...it takes a while to walk a mile. That rhymed, didn't it? That is just about exactly how cheesy I have felt with the whole "novel" thing lately -- I don't even know why. I look at my ms and I think about it, and half of me decides to like it. And I guess I'm feeling silly writing something only half of me likes.
So, I've been reading a lot and letting my brain relax until a whole me can start up with the editing and the second ms I have been working on, which actually 2/3 of me likes. Which is an improvement. It might be awhile before we get to another mile marker, though, and I did promise to keep you posted.
BTW, what I've been reading:
Wuthering Heights -- really great, right, with a couple of very dynamic characters that live in the grey space between "good" and "bad." I still can't decide why Heathcliffe married Isabella in the first place, or vice versa, but it develops the plot nicely.
A Farewell to Arms -- also very good and "classicy," but in the Hemingway sense, which isn't snobbish and heady, but just well-written. I love me some Ernest.
The King of Torts -- I have two categories for Grisham, now: movie worthy and un-movie worthy. I'm sure he doesn't care, but I think this falls in the movie worthy category. And I have to like Grisham, because, well, he's Grisham.
Digital Fortress -- I have to say I think Dan Brown had a one hit wonder in The DaVinci Code, but I thought I would give this one a try. Not impressed so far.
That's it for now. Have you read any of the above? While we're waiting for the rest of me to come around you could toss out your thoughts and this might prove to be an interesting post...
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-- Henry James
"Then there is Me of course; but I am only the chorus that comes at the end to explain things. So I do not count." --Rudyard Kipling
i'm feeling...
Novel Progress
Categories
- inspiration (2)
- just funny (1)
- mid-week motivations (2)
- moods (7)
- observations (6)
- process (11)
- questions (5)
- writer...interrupted (2)
Of Interest
"Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time...the wait is simply too long." ~Leonard Bernstein
"Always be the beautiful answer who asks a more beautiful question."
e.e. cummings
"Let me live, love, and say it well in good sentences."
--Sylvia Plath
"'Classic.' A book which people praise and don"t read."
--Mark Twain
"Writers are a little below clowns and a little above trained seals."
--John Steinbeck
"Celebrity is the chastisement of merit and the punishment of talent."
--Emily Dickenson
"Reason is the natural order of truth; but imagination is the organ of meaning."
--C. S. Lewis
"The only reason for the existence of a novel is that it does attempt to represent life."
"Find out what your hero wants, and when he wakes up in the morning, just follow him all day."
"The best time to plan a book is while you"re doing the dishes."
--Agatha Christie
"You have to get up in the morning and write something you love, something to live for."
"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify them or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward. Maybe they have to be crazy. How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels? We make tools for these kinds of people. While some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. Think Different!"--Steve Jobs
Some reading in 2007
- Animal Farm--George Orwell
- Bad Girls of the Bible--Liz Curtis Higgs
- By the Light of the Moon -- Dean Koontz
- Collected Stories -- Rudyard Kipling
- Dirty Hands--Jean-Paul Sartre
- Friend of My Youth--Alice Munro
- Get Out of that Pit--Beth Moore
- Redeeming Love -- Francine Rivers
- The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn -- Mark Twain
- The Creative Call--Janice Elsheimer
- The Flies--Jean-Paul Sartre
- The Heir--Paul Robertson
- The Last Juror -- John Grisham
- The Pelican Brief -- John Grisham
- The Picture of Dorian Gray--Oscar Wilde
- The Proper Care and Feeding of Marriage--Dr. Laura Schlessinger
- The Screwtape Letters--C. S. Lewis
- The Silver Chair--C.S. Lewis
- The Sin Eater -- Francine Rivers
- The Street Lawyer -- John Grisham
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"Writing this story -- writing any story, really -- is like exploring a land for the first time while simultaneously serving as a tour guide." ~~Jared Wilson
2 comments:
If you like "Heart of Darkness", "Piercing The Darkness" and "The Chronicles Of Narnia" you might find elements of all three in "Outcasts Of Skagaray" by Andrew Clarke. See www.threeswans.com.au
I liked "Wuthering Heights" too, but I thought Heathcliffe marrying as he did was cruelty, and it spoilt him as a sympathetic character. Catherine, too, failed herself by the attitude that she could never marry Heathcliffe even though she says she feels joined at the soul and could never live without him. It shows what people can do, the blunders they can make, when they do not have the guidance of God.
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