I have far too much going on, and now … the international news is devastating. A novelist by nature spins out horrific scenarios. It helps to curl up in a fictional world.
A few links to share …
• Coincidentally, I’m reading The War Reporter by my SMA and FB friend Martin Fletcher: set in Syria. It’s excellent: I recommend it. Martin has been an award-winning foreign correspondent in Middle East hotspots for much of his life: he knows whereof he speaks and he’s a fine writer.
• Mr. Darcy Strips off … It’s often difficult to find out what’s under those clothes, and even more difficult to find out how they’re put on … or how they come off. :-)
The Expedition Of Little Pickle; Or, The Pretty Plotter
He’s Always In The Way
Love And Madness. A Story Too True. In A Series Of Letters Between Parties Whose Names Would Perhaps Be Mentioned Were They Less Well Known Or Less Lamented
I took the photo at top decades ago. I was working at my desk (and yes, likely writing), and I looked up to see our Palomino Bailey looking in the window. Miraculously, I was able to get a photo.
(Every time I look at this shot, I think: she needs her forelock combed!)
I have joined an informal NaNoWriMo Facebook group which is helping me keep on track. Speaking of which …
YES, I should be writing.
Have a good week. Send healing thoughts out into this sad and far-too-violent world.
That’s a wonderful thought. There are times when I think I would do well simply to immerse myself in the work of Hilary Mantel, as well as the books she has found enlightening.
There are many video interviews of Hilary Mantel on YouTube. I love this one especially, where she talks about “opening up the past.”
The amazing “photo” at top is by Flóra Borsi. It expresses, for me, the depth of what one might learn by immersion in the work of someone like Hilary Mantel.
Last Tuesday morning there was a terrible tragedy in our peaceful part of the world: an enraged man, recently out on parole, sought out and murdered three of his former girlfriends. Our community is so small that everyone knows someone who knew one of the victims or even the killer. It is hard to comprehend such a loss … impossible to comprehend such rage.
It is also impossible to comprehend a “justice” system that allows a repeat violent offender out on parole without providing any protection whatsoever for the women he’d already abused and threatened.
There was a beautiful vigil for the three on Friday night: it helps to share tears with hundreds (and hundreds) of others.
I am officially Lost in Plot. Will I ever emerge? I’m not so sure! When I’m not puzzling, I’m painting, or weeding, or reading (Lila), or avoiding getting to taxes. :-(
Here is a painting I finished this week, inspired by a photo I saw on Facebook.
• I’ve been reading Marian Schembari’s blogs for some time. She has an honest vitality and sense of humour that is very engaging. I originally read her because she wrote very astutely about promotion and social media. Now I’ll read whatever she writes. I’m always happy to see a new post by her. Here’s a recent one: My recipe for $800 cupcakes.
We had little more excitement this week than we cared for!
{A cloudy NY offered wonderful photo opportunities. I especially enjoyed catching the suggestive night window dressing moment on the Highline.}
After a wonderful trip to NY to see our son, we arrived home in good time on Tuesday, only to be overwhelmed by the sickening smell of dead mouse wafting throughout the house. We quickly threw down our suitcases, opened all windows and doors and set five fans blowing.
Shortly after, the power went out (but not because of the fans), and shortly after that there was a terrifying series of extremely loud explosions. I found out what I do in such a case: I run in and out of the house trembling. (Handy to know: there’s an explosion in my next YA about Hortense.) We thought it must have been the meter, triggered somehow by our new electrical furnace.
It was 6:00 by this time. We were afraid to use our generator under the circumstances, so we set out all the candles and flashlights, the land-line telephone, and closed the windows and doors since we wouldn’t have heat for the night. By then we’d thought better of staying. Instead, we’d have a quick dinner while there was still light, then pack up and move to our cabin on a lake. It was in a state of disruption due to work being done on it, but at least it had electricity, toilets and a Net connection. Who knew how long we would be without power at the house? In the morning we would contact the furnace and electrical companies.
The next morning, the furnace turned out not to be the villain, but the dead mouse was found. (Yes!) Then the electricity crew came out. A transformer on the telephone pole 100 ft. from our house had exploded. Why, we don’t know. It had been a calm, cloudless day.
The power was going to be out at the house for some time, so we packed up more gear and returned to the cabin, where—groan—we discovered that the power had gone out due to a problem in a village some distance from us.
So: back to the house, having since learned that we could safely use the generator.
We returned to a house littered with open suitcases, dirty dishes, candles and fans—but blessedly odour-free.
That evening, however, a friend encountered a very large bear at the top of our driveway. I was waiting for her not 25 feet away.
TMI? I just had to share.
It’s a pleasure to get back to what might be considered Normal Life. However, there are two things I should put on my To Do List every day, for inevitably they have to be dealt with:
1 hour: puzzle out why Net/computer/software isn’t working.
½ hour: search for something I’ve misplaced.
Here was my To Do List for today:
1 hr. exercise
2 hrs. puzzle out plot
1 hr. Skype French lesson
chat with our son & daughter
½ hour weeding
1 hr. taxes
½ hr. watercolour painting
blog post
I am down to the last one: this blog post. It helps to wake at 4:00 with a compelling idea on how to tackle the plot revision. (More on that later.)
Links for Napoleonistas people with a sick sense of humour …
• Okay, this is a little sick: Napoleonistas as well as parents will be understandably offended by this account of how Napoleon died, as told by stinking drunk kids. (The Drunk History series is rather amusing.)
Links for Sun King enthusiasts …
• There has been quite a bit again this week on the Sun King because September 1st was the 300th anniversary of his death. Here is a big treat for you all: The King Who Invented Ballet, a wonderful BBC documentary on how Louis XIV invented ballet. At the end of the video is the ballet. Heavenly! (Note: if for some reason you can’t watch this video here, you can watch it on YouTube.)
Another whirlwind week. Is there any other kind? We’re leaving for NY today—a five-day visit with our son.
I’d told my editor and agent that I would have the revised first section of the WIP to them before I left, and I’ve been working toward that deadline.
Meeting a deadline—a commitment to send out—invariably entails many sleepless nights, which creates a certain frenetic heat. The creative cauldron, I think of it.
At the beginning of this period, I had lost faith the work and, worse, lost faith in my ability to write at all. Despair! As I worked on the MS, I was also composing, at the same time, a draft of a resignation letter.
In the heat of the cauldron, however, I began making big changes, revising the pages over and over again. By D-Day, the day to send—which was only the day before yesterday—I was, miraculously, actually pleased with the work.
And off it went, without that letter of resignation. I had gone from despair to elation in a matter of days.
• This post launches a wonderful Wallace Collection series on the Sun King.
One thing I always think about with respect to the Sun King’s death is how his wife, Madame Maintenon, left at the very end; she wasn’t by his side when he passed. This has been interpreted by some as heartlessness, but my feeling—entirely subjective—is that we don’t understand life without pain killers. The presence of loved ones can make it harder for the dying to “let go.” Leaving would be considered a mercy.
I’m posting this on Saturday, because I will be going to a watercolour workshop tomorrow, given by Joyce Burkholder.
I enjoy learning about brushes, paints and paper, colour and line. I’ve taken over a table at home, and poke away at a painting off and on all day, usually following an instruction video on YouTube. This is my latest, following this on-line lesson by Matt Palmer.
Painting is a lovely thing to do between spells of writing and research. For me, right now, it’s all about learning technique and how to use the tools. (And, I must say, learning patience, as well.) You can see all my paintings my website page.
I’ve been researching (and writing about) the daily routine at Hortense’s school in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. I was excited to discover Lettres de deux jeunes amis, which I took at face value, as letters between girls, one a student at Madame Campan’s second school in Ecouen. I was dismayed to learn that they’re fiction … yet written by Madame Campan, so in fact they are still of great value to me, because she would correctly describe how her school was run.
Too cool! AudioSparx is a music site for film-makers, but it’s free for writers, who only want to listen. Click mood upper right, and click on the emotion of the scene you wish to write. (Ignore the occasional “review” word popping up.)
I just clicked on “Canned Monkeys” track in Hectic, but soon I’ll be switching to something in Confrontational as I prepare to write a scene in the WIP. This is fun, but it is also seriously effective.
Links for perpetual students …
• Readers of this blog know that I’m a Coursera enthusiast. I’ve just signed up for Exploring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas, because playing piano is one of Hortense’s many talents.
