Vicki Lane's Blog, page 540

'Real' Books

Flower by Christopher Beane and Anthony Janson is a real knock out! Beane's spectacular and innovative macro photography took my breath away and has me eager for peony season (and a super macro lens . . . maybe someday.)
High on the Hog is a thoughtful and charming look at African-American cooking and its various influences. It's more than that, of course -- a whole social history emerges  in these pages.

The title comes from the custom of slave owners and later employers giving their servants the lesser bits of the pig - tail, ears, feet -- in return for hard labor at pig-killing time. When eventually the ex-slaves could raise their own pork, they could eat chops, and hams, and best of all, tenderloins -- located high on the hog!
Life, Money, and Illusion is a book I heard about somewhere  (NPR?) and was convinced I needed to read. I'll report on it later. But what a great cover!
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Oh My!

Oh. My. Goodness. Look what the young uns gave me for my birthday on Monday!
I am now, what with the Ipod that came at Christmas,  the most technologically enabled old lady in these parts.
And there was a bouquet of tulips and champagne and a dinner prepared by John and another dinner by Justin and Claui and other lovely pretties -- including some terrific ink and paper books I'll show you tomorrow.

Another birthday -- and unless I plan to live to 136, I'm pretty sure I'm well past middle age. Funny how that happens...
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FAQ - Can Writing Be Taught?

Q: Did Dickens, Jane Austen, Shakespeare and all those authors we know, get any help? I think that you don't want to be a writer -- you are one or you aren't. A:  The questioner has a good point -- I don't think it's possible to teach the art of writing,  but I do think that there's a lot that can be taught about the craft.  I certainly learned a lot from the class I took and from some books I've read. Hints on how to write dialog, beginning with a hook, various methods for plotting, even such nuts and bolts matters as how long a book should be, or what font is preferred by agents and editors are useful to writers in today's over-crowded market.

That said, I also think there's a point of diminishing returns with classes and inspirational books and there comes a time when one must just concentrate on WRITING -- finishing that novel or memoir or collection of poems.
As for the art of writing.... 
The best advice I can give is to read books written in the kind of language you want to write. Read till the sentence structures and the music of the language comes naturally to you . 

Even better than reading , I think, is listening to well-read audio books. When reading, I tend to skim, in hurry to find out what happened. But when listening, I can savor the beauty of a well-turned phrase, a clever transition, an apt description. I love Jane Austen, Neil Gaiman, P.G.Wodehouse, Patrick O'Brian, and Douglas Adams on audio, to name just a few.  All of these writers are in love with language and can make words sit up and beg or sentences jump through hoops.

Elizabeth George was quoted somewhere as saying she always spends a half an hour before she begins to write, reading 'up.' That is to say, reading on a higher level than she writes. I think she mentioned Jane Austen.  And I'd say that's probably not a bad idea. I know my writing would become very spare and straightforward if I went on a kick of reading Hemingway.


Read the best of what you want to write.


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Mute Monday -- More from Morganton

Thinking of Frankie Silver...and a Potential Setting

On Friday I traveled to Rutherfordton, a charming town about two hours to the east, to meet a traveling ex-sister-in-law and have lunch.  We wandered about the town and I was reminded that this was where, in 1833, the teen-aged Frankie Silver was hanged for the axe murder of her husband. 

Some say she was innocent; others say her husband Charlie needed killing.  But the jury found her guilty and she was hanged from an oak tree (or a scaffold -- opinions vary here too) that stood on the hill where the beautiful present day courthouse stands. 

Sharyn McCrumb tells her version of the story in the carefully researched novel  The Ballad of Frankie Silver.
The courthhouse was built after the hanging so I didn't go looking for ghosts.

But I did see a wonderful looking house that I may have more to say about later -- can't you just see a distraught young woman in a nightdress, running for the gate in the middle of the night? Long hair flowing, of course, and possibly holding a candlabra  with burning candles...

And what's in that tower room?
As always, when I photograph fancy buildings, I think of Merisi.

Freight Train

FREIGHT TRAIN by Elizabeth CottenChorus:Freight train, freight train, run so fast,Freight train, freight train, run so fast,Please don't tell what train I'm onThey won't know what route I've gone.
When I'm dead and in my grave,No more good times here I cravePlace the stones at my head and feetTell them all that I've gone to sleep.
When I die, Lord, bury me deepWay down on old Chestnut StreetThen I can hear old Number NineAs she comes rolling by.



(The notes below are from Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes linernotes by Mike Seeger )


When Elizabeth Cotten and her brothers were playing music together each would have songs that they called their own, and this was one of that she made up and sung as hers, It was one of the few she ever composed herself and was largely inspired by the train running near her home. She sung the song in Washington and it was subsequently popularized by Peggy Seeger, Nancy Whiskey and Rusty Draper.
"We used to watch the freight train. We knew the fireman and the brakeman...and the conductor, my mother used to launder for him. They'd let us ride in the engine...put us in one of the coaches while they were backing up and changing...that was how I got my first train ride.
"We used to walk the trestle and put our ear to the track and listen for the train to come. My brother, he'd wait for the train to get real close and then he'd hang down from one of the ties and swing back up after the train had passed over him."

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It's Seasonal

The pussy willows, white and black, are showing, leading me to think that Spring herself may be on her way to our mountains.
Thursday was a beautiful day -- so warm that I left the doors open to the breezes and moved the snow shovel from the front porch to the back  of  the house.


In the pastures, the cows and calves lay on their sides, soaking up the sun, while birds flitted busily from tree to tree;

The last of the ice has melted from the road and after a winter of huddling by the fire, I'm wanting to do everything -- reorganize drawers and closets, polish silver, clean up the winter-weary garden, finish the unfinished projects, and start some new ones. 

It's like the nesting urge pregnant women get in the last weeks before delivery -- deciding that Now might be a good time to wax the floor and move all the furniture around. 

Outside, I see that the birds are beginning to pair up and check out the empty birdhouses.

Which leads me to wonder . . .  at one time did humans, like birds and most wild things, give birth mainly in the Spring? It makes sense -- food and warmth would be more abundant making a better environment for a newborn.
So when I begin to think about Spring cleaning, is is a primal memory stirring? Am I reenacting prehistoric nesting urges?
It's something to think about as I shove the furniture around...

Libraries

There is not such a cradle of democracy upon the earth as the Free Public Library, this republic of letters, where neither rank, office, nor wealth receives the slightest consideration. 
 These are the words of Andrew Carnegie, at one time the richest man in the world.  Carnegie believed so strongly in libraries that he donated money to build over 2,500 public libraries. As a small child, I climbed the steep steps of the Carnegie Library in Tampa on weekly visits with my parents, breathed in that heady aroma of knowledge, and headed for the Zane Grey books. 
For me the library has always been a world of wonder – a world of possibilities where each book is a doorway to another time or place, another life.  When my husband and I moved to Madison County in 1975 to live on our mountainside farm, gardening, growing tobacco, and raising cattle, one of the first things I did, right after opening a bank account, was to get a library card. My mother, back in the suburbs of Tampa, might think that we had moved to a howling wilderness but I knew otherwise – there was a library and where there's a library, there's civilization.
My love affair with books is unending but the library offers more than books, even more than CD's and DVD's.  There are learning programs and materials for children and adults, including much-needed help for job seekers. Public computers and Internet access are a boon to those who can't afford them at home. 
Look around – there's story time for pre-schoolers, crafts classes, lectures and discussions, comfy chairs to relax and read a magazine or newspaper. There are microfiche archives of county newspapers as well as a whole room devoted to genealogy and local history. There's a meeting room available to community groups. There's even a phone number to call to ask a librarian whatever you need to find out about.
The library is the place for on-going learning and community involvement.  Everyone is welcome --there's no admission test, no fees It's small wonder that dictatorships and repressive regimes don't fund libraries -- a vibrant library grows good citizens, informed citizens, citizens who can think for themselves.
How alarming to think that some of our legislators would seek to make deep cuts in library funding just at a time when libraries are most needed!
I have to agree with well known scientist and author Carl Sagan, when he said: 
"I think the health of our civilization, the depth of our awareness about the underpinnings of our culture and our concern for the future can all be tested by how well we support our libraries. "

Wordless Wedneday

FAQ - Resources

Q: Where can I get help with my writing?
A: Here are a few places to start.
LINKS
There are an amazing number of on line resources for writers. Just Google 'writing resources' and stand back. Be aware that some are better than others and some are scams. (See Writer Beware below for warnings about scams.)  These are a few I like.
Story Sensei – Q & A about writing
Writer Beware – warning about scams, shady publishers, and other pitfalls awaiting writers
Forensics  Handy answers for writers interested in fiction mayhem
Writers Digest lots of good advice BOOKS There are many, many books on writing – don't get so consumed in reading them that you forget to write. That said, here are some I enjoyed and found useful/inspiring.
Don't Sabotage Your Submission by Chris Roerden  --  a highly enjoyable must-read for any writer of popular fiction and a wonderful tool for self editing.  
On Writing by Stephen King
Write Away!  by Elizabeth George 
 Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott
Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

 ASHEVILLE AREA CLASSES

Great Smokies Writing Program -- Poetry, non-fiction, sort stories, novels, memoirs – all kinds of excellent classes
Wildacres –Week- long summer workshops
AB Tech, Continuing Education - Sometimes a creative writing class is offered
Clarity Works – classes, retreats, and workshops for women
Again, Mr. Google is your friend in finding classes in your area. And there are online classes, but I don't have any experience with them.