Comments | rockinlibrarian: Literary Closure and Fear of Self, and Stuff. Read and comment on my blog here! :D

rockinlibrarian

Literary Closure and Fear of Self, and Stuff. Read and comment on my blog here! :D

Aug 05, 2015 20:43

Time and again I've mentioned how far away I've gotten from my two #1 childhood-- and adolescent and early adulthood and basically PRE-MOTHERHOOD-- hobbies, reading and writing. I guess I keep moaning about it because it gives me an identity crisis, that's how tightly BOOKS have been tied to WHO I AM my whole life. People STILL associate me with ( Read more... )

writing, books

Comments 7

elouise82 August 6 2015, 13:14:22 UTC

I have found that social media - media in general, really - severely impacts my ability to read and write. Also lately, my ability to function as a reasonable human being, but I'm pretty sure that's because I've been going through a rough period of fighting against discouragement/depression and social media has a lot of SHOUTING about how BAD EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE IS (which seems maybe to be getting even more prevalent in the last few months?), and that just makes me even more exhausted and overwhelmed. But just the ... I don't know, urgency, I guess? ... of social media and regular media does make it really, really hard for me to focus on deeper things. Even if that deeper thing is a lighthearted MG novel ( ... )

rockinlibrarian August 6 2015, 13:56:23 UTC

I've had less of a desire to "keep up" with social media lately, so that's probably a good start at breaking away from its influence. I just like having like-minded people like you to talk to!

Have you read Elizabeth Wein's other Ethiopia series? The one that intersects with Arthurian legend?

No, I haven't even FOUND them anywhere yet! But I'd love to!

Especially since I've heard the creepiness in it verges toward horror at points, and I Don't Do Horror.

I will say this for the horror, it's not GORY horror-movie type horror. Just, you know, REALLY CREEPY.

vovat August 12 2015, 00:30:48 UTC

I've come across mentions of the Ethiopian Church on several occasions. Among other things, they say they have the true Ark of the Covenant, and their royal family claimed descent from King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. Also, I think they might have started drawing Jesus before any Europeans did, which means Black Jesus is by no means new.

rockinlibrarian August 12 2015, 18:00:09 UTC

Ooo, I didn't want to mention the Ark of the Covenant part because that actually has plot relevance, but that was one of my favorite bits, too. How did Lucas and Spielberg not get in on that? There are more than a few parallels....

vovat August 30 2015, 23:56:45 UTC

Well, the Ark being in Egypt, like it was in the movie, is another legend. There are a whole lot of them.

Kim Aippersbach here anonymous August 16 2015, 05:48:06 UTC

Loved Cuckoo Song, and loved The Lie Tree as well, though maybe not quite as much. The Lost Conspiracy and A Face Like Glass I think are still my favourites, but Cuckoo Song might rival Face Like Glass. It's definitely not horror. Unless you think Coraline is horror, which I wouldn't say it is, though I think it's one of the scariest books I've ever read.

Congratulations on liking your own writing! Seriously, that means something. That's the spark, the enthusiasm that you have to keep returning to to get you through all the times when you're convinced you suck and should give up. Don't give up!

Nothing wrong with chalking a novel up to experience and moving on, but you might want to get a second opinion before shelving it entirely. It's possible someone else will look at your insoluble problems and say "why don't you . . ." and you'll think "of course, how obvious!"

Re: Kim Aippersbach here rockinlibrarian August 20 2015, 11:53:03 UTC

Ooo, I haven't gotten A Face Like Glass yet, glad to hear it's so good! I don't think The Lie Tree is even out yet in the States. Seems like she's suddenly coming out with a dozen books all at once after several years of no new books, and it's hard to keep up with!

Thanks for your votes of confidence! I'm just not sure, I keep rewriting the first few chapters, but the book doesn't hit the voice I love until chapter 4. Which sounds like it's one of those "then just START with chapter 4!" deals but I don't think that will make any sense. Besides, it's still a middle-grade-feeling story with a 17-year-old protagonist, with plot issues that don't make sense if you think about them, soooo.... Anyway, I protest too much. Would you like to read it?