Candy-Colored Wishes.
On candy and... writing.
I’m obsessed with candy colors. Specifically, the 1960s candy-colored striped Jantzen numbers that are always ready for swimming, badminton, or tennis. A good skort? I’m in. A pastel cover-up? Send it on! During a few of the pandemic years, I bought cheap vintage on Etsy every once and a while to lift my spirits. Even though I was home alone, I’d wear that green and white sleeveless number with the white rope belt like everyone was watching. There was a pink and kelly green sleeveless polyester shirt that made it out in Before Times and matched my iced matcha; a red and pink striped vintage Lacoste with the red collar and quarter sleeves, too. But when the yellow, pink, and white striped shirt arrived one lonely summer with its Jantzen label and little front pockets with tiny white buttons, I was thrilled. I also laughed because it was sheer, and obviously a swimsuit cover-up. But I wore it like a shirt. I wasn’t going anywhere. I didn’t see anyone. Why not have a little fun?
I also bought a few vintage yellow badminton racquets on Etsy to match the clothes, complete with the original birdies. Petey sat on his lounger and I tossed the birdie and hit it myself, racing around the yard and playing solo badminton in my striped shirts. It was sunny, and I was playing a game I loved with my dog at my side. I’ve always known how to make my own fun, which is how I got through those years. But really, it’s how I get through life. Pastel-colored candy cane wishes.
One of the best pieces of writing advice I’ve ever heard was that writing a book should be like roaming around a candy store. Your first draft should be filled with all the things you love, colorful and fun, a room filled with delights of your own making. In my mind, the teacher was Steve Almond who taught a Wordstock workshop years ago. But even if it wasn’t Steve, his writing advice and books are fabulous, so check them out.
Like any good piece of advice, this one stayed with me. I think about it every time I start a new book. But I also think about it during the muddy middle and definitely during revisions. It’s a good reminder of why I began the story in the first place. I see this idea in my own books, published and not, stories that are truly a mishmash of my current obsessions. How lucky am I to mentally surround myself with delights? I’m also lucky that my first book contained so many of them, which is probably apparent from the title, The Theory of Everything.
I’ll never forget my conversation with my agent a few months after signing with her. We were getting the manuscript ready for submission and she said that while she loved every wild scene, we needed to pare it down. Thinking back on that now, I laugh, because it was a lot. There was dimensional travel and time travel; Walt, the panda guide and his band, but also, King Tut eating a hot dog; and Dorothy Draper in the train car when the blackbirds fly off the wallpaper. And while the library floor did come to life, QBert style, we had to cut a “gang,” whose name and purpose I’m not revealing because it’s so good, it’s going in another book. That original manuscript wasn’t just a candy store, it was every candy store in the world, all in one book.
I loved the final version, it needed those cuts, focus, and a stronger magical structure, but I’ll always have a soft spot for those cutting room floor scenes. Who could forget a character disappearing inside a famous painting? Or Andy Warhol’s head in a box in the basement which, upon opening, said: “Better to be a head than a derrière, darling.” Delights! That’s what I love about fiction, magical and otherwise. If I’m delighted while writing it, hopefully, readers will be delighted while reading it, too.
Writing is a ridiculous act of faith. And I mean ridiculous in the very best way, extremely silly and absurd. If you write magical fiction like I do, writing is often an act of absurdity, but that’s a great thing. Sometimes, the publishing world can push that absurdity out of you as you try to find the perfect partners for your work. Fit in this box, go here, take a right! Go there! But for most of us with big imaginations, boxes are the very reason we started writing in the first place. We didn’t fit in the ones that already existed, so we created our own. Round purple boxes! Oblong, squiggly striped ones! Boxes for every single idea under the sun, fantastical and fun. Parcels of possibility.
Writing and life can be full of your favorite things if you let them.
This has been a challenging year for me for many reasons. But if you’re like most people I know, the struggle has been real for all of us. But I feel like things are turning. I know, there will be challenges ahead, but aren’t there always? Over here, I’m taking a little break in the sunshine with people I love this week. I’ll be wrapping up one project in January and diving headlong into another that’s been waiting for me, a full draft ready to go into the next phase. I have a third project in its early stages, ideas and voices, that will be fun to get to once I get the first one out the door. For me, there’s always another book, which makes everything better. The ultimate delight!
That’s what I wish for you this next year – candy-colored wishes and candy-infused dishes; candlelight and solitude, but also, things merry and bright. Some writing time snuck in before bedtime, some reading time in the tub; some solace, joy, laughs, and lots of love. Whether it’s in a manuscript or life, whatever you want, whatever brings you delight is what I want for you. It’s what I want for all of us in this new year. Let’s love. Let’s write! Let’s put on our collective candy-colored, Jantzen-striped, polyester little numbers and sing.
Shout-Outs!
I’ll see you back here in the new year and with a pivot. Finally! It may not come in January, because I’m doing a lot of pivots in the job world and finishing a manuscript, but I’ll here writing and talking about writing, soon. This will always be a space of delights and all things Very-Kari in the new year, so stay tuned! It’s going to be a fun one.
Steve Almond! Buy Steve Almond’s new and very good book! Because even if he didn’t say the thing about candy, he says a lot of other great things about writing. His other books are pretty fabulous, too.
Launch with Love!
Launch with Love is coming back! I’ve kept it low-key going this past year, but I’m bringing it back in the new year with new offerings, classes, a new team of designers, and surprises! Website update to come, but you can visit the old one, here. There are Query Packages, Debut Author Packages, and more. I’m taking bookings for consultations after January 7th, so reach out if you’d like some help or a friendly ear in the new year.
So Much Love.
Let’s wave a sweet goodbye to 2024 and hello to 2025! From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for being here this year! Thanks for reading, sharing, commenting, and showing up as I meandered around in this space, but always showed up to share it with you. While the focus and the name will shift, Petey Sellers will always be a part of this space, as he’s always a part of my writing and my heart. Whatever happens here, the spirit of Petey lives on! And is always here to give you a high-five, a pep talk, and a hug when you need it. Keep writing, he says. It’s magic!
xoxo,
Kari
You've got a sweet tooth! Love this! Happy New Year's!