Dec 28, 2011 |
Yesterday, I posted My New Reading List for 2012. To make sure I keep up with my List, I already started “The Magician’s Nephew” by C.S. Lewis. By the time you read this post, I should have finished that book and moved on to “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe”. I’m highly excited. I love writings that are so well done, you forget to breathe while writing. That’s how I aspire to write.
I know my List is not nearly exhaustive, but of all the books I have at my house, those are the ones I want to read. Of all the books I have…
So you know where this is going. This post’s title and that one half-sentence say all you need to know. This post is a list of books I will someday have in my Library.
Louis L’Amour. Any and all. Except for the one short story collection I already have and treasure. The one that inspires me again and again to keep writing. He is so magical, so descriptive with his words. He is someone I would have loved to have met. 89 novels, 2 nonfiction works and 14 short-story collections. 105 books! Now there’s a writer!
The Oz series. Recently I watched “The Origins of Oz” on the Smithsonian Channel. All I can say is, “WOW.” I’ve always loved The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and can’t ever remember not having a copy (or two!) on my bookshelves. But after watching this show and realizing what I’ve missed, I’m more interested than ever in reading all the books, not just the first. Yes, indeed. All 16.
Charles Dickens. I humbly admit I had never read A Christmas Carol until this year. December 21st, as a matter of fact. And I read it all in one day. It was stunning, and much better than any movie portrayed. Now I’m anxious to read all his works. In addition to 27 novels and novellas, his was also the author of many shorter stories and essays.
My teen daughter tells me I still need to read her Twilight and Harry Potter series of books. She also received the Hunger Games trilogy for Christmas. There’s 13 right there.
Claudia has reminded me that Ray Bradbury is always a good read. He wrote a plethora of short stories and novellas that would be hard to put down. I’ve tried googling his bibliography but can’t come up with a number because all articles point out that most of his creative writings were either magazine articles and/or adapted for stage and screen, like Something Wicked This Way Comes, which I wrote about in my post, Why I Don’t Go To Carnivals in October. As best as I can figure, there’s a good 20 books at least.
At the proposed rate of one book every two days, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to read all these books in one year, even if I had them in my Library. But it gives me something to look forward to for 2013. I guess I better get reading …
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
Dec 18, 2011 |
Every now and then, I wonder if my goals and dreams are reachable. Am I really doing what I’m supposed to be doing, or am I wasting my time? If I’m supposed to be a writer, why aren’t I published yet? Can I report back to my family, friends, and readers that I’m really doing everything I can to reach these goals, or am I just sitting around waiting for that Golden Ticket to fall in my lap?
Am I just fooling myself?
I think not!
Because every time I think of throwing in the towel, two things happen: First, I start singing that song from Annie: “It’s a Hard-Knock Life”. The one with the lyrics about what a sad little life those orphan girls live. And second, I remember.
I remember why I love writing.
It’s because I love reading.
And I remember that my favorite authors weren’t always authors. They all started somehow, sometime. And they never gave up.
They inspire me:
L. Frank Baum was married with two children when his newspaper business folded. In 1898, at the age of 42, he had received many rejection letters and decided the only way to get published was to do it himself. He self-published his book, By The Candelabra’s Glare”, which finally garnered him the attention he needed. Two years later, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published, leading the way for 15 sequels.
Laura Ingalls Wilder devoted her life to her husband, children, and their farm. It was her daughter Rose’s encouragement that led her to write Little House in the Big Woods, the first in the “Little House” series of books for children. She was 65 when it was published in 1932.
Louisa May Alcott fashioned her Little Women stories after her childhood and sisters. She fancied herself to be Jo March, the unsettled tomboy writer of the four. Struck by poverty, Louisa determined to help her family by any means, and took such jobs as seamstress, governess, and teacher. However, she never let go of her dream of writing and at the age of 22, her first book was published. At age 36, Little Women brought her her most famous success.
Stephen J. Cannell overcame dyslexia to produce and write many popular television shows from the early 1970s through the 1990s. He sold his production company and began his second career: a novelist. His Shane Scully series is a popular cop-drama-in-print; the final novel having been published December 6, 2011, just over one year after his death.
Charles Dickens was born into an impoverished family. His father often lived beyond his means and when Charles was young, his father was arrested into Debtor’s Prison. His mother and siblings soon followed. Charles was a young teen when he was forced to quit school in order to work over ten hours each day to help his family. These experiences flowed out of him in his creative works, most notably, A Christmas Carol.
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s mother died when she was just 21 months old. Out of grief, her father handed custody over to Lucy’s maternal grandparents who raised her in an overly strict, lonely manner. When she was sixteen, Lucy spent a year with her father and his new wife, but came back to her beloved Cavendish. Lucy credited her lonely childhood as starting her creative mind, as that’s when created several imaginary friends and began to write. A poem was locally published when she was just 16, but her real success came at age 34 when her first novel was printed: Anne of Green Gables was the fairy-tale telling of a mixture of Lucy’s childhood and the life she had wished for. Ten more novels recounting life on Prince Edward Island followed.
J. M. Barrie’s family dissuaded his writing tendencies, instead encouraging him to go into Ministry. He bargained with his parents and they agreed that he could attend college to study literature. He was first published with minor works in 1888. It wasn’t until 1904, when Barrie was 44 years old, that Peter Pan entered the world. Shortly before his death, Barrie gave all Peter Pan rights to the Great Ormond Street Hospital; which to this day, continues to benefit from Barrie’s talents.
These stories and more inspire me. They inspire me to write my stories. They inspire me to keep at it, no matter what. Because some day, I’ll be on a list like this.
Whatever it is you’re born to do, don’t give up. Learn from others who have forged the way for you. Let their lights lead you. And blaze your own trail for those who follow.
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart…” [Colossians 3:23a].
And Frankly, My Dear… that’s all she wrote!
