(no subject)
To: Cathi Hanauer
From: Katie Baum
Subj: Sweet Ruin
Date: Tue 07/24/07 00:34
I work at Target as a level one (the lowest) sales floor member, and this past May I (finally!) received my BFA in writing. Reading has become my sanctuary while I'm working and the fifteen minute or thirty minute breaks are ideal for a quick few pages of the current livre du jour, as one could imagine. It was pretty depressing when I'd realized I'd left my copy of Throw Like a Girl by Jean Thompson (short stories) at home and was faced with an entire hour of break time without a single piece of reading
And then, browsing the oh so limited selection at Target, I found Sweet Ruin. I -honestly!- rationalized with myself (I'm trying to save money) by insisting that I would buy the book then return it after I was done because I knew I wouldn't really like it. Target doesn't sell real books.
Oh boy. Was I surprised.
I have been easing my way through your book for the past two weeks and tonight - after, at work, I had to end my break right after the Elayna / Kevin sex scene AND right as Hazel is asking for help ; talk about torture returning to the real world in the middle of that - I just settled in and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the book. I even found myself crying near the end, and I'm not sure why except that it might be the cumulation of everything that "I" had experienced with Elayna, the rush of the sex with Kevin, the anxiety and fear with the wedding ring, the ache after Paul leaving and returning and his anger, and Oliver, still, through all that -
it was a really lovely book and I hope you're very proud of it.
I took a novel writing course last semester and I absolutely hated it. I've fallen in love, hard, with my fiction courses and even nonfiction courses, but novel class just slaughtered me. Every time I came up with a plot (and subplot and subplot) it came out so forced, and irritating, and so obvious, and yet your book acts as a whole, and the subplots are so subtle and intermixed that it feels like a story. I admire you so much for having that ability!
I'm excited to read some more of your work!
Katie Baum
To: Katie Baum
From: Cathi Hanauer
Subj: re: Sweet Ruin
Date: 07/24/07 09:20
Katie--
I was so happy when Sweet Ruin got picked up by Target, and this is exactly why. Thanks so much for this lovely letter. It made my day.
If it's any consolation about novel writing, I wrote for many years before I was able to write a novel (i was a journalist and magazine editor in NY), and even then, i had to go to an MFA program to be able to do it. (My first novel, My Sister's Bones, was my MFA thesis.) My second novel (I had a two-book contract) never got published, and i took ten years "off," swearing I'd never write fiction again-- just too hard and unpredictable--during which I conceived, assigned, and edited a book called "The Bitch in the House" (a non-fiction essay anthology). Bitch
became a best-seller (a beautiful thing), and because for the first time i actually had royalties--and simultaneously got another novel idea, much to my chagrin-- I decided to give myself 8 months to see if i could write this new novel. It was one of those books i could "see" in my head, and it came out easily and was heaven to write (like having an affair but without the guilt). That was Sweet Ruin. It's doing okay so far (no small thanks to Target), and has gotten all good reviews, but hasn't sold nearly as well as Bitch did. So now I'm doing a magazine editing job purely for the money, b/c I'm afraid to go back into a novel until i can see the whole thing again and know I'll be able to sell it--too risky financially.
Anyway, that's probably way too much information, but a letter like yours is such a nice boost--makes me feel like maybe there's a reason to write again. So thank you so much for taking time to write it. And by the way, maybe your novel will end up being about someone who works at Target. Of course, it would have to be more than that, but I'd imagine that would be a GREAT setting for a book.
If you send me your address, i'll send you a copy of My Sister's Bones if you'd like.
Best,
Cathi Hanauer
From: Katie Baum
Subj: Sweet Ruin
Date: Tue 07/24/07 00:34
I work at Target as a level one (the lowest) sales floor member, and this past May I (finally!) received my BFA in writing. Reading has become my sanctuary while I'm working and the fifteen minute or thirty minute breaks are ideal for a quick few pages of the current livre du jour, as one could imagine. It was pretty depressing when I'd realized I'd left my copy of Throw Like a Girl by Jean Thompson (short stories) at home and was faced with an entire hour of break time without a single piece of reading
And then, browsing the oh so limited selection at Target, I found Sweet Ruin. I -honestly!- rationalized with myself (I'm trying to save money) by insisting that I would buy the book then return it after I was done because I knew I wouldn't really like it. Target doesn't sell real books.
Oh boy. Was I surprised.
I have been easing my way through your book for the past two weeks and tonight - after, at work, I had to end my break right after the Elayna / Kevin sex scene AND right as Hazel is asking for help ; talk about torture returning to the real world in the middle of that - I just settled in and thoroughly enjoyed the rest of the book. I even found myself crying near the end, and I'm not sure why except that it might be the cumulation of everything that "I" had experienced with Elayna, the rush of the sex with Kevin, the anxiety and fear with the wedding ring, the ache after Paul leaving and returning and his anger, and Oliver, still, through all that -
it was a really lovely book and I hope you're very proud of it.
I took a novel writing course last semester and I absolutely hated it. I've fallen in love, hard, with my fiction courses and even nonfiction courses, but novel class just slaughtered me. Every time I came up with a plot (and subplot and subplot) it came out so forced, and irritating, and so obvious, and yet your book acts as a whole, and the subplots are so subtle and intermixed that it feels like a story. I admire you so much for having that ability!
I'm excited to read some more of your work!
Katie Baum
To: Katie Baum
From: Cathi Hanauer
Subj: re: Sweet Ruin
Date: 07/24/07 09:20
Katie--
I was so happy when Sweet Ruin got picked up by Target, and this is exactly why. Thanks so much for this lovely letter. It made my day.
If it's any consolation about novel writing, I wrote for many years before I was able to write a novel (i was a journalist and magazine editor in NY), and even then, i had to go to an MFA program to be able to do it. (My first novel, My Sister's Bones, was my MFA thesis.) My second novel (I had a two-book contract) never got published, and i took ten years "off," swearing I'd never write fiction again-- just too hard and unpredictable--during which I conceived, assigned, and edited a book called "The Bitch in the House" (a non-fiction essay anthology). Bitch
became a best-seller (a beautiful thing), and because for the first time i actually had royalties--and simultaneously got another novel idea, much to my chagrin-- I decided to give myself 8 months to see if i could write this new novel. It was one of those books i could "see" in my head, and it came out easily and was heaven to write (like having an affair but without the guilt). That was Sweet Ruin. It's doing okay so far (no small thanks to Target), and has gotten all good reviews, but hasn't sold nearly as well as Bitch did. So now I'm doing a magazine editing job purely for the money, b/c I'm afraid to go back into a novel until i can see the whole thing again and know I'll be able to sell it--too risky financially.
Anyway, that's probably way too much information, but a letter like yours is such a nice boost--makes me feel like maybe there's a reason to write again. So thank you so much for taking time to write it. And by the way, maybe your novel will end up being about someone who works at Target. Of course, it would have to be more than that, but I'd imagine that would be a GREAT setting for a book.
If you send me your address, i'll send you a copy of My Sister's Bones if you'd like.
Best,
Cathi Hanauer