Hi! Welcome !
When I speak about “The Grievance Committee” series, almost surely I’ll get some questions about my writing habits.
Some writers work their craft at the same time daily, perhaps beginning in the early morning after a cup of coffee and before the family members arise. They write until ten or eleven o’clock, break for other chores or duties, and then restart in the late afternoon or in the evening.
Others may work the entire day, breaking just for meals, the bathroom, or when the dreadful writers’ block appears. These dedicated writers can’t wait to bring their thoughts to life on their computer screen or on paper.
Some of my writer friends are true perfectionists, meaning that each word and each sentence must be perfect before the writer can move forward the remainder of the content. They admit that their method delays the completion of their piece, but they just have difficulty in making corrections or editing at the finish line. They want it right from the start.
Not long ago, a writer at his book signing answered the question this way: “I don’t have a set time to write. Usually, after I arise in the morning, I read the newspaper over breakfast with my wife. Then, if I feel like it, I pop into my study where I may write a few lines or several pages, depending on what comes to mind. Some days, I don’t even visit my study to write. In other words, it just depends!”
Me? I’m very much like that writer at his book signing. Yet, sometimes I awake with an idea burning a hole in my head so that I must – before breakfast – write before the idea falls eternally out of my head. Of course, this can happen anytime, meaning that I need paper and pen before the thought escapes. That’s reason enough to carry with you a little notebook.
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People also ask me about the books I’m currently reading or books I have finished recently.
I’ve just finished reading : “The Snowman” by Joe Nesbo (A police detective from Norway must find a serial killer who plants a snowman near the murdered woman; a real page-turner); “The Yellow Birds” by Kevin Powers (A soldier’s tale of Iraq & the irony of war): “Picture Perfect”” by Jodi Picoult ( excellent read);Calico Joe” by John Grisham (who covers major league baseball’s story of a bean-ball pitcher and his victim, the story narrated through the pitcher’s estranged son”; “The Innocent” by David Baldacci (an ex-CIA hit man is the object of revenge by unknown evildoers); “The Brief Wondrous Life Of Oscar Wao” by Junot Diaz ( who writes about an interesting ghetto boy who tells us his inner thoughts about his American experience”; “Lone Wolf” by Jodi Picoult (Husband leaves family to live in the wild with wolf pack; returns and car accident leaves him comatose, with plug-pulling decision in hands of estranged son and minor daughter); “Back to Blood” by Tom Wolfe (but not up to those other wonderful Tom Wolfe stories in the past); “Cloud Atlas” by David Mitchel (dream machines to the max);”Reversible Errors” by Scott Turow (a corporate lawyer appointed to determine whether new evidence clears a death row inmate has his hands full with an overzealous DA, detective, and a judge); “The Litigators” by John Grisham (with all those Grisham surprises); “The Book Thief” by Markus Zusak (a young girl finds a book in the snow in 1939 Nazi Germany, learns to read, love books, and safeguards them from book burning. ” Angela’s Ashes” by Frank McCourt (a realistic look at a youngster’s life growing up in Ireland, full of sadness and mirth); “The Tiger’s Wife” by Tea Obreht (a young doctor unravels the mystery of her grandfather’s desk, adding in her masterful descriptive touches the myth of a tiger escaping from a Yugoslavic zoo during the war); “Handle With Care” by Jodi Picoult ( how a suit for Wrongful Life separates and re-unites a family);“The Last Ember” by Danial Levin (a mimic of “Da Vinci Code” but in Rome & Jerusalem); “The Borgia Mistress,” by Sarah Poole (an enjoyable supplement to Showtime’s TV’s “The Borgias,”); “Fifty Shades of Grey,” by E.L. James (a erotic novel about a college grad’s first sexual partner, a kinky rich guy); and “Windshift,” by Joyce Faulkner (a historic novel about WWII women pilots & the discrimination they faced). Please consider reading these books.
Please look at my blog, “The Cat’s Meow,” for more.
I am always in the market for Good Reads. Got any ideas? Email them
I recommend the above listed books (except I didn’t care for David Mitchell’s “Cloud Atlas”) and the following books which I found well-written, interesting, entertaining, and informative.
“The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins
“Innocent” by Scott Turow
“Fall of Giants” by Ken Follett
“The Night Circus” by Erin Morgenstern
“Skin Tight” and “Star Island” by Carl Hiasson
“The Confession” by John Grisham
“The Help” by Kathryn Stockett
“The Marriage Plot” by Jeffry Eugenides
“French Letters – Virginia’s War: Tierra Texas, 1944” by Jack Woodville London
“The Art of Racing in the Rain” by Garth Stein
Until next time, enjoy your reading and take good care of yourself.
