Monthly Archives: October 2012

OCD Awareness Week

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This is OCD Awareness Week.  It is my great hope that this blog is chipping away at the misunderstandings about obsessive-compulsive disorder.  These are truths I know:

* OCD is a thief.
* Obsessive-compulsives are not alone or crazy.
* Although there is currently no known cure for OCD, there is an incredibly effective treatment for it– and tools that keep it well in-check!
* The general public still doesn’t understand OCD, which is much more than just being a “neat freak.”
* Obsessive-compulsives are some of the bravest and most compassionate people I know.

Care to add some truths?  Leave a comment!

my favorite non-human characters in literature

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In no particular order …

* Richard Parker, the tiger in Life of Pi … by the end of that long boatride, RP feels like your reason to live

* Mr. Tumnus, the faun from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe … I mean, OF COURSE.  He is Lucy’s oldest Narnian friend.  Who can forget that image of him with the scarf, umbrella, and parcels beneath the lamp-post?

* Hedwig, Harry Potter’s owl, who has so much personality and spunk

* Hwin, the mare from The Horse and His Boy … “You may eat me, if you’d like.  I’d sooner be eaten by you than fed by anyone else.”  How could you not love her?!

* Puddleglum, the marshwiggle, as he put his webbed foot into the fire and declared he was on Aslan’s side even if Aslan didn’t exist

* Jewel, the unicorn of The Last Battle, who was just as rash and passionate as his bestie, King Tirian

* Beatrice and Virgil, the howler monkey and donkey featured in Yann Martel’s fascinating book … your heart goes out to them as they detail the “Horrors”

* Lady Amalthea, or rather Lady Amalthea-bef0re-she-was-a-woman

* Magnus Bane … do warlocks count?  “Even the Inquisitor’s eyebrows shot up when Magnus strode through the gate.  The High Warlock was wearing black leather pants, a belt with a buckle in the shape of a jeweled M, and a cobalt-blue Prussian military jacket open over a white lace shirt.”

* Reepicheep, so valiant, so martial!

* The Skin Horse, from The Velveteen Rabbit

* Old Yeller, Old Dan, and Little Ann, best dogs in the whole world

* Winnie-the-Pooh

* the Wild Things

* Cinnamon, Stargirl’s sweet little rat

and last but certainly not least …

* Charlotte A. Cavatica, a good friend and a good writer, the most incredible spider ever

hearing your story on someone else’s lips

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The week after OCD Awareness Week, I am going to be a part of a breakout chapel service at the university where I work.  (I am employed by Northwestern College, the most wonderful Christian college in the world … as an alumnus, I’m a little biased.  Ha!)  I am going to be interviewed by one of the campus therapists, and I am just so eager to tell my story.

I think one of the most helpful things for OCs is to hear their own story on someone else’s lips.

It makes us feel less alone.

I remember my first conversation with another obsessive-compulsive.  I was sitting on a dock underneath a sky of summer stars, and as we talked, it was like shrugging off a giant sheath that had separated me from everyone else.  I was not alone; this person had the same experiences.

And when I read Kissing Doorknobs by Terri Spencer Hesser, it was like reading my own biography.  It stole power from OCD, just reading that, because it showed me how not creative the disorder is … sure, it has a variety of manifestations, but at their core, they are really very similar.

And that is what I am hoping will happen for someone in the audience on October 17th.  For that person to say, That sounds just like me!  I am not an anomoly.

audience, revisited

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I know that I’ve blogged recently about whom I write for, but I was thinking about that more this past weekend, as I was reading Alan Jacobs’s book The Narnian, a biography of C.S. Lewis’s creative life, and I had additional thoughts … or maybe questions.

If they won’t write the kind of books we want to read, we shall have to write them ourselves; but it is very laborious.  C.S. Lewis to J.R.R. Tolkien

Now, I am certainly not saying that there are no books being written that I want to read (hello, I am practically panting for Marchetta’s new book to arrive in the mail!), but this does bring up the question for me of whether it is okay to write for oneself or if it is more noble to write for others.

What I am trying to do right now with Truest is to write the kind of story that I would like to read.  Is that a selfish way to write?  Is that even a smart way to write?  It’s not that I am not taking any criticism … I just keep my list of whom to please in my mind (#1 God, #2 me, #3 John Green).  (Man, it makes me laugh every time I post that list … John Green.  Oh gosh.  I wonder if he will ever know how influencial he has been on the writing of Truest.)

“Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self.” —Cyril Connolly

Anyway, blog world, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.

 

 

Top 10 Literary Boyfriends

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Oh, come on, be honest now … if you’re a reader, you have them too. 🙂

10. Marco Alisdair from The Night Circus | A handsome young magician with creativity exploding out of him?  Yes please.  “What did you wish for?” Bailey asks. Marco leans forward and whispers in Bailey’s ear. “I wished for her.”

9. Will Trombal from Saving Francesca | Confused, sweet, smart, willing-to-be-humbled student leader at an Aussie high school, eventually Will figured out just what he wanted.  “Do you think people have noticed that I’m around?”
“I notice when you’re not. Does that count?”

8. Jace Wayland/Morgenstern/Herondale/Lightwood from The Mortal Instruments series | You know, I wouldn’t mind having a stunningly gorgeous boyfriend who was acerbically hilarious and could kick anyone’s ass, even if he was conceited as all get-out.  Too bad something is always going majorly wrong with his world.  “Not everything is about you,” Clary said furiously.  “Possibly,” Jace said, “but you do have to admit that the majority of things are.”

7. Joe Fontaine from The Sky is Everywhere | His smile alone completely won me over.  Joe is sincerely and deeply in love with life.  “And then he smiles, and in all the places around the globe where it’s night, day breaks.”

6. Prince Char from Ella Enchanted | He is so real, so sincere, so sweet, so honest, so straightforward: “That’s funny, you’re funny. I like you, I’m quite taken by you.”

5. Finnikin from Finnikin of the Rock | Once he realizes what he truly wants, he is a die-hard.  His loyalty and dedication won over my heart.  “This hand says you spend the rest of your life with me,” he said, holding out his left hand, “and this one says I spend the rest of my life with you. Choose.”

4. Max Vandenburg from The Book Thief | Okay, so I don’t think readers are supposed to fall for Max, but I couldn’t help it.  He writes books for her.  Swoon.  ‘Such a brilliant German day and its attentive crowd. He let his mouth kiss her palm. “Yes, Liesel, it’s me,” and he held the girl’s hand in his face and cried onto her fingers.’

3. Jonah Griggs from Jellicoe Road | A young, passionate cadet who will fight with you but also do anything to defend you, Griggs is one of my all-time favorite literary boyfriends!  He’s hilarious and smart and hot and cares so deeply, even though he keeps up a tough facade.  “I think it would cause a riot.”  “Well, you know me,” he says, lowering his head towards me. “Causing a riot is what I do best.”

2. Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables series | Gilbert is one of the most wonderful men ever written about, period.  From the time he was about thirteen, he has wanted one thing: Anne Shirley’s love.  He is most girls’ idea of “the perfect man,” one who waited for her for years.  He’s so funny and SMART and sweet and handsome.  Love him.  “Gilbert wisely said nothing more; but in his silence he read the history of the next four years in the light of Anne’s remembered blush. Four years of earnest, happy work … and then the guerdon of a useful knowledge gained and a sweet heart won.”

1. Augustus Waters of The Fault in Our Stars | I just cannot get over this guy.  He’s smart, hilarious, gorgeous, a deep thinker, a reader, intense and honest and fun.  “Oh, I wouldn’t mind, Hazel Grace.  It would be a privilege to have my heart broken by you.”

Honorable mentions:
Ron Weasley of Harry Potter series
Cal Trask of East of Eden
Dickon of The Secret Garden

How about you– who are your favorite literary boyfriends?