Raven's View

I'm building myself a non-fiction reading list.

I've always had catholic tastes (I love that phrase), been interested in a wide variety of subjects, following a variety of blogs and newsletters, easily distracted by sparkly things. Some might see that all as just showing a lack of focus and fear of commitment and/or failure, I prefer to see it as a healthy exploration of all the world has to offer.

I was encouraged when Chuck Wendig, in a post about 25 ways to more creativity, told us (#10) that reading more non-fiction is a good thing. Yes, reading fiction can show us examples of how to write, and should be part of a writer's day. However, the creative process itself - that quirky way we blend different ideas and cultures together, the examination of everyday life with a 'what-if' twist thrown in - that process needs something to be creative with. So it follows that the more ideas and concepts we throw into the jumble between our ears, the more we have to be creative with.

I've avoided non-fiction books in the past - too much work to read, no exciting chases and murders, no heaving bosoms of damsels in distress, no bug-eyed monsters or ray guns, etc etc. But a recent book idea, a 'what if' idea involving a change in very early First Nations culture, had me heading to non-fiction. I found a good resource to start with - Guns, Germs, and Steel - but will likley expand to more once I finish it. Time to expand my non-fiction universe. I subscribe to New Scientist and Smithsonian newsletters, and follow several speculative blogs, but have as one ROW80 objective to read from more non-fiction books each day.

This week's flash fiction from Terrible Minds was to choose a setting from  this list of five:

• Lunar Brothel
• Abandoned Amusement Park
• The Bottom of the Ocean
• Penthouse Apartment during the Apocalypse
• Fairy Tale Forest

As usual, I let the idea sit in the back of my head for a few days, and suddenly the story popped up, complete with a twist. I decided to do as first person - had some struggles with tenses but here it is ...

I had a great time with the first time I did A Round of Words in 80 Days, so I will start it again April 2 - only five more sleeps until then. I sort of got into the twice a week post habit - so here I am again.

I had 3-4 writing objectives last time, and did pretty well I think. I didn't always meet them all, but I maintain I did do a lot more than I would have done without this. Plus I  met a lot of interesting people. And learned that I too could claim the title "aspiring writer". So, all keen, for this next round I looked at all the things I wanted to get done, and never got around to doing, and added them all to the list. 

Then I realized the list was longer than hours in the day. So - pared it down to my top priorities and will have an extra catch-all objective - to spend a chunk of time, 1-2 hours, whittling away at my longer to-do list. We'll how that goes.

Seems strange to be relatively free of writing objectives, but didn't take me long to find more.

Editing - still reading about it but I'm getting so much from this book that I feel anything I do will just have to be covered again. So - plowing ahead with my reading.

Short stories - Chuck has another challenge - of course - to pick from one of five suggested settings:

Lunar Brothel

Abandoned Amusement Park

The Bottom of the Ocean

Penthouse Apartment during the Apocalypse

Fairy Tale Forest

Due Friday, noon. Likely will let it percolate in my mind then write Thursday. Or Friday morning.