August 31, 2008: Down the Basement Stairs

In today’s Boston Globe, there’s an article on the importance of daydreaming — in fact, the article’s subheader proclaims, “A wandering mind can do important work, scientists are learning – and may even be essential”. (You can read the whole article here.)

Earlier this afternoon, I printed out the whole section leading into the Flat Spot, aka the middle of the story. My immediate goal is to fix the Flat Spot, because I am convinced that whatever happens in the middle of the story determines what happens in the end of the story, and not in a guessing kind of way, either. Specifics matter here.

I read what I have, and now I’m not going to think about it. I’m going open the door to the Basement and throw what I need down the Stairs, with a request that the Girls help me out. And then we’ll see what happens.

Borrowings: August 31, 2008

I thought it might be kind of cool to post a list of the books I have out from the library. Some of them I’ve already read; some of them I already know I won’t read; and some of them probably won’t get read before I have to return them. But it’s quite a stash, and it makes me happy to look at it.

• Thirteen Reasons Why : A Novel by Jay Asher
• The Devil’s Web by Mary Balogh
• The Gilded Web by Mary Balogh
• The Air We Breathe : A Novel by Andrea Barrett
• The Brief History Of The Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
• Mozart’s Ghost by Julia Cameron
• The Spiritualist : A Novel by Megan Chance
• The Edge : A Superintendent Mike Yeadings Mystery by Clare Curzon
• Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears by Ellen Datlow
• The Dark : New Ghost Stories by Ellen Datlow
• Uneasy Relations by Aaron J Elkins
• Thief With No Shadow by Emily Gee
• Ilario: The Lion’s Eye : A Story Of The First History Book One by Mary Gentle
• The Anatomy Of Deception by Lawrence Goldstone
• Black Ships : A Novel by Jo Graham
• The Importance Of Being Kennedy : A Novel by Laurie Graham
• A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson
• Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
• The Bone Key by Sarah Monette
• Among The Bohemians : Experiments In Living, 1900-1939 by Virginia Nicholson
• Corpse De Ballet : A Nine Muses Mystery : Terpsichore by Ellen Pall
• Heavens To Betsy by Beth Pattillo
• The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society : A Novel by Beth Pattillo
• Southern Fried by Cathy Pickens
• Nineteen Minutes : A Novel by Jodi Picoult
• Furious Improvisation : How The WPA And A Cast Of Thousands Made High Art Out Of Desperate Times by Susan Quinn
• Maledicte by Lane Robins
• The Secret Adventures Of Charlotte Brontë by Laura Joh Rowland
• I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming
• From The Beast To The Blonde : On Fairy Tales And Their Tellers by Marina Warner

August 30, 2008: If I Were A Real Writer

As I said yesterday, I don’t write every day. I haven’t written today, and I probably won’t before I go to bed. I spent the day the way I spend every Saturday, hanging out with my middle sister, who is my best friend and has been since we were both in junior high. Right now, I’m sitting with my husband, watching the Red Sox play the White Sox.

Not writing every day, not writing obsessively every free moment, not getting up early/staying up late to write: all of those things I don’t do contribute to my feeling that I’m a fraud as a writer. A fraud, or a dilettante of some kind. It also contributes to my guilt.

If I were a real writer, I’d write every day. If I were a real writer, I’d write every free moment I have. If I were a real writer, I wouldn’t have any life but writing.

I know with my head that the rest of my life feeds my writing. I know with my head that doing nothing but writing will eventually dry the well, and my work will suffer. What I know with more than my head is that I’m not cut out to do nothing but write. It’s never going to happen, it’s not who I am, and the last thing I should ever do is beat myself up for it.

Still With the Bohemians: August 30, 2008

As I said yesterday, Among the Bohemians is going to take me a few days to read, but it’ll be an enjoyable few days.

The author, Virginia Nicholson, is the daughter of Quentin Bell, who was himself the son of Vanessa Bell and the nephew of Virginia Woolf, Bohemians all. Nicholson writes about her father in the course of the book, sometimes as “Quentin Bell” and sometimes as “my father”. My sense is that she uses ‘my father’ when describing things she saw or experienced herself, and ‘Quentin Bell’ for things that come from her other sources.

It’s a very good book — I highly recommend it to anyone interested in social history, or generally interested in well-written non-fiction.

August 29, 2008: A Change Is Good

I talk very rarely about my writing, mainly because I’ve felt as if I don’t have anything very interesting to say six days out of seven (or 13 out of 14, as the case may be), and until this week, I’ve been okay with that.

What changed this week was my decision to blog every day about what I’m reading, to create a record of my daily life as a reader. If I can write every day about reading, why can’t I do the same thing about writing? One major reason is that I read every day but I don’t write every day, especially at times like the present, when the day job is sucking my brain dry.

This morning, however, it occurred to me that even if I don’t write every day, writing is still a part of my daily life, and if a day is about well-filling, I can write about that.

Unstuck: August 29, 2008

Last night proved to me — though I didn’t need proof — that what I choose to read on a given day is as much a function of how I feel that day as it is a response to the book itself. The other day, when I was pulling books out of my library pile in the wake of finishing Black Ships, I found Among The Bohemians : Experiments In Living, 1900-1939 by Virginia Nicholson. I opened it up, skimmed a few paragraphs, and set it aside. It was not at all what I wanted.

Last night, I picked the book up again and was immediately drawn in. It’s fascinating and well-written; what’s not to love? It’s also likely that this is a book that will feed my imagination, feeding my stories. It’s nearly 400 pages long, so I’m thinking I’ll be reading this for a few days. And then I’ll have to choose something else.

Stuck: August 28, 2008

I’m not sure I’m actually stuck. I’m sure when I go poking through my umpteen unread books, I’ll find something to read. I just don’t know at this moment what it’s going to be. I probably won’t know until I go to bed.

I finished The Bone Key on the bus tonight. I really enjoyed it, but I enjoy those kind of stories, ones that feature (as Sarah Monette herself calls it) “the Eldritch Horror of the Week”. If you like those kinds of stories, faintly creepy and exceedingly well-written, check this book out.

Restless: August 27, 2008

I finished Black Ships last night — I definitely have to own this book, because I will re-read it, just the way I re-read Lord of the Two Lands and Pillar of Fire.

Reading a terrific book is always a good thing, and I’m glad I found another one. The thing is, sometimes there’s a downside; sometimes it’s hard to find the next thing. I have 30 books out from the library and I own literally hundreds of unread books, so I should have no problem finding something to read, right?

In Love: August 26, 2008

I’m about 2/3 of the way through Black Ships, and I’m loving it. I borrowed it from the library, but this is a book I need to own because I will re-read it. It’s reminding me a little bit of Judith Tarr’s Lord of the Two Lands and Pillar of Fire, two of my favorites. I highly recommend it.

(I sliced my index finger at work today, so this will be short.)

A Book Goes Back, A Book Gets Started: August 25, 2008

I finished Byron: Life and Legend last night — it was a very good read, worth the time invested. I picked up the Nathaniel Hawthorne biography, but it didn’t grab me. I’m not a fan of Hawthorne to begin with (despite living for years and years in Salem, Massachusetts), and his life failed to grab me. The thing is, I’m not a Byron fan either, so why did that biography interest me?