Nightstand Reading

What book is on top of your nightstand/reading table right this very moment?  How do you feel about that book? Are you ashamed or proud to be reading it?  Are you reading it to be impressive or do you really want to read it?

I am currently reading Lost in the Funhouse by John Barth.  I found this book at my workplace and started reading it during a lull in business.  It is a very old (1966) collection of short-story-metafiction pieces.  It is a confusing mixture, but loaded with gems, such as: " We don't know what drives and sustains us, only that we are most miserably driven and imperfectly sustained…Love is how we call our ignorance of what whips us…"  The book is literally falling apart in my hands and I am enchanted.

Research

Today's question is about research.

What have been some of your best experiences doing research? How about the worst?

My former was finding that one of the characters I made up existed in real life.  The latter was when I realized that my main character couldn't have possibly been where and when I put him and I had to find a new main character.  Despite all that, I am a big fan of research.  I believe it enriches the story no matter what.

Three Men in a Box

I had a dream last night which woke me up out of a sound sleep.  I was trying to write my way out of the situation which my dream presented me.

Three men in a hospital room.  There is a monitor at the nurse's station which goes blank for a moment.  When the monitor comes back on there is nothing but a blood-smeared sheet on the screen and the three men have disappeared from the room.  I woke up thinking, how do I write my way out of this box?

What would you write?

Mondays

Do you find it strange and annoying that I love Mondays?  How do you feel about Mondays?  Do you have a best day of the week?

I once dated a man who was born on a Thursday, and that was always his best day of the week.  Perhaps I love Mondays because I work weekends, and Mondays are actually my Saturdays.  Or maybe it's only because the Eagles won yesterday. 

The Bust

Do you own a bust of any writer?  If you could choose one, who would it be, or does the idea of a bust turn you off?

I, myself, do not own a bust of any writer.  If I could, it would be the bust that Rodin did of Rilke, but never told him about.  I'm writing a book called The Bust, so I guess that's where this question came from.

Memorable Inspiration

What was your most memorable moment of inspiration?

I ask this question because I was listening to an Elton John song, "Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters," and I noticed that the end of the song was the beginning of the song.  This gave me the idea to end my novel in the place where it began.  It was perfect.  Although this was not my most memorable moment of inspiration (that came at the PMA before a Rodin sculpture), it was a big one.

Generations

.If you could pass your talent for writing on to your child, would you?

And with talent for writing, I mean the compulsion to write.