by Laurissa
As a young girl summer vacation was full of endless possibilities. I didn’t keep track of the days, and I tried my hardest to never have to see the school during the summer months (out of sight, out of mind). I was one of six children, and my parents didn’t have the time to transport us or the money to enroll us in summer activities, so instead we amused ourselves.
My favorite summer pastime was sitting on the front porch glider reading. Through my books, I went on many vacations each summer, even though I can only recall taking two actual vacations during my childhood: Washington, D.C., and Greenfield Village, Dearborn, MI.
During the evening hours we’d run around catching lightning bugs and playing games of tag, including something we called “statue.” I remember it involved swinging another child around in circles by their arms and letting go; in whatever position they were in when they stopped, they’d have to “freeze” until they were tagged and allowed to move. At least, I think that’s how we played it. It was a few years ago!
A foodie at heart, my favorite summer meal was an open-faced tomato, mayo and American cheese sandwich, which was melted under the broiler, accompanied by corn-on-the-cob, slathered with butter and sprinkled with salt, watermelon for dessert and maybe a popsicle or ice cream cone as a nighttime snack.
To this day if I could have a “perfect” summer day, it would be just like the ones I experienced as a child.
What's your idea of a perfect summer day?
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label reading. Show all posts
Friday, July 09, 2010
Monday, March 08, 2010
BUILDING A BOOK
by Gina Sestak
This month, we're focusing on the best writing advice we've received. I have received so much good writing advice that it's hard to know what to repeat here, so I decided to start with the most basic advice to writers: Read. Read the kind of book you're working on. Read other kinds of books. Read magazine articles. Read poetry. Read short stories. Read the ingredients on the ketchup label. Read everything.
Reading as a writer differs from reading for pleasure, although it can still be fun. When we read for pleasure, we want to be entertained. We ask, "Why did that character do that?" or "What will happen next?" When we read as writers, we ask, "How did the writer do this -- create the scene, engage my interest, make the character come to life?" It's a lot like looking at houses.
When we look at houses for pleasure, we may think, "What pretty wallpaper." When we are considering building a house ourselves, however, we need to know about those things that run behind the walls, the pipes and wires and ducts without which the house would be only a non-functional shell. We need to know how to use tools.
We need to know how to make a thin brick wall stay upright and where to place the lathes. We need to become familiar with dry wall and spackle, pvc and switchplates. We need to learn how to build a firm foundation that will support the structure, and to install a basement that won't leak. We need to pick the right small things, the nails and bolts and nuts, and to place them just exactly right.
Writing a book is similar. One page of pretty paper will not be enough. We have to understand how to intermesh plot and character to form the strong supporting structure, and to allow our characters to change and grow. We have to learn the arcane rules of grammar and spelling. We have to broaden our vocabularies so the perfect word will be there when we need it. We have to understand the tools of our trade, the pen and the paper and the word processing software. We have to know how to find information on the internet or in the library. We have to eavesdrop on ordinary conversations to learn how people express themselves. We have to immerse ourselves in real-life experiences to give our characters authenticity.
We have to build a book the way we would build a house. Brick by brick and word by word.
This month, we're focusing on the best writing advice we've received. I have received so much good writing advice that it's hard to know what to repeat here, so I decided to start with the most basic advice to writers: Read. Read the kind of book you're working on. Read other kinds of books. Read magazine articles. Read poetry. Read short stories. Read the ingredients on the ketchup label. Read everything.
Reading as a writer differs from reading for pleasure, although it can still be fun. When we read for pleasure, we want to be entertained. We ask, "Why did that character do that?" or "What will happen next?" When we read as writers, we ask, "How did the writer do this -- create the scene, engage my interest, make the character come to life?" It's a lot like looking at houses.
When we look at houses for pleasure, we may think, "What pretty wallpaper." When we are considering building a house ourselves, however, we need to know about those things that run behind the walls, the pipes and wires and ducts without which the house would be only a non-functional shell. We need to know how to use tools.
Writing a book is similar. One page of pretty paper will not be enough. We have to understand how to intermesh plot and character to form the strong supporting structure, and to allow our characters to change and grow. We have to learn the arcane rules of grammar and spelling. We have to broaden our vocabularies so the perfect word will be there when we need it. We have to understand the tools of our trade, the pen and the paper and the word processing software. We have to know how to find information on the internet or in the library. We have to eavesdrop on ordinary conversations to learn how people express themselves. We have to immerse ourselves in real-life experiences to give our characters authenticity.
We have to build a book the way we would build a house. Brick by brick and word by word.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Reader Lost
Felicia Donovan is the author of THE BLACK WIDOW AGENCY series of mysteries featuring four raucously funny gals who use computer forensics and women’s intuition to help other women. SPUN TALES – A BLACK WIDOW AGENCY MYSTERY, will be released in July, ’08 from Midnight Ink Books where the girls will again, fight chocolate cravings, hot flashes, and people bearing ill will.
Two books published, one book ready to go to the publisher, two more in progress. Not a bad run for the last three years. Of course, that comes after a lifetime of dabbling none too seriously in writing and thinking how nice it would be to get published. Good stuff happens and sometimes it happens literally, overnight. I’m thrilled that THE BLACK WIDOW AGENCY series is doing so well. What a kick it was when just the other day, a friend recounted that she was on a bus to the airport and saw someone across the aisle reading BWA.
Ah, this writing life… We spin words, create new worlds. We twist endings and create characters that are charitable, dastardly, devious, heinous. It’s exhilarating. It’s exhausting. And it takes an awful lot of time…
I never quite realized just how much time it would take between writing, editing, marketing, more marketing, signings, even more marketing, and trying to always keep a work or two “in progress.”
When life forces a schedule where you have about an hour a day to dedicate freely to your craft and you’re trying to keep on a schedule of at least one book a year (if not more), finding time to read is one of the first pleasures to go. It’s not that I don’t have books to read. I have plenty. I just don’t have the time and that’s not a good thing. The day job is very demanding. Life is demanding. Family, dogs and house are demanding, but I think I’ve done a pretty good job of keeping my priorities straight – family first, everything else second.
Mind you, I love to read. I grew up in a household of voracious readers in which books were considered as necessary as the linens on the beds. Like most writers, books hold a special emotional appeal. They take me to places I’ve never been, evoke feelings I’ve never had, remind me of the existence of good and evil and the struggles of humanity. They make me laugh with tears, cry with tears and stimulate my brain into existential realms, flights of fantasy, murderous mysteries.
But now I find myself in the strange dilemma of not having time to read and that bothers me…a LOT.
Last year, I tried to make amends by taking a “book-a-day” vacation. Every single day I had off, I read a new book. My mind was refueled, restocked, replenished – but I didn’t get much writing time in and one week later, it was back to the old grind.
For a while, I took advantage of audiobooks and listened to some wonderful stories while driving, cleaning the house, working out, but even that seems to interfere with the time that I’m usually plotting and thinking about a story idea.
Surely I can’t be the only author facing this situation. Does your writing life interfere with your reading life? Do you find yourself torn between the paperback lying on top of the TBR pile and the laptop waiting to be turned on? Does your TBR pile spill out across the nightstand onto the floor collecting dust and fighting for attention? Is there nothing more frustrating than to have these literary carrots dangled in our faces and not have the time to chew on them?
Felicia is a recognized cybercrime and law enforcement technology expert who has assisted the FBI on cases involving child pedophiles. She has used computer forensics to recover deleted files from computers involved in cases. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, the International Association of Crime Writers, the New Hampshire Police Association and the International Association of Chiefs of police. She is also the founder of CLEAT (Communications, Law Enforcement and Technology).
Visit www.feliciadonovan.com or www.blackwidowagency.com for more information.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Thank you, short story writer
by Mike Crawmer
It’s been just over four months since I turned the big 6-0. Approaching that milestone filled me with dread, but I survived all the hoopla and those inevitable birthday cards with their lame jokes about digestive indiscretions and sexual functioning (or lack thereof).
When compared to most sexagenarians, I suspect I’m rather fortunate. I have most of my hair, and I can eat almost anything without worrying what it will do to my “system.” My eyeglass prescription hasn’t changed in 18 years and my doctor mutters in amazement at the vitality of my major organs.
As for getting out and about, I can’t recall the last time I bar-hopped til the 2 a.m. closing bell. But, as many of you know, I spend an inordinate amount of time bicycling. I think nothing of pedaling 25 miles on the city’s streets and trails after work. Then there are those weeklong vacations cycling 350 miles around the Finger Lakes.
Still, my never-very-good memory isn’t getting any better, and my knees are wont to complain a bit too much. Then there’s this recent problem with books: no matter how exciting or enthralling, fascinating or interesting, five, six, or ten pages is all I can manage before the eyelids droop, the book drops to my lap and the snoring begins. Sad but true: Reading puts me to sleep.
Back in the day I could devour even the most long-winded book (fiction, history, social or political commentary) in one, two or three settings. I conquered “Crime and Punishment” and “Anna Karenina” in no time, and during semester break one winter read the entire “Lord of the Rings” trilogy—all while working a full time job.
Not any more. Except, that is, for a good short story. I’ve been reading a lot of them lately, in Granta and in anthologies I’ve collected over the years. Bless the short-story writer for being able to create in a few thousand words a world populated by characters that are quirky or gutsy, foolish or brave, anguished or heroic, idiosyncratic or just weird, but almost always intriguing and, best of all, not sleep inducing.
Not all short stories leave me marveling at the writer’s mastery of his or her craft. Some are irritating or just plain self-indulgent. Some seem more experimental, almost like a game the writer is creating for his or her own amusement, like a Dennis Lehane story I read recently that was written in the second person. What seemed interesting and a bit provocative in the first few pages became tedious and irritating by the end.
Still, the short story can be a thing of beauty. Within a dozen or so pages the reader can fall into and out of unique world, remember all the characters and the plot (if there is one!) and the storyline. And not fall asleep (usually).
Until I find another “Bel Canto” (the last novel I couldn’t put down), I’ll pick up a short story for my fiction fix. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the restorative powers of the nap, but I really just want to read to the end of something without falling asleep first.
It’s been just over four months since I turned the big 6-0. Approaching that milestone filled me with dread, but I survived all the hoopla and those inevitable birthday cards with their lame jokes about digestive indiscretions and sexual functioning (or lack thereof).
When compared to most sexagenarians, I suspect I’m rather fortunate. I have most of my hair, and I can eat almost anything without worrying what it will do to my “system.” My eyeglass prescription hasn’t changed in 18 years and my doctor mutters in amazement at the vitality of my major organs.
As for getting out and about, I can’t recall the last time I bar-hopped til the 2 a.m. closing bell. But, as many of you know, I spend an inordinate amount of time bicycling. I think nothing of pedaling 25 miles on the city’s streets and trails after work. Then there are those weeklong vacations cycling 350 miles around the Finger Lakes.
Still, my never-very-good memory isn’t getting any better, and my knees are wont to complain a bit too much. Then there’s this recent problem with books: no matter how exciting or enthralling, fascinating or interesting, five, six, or ten pages is all I can manage before the eyelids droop, the book drops to my lap and the snoring begins. Sad but true: Reading puts me to sleep.
Back in the day I could devour even the most long-winded book (fiction, history, social or political commentary) in one, two or three settings. I conquered “Crime and Punishment” and “Anna Karenina” in no time, and during semester break one winter read the entire “Lord of the Rings” trilogy—all while working a full time job.
Not any more. Except, that is, for a good short story. I’ve been reading a lot of them lately, in Granta and in anthologies I’ve collected over the years. Bless the short-story writer for being able to create in a few thousand words a world populated by characters that are quirky or gutsy, foolish or brave, anguished or heroic, idiosyncratic or just weird, but almost always intriguing and, best of all, not sleep inducing.
Not all short stories leave me marveling at the writer’s mastery of his or her craft. Some are irritating or just plain self-indulgent. Some seem more experimental, almost like a game the writer is creating for his or her own amusement, like a Dennis Lehane story I read recently that was written in the second person. What seemed interesting and a bit provocative in the first few pages became tedious and irritating by the end.
Still, the short story can be a thing of beauty. Within a dozen or so pages the reader can fall into and out of unique world, remember all the characters and the plot (if there is one!) and the storyline. And not fall asleep (usually).
Until I find another “Bel Canto” (the last novel I couldn’t put down), I’ll pick up a short story for my fiction fix. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the restorative powers of the nap, but I really just want to read to the end of something without falling asleep first.
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