Lynette Bishop Snell

Inspirational Chick Lit, Mom Lit, Lady Lit, Lad Lit, and the list goes on… October 17, 2005

Who knew there were so many sub-categories of the latest publishing phenomenon, Chick Lit?  I did not.  But after my days of solid research, I learned that the Chick Lit category is getting very specific, indeed.

Chick LIt generally deals with a contemporary, modern woman, sometimes strong, sometimes crazy and discombobulated.  But mostly the women are single, in their 20s or 30s and have an active dating and sex life, which the author expounds upon at varying lengths, depending on the author.  The breakout novel that started the trend is, of course, Bridget Jones’ Diary.

Inspirational Chick Lit is the same thing, minus the sex.  Inspirational Chick Lit stories gear toward the modern, single Christian woman who, believe it or not, has an active and entertaining dating life.  They just don’t have sex.  At least not until after marriage.  An example of this sub-genre is What A Girl Wants by Kristen Billerbeck.

Mom Lit is pretty self explanatory.  Basically it’s Chick Lit post marriage.  Chick Lit with kids.  I think this category is a wonderful new development in the publishing industry.  Shocking as it may seem, Moms do have senses of humor.  In fact, I think it’s a requirement for motherhood.  Have a couple of kids around you for a while and you’ll understand.  And what better way to put those experiences about kids and life as a mom in general out to the public, than in a Mom Lit book?  Robin Jones Gunn’s Sisterchicks series is an example of Mom Lit.

Now, Lady Lit  is new to me.  I researched what market this sub-category targets and was slightly surprised to find it targets middle-aged or menopausal women (see Revenge of the MIddle Aged Woman by Elizabeth Buchan).  I have not read any of this material, but I can imagine it would fall into the “Menopause, the Musical” category.

Apparently, Chick Lit spawned many, many sub-categories:  Lad Lit (manly modern stories about the search for Ms. Right), Black Chick Lit, Asian Chick Lit, Latina Chick Lit,  even Bride Lit!

Who knew such expanses of writing genres existed?  I certainly did not, but it makes sense.  Why not target specific markets?  It opens up broader revenue-producing avenues for publishing houses and literary agents alike.  The list really could go on and on.  I tried to come up with some sub-genres of my own.  Here’s are my own -Lit ideas:

PTA Lit – for members of schools parent-teacher associations who lose sight of reality and think the world really does begin and end at the monthly PTA meeting
Housekeepers Lit – for women who clean houses…their own or others…or both!
Dog Show Lit – for women who take dog showing, handling and breeding a little too seriously (a la Best In Show)
Harried housewife Lit – for women who forget that life exists beyond their kids, husbands and homes
Weekend away from kids & husband Lit – for women who get that one chance every year (or more) to get away from anyone saying, “Feed me! Clothe me! Entertain me! Clean me! Keep me happy!”
And let’s not forget the men:  Harried Husbands Lit – wait…how can that be possible?

OK, so maybe these are not exactly hot topics for sub-genres of the Chick Lit phenomenon, but they certainly might be entertaining stories to write!  Hmmmmm….food for thought.

Synopsis Hell (aka, The Writing Life) October 10, 2005

That’s where I am right now.  I am still working on my book but it has suffered in the attention department lately.  I try to juggle two kids, a husband, house work, volunteering and church with writing time, and I fail quite spectacularly at doing any of these things well.  Hence the gap in time between my last post and this one.  It is so easy to get consumed by daily life and not give writing…the one thing that gives me the most joy and pleasure (and, to be quite honest, pain sometimes)…is the one thing I push to the back burner first. 

I get frustrated when asked, “Why haven’t you written anything lately?”  I look around me and I see a kitchen that needs to be cleaned, toilets that need scrubbed, floors that need mopped, kids and homework and soccer and baseball and now cheerleading.  Not to mention singing in church every once in a while which involves rehearsal time and lots of practice on my own.  I am not a natural at this music thing so it requires more of my time than perhaps another person to whom singing…and singing well…comes more naturally.  So when, exactly, amidst all this whirlwind that is my life, I ask, am I supposed to sit down quietly and summon my  muse?

I have come to the realization…it never happens.  I have to make time.  I have to rearrange my schedule and give myself at least one hour of writing time every day.  In theory, this is perfect.  In practicality, this is near impossible.  But, it is a goal, and therefore I am working toward it.

Take this posting, for example.  I did not want to sit here today.  I wanted to work on two parties I have to help plan for my kids’ classrooms in a couple weeks.  I need to go out and purchase the Bunco prizes for my bunco group which meets here tomorrow night at my house.  12 women are coming over and I have nothing for them…no prizes, no food…nada.  I wanted to mow the lawn (?!). 

Well, the people I need help from to plan the school parties are not at home, so I cannot do anything with that.  The lawn mower has finally given up the ghost and left me with a half mowed lawn.  I was about to get up and take a shower and go get those Bunco gifts when I noticed that my computer was running slowly.  I looked to see that I had about 12 different applications running all at once, so I began to close them down one by one.  And then I hit upon the icon for this software which allows me to publish my aimless ramblings on the internet.  (I use ecto).  I moved my mouse to click on the quit button but before I knew what was happening, my fingers were flying across my keyboard!

I entitled this entry “Synopsis Hell” but somehow it has transformed itself to a broader, if cliche-ish, scope:  The Writing Life.

So now I can go about my business, having exercised my writing brain for the morning and hopefully this will induce hours of money-making synopsis-writing later on today…after I get the Bunco gifts, and take the lawn mower to the shop, and clean the house, and pick up the kids, and do homework, and get them to their baseball and cheerleading practices, and go to choir practice tonight.  Oh yeah, did I mention I have to go to the grocery store today, too?

Sigh.  And it’s only 10:00 a.m.  C’est la vie of a writer.