The Joy of Books

This captivating video from Type Books in Toronto shows what really goes on in a bookstore after dark (ooh!).   Heard about it via Twitter and daily e-newsletter Shelf Awareness – the virtual trail leading the way to this lively paper trail…

Do You Choose a Book or Does It Choose You?

I heard a very enjoyable interview yesterday with Steven Spielberg on Radio 4’s Front Row.  He was discussing the film War Horse, but he also talked about filmmaking in general and some of the things he said made me think about the writing process.

Spielberg said he doesn’t choose what film to direct next; it chooses him when he least expects it.  He may read something in a newspaper or get an idea for something and fall in love with it and then spend one to two years of his life working on it.

Getting an idea for a character in a novel may feel more spontaneous than writing a non-fiction book.  But you still have that moment where you have the spark of an idea or decide that you want to take something you are passionate about and turn it into a book and start to explore possibilities.

Interestingly he also said that for him confidence can be the enemy of the director and that you need to be willing to improvise and take things scene by scene. Similarly, you can have a plan for your book, but don’t be afraid to deviate if it takes you in another direction – overall or in an individual chapter.  You are the author, but a book also has its own creative energy and you need to respect that.

Some of the films Spielberg has directed have led to successful sequels, but he said that he prefers to do something new as it is more exciting and scary.  There may be lots of topics that you can write about in different ways, so don’t be afraid to explore those.

He added that whether or not you are successful you have to keep making movies and keep moving forward.   On that note, keep writing and enjoy the process.

Guardians of Being: Or What Cats and Dogs Can Teach Us

I recently came across a book so exquisite that I became weak at the knees and clutched the shelves for support.  A beautiful hardback book with recycled pages of subtle colour and texture, entitled ‘Guardians of Being’.  Far from being an ancient tome, it is, in fact, a comic strip, and a deep one at that.

The book is actually a collaboration between author Eckhart Tolle, who has written the words and illustrator Patrick McDonnell, creator of the comic strip MUTTS.  It features Earl, Patrick’s own dog, who is apparently, ‘a small mutt with a big heart, cheerfully tugging at the leash on the walk of life’, and Mooch, a black and white cat ‘with his own way of thinking and talking (“Yesh!”).’

    It says in the book:

   Everything natural – every flower, tree, 

and animal – has important

 lessons to teach us if we  would only

        stop, look, and listen.

 It is most endearing and full of gentle wisdom.  In short, an absolute treat.

Buy it for someone special: YOU.  (I already did!).