Monday, February 11, 2008

Dreary Monday

Do you ever have those days when you just want to eat cookies all day and go back to bed? When you're totally unmotivated and you don't feel like doing anything at all, even sleeping? For me they usually come on dreary Mondays. Most of the time a dreary day makes me feel romantic and creative - I want to sit by my window with a candle burning, all wrapped up in my scarf from France, and write amazing prose that will make me famous and rich. But every once in a while it just makes me want to crawl under a rock. What's the difference? What determines what kind of a dreary day it's going to be? If I knew, I don't know if I would change it. I read once somewhere that these down days are what give a creative mind something work with. How can we know happiness if we are never sad? How can we understand a character we're trying to write if we have never felt anything close to what they do - how can we expect a reader to feel anything if we don't write with integrity and honesty?

So don't be afraid of your cookie-eating-stay-in-bed-all-day-live-in-a-hole days. They give us perspective and experience. They give us life.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Greetings from the hole (the one under the rock) I am writing to ask that you send more cookies, my supply has run out! yup, I totally know how you feel about those down days! And I agree that you can use odd moods to help you write. I find that akward/angry dating situations make for rich writing soil. Sigh. I really did run out of cookies...

Anonymous said...

last comment for now ;o)

There isnt really a good place for this so I will post it here.

If you are looking for a few books to add to your reading list (I know, I have lots of recommendations!) check out The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephan R. Donaldson.

He has 8 books in this set so far with 2 more yet to be released. The first 6 were written back in the late '70's and finished in 1983 I think. Amazing stuff. His descriptions of the beauty of the world he created would take your breath away if you were actually seeing it for yourself.

The set is broken into The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Second Chronicles of Thomas, and (what he is writing now) The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant

It really is something every fantasy reader should experience,in my humble opinion ;o)

RZStoryLove said...

Juberry - I'm making another batch of cookies just for you. Now what's the address of your rock?

Twayne - Thank you so much for your comments! I am excited to find someone with similar tastes in books and who has some great recommendations. I already had Elantris on my To Be Read list, but I'll move it up now that I've gotten another recommendation on it. I want to give Eddings another chance so I'll probably start on his other series that you mentioned. What else do you like to read?

Anonymous said...

Well, I guess that depends on whether you mean what other authors or what other genres. Heh, genres being the shorter list I will start there.

Fantasy is my #1 pick. I do throw in the occasional sci-fi book here and there (and I firmly believe there is a distinct difference and they should each get their own seciton in the bookstore). I have also read all of the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan series (The Hunt For Red October etc, etc.) I also enjoy some good alternate history type stuff. Harry Turtledove wrote a series called Darkness that basically took World War 2 and set it in a world with magic and dragons instead of guns and airplanes. It was a good read. He was a lot like George Martin in his willingness to kill off main POV characters.

As far as other fantasy books. Lets see....

Loved Harry Potter as I see you did also.

Terry Goodkind has a series called The Sword of Truth that was alright. Lots of redundant themes through it and toward the end he got very preachy. He is an avowed atheist and that started to come through a lot about half way through the series. But me being me, I had to see how the story ended and I just ignored his preaching.

Terry Brooks Shannarah series is enjoyable. He's been working on it for almost 30 years and is still going. It's like 12 or 13 books so far and I believe he has said he's got at least 6 more in mind that he could write about it.

Eddings has a standalone book called The Redemption of Althalus that I enjoyed, as well as a separate 6 book series that was good. That one is actually two three book series' called The Elenium and The Tamuli.

Roger Zelanzy wrote a series called Amber that was unlike anything else I have ever read. Its like 10 books long but they are all short and you can buy them all in one book. It's called The Great Book of Amber if you want to look for it.

The last good stuff I can think of off the top of my head isn't really fantasy, its more like, historical fiction. Its a series called The Camulod Chronicles by Jack Whyte. Whyte has done tons and tons of research of the Arthurian myth and pieced everything he has found together into a story of what could have happened. How a young man could have come to power over the entire British Isles. Its almost all told through the point of view of his mysterious adviser Merlyn. There is no magic involved in it as he is telling this tale as it could have really happened. Though he does have pulling the sword from the stone, and the sword coming from the lady of the lake and all that worked in there. Its really good. First book is called The Skystone and is actually about Arthur's grandfather. He did a thorough job. I have been trying to find the last book in the stores for a while now, but different stores put it in different places. Some in fiction, some in fantasy.

I could go on but I think I have given you enough for the time being ;o)

I will check in often and keep an eye out for your reviews.