The Divining Wand

What a day — or more — for a daydream in the summer heat of July. In fact it feels like the perfect time to wonder “what if” The Divining Wand possessed magical powers and could grant authors, who create their own magic with “what if,” the following two questions:

Based only on their writing, what author would you want to be?

AND

If given the opportunity to have written ONE book in your lifetime, what would that title be?

~ Kristina Riggle (Real Life & Liars and The Life You’ve Imagined coming August 17, 2010):

“There are many authors whose talent I admire — Anita Shreve, Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Berg and Jennifer Weiner leap to mind — but I want to be distinctly and only me. I want to have a writing voice so unique that people can read my words without looking at the cover and be able to say: “‘That sounds like a Kristina Riggle book.’” I’m working on that.”

“Interesting question! I have titles floating around in my head I love, but I hope to write a book that will match up with them someday, therefore I don’t want to spill them publicly. Wish I’d thought of THE HOUR I FIRST BELIEVED before Wally Lamb. What a great title. How about: THE BEST BOOK KRISTINA RIGGLE COULD EVER POSSIBLY WRITE.”

~ Sarah Pekkanen (The Opposite of Me):

“I’d want to be Jane Austin – and have written Pride and Prejudice!”

What a day — or another week — for a daydream, lazing in the summer heat of July. In fact it feels like the perfect time to wonder “what if” The Divining Wand possessed magical powers and could grant authors, who create their own magic with “what if,” the following two questions:

Based only on their writing, what author would you want to be?

AND

If given the opportunity to have written ONE book in your lifetime, what would that title be?

~ Allison Winn Scotch (The One That I Want, Time of My Life, and The Department of Lost and Found):

“Oh gosh, impossible to say! Of course, I want to choose someone whom I deem to be genius, but then again, I have no idea what sort of personal happiness he or she has achieved. For me, it’s all about finding this balance, and since I really don’t know what’s going on behind the scenes of some writers – some of whom I think are so brilliant but whom I also suspect are a little bit tortured – I really can’t choose! I know you said based only on their writing, but some of that writing comes from a dark place.”

“Oh boy, again, I know I should choose something like Jane Eyre or The Sun Also Rises, but I’m going to say Then We Came to The End by Joshua Ferris. I read a lot of books that I think are wonderful but that I also think that maybe, if I’d come up with that specific idea and had a great writing day, that I could create something similar. (And I don’t mean that narcissistically, or to any way take away from other writers: I just think – and I’m sure that a lot of other writers thinks this too – that many of my peers write similar things to what I write, so blessed with a magic wand, we might all be able to do what the other does…within reason, of course!) But with his book, I was just TOTALLY blown away. I really don’t think that even on my best day, I could have conceived of the book in the way that he did, much less written it in the style that he did. He made me a fan for life, and I have total appreciation for the genius of that book.”

What a day — or more — for a daydream in the summer heat of July. In fact it feels like the perfect time to wonder “what if” The Divining Wand possessed magical powers and could grant authors, who create their own magic with “what if,” the following two questions:

Based only on their writing, what author would you want to be?

AND

If given the opportunity to have written ONE book in your lifetime, what would that title be?

~ Allie Larkin (Stay):

“I have a fascination with Willa Cather. She had an amazing life, and I have so much respect for her as a woman who made a career of her writing in the late 1800’s/early 1900’s. But based just on writing, it’s obvious that Willa Cather loved her characters, and had an intense appreciation for the landscapes she placed them in. I think her writing process must have been a celebration of the elements of life that she loved and admired most.

“Just one? Can I cheat and say the title of that book would be MY ANTONIA PLANTS THE BEAN TREES THAT GROW IN BROOKLYN WHILE LISTENING TO THE SONG OF THE LARK, AND TRIES NOT TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD OR PROVOKE THE LORDS OF DISCIPLINE? (I tried to fit OF MICE AND MEN in there too, but it was just ridiculous.)”

~ Jessica Barksdale Inclan (Being With Him, Intimate Beings, The Beautiful Being):

“I think I’d have to stay with being myself. It’s all I can do in this lifetime.”

“Okay, this I can do. Pride and Prejudice, no question.

What a day — or more — for a daydream in the summer heat of July. In fact it feels like the perfect time to wonder “what if” The Divining Wand possessed magical powers and could grant authors, who create their own magic with “what if,” the following two questions:

Based only on their writing, what author would you want to be?

AND

If given the opportunity to have written ONE book in your lifetime, what would that title be?

~ Robin Antalek (The Summer We Fell Apart):

“I can pick only one? Yikes. Okay. If I have to…. It would be Ellen Gilchrist. She is a wonderful writer that has created a body of work over her lifetime that I would be thrilled to claim ownership of—her stories – her characters – her depictions of the deep south are astounding. Simply and utterly astounding. I return to her stories again and again.”

“I don’t prescribe to any one religion so I don’t want my answer to be taken in that context, but it would have to be The Bible. Every plot in existence is contained within those pages: virgin births, famine, poverty, wives who turn to salt, magical tablets, brother against brother, prostitutes who love holy men and seas that part. It goes on and on – and I doubt there isn’t a novel in existence whose plot couldn’t be traced back to the pages of The Bible.”

~ Meg Waite Clayton’s (The Wednesday Sisters, The Four Ms. Bradwells coming March 22, 2011):

“George Eliot. Middlemarch.”

What a day — or more — for a daydream in the summer heat of July. In fact it feels like the perfect time to wonder “what if” The Divining Wand possessed magical powers and could grant authors, who create their own magic with “what if,” the following two questions:

Based only on their writing, what author would you want to be?

AND

If given the opportunity to have written ONE book in your lifetime, what would that title be?

~ Emily Winslow (The Whole World):

“I like Ruth Rendell’s career longevity and vivid characters. I’d love to look back at the end of my career and see a stack of books like hers!”

“The Secret History was my favorite book for years. I have no idea if it would still be my favorite if I re-read it now; I read it while an undergraduate myself, so it was a case of perfect timing. But I would love to write something so iconic.”

~ Tish Cohen (Town House, Inside Out Girl, Little Black Lies YA, The Truth About Delilah Blue):

“Elizabeth Strout.” “Olive Kittridge.”

~ Eve Brown-Waite (First Comes Love, Then Comes Malaria: How A Peace Corps Poster Boy Won My Heart and A Third World Adventure Changed My Life):

“Amy Tan because she’s such an incredible writer. Or Anne Lamott because she writes just the kinds of books I want to write.”

“FIRST COMES LOVE, THEN COMES MALARIA – because I am quite certain that was the book I was always meant to write. And if I never get a chance to write another book, I’ll always be content that I at least got to write that one.”

On March 4, 2010 The Divining Wand’s post presented, Our Authors’ Spring/Summer Book Releases. Now, at the July 4th mid-summer break, let’s review those books you may have missed and belong in your TBR tote bag.

MARCH

Presenting Debutante Sarah Pekkanen and The Opposite of Me

Jenny Gardiner and Winging It

APRIL

Kristy Kiernan and Between Friends

Holly LeCraw and The Swimming Pool

Matthew Quick and SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR

MAY

Lauren Baratz-Logsted and Marcia’s Madness

Meredith Cole and Dead in the Water

Presenting Debutante Joëlle Anthony and Restoring Harmony

Barrie Summy and I So Don’t Do Makeup

Presenting Debutante Emily Wiinslow and The Whole World

JUNE

Allison Winn Scotch and The One That I Want

Tish Cohen and The Truth About Delilah Blue

Allie Larkin and Stay

Carey Goldbergy, Beth Jones, and Pamela Ferdinand with Three Wishes

Trish Ryan and A Maze of Grace

Robin Antalek and The Summer We Fell Apart

Of course there are more books to come, including Alicia Bessette’s Simply from Scratch debuting on August 5th and Kristina Riggle (Real Life & Liars) second novel The Life You’ve Imagined releasing August 17th. Yet for a lazy, hazy holiday break, there’s more than enough great reading here. Enjoy!

Announcement: The winners of Robin Antalek’s The Summer We Fell Apart are Keetha and Jenny.

Congratulations! Please email: diviningwand (at) gmail (dot) com with your mailing address, and the book will be sent out promptly.