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This week: Getting Lost Edited by: Fyn  
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When I look back, I am so impressed again
with the life-giving power of literature.
If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of
myself in the world, I would do that again by reading,
just as I did when I was young.
~ Maya Angelou ~
When we read a story, we inhabit it.
The covers of the book are like a roof and four walls.
What is to happen next will take place within the four walls of the story.
And this is possible because the story's voice makes everything its own.
~ John Berger ~
Books, I found, had the power to make time
stand still, retreat or fly into the future.
~ Jim Bishop ~
A room without books is like a body without a soul.
~ Marcus T. Cicero ~
There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away,
Nor any Coursers like a Page
Of prancing Poetry.
~ Emily Dickinson ~
There is more treasure in books than
in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island.
~ Walt Disney ~
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Ah, tis 10:44 Monday morning. The noon deadline draws near and at the moment, I have but these words on the page for my newsletter.
And I will apologize if this one is rather short. But I do have a good excuse and one these readers should appreciate.
You see, I just came up for air. Reaching for my empty cup of coffee, my nose poked above the computer screen
and my eyes focused on the clock ticking on the wall.
10:30? But, but, I just sat down. No, wait. That was two hours ago. My newsletter! ACK!
Reluctantly, I let Artie, Larkin, Hackley, Granny and Mary slide back within their pages, their songs to float back to their cove.
You see, I got lost this morning. I sat to skim, stayed to devour My One True Love by Sheila Kay Adams.
I was plucked from my desk in Michigan and transported into this new world and eagerly went exploring a world where,
...the deep lavender light of dawn would be laying about in every crease and crevice
there in the cove and the mountains off toward Tennessee would be wearing their misty shrouds.
Something about this book grabbed my hand and then tugged me in close. Hours flew by unnoticed,
things that need doing forgotten because the need to keep reading far outweighed all the rest.
Don't you remember calling out from your room at night, "Just one more chapter, Mom. Please?"
Getting lost within a book is just so satisfying. Several characters I've read and reread over the years
have become more like a best friend, than a mere character in a book. Opening that favorite after a few years
is like traveling to a reunion and I am happily hugged close yet once again.
When I first surfaced after about a five hour non-stop read of Jean Auel's The Clan of the Cave Bear
it took time to refocus and, as it turns out, realize, that somewhere along the way I'd started labor.
I totally missed the beginnings of it I was so wrapped up in Ayla's world. A good book can bring you
into and along with its characters transporting the reader anywhere at all, unhampered by time, space, locale or physicality.
Every so often there is absolutely nothing like flying dragonback through Pern or running my hands through Aslan's glorious mane.
My husband has the uncanny knack of coming to ask me a question exactly at the point in a book
where everything's coming together and I cannot devour it quickly enough. He'll stop, seeing that glazed look
and say, "Opps, bad timing, eh?" I'll smile and dive back in. I remember reading The Perfect Storm
and forcing myself to go do laundry or some such just because the book raced along and I literally,
didn't want the ride to end. So I'd stop and then go back to the wind and rain and what I knew, knew was coming.
One of the greatest compliments I received recently on a new short story was that the reviewer 'got lost' in the story.
I just sat at my desk grinning like crazy. This is what we aim for. The ability to grab a reader around the throat, or heart
and drag them in, not letting them come up for air until the last word has been read and then gradually, they reemerge,
refocusing on the world around them . . . until next time.
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as per request--
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a contest that snagged me in...check it out!
11:30--just might make it! |
Have an opinion on what you've read here today? Then send the Editor feedback! Find an item that you think would be perfect for showcasing here? Submit it for consideration in the newsletter!
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Ghost of Stereotomy  asks:My unpublished novel, Heart of the City, is one of two finalists in an international fiction competition run by Dorchester publishing, and the grand prize is a publishing contract. As a long-time member of the WDC community and former mod (also former editor of the Horror/Scary newsletter) I'm asking for your help. If you could feature my item, I would so appreciate it.
see above *smile
Lunarmirror enthuses:Wow I must admit yours is the first newsletter I read properly and I was thoroughly in the "blown away" mode.Its awesome your husband encourages your passion! MASHALLAH (A prayer in praise to God) A lot of spouses don't do that. Loved the way you described the words as ingredients in a dish - right now (I read this newsletter before but I'm commenting now) I feel less bad on not being able to cook.
"Oh, but wait. One of my characters refuses to be silenced... my eyes glaze over and my fingers race across the cupboards, err, keyboard."
Powerful statements my friend - we may not all have the same methodology but that feeling of dying if one is not able to write is blood in every writer's veins. Hey I hope you do other stuffs with your husband too ^_^ He deserves the gift as MASHALLAH HE IS A GREAT GUY!!!!
Gather through those ink cupboards and let's see what you bring up - what surfaces from those depths.
Thanking you! And yes we do. He understands that my writing is to me is how I understand his hunting is to him. We feed on each other, we get each other. Life is good!
Joto-Kai  says:Ah, I do hope one day it is like that with me, when I've overcome a few hurdles. I so rarely get in the zone, it's more blocks and stopping and waiting.
I always say I have ideas simmering...when they come to a full boil they will boil over and that's when I sit down and the words pour forth. Sometimes it helps to 'blind' write every day. Just sit for 15 minutes and write what ever comes to mind. Not a story, not even complete thoughts (unless of course--you get on a roll and then fly with it!) but just write...about your day, about what's on your desk, about what's outside the window or inside your heart. Just write...it's a bit like excersize...get in that habit and you will find time because, you simply must!
Kyna  wrote to say:I'm not sure what, if anything, i learned from that but i appreciated it none the less. thanks for giving the writers life a new perspective
Sometimes with my newsletters, it is more about reading between, behind and underneath the words. There is always a point to what I say beyond the tales I tell, usually something to so with details, observances or, in today's case, the passion of being swallowed whole and how that is the goal we all wish to attain with our readers. *smile*
Christine Cassello adds: This was a very interesting depiction of the writing process. I like your imagery of the words hanging over your head waiting to be used and the ones you didn't use covering the dog. This would make a cute cartoon.
*giggles* Just picturing this makes me smile...thanks!
Mara ♣ McBain  comments: I loved the way you worded this NL. You made the craziness of a writer's craft beautiful.
Ah, but it is...it is!
Jeff  says:Thank you so much for featuring my story "Legacy" this week, Fyn! Great NL, as always. 
You're welcome and thank YOU!
A.S. Hendra [Job-Searching] writes:I like your "letter from editor" this time. That's so exciting of how you illustrated it!
THanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it!
11:59 and I just have a quick question. (I hear the clock ticking SM, I'll type fast!) What is YOUR favorite book to get lost in?
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For Authors: July 14, 2010 Issue [#3859]
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