At desk, cup of tea in hand. Ready to rumble. I hope the rest of you are having an equally productive day.
Neil Gaiman says: The best thing about writing fiction is that moment where the story catches fire and comes to life on the page, and suddenly it all makes sense and you know what it’s about and why you’re doing it and what these people are saying and doing, and you get to feel like both the creator and the audience. Everything is suddenly both obvious and surprising (“but of course that’s why he was doing that, and that means that…”) and it’s magic and wonderful and strange.
You don’t live there always when you write. Mostly it’s a long hard walk. Sometimes it’s a trudge through fog and you’re scared you’ve lost your way and can’t remember why you set out in the first place.
But sometimes you fly, and that pays for everything.
***
Very tiny interview with Joanne Harris:
Either you believe magic is real, or you don’t. Fantasy tends to be easier to classify as it usually relates to imaginary worlds and universes. Most of my stories have some kind of base in fact, but fundamentally I try for emotional realism; the details may be invented, but if the feelings are true (be they rage, love, or the desire for revenge), then the characters will come to life and the plot, however unlikely, will seem more convincing to the reader.
***
Via Irene Gallo’s blog, these links to three artists: Raquel Aparicio, Sam Weber, and Jon Foster.
***
And here, this article from the NY Times, called “What Cats Know About War.”
Watching her, and the two litters of kittens she had over the following 18 months, offered we humans a new reaction to the cacophony of the war. The bloodiest suicide bombings, even miles away, have the sound and feel of the apocalypse, causing humans to freeze, no matter how often they experience it. Cats need to hear it only once. As they skitter to the safety of trees and bushes, they enter the blast and the tremor on the hard drive of their brains. On the next occasion, come the blast, they barely stir.
I’ve got a little furry friend at my side this morning. A lot of them, in fact. Here’s Persimmon, tucked sound asleep on this rainy morning.
