Pre-20th C. Period Pieces

I have watched a lot of movies about dysfunctional families lately. James and the Giant Peach, Birds of America (which is sadly not based on any of the Lori Moore short stories), and Winter Passing.

Also The Buccaneers, but only sort of. That one is so funny to me. It is based on a novel written by my boo, Edith Wharton. And while I do love pre-20th century period pieces, this particular novel was never finished by Wharton. It was finished in 1993 by a scholar who studied her notes closely. Then (or possibly concurrently) it was made into a TV miniseries for BBC one and Masterpiece Theater. They HAVE DIFFERENT ENDINGS because Wharton didn't finish either. That seems preposterous to me that a publishing house would print something under the name of Edith Wharton that was not in fact totally written by her and also that the BBC would make a miniseries based on this book that is only sort of by Wharton as well.

Ok, let me finish The Last Tycoon. Don't worry, guys, I've read Fitzgerald's notes really closely and I think I know what he had in mind.

UPDATE: I have finished The Buccaneers. HOLY COW I am just itching to know what Wharton wrote and what some giddy scriptwriter wrote. There was a homo husband and lots of weeping and running away. People were shunned and some dude had a heart attack after picking up a clump of mud? It was bizarre. The gay bit was the best bit. There were some furtive glances earlier in the movie. Whose devised those??

Chapters

I don't understand how writers write entire chapters. When I think about events in my life, any story I could possibly want to tell, interesting or not, ends up being roughly a paragraph. My entire life story would essentially amount to an essay. And not a long one either. Somehow authors write about silly things which mysteriously turn into chapters. How does anyone have enough relevant insight to fill up a chapter? People obviously have enough to say, but I guess I just don't understand.

Writing is something I've always wanted to do, but have never done very well. I am a great editor, but an awful writer. I value concision. Writing should be brief and to the point, without frills and unnecessary details. I had a teacher in high school who had us remove all possible linking verbs and prepositions from our essays. She was very good, very sharp. She could write a book that would be full of meaningful content and lack every insignificant preposition. She seemed older than she was because she was so cold; and everyone was particularly shocked that she had recently married. She had an old maid vibe about her.

Some other things:

I am going against my doctor's orders and doing things other than sleeping in bed. That is, I write letters and use my computer whilst on my bed. I hope this doesn't affect my sleep cycle too much. That would be rotten if the six weeks wherein I intended to relax ended up damaging my psychological associations with my bed and therefore my ability to fall asleep.

I have started knitting a beret. It's funny and green. There are these gaps where I increased the stitching and I want to put some ribbon around it. At the store we have this really nice coral(ish) color that no one uses during the holiday season. I can steal enough for some hat-ribbon.