Reads for Writers: Fearless Writing by William Kenower 2nd Review

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

As a reader, I always love finding books that appeal to me. As a writer, I am twice as pleased when the authors also provide masterclasses within their books.

          Masterclasses take place when performance artists and musicians work one-on-one with students. Writers don’t generally have this option, but I have found some books to be masterclasses for characters, backstories, plots, settings, voice and/or creativity.

         

          In a previous blog, I explained how I decided whether a book was worth a review. First, I mark up a book as I read it. I underline. I score paragraphs. I write notes. And if there is an excellent point made, I dog ear the bottom corner of that page.

          If there are marks, notes, or dog-eared corners on 25%-30% of the pages, the book gets a good review; more than 30%, a great review.

In the two decades I have been reviewing books, I never hit 50%. I never expected to as that’s an almost impossibly high bar. Then I read Fearless Writing: How to Create Boldly and Write with Confidence by William Kenower which came in at near 100%.

I felt a bit ridiculous dog earing page after page after page, but Kenower’s truths, descriptions, points, and advice were worth every mark, note, and folded corner.

Quite simply, this book is the Masterclass for writing.

Kenower recommends that readers start with chapter 1 “A Writer’s Worst Fear”  and chapter 2 “The Flow”  then choose which chapters interest them. I think beginning writers should follow his direction, but if you are a more experienced writer you might want to start with either chapter 10 “Finding Time to Write Or Why Procrastination Makes Sense” or chapter 13 “Don’t Fear the Cliché Or Relax—You’re an Original”  as these are two big fears of most writers. Once read, fearless writing can begin.

From my marks, notes, and dog-eared corners, I found every chapter important. I’ve read chapters 1-8 twice and chapters 9-18 three times. I feel like reading them all until they are a part of my DNA.

I’m a fast reader, but I had to put Fearless Writing down to give myself time to absorb what the author was sharing. It’s his story, but it’s also a universal one for every writer filled with insights and truths.

I recognized many of the truths Kenower discussed because I’ve experienced them too, but sometimes so briefly I hadn’t realized until he named them. But even more important were the truths I hadn’t thought about—just accepted—without realizing some, like discomfort and procrastination, have their own purposes. (Read chapter 8 “Creative Discomfort Or How to Love What You Thought You Hated” and chapter 10 “Finding Time to Write Or Why Procrastination Makes Sense” respectively.)

The other chapters are: “Feel First,” “Write What You Love,” “Accuracy,” “Critiques and Workshopping,” “The Intentional Arc,” “Writing is Listening,” “How Thought Works,” “Fearless Marketing,” “The Talent Myth,” “Fear of Failure,” “Evidence,” “Becoming the Author of Your Life,” and “A Good Ending.”

I am so grateful and excited that William Kenower wrote this book. It is life-altering.

Here are just a few insights from Fearless Writing:

“…the only two questions a writer should ask are “What do I want to say?” and “Have I said it?” If you are asking anything else, you’re not writing—you’re just worrying. (page 53)

“…You must embrace the reality that your curiosity is curious enough, your perceptions are perceptive enough, your humor is humorous enough. Get comfortable with that, and you will always know what you most want to say—and if you have said it.” (pp. 70-71)

“,,, There is a great distinction between an idea as it appears in my imagination and what that idea becomes on the page…I must trade in that initial excitement for the patient pleasure of discovery.” (page 106)

“How interested I am in the questions I ask my imagination determines the speed and power of the answer I receive. I must remind myself of this often…” (page 107)

“…when you accept the confidence you already possess and understand that writing’s immediate payoff is the pleasure of finding the next sentence, and then the next, you will discover that you have plenty of time to write…” (page 127)

“…The Flow is the experience of pointing your car toward something you love and are authentically curious about, and then riding the momentum of thought that ensues…” (page 135)

“…Writing, after all, is such an intuitive business. Writing is all about knowing what has no evidence for being known. Writing is all about following a path only you can perceive, that is felt and not seen…” (page 196)

“…If I am deliberate with the stories I tell myself away from the desk, I become the author of my day-to-day experience. Now life is a story I am telling rather than one I have been made to read.” (page 219)

          I hope all writers read this book so they can become not only authors, but the authors of their own lives.

         

           

         

Reads for Writers: Award-winning and Bestselling Author Louise Penny's Chief Inspector Gamache Series

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

         

          I discovered Louise Penny and her mystery books on the CBS Sunday Morning TV program a few weeks ago. If you like Agatha Christie, you will enjoy Penny’s Chief Inspector Gamache series that begins with Still Life. To date, there are twelve books in the series.

New York Time's bestselling author Louise Penny has won five Agatha Awards. She certainly has Christie’s ability to see into the hearts and minds of murderers. I have lost count of the universally true Insightful Asides I have underlined while reading about the murders in Three Pines, a small Canadian village near the US border.

“It [Three Pines] had croissants and café au lait. It had steak frites and The New York Times. It had a bakery, a bistro, a B. & B., a general store. It had great joy and great sadness and the ability to accept both and be content. It had companionship and kindness. (page 12 in A Fatal Grace, book 2).

Sounds like an idyllic place to live—except for the murders.

Here are a few of my favorite Insightful Asides from the series:

“His [Brother Albert] theory is that life is loss,” said Myrna [bookstore owner] after a moment. “Loss of parents, loss of loves, loss of jobs. So we have to find a higher meaning in our lives than these things and people. Otherwise we’ll lose ourselves.” (page 138 in Still Life, book 1)

“…Murder was deeply human, the murdered and the murderer. To describe the murderer as a monstrosity, a grotesque, was to give him an unfair advantage. No. Murderers were human, and at the root of each murder was an emotion. Warped, no doubt. Twisted and ugly. But an emotion. And one so powerful it had driven a man to make a ghost.” (Chief Inspector Gamache on page 154 of A Fatal Affair, book 2)

“Accepting murder meant accepting there was a murderer. Among them. Close. Someone in that room, almost certainly. One of those smiling, laughing, familiar faces hid thoughts so vile they had to kill.” (Clara Morrow on page 66 of The Cruelest Month, book 3)

“There are four statements that lead to wisdom…You need to learn to say: I don’t know. I’m sorry. I need help and I was wrong.” (Chief Inspector Gamache on page 130 in The Cruelest Month.)

“Hazel Smyth had been off to the funeral home…It was like being kidnapped and taken into a world of hushed words and sympathy for something she couldn’t yet believe had happened.” (page 144 of The Cruelest Month)

“…He saw all the Morrows, trudging along, chained together, weighed down by expectation, disapproval, secrets. Need. Greed. And hate. After years of investigating murders Chief Inspector Gamache knew one thing about hate. It bound you forever to the person you hated. Murder wasn’t committed out of hate, it was done as a terrible act of freedom. To finally rid yourself of the burden.” (page 205 in A Rule Against Murder, book 4)

“Grief was dagger-shaped and sharp and pointed inward. It was made of fresh loss and old sorrow.” (Inspector Gamache on page 262 in A Rule Against Murder)

          Poetry plays a big role in Louise Penny’s books and in her writing. Chief Inspector Gamache reads and quotes poems in these books and there is a poet who lives in Three Pines.

          Louise Penny thinks reading poetry is essential for writers. As she states in her Acknowledgments on page ix of The Brutal Telling (book 5):

…I actually need to thank the wonderful poets who’ve allowed me to use their works and words. I adore poetry, as you can tell. Indeed it inspires me—with words and emotions. I tell aspiring writers to read poetry, which I think for them is often the literary equivalent of being told to eat Brussels sprouts. They’re none too enthusiastic. But what a shame if a writer doesn’t at least try to find poems that speak to him or her. Poets manage to get into a couplet what I struggle to achieve in an entire book.

          I, too, think poetry is essential as does author Ray Bradbury. See posts dated March 9, 2015; March 21, 2016; and April 4, 2016.

                   

Reads for Writers: inGenius: A Crash Course on Creativity by Tina Seelig

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          Creativity is essential for writers. In her book inGenious: A Crash Course on Creativity, Tina Seelig gives readers or, as she calls artists of all types, noticers great insights including:

“Mastering the ability to reframe problems is an important tool for increasing your imagination because it unlocks a vast array of solutions.” (page 19)

“You, too, can spark a revolution by looking at the problems you face from different perspectives.” (page 23)

“Connecting unexpected people, places, objects, and ideas provides a huge boost to your imagination. You can practice this skill by using provocative metaphors, interacting with those outside your normal circles, building on existing ideas, and finding inspiration in unlikely places.” (page 46)

“Scientists and artists of all types are the world “noticers.” They are trained to pay attention and to communicate what they see and experience to the rest of us.” (page 75)

“…the most salient thing [the students] learned from this intense experience is that by opening your eyes, paying attention, and asking a lots of questions, there are remarkable things to see around every corner.” (page 76)

“Focused observation is a powerful way to acquire valuable knowledge about the world. That knowledge is the starting point for all your creative endeavors because it provides rich fuel for your imagination.” (page 32-83)

“If you live and work in an environment that is stimulating, then your mind is open to fresh, new ideas.” (page 102)

“I eventually realized I that I putting off writing on purpose. It was creative procrastination!” (page 105)

          However, my favorite part of this book is the opening chapter discussing the “hardest exam in the world. It required both a breadth of knowledge and a healthy dose of imagination.” (page 4)

          It’s a “…‘one-word exam.’ The Essay, as it was called, was both anticipated and feared by applicants. They each flipped over a piece of paper at the same time to reveal a single word...The challenge was to craft an essay in three hours inspired by that single word.”  (page 3)

          “…This challenge reinforces the fact that everything—every single word—provides an opportunity to leverage what you know to stretch your imagination.” (page 3)

          What a great exam—especially for writers! I’m going to randomly open a dictionary with my eyes closed and point to a word. Then I am going to write an essay in three hours. Why not? I’ll be writing for hours this week in my notebook. I may as well use a writing prompt that will challenge me like this one.

          Take the one-word test. See what you know and notice.

Word count for the week of May 21-27 was 11,431.

Reads for Writers: When We Meet Again by Kristin Harmel

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

I love novels filled with insightful asides. If they also appeal to you, you’ll enjoy When We Meet Again by Kristin Harmel.

Love is the theme of this book. Love at first sight. Eternal love. Love denied. Unrequited love. Love thy neighbor—or not. Familial love—or not—and the patterns that repeat through generations.

It’s the story of Emily Emerson whose father walked out on her and her mother. She should have seen it coming as her paternal grandfather abandoned her grandmother when she was pregnant with Emily’s father, but, at eleven years old, she was shocked, devastated, and enraged.

Only seven years later, her mother died. Her father called. He offered little comfort and no sanctuary. Thankfully, the only grandmother she ever knew took her in, but not before the choices Emily made in her grief had consequences.

Now at thirty-six, Emily’s life is disrupted by the loss of her reporting job just after her grandmother died.

Then, as described on the back cover, “…she receives a beautiful, haunting painting of a young woman standing at the edge of a sugarcane field under a violet sky. That woman is recognizable as her grandmother—and the painting arrives with no identification other than a handwritten note saying, ‘He never stopped loving her.’"

‘Emily is hungry for roots and family, so she begins to dig.’”

          I’m not going to ruin the book for readers with any spoilers so the quotes by characters will be unattributed. I just want to share some of the insights written by Kristin Harmel.

         

          “I feel more for you now than I ever have for anyone before. How is that possible? We hardly know each other, and yet, I feel like you’re already a permanent piece of my soul.”

“Sometimes, things are simply meant to be.” (page 92)

“Every time someone hurts you, you carry a little piece of that with you. When it’s one of the people who’s supposed to love you most in the world, well, I’d imagine that takes a whole chunk out of your faith in humanity…I don’t want that to be my legacy to you." (page 210)

“When you’re young, you think you’ll have a hundred opportunities to find the kind of love that fills you up, the kind of love that sustains you. But the reality is, you’re lucky to find it even once in a lifetime. It’s easy to turn a blind eye to reality, to make up a fairy tale in your head. But once you’ve felt real love, you know deep down when you are faking it. You know when you are lying to yourself.” (page 237)

“How can two people love each other that much, wind up in the same city, and never see each other? It’s so cruel and senseless. Why do any of us fall in love like that if we aren’t given the chance to find each other again?" (page 303)

“It was inconvenient to love someone who would never love you the same way, because it held you back in life. It tied you to something you could never have." (page 312)

“The story that led us here was written long before you were born…There are different kinds of love in the world, aren’t there?” (page 314)

          This is the first book I’ve read by Kristin Harmel, but it won’t be my last.

Reads for Writers: The Book Lover's Anthology

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          My book recommendation this week is The Book Lover’s Anthology: A Compendium of Writing about Books, Readers & Libraries published by Bodleian Library. It’s not a book you read straight through, but one you pick up when you only have a few minutes to read or just feel like browsing.

There are inspiring quotes, passages, and poems about: The Friendship of Books; Old and New Books; Good Books and Bad; The Joys of Reading; A Sentimental Education; Bibliophilia; Literary Worlds; and The Library.

          Among my favorite passages are:

                   Rich Fare

…There are other evils, great and small, in this world…Of these, Providence has allotted me a full share; but still, paradoxical as it may sound, my burden has been greatly lightened by a load of books.

          Thomas Hood, letter to the Manchester Athenaeum (page 29)

                   Books are men of higher stature,

                   And the only men that speak aloud for future times to hear.

                             Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Lady Geraldine’s Courtship (page 35)

                  

                   Love and the Library

                   I do not know that I am happiest when alone; but this I am

                   sure of, that I am never long even in the society of her I love

                   without a yearning for the company of my lamp and my

                   utterly confused and tumbled-over  library.      

                             George Gordon, Lord Byron (page 182)

                   I would rather be a poor man in a garret with plenty of books

                   than a king who did not love reading.

                             Thomas Macaulay (page 210)

          Enjoy discovering your favorite passages!

Mary Oliver: Time Well Spent--70 Hours Per Poem

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

April is poetry month so I’m continuing to discuss Mary Oliver’s entrancing books.

      

Ray Bradbury makes this recommendation to writers on page 36 of Zen in the Art of Writing:

Read poetry every day of your life…it flexes muscles you don’t use often enough…it expands the senses and keeps them in prime condition.

          Mary Oliver, who publishes both poems and prose, discussed writing poetry in Blue Pastures. On page 59, she wrote:

                  

It takes about

seventy hours to drag

a poem into

the light.

         

          Oliver’s poems range from four to thirty-six lines with occasionally longer pieces. To find out it takes about seventy hours per poem is amazing, daunting—and unsurprising.

          If you have read Mary Oliver’s poems, you know she transports her readers whether to the edge of a pond (“The Notebook” page 44 of House of Light), the midst of the human condition (“Halleluiah” page 19 of Evidence), or inside a painting (“Franz Marc’s Blue Horses” page 43 of Blue Horses: Poems). She does this simply with word choices—the craft of all writers yet she hones them to the stratosphere.

          Oliver reaches these heights by writing and rewriting, reading and rereading. At age 80, she’s been doing this for decades. Her talent shines due to the tens of thousands of hours she has spent writing using the 70-hours-per-published-poem math plus the untold hours spent on her prose. Add on the hours she wrote as a child, student, and unpublished writer until age 28 and it isn’t surprising she is among the best writers in the world.

          Consider a work week is 40 hours. Oliver spends an average of 8.75 work days on a single poem. That’s dedication. That’s commitment. That’s why her poems are compelling, as well as why she is the winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

          Oliver’s favorite topic is nature. In her poem “Good Morning,” she ponders the vastly different life forms on earth remarking:

                   “It must be a great disappointment

to God if we are not dazzled at least ten

times a day.”

                   (pp. 21-23, stanza 5, in the book Blue Horses: Poems)

          Oliver is often dazzled and shares this in her poems and observations. She knows nature isn’t cute so she writes of death as well as life. Many of her poems like “You Are Standing at the Edge of the Woods” on page 21 of What Do We Know and “Mindful” on pp. 58-59 of Why I Wake Early transform my vision of the world.

          I recommend all writers read Blue Pastures which includes more luminous writings about nature as well as her story of becoming a poet and writer. Here’s how she views her calling:

“Poetry, after all, is not a miracle. It is an effort to formalize (ritualize) individual moments and the transcending effects of these moments into a music that all can use. It is the song of our species.” (page 59)

          Oliver’s advice for all writers which cannot be repeated often enough: give your writing power and time—look for verbs of muscle and adjectives of exactitude. It’s just as simple and difficult as that.

          It’s also what makes Mary Oliver’s poetry dazzling.

Reads for Writers: Blue Pastures by Mary Oliver Includes Great Writing Advice

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          Writers should be perspicacious; poets have to be. The job description requires discernment and perception when choosing which moments to capture as well as the essential words to create true poetry.

          Among the very best is Mary Oliver, winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, who publishes both poems and prose. I highly recommend her poems “The Summer Day” on page 60 of House of Light; “Wild Geese” on page 14 of Dream Work; and “This World” on page 27 of Why I Wake Early among many, many others. I wrote about her book, Dog Songs: Thirty-five Dog Songs and One Essay, in a post dated 4/28/14.

           From the title, I thought Blue Pastures would be more luminous writings about nature—her favorite topic—and it is, but it’s also her story of becoming a poet and writer.

          These are only a few of my favorite lines and passages:

                    …at my desk…I am deep in the machinery of my wits. (p. 1)

In truth, the work itself is the adventure. And no artist could go about this work, or would want to, with less than extraordinary energy and concentration. The extraordinary is what art is about. (p. 5)

The most regretful people on earth are those who felt the call to creative work, who felt their own creative power restive and uprising, and gave it neither power nor time. (p. 7)

I never met any of my friends, of course, in a usual way—they were strangers, and lived only in their writings. But if they were only shadow-companions, still they were constant, and powerful, and amazing. That is, they said amazing things, and for me it changed the world. (p. 13)

Art: hope, vision, the soul’s need to speak. (p. 49)

Poetry, after all, is not a miracle. It is an effort to formalize (ritualize) individual moments and the transcending effects of these moments into a music that all can use. It is the song of our species. (page 59)

It takes about

seventy hours to drag

a poem into

the light.

(p.59)

…the blank piece of paper, and my own energy…(p. 70)

Look for verbs of muscle, adjectives of exactitude. (p. 89)

[I have this taped to my computer monitor.]

Each of us brings to the poem, to the moving pen, a world of echoes.

(p. 109)

We react, we imitate, we imagine, we invent. (p. 111)

          While I’ve been reading Mary Oliver’s work for over a decade, I somehow missed Blue Pastures until recently, much to my dismay. Now it’s one of my top recommendations for writers as part of learning to give their creative work power and time, muscle and exactitude.

Reads for Writers: The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald Provides a Masterclass

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

           As a reader, I always love finding books that appeal to me. As a writer, I am twice as pleased when the authors also provide masterclasses within their books.

          Masterclasses take place when performance artists and musicians work one-on-one with students. Writers don’t generally have this option, but I have found some books to be masterclasses for characters, backstories, plots, settings, voice and/or creativity.

          The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald is a book about books. Two avid readers, Amy Harris from Broken Wheel, Iowa, and Sara Lindqvist from Sweden, become pen pals and trade novels.

In one letter, Amy writes: “Books or people, you ask…I’ve loved maybe a handful of people in my entire life, compared with tens or maybe even hundreds of books (and here I’m counting only those books I’ve really loved, the kind that make you happy just to look at them, that make you smile regardless of what else is happening in your life, that you always turn back to like an old friend and can remember exactly where you first “met” them—I’m sure you know just what I’m talking about). But that handful of people you love…they’re surely worth just as much as all those books.” (page 145) [A kindred spirit!]

Amy, a retired teacher who never left her home town, invites Sara to visit her when the bookstore she worked at for a decade, her first real job, goes out of business. Sara, who hasn’t much of a life outside of books, decides to travel to Iowa despite her parents’ misgivings. She lands in a small town much different than she imagined waiting over two hours for Amy to pick her up where the bus dropped her off. Luckily, she has a book to bury her nose in while time passes.

Sadly, her vacation adventure begins on the day of Amy’s funeral. However, friends and family described in her pen pals’ letters rally around Sara, a tourist in their midst, making her feel welcome. So welcome, she isn’t allowed to pay for anything.

Troubled by this, Sara looks around for a way to pay the town back. She decides to open a book shop filled with Amy’s collection and the ripples of transformation begin as books new to you are “…Unread adventures. Friends you haven’t met yet, hours of magical escapism awaiting you.” (page 303)

          While I enjoyed the story, I loved Sara recommending 56 real books to her customers as I’m always looking for recommendations. I loved her shelf titles like For Friday Nights and Lazy Sundays, Reliable Authors Guaranteed, and Happy Endings When You Need Them. With sections like those, I’d love to visit the Oak Tree Bookstore, too.  

I also loved Katarina Bivald’s outlook and the answers she gave in “A Conversation with the Author” section on pages 391-394 about her first novel. Helpful for future authors.

Reads for Writers: November 9 by Colleen Hoover

From Kate’s Writing Crate

          I love to read novels where one of the characters is a writer because it gives me another perspective into a writer’s life. Knowing this, one of my friends recommended November 9 by Colleen Hoover to me.

It’s classified as a New Adult book explained a librarian friend when I asked if she had read it. She hadn’t, but she liked some other books by Colleen Hoover.

Whether you are a new adult (ages roughly 18-23) or not, Colleen Hoover is a terrific writer who shares many insightful asides in her books. I’m going to concentrate my review on those lines as I don’t want to include any plot spoilers.

In November 9, Ben and Fallon are the main characters who meet when they are 18. He’s a writer. She’s an actress. For several reasons, they have an unconventional relationship seeing each other only once a year on November 9^th. The chapters alternate from Fallon’s perspective to Ben’s.

Here are some of my favorite lines and insightful asides:

…The man [Fallons’ father] has absolutely zero remorse. I both hate and envy it. In a way, I wish I were more like him and less like my mother. He’s oblivious to his many flaws, whereas mine are the focal point of my life. My flaws are what wake me in the morning and what keep me awake every night. (page 5)

…It’s the worst time in the world for me to get emotional, but I guess tears aren’t known for their impeccable timing. (pp. 48-49)

“Don’t push your luck.”

He laughs. “Why the hell does luck exist if I’m not supposed not to push it?” (page 52)

          …But this apartment is too comfortable, and comfort can sometimes be a crutch when it comes to figuring out your life. Goals are achieved through discomfort and hard work. They aren’t achieved when you hide out in a place where you are nice and cozy. (page 68)

Actually, I don’t even think I showed [my poem] to anyone. My mother found it in my room, which is how I came to respect the beauty of privacy. She showed everyone in my entire family and it made me never want to share my work again. (page 84)

“…When you find love, you take it. You grab it with both hands and do everything in your power not to let it go. You can’t just walk away from it and expect it to linger until you’re ready for it.” (page 168)

…It’s funny how a grown adult can just forget how to function properly in the presence of someone else. But I feel like my insides are so hot, they’re beginning to scorch my bones… (page 199)

          I found Colleen Hoover’s writing and insightful asides engaging. Her plot is twisty and wrenching—just like love so I'm recommending it in honor of St. Valentine's Day.

Reads for Writers: Great House by Nicole Krauss Provides a Masterclass

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

As a reader, I always love finding books that appeal to me. As a writer, I am twice as pleased when the authors also provide masterclasses within their books.

          Masterclasses take place when performance artists and musicians work one-on-one with students. Writers don’t generally have this option, but I have found some books to be masterclasses for characters, backstories, plots, settings, voice, and/or creativity.

          Without a straightforward plot, Great House by Nicole Krauss is not for everyone, but I think it is a good read for writers. At the heart of the novel are several writers and a desk that is important to them as it passes in and out of their lives.  

 I recommend this book more for the insightful writing than anything else. With an unwavering voice, Krauss addresses some of life’s big issues and questions.

…a writer should not be cramped by the possible consequences of her work. She has no duty to earthly accuracy or verisimilitude. She is not an accountant; nor is she required to be something as ridiculous and misguided as a moral compass. In her work the writer is free of laws. But in her life…she is not free. (page 28)

…Do you think books can change people’s lives? (which really meant, Do you actually think anything you write could mean anything to anyone?)…I asked the interviewer to imagine the sort of person he might be if all of the literature he’d read in his life were somehow excised from his mind and soul, and as the journalist contemplated that nuclear winter, I sat back with a self-satisfied smile, saved again from facing the truth…[I had been] countering the appearance of a certain anemia in life with the excuse of another, more profound level of existence in my work…(page 36)

Terrible things befall people, but not all are destroyed. Why is it that the same thing that destroys one does not destroy another? There is the question of will—some inalienable right, the right of interpretation, remains. (page 190)

…The dead take their secrets with them, or so they say. But it isn’t really true, is it? The secrets of the dead have a viral quality, and find a way to keep themselves alive in another host… (page 259)

             When it comes to writers, relationships can be tricky as solitude is a requirement for work.

…I might have stayed up half the night working, writing and staring out at the blackness of the Hudson, as long as the energy and clarity lasted. There was no one to call me to bed, no one to demand that the rhythms of my life operate in a duet, no one toward whom I had to bend. (page 17)

The life I had chosen, a life largely absent of others, certainly emptied of the ties that keep most people tangled up in each other, only made sense when I was actually writing the sort of work I had sequestered myself in order to produce…preferring the deliberate meaningfulness of fiction to unaccounted-for reality, preferring a shapeless freedom to the robust work of yoking my thoughts to the logic and flow of another’s. (page 43)

…I avoided the attic [wife’s study]…out of respect for her privacy, without which she wouldn’t have survived. She needed a place to escape, even from me [her husband]. (page 87)

As for the  writing desk, the description depends on the characters' perspective.

I looked across the room at the wooden desk at which I had written seven novels…One drawer was slightly ajar, one of the nineteen drawers, some small and some large, whose odd number and strange array…has come to signify a kind of guiding if mysterious order in my life, an order that, when my work was going well, took on an almost mystical quality…Nineteen drawers…hid a far more complex design, the blueprint of the mind formed over tens of thousands of days of thinking while staring at them, as if they held the conclusion to a stubborn sentence, the culminating phrase, the radical break from everything I had ever written that would at last lead to the book I had always wanted, and always failed, to write. (page 16)

To call it a desk is to say too little. The word conjures some homely, unassuming article of work or domesticity, a selfless and practical object that is always poised to offer up its back for its owner to make use of, and which, when not in use, occupies its allotted space with humility…you can cancel that image immediately. This desk was something else entirely: an enormous, foreboding thing that bore down on the occupants of the room it inhabited, pretending to be inanimate but, like the Venus flytrap, ready to pounce on them and digest them via one of its many little terrible drawers. [a description of the same desk by non-writing character] (page 248)    

Reads for Writers: Books in My Reading Pile

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

          It seems like I have a never-ending reading pile. No matter how fast I read, the pile keeps growing. Where are these books coming from?

          Like most avid readers, I have favorite authors that are must reads. So in my reading pile are Devoted in Death by JD Robb (which I’m just finishing but wouldn’t recommend); Why I Came West by Rick Bass (I love reading memoirs about the Great Outdoors in autumn); and Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman (which I am rereading).

          Many of my friends and co-workers are avid readers, too, so I have books recommended by them including I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming (murder mystery series); Live By Night by Dennis Lehane; All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr (the next book I will start); and South Toward Home: Travels in Southern Literature by Margaret Eby. (I love reading about authors’ lives—and there is something special about southern writers.)

          I watched Michael Dirda on Book TV on C-SPAN2 recently. I’ve read him before so I decided to try On Conan Doyle (a memoir which I’m enjoying immensely) and Bound to Please: An Extraordinary One-Volume Literary Education (which I think I will love).

          Due to good reviews, I picked up Among the Ten Thousand Things by Julia Pierpont (barely started) and My Struggle Book 1 by Karl Ove Knausgaard which is hard to categorize, but is a uniquely fascinating book. (I’m halfway through and plan on reading the other two books in this series. Includes many Insightful Asides.)

          Some of the books in my reading pile I discovered while simply browsing. These include A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit (full of Insightful Asides); The Bard on the Brain: Understanding the Mind Through the Art of Shakespeare and the Science of Brain Imaging by Paul M. Matthews, MD, and Jeffrey McQuain, PhD, with a Foreword by Diane Ackerman (she is one of my must read authors); and The Art of Crash Landing by Melissa DeCarlo. (The first paragraph made me laugh and the book contains Insightful Asides).

I also read books recommended by authors I like. The Essay: Old & New, by Edward P. J. Corbett and Sheryl L. Finkle, was a recommendation from William Cane in his book Fiction Writing Master Class (post dated 9/7/15).

What are you reading?

Reads for Writers: Kinder Than Solitude by Yiyun Li Provides a Masterclass

From Kate’s Writing Crate…

As a reader, I always love finding books that appeal to me. As a writer, I am twice as pleased when the authors also provide masterclasses within their books.

            Masterclasses take place when performance artists and musicians work one-on-one with students. Writers don’t generally have this option, but I have found some books to be masterclasses for characters, backstories, plots, settings, voice and/or creativity.

First pages are usually the best written in a book—highly polished and edited—so I always want to see if the author sustained that level throughout his or her book.

When I’m in a bookstore, I pick up books and flip through them stopping at random pages to see if the writing style grabs my attention. I only read a sentence or two, not many words to convince me to buy in, but if the author is good, they are enough.

When I’m viewing books online, I can’t do that as only the first pages are available. To be honest, I’m more disappointed in the books I buy this way when I know nothing about the author. However, while online I can view many more books than are in a bookstore so I discover more gems this way.

The latest gem I’ve read is Kinder Than Solitude by Yiyun Li. Her book caught my eye as I looked for something new to read online. I loved the title.

I opened to the first pages and read the first paragraph. Based on that paragraph alone, I decided to buy her book. I also knew if the book lived up to that paragraph, I would use it as the basis for a masterclass post. I’ve never made this decision based on 93 words before, but Li captured the absurdness of human nature during one the most solemn of occasions. She made me think and she made me laugh.

Read the same paragraph for yourselves. If it appeals to you, read the rest of Li’s book. Her insights into human nature keep coming—fresh, true, eye-opening, and heartbreaking.

The plot of the book is sparse: The four main characters grow up in China, but, after a slightly mysterious tragedy, two relocate to America. It’s the author’s voice and the creativity of her insights that made this a masterclass for me. Here are a few examples:

…believing, like most people, in a moment called later. Safely removed, later promises possibilities: changes, solutions, rewards, happiness, all too distant to be real, yet real enough to offer relief from the claustrophobic cocoon of now.  (page 33)

She had never been much of a reader of fiction before, but these [Russian or French] novels, whose characters bore long and unmemorable names had comforted her: even the most complicated stories offered a clarity that she could not find in the world around her…  (page 134)

No, solitude she did not have; what she had was a never-ending quarantine.  (page 229)

While these and many other lines appealed to me, I especially loved the phrase claustrophobic cocoon of now—four words that capture life when difficult perfectly.

Solitude a never-ending quarantine? I never considered solitude any kind of quarantine, but it is whether imposed or chosen.

The clarity of Yiyun Li's insights is why I recommend writers read Kinder Than Solitude. It’s also why I’ll read the rest of her books.