Fresh Air

Ah. Spring has arrived and with it a sense of new beginnings and hope. I'm talking literally and metaphorically. I turned in my big assignment (Hurray!) and now I have to write a brand new short story for an upcoming workshop. A brand new (and short!) assignment feels like a breath of fresh air. I'm cleansing my writing palate and it feels great.

How about you? Do you have any tips/tricks for keeping your writing fresh?

Happy spring!

Writing on Reading: Cutting for Stone

When I saw my mom recently she recommended the novel Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese. She's in tune with the latest books so I always listen when she says, "It's good."

Cutting for Stone is a literary novel with beautiful lyrical prose, meandering plot, nonlinear chronology, and deep insights into the human condition. According to Verghese, "The story is a riveting saga of twin brothers, Marion and Shiva Stone, born of a tragic union between a beautiful Indian nun and a brash British surgeon at a mission hospital in Addis Ababa. Orphaned by their mother's death in childbirth and their father's disappearance, and bound together by a preternatural connection and a shared fascination with medicine, the twins come of age as Ethiopia hovers on the brink of revolution." With the wealth of details about Addis Ababa and medicine, Cutting almost reads like an autobiography.

I would say the primary draw of the novel is the joy and beauty of medicine it conveys. (The title is a reference to the Hippocratic oath.) Almost all the characters are medical professionals and have devoted their lives to their avocation. Thus, another draw is the amazing compassion exemplified by the characters. The emergency treatment administered 'by ear', i.e. words of comfort, is mentioned several times. Interestingly, while the two brothers would do anything for their patients, they don't seem to have much compassion for themselves. Neither one of them has a life outside of medicine, which seemed to be the case for their biological parents as well.

A possible theme of the novel is "missing": the twins' biological parents are missing, their biological father is missing a finger, the twins' adopted father goes missing, a crucial letter is missing, and the medical center where they live is called Missing. And I'd say their self-love is missing. But that's the beauty of literary fiction: there's more than one possible interpretation. What do you think the theme was?

As a writer, I found some of the author's choices very interesting. For example, Verghese utilizes multiple pov characters, several 3rd-person pov and one multiple-first-person pov--the narrator! Additionally, this novel is almost all narrative, "telling", in the writer's vernacular. Also, since we know the deepest thoughts and feelings of each pov character, there is an omniscient feel to the book. (Are the minds of each of these characters differentiated?)

Have you read it? What did you think?

End of the semester

As blog readers may or may not know, the origins of SetonHillWriters was at Seton Hill University's MFA program in Writing Popular Fiction. Thus, many of us associated with the blog go to, or are graduates from, this program. Thus, many of us are staring end-of-the-semester deadlines in the face. :( And we're attempting to glare back at them and even kick them in the butt! Yeah! That's the spirit! We're gonna make mince-meat out of all those deadlines! (Yes, I'm trying to psych myself up.)

Personally, a complete first draft of my thesis, also known as an actual genre novel is due this week. Whew! Talk about pressure. Suffice to say, there's a lot of BICHOK in my immediate future (and past). But, the end of the novel is pretty much in sight so...
Huzzah!

Good luck to everyone trying to meet end-of-the-semester deadlines!

Erotica Writer Outed

In the news this week has been the story of Erotica Author Judy Mays. I'm not above jumping on the bandwagon, so check out her side of the story over at Publisher's Weekly: Erotic Romance Writer Outed.
I'm a bit surprised in this day and age folks are so shocked by erotica. Maybe it's because she's a teacher? But it's not like she's giving the erotica to her students, so...? I don't get it.

Message of the day: Follow Your Muse, No Matter What. :)

Behind the Scenes at an ezine

Have you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes at a 'zine? Well, wonder no more! I posted some inside information over at electricspec.blogspot.com.

Being an editor is an eye-opening experience for an author. You come to realize editors see many stories they'd like to publish but non-artistic sensibilities, like issue balance, intrude on the selection process. You can't have an issue of all vampire stories, for example. Unless it was a themed issue... Hhm... I digress.

The point is, many stories are publishable and don't make the cut.

Being a writer is hard. But, it's worth it, right? :)

Good luck with your writing endeavors!

Another Successful Query Letter

UF authors Mario Acevedo and Jeanne Stein are hosting a guest blog today by UF author Kevin Hearne: Pimping Druids, the Fae, and Kevin Hearne. Of particular interest is his posted query letter that led to a sale! Check it out. And check out Kevin's new release Hounded.

Phew!

Phew! Well, we did it folks. We completed the A-Z blogging challenge. It wasn't easy but with help from our friends we survived. :) Thank you, writer friends who helped out!

And thank you, folks that commented or just stopped by. I, personally, look forward to keeping up with all my new friends and newly-discovered blogs. :)

As fellow Seton Hill University students know, we are nearly at the end of the semester. Deadlines are staring (pounding?) us in the face! And as we all know (W is for Write), the most important thing is to write. So, you'll have to forgive me as I go off and

write!

I'll be back later in the week.