Blog | Lauren B. Davis

The Neighbor as “The Other”

February 4, 2012 By Lauren B. Davis Leave a Comment

One afternoon some years ago when I lived in the French Alps, I was driving home with my friend Joan, a Liverpudlian (or ‘Scouser’ as she proudly called herself) who lived in the hamlet below my house, which was farther up the mountain. We had been for lunch in nearby Annecy, a medieval town of canals and breathtaking views. Joan, a middle-aged chatterbox and ex-hell raiser, had recently moved to the hamlet from Geneva and her car still had Swiss plates, which may have been one of the contributing factors to what happened that afternoon.

Us / Them

Filed Under: "The Other" (Us vs Them)

Shooting the Crow

January 23, 2012 By Lauren B. Davis 4 Comments

John Ruskin at Glenfinlas, Scotland, painted by John Everett Millais.

I lead a monthly writing workshop called SHARPENING THE QUILL, details of which you can find elsewhere on this website. I named the workshops that because a long time ago I heard an anecdote about John Ruskin (at least I think it was John Ruskin) who was out rambling and shooting pheasant or grouse or something — you know, as one does — about the hills in his native England when an idea popped into his head. Knowing it was an important idea, and also knowing he was bound to forget it by the time he trudged back to his desk if he didn’t write it down now, he scrambled in his pockets for writing implements, but had none. He did, however, have a gun, so he shot the first bird he saw, a crow, plucked a quill from its wing, sharpened it with his handy pocket knife, dipped it in the crow’s blood and scribbled the idea on the hem of his shirt.

Filed Under: Writer's life, Writing process

Waiting for Canada

January 19, 2012 By Lauren B. Davis 2 Comments

Hello everyone, I’m deep in the first draft of a new novel, which is why I haven’t been as active as usual on this page.

However, I did want to tell my Canadian fans that if they haven’t already bought a copy of OUR DAILY BREAD, they may have to wait a few weeks. Harper Collins Perennial has bought the Canadian rights, which means they’ll be repackaging the book (I’m quite excited to see what they’ll come up with and will keep you posted), and republishing in early March. Until then, the book won’t be available at Canadian outlets such as Amazon.ca.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Chair Glue for Writers

January 3, 2012 By Lauren B. Davis 10 Comments

Lawrence Hill, a good friend and hugely successful writer, wrote to me recently to congratulate me on the success of my recent novel, OUR DAILY BREAD, which has been named to the Boston Globe and and The Globe & Mail as one of the best books of the year. (Yea!) Published by Wordcraft of Oregon, a independent press in the United States, it is also soon to be published by Harper Collins Canada. (Who originally turned the book down — but hey, mistakes happen, no hard feelings, I’m just delighted to be back ‘home’ with them.)

Ernest Hemingway practising Sitzfleisch.

Filed Under: Writer's life, Writing process

Why Penguin may be the smartest publisher around

December 15, 2011 By Lauren B. Davis Leave a Comment

Oh, Penguin, you’ve found my soft spot. Books, books, beautiful books, as alluring on the outside as you are on the inside.

Take a gander at these beauties:

The Major Works of Dickens in the new Penguin Classics boxed set

Penguin has come out with special edition classics, with stunning covers created by acclaimed designer Coralie Bickford-Smith. Their web page says, “Penguin Classics presents beautiful hardcover editions of the world’s favorite books. Featuring gorgeous patterns stamped on linen cases, colored endpapers, and ribbon markers, these are rich and sumptuous volumes that continue what will be one of the most coveted sets of books ever produced.”

Filed Under: Book reviews, The World, The News & My Opinions On Stuff (for what it's worth)

“Are you there already?”

December 4, 2011 By Lauren B. Davis 2 Comments

Writing a novel is, of course, a mad undertaking. It begins with an effervescent, glimmering vision of perfection, which sets the writer off on her ink-stained quest, assured that THIS time she will reproduce the vision exactly, and as scintillatingly as it first appeared. This mirage is quickly followed by the mossy-toothed skull of doubt, and then long months of slog, wherein the writer is often only propelled forward by a dogged sense of duty, and fatalism. In other words — we keep following the sentences, one after mediocre one, in the hopes of landing somewhere, if not glimmering and effervescent, then at least reasonably well appointed. We also keep going because, really, we don’t do anything else even remotely well and if we we don’t write about what’s bothering us, we tend to be even more annoying to live with (my Best Beloved assures me) than we are when we’re embedded in slog.

Filed Under: Writer's life, Writer's Mental Health, Writing process

Glimpse into the process

December 2, 2011 By Lauren B. Davis Leave a Comment

Pat Summers, a journalist here in Princeton, has written a lovely article about OUR DAILY BREAD, which also offers a peek into my writing process and the mysterious world of publishing. The article appears today in THE PRINCETON PACKET. Thanks very much to Pat, and to Michael James Redmond, the editor at THE PACKET. You can read the article by clicking here. Thanks!

Filed Under: Uncategorized

OUR DAILY BREAD named one of the “Best of 2011″ by the Globe & Mail

November 26, 2011 By Lauren B. Davis 8 Comments

I’m absolutely thrilled to pass on the news that OUR DAILY BREAD has been named one of the best books of 2011 by The Globe & Mail. I’m in pretty heady company, with Christoper Ondaatje, Elizabeth Hay, David Bezmozgis, Antanas Seleika and others.

Thanks to everyone who believed in this book when others said it would fail. You know who you are! I’m immensely grateful.

There’s an awful lot of rejection and criticism in the writer’s life, so I try and savor the good bits. Thus, embarrassingly, I admit this is pretty much how I feel right now:

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Oh My, The Things I Don’t Know

November 11, 2011 By Lauren B. Davis 9 Comments

How many times are we told to write about what we know?

Too many.

I’ll be honest — I’m a magpie, by which I mean I’m someone who’s easily distracted when previously unnoticed bright shiny objects catch my eye. I believe this is a wonderful quality for a writer. Sure, we need discipline, stick-to-it-ness, focus and all that. We need to be able to get our butt in the chair, the pen in our fingers and slip down to the dreaming state where we can follow one word after another.

That’s a given.

Filed Under: Straight from the Quill -- notes from the writing workshops, Writer's life, Writing process

Bailey Day

November 6, 2011 By Lauren B. Davis 6 Comments

Bailey-the-Rescuepoo

Today is the one-year anniversary of the day Bailey-the-Rescuepoo came to live with My Best Beloved and me.

The Best Beloved is in Europe just now, but he sent an email requesting I give Bailey a few extra treats for him on what he calls “Bailey Day.” He said he can’t believe how his heart has opened up in a whole new way.

Dogs are like that — they’re kind of magic.

Filed Under: Dog's Life, Writer's life, Writer's Mental Health