If you're new to Write Well Me, read this to understand why I tell you what I'm reading. :-)
I've been reading Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer and really enjoying it, but I can only read so much nonfiction at a time. My first love has always been and always will be fiction, so I start feeling withdrawal symptoms if I'm too many days away from my beloved fiction books.
I'm still reading Writing Tools, but I'm mixing in my favorite Christmas book of all time, Miracle and Other Christmas Stories. I'm not usually a fan of short stories; the characters and stories end too soon for my taste. However, Connie Willis's book shattered that generalization for me.
All the stories in Miracle are worth reading, but the first story is the very best. It's about Lauren and what she truly wants for Christmas. This story contains the best description of acknowledging our heart's desire:
"When I was eight," [Fred] said thoughtfully, "I asked for a computer for Christmas. Home computers were new then and they were pretty expensive, and I wasn't sure I'd get it. I was a lot like Natalie Wood in Miracle on 34th Street. I didn't believe in Santa Clause, and I didn't believe in miracles, but I really wanted it."
"Did you get the computer?"
"No. Christmas morning I came downstairs, and there was a note telling me to look in the garage. It was a puppy." He smiled, remembering. "The thing was, a computer was too expensive, but there was an outside chance I'd get it, or I wouldn't have asked for it. Kids don't ask for stuff they know is impossible."
"And you hadn't asked for a puppy because you knew you couldn't have one?"
"No, you don't understand. There are things you don't ask for because you know you can't have them, and then there are things so far outside the realm of possibility, it would never even occur to you to want them."
I love that idea, and Fred/Connie Willis says it so beautifully!
If you're at all the type of person who likes Christmas, read this book!
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