February 5th, 2012.
The super bowl of social media and creativity.
I woke up thinking about Wednesday this morning. As if Wednesday was a person I knew.
This last Wednesday was a chaotic morning and no amount of breathing was going to lift me out of the mushroom of frenzy.
Usually calm and steady, on Wednesday morning I was agitated and hyper sensitive to noise. I always try to see what is the longest amount of time I can go without plugging into music with my headphones. This time even music didn’t help. People rushing to some grand nowhere. I joined them to head to one of the most dilapidated parts of New York City. ... read more »
Tagged art, authors, bell hooks, books, life, process of writing, questions, relating, social media, twitter
For those of us for whom it is not about money (
although that is marvelous given one needs it, however minimally, to exist in this physical space without anxiety) nor about fame or celebrity (
celebrity is a choice and it comes and goes; fame may not be a choice and can be attributed for a variety of reasons one never intended) but about the fragrant, sweet gratification of having sewn our stitch or stitches in the Embroidery of what we saw and heard and what is Possible…for those of us, there is no alternative but persistence.
Mama says persistence means you believe [honestly] in the [realistic] value of what you have to offer regardless of however ... read more »
Tagged art, books, life, music, writing, writing process
August 14th.
“The present is the whole of the past concentrated.” ~ Iqbal; Bernard Shaw on Tolstoy’s “What is Art”?; opinions about opinions; Anders, the homeless man in London, on books.
I awoke this Sunday morning in some rainforest. The rain, glossy chandeliers, was falling without crashing. It took me a minute to realize I was in New York City.
It was nice to take a break from putting thoughts on the braille made of words last Sunday. Does Stillness too take a break? No, I don’t think so. We do. It’s hard to swim in peace: no sharks of conflict that actually bite, no shore of tomorrow, no ship of yesterday, how long ... read more »
Tagged art, books, choices, life, politics, questions, relating, tolstoy, travel, wanderlust
I know when I am developing a character, the biggest challenge is to show that like life itself he or she is not one dimensional. And that something in him or her is really also in the reader too, whether the reader likes it or not. This quote resonates. Regardless if anyone agrees with Heinlein or agrees if Rodin accomplishes this, I thought it was good food for thought worth sharing.
“Anybody can look at a pretty girl and see a pretty girl. An artist can look at a pretty girl and see the old woman she will become. A better artist can look at an old woman and see the pretty girl that ... read more »
Tagged alice walker, Ani DeFranco, art, books, Robert A. Heinlein, rodin, writing process
Author Charles Baxter has required we read the short story “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” (1930) by Katherine Anne Porter, a Pulitzer winner I had never read. I knew that one of the reasons this Prague experience is seminal for my writing is because of Charles Baxter as an author himself. I had no idea that everything would be connected to this extent! Katherine Anne Porter is not only brilliant but a lot of her writing process is very similar to mine. I don’t share that bit here and will post it at my own website later. For now I wanted to share part of her interview. Although I tweeted this article, the teacher in me ... read more »
Tagged art, books, katherine anne porter, writing, writing process
