I Can't Resist!

Richard wanted to go to the bookstore.  I haven't been there in a while.  I'm living by the out of sight out of mind rule.  Actually I've been satisfying my cravings with free books from the clubhouse library.  Those free books also come home and sit on the shelf. So free or not a book always needs to rest awhile before I choose to read it.  But Richard likes to go and read the real estate and interior design magazines.  My arm didn't need much twisting.  I got the car keys

"I want to stay here for a while.  Don't rush me out of here," he said as we got out of the car.

"Not a problem," I answered.  After twenty three years of marriage I thought he understood my love of the bookstore.

Richard headed to the back of the store and I grabbed a book from the shelf that had been calling to me for months.  'The Reliable Wife'.  Ever since I heard Donald Maass mention this book at the RWA-WF conference I've been wanting to read it.  Mr. Maass discussed the use of backstory in writing. The rule is not to add it in too soon, layer it in slowly so it moves the story forward.  And only tell the reader what they need to know.  He used the example of 'The Reliable Wife' where the first twelve pages are backstory yet the reader becomes fully invested in the character.  His message was that rules are good but can be broken.

I sat down and started to read.  I was hooked.  So when Richard announced he was ready to go, I didn't want to leave this book behind.

"Get it," he told me.

"But it's fifteen dollars.  I have to work and hour and a half for that." I held the book tightly to my chest.

"Just get it."

Again the arm twisting was brief. 

My review will come as soon as I finish reading it.  It's a page turner, that much I will tell you.  I know I broke my own rule and I hope you'll forgive me just this once.  Or is it twice?  Or maybe three times? I've lost count. 

Dear Writer's Digest

In yesterday's mail the Writer's Digest Big Ten issue arrived.  I immediately sat down to read it.  And I am still on cloud nine!

I'm feeling so connected as a writer.  Not because I've just returned from the amazing Willamette Writers Conference in Portland, Oregon but because I'm reading a magazine and I 'know' people in it.

Let's first look at the panel of Ten Writing  Experts.  Steve Almond's Candyfreak is sitting on my shelf.  I bought if as research for a book I'm writing set in a candy factory.  Earlier this summer I had a wonderful experience at the Florida Institute of Technology's Creative Writing Seminar.  John Dufresne was my teacher.  I crossed paths with N.M.Kelby at the Miami Book Fair in 2007.  My friend, Georgia has an autographed copy of Whale Season when they both discovered a connection to Boston University.  And Donald Maass gave a wonderful talk at the first meeting of the women's fiction chapter of Romance Writers of America at their recent conference.  I was lucky enough to be a part of it.

I intently soaked up all their comments.  Turning the page I see Chuck Palahniuk.  I saw him in Portland.   Then appears I topic I really need help with, productivity.  It's written by Sage Cohen.  Reinforcement is powerful.  I took Sage's class while I was in Portland too.

Now I haven't met Mary Higgins Clark or Sherman Alexie yet but I'm positive my writing circles are growing at a fast pace.  I'm on my way.  I'm connected.  I'm a writer.