The Novel Effect

Until recently, I’ve resisted the urge to join the blogging universe. I follow a few blogs like Dooce and Jane, Candid. But, I’ve never allowed myself to become a blog connoisseur. I have a bit of a self control problem. I only have 24 hours in each day and if I start munching on some extra tasty blogs I know I’ll go on a binge that will last well into the night.

This past weekend I went to the Writer’s Digest Editors’ Intensive sponsored by F&W Publications. The fantastic Jane Friedman, Publisher & Editorial Director of Writer’s Digest, sang the praises of blogging as a way for aspiring authors to build a platform. Until Jane’s endorsement, I feared writing my own blog might be akin to climbing aboard a spaceship bound for a blog shaped black hole. I have a history of getting sucked into black holes; scrapbooking, rubber stamping, and the Twilight Series and Outlander Series, to name a few. When I find a new and intriguing black hole the gravitational pull is immense. I fall in and lose the ability to escape for more pressing matters, like childcare and bathing and finishing the rewrite on my own novel.

Jane Friedman proved to be one heck of a black hole saleswoman. (I’ll write more about the WD Editors’ Intensive later.) At her advice I have decided to create a blog with a hook. Here’s the idea, begin by asking one person to suggest a novel that effected them, read said novel and blog about it. Who know what I’ll find. I’m sure I’ll break that rule – but hey – Jane’s own Writer’s Digest blog is called “There Are No Rules.” 

As Maria sings in The Sound of Music, “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.” For the first novel, I’ve chosen the first novel I remember reading, Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Carroll’s novel was actually read to me by my dad. I don’t remember much about the story but what I do remember was the wonderful sensation of being tucked in bed, under cool, cotton sheets. The house was quiet except for the soothing tenor of my father’s voice as he read me to sleep. I borrowed that volume of “Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland” from my dad’s house a few years ago and pulled it off the shelf in my office this morning. In honor of Father’s Day, I plan to climb in my delightfully cozy bed and begin reading tonight. I’ll let you know if I can hear my dad’s voice as I read Carroll’s words.