Yes, New Yorkers, there is such a thing as sunshine. I'm writing from North Carolina with bronchitis, having tagged along after my husband who is researching at Duke U. Yesterday I spent most of the day inside Duke’s incredible library. Not looking at books, unfortunately...I had to work. But the library is heaven. I strapped on my Nano and was good to go.
I have a friend here in Chapel Hill, a deserter from my writing group who moved, a few years ago, to escape New York’s cold climes. She and I spend our brief time together doing bookish things. Last night at The Regulator Bookshop (add this one to your book tour) we wedged our way into a packed space to hear a writer - who writes about writing - speak about writing practice. Ahem. You guessed it; Natalie Goldberg whose "Writing Down the Bones," I would hazard a guess, has been read by 99% of writers at some point in their lives. (They might not admit it, as I have done here.)
Her constant refrain, one she sang at her book signing, is that practice keeps the writing juices flowing and that as writers we must exercise daily. She doesn't mean 3,000 words of our manuscript, she means taking up a pen and a writing prompt and going at something totally unrelated to our daily grind for fifteen minutes. Hmm. Something else to cram into the day. On the way to the car I complained to my friend about my hectic schedule. But in addition to writing, my friend is an artist, and as we climbed into the car she said, “She’s talking about sketching. No matter how famous or fabulous, artists need to keep sketching. All the time.”
Okay. I’m here at my computer at 6:30 a.m. because it’s Tuesday, and I promised a 2X Tuesday post. I had one in mind, but The Regulator Bookshop threw me. Because they had books, naturally, and I bought a couple of Elmore Leonard’s, and here I am newly charmed and wanting to share from an early scene in "Be Cool," about a Hollywood filmmaker whose very good friend Tommy has just been bumped off at a sidewalk cafe. Moments before, in his mind, our hero Chile had been writing Tommy into a new film. But now....
“He kept his mouth shut looking at the scene again, starting to rewrite it in his mind, the guy playing Tommy no longer the lead. You couldn’t have the star get popped ten minutes into the picture.”As for me...I told you I’m working. So here’s some web content, written yesterday in the beauteous Duke library:
“To manage the RETS server’s use and performance, the MLS may restrict the number of listings a user accesses in a single session or within a particular time-frame. Frequency and time-of-day access may also be limited.”I’ve got bronchitis, after all.
Let us know what Tuesday Twofers you post today, and I’ll share the link.
They're rolling in:
- Check out David Cranmer's blog for his 2-fer. But...gross-out alert.
- Crystal Phares' 2-fer is stirring.
- See Barbara Martin's for her inimitable combo of history and wilderness
- And Linda McLaughlin's who calls WOM 'wondrous,' has her own wondrous tale, and an excerpt from Travis to boot.
- Travis Erwin came through too late to post here on Tuesday...I'd give you the gross-out alert except that humor makes it quite palatable...
Posts
11 comments:
I bought a mini Dell that I carry everywhere now so when inspiration strikes I will be ready... Hope you get over the bronchitis soon.
(I have A T4T posted on my blog)
Lois,
Mine is up. Hope you feel better! Have a great day.
Make yourself a hot drink with lemon, ginger and a dab of honey to rid yourself of that nasty chest infection.
My two sentences are up.
I simply loathe writing exercises in a way I never resent or resented my sketches.
Maybe it's because there's a clear point with physical materials at least when a drawing can't be worked or erased anymore. You have to give up and move on. But I can always take the laptop screen back down to the blank page, so I never think of any piece of writing as necessarily disposable or doomed. I write doodles because I have an idea I need to offload to get some mental space, but hardly ever for practice. It may show.
Two I read from H.P. Lovecraft's Cool Air:
His aspect and voice became utterly frightful, and his presence almost unbearable. One September day a glimpse of him induced an epileptic fit in a man who had come to repair his electric desk lamp; a fit for which he prescribed effectively whilst keeping himself well out of sight.
Two I wrote with the aim of submitting to BTAP one of these days:
A man with stinking breath tossed a pack of rubbers onto the laundry’s counter, right next to her last fluff-and-fold order. Kimber had just turned sixteen, the state’s legal age, not that Vatto was so picky, but she hadn’t even needed a bra until last year, and Vatto hated pervs.
David! You must look very cool toting that not-so-toyish toy around.
Thank you Crystal, I DO feel better. It's only in the late afternoon that I crash. I'm staying out of the library today. Their cushy chairs are for leprechauns.
Barbara, I've been downing something similar. Your recipe must be a Canadian thing. I remember being dosed with it in Edmonton.
But I think, Clare, that you are one in a million. Clearly the avoidance of loathsome writing exercises has not forestalled the brilliance of your prose. Oh, this is one I want to read. Wow.
You're too kind, Lois. From your fingertips to Elaine Ash's ears.
I still call it editing, but maybe the fact that I rewrote this opening three times over (different character, premise, and also in first person) before landing on what's below is my own frustrating version of exercise?
Hey Lois!
I took a writing workshop once with a woman who was a devotee of Goldberg's. She was all about the practice, and I've occasionally tried it on my own, though with less-than-reliable results. I don't seem to be able to keep it up. Now that I think about it, it's much like physical exercise!
I am afraid I didn't get much done this week!
I confess, Laura, that I myself am less than virtuous when it comes to writing practice. It does indeed sound like free weights and jogging. I only do it at the Vets Workshops where we all do it together. (Actually, Goldberg recommends doing it together...forgot to mention that.) I must say, it works for the Vets, but they truly don't need much to get them going.
Loved the part about finding a new lead after the first one got popped ten minutes into the film. I've got a post up with sentences from Travis's Plundered Booty and one of my pirate stories. Enjoy your visit to Duke. Sorry about the bronchitis. That sucks when you're on vacation.
All wonderful two-fers. I'm heading out for healing sunshine and will be away most of the afternoon, so if you comment herein about your own 2-fer, please provide a URL so others can link to it. I'll be back on the job this evening.
Feel better soon. I too joined in the fun this week.
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