Puppies, Writing & Plagiarism
My local bookstore just started doing a Sunday morning writing session. They open early and you pay $10 to sit at their little cafe and write. It’s really been an incredible reminder of how much I get done when I’m not home. We just got a puppy about two months ago and while she is adorable, she is so much work. I also have two cats and a dog.
I fantasized about having a house full of animals and how cute and sweet it would be. I am here to tell you that it is NOT cute and NOT sweet. It’s totally crazy and so much work. I used look at people and their Instagram accounts of all of their dogs and all of their chickens and I think, “I want my life to look like that!” Some people go through Instagram and look at other people’s vacation’s or homes or hair or body. I go through Instagram and look at other people’s well behaved animals.
Meanwhile, here’s a cute picture of Joey, the new puppy, and Trudy my 11-year-old super anxious Great Pyrenees rescue who doesn’t look super anxious in the picture.
Don’t they look perfect?
This was just before Joey chased both cats and peed on the floor. And just before Trudy barked for an hour straight because there was a person four blocks away from my house that apparently she sensed—not saw, just sensed—and decided that person was a threat. And this was just before Stella, one of my cats, meowed at my office door for 20 minutes straight because she wanted to go out outside and eat mice.
Below is a photo of Joey being a good girl for five seconds and not pouncing on Rocco, my 13-year-old cat.
You can see why I want to leave my house.
Upcoming news and events!
Friday, Jan 31 at 5:30-8:30pm: Author night at The Lindenhurst Public Library in Lindenhurst, NY! I’ll be there with other thriller writers including keynote speaker Alifare Burke.
Monday, Feb 3 at 6pm: Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn, I’ll be in conversation with the amazing YA author Jessica Goodman celebrating her new book The Meadowbrook Murders.
My new book You Belong to Me, comes out April 15! It’s about a teenage girl named Frances Bean who falls in love with the daughter of a local wellness guru and gets drawn into a cult! If you haven’t already, it would mean so much to me if you pre-ordered it, preferably from your local bookstore or if you would like a signed copy, you can order it from Watchung Booksellers.
Plagiarism and Envy in Writing and Creating
Speaking of being envious of other people’s lives… I just read a great book called Who Is Maud Dixon? It was one of those books in the realm of Yellowface and The Plot. A literary mystery about stealing someone’s work. As The New York Times said in this article, “The plagiarism plot is having a moment.” It makes perfect sense, doesn’t it, that people are writing more about wanting to steal someone else’s story? We are more inundated than ever by images of success—whether it’s real success or fake success brought to you by the joy of social media.
I can’t help but scroll through other author’s Instagrams and see how much they’ve accomplished: Best seller, residencies that they’ve gotten into, tours. I know people look at me and say, That Hayley Krischer look at how successful she is! I know, I know! And yes, if you measure my success by book deals I have been successful. How many books should I sell before I can pat myself on the back? (I know, it’s not about the books I sell, it’s about the art I create, but please humor me here.)
Jane Friedman posted a stat that showed that 90% of books sell fewer than 2,000 units. This is the reality of book publishing.
When we, as creative people, start getting into the evil cycle of envy and looking at what other people have, we have to, we must, turn off the social media. You might not be able to turn off the internal critic. But instagram? You can shut that off. I saw a young author tormenting herself on social media the other day, and my heart just broke for her. We can’t do this to ourselves.
I just saw the Bob Dylan movie over the weekend and I was star struck by how prolific Dylan was when he was younger. In the movie, he says that every time someone asks him “How did you write that song?” they’re really saying, “How come I didn’t write that song?” I wonder if I believe this.
I remember the first time I saw “The Graduate.” I was about 17. I was so stunned by the camera work and script, the music. It completely blew me away. But after I watched it, I began crying hysterically. Why? Not because I related to the character at all, because I felt like I could never create a work of art so perfect. How could I possibly make something so important like the Graduate? It made me sad for my future creative life. I didn’t feel inspired. I felt jealous. I felt defeated.
I was only 17 years old!! A BABY. I had a whole torturous creative life ahead of me! How did I get past that feeling? I’m not sure. But I know it was around the same time I began writing my first book. So there you have it. Sometimes jealousy begets inspiration.
The Fires
My brother and his family live in LA and so does one of my best friends. They have been safe, thank god. But so many people haven’t. Many Go Fund Me’s are floating around out there, but this list of people in Altadena who have lost everything, absolutely everything, feels like a good place to start. I also donated to the Pasadena Humane Society because right now they are housing 400 displaced animals. I can’t even imagine. And I’m over here complaining about my four animals!
The author Veronica Bane is doing a book donation drive helping Los Angeles teachers and readers in need. You can find more about it here. If you know of other book donation drives, please comment below and let me know.
Thanks for reading and hope you are well.
-Hayley