Suzette Haden Elgin's Blog, page 3

Monday; the new novel...

The novel I'm writing now -- _Alien Tongues_ -- is going along at a glacial pace. I'm not sure why ... maybe it's just that like everything else I do now, I'm no longer able to work as quickly as I could in the past. On the other hand, maybe I'm just writing more carefully than I have in the past, since I don't have a deadline to meet. I dunno... I do know that I'd rather it went more quickly.

Monday; deja vu...

Something nobody warned me about as a phenomenon of old age ... the deja vu problem. I see a fleck of dust and am convinced that I've already seen that exact same fleck at least a dozen times before. I see a tiny gnat crawling somewhere, and am convinced that I've already seen that exact same gnat at least a dozen times before.

I understand this, logically. I've lived in this house for decades, and I've surely seen a fleck of dust in that exact same spot -- and a tiny gnat in that exact same s...

Friday...

Well, glory hallelujah! The colonoscopy yesterday turned up none of the terrible things it might have -- just a severe case of hemorrhoids [indelicate, I know, but true:] and worn spots on the colon that my doctor says will heal if I start eating enough roughage. Plus he had a good treatment plan for the hemorrhoids.

I was surprised, though, at how much it hurt. They had promised me it wouldn't hurt. My guess is that the anesthetist -- because of my bizarre medical history with all medications ...

Wednesday...

Tomorrow I have to have a colonoscopy -- and I can't even begin to tell you how terrified I am. Please keep me in your thoughts, and [if you're a praying person:], in your prayers.

Wednesday...

Three very large cougar pawprints in our driveway this morning, right outside the front door...

Friday; some Anne Tyler techniques from "Searching For Caleb"...

1. Things serving as protagonists...


p. 12:
"The elevator toiled upward, creaking and sighing."

p. 13:
"Puffy eyes took her in from top to toe, her streaky ribbons of hair and her brown coat with the uneven hemline."


2. Lists, with a surprise in them...

p. 19:
"The room gave off an icy chill. Everything was bare, scraped and smudged by the past -- four bald spots on the linoleum where the table had once stood, and dimples where Duncan had tipped back in his chair, scorches and chips on the counterto...

Thursday BookNote; "Searching For Caleb"...

If you haven't yet read Anne Tyler's Searching For Caleb [Berkley Books 1975:], I urge you to do so. My own copy has been read to tatters; yesterday I finished it once, and went straight back to the beginning and read it through again. I was as entranced by it the second time through as I was the first. The characters are irresistible, the plot is gripping, and the writing is just plain splendid. I love this novel, and I recommend it without reservation. It's not science fiction, but it's as c...

Tuesday; a quote...

This quotation caught my eye, and my mind, and my full attention, and I want to share it with you. It comes from page 88 of Sonia Johnson's The Ship That Sailed Into the Living Room [Wildfire Books 1991:]. And it goes like this:

"This means that what we speak of as the poem exists only as it is laid down on the paper before us -- those words with that rhythm, that sound, in that shape. The words do not carry the meaning alone. In fact, the form they are in dictates what they can mean at any giv...

Monday...

I am very cross with my so-called television "news" channels. Where, although it says "breaking news" on the screen, what follows is a clip I've already seen dozens of times. It's insulting to the viewers; the implication is that we're so stupid we don't recognize content that we've already seen over and over and over again. And even on the Sunday shows -- even on "State Of The Union," for example -- they show clips they've already shown a dozen times or more.

I've complained here before abou...

Wednesday...

I've come to a point with my consulting contract where all I can do is wait; I can't do any more of the work until someone else has done some of the work. How long this will go on I have no way of knowing, but based on my past experience with this client, it will be quite a while.

This means that if I can manage to shift my gears properly, I'll be able to spend some time working on the new novel -- which has, all this time, been steadily ripening.