Maddie > Recent Status Updates

I love that these "chapters" are short little snippets that I can read when I only have two or three or five minutes. It makes for a nice break from the world, and I don't feel rushed to find a stopping point somewhere I really shouldn't stop.

This book is entertaining and useful! Lots of little anecdotes about famous people. So much research!

I haven't even gotten four pages into this and I already LOVE the writing style. The pick up in pace as it sped on to the inevitable was astounding in a very good way!

It turned out the chimney of the furnace was leaking carbon monoxide. When we stopped using the furnace, the novel stopped putting me to sleep. The lesson there is, sometimes it's not as bad as you think." (2/2)

Jane Smiley says (about A Thousand Acres): "I was writing it in the winter in the little office in our new house in Ames, Iowa. I kept falling asleep as I wrote. I put the manuscript aside, thinking it must be really boring. Then spring came and I reread it, and it seemed pretty good. (1/2)

List continued: Terry McMillan - sounds like a woman after my own heart. She has a very powerful voice. Ann Patchett - I'm interested in reading her book What Now? and finally Jodi Picoult - great quote for advice "Write even when you don't feel like writing. There is no muse. It's hard work. You can always edit a bad page, but you can't edit a blank page."

Authors I've been interested in so far: James Frey Sara Gruen - love her writing style! Sebastian Junger Mary Karr - Lit sounds like a novel that my mom would enjoy reading. Michael Lewis - quoting Judi Dench: "When your book comes, just drop it in the floor and listen to the sound it makes." He says: I did that, and it was just /great/.

I'm looking forward to the exercise I just read- character development paired with scenes- Hoohah! Sounds fun!