Virginia Woolf talks fruit "As for my next book,I am going to hold myself from writing it till I have it impending in me:grown heavy in my mind like a ripe pear;pendant,gravid,asking to be cut or it will fall." Coming Soon * Fresh Picks - review of a debut work by a Canadian writer,plucked from the tree of a Canadian publisher * Fruit Basket - reviews of an established Canadian author's works,one bite -- er,book -- after the next * Cobbler - reviews of an assortment of Canadian works on a theme,a variety of flavours to tempt your tongue |  Features,served up on a whim,when the picking is good:
Fresh Picks - a review of a debut work by a Canadian writer,plucked from the tree of a Canadian publisher
First pick was Susan Telfer’s The House Beneath from Hagios Press
Fruit Basket - reviews of an established Canadian author’s works,one bite —er,book —after the next
First was filled Keith Oatley’s three novels,served fresh for the Autumn Equinox
Fruit Cobbler - reviews of an assortment of Canadian works on a theme,a variety of flavours to tempt your tongue
Hot from the oven …soon Winter is about to fall in on us.
Carol Shields  Ben Yagoda’s The Sound on the Page:Style and Voice in Writing
HarperResource –HarperCollins,2004
To begin with a cliché,which of course Ben Yagoda would never do,it’s not what you say,it’s how you say it. That’s style. And that’s at the core of Ben Yagoda’s The Sound on the Page. Accepting as his premise,“style matters”,Ben Yagoda went on to interview more than 40 writers. He quickly discovered that it wasn’t an easy subject to discuss overtly. Some writers approach style consciously,others subconsciously,and even those who do approach it deliberately had difficulty assembling their explanations. “The underlying movement is a circling around the subject,until finally it is securely roped and tied to the ground.” The writers interviewed include Jonathan Raban,Abraham Verghese,Dave Barry,Andrei Codrescu,Elmore Leonard,Cynthia Ozick,John Updike,Camille Paglia,Junot Díaz,Jamaica Kinkaid,Bebe Moore Campbell and Bill Bryson. From whether one prefers writing longhand to writings on a keyboard,from literary influences to Strunk and White,from writing in Black English to the overuse of adverbs:it’s all here. The author declares that it’s not a how-to guide,but nonetheless every page has ”implications for writers who are interested in discovering and developing their own style”. And these pages are best absorbed over time. The narrative contains long excerpts of the interviews,and some chapters are comprised entirely of writers’thoughts on style. This is not a work with the conversational style of Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird,or the intimate tone of bell hooks’remembered rapture;The Sound on the Page feels formal,methodical and s-e-r-i-o-u-s. “To be sure,most of us neither can be nor want to be a Hemingway. But all of us have within us a quieters sort of stylistic distinctiveness. Anyone who is serious about writing in any form is engaged in a lifelong waltz with this capability.” Random Quotes: “Thinking about voice,my first thought was that it’s about identity,recognizability,individuation. But then I thought,no,recognizabilty is not the point,it’s the result —of emotion,movement,kinetic thought,dance,fear,love. It’s the result of specific experience filtered through a specific sieve.”Sharon Olds “If you’re a lens with a particular grind,with warps and bumps,the writers you like are lights that can shine through that lens. Different lights are going to reveal different aspects. You end up with a map of your own lens —the things that come up again and again.”Michael Chabon It’s Good Stuff for Writers.  Pantheon,1995 (1994) Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird:Some Instructions on Writing and Life (1994)
Pantheon Books,1995 Whenever I look at the list of books about writing that I’ve considered on this site,I feel a pang of disloyalty. Most of the books that had a fundamental impact on the way that I think about writing are books that I read a long time ago,books whose titles are not listed here,books whose ideas have no gratitude expressed towards them here. When I decided to re-read Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird this year,that’s what I was thinking about. It was a deliberately planned pilgrimage. But I was nervous about it. Sometime between 1994 and February 2012,I did pick up Bird by Bird again,and I hadn’t loved it with the same fervour that I had when I first discovered it. After only a few chapters,I set it aside and wondered if I hadn’t grown out of it. After that,I stopped recommending it as widely as I had,even though it was one of the books whose names still came immediately to mind when I considered influential books on writing. After that,I looked at my copy warily,like you look at a favourite food that’s been tainted by the memory of having eaten it on an evening that transformed into a particularly painful morning-after. But now I can comfortably refer to it as a favourite once more. If I ever find the notes that I made from that first reading (if,in fact,I made notes,because all I remember is racing through it,even taking it into the tub,so attached was I),I might find that I noted completely different passages,but the number of flags that marked the remarkable passages of this re-read was an impressive tally indeed. What makes Bird by Bird such a vital resource for me? First,the specific. “One line of dialogue that rings true reveals character in a way that pages of description can’t.” “If there is one door in the castle you have been told not to go through,you must. Otherwise,you’ll just be rearranging furniture in rooms you’ve already been in.” Next,the general. “Writing is about hypnotizing yourself into believing in yourself,getting some work done,then unhypnotizing yourself and going over the material coldly.” “Perfectionism is a mean,frozen form of idealism,while messes are the artists’ true friend. What people (inadvertently,I’m sure) forgot to mention when we were children was that we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here – and,by extension,what we’re supposed to be writing.” Also,her bookishness. “I read more than other kids;I luxuriated in books. Books were my refuge. I sat in corners with my little finger hooked over my bottom lip,reading,in a trance,lost in the places and times to which books took me.” “Becoming a writer can also profoundly change your life as a reader. One reads with a deeper appreciation and concentration,knowing now how hard writing is,especially how hard it is to make it look effortless. You begin to read with a writer’s eyes. You focus in a new way.” And,finally,her voice. “There are moments when I am writing when I think that if other people knew how I felt right now,they’d burn me at the stake for feeling so good,so full,so much intense pleasure. I pay through the nose for these moments,of course,with / lots of torture and self-loathing and tedium,but when I am done for the day,I have something to show for it.” “To be engrossed by something outside ourselves is a powerful antidote for the rational mind,the mind that so frequently has its head up is own ass – seeing things in such a narrow and darkly narcissistic way that it presents a colo-rectal theology,offering hope to no one.” It’s Still Great Stuff for Writers.  bell hooks’ remembered rapture (1999) Henry Holt and CompanySome of the collections of essays about writing on my shelves are permanently creased to mark the essays that I enjoy,tighter sections on the book’s binding marking those essays which I only read once. My copy of this collection,remembered rapture,is well-worn throughout. It is like that perfect album that you could listen to straight-through. In her introduction,“rapture from the deep”,hooks explains that she is writing from the perspective of a cultural critic and a literary scholar and a creative writer. And,so,some of the essays are academic,others playful,and some celebratory. Perhaps it is this combination of styles which makes the volume so satisfying,the sense of listening to her speak from a lectern alternating with the sense of sitting together at a kitchen table. “In many of these essays I grapple with the issue of public work as an intellectual in and outside the academy and that space of writing that is always intimate,private,solitary.” What I find remarkable about this is not just that her pieces are affecting regardless of the shift in tone and voice,but that they continue to reach me across the years. When I first discovered this collection,I had not read Zora Neale Hurston or Ann Petry or Toni Cade Bambara —though I had read Toni Morrison and hooks’ Bone Black —but I read those essays all the same. (Quite likely they were —at least partially —responsible for nudging those writers onto my TBR list.) And,on re-reading the essays,I realize that I still haven’t read Lorraine Hansberry,or Gwendolyn Brooks’ Maud Martha,or Jessie Fauset’s Plum Bun,or Frances Harper’s Iola Leroy,Kristin Hunter’s The Survivors and The Lakestown Rebellion. hooks appeals every bit as strongly to the reader in me as she does to the writer in me. But,paradoxically,turning to remembered rapture is something I do as a writer first,so the rest is just a bonus. “I began to write in my girlhood. And I am writing still,moving swiftly into midlife with a body of words I have made into books beside me. No passion in my life has been as constant,as true as this love. No passion has been as demanding. When words call,to answer,to satisfy the urge,I must come again and again to a solitary place —a place where I am utterly alone.” I find it hard to stop there. I want to include the entire passage. And that is the same sensation with which I love moving through this collection. It’s Terrific Stuff for Writers. All my books are about people bedeviled by desire,either in love or in love with love.
Jeffrey Eugenides,“Bookmarks” Nov/Dec 2011 (16) I try with each book to be a different person. Michael Ondaatje,in interview with Jian Ghomeshi,2011 Giller Prize shortlist  Elizabeth Berg’s Escaping into the Open:The Art of Writing True (1999)
HarperCollins,2000
The first time I read Escaping into the Open,I had a day job working for a couple who understood that I would work my butt off for them,but that I wanted,more than anything to not be working for them,to be writing full-time. He was a liberal-minded sort,and she was a reader (we both loved Elizabeth Berg’s trilogy which began with Durable Goods);over the years in which I worked for them,they allowed me to reduce and increase the number of shifts I worked,to allow for more time with drafts and less time with a cash register,and they celebrated with me when Room published a short piece set in their shop. This time,rather than read the book on my lunches and breaks,I was reading it in the afternoons,sitting outside in a summer which was the launch of a full-time writing stint,almost ten years after my first reading of it. I haven’t read an Elizabeth Berg novel in almost that many years,but I picked up Escaping into the Open because I remembered the writing prompts being good. And they are. Well,I don’t know what makes prompts good for other people,but those in Escaping into the Open seem to straddle the line of being accessible without being too basic,and also sparking creativity without pushing it to the limit. They’re like warm-up exercises for me,when I know that I want to work on something in particular,but I can’t shift into it. (As opposed to not having a project in mind,and wanting to jolt something out of me,which requires a different kind of prompt:see chatter about Take Ten for Writers by Bonnie Neubauer.) Here are some examples of Elizabeth Berg’s prompts: Describe taking a walk in winter using sounds only. (Especially fun doing this in June) Compare snow to food. (Yes,I’m a bit obsessed with extreme temperatures these days.) What used to live under your bed. (For a non-winter-inspired prompt.) Name three things an ear looks like. (Really,most of them are not winter-ish.) As for the prose,which comprises the bulk of Escaping into the Open,it’s a comfortable read for the most part. The emphasis is on finding your own voice,and she embraces the idea that different people write for different reasons. “The more you write the way you want to (the way something at your center is telling you to),the better the writing will be.” She really does put the emphasis on the writer as individual. “We need the chance to draw from our own unique selves,to act according to our own beliefs,without any interference from others. I believe that solitude,perhaps more than anything,breeds creativity,breeds originality.” And,for the most part,she is not restrictive about her approach. She affords the reader an opportunity to recognize him- or herself in her prose. “As a writer,you should have a sticky soul;the act of continually taking things in should be as much a part of you as your hair color.” It’s easy to find yourself in statements like this,to feel included in the circle that Elizabeth Berg is drawing with her work. And,yet,I do have a quibble. In discussing all the things a writer should have,in saying that most of them cost nothing,she overlooks the fact that many of them rely upon one of the elements in her list which certainly does have a cost,but not one a wanna-be-writer can save up for:Prosperity. Sure,you can make up a Purpose and a Plan (the first two items on her list),but being able to actualize those things depends upon opportunity. “It will require some sort of sacrifice at first,but if you’re meant to be (or in fact already are) a writer,you’ll find a way to do it.” It sounds like one of those things that someone who has-never-had-to-do-without would say. Someone who has never had to take a day job where their employers seemed hardly human,where despair filled the spot that used to hold the art of writing. I didn’t always have understanding and supportive employers;had I read this when I was holding another job,when I was too busy hating myself on weekends and in the evenings for not writing,I would have felt Elizabeth Berg’s statement keenly and likely set aside her book. (And set aside the idea of writing perhaps,too.) But I know that’s my bias showing. (And,yes,I admit,that would have meant missing out on her Food for (Creative) Thought chapter,which does include some terrific recipes,including one for Wickedly Delicious Chocolate Cake,which I felt the need to make upon finishing this re-read earlier this summer.) Overall,Elizabeth Berg’s Escaping into the Open is Good Stuff for Writers.  Writing is a self-pleasuring act.
Ian McEwan The New Yorker
“The Background Hero:Ian McEwan’s Art of Unease” by Daniel Zalewski (Feb 23,2009)  Bonnie Neubauer’s Take Ten for Writers:
1,000 Inspiring Exercises
Writer’s Digest Books,2009
So you might remember that I have a bad attitude about Writer’s Digest Books,but this is a second exception to my rule. If there are many more of these (see “taking that back”here,too),I may have to revise aforementioned attitude. In the introduction to Take Ten for Writers,Bonnie Neubauer states that “if you are not putting pen to paper,you are at rest”,and she proceeds to explain the set-up of the book,which is designed to start the flow of creative energy,get the momentum going. She also includes five rules,but begins by clearly stating that they’re there for those who like rules,and there to rebel against for those who don’t. Ha! But let’s get down to the math. The book has 100 exercises,each appearing on the odd-numbered page. After you read through the page,you are to choose a number between one to ten,which will correspond to the variation (one of ten choices) on the flip-side of the page. So that’s how you end up with one thousand exercises. (See,she even makes math accessible.) Some of the exercises’variations are more varied than others. For instance,the one which gets you to continue a story begun on the first page by adopting the voice of a food in the fridge. Well,that one just didn’t sit well with me and,anyway,the scope of the exercise is relatively limited compared to others. But,for another example,take being asked to make a selection from 1 to 31 and use the word that appears beside the figure you’ve chosen to launch a freewrite. Next, choose another number between 32 and 62 (the idea being that you can use the date and double it,if you’re not random-minded). Then you are to write a second freewrite that begins with the word next to your second number,a freewrite which is connected to the first in some way. Well,you can see how that kind of open-ended set-up could hold months worth of writing. (But,yes,that math was hard. S’why I’m in the letters game.) Regardless of the scope of the exercises,however,the book’s design is also worth mentioning. Each page has its own style (with a slim border around each contributing to a sense of continuity) and contains contrasting and striking colour usage and also a wide variety of supporting media. The presentation alone stimulates the creative juices. For me,the kind of prompts in Take Ten for Writers are of a different sort than those included in Elizabeth Berg’s Escaping into the Open (which I’ll chat about in a few weeks),which are more open-ended. Neubauer’s is not a book that I would turn to when I’m sitting down in the morning to write but can’t easily pick up the threads of the manuscript I’m working on;when I’m living with a book or story but can’t get into the right space to move ahead with it,a looser kind of prompt can be easily adapted to suit what I’m working on,and it’s like a tool with a purpose. Bonnie Neubauer’s prompts are the sort that I would turn to when I`m not focussing on a specific project,when I want to get my head out of what I’ve been working on,or when I don’t have something on the go. They are the kind of prompts that can work into something new for me. It’s like deciding that you want to exercise but you don’t want to do the usual pilates or aerobic routine,so you decide to go dancing instead. Inspiring Stuff for Writers.  When I`m writing I often spin out my daily pages as rapidly as possible,in order to get back to whatever I am reading.
Larry McMurtry’s Books  When I first started picking up this magazine,I went straight for the Classifieds. They’re still a great resource. In fact,this bit,which started out as a Resource post,has just transformed into a Click Here post. Consider it transformed.
What makes this section of Poets&Writers so useful is that it combines calls for submissions for new and launching magazines with longstanding and established magazines that are interested in receiving submissions from new writers. A wide variety of markets:tonnes of potential for fresh readers. There are separate calls for chapbooks,for anthologies,and for books. And,at the end of all that,even if you haven’t found a new market to which you’re suddenly keen to submit,you can drool over the writers’retreats and rentals. So,okay. Fine. I’ll chat about the magazine itself next time. (By then there might be a fresh issue to talk about.) Meantime,check out the Classifieds:the stuff of goal-setting for writers. | |
Features,served up on a whim,when the picking is good: 
