Bob Gillen

Healing through story

Month: January 2021

Mannequin Monday – If people don’t die right, they haunt

January 25, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Mannequin Monday – If people don’t die right, they haunt

Our mannequin, our framework, will perhaps remain unclothed this week. It’s all about not dying right, about absence. Haunting.

Quotes from Wynton Marsalis and Eddie Glaude.

And a story of mine, inspired by the quotes.

What I’m Reading This Week

I came across this quote from Wynton Marsalis this week. “So many of us have lost loved ones to Covid-19 and didn’t have that last chance to say goodbye in-person. Your dearly departed is forced to come to you from the spirit world and sit with you. Their presence allows you to grieve slowly, to mourn completely. So many people say they just can’t sleep. It is a profound, holistic pain that can only be assuaged in a realm that is deeper than dreams.”

The quote refers to his new musical work, The Democrarcy! Suite.

In the same vein, I heard an impactful comment from cable news commentator Eddie Glaude. Glaude was speaking of the effects of the COVID explosion on many of us when he said, “If people don’t die right, they haunt.” He is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. Also the Chair of the Center for African American Studies and the Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Princeton. His quote inspired my own writing this week.

The 400,000-plus deaths from COVID are compounded by the knowledge that most, if not all, of those 400,000 died alone, apart from family, friends, loved ones. They died alone.

What I’m Writing This Week

Here’s what I’m writing, what I’m feeling, this week.

A Whisper of Breath

If people don’t die right, they haunt.

The comment jumped from the TV,  framed by a jumble of unheard words. It hit Elizabeth McLane between the eyes.

Yes. That’s it.

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Mannequin Monday – How Quickly She Disappears

January 18, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Mannequin Monday – How Quickly She Disappears

So many words to drape our mannequin form this week. Books, both fiction and non-fiction. A debut novel How Quickly She Disappears. And a new Steinbeck biography.

And another bit of fiction I wrote, more from my heart than usual.

What I’m Reading

This week I am in the middle of reading six books. Not six books on my To Be Read pile. Actually reading each of them. The perils of the digital age.

I am a public library lover. A heavy user. Before the COVID lockdown I always had at least one library book at home. Lately I have been using LA County’s digital version, Libby. When I am reading online, and come across a mention of a book that looks interesting, I immediately go to Libby. I put the book on hold, or borrow it right away if I can. I am not ashamed to say that I can easily put one book aside to taste a new book. If it grabs me, I will read it right away, then go back to the one I paused.

I was an early reader as a kid. Our town had no library, so I took a 30-minute bus ride to the nearest library. It was only a storefront, but I browsed every book on every shelf there over the years.

Today I am diving into How Quickly She Disappears, a debut novel set in Alaska in 1941. Halfway through the second chapter, I’m hooked. This meant setting aside The Enigma Game, a WWII story. I am a big fan of the author, Elizabeth Wein. I’ll be back to it shortly.

Two of my loan books are non-fiction. I am slowly working through Atomic Habits. And I finally got to borrow a new biography of John Steinbeck, Mad at the World, by William Souder. I’m one chapter in, and I will surely finish this. I’ve been looking forward to a new biography on Steinbeck, hoping for some new insights into his writing.

Using Libby gives me the opportunity to try out a book. If it does not hold my attention, I return it right away. But it gives me the chance to experience a wide range of books. Digital shelf browsing, at its best.

As a postscript, I should add that the books I borrow on Libby don’t include what I have on Amazon Kindle. More books there that I am working my way through. A great time when there is always a book to be had.

 

 

What I’m Writing

A story I wrote, based on what I’m going through these weeks. Maybe another expression of how quickly she disappears. Enjoy.

In the Deep

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Mannequin Monday – Take Me Somewhere…

January 11, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Mannequin Monday – Take Me Somewhere…

I’ve never been to the catacombs of Paris. Never come face to face with the roots of Irish humor. But on this Mannequin Monday books take me where I have never been. Elle Marr, Tana French…

Words don’t simply clothe a blank form. They transport the viewer.

And an excerpt from my next book Surfrider,

What I’m Reading

In several recent blog posts I’ve said that, when I open a book or begin watching a film, I expect the story to take me somewhere I’ve never been. Whether it’s an emotion, place, personality, mystery, spirit – I want to experience something new.

Stories I’ve enjoyed recently, for example, that fit that bill would include:

  • Tana French’s mysteries, one of which is In the Woods, based in Ireland. A sense of place, of culture, of humor…all new to me.
  • Elle Marr’s novel The Missing Sister, set in the Paris catacombs. A dark, intriguing place, a bit of history, that I never knew existed.
  • Eric Jerome Dickey’s novel Before We Were Wicked, set in 1996 Los Angeles. A new-to-me perspective on Black experiences, insights into African cultures, even the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles in the late 90s.
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Mannequin Monday – Here’s Joe Cool…

January 4, 2021 / / 0 Comments

Mannequin Monday – Here’s Joe Cool…

Here’s Joe Cool, appearing in the first Mannequin Monday blog post of the new year. This week, an insightful article from The Atlantic on Charles Schulz’s character Snoopy. Snoopy, “realizing that he’s tired and cold and lonely and that it’s suppertime.”

And, as always, a writing exercise of my own.

What I’m Reading This Week

A 2005 article in The Atlantic caught my eye this week: “The Exemplary Narcissism of Snoopy” by Sarah Boxer. Boxer began the article with a short history of the comic strip as it developed from its inception in 1950.

“Peanuts was deceptive,” Boxer wrote. “It looked like kid stuff, but it wasn’t. The strip’s cozy suburban conviviality, its warm fuzziness, actually conveyed some uncomfortable truths about the loneliness of social existence. The characters, though funny, could stir up shockingly heated arguments over how to survive and still be a decent human being in a bitter world. Who was better at it—Charlie Brown or Snoopy?”

Every character… had at least one key prop or attribute.

Boxer’s description of the workings of the comic strip offers solid advice for any story writer. She wrote: “Every character was a powerful personality with quirky attractions and profound faults, and every character, like some saint or hero, had at least one key prop or attribute. Charlie Brown had his tangled kite, Schroeder his toy piano, Linus his flannel blanket, Lucy her ‘Psychiatric Help’ booth, and Snoopy his doghouse.”

I see a connection between writing a comic strip and storytelling at large. Any fiction writer will struggle to create characters with distinct personality traits, quirks, foibles. Even a tic unique to them. I think, for example, of Hemingway’s Santiago from The Old Man and the Sea. The story is all about the fisherman’s quest for a large fish, but we readers revel in hearing him talk about American baseball teams.

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