Tara Maya's Tales

  "The final test of a novel will be our affection for it, as it is the test of our friends, and of anything else which we cannot define. ... The story is primitive, it reaches back to the origins of literature, before reading was discovered, and it appeals to what is primitive in us. That is why we are so unreasonable over the stories we like, and so ready to bully those who like something else." -- E.M. Forster, Aspects of the Novel

"The poet seems to proceed from a faith that the refinement of observation is an inherently satisfying activity. To see is joy and scruple, privilege and duty." - Mark Doty, " The Art of Description: World Into Word "

"But the great choices, the long-term aims that mean high character, high intelligence, great service -- the bills for all that come first. In advance you pay for that with devotion, concentration, self-discipline." -- Harry Emerson Fosdick I have two friends who have good novels out on submission. One book involves butterflies, the others cerebral food cravings. Did I miss anyone? I'm pulling for you, guys! I want to see those books in print. :D

A quote from a book I'm beta reading struck me with particular force. "Of all the conflicts of the world, nothing can surpass the conflict between two minds wanting sole possession of the same body." Lady Glamis, struggling with some of the same issues I am in rewrites, said, "I have a feeling that the fabric full of holes might be heavier than I think." "Write what you know," we are told, as writers. "I'm sick of that phrase," she said. Me too. As if we need only to know a thing, and then expressing it will be easy. Ha. We don't write to express ourselves. We write to know ourselves. (Art by thadeoradicarlous. )