Friday Forays In Fiction: Reading & Research

Last Thursday and again this Tuesday, I got to visit the Longview library and among the materials I checked out were things to support several of my fiction WIP. For Mobile Hopes, my NaNo novel this past November, I checked out three short story collections. Remember, Mobile Hopes was envisioned as a novel woven of dozens of short stories, each featuring a different character living in the same mobile home park. It is also an exercise in learning the art of the short story so reading short stories is part of the process.

For Spring Fever, my NaNo novel from 2007, I checked out several books on time, seasons, calendars.

For my story (Novella?) Home Is Where the Horror Is, aka Crystal's story, I checked out several books about fundamentalism and cults. Which is also central to my FOS story world to which both Crystal and Faye et al from Making Rag Doll Babies and Million Dolar Maybes belong.

Other than the time I spent searching them out on the shelves and packing them home (to Mom's) and rearranging my writing station here to make room for them all, I haven't spent much time with them other than gazing at them and thinking about what I hope to do with them.

It seems that every time I find a free moment or two to sit with a book, my eyes and/or mind just blur out on me. I know this is not going to get better unless I first find time to catch up on some sleep. I'm hoping to address that issue tonight. It means giving up the majority of my late night session--the only time free of noise, chaos and risk of interruption. But the sleep deprivation has accumulated to the point I am getting little return on investment for the use I've been putting those hours for over a week now.