Sunday, July 24, 2011

a double-dip Sunday

From the NY Times Review of Books:

"A book itself threatens to kill its author repeatedly during its composition,” Michael Chabon writes in the margins of his unfinished novel “Fountain City” — a novel, he adds, that he could feel “erasing me, breaking me down, burying me alive, drowning me, kicking me down the stairs.” 

Yes, oh yes . . . too many distractions, too many overnight guests, too many 104-degree days to write convincingly. My WIP buried me alive and stomped on my shallow grave over the past few days.


On a totally different subject, here's what I'm missing by spending the summer in New England instead of the Bahamas. My friend and neighbor Marjolein (Abaco Artist) posted this on her blog. It's the sea out in front of our houses at Great Cistern. Oh, to be in a kayak . . .





Sunday, July 17, 2011

quote for the day

Plutocracy too long tolerated leaves democracy on the auction block, subject to the highest bidder ~ Bill Moyers

 Politics has gotten awfully messy this week. Moyers has a way of cutting to the chase.

Friday, July 8, 2011

back from NYC

Back from ThrillerFest and SO delighted that I can hang around in my fuzzy robe and listen to birdsong over the marsh today

The highlight of the program was Ken Follett’s talk on Thursday morning. He was everything a good speaker should be: well-organized, clear, informative, and gently self-deprecating. He made a delightful contrast to some of the rather large egos wandering the halls.

But the absolute best part of ThrillerFest was the chance to talk to other writers. I keep saying that one of the reasons I love writing is that I really love solitude. I prefer sitting alone with my laptop and a story in my head to just about anything else. Just about. I guess it is nice to put on earrings and a nice dress occasionally, and it was wonderful to make new friends.

I garnered seven requests for material from the agent pitch sessions. And one very honest “I’m fried and have no idea if your project is right for me. Send me a query with ThrillerFest on the subject line. I need a Tylenol.” Me, too.

I’ll get back to work tomorrow, okay?