This was incredible. I’m not going to diminish your writing by throwing my clumsy adjectives around- I won’t do it justice. I just love the cadence of your writing. What you say and how you say it are one and the same, and (to put it in another genre) that is Edward Hopper brilliant. I used to spackle for my father, and had such similar experiences- pulling up to homes on the Gold Coast of Long Island and wondering what the paths were that led to such wealth, but never feeling jealous. I just wondered what the tradeoffs were, and why I was carrying spackle pails. The way you described the girl with the porcelain skin and the crystal blue eyes- it made me wish I could have her sit for a portrait. I once kind of fell in love with Catherine Barkley, from Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms, and wished she could come to life so that I could paint her.
I’m just about to record a show, but I wanted to quickly say thank you for this comment. This gets at the heart of what I’m trying to do, and I’m so glad it’s coming across!
On a day when smoke from any number of fires blocks the view of the surrounding mountains; when fruit is ready for harvest, hanging beautifully on the trees; when my pet chicken Petey, who broke her leg in May and now walks with a limp, segregated from the other chickens because they find her disability a reason to peck her to death; when I'm just about to go get her from the enclosed garden and bring her in….my house…so she can follow me like a dog, lay on the kitchen floor, waiting for morsels to drop, I had to read your article….by golly, Steve, I loved it.
One piece of advice I give to writers is to read their work out loud. It helps you to find the cadence. Some sentences that work perfectly well written down sound awkward with you speak them. I find it really helps to find the rhythm of a piece.
This was incredible. I’m not going to diminish your writing by throwing my clumsy adjectives around- I won’t do it justice. I just love the cadence of your writing. What you say and how you say it are one and the same, and (to put it in another genre) that is Edward Hopper brilliant. I used to spackle for my father, and had such similar experiences- pulling up to homes on the Gold Coast of Long Island and wondering what the paths were that led to such wealth, but never feeling jealous. I just wondered what the tradeoffs were, and why I was carrying spackle pails. The way you described the girl with the porcelain skin and the crystal blue eyes- it made me wish I could have her sit for a portrait. I once kind of fell in love with Catherine Barkley, from Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms, and wished she could come to life so that I could paint her.
I’m just about to record a show, but I wanted to quickly say thank you for this comment. This gets at the heart of what I’m trying to do, and I’m so glad it’s coming across!
On a day when smoke from any number of fires blocks the view of the surrounding mountains; when fruit is ready for harvest, hanging beautifully on the trees; when my pet chicken Petey, who broke her leg in May and now walks with a limp, segregated from the other chickens because they find her disability a reason to peck her to death; when I'm just about to go get her from the enclosed garden and bring her in….my house…so she can follow me like a dog, lay on the kitchen floor, waiting for morsels to drop, I had to read your article….by golly, Steve, I loved it.
Nobody leaves comments like yours, Debby. Love it.
I love so much the rhythm of your writing.
Thank you!
One piece of advice I give to writers is to read their work out loud. It helps you to find the cadence. Some sentences that work perfectly well written down sound awkward with you speak them. I find it really helps to find the rhythm of a piece.