books – Page 8 – Patricia J. Parsons

Books we keep, books we toss: Helen Gurley Brown’s is a keeper

Posted on 14 Aug 2012 by Patricia J. Parsons

Unlike most book lovers I know, I have culled my bookshelves mercilessly over the years. I always think that someone else could be enjoying those books that just sit there on the shelves for so long, so I donate them to used book stores, libraries and anywhere else that might appreciate those books. I hope that my own books have found new audiences in these ways. But when I look at my shelves and see those books that I’ve actually kept for the long haul, one jumped off the shelf at me this morning.

It is a pocket-book version of Helen Gurley Brown’s 1982 classic Having it All. You can have her Sex and the Single Girl, but I’ll take Having it All. Of course it jumped out because the venerable Ms. Brown died yesterday at 90.

I graduated from Cosmo to Vogue and now More (for women over 40) many years ago, but I always appreciated Helen Gurley Brown’s fundamental feminist advice – despite the fact that Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan (among many others) thought of her brand of feminism more as the “lipstick” type than the ‘real’ type as Simon Houpt wrote this morning in the Globe & Mail. Give it a rest, all you militant feminists; Helen had a thing or two to say about female empowerment and equality, even if it was framed by thoughts of sex and beautiful clothes.

As the editor of a widely –circulated and wildly successful young women’s magazine, Ms. Brown was a powerful woman if ever there was one, and I can’t help but wonder the extent to which all those things that influence us in our younger years are there in our older minds when we contemplate our writing. My main characters in my novels all do seem to emerge as women ahead of their time, with interests in pursuing lives that were not supposed to be women’s territory. And these are women who make their mark.

Earlier this summer Anne-Marie Slaughter stirred up the “having it all” squabble in a big way with her (extremely wordy) piece in The Atlantic. In “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All” she wrote, “I still strongly believe that women can ‘have it all’ (and that men can too)…But not today…” as a consequence of the way “…America’s economy and society are currently structured…”[1]

Ms. Brown, back in 1982, with her brand of lipstick feminism, suggested that “having it all” meant the following:

“To love and be loved by a desirable man or men;
To enjoy sex;
To be happy in your work – and maybe even famous;
To make money — possibly a lot;
To look great;
To have wonderful, loyal friends;
To help your family;
To be free from most anxiety;
Never to be bored
Maybe leave the world a better place”[2]

I don’t know about you, it may be a bit simplistic, but this is as good a description of women having it all as I have ever seen (of course having or not having children was not part of Helen’s equation). Hmm…it also seems like the formula for her Cosmo magazine, Oprah’s everything, and chick lit. Maybe that’s one of my influences. Now back to my “women’s novel” manuscript and a few new ideas that spring to mind this morning.

[1] http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/07/why-women-still-can-8217-t-have-it-all/9020/

[2] Brown, Helen Gurley. 1982. Having it all. P. 3.

Author photos & bios: Do you care?

Posted on 3 Jan 2012 by Patricia J. Parsons

Before we went away for Christmas, I cleaned off a few shelves in my office. One of them was the shelf on which I keep copies of my own books. Making the obvious decision that to keep more than one copy of any book on that shelf was using up prime real estate, I piled the extra copies on the floor. When the pile fell over, I noticed the photos on the backs of many of them: I noticed that I seemed to have used the same head shot for several. This started me wondering if they were at all important (and if I should have one more professional one taken).

I want to start this discussion by finding out if any of my fellow readers & writers have given much thought to these photos and the accompanying bio. So…before I continue to write, I offer my completely unscientific poll to any reader inclined to weigh in before I tell you the back story of those author photos on my covers.

[This poll refers only to non-fiction selections: I’ll get to the fiction one in due course!]

Author web sites

Author web sites: Need to have, nice to have or nuts to have?

Posted on 15 Nov 2011 by Patricia J. Parsons

J.K. Rowling has quite a web site. It’s flashy; it’s imaginative; it’s just the kind of web site you might think that creator of the Harry Potter brand ought to have. And I have no doubt that her myriad fans visit it when they are in need of all things JKR. However, what’s the point of the unknown author having a personal web site (beyond the obvious ego-massaging aspect?)

In general terms, and in these days of social media, you have to be clear that a web presence is just that – a web ‘presence.’ It is present – no more, no less.

A web presence is usually a static site where organizations or people can hang information. If they seek to be dynamic in nature or to engage others (in the case of authors – presumably your readers), then they need to be connected to opportunities for encouraging this engagement: an author blog (present site included), a forum of some kind (perhaps a Facebook page where discussion can take place on the ‘wall’), a wiki (wherein you might engage your readers to help you create a piece of writing – but that’s a bit odd in my view. (Just odd enough that I might try it.)

The Huffington Post ran an article earlier this year that explores just this question. The article focused on an interview with Anik LaFarge who is the author of The Author Online: A Short Guide to Building Your Website, Whether You Do it Yourself (and you can!) or You Work With Pros. Just as you might imagine, the discussion of the pros and cons is hardly balanced: the interview subject is, after all, in the business of creating author web site, so naturally she thinks that they fall into my “need to have” category. The one thing she does suggest that seems completely useful is this: there’s no point in having a web site if you don’t use it. Couldn’t agree more. I think that the question of using it, though, has two components. First, the author has to use it, and then the readers have to use it.

An author’s use of his or her web site manifests itself in a couple of activities. First, the author needs to ensure that the site has useful information that is updated on a regular basis for those who do happen to stumble upon it. Second, the author needs to get that web site into search engines so that it can actually be found.

As far as readers are concerned, they need to use it to become engaged with the author, something that many authors in days gone by, weren’t really interested in. Times have changed. I suppose readers use authors’ web sites to get the backstory on current work, to find out what’s coming up and to get background on the author. Those would be three kinds of content that could be found. However, how often do you as a reader actually visit the web site for an author you like?

As a reader I never seek out and visit author web sites. Do you?

As a writer, I think that my web site tells certain people that I’m a serious writer and that I have accomplished a few things. Who, though, are those certain people? Agents? Film makers? New publishers? I don’t know the answer.

My own web site caused me considerable soul-searching. Did I need one? What would be its objective? Who would read it (a bit like the question of who will read your book)? Who will design/maintain/update it? Was it worth it?

It seemed like a no-brainer. These days, if your work is in the public view, whether you’re an organization or an individual, if you’re not on the web, in some sense, you don’t exist. Perhaps that’s a bit strong, but it does make a point.

The truth is that an author web site is a place for me to send interested individuals whom I meet at parties etc. who specifically ask if there’s anywhere they can read about me. So, if I meet you at a party and you happen to ask what I do (I usually don’t talk about myself unless asked these days) and then you’re interested enough to ask where you can find out more information, I’ll probably send you to my web site. But do I think thousands of people are visiting it monthlly? I’m smart enough about web sites to be sure of the answer: NO.

There is one thing I know for sure: a web site will not make you a rich and famous writer. But what I don’t know is if you can become a rich and famous author without one. That’s if you want to be rich and famous.