I just finished reading The World Within (Tin House Books), which includes interviews with several writers. A couple of the writers’ more pithy comments:
Claribel Alegria on writing and submitting a book manuscript: “You put it in a bottle and cork it and throw it out to sea for whoever finds it.”
Ken Kesey: “My dad told me a great thing. You never outgrow your need for compliments. And every writer needs to be stroked a little bit. It keeps us writing.”
I just finished reading Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods, a humorous account of the author’s adventures while hiking the Appalachian Trail. The book includes some history and ecology, as well. A fine example of immersion journalism (in which the reporter takes part in the event he’s writing about), the narrative is both entertaining and informative.
What outdoor adventure have you gone on that you could write about? What story could you tell that an armchair traveler would enjoy?
Click below to read an interesting New York Times article on testing for creativity:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/08/books/08creative.html?pagewanted=1&ref=books
One thing I enjoyed about Alexander McCall Smith’s light-hearted private-eye novel The Kalahari Typing School for Men is how well Smith conveyed the culture of Africa, everything from the formal style with which the locals address each other to how business arrangements are based on personal relationships.
What towns have you lived in? Would any of them make an interesting setting for a private-eye novel? What cultural aspects of that town could you use to create a sense of place?
The difficult part of creating art is not painting an accurate representation of the subject — almost anyone can do that with practice — but communicating how you feel about the subject matter. That goes for writing novels just as it does for painting or creating sculptures. Working in close connection with one’s imagination, and creating out of that connection, takes time and effort. It needs nurturing. It is crucial to be writing or painting about a subject that has some deep emotional significance to the author or painter.
— Roderick W. MacIver
I just finished reading Julia Child’s My Life in France. Talk about joie de vivre. Talk about chafing at the conventional bit. In her memoir, which she wrote with her grandnephew Alex Prud’Homme, Child tells how she first fell in love with France and French cooking. Written by the loud, six-foot-two-inch chef who went on to become the star of public television’s “The French Chef” and the author of Mastering the Art of French Cooking (which she wrote with Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck) My Life in France reveals one woman’s passion for life.
Nancy Woods 