Musings from Redwing Marsh
Bits and pieces:
This has proved to be a writing weekend. I've tried to catch up on my personal journal and realized that much of what moved me about our trip to New York City has not been recorded. So I spent some time waxing nostalgic on the glory of New York dogs and other joys of the city, especially the Upper West Side. I've tackled some work, mostly query writing, and, I took a novel I'm playing with out of the drawer. Inspired by the technique of the narrator in Oracle Night by Paul Auster, I bought a notebook--in this case, a plain black notebook--and started to write. No planning. No outlines. No microanalyses. Just write and see what unfolds. After weeks of this experimentation, I can say that I don't recommend this method if you're serious about finding an efficient way of writing a publishable novel. Since I'm not doing that, I've enjoyed the experience and have been surprised at the ways ideas, characters, and themes emerge spontaneously.
The Boston Review has announced the winner of its 11th Annual Short Story Contest. 700 entries, all judged by Ha Jin, who had to pick one winner. Come on, did he really read all 700? They must've had a committee to do some weeding first. Anyway, the winner, "If It's Anywhere, It's Behind Us," is available online.
According to CNN, Hillary Clinton is not sure why her memoir Living History sold as well as it did. Perhaps she's surprised it did so well because it is such an vacuous memoir. I ordered it from the library and read as much as I could stand when it first came out. Once I discovered that there is nothing genuine in it, I returned it so it wouldn't clutter up the house. It's nothing more than a glorified campaign brochure, a gussied-up PR piece. Someday I hope she takes the time to reflect and speak the truth. I don't mean about "what happened." Not necessarily, not at all. Someday I hope she fesses up and talks about what's really in her heart--about her life, her choices, her regrets, the people she's known, all of it. Is she capable of doing that, do you think? Not everyone is, I know. But it would be interesting if she did.
This has proved to be a writing weekend. I've tried to catch up on my personal journal and realized that much of what moved me about our trip to New York City has not been recorded. So I spent some time waxing nostalgic on the glory of New York dogs and other joys of the city, especially the Upper West Side. I've tackled some work, mostly query writing, and, I took a novel I'm playing with out of the drawer. Inspired by the technique of the narrator in Oracle Night by Paul Auster, I bought a notebook--in this case, a plain black notebook--and started to write. No planning. No outlines. No microanalyses. Just write and see what unfolds. After weeks of this experimentation, I can say that I don't recommend this method if you're serious about finding an efficient way of writing a publishable novel. Since I'm not doing that, I've enjoyed the experience and have been surprised at the ways ideas, characters, and themes emerge spontaneously.
The Boston Review has announced the winner of its 11th Annual Short Story Contest. 700 entries, all judged by Ha Jin, who had to pick one winner. Come on, did he really read all 700? They must've had a committee to do some weeding first. Anyway, the winner, "If It's Anywhere, It's Behind Us," is available online.
According to CNN, Hillary Clinton is not sure why her memoir Living History sold as well as it did. Perhaps she's surprised it did so well because it is such an vacuous memoir. I ordered it from the library and read as much as I could stand when it first came out. Once I discovered that there is nothing genuine in it, I returned it so it wouldn't clutter up the house. It's nothing more than a glorified campaign brochure, a gussied-up PR piece. Someday I hope she takes the time to reflect and speak the truth. I don't mean about "what happened." Not necessarily, not at all. Someday I hope she fesses up and talks about what's really in her heart--about her life, her choices, her regrets, the people she's known, all of it. Is she capable of doing that, do you think? Not everyone is, I know. But it would be interesting if she did.
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