This week, Village Books welcomes guest blogger and author Amy Foster. Amy's debut novel is When Autumn Leaves, which is now available. Her first foray into writing was as a lyricist for songs by Josh Grobin, Michael Buble, and Andrea Bocelli. She will be at Village Books on Friday, November 13, 7:00pm.
I really used to think
that I had it down when it came to words. Before I started writing
seriously, I did some serious reading. And then after I became a
lyricist, I was able to manipulate the language to such a degree that
it often felt like I was playing Sudoku with words. You have 14
syllables to say "I really miss you" (in an interesting way) and it has
to rhyme with "eh." Plug it in. When I started writing fiction, I learned that writing without context,
as one must with lyrics, served me well. I could say more in a single
sentence, then some writers say in a page. Basically I thought I was pretty darn clever.
And then there are the radio tours. You begin at 4 a.m. and do literally 20 in a row. Half the time I have no clue what I'm saying. Am I even speaking English? I went back and listened to the last one I did, the last after 15 before. I go from being this smart, interesting, fairly articulate person to a someone whose air time is filled with "Ummmms," "I means," "I feel likes" and "I guess."
Being able to write, even under pressure is one thing, being articulate at a dinner party or a fancy function is another. But being articulate after a 12 hour press day, or on your 25th interview--that is a whole different bag. I don't know if I'll ever master that one. People in the press and elsewhere have said my ditziness is charming. Ditzy? I'm not ditzy! I'm nervous and tired. So just when I believed I had the whole word thing down, I have to start all over again. I want people to find me interesting and accessible, but I don't want to come off as stupid. Now I find I need an entirely new language to deal with this entirely new set of parameters. More words, but a different arrangement. I'm hoping it's just practice and a question of getting used to it. Fingers crossed.