Olvar Wood Writers Retreat
I've been teaching here for the past week, and it's the loveliest place—buried in the bush, wildlife wandering in and out (and slithering a bit, too :) ), balmy weather and friendly people—but not so many as to become distracting.
Nike and Inga have set up the sort of place I fantasise about when I'm trapped in day-job land with no time to scratch myself (or scratch any words on a piece of paper, more relevantly). In the afternoons I've been writing up a storm. I've now finished the workshopping part of the week and it's all novelising from here on. Must go right now and write.
Nike and Inga have set up the sort of place I fantasise about when I'm trapped in day-job land with no time to scratch myself (or scratch any words on a piece of paper, more relevantly). In the afternoons I've been writing up a storm. I've now finished the workshopping part of the week and it's all novelising from here on. Must go right now and write.
posted by Among Amid While at 12:59 pm
4 Comments:
Hi :)
Thanks for sharing Margo.
I'm glad the writers' retreat at Olvar Wood is going well.
Did you get that dust storm that made Australia look like Mars?
Yay for novelizing!
Love & Best Wishes,
twitter: @RKCharron
xxoo
Dear Margo,
(First I must apologize for posting this message here, but I could find no other way to contact you.)
My name is Megan Hogue, and I would just like to take this opportunity to tell you how very much I enjoyed reading your book “Tender Morsels.” I thought it was a wonderful story and your characters so unbelievably vivid and passionate, that they will truly be remembered for a life time. I loved the book so much after reading it this summer that I pitched it to my mentoring teacher whom I am currently doing my student teaching with, and he loved it so much as well that he is allowing me to head up a literature-circle group with about 5-8 senior English students to read it in the spring.
One of the things that I have learned through receiving my BA in English and Writing, is that while analyzing a book and making its message and events fit into the readers own ideals and interpretations, I always felt like I was somewhat cheating the author out his/her own interpretation when I’d be sitting in a classroom and deconstructing the author’s book. So, for me, I would then seek out articles, or the author him/herself to find out what the author’s interpretation of his/her book is in order to gain a different perspective of the book.
So, I know you are a very busy woman, and while the majority of your book speaks for itself, and most of its events are universally recognized and interpreted, the ending however lends itself to many different interpretations, especially the very last paragraph of the book. If it would not be too much of an inconvenience, I would like to ask you what the ending of the book represents for you so that when I do present this book to my students, after they have read it and done their own interpretations, I can then tell them what the author herself thinks and feels about the ending.
For example, the way I interpreted it was that all of the things that should’ve happened to Liga, and to any young woman, and all of her hopes and dreams were happening to her daughters, and that she seemingly was never to get her own “happy-ending” apart from the lives of her daughters, and that at the end she seemed almost bitter about the happiness of her children, especially towards Branza for marrying Ramstrong.
I almost feel bad for asking you about what the ending means to you and why you chose to write it that way because it feels as if I’m asking a magician to reveal all of his secrets, but I really am interested in knowing your interpretation of your own book in your owns words, and I think the students would also really enjoy it, not only to maybe learn something new about the novel, but to also see whether or not they were “on the same page” as you as it were.
If you don’t feel comfortable “revealing your secrets” about the book, I completely understand, but if you could, I would really appreciate it, and would be eternally grateful to you for doing it as well. Thank you so much for creating such a unique and vivid world with memorable characters that transcend beyond the page. Good luck in all of your endeavors and I will greatly be looking forward to reading more from you in the future!
Sincerely,
Megan Hogue
P.S. If you prefer contact me by e-mail, my address is allmytee_meg@hotmail.com
Hi Megan, I'll get back to you soon on this - things are a little crazy-busy for me at the moment.
No problem... thanks a lot Margo!!!
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