A Bottom Feeder Speaks Up
Pictured, Bottom Feeder Dines Out for the Last TimeBack-to-school has always felt like the real New Year, a time for reflecting on the past and planning for the future. This September marks the end of the first year where I publicly self-identified as a writer. It’s also the year where I got the least amount of writing done.
I got distracted by the peripheral aspects of the practice, like drinking coffee with other self-identified writers and occasionally working for pay. It sounds silly, I know, given the anti-social, non-lucrative nature of the work, but there is a running joke in my house that I only do book reviews for the money and the fame. I love reviewing, but if that’s all I do, doesn’t that make me a bottom feeder?
I signed up this week to give a fiction reading in the “real” New Year, but if I continue in this vein, I won’t have anything to present. It is particularly difficult to write something good if you don’t spend any time writing anything at all. (For more on this, check out the Alistair Macleod interview in the latest Maisonneuve.) And so I’m announcing my hibernation, which will begin, if all goes well, a week from Tuesday. In the meantime, I have a translation and a couple of articles to finish, two picnics to attend, and one to host. Wish me luck.
p.s. My interview with Montreal children’s author Joyce Scharf is now available online. Also, I should have something in the Gazette tomorrow.
posted by Anne C. | 9:02 am
10 Comments:
It's a good thing that you're busy with other things, Anne. I'm convinced we need to step away from time to time. The writing doesn't go away, it continues to mature even when we're pre-occupied. Besides, you're an awesome reviewer!
Ooh, a hibernation. I like that. Be sure to take along lots of snacks and warm, fuzzy slippers. You'll come out newly inspired, I'm sure. Good luck, Anne.
Good review, too, Anne. I just read it. Lucky (and talented, of course) first time author!
Isn't that a great story about a first book?
(I feel that you're both taking care to pay attention to me on a lower-traffic or lower-comment day. I appreciate it!)
Writing. The writing! My love affair with writing continues to be unrequited. So I hang around the edges. I hope you get visited by a whole bunch of good stuff in your bunker, Anne. If I get the grand I applied for, I am going to take a month off of work and see what happens.
Yes, signing up for things is the key. I'm about to sign up for a 'Master Fiction' Class in February; hopefully this will force me to better focus on the fiction. Best of luck with your hibernation!
Great reviews, too, Anne.
What's that on the table in the picture? It looks like some kind of awesome dessert. I hope it's dessert.
it is a desert.
a delicious desert.
and for the record, i loved the desert.
and i hope the "for the last time" isn't due to the desert debacle...
:(
see you in june!
Yes, it's a yummy dessert, and yes, the "Bottom Feeder Dines out For the Last Time Because Grumpy Reactions to Yummy Food makes her Unspeakably Sad" was implied: did I not manage to convey that?
damn it.
well, if it makes you feel any better, and i hope it does, i gave a finger-wagging to said grumpy desert eater.
if that doesn't make you feel happier, will a homemade frozen margarita left on your front step do the trick?
caveat: may not remain frozen and wasps.
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