The spaces in between

Currently Reading: Interview with the Vampire

Reader,
Has it been two weeks already?  I'm sorry.  Time goes by so much faster when you're employed.

Today I'd  love to talk about the spaces in between writing.  Slate had an interesting article a few weeks ago about the quiet hell of 10 years of novel writing which struck a chord with me.  I also have berated myself every day I don't write, worrying that I may never get published.  It's been nearly two months and I've only written a few pages worth of material.  I don't want to give up hope, but my spirits sink low every day that I don't write.

Sufficed to say- this article gave me hope.  I don't wish 10 years of hell on anyone, but it did let me know I am not alone, and it is possible to get the ideas I have out on paper.

Speaking of which, I am participating in this contest, which I encourage any writers out there to also try.  I'm currently behind my own schedule for it, I was supposed to be finished with a first draft today while I'm just starting, but I'm hopeful that I will make it before the contest closes.

How do you deal with disappointment in yourself when you don't accomplish a goal?
Feel free to share experiences similar to  Susanna Daniel's or my own.
Are there any other fun contests you want to suggest? 

Until next time,
Rose 

Reading Space

Currently Reading: Columbine

Reader,

I must rescind a few comments from last week's post.  I finally was able to get into Dubliners, and found the last few stories quite entertaining indeed.  The catch is that I needed the time and space to get into Joyce's style of writing, something I hadn't had the chance of last week.

Obvious as it might be, reading at home can be rather difficult.  There are too many distractions around if you aren't particularly interested in the book on hand.  There is the internet, the TV, and video games.  Heck there's even chores such as cleaning that can pull away from reading.  At work, in the break room there can be quite the noisy conversation, often times more entertaining as well than the book on hand.

This week I've spent a lot of time reading in a cafe.  It might not necessarily be cheaper than driving back home from the neighboring city where my fiance and I both work, but it is more time efficient.  We are currently a one car couple, which means if he works at 1:30 and I work at 3:00 I need to ride over with him.  Now I could drive home in the 2 hours and 30 minutes between the two, and it's really only a 15 minute drive, but I allow at least 25 for traffic.  So my 2.5 hour wait gets taken down to more like 1.5 hours with driving home and back again.  So I just stay in the cafe sipping at a (generally) not too expensive drink.

Now sure, Cafes can get rather loud with the conversations as well, but it's also not half as socially acceptable to join a complete stranger's conversation, or listen in.  Besides that, there are less distractions than home, and more time than the fifteen minute breaks and hour lunches that  I spend in the break room.  So I found myself really starting to enjoy Dubliners, and it started to become a quicker read the more drawn in I became.

As such, I must amend my previous comment to establish that to read Dubliners, it might be wise to find a space in which to do so distraction free.

Do you have a place you go to read?
Have you had trouble connecting with a book that you later decided was rather good?

And lastly- I may not work with books, but I feel this guy's pain.  Retail is hard work, and the customer is not always right. 

Until next time,
Rose 

Speedy Read

Currently Reading: Dubliners (Signet Classics)


Reader,

Is it Tuesday again already?  Time has been moving quite fast recently, except possibly while working.  Luckily my feet have stopped complaining as much, quickening my recovery time after shifts, but I digress from the topic.

I have noticed over the years that different books require differing amounts of time to read.  Regardless of their length, some reads are more engaging than others.  For example I read Dead Until Dark (A Sookie Stackhouse Novel) in two days.  I read the second one in a day.  Yet I can't seem to get through Dubliners, a much smaller book.

Granted, of course, the Sookie Stackhouse novels aren't a difficult read at all, the language is easy to follow, the concepts aren't hard to understand, and they are all in all 'vacation' reads.  However they are also very engaging.  It is easy to escape into the world Charlaine Harris builds for an hour or five. 

Dubliners however is denser and the prose is more complex, but that alone isn't the problem.  It isn't even the main problem.  The world is harder to slip into.  I do find denser prose to be a slower read than 'vacation' reading like Dead Until Dark, but at the same time if the world the author creates is entertaining enough, I find myself reading just about as fast as an easier read.

Part of the problem with Dubliners is the short story aspect that we talked about last week.  I find that some of the short stories are engaging, but they end just as I was starting to read quicker.  Then I'm introduced to a new character and a new set of circumstances. There isn't enough room to immerse one's self in each before being launched into another.

It fascinates me to see the different ways that stories can engage the reader, or lose the readers attention.  Another good example of this is The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Vintage), which I read recently.  The first fifty pages, while the story is setting up seemed to drag on forever.  All the little details that I could have cared less about at the time were torturous.  I wanted to know more about the flowers that tortured the old man in the prologue so.  As Larson pulled the details together, slowly but surely pages were turned faster.  The last half of the book I could hardly put down.  Even the tie ups of the last fifty pages weren't as unbearable as the first fifty had been.  By that point I was invested enough in the characters to care about  the final loose threads, even if the page turning was slowing down.

There are many things that go into making a novel, or other bit of short fiction interesting to people.  Dubliners might be fascinating to some people.  Charlaine Harris's voice might be too dull or flawed for others.  For me it's the tension between characters that makes a novel move.  The give and take of a mystery, the sexual tension of a romance, even the tension between destiny and free will in fantasy.   I like to see how people react when put to the test of tension. 

What aspects do you look for in a book or story?
What makes for a speedy read in your opinion?
Does the density of the prose effect your reading if the story is interesting?

Until next time,
Rose