Fall has sprung and school has begung

Wait, that's supposed to be spring, but it just doesn't work here as well as fall. I just like to pretend I'm a poet occasionally.

But, indeed, although the calendar does not reflect that it's fall just yet, school has started and I am enjoying the first week of quiet during the day. When the kids get home, it's another story. Chaos reigns and panic ensues as we contemplate the remaining number of emergency forms to complete and supplies to purchase.

Yet, for the moment, I'm ensconced in my favorite coffee shop for the first time since school ended in June. Can you believe that two entire buildings appeared while I was gone? Well, maybe the foundations and frames were there, but they are now mostly finished, and the skyline of this tiny corner of suburbia is forever altered. By this time next year, I'm sure it will be new again.

I did finish Kristy Kiernan's Catching Genius and highly recommend it--all the way to the end. There were a few moments where the scenes regarding the main character's separation and pending divorce felt so real and painful (and slightly familiar), I felt a bit sick to my stomach. Some might consider that a bad thing ("Julie, why do you LOVE depressing books so much?!" Ha, just wait 'til they see what I'm writing!!), but I love a book that draws me in and allows me to experience the emotions along with the character. It's always nice when the story ends with great hope, though, and this one does.

Working on a self-imposed deadline on my manuscript so I can send it off to my expert, so I better get to work! How's back-to-school working for you? Seems like everyone feels the excitement, even when they don't have kids at home to remind them. It's just a frame of mind, I guess.

Gush, gush

Elizabeth Berg is one of my favorite authors. On her blog the other day, she mentioned she was providing a link from her website to a collection of essays, Domestic Epiphanies, written by one of her best friends, Phyllis Florin. I'm working on building a repertoire of essays along with writing fiction, so I decided to take a gander, figuring Berg's recommendation was a good one.

I'm so glad I did. Not only are these essays similar to the ones I'm attempting to write in style (relaxed, down to earth, I hope!) and content--family, friendships, life in general--they are also captivating. I've already read about half of the 14 Florin has posted.

I stopped to write this blog entry. The essay I just finished reading, Buddies, is a tribute to friendship, and one of the more painfully honest looks at true friendship I've encountered, especially among writer friends. Florin works her way through the history of a friendship that started out faintly ambiguous, then morphed into something honest and true in an instant, and has peaked again and again at those honest moments. A celebration of the positive and the negative and their contributions to a true, lasting friendship.

And ... I'm thinking the object of the essay might just be Elizabeth Berg. I already admire Berg's honesty and transparency in her books and blog, but now what a pleasant surprise to read about it from the perspective of her best friend.

If you're a Berg fan, check it out here.

And Elizabeth, if you happen to read this, and the essay's not about you, you could leave me a comment. Or, you could just leave me to wallow in my blissful ignorance. :-D

I can't wait to get my hands on Berg's recent release:
The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted And Other Small Acts of Liberation

Thinks to thought about

I like Elizabeth Berg's article about her New Year's resolution. It reminded me of my own resolution to spend less time on the computer at night and more time reading actual books, only she said it a heck of a lot better. When I read something like this--her description of the way a book feels and smells--it reminds me of the reasons I don't think paper books will go away any time soon.

I just surveyed my 10-year-old, who claims lately not even to be that excited about reading, yet has a Nintendo DS Lite (Crimson!!) as an extra appendage, whether it seemed more exciting to read a book on a small handheld computer screen where she could flip pages with buttons or to hold a read book, and with no hesitation she said a real book. She couldn't exactly tell me why, except to say she just liked having it right there with her, and anyway, the screen would probably give her a headache. I asked if she liked the way a real book felt and smelled and she looked a little embarrassed when she said, "Yes."

I gave her the thumbs up.

I liked the reminder that purchasing a book costs less than going to the ballet or a hockey game, for instance, or for me, sometimes less than a movie ticket, and certainly less than most concert tickets, but we hesitate to spend this money for some reason. Like she said, reading a book takes more time, too, and can be passed around to others freely. What a deal!

For the record, I'm typing this on my new computer! I think I've finally made the transition from the Velveteen Hoss to S!N!T! (Shiny New Thang).

I'm making very little progress on my own resolutions so far, but very little is better than none at all, right?

While I was sniffling ...

What's a writer to do when she is sick with a non-life-threatening condition that simply makes her feel tired, cranky, and otherwise unproductive?

Why, read blogs, of course!

I've spent the last two days on the couch, nursing a slow-moving plague that should move on before it kills me. (I should know, I caught it from my daughter, and she's back at school.)

Anyway, I've come across some blogs that have thrilled my little heart the last few days. Some of you who know me in "real life" have patiently listened to my struggle the last few years as I have searched for sage writer friends who write the same kind of "stuff." It's just stuff. It's not romance, it's not sci-fi, it's not thriller or horror or suspense. In fact, it might have a little bit of all of that mixed in (with the possible exception of sci-fi, which I can't stand thanks to my brother's Star Trek marathons when we were growing up). Now psy-fi, maybe. Hmm, maybe I'll name a new genre. Psychological Fiction. Yeah...

I have come across many blogs for those who write genre fiction, and they are wonderful people. I have met many of them in person, and count them as friends and "coworkers," and yet, I have longed to find accessible writers of mainstream fiction. Accessible meaning they have an internet presence where they interact with other writers, published or unpublished.

In the last few months, I've come across some of those, and added then to my regular blog tour. In the last few days, while suffering from the plague, I've opened up a virtual Pandora's box! I'm in blog heaven.

You'll probably see the addition of many of these to my list on the right in the near future. I don't make the distinction at this point between published and unpublished writers, so if you follow the links, you'll find some established writers (those who have published several or many books already, like Diane Chamberlain or Joshilyn Jackson), some authors who are about to debut and are tickled pink about it (Carleen Brice, Therese Fowler, Jamie Ford, for instance), some who are pounding the pavement with their completed manuscripts, hoping to catch the attention of an agent or editor (like Elayne Hill), some who have given this writer's life a top priority, but haven't gotten to the point of querying yet (like ME ME ME!), or people who are just getting their toes wet (you, perhaps?).

I'm not sure what the future of blogging is, but for now, it's a way for me, introvert that I am much of the time, to build a network and community of people on a common path.

Wow, I'm delirious. That sounded way too serious. I better lie back down now.

Because I have no news of my own

Oh, my favorite author bloggers are full of fun today! Because I have nothing of interest to report about myself, I'm referring you over to them.

Sara Lewis is about as crazy for Bruce Springsteen as I am for David Wilcox apparently (and lately Glenn Hansard/Marketa Irglova).

Joshilyn Jackson is the hostess with the mostest when it comes to her animals and her antics.

Jacquelyn Mitchard is just a smart lady, and that's all there is to it.

So, go read about their exciting lives today, and I betcha you'll smile, laugh out loud, and nod, just like I did. (And maybe even blush a little on Sara's behalf. Too bad someone didn't have a hidden camera aimed at her. Tee hee!!)

The Double Take

Well, I actually read a book NOT by Elizabeth Berg in the last couple of days. Aren't you so proud? (No worries, I still have 7 of hers to go; I'll be back on the subject soon.)

I finished The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian in the very wee hours of this morning. I was like a little kid, huddled under a baby quilt with my flashlight so I wouldn't wake up Todd, who likes to sleep at night for some reason.

This was a crrrrrrazy book! It's about a social worker employed by a homeless shelter. A client of the shelter dies, and it turns out he's a formerly famous photographer, who by means of his mental illness, ended up homeless. The photographer's character was loosely based on a true story, and the real photos are interspersed throughout the book.

This book has the most twistiest, unexpected ending ever. You might read it and call me stupid for missing it, but I don't think so. There are vague clues, and I knew something was up, but I am quite sure my eyes were as large as the proverbial saucers when I was wolfing down the last couple of pages. Dude!

At first, I was a little taken aback. Lots of the writing instruction I've seen says you can't trick the reader TOO much, or they feel ... um ... tricked. I almost felt that way when I finished, but then I began to go backwards a bit, and saw that if I had been super diligent, I might have figured it out.

Quite different from Midwives, a little more like Before You Know Kindness. Bohjalian is still on my amazing writers list.

In writing news, I've finished the first draft of a new short story, and after some feedback, I've got a few revisions to make, but I'm quite pleased with it. I've decided to work on as many short stories or other short pieces as I can while I'm doing my contract work blitz. A month down, three weeks or so to go, then I can get back on my WIP. I'm also considering doing NaNoWriMo, though, with a new story idea just to see where it might go. I'm still trying to "find myself" as a writer, and I think doing that might be a good exercise.

What she said

The best thing that can happen to me when I'm writing fiction is to lose sight of the fact that I'm writing at all. It's as though I enter into a kind of trance. I know I'm writing but I don't think about it. I just let my fingers type--it's as though the feeling comes out directly through them, bypassing the brain altogether. When that happens, I feel completely transported. There is nothing else like this feeling, very little else more important to me. That intimacy I feel between myself and my work is what makes me feel at home on the earth. I am basically a shy person, basically a loner and an outsider; and I have been all my life. But when I achieve the kind of connection I can get through writing, I feel I'm sitting in the lap of God.

Elizabeth Berg, from Escaping into the Open: the Art of Writing True

I often read or hear things other writers say and have that "Wow, that's how I feel" experience, but rarely as strong as when I read this. I couldn't possibly have said it better.

Authors I'd like to BE!

I found a new blog a week or two ago for an author I'm currently stalking/author crushing on--Elizabeth Berg.

You can read it here.

The thing about Elizabeth (yeah, we're good friends, we're on a first name basis now. Hahahaha !) is she is just so dadgummed REAL. I guess that's why her book on writing is called Escaping Into the Open: the Art of Writing True. I'm reading it now, and while sure, there are many things in the book I've read in other books on writing after all this time, there are lots of little jewels hidden in it as well. Some great writing prompts, too.

Berg's voice reminds me in many ways of Anne Lamott, but she doesn't really go for the shock effect like Lamott does at times. She's just seems like a normal, middle-of-the-road kind of gal who writes what's on her mind, and that gives me hope as a writer. I've got the "normal, middle-of-the-road" part down pat. It's the "writes what's on her mind" part that is so difficult!

You wouldn't think it would be that hard, would you? As my friend Gail commented in her blog today, it is so much easier to admire someone for the way they write and just try to emulate them instead of being and showing who we really are in our writing. Sigh. Practice, practice, practice.

Anyway, you might enjoy reading about what's going on in Elizabeth's life, and I recommend her books. The Year of Pleasures was just what the doctor ordered about a month ago when I needed a book that let me just relax and enjoy. On the other hand, Open House gave me a lot to think about last week. The week before that, Joy School struck me as not my "favorite," but just what I wanted my 13-year-old daughter to read behind me because of her honest portrayal of a 13-year-old girl in all her "thirteen-ness." Emilie came to breakfast the next morning with rings under her eyes from staying up all night to finish it. I cut my Elizabeth Berg teeth on Talk Before Sleep a few months ago. Not many books actually make me cry, but that one ... it went on the "made me cry" list with Barbara Samuel's No Place Like Home. And sometimes, it's good to cry because of a book and not real life.

I plan to add Berg to my blog links on the side, but I'm too lazy tonight. If you like her blog, too, remind me if I forget!