Food for thought...and writing

I haven't done a whole lot of writing over my vacation...ok, practically none, though I did revise the plot to Wild Asparagus and kind of worked on my Cricket's short story...coming soon to a blog near you. But, I have been doing research. And by research, I mean reading up books like they were hot fudge sundaes. I am taking notes of great writing styles - sometimes to the detriment of my own writing confidence - and what works and what doesn't. Some good books and authors to note - Holy Fools by Joanne Harris, also the author of Chocolate. I have read most of her books so far and only one has been a miss. Holy Fools is well done and she is really a colorful storyteller. North to the Orient by Anne Morrow Lindbergh is a fascinating account of her journey with her husband Charles Lindberg up and over Canada and Alaska, down to Japan and China in the early days of aviation. And I've just started reading Saving Fish From Drowning by Amy Tan. I liked her style immediately and in the first few pages her 'dead' character was talking about wanting to have been cremated and put in 9 different boxes, and then those boxes would be given to 9 different friends to do with her as they would. Hmmm... who would my 9 boxes go to? I thought that was a good ponderance and there may be a writing exercise in there too. And with that lovely uplifting thought...I leave you to go do some writing.