Saturday, November 12, 2022

Frivolity

 A minor impatient rebellion by a few of my writers in my writing workshop yesterday. Demands to see their finished pieces published already. I took the requisite 24 hours before responding as my initial internal reactive one would have curled the hair on anyone's head. 

So I managed the reasonable, reasoned one a few minutes ago. Still calling them idiots but couched very prettily in one of those passive aggressive apologies. "I thought I had taken the time to explain the process in detail, I am so sorry if that wasn't the case."  (Note to readers: you see how imperfect I am.)

I read the rag of our local newspaper (on line) today, I don't do it often as it makes me grit my teeth. But I idly looked at my horoscope and it said:




So yes on the horoscope theme, I just finished "A Spool of Blue Thread" which was book club reading for this month. I see it has mixed reviews. I love Anne Tyler so admit to a bias. I would give it 5/5. It reads with extraordinary intimacy into a family. The secrets, the unspoken, the unresolved.



I've also nearly finished all the episodes of Season 5 of The Crown which, much like Downtown Abbey, one can't quite take seriously. The cars and frocks and sumptuous dinners and palatial residences and backbiting can't be beaten for their sheer entertainment value and re-creation. It must have cost a fortune to produce.




24 comments:

  1. You will be shocked and surprised (not) that I am also an Anne Tyler fan - and this is one I haven't come across. Thank you.
    Well done on waiting twenty four hours and for your 'apology'. Sadly these days I often fire off immediately - which does no one any good.

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    1. I had that gut reaction too EC but it didn't serve me well.
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  2. I expect the makers of The Crown have well and truly had costs incurred with the making very well returned.

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    1. But it's always a risk as we know Andrew and I really don't understand the up in arms behavior of the monarchists. It's Creative non-fiction for eff's sake.
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  3. Glad I stayed home! 🤗Leo. Been looking at the Crown. I think time to start!

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    1. Yes, a great mind gambol and distraction in these uncertain times.
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  4. I had two successive bosses who asked me to write "sensitive" letters for them. Apologies and condolences. I knew both kinds of words. The apology letters were especial fun, as we know.

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    1. Yes, I had a good laugh firing off the email and reading the groveling apologies that followed :D Meanie me.
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  5. I can understand their impatience, I would be too, but I also know it is a fairly long process with several stages to get a book published. Then there are some that should never get published, although I am sure your writers don't fall under that blanket. But I have in the past read books that left me wondering why the heck they passed muster.

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    1. I attack a book with a pencil sometimes River, bad editing drives me crazy and I lose count of the errors but best sellers? Boggles the mind.
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  6. I like Anne Tyler too. I recently read Redhead by the Side of the Road, and I'm about to read French Braid. She covers all sorts of interesting themes in a very readable way.

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    1. She does Nick. Love her writing. I am currently reading Barbara Kingsolver's latest, have you read her?
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  7. Publishing is a looong proces. And elderly writers want to see their work in print now! I can see your restraint shining through those lines <3

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    1. Very few of my group understand editing, even though I spelled it out for them several times, even once on a printout sheet I distributed. Big sigh.
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  8. Anne Tyler is a favorite, are you following the advice of your horoscope?

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    1. Absolutely, e. Reading and watching some good shows and docs.
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  9. Ah, the euphemisms we use to navigate difficult situations!

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    1. Yes, I am an expert now David, at biting the tongue and serving the criticism with a spoonful of sugar :D
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  10. haha! I get sick of trying to be diplomatic when the people around are behaving badly but I'm sure there are lots of people who have to use their best diplomatic skills with me, too

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    1. So true Kylie. I'm sure I have those who manage their words carefully around me!
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  11. I am unable to read much nowadays as I have developed ADD. My doctor advises me to learn to live with it!

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    1. Ramana - are you in jest or is this serious? I have never heard of late development ADD. I hope you're OK.
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  12. I kind of chuckle when members of a writers group in the vicinity call themselves "published" writers because the group does a self-publishing print that includes something from every one of them -- whether it's garbage or not, and often it is. Just because something is published doesn't make it worth reading, and we all should remember that. -Kate

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    1. So very true Kate and if not edited properly I toss such things to the garbage. I can't wade through bad grammar, spelling, construction, etc. And if the writers have such contempt for their own work why should I care?
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