The Holiday Dash & the Origin of Suburbia

For some reason, my employer has a frenzy of extra activity in November and December, which makes for a challenging “holiday” season as there is really no “holiday” about it.

This makes the whole preparation thing feel like a mad dash to the finish line, touch and go whether there will be any gifts, a minimalist approach to decorating, and no baking whatsoever. Of course, I’m not fond of baking, so that’s probably a thinly veiled excuse.

This year, the holiday dash was intensified by my plan to release the third novella in the Madison Keith series. There I was, on Christmas Eve, exhausted, but relieved to see my “holiday-themed” novella make it into the holiday at the 11th hour, a few hours before my parents and neighbor arrived for dinner.

In Unholy Child, a proposed child care center enflames hidden prejudices at the church where Madison is the administrative assistant. You can read a bit more here. I had planned to blog about Unholy Child on Christmas Day because the story takes place in the weeks before Christmas. That didn’t quite happen. Okay, actually I planned to publish it in mid-December, but that didn’t quite happen either.

As it turns out, December 29 is a perfect day to announce my latest novella because one year ago today I released my first novel, signing on to become an Indie Author. It’s been a roller coaster year filled with some of the greatest thrills and lowest moments of my life as a writer. My plan for 2012 is less marketing, less flitting around the virtual world, and more writing.

But the holidays aren’t quite over yet, so a belated Happy Holidays! After the dash, I  had three glorious days to relax … and start the next novel, but for me, that’s relaxing. I hope your holiday was filled with all the people, events, and food you enjoy.

And here’s a final, completely unrelated tidbit: The idea of suburbia is apparently quite old. The first recorded use of the term suburb was by John Wycliffe – subarbis – in 1380. You can find that info and more about the origin of the word at Wikipedia.

I discovered that fact this morning because I’ve had an idea knocking around in my head since April 23, 2009, when I helped with environmental restoration as part of my company’s “volunteer” week. (Yes, our VP scheduled time for us to “volunteer” during business hours.) A forest service employee gave us instructions on which weeds to pull so we could remove predatory plants and protect endangered California flora. While we worked, he entertained us with the history of the area.

I became so obsessed with a few imagined characters who sprang to life, that I briefly considered abandoning the novel I was working on at the time — The Demise of the Soccer Moms, so obsessed that I dragged my husband on a half-day research trip a few weeks later. Because the novel would be set in the late 1800s (well, I have to do more research, either late 1800s or early 1900s), I finally got a grip and shoved it aside. After all, I write contemporary fiction. When the setting came to mind from time to time, I’d remind myself that it wasn’t Suburban Noir. Recently, one of the characters resurfaced with greater intensity and it occurred to me that perhaps it does fit. If it doesn’t fit, I’ll make it fit, dammit! (Thus a search of Wikipedia for the origin of suburbia.)

If Noir fiction focuses on the “victims, suspects, or perpetrators of crime“, and if the concept of suburbia existed long before the 1800s … well, why not? And if I don’t write the stories that drive me to obsession, how blandly suburban is that?