« MESSAGE FROM CAT PLANET | Main | finding it, keeping it, holding it »
August 08, 2003
the temporary return
I am midway through securing a house, and all the way through rescuing the keyboard from the smaller cat. And now I have finally written a few more pages into Chapter Three, eliminating two that didn't work.
My artsy side is striving to take over my life, and I have already themed three of the rooms in my home: Neo-Asian in the living room, English garden in the bedroom, and French country in the kitchen. This is not so bad, because I have no furniture whatsoever, so when I shop I have a clear idea of what I'm looking for.
I wish I could explain to you, Dear Reader, where my bizarre mix of style comes from, and I'm afraid the best answer I have is to spread my hands and shrug my shoulders at you. Perhaps it comes from sucking down all the Franco-Anglo fantasy fiction I could find as a child, or perhaps the act of absorbing Clavell's Shogun as an adolescent left a third degree burn scar on my psyche. These are the sensibilities that now bleed into my design desires. Not to mention my cooking tastes.
I am almost finished with The Joy Luck Club by Mme. Amy Tan, and it has me thinking -- why don't we write fantasy fiction like this? Why is it so much fantasy fiction is simply straight-forward storytelling, no flash, no attempt at clever ways to make the brain maneuver through the tale? I am fascinated with the weave of this story -- how the daughters have been effected by the past their mothers lived, how each voice is similar but different. Perhaps someone ought to think about doing something in this vein. It's highly effective.
And since I am on a reading jag, I finally finished reading Finder by Mme. Emma Bull. It was quite good, but I was sad at the end, as I was post-reading Bone Dance. Emma is more ruthless than I, and far more deft at her ruthlessness. She creates characters as strong and fragile as eggshells, and crushes them when you least expect it. But somehow it all comes out right in the end. I so wish I could eat her brain.
So much to do. At the end of the month comes the family visit, and then a very busy seminar with Kashiwaya-sensei. And closing on the 18th of next month. So writing will occur, but it is sporadic.
And on a very bright side -- my aunt's website is not done, but it is released. The design is mine, as is the heavy tinkering with our shopping cart of choice (VP-ASP). Go buy some coffee from her, why don't you?
Posted by sdshaver at August 8, 2003 01:32 AM