Three Thing Thursday

1. I am reading Fahrenheit 451. For the first time. And quite liking it. I’m not sure if I’m surprised by this. My sister loved Ray Bradbury as a kid (she always out-read me). She read Stephen King, Tolkien and Bradbury long before I did. I was stuck in Steinbeck, Faulkner and Twain.

   This summer I’m reading a lot. A lot more than I have since school

   What have you read recently that you’ve loved?
   What have you read that you missed out on as a kid or teen?
   What is a favorite book that I should read?

2. I am gathering books for the Hopi Reservation. If you would like to donate, please email me at carolthewriter@yahoo.com. These books must be gently used or new. I just looked up at my shelf and saw several novels I will never read again. It’s time to let those go. I have space only for the ones I want to keep forever. Or, maybe not space, but you know.
3. In August, Ann Dee and Kyra and I might be having a writing marathon again. It’s been awhile. Will let you know as we get closer. If you are interested in playing a long, let me know.

Three Thing Thursday

Cheryl Van Eck

A beautiful quote from Ray Bradbury on writing:      

“To sum it all up, if you want to write, if you want to create, you must be the most sublime fool that God ever turned out and sent rambling.

“You must write every single day of your life.

“You must read dreadful dumb books and glorious books, and let them wrestle in beautiful fights inside your head, vulgar one moment, brilliant the next.

“You must lurk in libraries and climb the stacks like ladders to sniff books like perfumes and wear books like hats upon your crazy heads.

“I wish you a wrestling match with your Creative Muse that will last a lifetime.

“I wish craziness and foolishness and madness upon you.

“May you live with hysteria, and out of it make fine stories – science fiction or otherwise.

“Which finally means, may you be in love every day for the next 20,000 days. And out of that love, remake a world.”

 

Brenda Bensch

So you tell yourself, “If I could just get this one book/story/poem/play/screenplay written, I think I could really take off. I could really soar!” In other words, I could prove that I’m a “real” writer. I’ve wanted to do it for a long time. I’ve certainly taken writing classes, gone to workshops, joined writers groups. I’ve even written blogs. Lots of them. Mostly about writing. Now, “if I could JUST get this ONE . . .”

The next thoughts come: “I’ll never get this done. The story’s squirreling around in circles. I can’t even make sense of it. How can I expect a reader to stick with it?”

You turn to a favorite writer. Not to his/her books. Just to a little quote, like:

“You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.” ~ Ray Bradbury

Now you know: “Oh. I get it . . . just keep at it. You’ll figure it out . . . IF you just keep going. . . trying . . . working . . . writing . . . “

What do your wings look like? What quotes keep YOU motivated? Please share: they’ll help all of us!

Carol Lynch Williams

Since we have a Ray Bradbury theme (and I didn’t know we would!), I asked Michelle Hubbard what we should read of his. She said, “All Summer in a Day.”

So get reading.