Robert Fulghum's Books

 

By Kate Phillips

 

As a reader, I always love finding books that appeal to me. As a writer, I am twice as pleased when the authors also provide Masterclasses for me within their books.

            Masterclasses take place when performance artists or musicians work one-on-one with students. Writers don't generally have this option, but I have found some books to be Masterclasses for characters, dialogue, backstories, plots, settings, voice, and/or creativity.

 

             Robert Fulghum's voice is unmistakable. Most famous for his book All I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, he has written many more including It Was On Fire When I Lay Down on It, Uh-Oh: Some Observations From Both Sides of the Refrigerator Door, and Maybe (Maybe Not): Second Thoughts From a Secret Life.

 

 

The author writes about his life as a series of funny and sometimes sad anecdotes which cover his childhood adventures through his careers as a working cowboy, professional artist, folksinger, bartender, parish minister, teacher, and amateur philosopher. He has been a part of the tragic and triumphant moments in people's lives and shares them with his readers in poignant detail. These short tales make you laugh, occasionally cry, and always illuminate our humanity.

 

As a minister, Fulghum officiated at many weddings—over a thousand, in fact. My favorite story of his begins on page 9 of It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It.

 

As he states,

 

"…I always look forward to marrying again, because most wedding are such comedies.

Not that they are intended as such. But since weddings are high state occasions involving amateurs under pressure, everything NEVER goes right…"

 

He then goes on to tell the "quintessential wedding tale. One of disaster. Surprisingly, it has a happy ending, though you may be in doubt, as I was, as the story unfolds."

 

It's hilarious! 

 

The author has a way of making many things funny: holiday stress, family secrets, obsessions, and even funerals including a surprisingly funny story covering the battle between a "Band of Brothers" and an acerbic widow over the service for a VFW member in Uh-Oh starting on page 173. His buddies and his wife loved the man in their own ways, but did not agree in how to honor him.

 

Whenever I find myself in need of a laugh or a change in perspective, I randomly open any of these books and dive in. You may find the author climbing trees, wearing a beanie while walking to work with a briefcase to observe other's reactions, playing a favorite game of making up occupations with newly-met seatmates doing the same on airplanes, or relating the real biographies of the unremembered people behind famous inventions and songs.

 

His delightful observations about love run through these books so it's no surprise he wrote another book entitled True Love: Stories Told To and By Robert Fulghum. In his book Uh-Oh, he had suggested he would love to hear other people's tales of love. This book contains some of the letters he received recounting stories of best friends, soul mates, love affairs, and the kindness of strangers. Again, the stories are a combination of funny and sad showcasing the beauty of love in all its forms.

 

If you enjoyed these books, Fulghum also wrote From Beginning to End: The Rituals of Our Lives and What on Earth Have I Done? Stories, Observations, and Affirmations.

Cookbook Memoirs

By Kate Phillips

 

            In many families, recipes are handed down through generations. My family is known more for its readers than its cooks which may be the reason I gravitate towards cookbooks that are also memoirs.

           

            My favorite cookbook memoir is Confessions of a Closet Master Baker: A Memoir—One Woman's Sweet Journey from Unhappy Hollywood Executive to Contented Country Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado, sister of actress Sandra Bullock. However, you can only buy it as a used book. While the original title seems more true to the author's outlook, it's been repackaged as My Life from Scratch: A Sweet Journey of Starting Over One Cake at a Time. Take note: the recipes cover more than cakes.

 

            This book is more memoir than cookbook as there are no photos, but the stories preceding the recipes are amusing, poignant, and full of good baking tips. Gesine writes as beautifully as she bakes sharing family traditions, nostalgic childhood memories, and the importance of pastries to her dying mother. Then there are her hopes about her new business, funny and serious baking disasters, and stressful behind-the-scenes goings on when she produced Hollywood projects.

 

Instead of working lunches and dinners at fancy LA restaurants, the author now rises at 3:30am to begin her 15-hour work days at her Vermont bakery. She starts each day heading for the laundry room to find clean clothes stating, "I don't care that our clothes never make it from the intertwined dance of the dryer to the smooth folds of the dresser drawers anymore." (Wonderful words to live by!)

 

She notes, "I do care about cake. There really aren't any new ideas in baking; it's the same confectionary plot again and again, perhaps in different combinations. But everything I bake is a story worth retelling."
 

 

 

While the writing isn't as polished, another favorite is The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl by Ree Drummond. You may have heard of her through her award-winning web site or her Food Network TV show.

 

The book begins with an introduction to Ree, how she met her "Marlboro Man", and all the changes in her life now that she is married and raising four children. She went from being a foodie in an urban life to a country wife where eating out is an exception—and there is no pizza delivery. Luckily, she loves to cook.

 

Her cookbook has tons of photos so readers can see what the dishes look like at every step. This is especially helpful for inexperienced cooks.

 

What makes it even more accessible are the short introductions to the recipes—sometimes funny, sometimes personal, and sometimes encouraging in case they look daunting. In between the sections of recipes for Starters, In the Morning, Dinner, Supper, and Sweets are longer essays on the delights of motherhood, family life, gardening, ranching, horses, and dogs.

 

If you ever dreamed of getting away from it all, here is a glimpse of the life you might lead and the feast you can enjoy there.

Essie Summers' Books

By Kate Phillips
 

 

            Once I realized people wrote books—they did not just magically appear on my childhood bookshelves—I knew I wanted to be one of them, but no one I knew wrote for a living. As I had no idea how authors came to be, I looked to books for information and inspiration.

 

At a used bookstore, I came across No Orchids by Request and Sweet are the Ways by Essie Summers. These books are delightful stories about heroines who are writers, one at a newspaper and the other a copy editor and freelance writer until her first two books are published.

 

Through fictional and fortuitous fate, they each end up moving to cottages where they could write—my dream life! The newspaper writer is given a cottage by a family friend. The author buys her cottage. She also describes her writing routine and the dedication it takes to become published.

 

 

There are more writers in other Essie Summers' books: In Daughters of the Misty Gorges and So Comes Tomorrow the leads are all authors; in Season of Forgetfulness, he is the author, she works for a publishing firm; and in My Lady of the Fuchsias, she writes, he illustrates. Other books with writing characters include The Kindled Fire, Goblin Hill, Through All the Years, Where No Roads Go, and Beyond the Foothills (my favorite).

 

Extended families, including three or four generations, are central to these novels. A majority of the characters are voracious readers. Books are almost characters, too, sitting and stacked in most rooms. The adults read aloud to children in front of fireplaces and quote favorite writers in conversations. These are charming romances with enough reality and conflict to keep readers engaged.

 

Settings include working sheep stations, nearby lakes and mountains, picturesque villages, and cities like Christchurch. Essie Summers' beloved New Zealand becomes a travel destination for her readers.

 

Now I knew it was possible to be an author because even though these characters were not real, they lived writing lives as did Ms. Summers who wrote and jotted all her life, but, due to family responsibilities, was "late" to the publishing world. However, she still wrote 56 books starting when she was 45, as well as an autobiography, The Essie Summers' Story. She wrote for Mills & Boon starting in the 1950s then later for Harlequin.

 

Romance publishers have provided woman writers opportunities they never would have had otherwise. The early authors were well educated and good, solid writers. True, there are romance novels that are not well-written or well-plotted, but there are also a great many fantastic ones.

 

While romance novels are not held in high regard by some people, consider that women buy the majority of books and the majority of them can be classified as romances. It's not a genre to be overlooked or mocked.

 

As one Essie Summers' hero says to the heroine when he discovers she writes romances, "I don't know that I have anything against love."

 

I know I don't.

 

What novels helped you see how authors live and work?             

The 90-Day Novel by Alan Watt Update 2

By Kate Phillips

 

I'm now on Day 35 of the 90-Day Novel project.

 

Days 7-28 follow the same pattern as Days 1-6 that I wrote about in my first 90-Day Novel Project post. Author Alan Watt shares his thoughts and insights on a variety of topics then asks his fellow writers to answer two or four open ended questions, spending five minutes on each question.

 

 

Watt addresses problems some—or most—writers face as well. He also provides support to strengthen his readers' resolve to finish their novels. On Day 7, he states, "We are uniquely qualified to tell our story. Everything we need to know to resolve the dilemma at the heart of our story lies within. Our job is to maintain a spirit of curiosity." On Day 8, he continues," If our hero is at peace at the end, be curious about where he is not at peace in the story. If he's willing to share intimacies at the end, be curious about the secrets he is keeping within the story. This gives him a dramatic arc. It gives him somewhere to go."

 

On Day 13, Watt shares, "Story structure invites our subconscious to organize a host of disparate ideas into a coherent narrative that leads to a transformation. We are seeking to imagine a story that becomes bigger than we are, where we step back with wonder and say, 'Where did that come from?"'

 

On Day 15, readers are also assigned to read Alan Watt's novel Diamond Dogs. On Day 22, readers look at a story structure analysis so they can see how Watt's prompts, thoughts, and insights apply to a novel. He welcomes readers to start working on their novels after Day 22, but recommends waiting until Day 29.

 

In 28 days, I'd only answered the assigned questions. However, I put a lot of work into my novel's characters, backstories, plot, subplots, and settings.

 

After Day 28, there are writing assignments, but no more prompts and questions. Watt switches to support and cheerleading. On Day 34, he says, "Even if we don't understand why it's being written, we can trust that when we've completed our first draft we'll begin to see patterns that will lead us to a more specific understanding of our story."

 

On Day 35, Watt notes, "Expecting too much too soon can be a fatal mistake. Of course we should strive for excellence, but excellence in the first draft involves dancing with the muse, not self-flagellation…"

 

What a lovely goal: dancing with the muse. It sounds so much more fun and easier than writing.

 

Trust in the process. Get your story down on paper. That's what matters.

 

What I most love about this book are Alan Watt's thoughts and insights. He takes you at your word that you want to be a novelist and that you are willing to put in the work. He is a mentor sharing what it takes to complete a novel successfully with those ready to write their own.

 

How are your novels coming along?