Weaving elements of history into writing, whether through stories or style, is undeniably a skill of brilliant magicians.

I have three copies of The Red Tent. One I bought for myself. The second was from a friend who went to an author reading and sent me a signed copy from Anita Diamant. No idea where the third one came from, but it’s probably that I bought it since I loved the book so much.

A huge fan of historical fiction, I read it before The Red Tent before it became a bestseller. I think there’s no greater accomplishment as a writer than to be able to combine history with fiction. Especially when the book involves history from a long, long time ago, incorporates biblical references and emerges a masterpiece.

Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent introduces Dinah as the book’s protagonist. If you’ve read the Bible from beginning to end – I did that when I was 8 and again, have no idea why – you’ll recall that Dinah is only mentioned briefly. Using Dinah as the narrator, Diamant crafts a story around Dinah’s large family, bringing to life her relationships with her mothers, father, brothers and true love.

You may have noticed or heard through the grapevine that the Bible rarely tells stories about women and their role in religious history. Not here. Diamant takes an abrupt turn from tradition and draws a portrait of women’s critical familial and societal roles as wives, mothers and midwives during this time, drawing from both biblical reference and historical analysis.

Never fear, readers, this novel does not incorporate the dry history from high school or the religious doctrine with which many of us were raised. Diamant successfully weaves in a compelling fictional tale, rich in emotion and education. Timeless. Literary. Staple.

I’ve now read The Red Tent four times. Mania? Maybe. But each time, I find myself engrossed in a different storyline, chapter, passage or character. And, although it’s a novel that journeys through a female-focused storyline, I’ve also known many men who have loved it.

Last year, I had the privilege of both interviewing and meeting author Anita Diamant to hear about  her most recent book, Day After Night. Another wonderful read that I’d highly recommend.

Giveaway: Signed copy of The Brubury Tales – by Frank Mundo!

Speaking of historical backdrops and fabulous writers, we’re super excited to announce the first TJCC giveaway. I like to think of it as a “giving to.”

Our very own Frank Mundo recently published his first book – The Brubury Tales.

A quick description: An ambitious homage to Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, The Brubury Tales takes Chaucer’s story and frame to Los Angeles just after the riots, where seven security guards on the graveyard shift swap tales in a hilarious storytelling competition for Christmas vacation time.

The forward by amazing author Carolyn See gives us a quick snapshot into its fabulousness:

The Brubury Tales [by Frank Mundo] is a landmark book, in what is going to be — and already is — an exceptional, distinguished literary career.

The “giving to” challenge: Share a quick comment below about what role reading plays in your life. Is it for relaxation? Learning? Or are you simply not a big reader (we’d love to hear what else you do, though). We’ll announce the winner next Friday. Happy sharing!

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Picture this.

It was a bitter cold Friday night in Chicago, just over a year ago. I didn’t feel like getting slapped in the face with a rather wicked wind chill so it was a Hot Pocket night for me.

I spent the entire weekend indoors building my blog.

There wasn’t any particular impetus to my blogging beginning, other than I love the alchemy of moving my thoughts to the page. And as much as I love to read, both on and offline, I knew there were plenty of people just like me.

As with any new blogger, my first handful of readers consisted of my mom, dad and their lovely friends at church to whom they forwarded my blog posts. My dad, with all of his pride, even laminated a few and printed them for his friends.

I persevered. An avid learner and eager doer, I studied the successes of those who came before me, inhaled as much information as I possibly could, and did everything I was supposed to do with a smile on my face. I poured through e-books, networked with both new and experienced bloggers alike, and committed to the tireless ethic it takes to make it as a blogger.

Then – I reached out to a few authors, bloggers and favorite artists. And asked to interview them. And they said yes. To my little old blog.

Though I didn’t know it at the time, I was initiating a major change in my life.

Guess what? No one is born a blogger.

Do I have it all figured out? Nope. That’s the good news.

After recently reading Nathan Hangen and Mike Cliffe Jones’s new e-book, Beyond Blogging, I now realize I still have plenty to learn.

What’s cool is that it’s different from many e-books you’ll find online – and I have most of them. The book’s beauty lies not in the how to so much as in the from where?

Though Beyond Blogging does come with a workbook packed with practical exercises to help you apply all you learned in the e-book’s 204 pages, its unique value is harbored in the intimate case studies with a handful of bloggers. These bloggers have not only built six-figure income businesses through their online efforts, many of them are on their way to seven-figure blogging empires.

I was familiar with a few of these stories going in. Anyone who regularly blogs for profit is surely familiar with Darren Rowse, Brian Clark and Chris Brogan.

But Beyond Blogging also profiles the remarkable viral successes of people such as Jonathan Fields and Chris Guillebeau, who I’ve also followed for months. There were also a few case studies I didn’t know before reading the e-book; each one was unique, colorful, fascinating and inspiring.

Beyond Blogging does a brilliant job of highlighting the assorted steps each person took on their way to success, while allowing the reader to draw neat parallels between them and their own lives.

My ‘from where’ and next stops.

Beyond Blogging opened my eyes to what I can do here with you, but it also showed me that I’m on the right track to take it to the next level, get a bit more creative with my own goals and add more value for readers.

Here’s a glimpse into my medium-sized baby steps – and the marvelous people helping me get there.

1. Self-education. I’m continuing to work with Charlie Gilkey as my fabulous creative coach, and am loving Chris and Pam’s $100 Business Forum course as well, which started February 1st. I am stunned by the innovation of those in the class and my mind maps are all over the house. Everyone teaches me something.

2. Poetic license. My first poem, as some of you know from awhile back, was called “Ode to Cupcakes.” It is not good.

Last year, I interviewed the brilliant Sage Cohen and am now taking her amazing class, “Poetry for the People.” I’ve been inspired to write and think differently with every prompt. I promise to share one soon but you can’t laugh.

3. Stepping out. In a few weeks, I’ll be moderating a panel in NYC, “Differentiated Content In The Blogosphere and How To Capture It.” Can’t wait to tell you what I learn.

Challenge equals growth – so this is a good thing.

So that’s my story as of today. I still have so much to learn – any blogger will tell you that it’s a learning adventure.

Blogging isn’t easy. Everyone has their own motivation, voice and approach. It takes balance, perseverance and flexibility. But it’s not uncharted territory – there are a few roads to follow, paved by the A-listers who have come before.

Hard work? For sure. But worth it. I’ve never been happier. I love you for being here. I love the site’s wonderful contributors and the friends I’ve made along the way.

Thought about blogging? Beyond Blogging offers an inspiring compass and a detailed map. We all have to start somewhere. It’s up to you to start your expedition. Even if it’s not cold where you live.

Calling all new or experienced bloggers: What are doing to take it to the next level? Let’s learn together.

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P.S. Read more about Nathan, Mike CJ and Beyond Blogging here. You won’t be disappointed. Disclosure, of course and as always: The Journal of Cultural Conversation is a very satisfied Beyond Blogging affiliate partner.

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A guest post by Greg Freed. You can follow Greg on Twitter.

One of my favorite pastimes is to collect information from writers about writing. Whether the insights come in the form of interviews, essays, books, or word of mouth, I love logging the tidbits away for my own personal use.

I see on social networks that people share this pastime, and they show off their passion with quotes. There’s something abstract about the knowledge, though, that’s more worthwhile to authors than any quote could retain outside of context.

For example, Soren Kierkegaard wrote in Either/Or that creative writing is the process of turning scream into song. The people who hear it will ask you to write more without ever realizing that what they’re asking of you is to suffer more. I paraphrase him because it took him a page to say this, and any quote extricated would no longer retain the vitality of the whole.

Dorothy Allison came to Emerson College last spring to talk with undergraduate writers about writing. Among the topics, she shared that she learned to lie at a very young age, which, as it turns out, transitioned smoothly in writing.

She talked about how the shame of poverty inspires shame, and that writers bit by this feeling often write out the effects without being fully aware of the system under which their struggling.

Many beautiful jewels fell forth from her pool of knowledge that evening for the students. One statement in particular, undeveloped in the midst of the speech, stuck with me.

She, a Southern lesbian blue-collar author, said that lesbians no longer present themselves as a danger to society. Somehow, whether through the porn industry’s display of “lesbians” or by defaulting to the mass stereotype of women, the subculture of things has smoothed over and become almost palatable, almost like a horse pill.

She, briefly, berated any lesbians in the room who had given into the modern culture where lesbians are cute and fluffy bunnies who aren’t a threat to anything. Lesbianism is a threat, she reminded; it stabs at the very founding principles of our patriarchic society.

Many of you during this introduction may have looked back at my name and wondered why a male author is talking about a female author’s take on lesbianism. (A few of you may have done a double-take, wondering if Greg is a label ever slapped onto a girl. It doesn’t flow as well as “a boy named Sue,” I admit.) Though male, I consider her point well made and one that needs appreciation in the face of monotonous mediocrity.

First, the obvious question: Do I think lesbians are inherently threatening? No. At least, not anymore than any individual is a threat to the establishment. I don’t agree with Dorothy that lesbians are supposed to threaten order; a lesbian is just a person, and any person is liable to desire to fit in, to break off the odd shoots in order to slide along unhassled.

We can go back to Machiavelli and find that the greatest political power lies in the assumption that people just want to be left alone to live as they see fit.

However, I do agree with the larger idea stated in her assumption: it is the responsibility of the artist to not fit in, to fight against a following mentality, to lead even when nobody is falling.

In the golden days of American lesbianism that Dorothy remembers and I wasn’t alive to experience, to be a lesbian meant something; the statement itself challenged the assumption of sexuality in our country, in any modern nation. But society is an assimilating force, and it adapted in order to reduce the threat of individuality by allowing lesbians to exist in peace, at least if they live in designated liberal cities.

What’s lost is the call to individuality, which one needs to stand up in for the face of adversity, even if they don’t feel the challenge directly or personally. What’s lost is the call to isolation, to stand as you are in the face of those who don’t wish you to be and fight for your right to exist.

Artists, most of all, need to remember this call if only because it separates those who survived this period of middle-class middle-living pseudo-celebrities and those who managed to scrape a higher living and possibly even a little true renown.

Lesbianism used to guarantee pain, separation, isolation, torment and discrimination.

In that way, it caused one to maintain themselves as an individual, to live true to Kierkegaard’s description of creative writing: to sing screams and have the mass love you for it. Individuals would do well to respect what it means to create; they would do well to avoid the smooth and oiled surface that causes them to fit in, preferring instead the way of pain, the way of artistic merit.

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Greg Freed keeps himself busy by freelance editing, writing and marketing a creative writing ezine/blog, and co-creating publishing imprints (okay, it’s just one under the aegis of another press, but still…).

He also studies at Emerson College, pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing. Greg spends an inordinant amount of time at cafes and enjoys meeting random strangers when he should be studying or working.

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Laura’s notes: Today is Greg’s birthday, so make sure to wish him a happy one!

Also, huge thanks to Laura Didyk, author of TJCC neighborhood blog, Outloud, for posting my review of Dream It. List It. Do It!: How to Live a Bigger & Bolder Life, from the Life List Experts at 43Things.com. You can check out the review here - watch for Laura on TJCC very soon.

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