Check out the Oprah Book Club official selections list. Some pretty good stuff there, and some great literary talent:

If I’m not allowed to gripe about how kids read tons of Harry Potter books but nothing else, and the reason I’m not allowed to gripe about it is because at least kids are reading, isn’t it also true that people shouldn’t get to gripe about Oprah getting millions of people who wouldn’t normally think of picking up a book to not only read something great but to read regularly?

Maybe I just want my cake and read it, too.

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But all of this is preamble to today’s blog post, inspired by the “moral dilemma” Matt Selman puts to his readers this week regarding where to buy a book online. He writes:

The outsider needs to experience the world before denouncing it. It has to be a place they’ve always known in their heart they NEED to (actually, THINK they need to) explore and be a part of. It has to look so good, better than they thought it would be even. They need to see the flaws emerge, though, and be torn by them. Conflict of the heart. All of that needs to happen in a perfect, utopian story of experiencing a utopia.

Or, it doesn’t.

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FastPencil offers the book in both .epub and .pdf formats. I’m still new to electronic books (I still don’t have a Kindle, though my relatively-new Droid X displays Kindle books, no sweat) and thought I may have more use for a .pdf file. At least, I know what I can do or not do with it and so that’s the route I went. If anyone wants to tell me why .epub is the better route to go, I’m all ears and willing to shell out another $1.99 for one of the most inspirational books about changing my life I’ve ever read.

Does that last sentence sell you, dear reader?

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Monday was Elmore Leonard’s 85th birthday, his fortieth novel, Djibouti, came out on Tuesday, and the trailer for the second season of the FX series Justified came out Wednesday. Three great reasons to celebrate what a prolific, generous writer has gifted readers like me. Here’s the man, the book, and the video after the jump:

Elmore Leonard: 85 years young!

"Here's lookin' at you, Dutch."

I owe all three elements of this post more copy than I have time to offer today and in the meantime use the comments section to let me know what you think of all three. If I find the spare hours to read Djibouti before the semester is over it will be a miracle but stranger things have happened.

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If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can see what I’ve written about The War of Art on this blog here.

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I’m writing today to bring forth one of King’s great ideas, one he cribbed from a newspaper editor he worked with in high school: “write with the door closed, rewrite with the door open.” During that initial writing phase, the story is just for you and it’s all about exploring the creative process. The door is closed, so to speak, to the outside world and all of its “brilliant” opinion. Then, when you’re finished (King is quite strict on this. Show someone your work when it’s half-started, you may be likely to hear it’s amazing or awful and the whole dynamic of how you perceive the story can be messed up), it’s time to show it to someone or rewrite with audience or publication in mind and in essence, write with the door open.

I have been writing with the door closed and it’s wonderful. I wrote with the door open for so long – writing workshops, friends reading work when it’s barely out of the working first draft, etc. – that this really feels like a new experience and I’m embracing it. Plus, I’m not beholden to any deadlines. I’m just writing for me. It’s become something I do to relax and unwind from the laundry list of responsibilities I have. I will probably write about writing here in the meantime, though details of the story itself will remain safely behind the door.

That is, until I’m ready to open it.

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Using the intimacy of personal story to extrapolate grander issues is one of the most powerful ways memoir can touch us as readers. It’s a way of using true-to-life specificity as a relatable experience that readers can compare and contrast with their own. I say this as one who detests anecdotal evidence and meandering anecdote, something one of my instructors would likely call a “bathtub story.” However, listening to Norris report on a wide variety of prescient, fascinating topics over the years, something tells me she knows precisely how to make her family’s story not only interesting but relevant and meaningful to readers who are willing to explore their lives and how race relations affects it.

Listen to Tom Crann’s 12-minute interview with Norris from Minnesota Public Radio news today.

If you’ve read the book, please let me know what you think.

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A couple weeks ago, Steven wrote a post entitled “The Crazier the Better” about a friend named Paul’s concern his writing was going to such dark places and he was so into it that the darkness was perpetuating itself and as a result, no publisher would ever want the book. Steven’s advice is to pursue the harder ideas, that is, the ideas that excite us and even if they seem crazy will likely make the most compelling stories. I couldn’t agree more and urge you to read more of Steven’s reaction to Paul’s (self-imposed) dilemma.

I’d add one other thought on why Paul should continue this writing he’s so caught up in, whether it’s dark or not. As Steven puts it, “He’s worried that the book will come out so evil, no one will want to touch it.” My advice: time spent writing should be spent on the story, not worrying about hypothetical publishing deals. It’s great to dream about publication and beyond – I certainly do it from time to time – and yet if I’m worrying about publication as I write the story then I’m not focusing on the right thing(s). This is, I think, especially true when writing a novel. If one is trying to finish a novel (sometimes the hardest thing for many a young writer to do – finish a novel), get those 300 pages printed or 50,000 words typed up or “The End” down on paper and then worry about whether some publishing house will buy it.

If it’s good, someone will buy it. No matter how “dark” it is.

What thoughts do you have? Leave them here and/or at Steven’s blog post.

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