New Inspiration

So today my friend Pam read the blog, and wrote to tell me that she was born in Seoul, and described the street food vendors, for whom corn on the cob was a regular offering.  And just like that, I have a thread with which I can work to weave out the story about the woman on the T.  Thank you, Pam!

Stay tuned for a character sketch about this scene. 

This was such an exciting development:  I was devoid of any inspiration at all yesterday, and now...a long-dormant image has information that can bring it to life.  Thrilling!

Books on Writing

I seem to have a hoarding problem:  I collect books about writing.  Many, many of them.  And how many have I read in their entirety?  Oh, I would guess about one-fifth of the collection.  I seem to believe that just having them on my shelf, the spines of the books watching me as I sleep, will somehow imbue me with inspiration, inculcate me with ideas, provide me with capacity to produce pages and pages...maybe instead of working on a novel, I should be writing about writing!  At least I would buy my book, in that event!  I've even gazed titles at bookstores, picked them up, flipped through them, gotten halfway to the register, and realized, 'Oh.  Wait.  I have this one.'

What's prompted this confession?  The new addition I received today, "Making a Literary Life" by Carolyn See.  But this was a legitimate purchase!  It was recommended to me by my PUBLISHED AUTHOR friend Judith Jaeger ("The Secret Thief".  Read it.)  And, I used a gift card, so...

I hope that the A&E network doesn't find about this and create a new series, 'Hoarders Of Books About What They Should Be Doing Instead of Just Collecting Books About Writing'. 

How Do People Come Up With These Things?

One of the things that makes me terribly envious are writers who are able to come up with very unique means of telling their stories.  I am one of those first-person narrators, story told chronologically, sort of writers.  A bit vanilla.  But some people are so clever with the ways they tell their tales.  Right now I am reading 'The Book Thief', which uses death as the narrator, and has all kinds of funny breaks in the action to do asides to the reader.  When it's done badly, it's just annoying, but when it's done well, it makes the book unforgettable.


What about you, readers:  Any favorite alterntative tales out there? 

I've Always Wanted To Write About...

True story: many years ago, when I was still living in Boston, I was taking the T to work one morning, and there was a Korean woman, probably in her 50's, sitting in a seat facing me.  She opened her purse, and removed a Ziploc bag.  The next thing I knew, she had opened the Ziploc bag, and was eating a piece of corn on the cob.  Corn on the cob, on a train, for breakfast.  I've always wanted to fold that into a story somewhere, but it seems completely contrived.  Unless I write a piece that's entirely about this woman, and what I perceive the rest of her life to be like.

Corn on the cob, on the train, for breakfast.  Who knew?

Musings from a First-Timer

About ten years after it was fashionable, I am entering the blog-iverse. Why now? Why not, I suppose. I want to be more serious about my writing in general, and perhaps a mini-audience (I'm pretty sure my dad will read this...) will keep me inspired, give me a testing ground, and be a reminder that I need to keep working.

What will I talk about? Everything, I imagine. I'll try to keep the dog stories to a minimum, and focus instead on literature and writing. Of course, I could post the dog stories in story-form, which would make them literary. I'm just sayin'.

Why would anyone care? Sometimes I am terribly funny. And, my dad likes me, so I'm pretty sure he'll care just because he's my dad...right, Dad?

And yes, the blog title is from Truman Capote's breakthrough book. Extra points if you got that.

We'll see how it goes. Suggestions welcome.