Grave Rubbings (Meme Time)

I run my fingers
over the coil
of your words,
hoping the rubbing
I take will
plunge deeper
than paper
to smudge the blood
of this heart
with the ink on
our soul

---

Karen, at Keeping Secrets, was kind enough to tag me for this 25 Most Influential meme. I found the task rewarding, if difficult, as I can't really say how much these writers have influenced my own work. It's difficult for me to chart a straight line between Dostoevsky and myself (what, you don't see it, either??). And yet I remember reading Crime and Punishment in college and being floored by its acute psychological depiction of a man's tortured internal struggle. That novel lingered with me, while others floated away. And so I take it more on instinct than direct proof that Fyodor Dostoevsky belongs on my list.

Others' influences are more obvious, or equally as obtuse. But this is the list as I saw it, in roughly chronological order of my discovery of these brilliant writers. I've also included my favorite work in parenthesis, just for overkill.

1. L.M. Montgomery (the Emily series)
2. Charlotte Brontë (Jane Eyre)
3. Jane Austen (Persuasion)
4. Victor Hugo (Les Miserables)
5. Edith Wharton (The Age of Innocence)
6. Edgar Allen Poe (The Raven)
7. Henry James (The Portrait of a Lady)
8. Leo Tolstoy (Anna Karenina)
9. Fyodor Dostoevsky (Crime and Punishment)
10. Walt Whitman (Song of Myself)
11. Ernest Hemingway (A Farewell to Arms)
12. E.M. Forster (A Room With A View)
13. Michael Ondaatje (The English Patient)
14. Anne Tyler (Breathing Lessons)
15. Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day)
16. Jonathan Franzen (The Corrections)
17. Milan Kundera (The Book of Laughter and Forgetting)
18. E.E. Cummings (somewhere i have never traveled, gladly beyond)
19. W. Somerset Maugham (The Razor's Edge)
20. Jhumpa Lahiri (The Interpreter of Maladies)
21. Ian McEwan (On Chesil Beach)
22. Colette (The Vagabond)
23. Khaled Hosseini (A Thousand Splendid Suns)
24. J.K. Rowling (the Harry Potter series)

And for my final entry, I'll cheat a little and say:

25. You

Because all of our supportive interactions, and your fine examples, have helped shape my writing and feed my daily inspiration. So thank you. :)

I will now challenge three more writers to share their influences. Vesper, Jennifer, and David -- I'm calling you out!

A Meme...and A Tease

Okay, I stole this "Have you ever...?" meme from my good friend, Vesper. I have bolded the things I've done so far:

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (started, anyway)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Gotten flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book (um...)
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

I also thought this was an excellent opportunity to tease some news I will hopefully be able to share soon. For those of you who have known me awhile, the clues are in the photo, a couple of the bolded points, and one that isn't bolded...but really wants to be. ;)

Thank you, Vesper! I enjoyed this one.

Meme Time

Vesper has tagged me for this meme of various things. I enjoyed getting to learn more about her. So here goes...


What were you doing 10 years ago?

Living in Athens, Georgia, stalking Michael Stipe, and pursuing one of many dead-end career paths.

Gas was 89¢/gal.


Five things on your to-do list for today:

Buy my first real camera
Get a haircut (and one for son)
Read Chapter 3 of first Harry Potter book to daughter
Practice my neglected cello
Slip away


What would you do if you were a billionaire?

Buy people’s love.
Still be unfulfilled.
Despise myself.
Give it all to charity and go live in India for a year.
Write a best-selling book about my enlightenment.
Sell the movie rights.
Make billions…


What are three of your bad habits?

Procrastination
Internet
Coke (liquid, not powder)


What are some snacks you enjoy?

Peanuts
Chocolate-covered pretzels
Men’s blood


What were the last five books you read?

Everyman, by Philip Roth
Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell
The Falls, by Joyce Carol Oates
Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant, by Anne Tyler
Pride & Prejudice, by Jane Austen (repeat)


What are five jobs you have had?

Zoo train driver
Neuroscience research assistant
Google blob
Book editor
Failed author


What are five places where you have lived?

Fallbrook, California
Athens, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Athens, Georgia
In the clouds


Thank you, Vesper! Anyone who wants to play, dive right in...

--

ETA:

I'm late with this, but everyone should check out the newest venture from Chris Eldin and Jason Evans (among others):



Sizzling...

Of Mermaids and Exorcisms

Vesper tagged me with the highly contagious 6 Random Things meme that's infecting the blogosphere. Hopefully, it won't be fatal.

The rules, as copied from her blog, are:

Link to the person that tagged you - ie me.
Post the rules on your blog.
Write six random things about yourself in a blog post.
Tag six people.
Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their post.
Let the tagger know when your entry is posted.

So here I go:

1. I once made 28 free throws in a row as a freshman in high school. Since this is unquestionably the single, greatest achievement of my life, it receives top billing. Suck it, Shaq.

2. I was that girl who never spoke up in class. I was also that girl who had a thing for the guys who did speak up in class. Yes, I loved me some nerds.

3. I've lived in 2 Athens. Ohio and Georgia. And despite the fact that one's in the Deep South and one's in Appalachia, they're remarkably similar. No "Love Shack" in Ohio, though. Figures.

4. I experienced my first kiss in a movie theater, during Ariel's angsty rendition of "Part of Your World" in The Little Mermaid. Sure, I was 13, but even then, it seemed a little uncool. Still bought the soundtrack, though. And made liberal use of the rewind button.

5. I can't watch horror films. The pressure is just too intense. The Exorcist actually makes me religious.

6. The most amazing thing I've ever tasted was the graham cracker I ate after giving birth to our daughter. I never wanted its yummy, crumby goodness to end. Yes, yes--the kid was kinda sweet, too.

And there is always the hope that someday she, too, will make 28 free throws in a row...or find first love through the cinematic manipulations of the Walt Disney corporation and/or Pixar.

A mom can dream, can't she?

I know what the rules say about tagging people. But honestly, most of the blogs I visit have already been tagged, or were tagged concurrently with me. So if you're looking for something to post, feel free to dive in! The water's warm...and rife with random mermaids and their secret longings.

Thanks, Vesper! This was fun. :)

I'm it!

Quill tagged me for this Book Meme, and all I can say is, Thank Mickey.

I was at Disney World last week (hiya, Jason and Aine!), and have exchanged my writing brain for the insidiously catchy, It's a Small World refrain.

So here's something different...

1. One book that changed your life:

Jane Eyre

This was the first "grown-up" book I ever read. It was so much deeper, more textured, than anything I had known before. And of course, it was a captivating love story. When Jane confided, "Reader, I married him," I think my path was set as a writer, though I didn't know it yet.


2. One book you have read more than once:

Many.

One that stands out, though, is A Room with a View. In its pages, you'll find romance, rebellion, evocative writing, and laugh-out-loud humor. A rare, near-perfect, combination.


3. One book you would want on a desert island:

A notebook.

As long as I had a pen.


4. Two books that made you laugh:

A Room with a View

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents America (The Book) Teacher's Edition: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction

Okay, one's more subtle.
And one has naked Supreme Court justices.


5. One book that made you cry:

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The ending, of course.


6. One book you wish you'd written:

A Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham

I don't really wish I'd written any of my favorite books. But this one was a major inspiration for my own novel.


7. One book you wish had never been written:

Nah.


8. Two books you're reading:

The Longest Journey, by E.M. Forster

Reading Lolita in Tehran, by Azar Nafisi


9. One book you're going to read:

Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance, by Barack Obama


I won't tag anyone in particular, but if you're struggling for a blog post, feel free to dive in! And thank you, quill. This was a fun exercise. :)