The Writing Life Too
Like fiction, music is an art that exists in time. Like fiction, music is always promising an imminent conclusion and then introducing complications. Like fiction, music can be plain to the point of plainsong or intricate as counterpoint, and both extremes can be satisfying. ~ Edmund White
Skies are overcast and the morning is deliciously cool. I’m working on my July newsletter which I’m behind in mailing out. The reason it’s late is that I didn’t have a clear enough idea of what I wanted to say in my column and I haven’t been out walking much lately because I’ve had back problems. I swear writing requires walking in order for ideas to simmer to the surface, for the senses to be stirred. In fact, I get my best ideas while walking and often recommend that all writers walk daily. Of course I’m not alone in dispensing this advice. I’ve learned that Beethoven came up with his inspirations while walking around Vienna—a daily practice no matter the weather. So I’m getting back into my routine…and I confess miss spying on my neighbor’s gardens and daydreaming about lives I encounter along the way.
Mike Klassen is a writer who contributes to Helium.com and Wikipedia. He recently posted three new articles to Helium.com and quoted info from
Between the Lines.
The article addresses are:
http://www.helium.com/items/1458731-transition-transitions-fiction-fiction-writing-fiction-writing-mode-fiction-writing-mode
http://www.helium.com/items/1460904-transition-transitions-punctuation-fiction-writing-fiction-writing-fiction-writing
http://www.helium.com/items/1460910-transition-transitions-mechanics-how-to-fiction-writing-fiction-writing-fiction-writing
This just arrived in my in-box so I thought I'd pass it along.
ANNOUNCING CALYX BOOKS FIRST POETRY BOOK CONTEST
FOR OREGON WOMEN POETS!
THE SARAH LANTZ MEMORIAL POETRY BOOK PRIZE
The first CALYX Books Poetry Book Prize in memory of Oregon poet Sarah Lantz will accept unpublished book length poetry manuscripts (75-125 pages) for consideration from Oregon women poets.
Submission period is September 1-31, 2009.
Send a complete unpublished book manuscript (75-125 pages) with biographical data and a $25 entry fee (payable in check or money order) to CALYX Poetry Book Prize, PO Box B, Corvallis, OR 97339.
Manuscripts will be read blind—do not put your name and address on any pages, only on a separate cover letter. Final judge for the poetry book contest will be announced in July 2009. CALYX editors will read and select up to 10-15 finalists to send to the final judge who will select the prize winning manuscript. It is possible the judge could decide not to select a winner. The winning manuscript will be announced in February 2010.
Prize: The winner will receive a CALYX Books contract for publication of the manuscript in Fall 2010 and a $500 award.
Sarah Lantz was an Oregon poet whose first book, Far Beyond Triage, was published in October 2007 by CALYX Books. Sadly Sarah died from a brain tumor one month before its publication. CALYX editors worked closely with her through her illness to ensure her happiness with the final design of her book. Sarah was published by CALYX Journal, The Denver Quarterly, The Marlboro Review, Paris Atlantic, Manzanita Quarterly, Margie, and Sister Stew, among others. A secondary school teacher she also taught Poetry in the Schools in Oregon (through Literary Arts) and in Hawaii (through an NEA grant). She received her MFA from Warren Wilson College and was a member of the Pearl Poets (Portland, OR).
See website—www.calyxpress.org—for complete guidelines
The sky is gloomy as a graveyard this morning. July has been ushered in with a blaze of heat, so last night as I was heading out to my book group, was grateful to see clouds moving in. The temperatures are supposed to be in the high 60s today and I cannot express how relieved I am that the latest heat wave is over.
I hope you all had a lovely Fourth— I’ve heard that the winner of the Nathan’s Famous International July Fourth Hotdog Eating Contest was Joey Chestnut, the defending champion. He won by eating 68 hot dogs and buns in 10 minutes, 3 1/2 more than Takeru Kobayashi of Japan, his arch-rival. It was a new world record. Do you ever wonder how people first become interested in these eating contests? I mean, Coney Island seems the perfect venue (and there 40,000 people gathered to watch the contest), but Chesnut is described as a “professional eater” so does a disposition toward this occupation begin in childhood? I wonder too did the dogs come with mustard and ketchup?
By the way, our book club read
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga a novel I highly recommend, especially if you’re interested in a glimpse of the changing values and economy of India. It won the Man Booker prize and is a confession by the narrator, anti-hero Balram Halwai, the son of a rickshaw driver. The format is a series of letters to the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao because he wants to introduce the entrepreneurial spirit of the new India to the premier.
According to the author: “The narrator is lying in his small room in Bangalore in the middle of the night, talking out aloud about the story of his life. It's a story he can never tell anyone-because it involves murder-in real life; now he tells it when no one is around. Like all Indians, who are obsessed (a colonial legacy, probably) with the outsider's gaze, he is stimulated to think about his country and society by the imminent arrival of a foreigner, and an important one. So he talks about himself and his country in the solitude of his room.”
The tale he spins of his rise from tea house employee to business owner is woven with barbed wit, irony, and insight into the realities of poverty. In fact, it’s about the opposite of the sentimental, romanticized version of poverty that captivated Westerners in
Slumdog Millionaire. Instead the story depicts how a rise out of poverty is possible in modern India by means of patronage and corruption. And it has the most unusual use of ‘beak’ that I have ever read—trying to figure out how to use it in my writing……
Labels: The White Tiger
Dusk is approaching and I’ve just come in from my patio because the light is fading. For the past few hours a strong west wind has been whipping through here and tomorrow a heat wave is coming and I’m trying to ignore this horror about to descend. For years now I’ve been advising writers to use J. I. Rodale's
Synonym Finder—a marvelous writing tool. This is my third copy and it’s battered, nearly ready for replacement. I’ve been working on a manuscript on and off these past few days, trying to find language that is more suited to an author’s story (it’s set in 1901).
The Synonym Finder contains more words than any of it’s kind—more than 1,500,000 and I cannot work without it.
But today for the first time I read the introduction that Laurence Urdang, wrote in 1978.
Introduction: "Those who work with language know that there is no such thing as a true "synonym." Even though the meanings of the two words may be the same--or nearly so--there are three characteristics of words that almost never coincide: frequency, distribution, and connotation.
Pathnera leo and
lion,
cucubit and
squash,
sodium carbonate and
washing soda have quite different frequencies in English. We all know that a
house is not a
home, that not all
women are
ladies, that not all
men are
gentlemen; at a more subtle level, we soon learn the differences between
motherly and
maternal,
fatherly and
paternal,
brotherly and
fraternal. These are connotative differences.
It is a curiosity of English that it continuously acquires words from other languages to expand its lexicon. Observers have often noted that even if a new coinage or a loanword from another language starts out with "exactly" the same meaning as an existing word in English, the meanings begin to drift apart before very long, one acquiring quite different frequency, distribution, and connotation from the other. An incredible fact about English is that it retains many of the words developed in its lexicon. Some word do become obsolete and are dropped forever. Most, however, remain and develop nuances that expand for the writer and speaker the opportunities for expression and expressiveness."
Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it, and above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light. Joseph Pulitzer
It was in the 80s here today and I don't want to sound like a sissy-pants but it felt like the Sahara. Need to adapt I told myself as I wrung sweat from my hair, or maybe cut my hair off.....
What are you reading these days?
FROM National Public RadioVote For The Best Beach Books Of All Time
NPR.org, June 18, 2009 · NPR is drawing up a list of the best beach books ever — and we need you to help by nominating your favorites.
What do we mean by "beach books"? When you read one, your surroundings recede, time bends and you're transported, mesmerized, enthralled. These are page turners to be sure, but that doesn't mean they're brainless. This year's list will be fiction only; any genre, any period.
To send us your summer suggestions, log in and use the
comments field below. Limit yourself to three titles per post. If you like, give a sentence or two telling us about the experience of reading your best beach books.
Later, we'll post the most popular and interesting nominees and let the NPR audience vote on the ultimate list — because, like novels passing hand-to-hand in a summer house, great summer books should be shared with friends.
Labels: Vote for Beach Books
