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 August - September 2010

Excerpts from my blog, "The Wisdom of Les Miserables"

 

August 8, 2010

Battling Writer's Guilt

It’s five years since my last novel, Down a Narrow Alley.* I had begun to think that I had no more book-length stories left in me. To my surprise, I woke up one late July morning with what seems like a viable novel project, complete with interesting characters,  at least a rudimentary plot line/narrative arc (always my nemesis). 
Since I've been sitting on a half-written novel and a bunch of other “concepts,” I promised myself that I would not begin to write until I had a compass, in the form of a nearly complete outline (beginning, middle, and end). 

Typically, the brainstorms that fly from my imagination have a short lifespan. This new one, whose working title is A Train to Bruges, feels different. It breathes pure oxygen and includes subplots/obstacles/solutions/twists that show promise of getting me beyond Chapter 5. The first 5,000 words flooded into an MS Word document. "Hey, world, A. J. Garrotto's got his groove back!" Then, I got sucker-punched. Never saw it coming. My attacker's name was Guilt (capitalized and italicized). 

"Do you know how long it'll to take you to finish this thing?" 
I recognized the strident, mocking voice. It has hounded me through every attempt to write a good novel, if not the Great American Novel. "Yeah," I said, already rocked back on my heels, "about a year."

"How can you justify a commitment like that when you already have a close-to-full-time job . . . and a family?" Not having a ready answer left me open to another jab. "And, even if you finish your sorry-ass novel, who's going to read it besides your relatives and most loyal friends? Oh, and by the way, have you checked the sales of your last three novels lately? Just how many millions down are they on Amazon's sales chart?"

I'm chagrined at how easily I succumb to this kind of writer-abuse, but there is a positive side. In the euphoria of inspiration and renewed dedication, I hadn't stopped to ask myself why I want to write this novel. This question is the step-child of the greater question, why do I write at all. Granting the validity of some of the negatives in my adversary’s mockery, are there any good reasons to write what might turn out to be another “dead-end” novel? 

Yes! And let me point them out.

1. The search for meaning is the great work of my life. Writing a novel helps me to explore parts of my inner Self that I neglect in other aspects of my daily existence. Through my characters, I learn things about myself. Is it selfish to write for one's own benefit and growth? In a way, but I’d rather think of writing as a unique way for the divine to reach into my heart and put a few more pieces of the puzzle of my life in place.

2. I write to leave a personal legacy to my daughters and grandchildren. Maybe they’ll learn things about me that I have not disclosed in face to face revelation and understand how I got to be who I am.
3. Recently, while journaling, I had an insight about myself. I wrote, “I am a storyteller. That’s who I am.” Everything I do in life is related to story, whether it's journaling in private or writing fiction and nonfiction for publication. In my professional life as lay minister in my local parish, I listen to human stories and share my own jagged story--connecting all of it to the Great Story that God is telling in the history of planet Earth and the expanding universe. 
4.  Making up stories is fun!
Now that I’m warmed up, I could add to that list, but I don’t need to. I already have enough reasons to add chapters to this new work, mining its personal treasures and deferring judgments about its ultimate literary value and its future in the publishing universe. Let it end up two millionth on Amazon. The writing is the thing. And for this storyteller, that’s enough.

* Down a Narrow Alley is the sequel to Circles of Stone (2002, Hilliard and Harris Publishers)

June 19, 2010

This book review also appears in the online edition (July 15, 2010) of U.S. Catholic magazine.

The Saint With the Dragon Tattoo

I've always marveled that some children reared in wretchedly dysfunctional families grow up to be marvelous, well-adjusted human beings. Others born into loving homes and Western-style comfort and privilege choose an opposite path, living their lives in seemingly self-inflicted misery. Those who have scratched their way to maturity--even happiness--against the odds now have a new model and patron saint in Lisbeth Salander, the female protagonist of the late Stieg Larsson's internationally best-selling Swedish trilogy: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest.

  Purists will argue that a literary (and now film) character cannot  qualify as a saint. 
  There was a time when I, too, delimited my understanding of the spiritual world along
  the boundary lines of fact and fiction. A crack appeared in my dualistic (either/or)  
  thought processes in 1969, when the Catholic Church admitted that only shaky  
  evidence existed to support the historicity of some saints who had long enjoyed their  
  special annual feast days. Among those demoted was everybody's favorite co-pilot,

  St. Christopher.

  Archbishop Jacopo de Voragine, author of The Golden Legend, a thirteenth century compilation of saints' lives, set off a seven-hundred-year run of popular devotion to   the muscular Christ-bearer. Over the past three decades, the saint's medals and   dashboard bobble heads have virtually disappeared. What became of those billions of prayers sent heavenward by travelers who relied on him for protection? Jesus assures us, as he did the people of his own day, that our God wastes nothing: "Your faith has saved you" (Luke 7:50).

Humans, whether religious or not, have always drawn inspiration from legends, as well as from certifiably historical people and events. So, why not adopt Larsson's protagonist, Lisbeth Salander, as a saint for our time, especially as a model for young adults? I won't give away the details of her life story here. There just might still be a few people on the planet who have not read the books (or not yet completed the trilogy). Personal discovery of her inner life, values, and unique, but finely tuned, morality is one of the trilogy's great rewards. But I give nothing away by saying that the Universe dealt Salander one of the worst hands of any child, fictional or real.

Canonizing Salander does challenge us to shift our understanding about what is moral and what is not. By rigid Judeo-Christian standards, the behaviors that enable her to survive as a functioning human being are immoral. But behavior alone is not the ultimate determiner of morality. For me, the most sensible and hallowed definition of morality is enshrined at the core of my own tradition. For Catholics, individual conscience is the final arbiter of morality, superseding everything else. The essence of morality is being human in the best sense, according to each person's unique capability at any given moment in life. Since we are made in God's image, whatever attitudes and behaviors help us to grow emotionally and spiritually--and thus become more like God--are moral. An intentional decision or action is immoral to the extent that it causes us to be less than the person God created us to be.

In The Girl Who Played With Fire, co-protagonist Mikael Blomkvist says of his friend Lisbeth, now a murder suspect, that she possesses a highly developed sense of morality. By this he means that her moral compass is a trustworthy guide and that she consistently operates from that core principle. In view of that, by what right does anyone judge her or condemn her choices? This is especially so, in light of the abuse she has suffered as a child and teen from the very adults responsible for guiding and protecting her (mother, father, legal and social welfare systems, and government at the highest levels). That she survives and arrives at womanhood as a still-moral human being is miracle enough to merit this fictional character the titles of role model and patron saint for the twenty-first-century. 




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 The Wisdom of Les Miserables: Lessons From the Heart of Jean Valjean

What can a 21st century seeker learn about life, love, and spirituality
from a 19th century French novel?
Plenty!

  "I offer Victor Hugo’s flawed protagonist as a model for anyone in search of practical
   wisdom for everyday living.
   One of fiction’s most beloved characters, the former convict and life-long fugitive,
   represents humanity in both its brokenness and its potential for selfless—even saintly—
   living.

  "Reflection topics range from forgiveness and the primacy of conscience to the joys and
  sorrows of parenthood. Each Reflection explores a universal theme, including the daily call
  to spiritual and moral conversion and the life-lessons parents impart to their children. Questions at the end of each Reflection invite you to use the book as your personal wisdom journal.

"I have authored four religious nonfiction books and five novels. My experience as teacher and spiritual guide has prepared me to harvest the deeper meaning of Les Miserables and apply its inspiring message to modern daily life." -- Alfred J. Garrotto

San Francisco Bay Area graphic designer Douglas M. Lawson created the stunning cover art for the book.

Trade paperback, 248 pages, US$20.00, Published by Lulu Press, Inc., March 2008


What they're saying about The Wisdom of Les Miserables:

Ron Hansen, author of the bestselling novels, Exiles, Atticus, Mariette in Ecstasy,
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Nebraska

and nonfiction works, including my own personal favorite, Faith and Fiction,
says about The Wisdom of Les Miserables:

“Alfred J. Garrotto incorporates the text of Victor Hugo's
Les Miserables and creates a workbook out of the lessons Jean Valjean
taught through his life . . . . I particularly admired the author’s pithy answer
to the truth of fiction. I'll be ‘stealing’ that from him in the future.”

Mr. Hansen's photograph by Charles Barry


"Alfred J. Garrotto has succeeded brilliantly in distilling the wisdom of a nineteenth century classic novel
and using it to illuminate our twenty-first century lives. This part autobiography / part spiritual handbook
seems to me a classic in its own right, one that stands on the shoulders of another classic."

Poet Tom Savignano, A Time To Ponder, A Time to Sing
and Prayers and Reminiscences


"An elegant collection of inspirational meditations and exercises."
Darryl Brock
, bestselling author of If I Never Get Back, Havana Heat and Two in the Field.

                        "I  especially like the journaling feature--those thoughts that come to us intuitively
                        when something fires our imagination so often get lost, but you've provided
a very handy way for preserving them." 
                       Maureen Boyd Biro, Author, Walking With Maga (All About Kids Publishing)
 


“I found The Wisdom of Les Miserables enlightening on so many levels. I read your book
into the middle of the night until it was done! The whole book has my yellow highlighter marks and comments
in the margins! Then, I went back, over the next week, and read it again,
making notes and answering the questions you provided....What a  growing experience! 
I appreciated having that option to go deeper with the concepts and to use them in my own spiritual journey.”

Pamela Ward, former Director, Bay Area Adoption Services, Inc.

"I am enjoying the personal spiritual journey [The Wisdom of Les Miserables] offers.
It packs a big punch right in my heart. I would recommend it to anyone wants
to explore a deeper meaning in their life. I am an eclectic reader,
and a fan of Alfred J. Garrotto's books."

Reviewed on Amazon.com by “madm”


"The author’s sharing of his own conversion, as he leads the reader through his reflection on the
major changes in the life of Jean Valjean, helped me reflect on my own conversion. 
The Wisdom of Les Miserables enabled me to see, through the mosaic of my life’s experiences,
how I've changed from what I was to who I am today. The book also leads me to reflect
on how I need to continue to change in order to become the person I was created to be."

Deacon Al Fleischer, St. Ignatius Church, Antioch, CA


"The questions are so thought provoking . . . . Thank you for making me stretch and grow."
Sharon McKee

"A powerful, profound, honest book! The Wisdom of Les Miserables reveals a path to transformation for each of us."
Artist Helen Tiernan, Benicia, CA

ORDER NOW FROM . . . Amazon.com  -  Barnes and Noble  -  Lulu Press, Inc.

The August 9, 2009, blog post at Pleasant Hill Book Club features an interview with me.
I am grateful to Adam Kondonijakos for his kindness in providing Contra Costa County (CA)
authors with this platform. I hope you'll drop by to read this "tell all" interview.




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Fellow authors,
I recommend Authors Den website for marketing your work.
Visit my personal den at
www.authorsden.com/alfredjgarrottohtm
where you can also purchase my books.



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This site last revised
September 2, 2010

 

 

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