrons check out, keeping an eye on the self-checkout station, helping people on the computers, opening the doors for people in the study room. And then when we're not on desk, we've got extracurricular-type programs. So if we're getting ready, like I'm going to be doing a book art program coming up, and so I've gotta like, make sure all my demos are ready and make sure I have all the books I need and all the materials. The children's librarian is looking around for this material for that program, or this the other. So there's a lot of off-desk work that happens that a lot of people don't see. Grace Ball 06:01 Yeah, I bet. What would you say is like the aspect of your job that you love the most? Nico D'Archangel 06:06 Besides my fantastic immediate co-workers, I would not be as happy in the job if it wasn't for them. We're a really good, cohesive group. I like that no two days are going to be the same. There's always something a little bit different, a little bit intriguing, interesting going on. Like, I'm never really going to be bored at the library. Even if I'm just sitting at the desk, I can be writing blogs, I can be researching because someone asked me "What kind of books are like this author?" well, let's find out kind of thing. So I like that flexibility of days, and how every day is a new adventure. Grace Ball 06:47 So kind of the flip side of that question. What would you say is the most challenging part of your job? Nico D'Archangel 06:53 That was the question I had the hardest time thinking about, I think, I would say, managing patron expectations. Because sometimes they come into the library, and they think that we're going to do everything for them. Like we're gonna sit down at the computer next to them, type in their passwords, fill out their resume, submit the job application, or something to that effect, because someone else in another thing that doesn't come to the library says "Oh, yeah! Go to the library. They'll do that for you." Grace Ball 07:24 Right. Nico D'Archangel 07:25 We can help you get on, but we can't handhold and some people really do need that step-by-step help. And because we're having to do so many things, we can't always get that help. And it's frustrating, because we can see the need, but we aren't able to fill it because there's never enough of us at any one time to meet every need. Grace Ball 07:44 So it sounds like you've wanted to be working at a library basically your whole life. But once you really got into it, were there any aspects of working at a library that surprised you or that you think might surprise people? Nico D'Archangel 08:00 I don't know if it's a surprise, per se, but one of the most fascinating things that I think about working at the library is access to books before they're published. Advanced Reader Copies, whether they're digital or physical, I think that's one of the best little perks about working in a library. Read a book before it comes out, and that way you're like, "Hey, this was really good. You should read this." Or, "You like fantasy? Have I got the book for you!" kind of thing. Grace Ball 08:28 That's so fun. You get a little sneak peek. Nico D'Archangel 08:31 Yeah, yeah! It feels like I get to help build the excitement and be a part of the process, helping people enjoy reading. Grace Ball 08:42 Yeah. In what ways do libraries positively impact the community? Nico D'Archangel 08:48 So many different ways: We are warm places when it gets cold. We're cooling stations when it gets hot. People can come into the library for as many hours during the day that we're open, and there's no expectation of spending any money while you're here. You can just exist. You can't go to sleep, but you can exist. So we're help for transient people. Someone that might not have anyone in their family to talk them through a difficult thing online, we can help them figure it out. We have notaries on staff at all our branches, and so we're able to help people notarize things. Some branches only get about ten in a month, but some branches do 150 notaries in a month. So that's obviously something the public uses often. We give community spaces for different people to host programs. If someone wants to make friends doing a crocheting club, they can book up the meeting room every third Saturday and like hey, this is now crochet group, come on and join us. There's all kinds of networking and community building. At our branch we have movies. We show matinees every Tuesday, pop our own popcorn, and for so many people afterward they end up thanking us like, "Thank you so much. We don't have to go to a movie theater and spend this much on a ticket and this much on popcorn. And I have something I'm looking forward to every week." And that's the only day they get out of their house, and the library is that community for them. Grace Ball 10:22 So what can the community do to support libraries? Nico D'Archangel 10:27 Two big things: getting a library card and walking in the building. So getting that library card, that's a statistic that our board and foundation are looking at, like how many library cards do we have versus how many people are in the population. And we have door count every day, like how many people walked in and out of our door? There's not that many, or we've got so much we need to put more programs here. Let us know what kind of programs you want to see if there's nothing that's there for you. Pre-COVID, there was a group that met at like a pub to do trivia kind of thing. But it was led by the library. Grace Ball 11:05 Cool! Nico D'Archangel 11:06 So it's just like, get a library card and visit the library. That way it shows everybody we have the statistics to say, yes, the library is important. Grace Ball 11:16 That makes total sense. So I know that Richmond Public Library has a volunteer program. Do you want to tell us a little bit more about that? Nico D'Archangel 11:26 Sure, you can apply either online or in person. You can specify which branch you want to work at or just say any of them. Our person in charge of the volunteers will give specific jobs if you don't know what you want to do. Or say you're a grandparent and you miss your grandkids, so you want to do a storytime kind of thing. We can help facilitate that through the volunteer program. There's weeding our shelves to make sure we have room for new things, shelving, all the new things. There's different projects and events. Unboxing items that come in from publishers, like there's so many things to do that people can volunteer and help with. Our book sale that happens twice a year. It's always exciting! There's always a rush. And every time afterward on social media, "Look at all these books I got for just this much!" It's so cool. And it all comes from either donations or things that were weeded out of our collection--that's all the book sale is--and it does a lot to help the library and a lot of our money come from the book sales now. Grace Ball 11:36 Yeah, the book sale is one of my favorite things. I gotta say. Nico D'Archangel 11:36 Teens can volunteer if they need hours for schools. I know some schools require a certain number of volunteer hours, we can do that. The only thing our volunteer hours can't do is be like court ordered mandated things. We can't work with that one. Grace Ball 12:47 Oh, I see. Nico D'Archangel 12:47 Yeah, there's lots of volunteer options and things that can help any branch. Grace Ball 12:53 So any final thoughts you have on the importance of libraries? Nico D'Archangel 12:58 If I can plug a post I wrote for the library recently? Grace Ball 13:03 Yeah, please! Nico D'Archangel 13:05 It's called Library Myths. I narrowed down like fifteen different myths that people in general say about libraries. And I showed how that's not all of our libraries, like libraries aren't just for kids, they aren't quiet places where you can be shushed if you start talking louder than a whisper. We don't have just books, and a library card doesn't cost any money. Librarians don't get to read all day, even though we would very much like to. Richmond specifically, there are so many counties that we give free library cards to. It's not just people living in the city of Richmond, it's Hopewell, Petersburg, Williamsburg, Chesterfield, Goochland, Hanover, Powhatan, Prince George, they can all get a free library card at Richmond Public Library. Another important thing specifically about Richmond is we got rid of our late fees back just before COVID started. It wasn't helping. The late fees were going to the city, we might see 5% of it. It wasn't helping the library. But once we got rid of it, more people and more items started coming back to the library because there was no longer that financial worry about coming in. They're not going to be hounded for this much money. Because sometimes things happen and books and items get lost. So I like knowing that we only charge if items are lost or damaged now. If you find it, and it's good, we're golden. You don't have anything to worry about anymore. Grace Ball 14:31 Bring it back any ole time. Nico D’Archangel 14:33 Yeah. Grace Ball 14:34 Nice. That's excellent. Great! Well, thank you so much, Nico. As we wrap up, I wanted to give you the opportunity to plug anything you'd like, social media accounts, personal projects. Is there anything you'd like to share? Nico D'Archangel 14:48 If you're a social media person, follow Richmond Public Library, as well as the Virginia Library Association's LGBTQIA+ forum. We're doing a lot in the forum. It started off for like people who work in libraries, but we also do things for the general public, and it's all across the state, not just Richmond-specific, the forum. Grace Ball 15:10 Awesome. Yeah. And I can list those handles in the show notes, so look there for those. Grace Ball 15:17 Thank you again, so much for coming on the pod today, Nico, I had so much fun chatting with you and celebrating you and all the library workers. And I just want to say thank you for all that you do. Nico D'Archangel 15:17 Yayyy! Nico D'Archangel 15:29 Thank you very much. Libraries work because we do. Episode transcribed by Grace Ball 
It's National Poetry Month and Wildling is diving in deep. Poetry is so much more than just pretty words. Poetry is community, poetry is healing, poetry is a revolution. Don't miss this powerful conversation with spoken-word poet GM about how making space for poetry in your writing community creates a safe space for all of us.
Mary-Peyton Crook 00:23 Welcome to How Do I Book? by Wildling Press. We like to chat about book writing, book publishing, book marketing, and of course, the book reading. We're trying to help new and experienced authors develop their craft, widen their perspectives, and learn to get a little wild every once in a while. Mary-Peyton Crook 00:26 I'm Mary-Peyton, and today I have a very special guest with me! I'm so excited to be joined by GM. GM is a twenty-two-year-old trans non-binary poet and dessert baker based in Richmond, Virginia. Over the past year, they have dedicated themself to introducing the writing community of the city to the experiences of qtpoc individuals. Before debuting as a slam poetry artist, they wrote an anthology of poetry and prose, which they plan to publish--a body of work that removes the burden of gender from its characters. You can find them and more of their work on Instagram @o.k.gm. Welcome, GM, and thank you for being with me today! GM 00:41 Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Mary-Peyton Crook 00:45 Of course. So GM, what are your pronouns? GM 00:48 They/them. Mary-Peyton Crook 00:54 Okay, perfect. I know we just did an intro about you, but tell us a little bit in your own words about you and your life so far with poetry. GM 01:35 I actually love this question. Because I feel like, in short, I've been writing my whole life. I grew up with readers--me, my mom, and my sister, we used to go to restaurants together, and when we would wait for our food, we'd all pull out our books and we would read. Mary-Peyton Crook 01:49 Oh, I love that. GM 01:51 Yeah! For most of my life, my sister (she's seven years older than me) . . . we would all kind of pass around our books after we were done with it. And seeing their love for reading made me want to write something that they would be proud of, and that they would enjoy. So I've spent my entire life trying to craft something that would bring my family joy in a way that tethers us. GM 02:14 It's really exciting because even though I've been writing for such a long time, it's been very recently that my family has started to see me actually on stage. I'm a little bit of an introvert and perfectionist, so I try to like . . . once I'm proud of it, that's when I want to share it with them. So it means a lot that they've stepped in on this journey once I feel like I'm in a place where I'm proud of the work that I'm sharing. Mary-Peyton Crook 02:36 That's awesome. That's got to be a great feeling. GM 02:38 Thank you. Mary-Peyton Crook 02:39 So for listeners who may be unfamiliar with the poetry that you specifically do, which is performance poetry, spoken word poetry, and specifically slam poetry, give us a little insight into what that is. GM 02:52 So for a really long time, I was mostly a poet on paper and I was going to a lot of slam events, but I never saw myself getting on stage. But I think that I grew such a respect for the vulnerability that people displayed in front of audiences of people that don't know them. And there's something so special about work that is meant to be shared through oration. You can feel the emotion, you can feel like there's a there's a cadence, there's a rhythm. Especially in Richmond, Virginia, there are so many powerful people with powerful stories, and hearing it come from their mouths and seeing the whole room share in this experience and hold the artist on stage . . . I think that's what spoken word is about. I think poetry in and of itself is very important, but I think there's something very niche and specific about sharing the story through oration. Mary-Peyton Crook 03:43 Yeah, absolutely. A lot of people, when they think of poetry they think of on the page. But poetry started as an oral practice. So, naturally, poetry is about that cadence like you're talking about, that sound. And so hearing it spoken out loud is a completely different experience than reading it on the page. It's an important part of that experience. Mary-Peyton Crook 04:02 I love that I'm getting to talk to you today just in general, but also because I used to be really into watching and listening and going to spoken word and slam poetry events. I never did it myself. I never got up the courage to do that. But I love listening to it and I used to listen to videos all the time because of that. There's something so soothing--even a really strong, intense poem--something so soothing about hearing another person's voice speaking those words, especially when they've written it beautifully in that cadence, you're right. And hearing, like you said, hearing the audience respond when they hear a really good line is so cool. It gives me goosebumps. GM 04:40 Yes. It's my favorite part to hear. I love being on stage and knowing something resonated with someone because I can I can hear that response. Mary-Peyton Crook 04:48 Absolutely. GM 04:49 It's very like we're experiencing this all together. Mary-Peyton Crook 04:52 I love that. Yeah, I feel like a lot of parts of the writing community are very formal, you know, on-the-page kind of stuff. And I feel like a lot of people should really check out performance poetry, because it is such a beautiful experience you can't get from just reading on a page. GM 05:08 I think it's very similar to performance art, when people are demonstrating a piece of art and there's like . . . the audience is there to watch them and take what they want from it. I feel very similarly about poetry being on the page versus seeing it in real life. Mary-Peyton Crook 05:22 And you mentioned being an introvert, which doesn't surprise me--a lot of writers tend to be introverts, you know? But then you do this performance . . . and I've gotten to see a few of your performances through your Instagram account, which are fantastic! Absolutely shook me. They were so good. And so I really was like, "Wow, here's a writer who is not an introvert, because they're out here performing, and performing so confidently and beautifully." How do you do that? What is that like for you? GM 05:50 I think that's an interesting question, and I think that it is slightly tethered with gender in a way. When I get on stage, it feels like I'm performing drag. I am a very characterization of myself, whether it's like the outfit . . . the energy that's coming from me is very not what is offstage. It's a lot of getting myself into this mindset of like, "I'm a performer right now." Mary-Peyton Crook 06:14 Cool. GM 06:14 Yeah, and so many of my loved ones perform drag as well, and so there's so much inspiration. . . . I love that art form, and having them support me in that way. My roommate (who I live with, love him to death), he's a drag performer. And so he's a very big part of building me up before I get on stage . . . Mary-Peyton Crook 06:30 That's awesome. GM 06:31 . . . as GM versus who I am in real life. Yeah, I think a lot of times, I think that when you get on stage, it does seem like I'm a lot bigger than I actually am. I love crafting a space for myself to be loud, while also having space for myself to be small and alone and enjoy that time with myself. Mary-Peyton Crook 06:54 Oh, that's awesome. As an introvert myself, that makes sense to me where that would really help, you know? The idea that when you are performing, you can put on this persona, even if it's not like in drag where there's that full costume, right? You're still thinking of yourself as a different person in that moment, so that you have that confidence and that ability to say these things out loud, especially since a lot of your poetry is very personal, that you're able to say these things to the audience and perform it in a more comfortable space for yourself. GM 07:24 I feel like GM is kind of like the shield for the person that I am. Mary-Peyton Crook 07:29 I know that you have also written poetry for the page. What does your process look like? Do you make an active choice to make something performance versus written? What is that like, that decision when you're writing a poem? GM 07:43 I think that when it comes to performance . . . well, one of my favorite prompts of all time is The Audre Lorde Questionnaire to Oneself. And it's a four question prompt, asks you: What are the words you do not have yet? What do you need to say? What are the tyrannies that you swallow to make your own? And lastly--and this is in short, but--what is the worst that can happen if you speak this truth? GM 08:06 And I feel like when I really have something that I want to say that I want to share, I feel like those are the things that I bring to the stage especially because, differing from that, one of my favorite messages from Toni Morrison--and I may misquote this, but--she talks about how if there's something that you want to read that has not been written yet, it is up to you to write it. Mary-Peyton Crook 08:27 That's one of my favorite quotes too! GM 08:29 I spent a really long time in the audience of slams. And though I felt this connection with the poets, I also felt that I wasn't seeing enough queer and trans people of color on stage. And I think that's when I decided that I would like to do that. I would like to create a space for us within this space. And it's been a really beautiful process of when I feel like I have something to say, it gets really scary getting on stage, but for . . . I want to say the last couple of times I've done it, there's always been at least one queer person in the crowd that comes up to me and says, like, "I have never seen someone share our story on stage like that, and I really appreciate that." And I appreciate them! Because I feel seen and I feel held in those moments. And I'm like, "You are here with me, and we are sharing this experience together." So that's definitely what I bring to the stage, what I want to spread awareness [about]. I want to share these stories that I think that we're either not listening to or moving past, if that makes sense. Mary-Peyton Crook 09:26 Yeah, absolutely. It's very cool that you can see the need that you felt going to those events and seeing that space that's open for trans non-binary people, and deciding that instead of waiting for someone else to make that happen and make that safe space, that you're like, "I can be this person for other people." Mary-Peyton Crook 09:44 Have you read--not to put you on the spot about what you've read, but--have you read All Boys Aren't Blue? GM 09:49 Uh uh, I should write that down. Mary-Peyton Crook 09:51 It's a series of personal essays by George M. Johnson, and he's a queer Black man and also a journalist and activist, and (I actually just read this quote earlier this weekend) apparently when he wrote it and he wanted to publish it, he said [something] like, "I don't care if this book is a huge success, or if it's a flop, as long as there's one person out there who sees this, sees themself in it, feels seen, then . . . that's the goal." And that book has become a really huge success and also is banned in a lot of places, unfortunately. But yeah, that just sounded very similar to your experience of wanting to get up there and make that space for someone else too. GM 10:33 Yeah, I think--speaking of things being banned, and like there's a little bit of unsafety of sharing stories--I recently made the Writer's Den poetry slam team, and the nationals competition that we're going to is actually based in Tennessee . . . Mary-Peyton Crook 10:48 Oh, wow. GM 10:48 . . . which, I don't know if you know what's going on right now, but it's a very daunting feeling going into a space like that and still speaking, because I know, I know that there's going to be someone there that needs to hear it, especially in a place like that. Mary-Peyton Crook 11:05 That's so scary, though. I am a straight, cisgender white woman--my experience, my fear of getting up on stage is, like, "I'm afraid because I don't want to be embarrassed," you know? And so I don't have that perspective of real fear of something like that, like being in a space that's unsafe to exist in. GM 11:26 But I will say that I think it is like a genuine fear to get on stage regardless. Roscoe Burnems, the poet laureate of Richmond, he always says that the number one fear amongst the populace is public speaking, and that death is number two . . . Mary-Peyton Crook 11:41 Oh my god. GM 11:41 . . . so, completely . . . Mary-Peyton Crook 11:44 I believe that. GM 11:45 I one-thousand-percent get it. Mary-Peyton Crook 11:48 Well, congratulations on making the team! That's so exciting. GM 11:51 Thank you. I'm really excited regardless. I know it's gonna be a fabulous time. Mary-Peyton Crook 11:56 Good. Why do you think that it's important for a community to have a space for poetry, whether spoken word or on the page? Why do you think that's important for a community? To you, what does poetry do for a community? GM 12:10 I find that poetry spaces are incredibly therapeutic. Especially because therapy in a lot of spaces [is] inaccessible to a lot of people, but the ability to write down and share an experience and be held in those moments is really important. And I think fostering artistry, no matter what age you are, even just for yourself, or for other people, I think that it's incredibly important to have that ability to release in front of people and have people give you that, "Yes, yes, I see you, I hear you, and you are valid for feeling this way. And you're not alone." Mary-Peyton Crook 12:45 That's cool. So you're based in Richmond, Virginia, which is where I am based as well. Do you feel like Richmond has a decent space for that? Do you think they have that space for poetry? GM 12:54 I think there's definitely a lot of spaces, you just kind of have to look for them. A lot of people reach out to me and they're like, "Ah, you're doing open mics! Where can I go to?" And I have done my digging. So I will send them away. There are so many lovely spaces. I think my favorite space has to be The Verses [aka Tuesday Verses] open mic, happens every Tuesday at Addis Ethiopian downtown. It's the best open mic in Richmond! Maybe I'm a little bit biased, but you have poets that are going there and singers and you have rappers and there's a band in the background, and everybody kind of just enjoys having this experience together. It's always so much fun and I always meet so many different people. It's beautiful, being able to come back and be like, "Oh my gosh, you're here again!" GM 13:42 And then so many of them they also go to these other open mics, like there's Open All That Soul, which I don't remember exactly where it is, but it's on Instagram at @openallthatsoul. The Writer's Den, they have slams every month. I want to say it's every Sunday or every first Sunday. There's so many spaces, you really just have to look for them, because I feel . . . At the Visual Arts Center yesterday there was the Poetry Festival--so much fun, so much fun--but I feel like there are a lot of people in Richmond that are like, "I'll go next year, I'll go next year, I'll go next year." And it's like, "You should come now!" Mary-Peyton Crook 14:15 I think that's a human thing to always put things off, you know? To be like, "I'm too busy right now. I don't want to go right now. I'll go next time." That's such a human thing to just keep putting things off. Mary-Peyton Crook 14:25 What would you . . . What advice would you give to someone who is looking to get into either writing poetry or performing poetry? GM 14:32 I would say to write as yourself and not as another person. I think a lot of times, especially when you're in the audience at first, you have this knee-jerk reaction to be like, "I want to write like this person." But truly I think that you should write the best version of yourself. I journal constantly and a lot of my poems actually come from journal entries where I'll take a specific feeling or a specific image and then I will translate that into an artistic piece to share. Definitely writing all the time . . . and again to talk about Toni Morrison, I've watched her documentary multiple times. It's incredible. I want to say it's called The Pieces of Me [correction: The Pieces I Am]. But she talks about how she always writes in the morning because she's more tender, and I think that after you wake up, there's something so soft about yourself. And I always find that that is the best time to write, starting the day that way and starting the day off peacefully, and crafting a good space for yourself to be vulnerable. I think it definitely has to do with writing as much as possible. Mary-Peyton Crook 15:33 It's the people who actually write every day and get into that practice that really find themselves open to ideas. And so therefore, they end up having more to write about in the future, because they're in that practice. GM 15:46 I think a lot of people will judge themselves before they actually start writing. And the real tea is that you've got to just throw it out there! Like mad-man writing . . . no one can judge you but yourself if you are in your journal. You just write as much as possible and let yourself sound cringy or not good or . . . a line doesn't actually work. You can always go back and change something or alter something or flesh out an idea more. Mary-Peyton Crook 16:14 Yeah, I love that. I love the idea of having your writing space to be a journal. I feel like people . . . a lot of times writers will separate their kind of journal-writing from their "Okay, now it's time to write something that I want to get published," or "I want to write something more formal to share with other people." And they separate those. And I also hear a lot of writers say, like, "Sometimes it's hard to sit down with my writing [notebook] or at my computer to actually start writing something. It's hard to freewrite." That's a good point that maybe if it's your journal where you do your writing, you can be comfortable with the fact that "No one's gonna read this, I can embarrass myself, I can write something ridiculous, I can write an inner thought that I'm ashamed of." And you never feel like you have to share it with the world. But you can take from that, which is very cool. I like that. That's smart. GM 17:00 I'm also a bit of an eighty-year-old man on the inside, so the computer is very, very daunting. I'm very much so a handwritten person, and then when it comes to a final draft, or when I was writing my manuscript, it was transferred from writing onto the computer. Thankfully I have friends that love me a lot, and so when I get tired, they'll read what I've written to me so I can jot it down. Mary-Peyton Crook 17:23 Aw that's beautiful! I love that, that's so nice. GM 17:24 It means so much to me, because it's always something that people have heard before, or that I've been talking about a lot. And I think it's also very vulnerable between the both of us, seeing something that I wrote and seeing my handwriting and seeing the smudges on the page, or maybe it was something really sad, so you can see some wet spots. There's a very, I don't know . . . I feel very connected in those moments when people are reading my own work to me. Mary-Peyton Crook 17:48 I feel like that would be a really strong friendship moment to be able to share that with each other, and also supporting your art, they're supporting your art. They're also there to listen and to read your thoughts. You're open to sharing that with them. That's a beautiful exchange in a relationship. Mary-Peyton Crook 18:06 How do you then take something that's so personal and try to edit it? Especially something like poetry where poetry can be so freeform, can be so open to however the writer wants to put it together. How do you take it and then sort of edit your own work and get it ready for either page or stage? GM 18:26 I really like to read everything out loud, whether it's meant to be read or meant to be listened to. If I'm not comfortable saying something out loud by myself, then I know that that's probably something that I won't like to share in front of an audience. Or, it's kind of like when you're writing an essay, I feel like teachers are always like, "You should read it out loud, so that you know that it flows really well," almost kind of like a song in a way. And I feel like, especially when it comes to spoken word, a lot of times you have this cap of three minutes, and so you've got to fit "What do I need to say?" versus "What do I want to say?" So once all the necessary information I feel the need to share is in there . . . and also if I finish reading a poem and I'm able to deep sigh, I feel this release and I feel like it's done. I feel "chef's kiss"! GM 19:17 I also love talking to other poets and collaborating with them. One of my favorite poets, she doesn't live in Richmond anymore, but Ayana Florence, she actually just won Women of the World Poetry Slam. She's the number one woman in the world. GM 19:20 What?! Oh my gosh GM 19:35 Yeah! You can find her on YouTube, on Button Poetry's YouTube . . . one of her pieces that she did at WOWPS, which is Women of the World [Poetry Slam], it's called "Boy Calls Me Pretty." It's fantastic. I love sharing my work with other people and having their eyes on it. And seeing, like, "You should say more here. This is where this part can grow. I think you can extend this part. I think this part is unnecessary." I think that once you start sharing with other writers you kind of get a feel of "This is where I can grow." I also feel like when it comes to writing, you grow by other people being able to see your work, whether they're listening to it or seeing it on a page. I feel like that collaborative process, as a community . . . I think you can build yourself individually. Mary-Peyton Crook 20:22 Yeah, if you want to write and keep it in your bubble that is totally fine. Writing is good for a lot of things. But I agree if you want to grow, then you've got to be allowing others to see your work, give you feedback (even if it's feedback that you don't eventually end up taking, that's fine). But you know, being open to learning from other writers is crucial, for sure. Mary-Peyton Crook 20:45 So what do you think--this might be a little hard to to answer, but--what do you think is the hardest part about writing poetry, for you? GM 20:54 That's a great question. I want to say, I think it's hard to be honest and vulnerable with another person if you're not honest and vulnerable with yourself. I think once you overcome that hurdle within yourself, it's so much easier to do it with another person. Mary-Peyton Crook 21:11 Do you feel like you had a time in your life where you finally broke through that? Because I know that you are open and vulnerable with the with the room when you're performing; do you feel like there was a time in your life when you were younger that you finally understood that honesty actually helps in your writing? GM 21:27 So I think there were a lot of things that were happening in childhood that I had a really hard time processing on my own, and so in my poetry, I felt like I was expressing these feelings and I was saying something without saying something. And I still think that that was very powerful, and I look back on these pieces and I . . . I think I started being really honest on stage once I was able to process things in therapy. For instance, one of my favorite pieces that, if I'm able to share, I would love to . . . Mary-Peyton Crook 21:57 Yeah, absolutely. GM 21:58 . . . I talk about something that happened [that was] really hard, after I came out to my family. And this is now eight years ago, and I had only shared it for the first time this year. It was in February. Mary-Peyton Crook 22:12 Oh wow. GM 22:13 It was really scary getting on stage with it, because, prior to that, most of my friends had no idea. It's not something that I talk about. But after that, being able to be honest, not only with myself, and relinquishing blame and just saying, "This is what happened and these were my emotions," being held by that audience and being appreciated, even with people that don't have that shared experience, honestly propelled me to get more raw on stage. But it definitely took a really long time processing those feelings on my own. Mary-Peyton Crook 22:47 That's wonderful. It sounds like being on stage and having that moment and having people react positively and kindly and with gratitude when you're sharing those stories is almost like the opposite of what can be really traumatizing in life, [which] is when you're expressing yourself and what you need and people respond negatively to that. That just is such a beautiful . . . it sounds like it's such a beautiful full-circle moment to come to that and realize that you can help other people through being that honest, even if it's hard to do. GM 23:20 I remember after I performed it for the first time, there was this lady who was kind of in the front row, and after I got off stage, she pulled me and she was like, "Can I give you a hug?" and just embraced me so tightly. And it was someone that I don't know, and someone that does not share that experience. Being validated and [told], "It's okay that this hurt," made it not hurt as much anymore. It was a very healing process. It feels really special to be able to share something that was buried deep for a very long time. And then in conjunction with seeing other queer people in the audience when I share that story . . . I know that they know. I know that they know, and they feel it as well. Mary-Peyton Crook 24:04 That's so beautiful. I love . . . you know, I think about how much I love writing and reading and books and poetry all the time, and it's for moments like that, that really solidify how magical writing and communicating with each other can be. That's the whole point there. GM 24:23 I would say poetry is for everyone. And above that I think poetry and sharing spoken word is a revolutionary act. Mary-Peyton Crook 24:35 Ooh, yes! GM 24:35 Especially . . . I'm so excited to go to nationals. It's called the Southern Fried Poetry Festival. I feel like that is such a revolutionary space that all of these people, and above that, queer folk in the South, are coming together to storytell with one another. I think that that is a revolutionary act. I think it's an act of rebellion being able to connect in a community, because I feel there's an emphasis on being an individual and doing things solely by yourself. And I don't think that that is a way to heal. I think that we heal together in a community and lift each other up. GM 25:12 I think that even if you are in the audience, there's just so much love in the room. It's such a healing experience of like, even if you're not getting on stage, feeling fulfilled in the art that you have heard and knowing that you were able to hold someone, whether or not you went up and spoke to them. It's a beautiful thing. I think that poetry saves lives; especially in the spoken word community, a lot of times we're talking about really niche, taboo things, and saying that it is okay to talk about them, and feeling not alone when someone shares it or you share it and someone gives you those good snaps! I feel like it removes you from isolation in a way, being able to share experiences. Mary-Peyton Crook 25:56 Would you be willing to share with us a piece of your poetry? GM 26:01 I would love to. I'm gonna flip through my little journal really quick. GM 26:09 This poem is titled "Mirror". When I was a child, my mother and sister, seven years my senior, would sit me down on my childhood home’s porch and beg me to use my angry voice. to get mad at my tormentors in grade school. but little did they know, that the bully who would truly bend me until my spinal cord folded had at one point lived in our house. And that even as a teenager, I still hadn’t found the angry voice in me to talk back– to tell that middle aged black boy that the privilege he chewed up and spit in my face made his breath smell like that of a deadbeat uncle rather than a father of two black women– one he would disown at 15 for being transexual. outside of a Starbucks that I can’t bare to step foot in again, drinking black coffee that would claw its way up my gullet every time someone would express care towards me, and I would feel the decade old caffein high every time I felt that bittersweet abandonment again. Ironic to now know, that I was raised by a raging narcissist, destined to become his warped reflection, yet I left home a shattered mirror, and promised to never harm someone the same way, whilst piercing the skin of every soul that attempted to scoop my fragments into uncalloused palms and I told each of them not to look too closely, as they would only witness the worst of themselves staring back at them. I was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder in February of 2020, five years after he promised to pray for me but I gather that his words weren’t holy enough for God. Though he cries he is a christian man, I guess he believes that thou shalt love thy neighbor, but not thy children that you should not pass judgment unless it’s to shove his youngest child into a box where their pieces would just never fit. That if he did not like what he saw in the mirror, he should shove his fist through it. A few years back, I had a spiritual awakening and cried so hard that the breathless silence resonated off the walls of my church, and felt inside me that my father would die before I celebrated 20 years. And the summer before my birthday, he stumbled into a fire. Barely survived but now walks around carrying the trauma on his now scorched skin, and if my life were written by Toni Morrison, then this would be symbolic. And the flames that engulfed him, were actually just my angry voice and God had heard his hateful prayers and smited him so that he could no longer avoid the mirror to hide from his sins. But, I do not look much like him, I have my mothers dutch facial features. Yet I still sometimes contemplate my reflection for hours, just to see him again. And I realized that my eyes actually belong to this boy, And we were witnessing the world through the same brown orbs. And if I let reality slip through my fingertips like polluted sand, I could wave goodbye to his memory at any time. And only hope he saw me looking back at him, and his own mirror would begin to crack. Episode transcribed by Mary-Peyton Crook 
In an earlier blog I discussed creating your author brand, now it’s time to put that brand to action and apply it to your photography. As you know, branding is much more than just a logo, colors, and fonts, it also includes the photos you post on social media, use on your website, or print on promotional materials.
What is brand photography?
Brand photography is a collection of professional images that represent you as an author visually, and fit with your visual identity through their use of colors, tone, props, sets and more. These can include photos of you, your book, your writing space and other things that make you unique. To make you and your book look their best, you’ll want a range of consistent, well-crafted photos that properly represent your voice across all of your marketing materials.
Brand photography sets your first impression
People form a first impression in just 50 milliseconds, so everything you share has to wow and do it fast! Good quality, consistent, professional brand photography is going to help capture potential readers in a flash as they’ll see that you appreciate attention to detail, high quality content, consistency, and great aesthetics.
Brand photography increases engagement
We all know by now that visual content goes a long way and has a much better engagement than text-only content, and if you’re not convinced yet, here are some cold, hard facts for ya. 65% of marketing execs say photos, videos, illustrations, and infographics are key to communicating your brand story; Facebook posts from brands that included images earned 87 percent of all engagements; tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than tweets without images; articles with an image once every 75-100 words received double the social media shares as articles with fewer images; Facebook posts with images see 2.3X more engagement than those without images. (Hubspot) You need images and more importantly, you need good quality, on-brand images.
Consistency is key!
You might have your logo, colors, and fonts down, but if your photography doesn’t match, you’re in trouble. Having all of your visual elements work together cohesively is vital in maintaining brand consistency. Brands that are consistently presented are 3 to 4 times more likely to experience brand visibility and 90% of consumers expect their experience to be consistent across all channels and devices used to interact with brands.
Stock images
Now you may be able to find some good stock images that kind of work but chances are they aren’t quite on-brand. Stock imagery is good when you’re first starting out, and I still use them, but it should be the goal to have your own, unique and perfectly on-brand photos to use instead. When using stock images I recommend filtering your search to ‘undiscovered content.’ That way you are using images that have barely or never been downloaded and are more than likely to avoid using a photo another author has attached to their website or social media.
Where you can use brand photography
I get that maybe you’re wondering where you could possibly use all of these photos and you’ll totally want to get your money worth if you’re investing in a photographer, so here’s a few ideas for how you can use these images once you have them:
• As your social media profile photos, especially if you’re a team of one, or your brand is really personal, like being an author. • For Instagram photos • In your Instagram stories • To show who you are on your about page • In blog posts • As the graphics for your paid ads • To show your process • As the sign-off of your email newsletter alongside your name The options are endless! 
“That word is made up!”
“All words are made up!” It’s true—all words are made up, and most of them can be tracked back to their origin. This is a particularly interesting practice in English, which has words originating from German, Latin, French, Norse, and beyond. But how can you find out where words originated? And what can you do with that information? What is etymology?
According to Webster’s Dictionary, etymology is “the history of a linguistic form (such as a word) shown by tracing its development since its earliest recorded occurrence in the language where it is found, by tracing its transmission from one language to another, by analyzing it into its component parts, by identifying its cognates in other languages, or by tracing it and its cognates to a common ancestral form in an ancestral language.”
Basically, etymology looks at where a word (or its ancestor) started and how it got to how we use it today. Understanding the etymology of words can reveal surprising connections between words that you thought were unrelated. For example, a bar where you buy drinks and the legal bar exam are actually quite connected, etymologically speaking. “Etymology” is the study of the history of words. “An etymology” also describes the history of one word in particular. For example, while studying etymology, you might run across a surprising etymology. Hope that makes sense! What’s the value in etymology?
I don’t know, trivia? Knowledge? A deeper understanding of your language? While there might not be a ton of practical use for etymology to the average person, it can be fun and even edifying to investigate the history of the words you use. Even editors and writers may not be able to find real-world application for understanding words’ etymologies, and yet etymologies can often reveal why words are spelled certain ways, why they sound reminiscent of other words, and more.
What’s the value in etymology?
I don’t know, trivia? Knowledge? A deeper understanding of your language? While there might not be a ton of practical use for etymology to the average person, it can be fun and even edifying to investigate the history of the words you use. Even editors and writers may not be able to find real-world application for understanding words’ etymologies, and yet etymologies can often reveal why words are spelled certain ways, why they sound reminiscent of other words, and more.
How can I find a word’s etymology?
While etymology dictionaries exist in print, your best bet will be to explore etymology online. Why? Words and their meanings change often, and print dictionaries and etymology dictionaries expire rapidly. So, it’s a good idea to seek your etymologies online.
Here’s Wildling’s preferred etymology resource: 
If you’re not seeking the current etymology of one specific word and just want to understand the concept of etymologies more, read Etymologicon by Mark Forsyth.
written by Christina Kann 
I never thought I would say this, but middle grade is a pretty awesome time. At that age kids have outgrown picture books and easy readers but aren’t yet mature enough for young adult topics. They are discovering themselves and what interests them, and they are ready for a little bit of adventure. As a middle grade author, you are inspiring young readers and helping develop their interest in reading more. So how does a middle grade author grab the attention of 8-12 year olds so that they will read their book?
You don’t . . . (well, not at first. Just hear me out.)
You grab the attention of their parents, guardians, librarians, and teachers. These are the gatekeepers, the ones who make the purchases, who are on social media, and who ultimately make decisions for your target reader.
Have an online presence
With that in mind you want to tailor your online presence to catch the gatekeeper's eye. Use your social media wisely, promote your book, but don’t ONLY promote your book. Teachers and librarians aren’t only focused on books, but also on bettering the community. There’s a 20/80 rule where an author should use their online presence 20% of the time to promote their book and 80% of the time offering useful content like writing tips for writers of all ages or sharing links that are helpful to teachers and librarians. Talk about your writing process and other things that they can share with their students that can inspire them to want to give writing a try. Have giveaways geared towards educators that will get your book into their hands. Who doesn’t love free stuff?! Also, pay attention and respond to comments by the teachers and librarians, this will help you to connect with them and can lead to more personal ways to promote your book.
Get out there!
Once you have connected with the gatekeepers, you now have the opportunity to connect directly with your readers!
School and library visits are a wonderful way to engage with MG students. This can be done virtually or in person, and it’s your opportunity to feel like a celebrity! Them getting to meet the person who ACTUALLY wrote and published a book can be very inspiring and this will make them want to read your book even more. When you do go to in-person events, have something to give away, like bookmarks or lapel pins, something that the student can take away and be reminded to read your book. Again, who doesn’t love free stuff?! It can be scary to speak publicly but it is such an effective marketing tool. If public speaking isn’t your thing, make videos that you can share with teachers to show their students. Just get yourself out there in some way shape or form. Channel your inner Spielberg (or hire someone to be your Spielberg)
Speaking of videos, another great way to connect with your reader is to create a book trailer. Let’s face it, we are all visual creatures, especially at that age. A book trailer can be a fun way for the parents and other gatekeepers to show MG readers how exciting your book is and pique their interest.
Just Be Yourself
Finally, just remember to have fun! Kids are very honest critics and they can tell when you are not in your comfort zone. You want to be authentic. If sprinkling jokes in here and there isn’t your thing, have some interactive games for the kids to take part in. Do what makes you feel comfortable, this will build trust between you and your potential reader.
by Michael Hardison 
Christina Kann 00:24
Welcome to How Do I Book? by Wildling Press. We like to chat about book writing, book publishing, book marketing, and, of course, book reading. We're trying to help new and experienced authors develop their craft, widen their perspectives, and learn to get a little wild every once in a while. I'm Christina. Grace Ball 00:41 I'm Grace. Christina Kann 00:43 We are so excited because we have a very special guest with us today: Lucy Holland, author of Sistersong and the Worldmaker trilogy, host of Breaking the Glass Slipper, an intersectional feminist podcast celebrating women in genre fiction, and a pretty freakin cool person. Lucy, welcome to the show.
Lucy Holland 01:03
Thank you! That makes me seem cooler than I actually am. I'm really happy to be here. Christina Kann 01:09 I just read facts. That's exactly how cool you are. Lucy Holland 01:13 Well, thank you. It's really nice to be here, too. Christina Kann 01:16 We are so excited to have you here. Before we move any further, please tell the listeners your pronouns. Lucy Holland 01:22 She or her. Christina Kann 01:24 Awesome. Thank you so much. We invited you on this podcast because last year, Grace and I both read Sistersong. Not to fan girl too hard, but I read 100 books last year, and it was my favorite book of the year. Lucy Holland 01:43 Oh, wow. Okay! Thank you very much. Christina Kann 01:49 I'll just let you tell the listeners a little bit about Sistersong, in case they haven't read it. Lucy Holland 01:55 Sistersong is a reimagining of an old English murder ballad called "The Twa Sisters." It is also called "Bonny Swans," "Binnorie"; it has many names. It is basically the story of sibling rivalry. Two sisters fight over a man in the ballad. The older one kills the younger one, and the younger one gets made into a harp. It's usually a harp; sometimes she turns into a swan. But the version of the ballad that I heard first was when the sister gets made into a harp. That intrigued me so much that I wanted to do a retelling of it. So my retelling is set in sixth-century Britain. It restores and resituates the history of the stories of women in the period. At the same time as retelling the ballad, I thought it would be a really great opportunity to look at women in the period, and also marginalized identities in the period as well. Christina Kann 02:56 It does such a wonderful job of all of those things. We read it with a book club that we're both a part of, and someone did share that legend. I'm the person where, when I'm reading, I can really turn off my critical brain. I'm just like, "Wow, what a cool story!" But other people were like, "This seems like it's based on something." But they were sure to say, "Don't read this if you don't want any spoilers." Reading the myth and then reading your story was a really cool thing. Grace Ball 03:24 Yeah, I went into it in a similar way as you did, Christina. I'd never heard the myth or the ballad or anything. So I was along for the ride. Let me tell you, I had no idea what was coming. Christina Kann 03:35 And what a ride it truly is. Yeah, it can be a bit of a shock if you're not expecting the -- the "thing." Read the book to learn more about what we're talking about. Grace Ball 03:55 Lucy, you mentioned that you'd heard the ballad and the myth, but what actually inspired you about the ballad so much that you wanted to write this book? Lucy Holland 04:06 I heard the ballad first by Loreena McKennitt, who is one of my favorite artists singers. Christina Kann 04:13 Oh my gosh. I know her! Lucy Holland 04:19 Wow, fangirl moment! Christina Kann 04:23 Oh my god. Yes. I've watched her live concerts or whatever, her concerts on streaming. I love that so much. Lucy Holland 04:32 I love meeting Loreena fans as well. Christina Kann 04:34 She has Celtic Women energy, you know, like, very ethereal and timeless. I don't know. You'll just have to check it out for yourself. Lucy Holland 04:50 I love Loreena's music and her version of "The Twa Sisters," which is called "The Bonny Swans." It's my favorite rendition of the ballad, and I've listened to quite a lot of them. There are many, many good versions out there. But Loreena's remains my favorite. I first heard it about, gosh, getting on for 10 years ago now. My colleague at work brought Loreena in one day and played it to me. From the first moment I heard it, I was intrigued by the weirdness of the story. The sibling rivalry is not weird; we see this quite a lot, especially jealous women. We often see tensions between siblings in ballads, but not at this extra level, which is this girl being dismembered and then made into a musical instrument. In the ballad, I just thought that was such a weird image, and also a powerful image, this heart that is made of bone that sings the story of what happened to her and condemns her sister. I just thought that was so so weird. But at the same time, because it is, after all, just a ballad, we don't really get a good idea of who these women were. We have no idea what really motivated them. They've become very stereotypical. On one hand, we have the evil older sister who is jealous and lustful and scheming. And on the other hand, we have the younger, chaste, virginal, innocent victim. And these two very different roles, our women often have to play them. We see them a lot in traditional folk ballads and throughout stories. It's why it's one of the reasons why I feel like women's stories are important, because we just don't get to hear them actually speak authentically. They all too often fall into these very broad, very tropey, very stereotypical roles. So I wanted to get behind the ballad and find out what really happened. Christina Kann 07:01 And you did a wonderful job! Teading this, I felt so much for Riva the whole time. I didn't necessarily support her actions, her positions, but I really understood where she was coming from. And Sinne as well. It is pronounced like that? "Sinnuh"? Lucy Holland 07:17 I mean, you can pronounce it however. I just made it up. It was the one name in the book that I literally made up. Christina Kann 07:28 Sistersong has three siblings in it. Is the eldest sibling part of the original ballad? Lucy Holland 07:38 In lots of versions of the ballad, there are two sisters. And it is called "The Twa Sisters," two sisters. Loreena's version was, I think, adapted from James Child, who was a folklorist in the Victorian age. He collected about 10 or 11 variations of the same ballad. But a couple of those variations have a third sibling in there. This third sibling is mentioned in the first verse, and then totally disappears from the rest of the story. This was another one of the reasons why I wanted to retell or reimagine the ballad: I was so intrigued as to why there was a third sibling, and they just didn't do anything, and they didn't feature in the story. That was fascinating. I will talk about this a bit later, but it was the idea of erasure, and how some people are erased from history, and why are they erased from history? What was it about their identities that the dominant narrative has overridden? So that is a really big part of Sistersong as well. Christina Kann 08:46 How did you conduct your research? I know that you said you read like, a million different versions of this ballad, but what other kind of worldbuilding research did you do for this? Lucy Holland 08:56 My first idea was to write it as a secondary-world fantasy novel, which is where I came from, because I've also written epic fantasy. And then I felt like I wanted to grow a bit as a writer, and I also thought it might be really interesting to choose a real time period in which to set the story. But I obviously hadn't decided which one that would be. I don't even know how it happened. I just got really interested in very early medieval Britain. The great thing about this time period is that there's not a lot of information about it, which can be a boon because it means you can slot your story in there. Christina Kann 09:45 Right, it's hard for historians, but it's good for writers. Lucy Holland 09:49 Exactly. Once I'd settled on the period, I started doing research. The internet is an amazing, amazing resource, particularly things like local archaeology sites by amateur archaeologists. Sistersong is set right here where I live in Sidmouth in Devon. So it's set really right here, and in Dunbriga, which is the main settlement in Sistersong, where all the siblings live. That was inspired by, about a mile and a half from my house, up on Peak Hill, they discovered the remains of the Neolithic settlement. On top of the Neolithic settlement were sub-Roman remains, which date exactly to the time when Sistersong is set. So conceivably, there could have been a Dumnoni settlement up there. The Dumnoni tribe controlled this area of Devon in the sixth century AD, and they were kind of itinerant; they moved their capital around the area, and this conceivably could have been one of the places that they had their capital. So I was really interested. Christina Kann 10:59 That's so cool! And you can just walk there easily in like under an hour. Oh, my God, that is so cool. I have chills right now. Grace Ball 11:12 That's awesome. Lucy Holland 11:13 So that was part of my research. I went up there and stood on the hill. And there's nothing there. It's just a hill. And there's a bit of information. But I had a look at the cliffs. You're right on the cliffs. On one side, you're looking out across the ocean. And the other side, it's forest and fields. And I just went up there, I came back down, and I did some stream-of-consciousness writing to try and get the feel of what this location was like at the edge of the world, because that's kind of what it feels like for the characters. Christina Kann 11:45 Oh my god. Wow. So cool. Grace Ball 11:49 So you're obviously very versed in the fantasy genre. So what's the importance of the fantasy elements in Sistersong? Lucy Holland 12:00 The magic in the book is chiefly the means of articulating one of the central narrative tensions, which is the conflict between Christianity and the established paganism of the native Britons. That came slightly later in the novel process, and it really came from me reading about Gildas. Gildas is pretty much one of the only contemporary sources we have from this period. His treatise on the ruin and conquest of Britain is not so much a history as a rant. He's very angry, angry man, and he rants a lot about the state of Britain, how the Saxons are the natives' punishment for not being very pious and not embracing Christianity as they should. He had a very big rant about Constantine, one of the British kings, as well as another four British kings. In fact, he devotes one entire half of this tract to insulting them and calling them all sorts of names. I thought he would make a great character because of that. Christina Kann 13:24 He probably didn't realize how much he was discrediting himself by being so violently opinionated. Lucy Holland 13:31 So opinionated! I'm sorry, Gildas, you're 1500 years dead, but you're a character now. The other part of the magic was also a vehicle to illustrate the bond between the king and the land, which is another really big theme in Sistersong. Obviously, it showed the disastrous consequences of forsaking the bond we have with the land. A reader pointed out to me later -- and this shows how everything is subconscious -- they were like, "Oh, it's more relevant than ever," because we live in the era of climate change, where humans are basically shitting all over the world in which we live, which nourishes us. This is more relevant than ever, that we recover what was lost. I feel like it's very important to remember that we are the world and the world is us; we come from the world, and we come from the Earth, and to the Earth we return, and that kind of cyclical nature. Paganism includes the idea of living as one with the seasons -- like the sun, the moon, the stars, the earth itself. These elements were so important to the native Britons, early practitioners of paganism, across a whole region. That was really, really intriguing for me to dig into too, and that again feeds into the encroaching Christianity and how that was not always a good thing. People who preached Christianity thought they were saving the natives. And native Britons were like, "Well, hang on a second! We've already got our own beliefs." And they possibly didn't sit very well together. Christina Kann 15:24 That kind of answered our next question about how you balance fantasy with historical facts. It seems like a lot of the fantasy came from things that were inspired or directly connected to historical facts. Do you have anything else to add to that? Lucy Holland 15:38 The facts are so scarce or contradictory. As I mentioned before, it's a really interesting period to set a story in. This carries over with the rest of my work that I'm still doing with this time period. I'm really interested in the line where history becomes myth, and you can't begin to distinguish between the two of them. A perfect example of this is the Arthurian legend. This time period is basically squarely in Arthur's time. I was quite careful not to belabor anything, because the Arthurian myth is so powerful, if you let it into your story, it can overtake what you want to say. So I was quite careful not to make too many references to that. But the Legend of Arthur is so powerful that multiple nations have adopted it as part of their country's cultural narrative. That began with Geoffrey of Monmouth in this country, and but it's amazing how powerful it became. This is a little like mini anecdote. I went to Glastonbury Abbey a few months ago to do some research. The history of the abbey is really interesting. At one point in the 12th century, I think, there was a big disaster, some of the abbey crumbled, and they ran out of money. And amazingly, soon after that, the monks were digging in the gardens, and they unearthed these amazing skeletons. And the skeleton was a grant of a grand man and a beautiful -- well, as much as a skeleton can be beautiful -- and delicate skeleton lying beside him. They decided that these were obviously the bones of Arthur and Guinevere themselves, lying in Glastonbury all this time, amazingly! These people have no proof that they actually lived. They're mostly just a folk story. But it was such a big deal that the bones were removed, and they were reburied in this lavish ceremony that Edward I came and attended in the beginning of like the 1300s or so. Obviously the abbey needed money, and lots of people came and donated money. The fact is that the Arthurian legend is not history, it's not fact. But it's so strong and so powerful. People want to believe it. It's part of the fabric of Britain now. Christina Kann 18:19 I think most cultures have those stories that are not proven or patently false. I'm thinking about here in America, some of the super false historical narratives we get taught in elementary school. Grace Ball 18:34 Yeah, absolutely. Getting to the actual characters in the book, how did you conceptualize the three siblings? How are their similarities and differences important? Lucy Holland 18:49 With Riva and Sinna, who are the sisters -- the two sisters of the ballad title -- I began by using their basic characters, just how are they described in the ballad, identified those traits, and then explored why each sister might have those traits. This is all part of trying to make them less stereotypical. You know, there's always two -- or in this case, three -- sides to every story. For example, the bitterness in Riva; she is described as bitter in some of the ballads, she's jealous. There's obviously a darkness in her, and I wanted to think about that and how it could be more nuanced. And Riva had a really tough hand. She had a terrible accident when she was young. It's left her with disabilities, and she's shunned in some respects by the people around her. They don't like how she looks, how her injuries have made her look. They've made her feel like she's not ascribing to the perfection that a young princess has to ascribe to. I thought that there's got to be a reason for this seed of this jealousy. Where did it come from? And with her, I thought, it's got to come from somewhere. Christina Kann 20:32 Very real trauma. Lucy Holland 20:34 I mean, it's physical trauma, and then it's mental trauma and emotional trauma from having to live in a society with such strict gender roles and assumptions about how women should look and what women should do. And then on the other side, we have the innocence of Sinna, who is the younger sister, who is always described as the wronged character, the victim. She didn't do anything wrong, her only crime is to be beautiful, all of this stuff. For me, that ended up becoming the immaturity of a slightly spoiled child, who was the youngest, she'd been given everything she always wanted. She didn't have Riva's problems and her difficulties. She chafes against -- like all the siblings do -- they chafe against the rules of their society and the bones of the cage that they're locked in. Christina Kann 21:31 So to speak. Lucy Holland 21:35 Yeah, so that's where I began with that, trying to dig down past, "You're lustful and jealous; you're chaste and innocent." I wanted to find out what traits those actually were, where they came from. For Keyne -- or Constantin -- Christina Kann 22:04 We've been ducking around his character because I don't want to spoil anything, but he makes it pretty clear on like, page three that he is trans. There's not really ever any question about it. So it's not really a spoiler. Lucy Holland 22:19 No, no. And Sistersong was published in the UK in April 2021. My God, almost two years ago. Christina Kann 22:29 Congrats! Lucy Holland 22:30 I just don't know where the time has gone. Yeah, I'm just gonna call him Constantine. Hey, spoiler, Constantine is his name by the end of the story. Constantin is a little bit more complicated, because this is the person who was missing from the ballad. And it's a difficult one, because a lot of people say that he is the main character of Sistersong. Christina Kann 23:09 I totally agree. Lucy Holland 23:10 Yeah, I would agree as well. But the irony is that he's still invisible in the ballad, because the ballad is a binary song. It's actually a horrible song that I do recreate in Sistersong. It is a horrible song. And it doesn't tell the truth. It's literally just about a murder. It's not fair. It doesn't portray either of the women in truthful, or at least in three dimensional, terms. I wanted to echo the fact that Constantin is not part of that. He belongs to a better world, a world that is forward thinking, forward looking, that is embracing every different identity. It's not prescribing to people all the roles that we should play when we're just children. It was a journey of discovery, because I'm cisgender. I don't share Constantine's life experience. So it was a journey getting to know him and figuring out how I could tell his story. I did my own bits of research for that. I have a couple of friends who were very, very helpful early on in the book, and he was so kind to share their insights. My sensitivity reader, she's wonderful. She's a transgender historian. I learned an absolute ton. Some of the transgender history in the book wouldn't be the same without her insights. So I was so lucky to find her and so so happy that she agreed to sensitivity read for me. But yeah, I suppose, obviously, Constantine was my favorite character to write, because it's wonderful, right? It's wonderful writing any sort of human being who discovers themselves and blossoms and fights and achieves what we all deserve, which is to be ourselves and to be recognized as who we are and lauded and respected for who we are. So that was very close to my heart. It was really wonderful to go along the journey with him. Christina Kann 25:28 During his story, particularly in the third act, I was just weeping. I was nannying when I was reading it, and I was like, "I hope they don't come home and find me just like blathering on their couch." Because it's hard to explain to people who don't read, "Sorry, this book is just really affecting me right now." Lucy Holland 25:50 Thank you. The extra theme running through the whole book is that it's the power of stories. The fact that we like to tell stories, and stories have a life of their own. They outlive us by thousands of years, and they always will. But, you know, their stories have power. And it depends who's telling the story, as to what survives throughout the years. It's really important to reclaim our stories. It's important for women to reclaim their stories. It's important for marginalized people to say, "We lived in this time period. We have always been here." Kameron Hurley's essay "We Have Always Fought," I love it. I love "We Have Always Fought," this idea that women have always been warriors. We've been here. It's only the dominant narrative has overridden the roles and the very existence of people who've always existed. So that idea of reclaiming stories, reclaiming identities, reclaiming the truth of ourselves in the world is at the heart of Sistersong. Christina Kann 27:08 Amazing. So is Constantine your favorite of the three siblings in this book? Lucy Holland 27:15 I mean, it would be a lie to say no. He's definitely my favorite. But because I feel like she she's probably the least liked of the siblings, I always like to give a shoutout for Riva, because she is dealt a really tough hand. And like Constantine, she really struggles with being different in a very unaccepting and intolerant world. And she chooses to defy tradition. She trusts her instincts. And even though everyone tells her that those instincts are monstrous, she sees it through. She sees her choices through to the end, and that takes integrity. And it takes self belief. So I feel like giving her a bit of a shoutout. Grace Ball 28:09 Honorable mention. Christina Kann 28:11 She follows through on her choices way farther than I would ever have a dreamed. That was very shocking. No spoilers, but the end of her story really shocked me, which is cool. I love when a book just really catches me by surprise. Grace Ball 28:31 So on the flip side of your favorite characters, which character did you hate the most? Lucy Holland 28:39 It would be easy to say Gildas, but I think he's a love-to-hate character. I so enjoyed writing him. I loved coming up with the image of him gliding around as a kind of carrion bird. I thought he was actually really enjoyable to develop as a character because he's so he's such a great antagonist and a great foil to Myrdhin. They kind of play off one against the other. Grace Ball 29:16 I liked that dynamic a lot. Lucy Holland 29:18 They were great rivals across the board. I don't know. I actually think the most horrible characters are like the kings and lords who are just so intolerant. Even when Constantine is standing in front of them saying, "I am king. It's my right. I am your lord. I'm going to give my all to preserve our people's lives and our traditions," they're still going, "This is wrong. You're a woman," and trotting out that level of ignorance is in a way more dangerous than Gildas's active defiance. In a way is a defiant ignorance. "No, this is the way it's always been, and I'm continued going to continue to behave like you don't exist and you haven't changed anything." Unfortunately, it's that kind of character that we see a lot in the people around us. It's a really horrible thing to say, but you know, they're out there. They're exemplified by those lords who cling to what they know. Christina Kann 30:41 Yeah, I think for similar reasons, I also had a really hard time with the mom. The unwillingness. You're making changes in the wrong direction with this Christianity thing, girl. Come on. Lucy Holland 30:58 She's not a lovable mom. Definitely not a lovable mom. Christina Kann 31:04 Yeah, she's cold. And that one scene with Constantine and the clothes was awful. Lucy Holland 31:10 Yeah, that was not a nice scene to write. Christina Kann 31:13 I'm sure. Lucy Holland 31:15 That was really an unpleasant scene. I think I actually ended up toning it down slightly. I think the first version was just a bit worse. It was physically painful for me to write this. I think I made her a bit more sympathetic as well, in the sense that she knows she's done wrong. She knows what she's done is wrong, and I'm not sure if she was quite so sympathetic before then. But I thought it was important to know that she has this internal struggle, that there is a voice in her saying, "I don't think what you're doing is a good thing." That was important to have, because I think every character has to have a little degree of sympathy and also a bit of nuance. But ultimately, she is a headstrong person who sticks to her beliefs to the detriment of those around her. Christina Kann 32:14 Yeah, absolutely. You touched on this earlier, but I definitely want to drive this home considering that this is Women's History Month. Why is writing history from women's perspectives important? Lucy Holland 32:26 I mentioned the need to challenge the dominant narrative already is really important. We're going through this amazing, like, a renaissance. It's this wonderful movement with reclamation of women's voices in established epics, stories, we think we know. I know everyone's doing Greek myth at the moment, and actually, it's almost too much. Christina Kann 32:56 Um, yes. We've read Ariadne, Circe. I know there's more than just those two, but those are the two that come to mind. Lucy Holland 33:06 Yeah, there's like a dozen Persephone retellings, Medusa. Christina Kann 33:10 People are very into the Persephone/Hades as like a sexy thing right now. There's a lot of it, but I'm still down. Lucy Holland 33:20 I'm a massive Hadestown fan. So yeah, I'm really into that. But yeah, women's stories. Yeah, it's great. This is happening. It's really, really wonderful to see. And I think it's very important to say, "Hang on a second. Women are present in all of these stories." Like Penelope, Odysseus's wife, is obviously a named part. But in the original Odyssey, what does she do, but remain as a shadow figure far away? And when we do get to meet her, she's not had the best of times. She's never given any kind of chance to say what's actually been happening from her point of view. Christina Kann 34:04 If you think about the strength she must have had all that time, not knowing anything about her husband. And the tapestry! Isn't it that she unravels every night to try and keep the suitors at bay? Lucy Holland 34:18 It's like Scheherazade in One Thousand and One Nights. Christina Kann 34:24 It's like exactly like One Thousand and One Nights! Lucy Holland 34:26 Yeah, she's obviously very clever. She's come up with this plan, but it's awful because it's also a plan born of desperation, because her husband's off somewhere and might never return. I love that we're getting these stories. I love that these these women are like, "Hang on a second. We've always been here." It's not only important, but it's also extremely entertaining and vital. I just love reading their stories. It's not just like, "This is something that must be done so we can have a broad understanding of women's stories." They are exciting stories. I want to see women on the page; I want to see mothers especially on the page. Mothers have always been a group of people who are unfairly dismissed in so many great mythological tales. Grendel's mother from Beowulf is a wonderful character, but does she have any time to shine? She almost defeats Beowulf himself, and this is the great undefeatable warrior. And in the end, she's just slaughtered, so it's kind of frustrating. But here was a great character; you could have done so much more with her. Grace Ball 35:51 Do you have any advice for people who are interested in writing historical fiction? Lucy Holland 35:58 I suppose I'd say read some historical fiction. Grace Ball 36:02 That's a great start. Christina Kann 36:03 That is a very good start. Lucy Holland 36:04 I don't actually read that much historical fiction. I know it's bad. I should read more historical fiction. I tend to read a lot of speculative fiction, because it's my genre. Breaking the Glass Slipper is mostly focused on women in speculative fiction. It's interesting, because I'm trying to develop a workshop at the moment that looks at cross genre writing, specifically historical fiction and fantasy, and how to weave these two genres together, and how they complement each other. So it's difficult to talk about advice for specifically historical fiction. I think the exciting stuff that I've watched and things that have excited me is like looking into my local area. Wikipedia gives quite a broad sweep of what's been going on, but you don't really get the interesting details that you get on a local historical level, things like visiting the Abbey and hearing the stories about Gweneviere and Arthur; finding out that Peak Hill, a mile from my house, had a settlement there. You can't, say, type in "sub-Roman Britain" and Google will say, "Oh, there was a sub-Roman British settlement in Devon!" You just can't find out that sort of stuff on these broad Google searches. Rather than starting from a very broad place, how about you start from a very narrow place and expand outward? Because I learned a lot about the Saxon invasion just from focusing on how Devon changed how Dumnonia, this area where I live right now, how it evolved from the departure of the Romans, through to the invasion of the Saxons, and that really turbulent liminal period. It was vying for power; it was also the birth of the country. But all of that came from a very local angle. What was happening right here, where I live on this soil? What impressions have those kind of cataclysmic events left behind? I feel like that's a nice way to get into it. Christina Kann 36:27 Yeah, that's awesome. Probably makes the story you're telling so much more important to you because it hits close to home. It super literally does. I guess that's where the expression comes from. Is there anything else you'd like to say about Sistersong or about women's history in fiction in general? Lucy Holland 39:08 I feel like I've talked for ages. I feel like I've covered quite a lot of what I wanted to say. It is a serious book, I suppose it is a serious book. But I also hope that it's -- I hate to use the word "entertaining," but it also is a fun story to read. It's got characters you come to care about and maybe leads some people to have a Wikipedia page open at the same time and learn a little bit about history as you go along. That's the best thing, when you open a book and you're like, "Oh my god, this is made me interested to find out what else was going on at the time because I didn't know anything!" That's a wonderful thing when you can enjoy a book but it also makes you think about like the wider concerns. Grace Ball 40:00 A bit of a selfish question. Are you working on any other book projects right now that we can be looking out for? Because we definitely are. Lucy Holland 40:12 The next book is waiting to be edited. Actually, it's taken me two years to write it. It's been through a rewrite. And I'm now waiting on the verdict. So let's hope it's -- fingers crossed -- a bit more book-shaped than it was the first time. Don't ever say you can write a book in seven months. Especially when you only have a 50-word concept. You haven't sat down and asked yourself, what do you really want to do with that concept? Christina Kann 40:51 Writing a book idea and writing a book could not be more different things. Lucy Holland 40:55 Yeah. It's very different. And it's been the most challenging thing I've ever written. Sistersong benefited from a lot of fallow time, because I couldn't write Sistersong when I first had the idea for Sistersong. I was working on my trilogy. Christina Kann 41:12 Oh wow! Lucy Holland 41:15 Yeah, it sat on the back burner for four years or so, and I never forgot about it. But I think that time allowed me to mature as a writer, so by the time I started writing Sistersong, I had the skills to write it, which I wouldn't have had before. Christina Kann 41:32 Oh, my god, that's so cool. Lucy Holland 41:34 It is really interesting, especially in the context of my struggles with writing a loose followup. It's had no time. You know, the thing about publishing and the capitalist world in which we live: you feel like, "I've got to be relevant, I've got to keep writing fast, I've got to produce another book." But art doesn't really work like that. And ideas don't work like that. And a lot of thet really good stuff comes from just lying fallow in the back of your mind for an interminable amount of time -- not necessarily very long, but longer than I thought I could write the book in. But it's okay! Grace Ball 42:22 You just take your time. We'll be here. Okay? Lucy Holland 42:26 It's coming out next year. It should be here around spring, this time next year, in the US as well as in the UK. I think they're going to be out at the same time. It's called Song of the Huntress. You can read about it on Goodreads. That's the most up-to-date place. I've seen the UK cover. It's amazing. I can't share it yet because it's not finished. They're still tweaking, but it's an amazing, amazing cover. And it retells the story of the Wild Hunt which is a motif that lots of people have probably heard of. The story is just really really fascinating. Actually, because you've read Sistersong, you'll know that Constantine tells the story of Herla and the Wild Hunt in as a mini story. Christina Kann 43:16 Oh my God. Constantine knew what was gonna happen next all along. Grace Ball 43:22 We should have known Lucy Holland 43:24 Actually, that was what gave me the idea. I was retelling the story as Constantin was telling it, and I was like, "This would make a great novel. Maybe I should do this next!" Christina Kann 43:34 Thanks for the idea, Constantine! Right, I've read a couple of different books about that. It never goes well. Lucy Holland 43:35 I did do it next. But my my King Herla is not an old British king. My King Herla -- she's actually a woman, for starters. She's an Iceni war chief fighting against the Romans. She's the lover of Boudicca. Yeah, she makes a pact with the king of the other world, which you should never do! You should never make pacts with the fae! It does not go well. You get cursed, and you become the Wild Hunt, and you have to ride eternally reaping souls. Grace Ball 44:17 Tale as old as time. Lucy Holland 44:18 So if you don't want to become an immortal reaper, don't do that. Yeah, I love the story of Herla. I love the story of the Wild Hunt, the incarnation of the Wild Hunt, and all of the mythology that goes along with it. And I also wanted to write another historical novel, so this one is even more historical than Sistersong. I think if I redid it -- I wouldn't want to -- but I would want more history. There's few things, a few mistakes I made. I'm a bit better informed now about the period and how things worked. And this this book is set in around 705 AD, so about 175, 180 years after Sistersong, but it's in the same world. If you've read Sistersong, there'll be some Easter eggs in there. The biggest easter egg is that one of the main characters is the direct descendant of Riva. Christina Kann 45:25 Ah, that's very exciting. Grace Ball 45:27 I'm really excited. Christina Kann 45:28 I can't wait to read that. That's amazing. Awesome. Are you reading anything yourself lately that you're excited about? Lucy Holland 45:35 I am reading this book! *shows in Zoom* It's Sam Shannon's book. It's the prequel to The Priory of the Orange Tree. Christina Kann 45:51 The cover has a similar tone. Lucy Holland 45:56 Have you seen how long it is? Grace Ball 45:57 Wow. That's a chonk. Christina Kann 45:59 That's like Order of the Phoenix. That's a chunky one. Lucy Holland 46:03 It's so impossible to read when you're lying in bed. Grace Ball 46:10 Danger zone. Christina Kann 46:11 Drop it on your face. Knock yourself unconscious. Lucy Holland 46:15 It's really good. I'm really enjoying it. I'm interviewing Samantha Shannon, the author, in a week's time in Cornwall. I think she is in the US at the moment doing her US leg of the tour for the book, but I'm gonna meet up with her in Cornwall, so I get to talk to her about it. It's really good. It's really good. Christina Kann 46:36 I'm excited for you. Because, you know, it's fun to meet the authors you love. Grace Ball 46:41 Yeah. We're doing it! It's happening right now. Lucy Holland 46:43 That's very sweet. Christina Kann 46:46 Lucy, where can people find you on the internet if they want to connect with you? Lucy Holland 46:50 I am on Instagram mostly. That's my platform of choice. I am on Twitter as well, which is now less my platform of choice. I'm the same handle. I'm @silvanhistorian. "Sylvan" with an I, not a Y, because some other person stole the Y. So I'm @silvanhistorian everywhere. I have a Patreon if you like my work so much that you'd like to pay me some money to carry on writing every month. I post extra stuff about the books and behind the scenes things and research. So if you're into that, then check out my Patreon. Christina Kann 47:39 Lucy, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with us today. It's been a delightful conversation. Lucy Holland 47:47 Oh, it's been so fun. I don't get to talk about Sistersong as much as I did a year ago, so it's lovely to carry on revisiting the book. Christina Kann 47:56 I just love that throughout this conversation, we've been able to really feel your passion, and that's really awesome, having read it and felt the passion through the words and you obviously put so much of yourself into it. Thank you for writing it. Grace Ball 48:09 Yeah. Lucy Holland 48:10 Thank you for reading it! Christina Kann 48:14 And that's how you book. |
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