The Words Fall In, The Words Fall Out

...but they don't play pinochle in my snout. I think. I hope. Where's a mirror? I've always been rather fond of my nostrils.

The words fall in (Part I):

I'm still reading Grant by Ron Chernow. 25% finished. I thought I might mix it up and read Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy, but Grant won't let me cheat on him! I feel guilty contemplating other books. I downloaded a biography of James Baldwin that was the special of the day on Amazon, but I haven't opened it yet. Grant, why do you do this to me??? Hamilton and Washington were cool when I wandered off for a month or two or three.

The words fall in (Part II):

I'm still in the first-stage giddiness regarding my crush on The Restricted Section.  Never knew there was so much beer in the world.  Or bookstores and library sales in Springfield. I'm having a great time catching up on all of Megan and Sue's videos.


The words fall out (Part I):

With Mom back in the nursing home and my working 40-plus hours a week, I suddenly had an epiphany that absolutely nothing in my life is conducive to writing a novel. Too late now! I am having fun discovering new characters (a 100-year-old female business tycoon showed up on Wednesday. I was totally charmed) and having my friend choose her own character names. It's true that the words are falling out of me reluctantly, so on those days, I resort to elaborate outlines and Q and As about what I'm truly trying to accomplish in each section. This seems to be the way I go about novel-writing; I recognize some of the same tactics from Even if the Sky Falls Down. One of my characters is trying to take over all of Chicken Diary, so I promised her that she could have her own novel. I worried that I'd be doing both simultaneously (she's that overbearing!) but she's shut up for now.

The words fall out (Part II):

I have a couple of audiobooks I'm ready to pass on to someone else. Both are novels. The first one is The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides. I shied away from it for years, then it ended up being my favorite of his novels. The other one is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, about which I have so many mixed feelings that I could be in a bartender's recipe book. If you're interested in either or both, let me know and we'll work out the details.