by Sandra Gulland | Sep 26, 2008 | Adventures of a Writing Life |
Tuscany is a long way to go to sleep well, and perhaps it’s the late-night dinners, but I seem to dream well here, too. Last night I dreamt that I asked a woman what she would not want to ever give up. Her teeth, she said. For me, it was my office.
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My writing life began, I think, with my first winter in Canada, in Nain, Labrador, the sub-artic. I read a lot that winter—all of Lessing‘s Children of Violence series, Anais Nin‘s diaries, Virginia Wolf‘s A Room of One’s Own. And it was in reading Wolf’s book that I began to dream of just that, a room of my own.
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I’ve had desks in dark and crowded basements, desks in the corner of utility rooms. In reading Cameron‘s The Artist’s Way I began to seriously dream of an office I could call my own. I put it on my wish list. For a long time I was considering a tent and then a house-trailer. Then came my first foreign sale and lo—the means to consider the impossible: an office addition to our house.
And yes, my office would be the one thing I would not ever want to give up.
by Sandra Gulland | Aug 21, 2008 | Adventures of a Writing Life |
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I love reading books about writing, especially when I’m somewhat stuck, or balky. Yesterday I took a load of unwanted books to The Bookstore in Golden Lake, run by my writing friend Jenifer McVaugh. In exchange, I brought home a load of new books, a number of them books on writing. The Art of Dramatic Writing by Lajos Egri is a classic; a number of people have mentioned it. The Practice of Poetry by Behn & Twichell is a book that Jenifer loaned me, a book she recommends, and one I’m looking forward to exploring. The Sound of Paper: Starting from Scratch by Julia Cameron looked interesting. I got a great deal out of her book The Artist’s Way, but haven’t connected with any of her newer books. This one might suit; I don’t know. I’m skimming it—I’m a little annoyed, already, by her predictable list assignments, but, as is always the case with a book by a writer on writing, finding bits that resonate.
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The book I started reading right away was (heh) Write Away by Elizabeth George. I like it. It’s nudging me to do things I know I should be doing, like character analysis.
” . . . you cannot bring a character to life in a book unless he or she is alive before the book begins.”
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I’ve always been a bit lazy about this, I confess, allowing a character’s eccentricities to emerge during the writing, or during a 3rd or 4th draft emergency analysis.
I like this about setting:
“Your setting should be a place that you want to know about, a place you are interested in exploring, a place you want to describe . . . “
And further:
“But it’s tough to make a place come to life unless you’ve been there . . . “
I find this to be true, and it’s a key reason for my research trips. But it’s not only the sensual experience of a place that matters—for me it’s the deep conviction that something happened, and that it happened here, on this spot.
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One thing I like especially is that George heads each chapter with an excerpt from her writing diary.
“I am filled with doubts. Why isn’t Steinbeck filled with doubts?”
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Yet Steinbeck was filled with doubts while writing Grapes of Wrath. I suspect that every writer is filled with doubt, most of the time.
As for today: after writing in my journal that I was entirely dry in the scene-creation department, I wrote out (in brief) my allotted 5 scenes. Which pleases me greatly.
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And then, on discovering that my reader mailbox was again 3-weeks deep, answered emails: one to the German translator of Mistress of the Sun, whose glowing email I treasure. One to a woman seeking a relative who may be related to Josephine (I get emails of this sort regularly)—I need to do a little research to answer. Several heart-warming letters from fans.
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And now: taxes, which I hope to finish today. Beyond that, perhaps a walk on my horse, some research recording, some Q&As to work on, preparation for my European research trip (coming up).