Reading and writing

I would have thought this paralyzing week and more of subfreezing cold along with snow and ice would have been conducive to more writing. Gratefully however the time has been more taken by establishing and reestablishing  contact with those important, out there, beyond the mountains.

Some of this has been prompted by the loss of three cousins all in December.  The last of five siblings I played with as a child and learned lessons with as I grew.  This is a vignette I wrote sometime ago that describes one such occasion my dearest and nearest cousin Shirley and I shared.  Gramma Makes her Point.

I digress from the intent of this diary. There is plenty of time to pursue the mourning.

I love to read but too often it takes a Mack truck to get me started.  I seem to be back to it now.  I am beginning to see a pattern in my reaction.  I think I am discovering the famous point of view writers bring to their writing. More personally rewarding is that I think I am discovering that I have one. I realize that is not enough to make a writer but it's neat anyway.

My point of view is simple.  I must love and present all my characters with empathy, even the potential killer in my final creative writing course. (That started quite a reaction and I have yet to deal with all the red marks and get it into reading form.)

When reading, no matter the elegance of style, I find myself straining and becoming disturbed particularly by writing, both fiction and non-fiction, that presents characters in a relentlessly critical or judgmental  light.  I have commented in other venues that I see this as the cause of the dissonance I have always experienced with Margaret Atwood and more recently Ian McEwan (though the jury is still out on him to some extent.)

My review of The Bolter gives an example of a recent book that satisfies my biases.  And Edith Wharton and the somewhat disparaged Somerset Maughm I have turned to when seeking characters I could love.

But the joy of life is its diversity and I am glad there are all kinds of us and each has those with whom we resonate and feel kinship.