As a writer-reader kind of gal, I'm offering - What Is On My Nightstand? You are just going to have to trust me that this is an unedited, genuine slice in time. :)
Beyond the expected lamp, photos of my kids, alarm clock (my 4:30 am wake-up buddy; we're very close), and candle:
- Rise & Shine by Anna Quindlen - personal reading, finished, just too lazy to put it away
- Object Lessons by Anna Quindlen - book club book, her first, my favorite
- a classroom textbook on Pennsylvania - my new book is set in PA
- Weird Pennsylvania by Matt Lake - again, setting research; I get to know the people of an area by getting to know their stories.
- Abraham Lincoln: His Essential Wisdom - my hero, author of many of my favorite quotes; I actually take this book to the gym, I love it so much.
- before women had Wings by connie may fowler - see www.facebook.com/MMFinck for my musings on this one.
- The Pact [a love story] by Jodi Picoult - currently reading; about a teenage suicide pact gone wrong, I have never wanted to read this. But I can never ignore Jodi for long. I have loved this book since the first paragraph.
- a tag from a pair of my son's new shorts on which I scribbled about 19 character name ideas - have yet to transcribe them into my laptop
- No Need To Fear - a pamphlet I picked up somewhere so long ago that I can't recall when or where, still unread, no wonder I still worry so much! TO DO: read pamphlet.
- Receipt from the library that is supposed to help me keep track of the truckload of books I check out each week for my family except that it is from April and I have no idea where the late-May one is.
- A notebook that I write in when the spirit moves me. I can't remember the last time the spirit moved me or what's in it so I opened it up and found a very cool exercise I'd done. One of the writing books I read said that we all have "writing ancestors." Not so fast - you don't get to pick them. No Proust for you (or me). You already have them. They may not be who you want to broadcast through a megaphone, but they are your writerly family. They are the authors you've read the most of, the ones that you enjoyed the most. They have more impact on your "voice" than any writer you purposefully study. My ancestors? I have a big family, but it includes: Jodi Picoult, Patricia Cornell (wrote from Virginia too, not too far from my own red writing chair), David Nicholls, Seth Grahame-Smith, Sara Gruen, Gregory Maguire, Lisa Genova, Lisa Scottoline, and many others.
- a writers' association monthly magazine - my issues are trashed by the time I finish. I fold down practically every page, make notes in pencil scrawl in the margins. If you are a writer and you feel lost sometimes - My recommendation: Join a writers' association. You instantly have teachers and peers. They keep you up-to-date with industry and market news/trends, not to mention keeping your personal spirits up.
-Lastly, a quote (you didn't think you'd get out of here without a quote, did you?) My husband emailed me a quote from Pablo Picasso that reminded him of me. I printed and kept the email.
"I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
- Pablo Picasso
What's on your nightstand? Any good books? If not, you can borrow one of mine. I hope you are well! Thank you, as always, for stopping in. Take care!
~M.M. Finck
PS Thank you all for enjoying the Dog-Grooming post so much! All the messages and shares have made me so happy. Several people have asked me about "voice." I'm working up some thoughts on that. Maybe that will be my next post, since we've just established that I don't clear off my nightstand very often and there will unlikely be anything new to report there. :)
I'll have to check out some of those books. I love that quote. You should see my nightstand. ;)
ReplyDeleteSharon