by Tiffany Quay Tyson
This is the time of year when I work furiously to prepare, cook, and eat the summer vegetables from my garden. It's been a particularly bountiful season for grape tomatoes, swiss chard, and jalapeño peppers, but the real star of this year's garden is squash. We've got yellow crookneck, hybrid one balls, and plenty of butternut. I am grateful for the harvest, though I find myself wishing I could spread out the consumption a bit. (Can too much squash make you fat? I'll let you know.) And, yes, I know all about canning and freezing, but fresh tastes better and I don't have the time or the will to preserve food. Maybe next year.
Good things, it seems, come all at once.
Take the past few weeks at Lighthouse. In addition to a visit from the brilliant and generous Matthew Thomas, whose first novel We Are Not Ourselves debuted at number 6 on the New York Times bestseller list, I had the great fortune to hear Benjamin Whitmer read from his latest novel (Cry Father) at the Tattered Cover, and I'm looking forward to hearing Jody Berger read from her memoir (Misdiagnosed) later this week. To top it all off, on Saturday I attended Inside the Writer's Studio with George Saunders (interview conducted by Lighthouse's own Nick Arvin), followed by a reception with the author where Cheryl Strayed (Wild) showed up and charmed everyone with her usual wit and intelligence. I also made time for the craft talk by Saunders on Sunday morning.
Whew!
I am happy to report that, at least where literary events are concerned, you cannot have too much of a good thing.
There is no way that I could possibly pass along even a fraction of what I've learned during this writerly whirlwind, so instead I present you with a quiz. See if you can correctly attribute the following statements to the writer who said them. Forgive any paraphrasing. I can only take so many notes and my brain is in a constant state of post-squash fog.
1. Talk to your story. Turn to it and say, 'I know you think this is my problem...'
2. Engineers are not, actually, especially sensible people.
3. If a critic says my work is too violent, I'm okay with that. At least then they aren't focused on the things I'm really worried about.
4. No worthy problem is ever solved in the plane of its original conception.
5. Draw me a picture of Fortunato. Oh, good, you've got it wrong in exactly the right way.
6. I sometimes cry when I write.
7. Writing is like improv.
8. Who wants more squash?
THE ANSWERS
1. George Saunders
2. Nick Arvin
3. Benjamin Whitmer
4. Einstein, as distilled by George Saunders as writing advice.
5. Matthew Thomas
6. Cheryl Strayed
7. George Saunders
8. Me, at dinnertime every night.
