The All-Time Worst Novelist
Her name was Amanda McKittrick Ros, and she is the subject of a not-to-be-missed article by Miles Corwin in the June 2009 Smithsonian Magazine. Corwin wrote,
The Oxford literary group “The Inklings,” which included C. S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, held competitions to see who could read her work aloud longest while keeping a straight face.
Read Corwin’s article HERE
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7 Reminders About Writing A Book
[I dug this out of the cobwebs on an archived blog of mine because I am about to launch a new book project and I wanted to remind myself of its contents. It still rings true so I am sharing it here with minor changes.]
The challenge of writing a book is as much about the process as it is about the content: maybe more. I’m a process kind of person, so I pay a lot of attention to it.
Meaning-Making Is Both Blessing And Curse
…my mind often buzzes with questions about mundane events…
Red Mountain is in close-up view from a picnic area on the southern bank of the Salt River a few miles north of Mesa, Arizona, where the Bush Highway enters the south-west corner of the nearly three million acre Tonto National Forest. I sat there alone at a weathered and rickety picnic bench one day last week, my attention divided between the mountain and a narrow strip of river where a breeze rippled the surface and trout leaped. I had a notebook in front of me to record what I saw, thought and felt.
52 Years To Write A Book (And Notes Of Thanks)
The two questions I am most often asked as a book author are:
1- How long does it take to write a book?
2- Where do you get your ideas?
52 Years?
My answer to the first question depends on what I have in mind as my starting point. The questioner is usually thinking of the moment that I wrote the first paragraph. But there is a difference between writing a book and working on a book. I worked on each of my books, without being aware that I was doing so, for years before I plunked my butt in a chair to lay down the first words.
I Am A Prose Chameleon
I am predisposed toward unconscious mimicry. I first noticed it years ago when, working as a consultant in England, I spontaneously began using the word “twig” instead of “understand” and pronouncing “strawberry” as “strawbry.”
If I am in Canada for a long period (say, three days), my voice rises at the end of sentences. In Italy I exaggerate gestures. I don’t even need to be in a foreign country. Last year, during a visit to Minnesota and North Dakota, I said, “You betcha.” I said it twice. This from a guy who grew up in Philadelphia.
Living Life In Five Minute Chunks
Last summer David Zinger showed up at Jodee Bock’s annual Bigger Small Talk Summit. I heard him say that he can do almost anything for 10 minutes so tends to break down difficult or unappealing tasks into 10 minute chunks. That sounded wise to me and I determined to try it out. When I returned home, however, I quite promptly forgot about it.
When I need to pay attention to something but forget about it, reminders are sent my way. So along come Alexys Fairfield and Curt Rosengren, both suggesting 5 minute chunks; Alexys writes about contemplation and Curt about writing. They shrink the time frame, but the principle is the same.
Words That Flame From “The Tender Bar”
Here are a few lines that I highlighted in J.R. Moehringer’s The Tender Bar either because they speak to me or because the writing is so very good:
Life is all a matter of choosing which voices to tune in and which to tune out…
Grandma was always afraid of something. She set aside time each day for dread. She was quite specific about the various tragedies stalking her. She feared pneumonia, muggers, riptides, meteors, drunk drivers, serial killers, tornadoes, doctors, unscrupulous grocery clerks, and the Russians…I pitied Grandma, and rolled my eyes at her, and yet when we spent time together I found myself dreading right along with her.
The Value of Playin’ Around
Want to write a blog post, an article, or maybe a book? Or tile the bathroom floor? In many and diverse enterprises it is often a good idea to try things out without preconceiving where it might lead; to just start playin’ around.
I was playin’ around with the images I captured at Dale Chihuly’s glass installation in the Desert Botanical Garden (see previous post), looking for a new computer desktop background. My first temptation was to skip over images that I didn’t like, but I didn’t do that because…well, who knows why I didn’t. This is one of the images that I was tempted to skip:
