If I get to spend anytime here in the next week it will be amazing. These are the last few days of the quarter and there's a lot of work to be done. Grading, writing letters of recommendation--finding time for sleep (which I'm pretty sure is not going to happen for the next week) are priority. As much as I complain (mostly to myself and occasionally to the other new teacher) I really don't mind work. What I dislike is that I haven't had a minute to write--well, maybe a few minutes here and there, but sadly, I don't write that way. I need hours, I need focus, I need to get my space organized.
Whatever readers I have out there (I know there are a couple...at least I hope there are a couple) might be happy to know that my story "Until the Heart Stops Beating" will be published in Issue 5 of the Hawaii Women's Journal--I think sometime in January? Not sure. But I am really excited. It's the first time my work will be read outside of a school or friend setting.It's also encouraging. I'm not very good about sending my work out into the world. There are a couple of reasons for this.
1. I'm not sure I'm good enough. What writer ever is? I'm often not even sure why I spend my time writing short stories or putting together my novel. There's always a lot of doubt when you spend your time "making shit up" as I like to say.
2. I don't always know if I want to keep my writing for myself or if I even want to share it with the outside world. Even though it's fiction, some of my writing is intensely personal and it's strange to think of other people (says the girl with the blog) reading my work. Judging.
Well enough of my insecurity. It's happening. I'm getting out there. And I kind of like it.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Book List
I'm kind of obsessed with this list of books I created a long time ago for an unclear reason. Perhaps it was before Goodreads came out with place for me to keep track of the things I'm reading but here is a list of things I've read and enjoyed over the years. I know there are a bunch of things left off and some things that are repeats from the previous post....but here it is anyhow.
*--short story collection
**--Iowa Writers
Bold---favorite
1. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
2. Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky
3. Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov
4. Middlesex, Jefferey Eugenedies
5. Reading Lolita in Tehran, Azar Nafisi
6. Interesting Women, Andrea Lee*
7. Lost Hearts in Italy, Andrea Lee
8. Drinking Coffee Elsewhere, ZZ Packer*/**
9. One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
10. Love in the Time of Cholera, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
11. The Corrections, Jonathan Franzen
12. Freedom, Jonathan Franzen
13. How To Be Alone: Essays, Jonathan Franzen
14. The Twenty-Seventh City, Jonathan Franzen
15. Arranged Marriage, Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni*
16. Interpreter of Maladies, Jhumpa Lahiri*
17. The Namesake, Jhumpa Lahiri
18. Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri*
19. The Boat, Nam Le*/**
20. Persepolis Part 1, Marjane Satrapi
21. Persepolis Part 2, Marjane Satrapi
22. White Teeth, Zadie Smith
23. The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
24. Mary and O’Neill, Justin Cronin*/**
25. The Passage, Justin Cronin**
26. The Stranger, Albert Camus
27. Sacrificing Isaac, Neil Gordon
28. The Lovely Bones, Alice Sebold
29. Atonement, Ian McEwan
30. The Littlest Hitler, Ryan Boudinot*
31. Elbow Room, James Alan McPherson*
32. The Known World, Edward P. Jones
33. Jesus’ Son, Denis Johnson*/**
34. Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert
35. A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You, Amy Bloom*
36. Drown, Juno Diaz*
37. Exit A, Anthony Swofford**
38. Jarhead, Anthony Swofford**
39. Septembers of Shiraz, Dalia Sofer
40. Kentucky Straight, Chris Offutt*/**
41. St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves, Karen Russell*
42. Giovanni’s Room, James Baldwin
43. The Purple Hibiscus, Chimanmanda N. Adichi
44. War by Candlelight, Daniel Alarcon*/**
45. Lost City Radio, Daniel Alarcon**
46. Drown, Junot Diaz*
47. Here’s Your Hat What’s Your Hurry, Elizabeth McCracken*/**
48. The Safety of Objects, A.M. Homes
49. The Seamstress: A Novel, Frances des Pontes Peebles**
50. The Vagrants, Yiyun Li**
51. The Palace Thief, Ethan Canin**
52. Housekeeping, Marilynne Robinson**
53. Hunger, Lan Samantha Chang*/**
54. Come to Me, Amy Bloom*
55. Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion
56. The White Album, Joan Didion
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Revising
In the last few weeks I've written thousands of words. Sadly, they've not been fiction. It's letter writing season for college guidance counselors and that means I'm knee deep in writing about my counselees' achievements. This is all fine and good but I kind of miss writing fiction. I've been sneaking some in here and there, editing mostly. I tried to work on novel pages but nothing was coming. I don't know where it went but I feel like my drive to work on the book has diminished a great deal since I started teaching. The truth is, my work is draining. I wake up at 5 (okay, sometime between 5 and 6:30) in the morning and because I'm anal retentive in a way I never knew was possible, I review my lessons for the day.
I think about writing A LOT I just never get to do much of it.
I think about writing A LOT I just never get to do much of it.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
What I'm reading and What I'm knitting
I'm taking a break from Oedipus and Macbeth.
In addition to the books I'm teaching. I've also been reading these gems:
1. Man in the Woods by Scott Spencer
2. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans
3. Mentor by Tom Grimes
Each of these resonates with me for a variety of reasons.
I adore Scott Spencer. I was lucky enough to study with him for a semester. I just think he's the bees knees.
Danielle Evans' book has been on my "I want now" list for a long, long time and now that it's here, I'm taking my time to get through it. I'm three stories in and I think she's amazing. I can't wait to finish and I especially can't wait for her reading in DC next month.
Tom Grimes' book is, in a small way, a trip down memory lane. Iowa, the workshop, all the pressure and the emotions that come with being there. It's all in his book and it's so good that I've been carrying it around for days as though I were trying to recapture something of Iowa or something of the writer I was when I was living in Iowa.
Knitting....I finished my fishnet socks and I knit a baby hat with owls!!!
In addition to the books I'm teaching. I've also been reading these gems:
1. Man in the Woods by Scott Spencer
2. Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self by Danielle Evans
3. Mentor by Tom Grimes
Each of these resonates with me for a variety of reasons.
I adore Scott Spencer. I was lucky enough to study with him for a semester. I just think he's the bees knees.
Danielle Evans' book has been on my "I want now" list for a long, long time and now that it's here, I'm taking my time to get through it. I'm three stories in and I think she's amazing. I can't wait to finish and I especially can't wait for her reading in DC next month.
Tom Grimes' book is, in a small way, a trip down memory lane. Iowa, the workshop, all the pressure and the emotions that come with being there. It's all in his book and it's so good that I've been carrying it around for days as though I were trying to recapture something of Iowa or something of the writer I was when I was living in Iowa.
Knitting....I finished my fishnet socks and I knit a baby hat with owls!!!
15 Author meme revised as the Writes.Reads.Knits 10 (maybe more) Author Meme
I started to respond to this meme asking for a list of 15 writers that have inspired you. I began to write out the list in hopes of remembering just why it is that I write at all. I got halfway down when I realized that I hate lists like this.
While I was writing out the names of my literary heroes, I kept referring back to the original meme that I saw on the Facebook. This is going to sound a little crazy, but, I felt an immense amount of pressure to have a list that was "respectable". By that I mean, a list filled with literary giants.
Those kinds of lists are fine. In fact, they are great. It's a sign that good writing, good stories, last a lifetime. But here's the thing. I'm not necessarily inspired by the "greats". I read them, I admire them, I enjoy them, but they are not always the thing that pushes me to write.
Here are a few writers who do inspire me (and yes, you know many of them already from previous blog posts).
1. Andrea Lee author of Interesting Women, Sarah Phillips, Russian Journal, and Lost Hearts In Italy. I don't typically own first editions of every book a writer has ever written, but I have a first edition of every book this woman has every written. She is perhaps the writer who inspires me the most. When I sit in a cafe and prepare to write, I have a copy of Interesting Women. I also think I keep writing about her in the hopes that one day she will google herself and find my blog and we can be friends and parlare un po d'italiano insieme.
2. James Alan McPherson. Okay, I have almost every book he's ever written. I'm missing one. I have one first edition, and multiple copies of the same book in paperback, just in case someone I know needs one. Jim is a natural storyteller. You see it in his writing but if you ever get the chance to sit with him for any amount of time, he'll tell you a story like you've never heard. He might even tell you the same story a second time, but it'll be just as good, or better than the first. Elbow Room. You should own it.
3. Ryan Boudinot. I've said it before, I really like this dude. His stories kick ass. They stretch the imagination, they take you to places that don't exist and some that kind of do. When I read his stories (over and over sometimes) I'm never, ever bored. And that's what a real writer does. The Littlest Hitler.
4. ZZ Packer. Phenomenal. The stories in Drinking Coffee Elsewhere are biting, funny, intense, and plain old awesome. If you get the chance to hear her read out loud--you're lucky. When ZZ reads she fills the room with her words. This list has no order but if it did, she'd be closer to the top.
5. Jane Austen. I could read Pride and Prejudice over and over again. I have. I read it every couple of months so it can make me smile.
6. Joan Didion is my non fiction Queen. I used to pass out On Keeping a Notebook to all my students in Iowa in the hope that it would inspire them as it had inspired me. I think it worked occasionally.
7. Amy Bloom. I don't know what else to say. She's my Alice Munro. A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You is one of the best story collections I have ever read. Ever. I gave the title story to one of my classes a couple of years ago and a student (think 18 year old football fan from middle of nowhere Iowa) says, "I like stories like this because they're unsafe." He surprised the shit out of me but he was absolutely right.
8. Jhumpa Lahiri. The last time I came to the end of a book and all I felt was a tightening in my chest and my breath caught in my throat...was when I finished Crime and Punishment....and then I came to the last story in Unaccustomed Earth. Anis Shivani called Ms. Lahiri overrated. Anis Shivani is an ass.
9. Jonathan Franzen. How do I love thee? Let me count the many ways. I know, there's a lot of talk about his being overrated. And maybe there was no need to put him on the cover of Time or Newsweek or whatever. However, he tells a good story. They're never over written or underwritten. They're complex and still easy to follow. He makes it look seamless. The Twenty-Seventh City is one of my favorite books, The Corrections deserved all the praise it received. Freedom, broke my heart, put it back together and then had the nerve to break it again before righting itself once more. His essays are also captivating. So yes, I adore Jonathan Franzen. And this makes me just like Oprah (minus the money and international fame but I'm convinced that's coming too).
10. Fyodor Dostoevsky. Remember when I said there was a book that made my heart tighten in my chest and my breath catch in my throat? Well, it was Crime and Punishment. I read it the year I decided I wanted to become a writer. Even though I read a lot as a child, enough that I've always considered myself big reader, I don't remember ever feeling so deeply for a character in a book, especially not a character that was so vile. 2011 is the year I finish the Brothers K. This year, I'll settle for Notes from the Underground.
I'll probably add a few more to this list.
While I was writing out the names of my literary heroes, I kept referring back to the original meme that I saw on the Facebook. This is going to sound a little crazy, but, I felt an immense amount of pressure to have a list that was "respectable". By that I mean, a list filled with literary giants.
Those kinds of lists are fine. In fact, they are great. It's a sign that good writing, good stories, last a lifetime. But here's the thing. I'm not necessarily inspired by the "greats". I read them, I admire them, I enjoy them, but they are not always the thing that pushes me to write.
Here are a few writers who do inspire me (and yes, you know many of them already from previous blog posts).
1. Andrea Lee author of Interesting Women, Sarah Phillips, Russian Journal, and Lost Hearts In Italy. I don't typically own first editions of every book a writer has ever written, but I have a first edition of every book this woman has every written. She is perhaps the writer who inspires me the most. When I sit in a cafe and prepare to write, I have a copy of Interesting Women. I also think I keep writing about her in the hopes that one day she will google herself and find my blog and we can be friends and parlare un po d'italiano insieme.
2. James Alan McPherson. Okay, I have almost every book he's ever written. I'm missing one. I have one first edition, and multiple copies of the same book in paperback, just in case someone I know needs one. Jim is a natural storyteller. You see it in his writing but if you ever get the chance to sit with him for any amount of time, he'll tell you a story like you've never heard. He might even tell you the same story a second time, but it'll be just as good, or better than the first. Elbow Room. You should own it.
3. Ryan Boudinot. I've said it before, I really like this dude. His stories kick ass. They stretch the imagination, they take you to places that don't exist and some that kind of do. When I read his stories (over and over sometimes) I'm never, ever bored. And that's what a real writer does. The Littlest Hitler.
4. ZZ Packer. Phenomenal. The stories in Drinking Coffee Elsewhere are biting, funny, intense, and plain old awesome. If you get the chance to hear her read out loud--you're lucky. When ZZ reads she fills the room with her words. This list has no order but if it did, she'd be closer to the top.
5. Jane Austen. I could read Pride and Prejudice over and over again. I have. I read it every couple of months so it can make me smile.
6. Joan Didion is my non fiction Queen. I used to pass out On Keeping a Notebook to all my students in Iowa in the hope that it would inspire them as it had inspired me. I think it worked occasionally.
7. Amy Bloom. I don't know what else to say. She's my Alice Munro. A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You is one of the best story collections I have ever read. Ever. I gave the title story to one of my classes a couple of years ago and a student (think 18 year old football fan from middle of nowhere Iowa) says, "I like stories like this because they're unsafe." He surprised the shit out of me but he was absolutely right.
8. Jhumpa Lahiri. The last time I came to the end of a book and all I felt was a tightening in my chest and my breath caught in my throat...was when I finished Crime and Punishment....and then I came to the last story in Unaccustomed Earth. Anis Shivani called Ms. Lahiri overrated. Anis Shivani is an ass.
9. Jonathan Franzen. How do I love thee? Let me count the many ways. I know, there's a lot of talk about his being overrated. And maybe there was no need to put him on the cover of Time or Newsweek or whatever. However, he tells a good story. They're never over written or underwritten. They're complex and still easy to follow. He makes it look seamless. The Twenty-Seventh City is one of my favorite books, The Corrections deserved all the praise it received. Freedom, broke my heart, put it back together and then had the nerve to break it again before righting itself once more. His essays are also captivating. So yes, I adore Jonathan Franzen. And this makes me just like Oprah (minus the money and international fame but I'm convinced that's coming too).
10. Fyodor Dostoevsky. Remember when I said there was a book that made my heart tighten in my chest and my breath catch in my throat? Well, it was Crime and Punishment. I read it the year I decided I wanted to become a writer. Even though I read a lot as a child, enough that I've always considered myself big reader, I don't remember ever feeling so deeply for a character in a book, especially not a character that was so vile. 2011 is the year I finish the Brothers K. This year, I'll settle for Notes from the Underground.
I'll probably add a few more to this list.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Settling In
I've been away from this page for some time now mostly because life has been anything but slow. The day after my last post, I started my new job--English Teacher and College Counselor--moved into my new house, went on a business trip, took a trip DC for the National book festival and made obligatory family and friend visits. Is it any surprise that I spent yesterday, my first weekend home in some time, asleep on the couch (after getting up at 7 to proctor the SAT).
The jobs is good --there's nothing like good old fashioned hard work, right? But it's a lot of work and I have to say I'm not convinced I like getting up at 5AM. I am convinced that I am in love with teaching. My students are amazing and even though they have their moments of being too chatty, I adore them. I don't remember if I was as smart or savvy as some of them are at 14. And if I was, go me!
Knitting project update:
February Lady still not done. It's pure laziness at this point. I'm making Thanksgiving my deadline for this one.
Rushing River Socks. One down, but I can't find the other skein or my size 1 1/2 needles.....blurg!
Leaf Lace Scarf: There's really no rush to finish this. I guess if I commit to working on it for 20 minutes every day I could probably be done in about two weeks. Might be nice to have for the coming winter months.
Spring Forward Socks from Knitty: You might ask why did I start a project when I already had three on the burner...well, it was time to get on a plane and I didn't have the needles I needed for the RR socks, so I thought, why not cast on something with the awesome Lorna's Laces sock yarn I have It's PINK and so soft, so why not? I'm on the foot quickly approaching the gusset decrease. Hopefully I will cast on sock number 2 by the end of the week.
END Knitting update.
Writing:
Well, I did edit a story a couple of weeks ago. But I'm so insanely busy, and still getting acclimated to my new schedule, that I'm finding it difficult to get it all done. As previously mentioned, I've been waking up around 5 in the morning. It's great, but I need to make it work to my advantage. Which means, going to bed around 9 or 10 instead of 11 or 12. It would be awesome to make those early mornings work for me. A finished draft by the end of December isn't looking good..
The jobs is good --there's nothing like good old fashioned hard work, right? But it's a lot of work and I have to say I'm not convinced I like getting up at 5AM. I am convinced that I am in love with teaching. My students are amazing and even though they have their moments of being too chatty, I adore them. I don't remember if I was as smart or savvy as some of them are at 14. And if I was, go me!
Knitting project update:
February Lady still not done. It's pure laziness at this point. I'm making Thanksgiving my deadline for this one.
Rushing River Socks. One down, but I can't find the other skein or my size 1 1/2 needles.....blurg!
Leaf Lace Scarf: There's really no rush to finish this. I guess if I commit to working on it for 20 minutes every day I could probably be done in about two weeks. Might be nice to have for the coming winter months.
Spring Forward Socks from Knitty: You might ask why did I start a project when I already had three on the burner...well, it was time to get on a plane and I didn't have the needles I needed for the RR socks, so I thought, why not cast on something with the awesome Lorna's Laces sock yarn I have It's PINK and so soft, so why not? I'm on the foot quickly approaching the gusset decrease. Hopefully I will cast on sock number 2 by the end of the week.
END Knitting update.
Writing:
Well, I did edit a story a couple of weeks ago. But I'm so insanely busy, and still getting acclimated to my new schedule, that I'm finding it difficult to get it all done. As previously mentioned, I've been waking up around 5 in the morning. It's great, but I need to make it work to my advantage. Which means, going to bed around 9 or 10 instead of 11 or 12. It would be awesome to make those early mornings work for me. A finished draft by the end of December isn't looking good..
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