Peg Herring's Blog - Posts Tagged "accomplishment"
What I Love About Books
They end.
Where else in life do you get the satisfaction of completion that you get with a book? Housework is infinitely renewable. You can clean the sink today, but it will need it again tomorrow. Our jobs seldom allow everything to be sewn up tightly at the end of a day, a week, or even a year. And relationships are notoriously messy. They never all get combed neatly into place.
But a book! When you're done, you're done. Everything is known. The author has told all, and you have absorbed it, savored it, finished with it. In addition, everything is left in place. If for some reason you should return to reread that book later, it will not have changed one iota. No new smudges, no starting over to learn the ropes, no irrational switches in character since last time.
Each new book is an adventure in itself. Some allow us to have similar adventures if we enjoy the first one: same characters, different day. But when you close that book at "The End", it is something you've accomplished complete. Done. What a feeling!
Where else in life do you get the satisfaction of completion that you get with a book? Housework is infinitely renewable. You can clean the sink today, but it will need it again tomorrow. Our jobs seldom allow everything to be sewn up tightly at the end of a day, a week, or even a year. And relationships are notoriously messy. They never all get combed neatly into place.
But a book! When you're done, you're done. Everything is known. The author has told all, and you have absorbed it, savored it, finished with it. In addition, everything is left in place. If for some reason you should return to reread that book later, it will not have changed one iota. No new smudges, no starting over to learn the ropes, no irrational switches in character since last time.
Each new book is an adventure in itself. Some allow us to have similar adventures if we enjoy the first one: same characters, different day. But when you close that book at "The End", it is something you've accomplished complete. Done. What a feeling!
Writing Like a Monk
Fellow author Laura Alden and I hosted a retreat for writers last weekend. We took over a small inn in northern Lower Michigan. We sent each writer who arrived to a quiet place for hours at a time with the demand that they "Just write!"
Everyone who attended was pleased with the amount of work accomplished. It's amazing what a person can get done when no phone rings, no laundry buzzer sounds, no spouse pounds in the basement, and no kids interrupt to ask what's for dinner.
Another advantage was the ambiance. I think we each felt encouraged by the sight of the others working away: some editing with paper and pen, some typing away on laptops, and some sketching an outline. (I even sketched the murder scene for my next book, although the way I draw, it looks a lot like a Rorschach ink blot.) If the group was tempted to linger too long over lunch or breakfast, one determined soul would rise and say, "I'm going to get some work done," and soon all of us would be back on task.
Of course there was that precious face time with other authors. The discussions included books we like, books we don't like, publishing, books, agents, readers, books, fans (crazy and otherwise), working conditions and books. There were other topics at some points, but put a bunch of writers together, and it's mostly going to be about books.
Some think it's unnecessary to pay money to find a place to write. "You can write at home," they say. Yes, I can. In fact, I do. But once in a while it's great to play Thoreau and remove myself from the world. I guess I would say, "I went to the inn because I wanted to write deliberately."
Everyone who attended was pleased with the amount of work accomplished. It's amazing what a person can get done when no phone rings, no laundry buzzer sounds, no spouse pounds in the basement, and no kids interrupt to ask what's for dinner.
Another advantage was the ambiance. I think we each felt encouraged by the sight of the others working away: some editing with paper and pen, some typing away on laptops, and some sketching an outline. (I even sketched the murder scene for my next book, although the way I draw, it looks a lot like a Rorschach ink blot.) If the group was tempted to linger too long over lunch or breakfast, one determined soul would rise and say, "I'm going to get some work done," and soon all of us would be back on task.
Of course there was that precious face time with other authors. The discussions included books we like, books we don't like, publishing, books, agents, readers, books, fans (crazy and otherwise), working conditions and books. There were other topics at some points, but put a bunch of writers together, and it's mostly going to be about books.
Some think it's unnecessary to pay money to find a place to write. "You can write at home," they say. Yes, I can. In fact, I do. But once in a while it's great to play Thoreau and remove myself from the world. I guess I would say, "I went to the inn because I wanted to write deliberately."
