One Writer's View

In 1946 George Orwell published an essay called "Why I Write". In it, he discusses why writing is important for him and what it involves. I thought you might like to read the essay and see what you think. How does what he says differ from your own thoughts about why you write?

Watching Trends in Book Publishing

Presumably, we are all thinking of being published some day. Although we usually don't write in a certain genre just to increase our chances of being published, it doesn't hurt to keep an eye on current trends in book publishing so that we know what's selling and what's not. It also helps to learn what category our writing might fall into.

One good place to check is Publisher's Weekly, a source for current news in the book world. An example of the kind of article you can run across there is "When Love is Strange: Romance Continues its Affair with the Supernatural". This piece is mostly about romance novels, but also touches on urban fantasy. Take a look at the main page at the first link above to get an idea of all they cover.

Travel Books

Lately I have been reading some travel books by Paul Theroux. If one can overlook his occasional negative comments about America (and he is an American) and his cynical views of a number of the places he visits, they are interesting books. I have to say, they have put me off of doing any traveling other than armchair traveling, but then he travels alone and wings it as far as finding accomodations and transportation--something most of us wouldn't attempt. His preferred mode of travel is the train, which is why I have persisted in reading his books. Train travel fascinates me, as does learning something about different countries and the people in them.

The books cover more than 30 years, so they are not up-to-date, but are interesting nevertheless, if you keep in mind when Mr. Theroux was making the trip he is writing about.

The four books I've read are The Great Railway Bazaar, Riding the Iron Rooster, The Old Patagonian Express, and Ghost Train to the Eastern Star (a revisiting of The Great Railway Bazaar trip 30+ years later).

In the first and last books mentioned, Mr. Theroux travels from London, through Europe, on to Central and Southern Asia, Japan, and across Russia and back to England. Riding the Iron Rooster covers travel throughout China, and The Old Patagonian Express follows a trip from Boston through Mexico and Central and South America to Patagonia.

If you like the idea of train travel and of seeing the world, you might check one of these books out from the library and see if you like them. You can also read the descriptions and customer reviews at Amazon, linked above.

Do you know of other authors who've written about train travel? If so, please share! I'd love to hear of some different books to try.

Learning about Shakespeare

I have found a website that you might enjoy. It's called Shakespeare Criticism. I have just begun to look through it, but it appears to be full of information and links that will help you to gain greater insight to Shakespeare's writings and, in the process, accumulate ideas for themes and approaches to your own writing.

An Interesting Historical Novel

At The Writing Show you can listen to a podcast (and read a transcript) of an interview with R. N. Morris about his novel The Gentle Axe, which features Porfiry Petrovich, the detective from Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Mr. Morris, intrigued with the detective, has written a novel using him in another case. It's an interesting and somewhat daring idea to use a character from a classic novel. Listen to/read why Mr. Morris tackled this and how he researched 19th century Russia and fleshed out the character.

Besides being interesting, you might pick up some inspiration and some useful tips. Enjoy!

An Article About an Author

A few days ago my friend, Barb, recommended to me a book titled Good Masters! Sweet Ladies! Voices from a Medieval Village by Laura Amy Schlitz. It's on my list of books to read. Meanwhile, I found an article about Ms. Schlitz at The Christian Science Monitor. It's called "Shy School Librarian Finds Success as Author" by Elaine F. Weiss. So, Barb, this link is for you! It's a nice article and it is also encouraging for those would-be writers who read my blog. Enjoy!

News about Books, Writing, Authors, Etc.

I was surfing the internet looking for a good site to recommend for news and information for writers (and readers). I wanted to recommend a site for you that would contain all sorts of information--news about books and writing, author interviews and websites, book reviews, lists, awards, and so forth. It seems to me that an excellent site for all this is one I have referred to in passing before: BookSpot.com They have lots of pages on different topics dealing with writing and books and also a lot of links to other sites that you may find interesting and useful. Explore the site and I am sure you will find things you like!

Some examples:

Click here to see BookSpot's bestseller page with links to a number of bestseller lists, all gathered together for your convenience.

Click here for information about various book awards.

There are lists of various kinds, such as one for the best of outdoor literature. This one has a brief review of each book on the list.

BookSpot has, on their home page, some Must-See sites, which link to places like BookPage, Bookwire, and Bookreporter, where you will find news, author interviews, and book reviews, plus articles of various kinds.

There are also links for writers here.

This is an enjoyable site with lots of information and links gathered up in one place. I think you will enjoy it a lot.

Sites for News and Reviews

Here are some places to visit for readers and writers.

Book Spot

Readers Read

Readerville

Stop, You're Killing Me!

Scifan

The Mystery Reader

J R R Tolkien

One of my favorite authors is J. R. R. Tolkien. The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings are much loved books that I return to again and again. They are delightful and interesting stories, but there is such depth to them, as well. I gain insight into the human condition by reading them.

A webpage that I have found and am beginning to explore is "The Catholic Imagination of J. R. R. Tolkien". It has quite a list of articles & essays about Tolkien's writings from a spiritual point of view. You might enjoy it as well.

Links for Writers

A website for writers (and readers) is Writing Corner. You can find resources and articles on every type of writing. Explore and see if you find something that helps you. They also have links to author's websites, which is interesting.

There is a page on "How to Critique Fiction" by Victory Crayne that lists a lot of questions you can ask yourself about your own work to help you make it the best it can be. This page would also help you if you are ever in a position to critique someone else's writing. This is part of a website on writing by Victory Crayne. Lots of other information there, too.

Another page you might enjoy is about pitfalls writers may encounter. It's part of a website for author Vonda N. McIntyre.

Hope you find something useful, or at least fun to read!

Anton Chekhov

I hear a lot about Anton Chekhov and what a great writer he is, but I haven't read much of his work--and the little I have read was in college anthologies years ago. I want to read his work and also about him, but since I am on a severe book budget at the moment, I decided to see what there was on the internet.

At The Literature Network, I found a page devoted to Anton Chekhov. It contains links to his works and there are forums discussing him and his work.

The Literature Network has many other authors and works, so you might enjoy exploring the entire site. Sample the forums, too, while you are there. Those might be interesting to read and maybe participate in.

Exploring different writers can expand your own ideas for writing.