4th Nov – Heard recently that Jack London’s books are great to read when learning to write fiction. I wouldn’t have picked him for inspiration. But today, my husband and I were reading White Fang aloud and I was all ears listening to London’s masterful use of short, active, common words. Here’s a pretty good paragraph:
5th Nov – Three and a half years ago I applied for work with a tutoring company. This week they’ve offered me a temporary job.
6th Nov – A strange building, a strange lift, a stranger, mop in one hand, cleaning bucket in the other. As we moved from the 5th floor to the ground she established from my basket of teaching materials that I could help her son learn to read, and took my number.
7th Nov – Every week for the past six months, my neighbour has put a vase of fresh flowers in her kitchen window (which is happily opposite my own). She’s trying to sell her house, but hasn’t. It seems buyers aren’t swayed by flowers.
8th Nov – In two shops this morning, Norah Jones was singing Come away with me. Must be the ultimate music for relaxing a shopper’s grip on her purse.
Jack London. Interesting excerpt. Flowers in the kitchen window? Lucky you. You get to see them every day. :-). Nora Jones? I need to get with it! Don’t know that one. Doesn’t matter. Don’t have much money for shopping theses days anyway. Maybe I should start tutoring. :-(.
GOOD LUCK with the job. Yahoo!
It’s Norah Jones (my spelling error, which I’ve now corrected). She did an album called “Come away with me” about 10 years ago, and shop owners around here seem to have taken a liking to the title track. Probably because it’s totally relaxing. Re: tutoring – you’ll earn pocket money, and you’ll do more work than you’ll be paid for. But pocket money is better than no money.