On, In, and Around Mondays: What Do You Have to Write?

"The Novelist is a work of fiction L.L. Barkat had to write."

That's what she said.

And I believe her.

This morning, I would have slept past 9:30 a.m., had it not been for my alarm. But while I was writing The Novelist, I woke unassisted every day at 4:00 a.m. and wrote until 8 a.m., and then I went back to sleep for an hour before meeting the day. I did this... until I had finished writing the book. 

You could say that my body knew I had to write.

People have their theories about why I wrote. And I will let them have their musings. Isn't it part of the fun for readers? To try to figure out a writer's motivations?

But I will say this. I have a friend (or two) who needs to write fiction him (or her) self. I know this. I have been watching this friend (or two) struggle to set something to paper.

And that is why I had to write The Novelist. Because, to this day, I write to love. 

And if loving meant I would need to tackle my own fears and struggles with fiction, to help a friend (or two), then so be it.

What do you have to write? Do you know yet? Does your body know?

Think about something (or someone) you love. And see what wakes you.

________

On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.

If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)



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This post is also shared with Laura Boggess, for...

The Novelist Giveaway

"Her story makes me think hard about who I am—about who I want to be."

—Laura Boggess

Win The Novelist over at Laura Boggess's place? Winner will be announced on Monday.

More words about The Novelist

"she embarks on a process of discovering herself, the strength of her own center, and the power of both yes and no"

"This book is clever, very clever"

"a masterpiece"

"this work of fiction L.L. pulls off is like nothing I've ever read"

"Such a clever book that highlights some of the tried and true rules of writing fiction and then breaks them all. Wonderfully"

"a stunning, tightly woven delight for the intellect and heart"

"laser-like reflection"

"Barkat reminds us we are not alone"

WordCandy Wednesday: As If

Photo by Sonia Joie.

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On, In, and Around Mondays: Waiting for Anne O'Sullivan

Closed.

The house, yellow with green shutters. The porch, in sun and shadow. The spirit of Emily, somewhere. I had hoped to see the inside, to touch the walls and feel the floors under my feet.

"Is there a tour?" asks a slight, warm woman in a white shirt. She's peering through the screen door; she's hoping too.

"It's closed," I say.

And we are both disappointed.

Until Anne O'Sullivan begins to speak.

I discover she is an actress who has played The Belle of Amherst. I discover the spirit of Emily Dickinson, as felt in the body and mind of this here-and-now woman.




We talk for a long time, and I find an Emily I never would have otherwise found. I find, too, that the Emily I came to see is buried somewhere nearby.




I would not have known about the cemetery, but for Anne O'Sullivan. Nor would I have known that the nearby Amherst College had one of only two replicas of the latest possible daguerreotypes of Dickinson.




Closed is a hard thing. We think we've missed what we came for. But sometimes it is exactly what is needed as we wait, unawares, for Anne O'Sullivan.



On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.

If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)



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This post is also shared with Laura Boggess, for...

WordCandy Wednesday: When One is Truly Ready

Photo by Claire Burge

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WordCandy Wednesday

Photo by L.L. Barkat

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On, In, and Around Mondays: Fictional Seeing

"I do it on purpose, you know."

That's what I told my friend, when it was observed that I have a Georgia O'Keefe approach to photography.

After I said this, I went back over some of my photos to see if it was true. Do I really do it on purpose? Often, yes. And sometimes it is just that I go through a series of shots, after the fact, until I find the ones that do what I would have done on purpose, had I the mind to do it.

I am reminded, suddenly, of an idea I include in The Novelist, from Mario Vargas Llosa. He said this regarding the construction of fiction, but I think it might apply to all kinds of seeing and composing...

A successful fiction would always contain something inexplicable, something unbound...certain factors [are] crucial to a work—intuition, sensitivity, divination, or the elusive reality of chance. (p.106, The Novelist)

Now it is also true that whether or not I create in a purposeful way, somehow my true self seems to come through not only in the inexplicable and the divination but also in the elusive reality of chance.

Makes me wonder, then. Is Georgia, really, always on my mind?

_____

On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.

If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)



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This post is also shared with Laura Boggess, for...

WordCandy Wednesday

Illustration by Gail Nadeau

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On, In, and Around Mondays: Touch Stuff, Get Happy

Eggplant ends, and hot peppers. The skin of an onion. A few stray seeds.

This is the stuff of potential made-things. And I live with two girls who always seem to know the secret: We are made happier when our hands touch textures, when we fill our senses with sound and scent.

Kelly Sauer knows this. She started buying books and magazines again, because they fill her in a way that cyber-reading does not.

I still love my cyber-reads. I learn so much. I find people, and people find me. But there is something about a made-thing that is so important. And, yes, we are made happier when we engage with them. So I understand Kelly's books and magazines.

I was reminded of the power of made-things again this morning, reading about knitting groups, and how they can touch the world.

All of this spoke to the dynamic I've begun to cultivate on Sunday afternoons. Touch, experience, fill the senses. Cut the eggplant, or the onions. Water the garden. Read a book with real pages. Fill a bath and add rosemary oil. Just one day. But it makes my week.

Oh now, I can't wait for tomorrow...
_____

On, In and Around Mondays (which partly means you can post any day and still add a link) is an invitation to write from where you are. Tell us what is on, in, around (over, under, near, by...) you. Feel free to write any which way... compose a tight poem or just ramble for a few paragraphs. But we should feel a sense of place. Would you like to try? Write something 'in place' and add your link below.

If you could kindly link back here when you post, it will create a central meeting place. :)



<a href="http://seedlingsinstone.blogspot.com"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5083/5217906589_c7120874ca.jpg" width="308" height="69" alt="On In Around button" />

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