Book Piles & Editors {CELEBRATE This Week: 122}

12 Comments
 
I’m glad you are here to celebrate! Share a link to your blog post below and/or use #celebratelu to share celebrations on Twitter. Check out the details here. Celebrate This Week goes live on Friday night around 10(ish). Consider it as a weekend celebration. Whenever it fits in your life, add your link. Please leave a little comment love for the person who links before you.
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I’m celebrating this book stack. Take a close look at it. I’m in love because it’s such an eclectic mix of books.  I’ve set an aggressive deadline schedule to finish drafting my latest professional book. It’s necessary so it will be real this Fall.

It will also take a miracle.
Earlier this week, I decided I needed to allow some research to guide me. I always love coming across quotes from other books when I read professional texts. If I love it, then I should write it.
With looming deadlines, it takes a remarkable amount of self-control to stay unhurried. I’ve committed to not rushing. After all, rushing is for amateurs. So I decided to linger in books and articles.
A small prayer and a short perusal of my favorites bookshelf and I landed with this pile. Here’s the miracle:
It is spot-on.
This eclectic stack is giving just what I need…and more.
It provided a handful of quotes I shared to inspire my friend whose teaching heart was running on empty.
It unlocked some thinking I’m doing about happiness and joy.
It gave me a plethora of quotes for Part II (Empowered to Entice All Writers).
And it gave me this sustenance, from Jane Yolen’s book, Take Joy: A Writers Guide to Loving the Craft. 
Linda [Yolen’s editor] gave me permission to breathe, to take time in my books, to look about the landscape — both outer and inner — and finally to trust the reader would follow, even at a leisurely pace, where I led.

Why was that advice so important? Because there is more to any story than a cathedral, than a concentration camp, than a stolen sphinx. Take a deep breath, and when you blow it out slowly, you will see your story take on its own life. Not the life that you impose upon it, but the life the story itself tells you it needs.
Which brings me to my next celebration. Bill. He’s my editor and has wrapped strong arms around this project. I’ve needed someone to cheer me on and rein me in. Bill is doing both. He keeps telling me, “Go slowly,” and yet, at the same time, he’s nudging me to finish soon.
It takes a sophisticated art to do both.
Am I a lucky writer, or what?

An InLinkz Link-up

My offerings to encourage writers (and their teachers), because I’m smitten by the way writers work…
{Discover. Play. Build.} Website. It’s designed to be my offering to writing teachers. 
You’ll find video minilessons and a link to the {Discover. Play. Build.} YouTube Channel where they are all housed.
{Discover. Play. Build.} Newsletter. They come each month. Register in the sidebar.
( For more information on these resources (and others), check out this post.)
Teach & Celebrate Writers (#TandCwriters) Twitter Chat — Sunday, February 7 at 8:00 pm EST
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Places you can find me celebrating throughout the week:
Instagram:  @ruth_ayres
Twitter: @ruth_ayres

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12 Comments »

  1. Ruth, I am thinking that your stack looks like one of mine while I am creating. I try to find a collection that will inform my writing so thank you for validating that this is way to feed my mind and my soul. Best of luck with your new venture.

  3. Ruth, I loved perusing your stack and that you said a small prayer before this short perusal of your bookshelf. And now, I'm thinking about the advice to “Go slowly” and “Finish soon.” It might apply to some of my challenges. Have a wonderful weekend.

  6. Your book pile is wonderful! I have a few of those in my pile too. Sounds like you have a great editor/coach. Going slow to go fast takes some skill! Glad you have such support in your ventures.

  7. I love your stack, have and/or have read many of them. To glean what you need from them is a good thing, and to 'go slowly' helps everything be more thoughtful. I look forward to a new book, however, so glad it won't be a couple of years to wait! Happy writing!

  8. Love your book stack and I love that you get inspiration from the words. I know exactly what you mean. I love words that make me slow down, think and wonder. Good luck writing!

  10. Lovely stack! I so enjoyed Bird, Bird by Bird, Circus Mirandus and of course – Celebrating Writers. I'm interested in reading a few more of them and wish you well with your creative project. 🙂

  11. I love this post for so many reasons – the biggest one being that one of my goals this year is to slow down… which seems so weird because I'm so busy and just started a new job which is often overwhelming… and I have so much to do! But… I think slowing down is the key to getting things done… I need to be mindful. I believe that a lot of things can happen in the “pause.” Thank you for sharing this!

  12. Seeing this stack of books is like seeing so many familiar friends!!! LOVE these books and I love hearing about the discipline it takes to slow down and “hurry” simultaneously! Thank you for sharing!