Continue to Continue
Progress continues. Somehow, the mere act of walking into class makes my writing brain turn on with an audible "Ping!" (Okay, maybe audible only to me.) I'm working on "Ohntai" again, because I was blindsided by something resembling the story's voice last Friday, and so have been writing out sentences and ideas and interesting turns of phrase on bits of paper in nearly every class since then. They are scattered around me on my desk. It's hard, this story, both the process of writing it and the content (inspired by the Holocaust--you can image the place I have to keep putting myself in to make this work), and yet I have to do it. This one needs to be written, and won't let me alone until it's done. Even if my progress is limited to a few sentences a day.
I'm busy. So, so busy, mentally if not always physically. I have eight weeks of class to go, I think. Seventeen more required texts to get through, and a crapload of research material. I'm making progress, though. Had a required-text pause, having gotten myself far enough ahead, and so have been reading research books. Read through
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, and
Hitler's Daughter by Jackie French, and
Clara's War by Kathy Kacer. (I'm giving the latter a thumbs-down. Blech.) Started
Jane Eyre on the subway today, and have a copy of
Agnes Gray.
I'm also still reading
The Lady and the Monk by Pico Iyer, which officially we have already talked about and should have moved beyond, but I can't quite leave alone. I pick it up in odd moments. I can't quite explain what's so interesting about this book; it's the story of the year that the author spent living in Kyoto. A beautiful book, in an unobtrusive sort of way.
