I would like to thank Nancy Werlin for stopping by my blog today to share with readers a quote that has influenced her life and writing.
Nancy Werlin was born and raised in Peabody, Massachusetts, USA and now lives near Boston. She received her bachelor's degree in English from Yale.Since then, she has worked as a technical writer and editor for several computer software and Internet companies, while also writing fiction. She is a National Book Award finalist.
A Quote to Live and Write By
Thanks to Fantastic Book Review for hosting me here today. I'm going to answer Fantastic's question: Share with readers a quote that you live your life by and how your writing has benefited from it. This particular quote is new to me but it resonated so much that I have to talk about it.
"When one door closes, another opens, but it's hell in the hallway."
I have no idea who said this first; I heard it from a friend, and the Internet (or my research skills) failed me when I looked for a source. Obviously it's a riff on "When one door closes, another opens." I think it's hilarious and I think it's true.
So for whatever reason, your Plan A failed. Even if you will eventually figure out Plan B (or C, or D, or ...), it's human to feel some despair. Or to feel something worse, maybe much worse, depending on the situation.
Frankly, I have never thought that "When one door closes, another opens" is particularly comforting. It sounds to me like: "Get over it! Move on!" Which is kind of heartless advice. It also doesn't allow you any time at all to wallow in your misery or fear or rage or whatever it is you feel about the loss of Plan A.
I like to wallow. Although if we go with the metaphor of the quote, I'm now saying that I like to wallow in hell. Oh well. Sometimes that's just what you have to do. Throw a tantrum in the hallway.
And this absolutely does have to do with writing, because when you're writing something, you can be absolutely guaranteed that your first plan isn't going to work out. You're going to have go looking for those other doors when your first one slams shut in your face. And it's going to be painful. So, getting the acknowledgment that "it's hell in the hallway" helps you know that what you're feeling -- misery, rage, fear, whatever it is -- is normal and right, even though it hurts, and that is what is, finally, going to give you the strength to go on.
It works for life, too.

EXTRAORDINARY by
Nancy Werlin
Pub. Date: September 2010
Publisher: Penguin Group (USA) Incorporated
Format: Hardcover , 400pp
Age Range: Young Adult
Phoebe finds herself drawn to Mallory, the strange and secretive new girl at school. Soon the two become as close as sisters . . . until Mallory’s magnetic older brother, Ryland, appears. Ryland has an immediate, exciting hold on Phoebe — but a dangerous hold, for she begins to question her feelings about her best friend and, worse, about herself.
Soon she’ll discover the shocking, fantastical truth about Ryland and Mallory, and about an age-old debt they expect Phoebe to pay. Will she be strong enough to resist? Will she be special enough to save herself?
Intensely page-turning, this follow-up to Nancy Werlin’s acclaimed novel Impossible links the real and the otherworldly in a story that is suspenseful, conversation-starting, and utterly alluring.
For more information about Nancy Werlin and her books, please visit her website
here.
Check out the book trailer!