A Room of My Own

As promised, I am posting pictures of my renovated Junk Room.  It is now my office/writing/reading space.  Remember this ghastly photo?

Before

After

Big improvement, n'est pas?  My desk is now auspiciously placed diagonally from the entrance.  I have a new, more comfy chair with cushioning, and I can spin in it until I'm dizzy.  The Hub built a bulletin board and tons of shelves.  I am surrounded by literary goodness: books, book posters, photos of readers, and writing tools galore.  

Ten Lessons for Writers Inspired by American Literary Greats

American Writers at Home by J.D. McClatchy (with photos by Erica Lennard) is my Pick of the List this month.  It’s a collection of biographical vignettes, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Because I read this book cover-to-cover and in minute detail, I noticed patterns in work habits across the twenty-one legendary writers featured within.  Below is a list of Ten Lessons for aspiring writers I compiled based on facts from McClatchy’s biographies.  I included fun examples from the book to show successful (and not-so-successful) behaviors among Great American Writers.

1. Most excuses for not writing are weak. 

After her husband’s death, Kate Chopin ran his general store, raised six (count ’em, six) children, had an affair with a local planter, had parties and played cards, studied Huxley and Darwin, and still found time to write her short stories and The Awakening. Kate Chopin, spinning in her grave, thinks all of your excuses for not writing are lame.  An aging Ralph Waldo Emerson continued to lecture even though his memory was gone.  When he caught pneumonia, he insisted on dressing each morning and going to his study.  He died a week later.  So, what’s your excuse?  Full-time job? Family?  Laziness?  If you want to write, you’ll find a way.

2. Routine breeds discipline. 

Washington Irving always sipped coffee or tea when writing in the early morning hours.  Hemingway sat at his desk at 8 o’clock and wrote all morning during his productive Key West years.  Hawthorne wrote four hours each day in his study but took summers off to read and enjoy the outdoors.  Faulkner worked from seven until two every day.  Twain went to his study at 11 A.M. and worked until supper.  He often played billiards to flesh out ideas and untangle revisions.  Edith Wharton always wrote in bed.  Melville rose at eight and fed his cow a pumpkin before breakfasting and setting to work in his study.  He arranged for a member of the household to knock on his door at 2 P.M. to pull him from his writing.  Eudora Welty also preferred to work mornings, saying, “I wake up ready to go, and I try to use that morning energy and freshness.”  Whether early bird or night owl, hatching ideas requires the discipline of routine.  Create a writing schedule and stick with it.

3. When writing inspiration strikes, don’t delay. 

Louisa May Alcott’s term for her inspiration was “the vortex”, and when she was in the vortex, she’d work up to 14 hours per day.  In this manner, she completed one chapter of Little Women each day.  When inspiration strikes, run with it.  Do not put it off for any reason.  Sit down at the desk and let the vortex sweep you away.

Writers' Rooms - Paul Green Cabin

I've been reading the book American Writers at Home by J.D. McClatchy with photos by Erica Lennard.  It looks like a coffee-table book, but McClatchy's writing is so readable that I find myself with this huge folio across my lap for stretches at a time reading about the likes of Emily Dickinson, Washington Irving, and Ernest Hemingway.  Inspired by this reading, the Book Phantom took a field trip to the writing space of dramatist Paul Green, who won the 1927 Pulitzer for Drama for In Abraham's Bosom (he also wrote the outdoor drama The Lost Colony which still runs in Manteo, NC).  I got to spend a sunny day in the Botanical Gardens in beautiful Chapel Hill where Green's cabin has been relocated.

Spring Reading Thing 2011

I just found a reading challenge called Spring Reading Thing 2011.  Here's a list of things I'll be reading between March 20th and June 20th:

• Swamplandia by Karen Russell
• The Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown
• Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace
• A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
• A Light in August by William Faulkner

This is a little peek into what my book lists will look like over the next few months.  These titles will likely springboard into other reading inspired by whatever crazy is going on in my life.

Room Inspired Bookmark

Today I’m going to release my copy of Room by Emma Donoghue into the librosphere.  On page 85, the author describes the garden shed that Old Nick, the kidnapper, transformed into Ma's prison.  I made this bookmark from a paint chip I collected during my junk-room-to-home-office renovation.  Eerily, the hue is called Garden Shed.  I typed parts of the description on the front.  On the back, I made reference to the title and author, as well as the eggshell snake that Jack made and kept under the bed.  It was a fill-in-the-blanks operation, my little homage to Donoghue’s story.  I plan on placing the book (bookmarked at page 85, of course) somewhere an unsuspecting reader can find it.  I think I’ll leave it in some sort of room – a rest room, or maybe a dressing room in a store.  If you find it and make your way to the Book Phantom, please leave a comment!



Front side



Back side

Review of Room by Emma Donoghue

I have to give Donoghue credit.  Telling a story from the point of view of a five year old boy is one of the more unique twists I’ve read, particularly when the boy has lived his life entirely in a 12 x 12 garden shed he calls Room.  His mother was kidnapped at age 19 by Old Nick and kept in Room for seven years, during which time she gave birth to Jack.  The story opens on Jack’s fifth birthday.  It appears to be a normal day at home for a preschooler and his mom, but we soon find that the duo are kept behind a security coded door which can only be opened by their captor.  Jack hides in the wardrobe on the nights Old Nick “visits” with Ma.

            The story unfolds with a risky escape and the aftermath of freedom in the world Outside.  In spite of the disturbing subject, Jack’s narration filters the haunting bits through young eyes.  His attention is ever flitting toward his childish interests rather than his mother’s suffering, which makes the harsh scenario tolerable.  Sometimes his voice made me think I was reading a dark and perverse Junie B. Jones – like some tragic offspring of Cormac McCarthy and Barbara Park.

The Book Phantom Strikes Again

Today, my library copy of The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet is due.  I will return it, as I await a copy of my very own from Amazon.  As you know, I like to sneak little mementos into books I release back out into the librosphere (tee-hee).  Here is what I made for The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet:

It’s a bookmark which I crafted with my own two little hands, sort of like those Artist Trading Cards people like to exchange.  It's a trifle, but I hope it brightens someone’s day.  Perhaps it will prompt that random reader to ask, “Hey, where’d this come from?” or “What kind of loony would make such a thing?” 

Pretty sneaky, sis!  Feel free to enjoy it yourself...