Essential Ingredients

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I had an irresistible urge to re-read The School of Essential Ingedients by Erica Bauermeister today. The story follows several characters who take a cooking class in vivid detail. While each individual character’s story is perhaps too short to be truly satisfying, I can’t help but sink into the world that Bauermeister creates. Every page is a feast for the senses – tastes and sounds and smells and touches so clearly drawn that you cannot help but feel like you’re in the same room as the characters.

Now, I love food. I’m not always very adventurous in terms of what I actually eat, but there is almost nothing I enjoy more than sitting around a table with friends and family and diving into a really great meal, from appetizers through dessert. So of course I love a book that’s all about the ways food can evoke and create memories and really shape our lives.
What drew me to The School of Essential Ingredients today, though, was not so much the food, but the author’s ability to make me taste it and feel it. The language isn’t especially complex, the word choices are plain language rather than literary extravaganzas mined from a thesaurus. But each sentence is carefully crafted and fitted to its place in the story.
Sometimes I need to remember that. That it’s not always about word count or productivity, but about the craft itself, about making the words on the page really count.

Opening the Window

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Julia Cameron in her book “The Artist’s Way” likens opening our minds to gradually wedging open a door. I think of that today because I decided to open the window so I could hear the birds.

Doing that simple act made me wish it were so easy to let in story ideas and create. I did succeed in writing a short story today, but I noticed with the window open that a lot more than birdsong entered my room. There was traffic sound from the road and industrial noise from a nearby factory, but my brain filtered those out for the most part so that I could hear the cardinals sing and the squirrels chatter.

The same works for our creativity. We need to filter out distractions. Sometimes that might mean getting a nuisance chore out of the way so we can focus. For other situations, we might need to shut the door on unimportant matters for a while.

For me, at least, creation comes from a place of peace. I’m learning to cultivate a sense of that by uplifting important matters to a higher significance and balancing out the rest the best I can. I hope you manage to do the same.

Work, Work, Work – Darla’s Whiny Wiley

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Back on October 13th of last year I posted a Wiley titled “Show Instead of Tell”. It’s something I continue struggling to improve. The latest evidence of my battle is in a story written about a year ago. I decided to put forth this tale in a mentoring program without having looked at it for some months.

The results were eye opening, to say the least. A humbling critique on a single page from the middle of the story completely floored me. Apparently I failed not only to show instead of tell but didn’t always convey the scene particularly well.

My inner critic is telling me that I should just go back to writing stories for my own pleasure and forget trying to publish. It’s a very tempting proposition. After all, I’ve not actively sought publication outside of one short story being included in a science fiction anthology. I honestly enjoyed writing a lot more before learning anything about the business end.

Either way, the important thing is to keep creating. And I’ll look at my mentorship piece as a diamond in the rough. Whatever I decide to do with the finished product, I’m going to make myself work through this manuscript with the hope of becoming a better writer.

Well, it’s time I go back to polishing. However you choose to create, I hope you enjoy yourself!

Review of “Remastering Jerna” by Ann Somerville

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As I begin typing this I have to say that I closed the cover on this book less than five minutes ago. What a bittersweet moment! “Remastering Jerna” is riveting from beginning to end. Even the most difficult passages were written so expertly as to keep me reading. And I don’t call them difficult for some minor heartache – there is rape and torture during the prison scenes that chilled my blood.

Tears came to my eyes once, for certain, so I can’t say it’s a lighthearted beach read. If you can tolerate pages of angst to read about realistically trusting dominance and submission, though, please don’t hesitate to pick up this novel. Erotic power exchange has never been better represented, in my opinion.

As the book wastes no time in gloriously presenting, Jerna’s journey feels so authentic that I could almost imagine him being someone possible to meet in real life. His flaws are believable and forgivable, making him someone I would like to know. Granted, that’s often the case with even books I find mediocre because characterization is my number one passion for reading. This gem, however, offers much more than good characters.

The book moves at a good clip, taking us through a few years of the man’s life. I never felt cheated as Ann Somerville manages to encapsulate months of time by taking a microscope to deeply emotional events. Then she slows things down for the most pivotal plot points with a graceful alteration that never left me feeling disoriented.

Before I tout what is perhaps the greatest treasure of “Remastering Jerna”, though, I have to add more about the population of Jerna’s world. I am really pleased and impressed to say that at no point did I confuse any of the people, even with their fanciful names. That’s saying something when Ms. Somerville includes such an extensive cast. And our hero! I dare anyone to tell me they can’t empathize with Jerna’s periods of pain and hopelessness. And just when you feel utter despair descending, a surprise twist dangles hope in Jerna’s path.

Short of spoiling the book, I have to say that this ending is one of the best I’ve read in a long time. Unlike many authors, Ms. Somerville doesn’t cheat with a smug happily-ever-after or even happy-for-now. She addresses every thread of import in the book and wraps them into a beautiful and satisfying bow. Thank you, Ann Somerville, for sharing your talent with the world.