The subtitle for today’s post is “What is my material beyond jean, cotton and cashmere: The fabric of my life and writing.” Today’s post, as promised, explores my material and how to find yours.
When I started writing I didn’t know what I wanted to write about it just sort of happened. See, I read the Catcher in the Rye in college prep English and I fell in love—I loved Holden the way other girls loved the dumb and phony football players or the supercilious surfers who came to class all soggy from salt-water, only my love was real. Many claim to love the Catcher in the Rye but I really did. I loved it in a I have read it nearly 100x’s and I have a framed copy of the cover kind of way.
When I finished C.I.R. my heart was broken. I wanted there to be more—like the way there was in my Laura Ingalls Wilder and Nancy Drew reading phase. It wasn’t enough to go to B. Daltons and buy and quickly devour Nine Stories , Franny and Zooey , Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction and ( thanks to a kind Librarian who understood what it mean to fall in love with writing, a xerox copy of Salinger’s final novella published in the New Yorker) “Hapworth 16, 1924.” These other stories were good but they missed something vital, there was no Holden.
I did what any 14 year old girl would do, I started to write part two of the Catcher in the Rye. I had Holden go off to high school in the city and I had him meet more phonies and endure more insufferable bores. My Holden met a mentor in the form of a lit professor who understood him and helped him and actually listened to him. Holden met a girl who was not unlike a 14-year- old version of me. He took me to restaurants in hotel lobbies where we sat and talked and ate club sandwiches and smoked stolen cigarettes—and he fell in love with me.
The writing of the “Catcher in the Rye: Part Two” was not good; in fact, it was very bad. Even so, I am sad to say that the only copy of this work was thrown away by a 16 year old version of myself who had a propensity for throwing out things that the me of today might have liked to have had.
As I got older, 17 to-late 20′s, I wrote only when inspiration struck and because of this I never thought much about material. I just wrote what came and didn’t question it. But, when inspiration did not come I sat on the metaphorical side lines of the gym of my psyche like a wilted wallflower waiting to dance—that is, until I went into therapy. As soon as I started therapy I realized how many stories about my family I had and how they were often strangely funny and simultaneously sad.
In case you don’t want to go into analysis to learn your myth or discover who the characters of your personal drama are, I would suggest taking the advice of, my mentor for this series, Carolyn See. In her book “Making a Literary Life“, Ms. See asks you to ask yourself: Who are your villains? Who did you wrong? Who made fun of you? Who are you heroes? Who saved you? Who broke your heart? Whose heart did you break? Who were you mean to?What battles have you fought? Who are your character actors? And, what do they wear? What do they do? How do they act?
Answer these questions in detail for yourself because the answers will give you your characters. As Carolyn says, “When we’re little, God deals us a hand full of kings, queens, knaves, aces.” These people will be the stars in your work and as Carolyn says, “Even if you end up writing about fifteenth-century France, the people you know now will be your characters. Your material can’t belong to anyone else, only to you. Before you write even a line, you’re bursting with riches.”
You may not like your characters. I don’t always like mine. I wish I could trade my father in for another fa…character—but he seems to dominate my psychology and even my writing even if I am not writing about him directly. However, it is unlikely that if I had a more lovely set of characters who treated me the way I think they should have that I would have become a writer. I would probably be a well adjusted woman with a MBA, a worthless 401K and a company car. Hmm, I make a compelling case for being grateful for my parents.
In the name of writing, and not in a navel gazing kind of way, Carolyn asks us to take a hard look at our life and ask ourselves what kind of story has it been so far. This is a really important thing to do. Knowing the myth of your life is helpful both in writing and to understand the way you view your life and see if you are writing in the right genre for you. Has your life been a fairytale? If so, I am really happy for you and hope you enjoy writing children’s stories, Disney screenplays or Jan Karon like novels. Has your life been more of a comedy with a banana peel at every turn? Maybe people are constantly dying around you and you are called to solve the crime when the incompetent cops fail to; it could happen. Has the theme of your life been one of self-help or how-to? Or are you more of a suspense or, God forbid, espionage, erotica, horror, and/or Gothic vampire kind of life?
My story, I think, is a “ha-ha-ha….cry” kind of story. I think my life genre is humorous tragedy and I am not sure if there is a section in Barnes and Noble for that, but I think those are the stories I have lived and the only stories I can seem to tell. I would prefer to have had a different and less challenging life story. However, I really do like the genre of my writing and wouldn’t trade it for another one(that bit of paradox I have yet to resolve).
The stories I have lived have had a profound impact on how I see the world and the way I write. When I have tried to write outside of my genre it has always gone very badly. Even my graduate thesis, which was supposed to be a purely academic work, had occasional humor and a section of sadness. If I ignored my myth and tried to write a story about the boredom of a perfect life, or a retelling of the three little pigs, or even a weather report—they would all have an undercurrent of humor and tragedy, I just couldn’t tell a story any other way.
As I look at the writing I am doing today there are three stories and one major theme:
1. Family stories.
Mom, Dad, me, fashion business, alcohol, and unhappiness. These stories are about surviving suffering and transforming through humour.
2. Stories about the misery of the infertility years.
This topic is a really yuk-yuk fun fest. These stories are about surviving suffering and transforming through humour.
3. Stories about my present state of hating where I am (L.A.) and deciding that even though I did not get what I want(a baby) and I am not living where I want(Paris, Chicago or NY) that I will survive my suffering and transform it via humour.
Any ideas on what my theme is? Go on, take a guess. Don’t be shy.
Next week, in part five of the Writing in Valencia series, I will further discuss the topic of writing where I am and I will write it in the style of humorous tragedy—either that or I will write “Catcher in the Rye: The Valencia Years”.
First commenter today — yay me! I think this path is a difficult one, exploring and exposing the sad and even tragic but doing so with humour. The risk of descending into bathos or of going the other direction into the flip and glib is always high. I’m always mesmerized by the skillful balance with which David Sedaris guides me through this territory, and I think your ability to do so is growing stronger with each post — looking forward to next week’s installment.
Holden invented a time machine and brought Charlie Chaplin with him! And they all die in an alien attack.
See, comedy and tragedy. It practically writes itself.
Your writing posts always have about 72 different sections and tangents I want to comment on but I don’t want my comment to be longer than your post.
Good ole personal myths, guess there’s a reason all my crap is wistful, er, crap.
Mater: Yay, you!!:-) It is difficult to find the humour in sadness. But, it is also incredibly healing. Humour as a flip defense does not heal, at least for me. I have to get to the point where tears and humour can commingle and then something is changed for me.
I do hope that some day I can get close to David’s brilliant balance. I truly appreciate your generous assessment and encouraging feedback. I am really enjoying this series and I happy you are too.
Randal: Please, don’t hold yourself back. Write all you want. Comment away. I love hearing your reaction and I would love to hear how you got to your material and what you think your genre is.
As a non-fiction writer I am fascinated to learn about your process. How did Chaplin and the time machine come to your creative mind? Fascinating.Um, but, just fyi, Holden never dies. Never! Glad we got that cleared up.
“As I got older, 17 to-late 20′s, I wrote only when inspiration struck and because of this I never thought much about material. I just wrote what came and didn’t question it. But, when inspiration did not come I sat on the metaphorical side lines of the gym of my psyche like a wilted wallflower waiting to dance”
Blargh! And again I say blargh! I shake my guilty fist at you and say, “How did you know?!” Now I shall slink back under my rock and ponder.
Kristen: Hee-hee-hee-hee! Did I hit a nerve?;-)
Looking forward to seeing when you come out from under you rock and to hear what your ponderings led you to.
What is that I hear? Do I hear someone calling you to the stage?;-)
I knew that I liked you–we would have been sister in laws!
I was going to marry Seymour.
Franny and Zooey did for me what CIR did for you growing up. The whole idea that life is about “doing it for the fat lady” brought me through some troubled times.
Jen:Love you!! We could have had a double Salinger wedding.;-)
I haven’t read Franny and Zooey for years. You have inspired me to read it again. Thanks,Jen!:-)
Seymour would have likely walked out on me as he did in “Nine Stories” agh!
But the double Salinger wedding reception would have been a blast. Every one exchanging witty dialouge and smoking of course!
Jen:Well, Holden was not without his issues. He too had some commitment problems.
A wedding at the Plaza with “witty dialog and smoking” it sounds like a short story just waiting to be written. Salinger, do you hear me?;-)
I never managed to finish Catcher in the Rye or Franny and Zooey, but I was 9 when I tried (my brother was 16 and I wanted to read everything he did.) So perhaps I should try again, they are two books people seem to always talk about loving, so at least I’ll have something to add to the conversation!
And I wanted you to know I’m really enjoying this series you’re doing on writing.
Well, this was my first foray into fiction. Only poetry before, but I wanted to try writing a horror story in a Lovecraft/Poe vein. So of course after thousands of words, the damn thing is this weirdo, lyrical, sad tale.
Like you – well duh, if it’s non-fiction
– and Ms. See, I think we end up writing ourselves even if it’s a subconscious thing. They say write what you know, and what do we know better than ourselves? The setting is almost irrelevant; details can be found later on. I picked when and where simply because I like that time. As for the other characters, well, some are historical figures and I sort of extrapolated their personalities from what little I knew (the publisher Michel Frères, for example, is kind of a jerk, going by stuff I’ve heard in biographies of Flaubert and Baudelaire and Charles Asselineau, he had a bushy moustache so I made him a bit more palatable, like someone’s gregarious uncle), and the woman, well, her identity shall remain under wraps.
From there, it flows. Sure, the grammar may be awkward and the sentences 45 miles long, but that’s always fixable.
I can’t write humor. The few times it rears its head, it sounds forced, awkward. How do you do it? It’s so much easier in a blog post, you know?
Chaplin and the time machine? They just popped in there. If you can figure out how my brain works, more power to you. As for Holden, how about he once went to the future and grabbed one of those invisibility cloaks scientists are currently working on and escaped extraterrestrial armageddon to sweep you off your feet and inspire you to write a new and improved part two.
Andromeda: I think 9 is a bit young to fully enjoy Salinger. I would definitely give him a try again. I think you’ll enjoy. Please let me know what you think when you do. I really envy you reading them fully for the first time.
Thank you. I am really pleased you are enjoying it. It is really great for me, i.e. teach what you need to learn.;-) And, I am thrilled that I am not the only one who is getting something out of it.
your writing reminds me of irish comedy. it is so funny and heartbreaking at the same time. i once worked with an irish lady and i was discussing with her a comedy i saw that just made me cry and laugh at the same time. so much so that i was not sure if it was proper to laugh. and she explained to me that irish comedy is like that, they take the stuff that makes you cry and turns it on it’s head in efforts to digest and heal… as laughter is so good for the soul.
i always sense your richness as a human being in your writing. i think it was rilke, i’m not sure, who said when your heart breaks, it grows bigger. i sense this in you…
Randal:I am envious of people who can create worlds. I just don’t think I have it on me to do it. Perhaps because of the life I have lived has demanded so much of my attention that I may be a little too self-centered, as a way to compensate.
I did have a brief poetry period( it should have been shorter) and have written some short fiction. But, really, the idea of mantaining a fiction longer than 2000 words makes my head ache like there is a anvel inserted firmly in my part-line.
weirdo, lyrical, sad tale sounds great to me. Carolyn’s book is very much geared to fiction writers. I am just breaking the rules again and writing “creative non-fiction”( which means I have no idea if this stuff really happened this way and it could all be fiction because what is truth anyways. Huh?)
Do you see bits of jerks you know in the Michel Frères character? And,the gregarious uncle that is Charles Asselineau– does he have much in common with your uncle or others who are closer to you than to an imaginal uncle?
This is what I envy, that after you created the characters you start to flow with 45 word sentences. I could create characters, I think. But, I just don’t know what to do with them once I get them. And, I am not clever enough to do subplots and all the layers of meaning that is in a great novel.
You make me laugh. You can’t write humor? Oh, my friend, perhaps therapy is in order. You are one of the funniest people I know in either the blogosphere or in the real world. I do find it amazing how many genres you can write well in. If I didn’t like you so much I might not like you. That was a great and profound sentence.
Since Salinger refuses to write anymore I would appreciate if you would take up your pen and write that invisibility cloak story.It sounds like a winner. It is sort of Salinger meet Harry Potter. Okay, how about this, this is good, Holden Caufield goes to Hogwarts. Huh? What do you think?
L’air du temps: I am delighted if my writing makes you think of Irish comedy. I am Irish. I am other things. But, I identify as Irish above all other things. That might be because of my pale skin and red hair. Perhaps( wishful thinking) it is in my DNA. That would be lovely.
I so agree that by transforming suffering through laughter is so healing. Without laughter I would not have survived. My darkest days are days that I cannot laugh—even at things that are hilariously funny.
Your voice and material has such a lovely feel of mystery, romance( and I don’t mean that in a love story like way), grace, and almost spiritual like attention and appreciation to detail. I am always aware of exhaling when I read your work. That is a lovely feeling.
L’air, that final paragraph is some serious high praise. Like everyone else, Rilke’s letters to a young poet is one of my favorites. Is this what you were talking about:
“You have had many sadnesses, large ones, which passed. And you say that even this passing was difficult and upsetting for you. But please, ask yourself whether these large sadnesses haven’t rather gone right through you. Perhaps many things inside you have been transformed; perhaps somewhere, deep inside your being, you have undergone important changes while you were sad.”
Le sigh! Yes, Rilke knew what he was talking about. And, I do feel like that my sadness had transformed something inside me and I so appreciate you reflecting that you see that. So very kind of you, as is your way.:-)
For the record, well adjusted is no fun. They’re not people you want to be, they’re not even people you want to be friends with!
Your writing celebrates the idiosyncratic.
My mom gave me Catcher in the Rye at about the same age you read it and I had a similarly obsessive reaction, reading every scrap of J.D.S. I could find. You’ve reminded me that I should read it again; it’s been years.
On the subject of personal myth, I’m still trying to figure mine out. I think it’s the story of a woman born into fortunate circumstances who does her best to screw it up, but comes out all right in the end. I’m going to have to work on that.
Oh, please do write CITR, The Valencia Years!
Holden is one of the insufferable bores and lives in a subdivision. Whenever he tries to smoke, his neighbors call the police.
Kaili:Looking at the well adjusted, from a distance, it often seems like they are having fun. But, I am not sure if such people really exist.
I could just hug you. When I started this blog my underlying theme of my blog would be about celebrating specificity. This is a theme I am a bit obsessed about. I am so fascinated by what people love and why. You know the beginning of Amelie where the narrator talks about what people like and why—that scene is what motivated me to start blogging.
I am so delighted if you think my work celebrates the idiosyncratic. Thank you, Kaili!!
I love reading things that either make me weep or laugh, and sometimes the best is when I laugh through my tears. It’s the raw human emotions.
I like to laugh – as it makes me feel good.
I like to cry as it lets me get out all that I need to cry about in my own life, that I might hold in because I’m a grown up now – the release is freeing.
I guess this is why I love your blog Belette, I get to do both, and am thusly entertained along the way.
I can’t wait for you next installment!
I haven’t read CIR since I was a teenager; I’ll have to borrow it off one of my teenagers and reread it.
There’s nothing wrong with ‘ha ha ha cry’. Keep up the good work.
Miss Janey has a point–one cannot smoke in LA!
Perhaps Holden will embrace other vices to compensate?
Iheart:I love that your mom gave you Salinger. I feel sure my mother never read a thing he wrote.
It sounds like you do know your myth.That is a story I would like to read—but I do understand it is a work in progress and that you, happily, haven’t reached the end yet.
Miss Janey: I fear Holden would feel a lot like I do about Valencia( at least in my story).
I love the detail about him not being able to smoke in Valencia. That is really good.:-)
Oh dear, I never read Salinger, perhaps not so good. By the time I thought of it again, well into my 20s, I believe I thoug the moment was over.
In retrospect I don’t believe there was any Salinger in my local library growing up, and my father, who was he arbiter of taste in the family, would have deemed CIR so “old fashioned” the way he dismissed anything he had read in his own youth in the early 50s. Now that I think about it, I believe that is exactly what my father said….
Do you ever look back at your youth and think of those seminal experiences, wondering how things might have been different if you had been exposed to different things?
My female characters are always me, even when I don’t plan them that way and I always like them. (the mes that is). However, since moving to Palmdale, I haven’t written one word, and even took away from myself the nickname (Kian) that was SO ME… I made her what I wanted to be, and gave back to myself my actual name (Kim) who really isn’t me and who I am bored with and who is stuck and all sorts of non-pleasant things, but alas, is who I am now.
FUN!
Important post today, Belette. Important for me because, I think, for the first time, I cannot relate. I never read Salinger. Not. One. Book. It just never happened for me. Sometimes you just wake up 43 years later, still a virgin. Long past the chance for tender first love.
Imogen:You and I have the same taste in reading. I love books that make me laugh and cry—-and if I can do both simultaneously I feel like I have reached some kind of spiritual state of delight—kind of how some Buddhist monks can sing two notes simultaneously.
Dear, Imogen, you are such a generous reader and your continual encouragement means so much to me. It is funny when I write something that is sad I feel like the post is too much. When it is funny I feel like it is too insignifigant. On the few days I manage both I feel the best I can feel about my own writing.
CA:I enjoy it as much as an adult as I did lo the many years ago.
Thank you. Glad you like. I’ll do my best.
Jen: I don’t think he will quit. He needs that cloud of smoke to create distance and protection from anyone seeing his real feelings.
Your mentor Ms.See is amazing – such great advice, I need to act upon it! I’m looking forward to laughter and tears in part 5, my fav combination, gets me everytime.
Mardel:It is not too late. Please, classics are timeless for a reason. Salinger is not a kids writer—he just writes stories about the young.
So funny, my dad was a big reader but he never had an opinion about what I was reading. I suppose it was a little bit of self absorption. Your comment just made me realize I don’t know what his favorite book is. Sad. I know he liked John Updike a lot. Not surprising that my father liked the chronicler of suburban adultery.
As I write I grow more aware of the profound impact of small events and seemingly insignificant moments were. Reading CIR was one of those moments.
Kim:I once had a friend(ish) guy say to me,”You are always the hero of your stories.” felt that there was a criticism in that comment, there was something snide in his tone. My internal reaction involved a strong suggestion of what he ought to do( a certain “f” word was the one that came to mind). I thought he was wrong. I think there are plenty of times when I take on the role of fool or even villain—I am not always the hero.
Not sure why I told you this. Please ignore my rambling.:-)
But as I write only non-fiction I am always in my stories. I just will not do an omniscient narrator as it implies that my story is objectively true. So, I am there in each post and each story.
Oh,Kian/Kim,I am so sorry that you feel like the Kian you is not with you. But, I bet she’s still there. I bet if you ask her to come back and ask her to tell you where she is and why she left she will have some things to say.
Have you ever read the Artist Way? I highly suggest the a.m. pages that Julia Cameron writes about. Even if you don’t have the book you can do the a.m. pages. They might help you get back to your writing and reconnect with Kian. I enclosed a link that explains them.
http://tinyurl.com/ae2sx
Tessa: I really think you would like him. I do. And, it is not too late.Really, it isn’t!!
Do you know your genre and myth? You certainly are a poet. But, I sense there is a prose writer in there too.
Make do: She is quite a gal. I cannot say enough good things about her or her fantastic book.
I am not sure if I will succeed to do both in my next post. But, that will be my underlying myth that will inform the work. And, as I am writing about writing I really hope I don’t make you cry.;-)
Just passing by to tell you that I love you, and that I’m a bit away you know why.
Thank you so much darling for your sooooooooooo nice and kind comments.
Take care and be happy.
xoxo
Very cool, BR. You are such an intellectual! I love all those Salinger novels, esp. Raise High the Roof Beams, Carpenters!
xoxox,
CC
OMG – I didn’t get past the third para cuz I have to tell you I feel the same way about Salinger. I think Franny and Zooey is a masterpiece. I wanted to name my child Esme after the story “For Esme – With Love and Squalor”. This man is a special sort of genius writer. But, Joyce Maynard has painted him as a rather miserable person… Thoughts on that?
Miss Belette…
This is *so* remarkable! We weren’t familiar wit the Carolyn See questions and that is too fascinating…wow! Thank you!
More than anything, the sadness of reading the last page of a much-loved book is unparallelled.
Grins and Giggles for a wonderful Friday!
yp
La Belette, I am too brain dead today to guess at your theme, but can I tell you as I read this all I could think was “autobiographical novel, please!” perhaps this is too daunting to consider, but you have such a talent which would be perfect for this genre. Write what you know, hmm. Who said that again?!
I wish you were in NY too!
If I answered all of See’s questions, I’d be writing my autobiography! That’s a lot of work. But it’d be a very rich stripmining project. It’s a very good idea.
LBR: Thanks for visiting! I don´t have a blog of my own yet. And yes, isn´t my horse just a darling. I got him some 10 years ago. He is a Russian trakhener and his speciality is in dressage. He is very calm and kind and has no bad habits at all. Absolutely suitable for me. I´m lucky to have him at our own stable,just next to our house.
number 3 sounds very gritty and story worthy (that’s not to say others aren’t)I guess it’s because that’s similar to how I feel and it will be good to hear from other’s perspective. I’m being very very selfish here.
Sorry for taking so long to comment. I am doing so without reading any of the other posts yet, so I may be redundant.
I see your theme as disappointment and disallusionment.
I love your style of writing, and you are correct in your analysis of the fact that you would not be who you were today without the disappointments you have endured.
But look what has come of it. You are a unique and interesting person with a critical perspective on life. It made you a neat person.
I have not read Catcher in the Rye but I must.
that I may be a little too self-centered, as a way to compensate.
You’ll find few more self-centered than myself and I managed to churn out some pages, so no excuses!
And I didn’t create any worlds, Paris and Argenteuil already existed.
What is truth, exactly. I wonder if we distill so much of ourselves and our experiences no matter what we write, that even non-fiction cannot help but be fiction because even if we were there, our personal viewpoint will be colored by however we dealt with events and emotions. It’s nigh impossible to get anything accurate save the outcome of a sporting event. (You knew I had to get a sports reference in here
Oh, writing humor on the tubes is far more difficult than in a novel, especially when it’s thousands of words of gloomy daydreaming.
I’ve actually never read Harry Potter. Hogwarts is the wizard school, right? Hmmm. If I ever finish this piece of crap, I might go back and reread Salinger and work on this.
Oh, the characters. I cannot consciously pinpoint real life inspirations or allusions in them, which doesn’t mean I didn’t subconsciously do so.
Asselineau has this wonderfully bushy moustache and I figured he – damn patrons, stop interrupting! – would be more outgoing and friendly than the notoriously difficult Frères.
You know the beginning of Amelie where the narrator talks about what people like and why—that scene is what motivated me to start blogging.
I think that’s why we write, online or off, no? To go on about what moves us, what our passions are, and not just “oh, I dig that,” but something visceral.
LBR: macabre tableaux. i’m working on a collection
Speaking of female Holden Caufields, have you ever read “How the Light Gets In”? It’s an Australian novel and is, I think, wonderful in its utterly messy heroine.
Whilst training to be a teacher I had to write ‘why I want to teach’
Like many others it was to right the wrongs of my own experience at school. My art lessons were so dry that I felt I had to show students that we can all see, and no matter how it comes out on paper all that we do is unique and therefore precious and worthwhile.
I guess that is what has driven me to be a parent, to right the wrongs I felt were dished out to me as a child.
Yet it is just those experiences that make the dialogue we write so rich,that we learn from pain and if we can channel this passion into our writing then we are all capable of at least one masterpiece.
Samos Sestre:
I am so sorry that I could not read this until now.
This was very good(as usual)and I think you do a very good job of making bad into funny.
I was just thinking the other day about the blogs that keep me coming back for me, and it’s NOT the ones where they have oh-so-perfect lives. Where they have everything they want. Where their kids/families/friends are all perfect perfect perfect. And they eat and photograph perfect food. That is just grocca! (that is my WV). Grocca is what we call Perfect Person Blogs.
So, back to you. This is why I love your writing. You mix happy, sad, funny, scary…into a captivating read that keeps us coming back for more. Oh, and you answer each and every comment. That is just..NICE. You are nice. You are not grocca.
Love,
CorfuCuz
So true. Can’t imagine our guy chewing nicorette and succumbing to west coast fashion!
It would be like the episode of Sex and the City where the girls go out to LA!
In 2005, which I was a young teen, I also read Catcher in the Rye. I also wrote a sequel! Luckily computers were commonplace by then so I still have all my old stories to laugh at – I wish I could read yours. Here were the first two lines:
I’m sat here in this lousy café with a bunch of dough in my pocket, a malted and a cup of coffee on the table in front of me. I’m also 32, married and late for my damn English class.
I chuckled to myself there!
Ma cherie Belette
I would read more often and comment regularly but the light colours on dark background hurt my eyes. Serious. I spend too much time online not out of choice but out of necessity of work. Please consider. Thanks.
Seeker: I love you too and hope that you had a great training and are feeling much better.
xoxo
CCarrie: You are too kind. A lover of good books, yes I am; an intellectual I am not. And you, Ms. Carrie have very good taste in books.
xo
K.line:I love that you and so many others here love Salinger. He really is a genius writer. I have lots of thoughts on that biography and I tried not to believe it and then his daughters book came out and it became harder not to believe it. I do think that his obsession with youth is what makes his books great and his personal life so very miserable. I think he is resisting growing up and so he turns to all kinds of methods to avoid that. I actually have met his ex-wife several times. She is a Jungian in Malibu. When I come to visit you and the Gehry building I feel sure we could talk about Salinger for hours.
Ms. Preppy Princess:
If you at all are interested in writing her book is a MUST read. Truly. I am so inspired by her lovely book.
You are so right. It hurts to read that last page. It feels like losing a friend.
Hope you are having a lovely weekend.
Fashion Herald: Novel I cannot do. But, I can do creative non-fiction memoiry kind of thing. Is that close enough. And, I will try and make the work novel.
Wendy:That would be nice.
Enc: There are a lot of questions. But, they do lead to rich material and enough to never have writers block again.:-)
Metscan: You are very lucky to have such a beautiful horse and have him so close to you.
Songy: I am writing all three books at the same time which is a bit odd. But, the nice thing about that is that I am not stuck in one time period. I get to regularly visit the past and the recent past and that can get me out of the present( when I need too).
Julianne:I agree that disappointment and disillusionment are very strong themes in me. I hope that humour and redemption find there way in there too. Time will tell.
I am so pleased you enjoy my writing. It would be awful if I loved to write and no one liked to read what I wrote. In this way I am very lucky.
I am grateful for all the material I have. I might never run out. I certainly hope so.
I do hope that when you read Salinger you let me know what you think.
Randal: I can churn out pages. But, the pages are always my story of things real and imagined that I believe happened. No totally imaginary stories for moi.
I could not agree more. I absolutely believe that the non-fiction I write is a fiction. And, I believe that all fiction is at its core is a non-fiction.It is impossible to remove subjectivity from the truth and objectivity from a lie.
I imagine, if you were telling a story of a funny guy in the 18th century—you could do it. You have such a gift for humour I would hate for it not to find its way into your “serious writing.”
Really? I read all of them and I really enjoyed. I am not sure if they would be your cup of tea. But, they are loaded with mythic and archetypal stories and I love that kind of thing. I would love it if you would write that book for me. That would be great. So, uh, get going on that.
It is interesting how you deiced that a bushy mustache meant warm and outgoing. It could be possible to view facial hair as more aggressive and animalistic.
I don’t understand how people write about what they don’t love. I really don’t get it. It is like dating people who you aren’t attracted to.
Tessa:Thanks! I look forward to reading them one day.
Ms.Cavenshish: I am adding your recommendation to my “must read” list. Thank you!!
Indigo: I really admire the sense of justice that is in your writing, teaching and parenting. I had a lot of that it in my desire to parent.
I do think that those traumas, dramas and injustices we faced are our gifts that can be turned into art or into a meaningful life. But, so often people stay stuck in the suffering and do not dare to transform it.
CorfuCuz:
Thank you. I do try. And, I appreciate you believe that I succeed at this.
I am so with you. I am not interested in blogs, books and stories that are about perfect lives. It is boring.
I can think about a few blogs that are grocca and they are beautiful. But, I rarely visit them( less than 1x a month).
I am so grateful that whatever I am doing keeps you coming back. I am more grateful than you will ever know.
I do feel that if you are nice enough to come over to my house(blog) the least I can do is thank you for coming over to play and tell you how much it means to me that you made the trip.
Your blog is not at all grocca. I admire and love your honesty and how you changed the theme of your blog when it no longer worked for you. And, nice! You are such a nice and generous blogger. I am so happy we found each other.
Love,
Samos Sestre
xo
Jen:Holden would never chew Nicorette!LOL!
I do think Holden belongs in the east coast. He would be a fish out of water in L.A., a little like me.;-)
Dcup:I am so glad you like them.I think I have about 80 of them to go. So, stay tuned.
I don’t understand how humorless people get through a day, let alone their life.
Pretty Face: Hello fellow Holden lover!! Really, you wrote one too???? Wow!!! I am not the only one to do this. I love it. And, I would love to read more of yours.
Holden is married? Shocking!! My Holden is still single.:-)
Dear Anony: I have been thinking about switching to a light background. I have hired a blog designer to redo my blog and she begins the project in January. I am going to have her change it to a lighter background.
Until then, I have a few suggestions so you can read my blog with a light background.
1) Subscribe on my blog to have my blog emailed to you on a daily basis. It comes to you with a white background.
or, 2) Subscribe via Google reader or some other reader. With a reader you will also see dark letters and a light background.
I hope that one of these ways allows you to regularly read and comment as I love your being here and adding to the conversation.
Thanks so much for the comment and suggestion.
“I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all… I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye.”
This was my favorite quote from CIR and the reason I fell in love with a man who reminded me of Holden.
I love the fact you can not only write long and complex posts but then you come right back in and leave comprehensive, empathetic remarks for all who left comments. You are a genuine writer.
If you really want to read it, la belette, e-amil me (aprettyface.blog@gmail.com) – I can send you the word document. But please prepare yourself for the self-indulgent musings of a 13 year old. Not that my blog is that much different though!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! Your kind words and great advice (and link) are SO HELPFUL and so appreciated. You’re the best!
Susan:I love that line. Lucky you to have a real life Holden.
Your assessment of me as a writer means a lot to me. I really am honoured that people not only read my posts but take the time to comment. I do feel blogging is not a one way street and that my post is just the opening to a conversation, at least that is what I hope for.
Thanks, Susan. I really appreciate the generosity of your comment.:-)
Pretty Face: Thank you so much for sharing your chapter 2 with me. Loved it. Holden would too.:-)
Kim/Kian:I am so glad I didn’t come across as bossy. I hope you and Kian are reunited very soon.
Bella – I have just read Catcher in the Rye because of this post (somehow missed out on reading it in my teenage years). Can I ask what you find so attractive about Holden Caufield? Or as a teenager – was it how misunderstood he seemed to be, or the depression he was going to spoke to your own woes? Did you feel he might understand you or like you because you weren’t phony like everyone else seemed to be?
Imogen: Hmm, yes to almost everything you said. But, there was something about his being on the edge between survival and despair that touched me and mirrored me. I had a pretty horrific childhood and there was something about his voice that gave my own inner voice a stronger sense of what was real and what was fake and how so much of what was valued in my world was not valuable. The rejection of the fake was big for me and I think continues to be. Authenticity is a driving force for me.I had no siblings and so hearing Holden’s voice I felt that I knew someone else who felt as I did.
Also, it was the first book I ever read that the writing the way Salinger wrote felt so real and authentic and the way people really talked with no pretense, sentimentality or preciousness. That made me aware of language and how much I loved it and how I loved it in the way some people love music.
I hope that all makes some kind of sense. It is hard to explain why you love. It is that you just know you do. You know what I mean?
It’s interesting – I found Holden to be an intensely sad character – so confused and depressed about his life. I can imagine that you too were going through an undiagnosed depression in your teenage years as Holden was, so that spoke to you. And probably as I read it from a mother’s perspective I get a whole different take than I would have as a teenager. I feel like he just needs to be taken care of, as he wants to care for the little kids – he wants what he really needs.
The whole phony thing I find interesting, but hard to really get in a way – I think it’s because Australian’s are probably much less fake than many in a way – a spade is a shovel and we’ll cut down anyone who gets too big for their boots pretty quick, so it’s not something that is around day to day in the same way as it might be in other cultures (especially I’d guess the rich of NY in the 50s who would put on many airs and pretensions).
xx