ecstatic talk bits

what i am reading this week... 3 links i came across.

Pep Talk from Neil Gaiman - NaNoWriMo is starting again. i won't be part this year, as i am wrapped up in the group novel, which is moving towards completion now. or rather: jumbling towards it. maybe it's no coincidence that i chanced upon the Pep Talk from Neil Gaiman this week, in this season of revising and renovating: "Writing is like building a wall. It's a continual search for the word that will fit in the text, in your mind, on the page. The wall-builder erects her wall one rock at a time until she reaches the far end of the field. If she doesn't build it it won't be there. So she looks down at her pile of rocks, picks the one that looks like it will best suit her purpose, and puts it in. The search for the word gets no easier but nobody else is going to write your novel for you."

100 Bits of the World - the homepage of artist Sabrina Ward Harrison. moving, literally. full of colours in these days of vaining light. and coming with words from Walt Whitman: "Love the earth and the sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to everyone that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul,.."

Ecstatic Days - Jeff Vandermeer's blog on books, his new Predator novel, his experience of writing it in 2 months, quotes from Nick Hornby about being found out, Ninjas, other ecstatic instances, and various writing tips: "Okay, I’ll admit it: work on my new novel is going well because every morning my long-suffering yet often amused wife Ann hides the router box and my cell phone. I get up around 7am, I have my breakfast, then get down to work. Around noon I take a break to get some lunch, then go back to it, usually at that point editing or organizing notes. Around 2:30 I call Ann on our landline and she tells me where the router box and the cell phone are so I can finish up the afternoon with necessary emails and other work, before going to the gym."