Essays by Ann Patchett

   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 within their books.

        Masterclasses take place when performance artists and 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, backstories, plots, settings, voice, and/or creativity.

 
        I adore essays. The best are elegant affairs filled with truth and wisdom.

Want proof? Read any of Ann Patchett's in her latest collection—especially "The Getaway Car: A Practical Memoir about Writing and Life," "The Sacrament of Divorce," "This Dog's Life," "The Wall," "Love Sustained," "The Bookstore Strikes Back," "This is the Story of a Happy Marriage," and "The Mercies."

While I love these essays and most of the other fourteen published with them, I hate the title of the book: This is the Story of a Happy Marriage. It just sounds smug—and the essay it's based on is not. In fact, Patchett left a very unhappy marriage, see "The Sacrament of Divorce," and swore she would never remarry, but her plans go engagingly awry a dozen years later.

If I hadn't read a rave review of this book by someone I trust, I never would have picked it up—and I would have missed this Masterclass. I think the paperback (and the hardcover) should be reissued/renamed as My Getaway Car. That grabs interest without putting too many people off. Who hasn't wished for a getaway car at some point in his or her life?

In "The Getaway Car," Patchett shares how she became a published author. She always knew she was a writer, but it took a while to support herself with just her words.

A college class taught by Allan Gurganus, who assigned a story a week, is the basis for her career. "Ninety percent of what I know about fiction writing I learned that year. Write it out. Tell the truth. Stack up the pages. Learn to write by writing. Slowing down was for later, years later. We were to keep going at all costs…Had I wound up with a different sort of teacher, one who suggested we keep an ear cocked for the muse instead of hoisting the pick, I don't think I would have gotten very far." (page 28)

Patchett paid her dues. She worked as a waitress after completing the Iowa Writers' Workshop. "With so much time for thinking and so little time for writing, I learned how to work in my head…I was going to make up a novel…the novel was going to be my getaway car." (page 39) Patchett is the author of six novels to date.

"This Dog's Life" made me laugh as Patchett states, "I have believed that happiness and true adulthood would be mine at the moment of dog ownership…[She adopted a puppy named Rose, but people just said she must want a baby badly.]…Being a childless woman of childbearing age, I am a walking target for people's concerned analysis. No one looks at a single man with a Labrador retriever and says, 'Will you look at the way he throws the tennis ball to that dog? Now there's a guy who wants to have a son.'" (pages 75-76)

In her essay "The Wall," Patchett recounts her training and tests to get into the Los Angeles Police Academy. "Love Sustained" illuminates the caretaking side of love that takes grit and gumption. "The Bookstore Strikes Back" tells the tale of opening a successful local bookstore despite Amazon and the naysayers. And "The Mercies" highlights friendship and caring through decades.

All of these essays reveal the allure and strength of this art form whether Patchett is celebrating the truth about love, her grandmother, her husband, her dog, books, friends, and fate.

These essays are the story of a now happy writer's life.

 

         

My Writer's Survival Kits

By Kate Phillips

        I never leave home without my basic writer's survival kit—at least one book, a pen, and a notebook.

In my purse, I carry at all times a pocket-sized version of The Writer's Life: Insights from the Right to Write by Julia Cameron, 6" x 4", and Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within by Natalie Goldberg, 4.5" x 3", along with a pen and small notepad so I can write anywhere, anytime I have a few moments whether waiting for someone in a restaurant, before a movie, or at a dentist's office.

        Watching people in these places is a great way to capture details to use later describing characters. Overheard conversations can lead to plot twists or essays. However, if I'm not inspired by my location, I randomly open either of these pocket-sized books, read a page or two, grab my pen, and start scribbling down thoughts.

        In my car, I keep pens, a full-sized notebook, and two books—The War of Art: Break Through Your Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield and Ex Libris: Confessions of a Common Reader by Anne Fadiman—in case I don't bring my purse with me and find myself with time on my hands. This happens once or twice a week.

        If I know I am going to have time to write, I bring my lovely black damask-print tote bag always stocked with half a dozen pens, a full-sized notebook, and The War of Art by Steven Pressfield as it never fails to motivate me so I always want it nearby. I then add whatever book(s) I am currently reading. These books are as essential as the pens and notebook because reading sparks my writing. I don't have time to wait for my muse. I meet her on the pages of my notebook.

Frankly, there is never enough time to write. These small pockets of time and my writing kits are what make my writing life possible on busy days.

        I wish more writing books were offered in pocket-sized versions. My top choice would be, not surprisingly, The War of Art. Other books would include: The Writer's Home Companion edited by Joan Bolker, Ed.D., For Writer's Only by Sophy Burnham, Zen and the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury, and Telling Lies for Fun and Profit by Lawrence Block. I could go on, but these would make a great start.

        If they were pocket-sized, I would always have my favorite writing books with me—a portable cheering section supporting me as I write every chance I get!

           

Reads for Writers: The Dirty Life & Fifty Acres and a Poodle

By Kate Phillips

       

In honor of spring, I am highlighting city authors who moved to farms. One never planned on changing from an out-till-dawn-having-fun writer in New York City to an up-before-dawn farmer in upstate New York. The other grew up loving Green Acres and simply dreamed of a farm of her own.

In The Dirty Life: On Farming, Food, and Love, author Kristin Kimball shares "the story of two love affairs that interrupted the trajectory of [her] life: one with farming—that dirty, concupiscent art—and the other with a complicated and exasperating farmer [she] found in State College, Pennsylvania."

For Kristin it all began with an appointment to interview a farmer growing organic crops six hours from Manhattan for a possible article. Mark, the long-legged 14-hour-workday farmer, had no time to talk during daylight so he promised her an interview that evening. In the meantime, she could help one of his assistants hoe the broccoli.

Kristin's impressions of Mark were: "First, this is a man. All the men I knew were cerebral. This one lived in his body. Second, I can't believe I drove all this way to hoe broccoli for this dude."

The farm work didn't stop there. That evening, Kimball, a 13-year vegetarian, helped slaughter a pig. Her outlook and life changed. After sleeping at a hotel, she was back at the farm at dawn for pancakes and a double helping of homemade sausage. Then she was off to rake around the tomato plants until almost too sore to move as Mark took the pig carcass to a butcher.

She spent the rest of the day following Mark from task to task until she finally begged him to sit down for an hour as she was leaving the next day. While sitting together on an oak log and answering her questions, Mark realized he had found his wife. It took Kimball a bit longer to fall in love, give up her city life, and become a farmer, too. They found a farm of their own and started from scratch.

The Dirty Life spares no details on the hard and filthy work of farming. It is a matter of life and death for crops and animals so people can eat well. As fast as farmers work, there are always more chores than time. The big upsides are seeing the farm come to life as crops are planted, livestock is born, buildings are repaired and put to use followed by the harvesting of gloriously tasty food they produce, sell, and enjoy eating fresh every day. Despite the dirt, pus, blood, manure and exhaustion, Kristin Kimball cannot think of a more rewarding life. Her book is a superbly written tribute to farming, family, and community.

If the reality of farming is too much for you, Fifty Acres and a Poodle: A Story of Love, Livestock, and Finding Myself on a Farm by Jeanne Marie Laskas might be more your style. Pets play the leads on this farm.

The author owns a sick cat named Bob and a small mutt named Betty. After a friendship turns to an unplanned romance, she discovers her fiancé, Alex, always wanted, much to her dismay, a standard Poodle. As fate would have it, an eight-month-old Poodle named Marley comes into their lives.

Jeanne and Alex live in nearby houses in Pittsburgh, but they spend Sundays driving around farm shopping as Jeanne has a farm dream based loosely on Green Acres. One day they find the perfect farm complete with a studio so Jeanne has an inspiring place to write. They make an offer and, after an excruciating delay, they find themselves the owners of it.

Moving to a farm doesn't make owners farmers. There is a lot to learn. Luckily, neighbors are quick to lend a hand, but the mistakes made along the way are funny, embarrassing, or  even near-death experiences.

On the plus side, Alex takes to a tractor like the deer take to the multiflora rose bushes growing all over the place. He is happy farming on weekends after working in the city as a doctor during the week.

The fifty acres are soon filled with more than a Poodle—dogs: Wilma and Sparky; barn cats: Walter and Irving; horses: Cricket and Maggie; and mules: Sassafras (Sassy) and Skippy. Plans are made to add sheep and goats as well as a garden, a pond, and a greenhouse. Then two daughters join the family. Along the way, Jeanne writes deeply about writing, solitude, growing pains, and love which she also captures in two follow up books: The Exact Same Moon: Fifty Acres and a Family and Growing Girls: The Mother of All Adventures.

This is her dream of farming that came true.

 

 

Mary Oliver Provides a Masterclass

 

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 within their books.

        Masterclasses take place when performance artists and 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, backstories, plots, settings, voice, and/or creativity.

 

            Dogs are essential to my life. They are the best combination of company, security, and joy. Always there, wagging their tails, laying at my feet while I'm writing, watching for trouble from rogue squirrels to possible robbers, and yet ready to play, walk, run, or nap as my schedule allows, i.e., the perfect companions.

Poet Mary Oliver feels the same kinship. She celebrates her canine companions in her latest book, Dog Songs: Thirty-five Dog Songs and One Essay. As she describes them, dogs are bundles of longing, steadfast, romping, wolfish, roving, and, obedient or not, always beautiful. Every dog-owning reader will recognize the universal truths in these loving poems.

Accompanied by detailed sketches, Oliver's observations capture the delightful moments of living with dogs as they make themselves at home on couches, race along beaches, or crouch in long grass on daily walks.

Devoted to her dogs, Oliver makes sure her university teaching contracts allow them to attend her classes. (Don't we all wish our dogs were with us at work, too!)

As she describes in her poem, "The Poetry Teacher" on page 39 (paraphrased here): …"her dog with pals, and occasionally an unknown dog or two, arrive thirsty and happy to class. They drink from the bowl of water she keeps there and then fling themselves down among the students who are then inspired to write thirsty, happy poems."

Poems are happy, but also pensive and tragic. Sadly, as soon as the word dog appears in a title, readers know there will be an unhappy ending. Dogs' lives are simply too short—and yet longer lives would mean only more heartbreak for us. The overwhelming upside is the never ending joy dogs feel and share with us.

We live deeper, better lives with dogs around. We are outside every day, paying attention to sights and sounds we usually ignore,  and imaging scents we cannot smell but are strong enough to beckon our dogs to walk faster and linger longer.

Dogs are alert and truly alive—a great lesson for writers everywhere!

Writers and Their Notebooks edited by Diana Raab

 

By Kate Phillips

    

        If you are a writer or really want to be one, writing in notebooks is, I believe, essential. Not sure what to write about or need inspiration, read Writers and Their Notebooks edited by Diana M. Raab where 24 writers, including Sue Grafton and John DuFresne, expound upon and/or share excerpts from their notebooks.

        This thought-provoking book is divided into five parts:

 

Part 1—The Journal as Tool

James Brown (page 8): Writers…need to hang on to our experiences, both the crushing and the joyous, and through reflection, either by keeping a journal before we begin a project or during its writing, we hope to come to a better understanding of who we are, what we've become, and where we are going. That's where you'll find your best stories, the ones that makes sense of the chaos we call our lives.

Sue Grafton (page 9): The most valuable tool I employ in the writing of a private eye novel is the working journal…from "C" Is for Corpse on, I've kept a daily log of work in progress. This notebook (usually four times longer than the novel itself) is like a letter to myself, detailing every idea that occurs to me as I proceed.

 

Part 2—The Journal for Survival

Kathleen Gerard (page 63): [After the unexpected death of her father when she was 14]…My early efforts at keeping a journal were sporadic, and what I conveyed was rather repetitive. But that was the beauty of it—there were no rules…My journal became a safe place where my voice and my feelings could finally be heard, and my perceptions counted.

 

Part 3—The Journal for Travel

Wendy Call (page 87): My journal is like a nest, a tangle of shiny trinkets and bits of string: words, sentence fragments, disconnected paragraphs, pages torn from magazines, photographs, even small objects glued into holes I've carved into pages…Dorothy Allison calls her writer's journal "a witness, a repository, and a playground.

Bonnie Morris (page 98): A date with my journal is the most pleasant of outings. Off we go to the movies, where so many strange childhood memories float to the surface in the twenty minutes before the lights go down. Everyone wonders if I'm a film critic. But no…I'm using that comfy, faux-velvet chair time, Junior Mints melting on my tongue, to write about last week's insult or this year's romance or any number of thoughts.

 

Part 4—The Journal as Muse

John DuFresne (page 119): You're a writer now, and a writer writes. Any time, any place. That's his or her job. So take your tools with you wherever you go. The Muse is as likely to sit across the bar from you as to come by your office for a chat, and you want to be prepared when she taps you on the shoulder…

 

Part 5—The Journal for Life

Kyoko Mori (page 160): I allow my thoughts to roam and meander rather than come to the point of order too soon. In the process, I usually discover that my mind is not as empty as I feared. There are a lot of ideas I've been tossing around, and they even have an overall pattern and direction…In my notebook, I can look for the story I would tell…

(Kyoko Mori also loves writing with a blue Pilot Vball pen—although extra fine instead of fine point.)

 

At the end, Editor Diana M. Raab wrote: Appendix I: Use Journaling to Spark Your Writing listing tips and Appendix II: A Journaling Workout listing writing prompts.

        A long list of sources and further readings at the end of the book provides even more inspiration.

        Since most writers work alone, it is comforting to find others who keep notebooks and are willing to open them up to fellow scribes.

 

How do you feel about writing in notebooks?

Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words by Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge

By Kate Phillips

 

            In honor of Poetry Month and to hone writing skills, I recommend reading Poemcrazy: Freeing Your Life with Words by Susan Goldsmith Wooldridge. Her 60 essays reveal ways to notice more details and ask more questions about everyday things—even names, colors, words—that we take for granted. She also suggests creative projects.

        Among my favorite essays is On a Night Picnic on page 44 where the author, her daughter, Elizabeth, and a family friend who "loves to create small occasions" pack a picnic, get into a canoe, and row out from shore to enjoy a meteor shower.

        "…we saw very few shooting stars. But Elizabeth noticed that whenever we moved a paddle or hand in the water it lit up as if Tinker Bell had sprinkled magic light into the sound. The starry show turned out to be beneath, not above us—from phosphorescent plankton…(page 45)

        Wooldridge notes this "ordinary magic" that takes place in our regular lives is as worthy of poetry (or whatever writing form we like) as life-altering moments.

        In her essay Stirring the Sky on page 132, the author notes how her young children inspire her.

        "Children naturally see and express things in a fresh way before we teach them the "right" way… [her children have asked] What would happen if the moon burned? Do bees pee? Are flowers afraid of scissors?..." (page 133)

        While I don't remember this, my mother told me that when I was three I was watching glowing embers fly up the chimney of our wood burning fireplace. I turned to her and asked, "Is this how stars are born?" How I wish I still asked questions like that today.

        We shouldn't be surprised most of us do not ask questions like that as, according to Carl Jung in Wooldridge's essay Listening to Our Shadows on page 76, "…that when we turn about seven we separate from and then bury or repress whatever parts of us don't seem to be acceptable in the world around us." Luckily, Wooldridge then suggests ways to reconnect with ourselves.

        In her essay The Image Angel on pages 149-150, Wooldridge shares: "Images often appear as messages from the unconscious, especially in dreams or daydreams. Sometimes important images appear in the real world…We need to pay attention…We can follow them to see where they lead in our writing and our lives…

        "The image angel, I think, is an aspect of the muse. She brings me images from the outside, while the muse helps me see and listen within myself." 

        Pay attention! Patterns and images often appear in our writing and our lives, but we have to notice them, think about them, and discover what they mean to us. Notebooks and journals come in handy for recording and delving into them whenever they occur.

        I admire poets. They live in the same world we do, but have different skill sets so they see and hear inspiration everywhere.

With conscious effort until it becomes ingrained habit, we can, too.

 

What images and/or questions inspire you?

 

Concealed in Death by J D Robb Provides a Masterclass

  


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 within their books.

        Masterclasses take place when performance artists and 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, backstories, plots, settings, voice, and/or creativity.

 

        How many pages could you fill describing only one day for a novel? And keep readers not just interested, but engrossed? JD Robb surpassed any guess I would have made in her latest book, Concealed in Death.

        First, the parameters of a day need to be set: From morning until bedtime or 24 hours?

From mid-morning when the scene of the murders was first discovered until bedtime, the action filled 134 pages. Recounting the entire 24 hours, over 150.

To be clear, I did not take notice of the page count while reading this book. The investigation was moving too quickly. This is a bestselling page-turner after all. But once I finished and realized the entire novel took place in three and a half days, I went back to look at this master storyteller's timeline.

The second bedtime happened on page 248. The second 24 hours ended about page 289—although a case could be made that they ended on page 304 as we are never given exact times.

Bedtime number three occurred on page 366. And the novel ends at dinner time the next day on page 402.

Making this timeline work takes real craftsmanship. Dialogue is a given in a novel, but what keeps readers engaged in this series is attention to details—murder is a messy business—and the constant action: not only visiting crime scenes and the police station as well as tracking down leads, but also seeing the city—lights, pickpockets, car accidents and all—while characters are walking, driving, or traveling on public transport. Even when in her office, lead character New York City Homicide Lieutenant Eve Dallas is setting up the murder board, working on and/or slapping her computer, or replaying the crimes in her mind searching for clues.

The author always takes time to ground her work in reality. Her main characters have delicious meals described in detail as well as have sex, sleep, dream, shower, and dress. The plot still moves along as Dallas is usually, but not always discussing the latest case with her billionaire husband, Roarke, at these times.

Because the action is non-stop, I tend to read JD Robb's books in one sitting. Dallas always moves fast when it comes to tracking down killers. She knows her job. This is the 38^th novel in JD Robb's In Death series after all. 

Dallas has a supporting cast that makes this possible including her aforementioned husband, her partner, Delia Peabody, the detectives working in her division and other professionals from medical examiners to computer geeks.

For an overview of the In Death series, see my post "Reads for Writers: JD Robb/Nora Roberts" dated October 22, 2012. And yes, I only recommend reading the books in order so you can see the growth in the characters and their relationships which makes this whole series a masterclass. WARNING: Please note these books contain violence and adult themes.

Time flies in JD Robb's books, but in a grounded, high action, well written way.

 

Can you create a day that takes you 134 to 150 pages to describe?