When I do have the time to write again, which will be in a few short weeks once I complete an author book tour for a P.R. client, the most important rule I hope to engage in my writing habits came from Ernest Hemingway in A Moveable Feast:
It was in that room too that I learned not to think about anything that I was writing from the time I stopped writing until I started again the next day. That way my subconscious would be working on it and at the same time I would be listening to other people and noticing everything, I hoped; learning, I hoped; and I would read so that I would not think about my work and make myself impotent to it.(Location 184-199 on the Kindle Edition, approximately p.11)
Of course I’ll also seek to write true sentences.
When reading A Pearl In The Storm, I was riveted, but it wasn’t just the writing style, but all of the many genres of writing that are encompassed in a memoir—or can be I should say. The biggest challenge for me will be fitting romance into a book about Faith-Based Public Relations, but in Pearl, Murden lays down the gauntlet as she quotes her uncle:
With a twinkle in his eye, he said, “A romance—it must be a romance.” He explained that I was too young to write my life as a history: “Who wants to read the history of half a life?” Tragedy, he explained was “boring.” Anyone over the age of thirty can write his or her life as a tear-soaked muddle. “There is no challenge in that,” my uncle counseled. “Comedies are fine, but the greatest stories in life are about romance.” (p. 8)
Maybe romance can find a way into my non-fiction book on public relations. It sure did find its way into my life. Stay tuned for more.
I love your candor and childlike unpretension, Jessica. Only one piece of advice: Do like The Bard says and "to thine own self be true." You will create page-turners in ANY genre. Go for it!!!
ReplyDeleteJessica - I loved your post. I, too, want to follow McClure's lead by including many genres within my writing. I have no doubt we both can accomplish that goal!
ReplyDeleteJessica- As a faith-based PR person, you should know that we (believers)have the best non-fiction romance story ever told that we can weave into anything we write.
ReplyDeleteThanks also for reminding me where I gleaned that bit of advice about putting your writing aside and picking up later from Hemingway. Strange, I started doing that this summer, stopping when I was fresh and ready to write more... forgot it came from Hemingway.
Jessica, I am sorry you have had such heartache this summer, but am happy to hear about the romance part! And remember that everything you read or experience goes into the great percolator of your mind. You can pour it out into a cup at a later date, even if you can't drink the brew just now.
ReplyDeleteJessica, don't worry yourself! Rome wasn't built in a day, nor were any of these books written overnight! Didn't we read somewhere that Olive Kitteridge was eight years in the making?
ReplyDeleteTake Hem's advice and relax before coming back to it. :)
Jessica, I think you'll be able to fit the various genres into your book via the anecdotes you are using to illustrate your chapters.
ReplyDeleteI am SO going to miss this class. You all are so encouraging! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteKathleen
ReplyDeleteyou are just too cool. Great advice
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteYour summer did not lend itself to a class about books that dealt quite a bit with death and other emotional topics, but you got through it like a champ. Don't give up and keep doing what you love.
Jessica, Thank you for your post. Don't give up and just know that It is He that gives us strength.
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