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December 20, 2006
PRE-XMAS IN MY BACKYARD
We don't celebrate so I am extra attuned to all the frantic activity. I am flat out in a different way. My oldest son worked a 96 hr week. I've been cooking meals for the workers at the commercial kitchen and when I get a chance, I escape to our wonderful cafe, Sustenance, at the corner of Brunswick and Johnston, taking my laptop with me. I seem to be working on about 4 stories at once... I think it has to do with all this floating around. When I am needed, I pop behind the counter and serve customers but I get decent chunks of time to write, looking past the photographs on the wall and the pot plants onto the busy street where I can see the Buddha from the cafe windows reflected on the passing trams. Every now and then, I get talking to people. Some great people walk in those doors. Some of them writers. Most often readers. And I promise to update my blog with recommendations. Which I am doing right now.
To start off, I'll point to an article in the Boston Glove by Sven Birkerts titled A book and its cover The work of fiction in the age of blockbuster publishing -- I love Sven's articles -- and I have mentioned this before when talking about the editorial intro to each Agni (he is the editor there).
Next: I've finally finished reading The O'Henry Prize Stories 2006. The first story, Old Boys and Old Girls by Edward P Jones is stunning. My sixteen year old started reading it and the book went missing -- I spent quite a while looking for it because I believed that I was the only one in this house who was in love with short fiction -- but it turned out that the anthology had taken off on a tram ride with my son. I loved almost all the stories in here. My favorites being the one already mentioned and Wolves by Susan Fromberg Schaeffer. The concept of David Lawrence Morse's Conceived, I discussed with a screenwriter I met in LA on my recent trip to the States. He was talking about a dream and how it might work as a story and off I went on my favorite subject. Now I am thinking, as I do, about the novels by these authors, The Known World (Jones), The Snow Fox (Schaeffer).
I am not sure what I am going to read next. I still haven't finished the fiction issue of The Atlantic Monthly that I bought when I was in New Orleans. Plus I will be finishing those stories I started. My microfiction does not seem to want to stay small. Pre-trip, it would take months before some of these would want to grow but not so at the moment.
In the meantime, tomorrow is going to be a scorcher and I suggested spearmint and apple juice tea for the cafe, with crushed ice. So I should probably make sure they've got supplies. And Glenn will be coming soon to drive the trailer to the Queen Vic Market for the summer festival there every Wednesday. I am not sure that I am going into town to write but my youngest wants to get to the bank and he wants to know if I'll pick him up from the movies. I told him that I headed home from the cafe at about 9.30 last night but today... I should manage to get more reading and a bit more writing together with the chores. And I promised my sister....
Posted by girija at December 20, 2006 10:13 PM