Love

You guys, I think I've found my fictional match.
In 2008, I wrote a novel called The Silent Treatment; the next year, Exchange, both starring the same main character, Kat Shergill. She's spunky and sarcastic--sure she still needs a little work (and representation), but the start is there.

This afternoon, I finished reading a novel called Sex, Murder and a Double Latte by Kyra Davis. For the past 3 days, I've been thrilled that I finally found something similar to what I want to write. Sophie Katz, our heroine, is spunky and sarcastic (like my creation), but she's also sexy and has quite a mouth on her. She's bi-racial (like Kat, but not the same two races), and has the word "Kat" in her name (which I hope I won't have to change now!).
Instead of being jealous that I hadn't thought of the story first, I was happy I found another author I could identify with. (And lest Ms Davis stumble upon this blog and get creeped out by my fandom ... it's just regular, nice fandom.)

One thing this book has definitely done is given me renewed interest in editing The Silent Treatment, and possibly starting a third adventure in the series.

Another book I finished was I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley. Like David Sedaris, it's best to have her read the stories to you. I'm sure she's got a busy schedule, so I got the audiobook instead.
Besides the amusing stories and laugh-out-loud moments when she said she experienced something I thought only I went through (like finding it annoying when a movie character shares my name), I was impressed by her writing ability. It was smooth, easy, and very smart. Looking forward to her next book!

So basically this week, I've been shown up by two different people: two people who write in very different styles, very different topics. Much love to them both - maybe one day I'll be able to buy them a coffee and pick their brains. Kyra, Sloane, if you're reading this, I'm serious. I have $5 with your name on it.

Reading lots

From what follows in this post, one might assume I have loads of free time on my hands, which is not true. The majority of the "reading" I'm getting done lately is in the form of audiobooks, which I use to make my workday more palatable.

Let's begin.

First, I finished David Sedaris' When You Are Engulfed in Flames. I absolutely love his essays, but when he branches into fiction (as he does in one title), he exaggerates so much that the story becomes difficult to relate to (at least for me). But listening to him read his own work is half the pleasure - I'm not sure I can read one of his books to myself anymore because I've been so spoiled. In fact, have a listen here.

Second, I listened to Jhumpa Lahiri's Unaccustomed Earth: Stories (Vintage Contemporaries). I've read her other books, The Namesake, and Interpreter of Maladies, and this collection was comparable with those. Nice descriptions of the emotions of everyday people, but sometimes those emotions run pretty dark; one story (Only Goodness) left me pretty drained and wanting to be out of that situation at the end. Luckily for me, it was just a story, not something I'd actually experienced, so I went about my day as though it never happened. That's the beauty of Lahiri's work, though -- she can really make you believe you've gotten your heart broken.

Still working on The Sleeping Dragon by Miyabe. It's entertaining, but it's old-fashioned words-on-paper reading, so I've got to find time during non-working hours.

Also in the "read it to me" vein, I attended an author reading at the Philadelphia Free Library last night, and saw Sloane Crosley. The first time I'd heard her was listening to her story "The Pony Problem" online, and ever since I've been a fan. Had a great time - didn't stay for autographs, though, because I've yet to buy one of her books. Bad, I know.

But it hasn't all been roses and tea-parties. I listened to about a third of Janet Evanovich's Fearless Fourteen, and decided I'd rather listen to ambient office noises than continue with the story. I borrowed the audiobook on the recommendation of a colleague of mine. She told me Evanovich was funny and interesting; I wanted to like it. The humor seemed forced, and the characters didn't seem real - almost like a cartoon or stereotypes. Anyway, the series is certainly popular, so she's hitting the right spot for someone -- just not me.

Outlines, Audiobooks, and other rambling stuff

The Outline (again)

Yes, I got my outline to 50,000 words (and worked much too hard to make the number exact). It's excessive, and I'm guessing the finished product won't be much longer than that. Although, I've got to add all the dialogue, so that could take up a few thousand more words. I think the story itself is nice and solid now. When I wrote it before, I only got up to 40,000 words, and there were way too many plot gaps for it to be considered good at all. Ask me on December 1st if the monstrous outline was worth it.

Audiobooks

In an effort to keep my brain happily occupied at work while I'm doing things that don't require much thought, I've been looking for something worthwhile to listen to. I found a very good website called LibriVox, which specializes in making public domain (i.e. classic) books available free to the public. Today, I started listening to the German version of The Picture of Dorian Gray, and the guy who reads it makes me love the German language more than I thought I would (very expressive ... beautiful voice).

Yes, I understand a little German. In listening to this book (got through 3 and a half chapters before I went home), I understood about half of it. It helps a lot that I'm familiar with the story already.

But the website (LibriVox) has mostly English books. I haven't listened to any of the others yet, but I'm looking forward to letting my brain occupy itself with some classics while my hands sort the mail/email at work.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

I'd really forgotten how much I enjoyed this story. I've read it 2 or 3 times already, and saw a movie version of it (from 1945). I didn't like that movie because Dorian didn't show any emotions ... I don't think that's an accurate portrayal of the character because even though Dorian became evil, that doesn't necessarily mean he's got a blank face all the time.

I even got to thinking that my current project, Awake, is sci-fi/fantasy in the same way that The Picture of Dorian Gray is sci-fi/fantasy. That is, a tiny plot point is supernatural, and the rest of the story is rooted in reality. I enjoy reading things like that because I don't have to learn a completely new world or alien races, etc. (such as Lord of the Rings -- which I loved, by the way).

Awake is also a mystery in the same way that the TV show Lost is a mystery. There's no "whodunnit" to figure out, just a big "what the heck just happened??" As such, it's extremely difficult to categorize my story. Is it urban fantasy? mystery? literary ... something? Ah, you guys don't know because I'm not giving out any plot details, am I? I like that to be a secret because ... I just do.

I guess genre placement doesn't matter a whole lot, and I'm not worried about it. But when it comes to submission (It'll get to that point probably this time next year once I'm done with the tedious and numerous edits), it helps to pick out who to send it to. Anyway. Doesn't matter. Thanks for reading all this rambling!