When I first started this blog I remember hanging out on Blog Catalog and it always seemed I was talking to people who were facing writers block or unable to think of topics to post about and generally struggling to regularly publish a blog. And I would look at the huge stack of books on my couch and think to myself, ‘at least I don’t have _that_ problem.
And let me say right off that my stack of books is as tall as ever, so I can’t really use that as an excuse for my recent lack of posts. Honestly I don’t know why I have been spending my time lately playing games and watching television and even reading books rather than posting and promoting my blog. Sometimes, I suspect, you just need a mental break. Having recharged my inner batteries I hope to on Monday resume my five posts per week and thought I would ease back into things by posting today about three great books I’ve read during my hiatus.
I have long been a fan of Sue Grafton’s alphabetical series of mystery novels featuring Kinsey Millhone the odd loner private detective in Santa Teresa California– a fictional city modeled after Santa Barbara. And Grafton’s twentieth installment T Is For Trespass may well be her best yet. It was comforting to return for an interval to Millhone’s world where Grafton has once again weaved a very engaging and suspenseful tale. I was a bit surprised that in this novel Grafton used a shifting perspective– some of the chapters are written from the point of view of the main villain rather than from Kinsey’s point of view. I am not a hundred percent certain but I believe this is the first time in the series that Millhone has not been the first person narrator throughout.
I also got to feeling after awhile that Millhone has spent too much time working for insurance companies and has lost a bit of her humanity and compassion. Kinsey says some very uncharitable things about very poor people whom she has been hired to evict from their apartment and I found myself a bit appalled by Kinsey’s incorporating what seemed to me a "being poor is the equivalent of being morally evil" attitude that was quite distasteful to me. These quibbles aside, T Is For Trespass is a great mystery. Highly recommended to fans of the series and Recommended to anyone who enjoys a good suspense novel.
By contrast Sara Roahen’s Gumbo Tales was a pure delight. Roahen’s memoir of moving to New Orleans and becoming a restaurant critic was highly readable and I greatly enjoyed watching Roahen discover the city I know and love so much. Recommended.
I recently came across one of Robert A. Heinlein’s juvenile science fiction books while shelving in junior paperbacks. Have Spacesuit Will Travel (no image, Worldcat) is a wonderfully engaging story. It has all of the twists and turns of Heinlein’s adult science fiction, though none of the sexual libertine sub-plots that figured so prominently in his later work. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and was even inspired to go back and re-read Stranger In a Strange Land. Recommended.
And finally today, in order to make this post into a proper meme I decided to tag two of my favorite bloggers who have also been on hiatus lately to post and let us know what’s behind their recent lack of posts. And so I tag Dawn, the Anti-Barbie and Jamie, the Suburbian Queen with the Hiatus Comeuppance meme and challenge them to post this week just to say hello and let us know they are still around. A happy weekend to each and every one of you and please check back Monday evening when I will resume my regular Monday–Friday posts here on The Thin Red Line.
I find that so many things compete for my time. Even if you love to write and feel like you are writing about important topics, writing can take a back seat to making money or family obligations. I can honestly say I have never in my life even had the slightest hint of writers block. But I have never really made any money writing, so sometimes it takes effort to avoid being crushed by non-writing tasks. Writers block is non-existent if you love to write. What is reality is exactly what you describe. Other parts of your life intruding, for good or for bad.
Some of the luckiest people in the world are those that can make money writing. I always gets a bit irked when I hear someone who makes an income from their writing complain about writers block!
I know what you mean about professional writers whining about writer’s block, Will. Though I do sort of appreciate it. For me it is not simply a matter of Time when other interests or commitments keep me away from posting. I find I really Do need to be in a reasonably rested and focused frame of mind to produce copy that is worth reading and it is less not having time than not being in a frame of mind to write. This was not my first hiatus and I’m sure it won’t be my last. But at the risk of tooting my own horn I will say that given the rather high degree of challenge in my self assigned job to write a book report every day, forever, I honestly believe I have shown a pretty high level of devotion and produced a body of content I am proud of.
Hi, Alan. Thanks for the Grafton review. I’ve read them all, I think, and look forward to each one, but the intervals between books seem to have been increasing. Hard to imagine how that happens, eh?
I’ve hardly written at all for my fiction blog in the past few months. I have written a fair amount for the environmental blog (http://greenchemistry.wordpress.com/), which has 10-20 times the readership, if not more, though I must admit that isn’t saying much! I’m a bit burnt out from all of it, though. Maybe the pressure of finally earning more than $2 has gotten to me (I’m up to about $4.50). I’m still reading a fair amount and just read the first two Reykjavik thrillers by by Arnaldur Indridason: Jar City and Silence of the Grave. The first was good and the latter was outstanding. I suppose I’ll review them…
I hope you are well. It was a pleasure to read through your latest posts, and I need to read more. Sorry I’ve been absent, and best wishes, Jim
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