Real Words

One of the annual projects that I had planned on executing this year was to read all the books by (and all the material I could get my hands on about) author Milan Kundera. Unfortunately, as I started this project, I found that I wasn’t enjoying Kundera’s books as much as I’d thought I would. Although I still love the first Kundera book that I fell in love with (Identity), I quickly saw that his other books didn’t fill me with the kind of inspiration that I was hoping to get out of the project.

I decided I’d probably select another author for the project and was leaning towards Somerset Maugham when I stumbled across Armistead Maupin. Maupin is the author of a series of books called Tales of the City that is set in San Francisco. I love this city that I call home and am always excited when I discover anything that gives me a new look at it. The first book in the series, also titled Tales of the City, mentions many different places and occurrences in San Francisco at the time that the book was written (1978). This gives me a chance to see how the city has changed from the details mentioned there to the way I know the city to be now.

But what really interests me about this author is the style of writing that it displays. Here’s where I’ll reveal a secret about myself: I like chick lit. I don’t read it often. I don’t think it’s necessarily the most inspiring or creative genre out there. And I’m not too girly so a lot of the details of it tend to seem frivolous to me. But on a day when I want fluff to read, chick lit is my genre of choice (followed closely by true crime novels). And what I’m finding here is that Maupin seems to be the original chick lit writer. Years before the genre had a name, this man managed to get to the heart of the wit that’s behind this kind of writing.

Of course, Tales of the City doesn’t stick specifically within the chick lit genre which is probably why I like it so much. It tells the tales of women (and men) in the city from the perspective of an open-minded San Francisco swinging kind of place. And there are some great turns of phrase in the book that make it literary as well as fun. More importantly, to me anyhow, is the fact that the book does a great job of creating a whole series of characters and then intertwining them over time. This is something I don’t do well in my own creative writing and aspire to do better at so it’s exciting to find an example of it that I can pattern some ideas on.

There are seven books in the series as well as a few other books that Maupin has under his belt so this should keep me busy for awhile. That makes me happy since I was hoping to have a reading goal this year. I really do think that getting to know an author’s works from the beginning to the end allows a writer a chance to explore the creative process from the inside out. I’m looking forward to the chance to do that with Maupin!

At the end of each year, I set forth some goals for what I would like to accomplish in the New Year. These aren’t resolutions in the traditional sense. Instead, they are a series of projects that I work on throughout the year. By writing them down on paper, I find that I am more likely to work towards accomplishing them. And although they are often unrelated to writing, they are all projects which add information and excitement to my life – something which ultimately results in better writing throughout the years.

Here are some of the annual projects that I’ve got going as a source of inspiration for 2008:

• Neighborhood project. By far, the project that I’m most excited about this year is the neighborhood exploration project that I started. I live in San Francisco, a city that is filled with distinct neighborhoods that each offer their own type of experience. Now that I’ve been here a few years, I stopped really getting outside of my comfort zone and found myself sticking to the same neighborhoods. The neighborhood project is designed to get me out and about again, learning my city.  I chose one neighborhood per month and the goal is just to spend time there, to learn about it online and to find places there that I enjoy. For the first month, I cheated a bit on the definition of “neighborhood” and chose to explore the East Bay, primarily Berkeley, because I had some other things going on over there this month anyway. So far the best thing I’ve checked out there is Lake Chabot – and the hiking trails around it – in East Bay Regional Park.
• Hiking. This also helped jumpstart one of my other ‘projects’ which is to go hiking in a new spot at least once a month. I really believe that physical activity helps to rejuvenate the spirit and get your mind into a clearer place, something that is crucial to being able to write well.
• Milan Kundera project. I often say that Milan Kundera is one of my favorite authors. However, I’ve really only read two of his books and that was many years ago. This project consists of reading all of his books sometime in 2008. Unfortunately, I’m finding that I don’t seem to love the writing as much as I thought I did. I think it might be that I’m not in a mood for heavy writing this week though so I’m going to give it another chance again soon before dismissing the project. I may end up choosing another author in the end (Somerset Maugham comes to mind).
• Ryan Phillippe project. Likewise, I say that this is my favorite actor (Playing by Heart and Crash were favorite movies of mine) but I haven’t seen him in too many things. He has a diverse range of roles and I think it’s good to expose yourself to different creative mediums – such as film – so I’m going to check out all of his movies this year. This started with 54 which reinspired me to start checking out some of the art from that time period again.
• 20 wines project. I only became a wine drinker in the last couple of years so I don’t really know that many wines. I’ve been wanting to learn more about which ones I like and which ones I don’t. Maybe I’ll even start to notice which kinds go with which foods! My goal was to try twenty new wines this year … and to do some research learning more about them as well. I’m already way ahead on this project so I might need to modify it. Let the wine flow!

I believe that inspiration comes from a variety of sources. Writing is drawn from the experiences that we have in life. Fresh experiences translates to fresh writing. Besides, life is healthier and more exciting when you’re learning new things and having new experiences!

Question of the Day: What do you think of annual projects as inspiration throughout the year?