A Simple Heart and Heteroclite Things: selling books, evil reviews, cow whisperer, beta readers-Ep.11

A 60-minute episode in which we discuss parrots and the holy spirit, Flaubert’s simple, beautiful language, the importance of being a cow whisperer, and how we will not ship to Neptune. Kaisha talks about what books used bookstores are looking for, what not to bring them, and shares a few horror stories. Kelsey discusses the writers in her life, including her grandfather, who wrote a manuscript which is forever lost. They delve into the importance of reviews, and what a good review looks like and end on a Madame Bovary tangent. You can find full show notes at http://www.readwriterepeatpod.com.

Welcome to Read.Write.Repeat.

This month we will be giving away an advanced reader copy of The Vengeance of Mothers by Jim Fergus. We explain how to enter toward the end of the show notes.

Bookish Rants:

How to sell used books to a bookstore.

• Make sure it is in excellent condition.
• Don’t expect much money.
• Be nice.
• Send any signed first editions of T.S. Eliot to Kelsey.

Author Rants:

What other writers are in your life and how do they influence your writing?

• My grandfather-his lost manuscript.
  • I keep his old Writer’s Market Book as a reminder never to give up.
• Kaisha and my son are the biggest, closest writers in my life
• The importance of finding a writing community
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • My MFA cohort
  • Guests on my blog

Listeners weigh in:

We want to do a tangent on things our kids wrote, and we want to include listeners! Did your child write something hilarious or adorable? Send it our way. You can email us at readwriterepeatpod@gmail.com.

Prompt up:

We forgot to give you our prompt on the show, here it is!

Now for some more writing practice! Today we will be using a prompt from the 30 Day Challenge Archive on Tumblr.

• Write a story/excerpt to include the line, “Sorry, we can’t insure you for a journey like that.”
  • These writing challenges are a great way to jumpstart your creativity and build a consistent writing habit.
• Don’t forget to share your writing with us. You can submit your writing to be featured through the Submit Your Writing tab at tibetanlemon.com or post it as a comment on our show notes!

Short Story Powwow:

It’s that time again! For today’s Powwow we are reading another short story from Somerset Maugham‘s Teller of Tales.

The story we read is A Simple Heart by Gustave Flaubert

Introduce context-brief

• Although he moved to Paris to study law in 1842, he left school a few years later in poor health and without achieving much success.–Reminds me of Bovary I wonder if this influenced his creation of the doctor and his lack of success.
• In much the same way that Barbey condemned immorality through a realistic, non-preachy portrayal of life, so to Flaubert condemns much of the higher classes in this story.

Quotes from the reading–

• The two end panels were invisible beneath pen-and-ink sketches, landscapes in body colour, and Audran’s engravings, souvenirs of better times and vanished luxury.
• She rose with the dawn so as not to miss Mass, and worked without stopping until evening; then, dinner being finished, the dishes put away and the door fast shut, she covered the faggots with ashes, and fell asleep before the hearth, her rosary in her hand.–So much characterization in this sentence.
• She had had, like any one else, her love story.–I love this placement of this line!
• The wind was soft, the stars shone, the huge wagon-load of hay swayed before them, and the four horses, dragging their feet, raised the dust.
• Paul and Virginia, one aged seven, the other hardly four, seemed to h
• er to be made of precious stuff; she carried them on her back like a horse, and Madame Aubain forbade her to kiss them every minute, and that mortified her. Yet she was happy. The gentleness of the environment had melted her sorrow.
• The courtyard is sloping, the house in the middle: and the sea, in the distance, appears like a grey stain.
• Virginia fed the rabbits, rushed to gather cornflowers, and the swift motion of her legs showed her little embroidered drawers.
• “The sleepy waves, falling on the sand, rolled in along the beach…”
• Maybe it was its light that flickered at nights on the edge of the marshes, its breath that pushed the clouds, its voice that made the bells ring sweetly…
• In the morning, from habit, Felicity went into Virginia’s room and looked at the walls. She missed not having her hair to comb, her boots to lace, to tuck her in her bed—and not seeing continually her pretty face, not having to hold her hand when they went out together.
• Love the part where she is looking at the map to see where her nephew sailed to and expects to see his house or even a photo of him. Yet now, that is possible.
• The fields were empty, the wind rippled the river; at the bottom long weeds swept over like the hair of dead men floating in the water.–I love that he doesn’t overdo this–sooo good.
• The autumn slipped away quietly.–I love the way he weaves in these details.
• Then years slipped by, all alike, and without other episodes than the return of the great feasts…
• Their eyes met, filled with tears; finally the mistress opened her arms, the servant flung herself into them; and they clung together, satisfying their grief in a kiss that equalized them.
• Okay, the bird and Monsieur Bourais are funny.—and so as not to be seen by the parrot, Monsieur Bourais slipped along the wall, hiding his profile with his hat, reached the river, then entered by the garden gate; and the glances he directed at the bird lacked tenderness.
• The parrot causes her to go deaf and she speaks so loud that they have to hold confession in the vestry.
• heteroclite things–irregular or unusual-A person who is unconventional, eccentric.
• Communicating with no one, she lived in the torpor of the sleep-walker.

Next reading if you want to read along: “Krambambuli” by Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach for Episode 12 which will post September 3rd. Note, the link above is to the German full text version, but I thought I would include it. There was no translation available, but if you are so inclined, you could plug it into google translate.

Connect and Win!!

• Don’t forget to enter our giveaway for August. This month we will be giving away an advanced reader copy of The Vengeance of Mothers by Jim Fergus! To enter, rate us and leave a review on Itunes, and then let us know how to get in touch with you if you win on any of our social media platforms. A winner will be drawn at random on September first.
• You can find other Giveaways on the giveaways tab and in the Give us a Shout tab on our website. Be sure to check those out. We ship worldwide, so don’t hesitate to enter our giveaway.
• If anything sparked an idea for you, or you have thoughts or ideas about what we should discuss next. Let us know. Fill out our survey for a chance to win cool prizes!

Connect with us:

• Instagram
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Pinterest

Thanks for listening to Read.Write.Repeat! Talk with you next time!