Sunday, January 10, 2010

D.C. al coda



Pulled.

----

This painting, "The girl and her
cello," is by Mats Eriksson.

16 comments:

Sarah Hina said...

I'm going to be getting around to blogs again soon. What with the holidays, the concentration on the new novel, and the fact that my kids have had 1 school day within the last 3 weeks, I've been remiss.

Okay. Excuses, excuses...but I have missed you all! :)

bard said...

Fantastic writing! Just wonderful.

Sarah Hina said...

Bard, I appreciate your warm words. Thank you!

Karen said...

Sarah - I am always amazed at your ability to get inside your characters. This is what makes you a real writer, I think - that you take us into that inner being and allow us to feel exactly the way the character does. What I know about music you could put in a shoe. What I know about Claire and music, a different thing altogether. A great tribute to you.

Megs - Scattered Bits said...

How do you do this? I am in awe again, laid open at your feet. When, when is your book coming out? I have to buy it. Your use of language has me drowned and inspired and wanting to experience the wonder all over again. And music! I absolutely love such music and here it is in a form I can read. So rarely can music be written or read. You let me read it, hear it, sing it in my very reading mind.

Sarah Hina said...

Karen, that is a deeply touching compliment you have paid me. Thank you so much for it.

You have pinpointed the part of writing I love most. Digging deep into a character's experience, and slipping on new skin.


Megs, thank you. Your comment had me grinning ear to ear. :)

My debut book is coming out August 1st. This excerpt is from my newest one.

I have long been in love with the cello, and I'm enjoying every minute of trying to make that instrument sing. Through words, if not notes. And I'm so very glad it was successful for you!

Charles Gramlich said...

Captures the music through words as well as I've ever seen it. Especially at the very end.

catvibe said...

You have really gotten into the head of a musician and a lover both. And you put me inside that head and on that stage. Just exquisite writing, as usual. I'm excited about your new book...;-)

Sarah Hina said...

Charles, it's very kind of you to say so. Translating music into words is a nearly impossible challenge. I must be crazy. :)


Cat, I have to say that I'm incredibly excited right now, too. I'm happy to be working on something that feels right. I've had too many starts and stops over the last couple years.

Thank you. :) Since you're so well versed in music, your words mean a lot to me.

the walking man said...

I wonder too is the life of art (in what ever form) the only way them beyond our eyesight will ever be able to view us?

Aniket Thakkar said...

As Karen so aptly puts it, it feels to be in the characters shoes. Not the ones that has Karen and mine music knowledge in them. ;)

And its with all the gifts of art and beliefs. We may find people who have similar feelings but never the same.

You are Mandrake with words!

K.Lawson Gilbert said...

Once again you have transported me beyond the present with your skilled writing and wonderful storytelling! You are so adept at repartee between your very fleshed-out characters. I really love your music themed flash pieces.

Nevine Sultan said...

How small we sometimes feel within our own creation, our own artistry. Though others may pay to watch us perform, to read what we write, to hang what we have painted upon their wall, we still feel like the automaton that must perform to please, not ourselves, but others. And we always do feel like that creator, and not the person that we truly are. And how uncomfortable within our own skin this feeling leaves us.

Sarah, this is a lovely slice of human emotion, of insecurity and uncertainty, and all of those other weaknesses that so mark us, and that we so struggle to hide... in vain. Beautiful and hurtful and tender, all at once.

Nevine

Sarah Hina said...

Mark, I think so. And what a deep, if narrow, prism it can be. Not to mention warping for the artist in question.


Aniket, I really don't know as much about music as I should, to be writing this novel. But what I really want to get across is how music makes a person (be it the musician or listener) feel.

Thank you for stopping by here with warm words, in the midst of the contest marathon! :)


Kaye, I appreciate that! Thank you so much. :) The banter comes easiest for me, so it's tempting to slip into conversation more than I ought.


Nevine, you've captured so well the conflict I've tried to portray here. Thank you for your keen perceptions and understanding--they are golden to me. :)

The passion to create pushes us forward, and touches others. Yet fear sparks when we feel like that's all we have to offer. To be loved for the gift, and outside of it, must be an artist's dearest wish.

joaquin carvel said...

i agree with everybody on this. but i want to say that your dialouge is second to none. i find it incredibly hard to write solid, real dialouge - to give it the life and nuance and power it needs while keeping it out of the way - but you do it so, so well. especially when it comes to little verbal jousts - doing that in a way that reveals a charachter while staying totally natural and unforced is one of those things where the greatness is in what the reader takes in without really noticing.

and, of course, someone who knows how to buck the system with panache never hurts. :)

Sarah Hina said...

Joaquin, I'm very grateful for your comments about dialogue here. I try to capture that naturalism in my own inner ear, but to know that it carries to yours is a relief and joy for me. I love experiencing that flow in others' work, of having that sensation of eavesdropping.

Thank you so much! :)