Time for a little Carson Kressley

I am now taking time from my regularly scheduled blog life (which is never regularly scheduled and which is not technically speaking a life and which is still, four years in, trying to figure out what it is meant to be) to share with you two photographs taken one summer ago at the horse show extravaganza that happens once each year two blocks from my home.

A blue ribbon to those of you who recognize the rider as Mr. Carson Kressley, who gained fame on "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" and is now defying the odds with Anna Trebunskaya on "Dancing With the Stars."  But in between those two TV appearances, Mr. Kressley rode this horse to first Devon Horse Show placedom with considerable style.  The horse itself, a majestic creature, was stabled in the back corner of the show grounds, and after the win, Carson kindly entertained the crowds and signed a fistful of autographs.  What struck me at the time was how incredibly serious he was about his riding—and how stand-out gifted with a horse. 

Which means, I'm saying, that, though he has us laughing on "Dancing," and is in fact the reason I tune in, there is much to him that the cameras do not see.  He's gracious in person and he cares about what he does.  And see how the horse listens to him.

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Introducing Keris Stainton/Trashionista

It's been nine months or so since I (quietly) joined this blogging community, and every single day some sort of richness is returned. Some priceless appeasement. Some new platinum link in a fabulously idiosyncratic chain. Keris Stainton—the Brit behind the wildly influential book site Trashionista, that call-it-how-she-sees it critique maestro—is one of those I could now not live without. We bonded over books, yes. We talked about titles and covers and author faves. But we've also got a Big Thing for ballroom dance going on between us, as she dishes on Strictly Come Dancing and I dish on Dancing with the Stars, and as together we sigh with something more like awe than envy over those who make us believe in grace and beauty. Keris kindly answered some questions this week. It is a great honor to share them.

http://www.trashionista.com

Keris, I have discovered in you not just a writer and a mother but also a tremendous advocate for books and those who read them, not to mention a woman who seems to love ballroom dance as much as I do. We'll get to each in its turn, but to begin: How do you define yourself?

Wow. Okay, well the definition I've got on my blog is "voracious reader and compulsive writer". Despite my son being 4 and the fact that I'm expecting another baby, I still can't think of myself as a "mother". I know I *am* one, it just seems too grown-up for me.

Pink is a predominate color on a site that you've called Trashionista. There's a fabulous near-contradiction in that. Tell us about who you have hoped to reach with this blog, who you have in fact reached, and how you became a multi-continent sensation.

Well, I didn't actually create or design the site. I think it had been going for about a year before I got involved. I saw it on a friend's blog and, since I love chick lit, had to check it out. I started writing some unpaid reviews and then, when the editor left, she asked myself and Diane Shipley (who'd also been writing unpaid reviews) to take over as joint editors. We ran the site together for about a year and then Diane left and I've been sole editor since August 07.

The "trash" in Trashionista refers to the fact that we're not afraid to "trash" the books, rather than that we think the books themselves are trash, which couldn't be further from the truth (most of the time, at least). I'm embarrassed to admit that it took me a ridiculously long time to get that. Whenever an author said they loved the name of the blog, I'd wonder why because I thought it was borderline insulting!

I wanted to reach readers who love chick lit as much as I do. Who don't think chick lit's a dirty word, anti-feminist or "hurting America" (all things it's been accused of). I'm with Marian Keyes in that the voracious criticism of chick lit is more about misogyny than it is about the range or quality of the writing. Yes, there's some bad chick lit, but there are bad examples in every genre and they don't come under anywhere near as much criticism as chick lit.

The people I've reached who I never expected to reach are authors and other publishing industry professionals. We seem to be very well respected in the industry and I'm sure that's because people recognise that we love the genre. I've been surprised and thrilled at how many authors have contacted me personally and they're (almost) always very generous with their time and expertise. I'm still a book dork at heart, so getting a personal email from an author is always a big thrill.

As for being "a multi-continent sensation" - that made me laugh out loud. I'm not even a sensation in my own house!

Do you have a room in your house dedicated to the boxes and pouches of books that arrive each week? How many volumes pass through your house in a given year? Have you thought about starting a lending library in your spare time?

As I'm writing this surrounded by at least eight piles of books, I can't really say there's a system ... but there's an attempt at a system. I've started to put review books into publication date order. If I manage to read ahead I can then allow myself to read something from my TBR shelves, which currently stretch to about 100 books. Sigh.

Books that I've read, I either sell online, pass to friends or give to the charity shop. Those books currently live in the "holding pen" that is soon to become my son's new bedroom, so I'm going to have to start shipping them out a bit quicker than I do now. I do have a separate enormous pile of books to exchange with my former co-editor, Diane. She lives about two hours away and we meet up periodically to swap books. I actually got us both wheeled shopping trolleys to make the exchange easier. We draw some stares, I can tell you. :)

As for how many pass through... I dread to think. I read at least three a week, so that's over 150 and that's only books that I finish. I give up on an awful lot of books. I used to make myself finish, but not anymore. I read a great quote from the author, Nick Hornby, recently. He said that every time you force yourself to keep reading a book you're not enjoying, you're reinforcing the idea that reading is an obligation rather than a pleasure. Even though it's my job, I need it to be a pleasure so if I'm not enjoying a book, I just stop.

What do you love in a book? What makes you stop reading?

What I love in a book is a tricky one. I try not to analyse it too much, since between my English degree and now reviewing so many books, I don't want to lose the magic. I was called a "naive reader" at university, because I didn't want to analyse, I just wanted to enjoy. One thing I do know is that I'm more interested in character than plot - if you've got fascinating characters, you can get away with very little happening. Then again, *something* has to happen although there's no point in reading.

The number one thing that makes me stop reading is exposition in dialogue. It's incredibly lazy and it drives me insane. Factual errors bug me too (Tony Parsons referring to the Britney Spears song "Do It To Me One More Time" for instance).

If you could change one thing about publishing, what would it be?

Oh dear, just one? Well, I'm only just starting out in publishing really, but something someone said to one of my author friends always sticks in my mind and infuriates me. They were talking about how young adult fiction is so enormously popular in the US and not as popular in the UK and the publishing professional said that it never will be as popular. Um, not with that attitude it won't! It's part of the reason my friend and fellow YA author - of the completely brilliant Split By A Kiss - Luisa Plaja and I started our British YA blog, Chicklish http://www.chicklish.co.uk - to promote YA fiction in the UK.

Well, this is self-indulgent, forgive me, but ballroom: Once I read on your blog about you dancing about the house with your child (an image I loved and to which I deeply relate). And of course you and I have shared gossip and awe over shows like Strictly Come Dancing and Dancing with the Stars (and by the way, have you started watching So You Can Think You Can Dance yet, which in my opinion trumps them all?). Why ballroom? Why dance? Why do you love it? Are we (be honest now) lovers of dance just a tad on the crazy side?

You're forgiven! No, I haven't seen So You Can Think You Can Dance yet, but I will, I promise! I've always loved to watch people dance. I think it probably comes from my grandmother, with whom I used to watch old Hollywood musicals. I was just thinking today that my childhood crushes were Howard Keel, Gene Kelly, Russ Tamblyn... From there I moved on to pop stars, but I always loved acts who danced rather than just stood there. Say what you like about New Kids on the Block, but they could move!

Why ballroom? Well, I had absolutely no interest in ballroom until Strictly Come Dancing started and I just fell in love with it. It's just pure joy to watch. And no, we're certainly not the crazy ones! Anyone who could watch Gene Kelly's famous Singing in the Rain routine or the barn-raising scene from Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and not want to go and dance in the street is the crazy one.

Has being a blogger fundamentally changed your life?

Oh, absolutely. When I discovered blogging (via the author Jennifer Weiner's blog), I was working as an administrator in the Corporate Recovery and Personal Insolvency department of an accountants (which was just as soul-destroying as it sounds) and desperately wanting to be a writer, without, you know, actually doing much in the way of writing. I started a blog and used it really as a way to make myself write every day. Through the blog I met numerous wonderful people, including writers and journalists, who've been incredibly generous with their time and support.

I believe my blog also helped me get both an agent and a publisher for my fiction, since they could go to my blog and not only read extracts from my writing, but see that I am dedicated to writing and that I have a readership (albeit a relatively small one, but still!).

I actually had the chance to interview Jennifer Weiner by email recently. I told her she changed my life, but she didn't respond. :)

You are a writer, a wonderful writer, of YA stories. Please tell us a little about what you are working on, what you are hoping to achieve.

Thank you. Well I recently got a two book deal, but they want to publish the finished book second and so I need to write another by the end of the year. It's about three girls who go through big life changes over the course of one summer.

What I'm hoping to achieve in my YA fiction in general is to make teenagers feel less alone. I always felt like an outcast as a teenager. I never felt like I quite "got" what was going on and always felt outside of things, whether it would be not liking the right music, wearing the right clothes, or one of those horrible occasions when your group of friends stop talking to you but decide not to tell you why (that didn't just happen to me, did it?).

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HOUSE OF DANCE Q and A

The good people of HarperTeen asked some questions a while back about the genesis of HOUSE OF DANCE. With the book a month or so from launch, it seems the time to share some of that exchange here.

According to your author bio, you’re a ballroom dancer yourself. Do you find connections between the art of writing and the art of dance?

Absolutely. I find the two inseparable. I have always thought of writing as an act of choreography—always tuned my ear to the rise and fall of words, scenes, even characters. Like dance, writing requires an enormous amount of discipline and endless attention to details; it requires the patience to listen and to watch. Dance demands authenticity, power, a willingness to succumb to forces that are greater than yourself. I begin every day with music, stretch, dance, and this is what has always carried the writing forward. Poetry, memoir, short stories, fiction: It doesn’t matter. The dance is there.

The themes of mortality and death echo throughout this novel. Were there experiences in your own life that caused you to write so passionately about this subject?

Sadly, yes. I had a friend, a woman, with whom I sat at church each Sunday; she was the epitome of kindness and supreme selflessness, a very special lady. She went missing one Sunday, which seemed odd, but I let it go. The next Sunday, again, she wasn’t there. I told myself that I should give her a call, but it was August, vacation time, and it seemed a little overwrought to worry. Next week, I thought, if she isn’t here, I’ll ring her and find out if she’s okay.

Three days later, I learned that she had passed away. That she had been living, unknowingly, with a devastating, advanced case of cancer, that she had been graceful to the end. In the weeks to come, her daughter would describe my friend’s final days, and I was so grief stricken, so mad at myself for not having called to let my friend know that she’d been on my mind, that I turned to writing a book in which a character, a young girl, has the wisdom, the acuity to be there in person for the one she loves. In which the heroine doesn’t wait to do the right thing.

And so I began to write HOUSE OF DANCE, and I was halfway through when my mother grew gravely ill and heroically fought a terrible collision of rare health challenges. I spent three months at my mother’s side; I spent those months observing my father, who did everything a person could do to try to save the person he loved. Ultimately, my mother passed away just after Christmas, and then there sat HOUSE OF DANCE, a first draft due two months on. I returned to the book with the sort of fury one has when steeped in sorrow, but also when one has been given the chance to say goodbye. My mother appeared to me in several forms after she’d passed away. I felt her presence throughout the writing of this book. I felt my friend’s presence, too. And because of the goodness that does live on and transcend, HOUSE is a hopeful book.


Why do you think dance is so important to Rosie and helps her to express her feelings and heal the rift in her family?

Rosie sees dance not as a chance to heal the rift in her family so much as the only gift she can give a grandfather who has little living left. Rosie is fifteen. She has been given the monumental responsibility of easing her grandfather’s final days. When she discovers that dance has been part of his history, that memories of dance connect him to his long-deceased wife, she begins to understand that she can evoke his sweetest memories by bringing music and dance into his house. Dance transports us. Dance enables us to transcend. Rosie’s gift to her grandfather is color, beauty, light—all yielded through the vessel of dance.


Ballroom dancing has becoming very popular recently, with the television show Dancing with the Stars and the documentary film Mad Hot Ballroom. As someone with expertise in the art form, why do you think this is?

I don’t know that I will ever consider myself an expert in ballroom dance; I simply love to do it. Certainly my own ballroom lessons came as a result of Dancing with the Stars. My husband loves the show and bought us both lessons for my birthday, and I know—because I’ve now talked to so many people about this—that Dancing, which makes it more than all right for men to put on those shiny shoes and dance, has transformed the industry. Indeed, every time a new season of Dancing with the Stars or So You Think You Can Dance begins, my own dance studio experiences a surge of new students.

The fantastic documentary Mad Hot Ballroom reminded us all of what dance is for—of how it is about connection, posture, mutual respect. Mad Hot Ballroom describes a year in the life of the Dancing Classrooms program created by the remarkable dance team, Pierre Dulaine and Yvonne Marceau. That program has since grown well beyond its roots in New York City to cities across North America and last year came to my own Philadelphia. I had the privilege of attending, photographing, and writing about the semi-finals and finals, of seeing what the program really does for those children and their sense of self. There’s nothing forced or odd or presumptuous about any of the claims made for dancing. It truly is so deeply liberating, artful, and, when done right, good.

Let me finally say this: I have enormous respect for those who can dance well, who have it, natively, in their blood, and who stand on their feet, hours each day, teaching those of us who yearn to be so much better at it. This intelligence—this dance intelligence—I hold in highest esteem.

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Dancing with the Stars

So of course I was watching the finale of Dancing with the Stars last night, and of course I was sad to see the season go. Dance remains for me the great tantalizing diversion, the thing I am most greedy for (though I'm terribly greedy when it comes to photography, too, and also to books and to gardens, and when, by the way, is greed not greed but passion, and where passion is dim has life really been lived? memorably lived? for the ages?).

Well, the thing is, I wanted both Mel and Helio to win in the end—Mel because she fit herself so exquisitely inside music, Helio because he's like the rest of us who have to try exceedingly hard to heel lead in the smooth dances and reverse it for the Latin.

Tomorrow I'll be back at my own dance studio, working on my cha-cha, rumba, west-coast swing, even bolero (if I can work it in). Wishing for more talent than I've got, but loving every second of the struggle.

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