by Daney

Yesterday I read a fascinating article (see link below)http://www.insidehighered.com/layout/set/print/news/2010/03/26/stepto, an interview with Yale professor Robert Burns Stepto. The entire article is worth reading but what still resonates with me is his distinction between “story writers” and “writing storytellers.”

The distinbction has to do with voice, he explains. “A ’story writer’ may well create an eccentric, idiosyncratic voice (a high modernist voice, perhaps), possibly with its own distinct singular syntax and grammar, and consider that creation to be in itself an act of art.

“A ‘writing storyteller’ can hardly surmount the fact that he or she is writing, but seeks nonetheless a voice that is at once singular and shared in much the way a storyteller’s voice (and story) may be singular and yet shared with storylisteners. To hope that readers will become, to a degree, storylisteners, is to seek the kind of communal relationship found, for example, between preachers and congregations, musicians and audiences in certain performance venues, and between storytellers and storylisteners.

“The writing storyteller approximates the performative aesthetic of the ‘folk’ event, I believe, in an effort not to be removed or alienated from certain readerships by the act of writing.”

That rings so true to me! It both explains why I respond so viscerally to certain books and characters (think Sabine and Ruth again) and authenticates the kind of writer I want to be. No more agonizing about why I can’t be more “original” or avant gard. I’m going to settle happily for being a writing storyteller.

Which do you prefer?

Yay! I guessed the right password!

about D. Brooks: I know he is supposed to be a conservative, but he more often sounds to me like a “moderate Democrat”. I guess that shows how far to the right some positions seem to me. I wish everyone could see clearly through “Progressive Lenses”.

by Daney

Vision—not the lofty kind but common old eyesight—has been on my mind a lot lately. It started at the end of a delightful visit with my friends in Marin County. I left early for the San Francisco airport, knowing that I don’t see well at night. I wasn’t too far down the road when it became clear that daylight is not all that enlightening either. I couldn’t read the signs.

Thanks to kind fate and very good directions from Linda and Bob, I arrived at SFO without harm to self or others. I also was armed with an ironclad determination to do whatever it took to get my eyesight corrected. That led to cataract surgery and a lot of decisions about what kind of lens to have inserted, when to do the second eye, etc. It seems there’s no perfect solution or, if there is, I haven’t found it.

After having one eye corrected, I waited eagerly for my new glasses to arrive. Already I could see more clearly than I had in years. With the new spectacles I would be as sharp-eyed as a kid again, I reasoned.
The day finally arrived, the technician finally quit fiddling and I put on my glasses, waiting for the world to spring into focus. It did not.

What gives? I closed my left eye and could see perfectly with my right. I closed the right eye. Same deal. Each eye worked perfectly on its own but they definitely weren’t cooperating with one another.

It’s gotten better since then but I still see better one eye at a time. Maybe there’s a lesson in this. I’m definitely grateful that I can see so much better and I’m wondering if the disjointedness will help me see the angles we often overlook when we’re focused on the straight and narrow. Flannery O’Connor’s biographer said she looked at the world as if there was a film of acetate over it, slightly skewed. (I’m paraphrasing.) I would certainly be willing to sacrifice an eye for a grain of her genius!

by Daney

Many families with small children craft holiday traditions very carefully. What better way to instill the values of family life and special times. Small surprise, then, that when the children grow up and their needs and schedules change we find it hard to relinquish the rituals. Even parents who adjust happily to their empty nest are sometimes bereft in the holiday season.

Why not just establish new traditions? Many do but they don’t quite seem to fill the hole in our memories. We make the traditional foods but our grown-up children are trying to eat healthy. The grandchildren have already had the gingerbread men and sugar cookies at home, made from our recipes!

These occasions often feel like substitute celebrations because, in fact, they are. Instead of insisting on recreating the past why don’t we allow our children the latitude to create their own traditions?

Last year I had a different kind of Christmas as guest of my dear friends John and Tan Hille at their home in Pennsylvania. It was festive but also laid back. (Is that an oxymoron?) Because we are so comfortable in each other’s presence we were often happy to sit by the fire and read our books or watch old movies. We went for walks and ate wonderful food. We had deep discussions. And ate more wonderful food.

The time slipped by and ended far too soon. We have always been close but now our bond is even stronger. I have a new holiday memory and look forward to many more.

This year I’m thinking of spending the holiday season in Morocco where, I dare say, I will find no sugar cookies. Who knows what I will find instead? I’m excited by the prospect.

by Daney

Much to my surprise, I find that I love to read David Brooks’ columns. He is very smart, his thinking is as quirky as my own and he helps me to laugh at my smug assumptions. He makes it possible for me to really listen to a conservative point of view. Today’s column http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/opinion/05brooks.html?th&emc=th is particularly good.

what do you think?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one

from The Guardian Several writers were asked to list rules for writing fiction. Of course the primary ones are read and write, but some of the tips are LOL funny.

by Daney

I found this NYT editorial very endearing and wise http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/02/opinion/02tue4.html?th&emc=th. What do you think?

by Daney

If you’re interested in following a literary agent’s blog, this is a good one http://nathanbransford.com/.

What blogs do you follow? If you’re on Twitter who or what do you follow there?