What'll It Be?

I created this book over a month ago to chronicle my slow descent into the quicksand that is literature (the only kind of quicksand that I think might just be good). Without making a single post, however, I've spent the past month reading and reading and just recently, I've started writing again. Now I figure that my schedule really is booked solid. Between what I read and what I am determined to write, I think that the title is more apt now than it was just four short weeks ago.

Initially, I was thinking to write some book reviews. Not from a critic's point of view, or a child, or a grandmother, or whomever the intended audience might be. Just from my own. This, I thought, might bring a fresh look to what I read and help me remember, in the future, which books I liked so much and just why I felt that way.

I might still include some reviews.

But for now, I'll focus on two books that I'm using for guidance and reference in my decade long struggle to write a novel (I take it for granted that attempting to write lengthy Nsync fan fiction in my pre-adolescent years counts as the beginnings of my quest for novel).

First we have Nancy Lamb's The Writer's Guide to Crafting Stories for Children. The reviews on the book make it sound really useful and interesting. And so far, it is. The book includes insight of many writers and Lamb's take on how these writers got so damn good. It has exercises, some of which you can do on the spot, and some of which require more in-depth thought. I like Ms. Lamb, I think she and I shall be great friends . . . or at least I will get a lot from this book.

My next source of instruction and inspiration is The 3 a.m. Epiphany by Brian Kiteley. Unlike many books that are strictly exercise-oriented, Kiteley includes not only examples, but reasons for why these exercises are important. He doesn't just promote the use of images, he shows and explains why images make such an impact. For these exercises I will not focus strictly on children's literature (which tends to be my passion) buuuut I can't say that some of these elements won't work their way in.

This blog will journal my exersises daily and hopefully provide a starting-off point for something that entails a little bit more than a hobby.