GG: The Solitude Trilogy

["Anne M. Marble" <amarble@abs.net>]

I finally buckled down and ordered "The Solitude Trilogy." Wow! I really
loved it. (Though I did start to feel a little seasick during the
beginning of "The Latecomers," even though I loved the sound of the
waves.) I can't even fathom the amount of work that went into all the
editing all those interviews, particularly for "Quiet in the Land." No
wonder Glenn often looked so tired in those pictures...

To my amazement, I found that I could listen to the disks while
formatting a document and updating a computerized index for a word
processing manual. When I mentioned that to my coworker, he told me to
proofread my index carefully to make sure it didn't contain twenty
entries for the word North. On the other hand, when I tried editing the
glossary, I had to stop the disk and find something inane on the radio
instead.

This reminds me about an earlier discussion about listening to Glenn
Gould while working on the computer. (I read it in the digest before
joining the list.)
I can listen to almost any music while I write. Almost. I haven't tried
listening to opera while writing. Also, I haven't tried writing while
listening to the Second Viennese School. It depends on what I'm writing,
too. As I have mentioned to a couple of people, off the list, I found
that listening to Glenn Gould's later Brahms disk actually enhanced the
process of writing emotional scenes. But I wouldn't try listening to
that recording while writing something comic. Imagine the effect that
would have!

The spoken word can be distracting while writing or editing. I can't
write or edit while listening to a book on tape. (I guess I'm asking the
same part of my brain to do two things at once.) Yet I've found that I
can listen to some types of TV while I'm writing or editing -- in fact,
I often need the white noise to drown out all the other distractions.
(How Gouldian!)

Maybe I should start leaving the vacuum on while writing. (Just thought
I'd end this post with a reference to a GG anecdote...)