Last year I saw Sara Gruen speak at a Book Expo about her novel Water for Elephants. I remember how she described forcing herself to overcome procrastination to write the book. She put a desk in a closet, put on earphones to block noise, and then just sat there until she got the thing written. That impressed me so much it helped me to focus more on my own novel.

Well, the NYTimes is reporting that Gruen’s novel is outselling everybody–even the Oprah picks.

Despite the presence of not one but two Oprah Winfrey selections in bookstores, it is a sleeper hit from last year that has muscled its way to being a big paperback read this summer.

The continuing success of “Water for Elephants,” a novel by Sara Gruen, is helping Spiegel & Grau, the author’s new publisher, rationalize its decision in November to pay more than $5 million for Ms. Gruen’s next two books.

Very cool. What every novelist dreams for.

Eight Facts About Me:

The rules:
1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. It is fun to be in my brain. There’s a movie going on all the time and it’s full of fascinating (but not real) people.

2. When I was a little kid, I was obsessed with the last word people say before they die. I used to collect information on people’s last words. I would also make sure to pay attention to the last thing I said before I went to bed so that if I died in my sleep, I would know what my last word was. This went on for years.

3. I hate naps. I have never taken naps, even when I was a baby. Watching people take naps makes me extremely impatient.

4. I would love to take a vacation where I drive around to major literary landmarks and see rare books in libraries. I just don’t know who would go on this vacation with me.

5. I think my earliest memory was a dream. We were in the car and my mom was wearing a bathrobe and curlers. I don’t think she would leave the house like that.

6. Logically, I know babies are humans, but they don’t seem human. They seem more like puppies.

7. My parents bought a computer when I was 8 and I was the only kid I knew who had one. I spent most of my childhood on a computer playing games no one has heard of today, because everyone else had a Nintendo.

8. I used to be very serious about being an actress. I was in so many plays in the small town I grew up in, I was recognized on the street. Now I know I would have been a terrible actress and I’m glad I didn’t pursue it as a career.

I tag:

Leona (who already did it), Marcia, Krista, Troy, Stephanie, Robin, Paul, Laura.

Oh wow this is so cool. Someone do this to my laptop… Please?

“Writer Mary Robinette Kowal modded her laptop so that the keyboard would resemble keys on an old-fashioned portable typewriter. ”

Link via Boing Boing, which broke Mary’s website. I will have to look into how she did it later.

UPATE: More here.

Marcia pretty much sums up my 4th of July here, which took place in my backyard. We grilled ribs, went downtown to watch fireworks, and then came back and watched Team America.

The ribs were so awesome, thanks to BBQ extraordinaire David, who came over and showed Kyle some tips on grilling. America!

Usually, I don’t have that much to say about writing. After all, you’re pretty much just putting one word in front of the other, then reading the words, and then rearranging them and rearranging them until they sound good. What is there to say about that, really? I could tell you about my new list of transitional phrases that I over-use and my struggle to get out of the habit of using them, but why would that be interesting to read? The process of writing is boring to all but the writer (and sometimes even to her). It’s the finished product that’s supposed to be interesting.

Personally when it comes to writing, I like hearing what people are working on. And I do have projects going on. I have a book proposal out, a novel that is still being edited, a book contest I’m judging, new short stories that are almost finished, and articles coming out. I’m writing queries to get new articles too.

As a rule, I don’t talk about what I’m working on in detail. Sometimes I will tell people I really trust about my work, like Kyle or my mom, but in general I’m tight-lipped about it. This is such an ingrained habit, I forget that I have good reasons for this rule. I don’t talk about on-going work because:

1. People steal ideas. This happens a lot. You have to be careful who you talk to about projects.
2. Although they mean well, people tend to ask you about works-in-progress all the time. It gets tiring explaining why something is not finished.
3. It’s not fun for me to have people witness rejection. I’d rather keep projects to myself and talk about successes.
4. Sometimes it’s inappropriate to talk about a project. I can’t talk about judging a contest or editing someone’s manuscript, for example, because there are other parties involved.
5. Talking about it can crush inspiration. Half-formed ideas and vague imagery can seem suddenly stupid if you have to explain what they are about and why anyone should care about them.
6. It bores me to talk about my work. I would rather talk about books or politics or what you have been doing lately.
7. I am weird about my writing and a very private person in general. I like my little writing world that only I know.

Sometimes I feel a little prissy sticking to this rule, but every time I have bent it, I have regretted it. It’s a weird thing though. Most people who don’t talk about their work can’t talk about it–they work for the government or signed a contract holding them to secrecy. Other people have boring jobs that no one wants to hear about. I have interesting work that I can talk about as much as I want, and I don’t.

Because, I guess, most of the time it just seems better not to.

On Saturday, Kyle and I brought a picnic to the beach. We had fresh bread with goat brie and apricots, Irish cheddar and salami, and other such delicacies. There were some seals hanging out down the beach, but some parks person had put up a rope and a sign to keep you from getting too close. I took some pictures. Here they are:

Do not pick up seals??

Yes, let me pick one of these tiny things up and carry it away in my pocket.

It was a windy day.

“Even amidst fierce flames - the golden lotus can be planted.”

Last month, I spent time talking to video game developers in Marin County. I got to go to their offices, ask them about their games, and think about having fun a lot. It was, well… fun.

The resulting article is this week’s cover story in the Pacific Sun.

Here are the first few paragraphs to whet your appetite:

When it comes to video games, those who make them are similar to the die-hard fans who play them.

In both cases: mostly young men bending over glowing computer screens exploring every detail of the game.

They stay that way for days sometimes, not coming up for fresh air or food that hasn’t come via delivery driver. At last, they finish the game and emerge from their caves, blinking in the light of day. Almost immediately, they begin to think of the next game to tackle.

The difference, of course, is that the developer is struggling to meet a deadline to get the game into stores. The fan just has too much time on his hands.

Read the rest here.