Matt Foley: So you want to be a writer

Matt Foley: So what do you want to do with your life?

Teen: I want to be a writer.

Matt Foley: You want to be a writer? Well, la-dee-frickin' da!

Man on Wire

This documentary was absolutely spellbinding. It only strengthened my admiration for the documentary and nonfiction story. With stories like this in the world, why would we need to make anything up?

MAN ON WIRE had all the requirements for an amazing story--unique characters (especially the main character--what a charmer!), love story that goes awry, faithful friends, a seemingly impossible journey. I just cannot believe that something like this actually happened.

Before I watched this, I oftened wondered why it wasn't titled "Man on a Wire" or something like that. I found out that the police report which was filed after the World Trade Center highwire act actually said "man on wire" for the nature of the complaint. Ha!

Nanowrimo recap

My Nanowrimo went a little off track; I'm sure that's been said before by others! I wasn't sure how it would work out, though, since I'm not working on a novel or a book at the moment.

Instead, I wrote an essay. I started the month not even thinking about essays, and now I have an essay that I'm sending to a contest today. Overall, I consider that productive. It's been good practice.

FULL DARK, NO STARS

I highly recommend the new Stephen King story collection. I totally breezed through it. What struck me is how he is the master of the first paragraph. You have no choice but to keep reading. Three of the first paragraphs in the four stories are just great. Here's a sample:

"The one thing nobody asked in casual conversation, Darcy thought in the days after she found what she found in the garage, was this: How's your marriage? they asked how was your weekend and how was your trip to Florida and how's your health and how are the kids; they even asked how's life been treatin you, hon? But nobody asked how's your marriage?"

Gaaaah! Like, what did she find in the garage? We must find out! But just look at how much you can surmise in that one little paragraph.

Nanowrimo and other excitement

For the first time, I'm taking the plunge into NaNoWriMo. However, 50,000 words by the end of the month is a bit ambitious for me. I would be happy with 500 words a day, especially since I've been writing 0 words a day for a while. I'm hoping this is the catalyst that gets me writing and thinking.

I've been doing a lot of reading and thinking about my Camilla Hall project for the past month or so. I mapped out her journey using A WRITER'S JOURNEY, and that seems to be uber-helpful. I think it's actually a little too early to write (a lot more reading and re-reading of sources to do), but NaNoWriMo gives me the impetus to at least start jotting something really rough.

This morning's writing session went so well. Tuesday I'm a little nervous about. I'll be swimming in the a.m. from about 6-7:30, then I have yoga in the evening from 5:30-7 p.m. A full day of work in between. On days like that, just getting something down will be an accomplishment.

I'm so super excited for NonfictionNow! at the end of the week! It's been a long time coming--the last one in 2007 seems so long ago. I left the 2007 conference completely energized and excited.

Snails, etc.

Amid the celebrity memoirs (Billy Idol is the latest), it's nice to see there's room in the publishing world for the quiet memoir. This makes me happy.

Here's the latest one I've come across:



It's the story of a woman, who while recovering from an illness, watches a snail that has taken up residence on her nightstand. Wow. It's about watching a snail. I don't think it gets much more quiet than that. I would love to see that pitch and cover letter :)

More here.

What's your favorite quiet memoir?

Qualities of light

While running on Thursday morning, I noticed how like a switch the landscape suddenly looked different. I think it was a combination of factors: clear air (not the hazy humidity we deal with for most of July and August), a lower sun angle at that hour, and the corn and soybeans taking on a yellowish tinge as they head toward harvest season.

The word I would use is “vibrant.” Everything just seemed so much more vibrant than it has in the past couple of months, those heavy-air months in which I’ve been taking early morning training runs.

And people wonder why I don’t like summer? And why I anxiously await the return of fall and winter? And why I would seek a place to live along Minnesota’s North Shore where the grand Lake Superior tends to keep the haze and heat at bay?

Vibrant.