I’ve been MIA this week as summer took over. Less than a month left and so much to do with kids and Web of Angels. Do you like the cover? I’m really happy with it! I got the page design last week and it’s just lovely. Before my first book came out, I had no […]
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A Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Cave of Forgotten Dreams
Yesterday I saw a 3D movie and it was gorgeous. This is how it came about. My dear sister-in-law and her boyfriend were intending to take my kids to Canada’s Wonderland on Saturday but changed their plans due to an uncertain weather forecast. As it turned out, Saturday was a beautiful day, albeit warm, a […]
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: A Reading Find: The Real Shangri-la
The other day, A and I were talking about our kids. One thing led to another as it does, and soon we were talking about patriarchy and matriarchy. A, who has an encyclopedic knowledge (his nickname is Mr. Peabody though he is much cuter), told me about the Naxi (also spelled Nakhi) and the sub-group […]
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: The Mind’s Eye: A Review
“Language, that most human invention, can enable what, in principle, should not be possible. It can allow all of us, even the congenitally blind, to see with another person’s eyes.” Oliver Sacks. Oliver Sacks, now 77, has been a New York neurologist since 1965 and an author for 40 years. The Mind’s Eye is his […]
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: The Enchanted April: A Review
The Enchanted April by Elizabeth Von Arnim tells the story of four women in the early 1920′s who share a small, remote Italian castle for a month, and in doing so their lives forever change. The women range in age from late 20′s to early 60′s. Each of them has a central problem that has […]
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Heat Wave Over! And my book is…
I’m a new woman! The heat took its toll. The only way I could tell the difference between a hot flash and hot air was that I needed 2 ice packs vs 1 to keep from turning into a puddle. My good humour about the whole situation deteriorated until poor A fled to look for […]
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Heat and Books
A high today of 33 (91.4F) with humidex that will be in the 40′s (100′s). So although I thought that I would be blogging up a storm after I handed in my draft, I’ve been slow off the mark. It’s much easier to lie around reading when it’s this hot. Today not even that–I’m taking […]
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Cakes and Ale: A Review
I read Cakes and Ale by Somerset Maugham for the Slaves of Golconda bookclub. Written in 1930, it is narrated by the midlist writer William Ashenden. As a young man in the 1890′s, Ashenden knew the British literary icon, Edward Driffield (ostensibly based on Thomas Hardy, which Maugham denied). At that time Driffield was a […]
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Done! And What I’ve Learned About Writing
The revision is back with my intelligent and meticulous editor. She’ll be reading through it and there may still be some tweaking to do, as well as the copy-edit, but the big work is really done. I’m excited…and scared! This has been such a long project. I began, 8 years ago, with an entirely different […]
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Nearly Done
I’ve gone through all my editors’ notes and made all the changes–and have started one more run through to make sure I like what I did. I will surface soon–though I may need to do nothing but twiddle my thumbs for a couple of days. I’ve learned a lot and wonder if it will make […]
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Page 262
I am pushing to get as far as I can today because tomorrow, with temp going up to 34C (that’s 93F) tomorrow, I have no expectations of getting anything done other than lying in front of a fan. I’ve been learning to be more careful and punctilious in getting characters from point A to point […]
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Page 125
That’s where I’m at today. It’s hard to take a break in the afternoon to walk, though it’s good to get out of the house. This novel has always had a lot of energy, even through all the years, but now there is so much momentum it’s hard to pull away. I made falaffel sandwiches […]
Continue readingA Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: Draft 10-A
This is it folks. The last draft. I got my editor’s notes–we had a wonderful meeting. I started yesterday.
Filed under: Literary, Personal Tagged: Writing Life
A Novelist's Mind: Lilian Nattel Online: poem of the week: The Cuckoo Song
The Cuckoo Song Sing, cuccu, nu. Sing, cuccu. Sing, cuccu. Sing, cuccu, nu. Sumer is i-cumen in – Lhude sing, cuccu!Groweth sed and bloweth med And springth the wude nu. Sing, cuccu! Awe bleteth after lomb, Lhouth after calve cu,Bulluc sterteth, bucke verteth – Murie […]
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