writing « make my day.

From the Black Hole

November 30th, 2009 § 4 Comments

Did you think I died? The truth is, very nearly. I’ve actually been participating in NaNoWriMo, where you give over your life to literary abandon and write 50,000 words worth of a novel in one month. Guess where I’m at? 47,000 words, at 12:35 pm on November 30. After the last 3,000 words, I promise I will resume regular posting over here. The whole NaNo experience has been really fun, rewarding, and at times difficult. I wrote about something rather close to home, and sometimes it was a bit painful to relive. But! I am rather proud of myself for having completed such a large piece of work, and I’m looking forward to the editing (that is, after I finish the first draft…during this month the unhappy conclusion dawned on me that 50,000 isn’t quite a full novel. Rather, it’s more like half of one. So more writing remains in my future. Though I feel like I have a good idea of where the plot is going, and I’ve done a bit of outlined paragraphs that I can go back and fill in later.) Anyway! I think I’m going to get some lunch and empty my head with some television. Then it’s back at it so I can finish on time!

NaNoWriMo

October 23rd, 2009 § Leave a Comment

Anyone else doing NaNo? Holy crap, I just looked at the permalink above and realized it was October 23, which means we have just a week left to plot and outline and in general gird our loins before this crazy adventure begins. To be honest, I am a little freaked out. I am still going back and forth between writing what has been tugging at me for a while…something a bit closer to home, which will surely be goopy, hastily written trash, but might be therapeutic to get on paper…and something (yet to be imagined) that is very far off that would allow me to get into a stranger’s head for a while. Thoughts? Anyone else in this predicament? And anyone blogging their novel? I think I have decided against it, but I would love to read others’ projects throughout the month as inspiration–especially literary fiction pieces.

Hooray! I just found out a dear, dear friend has decided to do NaNo this year as well! Okay, maybe I can do this. As a last resort, I will be competitive enough to whip out the word count to avoid shame. Always a good motivation, no?

Back to outlining!

A Moveable Feast

October 8th, 2009 § 2 Comments

Just a quick update to say I finished A Moveable Feast, Hemingway’s memoir of his time in Paris during the 1920s. While it did offer splendid portraits about life in Paris, I think I enjoyed more his interactions with Gertrude Stein (don’t think I’ve ever read anything of hers…) and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Also his life as a writer…I took many notes and was somewhat reassured that Hemingway wrote the first draft of The Sun Also Rises in just six weeks. This gives me a bit of hope that you can edit the crap out of hastily written draft, say, written during NaNo, so that you end up with some semblance of a respectable novel. I have been taking notes and outlining plot and characters before it starts in November, but I still have a lot to do. I am hopeful, though, that I can get this project off the ground this year (as opposed to last year’s complete failure…I had no plan and I don’t think I got more than a diary entry out of the whole venture). Which will be good as after the marathon I will need something to do so I don’t go crazy.

Currently reading The Stranger by Albert Camus, which I like. Got very busy yesterday so I hopefully I can finish it today or tomorrow. We’ll see.

The Sun Also Rises

September 28th, 2009 § 2 Comments

This weekend I read The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. I think this was my first novel by Hemingway; I had read other short stories by him that I enjoyed. At first I was really taken aback by his writing style. I am used to reading long, poetic, meaty sentences—and this Hemingway is not. He uses a direct voice that is simple, everyday, and focused on moving the plot along. But he also does quite a bit of foreshadowing, and I just love how he hints at the way he is feeling first, and then bounds into the exposing dialogue. It’s light and airy and nice. Most of the story takes place in Spain, which has a very special place in my heart, and much of the action revolves around the San Fermin festival is going on, so I also got to experience my own memories of La Merce in Barcelona. At the end I was left a bit disappointed, but looking back on it, there was only one way for it to end. So I enjoyed it and look forward to my next Hemingway novel (though if you enjoy short stories, I’ve always found A Clean, Well-lighted Place to be a good one).

In TSAR, the characters are originally from Paris, and what with several blog friends visiting Paris and general feeling of wanderlust, I must also share with you this fantastic website that I hope to use in the future, called a Haven in Paris. Basically it is a catalog of houses and apartments that they own that you can rent while you are in Paris, Tuscany, or Montmarte. It is definitely more money than a hostel (my mode of choice thus far), but definitely less expensive than a hotel and you also have the ability to make your own meals. I cannot wait to try. And as I’m daydreaming, wouldn’t that just be a beautiful way to live, operating a fleet of beautiful spaces for people to come enjoy and fall in love with your city? I think so.

ANYway, I’ve decided not to be a lump on the couch today, so after a shower and a meal, I’m going out to explore some things in DC for the day, and perhaps also getting some writing in. Visiting the National Book Festival has inspired me again…but more on that later.

Looks

February 15th, 2009 § Leave a Comment

Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine’s Day! I had a nice lazy day filled with blueberry pancakes, thick bacon, writing, reading, and the apartment all to myself–a pretty good day all around! Yesterday I started and finished Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, which I really enjoyed. It is a very easy read and has inspired me to put some structure to my writing (almost nonexistent for a long while), instead of giving myself such a daunting goal of writing a novel someday. So I’m going to take the same approach as I did with the marathon and write a little bit every day (I started yesterday) and see what ideas I come up with. Then I’ll start bringing those together and hopefully work on a real project. So far it is fun! And I really like what she says–that writing is all about telling the truth. That was something I needed to hear because when I was a teenager I think I used writing to lie about my life and wallow in drama. Before I knew it I actually believed that some of those things were happening to me! It is much more freeing to be the scribe, bound to tell the truth, but also empowered to show my personal point of view. So yes, we’ll see I’m also reading The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society which is an enjoyable piece of fluff, if you like literary references and books written as a collection of letters. I needed something light after East of Eden and so far it is exactly what I was looking for.