During weekend walks, I usually pick up a book or two from one of the prolific Little Libraries that abound in our neighborhood. Last week I picked up what I would classify as a “cozy”--the comfort food of mystery novels, wherein everything is agreeable, homey and benign and the main location usually centers around a coffee shop or a bookstore in a tight-knit neighborhood. True to form, the heroine in this novel lives in a tiny house behind the well-frequented bookstore she owns, the shelves of which she adorns with whimsical Flea Market finds. I haven’t gotten very far into it yet—so far, it seems fine—but it has had the unfortunate side affect of tickling my novel-writing impulses, which would be a very bad yen for me to yield to again. I started out writing a novel of this type years ago, meaning for it to be a casual, cozy-style “bathtub book”, and it ended up taking a much deeper turn, entirely against my will. The outcome was an unmarketable but in my opinion still compelling story, which sits untouched after an agonizingly long bout of rejection and one acceptance from a publisher that didn’t work out ultimately. My whole foray into novel-writing was a real eye-opener. I learned that I would rather write ten novels than one pitch letter, that writers on internet forums are exceedingly mean and judgmental, and that the entire industry is rabidly profit-orientated. Don’t get me wrong; I’m quite pro-capitalism, but I’m a writer, not an MBA, and trying to figure out the business end of all it out was just too much. I had enough energy to write the novel, and I tapped out on everything that came after it. Yet I find myself dreaming of a new story, one involving a well-worn pub, rainy streets, a plucky heroine and PG-rated romance. I must stop myself immediately.
Les Miserables is actually my all time favorite book, but yes, it is definitely a slog, especially the 100 or so pages in the middle that fully describe the Battle of Waterloo but have nothing to do with the rest of the story. I still recommend reading it just so you can say you made it through. =D
What a fantastic eclectic post. I see another novel in the making!!
Loved it!
Les Miserables is actually my all time favorite book, but yes, it is definitely a slog, especially the 100 or so pages in the middle that fully describe the Battle of Waterloo but have nothing to do with the rest of the story. I still recommend reading it just so you can say you made it through. =D