My Life and Writing
Some days, the words flow freely. You hit that goal mark effortlessly, and float away from the keyboard to bask in the literary sun.
Others, every darned word takes a sump pump to extract, You stare at the screen for hours, and that word count just won’t reach 1,667 no matter how you plead.
Today’s somewhere in between, but close enough to the latter that I needed to take a break before jumping back in to take another lap.
Black dogs. They have held a place in the human psyche throughout history. In some cultures, they were demonic, beings to be avoided. They were omens of death and evil. The most famous literary depiction of this black dog as evil concept is probably Conan-Doyle’s Hound of the Baskervilles. Well, the most famous, that is, until J.K. Rowling capitalized on the concept with Harry Potter’s “Grim”.
Well, not precisely “none”. They’re all still there, those 35,000-plus words in the latest writing project. However, as I was cranking them out, letting them lead me, I got wrapped up in the story and the characters. Then, as happens all too often, I got sidelined for a very long time. Nearly a year, in…
How about you? Who are your favorite mystery writers? They can be ancient, classic or modern. They can be well known or (probably even more fun) obscure. What books or stories turned you on to them? What about their writing inspires you to create? If you’re not a writer yourself, what inspires you, period?
I just happened to be looking at the next Miss Marple book in the series, when I spotted the entire collection, which has (till perhaps a week ago) been for sale for around $60.00 US, for $5.99.
Yes, that’s five dollars and ninety-nine cents. For the entire collection. That is all thirteen books — the novels plus the entire short story collection. Now, I own a Nook, and I already own five of these books, but hey — who cares? My momma didn’t raise a dummy. I clicked Buy Now!
I’ve just run across this delightful short audio slide show on YouTube, with Agatha Christie talking about her creation of Miss Marple. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!
Gayle Nastasi 