First the big news—
Tidal Flats was awarded the Gold Medal in Literary Fiction by the Independent Publisher Book Awards-so join me in a happy dance wherever you are! I was cleaning the bathrooms when I found out, which made it all the sweeter.
This morning before I started writing to you, I worked on the new novel for an hour. I begin each day that way. It keeps the story and the characters swirling around inside me, so that often when I step away from the desk to take a walk or to read, new scenes just appear. Today I finished reading through the 100 pages I have so far, and what’s clear to me is that the easy writing, if there is such a thing, is over. Time for a new layer, time to apply a little pressure, time to take it deeper.
Years ago, I alphabetized the books in my study, but usually there are stacks and stacks of books on a long work space behind me—books I’ve just finished, books I want to write about, books I'm using for reference, books I’m not quite finished with. Eventually I shelve each one into its slot. But last week, as I picked up a book out of a stack behind me to shelve, I thought maybe this book doesn’t belong in the W’s but in this random stack created by when I was reading it and what else I was reading at the time. I started pulling books off the shelves, moved my favorite books together, and made other random stacks. I was
playing with my books, as Ellen Gilchrist likes to refer to it. With my new shelves, the books are alive again. And in the process, I found Ann Patchett’s collection of essays,
This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage, which apparently I had never finished. I skipped a few essays (something I don’t usually do) to read the title one. Which is just wonderful. Here’s a line I loved.
I can’t imagine that there is a right way to be married.
In the early days of quarantine, Pam Houston and I emailed back and forth about what it felt like to step off the travel treadmill and stay home. We talked about each other’s books and the uncertainty brought by the virus as well as the possibility for a better future. Our conversation is now online at
The Rumpus, as part of their Mentor Series.