You Are Braver Than You Believe

Funny thing about reading a book—you do it alone, choosing to turn off all distractions and noise from the outside in order to focus yourself on what is unfolding silently on the page (paper or electronic it makes no difference) in front of you.

Yet reading is also the most social of activities. The reader connects to the author’s view of the world, meeting characters and situations otherwise unknown or unknowable.

And, as was evident at the JCC Book Month’s Girls Night Out in November, readers connect to each other.

With the ease of electronic publishing, the book world is changing rapidly. According to this year’s Book Month co-chairs, Joan Finn and Sara Winer, half of the books chosen for the November Book Month festival came from very small presses or were self-published. Last year, there was only one.

Finn and Winer wanted to address this emerging publishing trend, so they gathered 3 writers, all women, 2 self-published, and one published at a small press.

The response was overwhelming; this year’s Girls Night Out on Nov. 17 broke all previous attendance records. Over 200 people came to the Kernwood Country Club for a fine meal, raffle, jewelry and craft booths, and to hear self-published authors Dale Stanton, author of the memoir The Hooker’s Daughter, and Wendy Polins, author of  the novel Fare Forward, as well as Marblehead author Ellen Frankel, author Syd, a modern take on the Siddhartha story.

In her opening remarks, Sara Winer noted, “We are the people of the book.” She then asked who in the audience were professional writers, amateur writers, kept a journal or dreamed of being a writer. There were a lot of raised hands.

Phyllis Karas, most recently co-author of Where’s Whitey, with Kevin Weeks, moderated the evening. Her questions to each of the authors in turn focused on the author’s journey to writing as well as to publishing.

Frankel, the author of three previous nonfiction books, spoke about the similarities between her main character, Syd, and herself. “I too (am a) spiritual seeker,” she said. Like her character, “I went to Yoga, to an ashram.” Although Syd is an “exaggeration of a spiritual seeker … she’s me, she’s the woman next door, she could be you.”

Polins, an architect by trade, said that the recession, which has been particularly cruel to her profession, left her with free time she hadn’t had in years. A number of life changes, such as her daughters heading off to college, led her to writing. In a particularly moving moment, she mentioned a childhood friend who had been killed in a car accident while crossing the street. In her book, a girl is also hit by a car, but she doesn’t die.

Stanton, whose memoir deals with her mother who lived a large part of her life outside the law, emphasized the cathartic benefits of exorcising one’s past, saying “I was writing the memoir in my head my whole life.”

After 45 minutes or so of questions and responses from the authors, Karas’ last question was directed to all the potential writers in the attentive audience. She asked, “What advice would you give to those who want to write a book?”

Frankel and Polins gave practical advice. “Park you butt in the chair,” said Polllins.

“Don’t over think it, just sit down and write,” echoed Frankel.

But it was Stanton who best spoke to the audience’s hopes and fears. “You are braver than you believe,” she said, “and stronger than you think.”

Good words for all of us to carry forward into the new year.