down the writer's path

Joy: The love of reading combined with great writing

I picked up a book that promises to make my morning reading ritual an absolute delight. I admit I've only read the introduction but in those few pages Robert B. Shwartz has captured my imagination and my love for books so thoroughly that I know I will greedily devour the pages of For the Love of Books: 115 Celebrated Writers on the Book They Love Most. I believe his book falls under the Gee-I-wish-I'd-done-that category. Cast your eyes on this:

"Bookstores were of course my weakness and ultimately my way back. As solace from an otherwise law-benumbed life (He had just graduated from law school.) I was soothed by the symmetry of aisles and sections; mesmerized by the vast compression of facts, ideas, lives, epochs, travels, and regions of the heart. Books of imperishable charm, of bracing or painful insights, endless realignments of twenty-six letters--all contained in one impossibly small and dense place, a paradoxical mix of tranquility and sheer explosive power--as if a bookstore or library can be said to breach some law of physics or create a new one all its own, like a nuclear bomb with good intentions. Reading for me had became fun again but no mere parlor game. I would read, as readers do, to tame the unfamiliar or see the familiar through new and enlightened prisms; to see how different, or eerily familiar, another person's interior life could be from my own."

And there there was this:

"Writing, after all, seemed to me the most important thing one could do crawling between heaven and earth for a lifetime, even if I could not say why. Even if, having read the entire set of Paris Review interviews, I could still not really say what writers did or how they did it. Or how their words came together or pulled apart or crumbled in their hands in the course of infinite reshaping."

Working in a bookstore, living in a home brimming with books, and being a natural library slug, I confess I have felt that humming power that emanates from bookish environments. Books are the repositories of minds at work and if you listen carefully you might hear them call your name. The tactile expression of writers having written words that "crumbled in their hands" resonated as I recalled scenes and paragraphs disintegrating before I barely had time to read them through. Stories come with weight and depth. They are felt.

They are real.

What makes a good novel?

Writers want to learn how to write a good novel but perhaps they should focus on what makes up a good read. It's a subtle shift in perception--a change in point of view--but one that offers some insight into the various techniques needed to craft an artful work of fiction.

A good read for me is one where the author raises questions and engages me in conversation. This stimulation of a reader's thoughts is considered by Jane Smiley in 13 Ways to Look at a Novel as she discusses the necessity for technical innovation. Simply put, a novel should cause the reader to take a new look at his own ideas and perceptions.

"Great seminal novelists may or may not be more rawly original than their contemporaries; what they do is manage to wed originality of technique with depth of insight or breadth of knowledge or charm or some other quality that demonstrates the value of that technical innovation and makes it memorable to future novelists." --Jane Smiley, 13 Ways to Look at a Novel

But where does a novelist go to hone his technique? Essentially within. For Smiley, an author's technique not only grows out of his temperment, his intentions, and his ideas, but it also grows out of his circumstances.

What does your temperment, your intentions, your ideas, even your circumstances add to the mix when you write?

How does this play out in your novel?

What is your relationship with your Muse?

Where do you fall within the full spectrum of inspiration? Do you actively seek inspiration or are you content to wait for the first flap or ruffle of an inspired word?

"The way in which you think of the energy that motivates you to pick up your pen and add to your writing will shape your relationship with your writing and your ability to pursue it." -- Jane Smiley, 13 Ways of Looking at the Novel

This quote comes toward the end of a long passage about writers and their continual dance with inspiration. As Smiley says, "every author attests to the two states of writing--inspiration and waiting for inspiration." For Smiley, the state of being inspired enough to write is "a condition of being stimulated by contemplation of the material to a degree sufficient to overcome your natural disinclination to create."

Far too many writers are content to play the romantic courtier languishing on the sidelines while waiting for even the briefest glimpse of their Muse, the supposed supplier of their creativity. They love being caught up in the moment, dancing among the glorious stream of words only to fall exhausted at their Muse's feet. When they wake, their Muse has vanished. Distraught, they sit and pine.

What about you? Are you aggressive enough in your courting of the Muse? Or are you content to allow her to play hide and seek with your inspiration? Do you wake up every day ready to ride through the dense forest, wade through rapid river currents, intent upon pursuing your inspiration? Or do you sit, hoping against hope that this is the day you will entertain an audience with the fairytale Muse?

Perhaps it's time to reshape your relationship. Direct confrontation too much? Try stalking her. Shuffle your papers, sharpen your pencils, open your files, render your thoughts, fears, and hopes into an online journal, open a project notebook. Don't wait for inspiration to show its face. Take control. You set the parameters. The muse can't help but return, if only to see what you're up to.

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New e-book publisher, EaglesongBooks, is launched

Dick Claassen, Awe-Struck E-Books co-owner and co-editor, is the proud papa of a new venture: www.EaglesongBooks.com. Claassen is looking for nonfiction, as well as fiction stories, novellas, and novels. Have you been looking for a home for your nonfiction book? Maybe you've written an instruction book? Claassen is eagerly seeking music and nonmusic instruction books, too. Check out the submission page.

EaglesongBooks is also a publishing company with a mission. They seek stories and instructional material that embrace respect for culture, tradition, heritage, and the fragile environment of our planet. While this is a new venture, Dick Claassen is no stranger to writing, editing, or the ever-changing world of e-publishing. His latest work, CELEBRATE THE NATIVE AMERICAN FLUTE, is a highly praised music instruction book. Be sure and read The Birth of a Website. You'll find he has discovered how to combine his twin passions for writing and playing the Native American flute.

And now it's time for a little full disclosure. Dick Claassen has been my editor for both DIVIDED LOYALTIES and VIDEO MAGIC. He is an absolute dream to work with and is so supportive that receiving one of his editorial letters becomes a joyous occasion. I am also delighted to be able to participate in the launch of his new publishing company. Because of the prominence of the Native American flute and the environmental and cultural themes in DIVIDED LOYALTIES, you'll find my book listed on EaglesongBooks. As if that isn't cool enough, I'm happy to announce that EaglesongBooks will publish SONG OF THE FLUTE BOY, my first novel written for middle graders.