A brief story: At the age of fifteen, with a friend, I took a canoe trip on the Saint Croix River in Minnesota. We put in at Scandia, a few miles north of my grandparents’ cabin and paddled leisurely downstream, winding in and out of sloughs, floating with the current, and camping on the Wisconsin banks. As the channel widened, our small canoe shrank in proportion. By the afternoon of the fourth day, we lost sight of the two banks. Motor boats, barges, and ships sped past, rocking our vessel. We had reached the Mississippi.
Hello. I write literary/historical fiction and about literature, culture, and the environment. Roughly once a month, I’ll post something relevant to writing here. Topics will range and vary but the gist will include what authors do, how, why and why it matters, and tips to staying the course of your project. And although, like Tolkien’s Treebeard, I prefer never to say anything “unless it is worth taking a long time to say,” we’ll keep it concise here.
This is an interesting time to be going live. Two months of sheltering in place hasn’t been too challenging–in this line of work, it’s more or less a requirement. Our last power outage lasted less than twenty-four hours, luckily. We’re grateful to those who’ve stayed out there. Keep safe and, if you’d like, share below some thoughts, your current project, or what you’re reading.
As a placeholder, I’ll share a few of my favorite things.
Places to write (other than our living room and my closet-sized office): Trains!
Words:
- dorénavant (French – from now on) – because this word has survived more than eight centuries
- quercia (oak) – because it sounds like a crisp autumn leaf (in Italian)
- ¿Por qué? – because I wonder, don’t you?
- etymology – because word sleuthing is what I do
Drinks: coffee (morning), tea (afternoon), red wine (evening)
Victuals: oranges, lacinato kale, 70%+ dark chocolate
On my bookshelves and/or memorable books (a very partial, eclectic list):
- Fiction: everything by Michael Ondaatje, Louise Erdrich, and Kazuo Ishiguro, also The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead, The End by Salvatore Scibona, The Orchardist by Amanda Coplin, The Last Summer of the World by Emily Mitchell, The Night Birds by Thomas Maltman, A Thread of Grace by Mary Doria Russell, The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles, Terra Nostra by Carlos Fuentes, Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann, Daughters of Fire (Les filles du feu) by Gérard de Nerval, Ourika by Claire de Duras, The Divine Comedy (La commedia) poem by Dante Alighieri
- Nonfiction: Prismatic Ecology and Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, edited by Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Frantumaglia: A Writer’s Journey by Elena Ferrante, How the French Think, by Sudhir Hazareesingh, Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi, Purity and Danger by Mary Douglas, The Ritual Process by Victor Turner, By the Torch of Chaos and Doubt by Guy Burneko
- Memoir: Into the Blizzard by Michael Winter, The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion, The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston, A Man by Oriana Fallaci
- Crime/Mystery: The Blackhouse by Peter May, Foyle’s War (dramatic series) created by Anthony Horowitz
- Poetry: Some Wonder by Eric Nelson, American Family: A Syndrome (chapbook) by Nandi Comer, also the works of Eugenio Montale, Giovanni Pascoli, Toi Derricotte, Li-Young Lee, Kay Murphy, Mary Oliver
- On Craft and Crafting Words: The Scene Book by Sandra Scoffield, The Language of Fiction by Brian Shawver, Dreyer’s English by Benjamin Dreyer, Manuscript Makeover by Elizabeth Lyon
Favorite Endings: Ambiguous
Next month’s blog: “In the Trenches” viz going to the places we write about
Good work, Greta! This promises to be an immensely engaging and helpful resource for all kinds of writers, not to say readers, worldwide
Thanks as always for your support and thoughtfulness, Guy!I’m grateful.
As a fellow writer I agree that sheltering in place hasn’t been that burdensome, since solitude is the nature of how we work. I enjoyed reading your thoughts here and look forward to more. I was especially pleased to find Foyle’s War on your list of crime/mystery likes, since it’s one of my absolute favorites. I wish you the absolute best in this new endeavor.
Thanks, Dan! Your dedication has been a real model and inspiration. I continue to appreciate and learn from your blog and remarkable photos. Onward!
I also love to write on trains. I also love airports and airplanes. Any time I am in between places, there is something wonderful and freeing and it makes for a great place for me to write. Here is to when we can all take a train or a plane again.
Hi Christine. Yes, being on the move and in between does seem to get the creative synapses going. These days, we’re getting to know our semi-urban, semi-rural neighborhood very well. Thanks for visiting and best in your work!
Beautiful website. Your list of favorite fiction was a blend of what my father, husband and I might have listed as well as suggesting more to pursue in this time of sheltering at home. Maybe some day I will be in a place and time to avail myself of your services. In the meantime I will be tuning into blog.
This is wonderful news, Ursula! Thanks so much for visiting. I look forward to more exchanges in the not-too-distant future!
SOOO interesting! Of course you make me feel illiterate, but at least I’m capable of admiring from afar. All the best on this.
Oh, Michael! You’re one of the most verbally gifted people I know. Thanks for your kind thoughts!
Hi Greta, love the nature theme of your new website. Beautiful! I appreciate seeing what words you particularly like and why in your first blog post. Sometimes when I’m trying to find the right “feel” or “sense” of something, I end up just making up a word. And ¿Por qué?. Yep, all the time. 🙂 Wishing you all the best with your new venture.
Thanks, Tina! I’m sure things will evolve organically. It sounds like you’re up to some pretty interesting explorations too.
Keep on!
Dear Greta
Wandering. Wandering through sheltering in place. Wandering before dawn. Through a cold Arctic night’s northern lights, an Indonesian village’s evening smoke, or a long Saigon street of people scarred with grievous wounds and burned from napalm. Wandering a young boy’s winter trap line and yes, wandering the Mississippi by canoe too far from shore.
But to wander in the wealthy world of literature with an imagination is a kind of wandering exploration denied we lesser mortals. A brilliant experience enjoyed as far as we know by humans. And only a few of them. Let alone speaking of your own gifts of creation. A talent so dedicatedly pursued and won.
Your website reflects you and on you well.
Bonne voyage on this new wandering.
Apologies, I obviously have no idea of where to put punctuation other then where I simply feel it belongs.
Thank you, Doug. I’d say these stories deserve to be told–do tell more!–as in your above poem, or otherwise. The punctuation seems to be in all the right places.
Greta this is beautiful. I miss you being near, but feel I am being given the gift of getting to know a deeper you through your writings. I’m looking forward to your next post already!
Thank you, Becky. This means a lot. I look forward to future dialogue!