LitMinds Blog and Interviews

We've been impressed at the voracious appetite many bloggers have for "reading challenges." Themes run the genre gambit for these marathon reading sessions in which avid readers challenge each other to read a series of books in a set time period.  Recently, Wendy Robards, a.k.a. Caribousmom blogger conceived of The Novel Challenge to help us all keep track of the various challenges happening in the literary blogoshpere.

Multi-talented, Wendy is a physical therapist and volunteers as part of a canine search and rescue team.  She also sidelines as an author and has participated five times in the annual National Novel Writing Month project (a.k.a. NaNoWrimo), which has now yielded a draft of a novel she hopes to polish for publication.  

LitMinds recently invited Wendy Robards a.k.a. Caribousmom, a.k.a. Writestuff, to tell us about her reading and writing life... 

1. You describe yourself as a ravenous reader and read about 8-10 books each month.  Where did this passion for reading come from?  What are some of your earlier, memorable moments with reading?

When I was a child, my parents always read good night stories to me and my two sisters. We had library cards at very young ages. I still remember my mother taking us to our small town library to borrow books. It made me feel so grown up and important going home with my stack of books. A love of words developed early on and I began writing poems and short stories by the time I was in the third grade. My grandparents on my mother's side are avid crossword puzzlers, and my 94 year old grandmother loves playing scrabble (she usually beats me!). My love of reading and writing fiction was nurtured by many teachers from grade school to high school. If I had to credit only one, it would be my high school English teacher, Chris Robinson, who opened my eyes to some wonderful literature and encouraged my writing tremendously. 

2. You recently created a new blog, A Novel Challenge, which shares the various reading challenges out there in the blogosphere.  Which reading challenges have you previously participated in and which ones are you currently involved with?  What are some of the more unusual or creative reading challenges you have seen?  What do you enjoy about these challenges?

I am amazed with the wide range of reading challenges out there! It's what gave me the idea for my new blog - I wanted a place where people could see all the challenges in one place and be able to link to the sponsors of those challenges with ease. People seem to like this idea based on some of the feedback I've been getting. I also started a Yahoo group for those readers who are as obsessed as I am about the challenges.  

Over the winter I completed The Winter Classics challenge (sponsored by A Reader's Journal) which was wonderful in that it motivated me to read some of the classics that have been sitting on my TBR stack for quite some time. Currently I'm participating in ten challenges - it has become somewhat of an addiction!  There are many reasons why I enjoy them. First of all, I am meeting some fantastic people who share my love of reading - people I probably wouldn't have gotten to know otherwise. The challenges also motivate me to read from the stacks of books I've bought but haven't gotten to yet (Jenn from Mizbooks has sponsored the very popular TBR Challenge which I can see myself doing every year). In addition, many that catch my eye are those that invite me to read outside my comfort zone (like The Dystopian Challenge) or to expand my knowledge to other cultures (like the Reading Across Borders Challenge) or to read authors who have been recognized for their literary excellence (like the New York Times Most Notable which I'm sponsoring).

The blogosphere is full of incredibly talented and creative people. The Something About Me Challenge hosted by Lisa at Breaking the Fourth Wall is an example of that creativity. Readers will be encouraged to nominate up to five books which they feel represent themselves in some way. Then participants will choose from these nominated books to create their reading list. I'm looking forward to getting to know many of my blogging friends through the books they will nominate.

3.  You work as a physical therapist and volunteer in canine search and rescue.  How do you see your love of reading and literature contributing to your work?

I tend to choose books which are character driven (versus plot driven) because I like to get inside the characters' heads and understand their motivations and emotions, and how events in their lives bring about personal change. These are the types of stories I also like to write. In Elizabeth Berg's wonderful book Escaping Into The Open, she writes: "As far as I'm concerned, the most important thing you need when inventing characters is empathy." I would agree.

I believe this same gift is important to be an effective Physical Therapist. By reaching an understanding of others - their emotional life, what motivates them, how they deal with stressful or life altering events - I am better able to treat the whole person and achieve more meaningful results for that person. Reading and writing literature from a point of empathy has helped me to nurture that trait in my work.

Recently I read The Memory Keeper's Daughter, by Kim Edwards. I chose the book partly because of the subject matter which deals with how a family reacts to the birth of a developmentally disabled child. The novel gives tremendous insight into the choices that people make and how this impacts them later in life. Additionally, Edwards' portrayal of a child with Down's syndrome was wonderful. By showing the joy that these children bring to their families, she goes a long way towards dispelling the myths people tend to carry around about disability in general. Because I work as a consultant to homes which service developmentally disabled adults, including those with Down's Syndrome, I found this book meaningful on many levels. 

Likewise, several years ago I read the novel Place Last Seen, by Charlotte McGuinn Freeman. The book is a deeply moving account of a family whose disabled child goes missing while on a camping trip. Told from several points of view, it explores the emotions of the searchers and how the parents deal with their devastating loss. As a person who has been involved with Search and Rescue both on the state and local levels, I appreciated this book tremendously. Of course I related to the searchers' emotions as I have been involved in several searches involving small children - but, what was more valuable to me was the chance to step inside the shoes of the parents whose child was missing. It gave me an understanding that perhaps I hadn't had before.

4.  For the last couple years, you have been a regular contributor of fiction and nonfiction pieces to The Piker Press.  For those interested in getting a taste of your writing style, which one or two pieces might you recommend they read?

I enjoy writing stories that will impact people on some emotional level. Many of my nonfiction articles are connected to my work as a volunteer in Search and Rescue because those events have touched me deeply in some way. One of those - The River Revealed - centers on a search for a young woman who drowned in the Sacramento River. What motivated me to write the story was the power of the river and how easily it could add to our lives, but how it could also so quickly take a life. I think this piece is pretty representative of many of my nonfiction stories in that I am usually drawn to irony or how life is made up of these bits of shadow and light. My writing is often strongly influenced by the natural world. Another nonfiction story, which spins around the idea of nature is Tawny Ghost, an article that touches on the controversy swirling around mountain lions in California.

Readers who enjoy short story fiction pieces would get a sense of my writing style by reading Filling Spaces - a story about internal emptiness and how two women try to fill that void. 

5.  You have written a draft of a novel through National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo).  For readers unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo, can you describe what it is?  What was the process like for you and what do you hope to do in the future? 

NaNoWrimo is a wonderful and whacky invention spearheaded by Chris Baty whom I credit with teaching me how to write a novel. Essentially, it is a challenge for participants to write a 50K word novel during the 30 days of November. The format - having only 30 days to blow out a novel - forces writers to keep writing regardless of any pitfalls they may encounter along the way. I have participated in this challenge for five years, and managed to scratch out the first draft of a novel in three of those years. Prior to discovering NaNoWrimo, I wrote with an editor on my shoulder. I had attempted many novels, only to fail to get past the first 10K words. I edited and edited and edited until any ounce of creativity was smothered. To "win" at NaNoWrimo, writers must be willing to stuff their internal editor into a closet and gag him or her. It is a tremendously freeing and exhilarating experience and it allowed me to finally understand I must get the story down (in any messy form it spills onto the page) before allowing myself to be critical of it. I use this technique for all my writing now - and it has allowed me to finally complete stories.

The Piker Press actually evolved from NanoWrimo because a small group of writers (who had supported each other through the process) decided they didn't want the madness to end. So, I can credit NanoWrimo with one other milestone - it provided a venue for me to be published for the first time! I plan on participating in NaNoWrimo again. But, I have also come to realize that simply writing a draft of a novel - which feels like an incredible accomplishment - is not enough. I want to polish my completed drafts with the goal towards publication.

6.  In your LitMinds profile, you mention having an interest in African literature.  Can you discuss what draws you to this genre and share some of your recommended books?

I have had a fascination with Africa from childhood when I first read about Jane Goodall and her chimps. Of course, at that time, my understanding of Africa was mostly romanticized and probably had more to do with my love of exotic animals than anything else! As I've gotten older, my enchantment with this beautiful continent has become more focused on the people and customs of the region. The richness of the culture, the violence of the political upheavals, the extraordinary animals, the starkness of the geography - all these things compel me to read African literature.

African writers as a whole are wonderful story tellers. Their prose is typically lyrical, yet simple. For those readers just getting interested in this genre, I would recommend Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies' beautiful novels: Purple Hibiscus, and Half Of A Yellow Sun. Adichie is an amazing writer and I look forward to reading more of her work as she publishes it. No African literature reading list would be complete without the works of Chinua Achebe. His novel Things Fall Apart is a good starting point to appreciate his writing style. Recently I read Uzodinma Iweala's first novel Beasts of No Nation. Although Iweala was born in the United States, he has lived his life between the cultures of England, the United States and Nigeria and I think his will be an important voice in African literature. His first novel is a stunning portrayal of a boy soldier - unique and compelling, it is certainly not an easy read but one which is powerful and lasting.

You can see Wendy's LitMinds profile here.