a sea of rabbits and miniature tigers

there's a room in the back of the house that smells like fresh, buttered popcorn. whereas the front of the house only ever smells like onions. i prefer to eat onions over popcorn if it means staying true. you know? don't stress, it doesn't matter if it doesn't.

inspiration packets sound like a nice idea, I think I'll bundle some off and take them to the post office. he told us the story of the car wreck and his cousin's severed head, "go to a closed casket funeral, you'll know what I'm talking about," he said.

I can't find a pencil anywhere, I don't think we own any, it's the most frustrating thing, I'm in such a mind to draw.

British stuff is just filled with aspartame, she said, it's disgusting, it really is, and I would live there in a heartbeat.

I'm tired of the feeling of having the need to censor myself.

If you find the secret message, send a smoke signal across the water.

Spotlight On Holly Cupala

Tell Me a Secret, the debut novel from author Holly Cupala, was released into the world recently. It's a beautiful story that follows the main character, Rand, as she tries to navigate and make sense of the secrets and labyrinths that her life is filled with and defined by.

Holly is one of the loveliest people I know, and I'm so honored that she took the time to stop by during her busy blog tour schedule to talk a little bit about the themes in the book.


One of my favorite lines in the book is "It's the grit that makes the pearl." What does this mean to you, and what do you think it means specifically for Rand?

I love that line, too—such a central idea in life as well as in this story. Iron sharpens iron, so to speak. Beauty comes out of hardship. Specifically, that line came from one of the wonderful women in my writing group, Dawn Knight (author of MISCHIEF, MAD MARY, AND ME from Greenwillow). She said it during a discussion of the last chapter of TELL ME A SECRET, and I knew it was exactly what Nik would say. So I stole it! (With permission, of course.)

For Miranda, I think it signifies the difficulties she has faced but which have made her stronger, more beautiful. At one point her mother accuses her of taking beautiful things and making them ugly (when she draws the stained glass Jesus as a spidery network of shards). Nik’s statement directly counteracts that belief Miranda has about herself in the beginning. I didn’t even realize it until you asked this question, Erin!


Without giving anything significant away, there's a point in the book where one character says to our heroine that if it weren't for something very difficult happening to her, she wouldn't be where she was at that time and place. Everything happens for a reason, even if it doesn't look like it at this exact moment. "Faith manages." Can you talk a bit about the role faith plays in Rand's story? What do you think the importance of themes like faith and hope have in fiction?

“Faith manages” is a recurring theme in the book, introduced early on and which threads through the whole story. Here’s a secret: it’s a reference to one of our favorite sci-fi shows, Babylon 5! For the show, it encompassed the spirit of overcoming hardships with a kind of fierce hope, and that idea carries through TMAS. (Incidentally there are many, many sci-fi references…I fully admit to being a sci-fi geek and could write a whole post on just the Easter Eggs!)

The big idea for me in writing the novel was that that the reasons for difficult events might not be in the past—they may actually be in the future, for how we respond and what we do with those experiences. As you know, the inspiration for this story came out of a personal tragedy. While we were dealing with the aftermath of our loss, a woman I love and admire said this to me—that we might not even realize how the threads of our lives will come together until we can see the full tapestry down the road—and it was absolutely revolutionary. It gave me hope in such a dark, dark time. It is my hope that experience has meaning, and will be meaningful to others.

TELL ME A SECRET is so much about continuums—the sacred and the profane, the extremes of beliefs, past and future. Miranda navigates them as the navigates the labyrinth, and her frame of reference shifts significantly as she gets to the heart of each secret. Faith is a subtle undercurrent. In fiction and in life, faith and hope keep us moving forward, seeking how all of these threads will come together. Hope gives us purpose.

Thank you so much, Erin, for inviting me to your blog! It’s an honor to be here.


Thank you for your exquisite answers, Holly. I wish you and your book all the very best success!

someday is a long time coming;
some days can be so long.

hear my words saying so long;
long for the day when you'll hear my words.

my words have no affect to you;
to you I wish nothing but to find affection.

nothing has different meanings in different minds;
differences carry such weight, now.

now is a time that stretches on;
on my eyelids in an ongoing march.

I want to say thank you

cause it makes me that much stronger
makes me work a little bit harder
it makes me that much wiser
so thanks for making me a fighter
made me learn a little bit faster
made my skin a little bit thicker
makes me that much smarter
so, thanks for making me a fighter


-'fighter' by christina aguilera

this is a message for the girl with the brand new cowboy boots

(via)

becoming who you're meant to be is damn hard, I know, but it's going to be so worth it, I promise

and

I can predict days where you will do nothing but smile and love and your shoulders and feet will be free

and

never forget that you have already won

and

if I ever become rich I will buy you any horse you want.

let me go eat some salmon

why are there coke cans in the river

what if i wore a bullet proof vest during hunting season

i’m a bear; i walk in the forest and look at the river and the river is cold

i saw campers today and they ran away and i was alone and i destroyed their tent

let me go scratch my paw on a tree

let me go eat a salmon

last night i cried onto my salmon

the salmon was sad but it still wanted to live

it wanted to swim and be sad and i ate it under moonlight

i saw a moose scream the other day

it screamed quietly under a tree

i felt embarrassed and sad and i thought, ‘oh, no; oh god, oh my god’

sometimes i climb a tree and sit there and sing very quietly

sometimes i want to go to a shopping mall and chase the humans and claw them

i’ll ride the moose into the shopping mall and ram the humans

the moose and i will ride the escalator and i will hug the moose and the moose and i will cry

i will eat the moose

i don’t care

i will scream and throw the bubblegum machine from the second floor to the first floor

i felt compassion for the salmon and now i don’t care anymore

i’ll walk into a parking lot and chase a large human and hug the human and cry

i’ll walk into a house at night and push the humans off the bed

i’ll stare at the bed and i’ll feel fake


*
A Bear Poem by Tao Lin

only because it reminded me of something

She used to copy Audrey Hepburn all the time. She even bought a pet fawn and it looked like the one curled at your feet in the dripping forest that one day. I told her she was being ridiculous, or I tried to, but she was so in love with the thing. She used to have these enormous arrangements of flowers delivered to her rooms everyday, except Mondays, because Mondays (she said) aren't classy. That was another thing, she loved the word arrange. "I've made arrangements to dine," she'd let slip (on purpose), or, "I arranged for the package to go out on Thursday instead of today; those mailmen are so sweet." It's only ever looked like a funny misspelling of orange, to me, but that's just me. When people told her she looked like Audrey, or even Katherine, she would adore them forever, or at least until she told them goodbye. Once when I was angry and we got into a fight, I yelled that she looked most like Michael Jackson. She didn't speak to me for weeks after that one.

I still don't understand why she did it. Why somebody would try so hard to be somebody else, when making something new is so appealing. But again, perhaps that's just me.