Friday, May 11, 2012

Writing

I finished up The Hunger Games Trilogy last week, and they were fun books. The storyline was better than I expected. But my niece, who rarely steers me wrong, told me I would enjoy them.
But yesterday I started reading Pat Conroy's book, South of Broad, and I am blown away by his words. His descriptions of Charleston, South Carolina paint a picture as rich as raspberry cheesecake.  I stopped the tape at one point to contemplate.
I thought to myself, how does one get that good? Of course there's no telling how long it took him to write that novel. I know from experience that my work gets better with each re-write. I whittle away the dead wood, and polish the dull spots. I use more precise words to describe what I'm trying to say.
Perhaps it's simply a matter of time and focus. Maybe, though I have not tried to verify it, Pat Conroy made a decision early in his writing career to invest the time to make his work the best it can possibly be.
At any rate, reading novels of this caliber makes me want to be a better writer.


7 comments:

  1. Oh South of Broad! It's fabulous isn't it?! I literally sobbed as I read the end of the book.
    One of our local radio stations did an interview with Pat Conroy a couple years ago - I wish I could have found a podcast to the interview because what little I heard was amazing.
    His book "My Reading Life" is also very good - it's all about his writing and reading history. He gives A LOT of credit to his mom - as all good writers should :)

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  2. I was skeptical about the HG trilogy as well and after I started the first one, I was hooked and spent the entire weekend reading all three.
    I have heard good things about Pat Conroy so I will add that book to my list.
    I just finished a hilarious book by blogger Jenny Lawson, Let's Pretend This Never Happened so if you like a funny read, try it!
    Have a great weekend!

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  3. My daughter and granddaughter both told me The Hunger Games books are better than I might expect.

    Of course, I'm ticked off tonight on the whole "hunger issue" as related to belly fat, so maybe I am easy game.

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  4. I am still at book one, not bad!

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  5. Always looking for a great read. I will add it to my kindle list. :)

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  6. Pat Conroy has been writing for many years, and he devotes himself to his work. He wrote "The Water Is Wide" when he was 24.

    Love,
    Janie, who loves Pat

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  7. I am totally checking that book out! Thanks for the referral.

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