What is Friday Fare? As a recap, on Fridays I post link love to the various bits of arcane shiz I discover on the Interwebs. I liken it to a glimpse into my mind, but without the 80s song lyrics or mental cobwebs.
OK, so let us be clear. Roxane Gay is a gatdamn national icon. Her column “Ask Roxane” does not run ENOUGH in the New York Times. Dammit. I hadn’t seen her column “Is It Too Late to Follow My Dreams” when it first ran, but that makes the catch-up all the sweeter. FYI, NYTimes … more Roxane Gay. Please?
I had the pleasure of participating in a panel with Catherine Dilts at Killer Nashville. It was great to read her recap of Jeffrey Deaver’s presentation “Writing Commercial Fiction.” Mr. Deaver gave this presentation earlier this month for Sisters in Crime Colorado / Rocky Mountain Mystery Writers of America and it’s the same presentation I had the honor of attending in March. I don’t get to see my mystery brethren outside of the Midwest very often, but reading Ms. Dilts’s recap made me feel like I had attended Mr. Deaver’s talk with my good friends in Colorado.
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Listening: The B-52s album “Cosmic Thing” was one of the first albums I remember consciously buying growing up. (It’s the album that had “Love Shack” and “Roam” on it. But the whole damn thing is gold.) I, apparently, am not the only person who has found solace and inspiration in the B-52s. Forty years ago, the song “Rock Lobster” was released and it inspired a certain English musician who had found himself in a creative funk. Long live the B-52s.
Reading: I’ve been tearing through books lately, partly because I’ve *needed* to read them, but partly because I just enjoy reading. Earlier this week, as my corner of Minnesota got blanketed in snow, I finished Rebecca Kanner’s “Sinners and the Sea” – a story told from the point of view of Noah’s wife. It was fabulous. I liked “Esther” better, but a person could do worse than to pick up one of Kanner’s fabulous stories.
Writing Life: Earlier this week, I was chronicling my work life and how my writing life was out of whack. The person I was whini … erm, venting to … told me to write a paragraph a day. I’m not quite doing that, but putting my frustrations in email helped me to refocus my attention on “Dragonfly.” I’m going through the entire draft and I’m sketching out the edits that I still need to make overall in the second half of the story. Who is it that said that the majority of writing is rewriting? Sigh. You were right.
Be well,
– Shelley
michellekubitz 