NEWSLETTER #2 - February 1999
This is the second of my erratic letters to interested readers. As predicted in the last letter, I have been "underground" -- in a writers sense that is. I am fooling around with a new idea for an adult novel so that means I'm spending many hours in the library reading books that may or may not be related, and taking notes and trying to imagine myself into a whole new cast of characters. I miss Anna and Maggie and Sam and Chuck and all my other dear friends from ISLAND JUSTICE. (http://www.absolute-sway.com/winthrop/islandjustice.html) A writer knows her characters so well by the end of a novel that she can easily tell you how they are thinking or feeling or what they might do on this particular day. But not this new group. They are strangers to me and they are choosing to reveal themselves a little bit at a time. It's important that I sit still and listen very carefully and not ask too many prying, intrusive questions or else they clam up or turn their backs on me or disappear altogether. Being very quiet and listening, whether it be to a character or a child or a good friend, can be especially hard in this world where faxes and e-mails and web sites and all manner of disturbances constantly clamor for our attention.In other news, a favorite writer of mine, Rumer Godden, died recently at the age of 90 in her home in Scotland. She wrote novels for children and adults and her work always inspired me to try and become a better writer. More than anything else, she taught me about the fluidity of time in a novel and the strength of the storyteller's voice. In her work, she treated the children and their thoughts and desires with as much dignity and care as she did the adults. You might want to check her books out at your local library if you can't find them in a bookstore. Here are some of my favorite titles: AN EPISODE OF SPARROWS, TAKE THREE TENSES, THE RIVER, CHINA COURT and THE GREENGAGE SUMMER.
I was pleased to read that Amazon.com, the online bookstore, has retreated from its original stance and has agreed to inform its customers when book publishers pay to feature a title on the web page. What many readers don't know is that this is common, everyday practice for chain bookstores. When you walk into Barnes and Noble or Borders or Waldenbooks and see that prominent rack of new paperbacks or that table that says, selected summer reading, a publisher has paid to place a book in that space. For the most part, this is not true in your small independent booksellers. They feature a book in their store windows because they have read it and loved it and their customers are talking about it. Tempted as I am to save money at the chains, I try as often as possible to shop at the independents where books are not simply objects to be sold, but treasures to be passed on.
There have been some changes to my website and I hope you'll come visit. In the biography page, (http://www.absolute-sway.com/winthrop/message.html) you'll be able to see some family pictures as well as jackets from some of my older books. We have added a page for my out of print books which will allow you to order a signed, first edition directly through the website. (http://www.absolute-sway.com/opbooks.html) I have been collecting quotes about writing for the last fifteen years and you can read a new one of these each week on the site. We've updated the page on AS THE CROW FLIES, my picture book that deals with the problem of divorce. (http://www.absolute-sway.com/winthrop/crowflies.html) and there you will find new links.
ISLAND JUSTICE will be published in paperback in May by Quill/William Morrow. At that time, I will be posting a reading group discussion guide to the book on the site so that interested groups can download it and use it to spark discussion about the themes and characters in the book.
If you are a teacher, be sure to drop into the In the Classroom (http://www.absolute-sway.com/winthrop/teachit.html) page and tell us of your experiences teaching my CASTLE books. Meet other teachers there and dialogue with each other about your common interests. Encourage your kids to visit the Castle Club and leave a message on the message board (http://www.absolute-sway.com/winthrop/phorum-3.4.8a). I'm really enjoying reading their "reviews" of my books and seeing the art the CASTLE books have inspired.
The light is coming back and spring is just around the corner. I hope, wherever you are, you'll have time to stop and listen and soak it in
Elizabeth Winthrop
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
"...every piece of writing...starts from what I call a grit...a sight or sound, a sentence or a happening that does not pass...but quite inexplicably lodges in the mind.
Nor can one say why a particular "something" stays when thousands upon thousands simply pass by; why does "this" stay and not "that"? Often one tries to ignore the something or dislodge it, but a real writer knows there is only one way to do this - let the thing grow and then write it."