Sometimes reading can be thematic. Right now I'm on an Ann Patchett roll. After reading A State of Wonder and hearing her on Forum with Michael Krasny, I decided I wanted to read her memoir on writing. Note: this was what was called a Kindle edition, available for $3.00 on Amazon. They also noted it as a primer, a small, essential, introductory book. That seemed right.
I liked this book. There was nothing earthshatteringly new here, but there's something quite wonderful to read a book on writing by a writer who you really like. Basically she seemed to say what was most important was the actual time in the chair, that teachers and writing friends are helpful, and that a lack of stimuli is important. (She had to take solitaire off her computer and then mourned it for two years.) My favorite moment in this book was after graduate school, when Patchett waitressed tables and thought up her first novel in her head. She said that she spent two years and imagined the whole thing and then won a grant to write for seven months and experienced sheer terror when she sat down in front of the computer and actually had to write. She wisely counselos not to throw out your idea. Go with it, slog through it, keep your agreement to yourself on the time that you spend in that chair.
