September 2019
Wizardry and Wild Romance by Michael Moorcock – read
What’s Auntie Reading Now?: Wizardry and Wild Romance (Reread)
Tag Archives: LitCrit
New to the Stacks: Birthday
My birthday was in July and I have wonderful friends.
Keep Going by Austin Kleon ~ Creativity ~ Read
Who Cooked the Last Supper? by Rosalind Miles – Feminism, History ~ Read
Writing as a Way of Healing by Louise DeSalvo – Creativity, Self-Care
Better Living Through Criticism by A. O. Scott – #LitCrit ~ Read
The Book of Vice by Peter Sagal – Fun
The Steal Like an Artist Journal by Austin Kleon – Creativity
Biblioholism by Tom Raabe
New to the Stacks: Hugos and Theory
On Moral Fiction by John Gardner- read
They’d Rather be Right by Mark Clifton and Frank Riley ~ read
A Case of Conscience by James Blish –
The Iliad and the Odyssey by Alberto Manguel
The Big Time by Fritz Lieber
Girl Sleuth: Nancy Drew and the Women Who Created Her by Melanie Rehak
What Makes This Book So Great by Jo Walton – read
What’s Auntie Reading Now?: The Art of Fiction
The Art of Fiction by John Gardner ~ read
The Daily Communiqué – 14 April, 2019 – Week 2 Recap
Monday’s announcement of the Hugo nominees led me to write about my experiences with WorldCon and meeting authors.
I’ve been listening to a lot of different music at work, thanks to the global record collection, and shared some of my discoveries on Tuesday.
In the same vein, on Wednesday there were works by artists I found intriguing.
Some reflective writing on writing on Thursday.
A tiny bit of fiction for Friday night. The monster is real!
And rounding out the week, my reaction to former pope Benedict’s letter about sex abuse in the Catholic Church.
Currently reading: Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James. I don’t know what I think about it yet, other than it’s weird.
The Daily Communiqué – 11 April, 2019 – On Writing
Mostly my writing doesn’t get read by anyone. Writing so publicly in The Daily Communiqué is challenging on more levels than just publishing something, anything, on a daily basis.
There will be a discernible variance in quality as I find my public voice. Critical reviews are one thing, I can hide behind the intellectual and LitCrit when writing those.
Getting more personal, staying away from the diary like posts requires a willingness to be vulnerable to a buncha “I don’t know who might be reading this types.” To be clear, I chose this and I welcome the challenge it brings. I want it to elevate my writing.
Reading M. Todd Gallowglas’ Stopwatch Chronicles recently shook something loose. I’m not sure what yet, but it definitely changed my visceral thoughts about my writing. Some of my daily communiqués will be working through these new ideas.
And since writing this in November, I’ve been thinking about memoir. River Queens is a great example. This needs more research, and careful study, but I think there’s some things I could write that wouldn’t be too cringe inducing right now.
Aside from the work with my mentor on metamodernism (yes, it’s a thing and yes, I dig nerding out about it), I have no other “assignments.” What we’re reading is challenging, and will take some time to get through them thoughtfully.
There are memoir-ish ideas for very short pieces floating around. I want to weigh where the boundaries are for what I want to say. Stopwatch Chronicles will have a fundamental impact on how I approach these pieces.
How I’ve evolved as a writer since October leaves me a little befuddled some times. More than ever I claim “writer” as a part of my self and I’m becoming even more dedicated to pursing the craft. Bette Davis said it best, “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy [ride].”
The Daily Communiqué: 8 April 2019 – Hugos
2019 Hugo nominations have been announced. I’m so pleased to see at least one book I’ve read, and a fanzine I know well, nominated.
WorldCon 76 was almost literally in my backyard, someone helped me decide I HAD to go, and it’s the only time (so far) I’ve been able to vote for the Hugos.
One of my favorite authors Mary Robinette Kowal, and astronaut Kjell Lindberg hosted a “Koffee Klatch” to talk about their work, and answer questions. There were ten of us, and we were enthused about meeting them. We learned some pretty interesting stuff about writing and being in space, and carried out a good amount of signed swag. (Kjell even signed the inside of the Canadarm hatch door on my model shuttle.)
Since I don’t anticipate going to WorldCon 77 in Dublin, sad doesn’t begin to cover how I feel about not being able to vote for at least these two nominees.
There’s such good stuff which has been nominated, and good lord how do people read it all? I’m still working on last year’s packet!
Being a list making/keeping type of person, it’s tempting to download the list of all Hugo winners/nominees and see how many I can read, but that way lies madness. There are two many other books to read, my apartment would explode with that large an influx of books.
Speaking of which, Marlon James‘ Black Leopard, Red Wolf just arrived. Here’s a great long read from The New Yorker published just before the book was published.
Part of my assigned reading for LitCrit involves N. K. Jemisin’s The Broken Earth Trilogy, Toni Morrison’s Beloved, and James’ book. To bring it back to the Hugos, Jemisin won three years in a row for Broken Earth, and with as much hype as there is about Black Leopard, Red Wolf, I won’t be surprised to see it nominated for a Hugo next year.