Saturday 2 July 2011

Writing from out of somewhere


In another vein, have you read Paulo Coehlo, The Alchemist?  That is what I am reading just now and I think you would appreciate the book greatly.  Also The Witch of Portobello, but that one more from an entertainment point of view.  I also read By the River Piedra I sat down and Wept, but didn't get as much from it although it is also a good book to read.

Another book I have on the go is by Desmond Tutu, God is Not a Christian . . . and other provocations.  Pretty cool insights from an old guy in a traditional church.

I am also in the middle of reading Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children. which is written in such elegant prose that it makes me want to write again.  Perhaps when I return from Africa I will have a book in me.  

My sister Heather has now published three books and has two more submitted to publishers.  They are rather editorial rather than works of scholarship or fiction, and I prefer her poetry, actually.  One of her books is Partners in Spirit; it is accounts of working, satisfying marriages with commentary / speculation about the secret.  Another is about the faith experiences of youth, and the third is a collection of letters from elders on their experiences with faith.  The books all have Baha'i content, but the contributors are not all Baha'is.

My book, if I were ever to write one, would be rather different.  

One I have percolating in my mind would be called "Julie's dream" and would be a story where a child falls asleep while fishing and then has a surreal undersea adventure - I would illustrate it with polymer clay creatures, photographed and photoshopped.  I hope it would capture the personality and creativity of my quirky niece Juliette, her sporty sister Angelica, who is always jumping up from accidents without getting hurt, and talking about boogers; and also her sweet sister Sarah, who in real life loves all the breeds of dogs, and in the dreamscape would be followed everywhere in her scuba gear by dogfish that resemble dalmations, poodles, yorkies and of course dachshunds.  So not so sublime, maybe, as my sister's works, but way more fun.  Hopefully I can move from ideas / dreams to the "doing the work" stage.

Another book is one I would write from the edge of crazy, a place I have been at times when stress has been way too much.  I have stayed away from writing with that voice for many years, because although the writing is quite elegant, if cryptic, from that voice, I don't enjoy going to the black place that feeds that voice.

Now that I am getting healthier in body and spirit, perhaps I can tolerate it long enough to do the writing, and be able to come back out when I choose to.