Mya Bell's Web Log
A Journal of a Writer's Life

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Aug. 2, 2004 - Working Hard on My Novels
I've been doing a lot of writing in the last couple of weeks. In addition to working on the last two chapters of one novel, I have completed 40 pages of the next one. When taking breaks, I've been reading Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively. I came across this book by accident. I was prowling a thrift store, not looking at books (or at anything in particular), and happened to notice this book with a review by Anne Tyler. I don't usually read book jackets before reading a book, but this popped out at me and, well, I like Anne Tyler's books, so I decided if she liked it there might be something in it worth reading. It was only 50 cents. What a great price for about six hours of entertainment. I'm about half-way through. I'll let you know what I think when I finish it. --- Mya

Aug. 3, 2004 - Can't Get Enough Books
I got a package in the mail today. More books! Lately I've been buying them faster than I can read them, but I'd rather have too many in the queue than too few. I picked up some books by Ward Just. I know nothing about him. I came across his name accidentally and the comments about his writing were very complimentary, so I hunted around. I couldn't find any of his books in local stores, so I bought a handful of them through mail order. I was only going to buy one or two, but the prices were good, so I ended up with four. It will be a while before I get to read them, but that's all right. Who knows, maybe I'll reshuffled the queue! --- Mya

Aug. 8, 2004 - Freedom from Tripping over Cables
I've been getting a wireless system in bits and pieces (I'm still waiting for the bridge, the first one was defective). That will be great. I'll be able to go anywhere on the property without cables. I can't wait until all printers and other peripherals are wireless too. Then I can get rid of all the cords running all over the place and put the computer stuff where it's less unsightly and more convenient. Bliss. --- Mya

Aug. 13, 2004 - Lucky 13 and Olympic Fever
I took time off on this lucky Friday 13 to watch the opening ceremonies for the Olympic games in Athens.

I've been to Greece. I loved it there--land of ancient artifacts, blue water, donkeys, wine, and people with a sense of humor. It was fun to see all those wonderful faces and costumes and customs from people around the world. I don't know how much time I'll have to watch the games themselves, hopefully I can fit it in, but I was happy to see the nation of Greece put this together after so many naysayers said they couldn't do it in time. My best wishes to the competing athletes. --- Mya

Aug. 14, 2004 - Writing Mania
Lately, I've been a writing fiend. I like to try to write consistently, about three or four good pages a day (plus my weblog and recreational posts on writers' forums), and I have no lack of projects--several novels, short stories, screenplays, but I got a bee in my bonnet a couple of weeks ago and dove into my second novel.

On July 29th I wrote in my weblog about a couple of guys who wrote millions of words, thousands of stories, hundreds, even thousands of books in their writing careers. I write faster than almost anyone I know and yet I can't produce a tenth of what those guys produced (which is why I questioned whether there was any quality component to their work--a question I haven't had answered yet). Well, I don't know if it was serendipity or a competitive impulse, but I began writing my second novel that same day (I have two chapters to complete on my first novel, but I wanted some distance from it before completing it).

Today I slowed down long enough to take stock and discovered that I'm already on page 70 (single-spaced) of the first draft of my second novel and it's going much more quickly and smoothly than the first (I don't want to say too smoothly, because writing shouldn't become too glib or contrived or it loses its bite). At this rate I'll probably have them both done by the end of the year. That would be something to celebrate--two novels in two years. Polishing and editing isn't going to take long. I know, I know, people always underestimate the time it takes, but I've been writing for a long time and I'm familiar with the process. I generally edit and polish as I go--it just seems to work better for me than creating a very rough draft and then trying to edit it. I prefer to create a clean draft and then go straight to polishing.

Because I've been writing more, I've been reading less. There just aren't extra hours in the day to fit everything in at the same time. So I'm still reading Moon Tiger, by Penelope Lively. And, guess what. Bet you can't guess. Actually, if you've read my previous blogs, you probably can guess. I bought more books. A bunch of them. I love books--you just can't have too many books, as long as they are good books. I try to avoid junky books.

One of the new books is Baudolino by Umberto Eco. I can't wait to finish my current book and start reading it. I'm a big fan of Umberto Eco. I loved Name of the Rose and really liked Foucault's Pendulum. I can't wait to see what he's written in Baudolino. I guess it came out a couple of years ago in English translation. I was fortunate to find it in hardcover. I love hardcovers (portability is the only disadvantage, but that's okay, I don't mind carrying a backpack). --- Mya

Aug 29, 2004 - Crab Feast
I have a good friend who has a good friend who owns waterfront property and does his own crabbing this time of year. What a surprise when my friend brought over a BIG cooler full of fresh cooked crab. We had a big seafood party, using nutcrackers to open up the claws and legs. It was so, good, so fresh. I'm so appreciative of a surprise like that.

When we were almost done eating the crab (and there was a lot of it), I pulled out the last claw, got the nutcracker, and was going to clamp and crush it when I felt a bump on the other side. When I turned it over there was a barnacle on the claw so perfectly placed it looked exactly (well, maybe not exactly) like a parrot's head. I just had to include a picture here for you to see. This was a natural structure--it hasn't been Photoshopped (new verb) except to crop the picture to fit it on the Web page. What fun. I stuck it in the freezer. Maybe at Hallowe'en I'll bring it out to amuse the trick-or-treating neighborhood kids. --- Mya

Aug 31, 2004 - Another Month, Another Four Chapters
It's hard to believe summer has gone by so quickly. I've spent most of the past several weeks researching and writing my little fingers off. Whew! I've completed 86 pages of the second draft of my second novel and I plan to have both the first and second books done by the end of the year, if not sooner. It's not a series. They're somewhat different from one another in tone and content, although some related themes are explored. The only way to finish them and get them out there is to write, write, write! Fortunately, I love writing--I love telling stories. Hopefully there will be those who enjoy reading them. --- Mya