My new writing space is the top of my intimates' drawer. I know, I have a completely decent desk with a view (featured here), but after several unproductive writing hours I realised I can't be creative in the same space I do my day jobs. My resolutions (not New Year's because I came up with… Continue reading Of Resolutions and Weird Writing Spaces
Tag: writing life
Writing Desk: Poetry
Joining others in dusting off forgotten hobbies, I started writing poetry again. The first half of July has been unseasonably grey and wet. I'm working on a bigger project and also grappling with how the spike in cases might affect our lives. Churning out verses of focused thought and imagery seems like the right kind… Continue reading Writing Desk: Poetry
Two stories
A quick and jubilant note: two of my short stories found home. Have to be coy about the details for now--I'll let you know as soon as they're available for the reading public. It's been a while since I published a piece. From time to time I've succumbed to the thought that every moment I… Continue reading Two stories
Of Literary Spies and Real-Life Selves
For some reason, spy novels are finding their way in my have-read list. More recent titles, not John le Carré classics. Last week, for instance, I finished Lauren Wilkinson's American Spy which was just published last February. Pausing here to mention I don't write book reviews. Nothing against them, just that I like approaching my… Continue reading Of Literary Spies and Real-Life Selves
Shorts
Keeping to short forms these days. Flash fiction, poetry, something in between. I got busy during the summer moving to another apartment. This was followed by a two-week stay in New York City where I had planned to luxuriate in daily writing sessions. Writing I did, but it wasn't as productive as planned. Something about… Continue reading Shorts
New and Old
New: Novel-in-progress. I smile as I write this because there isn't a word of it written down. It's all in the head at the moment. I'm taking a breezier approach with this one, not planning the chapters in advance, letting characters take shape and decide the course of things. I know their faces, their jobs.… Continue reading New and Old
Lightness of a Beginning
What a year! Finished the novel--took me five years. It's out there, looking for a home away from its fussy creator. Whether it gets published or not, it's finished and I'm happy with what I accomplished. Writing it has definitely taught me a lot. Ideas for the next novel swim in my head. It's just… Continue reading Lightness of a Beginning
Completion
Hand-sewn dining chair slipcovers—two sets of four pieces. Beef borsch (traditional recipe). Cleaned the gunk off the window ridges. Banana-chocolate chip bread, cottage cheese cake, and other baked experiments. Framed V’s oil painting and found a place for it alongside other photos and wall decorations. These are things I finished in the course of… Continue reading Completion
Writing Weary…Again
Still revising the same story I mentioned last March. A piece drafted two years ago. Short stories are sly and merciless like that, quick to consume but take forever to create. Come on, tell me something new, I beg the lines as I do yet another reread. Our relationship is akin to that of a… Continue reading Writing Weary…Again
Writer / Wanderer
...to me, a written piece is already "performing" once I've put it on paper. It's already working for an audience (reader), even if it's safely tucked away in my notebook (or saved in a drive). Drafts on paper make me pay more attention to the technical aspects of a written piece. Grammar, punctuation, and paragraph breaks are all important causes. But for me things that have more to do with the story's soul—characters and setting, tone and theme, conflicts and resolutions—are more easily resolved when I'm not yet burdened by a hard copy.
Leah Ranada 