Hellgoing

There’s that old saying that in order to write well you have to read.  I believe that to be 100% true.  If you don’t have time to read you don’t have time to write and if you don’t read chances are your writing will likely suffer.  For me, this is indeed the case.  And since I’ve been knee deep in prose for some time, it is so good for my soul to put the pen down and pick up the stories of other writers.  It gives me a chance to breathe, for the creative well to fill up.  Reading is how I realized I had the gumption to tackle writing, to acknowledge my gift and then share it with others.  All those books my nose was tucked into as a kid excited me, challenged my imagination, my emotions and my way of thinking.  That is still the case now, even more so because being inspired by the words of other writers is exhilarating.  I admire writers, their work, their words and their courage.  I say courage because it takes a good deal of guts to sit down and write.  It’s brave and isolating and at times, really really hard.  But, the rewards far outweigh the struggles.  There is nothing more satisfying than completing a project and feeling earnest enough to let the eyes of another pour over it.  It’s a dream, a goal and an extreme accomplishment to finish something and release it.  Ask any writer. 

I am about to tackle Alice Munro’s short story collection called, ‘Dear Life’ but I just finished a unique and commanding collection by Lynn Coady called ‘Hellgoing’.  It won the Scotiabank Giller Prize and I can tell you that after reading it, it was most deserving.  I read ‘Mean Boy’ some years back, a funny and sharp novel about a small town boy who becomes obsessed with his poetry professor and longs to break free from the confines of conformity.  It drew me in immediately and so did ‘Hellgoing’.  She writes exceptional stories about a vast array of people.  They are exciting and riveting characters in unimaginable situations but they also possess something each of us can relate to.  She is good to her readers, she doesn’t miss a trick.  I have ‘The Antagonist’ to read as well but I love her writing so much I want to savor it.  So, Alice Munro is next, keeping with the rich tradition of outstanding women writers who continually blow my mind with their work, their attention to detail, character, narrative and and their passion for story-telling.

If you haven’t read any of Lynn Coady’s work yet, do yourself a favor and pick something up.  All of it even.  She’s spectacular.

The written word rules. 

In propinquity,

Nic