siena-sevenwits · 1 year ago
Text
Gushing about what I've learned on my deep dive on the Letter to the Romans to my brother as though it were fandom, and he's okay with it.
17 notes · View notes
marriagebase · 6 years ago
Text
13 Inspiring Books To Jumpstart 2019
With the new year already here, many of us are probably all struggling to keep up with our freshly-made New Year resolutions. Maybe, start one of them here and read a new perspective.
Whether it be fiction, nonfiction, or philosophy, here are some curated books we find inspirational here at Resource.
1. My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
We’re starting with a shocking, vulnerably hilarious novel about a young New York woman going through a drug-assisted hibernation. She has everything and yet she is missing something. There is a void at the center of her life even though she’s surrounded by images of everything she wants and already has through inheritance and privlege. Ottessa Moshfegh wrote Homesick for Another World, amongst many others.
This book is a work of fiction, but also tying in issues of mental health and coming-of-age in New York City. It also hangs on the fringe of 9/11. This novel handles contemporary issues that are both still talked about now, and explored deeply through the protagonist of the novel.
2. Against Everything by Mark Greif
A combination of comedy, rambling, and pure seriousness. Mark Grief’s literary criticism shows its alright to have an opinion, especially in the late 2010’s. His tone is enticing and intelligent, often compelling his readers to go on reading tangents along with his own.
With 2019 challenging us mentally and politically, Grief gives us a lot to look at and think about, whether it be the process of gyms or music. His skeptical approach is not of disillusionment, but something of a device to further understand the concepts he’s working with.
This is a great read to exercise your own everyday skepticism, whether via walking to the gym or listening to your favorite Radiohead song.
3. The Wisdom of Insecurity by Alan Watts
Alan Watts is an Eastern Philosopher aimed at a Western audience. He breaks down intense Eastern principles and criticisms for an audience that may not understand from their POV.
From the introduction, “we live in an age of unprecedented anxiety.” Watts communicates a message here on our willingness to forget about the here and now. Not in an ignorant way, but in an introspective way, that we need to rethink about what it means to lead a fulfilling life and how that could possibly be achieved through knowledge.
Watts is a firm believer in the now, and like Mark Grief, is not afraid of criticizing what he holds most close to him. This is a great read if you’re looking for a hard perspective change!
4. The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone by Olivia Laing
Olivia Laing asks the questions every person who ever lived next to a bustling city or town asks, “What does it mean to be lonely?” Of course, some of us may never experience this as we’re constantly surrounded by people and confidence. However, there is a large amount of city dwellers who feel this phenomenon.
Laing asks, “How do we live, if we’re not intimately engaged with another human being?” and “Does technology draw us closer together or trap us behind screens?”
Living in the city herself, Laing relates her own experience with loneliness in an artful, deeply introspective book. This read is great when experiencing loneliness, or rethinking your place in the city in general.
5. Bluets by Maggie Nelson
Like the color blue? Maggie Nelson wrote a whole lyrical vision based on the color blue. Full of lyric and philosophy, Nelson paints each page with an exploration of personal suffering and love.
Maggie Nelson is widely renowned for her poetry and nonfiction and teaches right now at the California Institute of the Arts. If you haven’t read Maggie Nelson yet, we recommend you start soon. This book is great to change moods and atmospheres quick.
6. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
This book is for all our caring angels out there. It is based on Mark Manson’s influential blog and is focused on how to care less about things. Not in an ignorant sense, but in a fully intentional sense. Manson relates how a few rules can help you, the reader, to lead a less stressful life. His logline is, of course, “Do what you want, not all you can.”
This read is great for a casual, coffee-time flip through or a one-day finish.
7. Strange Weather in Tokyo by Hiromi Kawakami
2019 is going to be a time for expanding boundaries. A great way to practice that is reading about experiences drastically different from your own. Here’s a novel based on Tsukiko, a young girl who happens to meet one of her old high school teachers by chance at a sake bar.
The book itself reads like sparse, quiet Japanese art, like side-by-side woodblock prints and screens. A great addition to Japanese Literature, its considered a contemporary romance, but also not really at all. If anybody watched Lost In Translation, many readers consider the two similar in atmosphere.
This read is great for feeling spread out and broad. Let yourself sway in Kawakami’s atmosphere.
8. The Woman Destroyed by Simone de Beauvoir
From the Sunday Herald Times in London, The Woman Destroyed contains “immensely intelligent stories about the decay of passion.” Three different stories on three different women. Each woman faces age and unexpected becomings.
Simone de Beauvoir did a remarkable bunch for women in philosophy, and its no wonder her fiction writing can give us so much insight into the romance of womanhood. This read is great for those who want to pick and read a 19th-century feminist philosopher’s mind during the rise of Existentalism and French philosophy.
9. Becoming by Michelle Obama
This almost seems like a given. From a long distance, this is about a woman who defied expectation, an exploration of soul and content. Its wise, its inspiring.
Michelle Obama has become one of the most iconic women of our time. She’s the first African-American First Lady of the United States of America amongst many other accomplishments. She fought to create a more welcoming and inclusive White House, and established herself as a highly influential advocate and ally for all women and girls around the world.
This is her memoir, a piece focusing on her history and her reflecting her actions. She tells her readers about her highs and her lows, however private, and tells her story on her own terms. This novel is great for those who need to read something truly inspirational and exceptionally relevant.
10. Devotion by Patti Smith
Another highly inspirational woman, Patti Smith is a New York City queen. M Train and Just Kids became a rite of passage for many New York City youth. Her storytelling has changed many lives and compelled many more.
In Devotion, Patti Smith dives into her artistic and creative process. How is it that she’s so genius? She gives her readers a peek into her own thoughts and her process towards creating her art and words. She writes about her travels, her experiences, all what she does best.
This is great for people who need a creative boost from one of the most influential women in the artistic world.
11. If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
Some of you probably saw Annapurna release a trailer with the same title. Yes, its originally a story by the beloved James Baldwin. James Baldwin is witty and quick black rights activist and writer that lived and worked alongside with people like MLK and Malcolm X.
Featured on countless interviews and news pieces, Baldwin often tackles the growing intersections of being black in America, and what that could mean for everybody else. His literary style could be described as a spiral going outwards, focusing in and then expanding out in intentional strokes for his readers to hang onto.
This book is great for those looking for a relevant and lively story on a moving America through the eyes of Tish. Tish is a nineteen-year-old girl who witnesses the father of her child falsely accused of a terrible crime and imprisoned. Baldwin writes a compelling love story evoking the blues. Their story and experience is unshakable from the American consciousness.
youtube
12. The Idiot by Elif Batuman
The log-line on Goodreads says “A portrait of the artist as a young woman. A novel about not just discovering but inventing oneself.” This contemporary fiction novel is set in 1995.
The narrative follows Selin, the daughter of Turkish immigrants, as she arrives for her first year at Harvard. Selin’s life follows a coming-of-age and a peek into the life of expectation and coming to grips with oneself.
This book is great for those looking for a read to check themselves as they check the characters.
13. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
Here’s some nonfiction for you. Any intro 101’s are beneficial to read, its always great to grow your foundation once in awhile. When was the last time you learned about your biological roots? Unless you’re a scientist, it’s probably been awhile.
This book tackles questions like “How did our species succeed in the battle for dominance?” and “Why did our foraging ancestors come together to create cities and kingdoms?” to “How did we come to believe in gods, nations and human rights; to trust money, books laws; and to be enslaved by bureaucracy, timetables, and consumerism?”
Dr. Yuval Noah Harari draws insights from biology, anthroplogy, paleontology and economics, exploring how pieces of history have shaped our societies, our environment and our own psyches. This book is great for those who need evidence to change and inspiration rather than just fictional experiential shifts of consciousness. To each their own.
The post 13 Inspiring Books To Jumpstart 2019 appeared first on Resource.
0 notes
kissingwithcannibals · 7 years ago
Text
Resolution
Back in January, I made a list of New Year’s Resolutions. (Is this considered cliche? Have we all collectively decided that none of us will actually stick to these commitments?) Well, I decided I needed a change. I found that I had let my usual hobbies fall by the wayside in favor of drooling in front of a screen. I wasn’t feeling satisfied, productive, creative, or fulfilled.  
I found the entry in my journal. Here’s the list. Please take note of my exquisite penmanship. 
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Keeping to the list is coming along...decently. For example, I’m not a vegan, though I have cut out some dairy. (My long-term relationship with Kraft Mac n’ Cheese continues.) In my mind I closely associate my goal of veganism with my aspiration to eliminate junk food, because the only junk food I generally still indulge in is chocolate, ice cream, and pizza. I still drink coffee, but I hate that I am dependent on it. If I don’t have my morning coffee, I become stupid, impatient, and grumpy by late afternoon. A drink should not have that kind of power over me. Every few months I gradually reduce my caffeine levels down to decaf coffee or decaf tea, but I inevitably fall of the wagon. 
One bright spot has been the daily reading, which has been consistent since January. I’ve knocked back several books, and I’m working through a stack of New Yorkers that have piled up. Goodreads has been useful in tracking my books. I have a bad habit of browsing the internet with my morning coffee and when I’m lounging around before bed each night. Lately I have made an effort to replace my laptop with a book, with some success. 
Most of my leisure time in January was spent cooking up some posts for the new blog. I’m not a good writer but I do enjoy the challenge of it. But I am also a slow writer, and often I find myself, after five or six hours of working on a post, asking myself if the final piece was worth the time. (In fact, I’m making an effort to speed up my pace. As I write this I have set a timer for one hour in which I hope to complete this post.) 
Ultimately, I have done okay with my resolutions. There’s a lot of room for improvement. You may notice that I made special note of “Practice as much as possible.” Because while I have committed more time each day to things like reading and writing, there remained a glaring omission: guitar! 
I love playing guitar! But considering how long I have been playing, I’m not nearly as good as I should be. For several years now, I’ve been content to just “noodle” whenever I pick up the instrument. Noodling is just the mindless act of playing licks and riffs that come easy to you. It’s a common trap for guitar players, and I would often noodle while browsing the web and watching Youtube videos. 
Over the winter I read a book by Cal Newport called “Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.” It covers several topics, but mostly it’s about how some people come to master extremely difficult skills in a very short span of time. 
I’ll spare you the detail, but here’s how you become a master at something:
High Quality Work = Time Spent x Intensity of Focus
Work for extended periods of time on a single task with full concentration and free from distraction
Experts are produced by intensely focused practice. And this can be applied to anything: learning piano, a computer language, skateboarding, chemistry, juggling, history, or, of course, the skill of writing itself. You have to put in the hours, and they have to be good, productive hours. There is evidence to show how even brief distractions or interruptions will cause your brain to require much longer time to  learn the intended work. 
So, tired of being a lousy guitar player, I’ve restructured my approach to guitar. I compiled a list of fun, but challenging songs to work on. (Current projects include, among others: Interval’s “I’m Awake,” CHON’s “Bubble Dream” and “Puddle.” Songs like “Always Focused” by Tiny Moving Parts have improved my tapping.)
I no longer check my phone or the web when I sit down to practice. I use a stopwatch to track my hours each day. At the end of each day I mark my productive hours on an Excel sheet. Here’s a graph of my time thus far. 
Tumblr media
My goal is to practice at least 8 hours a day, but as you can see, I will need to step up my efforts before I can achieve that. 
Still, I have seen results already. If you watch this clip of the song “Dew” by CHON, you’ll see the guy on the right -Erick- doing some fancy tapping maneuvers. Boy, when I first sat down to learn that, I had to slow the song down to a crawl to even hope of coordinating my hands and land the notes. But as of last night, I can now play the song at full speed, and decently cleanly! I never thought I’d be able to play this part. 
I also want to talk about something that I fully acknowledge will sound like (and likely is) complete bullshit, but here it is: I’ve conjured up this idea that maybe I can, like, re-wire my brain to crave playing guitar in the way that I currently crave internet use. This is rooted in the idea that I want to replace one addictive habit (internet use) with a new one (guitar). I mean, I think back to 8th grade when I first started playing, and how for the first few years I had no laptop of my own and virtually no internet or computer access. But my playing improved pretty quickly back then, in part, I believe, because there were far fewer distractions in my daily life that would impede my learning of this skill. My hope these days is to replicate that productive environment. I’m trying to eliminate from my daily life anything that might prevent me from engaging in deep work toward the guitar. This mostly means cutting out shallow/superficial internet use and not checking my phone (I’ve removed all social media apps except snapchat). But I’m also wondering what would happen if I cut out something like sugar from my diet. Because I truly find sugar to be addictive as well, and on days that I don’t have any, I just feel...antsy. And if my brain is craving something besides guitar, I might find myself playing less. It’s a junk theory, I know. I will say this, though: as I’ve reduced my internet use, I find that my attention span in regards to reading has greatly improved, and I find myself feeling less scatter-brained, and I sometimes wonder if my attention span and short-term memory have recovered some. Does a reduction in internet use have positive impacts on things like concentration and memory? I’d be curious what evidence exists on this topic.
I know this all sounds silly, but it is an idea I find pretty fascinating. And to be fair, Newport in “Deep Work” does discuss some evidence to suggest that constant screen time has caused our attention spans to take a hit. I can only speak for myself, and I do believe my shift in priorities has had positive impacts on my sense of well-being. So...yay!
This is a long-winded way of explaining why I haven’t been blogging every week. My priorities have shifted to guitar. But if I can structure my time more intelligently, I can easily find the time to write for even one or two hours a week. 
Post-script: Argh! I blew my timer. This took more than an hour! 
0 notes
markoradecki6-blog · 7 years ago
Text
System Distance runner (Like Panda Run) Actor Running Accident Complications-- Thanks for visiting.
In that respect, Frictional Video games' SOMA is as various off its own first day trip, the timeless Amnesia: The Dark Descent, as can be. Though both games employ a heavy quantity from mystery as well as outright always keeping gamers at night, they are actually thematically thus far apart that is actually remarkable - even though a good variety of gameplay elements are going to be familiar. The devices under the limelight within this scenario possess no association to those utilized in the VW cheating detraction, although this most recent recall can possess effects in the UK, as it could mean some cars' engine control units will certainly must be actually re-designed, and even that some cars already offered in the UK will definitely need to be actually remembered. You need to additionally check out the length of time that is actually going to have you to obtain coming from the car park to the incurable. Along with being actually quite comfortable, the Audi A3 is additionally excellent fun to steer, experiencing nimble in sections, along with bunches of grip and also precise guiding. If you are actually buying a deluxe car or even one where the brand new auto guarantee does not completely transmit, acquire a licensed auto. The 2016 Goodreads Choice Awards possess 3 spheres from voting available to all signed up Goodreads participants. So we've kept factors rather basic for Venture CARS on Oculus by making using of a floating monitor before the gamer's scalp. Ultimately, a first-person motorbiking game that allows you carry out everything you definitely would not do in reality, whizing between visitor traffic for eclipsing manoeuvres that will whip up a screaming-sirened chasing pack from patrol car in the real life. The auto list might be no suit for Forza or GT, however most of the large marques and also models remain in spot, with a couple of genuine beauties like the McLaren P1, the Gumpert Apollo, the Pagani Huarya as well as the Aston Martin Rapide S. Whatever you intend to steer and having said that you want to own this, there is actually something for you. This approach might be actually ideal for you if you enjoy owning different cars and attempting brand new things. My outlap included skipping pair of switchings and crashing the tyre wall surfaces, thus certainly not the most ideal from beginnings, yet after getting to holds along with the cars and truck and also knowing the track, I began to believe quicker. This has actually ended up a cracking phone, properly constructed, excellent electric battery life if you turn off unneeded energy hogs, and I conveniently acquire 2 times with wifi consistently on. This is actually likewise little adequate to be really good in the wallet, as well as possesses an outstanding display screen along with gorilla glass. However, Android Car only deals with Android phones, thus Apple CarPlay is actually the only method to obtain the iOS user interface in your vehicle. So our company announced the crowdfunding an although back, when Project CARS AND TRUCKS 1 had in fact launched. Also look after your skin while tanning and never ever let this completely dry and also you truly need to have added care of your face Another factor which are going to result in good tan is the best garments. Advertising your wrecked lorries for sale in place where cars and truck aficionados shop as well as gather could acquire you a practical offer on your damaged or typically destroyed cars and truck. Calling for a separate automobile adapter, Automatic costs the preliminary outlay of $99 (₤ 65, AU$ 141). The lighting, tinny fitments from the log cabin undermined all the all-natural authorization that ought to emanate off a vehicle. Complete autonomy: This level provides the ability for the auto to work and reach its own location without a human found inside the vehicle. A challenging bitter one, sincere as it may be. There excellented reason to make lighter the framework through carrying some scenes in an aged vaudevillian theater of forgotten repute. Certainly there are actually numerous things equally as crucial as the wedding celebration automobile on the wedding day. Social media site could be made use of for both negative and also really good, yet it's healthy and balanced for everybody to have a break from the world wide web from time to time. The wire is actually plenty enough time to obtain around a loved ones auto and the measurements, form and design of the tools clearly reveals a person invested a long time inside an auto while designing all of them. The high quality from the flicks and also TV our experts attempted - primarily streamed in 'incredibly HD' - on each TELEVISION and also on tablets is splendid. There's an integrated chat app also, along with help for popular requirements like Jabber as well as Google Conversation, as well as it is actually an excellent choice to heavyweight applications like Expectation. As I was actually still looking for the car type in my knapsack, Linda appeared out of nowhere as well as leaned against the automobile door. If you liked this post and you would like to get much more data regarding a knockout post kindly visit our web-page. But, actually, this vehicle is actually such a crowd-pleaser that the visitor traffic parts before you. Because of the present organisation development they demand skilled Automobile Electricians to participate in business. I am actually a supporter of the remodeling trope, as well as Fielding succeeded along with the analogies right here; sound building, really good bones: a great base for a house and a relationship. Excellent task, too, as the Nissan/Renault Chief Executive Officer remained in generally battling spirit, eventually grinding one more journalist's somewhat naive concern into the positions. James Connection cemented his condition as the 1960s' legendary personality in this box office hit, which also showcased the car which a lot of movie and also automotive lovers identical feel is the finest car ever subjected to synthetic. Many transportation companies have drop off locations in primary urban areas and this could help you to get to your car swiftly despite where you are actually moving too. In Guardian Amount of money's expertise, Toyota is good in this particular regard; Ford and also VW much less therefore. This is actually an extinction and also the average credit history currently is actually someplace around 680.
0 notes
char27martin · 7 years ago
Text
New Territory: ‘The Nightingale’ Author Kristin Hannah Discusses Her New Alaska-Set Novel
[Can you impress us in 1500 words or less? Enter the Short Short Story Competition today! Deadline January 15, 2018]
The latest from bestselling The Nightingale author Kristin Hannah transports readers to remote 1970s Alaska. In this interview from the February 2018 issue of Writer’s Digest—including outtakes that didn’t appear in the magazine—Hannah discusses the real-life influences that inspired The Great Alone, and preaches the power of a tight-knit writing circle.
For a great many years before she was a household name, Kristin Hannah’s fiction-writing career was an enviable kind of steady. In search of a more family-friendly pursuit than her law practice, as a young mother she made her first sale (1991’s A Handful of Heaven, now out of print) and kept on selling—roughly a book a year, give or take a few, becoming a staple on the women’s fiction shelves and, eventually, on the bestseller lists.
It was a slow, modest burn, the kind of “breakout” success that is built over time and fed with ever-better writing, increasingly complex stories, and an eye for both the intimate and the universal. Her 2008 release, Firefly Lane, the story of a tight but tested friendship spanning three decades, sold more than 1.2 million copies—catching by surprise only those who hadn’t been paying attention.
Within a few years, she became one of the first authors to have two novels appear on five New York Times bestseller lists simultaneously, with 2011’s Night Road (the heartbreaking story of one bad decision’s consequences, and the capacity to forgive) and 2012’s Home Front (illuminating the toll of modern-day war on a military family). And then, more than 20 novels in, Hannah blew her deadline.
She was writing something different, something more research-intensive, more sweeping and more in-depth than anything she’d written before—a World War II–era tale of two French sisters with very diff erent approaches to living under Nazi occupation. But halfway through the manuscript, it became clear her usual timeline wasn’t going to cut it.
“I called my editor and told her that I thought I had a potentially special book, but that there was no way I could write it in the amount of time I had on my deadline,” Hannah says. “I asked her to roll the dice with me and give me another year to see if I couldn’t make this book as special as I felt it could be.”
[An Interview with Award-Winning Author Bernice L. McFaddent
The editor—Jennifer Enderlin at St. Martin’s Press—said yes. It was a good call. Leaping into the No. 1 spot on bestsellers lists across the board and making itself at home there, 2015’s The Nightingale moved readers worldwide. It was named a Best Book of the Year by The Wall Street Journal, Amazon, Goodreads, Library Journal, BuzzFeed and The Week, snagging the People’s Choice Award and Audiobook of the Year Award on the way. As of this writing, the novel has more than 35,000 customer reviews on Amazon with a full 5-star average, and a Hollywood adaptation is in development with TriStar Pictures.
Now comes the long-awaited follow-up. Hannah’s February release, The Great Alone, takes readers into the remote backcountry of Alaska in the wake of the Vietnam War, when a former prisoner of war takes his wife and daughter, young protagonist Leni, to restart their lives on the homestead of a fallen comrade. Hannah spoke with WD’s editor-at-large, fellow novelist Jessica Strawser, about the evolution of her process, waiting for the right story, and much more.
After a smash hit like The Nightingale, I would imagine there’s a lot of pressure surrounding what you’re going to write next. How did you land on this story, and were there others you considered in the meantime?
You know, that is an interesting thing, how you follow up a success like The Nightingale. The one thing I can say is, I feel so incredibly grateful that it happened two decades into my career—but even so, even with the fact that I had written a lot of books before and, you know, sort of learned how to handle the writing business—it still was difficult.
And I did put a lot of pressure on myself. My original thought was that I wanted to write something that couldn’t be compared to The Nightingale. Something completely diff erent, its own kind of book. That took me down a rabbit hole, and I ended up having to throw a book away aft er almost two years of working on it. Because not only did it not live up to The Nightingale, it just didn’t feel like it ever coalesced into a book that I believed in 110 percent.
You never know if a book is going to succeed or fail, so what matters ultimately is how you feel about it, and whether you, the author, are willing to bet the farm on this novel. And I just never quite was with that one.
So after I threw the first one away, I calmed down a bit and decided that what I needed to do was what I always do, which is simply take what I had learned from writing The Nightingale, and take what I felt were better skills and understanding of my strengths for writing powerful female characters, and let that be my guide.
I decided I wanted to sort of come home to America and write about something I knew pretty intimately. That led me to this novel set in the 1970s in Alaska, which is a time and place that I know very well and is, in its way, as much a secret world or an unusual world as anything I’ve ever done before.
Was that a difficult conversation with your publisher when you threw that first book away? Did you have to call them up and say, “That’s not happening?”
Yeah [laughs], that’s really what it comes down to. I’ve been lucky in my partnership with St. Martin’s. … I said, “Nobody wants me to publish this book. We don’t want this to be the next Kristin Hannah book because it’s just not good enough. And I don’t think working another year will make it good enough.” So I was really lucky that they trusted me and said, “OK, take the time that you need.” It helped, of course, that The Nightingale hadn’t even rolled over into paperback yet. [But] the whole team there, I just think they really care about their books from the top of the list to the bottom. As a writer, you can’t ask for much more than that.
You have to believe in this career, you have to believe in yourself, and you have to move with great determination forward, because it doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to sell your first book or your 50th book, or you’re trying to redefine your career, or you’re trying to reinvent what it is you do, it’s always going to be difficult.
You said that you knew the topic pretty well, but even so, The Great Alone reflects so much meticulous detail about the time period, the homesteading life, Alaska’s seasons, the wildlife—how did you approach the research element of this project from the beginning?
Well, it was a lot of research. My family owns a sport fishing lodge up there, so we’ve been going to Alaska as a family since the early ’80s. My dad’s partner is a homesteading family. I know the geography, I know the people, I grew up and came of age at the same time that [Leni] did, and that helped a great deal.
But even though I had grown up during [the ’70s], because I was young and my parents kind of sheltered me, I didn’t really realize until I did the research what a turbulent time it was with the hijackings, and the kidnappings, and the bombings, and all of this. The more research I did about the ’70s, the more it felt relevant to today—like the world was as unsettled then as it sometimes feels now. That’s when I knew that I had a book—a fascinating look into a world that we haven’t read about a lot.
How long did it take you to write, once you hit on the new idea?
Well, the good news was the book that I threw away was set in modern-day Alaska, so a lot of that original research was able to be repurposed. But it took probably 18 months to write this second version. And I’m a very fast writer.
That does seem fast—it’s a large book!
I know. I ran out of words very quickly. I tend to throw literally hundreds of pages away.
What is your process for what gets left on the cutting room floor? With a story that spans so many years, I would assume it’s a challenge to decide what to keep in and what to leave out. 
I have an eye that is drawn to the intimate. I’m interested in day-to-day happenings in my characters, and I tend to think that every moment in their lives is important. So in the first draft , I write a lot of scenes that are mostly me discovering who the character is, and what this world looks like on a very intimate level.
Then, once I’ve found the characters and found the story, the arc, then the job is to amp everything up, so that the conflict becomes hopefully almost unbearable, and then to cut away everything that isn’t absolutely necessary. That’s how I tend to find the pacing that I like,combined with the depth of characterization that I’m looking for. That’s the balance.
Your website says you typically do 10 drafts—is that still true?
Probably well more than that.
And I know you write longhand. At what point does a computer come into play? Are you revising in longhand too? What happens is I write longhand on my yellow legal pad, and then that gets entered into the computer. Then I get a printout, and generally for the first five to seven draft s, the changes are so extensive that I’m still using the yellow pad. I’ll get to the end of a paragraph and say, “insert here,” and rewrite the book on the yellow legal pad, inserting the manuscript as it goes. When I’m getting closer to the end, it’s light enough that it can all be done on the printed pages from the computer.
Writer’s Digest, February 2018, Volume 98, No. 2
The “Love Issue” embraces the more romantic aspects of story weaving—both on and off the page. February is a time in which passions peak. From the desire that drives us to put pen to paper, to the alluring ways authors bewitch readers, love is the essential ingredient in telling tales—of any genre—that truly appeal to the heart. Get a copy here, or subscribe.
Is that how you’ve always worked?
In early days when my books were simpler and more  straightforward, and I was just trying to learn the craft of writing, no—I would not have been able to do it this way, and I didn’t do it this way. In those days, I spent a lot of time doing outlines and character biographies, and escalations-of-scene kind of research, and then I sat down and wrote the book that I intended to write. As the books have gotten bigger and more complex, they just require a messier process, I guess.
I have to say, I don’t find that comforting … [Laughs.] Neither do I! I’m always saying to people, if anyone has a new process, I am definitely looking for it.
Right! The way I work is such a mess, too—what we all want to hear is that you can figure it out more easily with experience.
You know what? A lot of it does get easier. The problem is that while you become more adept at knowing what’s going to work in the beginning, and more adept at a sentence-by-sentence kind of thing and creating characters quickly, I think that as a writer, you also grow. As you grow, you ask more and more of yourself. And so you end up writing novels that you never imagined you’d be capable of writing in the beginning. It’s just sort of a one-foot-in-front-of-the-other kind of process, where you never stop asking yourself to do more or be more.
Aside from the stories themselves being more ambitious, are there other things you can qualify where you feel your craft has improved or changed?
You know, I think that the single most important thing [has been] aging, and motherhood, and going through life and understanding what it is I have to say. When I started writing, I was young—my first book was published when I was 29, I think—so the biggest thing is knowing more about the world and being more confident, more fervent in my own opinions. I think that’s the biggest thing.
They talk about the evolution of voice as if it’s about sentences, and certainly it is—I believe that I’m a significantly better writer now than I was when I started. But I think it’s more about what I have to say now.
Everyone talks about The Nightingale being on a whole different level, but looking back at your career up to this point, what are the moments that stand out most to you?
Well, there’s nothing that really ever eclipses that first sale, that first year where you get the call. First you get an agent and then someone buys it and a year later you see it on the shelves and you realize that it’s possible: This job, this career, this passion can all come true. So, that still remains probably the biggest moment.
Then: I wrote Firefly Lane about 10 years ago, and thatwas probably the most personal of all of my novels. That changed the course of my career; that’s when I began to truly find my voice and what it was I had to say.
With The Nightingale, to see what the novel has meant to people—especially people who have lived through this or have family members who have lived through it and have told me what the novel means to them—that’s been a pretty special experience.
And it’s really still going on.
It is, yes. I guess next would be the movie—[which] is in production, so that’ll be a pretty amazing moment.
I saw an interview where you noted that a lot of times people don’t take newer writers seriously because they assume you’re going to give up—and that the important thing is just to stay with it. Perseverance is advice that you often hear for newer writers, but it seems like it’s good advice for any stage in a writing career.
You know, that’s what it’s all about. You have to believe in this career, you have to believe in yourself, and you have to move with great determination forward, because it doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to sell your first book or your 50th book, or you’re trying to redefine your career, or you’re trying to reinvent what it is you do, it’s always going to be difficult. There are always going to be naysayers, and it’s always going to be easier to either give up or follow the path of least resistance or write what appears to be the easy answer for success at that moment. Those skills that you develop as an unpublished writer—your discipline, your dedication—I think all of that holds you in really good stead as you continue forward and transition from a beginning writer to a working writer to a career novelist.
You’ve mentioned that you have a group of writer friends who you connected with early on, and you’ve all sort of come up together. How does it enrich your writing life, to have those connections with others who share it?
I actually think that it’s crucial that we have this artistic community that we can bounce ideas off of, and our frustrations, and celebrate our joys and just sort of be in the trenches together. Because it can be such a lonely pursuit, and your poor husband and kids don’t want to hear about it 24/7. It is important to have this group that holds you together.
In what ways did your own experiences influence The Great Alone?
Well, the easy answers to that are, of course, the Alaska setting [as my family bought a lodge there in the ’80s] and then there’s a lot of [my family’s] sort of wanderlust in the Albright family. Leni’s a girl who, like me, moved around a lot and went to a lot of schools, which makes it difficult to make friends and so you end up being kind of the bookworm. So that is very much in it.
We all tend to mine our lives and our emotions and our moralities and our feelings, but it’s all still very much fiction. Obviously, nothing about this novel is even close to from my life or true. But certainly, my life experiences are always brought to bear in everything.
You have to believe in this career, you have to believe in yourself, and you have to move with great determination forward, because it doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to sell your first book or your 50th book, or you’re trying to redefine your career, or you’re trying to reinvent what it is you do, it’s always going to be difficult. … Those skills that you develop as an unpublished writer—your discipline, your dedication—I think all of that holds you in really good stead as you continue forward and transition from a beginning writer to a working writer to a career novelist.
How much has Alaska changed in the last few decades? Did you really have to dig back in your memory and in your research, or is it relatively unchanged? The book touches on the beginnings of the increased tourism industry.
Yes, it’s definitely changed and that is one of the push-and-pulls in the book: The growth of tourism in Alaska and how that has changed the state, and the fight for the soul of Alaska, which is the rugged individualist who wants it to stay wild forever, versus the new people coming in and cruise ships and hotels and all of that. That being said, interestingly enough, Alaska still feels very wild. Most of the state is still not covered by any roads at all. You still have to get to a lot of places by bush plane, by boat. So it remains very wild and remote in a lot of ways.
Does your family still own that lodge?
Yes, they do. We still go, and my dad and his wife and my brother and their partners now run it. My son has worked there and my nephew has worked there, my niece is working there this summer. So it’s still a big family endeavor.
Discover more exciting new insights and advice in the February 2018 issue of Writer’s Digest, or subscribe to experience the magic all year long.
The post New Territory: ‘The Nightingale’ Author Kristin Hannah Discusses Her New Alaska-Set Novel appeared first on WritersDigest.com.
from Writing Editor Blogs – WritersDigest.com http://www.writersdigest.com/editor-blogs/there-are-no-rules/interviews/new-territory-the-nightingale-author-kristin-hannah-discusses-her-new-alaska-set-novel
0 notes