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Tag Archives: Reading and Writing

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Blogging from the road

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From an English road specifically–I’m visiting my aged father in Reading. Reading’s claim to fame is that Oscar Wilde went to goal (English for jail) here, and Jane Austen attended the Abbey School; the school building still stands, after falling down completely in the 19th century and being rebuilt. It also boasts the interestingly-named St. Mary’s Butts church–named for the archery practice area, but now giving rise to such hilarities as Butts Dry Cleaning. Ah, simple pleasures.

I visited Bath yesterday and I think I’m sort of Bathed-out, having been there so often, but today I went to Bristol, which is now my favorite place in the whole world. Go to Bristol. It has terrific free museums, some stupendous Georgian architecture (sorry, folks, I missed Queens Square), and some lovely churches. You can also take a ferry around the docks to travel around the city which on a day like today, warm and sunny, was wonderful.

Next week, a jet-lagged report upon Erddig, a National Trust property where they never threw anything away and painted pictures and wrote poems about the servants. Excellent.

Riskily yours,
Janet

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Packing and its joys

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Posting late from a household full of angst. I’m off to the UK next week to attend the RNA conference, visit family and Chawton, and in between writing frantically and trying to wrap things up at work, finding things.

Now I firmly believe that there is an imp in my house that goes around moving things. Here’s my success rate of finding vital travel items:

  1. Fancy shoes. Second of pair found. Thrown into suitcase immediately to avoid imp action.
  2. Camera. Found. USB cable? Turned office upside down, called Fuji (“yes, we can get one to you in 7 to 14 business days”) and a local camera store who don’t have one but can provide me with something that may or may not be like a flash drive and may or may not work on a Mac. Husband went into his lair and found USB cable immediately, coiled and stowed safely since the huge snowstorm (February) when he’d downloaded pics.
  3. Talking of which … surge protector/convertor. Found.
  4. Yoga pants. I wasn’t intending to take them, but this was a bonus find.
  5. Collection of short-sleeved black t-shirts. Come on, imp, they were all I could find all winter long. Where are they now?

I suppose I should be grateful that I don’t have to pack something like this gorgeous late Georgian-early Victorian writing slope although my elderly laptop probably weighs about the same (full description here).

In addition, I don’t feel compelled to pack a huge traveling medicine chest just in case. Regency researcher Nancy Mayer has a great article on what the Regency lady might take on her travels here.

And here’s a deluxe traveling medicine chest taken by intrepid Cornish explorers Richard and John Lander when they discovered the sources of the Nile in the early 1830s. Lots of Epsom Salts because you can’t explore if you’re not regular.

And reading matter: I’m happy to report that I have acquired the huge, heavy third Stieg Larsson book for the long plane ride. (Did you see Nora Ephron’s very funny parody for the New Yorker?) It’s only that I’m too busy that I haven’t got into it yet.

Do you have any books you’re saving for travel or vacation this summer? Tell us about your summer reading and what you’ll be doing.

A Damned Good Contest is still open and awaiting your participation!

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How literate are you? A rant.

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How can someone who reads or writes romance have not read Jane Eyre or Pride and Prejudice?

Particularly writers. Not because these books are the “first romances ever written” (questionable on so many levels, and Jane Eyre was actually the first Gothic Regency, but never mind that) but because they are part of our cultural heritage. And by our I mean the community and mindset of romance readers and writers. And by of I mean…

And no, the movies do not count. There are specific areas of the brain that deal with language and hence with reading and writing. Movies are something else entirely besides being a collaboration of people other than the author pooling their talents and vision and creating something that is (if they’re lucky) another work of art.

To play devil’s advocate to myself, does anyone actually need to read the books? Popular culture has given us all the clues. We all know what they’re about, so why is reading them so important? You read, you absorb, you stow bits and pieces away in your writer’s toolbox, and it seeps out in a good sort of way in your work. I firmly believe that reading well written books is the only way to become a writer.

And you’ll enjoy them, which is why we read what we read, isn’t it?

So what do you consider essential reading?–outside of romance as well as within the genre.

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How Reading Ruined My Life

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It’s true. Reading has ruined my life.

I caused great physical discomfort to my family when I locked myself in the (only) bathroom in the house with a book, emerging only when one of them hammered at the door and told me to get out of there.

I have suffered financially from vast amounts spent on library fines, at bookstores, and at bookstore cafes.

I have wasted valuable time missing stops on public transport because I’ve been reading.

I have caused myself embarrassment by laughing aloud in public, or, worse, weeping.

Injuries have been sustained by family members tripping over books left on the floor.

Doing taxes, cleaning the house, emptying the cat’s litter box, doing good works, etc. have all taken a second place to reading.

My physical beauty is ravaged by paper cuts and the tragic effects of falling asleep with a book in my hand/or in some bizarre position best suited to reading rather than sleeping.

I would rather read in the bathtub than clean it.

How has reading ruined your life? And what is currently your ruination of choice?

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Reading Habits

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In Megan’s recent post on To Have and to Hold she talked about needing to have just the right bookmark before starting a book. It got me thinking about reading habits.

I am afraid my children and I are not fussy at all about bookmarks. In fact, all of us are so eager to dive into a good book we forget to provide ourselves with one. In my kids’ books I’ve found “bookmarks” including facial tissue (unused, thankfully!), doll clothing, hair ties. I’m not much better. If I can’t find an appointment reminder postcard, I just search all of our current books. Yesterday I thought I lost the case for my reading glasses; later I found it stuck in a book. The silly thing is that I have so many nice bookmarks: beaded and bejeweled ones I’ve gotten as gifts, author bookmarks I’ve gotten at conference booksignings. Every once in a while I make an effort to remember to use them…

In our household, the bathroom is a favorite reading location. Where else can you be truly alone? My oldest stayed in the bathroom over 45 minutes after bringing home the first Harry Potter. We finally had to send a search party… I also like to read in the kitchen, if I’m eating a meal by myself (we’ve got a rule about trying to be sociable at meals) or if I’m waiting for water to boil. I’ve come close to ruining dinner a few times but the good thing is my kids would understand and forgive me!

Sometimes on the weekends when I’m sick of the honey-do list, I will actually sit down, either on the couch in our family room or (now that the weather’s nice) on our closed porch, and just read for an hour or two. Heaven!

I can read any number of non-fiction books at a time but I can only read one novel. I can’t read romance at all while I’m actively writing. It’s not because I worry that someone else’s voice will infect mine. (I’ve never caught myself writing like someone else–I’d have to work really hard to do that, I think.) It’s really because when I’m reading or writing romance, I like to identify with the heroine and fall in love with the hero. I just can’t do that with two couples at once! So I read romance in between drafts.

I used to finish every book I started. If I didn’t like the beginning, I always hoped (for my sake and the author’s) that it would get better. I’ve finally realized that it hardly ever does. I don’t mind if the plot develops slowly but the characters must interest me. If not, I don’t bother finishing. Life is too short and my TBR list is too long!

So how about you? Do you have any reading quirks? What are your favorite places and times to read? Can you read multiple books at once? Do you always finish? Do share!

Elena

http://www.elenagreene.com/

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