An Inspiring Example

Thursday night I attended a reading by novelist Angela Davis-Gardner in honor of the re-release of her two first novels, one of them published 25 years ago.

Angela is a tremendously talented writer. And she has gone through the usual struggles getting her work into print.

And now she has been hit by "literary lightning." Not only did she get a contract for her newest, Plum Wine, (now out in paperback) but she received, all in one swoop, republication deals with major publishers for her first two novels, and a contract for a fourth (due in January.)

Now the struggle is simply to write fiction on deadline, rather than the more typical efforts of writers.

Her work deserves this attention. These are wonderful books. (The other two titles are Felice and Forms of Shelter.)

And I love this story of finding the pot of gold. It can happen.






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Working on Vacation

In spite of my avowed two-week vacation, I slid back into writing yesterday. I was indulging myself, since I was feeling pretty low; it seemed to be the only thing I wanted to do.

Five hours later, much restored, I found that I had a draft of a little essay about the day I met Benazir Bhutto in a drugstore in a Raleigh shopping center. Working on that story, I had no sense that time had passed. I was feeling like my regular self again.

A person can't write ALL the time, though. I'd like to think it was possible to pause.

I once knew a very successful writer who didn't pause. Just before she finished one book, she started the next, then finished the first one, then went back to the second. That way she always had a story in progress, a cat purring in her lap.

I don't think that's entirely healthy. But I understand the impulse. And she did get a lot done.






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