I Am Thankful for Failure

by Cindy Jones

In two days, seated around a table with my extended family, each of us will take a moment to say what we are thankful for, and I will say what I always say: my family, not because I have no imagination to vary my response from year to year, but because nothing else even comes close.  But, if I were seated at, say, a Thanksgiving Dinner for Writers Only, I might venture into new gratitude territory, like: my agent, my website, and my writing sweater.  Depending on how long I had the floor, I might eventually express thanks for things like the forward delete key, subtext, and yes, failure.  

While failure is probably never accorded appreciation around the Thanksgiving dinner tables of America, I often reflect that failure is the best thing that ever happened to me.  If I had not failed: my first turkey, my first novel, my first marriage, etc., my list of Thanksgiving blessings would be much shorter.  As the saying goes, “If you haven't failed, you’re not trying hard enough.”    

Almost by accident, I stumbled on what is probably common knowledge to most people.  Since I once believed that failure was the end of the road, I spent a lot of time in defeat mode over the years, reflecting long and hard on what got me there. As Thoreau said, "If we will be quiet and ready enough, we shall find compensation in every disappointment."  Upon reflection, a new way out of my failure would almost always suggest itself.  To my surprise, I learned that failure, while it is an end, is also a beginning.  What's more, failing early saves even bigger problems down the road by creating an opportunity to correct things before it is too late.  As my son would tell me, "you *get* to fail."  

Although failure is insensitive, callous, and mean, takes no prisoners and recognizes no prior relationships, I've grown cautiously fond of failure the way one might be fond of a pet lion.  I've even gone so far as to appropriate its ruthless technique, slashing and burning bridges between my current novel's sixth and seventh drafts.  Because the overarching truth about failure, the certainty that redeems all suffering and repays all perseverance, even if I never exactly achieve success:  whatever I create after failing is always better than what failed. 

Ebook Giveway

In thanksgiving for Girlfriends Book Club and GBC books that address themes of Thanksgiving, family, and perseverance, I will give away one of the following books (in ebook format).  Leave a comment to be included in the drawing.  Winner will be chosen after midnight on Friday.  

Jess Riley

ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE: After her mother's death and a disastrous Thanksgiving, a woman decides to "divorce" her no-good siblings and posts a Craigslist Ad for a new family with whom to share Christmas dinner. It's about family: those we make, and those we make peace with.

Christa Allan

WALKING ON BROKEN GLASS: A woman admits herself to a treatment center after recognizing her addiction to alcohol, but even after a month there, she discovers the road to sobriety is still under construction.

Malena Lott

FAMILY CHARMS:  What if your mother left and you didn't hear from her for 20 years?  Marlo came home from school one day to find her mother gone. Twenty years later, she gets a letter from Elizabeth inviting her three daughters on a trip around the world to see where she’s been the last 20 years – and what kept her away. What follows is an emotional ride for a family torn apart by abandonment, infidelity, cancer and a fear of commitment. Marlo, Taryn and Amelia are three sisters as different as they come, but united in their feelings of betrayal. Is it ever too late to trust in love? Take a journey around the world to learn the meaning of family and forgiveness.

Lauren Baratz-Logsted

PURSUING THE TIMES: All that popular Chick-Lit author Mercury Lauren wants is to have one of her books reviewed by the New York Times Book Review - just one - and she'll do almost anything to get it. In this contemporary romantic comedy, with a nod toward Pride and Prejudice she crosses swords and hearts with the Editor-in-Chief of the NYTBR in a madcap adventure that takes her from her home in Westport to a yoga retreat to a golf course in Florida. Will she get what she wants and will she finally be happy if she does? Only one thing's for certain: nothing will stop her from Pursuing the Times.

Cindy Jones is the author of My Jane Austen Summer, the story of a young woman who thinks she may have realized her dream of living in a novel when she is invited to participate in a Jane Austen Literary Festival.  Her problems follow her to England where she must change her ways or face the fate of so many of Jane Austen’s secondary characters, destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

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Gifting with Gratitude by Christa Allan

I’m so grateful to take a break from my post-retirement from teaching, newly assigned position as the unpaid receptionist at my husband’s veterinary clinic where my duties consist of saying, “Hello, how are you? Hold on…” and taking detailed chart notes to feed my longing for my non-existent writing time.

Since my reading as of late consists of deciphering scribbles to write prescription labels, I’m quite excited about the new cycle in GBC blog-land, which is talking about books. And how cool is it that it coincides with the holidays, as in hint-hint-hint…gift-giving.

So, now the happy chance to suggest some titles from out GBC list:

THE IN-BETWEEN HOUR (coming December 31) by Barbara Claypole White What could we worse than losing your child? Having to pretend he's still alive…

SCOT ON THE ROCKS by Brenda Janowitz (chick lit/ women's fiction)

It's the story of a woman who goes to her ex-boyfriend's wedding.  Hilarity ensues.  

THE OTHER WOMAN  by Hank Phillippi Ryan  Winner of the Mary Higgins Clark award, nominated for Agatha, Anthony, Daphne, Shamus and Macavity awards.  It’s The Good Wife meets Law and Order! A Boston reporter on the trail of an ex-governors secret mistress—and a detective on the trail of a possible serial killer. 

FATHER FOUND by Judith Arnold   Jamie McCoy's syndicated column, "Guy Stuff," keeps thousands of men in a macho frame of mind. But the day Jamie finds Samantha on his doorstep, his life changes drastically. Samantha is a baby. Jamie knows nothing about babies. He phones Allison Winslow, a nurse who runs the Daddy School, for advice. But when he actually meets Allison, he finds he wants much more than her assistance. Winner of the RT Magazine Reviewers Choice Award for Best Superromance of the Year.

PERFECT TIMING by Laura Spinella   There’s rock, there’s a hard place, then there’s Aidan & Isabel.   What’s a Jersey Girl to do when she moves to Catswallow, Alabama ? Isabel Lang finds the answer in friendship, an unlikely bond with the musically gifted Aidan Roycroft. The two share everything from a first kiss to startling family secrets. But when Aidan is accused of a violent crime, they flee to Las Vegas where Isabel’s future comes tumbling down.  

 LITTLE WOMEN AND ME by Lauren Baratz-Logsted (for teens) Emily is sick and tired of being a middle sister. So when she gets an assignment to describe what she'd change about a classic novel, Emily pounces on Little Women. After all, if she can't change things in her own family, maybe she can bring a little justice to the March sisters. (Kill off Beth? Have cute Laurie wind up with Amy instead of Jo? What was Louisa May Alcott thinking?!) But when Emily gets mysteriously transported into the 1860s world of the book, she discovers that righting fictional wrongs won't be easy.

WHAT A MOTHER KNOWS by Leslie Lehr When a woman recovers from a deadly car crash and is accused of murder, she learns that her 16 year-old-daughter, the only one who might know the truth of what happened that day, is missing.

PRIDE, PREJUDICE, AND THE PERFECT MATCH by Marilyn Brant  A single mother and an ER doctor meet on an Internet dating site—each for reasons that have little to do with finding their perfect match—in this modern, Austen-inspired story. It’s a tribute to the power of both “pride” and “prejudice” in bringing two people romantically together, despite their mutual insistence that they should stay apart…

HOLLYWOOD GIRLS CLUB by Maggie Marr  Four friends; A-List actress Cici Solange, Producer Lydia Albright, Agent Jessica Caulfield, and Screenplay Writer Mary Anne Meyers try to get their film made in the treacherous cut-throat town that is Hollywood.  

A Happy Thanksgiving to all the GBCers and our readers everywhere!

Christa Allan's newest novel, A Test of Faith, will release in March of 2014. You can track her down at Facebook, and Twitter while she awaits the re-invention of her website. You can find her other novels here. She and her husband are looking forward to Thanksgiving surrounded by family, laughter, and--of course--football.

Thank you, Writing Gods

by Maria Geraci

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and as a writer, I have a LOT to be grateful for.

This is how my typical day goes:

1. I crank up my ultra fast coffee maker
2. sit down to my computer (where I catch up on emails, social networking and news of the day)
3. write till I get hungry,
4. nuke something for lunch.

But if I had been writing twenty-five years ago I would have:

1. made coffee in my Mr. Coffee Coffee Pot
2. gone to my desk and sat in front of my electric typewriter (making sure to copy everything later in case I lose my papers), keeping both my dictionary and my thesaurus at finger's length

3. checked my phone's answering machine every couple of hours (in case my editor or agent called)
4. written till I got hungry,
5. nuked something for lunch.






If I had been writing fifty years ago, I would have:

1. made coffee in my nifty percolator
2. gone to my desk and sat in front of my typewriter (making sure to make a carbon copy of all my pages), keeping my dictionary and thesaurus at fingers length
3. written till I got hungry,
4. made myself a sandwich, because heating something up would require too much time (unless it's a can of soup, and who wants that everyday?)

If I had been writing two hundred years ago today, I would have:

1. made myself a cup of tea
2. gone to my desk, hoping that it's situated next to a window so I can get some light, or lit my candle, sharpened my quill, refilled my ink well
3. written till I got hungry (or ran out of paper, or my hand got tired)
4. gone into the kitchen and prayed some food would miraculously appear from somewhere...

How did Jane Austen do it??

So on on this Thanksgiving Eve I'd like to give a big shout out to the Writing Gods for all our wonderful 21st century writing necessities:
lap top computers, track changes, spell check, email, Facebook, Twitter, microwave ovens, take out food, smart phones with unlimited texting and long distance call plans, e-publishing, dictionary.com, Skype, and I could go on.

What writing conveniences are you most grateful for? Anything you could absolutely not live without?


Maria Geraci writes fun, romantic women's fiction. Portland Book Reviews calls her latest release, The Boyfriend of the Month Club, "immensely sexy, immensely satisfying and humorous. " Her next novel, A Girl Like You, will be released August, 2012, by Berkley, Penguin USA. You can connect with her on her website, Facebook or Twitter.