I love a good story, and have always loved reading, but sometimes it feels like a luxury instead of something "I should be doing." As an aspiring writer, it's ridiculous to consider reading as some frivolous luxury, of course, but sometimes that old Protestant guilt kicks in. Stoopid guilt.
One convenient consequence of Clarion West coming up is that it gives my brain plenty of ammo to use against Mr. Guilt. "Hey, I'm doing homework, bugger off!" It's working so far, and I'm knee-deep in a best of Locus Awards collection, a book of Michael Bishop's short stories, and Ian McDonald's Desolation Road. I am enjoying them immensely, and have another pile of books to dive into with wild abandon just as soon as I'm done!
And I've been writing, too. I was well underway on a short story before I got the call about the workshop, but I hit a bit of a narrative snag. Too many characters, I think, and I'm trying to cull out a few to see if the story sags without them. In the meantime, while in the midst of painting a room we're renovating, another story hit me out of the blue, and three hours later, I had a solid draft I felt great about. A week of edits on the new one and I'm still excited. It's very different from the things I've written so far.
I usually don't indulge those bolts out of the blue -- after all, it's important to finish what you start. I'll just make notes and leap on the new ideas when I'm done with the old ones. But sometimes a story takes you and throws you across the room and you can't ignore that. My winning entry for Clarion West was a bolt-out-of-the-blue story, and you see where that got me!
On the eating front, my wife continues her 52 Cuisines series for her blog, so that means every week we sample some of the great international cuisines that a big city like L.A. has to offer. It's rich material for the mind (and stomach) and fuels my intense desire to learn everything about everything... a good trait for a writer, I think.
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3 comments:
OH EM GEE. I extricated myself from your wife's blog. I was enthralled, and barely escaped, though my appetite has ballooned. What an awesome adventure!
Oh, that's right, there's some reading and writing stuff here. :P Congrats on the bolt from the blue! And I can empathize with both the guilt and the justification. "I'm not reading science fiction for fun, it's for career development!" One of my reads is also that Locus Awards Best Of Anthology. The fact that you picked it too is affirming. We're both at work!
I like the image of the bolt from the blue. I often get those in my sleep and think they are great thoughts until I wake up.
Enjoy the reading.
@ JohnR: if you're ever up for a food adventure, we're not too far away! And thanks for the compliments on her blog. She's having so much fun with that! fave story so far is Persistence of Vision, but that's no surprise, I've been a big John Varley fan for years.
@Argus: yeah, sometimes those great ideas don't look so good in the light of day. But you never know -- go with your gut! :)
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