It took a few weeks, but Daisy has finally been framed. She’s right at home in my studio.
Daily Diversion #21: Daisy’s in Her Gilded Cage
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Monthly Archives: June 2012
A Year in Books/Day 166: The Writer’s Book of Matches 1,001 Prompts to Ignite Your Fiction
- Title: The Writer’s Book of Matches 1,001 Prompts to Ignite Your Fiction
- Authors: The staff of fresh boiled peanuts, a literary journal
- Year Published: 2005 (Writer’s Digest Books)
- Year Purchased: 2005/2006
- Source: Writer’s Digest Book Club
- About: It took buying a book of prompts for me to realize that it is not for me. Not just this book, but in general: I’m not a prompts type of person. My mind doesn’t work that way. I don’t spark off of random sentences that are thrust in my face as something that will drive my creativity or discipline. I already have too many ideas, phrases, plots and sentences of my own to get bogged down with these. I also get bored, instantly bored. Not a few exercises in, but pronto. Basically, before I even open the book. I’ve tried several times to learn something from this perfectly sound tool, something useful. Something to propel my fiction forward to the place (or places) I know it can go. I am ready to admit-finally, after six or seven years-that the only lesson I have learned is that I really don’t like this kind of thing. At all. But maybe you do, which is lovely and brilliant and just as it should be for you. This book is portable, comes with 1,001 nicely varied prompts, has nifty photos and illustrations. It’s funny, too. I’m actually ready to part with this one. I think I’m going to give it away in a future post, pass it on to a writer who appreciates the idea. Stay tuned.
- Motivation: I had never used a book of prompts before, or any prompts period. Not in school, not on my own. Now I know why.
- Times Read: Casually, a sentence here and a sentence there
- Random Excerpt/Page 80: ” A young woman must run errands while wearing an embarrassing and inappropriate outfit.” (This sounds like that feature in Glamour magazine. Or is it Cosmo?)
- Happiness Scale: 3 (but only because it is not my thing)
A Year in Books/Day 165: Tragic Muse Rachel of the Comedie-Francaise
- Title: Tragic Muse Rachel of the Comedie-Francaise
- Author: Rachel M. Brownstein
- Year Published: 1993/This edition: 1995 (Duke University Press)
- Year Purchased: 1999/2000
- Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
- About: Tragic Muse is more than a biography. As the title suggests, its subject met a sad end. An actress rising to stardom before burning out whilst still young? You don’t say. Sounds like familiar (and familiar and familiar) stuff. Trite. Fate as formulaic plot twist. Not quite. Continue reading
A Year in Books/Day 164: The Rolling Stone Book of the Beats
- Title: The Rolling Stone Book of the Beats The Beat Generation and American Culture
- Editor: Holly George Warren
- Year Published: 1999 (Hyperion)
- Year Purchased: 2000/2001
- Source: Barnes & Noble clearance rack
- About: Whether the Rolling Stone moniker entices or repels you, this is a fine compilation of essays, musings, reviews and treatises on The Beat Generation and its various, and fantastically varied, players. Although many of the entries were written expressly for this book, others are from Rolling Stone’s archives or from outside sources. Lydia Lunch, Hunter S. Thompson, Graham Parker, Johnny Depp, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, and Lester Bangs number among the crazy quilt of contributors. The insiders’ perspective is voiced by Michael McClure, Joyce Johnson, Hettie Jones, Carolyn Cassady and William S Burroughs. The cacophony of opinions, insights and viewpoints is bold and often contradictory, which should be the intent of any decent compilation. The entirety of the beat experience is presented in vivid, emotive, intelligent terms. Each entry is a micro world of its own, quite unlike any of the others. The photos are notable, and many are rare. If you have any interest in the subject-which really encompasses many subjects loosely gathered under a too-small banner-make this part of your to-read list.
- Motivation: I have a long, deep shelf dedicated to the writers and miscellaneous participants of The Beat Generation. This was one of the earliest non-fiction additions to my collection.
- Times Read: 3
- Random Excerpt/Page 85: “Bob Kaufman and John Wieners are the greatest of the nonsense Beat poets, whatever that means-the social second unit?-people who didn’t spend scads of time with the frontrunners. They’re also two supreme sufferers, and Kaufman, in particular, swallowed more broken glass than all the others combined.”
- Happiness Scale: 9
Quote
“When one loves one’s Art no service seems too hard.”-O. Henry
Daily Diversion #20: Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad*/My Neighborhood is Weirder Than Yours
This pig has been keeping watch outside the main entrance of our building since Friday. This is totally normal, right? Right?
What is this, you ask?
I recently wrote about one of my main concerns as a writer, which is feeling at home in my surroundings. I’ve struggled with this since moving to the Queen City six years ago. I love our flat, and our building; if the whole thing could be picked up and moved somewhere else, my contentment would shine forth like a lighthouse beacon. I know that I am guilty of focusing on what I wish I could change about our neighborhood, even as I am faced with all that there is to enjoy in this weird little corner of town. Mr. Enormous Pig has reminded me of some of the perks of living in the CW. They are:
- Sharing a building with an unusual museum (thus, Mr. EP).
Come closer.
- The best (and wackiest) mural of George Washington you will ever see.
- The ability to get chili at 3:00 in the morning, and the simultaneous people watching opportunity.
- A giant gorilla hanging off the side of a costume shop building.
- People watching. Oh, the people watching.
- The beautiful park across the street (visible from all of our windows), especially the dough boy statue that was dedicated just post-war.
- The handsome architecture of this neighborhood is truly impressive, even if many of the buildings are derelict or down-right abandoned.
- The city salt barn directly across the street. Not only is it an easy landmark for guests, it is absurdly fun to watch news crews swarm the premises at the slightest indication of snow. Also, it looks like a voluptuous breast. At least a C-cup.
- I love being surrounded by manufacturing businesses and a sea of trees. This area is not very residential, but is intensely lush.
- The minimum-security jail behind the park (also constantly on view from our windows). It sits on the site of an old workhouse, razed many decades ago. Only the stunning stone wall remains. A jail in the neighborhood means that the streets are very well patrolled. Even though some people think the CW is sketchy, it actually means that we have the lowest crime rate in the city.
- Diversity, diversity, diversity.
Looking out our wall of windows, nine stretching full-height in a salute to the ceiling, I see colour and character; zest and life; dirt and beauty. It’s always interesting. A writer could do worse than to have so much at hand.
Don’t look into his eyes, or you will turn to stone.
Belly of the beast.
*This is a quote from George Orwell’s Animal Farm.
Voices from the Grave #25: O. Henry’s Message to His Readers
O. Henry’s Message to his readers, ca. 1908.
To my way of thinking, that’s a waste of good time!
Daily Diversion #19: Wherin I Show Off This Lovely Sunset and Admit to Not Being Romantic
The sunset was almost enough to make romantics of us. I grasped his hand, compelled by nature to some kind of entry-level giddiness. I un-curled my toes and kicked the cool sand; it rained lightly over furtively scrambling ghost crabs. The dog whined on-leash. Bending over, a head pat; standing up on tip-toes, a hug and quick caress. Then one of us broke the sustained peace of the ocean breeze and lapping waves with a bad joke or punch on the arm. Ha, back to normal we went. Quickly, inward, like a collapsing house of cards. Laughing. Unromantic and inappropriate. Wisecracking. Bantering like Grant and Hepburn. Our normal. Content.
Honeymoon Sunset, Mexico Beach/Port St. Joe, Florida. June 2011.
A Year in Books/Day 163: The Secret Wife of Louis XIV
- Title: The Secret Wife of Louis XIV Francoise d’Aubigne, Madame de Maintenon
- Author: Veronica Buckley
- Year Published: 2008 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux))
- Year Purchased: December 2011
- Source: This was a Christmas gift from my husband.
- About: Francoise was Louis XIV’s second wife, the relationship entered into when they were both middle-aged. The union lasted more than thirty years, until his death in 1715. The marriage was morganatic, and was never officially announced. The incredible circumstances of her long life prove the soundness of the old saying that truth is stranger than fiction. Her uncommon path from destitution (as the daughter of a disastrously poor, imprisoned minor nobleman) to affluence (as the uncrowned wife of the Sun King) was a long one, and takes up three-quarters of the book; yet her relationship with Louis is the lodestar which we, as readers, are always chasing. Although controversial in her time, she was far too subtle, intelligent and charming to engage in cheap escapades. A reluctant mistress, she made an even more reticent royal bride (for reasons other than lack of love for the monarch). Surrounded by dozens of supporting players-the least of which is one of history’s most fascinating royals-Francoise’s story inextricably rises and declines with the fortunes of the great empire into which she was born and died.
- Motivation: This historical biography officially stripped my husband of his right to complain that I own too many books: after six years together, he finally buckled and bought one for me. That’s it, game over: that action put him on my side, like it or not.
- Times Read: 1 (I just finished it yesterday afternoon)
- Random Excerpt/Page 62: “This and another 125 similarly worthy verses were set for the three to learn by heart, a dozen or so daily, a stodgy dessert after their lunch of bread and cheese. They digested both in the same place every day, a natural grotto overlooking the governor’s meadows, before shepherding the turkey cocks back home.”
- Happiness Scale: A very solid 9
Françoise d’Aubigné (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
[News] The Daily Post Talks About Effective Book Blogging (And Mentions Us)
Have you ever read The Daily Post, WordPress.com’s official blog about blogging? If not, you should head over there now! Why? Because we received a nice shout-out in yesterday’s article (Focus On: Book Blogs) about how to effectively review books on your blog. Can you guess which hyperlinked tip refers to us before clicking it for confirmation? Sounds fun, right? I’ve got to run, so this PSA is officially over. Thanks for your three seconds!
A Small Press Life: Books. Art. Writing. Life. Tea. 