I decided tonight that I need to blog about writing, because it’s something that has become an important part of me. Writing for me is so beautiful and terrifying all at once. I actually debated whether to post this topic on this blog, or start a new blog on Blogger. Why do I feel so compelled to separate this from my “real” life? So here I am, forcing myself to consider that latent writer in me as part of my everyday life.
When I was young, I had an imagination that could set a forest on fire. When I laid down at night, I would stay awake for hours, creating make-believe worlds in my mind. My head was full of new characters, conflicts, and happy endings. But no more.
Somehow I’ve lost all of that. Somewhere along the way, I taught myself to supress my imagination in favor of reality. I was an incurably optimistic and romantic teenager and young adult. I want to find that again.
I’m a technical writer by training, and a marketing writer by trade. These writing skills are unfulfilling for me—it’s time to find my inner story-teller again. The one who wouldn’t let herself go to sleep as a child until her make-believe story had a sufficiently satisfying ending.
I just finished the funniest book I’ve read in ages: The Other Side Of The Story
by Marian Keyes.
It’s about three women whose lives become intertwined as they sludge through life’s bumpy road of careers, family, and love. First, I have to warn you–Marian Keyes is an Irish author. The reason I present that as a warning is two-fold: first, if you don’t like to read stories where you might have to stop and decode the vernacular, you probably don’t like to read European authors if you’re American; second, I LOVE to read books by European authors because I totally dig the vernacular, so that may color my raves. It’s probably horridly, stereo-typically American of me, but I get such a kick out their sayings. Like snog. You can’t find a much cooler word than that!
Anyhoo, I diverge. It took me a little while to get into the book (perhaps because I was coming down of the high of a vacation in Las Vegas?), but once I hit my groove, I couldn’t put it down. I even snuck it into work with me! (Shhhh… don’t tell anyone)
The dialogue in The Other Side is good, but what’s even better is the internal workings of the characters. Marian Keyes tells it with humor and empathy. It’s dark and light all at once, and Marian Keyes hits female insecurities and habits dead on. OK, she gets mine, anyway. And the insults and character descriptions are pithy and laugh-out-loud funny. One of my favorites is describing a character’s bosses as being frequent visitors to the dark side, and they probably even have frequent flier miles. I love it. I’ll have to figure out how I can work “frequent visitors to the dark side” into my everyday use…
The Other Side Of The Story is a don’t-miss. I’m definitely going to take a look at her other novels.
Recent Comments