Month: January 2021

120 Writing

Short Form

JSB

On Craft: I’ve been reading a bit of short form work this week – poems and short stories. I enjoyed The Best American Short Stories 2020. Kevin Wilson’s Kennedy was striking.

On Creativity: On Sunday night, I wrote a poem. Poetry is not my strong suit but it felt good to write those words… and to cross them out.

On Me: It seems that I have temporarily forgotten the gorgeousness the world has to offer. The Midwest has become a gray place. I miss yellow beauty, the loveliness of greenery, the soft blue sky.

120 Writing

The Struggle

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On Craft: I watched a Tin House Workshop featuring Mitchell S. Jackson and Kimberly King Parsons. The topic was voice. What I want most in 2021 is to find mine, and not just with my work in progress but in every area of my life.

On Creativity: Published writers recommend daily writing. I want the successful writers out there to know that I’m sort of trying. Wait. Does this blog post count? 

On Me: I have become a slow reader. Before 2020 I was the Black Rory Gilmore. Before the pandemic I would take a book with me on walks and consume whole chapters while getting my steps in for the day. I was working full-time, raising a child and reading at least two books a week. These days I struggle trying to read two books a month. 

Uncategorized

A Crushing News Week

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On Craft: Sometimes it is necessary to abstain from work. There are times when closing my eyes against the world’s troubles is the littlest thing I might require. Only the journal matters, the blank page, the pen, the awful feelings.

On Creativity: I have been having wonderful fantasies. I’m not writing them down, only relishing. This week, in my imaginings, I won the lottery, purchased a small apartment in Paris, ate savory meals on the balcony of my lovely beachfront property in Venice Beach. My dreams have been very wealthy and free.

On Me: I’m listening to Chanel Miller’s audiobook Know My Name, remembering how easily one can become undone. I played sections of the book in the car with my teen son, wanting him to witness her shattering, wanting him to know that a brokenness like that is real.

120 Writing, Uncategorized

On Defense

JSB

On Craft: Yesterday I read Hanif Abdurraqib’s The Paris Review column. In On One On One he writes, “Defense is solely an act, a willingness to be fooled.” I can’t stop thinking about how foolish I’ve been these past forty-one years.

On Creativity: If writing is a conversation between the author and the reader, it turns out that while I have not yet uttered a single word to another living being through text, I have proven myself to be a wonderful listener. It is my turn to speak. I must prepare my voice.

On Me: As of this writing, I am six days into the new year, six days into a journey I am yet wary of. I am placing one foot before the other one toe at a time. Only God knows how far I’ve come. Only God knows how far I must go.