My follow-up post yesterday to this one brought about some interesting outcomes. First, Domey Malasarn has been dared to write about a character he loves, one that is without a soul.
Second, F. Scott Bailey shares his antidote to reading books that are too grim.
And those are just the outward consequences. In responding to the insightful comments, I have been thinking and re-thinking about how I feel about difficult books. Reading The Solitude of Prime Numbers allowed me to discover a few things and now I am toying with the idea of doing another experiment.
But first, a bit of backstory.
Sometime last year, Jim McCarthy offered to give book suggestions to readers who told him the last three books they enjoyed. The book he recommended to me was Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. After reading about it, I decided to wait and chose to read some suggestions he offered other readers. I found Purple Hibiscus and This Is Where I Leave You this way.
One of the reason I shied away from Geek Love is its subject matter. From what I've read about it, the book is populated with people who do things that are difficult to understand. One character willingly ingested unsafe chemicals while pregnant in hopes of producing children who will be deformed. Just this bit of information alone gives me chills.
Yet I'd heard good things about Geek Love from different sources. And since I am exploring why I don't want to continue books that are bleak and depressing in which people do nasty things to others for unfathomable reasons, this book seems like a prime candidate to test that premise.
But I am not sure if I really want to.
Have any of you read it? Or if not, what do you think you would do if you were me?
My sabbatical from blogging has been a good one. It has allowed me distance and given me time to consider some questions about the blog and its place in my writing life. I have not made new discoveries, just affirmed earlier thoughts, such as:
- There are more blogs I want to read than there is time to do so;
- I have not been using my experiences as a musician much; and
- I really appreciate the my blogging community.
Making choices is the hardest when the options are not clearly right/wrong, but I have made mine. To pursue a huge online presence, to gain large numbers of followers, to comment on every blog I enjoy: these are no longer top priority.
Not only did these activities take massive amounts of time, they exerted a pressure on my psyche as well. I am not a person who can process all the information and share in all the emotional highs and lows and then be able to put all that aside to focus on writing. I am now choosing to limit how much my mind has to process and my emotions be affected so that I can participate fully in each experience and still have what I need to be a writer.
On a more upbeat note, I realize that I have not focused much on my other love, music. After ignoring my piano for a long while, I am practicing regularly again. There are so many parallels between the writing life and the musical life that I can't believe how little of that has been highlighted in this blog.
The practical outcome of these thoughts?
I will post twice a week, one to focus on music and how it relates to writing, and the other will be on whatever is on my mind. I will still, as I have been during my blogging pause, visit and comment on the blogs in my community, only less frequently as before. I still love you guys!
Oh, and btw, like my new look?
[Mackworth Island by InAweofGod'sCreation at Flikr Creative Commons]
And this one is so very grateful for the encouragement and support she receives from her author-friends. (So grateful that she has to resort to using the third person to refer to herself.)
YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST!
[Thank You by Iain Farrell at Flikr Creative Commons]
It's been a good experience, taking the unplugged week. Thanks, BJ!
With all that extra time, I made crepes and muffins with the kids, cooked meals from scratch, tidied up the pantry so opening the door no longer 
causes boxes to fall on my head, dealt with some family issues, finished reading two books and started two new ones (The Sea and Breathe My Name, recommendations I got from my evil ploy.) And wrote, of course. I revised four scenes and wrote two new ones for my novel-in-progress.
*pat self on back*
All that goal-achieving, so good for the ego, so good for the soul, so good for the taste buds, but I find that I miss the interaction with my fellow bloggers. I miss being part of a vibrant community. Yes, I miss YOU.
So now I'm back and ready to jump into the next controversy or empathize with my fellow writers experiencing the woes of revision and rejections.
*Pushes up sleeves, rubs hands in anticipation*
And oh, don't forget tomorrow's Grab-A-Line Monday!
Yesterday was a fragmented sort of day, with more than the usual unexpected events and interruptions. By mid morning, my mind had gotten into an alert-for-any-curveball state that was not conducive to anything that required longer than a few minutes worth of attention.
One result is that I skipped over or merely skimmed my usual blogs. Almost felt like I didn't have coffee in the morning. I didn't find out till later in the day, when my mind mellowed somewhat, that Davin had written a post at the Literary Lab, that mentioned an earlier post of mine on unusual character traits.
And can I just say how thrilled I am?
When I started this blog, I had only the vaguest notions about this thing called "web presence" and now, a little after a year later, I find that the best thing about having a blog (besides having a great excuse for procrastinating) is that I "meet" people with whom I can exchange ideas. I don't know about you, but the connection that happens when like-minded people throw around ideas and find sparks and common ground, is one of the best things in life. So thank you, the wonderful writers at the Literary Lab.
I have always been drawn to beauty and gravitated toward art, music and words. 
This character here, "mei", means beauty. I wrote this using traditional Chinese brush and ink. It is up for auction to help raise funds for a fellow kidlit writer, Bridget Zinn.
From the auction website:
This is Bridget. Three things happened to Bridget in February:1. She got an agent for her young adult novel.
2. She got married.
3. She found out she had Stage Four colon cancer.Some of her friends have banded together to organize an online auction. Authors have donated signed copies of their books or manuscript critiques. Artists and artisans have donated paintings, cards, and one-of-a-kind creations. Friends have donated vacations. Do go check out the auction site. Maybe you'll find something you need, and in the process, help someone out.
UPDATE on Thursday afternoon: I notice this item is not up at the website yet, but there are many other lovely items so keep checking back.
UPDATE on Friday morning: it's up! Here it is.
