I was always told I should never show my writing to friends because, as friends, they'd never give me honest feedback. Friends will tell you they loved your book even if they haven't read it. I didn't, however, follow this advice. Instead, I agreed to have my book club read my new novel, TATIANA, as its monthly book choice. At least that way, they'd have to read the book.

At the start of our book club meeting, I urged everyone to be as candid as possible about her feelings. I sat and took notes and resisted, as much as possible, defending my literary decisions. Here, I share their criticism with you and also discuss some of the problems I faced in writing TATIANA.  (If you have the book, but haven't yet read it, you might wait to read this blog.)

Killing Off the Heroine

My readers didn't like having Tatiana die at the end of the book. They didn't like feeling depressed by her death and accused me of torturing them. Now, I killed off Tatiana for an important literary reason -- if she hadn't died, the book would have been too schmaltzy. Also, the truth is that most women with fairly advanced ovarian cancer die after a few years. I felt I had to be fair to the real victims. (My friends were happy to learn that the actual woman on whom I based the story, and who had a disease other than ovarian cancer, is fully alive today.)

What About the Men?

While my readers were generally happy with my female characters, they were not very happy with the males.  One friend commented, "The men were treated badly."  They found the men too one-dimensional and the one male they liked -- the Russian doctor Stas -- presented too briefly. They couldn't understand why the heroine Judith was involved with her partner Paul in the first place. I found this criticism justified. I wasn't really interested in the men when writing the book. They were there to illustrate aspects of the women's characters and, unfortunately, they came over that way.

My readers also felt cheated by the male-female relationships. They wanted more sex -- unfortunately, I have a terribly hard time writing erotica. They wanted more psychological tension in the couples' relationships. I feel if I had done that I would have distracted my readers from the heart of the novel, namely, the women's interactions with Tatiana. Still, I accept the criticism that the men were too underdeveloped.

The Women's Stories

My readers generally approved the women characters and found their stories convincing and compelling. They found the minor characters needed more elaboration. They're probably right, although that would have made the book a lot longer.

What my readers liked best was my portrait of Tatiana. They felt her to be genuine, very Russian, and a wise, insightful, heroic woman. That made me feel good. It should also make my friend Valentyna, the model for Tatiana, feel honored.

Turn It Into a Film

My reading group concluded that TATIANA would make an excellent film. They don't expect films to go into character in depth as they expect in novels. Rather, they're pretty much happy with a satisfyting cinematic story. Of course, I'm ready to turn the book into a film.  Meryl Streep, would you like to play Tatiana?

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I invite my blog readers to comment on TATIANA. If you haven't yet read it, you can get a copy from me or the online booksellers. I welcome your HONEST feedback, but please deliver it gently.

About Tatiana - A Novel

Tatiana,my latest novel, is based on a real-life experience I had in the 1990s with a Russian friend. My friend had lymphoma and I was able to bring her to the U.S. for chemotherapy. I was inspired by her bravery when facing a serious disease. From her, I learned a great deal about post-Communist Russia. Happily, she is alive and well today.

My novel borrows from my real-life experience, but also contains many, many imaginative features. The concept of a group of women coming together to heal a Russian woman is imaginary, as are the locations, romantic interests in the story, and the drug Ovarin. I changed the Russian woman's disease to ovarian cancer.

 

Because I have spent many years in Greece, I always end up writing about Greece in both my fiction and nonfiction. I opened this novel in Greece on the island of Zea which has many stunning windmills that have been turned into homes. In Tatiana, the Greek windmill becomes a symbol for joy and hope. I end the novel with recollections of the windmill. Of course, I had to use a Greek windmill for the cover.

Tatiana was published by Author House in August, 2008 and is available at www.amazon.com, www.bn.com, www.authorhouse.com

Here are some comments about Tatiana from other authors:

From Alla Crone-Hayden, a novelist born in Russia, author of Rodina and Winds Over Manchuria

An unusual and powerful story that will surprise you and warm your heart. Boneparth’s gifted prose seduces you into sharing in this unique friendship between two women – one American, the other Russian. A life-threatening crisis empowers them to bridge their cultural differences. This is Boneparth’s fourth book and once again she demonstrates her seamless ability to hook the reader.

From Susan Swartz, author of The Juicy Tomatoes Guide to Ripe Living After 50

Most women, at some point in their lives, face the fear of gynecological cancer. Tatiana takes that fear and reality and turns it into a story of hope and bravery that should be read by all women. The relationship between Tatiana, the patient, and her healers is honest and inspiring.

Gail Harris, author, Body & Soul: Your Guide to Health, Happiness and Optimal Well-being

"Tatiana is a luminous story of sisterhood that transcends geography and culture. Healing for one results in healing for all, within a circle of deep and enduring friendship.  You will be inspired by its wisdom and warmed by its love and compassion."

I welcome feeback from my subscribers on the book.  Please let me know what you think!!!

I have been having an email debate with by dear friend in Costa Rica, Jo Stuart, over the use of the title "columnist" versus "blogger."  As you will see below, Jo resists being labeled a blogger.  I have  asked myself why people of my generation dislike the notion of blogging.

One reason is that blogging suggests spilling your personal guts on the page and expecting others to be interested.  But that is only true for some blogs.  For others, such as the Huffington Post, for example, the material on the screen is fascinating.  A second reason to hate blogging is reading all the mindless remarks of people commenting on the blog.  Yet, this objection can be avoided by having the blogger moderate her/his blog and putting up only interesting comments.  A last reason is that columnists seem more professional because they get paid.  Now, it's true that many bloggers do not get paid, but the successful ones earn good salaries or get lots of advertising.

I'd like to know from my readers how they feel about the term "blog." 

What do you think of when you hear the term "blog."  Is the distaste for the term primarily generational?  Can one be both a columnist and a blogger?  Let me know.

In the meantime, here's what Jo Stuart has to say about columnists versus bloggers.

My son says, “My mother is very lucky.  She writes a blog and gets paid to do it.”  I tell him I write a column and would prefer being called a columnist.  So here is how I got to write a weekly colum and get paid for doing it.

I moved to Costa Rica in 1992 and immediately fell in love with the country and the people, learning more about the culture every day, how different it is here than it was living in the States.  

There was one English language newspaper, a weekly called The Tico Times.  They had a full page of letters to the editor. Most were complaints about Costa Rica, usually its lack of efficiency, and the dissembling of the people, and of course, the potholes. Annoyed with the complaints, I wrote a perspective entitled, “Mussolini Made the Trains Run on Time – Yes, But.”  Efficiency was not everything, I said, and mentioned  all of the wonderful aspects of Costa Rica. The paper published it.  

The paper also ran a column about living in the campo.  I lived in the city and loved it.  I suggested to one of the editors, Susan Liang, who is also a friend, that someone should write about the city as a contrast.  She said, “Write something.”  That was the beginning of my column, “I’ll Take the City.”

It was easy to write; I just wrote about everyday living in San Jose.  I usually got my inspiration walking the fifteen blocks or so from my apartment to downtown.  I was published erratically and paid for each column.  I had been writing the column for about two years when the paper hired a new – young – editor.  About a year later she told me that they no longer needed my columns.  When I asked her why, she could only shrug.  It was a curious experience. I had never been fired before.  I missed writing, and from the many letters the paper received (and they actually published a half dozen or so), my readers missed me, too.

A year or so later, The Tico Times hired a new manager, a journalism professor from Colorado.  Just as I was leaving for the States, a friend who asked if I might sublet my apartment to him while I was gone.  Jay Brodell came to see my apartment.  He moved in a day after I left and moved out a few days before I returned some four months later.

Jay left the Tico Times and not long afterwards started his online daily newspaper, amcostarica.com.  He invited me for coffee one day and asked me if I would like to write a column to be published every week.  A regular paycheck!  We did not call it “I’ll Take the City,”  but rather came up with the not very exciting title, “Living in Costa Rica.:  Where the Living is Good.”

I’ve been writing my column for over six years.  Once again I mostly write about what I have been doing the past week.  When I was a kid I read Billy Rose’s columns and thought that one day I would like to write like that. I do try, as often as possible, to make a little story – often ironic – of my mishaps in learning to adjust. My friend Mavis said that what she especially liked was my starting out on one subject, bringing in other matters and tying them all together.  Others have commented that I have "a keen observant eye.”  That surprises me.  

As the years pass and I find my days more and more like each other, I have become a news junkie.  I wish I were writing an opinion column, especially about politics, but my editor doesn’t want that.  Some of my time and much of my pleasure has been reading and responding to e-mails from readers. Most of my readers prefer my everyday life columns.
 
As for my son, I tell him  "I don’t even know what a blog is."  He says, “Read your columns.”