J sort of accidentally added my novel draft to Goodreads. Well, he meant to do it, but he didn’t know I would feel weird about it. But that was days ago and I actually think it’s kind of amusing now. I hate the title and only two people in the world have read it. The book I’m reading now, Ilustrado, won an award before it was even published – maybe some of that luck will rub off on me. Because, you know. I’m sure Harper-Collins higher-ups are hanging out on Goodreads, waiting to snatch up first drafts of dodgy novels.
Oh, speaking of Ilustrado, I read this paragraph today and it made my brain light up there in the coffee shop amidst all the old ladies with their canes and walkers and after I read it I looked around to talk to someone about how wonderful it was, but there was no one:
“You must learn this while you are still young. Live in the crux of the present. And write to explain the world to yourself and to others. Look forward only to the summer of your first convertible. Look forward only if what’s in front of you is a mirror. Because one day you’ll be so busy looking backward, and everything will feel like winter. If you still don’t get it, pare, let me make it abundantly clear. Just write, and write justly. Ezra Pound be damned. Poets lie, though beautifully. Don’t make things new, make them whole.”
That is a beautiful paragraph! I am intrigued… I think it’s going to have to go onto my “to read” list. Reading your blog I realized what it was I really missed while being away from the computer almost constantly for the last two weeks, reading blogs of wonderful people! Good luck with your novel, maybe having it on Goodreads will help with editing motivation?
Yes, it really is. I read it a few times. The book is so good!
Thanks for the blog compliment and for the good luck! :)