great advice

In his preface to In The Heart Of The Heart Of The Country, William Gass writes about the creative process, and how he makes lists. Here’s one of his lists. I love this list. It’s dead-on.
1. Continue work . . .
2. Study the masters . . .
3. Do deliberate exercises . . .
4. Regularly enter notes . . . sharpen that peculiar and forgetful eye . . .
5. Take to sketching . . . details . . . exactitude . . .
6. Be steeped in history . . .
7. . . . the better word . . . the better word . . . the better word . . .
8. Figure it will be five years before any . . .
9. Wait . . .

Magnet Words

Love sometimes slips.
I nestle it back,
check on you and I.
Still there, snuggled in verbs.
It's not the nouns
that hold us together,
it's the doing.

Writer

I am the sum of all my characters.
In Japanese
I would be more
than you could bear.
I have killed mothers.

Don't ask me for more.

I'm going to write an essay about how readers get jealous of fictional characters. Do you ever become so jealous of a fictional character that you dislike them because they have what you don't? And, if you could be any fictional character, who would you choose? I'm reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, for the Loganberry Book Club, and both narrators are way more intelligent than I am. They're so smart, and offer deep, compelling thoughts and epiphanies on every page. I lust for a mind that can make those kinds of connections. I'm not sure if I like either one of them yet, but I do feel jealousy creeping in, shaping my emotional connection. I wouldn't want to be them, I don't think-- I'm not sure what fictional character I would want to be, but I'm going to think about it, and hope you do to, and pass me on your thoughts.

Mary Doria Russell, Michael Grant Jaffe and I will be on Around Noon (WCPN 90.3 FM) tomorrow, Monday, Sept 14th, to talk about our upcoming event at Case Western Reserve University on October 10th. The luncheon will be a lot of fun. Please think about coming. Reservations are necessary.

Save Our Libraries

Save Our Libraries!

You have less than 72 hours to act!Governor Stickland has proposed to cut library funding by $227 million.
Why should you care?Your library may not be open when you need it.
But you may be able to prevent it if you act now. Call or email your legislators before June 26 and let them know you need your library now more than ever.
Ohio Governor Ted Strickland614-466-3555 Contact Governor Strickland

Use this form to contact your legislators.

Visit http://saveohiolibraries.com to find more information on how you can help.

my kids are adults! Yikes.

Hi K,

My daughter just graduated from college! The sign she's holding says, "More-ah Roth" -- so they can pronounce her name.

And my son has started his own business--selling exercise equipment. So if you need something, go to: http://kingsofcardio.com/ and tell him that I sent you.

I'm so proud of both of them.

Peace,

Sarah

Dom DeLuise

Hi K,

It's been a while. Sorry. Last month of school and all. Grading 36 student's stories right now. I hate having to put a grade on creative writing. Puts me in a bad mood. Let me just teach. . .

Anyway, quick note. I saw that Dom DeLuise died. Sad. He seemed like a nice guy. My parents knew him, and I was always told that he fed me my first bite of real food--a can of mushed-up baby food peas, I think. He happened to stop by the day my mom was going to try something besides formula, and asked if he could feed me. Guess it worked out well, since I'm perfectly happy eating these days. So here's to family stories, and to Dom DeLuise.

Peace and all good things,
Sarah

Here's to Librarians (one in particular)

Hey K,

So, I read this novel, maybe thirty years ago, about the Irish potato famine, and the story always stuck with me--the way the government wouldn't let the people grow anything but potatoes even though most the potatoes had the blight and would make people deathly sick if they ate them. Maybe ten years ago I started looking for this book again. It wasn't on my shelves. I went to libraries and found another novel or two (there really aren't as many as you might think) about that time and place, but never found the one I had read before. Recently I started that search again. I found a reference to a book, Famine, by Liam O'Flaherty, written in 1937, and Ron brought it home for me from the library. It sort of had the same story, but it wasn't the right one either. The writing was so old-fashioned and heavy and cluncky, not the great read I remembered. I told Ron it wasn't the right one, and he asked me what I meant. I hadn't even explained to him I was trying to find a book I once loved. "Why didn't you tell me?" he asked. "That's what we librarians do. Find books."

But all I knew was that I read it thirty years ago, and --well what I told you already--it was about a family living, or dying to be more precise, during one of the famine's in Ireland.

Well, of course, he found it! He brought it home that night, and I'm so loving it again. It's called The Famished Land, by Elizabeth Byrd. It didn't come up in any of my searches, and it's far from a best seller. (I really thought it must have been a best seller if I loved it so much!) Anyway, here's the really weird part. The main character, a sixteen year old girl, who's story we follow, who struggles with famine and poverty and love and family. . . her name is Moira!

I did not remember that. But did I, somehow, when I insisted my daughter's name be Moira? With that spelling? What our brains, and hearts, do! Life can be so cool sometimes. And a good book can make us smile.

Peace,
Sallie

Hey K,
I've been sort of waiting to write until I had something good to tell you. Tired of the same old complaints. Well, there's a lot of good in my life, those things like family, friends, having a place to live, a good book now and then. But nothing to actually blog about. So how about you? Any good news from you or anyone else?

Oh, Thrity Umrigar's novel, The Weight of Heaven, is coming out in April, and is getting wonderful pre-pub reviews! So I guess there still is a publishing world, and good books coming out. I'm wishing Thrity the best of luck with this one.

So really, any good news to share?

Peace,
Sarah