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Articles by Betsy Robinson
The New Pathology
Are we taking ourselves too seriously to laugh? A number of years ago, Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry reported on “Skinny Jean Syndrome” characterized by a “fashion victim” experiencing rhabdomyolysis and bilateral peroneal and tibial neuropathies as a result of squatting in skinny jeans. Big deal, right? What medicine doesn’t get is that being on fashion trend, practicing pop speech, and having a nice behind are what make us who we are.
DEFLECT YOUR ENERGY OUT OF MISERY PORN
Betsy Robinson · Follow 15 hours ago -- From The Spectators (Kano Press, Nov. 2024) “It is hard to avoid our herd’s proclivity for misery porn — an exaggeration, an addiction, a distraction like any other — and still stay informed.
DO YOUR PART: Boycotts Work
Betsy Robinson · Follow 2 min read · -- I spent four years writing The Spectators, a novel about our herd nature and dealing with it as a person who prefers to think independently and observe. And my epiphany when I got to the end of my story was that it is not an option to divorce the herd. We can tell ourselves we are independent, but that is a lie. As goes the herd, no matter how we resist, we will go as well.
NATIONAL BOYCOTT, Feb. 28th
Betsy Robinson · Follow 2 min read · -- SUGGESTION: Spread the Word. Copy this post out and email it to friends who are not on or are not active on social media. There is no website for this. Right now, social media is the only place to learn about this. FYI: This started with a theater director named Anthony Mapp posting on a massive Facebook group of Black theater professionals. There is very little else. This is how many movements have started: Me Too, Black Lives Matter, all manner of strikes.
Meditation & Erosion
Betsy Robinson · Follow 2 min read · -- A central practice of meditation is repetition of a mantra — in my case, the Sanskrit phrase “Om Namah Shivaya” which means “I bow to my higher Self.” A central practice of Trump and his supporters is repetition of lies. Historian Heather Cox Richardson, in a live Facebook talk, strongly suggested that those of us who are interested in truth relentlessly repeat that the pardoning of the Jan.
Relaunch of Funny Novel + “Whole-Body” Reading Article
Betsy Robinson · Follow 1 min read · -- Today, Jan. 7th, is the relaunch of a second edition of my funny novel The Last Will & Testament of Zelda McFigg, revised and republished when it went out of print. The Humorous Story of a One-Woman Train Wreck-Winner of Black Lawrence Press’s Big Moose Prize Meet Zelda McFigg. She is 4-feet 11-inches tall, 237 pounds, and convinced that she could be somebody, if only someone would recognize her inner beauty and star quality. Cousin to Ignatius J.
Big Sale: 2 funny novels to deal with NOW!
SALE: NOVEMBER 25 — DECEMBER 2ND This Cyber Week, my books are on sale. CATS ON A POLE A novel (with humor and an edge) about curmudgeon Harmony Rogers and healing teacher Joshua Gardner, and their duel of psychic wills. Reg. $16 — discount $9+shipping.
What to Do When Amazon Refuses to Sell Your POD Paperbacks
Betsy Robinson · Follow 1 min read · -- First, you ask your distributor to do something and when they answer all they can is “push” the information again, but ultimately it’s up to Amazon to do whatever they want, then you start pushing discount links, undercutting Amazon, who sells only Kindles. Fruitless? Maybe. But here’s the info: A short reading: Cats on a Pole, a novel (with humor and an edge) about curmudgeon Harmony Rogers and healing teacher Joshua Gardner, and their dual of psychic wills.
Pick a Side?
Yesterday a friend told me that people feel pressured to “take a side” in war. Maybe in life too. The side I pick is FREEDOM and EQUALITY. I pick that in this country. I pick that in the world. It’s not that complicated. If freedom and equality are my side, then everybody’s pain matters. I can wish for wars to end and everybody to have equal rights.
Contemplation on Rebecca Clarren's The Cost of Free Land
Our bodies are maps - not of regions but of history. And not only of our own history, but of the history of our ancestors. So when I learn history, I'm learning and feeling it in my body.
Now MUST Be the Dawning of the Age of Introspection
In summer 2023, Anderson Cooper devoted a whole hour on his show The Whole Story to The Gilgo Beach Killer, about an accused serial killer, an architect who was a family man employed in New York City and living on Long Island, where he allegedly deposited his victims on a beach. In the process of reporting this story, CNN reporters mentioned that other serial killers such as John Wayne Gacy also were family men.
Letter: Solhem project will isolate residents
To the Editor: Solhem Companies’ plan for 5780 Lincoln Drive in NW Edina is wrong for many reasons. I have lived here 44 years and witnessed the growth and historically well-considered planning of the area. kAm~? 2 5625\6?5 DEC66E[ 25;246?E E@ 6IE6?D:G6 >2CD9=2?5D^H6E=2?5D @7 }:?6 |:=6 rC66<[ E9:D AC@A@D65 9@FD:?8 56G6=@A>6?E :D D6E\324< ad 766E 7C@> E96 w:89H2J `eh 4@CC:5@C 76?4:?8] #6D:56?ED H:== =:G6 H:E9 ac^f 9:89H2J ?@:D6[ >:?:>2= 8C66?DA246 2?5 =@ED @7 3=24<E@A] (96C6 2C6 E96 49:=5C6?
Slipping Past the YA Prejudice: 8 Grown-Up Books with Young Narrators
When I began querying agents about my first novel, Plan Z by Leslie Kove, I faced a wall of “No!” And usually the reason included the phrase, “If J. D. Salinger were trying to sell The Catcher in the Rye in this day and age . . .” (the late 1980s), it would never be published—because of the youth of protagonist Holden Caulfield, this great American novel would fall into the Young Adult genre and therefore be unsellable to its intended audience: everybody.
All the Secrets of the World by Steve Almond
by Betsy Robinson On the surface, this odyssey of a book appears to be a 13-year-old Hispanic science nerd’s wild journey from 1981 in Sacramento, to adulthood, including a quest to save her brother who has been unjustly accused of a crime, a desert adventure with scorpions and underworld cult characters, and a completely unpredictable transcendence in adulthood.
How to Blast Through Writer’s Burnout . . . Or Block . . . Or Not
Welcome to our weekly column offering perspectives on lit mag publishing, with contributions from readers, writers and editors around the world. “I’m plagued with doubts about the quality of my writing.” “I’m terrified about what people will think if they read this.” “I don’t have the time. Or when I do, I’ll find a million procrastination excuses.” “I’m stuck.” "I'm just so burned out." “It’s so lonely.” These statements make me groan.
A Short Film for Dog Lovers
Happy New Year! Thirty-one years ago, with the help of editor/filmmaker Steve Clarendon, my dog, Daisy, and my actor friend Shelley Wyant, I made this little film short that I had written to the score of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons. Long before digital technology, adding music from an LP became too cumbersome to attempt, so the VHS of the rough cut languished in a dusty bag on my top book shelf.
Coaster project reflects changing attitude of developers
If you have been following the latest Flathead Valley growth activity, you may have noticed a new alpine coaster planned for 1/2 mile north of Lakeside on U.S. 93. I love the idea of more business and family-fun activities coming to Lakeside. We have been blessed here with many new and upgraded facilities built by personal investments, donations and hard volunteer labor. We all are invested in making Lakeside a livable and recreational-destination town.
Buy books online. Support local bookstores.
By Betsy Robinson Stories about flawed people--women and men who make mistakes and are fully human. They are funny stories that make you laugh while your heart is breaking. They are stories that may poke you in your own flawed places and hopefully make you less judgmental about your own boo-boos. $39.00 A hilarious novel about a real woman. It'll make you laugh and cry, and here it is read by the author who happens to be extraordinary at performance.
Old Novels as Therapy
I am a published novelist and a rabid reader, but I’ve been stalled in both those areas. Between the cultural tumult and my almost-15-year-old dog’s terminal kidney disease, I’ve become a worried political activist and an exhausted canine hospice caregiver.
How to Process Difficult Emotions
Accepting (even embracing) challenging emotions takes practice, but it's never too late. I’m 56 years old, but, in many ways, it feels like I am just now becoming a grown-up. At long last, I’m starting to look to myself as my primary source of inner wisdom, comfort, and care. I’ve learned a tremendous amount by watching my daughter’s parenting style. When her two-year-old son cries in pain or frustration, she doesn’t quiet or distract him. Instead, she holds him, strokes him, and lets him cry.
The Last Will & Testament of Zelda McFigg
Fiction. The Humorous Story of a One-Woman Train Wreck. Winner of Black Lawrence Press's Big Moose Prize. Meet Zelda McFigg. She is 4-feet 11-inches tall, 237 pounds, and convinced that she could be somebody, if only someone would recognize her inner beauty and star quality. Cousin to Ignatius J. Reilly (A Confederacy of Dunces) and Homer Simpson, Zelda runs away from home at age 14, and at age 49 ¼ writes this furiously funny memoir to "set the record straight" about her lifetime of indiscretions.
Look, Read, Listen-What's the Difference?
According to numerous sources, audiobooks are the new best thing to happen in publishing: for six years in a row, they have enjoyed double-digit sales growth. I’m all for more people enjoying books and stories and I’m all for writers enjoying subsidiary rights royalties via expanded uses of their works, but audiobooks and books are as different as movies and books.
Why Do Writers Keep Multiple Copies of Books Around?
I own multiple copies of books—Stoner, To Kill a Mockingbird, and The Catcher in the Rye. There are personal reasons I will cherish each of them for the rest of my life. One friend called the books she has in multiples “a little family of weirdos who all sit on the shelves together.” Another keeps out-of-print multiples and updated copies of the same books.
5 Darkly Funny Books About Pain-in-the-Ass Women
With TV comedies like Difficult People, The Comeback, OITNB, and Nurse Jackie racking up praise and awards in recent seasons, women who are “not here to make friends” are definitely having a cultural moment. This trend has also been going strong in literary fiction, and 2015 was an especially great year for novels about women who do what they want without apology. As a reader, I’ve learned that good fiction about “bad” women penetrates my psyche in a way that no self-help book can.
How I Learned To Stop Checking My Book’s Sales
More than 30 years ago I experienced my “15 minutes” when I played a naked lesbian in John Sayles’s movie Lianna. Until that event, I thought of fame as a means to finding more work, but if I’m honest, I also thought I would enjoy the attention.
The First Rule of Write Club Is…
Some years ago, The Guardian in England ran what amounted to a Top Ten of Top Ten Tips About Writing. They brought together many different writers’ suggestions. I will say I dislike these. I think they reflect a trend in the culture to chase gurus and shortcuts, and for some to assume the role of guru. Even more, I feel these listicles undermine the essential individuality of the creative process. But the tips in The Guardian did have some unexpected interest.
Two New Mother-Daughter Books…Written By a Mother and a Daughter
We didn’t plan it this way. We couldn’t have. In 1958, my late mother Edna Robinson wrote her first and only novel, The Trouble with the Truth, expanding a short story by the same title that was published by the renowned New World Writing book series. From the perspective of an adult, protagonist Lucresse Briard tells her tale of growing up without a mother in a nomadic family that traverses America during the late 1920s and early ’30s.
Fire Shut Up in My Bones
Hurtling down the highway with a gun on the passenger seat, Charles Blow is intent on murder and self-destruction. Blow seeks revenge on the person who upended his life and made him question his identity. It is this moment that leads to an epiphany. This memoir is an unpacking of that moment. There is sometimes a need to unearth our own story. A need to probe our depths to make sense of our own past, even though we aren’t sure where it leads or what it means.
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