Snow Days Are Good For...

"And Whereas snow, in many forms, is thought to impede the progress of the nation, it has here been proved as a catalyst for literary productivity...."

Such might run a resolution in recognition of snow-days bringing on the writing bug. Thursday, quite snowed in and unwilling to spend very long out in the cold after an icy walk, I holed myself upstairs with a fast-cooling cup of tea (or three) and finished the first draft of The Fox Went Out. I finished the draft only 590-some words past the 15,000 limit laid out by Narrative: a number easily cut in editing rounds. I wasted little time in printing the thing off and beginning first round edits. I am able to come to you tonight with first round edits also complete. If you are struggling to finish a first draft, may I suggest calling upon the weather man and ordering up snow? And if the temperature rises and you find the snow quickly melting, I might also suggest establishing a gravel-less driveway which will naturally provide you a quagmire during the thaw. It is currently quite the ordeal for me to even make it to the road to check the mail. Effective for keeping the distracted writer indoors and working, oui? I hope to type up my changes over what remains of the weekend and send The Fox Went Out to a couple trusted critics. My write-along (the wingman of writing-sprees who will read what you write as you write it and beg for more) this time was Clara Diane Thompson, fellow author of Five Glass Slippers. Clara did her part valiantly and howled over the ending of the story which made me feel penitent but Not. You know the feeling, perhaps? I am excited to receive feedback from the betas and take it through Editing Round Two so that I can get it away to Narrative's contest and its fate.

Reading has picked up. I'm in the throes of a beastly cold. Nearly done with The Hunger Games and reading Psmith, Journalist by P.G. Wodehouse for medicine. It really does work magic. I went on a book-buying spree at the front of the week: Rachel Rossano's Honor, Flannery O'Connor's Mystery & Manners, N.D. Wilson's Notes From The Tilt-a-Whirl. I have not read anything by O'Connor. Wilson, too, is a mystery. I can hardly wait for the books to come so I can dig in. I've been in need of fresh non-fiction. Somehow I find it as inspiring as (if not more than) fiction. I've heard much of O'Connor...how she is somber, dark, desperate. But I've also heard of the "terrible speed of mercy" that hurtles through her work and the Christian worldview through which her fictional worlds were created. So I am interested to read this collection of essays listed in The Rabbit Room as essential reading for modern readers and writers. I will be sure to let you know how I like it.And N.D. Wilson's word-crafting has enraptured me from afar since I first saw the book-trailer for his Boys of Blur.

What are you reading?