Guest Blog by Jess Riley

Today, I'm thrilled to host a guest blog by Jess Riley, whose debut novel, DRIVING SIDEWAYS, just hit the shelves. Isn't it a cute cover? Jess blogs every week over at The Debutante Ball, and on her own blog.

Take it away, Jess!

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When Maureen graciously invited me to (okay, I probably shamelessly threw myself at her) guest-blog on Drunk Writer Talk, I nearly broke an ankle jumping at the chance. Drunk writers? Dishing about writing, publishing, and the vast differences between the two? Oh, few things could appeal to me more…

I was reading Maureen’s May 7 post (Writers Helping Writers) and have to add that I’ve been truly humbled by the generosity and support I’ve experienced from the writing community, and from friends and family. Watching my first novel being sent out into the world after 30 months in the publishing chute is quite surreal—it still doesn’t feel like it’s happening, actually. My emotions are all over the map. It has been a godsend to be able to share the journey with other writers going through the same experience.

I’ve had a few interviews so far, and I’ve explained the book to many people, and there’s always that point after they see the bare feet on the cover when you can see the bingo balls lining up in their minds and then? We have the winning question! “So how do you feel about writing chicklit?”

Frankly, I want to reclaim the word ‘chick.’ Like I want to reclaim the words ‘liberal,’ ‘feminist,’ and ‘styrofoam.’ Chicklit carries connotations of fluff and superficial pursuits. And though it helped me ‘Get my Stiletto in the Door,’ the very word also is persona non grata in the publishing world. Officially, NOBODY is writing chicklit anymore. (Or its life partner, ‘ladlit.’ Or ‘dicklit,’ if you’re feeling cheeky.)

Only many of us still are. It’s like we went underground. We’re all at a giant speakeasy, only instead of booze, you go for the chicklit. And well, maybe there’s still booze.

In certain circles, yes, I’m a chick. I like shoes, but I don’t like diamonds. I love to eat, I was once a little boy crazy, but I also subscribe to Mother Jones and once worked in a prison AND a cheese factory. (Guess which I liked more?)

To me, ‘chicklit’ is simply a catchy if somewhat maligned handle to convey that I wrote a story in which a young woman comes of age … while coming to terms with her own terminal illness, the suicide of her father, the absence of her mother, a strained relationship with her brother, and daily reminders that she is too sick to be as young as her friends. (I know, I know…it’s a barrel of laughs, really! Sicklit, is more like it. But actually, that makes me think of Chuck Palahniuk. And he may be a genre unto himself.)

Bottom line? You tell the story you want to tell, the way you want to tell it, and if someone likes it enough to pay you so they can share it with more readers, and if those readers like it, too? Well, you can’t ask for much more than that.

Other than maybe that pony you didn’t get in the second grade.