Writerly Wednesday

  • I’m doing another giveaway, this time of 3 books: CASTING OFF by Nicole Dickson, ORYX & CRAKE by Margaret Atwood, and FREE FOOD FOR MILLIONAIRES by Min Jin Lee. So far only 2 people have entered, lol, so the odds are ridiculously good. Doesn’t anybody want free books?!
  • Fellow writer Amanda Kendle runs a great little travel blog called Not a Ballerina. (Aussies really embrace travel. They could teach us uptight, workaholic Americans a thing or two.) In her latest post she gives a lot of love to my Galapagos write-ups! Check it out.
  • In her post “3, 2, 1 … JUMP” Shari describes with perfect idealistic joy the way I feel about writing. Oh, some days when bad news or self-doubt creep in, it’s hard to remember what this is all about. But that’s exactly why I love her post. She reminded me.

“Look, writing a novel is like paddling from Boston to London in a bathtub,” he said. “Sometimes the damn tub sinks. It’s a wonder that most of them don’t.”


8 responses to “Writerly Wednesday”

  1. Les Avatar

    Uh whoops? I swear I’d posted on that… maybe I just read it and intended to?

    Also, I adore that bathtub quote hahah.

  2. Sonja Avatar

    That NY Times article was hysterical. It makes me want to get a copy of McSweeney’s.

  3. Shari Avatar

    Thanks so very much for the kind words, Kristan! I really appreciate it :)

  4. Meghan Ward Avatar

    I entered the giveaway! I love Margaret Atwood – although, I have to say, book giveaways are going to be a thing of the past once we’re all using e-readers. We’ll have to give away Amazon and iTunes cards instead. 3, 2, 1 Jump sounds great. Btw, I have a question for you in the comments on my blog, which is what spurred your decision to not have followers on your blog?

  5. Anthony Lee Collins Avatar

    The bathtub quote, BTW, is part of my personal theory about why there are so many bad movies. If you’re writing a novel, or a song, or painting a painting, and you realize it’s going to stink, you can stop and put it away and forget about it. If you’re shooting a movie in any sort of professional way you have to keep going, even if you suddenly realize it will be no good.

    Once I figured this out, it explained a lot.

  6. Amanda Kendle Avatar

    Thanks for the mention Kristan! I think us Aussies are sometimes just a bit laidback and lazy, that’s why we like travelling so much. (ha ha so much that we even spell it with two Ls so it lasts longer ..)

  7. Kristan Avatar

    Meghan-
    Haha, yeah, I already love Amazon gift cards. But I will always want hard copies of my most favorite books.

    Saw your question & answered!

    Anthony-
    Hah, interesting point. Unless your movie doesn’t involve anyone else, right? But that’s got to be pretty rare.

    Amanda-
    I dunno, we’ve got plenty of laidback and lazy Americans. But they stay on the couch!

  8. Jon Avatar

    I loved the abandoned novels article–thanks for the share!