OCTOBER 2023 RECAP
From the Joy Desk
Tuesday, October 31, 2023
In This Issue:
Journal of Novel by John Steinbeck
Where’s Joy?
My WriteDay Unboxing Video
My Writeday November/December Subscription Box
My WriteDay Holiday Gift Baskets for Writers
What I’m Reading
What I’m Listening To
I didn’t like John Steinbeck’s work for the longest time. I respected his contributions to our art, but reading The Red Pony in the eighth grade broke my heart. His movies never settled right with me, so I avoided him until I decided to do a project in graduate school about writers and how they use journaling in their work. My mentor suggested I read one of Steinbeck’s books as an example, and I’ve been a Steinbeck groupie ever since.
Seventy-two years ago, on November 1, 1951 author and Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck finished writing a collection of daily letters he penned while writing his ambitious novel East of Eden (1952). The letters were addressed to his friend and editor Pascal Covici at The Viking Press. Steinbeck had published successfully before this endeavor, but had exhibited tendencies to procrastinate, miss deadlines, and leave things unfinished. The publisher couldn’t afford to miss the deadline for this book.
Covici gave Steinbeck a large blank book in which to write the first draft of the novel. On the left-hand side of the book Steinbeck warmed-up each session with a letter to Covici after which he wrote the day’s word count of the novel. As Steinbeck put it, “getting my mental arm in shape to pitch a good game.” He wrote a letter to his editor every morning about life and/or story then his mind was light and focused on the novel. It worked. He met the publisher’s deadline and created one of literature’s most enduring works. But why did it work?
As he said himself, it was a means of warming-up his mind and easing himself into the task. But this particular piece of personal writing that was never meant to see the publishing light of day was a playground of sorts for Steinbeck’s opinions about everything from sex to Broadway and politics to baseball. You don’t have to have read East of Eden to appreciate this stunning work of authentic journaling. Especially if you’re a writer.
Here’s an example of Steinbeck’s philosophy about writing:
But sometimes in a man or a woman awareness takes place--not very often and always inexplainable. There are no words for it because there is no one ever to tell. This is a secret not kept a secret, but locked in wordlessness. The craft or art of writing is the clumsy attempt to find symbols for the wordlessness. In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable. And sometimes if he is very fortunate and if the time is right, a very of little what he is trying to do trickles through--not ever much. And if he is a writer wise enough to know it can’t be done, then he is not a writer at all. A good writer always works at the impossible. (4)
If these lines:
The craft or art of writing is the clumsy attempt to find symbols for the wordlessness. In utter loneliness a writer tries to explain the inexplicable
cause a shiver of recognition to ripple up your spine, you understand the true and undefinable nature of being a writer.
Steinbeck filled his letters to Pascal with other topics such as suffering from “depressions,” his choice of pencils (he didn’t type,) points of the novel he was trying to work out before setting them down in the draft, and his concerns about his sons following the recent divorce from their mother. He also noted how he felt about writing a book. I found these lines particularly personal and meaningful about the process:
The book dies a real death for me when I write the last word. I have a little sorrow and then go on to a new book which is alive. The line of my books on the shelf are to me like very well embalmed corpses. They are neither alive nor mine. (90)
The take-away from looking at how Steinbeck utilized reflective writing to accomplish the task of writing East of Eden is that any writer can employ the steps and see the same results. Maybe not write a Pulitzer prize winner but learn to get out of your own way by dumping the mental baggage into a journal then getting on with the work.
This wasn’t Steinbeck’s only foray into reflective writing: Working Days: The Journals of the Grapes of Wrath. I highly recommend reading either or both books sometime in your writing career.
Where’s Joy?
I had a nice time as a vendor of books and things Oct. 14 at the First Christian Church of Parkersburg. Proceeds benefitted mammograms for breast cancer awareness month. I’m not much of a crafter, but I like to make fleece tie blankets. I made and donated a pink ribbon blanket to the silent auction.
November 11 I will be a vendor at a “Holiday Fair” sponsored by the First Church of God in Dunbar, WV. If you’re in the neighborhood, come by and visit!
My WriteDay Unboxing Video
I want to thank MWD subscriber Jessie Miller for this awesome unboxing video! Take a look and subscribe to her YouTube channel.
Jessie Miller Unboxings and More
My WriteDay November/December Subscription Box
I’m almost done packing the boxes for November/December, and I can’t wait for subscribers to receive them. Watch your email for the limited early bird sign up period happening soon. New subscribers will receive a free mystery gift for signing up. This box has so many cute things in it! Here’s a sneak peek at one of the products
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My WriteDay Holiday Gift Baskets for Writers
Besides a bi-monthly subscription to MWD, the writer in your life would love to get a holiday gift basket. There will be a variety of products and price ranges available on the website beginning Nov. 6.
What I’m Reading
My five-year-old grandson loves to check out free little libraries when he is on walks with my daughter and son-in-love. He pulled out a historical fiction novel for me recently and that’s what I’m currently reading.
The Sparrows of Montenegro: A Novel by BJ Mayo.
What I’m Listening To
Tell Me Something Good by Chaka Khan and Rufus
Be well, write well!
Joy
Tortilla Flat seems pretty happy or uplifting until the end. Maybe I'll go with that one.
Did Steinbeck write anything with a happy ending or a moment of happiness in it? just checking before I sample. Life can't all be unhappy.