Category: books

Rain

We are scheduled for more rain on Friday. I found this from Tom Robbins to share:

On the mainland, a rain was falling. The famous Seattle rain. The thin, gray rain that toadstools love. The persistent rain that know every entrance into collar and shopping bag. The quiet rain that can rust a tin roof without the tin roof making a sound in protest. The shamanic rain that feeds the imagination. The rain that seems actually a secret language, whispering, like the ecstasy of primitives, of the essence of things.

New Nightingale

 

Photo from Unsplash

I’m into the first draft of the second Nightingale novel. Believe it or not, everything is new to me. I don’t know if other writers feel the beginning of a new book as a crisp, exciting adventure, but I do. I must confess that I have other manuscripts hidden in various nooks and crannies. They will never see the light of day, so they don’t count.

I’m talking about a fresh manuscript that will be the best quality I can produce at the time. This will take time. A few months (I dare not guess how many), but I am excited and determined to make this a really good read. Keep fingers crossed for me.

Logline for new Nightingale:

“For years Imogene and Portia have tried to be a family to Nightingale but he has worked and resisted their attempts at family ties. After a young man is murdered at their new house, Nightingale must investigate the death and realizes that he needs family more than he ever knew.”

Sense of Wonder

The most popular books and movies of all time all have one thing in common: They transport audiences better than other books and movies in their genre…..  David Farland in his advice to writer’s column.

The sense of wonder is an amazing thing. I was reminded of this when I went through some books that my grandson was giving away in an effort to clear off his book shelves. Many of the books were about magic and new worlds.

The point I’m making is that really enjoyable books transport the reader to another place. That is done by appealing to one’s emotions. A reader is pulled deep into a book or movie and the reader feels the increased heartbeat, the rush of adrenaline, the hurry through the words to find out what happens to the characters. But, wait, these are not ordinary characters. These people are friends and family—we know them, we care about them.

That’s what I’ve been trying to create in the last scenes of the next Nightingale book. That’s also the reason why I have so many readers when I write about food.

People who read about Southern cooking remember their own meals and family and special moments.

Right now, I’m hungry for cream of wheat (or oatmeal) with brown sugar or maple syrup. That was often the breakfast before going out to get on a cold school bus. The house was cold because the fireplace couldn’t warm up quickly. But with my belly full of warm food and surrounded by love, I could conquer the world—at least for a few minutes.

Photo from Unsplash by Patrick Fore

 

New Digs

I am moving from an apartment to a house. In one way I hate moving because it is really hard work.  In another way, I love it because it makes me get rid of junk. In the last move I gave away work clothes, furniture, books, and dishes. I’ll be doing that again but to a smaller extent. It’s a freeing experience but also one filled with memories.

What I enjoyed today was finding some books I had forgotten. One, titled Daughters and Mothers  was a gift from one of my daughters. Another one was All Over But the Shoutin’ by Rick Bragg. With each of them I stopped packing and read, remembering when I received the book or, in the case of Bragg’s book, why I bought it. It’s a delightful way to change the experience of moving.

Photo from Unsplash

Friends and Family

This getting wiser as one gets older is a bit of a challenge.  Don’t get me wrong:  wiser is good.  But I find myself sometimes thinking of the past with all the hurt that goes with growing up.  I still wish I had hugged my grandparents more.  I really wish I had told my children I loved them more often. I’ve mentioned this to cousins and they may or may not have missed the hugs and affection.

There is more to it, of course.  Families are full of agonies and angst.  Families are about love and hate and all those gritty, unmentionable emotions like lust and greed.  Families are perfect for a writer to explore and write about.  As a matter of fact, most works of fiction have a family somewhere in their pages.  No matter what genre of fiction you choose, families are there.

So, getting wiser took far too long for me.  I wish I’d listened to my grandparents:)

Love to Write?

Photo from  Unsplash by Annie Spratt

When I mentioned Dwight Swain’s book in an earlier post I started thinking about people who write because they love to write for themselves. Every writer I know loves to write because they enjoy putting words on paper, but ultimately, they want to share.

Does any writer put words on paper and then put the paper in a desk drawer?  (Yes, I know, first drafts should never see the light of day, forever in the trunk or drawer or burned. Some of my prose….aye yah yuk.; but I digress.)

What I’m getting at is that some people write because they love writing, and some people write because they are good at it and want to get paid for their work. So, books about the craft may address the esoteric reasons for writing and some may simply address how to make your essay or novel clearer.

No matter what the reason for writing, if it makes you feel better to get the words on paper, I think its valuable—maybe even therapeutic. And read—reading makes a better writer, but that’s a different post.

Reading

Reading has been, and continues to be, one of my favorite things to do. You can  imagine my delight when someone advised “Read everything you can and always ‘read up’.”  That is, read writers who are better at their craft than you are. And, read out of your favorite genre to broaden your understanding. Reading is educational for a writer.

One of my problems is a desire to devour a book rapidly, especially when its written by one of my favorite authors. When that happens I miss some of the ‘educational’ nuances that a writer appreciates and may use in her own writing. For instance, in one of the books I’ve read a child is held captive in the climax of the novel. The hero is facing the child while the villain has an arm around her neck. Earlier in the book the hero and child had exchanged remarks about Through the Looking Glass and the Jabberwock who has fierce teeth and nails.

The hero makes a remark about their secret of enjoying reading and what the Jabberwock does. The child gets the hint and bites the villain’s arm, which makes her rescue possible. That is a terrific ending to a tense scene and I hope I can use some variation in the future. In my rapid reading I might cruise past the early scene between the hero and child.

But, my point is:  I go back and reread books that I enjoy and the second read is slow and savory. Every word is delicious.

Photo is by Laura Kapfer in Unsplash.