Snowfall
Jan 24, 2004 Writing
We woke up to a beautiful blanket of snow outside. Noah fixed us breakfast as an enticement to get us out of bed at the challenging hour of 8am. Now the boys are sledding at the park.
I’m trying to grab all of this sudden passion I have for my book proposal again since I know it could disappear at a moment’s notice. I am helping to organizing some resources for crits and I also sent the sample chapter both to a magazine editor who expressed interest in it some time ago and to a friend of mine who works at helping people market proposals. I am really hoping that the editor does decide to run it not only because it’s fun to have stuff in magazines but because I know her edits will be invaluable. Also I think it will help sell the proposal if I can show that there’s a market for my writing on this particular topic.
I’m still having a hell of a time finding what the unifying thread is in the book. As most of you know, it’s an infertility memoir but I while I know the infertility story is a crutch for a bigger story, I can’t figure out what the bigger story is.
I got an anthology of essays used in college writing classes and the version I got is an old examination copy so it has all the little notes to teachers. I’m not a very good reader. I mean, I’m a good reader in that I’m fast and voracious but my critical thinking skills are abysmal, which is the more important thing anyway. I get so caught up in the story that I forget to notice how the author has managed to catch me up. This is the only thing I miss about English classes; I liked having a guide through the work provided that the guide was a good one. At Ohio State, some of my professors were absolutely terrific and if I was the type of person to have regrets, I might have a hint of regret about not finishing out my degree there. Fortunately I don’t do much dwelling on regrets, besides if I felt inclined to wallow I can always remember my terrible foreign language grades and then feel happy that I switched to sociology.
I feel hopeful though. I haven’t had the impetus to look at this proposal for some time and now that I’ve made the decision to not take the other job, I feel ready to focus on some long-term goals. I’m glad I spent the last year learning more about the industry and getting some good experience and now this year, I’m ready to work on being a better writer.
January 24th, 2004 at 11:19 am
Dawn, I’m the exact same way WRT to reading. Symbolism, theme, etc are all utterly lost on me when I read a good book–all I see is the story. I actually find my lit classes to be 1/2 enriching and 1/2 frustrating because it’s really hard for me to slow down enough to notice that stuff and most of the time, to be brutally honest, I don’t care anyway. A good story is a good story is a good story, no?
January 24th, 2004 at 1:32 pm
I experience reading in a very similar way. I remember my college women’s lit classes being these incredible discussions of style and form and structure and theme and the layers of information within the story. I loved it and I thrived in that hyper-thinking mode. I can just barely get by now. I love reading a review of a book and being reminded that there’s more to it than just a great story. I also hate it because it reminds me that I’ve dumbed myself down so much in the last 15 years…about this stuff anyway. I’ve gotten a lot smarter about regular life things, that maybe have been more important to me anyway.
Good luck as you find your way into this book, and you will! Just keep going. You are a gifted and strong writer and that’s got to be at least half the battle.