I get a Lit Hub email from Literary Hub every day. When I first subscribed I intended to read it each and every day. Well so much for those self -improvement promises. I used to save the dailies, sometimes for two weeks at a time. When I finally read past the items to a link or two I felt like someone who only discovers that hidden vacation beach the day before it’s time to go home. (and I know this feeling- it happened in Maine last summer).
I enjoy reading the hub links for writing education- I always want to get better at what I’m doing whether it’s dancing, writing, yes even more efficient ways to wash my car. Overall watering first? Or front, then driver side, moving around to the back, then passenger side? These steps are important when you live in Tucson and the summer sun can dry your car faster than you can slide that sponge around.
After a few quick reads, where I just scanned to get the main idea, I found time was ticking by as I read the whole article, then read the history of the author, or just reveled in the sensory delight of some of the pieces.
If you want to revel in a gem of a sensory piece, search no further. The June 27 Hub has a link to a New Yorker translation of an Italo Calvino short story “The Adventure of a Skier” It doesn’t matter if you ski black diamonds or the bunny slope, or only associate a balaclava with incognito larcenists. The words in Skier have visions, emotions, sights, wind, and chilling air, taking you right to the slope. I swear I felt the sting of the sleet on my face, and I’m sitting here in 100 degree Tucson Arizona. All the sensory showing comes rolling at you along with a sense of mystery to read more.
Skiing Wonder
I want to write like that.
Ethel Lee-Miller blogs regularly about people, the power of words, and the writing life. She is the author of Thinking of Miller Place, and Seedlings, Stories of Relationships.
