« And What Have I Been Doing Lately | Main Index | THE SKY POPPED AND MANNA STARTED FALLING »
May 14, 2006
How this Novelist Overcame Inertia, Lay on the Train Tracks, and waited for Godot
Yesterday, I had one of those perfect writing days. No one in the house. No car available to perform any quotidien duties. I had spent the previous few days working on some short stories so there was the usual writer's blank page business where I moved words around for a while. However, the fact that it was a perfect writing day, plus my recent splurge on music CDs to listen to while writing, saved my bacon.
Here are my music choices:
Depth of Silence, Orchestral Music by Samei Satoh
Anouar Brahem, Le Voyage de Sahar
SMADJ - take it and drive
Totally different all of them. I am finding myself choosing dark and quiet music in some of my work days, like the Satoh.
And now for some great reads and clickables from the most talented writer friends:
Kim Chinquee's story Formation from NOON has been selected for inclusion in this years Pushcart. Yes!
Pia Ehrhardt is finally gettting her gorgeous writing out to a bookstore near you. From Publisher's Marketplace: 2005 Narrative Magazine Prize-winner Pia Z. Ehrhardt's debut short story collection FAMOUS FATHERS and novel SPEEDING IN THE DRIVEWAY, to Karan Mahajan at MacAdam/Cage, for two books, by PJ Mark at McCormick & Williams Literary Agency. Yes!
Also in New York: Peter Carey, Roy Kesey, Wesley Stace read at KGB Sun. May 14 @ 7 PM - Free!
Roy's debut novel, Nothing in the World, from Bullfight Media in June this year. Buy it and read!
My Escalate, Kim Chinquee's Skittles and Down the Road and Claudia Smith's Swallow and Liesl Jobson' Litter Bugs in snow*vigate.
And I'm not sure how it all works and where they are going to be... but a whole lot of my writer friends in the US are turning up in New York and will be reading from their work! I think they are at the KGB on Monday night; Sue Henderson, Lindsay Hunteer, Todd Zuniga, Grant Bailie, Jeff Landon, Darlin Neal, Kim Chinquee, Claudia Smith, Gail Siegel, Dave Fromm, Tiff Holland?, Pasha Malla, Pia Ehrdhart and Kevin Dolgin... have I left anyone out?
Roy Kesey's reading is going to be at the same place on Sunday (Hope I've got it right!)
KGB Sunday Night Fiction Reading Series
KGB Bar 85 East 4th. St. - 7 PM - Free!
More News: Darlin Neil's wonderful story in the Mississipi Review, XEROC 80, Juarez, Mexico.
In GAMBARA, Avital Gad Cykman's Drawing light, and Kim Chinquee's We Got Reservations and Pole.
More stuff discovered while surfing the net:
Matthew Clam's short fiction in the New Yorker. Interesting structure. Weird title. By the way, the link to the story only works for this week.
Other tidbits about the writing life of some novelists, in the news lately.
In an article in The Age, a snippet of Phillip Roths writing life as he talks about his recent novel, Everyman:
Quoted from the article:
I write the piece from beginning to end," he says, explaining how he works, in drafts, enlarging it from within, "which means I tend not to work by adding on. I have the story, and what I find I need to develop is stuff within the story that gives it the punch, that thickens the interest."When Roth reaches a point where he can do no more work, he takes the manuscript to three or four early readers, whom he does not name.
"And then I'll go and sit down with them for three or four hours, however long it takes, and listen to what they have to say. For much of it I don't say anything. Whatever they say is useful. Because what I'm getting is somebody else's language about my book. That's what's useful. What they do is break the book open, they shatter it, and I can go back in for one last attack."
Another interesting article in the same paper on John Banville, a bit political about the choice of The Sea for the Booker prize. This was brought to my attention by John Bartlett from my novel group.
After reading this, I am keen to have another attempt at reading The Sea which I had put aside some months ago. Banville says, again quoted from the article:
Writing fiction, Banville says, is like trying to write a dream."At least, that is the kind of fiction I write.
"You are saying to yourself, I am going to take this dream I have in my head and find the language for it, find how to put it into words. That is fiction; and the only analogy I can think of for it is the dream."
When we dream, says Banville, we dream the most fantastic, complex things. This is what he wants his fiction to be.
In another kind of news, here's an interesting article on Soft Skull Press where I read with interest that Delia Falconer's fabulous novel, The Lost Thoughts of Soldiers, is going make its way in the US. Also noted is the publisher's 'focus on breaking-out women authors'.
What an inspirational story of Serendipity and Persistence, Phillip Beard's road to publication at Viking, link provided by Mary Lynn Reed.
More reading:
An interview with Roy Kesey on Satori Kick about his soon to be released book. Scroll down to the Thursday, May 4th entry.
Richard Lewis, fellow Zoetroper, getting his novel Flame Tree to publishing fortune and film rights. Read his blog Novelist In Paradise.
And what do you think of this LIST titled What Is the Best Work of American Fiction of the Last 25 Years? Cormac McCarthy I read and admired some years ago. Raymond Carver, yes of course. Nothing new about this list?
Posted by girija at May 14, 2006 11:59 AM