Friday: Great American Novels, Writing Advice, William T. Vollam Interview; Napping

I did group and grocery shopping and survived the heat, took a nap, and worked through my email and wrote this post. 

May it you something to do, something to think, something to aspire to, and a reminder that the work may not find a perch to hand on. 

 Eight Great American Novels (The New Yorker) being behind a paywill I will give 

• “Miss Lonelyhearts,” by Nathanael West
• “Mating,” by Norman Rush
• “The Last Thing He Wanted,” by Joan Didion
• “Winter in the Blood,” by James Welch
• “Fun Home,” by Alison Bechdel
• “Barkskins,” by Annie Proulx 
• “American Wife” Curtis Sittenfeld 
• “A Thousand Acres,” by Jane Smiley

I know three of the writers and two of the novels, but have read none of them. 

10 Books That Might Be the Great American Novel (Collider). I just cannot agree with numbers 1 & 2.

(4) Kristen Weber (@kristenweber): “One of the biggest misconceptions about editing is that we're looking for mistakes. Most of the time, I'm asking a much bigger question: “What is this story trying to become?” Once I understand that, the direction of my edit letter reveals itself.” 

“We Always Leave Things Unfinished” - by Alexander Sorondo. William T. Vollman is touted as one of our greatest writers. He is dying.

An Ordinary Mind on an Ordinary Day (Lapham’s Quarterly) inspired me to take a nap this afternoon after I returned home and opened this article. Novelists pat yourselves on your back.

She recently coedited The Oxford Handbook of Spontaneous Thought, an anthology that includes an illuminating essay on the history of spontaneous thought. It describes the routines of several highly accomplished historical figures—including Darwin, Beethoven, Dali, and Chandler—who achieved great success despite working a relatively short day (four to five hours) followed by lots of long walks, afternoon naps, loads of unstructured time, and long vacations. It is often not until we leave our desks to wander, whether in mind or body or both, that inspiration strikes.

We moderns tend to attribute the thoughts that arrive unbidden, from “out of the blue,” to somewhere within us, like the unconscious, but in the past, people believed they came from outside us—inspirations from the Muses or the gods. Yet even now, these spontaneous insights or intuitions possess an aura and an authority that ideas delivered by reasoning seldom command. We imbue them with a residue of magic, perhaps because their origin remains something of a mystery.

A devoted novel-reader since her teens, Christoff Hadjiilieva suspects that artists—who “live their thoughts”—may know more about the stream of consciousness than her fellow scientists do.

And a rejection for “Scenes From An Indiana Factory Town”: 

Thank you for your submission to Sunspot Literary Journal. Although we must decline, please know that selecting works for publication can be guided by pieces we've already accepted for the current issue, a focus on specific issues, and other elements that change rapidly. The fact that we have declined your work should in no way discourage you from continuing on this path you've chosen for your life. We greatly appreciated the chance to consider your work.

Creatives like you can change the world. Your perspective is unique. Your efforts to generate something that makes an impact is difficult, and can feel heavy when you work so hard without recognition. Please keep going. The world needs to see things from your perspective. 

 Part of which may have been accepted for publication.

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