July 2006 Archives

I really love Elizabeth Berg's books. She writes about ordinary people struggling with ordinary situations, but she makes their journeys compelling and sympathetic. (My favorite of hers is THE JOY SCHOOL, which I listened to on tape). Last night I was paging through a book she wrote in 1999, ESCAPING INTO THE OPEN: The Art of Writing True. This is a wonderful book for beginning fiction writers. A four lighthouse book.   She has excellent exercises, some of which I've adapted for my workshops (giving credit where credit is due, of course). Last night, I was reading the chapter about voice in writing and how important it is to let your own voice emerge naturally. Voice refers to the cadence and quality of your writing, the feeling elicited by the words. When I was writing my first novel, PRIVATE RELATIONS, (which took me, 4 years by the way!), I essentially had no voice. My two favorite authors at the time were Ann Tyler and Alice Hoffman. I can look back at PRIVATE RELATIONS and see the areas where their voices spilled over into mine, filling the vaccuum. With dozens of rewrites of that book, my own voice began to emerge. It does have a little of Hoffman's dark undertones and a little of Tyler's simple, accessible clarity, but it's mine alone. By my third book, SECRET LIVES, I was writing fully in my own voice. I think anyone familiar with my work could read a few paragraphs of a book and know I wrote it. One of the projects I'm working on now is a book with a light tone, and I'm finding it very difficult. My usual voice keeps creeping in, taking the story to a deeper level, where I don't want it to be. I think this is a good exercise for me, though frustrating because I have to consciously lighten up. Maybe that's why I'm enjoying writing this lighter book, even though it may never be published. It's letting me play, letting me make mistakes without censorship, and letting me learn. What more could I ask for?

Now, this is downright spooky. In this morning's email, I received questions from two separate people asking me where the post (below) could be found, since it helped them in their own writing process. It was part of my former blog and I was going to simply send the inquirers to that link, but then a third email asked that age-old question "Where do you get your ideas?" So I decided to kill two birds with one stone and move the whole post from the former blog to this new one. Hope it gives you a little taste of the writing life.  So, here it is: First, I lounge around thinking of ideas. I take "creative naps." I watch tons of movies and read a lot. Being witness to someone else's creativity always gets my own creative juices flowing. I watch the news and read the newspaper. I walk around staring at the sky and pondering various ideas. I talk to John or a writer friend, thinking through plot points. All of this takes weeks, sometimes longer. Then I'm ready to start putting things on paper. (Here I am, pondering) I always have false starts. That's painful, because I know whatever I start writing is going to ultimately be thrown away. I wish I could skip the first draft and go directly to the second, but that first one seems to be necessary to get the initial bugs out. All during this phase, I'm working on the characters by talking to them and having them talk to me. I peer into their purses and their bedrooms. I have them write down their feelings in first person. I want to know everything about them. By the time I'm done with this stage, I usually have about twenty double-spaced pages. Then comes the part I love the most. I call this the "dining room table" phase. I use a paper cutter to slice the manuscript into sections, which I lay on my dining room table. Then I study the story bit by bit, and I can see what's missing, which is usually quite a lot. Using pieces of note cards, I jot down scenes and missing bits of information. I intersperse these cards with the pieces of manuscript on the table (usually by this point, I have to use the buffet and coffee table as well). I move all the pieces of paper around until I'm happy with the order they're in. Finally, I tape all the pieces of paper together in order! Then I write the proposal, which by this time has become a very sketchy first draft of the book, anywhere from thirty to as many as seventy pages. I'm exhausted just writing this process down. I wish there were an easier way. The other day, I heard Philip Roth being interviewed on NPR. The interviewer asked him if, when he was writing his first book, he had any idea what he was doing. Roth said that even now when he starts a book, he has no idea what he's doing. As I start my seventeenth novel, I understand exactly what he means. Every book is a new adventure and a new challenge. Diane

Every day I receive email asking when my next book will be out, so it's time I updated you on where things stand. Let's just say it's been an interesting year! What is certain is that I'll be staying with my wonderful publisher, Mira Books. There is not a nicer group of people in publishing and they have a lot of faith in me, so I'm pleased by this. However, my editors and I have gone back and forth on what I should write next.  Usually, I come up with a proposal, they say "go for it," and that's that. This time, though, they want to make sure it's a book they can really get behind in every way. So, although I've had a million ideas this year, we haven't yet come to an agreement on the best to pursue. Sometimes, too many ideas are worse than too few. In early August, my agent, my publisher and I will meet to discuss the best possible story for me to write next. I'm completely in favor of this process. As I mentioned a few blog posts ago, the editor and writer are on the same team. We're all looking for a book that will not only be a great story, but a great commercial success as well. Unfortunately for my readers, that means I won't have a book out in February as I usually do. The tentative plans are to write two books during the next year, most likely a linked story where we follow the same set of characters in the same setting. Other tentative plans include publishing these books in trade paperback, which I think is a good idea. I will keep you abreast of what's happening and appreciate your patience. Meanwhile, if any of you haven't had a chance to read THE BAY AT MIDNIGHT, it will be out in trade paperback on August 29th.  So what have I been doing this year, besides coming up with ideas and writing proposals? Well, the first half of the year I began a memoir, focusing on overcoming the agoraphobia that really set me back as a teen and young adult. I hope to finish that project one of these days. The second half of the year, I was seduced by a story set in The Opium Den (Starbucks). I have no idea if I'll ever be able to sell this book--it's much different and lighter than my usual fare--but it's been a joy to work on. Again, I'll let you know what happens with these projects. Thanks for being there and for being such faithful, caring readers.

                                                Look at this beautiful little guy! My housekeeper, Delilah, was vacuuming when this baby skink hopped on her hand. Here he is on her index finger. I don't know how he got inside, but we put him back in the front yard where the grown up skinks can take care of him.                

I have a behavioral problem with Jet. He's an obsessive licker, truly orally fixated. He's very sweet and friendly, so people initially love him, but once he starts licking their legs, their arms, their hands---any      explosed patch of skin, he loses favor with them. My youngest stepdaughter, Caitlin, has been visiting from California for the last few days.

Here, she has no idea that Jet is planning his attack.

The Kiss.

The revulsion. Any ideas on how to deal with this problem short of a tongue-ectomy?

My little brother, Rob Lopresti,--mystery writer, songwriter, university librarian and a few other things--has a new story on the web. I laughed out loud reading it. It's sci-fi. . . kind of. . . but I still got a kick out of it.

Every six weeks, I spend half a day at my doctor's office receiving an IV infusion of a drug called Remicade. Remicade is in a newish class of drugs that have made a huge difference in the lives of people with Rheumatoid Arthritis (and also, Crohns Disease). I have a love-hate relationship with it. I love it for how it's enabled me to get out of bed in the morning and most of all, how it's enabled me to type. But I hate it because I lose most of a day of work. I find it impossible to work while receiving it because I can't type and I really can't focus very well while at the doc's. This is a small price to pay for a drug that has given me so much. There is an unexpected bonus to receiving Remicade, one no one predicted, and that is that it's often administered to a group of people at one time. For example, yesterday two other women and I shared four hours together, along with our great Remicade nurse, Pat. We chat and watch goofy daytime television and compare notes on our joints and our lives. It's like having a little support group of fellow RA patients, and I think there is no substitute for being with people who understand one another's plight. I always feel lifted up by witnessing the strength of others. The downside of Remicade and all the other drugs used to treat autoimmune diseases is that they fade over time. I've been on Remicade for four or five years and have reached the maximum dose. Another downside is the long-term side effects, most of which are unknown at this time, but which include an increased risk of cancer. I'm taking those risks for quality of life now. It's the sort of choice everyone has to make for him/herself. I'm thankful so much research is going on into RA and new drugs keep popping up, so I will have some alternatives when it no longer works. I don't want to turn this into a political discussion, but the real answers to these diseases lay in stem cell research. Till then, I'm very grateful for the medications, the support groups, and voice recognition software. Now, if you believe I can be cured by drinking Noni Juice, using magnets or cleansing my blood of excess iron, please keep your thoughts to yourself! Been there, done that, and have the damaged joints to attest to time wasted looking for the miracle cure.  :) Diane

This is my FAVORITE online video clip. It makes me smile and also brings a tear to my eye because of the trust and joy in the dog's face. The dancers are Carolyn Scott and her gorgeous golden, Rookie. When you get to this page, click the link to "download the wonderful video of Carolyn and Rookie", and be sure your sound is turned on. Enjoy! doggie dance Diane

Sometimes writers, especially early in their careers, view editors as adversaries. With my first book, I was so proud of every word that when my editor suggested changes, I balked. It takes a while to realize writers and editors are on the same team. I'm thinking about this right now because I'm excited to be working with my editor at Mira Books, Miranda Stecyk, again. I've been lucky to have had three fabulous editors over the years. Karen Solem, who's now an agent. Amy Moore Benson, who's also now an agent. And Miranda, who I hope isn't about to become an agent! All three are sharp editors who can look at a story and immediately see how it can be tweaked to make it better. My favorite editorial tweak was a suggestion from Karen Solem. When i first turned in the manuscript for KEEPER OF THE LIGHT, the old lighthouse keeper was a man (Caleb Poor, for those of you familiar with the book). She suggested I make the keeper a woman. I was mortified. The book was finished, as far as I was concerned and I was ready to move on to my next project. As I thought about it, though, I realized she was right. It was a lot of work changing Caleb into Mary Poor, but very worth it. I don't even know what I was thinking, making the keeper a man. It works better this way on a hundred levels. That's what a good editor is all about--helping the writer write a better book. Diane

The first time I read this book, many years ago,  I didn't like it. It's a tough read. Morrison's language is so dense and packed with imagery and symbolism that the reader must allow herself to be consumed by it. There's no other way to read this book, and I must have wanted to rush through it when I first read it, because I got little from it other than annoyance. But BELOVED was chosen as this month's read by my neighborhood book group, so I reread it, and this time I was ready for it. I just returned from the discussion. I love my book group! I think it's the first such group I've belonged to where people really discuss the book instead of chat and eat (although the chatting and eating groups are definitely fun, too!). Our discussion tonight, though, lasted a couple of hours and was thoughtful and provocative. Native northerners and native southerners, baby boomers and young moms, each with her own perspective on the book and on life, joined forces tonight to understand and expand our thinking.   If you thought your children were going to be subjected to a life of captivity, torture and dehumanization from which there is no escape, could you kill them to spare them that experience? That's one of many central questions at the heart of BELOVED. Toni Morrison does a phenomenal job of "showing rather than telling," which is the task every writer has before her. She makes the reader feel the experience of the slaves, both in bondage and once freed. Her narrative style is intentionally disjointed so that the reader only gradually realizes what has happened, and what is happening. When you allow yourself to be consumed by the story, you can discover things not only about the characters but about yourself as well. I can see why BELOVED was chosen as the best book written in the last twenty-five years. I'm  not widely read enough to make that claim, but the richness of this story and the way it chronicles one of the ugliest facets of America's past can't be disputed. I plan to read it again very soon. Diane

Scrunchies are out and have been for a long time. I just disvoered this by watching a rerun of an old Sex and the City in which one of the characters is grossed out by a woman who wears scrunchies. Then I read  in a 'what's hot and what's not' column how scrunchies are definitely O-U-T. Then I saw the movie IN HER SHOES in which the cute sister says to the ugly sister: "!994 called. It wants its scrunchie back." Ouch! Ok, i admit it: I love my scrunchies, those wonderful soft fabric bands that let me quickly and painlessly lift my hair into a pony tail to get it off my neck during a hot flash. But now I have the dilemma; do I still wear scrunchies in public? Will I be mocked (behind my back, of course) at the Opium Den? And why on earth do I care? I remember the poem, When I am Old, I will Wear Purple. Do they make purple scrunchies?  

As promised, here's the original cover for KEEPER OF THE LIGHT. Fortunately, my protests and those of my agent were loud enough to change the publisher's mind before publication. would you have picked this book up??  they got rid of the lady coming out of the dunes and i was very happy with the result. 

The pink cover was the paperback reissue. you could open up the woman's profile to see her features--a beautiful redhead, annie o'neill--and a slightly risque, romancy pose of alec and olivia in the water. i didn't like the romancy feel of the cover, but it sold a bunch of books. it didn't hurt that that red band along the bottom offered a money back guarantee! and finally, below is the current cover most of you know for this book. it's my favorite of all of them.

                              

One of my writers' email loops is having a discussion about the BAM opening--you know, something really dramatic happens on the first page of a book so you have to keep reading. Do you need that? How many pages will you give a book before deciding it's for you (or not for you)? What makes you pick up a book by an author you've never heard of and decide you want to read that book? When I'm reading, I don't need a BAM opening, but I do need to be quickly engaged. It might be by the character's voice, the setting, or the beauty of the writing. About half the books I've written have BAM openings, and I know from reviews that they are very easy to get into. But some stories require a slightly slower start. What are your preferences? diane  

Just another couple of months! I've heard from many of you that you can't wait for BAY to be reissued in paperback. It will be on sale in trade paperback size on August 29th. The same cover as the hardcover--which I really think goes well with the story.          

For those of you new to my blog, here are some definitions that might help: The Opium Den: this is Starbucks, where I write most mornings. I used to write there in the evenings as well until I realized I was consuming about 1000 calories of baked goods a day on top of buckets of caffeine. The Outer Banks: Barrier Islands on the coast of North Carolina, where a bunch of my books have been set. The boys: this refers to my Shelties, Jet and Keeper. They're two and three. Jet's energetic and outgoing; Keeper is shy and laid back. One has a bedunder my computer desk, the other under my rolltop desk. My soulmate, significant other, boyfriend: John, a commercial and art photographer with whom I share my life. He's my muse and brainstorming partner. He has a studio downstairs and I write upstairs (when I'm not at the Opium Den). The Dragon: Voice Recognition Software, which I both love and loathe. The Girls: This refers to my three stepdaughters, who are, in reality, women. And pretty terrific women at that.

NJ: the cutest little grandson ever born.

Stories: What I love to write. If you haven't read any of my books yet, please give one a try . . . and be sure to let me know what you think. Diane

I've seen a triplet of spelling bee movies lately. Here's what I think of them. Akeelah and the Bee                                          Parents, PLEASE take your late elementary and early middle schoolers to this moive! As a matter of fact, it's a wonderful family movie. The story is of a young inner city girl with a gift for spelling. She has to shake off the criticism of her peers and her own self-doubts to accept the guidance she needs to succeed, but succeed she does. Thre are no surprises, but there's great joy. Akeelah and the Bee has not done particularly well at the box office. This distresses me. Violence and extreme action do very well. This engaging story can give kids something to root for that involves their minds and hearts, not just their fists. ____________________________ Spellbound                                             I watched this as a documentary on DVD. John did not want to watch it, but after the first ten minutes, he was hooked. The documentary follows several young teens from very diverse backgrounds as they study their way to the National Spelling Bee. The studying, as you can see in Akeelah and the Bee, goes way beyond simple spelling to the roots of words and their meanings. It will make you wish you took latin in high school. I defy you not to be on the edge of your seat as they spell! ____________  Bee Season                movie                           book This is both a book, by Myla Goldberg and a movie starring Richard Gere. I listened to the book on audio, which is always different from reading it. I wrote about it on my former blog. Listening to the story, which was read by the author, was a gripping, fascinating experience as a father tries to shape his young daughter, through the gift of her spelling, into the Jewish mystic he was never able to be himself. The ending had psychological integrity, if not the joy of the far simpler Akeelah.  The movie on the other hand . . . Wow, did I dislike it. Slow pace, dense--I could only understand much of what was going on because I'd read the book. I wanted so much to like it, but to me anyway, it's an example of how difficult it can be to make a good movie from a very complex book.

I miss only four things about Northern Virginia, where I lived for more than twenty years before moving to N.C. nearly a year ago: my friends, Trader Joe’s, Ikea, and my beloved interfaith gospel choir, Mosaic Harmony (that's me in the picture, second from the top).  I didn't rush into finding a new choir because I don't want to become overcommitted, which is my tendency. John and I went to a Mosaic Harmony concert when we visited Virginia a few weeks ago, and of course that set up a longing in me. I was chatting about it with Nancy Olsen, the owner of Quail Ridge Books here in Raleigh, and she told me about the choir at her friend's church. So I went to a service to hear them a couple of Sundays ago and was wowed! I went to rehearsal last week and will go to another tonight. It's very different from MoHa, except for a similar energy in the people and a dynamic director. But being a church choir, everyone's of one faith. One thing I loved about MoHa was the interfaith element--Christians, atheists, Jews all singing music that praised the Divine, whatever that meant to each of us. Another difference is that the new choir uses music, which I've never truly learned to read, whereas in MoHa, we learned the words and melody by rote. I'm looking forward to the challenge of learning to sing in this "new to me" way. Oh, I nearly forgot one of the best parts! When I arrived for the first rehearsal, I was greeted by a member of the choir. When I told her my name, she asked if I was "the author" Diane Chamberlain. Turns out she's one of my biggest fans! She said she's my number one fan, actually, but others have made the same claim . I don't know whether she or I was more excited. All I know is that I felt instantly at home and can't wait to start singing with them in earnest. I just hope my writing schedule, which promises to be very full this year, will allow me the time. Diane   

ME AND EMMA, by Elizabeth Flock Loved this book. It came out as trade paperback (the large-sized paperback) from my publisher, Mira Books. It's the story of two young sisters, Emma and Carrie, told from Carrie's point of view in first person. The sisters try to run away from their emotionally distant mother and abusive stepfather. That sounds a bit cliched, but the story is not. It's very well written and engaging, but the really POW comes at the end. And of course I'm not going to tell you what happens. I will say, though, that the character of Carrie has what I call "pyschological integrity", meaning the surprise ending completely fits the character's motivation and emotional makeup. That's crucial when an author's trying to pull off a surprise for the reader. The author needs to keep the reader guessing what's going on, but guessing worng. Yet when all is revealed, it has to feel right and believable. i think Flock really pulled it off in this story. Kudos to her for doing so.   

A heartbreaker of a movie. I thought Heath Ledger was phenomenal, (although there were a couple of scenes in which he looked so much like George Bush--to me, anyway--that I couldn’t keep my mind on the story). People I spoke with who were uncomfortable with this movie told me the sex scenes were too graphic and "didn’t leave anything out," so I was expecting something approaching an X rating. What I saw instead was not graphic in the least. The focus was on character, not sex. One of my favorite books on writing is THE JOY OF WRITING SEX by Elizabeth Benedict. Benedict stresses that sexual behavior has to be an extension of the character. What does intimacy mean to these two people? In BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, the implication of the love between Ennis and Jack is paramount. Ennis can’t embrace it, and his pain, at first hidden, finally overwhelms him. The scene with Jack’s parents was touching. Jack and Alma, Ennis’s wife, had my deepest sympathy. Both of them were hurt by Ennis’s inability to be honest with his feelings, even to himself. And Ennis, though I frequently wanted to drop-kick him into the next state, was the product of his sad upbringing and the times. My only complaints were a pace that was a tad too slow and the sudden, inexplicable focus on Ennis’s one daughter. What happened to the other daughter? I felt as though I missed something. Oh, and one more thing. What was with Ann Hathaway’s hairstyles? Yuch.

I read a lot of books, but I watch tons of movies. Four or five a week. I love stories in any form and they feed my creative well. John and I rarely actually go to the movies, but we rent from Netflix on a constant basis. Love those little red envelopes! We like classics as well as new releases and everything in between, as you’ll see. I’m no reviewer, but thought I’d keep track of what we’re watching – and what I’m reading – here on my blog. Feel free to join in with your own reading and watching experiences. By the way, I plan to use my own personal "Lighthouse" system to rate books and movies. Five lighthouses–best imaginable. A BEAUTIFUL MIND is a five lighthouse movie for me. THE RED TENT is a five lighthouse book. Diane

Can't figure out why your character needs to move to California (besides the fact that you want your story to take place there)? Want something unexpected to happen to your character when she walks into a restaurant? Use the List of Twenty. Author Patricia McLinn shared this exercise with me years ago. She and Emilie Richards and I plotted and brainstormed together and I miss them both since moving to North Carolina. Anyhow, it's an exercise I come back to over and over again because it works in so many different instances. When you encounter any sort of problem with your story, give yourself three or four minutes to generate twenty solutions without censoring your thoughts. Your subconsious mind will kick into gear and you may be pleasantly surprised by the results. Better yet, enlist some friends to come up with their list of twenty solutions for your problem. When I only have a short time to teach the List of Twenty during a workshop, I have one person describe the problem they're having with their story and then all the participants write a list of twenty solutions for them and give them to that one lucky attendee. By the way, the List of Twenty works on real life problems too, helping you think outside the box. Let me know how it works for you. Diane

I adore fan mail. Ninety-five percent of it comes via email and I try to answer it right away. I used to let it pile up and then it hung around my neck like an albatross, which took all the pleasure out of receiving it. I enjoy it much more now that I get back to the writer ASAP. Snail mail is another animal altogether. I have a snail mail address (PO Box 98543, Raleigh, NC 27624) and I check it about once a week. I get the most wonderful long letters. Often my older readers are the ones to write snail mail since they're less likely to use computers. Their letters are a treasure to me, a little window into the lives of the people who love my books enough to write me about them. But the problem is, I put the letters in a file and weeks go by, then months and the albatross is back. About once every six months, I dig out my stationery and sit down to answer snail mail.   In the last year or so, snail mail has come increasingly from foreign readers. I get long letters in French, Czech, Finnish, etc. I can't read them! when I get email in a foreign langauge, I use www.Babelfish.com to give me at least a rudimentary translation so I can respond. But the snail mail makes me so sad. People have taken their good time to write to me and I can't read their letters and respond appropriately. I recently visited a friend who speaks French and who graciously took the time to translate my French fan mail for me. What a huge help! But until I meet someone who speaks Czech, Finnish, etc, those letters will have to go unanswered.   So if any of you have written me snail mail and not heard from me yet, first and foremost, thank you for writing! Second, know that your letter is in a file drawer waiting for me to find the time and discipline to respond in the way you deserve. Diane

    before                     after It's been nearly a year since we moved into our house in North Carolina and we still don't have it fixed up as we'd like (or I guess I should say, as I’d like). You walk into the large living room through the front door and it looks something like a used furniture store. Since we watch so many movies, we splurged on a big screen TV and couldn’t find a piece of furniture that would accomodate it along with the CDs, LPs, and media equipment. Since we've combined households, John and I now have about a million CDs and DVDs between us. Plus John has 17 1/2 linear feet of LP's. (translation for you younger readers, vinyl record albums). So we bit the bullet and hired a guy who came up with a design that really fits our needs. This past week, the unit was installed and it's fantastic. We still have some work to do on it. (More grommets to get rid of the visible wiring, glass for the doors, and something decorative for the space above the TV–stained glass, maybe?), but what a difference this makes. The big drawers will fit plenty of John’s LPs and racks inserted into the cabinets will hold the CDs. I can’t wait to get my CDs out of the boxes they’ve been in for a year! I have loads of soundtracks that I use as background music while writing (more on that later) and it will be so good to hear them again. Diane

Having Rheumatoid Arhtirtis sometimes makes typing, or even writing by hand, difficult. I know at least one author who gave up writing when carpal tunnel made it so painful she could no longer take joy in the process. When my hands are very bad,  I use voice recognition software called Dragon Naturally Speaking (which I wrote about in my fomer blog). I rarely have much of a problem these days, since the better drugs keep the monster at bay. However, to save my pinkies, I usually type without capitals. My email is almost always capital-free. When I'm working on a manuscript, I set up my word processing program to capitalize the first word in each sentence and the proper names I'll be using in the story. Works like a charm. So, if you're a writer or long to be one, you can no longer use bad hands as an excuse to keep you away from the keyboard! Diane

I’m big on letting my subconscious mind do a lot of the work of creating a story. This part of our mind always seems a little out of reach. It’s full of the most amazing things–think of your dreams. You couldn’t brainstorm the remarkable events in your dreams if you tried. So, I’m always coming up with ways to get in better touch with that part of my mind that is filled with ideas and solutions. One of the ways I do this is the Creative Nap. Thomas Edison had a unique way of taking the Creative Nap. He would relax in a comfortable chair while holding a bunch of ball bearings in his hands. On the floor on either side of the chair, he’d place tin pie pans. He’d allow himself to drift off. As he fell asleep, his hands would relax, releasing the ball bearings and waking himself up. Then he’d focus on whatever ideas he had during that brief "twilight sleep" between being fully awake and totally asleep.I can’t bring myself to do the ball bearing thing. I want the nap itself too much. But when I’m puzzling over a character’s motivation or what might happen in a scene, I frequently lie down with a pad and pen and focus on the problem at hand. I write whatever comes to me before I drift off. It works! Try it. Plus, I have a nifty little pad I keep by my bedside for middle of the night brilliance. It has a pen that writes upside down so you don’t have to sit up, and a little light that prevents me from waking John. It’s an essential, even tax-deductible (yay!), necessity for any writer. (No, i don't sell them. Just do a search on "pad" "bedside" "pen" and "light".)   Diane