Tag Archives: Writers

Daily Diversion #22: How Long Can I Resist?

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"An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day."-Henry David Thoreau

“An early-morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.”-Henry David Thoreau

I’m not an early riser, but I like the idea of taking a morning constitutional. Not a plain old walk, mind you: a constitutional. Yes, yes…I know it means the same thing. The latter, however, sounds vigorous and lovely and a bit old-fashioned. As if it takes work, thought, planning. A clear head. For the last few weeks, I’ve been threatening to get up early (for me) and drag my husband to the cemetery down the street. A four-minute drive for an hour’s hike. After sunrise, but before the work day has dawned. It is such a tempting idea, in my head. On paper. The reality will likely find me achy and whiny and yawning for the first half an hour. Yet, yet… the destination is the above scene: vibrant, bright, wild. Serene. All in the shadow of the city. How long can I resist?

A Year in Books/Day 168: An Unfinished Woman

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  • Title: An Unfinished Woman
  • Author: Lillian Hellman
  • Year Published: 1969/This Edition: 1999 (Little, Brown and Company)
  • Year Purchased: 2003/2004
  • Source: Unknown
  • About: The Children’s Hour. The Little Foxes. Another Part of the Forest. Watch on the Rhine. The lady knew how to craft plays strong enough to withstand not only their first march across the footlights, but so brilliant as to be timeless decades later. In An Unfinished Woman-the first of three memoirs written in her twilight years-she breaks off pieces of her jaded public persona until something of the real Lillian shows through. Exactly what is anybody’s guess, but the feeling of rightness is there. Her writing is so forceful and engaging, and seemingly forthright, that it is easy to forget that any writer’s autobiography is by nature (if to varying degrees) a study in fiction. Writers are their own best characters, after all. She weaves such a fine story that the ratio of unadulterated fact to pure fiction to soaring imagination is basically immaterial. Her tale, her viewpoint, is riveting. Facts may be found elsewhere; this book is where the entertainment is located. It won the National Book Award. The foreword to this edition is by the incredible Wendy Wasserstein.
  • Motivation: I love plays. Love love them. As in, I want to go steady with them kind of love. Got it? They are my second favourite written medium. I also love weird, strong, talented, crazy-ass smart, contrary women.
  • Times Read: 1
  • Random Excerpt/Page 43: “I would like to say these many years later that I remember his questions. But I don’t, and for a good reason: he had already decided on whatever he meant to write and the questions were fitted to his decisions. So most of the time we didn’t know what he was talking about.”
  • Happiness Scale: 9

A Year in Books/Day 166: The Writer’s Book of Matches 1,001 Prompts to Ignite Your Fiction

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  • 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)

[News] The Daily Post Talks About Effective Book Blogging (And Mentions Us)

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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!

Daily Diversion #18: Dreams and (Dis)connections

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“Remember, remember, this is now, and now, and now. Live it, feel it, cling to it. I want to become acutely aware of all I’ve taken for granted.”-Sylvia Plath                                

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The direct nature of old architecture appeals to me: a glance transports you to another time, and a different way of life. Your imagination is free to conjure a dozen or a hundred scenarios or conversations, sometimes in mere seconds. I walk past these handsome buildings three days a week. They reside on one of the ugliest streets in the city proper. Hemmed in by nondescript banks, a mall where no one shops, and a hideous parking garage that mercilessly casts its blight to the East and West, they are easy to miss. I’ve seen them again and again, out of the corner of a careless eye. Distracted. Too busy. Focused on a destination or a passing thought. On Monday, I finally took the time to see them. It was only for a minute or two, while standing under a canopy as my best friend withdrew money from an ATM. The weird angle is a reflection of my short stature, deep concentration, and unwillingness to find a better shot. Sense of place and ambiance are acutely important to me. The necessity of feeling a connection to my surroundings is one of the odder factors in my struggle to become a better writer. It’s one of the things I have the toughest time handling, this lack of rootedness to where I live. I’m glad that I finally took the time to become better acquainted with this trio. The slideshow image is the result, a visual memory of an important moment in my deepening relationship with this city.

A Year in Books/Day 162: The Associated Press Stylebook

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  • Title: The Associated Press Stylebook Fully Revised and Updated
  • Year Published: 2004 (The Associated Press)
  • Year Purchased: 2004
  • Source: Writer’s Digest Book Club
  • About: I am not a journalist. When I write non-fiction (which is most of the time), it is always of the creative variety. I still appreciate good form, however. I believe every writer should have a fat arsenal of reference books, including one style guide. This is mine. I use it more than I anticipated, much like fractions. The part of my brain that appreciates orderliness considers this book a necessity, and well worth every penny. The creative part doesn’t give two figs. Fortunately, on most days they enjoy a mutually productive collaboration. Yay for cooperation-and the AP Stylebook.
  • Motivation: I love reference books. I regularly sing their praises here; you’re probably already sick of my fan-girl like devotion to the genre.
  • Times Read: Used only as a reference book.
  • Random Excerpt/Page vii: “Today, the 21st-century Associated Press has become the essential global news network. And the AP Stylebook has become the essential tool for anyone who cares about good writing.”
  • Happiness Scale: 7