Today I’ve been really enjoying writing at my desk.  It’s been such a battle with solitude at times, but for some reason right now it feels good to wrestle with the chapters of my new novella.

I loved hearing Maya Banks in Dear Author discuss writing until her ‘eyes roll up in her head’. I have to confess that sometimes after long hours I’ll find myself writing and dozing at my desk.  I’ll wake up a little, re-read what I wrote, then fall back into the doze thing again.  It’s too funny.  Today I just moved over to the couch and took a nap.  What I’ve done in the past is put on dance music and pulling out my hula hoop.  That gets the blood moving!

I’m reading Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke.  Hard to even think about getting into such a fat tomb of a book at first, but I got a used copy for cheap.  Then I put off reading it for forever, but someone I know told me about how it starts and it sounded interesting.

Gentlemen who call themselves magicians in York England back in 1800-whatever write to Mr. Norrell asking why no one actually performs magic in England anymore.  Mr. N writes back to say, actually he does perform magic.  They basically call him a liar (all except for Jonathan) and Mr. N puts to them a wager: if he performs magic at such a day and time at a cathedral, they’ll all give up being ‘magicians’.  If he doesn’t, then he shall never call himself a magician again.  When he makes the statues in a cathedral move and talk, everyone is astonished.  Mr. N, having vanquished the haters, decides to move to London and broaden his horizons.  It’s delightful, it’s like Dickens writing a fantasy novel, and I can’t wait to read more…