“The tough poetry of Fisher’s novel buoys this chronicle of Oregon migation along on an incantatory wave. It’s 1847 and dour patriarch Israel Mitchell drags his reluctant wife , Lucy, and their chilren out to the Oregon Territory. Their paths cross with James McLaren, a bereaved Scot trapper whose children have all died from smallpox and whose Nez Perce wife has run off. Each day the murderous landscape spools mercilessly ahead of the emigrants, and Fisher’s depiction of a familiar seeming journey that is not adventurous, as myth would have it, but a daily exercise in folly and survival, is astonishing. A Sudden Country requires a patient reader, but the spell it casts is transformative and rare. The heartbreaking first chapter alone is worth any number of lesser novels.”

The review doesn’t lie. The first chapter left me breathless. When I finished the chapter I turned to Ted (we were both reading before bed) and said “Wow.” I didn’t have the words to describe how mesmerized and devastated I was by that first, extremely short chapter. This is what editors and agents mean when they say the first chapter (let alone the first page) must grab you and pull you in.

Happily, the rest of the book is proving just as beautifully written and intriguing and surprising. One particularly moving turn of phrase:

He remembered the dry grief cracking out.

Fisher is teaching a daily workshop called “Spirit and Matter in Historical Fiction” that I’ve signed up for. I can’t wait!

On a probably not-so-related note, or, well, speaking of the big country, the wild west, I watched “Calamity Jane“– the western musical starring Doris Day as the title character and Howard Keel as Wild Bill Hickok, her eventual love interest. The film and the Academy Award-winning song “Secret Love” is referenced in my book as is the hunky Howard Keel.  Though I think this photo on the left is from “Annie Get Your Gun” in which Keel also starred, this time playing opposite another brassy blonde: Betty Hutton.

“Calamity Jane” has its moments, but I was really just watching to see Keel (my main character has a crush on him; it’s easy to see why) and to hear the song. You can see/hear it here.

I just finished my teaching semester last week and this week I started teaching summer school, so I had about, umm, three days off in between. They call that a weekend.

On top of that i’ve got a cold, that feels to me like bronchitis, and I even lost my voice yesterday and for part of today (both times before or while I was teaching my class). Fun times. I’ve never lost my voice before.

Now I just sound like a cross between Demi Moore and James Earl Jones (I was going to say I sound like Selma Diamond but does anybody even know who Selma Diamond is anymore?).

I’m going away for the weekend– and promise to blog more when I get back.

I’m especially excited about Louise Erdrich’s new book, The Plague of Doves, that I started a few days ago. It’s stunning. Michiko Kakutani calls it her “most ambitious and … most deeply affecting work yet” in the NYTimes.
It originated as a short story in the NewYorker four years ago– read it here. I’ll talk more about it next week; i’ve already been picking out my favorite lines.

And finally, today, while parking at the mall in La Jolla, no less, to buy my nephew a birthday present I saw a bumper sticker that said : The Dixie Chicks Were Right! (photo from Adelphia.net)

Awesome.

********************************** Editor’s Note:

This Just In! I just discovered that Selma Diamond had an album (at least one, there might be more) out in 1960. It looks like a comedy album. Here’s the photo of the album and description:

STLP 5001 – Selma Diamond Talks…and Talks…and Talks… – Selma Diamond [1960] About “NOW”/About Being Single/About Men And Marriage/About “THEN”/About Four Minutes, 25 Seconds Long/About Her Aunt.

I’m SO Ebaying this.

He also sang the title song.

Well, this post has nothing to do with Grant Goodeve, but it does have to do with Grants.

I spent just about the entire weekend working on a Writing Grant.

The website for the grant did say:

“Don’t wait until the last minute. The Inquiry Form requires considerable attention… don’t underestimate the amount of time you’ll need to complete it.”

And boy, were they right. Actually I started it a couple of weeks ago. I printed out the questions they ask, questions that require word count answers (100 words, 150 words, etc.). But this weekend, and specifically yesterday, is when I really sat down to get it all out on paper (or on my computer). It’s due on Tuesday.
And you know what? I think i’m getting pretty good at this Grant stuff. I enjoyed writing this. I got a bit of a thrill at looking at my “project” (as they call it), or my book, from the outside.

This is what I had to do for this leg of the grant:

Describe it–my project, my book– in ONE sentence (yes, ONE SENTENCE–that was one of the questions),

“place it in context” for them,

explain how my project takes an original approach to content and form,

describe what kind of impact–aesthetic, intellectual, communal, civic and/or social, that I hope my project will have,

discuss how my project might act as a catalyst for my artistic and professional growth (um, well, I hope it helps me to get a full-time teaching gig!–is that a petty thing to hope for? For health benefits?),

explain who might be the audience for my work and how do I hope to reach them,

talk about what are appropriate venues for my work,

and finally, express what non-monetary resources might they provide to help me realize my project.

Keep in mind that each one of these questions had a word count!

Wheww.

But they are all such good, thoughtful questions. Again, it really made me think about my work–the whole picture– the future of it, the audience, the scope of it, the impact. It made it seem more real and possible– even if I don’t get the grant (i’ve applied for many of them, and writing residencies this season).

I sent in the finished application today. This is only round 1. If I make it to the next round I send in actual samples of work. Then the round after that I believe is interviews.

It sounds kind of like American Idol! If so, I hope i’m the David Archuletta.

Anyway, no matter what happens, I sent in the application, and i’m really glad that the application questions got me fired up yet again about the book. Whoever wrote those questions is a genius (well, and a sadist– my back is killing me from sitting at the computer for so long!). But I thank thank you thank you.

and, for the record, I was always more of a Merle the Pearl fan…

who was your favorite Bradford?

<–remember Sniffles?!

I’m not really that sick but I have a bad code cold. I’m all congested, my head feels

like it’s going to expwode explode. I’m sniffling, sneezing. Blowing my nobe nose all day.

Thankfully, i’m not really feeling too terrible, just stuffed up, so i’m being very productive.

Yesterday I cleaned my office.

Last night I watched a movie on Tivo: The Skeleton Key, that Louisiana Bayou hoodoo- voodoo thriller starring Kate Hudson and Gena Rowlands. It wasn’t too bad, and it had one of those ‘shocking’ twists ala The Sixth Sense at the end. I’m usually pretty good at calling these but this one I didn’t see coming. (speaking of scary movies, a week ago I went and saw “The Signal”– a low budget/indie horror film that was told in three parts; each part had a different director. The first part is the best. Though I did love the movie’s grindhouse feel– grainy film, unrelenting violence, very low budget special effects –it even began as somewhat of a homage: the main character is watching a ‘vintage’ grindhouse horror film when everything goes horribly wrong. Some genuinely creepy moments in the first section and good performances). It’s worth a look if you’re a fan of the genre.

I made soup and Pigs N A Blanket (a low-cal version from Hungry-girl.com).

I finished the book Three Junes by Julia Glass. I know, finally, right? She’s a remarkable writer, but for some reason my heart wasn’t in it. I wasn’t dying to get back to it every night. Maybe if I had read it at a different time (like in June? hahahaha). I don’t think i’ve ever taken so long to read a book (except for Roberto Bolaño’s The Savage Detectives, which I never finished). Glass’ book is incredibly detailed and layered but maybe it was the confusing jumping around in time within the chapters. I enjoyed the middle section the best.

(my next read is The Road, by Cormac McCarthy)

I went through some of my newest postcards, including these:

They’re just screaming to be made into collages. What do you think: A Monkey in the middle holding onto the beauty pageant trophy, a slab of meet in place of the cake, a flying saucer or Godzilla behind Maria/Julie Andrews (any other suggestions?).

Then today I cleaned the bathroom.

I worked on a grant proposal that is due Tuesday (I think i’ll be able to send it tomorrow).

I began writing my three pieces for the Photobooth reading i’m giving on March 13 at the Whistle Stop in San Diego (more on that later).

Tonight i’m going to make some Oatmeal Brownies and start reading the new book.

Maybe I should get a code cold more often?

ps– thanks to Lee, Angie, and Jeffrey for the fabulous 6 word memoirs you left in my comments on that/previous post, and Amy– aren’t they a great activity for students? (by the way, Amy, I so can’t wait for your book How Far is the Ocean From Here).

Sweetpea finally got some recognition. Go Sweetpea!

But the best two moments in the show were the lines delivered in typical deadpan by Tim Gunn:

“Resolve the skirt”

and

When he told Sweetpea that her first attempt at a Denim Wedding Dress looked like

“Happy Hands at Home Granny Circle”

I think “Resolve The Skirt” is going to be my new motto/mantra.

(photo of Tim from tifaux.com)