Conversations with Calliope

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Pleasantly surprised.
CALLIOPE: How so?
JOE: I told you last week that I made another attempt at Rushdie's Satanic Verses and again found it impenetrable at least for my feeble mind.
CALLIOPE: You did. And now?
JOE: I tried giving it one more chance. After I got past the initial pages, I found his tle absorbing and very well written. I must admit I wandered a few times but for the most part am enjoying it.
CALLIOPE: What made you persist?
JOE: Hearing Rushdie read made me realize how good he is at lyrical expression and analogous ways of saying things, in short of capturing the reader's imagination in looking at pedestrian events.
CALLIOPE: Quite a turnaround I'd say.
JOE: Me too. The later pages took me by storm and captured my imagination. I found them a treat.
CALLIOPE: And what about your writing?
JOE: Hearing and reading Rushdie brought me to think about how I write. I came to realize I do so in three stages. First I write the story. Next I edit it for consistency and clarity. Finally I return to listen to my voice as narrator and the voices of my characters to see how they can become more immediate and expressive.
CALLIOPE: Where did you get that approach?
JOE: Hard to say. I remember reading about approaching one's writing from different perspectives one at a time. Maybe it arose from that. I'm not sure how I ended up with this particular plan or whether it is the best one for me. For now, I like it and am using it to write and edit Marital Property. I am open to other approaches and plan to ask some about their approaches. Time to get to business. Talk with you tomorrow.
(Woodland pond- Oramel, NY)

Conversations with Calliope

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. Anything exciting going on this morning?
JOE: Nothing like the story contest last Saturday. Just a quiet day at the computer.
CALLIOPE: Did you have any more thoughts about Rushdie's comment on discovering the why by exploring the how?
JOE: I have been thinking about it. I would enjoy having a conversation with him about this but can only speculate on what he meant unless I can find some writing of his which develops this further. I think one part of what he means has to do with product and process.
CALLIOPE: Now you have some explaining to do.
JOE: I think the question "why" leads to an explanation, the end result of whatever exploration takes place. This kind of answer is a product or a conclusion. Asking the question "how" looks instead on the process of arriving at a conclusion rather than on the product or final result. The process is much richer than the product. I also think it is more important to understand the process rather than the end result.
CALLIOPE: In what way?
JOE: If you look at the usefulness of both in living our own lives, it becomes clearer. The conclusions we reach about the nature of life are just facts to be listed and maybe shared. Our lives are more than a series of facts. We each live in an ongoing process of exploring who we are. In coming to understand our journey, why we are on our particular paths becomes more clear.
CALLIOPE: I think I see what you are getting at. Don't you think it is important to know what your life means?
JOE: I think it is the search which is important. If we reached final conclusions about our lives and could sum them up as an explanation for our existence, there would be nothing left to do but sit down and wait to die. There would be nothing else to explore.
CALLIOPE: In other words life would effectively be over.
JOE: That's the way I see it. I guess its time for me to get back to my exploration of today. Talk with you on Monday.
(Cabin in Oramel, NY)

Conversations with Calliope

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Humbled.
CALLIOPE: What brings you to this state of awareness?
JOE: My presence last night in the PEN World Voices presentation.
CALLIOPE: Tell me about it.
JOE: Salman Rushdie and Umberto Eco both read from their works and Joanna Scott hosted a conversation with the two writers. Both inspired me to be the best writer I can be and gave me some ideas about how to do it.
CALLIOPE: Excellent. What did you learn?
JOE: More than I would from one author alone. Joanna Scott did an excellent job facilitating a conversation between the two authors.
CALLIOPE: Specifics please.
JOE: Okay, one insight from each author. Eco sees fiction as inviting the reader to think about how we think. We step back from our practical world and look from a distance at ourselves and how we operate. This is similar to what Eckhart Tolle suggests as awareness in A New Earth.
CALLIOPE: And Rushdie?
JOE: One of my favorite insights he shared was that we often get stuck trying to answer the question why when reading. Concentrating in writing on answering the question how leads to the understanding of why.
CALLIOPE: That sounds rather profound. I'll have to think about it for a while. What's up for today?
JOE: I will continue working on editing Marital Property. I am reading the manuscript first for clarity and consistency. After that I will look at it's musical properties, an insight I gained last night. But more about that tomorrow.
(Polar Bears- Peter Langen)

Conversations with Calliope

JOE: Good morning Calliope.
CALLIOPE: Good morning Joe. How are you today?
JOE: Excited.
CALLIOPE: On what account?
JOE: This afternoon I have the privilege of attending a PEN event in Rochester. Umberto Eco and Salman Rushdie are both reading their work. I happened across the announcement as soon as it was released and was able to get tickets.
CALLIOPE: Are you a big fan of either?
JOE: I tried reading The Satanic Verses a while ago and had trouble making sense of it. Eco's book Name of the Rose was one of my favorites. His more recent book, The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana was, well, mysterious. I liked parts of it but other parts eluded me.
CALLIOPE: Why do you think you had the mixed reactions?
JOE: I think I like to read more straightforward work. I like to be able to follow plot and character development rather than having pieces of a jigsaw puzzle laid in front of me which I have to piece together to make sense of a book.
CALLIOPE: Good way to put it. Do you write straightforwardly as well?
JOE: I try to. I must admit a few forays into more speculative fiction such as my short story, A Piecemeal Kingdom.
CALLIOPE: I forgot about that story. Is it posted somewhere.
JOE: You can find it http://www.authorsden.com/visit/viewshortstory.asp?AuthorID=66681&id=29856.
CALLIOPE: Quite a mouthful.
JOE: Not everyone can link directly. So that's the whole ID. It's easier than sending it to everyone who wants to see it.
CALLIOPE: With all your excitement, are you getting some work done?
JOE: Yes. I revised several chapters of Marital Property yesterday and plan to work some more on it today before heading off to Rochester. Talk with you tomorrow.
(Bas relief- Santillana, Spain)