This story is a part of a larger work that I'm currently working on. In the work, Lynn and Luke Wallace are not alone; there are other characters, all living in this town called Yardarm. In writing this particular story, though, I focused on getting to know Lynn and Luke, understanding their stories. (Isn't that beguiling? We write stories to understand stories.) But so I gave myself leeway. Since I knew that Eclectic Rituals wasn't going to be a part of this larger work, I didn't have to worry about coming to some sort of conclusion; I could focus on the actions and interactions in play. By the story's end, there are still pieces missing, questions unanswered, speculation. I like that.

I try to write a bit every morning when I wake up and every night before going to sleep; my day is bracketed by words and narrative. For me, I write best when I'm also immersed in reading. There's nothing like writing in the wake of reading a stunning book or collection; it's almost friendly competition, "Take that, Raymond Carver, you wrote something really great, now it's my turn." It's also helpful to have multiple projects going at once (of the fiction and nonfiction variety). That way, it's hard to get stuck. If you can't immerse yourself in a particular world at any given moment, move on to the next one. Allow yourself that freedom.

 

I'm just coming off reading Luis Alberto Urrea's The Devil's Highway, Stephen Elliott's The Adderall Diaries and Tom Grimes's Mentor. I'm on a real nonfiction kick.

Three authors I couldn't live without are Marilynne Robinson, Junot Diaz and Tobias Wolff. All three have such distinct styles that really sing on the page. But besides that, Housekeeping made me fall in love with language, In Pharaoh's Army made me cherish nonfiction, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Drown clued me in to what a story is supposed to do, led me to understand the stuff of narrative.