You may nave noticed that there’s nothing to see here, and moved along. I am head-down in the rewrite, six or eight hours straight of either reading the thing aloud (muttering it, actually, and haltingly, since I stop every few words to change something, then have to re-read the paragraph as corrected) or else inputting the changes, my eyes flipping back and forth between printout and screen, printout and screen, printout…
It’s ridiculous. I have a life on hold, appointments to make, friendships withering on the vine for lack of attention, bee people to see, antique airplane folk to question, and here I sit, head-down over the laptop.
I want to take a class in Japanese. I want to learn to cook Thai, correctly. I want to go to someplace with sand and watch waves come and go and come and go and come and go.
Life is what happens when you’re doing other things. Like writing a book.
Anyway, this too will pass and I will emerge, blinking and growling—oh, and Muttering, too.
In the meantime, here’s a thing.
Next month on the Virtual Book Club we’re reading FOLLY, the novel that threatened to clear the offices of Random House when everyone who read their special in-house ARC got a faraway look in their eyes and started to greet each other in the elevators by asking, “Have you ever thought of building a cabin somewhere? Do you think I could get a sabbatical to do it and then write about it?”
(This month we’re reading Kay Redfield Jamison’s brilliant memoir on madness [her word] An Unquiet Mind. My introduction and the discussion are here [sorry, my links are still not working on WordPress]:
https://laurierking.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=44 )
But on August 28, we’re giving away 7 copies of FOLLY:
Two hardbacks will go to members of the Laurie Loves Libraries List. If you haven’t submitted your library to be part of the list, email us now at info@laurierking.com with your favorite library’s name and address!
Also, a signed trade paperbacks of FOLLY will be given to winners drawn from each of the following groups:
LRK Newsletter registrants
LRK blog Registrants
Active VBC members
All VBC members
You can sign up at those here:
https://laurierking.com/joinus.php
And finally, a UK version of Folly will go to a member drawn from LRK’s Facebook page members.
Good luck, everyone, and—see you on the other side!
LaideeMarjorie says
August 22, 2008 at 10:11 am“Life is what happens when you’re doing other things. Like writing a book.”
Perhaps, Laurie, you can try and see it this way. You sweat and strain and swear and a year later, a book emerges from that gifted brain of yours. Because of that book, a community of readers is forged. The readers, through the modern day miracle that is the internet, find each other through your site and through places like “Letters of Mary”. They chat about your books (and some of us are even inspired to do some of our own writing) and, little by little, we chat about their lives and friendships are born. In October, I will meet a handful of these friends in Baltimore for the first time face to face, but because of your work and the commincations that grew from it, I feel as though I will be meeting friends that I have already known for a year now. What a gift you have given us. So now stop reading this and get back to work! We need all the friends that we can find. I promise that learning Japanese will be there waiting for you when you can get around to it.
–Marjorie
(waves to Alice)
tangential1 says
August 22, 2008 at 10:17 amI want to learn to cook Thai too. It seems so complicated, with a million ingredients you need to have on hand (more than my usual half dozen anyway). It would be a cooking adventure for sure…I wonder if there is a class somewhere…
Teresa says
August 22, 2008 at 11:40 amThanks thanks thanks thanks for sacrificing eyesight, sanity, friendships, and other interests in your life….
for us.
😉
xo!
Teresa
Strawberry Curls says
August 22, 2008 at 4:10 pm(waving back to Marjorie)
You said it all so well, Marjorie. I would never in a million years imagined I would have so many people in my life from all over the U.S. and the UK. The wonders of the internet, and the bond felt by like-minded people facilitated by the internet, still amazes me. It is a wonderful world. I would just like to say thank you, Ms. King, for bringing us all together.
Oh, and don’t wear yourself out, we, your loyal readers, want many more books out of you. Demanding I know, but it is said with love. ; – )
–Alice
Pat Floyd says
August 23, 2008 at 9:34 amMarjorie speaks for a host of people, Laurie. Writing and rewriting are isolating and hard, but think of the satisfaction and sense of completion when the job is done.
corgimom says
August 23, 2008 at 10:08 pmThai cooking is easy if you just grow your own lemongrass and basil, or so my partner tells me since she is a fabulous Thai cook.
Yes, we constant readers appreciate your dedication, and the sporadic need to do anything besides rewrite from time to time so we have blog posts to read.
I just love the whole win-win of this whole thing!
bani says
August 25, 2008 at 2:20 amOh it RANKLES so much that I don’t have the time to really REVEL in special LRK/VBC events! Best of luck with all the rewriting anyway, Laurie!
Carlina says
August 25, 2008 at 9:52 amGosh, you sound like me when I was writing my dissertation. It was the same exact thing. The only advice I can give, other than to agree with what everyone else has said (especially Marjorie), is to stay focused. The effort we put into something is always reflected in the final product and the reception of that product. Right now things may be looking on the down side, but there is always light at the end of the tunnel. I learned the more I focus, the quicker I can get things done, and the quicker I can resume my normal life…Plus the taste of completion and victory is…mmmmmmm..Thai cooking is right around the corner Laurie.
As a reader of your work, I can see the detail, attention, and effort that goes into every piece. It may be a labour now, but think of all the joy, sense of community, and inspiration you’ll bring to all your fans. There’s so much I could say about what your work has given me. Hope is one word that comes to mind. Why hope? Well its personal and I’d be more than happy to share off blog, although some of you already know. So it may be hard now, but think of all the positive impacts one humble novel can have on so many…myself included.
Kerry says
August 25, 2008 at 8:31 pmFirst, just let me repeat what everyone else has written and express my sincerest gratitude — not only for the gifts of your books, but for your generosity in sharing yourself with us through the thicks and thins of your writing, not to mention a full and rich life.
If it’s any consolation, I personally found that my desire to learn to cook Thai food melted quite rapidly the first time I stuck my nose in the jar of fish sauce. How something so utterly repellant can be an ingredient in food so sublime is beyond me. But I figure that’s why the deities who love us invented restaurants . . .
Every time I read Folly I cry inside because I don’t live near Puget Sound 🙂