George Saunders is just amazing. As a writer I am in constant awe of everything he creates, and now, because of this video, I'm in awe of his process as well. I'd call him a genius, but that's been established. If you haven't read his work I recommend starting with In Persuasion Nation.
Childhood Heroes
I think the things we love growing up do a lot to shape who we become. Here are a few of Young Beth's favorites.
Great Writer: Annie Dillard
In Pilgrim at Tinker Creek Annie Dillard writes about the natural world with a scientist's appetite for information and stoner's sense of wonder. It never fails to inspire me to take a walk and look around to see what's growing, breathing, feeding, breeding or dying.
“Let me repeat that these parasitic insects comprise ten percent of all known animal species. How can this be understood? Certainly we give our infants the wrong idea about their fellow creatures in the world. Teddy bears should come with tiny stuffed bearlice; ten percent of all baby bibs and rattles sold should be adorned with colorful blowflies, maggots, and screw-worms. What kind of devil’s tithe do we pay? What percentage of the world’s species that are not insects are parasitic? Could it be, counting bacteria and viruses, that we live in a world in which half the creatures are running from—or limping from—the other half?”
Great Writer: Renata Adler
Renata Adler is a terrifyingly good writer. Her sentences are perfection. Her observations are brutal, cutting. If you're a writer, you have to read this book immediately, then call me after so we can talk about it. Here are a few quotes if you're unconvinced:
“I think when you are truly stuck, when you have stood still in the same spot for too long, you throw a grenade in exactly the spot you were standing in, and jump, and pray. It is the momentum of last resort.”
“That ‘writers write’ is meant to be self-evident. People like to say it. I find it is hardly ever true. Writers drink. Writers rant. Writers phone. Writers sleep. I have met very few writers who write at all.”
“Speech, tennis, music, skiing, manners, love- you try them waking and perhaps balk at the jump, and then you’re over. You’ve caught the rhythm of them once and for all, in your sleep at night. The city, of course, can wreck it. So much insomnia. So many rhythms collide. The salesgirl, the landlord, the guests, the bystanders, sixteen varieties of social circumstance in a day. Everyone has the power to call your whole life into question here. Too many people have access to your state of mind. Some people are indifferent to dislike, even relish it. Hardly anyone I know.”
For Fun: A Zine About Soup!
My friend Rachel wanted to make a zine about soup. GREAT IDEA. I'm a writer who also loves to cook, so she asked me if I would like to contribute. I said yes, of course.